#for now i have one (1) song of theirs on my playlists

[goldsainz]

FRIENDS INTO LOVERS — one shot.

pairing: lando norris x reader

MASTERLIST.

request: “Hi, could I request a childhood sweethearts with lando please and thank you 🫶🫶”

NOTE: so i did a social media au for this, hope that it's okay! let's pretend for the sake of the story's timeline that olivia is slightly older 😁 i changed the request format thingy bc the gap it left bothered me… if you check my other requested works you’ll know what i mean

liked by mickschumacher, conangray and 301,796 others

lando.jpg Day 61. Road trip with the one and only yourusername

view all 4,527 comments

yoursername my passenger princess <3

⤷ lando.jpg 😐😐😐

⤷ danielricciardo Don't even try to deny it

landofan1 literally love y/n sm

landofan2 i want a friendship like theirs

ynfan1 LANDO BEING A PASSENGER PRINCESS IS NOW CANON

liked by yoursername and 8,139 others

user1 when are they gonna get together!!!

maxfewtrell Still can’t believe I wasn’t invited🙄

⤷ yourusername this wouldn’t happen if you had other friends!

⤷ maxfewtrell Rude! I’m gonna tell Lando about this.

liked by landonorris, irisapatow and 2,643,197 others

yourusername All Of The Girls You Loved Before is out now in all streaming platforms!!! 💗

view all 39,648 comments

landonorris So so proud of you! Everyone will get sick of me playing this all the time

⤷ yourusername you’re fr my #1 fan

⤷ landonorris And what about it? 🤨

landofan21 this 100% about lando no doubt about it

oscarpiastri New song for the McLaren playlist

liked by yourusername and 17,923 others

ynfan21 if this isn’t a confirmation post + the comments… then idk what is

ynfan22 “i wanna teach you how forever feels” when will it be my turn😭

landofan22 THE BEHIND THE SONG INTERVIEW??? if this song isn’t about lando idk what’ll do…

⤷ user21 what did she say?

⤷ landofan22 “It’s about loving someone so much you don’t really care that they’ve been with someone before you, just feeling grateful you’re getting the best version of them.” that is so about lando idc what anyone says

⤷ ynfan23 don’t forget about: “I wrote it thinking about how maybe there’s someone that’s always kind of been there, and you didn’t notice or the timing wasn’t right, but now that it is you don’t think about anything else other then them.”

liked by carlossainz55, team_quadrant and 1,857,426 others

landonorris May I introduce my lovely girlfriend, Y/N! She’s been my friendfor more years than I can remember (17 if we’re being precise) and there is no one else I’d rather spend the rest of my life with. Thank you, for being my best friend all this time and letting me love you ❤️

view all 27,861 comments

ynfan31 OMG??? I WASN’T EXPECTING THIS TODAY

sebastianvettel Congrats you two! Nice to see you both finally came to your senses

⤷ landonorris Thank you, Seb!

⤷ yourusername 🫶🫶🫶

landofan31 i’m gonna need 3-5 business days to recover

landofan32 THAT TWITTER USER WAS RIGHT???

ynfan32 words can’t describe how i’m feeling rn

mickschumacher Glad I don’t have to keep this a secret anymore!!!

⤷ maxfewtrell Same here, mate! It was killing me

ynfan33 all this time they were together😭😭

user31 love is actually real

liked by pierregasly, jackchampion and 2,903,645 others

yourusername i guess hard launching is the only way! i’ve loved this man for more years than i’d like to admit, as a friend and now as my boyfriend!! wherever you stray, i follow 🤍 (shoutout to user3 on twitter your thread was scarily spot on)

view all 43,554 comments

landofan41 the willow lyrics😭😭

ynfan41 your honour i love them

lilymhe you’re still my wife, right?

⤷ yourusername forever and always, baby

⤷ alex_albon Crazy to see how people forget they have boyfriends at home…

ynfan42 THESE ARE NOW MY PARENTS!!

ynfan43 i guess being delulu works out in the end

landofan42 he’s the king of her heart (i’m sorry but i had to make the taylor reference)

francisca.cgomes now we can finally go on double dates!!

⤷ yourusername we could always go on a date alone

⤷ landonorris I think we’ll stick just with the double date

ynfan44 they’re officially the best couple on the grid

[artists-ally]

{Flatline} OFC x Harvey Specter {Pt. 1}

I got the title from this song called Flatline by Jared Benjamin. I added it to this playlist of very Harvey Specter vibes if you'd like to listen. There will be multiple parts, around three so be sure to stick around for those. As always comment and tell me what you think, or pop by in my asks. Anyhoo enjoy my loves!

