#i only saw a bit of it at a museum (luckily the part with the phantom of the paradise) so maybe there's more information in the rest

[commandercello]

A seemingly rare or unused piece of advertisement art for Phantom of the Paradise, done by artist Dave Stevens (most famous for his comic-turned-movie The Rocketeer). Taken from the documentary Dave Stevens: Drawn To Perfection, around 8:11.

[mischiefmaker615]

Ghost (Loki Love Story) Ch.1

Summary: Somehow Loki is back from the dead and.. quite literally, stuck with you! and his methods on trying to 'fix this' seems a bit to exotic for your taste.. but dead or alive, a god of mischief is still a god of mischief.

Rating: R

Note: bare with my into *sweats* next chapter gets into it ;)

From Row Seats: @soulpiercing @catsladen @foxherder @lcolumbia1988 @llokii @eleniblue @liminalpebble @stumblingthruspace @lokisgoodgirl @joyfullymassivewhispers @asgards-princess-of-mischief @crimson25

It’s been years since the prince of Asgard has been dead; why they chose to keep his attire on display? I’d never know. Midgard hated him, the Avengers stopped him, Thor was kind enough to grant him mercy by taking him home alive and what did it cost? His life. Heroic? Perhaps, I heard he tried perfecting Thor before Thanos decided to expire him.. Asgard is gone too. We live amongst Midgard now, but as our own people, the Asgardians but I find myself preferring to be amongst the mortals anyway, they are much more fascinating, a change of pace compared to my own Asgardian kind.

I’m sure the Avenger’s think so too; after finding out that I inherited wings- which is most likely why the Asgardians treated me like an outcast anyway- took me in and I now assist them with whatever mission they see fit at throwing at me. Luckily no drastic battles have emerged since the defeat of Thanos so adjusting to life again was everyone’s focus rather than being scared at something like that happening again. Other than the team, I didn’t lose anybody in the blip. I just returned back to New Asgard alone and back to the city for work every day. Steve is a pretty close friend, but if we weren’t hanging out at the tower now and again, nobody really stuck around anymore like the old days to chill.

The Fallen is what caught my attention one day in the city of New York, a museum in which those who had any help in defeating Thanos was honored there that had perished; that’s where I saw the bastard’s costume behind glass. If he hadn’t, Midgard couldn’t give two shits about him and many don’t even stop to look at his display, which was pretty much just his Asgardian attire he always famously wore back at the palace. Where you’d start putting it on and off, would remain a mystery to me- but his magic usually always got his work done for him ninety percent of the time anyway.

The finger smudge on the glass caught my eye and I resisted the urge to wipe it off myself, let alone catching myself on why I cared in the first place. He and I never spoke, nor did we interact at the palace at all. I was the one polishing the weaponry where he was going off to battles and attending long meetings and.. whatever royals did.

‘’excuse me- if you don’t mind, I’ll clean that right up.’’

A woman’s voice brought me out of my thoughts and I glanced at the custodian waiting with a towel and a spray bottle- face tired yet confident. I merely nodded and stepped aside, over my little timeline story anyway so i made my way over to the stairs.

An ache in my back made me move my shoulders a bit to try to rid of the feeling; my wings never really liking to stay cooped up and hidden under my denim jacket I promised to upgrade but never did. Larger clothes were easier to hide them and more comfortable rather than folding them tighter to accommodate my stubborn style- plus, the bigger the jacket the more people would stop me as if I stole something and I don’t like to get bothered in every place I’m in.

Once upstairs, the place gave a good background on the walls of the blip’s history, which was 40 percent true and each Avenger got his or her own section of backstory, powers, and their part on stopping Thanos. Honestly this whole place was annoying and the only actual Avenger that stopped by here was either me- if I even considered myself an Avenger, and Steve. He tended to reminisce the section on Stark’s sacrifice.

Thor’s second was in the middle of the room and if you turned your back to it, you were facing the front of the building which would allow you to go to the railing of the balcony to have a view downstairs in which you just came. Ironically when I peak over the railing and to the bottom floor, if one would fall they would smash right into Loki’s glass costume display. Why they didn’t include him up here with his brother.. perhaps it was to keep Villains and Heroes on separate floors.. Loki I wouldn’t consider a villain, he was just.. misguided.

A loud boom is what silenced both floors, followed by another one but ever louder this time. My body tensed and my hands tightened on the railing as I looked around, people pausing in confusion and growing panic. It wasn’t until an explosion happened at the front of the building- sending rubble everywhere at the crowd is when people started scattering. A handful of men flooded the building where men in black suits pointed their guns with a very familiar symbol on their uniform.

Hydra.

I sprung into action- wings practically ripping through the jacket as I leaped over the railing and they spread out to catch me into flight. The men pointed their weapons but with a few dodges and maneuvering in the air, I got close enough for my Asgardian strength to punch one backward where he rammed into others before I landed on the ground. From behind them through the open hole in the wall I see Cap and Clint running over to help where I continued to fight.

We didn’t know why they were there or who they were trying to hurt- there wasn’t much to steal, its all useless to mortal men because the building didn’t display the weapons with the attire, but they were after something. With Hydra, I knew it couldn’t be something good.  

Natasha helped me tune up my hand-to-hand combat back in the day so I was pretty good at dodging their bullets and punches just so I could deliver my own as more seemed to appaear to join the fight.

‘’lucky to have you here Y/N- the others are on their way too’’ Steve called as he flung a guy right out the open hole in the wall while Clint headed upstairs to cover the birds eye view.

‘’well we never really get days off anyway so I have no room to complain’’ I tease and gave a hard flap, causing a gust of wind to knock two men back so they slid across the floor. ‘’what do they want?’’

‘’don’t know, but we gotta leave one standing for questioning’’ he reminded as I took to the sky again and stood on the railing itself with perfect balance while I scanned the top floor.

‘’take your pick then, Barton- where are you?’’ I called just as he dashed towards the elevator.

‘’this place has a third floor, you take this one-‘’

‘’watch out!’’ I shout as the elevator door opens in front of him just for a hydra agent to fire his gun. Luckily for Barton, he dodged out of the way but a sharp pain shot through my shoulder, causing me to cry out. The blast of the weapon pushed my body back as Clint grabbed the man to prevent him from firing again. Whatever he yelled went on ringing ears as I fell back from the railing and over the edge.

Its like the movies in those moments, where your body goes through a lot of pain where you almost don’t feel it.. or anything, let alone hear while things move in slow motion. Yet as I fell off the balcony, everything came into full feeling as I landed on Loki’s display, the glass breaking and the outfit falling down as I crash through before landing on the ground. That stupid costume was made with a high percentage of Asgardian armor so there was no breaking my fall as glass cut a good part of my right wing, same side as where I got my shoulder shot and of course I had to land on that side as well.

Rolling onto my back, I wince as I look up to see Barton’s panic face look down from above before he disappeared, his shoes pounding on the ground as he ran before Steve showed up at my side, kneeling as he raised his gun to cover me while my vision danced. Honestly the last thing I remember seeing was a bit of my blood smeared on Loki’s outfit that had fallen beside me and my body tensed.

Just before I blacked out, my blood flashed green for a moment before getting absorbed into the armor.

NEXT CHAPTER

(Continuing Chapter's *when published* can be found on my masterlist ♥)

[the-tardis-in-221b-baker-street]

Lord Flashheart's (Blackadder Goes Forth) Costume

I don't think it comes to many as a surprise that I was going to do some sort of Flashheart costume. I've had people ask me after my last cosplay "So what's next? Oh please say it's Flashheart!". For a character who only appears once a series, he is well loved amongst the Rik Mayall fans and I happen to be one of them. So, strap yourself in, go get yourself a cup of tea and a biscuit because we're in for a long haul flight. We're doing this a bit back to front, usually I'll release a photoshoot all in one go but as I ran out of time to photograph myself before going to the con I'm going to, I thought I would post them after the con. The photoshoot is in the works, keep your eyes peeled!

When deciding which era of Flashheart I wanted to do, I settled with the WWI era as to my knowledge pre research, it was going to be the easiest of the bunch to do. As much as my heart sings out to Elizabethan Flashheart, my sewing skills are nowhere near good enough for that yet. I knew I wanted to get this costume totally right so I gave myself a fairly big budget and indeed the biggest budget so far in my cosplaying journey.

Go big or go home, I researched into actual Royal Flying Corps uniforms people were selling and saw just how difficult they were to find. I visited a local war memorabilia shop armed with a few questions about RFC uniforms. When I explained what I was doing, they smiled and laughed fondly about Blackadder. They very quickly informed me that finding an actual RFC uniform that's not in a museum is extremely slim and they were totally right. I had a back up plan though, I had found a company that did tailormade historical re-enactment uniforms from all sorts of eras and rather perfectly, a RFC tunic and trousers. I got myself measured by my lovely tailor friend and purchased them. I actually purchased the drill trousers instead of the breeches as the colour looked more correct. (not pictured, you'll see those when I take proper photos of me wearing it.)

The breakdown of the costume: The Royal Flying Corps tunic.

The RFC tunic was going to be a huge part of the costume and in my eyes all of the tiny elements of the costume to bring it together had to be properly researched. The base of the jacket only came with the RFC patch on the right side of the jacket so everything else had to be found. For the first part and actually the first purchase I made for this project was the collar pins. These are original WWI RFC collar pins that came in perfect condition. I also went back to the same local war memorabilia shop again and very luckily, they had a full matching set of original WWI captain's shoulder pips, with metal pins. It makes this costume more special to know I have an actual piece of history on my shoulders.

As I was informed, all pips during WWI were as standard and the more pips you have, the higher the rank. As Flashheart is a Wing Commander he technically holds the rank of captain, meaning he has 3 pips on each shoulder. With both the collar pins and the pips, I had to attach these extremely carefully. I was told that either I would need to sew them on (meaning I would have to tack them on and they wouldn't lie flat to the jacket) or I would need to pierce holes and put them in. I opted for piercing. So with an extremely delicate hand (and because this tunic was expensive) I carefully measured each one out and cut slits with a scalpel. The length of the blade was perfect because I could poke the loops through and it be in enough that if a pin slides out, I won't lose the pip. The collar pins didn't come with pins to keep them in place but the lovely gentleman I bought the pips from gave me some to cut down.

The medals:

The medals I struggled to find for a bit of time. I had researched a bit and found that someone had identified a few of Flashheart's many medals which helped but my original plan was to find actual medal bars. However, I came across a gentleman who recreates medals and could do custom medal bars of any medals I wanted. I immediately messaged them and showed them the photo that had all the identified medals on. He said he was able to do it and whether I wanted the medal that someone hadn't identified yet that was just slightly poking out of the jacket in the reference photo. I couldn't believe it! And i'm so glad that medal was identified by him because it turned out to be a good addition to the bar. Now I know Flashheart has a lot more medals than what I've got here, but trying to get all of them would be a nightmare and rather expensive so I got the ones that are visible kind of when he wears his coat.

(top left) OBE, (top middle) Royal Victorian Order, (top right) Distinguished Service Order, (bottom far left) Military Cross, (bottom middle left) Ashanti War Medal, (bottom middle right) India General Service Medal and (bottom far right) 1914 Star medal.

I did research into them and what they all mean but this post will get even longer if I put all the info. I do encourage you to have a look into them if you're interested though! What I find fascinating is the level of detail Blackadder's costume designer went to. I found out that the Distinguished Service Order medal was apparently just short of being awarded a Victoria Cross (which is an extremely prestigious award) and were normally given 'for service under fire or under conditions equivalent to service in actual combat with the enemy'. However between 1914 and 1916, a number of awards were given to individuals, often officers, for circumstances not under fire. This caused a lot of resentment towards those who got it and especially from front line officers. Which to me, makes me think no wonder Blackadder didn't really like Flashheart! That did make me laugh a little bit.

The 1914 Star medal was awarded mainly to officers but approximately 1000 were awarded to members of the RFC which is another really good touch!

The tunic is attached with 5 buttons up the person's right side and attached with two hooks at the top near the shoulders.

The Sam Browne belt and gun holster were another important addition to the tunic. Often officers or higher would have worn a Sam Browne belt and there would be space to hook a gun holster and an ammo pouch could be added too. I didn't get an ammo pouch in the end but the gun holster was a must. Which leads me onto Flashheart's massive weapon (ooer!).

The gun Flashheart uses is a Webley MK VI. Now, I did look into these guns and there was no way on earth I was going to get a real one or an airsoft one for that matter. I looked into 3D printing instead! I had got a guy to 3D print me a gun but his printer unfortunately broke half way through meaning I had to find an alternative quick. A work colleague found me one on Etsy and it was perfect! It came in about 7 pieces that I had to carefully glue together but it was easy enough as I live in a tabletop household. Flashheart's gun has a loop on the bottom to attach a lanyard to. So me using my creative initiative, I salvaged a picture frame hook from an old frame, filed down a section in the middle so the metal part would lie flat, glued it together and bob's your uncle! a loop that looks like it was meant to be there!

The lanyard loop didn't fit in the loop so I used an old keyring loop to attach it.

The next bit after gluing was to sand the gun down slightly, prime it black and then dry brushed the metal part using Citadel's Leadbelcher silver paint. I also then used Citadel's Agrax Earthshade wash to dirty it up on the metal and then once dry, I did a couple of coats both sides of a matt varnish spray just to seal it all together and none of the paint will rub off.

Another fine detail is the hinge where, if it was a working gun, you'd pull the barrel down and load it. (I don't know the correct terminology for guns!) There was just a hole and I wasn't a fan of it. So I used the small screws from the frame I got the fixtures from and screwed one either side before priming black. It worked perfectly and looked effective.

I can't believe how much time I've put into this costume, loads of research and hard work finding and piecing everything together. I just hope I can do him justice when I wear it properly!

WOOF!

[whumped-by-glitter]

I saw this post about crazy museum stories, and I see lots of retail stories, but I don’t see a lot of airport stories….

So here are some of my craziest stories from working at an airport.

Airport behind the scenes:

• The random passenger who told me to get off the carousel (I was fixing it) then absolutely couldn’t believe I was a female and a mechanic. Then he proceeded to insinuate my military rank before getting out meant I messed up (AF just ranks slower, we had a bit of a bottleneck problem when I was in). He then suggested my supervisor didn’t know how to do his job well and could “just take us all under his wing”. All of this before asking for a job…..

• The passenger who insisted I check him in for his flight that left 2 hrs ago, when I was fixing the ticket counter conveyor belt, all the lights were off and I was literally black up to my elbows in grease….

• The woman who rode up and down the glass elevator in ticketing, lifting her skirt repeatedly, until the sheriffs had to come get her. Bonus points: it was only around noon, and no she wasn’t flying anywhere.

• The woman who got demanded she get on a plane at 11 pm, when flights are no longer going out, with no ID or money, to a city that was literally a 45 min drive away, with no airport. She proceeded to stop pick up traffic with an airport use wheelchair.

• A man who went through an armed door to the ramp, took all of his clothes of and sat there (that one made news).

• A woman who decided to take off all of her clothes and run around the main part of the airport. A sheriff and 2 cleaners had to catch her, she ran through the parking structure at 1am, in January in the northern Midwest.

• The absolutely insane contract manager that almost got sued by Southwest Airlines for wearing disguises and hiding to catch their ticket counter agents putting begs on the belt wrong (they weren’t, also wearing 2 hats and a fake mustache is not inconspicuous sir) that was the talk of the airport for quite a while…

• The gate agent that somehow messed up the jetbridge so bad I had to take every single limit sensor apart so I could override it. When he called it in all I was told was “the wheel locked up and I kept moving it, and I made an ooopsies.”

• The coworker that would insist on wanting to empty the lavs (which is easier than loading bags) but would mess it up at least once every other week and spill on himself, then just look horrified but not move….

• A woman rode an unattended baggage belt, luckily she was read as an oversize bag and sent directly to TSA, she literally could have been killed. She scared the daylights out of some TSA agents though. Could you imagine- you expect a golf club bag or something and get a person popping out?

• The lady who was really scared to fly, got really drunk, and fell down an up escalator. It was Christmas and luckily the gate agents were able to book her on a new flight the next day for free. But when asked if she had someone to pick her up, she called her husband, in Texas… (this is an airport near Chicago) she literally didn’t even know what airport she was at. A sheriff took her to a hotel to let her sleep it off, and to my knowledge she made it out safe the next morning.

I found a cat stuck in a wall, well actually she climbed through the wall and became trapped in a plumbing closet. She is really lucky some Southwest agents heard her crying and called us (they figured since we worked on conveyors and had tons of tools, we might be able to help. We called airport ops to open the closet door, and there she was. I still have her to this day, her name is Delta, and she is a very weird cat, I blame it on the fumes 🤣

All of this and more, and I work at a relatively small airport, and I was only there 5 years, and primarily worked 3rd shift as a mechanic.

@karmaisntab

[floydsmuse]

Ah Meggy at long last it seems we have a Calvin thought/thot!!!!!!! (lol). I have long awaited this day because I know you're gonna love it.

It's a really hot day in early summer, all yours and Calvin's classes have let out for the summer and luckily for the both of you, neither of you have to teach summer courses and can enjoy your time together with Baby Ellen. Unfortunately the heat wave that's hit is a little less than pleasant and the air conditioning has been running all day and all night, but poor Ellen's been extra fussy as a result (lol).

You two decide that it's definitely time to go swimming because both your husband and your baby are getting a little cranky (lol). You two decide to take her to the local pool to cool off and it was the best decision you two could have ever made. Everybody thinks she's the cutest little baby in her swim clothes (not gonna lie, you saw Calvin in his shorts and you both got that look in your eyes, lol). Calvin's holding onto her as he gently bobs up and down in the water with her and blowing his cheeks out to make her giggle. Maybe a few of your girls from the nursing major are around and they're taking little polaroid photos of their niece.

When Ellen's a little bit older, you and Cal decide to take her and Six-Thirty on a little trip to your old stomping grounds on Sanibel Island down in Florida. It's mornings spent on the beach collecting shells (Sanibel Island is known for its beaches having millions and millions of shells everywhere), strolls in the downtown Fort Meyers area, ice cream for dinner on the hottest nights and plenty of time to swim in the warm ocean. Six-Thirty gets plenty of time to play fetch and go for a morning run with Cal although you do laugh whenever Ellen and Six-Thirty chase the seagulls away from the sea turtle nests (lol).

Calvin also gets plenty of time to row out on the open ocean too which is nothing compared to doing it on a lake (lol). His father's very best friend was a rowing coach for Florida State and to your surprise, they were in the area for a competition against one of the colleges in Tampa and he even let Cal join in on the practice (lol).

But the biggest surprise came one day when you and Calvin were relaxing on the beach one morning just before lunch. Six-Thirty was splashing around in the water and Ellen was digging in the sand with her little shovel and pale and suddenly came running up to you with what looked like a gold coin in her hand. When you saw Calvin's eyes go wide, you knew something was up (lol).

"Honey, this is real gold."

"Wait, what?"

"This is real, actual gold, go ahead, feel it!"

You were shocked beyond words, more so when Six-Thirty started helping Ellen dig and they found even more!! You and Calvin knew that something was definitely up and decided to yet again phone a friend (lol).

It wasn't long before you and Calvin discovered that your secluded little beach spot held a very impressive secret. Not far from the beach line, under at least 70ft of water, lay the wreck of a pirate ship from the 1700s and that had once belonged to the famous Captain Kidd and had been wrecked in a hurricane after his crew had buried part of their treasure on the island (lol). So now every year when you guys go back, you not only dig for treasure on the beach and go to see it at the little museum, but you also got the opportunity to go and scuba dive on the wreck too.

Meggy this came to me shortly after I went to bed last night. I've been on the worst Treasure Island/Pirates Of The Caribbean kick lately and I think it's gonna start showing (lol).

Mary! hehe yay! more Calvin thoughts :) i’m super excited to read what you’ve sent in my love! <3

~ aww! i’m so glad wifey & Cal get some much needed time off to spend with Ellen! ugh heat waves are the worst! being super hot, sticky, & uncomfortable is such a gross feeling :/ especially when you can’t find the proper relief & nothing seems to be helping! i’ve been there plenty of times before haha!

~ swimming is such a fun & great way to cool off! aww Ellen & Calvin both being cranky😅 like father like daughter truly!! when Cal gets cranky, you know it’s bad BAD haha! awe! could just picture Ellen in her little bathing suit with some floaties on :,) Calvin’s wearing these short & tight swim trunks that really accentuates his thighs & practically makes wifey short circuit 🫠 just thinking about Calvin & Ellen playing around in the water & yes! Cal is def being silly & puffing his cheeks out to hear baby El’s bubbly giggles :,)

~ oohh! family vacation to Florida! sounds fun !! i love collecting shells on the beach too ! i could also picture Ellen finding jellyfish all along the shore & giving each of them names! i can just see her being super into sea life/sea creatures :)

“strolls in the downtown Fort Meyers area, ice cream for dinner on the hottest nights and plenty of time to swim in the warm ocean.”

~ all of this sounds amazing! makes me miss the summer so much😭! aww playing fetch with Six-Thirty is wonderful & i love the part where you mentioned Six-Thirty & Ellen chasing the seagulls! i’m just trying to picture this in my head & it’s making me chuckle out loud! Cal getting to practice his rowing is such a great addition to the trip too!!

~ Ellen finding real gold coins in the sand ?! woahhh! that’s so cool! she’s like a little treasure hunter for real ☺️ i love it. also love Six-Thirty stepping up to help her dig them out! A PIRATE SHIP !!! ahh Mary! a nod to the Goonies me thinks ?! AMAZING ! i love the little backstory you added behind it too! omg & they get to scuba dive down to the wreck?! this is so awesome & such a creative thought! i’m in love with it seriously! :)))

Mary, you seriously blew me away with these thoughts! i loved reading them so much & was smiling all the way through !! as always, thank you for sending them in! 🥰💕 i’m looking forward to see what you come up next !!!

[umichenginabroad]

...Stranded??

Week 1 (second half)

Hello hello and welcome back to another post from your favorite blogger :). I didn't get to write about everything that happened during the first week, so kick back, relax, and enjoy these stories of shenanigans and mishaps.

When in Pasaia, Spain…

On our third day we went to visit a shipyard museum which was dedicated to telling the story of the mariners who hunted whales in times past. They're currently building a replica from scratch of the San Juan whaleship, which when they're finished, will set sail for 3 months with volunteers! Unfortunately, we did not get to go on that boat, however, we took a smaller one across the river and walked through a scenic trail near the water. One of the guys in my program (who may or may not be another blogger on here...) tried some of the waterfall water along the way, making him our certified water connoisseur.

Now, this is where the expedition really starts. For all the activities that we do as a group, we have our peer mentors with us who use bus cards to take us around. We were always able to scan it multiple times which was convenient since not all of us had our own cards yet. For some reason, this bus that we needed to take back didn't allow scanning more than once, and we couldn't pay in cash either. Womp womp. Because of this, and those of us who sadly hadn't bought bus cards yet, we were stranded. DUN DUN DUN. Luckily for us, our peer mentors graciously stayed back to find a solution and I'm forever grateful for them (especially since this was during their finals week!). The truly scary part I would say, is that I was the only umich representative in a group of only penn state students (GROSS! jk jk). They're super chill and it was fun to joke around with them while waiting for our savior (the bus) to come. I have to admit though, my allegiance to the maize and blue swayed SLIGHTLY since they called me their honorary penn state exchange student. But trust, I know my roots and could never be a nittany lion over a wolverine. Below is us when we were in dire straits resorting to making snapchat signs:

Next stop, Pamplona!

Instead of having a traditional class day, we took a day trip to see the rest of the Navarra campus in Pamplona about an hour or so away. Ours is the engineering campus, but over there is mainly focused on the medical side of things. I found it super interesting to tour the CIMA medical research building, where we chatted with researchers about their current work, what machines they use and how they function, along with seeing some actual examples too. The hospital is right across, making it convenient to have an enormous amount of patient data to be able to examine. From there, we were treated to a lunch at the campus cafeteria, and then taken to the biomedical lab! I really loved this part of the day because we saw what technologies were being developed currently for the industry (and this is also my major so I'm a bit biased :) ). One thing I didn't expect was that the campus features a route for El Camino de Santiago, which is is pilgrimage trail to the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela on the west side of the country. Enjoy some of the beautiful scenery and campus pics below!

