#and they had a record label for a bit. they were definitely going to make it at least somewhat.

[slightlytoastedbagel]

actually On Your Feet gave us two good things (well. three if you like Realize which I do). Kohane's "it's frustrating" line and the great crack fic idea of Vivid Bad Squad getting cancelled online for skipping school to yell at The Kotaki Taiga as he was about to go back to America.

[babydollslibrary]

MIDNIGHT RAIN — QUINN HUGHES

quinn hughes x fem!reader

published: February 10th, 2023

summary: in which Quinn asked y/n to marry him when they graduated high school but she breaks the news that she got signed to a record label and is moving to California. 5 years later, they meet again and rekindle their romance.

notes: taylor swift does not exist in this universe… you’ll understand why.

GIF by svechnikovvv

**PAST**

“congratulations graduating class of 2017. you did it!”

i grin, standing and joining the rest of my class and tossing my cap in the air. i’m finally free.

family and friends pile onto the football field that held our graduation and i scan the crowds of newly graduated students, looking for my boyfriend. i finally spot him over with his family, whispering with his brothers. i walk over with a wide smile on my face, and watch as his brother, Luke, nudges him, pointing my way. Quinn looks over and smiles back.

“we did it, Quinny!” i cheer when i arrive at his side. he pulls me in by the waist, dipping me into a kiss.

“we did it, pretty girl.” he whispers when we pull away.

“i have amazing news, bubs!” i can’t wait any longer, i’ve kept my secret for the past two months, not wanting to jinx it. but now that my contract is signed and i’m officially moving next month, it’s finally time that i can share the news; i signed a recording contract. Quinn has always been supportive of my dreams, and when i started posting my songs online, he was the one who predicted that i would get signed to a record label. so i know he’ll be excited when he finds out he was right.

“i can’t wait to hear it, babe. but, i have a question first.” Quinn looks towards his family. his brothers bounce on their feet and his parents are talking with mine, but both sets of parents have their eyes on us. when i see them go quiet and smile, my brows furrow in confusion and i tilt my head. but when i look back at Quinn, i understand why.

my boyfriend of three years, since the summer before sophomore year, is bent down on one knee. my eyes grow wide and i watch as he reaches into his pants pocket, pulling out a ring box.

“y/n, these last three years have been the best years of my life. you make me feel like the happiest man in the world when i’m with you.” i tear up. “you’ve been my biggest supporter since the day we met, and i’m so grateful that i get to call you mine. but now, i’d love it if i could call you my wife. will you marry me?”

tears roll down my cheeks and i’m at a loss for words. i can’t say yes. i want to say yes. i want to say yes, so badly. but i’m moving to California next month, and he’ll be staying in Michigan to go play hockey for University of Michigan.

“Quinn. i- i can’t.” his face drops and my heart feels like it’s been shattered into a million little pieces. “i got signed to a record label. i leave for L.A. next month.”

Quinn stands, nodding his head in embarrassment.

“yeah, no, yeah i probably should’ve let you tell me your news first.” he frowns.

“i’m so sorry, Quinny. i- i don’t know what to say. i would say yes, you know if the circumstances were different, i would say yes.” tears still blur my vision, but i can still see him nod.

“yeah, i know.”

**PRESENT**

Quinn and i tried to make it work after that, but our dynamic was off. and i know i bruised his ego a bit too hard for us to make it through. by the time i left for Los Angeles, we were broken up.

now it’s been five years since we broke up, and i still can’t help but think back on our relationship. sure, i’ve gone on dates and had one short-term boyfriend in the past few years, but no one has measured up to Quinn. he was my soulmate and the one who got away. lately, it seems like all i can do is write songs about him and our relationship, and my fans have definitely taken a notice. even now, i’m in my studio, recording a new song and it’s about him.

“he wanted it comfortable, i wanted that pain. he wanted a bride, i was making my own name. chasing that fame. he stayed the same. all of me changed like midnight.”

i finish off the intro and i can hear my producers voice through the speaker in the recording booth.

“that was great, y/n. i think that was the last take that we needed for that one. let’s move onto the first verse.” she says. i nod and hear the beat pick up again.

“my town was a wasteland. full of cages, full of fences. pageant queens and big pretenders. but for some, it was paradise. my boy was a montage. a slow-motion, love potion. jumping off things in the ocean. i broke his heart ‘cause he was nice. he was sunshine, i was midnight rain.”

tears gather in my eyes, pushing to fall, and i attempt to blink them away, but all the blinking does is make them spill over, rolling down my cheeks. the door to the recording booth opens and my producer, Ashley, steps through.

“hey, are you okay?” she asks sweetly, rubbing a hand on my back as i wipe away my tears.

“yeah, it’s just still really hard.” i let out a weak laugh at how pathetic i am. crying over a guy i dated five years ago. “god, i’m so stupid.”

“you’re not stupid, y/n. you made the decision that you thought was best for you at the time. looking back, would you have made the same decision?” in addition to being my producer, Ashley is also my best friend. we’ve actually been friends since eighth grade, and when she graduated college a year ago with her bachelor’s degree in music production, i hired her.

“i- i don’t know. i mean, i love where i ended up, career wise. but i miss him so much, Ash.” i reply. my tears have started to ease, but now i’m stuffed up from crying and can’t record at the moment, so i hang up my headphones on the microphone.

“then, maybe you’re a little stupid.” she jokes. i shake my head, letting out another weak laugh.

“i know what will cheer you up.” she sing-songs. “i have tickets to the Ducks game tonight. let’s go cheer for some hot hockey guys. maybe we’ll even get to embarrass Trevor.”

i smile and nod in agreement. Trevor is another close friend of mine. he’s actually the best friend of Quinn’s brother, Jack. i never met him when he lived in Michigan for USNTDP, but the hockey world is small, so i was only a little surprised when i met him last year at an Anaheim Ducks event and found out he knew the Hughes family.

“okay. let’s go embarrass Trevor.” i tell Ashley. she cheers and we leave the studio, heading back to our apartment to get ready.

**

Ashley and i arrived to the Honda Center about fifteen minutes before warmups started, finding our glass seats and settling in. when the Ducks skate onto the ice and we see Trevor, we jump up and cheer.

“WOOO! GO TREVY!” i scream as he hits the puck in the net for a practice shot, catching his attention. he looks over and laughs, skating over to the glass and banging in front of my face. i laugh and joke- “fancy seeing you here!”

“you guys can try and embarrass me all you want. i’m a shameless man. i’m fueled on your shouts and cheers.” he says, a wide grin on his face.

“who you chirping at tonight?” i ask. Ashley never actually told me who they’re playing against. it’s at that moment that the opposing team skates onto the ice, and i’m frozen in place when i see the Canucks.

“your ex.” Trevor wags his eyebrows before skating off to finish his warmups.

“what the hell, Ashley?” i’m angry, you can tell as much by my voice, and i know she knows why.

“it’s just watching a game, y/n/n. you still love him, it’s not like you don’t watch his games on tv.” she replies, shrugging her shoulders.

“that’s different. he can’t tell i’m watching through the tv. what if he sees me?” i spot him on the ice, talking to one of his team members, and immediately turn to face Ashley, hoping he won’t recognize me. i don’t want him to think i’m pathetic and still in love with him. it’s the truth, but it’s embarrassing enough without him knowing. i’m sure he’s moved on by now.

i’m able to make it through warmups without him noticing me, but i’m not so lucky when the game actually starts. it’s only halfway through the first period when Quinn scores the first goal of the game, and before i can think twice, i’m up on my feet clapping and celebrating.

“WOOO!” i yell, and Ashley laughs at me, teasing me about how i’ll always be an internal WAG. but i let her comments roll of my back and continue to cheer, watching as he stops not far from the glass in front of us, getting hugged by his teammates. “GO QUINNY!”

it’s then that he turns, eyes wide, and i realize i’ve made a grave mistake. my voice plus the nickname has tipped him off. he spots me, and i freeze, my hands mid-clap. i let my hands fall to my sides, and Ashley pulls me back down to my seat by the back of my jacket. Quinn’s gaze stays focused on me, and i give a small wave in return. he raises his hand back at me, and i can tell he’s still shocked to see me but one of his teammates pulls his attention back to the game.

throughout the rest of the game, Quinn continues to glance over towards me, and i regret letting Ash rope me into attending this game. it ends with 4-2, Canucks winning, and i feel bad for Trevor, but i can’t help feeling proud of Quinn. Ashley and i stay in our seats, talking after the teams leave the ice, and i get a text from a number i never thought i would hear from again.

—

From: Huggy Bear 🧸🤍

meet me outside the visitors dressing room please. i think we should talk.

—

the text makes me nervous. is he mad that i was here? did i upset him by being here? by cheering for him? i show the text to Ash and she says she’ll grab an uber home so that she doesn’t impose on our conversation.

i find my way to the visitors dressing room, giving my name to the security to find that Quinn had already informed them i would be coming. i stand in the hallway waiting, looking over every time the dressing room door opens. i sign a few autographs and take some pictures with a few of the players for their girlfriends or sisters while i wait.

it feels like the entire team has left when Quinn finally comes out. i watch him as he steps out, dressed back in his arrival suit.

he looks so good, it’s unfair.

“hey.” he says, walking over to me. “you were at the game.”

“i was.” i tell him, my voice cracking with my emotion. “i’m sorry, i didn’t mean to upset you by coming. i didn’t even-”

“you didn’t upset me.” he cuts me off. i study his face, trying to gauge how he feels. i used to be able to read him easily, and it seems like that talent hasn’t left me. “i was surprised to see you. i’ve never seen you at any of my other games, i kinda just assumed you didn’t care now that we’re… not together.”

“i watch all your games, Quinny.” my voice is barely above a whisper. soft and anxiety ridden.

“you do?” he questions, his voice full of hope.

“yeah. well, every one i can. i’ve even missed events just to stay home and watch. i never stopped caring about you, Q. just because we aren’t together anymore, doesn’t mean i don’t think about you.” i tell him. “a lot.”

“you think about me a lot? you ever write a song about me then?” he teases, but now i’m wondering if he’s ever even listened to any of my songs.

“all of my songs are about you, Quinny.” i confess. “even my new ones.”

“you can’t- you can’t just say that, y/n. i’ll start thinking things that i know aren’t true.” he shakes his head, running a hand through his hair.

“like what?” i look at him with doe eyes, the exact ones i know he loved five years ago.

“like that i might still have a chance with you.” he says lowly. i might regret my next words, but i need to get them off my chest.

“can i confess something?” i ask.

“yeah, of course.” he replies

“if you asked me again, i would say yes.” i tell him. “if i could go back to that day, i would’ve said yes.”

Quinn’s response comes in the form of his lips against mine. his hands hold my face and i press my body closer to his. my reaction is immediate, my lips moving with his. the kiss is slow and sweet, a reconnection of two lovers. he sucks on my bottom lip before his tongue pushes past my lips, slipping against my own. i pull away before the kiss can get too heated.

“will you go to dinner with me?” he asks.

“i’d love to.”

**3 YEARS LATER**

“Q! your bridezilla wants you!”

“Jack Rowden Hughes, i am not a bridezilla!” i scold. the audacity that this boy holds. calling me a bridezilla on my wedding day.

“leave my wife alone, Jack.” Quinn sighs, walking over from across the reception hall.

“yeah. leave his wife alone, Jack.” i tease. sticking my tongue out at him over Quinn’s shoulder. Quinn looks over at me, catching me pulling my tongue back into my mouth.

“you’re such a child.” he sighs, shaking his head at me.

“what does that make you? you just married me.” i ask him.

“i’m not even gonna dignify that with a response.” he replies. i’m laughing when his mom comes over.

“is everything okay, honey? i heard you and Jack arguing.” she says.

“i think everyone in here heard them arguing.” Quinn sighs again.

“hey, at least you know she’s part of the family.” Ellen laughs.

“i’m fine, momma E. Jack was just being annoying. it’s his specialty.” i shrug. Ellen laughs, kissing my cheek before walking away. Quinn takes hold of my hand, pulling me back over to our table, taking a seat and pulling me into his lap.

“what did you want me for, pretty girl?” he asks, wrapping an arm around my waist to hold me steady.

“i just missed you.” i whisper, leaning my forehead against his. he chuckles.

“i was gone for five minutes.” he reminds me.

“i know. but you left me all alone with Jack.” i complain.

“well technically, i left you with Luke. but i feel like i should be apologizing for leaving you with either of them.”

“yes. you should.” i smile.

“how about i apologize to you later? when we get home. i can apologize to you several times.”

[etherealrin]

♬⋆.˚ track 01: get a guitar!

warnings: fem!reader , heck ton of dialogue // wc: 1.3k

▶︎ •၊၊||၊|။||||| 0:01 TRACKLIST: previous. next.

itoshi rin, oddly, is restless today. after last night, or technically this morning, he should have been at least a little bit tired or sleepy, but he was pacing around his room like he’d drank three shots of espresso already. you’ve been occupying a corner of his mind like a trendy pop song, chorus so catchy that he can’t not think about you. great, he was already comparing you to music. again. even though he swore he quit.

then the melodic chime of his doorbell sounds, and rin is running down the stairs towards his front door. 

“good morning!” you greet him with a bright smile. itoshi rin isn’t used to someone greeting him like this in the morning, as if they actually wanted to see him. but here you were.

“morning,” he replies, wondering if he sounds too stiff. if you find him awkward, you don’t show it. 

“i never got your name yesterday,” you say, looking at him quizzically. 

i'm so stupid. “itoshi rin. but please just call me rin, i don’t like to go by my last name,” rin states, revealing no further details.

you don’t push the matter, giving him your name as well. “i guess we should just be on first name basis then.” 

he nods. “the music store i go to is downtown. we’re going to have to take the bus there, if that’s okay with you?”

“sure! i have nothing to do for the entirety of this summer anyways.” well that makes two of us, rin thinks. 

you follow him onto the street, and after a while rin stops at a large sign, conveniently labeled “BUS.” he’s saved from attempting to make small talk as the vehicle comes almost immediately. 

“it’ll be around ten minutes,” he says once you’ve both boarded. you’re already pushing airpods into your ears, and you nod. rin desperately wants to know what you’re listening to—surely a small peek won’t hurt?

so he maneuvers himself to stand behind you, the bus seats were all filled by now anyway. he catches sight of your phone, squinting to try and read the spotify music bar. unfortunately, the driver today isn’t the most adept at his craft. the ride is bumpy and the turns are terrible. before rin can decipher what song you’re playing, the bus is screeching to a stop, sending you toppling backwards. yet he’s the one who’s behind you, and suddenly you’re falling into his arms. time freezes for rin, and instinctively, he holds his arms out and around your body. it’s akin to a cheesy kdrama scene the way he catches you, gripping your waist to steady your shaking legs.

“oh my gosh, i’m so sorry!” you ramble, face tomato red. “i’m not that used to buses, and-“

“it’s fine, are you alright?” rin’s trying hard to stop his own voice from wavering as well. the contact had flustered him, definitely. and why did you smell so nice? the sweet floral notes of whatever you were wearing had made their way up his nose and it was all he could smell now. oh, right. he still hadn’t found out what you were listening to.

you both brush yourselves off from the incident, choosing to ignore it for the greater mission: getting you a new guitar. upon arrival, the city is teeming with people, and rin’s afraid of losing you in the crowd.

“stay close to me,” he mutters, taking off in the direction of the music store. he allows you to press yourself next to him. you were in a new place, a bit nervous and probably scared, so this kind of contact was tolerable, right?

“a record shop?” you ask, reading the lit sign of the storefront.

“BLUE LOCK RECORDS” was, in fact, blazing in bright blue in front of you. 

“yeah, i’m friends with the family that owns this place,” rin answers, holding the door for you to walk through. 

“welcome to bl- rin! hey!” the boy lounging lazily at the cashier straightens up after spotting rin. 

“hey isagi.” rin turns back to you. “we were in a middle school band together,” he explains.

“rin was totally the star!” isagi adds, grinning at the memory.

“really? you play?” your tone is obviously curious, not at all masking the excitement you suddenly have. 

“i used to.” and rin leaves it at that, shooting isagi a look. the latter gulps, realizing something. “anyway, isagi, got any electric guitars? maybe some fenders?”

“we just received a shipment today actually, here,” isagi begins walking towards a section of the spacious shop, pointing at a wall. you gasp upon seeing rows atop rows of beautifully polished guitars, the metal glistening like morning dew. subconsciously, your fingers move to trace the cool ridges and groves of the instrument. without thinking, you’re drawn to one in specific. its a lustrous ocean blue, and you think it’s absolutely perfect. “this one, please,” you say, as if in a trance. you don't even bother to check the price tag.

“that’s the most expensive one on the floor right now,” isagi gasps, startled by your decisiveness. “it’ll be at least-“

rin glares at him.

“i mean, i’ll give you 50% off!” the boy hurriedly adds. you wonder what history the two have for rin to be that influential. 

when isagi rings you up at front, you’re pleasantly shocked to see the total much lower than you’d braced yourself for. shopping with a local really has its benefits!

and when you’re out of earshot, engrossed in examining the guitar, isagi lets his curiosity win.

“so, who’s that girl? and did you seriously quit?”

“that girl is my neighbor, and yes, why would i joke about quitting?” rin hisses. 

“are you into her or something? i never see you with the opposite gender!”

“shut the hell up,” he snaps.

“i’m just saying, if you want to slide me her number or something-“ rin clamps a hand over the banged boy’s mouth. 

“uhm, rin?” your voice echoes from somewhere up front. grateful for an excuse to leave isagi behind, rin darts out to find you. you’re staring at a quaint café across the street, full of patrons and boasting a sign “the best matcha you’ll find in town!”

“is that place any good?” you question him.

“i don’t like matcha-“ rin says, knowing where this was going. he watches as your face drops immediately, all glitter from your eyes fading. “but theirs is really good!” he finishes, a crooked grin pasted on his lips. he can hear isagi snickering behind you. yeah, isagi knew he despised those green drinks.

“great, let’s go!” and you begin dragging him by the hand outside, bidding farewell to isagi. rin, although he could have easily resisted, allows himself to be taken after you insist on paying for his drink.

“one iced americano please,” rin tells the waitress. the two of you were now seated at a small table inside, surrounded by other customers. he tries not to wince at how the place was buzzing with laughter and socialization; it’s not really his thing.

