#'you create intricate rituals that allow you to touch the skin of other men' hits hard honestly

[angeltrapz]

I watched the last key just to read ur fic first off, second off, tell me about the Intricate Rituals tm of lawrence and adam

CRIES??? YOU WHAT??? anon pls that is literally so sweet omg... I've never had someone tell me that b4 but I'm sitting here beaming. I hope you liked it/it helped things make more sense!!!!! <3

Okay so. Intricate Rituals™️. They actually have a few. (Touch is a VERY big part of Adam's love language in particular, so you know... intricate rituals that allow you to touch the skin of other men...)

On the mornings that Lawrence has to go to work, he will always kiss Adam's forehead before he leaves, no matter what. Even if Adam's not even awake yet (and let's be real, he probably isn't... not a morning person whatsoever). Does he need to, technically speaking? No. Does he feel uncomfortable if he doesn't + will it bother him for the rest of the day? Yes. I've touched on this before but in any scenario where Lawrence ends up with Adam, he is much more open with his love and, in turn, with his affection. He tells Adam he loves him often, shows that he loves him often; beyond that, I like the idea that he's just a hopeless romantic at heart, and having the life he's always wanted deep down, even if the circumstances were far less than ideal, well... Adam brings it out of him, what can he say? So he always makes sure he kisses his boyfriend's forehead before he goes to work. (And he lets Adam call him/he'll call Adam sometimes on his lunch break just to talk... not every day, but often enough <3)

On the mornings where neither of them have anywhere to be/anything to do, though, Lawrence can often be convinced to stay in bed for little while after they both wake up because, as he's long since learned, sleepy just-woke-up Adam is very, very cuddly. Literally all he has to do is just be like "Please?" and kiss at Lawrence's jaw a little bit and every single time, without fail, Lawrence will just sigh and be like "I suppose..." But make no mistake, he loves it just as much. I think both of them are very like... unused to touch? Especially like this - cuddling purely for the sake of cuddling, no emotional distress to be spoken of, it's purely just to hold each other because they can... this extends to more than just the morning, too; Lawrence's hand on Adam's lower back or his shoulder or his knee when they're close, Adam keeping an arm around Lawrence's middle or leaning against his shoulder or resting his head against Lawrence's back from behind. Adam is definitely more inexperienced with this kind of affection than Lawrence is, but they're both starving for it and if the opportunity presents itself, neither of them will turn it down. Shameless plug but I've written a fic abt this particular concept!

Anyway! Once they get out of bed, though, Lawrence will start a fresh pot of coffee for Adam + Adam will get Lawrence's morning cup of tea ready (it's so funny bc Larry can't stand coffee and Adam has yet to try a flavour of tea he likes... the things they do for love). Lawrence typically makes breakfast for them on these days, because Adam isn't at full capacity yet and because Larry honestly doesn't mind doing so; he kind of likes being able to do that for Adam honestly? Adam has issues with eating (i.e. doesn't eat many meals, doesn't eat with regularity, often feels nauseous + unable to eat, usually eats the same foods... part of that is, naturally, that he's autistic, but also because he's gone so long eating so little that it takes him a while to adjust to the fact that Hey, I Don't Have To Do That Anymore), and Lawrence is very familiar with those issues, so to see Adam eating like three blueberry pancakes and enjoying them makes Lawrence just 🥰 bc he knows it's hard for Adam.

So Lawrence will be at the stove, watching to make sure he knows when to flip the pancakes, and then Adam will walk up behind him and wrap his arms around his waist and lay his head against his back. Sometimes he just rests there, sometimes he leans up a little so he can leave kisses on the back of Lawrence's neck, but the motive is always the same: touch. Lawrence might not say anything in acknowledgement, but he'll always lean back a little bit in Adam's arms to just be like hi, I know you're there, I love you. And they'll stay that way for a while, because why not? They've earned this gentleness, this tenderness, have they not? Eventually they know they'll have to separate so that they can get plates out and silverware and such, but while Lawrence is cooking, they're content to stand and sway a little together.

Another example of Lawrence's romantic tendencies is he'll pull Adam's chair out for him. I firmly think Adam wouldn't care for this if it were Anyone else, but he'll just smile at Lawrence and thank him and sit down because the fact that Lawrence wants to do things like that for him, something so simple but that speaks volumes... he really, really appreciates it. When they sit down he'll knock his ankle against Lawrence's under the table just because he can and Lawrence will do it back and they'll be sitting there grinning like fools bc!! It's so silly but it makes them so happy? And I think they deserve to be silly sometimes. Again, they've earned it.

