#-he's like: it's okay leave me behind caleb because he doesn't want to weight on him five minutes after a prison ship

[smiletimeisrunningout]

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[nephriteknight]

i've made a playlist for my hanahaki-adjacent martin corruption fic! i spent way too much time on this, and it is ordered deliberately ;) it is almost entirely the crane wives because a) the themes!! and b) i just love their music okay. thought i'd highlight some lines from each song, think of it as a tonal sneak peak (can you tell i'm way too invested in this wip? ironically, it is consuming me)

"Feed me promises, keep my heart well, I'll sing you songs until the darkness does recede. But if in the end I lose my voice will you forget about your love for me?" (Canary in a Coal Mine by the Crane Wives)

"I bite my tongue to keep the worst of the words in so they don't hurt nobody but me. Swallow the poison I wanna spit, bitter medicine, I think it's making me sick." (Bitter Medicine by the Crane Wives)

"Oh, the path of least resistance, foolish misinterpretation. Your heart is a nasty place, I'm afraid to say no to you." (Predator by the Crane Wives)

"Folks 'round here are mean, spit fire and gasoline but all I want is solitude. I have half a mind to climb up in the sky and hide myself inside the moon." (New Colors by the Crane Wives)

"I will drown for you, sink to black from blue, and let the water win. Wear you 'round my waist, hold your heart like weight, open my lungs to let you in." (The Diving Bell by the Crane Wives)

"Someone teach me to love without it swallowing me whole. If to love is to be changed I'm only worsening, mosquito larvae in my ribs. He only loves me when I rot like him." (The Bog Bodies by Rabbitology)

"I should be counting blessings, something is better than nothing, isn't it, isn't it, isn't it? It's close enough to perfect, what does it hurt, a little bit?" (Nobody by the Crane Wives)

"All my aching bones are trembling and I may yet fall apart. Won't you stay with me my darling, when the war starts in my heart?" (Curses by the Crane Wives)

"Maybe it's the heat or maybe it's the pain but I can't shake the feeling we're not coming back again. We're not pure of heart but we're true of aim and our heads are full of love and blood and whiskey." (Blood and Whiskey by the Mechanisms)

"Dreams are sweet until they're not. Men are kind until they aren't. Flowers bloom until they rot and fall apart. Is anybody listening? I open my mouth and nothing comes out. Nothing, nothing gonna wake me now." (Flowers from Hadestown)

"There's a wind alive in the valley, it will fill your lungs if you'll have it. Where I go, will you still follow? Will you leave your shaded hollow? Will you greet the daylight looming? Learn to love without consuming?" (Thus Always To Tyrants by the Oh Hellos)

"Come my dear and drink while the water's still cold. I am naught but a scar upon your breastbone. So kiss me quick steal every secret I keep. You can have anything that you want from me." (October by the Crane Wives)

"When it's love turns you sour, only love can turn you back. Stop waiting on the flowers. Blood don't mean a thing in the end." (Caleb Trask by the Crane Wives)

"Been enraptured and tied, turn your ghosts into mine, all the years, all the years I'm alive. Softly a cold wind paints my face into your arms, sell my sorry soul." (Naked, the Night Falls by the Crane Wives)

"The moon will sing a song for me, I loved you like the sun. Bore the shadows that you made with no light of my own." (The Moon Will Sing by the Crane Wives)

"Time will change you. You'll leave behind what doesn't move. We all outgrow our roots." (Time Will Change You by the Crane Wives)

"So lets throw my garden party, you promised roses but gave me thorns. You'd leave me rotting 'til summer's over, guess I'll be digging alone." (Garden Party by Madds Buckley)

"Climb ye higher and higher and higher 'til you're far away and breathing cleaner air. Oh my brother, my brother, my brother who have you become in the wake of all that happened here? They're burning down the orchard to the soil, to the soil, to the grave. Spreading out the ashes of a love that only gave and gave." (Icarus by the Crane Wives)

"So I take a deep breath and turn to be brave. Harvest the fruits of being afraid." (Red Clay by the Crane Wives)

"I thank these walls, my hideaway, my sanctuary to worship the pain. I never thought I'd leave the cave, but I'm more curious than afraid." (Arcturus Beaming)

"I won't bargain, I won't break, my mind made up though my head still aches, and all my love you tried to take but you can't have it all." (Can't Have It All by the Crane Wives)

"I have always known you, you have always been there in my mind. But now I understand you and I will not be part of your designs." (Dear Wormwood by the Oh Hellos)

[weirdroomwherealexcried]

Sorry I didn't mean for this to be so long, it just had a life of it's own. But uh I wrote the scene.

