#lemonlyman-dotcom

[carlos-in-glasses]

✨ The Wonder of It ✨

By @lemonlyman-dotcom @carlos-in-glasses and @ladytessa74

3 chapters, rated M. Now live on Ao3

To @thisbuildinghasfeelings on your birthday - Lemon, Tessa and I are delighted to bring you The Wonder Of It. (There are lots of easter eggs in there for you. We hope you'll enjoy finding them and reading these stories.)

Thank you, Anne, for being such a lovely friend, cross-stitcher and fandom archivist. We hope you're having the best day!

Fic Summary: As Carlos comes to terms with his relationship with his father, he realises he's ready to become one himself. Over time he and TK begin the adoption process and prepare to meet their baby boy. But even as they settle into family life with Elijah, Carlos knows that the past won't stay there. When his father's unsolved murder comes back to the forefront and puts his son in danger, Carlos will do anything to protect his family. But is it enough?

Chapter 1 by @lemonlyman-dotcom - I Know It’s Love That’s Got Me Feeling Okay

Chapter Summary: A year and a half after their wedding, Carlos and TK are settling into their marriage, and Carlos surprises TK with a trip to a Canadian mountain resort for his 31st birthday. Set against a majestic backdrop of snow-capped mountains, vast star-filled skies and the wonder of his husband’s unshakable love, Carlos realizes that he’s finally at peace with his father’s passing and their turbulent relationship, and he begins to understand that maybe fatherhood isn’t something one ever feels truly ready for. But with his soulmate by his side and their found family at their backs, he feels ready to begin exploring their options.

Read on Ao3

Chapter 2 by @carlos-in-glasses - In My Father's Footsteps

Chapter Summary: It’s Carlos’ 34th birthday, and while TK is determined to celebrate, Carlos is too preoccupied to care. In three months’ time, they will bring their newborn son home – and there’s a lot that needs to be dealt with. As the day passes, the couple fix up their house and work through their insecurities about impending fatherhood. Luckily, they make a pretty good team. 

Read on Ao3

Chapter 3 by @ladytessa74 - Lingering in Happiness

Chapter Summary: As Carlos and TK trade off Elijah's care, as per their agreement, TK returns to work at the firehouse. The day before the tenth anniversary of Carlos' father's murder - unsolved all these years - Carlos takes Elijah to the Reyes ranch for a mini vacation while TK is stuck at work. But even as Elijah plays with the horses, danger looms. Carlos may find out what really happened to his father, but what will it cost him?

Find the official playlist for this fic: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4QbUoYbapr8LX0t5sEl2fG?si=uQJYbI0ZS2Ku7NnPxDHUHQ&pi=u-u7xlJrlwTZGP

Huge thank you to Tessa for opening up her glorious Elijah Verse to Lemon and I to play around in. It's been a pleasure working and conspiring with you both to create this fic for Anne! ❤️🩷🧡💛💚💙🩵💜

[welcometololaland]

NICE ASS(K) WEEK IS UPON US!!!! 🎉

Lola, first thank you for being the Nice Ass(k) originator!!! It is such a fun way to get to know people in the fandom!!!

Now, a very important question for you. You have to do a pole dance routine with three of the following people. Who do you choose and why? What would the routine be like? (Is there such a thing as a group pole routine? I don’t know!! There is now!!!)

TK Strand

June Claremont-Diaz

Owen Strand

Henry Fox

Mateo Chavez

Ellen Claremont

Dani Rojas

Nancy Gillian

Pez Okonjo

Sam Obisanya

Zara Bankston

Bonus points if you give them each costumes for the routine!!!

hello lemon! i'm so sorry this took so long to answer but i come to you humbly with a response that is like... * checks watch * 4 months late sweeeeet ok ok no one look at me.

for context, yes, you can absolutely do a group (including doubles) routine. i actually have the best idea for this but i CAN'T use it because i'm so obsessed with this particular theme idea if someone ever put it on stage before i got the chance to i'd be absolutely shattered so!!!! it must remain a secret.

therefore, i choose my backup option. i had considered some classic ideas here - charlie's angels etc. - but then my partner leaned over and said 'has anyone done a Wiggles themed routine?' and no. they haven't. so that's what we are doing. Big Red Car, Hot Potato, Fruit Salad, Wake Up Jeff (except it's going to be Wake Up Pez), the works. It's gonna be a 4 min medley of Wiggles songs. Obviously, costumes will be coloured bodysuits. People think that pole dancers wear no clothes just to look hot, but actually you need skin grip to do half the tricks, so the standard Wiggles costumes will need to be adapted.

