xx. back to the earth

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[attr="class","lyr1"]cause andy

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[attr="class","lyr4"] star, in nobody's

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[attr="class","lyr6"]eyes but

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Tag: @inara // Wordcount: 522

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As much as he valued his alone time, the isolation of staying in America had begun to wear on him a little bit. He loved Astaria. He'd seen L.A. and it was too busy for him, and it didn't seem to hold the same charm as London did. Astaria was different enough, with certain homey elements that he liked, without the excess smog. However, it didn't have his family, which was a definite con. At the beginning, Watchdog had kept him busy enough he didn't much have to worry about the feelings of loneliness creeping in. Now he could almost sit back and let it run itself if he really wanted to, the benefits reaped from putting good people in the right positions, or rather, letting Nathaniel do that. It came with the kind of excess spare time he couldn't hope to fill up. He couldn't remember a moment in his life where he wasn't busy. A deadline here, a thesis to write there, an exam tomorrow that he needed to study for. It was absolutely quiet. Nate had told him to sit back and enjoy himself. Take a much needed break. The workaholic in him twitched at the thought of that.[break][break]
That led him here. Meeting friends in America wasn't quite as easy as it was in England. You could go out to the local pub and bump into three or four mates walking in the door, trade numbers, and start fishing or something on the weekends. Sure, he had some coworkers at the American HQ that were on that line between friend and work friend but it'd be a few more office Christmas parties before he was comfortable accompanying them on a booze cruise. He'd started a few hobbies rather haphazardly, started going to gym last month, and now he was doing volunteer work for a local non-profit, HomeGrown. He had done a little research on it, it was family owned, and that always seemed like a good starting point in his mind. That's how he found himself looking incredibly out of place, wearing an apron and gardening gloves, glaring beneath his sunglasses to fight off the vicious rays. He'd picked the jeans he'd worn to paint his flat, with their blue and taupe sprinklings and a stray white kneecap from where he'd accidentally bent down in the paint tray. He wasn't sure if anyone else could tell, but he felt incredibly out of place.[break][break]
Deciding to stop stalling, he grabbed the cute, unblemished hand tool kit he'd bought from the hardware store that morning. It was a little three pack thing that'd come with a shovel, a rake, and a hoe. He put them in the special little pockets of his apron and closed up the boot of his car, listening for the beep to let him know it was locked. Andrew stepped in the door of the HomeGrown Kitchen, looking for the first person who could tell him where to go.
"Pardon me, sorry to be a bother. Could you point me where to go? Or rather where I'm needed?" He asked, his Londoner accent coming out strong.

[attr="class","boxo-notes"]lmao the little apron

KAY

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Inara smiled at the two elderly women finishing their breakfast, expressing gratitude that they'd enjoyed the meal. With a smile one hand, he balanced their collected plates and with the other he topped off their coffee cups from the stainless steel carafe he carried. One of HomeGrown's servers had come down with a stomach bug, unfortunately. So, during the morning rush, Inara had handed preparation over to another chef, gathered his hair into a messy knot on top of his head, donned an apron and got to work. "Table six is going to need a refill on the OJ," Inara called over the serving window, into the kitchen beyond. He stashed the dirty dishes in a waiting tub, plopped the carafe on a counter and pried off the lid to add more locally roasted coffee to it. Inara pursed his lips at the dwindling brew left and crouched down, behind the bar that separated it from the dining room proper. While he was down there, nothing but a bun of messy hair bobbing in sight, Inara heard a very near, accented voice. He paused, peeked over the bar, then straightened, coming into full view. Confusion colored Inara's golden eyes for a moment before he recalled something his father had warned him about the day before. The height of the breakfast madness had driven it quite totally from mind. "Oh, you must be the new volunteer," he said, somewhat to himself. He smiled, moved out from behind the bar and offered a hand to shake. "I'm Inara Aria. I'll be showing you the ropes today. Erm-" Inara paused, gaze sweeping over the dining room. There were just a few stragglers from breakfast. His other server could more than cope with the flow, and his subordinates in the kitchen had been prepared to handle lunch prep without Inara's supervision today, anyway. "Just a sec," he said, warm but apologetic. He tossed out some instructions to the restaurant staff as he shucked his apron, then quickly returned to the volunteer. "All right, should be good. You ready?" he asked over his shoulder, and lead the way out of the restaurant, into the HomeGrown gardens that surrounded it, holding the door for his companion.

