before going out of town for the weekend...
...one more Awesome Husband story, a little bit of me whining about my Pathetic Day today, and a preview of upcoming fic, if any of those are of interest! I shall be heading up the coast to visit family over the weekend, so, apologies if I don't answer any comments as promptly as usual!
( awesome husband is awesome )
( awesome husband is awesome )
Those days are almst worse sometimes than when something goes horrifically, drastically wrong, because it's just a bunch of little things that shouldn't really be that much of a problem, but somehow are...
Exactly! You totally understand! :-p None of the things were calamitous or anything, just...so many little annoying incidents. And then you feel even worse about being irritated, because individually they're not big things, but... *sigh* The friend who moved away was one of my few fandom-y real-life friends, too. Not that we don't have other friends around, but they will not understand the excitement or the vocabulary in the same way...
There're a few more bits in the comments, up there! Hopefully the whole thing sometime tomorrow.
They've never been this fragile, and it's awful...
I think that's partly why this story needed to be told somewhere in that early Universe! Because, really, considering James's past, they've had a relatively easy voyage of discovery. Maybe with a few Serious Conversations, but only one real panic moment (am thinking of James in "Stay") and there had to be a point where they tried something that was unexpectedly triggering for James, right? It shocks them both, too, because they didn't think they were this fragile! But they have each other to hold on to, because they're In Love. (Also, of course, we're going to get a couple more details about that past, and therefore the beginning of the Continuation will be that much worse, knowing more about what That Person used to do...)
Thanks! :D It was mostly fun--some family drama, but there always is. Nice to catch up with my brother, though--I do miss having him twenty minutes away, for barbecues and conversations about Batman. (My sister-in-law is also nice, we just don't have much in common. She reads self-help books in her spare time. And takes them seriously. And we had a conversation that went like this: me: did you guys watch the Mars landing? her: well, your brother wanted to watch it. I fell asleep. I just don't get it. me: ...what? her: there's nothing out there, why do we care? me: ...never mind.)
But it was cooler! And the central coast is lovely. It's a pretty drive up and back. :-)
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To be honest, that sounds like a pretty good mindset for him to have, from your point of view! :)
Exactly! You totally understand! :-p None of the things were calamitous or anything, just...so many little annoying incidents. And then you feel even worse about being irritated, because individually they're not big things, but... *sigh*
It just makes you feel like the Irritating Thing Gnomes are out to get you, and you get the point where you're just going "Can't one tiny thing just go RIGHT today????" (Am not having quite that many irritations at the moment, but there are a couple of things that my life would be significantly less annoying without right now!).
Not that we don't have other friends around, but they will not understand the excitement or the vocabulary in the same way...
Nope, the non-fandomy friends just do not Get It... Am meeting up with a group of fandom-y friends in a few weeks, and am really looking forward to being able to geek out without worrying about people giving me WTF looks! (In fact, that's the weekend right before I'm seeing you, so that's going to be an awesome week of fandom-y friend-ness!)
(Also, of course, we're going to get a couple more details about that past, and therefore the beginning of the Continuation will be that much worse, knowing more about what That Person used to do...)
I politely move that the beginning of the Continuation couldn't be that much worse! Could it? *bites nails*
And we had a conversation that went like this: me: did you guys watch the Mars landing? her: well, your brother wanted to watch it. I fell asleep. I just don't get it. me: ...what? her: there's nothing out there, why do we care? me: ...never mind.
Er, we care because we don't actually know that there's nothing out there and we want to find out if there is? I'm sure she's a great person, but talk about missing the point! *headdesk* (Admittedly, I haven't really watched anything about it either, but I am interested, and will be even more so if they find stuff!)
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Those Irritating Thing Gnomes sometimes just have it out for us, I imagine. No motive other than sheer malignancy; but they all work together, and coordinate, so they can strike on the same day. Hopefully yours go back to behaving themselves, soon, though!
That does sound like a good week! I think that geeking out, unabashedly, from time to time, is probably good for the soul. (Trying to entice one of my other friends into XMFC fandom...she's a total SF/fantasy nerd, and she actually already likes James [she's the one who talked me into watching The Last Station, and I'm so very glad] but she's never really gotten into fandom properly...but I am persistent...)
I politely move that the beginning of the Continuation couldn't be that much worse! Could it? *bites nails*
Well...I suppose, more accurately: we will learn one or two things to make us hate That Person more? So it's even worse when James ends up back there?
I'm sure she's a great person, but talk about missing the point! *headdesk*
Indeed! She's very nice and she's a great mom and a brilliant anesthesiologist, but as far as interests outside of that go, well, you or I or Awesome Husband would think about the Mars rover and go, 'oh, neat, I bet we'll learn all KINDS of cool things!' and she'd just shrug and read a Martha Stewart magazine (yes, really). So sometimes I find it hard to have conversations with her. (But as sisters-in-law go, could be worse, of course! Though I do occasionally wonder what they talk about, since my brother is a science and Star Trek geek, but...if it works for them, not going to judge!)
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He got James up off the bed, leaving behind tearstains and crushed sheets. Started to walk them toward the door, belatedly remembered something, grabbed the closest blanket. “Here.”
“Oh…because of the windows…thank you.” James curled up against him, on the sofa. Naked, under the protective fabric. Even the hair looked exhausted, falling tiredly over his face, sticking to one cheekbone; but the eyes might be saying something almost like happiness, Michael thought, studying them as they met his. Blue and fragile and eternal as stained glass, glimmering liquid flowing over centuries into a different shape, not quite the same but beautiful.
He said as much, out loud-not the entire overly poetic metaphor, of course not, but he needed to tell James one more time that he was beautiful-and James actually smiled, breakable and luminous under warm hotel lamplight and the sparkle of distant cities outside.
“I said you might be right about some things, but I’m not ever going to agree with you on that one…”
“Yes, you are. Someday.” He kissed those lips, swiftly, securely, making it a vow; James was smiling even more, at the words, and didn’t stop after Michael let him go.
“Someday. You do like promises. About the future. With me.”
“Those aren’t promises,” Michael said, “they’re facts,” and this time James laughed, the flicker of sound leaping out into the light as well, catching in the folds of the blanket, the companionable couch cushions, the quiet walls.
Better. James laughing was better. And a bit of the ice, in his chest, cracked and fell away and let his heart start beating more freely.
“I feel like…” James looked at his hands again, where they’d ended up resting on Michael’s chest, on one bicep, because Michael’s arms’d gone around James once they’d settled onto the couch. Lifted one, gazed at it critically, as if expecting fingers to tremble.
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I'm slowly beating them into submission... *eg*
(Trying to entice one of my other friends into XMFC fandom...she's a total SF/fantasy nerd, and she actually already likes James [she's the one who talked me into watching The Last Station, and I'm so very glad] but she's never really gotten into fandom properly...but I am persistent...)
Oh, you must entice her into the joys of fandom if you can - she doesn't know what she's missing! (The totally but wonderfully bonkers people, for a start!)
And am loving the poetic metaphors in that extract - gorgeous imagery! Even if I do want to give James ALL THE CUDDLES at the same time. Not beautiful? Pish...
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I am trying! I've gotten her to read my fantasy stories; I'm kind of hoping that's a gateway into fanfic (not that I think mine're the best starting points; there are other wonderful stories out there!), if she likes reading my writing and doesn't mind the internet...but she is kind of shy.
I liked my poetic metaphors, too! Though I also did have Michael point out that they WERE, because self-awareness is always fun. James really does need all the cuddles, though. As he says in one of the other excerpts, up there, somewhere, he's still feeling horribly off-balance, even though it's getting better with Michael there to hold him...
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