i made your favorite dish. i made you something you’ve never tried before. i love you. i spent twenty minutes chopping. my grandmother made this for me when i was little. i made this dairy free for you. i love you. i want to eat together. the onions made me cry. i love you. i learned this recipe for you. i love you. i made this special for your birthday. i love you. i know you don’t like peppers. i love you. i love you. i love you.
a little detail i love about nicky and joe’s relationship is the amount of time they’re not glued to each other’s sides, the times when they’re sitting at opposite ends of the table or in different parts of the car, because they don’t NEED to be at each other’s sides all the time. they’ve been together for 900 years, they are INCREDIBLY secure in their relationship. it would’ve been really easy to make the mistake of having them be Super Affectionate All The Time to indicate how deeply in love they are, but they’re clearly past needing that, with the obvious exception being when they’re first captured and very frightened. the rest of the time it’s just a little wink, a forehead tap, banter full of private jokes, which conveys the depth of their love so much better because it all clearly says “i’ve been here for 900 years, you and i both know i’m not going anywhere”
Joe as the artist who followed the evolution and development of art over a millenia but maintained an interest in mathematics and physics and Nicky as the doctor and scientists who watched the evolution of medicine as well as the musician who learned to play the oud and then the guitarra… Joe as the artist who’s been irrevocably influenced by the styles of the Italian and Christian culture and Nicky as the medical scientist who’s been irrevocably influenced by the science and culture of the Islamic world…. i have THOUGHTS
“Do you have a favorite era in history?” Nile asked.
“1980,” Joe replied at once.
“That’s specific.”
“The walkman had just been invented, the gay community was yet widely unaware of HIV. We were taking the summer off, and all Nicky wanted to do was roller skate up and down the miles of beachside boardwalk, listening to music.”
“Did you also like skating?”
“A little, but not so much.”
“Sounds like a boring summer for you then.”
“No, Nile, you don’t understand…” Joe’s fist clenched around air, grasping for the words to describe what made 1980 so magical. “The shorts. His thighs.”
“Oh my god.” Nile turned away, torn completely in half by amusement and exasperation. She expected to hear about the renaissance when she first asked this question.
“He’d skate right inside the house when he came back, always bringing me ice cream or french fries or something. He’d take his headphones off but wouldn’t stop the tape, so I could hear his music when he leaned in to kiss me. He’d be so sweaty and so tall in his skates…”
Again Joe paused, overwhelmed by memory. “His ass. Nile, I cannot describe it for you. English cannot do it. When you learn a few more languages, I’ll be able to tell you. The tan lines alone are worth a book. I think we had more sex that summer than the entire 1340s.”
“Wasn’t that the black plague?”
“It was not a sexy decade,” Joe admitted.
“Can you tell me some cool history stuff that doesn’t involve Nicky’s ass?”
“Every moment I have walked as an immortal on this Earth has involved Nicky’s beautiful ass,” was the defiant reply.