. . . you'd be on the new york time's best seller list. how to make a man dizzy with just one kiss. how to get the boy with just one look: baby, you could write a book . . . eos @andy

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      Andrew was only now realizing he had walked in during what seemed to be their breakfast rush. The other man in front of him seemed a little hurried, and he felt a twinge of guilt for distracting him. Thankfully he didn't seem to mind the small distraction Andy posed. He found himself nodding when addressed as the new volunteer. Embarrassingly, he felt his cheeks grow hot, and he hoped Inara would just chalk it up to the warm spring weather. With a small, sheepish smile, he accepted the handshake. [break][break]

      "Andrew, Andrew Tozier." he responded to the introduction. Inara seemed to be weighing the state of the dining room in his mind and Andrew stepped out of the way politely. He'd had to hang with his mum enough when she was a waitress to know better than to get in the way. He shook his head at the small apology, offering another small smile,[break][break]
      "No trouble, really." he offered, fiddling with his little gardening apron. Just as soon as he had gone, he was back and walking towards a door. Andy followed, nodding his head at the question posed.[break][break]
      "All set! I even brought my shovel. Oh thank you," he answered, stepping through the door held open for him. As if to prove it, he held up the little shovel with a little laugh. Glancing around, he was immediately awed by the gardens. He knew they grew everything here, but he supposed it didn't quite click with him how many plants that would require. It was almost like stepping out into a botanical garden. He saw what he guess was a lemon tree stretching in the corner, and some tomatoes planted not far from it. There were some plants he couldn't quite identify, but it was awe inspiring nonetheless, with the way the sun beamed down and dappled the gardens. They had really carved out their own little nook here. He turned back to Inara,[break][break]
      "This is all really quite amazing. Truly. Where do you need me, boss?" he asked with a small, arguably flirty smile. As if to accent his point, he playfully waved the little shovel. His briefly felt anxieties were all but forgotten now.

[attr="class","boxo-notes"]n/a <3

KAY

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Inara smiled, amused but not unkind, at the miniature shovel Andrew presented. "You look very well-prepared," he agreed, falling into the same vein of gentle humor with the other man. Inara was grateful to anyone who volunteered time, resources and energy into HomeGrown, and if anything, Andrew bringing along his own equipment just deepened that gratitude. It was a clear sign he wanted to do his best. Though, now that Inara thought about it, the little set of gardening tools that Andrew carried was adorable. That, combined with the clean, obviously new apron he wore made Inara's eyes shine in compulsive adoration.  Inara was busy studying Andrew as Andrew in turn studied the gardens. He belatedly came to himself. Getting doe-eyed around people wasn't very like him, and Inara began leading Andrew through the little gravel paths of the garden, focusing on the task at hand to distract him. His knee-jerk instincts about Andrew were shored up when he complimented the garden. "A lot of time, energy and love went into this place. Continues to every day, in fact. You're contributing to its beauty, just like anyone else, you know?" Inara beckoned to Andrew, leading him to a raised  flower bed with wooden arches of scaffolding placed over it and netting, in turn, spread over that. "Would you mind grabbing the other side?" he asked, and together the two men rolled back the netting, revealing the leafy plants underneath. "This is broccoli," Inara explained, gesturing to the label stuck in the soil of the bed that said the same thing. "What I need you do to is till the soil between them with your hand rake there - that'll uproot any weeds trying to find a footing." Inara smiled encouragingly to Andrew and devoted himself, in the meantime, to inspecting the leaves of the vegetables for signs of caterpillars, slugs or aphids.

. . . you'd be on the new york time's best seller list. how to make a man dizzy with just one kiss. how to get the boy with just one look: baby, you could write a book . . . eos @andy

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       To say he wasn't too used to compliments would be an understatement at best. After busting his way through class after class in uni, he was used to the humble life of a student. That, and of an older brother who cared for and raised his younger sisters when they were still wearing nappies. No thanks needed, just doing what he needed to, and all that. So when Inara mentioned him contributing to the beauty of the garden before them, the tips of his ears and cheeks tinged red once more. He was thankful that the sun would provide decent enough cover for him. Andrew usually wasn't so blushy, though he supposed it didn't help that his companion was very, very handsome. He briefly entertained the thought of asking him to get drinks, but considered it might be considered a little forward. Perhaps after the work was done then. He followed where Inara had motioned, and standing on the other side assisted with pulling the netting back. He nodded at the explanation of what to do, and bent to get closer to the plant.[break][break]
       "Can do." Taking out the small hand rake, he gently worked the soil, carefully avoiding the broccoli plants on either side. He probably wasn't a good judge of gardening prowess, but he seemed to be doing decently for his first time. Curiously he glanced up to see where Inara had gone, finding him inspecting the leaves of some nearby plants. It made a small smile creep it's way across his lips. He could clearly tell Inara was passionate about what was being done here, with the garden and the kitchen. It made his stomach do a little somersault. Looking back down at his work in the beds, he tried to avoid being caught gawking. That would be embarrassing. Attempting to distract himself, he made small talk.[break][break]
       "So, I read online that HomeGrown is family owned, right? That's awesome. Pardon my being assumptive, but, it must be nice to work closely with your family, yeah?" He asked, in a sort of round about way. Finishing with the first few plants, he moved on to the next grouping of broccoli and began tilling the soil between them. He worked mindfully, making sure not to damage the soil's preferred residents, moving some leaves gently out of the way if need be.

