#I have to interview an artist today and there's no way my laptop can handle a zoom call being recorded...

[sunburnacoustic]

Some Muse links I found sitting on my laptop:

Muse's appearance on RageTV is available in the archives, somewhat. While their spoken-word segments aren't uploaded, their song choices from their guest appearance on 2 April 2003 are saved in the Rage Again archives in the form of a playlist of the music videos they selected.

An old interview on Swiss television in 1999 with the whole band

The making of The Globalist and Defectors on Drones:

[back2bluesidex]

Monitoring Duty - JJK

Pairing: Idol!Jungkook X Managerial staff!Reader

Theme: Fluff, f2l (kinda), coworkers to lovers (kinda)

Summary: You are tasked with monitoring Jungkook's weverse live tonight, which starts with you trying to shove ramyeon down your throat and ends with Jungkook confessing that he likes you too.

Wordcount: 1.7k+

Warnings: None.

A/N: trust me, I had no plans of writing this one but couldn't really get this idea out of my head... so, please suffer with me. thank you very much. and it's really stupid so please forgive me.

Weverse: 🌟JK started a LIVE  - I am tired..

Your phone dinged with the notification. You know what it can be and you are prepared but currently you are struggling to chew and swallow the last bit of cup ramyeon, so that you can finally get into your monitoring duty. 

Drinking the water in a breath and debunking choking possibilities, you reach for your work laptop. Opening the application while putting down the password doesn't take you more than 10 seconds. 

And finally you are in. Now all you have to do is to monitor Jungkook and take appropriate actions when there is an inappropriate situation such as, he falls asleep, or he spoils his upcoming schedule, or he gets repetitive calls from a sasaeng etc. 

You melt on the hotel couch. Your limbs feel like jelly due to all the workload you have been through since 4 am in the morning. Being a managerial staff of a Kpop idol is neither fancy nor pleasant. While thousands of fans dream of being at your place, you want nothing more than a year long break. But then again, the pay is good and you are in need of money as well as a strong professional profile. 

And another reason for you pursuing this gruesome job is, the man you are currently monitoring. 

It has been more than two years since you joined Hybe. For the first year you worked with the entire team and for the last one year, you have been appointed as one of the managerial staff of the maknae.

You don’t know when in this last one year, you started to grow and harbor some kind of fondness towards Jungkook. Not that you don’t know the rules and regulations of the company (most of which don’t apply in terms of BTS), you can recite those better than your phone number, but still… staying immune to Jungkook’s charms, and especially the way he treats you with all the kindness of the world (which makes you wonder at times whether feelings are mutual or not), wasn’t possible for you. 

You know it’s foolish, you know there will be no return to your affection but you still like to enjoy this feeling of liking him, adoring him from afar, praying for him in silence. You will move on someday, but as of now, your focus is trained on him and only on him. 

“Oh the festival? The festival was crazy! You know it’s the first time I have performed in a festival all alone without the members, so it was scary and I was nervous. But seeing the other artists enjoying themselves and watching you guys cheering for me helped me a lot. Hope you guys liked it.” Jungkook giggles. You mirror his actions while watching him through your laptop screen. 

If you put your ear on the wall, you could probably hear his mellow voice piercing through the thin cement of the overpriced hotel room. You are given the room beside him for handling emergencies quickly and he doesn’t even know that. He doesn’t even care, does he? 

You shake off your thoughts as you try to focus on the live.

Jungkook restlessly talks and tries to interact with the fans despite being dead tired. You have been with him all day long and you know how hectic things were. He has hardly got any sleep since the day he landed in the US. Interviews, performances, event invitations, everything was lined up one after another. It all ended with the Summerfest performance today. Just this one live and after that he will get to rest for a couple of days before catching a flight back to Korea.   

You roll your eyes as Jungkook starts to sing to comply with the request of a fan. 

“He just performed for an hour and twelve minutes! And you people still want him to sing? Even when he is clearly tired?” you groan at the screen. Most of the time you respect fans’ love for Bangtan but sometimes their nonchalant demands really piss you off.  

Jungkook finishes signing and starts coughing immediately. You follow the live stream as he leaves his chair and starts looking for water in the refrigerator. 

He coughs some more and then with a very choked voice, says, “ah! Guys! I’m running out of water. Should I drink water from the faucet then?” 

You grab two bottles from the nightstand as soon as possible and run towards his room. 

Within a few moments of ringing the bell, Jungkook appears at the door. At first his eyes go wide seeing you standing there wearing an oversized tshirt and a pair of sweats, then his eyes fall on the bottles you have in your hold. He coughs again and you hastily open the cap of one of the bottles and thrust it towards his lips. He grabs it immediately and drinks until he is satisfied.  

You try not to stare at the way his adam’s apple bobs when he chugs water down or the way he wipes his lips to get rid of the remnants of water, but fail miserably and you guess Jungkook notices that too, otherwise there is no apparent reason for him to smile sheepishly. 

“Thanks” he says, closing the bottle, “so… you are on monitoring duty tonight?” 

“Yeah. Are you okay though? You have been coughing since morning.” You reply, neglecting the way your skin heats up because of Jungkook’s intense stare at your smaller form. 

“I am fine, Y/N. Much better now that you are here…” Jungkook pauses, your eyes widen at his statement, “with the water I mean.” both of you chuckle nervously. 

“Umm.. I will wrap it up quickly okay? I don’t want to overwork you. Just give me ten more minutes.” 

“Jungkook, it’s alright. Take your time. I like to watch you doing silly stuff anyway.” you smile and he giggles. 

“It felt nice… hearing you say that.” Jungkook gives you one of his bunny smiles as his dark orbs find yours. You two stay there staring at each other, without giving a damn about the 10 million people that are currently staring at a chair, until reality finally seeps into your veins again. 

“Bye. Good night.” you murmur as Jungkook nods. 

He is already back at his seat when you come back to your room and sit on the couch. 

“Jungkook-ah, I wish I had a better word than love to explain how much I love you.”

Jungkook reads a comment. 

“Umm… better word than love? Is there anything like this?” He thinks for a moment, squirting his eyes, placing his index finger on his chin and pretending to think hard, “I watched a drama where the male lead confesses his love for the girl he likes saying something like ‘the moon is beautiful’ and I think that was really romantic. So, from now on if you want to say that you love me beyond explanation, use ‘the moon is beautiful’ and I will understand right away. Okay?” 

You see as the comment section goes wild with “moon is beautiful” comments rapidly. Fans really love him a lot and he too, is so dedicated to his fans that sometimes you get jealous. 

Within five more minutes, Jungkook is saying bye and turning the live stream off. You leave a sigh of relief, nothing went wrong under your watch and now you can finally sleep. 

You hit the bed with a thud, wrap the duvet around your body and close your eyes only to be startled by the vibration of your phone that is kept on the nightstand. 

You grab your phone with an annoyed huff, which vanishes when you see it’s a text from Jungkook. 

“Do you wanna grab a beer? If you are not asleep yet?” 

And the next moment you are bolting towards Jungkook’s room, fucking your sleep and nighttime rest. 

You two settle comfortably at the balcony, talking about nothing and everything at the same time, while staring at the night sky. Gradually you forget that you are tired and you haven’t got any sleep for almost 20 hours now. But who cares. If having no sleep exchanges a bit of quality time alone with Jungkook then you would gladly stay awake night after night. 

“Jimin hyung texted me earlier, saying I did a great job.” Jungkook says, sipping on his beer. 

“See, you were panicking for nothing. You always do a great job.” You reply, he chuckles and then for a minute or so, you two fall into a comfortable silence. Until Jungkook decides to break it.

“The moon is beautiful.” Jungkook whispers and you hear it loud and clear. Your heart stops beating for a moment. You stare at the said moon blankly. You don’t know if it is what you think it is. Maybe you are wrong, the moon is really beautiful tonight and that pact he made, is between him and his fans, it has nothing to do with you. On the top of that there is no way he feels something for you. You are just a nobody, nothing in front of him and his grandiose life. 

So you reply, “yes, it is.” 

“Y/N… You have been watching the live and you know what I mean right?” Jungkook’s voice suddenly feels closer to your body. You don’t know if it’s really happening or is it just a fragment of your dream, so you stay silent. 

Jungkook grabs your arms and turns your body to face him. 

And then within a moment you are caged between his muscular body and the balcony railing. 

“Don’t I deserve an answer?” Jungkook breathes on your lips. 

“Do- do you really..?”

“Yes, I do. And I wonder why you didn't notice it when I am always giving you heart eyes, when I am trying to be as close to you as possible, when I am always looking for chances to converse with you, to spend a little bit of time with you.” 

“But- Jungkook..”

“What’s your answer, Y/N?” 

“Jungkook, my answer doesn’t matter. Not when I am one of your employees. It’s prohibited for me.” you try to make him understand. 

“You just need to say yes, Y/N. I can manage the rest.”

“I will get fired.” 

“You won’t. Don’t you trust me?” 

“I do.” “Then let me take care of things okay?”

“Okay.” You smile at him, as he connects his forehead with yours. You breathe in him, his scent, his warmth and his affection for you. You don’t know about the future, you don’t have a clue about the struggles you are about to face. But you know you love him and he loves you back. So maybe things will be alright. You will let Jungkook take care of things as he wants, as for now, when he reaches down to lock his lips with yours, you taste euphoria on him.  

A/N: The idea of "Moon is beautiful" instead of "I love you" is derived from the KDrama "Romance is a bonus book.

Taglist:

@phenomenalgirl9 @soraviie @variety-is-the-joy-of-life @sukunabitch

[bngtanah]

I’m (not) With The Band. | o7

summary: Adrienne is an indie producer who is hired to help co-produce BTS’ next album alongside their resident producer; Suga. Despite the initial opposition on both ends, the pair spend time together, share a few stories, dreams and aspirations and begin to hit it off really well. Wrapped up in the whirlwind of late nights and heated disagreements and reconciliations, Min Yoongi and Adrienne Rolle find themselves growing closer and closer. One night they decide to cross the barrier between personal and professional and do their best make a relationship work against all odds.

pairing: idol!Yoongi  x OC

word count: 4.5k genre: drama, romance, smut(eventually)

chapters: prologue| o1| o2| o3| o4| o5| o6| o7| o8| o9| 10| 11|

warning: fluff, workplace relationship, slow burn, sexual attraction, ambw, developing relationship, light angst, making out.

a/n: hey. sup. it’s been forever lmao.

"No, no, I want there to be a subtle kind of...sexiness even without the lyrics"

"But I thought we agreed to go for a different feeling?"

"We did...then I changed my mind"

"So, I guess what I want doesn't matter?"

"For this song- no. No, it does not."

Yoongi wanted to be annoyed by her dismissal and deep down he mostly was, Andy was being unnecessarily difficult with the direction of their latest music-related venture, and although she had shot down nearly all of his ideas today, Yoongi still found himself bowing to her will instead of arguing with her like he usually would whenever she batted those big green eyes at him. He was fairly certain that she wasn't doing this on purpose, enticing him so that he would continue to remain entranced by her attractive features and intoxicating smile, even if she wasn't aware of what she was doing, the results were still the same. She already had him wrapped around her finger without even realizing it and Yoongi hated being so damn malleable. 

Today was another day off for the group but with the limited time and amount of preparation they still had to go through t in order to be ready to release their album on time, no one in the group had the luxury of lounging around doing nothing  like they had been doing the past few days. Everyone was either practicing, giving interviews or helping out with lyrics for the few songs that were already completed and approved leaving Andy and Yoongi alone in an empty dorm to get some actual work done. They opted out of working at the studio since it was already crowded with Namjoon, Jimin and Hoseok using the computer and mic, Yoongi knew that the dorm would be empty for most of the day, so it gave them a chance to work in peace.

"Look," Adrienne sighed and leaned back on her elbows, they were seated on Yoongi's bed and much closer than they needed to be "I'm sure whatever you're thinking is great but if you guys really want to go for a more mature image with this album you need a song like this. The kind of song that will give you the confidence to strip and give your boyfriend a lap dance even if you can't dance for shit." Adrienne exhaled sharply and glanced up at the ceiling, looking wistful. She wasn't looking at Yoongi, and she hadn't been since she started speaking, but if she was she probably would have noticed the way his eyes ping-ponged between the slight amount of cleavage peeking out of the top of her v-neck and her plump lips that curled into a seductive smile when she spoke that last sentence.

Something about the way she said the previous sentence, however, must’ve given too much of her desire away, because he froze when she exhaled, just to stare her down. When Adrienne finally did glance to the side she flinched slightly under his intense glare but didn't back away.

"Sorry, was that too much? I talk without thinking sometimes..."

"No... that's not-"

It seemed Yoongi hadn’t truly been paying attention to what she was saying before, but now he would have been hanging on her every word if she had the courage to say anything else, instead, they just stared at each other, neither one moving an inch until one of Adrienne's braids fell into her face and Yoongi raised his fingers and brushed the back of his knuckles across her cheek to put it back in place.

His movements were gentle, so gentle that Adrienne could barely breathe– the moment stretched out for so much longer than seemed appropriate, allowing Adrienne to become lost in her thoughts and the realization of just how much she wanted his lips on her to hit her with a heavy awareness. Andy broke under the thought and found herself leaning forward to just do it, to just kiss him like she had wanted to for so much longer than she cared to think about. Yoongi leaned forward as well, the hand that was caressing her cheek moving down to her neck to securely keep her head where he wanted it to be. Eyelids hooded and lips just a few inches apart, their breathing intermingled as they drew closer and closer to their intended goal. Weeks of flirting and mutually explosive tension bubbling just under the surface was just seconds from reaching its peak....until hearing the door handle jiggle broke apart their fantasy.

Suddenly the front door opened, and the sound of Jin's voice blending together with Jungkook's caused the enamored pair to spring apart, quite literally, with Yoongi rolling further into the center of his bed and Adrienne tumbling from the bed to the ground, landing flat on her ass.

"Are you okay?" Yoongi asked quickly, peering over the edge as Adrienne nodded and rubbed the sore spot on her hip where she landed.

"I'm fine, just a little bruise-" She responded with a groan then looked up, the moment between them was long from being forgotten and that was evident in the way Yoongi still peered down at her like he wanted to devour her right then. But, Jin and Jungkook making their presence known in the hallway outside Yoongi's bedroom made them break contact and swiftly pretend to be working, Andy grabbing her notebook off the edge of the bed and Yoongi mindlessly pressing keys on his laptop as the two young men hovered around the entrance and inquired about how their work was going.

"Yoongi's being stubborn, and I am making amazing music, so it's just like always," Adrienne commented from the floor, earning a chuckle from both Jin and Jungkook and an agitated smirk from the target of her jeer.

"Ah, well we won't distract you, keep working hard!" Jin stated as he began to usher Jungkook out the door, who was on the verge of complaining.

"Oh no! You can stay!" Adrienne replied, too quickly, and shot out her hand to stop them from leaving "It would be nice to hear some feedback." She wasn't too certain about being left alone with Yoongi after what had almost happened just a few seconds earlier, even with her sitting on the floor now there was no guaranteeing she wouldn't lose her senses again and do something stupid like try to kiss her coworker.

"Are you sure won't we be in the way?" Jin asked in part, allowing Jungkook to finish off the question even though he was already walking back towards Jin's bed and sitting down. Both of them glanced back and forth from Adrienne to Yoongi for an answer, before finally settling on Yoongi.

"It's fine," he grumbled from behind his laptop screen, "Just try not to make too much noise."

They, of course, did the opposite of what he asked.

Yoongi slammed the door of the Bangtan room so hard Adrienne swore she could hear the frosted glass crack and shatter when he entered the room. She didn't even bother swiveling around in her chair when she heard him come in since she already knew what was bothering him. Yoongi had a meeting with the boss today about a few songs he'd submitted on his own for approval and, judging by his reaction, it probably hadn't gone well.

It was always interesting (terrifying) to see Yoongi so genuinely angry, he was usually so calm and unconcerned by small or big things, but when it came to his music he quite literally wore his emotions on his sleeves and it barely took much to ignite a blaze of fire within him.

"Yoongi-ssi?" Adrienne called as she heard his pacing back and forth behind her.

No answer.

"Are you alright?" Adrienne decided to ask once again when he took a seat on the couch and began running both of his hands down the length of his face. 

"Do I seem alright to you?" Yoongi snapped with his face still buried in his hands, his knee was bouncing up and down so quickly it warbled his voice and Adrienne couldn't even find herself becoming offended by his curt reply.

"You don't," Adrienne answered as she spun around to face Yoongi, "That's why I'm asking if you are. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but don't come in here disrupting my time with your bad vibes if just going to be an asshole."

Yoongi puffed up almost immediately, his chest inflating with arrogance and his lips twisting into an aggravated scowl. He looked up, ready to dispute his right to be an asshole whenever he wanted to be, but once his eyes met Adrienne's he deflated and glanced to the side with a heavy sigh. He shouldn't be putting his anger off on her, she wasn't the reason he was upset.

"He said no- again!" Yoongi finally replied with an answer that Adrienne already knew, but she nodded anyway, her gaze never leaving his as he began to rant about not being taken seriously. 

"They still look at me and talk to me like I'm still the same kid that auditioned here three years ago, it's fucking humiliating!"

"Did he at least give you some constructive criticism?" Andy asked, trying to remain positive.

"That's not even the point," Yoongi huffed, rising up from his seat, "If it was just about my song not being good enough, I could change that. I can always make better songs but I'm not growing as an artist if I'm constantly being told to write about the same thing in a slightly different way! There are only so many similes and metaphors you can write about someone not loving you the way you love them."

Adrienne frowned and nodded because she understood how he felt. Even when she felt like she didn't know Yoongi as well as she wanted to, it was always very obvious to Adrienne how much his music meant to him, that was something they had in common and it was probably the reason for most of their music-related disagreements. Neither of them would put their name on a project that they didn't know was their absolute best effort.

Yoongi was still pacing  back and forth the length of the small studio room in an attempt to work off all the anger that was building up inside him. He stopped abruptly once he felt Adrienne's arms embrace him from behind and her cheek rest against his shoulder, she was wearing platform sneakers that made her as tall as him.

"Do you really think your boss doesn't respect you?" She asked after a few seconds passed and his harsh breathing had calmed some.

"He's not acting like he does," Yoongi muttered over his shoulder.

"You know that's not what I asked, do you honestly think he doesn't respect you? Would he have given you the responsibility of producing an entire album for your group if he didn't appreciate your talent?" Adrienne inquired and picked her head up off of Yoongi's shoulder.

"...Technically he didn't, he hired you to produce it with me." He said quietly, followed by a pained hiss when Adrienne flicked his earlobe.

"Yah! We're getting along, don't ruin the moment!"

Yoongi smiled, it was small and short-lived but it was the first time he hadn't been scowling since he walked into the room and Andy counted that as a win.

"In all seriousness, I know for a fact that he doesn't think you're still the same kid you were when you were training. You should hear the way he talked about you before I met you guys, it was nauseating. I think he recognizes that you've grown which is why he allowed this opportunity, he also knows what's going to sell so try not to take the rejection too personally."

Yoongi exhaled and pressed his lips together, he knew she was right. He may have been taking this a little too personally, but his music was an extension of him, how could he not? After a second of contemplation, Yoongi turned so that he was facing Adrienne and looped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her close to him in a tight hug.

"Thank you," He said gently as they pulled apart and Adrienne smiled widely in response, her grip on his forearms reluctantly growing slack. A moment of charged silence passed between them once again when they were no longer hugging, and Adrienne felt a fleeting sensation of recklessness pass through her once again. They still hadn't talked about what had happened a few days earlier in Yoongi's room, Adrienne was waiting for him to bring it up while being too cowardly to do it herself and Yoongi felt the same way. 

"You should do something," Adrienne spoke first.

"What?" Yoongi asked, clearly confused.

"Your song," Adrienne clarified and backed away to save her own sanity. "You should do something with it if you really like it that much. Maybe you can't put it on an album, but you can always release it for free? Your fans would like that"

"Ah, I don't know about that" Yoongi shook his head and returned to his seat on the couch, "The big reason it can't be included on the album is because of the subject matter....it's kind of suggestive."

Andy shrugged and leaned against the back of the office chair "But it would be nice! Think of your fans."

Adrienne pouted and Yoongi caved.

"Fine, but I need you to sing the chorus, and we can't release it anywhere."

"Me? Why? Can't you use Jimin?"

"He's busy, and I doubt he would be comfortable singing some of the lines."

Adrienne's curiosity was piqued but understood what he meant once they actually began recording the song. The word 'suggestive' would have been the last adjective on Adrienne's mind as she read the lyrics as well as she could and sang along with Yoongi's direction; explicit would have been her first choice. It was a catchy song, that was definitely true, but Adrienne understood immediately why it couldn't be included on the album. They finished the song in just a few takes and quickly got back to working on the album like they were supposed to be. It was well into the night before either of them left for home and Adrienne made a quick stop to one of the few cubicles that were still occupied with someone working. It was an assistant name Soo-Bin whom Adrienne wasn't overly friendly with, but she still knew her by name. She quickly asked to post the cover she'd mixed and arranged for Jungkook before she left for the night since she was going to be there a lot longer than Adrienne was. Soo-Bin agreed, reluctantly, and once it was time for her to go home quickly published the first song that seemed to match the specifications Adrienne described.

She wasn't in the mood to double check.

The next morning Adrienne got ready for work with a heavy heart after waking up to a message from Bang Sihyuk requesting her presence in his office, the second she got to work. She hadn't had a one on one meeting with him since she was hired, and she honestly couldn't think of anything they needed to talk about. She wasn't finished with the latest batch of songs and there was still time for her to send them in, so she knew he couldn't have been moving up the deadline, and anything else pertaining to the album was usually just relayed to her through Yoongi or one of the other staff members. There was only one logical reason Andy could think of for him wanting to meet with her alone and that was to tell her that she was fired. The thought alone nearly made her hyperventilate.

Slowly, Adrienne trudged her way towards Bang Sihyuk's office when she was finally inside the Big Hit building. She paused once she was a few feet away from the office door and noticed a familiar face leaning against the door frame.

"Yoongi-ssi?"

"Ah, I was wondering when you'd get here, you're late today."

"It took me a while to get ready..why are you here? Do you have a meeting today too?"

Yoongi nodded, "Yeah, right now. He wants to talk to both of us."

Adrienne sighed a small breath of relief once Yoongi turned and entered the room before her. If he wanted to talk to both of them at once, then the chances of her being fired seemed to be a lot smaller. Andy soon followed after Yoongi and immediately bowed at a complete 90 degree angle once she was inside, the rules of engagement when it came to her superiors were still foreign to Adrienne, and she wasn't sure if she had to bow once she entered his office, but she didn't want to run the risk of possibly offending her boss.

Bang Sihyuk was in the middle of a phone call when they walked in but motioned for them to side down anyway. Andy and Yoongi exchange a short confused glance but their attention was brought back to their boss once he hung up and cleared his throat.

"I'll be quick about this, I'm sure you're both wondering why I called you here," Andy and Yoongi both nodded simultaneously, "The reason is simple really, I need to have a conversation with you about the nature of your relationship and the easiest way to do that is if you're both here together."

Adrienne was confused, she was sure she heard him correctly but the way he said 'relationship' didn't make sense to her. 

"Now while I suppose I can't outright stop you, I can strongly discourage you from openly dating so early into Yoongi's career. The group is finally gaining some ground in the music business and a scandal like this could derail all the hard work that-"

"I'm sorry, did you say dating?" Adrienne interjected, trying to sound as respectful as possible but she just had to stop him before all his words began to blur together.

"PD-nim, we're not dating" Yoongi spoke up once Bang Sihyuk answered Adrienne's question with a firm nod.

"Are you sure about that? The song that you put up on the blog yesterday seems to very explicitly suggest otherwise. You don't have to lie to me,Yoongi. Honestly, it's better if we get it out in the open now that way I can protect you if I need to in the future." Bang Sihyuk countered with genuine concern in his tone.

"Song? What song?" Adrienne muttered underneath her breath before the wheels in her head finally started turning "Aish! Soo-Bin must have uploaded the wrong song last night, I asked her to upload Jungkook's cover. She must have gotten the files mixed up" She said to Yoongi who nodded and shook his head.

"That song was never meant to be released to the public, sir" Yoongi explained, "It was just something we recorded for fun but I can promise you that we are not dating or anything like that."

"Truthfully, we are not. I don't have a reason to lie to you" Adrienne tacked on.

Bang folded his arms across his stomach and leaned back into his comfy office chair "Good," he said after a few seconds of tense silence "We've already taken the song down but both of you need to be more careful in the future, you can't afford a mistake like this."

"Yes, Sir."

They both thanked him for understanding before he excused them and allowed them to leave. Adrienne dramatically sighed and slumped into the sofa once they reached the studio.

"I can't believe I thought I was going to be fired today."

"Why would you think that?" Yoongi asked from hovering over the computer console.

"I didn't know you were going to be there, I thought he wanted to talk to me alone and that could only mean one thing."

"You shouldn't take things so personally" He snickered, proud of himself for being able to use her own words against her.

Adrienne rolled her eyes, "This not the same thing, my reason is totally valid" She scoffed "Can you believe he thought we were dating, though? There's no way that would ever happen."

Yoongi stopped fidgeting with the keys on the keyboard just long enough to look back at Adrienne who seemed to be lost in her own thoughts, her statement had struck a chord in him "No way, huh?"

"Hm? Oh! It's nothing against you I just....I don't think I'm your type" Adrienne said with a humorless laugh as she got up to take a closer look at the books on the shelf against the far wall.

"What does that mean?"

"It...means what I said, I'm not your type," Adrienne answered over her shoulder, completely unaware of the utter disbelief written all over Yoongi's face.

