#Joe/Nicky meet cute

[nowhere-to-go-but-here]

Joe/Nicky meet-cute idea!

This adorable story from Twitter but as a Joe/Nicky meet-cute! 💕

Nicky is the plant dad with a ton of precious potted plants by his front door. Joe is the sleep-deprived sweetheart of a food delivery guy (an artist trying to nake ends meet) who knocks over the pot. He apologies so sincerely, all big, sad bambi eyes, that Nicky finds himself comforting Joe and telling him he didn't need to worry about it.

Joe is so moved by Nicky's kindness that he comes by a couple of days later with a replacement pot -beautifully hand painted, of course, because this is Joe! - with the sweetest apology note. Nicky, in turn, is so incredibly touched (and also, let's face it, smitten) that he insists he repay Joe by making him dinner.

And that's how Nicky ends up cooking for his food delivery guy and eventually marrying him. And they live happily ever after surrounded by Nicky's plants, all in beautiful hand-painted pots (which Joe now makes for a living and is pretty successful at selling!).

The end 🥰🪴🌷☘️

[aniron48]

in a space that they belong

My fingers slipped and this happened.

First foray into The Old Guard fandom, over on ao3!

“I was just wondering,” Nicky asks the clerk, “are you sure you don’t have any others of this kind?” His accent is stronger, when he’s nervous—which is anytime he talks to strangers, really—and he winces a little, but the clerk doesn’t seem to notice.

“No, just that one,” the clerk says absently, eyeing the clock over the checkout counter with something that looks like longing. “Feel free to try it out, and if you like it we can order a different size for you.”

And he really wants to try it out, is the thing, because the articles he’s read say you should test a mattress for at least 15 minutes before committing. But there’s already a customer on this bed—a man, effortlessly beautiful in a way Nicky could never dream of being, with the softest black curls Nicky has ever seen, and a beard Nicky wants to feel against the inside of his thighs. And isn’t that an image to have in his head, right as the man opens his eyes to see Nicky standing awkwardly by the side of the bed.

________________________________

Or, oh my god, there was only one mattress.

[alwaysalreadyangry]

aware that my brain now just reads anything anywhere and turns them into to meet-cutes for Joe/Nicky but please look at this

[kaydeefalls]

Random meet cute I guess? Thanks!

so this particular WIP started because i was super burned out after finishing Carthaginians and my other existing wips had already been glaring impatiently at me all year, so i wanted to just give myself a blank doc to write something light and silly. i wrote like half a page and then dropped it for a bit. in the past week-ish, i've picked it back up again to rework as a seasonal prompt fill, and it's coming along nicely so far. never bothered updating the doc title, so that's how it shall remain. goal is to have this one done by the end of the month, hopefully sooner.

basically this is a nicky/joe hallmark christmas movie au except that they're both the expendable side characters in OTHER people's hallmark christmas movies. because that's just how my brain works.

Quỳnh is clever and ruthless and glamorous, with an unexpectedly sweet strain of romanticism beneath her sharp-edged exterior, and Nicky absolutely adores her. They bond via philosophical debates at two in the morning, trashy romcoms, and increasingly competitive games of darts at their local pub. She likes to host lavish dinner parties every few months, and he lets her sweet-talk him into doing most of the cooking (not to mention the cleanup afterward). In exchange, she handles the bulk of the housework when he's on deadline, and plays wingwoman very effectively whenever she manages to drag him out clubbing.  So about sixteen months into their cohabitation-slash-friendship, he agrees without hesitation when she asks him to be her fake boyfriend for Christmas. "I'm the only single woman of marriageable age in my entire extended family," she explains, in dire tones. "My aunties are definitely ganging up on me, and they refuse to hear the whole lesbian thing. Please, please help me shut them up, just for this one holiday. You'll get a free trip to some posh hunting lodge near Edinburgh out of it." Nicky lifts an eyebrow. "I thought most of your family were here in London?" "They are, but Auntie Linh's rich white husband has, like, an estate up there or something," Quỳnh sighs. "I'll bet she's procured a veritable army of rugged Scotsmen to matchmake with me. I'll give you first crack at any of the gay ones, if that helps." "Well," Nicky says, laughing, "how could I possibly say no to that?"

deceptive snippet is deceptive. that's not the plot of the fic itself at all. but here we are.