[attr="class","boxo-notes"]n/a <3

KAY

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Inara kept an ear out for if Andrew needed any guidance or questions answered. Well, at least at first. Pretty quickly, he became so absorbed with his inspection that he wasn't all that aware of anything going on around him, really. Inara was a third of the way through the crop of broccoli and, though brow still perpetually creased, gaze and probing fingers thorough, a contentment started to nestle in his gut. He'd asked Arnim to tend to the broccoli several days before. It wasn't that Inara doubted his brother's skills, more a matter of his thoroughness. Arnim didn't excel at detail-oriented tasks like the in-depth assessment that Inara was doing just then. All it took was one stray butterfly getting in the netting somehow, making it a birthing ground, and caterpillars would strip the broccoli leaves down to their stems. Andrew spoke, drawing Inara back to the present. The sharp sheen his eyes had taken on cleared and he looked over at the other man, who smiled faintly while he tilled. Inara smiled crookedly, casting his gaze back onto the leaves underhand. "My parents are very easy to work with. My brothers? Well, I don't know if you have any siblings, but it can be hit-or-miss." Inara continued his natural circuit of the flower bed while he talked. It just so happened that when he was finishing the answer, he crouched down beside Andrew. Their knees brushed and Inara cast a soft smile his way. He reached for the nearest plants, his arm whispering every few seconds against Andrew's.

. . . you'd be on the new york time's best seller list. how to make a man dizzy with just one kiss. how to get the boy with just one look: baby, you could write a book . . . eos @andy

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      A lighthearted laugh escaped him when Inara mentioned his brothers. He thought back to the many times trying to wrangle Allie and Anaya into do their chores, or rather, anything really and smiled. Trying to get them to brush their teeth had been a herculean trial. It'd been like herding cats trying to get them to clean their rooms before mum came home. Yeah, he knew a thing or two about siblings, that was for sure. He lifted a leaf of the broccoli out of his way with the care one might give a dainty piece of porcelain china. Lifting his head once more, he caught the end of Inara's crooked smile, watching as he continued his rounds on the plants.[break][break]
      "I can relate. I'm the oldest of six." He laughed, shaking his head gently. "Five younger sisters. I was my mum's only son." Evidently Inara had finished his inspection of the other vegetables and was settling down to look at the broccoli itself now. When their knees brushed, Andrew looked his way, offering a small smile in return.[break][break]
      "Looking okay over here? I know, I know, best tilling you've ever seen. I'm a right prodigy." He joked, his small laugh coming out melodically. If you squinted hard enough, you might be able to tell he was being flirty. Andrew looked down at his work once more, finishing up with the broccoli plants. He could feel Inara brushing against his arm periodically and his ears dusted a shade of pink almost reflexively. Dusting his hands off, he swiped the back of his gloved hand against his forehead, effectively smearing a little bit of dirt there, and pushed back the sleeves of his old worn out flannel. If Andrew noticed what he'd done, he didn't outwardly show it. He sat back on his heels, their shoulders grazing together for a moment. Looking towards his companion once more, he spoke once more. [break][break]
      "I'm not what you'd call an expert, but I think the broccoli bed is good and tilled." Andrew was a picture for sure, with his dark brown hair sticking just slightly to his forehead, and the dirt smattering near his brow. He looked in his element though, sitting back with an, albeit crooked, eager grin on his face. Being out in the sun for the last hour had really started to bring his freckles out, and they flecked his cheeks and nose accordingly.