Cue the viral Miss World intro: FRAAAANCE!

During the weekend, the university took us on a day trip to two cities in southern France. Besides my layover in the Netherlands, Spain was the only other country I had really been to so far. Dare I say this was my Emily in Paris (but not really Paris) moment? Do I know any French? well...no. I do not know a lick of the language besides some basic phrases and words. Lucky for me though, some friends had taken French in highschool so I was saved! Our first city was Biarritz, a very pretty area where we ate lunch at a restaurant named Octopus and then had some free time to explore. One of my friends was going to get an iced coffee, but ended up getting a free full cup of aloe vera green tea instead from the store owner himself (he even offered to give us another free sample if we came back in the afternoon; a very sweet man indeed). We ended up walking along the beach, seeing some shops, and then getting some drinks on the terrace where we could watch a surf competition. I did, in fact, fall asleep because the chairs were just really comfy and it was peak girl nap hours. See below me underneath my jacket blanket after waking up along with my cutie mini madeleine:

The final destination was Saint Jean de Luz, another coastal city featuring a scenic beach and smaller shop area. It was time for a sweet treat, so I had to get a crepe when in France. 10/10 was super delish along with some gelato we ended up getting later. The bakeries were generously priced, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that. It was only a couple euros for any pastry or bread, which is a common theme I've seen in both France and Spain. Overall, the day trip was nothing short of a great time.

Did I learn a few more words in French? Yes. Fruit de la passion! Je parle un peu français if I do say so myself.

Bonsoir and au revoir!

Emily Dobao

Biomedical Engineering

IPE San Sebastian, Spain

June 2nd, 2024

[tiny-fluffy-knight]

All of them for Gabriel ♡

Oh fucking hell-

We're doing this in parts or I will explode

🍬 - if you were in canon, what would the fanbase for your ship be like?

I genuinely have no clue! I would be surprised if there was much of one honestly. I know I'm a bit of a weird one in general and that would probably put people off.

🧁 - your f/o is planning a surprise date for you two! what do they choose?

Considering that I don't think human money is something he deals with very much... something cheap and quiet, most likely? A picnic, a small trip to a café, or a wander around a library or museum - which suits me great, I do not like big loud places.

🍵 - do you have any pets with your f/o? if not, what kind would you like to adopt? how do they act around animals?

My two actual cats, Oreo and Kitkat, are a package deal with me! Luckily Gabriel seems to both like and kind of kin kitties, so they get on well. I could also see him adopting his own, if there's enough space! We do not talk about how I am also kitten.

🍓 - what's a bad habit your f/o has?

My beloved angel, you have some anger issues... and a lot of religious hangups. He knows the right places and times to actually indulge in some cathartic violence though!

🍦 - what's your f/o's favorite way to show affection? are there any little things they do to indicate their appreciation for you?

He's very much a physical touch and acts of service kind of guy. Gentle touches to the shoulder, holding hands and squeezing, little taps to silently say 'I love you'. Just being close is comforting to both of us, I think. Then he's making sure I'm actually taking care of myself and helping to make it easier where he can.

🥥 - talk about a memorable moment in your relationship.

I'm sure he'd be very relieved if I stopped microwaving meteorites, that was, uh, 'fun'. Half jokes aside... for me it would have to be when we saw under each other's (metaphorical) armour for the first time. That moment where I felt he truly saw me.

🍾 - who confessed first, and how did it happen?

You ever just blurt out all your intense and confusing feelings to your guardian angel because you're an impulsive dumbass and cause him an on-the-spot existential gay crisis?

Oops.

🍧 - which of you is the better chef? what's their favorite thing to make for the other?

Gabriel, by far. I possess the magical ability to seriously injure myself whenever near anything sharp or hot, so my cooking skills are mostly relegated to the microwave... I wouldn't call him a professional chef, but he can at least not burn down the house, and the food he makes looks tasty. If he's making treats for me, it's usually baking!

🍒 - what is your f/o's love language, and how do they express it with you?

I mentioned it before, but we're both violently touch starved... so any contact with each other is really appreciated. There's really nothing better than curling up in his lap and being cuddled/pet. He's the only one I really trust to touch me at all, and that seems to kind of be the case with him too, so it works out well.

🥞 - who spoils the other more?

He has more energy for it, but I am always actively plotting on how to 'get him back' whenever he does! Some day I will make it truly balanced.

🍮 - what's something you do that always makes your f/o smile, and/or vice versa?

He's so incredibly cute when he's being silly! I can never tell if he knows what he's doing when he starts memeing, but it always manages to get me. As for what I do... I think he finds it cute when I get a bit too excited about my hyperfixations and start rambling/gesturing intensely/spinning in excitement.

🫐 - what's your sleeping arrangement with your f/o like? do you share a bed? do they cuddle you, or talk in their sleep?

Sharing a bed gets... interesting, when your lover is easily double your size. I end up feeling like a little teddy bear a lot, but in a way that's really cozy. He mumbles in his sleep a little, though I can't complain about that, considering I apparently coo like a pigeon sometimes. Besides, it's really cute too.

🍩 - what are some irl things that remind you of your f/o?

The body pillow is probably a given. Other than that, though... I have to say blue feathers, stained glass windows. For something I own personally, I have a Jellycat smudge lion with a floofy blue mane that always makes me think of him.

[dougrobyngoold]

Another Glorious Day! - Glasgow, Scotland

Today we visited the city center and east side of Glasgow. Started out with a stroll along the path (National Cycle Route 75) on River Clyde, passing by the Clyde Arc (pictured above) and then the Squiggly Bridge (pictured below).

We walked away from the river and toward George Square. There were a lot of cool buildings along the way:

Metropolitan Cathedral of St. Andrew

The old railway station on St. Enoch Square.

The Lighthouse - an historic building that houses Scotland's Centre for Design and Architecture.

We arrived at George Square just in time to be attacked by a flock of pigeons - it was quite terrifying for the pigeons and for us!! We survived and ventured onto the square to take a few photos.

George Square (named after King George III) - the small statue with the white base is of Robert Burns, the 80' high statue on the left side of the photo is of Sir Walter Scott. There are eleven statues on George Square, luckily, I did not manage to get pictures of all of them!

Glasgow City Chambers with the Glasgow War Memorial in front of the building entrance.

GLASGOW CATHEDRAL

Founded in the 1200s, it is the only medieval church on the Scottish mainland to have survived the Reformation virtually intact. St. Mungo, the patrol saint of Glasgow, was buried on this site in 612 AD. The inside of the cathedral is massive and stunningly beautiful, definitely worth a visit when you are in Glasgow!

On the hillside behind the cathedral is the sprawling Glasgow Necropolis. We walked along the base of it, but decided not to climb up to the top of the hill. If you are into graveyards, this is one you will want to check out.

This memorial is at the base of the Glasgow Necropolis, as you cross from Glasgow Cathedral on the Bridge of Sighs.

Looking up at Glasgow Necropolis from the base of the hill.

Memorial to Sir Walter Wallace - you might know of him if you are a "Braveheart" fan. He is Scotland's most famous warrior.

Our next destination was the People's Palace, so we continued our journey through the streets of Glasgow. So much to take in!

Barony Hall, formerly Barony Church, built in 1799, it is built in the red sandstone Victorian neo-Gothic style. It is now part of the University of Strathclyde.

I loved everything about this photo - the sky, the curve of the buildings, and the mural - so beautiful!

Glasgow Tolbooth, built in 1634, it was originally the meeting place of the Royal Burgh of Glasgow. The main structure was demolished in 1921, leaving only the steeple standing.

PEOPLE'S PALACE

The People's Palace opened in 1898, it is located on Glasgow Green and houses a social history museum.

Doulton Fountain, located in front of the People's Palace, is the largest terracotta fountain in the world. It was built in 1887 to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria.

Here are a few of the interesting things we saw at the museum:

The city of Glasgow went through some tough times with regards to housing and health-related issues. This museum was a great place to go to learn a bit about the people of Glasgow and it was free.

This ornate building was visible from the People's Palace, so we went over to check it out - we think that it was originally a Persian rug factory. Nowadays it houses several different businesses, one of which is WEST Brewery.....you know we had to check that out!

After our tasting it was time to head home, so we crossed Glasgow Green, a massive public park:

Went through McLennan's Arch:

Then found our way back to the path along River Clyde, going under the historic railway bridge:

Luckily, we arrived at our Airbnb just before storm clouds decided to open up and POUR! Time to put up our feet and enjoy an adult beverage.

[nataliesnews]

Dubai 6.3.2023

I have not yet come right from the trip. There is so much I have to catch up on, translations and all the demonstrations which are going on. My South African friends and family, how can you say....ek kan nie my draai kry nie. I feel like a dog running after its tail. So that is also why this letter is so disjointed. I have all these deep thoughts after the trip about what people enjoy, how the rich live and I am so good at finding the words to show how intellectual I am!!!

First of all let me make it clear I am not  sorry I went even though there were things that I found disappointing in the trip which were a bit too laid back for me. It was good to get out of Israel, to be with people and to see something which was so different. It was good to have two friends with me, Shosh from Haifa and Pnina who is from Jerusalem. When I find it I will send you a picture of the three of us with our sticks. Shosh only needed one for one day and luckily I had taken an extra along. Avishai said  that when he saw me with my two he was worried but after the first hour he saw it would be fine and the group never had to wait for me.  I am not good alone in a group.Though I am thinking again of going to Egypt. By the way, in this letter if you read it there is mainly a repetition of what I wrote on Whatsapp which is how I made notes. Now I am trying to get my mind around the whole trip. What I enjoyed were the people from all over the world and the dresses and costumes. Very different from the tourists here. Colourful. We also noticed traditional Moslem couples even when the woman was wearing a hijab but the couple walked hand in hand. By the way when we got off the plane at the passport I saw this lane.

  Maybe I have to get used to the fact that I am now going on trips with people who want an easier time. The group was very pleasant and Rivka, who had put it all together, was lovely and her nephew, Avishai, who was the guide, also a very nice fellow. I was however surprised that, though he has been there several times, he had no answers for two of the questions which interested me. The people you meet with are mainly tourists such as we were or foreign workers from all over the world. There was no problem with English. But what interested me was how the latter  are treated and where they live. Not in all those amazing buildings we saw , that is for sure. And I was also interested as in the hotel where we were were groups of soldiers from all over the world. So as I understood that the local population is the most wealthy one can imagine, I wanted to know about the army and, as there is  no conscription, were there volunteers from amongst the elite. In both cases he did not know although he was most diligent coming back to me with facts which he had gathered.  But I would think that as a guide all these aspects should interest him. Especially in such an unreal world. Evidently the army is composed of all the emirates..... I think. But one of my friends back here said that in many groups people are more interested in what they can see  than in everyday issues. One  hears almost no Arabic. I am sure there must be locals but if so they are well hidden. Malls all over the show....and for the most part so uninteresting to me. The only thing I really wanted were all sorts of small souvenirs to bring back to the workers here at Nofim. I did find some great saffron biscuits for Irit and Yaakov and there Avishai saved me as he said ...never agree to the price at once...and got me two boxes for the price of one. And a book for my great greats in the Museum of the Future..An emotional Menagerie from A-Z for children which is very funny even though it is for later years. But other than that, unless you like shopping, it's not for me. The print here is very small but I hope you can read it. How to describe it....a plastic world, a giant Disneyland, 1984, unreal....as Rivka put it.....nothing to get excited about....no waterfalls and even the desert is just dunes and not very impressive ones with none of the wonderful canyons and mountains of Sinai. I felt as if I were in a movie of beautiful people of the future. And again I say I am glad I went and experienced it. From what my friend, Anita, told me, I think that  many career people are  brought there by being offered a wonderful life and many of them stay on. So I guess I am missing something. Everyone was so friendly and helpful....unlike Israel where you can walk alone on a path and say good morning and the person will look at you as if you committed a crime. It was a pleasure. I was very impressed in the toilets that everywhere there was an attendant who when she saw me would call me and take me to the handicapped toilet which is kept locked. And as soon as you exit, they are cleaning. Of course, plenty of workers. The entire place, even where there are many people, is so clean. Of course, the Dubaits....is that what one would call them  can afford the labour. I found myself more and more wondering about how such rich people live. There are enormously rich people in Israel too but somehow there it seems to be much more tangible .....and again I have no real information to go on...but maybe because of these enormously high buildings ....I feel as if they must be completely divorced from the ordinary people. I was talking about it to Rivka. When you are so rich, what excites you? A new yacht, a diamond bracelet......and if you had only grown up in such an environment and you should lose your money, will you have the guts  to start again. There were enormously long lines everywhere. When we went to Burj Khalifa, the world"s tallest building, there were long lines and at one place there was a sign to say that there would be a wait of 45 minutes....and there was to the minute. Looking back on the day I thought to myself was it really worth it to stand so high and look down on buildings which on the ground looked as if they were reaching to the sky. And again I say that I was glad for the experience of this weird place.There was a skywalk there and I was reminded of the Grand Canyon where you could see people were terrified of walking on it. I personally did not try as I was scared I would get busy but you could see people holding someone's hand as they got onto it. Here again I could not help comparing it to the Grand Canyon which was amazing when you looked down on all the canyons, etc. below. By the way, we did not get to the top which is residential. I can only imagine what the flats there...if one dares to use such a common word for such prestigious homes...must look like. I cannot resist one political picture which I found so funny. " My mother always say I am a terrorist"   (We the demonstrators are constantly being called terrorists and traitors by Netanyahu and his friends.

[coreymichaelsmithson]

Things That Happened This Year

2022 was, for the most part, a challenging year … one marked by some crushing disappointments, a few deep heartbreaks, and a great deal of hard work. But, in looking back at the big picture, I’m seeing now that it was also a period of significant artistic achievement and spiritual growth.

I spent the first few minutes of 2022 making a pot of shitty coffee for an AA meeting in Dickson, Tennessee. Perhaps this wasn’t the most glamorous of activities I could have chosen for ringing in the New Year, but it seemed to portend a year of searching for significance in ordinary moments. I was there to support my partner Daniel and our mutual friends in recovery, all of whom had done more than their share of partying in the past. Many of the folks gathered there had already survived the worst kind of personal disasters … incarcerations, incinerated family trees, homelessness, ruined holidays, domestic violence, illness, car crashes, custody battles … and now they were gathered together in a somber room, reflecting upon the choices they had made and the sundry crises that had brought them there, expressing thankfulness and a renewed resolve in this season of fellowship.

In the first few days of January, my two-year-old computer bit the dust. This machine, which had cost a pretty penny, had barely passed out of warranty, and it died in such a way that repairs would run nearly as much as a new computer. By the end of the year, my backup laptop had also become unusable, and my phone crapped out. My debit card number got stolen, and I scrambled to refute a bunch of fraudulent charges. I suffered a painful attack of gout, and a weird bout of food poisoning while traveling through South Carolina. I caught COVID for the third and fourth time. Both infections were nearly non-symptomatic, revealed only by rapid testing … but the latter event led to Daniel and I spending an unexpectedly romantic week together in quarantine.

St. Augustine got slammed by two hurricanes, Ian and Nicole. The first storm was a nerve-wracking game of “wait and see” … my housemate and I feared the possible eruption of the faulty sewage lifting station across from our home … but we got through it unscathed. Luckily, I’d already left town before the latter event, which caused significant damage to the dunes that protected our island from the wrath of the Atlantic. In the face of such implacable monsters, human civilization feels so fragile, and our many vulnerabilities are suddenly revealed.

Pamela and I celebrated our fifth anniversary and crossed our 98,000th mile as a team. She was mysteriously, but harmlessly, vandalized when somebody threw a bucket of a chalky white substance, something like diluted drywall mud, across her windshield. Her fuel system went tits-up, right as we started a road trip. She received a new thermostat (her third) rear shocks, front brakes, driver’s door window motor, hood struts, charcoal canister, exhaust gas recirculation valve, purge valve solenoid, an engine coil, and six spark plugs. We also had to replace her rear window, after a misunderstanding with a tree in a tight parking lot. During one of our voyages, Pamela lost a tire to a rusty scrap of metal left on the road. The mechanic who replaced it discovered, to his horror, that she was within a few miles of her wheel flying off altogether, due to an improperly secured axle nut. In other words, a flat tire may have saved my life.

I turned 48 getting lost in rural Alabama. I visited a number of small historical museums, where I saw Napoleon’s hairbrushes, Hitler’s tea service, some outlandish spy gear (including a .22 hidden in a flute), and two mummies. In Cullman, Alabama, I encountered one of the most stirring examples of outsider art in America … seven acres of sprawling architectural miniatures by the Benedictine monk Brother Joe, who dedicated nearly five decades to his wonky little assemblages of oyster shells, concrete, pumice, tiles, pottery shards, chicken wire, bottle punts, cold cream jars, costume jewelry, flashlight casings, compote dishes, beads, beach glass, and plastic toys.

I maintained my daily practice of strolling along the beach of Anastasia Island at sunset. I came upon two dead loons half-buried in the sand, as well as a mortally injured cormorant, I watched a pod of dolphins splash in the pink waters of dusk, and saw a shark slicing between the breakers. I witnessed a waterspout, walked through windblown foam as it piled upon the shore, and caught two rocket launches. I continued to study the Russian language, though with less fervor than before … the black-hearted prince who stole (and then discarded) my heart in 2021 also drained some of the oomph out of practicing this difficult, grumpy-sounding, maddeningly unspecific tongue. I beefed up my Instagram game, and made three bonfires to destroy old artworks. I also dipped my toe into the stock market, but quickly withdrew after I got a sense of its volatility. I visited the Torture Museum, the Shipwreck Museum, the Anniston History Museum, the Berman Museum, the Cummer Museum, and climbed once again to the top of St. Augustine’s famous lighthouse.

One of my closest friends and I underwent three psychedelic sessions on the beach, using sub-threshold doses of “Golden Teacher” psilocybin. The most memorable of these took place on Easter Sunday … we started our journeys at dawn, watching the sun rise over the Atlantic, and spent much of our day wading in the surf or exercising on the sand. I have rarely known such serenity, orderliness, and lucidity as I felt that morning.

This same buddy and I executed a pair of massive abstract paintings in his large but structurally unsound studio. From there, I helped him move into two subsequent spaces … first an unsuitable open-air washout and then an old-school office in Jacksonville’s coolest commercial building, the kind of joint where they gild your name on the door glass. We attended an art fair at West Palm Beach, and hobnobbed with a few gallerists, though this yielded no immediate results.

Professionally speaking, it was a densely-packed year. I cut several short-form documentaries for the Bank of America, including videos on Georgia O’Keeffe, Georges de La Tour, Remedios Varo, Berthe Morisot, Sandro Botticelli, George Caleb Bingham, Henri Matisse, Gustav Klimt, and the Farnese Sarcophagus. I designed a book about the role of hormones in women’s health for a naturopathic doctor, and gained some new clients in the energy sector, writing whitepapers and other copy for companies in the hydrogen, oil, and natural gas industries. I continued the paralegal work I began last year, conducting interviews and writing essays for accident victims and their families. I edited two music videos for musicians … a photo/footage collage for the protest anthem “RISE” by Neycha, which won “Best Music Video” at a film festival, and a highly complicated 2.5-D animation for “INFINITE STARS” by Daniel Cartier Loves You.

Unfortunately, by mid-autumn my client work began to dry up. Financial difficulties cancelled out many plans … I missed a wedding (one that I really should have attended), I had to forgo my second ayahuasca journey, and I was unable to do any stormchasing.

I made good use of the downtime, though. I published two novels (“THE BROTHER OF MAGGIE BROOD” and “THE NOVA IN THE ATTIC”), and three memoirs (“THE PAMELA DIARIES”, “LOST AMONG THE MARIGOLDS”, and “RELISHED VICES”). Sent two of my books to the hosts of my favorite podcast, and didn’t receive a response. Pushed the needle forward on my fourth novel, “THE FABULOUS MEDICINE SHOW”, started my fourth memoir, “HORSESHIT AND GLITTER”, and continued collaborating with a dear friend on our screenplay, “THE LAST BONANZA”.

I spent more time painting at my easel this year than I have during any other period of my career. I’m now on the final stretch of an ongoing project, which has been underway for four years: a suite of 100 black and white 12”x12” canvases. Most of them are done. I completed several abstract pieces, including “TARGETS”, “BONE DANCE”, and “LYRICAL I & II”. I started work on “FROST KING I & II”, “BIG TOP”, and kept going on the “BLUE ANGEL” series. I finished three commissions this year (“THE PEARL”, “NORMAN”, and “BLACK BELT”), and began two more (“CARDINALS” and “WARRIORS”).

Of these commissions, “NORMAN” proved to be the most surprising. The subject was a man who had died earlier in the year. He and his husband had built an expansive family of devoted friends, and his death came as a devastating shock to the entire community. With only a single photograph to go by, I started working … and all through the process, I felt as if the man himself was gently nudging me to add things, specific additions that were definitely not my own ideas. Eventually, the finished painting depicted a warmly smiling Norman against a saffron-colored ground, surrounded by a floral frame of grape leaves, vines, lilies, and roses. The recently widowed Bill, a wonderfully kind man, flew me out to California for an unveiling ceremony. He put me up for three days in their comfortable home in Davis, and graciously allowed me a full day’s use of his car. I drove around the Napa Valley, where I gazed at vineyards that had become a patchwork of autumnal splendor. On the eve of the unveiling, Bill and I stood before the shrouded painting, among forty of their dearest loved ones. He spoke at length about Norman’s legacy, and I read a quote about death by the Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke. When the veil came down, and the portrait stood bare on its easel, a gasp of recognition rose among the crowd. Several attendees burst into tears. I don’t think I have ever been so humbled and grateful for an artwork’s reception. One by one, Norman’s friends came up and talked about what an incredible human being he was. One of his neighbors tearfully informed me that he had just planted lilies in her yard. Another recalled a recent discussion they had shared about roses. By degrees, it became clear that Norman had been communicating with these people through my hands. This painting was not so much an artistic success as it was a séance … I had merely acted as a conduit for Norman’s enduring love. Aside from helping me complete his own posthumous portrait, Norman had also taught me a vital lesson: live in such a way that you’ll still be speaking to your friends long after you die.

Many friendships rose and fell within my year. Some bonds were strengthened, and others lost. I forged new loves, revived dormant ones, and accepted an invitation that will undoubtedly change the course of my life.

I ended a long-term professional relationship, the one that brought me to Florida in the first place, though the brotherhood beneath it is now stronger and healthier than ever. I had a virtual reunion with one of my earliest photo models, a woman who has lost none of her glamor and allure in the last three decades, and cherished a delightfully unexpected real-life afternoon in Suisan City with one of my dearest friends from early adulthood. I played host to two visitors from out of town … a talented activist from New Hampshire, and a beloved spiritual niece from Memphis. Being a tour guide is one of my favorite ways to share time with friends, and it’s always fun to be a tourist in your own town.

Three of my friends died in 2022. One of the brightest luminaries in the Boston arts scene, and a champion of digital media, passed after complications from a fall. Another friend, who to all outward appearances was a sunny and charismatic prayer warrior, lost his secret battle with depression and took his own life, sending a large wave of grief outwards among our many mutual friends. One of my favorite studio mates from the Memphis College of Art passed away in her sleep. For the three years that we shared a studio, I relished our chatty and warm rapport. We used to smoke cigarettes on the school’s balcony, gazing through the large plate glass windows at our canvases in progress and critiquing each other’s work. She was an extraordinarily talented painter and sculptor, and a great raconteur, one of those stylish older ladies who somehow made dentures and smoker’s wrinkles and a blonde shag-cut look sexy. She worked for Judy Garland’s agent in the early ‘60s, and she shared many personal recollections about the star’s mercurial attitudes. Coincidentally, Judy herself bowed out on my pal’s 38th birthday.

I finally sliced a toxic ex-boyfriend out of my life. After years of trying to maintain some semblance of a friendship with him, I eventually realized that there would be no restoration of the love, respect, and interest that had evaporated between us. It came as a tremendous relief to realize that I could be much healthier and happier if I just stopped all of my fruitless efforts to meet his approval. Some relationships should be allowed to wither away.

