#and the rest of the screencaps since 2022...

[captainodonoghue]

Captain Swan Advent Calendar 2024 Day 13 ↝ x

[ren-rambles-often]

"Love, or Something Ignites" might just be the best goyuu fic ever!!! let me explain!!! (Thoughts and Review)

Some quick context but cuz this review was already going to be pretty long without my flashback sequence so pls scroll down to the red text if you don't want to hear my history of opinions with JJK and its ships.

I've been deep in the goyuu tag since the beginning of the year, which I found kind of strange at first since I watched S1 way back in 2022 and did not give much of af about the whole show.

I kicked my feet a bit at SukuFushi,  tried to like it more, and even searched out a couple of fics but they just weren't giving AT ALL.

At the start of 2023 I watched jjk 0 and I was kinda hyped to get back into the show, but my shipping heart still ached for something to latch onto so I went on AO3 and picked up the first fic I found. Surprise, surprise, it was a goyuu fic featuring role reversal. I wouldn't say I liked it but it did tickle something in my brain I would have explored if I wasn't neck deep in my bakudeku era at the time.

Then S2 happened and it all just sorta clicked for me. Before then I'd mainly been a SukuIta believer, I didn't frequent their fics but I DID gobble up their twincest doujins like I was starved when I had the time. 2nd cour of S2 coming out practically sealed Goyuu for me, I'd always felt there was a bit of something I saw between them but Yuuji screaming out for Gojo in that last frame...just...*chef's kiss*

I didn't go back to rewatch S1 where a majority of their reactions were like some diehard fans would but the clips and screencaps I've come across now and again are enough to solidify for me that yes! They are made for each other!! (Hope the wrong stsg fans don't find this ◉‿◉)

I'd really love to go on and on about their dynamic but this was supposed to be about my February fic of the month, "Love, or Something Ignites" by lainebee.

Like I said, I've been deep in the tags and the only others I think that come close to this one are "No Sanctuary" by eddie01 and both world's sequels.

Now I'm not saying there aren't other good ones, like I'm just halfway through the hundred and something AO3 pages of their ship tag, so there's a lot I've yet to see. Still, this is a sorta subjective review and I just hope to spread the word of this masterpiece and maybe meet others who've read it so we can fan together in the comments.

(Now that's all out of the way, there will be mild spoilers and also warnings for; omegaverse, mpreg, and voyeurism so let's hop to it (✿^‿^)

The fic is set in a historical Japan au where Yuuji and Sukuna are brothers, with Sukuna being much older and ruling over a kingdom in the south. Thing is, he's constantly at war with the Gojo clan cuz these two mfs are just built like that in every verse. Shit happens and they come to a truce and as a sign of goodwill Sukuna offers Yuuji, his recently presented omega brother, as a gift (I honestly thought Yuuji was like 16 or 17 but he's 19 so like whatever idc (╥﹏╥)

"So what's the problem?" you might ask, well aside from the obvious marriage of convenience plot, Gojo doesn't give a fuck, he's still hung up on Geto (kinda tho, it's complicated but they aren't in love) and he's pretty much intended to go through it for show.

But that's not the end; not only do our boys have no feelings for each other and have never even met, but THING IS... Sukuna has demanded a public consummation cuz he's a bastard like that and we love him for it. Worry not there's no fucking on a stage for everyone to watch...just fucking in a 'room' for a handful of witnesses to watch from behind those dresser screen things (vocab not working lol).

The fic is definitely kinda long and tho there are some slow-burn vibes a lot of it essentially takes place in ONE FUCKING DAY. My first assumptions going into this were, "pacing issues???" and "oh the author is going to either insta love them, make them fuck and spend the rest of the fic doing fluff, or they will fuck with some angst then spend the rest falling in love."

Color me surprised when yeah, they did fuck but that was one or two chapters from the last of about nine.

You expect this kind of shit to feel rushed as fuck but the writing is so fucking divine that you never feel like putting it down. There's always so much going on but time is never wasted dwelling on one subject for too long, it's fast, it's funny, and the characters and setting are constantly giving the energy you know and love from the original show but probably two times better.

One of the things I noticed a few GoYuu writers struggle with is accurately reflecting Gojo cuz he's actually an enigma and arguably one of the most complex characters in the show with a broad range of emotions. He doesn't particularly fit one kind of vibe whereas for everyone else you can pick one or something close to it. Gojo on the other hand goes from one end of the spectrum to the other pretty quickly and that's super hard to capture and explore, especially when it comes to the shorter smutty fics (Not complaining too much tho, I live for the E rating.)