[bookgeekgrrl]

My media this week (7-13 Jul 2024)

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

😊Lessons & Love (Marie Reynard) - short story; widowed single dad getting together with the bear shifter who's mentoring/training his bear shifter son; short but cute

🥰 Five Star Review (Marie Reynard) - 25K novella set in the MateHub universe - "best friends to lovers, roommates to mates novella featuring two geeky astronomy majors, some very realistic merchandise, years of pining, a lot of astrophysics homework, and knotting" - enjoyable, I am having a lot of fun in this universe

😍 Green Feet and Lightning (One-EyedBossman (desert000rose), SecretFandomStories) - 44K, Stucky modern D/s AU - Part 12 of the Differently Okay Local Idiots series - the guys get a lovely, soft morning at home, Steve runs a race, Bucky meets the (overprotective) best friend and they take care of each other. Beyond thrilled to have a new installment of one of my fave series to start out this week! UGH I love these versions of them so much!!!

😊 Share Your Address (Lolo (TheLittleLo)) - 60K Kaysanova modern college AU - Joe & Nicky (reluctantly) get set up by their friends but then pretty quickly find they aren't mad about it.

💖💖 +201K of shorter fic so shout out to these I really loved 💖💖

chrysalis (liadan14) - The Old Guard: Kaysanova, 38K - a wonderful fic told in 2 time periods: one where they've been together for 8 years & have to deal with a death in Nicky's estranged family and one where they are getting together & Nicky is learning to cook for Joe

Buck gets F**ked series (erstwhiled) - 9-1-1: mostly BuckTommy, last one Buck/Tommy/Eddie, 31K - to quote the author: "What it says on the tin!" Super hot sex & more tenderness & emotion than you might expect. big win for fisting & DP fans, A+++ all the way around.

baby, if you think you're able (you need to take this rough medicine) (jay (tofupofu)) - 9-1-1: BuckTommy, 6K - the 9-1-1 bucktommy writers are really hitting it out of the park with the daddy kink

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

McDonald & Dodds - s1, e1

Taskmaster - s4, e1-3

Thousandaires - s1, e4

D20: Never Stop Blowing Up - "The Deluxe Royale" (s22, e3)

D20: Adventuring Party - "Boongo" (s17, e3)

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

NPR's Book of the Day - In 'Do I Know You?,' a science reporter tackles her own face blindness

⭐ Decoder Ring - Stuffed Animals Gone Wild

Wild Card - The light and dark of Ted Danson

What Next: TBD - The Blu-Ray-naissance Is Here. Sort of.

⭐ Here & Now Anytime - Red, white and purple: 40 years of Prince's 'Purple Rain'

⭐ Today, Explained - Why “Country Roads” feels like home

Ologies - Disability Sociology (DISABILITY PRIDE) with Guinevere Chambers

Storylines - The great baby last name debate

Re: Dracula - July 8: Method in His Madness

Art of History - J.C. Leyendecker: The Making of American Manhood

The Sporkful - Searching For The Donut King

⭐ All Songs Considered - 'Born In The U.S.A.' at 40

⭐ Death, Sex & Money - Sex Parties and Shakespeare With Carvell Wallace

Switched on Pop - Lawrence: the eight-piece family band reshaping the music business

The Fandom Show - Muppets

Vibe Check - Give Us the Wheel!

⭐ It's Been a Minute - Mavis Staples on Prince, MLK and a life onstage

WikiHole - Little Shop of Horrors (with Ben Platt, Noah Galvin and Katie Silberman)

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - A Walk Through Sandwich History with Barry Enderwick

You're Dead to Me - Printing in England

Pop Culture Happy Hour - Three great sports documentaries

Throughline - The Roots of Poverty in America

⭐ Wild Card - Nikki Giovanni doesn't think about her legacy

Wild Card - Ted Danson's journey to adulthood + Nikki Giovanni's defense of marriage

Ologies - Psychedeliology (HALLUCINOGENS) Part 1 with Charles Grob

Shedunnit - Death at the Speakeasy

It's Been a Minute - 'Hawk tuah,' the Zynternet, & the bro-vote; plus, cowboys are having a moment

NPR's Book of the Day - Two books dive into the musical histories of The Police and Joni Mitchell

Dear Prudence - My BFF Bullied Her Husband Into Allowing Her to Sleep With Other Men. Help!

Dear Prudence - Prudie Plus: I Found Dating Apps In My Wife’s Phone. Help!

