#the fact that I was very sleepy all day long may have increased my laziness

[kittkattys]

Espilver Week 2024 day 3: Food

It took me a while today bc I didn't want to make Silver_eating_Dango.png (999) but I also didn't want to make the chili dog from the Silver section of the cookbook (I was lazy) so I went with the good old easy way

[thesassenachswiftie]

Lover Chapter 11: “I Forgot That You Existed”

Read on AO3

Chapter 1 // Chapter 2 // Chapter 3 // Chapter 4 // Chapter 5 // Chapter 6 // Chapter 7 // Chapter 8 // Chapter 9 // Chapter 10

Summary:  Claire runs into someone from her past, which becomes a catalyst for some important decisions to be made. This allows Jamie to finally introduce Claire to his family.

Notes: As always, thank you for reading. I had every intention of this being a very short chapter, but Claire had other plans and made some important life choices instead, so now it's one of the longest chapters I've written! A lot of important things are happening!There's a few instances of smut in this chapter (the first being at the very beginning) if that's something that bothers you; I'm sorry these two won't stop! I'm going to have to seperate them.

Chapter 11: “I Forgot That You Existed”

           Jamie woke up to the morning light creeping into the bedroom. This time when he reached for Claire beside him she was there. He drew her naked body close to his, spooning her gently and kissing her head as she hummed sleepily. As she started to blink her eyes open she noticed his growing erection pressed against her buttocks. “Well good morning to you too, Mr. Fraser, Jamie Jr.” she greeted, pressing against him harder.

           He grunted a distinctly Scottish noise of sleepy wanting and began kissing her neck. “Mmm…” he groaned. “Jamie Jr. wants to say hullo to ya”

           She chuckled, rolling over to turn towards him, “He didn’t say enough to me last night?” she raised an eyebrow coyly, lifting one leg over his legs.

           “Och! That was hours ago, seems he misses ya.” he said, continuing to craft the story of Jamie Jr. “He gets chilly in the morning, ya ken? Needs ya to warm him up.”

           “Mmm… I’d be much obliged to help him, wouldn’t want him left out in the cold.” she positioned her hips towards his erection, ready to guide him in. He entered her, and they rocked together, eyes locked, stealing languid kisses from time to time. They moved slowly, building up their pleasure, enjoying the closeness of their bond. It was so nice, so peaceful and quiet in the early morning light of the room. The slow movement was really getting to Claire, Jamie’s pelvic bone was perfectly situated so that it was consistently rubbing against her clit, slowly pleading with her to come to the edge of her pleasure. With each stroke her breathing rate increased and she began to whimper and moan as he thrusted. Finally, she shattered around him, crying out his name into the glow of the bedroom. God, he loved the sound of his name on her lips. He saw this as an invitation to increase his speed, rolling on top of her to bring himself home easily, encouraged by her pleasure.

           Claire had gotten out of the shower, dressed, and dried her hair all while Jamie was still lingering in the bed, still completely nude, a sight to behold. “Get up you lazy bones! It’s bagel time!”

Jamie grunted, “Ya tired me out last night, Sassenach.” That wasn’t surprising, after they recovered from their lovemaking session on the chaise lounge, he took her against the wall on the way to the bedroom, and they had made love a third time after settling into bed. He stretched dramatically across the bed--he was a sight to behold and was sending her a clear message with his body language--he knew exactly what he was doing. “Nice try, but my appetite is solely for Murray’s Bagels right now and I won’t be distracted until I get some. If you don’t get up soon I’m going without you!”

           “Hmmpfff, at least I’d know where ya went this time.” he replied smugly.

           “Actually, I could just pop out and grab them, if I call in the order before I leave it’ll just be a quick trip, I’ll be back by the time you’re out of the shower, if you ever plan on getting out of bed.” She tossed a decorative pillow that had ended up on the floor at him playfully.

“Aye Sassenach, that’s a braw plan, I don’ wanna keep ya from yer wee bagels any longer.”

“Here’s the menu” she handed her phone to him. “Let me know what you want”

“Hmm… Omelets on a bagel, that sounds… different, but delicious all the same… McCann’s Irish oatmeal, definitely want to try some of that. I always say parritch is the best way to start the day”

“McCann? Wouldn’t that be Scottish, with the ‘Mc’ at the beginning?”

“Nae, Sassenach, that one’s the Irish Gaelic.”

“Oh I didn’t realize they had ‘Mc’s’ too.”

“Spoken like a true Sassenach” he teased, rolling his eyes dramatically. “I’ll teach ya a lesson later about how to tell a Scot from an Irish man.”

“I’m looking forward to it.” She smiled knowingly. “Have you decided what you want yet?”

“Aye, I’ll have the Western Omelet on a Bagel, McCann’s Oatmeal, and… a black and white for dessert.”

“Well, you certainly worked up an appetite last night, sir, anything to drink?”

“Aye, I’ll have a cappuccino if it's no’ too much trouble.”

“None at all darling, I’ll call it in now.”

----------

           The second Claire stepped into the small bagel shop, the nostalgia of the purely delicious scent of fresh baked good wafting through the air caused her mouth to water with anticipation. She was excited to eat, but she also was excited to share the experience with Jamie. The picture of him lounging naked was still fresh in her mind and she could hardly wait to get back to him. It had only been a ten-minute walk, but she was glad she ordered ahead so she didn’t have to wait any longer. She approached the counter and spoke to the young hipster at the cash register, “Pick up for Claire?”

           “That’ll be $33.86.” Claire inserted her card into the small white card reader as the cashier swiveled an iPad screen around for her to add a tip and sign. “Here’s your food, the drinks will be just a moment, we like to make them fresh”

           She smiled. “Not a problem.”

           “Claire?” she felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickle as she heard her name in a familiar, distinctly British voice that had once reminded her of her father, but now only felt cold. She hadn’t thought about Frank once this week, she’d all but forgot that he existed in recent months, her thoughts entirely occupied by Jamie. The fact that she had moved past him didn’t make it any easier to turn around and face him for the first time in months.

           “Frank!” she chuckled nervously, “Long time no see!”

           “What brings you into the city?”

           “Went to see Wicked yesterday, thought we’d make a weekend out of it.” She wasn’t sure she should have used the pronoun we, she didn’t want Frank to react to her being with Jamie, it was a touchy subject between the two of them. Hopefully he would assume she was with Jo and not brooch the subject any further.

           “Cappuccino and a Chai for Claire!” the barista shouted.

           She turned back to the counter. “That’s me. Could I get a carrier for them?” The barista loaded them into a recycled cardboard carrier and handed it across the counter.

           “Here you go. Have a great day!”

           “Thanks, you too!”

           Frank eyed her suspiciously, “Who’s the cappuccino for?” Damn. He remembered her order and apparently Jo’s as well. Jo was a vegan and of course wouldn’t order a creamy cappuccino, usually opting for black coffee instead.

           “I’m not entirely sure that’s any of your business.” she replied coldly.

           “It’s not that filthy Scot is it? Surely he’s not still around.”

           She felt a fire rise up within her at his words. She no longer felt anything towards the man standing before her, not love, not hate, just indifference, but she did love the man waiting for her several blocks away and hearing Frank insult him so casually caused something in her to snap.”

           “Jamie is more of a man than you’ll ever be.” she hissed viciously. She continued in a low, cutting voice, she didn’t intend to cause a scene, but the fury welling up inside her had to be released. “He sees me in a way that you never could, he treats me better than you ever did. We’ve made love no less than four times in the past twenty-four hours and I might just go do it again. He’s the best fuck I’ve ever had. He is more of a man than you’ll ever be in every possible way.” She knew her words were cutting deep, hurting his pride, his ego, his fragile masculinity, everything holding his identity together and she couldn’t care less. Frank had shown who he was and she had no reason to stand for his bullshit any longer. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to get this cappuccino to him before it gets cold.” On that note, she stormed out of the shop leaving him dumbfounded, an embarrassed flush on his face, eyes darting around the shop suspicious of anyone who may have heard.

           She took a deep inhale of the crisp fall air to calm her nerves. The initial surge of adrenaline she felt in seeing them had mingled with something else, something empowering that was flowing through her veins. She strode the sidewalks with confidence, beaming with pride at finally telling Frank off. She thought that telling Frank about Jamie would kill her, but it didn’t. In fact, it had the opposite effect. How many days had she spent thinking about how he did her wrong? How much time had she wasted letting him live in her mind rent free? The first iteration of her and Jamie’s relationship she was constantly comparing the two, and Frank always came up short, but he was always there, lurking in the back of her mind, she couldn’t get away from him. She had been living in the shade Frank and his cronies were throwing until all her sunshine was near gone. Now, she felt free of that, she was ready to step out into the light and leave that part of her life behind her once and for all. Frank may have brought her reputation down, he may have tripped her up and left her on the ground, but he wouldn’t keep her down any longer. He taught her some hard lessons, and for that she was grateful, but she didn’t need to think about him anymore. She realized she had found herself and who she truly wanted to be and Jamie was the one who brought it out of her. She didn’t feel like she needed him to have that sense of self, more that he allowed her to be who she was unquestioningly. He drew out parts of her that she had long since hidden trying to be the ‘perfect woman’--whatever that meant. Jamie absolutely left her tongue tied and giddy. She found herself in her feelings more than Drake, but their relationship went so much deeper than the infatuation it seemed to be at the beginning. Something happened one magical night, and she couldn’t even pinpoint exactly when, but she knew with great certainty that their love was unshakeable. She would stick around for him while he was gone. She would have fought the whole town, not just Frank, for him if she had to. She would be right there for him, no matter what. He was there for her when no one else was, (except Jo, steadfast friend that they were), and she would be the same.