Word count ~ 10,619 (it is a very fast paced read I promise)

Warnings ~ Age gap, smut (18+), handjob, no real BDSM but Dom/Sub concepts, language, alcohol, anxiety/anxious thoughts, probably really inaccurate lawyer terms idk man.

Summary: Harvey has taken notice of the hardest working first year associate, Claudia Martin. Despite being petrified of the infamous closer, she tried her hardest to not let it get the best of her. Harvey has a few ideas on how to increase her confidence.

Tagging : @maxdamax @ashcosmo @rosedpetal (This is basically just dedicated to you three so I hope you enjoy it the most!)

~~~~~

“Alright, everybody stop,” Harvey announced. I put down my file and sat ramrod straight in my seat, eyes darting at the other associates as they put theirs away too. “We have been working on this case now for four hours and no one has brought me a single thing that I can use as evidence. Now, if someone doesn’t put a file in my hand in the next ten minutes, we’re going to lose. And those of you who don’t want to get stuck doing whatever bullshit Louis is going to punish you with, you better come up with something fast.”

I looked at the blue file in my hands, heart hammering in my chest as I saw Harvey leave out of the corner of my eye. With a deep breath, I pushed up out of my chair and followed after him. 

Circling around the office a few times, I made up reasons and excuses not to go see him. It was stupid, I knew that, but I didn’t want to bring him something and then immediately be called an idiot for bringing him shit he already knew.

I saw how he treated Mike. And Louis. Even Donna from time to time.

There were two things you did in this world: die, and respect Harvey Specter. As a first year associate in this god awful firm, you didn’t dare break his trust or waste his time. 

“Is Mr. Specter available for a moment?” I asked Donna. I hadn’t talked to her much, but I’ve heard her speak to Harvey a few times around the office. She was someone I wished I knew better, someone I wished I could ask for help, but I didn’t want to bother her either. 

“Yeah, he’s in his office going over the statements from the mock trial,” Donna smiled, pointing over her shoulder. I nodded, willing my feet to move in the direction of his office. I knocked before pushing the glass door opening, keeping my head down. 

“Claudia, now is really not a good-” “I have something for you,” we spoke at the same time. “I’m sorry to interrupt, I can come back and-” “Is that for the mock trial?” He asked, and I nodded. “Hand it over.”

I placed the file in his outstretched hand as he came around to sit on the corner of the desk. My hands were trembling with dread as his eyes raked over the words on the page. The lines in his forehead creased, eyes narrowing.

“Claudia, this is brilliant,” he had a very confused expression when his eyes met mine. “Where did you find this?”

“Well, I figured if Mrs. Thompson said that she didn’t pay her rent that month, because there wasn't money in her account, then there had to be some kind of a trail. Some clue. There was, but it was only an amount, and it didn’t say which account it came from. When I did some digging, I found out that she uses Capital One banking and when I looked at her bank statement-

“There was a draw for the exact amount that Mr. Saros used to bet on that game,” Harvey finished before I could get the words out of my mouth. “Claudia, this is genius. Come on, we’ve got a case to win.”

____

“...Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, this compelling evidence reveals that Mr. Saros was in fact fraudulent and used his ex- wife’s funds to continue gambling. Thank you.” Harvey closed the argument, taking a seat besides Donna, who represented the client. Jessica looked to the opposing counsel as if to say ‘do you have anything?’. Louis had nothing. Not a sliver of hope. 

“Then it is decided, Mr. Saros will be charged with a misdemeanor and face a prison sentence of one year in county jail.”

With a crack of the gavel, the case was over, and applause rang through the office for Harvey and his team. I had a tiny smile on my face as I left the conference room to go back to the bullpen. There was an endless stack of reports to run, motions to file… it never ended when it came to Louis. And now that I was on the winning team I’m sure that-

“Claudia, where are you going?” Harvey called out. 

“Oh, I was just going back to my desk. Why, is there something that you need?” God I hope he didn’t need anything. I was sweating bullets by just standing next to him. 

“I just wanted to congratulate you on your first win,” he gave a small smirk. His brown eyes were sharp, but not as intense as they usually were. 

I flushed, “Well, it’s not really a real case.”

“No, it’s not. But seeing what you did today, how would you like one of your own?” He extended a blue file back to me, a stack of papers covered inside. I could feel the gaze of the other associates on me as I hesitantly took the file. 

“Mr. Spector, I’m honored, but I’m not-”

