#spent all the weekend with two supermarket managers. the inspiration is so real

[faeriekit]

Lunch Break

a two-prompt phic phight fill for @fuyuthefoxwriter; demon!au and fangs

Notes: 1. This IS a continuation of my prev. demon!au (Visitation) 2. based on the laws of Phic Phight you CANNOT read the previous iterations, as it is nsfw and therefore cannot be linked 3. but for the already present fans…it’s a continuation from that. Also, it’s gray ghost. 

*

Valerie likes her boyfriend. 

He’s cute, with a button nose and blue eyes. He’s sweet. He’s kind, and he’s gentle, and if she leaves him alone he takes the toaster oven apart just to see how it works. It’s kind of like living with a small dog who takes apart pillows if you don’t give them enough attention. 

Valerie loves her boyfriend. 

…But the goddamn teeth. 

She pushes his face away, cutting off their kiss with no warning. Danny squawks. 

“Danny,” Valerie implores, again, because they are in public and not in the comfort of their own apartment, “If you cannot keep human teeth while we are making out, we are not going to make out anymore.”

Her stupid, human-shaped boyfriend pouts. Valerie should be pouting. Valerie has to avoid shredding her tongue like she’s kissing a cheese grater. 

Danny, who is the cause of all this, should not be pouting as if he’s been denied the opportunity to stick his tongue in her mouth for no reason, instead of his habit of turning his extremely normal and flat human teeth into something extremely hazardous to tongues and lips everywhere. 

Danny makes the world’s saddest eyes she’s ever seen. It’s very rude of him. Valerie deserves better. “But Val! I brought you lunch!” 

For one, it’s six in the evening. A more apt word might be ‘dinner’. Secondly…

“I work at a burger restaurant,” Valerie points out, arms crossing over the Nasty Burger logo on her shirt for extra emphasis. “I already have dinner. I also have to be back on shift in half an hour, so if you’re not going to put your teeth away, I’m going to finally finish Don Quixote or nap trying.” 

“Yeah, but you hate eating work food for lunch,” Danny points out, because he does do some very sweet things by 1) recognizing her likes and dislikes and 2) applying them liberally throughout their relationship. He holds up a weirdly large tupperware in his hands. It’s clear. It’s green. 

It’s Fenton salad. 

“...So my Mom packed you leftovers after I picked up stuff at the Ops Center, since she knows you like the dill vinaigrette she makes after the ectology conference every year, and she added the shredded carrot and the crumbly cheese you like since no one else in the house eats it, plus some of those little orange slices and the croutons…”

Valerie’s lips purse. Fenton salad. Her favorite. 

…She takes the container from Danny’s outstretched hands, determined to ignore his smug look. Valerie prefers to be right, but higher in priority comes accepting free food from her boyfriend’s mother.

“You’re welcome,” Danny offers, smugly sweet.

“If I kiss you, will you get me with your teeth again?” Valerie asks. She’s deeply suspicious of both his motives and the timing. 

“...Maybe?” 

Valerie looks at him. “Change your answer.”

“...No?” 

“Close enough.” Valerie draws him in, and Danny lets himself be drawn in; the kiss is sweet, and short, and tastes kind of like mandarin oranges. 

He definitely had some of her salad before sharing. Whatever. It’s a good thing she likes him. 

The kiss is lovely, and not very long; separating is a little harder, though, when Valerie realizes that Phantom’s tail is still wrapped around her waist. 

“...Danny.”

“Mmhm?” 

“I have a shift to get to.”

“Yeah,” Danny agrees, entirely ignorant to his least controlled limb holding her back. 

“So,” Valerie continues, and then scratches at the fur in his tail until he flinches with recognition. “Unwrap me, please.”

“Do I…have to?”

Valerie’s look flattens. Danny makes entirely unacceptable goo-goo eyes at her. 

“I have a shift in ten, and your mom’s salad to devour. Move it or lose it.” 

Danny’s tail unwraps. Danny sighs, leaning in for one last peck—

Valerie feels the tips of fangs bite explicitly into her lips. 

Her growl is hardly intimidated by Phantom’s rush of guilty laughter, her demon-shaped boyfriend slipping out of her fingers. Great. Now she can taste blood— the thing she was trying to avoid. 

Seeing him in all of his claws and fangs and teeth and horns in daylight was always a little strange; he was never quite opaque in sunlight. He was always a touch translucent, only just shifted outside of reality. 

And the stupid cow ears.

No, they're not endearing. Shut up.

It certainly didn’t help that if someone saw him turn into a demon, his whole ‘hiding his identity as a half-demon’ thing would be over! He needs to pick better spots for his random acts of infernal dramatics!

