A Night on the Town ("Window Shopping" from Ep.15) - PG

[librarian_7]

I have always loved this story...it is handled with such a deft, light touch, but it's not all fluff...there are undercurrents, beautifully suggested.

So I have to quote one of my many favorite parts:

Mick shrugged, “It looks like cream to me.”

“Have you ever seen cream that looks like that? It’s been a few centuries, but I’m pretty sure if cream turns that color, it’s time for a new goat.”

Color notwithstanding, Josef approached the sofa in question, flicked open the button of his jacket, and fluidly poured himself onto the not-cream couch. Leaning back, he extended an arm in either direction and, looking from one end to the other, smiled with a measure of satisfaction.

“How many freshies do you think this would hold?”

“Do you really need more than one at a time?” Mick chided, but having been answered with a slight quirk of the head and a wide-eyed, not-so-innocent smile, he continued, “I don’t even want to know. Can you just make a decision?”

“In good time. Sometimes,” Josef said pointedly, “when it’s right, you just know it.” He rose gracefully, casting a meaningful glance in his friend’s direction, and continued his quest.

Wonderfully done.

Lucky

[Lilly]

greenleaf - Thank you so much for your comment. The banter between these two was one of the highlights of the series for me. I means so much that you think I've done it justice here.

Thanks, Lucky - You know I love it when I'm quoted. And, how could I not address the color issue? Josef loves to pick on his buddy and this was the perfect opportunity. It helps to keep things light when he does have a serious point to make, as he did at the end of that quote.

[librarian_7]

I wanted to bump this in honor of the showing of "What's Left Behind" on Sci Fi tonight.

Besides, it's brilliant.

Lucky

[wpgrace]

I wanted to bump this in honor of the showing of "What's Left Behind" on Sci Fi tonight.

Besides, it's brilliant.

Lucky

OMB Lucky! As you know, I just wrote about this in the Coffee House "Moments" thread and then when I watched WLB tonite and the boys came walking in, I about died laughing! Just thinking about where they had just come from and their wonderful conversation and the goat comment and the whole evening... this little fic has become my favorite scene in WLB... just a minor technicality that it isn't actually IN WLB...

[bluedahlia3]

I love this one, absolutely love it. It's probably my favorite after "Hobbs in Hollywood". Just wonderful, well written, you catch both of them so perfectly. The research, beyond well done.

[Lilly]

Lucky - thanks for the bump

OMB Lucky! As you know, I just wrote about this in the Coffee House "Moments" thread and then when I watched WLB tonite and the boys came walking in, I about died laughing! Just thinking about where they had just come from and their wonderful conversation and the goat comment and the whole evening... this little fic has become my favorite scene in WLB... just a minor technicality that it isn't actually IN WLB...

Awww, grace -- that just made me smile like crazy.

Thanks, blue -- yeah, I did research this one. Even called the store in Beverly Hills and got them to send me a catalog. The parking lot and rear entrance are completely fabricated, though -- I'll just chalk it up to creative license.

I did get to see the store in April when we were out in LA. We drove by on a Sunday, so it was closed, but I did take a couple of pics...

[allegrita]

Oh, Lilly...

I just luuuuuuuuuuurrrrrve this story so much. It captures the essence of the relationship between Josef and Mick. The fun, the lightness, and the underlying true-blue friendship that allows them to switch places as the situation demands, from helper to helped. I love this story, not even so much for the obvious effort you put into making it accurate, but for the amazing way you put me right there with them--Josef elegantly trying out couches, Mick misnaming colors (and didn't that make me giggle!?), and both of them relishing the friendship that lets them snark at each other so wonderfully. But the real beneficiaries of their conversational brilliance are the readers--us--and for that I thank you very much!

[Albra]

I love it too !!!
Thanks !!!!

[jen]

Lilly,

This is fabulous!! The reparte between Mick and Josef is priceless. The conversation and your take on interaction between the two feels 'spot on' to me!!!

A treasure and a delight.

Thank you!!

[darkstarrising]

Lilly,

I have always loved this story.....the way you have Josef manipulate Mick is priceless and spot on..Josef manages to get what he wants, tweaking Mick just enough for fun without entirely pissing him off.

But of all the lines in ML fanfic this has got to be one of the best exchanges

“Mick – that’s not cream,” Josef corrected, “It’s ‘mushroom.’ In the eighties, it was ‘taupe’ or, in La-z-boy lingo, ‘tan’ - but it’s definitely not cream.”

Mick shrugged, “It looks like cream to me.”

“Have you ever seen cream that looks like that? It’s been a few centuries, but I’m pretty sure if cream turns that color, it’s time for a new goat.”

So funny, so Josef, so perfect.

[Lilly]

Somehow I missed responding to Alle and Albra back a bit. My apologies.


Thank you both, and jen and dsr for your lovely comments. I'm so glad it made you smile.

[librarian_7]

I can't begin to tell you how thrilled I was to see this featured in the new CoffeeHouse discussion.

It is, hands down, the best "missing scene" fic...in all Moonlight fanfic.

(Closely tied for second, your "Closure" and "Reflection," Lilly.)

Hysterical, and it holds up perfectly. I can so easily hear our guys saying all these lines....and what I'd give to hear Jason/Josef doing that line about the goat....

Lucky
(don't you just hate it when I pussyfoot around?)

[greenleaf9]

Lily, the coffee house discussion brought me back to this story for a re-read and it's just as wonderful as I remember it. The boys' bantering is perfect, and Josef's snark is absolutely hysterical. I can just pitcure everything in my mind clear as day.

So funny! I love it.

[cassysj]

You truly captured Josef and Mick here it was definitely like watching it on television. What frightens me is how much like Mick I am under similar circumstances. We've recently repainted every room in the house and showing me paint chips is like well.......

“Yeah, right.” Mick considered, “What about that cream one over there?”

Josef glanced over his shoulder in the general direction that his friend had pointed. His eyes narrowed and he looked back at Mick. “Where?”

“That one.” Mick insisted. “The cream one.”

“Mick – that’s not cream,” Josef corrected, “It’s ‘mushroom.’ In the eighties, it was ‘taupe’ or, in La-z-boy lingo, ‘tan’ - but it’s definitely not cream.”

Mick shrugged, “It looks like cream to me.”

“Have you ever seen cream that looks like that? It’s been a few centuries, but I’m pretty sure if cream turns that color, it’s time for a new goat.”

I loved this part too!!! I'll think of it when we buy a new sofa in the next few weeks.

“I thought we were going out for a drink. What is this place? Some kind of furniture store?”

“Not a furniture store, Mick. The Roche-Bobois Design Center.”

“They sell furniture, don’t they?” He craned his neck to get a look at the huge glass windows that extended from the storefront around the side of the building.

“Of course they sell furniture.”

“Then it’s a furniture store.”

“And a Stradivarius is a fiddle.”

This story is an amazing glimpse of what we should have seen. I'm not sure if I've commented on this elsewhere before but thank you.

[MoonlitRose]

Lilly,

This is a great "missing scene" and you so perfectly captured the banter between Mick and Josef! I could hear their voices, and visualize the mannerisms!

Excellent.

Thankyou!