Tony's shirt buttons don't stand a snowflake's chance against the volatile sexual force that is horny!Alex. She's so inconsiderate, not even for a moment taking into account that you and I are MATURE PEOPLE who are capable of appreciating anticipation and expectation, and not just the rabid tearing off of clothes.
Ooh yay! Come join me in the mature land of continuing Alex and Tony's sexual frustration! It's really pretty here. And tense. But still, I really do want them to make every single stage of this thing last; as much I would love them to just get married/have Isobelle already, I also adore the two of them in their slightly-awkward but we love each other so much phase that they're beginning in 6.04. Just think of the eye sex. You thought it was epic before, can you even imagine what it would be like once they'd started dating but hadn't snogged/actually properly talked about things? Poor Kevin and Paula.
They'd probably find cute little nonsense reasons to call each other Half of me wants to squee crazily and abuse capslock at how adorable this concept is, and the other half of me wants to look at you with my left eyebrow sticking up and say "LIKE THEY'RE NOT DOING THIS ALREADY LIZ". Bloody hell, I so want Alex to wake up one morning with her phone stuck to the side of her head and listening to Tony snoring down the line in her ear.
I think it's probably less a case of me being hardcore and more a case of you being clearly much smarter than me. I obviously need to come to terms with the fact that I am not Robson Green, and as such I do not have a luxurious coating of body hair to keep me warm on my ocean swims.
Tony is going to have no button down shirts left that aren't in various states of disrepair. He'll have to wear your favorite sweaters constantly. Alex is such an animal. Mind the buttons, Alex. Tony has enough trouble dressing himself as it is.
You're right. The eye sex in 'sexual tension dating but not yet getting it on' land is AMAZING. If I hadn't taken biology, I'd suspect Alex could get pregnant with Isobelle from that filthy eye contact alone. As happy as Kevin and Paula will be that Tony and Alex have finally started dating, I have a feeling they're going to be wondering why and the hell they wished for this. Poor kids are going to have to pick up so much slack in that office while Tony and Alex are all drunk on the squee and pent up sexual energy about to burst free at any moment.
Okay, yeah, they totally already do the calling each other for nonsense reasons think but they will do it even more and for longer when they are dating. They'll give up on the forcing themselves to hang up at some point and just, like you said, fall asleep with the phones on their pillows listening to each other breath/snore. They sicken me. I love them.
I am uncomfortable with your use of the phrase "luxurious coating of body hair."
I'm sure Alex could handle that. (Side note squee: I am irrationally excited that Robson likes the same brand compression gear as me. I'm so wearing 2XU to the gym today.)
Impregnation via eye!sex sounds logical to me. But then, I failed spectacularly at anything remotely science-y. It's kind of sad; I could be a psychologist right now, if only I hadn't been so crap at science. I would've been the SHITTEST psychologist, Liz. How funny.
I love this thought of Alex and Tony all drunk and high on squee and sexual tension. The pheromone levels alone would be enough to knock anyone out! You know, there might even be a sudden sharp rise in the number of hookups in Bradfield CID, just because everyone would be exposed to this massive cloud of oxytocin that's floating around whenever Alex and Tony are together. I'd love to see random people throwing themselves at each other because they're just so overcome with the horniness and FEELINGS in the air.
Yeah, I've no doubt they'll be falling asleep listening to each other breathing on the phone. How fricking adorable. Also, I've often wondered if they don't spend all day emailing back and forth to each other, when Alex is in her office and Tony is in his between classes. How cute would this be? Like, Alex is just sitting at her desk when an email from Tony pops up randomly: "First years are really titchy, Alex. And not very clever." and then she'd email back something like "I bet they're all taller than you." and it would carry on all day long. Email flirting ftw!
I'm uncomfortable with it to, to be honest. I can only handle body hair when it's on men with buff chests and arms and blue eyes and fictional psychology qualifications (see above).
Hey there shirtless Robson. Ah, slightly geeky, older British men. Always making me feel just a tiny bit bisexual.
I'm impressed that you and Robson wear the same brand of fancy workout wear. You are both obviously hardcore serious business sporty people.
Okay, so we're agreed that impregnation by eye!sex is most likely possible if you're doing it right which Alex and Tony certainly are. Excellent!
I don't know, you might have been a better psychologist than you think. You've got that whole head in lap/hair smoothing thing down which we've established is an important skill for any psychologist. Surely between that and asking yourself what Tony Hill would do you'd get along just fine, right?
I'm loving the idea of everyone at Bradfield CID suddenly hooking up due to the high levels of FEELINGS floating around in there. I wouldn't be surprised if there were a high number of eye!sex babies popping up all over the place too.
: "First years are really titchy, Alex. And not very clever." and then she'd email back something like "I bet they're all taller than you." and it would carry on all day long. Email flirting ftw! OMG. YES. E-mail flirting for the win! I feel we need to obsessively list things they could talk about. (Oh, that probably went without saying, didn't it.)
"Alex, I'm taller than you. (Unless you're wearing those boots I like which you looked bloody fantastic in last night, by the way.)"