Endless Thread - How to Fight a Shark

⭐ Storylines - Missing in Action: the decades-long effort to get stunt workers their Oscar due

Pop Culture Happy Hour - Fly Me to the Moon and what's making us happy

Today, Explained - The song of the summer is DEAD

99% Invisible - As Slow As Possible

Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me! - Sam Sanders & Zach Stafford

You're Dead to Me - Mary Anning

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

'60s Folk Rock

Chappell Roan

Lawrence

Nitzer Ebb Radio • Pump-up

Revolting Cocks Radio

Iron Maiden Radio • Hard rock

[hoziersmoon]

i know it's been like 2 hours. but someone pls write the yusufcore tree nymph post into a fic, like nicky was the tree nymph (maybe trapped in tree form as he grew up or something?) and adult joe goes back to his childhood home and meets him and ?? they fall in love idk there's not really a plot here. bonus points if joe is a fantasy novelist <3

YES putting this out in the universe to be picked up 😌💭💖 ough this is so sweet….

i was thinking something like joe finds nicky in the tree one day when he’s still a kid and they fall in love over a long period of time and its very cute but even when they get married like a decade later joe still has a sneaking suspicion that nicky really is some kind of tree nymph 👀

[yuliares]

Nicky/Joe from The Old Guard, based on this tweet:

Joe: “Hello Professor Genoa! My name is Joe, I’m here to take a photo for the article on your latest research grant!”

Nicky (internal): oh no he’s cute

Nicky: “Nice to meet you, Joe. Please, call me Nicky. Should I…?”

Joe: “No need to pose! Just act normal, pretend I’m not even here!”

Nicky (internal): oh no he smiled don’t panic be cool

Nicky: [launches into planned lecture] “Within the animal kingdom, there is a wide range of male genitalia-“

Nicky (internal): nooooooooooo

Nicky: “For example, the Argentine bluebird duck has the longest proportional-”

Joe, gazing adoringly at this beautiful man: Wow he knows so much about ~nature~

Prompt suggested by Rebecca @theadventureofhistorygirl, font based on Winkle, and the image of the hands with camera traced from this stock image!

[sockich]

Nicky and Joe, they’re just over a thousand, now. Met during the First Crusade. Nicky was Nicolo back then. Joe way Yusuf. The rest of us, we’ve always had to search for each other. […] I mean, it took the better part of a century just to get to Noriko, for example. But Nicky and Joe? They just did it all at once. Discovered they couldn’t die because they couldn’t keep the other one dead.

They got lucky in more ways than one.

The Old Guard v1 #2 by Greg Rucka, art by Leandro Fernández

[nowhere-to-go-but-here]

Okay hear me out... baby!Joe and baby!Nicky playground meet cute, am I right? 😍😍

[monicashipsnickyjoe]

(modern au)

Nicky takes the train to work every morning. He sits in the window seat and stares out at the passing trees and buildings and life outside. He goes to work, he goes home, he goes to sleep. Everyday, the same routine.

He doesn’t smile much anymore. Or talk, except when his bosses ask him questions. He watches the news on low every night and falls asleep on the couch to the sound of late night talk show hosts sharing laughs with their guests.

The view through the train window starts to make him sad, so he brings books to read instead.

One day, he finishes a book of fiction on the way to work, so he stops by the nearby bookstore on his lunch hour to pick up something for the ride home. He stares at the stacked bookcases labeled fiction, unsure where even to begin, when one of the employees directs him toward a different shelf, this one reading local authors. Nicky’s so surprised to be talked to that he follows the employee without question. He decides to buy the first book she puts in his hands.

It’s poetry. He almost puts it back but the title stops him.

Relief for a Lonely Heart by Yusuf al-Kaysani

He buys the book. He reads it, and falls in love.

In the following weeks, he buys all of al-Kaysani’s collection. His copies become well-worn and well-loved. He takes them on the train with him often, whenever he feels sad, and they help. These words, so close to the longing of his own heart, ease his loneliness in a way he never thought possible.

He’s nose deep in his favorite poem one morning, so lost among the pages that he misses when someone speaks to him, until they do so again.

It’s a man across the aisle, leaning over it, pointing. “Do you like that book?” He has soft brown eyes and a head of curls, with a full beard. He’s wearing a suit, sans tie, with the top top buttons open. He’s movie star handsome, and Nicky, though he heard him this time, has to make sure.

“Pardon?”

“That book you are reading,” the man says. “Do you like it?”

“It’s my favorite,” Nicky tells him. It’s different to talk to a stranger, but when lines crinkle beside the man’s eyes when he smiles, Nicky can’t help but be charmed.

“I like it, too,” the man says. “You know he’s a local author?”

“I do.”

“Have you ever met him?”

“No.”

“Would you like to?” the man asks.

Nicky lowers the book. “You know Mr. al-Kaysani?”

The man’s smile grows impossible wider. Nicky’s certain they could use that smile to power the train. “Call me Joe.”

“I’m Nicky.”