[attr="class","boxo-notes"]n/a <3

KAY

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His brows lifted on their own. "I can't even imagine," Inara said, shaking his head softly. "Three younger brothers is tough, but at least I can flick their noses to get their attention." Somehow hearing that being eldest siblings was something they had in common made Inara feel a warmth that had nothing to do with the climbing sun. Andrew's bragging about his tilling skills drew a laugh out of Inara. "Careful, or I'll have you tilling the whole garden," he warned. He was devoted to the conversation, but his expression was crinkled with concentration as he finished up his inspection.  ""I'm not what you'd call an expert, but I think the broccoli bed is good and tilled." Inara rocked back on his heels to take in the flower bed. He nodded in affirmation, turning. "You know, with-" his sentence stumbled to a halt. Inara opened his mouth, tried to suppress a smile, then his brows knit together. "Sorry, it's just. You've got something-" He went to point it out, then shook his head. "Here, let me get it." Inara slipped a hand inside the bottom of his shirt and used it as a makeshift rag, reaching up to wipe the dirt that Andrew had - knowingly or not - smeared on his forehead away. "I was going to say," Inara continued, while he did that, "that we could take a break in the restaurant until the sun's not so hot." He lowered his hand and retrieved it from his shirt. "Assuming you were planning on staying any longer, that is." Inara straightened his legs, held out a hand to help Andrew stand up, then stretched to work out some stiffness from shoulders that'd been hunched around broccoli leaves for the past forty-five minutes.

. . . you'd be on the new york time's best seller list. how to make a man dizzy with just one kiss. how to get the boy with just one look: baby, you could write a book . . . eos @andy

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Tag: @inara // Wordcount: 407

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He smirked at the threat of tilling the whole garden, and had to suppress the urge to challenge it. Andrew didn't think he'd mind being put to work more if it meant he got to gawk at Inara here and there. Or, if he managed to get another laugh out of him. Moving out of the way slightly so that his companion could get a better look at the flower bed, he turned just slightly so he was facing the other man. Andrew's head tilted to the side slightly hearing him verbally pause. A look of confusion knitted Andy's brows together, and he himself paused. Inara took the initiative though, and he realized finally he must have some mud on his face. He turned bright red, and it only intensified when the shirt was brought to his brow.[break][break]
Andrew tried, genuinely tried not to look at the skin exposed by the gesture. Part of him felt a little bad about dirtying up Inara's shirt. However, with his eyes cast downwards to prevent any stray dust and dirt from finding its way there, through his lashes he was able to see a sliver of smooth tanned skin. Closing his eyes, he focused on what Inara was saying, or rather, what he'd tried to say before. With his face heating up the way it was, taking a break inside sounded like the best idea he'd ever heard. When Inara finished, he hoped quietly to whatever universal force would hear him that his companion hadn't seen him looking, like some sort of adolescent boy. He cleared his throat as quietly as he could, and smiled.[break][break]
"A break sounds lovely. It really is blazing out here, innit?" He answered. He accepted the hand held out, standing up without too much trouble. Dusting himself off once more, his hands idly twisted in his apron. In all actuality, he didn't really have a plan for how long he'd end up staying. Now though, he was more than willing to hang out for a while. Gardening seemed to be pretty cathartic, and he wouldn't lie to himself, he enjoyed the company a fair bit as well.[break][break]
"I'm free all day, and I don't have any other plans. So...I think I'll be here for a good while. If you'll have me, that is." He replied easily as stowed his little hand rake in one of the pockets of the apron and stripped his gloves off.

[attr="class","boxo-notes"]asdfghjkl; ^^ <3

KAY

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Inara didn't think for a moment about the state of his shirt. When you split your time fairly evenly between tending a garden and working in a kitchen, it was more rare for your clothes to make it through the day unscathed. That, combined with the fact Inara's family owned HomeGrown and he all but lived there meant he had several backup changes of clothes for emergencies. He grinned, glad at the news when Andrew said his schedule was clear. The other man added a sly "if you'll have me," to the end of the answer and Inara smile widened, eyes crinkling with amusement. "Turn away our new in-home tiller? Never." Inara gave a soft laugh and lead the way back to the nearby restaurant. Once through the door - holding it again for Andrew - Inara waved to the staff and turned toward the kitchen doors. "I think you've earned a meal on the house," he said, and stopped at the washup station in the bustling kitchen. "You can leave your apron and tools there," he gestured to a little antechamber mudroom that housed other such things. Then moved over at the deep, stainless steel sink to make room for Andrew to wash up, too. "You mind sitting here?" he asked afterwards, talking about a small table on the back wall of the kitchen, furthest from the dining room. "That way we can talk while I work." Inara pulled on a chef's apron and began expertly bustling through the kitchen on the work surfaces bordering the little, two-seat table. "Any dietary restrictions I should know about?" he asked, genuinely curious and not at all joking.

. . . you'd be on the new york time's best seller list. how to make a man dizzy with just one kiss. how to get the boy with just one look: baby, you could write a book . . . eos @andy

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