His hand latching onto her wrist took her by surprise and Adrienne gasped softly as she was suddenly being pressed against the wall next to the bookshelf, her body sandwiched between Yoongi and the plaster. His knuckles softly grazed over Adrienne's cheeks just like they had days before but this time, there were no braids obstructing her view to excuse his actions. His move was deliberate, and he made that notion clear as his gaze never left Adrienne's face as his hand moved down to her jawline and the pad of his thumb lightly traced Adrienne's' sharp features.

Yoongi only wanted to make a point; that there was no possible way she wouldn't be his type. However, being so close to her. Feeling her chest rise and fall against his body each time she drew a shallow breath he found it hard to stop himself once he'd started. As if of its own accord his head dipped, and he pressed his lips to hers. His free hand cupped the back of her head, holding her there gently. His kiss was soft and almost chaste to start off with, not forcing Adrienne to give any more than she wanted to, but she soon found herself getting lost in their kiss, her lips returning his actions with as much vigor as she could muster. She couldn’t quite explain the feeling that she had right now, it was as if all the blood had rushed from her head and that she was flying, she felt light and grounded all at the same time. Whatever it was she definitely knew she had a word for it now; right.

As much as she tried to ignore it and push her feelings to the back burner for the sake of her sanity and now career, kissing Yoongi felt right and Adrienne could no longer deny that fact. Her arms gripped tightly around his back as she pulled her head back momentarily to catch her breath, she looked up into Yoongi’s eyes and it was as if she was seeing him for the first time. The slight redness in his cheeks made her grin playfully as she sent her lips plunging back to his, her head shifted to the side with precision as she snaked her tongue past his lips. Yoongi no longer felt the need to be gentle, he put his all into the kiss now, and he let her in, tongues massaging and bodies wrapping up in one another as his hand slid down Adrienne's torso to firmly grasp her hips and hold her steady.

The feeling of her fingernails dragging across the skin of his neck ignited a five-alarm fire within Yoongi and just as quickly and unexpectedly as their kiss started, he ended it. Detaching his hands from her waist and immediately backing away like Adrienne was radioactive.

"I'm sorry," He said breathlessly with his hand covering his slightly swollen lips. "I shouldn't have done that" Yoongi croaked, that one moment was validation of something he'd wanted for such a long time, but he couldn't allow himself to completely abandon his self-control.

"Please, don't apologize," Adrienne answered, still trying to catch her breath "You don't know how long I've been waiting for you to kiss me."

"No, I have to because I can't.....we can't...we can't do this Andy!" Yoongi frantically exclaimed, pushing the hair away from his face roughly.

The strength of his response made Adrienne flinch slightly, he wasn't yelling but there was a temper behind his words that she didn't fully recognize, "Okay." She nodded and adjusted her top so that it laid flat over her stomach again. 

"I don't want to sound desperate but why?"

"We just can't," Yoongi exhaled and hung his head low.

"I-is it because I'm black?"

He spun around quickly to face her with his expression contorted in confusion, "What? No!"

"Then what is it?"

Yoongi sighed heavily and took a seat on the sofa then patted the seat next to him and gestured toward Adrienne "Come here."

Adrienne followed his command and occupied the seat next to him, he took both of her hands in his once she was seated.

"You heard what PD-nim said today." He started softly, his thumb gentle caressing the back of her palm. "I have a very demanding job. It's not that I wouldn't want to be with you, but I also want to have a successful career and I don't know if I could handle doing both. I know that seems selfish but I've given up so many things in my life to make sure that I can do this to the best of my abilities and I can't become lenient now, no matter how tempting the thought of this is." He accompanied his words with another gentle stroke against Adrienne's cheek.

"If we got together I wouldn't feel right unless I was giving you every part of me and I can't do that and be good at my job, Andy" He frowned and cradled her face with both of his hands "I have so many goals to accomplish before I can give my heart away and I can't just ask you to wait for me...that wouldn't be fair."

Adrienne bit down harshly on her bottom, she understood where he was coming from. Honestly, she did but still didn't stop her from feeling like he was just admitting to being too afraid to take a risk. She didn't voice her opinion, however, he was bearing his heart to her and accusing him of being a coward would undoubtedly only ensure that he would never do that again.

"I understand," She responded with a tight, forced smile; her palms smoothing up Yoongi's forearms until the rested over his hands "I don't totally agree but I understand, your job is important to you and it wouldn't really be fair for me to ask you to put it on hold." Adrienne leaned forward and pressed her lips against Yoongi's cheek long enough so that her lipstick transferred to leave an outline of her lips against his pale skin.

"If you change your mind you know where to find me."

[morningfears]

Rose Tattoo [Chapter Two]

Rating: PG

Summary: Calum moved to New York after high school to gain experience as a tattoo artist. It was his hope to return home and open a shop in Sydney. However, life has a way of interrupting even the best thought out plans and Calum found himself still in New York at age 25 with a son and a job as an artist at a shop owned by one of his best friends. His heart had been broken and he told himself - and his friends - time and time again that the last thing he needed to worry about was finding a girlfriend. However, despite the turmoil in his life, he finds himself drawn to the girl with rose tattoo. | Inspired by this blurb. | This is Stevie’s face claim!

Word Count: 6.7k

SERIES MASTERLIST | CHAPTER ONE | CHAPTER THREE | CHAPTER FOUR | CHAPTER FIVE

Stevie stared at her laptop, the blinking cursor and blank word document seeming to mock her as she waited for the words swirling around her brain to magically appear on the screen. She knew what she wanted to write - the interview she’d done the day before seemed to lend itself to a certain kind of article and was neatly outlined in her mind - but it was as if her brain couldn’t connect with her fingers. She felt as if she were incapable of moving, that if she tried too hard to type, her head would explode, and it was beginning to make her heart pound and her head ache. She’d been stuck for nearly an hour, her eyes sore as she stared at the bright screen, and finally huffed a frustrated breath as she reached out and closed her laptop.

She wondered, idly, as she glanced around the small coffee shop if it was the noise distracting her or maybe the overcast sky affect her mood but, if she were being honest with herself, she would be forced to acknowledge that it was neither of those things. It was a myriad of feelings outside of her control, a series of chemical imbalances in her brain and life events that blindsided her, and she hated feeling like she was barely treading water when she was once a proficient swimmer. 

It had been a rough few months adjusting to the seemingly never-ending changes that rushed into her life like tornadoes, spinning out of control and leaving her sanity in shambles, and she was struggling to cope with it all. She had always had a safety net, a group of friends and family close by and ready to catch her should she ever fall, so being on her own and on the verge of spiraling in a city over a thousand miles from home only added to the feeling of helplessness she’d been saddled with since Angela’s diagnosis.

It was hard, watching her best friend go from the brightest light in a room to being snuffed out in a matter of months, and she knew that she wasn’t handling it well. But that was no surprise. Stevie had never handled death well. Dealing with mortality, acknowledging that death was inevitable and a force of nature that could not be ignored, was hard for her. Her worst fear had always been losing the ones she loved and having that fear become reality had shaken her to the core.

She wanted, desperately, to feel happy that she was sitting in a cafe in Manhattan, drinking tea and writing for a magazine she’d read all her life. She wanted to enjoy the cold, the real winter that she never got back home in Louisiana, and play in the snow. She wanted to celebrate her success, a job and a life that she only ever dreamed she’d have, and be grateful that she was getting such an experience.

But it all felt hollow. Empty. Wrong.

Any victory celebrated felt like a slap in the face to the best friend she’d lost, to the family she’d left behind, and to the life she’d given up in order to achieve it. She felt guilty for surviving, for thriving, while everyone around her seemed to be crumbling. She knew that it was just something akin to survivor’s guilt and that it would leave her eventually but she could feel herself slipping back into a headspace she hadn’t been since she was a teenager and, for the first time in years, didn’t feel like fighting it. She wanted to wallow in her misery, to grieve and fall apart in peace, but that seemed counterproductive.

Instead of taking time to process her emotions, instead of talking about them or working through them, Stevie shoved them to the back of her mind. She let them fester, locked away in some dark recess that would likely break her some day, as she had always done and put on a happy face as a coworker - the one who’d recommended Calum to her - took the seat across from her.

“How’s the writing coming?” Noah asked as he placed his own coffee onto the table along with his laptop and notebook. “They’ve got you doing a feature, yeah?”

“Mm,” Stevie confirmed with a hum as she reached for her tea. “The interview went well. The band was good, they gave me a lot of good quotes to work with and a good idea for how I want the article to work. I just need to get it from my brain onto the page,” she sighed as she tapped her nails against the hardwood of the table. “My brain is stuck today.”

Noah made a noise of sympathy as he tapped at the keys on his laptop for a moment before he peered over the screen to glance at her. “You should take the rest of the day,” he suggested as he glanced at the time. “The deadline for that is, what, Monday?” When Stevie nodded, Noah followed suit and took a sip of his coffee before he continued. “You’ve done more this week than pretty much anyone else. Give your brain a break. You’ve got your second appointment with Cal today, right?”

At the mention of her impending appointment with Calum, Stevie felt herself perk slightly. She was still nervous about her tattoo, the idea of spending another few hours with a needle repeatedly being stabbed into her skin would likely never truly appeal to her, but she was eager to finish the tattoo and see the final piece. The base that Calum had done had healed and though there were still details and color to be added, she was thrilled with how it looked so far. It felt as if it belonged on her skin, like it had always been a part of her body, and she was glad that she’d taken a step out of her comfort zone and gotten it done. Completing it would also mean a check on the bucket list and the ability to move on to the next task.

Also, somewhere in the back of her mind, Stevie was looking forward to seeing Calum again. He was sweet, a gentle soul and easy to talk to, and she was looking forward to chatting with him again. He had made the appointment fly by and she hoped that the same would be true this time.

“Yeah,” she nodded, finally answering Noah’s question as she glanced over at him. “Thanks for the recommendation. He was really good. He still has some details to add and the color but the tattoo’s beautiful so far. It’s exactly what I wanted.”

“Good,” Noah nodded with a smile as he gestured to her arm, “can I see? I’ve got an appointment with him next week. I want to add to my leg.” When Stevie shrugged her jacket off her shoulder and rolled up the sleeve of her shirt enough for Noah to see the bold black ink against her skin, his eyes widened and he nodded in appreciation. “That’s bigger than I thought you’d go for a first tattoo but, you’re right. It’s beautiful. He did a great job.”

Stevie hummed her agreement as she reached for her phone to text her boss and ask for the rest of the afternoon off. “He really did. I’m excited to get it finished. He was just really good all around. I was freaking out before, like, almost having a panic attack outside the shop but he was really good about it. And he was really easy to talk to. It was a good experience.”

“He’s a really nice guy,” Noah agreed as he tapped at his keyboard. “I’ve been trying to get an interview with him for ages, though. Ashton agreed but only on the condition we feature them both and Cal is great at dodging my requests. Think you could put in a good word for me today?” Noah requested as he glanced over at Stevie with a grin.

“Yeah, I’ll see if I can remember to hound the poor guy about getting back to you while he’s jamming a needle into my skin,” Stevie nodded as she felt her phone vibrate in her hand. It was confirmation from her boss that she had the rest of the afternoon free and, with a sigh of relief, she grabbed her laptop and shoved it into her bag. “I’m going to go walk my dog before I go in. I’ll see you on Monday, Noah.”

“See you, kid,” he called, taking great pride in the nickname though he was only two years older than her. “Try to get me that interview!”

Without glancing over her shoulder, Stevie flashed her middle finger in Noah's direction - something she knew he wouldn't take offense to - and left the coffee shop to head back to her apartment.

*****

As Stevie crossed town, eager to get back to her apartment and take her dog for a walk before she had to sit still for a few hours, Calum sat on his couch and stared at the cellphone in his hands. He was exhausted, more so than he had been in years, and felt overwhelmed as he realized that his plans for the day had fallen through. He could hear Tāne’s coughing, the same sound that had plagued him for days, and he felt his heart constrict in his chest as he stood to find the cough medicine.

Calum had always considered himself lucky. By all accounts, Tāne had always been a good child. He had never been very fussy. He went to bed on time, was easy to put down, and was a sweet, affectionate, pleasant child. He was easy - as easy as a child could be, anyway - and Calum was grateful. Not much changed when he was sick - Tāne was still a sweet, pleasant child - but he didn’t sleep as much, too sick to get comfortable without the aid of some sort of medication, and Calum’s heart hurt for his son. He was slightly irritable, a little more emotional than usual, and didn’t want to be far from his father as he battled 

Tāne was on the upswing after a rather serious bout of flu and Calum was relieved that the worst of it seemed to be over. He wasn’t quite back to his usual self, not yet, but he didn’t look as miserable as he had and he no longer felt as warm as he had the night Calum had taken him to the emergency room. He was well enough for Calum to be able to report to the shop for the first time in nearly a week - Calum was already dreading the few makeup appointments he would have to reschedule, though he was thankful for Ashton stepping in and taking a few of them to lighten the load - but the babysitter that Calum always used, and trusted to handle Tāne in such a state, was on her way to take an exam and no one else seemed to be able to fill in on such short notice.

He only had one client, Stevie, and he knew that if their initial meeting was anything to go by, she wouldn’t be one to have a meltdown if he had to cancel. However, Calum was itching to get back into the shop - this was the longest he’d been out since Tāne was born - and didn’t want to make Stevie wait any longer for her finished tattoo. He remembered her story vividly, the pain in her eyes and the tremor in her voice as she recalled the loss of her friend, and wanted to help her close that chapter. He knew that it would be at least another three weeks before he could fit her in again and he didn’t want her to have to wait.

As soon as Calum gathered Tāne in his arms and carried him to the living room, his son was clinging to his neck and fighting sleep. Even if Calum was able to find a sitter, he knew that he wouldn’t want to be far from his father when he felt so bad and, honestly, Calum wasn’t fond of that idea, either. So, though he knew Ashton would agree to let Tāne rest in the back room as Calum tattooed Stevie, he grabbed his phone and called to check, just in case.

The moment Ashton was on the other line, Calum could hear the hum of noise from the shop. He knew that things would thin out by the time he and Tāne arrived, there wasn’t a lot on the books for that afternoon, and that the others would gladly help him keep an eye on his son. As he asked, Ashton assured him of as much.

“Of course you should bring him,” he huffed, almost offended that Calum would even bother to ask. “There are still some of his snacks in the back if he gets hungry and Luke should be done by the time you get here. I’m sure he won’t mind sticking around and helping keep an eye on him.”

Calum could hear Luke ask, “Is he bringing Tāne?” in the background and confirmed that he was, indeed, to Ashton. “He’s better but he still doesn’t feel great. I don’t want to be too far from him. You sure you don’t mind?”

“I’m hanging up on you for even asking,” Ashton huffed and Calum smiled at the sentiment despite the slight anxiety he still felt. He knew just how much Ashton, Luke, and Michael loved his son - almost as much as he did - and he knew that Tāne would never be an imposition. Before he could speak, Ashton said, “Bring him a blanket, it’s kind of cold in here today. See you in a few,” and ended the call. 

Calum laughed, his heart easing just a bit, and dropped his phone onto the couch to free his hands. He rubbed Tāne’s back, his fingers gentle against the material of his t-shirt as he listened to his son’s slightly raspy breathing. “You want to go see Uncle Ash?” he asked, his voice quiet as he shifted just enough to see Tāne’s face. “And Uncle Luke?”

Despite not feeling his best, Tāne was never one to pass up an opportunity to see his uncles. He still looked a little worse for the wear with dark circles beneath his eyes and red cheeks, clearly displaying his warm temperature, but he brightened at the prospect of seeing the boys. He didn’t respond verbally, just a small smile and a nod, but that was all the agreement that Calum needed as he returned the gesture.

“Alright,” he hummed before he brushed a stray curl from Tāne’s forehead. “Let’s get dressed and we’ll head to the shop, bub.”

Forty-five minutes later, Calum strolled into the shop with Tāne in his arms and a backpack full of his son’s favorite items - a pale green blanket, a plush penguin (given to him by Uncle Luke), and a copy of Toy Story, ready to be watched on Calum’s laptop - on his back. Calum knew that Tāne would need at least a little bit of distraction, something to occupy his mind and soothe him back to sleep, as he worked and hoped that the things he’d brought were good enough. Almost immediately, Tāne was scooped out of his arms by Ashton with Luke not far behind.

“Get set up for Stevie,” Ashton told him, a small grin at the mention of Stevie (despite Calum’s attempt to redirect him, Ashton still hadn’t given up his attempt to play matchmaker). “Luke and I’ve got our favorite little dude,” he assured him before he turned his full attention to the small boy in his arms. As Ashton took Tāne toward the back, Luke grabbed the bag from Calum’s hands and grinned at him, offering a quick thumbs up, before he followed along.

Calum stood for a moment, gathering himself and savoring the brief respite, before he breathed a deep sigh and set about getting ready for his appointment. He felt a slight bit of his worry ease as he ran through his mental checklist - ink, gloves, paper towels, machine, A&D - and began preparing his station. Having Ashton and Luke, two of the people he trusted more than anyone else, watching Tāne was a welcome relief. It was normal, something that happened more often than not, and gave him a moment to breathe as he listened to Tāne giggle at a story Ashton was telling him.

He hadn’t always been a worrier. He worried whenever Tāne got sick or hurt, just like any parent would, but he’d been the calm one. He never let the worry shake him as he hoped for the best and kept his head on straight. He kissed scrapes and dried eyes and encouraged him to get back up (although he never pushed; sometimes a child just needed to be held and cuddled and Calum was more than willing to provide that). But the impending custody battle had him rattled. He didn’t want to lose his son - not when Tāne meant the world to him - and he felt himself growing anxious over every little wrong move he could possibly make. He worried that he would do something wrong and that he would never see his son again and it hurt more than he cared to admit.

As he imagined losing Tāne, Calum felt his throat tighten and his hands shake. He never imagined his split with El would end in this way, with them bitter and angry at one another, but it did and it hurt that she was only just trying to step into Tāne’s life. Calum didn’t know what her motives were but, knowing her, it was purely out of spite and the last thing he wanted was for his son to grow up in a house where he wasn’t wanted.

“I’m sorry I can’t stay. Sierra and I are - are you okay?”

Calum looked up as Luke returned to the main area of the shop and frowned at the look of concern on his face. He loved his friends and appreciated the concern that they held for him but hated feeling so fragile. He was always the strong one, the one that picked up the pieces for them, and found it difficult to be in the reverse position. He wanted to assure them that he was alright, that he could handle what was being thrown at him, but that was hard to do when he wasn’t sure he could.

Regardless, he nodded at Luke’s question and returned his attention to his workstation. “Yeah,” he nodded, glancing over his shoulder to throw Luke a smile. “Have fun with Sierra. Don’t worry about us. Tāne’s feeling better than he has been and Stevie, the client I have coming in, seems pretty understanding. I feel like she won’t mind if I have to get up and check in on him.”

“You sure?” Luke asked, his frown deepening as he leaned against the counter and watched Calum wipe down his station with disinfectant. “I can stick around for a little while longer. Sierra won’t mind.”

“He’s sure,” Ashton assured Luke as he walked out of the back, wiping his wet hands on a paper towel. “I’m staying. I’ve got to get some drawing done but it’s easier for me to get up and walk to the back than it will be for you,” he rationalized, stopping Calum’s protests before he could start. “You needed to get out of the house, to do something other than be a dad for a few minutes, and I get it. I was just going to draw at home, anyway. I really don’t mind sticking around. Luke, leave. You’ve been a lot of help this week. I’ll see you on Monday,” Ashton said, glancing at Luke as he nodded toward the door.

Luke hesitated for a moment, his phone in his hand and ready to text his girlfriend about their potential changed plans, but Ashton’s look and Calum’s urging convinced him to leave. “If you need me,” he began as he reached for his jacket and began shrugging it on, “just give me a call. I can come back.”

“I appreciate it, Luke,” Calum acknowledged, and he really did. He appreciated everything his friends did for him, the love they had for Tāne, and didn’t know where he would be without them. He watched as Luke waved in their direction and headed for the door with one final glance over his shoulder before he left for the night.

On his way out, Luke held the door open for who he assumed - correctly - was Stevie and gave her a smile before he headed to meet Sierra.

Ashton spotted Stevie first, his grin widening at the sight of the green-haired girl, and he stood to welcome her. “You actually came back,” he teased, his eyes bright as he gestured for her to make her way to the tattoo area. “Calum didn’t scare you off?”

“Mm, not yet,” she confirmed, her own tone playful as she glanced at Calum. “But I can’t promise I’ll be getting anymore tattoos after this one. I don’t know if I’m fully sold on the repetition of tattoos yet.”

“You can hold a conversation right now,” Calum pointed out, a small smile on his lips as he glanced up from where he was setting up the chair for her, “I feel like you might be getting a taste for it.”

Calum watched Stevie for a moment. She looked calmer than she had been the first time, her hands not shaking and her breathing steady, but she still had a hint of nerves present on her face. He could see the stiffness in her shoulders and the way she twisted the rings on her fingers but, as he’d pointed out, she could hold a conversation and had a genuine smile on her lips as she greeted them both. She might not be sold yet but Calum could sense that she was nowhere near as petrified as she had been just two weeks ago.

“I’m finishing up,” Calum informed her as he glanced at the small metal tray filled with items. “I’ll be ready to start in just a few minutes.” He hesitated for a moment, unsure of whether he should tell her what was happening with Tāne upfront or just hope that she wouldn’t mind a few extra breaks. After a moment’s consideration, he decided on the former and added, “I just want to let you know that my son’s here. He hasn’t been feeling to great so he’s in the back. We might take a few more breaks than we did last time, just so I can go check in on him, if that’s alright.”

“Yeah, absolutely,” Stevie assured him, no hesitation whatsoever as she nodded earnestly. “I can reschedule if you need me to,” she offered, her head titled as she watched him fill a cup with ink. “I’d love to get it finished but I can wait until the timing is better for you,” she said and Calum lifted his head to meet her gaze.

She looked so sincere, so earnest, and it made him happy to know that he’d read her correctly. He was glad that she was as sweet as she’d seemed and that she was his client for the evening, not someone who wouldn’t understand. “No, tonight’s fine,” Calum assured her with a nod. “He’s getting better, he feels better than he has all week, but I still want to keep an eye on him. If we reschedule, it’ll be a few weeks, at the earliest. I’ve had to push back everything for the next week.”

“I really don’t mind. Take care of your family first. I can wait, I promise.”

Ashton watched the pair of them interact, a smile on his lips, and Calum wanted to throw a roll of paper towels at him. This would only fuel his delusion that they would be the perfect pair and Calum really didn’t want to endure another week of teasing from his friends. However, he couldn’t deny the relief and slight admiration he felt for her as she encouraged him to delay something that meant so much to her so that he could take care of his son.

Before he could answer, however, Ashton interjected, “I’m sticking around to help keep an eye on him so it’ll be fine. He’s just going to sleep in the back. Cal’s been itching to tattoo all week. Have a seat, Stevie. Take advantage of that desire and my willingness to devote my time to my favorite kid.”

At that, Stevie glanced at Calum and he nodded his agreement, nodded herself before she shrugged off her jacket and pulled the t-shirt she wore up and over her head. She avoided hitting her elbow this time, narrowly, and grinned in triumph as she placed her things onto the table. “It hurt to bend my arm for, like, three days after hitting my elbow,” she told Calum as she took a seat in the chair and settled in.

“You always that clumsy or was it just the nerves?” he asked as he pulled off his gloves and stood from his seat.

“…I don’t want to talk about it,” Stevie mumbled, her pink cheeks telling him that it was a mixture of both.

Calum grinned, finding the action endearing, and shook his head as he glanced down the hall. “I’m going to go check on Tāne and then we’ll get started.”

In the backroom, Tāne was sound asleep as Toy Story played in the background. Calum was relieved to see him look so peaceful, to get a moment’s rest, and hoped that he would stay like that long enough for him to finish Stevie’s tattoo.

For the first hour and a half, the tattoo went smoothly. Stevie was still somewhat reserved, as if there was something lurking under the surface of her smile, and Calum wanted to question it but thought better of it as he worked. She was pleasant, almost talkative, and he found that he enjoyed her company even more this time than he had the first. As he tattooed her, Calum and Stevie talked, much as they had the first time, about music. He told her about some of the bands he’d loved back home, some of the ones that were well known in Australia but weren’t talked about as much in the States, and was surprised to see her face light up at the mention of Violent Soho.

“I saw them a few years ago,” she told him, a smile on her lips despite the pain she felt as he shaded her tattoo, “it was a badass show. My dad had to go to Sydney for work and my sister and I were out for Christmas so he took us and mom and made it a family trip. We went to Big Day Out and it was one of the best days of my life.”

“Yeah?” Calum asked, a smile on his face as he watched her grin. “How did you like Sydney?”

“It was amazing,” she gushed, grinning as she tried not to use her hands - something Calum noticed was hard for her when she got excited. “I loved it. Except it was hot as fuck in January and even though I’m from Louisiana, it was weird seeing everyone in bathing suits and flip flops so close to New Year’s. But I got to see a ton of cool bands. Australia’s music scene is seriously underrated.”

“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised,” he laughed as dabbed at the ink on her skin. When she gave him a quizzical look, he raised an eyebrow. “You write for a music magazine,” he elaborated, “I expect you to have better taste than most.”

“Don’t judge us all by that standard,” she warned with a laugh as she watched him continue to shade the red in the roses. “Some of the people I work with have the shittiest taste in music. Like, I understand that it’s a personal thing but if you listen to your music out loud in a public space, you are giving me permission to critique you and anyone who listens to Florida Georgia Line for personal enjoyment needs to rethink their choices.”

“…. I don’t even know who that is but I think I’m happy about that?” Calum mumbled, laughing at the look on Stevie’s face. He didn’t know her very well, he barely knew her at all, but he already trusted her taste in music and anything she deemed unworthy of his time, he felt compelled to agree.

Before Stevie could respond, before she could tell him exactly what kind of band they were and why he should be wary of modern country, a small voice interrupted them. 

