Portrait of the Luxe on Fire 🍋
January 31st was actually the one year mark since I’d written the first Milenko/Astoria fic - and the first fic I recall involving any of Jules‘s wonderful cast of OCs - which makes me feel more than a little sentimental looking at that written out now.
In the year since I have gained not only an unfathomably large can of worms across the dynamics of our OCs, as well as how our lore twines together in ways both intentional and unintentional, but I am most of all grateful to have gained a true friend in all the conversations since. While we spoke before, I think it’s once we started writing both together and alongside one another that it all really kicked off for us.
Much love to you, my friend, you deserve the world and more.
However, right now you get citrus. Please insert elmofire.jpg here.
* * * * *
Sometimes what begins as a joke can spark something else entirely.
CW(s) - Fingering, penetration, and a whole lot of banter. Also, you can probably tell I used to watch 1997 Titanic a lot.
5.4k words. Milenko belongs to @sunrisenfool.
From their place against the wall of the living room, Astoria watched in amusement as Milenko shifted the armchair for a third time and sat down in it, staring at the couch in front of him before he got up and shifted the chair again.
Idly they wondered if their downstairs neighbors could hear, but Astoria couldn’t find it in themself to care, not when they themself were wondering how they’d managed to get this far.
A few nights before, Astoria had noticed a sketch on the opposite page of his notebook when they were cleaning up after dinner - a common tradeoff, given they were almost entirely useless in the kitchen when it came to actually making meals - and stopped mid reach for an empty glass near his arm, turning their head slightly to get a better look. The canine faces were easily recognizable: Nathaira’s head under Ursula’s as they dozed, and the tip of the former’s tongue sticking out in an expression Milenko called her “mlem”.
“When did you put the pups into your notebook?”
“A couple of days ago.” He mused, punctuating the sentence he was writing before he looked up. “I was trying to write, but I saw them sleeping like that and I had the paper handy.”
“First of all, it’s quite good, and I’ll probably cry over it later. However, a more pressing question - how did I not know that you draw?” They asked, and Milenko had laughed, setting his pen aside and idly messing with the corner of the page in question.
“Thank you. To be fair to you, it just didn’t come to mind as something to point out. I’ve never been so invested as, say, your grandmother, but I like to draw whatever catches my eye.” He flipped towards the back of his notebook, offering it to them once he’d found a few particular pages. “I never do much more than a sketch, but you’re still welcome to look.”
Astoria carefully set the glasses in hand down again, making sure their hands were dry before they accepted the notebook, one arm falling around Milenko’s shoulders as his own settled around their hips.
The first one was quickly recognizable: a sketch of Octavia, leaning against the counter of the Sphinx, chin in one hand and pen in the other. Astoria could only assume she was working on her play in that moment between customers, a few stray waves of hair free of her typical updo. The page opposite had sketches of orchids in bloom, sharing the space with a pattern of lace - the silhouettes of creeping vines, flowers, and a few butterflies, a pattern Astoria recognized as one on a pair of gloves they had worn on several occasions.
“These are all lovely, Milenko.” They said, smiling as they turned the page, spotting a few more details they themself had seen before - Ursula sprawled out to doze with a ball in her mouth, part of the winter garden at the Palazzo - before handing his notebook back to him with a playful smile. “Much better than the stick up the arse art I grew up around. I like the personal touches.”
Milenko laughed, squeezing their hip with one hand as he set his notebook aside.
“I thought nobility made a sport out of getting portraits done?” He teased, and Astoria snorted, playfully swatting at his hand and picking up the glasses again to finish the last of the washing up. Milenko followed, despite Astoria trying to wave him off, picking up the dish towel to dry as Astoria scrubbed each of their cups.
“Not all families do, but my mother still made a fuss of it. I had to get one done every year as soon as I was old enough to sit still. Mother had an artist on retainer for all of us - Mungo Drummond, that’s what his name was. He was ancient when I was a child and always smelled oddly like salted ham and stale bread. None of us liked him.”
“Except your mother, I’m sure.”
“Oh, mother absolutely adored him. Sachairi and I always thought he was a pretentious twat. Never quite got my nose right, but Myrna made it a sport to piss him off and correct his paintings after he left.” Astoria laughed, settling their hands on his shoulders and giving him a cheeky look. “Though I suppose I would have been much more agreeable to portraits if it were you painting them, handsome as you are. I’d have sat in that room for hours, floundering endlessly trying to find a way to ask you to the Hogmanay party when the time came.”