Speaking of forgoing unhealthy relationships … in November I celebrated ten years of total freedom from alcohol, nicotine, marijuana, and other recreational drugs. Aside from caffeine, the therapeutic use of psychedelics, and the occasional hit of isobutyl nitrite poppers during sexplay, I have lived an entirely sober life. The resulting clarity of mind and expansion of capacity have been invaluable, and I find myself deeply grateful for the decision I made in my late thirties, which allowed my forties be a much healthier and more productive decade.

Because of my busy studio life this year, I had to dial down my sexual and romantic adventures a little. I enjoyed a soulful and very sweet encounter with a silver-haired artist, who surprised me with his youthful vivacity and flexibility. Later that month, and without knowing the connection, I ended up screwing the daylights out of his accountant husband; it was then that I learned that both spouses had the same first name. I seduced a young architect on the beach, manhandled an elderly valet in his company car, and had a gleeful frolic with two friends in their lush backyard garden. I got busy with a soft-spoken railroad worker, a stunningly gorgeous line cook from Bangkok, and a boorish interior designer who wouldn’t shut up about his expensive (and, frankly, hideous) furniture. After a particularly sad day, I found comfort in the arms of a neighbor who had once starred in a porn movie, but now manages clinical research trials. I made several visits to the hotel room of an itinerant store merchandiser, one of the most angelically benevolent men I’ve ever met in my life, and we shared the kind of intimacy that can only emerge between kindred spirits. I spent one memorable evening with a horse rancher and his paralegal husband. The three of us chatted in the kitchen for an hour, and it seemed like they were perhaps a bit too nervous to take the plunge … but when we finally made it into their bedroom as a trio, I saw arranged on the credenza an astonishing array of adult toys and props and supplies, which sort of looked like a Brutalist nativity scene. I stared in slack-mouthed amazement at the display, pointed to one of the surreal objects standing there, and asked, “Uhhh … isn’t that supposed to go on top of the Christmas tree?”

Feeling starved of autumn’s vibrant colors, I took a spontaneous road trip up into Appalachia. I visited Asheville, Cumberland Mountain State Park, and Ozone Falls. I saw two historic bridges … Poinsett Bridge and Campbell’s Covered Bridge) and climbed to the top of Mt. Roosevelt’s fire road, where I found a spectacular scenic lookout. I shared a mellow moment on an old plantation porch with a cat named Cinnamon, the unofficial greeter of the Marble Springs Historic Site. I walked through three different cemeteries, and then wrote “THE GARDEN OF TIME” in response, an essay which contains perhaps the most forcible sentence I have ever written.

I visited Tennessee five more times … in February, April, June, October, and December. I helped Daniel set up his home studio, spending hours gluing Styrofoam panels into his closet in order to make an isolation booth. We snuggled up with four handicapped dogs and watched three Karen Black movies (“Burnt Offerings”, “Airport ’76,” and “Nashville”). I brought a little cheer to my honey by hiring his favorite comedian (Maria Bamford) and a legendary singer (Boy George) to send him some personalized video messages … it turns out that many celebrities will pimp themselves out to the hoi polloi for a quick buck, and it makes for a really nice surprise gift. We celebrated his birthday in style, with a grand backyard party hosted by one of his best friends, attended by his huge extended family of loved ones. This fête happened to fall on the same night as an impressive fireworks show, so we happily clung to one another as colorful explosions lit up the sky.

After we hit a rough patch near Thanksgiving, Daniel and I decided to temporarily put the brakes on our engagement, and took some time apart to reframe our relationship. We suffered independently of one another for a few weeks, each of us coping alone with our uncertainty and grief, before we realized that our bond was too rare and precious a thing to lose. So, caught up in the spirit of the holiday, and eager for a real reconciliation, I returned to Tennessee once again. I drove for thirteen hours straight, through freezing temperatures and slick roads, to spend the end of the year with my love. Pamela and I made it safely through the 700-mile journey, though at one point near the end we hit a solid sheet of ice and slid entirely off the road, squealing to a stop one inch away from the metal base of a road sign.

I showed up with several Christmas presents, all nicely wrapped with pink paper and ribbons. But Daniel gave me only one gift: a handwritten letter in which he invited me to come live in his house next spring, and share a home with him, and be his life partner. And I said, “Yes.”

So I’m writing this on a worn orange sofa in the tiny hamlet of McEwen, Tennessee, in a room that will someday become my next studio. My feet are resting against the belly of a deaf pit bull named Edison, who contentedly snores and farts while I peck at my laptop. My favorite tea, lapsang souchong, steams in a mug nearby. Over the next few days, Daniel and I will be going to more meetings, joining friends, comforting the lonely, hearing stories of people rebuilding their lives. If all goes according to plan, I will be spending the last few minutes of 2022 in exactly the same way I spent the first few minutes of it, brewing bad coffee with an ancient industrial percolator, surrounded by country folk in various stages of resurrection … a motley family of wrecks and revenants and survivors, phoenixes all. This New Year’s Eve, I’ll be casting my lot with the lucky ones, the ones who are doing their very best after doing their very worst, the ones who are already vowing to make next year better, the ones who are holding each other up, the ones who truly understand the meaning of gratitude.

[thecountoflondonfansite]

Becky was genuinely happy for the two but did they have to act like teenagers with their texting. Bob and Violet always patted her in comfort which the heroine was grateful for. Becky was glad that Dr. Jekyll was still professional enough to not let texts from her dad interrupt class time. As Becky did her work, she couldn’t help but frown at what happened recently. She heard how Amazo Guy got hurt during one of Mr. Hyde’s schemes. She agreed with Patricia that there was no clear evidence that Hyde was responsible for what happened with Amazo Guy. Becky honestly didn’t think that the strange man was vicious enough to do something that diabolical. Yet for some reason, her dad was very rattled and bothered by the guy. Becky couldn’t help but eavesdrop on the conversations her dad and the other adult villains had about Edward Hyde. What she got from her eavesdropping was that Edward Hyde may or may have not been responsible for some type of fire back in London that hurt an important figure, and that he also could be similar to someone by the name of Maddrix the Malicious. Becky had no idea who that was but based on the tones the villains had when mentioning that name indicated to her that he was someone who was like Miss Power to them. Becky pondered on whether she should bring up what she learned about Mr. Hyde and this Maddrix to her dad. Of course she planned to do it when he seemed more calm and relaxed, not as unnerved as he was now. When it was finally Wednesday afternoon, Henry was eagerly awaiting his partner in front of the science museum. Henry had changed into decent, but fitting clothing that would work for a second date. He had decided to dress up nice since Two Brains had dressed up nice for him on their first date. Henry was ready for his date and eager to show him around the exhibits, and later treat him to a nice meal. There was nothing that could dampen his spirits. “Eugh! When is Whiskers going to get e’re?” Hyde groaned from inside their mind. Well Henry may have spoken too soon. “Be patient Hyde. We just got e’re.” Henry scolded his counterpart. “Besides, Two Brains has to take care of his own wee lassie when school ends, just like we do for Amber.” Hyde just huffed. “Oi. It’s not my fault ye are acting so excited for ye date with Whiskers. It feels like ye really want to shag him when he gets e’re.” Hyde smirked victoriously when Henry’s face flashed a crimson red. “Ah don’t want to shag him immediately Hyde! We only just started dating.” Henry angrily exclaimed from inside their mind! “Yeah and denial is just another river in Egypt.” Hyde chuckled. “Remember my dear doctor Jekyll, ah am what you try to repress, your devious and wild side that ye try to hide behind a professional facade. Ah am only saying what ye are feeling and thinking right now.” Henry gave an annoyed glare at the blonde male. Luckily for Henry, anyone who saw his expression just assumed he was mad about something else entirely, not once thinking that he was talking to someone who was visible only to him. Henry’s expression soon brightened when he saw Dr. Two Brains hurry towards him. “Hey Henry, sorry I’m late. Becky had an after school club meeting for the Fair City Scouts. I completely forgot about it until now.” Two Brains explained with an embarrassed expression. “It's quite alright.” Henry reassured him. “Ah have heard about the Fair City Scouts though ah haven’t paid too much attention since Amber isn’t old enough to be a part of the group yet. It does sound interesting.” Two Brains just gave a shrug. “Not my particular cup of tea but Becky enjoys it and she spends time with her friends so that’s important.” Two Brains remarked. Henry nodded in agreement. “So are ye ready to head on in?” Henry asked as he held out an arm to the mad scientist. Two Brains blushed a bit at Henry’s gentlemanly gesture. “Lead the way bright eyes.” Two Brains took Henry’s arm into his own and let the teacher escort him into the science museum. A place that the mad scientist wasn’t banned from. @unhingedexperimenter

(You can tag me on my tgs side blog. I also apologize but I know a few Scottish words. So to anyone reading this I apologize for the inaccuracy.) Becky Boxleitner noticed a change in the atmosphere as she and her pet monkey Bob walked into the sixth grade classroom. All of the students were excitedly chatting with one another. Becky and Bob exchanged confused looks at the scene. 'What is going on?' They both thought. Becky walked to where her friends Violet Heaslip, Rose Franklin, and Todd Scoops Ming were sitting, also joining in the excited yet low volume chattering. "Hey guys what's going on?" Becky asked her friends. They each turned their heads to greet their friend. "Hey Becky guess what, we're getting a new teacher for our class!" Scoops exclaimed. Becky looked surprised at the announcement. Bob also mimicked her facial expression. "Wait really? What happened to Miss Davis?" Becky asked, wondering what happened to their old teacher. It was just a week only into the new school year so a sudden teacher exchange was a complete shock to Becky especially since there were no announcements about it beforehand. "Miss Davis had to move back home because of a family emergency." Rose Franklin answered. "The principal had to scramble to find a new teacher to fill in for our class. It was all last minute stuff." Becky nodded in understanding of her friends' answers. It was a nice perk to be friends who were upcoming reporters. Soon the final bell rang which indicated for every student to take their seats. Becky took her place beside her best friend Violet and Bob plopped down next to her. Soon a man who looked to be in his mid 30s walked in and towards the desk. He had curly brown air, an arched nose, and reddish brown eyes. He wore a tan button-down shirt with a red vest as well as brown slacks and dark suede shoes. The man gave a pleasant and warm smile to all the students there. "Hello my name is Dr. Henry Jekyll and I will be your teacher for the school year." Becky and the other kids ears perked up as they took note of the man's accent. Even Tobey became slightly interested in his new teacher. None of them were sure where their new teacher was from. Dr. Jekyll gave a light chuckle as if he could sense their growing curiosity about him. He lightly clapped his hands together to gain their undivided attention and focus. "Well since this is my first time teaching here, why don't we all play a little game so we can all get better acquainted with each other. Here's what to do. One at a time, say your name and share a wee bit about yourself. Likes, family, interests and all that. I'll go first to show ya what ah mean. Again. My name is Dr. Henry Jekyll. I was born in Glasgow but ah moved to London where I attended university. I have a five year old wee lassie or daughter named Amber. I enjoy chemistry and reading on occasions. Now who would like to go next?" @unhingedexperimenter

Of course Tobey had taken the opportunity to place attention on himself and to have a reason to boast about himself. “My name is Tobey McCallister the third and I will be the most intelligent student you'll meet here.” The others had rolled their eyes, used to this kind of behavior from their peers. Becky seemed to be the most annoyed by it. Having been forced to put up with his destructive tantrums in the past. Henry smiled just as warmly as before. Unbothered by the obnoxious behavior that the boy had been displaying. Tobey had been going on about himself for a good few minutes before the teacher finally spoke up. “Ahem, yes. Thank you for that Mr. McCallister. Would anyone else like to tell me a bit about themselves as well?” No one could tell that behind the facade, Dr. Henry Jekyll was becoming more irritated by the moment. Not by the child but by the pest that refused to leave him be. Scoffing within his head at what they just heard. He didn't share the disembodied voice's opinion but wanted to give the other children a chance to introduce themselves as well. To the others' shock, Tobey seemed to have taken this well. Quickly going back to his desk with no issues. Becky was relieved at that. Soon the other children had started to introduce themselves to their new teacher with little to no issues. He seemed genuinely nice enough to her. This new teacher didn't seem like most of the adults within this city. Some she had to define words repeatedly for. Dr. Jekyll knew what he was teaching and knew his vocabulary. It was Violet who had brought Becky out from her own thoughts, calling her name. Waving a hand in front of her face. “Becky?” The girl smiled in an embarrassed manner. “Huh? Yes?” Violet smiled, patient with her best friend. “Why don't you introduce yourself now? Nearly everybody else already did.” She had given a surprised expression. Becky hadn't realized that she was so lost within her thoughts until then. She stood up and began speaking. “My name is Becky Boxleitner and I also like libraries,reading and Pretty Princess.” The presence that was grating at the teacher's nerves had deemed this too dull to enjoy. Leaving Dr. Jekyll be to his teaching. Well, getting to know his students. He was happy to see that they were engaged in these activities that were meant to break the ice. Though one student in particular had caught his attention the most. Becky. While she did seem rather bright, there was something strange about her behavior at times. Pausing whatever she was doing at the time to listen in on something. Thinking it went unnoticed. Even once looking alarmed and she made an excuse to go to the bathroom. He had allowed it. Feeling that it would've been better to have let her. It seemed…oddly familiar. As if he had seen that behavior somewhere before but couldn't figure out exactly where from. When the school day was finally over, Becky had gone to go home like the others. Dr. Jekyll had of course stayed behind to set more things up within his new classroom. Making a plan on exactly what he'll actually start teaching the next day. Though, the grating voice had returned to be a thorn in his side. “Come on. Leave this boring stuff alone. Leave it until tomorrow. I've been pent up for far too long. Let's have some fun.” This had earned an eye roll and a loud huff from the teacher. “No, I've got to get this done now. You will have enough time tonight. Just be patient until then.” A shadowy figure formed in front of Dr. Jekyll. A frown on its face. “But this is so extremely dull. I want to stretch my legs. I want to make myself known already.” Dr. Jekyll glared. “And that is precisely why I'm so hesitant to let you out so soon. At least let us get acclimated to our surroundings first.” The figure let out an annoyed groan. “You know you want this as much as I do. Otherwise you'd never have any actual fun in the sad and pathetic life you call yours.”

@thecountoflondonfansite

[terbibi]

"You know you're adorable, right?"

camilo x fem.reader

Contains a little bit of Camilo Jealousy

he/him for Camilo she/her for [Name]

This is my First xreader fanfiction

PART 1

Camilo is getting ready for a date with [Name]. They are going to a new museum that has opened in Encanto. He doesn't like museums very much but he likes her, and he will go to the museum just to see her happy face.

"I'm going with [Name] to a museum mommy!" He says to his mother and grabs an arepa con queso .

"Have a good time cariño !" Pepa says saying goodbye to Camilo.

When Camilo arrives at the museum he sees you at the entrance, he wants to call you but stops when he sees that you are talking to someone else

A boy.

Who is that boy?

The boy leaves, and only then does he dare to come up behind [Name] and give her a surprise hug.

"Hi amor" he says squeezing tighter.

"Hi Cami" says [Name] and turns around to kiss Camilo on the forehead.

When they already separate and enter the museum, Camilo dares to ask about that mysterious boy. He takes her to a bench there and asks.

"Mi vida?"

"Yes?"

"Who was that boy you were talking to?"

"Hmh? Sam? Ah he's a friend...You were spying on me?"

"What? No no no no"

There was an awkward silence.

Luckily a lady interrupted the silence asking if they knew where the toilets were.

After that they were talking about other things. Camilo knew that [Name] could have other boy friends, he had other girl friends too!

Still he felt jealous and he didn't like that feeling at all.

When they left the museum they took a long walk to [Name]'s house. They were holding hands, laughing at Camilo's jokes. As they are approaching, Camilo stops and takes [Name] by the hands and gives them soft kisses on their hands.

"Camilo?" [Name] asks smiling, but a little worried.

He doesn't answer but pulls [Name] close to him giving her a soft hug, which makes [Name]'s Heart melt.

He didn't know why but suddenly a wave of love for [Name] had appeared in Camilo's heart. He hugged her even tighter and whispered softly in her ear

"I love you mi vida."

He pulled away from her and looked into her eyes.

"Everything okay Cami?"

"I was thinking,if you wanted to... sleep with me today?

~~

(They didnt do anything dirty!! Only sweet kisses and cuddling)

The next day, Camilo woke up in his bed with [Name] in his arms. He looked at her with affection and caressed her cheeks.

Why are you so sweet?

At that moment [Name] slowly opens her eyes and looks at him.

"Camilo?"

"Yes princesa?"

"Am I dreaming?" asks [Name] with a smile.

"No amor" Camilo replies with a small laugh.

Then Camilo's alarm clock goes off. Casita moves it across the floor quickly.

They both sigh. They stay a few more seconds cuddled up in bed.

"Shall we get up?"

"Last hug!!!" Says Camilo tickling [Name].

"Stop, tontito" replied [Name]laughing.

[Name] yawned sleepily and got up first. Camilo just sat on her bed looking at her sweetly.

"Do your parents know I slept over?" Ask her

"Nah, I don't think they care."

Camilo stared at [Name] with dreamy, loving eyes.

"What?" asks [Name] blushing but smiling.