“I’m sorrrryyyy,” Phantom shouted from a healthy fifty feet away, floating in the air. It made him hard to reach, but an excellent target. “I looooovvee yoooouuu!” 

No. Valerie will resist reaching into her armor for a weapon to shoot her boyfriend out of the sky with. It is rude. It is unkind. More importantly, Valerie’s not interested in having a public identity reveal behind the Nasty Burger any more than Danny is. 

It’s fine. There’s other options. 

“Put a shirt on!” Valerie hollers back, hands over her mouth. 

Phantom’s mouth drops in the distance, little fangs glinting in the evening sunlight. His clawed hands go over his chest, looking for some perceived gap in his coverage. “I’ve got fur! I don’t need one!” 

“Exhibitionist!” Valerie heckles back. “Nudist!” 

Phantom squawks in offense. “Come on! I’m covered!” 

“Get some pants!” Valerie shouts back, finally attracting the attention of one of her employees. At the sound of the Nasty Burger’s nasty back door creaking open, Phantom bolts off. 

Good. That’s what he gets. 

Temerity peeks through the back door. Her name tag is upside down, again. “Boss…?”

Valerie brushes herself off, grabs a plastic fork from where it was sitting on her ebook reader, and reclines back onto the plastic lawn chair that counts as their ‘break room’. “It was nothing, Temmie. A demon got into the dumpster again.” 

“Oh.” Temerity’s countenance warms. She’d always had an interest in the local occult scene. “Did it leave anything behind?”

“Nah,” Valerie replies, popping open her tupperware. Just her lunch, apparently. “You need any help…?”

“Nope! We’ll be fine until you get back in.” 

That for sure means something’s wrong. Whatever; Valerie is totally satisfied to finish off the last fifteen minutes of her shift with some literature, a bucket’s worth of satisfaction, and her boyfriend’s dismayed texts pinging in bursts onto her phone. 

[clairvoyantsam]

When dreams come true ft Jared Padalecki - 4th year anniversary

Rome, May 19th 2016 ... The day the ultimate dream came true! Some of you may remember I bumpted into Jared (or in fact, JARED bumpted into ME) while out and about in Rome that day, a few of my friends know all the details too, but I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned here exactly how and under what impossible circumstances this happened. So ... story time! (& stuff about jib5,6,7)

                                               BACKGROUND

This wasn’t the first time I met Jared, I had met him before at JIBCon5 in 2014, so this was my second time (I was supposed to see him at JIBCon6 in 2015 too which I attended as well but you guys know what happened that year). 

He was lovely that first time, I told him it was my first Supernatural convention and he gave me a warm welcome, made the entire experience so wonderful for me, during the photo ops, the autograph session (where I gave him a scrapbook with messages from fans I had been in contact with) and the panel question I asked him (I completed one of his sentences which was actually a Sam Winchester quote from SPN and it made both of us and the entire audience laugh xD - I have a photo of me somewhere from that moment and I haven’t seen myself smile so widely ever!). Anyway, like I said, the first convention was fantastic, a beautiful and most memorable experience (despite the fact that Jared had a misfortune that time too since he broke his arm and missed one of his panels as a consequence).

The second convention while it had its moments, it sat (and still sits to be honest) heavy in my heart because I was constantly worried about Jared’s wellbeing and everyone including me was heartbroken. The rest of the cast did everything they could to keep us all entertained, they truly did but there was a dark cloud over our heads that couldn’t be ignored. The first thing we talked about with Jensen at his meet and greet (because of  Jared’s absence, I was given the opportunity to be in that M&G, sitting right across from him and Robert Singer who was present at the con as well). Jensen was genuinely worried, he surely put on a brave face but whenever Jared was mentioned, he’d get emotional. While I asked show-related questions at the M&G, I wasn’t sure what to ask Jensen or tell him when I got his autograph and then I thought of the simplest thing: “So, I may be really sad about the empty spot next to you (Jared’s spot on the poster Jensen was signing for me) but I wanted to tell you that I truly appreciate the fact that you’re such a supportive and caring friend towards Jared. Everyone deserves a friend like you to have their back.” Then he took my hand, shook it, looked me right in the eye, put a hand on his heart and told me a sincere “Thank You”. Frankly, I loved Jensen even more at JIB6, he showed both a brave and vulnerable side and he tried so hard to give everyone a great time. My best photos with him are from that con for sure!