"Tony, True. And thank you. You looked pretty gorgeous last night yourself. Kevin keeps asking me if we're really dating. He seems really invested in it. I'm a little concerned. - Alex"
"Alex, Kevin will be fine. He just needs something to distract him from his Paula crush. I'll be at the office until late tonight. You should stop by on your way home. Door locks and my office doesn't have all those inconvenient windows like yours. Okay, off to teach some titchy first years!"
I think it's perfectly ok to only be bisexual with older slightly geeky British men. It hardly even counts, does it?
Thank you indeed for reassuring me on my potential as a head-patting psychologist. I would get a bit poster in my office of serious!face!Tony and WWTHD in big red letters to refer to whenever I got confused. I'd probably some serious indemnity insurance; I'd just want to constantly hug anyone who got upset during their sessions. I don't think that's really appropriate behaviour for a quasi-medical professional, is it?
Oooh yes, Bradfield eye!sex babies! To be completely and shamelessly honest, a little (ok, big) part of me has always wanted to see this exact scenario: immediately post-6.04, Alex comes rushing in to rescue Tony from his misery, and runs right at him and just snogs him without a care as to who's watching. So, they're snogging like mad, and Kevin turns to Paula and goes "See! If they can do it, why can't we?" And poor Paula would have to admit to herself that although she does fancy a lot of people, it's Kevin she loves, and would snog him wildly too. Then there would be lots of cheering and everyone would start snogging randomly.
Ok, maybe I just want to see an orgy at Bradfield CID.
Whoa, it's established!relationship email flirting!! I hadn't thought of that! I like it. The porny potential is just so much higher. (Are we back on the masturbation fixation again? How does this keep happening?)
Door locks and my office doesn't have all those inconvenient windows like yours Oh, Doctor Hill! You're making me blush! I love shameless!Tony. You should definitely write something with them established, if it means Tony is going to be acting like this.
Yes. Older British men are obviously a special kind of sexy that transcends sexual orientation. Thank you for agreeing with me on this.
I'd totally come to your head-patting psychology practice! What with your WWTHD poster and all the hugging and head-patting, I'm sure I'd feel very at home and relax and all my issues would be cured.
Ok, maybe I just want to see an orgy at Bradfield CID. It was only a matter of time before it came to this. We've been on a slippery slope that was leading straight to a Bradfield CID orgy for a long while now.
Yeah, I just jumped right to established relationship flirting but I do adore the idea that they'd send semi-flirty or just random e-mails before they were together too. In fact, I love it. They'd both secretly live for the e-mails but try to act all casual about it. Dorks.
(Are we back on the masturbation fixation again? How does this keep happening?) See what I said about the slippery slope?
Older British men are indeed lovely, but I'd like to point out that younger British men are also rather nice. I had a dream I was hanging out with Matt Smith last night. It was awesome.
Well, it'd be unethical for me to treat you, considering 1) you are my spouse, and 2) you also work in the same practice and are my colleague, as we established this morning. And OH, related thing I forgot to mention today: you know how at the end Tony is hanging out at Alex's to check on/gaze adoringly at her, and he, whilst telling her how to deal with what's happened, says: "you talk to someone. You take a break and spend some time with Ben" etc? Well, how much do I want Alex to be a little bit sad about the fact that he said 'talk to someone' and not 'talk to me'?? He's a goddamn shrink! I know it's not really ethical for him to be all shrinky with her, but it wouldn't have to be official or anything. I just wish he'd said 'talk to me'. Or I wish Alex had made an even more miserable and pouty face and said "why can't I talk to you?" at least.
I'm actually surprised we haven't reached the orgy point until now. We must've been holding back!
Yes! Semi-flirty emails would be so perfect and so in character for these two, with their 'easier on the phone' crap. I wonder just how far they'd push the boundaries between semi-flirting and outright whorishness? And I can totally see them never actually talking about the emailing; it'd be kind of this secret thing that always went unspoken, while the flirtation escalated to extremes.
Does this slippery slope of yours happen to end in the gutter?
British men, young or old, for the win it is then! Wait, were you hanging out with Matt Smith or 'hanging out' with Matt Smith. I'm trying to determine if there's a lesser known meaning like melting. I assume things are pervy unless proven otherwise. You know this about me.
Oooh, interesting thoughts on the 'talk to someone' line. Why do you think he said someone and didn't offer himself. Did he go so far as to think it would be unethical or did it just not even occur to him that she might want to talk to him instead of some random stranger? I think had Alex made a pouty face and said, "Why can't I talk to you?" he would have been a bit flustered but quick with the "Of course you can, if you want to." And now of course, I'm trying to imagine how those chats would go if they did happen. Fuck, the FEELINGS on both ends would be intense.
I'm actually surprised we haven't reached the orgy point until now. We must've been holding back! We've honestly shown a great deal of restraint. We were bound to crack sometime, though.
Okay, so maybe I'm just going to throw random prompts out at you in every comment for a while now but I totally think you should write a semi-flirty e-mail exchange. You can fully explore just how they would walk the boundary between semi-flirting and outright whorishness. *best pleading look*
Does this slippery slope of yours happen to end in the gutter? The gutter in Whoretown, you bet your pervy ass!