“Daddy, I got sick,” a child Stevie recognized as Tāne - based on the curly hair and chubby cheeks - mumbled, his eyes watery and his lip quivering as he stood at the edge of the room, blinking at the harsh florescent lights.

Calum, who had been about to continue shading, didn’t hesitate to place his machine on the small tray and pull off his gloves. “Can you wrap her up for a second?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder Ashton as he crossed the room to pick up Tāne. “I’ll be right back,” he called, this time glancing at Stevie, before he headed down the hall to help Tāne brush his teeth and change into a shirt that wasn’t soaked with sweat. 

It only took about five minutes to clean up and get Tāne comfortable, the normal length of a quick break, but he refused to be out of Calum’s line of sight after he’d gotten changed. He was fully awake, crankier than he had been, and wanted nothing more than to sit in the chair at his dad’s side and watch as he finished up Stevie’s tattoo. On a normal day, Calum wouldn’t hesitate to ask. Tāne loved watching his dad work and was always good whenever he sat in. However, he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable as he knew that not everyone was fond of children and, even if they were, he didn’t want her to be afraid that she’d get sick. To his surprise, though, she overheard Tāne’s tearful request and ambled over to where Calum stood.

“Calum, please feel free to do whatever you need to to make sure he’s okay,” she told him, directing her words toward him before she glanced at Tāne and offered him a small smile. “I don’t mind, I promise.”

Calum knew that he needed to finish up her tattoo as soon as he could in order to get Tāne back home so he didn’t argue. With a nod, he gestured for her to head back to his station and followed suit. Ashton, who had been ready to jump in whenever he was needed, pulled a chair closer to Calum’s station and had Tāne’s blanket ready for him whenever Calum sat him down. The small boy hid his face half beneath the blanket and watched Stevie curiously as Calum removed the wrap from her arm and settled back into his position.

“I like your hair,” Tāne said after a beat of silence, his eyes glued to the green strands framing Stevie’s face. “Green’s my favorite color.”

“Really?” Stevie asked, a smile on her face as she turned her head to glance at Tāne. “It’s mine, too. Is that why your blanket’s green?” When Tāne nodded, his fingers brushing the soft blanket, Stevie smiled. “I had a blanket like that when I was little but mine was purple.”

“Why not green?” Calum asked, interjecting with a small smile as he watched the exchange between Stevie and Tāne. His son, while sweet and pleasant, was not known for his interactions with strangers and he was mildly pleased to watch him so fascinated by another person.

“My mom wouldn’t let me have a green one. She said green wasn’t a good favorite color for little girls,” Stevie explained with a shrug, “but she also gave me a name that sounds like it should be for a boy so… Logic wasn’t her strong suit.”

“Green should be everyone’s favorite color,” Tāne pointed out, his voice muffled by the fabric of his blanket. He paused for a moment, considering what else she’d said, before he asked, “What’s your name?”

“It’s Stevie. What’s your’s?” Calum was happy that she’d asked, even though he knew that she knew, and continued working on her tattoo as he listened to the exchange.

Tāne told her his name before he paused, frowning at her answer, and said, “Stevie is a boy’s name.”

“It can be,” Stevie nodded as she struggled not to shrug. “But I was named after a girl. Has your dad ever played you any Fleetwood Mac?”

When Stevie asked, Tāne turned to glance at Calum. Calum knew that Tāne wouldn’t know the band off the top of his head - the only music he knew without fail was that of Queen - but he had indeed played Fleetwood Mac for him. Tāne had fallen in love with Landslide the first time he’d heard it and Calum sang a few lines, quietly, to jog his memory.

Stevie stared at Calum for a moment, the surprise at his voice clear on her face, before she winced as he hit a particularly tender spot on her arm. “Is she the one that sings that?” Tāne asked curiously, watching Stevie’s face as she frowned at the feeling. “I like that song.”

“She is, yeah. Her name is Stevie Nicks. My mom really liked her music so she named me after her. And I like being named after her. She was a really cool role model to have growing up,” Stevie explained with a slight nod as she smiled at Tāne.

Stevie and Tāne continued talking for the majority of her session. Much of their conversation was about Scooby Doo and The Avengers, two things that Tāne loved more than almost anything else, and Calum was blown away as he listened to them interact. Most people treated Tāne like the child he was, talking down to him and waiting for him to catch up, but Stevie didn’t. She was patient, helpful if she said something he didn’t understand, but she didn’t talk to him like he was a baby. She carried on a conversation like she would have with Calum and he really appreciated it. It was something he tried to do himself, something he encouraged the others to do, and found it endearing that she tried so hard to connect with him as Calum finished up her tattoo.

He was grateful for her presence, glad that she was the client he’d been tattooing, as she successfully distracted Tāne from the discomfort he’d been feeling. Calum didn’t know if it was a conscious decision on her part or if she was just good with children but, whatever the case, he’d never seen Tāne take so readily to a stranger. He almost hated that this was the last time they were guaranteed to interact and, though he hated to admit it, he was stating to understand where Ashton was coming from. 

However, he didn’t dwell on the thought as he wrapped Stevie’s arm and turned to Tāne. “Can you stay with Uncle Ash for a second while I finish up with Stevie?” When Tāne nodded, a pout on his lips as he bid Stevie goodbye and allowed Ashton to pick him up, Calum gestured for Stevie to follow him to the counter. “Thank you,” he said, glancing at her as he wrote up her receipt.

“What for?” She looked genuinely confused, unsure of what she’d done to garner thanks, and shook his head as he slid the paper across the counter.

“People can be assholes. Thank you for not being one,” he said simply, shrugging his shoulder as he watched her sign the bottom. “And thank you for talking with Tāne. He liked you. He’s never that talkative with people he doesn’t know.”

At that, Stevie grinned brightly and glanced toward the back, where Ashton sat with Tāne. “I liked him, too. He’s a really sweet kid. You and your wife or partner or whoever are doing a great job,” she complimented and when Calum frowned she grimaced. “Um, sorry. I just… assumed?”

“It’s okay,” he assured her, shaking his head as he did. “It’s just me, just us, but thank you. I appreciate it.”

The pair of them stood there for a moment, awkwardly, watching the other. Calum wanted to ask her for her number, or maybe if she’d like to have coffee with him, and he opened his mouth to do so but was interrupted by the sound of a coughing fit from the back. “I’ll let you go so you can get him home. Thank you for the tattoo, Calum. It’s beautiful. Tell Tāne I hope he feels better. And, um, I’ll see you around, maybe?”

“Yeah,” Calum said, his voice reflecting his disappointment as she turned to walk toward the door, “I’ll see you around.”

And just like that, Stevie stepped out of the shop and disappeared into the crowd of people walking down the sidewalk.

Calum stood there for a moment, staring after her, before he breathed a heavy sigh and turned off the ��open’ sign.  He headed to the back of the shop and took Tāne from Ashton’s arms. “Come on, bub, let’s get you home,” he sighed as he headed to the small back room to begin gathering his son’s things.

Calum placed Tāne on the couch and let him sit as he cleaned up the small area. Ashton followed him and handed him the DVD and plushie as he said, “Please tell me you got her number.”

“If I did, I’d be lying,” Calum sighed as he lifted his hand to rub the back of his neck. “I was about to and then Tāne started coughing and she left. It’s probably for the best. El’s gonna use everything she can against me and a new girlfriend would only give her more fuel.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it,” Ashton huffed, his voice quiet as he tried to keep Tāne from overhearing them. “I know you’re worried but that’s no reason for you to make yourself miserable. What’s going on?”

Calum hesitated as he thought about his answer. A lot of his hesitation did stem from his desire to focus on his son. His first priority was ensuring he kept custody, tied with ensuring that his son had everything he needed. But a smaller bit of his hesitation stemmed from the fact that Calum hadn’t been on a date in three years. He hadn’t been with anyone other than El in almost five. His heart had been broken, destroyed, and he didn’t want to risk that again. He had been in a bad place the last time, depressed and alone, and he didn’t want to return to that state. He didn’t want to be vulnerable, to put his heart in anyone’s hands, and that’s what he told Ashton as he slipped on his coat.

“I don’t have feelings for El anymore but I don’t know if I’m ready. I just want to focus on being a dad. I appreciate the encouragement, I really do, but I’m okay. I promise.”

Ashton watched as Calum and Tāne left the shop, Tāne with his face nestled in the crook of Calum’s neck and Calum with a slight slump in his shoulders. Ashton knew Calum better than he knew himself. And he knew that Calum was lying about not caring if he didn’t get a chance to try something with Stevie.

Calum wanted to pursue something with Stevie, even if it was just meeting for coffee, and this was the first time in three years that he’d shown any interest whatsoever. Ashton didn’t like meddling in his life, not when he knew that Calum was so steadfast in his decisions and generally made the correct choice, however, he felt compelled to meddle and decided that if Calum wouldn’t make the first move on his own, Ashton would give him a nudge in the right direction.

________________________________________________________

Author’s Note: So, thoughts? Feelings? How are you liking it so far? I love Stevie and Calum and Tāne. It’s a little slow burn but! We’re getting to good stuff next week, I promise. I’m trying to upload at least once a week. Chapter 3 will likely be out around the 8th or so (maybe a few days before that) so keep your eyes peeled! If you want to be tagged, just let me know! :) Also! I know this is unrelated but if you sent me Luke and Lottie blurbs, I promise I’ve gotten them and will be answering them. I’m just trying not to get frustrated with MF and think too much about it. I just needed to step away for a second and Rose Tattoo has proven to be a great place for me to do that!

Tag List (like this post or message me if you want to be added!): @toolazymyguy , @irwinkitten , @jamieebabiee , @glittersluke , @spicycal , @lusbaby , @everyscarisahealingplace, @brokenvirtualheartcollector , @if-it-rains-it-pours, @blisshemmings , @calumscalm , @lovemenowseemenever , @ijutreallylovezebras , @rhiannonmichelle , @p0laroidpictures​ , @tomscuddles , @loverofmineluke​ , @harrytreatspeoplewithkindnesss​ , @blueviiolence​ , @loveroflrh​ , @empathycth​ , @luckyduckydoo​ , @tobefalling​ , @bandsandbooksaremykink​ , @watch-how-she-burns , @megz1985​ , @wokeupinaustralia​ , @lucidlrh​ , @canterburyfiction​ , @cal-is-not-on-branding​ , @t-i-n-y-d-i-n-o​ , @jaacknaano​ , @findingliam-o​ , @old-zeppelin-shirt​ , @idk-who-i-am-anymore1​ , @sammyrenae68​ , @flowerthug​ , @calumsphile​ , @caitdaniels​, @drummerboy794​ , @writingfortoomanyfandoms​

[woozi]

i agree how you described twt, sometimes everyone's just ready to fight it seems, i've genuinely had fun on both platforms at different times but now it's just too much on stan twt (no space for difference of opinion djsjdjj) it's good to know you're having fun as well :3 & omg i've seen few of my moots starting to give svt their attention after fallin flower dropped, everything abt it is <3333 the song, mv, choreo i love it.

hdjdjddkdjdj " virgos 😐 " also me in next breath "happy birthday mark :D i love you so much 🥺💕💗" any virgos reading this i really hope you enjoy your month to the fullest djjdjd <3. righttt?? you're correct abt mark's temper being very virgo djdjdkd.

your line screams hard-working people <3 jihoon, jaebeom, jeonghan the 3Js <3. isn't jaebeom also an infj? (i don't take mbtis seriously but at the same time it also makes me happy if it ends up matching someone i like djdjjd) chan & yugs 🥺 these two imo have the sweetest personality, like the one which makes you feel welcomed & they also have the cutest laugh 🥺.

i love jus2 <3 focus on me is one of my favorite kpop mvs of all time & also drunk on you??? i love this song so much, very sexy of them. the vibes, style and everything w/ their album, i want more songs like that. and for when i am feeling melancholy i need more songs like jjp's verse 2 😭💔 but i am also okay if they don't want to go back to these units bcoz everything so far they've been giving is just as great <33 ( maybe in future we'll get blessed w/ features 🥺)

honestly g7 as grp and individually have won me over with their music style, even if i don't like full album ik there will be 3-4 songs which will be exactly what i like to listen to, all of the music they've released individually i've liked it so much. there is this song of youngjae's, titled "i'm all ears" i had no idea of its existence until it popped up in my spotify i'm so glad it did, it's been in my playlist ever since. there was also a time when i was obsessed with jackson's 'on the rocks' djdjdk.

aww <3 the live performance video of 1° has mark as thumbnail so for long time i used to associate this song with him jdjddk. i think the only j*pe thing i'd miss is got7 studio live sessions 🥺. RIGHTJDKSKS aju nice's mv is very cute djjddk I love it, in reality its reverse tho, i see them and boom! 💖💛💗🤍💕💙

it was the year they won first bb*as award so that gave them the exposure, and no i don't follow them anymore. mixed feelings abt them, very negative feelings abt f*ndom fjdjdjd. i do miss what it used to feel like liking them sometimes. at that time i never thought i'll willingly drop them from my interest (i've stanned zayn since 2012 first him as grp member then solo. sometimes thinking abt it gives me a whiplash hddjks it's been 9 years, really thought it would be same with them too but it didn't happen)

i've had falling in love by yugs and in to you by jaebs on loop for days djdkdk i really love these two songs and also air by bammie <3 (i'm slow jams kinda person djdjdk :3)

(bam released the most fun album & title this year idc abt others, ribbon is one of the soty) also special mention of look so fine & running through the rain. yes! you do make sense they feel organic & very them.

exactly 😭 it's more believable when they drop stuff out of nowhere like encore 😭😭. the way youngjae posted his letter on twt too ddjjdkssk the announcement & release of encore is such a 'you just had to be there' situation the excitement, nervousness, confusion and everything 😭 sometimes i can't with them. also is the bibi with mark on ost, the same one you mentioned in last ask? the ost is really good <3, it must've been fun to see it happen (if its same bibi).

making a whole ass playlist just for me???? 😭😭😭🥺💗 yza you're so sweet nooooo 💖

and don't worry abt replying late jdjdkdjd i mean it, sometimes my friends text me after weeks and i'm am the same. it's really okay <3. i hope this week is treating you kindly, take care yza - 🪂

p.s ( just saw last post djjej) - it was me who manifested more bunny dino <3 manifesting even more <33

i was on stan twt during my younger years too and it was v fun and memorable to me ngl <3 idk what happened though.. it's evolved to be.. Something Else.. i still see a lot of good people there though 😭 and now that i'm in my Hag Era... idk it's just too fast for me now 😭 it's still my go-to place for updates though nothing can top twitter on that dept

and ms fallin flower.... i feel like everyone was blown away by it (based off of what i see carats when talk about it) and rightly so!! she SERVED. the looks too oh my god. it's another factor i look forward to and enjoy so much when i watch their performances!!

u know what? virgos 😐 indeed KJJKDFJKFDJKFDKJ i want to slander virgos today because it's their season and no one slanders them that often so <3 ABOUT MARK'S VIRGO TEMPER THOUGH... i know i've said i enjoy seeing it sm but whenever i think abt it i cant help but say that.. I Love His Temper <3 he doesn't get pissed off in a scary and douchebag-y way it seems so... contained?? IDK HOW TO DESCRIBE IT he punched an a/c though so that might not be the perfect word to describe him lmaoo <3

THE J TRINITY HFDJFJDJHDF BESTIE UR MIND IS SO!!!!!!!!!!! honestly... maybe it's the acts of service for me <3 JKDFKJFDKJFJKD i think this is just my eldest sister and savior syndrome speaking though kfjkdkjf ALSO OH MY GOD THE WAY U NOTICE THESE THINGS <3 THAT'S SO SEXIE OF U!!! and yes he used to be an infj!! there was an interview that's more recent wherein he mentioned that he's now an enfj though but i cant rmb which interview it's from :/ ALSO MOOD FKJJKGJGKF i dont believe in mbtis too but im just... a little obsessed w it for the fun of it all <3 and the way u described them </3 what if i tear up a little </3 I LOVE CHAN'S LAUGH SO MUCH BUT IM SO SOS O GLAD U BROUGHT UP YUGYEOM'S LAUGH??????????? IT'S NOT TALKED ABT ENOUGH LIKE...... HELLO!!!!!!!!!!! one of my bird moots said he sounded like a schoolboy in choir 😭😭😭😭😭😭

GOD UR TASTE!!!!!!! what if i start falling in l*ve a little :/ what then :/ focus on me was ahead of it's time and people fucking slept on THEM i cannot fucking believe this. this has to be some kind of sick joke 😭 ALSO HAVE U SEEN THE CHOREO FOR SENSES!!!!!!1 INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!! holy fuck!!!!!! sorry for the expletives but like.... holy SHIT they did THAT!!!!!!!! ALSO UR SO RIGHT </3 jjp verse 3 when... ALSO did u know i let go of the jjprojects url... thats the worst mistake of my life KDKJDSKJDSJK also agree wholeheartedly <3 i think they're all trying to find their footing this time around as soloists and im so proud of them for that!! i'll stand by my jus2 agenda though bc they're almost in the same company so maybe.. i might have hope left 😭

SO TRUE BESTIE!!! the same principle goes w svt for me as well <3 got7's such a flavorful group musically like... all of them have the capacity to go solo and they're still considered flops.. waht the fuck <3 ALSO OMG FJDKJFKFJD YOU'VE HEARD The Song!!!!!!!! maybe he'll be releasing something along those lines <3 esp now that he's supposedly coming w an album KJSJKDJSK on a similar note.. do u also listen to jamie (the other artist on the song) <3 NOO SHUT UP THIS CANNOT BE FOR REAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 i was obsessed w on the rocks too 😭😭😭😭😭😭 IT WAS MY FAVORITE ON THE MIRRORS ALBUM HELLO??????????????????????????? im proposing to u rn

ok now i have to watch all the live vids again JKDSJKSJDKDSKJ ik keep saying 'ur so right', 'i agree', and 'so true bestie' but im gonna have to say this again bc i LOVE LOVE LOVE live sessions sm no matter the artist. i also just am a little partial to live bands in performances like that in general so JDJKKDSJDS

the way you're saying these cute things abt the svteenies.. </3 giving me heartache!!! i'd bully them though i can't coddle them anymore <3

not the fandom JKFDKJFDKJFDKJFKJF ok but i think it's mostly their younger fans tbh. it wasn't this bad before.. i also really liked bts during their debut days. their songs were really good!! i kind of lost interest though and couldn't really get into them although their songs slapped lol. my irls are still into them though so i still hear about them. 9 YEARS............................... wait oh my god it HAS BEEN a little over a decade since 1d was The Thing huh 😭 now i feel kinda old lmao. and i totally get that feeling </3 it really do be like that sometimes JKFDJKJKFD

you really ARE keeping up w the sevens oh my god how are you doing it!!!!!!!!!!! it's like getting svt content now at this point but more complicated bc u need to get the updates from different sources JDKJSDKJJSKD love ur song choices too <3

ALSO FULLY RELATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! when i saw bam's teasers... the aes was my cup of tea and THE HIGHLIGHT MEDLEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i can't fucking get it out of my mind it's objectively one of the best things i've seen from kpop in 2021. i'm super impressed <3 love how abyss really supported bambam on this. they really went all in for him!!

I KNOW GKJDFJDK I GOT SUPER ???????/// DURING THE TIME EVERYONE THOUGHT THEY WERE DISBANDING LMAOOOO they pulled a move that's so unheard of though no one really expected That. i respect jaebeom so much for handling all the paperwork and shit behind the scenes it must've been HELL!! ALSO IT MEANT I CRIED FOR NOTHING THEN 😭😭😭 AND YES OH MY GOD IT'S THE SAME BIBI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE SHOCK I HAD WHEN I SAW THE LIST????????????????????????? thought i was gonna black out like,,, mark,,, AND BIBI??????????????? she's fucking phenomenal how is she just a YEAR older than me.. INSANE!!! ... and i also thought jackson was gonna have an ost for this movie.. idk why it wasn't released though i didnt look into it :/

i had a rough few days so i'm not yet finished with the playlist (my laptop's Dead i am still trying to revive her and uni's starting soon 😭) but for the mean time, here's another one that some people from caratblr previously asked for JDSJKSDJ these are mostly english songs though its not my k-playlist KJDSKJSDJK

i do hope this week gets better!!! and i hope that you'll have a fun one too <3 thank u for being so patient w me 🥺 i just get so many messages and find the need to recharge FDKJDFJK

ALSO I FELT LIKE IT WAS U!!!!!! OH MY GOD, i even searched my blog for the word manifest but for some reason your ask didn't come up in the search so i didnt mention u in the tags so i wont misattribute if it ends up not being u 😭 thank u for manifesting this chan for me he's my little... hop hop now ig... 😭

[katahnisharma]

the press tour [4] | t.h.

Word Count: 2.6 K

Warnings: none, i don't think??

Summary: You’re a new, inexperienced actress plucked from the obscurity of everyday life to play the lead in the reboot of a famous British Jane Austen novel, and Tom Holland just so happens to be playing your love interest.

A/N: This one was a little hard to write for obvious reasons. Also Tumblr apparently won't let me link things so if you’re looking for my masterlist, playlist, taglist, or writing challenge it’s in my bio <3 I also have to tag people a second time?? and because Tumblr screwed this up Saturday, I'm dropping the next chapter this Saturday 

Tom had been moody all day. He snapped at his driver for being two minutes late, got upset that his coffee was cold, and made his makeup artist storm out of her trailer. It was completely unlike him to act like such an asshole.

In other words, he was a mess.

"Dude, what is going on?" Jacob asked during an interview break. Tom stayed silent, walking past him to enter his dressing room. Jacob followed, determined to get an answer. He wasn't just going to let it go.

"Nothing, it's nothing. I'm fine" Tom gritted his teeth, feeling himself get even more frustrated with all the questions. His mind was on you and on the date, he simply couldn't get you out of his mind. It didn't help that the news outlets had been reporting on the sighting of the two of you nonstop, even though Tom had been very careful to avoid paparazzi.

Everywhere he looked, there were pictures of you two. You looked so beautiful, Tom found it hard to remember that he wasn't supposed to be in love with you anymore. It hurt so much that Tom almost considered telling everyone he was going home to sleep for the next millennium.

He'd loved you and you'd rejected him in the worst way possible.

"Yeah right, you're behaving like a real movie star right now, you know that?" Jacob pressed, closing the door behind him. He knew Tom was never like this unless something really bad had happened. Jacob also knew that Tom hated being called a movie star.

Sure enough, he broke.

"If you have to know, it's about Y/N okay!" Tom yelled, spinning around and kicking a chair across the room. Jacob didn't flinch, he was just confused. He knew that Tom liked Y/N, and was planning to ask her out, but it seemed something had gone wrong. Which was odd, considering the paparazzi pictures he had seen told a different story.

"What, I thought you guys went on a date?" He asked, and Tom collapsed into a chair with his head in his hands. Jacob walked over and sat next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder gently. He could hear Tom sigh and sniffle, and it made him sad to see his best friend like this.

"We did, but it didn't end well." Tom whispered, sitting up and wiping his eyes. Jacob realized he was crying, and he felt a little guilty about making Tom break like this. He considered calling Harrison to ask what to do, but decided against it. Tom needed to vent, so Jacob would listen.

"There's someone else, I saw the text. The worst part was that she didn't tell me, I had to find out like that. It was humiliating." Tom said, getting up and pacing the room. Jacob watched him, still not believing that you would do something like that. He had met you once, and thought you were the kindest person he'd ever met. It seemed so out of character, for you to do something like this.

"Are you sure about this? I mean, Y/N is the sweetest person ever. Did you talk to her about it?" Jacob asked, coming to stand behind Tom. Tom shook his head, running a hand through his hair. He hadn't asked you about it, but he figured he didn't need to. Tom knew what he saw.

"No, but I know what I saw Jacob. It was pretty obvious, and I wasn't about to tell her I'd been looking at her phone. I'm trying to get over her, but it's so hard. I really like her, and I have to do press with her." Tom groaned, throwing a pillow at the wall. It burst into feathers, each one cascading to the floor below. Jacob grimaced, going over to pick up the sack.

"Well, you've got time to get over her. You're here for two months, I'm sure you'll forget all about it. You're going to be super busy anyway." He said, and Tom felt a little better. He wouldn't see you, so maybe he could just wish the whole thing away. At the very least, he could just lay low for a while.

"Yeah, maybe." Tom sat down again, staring at the wall for a couple of minutes. Just as Jacob was about to leave, Tom's assistant Samual walked through the door. He looked like he had been running, and he panted a bit before handing Tom a note.

"Your PR manager is here, he wants to talk." Samual huffed, giving Jacob a wave. Tom quirked an eyebrow, taking the note from Samual's hand and giving it a read. It was scribbled pretty hastily, but Tom could just make out what it said

We need to talk.

"What's this all about?" Tom asked, but Samual shrugged his shoulders. He had no idea, the note had just been passed to him and it seemed pretty urgent. Jacob stood by the door as Tom put on his jacket. He really wasn't in the mood to speak to David, but he knew that it had to be important if a note had been couriered like this.

"Where is he?" Tom asked, and Samual pointed to a car on the outskirts of the set. The black Mercedes was parked next to the road, and Tom could just see David sitting in the back on his laptop. It was highly unusual for David to come all this way for something that could probably be discussed over the phone, which made Tom a little suspicious.

"Hey, Jacob tell Jon I'm taking five. I'll be right back." Tom walked out the door and broke into a quick jog. When he got to the car, he rapped on the window causing David to jump. The window rolled down and David peered out.

"Really? You could have just called ahead." David said, giving Tom a glare. Tom smiled deviously, leaning on the car door.

"Where's the fun in that? You wanted to see me?" Tom asked and David told him to get in. Tom slid into the backseat, and David shut his laptop. With the click of a button, he rolled up the divider and turned to face Tom.