“Yes you are,” he cut me off. I bit my tongue. “You are a lawyer, Claudia. And you clearly have an outside the box approach to your tactics which we don’t see very often. I haven’t seen someone able to compile and order evidence like you since Mike came to work for me a decade ago. I’ll be supervising your case, you report to me with any questions you might have, but otherwise this is all you.”

My first case… given to me by Harvey Specter himself.

“I don’t know what to say,” I whispered. I flipped through the file, seeing that this wasn’t just some pro-bono case. This was against a big time client and the SEC. The SEC meant Sean Cayhill, who, from my understanding, was already on the rocks with this firm and has been for a very long time. 

“You can thank me when you win it,” he extended his hand, and I shook it, hoping that they weren’t sweaty. “Look over the file tonight and come ready to swing tomorrow morning.”

Harvey’s hand was warm, and significantly larger than mine. Everything about him was bigger than I was, especially his ego. And his personality. Lord help me…

My nod was the only confirmation that I would meet him there. As he walked out, I met some of the eyes of the associates and they scowled at me. At the file in my hand. At the fact that I hadn’t said a word the whole meeting today and then came up with the winning piece of evidence. And now I was working alongside Harvey. 

The infamous closer at Pearson-Specter-Litt. 

____

“Claudia, what’s wrong?” Donna startled me so bad I dropped my coffee on the floor with a shout. “Something’s really wrong.”

“Oh, it’s just you Donna,” I sighed in relief. I could feel the coffee seeping into my shirt and chilling against my skin. “Great.”

“What has you so skittish?” She asked, worry gracing her features. 

I didn’t want to admit that it was because of Harvey and the fact that I had to work alongside him on this case. I hadn’t been able to sleep much last night because I was up thinking about him, wondering how he’d handle this case himself. What he would do, how he would do it. Sure, I admired the guy, how could I not? He was a perfectionist and always found a way. I wish I had half the confidence he did. 

“It’s Harvey, isn’t it?”

“How did you know that? Nevermind, you’re Donna. But… Yes it’s because of Harvey.”

“Did he say something to you yesterday after you guys won the mock trial? I saw he handed you a case file, what was it all about?” “That's precisely what’s wrong,” I groaned, bending over and picking up the dropped paper cup. “He gave me a case of my own as a 'thank you' for finding the evidence that won the trial yesterday. I’m terrified of him, Donna. I-I don’t know how to act around someone with that kind of personality. He is so abrasive and forward and harsh and-”

“A total jackass?” She finished for me. 

I chuckled nervously, “I’m afraid to even think of that word in association with his name. I mean, how am I supposed to work alongside someone that intense? Plus, I’m a first year associate, how am I supposed to compete with what he as to offer and-”

“Hey, it’s okay. No need to get yourself all worked up, Claudia. Harvey is a lot of bark, and only some bite.” “That doesn’t make me feel better.”

“What I’m trying to say is that there is some heart inside that cold dead chest of his,” she smiled, a genuine, friendly smile. “For what it’s worth, I’ve never seen him give someone a case after a mock trial. Not even Mike. Up until yesterday I’m not even sure he knew you existed.” “Wish it was still that way,” I rolled my eyes, folding my arms against my chest.

“Claudia, listen to me. Yes, Harvey can be rude and obnoxious, but he is the best damn attorney in the state of New York. He didn’t get to the top by being nice and sweet. He was impressed with your willingness to bring him the evidence yourself. Now he knows he can count on you to get things done in a pinch when he needs them.” “I had that evidence for an hour,” I emphasized. “I was trying to build up the courage to give it to him long before he came and ripped us to shreds for not having anything. I just didn’t want him to think that it was a stupid idea or to be in a bad mood and turn me away because I definitely wouldn’t have done it at all after that. I don’t know how to deal with someone like him, Donna. What am I supposed to do? I should just give the case to Griffin or Thomas-”

“No no no. You are definitely not going to do that. That will only show Harvey that you aren’t serious about becoming a lawyer.”

“I am serious about becoming a lawyer.” I was mildly offended that she’d even say that to me. “Of course I want to be a lawyer, it's all I’ve ever wanted.”

“And Harvey will only know that if you work on this case with him.”

I inhaled and exhaled, leaning my head back and looking at the ceiling. “Fine.” “That’s my girl,” she grinned. “Now, come on. I have an extra dress you can borrow because I am sure as hell not letting you walk around covered in coffee stains.”

“I appreciate it, but I don’t think what you have will fit me.” Donna jerked her head over her shoulder and I followed to a closet in the back of the file room. When she opened it, it was like a full blown wardrobe. There were dresses and shoes and purses and hair supplies lining the walls. “Woah…” “Don’t ever underestimate the power of Donna,” she winked before rummaging through the office closet. 

