#!gibson calendar

[alicewonderao3]

What I wouldn’t give for a calendar that is Aaron Hotchner themed…. I would absolutely love that. And I’d totally buy one.

[stusbunker]

Spotless: Ziehen

Chapter Thirty One

Featuring: Dean Winchester/Reader, Dean/Bela

Other characters: Zachariah, Crowley, Dick, Bobby, Sam and Benny

Word Count: 2053, with other media

Warnings, etc: Mutual pining, still unbeta'd, talk of extra-curricular activities coming up, a thirst trap because Jensen has been unfair lately, Benny being a teddy bear, and Bela trying to make amends

Series Masterlist

“And between record store day and Phantom Traveler’s release, Q2 is looking to break records for us,” Zachariah droned on.

“Well, it’s the least they could do,” Dick added glibly.

You couldn’t roll your eyes, you were on camera, but you wanted to. Crowley didn’t reply, but Zachariah chuckled and took a beat to agree before going on down the line of his report. Bobby huffed, but kept a lid on it, which told you how much he knew Dick was right.

“Things are shaping up well with pre-orders and the appearances Bobby and company have lined up between Vegas and New Orleans with the album release.  should outshine their previous album sales by a wide margin,” Crowley tacks on, almost bored with the success.

You set that up, not Bobby, but you kept your mouth shut, nodding.

“Y’all can thank Y/N for that, you know,” Bobby said gruffly.

“Of course,” Dick agreed offhandedly, eyes darting down to other parts of his screen.

Thank God for Bobby. You simply smiled and kept listening.

“Sounds great, people! Let’s check back the week of the release to ensure we’re still on track. We’ve got a lot of numbers to move to get in the black here, but I see good things happening,” Dick smarmed and instantly sent a meeting invite for the following month. 

“Thank you!” you replied dutifully and closed the window for the chat. After accepting the invite and adding it to your personal calendar, you exhaled long and hard. You checked your phone, Bela had called again and left another two text messages. You ignored her. She could wait.

You called Bobby for a mix of mutual griping and to debrief about where that put you all going forward. 

Without even a greeting, Bobby started, “I swear they get dumber every quarter.”

“Tell me about it. Thanks for having my back in there, though, I was starting to see red by the end.”

“You and me both, darlin’.” Bobby huffed. “The amount of stuff you get done is amazing. Even without all the run-around from the last tour, you are doing more than anybody I’ve seen in your position. We appreciate ya, even if the suits can’t see past their nose jobs.”

You beamed.

“Thanks. So, what’s on the agenda for the week? I know Dean and Sam took Gibson and Pamela to the zoo.”

“Yeap. Got the Midway Museum tomorrow if you have time, got tickets for anybody who wants to go. Might be good time for pictures if you need some candids for the socials.”

You knew this was his way of telling you to come, he even gave you justification for doing it on so called work hours.

“Maybe. I might just steal some from the band. Too much to get done before the show on Thursday.”

“Well, you’re welcome to join us if you get caught up or not.”

“Thanks.” It felt like all you could say to him today. It was a small word with a lot of connotations, but you were grateful. You owed Bobby so much. Though he never gave anything he didn’t want to give or for any form of repayment. He was too good for this industry. They all were.

“I’ll keep you posted. I have calls with the next couple of venue coordinators today and then some event security stuff tomorrow morning with Benny for some non-venue signings and stuff.”

“You still want to do the battered women's shelter thing?”

“The domestic violence survivors fundraiser in Vegas? Absolutely.”

Bobby hummed.

“I know what you’re thinking, Bobby. And that’s exactly why we’re doing it.”

“Do you think it looks like pandering?”

“I think it looks like community service. And if I didn’t think Dean could handle it, I wouldn’t have signed him up for it.”

“Even after that little disappearing act on Saturday?”

“Dean is a domestic abuse survivor, Bobby. Part of what he’s gone through is accepting that.”

“Yeah, but Cas—.”

“Cas is still family. And he didn’t press charges. And you know Dean—- penance is something he needs to do for himself, too.”

Bobby sighed. “Remind me not to get on your bad side.”

“Trust me, this is still my good side.”

Bobby actually chuckled at that. “I bet! Okay, I should get going, promised the missus we’d hit the shops before dinner.”

“Have a good one.”

“Alrighty, bye then.”

You smiled at your desk as Bobby hung up. He was happy and Annie was good for him. It didn’t matter their pasts, they made it work, and made each other better along the way.

Which seemed utterly remarkable and unattainable for somebody like you.

But if anybody deserved it, it was them.

You put down your phone and pulled up Twitter, it was time to dig through the chaos and do what you did best: highlight the good, the band's synergy and the new momentum and bury the bad. 

Which seemed to include you this time around, unfortunately.

After Twitter, you tackled Insta, Reddit and even FB, though most people cross posted the same images and anecdotes, some people only used one of the bunch. And some only used them on pain of death, namely Dean. Meanwhile, Bela had posted a couple of great shots from the afterparties, which you liked as the band and as yourself. 

You were crabby, not petty.

And busy, damnit.

The next morning, Sam smirked at you when he caught your eye in the hotel’s gym. He was already sweating from running outside, but must have come back to stretch or work something more intensely. What you weren’t expecting was Dean to be hot on his heels, equally as sweaty, equally as mischievous.

“Trouble! How’s business?” 

You rolled your eyes and took out an earbud, not sure you really heard them.

“What’s up?”

“We’re gonna lift— you want in?” Sam was teasing you now.

You pedaled stiffly and shook your head. “Fuck no, I’m good here, got another ten mile circuit after this breather.”

“Suit yourself,” Dean taunted and grinned before he crossed his legs and touched his toes. What the hell? Luckily there was only one other guest using the elliptical, so they weren’t being complete nuisances, yet.

They weren’t even directly in your line of sight, otherwise it could have gotten awkward, and distracting.

Still, you felt them keep glancing at you, making faces, and even cheering for you when you shifted up with your ass out of the seat to get the best angle for the various hills. You flipped them off, but kept your eyes forward and your earbuds in place.

Thirty minutes later, you groaned and stepped off the stationary bike. Dean and Sam had been talking more than doing curls with the free weights, obviously being dorks about each other’s efforts.

Boys.

“Good workout?” Dean asked as you sanitized your equipment. Sweat clung to your oversized tank top, all down your back, and between your legs. Thank god you wore your black workout leggings today.

“Yeah? You?” You smirked as Dean made a show of extending his movements slowly and pointedly. Yes, Dean, your arms should be illegal, you thought.

“Good, uh— need help stretching?”

You looked at him a little dumbfounded and then back at Sam, who seemed just as surprised as you were by the offer.

“Nah, I’ve got my bands and stuff in my room. Though, I bet Sam would love to see you try and bullshit your way through a cool down routine,” you tacked on, trying to laugh off the offer. Inside you were imagining Dean’s weight against you, pushing your knees up and out, flexing your hip joints with his thick fingers digging into the meat of you…

“Hey! I was just being nice.”

“Dude,” Sam muttered.

You sighed and gave Dean an apologetic smile. “Maybe another time.”

You pretended not to hear the series of slaps that happened behind your back as you made your way to the elevator and your generic hotel shower.

Benny treated you to lunch after your video calls with the S.A.F.E. House staff and the one with the folks at the radio station who’d be interviewing the band the morning of the first Vegas show. 

“Saw your tweet on Cas’ post,” you added thoughtfully, midway through your shrimp po boys.

“Yeah, well, didn’t want him thinking he done wrong by us.”

You chewed and nodded, silently telling him that you got it, appreciated it even. 

“You hear anything else from the guys about the last show, you know, after Dean disappeared and, um, everything?”

You needed to know if the guards were loyal, but mostly you wanted to know what they had seen.

“Seemed pretty anticlimactic to most of them, from what I hear. Dean came through, sober and clean as a whistle. —Even the venue goons didn’t clock anything weird,” Benny pointed out before taking another bite, his teeth flashing in the afternoon sun.

After a few moments, Benny continued. “But, uh, that label stooge you got following Bela? He’s the one to worry about, really, seems to keep his cards close to the vest.”

Damn, you knew he was right before he even finished the sentence. Tiny would be the one to squeal to Crowley, or worse, Dick, at the end of the day. You wondered if you could buy him off or treat him in other ways while on the road. Bela wasn’t scheduled to be around until the second Vegas show, you had some time to figure out his motives. Or if he even cared at all.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re right.”

Benny sniffed and looked around the small patio outside the restaurant. “Bela’s not really Dean’s girl is she? She some kind of clout pusher?”

You swallowed and took a long slurp of your iced tea, washing away the now muted flavor of your lunch. “I honestly don’t know anymore, Benny. They’ve definitely been enjoying each other’s company more than I expected.”

“Perhaps—- but don’t you worry none. She’s not the type you settled down with and he’s got eyes deeper than the cut of her fancy tops.”

You huffed. Benny certainly had a way with words.

“It’s okay, Benny— I’m not in a place to be jealous.”

He just raised his eyebrows at you and took another bite.

“I did this— I set them up. I’d guess you’d call it reaping what I sow or something?”

Benny nodded and shrugged. “Or something.”

“You won’t— you won’t tell anybody, right? His story is safe with you?”

“Doll, I’ve been covering that boy’s ass since before Lisa— I’m true.”

“I know, Benny, sorry—- it’s just so much posturing all the time. I just want to take pictures and show the world how badass they are. I want people to hear the stories behind the songs, because it shows they’re human too. Sometimes I wish—-”

“Wishin’ for rain in the desert aint doin’ anybody a lick of good. You know the score, you just gotta beat them at their own game. Dean’s a good man, he knows what’s real. Don’t think we all don’t know that, too.”

“Thanks.”

“Anytime. Know who your people are, if you trust Bela— then she won’t let Tiny think anything is up. Friends have each other’s back against the world, right?”

“Right,” you agreed, suddenly feeling ridiculously immature for ignoring her for the past few days.

“Eat up, cher. It’s a long tour. You’ll need your strength.”

That was an understatement, but you dug in anyway.

“Y/N, listen— I’ve resorted to leaving you a voicemail. It’s come to that. I’m sorry. I am. I didn’t mean anything disparaging about you the other night— just maybe about how you treat Dean. Not that it's bad, overkill more like, but it’s not like you’re bad or weak for doing it.--- I know how much you loved her, Y/N, I know. Him too, it seems. I just don’t want you wasting so much of your life trying to make up for losing her. It hurts to see you so— subservient. You are so much more than an errand girl. So I’m sorry for my lack of tact. But I’m not sorry I brought it up. Okay? There. Call me back and yell at me properly already, Jesus.”

Tagging:

@deans-spinster-witch

@mrswhozeewhatsis

@cosicas-cuquis

@fics-pics-andotherthings-i-like

@suckitands33

@ladysparkles78

@deans-baby-momma

@stoneyggirl2

@sassy-pelican

@leigh70

@globetrotter28

@winharry

@lastactiontricia

@rockhoochie

@brightlilith

@coldhearted93

@djs8891

@beautiful-places-blog

@n-o-p-e-never

@spxideyver

Chapter 32: Tronco

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Today in Christian History

Today is Wednesday, June 26th, 2024. It is the 178th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; Because it is a leap year, 188 days remain until the end of the year.

1526: The Diet of Ilanz proclaims religious freedom—the right of all persons in the Grisons (a region of Switzerland), of both sexes, and of whatever condition or rank, to choose between the Catholic and the Reformed religion. Those who choose the Reformed will be subject to banishment but not to death.

1529: The Swiss agree to the first Peace of Kappel between Protestant and Catholic cantons.

1691: Death at Exeter of John Flavel, an eminent English Puritan who suffered much of his life from laws against Nonconformists but had many loyal parishioners who would travel more than five miles one way to hear him preach after he was ejected from his pulpit, or meet in woods to hear him. He wrote many books, including one on Providence. Several future revival leaders, including George Whitefield and Robert Murray M'Cheyne, were influenced by his writings.

1886: Isaac Barton Kimbrough tells the Texas legislature how he was held up by highwaymen in Tennessee while raising funds for a Christian college and how he persuaded the young robbers to donate to the worthy cause instead.

1899: Death of Benjamin Newton at Tunbridge Wells. He had been one of the early Plymouth Brethren until differences with the others caused him to separate.

1903: Death of Mary Anne Sanderson Gibson Deck. A hymnwriter, she had written “There Is a City Bright.”

1928: Death in New York City of Isabel Florence Hapgood (pictured above), who had translated many French and Russian works of literature into English. Love of Russian Orthodoxy and its liturgy had prompted her to translate its rites into English, too. She had also worked to bring together Russian Orthodox and Episcopalians in the United States.

[cellythefloshie]

;; Treat You Right Chapter Fifteen of the Road Wife Series

Table of Contents 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 11  | 12  |  13  | 14 | 15

Summary: The Tampa Bay Lighting take a quick single-game road trip to Dallas, and with your empty calendar you're finally able to address what happened between you and Tony. NOTE: Surprises bitches (I say endearingly)! I'm dropping this early. The boys need all the support I can give them today. So this will just have to do. Kinks & TW: sex work, dry humping, hickeys/marking, vaginal fingering, unprotected sex, creampie, went pretty vanilla with this one, more feelings than we are used to. Word Count: 7700+

TAGLIST: @equallyshaw , @charles11700 , @starshine-hockey-girl , @swissboyhisch , @wingedwheelprxncess , @luvmmarner , @fandomrejects

The team remained in Tampa for only a brief time after their longest road trip of the season. They were granted five days at home, just long enough to play Nashville in a short series of two games where each team was left with a single win. Then the team took the skies again, arriving in Dallas for a single game. They had arrived mid-day after a brief 2-hour flight. The single-game road trip had almost been enough to have you staying behind in Tampa as the team had planned to fly home after the game, but when the team was forced to book rooms for the night at a Dallas hotel that had started to feel more like home than your own appointment you had packed your bags and met the team on the tarmac. 

With the late landing giving you only a few hours before the game, your calendar was clear. Not a single appointment was on your calendar for the duration of the trip, and while it left you feeling they had wasted a seat on the plane on you, your company was always welcome. Especially as it came to be game time and you retired to the suite that looked over the rink. It was a box reserved for the Lightning organization, with enough seats for their social media team as well as the players that were scratched for the night. It wasn’t very often you enjoyed the company of the players during game time, the demands of keeping up appearances often consumed you. So you welcomed the opportunity to get to know those who were scratched or occupied the taxi squad. That night, Volcov, Alex Barre-Boulet, Gemel Smith, Luke Schenn, Andreas Borgman, Ben Thomas, and Chris Gibson occupied the suite. You sat among them with your laptop open on the table, casually working as the game played out below. 

The first period was a quiet one. With the expedition of a single goal at 3:55 scored by Brayden Point, his 11th of the season was assisted by Palat and Cirelli. Not even a single penalty was called. It may have been one of the quickest periods of hockey you had watched. 

The game really came to life in the second period as it was kicked off with an interference call against Palat. The Bolts were successful in the penalty kill, and minutes later the Stars themselves took a penalty for delay of game as they sent the puck over the glass. The Bolts were unsuccessful in their power play as well. It wasn’t long before the Stars tied the game with a goal of their own. A power-play goal was scored by Miro Heiskanan after Cal Foote had hooked Alexander Rudulov. It looked as if the game may go into the second intermission 1-1, but before the period could come to an end Mathieu Joseph had given the Bolts a 2-1 with assists from Maroon and Colton. 

It left morale high and the taxi squad boys rowdy as they stood up from their seats to indulge themselves in refreshments and conversation - but they could only be entertained by themselves for so long. 

Feeling an arm drape over the back of your chair you looked away from your computer screen and up to the player that was casually demanding your attention with the careful graze of his large hand against your back. You were greeted with the sweet smirk of Luke Schenn as his thumb traced circles around your back absentmindedly, “We’re going to head down to the locker room for the intermission, check in on the boys, hype them up for the third. Did you want to come?”

“You guys go on ahead, I’ve got to wrap some things up,” you assured him with a smile of your own. 

“You work too hard,” he punctuated the sentence with your name, his hand stroking over the breadth of a single shoulder before giving it a gentle squeeze, “we won’t be long.”

“I’ll be here,” you assured him and watched as the boys left, leaving you alone in the box suite. For a short time, you let yourself become enthralled by your screen. You made quick work of your task before you closed the laptop and tucked it away in its bag. Now, you could really enjoy the rest of your night. You abandoned the barstool-like chair that had been set at one of the cocktail tables and indulged in the mini bar and snacks that were left in the suite. You knew you really shouldn’t have, but you couldn’t let it go to waste. With refreshments in hand, you found a more comfortable seat along the edge of the suite. The comfort was welcome as you nearly melted into your seat. Your head leaned back against the seat, your eyes falling shut as you took in a heavy relaxed breath and took in the sounds that were as close as you were going to get to silence: the chatter of the fans in attendance and the entertainment played up on the jumbotron. And while it was loud, one thing was louder: the voice of a stranger. 

“You’re new.”

Their words left you lurching in your seat, your drink spilling over your lap as you dropped it to reach for the armrest. Your heart thundered in your chest as you tried to recover your drink, putting it aside before you turned towards the source of the sound. In the doorway of the suite was none other than Tyler Seguin. 

