#edited. sorry- had 'the long ballad' on the brain

[heymeowmao]

The Longest Promise is 40 episodes, but actually 43 in disguise bc eps 35, 39, and 40 are twice as long as the rest.

[gloomysoup]

another edition to the nickelback chronicles, brought to you by my missing chad kroeger hours (i promise i'm bringing you other content soon). this is also set in the secrets universe, so i think that's just what these are gonna be from now on. oh, and the song today is far away from all the right reasons (2005). enjoy !

when eddie left, he knew he was going to write a song. well, he knew he was going to write a lot of songs, but he had one in particular brewing in his brain. It would be a slow ballad; something dedicated to steve just like everything else he wrote in those days after leaving. this song was a little different though. this one took him months to finish, which wasn't like any of the other songs he'd written to that point. he wanted to apologize. he wanted steve to know how sorry he was, how much he loved him. it took him a long time to find the right words. the melody came easily, strumming chords on the beat-up old acoustic in the back of the van while one of the others drove for a while.

when the song was finally released, eddie took a chance. he didn't send it to steve directly. he didn't think he deserved to do that, since he's the one that walked away. he sent it to wayne, hoping maybe he could get it to steve, or anyone. he sent it to dustin too, with slightly less hope in him. he knew he didn't deserve anything from them. he wouldn't have blamed anyone if they ignored him.

he never knows if anything came of it. he just goes about his career like it was nothing, like he wasn't putting his entire heart out there for everyone to hear. part of him could never let it go. he needed steve to hear the words, even if he wasn't actually there. they put it on the setlist of almost every tour. eddie fights tears every time, wanting nothing more than to go back to steve. maybe that's why he wrote the second verse of that song, promising to give it all up just to hold steve one last time.

he didn't know that steve listened to that song all the time. every day. later in his pregnancy with their pups, he would sit on the living room floor while robin was out and play the song over and over. the tears always roll down his face as he listens to eddie singing through the speakers, singing to him about their love and how much he misses him. and every time, without fail, the twins follow the sound. they move and kick and push to get closer. after their born, steve stills plays it. it always calmed them down when nothing else worked. as toddlers, he'd sing it or play it when they had nightmares, or weren't feeling well. it was a comfort for them, and for steve. he always told them their dad wrote it for them, even though eddie didn't even know they existed.

when eddie comes back, when he learns that he has pups, when he and steve finally work things out, steve still doesn't tell him about the song. he tries to stop playing it. he doesn't want eddie to know, but he doesn't really know why. it shouldn't be a secret, but for some reason, he keeps it that way. but that all changes early one morning, when gracie crawls into their bed with a stomach ache and a fever. it's around 3am, and she creeps into their room on quiet feet. she climbs in on steve's side, and then crawls over him to get to the middle. she burrows into his chest, her little face pressed into his neck. it wakes steve up. he asks what's wrong, and then he notices the tear tracks on her pale cheeks.

"gracie, baby, what's wrong?" he asks softly, thumbing away her tears and brushing back her sweat-soaked curls. her face was burning up.

"don't feel good," she murmured, pressing herself deeper into steve's chest.

"i'm sorry, honey." he wrapped his arms tightly around her and kissed the top of her head.

eddie groaned softly beside them, his eyes fluttering open. "wh's goin' on?" he muttered hoarsely. "everything okay?"

"gracie doesn't feel good. i think she has a fever."

eddie sat up quickly, suddenly much more awake. it was his first experience with sick kids, but steves done this song and dance several times before. the pups are like disease magnets, and when one of them gets sick, the other is never far behind.

"what? a fever?"

"ed, she should be fine. it's probably just a stomach bug."

"but she's sick, steve."

"i promise it will be fine. it should hopefully break in a few hours, and even if it doesn't, she'll be back to normal in just a few days. they're kids, eddie, they've been sick before."

eddie sighed and looked down at gracie, who was still crying and shaking softly in steve's arms. "what can i do to help?"

"uh, can you get a bottle of water, the kids tylenol, and a, um, damp washcloth? oh, and check on oliver while you're up? if she's sick, i doubt he'll be far behind."

eddie nodded and started pushing the covers back to retrieve what steve asked for. he was only gone for a few minutes, and neither steve nor gracie had moved. steve was brushing his fingers through her hair, shushing her softly. when eddie came back, he sat up against the headboard and pulled gracie into his lap. she refused to take the medicine. steve was trying his best to convince her.

"come on, gracie, please? i promise you'll feel better if you take it."

"i want the song."

"which song, honey?" eddie asked, leaning over and rubbing her back. "maybe i know it? i can sing it for you."

steve sighed, knowing he had to tell him. it was probably the only way gracie would take the medicine. it would be the only way they'd get her back to sleep.

"it's one of your songs, eddie," steve whispered. "i used to play it for them all the time."

eddie frowned. "you did? which one?"

steve looked down at gracie, playing with her hair to avoid looking at eddie. "far away. i've been playing it for them their whole lives. i wanted them to know you loved them, even if you didn't really know."

"i never knew you even got that song."

steve glanced at him with a smile. "you gave it to wayne. of course i got it."

"well, that's easy, then." eddie grinned at gracie, brushing back her hair. "why don't i just sing it for you, honey? will that help you feel better?"

gracie nodded, so of course eddie did just that. he sang softly, the whole song, while steve fed her the medicine. then he let her curl up into his chest, rocking back forth as he kept singing. he didn't stop until she was fast asleep again, snoring softly against his bare chest. steve leaned over to kiss eddie's cheek with a smile.

"i love you," he whispered.

eddie smiled back. "i love you too."

"i'm gonna go check on ollie again. you okay here?"

he nodded, reassuring steve they'd be fine. steve came back in several minutes later, carrying oliver in his arms.

from then on, eddie took every chance he could to sing that song for his family. if the band was on tour, eddie would sing it to them on the phone every night before they went on stage. it was one of his favorite parts about being their dad. he loved to sing to them. he loved singing his songs to them. he thanked the universe every day that he got this chance. he wouldn't give it up for anything.

[lyricsofravensong]

The beat of a longing heart

• Jake x MC • hurt/comfort, fluff • ~ 1 675 words + a chat•

• request by Anon:  hey, i don't know how to start this ask but... well i got the news that my favorite drummer has passed away and i can't deal with it without thinking about jake comforting MC... i think this is weird and I must be mixing things up, but it's a comforting thought...you are my favorite writer on tumblr out of all the blogs and i am always happy to read your works so if you are accepting requests could you please write something about jake and mc? thank you😢❤️

• Your evening was supposed to be a sad song until the end, but then an unexpected melody appears from the rain.

A/N: Here it finally is! 🌠 Thank you for the request dear anon, I hope you're doing well. 💕 Sorry again for being so slow! 😖

I wasn't sure if you wished for a chat or a written story, so I combined them a little. :) I was really struggling with the editing but this is the best I can offer at the moment and I don't want to make you wait any longer. I hope so much I'm not letting you down and this story gives you the comfort you were missing. 💚

And thank you @dreamer-writer-fangirl for the encouragement! ❤

When you're happy, the beat of the music resonates with your cheerful heart; it dances and flutters in every corner of your body, making you feel powerful and alive.

When you're sad, the lyrics of the songs portray the pain your heart is aching with; they poke and stroke every inch of your bleeding soul, challenging and healing.

The song of your evening starts with a heavy sigh escaping from your lungs. Disappointment burns in your throat, but you swallow it down painfully. It's not Jake's fault that the theme of your day had been nothing but a repeating chorus of a sad song, and it seems like the evening is going to continue the manner. But you can't deny that the absence of his presence is one note more to the chord of your grief.

Rain sets the tune by hitting the roof with a sound that's reaching the rumbling measures of a thunderstorm. The ambience of it is making you even more anxious.

The beat comes in as a pulse of your longing heart, echoing in every cell of your body. Your mind is helplessly out of tune and can't keep up with the racing tempo.

You give up on tears as the rain makes a crescendo that covers the voice of your sobbing. Your thoughts are a swirling mess of unsettling beats, counting every person there is for you to miss. A wave of sorrow floods over your soul and the pouring rain invades your brain until your tears turn to raindrops. 

You cry for a long time and the static rhythm of the rain is like a stereo to your feelings.

At first, the careful knocking on the door gets lost in the mixed concert of percussion going on in your head. When it comes again stronger, you sit up slowly. You have no intention of answering it, a single glance at your tear-stained face in the mirror confirms that. You're sure that the intruder will give up quickly since who in their right mind would be outside in that weather. The doorbell rings once and is followed by the uplifting tone of your phone receiving a message. 

Your heartbeat drops tragically as you read the text Jake had sent.

Tension builds up as you hurry to the door without a second glance at the mirror. The beat of your heart drums in your ears when you yank the door open. And then - every sound goes silent. 

There's Jake, standing in the rain outside your door. His black hair is dripping wet as well as his hoodie of the same color. In contrast to them, he's holding a white plastic bag in his hand, phone in the other. Your eyes meet his and you stare at each other equally shocked. The shaken expression on Jake's face indicates that you look as awful as you felt a second ago. 

"I can't stop the rain, but… here I am. Ready to hold you," Jake says and a hint of embarrassment appears on his face. You follow his every move as he puts his phone in the pocket of his hoodie and then - trying to figure out what to do with his freed hand - runs his fingers through his wet hair. 

"I hope you're not bothered by me intruding like this," he mumbles awkwardly, making a shy glance towards you.

Words get caught in your throat and come out pitifully feeble, "Or course not, but… how?" Your voice breaks and you have to gasp for breath. "How? Why?"

There's a clear twitch on Jake's face by the tearful sound of your voice. For a minute he looks almost panicked as he struggles to find the next words.

"I was getting this when you texted me." He lifts the plastic bag so you can see the logo of a nearby Chinese restaurant. "Rain offers some cover so it's safer for me to be out. I was so insanely worried about you that my legs just carried me here."

Your mind is gradually catching up with the new tempo of this turn of events. Another wave of tears is blurring your eyes and you slap a hand over your mouth to cover the weird grin spreading on your face.

"And I'm glad they did," Jake continues, pulling the corner of his lips into a sympathetic smile. "I'd hate to think of you being alone like that."

You shake your head in disbelief at this unexpected change of key in the earlier flatness of your emotions. You let out a trembling breath. A new verse in the song of your evening starts when you sprint out in the rain and throw yourself into Jake's arms. You bury your face into his chest and let out the forceful sobs. Jake drops the bag on the ground and wraps his arms tightly around you. 

The drumming of the rain fades to the background as you stand in its shower, crying the whole record of your sorrows over Jake. He listens to it quietly and doesn’t let go even when you raise your hand to wipe your nose on your sleeve. Gradually your weeps quiet down along with the rain which is throwing the last separate drops on your already damped clothes. You rest your head on Jake’s shoulder and squeeze the back of his hoodie. 