After searching for a few moments, she pulled out a lovely royal blue dress that was, as she hinted at, a perfect size for me. How she knew that it would fit, I’ll never know. But I did know that I wouldn’t ever underestimate the power of Donna ever again. She’s magical. 

“Now, what do you say?”

“Thanks, Donna,” I smiled sweetly. 

“Actually I was looking for ‘you are an ethereal goddess who makes all my dreams and wishes come true’ but that works too,” I knew she was teasing, and I gave her a small shove of her shoulder. “Go get dressed, come back here and let me do your hair.”

“What’s wrong with the way it is?” I turned to look in the mirror on the back of the door and grimaced. “Oh…” My messy curls from yesterday looked more like a rat wrapped around a bunch of fishing line.

“Hurry up, Harvey will be back soon and I want you in that office, file in hand, ready to go when he gets here.”

I quickly shuffled to the bathroom and changed into the form fitting, very Donna-style dress. It didn’t look half bad, and I actually somewhat tolerated the dress. Normally I’d find a pants suit far more flattering and business appropriate than a dress, strictly because of the over sexualized nature of women's business clothing. 

I hate the corporate world. 

I did one more glance in the mirror before heading back to the break room to grab the file. I must’ve set it on the counter while I was pouring my coffee. Hopefully it wasn’t ruined. 

There was no blue file on the counter. Or the table. Or on top of the microwave or the fridge. I even checked inside the microwave. Nothing. It was nowhere. Oh shit.

“Do you want curls or for me to straighten-” “It’s gone,” there was a clear panic in my voice. “The file, it’s not in the break room, Donna. It’s gone.”

“How can it be gone?” 

“I-I don’t- I don’t know I thought I set it on the counter while I was getting coffee and it’s not there.” I felt a cold sweat break out onto my skin. My forehead was damp to the touch. 

“Okay, take a deep breath. Let’s go look again and then check your desk. Maybe someone found it and put it there, or maybe left it with me or Gretchen. It didn’t grow a pair of legs and walk away, we’ll find it.”

“I’m gonna get fired,” my voice was almost a silent whisper, tears building behind my eyes, prickling my nose. “Donna, Harvey is going to kill me.”

“Worst comes to worst we get a new file, Harvey will never know.”

“No no no he will because he had notes of his own on the papers in there.” “Shit,” she swore. “Let’s just go look.”

We speed walked through the bullpen, earning some odd looks as we practically sprinted through the office. She checked the break room for me again, and I went to my cubicle. Nothing, not a blue folder anywhere to be seen. 

Donna came up empty handed in the break room, checking with Gretchen on her way by Louis’s office. We met at her desk. Nothing. 

“Fuck fuck fuck this is bad.” My hands were shaking, heart thundering against my ribs. I felt faint, like I could’ve fallen to the floor at any moment. “Donna, what am I gonna do?”

“Maybe somebody mistook it as their own file,” Donna blurted out after a moment of silence. She took off towards the bullpen and I followed after her, right on her heels. She marched through there, unapologetic as she invaded the other associates' work spaces. 

Still nothing. No blue file labeled ‘Devlyn Inc. Vs. Fulton Dynamics’. 

“Where the hell could it be?” She murmured to herself. 

“What are you guys looking for?” An associate, Benson, asked. 

“Oh, you know, a leprechaun pissing pieces of gold,” Donna’s voice was full of sarcasm. “Claudia set down a file in the break room for three minutes and forty-two seconds and now it’s mysteriously disappeared. Know anything about it?”

“No,” he pressed his lips together. “Not really.” “Not really?”

“There are a million case files floating around this office, you really expect me to pay attention to every single one and where it’s going?” “As an associate of this firm, yes, actually. I do. Now I want to know if you know who took her file and I want to know right now. You have one chance to tell the truth, otherwise the bottom of my stiletto and your ass are gonna be great friends.”

Benson swallowed, “I truly don’t know. I’m sorry, I can keep an eye out for it. Is it the one Harvey gave Claudia yesterday?”

“Yes, and he needs it in twenty minutes,” Donna said, an undeniable urgency in her voice. “If you find it, do the right thing and give it back or so help me god you will find yourself jobless faster than you can get down on your knees and beg me to let you keep it.”

Donna beckoned me for her to follow and I did, my heart sinking and sinking into my stomach. It had to be around here somewhere. It had to be. 

I did another lap around, rummaging through all the drawers in the desk and thensome. Still nowhere. How could I be so stupid? So irresponsible? This is exactly why I didn’t want to take this case in the first place.

Despite all Harvey and Donna said the other day, I’m not ready to be a lawyer. Not really, anyway. I know I have my license and I’ve passed the Bar. I’ve done all the hard work, but this was… this was hell. A living nightmare. Not only was this firm constantly on the verge of collapsing, but it seemed like I made new enemies every other week by simply doing my job quickly, quietly, and efficiently. 