I love the direction the author chose to go with him, and it feels so true to his character, his immature but his teasing doesn't feel over the top or come off as exaggerated. His status as the strongest is just told but shown to us with the way he behaves and I like that we get instances of him getting work done despite knowing he's a rebel. It reminds us that yeah, he's working to make the clan the way he wants but he's just going along with what he has to in true Gojo fashion.

Yuuji, is totally something else, it's implied that he actually killed people...and I don't think we got a paragraph of him feeling guilt over it but that's somewhere toward the end so forget it. Yuuji is the absolute sweetest here and I adore every scene he's in along with how bratty he tends to be with Gojo. It's not frequent and most of the time he's pretty respectful but when he's not...Yeah. His inner thoughts and his conversations with most of the other characters really bring life to the story and you literally feel you're right there with him through it all.

Then there's the smut...oh. my. fucking. GOD. It's absolutely delicious. If you were iffy about it being omegaverse, I beg you to actually consider it cuz all probably more than four thousand words of it are fucking precious.

I had no idea I'd be into sex with some commentary when I began reading but the conversation from the characters picked was spot on and even added to the spicyness.

My favorite part is when Yuuji moans like a fucking pornstar and the zenin guy (forgot his disgusting ass name) goes "The boy is a whore."

Like boohoo bitch just say you wish you were getting all that, I wish I was (╥﹏╥)

If you're still iffy about the Omegaverse trust me it's not that big of a deal, the focus is mainly on Gojo and Yuuji trying to find some mutual ground to get on so the consummation isn't fucking awkward but by talking, joking, and getting to know each other something even more starts to blossom.

There are definitely traces of insta love but I personally see it as a weird mixture of attraction and possessiveness but this book is just like the prelude to the main course which is the second part in the series which I'm not done with yet but fucking hell...all the intrigue and tension that you will find in Love, or Something Ignites, gets doubled with more angst and mystery in the second fic, along with goyuu being stupid as well as stupidly in love.

So give it a try, and if you have, let me know what you think. I'd usually say where the tiny flaws are but for this book there are none...unless you count Yuta being Maki's mate instead of Rika's but that's my personal hill to die on. Let me know if there's a fic you want me to write about and I'll maybe get to it

Well, that's all from me today, it's 3 am and I'm fucking exhausted.

[pinayelf-archive]

❤️ Self-Rec Tag Game ❤️

Rules: Share five of your own fanworks (fic, art, etc.). Then, tag five more people to share the things they've made.

I've finally gotten around to this! Thank you for the tag @shivunin, this is such a wonderful idea <3

Something you absolutely adore

Brown Eyes Looking Into Browner Eyes

Not to toot my own horn (lol I know that's the point of the tag game), but I consider this my magnum opus of 2022. It was the first time I fully incorporated lighting onto a full-piece and I was so proud of how it came out. Seeing all the wonderful comments of ppl loving it meant to much to me :') Also I continue to push my brown eyes supremacy propaganda lmao

The rest under the cut!

Something that was challenging to create

Cullen and Immy's babies

Backgrounds are always a challenge for me, full illustrations are in general (sighs in wanting to be a portrait artist then changing my mind & deciding I wanna be an illustrator smh) especially when there's multiple characters in one and there's 5 in this. The whole process of thinking about every aspect - lighting, color palette, poses, dynamics, perspective jmfidi is SO MUCH. But I really wanted to do this because I wanted a full family illustration of Immy and Cullen w/ their bbs. I don't think it's perfect but me finishing it and actually DOING it helps in going forward.

Something that makes you laugh (or smile, if that fits more comfortably) 

Baby Ilao

Uh-oh, more Cullen x Immy baby content lol. Cullen and Immy's post-Trespasser's life (my hc of it) is my comfort place. I've never cared about giving OCs babies until I romanced Cullen w Immy and now it's all I can think about ;-; The two of them as mamae and papae just make me jmfidijf and baby Ilao is my absolute beloved even tho she's a menace <3 (Papae Cullen does things to my heart ;-;)

Something that surprised you (in how it turned out, how much other people liked it, etc.)