----------

           She had gotten back to Cornelia St. quicker than she realized, lost in her thoughts and realized she had forgotten what the code to the door was--with everything that had happened in the last half hour, it was all just a blur. She had to call Jamie again for the numbers and she ascended the steps to the apartment, once again Jamie greeted her at the door. He was freshly showered and wearing just his pajama bottoms slung low on his hips and smelling strongly of some manly shower gel. His curls were still damp and his fair skin was flushed from the heat of the shower. God, he was attractive no matter what state he was in.

           “Breakfast is served” she chimed as she handed him his cappuccino, walking to the dining room table to dig in.

           “Thank ya, Sassenach” he kissed her, taking his bag of food from her and settling at the table to enjoy his portion.

           There was so much Claire was bursting to tell him, but she didn’t know how to bring it up. She didn’t want to hide the fact that she had run into Frank, there was nothing to hide, but she didn’t want to kill her positive mood by upsetting Jamie either. She had also made two decisions on her walk: the first being that she no longer wanted to hide their relationship and the second, that she needed to move out of the house she co-owned with Frank as soon as possible. The first topic of conversation wouldn’t be difficult, but the second was more complicated. She had a feeling he wouldn’t mind moving in together under normal circumstances, but he was leaving and his apartment was owned by his sister. Jo’s apartment was almost as small as Jamie’s, but she didn’t think Jo would be as keen to let her share a bed.

           First things first, she thought, sliding her phone out of her pocket with an exaggerated gesture, a coy smile on her face, holding the phone surreptitiously close to her body, glancing up to try to catch Jamie’s eye as he enjoyed his breakfast. Moments later, his phone on the table lit up. He glanced across the table curiously as he peered at the screen, a Facebook notification Claire Beauchamp sent you a relationship request.

Jamie’s face flushed with joy. “What’s this?” he inquired, raising an eyebrow. The look on his face reminded Claire of a puppy who had just gotten a new toy.

           “I’m done hiding.” She declared, a proud smile on her face.

           “Really?” he lit up the room with his smile, his heart felt fit to burst, it took great restraint not to dive across the table and scoop her into his arms. She nodded in affirmation. “Oh Claire! I canna tell ya how happy I am ta hear it.”

“I’m glad” she was smiling, touched by his reaction as he accepted the request, adding the words ‘In A Relationship with Claire Beauchamp’ permanently to his profile.

“What about Frank?”

           “Funny you should mention that; I actually ran into him while I was out.”

           “Oh Claire,” his face transformed, a look of concern on his brow and he reached across the table for her hand.

           “I’m fine, I promise. Better than fine actually.” She flashed a satisfied grin, eyes twinkling with mischief. “I told him off. He called you a filthy Scot and I tore his stupid ego to pieces.” She was smirking, clearly proud of herself.

           “I thank ye for defending my honor, milady.” He held her hand up, and leaned over the table to kiss it. “And I’m proud of ya for standing up to him, I know it couldna‘ve been easy. You’re a brave wee thing Claire, and ya make me so happy.” They sat in silence for a few moments, basking in the glow of their mutual feelings for one another.

           “There’s one other thing” she put forward, much more hesitant than before.

           “What is it, mo chridhe?”

           “I have to move out of that house. Frank co-owns it and I want to cut my ties with him completely, but I’m not sure what to do, it’s been impossible to find a place of my own within my budget.”

           “I could talk to Jenny about ya staying at my place while I’m gone, it’s not much, but I’m sure she’ll be happy that someone will keep the dust from gathering.”

           “Really? You think she’d be ok with it?”

           “I canna say for sure; my sister can be a fickle wee thing, but I’ll ask her.”

           “Oh, Jamie, that would be perfect!”

----------

           Regardless of what Jenny ultimately said, they decided that Claire would spend the remainder of the week at Jamie’s before he had to fly back to England on Saturday. Jamie was elated to finally properly introduce Claire to his family as his girlfriend, and had a feeling Jenny would love Claire almost as much as he did. Jenny had already been blowing up his phone since the changed relationship status earlier that morning, and before they left the AirBnB he called her and it was decided that he would bring Claire over that later night. Jenny insisted on having a proper family dinner, and when Jamie nervously broached the subject with Claire, she eagerly accepted the invitation to his great relief.

           “I have met Jenny before.” she explained, recognizing his apprehension.

           “Aye, but ya dinna think bringing ya home for dinner gives off ‘meet the parents’ vibes?”

           “Hmm… perhaps you’re more nervous about this than I am. What kind of dirt does your sister have on you? I can’t wait to find out.” She smirked, hitting him lightly on the shoulder as they walked the city sidewalks, headed to their final destination on Jamie’s list before leaving the city. It was, of course, a carriage ride through Central Park. Claire couldn’t help but laugh at how cliché it was, but at the same time so fitting for the hopeless romantic Scotsman she’d found herself falling more and more in love with every moment.

           On the carriage ride, Jamie filled Claire in on all the members of his family, although she already felt she knew them he spoke of them so often. She listened intently however, she’d always loved the way he spoke of his family, and he seemed nervous about how the evening would go and she knew talking about it would help ease him. He wanted everything to go smoothly, he knew Claire was special and he wanted Jenny to recognize it too. He had every intention of spending the rest of his life with her and that process would be a lot easier if Jenny welcomed her into the family wholeheartedly.

----------

           They spent most of the train ride home snuggled together, checking the myriad of notifications on their phones. Most were some iteration of the expression “What?!?” or eye emojis imploring for more information. Jamie’s thread had a few borderline lewd comments, and Claire’s had a few angry reacts from Frank’s crowd mixed in with the likes and ‘wow’ reactions. Jamie had a few “pics or it didn’t happen” comments and he asked Claire for permission to post the selfie they had taken that weekend. Gaining her consent, he uploaded the picture to Instagram with the caption: Wonderful weekend in the city with my lass ❤️ . He shared it to Facebook as well, tagging her. She felt that reoccurring swarm of butterflies again as she opened the notification and read his caption, musing on the words my lass with that tiny red heart. He really did make her feel like a teenager again, every little expression of love making her giddy. It didn’t matter who thought poorly of their relationship, they couldn’t possibly understand and wouldn’t try. Nothing could crush her spirits now, their love was too strong, too powerful for her to care anymore. Their love was a solid anchor holding fast, neither wind nor waves could sweep them away into darkness so long as they had each other. It seemed there was no storm strong enough to sweep them away.

They arrived back at the train station on Long Island in the early afternoon; Jamie followed Claire back to her house so she could gather what she needed for the week. Jamie parked his car behind hers in the driveway and followed her in through the front door. It was strange that he hadn’t been here since the night they met, New Year’s Eve nearly a year ago. The house had been decorated extravagantly then, and now looked stark and barren by comparison. There didn’t seem to be any personal touches in the decor, it looked more like a home you’d see in a magazine or a music video.

           “Are you sure it’s ok for me to be here?” he whispered reverently, as if they had just stepped into a mausoleum and not a large suburban foyer.

           “Of course, it is my house after all. At least half mine, and Frank hasn’t been here in months, he packed all his things and left for good it seems.”

           “Is there still a bar downstairs?” he asked smoothly.

           “It’s a little early for a drink, isn’t it Mr. Fraser? But yes, it’s still there, not as well stocked as it was when you were last here.” It had just dawned on Claire that Jamie hadn’t been here since the night they met. “Let’s have a look, shall we?” she said coyly as she led him to the finished basement.

           “This is where we met.” she said, stating the obvious.

           “I see ya have bar stools now.”

           “Yes, though I can’t say I use them much,” she replied, resigned to the fact that her house was an empty shell of what it could have been.

           “Still sitting on the bar then, Ms. Beauchamp?”

           “Why, is that how you like your women?” She eyed him flirtatiously, backing into the bar and hoisting herself up.

           “My women and my whiskey” he replied, approaching her and beginning to kiss her neck. “Mmm, ya looked so bonny that night, yer wee curls piled atop your head like a crown. Yer gorgeous legs dangling off the bar” speaking between kisses, he ran his hands up her thigh, wishing they were as bare as they had been that night, instead of denim clad as they were now. “I ken I wanted ya then, Claire, imagined running my hand up that dress of yours.” he pantomimed exactly what he had wanted to do, landing his palm on her fully clothed crotch.

           Claire moaned, feeling warmer and warmer underneath his hand, also beginning to silently curse the fact that she’d worn jeans. “I wanted you then too, I know I shouldn’t have, but when I saw those hands around that whiskey glass,” she took his hand, the one that wasn’t on her jeans, to her mouth and sucked lightly on his index finger. “I couldn’t help but imagine what they’d feel like on my body.”

