˗ˏˋ s e c r e c y ˎˊ˗

“Honest would be best,” Caroline replied with a grin as she turned to look at the man.   Glancing down at the frame her eyes widened as she realised what she had actually said.  “Oh yeah, I didn’t mean just me.  I have a really good photo of us together at New Years last year.  I just don’t know if I would be safer with something like a book voucher.  I feel like it might just be clutter.”

***

“Alright, well... Gifting them a picture of yourself can be taken too egocentric, unless you really know them to not take it too seriously,” he shrugged. “But who am I kidding? I’d probably do the same if I run out of ideas, so if you wanna do it, go ahead! I’m an enabler here.” Aaron wasn’t known for his picking gifts abilities, so her idea wasn’t bad at all. “Mmhmm, good point. Dos your friend loves books more than you? ‘Cause a framed picture is a nice gesture.”

Naomi was fortunate to have Aaron help her with the things that she had dropped originally. He was quite the helping hand that she needed. She smiled brightly, “You are greatly appreciated. Even if they don’t get me anything back. Just you offering is great.” She managed to get the remaining things off of the ground shoving it in the trash.

***

Juggling with the current items on his hand, he bent down to pick a few stuff at his reach nonetheless, handing them over to Naomi. “No problem at all, but hey, if they don’t give you anything, I could always go up there and make a scandal.” He nodded determined. “I can be pretty persuasive when I want to.”

OPEN STARTER || location: open, when: friday evening

Afreya liked to think of herself as open minded. Someone who could go with the flow.  The attempts to actually follow through on that more failed than none. Sometimes she could fake it when the task called for it but she found that much harder in social aspects. Always ending up more vocal about what she liked or didn’t, which was the case now as she stood there with them.

“I know I said yes to this, but your idea was way better in theory than whatever we have going on… here.”

***

It’s not that he knew her that much, but Aaron was slightly surprised when Alfreya had agreed on his idea of jumping to Brisbane River from the bridge. He didn’t re-ask anyways, just in case she would back down while trying to confirm he had heard correctly. “Oh, c’mon. Where’s your sense of adventure now?” He turned to look at her, offering a teasing smile. “This is the kind of stuff you gotta do to have something interesting to tell your grandchildren.”

Where: Perfect Living

When: Saturday afternoon

With: Open

Caroline massaged her temples as she looked around the gift store.  Everything looked gorgeous but that was not helping her narrow down her search for a birthday present.  She picked up a scented candle and began to cough as she took a sniff.  Quickly putting that down she made her way over to the photo frames.  “Is it a bit egocentric to give someone a photo frame for their birthday with a photo of you in it?” she muttered out loud as she picked up a silver frame.

***

Hearing the question, Aaron turned his attention away from his gift picking to the source of the voice. “Do you want me to lie or be honest?” He asked back, letting out a soft chuckle. In all honestly, if he had certain level of trust with the person, he’d give them a portrait of himself as a joke, but he didn’t know if that was the case with Caroline. “You could play it safe by using a pic of you with the person. A lil’ less egocentric maybe.”

WHERE: Chapter IV. Paddington

WHEN: Saturday mid afternoon

WITH: Open

Naomi had definitely been one to spread her wings and allowing herself to explore Brisbane was one of those opportunities. She found herself in an restaurant not too far from her house, she was working from home but after hitting an wall, she decided to go on the town and just explore, with her laptop this was right up her alley. After retrieving her food, she realized that order was incorrect. She wasn’t one to complain, as she waited in line, she tripped over her own two feet accidentally getting the floor dirty, mentally she face palmed.

“Damn just my luck.” She mumbled as she attempted to get the things from the ground starting her afternoon with an bang.

Originally posted by fykatgraham

***

Aaron was heading to a table when he witnessed the little food accident at the line. It was a shame seeing all that food going to waste, knowing it wasn’t that cheap ─at least for him. “You okay?” He asked as he got closer to the young woman, offering an comforting smile. “I know it’s not much, but I could offer you some fries if they don’t get you a new order.”