NOW. as to the people.

Obviously, Pez. I don't actually think Pez would be the best pole dancer, but he is very enthusiastic and fun and would bring great energy. I'd probably allocate him to the task of rolling around on the floor and just slaying the stage generally. Also, he has a name that will work with the Wake Up Jeff song. So, he is the Purple Wiggle.

I think Zahra would actually have a concerning level of flexibility and obviously the raw competitive energy. We need her. She's gonna be that bitch that does a back handspring on the stage or something. Plus, she's bossy as hell. So she can be the Yellow Wiggle aka. The Main Wiggle.

Lastly, I would pick June. Idk why. She's giving dancer energy. She's giving team player. She's giving hotness. She would be that person who would actually do the doubles tricks with you and you know she wouldn't let you go. She's probably not the most excited about being on stage, but neither am I, so we can hold each other and cry. Everyone knows the Blue Wiggle is the hot wiggle, so she would be that one.

I would be the Red Wiggle which like... doesn't suit my brand but whatever. Sacrifices have to be made for this routine.

Honourable mentions - I considered Dani Rojas but he is just way too chaotic and uncoordinated, plus, he can't wear dress shoes, imagine him in 8 inch pleasers. absolutely not. I also considered Nancy because she's hot. But she also seems kinda uncoordinated. sometimes having very long limbs can be a limiting factor. Henry was probably my fourth choice, but he missed out because he seems even more hesitant of the stage than I am.

Absolute no go - Owen and Ellen, because no one needs a limelight hog when you're trying to do a group routine. TK unfortunately does not have the rhythm we need. Mateo - I just couldn't imagine it. If the theme was Avengers, maybe I could have included him. I really WANTED Sam to be in this, but he also just didn't fit the vision and I also think he'd just be way too embarrassed to do something this stupid. You actually can't have too much self respect if you want to do a Wiggles routine.

I HOPE THIS WAS INFORMATIVE AND HELPFUL. THANK YOU FOR THIS VERY FUN ASK. IF YOU HAVE OPINIONS, PLEASE SHARE!!!!

[reasonandfaithinharmony]

For the gif game

Owen & Ginsbird

Thank you so much for the ask, @lemonlyman-dotcom!

I feel like I should probably apologize because I'm guessing you were going for something humorous here. And that's not the direction I chose.

I just really love the heart-to-heart Owen has with Ginsburg at the end of the episode. Talking about how hard it is when things change. How much he regrets his behavior from when his marriage was falling apart. Wondering if Gwyn was scared when she died...

And hearing Gwyn's words repeated back to him now, through Ginsburg.

Unedited Gif Game

[noxsoulmate]

Nice Ass(k) Week!

Noxy, I must know! What inspired the Titanic AU? Like, what sparked you to want to put Tarlos on a sinking boat in the middle of the Atlantic?

Aahhh thank you so much for including me in this 😍 thank you for this sweet ass(k)!

And I truly wish I had a better reply than: I don't remember anymore 😅🙈 but sadly, it's true. I've been thinking about it all day, ever since I saw your ask before work. I've even opened the original doc - which is from August 2021 - to see if I put down some notes, but nothing.

However, what I can tell you is why I came back to this idea after putting it aside for nearly a year:

So the original idea for this was a crossover with 911OG, with Buddie as the side-couple, not Judd and Grace as I have it now. I had TK and Buck as cousins (actually one of the earliest ideas I remember having), and Carlos and Eddie as best friends; I had a general plot, some ideas, and a few scenes written - before my muse ran out and I stopped the project about a year.

The thing was: two of those scenes that were already written are smut scenes between TK and Carlos, and I really, really love those. Aside from that there are some moments between Tarlos that I just couldn't get out of my head anymore - so I knew I had to come back and truly write this fic!