"You know you're adorable, right?"

~~~

The next day, Camilo wanted to surprise [Name] with some flowers that he had planted himself with Isabella's help.

When he arrived at the river where she was cleaning her things, he saw the boy from last time. Sam.

Camilo felt jealousy rising in his body, but he kept calm and watched them.

Sam was saying something to [Name] and handing her something, Camilo tried to look closer but couldn't see what it was. However, [Name] dismissed it by shaking his head. Sam stood up angrily and waved his arms around, but [Name] kept washing her things and shook his head.

Sam walked away angry and grumbling.

Camilo slowly approached and sat down next to her in silence.

He handed her the flowers.

[Name] took them smiling and brought her nose closer to smell the aroma.

"Thank you, they are beautiful."

They looked into each other's eyes smiling and Camilo noticed that [Name] had wet eyes, as if she had cried before.

" Everything ok amor?"

[name] quickly looked away and put Hers clean clothes in a basket.

"Yes, why should I be sad?"

“Maybe Sam said something bad to you."

"Maybe you should stop spying on me," said [name] a little angrily.

"Hey I don't spy on you! I always come in when that guy is talking to you, it's not my fault!"

[Name] left without saying anything

"Amor! Hey princesa don't go!" Camilo quickly got up and stood in front of her.

He put his hands on her shoulders

"Don't be mad cariño" Camilo murmured hugging her.

" I'm not angry" Said [name] smiling, the soft hug had taken away her anger.

When they separated, Camilo asked

"Who is Sam and what has he told you, if he has hurt you, he's going to have to deal with the Madrigals."

"He's a friend...well he doesn't want to see me anymore. He asked me out" Camilo's smile disappeared. "I said no and he got angry.”

Author’s note: I have a Blockout sorry 😩

[oh-boy-me]

I just read both the australia and museum post and the chaos levels are top tier, but like imagine the chaos that ensues if lord diavolo discovers about amusment parks and immediately just buys tickets to disneyland. Lucifer is basically the dad trying not to loose his children(lord diavolo included). Lord diavolo wanting to ride a loopy rollercoaster and just having the time of his life! (Also I highkey see diavolo ordering lucifer to make a disneyland in devildom tbh) Also mouse ear headbands!

This..... this took forever

Hey there anon!  Sorry it took literally a year to answer this!  If you’re still into Obey Me, I hope this was a pleasant surprise.

Also for the first time ever a scenario post is being put under the cut for length purposes.  This scenario is 2.6k words Jesus

Please note that the last time I went to Disney was in 2015, so anything that’s newer than that is taken from the extensive reading of Disney advice blogs I read in preparation for this post.  Anything older than that is likely from experience.

Also, I tried my best to keep this spoiler free for the attractions that can be affected by it.

--

So the Devildom DOES have the concept of amusement parks.  I slept on this ask for so long that we’ve learned about Devil’s Coast.  It seems to be more akin to a smaller-scale theme park, though.  Small-ish.  I’m used to NYC idk what constitutes as small.

Something like Disney World is on such a larger scale!!  When Diavolo heard about that, he knew they had to go.

They are going to Disney World in Orlando because it’s the only one I’ve been to.

Lucifer is REALLY getting tired of these field trips, but there would be no weird animals, and there would be no sobering lessons on global extinction events at a family-friendly amusement park.  He.  He can handle this.

Solomon has actually been banned from all Walt Disney theme parks.  We’re talking blacklist-level banned.  He’s barred from ever entering any Disney park ever again.  However, this was back in 1976, so this must be, like, his son or something, right?  There’s no way this is the same guy.  Thought the security guard who let him in.

What did Solomon do to get banned?  When asked, he only gave a curious hum.  “Yeah, I wonder.”

The place is split into four parks, so they’ll spend one day in each.

Barbatos continued to flex his power as the only one in the group with a brain cell, being sure to get them all fast passes.  He even set time back just for the passes while they were booking the rides they wanted to cut the lines for, so if they don’t get used he’s going to be very snippy.

Also for convenience sake this is taking place in an AU where everything is the same but COVID doesn’t exist to shut down some rides and attractions.

Day 1: Hollywood Studios

MC and Simeon basically have to coerce Lucifer into letting everyone run free instead of making them all line up with a walking rope all day.  He relents on the condition that everyone checks in periodically so he can at least know they haven’t killed anyone.

Nobody will check in except for maybe Beelzebub and those at Purgatory Hall.

Levi immediately gathered his fellow Star Wars fans (which basically meant calling over Mammon Belphie and Asmo and then pulling in two unsuspecting people suddenly given the title of “Star Wars fan”), and made a beeline for Galaxy’s Edge.  There’s a LOT to do there and damn it if he wasn’t going to hit all of it.

First up for their group is the interactive Millennium Falcon Smuggler’s Run.  They fail the mission.  Levi’s pretty pissed, but everyone agrees that it was fun nonetheless.  They really felt like they were doing a mission in the Falcon!  Plus, the gameplay element was totally up the alley of most of this group.  Simeon does feel a little nauseous from Luke’s jerky steering, though.

Did you know that Diavolo loves Toy Story?  He does.  He’s very much enjoying the Slinky roller coaster with Barbatos.

Barbatos would rather be spending time at the shows and performances, but oh no god forbid we don’t get an autograph from Doc McStuffins.  Lucifer please come find him and save him.

Lucifer somehow wandered into the Frozen Sing-Along Celebration.  He wants out.  Barbatos please come find him and save him.

In general, Lucifer isn’t a fan of these sorts of places, so honestly he’s just hiding from the others and waiting for today to be over.  Barbatos told him that there are parks that don’t revolve around rides and characters, and he’s holding out for those.

Luckily for them Diavolo wants to do LITERALLY everything, and that does include the shows, so Barbatos and Lucifer can have at least some fun today

Levi, Asmo, and Beel are about to start their relay for getting character autographs when Satan shows up out of nowhere and starts dragging everyone over to the Tower of Terror.  Solomon bars all attempts to flee on a certain Avatar of Greed’s side.

The line to the Tower is so long, and honestly?  Satan feels like the ride didn’t live up to the literal hour they waited to get on.  Like yeah it was fun, but way too short.

He voices those thoughts, and Levi, who Satan knows is afraid of heights, is pretty fucking livid and drags him to Rock n Rollercoaster as revenge.  Satan hates roller coasters.

As for the others, Asmo and Luke have a lot of fun on the thrill rides.  Mammon and Simeon do not.  Beel is a little spooked by them but still manages to have fun, while Belphie and Solomon think they’re alright.

Eventually, Simeon gets too sick to move, and they assign him to Luke.  They say it’s because he’s too short to ride some of the rides (even though he’s literally not, screw you guys.)

Barbatos messes with time a lil bit so they can enjoy the Fantasmic Show and Fireworks to wrap the day up.

Levi is very jealous of Diavolo’s Doc McStuffins autograph.  Somehow Asmo has Buzz Lightyear’s number.

Day 2: Animal Kingdom

Satan is vibrating

He literally instantly sprints to the Kilimanjaro Safari.  And good for him; that’s something best done while the sun isn’t high up.  The whole gang actually agrees to check that one out, and while Satan isn’t thrilled to be within 50 feet of Lucifer, he’s glad Simeon is there because he remembers how his presence lured animals out in Australia.

Simeon also finds himself pulled along the trails by Satan and parents watch in horror as a gorilla gives him a friendly pat on the back.

If you didn’t know, Animal Kingdom is divided into the two continents of Asia and Africa, as well as the secret eighth continent Avatar (2009).  Diavolo heard great things about the Flight of Passage ride, but he totally forgot to tell Barbatos about it, so they’re stuck on a three hour wait line now.

Levi takes Luke on the Everest roller coaster because Simeon saw it in the distance and looked like he was about to cry.  Levi wouldn’t shut up about how the yeti effect needs to be fixed and Solomon had to explain that the effect literally couldn’t support itself.

Simeon, having escaped a roller coaster for the first and only time on this trip, grabs lunch with Lucifer and Solomon and they enjoy the Lion King performance together.  Solomon’s the only one of them who’s seen the movie, but the others still found it fun.  Solomon keeps making up random plot points that don’t exist, though.  Remember when Simba was captured by pirates?

Mammon found the Bugs Life show very scary.  Normally Asmo would laugh at him, but he’s afraid of any bug he’s never seen before and at least Mammon was afraid of the things that were supposed to get you.  They agree that bugs are still not their friends.

Satan has many things to say about the Dinosaur ride and most of them aren’t good.  Belphie thought it was pretty ok, though.  Lucifer can’t believe there was a sobering lesson on a global extinction event at this family-friendly amusement park.

Diavolo is still in line.  Barbatos abandons him.  He accompanies Luke to the kiddie fossil thing and actually finds it more tolerable.  Oh yeah that’s the other secret ninth continent, Dinoland.

Beel and Belphie spend most of the day together at the various petting zoos.  Belphie comes back knowing more than he ever wanted to about conservation.  He thought Rafiki’s Planet Watch was going to be about watching other planets, not this one!

Asmo gets very interested in the costumes of the performers, as well as the parrots in the bird show.  He could probably make some really colorful designs with those as inspiration.

Nearby, Mammon runs into Kevin and squawks in surprise.  The zoo staff spend the next two hours trying to find the bird that escaped.

Diavolo says the ride was worth it, don’t worry.

Honestly this park has a lot of stuff that wouldn’t translate well to a funny scenario post so this part might be a little short compared to the others.  I can only talk about a zoo for so long.

Anyone remember the Honey I Shrunk the Kids 4D show?  Apparently it closed in 2016 to make room for more Star Wars stuff.

Anyway, at the center of it all there’s the Tree of Life, which is really pretty all day.  Lucifer is thrilled to have a decently obvious meet-up place, too.  They get to catch the brief awakening show at night.

They’re very bummed to learn the Rivers of Light show isn’t happening anymore, so Levi pulls it up on his phone so they can watch it in spirit.

Then Satan learns about the Wilderness Explorers badges and the others spend the rest of the time preventing too much collateral damage over the fact that nobody told him.

Day 3: Epcot

Finally, Lucifer thinks.  Boo, Luke thinks.

Beel didn’t expect this park to be that interesting to him (he’s much more into the wonder and immersion of Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom), but then he learned about the restaurants.  China, Norway, France, Mexico, Germany, Morocco, Italy, Japan, Canada--Canada?  Huh.  Canada.  There’s so many different restaurants from so many cuisines to try, and yeah he knows that it’s definitely not the same as going to the place and it’s overpriced (sorry Lucifer), but it’s all right there.  He makes certain to take MC on a deluxe Epcot restaurant tour.

Oh yeah MC.  That’s the first time we’ve heard from them in a while.  They’re doing whatever you want them to I guess.

Levi buys so much from the Japanese gift shops that he has to go back to the hotel for a bit to drop his bags off.

Satan and Diavolo aren’t much better, but their stashes are more varied.

Also, Diavolo found Mouse Gear, and bought everyone a pair of ears.  Lucifer says that everyone has to keep them on because it’s what Lord Diavolo wants, but he is by far the most upset about them.  Mammon snaps a picture and Lucifer throws his DDD into the lake.

Asmo and Belphie decide they’re gonna take it easy this day, and they nab Solomon and Barbatos for some exhibition hopping.

Luke finds Mission Space and please father no Simeon thought he was safe he thought he was safe here no please

Aside from that, though, Luke honestly finds this part of the park boring.  He’d have been more interested in these attractions elsewhere, but as a kid he’s in Disney for roller coasters and Mickey Mouse.

Simeon is very grateful that Luke doesn’t have much that he wants to do, because it means that he can enjoy the Gran Fiesta and Living with the Land boat rides and have a single moment where he doesn’t feel like he’s about to be sick.  He’s not even afraid of the rides; he just gets motion sick easily.

Asmo makes sure to see the Chinese acrobat show, and Mammon catches that with the show-hopping gang since there isn’t much he wants to do here either.

Epcot has alcohol and Solomon hasn’t been able to drink in ages so he really wants to spend some time doing that with MC.  No demons allowed, thank you very much.  He doesn’t hold his liquor as well as he’d like you to believe, but he just gets really talkative when drunk so it’s ok.

Epcot is a nice day to take a breather and Lucifer and Barbatos definitely needed a breather before tomorrow.

Day 4: Magic Kingdom

This is the day Diavolo has been waiting for.  The crème de la crop, the best park for kids and kids in a future king of the Devildom’s body.

Also I feel like now is a good time to mention that this probably isn’t a reasonable order of events because I don’t remember the map layout of these places idk Disney city planning

This time.  This time, Levi, Asmo and Beel are gonna get those autographs, dammit.  Levi doesn’t even know who half of these characters are but hell if he’s not getting their autograph.

Mammon actually really loves the mascots too, but he’s embarrassed about it so he’ll only try to get one if he can use the guise of MC wanting one.  MC, please help him out

Belphie isn’t big on rides, but he does have a soft spot for the more retro ones like Dumbo and Seven Dwarves.  And like I said before, Beel loves Magic Kingdom for its wonder.  So Belphie is perfectly happy being led (read: piggybacked) around by Beel today, because their favorite attractions match up pretty well here.

Actually, Beel’s favorite Disney movie is Lilo and Stitch, but.  RIP Stitch’s Great Escape ride 2004-2018

Diavolo and Lucifer take a moment to enjoy the Carousel of Progress, and they reflect on how much the Human World is always changing and how much about it they still don’t know.  It really does make them think, like.  Grandma found the VR games at Christmas!  The Devildom doesn’t have grandmas!

Mammon is terrified of the Haunted Mansion ride, and Satan has literally never felt so much schadenfreude in his life.

Mammon’s afraid of most rides to be fair, but he likes water rides, so Levi eventually takes pity on him and they go on Splash Mountain together more than once.

The Peter Pan ride broke down

Luke wanted to go on Space Mountain and Simeon was the only one around, so.  RIP Simeon ????-2021

Diavolo was That Guy.  If you know, you know.

Beel accidentally spun the teacups way too fast.  Not even Solomon got out of that one unscathed.

Following that, Solomon manages to drag Barbatos onto the Jungle Cruise while Lucifer is busy.  What is Lucifer busy with?  Riding the Buzz Lightyear shooting ride over and over until he hits every single target and gets a perfect score at a Disney ride, something that is normal to want and possible to achieve.  Anyway, Barbatos finds it really charming and Solomon finds it a nice break that he didn’t know he needed.

While looking for a food place that sells water for a reasonable price, a kid runs up to Asmo asking for a picture and autograph.  He’s kind of confused, but goes along with it to make the kid happy.

Turns out, Asmo’s so naturally charming that they mistook him for a prince.  Other groups see that family and follow suit.  Mammon eventually catches wind of it and shows up to charge a fee.  The parents are pretty sure Disney doesn’t charge fees like that, but their kids really want a pic with Asmo so they hand over the two bucks.  (“Oh it’s so low” come on Mammon’s not a dick to children.)

And that’s the story of how Mammon and Asmo ended up in Disney Jail.  You’re very much not allowed to pretend to be a cast member and then charge money for it.  Lucifer has to bail them out as their “guardian,” and as punishment they aren’t allowed to opt out of It’s a Small World.

Small World isn’t that bad imho, and those like Diavolo, Satan, Simeon, and Levi would like it a lot.  But Lucifer has been playing parent all day, Belphie does not like the noise, and Solomon has literally been on this ride at least fifty times.  Very mixed feelings on this one, but it feels fitting to end with that and a fireworks show.

All in all though this wasn’t the worst trip Lucifer’s been on (cue everyone applauding for some reason).

Barbatos by far had the least fun of them all because for four days he was stuck in a park where the mascot is a fucking rodent and he wasn’t allowed to annihilate Mickey Mouse where he stood

“Disneyland Devildom when” “Lord Diavolo, no”

Masterlist

[kittydemon9000]

SO MERLOPIAN KAI PART 2 ELECTRIC BOOGALOO

So, with Kalmaar, he ofc immediately goes to his parents about his feeling, slightly placing his revenge on hold. They are...dubious about it, but Maya raises the point of how there has never been a human/merlopian hybrid before, and from what Ray has told them about having two EM parents it’s possible for Kai to have some water abilities himself, which could be what gave Kalmaar his feeling. So, they agree to look into it.

Moving on..... Uh. Kai doesn’t have a fun time in S6, as briefly as he’s there. You see, Nahdakahn knows exactly what buttons to press and is able to get Kai into a panicked state where he, on the verge of a panic attack and mental breakdown, just says “I wish that I could just be normal! I wish I could just go home! I wish I could be with dad and mom and father and Kal and Bentho and Nya!!!”

The “normal” comment comes from how they weren’t able to completely hide Kai’s heritage since yeah, there were other people on the boat who saw him. That and he also tried a lot less to keep it hidden. And because some humans are assholes, he has to deal with that.

So ofc, Nahdakahn interprets it in the worst ways and as two wishes. Kai is now a full human yes….but was also sent to where the fish fam currently were……which just so happened to be at the bottom of the ocean.

So yeah, double trauma for both groups. Kai got to experience what drowning felt like, and his fam was essentially forced to watch him die since there was nothing they could do. They were too far under to take him to the surface and too far from the palace to take him there.

But dw, it gets even worse.

You see, the whole reason Nahdakahn is being this malicious about Kai’s wishes is because he learned that Kai was the reason the Preeminent was destroyed, thereby destroying Djinjago.

Nahdakahn is then able to do a “oh? Is this not what you wanted? I thought you wished to be normal.” Which ofc sounds really bad since it’s in front of his family. “But, I understand. You grow tired of the stares in the street, how they whisper behind you back about what you are. Not human, not merlopian, not normal. Just a freak masquerading as one of them.”

This ofc supremely pisses off the fam. Like, weapons drawn ready to commit murder.

But then Nahdakahn stop them with a “ah ah ah, I wouldn’t do that if I were you. After all, I am the only way your son has a chance at living. So go ahead. Make a wish.”

Trimaar ends up being the one to do it, and is smart enough to know this uh will twist it in anyway he can so says. “I wish for Kai to be sent safely to the surface without harm done upon him.”

Blah blah blah, your wish is yours to keep, Trimaar realizing “wait there’s a lot that could be interpreted” but too late BAM now Kai’s kinda stuck on the Misfortune’s Keep.

And he....generally has a pretty bad time. Think Jay but this time it’s personal.

However, Kai’s appearance had Trimaar get the Merlopian army and start heading to the surface. The remaining ninja have a brief moment of “are you kidding me two enemies at once” before learning that this is Kai’s lost family and they’re here to help.

So now the ninja have a whole ass fish army to help them, plus a very protective, very angry fish family.

But for the rest of canon, the only difference is that when they’re leaving Tiger Widow Island, Nya gets snatched along with Jay(who was taken because he hadn’t used his wish yet) and they aren’t stuck on the island, and then later that Kai gets sucked into the sword when the ninja launch their rescue mission.

But yeah, it gets all Un-Happened by Jay’s wish(which at seeing Kai physically hurt and being emotionally torn apart at his baby sister dying, wished that none of this ever happened and that Nahdakahn was never found), only like canon Nya and Jay still remember what happens.

Nya is now firmly on team Kai Is Alive and tells her parents everything about what happened and the wish Jay made, and more importantly where Kai is.

Unfortunately, they need to take some time and prepare. Trimaar and Maya have been doing their best over the years to open the populace possibly making bonds with the humans, but now it’s finally happening. They can’t just go up there out of no where, since from what Nya has told them 1) most humans don’t even know they exist and 2) in the past few years they have been subject of many attacks, mostly from non-humans, so they need to make sure the humans understand they don’t mean any harm.

So DotD happens, then the beginnings of S7 :)

Right out, Kai never liked the museum curator. Up to that point he’d only ever caught fleeting glimpse of him but something about him Kai just despised. As a result, he also visited the museum as scarcely as possible, and thus didn’t notice a very interesting painting containing a two very strange figures.

When he learns his name was Dr.Saunders.....things don’t go well.

It happened when Kai brought the helmet with his dad’s symbol on it. As much as he disliked the curator, he was the most likely to be able to recognize what kind of helmet it was.

Then in his anger he gets himself captured.

He’s taken to a special cell lined with vengestone and has guards around the clock, and Krux takes extra care to make sure Kai doesn’t know where Ray is.

ofc it’s around this time that the Merlopians arrive and express their wishes for a possible alliance between their two races. Unfortunately they showed up at literally the worst time, and double unfortunately the people in charge of diplomacy decide to bring some of the ninja in as an extra precaution because of the villains have been running around.

So the people who join the meeting are Lloyd and Jay from the ninja(they would’ve brought Kai but he hasn’t returned from his missions yet and isn’t answering their calls) as well as some police officers and from the Merlopians is the whole royal family plus a few guards.

Both Jay and Nya have a silent moment of staring at each other since “I know and I’m not sure you know but I think you know but I don’t want to say anything since you might not”

And just as they’re about to start, The Time Twins attack. Because why the hell not.

They’re actually able to hold them off for a while, but unfortunately there are too many Vermillion. Then Kalmaar whips out his Water Powers which causes him to get kidnapped since they need both Fire and Water masters for the blade.

While they’re recovering, Lloyd then gets a panicked call from Zane saying that he checked the museum footage and Kai has been captured. The gets overheard by the royal family, and then Lloyd asks why they looked so upset at which they learn(sans Jay since wish) that Kai is royalty. The eldest son actually, and thus first in line for the throne, as well as being presumed dead for the past five years.

So basically Krux has kidnapped the King and Queen’s husband, the crown prince, and the second in line prince(if anyone knows a more fancy term for this please let me know)

Maya, Trimaar, Nya and Benthomaar are not happy. Not with the Ninjagian people, no they’re fine, but they’re bout ready to murder Krux, and they don’t even know about Ray yet.

So they offer any help they can.

Zap back to how Kai and Kalmaar are doing.

Kalmaar is….kind feral tbh. Like, he’s biting, clawing, trying to strangle them with his tentacles, and before they got vengestone cuffs on him was trying very hard to drown anyone.

Ofc, this does little to the Vermillion and soon Kalmaar finds himself in the cell right next to Kai’s. He’s overjoyed to see his brother again, albeit upset that this is why.

They both reluctantly come to the conclusion that there isn’t much they can do at the moment, and there are many Vermillion guards right outside their cells, so they decide to start catching up.

And for pretty much the rest of the season canon is pretty much the same, just shuffle around the characters a bit and add a protective Fish Fam. 

Though their little trip back in time is quite sight for the Past EMs, especially because of how Kalmaar is using his powers, which leaves Kai mostly stuck in his Fish Form. This time they don’t even bother trying to explain, just give instructions on how to defeat the Vermillion and jumping into the battle. 

And I mean just imagine that from the EMs perspective. An enemy you thought you defeated just returned with a giant metal creature and an army of snake things that don’t look like any kind of Serpentine they’d ever seen. Then a shark person and squid person??? show up and not only do they know how to fight the snake things but they also seem to be Elemental Masters???? Despite the fact Ray is very much alive and they didn’t even know there was a Water EM. Then the two not only summon dragons but they also fuse their dragons into an even bigger one with two heads.

And then all of them disappear into the sky without a trace.

W i l d

But yeah, after that it calms down quite a bit. Kai spends the time skip before S8 reconnecting with his family and his dad, and through some tech courtesy of Borg they're able to bring Ray with them :D

And Kai actually goes to meet the Jade Royal Family since y’know. He’s the crown prince. He’s kinda important and legitimately forgot about it. Luckily Kalmaar is able to help coach Kai through it, but is also a bit smug about how he finally has something to teach to his older brother. Kai was actually the one who suggested asking the ninja for help protecting the mask.....but we know how that inevitably ends.

Bentho, Kal and Nya were actually on the ship for this particular adventure, and then Nya and Bentho were dragged along when they got sent to the First Realm. Bentho, despite being the youngest sibling and to the surprise of literally everyone, was actually really good with kids and spent the most time with Little Wu, right behind Cole.

But yeah S9......Nya and Bentho have a really bad time in the First Realm beause of the heat, but at least they don’t get captured. Kai on the other hand....

Yeah at some point he gets accidentally splashed with water and well.....it definitely doesn’t help with the Oni accusations. The Dragon Hunters decide to burn him along with the Wind Dragon, which moves up their Build Our Own Dragon time table.

After they escape Faith is actually pretty chill about the whole fish thing, but she does ask a lot of questions. 

And then S10..... kinda the same. They end up dropping off as many people as they can with the Merlopians since the smoke can’t reach them.

I might make a Part 3 for the rest of the seasons, but yeah. this is where we’re at.

[starsstruck]

cloudbusting; part six.

a classic coffee shop story. harry is a painter that quickly becomes a regular at his neighbourhood cafe, and it just might have something to do with a certain barista. midnight confessions, cozy closing shifts, and new lovers. 

pairing: harry x reader warnings: language, mentions of anxiety, sexual content words: 21.3k

series masterlist

art by holly warburton. (i have no vision for the mc of the fic, people in the images of paintings i use are purely because this is how i envision harry’s art to be)

a/n: thank you for everyone’s patience as i wrapped up the series 🥺 the final part is here ! very bittersweet for me, i am both very nervous and excited to share this with everyone ! tina @sunflowers-styles i truly cannot thank you enough for everything you’ve done to help me out ily to the moon ! 💞❤️ as always please share and let me know what you thought ! happy reading to everyone 🍊💞

The last time you spent a long time analyzing paintings was when your mom came to visit you in the city and the two of you went to the MET together.

There were walls and walls of art that you didn’t really know the context to – ranging from the medieval period to the surge of postmodernism – things that you had remembered but didn’t really know what they meant. At the time, your mother had been the one excited to go, but the more hours you spent at the museum, the more you found a liking to the art.

That said, that was the last time you really went to a gallery. That was until this past month.

You didn’t really know how long you had spent inside the small gallery.  

Harry lingered by your side for a bit, telling you that if you had any questions about the art or if you wanted him to stay by your side, he could do just that.

You had told him not to worry about you, luckily just as Aleena came by your side and gave you enough of a reason without telling him to go away.

You didn’t want him to go away, you actually did want to stay by his side. But you felt so incredibly guilty and overwhelmed that you knew that you would babble all of this in one breath if you were to stay by his side.

So instead, you stayed at a safe little distance. Walking around the space of the gallery, taking in every small detail of his work. There were sunrises and coffee cups, brushes of fingertips and shut eyelids – everything was so intricate and so beautifully planned that if you weren’t in a room full of people you would probably cry.

You always seemed to be not that far from Harry, once and a while catching his eye from across the room. Time seemed to have flown by, and as the night slowed down and people filtered out, you soon started to realize just how late it had gotten.

Harry had told you after, after what? You felt almost silly, waiting around. You didn’t even know what you were really waiting for.