“Have I ever told you why I like the rain?” his voice asks softly beside your ear. 

“No,” you sniffle. “I don’t believe you have.”

“I like it because it reminds me of you.”

“Why is that?” You raise your head to look at Jake’s face, forcing him to loosen his grip which he fixes by resting his hands behind your lower back. 

“It was pouring when I contacted you for the first time,” he smiles. “That was the day my life changed. For me, rain symbolizes the unpredictability of life. I feel like anything is possible on a rainy day.”

“That’s something you just proved to be true,” you laugh and brush a strand of hair aside from his forehead. Jake stares at your face with such intensity that you suddenly become very aware of your swollen eyes and runny nose. You blush and lower your head.

“I’m sorry about crying so much. I know I look hideous.”

Jake sets his hand gently on your cheek, making you look up at his face again as he examines yours even closer. 

“No, you’re still fascinating.” His whisper makes your heart sing with emotions you have never heard so vividly before. 

“My face is all swollen and full of tears…” you splutter in loss of words. 

Jake’s smile only widens and he wipes your cheeks tenderly with his fingers. “They’re just raindrops.”

You chuckle, “Then you can stop the rain after all.”

Tears of the sky are still dripping from the trees and corners of the roof all around you. They form an uneven rhythm of a harmony you’re now hearing differently; not as an echo of your pain, but more as a ballad for sadness.

But sadness is not the theme of your feelings anymore when you share the Chinese with Jake on the couch in your living room. No food has ever tasted so delicious as this slightly soaked and chill portion of noodles eaten straight from the container, taking turns of using the one pair of chopsticks Jake had with him.

The second verse of your evening is composed from comfort. After the food is finished and Jake’s drenched hoodie is drying on the back rest, you lean against his shoulder and slowly give lyrics for your sadness by telling him all about your previous distress. His t-shirt is wet too, but you forget it when his arm wraps around you, pulling you closer to his side. 

Jake's presence is a lot like music; without saying much he still makes you feel understood and healed. His comfort is mainly instrumental but filled with so many soothing nuances of warm touches and thoughtful nods. He is the melody your evening missed. He is the lyrics for your love and the stereo for your desire; resonating stronger than the drumming of the rain. He makes you believe that just like music, your feelings are also made to be shared with your loved ones. And as you let your head fall to his lap and turn on your back to meet the softness of his eyes, you realize that this one you love very much. 

Rain starts a new solo on the roof with full force as the song of this evening comes to the bridge. Jake bends down to you, his intention written clear on his face. Still he stops hesitantly right above your mouth, pausing the music just before the beat drops. But your heart is singing and you hit the play by reaching your hand behind his head and pulling him down to your lips. The kiss launches a full symphony inside you and every note makes you yearn for more. 

On a short rest between kisses you caress Jake’s cheek and say, “Now I hope it will never stop raining.”

“I thought you hated it,” Jake points out. 

“Not anymore,” you mumble while your attention is drawn to the way Jake’s mouth forms the words he speaks and how his lips are tuning into an amused smile. 

“What made you change your mind?” he asks. 

“No one in their right mind would go outside in that weather, so you have to wait here until the rain is over.” 

When you're in love, music understands your every feeling; the fluttering happiness, the aching yearning, and the healing comfort. All the lyrics tell the story of the two of you, of every smile and tear you’ve had. 

A perfect harmony is formed when two beats of two longning hearts meet each other in a beautiful duet. 

This song of your evening does not end yet, the music of your hearts continues beating in the calming dusk of a rainy day.

_____________________

It was actually raining every time I wrote this. 🤭☔

[geraltrogerericduhautebellegarde]

@stinastar got Eskel on my brain so I had to throw some love (see also: whump) his way

Here darling, have some suffering... as a treat.

(As always, I didn’t bother editing so if you see anything ridiculous, please let me know)

________________________________________________________________

Humming a melody, Jaskier was contemplating his next ballad. He had some good material from the last of Geralt’s hunts he had snuck along on a few weeks back, right before the two parted. Jaskier was feeling this one should be nothing short of epic, a wonderful, and maybe slightly annoying, surprise for his favorite witcher upon their next run-in.

Smiling while he tried to think of a good rhyme for “reckless”, Jaskier let his eyes roam over the village he was approaching. It seemed like a small settlement, but large enough to have an inn. He was in a fairly remote part of The Continent, but he was hopeful that his charm would serve him well, even if there weren’t an inn.

As Jaskier got closer to the village an odd sight made him lose his train of thought. In the middle of the main road going through the village it seemed that most of the residents had gathered round in a loose circle, and in the middle Jaskier could see two poles that looked to be made of metal sticking up. Perhaps it was some sort of festival or ritual in the area, thought Jaskier as he tried to get a better look.

When Jaskier finally got close enough to hear the villagers, he still couldn’t quite see what they were circling, but the snippets of conversation he heard weren’t particularly encouraging. Jaskier slowly waded through the crowd, concern growing as he heard the villager’s whispers, “monster” “it’ll be good to see it die” “it deserves to suffer”.

Finally, Jaskier was able to push through to the front of the crowd, getting to see what it was that had the villagers so excitable.

He let out a sharp gasp, his eyes widening in shock.

Before him was a man, his arms chained to the metal poles, stretched high above his head, his knees on the ground, his ankles chained to the bottom of the poles. His knees were bloodied, and the man was entirely bare, save for the chain he wore around his neck.

Well, more like a medallion, really.

A medallion in the shape of a wolf’s head.

Jaskier felt panic run through him as he realized he was staring at a witcher, just as broad and scar covered as his witcher, wearing the same medallion. The man’s head was bowed as he sagged in his chains but Jaskier knew that his eyes would be that same golden amber that frequented his dreams. The only difference between this unknown witcher and Geralt that Jaskier could see seemed to be their hair, this witcher’s hair a dark brown color so very different from Geralt’s white.

Before Jaskier realized what he was doing, he had taken a step forward, closer to the witcher. Jaskier felt a sharp pull to his arm and turned to see an elderly man with a severe face holding him back, “Best not get too close, son. We’ve weakened the monster but he’s not close to death just yet. Got another week or two in him at least.”

“Right. I’m sorry, I’m a bit confused. What, exactly, is going on?” Jaskier pulled his arm out of the old man’s grasp, quickly righting his doublet.

The old man smiled, revealing far fewer teeth than he should have had, “We tricked the blasted mutant, that’s what! Weakened him and tricked him and now he serves his penance for his sins.”

Jaskier’s mind raced, trying to process what was happening. The witcher had been captured by the town, it seemed, and now was strung up and being left to die.

Having travelled side by side with a witcher for nearly a decade, Jaskier had seen more than his fair share of intolerant people and towns, but never had he seen the malice in this man’s face. The old man was clearly proud of his accomplishment, happy to watch the witcher in front of them suffer for weeks on end before death.

Well, Jaskier certainly wouldn’t just sit around and let this happen, no sir. But what to do? He wouldn’t be able to fight the entire village, and any village willing and able to do what they had done wasn’t going to be swayed by pretty words and a catchy song. No, Jaskier would have to be clever, he had to find a way to sneak the witcher away with none the wiser.

“I must admit, good sir, I’m very impressed. How did you manage to catch a witcher unawares?” Hopefully, he would be able to get the old man to give him information.

The old man let out a laugh that made Jaskier’s stomach roll with disgust, “It came asking after a contract and I was able to slip it a special mix in some food and drink while we spoke. Family recipe - helped do in four other of these monsters, though this’ll be the first since I’ve taken over as alderman, only the second in my life time. A very exciting day, all around. Sent the mutant into the woods and ambushed it.”

“And you’re still poisoning him? To keep him weak?”

“No, no. No need, those shackles we had special made for an occasion like this. Dimeritium. The beasts are weak to it, it’ll stay weak just from that ‘til it finally dies.” The alderman was beaming at Jaskier, clearly delighted with his accomplishment.

Jaskier wanted to beat the man bloody. “That’s very impressive, and do you have the town guards keep watch over him? Or hunters?”

The alderman laughed, “Needn’t waste the resources. The dimeritium does the trick and it’s locked in. I keep the key with me so there’s no need to go guarding it.”

Jaskier smiled, “You’re clearly a brilliant man, tell me alderman, did the witcher have any belonging you’ll be selling? I was accosted by some bandits on the road and lost my weapons and my horse. I’d be happy to pay.”

“Ahh, we’ve it’s things in the stable still. A brilliant stallion. We’ve no real need of it in the village but some coin wouldn’t go amiss! All it’s other things are in the stables as well, if there’s anything you want I’m sure we can work out a fair price. Follow me, if you will.”

Jaskier let his gaze fall to the witcher again. The alderman claimed the witcher had at least another week but Jaskier wasn’t convinced, the man looked close to death. Hopefully, he would be able to acquire the horse and he would be able to use the stallion to get the witcher to safety.

Dusk was approaching when Jaskier finally left the stable, his purse lighter, but now in possession of a horse, two witcher’s swords, saddle bags full of various potions and clothes and other witchery things, and an invitation to join the alderman and his wife for supper.

Jaskier hurried to the small inn the alderman had mentioned and quickly purchased a room for the night, hurrying into it, thankful it was on the ground floor.

The only thing keeping the witcher imprisoned were shackles around his wrists and ankles, shackles that simply locked with a key. A key the alderman kept. Although Jaskier was hesitant to sup with the alderman and his wife, particularly considering they apparently have a poison that, not only isn’t detected by witcher’s, but also is enough to subdue them, he figured that it would be his best chance to get the key.

With any luck he would be able to unchain the witcher and get him to his horse and then get him to safety.

Jaskier knew very little of dimeritium but Geralt had mentioned it in the past, mentioned it weakened him, made it impossible to use signs. Jaskier wasn’t sure how long it would take for the witcher to recover from the dimeritium bonds and whatever poison was still in his body, but he hoped it wouldn’t take too long. Jaskier wasn’t sure where they would be able to go that was safe so they would have to stick to the woods for a while at least. Until the witcher was well enough to defend himself. And Jaskier, hopefully.

Letting out a long sigh, Jaskier sat heavily on the bed. He wished he had a quick way he could contact Geralt, some back up would be nice. Although bringing another witcher into such a dangerous place might not be a great idea when Jaskier wasn’t even sure what poison they were using on witchers or how exactly they administered it.

Poison. Right, Jaskier needed to go to the alderman’s house. Surely supper would be ready soon.

Gods willing, he wouldn’t be poisoned too.

-

Attending supper at the alderman’s house wasn’t Jaskier’s favorite experience, what with the concern of an undetectable poison and the looming threat over the witcher outside, but it was helpful to his plans. As the alderman bragged yet again about capturing and subduing the witcher, he gestured to the heavy key ring with one sing key on it, hanging just beside the door leading to their back garden.