           “Aye? Whereabouts on yer body”

           She moaned again, as restrictive as her jeans were starting to feel, there was something to be said about the friction the fabric was creating between his fingers and the center of her pleasure. “Mmm… right about where they are now.” she sighed again, as he caressed in just the right spot “only in my imagination, we weren’t wearing quite as much”

           “Aye, mine too, but I think that can be arranged.” he unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans, helping her wiggle out of them. Freed from her denim cage she spread her legs wide on the edge of the bar. “Christ Claire, this is better than I ever could have imagined. He pulled her shirt over her head, and then his own, and removed his own jeans before returning his mouth to her skin. Her position atop the bar brought her breasts right to his eye level, spilling out of a lacy green bra in perfect contrast to her milky skin. He brought his palms to them, massaging them and drawing them close as he planted kisses along her neck. “Dija imagine my hands here, Sassenach?”

           “Mmm… yes.” He continued his trail of kisses, moving down her breasts, sucking her nipples through the thin fabric as she continued to whimper and moan. She had been running her fingers through his hair, tugging at the curls, and removed one hand to unclasp her bra behind her back, freeing her breasts for him to devour with his lips and tongue, which he did eagerly. He moved one hand from her breast down her torso, and thrust it into the waistband of her matching lacy panties.

           “And ye definitely imagined my hand here, aye?” he asked, stroking her clit vigorously.

           “Yes! Jamie!” she cried out, panting with need and desire. He continued to stroke small circles around that bundle of nerves until she was begging for more, “Please, Jamie” she gasped.

           “Mmmm, what?” he inquired, clearly enjoying teasing her.

           “I want you inside me,” she moaned, pulling at the waistband of his boxer briefs.

           “No.” he replied, brushing her hand aside.

           “No?” she inquired, a bit wounded, hoping she’d misheard.

           “No mo nighean donn,” he responded, thrusting a finger inside her as she gasped, his thumb taking over the dexterous work of stroking her clit, “I want ta watch you.”

           All Claire could do was moan in response, and he continued pleasuring her, watching intently for every flinch of her face, enjoying every whimper that escaped her swollen lips. He wanted to be able to picture her exactly like this when he was gone, gasping his name in the low light. He took it all in as he finally brought her over the edge of her pleasure, the way her wild curls flew back as she cried out his name in pure, orgasmic bliss. This is the picture he wanted of her always in his mind during their time apart--he committed every inch of her to memory as he gently nursed her through the aftershocks of her orgasm.

----------

The atmosphere of the Murray house was warm and inviting. The smell of something delicious and savory wafted through the air. It was a stark contrast to the home Claire had just left behind. Where her walls were bare and unpainted, the walls of the foyer were covered in a cornflower blue damask wallpaper, scuffed and scratched in places, cluttered with picture frames and children's drawings taped on askew at intervals. Where Claire’s honey colored faux wood floors were neat, polished and clutter-free, the dark wooden floorboards of the front hall of their farmhouse was rustically weathered with age, had piles of shoes spilling over near the door and stray toys along the baseboards. Deafening silence awaited Claire upon her arrival home each night, but here, the sounds of life could be heard everywhere as if the walls themselves were vibrating with it. Laughter of children could be heard from somewhere far upstairs, or perhaps downstairs? Claire couldn’t tell, but it was a beautiful sound to her after living in silence for so long.

           “Jenny, Ian, we’re here!” Jamie shouted through the house.

           “Uncle Jamieeeee!” a small girl with brown pigtails came bounding through the hallway, throwing herself at him, followed instantly by two boys, one around middle school age, the other quite a bit younger, lingering around his legs, vying for his attention.

           “Maggie, Michael, Young Jamie! Och! I’ve only been gone a wee couple a days!”

           “Uncle Jamie! Ma says if I do all my schoolwork this week we can play video games all night Friday night!”

           “Uncle Jamie, come look at the picture I drawed!”

           “Uncle Jamie, can we play race car drivers?”

           Jamie felt himself being pulled into the vortex of the house, and Claire stood awkwardly in the small foyer, unsure of what to do. Another small little girl had appeared, younger than the first, wide-eyed and staring at Claire from a doorway down the hall. She tugged on her uncle’s shirt. “What is it Kitty my girl?” Claire didn’t hear her reply, but she must have elicited that it was confidential information, because Jamie knelt down on one knee and she cupped her tiny hands around his ear to whisper into them.

           “Who’s that pretty lady?” she whispered, softly enough that only Jamie could hear; Claire could only see the smile that stretched across his whole face in reaction, catching her eye across the hall.

           “Kids, I’d like ya to meet Miss Claire.” he announced, reaching out his hand to beckon her towards them. The sight made Claire’s breath catch briefly, and for a moment, there were no children, no toys strewn about, no scratches in the wallpaper. Just Jamie, blue eyes locked on hers, down on one knee, holding her left hand. She couldn’t help but to imagine him in this exact position, asking her to spend the rest of their lives together and that thought didn’t scare her anymore. In fact, it was something she hoped for in the depths of her heart. She realized she’d been standing there gawking at him for a few moments too long after he’d introduced her and broke contact to look at all the children Jamie had just introduced, having already forgotten their names, save young Jamie which was easy to remember for obvious reasons.

           “Pleased to meet all of you” she smiled warmly at the children, “thank you for allowing me into your home.” The littlest girl tucked herself bashfully behind her uncle’s now-standing legs, peering out from behind them to smile at Claire.

           The little girl with the pigtails, evidently less shy, approached Claire and extended her hand, “Pleased to meet you too” she said, mimicking Claire’s tone as best she could as Claire accepted her hand shake. “You’re very pretty. Are you Uncle Jamie’s girlfriend?” Claire couldn’t help but blush and smile at the question, turning to Jamie, she saw his face had a similar expression. She silently asked his permission to answer the question and he gave a subtle nod of assent.

           “Yes, yes I am” she said. Saying it out loud felt even more refreshing than updating her Facebook status earlier had made her feel. That giddy teenager feeling was once again at the forefront of her conscience, giving her a solid foundation and the courage to face whatever the days, weeks, and months ahead of her would bring.

They followed the children into a small playroom cluttered with every kind of toy imaginable. Colorful drawers and large shelves showed an attempt at organization, but there seemed to be no system the children were capable of following and toys, books, games and dress up clothes were strewn about throughout the room. The children vied for their Uncle’s attention, and those who were less shy included Claire, eager to show all their favorite toys and explain their imagined lives to someone new.

“Kid’s! Wash yer hands, it’s time for supper!” Jenny’s voice bellowed from the kitchen. Jamie helped encourage the children to heed their mother, delicately playing both sides to convince them how awful their mother would be if they didn’t, simultaneously making it a competition to see who could get their hands the cleanest. Claire played along as best she could, admiring how good Jamie was with the children. He would make a great father someday. Picturing her with his own brood of red-headed children filled her heart with a radiant joy that traveled through her chest, and deep into her gut. Perhaps it was too soon to think about it, but she imagined herself carrying his children, giving him that gift, the warm smile he would have at becoming a father. He could see him tossing a giggling toddler in the air, kissing boo-boos, wiping away tears, reading bedtime stories. The thought was enough to bring her to tears, as she stood there observing him lost in a daydream, a goofy smile plastered on her face, blushing at how far she’d let her thoughts carry her away, hoping her glass face wouldn’t give away too much.

They headed into the dining room and settled at the Murray’s large dining room table. A man with a fair complexion and kind eyes limped into the room with the help of a cane held in one hand, carrying a child who couldn’t have been more than a year old in his other arm. He lifted her into a high chair beside the head of the table.

“Claire, this is my best friend and brother-in-law, Ian, and of course, wee Janet.” Jamie said, gesturing towards Ian with one hand and using the other to tousle the baby’s fine hair.

Claire rose from her seat and extended a hand to Ian. “Pleased to meet both of you.”

“Welcome, Claire!” Ian said, taking her hand in both of his and shaking it warmly “So glad ta finally meet the lass responsible for the goofy smile that’s been plastered on Jamie’s face for some time!” he teased.

“Och! ‘twas worse than when ya started dating my sister, need I remind you! Were practically running into the walls yer heid was so far up in tha clouds.” Jamie retorted good-humoredly.

Claire was loving every moment spent inside the walls of the Murray household. The love of family seemed to spring out of the very woodwork of the happy home and Claire was so glad to know that Jamie had such a large and loving family to spend time with when he was so far from home. She liked Ian immediately, and was also pleased that Jamie had such an amiable best friend he could be himself around--and one who got to join his family to boot! The light-hearted and loving atmosphere gave her a warm feeling, like the kind she got watching cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies. She felt wistful that she had never really had such a sense of family in her life. She never really knew what she was missing, but now that she saw it for herself, it was something she desperately wanted for herself and she hoped the Murray’s wouldn’t mind taking her in as one of their own so she could enjoy this feeling again and again.

A short, dark haired woman with severe features and piercing eyes walked into the room, carrying a large roast which she placed in front of Ian to carve. Claire was surprised at how small Jenny was, she hadn’t noticed it as much when they were both seated at young Ian’s football game, and the way her voice bellowed through the house calling for her children, she had imagined her to be much larger. Her presence certainly commanded more space than her stature would imply. Jamie stood up as Jenny entered, “Jenny, you remember Claire, from young Ian’s football game, right?” He placed his hand on the small Claire’s back, proudly beaming as he presented the love of his life to his dear sister.

“Nice to see ya again Claire, glad my brother’s finally stopped hiding ya away in the garage.” she raised an eyebrow and Claire wasn’t sure what to make of the expression.