"What is this, Tom?" David pulled out his phone and Tom grimaced. There on the screen was an article titled Tom and Y/N, Hollywood's next IT couple? Damn, he'd never escape these stupid pictures. David was frowning, and Tom knew he was in some serious trouble.

"Nothing, I went on a date with Y/N and it didn't go well. So what?" Tom asked and David sighed, closing the window. He went on Instagram and typed in the handle tomhollanders_spidey. Tom recognized the account, they were a big fan account that had started when he first began to act. The first picture that popped up was one of the paparazzi photos of you and Tom. Tom furrowed his brow, why did David care so much about this date?

"Read the comments for me." David said, handing Tom his phone.

So Tom began to read.

Ew, is this Y/N?? It's gonna be a no from me.

Oh my god nooooooo, Tom is wayyy to good for her.

Jesus, was there no one else?!?!

Not a fan of this relationship, he could do so much better.

Damn Tom needs some dating help.

Honestly Tom would look better with Zendaya.

I do not ship them at all.

First of all, Y/N is ugly and Tom is hot?? Dude needs glasses or something.

They'll break up after two months, Y/N is just using him for publicity.

Please God not another Hiddleswift.

"What the hell? I thought they liked us together" Tom muttered, not believing his fans could be so terrible. But he remembered some bad experiences from before, and just groaned instead. David shrugged, taking the phone back and putting his glasses on. Tom was observant enough to know that this meant David was about to cut to the quick.

"I don't know what happened between you, but you and Y/N cannot be a couple. Most of your fans are heavily against it and the press isn't entirely favorable either. We need some major damage control, I don't want this hanging over you for the Far From Home junket. Sony doesn't want that either." David said, turning to face Tom. Tom pursed his lips, looking over David's shoulder and out the window. Life would have been a lot simpler if he hadn't been an actor. He would have been able to date whoever he wanted.

But these were the cards he was dealt, and he would have to deal with them as best as he could.

"So, what do we do? I'm assuming you already have some sort of plan." Tom said and David brought out a manila folder. Tom rolled his eyes, but he knew David had been thinking about this for a while. It was the folder he'd dubbed The Dating File. It contained profiles of actresses that fans had either shipped him with or had expressed an interest in Tom at some point. When Tom had just started out, David had compiled the file as an emergency fix in case of a PR disaster.

Tom had always hoped they'd never have to use it.

"God, no not the Dating File! Isn't there anything else we can do?" Tom whined and now it was David's turn to roll his eyes. He liked Tom well enough, but David was used to working with actors like John Travolta and Adam Sandler who had a smidge less integrity when it came to PR.

"Like what? If you have another idea I'm all ears." David said, leaning back while Tom rested his head on his hand. Truthfully, Tom didn't have another idea, but he would have done anything to avoid the Dating File.

"Couldn't we just ride it out? It's not that serious, it's just a couple paparazzi pictures and some pissed off fans." Tom reasoned, and David shook his head emphatically.

"Not that serious? Tom, the Sony execs called me today wondering if they should cut some of your interviews during the junket, so that promotions don't get overshadowed by your love life. Unless you have a better idea, this is our best bet." David finished his lecture and handed Tom the file. Tom took it slowly and opened it gingerly.

"Shit. Fine, I guess I don't have a choice then. So what, I pick one like on the Bachelor?" Tom laughed sardonically, flipping through the pages. There were some pretty famous actresses compiled, including Chloe Grace Moretz, Elle Fanning, Hailee Steinfeld, Ella Purnell, Maia Mitchell, Olivia Holt, Saoirse Ronan, Kiernan Shipka, and Zendaya. Tom sighed and dropped the file back into his lap.

"I don't know, David. Does it even matter who I choose? It's not like we're getting married or something." Tom huffed, handing the file back to David.

"Fine, then I'll pick. We need an actress that the fans really ship you with or one that has previously said they would date you." David flipped through the profiles one by one, taking out the ones that would work best. Tom sat up, realizing that he knew an actress that would fit the bill perfectly.

"Zendaya. Z is our best bet. The fans all ship us, they're always asking about us in interviews. They already call us Tomdaya or whatever, what about her?" Tom asked. David looked up, a smile on his face. Thank god they'd picked one, he was going crazy dealing with Tom.

"You're right, she'd be perfect. She's well known and already has an established relationship with you. Good, I'll call her in so you two can talk." David picked up his phone, but Tom stopped him midway.

"Wait, what do you mean call her in? Is she here already?" Tom looked out the window, and sure enough there was Zendaya with Darnell and her PR manager Aubrey. David smiled and waved, and they all waved awkwardly back. Tom spun around, looking at David for an explanation.

"What? I knew you'd pick Zendaya, so I called her ahead of time. She's been here for about two hours now? Before you ask, yes she agreed to the whole fake dating thing. All you need to do now is hammer out some conditions, a sort of contract if you will. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to Starbucks." David rapped on the divider and motioned for Tom to get out. Tom slid out of the backseat and David drove off, just as if he had never been here.

"Hey, you." Zendaya said, going in for a hug. Normally, Tom would have been happy to see her. But this whole situation was so awkward that Tom barely hugged her back, nodding at Darnell and Aubrey. Zendaya flipped her gorgeous hair over her shoulder and brought out a notepad.

"So... guess we should sit down and iron out all the specifics. Aubrey, I can take it from here. Darnell, can you wait over there?" Zendaya pointed to a croft of trees a couple yards away, and Aubrey left set for her car. Tom turned to her and felt a sudden urge to apologize.

"I'm so sorry, Z. I want you to know this was never my first choice, I know how awful it was with all the Tomdaya stuff. This isn't going to make it any easier on us, and things could get pretty ugly." Tom said, kicking a rock with his shoe. Zendaya sighed, but her smile was sincere.

"I know, it's not your fault. But remember, I agreed to this too so you can't take all the blame. It is what it is, this is the life we signed up for. As long as we keep is professional and authentic, we'll be fine. All they want is a show, and we can give that to them. We're trained actors, this is our job." Zendaya laughed, and Tom felt a little better. But the hole in his stomach convinced him that he wasn't over you yet.

"Right, let's write this contract then. We definitely have to keep feelings out of this." Tom started and Zendaya nodded.

"Agreed, even though I feel nothing for you. You're my friend, that's it. We also need a confidentiality clause, we can't tell anyone about this obviously. And very little kissing, of course." Zendaya said. Tom took the notepad and wrote down the clauses carefully and legibly. Usually David handled all the legal paperwork, but Tom felt better knowing he had written this himself.

"And lastly, either of us can terminate the relationship at any time. But said person must notify the other 24 hours before any major event or red carpet occasion. For convenience." Zendaya finished, and Tom wrote down the last clause with a flourish. At the bottom of the note, he drew two lines for their signatures. He offered Zendaya the pen first, and she signed her name in pretty cursive. Tom signed his well enough, and then closed the contract and handed it to Zendaya.

"There, all done. We are officially a couple now." Tom nudged Zendaya lightly and she laughed a little. She would have preferred choosing her own partner, but she couldn't think of that now. Instead, she tried to focus on how lucky she was that she would be "dating" someone she trusted, like Tom.

"Yes, the HMS Tomdaya ship has properly sailed. Brace yourselves, it's going to be a bumpy ride."

[halictus-writer]

Remus’s Trip to the Grocery Store

notes: 3,582 words. originally posted to ao3 on august 22, 2020. 

non-magical, modern au. first meetings, fluff, humor.

told in 5 parts, the first two happen at the same time but are told from different POVs, same for the next two, then part 5 happens only once.

4:26pm – 4:36pm: Remus

Remus grabbed a red grocery cart and pushed it forwards. He didn’t have a lot of items to buy today, since he was really only stopping for tonight’s dinner and tomorrow morning’s coffee, but the choice between lugging around a basket that increased in weight over time or leaning heavily on a cart that helped maintain a personal space buffer was a no-brainer.

He grabbed his list from his back pocket. Once an envelope containing unsolicited credit card advertisements, it was now a neatly folded rectangle bearing thin but neat cursive lettering, with items such as “bread,” “premade salad,” and “fucking caffeine.” In the middle of deciding which items to grab first, Remus looked up and suddenly locked eyes with a worker at the cash register, immediately forgetting the pros and cons of his most-recently proposed efficient shopping route. The worker was strikingly handsome. Remus took in his medium-length dark hair, blue-gray eyes, and prominent facial structure, before also realizing that he himself was (1) staring, (2) caught in the act of staring, as well as (3) blocking other customers from utilizing the easiest navigational pathway between the frozen foods aisle and the produce section: a triple grocery store sin.

Shaking off his stare-induced stupor, Remus returned to the task at hand: buying groceries and going home before rush hour, eating a moderately-healthy dinner, getting into bed at a reasonable hour, and then reading until 3am. As he compared the price per ounce between two different boxes of granola bars, he couldn’t help but let his eyes wander back to the worker. They look to be about the same age, he could also be a student at the local university. Remus wonders what his major might be, and if he prefers to sit in the front or the back of lecture halls, or if he ever skips classes altogether. Before he can decide if grocery-store-cashier-boy is a pen-and-pencil note-taker or a laptop note-typer, a woman’s exasperated “excuse me” comes from his side. Realizing he was blocking the cereal section with his cart, Remus made a hasty apology, before mentally cursing his lack of grocery store etiquette. Normally a champion of the unspoken grocery store rules, Remus determines that it must be the boy’s fault for distracting him. Mentally, he cursed him too.

4:26pm – 4:36pm: Sirius

Sirius flicked the switch under the counter, turning off the light above his cash register. He gave a sorry smile to the woman who had been walking towards his lane, basket in hand, before realizing he was temporarily closing the register. Sirius pointed her to his left where Dorcas was finishing a transaction with a mom and two small children. The smaller of the two kept tugging on the mom’s hand, and asking if he could dye his hair all the colors of the rainbow, like Dorcas’s undercut.

“Sure,” the mom said, laughing, “but only once you’re older.”

“I dyed mine years ago, when I turned sixteen,” Dorcas told the little family. “My parents were furious.” She handed the receipt over to the mom with a dramatic flourish, and offered the kids a conspiratorial wink.

“Hey!” Sirius stage-whispered, “stop corrupting the kids with your lesbianism!”

“It’s not like you’re a saint, with your gay-ass rainbow pin!” Dorcas laughed.

“The day I take off this pin is the day I break Effie Potter’s heart,” Sirius declared. “She was so excited to give it to me the day after Planned Parenthood tabled at her work.” Sirius’s voice trailed off at the end when he heard Dorcas return to her customer service voice, asking her next shopper if she had any trouble finding her groceries today. The rainbow pin actually meant a lot to Sirius, as it represented the acceptance and love shown by his adoptive mother, in sharp contrast to the biological mother who threw him out for his “lifestyle choices.” An additional perk of wearing it at work was that he could scan the groceries of complete strangers and not get flirted with. Except for the occasional man who was encouraged by the pin, but Sirius handled those occurrences on more of a case-by-case basis.

Sirius was clocking out for his break on the computer, when he looked up and saw a customer pushing a cart, wearing the thickest sweater he had seen in use all summer, and carrying a real-life paper shopping list. Sirius couldn’t help the small smile that formed on his face at the sight-- the whole combination was too endearing. His eyebrows shot up when the stranger lifted his head and looked right at him: he was gorgeous. In a very sweater-wearing, paper-grocery-store-list-making, probably-falls-asleep-while-reading kind of way, but still, gorgeous. The shopping boy broke eye contact first.

“Break break break break break!” James’s voice crescendoed as he hopped over towards Sirius’s register, before grabbing Sirius and squeezing just under his ribs, making Sirius jump and swat his hands away. Sirius is not ticklish, except for that one spot, which James annoyingly exploits on a daily basis.

James leaned over Sirius to use the computer to clock out as well, officially making them both free of work duties for the next twenty minutes. There was a break room in the back, but James and Sirius preferred to take their breaks at a closed register line, in the middle of the action, so they could continue to distract all of their coworkers. Sirius silently noted that their oddly-extraverted break-taking location would allow for an excellent vantage point, should the sweater-wearing boy want to make any more eye contact.

“So,” James began, drawing out the word. “Are you going to tell me who it is?”

“What are you talking about, James?”

“Who it is.” He repeated. “You keep craning your neck like a tiny little baby giraffe, looking all around the store. It’s precious. It’s endearing. Who are you looking for?”

“What? No one. Also, I’m not short.”

“Sirius. You are a very abnormally short little giraffe. Who is also looking for someone.”

“Oh my god, you are the most annoying person.”

“But I’m also three inches taller than you.”

Sirius narrowed his eyes. “Dorcas, back me up here.”

Dorcas looked up from weighing a customer’s bag of apples, looked back down to her computer, and said “No.”

James cackled unnecessarily loudly. “It’s one of three options. Number one, you’ve done something wrong and are hiding from the authorities. Number two, there’s a shopper here who you don’t want to see. Number three, there’s a shopper here who you do want to see.”

Sirius tried to keep a sufficient poker face, steeling himself to ride out James’s upcoming monologue.

“Number one is the least possible option. As is common knowledge, Sirius Black is a trouble-maker, which I commend him for. However, he is also an excellent escape-artist. In recent events, Mr. Black has been known to assign the blame to others, even his own brother,” James paused for a dramatic gasp, “in order to avoid the responsibility of his actions. If there were an authoritative body present in this fine establishment, and Mr. Black was on his government-mandated twenty minute break per four hours of hard labor, which he is, then there would be no reason for him to remain in such a visible locale.” James paused theatrically.

Sirius bit his cheek to hold in his laughter; he didn’t want to give James the satisfaction. “Are you done yet?”

“No. Possibility number one has been refuted, but possibility number two is also dethroned by the logic of scenario numero uno. If you were avoiding a customer, you would go to the break room. Therefore, ladies and gentlemen…” James made a sweeping motion with his arms, looking in turn at Sirius, Dorcas, and Dorcas’s current customer, an elderly man who appeared to be either a wizard or quite unaware that Woodstock had ended and his hair had turned gray.

“I’m still not listening,” Dorcas added, although her customer evidently was, having now turned himself fully towards James.

“Possibility number three is the only answer. Mr. Sirius Black has his eyes on a customer!” James gasped and covered his hand with his mouth. The elderly/hippie/wizard customer gasped as well, though not as loud as James.

“James, there is no customer, I was literally just looking because I thought I saw a girl from class. But I don’t think it was her.” Sirius lied. He knew that James wouldn’t mind hearing about the gorgeous sweater-clad boy, and Sirius knew he would probably tell him all about their five seconds of eye contact once they were both at home later. But, Sirius also knew that given the opportunity, James would do his best to embarrass Sirius in front of someone Sirius found attractive. It was best to keep James away during first impressions.

“Liar!” James scrambled onto the table where groceries were bagged, and grabbed the handheld barcode scanner. Now apparently conducting an interview, he spoke into the barcode scanner as if it were a microphone. “Mr. Black, do tell us, who is the unlucky victim?”

Sirius realized that he wouldn’t be able to compete with James’s energy level today, so he decided to join him instead. Speaking into the faux-microphone with a deeper-than-usual voice, Sirius answered. “Well, Mr. Potter, it was a shopper, you see, who is simply adorable, and no further questions will be taken at this time.”

“A-ha!” James announced with glee, and flung the barcode scanner down. “So there is someone!”

Returning to his normal voice, Sirius laughed and offered, “yes, you were right, you are always right, and I saw a boy, but just don’t do anything and maybe I’ll invite you to our wedding eventually.”

“Wow, wedding bells already? Must be a rather dashing young lad.” James could read Sirius like a book, they were practically brothers, and he knew when Sirius was done with a joke. Hoping that he would get to witness an interaction between Sirius and the customer today, James mercifully changed the subject to their weekend movie plans.

4:37pm – 4:42pm: Remus

Ten minutes later finds Remus’s cart holding all of the items on his list-- with the addition of two non-list items: one bar of 80% cacao dark chocolate, and one small pack of green tea mints-- and en route to the cash registers.

Remus noticed that the boy is still at his register, but that he was now joking around with another worker-- a boy with equally dark but messier hair and glasses-- who appeared to be dodging erratic jabs of an uncapped sharpie marker and laughing. Remus momentarily considered avoiding them altogether, but since (1) they are the only register without a line, (2) Remus isn’t buying any weird groceries, and (3) is capable of casual grocery store chatter with someone attractive, Remus steered his cart towards them. Glasses Boy saw him first, and momentarily frowned before his eyebrows shot up into his curls. He poked Attractive Boy, who turned towards Remus and smiled, before turning back towards Glasses Boy to smack his arm. Remus is now close enough to read his name tag, which states Sirius, and is glad to be able to stop referring to him as “Attractive Boy” in his head. He also happily noticed the rainbow pin clipped under his name. The other worker’s name is James, but Remus wasn’t looking away from Sirius for very long.

“Did you find everything you were looking for today?” Sirius asked, as he quickly types something into the computer. His words may come from the same required script he uses for every customer, but Remus noticed that his tone sounded friendly.

“I did, thanks, how about you?” Remus returned, pleased at keeping his voice calm despite talking to the most attractive person he had ever seen. A beat of silence followed before he realized what he said, and immediately blushed. “I mean, wait, sorry–”

Sirius’s laugh is warm, and it feels like he is laughing with Remus instead of at him, somehow, before he leaned in conspiratorially and offered in a slightly lower volume, “You know, I think I did find what I was looking for.” His eyes remained on Remus’s shocked expression for another moment before he returned to scanning the groceries. Meanwhile, the other worker, James, groaned loudly and took a step backwards.

Now speechless, Remus felt his face get even warmer and was certain he was now the same shade of red as the cart. Could Sirius possibly be flirting with him? Remus knew he wasn’t unattractive, but he didn’t think someone like Sirius would show interest in him.

4:37pm – 4:42pm: Sirius

Now with only ten minutes left of their break, Sirius and James have covered all of the conversational topics available to them within the workplace-- they have updated each other on the happenings of their last two hours, exchanged weird customer stories, discussed the pros and cons of “double texting” the red-haired girl James met in his Anthropology class study group-- and have moved on to entertaining themselves by play-fighting. Naturally, it escalated in volume, and as their manager would say if he was actually on the floor, “obnoxiousness.”

James brandished the barcode scanner and waved it over Sirius’s forearm-- sleeve pulled up to display his constellation tattoos-- screeched a remarkably accurate “BEEP,” and proclaimed that Sirius was worth a total of ninety-five cents. In retaliation, Sirius uncapped a black sharpie marker, and began trying to draw on James. James laughed as he dodged the swipes.

Suddenly, James froze, and looked just beyond Sirius’s shoulder with a small frown. Sensing that their mayhem had finally become noticed by a manager or shift lead, Sirius capped the sharpie and began to draft the perfect story that would get himself out of trouble and throw James under the bus. He was pulled out of his lie-crafting when James poked him in the side, now looking mischievously excited.

Sirius turned around to see the cute boy from earlier, and smiled reflexively. The boy was pushing his shopping cart towards Sirius’s register, and Sirius realized that the boy must not know that his lane is currently closed.

“Oh, yes,” James whispered with glee.

Sirius smacked him and issued a simple warning grunt.

Sirius stole another look at the boy. Now that they are closer, he took in the warm hazel eyes and the few faint scars running between his freckles. Already ignoring the anticipated tormenting he will receive from James later, Sirius quickly logs back in to the computer to be able to ring up the boy’s purchases, despite still being on break.

Now that the boy is actually standing in front of him, Sirius is surprised to find that he is a little nervous. He’s always been a successful conversationalist, and a very effortless flirter. James always pointed out that roughly fifty percent of the annual Thanksgiving food bank donations come from Sirius’s customers. Looking for something to say, he blurted out the first thing he could think of.

“Did you find everything you were looking for today?” Sirius quickly cursed himself for sounding so boring.

“I did, thanks, how about you?” The boy answered, and Sirius immediately loved his voice. He had the timbre of an audiobook narrator. “I mean, wait, sorry–”

Sirius’s laughter interrupted him. Deciding to double-down on the flirting to make up for the fact that he opened with a line about groceries, he put the charm back on and leaned forward just a bit. “You know, I think I did find what I was looking for.”

James groaned loudly and took a step backwards from the grocery bags, but Sirius knew he was still listening intently.

4:43pm – 4:50pm: both

“Is your name actually Sirius?” Remus blurted out. Sirius looked surprised, but Remus spoke again before he could respond. “No, it’s a cool name, I really like it actually, but I work in a coffee shop on campus and sometimes I steal someone else’s name tag because my name is Remus which is kind of a weird name but I just realized that I’m rambling so I am now going to stop talking.”

Sirius smiled at him. “Nice to meet you, Remus. I like your name too.” Time paused as their eye contact held, and small smiles began forming. The moment ended when James started making gagging noises, empty grocery bags in hand.

“Bye James! Your grocery bagging skills are no longer required.” Sirius said, shoo-ing him away without looking away from Remus. “Good luck with that girl who won’t text you back!”

James smiled mischievously as he began to make his way towards the previously unused break room. “Good luck with your foot fungus, Sirius! Don’t forget to apply your poultice at the top of every hour!”

Sirius shook his head before returning to Remus’s groceries. “You said you work in a coffee shop on campus? Which one?”

“Oh, it’s the UCenter Caffeine House.” Remus is pleased to have successfully said one sentence to Sirius without butchering any social or conversational norms.

“Are you a student then?”

“Yeah, I’ll be a Junior this fall. Are you also a student there?” Remus hoped his question didn’t sound too excited.

Sirius beamed. “Yeah, I’m going into Junior year as well actually!”

“Oh cool, what are you studying?” Remus asked.

“Philosophy. But I’m thinking about adding an Education minor because I’ve been thinking about becoming a teacher.”

“That’s awesome! I’m studying Psychology, but minoring in Education because I want to work in elementary schools.” Remus thought briefly of his seventh grade guidance counselor, Ms. McGee. “I hope I can help people the way that I was helped.”

Sirius paused his scanning, holding the green tea mints in the air, and looked up at Remus again. “That is really powerful to hear. I owe a lot to the psychologists that worked in my schools while I was growing up.” Remus was pleased to hear that Sirius is appreciative of his path, but also that he seems to actually value therapy and social work. “These mints are so good by the way, I just eat them like candy.”

Remus took advantage of the available lighter conversation topic. “Oh good, they reminded me of one of my favorite drinks at work! It’s a blended matcha mint tea. Although I usually add some chocolate sauce to mine.”

Sirius laughed, now scanning the dark chocolate bar, “Sounds like it matches your shopping cart items. Maybe I’ll have to come try this matcha mint drink, when do you work next?”

Now it is Remus’s turn to smile. “I work a closing shift tomorrow! So I’ll be there starting at 4pm, but the baked goods are half-off after 5.”

“Sounds like I’ll see you at 5 then, Remus. Will you be wearing your own name tag?” Sirius asked innocently.

It took Remus a half second to realize that Sirius was referring to his earlier embarrassing ramblings about his name. Not one to be out-done, even by ridiculously attractive grocery store workers, he replied with his own faux-innocence. “Yep, and if you’re coming right at five o’clock will you need to apply your foot fungus poultice at the shop? We have a bathroom inside.”

They both laugh, and Sirius can’t help but feel warmer, as if somehow this boy walked into the store and ended up talking to Sirius for a reason. They maintain a comfortable eye contact, before Sirius decides he should complete the transaction, having long ago finished ringing up Remus’s groceries.

“Did you want a plastic or a paper bag for these? My bagger seems to have returned to his break.”

Remus pulled out the compact folded reusable bag from his pocket. “Oh, I brought my own actually.”

“Perfect,” Sirius said, and they both began placing Remus’s items inside.

“Wait,” Remus interrupted, “did you say return to his break? Are you on break right now?”

Sirius sheepishly pointed up to the box above his register. Compared to the other lanes with workers, it is not illuminated. “James and I usually take our breaks out here, um, because we like being, uh, a part of the action?”

Remus’s face fell. “I feel so bad for making you work during your break; I didn’t realize your lane was closed, but, you were too nice to say anything. Although the thought of you wanting to stay on the floor during your break makes my introverted soul shudder.”  

Sirius laughed, “No, don’t worry, I would have told you I was closed if I didn’t want you here.” Remus smiles in response. “But,” Sirius said, drawing out the vowel, “my break did end while we were talking and I should probably start ringing other customers up.”

“Oh, yes, of course, let me stop distracting you.” Remus picked up his bag of groceries, and took a step towards the exit. “It was nice to meet you, Sirius, and sorry again about interrupting your break.”

Sirius looked up from his station, and despite having already turned on the “Lane Open” sign, called out again. “Wait, Remus, um, your receipt!”

“Oh, I don’t need it, but thank you–” Remus was cut off by Sirius handing it to him, their fingers brushing for just a second.

“I’ll see you tomorrow at 5!”

“Yeah, see you!” Remus smiled as he walked out of the store. His smile grew even wider when he unfolded the receipt to see a phone number scribbled in black sharpie.

[1985music]

Assembly of the Gods

Twon, If you're reading this it's too late my G. 

I'm never sure where to begin with these stories. Y'all remember when Nas spit a whole story backwards? Nevermind forget it. 

The year is 2013, I believe, and it's a rainy night in the fall. My boy Robbie Maxx drags my wife and I to a Meek Mill show in Teaneck NJ, just to peep the scene. The parking lot is a mad house of course. We had to wait in line and shit, which wasn't the vibe. We finally get in the spot, it's already packed and the opening acts are doing their thing. This one performer caught my attention. This short, energetic kid with his squad on stage with him screaming, "UPPERCLASS!". The young boy with the name "TWON" gleaming off his hat was spitting some fire with no fear or nervousness to a sold-out crowd in his hometown. Pretty dope performance overall. Soon after his exit from the stage Meek would come out and make is presence known. I knew that wasn't the last time I'd see or hear from that Twon guy. 

