#⁰⁰⁷ ᜵ 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚎 ¸ would it be enough if i could never give you peace.

[heartsfirstmoved]

𝚘𝚘𝚌  ¸  closed starter.

ever since that night , there's been a shift in their relationship. they've gotten closer, spending more time together than is strictly necessary but no one has batted an eyelid. alonso is supposed to spend time with her, he's the head of her security team. the blonde moves a loose strand of hair over her shoulder as she wraps her hands around her glass of wine, glancing over at alonso. " last week of tour, you excited to be heading home ? " madeline asks softly , taking a sip from her glass. she wishes that she was more excited for this to be over , but the come down from tour was always hard and it was even harder when she had to do it alone. / @ofginjxints !

[heartsfirstmoved]

heart hammers in her chest as she leans into him , hand coming up to gently rest on his shoulder. she can't believe that this is happening. maybe it's a terrible idea , but she's made plenty of those in her life so what's one more? another week and tour would be over and they'd be able to go their seperate ways if that's what they wanted. it wasn't what madeline wanted though. not really. but she'd do that if that's what he wanted.

There was alcohol in him, it made him braver, more stupid perhaps. It was the final week, if anything went wrong it would be an awkward few more days. That would be it. Though then again what would reasoning do? He was sat next to Madeline Ennis. Even without actively listening to her music, she was a household name. And there he was, her eyes gazing into his as she shifted closer to him. He had to know.

Without another moment's hesitation, he closed the small distance between them, lips pressing against hers for the first time after imagining it for weeks, months.

[heartsfirstmoved]

The tension in the room was palpable, and maybe Madeline was imagining it. Maybe it was the glass of wine and how close they were sitting, but she was certain she felt it back from Lonso. Gaze drops to watch when he takes her hand, swallowing the lump back in her throat before squeezing his hand gently and slowly turning her attention back to him. Madeline had written song after song about this feeling, and she knew what it was when she felt it. Maybe it was stupid, maybe they'd both regret this but she wouldn't know. She had to know. Hand gently tightens her grip on his as she starts to move a little closer to him, eyes flickering over his face as she just watches his reaction for any sign she was reading this wrong.

Lonso felt his edges soften when she relaxed onto him, his gaze on her as he nodded. "Yeah, of course." There was no question. Regardless of everything, regardless of whether she would actually take him up on the offer, he knew she had his heart. It was incredibly inconvenient, rather stupid on his end, but he knew. "You're important to me, and I want to know you're okay." Tentatively, with his other hand, he reached for hers. That was friendly, right? He threaded his fingers with hers and drew circles with his thumb on the back of her hand.

[heartsfirstmoved]

She can't help letting out a little laugh at his words, before nodding her head. "You're not wrong," she speaks quietly, resting her head against his shoulder as she takes a deep breath. This was nice. It was nice to have something of a routine whilst she was on the road, something that Madeline could look forward to at the end of the night. Eyes flicker over his face, tongue darting out to wet her lower lip. "Yeah? You would?" she questions, voice dropping slightly. Maddie is very aware of just how close they are, and maybe she should move away before the lines get any more blurred than they already are. But she doesn't want to. "Friends, exactly."

"I know, we all have fears, but we shouldn't let them define us." He punctuated his words with a squeeze of her shoulder. They had gotten close in the time they'd spent in her hotel rooms. He was surprised when she continued asking him to stay after the first night but they had gotten into a familiar routine. Even holding her under his arm felt normal and comfortable. "I'd deny every single thing, I promise." There was a gentle smile on his face as he turned to meet her gaze. "Of course, anytime. I wanna make sure you're okay, we're y'know - friends, right?" He didn't even know if that was the right word for it, but he put it out there.

[heartsfirstmoved]

Madeline presses her lips together as she nods her head, glancing at him. "Yeah..." she speaks quietly, finishing off her glass of wine and setting the empty flute down. She's not expecting his question, turning her head to look at him before puffing her cheeks out as she shrugs her shoulders. "They're --- They're actually worse when I'm at home," she laughs a little bit, pulling one of her knees against her chest and clasping her hands around the front of it. "Nothing to tire me out, just a whole lot of thinking," she shrugs her shoulders, slight smile pulling on her lips. Mads doesn't enjoy the prospect of going through another nightmare without him there to hold her through it, but she can't say that. As much as she wants to.

He nodded. "Yeah, it must be a real shock to the system." He paused, perhaps unwise to mention but wanting to question nonetheless. "How's your sleep when you get home? Less interruptions or...?" He supposed he didn't need to care all that much about it all, for all intents and purposes once she was done with the tour he was only needed for big events again and they would only see each other in big crowds. There was a little pang in his chest when he considered he would always be looking at her, but she would be too busy to look at him.

[heartsfirstmoved]

She can't help moving closer to him when his face presses into her hair, fingers curling into his shirt as she takes a deep breath. "I know what you mean," she speaks quietly. "There's still that fear though, you know?" Maddie questions. Madeline blinks, before laughing loudly at his words. "I don't quite think I could get away with murder, but I appreciate the vote of confidence," she tells him, bumping her knee against his. Madeline hums softly, tilting her head to look at him. "You mean it?"

Alonso let out a chuckle at her words, leaning to press his face against her hair like he did when he came to soothe her at night. "I don't think it can go away even if you wanted to. There are thousands, millions of people who love your music, your art, you. I think the only thing you can do for people to turn on you is actually murder someone - but even then true crime's a real hit these days." He cracked a joke to alleviate the tension as he rubbed her shoulder gently. "If you ever need someone to talk to at night - you have my number, okay?" It was a strange offer, he wasn't even sure she would take it, but it was there if she needed.

[heartsfirstmoved]

She laughs quietly at his words, nodding her head as she slowly drags her tongue along her lower lip before taking a sip of her glass. Maybe she shouldn't let her mind wander, but she has - she's wondered what it would be like; he knows what it means to be her, he's held her through a number of nightmares, helped her to block out the noise when it's needed. "God, yeah. I can't wait to be back in my own bed. It'll be weird though. Having nothing to do, I always hate the first couple weeks back after touring. It's hard for me."

Alonso was being stupid, he knew that. Not only was Madeline essentially his employer and way too many years his junior for him to even begin thinking of her that way - she was this big megastar, a household name, and he was just some nobody who worked in her shadow. Still, the stolen moments when it was just the two of them were nice. It was enough between the drinks, the room service and late night talks for him to play a fool if only in those moments. "I'll be glad not to be perpetually jet-lagged." He nodded as he flashed her the smallest smile behind his glass. "I bet you're looking forward to your own bed, hm?"

[heartsfirstmoved]

Maddie isn't expecting him to come and join her, but she's glad that he has. She immediately sinks into his hold, head resting against his shoulder as she takes a deep breath. "You don't...." she starts, before clearing her throat as she just curls her fingers into the fabric of his shirt. She's been working on taking compliments better, especially from people that mean a lot to her. Madeline takes a breath, tucking her nose against the collar of his shirt. "Thank you, I'm just very aware of how quickly this can all go away," she speaks quietly, eyes fluttering closed.

His brows furrowed at her confession, he was expecting her to say the opposite - that the quiet would help settle her mind. "Shit, I'm sorry." He could have kicked himself for bringing it up, but he was glad she had mentioned it nonetheless. Alonso stood from his chair and sat beside her on the couch, arm around her shoulder unprompted. "You put so much pressure on yourself, but you're amazing you know that, right?" His voice was low and gentle, he didn't need a nightmare to know Maddie needed comfort.