“Can I help you with anything?” Claire asked, she was nervous and desperately wanted to make a good impression on Jenny.

“Aye, why don’t ya come help me carry the sides in.” Claire caught Jamie’s eye, and he gave her silent reassurance that she’d be alright, and she followed Jenny into the kitchen.

“So yer the lass who spent naer every night this summer in my brother’s flat without so much as a word from him about ya.”

“It was--I--” Claire hesitated, wondering how best to explain herself.

Jenny, however, continued on, “It’s not any of my business what my brother decides to do, or who he decides to entertain; that’s his space and as long as he keeps his intimate relations out in the garage and away from my children I’m fine with it. I’m sure ya have yer reasons for hiding away, and I don’t ken enough about ya to ken if they’re honorable or not, but I do ken ya make my brathair happier than I’ve seen him in a long time, and I’m grateful for that.” Claire smiled in response to that, ready to respond that Jamie made her just as happy, if not more, but Jenny wasn’t finished. “I also ken something happened last month that makes me feel inclined not tae trust ya so much. He tried to hide it--well enough that the bairns didn’t notice, but I ken my brathair and he was a shell of a man for near on a month. It seems Jamie’s willing to forgive ya and I’m inclined ta do the same, but if ya ever hurt him again I won’t be so forgiving. I trust my brathair’s judgement and I wanna trust you as well Claire, but I’m afeard yer gonna have ta prove yerself.”

Claire paused a moment to make sure Jenny was done with her speech before responding. “Jenny, I swear to you, Jamie has my whole heart. I definitely made more than a few mistakes in our relationship but all they did was lead me to realize that Jamie and I truly belong together. We have something deep and strange between us that I can’t explain, it’s like we were destined to be together. I never really believed in a higher power before I met Jamie, but now I feel as though there must be something out there, because it’s like some unseen hand is drawing us together against all odds. Jenny I swear to you, I will never hurt your brother again, I’d only be hurting myself if I did. I’m all in, and I don’t expect you to trust me right away, but I hope in time, you’ll see the truth of my words.”

“Aye, I hope so too” Jenny gave Claire a compassionate smile and handed her a truly large bowl of mashed potatoes. “Here, you can carry these in for me, thanks fer yer help.”

“Thank you Jenny, I’m so glad Jamie has such a wonderful family who cares so much about him.”

“Och, ‘tis what family’s for. Now come on, let’s eat.”

End Note: Ok, I know the order of Jenny's children is all messed up, but young Ian had to play football and everyone is too young for the Murray kids to be all grown. It's fine, who can really keep them all straight anyway? Don't @ me.

[hanuj-tilwani]

3 Years of Working from Home Summed up: The Mess, Planning, and Productivity!

It’s been a few years that I’ve been living on my own. When I say on my own, I mean with my flatmates. It was roughly around the time of my graduation when I decided to be independent in all the ways possible.

When I say all the ways possible, I mean the job too.

I went solo. Being my own boss.

Since I was a recent college graduate, I didn't have much savings to afford an office space which is when I decided to work from my beautiful home. 

I had my own personal space so I thought that it would be easier to manage work from home and in fact I would save a lot by not spending on travel, food and obviously save a lot on travel time.

Being fully pumped about living my dream of having my own startup, I started working with full energy and zeel of doing loads of tasks. But soon after a few days, as my excitement went down, I realized that actually I ended up wasting a lot of time while working from home. This sometimes happened consciously and sometimes unconsciously. Again, that doesn’t mean that I was engaged in other productive activities, rather whatever I did was not necessary at that point of time and usually was for entertainment purposes.

Every day when the day came to end, my guilt kicked in, keeping me awake with the nightmares of pending work. 

This went on and on for a few weeks. I realized that I wasn't productive at all and the biggest kick was when I missed the deadline for submitting a proposal for the first-ever deal that could have been closed if submitted on time. That deal cost me 2 lac which actually could have been a funding source for a couple of other activities I planned to do to grow that business.

This was the time when I introspected my actions and while doing so I adopted a few things:

1. Understanding my own actions

There are 3 types of activities that one engages in: Low Value,  High Value, and No Value. 

Low Value activities are the ones which majorly include things you do for entertainment purposes or maybe something you do as a habit, for example, watching television, using social media, gossiping with friends, etc. These activities may or may not help you in your work but you still do and maybe convince your mind that it's ok as you have worked too much already even when you have a list of pending tasks.

High Value activities are the ones that cannot happen without your involvement at all; say anything that brings you closer to your short term or long term goals or activities that revolve around your physical well being or for that matter reading a book related to your subject of interest or maybe say a training course.

No Value activities are ones that do not do any good to you except waste your time which could rather be utilized more productively.

Having said that, let's talk about how I applied it to my routine. I started writing every small activity that I did each day the whole week and then at the end of the week, I segregated them into above-mentioned categories only to realize that I was investing 30% of my time in No Value activities, 50% in Low-Value activities and only 20% of my time was invested in High-Value activities. This realization was obviously an eye-opener for me and that is when I applied the method which makes the second point of my journey of being productive even while working from home.

2. Planning your work day

Some people after reading this title may say that this is what we always do but you never know you may be missing out on a very crucial aspect of it.  Which is what I am going to talk about in this point.

Let’s say your work hours are: 8 hours/day. Let's plan those 8 hours. So, what you want to do first is list down the tasks that you need to accomplish on a particular day, second arrange them according to priority, third define how much time each task would take and fourth and the most crucial point is to actually allocate each task a starting and ENDING TIME too. 

Yes, you read it right!

Allocating an ending time is very important. Also if you are not able to complete the given task within the given time frame, do not keep working on it, switch to the next task so as to not mess up the whole schedule and this pending task can be done once you get done with scheduled tasks of the day. And if it cannot be deferred to another day, try to do it after you complete the planned tasks. If it can be deferred to the next day, do it and repeat the plan the next morning. This planning is easier said than done. It may take 30-45 mins initially to plan your day as said above with end time as well but once you start doing it, you will for sure be able to improve on your productivity.

Now let's introspect towards the end of the week. Look for the task that you deferred, understand its complexity and then for the coming week learn from those mistakes and then plan your days. Coming from my personal experience, towards the end of a month you will be pro at planning your day and executing tasks in the given time frame making you more productive to achieve any small or big goal.

If you wish to take this practice online then Google Sheets is a good place to start.

3. Some Small changes that you should make in your surroundings:

a. Never work at the place where you sleep.

b. Follow a routine, make your family members understand your working hours and request them to avoid personal conversations with you during those hours.

c. Make some workout a part of the routine. As a sudden change in your workplace,  your body tends to develop laziness which in turn also increases procrastination.

d. Wake up and take a shower/bath if possible and if you are lazy to do that at least hydrate your body properly after waking up. Sit in the open space for a while and wash your face so that you no longer feel dizzy or sleepy while working. 

So, these are some of the ingredients to my secret sauce that I’ve been using for a few years now. Do share your ingredients in the comment section!

Special thanks to Roma Amarnani for helping me edit this blog to spread the message right.

[jincherie]

catsitting | kyungsoo

↼pairing: kyungsoo x reader ↼genre: fluff, slight-but-not-really angst, Hybrid!AU ↼rating: sfw ↼words: 6.6k+

You somehow find yourself ‘catsitting’ for your best friend while he’s on a week-long trip. The only problem? His ‘cat’ hates you.

↼posted; 15.06.2017

↼masterlist

It was on a lazy Friday morning that you were startled awake by your phone and forced to reconsider your choice of ringtone at 7:23AM. “Kim Jongin why are you calling me at seven in the morning?” you answered the incessant ringing blearily, not even halfway to being fully-functioning yet.

“Come to your front door.” He said, only causing you to feel confusion. “And hurry up.” He added.

Half-asleep and dressed only in the Star Wars boxers you wore as pyjama pants and a singlet, you rolled out of bed and onto the floor, the resulting bang and abrupt pain enough to jolt you reasonably awake. “OW! Fuc—“

“Don’t swear there are children nearby!” Kai scolded, and there was what sounded like someone being hit on the other side of the line and some muffled protests.

“You don’t own me.” You grumbled as you dragged yourself to your feet and started your trek to the front door. You yanked it open unceremoniously, glaring at the person before you. Kai hung up on you, grinning with a cheerfulness that did not belong on the face of someone who was about to die.

“Good morning!” he greeted. “I have a favour to ask of you!”

“Go away.” You tried shutting the door but his movements were quicker than yours.

“That’s so rude y/n!” he whined, pouting. “Anyway, I need you to do something for me.”

Begrudging and acknowledging the fact that you weren’t going to be able to leave without at least hearing what he wanted, you sighed. “What do you want?”

Kai beamed, delighted, and looped his arm around someone who had until then been just out of sight, bringing him to his side. “I need you to look after Kyungsoo for me while I go on a business trip for two weeks.”

Kyungsoo, Kai’s beloved cat hybrid, was giving you a blank look that although was not outright disdainful, was on its way there. You winced. Kyungsoo hated you, and you didn’t even know why. From the day Kai had brought him home from the shelter and excitedly called you over to show him to you he had taken a clear disliking to you. You wouldn’t lie to yourself, it was hurtful, especially since he was warm and friendly to Kai but preferred to ignore you. Every other cat in the world would love you, or at the very least tolerate you, but Kyungsoo? He didn’t care much for you at all.