“and i’ll have an iced matcha latte, thank you!” you beam at the server, who jots down the order. you then proceed to glare at rin.

“seriously, who orders plain black coffee? at a place like this?”

“i, uhm, had so much of their matcha that i got sick of it.” he’s lying through his teeth by now.

when the drinks are delivered, you wordlessly slide yours towards him.

“at least have a sip, you didn’t need to order something cheaper just because i’m paying,” you frown, looking at the boy across from you. rin gulps. truly, he just didn’t like matcha—but you seemed to be extremely passionate about it. so he forces himself to have just a sip.

he blinks. it’s pleasantly…refreshing? 

“still good, right?” you snatch your cup back, taking a lengthy sip. 

“i guess,” itoshi rin admits. it’s weird, how you were able to make his day just that much sweeter.

ılılılılılılı TRACKLIST. ALL ALBUMS.

open taglist! comment for add. @levihanmyotp @megumismyhusband @shumeow-h @suksatoru @kaz-0e @chuurinnie @lukapurin @luvrrin @yuukiririix @lovelymeguru @jxst0yuukii @idexmids @vellichorira @venusss-ss @mixolya @x3nafix @p1z-d0n7jud6em3 @ashiraismyname @ihe4rtme

[naturesapphic]

hear me out, a forbidden lovers fic with the reader being a popstar-ish singer (like picture reader being a tate mcrae / liv rodrigo / chappell-esque celeb) and is a part of a record label that's competitors with billie's record label and everybody online is trying to make them out to be enemies and pit them against each other but in reality, they're secretly dating each other and the only ppl that know are claudia and finneas.

Secretly Lovers

Billie eilish x popstar!fem!reader

Warnings: hurt/comfort, fluff, cussing, angst

The internet was an amazing place. It has its goods and it definitely has its bads. You were a famous popstar and almost everyone knew your name, even if they didn’t like your music, they still knew who you were like everyone else in the world. Your fans adore you and always protected you, but sometimes it can be a bit much. They can start drama out of a misinterpreted photo or video with another celeb and they will go absolutely nuts.

They will make up lies and make the other person the bad guy when in reality the person you were with was a friend or just a nice encounter you had. This time they chose the Billie eilish. You and Billie have been friends for a bit but no one knew y’all had a friendship since y’all don’t post each other. That was mainly because of y’all’s record label. Your and Billie’s record labels were against each other and always tried to one up another, but you and Billie didn’t care.

So when a paparazzi photo came out with you and Billie everyone lost their shit, pining the two of you against each other. You and Billie barely go on social media so when y’all did, the two of you were very surprised by the drama. It wasn’t even “drama”, it’s just a bunch of lies put together to make something that it’s not. You started laughing at it because you couldn’t believe how some of your fans are trying to start shit when there’s no shit to start.

The reality of all this is that you and Billie are secretly dating. You started seeing each other about a year ago and before that y’all were friends for a couple of years. The only people who knew of this was Billie’s brother and girlfriend. No one else knew and that was the safest option right now. If y’all’s record labels found out, there was a possibility that they could drop you, even though that’s the dumbest thing they could do, some other record label would come on and swoop in to take y’all but y’all weren’t worrying about that.

“Baby look at this shit.” Billie said as you were on her bed, sitting beside her. “What the fuck.” You said as you watched another hate video, this one saying some pretty hurtful stuff towards the two of you. “That’s pathetic.” You replied as Billie continues to scroll on her phone when she gets a call from her record label. She sighs and gets up from the bed to go answer it while you stayed and watched her go into the bathroom. She came back out a few minutes later with a glare plastered on her face, making you instantly worry.

“Baby what’s wrong?” You say getting up and going over to you, she looked like she was about to cry. “Stupid fucking record label! They called me to say that they don’t want us near each other. At all. Like what the fuck! It’s our fucking lives!” She exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air, while you stood there stunned at her words. “T-they actually said t-that?” You asked in complete disbelief. She nodded as she sat on the bed, breathing in and out deeply. You sat by her and took her hands in yours, rubbing them softly. “No matter what anyone says. I’m with you. Fuck my label. They can’t tell me who to see or not to see. They aren’t going to control my life like this. They can’t keep me away from you billie.” You said, using of your hands to lift her chin up so you could look into her eyes.

Her eyes started watering as she hears your words come out of your mouth and she leans over to place a soft kiss to your lips. “They can’t keep me away from you angel. We are in the together. Always.” She whispers against your lips as y’all hold each other in y’all’s arms. Things may be crazy right now but with Billie by your side, everything will be okay.

A/n: thank you for the request @bleedingpearls ! I hope you and everyone else enjoyed! Halloween/fall/kinktober requests are still open for all characters I write! Remember to stay hydrated and to rest! Take care of yourselves. I love y’all! :) <3

[r6eduss]

I really wish you’d make up your mind.

•Summary: Daryl comes over for a smoke, who knew things would get so deep? (Fem reader)

•Warnings: 18+, Drug use, a teeny tiny bit suggestive but no smut, mentions of abuse, Stoner!Reader, Angst.

•Word Count: 2.3k.

•Setting: The Commonwealth

•A/N: Heavily inspired by Kimdracula by deftones. I have always thought Daryl is deathly afraid of labels on relationships, so here’s me implementing that into my writing. I love writing for the commonwealth era also let’s also pretend deftones lines up with twd timeline 🫢

Tension.

Tension was always the main thing between you and Daryl. For the longest time since the farm, you two have had something—something that can’t be explained by just simple words.

The both of you have kissed before, but for some reason never have said anything of it. Most people thought you two were a couple, but you don’t know what you two are. one thing for sure, is that you love each other. Platonic or not, you both have always stuck out for each other and world knows Daryl would fight to the ends of the earth to keep you and the rest of his family alive and safe.

Though right now, you haven’t seen much of Daryl, and that’s surprising considering he was your neighbor. Everyone from Alexandria have still been settling in, and he’s been incredibly busy, so have you with your new job settlement.

Suddenly being employed in the apocalypse definitely left you stoked, but you kind of enjoyed it unlike Daryl and the others. It was a bittersweet feeling, left you thinking maybe the world still does have a chance.

With some of the hard earned money that you managed to work up, you decided to head to town looking for music. It’s always been a huge comfort for you, helping you overcome challenges you had to face even before the fall, and you hoped maybe they had some of your favorite albums. Your eyes were set on the storefront at the end of the block, and you soon approached. A sign hung above it, faded but clear. “The Record Shop” and a faint sound of music leaked through the door. On entering, hearing the door chime you’re greeted with a familiar face.

“Welcome!- Oh shit hey!” It was Princess’ shift today, and honestly it was rather refreshing to see her face, you haven’t seen really anybody else you had known.

Looking around for a moment, you take in the decorations. You soon face Princess, giving her a warm smile.

“Hey! How have you been?”

“It’s been great! It’s been great.. How about you?” She responded, excited to be speaking with you.

“I’ve been good! I’m glad things are going well for you Princess.” You were kind of lying, things weren’t really good for you.. it’s been hard adjusting to this kind of life, you’ve always felt as if the apocalypse saved you in a way.

“I’m happy for you dude! Well did you come here to buy something?”

“Yeah actually, do you guys have deftones?” You were hoping to god they did. You were in such a need to listen to your favorite album, and the last time you did was years ago.

You can see her lips curve into a small smirk, as she points to the left. “Yep! All the way to the last aisle on the left.”

You’ve never felt as happy as you felt now.

“Thanks!” You quickly pick up your feet, rushing to the aisle that Princess pointed to. Upon arrival, you quickly scan the area in attempts to find your favorite album “Saturday Night Wrist”.

All you could spot was Around the Fur and White pony as you sifted through the records, fingers brushing against the glossy covers, the album you were looking for nowhere in sight. To be honest, you were a little disappointed, until you spot that beautiful untouched record hidden behind one of the Metallica covers right next to the ones you were looking through. It was very obviously the last one in stock.

You bit your lip while smirking in happiness, grabbing the album and basking in it, the cover still haunting and beautiful just as you remembered. After about 30 seconds of reminiscing, you head to the checkout where Princess was.

“That all?”

“Yep!”

“That’s 30!”

You hand her a 20 and a 10, and she proceeds to print out your receipt. “It was so good seeing you! And hey, don’t be a stranger!” She hands you what you came there for, and waves you off with a grin. You politely tell her goodnight and make your way to your apartment.

A few days ago you had asked Daryl and Judith if you could borrow that record player he had bought for her, since you were planning on buying some music. Of course they agreed, so you knew exactly what you were doing when you got home.

Just as you got to your destination, you spotted Daryl walking up to his own apartment, quickly taking notice of you. “Hey Daryl.” You already felt a bit tense, Daryl looked incredibly exhausted.

“Hey.”

Well this was kind of awkward, you greeted him but didn’t really know how to continue the conversation, until an idea sprang through you. “I uh, finally bought some music. Wanna join me in listening and have a smoke?” He seems like he could use a get away, and you have just the remedies to relax him.

You watched as he looks down at the floor, biting the inside of his lip before responding while slightly nodding his head. “Yea, Yea sure. Ya stayin’ up?” He started to swirl his thumbs together, you always thought it was really cute when he did that.

“Yeah, for a bit. C’mon I’m so excited to unwrap this.” You used your key to unlock your apartment door and enter, leaving the door open for Daryl as he quickly proceeds behind you.

He closes the door behind you both, locking it and following you to your room. It was dimly lit, bathed in the soft glow of candles around. “Hold this.” You hand Daryl the vinyl, before walking over to your drawer, pulling out rolling paper, an herb grinder, a lighter, and some weed. “Sorry, give me a second to do this, then we can put the album on the record player.” He nods, and goes to sit down on the corner of your neatly folded bed.

You go about crushing the marijuana, feeling the uncomfortableness of the situation seep into you. You and Daryl haven’t seen each other in weeks, now all of a sudden you invited him in for a smoke?

The silence starts becoming painfully sharp, so you begin at your poor attempts at starting conversation. “So how have you been settling in?” He looks up, staring at your figure then at your face, watching your movements as you proceed to add the cannabis onto the rolling paper. “I’ve been ‘Ight.” Wow. Was he normally this bland?

“Hm, that’s good. How are the kids?” Please Daryl, give a response that you can actually open a conversation to.. “They been good. Judith is doin’ better than her whole class.”

Finally, something worth answering. Your heart warms up for a moment, remembering that the kids are finally getting a real experience of what school is. You and Daryl are both incredibly thankful that the children are going to have a chance at a semi normal childhood.

“I’m not surprised at all.. Judith is so smart.” You finished up rolling the joint, sealing it with a lick. You turn to face the man you’ve grown to love, passing it to him while taking the record out of his hands, pulling out the vinyl from its frame and heading to where the record player is. This entire situation has got you feeling excited, being able to finally listen to one thing you missed before the dead rose, and doing it with your favorite person. You carefully place it onto the record player, moving the tonearm and playing it.

The first song that played was Hole in the Earth, and it gave you a type of skin crawling sensation that you just couldn’t explain.

Turning to Daryl, you take back the joint and light it. If you weren’t so focused on what you were doing, you would’ve noticed how he was staring at you, admiring everything you were doing, noticing how you felt when the music started playing, and being so entranced with how your hips swayed.

You took your first hit, soon after passing it to Daryl so he can also take a draw. He grabs the joint but he doesn’t bring it to his lips right away. He keeps his gaze on your face, looking you over before taking a deep inhale. He lets the smoke slowly spill from his mouth, while carefully making sure to blow it away from you. He passes it back to you, still maintaining eye contact. The tension was overbearing, and by the way he was looking at you, it was almost impossible not to feel flutters in your stomach.

The slow, moody guitar riff filling the space between you both accompanied with the scent of burning sage lingering in the air mixing with the sharp tang of weed, was making the tension rise all the more. You took a slow drag from the joint, eyes never leaving his, exhaling lazily and letting the smoke swirl between the two of you.

“You okay?” You ask, your voice light and teasing, catching the twitch of nerves in him. Daryl gave a small grunt, nodding and shifting his weight, his gaze flickering between your lips and the joint. He wasn’t used to moments like this—quiet, intimate.

You smiled gently, a little sly, while slowly leaning closer, feeling buzzed while the drug does its job. “Wanna shotgun it?”

Daryl swallowed hard. He wasn’t expecting something so bold, it’s not like you. But the idea of your lips so close, sharing the smoke between you, sent a ripple of emotion through him. So he gave you a nod, wanting more of this confident side of you.

You took another slow hit, eyes smoldering as you leaned in, lips barely parting. “Come here.” You whispered.

Daryl hesitated for a fraction of a second before leaning forward, feeling the heat of your breath as you exhaled into his mouth, smoke filling his lungs. All he could focus on was how close you were, the smell of your hair, and how beautiful you looked.

Before either of you could stop, the moment stretched, and your lips hovered near his. There was a beat, then two, before instinct took over. You closed the gap, pressing your mouth softly against his. Daryl was left caught off guard, still kissing you back.

The music throbbed around you as the kiss deepened, a mixture of nerves and heat rising. The joint, forgotten and placed onto the ashtray as Daryl’s hand found its way on your back, pulling you closer.

The kiss lingered longer than either of you expected. Your lips were soft and tasted of marijuana. He found himself sinking into the warmth of the moment, the aroma that had been hanging between you dissolving into something he wasn’t sure how to handle. His hands, rough and scarred, tightened around your waist, but there was a gentleness in the way he held you that surprised even him.

You kissed him slowly, as if you had all the time in the world, and Daryl could feel something stir inside him, something unfamiliar, almost unsettling. It wasn’t the impulsive thrill of survival, or the adrenaline of his attempts to protect himself from his father, it was something softer. Something he hadn’t felt in a long time, if ever. His mind was racing, trying to make sense of the warmth spreading through his chest, the vulnerability.

You pulled back just a little, breath still warm on his lips, and your forehead resting lightly against his. You smiled, eyes searching his to try and figure him out.

Suddenly, it hit him.

He wasn’t used to this, wasn’t built for it. The closeness, the intimacy, the unspoken understanding in the way you looked at him. He was a man of instinct, not one for quiet moments that left him raw and uncertain. He wasn’t sure what he expected when your lips first met, but this— whatever this was, was way more than he could handle.

Daryl blinked, pulling back a few inches, breaking the connection between you. His hand, still on your waist, fell away, as if it had become too heavy to hold them there any longer.

“I— I cant.” He muttered, the words rough, barely forming in his throat. He stood up abruptly, moving his wavy locs from his face, stepping back as if the space between you could somehow shield him from the feelings creeping up inside him.

You looked up at him, confused. “What are we Daryl?” He can’t just kiss you then walk away? What was this?

“I don’t know.” He responded low, looking at the ground, anywhere but your face. You could hear your favorite song begin to play on the record player, this is not how you would’ve wanted to enjoy it for the first time in years.

“I should get goin’” he mumbled, already heading for the door.

You didn’t stop him, instead, feeling the tears swell up in your eyes, you responded with a simple “okay”.

He paused at the door, his hand resting at the handle. He could hear the sadness in your voice, but he didn’t look back. He couldn’t. If he did, he might see something in your eyes that would make it even harder to walk away.

“I’ll see ya ‘round,” he muttered, before leaving your room and heading for your front door, exiting your apartment. You began to cry, feeling confused and angry, sitting alone in your room listening to your song, comforting you, just like it did before the fall. As Daryl was still processing it all, the night air hit him, clearing his mind a bit but not enough to shake this unfamiliar weight in his chest.

He wasn’t sure what had just happened, all he knew was that it was too much, too real, and it scared him. He wasn’t the type to let anyone in, and yet, in that small dim lit room, he had felt something that had shook him to his core.

But for now, he pushed it down, like he always did, and walked away.

@vampiresluv

[calebs-anchor]

Caleb Character Analysis part 1: The Ever Experiments

(This is mostly lifted from a video I posted on tiktok, with some slight changes/clarifications)

The first and most important thing to keep in mind here is that, according to his anecdote 'Pathless Realm', Caleb has suffered from dissociative amnesia throughout his life. I'm obviously not a psychologist, but based on some light research this basically seems to mean that he has mentally blocked out a lot of the traumatic memories of what happened during the experiments, so while he is definitely aware of them he doesn't remember exactly what happened.

This isn't the same as MC, who loses all or most of her memories every time she is killed and resurrected, but it's worth noting they both have issues with their memories & remembering the details of their trauma, and neither can give us the full picture of what happened in their childhoods.

We can also make note that Caleb was recorded to be 9-10 years old while the experiments were happening. This adds an interesting layer to the fact that Caleb constantly tries to take blows for MC and endures trauma so that she doesn't have to. Throughout all of this he was barely less of a child than MC was, but because he is the slightest bit older (and also because it seems that Josephine often left her under his care growing up while she was working) he sees himself as responsible for her wellbeing. This, in some sense, causes Caleb to see himself as older and more mature than he actually is. He was forced to become a caretaker/guardian figure and take on a lot of adult responsibilities at a very young age, which is why he's also so averse to showing vulnerability like we see in 'Hidden Waves'. He feels that if he can't be the mature, unwavering "pillar of strength" that he thinks MC needs him to be, he is failing to be good enough to protect the person he loves the most.

Now let's get into the actual contents of the experiments. We already know what happened to MC from World Underneath, but for anyone needing a refresher she was used for the Aether Core in her heart and her Resonance Evol, and was repeatedly killed so that the researchers could observe her coming back to life with the intention of using her to unlock the secret to immortality. However, things aren't quite as clear cut for Caleb. The only main sources we have are from his first trailer, which says that "They are the optimal weapon for destroying one another" and a few passages from his anecdote, such as:

"He knows he's always been good at destroying delicate things. The people behind the observation window say that the test subject will become a force comparable to a black hole given time. Not even light could escape it."

From these sources we can gather that Caleb was also used for his Evol with the aim of creating black holes (something we know he is able to do as of 'Homecoming Wings') and that he and MC were made to be able to counter each other, likely as a safeguard. Since they were both extremely powerful, the idea of them being optimal for destroying each other perhaps suggests that they were designed so that if MC's power became too dangerous Caleb could be used to destroy her and vice versa.