Location:  Booth for Bitter Suite in the alcohol garden Time: evening

@diazaaron​

“There he is,” Tamir said, sauntering his way over to the Bitter Suite booth, when the booth actually seemed to have a bit of a lull in business.  Tamir was focused on Aaron in particular (although Bitter Suite did have a knack for hiring some of the prettiest bartenders in the city, Tommy had to admit) as he got closer.  He leaned for a handshake, backpat - the usual greeting.  Having grown out of their silly childhood ‘secret handshake’ many years back.  That life - those childhood holidays in Brisbane, it all seemed for too long ago.

But Aaron was here, and he was the only person in Brisbane who kept Tommy connected to his idyllic past.  Even if Aaron had been a few years older than him, and gotten Tommy into plenty of trouble as children.  Something Aaron had also taught him: how to wriggle his way out of trouble too.

Maybe the same could be said, for their relationship now.  Tommy wouldn’t be bold enough to call it a ‘friendship’, per se.  It was close, in certain ways.  Aaron was useful to glean news, gossip, insights, clues for Tamir’s PI work.  He knew everything about everything, it seemed.   If Tamir asked, he wanted to believe Aaron would be the guy who’d get him out of a tight squeeze - or perhaps land him right in one.  

Maybe they weren’t super-close but it was so good to know Aaron had his back.

Hopefully.

“Alright, Aaron?” Tommy greeted, then motioned to the booth. “Any specials I should try?  I’ve been saving myself for your booth, naturally.  Didn’t want to get totally pished before sampling Bitter Suite.”

***

Aaron was just covering for a friend, so he would have the rest of the evening free and was counting the minutes he had left, to be able to get out of there and start enjoying the festivities. And speaking of festivities, the man he could count with for some reckless behavior as kids (and sometimes even now as adults) just walked in. The older man smiled at Tamir, greeting him as he got closer. It wasn’t the typical kind of friendship everyone had, it was sporadic at times, specially while growing up, and in some sense it could be seen as mutually beneficial, but regardless of the strange aspects of it, Tommy was someone Aaron would choose to be on his side.

“You’re a lucky man Kasra,” he commented throwing a side smirk at his friend. “Twice lucky, actually. There’s new beer we’re promoting that I’ll gladly get for you, and, in about 20 minutes or so, I’ll be all yours and get can get pished together.” He pulled one of the small sample pints to serve one of the varieties, giving the glass to the other. “This one has clove and banana flavor, but if you want something bitter, I got you cover.”

▬ 

It was inevitable of him not to laugh, though the smirk was still resting all over his lips. “I tried to keep that to myself… too Shakespearean of us to attempt to have a relationship and build this feeling.” It was the perfect vague response that wouldn’t lead them into talking about the family issues that were definitely in the past, and still be able to make a joke out of it. Chidi could care less about the problems Omari had with the Diaz family. He grew used to having Aaron around, and even if it meant being foolish, he accepted that probability willingly. 

His hands brushed against his jeans, just in case there was some dirt from kneeling against the floor that remained in the fabric of his pants. “What can I say? I’m inadequate?” He shrugged, despite how embarrassing the situation could be, Chidi found entertainment enough to ignore everyone around them and focus on keeping his conversation with Aaron. “Oh, yeah, yeah! Definitely not mine, but by all means,” Chidi handed the ring to his friend; Chidi was constantly surrounded by that subject: jewelry, and it was the main source of money for him to know that he didn’t need that ring for extra money. He wouldn’t mind if Aaron was the one earning something out of that situation. “I guess someone will be pretty disappointed to lose this ring. And hey, I gave you the ring and offered you a beer, aside from… the fact that now you know that I wish we were together. You want more? Fuck you.” He pretended to be hurt, but soon he was smiling again. 

“Listen, they have this awesome coffee bear, you should try it. Either that one or the one that has some lemon flavor.”

***

“Ah, it’d have been an epic and tragic love. Hiding from our families and all that jazz, ‘cept for the dying part. I’m still too young.” Well, if he were to be honest, it was more or less what he was going through. There wasn’t a war declared between his family and his lover’s, but her parents never liked him. The thought hit him the moment it left his lips, a slight grimace rested on his features but he made sure to shake it off before Chidi realized it. At least he was sure the younger man wouldn’t be asking questions, if he thought this was regarding their families; that topic was off the table, they made sure their parents issues didn’t interfere between their amicable relationship.