I don’t know how or why I piss everyone off all the time. I just do my work, I quite literally don’t bother another soul in this building unless I have to. Occasionally I’d ask Donna a question that she could ask Harvey or Mike to see what they thought about it. I’d never speak to them directly, just through her which didn’t make me feel good, either. 

I’d eat by myself, working through my meal. It took me two months of being here to finally use the break room because I was too nervous about taking the last tea bag or power bar from the cabinet. I just took a disposable coffee cup and filled it with tap water. And then kept that cup because I didn’t want to take the others because I figured other people needed them for coffee and I didn’t want them to be all gone-

“Claudia,” Donna interrupted my mild panic. “Harvey wants to see you.”

Oh no… no no no not yet god please not yet. I swallowed, or tried to at least; there was no moisture in my mouth whatsoever. I stood, knees trembling as I smoothed out the skirt of my dress.

Before I went on, she ran a brush through my hair, taking out the knots. It lay sleek and flat against my shoulders, a major difference from the low bun I always kept it in. My hair always made me so hot; I never understood how anyone could get anything done with it swaying in their face all day.

I could see him in his office, eyes staring us down as we rounded the corner. His gaze was locked on me and I felt my body tighten and constrict around a breath. Harvey was sitting on the corner of his desk, fingers toying with the cufflink on his left wrist.. 

“Hey, look at me,” Donna spoke softly, hands coming to my shoulders. “Give Harvey the truth, and nothing but. He will understand, if not, I will make him.”

I nodded.

When I pushed open his glass door, tension was thick in the air. My palms were clammy, still shaking. My mind was going a million miles a second. 

“What can I do for you, Mr. Specter?” I asked, trying to keep my cool despite almost throwing up. 

“Please tell me you have some good news about the case that I gave you,” he sighed, pushing off the desk and standing in front of me. 

Welp… here goes my career. 

“Actually, Mr. Specter there is something I need to-”

“You were looking for me, Harvey?” I whipped my head over my shoulder, seeing Griffin knocking on the door. 

“Yes, Griffin come on please, shut the door as well.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, sir. I can come back and we can discuss the details of-”

“No, Claudia. Stay for a moment,” Harvey gave a firm nod, full attention slipping from me to my fellow associate. “Griffin, I see you have something for me.”

“Yes,” Griffin threw a wicked grin at me before handing over a blue file. I could feel the sick rise in my throat. That was my blue file. “I would just like to go over the details of my case with you to get your input.”

“Your case?” Harvey questioned, sharing a glance between me and Griffin. “Where did you get this? Who the hell gave you a case?”

“That’s not important. I was hoping we could actually-”

“No,” Harvey cut him off. “It’s very important, actually. Because I can recall that just last night this exact file, with my handwriting, was in Claudia’s hands. So whatever act you’re putting on, I suggest you cut the bullshit right now.” “Okay I found it in the breakroom,” Griffin rolled his eyes. “Maybe if she were a little more responsible, which she clearly isn’t because she left her documents in a public space, then she’d be more equipped to handle a real case. Like a real lawyer should.”

I could see the muscle in Harvey’s jaw clench and contract several times. 

“Claudia, care to explain how our case got in this thief’s hands?” “Thief?” “I had spilled coffee,” I started, taking a deep breath when Griffin cut me a gaze so threatening I almost crumbled to my knees. “I spilled coffee and Donna offered a change of clothes for me. I didn’t even notice I left it. When I came back it was gone.”

“Well, I think that about settles it. How about you get out of here before you cause yourself a real problem. And If I ever catch wind of you stealing another one of Claudia’s files, or anyones for that matter, I will personally make your life a living hell. Do you understand me?”

“Yes,” he ground his teeth, refusing to look at either of us. 

“Now get your ass back to your desk and pray to whoever you believe in that I don’t have you fired and disbarred for the shit you pulled today. Get the hell out of my sight.”

Griffin was out of there far faster than he walked in, head down, hands shoved in his pockets. I let out a shaky breath. 

“Are you okay?” Harvey asked me. “I’m so sorry,” I completely ignored his question. “Griffin was right, I was extremely irresponsible and shouldn’t have let that file out of my sight. If you want to give it to another associate I completely understand. Again, I am so sorry and understand that there are consequences to my actions for letting such important information go missing-”