The alderman had also made it fairly apparent that the village as a whole didn’t concern itself far too much with security. Being so remote, they got very few travelers, and the villagers themselves would never do anything to risk the ire of their poison-happy alderman. All of these things boded well for Jaskier’s rescue attempt. He should be able to sneak out of the inn, into the alderman’s house to get the key, and back to free the witcher if he was careful.

Returning to his room, Jaskier started packing his bags, mind racing with his plans.

He would need to get the horse ready to leave town before doing anything else, a quick get away would be very important to the pair’s survival. Jaskier wasn’t sure how long the inn keep would be awake cleaning so it would most likely be best to sneak his belongings, and himself, out through the window.

Ideally, any stable boy would be asleep and Jaskier would be able to tack up the horse and strap all their bags and his lute to it with no one the wiser.

And then things would get trickier. He would need to get to the alderman’s house without being noticed, get inside, get the key, and run.

If the alderman or his wife noticed the key was missing too soon, then they might not make it out of the village.

-

Sometime later, Jaskier was lurking in the back garden of the alderman’s house, trying to make sure he and his wife were soundly asleep before he snuck inside to get the key.

After a while of waiting, Jaskier still hadn’t heard any movement from inside or seen any lights so he crept to the garden door and made quick work of the lock, thankful that he hadn’t forgotten how to pick a simple lock. He pushed the door open slowly, looking around in the dark kitchen, satisfied to not see anyone awake, grabbed the key, and pulled the door shut again.

Sticking to the shadows, Jaskier hurried as quickly as he dared to the center of the village where the witcher was chained. Hurrying up to the weakened man, Jaskier grabbed at the shackles on his left wrist, trying to will his normally steady hands to stop shaking. Jaskier made efficient work of the shackles on the man’s wrists, the man collapsing on his hands with a grunt. Jaskier hurried around the witcher to undo the shackles around his ankles before he grabbed the witcher by his shoulder, pulling his off his hands, “C’mon witcher. We need to get out of here before anyone notices you’re free. C’mon, your horse is saddled and ready to go, we just have to make it to the stables.”

“Wh’re you?” The witcher groaned in pain, his head finally lifting, his golden eyes meeting Jaskier’s. Jaskier quickly took in the man’s face, he looked remarkably like Geralt, save for the deep scars marring the right side of the witcher’s face.

“Ahh yes, I’m Jaskier, and I’m trying very hard to keep the both of us from dying, so if you could cooperate, I would appreciate it.”

The witcher slowly raised to his feet, leaning dangerously to one side. Jaskier quickly ducked under the man’s arm to provide support, hurrying the man toward the stable.

Once inside, Jaskier threw a set of clothes to the witcher, letting him dress while Jaskier led the horse from his stall. Jaskier mounted the horse quickly and held his hand down to the witcher. The witcher gave him a skeptical look before mounting the horse behind Jaskier, leaning onto him.

Jaskier urged the horse forward, heading west, “I’ve no clue where to go around here that will be safe so I thought we should stick to the woods for a bit until you’ve recovered some.”

The witcher behind him hummed and Jaskier decided it must be in approval.

The two rode hard, putting the awful village behind them before Jaskier veered off the road, leading the horse into the wood and finally stopping in a small clearing.

“Tell me, witcher, do you hear anything nearby we might need to worry about attacking us?”

The witcher slowly dismounted the horse and closed his eyes, “Nothing close enough to worry about. Fire should keep anything away.”

Jaskier jumped off the horse and walked to the witcher, ushering him to sit, “I’ll get started on a fire now, you rest.”

The witcher watched curiously ask Jaskier puttered around the clearing, starting a fire and setting out bed rolls.

“Eskel.”

“I’m sorry?”

“My name. It’s Eskel.”

Jaskier’s smile was blinding, “It’s lovely to meet you, Eskel.”

-

Sequel is here

[sxfterhearts]

37. [10:14 pm]

➳ pairing: yugyeom x reader

➳ genre/warnings: fluff with a sprinkle of suggestiveness ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°), established relationship!au

➳ word count: 1,280 words

➳ summary: 37. “Can I kiss you?”

➳ author's note: for the lovely 🌻!! i sincerely hope that this will give you some ~feels~ and that it can act as a little mood booster for the upcoming week! i listened to a lot of ‘got7 but you’re in a car and its raining’ yt edits, which i’ve linked down below. thank you for always supporting me honey! ❤️

➳ music rec: ♪

You scrolled through the playlist labelled “2am drives” on your boyfriend’s Spotify, lips pursed together in deep concentration. You were spoilt for choice, seeing as both of you shared such a similar taste in music. The sound of rain and thunder beyond the comfort of his beat-up Honda was a suitable accompaniment to the cosy ballad you chose, the tunes uniting in a charming harmony that pleased and soothed your ears. As you busied yourself with filling up the queue, Yugyeom sneakily threw his arm around your shoulders, coaxing you to come closer, to lay closer on his warm body.

Your boyfriend was good at a lot of things. Dancing was a prime example, and making mixtapes was another. He seemed to be gifted in just about anything, especially everything to do with making you laugh. Being sneaky, however, was something he was not gifted at, at all.

His other hand messed around with his laptop, setting up the movie he downloaded earlier for the two of you to watch. You had initially suggested Princess Diaries to him in the hopes that you would be watching it on your couch over Netflix Party after a long, tiring week at university, surrounded by fluffy pillows and a generous serving of ice cream. You were fully prepared for the virtual date night – you cooked yourself a proper dinner – the first one this week, pampered yourself with a moisturising mask pack and even put on your favourite polka dot pyjamas. What you weren’t prepared for, however, was for your boyfriend to turn up at your front door, all giddy smiles and goofy gestures, urging you to join him on a late-night drive, destination nowhere.

In the months you had spent as Yugyeom’s girlfriend, you slowly began to accept your new life motto of “Expect the Unexpected”. Things never really go as planned when your Gentle Giant was around, and especially if his Thai best friend was also involved.

Which is exactly why you did not make a big fuss when your boyfriend tugged you out of your apartment and drove you into the rainy Seoul night. In fact, you gladly welcomed it. The past few days had been heavy, after all, and your heart’s battery needed to recharge by being around Yugyeom. As cheesy as it sounds, any time spent with your boyfriend was time well spent, regardless of whether the dates were planned weeks in advanced or sprung up on you via text as he left his dorm.

Once you were satisfied with your song choices, you shifted a little in his arms to face him and was pleasantly greeted by your favourite side profile in the world. His tongue poked out of his glistening lips while his nose, high and sharp, scrunched up cutely as he played with the settings. Your fingers yearned to trace along his arched browbone, down to the apples of his cheeks, pinching the tip of his nose before finally settling on the strong edge of his jaw. Perhaps you’d even steal a kiss from his lips.

Yugyeom emitted a victorious “Yes!”, barely audible above the pitter patter of the rain. “All set! We are ready to discover the wonders of Genovia with Her Royal Highness, Princess Tia.”

“Her name is Mia, not Tia.” You couldn’t help but to giggle at his mix-up.

His entire body shook as he laughed, eyes squeezing together in mirth. You scooted even closer to the boy, longing to be close enough to feel his skin against yours with absolutely no gaps in between; longing to feel his every movement and every breath. “Ah, I’m never good with English names!”

Yugyeom’s finger moved the cursor towards the play button, but you quickly halted his actions by placing your hand on top of his. “Wait, not yet.” You paused him. “Can we just sit here for a while?” Your voice was reduced to nothing but a whisper.

Yugyeom hummed in agreement, his chest vibrating against your back. The sensation was oddly comforting.

For a few moments, you simply closed your eyes, soaking in the affectionate warmth provided by Yugyeom’s embrace, listening to the music playing softly from the radio, remixed with the ambient rain falling onto car’s windows and the rhythmic beating of two connected hearts. He moved the laptop out of the way as gently as possible so that he could bring his other arm around your smaller, precious figure, completing the hug he couldn’t but would’ve gave you if he was beside you this past week.

Nothing else could compare to Yugyeom’s hugs, you concluded. The moment you felt the gentle pressure of his kiss against your hair, you were certain all the pent-up fatigue and frustration left your body and evaporated into thin air. A trembling breath left your lips. You were so secure, so filled with love that it was threatening to spill over.

“Better?” He mumbled with his chin resting upon your head.

The thumb that was rubbing slow circles against your forearm was distracting, hypnotising. Your words failed you. Instead, you opted to turn towards him with your chin angled upwards, a silent, telepathic Can I kiss you?

Yugyeom craned his head downwards, his lips meeting yours halfway. The kiss was soft and gentle at first, just two lovers greeting each other after days apart. Then came the playful nips at your bottom lip and teasing licks of your front teeth. It was hard to resist a giggle or two, which Yugyeom definitely used to his advantage by swiftly and expertly swooping into well-explored territory.

Every single fibre of your being rejoiced as your tongues danced a familiar tango. Better, you conveyed through heated kisses and insistent tugs of his hair, so much better.

You squealed in surprise when you felt his cold fingers travel under your pyjama bottoms, caressing your love handles. You could tell where this was going, and you were more than happy–

Until Yugyeom’s cursed ringtone pierced through the air. Your movements faltered, the rational part of your brain registering that there was only a small handful of people who would call your boyfriend at this hour. Yet, Yugyeom persisted, trailing down your jawline towards your neck, leaving a trail of wet kisses and kitten licks in its wake.

“Yug–”

“Shh.” He shushed you immediately, his teeth grazing against delicate skin.

“Wait, it could be–” You were promptly cut off when Yugyeom nibbled and sucked, hard. The high-pitched whine that left your mouth was completely involuntary. “Could be important, baby. Maybe it’s Jaebeom oppa.”

Yugyeom groaned at the shrilly ringtone. Reluctantly, he peeled himself away from your neck and fished his phone out of his pocket. With a huff, he swiped across the screen to pick up the damned call.

“Yugyeom, finally! Listen, I worked out the final part of the song. We’ll use the same melody from the previous chorus but change the last two words of the sentence.”

“Great, hyung, hooray.” Yugyeom deadpanned. You smiled while poking his side, reprimanding him for being sarcastic and borderline rude to his senior.

“What’s with that tone, Kim Yugyeom? That’s not how you-”

“Hyung…” He whined into the phone. “I’m sorry, I’m really sorry. Thank you for figuring out the song, I’m just, you know, busy at the moment.”

“Oh, did I interrupt something? Is Y/N there? Wait, you know what, don’t answer that. I don’t want to know what you two lovebirds are up to. I’ll hang up, bye.”

“Bye, hyung.” Yugyeom said even after the line went dead. He tossed his phone onto the front seat before turning to you, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Now, where were we?”