Sinag 2.0

I made Sinag when I was 22, and since I'm 28 now, I've changed quite a bit since then. I've revamped her recently because I've been feeling disconnected with her and I think this helped me find her voice again. So ofc, I had to draw a new proper art piece of her. I was so worried this was going to come out awful because Dragon Age armor in general IS A DOOZY to draw lmao. I'm pleasantly surprised this came out decently, Hawke's armor made me dizzy looking at it lol.

Something you want other people to see

Cullen x Immy as Jane and Bingley

I did a screencap redraw of Lizzie and Darcy as Amihan and Nate, so I decided why not do it with Cullen and Immy - cause I've always seen them as Jane and Bingley. It turned into a full study that took me three weeks (cryin) but I was really happy with how the environments turned out. I really SHOULD DO one again. I put blood sweat and tears into it so I kindly ask to Please Look lol ;-; <3

I've seen most ppl tagged so hopefully I don't double tag! Tagging: @feeshies @tatert07s @cairamelcoffee @sunflowerdales

No pressure ofc <3

[acaplaya-musings]

Voiceplay-adjacent Visuals: Ghost Riders In The Sky

Geoff's Halloween video for 2022 (uploaded on the 2nd of October) was a cover of the song Ghost Riders In The Sky, written by Stan Jones (who also wrote Saddle Up), and performed by many artists since, such as Marty Robbins and Johnny Cash. As Geoff himself said in the description, Geoff had been getting "MORE than a few requests for this song" over the past few months prior, and honestly, with it being both a "spooky" song and a country/Western song, it practically had his name written all over it. And well, Geoff certainly delivered, as always, and I have a decent few things to talk about here, so let's go!

Not actually talking about the Cowboy Geoffs just yet, but of course I gotta point out the cool way that they flash in and out of shot right at the start of the video, like a sort of teaser of what you're gonna get from the rest of the video.

And doubly of course, I must show my love for this very cool logo for the cover/video, which apparently Geoff designed himself or something? Seriously this freaking slaps 👌

I'm guessing that Lead Geoff's fairly simple black/grey outfit is meant to help the Cowboy Geoffs stand out more in comparison/contrast, but also goddamn this guy wears black a lot 😂😅

(Also oh my god he's not wearing anything on his left wrist! A very rare occurrence for sure! 😝)

Shoutout to Rick Underwood once again for the ghostly makeup! (He's also credited in the description as "beard wrangler" 😆)

There have been at least two (maybe three) reaction videos I've watched which have compared the Cowboy Geoffs to the Night King and/or his army from Game Of Thrones. It's the eyes, mostly

Right, now time for individual shots! I'm gonna mess with the chronological order of screencaps here just a tiny bit, just so I can do a straightforward left-to-right introduction:

Geoff credits his "backing vocals" in this one, but apparently the credits aren't in respoective order of their positioning in the video. I found out which Cowboy Geoff is which from comments (Patrons of Geoff I'm assuming) on a reaction video. So anyway, this is Jeff!

(For once Lead Geoff (or just Geoff for this one) isn't actually the one with the least amount of facial hair (Geoff has a bit of a 5 'o' clock shadow in this video)).

...This one is Daryl (love the red-brown coat, very nice) (Yes, Daryl (the Patrons helped name him I believe?)).

...This one is Goff (notice that he takes off his hat with his left hand? He's a leftie! (for this video at least))

...And finally we have Jeoph. This isn't the first time Geoff has had 4 Backup Geoffs helping him out in a video (e.g. see Ain't No Sunshine), but this was the first video that the 4th/extra Backup Geoff was officially given a name 😄

No prizes for guessing who got credited with lighting design (and 3D renders!) for this one, but regardless, shoutout to Eli!

Love the translucent/ghostly effect on the Cowboy Geoffs, very neat!

Geoff could have kept the Cowboy Geoffs on screen for the whole time, but instead they disappear along with the background landscape at the end of the first chorus, and then they fade back into shot after the first line of the second verse, about 4 or 5 seconds later. I vibe with it! It's creative, it's interesting, it encourages you to keep paying attention to the video!

And this of course was very cool!

(Also notice how as well as Goff being left-handed, Jeff's gun holster thing is on the side of his vest, under his left arm, rather than on his belt! Details!!!!)