It took a moment for his words to catch up to you. “What?” you blinked, running a hand through your hair. You gave the hybrid a wary glance. Last time you had been this close you had been reaching for the TV remote at Kai’s and he had scratched you, clearly displeased. “Why me? Don’t you have friends that he actually likes that you can ask? Oh, wait, that requires having other friends.” You snickered. You may be half asleep but an opportunity to burn your best friend was still an opportunity.

“They’re all busy, either with work or school or their own hybrids. You’re the only one who literally has nothing going on in their life.”

Well, he wasn’t wrong, but you still felt like you should be insulted. Your hand came to rest over your heart in a movement of feigned hurt. “Rude,” you said. “And how would you know? I might have something going on this week, and the next. I’m a busy girl you know, I have a lot going on. Fish to fry, irons in the fire. My time is very sought after these days.”

Kai snorted and Kyungsoo made a face. Wow. Why hadn’t you shut the door on them again?

“Anyway, my plane leaves in an hour so if you could hurry and come to a decision—“

“Kai!” you cried. “Are you kidding me?! Give me some more warning next time! Why am I even friends with you?!”

“So is that a yes?” Kai looked hopeful, ridiculously so, and his cat looked the very opposite of pleased at this new development.

You groaned. “Yes, fine. But you owe me, and I will not accept McDonald’s this time! I want smoothies, and frappes!”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” he gushed, letting go of Kyungsoo to rush forward and envelop you in a hug before retreating and pushing the hybrid towards you. Kyungsoo yowled, knocking into you and hissing before leaping back. Oh, god, this was a terrible idea.

Kai grinned. “See you in two weeks! I’ll text you a list of things you need to know later!” he called, making his leave and quickly closing the door behind him.

You and Kyungsoo stood in shock a few moments after the door shut.

“Incredible.” You muttered to yourself. “The urge to beat him increases every day.”

You then turned— you needed a shower.

“Make yourself comfortable, Kyungsoo. The loungeroom is over there, and you can have the spare bedroom. It’s the first door on the right. I’m going to shower,” you said, before you then abruptly left, not wanting to see the displeased look the adorable hybrid was probably sending you by now.

Oh boy were you in for a long ride.

. . . . . .

Four days had passed and Kyungsoo was clearly trying his best to pretend you didn’t exist, with varying degrees of success (he had to eat with you sometimes), and for the most part you let him. It hurt a little, especially since you had an intense urge to pet him and scratch behind his adorable little ears, but if he didn’t want anything to do with you then you would leave him alone. For the most part he did his own thing, but you could swear you caught him looking at you every now and then.

Over the days you had work you had gradually been forced to stay back longer and longer, and this time you had to stay back until 6 when you normally left at 4. Needless to say when you got home you were tired as all hell and surprised beyond belief when you opened the door and heard footsteps come scampering towards you. Kyungsoo rounded the corner, doe eyes wide as he took in the sight of you in the doorway, startled and holding a takeaway bag. An indescribable emotion passed across his face before his eyes narrowed at you and his ears flicked in annoyance, long, dark tail following suit behind him.

“Where were you?” he demanded, looking grumpy. “Why did you take so long?”

Naturally you felt the urge to snap back but honestly you were too tired and didn’t want to be mean to Kyungsoo (even if he was being a total meanie himself). This was the most he’d spoken to you in four days, and you were a little salty that it was only to demand where you had been with his food.

He really must hate you a lot more than you thought.

Suddenly overcome with a wave of sadness at the prospect that the hybrid before you hated you that much and you still didn’t even know what you’d done to warrant it, you sighed. You felt completely sapped of energy.

“Sorry,” you muttered an apology. “I got kept back again at work and they took a while making the food.”

Not looking at him you finished entering the house and after locking the front door you moved to drop the food on the table. Hesitating only for a moment, you continued down the hall to your room.

“I’m not hungry, but you can eat. I’m going to bed. Goodnight Kyungsoo.”

You didn’t fall asleep for a long time that night.

. . . . .

 ‘…He gets lonely at night so you have to let him sleep in the same room as you, at least! I usually let him sleep in my bed. And he enjoys cuddles, he’s a cuddly person, so make sure you cuddle him at least once a day.’

You snorted to yourself as you read the list Kai had sent you a day or so ago, dressed and laying on top of your bed. That was certainly not going to happen, not while Kyungsoo had such an aversion to your presence.

‘…You should also make sure he bathes. Tongue baths don’t count!! He doesn’t like water much at all, so you might have to go in there and make sure he actually—‘

Alright, you’d read enough for now.

Sighing, you lay there and closed your eyes, trying to postpone the inevitable: leaving your bedroom. You honestly shouldn’t be taking some cat hybrid’s rejection so much to heart, but you couldn’t help it. At the very least, you wanted to be friends with Kyungsoo.

You had just about resigned yourself to laying on your mattress until you died when your doorbell rung. You froze, mentally checking what day it was; you didn’t think you were expecting visitors. Unless…

Crap. Today was Wednesday and you had completely forgotten that you had promised to watch your friend Luhan’s cat, Sehun, for the night. You groaned in a sickening moment of realisation. Was this what your life had come to? Catsitting for every owner under the sun?

You rolled from your bed and hurried to the door, passing a confused and sleepy looking Kyungsoo on the way. Kyungsoo was friendly to everyone but you, right? Surely he would get along with Sehun. Sehun was only a little bratty sometimes.

You nearly tore the door of its hinges in your rush. “Good morning!” you chirped, trying to make it seem like you’d been awake a lot longer than an hour. You’d only showered and dressed twenty minutes ago.

“Morning!” Luhan greeted cheerfully, Sehun doing the same where he stood towering over his owner. Holy shit had he grown since you’d last seen him?

You squinted at Sehun playfully. “Do you ever stop growing?”

He cracked a smile, playfully swaying a little where he stood. Luhan answered for him. “No, he doesn’t. Technically he’s still a kitten so he’s not really meant to stop growing but he just shot up, right? I need something that gives me a warning so I know when I need to buy new clothes.”

Sehun seemed amused but stayed silent. Luhan continued. “Anyway, thank you so much for doing this. I figured it would be better for him to stay with someone rather than alone at home, and he likes you so… I’ll be back for him at 12 tomorrow. No brainstorming ways to make my life more difficult, okay?!”

Sehun giggled and Luhan leant up to kiss his forehead goodbye, before he waved at you and left.

“What a weirdo. Anyway, Sehun, come on in. I have someone else staying with me right now, but he’s pretty chill so I think you’ll get along.”

You were right, the two hybrids hit it off pretty well, but Kyungsoo had given you a strange look when you had brought the other hybrid into the room. When Kyungsoo left an hour later after playing with his new friend, most likely to go read something, Sehun sidled up to you, seeking affection. You grinned and allowed yourself to be guided to the loungeroom. Sehun was usually pretty quiet when not in a playful mood and simply enjoyed your pets and scratches. He wasn’t like this with just anyone, which was undoubtedly part of the reason Luhan had dropped him off with you in particular. You’d looked after Sehun before and knew he enjoyed the comfort of having someone next to him, even while he slept.

You sat on the couch, turning the TV on and putting on a movie because you knew when Sehun settled down for a cuddle it was until he was ready to get up, and attempting to leave before then got you a tight grip and a whining catboy. So you settled on a movie and allowed Sehun to curl his larger frame around you. Kyungsoo was the tiniest bit shorter than you but Sehun was a fair bit taller. A satisfied hum started in Sehun’s throat when you ran your fingers through his hair and began scratching behind his ear, and he nuzzled his nose against your neck a little. You could feel his ear flicking against your cheek and his tail resting over your thigh. He was warm, and you both felt relaxed. At one point Sehun began to purr softly.

At some point in the movie Kyungsoo had wandered back into the loungeroom, and froze upon seeing you and Sehun. You glanced over in time to see the look he shot you, a mixture of hurt and frustration, before he sat on the other couch, angling his body away from you and reading. You were confused and also a little hurt yourself. What had you done this time?

Kyungsoo left soon after, presumably to go to his room, and you hadn’t even realised Sehun was still awake until you heard him speak against your neck.

“Why are you sad?” he asked softly, clutching you a little tighter.

You contemplated lying before dismissing the idea. For such a whiny, needy catboy Sehun was alarmingly perceptive. He would know you were lying.

“Because he hates me,” you sighed. “And I don’t even know what I did to upset him so much.”

Sehun simply hummed against your neck, staying silent. Whether it was because he didn’t know why himself or for another reason, you didn’t know.

. . . .

That night you had slept with Sehun cuddled up to your side, a pleasant warmth in the cool of your house. You saw nothing wrong with it, of course; you’d done it many times before. Sehun simply enjoyed human contact and being cuddled.

Kyungsoo, however, seemed to possess opposite views on the matter, scowling at you as you shuffled into the kitchen the next morning, Sehun gripping your shirt and lagging behind you. You pretended not to see the look, instead turning to the cupboard and asking what they both wanted for breakfast. After eating Sehun and Kyungsoo played in the loungeroom a bit while you cleaned the house a little.

As 12 o’clock rolled around and Luhan arrived to pick up Sehun, you were about to wave goodbye to them at the door when the tall hybrid rushed over and leaned down whisper into your ear.

“He doesn’t hate you,” Sehun whispered hurriedly, his cute little lisp making an appearance. “He’s just hurt.”