Oi! We were hanging out as in hanging out; we were walking down the street (he was wearing skinny jeans and a long skinny scarf and looking way too cool for school) drinking coffees, then we went into a record store and he bought me a copy of 'Little Earthquakes' on vinyl, and then I woke up. It was awesome!
(And since having this dream I'm now on a MASSIVE vintage-Tori kick; fuck, she was brilliant.)
Although I do think that professional ethics are something that Tony frequently thinks about (I don't know why I think this, maybe just because I love him and he's such a good guy), I think you're right to say that it just didn't occur to him to offer to be that person for her in the moment. I can't say that this is because he thinks she doesn't need or want him (why is she clutching so tight to him in this ep, if that's the case? He's not an idiot, surely he's noticed she does need him), but perhaps because he's operating in professional mode and this is what he'd say to anyone under stress? But then remember Kurt the annoying dude in 4.03 - Tony offered to help him himself, he didn't try to refer him on to some colleague or other. I don't know. Or perhaps he's fully aware of all of this, and didn't offer himself as yet another form of self-protection: does he really want to subject himself to getting that much closer to Alex when he thinks they can only ever be friends?
Oh, Anthony. Why you so confusing, sugar?
Any such chats, if they did occur, would indeed be ridiculously epic with the FEELINGS. I figure it'd be low-key; in her kitchen or maybe at his place, so Ben doesn't overhear? Or maybe we've got it all wrong, and a few weeks after 5.02 Tony asked her if she'd talked to anyone yet, and when she confessed she hadn't, maybe he asked her how she was coping, and they had a little impromptu therapy session? This would also contribute to her change in behaviour toward him in 5.03; if she'd successfully opened up to him (without freaking out and getting defensive and without him being distracted by a patient), surely this would have a big impact on the way she saw him, and would also explain her calling him when Gabriel upset her. Anyway. I would love to see those chats. They would be so beautiful; any time Tony is being nice and quiet and caring and careful with her is like magic.
I shall have a think about writing some nice flirty email exchanges, but I make no promises. My brain is kind of useless at the moment, it seems. Maybe you should write it. *pleading bambi eyes look in return*
Whoretown reminds me of the Scarpetta books - do you remember in one of them someone gets killed in some suburb or other called 'Sugar Bottom'? That always cracks me up. Anyhoo. That was irrelevant to everything.
I'm terribly sorry I'm so suspicious of all your hanging out with adorable celebrities. Probably I am projecting my own pervy tendencies onto you which is horribly unfair. I'm pleased that dream Matt Smith was so lovely and bought you vinyl. He sounds like a delightful fellow!
Yeah, I don't think it did occur to Tony to offer Alex himself as someone to talk to after 5.02. There are other times like when she's having trouble with Ben that he tells her he is there to talk if she needs it so obviously he's okay with offering at least as a friend. So, either he thought she needed a professional who was outside of the situation specifically or he was just on autopilot because it had been such a crazy day.
Or perhaps he's fully aware of all of this, and didn't offer himself as yet another form of self-protection: does he really want to subject himself to getting that much closer to Alex when he thinks they can only ever be friends? This, my dear, is a very interesting thought. He had gotten pretty close to her throughout this case and, while he doesn't hesitate to help other times, maybe it was just too much for him right them. I mean there was the scene in the hallway where it was like it was fucking killing him to see her in pain and then there was the way she was acting like he was her/Ben's fucking savior. Maybe right then he realized that both their FEELINGS levels were off the frakking charts and thought helping her talk through it would be too close for his comfort or he didn't think he could be even mildly objective like he could have been in some of the other situations she needed help with?
Basically I'm with you on the dude being so confusing that I just don't freaking get it.
I'm thinking your scenario where Tony asks a week or two later if Alex has talked to anyone and she admits she hasn't might be the most likely. Even if he was hesitant for some reason, he'd definitely rather she talk to him than she not talk to anyone and keep things bottled up. And, if they did chat at some point, it absolutely would have been gorgeous to see because Tony would have been comforting and reassuring and probably say exactly what Alex needed to hear in order to ease up on herself.
Bwaha! I either didn't get to whichever Scarpetta book mentioned 'Sugar Bottom' or I'd totally forgotten. Either way, I think it's an excellent suburb name and I wish to live there.
Okay, speaking of, I just now got back from the gym, and there was this guy there who was the spitting image of Arthur Darvill. Tall, skinny, dirty-blonde hair, same face, same horn-rimmed glasses. I couldn't stop staring. I wanted to squish him, but I refrained, thank goodness.
But yeah, Matt was great! I hope I get to dream about him again. Also, I don't really blame your for assuming the pervy - he's a cutie. I'm sure dream!me checked him out.
See, now all of this is reminding me of something I noticed yesterday while doing that Tony mix: take a close look at this cap. See the way his eyes are all scrunched up like he's in pain? How much of that is the usual "my best friend is hurting and it's killing me" and how much is "I have to comfort her right now but fuck it kills me to get this close to her"? This, plus the way he says her name (plus the way he's paralysed with concern for her throughout the whole episode) makes me wonder just how affected Tony was by seeing Alex like that, and also by the fact that is was him she chose to lean on. Maybe after all of this, his first instinct was to take a step back, and as such either it just didn't occur to him to offer himself, or he made a conscious decision not to? I'm also now wondering if maybe this has something to do with why he didn't confide in her about emo kid in 5.03? Maybe he was attempting to gain some emotional distance, having been a bit scared and shocked by the FEELINGS flying around all over?