“That sounds like the plot of one of your romances.” Milenko laughed as they put the last of the dishes away. “Something like ‘The Heir and the Painter’. With one of those incredibly dramatic covers, where both parties have long flowing hair and one of us is topless while wearing a kilt.”
“I do hope that would be me in the kilt, though you would look good in my colors. I just think I’d wear it better.” Astoria grinned as Milenko laughed, shaking his head a little as he put the kettle on for them and pulled out one of their teacups.
“I think I’d look gorgeous in one of those long gowns like the ones you have in your closet.” Once the flame was going, Milenko turned to give them a kiss, amusement clear on his face. “Those puffy sleeves and high waists would flatter me.”
“Throw in an abundance of pastels in the background, and suddenly that book is living in the box under the bed.” Astoria laughed, wrapping their arms around his waist and smiling when his came around their shoulders in a warm embrace, and his face pressed into the curve of their neck. “If you’re ever feeling indulgent, we could always mock up a scene from that hypothetical book. I’m sure the dramatic scene in which they finally give into their attraction to one another despite keeping careful distance is in some way done via a portrait drawing.”
They felt Milenko’s laughter in his chest and smiled, turning to kiss his cheek when he lifted his head to look at them.
“I have no plans for tomorrow night.” He mused, playfully raising a brow. “Should I bring my paper and pencils?”
An idea sparked then, one uncharacteristically bold for Astoria but one they could not shake, and they hummed a little in contemplation.
“Well, you enjoy drawing people, from what I saw. The little I know of artists is that there’s always some sort of anatomical study. Perhaps I can pose for you.”
Milenko paused then, leaning back to watch their face a little better but not quite letting them go.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, beloved, but that didn’t quite sound like a joke.”
“That was the intention, as it was a genuine offer. It’s not like we’re strangers to nudity, Milenko, nor engaging in each other’s bodies. There is no obligation, but should you ever decide you’d like to, the offer is open and on the table. I’ve certainly never posed before, but the study of anatomy is a concept I am more than familiar with even if in a different way, and I would not mind participating. And if it leads elsewhere…well, I certainly wouldn’t be opposed, either.”
Astoria watched with some amusement as Milenko seemed to weigh that, taking a few moments to contemplate what they’d said - which Astoria truthfully preferred to a rushed decision - before he nodded, kissing their brow lightly.
“Not tonight. Though I would enjoy doing that with you, Astoria, and I would like to. How about we plan for the end of the week, when you don’t have any work plans to worry over? Then we can see where things go from there without needing to rush.”
“That sounds perfect.” Astoria leaned up to press a quick kiss to his cheek, mind already moving on to the next order of business as the kettle whistled. “Now, would you like to have a cup of tea with me? I bought a new blend at the market today.”
* * * * *
Astoria, in many other contexts, knew they likely never would have had the courage to ask such a thing. But Milenko had seen them bare before, just as they had seen him, on many nights following that discussion of intimacy when both of them shared in pleasure with the other. They themself still had their limits, though those too were quickly evaporating, and Milenko had been more than willing to respect those boundaries.
Each time they came together, especially recently, Astoria found themself wanting more. It had evolved from use of their hands to their mouths - Astoria had particularly found their mind wandering toward the thought of the time Milenko had pulled them to straddle his face, his arms wrapped around their thighs, or the time they’d had him bent over the edge of the bed with soft kisses making a path down his back until they reached where they wanted to be - but they wanted to fill in more of the blanks of what they’d experienced but never with Milenko.
So there they stood, only a few days later, watching with a smile and cheeks a little warm as Milenko settled on a place for his chair and immediately started rearranging things on the couch.
“If you’re so keen on rearranging the living room, let me put proper clothes on.” Astoria mused with a small laugh, twirling the tie to their robe in loose circles. “I’ll sweep under the couch before you lose steam. Who knows how much dog hair is probably under that thing.”
Milenko let out a laugh of his own, stepping away from the chair to extend a hand to them, and Astoria smiled when he pressed a kiss to the corner of their mouth.
“Tempting offer, truly. I’d be afraid we’re growing a third dog under there. It’s been a while.”