[beautiful-de4mity]

Alice Nine Music Review: [15th Anniversary Best Album] Fugetsu no Uta Edition

It’s funny that I’m actually in the middle of work and my autistic ADD brain whispered: why don’t you review and compare those tracks in Fugetsu no Uta with the original ones? 🤡 I mean, well, this album is certainly the main reason I decided to end my hiatus period as a fangirl (from 2015) and get back on track to Alice Nine and The GazettE last year so I have no reason to resist, right? 😂 I wrote this based on my objective POV, might spark disagreement between other fellow Kyuugumis but I’m very happy to discuss things further eheheheheh 😂

P.S. All of the picture were taken from FAIX website! Kudos to them for always providing us with high quality Alice Nine materials!

1. NUMBER SIX

Objectively speaking from my point of view, I love the original version more because it sounded more アリス九號.-ish. Fugetsu no Uta’s version, however, is very neat! I’m surprised to notice that in some ways the sound becomes more mature and well-arranged. They changed the keys in some parts and removed several details compared to the original version and that’s what made me feel off somehow. To me, NUMBER SIX will always portray that image of youth, recklessness, vandalism, and messy things (lmao). not to mention the MV where they (again and again) tried to be actors and added some background story😂 This entire album is basically showing off Shou’s progress in technique and vocal range respectively. I’m so proud of him! To be honest, I prefer his current voice tone compared to the earlier era of Alice Nine, what about you?

I think what makes Alice Nine music unique are their distinctive and detailed sound, also subtleties. That’s why the original NUMBER SIX is waaay better than Fugetsu no Uta’s in my opinion.🎸

2. -Dice-

It’s funny because I never really listen to -Dice- before and since it is included in the latest album, I finally paid attention to it😂 This song has strong “Yami ni Chiru Sakura” vibe to me. Basically, nice progression and arrangement. I think -Dice- is the kind of song the fans want to listen again after a long time, the kind of song with bold distortion, heavy beat, and screamo. Alice Nine is known to experiment a lot with their music, Hiroto said it himself several times during his live stream. Nevertheless, their two latest albums released in 2020 (Nightless City Eden and Wonderland With Black) somehow showed that their sound is more popish and lighter nowadays. I wonder if it’s either because Saga is head over heels with Kenty or Shou is so into KPop🤔 Thoughts? 

3. Kousai

KOUSAI IS ONE OF THE BEST ALICE NINE’S BALLAD MASTERPIECES!!!!! Composed by our baby guitarist, who is surprisingly so good at composing ballad songs 😅, Kousai has that power to make you feel a range of emotions you can’t put into words!

Music wise, Fugetsu no Uta’s Kousai is adjusted half key higher (maybe due to Shou’s vocal range change), they don’t use acoustic guitar, the chord progression is also different especially in pre-chorus and bridge parts, plus the solo is also different. Both versions have orchestral touch, but Fugetsu no Uta’s is more grandeur in composition. Again, I have to say the latest version is very neat and lovely to listen since Shou’s gentle voice really spoils my sense of hearing. However..............!!!! The original version has the raw, painful feeling that’s impossible to match! From minute 00:00 when the acoustic guitar flows until the end of the song (which is also filled with acoustic guitar only!), is a roller coaster of feelings that makes you question your existence. Whenever I play the original version of Kousai and the song ends, I can feel strange emptiness as if I had lost someone dear to me without knowing who it is 😭 and that’s why it’s hard for me to decide which one is better. I’d say both versions are equally great! I really can picture this song as an ending theme of a sad dorama/movie.

4. RAINBOWS

THE ORIGINAL ONE WINS! looooooooool 😂😂😂😂😂😂 I’m really sorry, I don’t even need to think twice to decide this. RAINBOWS is best of the best and I’d actually love to keep it original (sorry, boys 😓). I don’t have much to say about the Fugetsu no Uta’s version since they don’t add much change either. The original version has Saga’s signature sound, you can feel his genius juice flowing out throughout the entire song. It’s like a huge power you have to unleash otherwise it’ll explode and destroy you inside. Every time you listen to it, you’ll feel energized and pumped out! I don’t know, it’s just Fugetsu no Uta’s version doesn’t have that power. 

Thoughts? 🤔

5. CROSS GAME

AGAIN....THE ORIGINAL ONE WINS!!!! 😂 I don’t know why but I think they shouldn’t have included their iconic songs such as RAINBOWS and CROSS GAME in this album unless they’re keeping the original arrangement (re-mixing is okay but re-arrangement, re-record? 🤔), the songs are really losing their magic and power somehow. They also don’t add significant change into the songs compared to the other ones, why bother to re-record them anyways? (Sorry, this might sound harsh but I’m trying to be honest as possible 😭)

Probably the re-arrangement things work better on ballad songs or less upbeat songs since they adjust to Shou’s new vocal tone. Even Tora’s solo is not as powerful as the original one (this might also be because he’s no longer using his Ibanez. Ibanez is well-know for its heavy and crunchy distortion sound). I wonder if they said things like, “Let’s re-record CROSS GAME, but make it softer.” when they decided to include this song into the album. Thoughts? 

6. The Beautiful Name

They make a number of changes in this song and I should say the changes do not spark any conflict within me. Shou’s new vocal tone plus Saga’s voice as the background really go well with the Fugetsu no Uta’s arrangement. In some ways, Fugetsu no Uta’s version sounds more アリス九號.-ish than the original one because they change the chord progression and add more details. You might call me biased for saying this but the main factor that makes the new version more stand out is Hiroto’s ad-lib. If you notice, Hiroto adds phrases on both pre-choruses and bridge part, reduce the treble during intro and outro to produce softer but more powerful sound. Also, I love that they change the drums during bridge. The original version has double pedals sound which makes the song more rough while the newest version sounds more like anti-climax. To re-emphasize, Saga’s background singing voice also adds more point for Fugetsu no Uta’s version. He basically has idol-like vocal tone which you might already notice from his works (Volland Gump and his cover songs on SoundCloud), not only very contrast but also harmonize well with Shou’s.

Listening to Fugetsu no Uta’s version makes me more content, like there is a sense of fulfillment after the song ends. This is the kind of noise I want Alice Nine to produce more.

Wai, I want to write this review to the end but I have to get back to work😂 Please share your thoughts on this album because I love to hear other fans’ perspective about Alice Nine music. Be happy, healthy, and stay safe!

[seoulnotes]

47. “Did you get my letter?” — kth

Full masterpost here

⇢ Pairing ; Kim Taehyung, reader (y/n)

⇢ Genre ; angst, wartime au (kinda? after war?), imagine it being like 1940s/1950s, y/n and taehyung can’t be together

⇢ Words ; ~1.2k (idk how this got so long)

He should have been arriving home today. Taehyung should be returning home from the war today.

A week prior, the end of the war was announced and the soldiers were supposed to be coming home after five years.

You should have been thinking of your own husband coming home and yet, your only concern was Taehyung returning to your hometown.

While you waited on the train platform for your husband, your heart was silently praying one of the men to step from the train was Kim Taehyung.

“My love,” a voice called you from your thoughts and your vision was drawn from the men exiting the train to your husband.

Your thoughts of Taehyung fizzled away at the sight of the man before you and you ran forward to his arms which immediately wrapped around you to pull you into a tight hug.

“I missed you,” you whispered, heart content to see your husband who had been gone for five years. “And I made your favorite for lunch.”

He pulled away, a smile on his lips as he leaned to give you a kiss. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too,” a smile curving on your lips.

You didn’t know what to expect when you had arrived home. A celebration for him to come home? Was he tired and just wanted to rest?

It turned out he didn’t want to do much except take a nap in bed after lunch.

So as he slept the day away, you busied yourself with anything including cleaning your house which might very well be clean already.

Then when boredom hit, your thoughts wandered back to the letter sitting in your vanity. It was the one thing you wanted to keep off your mind since your husband was back home.

Quietly, you opened the drawer and pulled out the letter which you might have read a million times.

Addressed to you, signed from Officer Kim Taehyung from the 2nd Battalion.

y/n,

If I am writing you this letter, I might very well be lying on my deathbed. I refuse to die without telling you how much I love you.

This might very well be the last time I will be able to call you, my love. After today, you will be married to another man.

You will have been married since and you could very well throw away this letter having read it and I would still be content that you’ve received my words.

I love you and I always will. When I first saw you, I would have made you my wife. Amongst all the flowers in the garden, as beautiful as they might have been in spring bloom, you were most beautiful.

They were dull in comparison to you.

When I first spoke to you, I love every word that came from you. They sounded like a ballad to me.

I could continue to ramble at every single detail, but you might get bored, knowing you, and how much you dislike reading.

I’m glad you stopped fighting your parents on your impending marriage. I’m glad you married someone who will be able to make you happy.

I want to apologize for not being the man who met you at the end of the aisle, but I couldn’t make you apart of my life. I can’t give you the life you deserve the most and I won’t be able to forgive myself for that.

If we have been born with different lives or in a different lifetime, perhaps I could have been able to get down on one knee and ask for your hand.

I would have done it without a second thought.

Taehyung

You could still check to see if he had come back right? As a friend?

You turned to meet your husband who was still dozing away and with the letter in your hand, you found yourself on the other side of town where houses were smaller and there were no extravagant front porches and lawns.

You rang the doorbell.

There was no answer for a minute and in that minute, you were beginning to turn around. Maybe this was a bad idea.

“y/n?” His mother called out. “Are you here to see Taehyung?”

“Is… Is he back yet?” You danced on the balls of your feet, hoping the this was not really his final letter.

“Yes, I could get him if you want…?” Her voice trailed off in the end, confusion written on her face. “Do you want to come in?” She opened the screen door slightly to invite you in.

You still danced on the balls of your feet, hands clutching the piece of paper, as she disappeared up the stairs.

When you heard footsteps next, it was a pair as his mother walked before him down the stairs.

“y/n?” His brows furrowed in confusion.

His once longer brown hair was cut short from the war. Yet, his face still had the boyish charm you loved many years ago.

“Hi,” your tone timid. It had been years since you last spoke to him.

A small smile took hold of his lips. It had been years since you last saw that smile.

“Can we talk somewhere?” You knew it was strange that you had shown up at his house and even more strange you wanted to talk to him so suddenly.

His confusion dissipated after a moment and you two were sitting across from each other at a secluded diner after driving nearly an hour away from town.

Being seen was not something to risk.

“Did you get my letter?” Embarrassment on his face as he asked. “Is that what you were holding?”

He shouldn’t have sent that letter, but he thought he was lying on his deathbed and he didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye to you and apologizing for his biggest mistake.

But he had survived and now he had to handle the aftermath of that.

“Yeah,” you drew out, placing the letter on the table.

“I-,” he paused. “I didn’t know that I was going to survive. I thought I could just send a final letter,” he admitted with an awkward smile.

“I know.” Taehyung was the one who begged you to accept the engagement your parents had set up for you. When the begging didn’t work, he slowly distanced himself until the engagement was something you wanted, until you didn’t love him enough anymore.

Until you stopped wanting to marry him.

He wouldn’t have sent the letter if he knew he was going to live to face the aftermath of you reading it.

“It doesn’t really mean anything,” he added, although the glint of despair in his eyes was enough to give him away.