Um!! Another big one is what they do before bed every night. So when Lawrence gets home from work, after he's had a little bit of time to relax, Adam will herd him into the bathroom and help him to sit on the edge of the bathtub, help unstrap his prosthetic, and he'll get out the special basin + soft washcloths they have specifically for this reason and he'll help Lawrence wash his stump. It's something that Lawrence used to hold so much shame over it, refused to accept any sort of help + made things harder for himself (which I've touched on in my reply to an ask frm @1ceblock), but at one point Adam found him struggling with it and was just like. "I've got this, it's okay. I want to help you. Will you let me help you?" and that's how this little ritual came to be. Once he's done and he's made sure the stump is properly dry, he'll press a kiss or two there and it will always make Lawrence sigh and smile because Adam doesn't have to do that. He does it because he wants to. That means a whole lot to Lawrence, and he always makes sure to let Adam know by kissing him before they leave the bathroom.

After that, once they've changed into their pajamas and are comfortable, Lawrence will get out whatever novel he's been reading lately and settle back against the pillows, and Adam will rest his head on his shoulder and sling an arm over his waist and just. Let out the biggest sigh. He always does, and he does it because he's warm and comfortable and happy and because he loves Lawrence, and Lawrence will rest his cheek against Adam's head and they just lay like that for a while. Sometimes if Adam's interested, Lawrence will read out loud so Adam can hear too, because he's often too tired to read along. They can stay like this for a good hour and a half, honestly. Sometimes Adam falls asleep like this, feeling safe and contented, and it always warms Lawrence's heart. It makes him so happy to see Adam so relaxed just because they're close.

Eventually though, when Lawrence is finally done reading for the night, one of them will pull the other's back to his chest (they act as big/little spoon interchangeably) and whoever it is being big spoon will also put his arm around the other's middle. Of course they stay as they are if Adam's already asleep, because Lawrence doesn't want to wake him up if he's sleeping well, but if not, it depends on who wants to be held more. It took Lawrence a Long time to admit he wanted Adam to do that sometimes, but once he got the hang of it, he's completely unashamed about it; Adam doesn't mind at all + honestly finds it kinda sweet, actually. Again, that kind of thing wasn't exactly smth Lawrence allowed himself before Adam, so it's unfamiliar territory for a good while, but he finds himself quite at ease with it with time <33

Other than those particular tendencies it's the little things; sitting hip-to-hip on the couch despite having plenty of room Not to do that, one resting his head on the other's thigh while they're watching TV/a movie, bumping hips while doing the dishes, stuff like that. They're both a level of touch-starved (Adam more so than Lawrence, I think), so they're kind of navigating this together and are more than happy to indulge in it whenever the opportunity arises.

#im. literally yelling tht my fic got you to watch the last key dude!!!!!!! #am I projecting w adams eating issues? yeah probably but thats fine. I feel it in my heart #anyway! thank you so much this genuinely made me feel better... free serotonin #'you create intricate rituals that allow you to touch the skin of other men' hits hard honestly #saw #adam #lawrence #they. deserve to be happy and soft. I feel it with my whole heart

[thefabulousfulcrum]

Barbara Kruger

via ArtHistoryArchive

American conceptual/pop artist Barbara Kruger was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1945 and left there in 1964 to attend Syracuse University. Early on she developed an interest in graphic design, poetry, writing and attended poetry readings.

After studying for a year at Syracuse she moved to New York where she began attending Parsons School of Design in 1965. She studied with fellow artists/photographers Diane Arbus and Marvin Israel, who introduced Kruger to other photographers and fashion/magazine sub-cultures. After a year at Parsons, Kruger again left school and worked at Condé Nast Publications in 1966. Not long after she started to work at Mademoiselle magazine as an entry-level designer, she was promoted to head designer a year later.

Later still she worked as a graphic designer, art director, and picture editor in the art departments at “House and Garden”, “Aperture,” and did magazine layouts, book jacket designs, and freelance picture editing for other publications. Her decade of background in design is evident in the work for which she is now internationally renowned. Like Andy Warhol, Kruger was heavily influenced by her years working as a graphic designer.

