“You never pretended to be a bride when you were a little girl?” No???? Like literally never?

I made witch soups in my garden

I ignored my dolls and instead spent my time cleaning their clothes with mum’s washing powder 😬 so I guess I used to pretend to be the maid?

‘Wedding day’

Thomas flicked through the scrapbook of wedding photos and mementos he’d just finished putting together. It felt a little childish really, cutting out photos and scraps of material and adding them to the leather bound journal Guy had bought him. But… it meant something. It was his day. Their day. A day he never thought he’d have. Of course, the law didn’t recognise their union, the words they’d said in front of each other and their friends. But their hearts did. And that was all that mattered.

For @RIPFredWeasley

This wedding collage holds a quality that any magnificent wedding should have: we may safely say that it invokes a great deal of delighted coos and awed gasps.

Aaaaaaaa *squeals in delight*

This is perfect

s o f t

“At home with Guy Dexter: interiors of the rich and famous”

Would fans expect anything other than Hollywood glamour mixed with a touch of English sophistication from the home of Guy Dexter? His Spanish-style Hancock Park residence reflects his original heritage with its dark antiques and random objet d’art, accompanied by the modern paintings and showbiz artefacts with which readers of Modern Interiors may be more familiar.

His eclectic style is matched by his unusual living circumstances, with his very own English butler/personal assistant in charge of the day to day running of his home, travel arrangements and diary. After watching the magnificent Thomas Barrow at work, and seeing the high esteem in which he is held by Dexter, I’m inclined to get my own English butler.

(Based on prompt: “Art prompt: fan magazine spread of Guy Dexter’s luxurious Hollywood home, complete with a Genuine Authentic English butler. They happen to be standing very close in the photo, and the butler does look a little casual, but I’m sure that’s nothing unusual...").

It is truly tragic that there are no Barrow-calibre British butlers to be had anywhere in our area, because, judging from this striking collage and its lovely accompanying snippet, having one solves... well, not all, but certainly many a problem that a homeowner can have!

Many thanks to the experienced dexmas-monthers @academia4me and @greenandhazy for the collage and the original prompt, respectively.

I know season 4 wasn't great for Thomas. But it did give me one of my favourite scenes ever. When Thomas and Robert come back from America and Robert is like "did you miss me Bates, because I sure missed you" glaring in Thomas's direction. We all know Thomas didn't mess up at his job. Which leaves only one possible explanation: They ended up staying in a place with no servants quarters so they both had rooms on the same floor, so everytime Robert got up to pee or get a midnight snack he bumped into one of Thomas's one night stands. Is this the most realistic explanation? No. But is it the one I choose to believe? Yes.

I think one of the things I like so much about “It can mean as little or as much as you like” is that it’s the first time we see Thomas genuinely get to define his romantic relationship in the show? Like, starting right off the bad with the Duke, Thomas says he wants to be his valet. He wants to live in his lover’s house, in close quarters, and have a proper, established romance—and the Duke says nope, occasional trysts and letters (and also, no more letters), that’s all I’m offering, you have to take it or leave it, and Thomas has to leave it. Jimmy says something similar in the Christmas special, when he explicitly makes it clear that he can’t give Thomas some of what he wants, and the only thing on the table is friendship, and Thomas says yes, he can settle for friendship.

Then we get to Richard, and it’s a little more complicated here because we don’t get Thomas’s own perspective on when his feelings towards Richard take on a deliberate, romantic turn—does he think York is a date from the start? (My personal opinion is no, given how quickly he accepts Chris’s offer, but I could totally accept a reading that he thinks it is, then loses confidence as he’s waiting.) Does he mean it when he says Richard is a “friend” in the scene in his office, or is he hedging his bets?

Regardless, I do think it’s interesting that he does explicitly call Richard a friend, and then Richard is the one to say “Is that all you’ve found?”, and he goes in for a kiss before waiting for confirmation—iirc the script, or an interview with the director, actually says that the kiss is meant to be a “surprise” to Thomas. And it does seem to be a welcome surprise, of course, and they end on a romantic note, but Thomas is clearly reacting in that scene, rather than making the deliberate choice.

And it seems to me that, in a way, the office/dining room proposal almost mirrors the first conversation Guy and Thomas have, in the library? Guy makes a flirty offer, immediately walks it back and apologizes at the slightest hint Thomas is uncomfortable. In the office he makes a heavily coded offer of romance, comparing it to marriage. Thomas comes back and says “did I get this right?” and Guy leaves it to him to define his own boundaries. Does he want the marriage proposal? That would be fantastic. Does he want to travel and work in California but balks at the romance? Well, that was part of the offer, Guy isn’t going to withdraw it just because it’s not what he was hoping for. Does he want to start as friends and see what happens? Sure, it’s all on the table.

Which means Thomas gets to be the one who says “I’d like it to mean a great deal.” In that wonderful warm, sincere delivery that RJC gives, with the eye contact and the slight smile—gah, one of my favorite lines in the films. And Guy grins back and says “Then you’re in luck,” driving home the fact that that was exactly what he wanted, he wanted everything Thomas could offer—was willing to offer anything of his own—even if he would have settled for something else, the position that Thomas was left in the first episode. It’s just such a clever, subtle play on where he started the series (even before you get to the other contrasts with the Duke—pretending to forget Thomas’s name, while Guy is deliberate in asking for it, scoffing at the idea that Mary would apologize to a servant, while Guy is preemptive in apologizing).

I love it. It’s so good. They pack so much into Guy’s character in just a few scenes… and don’t even get me started on the mutual giddiness in their last scene together. I adore them.

Why, it seems like living with Guy Dexter comes with a rather peculiar set of Guy Dexter problems. We are absolutely swept off our feet by this loveliness and so, we strongly suspect, is Grumpy Cat Thomas. Deep, deep down and only once he solves the inevitable vase supply problem.

We can't draw our eyes away from the top piece! Ooooh, the intense Dexmas eye contact!

…i know a pretty nice date spot in hancock park….