He was ready to have his heart handed back once again. He wanted you to do that because he couldn’t just allow himself to just walk back into your life again. He couldn’t bring about the mess of a life you almost had by being with him.

Yet, you weren’t sure what your next step would be and the uncertainty scared you the most.

Hearing him, seeing his smile once again only reminded you of what could have been. If you had been born with different lives or born at a different time, a different lifetime, perhaps then you could have been with Taehyung.

a/n

i literally had to squeeze this outta my brain cause i got scared i couldn’t write at all for the past few days. i’m sorry if this sucks and lowkey not really edited 😓 this might very well flop lol

-Selene

[dandywolves]

Thoughts on Geraskier RenFaire AU

I read this post and my brain has been spinning with ideas ever since. Haven’t written fic in nearly a decade, though, so I don’t know if I’ll ever do a full project out of it, but I wanted to share it into the universe in case anyone else wants to play with it. Includes some little snippets of scenes I had to write down because they wouldn’t leave me alone otherwise.

-Geralt goes to the RenFaire because there was a posting online seeking repairs or a handyman of some sort and he’s making do by working odd jobs. This is where he meets Jaskier and Yennefer. Jaskier is a bard, naturally, and Yen works as a fortune teller, giving tarot readings and the like.

-The first song Geralt ever hears Jaskier sing is Toxic by Britney Spears.

-Jaskier would absolutely sing covers of Sweet Caroline, no lyrics changed. It’s a crowd pleaser. His boisterousness really comes out on those numbers and, as much as Geralt finds it obnoxious, he can’t deny that there’s a charm to the whole spectacle.

-One of the knights gets injured or quits suddenly or something. Need someone to fill in last minute, someone who can handle a sword and armour well enough to be entertaining even if they’re obviously going to lose. Jaskier volunteers Geralt and then takes it upon himself to get Geralt’s whole identity and backstory as a fake knight set up.

“Well, obviously, we need to figure out what they’ll call you.”

“Geralt the White Knight.”

Jaskier made a face. “No! God, Geralt, you to have some theatricality to your knight persona.”

“Hm.”

“Right, right. Well, no one said you had to be a man of words.” He started pacing, tapping his chin thoughtfully. After a moment, he asked, “Where are you from again?”

“Riverford.”

“Riverford… Geralt of Riverford. No, that sounds too mundane… Riverford. River. Riveria! No, no, that’s stupid. Riv… Rivia!” He spread his arms dramatically. “Geralt of Rivia!”

“You’re making up a fake hometown for me?”

“What’s your favourite animal?” Jaskier asked, completely ignoring the other man’s question.

“Hm.”

“A ‘hm’? Sorry, can’t say I’m familiar with that particular species.”

“… A wolf.”

“Ooh, a wolf. Of course – big scary loner. How could I expect any different? Alright, well then, you are Geralt the Wolf of Rivia.” Then he stopped pacing abruptly, gasping as he turned to face Geralt. A beaming grim blossomed across his face as he held up both hands, seeming for all intents and purposes ready to make a showstopping declaration. “Geralt… The White Wolf of Rivia.”

 -Jaskier studied philosophy. He doesn’t really use it, but every now and then he’ll reference Aristotle or Marcus Aurelius in conversation and Geralt is like “????? Since when are you SMART?”

-Jaskier gets very, very into character and will refuse to break character even when they’re away from customers/guests of the Fair (he does this especially because he knows it annoys Geralt)

“I shall pay for drinks tonight, as my splendid performance earned me bountiful coin!”

“It’s just us here,” Geralt said. “You can stop talking like that.”

“Nay! I shan’t!”

Geralt growled low in annoyance, which only made Jaskier’s grin broaden.

 -Jaskier is told at some point that he has to stop singing covers of pop songs with the lyrics changed to sound olden-day-esque. Copyright concerns; Fair doesn’t want to get slammed, especially now that Jaskier is building some renown.

Jaskier did, in fact, have original songs. Buried in the pages of his journal. All about white-blond hair and amber eyes and rare, wolfish smiles. But there was no way in hell he could ever sing those – they had never been edited to any real quality, never properly set to music, and (most importantly) they were hideously embarrassing and plainly about Geralt.

There were a handful of other poems that were less blatant about the object of his affections. Maybe he could work one of those into something. Even still, that wouldn’t be enough for a full set, and he doubted any of them would thrill and entertain anywhere near as much as his covers did.

 -Geralt and Jaskier are both secretly pining for each other, but doesn’t know the other is interested. Probably both think the other person is into Yennefer – maybe Geralt even dated Yennefer for a period of time, but they decide they work better as friends.

-Jaskier and Geralt have some sort of falling out. Maybe Yennefer is leaving the Fair to work elsewhere and Geralt plans to follow. Jaskier is performing at the Fair’s tavern one night. First time singing his original work.

Geralt heard the familiar strumming of a lute as he passed the tavern. He knew without looking that Jaskier would be inside, front and center, playing one of his well-beloved pop song covers. Though he had no interest in talking to the other man at the moment, he stopped short when he heard Jaskier begin to sing.

“The fairer sex they often call it

But her love’s as unfair as a crook…”

It was definitely not one of his usual covers, which was hardly surprising – Jaskier tended to add a new song to the rotation every couple of weeks. No, what struck Geralt was that this didn’t sound like any pop song he knew, nor did it sound like any pop song he didn’t know. As many times as Jaskier had performed songs Geralt had never heard before, there was always some quality that distinctly marked them as something that had been long since overplayed on the radio.

But this was different.

He hesitated before doubling back and stepping into the entrance of the tavern, tucking into the shadows by the door to observe the bard.

“The story is this

She’ll destroy with her sweet kiss…”

Jaskier’s voice was warm and practically crooning, curling around the notes so they were filled with equal parts beauty and pain. Geralt had never quite heard him sing like that before. Even when he covered bittersweet ballads and heartbroken hits, there had been an obvious detachment when he sang – the enthusiasm and emotion he put on was clearly part of the performance.

Now, strumming his lute and singing this unfamiliar song, it was clear that the words were being pulled straight from his heart. His voice nearly broke over one line (“I’m weak, my love, and I am wanting––”) and Geralt felt a familiar but still strange protectiveness surge to life inside him.

Someone had hurt this sweet, jovial bard.

And he was pretty sure that someone was him.

[kuriquinn]

love at first sight isn’t just a cheesy song [one-shot]

General Disclaimer

Rating: PG 13

Author’s Note: I wanted to do something different for “festival”. And since my hometown hosts a huge variety of festivals, I was inspired...also, some of this comes from my own memories at Warped Tour and Osheaga...

Not edited at the moment. I’m thinking I’ll probably edit all of these when I finish the prompts…

⁂ ⁂ ⁂ ⁂ ⁂ ⁂ ⁂

Sasuke does not do people. He doesn’t do loud, or hot either.

Which is why he’s trying to figure out just how his best friend not only convinced him to come with him to a music festival in the middle of the summer. He’s pretty sure there was a “you owe me a favour, remember” and a choice between filling in for Naruto babysitting Kakashi’s demon brood, or this.

In which case, a hellish pit of sweat, marijuana and burning sun is getting off easy.

Still. He’s not happy about it.

And he’s already informed Naruto that as soon as they’ve seen the group he’s here to see, they’re leaving.

“Whatever, I’m only here to see Hinata anyway,” his best friend dismisses, cheeks red and grin wide and Sasuke really just wants to punch him. He’s missing a Star Wars marathon for this…this travesty, where people walk around with way too much eyeliner and—

Does that guy have empty beer cans speared on the points of his mohawk?

But apparently, Naruto’s girlfriend is in a band—and he’s still not sure what he’s having more trouble comprehending, that Naruto of all people is dating or that Hinata is in a band. Because the Hyuga girl is the shiest person Sasuke has ever met in his life and coming from someone as quiet as him and his brother, that says something. The idea of her being up on a stage in front of people just…doesn’t compute.

He has known Naruto and Hinata since they were toddlers, as all their parents were friends from high school (private Catholic school tends to forge two kinds of bonds—either Band of Brothers or Slaughter High, and he’s not entirely sure what his and Naruto’s will be), and Hinata has never been the type for public performances.

“There’s a new girl in her class this year that really brought her out of her shell,” Naruto had explained it. “We can hang around later and meet her, too.”

“No,” Sasuke retorted instantly. “I’m here for one reason only. To pay back that favour, and that involves seeing Hinata’s stupid band play and that’s it. Then we’re going home.”

“Whatever, asshole.”

They head over to the stage where some indie band no one has ever heard of slated to be playing; Hinata’s band is apparently opening not for them, but for their opening act. Which suggests how unknown the group is.

Somehow, Naruto manages to drag them to the absolute front of the crowd, just as the band is coming onstage. There are catcalls and a few cheers—okay, so maybe they already have a bit of a following—as they get settled in with their instruments.

The first thing noticeable about them is they’re all dressed in their school uniforms, all pleated kilts and crisp oxford shirts that are already soaked with sweat from the hot day. There are a few changes that Sasuke knows they’d be getting demerits for if they were at school—ties loose over their shirts, combat boots, studded bracelets, shirts untucked, that sort of thing. There’s a dark haired girl with her hair in two buns arranging herself and her guitar in front of a microphone, while a sharp-faced blond performs final tuning check on her bass.  He distantly recognises Ino Yamanaka settling in behind the keyboard, but only because they were in primary school together years ago and her hair is as ridiculously long as it always was.

And there’s Hinata—shuffling quickly and determinedly to the back of the stage where she’s practically hidden by the drumkit.

“Well, that makes more sense,” he mutters, though it’s lost in Naruto’s fervent shout of, “Yeah! You got it, babe!”

Idiot…

Sasuke rolls his eyes, already mentally counting down to the blessed freedom of getting out of this place, which is the point when the final member of the band makes an appearance, and suddenly—

Suddenly he’s having a hard time breathing.

He doubts it’s his asthma since it’s not the familiar fiery burn through his windpipes. It’s more like…he forgets how.

The most noticeable thing about her right away is the vibrant pink hair, short and spikey; the next is her eyes. They’re so green that he can still see them somehow even from where he’s standing. She has a more athletic build than her bandmates, and the pale thighs beneath her short skirt are so muscular Sasuke has to swallow a few times.

She isn’t graceful, though, stumbling across the stage and nearly tripping over the cord for her guitar. Normally he’d scoff at that, but for some reason, something in him finds it…endearing?

There are guffaws from the audience, but when she reaches her microphone she simply flashes them a cheerful, sheepish smile.

“Sorry. Gravity isn’t my friend today,” she says lightly, earning warmer laughter now; with her, not at her. Her voice is soft and filled with humour in a way that doesn’t really fit with the screaming vocals Sasuke’s ears have been assaulted by since showing up here today. “Thanks for coming out today, guys. I know it’s really freaking hot out. If we had a hose, we’d totally use it on you guys today.” Cheers. “Anyway, some of you know us, hopefully, a few of you don’t so we can make a good impression. We’re Bacchikoi Baby and we’ve got you for the next fifteen minutes, so let’s get this thing going!”