“And you’re lost,” you quipped from your seat and made no effort to make any formal introductions with your unexpected visitor.

Seguin had been on the Stars Injured Reserve list since the end of the 2020-2021 season having torn the labrum in his hip sometime during the playoff run - the playoffs that had the Bolts hoisting the cup for the first time since 2004. While Seguin had been very much out of the spotlight during his recovery, it didn’t seem to stop him from being there for his team off the ice. He stood in the doorway dressed in a burgundy suit that left you feeling underdressed even though you too were dressed in business attire. Your eyes were drawn to it, and how his blazar opened as she reached a hand up to brace himself against the top of the door frame. It left you to admire how his tie had become loose as the night had gone on, and his shirt was loose fitting as he had come to unbutton the one button that would have left it tight across his chest and his tie hung loose and lazily over his chest.

Tyler wasn’t dressed for business, that portion of his night had ended, and now he was looking to cause trouble and it had led him to you - but something told you that it wasn’t you that he had been looking for. 

“I have to say, not many people complain when I walk into a room,” Tyler was charming and witty as he left the doorway and made his way into the suite. He grazed over the refreshments, picking up a sweet snack for himself on his way to the row of seats you occupied, more specifically the seat right beside you. “The last girl, Ella, she was much more welcoming…”

Ella. The slip of the woman’s name from his lips and repeated, echoed, haunted each of your thoughts as they raced through your mind. Not once before had you heard this time, and yet it made your skin crawl. Your mind spirals further when you let yourself really hear what Seguin had just said. The last girl. When you joined the media team, you had been filling a void, one that had been vacated at the end of the 2018-2019 season. Surely, Seguin was referring to the young woman who once worked for the media team - but one thought did not leave you: Had Ella been the first wife? 

You shifted uncomfortably in your seat, your heart pounding in your chest so hard you could hear it up into your ears as you reached down to grip the armrest tightly. Against your fingers, you could feel the warmth of Seguin’s body as he made himself comfortable. He spread his legs so that he could slouch casually as if he had sat beside you many times before, and he went as far as to have his knee come to rest against your own. You shifted away at the touch, but it only left him smiling - and that smile only seemed to grow as he leaned closer to you as if he had something to say, but you didn’t let him speak, not yet. 

“Don’t you have someone else you can entertain?” you bit out, and you felt the warmth of his laughter against your cheek. 

“Just doing my rounds, it’s good publicity-”

“It’s good publicity to bother the visitor’s media team?” You challenged him, letting your gaze meet his for the first time since he had sat down. His features were uncomfortably close. Every breath that escaped him could be felt on your face, and you could see every detail of his face from the warmth of his eyes to the quirk of his smile that told you that this man was more trouble than you could allow. Seguin was easily one of the most sought-after men in the NHL, and you had his undelivered attention. It made you uncomfortable in all the best ways, and you hated it - and what you hated more was the fact that any other woman would have killed to be in your position. 

“No this, this was just the last spot on my stop. A courtesy stop really, because it’s usually a group of boring men in here taking notes, wanting to ask too many questions - but the Bolts,” his low laughter punctuated his sentence as he dropped his voice into a low, alluring whisper, “they like to keep an attractive staff… I must say, you’re ever more pretty than the last one - though, she was a lot more fun.”

You held your breath as you felt Seguin's warmth encroach on you, his fit frame leaning in slightly over the armrest that divided you. Then came the touch of his hand on the collar of your shirt, tugging it away just enough for his thick fingers to drag over the sensitive mark on your neck that had been left there by Brayden during your flight to Detroit on the last road trip. 

“Though, they seem to be having their fun with you…” his words sent a shiver down your spine as your suspicions seemed to be all but confirmed. Whoever Ella was, wife or not, Seguin had taken a liking to her. She was the reason he was in this booth, with his suit relaxed and oozing with charm. If it had been another time, another place, it might have worked on you - but you were loyal to the team, and part of the team was walking right back through the suite door. 

“You seem to be lost, Seguin,” came Luke’s voice after the shuffling of footsteps. 

It drew your eyes back to the taxi squad, the sight of them bringing you a moment of relief. You’d never been happier to see them and it brought a smile to your features. As you smiled, Tyler laughed. He was far from intimidated by the likes of them, and instead of retreating he was leaning in to whisper in your ear to confirm all of your suspicions. “If you find that you’re up for a little fun after you take care of your boys tonight, give me a call.” 

Your smile faded as you felt his hand graze up against yours, his hot touch lingering for but a moment as he handed off a slip of paper to you. You didn’t need to look at it to know that his number was written across it. You balled it up in your fist, your gaze hardening as he stood up from his seat, satisfied. His message had been delivered, and with his unwanted audience, it was time for him to leave. 

“Enjoy the rest of the game boys,” Tyler gave them a cocky wave on his way out the door, but the boys paid no mind to him. 

The taxi squad had already turned all their attention to Luke, who lingered the closest to the doorway to make sure Seguin didn’t try to linger. He went as far as to look out into the hallway before looking back at his teammates, the clock that counted down the intermission, and at you before he was calling the shots.

“Volcov, Boulet - run downstairs, you’ve got a few before the period starts. Get the captain’s attention and let him know what happens,” the rush of words from his lips only fueled the feeling of urgency that bubbled in the depths of your stomach. 

It had you pushing yourself out of your seat and crossing your arms over your chest nervously. Then, you approached Luke who was turning his back on Volkov and Barre-Boulet. and turning his attention to you, “Hey,” his words were softly spoken as he reached out with both hands to take hold of your arms carefully, “you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m good,” you assured him, but your grip on the paper was growing tighter as you cast your glance downwards and spoke, “I tried to get him to leave…”

Your arms were left void of the heat of his touch as Luke reached up and took your chin between his thumb and forefinger. His gentle hold tilted your head back, his guidance forcing you to look up at him as he towered over you. Luke had never been an intimidating guy, and that didn’t change as he looked down at you with nothing but reassurance in his eyes. 

Your name slipped over his tongue as smooth as velvet then he spoke, “You didn’t do anything wrong. Someone should have been here-”

“You guys didn’t know he would be coming by, he’s on their long-term injured reserve…” As you spoke Luke traced his thumb along the angles of your chin and jaw slowly, his touch distracting as you tried to reassure him in return, “He wasn’t supposed to be here.”

“And he won’t be back,” Volkov cut in as he and Barre-Boulet returned to the suite. 

“You guys reach the captain?” Luke hummed as he let his hands fall from the smooth skin of your features. 

“He knows. The whole bench knows.”

“Good, that might just be the fire they needed to get through the game,” Luke nodded and moved to take his seat as the third period began behind him - but you didn’t let him get too far. 

“Wait-” Your hand was quick to reach out for his, your careful hold transferring the slip of paper from your hold to his, “take this, I don’t want it.” 

Luke took the slip from you, spreading out its wrinkles and its fold and taking in the sight of the numbers written in a messy scrawl. You had gripped it so tightly it threatened to rip under the stroke of his thumb, not that it would have mattered if it had as Luke was quick to dispose of it in the trash. 

“You would think the man’s run out of women in Dallas if he’s gotta come in here and try to steal our girl,” Luke tries to put you at ease with a semblance of a joke, his arm coming to drape around your shoulders to guide you back to your seat. Together you sat with the rest of the taxi squad and watched as the third period unfolded on the ice below. 

To start the period, it had been evenly matched with each team having their opportunities to get more points on the board - but the goaltenders were quick to snuff out any attempt. It was near halfway through the period when frustrations festered and the Bolts took a bench minor for too many men. It left you on the edge of your seat, your hand reaching out to squeeze Luke’s knee each time the Stars had a semblance of a scoring chance. You were put at ease when the boys pulled through and killed the penalty and later drew one from the Stars when Colton took a stick up high. It was on that power play the Bolts went up 3-1 with a goal from the Captain himself. He had heard the message back in the locker room and had sent one himself. They were determined to win. 

The efforts, however, almost seemed for not as the Stars were quick to come back in the final three minutes of the game with goals from Benn and Rudalov. The 3-3 score going into overtime left a sinking feeling in your stomach. Each passing second filled you with anxiety. The boys needed to win. Not for the standings. Not because it was a rematch of the previous year's Stanley Cup Final, but because of the message they were trying to send. 

Overtime wouldn’t be enough for the two teams that had become one of the season’s biggest rivalries, as after five minutes of play the score remained the same. The game would be sent to a shootout. 

Your anxieties only grew as you stood up from your seat and leaned up against the edge of the suite. You couldn’t just sit back and enjoy the game, not when sitting still felt impossible. You watched as the ice was cleared and the players took their seats on the bench. One by one they would take the ice, and up first, Jason Robertson. He was their rookie, and a hell of a good one too, which is why it didn’t surprise you when the puck met the back of the net almost effortlessly. With that goal, your stomach sank, your gaze flashing towards the squad in your company as they watched from their seats as Tampa sent out their first skater. 

“Ross?” You hadn’t meant to let his name slip from your lips at the sight of him down on the ice. You knew all too well that this was his first-ever shoot-out attempt with the team, and that in no way put you at ease. Cooper should have been sending out Pointer, Stamkos, or Killorn - the big guns when it came to your shoot-out, and yet Cooper was choosing to send out the rookie. No one would really know how he would make such an attempt, and with being as new to the league as he was the only players that would know his style of player were his teammates. 

You found yourself holding your breath as Ross skated in from center ice. His movements were quick, smooth, and effortless and his puck too found the back of the net. There was no containing your excitement at that moment as you shot up and let out a cheer that you were sure could be heard down on the benches as the rest of the 3,000 in attendance had been rendered to silence. 

The shootout would require three more shooters. First, the Stars sent out Pavelski whose shot would be saved. Then, the Bolts sent out Pointer whose shot would give the team the 2-1 advantage over the Stars going into who would be their final shooter. Rudalov would take the ice only to his a for his attempt to be snuffed out by Vasilevsky. 

It was a game worth celebrating, and yet as the hour drew late in the comfort of your hotel room you did not receive a single notification. It left you sprawled out across the bed, expression perplexed, as you pulled up your calendar and scrolled through the hours. Not a single appointment was scheduled, not that you could blame them. The team would be on a flight home come morning and the players returned to their wives before noon. 

Back during the lengthy 11-day road trip, that had you visiting 3 different cities, you wouldn’t have complained about getting to go to bed alone. Tonight, however, your mind threatened to spiral down the depths of the rabbit hole that was Ella, and you didn’t want to sleep alone. 

Your fingers were quick to fall on your contacts, your thumb scrolling through the players in your phone who were merely identified by their jersey number. Lips curled up into a tired smile as your thumb selected contact #71 and typed out a quick message: You still up?

The mere appearance of the ellipses as he typed was enough to have you moving for your bag that rested untouched in the armchair by the door. You didn’t need to dig through it to find what you were looking for, Cirelli’s sweatshirt had been the last thing you packed leaving it resting on top. You had been meaning to get it back to him but hadn’t yet found the opportunity - until now. Pulling it on over your head, you moved out into the hallway, and with a quick glance down at your phone you knew which room was your destination. 

You kept your head down as you moved through the hall, your strides quick and quiet as you snuck down the hall to Cirelli’s room. You didn’t have to knock when you arrived as Cirelli was waiting on the other side to ensure you weren’t waiting out in the hallway. While the two of you weren’t breaking any rules, you both acted with caution - especially since this was the first time you would be alone with him since the incident at the practice facility twenty days prior. 

It was all you could think about at the sight of him as the hotel room door was shut behind you. Its lock engaging was a mere echo in your mind as your eyes became fixated on the grasp of his hands around the handle. You thought of his hands often, an invading thought of how they felt tracing along your body, holding you, guiding you, fucking you. You hesitated in the doorway, your mind a mess as your hands balled the end of the too-long sleeves in your fists in a desperate attempt to ground yourself. Even Tony’s words were lost on you, and it was the touch of his hand against your arm that pulled you back to reality. 

“Everything okay?” Tony raised a brow, his large hand giving your tricep and careful squeeze. 

“Yeah, I’m great actually,” you smiled up at him and directed your dazed stare up at his features. You must have caught him just before bed, his hair was a mess and he stood in nothing more than a pair of loose lounge pants. “My calendar is clear, and I was hoping that maybe we could watch a movie or something like we used to…”

Tony’s touch left you, his hand raising to card through his thick curls as he glanced back towards his bed and the tv, “you get comfy, I’ll get it all set up,” he smiled in return before taking his lazy strides towards the television, “what do you want to watch?”

“I’m not picky, really,” you assured him as you crawled up the length of his bed and settled yourself among the comfort of the pillows. You left them for but a moment to place your phone face down on the bedside table, but when you returned to their comfort you snuggled down into them. Your lips came to pout slightly when their scent was still reminiscent of the detergent used by the hotel and nothing like Tony's. It was one of the downsides of only being in the hotel for a single night. 

“Then you’re getting a Netflix classic,” he smirked, putting on one of the platform's most popular comedy series. You were sure Tony had probably seen each of their episodes many times, but it would be the perfect background noise. 

The bed shifted as Tony climbed into his spot beside you, and the two of you were quick to fall into old habits. His arm wrapped around you without a thought, its strength drawing you closer as the familiar jingle of the show filled the room. You could feel his thumb stroking over its familiar path along the length of your arm that was concealed by his sweater and as you snuggled a little bit closer you could feel his every breath. The warmth of his body in turn warmed you, and soon you found yourself snuggling in just a little bit closer - your hand was on his chest and you draped a single leg over his. His body was a familiar comfort, one that you hadn’t realized you had missed until he was consuming every single one of your senses but your tongue - and you were ready to change that. Leaning your head back you smiled up at Tony who was quick to meet your gaze. This wasn’t the same look you had given him all those nights ago in Nashville. There was no nervousness, no shame, and no reason for him to think he wasn’t allowed to kiss you. Yet, Tony hesitated. 

Raising his hand, Tony stroked over the smoke skiing off your cheek, his head shaking slowly from side to side as he let out a heavy breath that became your name on his lips. It sent a sinking feeling deep in your stomach, one that had you pulling away from his hold and pushing up to kneel in front of him on the bed. 

“What’s wrong, Tony?”

Your mouth went dry with worry, your hands slipping into the sleeves of his sweater that you wore just enough to grip at the fabric. It was a simple act to try to keep your mind from racing as your studied Tony’s features - but it was failing. You couldn’t stop your thoughts from sliding into worry. Had Tony decided that having any kind of relationship with you was too much? 

“I want to talk to you about what happened,” his words were heavy, and you didn’t need an explanation to know what exactly he was speaking to. While you have that conversation in the hallway back in Chicago, Tony wanted to talk about your fight and the events that led to the two of you being caught by Cooper. 

“There’s nothing to talk about-” You tried to shrug it off, but Tony was insistent.

“Don’t say that,” he sighed, his hand coming up to rake through his dark curls, “I’m not proud of what I did that day, and I need you to know that. I shouldn’t have done what I did that day - should have said what I said. I don’t want to sit here and make excuses but it’s fucking hard to sit back and watch this all happen. Watching you run off to your appointments with the rest of the time, and then there’s you and Ross-” Tony looked away when he said his teammate's name, a heavy breath shaking through his body as if it left a foul taste in his mouth. 

“I know this isn’t the most ideal situation to be in,” you sighed, a hand reaching out for his carefully before giving it a reassuring squeeze, “and I wish that it didn’t have to be this way, and I understand if you don’t want to do this anymore-”

“No, no,” he spoke quickly yet softly, “that’s not- fuck that. I tried being distant after what we did and it didn’t make it any easier. I still had to sit back and watch it all happen, but worst of all I had to watch as you did everything we did together with someone else.” His head lulled forward, his dark curls falling into his eyes as he gripped your hand a little tighter, “I’m glad you’re here tonight, and I really am sorry for what I did. It wasn’t right-”

“Then make it right, Tony,” you told him firmly, and for a moment there was only silence that hung between you as his warm gaze raised to meet your own. 

It was a silence that left you biting your lip as you leaned in a little closer to him, his hand coming back up to rest on your cheek as he moved away from the support of the headboard. His hand guided you in a little closer, and he was meeting you halfway as his lips came down on yours as if it were the first time back in Nashville again. It was a feather-light kiss, his lips dragging over yours slowly and coaxing a gasp from your lips. The kiss had been gentle, but it was only the beginning. The moment you reciprocated the kiss, Tony’s hands found your hips and pulled you into his lap. 

You straddled him, your hands seeking out anything to clutch onto. Fingertips dragged over the muscles of his chest, and up over his shoulders. You didn’t stop until your fingers were knitted in the thick strands of his curls, tugging his neck back just enough to coax him into parting his lips further to allow you to taste his tongue. That alone was not enough to satisfy you, but instead only left you craving more of him. You didn’t have to tell Tony that, not with your words anyway. He could feel it in the motions of your body as you stroked down the back of his neck with the tips of your fingers, and how your lips began to roll in a slow rhythm against his thighs. With each rotation of your hips, the friction between your clothed core and his thigh sent a shockwave of pleasure through your body, but it wouldn’t be enough to leave you satisfied. 