(Super big aspect ratio for this video too btw, like it nearly takes up the full height of my laptop screen! (Gotta have enough space to get good full-body shots of all 5 of them I suppose))

This man has such a stranglehold over me that even just seeing him whistling in this (on my first-time watch of it) had me doing a short intake of breath! How is he allowed to be this good at so many things? 😅

(Also a little jealous because not only can I not raise one eyebrow independently of the other, but I also can't whistle!!! (I can't click/snap my fingers either, but that one I've learned how to do a "cheat" version that's more like a one-handed clap))

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I love it when Geoff gets to belt out a line or two in a song! Especially when you can actually see him putting full effort into it!

Very cool! (Also this video is the second usage of the gramophone logo on Geoff's channel; the first was on Rains Of Castamere, but I forgot to mention it ^^;)

Also also I can't help but give a shoutout to the audio panning effect right at the end, with the sound of hoofbeats that move from the left ear of your headphones to the right, as if you're really listening to horses running by you. It might be one of my favourite clever sound effect things ever tbh.

Geoff doesn't upload full-length covers as often as Voiceplay does (totally understandable btw), but when he does, it's always an absolute treat! Currently (i.e. as of the 21st of February), I only have a few Geoff videos left to talk about (some of his 2023 uploads!), but I'm quite excited for them, so stay tuned!

[lillianofliterature]

who says we’ll have an ending? | alan grant x reader

REVISED August 1st, 2022.

a/n: this is sort of a vent. inspired by the fourth prompt from the official fictober prompt list. I‘ve had the biggest crush on him (and the actor, Sam Neill) since I was eight, so this is the culmination of a lot of fangirling over the years. (this picture is adorable, look at the dust all over him oh my word...i didn’t picture dust on him in this scenario but this screencap fits best)

DO NOT REPOST MY WORK.

also, no shame to anyone at home with kids or working from home (I myself work from home, so I literally have nothing against anyone who does so as well) I was just writing the narrative below to fit the dialogue! 

fanfic or original work: fanfic

fandom: jurassic park

prompt: “that didn’t stop you before.” (day 4)

warnings: rejection, angst to fluff

word count: 2.5K

music: Just Friends by James Newton Howard

“Here, these are ready to be rinsed again,” Alan instructed. He stood up briefly to hand you a tub of chemically prepped fossil specimens that had been soaking for some time, which you quickly rose from your stool to take. Your fingers grazed his own as you did so, provoking that funny feeling in your stomach again. His lips quirked up into a smile before he bent back over the other fossils he was still prepping. 

Taking the fossils out of the tub carefully, you began the delicate process of rinsing the treatment from them before they could be properly re-coated. As you washed away bits of the matrix from the specimen with the help of a bristled tool, silence fell between the two of you.

You mulled over your thoughts as you concentrated carefully on the task at hand. In your process of brushing away at the crumbling sedimentary rock that coated the specimens, you also had to seal the fossils with a PVA resin as they appeared. It was a tedious process, but since you had been doing it for so long, it had almost become therapeutic—which meant you were able to think about other things once you got into a good rhythm.

You could think about Alan and the way he seemed to invade your every thought and how subtle touches and finger grazes had been occurring for the past couple of months, just as it had minutes ago when he handed you the tub. Was it just your hope for something more that made you notice these little things more and more? Surely they weren’t merely accidental?

The muffled sounds of chattering voices and clinking tools could be heard from outside of the trailer where the rest of the volunteers and assistant paleontologists were tinkering away at the earth. It left little else to be heard or spoken, save for any instructions the two of you had for each other as you worked. The silence of concentration had never bothered you before like it did now as you tried to come up with a way to express your feelings to the paleontologist behind you.

After some time, when you had finished rinsing what you could, you took the tub back to the table across from him, setting it carefully beside the prepped acid baths he was working with. You sat back down on your stool and started gluing small fragments together that had already gone through the process of preparation. Your ability to concentrate dwindled with him in your line of sight; you couldn’t help but glance away every few seconds to admire him, toying with the idea of asking him outright about the subtle flirting. He was oblivious, of course—or at least you hoped he was.

“Alan, can I ask you something?”

“Mhm,” he hummed, his gaze stilled fixated on the specimens he was dipping into the acid treatments with his gloved hands. You waited to continue until he pulled his hands out and laid the sediment onto a tray next to the others. He perceived your patient silence as a request to pause for a moment, which he did.