We can also gather that Caleb was labelled/labels himself as inherently destructive and dangerous. This seems to have had a long term effect on his self image, as the line from his anecdote establishes that this is something "he knows" and believes to be true, affecting the way that he sees himself especially in comparison to MC. I have a video going slightly more into this on my tiktok page, but essentially Caleb seems to see himself as inherently destructive and bad, while MC is an embodiment of goodness and warmth: the "black hole" that even light can't escape VS the "Unicorn" that brings eternal life. This is potentially why he takes on the role of protecting MC so intensely, as he thinks he deserves the suffering more than she does and is willing to take abuse on her behalf to protect her.

It becomes even more interesting if we consider the religious themes of their storyline with all the references to Adam & Eve, paradise and sin. Caleb views himself as inherently "sinful", just like the original sin described in the Bible that all humans are born with because of Adam & Eve. The only way to cleanse oneself of original sin is to submit to God, the embodiment of goodness and purity, and so Caleb, in a way, submits himself to MC. We have seen how highly he thinks of her, as he frequently describes her as "the best of the best", says that he thinks the world doesn't deserve her, and on multiple occasions comments that he thinks that anything that stands against her shouldn't exist or should disappear.

In short Caleb doesn't just love MC, he reveres her in a way that borders on religious and is willing to devote himself entirely to her service. That's why even from a young age he has taken on the role of protecting & serving MC, giving her almost anything she asks for, doing almost anything she wants, and making sure that no matter what she always feels like she is safe and happy and that he will always be there for her. I think he feels that by doing this, he is atoning for his "original sin" of simply existing as himself. He feels that if he can adequately "serve" MC, if someone as good and pure and warm as her can love or even just approve of him, it can make up for all of his feelings of guilt and sin and destructiveness. She is his salvation.

This is already a lot on his shoulders, but if we go back to the experiments I think there is one more thing at the source of Caleb's guilt, one big example of his destructiveness that serves as the main reason he sees himself the way he does: the Chronorift Catastrophe.

As we've already established, Caleb's Evol is capable of creating black holes/wormholes, so it's not unreasonable to think that he could have been used to open the Deepspace Tunnel (intentionally or not). However this would take a lot of power, more than I think a 9 year old boy would be able to achieve, unless we consider the fact that MC may have used Resonance to boost his power to the necessary level (and likely killing herself in the process). This then is their shared sin, like the sin shared between Adam & Eve when they both bit the apple, and it's one that neither seems to remember due to their respective memory loss issues. If this is the case, it gives us yet another reason for Caleb's inherent feelings of guilt: whether he knows it or not, he was directly responsible for the event that almost destroyed humanity and caused MC, the person he cherishes most, some of her deepest lasting traumas. It's yet another thing he feels the need to make up for by protecting her.

It's also how they both manage to escape the labs before later reuniting at the shelter (although I have seen speculation that the "shelter" actually was the experiment facility and that Caleb is lying to MC about it, but I'm not sure whether I agree with this based on what we've seen). When they do reunite MC doesn't remember who Caleb is, marking just one of many times that he has to reintroduce himself to her. This is another one of the "duties" he takes on for her, promising to always be there to remind her who they both are and swearing to be by her side forever. I think this is another reason that Caleb is so obsessed with having MC by his side: not just because that's what he promised her, but because he's afraid that if he's not there to remind her who he is she might one day forget him forever.

He also chooses never to remind MC of what happened to them during the experiments, or at least what he remembers of it himself. The reasoning of this is obvious, Caleb doesn't want her to be upset or in any way traumatised by it, so if there's a way to let her forget all about it he'll let her. However, I think it's significant that from a young age he chooses to take on this burden by himself for the both of them, as this will become a running them as I cover more of his cards & storylines.

[lurkerdemon]

Random DP x DC Thought #7:

(More of a long drabble-ish one this time pulling from more fanon AU bits)

(Please let me know if I should edit the tag cause I'm not entirely sure what people label it usually)

Danny Fenton has a secret.

And it's not the one you're thinking.

Danny Fenton has a secret.

And he hopes the risk of telling is enough to save his town.

- - - -

Danny's life is a mess of ghost fights, school, and repressing the terror of many what ifs. Until eventually he thinks he's ready. His friends and Jazz are there and he tells his parents what happened. What happened to him.

And they're devastated. Torn about their work and what it did- at what they did- to their son. What they've been doing. Every word and shot and gadget.

So the afterwards was a little shaky for the Fenton family, but to Danny things finally seemed to be looking up. Weapons around the house were finally removed and dismantled. They listened about what could still be used in a more humane way of catching ghosts. Heck, team Phantom could finally trust that the Drs. Fentons showing up meant that they take a break and while his parents get the ghosts out and safe before the GIW could get them.

(Well, after some more talks about their own property damage and overzealous track record.)

So of course it was just Danny's luck that a new group showed up.

The GIW were incompetent at best and a safety hazard at worst. The new group was decidedly not. They definitely seemed more trained, had a lot more organization, and apparently a lot more sway.

First it just meant ghost fights got a lot more dangerous for Danny again.

Then it meant "random" checks for "hazardous environmental material."

And then it meant days where people didn't show up at school.

His parents were being ignored. And after one too many attempts to talk to the agency they were pretty sure their house was being monitored. They did their best to make sure ghosts stopped coming through while Phantom would catch the stragglers.

But all of them were scared, and they knew it. The whole town was giving knowing looks to each other. But sending calls out just meant having an agent show up at your door the next day. Trying to leave meant hearing your neighbor "went to visit family" or "took a vacation."

And Danny has an idea. One that makes his skin crawl and his throat taste like bile. But he gathers his family and friends anyway, and whiles he's not ready to tell them everything but he does ask one thing.

"Whatever happens, can you trust me?"

- - - -

It's a normal day of patrolling Fawcett city, helping a lady get her cat down from a tree, and just enjoying flying for Captain Marvel when he sees the pair of glowing greens eyes.

And at first Billy thinks he might be seeing things. But it's been following him all day, and Solomon keeps whispering something every time. So when it starts to get dark and the eyes are easier to see, he decides to take a (probably stupid) risk and follow whatever weird magic racoon came to his city this week.

He's guessing that's what it wants because pretty soon they're staying in his field of view and glancing at him every now and again as they move further out from the city. And Billy is just starting to consider calling up the JL when they cross state borders before the eyes start going down to the ground and stop. They're at a pretty dense forest of some hills, stars poking through the clouds and Billy can see an observatory off in the distance.

The two stare at each other.

"Hi. Do you need help?" Cap tries.

The eyes nod.

"Okay. So you brought me here. Is there something you need to show me?"

They nod again, and look down.

"Alright. Is it okay if I come closer?"

No response this time. Just more staring at the ground.

"I'm gonna take that as a yes."

Slowly Marvel touches down next to them. He approaches with his hands open and in view.

"Hey. It's gonna be okay. If you need help then I'm sure-"

They turn to stare at him and Billy feels them bore into his soul. The green light brightens, and he can see the disturbed dirt that has been overgrown but still sticks out compared to the rest of the forest floor. He feels Solomon whisper about the dead and burial. He feels the air freeze in a way that his magic form doesn't feel the normal weather.

And then the eyes are gone, and he is left standing alone.

So after taking many deep breaths (he punches stuff, investigating murder was Batman's thing! Or Flash's!) Billy pulls out his comm and calls the JL.

And then calls again. And again.

And then he flies upward and tries again.

What was with the reception in this place?

- - - -

Danny Fenton was 14 when his parents portal changed him.

Danny Fenton was 14 when his friends saw it spit something.

Danny Fenton was 14 when he transformed back and his friends rushed him to the hospital.

Danny Fenton was 14 when he eventually was discharged back home and accidentally phased through his house.

Danny Fenton was 14 when that sent him into the back wallspace of the lab behind the portal.

Danny Fenton was 14 when he saw his own body there.

Danny Fenton was 14 when he buried it.

Danny Fenton was 14.

And Danny Fenton has a secret no else knows.

[a-dauntless-daffodil]

Vaggie: “Babe, you have an amazing brain, love everything going on in there-”

Charlie: “Thank you!”

Vaggie: “-but we need a LITTLE bit of organization or we’re NEVER gonna remember what great ideas you had five minutes ago.”

Charlie: “Wait, what great idea did I have five minutes ago???”

Vaggie: “I don’t know. You scribbled it on a napkin and there’s like, five hundred of those scattered around our room.”

Charlie: “Aw shoot.”

Vaggie: “Some of them are folded in the shape of swans?"

Charlie: "Nnnoooo I've been trying so hard not to DO that so much!!!"

Vaggie: "It’s, pretty impressive honestly.”

Charlie: (huffs) “Okay. Fine. Maaaybe you’re right. Maybe I might have a slight, uh, organizing thoughts problem.”

Vaggie: “No worries sweetie, I have a solution.”

Vaggie: (dramatically steps aside) “BAM!”

Charlie: “OH OH VAGGIE! YOU GOT ME METAL BOXES~!”

Vaggie: “They’re filing cabinets.”

Charlie: “OHHHHH!!!”

Charlie: “…..”

Charlie: “How… how do we activate the filing cabinets?”

Vaggie: “You put your ideas in folders, label the tabs on the folders, put them in a drawer, and label each drawer. Then when you’re looking for something you just open the drawer and-”

Charlie: “Bam?”

Vaggie: “Bam. There it is. The brilliant ideas of Charlie Morningstar.”

Charlie: “As organized by Vaggie, her amazing wonderful super smart and beautiful girlfriend!!!!!”

Vaggie: (chuckling) “I don’t think looking good has anything to do with organizing…”

Charlie: “Hmm, you still are though, miss good looking. Annnnnd it DOES have a lot to do with what I’m thinking about right now.”

Vaggie: “What’re you thinking, Charlie?”

Charlie: (grins)

Vaggie: “…really? Right here, in front of our new cabinets?”

Charlie: “Heheh. I like it when stuff is ‘ours’~”

Vaggie: “Why do I get the feeling the first recorded thoughts of Charlie Morningstar are gonna have to be filed under ‘for our eyes only’.”

Charlie: “Your smirk would have to go there too then. But does this mean it’s a good idea!?”

Vaggie: “Definitely.”

Charlie: “WOO! Kisses kisses kisses-”

Vaggie: “AFTER we’ve cleaned up all these napkins. AND have neatly folded the ones that aren’t already swans.”

Charlie: “Wh- but- but there’s almost five hundred of them!! The kisses-?”

Vaggie: “One kiss per every fifty napkins, how’s that sound?

Charlie: (pouting) “Insufficient kiss ratio.”

Vaggie: “Sorry, but as much as organizing your brain turns me on, the storm of paper in here is kinda a total mood killer. No way I can focus on anything with this mess everywhere. So. Start cleaning.”

Charlie: “I’m starting to think writing on napkins was my worst idea yet…”

Vaggie: “Could’ve been worse. Could’ve been paper airplanes again.”

Charlie: “THEN I could’ve just thrown them all out the window! Be free! Fly!!! Shoo! Let me make out with my girlfriend in peace!”

Vaggie: “Ha!”

Charlie: “…. Vaggie. What if we-”

Vaggie: “Charlie no.”

Charlie: “Oh come on! Swans can fly!”

Vaggie: “Not when they’re fancy origami ones that we’ll just have to clean up later anyway.”

Charlie: “Feh. Stupid ideas on stupid napkins.”

Vaggie: “Would one kiss per every two dozen napkins make you feel better?’

Charlie: “Yes.” (deep sigh) “But I’ve only folded ten.”

Vaggie: “Perfect, I’ve done fourteen, so that makes two dozen.”

Charlie: “Wh-”

Vaggie: “Kiss ratio completed.”

Charlie: “It’s based on our combined number???”

Vaggie: “Why not. You like it when stuff is ‘ours’, don’t you.”

Charlie: “….yesthankyouiloveyouonekissplease.”

- a few several many moments later –

Charlie: “….”

Charlie: “I’m suddenly getting the idea that… those were way more than one kiss.”

Vaggie: “I don’t care and wasn’t keeping count. File it under ‘Vaggie can’t multitask for shit’.”  

Charlie: “Mmm, ehhh. I think we just need a ‘Vaggie has AMAZING focus while kissing, but specifically only on the actual kissing’ folder instead.”

Vaggie: “Are you trying to get me to kiss you again.”

Charlie: “Is it working?”

Vaggie: (shoving napkins in her hands) “Here. Fold.”

Charlie: “I’m filing that under a yes~”

Vaggie: “Charlie. Fold. NOW.”

Charlie: “Hm-hmm-hm-hmmm~” (folding at lightspeed) “My newest great idea is that we should get even MORE filing cabinets.”

Vaggie: “Oh for-”(throws aside napkins) “-fuck’s sake-” (gives up and kisses her again)

[chamomiletealeaf]

Sweet as Pie

Chapter 5

Warnings: mommy kink, praise kink, sex muahahaha, slight drinking, tooth rotting sweetness tbh

About a month has gone by filled with walks, long talks, laughs, and delicious dinners between you and Simon. You cooked for him every time you were both home at the same time and even went food shopping together once. Spending time together became a habit, and you two started to have withdrawals from each other when you spent a few days apart. But, even away from each other, there was always something there to remind one of the other.

For you, little jars of honey at the supermarket or in your home, honey bees, and anything with a cute little skull or ghost reminded you of Simon. He told you about his time in the military as well as his counter, Ghost. And the bees and honey reminded you of his eyes, since you always thought they were the same color. Little did he know, that's why you always called him honey in the first place.

For Simon, his reminder of you was any type of pie, since you were just as sweet as one. Peaches reminded him of you as well because it was the scent of your shampoo and was the first pie you ever made him. Anything even remotely sweet reminded him of you too. But what reminded him of you the most, was the unexpected sight he saw in the mirror.

"What the-" Simon said as he was getting dressed after his morning shower. He looked in his mirror as he tried to pull his sweatpants up, fitting a bit tighter than they normally did. He untied the drawstring and stretched out the waistband so the pants would sit comfortably around his hips, which he never had to do before. Before he put his shirt on, he looked in the mirror again at his figure in confusion.

Why did everything feel tighter all of a sudden? He thought.

As Simon stared at himself in his body length mirror, he noticed a soft layer of fat pillowing his thick muscles. His muscles were still incredibly defined, but just the tiniest bit softer. His thighs, arms, and ass were definitely thicker, but what he noticed most of all, was the slight softness of his tummy and the little pudge that came with it.

That definitely was not there before. He thought as he turned in the mirror, making sure he was seeing this correctly, a confused and disbelieving expression on his face.

But then, he thought about all the food you have so kindly made for him and put all of your love into. And damn was it good.

The weight he was gaining was healthy. It showed him that he was finally relaxing, and it reminded him of the affection and care you showed him. Simon was finally learning to enjoy life, all thanks to you.

His shocked expression then softened into a smile.

Then, he remembered that he was supposed to go over for some drinks with you tonight, and his smile grew even bigger. Maybe he would get a chance to do something nice for you in return.

You spent the day preparing for the evening, doing everything you could to make the time pass in anticipation. You loved spending time with Simon, and every time you two saw each other, the stars shined brighter that night.

You asked him to come over for some drinks tonight, so you went out to get something he would like. He mentioned he liked bourbon, but you wanted to try something different with him tonight.

So, after standing in the liquor aisle of the tiny local store nearby for what felt like hours, you finally chose something. It was classic, yet rugged like him. You picked up the bottle and smiled down at it noting the liquid's honey hue that was the exact same as Simon's eyes, and placed it in your basket with the label facing up that read:

Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey

-

As the night fell, and you prepared your house for Simon's company, you found yourself getting even more giddy with every passing second.

You set out the glasses on the living room coffee table, had your record player out, turned on the fairy lights decorating the walls of the room, had a fire burning in the fire place, and even made a cute little platter of fruit and crackers as a little snack in case Simon got hungry.

Meanwhile, Simon spent the day thinking of what to bring you. He knew nothing would make up for the hospitality and kindness you've shown him. But he tried anyway.

Simon was never affectionate. He never had time to feel. But you were different. You made him want to catch every star from your favorite constellation and place them in a jar for you to put by your bedside to look at every night before you went to sleep, lighting up your room the way you lit up his heart.

But alas, he didn't exactly have the equipment for that right now. Maybe a quick call to Price and he'd be better equipped. But for now, he settled with a bouquet of the prettiest flowers he could find consisting of Azaleas, Magnolias, and even Cornflowers walking around the little town in Georgia you both called home.

When the time finally came, after sitting around his house checking the clock every five minutes, Simon gathered the flowers and made his way to your house.

As you stood standing in your living room, staring at your records, trying to decide what to play, the knocking of your front door caused you to gasp, snapping you out of your deep thought.

You placed the albums down and scurried over to the door with a smile, and opened it to Simon returning the same smile.

"Hi hun" You said with a giggle.

"Hi." He said back softly.

You glanced down at the flowers in his hands, wild, messy, and organic, and he held them out to you.

"Oh here. I got these for you. Sorry, they're kinda wild looking but-"

"I love them." You cut him off.

"Oh Simon they're absolutely gorgeous!" You smile impossibly bigger as you reach for them, brushing your fingers over his.

"Come on in! I got somethin' special for you." You say.

"Ah love you always have something special for me." He says in response. "Feel bad I can never pay you back."

"Oh hush with all that." You scold, as you guide him into the house and close the door behind him. "All you gotta do for me sugar is keep me company and eat all that damn food I can't stop cookin'." You joke.

"Speakin' of which, I made a little plate of snacks if you get hungry." You guide him into the living room, showing him the platter you made before you leave him to get a vase in the kitchen for your flowers.

Simon stands, looking around the living room slowly, taking in the ambiance of it. It was so nice, unlike anything he's every seen or felt before. It was just so domestic and cozy.

The warm, soft light of the fairy lights, the glow of the fire, the record player and records that have clearly been used multiple times, the two glasses set out, the worn in couch, everything was so charming and it overwhelmed Simon.

You come back into the living room with a vase filled with water and the flowers he brought you, and you placed them in the middle of the coffee table.

"Oh now isn't that lovely." You say, admiring the colors of the flowers and how they light up the dim room. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Simon says back.

"You like Chris Stapleton?" You ask him, walking over to your record player, picking up the records sat atop of it that you abandoned mere minutes ago.

"Who?" He asks, and you turn to him mouth agape.