Joe holds his hand out across the aisle. Nicky reaches and takes it. The handshake is firm. Joe doesn’t let go right away, so Nicky doesn’t either. He can’t remember the last time he’s had eye contact this long.

The thought startles and embarrasses Nicky, so he glances down and withdraws his hand. “You were saying you knew Mr. al-Kaysani?”

“Um,” Joe says. “Yes, that’s true.” He motions to the open seat beside Nicky. “Do you mind if I join you there? I feel very far.”

“Of course,” Nicky says and moves his bag to the floor to give Joe room.

“Thank you.” Joe rises and crosses the aisle. He sits to Nicky’s right, so close their elbows brush on the armrest. Nicky thinks to move, but doesn’t. Joe leans closer, lining their arms from elbow to shoulder. He’s so warm and solid, and this close, Nicky can see the kindness in those eyes and the freckles on his nose.

“Breathtaking,” Joe says, stealing the word straight from Nicky’s thoughts, but he’s looking at Nicky. He means it for Nicky.

Joe clears his throat. “Tell me your favorite poem.”

“Only if you tell me yours after,” Nicky says.

Joe nods. “Of course.”

Nicky still has his thumb in the page. He lifts the book and shows Joe. It’s a melancholy poem that compares loneliness to sitting on the side of the road, watching the cars go by. You can see the people but they move too fast. If they see you, they are gone before they can speak. It’s a poem that whispers to Nicky’s very bones, though admittedly less so, since Joe sat beside him.

“This is your favorite?” Joe says. “Not one of his love poems?”

“The love poems are wonderful,” Nicky tells him, “But...” He doesn’t know how much to share with this stranger, not wanting to offend him.

“Go on,” Joe says. “I’m so curious to know your thoughts.”

“They don’t feel as genuine,” Nicky says. “I believe Mr. al-Kaysani loves the idea of love, but I’m unsure if... Well. Or perhaps the fault lies with me.”

His elbow still on the armrest, Joe lifts his hand and drops his chin into his palm. He’s even closer now, watching Nicky with a curious expression. He doesn’t seem offended, more intrigued, and the look gives Nicky the courage to continue.

“I’ve never been in love. Not really. I thought I was at the time, of course, but... in hindsight.” Nicky shakes his head. “No, the poems of loss and longing, they feel more real. The love poems are told from a distance. These here...” Nicky points to the poem on the next page, the one that longs for a home that either no longer exists or never existed. “These strike the soul.”

Joe’s smile is soft. His eyes are warm and welcoming.

“It’s your turn,” Nicky says with a shy smile of his own.

“Ah.” Joe lifts his head from his hand and lets his hand drop. He straightens against the seat, and Nicky instantly regrets the distance he’s placed between them.

“Joe, you don’t have to -”

“My favorite is the one I’m writing right now,” Joe says.

Nicky snaps his mouth closed.

“Your eyes are a most unusual color. Difficult to put into words,” Joe says. He taps a finger to his cheek, just above the edge of his beard. “I wonder if I’ll struggle forever.”

“You...”

“Forgive me for not telling you,” Joe tilts his head down, and looks up at Nicky through his eyelashes. Nicky knows he would forgive this man anything, with that look. “I was about to, but then... Well, it was so refreshing to know what you think.”

Oh, God. Mortification rushes through Nicky’s blood hot and fast. “Joe, I didn’t mean to offend.”

“No, no.” Joe places his hand on Nicky’s arm on the armrest, just above his elbow. “Don’t misunderstand. You are right.” He looks away a moment. “My publishers insist I write the love poems. They sell. I do love love, as you said, but you are also correct that I... I have struggled to find the other half of my heart.”

“I’m sorry,” Nicky says, though he’s no longer sure what he’s apologizing for.

“Nicky.” Joe glances back to him, and Nicky couldn’t look away if the train derailed. It already did, for all he knows. “You see the longing.”

“I share it,” Nicky says.

Joe nods. “What if... That is... Perhaps...”

Nicky surprises himself, with a small laugh.

Joe’s eyes widen. His mouth falls open. Nicky would be embarrassed but Joe’s expression is one of wonderment, not humor. Nicky wants to give him more.

“You are a master wordsmith, Yusuf al-Kaysani,” Nicky says, amazed by his own boldness. He has been alone for far too long. With Joe, he feels as if he is finding himself again. “What could possibly have rendered you speechless?”

“You,” Joe says.

Warmth takes root in Nicky’s heart and blossoms outwards until he is nearly set ablaze.

“Have dinner with me,” Joe says.

“Yes.” Nicky lowers his hand to find and connect with Joe’s. “No more lonely poems.”