I don't know who the poor boy was trying to kid, however. I'm sure they must have talked about it at some point, later on when the angst had died down a bit perhaps. Actually, thinking on this now, I wonder if all of this didn't also impact on Tony during 5.04: he'd had the experience of getting incredibly close to her, been in his mind a bit burned by it (only inasmuch as how frightening it was), then had been easing his way back toward her, but still perhaps being a bit hesitant/self-protective, when the issue of Alex moving away comes up, and Jonathon comes along stirring everything up. Hell. No wonder he had the "you've no idea how I feel" outburst.
I have a feeling 'Sugar Bottom' was were all the prostitutes worked. I also think it was mentioned in 'Cause of Death'. Why do I remember this crap?
Ah, here's your not!Arthur Darvill again! Have you spotted him at the gym since? Did you squish and or grope him or shout, "Dude!!! You look just like Rory!" and give him a big thumbs up?
Thank you for not blaming me for always assuming the pervy. It's just how I'm wired really. I've no choice in the matter.
I think you're right on with your theory about 5.02 effecting the way Tony reacts to Alex in 5.03 and 5.04. He's been playing it so carefully up until then. I really do think he has all these little rules he's created to guide his interactions with her because he knows how much he wants from her and at that point doesn't think she's ever going to be willing to give it. And he's absolutely terrified of crossing certain lines with her because he thinks, if he doesn't, he can somehow control his feelings and be less hurt if she leaves or doesn't return his feelings.
But all of his efforts at self-protection go out the window in 5.02 when he has to be there for her whatever his fears are because she's falling apart and, when it comes down to it, he'll always put her first whether it hurts him or not. And, once Ben was safe and all the shock wore off, I'm pretty sure you're right and he was scared shitless. The whole thing, I'm sure, drove home the fact that he couldn't control his FEELINGS for her at all and he was only kidding himself before thinking that he was.
And I do think you're correct again when you say this FEELINGS realization from 5.02 bled over into 5.04. We focus so much on Alex's FEELINGS but I think Tony's are really just as much of a hot mess. He just happens to hide them better. He's just had the realization that he's done a crap job at protecting himself from hurt should she leave him and then he's presented with that exact possibility. No wonder all those FEELINGS explode to the surface in a way he obviously learned from his future wife. The poor dear is obviously terrified because she's pretty much become the most important thing in his life.
There they go again being both entirely too ridiculous and gorgeous all at once.
I don't know why you remember such random crap as which book "Sugar Bottom" was mentioned in but I am strangely impressed.
I've seen not!Arthur just the one more time, actually. I'm basically in love with his glasses. They're horn-rimmed and awesome and I want them.
he has all these little rules he's created to guide his interactions with her I really love this. It fits so well with Tony's slightly OCD personality, that he would make little vows to himself to not ever touch her hand or hug her or spend too long breathing in her perfume or the smell of her shampoo or something. This is why things get so interesting in 6.03, when he decides to rock up at her place with the wine. I can only assume two possibilities about this, either for some reason or other he's decided to throw these rules by the wayside and just enjoy being with her, no matter the consequences, OR he's so convinced by that stage that nothing's ever going to happen that he's able to relax his rules for a little while, and just enjoy her company for what it is. I'm yet to decide which of these is true, although you can probably imagine which one I'm rooting for.
He's just had the realization that he's done a crap job at protecting himself from hurt Ooooh yes! This is the one thing that really solidified in my brain while I was doing the 6.04 soundtracky thing; I was stuck on using that Ben Lee song for Tony, but I couldn't understand why (if you look at the lyrics literally, it doesn't seem to make any sense at all for Tony), and after thinking and listening for a day or so I finally figured out that it works because sometimes Tony must resent how much he's set himself up for being hurt again, when it's the last thing he wanted. Hence him being all angry and hating Alex for five seconds while he's miserable about not being by her side. And I'm totally with you on him realising she's the most important thing in his life. I want him to tell her this, somehow.
Thank you for being impressed at my intimate knowledge of probably make-believe geographical locations from Patricia Cornwell books. I never thought such a skill would come in handy at all, but look how you've just proven me wrong.
Obviously you need to accost not!Arthur whilst he's on the stair machine or whatever and demand to know where he got his awesome specs.
I'm glad you agree with me on Tony's Alex-related rules/boundaries. It just seems to make so much sense given the disconnect between way he interacts with her sometimes versus the way he obviously wants to interact with her. In fact on my ever growing list of shit I'll probably never write is something similar to one of those obnoxious five times fics (which I've so done before - not going to lie) about the various times Tony broke his Alex rules.