Some months later Maxx would headline a show at this spot called Mexicali Live (Debonair Lounge) and guess who he throws on the bill? You guessed it, TWONDON. It had been a while since I last saw the kid and this go-around the music was a bit different. He performed and did his thing much like the first time I saw him. He was chopping it up with his fans/supporters after his performance, so I had to wait to talk to him. I hate that sh*t. I was able to properly introduce myself and extend the invitation to collab. I'll admit our first encounter wasn't the greatest. It's always weird when a ni**a that doesn't know you tries to strike a conversation. He'll tell you. Although he knew of me as being Maxx's producer/engineer up until this point we hadn't had any extensive interaction. We exchanged info and that was that. He wasn't trying to hear anything I had to say that night though.

 Now it's 2014, I was floating around to different events in NYC. One in particular was a private album release party for Mobb Deep (RIP Prodigy). I want to say it was their last album, "The Infamous Mobb Deep." I'm coolin' in the spot for a little bit and guess who I bump in to? Of course, Twondon. The first thing he says to me is, "Damn B, you get around". At this point this ni**a finally realizes he can't escape the God. This time we got a chance to really chop it up. He mentioned to me he was looking for a new spot to record and a good engineer. I had to get my boy right. The first track we recorded together was, "Life's a Bitch" featuring AZ. I remember Twon asking me, "Yo B, can you somehow scratch in the Acapella of AZ from Nas' "Life's a Bitch"?” and explained how he wanted it to cut in and out of the hook. I remember thinking to myself, "This ni**a has no clue this my f**king BAG." To make a long story short my execution of what he requested was flawless. In past interviews Twon has mentioned that "Life's a Bitch" was when he found "His sound."

 Soon after Twon would make 1985 Sound Studio in Belleville, NJ his new home for recording. By this time I had already mixed a few singles for him including "4th and Inches" and "Run It" featuring Bizzy Crook and slew of others. There's this on-going thing where he'll say some sh*t like "Yo B, make me sound icy" and somehow I know what he means everytime. He also connected me with a few artists he knew including a young lyricist by the name of Dolla $ign Dunn who I continue to help with developing his sound as well. In the early stages of creating with Twon he had already had a lot of his beats picked out so he didn't really need me for production. I was just helping to cultivate that Upperclass sound through my mixing and mastering techniques. It wasn't until mid 2015 that discussions of his debut EP "Stay Golden" began to take shape. 

After a session one day Twon asked me about a beat I was creating on my ipad that I previewed on Instagram I think. No stories back then this was all timeline action. He said "That beat sound like me." 

I didn't think anything of it, I looped up the beat, added a few more elements to it and gave it up. No charge. That was the birth of the first single "Too Committed". He sat on the beat for a short time and came back to the studio and laid the 1st verse and the hook. Later on he told me that Smoke DZA would be blessing the record and executive producing the album "Stay Golden." 

"TWON!!? Antwon!! Wake your black ass up it's 1 in the afternoon..."   -Gloria's Intro (Mama Twondon) 

Twondon's “Stay Golden” album was released December 8, 2015, a day after my 30th Birthday. I was in Vegas my ni**a. The project was well received. The song "Million Dollar Babies" off that project racked up 600,000+ streams on Spotify alone. The whole roll-out for that project was dope. I go back and listen to that project sometimes and I love the way it sounds. It sounds just like the title, "Golden." So much work went into it and I enjoyed every minute of it. There are 10 mixes on "Too Committed" alone. Occasionally I will hear my wife bumping "All the Above." She's also partially responsible for placing "Too Committed" in the Indie film "King of Newark" (2016) 

After the success of that project we continued to create and build. The last few years I've watched Twondon evolve from rapper/lyricist to clothing designer to all-around entrepreneur. Yeah man, my boy was making clothes. I had to support him because the Upperclass Intl. collections were dope, simple as that. Every collection is limited pieces, so if you miss it for the week it's available it's over. His system is untouchable to say the least. He'll give you some dope music and then turn around and give you some fresh clothes. Young Nipsey traits for sure. The one piece I missed out on was this navy blue Upperclass hoodie he dropped. Still salty about that. He know. 

The inception of "God Complex" 

Summer of 2016 I locked in with my brother Josh. He would come to the crib on random days and cook up. Lay hooks, make beats etc. One of the hooks he laid was on "F**k What They Tryna Say," we both knew it was special. He laid it down and we never revisted it. Typical Josh sh*t. He's just a legendary soul. He's different. 

2017 I relocated to Atlanta. Twondon and I would maintain our working relationship and brother-hood from a far. We would send sessions back and forth, long ass facetime calls and sh*t. I would send beats sometimes and I stumbled across that joint "F**k What They Tryna Say" again, so I sent it to him. He didn't have anything in his catalog like it at the time. He wrote to it in about 45 minutes maybe less and sent me voice notes of the verses he had. Just undeniable flame. Since he didn't have a studio to record in at the time, I arranged to shoot back to Jersey to handle some business and record his verses. We linked up at a Sheraton I was staying at in Weehawken NJ overlooking New York City. I set up my laptop and microphone, we had some "God-Talk" and we got to work. Needless to say this record "Fuck What They Tryna Say" is about to be 4 years old by the time you guys hear it. Timeless vibes. Around the time we recorded that song I was still dealing with the indelible aftermath of my own personal police misconduct situation. It's documented that US Police had already shot and killed 72+ unarmed black males from 2015-2017. The numbers continue to rise. The message in that song is powerful, heavy and very clear, Fuck what they tryna say. We're not naive to what's happening in our communities, but as you can see we still thrive anyway. So we dont give a f**k what yall talking about. Plain and simple. 

"The skeletons in the closet is rising, the truth is louder than ever they kill us and televise it..." "FWTTS" - Twondon (feat Josh.GLPA) 

These last few years have made me realize how important the artist-engineer and artist-producer relationship really is. We've gotten so good at separating our business and personal lives that when this guy hits my line and simply says, "Mr. Ross," my response is normaly "Mr. Gibbs?”, I know something is coming. Would you believe we've spent the last 7 years developing his sound to what you hear today? I've mixed and mastered over 30 songs, 3 albums and 3 EPs for Twondon thus far. So many email threads, text messages, phone calls and overtime to bring to life that Upperclass sound you know him for. “God Complex” is just a cornerstone of what we've been able to build together on this journey of ours. Songs like “199$” and “Trips Up North,” are the creative by-product of our extensive conversations about life, man-hood, spirituality and how we are limitless in our thinking and resilient in what we pursue. We are Gods in our own right. Like Ye said, "I just told you who I thought I was, a God". Just respect it. Hope you enjoy this masterpiece. More music on the way. It's Upperclass ̡ 

Written by Brandon "Plan B '85" Ross 1985 Music 

Stream/Buy God Complex NOW

http://smarturl.it/GODCOMPLEXPACK

[boogiewrites]

Reports & Repertoire 15

Characters: Eddie Brock x Venom x Candace Miller (OFC)

Word Count:  4700+

Summary:  Eddie and Candy both start to deal with the reality and the downsides to their success and the symbiote. Candy battles herself on feeling like she’s out of touch and not helping enough. She has to share some bad news with Eddie, but she follows it up with good news.

Warnings/Tags: Fluff. Minimal angst. Everyday life for these two. Language. Mentions of violence.

Click on my icon then go to Mobile Masterlist in my bio for my other works and chapters. (Had to do this since Tumblr killed links, sorry.)

Having finished a two-part episode for her show, Candy found herself with the rare few days off. Since she'd been so engrossed in her current project, new stories had been slipping her grasp as she'd been ignoring the acts of violence and focusing on her investigations for the shady business practices of the newly rich tech guys. The only thing more problematic than their umbrella companies was the even shadier nightlife patterns in the neighborhoods where the poor mixed with new gentrification.

 She was currently trying to catch up on messages and emails from her sources and friends in the mission and tenderloin, trying to see what areas looked like they could use some help.

She spent her night reading and researching, not a terrible use of her time as it was one of her favorite past times, but she would've rather been spending this night off with Eddie. He was currently finishing up a job and would be flying out on a red-eye back home. So she was spending her evening getting together all the violent crimes stats she could to pass them on to him.

They'd formed a relationship much like his and Venom's, where it was mutually beneficial and based on a strong foundation of killing people that deserved it. She gathered the information, as she was known to be excellent at and passed it on to Eddie. Sending him patterned locations of the worst sort of violent crimes. She focused mainly on ones that were committed against women and children on her own personal bias but she couldn't find it in herself to care.

As was their schedule, Candy would normally be wrapping up with her crew and having a drink at some bar near where they were shooting and Eddie would be out with the information she gave him and hunting. She could tell it made Eddie feel better about what he was doing, grateful for her help as he was good at intimidation and being a bit of a cowboy when it came to his work, but she was more precise and worked faster within legal means. Since his time was spent traveling and being slower at the writing bit, she took it upon herself to do the bad guy round up and let he and Venom handle the things that the law wouldn't. Eddie felt he had a purpose, even found himself thinking of himself as some sort of vigilante justice character head, a man for the people again. He'd wanted to be some sort of superhero growing up, do some sort of good in the world, and he was surprised and found contentment that he could help, actually make a difference as he saw it. He could interview all the serial killers or heartless CEO's he wanted but nothing felt as proactive as eating a pedophile whole.

So on this Friday night, Candy sits at home alone, watching true crime documentaries and folding laundry. Not exciting but a necessary action she'd been neglecting. Eddie is encapsulated inside his symbiote as he rips and tears through a gang in an abandoned warehouse. Eating his fill, swallowing men whole and leaving nothing to be found. They both go to bed alone, but share a goodnight text before falling asleep, both exhausted but fulfilled.

That next morning Candy decides it's been too long since she'd been to the shelter and volunteered. She gets up early and dressing down, being used to overthinking her outfits since being more in the public eye. She didn't want to be all over social media in people's selfies looking like she wasn't doing as well as she was. But it felt good to get back into her old trainers, holey jeans and an old habitat for humanity t-shirt that was faded from time and washings.

She's greeted more enthusiastically than usual. Some of the younger volunteers asking for pictures with her, but she was volunteering and it didn't matter what she looked like. To be honest, the skin care routine the makeup artist with the studio had suggested along with sending her for facials had left her feeling more confident without makeup than she ever had. It was comforting and problematic in its own ways, knowing that having money and access to these sorts of things was what made so-called celebrities look so good. But as she learned, rubbing elbows with people from all walks, everyone had their own ugliness deep down that no amount of gold fleck, young blood, or endangered snail facials could erase.

The people at the shelter treated her the same and it's what she wanted.  A little break to be treated like just another face and be around humans who didn't deny their struggles but rather wanted to share. She'd take this over a gala any day. She gladly took the shit talking from her old friends, jokingly asking for an autograph and she got to roll her eyes and laugh about the insanity of her importance.

As she settles into a far table, shifts changing and people moving in and out, she stays back, observing and having a soda. She sees an almost unrecognizable version of a woman who had given her information shuffle in. The woman sees Candy and begins to hobble towards her on sight.

"Who did it?" Candy says rising immediately and taking her by the hand, sitting her down before joining her on a couch.

The woman smiles, patting Candy's cheek. "I'm glad you're back." she says with a sigh.

Candy learns in her absence that violence has been rising again. The cops being mad and not patrolling as often due to her expose', unreported crime had been on the rise.  The usual drugs and fighting were always there, but groups of people not from the area were starting to come in looking for trouble. Candy takes out her notebook and gets all the information she can. Descriptions, locations, dates, times, and injuries for her notes. It felt good to be back in her place of origin and getting to be around people she knew. She'd been so invested in going higher up, taking down bigger people, interviewing strangers for their silhouetted, voice distorted words. Getting to help someone with no other motive than helping, no cameras, no paycheck involved felt right and she felt grounded. Candy told her friend she would do what she could, try to pass the information on to someone who could help. She just couldn't disclose that the person who could help would be eating the abusers.

She takes a shower, scrubbing away the dirt of helping clean the shelter, thinking about how she felt responsible for the uptick in problems. She wanted to do something to correct it. Something besides point Venom in the direction and have him attack. SHE wanted to do something. As she's brainstorming, hair piled on top of her head messily, chewing on the end of a pen, Eddie's voice startles her out of her train of thought.

"Thought we were keepin' work out of our days off?" he scolds playfully, hanging up his coat as she moves and closes her laptop that was sitting in her lap on the couch.

"I went to the shelter this morning to do some work." she takes a big stretch, lifting her arms over her head and groaning. "I've been distracted by it all afternoon." she yawns.

"You interested in some other kinds of distractions?" Eddie smiles and moves in to kiss her.

"Maybe." she chuckles against his lips.

"Maybe?" his voice goes high pitched and cracks. "Ya gonna have to do better than that Candy." he teases, face moving to her neck.

She laughs and hums happily as he moves her back to the couch as he snuggles down between her legs, nuzzling into her neck and giving her pecks to her face and chest. "Of course I am. But have you eaten yet?"

"What are you my mother?" he laughs, raising up to look down at her.

"Has he eaten today Venom?" you ask with a scolding tone.

"We have not." he says, a little blob of a head appearing over Eddie's shoulder.

"How do you think you're gonna fuck me well enough for me to keep you around if you aren't fueled up?" she laughs, kissing his cheek and wiggling out from under him and into the floor as he watches with his mouth open with fake disbelief.

"You hearin' this?" he asks Venom, flopping to his side and watching her. "The way she talks to us?" he says, watching her move to the kitchen.

"She has a point, Eddie." Venom says, looking at him, knowing she wasn't serious, but also seeing the facts in what she was saying.

"I can't win with both of you on the same side." he groans, getting up from the couch.

"Get in here and eat baby boy." she chirps and moves to take the leftovers out of the fridge.

"We not goin' out?" he asks, ruffling his hair with his hand.

"We are, but I have to get ready and you're going to get cranky if we go out on an empty stomach."

"This is true." Venom says. "You get very grumpy and I have to work harder to keep you stable. Eat."

"Geez you two. Fine." he says taking the cold container of pasta and shoving a fork full into his mouth.

"Good boys." she says kissing his sauce-stained cheek. "There are pills in the cabinet for you Venom. I'm gonna go get ready." she calls out.

"Yesssss." she hears him hiss, already stretching across the room as she walks towards her bedroom.

---------- Candy looks lovely, a dress and curled hair with boots as she and Eddie walk side by side down the street after a movie. They're on their way to dinner, wanting something quick to eat while they get a bigger order to go and then go home and be able to snuggle up. Being in public together was something that they both wanted but neither liked doing. They couldn't be affectionate as they didn't want anyone to know they were a couple and Candy was starting to get quite annoyed by it. When she'd heard "Oh my God are you two together? You're so cute!" after taking pictures with people who recognized them for the 8th time that night, she let out a frustrated sigh.

"What's wrong babe?" Eddie asks quietly, handing her her helmet.

"I'm just..." she rolls her eyes and sighs. "Just not in a great mood." she mumbles, taking her place behind him on the bike. "Let's just go home baby. I don't want to have to stop myself from holding your hand anymore. I'm tired." she wraps her arms around him, and feels Venom lace between her fingers. "Yeah, I 'm tired of hiding too." she sighs against Eddie's back.

Eddie can tell she's distracted and frustrated when she keeps chewing on her bottom lip while they watch a movie.

"You can just tell me what's wrong ya know?" he says out of nowhere and her eyes blink fast, coming back online.

"Just having a weird day." she sighs, nuzzling her face into his chest.

"That could mean a lotta things." he states with a sweet tone.

"I'm trying not to think about work. But I found out crime has spiked in the tenderloin because the cops are being pissy and not patrolling as much, possibly because of me and the expose' we did. Then some of the women I know have been assaulted and no ones helping. I got that info and I'm gonna pass it on to you so you guys can handle it. But I'm just frustrated because I want to help. Not hand everything off to you two."

"You are helpin'." Eddie states obviously.

"How? You two are going out and doing everything." she says with an attitude and Eddie knows she's only mad at herself.

"You're giving us the information. I couldn't know all this stuff if it wasn't for you. And I'd rather be out there than you. I worry about you when you're out there doin' filed work ya know."

"I know. But that's where I want to be. I miss doing things without cameras. Getting my hands dirty. I just want to feel like I'm anonymous and can get in there and work on the ground floor again. I've been in so many skyrise apartments and fucking overdone offices lately to interview assholes I'm afraid I'm going to lose touch."

"Oh now that's not true." Eddie says, rubbing her arm. "You're only one woman babe. You can't do everything. You know how many people you've helped since doin' the show? More than you ever coulda reached before."

"Yeah." she grumbles. "Doesn't mean I don't miss it though."

'She could come with us.' Venom says in Eddie's head.

"Absolutely not." Eddie answers out loud.

"Huh?" Candy looks up at him.

"Talkin' to Venom." he mutters.

"What's he saying?" she asks curiously.

"No, don't-" Eddie begins before being interrupted.

"You should come with us. We can protect you."

"Really?" her eyes flash brightly.

"No, no. I don't want her involved in this." Eddie says.

"Look at her. She wants to. She is unhappy." Venom coos.

"You can't just go givin' her what she wants just cause she's unhappy. She'll be a lot more unhappy and so will we if she's dead."

"That's what I do to you." she pouts. "And couldn't you guys protect me?" she says with a higher pitched voice.

"We could. We do not have to do anything dangerous." he says aloud. 'Take her out with us, we do not have to hunt. Let her feel useful. It is important to her.' he says to Eddie in his head.

"Yeah, we can just check out some places or something. Or you could be my bodyguard's, I could be bait."

"No bait." they both answer and she sighs.

"Fine." she frowns.

"You should think of other ways to be helpful though. Comin' with us isn't something you should get used to. It makes me nervous." Eddie shakes hs head, his brow low.

"But is that a yes?" she smiles.

"Okay. We'll take you out. But we aren't going to go looking for trouble, alright?" he says with raised brows, trying to show her he was serious.

"Deal." she says with a smile, snuggling back into him.

'Awwww. See? Look how happy she is.' Venom says quietly in Eddie's head, reaching a tendril out to lovingly pet on Candy's hip. She takes it and holds it as it forms into a hand.

Eddie nods and sighs, giving her a kiss on the head, thinking about how he really didn't want her to get hurt because of him.

------ "Any other ideas in miscellaneous?" Candy's producer asks the room full of the Report's crew.

"Have you seen this crazy shit?" one of her interns says, tossing a printed out photo across the table to her. "Somebody got a picture of this crazy looking thing. It's blurry as shit and dark but it's been exposed and brighten. What the hell is that thing?" he says with a look of amusement.

Candy takes the picture and tries to not show her fear. Someone had gotten a picture of Venom, crawling up the side of building. It was dark and blurry, but she knew her alien boyfriend when she saw him. "What's uh... what is this?"

"The cryptozoology boards are lit the fuck up over it. Calling some San Francisco crawler. The OP said they saw it lurking around rooftops and they got this shot. Apparently, the thing is fuckin' HUGE and fast."

"You sure it's not just photoshopped?" she says convincingly enough.

"It's damn good photoshop if it is." he shrugs.

"Where'd you find this?" she asks, putting the paper back down on the table.

"On the San Francisco boards. Some monster hunters were flipping their shit over it. Trying to come up with theories about it. Saw it down in the mission apparently. Tying it in with the spike in missing persons from there possibly. "

"Yeah most of those people are a bit... imaginative." she says with heavy condescending in her voice.

"I thought it's something you might be able to have fun with. No one's really talking about it yet. Thought you might want in on the ground floor." he shrugs, putting the picture back in his folder.

"I do news. People, places, events. I don't do cryptozoology crap like that. What am I going to do go stand in a dark alley and wait?" she says sarcastically and a murmur of chuckles and agreement come from the others. "That sort've thing is below us. Cool to talk about on some monster board but I don't want to cover things that are possibly fake and only speculation. Thanks for thinking outside the box though." she shrugs and tries to pull back not make the kid feel bad. It wasn't his fault her boyfriend's powers had been possibly exposed.

"And any other new ideas?" her producers asks again, she'd been waiting to share something when there was a lull in the talking.

"Yeah." Candy nods, tapping her pen on her notepad, trying to shed the worry and focus. "I thought maybe we should try to connect with the city more. Give back, give some good PR for us and the network. I think this show would be a great place to do something like that."

"What do you mean?" she's asked.

"Do spotlights on places that help people out. Show us donating money and time and we can give out information on their causes and tell people how to donate to them. It'll be a story by focusing on a particular struggle on the ground level, the people that don't normally get any credit. It'll be easy, fast and cheap to shoot. The money saved can go towards a donation."

"That's... a great PR idea." she responds, scribbling down on her notepad. "I think this would be a good way to balance out the budget. Get more social media involvement, show that we are a part of the community like you said." she nods in thought.

"It would also give us more downtime to work on bigger things and not give us 7 day work weeks." Candy offers.

"Also that. A day or two of shooting, a press release, quick press conference. Some talking heads and narration." she nods. "Would be a hell of a lot easier on logistics."

"My thoughts exactly." she smiles proudly.

"Alright. Well, I have another meeting coming up, so anything else?"

"Yeah one more thing but, I'd like to speak to you privately if that's okay."

A murmur of yes's from the crew around her who are already packing up their things.

"Fine with me." she says, putting away her things, Candy moves to sit on the table top next to her.

"Is it bad news?" she asks first.

"No." she laughs and shakes her head. "But I needed you to run something by the higher-ups or, HR or whoever needs to be told about this." she shrugs.

"Oh God did someone harass you? Shit."

"No! No." she moves her hands back and forth with another friendly smile. "I've just been seeing someone and I'd like to be able to go public with it."

"Oh!" she says with a big nod and the clear sign of relief in her shoulders. "Who's the lucky guy?" she asks with a much more perky disposition.

"Eddie Brock." she says with a nervous chuckle.

"Ahhhh." She nods. "I see why you're asking now. Wasn't in your contract to have to ask these sorts of things."

"Yeah, I know. People see us out and we have to be careful not to get too close and everything. And we're pretty serious, so I'd like to be able to go out on a date with my boyfriend ya know? But since we're both employees and this used to be his show..." she frowns.

"No, I get it. I do. It was smart of you to have me check first. I appreciate it."

"So just...text me or email me when you know something? I'd love to be able to have a real date night and not pretend like we're just friends when people ask us for selfies and tell us how cute we are together." she smiles and walks towards the door.

"If I have time I'll swing by and ask today. I don't think they'll have a problem with it, since you two have your own successful things going on now but I'll let you know when I know, kay?"

"Thank you. I mean it." she says sincerely with a wave goodbye.

----------

It's date night and Candy has both good and bad news on her mind. She's sitting across from Eddie who is eating cheese fries and rather messily. She sighs for what could've been the hundredth time that night.

'Ask her what is wrong?' Venom suggests

"Mmmph?" Eddie makes a sound, but Candy just thinks he's enthusiastic about his fries as she chomps away at her fried pickles. Something Eddie made fun of her for, telling her he didn't know he was dating a hillbilly. She took it in stride and told him to shut his city ass up.

'Something is wrong. Stop stuffing your face with this artery-clogging food and pay attention.' he snaps at him.

Eddie wipes the cheese from his face, taking a moment to look her over, her eyes were far away but her mouth was set in a pleasant smile. "Somethin' wrong?" he asks, pushing the fries away.

"Maybe."

"Well can you maybe tell us?" he says playfully.

"There are pictures of you." her lips move to a straight line and she meets his eyes. She hadn't wanted to ruin the night with this but she obviously wasn't hiding anything from them.

"Pictures?" he says with the push back of his chin, his eyebrows lowering in question.

"Of Venom." she says quietly.

Eddie's eyes go wide. "What?"

"In the meeting this week for brainstorming one of the interns found a, albeit really poor quality, photo of you crawling up the side of a building in the mission. " she says with no inflection, clearly she'd been dreading sharing this news.

"Oh." he says with wide eyes that darted around the table.

"Yeah. You're gonna have to figure something out. Maybe lay low for a bit. The crypto people have ahold of it and have already linking it to disappearances in the area."

"Whatta ya mean linked?"

"With their theories."

"So nothing concrete?" the relief in his voice is obvious.

"It's a blurry picture of a humanoid creature...so it's all theories." she shakes her head. "No one in the meeting seemed to take it seriously and I shot it down as internet fodder that wasn't worthy of our time. BUT the missing people have been noticed. Which means you need to switch up your locations or try to make it on chocolate and pills for a bit until the interest passes."

"He's not happy about that." Eddie frowns.

"About which part?"

"The chocolate and pills part."

"Of course." she rolls her eyes. "He should be more concerned about being seen and found out. That's a whole world of trouble that none of us want. We have a nice little set up between the three of us. We don't need outside involvement to come for our careers or our personal lives." she whispers, her face more sad than annoyed now.

"She's got a point, man. You need to keep your priorities in line here. We've done it before we can do it again." he shakes his head.

"I'll even order more pills. Get some chocolate wholesale or something. I won't let you waste away. You know that." she reaches out and takes his hand in hers and the affectionate touch in public surprises them both. She'd been scolding them so long for trying to touch her when they were out that this was a more meaningful touch than what it would seem on the surface.

"We're a team alright? I'll do everything I can to keep the noise down from my end. I'll keep you both running as best as I can. And you can lay low for me okay? We'll just spend Friday nights together when we can instead of you out hunting."

"That's something we can both agree one." he smiles and rubs his thumb across the back of her hand. "More time together would be nice." his soft smiles warms her, makes her feel like everything will be okay.

"It would." she squeezes his hand and looks down at it. "And I've got some other news. Some good news." she says with a tilt of her head. "I'd just been so worried about ruining the night with mentioning the pictures that it just..." she motions to her head. "Took over my brain. So... sorry. Ive not meant to be distant."

"S'okay." he squeezes her hand back, surprised she's still holding it. "You got good news though? Let's focus on the good news." he suggests.