People were staring, maybe out of curiosity of what would happen next or maybe not. Aaron was just too amused, and drunk, to care about what they thought of them. As Chidi handed him the ring, he gave it a thoroughly look as he held it in front of him. It was a nice ring, he had to admit, and if his situation was different, Aaron would consider using it to propose to her. Now he just had to keep up appearances. “Thanks, man. Maybe it’s enough to pay my car’s fixes.” Aaron offered Chidi a smile as he placed the ring inside his pocket, followed by another laugh as the other pointed out Aaron’s claims. “I always want more, besides, have you checked yourself out on the mirror lately? Damn, boy.” He joked, giving Chidi a playful arm squeeze. “But fine, I’ll take the beer and burger, and I’ll move on. Both sound tempting, so I’ll try them.”

— location: bbq festival — date and time: saturday afternoon, june 27th — availability: open 

He was on his way to grab another beer, when his eyes landed on something shining and resting on the ground. His curiosity caused him to kneel and grab the golden ring. Assuming it belonged to the person next to him, Chidi aimed to get their attention. “Is this yours?” The mistake was the fact that he did this before he moved up to stand still, caused strangers to assume he was the lamest person in the world that would ever propose in the middle of a barbecue festival.

“Oh, right–” he heard some commotion close to him and the other person, which caused him to instantly motion himself up. “I’m not asking you to marry me, it’d be one hell of an awkward situation in case this is really yours and whoever married you gets back to face this scene, huh?” Besides, Chidi really urged to never deal with this kind of situation in his life. Serious relationships: his nightmare.

“But, in case you’re not waiting for a significant other and this isn’t yours, I could ask you… will you join me to grab a few drinks and something to eat? I’ve been eyeing the Chef’s Lab burger menu, and buying a drink is the least I could do after fake-proposing to you. Though, I’m sure you’d not say yes to me, not boyfriend material… at all.”

***

For once, he wasn’t the one serving drinks that day so Aaron could happily relaxed and enjoy the festival with a pint in his hands —well, it could actually be the third or the fourth of the day, he honestly lost count. Maybe the dizziness of the amount of alcohol made him loose some perspective, ‘cause one moment he was trying to decide which stand to go to next for some food, and the other he had someone calling him and popping a ring kneeled down in one knee.

He laughed at first seeing Chidi in that position, who wouldn’t do it in such a bizarre situation? But then the man thought it would be fun giving the curious lurkers a small show. “Chidi...Chidi, my man, I didn’t know you were so secretly in love with me to propose!” Before the younger man got up, he brought a hand to his face to make believe he was wiping away some tears. When the other finally spoke again, Aaron looked at him with a disappointed expression. “Ow, that’s really rude of you. You can’t propose and then take it back just like that. Tsk, tsk.” Would Aaron ever let this go? Probably not, it was good bribing material for when he needed it, besides giving him a good laugh. “If it’s not yours nor mine, we could sell it and make it cash. You know about this shit, is it worth something?” Looked like the kind of jewelry he could afford with three months of salary; if the woman he loved ever got divorced, he would definitely invest that sum of money for her. “Just a drink? After breaking my heart like this I want the burger too. Just FYI, I’d have said yes, you dickhead. It’s your loss now.”

Milou smirked in response. “You want me to hold my arm in the air for an hour?” she asked, but there was a challenge in her eyes. “I toast with pretend-glasses too, else that would be really unfair of me,” she shared, toasting against his imaginary glass. “I do like that idea,” she said, nodding at his kind offer. “I’m celebrating life,” she said. “And happiness, and how easy it is or can be, if we enjoy the little things.” She finished her speech while raising her glass again, nodding her head forward like her mother would do when she ate something really really good. Praise this food, she would say, and hum with satisfaction. She turned back to the kind stranger. “I had a small dance show this morning with the most adorable kids, and they were just so happy to move about and be geeky and weird, it stole my heart.” 