“Claudia, slow down,” he eased. “It’s okay, you are not the one I am pissed at.”

“You’re not?” I didn’t understand why. “But- but I completely misplaced a case.”

“No,” Harvey shook his head. “No Griffin is the only one to blame. You spilled coffee, went to go get cleaned up, and he stole it. He should know better. And seeing that he clearly doesn’t, I know I’m right in my decision on who to bring onto this case with me.”

I could feel my blush creep up my neck. “I appreciate that, Mr. Specter.”

“Of course, Claudia. And please, call me Harvey.”

I just gave a subtle nod, taking the file from his hand. I followed his gaze from my face to my hair where he took a strand between his fingers, letting the end curl around his digit.

“I’ve never seen your hair so long,” He added, dropping it from his grip. My breath was caught in my throat. Words were vacant shadows in my mind as he surveyed the dress I was wearing. “I bet that’s Donna’s, isn’t it.”

I had to clear my throat before I could speak. “She wouldn’t let me walk around with coffee stains all day.”

“It looks good on you,” He complimented. Harvey’s eyes, again, went from my head to my toes. There was nothing I could do but fall victim to his… I didn’t know what to think of how he looked at me. Couldn’t decide if it was good or bad. 

“Time for the case then?” I needed to get his attention off of me. Now. I was flushed and losing my mind. Harvey didn’t really seem to acknowledge my words at all. 

“Sure.” Was all he gave me.

____

I barely escaped with the skin on my teeth after our consultation. No, he didn’t rip me to shreds, but he would not take his eyes off of me for even one second. It was so… so potent I couldn’t focus. It was almost lunch when Donna came in and saved my ass. 

I couldn’t have gotten out of there fast enough.

“So, how did it go?” Donna asked as I sat in my cubicle. When she came around, or maybe she just followed me, I didn’t know. 

I put my face in my hands. “It was a disaster, Donna. I was a stuttering mess and I kept forgetting everything I was going to say because he would not stop staring at me. Like, he would not stop.” “Well, you aren’t exactly ugly, Claudia,” she snickered. 

“Donna, this isn’t funny,” I groaned. “I’m being completely frank with you.”

“How can I be expected to work alongside him when I can’t stand being in an enclosed space with him for more than four minutes without turning into a bumbling idiot? It’s like he enjoys watching me get flustered.”

“Claudia, I think you are making this a bigger deal in your head than it actually is.” Donna came around and sat on my desk, crossing a knee over the other. “And besides, Harvey understands what it’s like to be a new associate. It can be nerve wracking, especially when you have Louis breathing down your neck.”

I chuckled gravely, “I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

“You’ll figure it out.” “Why can’t you just tell me?” I whined as she stood up. 

“Because I am the Yoda to your Luke Skywalker. Wise you are, patience you must have, my young Padawan.”

“I am not a Jedi who is going on a self discovery journey to start using the Force,” I countered. “I am a nervous wreck who can’t handle being alone with Harvey Specter.”

“Then you need to get over it because Harvey is not going to berate you on your first case!” She argued.

“Did you not hear what he said to Griffin? Or-or to Thomas when he suggested that we consider taking the deal that Mr. Saros had offered during the mock trial? He cracked them wide open and left them to bleed. What about with Mike? How many times has he almost sent him to the curb for not being able to find what Harvey needs?”

“Mike is different and you know it,” Donna lowered her voice. “Plus he always says shit like that to light a fire under his ass. Harvey can see that you are nervous to work with him. He isn’t going to hang you out to dry, I promise. He stood up for you, Claudia, in a way I’ve only seen him do with me and Mike. You know how much he cares about us.”

“Well, yeah of course. But you’ve worked for him for fifteen years and Mike almost seven now. You have a relationship with him and established trust. How am I supposed to have that with him when I can’t even look him in the eye?” “It comes with time, Claudia,” she rubbed my shoulder. “But if there is anything I can say to get you to trust the process, Harvey is loyal, almost to a fault sometimes. He will stop at nothing to make sure the people he cares about are taken care of. I can see that he wants that for you because if he didn’t, he wouldn’t have given a shit if Griffin stole the file or not.”

Donna walked away after smoothing down some of the hair on my head, disappearing behind the corner. I let out a huff. She was right, I was being a little over dramatic.

Harvey had a reputation, though. How was I supposed to know if- no. This is unrelated to anything going on. Sort of. I just need to focus on the case. 

I pulled out the files and looked over them again, compiling all the notes into one space for easy recall. As I was looking through it, I found a loophole in one of the contracts that unbound our client from having to give up half of her company.