“If nothing else, when the fur starts flying, you can tell people you’ve finally made the leap to wearing colors.”
He laughed again before Astoria leaned up, smiling into the kiss they shared - one they intended to be chaste, but quickly melted into something a little more heated before they managed to find it in themself to pull back, a hand resting lightly against his chest as they did.
“Right.” They cleared their throat, cheeks warming lightly as Milenko lifted their hand to his lips and lightly kissed their fingertips, holding their gaze all the while. “Tell you how you want me, my love? I trust your creative eye.”
The double entendre had been purposeful. They had entered the room with a sense of self-assurance, a sense of confidence that came from knowing exactly what they wanted and wanting to make that clear, but something about Milenko - something about the way he looked at them when they’d said it, when they knew he’d noticed - made them the sheer physical impossibility of feeling so melty all the way down to their toes.
Eventually he nodded toward the couch, releasing them so they could walk unhindered. “Whatever makes you feel most comfortable. Can I get you anything to help you settle?”
“I meant to make a cup of tea before I sat, but I got sidetracked…” They said, hardly finishing the thought before Milenko was already making his way toward the kitchen.
“Which one?”
“The one with the cinnamon and vanilla - oh, just the jar with bread pudding written on the top. It’s with all the other teas. You’ll see what I mean. I swear I’m not losing my mind, it just tastes like bread pudding to me.”
“I’ll take your word for it.” They heard him call, a slight chuckle in his voice, then a soft “huh” as they heard the jar open, assuming he’d taken a whiff of it out of curiosity.
Astoria would make their way to the couch, picking apart the knot of their dressing gown and letting it slip smoothly off their shoulders - black fabric and lace pooling neatly around their feet before they draped it over the arm of the couch. To sit upon it in their bare skin was a new sensation, but not unpleasant, as the tufted velvet was soft and not at all scratchy, and they smiled a little as they settled in and rearranged the throw pillows to prop a few up against their back.
By the time Milenko had returned, Astoria had decided how they would sit - back against the corner of the couch, left elbow propped on the arm with their hand relaxed, right draped loosely along the back of the couch, right leg stretched out and the left slightly bent with their knee propped lightly upon a throw pillow. They sat up when he stepped into the room, smiling as he set the steaming cup carefully into their outstretched hand with a cautionary warning of its temperature.
“Well, you certainly didn’t waste any time.” He teased, his eyes flickering down towards the twin dove tattoos at their knees, then back up as Astoria snorted and playfully raised a brow at him.
“If that’s a complaint, I can just put my dressing gown back on…”
They leaned down as if to grab the garment from where it had fallen, but Milenko slipped his foot under it and kicked it away, putting on an innocent sort of smile when Astoria barked a laugh that forced them to set down their tea for fear of spilling it.
Still giggling, they beckoned him close again, until he was standing just in front of them and they could reach up to tug on the front of his shirt. Milenko obliged them, leaning down, amusement still clear on his face and dancing in his eyes as Astoria kissed the tip of his nose.
“Cheeky bastard.” They teased, and Milenko hummed, bracing one knee on the couch to lean in while their arms came to rest around his shoulders.
“I suppose you would be the authority on bastard behavior.”
Astoria gasped, smacking him lightly on the arm, but they both knew it was without any real force or meaning. They grinned at one another, Astoria trailing their fingers up to toy with the hair at the nape of Milan’s neck, as they hummed in contemplation.
“A bastard, am I?”
“Mhm.” Milenko’s hands shifted to gently cup their cheeks as he met them for a proper kiss. “Beautiful, and certainly a minx, but undoubtedly a bastard.”
“You wouldn’t have me any other way.” Astoria said, smiling into the kiss Milenko led them into before he released them. He took a step back, eyes roaming, before he started to make his way to the chair he’d set up for himself and picked up his sketch pad from the coffee table between them.
“Absolutely not.” He said, gesturing for them to sit back, and Astoria took another quick sip of their tea before resuming the comfortable pose they’d found earlier. Their left hand, however, raised so they could lightly rest their knuckles against the side of their chin, elbow still propped on the arm of the sofa to ensure they could hold the position at least for a little while.
They watched as he crossed his ankle over his knee, bracing his pad against his leg and drawing a few light lines on his paper. He glanced up, then down, and the cycle began anew, filling the living room with little other sound than the scratch of his pencil and the quiet cooing of the doves in the next room.
