❝ oh, is that all ? ❞

"I'm super proud of you for doing that. Being consistent and vulnerable and reaching out for help from people who know more in regards to what they're talking about," Lyra nodded lightly. "And I appreciate it. I prefer hearing things straight from you after all and we've always been pretty good at being transparent about these sorts of things with one another," she mentioned, squeezing his hand.

Jonah squeezed her hand back, "I'll keep being transparent with you, I promise. I have no intention of lying to the people I love ever again."

"I will happily ignore them for the day for you," Jonah replied, stealing one last kiss before he went to retrieve his phone, "You don't have to tell me that. I'm surprised I even remember where my jeans are," he joked as he sent a quick text to his employee so that they could open up and run the store for the day and to let him know if there were any problems. After that, he was quick to jump back into the bed and position himself on top of Jaiyash as he sprawled out across the space. "Now, how exactly are we ignoring the world's rules for the day?" he asked, hands resting on his chest.

@jonchdecnfinch

Jonah chuckled, all too willingly being dragged back into bed and into Jaiyash's arms. From under the covers, his lips found his for a short but sweet kiss, "You'd be surprised how plausible each of those stories would be for me but you seem to forget that I own the place and do have an employee or two," he replied, "However, in order to do that, I need to get my phone which is in my jeans pocket," he paused and smirked in the dim light, "You might recall that we left those in the living room last night," he pointed out. His face softened and he kissed Jai again, "I will come right back."

"As much as I'd love them to be used in more decor, they'd most likely lose their charm to an extent if they weren't just reserved for certain holidays."

"Hmm..." Jonah nodded thoughtfully, "I suppose you're right. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? I guess leaving them as is is the best option."

#about me

"Unfortunately the neutral endings are no good for me either," Rosa admitted. "I stay up all night getting tangled in the hypotheticals– it's frustrating at times."

"You're very particular, aren't you?" Jonah commented teasingly, chuckling to show his humour, "What kind of movies do you like then?"

"I'm so happy to hear that," she replied with a warm smile, leaning into his touch when Jonah had given her a comforting squeeze. "Ah me? I'm alright. It's a nice night but I suppose I'm just kind of waiting for the fireworks at this point. They're always the best bit after all."

"As you should, my love, but they're still a while yet. Wouldn't you rather wait inside where it's warm?" Jonah asked curiously.

"If you're sure," he replied softly, not wanting to bother the man. "Do you have any good books on musicianship? Maybe more specifically songwriting or something like that?"

"Musicianship? I don't think I've ever heard it phrased like that before," Jonah admitted, "But yes, there's a section on music in aisle three," he explained, pointing in the general direction of whee he needed to walk.

"Oh Jojo–" she sighed heavily, her eyes rounded with concern for her dear friend at the news. "I appreciate you sharing that with me. I can't imagine it's easy to talk about," Lyra spoke sympathetically. "Is there any way I can help you? Anything I can do for you at all?"

"Well, I do it every week in meetings now. I do admit it was harder to share with someone I deeply care about than a room full of strangers," Jonah paused, "No, I am okay. I just wanted you to hear it from me and tell you so you wouldn't worry. There is no need to worry. Everything is sorted now."

"Okay, fine, maybe normal is the wrong word." Erin admitted. "It's not like I want to be just like everyone else. I just see everyone celebrating and I think 'gee, it'd be nice to have a glass of champagne with my mates and not risk waking up in a gutter the next morning', you know?"

"Ah, well, the FOMO fades eventually," Jonah said when he realised what she meant, "You just need to learn to find the other joys in life. I can be your Yoda with that, I'm fantastic at it."

a look

Robert stopped short when he commented out of the blue and squeezed Jai's hand, reaching for the other with his, "No. I overreacted," he paused, "Well, maybe I reacted the appropriate amount with the information I had but after that... I should have stayed and listened and I would have figured my shit out sooner," he smiled and leaned in to kiss him again, "For the record, I'm glad we didn't fuck this up as well."

"That's a good idea. Maybe I should set an alarm or something. A reminder to get some air every once in a while." Erin suggested, before pausing. "I just wish I could be normal, you know? And I get that that's not very one day at a time, keep looking forward of me, but I do."

"God no, never wish to be normal," Jonah retorted, shaking his head. There was no shaming in his tone, only his personal disagreement, "Normal is boring. Be the best version of you that you can be, even if she's not normal."