Joe smiles wide. “The next love poem I write will be genuine,” he says, “Because, Nicky, it will be for you.”

A year later, Joe gifts Nicky an entire book of poems. Nicky, in return, gifts Joe a ring.

“A lifetime of poetry,” Joe offers.

Nicky kisses him and corrects, “A lifetime of love.”

“My heart,” Joe laughs against Nicky’s cheek. “Ever since I met you, those have been one and the same.”

[alwaysalreadyangry]

I posted 965 times in 2022

210 posts created (22%)

755 posts reblogged (78%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@nostalgebraist-autoresponder

@alwaysalreadyangry

@raedear

@aphroditestummyrolls

@haremask

I tagged 921 of my posts in 2022

Only 5% of my posts had no tags

#film - 136 posts

#lit - 100 posts

#gifs - 93 posts

#poetry - 92 posts

#art - 71 posts

#talking to the bot - 70 posts

#old guard - 37 posts

#fanart - 25 posts

#photographs - 23 posts

#music - 21 posts

Longest Tag: 127 characters

#started going out and about in skirts with hairy legs and it's like. how did it take me so long to get up the courage for this?

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

@babygirlcarmy so i feel like it would be a… i guess twist on all the fics where nicky has homophobic family. if like, so he’s becoming friends with Joe and Joe sees him declining a phone call from his grandmother with a grimace and he’s like, gently sympathetic and Nicky’s just like — no you don’t understand she’s found out I’ve never had a boyfriend and now she won’t stop giving me DATING TIPS BECAUSE SHE THINKS I’M A LOST CAUSE. “I’ll call her back later when she’s about to eat dinner. that way she can’t trap me for half an hour by reading out a list of gay bars she found on yell.com.”

and Joe is like ok 💀 well then 💀

149 notes - Posted September 8, 2022

#4

anyway going around a lot of art galleries this week has reminded me that i really want to write the joe/nicky fic where joe is a new tour guide at the art museum with an aspiration to end up as a curator once he’s done with grad school, and one day at the end of his shift he meets the hot security guard who sometimes does nights.

and then he hears rumours from his colleagues that this guy has… crackpot theories about the art??? joe is like uh ok but also he doesn’t like their tone or the fact that security guards are banned from talking to museum patrons about the art. he’s like, note that down as things to discuss once we finally get this union recognised.

anyway of course it turns out that the security guard, nicky, has three quarters of a PhD in religious art history and he’s been communing with the art a lot and chilling out with it at night. “art speaks in many different voices,” he likes to say, mysteriously. joe is like, wtf, please marry me.

yes it’s very loosely based on the article at the paris review blog about the unicorn tapestries, but can you blame me???

175 notes - Posted October 29, 2022

#3

Seeing a lot of Goncharov content but only real 70s movie heads will know that Spanish director Pere Portabella was meant to be making a behind-the-scenes documentary of the film which turned into a whole other thing. It's called GOMORRA CALLS.

Scorsese is in it and so are his parents, for some reason. At first you're just like oh this is cute, they're bringing food to the set, taking an interest in what's going on. But it becomes this quite... Creepy reality-bending thing? His mother keeps cryptically referring to weird telephone calls they've been getting at home, and his dad keeps moving things on the set, you can only see what he's doing if you spend a lot of time watching him at the edge of the frame while someone else is talking. And sometimes they'll get to the set in the morning and find things left in the wrong place, there's a weird smear on a camera lenses, one of the actors has lost half the pages from the copy of the script they've been learning from.

I think the idea was meant to be that they're being hounded by the realfe mafia for making the movie. But it almost seems like they're being haunted by the ghosts of mafia members at times. Like, Scorsese's hotel room will be freezing cold, and he's being sent anonymous messages at the front desk in a way that just doesn't make sense. He says, "I'm not sure if someone is trying to stop this movie... Or if they just want to be part of it. If they want to look at a prop in the wrong place and just say, hey, that was me."

At the time of its limited run in the US, Scorsese said he didn't really know what Portabella was making, fueling theories that the film was true documentary and not fictionalised. But it's listed as fiction on Portabella's Wikipedia page now, and the prevaing theory is that it must be made up. It's not been included on any of the Goncharov DVD or Blu-Ray packages but it was supposed to be a Criterion Channel exclusive last year... It never showed up, and there are rumours it's to do with audio licensing issues. But there's a VHS rip floating around out there if you know where to look.