Very interesting thoughts on him showing up with the wine during 6.03 and whether that means he's decided to throw caution to the wind or he's convinced nothing could ever happen that it doesn't even matter any more. We will have to look for evidence one way or another when we get to 6.03. (Oh, our squee will reach such levels of obnoxious during the whole wine scene!) Actually, now you've mentioned it, I think it could be a combination of both. He's convinced nothing is ever going to happen between them but he's also decided it's far too late to protect his own heart as 6.02 drove home to him that he's completely in love with her. So, he figures he might as well let go and and have as much of her as he can get even if the fact that it will never be as much as he wants does somewhat torture him.
Oh, and this fits nicely into your 6.04 soundtrack choice and him every once in a while hating her for a few seconds for being so damn amazing that he can't help but fall for her one billion times over despite his instinct to protect himself from getting hurt. I can absolutely see him damning her for just a second for being so impossible not to love.
And I'm totally with you on him realising she's the most important thing in his life. I want him to tell her this, somehow. Me too! I love how we've turned Tony into the perfect boyfriend who busts out with the most romantic statements at least once a day.
Thank you for being impressed at my intimate knowledge of probably make-believe geographical locations from Patricia Cornwell books. I never thought such a skill would come in handy at all, but look how you've just proven me wrong. It's just one of your many skills that I'm in awe of, babe.
Ooh yay! Come join me in the mature land of continuing Alex and Tony's sexual frustration! It's really pretty here. And tense. But still, I really do want them to make every single stage of this thing last; as much I would love them to just get married/have Isobelle already, I also adore the two of them in their slightly-awkward but we love each other so much phase that they're beginning in 6.04. Just think of the eye sex. You thought it was epic before, can you even imagine what it would be like once they'd started dating but hadn't snogged/actually properly talked about things? Poor Kevin and Paula.
They'd probably find cute little nonsense reasons to call each other
Half of me wants to squee crazily and abuse capslock at how adorable this concept is, and the other half of me wants to look at you with my left eyebrow sticking up and say "LIKE THEY'RE NOT DOING THIS ALREADY LIZ". Bloody hell, I so want Alex to wake up one morning with her phone stuck to the side of her head and listening to Tony snoring down the line in her ear.
I think it's probably less a case of me being hardcore and more a case of you being clearly much smarter than me. I obviously need to come to terms with the fact that I am not Robson Green, and as such I do not have a luxurious coating of body hair to keep me warm on my ocean swims.
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You're right. The eye sex in 'sexual tension dating but not yet getting it on' land is AMAZING. If I hadn't taken biology, I'd suspect Alex could get pregnant with Isobelle from that filthy eye contact alone. As happy as Kevin and Paula will be that Tony and Alex have finally started dating, I have a feeling they're going to be wondering why and the hell they wished for this. Poor kids are going to have to pick up so much slack in that office while Tony and Alex are all drunk on the squee and pent up sexual energy about to burst free at any moment.
Okay, yeah, they totally already do the calling each other for nonsense reasons think but they will do it even more and for longer when they are dating. They'll give up on the forcing themselves to hang up at some point and just, like you said, fall asleep with the phones on their pillows listening to each other breath/snore. They sicken me. I love them.
I am uncomfortable with your use of the phrase "luxurious coating of body hair."
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I'm sure Alex could handle that. (Side note squee: I am irrationally excited that Robson likes the same brand compression gear as me. I'm so wearing 2XU to the gym today.)
Impregnation via eye!sex sounds logical to me. But then, I failed spectacularly at anything remotely science-y. It's kind of sad; I could be a psychologist right now, if only I hadn't been so crap at science. I would've been the SHITTEST psychologist, Liz. How funny.
I love this thought of Alex and Tony all drunk and high on squee and sexual tension. The pheromone levels alone would be enough to knock anyone out! You know, there might even be a sudden sharp rise in the number of hookups in Bradfield CID, just because everyone would be exposed to this massive cloud of oxytocin that's floating around whenever Alex and Tony are together. I'd love to see random people throwing themselves at each other because they're just so overcome with the horniness and FEELINGS in the air.
Yeah, I've no doubt they'll be falling asleep listening to each other breathing on the phone. How fricking adorable. Also, I've often wondered if they don't spend all day emailing back and forth to each other, when Alex is in her office and Tony is in his between classes. How cute would this be? Like, Alex is just sitting at her desk when an email from Tony pops up randomly: "First years are really titchy, Alex. And not very clever." and then she'd email back something like "I bet they're all taller than you." and it would carry on all day long. Email flirting ftw!
I'm uncomfortable with it to, to be honest. I can only handle body hair when it's on men with buff chests and arms and blue eyes and fictional psychology qualifications (see above).
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I'm impressed that you and Robson wear the same brand of fancy workout wear. You are both obviously hardcore serious business sporty people.
Okay, so we're agreed that impregnation by eye!sex is most likely possible if you're doing it right which Alex and Tony certainly are. Excellent!
I don't know, you might have been a better psychologist than you think. You've got that whole head in lap/hair smoothing thing down which we've established is an important skill for any psychologist. Surely between that and asking yourself what Tony Hill would do you'd get along just fine, right?