"We can do that." she nods and gives him a warm smile back that makes Venom purr. "You done with those fries babe?" she laughs. "I'll tell you the good news on the way." she offers with a hum of happiness.

"Yeah, wait." he says, taking his finger and getting the rest of the cheese after stuffing the remaining fries in his mouth. "Ready." he mumbles out with stuffed cheeks and she cant help but laugh at him.

"C'mon you slopapotamus." she snorts.

She holds his hand on the way to the movie theatre as they walk together. He doesn't dare mention it because it's making them both giddy with pride. They were getting to show she was theirs and that was extremely important to Venom and Eddie just wanted to be able to show her he liked her through touch. They get to the line and she's recognized.

"Oh my god can I get a selfie?" the girl says excitedly.

"Of course." Candy says, leaning in and smiling.

"Holy shit you're Eddie Brock, right?" the girl asks. Looking up at him.

"That'd be me." he says with a charming smile.

"Can I get a picture with you too?" she asks with wide eyed.

"Yeah." he says politely.

"Oh my god wait. Are you two like on a date or something I totally just interrupted. Shit, I'm sorry." she says her face flushing with embarrassment.

"Yeah we were but it's fine." Candy laughs, moving and putting her arm around Eddie's back and he tries to hide how much Venom is freaking out in his head and how equally shocked he was on the inside. "Have a good night." she says sweetly, moving up in the line.

"What?" Eddie's eyes dart around. "What was that?" his voice breaks.

"The good news." she says, moving to put her arms around him under his jacket.

"Oh?" his high pitched voice of shock makes her sigh at his bewildered, adorable face.

"I asked if we could go public about our relationship." she says quietly, her chin tilting up towards him.

"And they said yes?" he says with excited eyes.

"They did." she purrs back.

"Oh shit." he lets out a giggle, wrapping his arms around her. "They did?"

"Uh huh." she nods. "So are you gonna give your girlfriend a kiss or what Eddie?" she teases.

"Of fuckin' course I am." he mutters, already leaning against her lips.

"You think we can even get a bit saucy and holds hands during the movie? Might even let you put your arm around me." she winks and laughs.

"If you don't mind my butter fingers from the popcorn." he laughs.

"You know I never mind your fingers when they're slippery Eddie." she coos and gives him a suggestive look as she pulls away, tugging at his hand.

"Oh!" he giggles again and follows behind her like a happy puppy to the ticket stand.

@hardygal69 @marvelgirl7 @emerald-bijou @negansdirtygirl22 @brianaisasongbird @vale0413 @izzy-the-ginger @chortletortoise @onomatopoetic-aesthetic @anrm1 @jademox @nightcraver @venomous-possibiities @tinastarkandco @chipster-21 @ugly-crying-over-bucky-barnes @queenof-wakanda

[optomstudies]

Hello, it’s optomstudies here with a multi-part masterpost with study tips to make you fluent in any language! These will work at any level, whether you’re just starting out or are an advanced learner!

do you have any tips for language learning (especially for an advanced learner?) i've been reading about mind maps and study journals but i have no idea how to apply that to learning german!

EXPANDING YOUR VOCABULARY

Learn synonyms of words you already know. This is the key to native proficiency. The difference between a native speaker and a proficient speaker is that they have multiple handles for any sentence. Like in English, there are multiple adjectives which can be used for a particular situation, however when we learn languages, it’s often just the one word that we learn because that’s what the textbook gives you.   

Use a thesaurus and write down synonyms and the connotation/ nuance that particular word has. I cannot stress this enough. This is a great way for you to utilise mind maps!! For example, old is different to mature, is different to archaic, is different to senior. You can write something like:

Old

Mature - no longer young, bildungsroman, coming of age

Archaic - historical, longer time period implied vs. old

Senior - higher in level, polite reference to old people. 

As you can see, the notes on the connotations should be your own words / understanding of the terminology. It’s best if you can verify or get a native speaker to discuss and explain to you the nuances since they understand it best, prior to making these notes.   

Invest in a good dictionary. In the beginning, you’ll want a Language--English dictionary that’s reliable. You should purchase a physical dictionary if possible, because these have been quite extensively edited prior to publishing. Web dictionaries translated to English are sometimes subject to mistakes and may be missing nuances. Once you get good enough, use an actual Language-Language dictionary i.e. a German dictionary written for Germans. That’s the same way we learn new words in English. At this point, using a web dictionary would be fine e.g. Naver Dictionary for Korean.   

One good website for learning new vocab is FreeRice! I used to learn a lot of English words from here when I was in high school and trying to expand my vocabulary. You can use this as a fun thesaurus and look up the nuances. There’s German, Spanish, French, Italian and Latin. Plus, every word you get right they donate 10 grains of rice!   

Write down a list of areas you don’t know. A lot of times, once you get past the intermediate level of language learning, there’s less structure unless you take a higher level education course. So you need to make some sort of structure for yourself if you want to master the language at a native/professional proficiency. You can use this as the “index” (like in a bujo) to your study journal.   

Many times, people don’t remember to look at subject-related/professional terminology because they don’t think they’ll need to know something so esoteric. But you forget that even native speakers will know some basic technical terms in every subject. For example, in the health science field, it’s common for patients to know words like arthritis, hypertension, astigmatism, carpal tunnel syndrome, because even though these are the technical medical terms, they are quite common conditions. 

Reading and Writing Skills: Part 2 (Link) Speaking and Listening Skills: Part 3 (Link)

MY STUDY TIPS AND LANGBLR POSTS

How to Format Language Study Notes

BTS: 봄날 (Spring Day), Outro: Wings, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Not Today, Run

SM Entertainment: Rookie - Red Velvet,  I Got Love - Taeyeon

Requests: 예뻤어 (You Were Beautiful) - Day6, A Lie - B1A4, Don’t Recall - K.A.R.D

Other Artists: Rain - Soyou x Baekhyun, TT - Twice

My study tips directory (web only) for the full list (over 60+ original posts/guides!)

NEWEST STUDY TIPS

20/11 Advice: Art School vs. College 🎨 19/11 Exam Study Tips 💯 15/11 Digital Organisation System 💻 14/11 Library Adventures! 📚 11/11 Budgeting for Students 🏦 10/11 How to Deal with Leeches 🐛 08/11 Extra-Curriculars Tips 🤹 07/11 More Handwriting Tips ✍️ 07/11 APUSH Masterpost 🤠 06/11 Memorising Tips 💭 06/11 How Your ATAR is Calculated Infographic 💯 04/11 Reading a Scientific Journal Article 📜 02/11 Tips: Tackling Assignments while Sick 🤒 30/10 Tips for Writing Faster 🖊️ 29/10 Self Study Tips 📔 26/10 Staying Productive No Matter How Much Time You Have 🕖 23/10 Studying When You’re Sick 😷 22/10 Interview Tips 👔 20/10 Studying with the Cornell Method 📝 18/10 High School vs. University 🏫 18/10 Chasing Dreams 💫 or Income 💸 17/10 Public Speaking Tips 🎤 17/10 Studying In Noisy Places

UNIVERSITY STUDY TIPS SERIES

Part 0 Choosing a Degree - what’s right for you? popular!!

> Things to Consider Before Switching Degrees!

> Changing Degrees

Part 1 Administration - choosing majors, available services, choosing class times etc.

Part 2 Getting to Class - pros and cons of attending class, when you should choose not to attend, advice about choosing a backpack and other essential equipment.

> Laptop Considerations and Recommendations

Part 3 Studying - differences between high school and uni, basic tips on how to keep on track, class types like lectures, tutorials, etc.

Part 4 Extra-Curriculars - what clubs to join, what to do outside class, and other great things to discover around campus.

Part 5 Exams - everything to know about examiners, how to prepare, what happens during the whole examination process.

Part 6 Social Life - differences between high school and university, some hard learnt lessons, etc.

Part 7 Part Time Work

Part 8 Four Secrets The Uni Tells You

Part 9 Best Study Spots On Campus

Part 10 Saving Money 1 - Food, Transport, Entertainment

Part 10 Saving Money 2 - Textbooks, Tax, Scholarships

Part 11 Adapting to Uni Study - 3 big differences from studying in high school popular!!

Part 12 How to Study From Textbooks in Uni

Dealing with Lazy Group Members - five options for what to do and how to do it! popular!!

OTHER POPULAR POSTS

Weekly Planner Printable with Extra Space for Sat/Sun  popular!!

Overcoming the Planning Fallacy

Study Spaces Masterpost

Studying and your Visual System

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My 2017 Planner and Bullet Journal  popular!!

[blissfulbathroom]

How To Make $1000 A Week Online Resting On Your Couch

You'll learn how to make $1000 a week online in this post. We'll look at ten approaches to achieving your objective, no matter your skill level.

For many people, earning $1000 per week by working online is the first step toward financial independence and financial freedom. It's amazing that there are things you can do online to make $1000 of money. From anywhere in the globe this is something that a lot of people are interested in for obvious reasons.

Whatever your motivation for wanting to make this kind of money, I will tell you that it will take a lot of effort to achieve this level of success. As a result, many people don't think you can earn $1,000 per week working online, but that's only because they didn't put in the effort to make it happen.

I'm here to tell you that it is very much feasible than it was before, with so many more options opening up!

If that's the case, let's get started. Here are ten different ways to earn $1000 a week online.

How to earn $1000 per week online even if you have no prior experience

To begin, let's have a look at the greatest methods to earn $1000 online without any prior expertise. These money-making ideas are ideal for anybody seeking to establish a side hustle as a way to break free from their day job or supplement their income on weekends.

Many of them are enjoyable ways to supplement or replace a full-time income, so figure out what you love doing and get started. To get started, all you actually need is a laptop or PC.

1. Blogging

The amount of things you can do with a blog is staggering. As a side business, you may establish a blog to complement your present income. You may leave your day job by using your blog to generate a full-time income. Your blog may be utilized to create free traffic to your services or goods if you are already self-employed.

A blog may be utilized to contact your target audience for free, every day, whether you run a company of any size. You may also use a blog to just express yourself or to improve your writing skills.

A blog is used for many purposes like earning $1,000 a week online. Blogging has a low entry barrier since you don't need any prior expertise to get started, and a professional site can be had for as little as $2.95 a month.

There are many methods to make $1,000 each week with your blog, including:

Ads

Affiliate marketing

Coaching

Patreon

Products

eBooks

Sponsored

Affiliate marketing is my preferred technique since there is almost little risk and a very big return, as many excellent affiliate goods give a large proportion of the price (some as high as 50 percent ).

This means you can focus on expanding your site and earning more revenue instead of spending time creating a product or a course.

2. YouTube

YouTube may be a fantastic method to make over $1000 per week online if you like creating videos or believe you would enjoy making videos. The beauty of YouTube is that you can get started right away using the gadget you already have in your pocket: your smartphone.

Most contemporary smartphones have such high-quality cameras that it may be difficult to tell them apart from more costly mirrorless cameras.

Regardless of the kind of video you want to create to get started is simple. You don't need any prior experience. You don't need to know anything about YouTube optimization, monetization, or video creation to get started; you can learn all of that as you go.

3. Virtual Assistant

A virtual assistant is a person who helps you with small-to-medium-difficulty chores via the internet. In most cases, you won't need any prior administrative expertise since you'll be given specific instructions from the customer on what needs to be done.

These activities don't need any decision-making, so they're simple to do, but they do take time, which is why companies and entrepreneurs often outsource them.

General assistant duties such as arranging appointments, making travel plans, responding and forwarding emails, maintaining an appointment calendar, data entry, and so on are examples of these jobs.

Some virtual assistants specialize in a particular field and can provide services such as social media management, graphic design, and even accounting.

Virtual assistants may earn anything from $20 to $40 per hour, and the majority of those who make more than $1000 per week handle several customers.

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4. Voice Artist

Do you have a radio-ready voice? Or do you have a distinctive ring to your voice? You may use your voice to make over $1000 each week online as a voice artist.

Many businesses all around the globe need voice artists, and by having a distinguishing element, you may stand out from the crowd and earn a lot of money by utilizing the sound of your voice.

As a voice artist, you read from a screenplay written by the customer in your own distinctive manner (whilst adjusting to whatever needs the client may have). This implies you won't need any prior experience since you'll be able to learn on the job and increase your prices as your demand grows.

Companies need their advertisements tailored to particular demographics in today's digital environment, and employing voice artists with that dialect/accent makes them more relatable to the listener, boosting conversions and making you as a voice artist extremely valuable.

5. Podcasting

Podcasting is a relatively young medium compared to blogging and YouTube, but it has exploded in popularity, with some producers earning over $1000 per week from their podcast.

Like the last two instances, podcasting requires little to no prior expertise to get started, yet if you have a following, you may earn a substantial amount of money.

Because podcasts are still relatively new, guests you wouldn't be able to get on your YouTube channel or interview in a blog post may be more eager to come on your podcast for a few minutes if your themes match and you ask some excellent questions.

This may increase the number of listeners, who may be listening while working in the garden or taking a stroll, which is something you can't do while viewing a YouTube video or reading an article.

The following are some methods to make over $1000 per week with your podcast:

Sponsorships

Audiobooks

Affiliate marketing

Coaching

Products and services

Donations/crowdsourcing

6. Digital Marketing

A digital marketing consultant may be many things, and depending on the services they offer and the value they provide to their customers, they can make much more than $1000 each week.

A digital marketing consultant, on the other hand, maybe looked at as an executive virtual assistant while you're just starting out.

As a digital marketing consultant, your role is to address your customers' digital issues. This may be highly specific, such as SEO consulting, where you evaluate the client's website and provide ways to enhance their SEO performance.

It may also be a jack-of-all-trades service where you evaluate digital performance across all channels and provide solutions to accomplish whatever objective you and the customer decided on.

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7. Dropshipping

You don't need much or any experience to get started with Dropshipping, but any kind of knowledge or skill will be very helpful to your Dropshipping business's success.

Dropshipping allows you to sell goods on your website without having to ship them yourself. When a client places an order for a product, the manufacturer (or warehouse) delivers it straight to them.

Because you only pay for goods that have already been ordered, you save money upfront. In contrast to a normal internet store, the disadvantage is that your profit margins are often considerably lower since you cannot take advantage of a discount because you are buying in bulk.

8. Writing as a Freelancer

Unlike blogging, when you work as a freelance writer, you are paid for the words you produce, therefore the companies and customers you deal with will often want to see some of your past work. This is why I put it in the "requires some experience" category.

Freelance writers may be paid by the word, by the article, by the project, or by a monthly or weekly retainer. You may earn upwards of $500

every 1000-2000 word piece after you've established yourself as a reputable freelance writer, which means you can easily make over $1000 each week simply writing.

There are many freelance writing sites and Facebook groups, but Upwork is one of the most straightforward methods to get started and create a portfolio of work. Once you have several articles to use as a reference, you may pitch big businesses in comparable areas with your services and discover consistent, recurring, and well-paying streams of revenue.

9. Affiliate Marketing

I stated that affiliate marketing and blogging go hand in hand, but you may also start affiliate marketing without a blog or create a blog purely for the purpose of earning affiliate commissions.

Finding excellent goods that address a need and then promoting them in a genuine manner across the channels where the audience that needs it the most is located is the key to becoming a successful affiliate marketer. A baking equipment review site, for example, maybe most suited to being on YouTube. This is because baking equipment, such as mixers and cake airbrush tools, are items that you want to see the outcomes of “live,” which makes them ideal for a video search engine like YouTube.

Affiliate marketing is a kind of marketing in which you Because the main aim of YouTube channels, blogs, and Pinterest accounts are conversions, visitors and viewers are typically more ready to make a buy, as you often search for a review or comparison when you're already in the market to make a purchase.

When compared to a traditional blog or YouTube channel, where you have many streams of revenue and the main goal is to offer value to your audience, visitors may not be as willing to buy (although this is not always the case, as you can also do reviews, comparisons, etc. on a regular blog).

10. Stock photography

If you like photography and have a high-resolution camera or a hard drive full of high-quality photos, you may be able to get money from them by signing up for a stock photography website.

These websites are searching for a variety of stock photography and will pay a decent price if you have the appropriate photographs or a big collection of high-quality images.

Shutterstock, Alamy, Adobe Stock, and other similar websites are excellent locations to start selling stock photos.

[namjoonsteeth]

Ruin The Friendship (part IX)

Title: Ruin The Friendship (mini-series) Part 9

Word-Count: 6.5k

Pairing: Jay Park/ Reader (kinda)

Summary: Best friends to lovers. Inspired by Ruin The Friendship - Demi Lovato.

Genre: Smutty Fluff

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8

It’s been a month since I’ve actually gotten to see Jay. A few days since we’d had an actual conversation last more than twenty minutes. For the last couple of nights, he’s been falling asleep almost as soon as he saw my face through Skype. As weird as it sounds, I’ve grown to anticipate falling asleep to the cute sounds he makes when he sleeps.

Every time I think I might get a weekend off, something comes up. It would be easy to just say no or pass it on to Bora but I can’t do that.

For what seems like the hundredth time this week, I’m scrolling through possible flights to the States with my planner in my lap. Junior jumps down from the headboard beside me as if he knows I’m going through some internal struggle.

“Next weekend, no matter what,” I say out loud to no one. The apartment seems completely empty lately, hallow almost. The first couple of days were hard, naturally. I’d roll over and the bed would be cold, or I’d wake up in the middle of the night needing Jay’s body against mine with no relief. It’s not like I can just call him when I’m needy, the time differences as he moves from city to city makes sure of that.

Junior climbs up on my laptop and lays down as if he knows I’m doing something Jay related. In his defense, he didn’t get to spend nearly enough time with him.

I reach out to grab him so I can shut my laptop and set it on the table beside me. My phone rings frightening Junior a little but he relaxes in Jay’s spot almost immediately.

“Hi,” I yawn as I slide beneath the duvet.

“Do you want me to call you later?”

Jay has been worried I’m not getting enough sleep again. Honestly, he’s not wrong. My schedule is once again thrown off with trying to keep up with time zones. I’ve been staying up later and later just to talk to my boyfriend, and in the morning I get up early so I can talk to him before he goes on stage. We’ve made up our own unspoken schedule that has been working for us. Still, he’s worried. I’m worried. It’s been a month. The three of us have long become restless.

“No, talk to me before I fall asleep,” I tell him. I reach out running my hand over Junior and close my eyes. “Can you FaceTime me?”

“Yeah, hold on baby,” I wait, pulling the duvet up to my chin.

His goofy smiling face fills my phone and I feel my heart ache just a little bit more. I rub my thumb over the screen, touching the compass, my compass.

He pushes his hair back out of his eyes and puts a hat back in place. He looks so happy, not at all the exhaustion I’d seen the first week of the tour. Then, I barely got more than a five-minute conversation before he passed out.

“How are you still so pretty so late at night,” he groans playfully.

I roll my eyes and prop the phone on his pillow so I can pull my arms beneath the sheets as well.

“What did you do today?” I ask him.

I watch him run his tongue over the corner of his lips before he starts telling me about his day so far. Interviews seem to be taking up most of his time. It’s a good thing, I guess. It’s exposure, exactly what a newly signed artist wants. I want it for him. He deserves for everyone to know his name.

“How are the shows?”

“Good,” he smiles. “They’re a little bigger but it’s still pretty intimate,”

There’s a pause in conversation as my eyes close. I don’t realize I’m drifting off to sleep until I hear what sounds like a shutter of a camera. I crack one eye open to see a guilty smile on my boyfriend’s face.

“Did you just take a picture of me?”

His smile widens. “You look calm for once in your life. Let me keep this moment,”

I laugh and shut my eyes again. “I miss your annoying ass,”

“I miss you too, baby. Call me when you get up,”

“Ok,” I promise.

Waking up to go to the office is harder than usual. I stay in bed an extra twenty minutes with Junior. When I can’t afford any more time, I grudgingly get up and get ready.

Bora is already at her desk when I get in. She shoots me one of her her ‘I know you’ve been up all night’ looks before stretching her hand out towards me.

“Good morning, sunshine. You look like a breath of fresh air,” she jokes.

I’ve done the bare minimum this morning; not bothering with my hair or makeup. I’m also wearing all black sweats.

“Thank you,” I sigh.

I take the outstretched cup from Bora and head to my desk. I set Junior down and he slinks over to Bora and snuggles under the blanket that’s on her lap and touches the floor. I swear that cat likes everyone more than me.

“We have to finalize the looks for the shoot you have next Wednesday, I already updated your portfolio for you, you’re welcome, the new stuff that Jay wanted came in, and he sent us a copy of the AOMG and H1ghrmusic promotions that are coming up in about a month and a half,” she finishes with a sip of her own coffee.

“Those shoots usually have their own stylists. What do we need to be there for?”

“You know how those guys are. They’re so picky about fashion. They want someone there to make sure everything is how they like it,”

I roll my eyes and make a mental note to tell my boyfriend that he’s become way too high maintenance. Still, I add everything to my schedule.

“That reminds me that we have to decide what we’re doing for the hip-hop awards. Three guys from AOMG are nominated, two from H1gher and that’s not including Jay. So we have to fit in six clients between now and December. Whether we want to pick up anyone else has to be decided this week,” I say.

Bora sighs and pulls her bottom lip between her teeth as she flips through her planner.

“I don’t know, Y/n. We’re already running this close. I say we’re done. We haven’t even met with the guys from h1ghermusic before to know what they’ll like,”

I shrug and make a note to decline any artists that emailed about us helping them with the award show. If there were more than two of us, we’d be able to handle it, but we’re barely managing as much traffic as it is now.

“Do you think we should hire another person?” I ask Bora.

She uses her pink pen to scratch at her scalp before taking a long sip of her coffee. I take the opportunity to elaborate.

“I just feel like we’ve been turning down a lot of people because we’ve been too busy. Maybe if we had another person we wouldn’t be spread so thin,”

“Honestly? I’m all for it, Y/n. You’ll be able to be with Jay more, Jin and I can finally get engaged and plan our wedding, I feel like we’re living our lives in this office,”

“I agree,” I say easily.

“Can we afford it?”

“We definitely can. I’ve been looking at our expenses and such which really isn’t that much, we’ll be ok,”

Bora smiles widely at me. “Great!”

“I was also wondering something else,” I say suddenly feeling nervous.

Her eyebrow pulls up.

“I was thinking, maybe you shouldn’t be my assistant anymore. You do as much work as I do if not more,”

Bora frowns. “What are you saying,”

“Let’s be business partners. You deserve to own half of this company,”

“You’re kidding right?”

I shake my head, waiting for her to give me an answer. She could say no. I wouldn’t fault her. There’s a lot of free time that goes into running a company even a small one like ours. But she’s been doing it.

“We have to go out to celebrate tonight,” she exclaims with a big smile.

I smile back at her. “So that’s a yes?”

“It’s a hell yes, Y/n. Thank you!” She comes over to my desk and wraps her arms around me from behind. I reach up and hug her back.

We do end up going out. We go to a small bar after work with Chae and her husband along with Jin. I can’t help but feel a little like the fifth wheel. Watching both couples move around each other, trade small glances that they think no one sees, I miss Jay even more.

“Not to ruin the mood,” Chae says, “but Elise keeps asking if she can talk to us,”

“No,”

“No,” Bora and I say the same time.

“I agree,” Chae says. “She says that she wants to settle with Haute magazine and can’t do it unless Y/n sides with her. I think they’re really getting her for a lot, and since it’s American court there’s also defamation charges that can be brought against her,”

I nod. “They’ve been in contact. I told them to do what they have to do. I can’t fly over though. They said they’ll get as much as they can done without me and try to avoid a subpoena,”

“Holy shit,” Bora smiles.

“Have you guys been getting any other press offers?” Chae asks.

“Yeah,” Bora says. She scrunches up her face a little. “It weird to have people ask about my opinion on celebrity fashion,”

“Get used to it. You’re the Co-CEO of a company now,” I say.

The five of us push our glasses together and take a shot to celebrate Bora.

The night ends pretty early for me. Everyone else heads over to the club for dancing but I’m not really up to it.

When I get in around nine, I send Jay a text letting him know I’ll talk to him when he gets up and go  shower.

When I get out, I see a message from him telling me to call when I can. I press his number and put the call on speaker phone so I can get dressed for bed.

“Hello?”

“Why are you up so early?” I ask him. It’s almost five in the morning where he is.

“You never called, then I went out to some club that everyone wanted to go to, and then I couldn’t sleep because you weren’t home yet,”

“Shit, I’m sorry, I had a pretty rough start this morning,” I explain while pulling a T-shirt over my head. “Did you at least have fun at the club?”

He yawns. “Not really. It was ok, I guess,”

“What’s up with you?” I ask him. It’s very unusual for him not to have a good time going out.

“I miss you,” he sighs. “I want to come home, and I’m exhausted,”

“Well, go to sleep, Jay. I’m fine you need to sleep before you burn out,”

“I will, I will,” he insists. “I just need something. I don’t know what it is but I just need to hear you,”

I climb into our big empty bed and grab his pillow to wrap my arms around like every other night.

“Tell me about your day,” I say.

“I don’t want to talk about work, Y/n,”

“Well, what do you want to talk about then at five o’clock in the morning-,”

“Where’s Junior?”

I roll my eyes. “Your cat is sleeping soundly in his bed in the living room,”

“Good,” he says. There’s something in his voice that wasn’t there before. “Take your panties off,” he whispers.

I feel my pulse pick up at how deep his voice sounds. I can’t say anything, his words had my own voice caught in my throat.

“I want to hear you come, Y/n. It’s been too long. Is that ok?”

“Yes,” I whisper while easing my underwear off of my hips.

“Touch yourself,”

His voice is so quiet but it still feels like he’s right next to me. I feel a shiver work its way down my spine. I imagine him guiding my hand with his own as I do what he says.

My fingers feel too cold to be mistaken for his. My body can’t be fooled no matter how good his voice sounds in my ear.