Tony’s grip tightened on your hips, his fingers dragging in as he drew your hips forward so you rested higher on his lap - and it was there you could feel him between your legs. Stiff and ready for you, yet Tony didn’t rush things. He guided you over him slowly, the eagerness of his cock pressing up into you as he kissed you deeply, slowly, without haste. Tony had a hunger for you, but he was going to enjoy you like a satisfying meal instead of a late-night binge that would only leave you with an insatiable hunger for more. 

When your body had fallen into the rhythm set out by his guidance, Tony’s hands began to wander. His touch moved over your waist, wrinkling his sweater as he pushed it up. The friction between the fabrics had your shirt peeling off with it as you listed your hands up and pulled back from his lips just enough for Tony to remove the layers from your body. The rush of your fabric over your ears was almost enough to disorient you as your head was already spinning with pleasure, and it left you whining as Tony’s lips failed to return to yours. With your skin exposed to him now, Tony wanted to explore it. 

His mouth was on your neck when his strong-armed wrapped around you, hoisting you up from his lap to lay you out on the bed. Tony moved with you, his lips never once leaving your skin. He placed slow and sloppy open-mouthed kisses along the angle of your neck, leaving a hot trail of saliva to be cooled by the air as his mouth made its descent. Down your body his mouth travelled, his lips embracing your body with his careful kiss. They had first graced your collarbone, following its subtle angle down to the swell of your breast. He lingered there, focusing on one and then the other to assure he would leave his mark before kissing down between their valley and over the gore of your bra. From there he peppered kisses down the length of your stomach and only stopped when he hit the waistline of your pants. 

It was there he hesitated, leaning his head back just enough to look up at you through the curls that had fallen down into his face - silently asking you for permission to continue on the off chance that you wanted him to stop. You nodded quickly in response, your own hands going to your pants to push them from your body as Tony made quick work of his own clothes. They were tossed into a heap on the floor with your own, before he was back in the bed and finding his place between your thighs. Tony braced himself over you, his hand pressing firm into the mattress beside your head as he reached the other down between your legs. Two fingers brushed over your clit, a teasing graze that left your hips wiggling, before they traced over your entryway that was slick with your need for him. You watched as his jaw slacked at just how effortlessly he was able to slide two fingers into your core with your arousal, a ghost of a moan on his lips as he coaxed one from your own lips. 

Each plunge of his fingers inside your cunt was enough to leave you reeling, your teeth coming down to bite at your lower lip until it throbbed. You needed to be quiet. Your calendar was empty, and if anyone overheard you, there would be far too many questions to answer - but it was quickly becoming too much to contain. With both hands you reached up, your careful touch meeting his face as you guided him back down to your lips. As they met in a slow, opened-mouth kiss, you used it to muffle the moan that had so desperately wanted to escape. 

“Tony,” you muttered his name softly against his lips before your words became a begging plea, “Tony, please. I want to come around your cock, not your fingers-” 

Tony shuttered between your legs at your words, and he released a heavy breath that washed over your face in a blossom of heat. His lips were left to merely graze yours as he ease your fingers from your core. You held his gaze as you felt him working between your legs to grasp at his cock and soon he was dragging the head of his cock up and down the slick arousal of your cunt. He guided it up and down, then up and down again before he was guiding his cock inside you with his hand and the careful pressure of his hips. His fingers had primed you, and yet his cock continued to spread your walls with his careful thrust. Tony had thrust into you abruptly like he had the first time he had fucked you. No, this time he was gentle as he guided his cock in merely halfway. It was then he began his careful thrusts, easing himself in another inch at a time as your core allowed. 

Soon, Tony had fallen into a steady rhythm, his thrust slow and firm as he plunged into your core until he was balls deep. He took his time with you, his thrusts not hesitant but meticulous as were the rest of his caresses and kisses as he fucked you. Tony refused to lose control, to fall into the brash emotion of jealousy that had consumed him all those days ago when he had taken you for the first time. The graze of his touch, and strokes of his tongue each one of them had been selfless as he was driving to the brink of pleasure. This was how he wanted to fuck you for the first time, so sweet and tenderly, and he wasn’t going to stop until you were quivering around his cock. 

Careful hands guided your legs up from the bed and let them wrap around his hips with ease. A low moan quaked through your body as he was able to ease in a little deeper now, and it left you digging your heels into his lower back. Your hips rolled to meet his every thrust and your head lulled back almost dreamily into the mattress that the pleasures of his cock began to consume you - but it wasn’t until you watched his own expression begin to falter. Tony’s blinks became long, and his breathing a little more laboured as his own climax began to wash over him - and you could feel him trying to resist. His thrusts became inconsistent and shallow and his eyes shut tight as he did all he could to fight it, but the touch of your hand against his cheek was quick to coax his eyes back open. 

He stared down at you with an almost dazed look, his expression soft as the pressure of your heels guided him back inside you fully. “Don’t hold back, Tony,” you muttered, “I don’t have to be first,” your words were a reassuring breath as you flexed your core around him. 

While your words softened his face once more, you could still feel the hesitation in each thrust. “Tony, I’m so close,” you did your best to encourage him, and your words weren’t untruthful. His every touch was bringing you closer and closer, your core on the very edge of your climax but it was craving one thing; “I want to feel it - I want to feel you come, Tony. Fill me up Tony, I’m yours-”

Your words were broken by a moan as Tony gripped your hips and thrust into you quickly. His pace hastened and he thrust in deeper than he had all night and he didn’t slow, not even as his cock began to twitch with pleasure and flooded your core with his cum. You could feel it as it consumed your core in waves, and oozed down along his cock as he fucked his own cum from you. It was the final push you needed to be thrown over the edge. Your legs began to tremble, your ankles locking to keep your legs from slipping down from his hips. Your body was consumed by your every uneven breath as you threw your head back into the mattress and your walls throbbed with pleasure around his cock, desperate to keep every bit of him inside you. 

It was a pleasure that left you both smiling, Tony coming down to place playful kisses along your lips as you both plummeted from the highs of pleasure. It coaxed soft laughter from your lips as he eased himself from you, and came to lay beside you on the bed, the kisses never seizing but instead travelling over your cheeks and neck. It was only when Tony became consumed by the scent of you that he buried his face in your neck and let himself relish in it. You welcomed the feeling of his hot breath as it washed over your skin, the warmth aiding in bringing you calm and the threat of sleep was rapidly approaching. 

Your head lulled into his carefully, your cheek resting against his soft curls as you took in a deep breath of your own. You wanted to fall asleep like that, with his body intertwined with yours - “Tony,” you hummed out, “can I sleep here tonight?”

Drawing back, Tony looked down at you with a soft expression, “of course you can.”

His hand came up to stroke your cheek slowly, and it felt as if it were just you and Tony in the world - and that you didn’t have 21 other men who needed your love and affection - and you intended to take advantage of every moment of it. 

“I’m just gonna get cleaned up, and we should get some sleep, we have a flight early in the morning,” you told him softly as you pulled away from him, and your body protested the cold of the room in an instant. You wanted his touch, his warmth. 

Sitting on the edge of the bed, you reached over and picked up his sweater from the floor. It didn’t quite smell like him anymore, but it would keep you warm enough until you could crawl back into his bed. “I’ll just be a minute,” you assured and disappeared into the bathroom. 

You let the water run and you used the bathroom, letting the temperature of the water reach what you liked before you washed your hands and splashed your face. It was a desperate attempt at your nightly routine that you had left behind in your room - but this would be sufficient enough, especially when you had Tony and sleep waiting for you - but when you returned to the main room Tony was not in the bed. 

Brow furrowed as you looked from the bed to the tv screen that had gone black and finally to the bedroom door Tony stood dressed in his lounge pants and his back to you. You hadn’t heard a knock on the door, and you had half the mind to retreat back into the bedroom to hopefully go unseen but that idea was completely abandoned when Tony turned back to look at you, giving you a complete view of the player that stood beyond the door in the hallway: Ross. 

He stood there almost awkwardly, his face absent of the smile that would send butterflies into your stomach. Instead, he wore a look of concern and in his hands, he held his phone the screen bright for Tony to see. 

“What is going on?” you bit out in a harsh whisper as you moved into the main room and towards the door with little regard for the fact that you weren’t wearing any pants and that the remnants of Tony had begun to drip down the inside of your thighs. 

You moved straight for the doorway, Tony moving out of your way as you reached out to take Ross by the arm. You tugged Ross into the privacy of the hotel room, assuring that the door closed firmly behind him. It was only then you reached for the phone, the screen almost blinding against your tired eyes. In big bold letters it had become clear as to why he had come looking for you, he had an appointment. 

“Ross, this isn’t funny,” you sighed as you let your thumb drag down over the details of the appointment. He hadn’t made it from himself, why would he? He had no wife or girlfriend waiting for him back home, he didn’t need anyone’s permission to spend a night with you. No, this appointment was made only minutes ago on the captain's orders. 

“I didn’t even know you were here,” Ross admitted, his words soft almost apologetic as he looked between you and Tony, “I was here to-”

“Ask for my permission?” Cirelli cut in, his voice pushing the edge of hostility. 

“To tell you I wasn’t going to go through with it,” Ross clarified. 

Tony shook his head slowly, a low laugh erupting from his throat as he leaned up against the wall to put some distance between him and Ross. “You don’t get it, do you? This isn’t about you, if you don’t do this-” He cut himself off as he raised a hand to run over his jaw, he didn’t like what he was about to say. 

“What are you trying to say, Tony?” You pressed gently. 

“You need to keep your appointment with Ross, and the captain needs to hear it.”

“Cirelli-” Ross started to protest, but you cut him off with your own. 

“He’s right, Ross. The two of you have been at odds since the moment you got here because of me. You’re part of this team, and you don’t seem to be going anywhere. He needs to know that the two of you are willing to put everything behind you, and the only way he’s going to be able to see that is for this to happen.”

Your words hung heavily in the air as you moved from the doorway to the heap of clothes on the floor. You sorted through them quickly, pulling on your panties and your bottoms before grabbing your phone from the bedside table. Standing there, you looked down at your phone as you held it in your hands, your eyes fixated on the calendar notification that was meant to inform you of your appointment with Ross. Taking a steady breath, you found your composure and returned to the doorway where Ross waited almost anxiously. 

He offered you a crooked smile as you returned to him, but his eyes were quick to return to Tony, “Are you sure? I don’t need to do this man-”

“I’m sure,” it was only with Tony’s assurance that a spark of excitement returned to Ross’ features, his lips quirking up at the corners. He wanted you, but he had been trying to put his teammate first. It almost brought Tony’ to laughter once more, his head shaking slowly, “you could at least try to hide the fact that you’re not disappointed.”

Ross could only manage a soft chuckle in response, his hand raising to rub modestly over the back of his neck. He could only play coy for so long. 

“You are trouble, Ross Colton,” you told him firmly, tossing your phone at him before you turned to Tony and took him in your arms. You held him tight, your face resting against his chest as he craned to place a sweet kiss on the top of your head, “good night, Tony.”

“Good night,” he sighed your name into your hair before he let you go, his own hand reaching out to get the door for you and Ross. He watched as you both moved out into the hallway, but you had only made it a few steps before he was calling out after his teammate. The pair held a long glance, Tony’s softened expression meeting Colton’s which had grown bright at the prospect of getting to spend his night with you. Tony’s words were heavy and strained as he spoke out one last time before he could let you both go, “Colton, you treat her right.”

[costumeloverz71]

Evelyn Nesbit (1884-1967) was a popular American chorus girl and artists' model. In the early part of the 20th century, her figure and face was everywhere, appearing in mass circulation newspaper and magazine advertisements, on souvenir items and calendars, making her a cultural celebrity. Her career began in her early teens in Philadelphia and continued in New York, where she posed for a cadre of respected artists of the era, James Carroll Beckwith, Frederick S. Church, and notably Charles Dana Gibson, who idealized her as a "Gibson Girl".

[writingcold]

Neapolitan: A Continuance

A/N:  Hey.  Hope you liked the last part.  A little spicy strawberry always sets me right.  A lot happens in this part.  A lot.  It’s beginning to wrap up.  Sorry to those who are way more wise than I am when it comes to the legal stuff.  I like to research, but that doesn’t mean that I actually know what the hell is actually supposed to happen.

I have to say a quick thank you, my friend, to @gardensgatedaisy for helping with the pacing of the very truly smutty scene.  Wow.  I’m really nervous about this part.  I… just…  ugh.  Please don’t come at me.  lol  Or do - it may put me out of my misery.

I also need to say, I do not know the members of GVF or their families.  Jake is my muse and is haunting my brain in so many different ways it’s scary.  This is a total work of my own fiction.

Here are the links to the master lists of Neapolitan and Neapolitan: A Continuance

Word Count: approx 8800 words

Content warnings:  Courtrooms.  Arguing with friends.  Language and drinking.  Threesome sexual encounter.  Smut.  Like, this idea knocked my own socks off kind of smut.  But I’m probably a real lightweight, so - there’s that.  Minors dni.  Just do not.

Part 9 

Violet’s POV

     Violet’s eyes were glued to her screen, hand covering her mouth and a thousand questions bubbling in her tummy that threatened a mad dash to the bathroom.  She could hear Jake rummaging around in his music room.  She could hear the rain on the roof.   She even wrote a few random numbers down on a piece of scrap paper.  She was sure that it was not in some weird dream state.  The email was a reach out from work - from the top boss of the nursing department.  She started to tap her fingers across the keys, not typing, just needing to hear the sound.  The coil in her belly started to bend harder.  She nearly bounced to her feet moving quickly into the kitchen for a fresh glass of water.  

      She hated interrupting him when he was in his own space.  But this was different.  Her toes struggled across the smooth wood planks as she tried to find some way to not involve him.  She was in the doorway watching him move around his guitars completely lost in his own little world.  

      “Jake?”  she asked softly.

      Bent over, hand on the black Gibson, he rolled his eyes up on her.  “You okay?”

      “Can you read this and tell me I’m seeing it wrong?”  she asked, waving her hands like what she could only assume like a crazy person.

       She practically ran back to her computer.  He was slow to follow.  Violet wanted to grab him by his belt and drag him to move faster.  His eyes shimmered with curiosity when she pointed at her screen.  Her heart was racing as she watched his eyes coast over the words before standing up straight.

      “They want you to consider being a trainer/recruiter?”  he asked with a smile tugging at his mouth.  “Is that a promotion?”

      She nodded.  

      He bent back towards the screen to continue reading.  “Most of it would be remote work.  Like from home?”

      She nodded.  He straightened back up, concern on his face.

      “But you love field work.”

      “I do.  But, I’ve done two stints.  Doesn’t mean that I can’t return to the field at some point, but this may be something we need.  Instead of both of us out there on opposite sides of the planet…”

      “You’d do that for us?”

      “I would.”

      Violet’s phone started ringing.  Josh’s profile picture flashed across her screen as she glanced at it.  Jake’s eyes grew round.

      “Shit - I left him on the phone…”

      She watched as he rushed back off to his music room as she answered with a laugh.  “Sorry I interrupted your call, Joshua,”  she said with a laugh.  “He’ll be right back with you.”

      Violet blew him a kiss before hanging up.  Jake returned with phone in hand talking with Josh about some meetings and getting things set into the calendar.  He was holding up his hand as he moved into the kitchen to retrieve low ball glasses.  He poured out two glasses, neat, with a smile.

      “Josh, pour yourself a drink,”  he said as he held one out for Violet.

      “Why doesn’t he just come over?”  she asked with a raised eyebrow.

      He mouthed ‘Home with Mom’ as he put the top back on the bottle.  “Is Mom around?”

      She watched as he put it on speaker.  Chaos on the other end with laughter and music and Karen’s voice calling out from what must’ve been the beyond.  She rolled her lips in between her teeth as she shuffled her feet.

      “Alright, we’re both here with drinks,”  Josh remarked.  “What’s going on?”

      “Celebrating!  Violet has been offered a promotion,”  Jake beamed as he switched the call over to video.  The sound of their cheering brought Kelly’s voice around.  Jake held the phone up as he backed towards her.  

      “Where’s mine?”  his dad asked.  “Can’t I …”

      Violet laughed as they watched on.  Josh nearly dumped his drink on their mother in his rush to get his father’s drink.  Karen scolded him all the while looking into the phone at the happy couple smiling back at her.  Kelly had a very satisfied grin once he received his drink.

      “What’s this promotion entail, darling?”  Josh asked.

      “Training/recruiting.  It would mean I would mostly work from wherever home would be that day,”  she said.  “I would go to universities and talk to candidates about the program, too, but mostly it would be from home.”

      Josh paused, his eyes on his twin.  Jake rubbed his hand across her back with a nod.  Violet was sure whatever transpired between them in that moment it was positive.  Josh’s face was filled with warmth.  They loudly toasted to possibilities and the moments to come.  Karen and Kelly’s faces were proud as they congratulated Violet.  In an abrupt move, the screen appeared to have the zoomies.  Clearly, they could see that Josh was rushing out of the kitchen and outside onto the deck away from the elder family members.

      “I got it finished, by the way,”  he said, his tone sly.  

      Jake’s smile faded a bit.  “Yeah?”

      They seemed to have one of those moments that Violet preferred to not have - those flashes where they could talk in short hand and no one else knew what the hell was going on. 

      “I got the first part, so…”

      “For fucks sake,”  she grumbled as she drained her glass and set it down with a thunk.  