So, you see, I HAD to try and give my luck a third chance to live the perfect experience. I wanted to live it all, photo ops, autographs, M&G, panels but I also had a secret wish: to be one of those fans who accidentally meet their fav randomly in the city (NO stalking because that’s just fucked up, only by chance). I always saw posts of lucky people who got to meet him outside of conventions. He’s not one of those snob celebs, you see. He’ll always smile at you and talk to you and get pictures with you. So, I dreamt about it the entire year before JIB7. @darlingjared and I would talk and joke about it all the time, praying that our stars will listen and make a surprise meeting possible. Of course, deep down we know the chances were extremely low. Rome is a HUGE city with hundreds of places of interest. He could be anywhere, on the opposite site of where we’d be. 

The day finally arrived, and we got to Rome (Thursday, May 19th 2016). Soon after I arrived at the Hilton hotel, I got to my room to get some rest after the flight. Not much later, I got a text saying Jared was at the hotel!!!! (no idea why??? the convention was starting the next day and he wasn’t to appear until the day after that). Before I could get dressed to go check, he was gone but I heard he was really sweet and greeted everyone who said hi to him. 

In the afternoon, after I met with my roommate and @darlingjared ,we took the Hilton bus that took us downtown; it left us near the Victor Emmanuel II monument.  Naturally, we went for walks around the city. We had a bite to eat and then got lost in a street trying to find our way to the Trevi fountain, so we asked around and managed to get to our destination. We spent a few minutes there, taking photos and then continued our way, meaning to get to the Spanish steps. While we were heading there, rain started pouring, so we took shelter for a few minutes until it stopped. We thought, damn, we will never meet him during this weather. When it stopped, we did some shopping at a supermarket and since the time had passed and we had to grab our ride back to the hotel since the Hilton bus had a specific route schedule, we said let’s just pass the Spanish steps quickly, go down via Condotti and head back. (I have to mention here that my BEST DECISION EVER was to wear the Always Keep Fighting T-shirt for this walk). At this point, we were certain we wouldn’t meet him, so we basically forgot about it and just started chatting with each other and laughing. I mean, we walked around many places, we got lost, we got stuck in the rain. What were the odds??? So, we’re laughing at our own jokes and for some reason we had our attention focused at the right side of the street. I turn my head straight at the PERFECT time, seeing that beautiful, smiling giant, coming my way through the crowd and adressing me before I had the time to react:

Jared: “Hey, I love your shirt!” 

I fucking froze. Can you imagine?????? Not only did we eventually meet him but HE came to us FIRST to talk!!!!! We didn’t have to notice him and shyly go talk to him, wondering if we’re disturbing him, asking for pictures. He casually just approached us because he wanted to, because he’s kind and simple like that. I was so shocked, mouth agape, that he just went in for a hug to bring me back to reality!!! Now, name me another actor, another celebrity who will stop on his own to talk to you and hug you, I DARE YOU TO FIND ONE!!! He’s pure and special like that. He hugged each of us (gosh, he smelled like Heaven and looked so good in that sexy coat he wore, his hair kinda wet from the rain), asked us how we’re doing and then we asked if it would be ok to take some pictures with us. He said “sure!” and we took our phones out. Mine was brand new and I hadn’t even taken a picture with it, so, basically Jared blessed it first xD My hand was shaking so bad that I couldn’t take the picture, so, he put his hand on mine to steady it and took the selfie. He took pics with all of us, we thanked him and then he told us to have a good time and that he’d see us again at the convention. Needless to say when he left, we started losing it because we couldn’t believe what had just happened!!! It was out of this world. To this day, as I’m writing this, I still can’t believe it. We wanted something so SO much, that the universe made it happen. It’s one of those times that you know the stars aligned so that something you desired with all your heart could come true!

The entire convention was absolutely phenomenal. Jared remembered my face throughout the weekend, I asked him interesting questions during his panels and the one he shared with Jensen for which he later thanked me when I saw him at the photo ops (he particularly liked my question adressed to him and Jensen about the proudest they’ve felt about themselves in real life and about their characters on Supernatural and the other one concerning what Sam and Jared would tell each other if they met in real life which he found great because he said he had never been asked that before.) The M&G with him was a blast, he sat with us longer than what was expected, got to ask him two questions there (I have another detailed post with everything that was said in the M&G), he was super chill and eager to answer everything we wanted to know. When I got his autograph, I told him everything he means to me, thanked him for inspiring me to be a better version of myself, straight out told him I love him and he was so kind and gentle and shook my hand and told me he loved me back (also gave him a custom made chocolate I ordered particularly for him with #AKF as a theme). “I love you, always keeping fighting Jared, never forget.” I was on the verge of tears for multiple reasons but I had to say that to him. I was not in a good place back then and Jared was a beacon of light, of hope that kept me going. At our last photo op together, I asked him to hug me “like there’s no tomorrow” and he held me so tight in his arms, I couldn’t breathe but I didn’t care. I didn’t know what he looked like when he hugged me but getting out of the photo op room, the girl who was behind me stopped me in the hallway and said: “Omg, he was so sweet with you! Loved what he did with his eyes. Your photo will look beautiful”. I was confused because I was looking at the camera when the picture was taken, so I had to wait for my photo op to get printed to see what she was talking about. My heart melted when I saw this:

I mean, look at that SOFT face. He’s so sweet, you can FEEL his kindness radiating by reading his expression. Some people may think nothing of this but it meant the world to me back then. It was as if he was telling me “things will get better, you can do this” without using words.

When Jared hugs, he does it with everything he has, like he’s said before, hugging is showing you care about someone and damn, he does. He’s an actor but he doesn’t pretend during these moments, I can assure you. He’s a person who feels things deeply, he’s someone who understands what it’s like to struggle with your personal demons and that’s why I’ve always related to him the most. He has a heart of gold and personally, I’ll have his back always. He didn’t have to be so kind to me but he was and I will never forget that.

So this is my story. This post was probably too long but I had to share these thoughts. 

Jared, I know you don’t remember me but if you ever see this, thank you for being you, don’t ever change. I love you, man. #AKF

~Elena

[larryfanficwriter98]

Two

{Fake It Until You Make It Real.}

Well....I had seven chapters finished, but as my readers from my other story know I have a terrible habit or rewriting an entire chapter in just one night because of ✨inspiration✨ and 🌈self-doubt🌈. So just know what was once chapter three is now chapter two because my brain hates me.¯\_(ツ)_/¯

After Louis texted him the first time after their lunch, they haven't stopped texting except for when Harry slept, and Louis slept. They were currently talking about plausible backstories to make this believable. Luckily, they had Louis' every other free weekend to use as a cover up and Harry's odd hours to use as well. They then came up with their anniversary date, which was July 19 right after summer vacation started. They've been together for fourteen months going on fifteen, but despite that they've only seen each other a handful of times due to work, kids, and their busy lives. Once they work out the finer details it would be believable, but for now it will work.

From: Harry What's your ring size?

Louis pulled his eyebrows together as he stared at the text before sending a reply.

To: Harry Why?

From: Harry Your engagement ring silly. I can't have a ringless fiancé, a nice, cute boy might get the wrong idea.

To: Harry Like a supermarket engagement ring?

From: Harry No Lewis. A real ring. A real show stopping stone. A real every kiss begins with K jewelry piece.

Despite the conversation Louis couldn't help but laugh as he sent a reply

To: Harry I'm cool with any ole supermarket ring

From: Harry I still need your ring size either way so....

To: Harry 7. Also, not every kiss begins with K. Some begin with a slap.

From: Harry Kinky. Tell me more. 👂👂👂

To: Harry You're lucky I have a class in 5 otherwise I would.

From: Harry Lol damn. Have fun teaching Shakespeare

To: Harry It's not Shakespeare. It's Cinderella.

From: Harry Rodgers and Hammerstein's?

To: Harry Is there any other version?

From: Harry Good man.

Louis locked his phone and looked up surprised to see Zayn sitting across from his desk.

"Oh, good you've noticed me." Zayn said

"You could have spoken." Louis told him as he set his phone down on the desk, "how long have you been there?"

"Long enough to know you have a secret boyfriend you haven't told me about. I get not wanting to tell Freddie or even your family, but me? Is it new? Is that why?" Louis hesitated; this would be the perfect chance to tell Zayn the lie that he has had a boyfriend for the past fourteen months. Or he could tell Zayn that it wasn't like that at all and he was reading the situation wrong.

"We both haven't told anyone anything. He has a daughter that goes to this school on the other side of the building, so it makes things delicate." Louis said

"Okay I get that but why not tell me? How long has this been going on?"

"Fourteen months." Louis said not meeting his best mate's eyes as he stood up and grabbed a stack of scripts

"Fourteen months?!" Zayn shouted, "you've been seeing someone for fourteen months and you haven't said anything."

"He's a doctor, he works odd hours and so we only see each other a few times a month. Look we can talk later alright."

"I want to meet him."

"Later. I have a class arriving soon so leave." Zayn opened his mouth to probably argue but the first student entered so Zayn huffed and left the room making Louis sigh in relief. Louis grabbed his phone and sent a quick message to Harry asking if he was free sometime this weekend to meet Freddie before he locked it, silenced it, and placed it screen down so he wouldn't be distracted. Come lunch Louis checked his phone to see a message of Harry.