He then pulled away with a smile like that was meant to explain everything and waved, running off to where Luhan stood waiting in your front yard. They went, and contrary to what Sehun had probably intended you were left even more confused than before. Hurt? Why was he hurt? What had you done?

You puzzled over it for the rest of the day, hardly having to worry about bumping into Kyungsoo since he avoided you like the black plague anyway. What could you have possibly done?

You didn’t have a clue as to the answer until after dinner when you were curled on the couch, playing a videogame on your Xbox. Kyungsoo shuffled into the room, glancing at you momentarily before moving to the spot he had claimed as his on the other couch. He had adjusted the cushions there so that they sat almost like another person as he curled into them.

You figured he was going to pretend you didn’t exist like he had been for the past week, and so were surprised when he spoke to you, sounding annoyed and upset. “Is anyone else coming over for you to cuddle and be affectionate to, or was Sehun the only one? Why did you even say yes to watching me? Why did you cuddle with him when you refuse to touch me?”

Your gaze had fallen on him when he first started speaking and you were alarmed at his words to say the least. You hadn’t expected them at all. His tail had begun twitching agitatedly as he spoke, thumping against the couch faster and faster until he was finished and he sat a moment before leaping up and rushing away, head bent down.

The sounds of your character dying in the background greeted your ears as you watched him leave. Absentmindedly you saved and turned off the console and TV, no longer in the mood for playing. You went to bed but didn’t sleep, mind whirling a mile a minute trying to figure out what he meant and why he was upset until it clicked.

Did he think… that you didn’t like him? And didn’t want to pet him? But what could have given him this impression? You thought back. When Kai had first brought him home and summoned you over you hadn’t petted him at all, but that was because you were trying to respect him and give him personal space. Kai had told you how literally everyone else who had seen him hadn’t been able to resist giving him a pet or a scratch and so you thought he might appreciate a break from being manhandled.

But maybe, from his perspective… you winced. It probably looked like you disliked him. Everyone else had shown him affection but you had kept your distance and refused to touch him. Oh boy were you an idiot. Why were you like this?

You couldn’t tell for sure, but you had a feeling this was what had been causing such problems between you. You rolled over, eyes finally growing heavy, and resolved yourself to testing this theory tomorrow.

. . . . . . .

“Hey, Kyungsoo, wake up, I have something for you.”

The hybrid’s ears, the only visible part of him beneath the covers he had bundled around himself, twitched at the sound of your voice. Slowly he rolled over, blinking blearily. You grinned. “I brought you breakfast, since I have to leave early today. I’ll leave it here for you.” You set the tray down as you spoke, dusting your hands once you were done. As your eyes fell back on him you noticed a downy feather caught slightly in his hair near his ear.

This was the perfect opportunity. Taking advantage of the fact that he was still half asleep and therefore couldn’t scratch you, you shuffled closer and leaned to gently pluck it off. You allowed your hand to pet the hair down after you were done, brushing his ear a bit. It twitched, and he was looking at you in slight shock as you leaned back, shooting him a smile. “See you later, Kyungsoo.”

And then you left before he could come to his senses and chew you out.

When you returned after work it was to the sound of the TV softly playing in the loungeroom and you saw Kyungsoo on the couch, watching it determinedly (most likely because he’d just heard you come home).

“Hello, Kyungsoo.” You greeted warmly, ruffling his hair gently as you walked past. You caught a startled look from the corner of your eye but didn’t hear anything else. Grinning at the success so far of operation Let-Kyungsoo-Know-You-Don’t-Hate-Him, you went to your room, changing before returning and going to the kitchen to start dinner. Kyungsoo walked past several times, sending a confused and slightly curious look your way with each round he made. Eventually dinner was ready and you both sat down to eat it, the meal spent in silence. After dinner you washed up and left for bed, however this time, unlike all the previous nights, you left your door open. It had occurred to you throughout the day that maybe Kyungsoo did want to sleep in your bed with you at night and the only reason he hadn’t might be because he took your closed door as a sign of rejection. So this night, you left it open.

You had work the next day and it was spent much in the same fashion as the previous, except when you came home it was to the smell of an already cooked meal. Slightly alarmed, you rushed to the kitchen to find Kyungsoo serving your two meals. You felt pretty guilty, you had come home a bit later than usual.

“Sorry,” you said with a sheepish smile. “You didn’t have to, but I really appreciate it.”

Kyungsoo shrugged, averting his eyes. “I was hungry.” He mumbled.

Dinner was delicious (you had a feeling it also had a lot to do with the fact that someone other than you had cooked it for once), and after you finished you had the urge to turn and speak to Kyungsoo. He was still at the table, lost in thought as he pushed the last bit of food around his plate.

“Kyungsoo,” you started. He nearly jumped in surprise, large doe eyes finding yours. You smiled. “I want you to know, I don’t hate you. I don’t dislike you either. I like you and I’ll always cuddle with you if you want, but only if you want. I don’t want to force you to do anything.”

The hybrid was more than startled, wide eyes following you in shock even as you placed your plates in the sink and moved to your bedroom. You left the door to your room open once more.

The real difference came the next day. It was after work and dinner once more that you settled down in the loungeroom, putting a movie on, and simply enjoying it for now. Around ten minutes later the couch you were on dipped from a light weight and you turned, surprised, to see Kyungsoo. He wasn’t looking at you, but everywhere else his eyes could reach, his hands clutching the material of his pants.

He simply sat there for a while, and you smiled to yourself, turning back to the movie you had chosen. Gradually, over an excruciatingly long period of time, Kyungsoo crept closer, shuffling and shifting until he was just a hair’s width away. You smiled, lifting your arm, and he slowly cuddled into your offered side, still slightly stiff. Any tension that was in his form left as you started petting him gently, and he finally relaxed completely into your side, tail flicking in a way that for once didn’t indicate irritation.

You were absolutely ecstatic at the new development in how Kyungsoo regarded you. He was letting you pet him!! And he had come to you!!! Just wait until Kai heard about this when he returned in a week. You were grinning stupidly to yourself, thankful the hybrid in question couldn’t see the dumb look on your face.

That night you went to bed alone, but a few hours after you had both departed for bed you woke to see a timid figure in your doorway. Blinking blearily, you shuffled over so there was space and lifted the duvet for him, a beckoning gesture. Kyungsoo scampered over in the minimal lighting (you were thankful he could see pretty well in the dark) and climbed quickly in, like he was afraid you’d come to your senses at any second and take back your offer, kicking him out. What a strange cat.

You were facing each other but even with your eyes closed you could almost sense his tension and silent anxiety. Wordlessly you moved and grasped his hand comfortingly. You heard a soft gasp and for a second he remained tense but moments later it began to bleed from his form and he shuffled closer, tangling his legs with yours. You could feel his tail tickling your thigh where your pyjama shorts ended. Smiling to yourself, you fell asleep quickly thanks to the giddy glee you’d felt at Kyungsoo’s actions and the warmth he radiated.

. . . . .

The next morning when you woke Kyungsoo had worked his way over the space between you and had managed to entangle every limb you had with his own, his tail wrapped around your waist securely and an arm joining it, holding you close. You never would have guessed he was this kind of snuggler. His head was nestled in your neck and your own arm had fallen over him during the night as well. Unable to resist you moved your free hand and petted his head a bit, running your fingers through hair that admittedly was getting a bit close to its use-by date (a shower or bath was in order, you were thinking— Kai had said he was prone to avoiding them because of the water and you hadn’t seen him go into the bathroom to bathe at all) but still soft nonetheless, and you rubbed behind his ears. The reaction was instantaneous— Kyungsoo jolted the slightest bit and his breath hitched into a purr in his throat, the sound like music to your ears. Now this was progress!

You lay like that for a while, simply holding him close. He seemed pleased, satisfied, and the thought made you happy. You did know, however, that you needed to get Kyungsoo to bathe at some point lest Kai found out you’d let him go two weeks without so much as touching soap and water.

“I have something to say and you’re probably not going to like it,” you warned, feeling the cat tense in your arms. “You should probably shower before Kai kills me.”

Kyungsoo huffed, clutching you tightly as you tried to sit up. “No.” he refused bluntly. “I don’t want to. I don’t like water.”

You sat up with much effort, Kyungsoo clinging to you even as you swung your legs over the edge. “You gotta,” you attempted to persuade him, forcing yourself up. Kyungsoo was like a koala in the way he gripped onto you, refusing to let go.

“No.”

“Kyungsoo,” you whined, shuffling towards the bathroom. He had a ridiculously strong grip, it was honestly incredible, but he was also heavier than he looked so the trip to the bathroom took much longer than you thought it would.

As you got closer he seemed to realise that clinging to you was, in fact, doing the opposite of what he had originally intended and instead was bringing him much closer to the exact situation he was trying to avoid. He hissed as you crossed the threshold onto tiles and instead of gripping began attempting to push off you. You looped your arms around his middle, grinning.

“Bath time! Please don’t scratch me I don’t know where my bandaids are!”

Kyungsoo yowled, trying furiously to get out of your grip, his position making it difficult for him to get enough leverage to break free. He hissed and whined the entire time you filled the bathtub, only pausing in curiosity as you threw a bath bomb in there for his sake. Maybe he’d enjoy it more if it was special.