He brushed the light brown fringe away from his forehead with his forearm before releasing a sigh he had been holding onto while he worked. When he returned your gaze, you felt your sudden bout of confidence shrinking by the second. What if it was all just coincidental? What if he didn’t feel the same way and by asking him, you would make a complete fool out of yourself? Would he be uncomfortable working within close proximity with you from then on?

You swallowed. You had to ask him outright. Waiting around for a clearer sign was practically torture when it was all you could think about…and something about Alan’s personality told you he wasn’t going to be the one to make the first move.

“Am I wrong in thinking there’s something going on here? Between you and me?”

Your heartbeat quickened when his eyebrows rose questioningly. He obviously hadn’t been expecting that question to pop out so suddenly. It took him a moment to process your words and the implications behind them. He glanced down and pulled his gloves off carefully and set them aside before rubbing his hands on the towel draped in the sink behind him.

You watched with growing anxiety as he faced you again, rubbing his fingers almost nervously. He cleared his throat a couple of times before he managed to find his voice.

“Uh, no, you aren’t wrong.”

Your shoulders visibly relaxed and you took in a deep, relieved breath. You couldn’t help but smile at him from across the metal table. He liked you back.

However, that sweet smile you wore soon faded when you saw that the crooked smirk he gave you seemed almost forced—like he was ashamed to admit that he felt something for you. Why did he seem so uncomfortable? Wasn’t this a good thing?

“You seem upset.”

“I don’t know if this is something we should pursue, (Y/n).”

He said it so easily, so quickly. You hadn’t even had the chance to discuss anything more and he already made up his mind?

“Why? We like each other, don’t we?”

“Ah, yes, but,” he rubbed his hands together again, he seemed to find it hard to focus on your gaze, “It can be complicated.”

“How would it be complicated, Alan? We know each other pretty well already, we work together every day, we have the same profession,” Your brows drew together as you sat straight up. Somehow, this entire idea of confessing your feelings was beginning to feel like a mistake. “Am I missing something?”

“When you work together every day, as close as we do, it can get messy.”

Your confused expression turned to one of hurt—you felt as if you had just been rejected before you had even attempted to ask him out properly, even after he had admitted to having the same feelings for you. He seemed absolutely dead-set against wanting to be with you.

Where was this coming from?

Suddenly, you realized. Your mind drifted back to Ellie Sattler, the paleobotanist who had worked with Alan before she left the field to start her own family. You knew that she and Alan had a history together, although you weren’t sure exactly how it had ended. A few of the long-time volunteers and specialists on his team had hinted that they had had a difference of opinion on their future together, that Alan had wanted to keep working and Ellie wanted to settle down and experience something different—especially after their return from Isla Nublar. Their paths had simply diverged.

But still – he dated someone he worked with, didn’t he? And evidently, it worked out well until something traumatic pulled their interests in different directions. These were completely different circumstances. Why did your work have to affect it now?

“That didn’t stop you before.”

He released a heavy sigh and leaned forward onto the table with his fists. He knew you were talking about Ellie. He lowered his head to study the specimens laid around the two of you with a gaze full of racing thoughts. What was he supposed to say to that? How was he supposed to explain himself without seeming disinterested? How was he going to explain that the conclusion of his last relationship was exactly why he didn’t want to start another one with you?

He didn’t want to repeat that same cycle and wind up losing you in the end of it. At least here, as friends and colleagues, you could have each other in some way. How could he put that into words?

You dropped your gaze and stared at the glue-dipped brush in your hands, suddenly overwhelmed with the need to be alone and busy your hands with work. Quietly, you picked up the fragments in front of you and began lathering the glue into their small cracks. You went back and forth between the photograph of the excavated composition and the pieces in front of you, fitting them together like a delicate, impatient puzzle. You wished you had never said anything at all.

“I’ve given it a lot of thought, (Y/n), and I don’t think it’s going to work.”

You felt yourself recoil. It stung to know that he had already thought about the prospect of being together and decided the matter all on his own without coming to you. After all, you were half of the equation – and wasn’t he a man of science?

“So you’re okay with just ignoring each other from now on?”

“Ignore each other? No, we don’t have to do that – we can be friends, we can work together, we can go on as we are. We don’t have to be dating to do that.”