I'm loving the idea of everyone at Bradfield CID suddenly hooking up due to the high levels of FEELINGS floating around in there. I wouldn't be surprised if there were a high number of eye!sex babies popping up all over the place too.
: "First years are really titchy, Alex. And not very clever." and then she'd email back something like "I bet they're all taller than you." and it would carry on all day long. Email flirting ftw!
OMG. YES. E-mail flirting for the win! I feel we need to obsessively list things they could talk about. (Oh, that probably went without saying, didn't it.)
"Alex, I'm taller than you. (Unless you're wearing those boots I like which you looked bloody fantastic in last night, by the way.)"
"Tony, True. And thank you. You looked pretty gorgeous last night yourself. Kevin keeps asking me if we're really dating. He seems really invested in it. I'm a little concerned. - Alex"
"Alex, Kevin will be fine. He just needs something to distract him from his Paula crush. I'll be at the office until late tonight. You should stop by on your way home. Door locks and my office doesn't have all those inconvenient windows like yours. Okay, off to teach some titchy first years!"
And on and on and on.
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Thank you indeed for reassuring me on my potential as a head-patting psychologist. I would get a bit poster in my office of serious!face!Tony and WWTHD in big red letters to refer to whenever I got confused. I'd probably some serious indemnity insurance; I'd just want to constantly hug anyone who got upset during their sessions. I don't think that's really appropriate behaviour for a quasi-medical professional, is it?
Oooh yes, Bradfield eye!sex babies! To be completely and shamelessly honest, a little (ok, big) part of me has always wanted to see this exact scenario: immediately post-6.04, Alex comes rushing in to rescue Tony from his misery, and runs right at him and just snogs him without a care as to who's watching. So, they're snogging like mad, and Kevin turns to Paula and goes "See! If they can do it, why can't we?" And poor Paula would have to admit to herself that although she does fancy a lot of people, it's Kevin she loves, and would snog him wildly too. Then there would be lots of cheering and everyone would start snogging randomly.
Ok, maybe I just want to see an orgy at Bradfield CID.
Whoa, it's established!relationship email flirting!! I hadn't thought of that! I like it. The porny potential is just so much higher. (Are we back on the masturbation fixation again? How does this keep happening?)
Door locks and my office doesn't have all those inconvenient windows like yours
Oh, Doctor Hill! You're making me blush! I love shameless!Tony. You should definitely write something with them established, if it means Tony is going to be acting like this.
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I'd totally come to your head-patting psychology practice! What with your WWTHD poster and all the hugging and head-patting, I'm sure I'd feel very at home and relax and all my issues would be cured.
Ok, maybe I just want to see an orgy at Bradfield CID.
It was only a matter of time before it came to this. We've been on a slippery slope that was leading straight to a Bradfield CID orgy for a long while now.
Yeah, I just jumped right to established relationship flirting but I do adore the idea that they'd send semi-flirty or just random e-mails before they were together too. In fact, I love it. They'd both secretly live for the e-mails but try to act all casual about it. Dorks.
(Are we back on the masturbation fixation again? How does this keep happening?)
See what I said about the slippery slope?
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Well, it'd be unethical for me to treat you, considering 1) you are my spouse, and 2) you also work in the same practice and are my colleague, as we established this morning. And OH, related thing I forgot to mention today: you know how at the end Tony is hanging out at Alex's to check on/gaze adoringly at her, and he, whilst telling her how to deal with what's happened, says: "you talk to someone. You take a break and spend some time with Ben" etc? Well, how much do I want Alex to be a little bit sad about the fact that he said 'talk to someone' and not 'talk to me'?? He's a goddamn shrink! I know it's not really ethical for him to be all shrinky with her, but it wouldn't have to be official or anything. I just wish he'd said 'talk to me'. Or I wish Alex had made an even more miserable and pouty face and said "why can't I talk to you?" at least.
I'm actually surprised we haven't reached the orgy point until now. We must've been holding back!
Yes! Semi-flirty emails would be so perfect and so in character for these two, with their 'easier on the phone' crap. I wonder just how far they'd push the boundaries between semi-flirting and outright whorishness? And I can totally see them never actually talking about the emailing; it'd be kind of this secret thing that always went unspoken, while the flirtation escalated to extremes.
Does this slippery slope of yours happen to end in the gutter?
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Oooh, interesting thoughts on the 'talk to someone' line. Why do you think he said someone and didn't offer himself. Did he go so far as to think it would be unethical or did it just not even occur to him that she might want to talk to him instead of some random stranger? I think had Alex made a pouty face and said, "Why can't I talk to you?" he would have been a bit flustered but quick with the "Of course you can, if you want to." And now of course, I'm trying to imagine how those chats would go if they did happen. Fuck, the FEELINGS on both ends would be intense.
I'm actually surprised we haven't reached the orgy point until now. We must've been holding back!
We've honestly shown a great deal of restraint. We were bound to crack sometime, though.
Okay, so maybe I'm just going to throw random prompts out at you in every comment for a while now but I totally think you should write a semi-flirty e-mail exchange. You can fully explore just how they would walk the boundary between semi-flirting and outright whorishness. *best pleading look*
Does this slippery slope of yours happen to end in the gutter?