Instantly, the music starts up, harsh chords and insistent drumline and an underlying rhythm that is familiar only in the way that most alternative music all sounds the same to him. But then she opens her mouth to sing and Sasuke feels as if someone just stuck a livewire into his spine.

Her voice is low and smooth and changeable, going from smooth molasses to raw, shouting with barely any break. Something in the curl of her words on her tongue, the way sound moves from a hum at the back of her throat into something articulated makes him shiver. He doesn’t know anything about the technicalities of music or singing or voice training, but even he can tell instantly that she’s the talent of this group.

The other instruments are almost token, although he spares a distant thought to Hinata not being bad at the drums (apparently she’s in some kind of zone there), and the setlist itself is nothing special. Pretty much the same as any other angry girl band he’s caught on the radio.

But he try as he might, he can’t block out the singer.

Their first number is a catchy number that has the audience jumping and swaying to the underlying rhythm, and a harsh, angry protest chant that most of them sing along to, and then a slower but no-less commanding power ballad.

The last song is even slower, some kind of medley of Zeppelin’s Gallow’s Pole and another song he’s never heard of but which Naruto tells him is called The Hanging Tree.

“Apparently it’s from a movie,” he says with a shrug (Sasuke can’t actually hear him, but he’s pretty good at reading lips).

The thing starts off almost a cappella, before the dark-haired girl chimes in with the rhythm guitar, and Ino adds a mournful keyboard melody that even Sasuke can’t help his body swaying to. The lead singer’s voice is a haunting monotone almost, which gradually builds and fills with emotion, and then three-quarters of the way through, the song reaches a break, and all the instruments kick in. It’s a near explosion of sound, tempered by the raw emotion in her voice and—

And that’s when their eyes meet.

Sasuke’s mouth goes dry, and her eyes go wide, but she keeps singing—“If we met at midnight, a smile upon your face”—and he has the simultaneously ridiculous and hopeful feeling that she’s singing to him and it’s the kind of thing he’d normally find irritating, but—

His chest feels buoyant like he could punch a comet out of the sky if the opportunity should present itself.

What the hell is happening to me?

Afterward, Sasuke vaguely recalls following Naruto from the crowd once the actual opening act comes out; neither really care to watch them. There are a few people who leave with them.

Sasuke’s brain is flummoxed, trying to understand how another human being could have had such a strange effect on him. She was in front of him for all of fifteen minutes, and he doesn’t even know her name. But he knows her voice somehow harmonizes with the rush of his blood through his veins and heartfelt keening makes a lump of emotion appear at the back of his throat.

If I were anyone else, I’d think this was…but that’s not possible…that sort of thing only happens in the movies…

“I texted Hinata to tell her how awesome they were,” his friend says once they get out of the most densely packed crowd, fingers still flying on his smartphone. “I know you want to get out of here, so I’ll just go see her later.”

Sasuke shifts, not looking at him, and mumbles. “Whatever. Let’s just go see the band.”

Naruto looks surprised, but he’s also not about to look a gift-horse in the mouth. “Alright…”

“And then your favour is paid off,” Sasuke adds if only to keep the other teen from digging deeper.

They head for the side of the stage, where a table has been set up to sell merchandise; a dozen or two audience members are shelling out wads of cash for t-shirts and CDs, but he and Naruto bypass that and head for the back where the girls are downing huge bottles of water. They’re all pink-skinned with sunburn and exertion, clothes sticking to their bodies, but that doesn’t stop Naruto from vaulting forward and kissing his girlfriend.

He bubbles about how amazing her drum solo was, and he knew she had talent, but whoa, and the other bandmates watch, bemused.

Except for her. She’s looking at Sasuke, colours spreading across the bridge of her nose and she has freckles on her nose why is that appealing.

He clears his throat, wanting to say something casual, a less effervescent praise than his idiot best friend, but what comes out is—

“You’re really short.”

On stage, she seemed like a six-foot-tall Amazon, but she doesn’t need to know that. He sort of wants to punch himself in the face, because really?

But she only blinks and then laughs, and it sounds like music. How can laughter sound like music?

“Maybe you’re just unfairly tall,” she suggests, eyes dancing. “I’m Sakura.”

“Sasuke.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Sasuke-kun.”

And girls have been calling him that with irritating familiarity his entire life, but somehow when she says it, his chest warms.

He thinks he goes temporarily deaf for a minute because all other sound in the world goes away or collects around her, and he imagines that for an instant they exist only in a world belonging to the two of them.

Even stranger, she seems to be just as aware of it as he is, because her gaze softens at him as if to say, me too.

Out loud, however, she says, “We were going to go get something to eat and go see some of the other bands.” She glances over at Naruto as he hangs an arm over Hinata’s shoulder. “Did you guys want to come with?”

“Nah, Sasuke doesn’t really like all this stuff,” Naruto answers. “I’m surprised his brain hasn’t spontaneously combusted because of all the people breathing his air.”

Sasuke’s cheeks warm as he glares at his friend.

“It’s fine,” he insists, trying to telepathically promise death and dismemberment if Naruto doesn’t shut the hell up. He flicks his eyes to Sakura, whose head is tilted to one side as if to study him. “I think I saw a food truck at the other end of the venue.”

He points vaguely in that direction.

A beat, and then her entire face lights up with a smile of utter joy.

“Sounds great!” she declares, and before he can really register, she has her hand clasped around his and is pulling him off in the direction he pointed. “Come on! And you can introduce yourself properly on the way!”

And he normally doesn’t like physical contact with people, and it’s really far too hot to be holding hands, especially with a girl he’s only just met. But her fingers fit too well in his, and her grip is strong and comforting, and he just lets her pull him along.

That’s when the utterly absurd thought strikes him that he would follow this girl anywhere.

栗

[sambart93]

2019.03.12 NakamaruKun no Tanoshii Jikan 3 [Report]

So of course I went to this, and of course it was great! Let’s get right to it!

If you don’t know what this is, this is basically a one man show with Nakamaru who produces and performances basically all of it. The first one was back in 2008, and then he did another in 2017 and finally this one in 2019. The main ‘plot’ is basically just Nakamaru showing us things that he thinks about or that he finds interesting. It’s really random, really funny, and a lot of fun!

☆ The show opens with him, of course, doing a beatbox performance to get us all in the mood. But shortly after that we get into the first part/corner of the show.

☆ The first part of the show is him waking up at home (in bed, IN pajamas!) and the theme is: Relatable things that happen at home. So we had things like ‘hitting the snooze button but getting up anyway... forgetting you’d hit the snooze button and getting angry when it goes off..... getting angry when it goes off for the third time.... splashing your face with water three times.... talking to your pet plant... watching the news and making a commentary as you watch.... negatively ridiculing the experts on tv....’ and then there were some Nakamaru only ones such as ‘washing your hands after you touch your phone every time,’ and ‘being able to change quickly because you’re an idol’. Also during this segment, his ringtone AND his alarm tone was him beatboxing which I think is hilarious xD

The main theme is that Nakamaru’s manager has gotten sick so Maru has to do his schedule alone for the day, so we go through his day.

☆ So his first plan of the day is to do a TV news recording called YuIchi (a parody of his actual show Shuichi). He is pre-warned that the host and the guest (which are both projection mappings of him in different outfits xD) can be a little odd so he goes in prepared. But what he gets is more ridiculous than he expected. They talk about nonsensical topics, such as the new auto-parking cars (but the VTR shows the car banging into the nearby cars), and a straw to suck up curry. The other two think these are amazing ideas, while Maru is sat there in disgust and tsukkomi-ing (negatively commenting and scolding) throughout the entire thing.

☆ Then the scene changes completely and it turns into a boxing arena-type setting and Maru walks through the audience area in his boxing shorts and dressing gown. And this is where his infamous bra hook undoing challenge comes in (in an interview for Tanoshii Jikan 3, he said that the staff actually suggested he do this segment because it had become so popular with the fans xD) so he had to unhook as many bras as he could in 60 seconds. His goal is 60, but unfortunately he only got 55 this show.

☆  So after that, his next schedule is to check on the new album and songs. The new album has 8 songs and they’re all remixs of KAT-TUN songs. They were absolutely hilarious! And you could tell a lot of it was influenced by West/Shige (who’s worked with Ueda on Setsuyaku Rock), because we had things like: Real Face West Japan Ver. which was Real Face sung in Kansai-ben/dialect. We had LIPS Eating Edition, which had the sound of someone eating crisps just after Kame’s opening line but before the guitar kicks in. We had Keep the Faith Fan Edition. which was Male Ouendan Chants (it was absolutely hilarious! Maru said ‘the fans would never cheer like this,’ but to be honest, if you asked us to, we would!). We also had (either) White X’Mas or One Drop that was sung in an old Enka/Opera style. The remixs were absolutely hilarious! And so much fun to listen to! Also the new album ‘covers’ were the old grey silhouette style when JE wouldn’t allow previews on the internet. And then the LE edition had the actual member photos but it was Maru as all three of them. Maru turned to his producer and said ‘there’s no way in hell Kame and Ueda would do this (dress up as each member). Ueda would punch you if you told him to,’ which was hilarious because it’s so true! Only Maru would be up for doing this!

☆ Then we had a Metal Gear Solid inspired segment (calling back to UNION and CAST when they did impersonations of this game’s voices) where Maru used the ‘!’ sound and image, and he was dressed up in a MGS-like outfit. Here he did the questioning segment. So here are the question he got that day:

Question One: Is there a role from the other two’s dramas/movies that you want to do? -- Yokai Ningen Bemu. Even though Bem wants to be human, it’d be fun for me to become a yokai every week. Also... OreOre, but that would be very tiring to film. Kame did 23- *audience member yells 33* -- ah sorry, he did 33 different characters. It would be interesting to film though.

Question Two: Do you have an idea about your next solo song? -- I haven’t decided anything yet. I always think of doing a ballad or something because of my age, but then when it comes to the concerts, I really want to dance! So I always do a dance song with a high tempo.

Question Three: What’s your favourite underwear for women? -- I’m an idol so I can’t answer that! If I answer, everything’ll get blown out of proportion. Next question please ^_^

Question Four: What’s your favourite Dialect (in Japan)? -- I love all dialects. I’m from Tokyo so hearing them just sounds so cute. I guess, Kyuushuu’s dialect is nice. Around Kumamoto and Fukuoka is good. They say stuff like ‘~to! ~to!’ (at the end so) it’s really cute. 

*

I did have a question prepared just in case but luckily my seat number wasn’t pulled out! PHEW!

