Iowa | Monday FT

[pursuedthestars]

It was Jim's birthday.

"And on January 4th, my mother birthed the beautiful, gifted, charming, amazing man you see before you!" Jim shouted while standing on the counter of some bar he'd found. In his hand, he held a drink high, looking out over the patrons of the bar. He knew none of them but he didn't care. "So, on this illustrious day, I say we drink. To me!"

Any excuse to drink seemed to satisfy the denizens of the bar so Jim knocked his shot back and everyone else did too. He raised his fist up in victory before jumping down and getting another drink. He grinned and leaned against the bar, chatting up the nearest pretty girl.

"I think you should sing to me," he told her breezily. "The birthday song. You know it?"

She did and so she sang it. A few people around her joined in, some in drunken, slurring voices and some a little clearer. Jim loved it either way!

"Best birthday ever!"

Spent around strangers. Yeah, he was faking it but he was still having fun.

[NFB but open for all the usual things. Slowing time down a bit in Jim's world to get this post in since I missed it on the exact date. Yay canonical birthdays.]

Comments

[pursuedthestars]

"We can," Jim said, bristling just slightly. "Can we do it on a day that isn't my birthday, though?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Yes, I figured that was about where the things about my comfort or even being here stopped," Natalie noted a little dryly. "For the record, it wasn't going to be a big heart-to-heart. It was going to be about simple things like what's okay for me to do here, but I won't burden you with it now."

On account of dealing with this mostly self-inflicted bruise on her pride.

[pursuedthestars]

"To make a long story short, you can do anything you want," Jim told her. "The only thing that's changed is we're not exclusive."

[whenshewasnice]

"That's a big thing to change," she said. "And whenever I think about touching you ––" Nose-poking not included, apparently. "–– I get a second thought that tells me it's too familiar and too affectionate."

[pursuedthestars]

"I don't care if you touch me," Jim told her, shaking his head. "If I did, I'd tell you but seriously, you can touch me. I'm fine with that."

[whenshewasnice]

"I don't know why my brain is the way it is." Probably to facilitate all the very smart things she did. This overthinking was collateral damage. She reached out, slowly, to touch the backs of her fingers to his cheek. "Sorry."

[pursuedthestars]

"See?" he asked, leaning into her fingers some. "This is fine."

[whenshewasnice]

And so she pressed her fingers against his skin a little. "Is it?" she murmured. "I used to be better at being sure."

[pursuedthestars]

"You need to relax," Jim told her. "Stop overthinking things."

[whenshewasnice]

"Have we met?" she joked quietly. "I'm paid to overthink things, these days."

[pursuedthestars]

"Turn it off for a night," Jim told her. "Your job won't care."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie brushed her thumb along his jawline. She watched her hand as she did. "Will you help me?"

[pursuedthestars]

"I'll do my best," Jim told her, "but you have to try. I can't do it all."

[whenshewasnice]

"I didn't mean it like that," she told him, glancing up now. "Just help. You don't have to do it all."

[pursuedthestars]

"I'll help," he said, taking her hand away from his cheek only so he could slide an arm around her shoulders. "Come on. Let's go somewhere quiet and private."

[whenshewasnice]

"No more drinking?" Natalie asked, although she wasn't actually objecting. She was already winding her arm around his waist.

[pursuedthestars]

"I'll pick up something on the way," Jim told her, angling her out of the bar. "Come on."

[whenshewasnice]

"Pushy."

But she followed anyway. Not overthinking it, or anything else.