As they sat, their mind wandered, and Astoria came to realize with some amusement that there was something of a reversal in their roles. Usually it was themself who would be the one with the eye for anatomy, always scrutinizing, always curious, determining which parts most impacted the whole. Even then their eyes were on Milan’s figure - they were sure few could blame them, as he cut a rather dashing one - but they traced the familiar curve of his shoulders, the slight movements of his brow as it furrowed and lifted, the shape of his hand as it moved across his paper.
The most catching thing, though, were his eyes. They knew that in itself was a line they could surely read in one of their romances, but it was the simple fact that each time they caught his eye, they felt like they were somehow the most desirable creature to ever share a space with him. But they found that sort of love and want in his eyes often, in moments mundane and romantic and everywhere in between, from the first time they met him in the morning to the last kiss they shared at night.
Though, they supposed that was simply the nature of loving Milenko, and being loved by him in return. He did not love in half measures, he loved and admired with all the strength his river heart could give.
“I know that look.” Milenko said after a little while, and Astoria paused, pulling their knuckle away from their lip and raising a brow at him.
“What look?”
“Your thinking face, but it’s not the ‘I’m thinking about bones’ face. It’s the ‘I’m up to no good’ face.” Milenko leaned back in his chair, lowering his pencil slightly. “Dare I ask what’s in that head of yours?”
Astoria pretended to contemplate, then shrugged, repositioning their hand when Milenko leaned in to shade part of his sketch. “Would you believe me if I told you I was just thinking about how much I love you?”
“If anything, that just makes me feel more suspicious of you.” Milenko laughed as Astoria pouted at him, throwing them something of a cheeky wink. “Though if you must keep your plans to yourself, I suppose I’ll just have to be surprised.”
“Oh, you do love me.” Astoria teased, smiling as Milenko shook his head in amusement. “Though I was trying to find an interesting way to invite you to come take a closer look. You don’t need to sit all stiff in your chair. I wouldn’t mind.”
“I didn’t realize you could see past my sketch pad.”
Milenko’s quip made them let out a bark of laughter. They clasped a hand over their mouth as their shoulders shook, and Milenko leaned back, fighting back a grin as Astoria tried in vain to stifle the sound. Loud, high pitched, rapid staccato - Astoria felt fairly qualified calling the ‘hee-hee-hee’ sound of it hyena-like.
“Oh, I hate you!” They got out, and Milenko’s beaming smile widened, knowing they didn’t mean it at all. “Please, Milan, I’m trying so hard to be all pretty!”
“On the contrary, beloved, I love to hear your laugh.” Milenko himself let out a small chuckle when Astoria put their knuckle between their teeth, the sheer ridiculousness of their own laugh making them somehow giggle more. “Don’t stop on my account. After all, I’ve been away from drawing your face for a little while.”
The pair fell into relative quiet again; Astoria’s giggles, even as they tapered off, certainly kept it from being completely silent, paired with the scratching of his pencil. They could sort of follow his progress as he went, his eyes starting to land more frequently near their shoulders, their waist, their legs each time he looked up from the page.
They had no concept of how long they’d been sitting there, perfectly relaxed and simply enjoying watching him as he worked, but eventually they saw Milenko lean forward, setting his pencils on the coffee table and holding his sketch pad up a little before he nodded.
“Alright, moment of truth.” He teased, and Astoria cracked a smile as they swung their legs around to sit up on the sofa.
He turned the sketchpad around, and though Astoria could see much from here, they had to squint slightly to make out the finer lines. And, well, that certainly wouldn’t do, not when Astoria had an agenda of their own.
“Come, come sit and show me. I can’t see the details with you sitting all the way over there.” They said, patting the cushion beside them lightly to try and beckon him closer.
They were slightly perplexed when he hesitated, shifting slightly in his seat, but after a few beats of pause he stood - to which Astoria realized, warmth flooding their cheeks, that his earlier jest had been weighted in truth.
Regardless, Milenko made his way over to sit beside them, offering them his sketch pad as they draped an arm around his shoulders as they settled. He sat close enough for the sides of their thighs to press together, their chin coming to rest on his left shoulder and their right hand on the curve between his neck and his right shoulder. In the moment, however, looking at his sketch made them feel…to quote one of their novels, warm and puddly down to their belly.