____

I paced up and down Harvey’s office, tapping my file in my hand as I went through all my key points in my head for today’s trial. I needed to lure, or bait rather, the witnesses into my questions to get them to admit to trespassing on our clients property. We had everything we needed; security footage, witnesses to testify on our behalf… Everything was all lined up. I just needed to blow it. 

I could do this, right? I had only spent all night doing a fake run of how today would go in my mirror, but then again anything could happen when I got into that courtroom today. Maybe they had another leg on us, maybe there was another witness they had to testify against us.

God dammit, if I screwed up today I wouldn’t get another case. Probably not ever again unless I packed up all my shit and moved to Iowa. 

Having Harvey there didn’t make me feel better. I thought it would, but as we worked together I realized he only made me more nervous. I couldn’t help it, he just looked at me this way I couldn't describe. It was incredibly annoying, I don’t know how Mike does it. Or Donna. Or Jessica or Louis or-

Jesus focus, Claudia. I rubbed my eyes with my thumbs. Just focus focus focus. I’ve been over it a million times. I could do this. I didn’t have a choice, court was in less than half an hour. 

“Claudia,” Harvey ripped me from my concentration, making me jump. “Sorry to startle you. Are you ready for today?” “Not really,” I admitted. “I am kind of freaking out, to be honest.”

“It’s okay,” he eased me to sit next to him. “What are you so nervous for?”

I chuckled, “Everything.” “Okay,” he gave a half-hearted laugh. “What specifically? Just name one thing that you are worried about.”

“I don’t know- forgetting cross examination questions? Screwing up the order so it doesn’t lead him into our trap? A billion things could go wrong and I’m not sure what to do if I freeze or stutter. What if the jury or the opposing counsel laughs at me?”

“That is not gonna happen, Claudia,” Harvey reassured. “You have prepared some amazing questions, you’ve got this in the bag.” “You know, I much prefer to stay in the background and do research. I don’t think I’m cut out to handle court stuff this is-”

“Hey,” he said so softly I almost didn’t hear him. He grabbed my trembling hand and held it between his own. My body went completely rigid, chest puffing in and out with heavy breaths. “You are going to do great today, I know it, Claudia. You are prepared, capable, and even more prepared. This is always what you’ve wanted to do, isn’t it?” I just nodded. Over the past week and a half of working together, I had told him what made me want to be a lawyer in the first place. About how I saw my best friends’ parents' business completely ruined by a group of robbers and their insurance did nothing to help them.

It made me so sad for them, made me feel so sick that I knew I had to do something to help them. I did my research and then brought it to them. They brought it to their lawyer and ended up getting a settlement for far more than they were ever gonna get. All because of me and my discovery that I made on my computer when I was thirteen.

“Okay. Think back to teenage Claudia for a moment. I bet she dreamed of being in this exact position. Where she can help people and give the sorry bastards who put them there a taste of their own medicine. Well, Claudia, here you are. Your very first case. Your very first helping hand. Your very first entrance into the world of the law. And you are going to absolutely shake up those witnesses, blindside them so hard they won’t have a choice but to tell the truth. This is your moment, Claudia’s moment. Don’t let fear take it from you, okay?” Again, all I could do was nod. And think about how warm his hand was in mine. We stood and he let go, leading me out of the office and down to his car waiting for him in front of the building. Ray, his driver, greeted me sweetly as I settled into the back seat with Harvey.

I flipped through my cards over and over and over on our way to the court house. Harvey snatched them from me. “Hey!” “You know the material,” he gave me a pointed look, sliding them in the breast pocket of his jacket. 

“I know but-” “There is no but,” he shrugged. “Have just one ounce of confidence, Claudia. Trust yourself.”

All of whatever I had been reading was swept from my mind as he placed his palm on my knee. I hadn’t realized it was bouncing up and down until he pressed against it to stop its movements. I tried to sit still, but I just started picking at my nails instead. 

“Claudia,” he said in a stern, commanding voice. I stopped my fidgeting, laying my hands flat in my lap. “Good, just relax. Everything will be alright.”

Highly doubtful. He was playing a dangerous game, and we both knew it. But neither of us said anything as he left his hand there the entire car ride. 

____

“After the conclusion of today’s trial, the jury here finds Fulton Dynamic guilty of trespassing and breaking and entering with intent to steal inside information.”

I felt the tension deflate from my body, eyes fluttering shut as the judges whacked the wooden disk on his stand. He said something, but I couldn’t even hear over the roar in my ear. Holy shit we won…