“Small circles,” he instructs gently. “Don’t go too fast, I don’t want you to come yet,”

I move my fingers over myself slowly. A small sigh escapes my lips.

“What are you thinking about, baby? I want to hear it,”

*His mouth.*

“Your mouth on me,” I say a little breathless. I feel my heartbeat start to pick up, climbing until I can hear the thumping in my ears.

Jay laughs lightly. He pulls in a sharp breath suddenly. “I miss tasting you, too, sinking my teeth into that part of your hip and your thigh. Can you feel me there right now?” He asks.

I do.

I feel his mouth moving against me, never staying in one area for too long. I feel his teeth scraping across my skin, his tongue soothing away any sting.

“Make yourself come for me, Y/n. I want to hear it,”

I do as I’m told, once again. Touching myself while imagining Jay being home. My fingers tease my body like it’s him entering me slowly.

I focus on his harsh breathing and I’m sure he’s touching himself too like I’m there with him. He moans causing me to squeeze my legs shut. He’s not near to keep them open for him. I take a breath and open them myself, focusing on him, on the sounds he makes in my ear.

“Baby,” he says it so softly that it echoes in my bones. *Baby*. He could destroy my whole world and rebuild it with those two syllables alone. Right now, though, he’s making me come.

“Fuck,” I curse as my body starts to react to him. My legs quiver while I pull at the sheets.

“I bet you look so pretty, right now, Y/n,” his quiet voice brings me down until all that’s left is goosebumps on my skin that he usually soothes away.

“Go to sleep,” he says quietly. “I love you,”

Then he’s gone.

Only, I can’t sleep. I make a list of all the reasons why booking a ticket to America is the last thing I should do right now.

It’s the middle of the week

There’s too much to do

I can’t interrupt his work

There’s not enough time

He’s busy

I’m busy

He’ll be home in a few weeks

“Damnit!” I groan while pulling the pillow on top of my face. I’m weak. So fucking weak. I sit up and grab my computer off of my bedside table.

I check any flights available. There’s one, flying out in forty minutes. *I can’t make it. Between packing, figuring out Junior, finding a way to wherever he is, it won’t work.* All my excuses last for five minutes before I’m up and taking a quick shower. I pull on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and I’m out the door before I’m even realizing I made a decision.

I call Bora while my car pulls up.

“Yeah?”

“I’m catching a flight, I need you to check on Junior this weekend,”

She laughs and pulls the phone from her ear like I won’t be able to hear her. “You owe me thirty won, Chae,”

She gets back on the phone. “Have a good weekend you lovesick girl. Text me when you land,”

“Am I that predictable?”

“Completely. Go and have fun and when you come back no more moping,”

“Thanks, Bora. I love you guys,”

“Tell Jay I said Hi,”

Without luggage, getting through check-in is quick and easy. All I have is my boarding pass and my purse.

I’m tired, but the thought of seeing Jay doesn’t let me sleep until I’ve been on the flight for at least a few hours. I’m so keyed up that I can’t think of anything other than this possibly being the wrong decision.

The 15 hour non-stop flight is filled with me sleeping and a reappearance of my nervous ticks. My lips feel raw from biting on them and I’ve shaken my right leg so long it’s probably ten times stronger than the left.

When we land Friday afternoon, I head straight to the venue Jay is supposed to play in San Fransisco.

The exhaustion I felt on my flight is nowhere to be felt. I’m too keyed up, too excited to feel tired and I just want to see my boyfriend. It’s been too long; longer than either of us expected. The month flew by so fast at times, but other times it dragged, making it even more obvious just how long he’s been away.

Too long

There’s an ache in my stomach that pulls from somewhere deep. The thought of getting to touch him again, kiss him, there’s too much anticipation. I pull out my ticket for the show, having just missed the long waiting line. My position in the venue is bound to be shitty, but I don’t care. I get my ticket scanned and follow through to the venue full of anxious girls.

I listen to them talk about Jay like he’s the best thing in the world and I feel proud. It’s all he’s ever really wanted. To make music for people and he’s getting to do it. And I’m grateful that he has such devoted fans.

“Hey,” someone nudges me gently. I turn to look at them. “You’re Jay’s girlfriend right?”

The fan waits for the obvious answer to her question. It doesn’t make sense to lie, but I honestly didn’t expect anyone to actually notice me.

“You guys are really cute,” she smiles widely at me.

“Thank you,” I say awkwardly. I’m still getting used to the whole fan interaction thing.

“Why are you all the way back here, though?”

“He doesn’t know I’m here,” I can’t help but grin toward the stage that he’ll be on in another forty-five minutes.

“You’re surprising him?” She exclaims. “That’s adorable. I like you. I think you guys are good together,”

She says this like she’d given me a seal of approval. I guess to his fans who feel a slight ownership over him, they believe that they have to sign off on everything he does. I get it, kind of. Not really but I sympathize. Jay has put most of his life on social media so fans can feel close to him. For some of them, he’s what they look forward to starting their day or at the end of the night.

“You don’t want to be recognized do you?” She inquires.

I shake my head and look around us to see who’s listening. We’re in such a close space that its almost impossible to hear snippets of everyone’s conversation. Still, everyone is engrossed in what they’re saying, no one pays attention to me.

“You should pull your hood over your head. You’re really pretty, Y/n. People will notice sooner or later,”

I do as she suggests and pull my hood over my head, and lower my hat.

“Better?” I ask hopefully.

“Just don’t look at anyone,” she laughs.

“Thanks,” I smile. “Are you here alone?”

She nods. “I don’t have any friends who like Korean music,”

“What’s your name?” I ask her.

“Lauren,”

“Nice to meet you,” I smile. “We’ll be alone together then,”

She smiles back and we wait for the show to start. It’s been a least six months since I watched Jay perform. Every time I watch him it’s like we’re kids again. He’s his happiest and I’m cheering him on.

The show starts and ends so fast, I have to keep my eyes open and on every moment for fear of missing it. I can’t take my eyes off of Jay. Seeing him, finally, it’s like I can breathe again. He’s so far away but not as far as he’s been for the last couple of weeks. Watching him in secret brings a certain thrill as he moves without knowing I’m here. I wonder how frustrated he is that I haven’t called him.

Still, he does well. Better than well. He’s always been a performer. He knows how to build anticipation and deliver. His interactions with fans are cute too.

When the show ends, Jay is shirtless and oblivious and I’m...nervous.

Lauren and I file out to the parking lot.

“You have Instagram?” I ask her.

She nods and spouts off her Instagram username. I follow her and tuck my phone back into my purse.

“It was nice meeting you,” she smiles.

“You too,” I grin. “Thanks for not ruining my secret,”

“No problem. Tell Jay I said Hi,” she laughs while walking toward her car. I watch her get in and safely pull off before I round the parking lot toward the lot where the buses are parked. Getting them to let me on the bus is going to be the hardest part of tonight. I’d rope Chase or someone into helping me but men are worse at keeping secrets than women.

“Ma’am You can’t get back here,”

It only takes seconds for someone to stop me. A guy who looks like he’d rather be anywhere than here making sure a bunch of young girls don’t sneak onto a tour bus.

“I know you won’t believe me but my boyfriend was one of the performers,” I say. I wince at how fake it sounds.

“Listen, you’re the third girl in the last ten minutes. I can’t let you back. I’m sorry,”

“I can prove it,” I say quickly pulling out my phone.

I show the guy a picture of me Jay posted the other day. I hold the phone up to my face and try to pose to look like the picture.

“My plane literally landed three hours ago. I’m just trying to surprise him,”

He shakes his head. “I believe you sweetheart, but I can not let you back there. I’ll lose my job,”

I sigh, closing my eyes and rubbing my temples. My eyes start to burn. I just want to see my boyfriend, dammit.

“Are you crying?”

He groans and takes a small step away from me. I wipe my eyes with the sleeve of my hoodie and wrap my arms around myself.

“I’m sorry. I just haven’t seen him in so long and I miss him so much. I just really needed to see him. My job has been so stressful lately and he got us a cat but I think he sort of hates me because he thinks I sent Jay away. And-,”

“Ok!” He interrupts holding his two hands up like he’s afraid I’m going to fall into a blubbering mess. “I’ll call someone to come get you,”

“It’s a secret,” I pout, sniffing a little.

He nods like he’s placating a child. “I’ll make sure they know to keep it quiet,”

I wait as he speaks into his walkie-talkie. After three minutes of awkwardness, a lady guard comes to bring me back. I thank him before waving as I walk off.

“Which ones your boyfriend?” She smiles at me.

“Jay,” I tell her feeling the butterflies come back as I say his name. “The one with the tattoos,”

“The one who took his shirt off on stage?”

I nod rolling my eyes at his antics on stage. He really does love showing his body off.

“Yep, that’s him,”

“He’ll be happy to see you then. He seems kind of fresh,”

We both laugh as we come up to the bus in the middle. She knocks on the door and we wait.

“I have to wait with you until someone confirms your identity,”

I nod understandingly.

The door opens and I hold my breath waiting to see Jay’s face.

Instead, it’s a woman. She looks confused as she twists her dark hair into a bun. She looks comfortable in sweats and fuzzy socks that says she’s in for the night.

The guard clears her throat, looking over at me awkwardly.

I speak up first. “Where’s Jay?”

“Who are you?” She asks, her eyebrows furrowing.

“I’m his girlfriend. Who are you?”

She ignores my question and crosses her arms over her ample chest.

“His girlfriend lives in Korea.” She comments before adding, “and you aren’t Korean,”

It takes me several seconds of deep breathing to find the patience to keep calm.

“I’m American. Where’s Jay,” I ask again. “And why are you on his bus? Who are you with?”

She smiles, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth.

“Chase,” she says.

I resist the urge to roll my eyes at my friends taste in women. It hasn’t developed, unfortunately.

“What’s going on?” Chase comes behind her, wrapping his thick arms around her waist before looking up at me and the lady guard. I wiggle my fingers at him and roll my eyes.

“Holy Shit,” he smiles.

“Do you know her?” the guard asks.

“Holy Shit,” Chase says again smiling wider.

“Do you allow this person on the bus? I need a yes or no answer sir or I have to escort her off the premises,”

“Oh, Yes,” he says like he’s finally snapped out of his surprise. “Actually, we’re getting off the bus,” he says pulling the girl with him.

“Wait, I don’t have shoes,” she exclaims.

Chase throws her over his shoulder and walks toward another bus.

“You kids have fun,” He yells.

“My job is done. Have a good night,” the lady guard says as she gestures toward to the open door. I thank her before climbing onto the bus.

I look around. It’s the first time Jay got tour buses for a tour. It’s big and spacious with a few beds lined up. I hear the shower running and I resist the urge to barge in, knowing he’s so close. Instead, I sit on a couch against the wall of the bus a pick up a Rubix cube that’s laying on the table. I twist it in my hand, trying to calm my racing heart.

Finally, the shower stops running and it takes everything I have in me to wait. It’ll be worth it, I tell myself.

The door opens suddenly. “I don’t think I’m going out. I’m going to call Y/n,” he says. He pulls a T-shirt over his head, still not seeing me, as he heads to the back.

“Lock the bus before you leave if you can,” he calls.

I roll my eyes and smile at how oblivious he is. I stand and make my way through the door he disappeared to. I lean up, watching him collect his computer and his phone charger.

“What if I don’t want to leave,” I say smiling at him.

He turns quickly, his computer falling on the floor and on his foot. His winces in pain before looking back up at me.

I want to be cute and say something quirky, but I can’t think of anything other than how good he looks, his hands on me, and the way he’s looking at me. My feet carry me forward toward him. I reach out to touch his side, running my hand up and down his T-shirt.

“Hi,” I smile up at him.

His hands reach up, cupping my face gently. His thumb runs across my bottom lip, pulling my mouth open.

“How are you here right now?” he whispers.

I pull myself tight against his chest. I can’t stop smiling. He feels good, thicker, more muscled. He’s put the weight he lost during the first week of the tour back on in muscle. I think about my body and what he probably sees. My hips are a little wider, my stomach softer, I have a bit more curves than when he left.

“Surprise-,”

His mouth comes down hard on mine, interrupting the word. He grabs my thighs and hikes me up against his waist easily. His tongue pushes past my lips and meets my own. He tastes so good. A shiver runs down my back as a part of me that’s been needing to be quenched for over a month is finally satisfied.

All of him engulfs me, as he pulls at the hat I’m wearing and throws it on the ground. His fingers tangle in my hair roughly, as he holds me against him. He pulls gently, tilting my head up so his mouth can move down my chin to my neck.

I moan as he touches a particularly sensitive area. His teeth pull at my skin. He drops me on the bed behind us and climbs on top of me. His hands go to my jeans and he gets them off quickly. I pull at his black T-shirt and he pulls it the rest of the way off.

My nails scrap over his skin. He still hasn’t said anything. I want to hear him. As much as I miss his body, I miss *him* more. I need him to say something.

“Jay,” I call to get his attention. He doesn’t look at me, just kisses me so hard that I almost forget what I want.

“Jay,” I say again pulling away from his mouth. “Why don’t you say something?”

He looks at me for a long time before his lips touch mine softly. He draws back and smooths a hand over my forehead to move my hair.

“I can’t focus,” he whispers. “I’m thinking about everything at once. I missed you so much, but today was harder for some reason. I just couldn’t stop thinking about you, and wishing that I could just go home. And then you’re here. Almost like you knew I wouldn’t be able to make it through another day without holding you,”

I reach up and pull his face back down to mine. It’s that same feeling that made me book a plane ticket last minute. I had to see him. It’s like his heart pulled at mine. We needed each other.

“I love you,” I whisper against his mouth.

His own mouth comes down on my neck, suctioning against my skin. I throw my head back so he can have better access. Reaching up, I tangle my hands in his hair that curls slightly because of the length.

“Wait here,” he says. He gets up quickly, leaving me in the middle of the bed. He’s only gone for seconds. When he comes back, a row of foil packets hang from his fingers.

I watch him ease his shorts down his hips before he climbs back on top of me.

“I’m not going to last tonight, Y/n,”

“I don’t care. Just fuck me,” I’m finding it hard to breathe while his hips move against mind. I tilt my hips up and wrap my legs around him, pressing myself against him. Only the thin material of my panties and his boxers separate us, but really it has no difference as I press my core against his bulge.

I reach between us to pull my panties down my hips and off before shimmying his boxers down his own hips a bit. I wrap my hand around him, feeling how soft and hard he is. It never really made sense to me how someone can feel both sensations at once. But here he is, like granite and silk all at once. I reach beside me and grab the row of foil packets before ripping one off. I don’t take my eyes off of him as I ease the latex over him.

He still hasn't moved, but his breath is labored like he's restraining himself. I want him to lose control. I want him to fuck me like he hasn't seen me in almost two months.

I reach up. My thumb goes to his perfect deep pink lips. He pulls the appendage between his teeth and bites gently. "Come on, baby. Let go. I'm not going anywhere, Jay. We get more than this,"

I touch his lips to mine. My legs tighten around his waist. His skin is so hot against mine. He feels like he's on fire.

He pulls back. His hands rest on my hips and his eyes focus on where we connect. Without warning, his hips surge forward. I watch him clench his jaw tightly as holds himself back.

Every move he makes against me is rough and hard. When his pelvis bone hits mine, it starts to burn after a while from his hard it hits. I don't want it any other way right now.

"Yes," I sigh out. My hands grip on his wrists tightly as he holds me. I have no choice but to chase my release. Everything about him is just about sending me over the edge; the smell of him, the little frown between his eyebrows, the way he licks his lips every so often. It's like my favorite movie, shot scored and broadcasted exclusively for me. I grab one of his hands off of my hip and bring it up to my mouth. My tongue flicks out to swirl around his middle finger. When he hits a spot just right, my teeth come down on his skin. He winces, pulls his finger back before kissing me again. It's messy, rough, so full of everything that I can't pull away even as I run out of breath.

"Come on baby, I need you to come for me," his teeth grind together as he talks. He kisses me hard and it's what sends me over the edge. I moan against his mouth as my legs quiver around him. He pulls back, flips me over, and pushes back in. An arm under my waist coasts my ass up in the air. His hands squeeze and kneed at my skin roughly.

Finally, with a loud grunt, Jay comes and collapses behind me. I fall to the bed with his body crushing the air out of me. He rolls so that we lay sideways and he's not squeezing my lungs.

His fingers curl around mine, intertwining with my own. It feels too good to be pressed skin to skin with him again. He’s warm, and soft, and smells like the body wash in our bathroom back home. It smells much better on his skin than mine. I press my lips against his throat and breathe in.

“Did you just smell me?” He laughs pulling back to look at me. I shrug and nuzzle my nose back into the crook of his neck.

“Just let me have this. I’ve been cuddling with Junior for the last month and a half,”

“Why didn’t you bring him,” I can basically hear the pout in his voice.

“I’m sorry,” I sigh. “Next time I’ll send him alone,”

“Shut up,” He laughs.

“Clearly, your girlfriend who flew across your world just to fuck you pales in comparison to your cat,”

Jay’s arms come around me as he lifts my body to straddle his hips. His hand strokes up my body, touching my hips and chest before settling on the side of my neck. I watch his eyes take in my skin. I wonder what he sees. He hasn’t commented on my recent body changes and I can’t help but be a tiny bit worried.

“So I’m just a long distance booty call?” He jokes. “I feel so used,”

“You love your cat more than me,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest. His eyes immediately go to breasts. His tongue comes out to swipe across his bottom lip slowly. I watch as his eyes move over my skin like he’s soaking me in.

“Do you know that you glow?” He asks suddenly.

“What?” I drop my arms, grabbing his hands and lacing our fingers again.

“You glow,” he repeats with a small smile. “I can’t explain it really. You just look like you have a golden light around you. Your face is so lit up right now, it’s like,” he trails off, his brows furrowing.

“You’re so pretty,” he whispers. “I told myself I was going to tell you more often but it’s so obvious that I forget sometimes,”

“I glow,” I smile down at him. I could say the same about him. I’ve always thought that he was light personified. He shines. Whatever he does, where ever he goes; he shines.

His hands slide up to cup my face, pulling me down to his mouth. My chest presses against his skin, while his arms come around me. He kisses me softly, gently like he ‘s telling me something.

“How long are you here for?” He asks.

“I can fly back early Monday morning, so we have all weekend,”

“Where’s your luggage and stuff?”

“I didn’t have time to pack anything. I have to find a store in the morning,”

Jay’s eyes narrow on me, his lips pursed. “You just want to steal my clothes,”

I smile kiss his neck. “You’re right,”

Jay sighs and wraps his arms lightly around my head, holding me against his body. “You can just work from the tour bus like you do at home. Don’t leave,”

“I have a shoot on Tuesday, and I’m meeting with all of your AOMG guys for the award show at some point this week,”

“Cancel. As the CEO of the company, I’m rescheduling the appointments,”

“Nope,” I smile. “You’ll be home in five weeks for your own fitting and the endorsements so I can manage on two and a half days,”

Jay laughs before rolling over so he’s on top of me. “We’re doing Seattle on tomorrow  night,”

“I know,” I smile. “We can pretend like we’re in high school again and sneak out of the house to make out,”

His hand pulls at the ends of my hair while his eyes scan my face. The way he looks at me, it’s everything I never knew I could have. Thinking about being with him back home where we started long before we knew where we were supposed to end up.

“I think I caused enough trouble for your parents,”

I raise an eyebrow up at him. “What do you mean,”

“You moved away from home, you get so much shit online, you’re home alone most of the time; because of me, baby,”

“For you,” I correct. “They love you. They always have,”

“Still,” he says with a small smile. “We have to behave. Don’t pout at me like that, Y/n,”

I roll my eyes, sighing. Since when does Jay Park behave himself? He’s the one person in my life I can count on to be down for just about anything, and yet he asks me to behave.

“We’ll see,” I smile up at him.

He groans and buried his face into my shoulder. “I know you, Y/n. You’re going to make every moment we’re with your parents absolutely hell for me,”

I stay quiet, smiling to myself. He’s right.

[impertfectedchoices]

I Promise - PT.1

Prompt: In a Heartbeat

Ship: James X MC

POV: (Point of View): James

Word Count: 1511

Artist Comment: SO LIHHH, this is my first fan fiction! Woooooooh, perfect for people to look back and see where I’ve come. 😅

But I chose to write something like this because not only am I always curious about how significant others react if their spouse get hurt, and to see how much they reeeallllyyy care, but I wanted some angsty sad stuff with this being my first one. I’m still learning how to actually portray a character’s personality, so hopefully I did them justice. Plussss I also wanted to see his reaction, being in a somewhat similar situation. Like this. IM SORRY BAE, you don’t deserve this torture.😩

11:03am

“Well, when observing last month’s trends, it’s clear that everyone’s topic of interest leans towards midterms.”

Are you 100% positive you won’t need to stay? I can take a day off. Reyna wouldn’t mind covering for me at this morning’s meeting.

“When it comes to midterm finals, all the students go crazy trying to find quick crash study ideas, sir!”

I’m fine James, it’s just a small cold. Nothing I… *sniff* can’t handle! Plus you’ve been been with me since Monday, I got this!

“And the worse thing they can do, is look up Buzzfeed articles on: Ways to Pass Finals Without Studying!”

*Muffled laughter erupts from the staff amongst themselves*

And I don’t regret it, but okay. I just wouldn’t bare with myself if I didn’t ask.

“Uh… I think we should break off and do some researching.”

I’ll be okay James, I promise.

I love you.

Geez, so mushy, Heh!

She smiled up at me. You were to think she must’ve been carved by a true artist at their craft… because her smile was so mesmerizing. God, her laugh was so contagious. It dissolved any stress I thought I held in myself still. It seemed as if my mind lost its train of though just being able to hear her voice. Let alone, thinking about her. She was just genuinely captivating. I had to take her word for her word, I just needed to get through this meeting…

… but I love you too, my darling.

An uncanny smile glided giddily on her face, as my smile grew larger, and more effortless. It’s been a year, and she still remembered the “pet name” I opted for us to call each other. She was so disappointed she couldn’t just call me “Jamesies”, but-

“Um, James?”

And with a blink, I was drawn back in the library, standing in-front of the conference table; empty. I hadn’t noticed that everyone, once watching me; had moves toward separate tables & computers alike, fast at work. I was then able to distinguish the voice.

“Hey Reyna, sorry. I assumed I spa-“

“Spaced out? Yes, in the middle of the meeting.”

Had I really let my thoughts consume me that much? Normally, I’m able to regulate my thoughts enough to multitask. I’m able to focus on more than one thing, on the rare occasions that I do; and work productively.

“No one really noticed, I was able to stir things in the right direction. I let everyone know to go ahead and research on midterm finals and student procrastination with it.”

She was trying to reassure me. Reyna always had such a calm spirit underneath her steadfast & determined perseverance. She truly reminded me of myself, or in ways, something similar to Vasquez and I. Mentor and colleague. When the time comes, she’ll be capable to take MC’s place when she moves into my position. I’m blessed to have had MC’s help to hire her as a journalist to our team.

“Thank you Reyna,” She seemed to relax more after my reassurance. Patting her shoulder, I headed towards a vacant table. “Let me go do something productive, but I may need your help a little later with an interview ab-“

“Are you alright, James?”

I froze midway. Looking back at her, even from a distance; the concern was still very distinguishable. Could she notice? I had been pretty good at keeping my facial expressions indecipherable. It’s difficult for others to pick up on my feelings, if only but a guess. MC told me herself, that she found the task a challenge, although now, she has it down to a science. I really must be more worried than I assumed I had been.

“Pardon me?” She seemed to grow more hesitant at my surprised expression. Cautiously, she set her papers off to the side and took one step closer, growing more urgent.

“Um,” Clearing her throat, she took a breath, trying to expel what nerves she had left dwelling. “Well Mr. Ashton, not to be too forward, but I noticed that MC hadn’t attended any meetings all week. You mentioned that she’d be here today, but she’s not... Is she okay?” Yeah, she most definitely can pick up on it. For a moment, it seemed intriguing to see her investigating skills pick up on minuet things like this. “She’s out for today, she caught a small cold. So, she’s resting. I was going to pick up on her tasks for today.” She seemed to sprout more worry. “Is there anyone there watching her?”

“She’ll be fine. Her roommates checked up on her periodically while I stayed for the past few days. And one’s going to be keeping her company today. I’ll be stopping by to see how she’s doing after we’re all done here.” She nodded, finding enough strength to work up a smile. I wanted to diminish any worry Reyna had. She had taken a liking to becoming friends with MC, and it was clear to see she was weary of her health as well.

I lean forward and hand her some papers. “These are some templates. All I’ll need you to do today is interview a sample of students & teachers; get some comments of their experience with midterm finals. If you can get it to me by the end of the weekend, that would be great!” Nodding, she grabbed her laptop from the table, and looked back at me. “Just, if you don’t mind, giving me an update on her? From, a concerned friend?”

“Will do.”

Smiling genuinely towards her, I waved goodbye, grabbing the rest of my papers. The unoccupied table I was originally going to was still empty. Some of the students cluttered together at different tables; some discussing & showing off information they found from credible articles, and others looking up articles to gain a collective opinion. I made my rounds toward each table, giving constructive criticism, and approving work. By the time I reached the table I wanted, I had already felt semi-drained.

It wasn’t a simple task; to tuck away my anxiety. Every minute that past, calling MC raced my thoughts, even walking out to go to her aid grew more and more into an option. But, once you show worry, it travels to the majority your staff. I realized how frequently I had been checking my phone.

11:50am

This would be the best time to bury myself into my work; that’s all I need; a good distraction. I reached for my phone, and held on to the side for a few seconds.

-Slide to power off-

I slide on the screen with my thumb subconsciously, and put my phone at the side of the table. Instead of working up more worry in myself, checking the time every second, I’m going to lose myself in my work. By the time I check, it’ll feel like the time flew by. I just need to keep working, and look forward to getting lost in her voice again.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

“I’ll be okay James, I promise.”