Their eyes immediately landed on their face, and even in the form of a sketch, they could see the way their eyes seemed heavy-lidded, the shading across their cheeks indicative of a light blush, their knuckle pressed to their lip - all together, not an expression they would have ever imagined on their face.
“I do believe, if we are cycling back to the concept of the hypothetical romance novel, I would accuse you of making me look too sultry.”
“I didn’t make you look anything.” Milenko laughed, shaking his head as he set the sketch pad aside, turning to give Astoria a proper kiss. “That’s how you were looking at me the almost whole time.”
Their free hand slid down the front of his shirt to neatly undo the first button, and when Milenko’s breath caught a little in his throat, Astoria leaned back, raising a brow at him in silent invitation to stop them if he wished.
“I don’t suppose you can blame me.” Astoria mused, their fingers sliding down to the next button. “I let my thoughts entertain me, and with you right there for me to admire…well, it’s certainly not a leap to consider where my head went. Perhaps a small step.”
When Milenko nodded, Astoria popped the button near the middle of his chest, and slipped their hand under the edge to rest them on his bare skin, smiling a little at the fluttering pace of his heartbeat beneath their fingertips.
“I knew you were up to something when I asked.”
“I really was thinking about how much I love you, you know. But I also would be lying if I said I wasn’t plotting.”
“There it is.” Milenko teased, his hand resting over theirs, pressing it flat to his chest. “I knew you were up to no good. Care to share those plans, or does that make me a witness? I don’t want to testify against you in court.”
“No, it’s not anything illegal.” Astoria snorted, but their mouth curled up at the corners, like a cat that had gotten the cream. “But I can show you, if you’d like.”
When Milenko indicated his agreement, Astoria shifted to swing a leg over his lap, but he was already meeting them halfway - an arm around their waist and a hand on the nape of their neck as they met for a kiss. This one did not remain chaste for long, as Astoria reached between them to finish unbuttoning his shirt, asking him softly if they could please make love with him between those shared kisses.
Milenko’s answer had been, “fuck yes”, to which Astoria was both amused and fairly confident that consent could not be given more enthusiastically.
Astoria had never had the experience of being a ‘horny teenager’, but they imagined it felt something like this as they laughed with each other, Milenko tangling in the sleeves of his shirt and trying to take off his pants with Astoria still straddling him - pouting when Astoria insisted he’d have a better chance at doing so if he let them get up.
When they stood, they took a few steps away, reaching for their discarded dressing gown to dig in the pockets for the protection they’d tucked into one of them. Idly, they flicked it at him, stifling a laugh as he paused and looked around to see what had bounced off his bare back.
“What -” Astoria heard Milenko’s incredulous laugh as he picked up the packet in question, momentarily distracted from the task at hand. “Did you just throw a condom at me?”
“I did. I thought it would be rude to not supply one when I was the one who initiated. It was in my pocket.” Astoria shrugged, looking pointedly at the trail of hair leading down from his navel, disappearing beneath the waist of his pants. “Not that it’ll do you much good while you’re still clothed.”
“You thought it’d be rude to - you know what, I love you so much.” Milenko was laughing quietly to himself as he did a little shimmy to work his pants down his hips before he kicked them aside, grabbing Astoria’s hand to pull them back down to the couch until they settled in his lap again.
His fingers would slide between their thighs, his first two fingers inside and his thumb against their clit as they shared languid, heavy kisses aplenty, Milenko’s mouth trailing down to press a kiss over their heart. They had teased him once - while reading aloud the worst passages of their erotica to make them both laugh - that he could play them as well as his mandolin, building them up easily to that precipice with fingers that were well versed in just what they liked. But they would stop him before they let themself get too carried away in that pleasure, clearly more than his fingers on their mind that particular night.
Astoria’s hand slid up the side of his neck, thumb gently against his chin as they tipped his head back - coaxing him to relax toward the cushion as they rose up on their knees a little to keep hold of his gaze.
“Let me, mo chridhe. Let me lead.” They murmured, kissing the swell of his cheek and smiling as his hands slid up the backs of their thighs. “Unless you find that to be a terrible arrangement, in which case I’m prepared to hear an alternative argument. I do hope you have citations.”
“Not even the slightest argument from me.” Milenko squeezed the back of their thighs, a playful smile on his face for a moment before his expression softened, his eyes warm and his palms somehow warmer on their skin when they came to rest on their hips. “Kiss me, Astoria?”