Luke and Julie are going through her dream box together during a sonwriting session and Ray calls Julie for help with dinner or something. Luke continues on reading her lyrics because she's just so damn talented and finds a new one.

Step into my world

Bittersweet love story 'bout a girl

Shook me to the core

Voice like an angel

I've never heard before

Luke knows this is about Julie and is filled with so much jealousy because who said this too her. Was it nick? It has to be. He's mentally preparing to fight the kid as he reads on.

Here in front of me

They're shining so much brighter

Than I have ever seen

Life can be so mean

But when he goes, I know he doesn't leave

Confusion now because this doesn't make sense for Nick and they? They is plural like him and the guys? She described herself with the voice of an angel? She's not wrong he just didn't expect it and when he goes? He as in Luke? He doesn't dare hope but this is a love song and Julie knows Alex is gay and her and Reggie are like brother and sister.

The truth is finally breaking through

Two worlds collide when I'm with you

Our voices rise and soar so high

We come to life when we're

In perfect harmony

Whoa-oa-oa, whoa-oa-oa

Perfect harmony

Whoa-oa-oa, whoa-oa-oa

Perfect harmony

Holy crap it has to be him our voices Julie and him are the only ones who sing together. I mean Flynn does too but it already said he.

You set me free

You and me together is more than chemistry

Love me as I am

I'll hold your music here inside my hands

We say we're friends, we play pretend

You're more to me, we're everything

Our voices rise and soar so high

We come to life when we're

In perfect harmony

Whoa-oa-oa, whoa-oa-oa

Perfect harmony

Whoa-oa-oa, whoa-oa-oa

Perfect harmony

She likes him back. And in the same way. She feels their connection the same way he does. Luke is enthralled and his leg is bouncing nervously so he doesn't notice Julie walk back in until she's pulling the piece of paper out of his hands ranting about boundaries. He apologises profusely but it's somewhat cheapened by the grin on his face.

"Julie, I'm sorry, I didn't realise what I was reading at first. It's beautiful" she's blushing now and walks downstairs without looking back at him. He can't help but follow poofing down to the studio where the guys are. Reggie asks if they're done already just as Julie walks in then turns around the second she seems him.

"Julie wait. Please can we just talk about it?" She pauses but doesn't say anything or turn to look at him.

"We'll give you guys a second." Alex offers but Julie shouts out a no so quickly it's almost like a slap in the face. She turns around now but looks past Luke to Alex and Reggie.

"It's nothing. Flynn'll be here soon we should start practising." She passes Luke without looking and sits at her mum's piano. Not done talking about this Luke sits on top of it and refuses to move until she acknowledges him.

"Is it about me?" He finally asks even though he knows it is.

"It doesn't matter." She responds playing the intro to one of their new songs. Luke still doesn't move. "I don't want to talk about this?"

"What's going on? Is everything okay?" Reggie asks and Luke knows that worried look. It was the same one he had whenever he came to band practice after his parents were fighting.

"Yeah Reggie we're fine. Julie's just being stubborn." She snorts out a laugh and it's like a weight lifts of Luke's chest. She's embarrassed but not mad. "Would it help if I said I felt the same way." Finally she stops playing and meets his eyes and Luke can hear Alex and Reggie poof out behind him.

"No, it wouldn't because it doesn't matter." Those seven words hurt more than all of Caleb's jolts combined.

"It does to me." Luke can hear his voice crack and hates that it makes her flinch. "Why didn't you want me to know?"

"Because you're a ghost Luke. No matter what I feel one day you'll cross over. Move on and I already know it'll break my heart when you do. The three of you are my family and I couldn't handle losing you if we're anything more than that." There's a knock at the studio door and Flynn walks in asking if the guys are here. "Just Luke. But he's going to get the others for rehearsal."

Luke does as she says but isn't done talking about this. Even though he knows she's right Luke can't deny his feelings for her. He finds the guys in the kitchen with Ray and Carlos.

"Hey. What was that about?" Alex asks concerned Luke can only imagine the look on his face.

"I found a song Julie wrote that I wasn't meant to. A love song." He responds and Alex nods as understanding slowly dawns on Reggie.

"If she wrote it why was she so upset?" He asks and Alex shakes his head.

"She can't date a dead guy. No matter how the feel about each other Luke is a ghost and Julie's a lifer. I'm sorry Luke but you know it's true." Luke knows Alex is trying to help so he can't be mad but it still really hurts. Reggie comes over to hug him tightly and even if it is doomed. Luke can't give up on her. He won't lose their Perfect Harmony.

just a reminder that luke patterson has no idea perfect harmony exists