      Violet listened to Jake laugh quietly as he returned to his music room without extrapolating anything.  Fucker.  The word was meant lovingly, but sometimes…

      She sat down at her laptop.  A sense of joy and a shift of mind crept into her thoughts as she typed out her interest in the new offering.  She listed sensible questions.  All the while the smile grew on her face.  It would be a good fit.  She enjoyed the instruction.  She would enjoy talking about the program that she had fallen in love with as a student.  The fact that it would allow her to have more time with Jake and the family made her heart flutter.  

     She paused a few moments before hitting the send button.  The notes that reverberated out of the music room tickled her brain with satisfaction.  Slow and steady; strong and supple.  His music was always like him.  Violet wondered if he knew it and played into it or if it was just happenstance.  Her finger traced the shape of the trackpad a few more times.  Her eyes trained on her words and questions to ensure in her brain that her heart wanted this so very badly.  A huge puff out of her cheeks and she clicked the ‘send’ button.  

     Violet chewed the tip of her finger.  The race of her blood around her body had to have been double than normal.  Her eyes traced over Max’s texts - four times in the past two hours.  Jake was out on an ‘Appearance Night’ where the guys were expected to go out for the evening to a set of designated bars to interact with fans.  She had opted to stay home, and was not regretting the decision.  Violet had wrapped up a piece of work she had been procrastinating on, as well as tucked into a book she had been wanting to tackle.  She knew Max was trying to utilize a hands off approach with anything dealing with Alison, but if the woman would just call instead of leaving these nondescript messages life would be so much easier.

      The last time Max had merely texted, Violet had gotten a call from Mae.  Alison’s case had taken a turn.  Tim decided to change his plea, refusing a plea deal, forgoing a trial.  No contest.  It was not a guilty plea.  It was so fucking noncommittal in accepting responsibility for the damage he inflicted and gave a twist of a dagger to Alison in the most vulnerable of ways.  Mae explained that a civil suit would be impossible for any woman listed in the case regarding Alison.  Tim would have to pay all court fees.  He would have to pay fines to the women that were pressing charges.  He would have to do minimal time in jail.  He would lose his medical license.  He would lose his medical practice.  Mae’s case was dead in the water.  It had been a terrible, terrible day indeed.

      She texted Max to call when she could. Violet would be home.  She no sooner had brewed a cup of coffee and sat down on the couch when Maxine’s picture popped up on her phone.  Her stomach swirled as her friend explained that she was not allowed to take any more time off due to staffing shortages.  She was pulling doubles with no relief in sight.  Sentencing was a week away and yet, Max found herself unable to be with Alison when she was needed most.

      “She does not want to see me, Maxine,”  Violet remarked before taking too large a drink of the scalding coffee. 

      “Ollie is MIA.  That Aryssa has him so buried that he can’t shit without permission,”  Max rattled on.  “John is in the same situation I am - he’s been on mandatory double shifts for the past four months.  Teddy and Julie are already in Seattle with no way to take time off for any reason.

     “I am not asking you to be there for…  You don’t need to be in the courtroom, Vi.  I would never ask you to put yourself in his space.  She’s gonna need a friend, close.  It may be enough to just know that you are there in town.”

     She stayed on the couch with her glass of wine and the TV on to some cooking show that she had no clue what the hell was going on when he pushed his way into the house.  She listened to his keys strike the catch-all bowl and the thunk of his shoes.  He smiled at her as he sat then lay down so that his head was immediately in her lap.

      “Hey, gorgeous,”  he whispered.

      “You’re barely buzzed,”  she observed as he brushed his fingers up her arm, landing on her shoulder.

      “Didn’t feel like it tonight; not really.”

      She twirled her fingers in his hair as he tried to pull her down to meet him in a kiss.  When she would not bend, he took a long moment to really look into her face.  He dragged his thumb across her jawline.  

      “Something happened.”

      Violet nodded.  She rolled her lips in between her teeth as if she could hold in the words that haunted her.   She explained the situation.  Jake sat up to place his full focus on her.  He listened without interruption.  

      “I get that you feel a need to show support to her, but I thought she did not want contact with you.”

      She ran her bottom teeth across her upper lip.  He was right.  Alison did not reach out.  She expressed no need for Violet - at all.  “Something that I had that she did not is that I hid.  None of my friends had any knowledge of my situation and that was how I needed it for a while.  I knew…  No, I thought I knew that they would see me differently if they were aware of my hurt.  I was afraid they would never believe me.  I thought they would see me as weak and would abandon me in my need.  I was happy to be proven wrong.  When Alison did not hear me about him, it was a different kind of embarrassment.  She doesn’t know where to place blame.  She doesn’t understand, yet, that there is no blame that should be on her shoulders.  Or mine.  Alison has to figure that shit out for herself.”

      He tucked her hair behind her ear and leaned in, kissing her cheek before resting on her shoulder.  “What do you need me to do?”

      “Will you come with me?”  she asked, voice barely a whisper.  She knew it would be a lot to ask.  They were recording, they were world building once more.  

       “Of course.”

     Violet wore a simple outfit of black dress pants, white button-up, soft gray jacket and black sling-backs.  It was her armor in interviews, formal meetings, and now her trips into universities.  She slid the last button into place as Jake made his way back into the hotel room with a coffee carrier and breakfast.  His dark eyes were tentative as he took in her appearance.  It was going to be a hard day for both of them.  There was no quick way around it.

     They ate in silence.  Jake disappeared to get himself ready while she checked in at work.  Her official start was in another week, to which she would have to jump on a plane to Lexington for a week.  The bright spot would be to fly home, a destination otherwise known as Jake.  It was a phenomenon she identified and admitted to him that he was home.  She was blessed to have the feeling reciprocated.  

     The Madison Municipal Courthouse was a tangle of chaos with people everywhere moving in all different directions.  It was enough to excite the nerves and overwhelm the already frayed senses.  Locating the actual room was a feat in and of itself.  Jake stayed calm.  He sat close as they slid into the last row, mostly out of sight of the defense table.  Violet felt a vale of haze wrap itself around her brain as the time drew closer.  Alison walked in, her eyes grazing over her as she passed.  If there was recognition there, Violet was unsure.  From the opposite side, there was movement and a flash of orange as Tim was brought inside.  Instead of focusing on how the air thickened and boiled with a rage she had known, she turned her sights on the brightness and warmth of her present.  Jake looked at her with a serenity that she needed.  It grounded her.  Sheltered her.  

      The whole affair took less than twenty minutes.  It all dwindled down to another assault upon Alison and the other women.  Tim was going to be allowed to travel a road to sidestep real jail time.  It was an insult to injury that was completely legal and without excuse.  The judge handed down what he could to the fullest extent with the parting words that he felt there were so many more victims that were mute because of fear.  Jake tightened his hold on her hand as the gavel was dropped and Violet felt herself begin to breathe again.  The courtroom was fast to empty.  Ali passed by her and Jake in the hallway, her lawyers flanking her sides in a brave show.  There was no celebration to be had.  There was no sense of punishment in the end.  No closure.  No finish.  

      They returned to the room in silence.  Her phone chimed with a notification that she nearly ignored.  Looking at it, her heart choked and broke a little.  Ali sent a single word text - thanks.  

      “What was that bar we went to last time we were here?”  he was asking as they moved back into the hotel room.  

     “Donovans,”  she answered, peeling out of the little jacket.

     “How about we go, have a few drinks and just bury the night?”

     She nodded.  Their flight out was not until the next afternoon.  Changing, they took the time to walk down Capitol Street, taking in a few cool little shops and grazing through the farmer’s market before having an early supper in a tiny little cafe.  Violet asked to take a walk down around the green spaces and gardens that looped the Capitol building.  They reached the bar just after eight to find that live music was already flooding out of the door.   

     “I know today was not what it needed to be,”  he said as they sat down with the first round.  “I know none of this has not been easy.”

     “I guess we’ll just have to accept that losing his practice is going to have to be enough,”  she answered before taking her first sip.  She was unable to hide the bitter scorn that laced her tone.  “House arrest in a fucking mansion on the east coast with his family?  Yeah.  There’s justice in this world.”

     He patted her thigh as they settled into the music.  Jake smiled as the sound reverberated around them like he was reminiscing what it was like to be a bar band.  They talked quietly about what was to come.  She felt lighter as he asked about how she looked forward to Lexington the following week and getting a scope on the new job.  She had gotten her first assignment - she had to fly out to Seattle and visit a few smaller colleges before taking a car down to Portland.  The trip would take four days total.  At some point, the guys were expected to head to LA for a few weeks.  Jake already had made arrangements for separate living arrangements since she would be along for that stretch of promotional shots, wrapping up recording and finishing up loose ends for the studio.  She wondered if she should make mention that she would be in LA so as to stem off any return trip after the fact.  

      “I wanted to ask,”  he started, his voice low against her ear.  “How do you feel about getting a marriage license when we get home?  We can take a drive over to Hewit to get it.”

       Violet’s brows pinched.  “Don’t those things have a time limit?”

      “Thirty three days.”

      She looked at him over the rim of her glass with a raised eyebrow.  

      “What?  I did some looking into the matter.  I want to get this done before we voyage off on the next tour.”

      “Ooo - so romantic there, sir,”  Violet said, voice thick with playful sarcasm.

      “That’s me, baby.  Nothing if not romantic.”  

      The idea of just the two of them struck something within.  Something on their own.  It would only be theirs to nurture and to grow between them.  At the same time, she could only imagine the look she would receive from her father at the news that they had run away to be married.  Or the loud arguments that would come from his mother.  Worse, the two forces aligned into one huge argument.  In truth, the parents were the parents and would accept their decisions, eventually.  Maybe.  

      Jake drifted back to the bar for another round.  Violet was texting with Max the news of the day.  Her spritely friend commended her bravery for actually going into the courtroom when it was not expected.  Violet admitted that they were so far back that she barely could see her demon in the front.  It was an untruth, but she did not need to explain that either.

     “Violet?”  

     The masculine voice that called out to her caught her attention in a way that she was not prepared for.  Turning, she caught sight of a face that she had not seen in years.  “Connor?”

     “I thought that was you,”  he said, his handsome face breaking out in a huge, familiar smile that set her tummy to rolling and her brain exploding.

     He reached for her and she could not stop herself from allowing him from scooping her into one of his wrap around hugs.  “Wow,”  she sighed as the familiar feel of his frame and smell of his cologne filled her senses.  “It’s been a few years, hasn’t it?”

     His bright green eyes roved all over her face as he pulled away.  It was the same boyish grin and strong presence that she always felt radiated off of him, but there was something else that emanated from him.  Confidence?  Maturity?  She felt nostalgic as he sat down across from her, his hands coming to rest before him like it had been moments, not years between seeing her.  Connor was one of those spirits that drifted into her sphere from time to time, but always seemed to linger in a manner that was healing and always welcoming.  The last time she had seen him was when her case started to fall apart.  He had tried to give her comfort, but his own path kept him at a distance.  Instead, he gave her counsel which turned into the best thing she had at that time - sound advice to walk the fuck away and the help to do just that.

     “You look amazing, Vi,”  he replied in his easy manner.  She had forgotten how rich his voice could be, as well as the effect it had on her.  “I’m glad you’ve come back to Madison.  Are you working at Children’s again?”

     Her brows pinched and she forced herself to look away.  “No.  No, I’ve become a bit of a vagabond actually.  Are you still with Hamilson and Stuart?”

     “No.  I’m with Ingraham now.  They put me on the partner path,”  he answered with a nod.  “A vagabond, huh?  What does that entail?”

     She grinned as she told him about getting a call from World Surgical Services and how she was part of a team that was mainly in Ethiopia.  And then she voiced her next step with the non-profit - actually taking a role in recruiting and training.  No one outside her parents or Jake’s parents knew of her direction.  Her eyes traveled in the direction of the bar in search of Jake.  He was still waiting, but at least he was leaning in to talk with the bartender.  Her focus was disrupted when Connor looked over his shoulder in the direction she was looking.

     “You’re not alone, are you, Vi?”  

     She shook her head with a shy little smile.  She watched as Jake began walking towards their table with drinks in hand.  Looking back at her former lover, there was a shine there that she recognized.  

     “Timing.”

     The word hung between them.  Each letter was heavy on his lips as Jake drew closer.  Violet nodded.  The one thing with Connor that was their shared folly of timing.  She had started running into him sophomore year of college.  He was a senior.  By the time they had hooked up, he was days from moving out east for law school.  He returned to Madison just as she was starting at Children’s and beginning her master’s program.  Of course, he was involved with someone else that time who did not share.  On again.  Off again.  Only to dance around once more.  Violet’s smile grew wider as Jake stopped at her side to hand her a drink before sliding in next to her.

     “Looks like you found a friend,”  he said once he was settled.

     Jake smiled at her as he turned to her.  Unlike previous partners who felt the need to overtly stake claim on her in the presence of any other foreign person, he made no move to show any kind of affection towards her.  It was not necessary in his realm to do so.  Violet introduced Connor and sat back as the two men seemed to hit it off immediately.  By the third round of drinks, Connor was hitting his stride - full of charm and flexing his ability to talk about anything and everything.  Violet was sitting back watching these two men bantering back and forth with no end in sight.  Jake asked questions about them, while Connor was getting info on their now.  At one point, Violet disappeared to the ladies room and a refresher on the drinks and she swore neither man noticed.  Both were so invested in the other that she was sure she could hitch a ride home and no one would be the wiser.

     Violet leaned into Jake as Connor was getting the next round of drinks.  “We’re going to have to cut this off or you’re going home with him,”  she teased.

     Jake grinned a sideways smile that made her take notice.  “That wouldn’t be such a bad thing as long as you were with me, gorgeous.”

     Violet felt the confidence roll off of him in a way that she had yet to experience.  They had talked about past encounters for both of them.  They had talked honestly about what they liked sexually beyond the initial discoveries of those first months of actually being together.  But the way that he looked at her in the moment was unlike anything that he had shown her before.  There was desire that encompassed not just her, but Connor as well.  

     He narrowed his eyes at her before turning his attention back to finishing his drink.  “He’s got to have a pretty cock.”

     The words stilled in her ears as he looked back at her, his tongue brushing across the corner of his lips.  “He does,”  she whispered.

     There was no surprise, no reaction at all other than a subtle life in the corner of his smile.  “It’s something we’ve not tried.  Thoughts?”

     “With Connor?”

     “He is pretty,”  Jake remarked, his eyes flicking back in the direction of the bar.  

     “I’m surprised,”  Violet said as she brushed her fingers up his thigh.

     “No you’re not.  You’ve wanted to see this for a while,”  he said, unable to hide the draw of heavy breath.   “I’m wondering if he’d like to play.”

      Violet nearly choked.  Smiles were in place as Connor set the drinks carefully down before them, his bright green eyes flitting between them.  She pinched his knee as he wrapped his arm around her to pull her closer.

     Conversation continued, mostly between Jake and Connor as they began talking and flirting about travel.  Connor had always been adventuresome.  He fancied himself an amateur photographer, which of course sent Jake into a whole new direction.  Violet was beginning to feel very much the third wheel on a third date.  

      “I’ve got a portfolio if you’d like to see,”  Connor was saying after what seemed like thirty minutes of sun rise this, sun set that, mountains - oh mountains, making a fucking swan look pretty…  

      She glanced at Jake as he seemed to ease into her touch once more.  “What do you think, Vi?  Should we?”

      “Surely you don’t have that shitty little place over on 10th, do you?”  she asked, trying to bring her focus back to the table.

      “No.  I’ve got a place over in Maple Grove,”  he answered with a wide smile.

      “Ooo - ritzy, Connor.  I never took you for those kinds of digs,”  she teased.

      Jake shrugged, not understanding the joke, but not really caring either.  “What about the group you are supposed to be here with?”

      “I’ll go say good evening, and get us an Uber.  Meet me out front,”  he said as he slid from the table.

      Violet watched as Connor walked away, drink in hand.  “You’ve already talked about this.”

     “Maybe.”

     The single word answer made her blush.  He took his last sip before leaning in to her.  He brushed his lips against hers before landing.  Violet felt a rush of what was to come.  Indeed, it was something that she was curious about.  She had vacuumed up crumbs that he allowed her to have from exploits with other lovers, other men and women that he had enjoyed.

     “Is this alright with you?”  she asked, as he threaded their hands together.

     “It’s more like is it alright with you, Violet,”  he stated as they stood up.  “This is, after all, mostly for you.”

     The ride over to Maple Grove was slow.  Midnight traffic did not clear until they were well on the east side of town.  The house was more cabin in the woods, but modern in a very metropolitan way.  He showed them around as he flicked lights that spilled out onto natural forest and the creek that wove through his backyard.  

     “Very different from the rats in that studio you had,”  Violet said as she took a glass of water from him.  “You’d go into the bathroom, but had to jump over a hole in the floor just to get over to the shower.”

     Connor laughed at the memory.  “Or the fact that the heat would cut out at four every afternoon, no matter what and not come back on until two in the afternoon the next day.  Damn that was a shit hole, wasn’t it.”

     “Good to be on the partner track,”  Violet said with a nod.  “This place is stunning.  Congratulations.”

     “It is good, indeed.  Thank you,”  he said quietly as Jake moved to the record player.  “I told you I had a collection, nothing too amazing there, though.”