***

“I didn’t mean to literally say you should hold your arm up, but if you wanna try...” He jokingly said in response as a laugh left his lips, gesturing again a toast with an invisible glass, and pretending to make it click against hers. As she agreed on the offer, Aaron listened to her explanation. If kids hadn’t been involved on the story, he would have probably passed on using his tips money for paying her drink. It was definitely a subject that hit close to home, not being able to enjoy his own children the way he would wanted to just killed him, and every year the feeling was getting more difficult to cope with. “Alright, alright, I guess you win this time. Kids and dogs are always an upper hand, huh? You’re a teacher, I take.”

who: @diazaaron​

where: that route to bike close to the shore, just invented it

when: Sunday

“We need to establish some rules” Alonso started because if he was going to bike miles and miles around Brisbane then he wanted to make sure Aaron was on board with everything. “If I die, make it look classy, like, don’t say he tripped over a little rock or had a heart attack after just one mile, make it sound like it was the adventure of my life” He walked from one side to the other, just making sure he got it all out. “You can keep my car, I like you enough to give you a car. Or maybe you shold get this bike, whatever you enjoy the most” He continued “I have a will somewhere, Sara probably knows where it is, haven’t updated it” He shivered, he hated paper work “Please hide all my porn, I don’t have that much but still, don’t want my laptop to look like a porn bank or anything” He said as he realized he finished.

Now, with a bright smile he looked at his friend “Do you want to set some rules for yourself? Any porn I need to hide? Drug stash I need to take care of? Because I’d do it for ya man, you know I would” He chuckled, thinking he really should take himself more serious but it was simply impossible.

***

When they had agreed on grabbing their bikes and ride, Aaron didn’t think it would come with conditions. He would have flipped his friend off immediately, but instead, he let Alonso ramble on as he prepped his gear and helmet. He sighed, occasionally looking at his friend with a ‘really?’ expression. “Okay, can I talk now? Are you done being over-dramatic?” Aaron replied in a mocking tone as he turned towards Alonso. “First of all, I wouldn’t let you die, not on my watch. Unless you make me commit it myself, which could be if you keep talking,” he flashed the other man a grin, before continuing. “My old truck is falling apart, and you have a pretty nice car, guess I’ll take you up on that offer. Last but not least, your porn...Boom, consider it done,” he snapped his fingers meaning he’d make it disappear fast. “We don’t want people talking about the kind of freak you are, I got you covered amigo mio.”

As a small laugh escaped him, he considered his friend’s exaggerated but not so crazy idea. Maybe there were things he needed someone to take care of, though not even his best friend knew about certain things in his life. “My stash is all legal, but if you wanna keep it is all yours, there’s no other person I’d give it so easily ─what you’d need to do though, is throw my phone away, break it, whatever. No traceable evidence of my conversations.”

Hey folks, Gis finally here with an intro post! Alright, this is not really an intro, but I’m just gonna drop all the important links here for easier access. The connection page is just a basic-ish one, open to more stuff (also needs to be updated bc I’m slow af)

WHERE: Bitter Suite WHEN: Saturday afternoon WITH open

Milou sat down at the bar with a smile on her face, flipping her hair over her shoulder and ordering her first drink of the day. Of the week more like. Her body felt amazingly tired. She had danced her heart out for a charity show that morning, which had involved kids, who were so easily motivated to do all the weird dance moves. 

And Milou just wanted to share her happiness with someone. She had made the right choice moving away from the Netherlands and starting over. Even if she missed her family, she suddenly had all her freedom back. She thanked the bartender, and just sighed contently. “If anyone wants to toast to life with me, here is my glass,” she said, raising it with a satisfied smile on her face. 

***

This time of the day was the most busy, but even in the middle of a little chaos, Aaron found time to chat with patrons, specially those that were regulars at the bar. He overheard the woman’s comment as he was serving someone else’s order, and with a small laugh he lifted his hand, pretending he was holding a glass.

“If you hold that toast for about.. an hour or so, I’d gladly raise a real glass with you.” He couldn’t say he was particularly positive about life, giving the situation he brought himself into for quite a while now, but what he could do about it? He learned to live with the lies and secrets.  “I tell you what, if the reason you’re celebrating moves me, this and the next round are on me.”