The gutter in Whoretown, you bet your pervy ass!
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(And since having this dream I'm now on a MASSIVE vintage-Tori kick; fuck, she was brilliant.)
Although I do think that professional ethics are something that Tony frequently thinks about (I don't know why I think this, maybe just because I love him and he's such a good guy), I think you're right to say that it just didn't occur to him to offer to be that person for her in the moment. I can't say that this is because he thinks she doesn't need or want him (why is she clutching so tight to him in this ep, if that's the case? He's not an idiot, surely he's noticed she does need him), but perhaps because he's operating in professional mode and this is what he'd say to anyone under stress? But then remember Kurt the annoying dude in 4.03 - Tony offered to help him himself, he didn't try to refer him on to some colleague or other. I don't know. Or perhaps he's fully aware of all of this, and didn't offer himself as yet another form of self-protection: does he really want to subject himself to getting that much closer to Alex when he thinks they can only ever be friends?
Oh, Anthony. Why you so confusing, sugar?
Any such chats, if they did occur, would indeed be ridiculously epic with the FEELINGS. I figure it'd be low-key; in her kitchen or maybe at his place, so Ben doesn't overhear? Or maybe we've got it all wrong, and a few weeks after 5.02 Tony asked her if she'd talked to anyone yet, and when she confessed she hadn't, maybe he asked her how she was coping, and they had a little impromptu therapy session? This would also contribute to her change in behaviour toward him in 5.03; if she'd successfully opened up to him (without freaking out and getting defensive and without him being distracted by a patient), surely this would have a big impact on the way she saw him, and would also explain her calling him when Gabriel upset her. Anyway. I would love to see those chats. They would be so beautiful; any time Tony is being nice and quiet and caring and careful with her is like magic.
I shall have a think about writing some nice flirty email exchanges, but I make no promises. My brain is kind of useless at the moment, it seems. Maybe you should write it. *pleading bambi eyes look in return*
Whoretown reminds me of the Scarpetta books - do you remember in one of them someone gets killed in some suburb or other called 'Sugar Bottom'? That always cracks me up. Anyhoo. That was irrelevant to everything.
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Yeah, I don't think it did occur to Tony to offer Alex himself as someone to talk to after 5.02. There are other times like when she's having trouble with Ben that he tells her he is there to talk if she needs it so obviously he's okay with offering at least as a friend. So, either he thought she needed a professional who was outside of the situation specifically or he was just on autopilot because it had been such a crazy day.
Or perhaps he's fully aware of all of this, and didn't offer himself as yet another form of self-protection: does he really want to subject himself to getting that much closer to Alex when he thinks they can only ever be friends?
This, my dear, is a very interesting thought. He had gotten pretty close to her throughout this case and, while he doesn't hesitate to help other times, maybe it was just too much for him right them. I mean there was the scene in the hallway where it was like it was fucking killing him to see her in pain and then there was the way she was acting like he was her/Ben's fucking savior. Maybe right then he realized that both their FEELINGS levels were off the frakking charts and thought helping her talk through it would be too close for his comfort or he didn't think he could be even mildly objective like he could have been in some of the other situations she needed help with?
Basically I'm with you on the dude being so confusing that I just don't freaking get it.
I'm thinking your scenario where Tony asks a week or two later if Alex has talked to anyone and she admits she hasn't might be the most likely. Even if he was hesitant for some reason, he'd definitely rather she talk to him than she not talk to anyone and keep things bottled up. And, if they did chat at some point, it absolutely would have been gorgeous to see because Tony would have been comforting and reassuring and probably say exactly what Alex needed to hear in order to ease up on herself.
Bwaha! I either didn't get to whichever Scarpetta book mentioned 'Sugar Bottom' or I'd totally forgotten. Either way, I think it's an excellent suburb name and I wish to live there.
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But yeah, Matt was great! I hope I get to dream about him again. Also, I don't really blame your for assuming the pervy - he's a cutie. I'm sure dream!me checked him out.
See, now all of this is reminding me of something I noticed yesterday while doing that Tony mix: take a close look at this cap. See the way his eyes are all scrunched up like he's in pain? How much of that is the usual "my best friend is hurting and it's killing me" and how much is "I have to comfort her right now but fuck it kills me to get this close to her"? This, plus the way he says her name (plus the way he's paralysed with concern for her throughout the whole episode) makes me wonder just how affected Tony was by seeing Alex like that, and also by the fact that is was him she chose to lean on. Maybe after all of this, his first instinct was to take a step back, and as such either it just didn't occur to him to offer himself, or he made a conscious decision not to? I'm also now wondering if maybe this has something to do with why he didn't confide in her about emo kid in 5.03? Maybe he was attempting to gain some emotional distance, having been a bit scared and shocked by the FEELINGS flying around all over?
I don't know who the poor boy was trying to kid, however. I'm sure they must have talked about it at some point, later on when the angst had died down a bit perhaps. Actually, thinking on this now, I wonder if all of this didn't also impact on Tony during 5.04: he'd had the experience of getting incredibly close to her, been in his mind a bit burned by it (only inasmuch as how frightening it was), then had been easing his way back toward her, but still perhaps being a bit hesitant/self-protective, when the issue of Alex moving away comes up, and Jonathon comes along stirring everything up. Hell. No wonder he had the "you've no idea how I feel" outburst.