     “Oh, that’s alright.  There’s this,”  Jake said, holding up a Hendrix Blues jacket.  

     “Where are these from?”  Violet asked, looking at framed pictures of old woods.

     “I took those in a little village north of Prague,”  Connor answered as the first few notes poured from the speakers.

      “Beautiful,”  she whispered as Jake moved closer to her.  

      The vibe shifted.  The air grew tighter.  Violet could barely focus as he traced a finger across the back of her hand.  Connor had moved closer to her as well, the smell of his clean cologne mixed with Jake’s woodsy blend sending her off into a moment of haze.  She felt odd standing there watching as the two men seemed to circle each other.  Both were talking but the words made no sense.  Her eyes lingered on the way Jake trailed his fingers across her skin - feather light, barely there, but grounding to only his touch.

      “You will be present in this, Violet,”  he said, his tone sharp to draw her forward to him.

      Her eyes immediately snapped up to his face.  His dark eyes danced across her features, hard and expectant.  “Yes, Jacob.”

      “Answer the man’s question,”  he remarked, moving his attention back to Connor.

      In a daze, she looked up at her former lover who smiled softly at her.  “I need to know my place in this, Violet.  Is there anything that you are uncomfortable sharing or doing in the course of tonight?”

       Surprised, she turned back to Jake.  He grinned.  “I…”  She regained her ground as she straightened.  “I suppose not.  Been a while for anything like this.”

       “Same,”  Jake replied as he took an offered drink from Connor.  “Her ass is mine, Connor, but I’m sure she’ll be more about watching us.  She has a thing…”

       “Yeah,”  Connor whispered, his fingers touching her hand.  His touch carried the weight of memories and past tenderness.  “She’s always had that interest.  I remember it fondly.”

      Before Violet could even think about blushing over the comment, Connor pushed forward, grabbing Jake by the face and pressing them into a passion filled kiss.  Her stomach clenched at how the two men melted against each other.  Jake sighed against the man’s mouth and yet, he reached for Violet’s hand to hold.  She felt her jaw soften.  His cheeks grew warm as Connor deepened the kiss even more eliciting a deep moan from both of them.  The sound reverberated right through her core, soaking her panties.

       She watched in awe as Jake turned back to her, eyes completely unfocused for a long moment.  He was so totally lost in the sensation that this man presented to him.  She pulled him in close, letting her mouth linger against his as if to draw in any residual heat from Connor.  Instead of impact, she withdrew, eyes rolled up on her former lover.

      “Condoms,”  she said firmly.  

      “Of course.”

      The pit of her stomach danced a bit as Jake took a sip of his drink.  Reaching out, she took the glass and downed the rest of it.  A gleam in her smile made both men release a shared noise.  “Shall we retire then?”

      Jake took her hand, turning her until he had her wrapped up in his arms.  His smile yanked her into the moment, setting fire to what she was about to witness and experience with him.  He kissed her sweetly as the excitement was beginning to overwhelm both of them.  Connor quietly led them deep into the softly lit home that was painted in rich blues, green and browns.  All very masculine lines and practicality.  Violet’s eyes traced across the variety of pictures and art and trinkets as they floated into the minimalist bedroom.  The sleepy tones were instantly relaxing.  Connor snapped on a few faint lights as Jake drew her closer.  His nose nuzzled into her crook of her neck as he fitted himself against her back.  She watched as Connor dropped a few packets of condoms on the night table along with a tube of lube.  His eyes traced across her features as he walked towards her.  She had nearly forgotten how handsome her former lover had been.  So classically formed that he would rival the hands of masters.

      Her brain began to fog over as he drew close, one hand reaching for her own, one hand wrapping around Jake’s shoulder.  He pressed his long frame into her before bending to kiss her.  Jake’s mouth felt hot against her neck as Connor deepened their kiss, tasting her mouth so deftly as he had always done.  Allowing her to fall back for breath, Connor leaned over, capturing Jake’s kiss once more, effectively pinning her between both men.  Jake’s hands snaked across her breasts as Connor’s grabbed at her hip and ass.  Her body already throbbed for their touch.  Jake must have sensed her shift and he leaned back just enough to pull her against him tight.  In the pocket of space, he lifted up her light sweater over her head before returning to kissing on Connor.  The smell of their bodies flooded her as he tugged her bra down to expose her breasts.  The feel of Connor against her front and Jake behind nearly caused a blackout level of tension.  Jake’s deft fingers unclasped the bra so that it could fall to the floor.  She kicked out of her little flats before ducking out from between the men so as to watch them paw at each other.  

     Violet watched as clothes were shredded off their frames.  She slowly slid out of her leggings and panties as Connor started yanking Jake back towards the bed.  “Jacob,”  she whispered, but it was as if she yelled at him.  His head whipped around to look at her.  “Suck the man’s cock.”

      She grinned as the two men fumbled to the bed so as to let Connor lay down.  Eagerly, Jake smiled back at her.  “It is a pretty cock, Violet.”

      Violet fought to maintain her brain and her cunt from rupture as Jake first palmed Connor before licking up the shaft and sinking down until it hit the back of his throat.  There was no teasing, no hesitancy.  Jake hooked his thumb beneath the balls and swallowed Connor’s beast down.  His dark eyes touched her as he hollowed out his cheeks on the upstroke.  

      “Quit letting that cum leak down your legs, baby,”  he said, pumping the thick cock in his hand.  “Get over here and let this man lick that sweet pussy.”

      Violet climbed up on the mammoth sized bed.  Connor’s eyes were already rolling into the back of his head even though he was reaching for her.  With care, she slid her frame over Connor’s waiting face.  He ran a finger through her dripping folds before wrapping his arms around her hips and dragging her down.  The guttural moan that ripped from her chest robbed the room of air and set it on its side.  Looking down on Jake was like looking into another life.  A life that she was absent from and only had inklings and whispers of actual existence.  She held onto Connor’s forearms to maintain balance as he plunged his tongue into her.  Violet could not stop the whorish moan that escaped as the sight of her man sucking him down with an unhinged passion struck her senses.  Jake turned his near blackened eyes up onto her.  Lust scorched and wanton, he began rutting into the mattress at the sight of her coming undone.  Connor pinched at her clit with his fingers as he started ramming his tongue against her entrance, gaining himself passage into the depth of her.  Her fingers turned white as she held on.  Her orgasm pummeled her like a prizefighter.

        Connor hummed as Jake grazed his teeth across his balls.  Her body was already wanting more as Jake rose, straddling Connor’s belly, one hand on his own cock, one hand on the spit slick one behind him.  Leaning forward, he began to lap at her belly, breasts and nipples in an all out assault.  Violet brought her hands up to balance better on his shoulders.  Gaining her bearings for a second, she was able to grab his dick, pumping him as she felt her core threaten with another wave of orgasm.  Just as it hit, Connor turned and bit into the meat of her thigh and Jake bit into the left nipple before sucking it deep into his mouth.

       “So good, Violet,”  Jake whispered into her chest as he worked gentle kisses across the skin.

       Somehow the three of them moved together so that Jake was on his knees and Connor was before him, practically devouring his mouth and rubbing their cocks together.  Violet was behind Jake, her hands roving across the miles of skin of both men.  She hummed as Connor spread Jake’s knees before working his way down, to lay at an angle before him.  A deep, low rumble escaped Jake as Connor kissed at the thin skin on his hip bones.  Those bright green eyes flicked up to Violet, revealing the languid desire that all of them seemed to be experiencing.  

      “Get him ready for me, Vi,”  he whispered tenderly.  

      Her soft sigh rang out.  Jake looked over his shoulder, reaching for her to pull her into a kiss.  The urgency he displayed turned her skin into cinders.  Connor’s mouth wrapped around Jake in a sloppy mess.  The depravity that touched his face in that moment touched Violet.  The absolute vulnerability he lay open at her feet was utmost trust.

     “You’re so beautiful, baby,”  she whispered against the extended flesh of his jaw.  “So mine.”

     She leaned away to grab the lube from the nightstand.  She dropped it at her side, wanting to first partake of his joy.  Connor was ravaging his cock.  The heat of them both and the little moans and sighs were like a chorus.  She began to train little kisses down his shoulder followed to his spine.  She dragged her fingers across his ass, gripping until he chirped in pleasure.  A few drops of lube across her fingers and she went to work on Jake’s entrance.  He pressed back against her, totally relaxed and ready.  Jake landed one hand into Connor’s hair while the other slipped back behind, finding Violet’s heat and slick.  She cooed as he pumped her clit to the same rhythm as her own fingers.  She slid one in, followed by a second.  He let out a soft whine as she stretched him.  A third and he rocked back into her palm as Connor deep throated him at the same time.  The gasp that spilled from his mouth set her hairs standing on her arms as the goosebumps erupted.  He turned to look over his shoulder, lips pursed and searching.  She leaned into him, keeping her hand in time as she kissed him sweetly.  

      Jake whined into her mouth as Connor let him go.  He wrapped Jake’s cock up tight in his large palm while he rose to his knees.  The darkening of those bright green eyes startled Violet as it prickled remembrances of past liaisons, past passionate moments both only with him and sharing with others.  Without giving her a chance to shift, he wrapped his arms around Jake and her and crashed his mouth into hers.  To taste her lover on this man’s tongue sent shivers through her.  Jake trailed kisses across his shoulder as he wrapped his hand back to her, lacing their fingers together.  The love emanating from Jake, and the lust that fueled Connor was near breaking her mind as they moved together, getting lost together in sensations and tastes and smells and sounds.  

       Connor was whispering into Jake’s ear as he lapped at the ear lobe, nibbling it roughly.  Violet let her fingers slip from his bottom with a kiss to the base of his neck.  His skin was so hot under her touch.  There was a light sheen against his chest as he moved from between them.

      “Lay down, baby,”  he said, his voice roughened by exertion.  

      He helped her before capturing one breast in his mouth followed by the other.  He slid his frame down, carving a path down her belly to her thighs with his tongue.  Hot and wet he drove his mouth up against her as Connor lifted Jake’s hips up.  

      “Violet,”  Connor said, the base in his voice tumbling out of his mouth as if escaping from his gut, “your man is so fucking perfect.”

      She watched as he bit into Jake’s ass just as he pushed his tongue up against her clit in a hard press before sucking her core to attention.  Connor rose up fully on his knees, drawing a black condom across his dick and drizzling lube down Jake’s entrance.  There was no hesitation, no waiting, and no asking, Connor worked his way into Jake, hands white knuckled on his hips.  The sound that Jake let out into her folds instantly made her spray into his open mouth.  The beauty of the moment was quick to unravel as Jake frantically tried to maintain focus on her pussy.

     “Goddamn,”  Connor growled, setting a pace that bumped into her clit with force.

     Jake looked up into her face, eyes unfocused, mouth extended in silent pleasure.  The haze seemed to clear as his gaze latched on to her.  He rose up onto all fours, a show of brutal strength against the pounding he was taking.  He balanced for a moment, his hands racing to dig into the flesh of her hips, dragging her down until he crashed his torso into her.  Frantically, she drew her knees up almost to her ears as he pushed his cock into her, using Connor’s pace to fuck her in a manner that was totally unhinged and without a thought other than to pound her into the mattress.

      Violet gripped his shoulder to maintain her place.  Connor covered her digits as he held on tight.  Connected.  Together.  Wave after wave of groans and moans and slick skin on skin as they worked together to reach a crescendo.  Looking into Jake’s features, she found him totally fucked out.  He resided in a space that was beyond a boundary that they had yet to reach and he was dragging her along for the ride.  Connor’s handsome face was becoming stressed as he tried to hold on.

      “Fuck you’re so damn good,”  he moaned.  “I’m so…”

      “Let me have it.”  Jake’s raspy tone filled her ears as he looked down at her.

      Tears sprang to her eyes.  Masculine beauty oozed out every pore as he touched her cheek.  So much love poured out of him onto her as Connor crashed into him in his own orgasm.  A blush of a kiss and Jake took over, slamming into her quickly, hitting every spot that he knew to press into.  He swarmed her senses and overpowered her body, leaving it to quake and shiver as total pleasure over took both of them in a barrage of stuttered breaths and tender whines.  Connor lay down at her side as Jake continued to move against her.  His tired, flirty grin invited her in, kissing her gently at first before incinerating her mouth in a deep, searching kiss.  She felt Jake bending closer to her before yanking his body back up so that his knees folded under him to better ram into her.  His palm landed on her belly as he began to fuck her in earnest.  Connor’s fingers twisted and pulled at her nipples as he bit and swallowed and danced against her mouth.

       Jake was beginning to grind hard.  Violet couldn’t hold on any longer.  Her core exploded as heat and joy and love broke across her skin like sunshine.  He rode her through until finally cumming hard into her, his jaw totally lowered making his mouth a graceful o.  

      “Beautiful,”  Connor sighed as he nuzzled into her, his fingers tracing down Jake’s cheek.

      There was no sound save for their breathing.  The air thinned and cooled as they returned to the earth and the bed beneath them.  Violet dragged her fingers through Jake’s hair over and over as he rested against her belly.  Connor kept planting warm kitten kisses against the cap of her shoulder and cheek as he held tight to Jake’s hand against his hip.  There was something wholly natural as they lay together.  It was a shared surrender to ultimate feral emotions.  

      “Showers,”  Jake grumbled as if not really wanting to leave his position.

      “I think you’ll like the accommodations, Vi,”  Connor sighed as he started to roll away totally unaware of his own nakedness.

      He led them into the en suite bathroom that was wrapped in chrome and quartz and dark tones.  The shower was coiled like a shell and had water coming from all directions.  Connor smiled as Violet laughed as her body was sprayed from all sides.  Jake playfully pushed him in beside her before joining in.  Slowly, they washed each other with silent kisses and gentle touches.  Somehow both men moved so that she was in the middle.  While Jake washed her breasts and belly, Connor washed her back, paying close attention to the slender curve to her ass.

      Clean and partially dressed they drifted to the backyard deck with drinks and smokes.  Jake kept her close, having her curled into his side on a wide chair.  Connor leaned against the railing, his tall frame at ease as they continued their conversation from the bar, filled with laughter and joy that somehow continued until Violet was asleep and the men held hands talking softly about what could happen next.

      The morning brought questions.  Where the hell she woke up was the first one blazing through her brain.  She felt Jake’s skin beneath her fingertips, settling her, but the room was different.  Rising, she grabbed the first t-shirt she saw, not caring that she had no clue who it belonged to.  The hallway brought a clearer remembrance - Connor’s.  They must have crashed in his home.  The smell of coffee drew her through the living room into the welcoming smile and gaze of Connor himself.  He made no move towards her other than to hold out a cup in question.  A nod of hers returned to her in the form of a question of like always?  She nodded again and watched as he mixed half and half in with a packet of sweetener before handing it over to her.

     “I was being hopeful when I was talking with you last night, Violet,”  he said quietly as he opened the back sliding door to the deck.  

     She followed like she was trapped in a dream she did not know she was having.  “Not sure what you mean.”

     “I didn’t think of it until this morning that you would be here for Tim’s sentencing,”  he replied, making eye contact that was pensive.  “When I saw you, I was hoping that you were back living here.  I’ve missed you.  Greatly.”

     She gave him a soft grin of understanding.  “I’ve missed you from time to time.”

     He shook his head.  “When I told you to go, I should have gone with you.”

     The admittance forced a little sad laugh from her mouth.  “I was in no position to be anything to anyone, not even a friend.”

     “I would've shouldered it,”  he remarked.  “I would’ve shouldered it if it meant that I could have sheltered you.  What a fuck I was to let everything just go with you.”

     “You were in no position to leave, Connor.  You were fresh at Hamilson and Stuart.  You were finally finding your own feet.  I could not have been so selfish to ask you for that.  It was enough that you covered me with the ADA, and gave me good counsel to protect myself,”  she said into her mug.  “Besides, it was a pain that I needed to heal on my own.  I have come so far since that day.”

      “There was a time that I made you happy,”  Connor said, stretching out on a deck chair beside her.  “There was a time where -”

      “It’s not the same.  I’ve put my own shit back together and got lucky enough to meet Jake.  I'm beyond blessed that I am building this life with him.”

      He nodded.  “I would never interfere.  You have become a stunning woman because of it all, Violet.  You’re still the strongest person I know.  It makes me happy that you have gotten everything you have ever wanted.”

      Violet shifted her hold on her coffee, placing it on the little table next to her so she could reach for his hand.  “Seems you’ve said something like that before.  I’m sorry.  I’m sorry that we never got our chance.”

      “Kind of hard to say you were the one who got away when there was not a real time that you were ever mine.  Not fully.  Not really.”

      He threaded his fingers through hers to give a nice little squeeze.  Violet shared the grief that shone so clearly in his expression.  It started like a bubble in her belly and lodged in her throat as the silence stretched between them.  The air stirred as a breeze kissed at her cheeks drawing her back to the present.

      “I’m going to have to get him going.  Our flight’s this afternoon,”  she whispered, letting go of Connor and making her way to her feet.

       Instead of reaching for the door, Connor swept her up into one of his secure embraces.  She sunk into his strength with a surprised laugh.  It had never felt like goodbye as it did in the moment.  It put a little fracture on the surface of her heart as he withdrew to walk her inside.  Jake stood completely disheveled in his boxer briefs in the hallway, shuffling out towards the kitchen.  His sleepy smile and blush on his cheeks warmed her as he reached for her.