182 notes - Posted November 21, 2022

#2

See the full post

359 notes - Posted November 18, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

incredible book I found yesterday… English Field Names: A Dictionary, by John Field

707 notes - Posted April 9, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[zairaalbereo]

This time I also bring you fic. 😇

At the Risk of Falling

Nicky works as an escort. Joe is an artist. When Nicky finds himself in a difficult situation, his only option is to break into Joe's apartment. Naked.

(Written for the Meet Cute/Meet Ugly theme in celebration for The Old Guard anniversary.)

[kaydeefalls]

Fandom: The Old Guard (Movie 2020) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova Characters: Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani Additional Tags: Fluff, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Meet-Cute, Falling In Love, (more literally than usual), winter-themed fluff, First Kiss, POV Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, featuring cameos from the usual suspects, Ice Skating Summary:

In which the canals in Amsterdam freeze over, Nicky experiences a skating mishap, and Joe has improbably become more handsome since they last saw each other. Modern!AU (re-)meet cute.

(Written for @ignisentis in the #CSHWinterExchange2021!)

[bookgeekgrrl]

My media this week (16-22 Jun 2024)

fuck this heat dome for reals

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

🥰 The Settler (charlesdk) - Stucky Book Club pick - 52K, shrunkyclunks, Steve retires & buys a farm, Bucky's the local baker. I really enjoyed this fic - though it is unrealistic fantasy about both small towns and owning a farm so YMMV. As I said in book club, I didn't have any problems doing the hand-wavey "escapist unbelievable small town/farm fantasy of it all" bc Steve's feelings & character were more my (and the author's) focus than his occupation & location. You could really feel Steve's exhaustion and emotions, and I loved the way Sam & Natasha were shown-not-just-told as his family. But also I don't have any deep personal resonance with this setting, other than recognizing it's unrealistic.

🥰 The Marlow Murder Club (The Marlow Murder Club #1) (Robert Thorogood, author; Nicolette McKenzie, narrator) - really entertaining small British village cozy mystery with very enjoyable characters. Had such a blast reading it! The mystery puzzle wasn't difficult to guess but that's not why I read cozies, and it was satisfactory in its twists & turns & fair play.

🥰 Civilians, GDI (relenafanel) - I love it when an author writes an AU of their own fic! AU of The Steve Rogers Problem with SHIELD agent!Bucky & actor!Steve except this time it's a meet ugly and Bucky's a dumbass about his own feelings

😊 The Theory Of Attraction (Delphine Dryden) - novella - good femsub D/s rec'd by the discord. Very satisfactory.

😊 Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age (Annalee Newitz, author; Chloe Cannon, narrator) - nonfiction; "explores the rise and fall of four ancient abandoned cities, each the center of a sophisticated civilization: the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük in Central Turkey, the Roman vacation town of Pompeii on Italy’s southern coast, the medieval megacity of Angkor in Cambodia, and the indigenous metropolis Cahokia that stood beside the Mississippi River where East St. Louis is today." really interesting and well told (although tbh the narrator sounded a bit AI (but definitely wasn't))

🙂 The Pure and Simple Truth (lettered) - 65K, ostensibly drarry (but in the way that lacroix is ostensibly fruit flavored) - really about all the friendships & how people, the world, and redemption are all complicated - another discord server rec

🥰 Death Comes to Marlow (The Marlow Murder Club #2) (Robert Thorogood, author; Nicolette McKenzie, narrator) - enjoyed Judith & her 'gang' so much I went back for more ASAP!

💖💖 +127K of shorter fic so shout out to these I really loved 💖💖

Like herding cats (JehBeeEh) - Rachel Reid's Game Changers series: Troy/Harris, Ilya/Shane, 1.5K - short but very cute; perfect character voices - love a well done text fic like this

My Heart Comes Tumbling Down (DevilDoll) - TW: Sterek, 5K - reread, forever fave - peak oblivious Stiles who almost fucks everything up

All that I know is I don't know a thing (emjee (MerryHeart)) - TOG: Kaysanova, 10K - "In which Nicky's at seminary because he likes to argue, not because he's becoming a priest, and Joe has missed this essential fact and can't figure out why this future-priest-slash-bartender is flirting with him." SO GOOD!

Beltane (DevilDoll) - TW: Sterek, 8K - reread, forever fave - always-magical-Stiles AU

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

Doctor Who - s1 (series 14), e7

Game Changer - s6, e9

Um, Actually - s9, e9

Smartypants - s1, e5

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

What Next: TBD - The FBI Made a Phone Network. It Was A Trap.

