I hope you had a happy Easter :) My family just left for the airport and is heading back to Germany now - which is why I am only posting today and didn't post on Sunday as usual.

It was great to have them over again for the first time in three years and to spend time with them in Ireland again :) 

It is so much fun to write Brian and Justin like an old married couple lol. Even though they have technically been married for less than a year, they have been together for so long...they are an old married couple that knows each others quirks and gets annoyed over the same things again and again ;) I also love that the kids know them so well that they know exactly how harmless these little fights are and that they mostly get amused by them - such a big difference to how Brian grew up. 

After everything I have put them through, they all deserve a happy Christmas :)

As usual, thanks for your comment :) More will be up later today! 

Awww, thanks! That wasn't my intention :)

I am glad you're still enjoying the story!

More will be up tomorrow :) 

Yes, things are finally falling into place again :)

Thanks for your comment. More will be up tomorrow :) 

Haha, I have been back to the office a couple of times in recent weeks and the less crowded public transport is definitely something I can get used to in the long run. Not having to stand on the train but to actually get a seat and sit down is nice ;)

My train passes right by the Google and Microsoft offices and they still have most people working from home at the moment, so you can definitely feel that the trains are a lot emptier than they used to be that time of the day lol 

All the Republicans I hear of, seem to be the crazy ones - Ron de Santis in Florida, Greg Abbott in Texas, etc. And they all scare me with their views and agendas :( 

Hopefully things are finally moving in the right direction now that Luke seems ready to listen :)

Thanks for your comment. As always, it's much appreciated. More will be up tomorrow :) Stay safe!

Yes, I did lol It's just because in so many countries and even in German media the end of all Corona rules has been celebrated as "Freedom Day" which - I totally agree- is a ridiculous term, especially in light of what's going on in the world right now :( 

So don't worry - I haven't lost my mind ;) 

I loved Pete Buttigeig's response to the Don't Say Gay bill. He has two children and he basically said: Does that mean that children of gay parents are not allowed to talk about their weekends with their dads or moms during morning circle when every child talks about how their weekend went? He then went on to say that being pro-family means to give every kid from every kind of family the chance to talk about their family, not just certain kids and certain families. Pro family means to be pro every family, not just certain kinds of family. 

I couldn't agree more! 

Seeing these things happen in 2022 makes me angry, sad and really frustrated. Gay, trans and bi children will still be born whether or not we talk about it in public or not. All we achieve with these type of bills is to take away their safe havens and places where they feel comfortable talking about who they are. This will drive children/teenagers to suicide, I have no doubt about it. I hope these people supporting these bills realise that they have blood on their hands!

The Justin/Luke talk will come up in the next chapter, I promise that this time there won't be any delay ;)

I am glad that you liked the chapter and that sentence - I put it in there for exactly that reason lol 

Stay safe and optimistic! :) 

Actually, I don't find it surprising at all that these developments are happening in the US. Maybe because I have lived in Florida and have met those people, but the religious far-right in the US is damn well scary :( Just look at the state of the Republican party and all those Maga supporters...

I totally understand your thoughts about the Ukraine - it's scary :( And on a personal level, I just feel so frustrated right now because there is nothing that I can do... I donated to Unicef, but still...it feels like too little...but what else can you do? Go to marches, protests, etc. Been there, done that...I doubt it's having any effect on Putin though - he clearly doesn't care. 

Just like you, I can't see how he wants to get out of this. The damage has been done. What's the Endgame now? All this, it reminds me so much of Europe in the 1930's. Especially Germany and Czeckoslovakia and then the conference in Munich afterwards. The world didn't really do much then either, thinking that if he had Czeckoslovakia, he would stop his advance on other countries. We all know how that ended :( Then again, I don't really have any better idea either...it's just a really frustrating situation and I feel for all the people who are now fleeing, have been hurt or have been killed by this senseless attack by a madman :(

As for this chapter: What can I say? I just love Emmett. He has always been one of my favourites <3 And you're right, part of Emmett's talk with Luke wasn't just to explain what had happened to Luke, but to also try and explain it a bit deeper for some people who didn't agree with Justin forgiving Brian back then. I get that it wasn't really a popular choice I made, but the alternative was too heartbreaking for me to consider as a writer of Brian/Justin lol It's kind of ironic that some of the same people now criticizing Luke for not getting over it criticized Justin back in the other story. I get that circumstances were different, but it still amuses me lol 

I can promise that Luke will interact with at least one of his dads in the next chapter - we're slowly getting there :)

Thanks for your comment - as always, it's much appreciated :)

Have a nice weekend and stay safe!