From: Harry Yes. I'm off today at 5 until Sunday afternoon.

To: Harry Wanna come over Saturday for pizza and Monsters Inc?

From: Harry Uh... yes! Count me in. Should I bring juice boxes? Candy? Snacks?

To: Harry NO!

From: Harry How else am I going to get your son to like me!?

To: Harry The normal way? With time?

From: Harry BORING! I'll see you Saturday! What time?

To: Harry Say four-ish?

From: Harry I'll be there.

************

Harry spent Friday after work at different toy shops trying to find the perfect toy for Freddie. He kept asking Louis what Freddie liked on disguise of needing to revise on TV shows little boys tend to like more than girls just in case. Which he did. He knew everything about PJ Masks and Bluey and Puppy Dog Pals. He knew about the animated Star Wars shows boys like and he was prepared with wrestling moves should it come down to it. However, having an awesome toy to give to Freddie wouldn't hurt his chances. He had been trying to be mindful that Louis lived in an apartment, but when he saw it, he knew it was meant to be. It was the last one in stock and it had been on sale, not that he would have cared anyway, but still it was a sign. So, he bought a few things to go with it then headed to checkout. He kept what he bought a secret and come Saturday Harry headed to the apartment complex. When he got there, he allowed himself to grimace only once inside of his car. Afterwards he schooled his features and stepped out locked his car three times just to be sure as he headed to the apartment building. The front door was held open by a large rock and the tiled floor was peeling but Harry ignored it and head up to the fourth floor to room 5D and knocked on it. He knocked on it while staring behind him at an old man sitting in a rocking chair with his front foot wide open watching him. He was only there for a few seconds before the door was pulled open revealing Louis.

"Is he alive?" Harry asked instead of greeting Louis like he had planned.

"Yes, though I never actually see him move but I see him gone." Louis said amused

"Right. Sorry. Hi."

"Come in before you get nightmares." Louis said pulling him into the apartment that matched the rest of the apartment complex except it was obvious Louis had done what the apartment manager allowed him to do to make it better. There was new paint on the walls and the floor had the new faux wood flooring probably replacing the tile that seemed to be all over the complex, "Freddie is in his room picking out his favorite toys to show you."

"Perfect. Do they have names?"

"Some of them though they change every other month."

"Got it. I bought him something by the way."

"I figured you had a scheme behind your questions. How big is it?" Louis asked folding his arms as Harry who shrugged

"I can carry it no problem."

"That doesn't tell me anything. Will it be in the way of my perfectly made walkway of toddler toys?"

"Yes, but it has a storage compartment."

"Will it be able to fit through the door once its constructed when we move?" Harry looked at the door then back at Louis and shook his head, "then no."

"What if I promise to be the one to take it apart and put it together?"

"Even tonight because you know he'll want it built."

"Yes, I promise."

"Fine. After pizza." Harry grinned following Louis to the couch, "just so you know don't be offended if he suddenly gets shy when he sees you. I never brought anyone home, so this is new to him."

"Relax I have a way with kids. You'll see and if it turns out he is immune to the Styles magic I have the toy as a backup."

"So, you are bribing my son."

"Call it what you will we are having Harry and Freddie bonding time while he loses every important piece as I build him his toy."

"That is probably accurate." Louis said amused, "How do you know so much about toddlers? You mentioned you didn't see Maddie much as a baby due to school and work and they moved here what...three years ago?"

"Yeah, just about. I work in a hospital. I see toddlers a lot when families visit loved ones and I occasionally work in the pediatric ward. Plus, I love kids. Always wanted a big family." Before Louis could reply Freddie came into the living room hugging the superhero chutes and ladders board game close to his body. Freddie climbed onto Louis' lap making shy eye contact with Harry before he turned away only to look back at him again a few seconds later.

"Hi Freddie." Harry said gently, "I'm Harry." He said leaning into him briefly teasingly making Freddie smile as he leaned away. "I bought you a gift." That had Freddie's attention

"You did?"

"I did. Your papa says it has to wait until after dinner though. Do you by chance have something we can do to make the time go by faster?" Harry asked innocently

"Maybe."

"Well, if you...by chance...have chutes and ladders anywhere in your collection...just know it's one of my favorite games ever."

"It is?!"

"Of course, it is!"

"I have it!" Freddie said excitedly as he handed Harry the box

"And it has superheroes?! That's so cool!" Harry said enthusiastically as he knelt on the floor at the coffee table, "Wanna play with me?"