      “Morning, gorgeous,”  he rasped as she leaned into him.

      “I can call for an Uber.  Get you two on your way,”  Connor offered as he poured himself another coffee, as well as one for Jake.  “Vi said your flight is this afternoon.”

      “Yeah.  My brothers are supposedly waiting on my ass to get back to work,”  he gripped before taking a sip of coffee.  

      They fell into light conversation while Jake woke up.  Violet disappeared to dress.  Her heart ached as she put herself back together.  Jake snuck in behind her and got ready at her side.  There were quiet glances and warm touches as she pulled a bush through her snarled hair.  

      Goodbye was hard.  Jake was swept up in a tight hug, to which she watched as Connor whispered something in his ear.  A blush rose on his cheeks as he moved away.  Violet smiled sadly as Connor reached for her, kissing her before folding her up tight.  Jake stepped outside to wave at the driver.  She snuffled as he tucked her hair behind her ear with a gentle touch.

      “I’ve missed you.  I’ll keep missing you,”  he whispered as he let her go.

      One last look across the raven black hair and bright green eyes, caring expression and tender touches was enough to absorb it all.  Sliding into the backseat, she was silent the whole ride back to the hotel.  Jake, too, seemed to be stilled by their previous evening.  Somehow, they had experienced a shift.  Violet could not deny there was a change in their dynamic.  If anything, it was impossible to say that she did fully love the man at her side.  He had shared with her a moment that she never expected.  The memory was breathtaking.  The trust he had laid across her was unconditional.  Jake was her forever.  Always.  Etched across her soul like an epitaph.  To have such a full love, full acceptance, was beyond her reasoning, but she would sure as shit work every day the best she could to keep it close and safe for all her time.

Sooooo…. What did you think of Connor?  He kind of struck me over the head to be included, and I’m not sorry about it.  Totally gratuitous scene but it wouldn’t let me go, so there it is.  I’m so nervous about that addition, but he just — fit.

Here’s the tag list if you would like.  Last part will be posted next week!

@lvnterninthenight @doodle417 @luverleaver @jakesgrapejuice @fictional-duchess @whitesuitjake @milkgemini @positivegvfthings @songbirds-sweet @streamingcolors-gvf @gretavanbitches @samsurfgreenbass @joshkiszkas-admin @gardensgatedaisy @babyhoneygvfarchive @myownparadise96 @josh-iamyour-mama @starcatchercarol @loveisonaroll @jakesstarlight @myownparadise96 @reesetrippingthelight @kyrose11

[chloe-d-stories]

It's time for one of the biggest occasions in the worldwide eventing calendar......the 2024 Badminton Horse Trials.

Today, it was horse inspection, and the two boys Gibson (LSR Lieut. Gibson, top) and Manta (Romancer V, middle) along with Mandy (Paradigm's Mandy, bottom) enjoyed strutting their stuff in the crisp spring air in front of one of the most famous vistas in English riding.

Best of luck to the three of them, and their riders!

[jamieroxxartist]

✔ Mark Your Calendars: Tues Jan 23, 2024 on 🎨#JamieRoxx’s Pop Roxx Radio 🎙️#TalkShow and 🎧#Podcast w/ Featured Guest:

#JBElwood, JB Elwood Music, ​(Alternative Pop Rock)

☎ Lines will be open (347) 850.8598 Call in with your Questions and Comments Live on the Air.

● Click here to Set a Reminder: http://tobtr.com/12304138

​Pop Art Painter Jamie #Roxx (www.JamieRoxx.us) welcomes JB Elwood, (Alternative Pop Rock) to the Show!

● WEB: jbelwoodmusic.com ● IG: @jbelwoodmusic ● TK: @jbelwoodmusic ● FB: @jbelwoodmusic ● X : @jbelwoodmusic

Recognized for channeling vulnerable experiences into compelling sonic tapestries, guitarist and songwriter JB Elwood reveals his new single, “Take Me Back.” JB Elwood’s poignant track deeply touches the hearts of listeners with his introspective test of love, loss, and the enduring hope for reconciliation.

While his birthplace lies in the Midwest's heart, Elwood's story is a mosaic of cities, painted by his father's profession as a structural engineer. Despite these urban landscapes, his heart remains tethered to the melodies of the country. Today, Austin, Texas, resonates as his chosen home—a city that complements his creative spirit and fuels his ambitious dreams.

Affectionately dubbed "JB Elwood," his stage name is a tribute to his late grandfather, John Elwood Ball—a visionary entrepreneur in southern West Virginia's coalfields. His grandpa on the other side of his family, Eugene "Poppy" Jackson, a self-taught musician, gifted his treasured 1960s Gibson Dove guitar, an heirloom, that now underpins Elwood's songwriting. This fusion of his past with his present encapsulates an identity defined by family, memory, and experience.

● Media Inquiries: Rachel Rossen TREND: PR | Branding | Social Media www.TrendPR.com

[deebeeus]

1959 #Gibson#LesPaul Standard 'Burst, from my friend's collection.

Look for this one in the latest edition of "Burst Believers" when it comes out (shortly, I am assured)! It will be my first ever time being published in book-form so I am very chuffed. 🙂

Speaking of Bursts: I just pre-ordered my @eleanorjanephoto 2023 Bursts Calendar. A few of my (extremely lucky) friends will be receiving a copy for Xmas this year! Have you ordered yours yet? Link in Eleanor's profile.

#lespaulspecial#lespaulcustom#lespauljunior#gibsonlespaul#lespaulstandard#guitarphotography#guitarre#gibsonguitars#electricguitar#gibsunday#chitarra#gibson#guitarra#vintageguitars#vintagegibson#guitars#guitar#beautyoftheburst

[wannabesewcrafty]

Year’s End

Fandom: Debris (TV)

Notes: I had this idea that the men of Orbital should do a calendar photo shoot, and then I had to contrive why. (In which Bryan and Finola are two oblivious idiots agents partners in love.)

“I’m never playing cards with you again,” Bryan vowed to Mallory.

“That’s what you said last time,” the younger agent said with a smirk.

They stood talking in the shelter of a makeshift tent that Orbital had set up as a temporary work site. Last night, in the very same tent, out of boredom for her and insomnia for him, the two colleagues had decided to play poker to pass the time. During their game, Mallory had brought up the subject of a charity calendar, and now she was collecting on the promise she had extracted from Bryan as the wager they had made on their final hand.

Now, in the light of day, he didn’t respond to her comment, choosing instead to sulk. “This is a dumb idea. We’re a top-secret government coalition.”

“An international one,” she pointed out. “That means a lot of eyeballs. And all the money’s going to good causes.”

“Don’t make me dress up,” he half-warned and half-pleaded, his eyes wide with trepidation. He pictured himself wearing nothing but the yellow pants and red suspenders of some cheap knockoff of a fireman’s uniform and suppressed a shudder.

“Of course not,” Mallory reassured him. “The clothes you usually wear are fine.”

“Except I’ll be shirtless,” he muttered.

She grinned. “Exactly.”

-*-*-*-

“These are really good,” Finola murmured a few weeks later. She stood with Bryan in a quiet, out-of-the-way spot in a wooded area, slowly leafing through the calendar in her hands.

Bryan closed his eyes. “Don’t show it to me. I don’t want to know.”

“They started off with Gibson. Have you met him?” At Bryan’s nod, she continued her report. “Muntz is next.”

He snorted derisively. “The shortest month of the year? Why am I not surprised?”

“Now it’s Ahmed... Grace has a really good eye.” Jones flipped to the next page and let out a chuckle. “Oh, Lester,” she murmured. “He played it like comic relief,” she explained, not looking up from the calendar page.

While Bryan tried to figure out exactly what that meant, Finola continued through the calendar.

“I don’t know most of these men... I’m at November now, and it’s Tom…wow…” Jones’ voice was soft and sounded thoughtful, making Bryan crack one eye open.

She had fallen silent but he heard her turn to the next page in the calendar. When he didn’t hear anything else, he sighed with relief and opened his eyes again.

“You reached the end.”

“It’s you,” she said.

“What?”

“You’re the month of December. In the calendar.” She still didn’t seem able to meet his gaze.

He started to smile. “Yeah, I know what the last month of the year is, Finola.”

She didn’t respond to his bait, but she closed the calendar and used it to fan herself, making his smile broaden into a grin.

“I guess I look good, huh?” he asked, seeing a telltale blush spread across her skin.

“Well, you might say they saved the best for last. Better watch out... What’s the expression? You’ll be beating them off with a stick after this.”

He slid his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket. “Nah. I saw Kazemi this morning, and she said something weird to me. She told me, and I quote, ‘Don’t worry. Everyone knows you’re taken.’”

“They know you’re…? Since when? By who?”

He shrugged. “Damned if I know.” He tilted his head upwards to stare at the sky, deciding to leave the subject there. It seemed pointless for him to tell Finola of all people that he didn’t have time to date anyone. She was the person he spent the most time with, after all.

The MI6 agent nodded slowly, still mystified by what could have motivated that latest rumor about Bryan. She snuck another glance at the December page of Orbital’s charity calendar and made a mental note to compliment Grace on her photography skills the next time she saw her.

[four-bandaids]

tagged by my bestie @cassianserso!!! thank u babe 🤍

nickname: sher

sign: aquarius sun / gemini moon / gemini rising

height: 5′3″ / 1.63m

last thing i googled: i think i translated one of the korean event names for a tag

song stuck in my head: actually none right now!

follower count: 193

amount of sleep: about 5 every day

lucky numbers: 2 and 7

dream job: i have no dreams

wearing: black t shirt and leggings

books/movies that summarize me: INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS (2013), FACES PLACES (2017), UNICORN STORE (2017), THE FAREWELL (2019)

favorite songs: currently “limbo” by lee know, “zombie” by day6, and “palette” by iu

favorite instrument: warm acoustic guitar sounds. i still dream about the gibson emmylou harris

aesthetic: black coffee, analog calendars, earth tones, soft sheets, moonlight, novelty plushies, citrus scents, the glow of a screen late into the night

favorite authors: shirley jackson, daphne du maurier, ursula le guin, jane austen

currently reading: nothing at the moment

favorite color: forest green, cedar brown, burnt orange, turquoise

favorite animal noise: not something i think about enough to have an answer honestly lol

last song: "pacemaker” by stray kids

last movie: CHUNGKING EXPRESS (1994)

last series: i checked trakt and i haven’t watched a new show since DECEMBER 2022 LMAO... well it was jieun’s PERSONA miniseries

random: it is my request that whoever reads this treats themselves to their favorite beverage PRONTO

tagging @girlpash @zoewashburne @villeneuvefilm @dunhamsolivia @tinyphrases + anyone else who wants to do this!

[godzilla-reads]

While I was cleaning out my books yesterday I found a vintage book I’ve always wanted to read.

• Sharp Eyes: A Rambler’s Calendar of Fifty-Two Weeks Among Insects, Birds, and Flowers by WM. Hamilton Gibson

[olddirtybadfic]

Brotherly Love: All Three Warner Siblings Have Questionable Taste in Men (part three of seven)

Might as well release more of that old Yakko x Wakko fic into the world.

₮ⱧɆ ₩ØⱤⱠĐ ₭₦Ø₩₴ ₩Ⱨ₳₮ ł₮ гР₮Ø ĐɆ₴ɆⱤVɆ ₮Ⱨł₴

Part one is here. Part two is here.

DEAD GOODFEATHERS DO NOT EAT

Content Warning: Consensual romantic relationship between two siblings; aged-up characters; questionable knowledge of psychology; godsawful usage of mid-noughties slang; citrus scale: lime (adult fun-time happens, but is not shown); however, the lead-up to the adult fun-time is described in detail; big emotions, including: *extremely Gonzo voice* GUILT and *extremely Septa Unella voice* SHAME SHAME SHAME (ding ding); animane-y, totally insane-y, Dot is slut-shame-y

-O-o-O-o-O-

For the next few days, the Warner brothers kept their romance on the D.L. Even when Dot was not in the room or asleep, they refrained from attempting to get in a quick kiss or cuddle.

However, the more they tried to hide it, the harder it got. Yakko wasn’t sure he could keep himself from giving Wakko seductive winks from across the room. Wakko wasn’t sure if he could keep himself from flat out glomping Yakko.

One day, Dot exclaimed, “There’s a Mel Gibson lovers’ convention this weekend!”

They were all sitting at the table, eating pizza for dinner. When Dot turned to look at the calendar, Wakko couldn’t help himself. He snuck a quick kiss on Yakko’s nose, then went back to devouring his pizza (and the box) long before Dot turned around again.

“I’ll definitely have to go to that,” Dot continued. “It starts on Friday and lasts until Monday.” She turned to her brothers. “Think you can survive without me for four days?”

Yakko and Wakko looked at each other. Four days….With nobody but themselves around.

“It’ll be tough, but I think we’ll manage,” Yakko said. “We wouldn’t want to keep you from your ‘future husband.’” He twiddled his fingers to add air quotes.

Dot playfully flicked Yakko’s nose. “A girl can dream, can’t she?” she said with a smile, then went to pack.

When Yakko was sure she was gone, he gently touched Wakko’s hand. “We’ll have the tower to ourselves for four whole days. Are you pondering what I’m pondering?”

“Way ahead of you,” Wakko responded.

The next night, Friday, Dot left for the convention with Hello Nurse, who was also a fan. There weren’t any waterworks, but it still felt weird for the siblings, as they had never really been separated before.

However, Yakko and Wakko didn’t let the (very) slight separation anxiety get them down for long. First, they took their bath—with no interruptions and plenty more kissing.

That night, they sat together on Yakko’s bunk. They didn’t cuddle, they just sat in silence, enjoying the mere fact that they were alone together. It was almost as if they were waiting to see how long they could last without physical contact—or waiting for something to interrupt them just as it was getting good.

They weren’t waiting long, because after a few minutes, the brothers sprang up and went at each other more vigorously than they had before. Yakko ran his hands over Wakko’s ears, kissing his head as Wakko pulled Yakko on top of himself, licking Yakko’s neck as he moved.

Yakko began to get really into it. He eventually began to work his hands down Wakko’s body. He caressed the blue-clad arms, wishing he could touch the actual flesh. Wakko had moved south to kissing Yakko’s chest.

Yakko worked his way down until he got to Wakko’s waist. He suddenly stopped. Did he really want to undress his little brother? Was this really the right thing to do?

Wakko looked up at Yakko, puzzled. “Why’d you stop? It was getting really good.”

Yakko backed off, then sat back on his feet. “I think I got into it too much.”

“What do you mean?”

“I lost myself in the moment. I….I wanted to touch your body, and not just through your clothing, but I don’t know if that’s the right thing to do.”

Wakko lay in front of Yakko a few seconds longer, then took off his shirt. Yakko could almost feel a certain area in his pants start to grow. He looked down and realized that the protrusion was not, in fact, baloney in his slacks.

Wakko looked at Yakko’s crotch, then back up at Yakko. “We can take care of that.”

“That’s all well and good that you feel the same, but if we do this now, there’ll be no turning back. We’ll be up to our necks in the type of situation only allowed if our names were Ptolemy,” Yakko said, trying desperately to get it down. It wasn’t working. Wakko was being so calm, it was scary.

“Do I get to be Ptolemy I or do I have to play Ptolemy II?” Wakko asked. “Anyway, I don’t want to go back.”

“And we’re basically kids! I mean, we’re not really kids, seeing as how we’ve been around since the ‘30s, but we don’t exactly age normally, so we’ll always be forever young,” Yakko started rambling again.

Wakko sat up, his tail working its way up Yakko’s body.

“And what if you don’t like it? I mean, I’ll probably be fine, but what if we’re just not ready to go this far? It’ll be like I’m rap—”

Yakko was cut off by Wakko giving him a long sultry kiss, using that incredible tongue of his.

“I’m ready. You wouldn’t be raping me, we’re technically both adults, I don’t care if you’re my brother, and nobody’s going to find out. Really, Yakko, it’s going to be okay. Now please,” Wakko’s voice shook slightly, “just give it to me.”

Yakko felt a slight pressing on his leg. It took him a while to realize that that wasn’t Wakko’s tail.

He looked back at Wakko. He could see the longing in his eyes. He began to wonder how long he’d felt this way. Was he feeling this way longer than Yakko had? How much longer?

“You’ve felt this way for much longer than I have, haven’t you?” Yakko found himself asking. “You’ve had to hide it all this time.”

Wakko looked away. “You’re having second thoughts, aren’t you? You think I’m disgusting.”

“No, I don’t. I just didn’t want to do something that might hurt you,” Yakko soothed, putting his hands on Wakko’s naked shoulders. “But clearly not doing this now would be detrimental to your sanity.”

Wakko grinned up at Yakko. “I have no sanity.”

“Which is why I’m concerned. It’s illegal to do the horizontal hokey-pokey with a crazy person,” Yakko said.

“You’re not exactly sane yourself.”

“Right you are, little brother.”

And with that, Wakko proceeded to show Yakko just how insane he could get.

-O-o-O-

Dot entered the dark water tower as quietly as possibly, in case her brothers were asleep.