So that's how in January, I finally nixed the crossover idea, decided on Judd and Grace as the other ship, started a new doc, and got back to working on this project 🥰

I hope this answer is still acceptable, even though I don't remember the origin of my own idea anymore 🙈 still, thank you so much for this ask 🥰

For those of you who don't mind spoilers (or who live for them, just as I do), I'll list some of the Tarlos scenes that kept playing in my head and got me back to writing this fic below the cut 😘

Tarlos Titanic scenes that live in my head, rent-free:

their first night together (first scene I wrote for them)

the moment they first see each other on the Titanic (already written)

the moment when Carlos saves TK's life (similar to how it happens in the movie - also written by now)

the dinner scene (should get written this week)

them sneaking away together (multiple times, some of them already written)

the car sex (second scene I wrote for them)

TK saving Carlos after he gets arrested (also similar to the movie, also already written)

that damn fucking door that is definitely big enough to hold two people!!! 😂

[rosedavid]

tarlos hand holding gif, how dare you 😭 I love you gif makers!!! 💛💛💛

I am just so obsessed with them holding hands ugh! Like the way they hang onto each other so tightly!! And don't even get me STARTED on the thumb brushes!

Thank you so much!! 💕

[basilsunrise]

Tell us about above ground? I want it to be about a swimming pool but I’m sure it’s not

Hey! Thanks for the ask!

It is not about a pool but it totally sounds like it is lol. It's my musicians au! "Above Ground" is a play on "Underwater" that I came up with as a placeholder title to amuse myself when I first started writing it. Then I grew attached to it AND it became relevant to the plot so I kept it!

Here's the first couple paragraphs of Chapter 1:

TK is starting to seriously second guess his choice of career. This is the third meeting today that he’s been shuffled to and his patience is wearing thin. If he has to listen to one more record executive tell him about the direction they think his next album should go in, he’s going to stab himself with a pen. It would be easy, there are hundreds of them kept in stupid SONY mugs sitting in the middle of the same long tables that are found in every meeting room on this floor. He’d love to know what direction they think it should go after that.  He’s not even sure he wants there to be another album, much less the North American and European mega-tours they’re envisioning to support the current one. When he expresses this, however, he’s quickly placated with promises of whatever he wants while on tour and not so subtle reminders of contract this, contract that. TK rolls his eyes. What are they going to do? Arrest him for not writing another album? He’d like to see them try. Besides, writing the album isn’t the problem. He loves writing music. The problem is the sea of corporate bullshit that he has to wade through in order to produce something he’s actually proud of.  As they start discussing expected profit margins for the next album, he groans. He pulls out a cigarette from the beat up packet in his pocket and flicks his lighter towards the tip as the executives at the table watch on in horror.  The chief executive clears his throat awkwardly. “Mr. Strand, I’m afraid you can’t smoke in here.” TK takes a long drag of his cigarette before looking up slowly. He reaches over and slides the mug of coffee belonging to one of the nameless men in suits sitting across from him toward himself and then drops his cigarette into it. “My bad,” he deadpans. He looks over to his tour manager, Judd Ryder, and adds, “I’ll be out front waiting when you’re done,” before getting up and walking out the door.

[welcometololaland]

Lola, a hat for you

oh I'm a pole witch!!!!! this is slay!!!! look at the bats too I love bats so much 😭😭 sky puppies!

(ironically this pole move looks like a variation on a trick known as the "butt-man" AJSGSJSJAL depending on where the legs are actually in relation to the pole)

also lemon can you explain the hats to me I'm confuse 🐈‍⬛️

[reasonandfaithinharmony]

Inspiration Saturday

Thank you for tagging me, @lemonlyman-dotcom and @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut!

My ability to focus and make progress on any of the items in this scary list of gif sets in progress? Basically zero.

But I will say that discussion of one of them has inspired other apps to keep reminding me to work on it. So please enjoy these items that instagram has regularly been recommending to me in recent days:

As is becoming tradition, I am very late to this game and assume most people have already been tagged. So please consider this an open tag for anyone who happens to see it and wants to play!