NPR's Book of the Day - Questlove maps a cultural revolution in 'Hip-Hop is History'

Re: Dracula - June 17: Die Away in the Distance

Consider This - 25 years on, 'Boys Don't Cry' remains a milestone in trans cinema

⭐ Working - How a Colonial Williamsburg Actor Humanizes History

⭐ The Atlas Obscura Podcast - America’s First Celebrity Bartender And The Book That Changed Bars Forever

Pop Culture Happy Hour - It's getting hot. So what's sweatiest movie ever made?

WikiHole - Bay Area Music (with W. Kamau Bell, Guy Branum and Aparna Nancherla)

Re: Dracula - June 18: Turned his Mind

Short Wave - What 'Inside Out 2' Got Right About Anxiety, Per A Psychologist

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - The Last Baldwin House

Vibe Check - Yesterday’s Price Isn’t Today’s Price featuring Lena Waithe

⭐ Switched on Pop - Bootsy Collins is gonna funk you up (with Bootsy Collins)

Here & Now Anytime - How jazz icon Duke Ellington helped change America

⭐ Storylines - What The Puck? The strange story of a decades-old hockey rumour

99% Invisible #586 - Category 6

Wild Card - Taylor Tomlinson is fine with being 'perpetually afraid'

Shedunnit - Murder in the Library

Shedunnit - Bonus: Harriet Evans Interview

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - The Start of a Language

⭐ It's Been a Minute - Fouling Caitlin Clark; plus, a shoplifting panic!

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

Fleetwood Mac Radio • Upbeat

Stereophonic (Original Cast Recording)

We Are Lady Parts (Music From The Original Series - Seasons 1 & 2)

Meet Me @ the Altar

Bootsy Collins radio

Duke Ellington

Dance Party Hits

Survivor Radio • Deep cuts

No Vocals EDM

Bass Haven

[raedear]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Old Guard (Movie 2020) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova Additional Tags: Meet-Cute, public break ups, (not between Joe and Nicky), Car Sex, (this time between Joe and Nicky), Flirting, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani is an Incurable Romantic, and also very charming, Nicky | Nicolò di Genova is a Little Shit Summary:

Joe's just trying to get through his shift without losing his mind. The couple breaking up in front of the butt-plugs are making it difficult.

[firefliesintheskyline]

A Poem In Flowers

PAIRING : Nicky x Joe

PROMPT : Flower Shop AU

(now on ao3 !)

“Oh-oh, he’s gonna pay for that!”

“Booker, we can’t just barge in, we don’t even know how—“

“He stole them from you! Isn’t it clear enough?”

Nicky frowned, listening to the loud voices coming from outside. It was usually a quiet neighborhood, especially at that time of the day.

“Let’s just go inside!"

He was startled when someone opened the door of his flower shop with more strength than needed.

“Booker, can you please calm down a little? You’re going to scare him.”

Nicky looked at the guy who had just spoken, feeling more intrigued than afraid. The fact that the newcomer was also incredibly handsome was definitely a plus.

“Mr. Di Genova, I believe?,” the other man said, in a pissed and totally unfriendly way. Nicky took an instant dislike to him.

“Yes, it’s me. Are you here for a bridal bouquet?"

Not-nice jerk was caught off guard by his question, while cute-dude just chuckled. Of course, Nicky couldn’t help but find it extremely endearing.

“No, we… Okay, let’s start this properly. Nile, my assistant, came here a couple of days ago to pick up a bouquet for my wife.” If Nicky didn’t like this 'Booker' guy before, things only got worse after the last sentence. He appreciated the fact that Very Handsome Man (well, wasn’t his crush escalating quickly) seemed to give his friend a very nasty look at that. “There was a little card attached to the bouquet, a card that contained a short poem.”

Nicky nodded briefly.

“Yes, that’s my customers' favorite part of the bouquet and the very reason why they keep buying here.”

He felt a wave of pride while saying those words. After all, It had been his idea when he had first opened the shop, and he wasn’t going to take lessons from some uneducated asshole just because the guy couldn’t stand poetry.

Extremely Attractive Man (yep, that was it, no going back) gave him a contemplative look, almost as if he was trying to make sense of… something.

“Well, isn’t that nice? Stealing someone else's art and then using it to make a profit?,” rude-dude retorted.

Nicky felt his blood run cold. He didn’t like the tone nor what was being implied, and he was starting to get extremely pissed.

“Look, I’m sorry for Sebastien here, he can be very nasty when he wants.” Nicky noticed that Unbelievably Hot Guy had also Incredibly Nice Lips and Absolutely Gorgeous Eyes, and he was almost starting to forget why he was pissed in the first place, while oh-so-not staring at him. “We just read the card and found it  very similar to… well, one of my poems. And since it wasn’t signed, I just wanted to understand what was going on, find out if maybe someone was taking credit that wasn’t theirs?”