“My husband is coming to pick me up,” Aleena squeezed your arm from where she stood next to you. “Did you want a ride as well?”

She watched from next to you, as your lips were bit together with nerves that never really seemed to leave your system. After thinking over her offer for a second, you smiled at her. “I’ll be okay, thank you though.”

“Okay,” she returned that warm smile she always had, offering you some ease. “Let me know when you get home, yeah?”

Just as you were nodding and promising that you would get home okay, you saw Harry with his eyes focused on you and a quick pace in his step as he walked towards you.

Nerves bubbled over inside of you, grateful that Aleena hadn’t left just quite yet as he turned to talk to her. “Have you had a good evening?”

Aleena’s eyes drifted over to you, where you stood more or less frozen with your hands woven together, trying to not think too much about how intoxicating it was to be standing close to Harry once more.

“I have – thank you for inviting us,” she shot you another look before turning back to Harry. “Everything looks great.”

Harry nodded with a smile playing on his lips, a little humble nod of his head as he accepted the compliment. He seemed to be about to say something else, when Aleena’s hand gripped your arm once more as she glanced down at her phone. “Oh! My husband is here – I’ve got to head out.”

She pulled you in for a little side hug, waving goodbye. Once again reminded you to let her know when you got home safe and her eyes flicking between you and Harry as she spoke wordless things to you.

As she walked away with her coat hugged around her frame, a small moment of silence passed between you and the honoured artist of the evening before you even dared to look at him again.

“Did you have a chance to look through everything?” Harry directed all of his attention to you once you did look at him. You laced your fingers together nervously and played with the ring on your pinky. The both of you knew that you had seen everything twice, but he needed to say something.

Nodding, you cleared your throat. “I did.”

“And?” He had his own hands fidgeting with each other behind his back as he watched you.

“I love it. All of it.” You offered him a smile. You saw a light pink tint his cheeks, eyes flicking away from yours for a moment.

“Did you have any questions, or…?”

You paused at his question, looking around the emptying room. “I mean just,” you met his gaze once more. “How?” The word was a breath of air past your lips, as you were still so completely incredulous as how he had done all of this. “How – how did you do all this?”

One side of his lip curved higher in a smile, dimple popping as he watched you sheepishly. “Spent a lot of time at the café, sunshine.”

Your heart sped up at the use of the little pet name he had graced you with. “We need to talk. I – I want to talk to you about everything.”

The words were blurted from your mouth, drawing his attention to focus solely on you as his chest visibly expanded with a deep breath. “Yeah, we do.”

“Okay,” you nodded your head, voice dropping. “Good. I – I wasn’t fair to you Harry.”

He was quiet for a moment, nearly a moment too long but he looked at you with that little half smile and gave you a little hum, before nodding his head at painting to your right. “Which was your favourite?”

You were a bit caught off guard from the way he changed to conversation, but you felt yourself melt a bit closer to him. He took a step towards you to stand next to you, both looking at the paintings in your vicinity.

“All of them,” you said quietly, a truthful answer to his questions. “All of them are my favourite.”

You felt his gaze on the side of your face, meeting his eyes when you looked back at him. His lips were drawn into the biggest smile you’d seen from him all night, a breathless laugh emerging from you at the sight of it. “Not too good at making decisions, are you?”

“Not usually,” you hummed, all the ‘I don’t know’s’ that you’ve spoken coming to mind.

“That’s okay,” he murmured quietly, eyes catching with someone as they waved goodbye to him from across the gallery before he looked back at you. “Can I show you my favourites?”

You smiled. “I thought you said that this one –” you pointed to the smaller frame you had both worked on, “– was your favourite.”

“Mhm it is,” he hummed. “But there are just too many of them that I love.”

A small laugh sounded from you, nodding before he motioned for you to follow him. “I really like this one,” he angled his head to a canvas filled with warm tones, brushing of fingers and peels of mandarin oranges littering the surface.

“I started eating so much more citrus fruit after I met you – is that weird to say?” Harry laughed, a bit nervously in your opinion, as you joined his light humour at the confession.

“I don’t think that’s weird,” you told him, observing the painting again.

“Good,” he mumbled, only briefly stopping with you before he started to move across the gallery once more to another painting.

“This was one of the first one’s I made,” he explained, stopping in front of a large work. There were only unmarked figures and bright spots of colour over the frame, warm toned browns and oranges overpowering the entire thing. As you looked closer, you saw the majority of these unknown people were interacting with each other: small shows of affection of held hands and arms over shoulders.

“It was after sitting in your coffee shop for so long the first time. I knew I felt warm, and comfortable there – just didn’t fully realize why yet. Went home that day and started this one.”

You had no idea what to say. He had started these the first time he had gotten coffee at your work? You wanted to wrap yourself in the canvas and live in the peaceful world he had created within the frame.

“I love the way you paint the café, makes me want to live there.”

“Me too,” he laughed, his arm nudging yours lightly to keep guiding you along. It was the first real touch he’d given you all night.

“This was the first time I painted you,” he stopped in front of a medium sized canvas, splashes of blue mixed into his usual warm tones as a seemingly far way figure was mostly turned away from the viewer.

Although there were no distinct features, there was a certain likeness to yourself that you had no idea how Harry had managed to capture. You looked as if you were almost floating above, other figures around you not as detailed or pronounced.

“I didn’t realize…” you spoke, more so to yourself as you leaned in closer towards the thick canvas.

“Me neither,” Harry admitted. “I didn’t realize it was you that I was painting at first. I finished it the day after we kissed.”

He turned back to face you. “I could talk about these,” he motioned to the room around, “all of these, forever. Just want to show you some of my process – how this all came to be.”

“I know I’ve said this already but it is so breathtaking,” you spoke truthfully.

Harry smiled dreamily at you, a small flush of pink on his neck as he nodded at the compliment. “And I know I’ve already said this, but it’s all you.”

Your breath stopped momentarily in your throat, as Harry was looking at you like you were the only person he ever wanted to see.

Though something pulled his attention away for a moment, and he was soon clearing his throat and glancing around the room before he spoke again. “We should be getting out of here soon – it’s just past eleven o’clock.”

Was it? You had no perception of time since you’d step foot inside the room.

“Do you think, um,” your lips were tight between your teeth. “That we could go somewhere, walk around…”

“I’d love that,” Harry responded nearly immediately, the nerves in your stomach settling just the slightest bit.

He needed to grab something from a room in the back before you left, and he was soon by your side with his familiar bag slung over his shoulder as he guided you out the door.

You didn’t know where you were walking really – if there was somewhere he had in mind or if you were mindlessly wandering. You didn’t care that much though, you trusted him, you knew that much.

There was a cold bite in the air, enough to make you shiver as the wind picked up the slightest bit. You were hugging your arms to your chest, feeling almost weird walking with the distance that was between you and Harry.

There were a good five minutes in complete silence, before you couldn’t bear the quiet anymore. You slowed down slightly to catch a quick glance at him, taking a breath.

“I’m so sorry, Harry. You don’t deserve this. I owe you an explanation.”

“What happened?” He asked quietly, your name low in his mouth. “I thought that we were…” he trailed off, letting you finish whatever thought he had.

You sighed, having planned so many things to say to him but at the moment it all left your head. “I got scared. I um, got insecure,” you laughed nervously. “It’s dumb, really.”

“It’s not,” he shook his head. “Your feelings aren’t dumb.”

You had both stopped walking by this point, stopping by a little park near the water and finding an only slightly damp bench to sit on. You kept your eyes focused on the ground, before braving a glance at him and bearing your heart.

“I really started feeling something for you – more than I thought I could in such a short time. It’s kind of… terrifying to me and unknown and just. I found any thread to pull at to let everything fall apart.”

He was quiet, watching you intently with the little furrow between his brow as he listened. “I get … anxious over every fucking thing.” You spoke in a long breath, blinking quickly. “And I let myself – I get in my own way all the time. Overthinking, finding any small reason to pull back, pushing you away when I really didn’t want that.”

“I feel so lost, most of the time,” you kept speaking. “And you’re like, this big ball of light that came into my life and I didn’t… didn’t feel like I deserved it.”

“It’s okay to not know what you want.” Harry said softly, only briefly cutting in.

“Still,” you exhaled. “It doesn’t excuse the way I was so shitty to you, and,” you took another breath. “I didn’t mean what I said last time.”

“I um, I realized that I really like you. And I don’t feel like that very often – there’s a reason that I haven’t ever really been in a long-term serious relationship – I scared myself into thinking that you maybe didn’t feel the same…”

Harry was still quiet from next to you, and you dared to cast him a glance after your confession. He had a smile building on his lips, one that you weren’t expecting to see. “You were worried I didn’t feel the same?”

“Well…”

“Ate you out on the floor of my studio – don’t just do that with anyone.” He spoke softly. You felt yourself warm at the way he spoke, eyes briefly tracing the pattern of leaves splattered across the ground. “Spent all my free time in your café, all my free time just bugging you while you were working. Painted an entire show just about you –”

He cut himself off, taking a breath as he quietly murmured your name, getting you to meet his eyes again. “Haven’t been able to get you out of my head since the moment I met you.”

Harry fell quiet for a moment again. “I forgive you – and I hope that you can talk to me about everything. Anything that makes you anxious, any reason you doubt yourself – I’m here for you.”

Your heart grew ten times in your chest. “I don’t deserve you…”

“You really need to stop doubting yourself,” his tone was light, eyebrows raised as he watched you with a smile pulling at his lips. “You deserve everything.”

“Harry –” you inhale deeply, insides feeling warm and fuzzy at his confessions. “Thank you. For everything. I’ve never met anyone like you.”

Again, he fell quiet with his eyes flicking around the two of you before he leant back on the bench a slightest bit. “You never answered my question, you know.”

“What question?” Your confusion was clear on your face.

“From that night – after we painted,” he paused, watching your brows fall closer together in your confusion. “I asked if you thought things happened for a reason.”

“Oh,” you said quietly, the memory of the question barely there. “Why’d you ask?”

“I like to think that things happen for a reason,” he mused, not really answering your question either. “Not that we’re all born with a written path, but that you stumble upon people and opportunities based off of the decisions you make.”

“What do you mean?”

“Can’t really put it into words,” Harry mumbled, shrugging his shoulders. “It’s like because of the decisions you make, it kind of … guides you in a certain way.”

You thought over his words, slowly nodding. You agreed that you didn’t think everything happened for a reason, with a planned path for everyone. Though you had never really thought about it in the way that Harry had just described it, and you found yourself agreeing with him.

He kept speaking in your silence. “Like, you don’t have a planned path for you but maybe just a small one. One that changes at every decision and turn in your life.”

“I like that,” you quietly spoke, bottom lip between your teeth.

“Like…” his hesitation made you look up at him. His expression was light, small crinkle in his eyes that held a smile, while he rubbed his thumb over his bottom lip.

“Like how I walked into your coffee shop because I like the colour tangerine, and then I met you.”

His words made your heart leap in your chest. Any thought left your head, the only thing coming out of your mouth was a breathy puff of air.

“I remember thinking,” he kept speaking, confessions tumbling from his lips. “That it was a bit of a silly name ‘Tangerine Coffee’, made me curious. But… it brought me to you.”

You didn’t know how to properly respond, no one ever telling you anything of the sorts that made you feel the way you did – that made you feel like you could give yourself completely to this person without a doubt in your mind. You wanted to wrap your arms around him and kiss him senseless, until you were both gasping for air.

“That’s,” you cut yourself off, starting over again. “Harry –”

“Listen,” he rushed. “I like you, so much so if I haven’t made that obvious yet. I want you, in any way you’d have me.”

Your legs felt like they melted into puddles, taking a breath before telling him. “I want you too – I never wanted you to go anywhere.”

His expression softened, and you saw his hands lace together with his fingertips fidgeting with each other as if he wanted to reach out to you but was restraining himself. “I hope that I make you good, I don’t want you to feel afraid – about anything.”

His words sat heavy in your head. You once again found yourself with so much you wanted to say to him and return his affections but didn’t find the words to say them.

“Do you think we were meant to meet?” You said instead, voice slow as you tried not to let your breath stop in your chest.

“I don’t know,” he spoke honestly. “But I know that now that I have, I can’t imagine my life without you.”

His words warmed your heart. “Me neither.”

Now that you had started, you couldn’t stop. “Harry I can’t apologize enough for how I panicked like I did. With past relationships, they’ve never really gone anywhere – I never really felt anything. Nothing past initial interest or attraction. And then with you… I didn’t realize what I was feeling and then when I did, I let it fall apart.”

A burst of wind passed through you again, and as you hugged your arms around your chest tighter, Harry’s shoulder pressed against yours.

“I’ve only really been in one serious relationship,” Harry started. “When I was twenty-one. Lasted for a couple years, but the longer it went on the more I realized it was more so just… easy to stay together. I had just left school, and wanted to move out here. She didn’t – it didn’t end really well.”

“I moved out here, started over. Felt like nothing was really going to ever work out, but slowly it does. It’s odd – when you’re in your mid-twenties you feel like you need to figure out how you’re going to spend the rest of your life – as if you don’t have your entire life. Looking back, I was much more hurt, and lost, than I realized. I thought… that I wouldn’t feel that strongly for anyone again. But I’ve realized that that can easily change…”

His words calmed you. You held your tongue for a second, before asking. “What about Rory?”

Harry laughed. “Why do you ask?”

You were nearly embarrassed about the confession. “I don’t know. I was… jealous of someone who gets to know you like that.”

“You’ve got nothing to be jealous about, sunshine.” He said, tone light. “We were just friends who dated and it didn’t work out. I’ve seen her, I don’t know, three times in the past year.”

“Oh…” you softly said.

“When I say that things can quickly change, I mean how quickly I started to like you. What I’m trying to say is that… it’s okay if it takes you a few tries.”

He made butterflies erupt in your stomach as you told him. “I also thought I could never, um, like someone as much as I have.”

He turned his head so that his gaze never lifted from yours. “Can’t get enough of hearing you say that.”

You held his gaze, watching the quirk in his lips as he brought a hand up to your cheek. You hadn’t realized the way you had missed his touch, until the few quick brushes that night. Feeling his bare skin against yours again just felt right.

Turning your face slightly while you moved closer towards him, you quickly glanced at his pretty pink lips. You didn’t really know why you felt nervous about kissing him again, but after telling yourself a quick fuck it, you leant forward until your mouth pressed over his. 

His hand easily slid from your cheek to wrap around the back of your neck, drawing you in closer as his lips easily accepted your kiss. You felt yourself both calm down and erupt in excitement as you kissed again.

Although, the moment found itself short-lived.

The first drops of rain always seemed anticipated. First a wet spot on the cement, and then a drop hit your nose.

The third drop to hit you is when you start to realize that you are outside without a cover, without an umbrella.

“Fuck,” Harry muttered, head titled up as he glanced at the drops falling from the sky. His hand retreated from you, disappearing into his big ivory tote bag and pulling out a folded black umbrella. “Don’t have an umbrella, do you?”

“No,” you brought a hand to cover your head, a makeshift cover for yourself as the rain picked up. You couldn’t help but laugh slightly, at the interruption of your moment.

“Here,” he unfolded the barrier against the rain, lifting it up over both of your heads. Extending his bent arm that was holding the handle out to you, silently inviting you to loop you own arm in with his.

Accepting the invitation, taking a step closer to him as your side pressed against his. Your arms tightly woven together, he tugged on your arm lightly as he glanced at you under the umbrella.

“I really don’t want to call it a night…”

“Did you want to,” he continued, pausing as he bit his smile down. “Come back to mine? To keep talking,” he quickly added. “We can have some tea if you’d like, warm you up.”

You laughed lightly, nudging him with your hip. You felt a rush of tingles down your spine, a rush of excitement rather than a rush of anxiety. “I’d like that.”

There was something so cheesy about walking arm in arm under the umbrella with someone in the rain, with someone who liked you and you liked just as much. Something so cheesy, something that would happen to Bridget Jones, something so small that you were so overjoyed about having that you squeezed his arm just a bit tighter.

You had no idea what time it was, and you didn’t care. Getting on the train together, watching Harry under the harsh fluorescents as he sat next to you with his thigh pressed against yours.

He was glancing at you from the corner of his eye, a light smile seemingly permanently etched across his lips as he watched you yawn. “Tired?”

“Not really,” you said truthfully. “Well maybe a bit, but not tired tired. Just relaxed.”

He let out a sigh, smiling with you. “Me too.”

The journey wasn’t very long. Sharing the umbrella once more as you walked side by side to his place, feet splashing in the growing puddles that lined the sidewalk.  Part of you always loved the city at night when it rained – everything was still so bright as the lights reflected off the wet road.

It wasn’t long until you were walking up to the familiar building, letting Harry lead you up the stairs and into the warmth. His place was just as you remembered, seemingly cozier at night with the warm dim lighting coming from his lamps. You followed him inside, kicking off your shoes and heading to the kitchen with him.

Eyes darting around his place to take in the place as you’d only really seen half the place last time while Harry walked to his kitchen, part of you eagerness to have a look around also due to the little cat that you hadn’t gotten out of your head.

“Oh!” Exclaiming maybe a bit too loudly in the otherwise quiet studio, at the sight of the little calico that was lightly running towards the two of you. “Where have you been hiding?”

Bending down to trace your fingertips over her back, reveling in the way she rubbed her head over your leg. “You’re just a little baby,” you cooed, ecstatic when she let you pick her up. Holding her small frame against your chest, watching her enjoy the way you dragged your nails behind her ears.

“Not so much a baby anymore – she’s nearly ten,” Harry chuckled near you, grabbing his electric kettle and bringing it over to the sink to fill with water.

“Really?” You directed your question to Harry, not his cat. “She’s so small, I thought she was a kitten.”

He smiled. “She’s just little. Actually is a bit of an old lady.”

“No,” you looked back down at the little calico. “You’re young at heart, aren’t you?”

Harry laughed at your conversation with his cat, turning on the kettle and pulling out two mugs from the cupboard. “When’s her birthday?” You continued with your questioning, lightly placing her back down on the ground when she started to squirm.

“Not too sure,” he hummed, leaning back against the counter to face you. “She was a stray – there are ways you can test all that but why go through the trouble, you know? Fairly certain of her age and I like to think her birthday is in the fall.”

“I get that,” you agreed. “How long have you had her for?”

“About three years now,” he said, as the kettle got louder. “She’s fairly independent, likes to do her own thing but also loves attention.”

“Have you ever painted her?”

Harry laughed, shaking his head. “I’ve tried a few times, yeah. Could never quite capture her though, I don’t know. I’m bound to try again soon, though.”

“Would love to see that,” you hummed. The click of the electric kettle letting you know it was done, and Harry turned to riffle through another cupboard.

You watched him pull out two little tea bags, placing them in the mugs and twisting the strings around the handle of the mugs. You smiled to yourself, noticing he did the same thing you did when you made tea at work. 

He handed you one of the mugs, leading you over to the flower-patterned couch he had on the adjacent living room. You held the mugs between both hands, the hot ceramic instantly warming you.

Easily falling back into conversation with him, talking until the tea grew cold and forgotten by the edge of the coffee table. 

“Your coworker, I realize I don’t know her name – the one you brought to the show with you tonight.” Harry asked, after he told about the various times he had come into your work a few months ago but you were not there. 

“Aleena,” you told him, smile on your lips.

“Yes, Aleena. She would always bring you up when I came in and you weren’t there. Somehow – she always talked about you with me.” 

Small groan leaving your mouth, recalling the various conversations you’d had with her about Harry. “That sounds like her,” you warmed under his light stare. “I did talk about you with her…” 

He shuffled on the couch, eyebrows raised with a silly little grin on his lips. “You did?”

“Well….yeah I did. Talked about you a lot too – even with my brother out of all people and I never tell him anything.” 

“You did?” He pressed, moving a bit closer to you as his hand nudged over your forearm. You glanced away from him, shaking your head with a smile. “Didn’t realize you had it that bad for me.” 

“Shut up,” you tried to push him away, not doing a good job of it and not really caring all that much. 

“Only teasing,” he hummed happily. “Like getting you flustered.” 

You looked back towards him, trying your best to bite away the smile growing at your lips as he did often in fact, make you flustered. 

“Are you not very close with your brother?” He asked after a moment, voice soft once more. 

You shrugged. “I don’t know. We’re just … very different people I guess. I feel bad sometimes, that we’re not really close, but I don’t think we have a bad relationship or anything.” 

“That’s okay,” he said, hand on your forearm now tracing light patterns over your exposed skin, with the sleeve of your sweater pushed up. 

“We’ve tried a bit harder in the past couple of years, especially since my parents split. We both saw how it affected them.” 

“Affected how?” 

“Well like my mom specifically just… seemed so heartbroken for a long time. Even if she wanted the divorce just as much. It’s hard, seeing a parent like that.” 

He nodded, eyes focused on the movement of his fingers of your arm. The little calico cat had made its way onto the couch as well, demanding your attention for a moment as she tentatively placed a paw over your bent knee. 

“The period of grief,” Harry started after a moment, pulling your attention away from the cat that was resting by your leg. “Any kind of grief – it’s hard but it’s important, you know?” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Well like – it shapes you. Like I wouldn’t want to go back to the person I was before. It’s good to let yourself look back, it helps you move forward. But you should be focused on only moving forward, if that makes sense.” 

You didn’t like the idea of Harry having been in pain. 

“Yeah that makes sense,” you nodded after a moment.

He continued. “I think I do that – when things aren’t going well I think back to a time that was better in the past, even if it wasn’t really that much better.” 

“I hope you feel happy now.” 

He glanced back at you, meeting your eyes. “How could I not?” 

A moment passed. A moment where if there wasn’t a cat sitting between you, you were sure that you would topple over him and make sure to never leave him. And with the way he was looking at you, you were certain he was thinking the same thing. 

“I don’t mean –” he paused, fingertips still dancing over your forearm. “Did you want to stay the night? It’s late and raining, and well, you can if you’d like.”

You thought it over for barely a second, every fibre in your body jumping at the suggestion. He was right that it was late, it was likely past midnight. It’s not that you lived that far off, but it would be a small pain to have to walk home in the downpour.

And plus, you very much liked the possibility of ending up cozied up with Harry under the warm covers.

With a short nod and the inside of your lip between your teeth, you glanced at him. “If it’s not too much trouble…”

He nearly sprang off the couch. Holding out a hand to you, you let your palm fall against his as you stood to your feet. He brought you around the corner, to where his bed sat in the back of the studio. Just like the rest of his place, it was warm and inviting.

A dark brown dresser next to a closet had some clothes sitting on top of it, that he quickly grabbed and put them back in their place inside one of the drawers. The tones all around you were deep browns and oranges making you feel cozier just by being in the secluded space. You were busy looking around, at the little images he had on the walls and over the pictures you assumed were of his friends and family.

“Did you need something to change into?” His voice brought your attention back to him, where he was still standing by the dresser and digging through one of the drawers. You glanced down at your sweater covered dress.

“Yes please,” you smiled. “Anything is fine, a shirt or maybe a hoodie? I get cold easily...” you trailed off lightly, eyes meeting his and his expression was the cause for your loss of words.

You didn’t really know why, but he just looked so soft and pretty and so happy to have you with him it was leaving you for a slight loss of words.

He nodded, turning away from you again as he looked for something for you.

“Is this good?” After a second, he passed you a light gray sweatshirt, the fabric soft under your fingertips.

“Should be,” you spoke softly, unfolding the material. You placed it on the edge of the mattress beside you, eyes meeting his for one more brief second before turning away from him completely so that your back faced him.

As if some sense of privacy since you weren’t facing him, although you knew that wasn’t the case as you could feel the burn of his gaze on your back. Biting away a smile even though he couldn’t see the little smirk dancing on your lips, you tugged off your heavy sweater and let it drop next to the sweatshirt on the bed.

Next was the dress, fingers pulling at the zipper until the material was loose enough to fall off your form. Leaving you in nothing but your navy-blue underwear that left not much of your bum covered, you could feel the hot stare Harry had on your bare back as he remained quiet behind you.  

Grabbing the sweatshirt from the bed, pulling the thick fabric over your head in a quick motion and settled it around you until your arms were through the sleeves and the bottom hem covered just enough. It smelled like him, it wrapped around you so nicely you didn’t think you’d want to take it off.

Turning around, you lifted your eyes until they landed on Harry’s face. His gaze shot up to yours, before dropping down once again as he made no move to hide the way he took in your appearance in his baggy sweatshirt.

“Right,” he coughed. If you squinted, you could make out the little red tint on his neck, even in the dim light. “I think I have a spare toothbrush somewhere.”

He led you to the small washroom, walking through the open door and bent down to search in the cupboard that sat under the sink while you watched from the doorframe.

With a small ‘aha’ muttered past his lips, he rose to stand in front of you with a green toothbrush in its cardboard and plastic packaging. He wordlessly opened it for you, tearing the cardboard from the back until the brush was free and ready for you to use.

“Did you need anything else?” He murmured, shifting forward so that he was practically pressed against you in the doorway of the washroom.

Wordlessly shaking your head, your gaze locked with his until he stepped past you so that you could further enter the room and shut the door.

You easily found his toothpaste next to his brush that sat in a little ceramic cup on the counter. After brushing your teeth, you casually searched through his drawers, picking up miscellaneous objects and placing them back in their spots until you found a little pot of moisturizer.