The convention hadn’t been as fun as she’d thought it would be. Sure, Mel Gibson was there, but with the huge lines of people, one could barely get five seconds with the guy. Then he had to leave early to work on another movie—something about “passion.”

“Speaking of passion,” Dot thought, taking out her newly autographed photo of Mel Gibson, “I wonder where I could put this up. I’m running out of room over my bed.”

Dot shrugged, put the picture back in its folder, then continued to her room. “I’ll figure it out later.”

As she was putting her things away, she noticed Yakko and Wakko in the same bunk again. Wakko was snuggled up against Yakko, surprisingly not wearing his red cap.

“Well, that’s a first. He never takes that thing off,” Dot thought.

Just like the other night, Yakko had his arm around Wakko in the same protective manner.

“Wakko seems to be having a lot of nightmares lately,” Dot thought, climbing onto her bunk. “I wonder what he and Yakko have been watching while I was gone.”

Had Dot looked more closely, she would have noticed that both Yakko and Wakko were naked.

-O-o-O-

The next morning, Yakko didn’t get to watch Wakko sleeping at all, because Wakko woke up first.

Wakko stared up at his sleeping brother, his eyes travelling up and down the arm around his own body. He smiled just as lovingly as Yakko had when he was in this situation, only Wakko’s smile was more dopey due to his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth.

He was deeply in love with his older brother. He’d still be in love with Yakko even if they weren’t doing all these fun things together. But Wakko needed to get physical with Yakko. He’d never been much for words, but if he could show Yakko how much he loved him, his message would get through.

He felt the arm under him stir as Yakko began to wake up.

Yakko carefully moved his arm so he could prop himself and look at Wakko. “So, about last night,” he started with a grin.

“Was I good?” Wakko asked hopefully.

“Good? You were wonderful! I don’t really have any idea of how it should have gone, but I don’t care! The nipple-honking was a nice touch, too.” Yakko moved in closer.

Wakko moved even closer to Yakko. “Are you up for another round?”

“When do you want it?” Yakko took his brother into his arms.

Dot was in the bathroom, going about her cuteness routine. This involved showering, washing her hair, blow-drying and combing, a blood sacrifice to Venus, and brushing her teeth before finally picking an outfit and flower scrunchie.

Just as she was about to get into the shower, she realized she’d forgotten her blow-dryer in the bedroom. She could always get it after her shower, but then her hair would drip all over the floor and leave a wet trail, and they had a house rule about no pratfalls before 10:00 AM.

“I’d better get it now.” She headed to the bedroom.

When she arrived at the door, she sensed she should stop. She stopped and heard Yakko and Wakko talking through the partially opened door.

She peeked through the crack and saw Wakko standing, stark naked, in front of Yakko. And Yakko didn’t seem as freaked out as he had the last time Wakko stood around naked. In fact, he looked like he liked it.

“Is it hot in here or is it just me?” Yakko was saying, fanning himself, supposedly at Wakko.

“It’s both of us.” To Dot’s shock, Wakko’s voice had taken on a sultry tone.

Then Wakko went over to Yakko and began to kiss him—on the lips.

Dot watched in horror as Yakko picked Wakko up and put him on the bed, while Wakko had his hands firmly around Yakko’s waist. By the looks on their faces and the movement of their mouths, she could tell that Wakko’s tongue had decided to pay Yakko’s mouth a visit.

Dot turned away from the door. She couldn’t go in there now. She couldn’t even think of what to say.

“What the hell was that?!” Dot thought. “Yakko and Wakko—disgusting! How could they do such a thing?! I thought Yakko knew better than that! And Wakko’s pretty gross, but even that’s nasty for him!”

Dot wanted to kick the door down and yell at them, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. “I don’t even know what to say to them, I’m so angry. I can’t even bear to look at them right now.”

Dot ran back to the bathroom to take a nice long shower.

-O-o-O-

Wakko sat in the kitchen, in his pajamas.

Shortly after they’d finished kissing, Yakko went out to get the paper. Wakko spent time finding his cap (it’d fallen under the bed the night before) and made the bed, something he rarely did.

Whe he finished, he went to brush his teeth, but the bathroom was occupied. He’d figured Yakko had gotten the paper and needed to go, so he decided to eat first, since he was pretty hungry.

They had forgotten to buy cereal, so Wakko found a box of ramen noodles and nuked them (in the microwave, not with a literal nuclear weapon).

He was about halfway finished when a half-soaked figure marched into the kitchen.

It was Dot.

“You tongue-sucking harlot!” Dot screamed. She’d been unable to quit thinking about her brothers and as she showered, she’d only gotten angrier.

“How could you do that with Yakko?! Don’t you have any decency?! He’s your goddamn brother, for Pete’s sake! You just seduced him like some twopence trollop! Do you even understand what you’ve done? You don’t, do you?! I thought you were just gross, but now I know you’re an incestuous WHORE!” Dot shouted. She’d never been so angry at her brothers in her life.

There was silence as she caught her breath and Wakko stared at her with a look of absolute terror on his face.

“And you’re not a college student, so why are you eating ramen for breakfast?!” Dot hollered before stomping out of the room.

-O-o-O-o-O-

And the moral of today's story is: If you catch your brothers making out with each other, take a shower, but be careful not to drip water everywhere. Safety is important.

[spacenutspod]

The Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year holidays are joyful events typically spent with family and friends. Astronauts and cosmonauts who find themselves in space during the holidays have found their own unique way to celebrate the occasions. In the early years of the space program, holidays spent in space occurred infrequently, most notably the flight of Apollo 8 around the Moon during Christmas 1968, making them more memorable. As missions became longer and more frequent, holidays in space became more common occasions. For the past 23 years, holidays spent aboard the International Space Station have become annual, if not entirely routine, events. Left: The famous Earthrise photograph, taken by the Apollo 8 crew in lunar orbit. Right: Video of the Apollo 8 crew of Frank Borman, James A. Lovell, and William A. Anders reading from The Book of Genesis. As the first crew to spend Christmas in space, Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, James A. Lovell, and William A. Anders, celebrated the holiday while circling the Moon in December 1968, the first humans to leave Earth orbit. They immortalized the event on Christmas Eve by taking turns reading the opening verses from the Bible’s Book of Genesis as they broadcast scenes of the Moon gliding by below. An estimated one billion people in 64 countries tuned in to their Christmas Eve broadcast. As they left lunar orbit, Lovell radioed back to Earth, where Christmas Eve had already turned to Christmas Day, “Please be informed there is a Santa Claus!” Left: Skylab 4 astronauts Gerald P. Carr, left, Edward G. Gibson, and William R. Pogue trim their homemade Christmas tree in December 1973. Right: Carr, Gibson, and Pogue hung their stockings aboard Skylab. During their 84-day record-setting mission aboard the Skylab space station in 1973 and 1974, Skylab 4 astronauts Gerald P. Carr, William R. Pogue, and Edward G. Gibson celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s in space – the first crew to spend Thanksgiving and New Year’s in orbit. They built a homemade Christmas tree from leftover food containers, used colored decals as decorations, and topped it with a cardboard cutout in the shape of a comet. Carr and Pogue spent seven hours on a Christmas Day spacewalk to change out film canisters and observe the passing Comet Kohoutek. Once back inside the station, they enjoyed a Christmas dinner complete with fruitcake, talked to their families, and opened presents. They even had orbital visitors of sorts, as Soviet cosmonauts Pyotr I. Klimuk and Valentin V. Lebedev orbited the planet aboard Soyuz 13 between Dec. 18 and 26, marking the first time that astronauts and cosmonauts were in space at the same time. Different orbits precluded any direct contact between the two crews. Aboard Salyut-6, Georgi M. Grechko, left, and Yuri V. Romanenko, toast to celebrate the new year in space, the first Russian cosmonauts to do so. Image credits: Courtesy of Roscosmos. In the more secular Soviet era, the New Year’s holiday had more significance than the Jan. 7 observance of Orthodox Christmas. The first cosmonauts to ring in a new year in orbit were Yuri V. Romanenko and Georgi M. Grechko, during their record-setting 96-day mission in 1977 and 1978, aboard the Salyut-6 space station. They toasted the new year during a TV broadcast with the ground. The exact nature of the beverage consumed for the occasion has not been passed down to posterity. Left: STS-61 mission specialist Jeffrey A. Hoffman with a dreidel during Hanukkah in December 1993. Right: Video of Hoffman describing how he celebrated Hanukkah aboard space shuttle Endeavour. The eight-day Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, celebrates the recapture of Jerusalem and rededication of the Second Temple in 164 B.C.E. It occurs in the month of Kislev in the Hebrew lunar calendar, which can fall between late November to late December in the Gregorian calendar. NASA astronaut Jeffrey A. Hoffman celebrated the first Hanukkah in space during the STS-61 Hubble Space Telescope first servicing mission in 1993. Hanukkah that year began on the evening of Dec. 9, after Hoffman completed his third spacewalk of the mission. He celebrated with a traveling menorah, unlit of course, and by spinning a dreidel. The STS-103 crew show off their Santa hats on the flight deck of space shuttle Discovery in 1999. The crew of another Hubble Space Telescope repair mission, STS-103, celebrated the first space shuttle Christmas in 1999 aboard Discovery. For Christmas dinner, Curtis L. Brown, Scott J. Kelly, Steven L. Smith, Jean-François A. Clervoy of the European Space Agency (ESA), John M. Grunsfeld, C. Michael Foale, and Claude Nicollier of ESA enjoyed duck foie gras on Mexican tortillas, cassoulet, and salted pork with lentils. Smith and Grunsfeld completed repairs on the telescope during a Christmas Eve spacewalk. Left: Roscosmos cosmonaut and Mir Expedition 17 flight engineer Elena V. Kondakova with a bottle of champagne to celebrate New Year’s Eve 1994. Right: Video of Kondakova demonstrating the behavior of champagne in weightlessness aboard Mir. Image credits: Courtesy of Roscosmos. Between 1987 and 1998, 12 Mir expedition crews spent their holidays aboard the ever-expanding orbital outpost. Two of the crews included NASA astronauts, John E. Blaha and David A. Wolf, aboard the Russian space station as part of the Shuttle-Mir Program.   Left: Video of Mir Expedition 22 flight engineer and NASA astronaut John E. Blaha’s 1996 Christmas message from Mir. Right: Mir Expedition 24 flight engineer and NASA astronaut David A. Wolf with his menorah and dreidel to celebrate Hanukkah in 1997.  The last two New Year’s Eve messages from Mir. Left: Mir 24 crew of Pavel V. Vinogradov, left, NASA astronaut David A. Wolf, and Anatoli Y. Solovyev in 1997. Right: Mir 26 crew of Sergei V. Avdeyev, left, and Gennadi I. Padalka in 1998. It was the third time Avdeyev rang in the new year in space. Image credits: Courtesy of Roscosmos. The arrival of Expedition 1 crew members William M. Shepherd of NASA and Yuri P. Gidzenko and Sergei K. Krikalev of Roscosmos aboard the International Space Station on Nov. 2, 2000, marked the beginning of a permanent human presence in space. The first to celebrate Christmas and ring in the new year aboard the fledgling orbiting laboratory, they began a tradition of reading a goodwill message to people back on Earth. Shepherd honored a naval tradition of writing a poem as the first entry of the new year in the ship’s log. Left: Video of Expedition 1 crew members Yuri P. Gidzenko of Roscosmos, left, NASA astronaut William M. Shepherd, and Sergei K. Krikalev of Roscosmos reading their Christmas message in December 2000 – this marked Krikalev’s third holiday season spent in orbit, the first two spent aboard Mir in 1988 and 1991. Right: The space station as it appeared in December 2000. Expedition 1 commander NASA astronaut William M. Shepherd’s poem, written for the New Year’s Day 2001 entry in the space station’s log, in keeping with naval tradition. Left: A brief video selection of how some expedition crews celebrated Christmas aboard the space station. Right: From 2019, the Christmas message from the Expedition 61 crew members. Enjoy the following selection of photographs and videos of international crews as they celebrated Hanukkah and Christmas, and rang in the new year over the past 22 years aboard the space station. Left: The Expedition 4 crew of Daniel W. Bursch of NASA, left, Yuri I. Onufriyenko of Roscosmos, and Carl E. Walz of NASA poses for its Christmas photo in 2001. Middle: NASA astronaut C. Michael Foale, left, and Aleksandr Y. Kaleri of Roscosmos of Expedition 8 celebrate Christmas in 2003. Right: The Expedition 10 crew of Salizhan S. Sharipov of Roscosmos, left, and NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao festooned for New Year’s Eve 2004. Left: Valeri I. Tokarev of Roscosmos, left, and NASA astronaut William S. McArthur of Expedition 12 pose with Christmas stockings in 2005. Middle: The Expedition 14 crew of Mikhail V. Tyurin of Roscosmos, left, and NASA astronauts Michael E. Lopez-Alegria and Sunita L. Williams pose wearing Santa hats for Christmas 2006. Right: The Expedition 16 crew of Yuri I. Malenchenko of Roscosmos, left, and NASA astronauts Peggy A. Whitson and Daniel M. Tani, with Christmas stockings and presents in 2007. Left: The Expedition 18 crew of E. Michael Fincke, left, and Sandra H. Magnus of NASA, and Yuri V. Lonchakov of Roscosmos enjoys its Christmas dinner in 2008. Middle: The five-member Expedition 22 crew of Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, left, Maksim V. Surayev and Oleg V. Kotov of Roscosmos, and Timothy J. Creamer and Jeffrey N. Williams of NASA around the Christmas dinner table in 2009. Right: The Expedition 26 crew of Oleg I. Skripochka of Roscosmos, left, Paolo A. Nespoli of the European Space Agency, Dmitri Y. Kondratyev of Roscosmos, Catherine G. “Cady” Coleman of NASA, Aleksandr Y. Kaleri of Roscosmos, and NASA’s Scott J. Kelly celebrates New Year’s Eve 2010. This marked Kaleri’s third holiday season spent in space. Left: The Expedition 30 crew of NASA astronaut Donald R. Pettit, left, Anatoli A. Ivanishin and Oleg D. Kononenko of Roscosmos, André Kuipers of the European Space Agency, NASA’s Daniel C. Burbank, and Anton N. Shkaplerov of Roscosmos pose for their Christmas photo in 2011. Middle: Christmas 2012 photograph of Expedition 34 crew members of NASA astronaut Thomas H. Marshburn, left, Roman Y. Romanenko, Oleg V. Novitski, and Yevgeni I. Tarelkin of Roscosmos, Kevin A. Ford of NASA, and Chris A. Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency. Right: For Christmas in 2013, the Expedition 42 crew left milk and cookies for Santa and hung their stockings using the Joint Airlock as a makeshift chimney. Left: Expedition 50 crew members Sergei N. Ryzhikov of Roscosmos, left, R. Shane Kimbrough of NASA, Andrei I. Borisenko and Oleg V. Novitski of Roscosmos, Peggy A. Whitson of NASA, and Thomas G. Pesquet of the European Space Agency celebrate New Year’s Eve in style in 2016. Middle: Expedition 54 crew member Mark T. Vande Hei of NASA strikes a pose as an Elf on the Shelf for Christmas 2017. Right: The Expedition 58 crew of David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency, left, Anne C. McClain of NASA, and Oleg D. Kononenko of Roscosmos inspect their Christmas stockings for presents in 2018. Three scenes from the 2019 holiday season aboard the space station. Left: Expedition 61 flight engineer Jessica U. Meir of NASA shows off her Hanukkah-themed socks in the Cupola. Middle: Expedition 61 crew members Andrew R. Morgan, left, and Christina H. Koch of NASA, Luca S. Parmitano of the European Space Agency, and Meir share their Christmas messages. Right: Expedition 61 crew members Koch, left, Morgan, Oleg I. Skripochka of Roscosmos, Meir, Aleksandr A. Skvortsov of Roscosmos, and Parmitano ring in the new year with harmonicas. Three scenes from the 2020 holiday season aboard the space station. Left: Expedition 64 NASA astronauts Shannon Walker, left, Michael S. Hopkins, Kathleen H. Rubins, and Victor J. Glover and Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) record Christmas greetings. Middle: Walker, left, Hopkins, Rubins, Glover, and Noguchi use an inflatable Earth globe as a substitute for the Times Square New Year’s Eve ball “drop” aboard the space station. Right: Expedition 64 crew members Sergei V. Kud-Sverchkov of Roscosmos, left, Hopkins, Walker, Sergei N. Ryzhikov of Roscosmos, Glover, Rubins, and Noguchi welcome in 2021 aboard the space station. Left: During Expedition 66 in 2021, NASA astronauts Mark T. Vande Hei, left, Raja J. Chari, Kayla S. Barron, and Thomas H. Marshburn, and Matthias J. Maurer of the European Space Agency in a still from a video in which they share their thoughts about the holiday season. Right: Barron showing off the presents she wrapped for her six crewmates. “It is a privilege to have the perspective of seeing so many countries,” said Expedition 66 Commander NASA astronaut Thomas H. Marshburn in a video sharing his thoughts about spending the New Year in space. “We can go from one side [of Earth] to another in just a few minutes and it truly gives us a feeling of unification for all human beings around the world.” “We get to see the sunrise many times a day, so thinking about the fact that people are waking up to a New Year each time we see that sunrise is pretty cool,” added NASA astronaut Raja J. Chari. In a social media post, ESA astronaut Matthias J. Maurer wrote about their New Year’s Eve dinner, and included a time lapse video of the festive meal. Left: Expedition 68 crew members Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, left, and NASA astronauts Francisco C. “Frank” Rubio, Josh A. Cassada, and Nicole A. Mann record a holiday greeting from the space station. Right: Expedition 68 crew members wear holiday garb. In 2022, Expedition 68 crew members NASA astronauts Nicole A. Mann, Josh A. Cassada, and Francisco C. “Frank” Rubio, and JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata recorded a holiday message for everyone on the ground. They shared some of their personal traditions for the holidays and provided a glimpse of how they spend the holidays aboard the space station.  Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli’s felt menorah and dreidel that she used to celebrate Hanukkah. Expedition 70 flight engineer NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli’s husband and two little girls made a felt menorah for her to celebrate Hanukkah during her mission. Since astronauts can’t light real candles aboard the space station, Moghbeli pinned felt “lights” for each night of the eight-day holiday. A dreidel spun in weightlessness will continue spinning until it comes in contact with another object, but can’t land on any of its four faces.  Left: To celebrate New Year’s Day 2022, Shenzhou 13 astronauts Ye Guangfu, left, Zhai Zhigang, and Wang Yaping aboard the China Space Station Tiangong hold a live video call. Right: Wang, left, Zhai, and Ye celebrate the Chinese New Year of the Tiger aboard Tiangong. On Jan. 1, 2022, for the first time Chinese astronauts celebrated a New Year in space. The Shenzhou 13 crew of Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping, and Ye Guangfu arrived aboard the China Space Station Tiangong on Oct. 15, 2021, for a six-month mission. On New Year’s Day 2022, they hosted a live video call and interacted with college students at venues in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Macao. For the Feb. 1 start of the Chinese New Year of the Tiger, they decorated the space station and sent best wishes to people on the ground for a happy and prosperous new year. In January 2023, Shenzhou 15 astronauts Fei Junlong, left, Deng Qingming, and Zhang Lu send New Year’s greetings to Earth from the Tiangong China Space Station. We hope you enjoyed these stories, photographs, and videos from holiday celebrations in space. This year, a record-tying 10 people from five nations will celebrate the holidays and ring in the new year while serving aboard two space stations – the International Space Station and the Tiangong China Space Station. We wish them all and everyone here on Earth the very best during the holiday season and hope that 2024 will indeed be a Happy New Year!