"What do you mean who?" You say, with a fake accusatory tone. "One of the best country voices out there baby."

You take out the record from Chris Stapleton's "Traveller" album and place it in the player. And after a few seconds, the first song begins to play, livening up the room that much more.

Then, you turn to Simon sitting on the couch, and see the two glasses on the table.

"Oh! I almost forgot! I gotta show you what I got today." You leave him again on the couch for the kitchen.

Simon laughs to himself, loving how you could never stay still. You were always bouncing from one place to another, eager to show him everything you wanted in the shortest amount of time as if he would run away if you took too long. But Simon would never leave you, not even if you took days.

"So I went out today to find us a nice lil' drink for tonight, and I thought we could try this. I've never had it before, and hopefully you'll like it. I know you like Bourbon but..." You hold the bottle of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey out and Simon smiles at how cute you are, presenting him the bottle like it's your most prized possession.

You sit next to him on the couch and go to open the bottle. You struggle a bit and Simon gently and slowly takes it from your hands, silently asking you to let him do it. You've done so much for him already.

"It's a classic. I'm sure I'll enjoy it. Thank you y/n." He says as he pours the honey colored liquid into the glasses.

You both clank your glasses together as a little "cheers" and take a sip.

"Mm. Damn that's better than I thought." You say, licking your lips and looking at Simon to get his opinion.

"Not bad. Who'd've thought I'd enjoy Whiskey." He smirks at you, and you giggle, relieved he enjoys it.

"I picked it out because it reminded me of the color of your eyes. It's an exact match." You state matter-of-factly, taking another sip.

Simon perks up a bit and his eyebrows shoot up in surprise, shocked that you even noticed the color of his eyes.

"R-really? You think so?" He asks taken aback by your statement.

"Yeah. They're both a deep, rich, honey color. That's actually why I call you honey sometimes. It's my favorite nickname for you."

You may have only taken two sips of the whiskey, but you spoke so truthfully and bluntly it seemed like you'd had 20.

"They're just brown." He mumbles, trying to hide his blush by taking a sip from the glass, hoping you'll think it's from the alcohol.

"No." You say, reaching your hand under his chin to tilt his face back up towards you, letting the fairy lights light up his eyes so you can get a better look. "They're definitely honey colored... honey." You tease him, and try to repress a smirk that creeps it's way onto your face anyway.

Simon's eyes widen and his lips separate slightly as his breath hitches at your assertiveness and touch.

Then, as you two stay in that position for a moment, you hear the intro to the third song on the record, which happens to be titled "Tennessee Whiskey", and is your favorite song on the album.

You gasp and look at the record player.

"Oh this one's my favorite! C'mon dance with me." You exclaim, setting your drink down and pulling him up with you, making him place drink down as well to not spill it.

"Hey! We're drinking Tennessee Whiskey just like the song says!" You giggle, giddy at the coincidence as you wrap your arms around his shoulders.

"I- I don't know how to dance." Simon says, standing still with his arms at his side while you sway with your arms around his shoulders.

"Neither do I." You comfort him. "Just sway, like this." You pick up his hands and place them on your waist, and he lets you. You two sway to the music playing while you hum along, and Simon's hands drop lower to rest on your hips.

You smile at him. "See, not too bad is it?" You tease.

Simon smiles back down at you, following your rhythm, hands still firmly resting on your hips, not daring to move any lower. The warm light of the fire and fairy lights illuminate Simon's eyes and emphasize the dip of his cheekbones and shading of the curve of his nose, and you smile to yourself at the confirmation that Simon's eyes, were in fact, the exact color of honey and Tennessee Whiskey.

Simon looks down at you, admiring the curve of your smile and how it crinkles your eyes, and how cute your soft humming of the melody is. You just felt so right in his hands.

Then, after a few moments of syncing your sways with each other, Simon grabs your hand and twirls you around, making you giggle.

But as you twirl around, you notice a cowboy hat hanging on a coat hanger by the door. It was an old one you really only had for decoration, but you thought Simon would look cute in it.

You grab Simon's hands off your hips and you smile at him, stepping away towards the door.

"Where you going? He asks softly, slight panic on his face as if he'd done something wrong.

You giggle again, and pick up the cowboy hat hanging by the door and hold it up, letting him see.

You walk towards him with it, and when you get close enough, right below his chin, you place it on his head with a chuckle.

"Oh god." Simon laughs, dipping his head down and his confused and worried look turned into one of humor.

"What? You look cute." You say smiling up at him as you place your hands back around his shoulders.

Simon brings his hands back to your hips, pulling you a little closer.

"Well, I think it would look cuter on you." He says, and picks the hat up off his head and places it on yours.

You gasp, looking up at him with wide eyes, then you pressed your lips together to hide a smile.

"I was right, you look cuter in it than I do.... What's that look for?" He asks.

You press your chest up against his as you lean your mouth up to his ear, both of your swaying never stopping.

"You know what the cowboy hat rule is?" You whisper to him with a smirk.

"No?" He asks confused, eyebrows furrowing as he waits for you to explain.

"You see." You giggle. "You wear a cowboy's hat, you gotta ride the cowboy." You say softly in his ear, biting your lip to suppress the smile that won't seem to go away. "And you, sugar bear, just placed yours right on my head."

You and Simon both stop swaying and look at each other. You look up at him and he looks down at you, his cheeks flushing pink and his hands never leaving your hips.

He looks down at you with wide eyes, then down to your lips, and you do the same.

Then he's pressing his lips onto yours. His hands squeeze your hips and you wrap your arms tighter around his shoulders.

You both kiss each other in the light of the fire right in the middle of your living room. It all felt so perfect.

You then take your hands and place them on the sides of his face as you both pull away for air. You lightly rub your thumbs over his blushing cheeks and he doesn't move. You stare at each other in disbelief of what just happened, but then this time, you both go back in for another kiss.

It's even more heated this time as you walk Simon back towards the couch, his tongue making its way into your mouth.

The kiss is messy and slow, filled with lust and all that pent up pining finally being released.

You take off the cowboy hat and place it next to the both of you on the couch, breaking the kiss only to gently push Simon's chest to sit. You straddle his waist and place your hands on his chest, moving in to kiss him again, just as messy and slow as before. He runs his hands up and down from your waist to your hips, then he stays there, gripping them tight as you softly grind down on him.

"Fuck." Simon whispers breathlessly. He's only ever dreamed of this moment for so long.

You run your hands up his chest to cup his face again.

"Such a pretty boy." You coo at him, then kiss him again.

Simon whines into your mouth at the praise, letting himself fall apart in your hands.

"Please." Simon whimpers.

"Please what honey?"

"Please... been waiting for this for so long. Please... ride me."

You smile against his lips, your hands still holding his face.

"Well, we wouldn't want to break the cowboy hat rule now would we?" You tease him as one hand slowly drags down from his face, all the way down to his belt.

You undo Simon's belt with one hand and reach it in his jeans to stroke him, earning a whimper from him as he bucks his hips up into your hand.

"Yeah, like that baby? How's that feel?" You coo in his ear as you nuzzle your face into his neck.

"Fuck mama, please, keep doing that." Simon drops his head back against the couch as you continue to tease him in his jeans.

You pull your face away from his neck to look at him, realizing what he called you.

"Mama?" You ask him with a smirk on your face, slowing your hand a bit.

Simon realizes what he said and his eyes widen in embarrassment as he lifts his head back up to look at you.

"Oh- fuck- sorry. It just slipped out-"

"Say it again." You demand placing your forehead on his, the hand around his leaking cock jerking him off faster, causing his precum to leak through his boxers.

Simon moans and his mouth drops open.

"Fuck- just like that mama, please." He whines.

"Aw good boy." You praise him, making his cock throb in your hand.

"Need you." He whispers, squeezing your hips again and you smile at him.

You take your hand out of his pants and move both of them to the hem of your sundress. You slowly pull your dress over your head, making a show out of it for him.

You sit straddling him, now in just a pair of cute powder blue panties, and you threw your dress to the side.

"Fuck love, you're perfect." Simon says breathlessly, moving his hands to grab at your tits.

He rubs a thumb over your nipple and you moan in response, lightly wrapping your hands around his wrists. You then bring one of his hands up to your mouth and suck on his thumb, which makes his hips buck up into you again.

You giggle at his sensitivity and eagerness and reach for the hem of his shirt, which he then quickly pulls off, revealing his broad, scarred chest.

You take a second to admire him with a soft smile on your face, then your hands move to the waistband of his open pants.

"Hips up baby." You say, and he obliges, allowing you to pull down his boxers and jeans until they fall around his ankles, which he then kicks off to the side with your dress.

"Can I take these off? Please?" He asks you with the cutest puppy eyes as he toys with the waistband of your panties.

"Well, since you asked so nicely sugar." You say, and he wastes no time tearing them off of your thighs.

"Need to feel you." Simon whines, pulling you by the hips to try and get you to grind against his painfully hard cock.

You lift your hips up to hover over his leaking cock as you place one hand under his chin and the other on his chest.

"And how do we ask baby?" You ask, titling your head to the side.

"Please mommy. Fuck me." He begs, close to tears from frustration and pure lust.

You then place both hands back against his chest and sink down onto him, making his head lull back as he chokes out a moan and grips your hips impossibly harder. You swear there will be bruises in the shape of his fingers there tomorrow, but you don't mind at all.

You move slowly, up and down, and back and forth, making Simon a panting mess underneath you.

"Been wanting this since the first time I saw you." Simon admits as you pick up your pace, "seeing you all pretty and smiley all the time. God fuck you're so tight. Squeezing me so good."

You moan as his thick cock stretches you out, hitting just the right spot inside you.

"Fuck baby- mm-" You moan and place your forehead against his again. "So pretty for me, letting me ride you. Sitting there and takin' it like a good boy. Been waiting for this too. Always eatin' everything I cook up for you with such a pretty lil' smile."

Your praise makes Simon's hips twitch, and he's fucking up into you now, meeting you halfway as you drop your hips up and down. He picks up the pace and now you have to catch up.

"Call me that again. Call me your good boy. Call me honey. Love when you're so nice to me." Simon babbles, his voice trembling as if he's about to cry, still bouncing you on his cock.

"Aww sweetheart I could never be mean to you. Ah- fuck- Such a good boy deserves to be treated like the sweetest pie hm? Deserves to get eaten up and fucked nice and good till he's dumb." You say, bringing a hand up to squeeze his cheeks.

Simon whimpers at your words and furrows his brows. No one has ever been so sweet to him, let alone fuck him so good.

"You gonna cum for me honey?" You coo at him, his lower tummy rubbing against your clit as you ride him, making your orgasm approach as well.

He nods with his face still held in your hands, cheeks all squished and flushed pink, his whiskey-colored eyes teary with pleasure.

His hips smack up into you from beneath, bouncing you on him. You let him fuck up into you but keep control while you continue to ride him as he does so, and it feels so good.

"Come on do it. Cum for me sugar." You say, both of your hips stuttering and your paces get sloppier. You're both panting messes as you bask in each other.

"Fuck mama, gonna cum. Oh fuck gonna cum mommy. Let me cum inside, please." He leans forward and nuzzles his face into your neck while pawing at your hips.

"Do it baby." You say, feeling yourself start to flutter around him as you feel that familiar warmth start to brew low in your belly.

And with that, you feel Simon cum inside you with a sob. You feel his thick, warm cum fill you up and you cum at the same time. You throw your head back as you pulsate around him, squeezing and releasing him with your walls as you feel yourself gush, warm tingles running through your body.

You both come down from your orgasms panting and moaning, one of your hands tangled in Simon's hair, keeping his face nuzzled into your neck.

He thrusts shallowly a few more times and then leans back to look at you, his cock still inside you.

His cheeks are still flushed the prettiest pink and you reach your hand out to his face to wipe away stray tears of pleasure that escaped their way out of his eyes.

He couldn't help but let his emotions take over him. How could he contain himself when everything he's ever needed and wanted was given to him all in the same night?

He places his forehead against yours once again wrapping his arms around your waist while you wrap yours around his shoulders.

As you both catch your breath, you both let out breathy laughs in realization of what just happened.

"Stay the night." You whisper to him.

"Love, I'd stay forever if you asked."

Taglist: @pussypinkbarbie @thatonepupkai @confuseddipshit

[oomox-oclock]

There Was A Time:

Previous chapters/ warnings

10. Raw Power:

A/N:

Guys don't kill me, it has actually been a year since I've updated this shit (Whoopsie!)

and since I'm only taking STEM subjects this year my English has depleted and my writing skills and style probably changed slightly

This chapter is dookie so you can slaughter me dw!!

Second Persons POV:

It had been a few weeks after the party and that day at the hospital, your had nausea died down a few days after using the pills you were prescribed, but your head was still filled with the thoughts of Axl’s confession. That stupid cunt. Making you lose focus every day, trying to come to terms that you’re in the past but also present is bad enough, but having to be professional when you live with THE Axl Rose who just so happens to like you. Is very much the definition of hell on Earth. But for this week you had to buckle down and focus, it was finally the time to get the boys in the recording booth and get those sweet demo tracks out and get labels signed to their rock n roll assess and get working on Appetite as soon as possible.

It's the night before they have to make their way to Sound City for their recording, the guys went out to celebrate and drink, as per usual. You on the other hand did not feel like having to handle a hangover and their nonsense when managing them tomorrow. Duff was the only one that stayed home to have a fat cat nap. You swore that man could sleep through a tornado even if it swallowed up the whole house while he was in it. That’s why you didn’t really care to be quiet while you were cleaning and vacuuming the kitchen, even dancing around and singing out the song that was in your head out loud. On certain days where your brain was in more of the future mindset, remembering pop culture references and events from the 21st century, and today was one of those days. Your hands were on a cloth wiping down the counter while your feet stationed on the floor but your legs moving to the choreography of ‘Single Ladies’ in your head. Still remembering every move from muscle memory. The lyrics of the song came out while the beat played in your head. At a point cleaning the kitchen was second thought as the lyrics were spouted “If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it” “oh,oh,oh,oh,oh,oh,oh” and so on and so forth. And with spin you stopped in your tracks. 

Duff stood at where the living area began and hallway ended, in long flannel PJ pants, overworn Ramones shirt, his long blonde hair messy from sleep ad his clothes slightly crumpled. But his eyes looked wide awake as the green in them stared at you in bewilderment and slight confusion. You couldn’t tell what thoughts were going behind his eyes. (But I’ll tell you) One, the way you knew a random dance choreography to a song he’s never heard of confused him, but he analysed the shit out of the lyrics that he heard, did you write the song yourself? Was it about him? These questions filled his head. His crush never faded, and this kind of made it more difficult as to him it felt like you were subconsciously telling him to make a move before you were unavailable, but his brain was a bit fried from sleep to rub two neurons together like that. Adding the fact, his brain short circuited when the lyrics ‘Your love is what I prefer, what I deserve’ hit his ears. Upon never having heard of this song and knowing you often help write lyrics for his own songs he (sleepily) deduced that you wrote the song yourself. And now his brain is running a few hundred miles per minute thinking about the implications. You on the other hand are a bit mortified that he just saw you doing whatever that was. He opened and closed his mouth like a guppy for a few seconds before he spoke. “Uh… What was that?”. What was that? The fuck does he mean what was that?  This hoe doesn’t know Beyonce? Is he stupid or an idiot? “What do you mean you haven’t heard of Beyon-…“ You cut yourself off, remembering it’s the 1980’s Destiny’s Child wasn’t even thing yet. A soft inhale and you make up an excuse. “Uh, just a song I heard on a niche radio station once when I was younger… used to do the dance in the living room when I was younger… still remember it I guess?” It wasn’t a total lie atleast. Duff just gave a nod, rubbing sleep out of his eyes with a still slightly bewildered look.

You don’t know how but in the course of the next few minutes you were teaching Duff how to do the dance choreography to Single Ladies. To be quite honest, he did it better than any just dance routine. He was lanky and had virtually no ass but he made it work. The situation went like this: Duff would put his leg up and you would smack it down. “No, it’s hand, hand and leg up, leg down hand, turn this way…” You showed him slow motion, and he stared intently. To try get the dance right of course. Not just watch you. Then he finally go that part right, you showed him how to do the next section. Unfortunately forgetting you were still mopping the kitchen floor and you slipped on a wet spot, but Duff quickly caught you. (Isn’t he just so dreamy). Then for the rest of the night the two of your laughed and giggled and bonded together, dancing together and by the end having a little slow dance in the kitchen before it got interrupted by the drunk men coming back into the house

The next day, thankfully the boys didn’t go to overboard with drinks last time. Izzy kept them in check, sometimes it felt like he was on your side when he did stuff like that, but then he’d go right back to giving you glares and muttering not so PG words under his breath. After the shitty drive to Sound City with Axl’s car stuttering and backfiring with every little rock it drove over, you made it in one piece some what. “When we get famous I’m gonna be the one buying you a new car to replace that ticking time bomb!” Slash shouted to Axl as they walked to the door. “I’m never letting her go, she’s a classic.” He says as he locks the driver door, but it pathetically falls off its hinges and on the asphalt of the car park with a clang. Steven and Slash nearly piss themselves laughing, Axl gives a glare and scowl, Duff looks back at them calling them, “Come on guys, we’re already late to our session because of that damn car, let’s get inside.” Duff said and smiled down at you knowing that you wanted the same thing, and he was kind of trying to impress you with being a responsible type. With a small smile and nod, you all go inside to the recording studio. Walking down the cramped hallway with dim lighting and maroon carpet under your feet, you find the designated recording booth and go in, it’s much bigger than expected. The production booth has a couch big enough for three people and all five of the guys could fit in the actual recording booth with instruments and all, might be a tight squeeze but not that bad. You sit at the producer booth, to 21st century you this looks an ancient relic, but luck 80’s you could make sense of this. You pressed and shuffled dials until you were satisfied as the boys got their equipment set up. 