Washing your face and patting small dots of the cream just around your eyes, you glanced over the rest of his possessions in the washroom with a little casual snoop.

The countertop had a few items spread across the surface; a cologne that you brought under your nose, some hair styling product, a little bottle of light purple nail polish, and a little dish that had a couple rings sitting in it.

Realizing you were probably taking a bit too long, you shot one last glance in the mirror before heading out from the bathroom.

You found Harry picking up some stray clothes from on top of his dresser and folding them back into the drawers. He turned around at the sound of your footsteps on the floor, lips turning into a smile as you neared him.

“Good?” He checked, as your fingertips wove nervously together.

“Yes,” grinning back at him, “thank you.”

His turn in the washroom, you didn’t know what to do while you waited. Obviously sliding into bed was the answer, but for whatever reason you felt it best to wait for him to come back. Instead, you walked around the space near his bed, looking at various things he had on the walls and resting on his shelves.

Head tilting to read the titles of the books sitting on his shelf, finding primarily books on artists – some you had heard of but most you hadn’t. Fingertips skimming over the spines of the books, plucking a thin one with a title you were fairly sure was in French. Delicately flipping through the pages, pages of small bits of texts surrounded with little black and white drawings. Everything was in the foreign language to you, though you stopped on a page when you caught the little scribble of English words on the page.

“…they go even farther perhaps, towards the unknown, into the light and joy.”

You didn’t know what to make of it, not having the context of what the rest of the words were saying but you simply enjoyed this phrase paired with the sketches of a couple and dark waters.

“What ya’ looking at?” His voice behind you caught you a bit off guard, feeling as if you had been caught doing something you weren’t supposed to do.

Turning around, you held up the book still in your hands. “Sorry,” you weren’t sure why you were apologizing. “Was just looking at your books.”

Harry walked over to where you were standing, taking a look at the book that you held. “It’s nice, no?” He hummed, taking hold of the book when you extended it out to him. “It was a gift – feels a bit lost on me though since I haven’t had the time to flip through and translate everything. I do really like these artists though.”

“Who wrote it?”

“An artist from the twentieth century – or actually parts of it were written with their partner too. It’s essentially all about the story of their love. I’ve looked up translations for a few things here and there, this one here,” he pointed to the page you’d opened it on. “I really like it.”

You nodded with a small hum, squinting to re read the words on the page once more.

“It’s just – beautiful, y’know? Going into the unknown, with the one you love.”

Still staring at the book in his hands thinking that he was going to speak again, you looked up at him when a silence fell through the room. He was already looking at you, standing closer than you’d previously realized. He had his bottom lip between his teeth, eyes clear as they seemed to scan your every thought.

Something about standing in a warm cozy room while the rain poured outside, reading stories of love with a man who had recently declared his affections for you. Something about it that made a warmth spread through your chest, and a peace that you had never felt settle over you.

“Did you want to go to bed?” The question was quiet, Harry’s voice subtly cracking is if he hadn’t used it in a while.

You were on the verge of making a joke about him being presumptuous, but you were glad that you held it in as a part of you revelled in the way that a thick layer of anticipation seemed to settle in the air around the two of you.

“Yeah, I do,” was all you said instead.

Harry moved first, placing the book back on the shelf where you’d found it, and made his way over to the bed that sat on the other side of the room. You had only just noticed that he’d changed since you last saw him, long legs nearly bare as his bottom half was only covered by a pair of briefs and a teeshirt over his chest.

With his back turned to you as he turned off the large lamp on the other side of the room, the only source of light now coming from the dim lamp on the bedside table. You couldn’t help the way your eyes dropped to his backside, black fabric hugging over the curve of his ass – impossibly attracted to the man before you.

Eyes falling to a newly exposed tattoo to you as he turned around, not missing the slight bulge in his front before your eyes darted back up to meet his gaze. He had obviously caught you staring, a smirk on his lips that he was doing a terrible job of hiding.

He wordlessly walked over to the edge of his bed, pulling up the covers before sliding his legs over the mattress and settling in underneath the duvet. He looked at you expectantly, patting the spot next to him with his palm smoothing over the pillow.

Silently following his motions, lifting bare legs over the mattress to fall in opposite of him. One of your legs hit his under the heavy blanket; neither of you moved. You were on your side, daring to face him as he peered down at you.

You weren’t close together, but you weren’t that far away either. If you reached out you could easily brush your hand across his cheek, and he could lift his arm around you to pull you in closer. A thick beat of silence passed, gaze only breaking with the occasional blink of an eyelid.

You took a step into unknown waters. “I’ve never felt so comfortable anywhere or… with anyone. So, thank you.”

His lips curved in a dreamy smile. “Why’re you thanking me?”

“Just,” you bit your lips together, voice quieter than the pouring rain. “For making me feel that way.”

“’Course,” the word was so quiet, deep from his chest. “I intend to make you feel all kinds of good things.”

A breathy laugh at his words, paired with a little shake of your head. Though you felt the eruption of butterflies through your stomach, they weren’t nerves and rather were warming your body and making you feel even better than before.

“I’m serious!” He urged at your reaction to the slight innuendo. Lifting himself so that his elbow was tucked under to hold himself up to hover closer to you, leaning forward to press a loud kiss to the side of your forehead.

Turning your head at the action, faces mere inches apart. Letting your eyes dance over the line of his nose, to the dip of his cupid’s bow, until they were tracing the soft curves of his lips.

“You make me feel the same, for the record,” his voice had dropped to a whisper, as you watched his mouth form the words.

Momentarily realizing that you had only gotten one quick taste of his lips that night, that it had been weeks since you’d properly kissed him, you were overcome with the strong urge to kiss him until neither of you could breathe.

Your hand moved on its own accord, reaching across the miniscule space between you until your upper body was somewhat twisting so that you could thread your fingers through Harry’s hair. A light touch against him, curls slipping between your fingers as you saw him lean into your hand.

He seemed to be thinking the same thing as you, as his hand raised to hold a light grip of your forearm and pulled himself closer to you. Leaning down until his nose brushed over your cheek, you let your eyes shut while your mouth parted open.

You raised your head off the pillow, lips puckering and landing a kiss to the corner of his mouth. The hand in his hair was pulling him closer to you as he captured your mouth with his. A feather light touch of smooth lips on top of yours, his hand on your arm sliding until it slipped down to rest over your hip. He was pulling you up with a light pressure to draw you in closer, until you were fully resting on your side as well.

“Sunshine,” Harry called against your lips, a quiet hum in his voice. His forehead rested against yours, while you folded your legs towards him to rest more comfortably as you laid propped up on your side.

Then he kissed you, making you forget any fear you’d ever had. His lips moved with yours, not so much with hunger but with desire, wanting nothing more than to feel as close to you as possible. You felt him lick over your lips, easily complying to him as your tongues met with hot need.

His hands were quickly on you, one trailing over your cheek to hold you firmly over your jaw while the other landed against your middle to tug you over towards him. Mouths parting with a hot breath, barely a second apart before they were pressing messily against one another again.

He was pulling quiet gasps from the back of your throat, swallowing every noise you made against him to hold them to memory. Your hand in his hair scratched along his scalp, freely pulling at the soft strands and repeating the action when you felt his chest vibrate with a muted moan.

While your swollen lips pressed hotly together, you felt his hand slide over your hip, resting heavy there for a second with fingertips treading lightly as if considering whether or not to venture lower. Apparently deciding a yes when you whimpered over his lips, his palm smoothed over the curve of your bum and gripped tightly into the skin, the action causing your lower half to push further against him with need.

Tense air of desire surrounded the two of you, actions growing heated while your breathing grew heavier. His hand couldn’t stay in one place, pinching your skin between his fingers as it moved down to your bare thigh. He hooked it in the fold of your knee and pulled your leg up over his own so that you were partially over top of him.

You let out a whine at the feeling of his touch on you, his hand resting where it was for a moment before trailing up north once more. He pushed his palm against the curve of your ass, your hips rubbing onto his thigh in a small motion.

Your leg over him was tightening around his hips as if holding him in place, while his fingertips played with the edge of your underwear and snapped the band over your hip before they were digging into your skin again.

Your mouths parted for a moment, your tongue tenderly licking over his lips as he raised his head towards you to search for more. A soft moan was heard from the back of his throat when your lips fell from his mouth and moved down his jaw, starting a series of feather light touches before your teeth nipped the skin under his earlobe.

His hand smoothed over the top of your hip, edging up under your sweatshirt and over the small of your back. He was gripping you tighter as you kissed down his neck, licking over the sensitive skin. You felt his stomach clench under you, a whimper of your name past his lips when your nails dug into his scalp.

“God, you’re unreal,” Harry panted from above you. “Make me feel – like never before –”

He cut himself off with a groan, while you moved one of your hands along his chest to venture lower and lower with your nails scratching over the fabric of his shirt. You were kissing up the column of his neck, edging the fabric of his shirt up until your fingers met his bare skin.

His lips slid along your temple, own hand leaving from under your sweatshirt and taking a light grasp of your hand just as your fingers edged around his hips and closer to the elastic of his briefs.

“I…” he paused, stopping your hand while you looked up at him in his hesitation. “Fuck I’m sorry – I can’t now, if that’s okay,” he groaned low against you. You saw him squeeze his eye shut, blinking a few times before meeting your eyes.

“I want you,” his voice was raw, and he pushed his hips against yours to accentuate his point as you felt his hardening length through his clothes. “You have no idea how badly I want you. It’s just – been such a long day – I wanna be able to give you everything you need.”

His words sent a rush down your spine, eliciting a little unintentional whine from your throat as you rested your chin on his shoulder and watched him speak. “And ‘m worried I can’t right now –”

A yawn interrupted him and stretched out his jaw, as if his words brought the display of tiredness along.

“Fuck,” he laughed through the yawn. You pushed yourself up a bit, face hovering close to his with a smile pulling at the corner of your lips. “See? I don’t want to fall asleep on you.”

You kissed his jaw, with a quiet whisper. “It’s okay.”

“I’m sorry,” he repeated, watching you shake with a little laugh. “I… I’ve never wanted anyone more,” he whispered hotly against you. “I just…”

“No need to be sorry,” you murmured, capturing his mouth as your teeth grabbed his bottom lip and your hand cupped the side of his face. When you pulled away from his mouth, you nearly missed the small breath of a whine that was sound from the back of his throat.

Brushing your thumb over his cheekbone, you moved your head just far enough away so that his features weren’t blurry to you anymore, while you kept your eyes locked with his. “And I really want you too.”

The weight of his hand left your waist, skin feeling cold without it but instead he wrapped it around the back of your neck, pulling you back in. His fingertips scratched lightly over your scalp, a soft contrast to the way his lips so greedily caught yours.

“You have me,” he whispered, teeth clashing when he spoke. “All of me.”

A whimper echoed past your lips at his words; at the feeling of his mouth on yours, and the way his legs tangled between your own. Mouths slowing against each other, a nearly lazy kiss while you both tried to catch your breaths once more.

You took a breath, wanting to give him as much as he was giving you but not finding the words.

“We can… we can just kiss, yeah? I don’t want to stop.” You mumbled against his mouth while his hand smoothed over your cheek.

“Yes,” he moaned into your mouth. “Just want to hold you close, and…” he never finished his sentence, true to his word and held you close against him and kissed you deeply.

Continuing like that for you didn’t know how long, quiet moans and heavy breaths being the only sounds in the room, hands still gripping each other tightly.

After a while, you felt a small bit of exhaust yourself. The light movements of Harry’s hand running over your arm and up to your neck were starting to calm you down in a way that had your eyelids growing heavy.

Lips slowing over his, you planted lazy kisses over the corner of his mouth and over his chin, while he cupped your jaw to gaze down at you. Eventually, your lips brushed over the column of his neck until you rested your head over his shoulder with a content hum.

Both with swollen lips and heavy eyes, you lay quietly together as sleep slowly took over. His hand kept moving in soothing motions from the curve of your shoulder to the bottom of your scalp, the slow and gentle motions starting to lull you to sleep.

“Long day for you too,” he hummed quietly, words lacing together and his chest vibrated from under you. “You worked today, no?”

Gently parting your eyes at his words, titling your head up so that you could look up at him. “How did you know I worked today?”

A light smile grew on his lips when his eyes met yours, his lips skimmed over your forehead. “Coffee lingers on you.”

“You can smell it?” you giggled. You could always smell it on your hands, your clothes and your hair. But you never knew anyone else noticed.

“Mm I can,” he inhaled exaggeratedly. “Smells good, sunshine.”

You turned your head towards him, pressing a kiss to his shoulder with a laugh. “I’m glad.”

Resting your head against his shoulder, lips puckering to press a soft kiss over his neck before you settled back down over him with a little hum as your eyes fell shut.

You started to slip your leg off of his, but a hand on your thigh quickly stopped you to keep you in place. “Stay right here.” The words were whispered over your forehead, quiet command that had you easily complying.

A peaceful silence fell over the two of you, the only sound coming from the small breaths leaving the two of you. The patter of the rain seemed to have quieted down, and part of you secretly hoped that it would pick back up soon so that you could lounge around the following day without any guilt.

The feeling of his chest that rose and fell under you, paired with the steady beating of his heart and the soft strokes of his fingertips against your skin was soothing you in a way you had never known. “Goodnight Harry.”

“’Night, sunshine.” His voice was barely audible, fingers gripping you just a bit tighter as sleep seeped through your body, an overwhelming sense of peace surrounding you as you rested pressed together. 

The heavy rain was the first thing that you recognized in the early morning. The second thing you felt was the warmth all around you; there was the heavy duvet paired with the familiar and calming noise of a heater going off. The third thing you noticed was the man pressed against you, a thigh between your legs and a hand wrapped around your middle.

You peaked your eyes open, trying to gage what time it was simply from the blinds that had never been closed. The dark grey – nearly black – sky wasn’t giving you too much of an indication but you knew it had to be very early morning.

You were almost in the same position that you had fallen asleep in: on your stomach with your head over Harry’s arm and your hand wrapped around him. You gently moved your head, tilting it up to look up at the presumed still sleeping man by your side. Harry looked so peaceful, eyes shut and lips only slightly parted.

You took a moment to think over everything in the past twelve hours, everything from the night before that had you positively melting in the best way possible.

With the calm that surrounded you, you jolted in his grasp when suddenly he shuffled and his raspy voice sounded in the air. “Morning,”

Head lifting a bit more to get a better view of him, you watched him turn his face as well so that he could peer down at you. “Did I wake you?”

“Been in and out of sleep,” he hummed, his tired eyes glowing when he met your gaze. “You’re awake early.”

“What time is it?” You yawned, moving your hand from where it rested on his chest to rub at your eyes.

“Just past six-thirty,” his eyes never left you, as you felt his hand over your sweatshirt move in small circles.

“I’m used to waking up early – and hey you’re up early too.” The small hint of a laugh sounded through your tone and you felt yourself waking up.

You saw his eyebrows furrow. “Do you have to get to work?”

“No,” you shook your head, content smile gracing your lips at the reminder that you in fact did not have to go into work. “I’m off today.”

The crease in his brow disappeared, a mirror of your smile on his own mouth. “The whole day?”

“The whole day,” you confirmed.

He shifted, keeping you close while he rolled over to his side and helped you do the same until you were both lying facing each other. Limbs were still tangled, one of his hands keeping a tight grip around your back and he had a leg still between your own. Your arm was reached between the two of you, moving to brush along his neck while the other one rested underneath your head.

“And any other plans for the day?”

“None,” your voice dropped back down to a whisper, his gaze intent on yours as you felt his hand slide lower over your back. “What about you?”

“None,” he mirrored, voice still carrying a slight rasp. Silence fell over you again, this time only the rain against the window filling in the gaps.

You were about to speak again, when a slight move interrupted you. A slight move of his leg between yours that caught you off guard when his thigh brushed over your covered centre in a motion that could be seen as accidental but with the way he was looking at you, you were sure he had every purpose in the world.

“D’you have any dreams last night?” He spoke quietly, voice low for a reason you were sure to be other than the fact that he had just woken up.

“No, I – I don’t think so,” you hummed, feeling his thigh move once more to rest easily against your underwear covered heat, as if taunting you to rub over him. “Did you?”

“Mm I thought I did,” he said slowly. His hand stopped at the small of your back, applying a steady pressure to nudge you forward; both closer to him and over his thigh. “Thought for a second that last night was a dream.”

“It wasn’t,” you whispered.

You saw his eyes glued to your mouth when you spoke the words. Watching his eyelids briefly flutter closed, your head moved over the pillow just the slightest bit as if moving in to kiss over your jaw but he stopped himself.

“Certainly wasn’t,” he murmured, gripping your lower back tighter when he pushed you over him with a little more force. A whine from your lips was barely audible when your centre rubbed over him with a bit more pressure.

“How do you feel?” His voice seemed to drop even lower, smooth in your ear. “Still tired?”

“No,” you whispered, a growing ache dropping through your stomach and straight to the spot between your thighs at the growing tension. “You?”

“Wide awake,” he breathed out, a slow blink before his gaze met yours once again.

It was as if unspoken words were shared between the two of you, conversation from the night before of “not right now” fluttering through both of your heads. Was now the time? The anticipation was slowly driving you crazy. You certainly wanted now to be it, and with the way he was looking at you, you found it safe to assume he felt the same.

He brought his hand that wasn’t against your back to the bottom of your jaw, somewhat tilting your head up so that your face was angled towards his.

“I’d really like to kiss you again,” he hummed softly, eyelids still heavy as his thumb brushed gently over your skin. He looked at you in a way that made you feel like you were on fire, a way that would normally have you avoiding his gaze but right now all you could do was stare back at him with hopefully just as much intensity.

“Then do it.”

You caught the way his eyes fell down to your lips when you spoke. You wrapped your arm further around him, pulling yourself closer over the mattress until your chests were nearly completely pressed together. Pressing down just the slightest bit over his thigh, enough to have him grip you tight and he didn’t waste another second before he got everything out of you he wanted.

His mouth landed along your jaw, a series of loud pecks in a line leading to your chin. His shoulder against yours, he twisted his body until he was hovering over you and pushing you onto your back. Supporting himself on his elbows, he took a second to gaze down at you as one of his hands cupped the side of your face.

His thumb made contact with your mouth first, softly tracing the outline of your lips with the pad of the finger before his mouth captured the trail he had just drawn.

Every kiss with him felt like the first time, like every nerve in your body was alert and that Harry was the only thing occupying your mind. His mouth moved languidly on yours, soft strokes of your lips sliding together. His tongue easily slipped into your mouth, smooth licks over each other in slow movements.

His chest pressed against yours, half his body resting over you as his chin bumped yours as the soft kisses deepened. He was giving you everything he possibly could, wanting to savour every moment as the soft mutterings of “we have all day” rang through his ears.

A hum resonated through your chest, the feeling of his hand smoothing over your neck warming your skin. He repeated the motions, holding a grip to your jaw. He seemed unable to hold you in just one place, touching you, feeling you wherever he could.

His other hand had slid between your bodies, gripping into the material of your (his) sweatshirt tightly. The fabric had ridden up on your thighs, the hem of it sitting right below your stomach and your bare legs tangled with his. The blanket over the two of you was falling off to the side, neither caring all that much as heat was coursing around you.

Breaking apart for a moment, both of your breathing growing heavier and you could feel his heart beating faster against you. Your eyes parted open, meeting his gaze while the lip that he had bit into was then tucked between your own teeth.

You felt a laugh slip past your mouth, chest lightly shaking and you saw his mouth widen in a dimple popping smile. You didn’t know why you were laughing, just feeling so light and at peace in that moment that you couldn’t help the little giggle of bliss.

He leant back down, teeth clashing in another elated kiss. Picking up right where you had left off, smiles slowly falling as a subtle intensity grew. Your soft chuckles being replaced with quiet moans, hasty fingers gripping at each other as if the other were about to disappear.

Heavy tension floated between your bodies, unable to help yourself from the small jolt of your hips over his thigh. He urged you to repeat the action, pushing against you hotly while your mouths greedily indulged the other. You could feel him resting hard against your leg, the thought of having been the one to get him there just further turning you on.

Both your arms wrapped around him, one holding into the thin fabric of his shirt while the other was laced through his hair. Your tugs in the strands were growing tighter when he drove his hips forward. You felt one of his own hands venture lower under the duvet, meeting the bare skin of your hip and grabbing into the skin. Pulling your leg around him, allowing space for him to settle in between your legs.

His head hung in the crook of your neck, peppering pecks over the curve before he was sucking soft kisses over your skin. Moans no longer being muffled by his mouth over yours, he quietly urged you on with a never-ending series of kisses.

“Really gonna kill me,” he muttered, the hint of a smirk evident in his voice.

A breathy laugh was all you could muster, focused on the way his hand was edging under your sweatshirt and feeling over the warm skin of your tummy. He pulled himself away, chest heaving in the air as he moved down to press a heavy kiss over your mouth. His tongue moved slowly over your lips, pulling away with a tug of the sensitive swollen skin.

Harry sat up on his knees, shifting over so that he was by your legs with his hands still holding you. The action had caused the blanket to nearly fully fall off, now only barely covering half your legs. Your eyes skimmed over his form, dark shadows beneath every dip in his body. You couldn’t help but stare at the clear as day outline of his length in his briefs, seeming painfully hard and heavily restrained by the thin fabric. You had to bite back a moan at the sight.

He was leaning forward again, his other hand pushing up under the shirt that was riding high on your middle. His eyes followed his motions, the heavy silence interrupted when he cleared his throat.

“Can I undress you?”

His sultry tone and heavy gaze had caused goosebumps to rise on your skin, no matter the heat that surrounded you. “Yes please.”

A hand on either side of you, hem of your sweatshirt hitting his wrists as he pushed up slowly over your chest. His fingertips trailed over your skin as they did so, trickling up and over the swell of your breasts. Soft graze over your nipple had a little gasp emitting from the back of your throat, your eyes flicking up to his to see his gaze glued to the new skin exposed to him.

“Gorgeous,” he mumbled, as you lifted yourself up a bit to help him push the shirt up and over your head, before it was completely forgotten and tossed aside. He hovered closer to you, hands following the line of your shoulders before dropping down to palm over your breasts.

Massaging them in both hands, fully cupping over them as he felt their weight in his palms. He wasted no time, dropping his head lower until his lips met the skin he was so enamoured by.

Hot lick over your nipple, lips circling around the skin as you felt a hum of vibrations when he moaned around you. Both hands were all over you, as if he was unable to stop his indulgence in his admiration for your chest. You gasped into the air when his teeth grazed over your overly sensitive nipple, leaving it nice and wet before he watched the nub harden once more in the cool air.

A trail of his mouth along your upper chest, stopping with swift nips at your skin followed by soft sucks. He was no doubt leaving a few marks to keep an impression of his mouth on you. Giving the majority of his attention to your other breast, hands still occupying as much space on the soft skin as he possibly could.

The sight of wet patches over your chest had you let out an involuntary moan, the feeling of his mouth over you driving the ache between your thighs to a nearly unbearable pressure.

“Harry…” you whined, hand trailing over his neck and to his scalp as you called his name once more.

“Completely fuckin’ breathtaking,” his voice vibrated over your skin, as he pressed a loud kiss over your sternum. “My sunshine,” his lips moved over your collarbone, “angel,” a kiss to the column of your neck. “My tangerine orange.”

His mouth was over your jaw, as he fell back down to his side to rest over the mattress. One arm supporting himself so that he could lean over you, the other still resting at the underside of your breasts while his thumb rubbed small circles into your skin.

“A tangerine?” You giggled around the words, unable to help but sound breathless as your head was spinning over the attention he was showing you. He lifted his head to meet your gaze, pupils a bit blown and a lopsided grin on his mouth. “You’re going to peel me open and eat me?”

You didn’t realize the innuendo behind your words until they left your mouth, the sudden memory of the way Harry had made you cum on the floor of his studio causing the heat between your legs to grow. A silly little smirk grew on his lips, a soft hum from his throat before he spoke again.

“Yes, exactly.” His chest shook with a laugh, lips puckering to land a kiss over your skin.

“You’re so sunny,” he whispered, hand venturing lower over your hips.

His tongue licked over your skin, “taste delicious.”

The hand on your hip slid over to your thigh, pinching your skin as it slid to the inside of your leg. You parted your legs instinctively, allowing him more space. “Want to spread you open.”

Your eyes briefly fluttered shut at his words, just as his lips fell to your mouth, kissing you deeply. The action nearly distracted you from his hand that was still sitting low, massaging into the skin of your thigh.

“You have to –” he took a heavy breath, your eyes opening to meet his when he spoke. “You have to tell me what you want, okay? Need to make sure you feel good.”

“Okay,” you breathed, promise in his words heavy. “You too.”

“What do you need right now, sunshine?”

His fingertips were so close to where you longed to feel anything. You found yourself at a loss for words for a second, hyper focused on the feeling of his hand tickling your inner thigh. “Can I?” He brought your attention back to his words whispered over your neck. “Tell me if I can.”