"Yes!" Freddie quickly scrambled off of Louis' lap and knelt beside Harry and helped set the game up handing Louis the wolverine character and taking the Spiderman character for himself. Harry took the Iron Man character before they closed the box and set it to the side and Louis knelt down across from Harry as he grinned at him. Throughout the game Harry kept asking Freddie about his toys and how Nursery was going and his favorite tv shows. Louis watched his son completely fall in love with Harry over the course of two games that Freddie won without any help from them.

"Do you want to see my train collection?" Freddie asked after he helped put away the game

"Of course, I want to see it." Louis watched as Freddie grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him to spare room that was once Louis' office that had been turned into Freddie's toy room. Harry grinned as he looked back at him waving his fingers before he turned into the small hall. They were gone only a few minutes before the pizza arrived. After tipping the deliver guy he headed to the kitchen and set the pizza and cheese bread boxes down grabbing some plates. He made Freddie a player with two of the smallest slices of pizza then a thin slice of cheese bread. He set the plate on the coffee table with his refilled cup of juice then he made Harry a plate of the two biggest slices and two things of cheesy bread. After Harry's he made his own and called the boys for dinner, they left a minute later with Freddie telling Harry the story of Operation Patching Patches which was his teddy bear that had a huge hole in the stomach that had been sewn closed with a scrap of fabric.

"Papa didn't do a very good job, the stuffing still falls out, but Papa always told me it's the thought that counts so...that's why I have a jar full of stuffing."

"Well, you know Freddie I sew up open cuts all the time. I can fix Patches if you want me to."

"Good luck he doesn't let anyone have Patches." Louis said handing Harry his plate and a beer bottle

"Thank you and I won't have to have him. I have a sewing kit in my car." Freddie sat in the middle of the couch making it clear he expected to sit between them. Harry didn't even raise a brow as he sat beside Freddie on one end of the sofa. Even Zayn tells Freddie to scoot over and Zayn adores Freddie, it took Louis by surprise for a second before he sat on the other end. Harry and he locked eyes over Freddie and grinned before Louis turned on the movie Freddie picked out earlier.

***********

Louis laid on the couch watching as Harry, with Freddie in his lap more often than not, built the train track table. Harry had endlessly amount of patience for Freddie's curious mind and was gentle when explaining why Freddie couldn't do some of the things however, he did let Freddie screw in the screws tightening them quite a bit when Freddie was putting the screws on the other side. There were many photos and videos on Louis' phone of them together and a part of him wished in that moment that Harry was his real boyfriend, and he was meeting his son for the first time because they were ready for that next step in their relationship. He knew Harry wanted to try for something real together, but their relationship will have always started as a lie no matter where it led.

Shaking that thought out of his head he watched as Harry turned the table right side up. They finished the last few steps before they were opening the bags of tracks, cars, buildings, and other things that came with it. Once the city and tracks were built Harry pulled out the conductor hat and placed it on Freddie's head and gave him a whistle that Louis most definitely did not agree to.

"All aboard!" Harry and Freddie shouted before Freddie blew the whistle and they both made arm movements before Harry tapped the train with his finger and the train headed down the hill. By nine, an hour later than usually which Louis will regret in the morning, Louis sent Freddie to bed and tucked him in. Freddie was asleep before Louis closed the door.

"You are his new best friend." Louis said as he walked over to Harry who was putting the toys away with a grin

"Really? So, you think he likes me?"

"He didn't sit on Uncle Zayn's lap until two months after meeting him." Louis said as he took the whistle, "this is reserved for your house."

"Nope. Freddie will be upset if he realizes his whistle is gone." Harry said taking the whistle and putting in the storage bins the table came with. After dismantling it Harry and Louis moved it into the toy room then they sat on the couch, "I promise as soon as we have a solid timeline, I will take you out to a real date if you'll accept it. I really wish we'd have met in the shops or something. Maybe the park on a day I had Maddison. I wish this were normal."

"Don't worry so much about it. Did you want to discuss that? How we met?"

"Yeah, we probably should. Where do you picture meeting me?" Harry asked

"My dream meeting place is an adult toy shop." Louis said watching as Harry's eyes widen before he turned red and laughed, "I'm serious. I always imagine what if I met my husband as we are picking out adult toys."

"We can't tell our family that." Harry said laughing as he laid his head on the back of the couch, "my poor mother...all I'm picturing is telling her how I met my husband as we picked out adult toys and her dropping her pearl necklace on her vanity."

"Vanity!? Your mother has a vanity?" Louis asked

"It was her mother's. Moving on. Pick something else."

"I'm not sure. Where do you think we'd meet?" Louis asked looking at Harry

"Something fun. Unique. Different. Oh, I know. I cut you off." Louis laughed

"Then I stole your parking spot for the deli shop you cut me off to get into."