You pressed the mic button so that your voice resonated into the recording booth they were in. “Alright, which song are we gonna start with first?” You spoke into the mic. And like parrots they all answered differently. “Night Train!” “Move To The City!” “Out Ta Get Me!” “We should start with my song-“ “No idiot we’re not doing that ten minute sad piano shit, this is a rock band, we’re not Elton John!” Great. Not even a second into recording and they’re having bitch fights. “Guys, guys… let’s just go alphabetically…” You speak into the mic again, and sort the papers with lyrics and notes on it. “Damn children…” You say, but luckily the mic is off. You find a paper and press the mic button again, “We’ll start with Anything Goes alright? Sound good?” Axl and Izzy crossed their arms looking away and grumbling while the other three gave thumbs ups. This was going to be a long day… 

For the rest of the session it actually wasn’t half bad, the songs were like second nature to you, but a lot of them were slower and not quite right but you pulled through, you couldn’t just nit pick everything into perfection in a day. However, Axl thought he could. With every argument you tried to dispute from Axl’s side, he didn’t once glance at you and just crossed his arms looking down at the floor and huffing like child. Izzy, who was the one Axl argued with the most, was being hostile and quiet to you as well, but that’s a given because you knew he disliked you (for reasons unbeknownst to you). However the situation was complicated between you and Axl, you knew that it would be awkward and there would be tension, but the way it was handle was making putting a feeling in your gut like your stomach was eating itself. Whenever you spoke into the mic it was just Duff, Steven and Slash answering, and answering on behalf of Axl and Izzy, Izzy’s reaction was a given, but Axl’s seemed very out of place.

Once when they took a small break, you could sigh and creak out your neck from the kinks of stress. You looked to the boys, Duff and Slash just lazing on the couch or floor drinking a beer. Steven moving his toms around and Izzy tweaking his guitar and writing things on his song lyric papers. Axl nowhere to be found. You rubbed your face with another sigh, you had to speak to him. Get this attitude of his under control, or just sort this situation out. You turned to Duff who was sitting back on his hands on the floor. “You seen where Ax went?” You asked him. “Uhm… I think one of the equipment rooms.” Duff responds. You nod and walk out the room, down the maze-like hallways to try find Axl. You peaked in every room you went past, then started hearing a soft piano melody. There he is. And followed the sound of the keys, weaving through the corridors, getting closer. Getting to the room, you stand in the doorway, seeing Axl sitting by a grand piano, his ginger hair cascading over his shoulders and focused but calm expression was… quite gorgeous. His fingers tickling the ivories, you recognised the melody instantly. But you had to speak up and let him take credibility for his own songs. “Beautiful song… when did you write it…?” You say, and Axl looks up, your eyes meeting. He cleared his throat a bit awkwardly. “A while ago… I got some lyrics, but I can’t get this stupid piano piece right…” He was avoiding the question. You figured it out quickly, ‘November Rain’, the first time you and Axl kissed was when you drunkenly danced in the cold November rain. It was a stab to the gut, having to act like there was nothing wrong, when the realisation dawned that the most beautiful ballad ever written was about you. “Want some help…?” You asked trying to connect with him again and change the subject in your mind. “No. Go away.” Another quick attitude change from him. ‘Fine, today is not the day’ you think to yourself. But soon you’ll have to thaw this out. 

You walked back to the record booth, seeing Steven, Slash and Duff not there. Izzy left. But you did find a note from Steven saying ‘Going to a record store for inspiration be right back. (And Slash needed to piss but there’s no stupid bathrooms in there) -Steven’ You let out a small chuckle and sticks the note back to where it was. You looked over to Izzy, seeing him still writing and tweaking away at his guitar and strumming some strings. You walk over to him crouching down next to him, already feeling the tension from him, but asking the words anyway. “Do you need any help?” He glanced to you for brief moment before looking back at the papers in front of him, and begrudgingly speaking to you but not looking at you. “I don’t know which song to choose to send out…” “Lemme see.” You held your hand out to take the papers and he scoffs and puts them slightly roughly in your hands. He continues to look away, feeling a little awkward that you’re looking over his work. It was like that day when you were sick and you two actually had a nice moment. But the connection on that day felt too weird to act on or talk about, for both of you. “Ah, I remember these ones…” You said and Izzy internally cringes. Mentally he’s gouging his eyes out and the word ‘Oh my god can this bitch shut the fuck up’ is running through his head. “I’m sure you can send in both of them” “Okay yeah but which one for the album?” Damn he retorted with sass and attitude. You told him that ‘Think About You’ was a bit more tame for the public and new audience’s for a debut album than ‘Back Off Bitch’ and reminded him that they could always make more albums one day and add it in.

Following that, after the break, the boys came together again to keep playing. They recorded songs and even made new ones up on the spot. The next few hours were fun and productive, minor arguments, minor setbacks. This was amazing, every felt like it was falling into place. You were proud of them, proud of how far they’re coming and how far they will go in the near future. It was an exhilarating feeling, seeing them like this, feeling that electric talent emanating from them. They had a real raw power and energy that the sponsors will love and the public, in time. But that positive vibe didn’t last long. They started their playthrough of Back Off Bitch. Axl singing the spiteful and angry lyrics. You knew that he wasn’t the one that wrote the lyrics, but the fact that he was looking right at you while he sang the lyrics, made a few heart strings churn uncomfortably. His blue eyes practically pierced through yours and into your soul as he spat out the lyrics, “Face of an angel with the love of a witch” and adding along “It’s such a pity that you’re such a bitch.” And then they finished the recording, but Axl’s eyes were still glaring into yours.

You had enough of the bullshit, professional or not you needed to sort this out, he can’t just jump from “I want you” to acting you’re the scum of the earth for rightfully rejecting him. 

The boys started packing up. You opened the door between the production booth and recording room. “Axl. Outside. Now.” You said like he was bad dog that just shat all over the new white carpet. The rest of the guys went ‘oooo someones in trouble’ but quickly shut up and continued packing up like nothing happened when Axl glared at them, and he followed your lead out of the building.

“What the fuck was that?”

“What was what?”

“Don’t act ignorant.” You crossed your arms as you looked at him and he mirrored your stance. “What? It’s literally my job to sing.”  He says like nothing is wrong, but his tone indicates his frustration and inner thoughts. “Yes, it’s your job to sing. Not behave like a toddler. What is up with this attitude today?” “I don’t have an attitude.” He retorts and his teeth gritting. “Then what’s the problem? I thought we were okay after the hospital. No hard feelings. But today? Telling me to fuck off and intentionally look at me while singing? What’s your deal?”

“What’s your deal with Duff?”

“What…?”

The change in topic through you for a loop, what did Duff have to do with this? You stepped back a bit and your shoulders slumped with a less defensive angry look, and now more confused.  “Answer the question, and don’t you go playing stupid now.” He says more sternly. “I don’t know what you’re on about” Now you’re starting to sound like him, but this time you really didn’t know. “Oh really? Does dancing in the kitchen with him last night ring any bells? Dancing like we did in the park, remember?” Oh… he’s jealous. “That’s not-“ “And sleeping in his room? Out of everyone it had to be him? So, you and I have to be professional but oooh no, Duff gets to have a free pass.” 

“It’s not like that. Duff and I are just friends. And being professional counts for everyone in the band. Not just you.” You say more calmly. He huffs with a scoff and looks away. “Alright… I’m… sorry. I guess I just wasn’t thinking…” He says still grumpily but apologetic none the less.  You flick his forehead as you walk past him back into the building. “You never think anyway” “Hey-!” He tries to rebuttal in annoyance, but it quickly fades with a small sigh, and an infatuated smile comes one his face. He gives a soft chuckle, he really couldn’t stay mad at you forever, and follows you back into the building. All forgiven, but not all forgotten.

[intheclearyetgood-tv]

A Way In

Triggers: not much, just reader being stabbed once but nothing graphical; making out (once); paparazzi at the end

Pairing: Taylor Swift X Singer!Female!Reader

—————————————————————

Being a singer-songwriter has always been one of your biggest dreams… and let’s be honest here, you never had many chances of making that dream come true. You were a dreamer… a huge one to say the least, and considering that you lived in Nashville - the city that according to people, makes everyone’s dreams come true - you should have been perfectly fine… buuut no, no can do.

You worked at Bluebird Cafe, yes, the place were Taylor Swift was discovered. Not that you’d ever met her. You were a huge fan of hers, and even if you were like 7 years younger than her and had lived in Nashville your whole life, you never met her, you never had such luck… and this lack of luck (sorry for the play on words) always persisted in your whole life.

As I was saying, you worked at The Bluebird Cafe, as a waitress. You were close with the owner of the shop, who let you give a small performance once a week for the night openings, mostly on Friday or Saturday nights, which was very convenient, considering those were the days when the cafe was most busy.

But were you ever lucky enough to meet some producers or some record label owner? Nah, that would require too much luck, you didn’t have it.

On a busy Saturday night like always, every table at the cafe had been served so you made your way up to the small stage, being comfortable about it as you had done it a thousand of times already. You sat on the stool and took the guitar, fixing the microphone to your height as you began speaking.

“Hey everyone! How’s your night going?” You started, and some of the usual clients replied happily, making you smile. “Well it’s nice to hear that you’re all doing well! Tonight I’ll be playing some original songs written and composed by me, and after that, I’m up for requests! Some of you already know me but for the ones who don’t, I’m Y/N L/N and I’ll keep you company during this lovely night!” You began singing a song you had written after that small presentation, and continued with some covers, singing Taylor Swift songs too, the small jar with a sign written ‘TIPS’ over it slowly being filled as the night went on.

You were completely unaware of the pair of blue eyes looking at you at some point during your performances.

As the bar slowly emptied, blue-eyed-girl included, you found yourself sitting at the same stool with the same guitar in hand, looking through your phone. You always did that, at the end of the night, silently hoping that someone would come up to you and offer you a record deal…

What a daydreamer.

“Still nothing?” Nancy, The bar owner asked, once the bar had definitely emptied and the doors were being locked. You sighed and put the guitar back on its stand. “Nope, nada” you stood up, taking a look at the tip jar. “At least I got some good tips tonight” you looked at her, she knew you well enough to recognize when you were sad. “Honey, don’t look at me like that,” she started, placing a hand on your shoulder. She was like s mother to you. “Eventually some producer will notice you, trust me.” You smiled sadly “I hope so” you said, and helped her with the final chores of the bar, before leaving through the back door.

It was about two in the morning, the neighborhood was pretty empty… you always found it scary. And the alleyway you got onto from exiting the backdoor, wasn’t less scary. You always speed-walked your way out of it… but today wasn’t a lucky day.

When is it ever?

You were almost onto the main street, when you felt someone sneaking up on you. You weren’t quick enough to react, the person trying to pull you somewhere but you applied resistance, pulling away. He managed to stab you through your stomach and you whined in pain through your covered mouth, the stranger’s hand covering it.

However you had a bit of luck, because your whines were loud enough to alert a certain someone’s body guard, who momentarily left his duty to have a look in the alley.. thank God he did.

The stranger, upon seeing the big men, let go of you and ran away. you slid down against the walk, not having taken notice of the man, too busy keeping your own hand on the wound on your stomach.

“Mrs. Swift, I think we’re gonna need to call an ambulance.”

You weren’t sure what happened next, as you were in shock, and not quite attentive to your surroundings. You just know that someone familiar was by your side, trying to keep you awake and all you remember is some blue eyes…

— ~ ~ —

You woke up the next morning to the sound of beeping, white walls surrounding you and the noise of people talking outside your door- probably nurses and doctors.

“Thank God you’re awake!” The voice startled you, and you turned to your left to see Nancy sitting on the chair next to your bed. “Did I faint onstage again?” You started, trying to sit up, “God, I had this weird ass dream-“ you winched in pain when you tried to sit up, “fuck-“ only then noticing that maybe it wasn’t all a dream. You lifted your shirt and saw the quite big bandage covering the left side of your stomach, some red stains on it. “Maybe it wasn’t a dream, fuck it hurts”

“We need to put a street lamp and a camera in that alleyway. I’m so sorry that happened hun,” Nancy started. “I shouldn’t have ever let you leave through the back door, I-“ you quickly interrupted her as you laid back down. “Nancy, don’t apologize, please, you couldn’t have known. No one could have” silence set between them after that, until you interrupted it with a laugh: “you know, I think I was hallucinating at some point, cause I thought I saw Taylor Swift” you laughed,

…but Nancy stayed serious.

“You weren’t hallucinating” Nancy said, her seriousness making you stop laughing. “What?” You said, looking at her with confusion written all over your face. “You weren’t hallucinating. That really was Taylor Swift. Her bodyguard saved you and She brought you here-“ you interrupted her. “Nance, seriously? Come on, don’t play with me, you know I care about that stuff-“

That’s when the door opened.

“Oh you’re awake!” The familiar voice had you immediately turning your head to where it came from. “W-what is happening- am I still high or.. on some kind of medicine?” The blonde laughed, noticing you trying to sit up but dropping her smile when she saw you wince in pain. “Woah there, lay back down,” she said and put a hand on your shoulder, fluffing your pillow as she helped you lay down.

“You’re Taylor Swift,”

“Yes”

“And you’re here,”

“Yes.”

“Am I dreaming?”

That had the blonde laugh again, looking at you. “No, Y/N you’re not dreaming. I’m actually here. And you’re actually talking to me” you were still looking at her with your jaw dropped. “How is that possible?” You said, making Taylor smile again. “Last night I was at the cafe, I come visit from time to time… and I saw you performing. I talked to Nancy about talking with you, but you were far from done so she suggested I waited for you to finish your shift, so that’s what I did, I didn’t expect… that,” she said, gesturing to your wound.

“I-I’m sorry you saw me perform last night!? And your songs too!?!? Oh my god that’s so embarrassing-“ Taylor was quick to interrupt you. “No no no don’t say that! I was actually about to say that you were amazing! That’s what I wanted to talk to you about…” she looked at you hopefully, you were still wonderstruck about all the situation. “I-I’m sorry I might need some time to process all this” Taylor giggled again and nodded, letting you process what was happening.

A couple minutes later you looked back at Taylor and smiled slightly “okay, you can go ahead,” you said, and Taylor smiled. “Y/N, I will go straight to the point. I heard your original songs and Nancy told me that you write and compose your own songs. Would you like to write and sing a song with me?” That’s when your jaw dropped once again. You were quiet for a couple more minutes. “I’m sorry- you would like to write and- and sing a song, WITH ME?” You emphasized the last two words, you know, for good measure.

The blonde in front of you nodded, and you began talking again. “But- I’m no one- I mean I don’t have a producer, a label, a manager? I don’t even have an album?” The blue eyed woman shrugged. “That’s not a problem, I mean, Nancy here told me that you want a career as a singer, maybe we can make that happen, no? Plus, I’d be really happy and honored to write a song with you!”

You were freaking out, your favorite singer ever had just asked you to write a song with her. And who were you to say no to that!?

Within the next couple days, you were out of the hospital. Taylor had visited both days, just getting to know you. You still felt like you were dreaming, but it was all so true and real. The luck you never had came just at the right moment, when you needed it the most.

That day, as you were being discharged, you were shocked once again when you saw the blonde at the door. “Hey there, ready to go?” Wait, what? You thought you were gonna have to walk home alone, but here she was, picking you up and taking you home. “Uh-yeah sure” you said and slowly walked over to her, you still had some trouble walking, as it hurt your insides… literally, where you were stabbed. You could feel the pain even with all the painkillers.

“Do you need help?” Taylor asked when she heard you wince in pain. You shook your head, hand over the bandage as you kept walking over to her. She sighed and walked over to you, wrapping an arm around you to support you. “You’re stubborn, aren’t you?” You blushed a little at her comment, though appreciating the help and occasionally leaning onto her. You were both lucky that the hospital had an underground parking, no one actually saw Taylor and even if they did, Nashville’s a pretty chill town, they’re used to her.

“Where’s your bag?” She asked once you reached the car. You looked at her with confusion written all over your face. “My…bag?” Taylor took some time to reply, closing the car door before getting in from the other side. “Yeah, you’re supposed to come at my place…” you were even more confused now. “I am?” That made Taylor laugh, you looked so confused right now. “Yeah, but I’m guessing that Nancy didn’t tell you. Well it’s fine, I can just land you my clothes. I’m taller then you so they’ll be big for you, but I’m sure you’ll be just fine. Oh by the way, my mom’s waiting for us at home with pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, I hope you like them”

And here you were freaking out again. “Your mom as in- Mama Swift?” Taylor hadn’t stopped laughing one second. “Yeah, her. I didn’t realize you were a fan of mine” she smiled, gently nudging your shoulder. “Yeah- of course I am! When I was 10 you were like the talk of the town, i never once managed to come see you in concert and 17 years later I’m in your car, going to your place and getting to record a song with you? That’s like a dream come true, girl” Taylor laughed at that, god, you loved her laugh.

When you arrived at the Nashville house you were greeted by her mother. She asked you about the incident with that stranger, but then proceeded to make you feel at home, her dog, kitty, being a big help in that as she wanted to jump on you, but Taylor had to hold her back as you were still injured.

She gave you a quick tour of the house and ended it in the music room. “Oh wow this is amazing” you said as you walked in, different types of guitars hung on the wall, the huge piano in the middle of it, just wow. You looked at the guitars first, looking a bit longer at the blue koi fish guitar, your favorite.

“Wanna play it?” She said from behind you, you smiled a little but you had a tendency to break other people’s stuff, so you declined the offer, even though eventually your finger pressed on a piano key. You pressed that a couple times before getting a melody in mind and making a brief chord progression, then you took your phone and typed in the chord progression. Taylor looked at you in amusement.

“Is that how you get your ideas?” She asked and you nodded, feeling a bit tired so you sat down on the piano stool. “Yeah. Some times I press a random piano key, and I have perfect pitch so it doesn’t take me long to make a chord progression and arpeggios… then according to how the whole of it makes me feel, I write the lyrics. Or sometimes I get a tune in my mind and play around with it” you said, Taylor smiled and made you scoop over on the stool, making space for her.

“Play the chord progression, keep with it for a while” at that point you had figured out what she had in mind, so you began playing. At times emphasizing some notes more than the other, switching up the rhythm, and Eventually Taylor started coming up with lyrics.

It was your turn now to look at her in amusement, she was so focused and you could see how she felt the melody, how each word came running to her as if she was brainstorming a perfect combination of words.

“Hold on, hold on, lemme record this, this is so good already” she said and took out her phone, recording the whole process. You eventually began harmonizing with her and adding lyrics, both getting lost in the moment as you completed first and second verse.