“God, yes,” you moaned into the air, arm around him gripped him tighter just as his fingers grazed over your covered clit. His thumb started with small circles over you for a brief second, reveling in the way your legs shook with the pressure that he had been building.

“Feel that…” he groaned, when his fingertips slipped past the elastic. He pushed your underwear aside for two fingers to slide through your wetness.

Your legs parted unprompted, making space between your thighs for his hand as he felt his way through your slit, no doubt soaking his fingers on you before pressing over your clit. He breathed a quiet curse, withdrawing his fingers from you to push your underwear down. Peeling the fabric off your lower half, you lifted your hips up into the air to make his job easier.

The garment easily forgotten, you kicked it off by the end of the mattress and focused on the way Harry’s fingertips circled over your clit. His head lifted from where it was hanging by your shoulder, feeling his hot breath hit the side of your cheek. You turned your head on the pillow, eyes meeting his.

You think you felt yourself grow wetter just by the way he was watching you so intently, as if he was silently demanding that you keep your eyes locked with his. His beautiful eyes watched every reaction you had and every sound you made due to his hand between your thighs.

Drawing him in closer with the arm you had around his neck, he complied and landed a kiss to your cheek. Moving to the corner of your mouth, before fully capturing your lips with his in a deep kiss. His tongue slipped into your mouth, just as his fingers slid over your slit until one was pushing into you. A whimper resonated through your chest, the feeling of his finger slowly dipping into you already had you clenching. He bit down on your lower lip, sharp inhale at the feeling of your warmth around him.

Unable to kiss him properly as heavy breaths left your mouth, he dragged his lips down your jaw until they were latched to your neck once more. You brought your other hand to his chest, nails digging into his skin as your back arched with the slow and steady feeling of his finger inside of you.

Pushing your hips onto his hand, his palm pushing against your clit as you did so. You couldn’t help the moan at the feeling, paired with his teeth nipping and lips kissing over the sensitive skin of your neck. As he laid on his side, you felt his length push against your hip with small nudges into your skin.

His lips slid lower, just as he pushed another finger inside of you with a slow motion. “Good?”

“So good,” you responded quickly. “Don’t stop.”

“Don’t intend to,” he muttered, listening to you with his fingers pushing in and curling against the spot that had you bucking up to meet his movements.

His lips kissed down the swell of your breasts, mouth circling over your nipple with a soft hum from his chest. Teeth grazing over the sensitive spot, pulling whines from your throat as he continued to tease you.

The deep pit of tension from the bottom of your stomach was building, as you felt yourself craving to feel come undone below him. You could hear his fingers move in your wetness, the obscene sound somehow turning you on even more as your arousal was evident.

His mouth left your skin, lifting himself up slightly so that he could watch you. Your hips were pushing up trying to find a rhythm with his fingers, his palm tight against your clit as you couldn’t get enough of the feeling. You were shamelessly chasing your high, already feeling edged closer and closer to it after the long-built anticipation.

His thumb brushed your clit, the pressure as he worked to push you towards your high. Your nails were digging into his chest, gripping him tightly from the side as you pushed your back into the mattress with an arch to spine.

Euphoric sensation floating through your veins, heading straight to your wet centre where his fingers were swiftly working you over. Pumping the two inside you in fast motions, hitting the post along your walls that had you biting your lip so hard you were sure to taste a sting of blood.

“I’m gonna cum,” you moaned, voice breaking out of a whisper as you couldn’t help the raise in tone. You felt good, overwhelmingly so and you wanted nothing more than to feel yourself come undone over Harry’s hand.

“Please, do” his voice was low, hoarse. “I wanna feel you.”

You whimpered at his words, eyes shutting tighter with moans leaving your mouth at the pleasure shooting down your legs and up your spine.

A hum was sound from his throat, he spoke a small “love” in an attempt to grab your attention.

“Look at me.”

Complying at the roughness in his voice, your eyelids parting open to watch him with parted lips and clammy skin. His eyes were dark, intent on your every breath. Arm flexing as his fingers quickly fucked you, while your hand grabbed his bicep tightly when you felt you couldn’t hold it in anymore.

His pace was quick, deep and calculated, noticing what moves he did that made you moan. It was so intensely attractive to you, how closely he watched and wanted you to enjoy yourself.

You could hear mumbling incoherently, unable to decipher or even try and listen to what he was saying as the pressure built and built until you were coming undone around him.

Hips jolting up as he curled his fingers, rubbing over your clit while you choked around your moans. You held him tightly, nails digging into his shoulder as you felt like you needed to hold on to him, onto anything otherwise you would drift away in your pleasure.

He breathed heavily while he watched you, falling back down to his side with his face resting in the crook of your neck. His fingers slowly withdrew from you, still pressing light touches onto your sensitive clit causing your legs to twitch at the feeling. “Harry.”

“Dreamt of you like this,” his words laced together, muttered against your skin. He gave you loud smacks of kisses onto your shoulder, along with his soft mutterings. “Real thing is so much better.”

With hot cheeks and swollen lips, you lifted yourself up on one elbow to hold yourself up and face him. He fell onto his back, just as you were positioned seconds ago and withdrew his hand from between your thighs. Wet fingers raised, slipping them past his lips to taste you with a low hum from deep in his chest.

Gripping your jaw with said hand, pulling you in for a deep kiss. As much as he kissed you this morning, as much as he kissed you in the past day, you could not get enough of the feeling of his mouth. Your own hand lingered over his chest, tracing uneven patterns over him.

You dug your nails a bit harder into his stomach, feeling it clench from under you. Almost as a soothing action for yourself as you settled from your high, you ran mismatched patterns over his front. Dipping lowered and teasing the band of the briefs that he was still wearing, your nails dug into his skin just as an audible groan left Harry’s lips.

He muttered a quiet “killing me,” over your mouth, his hand leaving your jaw and landing over your own hand that rested on his chest.

His fingers laced with yours, and he carried your hand with his and placed it directly over his bulge. Squeezing your hand in his, matching whines from the two of you at the action. Yours at the weight of him in your hand, and his at the feeling of finally having your hands on him.

As if you had switched positions, this time you held yourself propped up on your side so that you could hover over him. His hand left yours, soft groan as you freely palmed over the very defined bulge in his underwear. You kept your eyes stuck to your motions, not even realizing the way your lip slipped between your teeth at the feeling of him.

Pushing yourself up on your hand, sitting up with the rest of the blanket falling off your body. But you didn’t care, you didn’t need the extra heat.

You tugged at the elastic that sat tight against his hips, fingertips slipping under it and over the hot skin. Casting him a quick glance, seeing his eyes locked on your hands, chest rising and falling with a small furrow between his brows.

You pulled down his briefs to the middle of his thighs, watching the way his hardened length rested against his skin. One of your hands trailed up his thigh, resting just under his hipbone. A sharp breath on Harry’s part was heard as your other hand firmly gripped his length.

Circling your fingers around him, a soft stroke until your palm became sticky with his precum. Moving your thumb over his tip, applying more pressure as you saw the way his stomach clenched and his legs jerked with a bend in the knees.

Your silent gaze landed on his face, just as he looked up to meet your eyes. Withdrawing your hand from him, you pushed your thumb past your parted lips to wet it nicely. His eyes greedily watched the way you sucked, moaning your name as a beg while his hand gripped yours on his thigh.

Bringing your hand down to circle your wet thumb over his tip again, giving him slow tugs while you listened to every noise he made. Every small pant of your name and whine into the air. You had never felt more turned on by someone else’s reaction to you than right now.

“You look,” you bit your lip with a smile, looking for the right words as you slowly pumped your hand around him, “really sexy.”

He tried to let out a chuckle, the sound being cut with a moan when you circled your thumb over his tip.

Bending down, you pressed a kiss at the underside of his navel while you worked over his length. Kisses pressed following the trail of hair that led south, before Harry grabbed your shoulder to stop you. “You can’t…” he choked as you sat up straight once more, withdrawing every inch of skin from his so that you were no longer touching at all. “I’m already bursting for you, I don’t want to –” he paused, “– I mean, do you want to have sex?”

You leant forward, palms over his chest once more as you found yourself unable to go without touching him. “Yeah, I really do.”

He pushed himself up, sitting closer to you. “Okay,” he rushed, one hand running through his hair. “Okay.”

You couldn’t help but laugh quietly at his flustered state, watching as he yanked his briefs off the rest of the way down his legs, letting them fall to the floor. He pushed himself up more until he was sliding off the bed, your hands falling from him once more while you watched him stand. “I know I’ve got condoms somewhere –”

And then he was walking away from you, with a quick “stay where you are!” called over his shoulder. You did just as he said, falling down to your back and rolling over to your side with your head resting on your hand, watching him disappear around a corner.

He was back moments later, from the washroom you presumed because you didn’t know where someone would keep condoms other than by their bed. You watched him stand at the edge of the mattress, head dipped down as he threw the wrapper to the ground and rolled the condom over himself.

He took a heavy breath, lifting his legs to kneel over the mattress as he reached out for your legs. Large palms over your calves, he slid them up with soft circles of his thumbs into your skin before he spoke a low “can I have you on your belly?”

Easily complying, you fell forward so that your chest was pressed into the mattress and your cheek against the pillow. You felt his hands slide up your legs, over your thighs until he was gripping the swell of your bum. First you felt his breath hit your skin, then his lips kissed over the skin with a light lick on his tongue. Continuing the motions as he moved up, from the bottom of your spine until he was laying on his side right next to you. Touching you all over, you felt one of his hands graze over the soft skin of your stomach and pull you up, so that your back was pressed firmly into his chest in a spooning position.

Adjusting yourself gently, bending your knees so that they could support you over the mattress. You shifted your lower half, his cock pushing right against your bum. You felt his lips glaze over the crook of your neck, face buried in your skin and he peppered the surface with kisses.

“Are you okay like this?” His voice was muffled by your skin. “We can do it however you’d like…”

Twisting your head so that your eyes could meet, you shot him a reassuring smile. His gaze was heavy on you, desire written all across his features as he followed the small nod of your head. “More than okay.”

He leant forward, forearm wrapping around you to grip your jaw and press his mouth hot and hard over yours, just as a moan of your name resonated through his chest. You could feel him pushing against your bum, the anticipation of feeling him inside of you causing the ache between your legs to become nearly unbearable. His mouth parted from yours, hot promises of making you feel good pressed against your jaw before your cheek was resting against the pillow once more while you were silently begging to feel him inside of you.

A hand was between your bodies, he was gripping his length to push over your folds and get himself wet over you. A quiet moan at the feeling, you couldn’t help but nudge your bum back to rub over his cock. He repeated the action, quiet curses leaving his mouth as his tip found your entrance and he slowly but surely edged himself in.

The intense feeling of him filling you had you gasping out his name. You were certain it was a combination of the closeness of the position and simply the fact that it was Harry behind you, as you’d never felt yourself melt completely into another person like this.

His hand circled around your side, parting your legs a bit further while you pushed back into him. He didn’t stop until his hips were pressed tight against your backside, and a low exhale fell over your shoulder.

“You feel,” he stuttered lightly, firm grip of his hand over your hip.

“How does it feel?” You breathed, turning your head around once more to gaze up at him. He moved his hips, painstakingly slow for the both of you as you moaned at the feeling of him inside of you. His head fell down to brush his mouth over your jaw, hot breath fanning over the expanse of your neck. “Feels incredible,” he babbled. “You’re so fucking… feels amazing.”

Your cheek fell back over the pillow, eyes falling shut and he started to pump his hips into you at a steady pace. You could feel him everywhere around, hitting so deep within you. Soft moans of praises were freely falling from his lips, never seeming to go that long without skimming them along your skin.

His hand slid up from your hip, resting over your lower stomach to guide you over him while he pushed quickening thrusts into you. You let out a heavy pant at the feeling of him rubbing deliciously against spots that made your vision blur. Your hands fisted into the pillow, moving your hips in small rolls to push back on him.

He pumped into you harder, hitting dipper as the pleasure within both of you grew. You moaned when one of his hands slid up your tummy to grip your breasts, massaging the sensitive skin in a way that had you clenching around him.

Your name fell from his lips, kisses planted on the nape of your neck. There seemed to be virtually no space between both your bodies, connected so closely it was making you dizzy.

His fingers pinched over your nipple, eliciting a sharp inhale from your before he moved his hand up to grip your jaw. Titling your head towards him once again, not wasting a second before he leant over and connected your lips. Kisses were rough and messy, licking over lips and hot moans pressed together.

He trailed wet kisses over your jaw, and to the bottom of your earlobe. Muttering hot praises into your ear, telling you how hot you felt and how much he wants to feel your come undone for him. His hand skimmed back down over your neck, blindly grabbing at your breasts and sliding down your stomach.

The sounds filling the room were filthy, paired with the heavy rain outside and the occasional loud motorist. It was something out of a dream, the serenity of your surroundings paired with the euphoria you were feeling.

In a steady rhythm, hips snapping in time together as Harry’s teeth tugged on your earlobe. He was making every delicious sound possible, losing himself in the feeling of you. Shallow breaths hitting your skin as the feeling of his forehead resting over your shoulder weighted over you.

You hummed, lifting your arm around so that you could stroke your fingers over his cheek, pushing through his hair.

“Can – can we switch positions? I wanna see you…” you called, feeling his hand over you stop moving.

“God,” he said quickly, words hitting the back of your shoulder. “Anything you want.”

He slowly withdrew himself from you, both letting out small pants of the feeling of no longer being connected to the other. You pushed yourself up, sitting on your legs as you turned yourself to be able to properly see Harry.

His hair was falling wildly over his forehead, lips deep pink and eyes dark as he watched you move around him. His hand was still on your hip, pressing against your skin as if to push you to lie down on the mattress, but you softly shook your head.

“I want to be on top,” you whispered while you lifted a leg so that you had a knee resting on either side of his hips, your hands landing on his shoulders to help him fall against the mattress. You lowered yourself to sit just at his hips, hovering over him with a kiss planted directly on his mouth. Kissing him deeply as one of your hands rested between your bodies, blindly wrapping your hand around his cock.

“Anything,” his voice was hoarse as he returned your affection. “Tell me what you want and I’ll give it to you.”

“I want,” your hand squeezing him lightly in your palm. “To make you feel good – want to make you feel the way you make me feel.”

You moved your hips over him in a slick motion. He groaned against your mouth, lips easily parting and unable to focus on kissing you back as the feeling of you touching him the way you were was driving him absolutely crazy.

You lifted on your knees, chest leaving his when you sat up straighter. Bowing your head to watch the way he entered you once again, sinking back down around him. Heavy eyes flicking back to his, seeing him just as enthralled with the way the two of you connected.

His heavy hands were gripping onto your hips, a shaky breath leaving his lips as you bottomed out over him. “Don’t know how much longer I’m going to last…” he whispered, eyes meeting yours as one of your hands moved from his shoulder to brush over his jaw.

“That’s okay,” you breathed, swivelling your hips over his. His palm slid over the curve of your ass, fingertips digging into the skin when you moved again. The feeling caused a rush of heavy desire to course down to your heat. “Me neither.”

He was moaning when you started to move your hips on his, sliding over his length as you searched for a rhythm. He felt just as deep like this, just as snug inside of you and you couldn’t help but call out his name while you pumped your hips with his.

“Fuck me,” he groaned, eyes falling over your frame, from your chest to the space where you connected as he watched you move over him. “You look so fucking good like this I –”

You trailed a hand down his chest, fingertips falling over your own lower tummy before they were sliding down your wet clit. He watched you greedily, unable to tear his eyes away from the way that you started playing with yourself.

Rubbing light circles over your clit, heat in your belly burning once again. The combination of the deep strokes of his cock inside of you that was hitting against spots that made your vision blur, and the added pleasure of your own fingers over your wet clit, you were being sent closer to another orgasm.

Harry’s hand circled around your wrist after a moment, tugging your arm towards him until he was slipping the two fingers that had been wettened by your cunt into his mouth. You fluttered around him at the sight of him sucking on your fingers, your thumb pressing firmly on the underside of his jaw when you pushed your fingers further into his mouth.

Feeling his tongue swirl around the digits, you rocked your hips faster over him and you moaned at the view of the man below you. Your hand fell from his mouth when he let go of your wrist, wet fingers sliding over his neck before you were holding his shoulder tightly once again.

A surprised squeak was sound from your mouth when Harry pressed a hand into the mattress behind him and raised himself to a seated position, causing you to fall back against his thighs. You held onto his shoulders, an incredulous laugh sounding past your mouth at the fast motion that had you briefly fearing that you would topple over backwards.

“Alright?” A small chuckle laced his word, although when you shifted over him so that you were properly seated on his thighs with your knees still planted into the plush mattress, his voice caught in his throat.

“Yeah,” your own voice was feeble, airy.

It was the closest you’d ever felt to another person, his chest grazing yours with every heavy inhale as his head dipped down so that he could kiss over your shoulder. His hips started moving up to meet yours, quick thrusts into you as the both of you neared your climax.

Needy for his mouth, you pushed a hand through his hair as you searched for his lips with half closed eyelids. As you tugged on the curly strands, he quickly accepted your kiss with one hand on the small of your back to keep pushing you down over him in tight motions. Chests now pressed flush together, you were moaning into his mouth while he murmured small praises.

“Please,” he begged, unsure of what he was asking for, just knowing he needed something. “How is it – do you feel good? Please …”

“So fucking good,” you moaned around the words. Eyes opening, pulling at his hair so that you could gaze up at him. Desperate eyes watched him, watched the furrow pull in his brow as his hips pumped with yours with quick snaps, wanting nothing more than to have you come undone around him once more. “I’m so close –”

“Please,” he repeated, one of his hands moving from your backside and snaking around your front, shoved tightly between your bodies as he blindly searched for your clit. Rubbing quick small circles over the sensitive bud. The feeling paired with the pleas of having you cum around him that were kissed over your neck, being just what you needed to push you over the edge.

You pressed your lips to his when you came, lips wrapping around his bottom lip as your teeth pulled on the sensitive skin. Calling out his name into his mouth, fingernails digging deep into his skin. You saw the moon, you saw the stars, and most importantly you saw nothing but Harry.

Your hips lost their rhythm over his when you squeezed him tight, grinding down onto his pelvis as a moan was sound from deep in your chest. You tugged at his hair, begging him to kiss you again while your hands desperately gripped at his skin.

He kissed you fiercely, tongue sliding over your lips as you barely had the ability to kiss him back. His hips were still jerking against yours, motions growing more and more frenzied as he bit onto your lips, low mutterings of praises and whines of wanting to cum.

And he soon did, pushing everything he could of himself as he came into the condom. His hands never stopped tracing over your spine, giving your backside sharp pinches as he moaned deeply. Twitching against you as the two of you came down together, his head resting over the crook of your shoulder while he took deep breaths through his nose.

He kissed along your shoulder, mouth wet over your skin. Your fingers traced over his neck, every nerve in your body feeling sensitive as you started to shift over him. You were both quiet, other than heavy breaths and fast beating hearts.  

You didn’t know how long you stayed like that, but after a while the throbbing in your legs died down and you were able to swing a leg over and slide off of him. You fell over on the mattress with a breathless laugh, a content feeling seeping through you as you laid back on the bed.

Watching Harry push his hair from his face, biting his swollen lips together as he watched you with hearts in his eyes. “How are you?”

You hummed, dreamy smile on your mouth. “I’m good – best I’ve been in a while I think.”  

He smiled as he leaned down, pressing a soft kiss over your temple with a muttered “me too”.

Butterfly kisses over your skin, a soft “give me a sec,” before he lifted himself up and swung his legs over the mattress, sliding off the bed and rounded the corner away from you.

True to his word, he was back seconds later after presumably disposing of the condom and cleaning himself up, and he pulled on a pair of shorts that hung low on his hips. “Did you want shorts, or pants to wear?”

“Maybe some pants?” You hummed from where you sat on the mattress. He nodded, handing you a pair of pastel multicoloured sweatpants.

You lifted  your hips from the mattress, pulling the pants over your bottom half before you settled back down. Harry grabbed the blanket from where it had fallen off the bed, laying it over you before he slipped in as well.

You shifted closer to him, accepting his arm that wrapped around your bare stomach and pulled your chest against his. You settled in deeper into the pillows, smiling contently as you felt yourself starting to grow tired.

He watched the way your eyelids started to flutter close, pulling more of the blanket over your back. He pulled it off of where it fell to the ground, draping it over you and the bed before sliding in next to you. “Get some rest – we have all day, yeah?”

You hummed into the pillow, feeling him tighten around you as your breasts pressed into his skin. His other hand was smoothing over your neck just as it was when you fell asleep together last night, the action slowly and surely lulling you to sleep.

Harry watched you as he felt sleep overtake him as well, he watched the slow and steady rise of your chest. He could feel your heart beating against him, resonating with his own heartbeat as if the two had fallen in synch. 

Hours past before you woke up again. The sky was a bit lighter than previously, hard rain still hitting the window from outside as it never seemed to let up.

Your bare chest was tight against Harry’s, skin sticking together. Soft exhales were coming from his parted lips. He had an arm wrapped around you, the occasional twitch of his finger as he moved in his sleep.

Moving over on the mattress, slowly waking up as you raised yourself on your elbows to gaze down at Harry. Leaning over him to kiss over his closed eyelid, gently removing his arm from your middle before sliding off the bed. You easily found the abandoned sweatshirt from the morning, tugging it over your bare top half.

Remembering where his washroom was, you took a quick glance to see the pouring rain outside before flicking on the light switch to the room. Uncapping the toothpaste that rested over the counter, grabbing the toothbrush that you used the previous night.

Due to the briefly running tap, you hadn’t heard the rustle in sheets and feet on the ground that was coming from the adjacent room. Harry was soon poking his head in from the parted door, tousled hair falling over his forehead as he shot you a lazy smile through the mirror.

He hesitated by the door frame for a second, then taking a few steps towards you so that he could stand behind you. Wrapping both arms around you with his chest pushing into your back, he titled his head to kiss over your jaw.

“Morning again,” he murmured, teeth teasingly pulling at your earlobe.

You couldn’t respond with your mouth full of toothpaste, keeping your eyes on him through the mirror. His grip around you loosened a little when you bent down to spit out the toothpaste and rinse out your mouth.

“Hi,” the word whispered as you turned in his grip, raising a hand to scratch over the thin layer of stubble that lined in jaw.

“Want to make something to eat?”

You nodded, mirroring the smile on his mouth as you traced the dimple over his cheek. “Music to my ears.”

Following Harry to his kitchen. It was small, not much counter space you noticed but he had a little table up against the wall that held bowls of fruit and a cutting board. He opened up the cupboard, tapping his fingertips against the wood while he gazed at the contents. “I do have the fixings for pancakes if you’d like…” he moved to the fridge, opening it up, “or eggs…”

He turned back to you, gaging your reaction. “What sounds good to you?”

“Whatever is easiest,” you smiled, leaning back against the counter across from him.

“Not whatever is easiest – what did you want to eat?” He laughed lightly, facing you.

You paused, biting your smile back as he urged you to make a choice what you liked best. “Pancakes.”

“Perfect,” his smile grew, as he turned back to the cupboard he had just opened. “Some fruits too?”

“Yes please.”

He pulled out the mix he already had to make pancakes, grabbing a bowl and a wooden spoon to start getting everything together. You went to see what kind of produce he had, picking out some apples and oranges that sat together in a bowl.

He saw you searching through drawers, clicking his tongue. “Have a seat, I can do it.”

“Okay, okay,” you laughed, taking a seat on one of the wooden chairs by the little table. You grabbed your phone from where it had sat all night by the counter, scrolling through recent notifications before opening up your Spotify to play some music while you prepared your meal.

Choosing one of the playlists you usually played at work, a soft hum of Nancy Sinatra coming through the speaker as you placed your phone back down on the table and watched him quickly work around the kitchen.

“Do you have coffee?” You asked, eyeing the French press sitting in the corner.

You saw the bag sitting next to the press before he answered your question, as you rose to your feet again to grab the paper bag and twist it open, smelling the ground beans.

“Yes,” he answered, turning around to see you having already found it. “Is it… good?”

You laughed breezily at his nervousness over the coffee he had bought. “I’m sure it’s perfectly fine.”

He had already turned on the kettle, you realized, and you grabbed the French press from where it sat ready to make the two of you a morning cup.

“Hey,” Harry brought your attention to him as you eyeballed the amount of coffee you were putting in. “I can do that – let me make you coffee for once.”

You bit back a smile, filling the press with the amount of coffee you liked before sitting back down. “It’s all yours,” you said, as the kettle clicked.

He turned away from the orange he was peeling, grabbing the kettle from where it sat to pour the hot water into the press.

You held your tongue, for about two seconds before clearing your throat. “A good way to make French press coffee is to pour a little bit in first – just enough to soak all the grounds and then pour the rest.”

He silently nodded, doing as you said and waiting a bit before pouring the rest. “You –”

You cut yourself off, watching as Harry lifted his head up to glance at you when you spoke, tousled hair falling over his forehead. “Hm?”

“It’s good to pour it a little slower…” you started slowly.