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

My head flew up from its steady surface.

A few blinks later, and my vision cleared into light. I had been still seated at the library table I was at this morning. I looked around an empty room, Then down to my laptop. It had taken the same notion as me; the screen was black. After taping on one of the keys, I typed in my password. I must’ve been more exhausted than I anticipated. Maybe I should take it easy... but the newspaper club depends on me, they’re Head to run everything smoothly.

Sighing, I ran my hands down my face, trying to reawaken myself from my drowsy position. I couldn’t have been asleep for that long. The sudden brightness caught my attention, as the screen came to life, pulling up my novel I’d been working on. My eyes glided to the corner.

6:38pm

No…

My eyes darted up, scanning for any window for reassurance. Confirming my accusation, the sun had been setting outside. I could tell just by seeing the libraries reflection on the glass.

I moved my books to the corner, pulling my phone from underneath a stack of papers. After several attempts to turn it on, I came to the obvious realization & lapse of judgement:

I turned it off earlier

As I muttered swears and insults to myself, I began hoping & praying that she’d been okay.

She was okay.

She has to be okay.

She is okay.

The phone breathed on, and I froze. All I could do was stare, stare at my screen; and for what felt like forever, nothing was there. Nothing had popped up. As my phone screen went black, it suddenly began vibrating repeatedly, notification light flashing like a strobe light as the screen cut on and a multitude of notifications flew down it.

The feeling of repulsive guilt and anguish engulfed me as my phone continued vibrating.

MC 👑😂☺️👫💕 Missed Call (10) & Voicemail

MC 👑😂☺️👫💕: Text Message

MC 👑😂☺️👫💕: Text Message

MC 👑😂☺️👫💕: Text Message

MC 👑😂☺️👫💕: Text Message

Building the courage to scroll down, I noticed phone calls & texts from Kaitlyn. Guilt plaguing me enough to avoid reading & listening to MC’s first, I opened hers, anxiety clearly working to my disadvantage.

“Uh, James? I’ve been calling you from MC’s phone. She’s not okay…”

I dropped my phone on the table as I stuffed my books into my messenger bag.

“…um, were at the hospital right now, we had to leave a little after 2:15,”

I pulled my lanyard from around my neck and grabbed the keys from them, shutting my laptop closed.

“I don’t think it’s just some cold, she hasn’t woken up since talking about you earlier. That was around 11:30 this morning, when you get this, come asa-“

Her voice began to muffle as I stuffed my phone straight into my pocket, running through the library doors towards my car.

My mind fell blank, with only one thought racing:

Please, let her be okay.

6:45pm

•NEXT

[blschaos3000-blog]

Its 5:00 pm humid/rainy

Welcome to “8 Questions with….”

For this edition of “8 Questions with….” I decided to take a different route,instead of finding my interview guest on FB,I decided I would select an interesting person from Twitter.  As I was scrolling my wall,I started noticing a handle called “!!Coby Creatiions!! and decided to check it out and see who this Coby was. My first instinct was Coby was a artist and I have been hankering to talk with another artist ever since I chatted with Louie De Martinis but artists are hard to pin down (yo,Meaghan!!) due to the nature of their work. So asked I asked Coby if he would be willing to talk about his work and himself,I wasn’t expecting such  a quick reply when he “Sure”. I found Coby to be a very pleasant and cheerful person to chat with and that while he is a very good artist as shown by two pieces in the interview,his main passion is writing. He is currently in the middle of writing a novel which is never a easy task and when it gets a little heavy,he pops out for a little California sun. Coby recently started a blog and has started posting his stories and updates there. I provided a link below.  But before you head for the blog…slow down and read my interview with Coby Crawford of Coby’s Creations.

  Please introduce yourself and tell us about latest project

My family calls me Coby and my friends call me Crawf(ord). Twenty-eight years old, living the slow life in Ocean Beach, California. I’m from the small town of Bethesda, Ohio. Moved to Columbus and then here to separate myself from distractions and really get into my work. My main focus is on writing, although I do some illustrations and teach a paint ‘n’ sip class here in San Diego. My most recent finished project is a short story titled “There’s Something in The Woods” but I’m currently in the editing stages of a novel I’ve been working on for a while now. It consumes most of my time.

What was it like growing up in your home? Were your folks readers/artists as well?

My parents weren’t very artistic. I have a feeling that my dad could be if he ever tried, but he’s a very proper man. Not a lot of expression—a bunch of grayscale clothes. But he’s very intelligent and likes all the greats like Lord of The Rings and Star Wars. My mom is the total opposite of my dad. We like to go out and have fun together. We like a lot of the same music, so we hit up concerts together. My older brother is a very good artist. He has great tastes in films and good stories. So, the fact that he loved my novel makes me confident.

Who were your favorite writers/artists growing up? Which came first to you…writing or drawing?

If I had to pick one, I guess I would say Dickens. But, my love for writing didn’t develop as traditionally as most. It started as a love for film. I would always watch these movies, but really get into the story—which ones had the most character growth or took me on an emotional ride? If someone died, and I felt heartache because the writer and, in this case the director, had somehow managed to make me emotionally attached to a character in two hours of watching a story he just made up—I think that’s amazing. My drawing came far before my writing, although it didn’t necessarily come before my story telling. I can remember sitting at my grandma’s coffee table, not old enough to be in school yet. I would draw things that I made up. Maybe a creature from another planet. Maybe a foe for Batman, from a Batman story I made in my head. That’s just a random example.

 Is there a difference between an illustrator and an artist? If so, what are they?

In my opinion, yes. Artist is a very broad term. Maybe I use it too generally, but I’d call anyone who creatively expresses themselves an artist. An illustrator is just a more specific type of artist that specializes in illustration. You don’t have to be an illustrator to be an artist, but you do have to be an artist to be an illustrator. 

 What scares you?

I fear never feeling like I succeeded as much as I could have, but it wouldn’t make any sense to have goals shy of the moon. I am striving for the absolute best version of myself. I am writing because I want to become one of the best. I don’t fear death, just not accomplishing as much in a lifetime as I could have. Sometimes it drives me, but it’s also a bad mindset. Sometimes I can’t enjoy things like going to a movie or to the beach, because I’m not revising a short story so another one can come sooner rather than later.

Where do you get your ideas from?

They come from all over the place. The idea for the novel I’m writing came to me when I was at the Fashion Meets Music Festival in Columbus. I was watching Ludacris with my brother and girlfriend at the time and I looked over and told them the most random thought for this fiction adventure. That was the seed, then the rest of the story came later. I don’t fish for ideas. I don’t sit around and think what a good story would be. They’re just somehow there one day. I could be driving down the road, see something on a sign that gets me thinking about a topic and then suddenly, I have a great story idea.

What is a typical day for you like, creatively wise? Walk us through a day when are you are working on a project?

Every morning I wake up and promote Coby Creations on my social media platforms from my phone. Then, once I’m alive and moving, I’ll be making a smoothie and coffee in the kitchen, shower and out the door. I can not stay at home if I want to accomplish a lot. I’ll be getting up and looking in the fridge or just creating ways to distract myself. I like to go to this local coffee shop, set up shop at a table and go to work for hours. There will be a pen and notebook beside my laptop. I’ll be typing and then a simple detail or sentence will pop into my head that would make the story better and I’ll write “go find where Chris said this and change it to that.” I’ll know when it’s time to stop. I’ll be forcing words onto the page, when before they would spill onto it. At that point, when I feel like the writing is done for the day, I’ll read and study the works of others for inspiration.

 How do you challenge yourself creatively?

I challenge myself to get weird with it. Stories are only crazy until they’re successful. I don’t limit my creativity. For the longest time I was afraid to show my work because I was afraid of what others might think of it. Some of the stuff I write can be out there, but it’s something special when I let go and write like nobody would see it. Then, I post it on the internet for everyone to see. It’s very freeing to express yourself in your work and show it to the world. I think everyone should be expressing themselves all the time. But you also must be brave enough to face the feedback and criticism. 

 Which is in a better place right now in your opinion: Horror novels or horror films and why?

I would have said novels for the longest time, but at this moment I’m going to say films. I’ve seen some great directors emerge recently like Ari Aster and Jordan Peele. There will always be the ones banking on the possessed dolls or a remake of a remake of some old slasher to sell tickets, but I’ve been very impressed with the originality in some of these horror films in the last half decade. 

 Which three artists/illustrators are tearing it up today and what makes them great?

I don’t know a lot of illustrators by name. They never get the credit they deserve. For an example—I was watching Into the Spider verse and couldn’t quit thinking about how amazing the artist behind that must have been. But unless you read the credits, you’ll never know. I don’t give my input on topics I’m not knowledgeable about. But, since you said artists, I’m going to use it as the broad term I talked about earlier and spin the question. Jack White just released new work. He’s one of the best musicians to ever do it. Tarantino’s new film looks like it’s going to be incredible. He’s pretty much owned the game for fifteen years. And how about George R.R. Martin having the world wrapped up in his story? They’re all original. They aren’t doing anything but being themselves. 

 The cheetah and I are coming to watching a showing of your work but we are a day early and you are now playing tour guide. What are we doing? 

Ocean Beach is the most down to Earth place you will ever step. We’ll take a walk up to Newport Avenue and hit up Hodad’s—the greatest burger joint ever! You’ll get a wave from 9 out of 10 people we pass. Then we can go to a crowded beach full of people from across the world, mostly in San Diego for the surf. Or we can go to one of the numerous secluded beaches around the city where there’s less noise and more relaxation. If your friends with me then you like to go out Saturday night. We might head down to the Gaslamp District. But if it’s a random Tuesday we might watch the sunset and waves from my patio and order a pizza from Poma’s. It’s fire!

  I like to thank Coby for his time,his talent and his words. I’m posting links to his Twitter and his new blog so you can keep up with this very talented young man.

You can follow Coby on his Twitter here.

You can also enjoy Coby’s creativity at his blog “Coby’s Creations“

Oh yeah,you can follow us as well on Facebook and Twitter.

Feel free to drop a comment or three……

8 Questions with……………writer/artist Coby Crawford Its 5:00 pm humid/rainy Welcome to "8 Questions with...." For this edition of "8 Questions with...." I decided to take a different route,instead of finding my interview guest on FB,I decided I would select an interesting person from Twitter. 

[sulfurousdreamscapes]

Everything the microphone recorded, the speaker forgot. It took me a while to discover this, but since then, I’ve been extra cautious with what I say when the microphone is turned on. Thankfully, I’ve always been stingy with when I turn the microphone on, so I haven’t forgotten much myself.

I was out of a microphone and I found a stupidly good deal on Amazon. The seller was really obscure, and located on the other side of the country. There was only one item left in stock, so after five minutes of careful, laboured consideration, I hit the buy button. The product was delivered in only a couple days.

Now this is where things get murky. I recall turning it on, but I cannot for the life of me remember what I said. I used it to Skype with a friend, and I remember that my friend and I talked about cats, and then her travels, and then clothes, and I don’t recall a word of what I said to her. I didn’t notice it right away, but within a few days, I made the connection. The microphone was sucking in everything I said.

I took it to an interview. I set up the laptop, and the microphone. I had the questions before me. Simple, basic questions for an artist. What are your inspirations? What time do you work? When did you start doing art? The usual questions. We talked for an hour, and had a great time, and every time I said something, I was reminded of the fact that I was going to forget it soon.

After the interview was done, I disconnected the microphone.

“It’s all in the file now, but I just wanted to clarify,” I said, “Did you cite Pixar as an inspiration?”

They frowned. “I…” they began, and then I felt a perverse glee inside me as I watched them struggle. “I’m not sure,” they said, smiling nervously. “In fact, I’m not sure if I have any inspirations at all.”

I nodded, and then played the file back, the exact part where they cited Pixar as an influence.

“What?” was their first reaction. I could relate. “I said that? I’m not sure if that’s… but I think Pixar makes sense,” they touched their head.

I laughed it off and suggested they get some rest. Of course, there was a lot more to it than that, but I couldn’t risk telling them. I couldn’t risk telling anyone until I’d figured out the exact level of hijinks I could inflict with this microphone.

I looked up the seller on Amazon. They were gone. No trace whatsoever. The item still showed in my purchase history, but the seller URL went to a dead end.

While I sat at home, I played back the interview file. Everything the artist had said, I remembered. But listening to myself talk was like listening to someone else with a voice uncannily similar to mine.

I connected the microphone again and recorded a file, in which I explained to a future version of myself everything that I knew about the microphone. Then I disconnected, and I forgot. Then I played the file back, and stared at the microphone in amazement.

I could hardly believe myself.

Inside the folder, there are about two dozen audio files of various sizes. Each one is neatly labelled, complete with a date. They list my fears, my bad memories, trauma, broken relationships, cringeworthy moments, all of which I’d spoken at length about, as if I were in therapy. At least, that’s what I think is in those files, judging by their names.

The microphone that steals memories had become the ultimate medication for me. If I can’t remember anything bad about myself, it wouldn’t exist, right? And yet, that’s not how it worked. Rather than cleanly removing the bad memory, I was left with a dark, seeping hole in my memory. Somehow, I could tell that a memory existed there, and that it was gone. I didn’t know if the memory was good or bad—that had been replaced with a suspense. The suspense of not knowing whether that was a memory I shouldn’t have forgotten.

Sometimes I’d listen to a file if it really, really intrigued me. Most of the time, I’d just sink my head into my hands and wonder to myself why I’d let myself regain that memory. It was not worth it. So I’d delete the file, and record the memory again. Once done, I’d take a deep breath and try to remember it. It was gone. I couldn’t remember what I’d said.

A new hobby. I’d keep the mic connected and walk about town, recording the city. Me, I wouldn’t say a word during these excursions. But the people around me did. Once I was back home, I’d play the file back to me as I did my chores and browsed the internet. Everything that was said had been forgotten. The woman talking about how living in London is like. The boy discussing autism. The girl asking for an Oscar Wilde book at the book shop.

I was cleaning out everyone’s memories. Was it fair? Was I doing them a service?

I forgot.

I took the mic with me to press conferences, and talked to sportsmen, actors, directors, politicians, city officials, painters, writers, musicians. I asked them questions, and I asked them bare it all. All the deepest, darkest things they could think of. Of course, they never did talk about their deepest secrets. But what they did, they forgot.

And surprisingly, it hit the news. ‘An outbreak of amnesia’, the headline said. I couldn’t publish my interviews, I’d realised a long time ago. But this growing epidemic of amnesia was something I wasn’t sure how to handle. Do I continue recording the world, filling up their minds into my hard drive?

My head hurt. For some people, headaches are very common, but they’re actually quite rare for me. I took it as my body voting for the 'no’ camp. And to be fair, the mind was a part of the body. I’d been abusing my body, I realised.

And I’d been abusing every single person in this town.

I listened to the audio files every moment I got that I wasn't recording. The microphone was a weapon, and it gave me a power—a power I didn't know what to do with. They say that knowledge is power, so I hoarded it. I took notes, but the notes poured over themselves. I can't hold the city's secrets to myself. I can't hold the secrets of all the famous people I'd interviewed. I wasn't worthy of keeping them with me. I wasn't worthy. I wasn't worthy. I wasn't worthy of this microphone.

I considered breaking it. Of course, going public with it would only invite ridicule. No one would believe me. I had to break it, I thought. To make sure no one can use it again. I wasn't sure who had given me this unusual device or why, but I knew that it was a curse. A burden I couldn't possibly take on.

I cried.

I couldn't do it. It didn't help that a part of me was conjuring bizarre fantasies of unleashing technological curses that might spread every which way if I were to destroy the mic. What if it is some ancient mummy's curse? Wouldn't want to risk it.

So instead, I watched the city destroy itself. The situation got worse by the day. I'd stopped recording, but the damage was done. So much had been forgotten that the entire infrastructure had stopped functioning.

I'd wounded people, I realised. Wounded them without their knowledge. It wasn't unlike shooting them down, or exploding a bomb in their faces—the victims wouldn't know what hit them. And that's how it was: my victims didn't know what hit them. They were living angry, distraught, frustrated lives as they struggled to remember memories that had been stolen from them.

Memories that were about to be deleted if I chose to hit the OK button on the format dialog box.

I paced around. I had lunch. I watched a dumb comedy show on TV. I checked my mail obsessively, which was full of confused messages from people asking if I knew what they'd talked about during their interview.

Finally, I hit OK.

Everything on the drive disappeared.

All the memories of the city, everything people knew, about themselves, about others, about the things that mattered and the things that didn't.

It was a fresh start. A new beginning.

Maybe this was the power that I had been granted, after all. The power to start things anew.

Even as the city descended into chaos—deep, psychic chaos, I was the only person who knew. I put the microphone in a wooden box and drove out into the desert outside the city. I drove for a couple of hours, and then buried the box in the sand, somewhere far away from civilisation.

I wasn't stupid. I knew someone would find it.

Thankfully, all I had to do was talk about what I'd seen the next time I saw the microphone, and then it would stop mattering.

Today’s throwback story is inspired by the excellent Zen and the Art of Transhumanism.

[roh-tae]

Headlines pt.II

part 1

length: 2069

genre: a mix; rapper jimin au

a/n: so I have an idea for where I want the story and like relationship between the reader and Jimin to go…not sure if it will like be an actual relationship or just a friendship, but that’s why there starts to be a slight change in Jimin, just an fyi

Walking into Park Studios, today was a new day. You had a new wardrobe, thanks to V and the company credit card, a new attitude, and you were ready to prove to Jimin that you could handle this job.

You headed down the bright white halls until you found your office. Logging onto your desktop, you were clear on what your goal was for today.

Find and book a venue for an album release party for Jimin.

Having learned that Jimin hadn’t had an album release party in a little over a year, mostly in part to his assistants not lasting long enough to plan one, you saw it as the perfect opportunity to prove yourself.

Last night, you spent hours studying up on this stuff, as Jimin told you to. You watched countless performances of his, interviews, listening to tons of his songs. Trying to get to know him better, as well as the industry you were now working in. His songs weren’t half bad. They weren’t like most rappers talking about girls and swearing every other line. The lyrics actually meant something. And from what you heard yesterday, this new album would be just as good. That is, if it is marketed the right way.

After studying up, you realized that Jimin’s lack of success, or average results he’s been seeing are because he isn’t aiming to gain new fans or grow his fanbase. He books the same small venues, interviews for small unknown magazines, and doesn’t ever collaborate with other artists. Which would be the easiest way for him to gain more fans fast.

He also has zero promotional deals or sponsorships with companies. Whether that be clothes, shoes, whatever. Again missing out on an easy way to attract fans. Jimin was lucky you came around when you did. You already had plenty of ideas to better market him as an artist, and hopefully, in return, show him he wasn’t wrong for giving you a second chance.

Looking up local venues, you found one that you knew would be perfect. It was a bit higher end, but exactly what Jimin needed. If you could pull this off, it would be huge.

knock knock

You looked to the door, seeing V leaning against its frame with a smile on his face. “Wow, that is a great outfit. I wonder who helped pick that out?” “Oh shut up!” You laughed as you continued looking at the pictures of the venue on your computer. “Whatcha doin?” V grabbed a chair, rolling over to look along with you. “Ooo, fancy. What’s that for?”

A smile came across your face as you looked to him, “The album release party I’m planning for Jimin. You yourself said he hasn’t had one in awhile.” V just nodded, loving the idea. “Jimin’s definitely never had anything at a place like this before. If you pull it off, you’ll definitely show him you mean business. You think you’d be ready to pitch this to him today?”

Clicking away at your computer you nodded, a confident smile on your face. “Let me just make a few phone calls and put a slideshow together. I’ll let you know when I’m ready!” Getting up from your computer you headed down the hall and out of sight.

After about an hour or so of making phone calls, the venue was booked and you already had a few other tricks up your sleeve. Jimin would need to help with some of the little details, but for the most part, you were on a roll. You’d gotten a well known local photographer to come out and photograph the event. Luckily you still had his card from a shoot your old job booked him for a year ago.

You texted V, telling him you’d be in the conference room whenever he and Jimin were able to come down. You were praying that Jimin would see how much you were trying. How much work you were putting into this to make up for your slip up on the first day.

“V, I don’t have that much time. The album still needs work, this better be quick.” V pushed Jimin through the glass doors of the conference room and into a chair. He sighed, looking up at you, a bit surprised by your new clothes, but his expression soon faded as he stared at you pursing his lips. “What’s all this about?”

“Look, I first off want to say I’m sorry for yesterday. I misspoke, and I’m sorry. But, to make up for that. I went ahead and started planning you an album release party. V told me you haven’t had one in awhile, and you yourself have been saying this album needs to be big. So I jumped at the opportunity to do my part in helping with that.” Jimin laughed a bit, still not taking you seriously. But you ignored him, just pulling up the slideshow you’d made onto the tv screen.

“So, I booked Square 22, I know it’s not your typical venue. But I think that’s your issue. I spent last night going over your album and tickets sales for the last few months. You keep performing at these small venues where it’s the same fans majority of the time. No real opportunity to grow your fan base. So I think it’s time we start branching out and booking you larger venues. But for this release party, I’m thinking we upscale things a bit, invite some of the other big names in the industry right now. Try to open some doors for you, maybe for collaborations, or just get you seen with other artists to draw more fans in. The overall goal here is to get people to take notice. To show people that your coming back bigger and better than before.”

“Okay, so I’m gonna invite some big name artists I’ve never really talked to before to my album release party? Why would they want to come?” V smacked Jimin’s arm at his harsh tone, which you just ignored. “Because, this party will also be you announcing your new sponsorship deal with Puma. They are a fast growing brand that has become super popular over the last year. And they see you as a great spokes person because you are a known face in the industry and are becoming popular just like them. It’s a win-win.”

“Well I love it! It would be a really good move for you Jimin. We’ve been wanting to do something big like this for awhile, it’s just no one has been able to get you something like this before.” V looked to Jimin, doing his best to help you out. As he too sensed Jimin was still hesitant. “Well, I’ll think about it. The album isn’t even finished, and who knows how long it will take me. You seem to have done your homework though, and stepped up the wardrobe. But, don’t just think that changing your clothes and planning this event changes anything. You have to follow through and make things happen. And there’s still plenty more for you to learn.”

Jimin got up, heading back down the hall to his studio to get back to work. “I think that went well.” “He’s still not happy? You heard him, there’s still plenty more for you to learn. What is it gonna take for him to not say anything negative.” You mocked his words as you closed your laptop and headed out of the conference room. “Well, he is right to an extent. But, I can tell he is going to genuinely consider the release party. It really is a good career and business move for him. And you’ve done great! Really, none of his past assistants were nearly as good as you’ve already proven you are. He knows that. He’s just being stubborn because he doesn’t want to admit you did something right. Trust me, just keep doing your homework, and planning this event to make it perfect. There’s no way he will be able to say no.”

You yawned, sensing it was time to head home for the night. Planning this release party had consumed most of your day, and there was still a lot more to do. But for now, you logged off your computer, shutting it down for the night as you threw your backpack over your shoulder before heading out of your office.

As you made your way down the hall, you heard some music coming from Jimin’s studio, and though you were sure he didn’t want or need company, you headed inside anyways.

“V? I thought you headed home an hour-Oh, it’s you.” Jimin turned back to his computer after seeing you enter, not seeming bothered by your presence. “You’re still here? You’ve been here longer than me, aren’t you going to go home? Or at least take a break to eat something?” Jimin just laughed, holding up a bag of chips, to which you shook your head as you sat on one of the couches off to the side.

“I mean actual food. I know this album needs to be finished, and I can see you’re putting a lot of work into it, but you also need to take care of yourself.” “Thanks for the concern, but, I’m almost there. It’s just, this last song, it’s not right. And I can’t figure out what’s wrong with it.”

Without your response, Jimin just went ahead and played the song. It was similar to all the others you’d heard, a fast beat, hard sound. But as his voice came in, you sensed something was off. Jimin looked at your face, then paused the track. “See? That, I can tell you notice it too. But what is it? What’s wrong with it?”

You thought for a minute, also wondering why Jimin was asking you when just the other day he called you out for not knowing anything about this stuff. “Well, this is just my opinion you don’t have to agree or anything, but. Maybe, it shouldn’t be a fast, hard hitting song. Maybe, it should be a slower song? I know you don’t typically do slower songs, but I think it could work.”

Jimin nodded, not saying anything as he pulled up some things on the computer, clicking and moving things around. “Something like, this?” You listened as a new, slower track played. Jimin’s same vocals from before coming in a few beats later, and though it didn’t fit perfectly, it sounded much better. “Yeah, I think it still needs some tweaking, but the idea is there. I think that’s the version you go with, a slower track.”

“You know I never would have thought to do a slower track, it’s just not what I do. But, I have to agree, it sounds much better. Thank you, y/n.” For the first time you saw a smile, a subtle one but still a smile, come across the face of Jimin. And it came with a thank you, you never would have imagined the day. But you simply smiled back, then looking to your phone to see the time. “Well, I should go. I’ve been working on the release party all day, and I hardly took a break. So, I’ll see you tomorrow Jimin.”

You threw your bag over your shoulders and made your way towards the door. “Um, y/n?” Hearing Jimin’s voice you stopped, turning around to see him shutting his computer down and gathering his stuff.

“I um, I haven’t really eaten today. And I’m sure all the work you’re putting into the release party has made you a bit hungry. Maybe we could grab some food and I could hear more about it? Maybe help out where I can? Strictly business of course. If you’re up for it, if you don’t want to do anymore work tonight I understand. I don’t blame you if you’d rather go home and sleep.”

You were a bit shocked at his offer. This definitely not seeming like the Jimin that called you out just yesterday and embarrassed you. But, you figured you’d give him a chance to redeem himself like he did with you. Stepping back into his office you flashed him a smile. “Actually, I could really use some help with the guest list.” “Perfect.” Jimin smiled as he threw on his jacket and grabbed his bag, following you out.