“Woah,” you said after both of you had gone silent. “That was, I don’t know. I’ve never written something so fast. It’s coming out so good, Tay” you said, the nickname slipping easily from your lips as you scribbled down the last lyrics you had come up with. “This is gonna be one hell of a song Y/N, I can feel it. We wrote two verses in less than… what, 10 minutes?” You nodded and took a look at the scrapbook Taylor had brought. “Okay, we have two verses. We need choruses and pre-choruses and I’ll leave the bridge up to you because your bridges are like, the best thing to ever exist on earth”

It was her turn to laugh at your comment, and you soon joined her in laughter, unaware of her mother’s eyes on both of you, through the door.

Andrea had never seen her daughter this happy.

— ~ ~ —

It had been a month since the two started writing the song, and between going to the studios in NYC and LA, now it was nearly done.

Aside from writing the song, you started spending more time together. You were really close, and Taylor was kind enough to let you stay at her place whenever you traveled around to record the song.

“God, I’m so tired” Taylor said, getting back into the NYC TriBeCa house after a long day at the studio with you, the backing vocals needed to be added so that’s what you did. You nodded at her statement. “Yeah, I’m tired too and I don’t even do it yearly like you do” she nodded as well and went to get a quick shower. When she was done, it was your turn to get a shower and when you went back into the living room Taylor was watching a rerun of FRIENDS, and you joined Taylor on the couch like you always did: laying down on your side with your head on her lap.

It had become usual for the both of you, none of you minding the physical touch, as Taylor loved it and so did you, never having gotten it enough when you were a kid. She would play with your hair and/or trace her fingers on your arm, and god, you felt like home.

Oh, I’m falling in love…

When the episode finished and the post-credit scenes were being rolled, you turned to lay on your back and looked up at Taylor. She soon felt your eyes on her and looked at you.

There was silence for a couple seconds before both of you started laughing. “What?” Taylor said between giggles, you brought your hands up to your face to hide the red-ish color that had started to paint your cheeks. “No nothing I just…” you took a deep breath, and once your cheeks didn’t feel warm anymore, you removed your hands.

Thank god Taylor didn’t notice the blush.

“I was just thinking and… if you hadn’t come into the cafe that night, I wouldn’t have met you and we wouldn’t have recorded our first songs together… this could make me start my career, this could make my dreams come true… and all because of you, Tay” you smiled and sat up, looking at her. She smiled back. “Y/N…” she started, and you hummed, as to signal her to continue talking. “Instead of putting out the song on platforms, what do you say if we play it together at my next concert? So everyone can see you, hear it live… you know,” she shrugged and smiled, watching shock take over your features.

“Are you sure? I- I mean- that would be amazing, Tay! Oh my god, yes please!” You had a thousand thoughts going on in your pretty little mind, but one was better than all of them: you would be performing on stage with Taylor Swift. The older woman hugged you and you hugged her back tightly. Once the initial shock had worn off, you started watching another rerun of FRIENDS.

“I never asked, and now I’m curious so, what’s your type?” Taylor said out of the blue, when the episode had almost ended. You didn’t think much of it, and your reply came pretty quickly. “Well, definitely girls-“ you were about to continue, but Taylor interrupted you: “no shit sherlock” you stared at her wide eyed “you knew???” You asked, laughing at yourself. “Uh DUH? Your outfits basically scream “I’M GAY” even if you’re wearing my clothes which are like, the straightest clothes possible” she laughed again, making you blush. “I’m gonna take that as a compliment”

You punched her shoulder jokingly and continued with your explanation. “I don’t know, honestly. I Focus more on personality then appearance, even if I do have a thing for ocean blue eyes” Taylor didn’t seem to have caught the hint, and even if she did, she let it slide.

A couple weeks later you were standing backstage to Taylor’s concert, anxiously waiting for it to begin. It would take a while before she got to the Surprise Songs, and you already knew that you were gonna die. You were never good at handling anxiety.

“Hey, how are you doing?” You felt a hand on your shoulder, and turned around to see Taylor in her Lover outfit. You had to force yourself not to look at her legs or let your jaw drop. “I uh- I’m nervous. Really nervous” Taylor smiled and hugged you. “It’ll be okay, trust me alright? You’re talented, your voice is amazing… you- we rehearsed this song so many times, it’s going to be just fine.”

Her words of reassurance helped you stay calm, until she got to the acoustic set. “Welcome to the acoustic set!” Taylor said, cheers of crowd filling your ears. “So, the surprise songs for today are a bit more… surprising, as we’ll have not 2, but 3 surprise songs, and that’s because we have a surprise guest today!” The crowd cheered once again, and you started feeling insecure. They probably expected someone famous, not an unknown singer.

“Let me say a few things about her first. As you all know, I was discovered at Bluebird Cafe in Nashville… I went to visit, almost a couple months ago and there was this girl, playing a few of her original songs and also covers… and I really, really loved her voice, and the feelings she made me feel, I don’t know, I had to get to know her. So I did, and today we’re both here with a song that we wrote together, please welcome onstage Y/N L/N!”

The crowd cheered once more, and you made your way onstage, heart thumping in your chest as you reached the front stage, smiling brightly as you took a brief second to look around, before bringing the microphone up to your mouth “oh my God hi everyone! I’m so nervous, this is literally my first time on a stage, and I might start rambling so excuse me” you giggled, fans cheered and you tried to steady your shaky voice.

“Uhm okay. I don’t know what to say honestly, I grew up in Nashville and I grew up listening to Taylor’s songs so yeah, fellow Swiftie here” once again, the crowd cheered. “I grew up working and playing my music at bluebird cafe, hoping for someone to notice me and to offer me a record deal… no one ever did. I mean, I still don’t have a record deal but never in my craziest mind would I have imagined that at some point in my life I’d meet Taylor and she’d want to write a song with me. Tay, You’re the closest friend I have and I just want to thank you, thank you so much for trusting me, for giving me this opportunity,”

Taylor smiled and walked over to hug you tightly, bringing the microphone away from her mouth as she could feel your heart thumping, and said “You got this girl. I know you do. I love you.” You smiled brightly and pulled back from the hug. “Anyway, this is the song we came up with, it’s called ‘A Way In.’ We Really hope you’ll like it”

You sat down at the piano, starting with the melody of the song. Taylor started singing, and you had the harmonies for the most part of it, as well as the highest vocals, the belt and bridge. Even if it was Taylor’s concert, she wanted you to have your moment, she wanted you to start your career beautifully and this could be the right way to do so.

When the song finished, the cheers were louder then ever. You got a standing ovation, Taylor herself was looking at you with proud eyes and smile and clapping for you, you walked over and gave her another tight hug, before looking back at the crowd. Tears in your eyes, and you took your microphone again. “Thank you so so so so much guys. Hopefully we’ll cross paths again” you threw a kiss to Taylor and walked backstage, letting Taylor procede with the actual surprise songs.

When you got backstage, all the cheering was for you. You hugged and thanked everyone, before going to Taylor’s dressing room and changing back into your normal clothes.

When the concert finished, you didn’t expect Taylor to come straight to you and hug you tightly, kissing your cheeks. “Y/N that was amazing! Did you even hear yourself? I never had a crowd cheer that loud for me! They absolutely loved you!” She smiled brightly and took a water bottle that was handed to her, as well as a towel for her sweat. “Tay, you’re exaggerating” you giggled “no I’m definitely not! Wait and see the videos on tiktok later tonight”

Taylor went and got changed, as the stadium cleared out after the long concert. When she was finished, as you were walking out the stage through the back. You were talking with Andrea when Taylor grabbed your arm and pulled you back to her, not giving you time to react before she pressed her lips on yours.

The time felt like it was passing by in slow motion, Taylor was kissing you. She was kissing you and she seemed hesitant about it, and upon realizing what was happening, you brought your arms around her neck, deepening the kiss as Taylor squeezed her grip on your hips, smiling in the kiss as metaphorical fireworks exploded around you.

When Taylor pulled back, your foreheads stayed connected. She looked at you, eyes full of lust, and she brought a hand up to brush some hair away from your face.

“You said you were straight,” you whispered, hinting a laugh.

“Yeah, I might have lied”

You giggled and leaned in to kiss her once again.

You were completely unaware of the few hundreds of fans and paparazzi taking pictures and videos of the two of you making out.

[project-sekai-facts]

is it me or does prsk not really cater towards hardcore yuribait or yaoibait as much even when given the opportunity especially compared to other gacha games, like even the wedding events neither of them was focused on a popular pairing or even just in general with the stories (except for minoharu and vbs i guess?)

Yuribait and yaoibait are strong words that aren't exactly right to describe project sekai. They're just alternative ways of saying queerbait, which implies a marketing strategy of attracting a queer audience by falsely promising representation. While they didn't advertise queer representation, spn and sherlock were accused of this due to the way they wrote their leads (i guess spn did become genuine rep. Ish). Proseka isn't that, neither are similar franchises, like bandori or love live for example. Even if they rarely say things outright, which admittedly is in part because of corporate greed and appeasing fans, I wouldn't say it's queerbaiting, especially for this game and the two I've outlined (well LL has a complicated history but this isn't the time or place). The whole idea of falsely promising queer rep or marketing off it doesn't really happen here, especially in project sekai it feels very genuine and clear even if not labelled. I put this down to the writers saying on record that they want the characters, and their relationships and issues, to feel realistic and relatable.

To actually answer the question now my little media ramble is over, yeah it does feel less compared to other games, especially bandori which gives content to multiple pairings for the same characters. Like don't get me wrong prsk has quite a lot of ship tease when you really get down to it and track through all the stories, but it definitely feels limited to only a handful of pairings. While prsk does give moments for multiple pairings for the same character sometimes it's just... less ig. Again i think it's just to do with the intentionally realistic way of portraying the relationships, so imo it makes sense that they only pick a hanful to give much more obvious or outright romantic subtext to (aka mmj/vbs), even if they still give little moments here and there for other pairings for those characters, as well as giving less-fleshed out or explicitly romantic shiptease for other pairings that don't include those characters (does this make sense? it's hard to talk about shiptease in the game without explicitly talking about shipping. oh well...).

(Also as an aside: mmj is also a bit of a genre thing, and a lot of a Love Live thing. I'm not reaching by saying that either, it showed up on the results to a survey about media the staff at colopale like. mmj does take a few cues from LL here and there, (rooftop practice, genki orange leader, the white feather, airis character design and voice actress) so this is probably one of them)

Even though the wedding events don't usually focus on a ship (aside from the Honami/Kanade one (for context it's honami's most popular ship at least on pixiv, although it's still on the rarer side of things, and it's not that popular in terms of Kanade pairings)), they have always featured popular ships on the card lineups, aside from the most recent one. the first one had cards for the two most popular Akito pairings, and the second one had An/Kohane and Shizuku/Airi. The second one is particularly notable since the event didn't go lightly on the ship tease at all in some parts, though it makes sense since both pairings have romantic text and/or subtext in the story. Even the first wedding event had a tiny bit in one of the card stories, and this year's one managed to squeeze in a scene where Minori imagines Haruka getting married (presumably to her).

We also had the buddy funny spend time event back in 2021, which was explicitly a double date event featuring an/kohane and minori/haruka (again two pairs with romantic text), and we've had other events that follow a sort of similar concept of two popular pairings doing something together, without the double date thing attached, but you can tell what they were thinking lol. I don't really wanna elaborate on that bc I don't wanna start a whole thing but if you look through the event list you can probably work it out.

But then again, this is the Hatsune Miku friendship game. Friendship and community are two of the core themes of the game, which again explains why it might feel like there's less romantic teasing and such compared to other games. Because there is. The events and other stories prioritise writing the platonic relationships over giving ship tease. There's definitely events that you can come out of with little to no moments for the ships you like. This isn't saying that other idol games don't focus on the friendship by the way, I'm just saying prsk has much stronger and consistent themes. From an objective perspective it has the best writing of the major idol games on the market (maybe, idk what's going on in bandori nowadays I've heard MyGO and Avemuji are really good).

Yeah it's the hatsune miku friendship game which prioritises realistic characters and relationships that's about the best way I can put it.

(aside #2: back to the idea of queer content, while they don't write the game, sega is pro-lgbt and is a sponsor of tokyo pride, and offer protections for queer staff. Other sega franchises like Yakuza and Sonic have queer characters! And mizuki is about 5 events away from coming out as trans unless they fumble super badly. So it's a nonzero chance that prsk can and will include textual queer rep in future (i mean they already have lol). It genuinely is down to the realism other fan appeal. Again this isn't to hate on other franchises I'm a huge fan of LL and a casual bandori enjoyer, prsk is just Like This)

[thedapper-est]

LABELING (and characterizing!) THE ZEROOOOOSSS || LONG POST!!

So, while rewatching the subscriber special with captions on, I noticed the Zero’s each have their own number assigned to them, one that are seemingly consistent throughout the short. So, of course, I felt the need to go in and definitively label each scene with the zeros, both for fun AND so I could characterize each zero for a fanfic I’m writing!

This is my first long analysis on tumblr so sorry if the formatting is weird!! Stick to the end for a brief character analysis.

Labeling

Firstly: The crucial first couple of seconds of the short which determines each Zero’s number. Since Zro(Or Number 1) is seen first, they’re labeled as such. Each following zero gets numbered accordingly and those stick through the entirety of the short.

The zeros enter the room in the order of

2,3,4,5, and of course, 1.

After entering the room they make food in order of when they entered, so:

2 - Coffee

3- Cereal

4- Sandwich

5 - Nothing

1 - Nothing as well.

We can confirm this fact as when 1 throws the coffee at 4, the captions refer to them as such a little bit later in the scene when they’re knocked over by 1.

Next, the toilet scene. I can only add one video, but this scene is pretty crucial overall since it gives us the positioning of the zeros for future scenes. I believe the order they entered the toilet in is 5,3,2,4

Since we know 2 was handed the box of tapes, and 4 was the last to enter the toilet. 5 and 3 are overall pretty interchangeable position wise throughout the short, but their methods of entering the toilet both lined up with what we know of them so far along with what we learn later.

5. Hops in without much struggle nor flashy effort.

3: Does a headfirst dive into the toilet with their limbs tucked in.

As a side note, 4 wins!!!

Now the scene that I assumed would be where I lost track: When they all bounce into the room and ricochet off of everything.

They all get pretty mixed up in this scene, but by tracking one of the zeros (I tracked 4 as they both had a pretty defining body language overall and was the last to enter) tracking the rest becomes easy enough.

Leading to this being my labeling. Keep this scene in mind since it’s a pretty important key to labeling the next.

NOW, I believe 3 was the one to open the door as they were both closest to it, and are the one to bring up the tapes. (Of which we know they were the recorder for for most if not all the tapes.) 4 is behind them, with 4 behind them. 5 runs off to do whatever and two goes to take a seat near the tv.

I’d argue 4 and 5 may be interchangeable but the zero behind 3 is more consistent with 4 than 5.

Seating chart! ^^ I labeled this slightly off of their walk cycles, with 2’s being the simplest, combined with the fact they tell Zro to shush definitely helps with labeling them as 2 is the same to tell Zro to shut up in the earlier scene.

Another one based on positioning and mild personality. 4 is fascinated by the video and is pretty consistent with their position and it can be assumed 3 took a seat next to 6 and Zro after speaking to them.

5 opened the gate for 5 here as they’re the closest to where the gate is positioned plus personality match up.

More of 5’s shenanigans. They take a seat behind 5 and 6 after collecting the next tape to watch.

Positioning again. Now that 5 got up they’re no longer closest to the vent leaving 2 to take that role.

They also get up to shush 2 which is consistent with their personality. Again. Also I forgot to label this one for whatever reason…

Now this is where things start leaning into allots of speculation. The scenes cut away quite a few times and the zeros seem to move around each time that happens.

Regardless, here’s my suspected seating for the next scene, though maybe switching 4 and 3 would be wise as in the scene where they find “The Tape” 3 is the one to speak up with their position a liiiiittle bit more to the left.

Unfortunately I kinda’ve ran out of phone space in the middle of all this so this is where my labeling ends until I decide to pick it back up again. But enough of that!! Character Analysis time!!!!

Personalities

I won’t be touching much on Zro here since that would most likely be long enough to warrant its own post, but a short analysis of the others wouldn’t hurt :)

Something I noticed with each zero is their personalities seem to be the foil to that of their numerical counterpart. For example:

Number 2 is blunt and blatant with what they say, not sugar coating any of their words and being direct with their wants. (Which most of the time is for others to be quiet.)

This is a direct parallel to Two who tries not to hurt the feelings of others with what they say, even if it comes at their own discomfort at times. (Think Great Goikian bake-off and Just Not’s dish.) It’s also safe to say 2 definitely loves talking.

Number 4 counteracts 4 with how passive and easily forgiving they are. Forgiving Zro for spilling coffee and accidentally smacking them in the face, returning to their usual happy self a few minutes after both the incidents happen. They’re not one to hold much of a grudge unlike of course algebralien 4, who is willing to hold grudges for years at a time.

Number 5 is another passive Zero, not saying much throughout the entire short (Having the overall least amount of lines out of all the Zeros), and often times staying in their own lane and doing their own thing. They don’t get very involved in what the others are doing (Seen with them not making any food at the start).

This is a foil to 5’s insistence to monitor and “Fun Police” the others around him, constantly asserting and attempting to enforce his authority.

Last but certainly not least: Number 3.

I deliberately skipped Number 3 due to the fact I wasn’t entirely sure if they were an exact foil to their number counterpart considering…Y’know. Though, after a bit of thinking I’ve concluded that they’ve displayed personality features that are the opposite of what little we know of 3 now.

Number 3 is, for the most part, loud and rambunctious. They have a fair amount of self confidence, dubbing themselves “The most W Zero” and being the one to initiate locking Zro in the closet to watch The Tape. Whether or not this self confidence comes from a genuinely good self image, or from putting others down(As they are the one to record most of the VHS’ featured in the short, and are often laughing at Zro’s Misfortune in them) I cant say for sure.

However, regardless of that, they still rival Three in terms of character, with Three not even HAVING any speaking lines yet, and being shown to prefer being alone and out of any affairs outside their own.

So! That concludes my labeling and character analysis! Please provide thoughts in the comments or tags cause I love reading character interpretations!!!! My AO3 is The_NTT if you want to see the fic when it first gets posted along with another I have in the works. Bye!!!