“I’ll think about it.”
Milenko huffed a laugh through his nose as Astoria granted his request with a loving smile, truly more than happy to do so. Their hands shifted, one falling to rest on his shoulder and the other slipping between their bodies to take his cock in hand. The sound Milenko made at the touch was thrown into the open air as Astoria leaned back to angle their hips slightly, both of their gazes falling between them as Astoria felt its head against them.
Astoria sunk down carefully, a long, slow stroke as their foreheads pressed together, Milenko letting out a soft groan as Astoria’s eyes fell shut. They could feel his fingers pressing into their hips, one of his hands lifting to gently push some of Astoria’s hair out of their face as they seated themself fully upon him.
Even with his agreement to let them lead, Milenko was not an idle partner - not that that was a complaint in the slightest from Astoria. Nor did he try to take the lead from them. Once Astoria had set the pace, Milenko joined their rhythm, their hips moving together and hands roaming, Milenko’s kisses trailing from their mouth to the curve of their jaw and further down their throat. There was no haste between them, only those soft, sweet touches and their shared kisses, and the steady roll of Astoria’s hips as they rode him.
To Astoria, even with romantic partners, physical contact had to be approached in stages. Some of it was acclimation to the heartbeat of another, the constant awareness as soon as their skin brushed until they separated again. Too much at once was overstimulating in the worst context of the word, but with time, they could become accustomed to it and even enjoy that reminder of the company of their loved ones. It had been much the same as they became accustomed to Milenko’s heartbeat, and they had welcomed his touch, even seeking out the physical contact until it was as natural as taking a breath of air to have a hand - gloved or otherwise - somewhere on his personage.
But like this, as they came together now?
Even they could not distinguish between the pounding of their own heart in their ears and the sound of his, two beats tangling together in such a way that Astoria could have likened it to the beating of a hummingbird’s wings. They could feel one of his hands on their thigh, tucked against the space where it met their hip, his mouth on their chest, his opposite hand braced flat against the middle of their back. One of their own was resting on the back of the couch, using it for leverage, while the other rested lightly on the back of his neck as if to try and bring him closer still. A familiar sense of warmth began to settle in their lower abdomen, and the pace of their hips quickened, the heat of their cheeks warming them nearly down to their collar as they went.
Somehow, without even looking at them fully, Milenko knew - his mouth shifting away from their chest and landing first on their collarbone, then the side of their neck, before they finally heard his voice in their ear ask the simple question they’d heard him ask many times before
“What do you need, sweetness?”
“Your hand-”
Astoria had hardly finished the words before his fingers were already slipping between their thighs, rubbing gentle circles on their clit in the same way he did before, and they soon pulled him into a kiss once more.
With Milenko’s fingers on them, they changed their rhythm slightly, slowing the speed of their hips but taking him more deeply - determined to bring him to the same point of pleasure even as their thighs trembled with every upward thrust he met them with. They were beginning to dance along that razor’s edge before orgasm, the kisses between them more haphazard, and they felt Milenko’s hand on their back slide down to their waist to hold them closer. He knew it, just as they did, as this part of their intimacy was familiar enough.
They did not finish together, though neither of them were particularly bothered by that. Astoria went first, forehead pressed to his and muttering something under their breath as they continued to roll their hips into him through their orgasm. Milenko would follow soon after, and together they would sit, arms twining around each other as they caught their breath, sharing soft kisses and whispering quiet words of love to one another until they motivated themselves off the couch.
Later, after they’d cleaned themselves up and made their way to Astoria’s bed, Astoria found their fingers tracing the lines of his tattoos, head resting on his arm and legs tangled together.
“Milenko?”
He’d hummed in acknowledgement, idly smoothing back their hair to kiss their brow as Astoria continued.
“I do hope the dogs didn’t walk in on us. I’m not sure they’d look at either of us the same.”
They felt Milenko’s chest begin to shake under their cheek, and Astoria lifted their head with a smile as he broke into laughter - one of their favorite sounds - and reached for them to give them a chaste kiss. And when they’d have to break apart, Milenko unable to contain his grin and his “Beloved, please, never change”, Astoria was laughing wholeheartedly with him, promising him that he needn’t worry, as they never planned to.