Her Art

Kruger’s earliest artworks date to 1969. Large woven wall hangings of yarn, beads, sequins, feathers, and ribbons, they exemplify the feminist recuperation of craft during this period. Despite her inclusion in the Whitney Biennial in 1973 and solo exhibitions at Artists Space and Fischbach Gallery, both in New York, the following two years, she was dissatisfied with her output and its detachment from her growing social and political concerns. In the fall of 1976, Kruger abandoned art making and moved to Berkeley, California, where she taught at the University of California for four years and steeped herself in the writings of Walter Benjamin and Roland Barthes.

She took up photography in 1977, producing a series of black-and-white details of architectural exteriors paired with her own textual ruminations on the lives of those living inside. Published as an artist’s book, Picture/Readings (1979) foreshadows the aesthetic vocabulary Kruger developed in her mature work.

By 1979 Barbara Kruger stopped taking photographs and began to employ found images in her art, mostly from mid-century American print-media sources, with words collaged directly over them. Her 1980 untitled piece commonly known as "Perfect" portrays the torso of a woman, hands clasped in prayer, evoking the Virgin Mary, the embodiment of submissive femininity; the word “perfect” is emblazoned along the lower edge of the image.

These early collages in which Kruger deployed techniques she had perfected as a graphic designer, inaugurated the artist’s ongoing political, social, and especially feminist provocations and commentaries on religion, sex, racial and gender stereotypes, consumerism, corporate greed, and power.

During the early 1980s Barbara Kruger perfected a signature agitprop style, using cropped, large-scale, black-and-white photographic images juxtaposed with raucous, pithy, and often ironic aphorisms, printed in Futura Bold typeface against black, white, or deep red text bars. The inclusion of personal pronouns in works like Untitled (Your Gaze Hits the Side of My Face) (1981) and Untitled (I Shop Therefore I Am) (1987) implicates viewers by confounding any clear notion of who is speaking. These rigorously composed mature works function successfully on any scale. Their wide distribution—under the artist’s supervision—in the form of umbrellas, tote bags, postcards, mugs, T-shirts, posters, and so on, confuses the boundaries between art and commerce and calls attention to the role of the advertising in public debate.

In recent years Barbara Kruger has extended her aesthetic project, creating public installations of her work in galleries, museums, municipal buildings, train stations, and parks, as well as on buses and billboards around the world. Walls, floors, and ceilings are covered with images and texts, which engulf and even assault the viewer. Since the late 1990s, Kruger has incorporated sculpture into her ongoing critique of modern American culture. Justice (1997), in white-painted fiberglass, depicts J. Edgar Hoover and Roy Cohn—two right-wing public figures who hid their homosexuality—in partial drag, kissing one another. In this kitsch send-up of commemorative statuary, Kruger highlights the conspiracy of silence that enabled these two men to accrue social and political power.

Sex / Lure - 1979  Untitled / You construct intricate rituals which allow you to touch the skin of other men - 1981  Your assignment is to divide and conquer - 1981  Your Comfort is My Silence - 1981  Your every wish is our command - 1981  Your Gaze Hits the Side of My Face - 1981  Your manias become science - 1981  Untitled / We have received orders not to move - 1982  We will undo you - 1982  Untitled / You are seduced by the sex appeal of the inorganic - 1982  You invest in the divinity of the masterpiece - 1982  You make history when you do business - 1982  We Won't Play Nature to your Culture - 1983  Your life is a perpetual insomnia - 1983  You Are Not Yourself - 1984  Untitled / Money Can Buy You Love - 1985  We don't need another hero - 1985  A Picture is Worth More than a Thousand Words - 1987  Give me all you’ve got - 1987  In space no one can hear you scream - 1987  I Shop Therefore I Am (I)- 1987  I Shop Therefore I Am (II) - 1987  No Radio - 1988  Your body is a battleground - 1989  It's a Small World But Not If You Have to Clean It - 1990  Who is bought and sold? - 1990  You can't drag your money into the grave with you - 1990  All Violence is an Illustration of a Pathetic Stereotype - 1991  Questions - 1991  Think Twice - 1992  Repeat after me - 1985-94  Not Ugly Enough - 1997  Super rich / Ultra gorgeous / Extra skinny / Forever young - 1997  Thinking of You - 1999-2000  Untitled / Pray - 2001  Untitled / Pro-life for the unborn, Pro-death for the born - 2000-004  Twelve - 2004  Untitled / Seeing through you - 2004  Untitled / Chess Board - 2006  Face It (Cyan) - 2007  Face It (Green) - 2007  Face It (Magenta) - 2007  Face It (Yellow) - 2007