[livingformintyoongi1]

First Time | Kim Taehyung

This is a little drabble of the Style series, I wanted to write about this series and this came out lol, I hope you like it. Warnings: Fluff, slight Smut, Actress!Reader, Tae is an idol, but is taking a break from music and entered acting again, mention of "Daytime Star" (Beautiful webtoon). wc: 3.3k

When Tae offered you to go to his house to practice the dialogues for the later chapters, you didn't hesitate to say yes. He was the man you trusted the most, you adored him; he was sweet, funny, charismatic and very polite. He was exactly what any girl would want in her life. You were completely grateful that he was your co-star in the k-drama "Daytime Star," and even more grateful that he allowed you to practice alongside him.

"Have you read the script for episode 13 yet?" muttered Tae with his eyes fixed on the thick stack of sheets labeled 'Daytime Star | Chapter 13'. 

"Yes!" you smiled as you stood up, with the script tightly clenched in your hands - quite small compared to Tae's - and peeked over to see his, "There's a scene in the kitchen in this one" you looked at your co-worker, friend at this point, and couldn't help but blush at the thought of what you had to do. You didn't think you were strong enough to see Tae shirtless.

He nodded, almost as if it was nothing new. You wondered internally if he had already done something similar with another girl, though that wasn't your problem. "Looks like it," he gave you a tight-lipped smile, leaving the script on the table and resting his full attention on you as he stretched his arms above his head. "I didn't think they'd have any racy scenes, are you sure you can handle that? From what you've told me, you don't have much experience in this area," Tae's cheeks flushed heavily as he watched you shrink in place, looking down at your feet, "I-I didn't mean to offend you."

"No, you're right, I've actually never made a scene like that before" you sighed defeatedly. You hated not being experienced enough to be true to the role you had been given almost by miracle.

"We could talk to the director and ask him to remove that scene and..." said Tae, too quickly for you to interrupt. But you still took his hand, giving him such a soft, sweet smile that he stopped on his own.

"Tae, I really appreciate your concern, but I also don't want to affect the recording. Besides, it's part of my job to accommodate the character, and if Yura needs to make out with Seunghyeon for the advancement of the plot, then I'll have to do it," you couldn't help the blush that grew from your ears to your neck. In your head it sounded better. Much better.

You shrank in place as you felt his lingering gaze on you, had you overstepped your bounds by saying that, or maybe... he didn't want to make that scene?

That idea completely terrified you. You looked at him with fear in your eyes, and before you could apologize in case he's the one who ultimately doesn't want to expose himself that way, his deep voice interrupted you.

"Then let's practice that scene" he muttered, looking around his apartment, as if he was searching for something. "It all starts after Yura makes Seunghyeon a coffee, right?" lightly squeezing your hand, he walked at a slow pace to his kitchen, "I saw a bit of the webtoon, my kitchen looks a bit like it, so we could take advantage of that."

You were dumbfounded. With your mouth wide open in amazement. You'd kissed Tae before, for the show, of course, but to have him kiss you, take off his shirt for you, and lift you up and press you against his kitchen was... too much.

You shook your head, pushing that idea out of your head. You were a professional, and you would take this situation as such. Yeah, you definitely weren't going to think about how bad this would be for your weak heart.

"Okay, so..." he paused for a moment, quickly reading the dialogues before stopping at you, "let's start with the part where Seunghyeon appears from behind Yura and rests his hand against the kitchen, is that okay with you?" he looked up so he could get your approval. You almost got choked up when you saw his eyes. You just nodded quickly, knowing inside that you wouldn't be able to answer him with words.

You took a breath of air, grabbing one of the cups Tae had drying and positioned it in front of you, without letting go of the handle. A few seconds later you felt the warmth of Tae's body behind your back. You ignored the shiver that ran down your back. Your gaze was fixed on the cup, only straying when Tae's hand appeared next to yours, touching the counter with his fingertips.

You closed your eyes, squeezing them shut as you could feel Tae's breath brush against your ear. 

"What about what I said?" he whispered hoarsely, causing your legs to tremble slightly.

You admired his professionalism, and you really needed some of it for the scene.

You turned to look at him, your eyebrows drawn together between your brows, just as the script called for you to do. You couldn't help but think of the difference in height between the two of you. In a firm voice, but without anger or malice, you replied "You're laughing at me, aren't you?".

And for a second you felt your whole body melt at Tae's smitten smile. He was seriously a great actor, you couldn't look at anyone with those eyes so... bright and soft.

You grumbled as you watched his smile grow even bigger at your question. You shook your head and straightened up, turning all your attention back to the cup with coffee -which, right now, was just an empty cup-. "Ugh, you're hopeless, Seunghyeon Kang, you know that?" you muttered with fake anger, and not only because that anger was from a character and not yours, if not because you knew Yura wouldn't say it with malice, not towards the person who loved her the most -after her best friend, of course-.

"What did you call me?" Tae asked mockingly, resting his left hand on the counter, leaving you completely trapped. You were starting to get nervous.

"What?" you turned your whole body towards him, raising your eyebrows, "You want me to call you Seunghyeon Kim instead of...?"

Yeah, you didn't really expect him to kiss you, though it didn't have to surprise you. That kiss was coming out in the scene. You obviously followed the kiss, after all, right now it wasn't you and Taehyung, co-workers, it was Yura and Seunghyeon, a happy acting couple just starting to date.

 You remembered how in the script it appeared that you had to take his shirt and wrinkle it. He wasn't wearing a shirt, but a sleeveless white Celine T-shirt. Unable to hold onto his arms, you brought your hands to his chest, crumpling the fabric near his shoulders. A shiver ran down your back for the second time, but this time, it had every right to appear. Taehyung had moaned against your lips as you felt yourself clinging to his shirt. Your rational side mentally pleaded that he'd only done it for the practice and not for... well, the kiss.

You weren't sure how long you must have been kissing, but you were sure it must not have been that long. You distinctly remembered it appearing as 'a chaste kiss' or something like that, your photographic memory starting to fail for every second that Tae kept moving his sides against yours. You were starting to feel bad for how good you felt.

He pulled away just inches, his dark eyes planted on yours. You swallowed saliva as you watched him run his tongue over his lips. "I need you to open your mouth a little" he murmured.

You tensed all over. You were beginning to question whether this was still part of practice or not. "Y-yes" you whispered, gasping as you felt his hands hold you by your thighs and lift you up to lay you on the counter. This did appear in the script. 

Even with the embarrassment you felt, you parted your lips just slightly, letting out a sigh as Tae approached you at that very moment. Unlike what you thought, his kisses were much more lazy and soft. The way he had pulled you close to him, you thought he would kiss you until you were breathless. Although this wasn't too bad either. 

His right hand went up to linger on the back of your neck, tangling his fingers in your hair at the same time his left hand stopped at your waist and drew little circles on the cream colored vest you were wearing.

With some uncertainty, you brought your hands to the back of his head, drawing him closer to you. Your fingers began to grab small strands and making swirls with them. You sighed as you felt him gasp against your lips as you pulled his hair slightly. This man was going to be the end of you.

"Y/N" he murmured in agitation, resting his forehead against yours. "Can I touch you?"

You choked on your saliva, staring at him with wide eyes. That definitely wasn't in the script. "S-sorry?" your hands began to tremble slightly as you realized what he had said, because he had, in short, said your name.

"Just... you don't need to say yes, it was an impulse and..." As soon as you noticed how he tried to pull away from you, you wrapped your arms around his waist tightly, pulling him to you again.

"No!" you squealed, unsure of what you were doing, "I... I don't have a problem with you doing it" you whispered, unable to look at his face. Suddenly you wanted the earth to swallow you up.

"Oh" Tae smiled brightly, feeling his heart warm with tenderness as he watched you blush and start rambling on about something he hadn't heard. You were talking very softly.

"Honey," he whispered against your forehead, pressing his lips against the skin there. You couldn't see it, but his smitten smile and the slight blush on his cheeks showed he was just as nervous as you were, "if at any point you feel like it's too much, tell me."

You just nodded, closing your eyes tightly as you felt Tae's warm hand rest on your thigh and move up to touch the end of your skirt. His free hand busied itself with gently lifting the vest so he could touch your skin beneath it. He growled softly as he realized you weren't wearing a shirt or anything from the vest.

"You came without a shirt?" he whispered over your shoulder, leaving soft kisses as he moved up your neck and stopped at your ear. 

"I usually wear my vests like that, so I don't get so many clothes dirty" you said between stutters. He barely touched you, they were light, loving touches that you only felt because of his warmth and yet he still left you in that state. It was too embarrassing.

He didn't respond, he seemed to be too busy kissing the skin behind your ear. You removed your hand from Tae's hair and dragged it down to his waist, where his shirt was hidden under his pants. With clumsy and too shy movements - because, even though it wasn't your first time, something about this man made you act 1000 times clumsier than you already were - you pulled his shirt off and slipped your hand inside, enjoying how the touch made his whole body tremble. You didn't know you could have that reaction.

You closed your eyes, letting your hand roam all over his back, caressing every bit of skin your hands could reach.

You weren't sure at what point it happened, but, almost magically, your vest had disappeared and now Tae's lips traveled from your collarbone to your waist, leaving wetter and wetter kisses.

You were thankful he didn't remove your bra, you would be too embarrassed if he saw you completely naked.

"Do you want me to take off my shirt?" he whispered just above where your skirt covered your waist, a little below your belly button. His fully dilated dark eyes stared at you, causing a spasm to make you jump up and down on the counter.

"Y-yes, please" you rested your hands on his shoulders, wondering if you should help him. 

But you didn't need to. He stood up, reminding you how tall he really was. He quickly took off his polo shirt and threw it somewhere in the kitchen. Your mouth went dry almost immediately. He was too beautiful to be real.

His dark, lust-filled gaze deepened as he noticed how you were unable to take your gaze off his body. He approached you at a slow pace, reaching out his hand and taking a lock of your hair so he could kiss it.

"I like your hair" he whispered, letting the lock fall over your bare shoulder. You could only stand still, contemplating every move he made. "And your eyes" he moved closer to your face, resting his lips for a couple of seconds on each of your eyes, "Your nose" you laughed as he kissed the tip of your nose, crinkling it slightly as you pulled away a little, just enough to look into his face, "and definitely your lips" he whispered, taking your chin between his thumb and forefinger and moving closer to you so he could kiss you.

Unlike the slow, gentle kisses he had given you at the beginning, this time Tae seemed to be completely out of control. His lips were devouring you as if you were going to disappear at that very moment. No one had ever kissed you like that. It was all teeth clashing and tongues tangling, a couple of soft moans came from his lips every now and then, and you couldn't help but want to touch him.

"Tae" you gasped as soon as he pulled away from you. You needed to have his attention for a second before he launched himself on your lips, and his face screamed all over the place that he would. 

His lustful gaze faded immediately. Now his dark eyes only reflected concern.

"Did I go too far, do you need me to stop?" he stammered nervously, he tried to turn around to reach for your clothes, but you stopped him with your hand.

"It's not that, in fact, I'm quite enjoying it" you confessed with red cheeks and gaze fixed on his lips. They looked a little more swollen and glossy. "It's just...can I touch you?"

You both stared at each other for a few seconds, until Tae laughed softly and cupped your cheeks, kissing you repeatedly.

"God, you're so cute," he said between kisses, with a big smile. You didn't get the funny, "You can touch anything you want, I'm completely yours" he whispered happily, closing his eyes and resting his nose against yours.

"Anything I want?" you looked at him with your eyes sparkling. That was quite an offer, very tempting.

"Absolutely everything" he nodded, taking your hand and kissing your knuckles, his gaze on yours at all times.

You nodded with pursed lips, "you can go about your business" you whispered, bringing your trembling hands to his chest. You felt too nervous, how were you supposed to act when the man in front of you was so stupidly beautiful?

Tae's kisses were getting messier and messier, as were his caresses all over your body - especially your inner thighs. You tried to do the same with him, but you still felt too shy to do so, so you took to caressing his arms and shoulder blades, burying your nails into his skin when the kisses got too wild. You couldn't even remember how you got here.

His fingers began to play teasingly with the zipper of your skirt, making you groan in frustration. He definitely didn't seem to have any intentions of taking it off, and you seriously wanted, needed, it to be out of the way.

"I need you to hold on to me" he whispered, lightly biting the skin of your collarbone, causing a high pitched moan to leave your lips. "I don't want our first time together to be in my kitchen" he growled, grabbing you by the bottom of your thighs and lifting you up with ease.

"What...?" You were confused and too excited to think hard about what he had just said, "Where are you taking me?"

"To my bed" he smiled, kissing your lips softly, continuing his walk. Luckily, he thought, he didn't need to keep his eyes open to get to his room. He knew the way by heart. 

You wrapped your arms around his neck, becoming enraptured at the beautiful face he had. You couldn't contain yourself and brought your fingertips to his cheeks, caressing gently. You wanted this man to be completely yours, far beyond the physical. You wanted to be able to wake up next to him, to laugh next to him, to comfort him when he needed a shoulder to cry on. You wanted him to want you the way you wanted him.

Before you knew it, Tae already had you lying on his dark blue sheets. They were soft and cool, but his scent was permeating them, and you adored that.

He put both arms on either side of your face, his deep gaze still sending shivers down your spine. "We don't have to do this if you don't feel ready yet" he whispered, bringing his hand up to your face and caressing your cheek. You closed your eyes as you felt his touch against your skin. It was so warm and electrifying that you wanted more of him. So much more.

"I'm ready," you murmured, stroking his hair. Standing beneath him, with his arms around your head, the nervousness and shyness no longer seemed to affect you. You brought your hands up to touch the hair at the nape of his neck, fiddling with it as you brought your lips to his chest, where you assumed and hoped his heart was. "I trust you, I know you would never hurt me."

You could see Adam's apple rise and fall at your comment, at the same time as his breathing became increasingly ragged.

"You're going to destroy me one of these days" he joked, leaving a soft kiss on your chest, right in the same place you did with him, "But that's okay, I see no better ending than being destroyed by your hands."

At another time you would have laughed at how corny it sounded, but having him half naked, on top of you, with his hair in disarray and breathing heavily didn't help matters.

"Is it okay if I take your skirt off?" he murmured, running his fingers down your body until he stopped at the zipper of your skirt. 

You lifted your hips, barely brushing against his, "Hell, yeah, I was hoping you'd do it sooner" you chuckled, feeling your cheeks heat up.

"Sorry" he smiled broadly. For some reason, you could feel his nervousness, and you loved to think he felt the same way you did.

His fingers caught the zipper of your skirt and greedily pulled it down, pulling them off your legs as soon as he had reached the end. You were still wearing your underwear, but you still felt too exposed... in a good way.

"Are you ready?" he whispered in front of your crotch covered by your panties. Your breath hitched for an instant, but you managed to nod awkwardly. "Good, because I don't think I can contain myself from here on out" he gave you one last mean smile before pulling down your panties and plunging into your intimacy.

[ikemen-trifecta]

Grim x Sunshine - 🌻rientations

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR A DATE WITH DEATH AFTER THE Keep reading SELECTION

I was originally going to write a wholesome Jaehee x MC fic about them celebrating their first Pride Month as a couple, seeing as I can’t remember writing a lesbian couple before. However, I realised I won't be able to figure out how to write fitting dialogue for Jaehee in time to post, so I decided to save that for a later time and write about Grim to celebrate the Kickstarter for the ADWD sequel being fully funded. And as always, thank you to Mod Astraea for proofreading and providing insight~☆ –Edi

↓ Selecting Keep reading is the point of no return for spoilers. ↓

[Will (someday) get around to having someone record a reading for those who want the option to listen.]

　Sunny typed away at their desk, bouncing a leg and humming a tune as Casper lay on the bed, lazily kicking his legs behind him while reading. He flipped through the pages indifferently until some words caught his attention.

　He scanned over them a couple times before sitting up and furrowing his brows.

　“Sunshine?”

　They stopped humming but continued typing. “Hm?”

　“This book you had on your shelf… It contains a lot of information on mortal preferences for romantic interests.”

　“Mhm.”

　Clack clack clack.

　“I’m…curious about something.”

　“M’kay.”

　Clack clack clack.

　“What does—”

　Clack clack clack clack clack.

　“Would you stop that and pay attention?!”

　They swiveled their chair around. “I was, but okay. You have my undivided attention.”

　Casper huffed before holding the book up for Sunny to look at. “What does this mean?”

　“‘Demiromantic.’”

　“Yes. What is it?”

　They tilted their head. “The definition’s right there.”

　“I don’t…fully comprehend what it means.”

　“Well…” Sunny sat back in the chair. “A lot of people can feel romantically attracted to someone very soon after meeting them…”

　“Okay…” Casper lowered the book slowly as he listened.

　“Demiromantic people need to have a strong bond with whoever they’re attracted to beforehand.”

　“I see… And is ‘demisexual’ related to ‘demiromantic’?”

　“Kiiiind of? ‘Demiromantic’ is romantic attraction, and ‘demisexual’ is sexual attraction. They don't always go together, but they tend to.”

　Casper furrowed his brows quizzically, looking at the book again. “So ‘demisexual’ requires a strong connection in order for someone to be physically attracted.”

　“Yeah.”

　He didn’t speak for a bit.

　“What’re you thinking?”

　He put a hand to the back of his neck. “I think…that's me. This ‘demiromantic.’”

　Sunny waited for him to continue, something Casper picked up on immediately because of how they weren't yapping incessantly for once.

　“Is this a serious subject?” he asked slowly.

　“Ehhhh… Not if you don't want it to be. I can go back to making fun of you if you w—”

　“No.” He stared indignantly. “No. Do not.”

　Sunny crossed their legs casually and leaned on the armrest, a ghost of a smile tugging at the corner of their mouth. “’Kay~”

　“I…” Casper started, gathering his hair over his shoulder and running his hands over it, “I assumed it was due to my dedication to my work, but…I didn't…”

　He glanced up at Sunny.

　“I didn't feel drawn to anyone until you.”

　Sunny didn't say anything. Casper waited for a few moments before risking another peek.

　They were…smiling. Gently smiling.

　“No quip?”

　“Do you want me to?”

　“No,” he responded softly.