Then the tap was off and he was back to refuting the experience with all his might. He wriggled and squirmed, looking like he was about to bite you. You were reaching for something along the bathtub when he gave a particularly strong movement, knocking you (and therefore consequently him) off balance and causing you to fall backwards into the tub. There was a loud splash and Kyungsoo squawking as he was submerged all of a sudden in the very substance he had been avoiding for a week. You laughed at the situation, keeping your arms around him even as he freaked out a little and frantically tried to escape even more. Your pyjamas were soaked but at least your hair was still dry.

“Kyungsoo!” you said, bringing him close to you so he wouldn’t freak out so much. “Kyungsoo, its alright! Look, you’re fine, I’m here, you’re okay I’ve got you. Look at the water, isn’t it pretty? Look at all these bubbles.”

Your attempts to distract him seemed to work and you watched as he gradually stilled and brought his hand to cup some bubbles that were floating on top of the water. “See? This isn’t so bad.” You murmured, rubbing Kyungsoo’s side gently before reaching for the shampoo. His hair had gotten pretty soaked in his flailing, but his ears being pressed against his head had stopped any excess water getting inside them.

From that point the bath went pretty smoothly, you managed to get Kyungsoo pretty clean (you had made Kyungsoo wash himself with soap, too embarrassed to do it yourself but after washing his hair and massaging his scalp he seemed a lot more cooperative and mellow). He had protested and clung onto you when you tried to exit the bath without him though, so you had sat there while he finished up and waited for him to be done.

You wrapped him in a towel once you both climbed out, water sloshing everywhere and you winced at the thought that you’d have to clean that up at some point. You grabbed another towel and gently dried his hair, being mindful of his ears.

“Well, that isn’t exactly how I planned for that to go but at least you’re clean now.” You said, rubbing his scalp gently. The sensation must have been nice because a low purr began to rumble in the back of Kyungsoo’s throat and he leaned into your touch. His resentment of a bath and the fact that you’d forced him into one seemed forgotten.

After you’d both gotten dry and changed, and you emerged from your room Kyungsoo was at your side in the blink of an eye, his own wide eyes looking up at you. His hand found purchase in your shirt and you smiled at him, reaching up to pet his ears. Purrs erupted in his throat and he looked embarrassed before you laughed and began to move towards the kitchen.

You could hardly believe he was actually warming up to you.

. . . . .

The next few days were pleasant and spent more amicably than you could have hoped. He really had warmed up to you, putting your fears that maybe his responsiveness was just a fluke to rest. He’d grown to be almost as clingy as Sehun, except from time to time his pride caught up to him and he pretended he wasn’t as needy as he was acting.

The previous day he had come up and wound his arms around your waist as you were cooking, pressing his face into your neck and purring softly. You’d blushed but felt over the moon.

However, before you even knew it your week with the hybrid had come to an end, and as you heard the sound of your doorbell ring out you realised belatedly that the time had come for you to bid him farewell for now. Kyungsoo had run to the door as soon as he heard the sound of his owner arriving, waiting eagerly as you opened it to see a grinning Kai on the other side.

“Kai!!” Kyungsoo exclaimed, leaping at him and wrapping his arms around him tightly. Your friend staggered from the sheer force of the affectionate hug, but nonetheless returned it, laughing.

“Hey ‘Soo!!” he spun the hybrid around a bit. “I missed you! And oh my god I see you’ve showered?? You got him to bathe???” he seemed more shocked than anything towards the end as he looked at you, bewildered.

You grinned, pushing your misplaced sadness to the back of your mind for now. “Yep. What can I say, I think bath bombs really do the trick.”

Kyungsoo hugged Kai a little tighter before running off to gather his bags. You watched him go, before turning back to see your friend looking at you smugly. You had a sudden urge to hit that look off his face.

“What?” you asked, already knowing the direction the conversation was about to take.

“I see you’re still in one piece, alive and well and, oh, happy, in the company of a certain lovely feline no less!!” he exclaimed, extremely smug and looking beyond pleased with himself.

“Shut up Kai.” You ignored the slight flush that came to your cheeks. “We’re good now. He doesn’t hate me anymore, and honestly I’m kinda sad he has to go.”

Kai seemed taken aback. “Wow, what happened while I was gone?” he joked, poking you playfully. “Are you even the y/n I know and love?”

You batted at him. “Be quiet, you still owe me. I’m expecting those frappes.”

Kyungsoo returned before Kai could respond, carrying his bags with him and looking at both of you happily. “I’m all ready.” He said, smiling at his owner.

“Excellent.” Kai said, taking one of the hybrid’s bags. “Well, we should probably be off. I went for groceries before coming here and can’t really leave the milk in the car very long. Thank you again so much, y/n, I really appreciate it.  I’ll be sure to deliver on those frappes sometime.”

You smiled, a little sad. “It was my pleasure.” You spoke, looking at Kyungsoo. “I’d love to have you around again. You’re welcome anytime.”

Kyungsoo beamed at you, dropping his bag to throw his arms around you tightly. You were a little surprised but laughed, wrapping your arms around him too. He nuzzled your neck before retreating and grabbing his bag once more, ears flicking happily. “Thank you.” He said happily, with the cutest smile you had ever seen on his face.

“You’re welcome.” You smiled, before laughing at the pleased expression on Kai’s face. He had been trying for God knows how long to make you and his hybrid get along and now it was finally happening he seemed very pleased with himself.

“Well, bye y/n! We’ll see you around!” he bid you farewell, looping his arm through Kyungsoo’s. They both waved as they left, and you returned the gesture, a little sad, but overall sated.

You knew as you watched their car disappear in the distance that you’d be seeing them both soon again anyway, and next time you were going to spend the whole time with Kyungsoo.

Yeah, you thought to yourself as you closed your door with a small smile. That sounded great.

[kelpieking]

New Year same resolution

I obviously keep my blog going as much as I ever kept my diary. I am quite keen to give this blogging thing a go. So with my time on Easdale now limited I thought what better way than maybe just starting to share what island life is like. 

When I started writing this apparently it was Friday though really days of the week have little meaning apart from purely titles. As I am self-employed, work days are whenever there is work on and with my trying to develop my seaweed company, nearly every day can be a work day. There is a memory, an echo of what weekends are and I am reminded of them because there are occasions when I can enjoy them with my wife, who lives and works in Glasgow and who is coming up by train this evening. Back to today, Friday 26th of January, I am providing crew cover on the Easdale ferry, a 7am start and 11pm finish, it is a fair long day, though not really that trying in the winter. Yes the days may be short on daylight and indeed often wet, windy or cold or a mixture of all three, but when it is sunny, then it is all worth it. Plus there is such thing as a winter timetable, so through-out the day from 10:15, the ferry runs every 30 minutes and from 19:30 again every 30 minutes until 21:00 with a 23:00 available on a Friday and Saturday. The ferry journey is only 5 minutes, depending on the weather of course. The wind direction is key during strong winds and gales. Easdale Sound runs on an almost direct north-south axis (something like 350-170 degrees axis), so anything from the north and especially the north west means the wind blows right down the sound and into the harbour at Ellenabeich where the ferry pulls into. Any westerly winds usually means big swells and these can run through the sound, and with an incoming tide creating wind-over-tide conditions, big waves and rollers with wash through and crash upon the shores and of course into Ellenabeich pier. 

So the winter is the time everyone pays particular attention to the weather forecast. The weather today, well so far living up to forecast: cold, clear, sunny and crisp up until lunchtime (13:00) and then clouding over with the chance of some rain or drizzle. Well the rain did arrive by 19:30 with a south easterly breeze has picking up slightly, probably due to swing to the west over night. It’s been a cool day, not very cold but a distinct chill in the air. Certainly cold enough first thing for a slight frost to hit the island, making some of the grass (and mud) crunch underfoot and any slate on the paths pretty slippy. My cottage is a actually pretty cold, the nature of building regulations for Easdale (a heritage conservation area) seeming to mean houses vary in their degree of heat retention and whether insulation can be put in. Mine doesn’t have such luxury, with no mains gas, there is no central heating just two storage heaters (though one is not working at the moment, I suspect a fuse has blown). At the moment every morning involves lighting the fire. As romantic as fires are, I mean nothing is visually warming to the mind and heart as a roaring fire and of course it literally does warm one up, I don’t think it is something many folk across the UK think about having to do. And to get at least part of the cottage warm, I have to light my fire (or if feeling lazy turn the oven on). The fire has been lit all day and so my living room was duly toasty, then again I am also quite well wrapped up for spending the day out on the ferry. 

For some reason I was a wee bit sleepy all day, luckily my skipper is as fond of coffee as I am so we were operating on freshly ground strong coffee for much of the day. It is a good thing of being on the ferry, one does get time on occasion to do other things between ferry runs. At lunchtime I managed to make bread. I had the option of asking someone who was in town to bring a loaf back (I am about to run out) but figured just as easy to bake some. 

Yes that it is the thing about being on the ferry for a few days, and generally living on an island or any remote place: planning ahead with meals and making do if you have forgotten to pick up something in town. Because Oban is 16 miles up the road, so 32 mile round trips do generally have to encompass more than just getting a pint of milk. 