"And I cut you off in line."

"And bought the last thing of chicken."

"Then invited you over for a home cooked meal."

"With chicken?" Louis asked as he laughed

"With chicken." Harry promised grinning, "I made cheese and broccoli stuffed chicken with lemon roasted carrots and homemade rolls."

"Oh, that does sound good. Damn I missed out on a good date."

"How about you come over my next day off with Freddie and I make it for you two and Freddie can see the house? I work four am through four pm Monday through Wednesday then again on Friday and Sunday. You can come over Wednesday or Thursday?"

"That sounds good. If you're too tired Wednesday just let me know and we'll come Thursday."

"Great. I should go. Thank you for letting me meet Freddie. He's a great kid."

"Thank you. I'll walk you to the door." Louis followed Harry to the front door before opening it for him, "See you in a few days?"

"Yeah of course. We'll talk tomorrow?"

"Yeah." Louis smiled as he slowly closed the door behind Harry then bolted it and locked it. He checked on Freddie before he headed to his room to get ready for bed after a long day.

[jeremystrele]

A Day In The Life Of Artist, Designer And Small Businesswoman, Rachel Castle

A Day In The Life Of Artist, Designer And Small Businesswoman, Rachel Castle

A Day In The Life

Sasha Gattermayr

Rachel at the CASTLE studio with Sydney the sausage dog. Photo – Alisha Gore for The Design Files.

A morning walk around the neighbourhood with Sydney. Photo – Alisha Gore for The Design Files.

Rachel starts a morning at the office with a coffee from Ona in Marrickville. Photo – Alisha Gore for The Design Files.

Rachel and the team! Photo – Alisha Gore for The Design Files.

The ever-bubbly, gorgeous Rachel Castle! Photo – Alisha Gore for The Design Files.

The studio slash office is filled with prints, inspiration and works-in-progress. Photo – Alisha Gore for The Design Files.

Chatting with Design and Production Manager, Simone. Photo – Alisha Gore for The Design Files.

There is no shortage of colourful paints to play with lying around! Photo – Alisha Gore for The Design Files.

There is always time in Rachel’s day for sketching, painting and drawing. Photo – Alisha Gore for The Design Files.

Photo – Alisha Gore for The Design Files.

A true artist’s space! Photo – Alisha Gore for The Design Files.

Rachel started embroidering in the evening when her kids were little and in bed. Now, she has to do it in the early hours of the morning before her team arrive at work! Photo – Alisha Gore for The Design Files.

Rachel gets into the studio early to sew, and catch up on TV! Her current favourite is ‘Ramy’. Photo – Alisha Gore for The Design Files.

Swathes and swatches of fabric in rainbow shades. Photo – Alisha Gore for The Design Files.

A piece in construction. Photo – Alisha Gore for The Design Files.

It’s the mark of a true creative spirit when they spend every spare second making something for the sake of it. This was how it all began for Rachel Castle, who picked up embroidery in the early hours of the evening when her young kids were in bed, the only time she had to herself during their childhood years. It was here that her true calling revealed itself.

But before she was an artist, designer, and the director of her own small business, Rachel’s professional life meandered from PR to marketing. She and friends Alex Willcock and Russell Pinch used to run a branding company in the United Kingdom, but when their second child was born, Rachel left the business to become a full-time mother. She considers this the best decision she ever made.

‘I believe you can definitely have everything in life, just not all at once,’ she says. ‘I was never conscious of a path, I just worked with people and product I loved, and the rest worked itself out.’ Though the meandering route she describes is encouraging for others who might be in the same working-it-all-out boat, it undersells the seriously hard work Rachel has done in establishing her cult lifestyle brand. Between her firm focus on keeping her business small and practice-based, and the overtime hours she clocked developing her distinct artistic style over the years, Rachel is a tenacious, self-made professional.

Rachel took TDF around her heavenly Marrickville studio where we spent a day in her sunny, colourful world. Her creativity knows no bounds!

FIRST THING

I’m definitely a morning person.  My husband recently retired which means (hallelujah!) for the first time in a decade I can go to work whenever I want. For years I had to scramble around to find the time to work, but now I’m free as a bird, which is an amazing feeling.  If I wake and can’t sleep at 5am I go to work, but generally, I’m in the car by about seven. I don’t do social media in the mornings, I’m too old and can’t handle the early morning scramble to find my glasses and get three sentences together that make sense, so I just amble around quietly and slowly, a way better and nicer way to start each morning.