　They sat in near-silence for a while longer until Casper spoke up.

　“Is it accurate?”

　“The book?”

　“The concept. Does it apply to me?”

　Sunny uncrossed their legs and sat up a bit straighter. “That's up to you. If you learn that you feel differently later, you can use different labels to describe yourself. Or choose not to use any at all.”

　“It's that simple?”

　They smirked. “The only one who can know for sure is you; it’s not like there's a queer police.” They paused. “Well, there are people who’ll try to decide for you, even if they're not straight.”

　“That… You mortals formed a community but exclude people who don't seem like they meet the criteria?”

　“Some people are dumb,” they answered matter-of-factly.

　He frowned while Sunny drummed their fingers on the armrest.

　“You don't have to tell anyone. I mean… I’m glad you told me, seeing as we’re together, but you can keep it a secret if you aren't comfortable sharing.”

　He stared down at the book in his hands.

　“And…demisexual…” he muttered, blushing slightly, “That sounds correct, too.”

　“Alright,” they replied, unable to hide the hint of amusement in their voice.

　Casper blushed more. “You're laughing at me.”

　“I’m not~ I’m just thinking about what might've led up to you determining that.”

　He blushed even further, hiding his mouth and mumbling a “you.”

　Sunny’s eyes lit up. “Really?!”

　“Yes,” he grumbled.

　“You really feel that way?”

　He glared ruefully. “You’re so damn enticing. Your face is enchanting, your hands are alluring… How else am I supposed to feel?”

　They stared at him with wide eyes before breaking into a massive grin.

　“Ah, shit—”

　“You think I’m irresistible~?” they giggled, flopping down on the bed and across Casper's lap.

　He rolled his eyes. “I am constantly resisting you, so no.”

　“But the fact that you even have to resist me means I make you feel strongly.”

　“Birdbrain.”

　“Bonehead.”

　“I told you; Grim Reapers are not skele—”

　“Why am I rattling your bones so much, then?”

　He closed his eyes and inhaled.

　“You are everything I desire,” he started, sighing exasperatedly, “along with so many things I do not.”

　“You got a 2-for-1 special.”

　He grunted and looked away.

　“Hey, Casper.”

　“What.”

　He jumped a bit as Sunny sat up and put their face close to his— so close that their noses were nearly touching.

　“What are you…doing?”

　They didn't respond and kept looking into his eyes. He shifted awkwardly.

　“Sunshine?”

　They continued gazing into his eyes, causing his blush to spread to his ears.

　“I-I…”

　His eyes flitted to the side in an attempt to stop himself from becoming too flustered. He could practically feel their gaze giving him sunburn.

　After the silence became too unnerving for him, he bridged the gap, giving them a quick kiss before turning away embarrassedly to look at literally anything else.

　“Aww~ What a lovely surprise~” they mused sarcastically.

　He let out a huff, sounding significantly less annoyed and more self-conscious than he’d hoped. He stared at Azrael lounging against the pillows, hoping to regain his composure.

　There was a gentle weight on his shoulder. He looked and saw Sunny resting their chin on him with a look of adoration in their eyes.

　He squinted and turned his head slightly, shielding himself from their aura with a hand. “Nine hells; you’re brighter than hellfire.”

　“Are you calling me radiant~?”

　“Yes. In the worst of ways.”

　They stayed quiet until Sunny chortled and took their head off his shoulder.

　“What?”

　“Just remembered one of our video calls.”

　“Which one?”

　“Twenty questions.”

　“Dare I ask?” he questioned warily.

　“You said you’d never been in love and that you wouldn’t kiss someone you didn’t love.”

　He tensed up.

　“That means you were in love with me when you came to live here,” Sunny said, smiling to themself.

　Casper blushed, searching frantically for a way around his inability to lie that he was at that stage so soon.

　“Technically, you kissed me,” he mumbled.

　“Dang. I thought I’d be able to make you say more sappy stuff.”

　“Shut up…”

　“Ooh; wait. Now that you know you’re demi, there’s something I’m wondering about.”

　“…Yes?” he asked cautiously.

　“Would you still have feelings for me if I were a different gender?”

　“Yes. Why?”

　“Any gender?”

　“I…think so, but why are you asking me thi—”

　“‘Panromantic’ means you can be romantically interested regardless of gender, so if you’re demi and pan and Death, would that make you a pandemic?”

　His face clouded over with a grimace as he sighed, “Fuck you.”

　“Yes, please.”

　Tomatofication and stammering ensued at the immediate response.

　“Y-You— Don't just— I mean, if you— This is very sudden; I’m not sure if that's a…”

　They smiled, charmed by his flustered state. “I’m messing with you.”

　“Sunny!” he exclaimed, “Don't do that!”

　“Can’t promise.”

　Casper crossed his arms and closed his eyes in an attempt to will away his flushed face. “Why don’t you have the ability to remain serious for more than two minutes?”

　“Because I wouldn’t be me~”

　He huffed.

　Sunny put their knee against his after admiring his pout for a few seconds.

　“Thank you for telling me. I’m happy you feel safe with me knowing.”

　His expression softened as he looked away and uncrossed his arms, shyly sliding his hand over theirs.

　“I appreciate the explanations.”

╱╲╱╲╱╲╱╲╱╲╱╲╱╲╱╲╱╲╱╲╱╲╱╲╱╲╱╲╱╲╱

(art by @/mitch4tune will be added if she finishes it)

Got inspiration for this fic from Shoko's Grim headcanon. Go check out this post of Grim ace profile pics!

Edit: OH MY GAWD I USED MY TTS EXTENSION TO READ IT BACK TO ME AND IT PRONOUNCED "GRIMACE" AS "GRIM ACE" MICROSOFT MARK KNOWS WHAT'S UP

[shinycollarboneapologist]

hoax

pt 3 to the taylor!verse or they definitely learn how to communicate. 

content: not entirely smutty, but alludes to smut so 18+ only please, hurt no comfort, matty lies :/

matty’s departure for a tour usually pans out in one of two ways: a. you aren’t even privy to the fact that he’s left until he sends you a random dick pic in the middle of the afternoon, claiming it's two am his time and he misses you so so so much, or b. you’re getting woken up at six in the morning because he’s conveniently forgotten to secure a ride to the airport.

so, you sit and wait for the text. either one would work at this point, (though you’re a bit impartial to not being woken up with a picture of his dick).

you don’t just get a text however, you get multiple. a slew of messages wake you up from your slumber. multiple are him just asking if you’re awake because he’s bored out of his mind without you. others are him telling you all about the city he’s in and that you have to come visit because there’s so much good food and record shops and the vintage store he found has the best band tees he’s ever seen so he needs to know your size as soon as possible so he can buy you one. there’s an interesting use of emojis, too. you laugh to yourself as you begin to reply, but you’re immediately cut off by an incoming facetime from the man in question.

this continues for a few days- him in constant contact and you both ending your night on the phone together with him making promises of sweet nothings and baseless love. it's like he took a page right out of the “how-to-be-a-boyfriend-without-the-label handbook”, the perfect page at least to make you feel that deep down maybe in some parallel lifetime you were his and he was yours. and when he talks you through a mind-numbing orgasm later that night, having you puppeteer a ghost of what he would do to you had he been there, he asks you if you're his. and like you always do, you say yes through gasps for air and contorts of pleasure. you never ask if he’s yours though, the thought slips your mind at the moment. but you don’t need to because you know.

the next day, he calls and asks what your schedule looks like. you tell him there’s a lull in filming at the moment and that you’re free until a little over a month from now. he giggles, deviously, and you have half a mind to ask him what that’s all about. but he ends the call before you can. your confirmation comes about an hour later when you receive a text message with hotel and flight information and a cheeky “see you soon x”. you don’t push the envelope by questioning his intentions. instead, you make sure you tie up any loose ends for the next week and pack a bag.

he picks you up from the airport in yet another rented red convertible.

“you have a type, don’t you?” you laugh.

he shoots you a look, tossing your bag that he insisted on carrying for you into the backseat. “piss off.”

it only fuels your laughter, watching the way his face scrunches up as he rounds the car to get in the driver’s seat.

“mean it. I’ll leave you here,” his tone sounds serious, but there’s a hint of a smile on his lips and a glimmer in his eyes.

you roll your eyes as you hop in the car, “who’s going to get you off then, hm?”

he doesn’t respond. his hand finds itself on your thigh and that’s the answer you need.

for the first few days, it all seems normal. you fall into a sense of routine quite easily; waking up in a new hotel room, eating the hotel’s excuse for breakfast, lounging by the pool for a few hours, getting ready, going to the show, leaving for the after-party, leaving said after party early with matty whispering filthy promises in your ear, ending up in his room yet again, and then sneaking back out to your own hotel room before anyone would notice you were missing. it’s easy, to fall into this routine with him- especially on the days he has off and you two muck about in new cities, acting like tourists and finding new vintage stores. it’s like there was no ignoring and pining, just two friends (who happen to know each other’s bodies like the back of their hands) exploring and having a grand old time. painless, fun. easy.

until it isn’t.

she shows up on the fifth day of your trip. a woman mirroring your features. she’s an actress with a name that sounds like yours.

you had hardly noticed until you go to breakfast the next morning and she’s sat next to matty. your seat. he’s laughing at a joke she’s telling, wrapped up in her effortlessly. you don’t blame him. she’s funny and beautiful. you don’t blame her either for the way she looks at him because it's the same exact way you do.

he introduces you as his friend, with his arm wrapped over her shoulders and a permanent smile on his lips. the knife is twisting deeper. the wound only grows larger as she giggles out how matty’s told her so much about you and how much she loved the last movie you were in and did you know that matty and george had a hand in the soundtracking, they’re so talented, aren’t they? through a pained smile, one that matty would’ve picked up on (should’ve picked up on) had he been paying any attention to you, you’re nodding and thanking her. you excuse yourself before you can endure anymore, blaming it on a conference call. you feel stupid. used and stupid and confused.

you don’t notice matty’s eyes following you out of the room, a sallow expression overtaking his once gleeful smile.

there’s a knock at your hotel room. It’s just after two-thirty in the morning. you’re barely even opening the door before he’s pushing his way in, taking you in his arms and kissing the breath from your lips, sucking all of the air out of your lungs. you melt into him as you always do, fingers tangling in his hair and whines vibrating onto his lips. he takes you apart bit by bit with his tongue like his life depends on it, building you up to a blinding finish over and over and over again. you’re practically pulling him off of you in an attempt to hold onto whatever sanity you have left. and when he kisses you again, you taste yourself in his mouth; a small sliver of the remnants of your fantasy. he kisses you like he’s yours; your own perfectly curated shade of blue, a color mixed so tenderly and carefully like no other you’ve ever known.

you don’t ask him if he is yours, because you don’t have to. you never have to. not with the way he looks at you, a reflected image of your own dazed smile.

the last girl leaves and is replaced with another mirror of you. his late-night visits become far and few. time’s slipping away as quickly as he is, and there’s only three days left before you’re due back home for a photoshoot.

you didn’t notice it all until george brings it up as you two share a smoke on a balcony overlooking a new city. the air is crisp and the warmth brought by the blanket over your shoulders is a necessity.

“where’s matty?” he asks, exhaling the cloud of smoke in front of him with an outstretched hand holding the joint out to you.

you gladly accept, shrugging your shoulders and taking a hit, “haven’t seen much of him besides when he’s on stage.”

his eyebrows furrow and a tilt of his head comes soon after. you don’t like that look. it bubbles a deep feeling in your chest that radiates throughout your body and out into the air. you exhale as a means to eradicate it all, trying to push it away but there’s no use.

“weren’t you with him last night? i called and heard a voice in the back, sounded like yours.”

with the look you give him, he knows he’s ultimately shit the bed. your mind starts racing to matty telling you he was going to be busy for the next few nights, something about rewrites and creative processes but your mind was too hazy from the pleasure induced matty high to have it really resonate with you. you remember how he answered a phone call in the other room, just out of earshot so you wouldn’t be able to hear him. the feeling only grows.

“i uh, i wasn’t. i thought he was with you,” you swallow, thickly. your throat feels dry, but you’re accepting the joint again anyway.

george just shakes his head, offering you a solemn glance.

you feel sick. he’s on tour; singing songs he’s written about you yet, still shacking up with girls that aren’t you but look and act like you at the end of the night. so what's the matter with you, exactly? he makes you promise him that you’re his and you’ve never once asked him if that was reciprocated. he’s never once said it. but he acts like he’s yours in the middle of the night and under the covers and over text messages at ungodly hours. he tastes like he’s yours when he kisses you with so much fervor and longing that you forget how to breathe.

there are two days before you have to leave now. after the revelation on the balcony with george, you find yourself packing your bags, hurriedly. deuxmoi is calling her his next girlfriend, going on and on and gushing about how happy he looks for once. you’re sick to your stomach, excusing yourself from the gig that night with a lie about some casting call with your manager.

it’s late when they get back and matty is still riding his stage high. when he sees you outside the hotel, hushing furious secrets on the phone, it all comes crashing down. bile rises to his throat and he approaches you with a cigarette tucked between his lips.

“so we lie to each other, now?”

you jump, not expecting to see him until morning. your scoff falls into the air, ignored as he stares at you indignantly awaiting your response.

“you’re one to talk, matt.” the name feels foreign on your tongue, syllables that haven’t escaped your vernacular recently.

“if you didn’t want to come tonight, why lie about it?” it was a blow to his ego, no doubt, to not have you there tonight. but he deserved it.

“i’m not the liar here.” your words cast a heavy dark cloud over him, “why have you been avoiding me?”

“i didn't... i’m not avoiding you,” he sputters.

your reserve breaks, another lie.

“did you invite me here just so you could sleep with me if one of your friends didn’t feel up to it?”

the words leak out of your lips, dripping with malice like white-hot venom. they’re out in the open now, there’s no way for you to take them back as you wait for his response. the end of his cigarette illuminates as he takes another hit, eyes forward now. he didn’t dare make eye contact, too afraid of the nonsense that would boil over if he did.

“it’s not.. it’s not like that-”

“then enlighten me, matty.”

matty looks at you, finally, pensive as if waiting for you to go on, “i don’t understand.”

“why did you invite me here?”

“i think it’s pretty obvious?” an awkward laugh falls from his lips.

“god, i’m so fucking dumb,” you groan and run a hand over your face, wishing the earth would just swallow you whole, “i’ve been here waiting for a sign that maybe just maybe things were changing and i didn’t waste years of my life pining after a man who doesn’t care about me but instead sees me as an opportunity to get laid when his long line of women runs dry.”

“that’s bullshit! you were off doing the same things i was-”

“yeah, but i stopped because i…”

“you what?”

“i fell in love with you,” you confess.

you watch as his mouth bobs up and down. the air feels as if it’s been sucked out of your lungs, yet again, and you so badly want to just take back everything you said, beginning with your inquisition and your later revelation to him. you’re not sure if you even want him to say anything at this point, knowing that whatever he says is not going to help you lick the self-inflicted wounds or heal the mess you’ve so brilliantly perpetrated.

there’s an utterance of your name as he tosses aside the ember of his cigarette. you shake your head though, don’t want to hear what he has to say. the moment has come and gone, fleeting like a flash of lightning before a clap of thunder. he steps towards you, hands shifting as he wonders if he should touch you or just keep them to himself. he chooses the latter and you have to swallow down the tears as they sting at the corners of your eyes. you’re not about to give him the satisfaction.

“you don’t have to say anything,” your voice permeates the thickened air. his eyes search yours relentlessly, but you remain stoic in how you speak. “but if it isn’t obvious. this,” you gesture between the two of you, “i can’t do it anymore. at least not like it was before. and i’m not about to push you into something you’re not ready for. so, i’ve decided to just take myself out of the equation.”

“well that’s hardly fair,” he scoffs, his voice laced with his own thick emotion.

“i need to do this for me, though.”

“if you just give me some time-”

“matty, i can’t. if it’s taking you this long to even remotely have a response towards me telling you how i feel then it’s not going to happen and we both just need to move on.”

“but,” he swallows, “i want you to stay.”

“i can’t, not like this.”

“you knew what this was when we started, so i don’t know why you’re getting like this. can’t we just forget this happened? i won’t see her again if that makes you feel any better,” matty’s eyes are red and bloodshot and you watch as he blinks a few times as if to ward off tears.

“you can’t treat me one way behind closed doors, telling me you’re mine and kissing me like that and filling my head up with this faithless love and then make it out to be like none of that has ever happened.”

“that’s how it’s always been!”

“why can’t you just face the fact that things have been different between us?”

matty looks down at his shoes, “i didn’t notice that…”

“that’s bullshit, matty.” you cry out.

“i don’t want you to leave. not like this.”

“then give me a reason to stay. tell me that it’s not just in my head, that you feel what i feel, and that i’m not just imagining it all,” you plead, “tell me you want me the way i want you.”

matty stays silent for a minute or two, you’ve stopped counting. instead you’re holding your breath to put off crying, trying to will some kind of higher being to reverse the clock. you feel your grip on the upper hand begin to slide when his eyes meet yours again. he utters your name, begging with you. but it’s too late, you’re exasperated and tired of the back and forth and on and off and hot and cold. you just want to hear him say it. you’ve never had to ask him before, but your assumptions have left you feeling empty and slighted.

the second utterance of your name is all the confirmation you need. your eyes are stinging and you just shake your head at him, but he keeps speaking anyway. you wish you could stop listening, stop falling into his trap.

“i do want you. always," he steps towards you somberly, hands outstretched.

“you know that’s not what i mean,” you whisper in fear of what your voice would sound like even a decibel louder. you’ve lit the candle from both ends, enjoying the feeling of claiming him as your own and having him around without the vindication that he feels the same way. and now you’re left with the ashes of what was, forced to clean up the mess that’s left behind and hopefully clean up yourself as well. for years, you’ve put him first, let his entire being consume you whole, and paint you a shade of blue. but it was all a hoax, a game constructed by the man who stood before you so he could have his cake and eat it, too.

that seems to be enough for him to drop your hand. you hadn’t even realized he picked it up. and that’s the worst part of it all, you think, is he’s letting you go now without so much of a fight. the war is over, a winless fight, and as the dust settles all you can think about is how you’ve never once gotten the clarification.

you never asked him if he was yours because you never had to. but in hindsight, maybe you should have.