Back the day, well the island is home to a very healthy population of voles, you can see their wee run routes through the grass. Two of them took up residence in my cottage and despite a few capture and releases, they have come back in. I have narrowed down where they live, in the built in cupboard where the fuse boxes are and the washing machine is. In fact I think they live beneath the washing machine, which sits upon a small pallet. Well of course the previous week it was stormy and snowy and cold, so I couldn’t capture and release them into that now! Realising that actually the reason why they roam around the cottage so much is because they are hungry, I have decided to start some feeding experiments. Currently they are eating between 12g and 14g of bird seed a day, with some indication that they really like sunflower seeds, and given the option of pine nuts, will eat the bird seed first. The reason I decided to start feeding my voles is the night I realised that one was climbing over my bed and ran along the top of my pillow. I could hear them trying to gnaw through something underneath my bed, discovered it was forgotten chocolate in a present bag that had been knocked under the bed and promptly got rid of it. I then put out some bird feed, watched it nibble some then start scrabbling at the bedroom door to get out and back to its mate. The feeding started after that night of little sleep. Since then, no more voley experiences, though I can hear them in the little cupboard. So today I separated out the sunflower seeds within the 16g of bird feed I put out for them, 2g of sunflower seeds and 14g of generic seeds. I predict the sunflower seed will be gone first. 

Friday wasn’t a bad wildlife day I suppose, saw the kestrel hovering over the island and on the otherside, two buzzards soaring above the cliffs overlooking Ellenabeich and the otter was sighted in the sound.

A student arrived in the afternoon, someone who is going to develop on-line registration for the World Stone Skimming Championships, thanks to a successful Interface application by the Stone Skimming committee. The student seems very nice and eager to get working. 

The day closed with having to run up to Oban to collect my wife, Dr B, and an ever stiffening breeze. I did manage to bake some bread and tidy the cottage up a bit, so felt quite productive.

The last ferry was for the darts teams, with the returning Easdale team having been victorious and the departing Oyster team also having been victorious against the second Easdale team.

So this is going up after the weekend which is a bit silly, I might as well make note of what else happened on the island on Saturday.

Saturday the first ferry is at 7:45 so still feels early. The morning started off wet and a wee bit windy. However as the day wore on, the wind picked up in strength and despite the forecast being for cloud, the sun and blue sky did breakthrough. The wind started off from the south and as the day wore on brought in squally heavy showers. Needless to say one of the first things I did after the 7:45 was to light the fire. Dr B had marking to do and so spent the day working through her students dissertations. 

And the wind just slowly increased in speed and with an inevitability swung round to the west, blasting right down Easdale sound. When the tide is on the ebb, generally the sound is calmer when the wind is from the west as it is wind with tide. However, there seemed to be plenty of wave action getting through, so much so we were a bit concerned about when the tide would turn. For this reason Mellon took the web design student off the island and back up to Oban to catch his train. 

I was treated to lunch in the Puffer by Dr B, which was delightful along with a much needed coffee. We discussed aspects of the dissertation she was marking. Young Fin and Laura were in as well, so we were all duly distracted by Fin and reading some of his books, especially the bird one which made noises! Ok Fin is like 15 months old so they are baby books, but very cool books. Now I quite like to take a walk at lunchtime if I am on the ferry just to have a bit of exercise. Of course I never made it all the way round the island, the sound of crashing waves on the back shore meant I ended up just standing and watching, considering the importance of wave action on the distribution of seaweeds on the shoreline and then considering the sea foam and what might be contained within. I scurried back to my cottage (Dr B was still in the Puffer) to grab a petri dish and headed back to the backshore to scoop up some foam. My intention was to have a look at it using my USB microscope, though this did not in the end prove very successful, so I will try again. 

Dr B made a very tasty veg lasagne for tea. By 18:15 (the last ferry before tea) the wind was coming fully from the west and was bringing big gusts making it difficult to get back out of Ellenabeich. By 19:30 it was bad enough for the ferry to be called off. I used the time to prepare for travelling down to London for A Taste of Argyll at the House of Commons that I am partaking in. We did no further ferry runs, for in the dark with unknown ferocious squalls blasting through, it is a risky challenge to take the wee ferry into Ellenabeich and then turn it around to get back to Easdale. It’s not the most manoeuvrable of vessels and the engine has been known to cut out on occasion. So by 21:00 we secured the ferry and called it a night. Dr B and I then went to the Puffer for a cheeky drink (just the one, ok maybe two pints of Aurora by Windswept). Then we called it a night at 10pm. We were both pretty sleepy, though we did squeeze in one episode of Black Mirror before going to bed. 

And that was two days on the island during January, the dark month.  

[medicalmarijuana-news]

Stoner Sex: Trimming Together, Experimentation, Stress & Dry Spells

Dear Hyapatia, I read a letter you answered from a guy who wanted his girl to trim things up down below. I am a girl with a boyfriend who needs the same thing! It seems there is a lot of talk about woman shaving their pubes and trimming but not much about manscaping below the waist. My guy is very hairy and that is cool; I love his hairy chest, but there is just too much down there. I have read that guys in the business shave their balls to make themselves look bigger. If my boyfriend would just trim a little, I bet he would look like a horse! How can I suggest this? I am afraid he is going to think I want to turn him into a gay guy. He is very manly and would never consider this on his own. — Maggie

Dear Maggie, Most guys love the idea of having a bigger dick. You might suggest that if you trimmed his pubes for him a bit, his dick would look bigger. If you do it, he will find it exciting and be more likely to go through with it. Once he sees how much bigger he looks and how you appreciate it, he may surprise you by doing it himself the next time when it grows back. 

Dear Hyapatia, My girlfriend has been kinda lazy in bed over the last few months. She doesn’t seem to want to give me head for very long and says she really isn’t into a bunch of different positions. She calls it acrobatics. At first, I took it personally, but then I thought it might be the weed. We have been getting high before bed. I thought it would help to put her in the mood. How can I get her to not be so lazy in bed? Do we need to cut back on the weed? — Jake 

Dear Jake, It could be that she is just tired and worn out from a long day. Of course, smoking a pure indica strain will make her more sleepy and physically laid back, while a sativa would have a more energizing effect. Does she work a full eight hour day and then fix dinner, take care of kids and clean the house like a lot of women? If so, that is why she doesn’t have the energy for an active sex life, and anything you could do to lighten her load would leave her with more energy for lovemaking. If that is not the case, try initiating sex earlier in the evening and add some sativa to your mix.

Dear Hyapatia, My lady and I have always wanted to move to California, and now that pot is legal for everyone out there, we have decided there is no better time to go. We don’t have much money saved up and will be needing jobs as soon as we hit town. This has my girl all stressed out, and we have not had sex in almost two weeks. I have tried to tell her that this is a leap of faith and something will turn up. It always does. But she just can’t stop being worried about it. She keeps bringing up all the negative things and saying we should wait. How can I get her to relax about everything and have sex with me again? — Michael

Dear Michael, Her lack of sexual desire may have more to do with disappointment in you, rather than stress over what will happen when you get to California. She may have thought you were more practical than what you appear to be now. She may be frustrated that you are not taking her fears seriously. Homelessness is very common in California, and many of the people on the streets came to the West Coast hoping for a better life. The state is just beginning to work out all of the details of recreational pot, and it may be better to wait until they have recreational shops and grows up and running. Until then, there is not a big demand for staff. If you feel as though you must move to a recreationally legal state right now, may I suggest Colorado or Washington? They have their systems well in place. You might be wise to listen to your girlfriend and make sure you have more resources available. There are many times when we women do not feel sexual because we know things aren’t right. The timing may not be right for your move. This has nothing to do with how much love she has for you. In fact, it is her love for you that makes her care about moving the right way at the right time. Work with her on this. Be a couple and plan it out a bit more. 

Dear Hyapatia, Lately, my boyfriend has been in an experimental mood. He wants to try all different kinds of positions, anal sex, tit-fucking, B & D, all of it. I am certainly not a prude, I like to experiment now and then, too, but every night is a new adventure. It wasn’t always like this. I don’t know what started it or why he can’t be satisfied with some good old fashioned love. I know what I need to do to get off, and when we experiment like that, sometimes it isn’t so easy for me to come. For some reason, he seems to think that if I just get high enough, I will be wilder in bed. It really doesn’t matter if I am high or not, I still know what I want to do, and while I am not against doing something different now and then, I don’t like the constant bedroom surprises. Is he just bored or what? — Natasha 

Dear Natasha, A guy who has never been with a sexually open minded woman before can sometimes get a bit ahead of himself. He may want to try it all as soon as possible. If he has never done these things before and has been shut down when he suggested them in the past, your willingness to try new things may have opened a floodgate of ideas. He will need to learn to pace himself. Have an intimate conversation over a few choice buds. When you have gotten high and he has relaxed a bit, bring up sex. Explain that while you like to experiment now and then, you find the kind of sex you used to have to be very fulfilling. Let him know that you miss the natural intimacy of your lovemaking and your desire to experiment cannot be increased by simply smoking more weed. Set up some rules and boundaries. Decide how often you are willing to try a new or unusual sexual position or practice. This will let him know you are not shutting his experimentation down completely, you just want to enjoy him the way you first did. He will have something to look forward to and you can both enjoy your sex life.

Ask Hyapatia all of your questions regarding stoner sexuality. Email her at hya@hightimes.com Last Week’s Stoner Sex: Sperm Count, Slippery Sheets, ED & Anti-Pot Sentiments

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