It’s a half-hour drive to work so lately I’ve been listening, for the first time in my life, to a really good AM radio station. During the protests its had some really diverse speakers, activists, writers, artists, poets. I’m converted! Also, I can’t work out how to change it back to FM so I’ll leave it here until the end of 2020 and see what else I can learn.

As soon as I arrive in Marrickville I grab a coffee from Ona down the road, and get straight to it.

MORNING

Emails and DMs…. Omg there are so many.  I check all the inboxes and delegate where necessary and then, best part of the day, I sew and watch TV until the girls arrive at 9.  The earlier I get to work the longer I can spend watching anything from Homeland to Ramy to The Real Housewives; this is my junk time and I LOVE IT.  Sewing for me is like getting a massage or going for a run or doing yoga, it’s my outta body knock-knock-there’s no-one home time.

The girls slowly start to arrive and its the normal chit chat (‘Where did you go last night? Did the NBN guy come? Where’d you get your pants from?’) and then we all move into getting the orders out for the day, getting the artworks signed, the tea towels sewn and the commissions sorted.  I potter around watering the plants, and mid-morning try to sort something with our Wholesale and Web Content lead, AJ, for socials, a little video or pics for our stories or a new wall for our studio. FINALLY having the space in our studio for a bed has transformed the way we spend our days as there’s so much bed-making and wall painting to be done!

There’s really no routine to the morning, I just go creatively wherever I feel the need, I might try to cut up some new embroideries, or prepare some canvases for painting, or do some little watercolours on paper. So by lunchtime, I’ve generally got 7,000 things started and not a single thing completed (not joking) every single day of the week.

AFTERNOON

Generally at around 3pm we all have a heart attack and realise, ‘OMG! It’s 3 o’clock!’. The girls get some lunch and I get ready to spend some time with Simone, CASTLE’s design and production lead. No two days are the same, but this week we’ve been working on our new towel shoot with Stephanie Somebody, and an upcoming collaboration with Gorman, some new sweater designs and our next Spring/Summer range. In between there are all the usual production issues!

During COVID-19 the Indian ports were closed for a month and a lot of our suppliers are on skeleton staff, so it’s been a very challenging period for us and for them. It’s very slowly getting back to normal, and we hope and pray things for India start to improve soon. Over the years we’ve become very close to our suppliers, they are as much a part of our family as our customers, we send them love.

LATE AFTERNOON

From the minute I wake up I start chanting my mantra….. ‘I will do more painting today, I will do more painting today.’  It only ever happens around 5pm and recently I’ve been coming to terms with this. I’ve tried LITERALLY everything to get more time painting but I just can’t do it. So I’ve started reframing the narrative, and now I’m grateful that I get an hour to do it at all.  The advantage of having grown children with no more play dates and park visits is I can go into work on the weekend, where I can smash out a thousand brush strokes in an hour. Time stops in the studio on the weekend, it’s an incredibly peaceful place to be.

EVENING

I’m home every single weeknight by 7.15pm. I love my drive home, this is my time to ring my mother and speak to my friends on the phone. It’s just me and the boys at home, so we eat together and Lucas goes off to study (apparently). He’s in Year 12 so a big year for him where we all try to be as quiet and gentle as we can. Cleo moved home too during  COVID-19, and I have to say the family time has been nice!

I don’t cook or go to the supermarket anymore (SOUND THE TRUMPETS) and it’s the best part of my new older life, so the evenings for me are spent eating and then doing my social media… then falling asleep reading with my glasses on and then trying to find all the right creams for my face at 10.30pm. Then snooze and sleep like a baby.

Photo – Alisha Gore for The Design Files.

Right now I’m listening to/watching/reading…

Watching Ramy I laugh and cry from one scene to the next, it’s teaching me a lot about Islamic culture and religion. It’s hilariously funny and, equally, really tackles the big issues, it’s really good.

Reading A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. It’s a beautiful Indian tale covering the country’s growth over the past 30 years. Knowing the history of this beautiful country is really important to me.

Listening to any podcast I can get my hands on, and always a daily dose of Dan Savage!

One important thing I do every day is…

Eat dinner with my family. Every weekday of our lives, it’s a deal breaker for me.

I get my best work done when…

I’m in the studio by myself with my music on and my phone switched off.

A philosophy I live and work by is…

Touch it once.  Emails, DMs, designs, products. Going back to something we discussed yesterday doesn’t work for me. We resolve it on the spot, or resolve it to a point where we can pick it up later.  I never say ‘Let’s sleep on it’, which means I make mistakes, but we need to keep moving because inertia is the DEVIL!

My productivity tip/tool is…

Definitely the above, touching it once.

Something I learned the hard way is…

Don’t put a whole range on pre-order just before a pandemic… note to self!