“Alan,” You took another deep breath and let your eyes wander to the fossils near your hands. After rubbing your cheeks and forehead for a moment to wipe the anxious fatigue from your senses, you finally looked back up. “I can’t just go back to being your friend when I’m in love with you!  Especially not after you just told me you feel the same way! You may be able to shove your feelings aside, but that’s not so easy for me.”

You saw his shock return at your open use of the term ‘love’. But that’s what it was, wasn’t it? You were adults and adults dealt with genuine substantial feelings. You didn’t want to beat around the bush anymore. He seemed to swallow his astonishment and flattery, pulling himself back into the conversation.

“(Y/n), it’s not easy for me either.”

“Then why are you asking me to do that? Why are you so against trying this out?”

“I’m not, I just-…”

“But you made the decision before talking to me about it, Alan. Why give up on something that could end up being wonderful?”

“Because I’ve already had wonderful before, (Y/n), and look how that ended.”

Ouch.

In your ears, it sounded like he said he had already had the best. How could you do any better?

“I had something that worked perfectly fine, but it fell apart because of me, because of this,” He gestured his hand vaguely towards the dig site on the other side of the trailer door, “I chose my work over a future with someone I cared about because I simply didn’t want it. I didn’t want that life. I can’t have a life where I’m not here, doing this. It doesn’t fit me. And the longer you and I are together, the more differences we’ll find until there’re too many to compromise over.”

You were hurt to be told that he wouldn’t try it with you because it hadn’t worked with someone else. You wanted to be upset and let yourself wallow in those emotions, let yourself misinterpret his words—but you didn’t. Instead, you tried your best to understand his point of view and why he didn’t want things to go as sour as they had before.

You had to convince him otherwise, show him that this was an entirely different situation and you were an entirely different person. And if knowing all of that, he still didn’t want to try, you would have to learn to be okay with that – or keep fighting for your chance.

“You can’t just assume we would end up that way, Alan, or-or that we would end at all!” You exclaimed, impassioned to help him see what you saw; to see the possibility in your futures together. “I understand that you don’t want to be hurt again, but you can’t let that stop you from moving forward with your life. I’m a completely different person with different aspirations. I don’t want to settle down, I don’t want a life where I find myself at home with kids and not working out here. I want to keep excavating and learning,” your voice softened into a plea, “and I want to do it with you.”

“And after you get tired of digging? When you’re tired of dirt in the sheets and a layer of dust all over everything,” He dragged his finger across the countertop behind him, picking up a trail of thin dust on his skin to show you, “and cold showers and every meal cooked over a crummy grill?”

“I won’t get tired of it.”

“If you did, (Y/n). What then?”

“Are you asking for my retirement plan?”

There was a ghost of a laugh on his lips and his smile flashed, widening those dimpled lines in his cheeks that you adored. His pondering expression returned when his laughter faded. He dusted his hands against his khaki pants before crossing them over his chest. When he raised his eyes to catch your gaze again and you smiled fondly at him before you continued.

“Alan, I don’t know what I’ll want five years from now or even twenty-five years from now. I’m not someone who plans things. I just have a general idea of what I’d like to do someday. All I know is that this is where I want to be for a while, on a site, wherever the site moves. After that, maybe I’ll spend some time in one of the good museums, doing some research for a larger group,”

“Or maybe I’d like to travel and see some of the foreign collections…I’d like to see more of the world, maybe stay in a cottage somewhere in Ireland for a while, spend a Christmas in New York…but that’s really it. I just want to take it as it comes,” you could see him relax with every word you spoke, “I don’t want to drag you away from this life you have here and I definitely don’t want to change you—I like this life, too, and I like you as you are.”

You smiled tenderly at the paleontologist whose brilliant blue eyes searched yours. For several lingering moments, he seemed to weigh the possibilities against their chances. When his tucked-in lips turned into a smile that was accompanied by an almost shocked laugh, it seemed as though you had broken through to him. He could see now that it was entirely possible for this to turn out completely different than his last relationship. Who said there would be an ending? For all he knew, this one could stick; this one could last forever.

He could see that you wholeheartedly believed it would.

He suddenly felt a little bashful—and somewhat mischievous—as he cast his gaze to the ground, rubbing the toe of his shoe against the leg of the table as he pondered something quietly. There was a lopsided smile adorning his face when his playful gaze lifted to meet your doting one.

“Maybe I spoke too soon.”

“I think that’s a possibility, Dr. Grant.”