He laughed, loud from his chest. “Did you want to do it?”

“No, no! It doesn’t make that much of a difference, just some tips.” You let him finish making the coffee while you searched through some more cupboards for mugs.

Pulling out two ceramic ones, walking over to the fridge as you looked for anything to put into the coffee. Finding a small jug of oat milk, not surprised at the find as you took it out and shook the container a bit out of habit.

“I’m going to assume that you don’t take anything in your coffee…” you peered over at him as you poured some oat milk into what would be your mug.

“I don’t –” he cut himself off, as if about to ask why you would assume that but stopping himself as he remembered that you make him coffee multiple times a week.

He let the coffee in the press sit as he finished preparing the fruit, turning back to where you were leaning against the counter with an orange slice in hand. He wordlessly lifted the slice up towards your mouth, taking several steps forward until he was close in front of you.

“It’s not a tangerine, but…” he mumbled, a little smile playing on his lips as you met his gaze. Opening your mouth to accept the fruits, circling around it along with the tip of his fingers that you easily sucked into your mouth.

For some reason anytime he mentioned a citrus fruit you got butterflies in your stomach. You chewed the fruit as his hand fell from your mouth, thumb swiping under your bottom lip. The sweet flavour filling your mouth as his gaze never left yours. His hands fell to the counter on either side of you, boxing you in closer to him.

You raised a hand, taking hold of his jaw between your index finger and thumb, and pulled his face towards yours. His lips parted as did yours, your tongue licking into his mouth as your hand held him firmly. He tasted the citrus in your mouth, sharing the flavour of the fruit together as you kissed.

A hand wrapped around your waist, pulling you closer to him as you slipped your fingers across his jawline until they were tugging in his hair.

He took another step forward, one foot resting between your two with his hips pushing against yours. He was holding you like he thought that you’d disappear if he let go, as your arms wrapped around him in the same way.

He’d already gotten you worked up, and you would let him take you right there if he wanted.

Fingertips poked under the sweatshirt over your body, nearly feigning innocence as his hands held the skin on your sides, before they were smoothing up until they were holding your breasts. Fingertips massaging into the skin, thumbs rubbing over your nipples in a way that made goosebumps erupt under the sweater.

Edging the article up higher on your body, exposing more of your skin until the underside of your breasts were visible.

“God,” he muttered against your mouth, lips sliding over your jaw as he hung his head lower. “Think I’m obsessed with you.”

Your hand followed the move of his head, as he dipped down lower so that he could press his mouth over your newly exposed chest. Sucking into the skin, hot licks until his teeth grazed over your nipple and you were pulling at his hair a bit tighter. He still cupped his palms around your breasts, enamoured with the way he maneuvered them and the way they felt in his hands.

Mummering his name, you pulled his attention back up to your face and he peered at you with heavy eyes. “Hm?”

“You should push down the press,” you angled your head to where the French press sat still on the counter across from the two of you.

His eyes held a laugh, as his hands fell from your skin and he nodded with a bite of his lip. Turning around from you only for the brief moment needed to slowly push the filter through the coffee before he was facing you from across the kitchen once again.

You followed, bypassing him and grabbing the two mugs that you had prepared for the coffee. Taking hold of the press, you poured two steamy cups of coffee. Silently handing him the one without anything in it, you tried to hide the way that your lips curved upwards by biting your lips together.

Harry grabbed the mug from your hands, bringing it up to his lips and took a small sip after blowing lightly over the surface.

“Careful,” your voice had fallen to a whisper in your proximity.

He only hummed, exaggeratedly smacking his lips together while placing the blue mug down on the counter next to him. “Best cup o’ coffee I’ve ever had.”

You let out what could only be called a giggle, unable to hold back your smile any longer. His hand looped around you once more, fitting into the small of your back to pull you close. Careful not to spill any coffee in the mug that you were holding, doing the same as he had and securing it down on the counter.

“Something tells me that might be a bit of an exaggeration…” you trailed off, free hand now resting over his shoulder.

“Hm,” he shook his head. “That’s where you’re wrong.”

His mouth sought out yours once again as you laughed under in his grasp. He pressed a peck over your mouth, staying close as he seemed to hesitate. “Did you want to spend the day?”

“Yeah,” you responded quickly. “If it’s not too much.”

“Can’t be,” he hummed. His head hung low between your neck and shoulder, butterfly kisses over your fabric covered skin. “Can’t ever have too much of you.” 

You locked the doors behind you, shaking the handle slightly to make sure it was truly locked before walking across the floor once more to head back behind the counter. Harry still lingered just at the unmarked line that separated the customer area from the staff area, leaning over the counter.

It had been almost a week since the night at the gallery.

Your days off had been spent with Harry, as he was true to his word and never seemed to be able to get enough of you. And the same sentiment was returned back to him. He had finally put his number in your phone, something the two of you had found funny about the fact that you went this far without even exchanging numbers.

Now, he kept you company as you closed up the café alone.

The fall rain always caused a small dip in customers, the shop never too busy, especially in the later hours of the afternoon.

“Do you have much left to do?”

You neared him by the counter, stepping past him and into the back. “Not too much – all of the main cleaning is done.”

“Can I help?” He had shut his little black sketchbook on the counter, pushing himself up from his elbows to near you.

“If you want…” you hummed happily, seeing him edge closer past the counter and into the staff only area. “Come on,” you giggled, tapping his arm for him to follow.

“Is this allowed?” He hesitated, making you turn back around.

You shrugged. “It’s not a big deal, I know my boss trusts me.”

That seemed to be enough for him, as he trailed behind you towards the espresso machine that you hadn’t finished cleaning.

“Tell me what to do, boss.”

Nudging his hip as he hovered near you, you shook your head with a laugh while reaching to grab the basket that had yet to be cleaned.

“You need to unscrew,” you spoke through your actions, grabbing the little flat screwdriver, and leaning down so that you could see under the grouphead on the machine, “the filter. To clean it all out.”

Grabbing the still hot filter with a rag, putting it in hot water. “And then you put this,” you spooned a small pile of cafiza into the flat filter in the basket. “And put it on a cleaning cycle. That’s kind of it…”

“What can I do?”

“If you want you can keep an eye on this,” you pointed to the lit button. “When it flashes you need to put it through the rinse cycle – just press it and it’ll go through.You could also pour hot water through the bottom, just to get everything inside rinsed out.”

Harry was quiet from next to you, nodding his head. You handed him the metal kettle, showing him where to fill it with hot water as you went to clean out the brew coffee pots. You worked through everything on autopilot, having gone through the same routine over and over that it came with no thought to you.

Keeping an eye on Harry with a smile tugging at your lips, watching as his brows pulled together as he tried to not spill any water other than where he needed to. Rinsing out the old coffee from the pots, you took a step away as the sink filled them with hot water.

“I had an idea…” you started, pulling Harry’s attention to you for a second.

Joining his side once more, you put your hand over his forearm. “I think that’s good,” you hummed. “No matter how much you clean there will always be grounds that find their way back – don’t worry.”

He nodded, putting down the little kettle as his back straightened with a twitch of a smile. “Anything you say, boss.”

You smiled through your words, giving his arm a little shove. “You got the paintings back from the gallery, right?”

Nodding, he kept his gaze on yours with curiosity in his eyes. The show (your show, as he called it) was a short-lived one, all the paintings were back in his apartment as he hadn’t put any of them for sale.

“Well I was thinking – and this is completely up to you – but what if you put one of them up in here?”

You saw his eyebrows rise in interest. “This wall here,” you motioned to the one behind him. “Is always empty. And it’s big and pretty uninteresting, so I was thinking if you wanted… you could but one of yours there.”

“For how long?”

“However long you’d like – it’d be like the café has it on loan.”

His smile grew. “And that would be okay?”

“I checked with the owner, she said that I can decorate the place however I’d like so…” you quickly leant over to the sink, shutting off the tap before facing him again. “It’s up to you.”

“You’ve already checked with her,” Harry grinned cheerfully, moving closer to you. “Thought this through, have you?”

You bit back a smile. “Yeah, I have.”

“I’d love to, I think it’s a great idea.”

“Really?”

He nodded enthusiastically. “I really do. Did you have one in mind already?”

“Well…” you paused. “I do – the big one of the café. With the yellow and the orange. I think I’d be perfect.”

He turned around, arms crossing over his chest as he faced the off-white empty wall. There were a few coffee stains towards the bottom that no one would notice unless they knew they were there.

“I think so too,” he nodded, glancing at you from over his shoulder.

You smiled widened. “Yeah?”

“Do you think I could go get it now – that we could put it up tonight?”

“That sounds perfect. Would you need help carrying it over?” You asked, as Harry was already walking around the counter to grab his jacket.

“It should be fine, I’ve carried it before.”

You nodded, watching as he grew more excited and ready to bolt out the door. “I can finish up closing here while you go get it.”

“Should I grab screws or tools or anything?”

“I’ve got some here – we have a little tool kit.”

He patted his pocket, grabbing his phone that was on the counter. “Lovely. I’ll be back before you know it.”

Before heading out towards the door, he moved around the corner of the counter so that he could grab a firm grasp of your jaw, tilting your head up to him. Leaning towards you, mouth hovering by yours as lips were barely touching. “Amazing idea, sunshine”

You nudge forward the slightest bit, fully connecting your lips in a lasting kiss before he headed into the cold air outside.

Finishing up your closing duties while he was gone, turning off all appliances that needed and screwing back in the filter once everything had been nice and soaked. You had already started to count the coins before closing, so the final cash out didn’t take too long.

You were doing some extra tasks to help out the opening staff for the following day, when a rattle of a knock was heard on the glass of the front door.

Jumping in your skin at first at the surprising noise, quickly calming down when you saw Harry waving at you through the window. Fast step over to the door, you propped it open for him so that he could slide the bigger than you remembered canvas inside.

He had it wrapped in brown paper to protect the outside, leaning it over the wall by the door as he ran a hand through his hair that had fallen over his forehead.

“That was fast,” you said, making sure you re-locked the door after letting him in.

“It’s close by,” he shrugged, grabbing hold of the wrapped canvas once more as you helped him bring it around the counter. “Are you all done with everything?”

“Yes – and I texted my boss and she said it's no problem to stay a bit later to put this up tonight.”

You grabbed the small folding step stool from the back, along with the tool kit that you hoped contained everything that was needed.

“Here we go,” you placed the box over the counter. “What did you need?”

“Screws, if you have them.” He hovered close next to you, watching as you rifled through the various things. “They’re better at holding up canvases – more stable.”

“Aha,” finding a little bag that contained a couple dozen screws, all of various lengths and sizes. Harry fished out a few of them, deciding that three should be enough for the frame to hang off of.

You watched as he vaguely measured out the wall and where to place the screws, promising that he knew what he was doing and wouldn’t end up with unnecessary holes in the wall.

Lifting yourself up to sit over the counter as he got the screws into the wall, occasionally leaning forward to hand him whatever he needed. Once he was done getting the wall ready, you watched as he hoisted the painting up in order to hang it up evenly.

“Does that look good?” He called with a glance over his shoulder, prompting you to step back and see if it sat leveled over the wall.

“Move it over a bit to the left,” you called, seeing as he followed your suggestion. “That’s good.”

He hopped off the short step ladder, joining your side to check how the painting looked on the wall. “It looks really good up there.”

You simply nodded, admiring the way it already made the space warmer. It was large, covering a good chunk of the otherwise bland space.

“What gave you the idea?”

Falling to the side to rest your hip against the counter, Harry followed your motions as if you were tethered together and he couldn’t stand being too far away.

“It’s kind of a full circle – no?” You hummed, resting a hand over the counter that he quickly picked up in his, mindlessly playing with your hand as you spoke. “I mean the first time you came in, you asked me how to get your art up there. And now…”

Trailing off, the thought finishing itself as you had gotten one of his paintings on the walls indefinitely.

He was quiet for a moment, a moment long enough that it had you glancing over at him. He had his eyes trained to the side of your face, a dreamy look in his eyes.

“What?” You mumbled with a little laugh, when he didn’t say anything.

He shook his head, eyes flicking between yours and the newly hung painting. “Nothing, it’s just, I – I adore you, you know that?”

You sighed blissfully, a smile playing on your mouth. “Hm.”

“Hm?” He repeated back to you with a laugh, turning around you so that he could face you. His hips bumping with yours, he made it impossible for you to avoid his stare. “What do you mean by ‘hm’?”

He was invading your every sense, a welcomed invasion to you. Dipping his head down to skim his nose over your jaw, letting your hands fall to their place over his shoulders.

“How do you feel?” He breathed against your skin, lips nudging over you. Your hand pressed over his chest, pushing him back the slightest bit so that you could see him.

You played with the hem around the neckline of his shirt, looking into his heavy gaze. “Can’t get enough of you.”

He blinked slowly, forehead resting against yours. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” you hummed happily, palms sliding over his shirt covered chest. “I don’t want… any more miscommunication, you know? I wanted to know, just how things are with us…?”

A smile teased his lips. “Are you asking me if we’re together?”

“Well…,” you hesitated, before straightening out your spine. “I am.”

“Do you want to be together?”

“You’re really good at turning questions back on me, you know that?”

He laughed, forehead moving from yours as he brought hand to cup your jaw, thumb brushing over your cheek. “You do it more than I do, know that?”

He followed his words with a nudge of your nose with his mouth, quick lick over the skin.

“Stop that,” you mumbled, turning your head away from him but not having much room to do so as he kept a grasp around your jaw.

“Stop what?” He brushed over your cheek, teasing you with light kisses over your face.

“Just,” you dug your fingers into the fabric of his shirt, nudging him against you as he pulled his face away from yours for a brief moment. “Kiss me.”

His lips curved upwards once more, eyelids fluttering as he leant back in. “Whatever you say.”

Slipping your hands around his neck, pulling him closer to you as your smiling mouths met. He easily held you against him, free hand wrapping around your back. Lips easily parted as soft kisses were shared. Breaking apart for a brief second as he nudged your upper lip with his before firmly capturing your mouth.

Nails tapping along his jawline, pulling him as close as possible as your mouth followed the path of your fingers. Tips of his hair tickling your nose, your teeth grazed his earlobe before whispering. “I’m yours.”

A shaky breath was heard from his still parted mouth, moving his head back so that he could meet your eyes. “Everything –” he said “– the world is yours, know that? Including me.”

He didn’t waste another second, mouth trapping yours once again after your shared confessions. He pushed himself oh so close, drawing out a quiet whine from your throat as his lips grew greedy.

Peppering kisses to the corner of your mouth, teeth grazing over your chin before making a line of wet kisses over your jaw. A Kate Bush song played on the speakers, you didn’t have the capacity to remember it at the moment.

Eyes briefly parting open, remembering where you were. “You know everyone outside can see us, right?”

He paused at your words, glancing up at the slightly fogged windows that covered the front of the café. The sky hard turned a dark shade of blue, bright lights coming from inside of the café meaning anyone walking by outside could see you. “Not too worried about them.”

You shook with a quiet laugh, a brief shove to his chest as he kept you hugged to his body. “Plus the counter hides our bottom half anyway so –”

“Harry,” you laughed louder now, shaking your head. “My boss could check her security cameras at any moment.”

“Fine, fine” he stuck his bottom lip out.

Your fingertips traced mindless trails over his neck, pressing a lasting kiss over his mouth to keep him quiet.

Harry fell from your front, keeping an arm around your back with his side still pressed close to yours. “Looks good up there,” he hummed lightly, nodding his head towards the painting.

“You painted it.” You followed his eyeline, glancing up at the large canvas.

“But you inspired it – really mean it you know.”

“Mean what?”

“The world is yours.”

Your head fell against his shoulder, taking a moment to rest together as both of you faced the painting. Arms crossing as you held each other close, the warm light of the café flowing through the windows and to the street outside.

The two of you nearly mirrored the painting that hung proudly, soft touches of affection that could only be seen from outside if someone was really paying attention. If one were to be walking past on the street, they would see nothing but a warm reflection of growing love. And just as the title of the painting: you could stay there for hours. And you did.

la fin. (for now).

thank you to everyone who has read and enjoyed my little story, it really means the world to me💞  come by and chat if you’d like, and until next time !

[alccaddsccup]

Disobedience

this was a request from a friend of mine, i hope you enjoy!

Ina x MC

warnings: smut and fluff

tag list: @ikingsley @swimmingshoebakerydreamer @kaitlynliaofanxx @barnibumblr @veenast @livvynka @hellyeah90sbaby

lmk if you want to be added to the tag list!

———————————————————————

Bea is bored. Very bored. Ina has barely said two words to her in an hour, completely engrossed in a (super boring) documentary on the tv. Ina’s tv is moderately sized but it’s so old that Bea could swear she saw it in a museum once. She sprawls out onto Ina’s lap, with her head resting on the professor’s thighs

“Man, I could sure use a kiss right now” Ina gives no response and Bea is uncertain if she even heard her. She attempts a different tactic as she takes Ina’s hand and places it on her own forehead. She hopes that Ina might stroke her hair; she has no such luck. Ina pulls her hand back to her side, not even looking down at Bea

With a sigh, Bea gets up from Ina’s lap and crosses the floor of Ina’s apartment

“That bed of yours looks awfully inviting, don’t you think?” Ina hums slightly, barely registering what Bea said. Bea rolls her eyes in frustration but quickly forms a devious plan and grins to herself

She steps into Ina’s room and shuts the door, before searching the underwear drawer for Ina’s secret stash of special things

Once she finds what she’s looking for, she places the bundle of rope on the dresser. Then she strips naked, puts on the toy and equips a silken dressing gown before quietly reopening the bedroom door. She peeks round the doorframe to see if Ina is looking but she seems to be in the exact same position as before (no surprise there.) Making her footsteps sound as angry as possible, Bea walks over to the tv and stands in front of it, facing away from Ina

“Bea! This is the most exciting bit” She exclaims loudly and rapidly moves her head in an attempt to see around Bea

“I need to see if the baby turtles make it offshore” Bea bends forward and turns the tv off. The button clicks loudly and the screen goes dark, accompanied by a slight popping noise

“What the hell?!” Ina’s brow creases in a look of frustration as she yells at Bea. Although the look quickly morphs into one of surprise when Bea turns to face her

The toy, barely concealed under the dressing gown, protrudes boldly towards Ina and her face flushes when she takes note of the hard mounds pushing against the fabric at Bea’s chest

“I was- I-“

“Shh. From now on, only speak when spoken to” Bea steps toward Ina and crouches, so that their faces are level

“Got it?” Ina clenches her jaw in frustration

“I don’t see why-“ Bea grabs Ina by the chin and pulls her face towards her

“Got it?” she repeats the question, more commandingly this time, which causes Ina’s eyes to widen and she nods vigorously

“Good, now stand up” Ina sighs but obliges with Bea’s request, looking at her with expectant eyes once she is upright

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that” Bea quickly gets to work on removing Ina’s clothing, roughly pulling it from her body before discarding it on the floor. Ina’s skin begins to feel hot under the weight of Bea’s gaze as she studies the professor’s gorgeous body from every angle

“Are you just going to keep looking or..?” Bea raises an eyebrow as she sheds the gown, it forms a pool of fabric at her feet

“Of course not” Bea takes one of Ina’s hands and presses it on her own chest

“You can touch me” Ina massages Bea’s breasts, softly at first, then she builds up the pressure until a soft moan escapes the younger woman. Bea shuts her eyes for a moment, almost losing herself in the feeling but she quickly pulls herself out of it; she cannot forget her goal. She grabs Ina by the wrists and walks her backwards until she stands by the arm of the sofa

“Bend over it” Ina’s eyes darken and her cheeks become dusted with crimson as she realises exactly what Bea has planned for her. With little hesitation, she does as she’s told. Ina has to admit that she’s rather enjoying seeing the dominant side of Bea

Once Ina is positioned perfectly, Bea steps forward so that the toy is mere centimetres from Ina’s centre. She slowly drags it up and down her damp folds, using her hand to guide the movements, and this causes Ina to instinctively push her hips back. However, Bea’s grip on Ina is strong and she pushes her away from the toy

“I call the shots, understood?” Ina breathes out a shaky ‘yes’ and Bea continues her teasing. This time, she runs a finger through Ina’s dampness before inserting the finger inside of her. Ina moans softly but does not push her hips back and so Bea begins to pump her finger in and out slowly. She can feel Ina’s core heating up and becoming slicker as she continues her movements

Once she is satisfied with Ina’s condition, she inserts the toy and pushes it in as far as it can go before pulling it all the way out ever so slowly

“Bea, I need more” One of Ina’s fists is clenched so tightly that she can feel the crescent shapes of her nails digging into her palm. Bea chuckles

“I don’t care about what you need” Bea pulls the toy all the way out

“We’re doing this my way” With that, Bea pushes the toy back in, hard. Ina cries out but is secretly delighted to feel so much of the toy inside of her. Bea continues to fuck Ina hard and slow which elicits a variety of noises from her, including many curses and shouts. If Ina’s neighbours are home, they can definitely hear her

After several moments of slow movements, Bea grabs onto Ina’s hair in one hand and grips one of Ina’s hips firmly in the other. She picks up the pace rapidly and without warning, which causes Ina’s legs to tremble. She reaches one of her hands up towards her chest and begins the play with her own nipple. Bea quickly takes note of Ina’s actions and pulls away, Ina almost whimpers but she stops herself. She cannot let Bea think she has total control of her

“Come” Bea pulls Ina from the sofa and begins to lead her towards the bedroom

“I was about to” Bea stops, pushing Ina up against the wall and pressing her thigh between Ina’s legs. This causes her eyes to shut briefly

“You’re not gonna come until I say you can” She places a brief kiss on the corner of Ina’s mouth before trailing her lips to the woman’s ear

“So get ready to wait” Bea steps away from Ina before grabbing her wrist and leading her to the bed. Ina takes note of the rope on the bedside table

“Tying me up because you can’t control me?” Bea just hums nonchalantly, refusing to take Ina’s bait

“I’m tying you up because I want to” She picks up the bundle of rope and begins to unravel it

“Now get on the bed” Ina rolls her eyes but complies. Luckily, Bea’s gaze is focused on the rope in her hands and so she doesn’t see Ina’s brief act of disobedience

Once she has untangled the rope, she makes her way over to the bed; Ina is laying on her side with her chin propped up by her hand

“Lie on your back” Ina doesn’t budge

“What if I don’t want to?” Bea raises her eyebrows in surprise, she thought Ina was too aroused to be disobedient

Bea gets on the bed and pushes Ina onto her back before straddling one of her thighs. She begins to grind down, letting Ina feel the full extent of her wetness which elicits a tiny whimper from the Ina. If Bea wasn’t listening she would’ve missed it but luckily, she was. It seems like Bea is affecting the professor more than she realised which makes her grin

“Someone’s desperate” Ina lets out a huff as she grabs onto Bea’s hips

“Do whatever you want, I don’t care” Bea chuckles at Ina’s annoyance before suddenly taking Ina’s wrists and pinning them above her head on the pillow. She lets her breasts press firmly on Ina’s

“I fully intend to” Bea grabs the rope with one hand and retains her grip on Ina’s wrists with the other

She loops one of the shorter rope pieces around Ina’s wrists and ties them together. With the remaining length of rope, she ties her wrists to the headboard before placing a firm kiss on Ina’s lips. Ina surges up to deepen the kiss but Bea backs away

“I thought we were doing what I wanted” Ina rolls her eyes which makes Bea realise she’s had enough of the professor’s disobedience. She takes the remaining rope and ties it to the bottom bedposts before using the other ends to tie Ina’s ankles to each post. She eyes Ina’s centre hungrily

“Looks like you’re making quite a mess”

“Clean it up then” Ina retorts sharply and immediately regrets it. Bea positions herself between Ina’s legs, lining up the toy so that it teases her dripping core

“You’re going to beg for me or I won’t let you come” Ina shuts her mouth firmly, refusing to give in

“I see how it is” Bea pushes they toy in firmly but slowly which makes Ina moan, although she does her best to hold it in. She pulls it back out slowly

“Ready to beg?” Ina does not reply and so Bea repeats her previous motion. This time she pushes in harder but Ina doesn’t beg. She pinches one of Ina’s nipples as she pulls out and pounds into her very slowly. Bea watches Ina’s face as she closes her eyes and scrunches her nose but she still doesn’t beg

Attempting a different tactic, Bea rapidly picks up the pace which makes Ina moan loudly. After a few moments, she pulls out completely and stands up. As she steps away from the bed she hears Ina mumble something

“What was that?”

“..please” Bea is secretly ecstatic to finally have Ina beg for her, but she keeps her cool

“Please what Ina?” Ina sighs

“Fuck me. Please” She opens her eyes to look at Bea, her eyes seem to be the darkest they have ever been. Bea smiles before discarding the toy

Ina is confused for a brief moment until she sees Bea position her mouth between her legs. Without hesitation, Bea pushes her tongue into Ina firmly which makes her cry out. She licks every sensitive part of Ina’s centre before circling her clit with the tip of her tongue and then diving back inside. Ina pulls hard on the rope, desperately wanting to push Bea’s face further into her, but the rope does not give and soon all thoughts of her restraints are forgotten as she finally gets her release

Bea places a final kiss on Ina’s centre before trailing her lips down one of Ina’s legs until she reaches the rope tied around her ankle. She undoes the rope with quick fingers and moves to the other ankle to do the same. Before completely freeing Ina, Bea nibbles at the skin of Ina’s collarbone, fully intent on leaving a mark. Once she is satisfied, she releases Ina from the rest of the ties and snuggles into her chest

“Have you forgotten about the documentary now?” Ina laughs

“What documentary?” Bea kisses Ina’s shoulder

“Good” Ina strokes Bea’s hair as Bea draws circles on the smooth expanse of skin above Ina’s breasts. After a few moments of comfortable silence, Ina clears her throat

“Bea, I’m sorry for not paying more attention to you earlier” She kisses the top of Bea’s head

“I hope you can forgive me” Bea smiles at the sincerity of Ina’s apology

“Of course I forgive you. It was pretty cute seeing you so fascinated with the baby turtles” Ina chuckles and smacks Bea’s arm lightly

“I’m not cute” Bea sits up to place a kiss on the tip of Ina’s nose before snuggling back into her chest

“You so are” Ina doesn’t reply, but she feels herself grin at Bea’s words

The pair stay snuggled up until they fall asleep intertwined, feeling safe and content in each other’s arms