☆ The next section, Maru goes to a voice recording and he has 4 different clips to voice (all the voices in the clip) for. Me explaining it isn’t going to do any justice at all. But the first clip was of a man being pulled over by an officer, and Maru voiced it so that the two characters were talking about Point Cards xD then next clip was two men meeting and Maru made it into a ‘oh this is my first time meeting you. It’s great to see you again even though this is our first time hehe’ type of thing. The third clip had a couple in a bath and he made it into a ‘so you only like guys with brains? But I have no brains! Are you gunna leave me?! So you’re saying you should have brains too?!’ and unfortunately I don’t remember the fourth clip.

During the curtain call, he told us that he and the staff had actually spent a week going through about 130 or so videos, and buying copyrights to a bunch of them so they could use them for this segment. He said he was going crazy after that week xD

☆ Then we get to the climax corner where he goes back to his room after the day’s schedules are done. And he checks up on his manager who says ‘turns out it wasn’t the flu! I just feel like I have the flu! So I went out and bought hot lemon tea and the limited edition KaniBread! You should go back out and get the KaniBread before it sells out!’ to which Maru is like... ‘you’re too sick to come to work but you’re feeling well enough to go out and get limited edition stuff?’ and the manager was like ‘....yes’ which my fangirl feels totally understand. I will go out dogsick to get an LE of KAT-TUN’s stuff or to go to a limited time cafe or something, but am I f*ck going to work if I feel sick.

☆ So Maru goes to the bathroom but ends up slipping on a banana. When he wakes up, his shadow had detached himself from Maru so now the shadow is running rampant all over Maru’s house. So Maru attempts to catch him and this leads into THE climax of the show which is a long 10 - 20 minute long performance where he used special effects, projection mapping, smells (of biscuits and hot lemon tea), special flying and maneuvering devices, sparkly outfits, suspended dancing glowing balls/crystals etc. It’s just so visually pleasing and it visually enjoyable during this last segment! All of KT’s and Maru’s performance habits came out in this one! We had the classic green light beam performance, we had Maru beatboxing, the very JE sparkly, shiny outfits. I also really loved the space segment of this performance too. He was on a blacked out rodeo horse thing and it made him look like he was floating in space which was so cool! Also at one point, the entire room went black except for some ‘falling’ colourful balls that came down from the sky and then in the center Maru popped up! The entire audience freaked back it was in the center of the first floor audience area! The fans were SO close to him!!

Such an amazing finale!

☆ During the Curtain Call Maru mentioned that there’s still some stuff he can’t talk about and he mentioned ‘KAT-TUN Events’ to which I freaked out because usually he would say ‘Con/Live’ if it was going to be a concert but because he specifically said ‘EVENTS’ my brain was going ten to the dozen! What events?! Debut event?! New album?! New Drama?! New Concert?! Another Line Live?! All of them?! What is in store for us?! So excited!!

[minhele]

grab your brooms(cause it’s a mess)| pt 1.

mermaid!AU pairing: taehyung x reader word count: 2,424 prompt: taehyung keeps getting attacked by the ocean and he’s literally going to lose his mind if one more seagull shits on him. 

note: if you get the title, i’m sorry. anyways, i really love mermaids and i just think they’re really great, and there aren’t enough mermaid fics?  i also love marine life and the beach, so this just kinda popped out. also omfg this edit is beautiful kick me

Taehyung sat on the edge of the pier, admiring the beautiful colors of the sunset fading into the ground. He sighed deeply, taking a long sip from his beer. The sound of the waves crashing upon the shore was like a soft ballad, making Taehyung almost forget how shitty his day was. 

“Hey stranger.” A new voice said from behind him. 

Taehyung turned around, a small grin overtaking his features as he saw Jimin approaching him. The black-haired male took a seat next to him, helping himself to one of Taehyung’s beers. 

Jimin popped open his can, and drank from it, letting out a loud belch after finishing. “Alcohol is so much better when someone else buys it.” He paused and took another sip. “Anyways, what’s got you down TaeTae?” 

Taehyung groaned, childishly laying his head in Jimin’s lap. “My parents cut me off. Apparently, I have to make it out there on my own without any help. Some kid dropped his ice cream on my Gucci loafers, and I got a ticket. Life just sucks.” 

Jimin snickered softly but stopped when Taehyung gave him a look. “Sorry. So, you really can’t leech off your parents anymore? What are you going to do about your apartment?” 

“I have to move into the dorms… and get a roommate.” Taehyung said, shuddering.  

Jimin patted Taehyung’s forehead lightly. “It’s okay TaeTae, roommates aren’t that bad. I have two and they’re bearable. You’ll fit in just fine. You have me anyways.” 

“Yeah, but what if I get a complete psycho? Can you just be my roommate instead?” Taehyung pleaded, giving him puppy-dog eyes.

“Sorry TaeTae, the RAs are kinda tough on us. If he’s that much of a psycho, just file a complaint.” Jimin said, sipping on his beer. 

“But Jiminie, I’ve never shared a room with anyone else before!” Taehyung whined, crossing his arms.

Jimin snorted, finishing his beer and setting it aside. “You let me crash at your place before.” 

“That’s besides the point.” Taehyung replied, frowning.

Jimin lifted Taehyung off his lap and slung an arm around his friend. “Look TaeTae, you’re going to have to deal with it eventually. There’s no point in changing the inevitable.” He paused, standing up. “Stand up with me. I think you need to relieve your stress.” 

Taehyung stood up, curious as to what Jimin was going to do. Jimin fixed the position of his empty beer can, and took a few steps back. He started running and kicked the can to the far right, the empty can landing on an unsuspecting man sleeping on the beach. 

“Goal!” Jimin shouted, jumping around in circles. “Try it.” 

Taehyung smiled, finishing the rest of his beer and set it down on the pier. He took a running start and punted the can into the ocean, the can bouncing on a rock before landing in the water. He whooped, high-fiving Jimin and cheering loudly. 

“Wow, that’s actually really fu-”

FOOM.

“Ow, what the fuck?” Taehyung cursed, rubbing at his forehead. He looked at the object that had hit him and furrowed his eyebrows. 

It was the fucking beer can. 

Jimin doubled over, body wracked with laughter. He was practically on the ground now, eyes getting watery from laughing so much. “Jesus, did that actually happen?” he managed to choke out, wiping the tears from his eyes. 

Taehyung stomped on the offending beer can angrily and made his way back to his car. “I’m going home.” 

Surprisingly, Taehyung blended into college life quite easily, despite living such a pampered life before his parents cut him off. He only complained about eating cold chicken nuggets 34 times today. His roommate was going for a major in music with a minor in philosophy. The guy was chill, the only downside of him being that he was the fucking definition of clumsiness. But, for the most part, dorm life wasn’t too bad. 

“Hey, Taehyung?” His roommate, Namjoon called.

Taehyung looked up from his work. “Yeah?” 

“There’s gonna be an end of semester bonfire at the beach. Wanna come?” Namjoon said. 

Taehyung’s thoughts trailed back to the one day he was mysteriously hit in the face with his own beer can. He’s a bit skeptic about going to the beach again, but the desire to get totally fucked up was too strong. 

“Will there be weed?” Taehyung asked hopefully.

Namjoon chuckled, his deep voice almost like velvet. “Oh, not just weed. But coke, molly, you name it.” 

Taehyung lit up like a Christmas tree and nodded, with a big grin on his face. “Count me the fuck in.” 

Out of all of the beach bonfires he’s been to, this one was surprisingly well-made. Lanterns and lights decorated the beach, and was bright enough for him to see what he was getting, but dark enough for no bystanders to see the ridiculous amounts of alcohol and drugs stashed on the tables. 

His face lit up when he saw Jimin sitting on one of the benches, talking to a girl with dyed-blonde hair with a red solo cup in hand. He inched towards the girl, leaning into her ear to whisper, “He has syphilis. Don’t take any drinks from him.”

And right on cue, the girl spit into her cup, dropping the drink at Jimin’s feet. 

Jimin reached out for her, desperation latched onto his face. “Jiwoo, wait, he’s just fucking with you, I’m clean, I was tested!” he shouted after her. 

Jimin groaned in frustration, glaring at Taehyung. “What the fuck man, she was about to invite me into her car!” 

Taehyung grinned at him, kissing Jimin on the head and then taking Jiwoo’s spot. “You’re mine.” 

Jimin rolled his eyes and smiled at him, his previous anger dissipating. “How you liking dorm life?”

“Not as bad as I thought it’d be. It’s pretty fun, and Namjoon is like the coolest person I know.” Taehyung said. 

Jimin pouted. “I thought I was the coolest person you knew.” 

Taehyung patted Jimin’s cheeks. “Sorry Jiminie, that spot has been taken by Namjoon. If it helps, you’re the cutest person I know.” 

Jimin shrugged. “That’s fair. Have you gotten anything to drink yet?” 

“Nope.” Taehyung answered, popping the ‘p’. 

“What the hell are you doing here? Go get fucked up!” 

It’s only been an hour, but Taehyung feels pretty fucked up. His brain feels fuzzy and his vision is kinda hazy. He’s starting to have some pretty important questions. Like, why did hot dogs have to be frozen? They’re hot dogs. Where does the word go when he erases it? Why did he have to keep drinking 8 glasses of water a day when his body was already 60% water? Why were blueberries blue on the outside but green when their skin was peeled off? Namjoon probably knows the answers to these things so he’ll ask Namjoon when he’s sober. Taehyung needs to pee. Oh, how convenient, the ocean is right there. Taehyung unbuckles his belt and pulls down his zipper, not caring if anyone sees his dick, because holy fucking shit he needs to pee. Taehyung pisses into the ocean, and right now, emptying his bladder feels more orgasmic than any drug. A flash of orange catches his eye. Wow, what a big fish. Is that… skin? Are those boobs? Taehyung is sure he’s fucking higher than a kite, because there is no way that he’s seeing a mermaid. The mermaid seems to notice him now, and her eyes widen in panic and she swims away, the force of her tail, sending waves crashing into him. Taehyung is now drenched from head to toe, and he doesn’t know if the salty taste in his mouth is from the ocean or his own urine.