[brookston]

Holidays 9.14

Holidays

Are You Okay Day

Board Game Day

Burning of King Olaf (Elder Scrolls)

Capybara Day

Cochabamba Day (Bolivia)

Commercial Motor Vehicle Driver Appreciation Day

Corn Day (French Republic)

Eleven Days of Global Unity, Day 4: Economic Justice

Engineer’s Day (Romania)

Find the Good Day

Formation of the Earth Day

Hole-in-One Day

Hug A Crabby Stranger Day

International Cross-Culture Day

International Crab Fest Day

International Sex Worker Pride Day

Kenny Rogers Day (Los Angeles, California)

Lighthouse Day

Lone Ranger Day

Max Planck Day

Mobilized Servicemen Day (Ukraine)

Music Day (Korea)

National ADHD Day (South Africa)

National Anthem Day

National Career Day

National Cheerleading Day

National Coloring Day

National Field Hockey Day

National Live Creatively Day

National Noel Day

National Parents Day Off

National Peacekeepers Day (Australia)

National Quiet Day (UK)

National Sober Day

National Virginia Day

Nutting Day (UK)

Philip K. Dick Day (California)

Photo Day (South Korea)

Pilgrimage to the Black Madonna of Einsiedeln (Switzerland)

San Jacinto Day (Nicaragua)

Star Spangled Banner Day

Support Latino Business Day

Talk About Cancer Day

Tithi of Sri Sri Madhabdeva (Assam, India)

U.S. Marshall Service Day

World Atopic Eczema Day

World Cleanup Day (Nigeria)

World Hearing Voices Day

World Taste & Smell Day

Wo-Zha-Wa Festival

Food & Drink Celebrations

Cream-Filled Doughnut Day

Eat a Hoagie Day

Gobstopper Day

National Food is Medicine Day

National Rosa Tequila Day

Pig's Face Feast

2nd Thursday in September

Jeûne Genevois (Geneva, Switzerland) [Thursday after 1st Sunday]

MPN Awareness Day [2nd Thursday]

National Day of the Working Parent [2nd Thursday]

National School Picture Day [2nd Thursday]

R U OK? Day (Australia) [2nd Thursday]

Stop a Suicide Today [Thursday of the Week including the 10th]

United Tribes International PowWow begins (Thru Sunday; North Dakota) [Thursday after 1st Monday]

Independence Days

Azma-Turkopolis Confederation (Declared; 2021) [unrecognized]

New Scandinavia (Declared; 2014) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

Aelia Flaccilla (Eastern Orthodox Church)

Catherine of Genoa (Christian; Saint)

Charles Dana Gibson (Artology)

Cormac mac Cuilennáin (or of Cashel; Christian; Saint)

Crescentius of Rome (Christian; Saint)

Day of Jupiter and Juno (Pagan)

Death of Prophet Muhammed (Islam)

Despair for the Human Race (Pastafarian)

Elevation of the Holy Cross (Eastern Orthodox)

Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Feast of Notburga of Eben (patron of waiters & farmers)

Feast of the Cross (Christianity)

Feast of Uru-Wadu (the Primal Couple; Kisar Island, Indonesia)

Fido (Muppetism)

Hindi Divas (Parts of India; Hinduism)

Holy Cross Day (aka Holy Rood Day)

John Gabriel Taurin Dufresse

Lessing (Positivist; Saint)

Lord of Miracles of Buga (Christian; Saint)

Louis Gabriel Taurin Dufresse (Christian; One of Martyr Saints of China)

Maternus of Cologne (Christian; Saint)

Notburga (Christian; Saint)

Peter Lely (Artology)

Triumph of the Cross (Roman Catholic)

Vaughan Bode Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Prime Number Day: 257 [55 of 72]

Shakku (赤口 Japan) [Bad luck all day, except at noon.]

Umu Limnu (Evil Day; Babylonian Calendar; 42 of 60)

Premieres

Across the Universe (Film; 2007)

The Addams Family (Animated TV Series; 1992)

Adventures of the Gummi Bears (Animated TV Series; 1985)

The Archies (Animated TV Series; 1968)

Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell, by meatloaf (Album; 1993)

Bumbling Brothers Circus, Part 1 (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S6, Ep. 301; 1964)

The Care Bears (Animated TV Series; 1985)

A Cartoonist’s Nightmare (WB LT Cartoon; 1935)

Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse (Animated TV Series; 1960)

Crisis? What Crisis?, by Supertramp (Album; 1975)

A Discovery of Witches (TV Series; 2018)

The Dragon Prince (Animated Film; 2018)

Flying Circus (WB LT Cartoon; 1968)

Funeral, by Arcade Fire (Album; 2004)

Get Born, by Jet (Album; 2003)

The Golden Girls (TV Series; 1985)

Have Gun — Will Travel (Radio Series; 1957)

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins (Novel; 2008) [#1]

The Invention of Lying (Film; 2009)

Lion in the Bedroom or The Cat’s Pajamas (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S6, Ep. 302; 1964)

The Magnificent Seven (Film; 2016)

Making Plans For Nigel, by XTC (Song; 1979)

The Messiah, by George Frederic Handel finished (Oratorio; 1741)

Mork and Mindy (TV Series; 1978)

Partysaurus Rex (Disney Cartoon; 2012)

Quadrophenia (Film; 1979)

Scooby Doo! Camp Scare (WB Animated Film; 2010)

A Simple Favor (Film; 2018)

Some Fantastic Place, by Squeeze (Album; 1993)

Tiny Toon Adventures (Animated TV Series; 1990)

Total Request Live (Music TV Series; 1998)

Tutti Frutti recorded, by Little Richard (Song; 1955)

The Waltons (TV Series; 1971)

A Wizard’s Tale (Animated Film; 2018)

Zoom and Bored (WB MM Cartoon; 1957)

Today’s Name Days

Albert, Cornelius, Kreuz-Erhöhung (Austria)

Krustan, Krustina, Krustyo, Stavri (Bulgaria)

Slavko, Višeslav (Croatia)

Radka (Czech Republic)

Raimo, Raimond, Raimu, Raimund, Reimo, Reimu (Estonia)

Iida, Iita, Isla (Finland)

Albert, Irmgard, Jens, Kreuzerhöhung (Germany)

Stavros, Stavroula, Theoklis (Greece)

Roxána, Szeréna (Hungary)

Crocifisso, Elena (Italy)

Koknesis, Norberts, Sanda, Sanita, Santa (Latvia)

Eisvina, Eisvinas, Krescencijus (Lithuania)

Ingebjørg, Ingeborg (Norway)

Bernard, Cyprian, Roksana, Siemomysł, Szymon (Poland)

Ľudomil (Slovakia)

Cruz, Exaltación (Spain)

Ida (Sweden)

Keisha, Lakeisha, Latasha, LaTease, Latisha, Leticia, Letitia, Letty, Tish, Tisha (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 257 of 2024; 108 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 4 of week 37 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Muin (Vine) [Day 10 of 28]

Chinese: Month 7 (Geng-Shen), Day 30 (Yi-Hai)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 28 Elul 5783

Islamic: 28 Safar 1445

J Cal: 17 Aki; Threesday [17 of 30]

Julian: 1 September 2023

Moon: 0%: New Moon

Positivist: 5 Shakespeare (10th Month) [Lessing]

Runic Half Month: Ken (Illumination) [Day 3 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 85 of 94)

Zodiac: Virgo (Day 24 of 32)

Calendar Changes

September (Julian Calendar) [Month 9 of 12]

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 9.14

Holidays

Are You Okay Day

Board Game Day

Burning of King Olaf (Elder Scrolls)

Capybara Day

Cochabamba Day (Bolivia)

Commercial Motor Vehicle Driver Appreciation Day

Corn Day (French Republic)

Eleven Days of Global Unity, Day 4: Economic Justice

Engineer’s Day (Romania)

Find the Good Day

Formation of the Earth Day

Hole-in-One Day

Hug A Crabby Stranger Day

International Cross-Culture Day

International Crab Fest Day

International Sex Worker Pride Day

Kenny Rogers Day (Los Angeles, California)

Lighthouse Day

Lone Ranger Day

Max Planck Day

Mobilized Servicemen Day (Ukraine)

Music Day (Korea)

National ADHD Day (South Africa)

National Anthem Day

National Career Day

National Cheerleading Day

National Coloring Day

National Field Hockey Day

National Live Creatively Day

National Noel Day

National Parents Day Off

National Peacekeepers Day (Australia)

National Quiet Day (UK)

National Sober Day

National Virginia Day

Nutting Day (UK)

Philip K. Dick Day (California)

Photo Day (South Korea)

Pilgrimage to the Black Madonna of Einsiedeln (Switzerland)

San Jacinto Day (Nicaragua)

Star Spangled Banner Day

Support Latino Business Day

Talk About Cancer Day

Tithi of Sri Sri Madhabdeva (Assam, India)

U.S. Marshall Service Day

World Atopic Eczema Day

World Cleanup Day (Nigeria)

World Hearing Voices Day

World Taste & Smell Day

Wo-Zha-Wa Festival

Food & Drink Celebrations

Cream-Filled Doughnut Day

Eat a Hoagie Day

Gobstopper Day

National Food is Medicine Day

National Rosa Tequila Day

Pig's Face Feast

2nd Thursday in September

Jeûne Genevois (Geneva, Switzerland) [Thursday after 1st Sunday]

MPN Awareness Day [2nd Thursday]

National Day of the Working Parent [2nd Thursday]

National School Picture Day [2nd Thursday]

R U OK? Day (Australia) [2nd Thursday]

Stop a Suicide Today [Thursday of the Week including the 10th]

United Tribes International PowWow begins (Thru Sunday; North Dakota) [Thursday after 1st Monday]

Independence Days

Azma-Turkopolis Confederation (Declared; 2021) [unrecognized]

New Scandinavia (Declared; 2014) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

Aelia Flaccilla (Eastern Orthodox Church)

Catherine of Genoa (Christian; Saint)

Charles Dana Gibson (Artology)

Cormac mac Cuilennáin (or of Cashel; Christian; Saint)

Crescentius of Rome (Christian; Saint)

Day of Jupiter and Juno (Pagan)

Death of Prophet Muhammed (Islam)

Despair for the Human Race (Pastafarian)

Elevation of the Holy Cross (Eastern Orthodox)

Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Feast of Notburga of Eben (patron of waiters & farmers)

Feast of the Cross (Christianity)

Feast of Uru-Wadu (the Primal Couple; Kisar Island, Indonesia)

Fido (Muppetism)

Hindi Divas (Parts of India; Hinduism)

Holy Cross Day (aka Holy Rood Day)

John Gabriel Taurin Dufresse

Lessing (Positivist; Saint)

Lord of Miracles of Buga (Christian; Saint)

Louis Gabriel Taurin Dufresse (Christian; One of Martyr Saints of China)

Maternus of Cologne (Christian; Saint)

Notburga (Christian; Saint)

Peter Lely (Artology)

Triumph of the Cross (Roman Catholic)

Vaughan Bode Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Prime Number Day: 257 [55 of 72]

Shakku (赤口 Japan) [Bad luck all day, except at noon.]

Umu Limnu (Evil Day; Babylonian Calendar; 42 of 60)

Premieres

Across the Universe (Film; 2007)

The Addams Family (Animated TV Series; 1992)

Adventures of the Gummi Bears (Animated TV Series; 1985)

The Archies (Animated TV Series; 1968)

Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell, by meatloaf (Album; 1993)

Bumbling Brothers Circus, Part 1 (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S6, Ep. 301; 1964)

The Care Bears (Animated TV Series; 1985)

A Cartoonist’s Nightmare (WB LT Cartoon; 1935)

Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse (Animated TV Series; 1960)

Crisis? What Crisis?, by Supertramp (Album; 1975)

A Discovery of Witches (TV Series; 2018)

The Dragon Prince (Animated Film; 2018)

Flying Circus (WB LT Cartoon; 1968)

Funeral, by Arcade Fire (Album; 2004)

Get Born, by Jet (Album; 2003)

The Golden Girls (TV Series; 1985)

Have Gun — Will Travel (Radio Series; 1957)

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins (Novel; 2008) [#1]

The Invention of Lying (Film; 2009)

Lion in the Bedroom or The Cat’s Pajamas (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S6, Ep. 302; 1964)

The Magnificent Seven (Film; 2016)

Making Plans For Nigel, by XTC (Song; 1979)

The Messiah, by George Frederic Handel finished (Oratorio; 1741)

Mork and Mindy (TV Series; 1978)

Partysaurus Rex (Disney Cartoon; 2012)

Quadrophenia (Film; 1979)

Scooby Doo! Camp Scare (WB Animated Film; 2010)

A Simple Favor (Film; 2018)

Some Fantastic Place, by Squeeze (Album; 1993)

Tiny Toon Adventures (Animated TV Series; 1990)

Total Request Live (Music TV Series; 1998)

Tutti Frutti recorded, by Little Richard (Song; 1955)

The Waltons (TV Series; 1971)

A Wizard’s Tale (Animated Film; 2018)

Zoom and Bored (WB MM Cartoon; 1957)

Today’s Name Days

Albert, Cornelius, Kreuz-Erhöhung (Austria)

Krustan, Krustina, Krustyo, Stavri (Bulgaria)

Slavko, Višeslav (Croatia)

Radka (Czech Republic)

Raimo, Raimond, Raimu, Raimund, Reimo, Reimu (Estonia)

Iida, Iita, Isla (Finland)

Albert, Irmgard, Jens, Kreuzerhöhung (Germany)

Stavros, Stavroula, Theoklis (Greece)

Roxána, Szeréna (Hungary)

Crocifisso, Elena (Italy)

Koknesis, Norberts, Sanda, Sanita, Santa (Latvia)

Eisvina, Eisvinas, Krescencijus (Lithuania)

Ingebjørg, Ingeborg (Norway)

Bernard, Cyprian, Roksana, Siemomysł, Szymon (Poland)

Ľudomil (Slovakia)

Cruz, Exaltación (Spain)

Ida (Sweden)

Keisha, Lakeisha, Latasha, LaTease, Latisha, Leticia, Letitia, Letty, Tish, Tisha (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 257 of 2024; 108 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 4 of week 37 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Muin (Vine) [Day 10 of 28]

Chinese: Month 7 (Geng-Shen), Day 30 (Yi-Hai)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 28 Elul 5783

Islamic: 28 Safar 1445

J Cal: 17 Aki; Threesday [17 of 30]

Julian: 1 September 2023

Moon: 0%: New Moon

Positivist: 5 Shakespeare (10th Month) [Lessing]

Runic Half Month: Ken (Illumination) [Day 3 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 85 of 94)

Zodiac: Virgo (Day 24 of 32)

Calendar Changes

September (Julian Calendar) [Month 9 of 12]