Emmett is and will always be my favourite <3 

I just love his ability to love and understand and be empathic, no matter what.

Well, at least she is wearing a mask, even if it's not FFP2. Over here the mask mandate will officially end on the 28th, so no more masks required anywhere after that and people have pretty much been doing that all week ever since it was announced. On Thursday I took the bus home after grocery shopping and I was the only person on the bus still wearing a mask :( It's really scary to me :/ 

The world is just going absolutely crazy right now :( What's happening in the Ukraine is horrifying and it's infuriating how the whole world is just watching and agreeing to sanctions that won't scare Putin at all ;( We are definitely living in very scary times right now... A colleague from work was planning to go to Germany for St.Patrick's Day in March (Berlin to be exact) and he was like: Do you think that will still be safe? I thought he was talking about Covid, so I said: Yeah, Germany is a lot better at mask wearing than Ireland... And then he was like: No, I mean because of the war, what if Russia attacks Germany... And all I could think was: No way! That thought hadn't even crossed my mind until then, but in his mind, we're on the brink of World War III and Germany being situated right in the middle of Europe, he was really worried...Crazy times! :( 

On top of that, you have the Republican states in the US going absolutely crazy: The don't say gay bill in Florida, Texas prohibiting books that feature any LGBTQ+ content or characters and officially going after parents for child abuse if they allow their trans children to have hormon therapy, demanding that teachers, coaches, etc. notify authorities if they know of any trans children in their community... crazy :( That's 1930s Germany shit right there... 

I don't think Luke has really considered any of what Jenny said to him. He was so caught up in his anger... I don't think he really thought about the alternatives so far. We can only hope that Jenny got through to him somehow and that their argument will have the desired effect on him :) 

Thanks as always for your comment. Stay safe :) 

I don't really watch a lot of new TV shows unless there's a good reason for me to watch them, i.e. I love the storyline or it has an actor in it that I really like. Otherwise I can't really be bothered to get invested :/ I mostly rewatch my old favourites lol I am currently on a Buffy the Vampire Slayer rewatch. Loved that show when I was a teenager.

I watched Squid Game and to be honest, it was good, but I didn't get the hype. The only episode that really stuck with me was the one with the marbles. That was heartbreaking :( 

The concert was great - the music was amazing, the accoustics and atmosphere in the church were amazing, the artists were really good and they played all my favourite songs including a great accoustic version of "Love of my Life". The only thing that bothered me was that half the people didn't wear masks, even though they sent out an email before the concert that mask wearing was mandatory for the duration of the whole concert and even made a special announcement before the concert started. People just don't give a shit in Ireland and there is no one to check that people are wearing masks. Having expected this, my friend and I specifically chose seats (it was free seating for the event) where we wouldn't have anyone right next to us. Which was great, but then 20 minutes into the concert a group of drunk idiots came in late, couldn't find seats together so just decided to take the empty chairs and put them into the free space next to us. So then for the rest of the concert we had drunk people without masks sitting 30cm away from us :( And to top it all off, they were making fun of me and my friend for wearing masks the whole show. We could hear them talking about us, calling us idiots and could see them rolling their eyes at us. That dampened the mood a lot, but the concert itself was great! I just realised again that I hate people lol 

Mel is an idiot! Plain and simple. I can promise that she won't be at the restaurant lol The family deserves some happiness now after all the drama of the last chapter ;) But not too much happiness, because...drama is great lol 

Thanks for your comment! :) More will be up tomorrow! Stay safe :) 

I can only recommend White Collar warmly - it's funny, smart and very entertaining. I don't know a single person that has started watching it and didn't like it. I re-watched all six seasons twice just last year... it became my happy place during the lockdowns lol Of course having Matt Bomer as the star of the show helps :P My favourite actor... And he's wearing designer suits in every episode. So on top of it being a really good show, there's also eye candy <3 

Melanie has a lot of issues, I think we can all agree on that ;) Being stuck in the past is only one of them... She'll get what she deserves, I can promise that!

Thanks for your comment, more will be up tomorrow if I survive tonight ;) I will be going to my first concert in more than two years tonight. A friend of mine and I have tickets for a concert called "Queen at candlelight" where a small orchestra will play Queen's most famous songs in a candlelight setting at St.Patrick's Cathedral. What could be better than Queen, an orchestra and a huge cathedral with amazing accoustics? I'll just have to get over my Covid anxiety lol 

See you on the other end ;) Stay safe!