A few weeks have passed since the incident, and Taehyung has brushed it off as just a hallucination. But weird things keep happening whenever he goes to the beach. The water manages to drench him, but not his friends walking just beside him. While he naps, hermit crabs come and pinch the living fuck out of him. Seagulls target him and shit on him and basically everything he owns. He’s starting to think that the ocean has something against him. Which is impossible, because how could anyone hate him? He’s perfect. So Taehyung decides he’s had enough of this. Everything that had happened to him occurred during the evening, so he decides to conduct a little experiment. He chooses to visit the beach at various times, the early morning, the afternoon, and the evening. He starts the first trial at 7AM. There were a few people on the beach jogging, but otherwise, it was peaceful. So far, the ocean hasn’t attacked him, little crabs weren’t pinching him, and birds weren’t crapping on him. Taehyung rules it as a success. After waiting a few hours, he returns to the beach. A lot of people are there now, doing random activities. Birds are still not crapping on him, crabs aren’t pinching him, and the waves are soft and gentle. Taehyung rules this as another success. For the last trial, Taehyung decides to wait until 9PM to commence his experiment. Once everyone is cleared from the beach, Taehyung prepares an umbrella, a flashlight, and rain boots. He knows he probably looks like a fucking idiot, but he really doesn’t want to feel the wrath of a million angry crabs. Once he steps foot onto the beach, Taehyung almost screams because all the crabs are coming towards him with their pinchers and the birds are flying at him like tiny, angry airplanes, and right now the ocean looks really fucking scary, but wait… that orange tail looks familiar. Taehyung shines his flashlight on the orange tail, and he drops his flashlight in shock. The crabs and the birds stop rushing at him and carry on with their business, as if they weren’t just about to kill him. The waves remain aggressive however, and the woman with the orange tail is swimming away as fast as she can. Taehyung hasn’t really planned for this part of the experiment, but he’s kicking off his boots, and stripping down to his boxers, because that is a mermaid, and he is not going to let her get away. And with that, Taehyung blindly dives into the ocean, following the mysterious mermaid, who may have been the cause of all these strange occurrences. 

Taehyung wakes up in a cave with a hoarse throat and he coughs repeatedly, trying to relieve the pain. A shell is pressed to his lips on and he realizes that he's drinking fresh water. He gulped it down aggressively, letting out a big sigh of relief as his throat goes back to normal.

 "I can't believe you actually followed me." A voice behind him grumbles. 

Taehyung turns around and sees the mermaid in all her naked glory. He catches her staring disapprovingly at him, and he looks away, murmuring a quiet “sorry.” An awkward silence falls over them and he looks at her again. 

“Ah, thanks for saving me. How long have I been out for?” He asked. 

“13 years.” You answered, with a serious expression. 

Taehyung blanches and he tries to find a reflective surface, before you start cackling. 

“No, I’m just kidding, 3 days max.”  She said, laughing.

Taehyung feels at his face before relaxing and letting out a sigh of relief. “You’re a mermaid.” 

She scoffs, rolling her (e/c) eyes. “No duh.” 

“I mean, you guys... really exist?” He asked, dumbfounded. 

“Yeah.” She answered curtly. 

Taehyung can’t stop staring at her and is having trouble formulating sentences that make sense because, wow, she’s stunning, and how does her hair look so nice and soft when she’s probably stayed underwater for her whole life, and holy fuck, mermaids are real. 

“Okay, no offense, but will you close your mouth? You look like a brain-dead fish.” She stated snarkily. 

Taehyung complies, and looks down in shame. He looks up again and is kinda scared to talk to her. “Why did you save me? To be honest, it kinda seems like you hate my guts.”

“I’m not evil. I wouldn’t just let you die like that. But I probably should have, since you’re probably going to go back and tell everyone about my existence.” She replied. 

Nah, Taehyung thinks. He wants to keep her all to himself. “What makes you think people will believe me? In a world filled with technology, no one’s going to actually believe me unless I have evidence.”

“I should probably not trust you, but you seem too dumb to have an ulterior motive.” She retorted. 

Taehyung put a hand over his heart, faking hurt. “Ah, harsh.”  

She smirked at him. “Only to people who litter.” 

“Wait... were you the one who splashed me with water and sent birds and crabs after me?” He questioned, furrowing his eyebrows. 

“Yep.” She said, proudly popping the ‘p’. 

“But when did I litter?” He asked. 

“You kicked that can into the ocean. You don’t know how many animals could have choked on that. A little after that, I saw you toss your plastic wrapper into the sea. Animals can get strangled by that, and it is such a hassle to remove it.    You also peed into the ocean that one time, and let me tell you, that is downright disgusting. You’re a really handsome guy, but it’s a shame that you have no regards for the animals in the ocean and the quality of the water.” She ranted, taking a deep breath afterwards. 

Taehyung whistled lowly. “Well, gee, never thought about it like that.” He answered. 

The mermaid sighed, crossing her arms. “Since I’m feeling generous, I’ll offer you a proposition. I’ve really wanted to come back to land, but it’s been a really long time, so I wouldn’t know how to act or dress. I heard you whining about money that one day, so I want you to come back here occasionally and teach me about what’s been happening. I also need you to bring me appropriate clothing so that no one suspects that I’m a mermaid. If you do this, I will call off all the animals and I will also stop splashing you everytime you come to the beach.”

Taehyung smirked. “So you need me to be your sugar daddy?” 

“What’s that?” She asked, blinking innocently. 

“Nothing, my sweet summer child...” He said, pausing to pat her on the head. “Count me in. You’re about to become the most educated and well-dressed mermaid in the history of mermaids!” 

“Don’t touch me.”

note: this was supposed to be a one-shot, but i suck. this is kinda trashy, and i don’t really like it, but i hope it wasn’t complete garbage for you guys. if you have the time please leave a comment about what you liked and didn’t like about it! thanks for reading! have a good day/night~

[theelectricshaman]

8.27.17

Hello from Missoula, Montana. That’s right, the future is here boys, I’m a college boy. I fell into society’s trap and was pressured to go to college. I don’t know what I’m doing here. I don’t picture myself going to school for 4 more years, and the way to get around that would be takin summer courses, but i will never give up camp for fuckin school. I’m really far away from Sarah Sackmann, who is occupying 50% of all my thoughts constantly, the other 50% being music. I went on a freshman backpacking trip where I was uninterested in being friends with anyone, so i just hiked alone and thought the whole time. The only things I thought about were how badly I wanted to be with Sarah and how seriously I want to pursue music this year. I have no interest in getting invested with people this year, for a few reasons: 

1. i don’t want to be a dick when i don't want to hang out and play music

2. everyone I've met does not add to my musical vision this year

3. I don’t get attached to most people anyways

4. I don’t know how long i’m gonna stick around this place anyways

My whole life I’ve always trusted my gut/ instincts on every situation. Its worked out for most parts of my life. I think this is why i used to fall in love so easily and so often. Something about being here, I don’t know if its college or Missoula or being somewhere without a piano or being so far away from Sarah, but something feels uneasy in my instinct. Maybe i’m just not settled in yet, but I feel very unsure. from the many people i’ve met and intentionally tried not to be friends with, I’ve met two people who are really great and i’ve really enjoyed spending time with. logan, who lives across the hall from me, and marissa, his girlfriend. Carter went to some party across town that i wasn’t interested in going to so i hung out with them and honestly had a really good time. we went to five guys, biked around campus, and watched some really fucked up movie, but in all i’m glad to have spent time with them.

I really miss Sarah a lot. I’ve thought about letting her read this, even though i’m almost 140 posts deep, I don’t have much doubt that she would go back and read all of them from the beginning. I’ve thought a lot about love and about Sarah and i’ve thought a little bit about the two of those things together, but I can’t come to a conclusion when I’m so far away from her. Letting Sarah read this I think would mean a lot to her, and she would enjoy reading it. It will probably take me a really long time to forgive myself for all the shit that I’ve dumped on her. Every single year at the beginning of the summer i always think to myself “this year we will just be friends, there’s no way she can still be in love with me.” I’ve fallen in love so many times that I have become desensitized to it and forgotten what it really means, and also forgot that it happens to other people too. I continued to fuck around at camp with full knowledge that she still had feelings for me, and in the middle of the summer, I had feelings for her too, so why did I hook up with Layla? I thought about answering that question but I got too sad to think. I hope that if I let Sarah read this that she will think its true.

+ A Reminder To All Parties Reading My Tumblr+

Everything I write on this comes truly from my heart. Like I said about trusting my gut, I don't really think about what to write on here, all of it comes directly from what I feel called to write. It is all 100% the truth. I rarely ever go back in the middle of writing and edit what I said before, except to clarify or correct grammar, considering most of this is written very hastily and my brain is very scattered. What’s written it written.

At the toga party I was having a pretty good night. I don't drink so I can forget all the shit thats going on, I just drink to have fun. Sarah came up to me late in the night and we talked for a long time. She pretty much reminded me of all the shit that I’ve done thats made her sad. She cried a lot, which didn’t really surprise me, it was very emotional for her. I just sat there, leaning against a window on the front porch of Matt Bear’s lake house in the middle of God knows where. Was I still wearing a toga? I leaned against that wood paneled wall, aggressively brushing my hair out of my face with both hands, sighing, feeling like the biggest piece of shit in the world. Eventually, I started crying, hugged her really tightly and said something along the lines of

 “I am so, so sorry. You’ve been so great to me and I’ve just treated you like shit.” 

Before this talk, I was only thinking of Annie, and how I asked her if she would sleep with me and how she answered “if we just cuddle and nothing else” and how I said “of course” and was satisfied but also still a little sad. By the end of this talk I was thinking that the Ballad of Sarah and Kyle had come to a close, once and for all (ha), when she asked me to sleep with her. I was hesitant because I was going to sleep with Annie and it would be the last time I would see her in a long ass time. Earlier in the night we walked in the rain up to Carter’s truck and she played me the song she wrote for me and I melted. I told Sarah I would sleep with her because 1. that would have been a dick move to say “no I'm gonna go s sleep with this other girl” after she poured her heart out to me 2. she seemed really sad 3. annie had gone to sleep already. I was a little iffy about it at first honestly because I was afraid we would hook up. We didn’t. we just laid there on the couch cushions on the ground. The moment we settled down and she was in my arms, I knew I really fucked up, because it seemed like that was really where I was supposed to be. [Warning: these next few sentences might be difficult to follow.] After feeling so shitty I felt everything resolve when Sarah was in my arms. Then I felt like I should have felt really shitty because if i knew this was where i was supposed to be and I just had this huge talk with Sarah about how we were done i thought I really fucked things up. I should have felt sad or shitty, but then as we laid there, Sarah shifted just a little bit, reminding me that I was holding the living, breathing, vessel of a really sweet amazing girl that had also been through a lot of shit thanks to me. This slight movement distracted me from whatever shiftiness I was supposed to be feeling and made me feel like all the pieces were in place. Mind you, all of this is still fresh in my mind many weeks later.

I believe in destiny. My thoughts on destiny may be different than others however. I don’t think we are bound by destiny, but everything that will happen has already been written. If I declare one day, “I’m going to make a change in my life and take my destiny into my own hands! I’m going to change my destiny!” I’m not changing shit, this declaration would simply be a part of my destiny. However, I also believe in something I call ultimate destiny. My ultimate destiny is the path that my life should take. I am not always living on this path. Right now, in Missoula, in college, far from a piano, far from Sarah, I am not living my ultimate destiny. There are certain decisions and crossroads of my life that offer a path going either towards, or away from my ultimate destiny. The only way to know the difference is to make the decision, and see if it feels right. This may seem really unorganized, risky, or fucked up, but this is the way I live my life. 

I am not tired but I have nothing else to write and nothing else to do. So maybe i’ll go to sleep.