The revelation had Nicky almost drop his jaw. He knew he should focus on the accusation, but all he could do was stare at the guy who was apparently responsible for keeping Nicky up more nights than he could remember, thinking about the brilliant mind behind those perfect words.

“I actually bought them," was all that came out of Nicky’s mouth. 

He realized that maybe he should have added more when the two friends shared a look, seeming rather confused.

“I haven’t published any of them, yet.”

“No, I mean… they were in a jar. I bought the jar.”

For a couple of minutes, there was only silence in the shop. Poet Guy - who was still very hot and still without a damn name to go with his face - opened his mouth a couple of times, but didn’t seem to know what to say, until his eyes widened. Nicky was pretty sure he’d had some sort of epiphany, and he wasn’t the only who had noticed.

“Joe? Joe, are you okay? What is he talking about?”

Joe - Nicky was secretly beaming, he'd finally gotten the name of the man who would haunt all his future dreams - looked very close to an existential crisis.

“Do you remember during college, when I used to live with Andy?” Sebastien nodded, but Nicky was too concentrated on Joe to even notice. “Well, there was this big red jar on the table, in the middle of the living room. Whenever I was struggling with a short poem, instead of throwing the paper away, I would just fold it and put it in the jar.”

Well, if those were Joe’s definition of failed poems, Nicky couldn’t wait to find some way or another to date this guy just so he could read the good ones.

“When she moved in with Quynh, she took the jar with her. I didn’t even realize at first, and after a while I sort of forgot about it. I also didn’t really care because I was sure she’d keep it, since she took it in the first place.” Joe seemed lost, and looked at Nicky as if he was the only one who could make sense of it all.

“If it helps, I can tell you that I bought it from a woman, long hair, mischievous smile, who said she was glad her wife was away for a while so she had time to get rid of the - and I quote - “atrocious bloody colored vase”?” Nicky finished the sentence with a sheepish smile, feeling himself blushing all of sudden.

“I don’t know what I was expecting, but this was definitely not it.” Sebastian shook his head and looked at Joe. “I don’t even think we can force him to stop, since technically he did buy the jar."

“I will definitely stop if Joe is uncomfortable with it.” Nicky raised his voice, slightly insulted by the insinuation. “I would never try to harm or profit from someone else’s work. Especially if that someone is an amazingly talented poet."

Joe was staring at him, looking entranced.

“But you said it yourself, this is what makes your customers coming back. I wouldn’t want to be the one to do the damage to you.”

Nicky was so going to marry this guy. On the spot. Damn it, he would even accept the obnoxious dude as the best man if he had to.

“Maybe we can work out a good compromise?” Nicky’s voice softened, almost as if he was about to share a secret. “I could still put the cards in the bouquet, but with your signature underneath each poem. And I’d give you a percentage over it, of course.”

“I, uh,” Joe’s cheeks were turning a lovely shade of red, and Nicky was torn between feeling pride in being the one who was actually responsible for that and wanting to melt at the sight of it, “what can I say, you do make it sound like a win-win situation. But, as I was saying before, those aren’t exactly poems I feel very confident about.”

“So why not write some new ones to go along with my bouquet?” Nicky knew, deep down, that he was pushing his luck, but he'd found that he really didn’t care that much, especially if he could find a way to get Joe to come back to his shop.

“Oh my God, I’m done. I’m not gonna stand here any longer watching the two of you shamelessly flirt like teenagers.” Sebastien threw his hands up in the air and started walking towards the door, turning around only to yell at Joe, “if you get laid tonight, remember to send me a 'thank you' note!"

“Once again, I really, really do apologize for him. He can be unbelievably crass, but he’s a good friend.” For the first time since he'd entered the shop, Joe gave Nicky a full-on smile, all teeth and dimples. And that’s when Nicky realized, once and for all, that he was utterly fucked.

“No problem,” Nicky let out in a croaked voice, finding it rather difficult to put together a coherent though, “I hope you’ll consider my offer.”

“I most definitely will.” Joe ran his fingers through his hair, looking almost embarrassed. “Maybe we could talk about it over a cup of coffee? I know a place nearby.”

And that’s how they ended up in the coffee shop owned by Quynh, who was absolutely delighted when they told her the whole story and didn’t even try to apologize to Joe, since she had just given him “the single most exciting meet cute of his entire existence”.

(Two years later, at their wedding, Booker and Quynh were still arguing over which one of them was responsible for such a lucky encounter. Nicky secretly spent his days thanking them both).