I have a feeling 'Sugar Bottom' was were all the prostitutes worked. I also think it was mentioned in 'Cause of Death'. Why do I remember this crap?
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Thank you for not blaming me for always assuming the pervy. It's just how I'm wired really. I've no choice in the matter.
I think you're right on with your theory about 5.02 effecting the way Tony reacts to Alex in 5.03 and 5.04. He's been playing it so carefully up until then. I really do think he has all these little rules he's created to guide his interactions with her because he knows how much he wants from her and at that point doesn't think she's ever going to be willing to give it. And he's absolutely terrified of crossing certain lines with her because he thinks, if he doesn't, he can somehow control his feelings and be less hurt if she leaves or doesn't return his feelings.
But all of his efforts at self-protection go out the window in 5.02 when he has to be there for her whatever his fears are because she's falling apart and, when it comes down to it, he'll always put her first whether it hurts him or not. And, once Ben was safe and all the shock wore off, I'm pretty sure you're right and he was scared shitless. The whole thing, I'm sure, drove home the fact that he couldn't control his FEELINGS for her at all and he was only kidding himself before thinking that he was.
And I do think you're correct again when you say this FEELINGS realization from 5.02 bled over into 5.04. We focus so much on Alex's FEELINGS but I think Tony's are really just as much of a hot mess. He just happens to hide them better. He's just had the realization that he's done a crap job at protecting himself from hurt should she leave him and then he's presented with that exact possibility. No wonder all those FEELINGS explode to the surface in a way he obviously learned from his future wife. The poor dear is obviously terrified because she's pretty much become the most important thing in his life.
There they go again being both entirely too ridiculous and gorgeous all at once.
I don't know why you remember such random crap as which book "Sugar Bottom" was mentioned in but I am strangely impressed.
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he has all these little rules he's created to guide his interactions with her
I really love this. It fits so well with Tony's slightly OCD personality, that he would make little vows to himself to not ever touch her hand or hug her or spend too long breathing in her perfume or the smell of her shampoo or something. This is why things get so interesting in 6.03, when he decides to rock up at her place with the wine. I can only assume two possibilities about this, either for some reason or other he's decided to throw these rules by the wayside and just enjoy being with her, no matter the consequences, OR he's so convinced by that stage that nothing's ever going to happen that he's able to relax his rules for a little while, and just enjoy her company for what it is. I'm yet to decide which of these is true, although you can probably imagine which one I'm rooting for.
He's just had the realization that he's done a crap job at protecting himself from hurt
Ooooh yes! This is the one thing that really solidified in my brain while I was doing the 6.04 soundtracky thing; I was stuck on using that Ben Lee song for Tony, but I couldn't understand why (if you look at the lyrics literally, it doesn't seem to make any sense at all for Tony), and after thinking and listening for a day or so I finally figured out that it works because sometimes Tony must resent how much he's set himself up for being hurt again, when it's the last thing he wanted. Hence him being all angry and hating Alex for five seconds while he's miserable about not being by her side. And I'm totally with you on him realising she's the most important thing in his life. I want him to tell her this, somehow.
Thank you for being impressed at my intimate knowledge of probably make-believe geographical locations from Patricia Cornwell books. I never thought such a skill would come in handy at all, but look how you've just proven me wrong.
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I'm glad you agree with me on Tony's Alex-related rules/boundaries. It just seems to make so much sense given the disconnect between way he interacts with her sometimes versus the way he obviously wants to interact with her. In fact on my ever growing list of shit I'll probably never write is something similar to one of those obnoxious five times fics (which I've so done before - not going to lie) about the various times Tony broke his Alex rules.
Very interesting thoughts on him showing up with the wine during 6.03 and whether that means he's decided to throw caution to the wind or he's convinced nothing could ever happen that it doesn't even matter any more. We will have to look for evidence one way or another when we get to 6.03. (Oh, our squee will reach such levels of obnoxious during the whole wine scene!) Actually, now you've mentioned it, I think it could be a combination of both. He's convinced nothing is ever going to happen between them but he's also decided it's far too late to protect his own heart as 6.02 drove home to him that he's completely in love with her. So, he figures he might as well let go and and have as much of her as he can get even if the fact that it will never be as much as he wants does somewhat torture him.
Oh, and this fits nicely into your 6.04 soundtrack choice and him every once in a while hating her for a few seconds for being so damn amazing that he can't help but fall for her one billion times over despite his instinct to protect himself from getting hurt. I can absolutely see him damning her for just a second for being so impossible not to love.
And I'm totally with you on him realising she's the most important thing in his life. I want him to tell her this, somehow.
Me too! I love how we've turned Tony into the perfect boyfriend who busts out with the most romantic statements at least once a day.
Thank you for being impressed at my intimate knowledge of probably make-believe geographical locations from Patricia Cornwell books. I never thought such a skill would come in handy at all, but look how you've just proven me wrong.
It's just one of your many skills that I'm in awe of, babe.
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