There have been previous Valentine's Days, and Dakin has given perfunctory boxes of chocolates and the occasional carnation ( Read more... )

Dakin has been reading through his vacation, with a vague feeling that he had to catch up to his peers by the time he got to Oxford. Milliways has helped with that--the extra time has made his long reading list much easier to deal with.

Right now, though, he's bored with books, and is just smoking and people-watching.

It seems to Posner like the time between getting his Oxford letter and the beginning of his first term there is going to drag on forever. It doesn't help that he has very little to occupy his time with other than work or that his mum has taken to calling him in to help her with anything she can ( Read more... )

Dakin knows how to date girls. He's been doing that since he was old enough to wear long pants. Dating a boy ... it can't be that different, right? And it's Posner. They're known each other since -- well, since before Dakin started dating girls.

So, feeling nervous about dating Posner is foolish, right ( Read more... )

For as happy, as ecstatic as he was the last time he was here, Posner is oddly subdued when he comes into the bar ( Read more... )

[OOM:
From "Two Songs for Hedli Anderson" by W.H. Auden

I

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,Put crêpe bows round the ( Read more... )

Ianto has decided he has a theme. Stick with what you're good at. It seems to make people happy.

TONIGHT'S SPECIALS
MARTININS
for example
ABSINTHE
BLACK
CHOCOLATE
DIRTY
EMERALD
FUZZY
etc.

COFFEE
ANY WAY YOU LIKE IT

At the end of the bar, Stuart Dakin is smiling to himself as he enjoys a pint. Amazing things have happened today. The first is ( Read more... )

[OOM: I wonder anybody does anything at Oxford but dream and remember, the place is so beautiful. One almost expects the people to sing instead of speaking. It is all like an opera.

-W.B. Yeats]

[OOM: "Do you tell them everything that goes on at school?"]

Posner is having a bit of trouble concentrating today. He's got his most recent essay assignment in front of him, and he does occasionally make some progress on it, but mostly he's distracted by thoughts of a recent experience* in the bar. And every time the memory comes back, he finds himself smiling a bit ( Read more... )