“Claudia,” Harvey shook my shoulder. I snapped my eyes to him. “Come on, let's get out of here.”

He didn’t have to tell me twice. 

I rested my head back against the seat, eyes focused on the window outside so I wouldn’t throw up. Man did I hate getting car sick every time I looked at my phone when in a car. The city lights were bright and fierce, unrelenting all hours of the day. Why on god's green earth did I decide to move to New York? Out of all the places I could’ve gone to work as an associate in this state, why did I choose the city? I hate the city. I’ve always hated the-

“Yoo-hoo,” I heard from my side. I lifted my exhausted head and gave Harvey a look. “Did you hear anything I said?”

‘Oh… n-no I’m sorry,” I stiffened, giving him my full attention. “What were you talking about?”

“I was just saying that you did a great job today, Claudia. You kicked ass in there,” he smiled.

“Thanks, Mr. Specter.” I just let out a sigh.

“You don’t think so?”

“Not really.” Anxiety swirled in my chest. Tears pricked my eyes and nose. 

“Why not? Claudia, you gave one of the best cross examinations I think I’ve ever seen. And the way you handled Cayhill? Defended Devlyn from those accusations? It was masterful.”

“It doesn’t feel like it.”

Silence hung between us. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. “You did great today.”

“I was a complete idiot when I was defending Devlyn. I was way too animated and let my emotions get the best of me. For Christ's sake Judge Peterson gave me a warning.”

“I want you to take a guess at how many warnings judges give me when I’m the one in there leading the case.”

“You’re Harvey Specter, of course you… get a lot.”

“You right, I do get a lot. But that isn’t a bad thing. And I’ve been doing this a hell of a lot longer than you-” “That’s the problem,” I snapped. “You have been doing this for seventeen years and I’ve been doing it for ten days. I’ve barely got my toe in the water and I’ve already shown other lawyers and firms that I can’t keep my cool.”

“Claudia, you are passionate. I don’t see that as a huge problem in the courtroom. There needs to be a level of pushback from attorneys because if you, of all people on someone’s legal team, aren’t going to fight back, then you might as well be fired. Because you are the only person some people have hope for. You have to be aggressive and assertive sometimes to get the job done.”

“I don’t know how to do that.”

“I am going to teach you,” Harvey’s words completely short circuited my brain. 

“What do you mean?”

“Claudia, I think you’re going to be a great lawyer, even without my help. I know you struggle with confidence and that is all I want to help you with. To get some leverage over these other associates so you can climb that ladder.”

“I can’t just magically pull a wagon load of confidence out of my ass overnight,” I shook my head, folding my hands tightly together. “I don’t see how you can help me.”

The car pulled up outside the building and Harvey let out a sigh. Great. Now I’ve pissed him off, too. That’s exactly what I needed to do was piss off Harvey Specter after a great win. In all honesty, it had been a good day. I didn’t fumble the ball like I was going to, but this was completely taking away from them.

My door opened. Harvey looked down at me from outside and extended his hand. When did he get out of the car? I hesitantly took it, getting out and shutting the door behind me.

“Claudia,” Harvey started. “You need to learn to let go. To put the bad moments behind you.” “I can’t.” “Which is why you and I are going to go back up there and have a drink. Get to know each other a little bit so we can start building that trust. I know I intimidate you, and I try like hell to be as calm as I can around you, but one day Louis or Jessica or Donna is going to come into my office and give me some bad news. You might be there and see how I handle it. You might not, but I don’t want you to be afraid of that happening to you.”

“And how can I be sure that if I come up with a plan one day, and it falls through and goes to shit, you won’t flip out on me or fire me or-or-”

“Because I won’t. I give you my word. But I need yours as well.”

“Need my word, why?” “I need to know that you won’t think I’m a monster if you’re in the room and I lose my cool.”

I’ve never thought Harvey was a monster to begin with. I’ve always admired his ability to shut off his feelings and get the dirty work done. Of course I’ve seen that side of him a time or two, but never catastrophic like some of the stories I’ve heard from the third and fourth years.

“You have my word.”

The elevator chime brought me out of my spiraling momentarily to walk to Harvey’s office. The firm was empty, not even Jessica was here. He led me to his office and got to work on the drinks. My eyes wandered from him to the view through the window. This was the only part of the city I might’ve let myself enjoy from time to time. 

“Donna was right, you do have a lot of music,” I noted, taking in the wall filled with vinyl records. She mentioned it when I was caught with my head buried in a book in the library, some random Beatles song blasting so loud she could hear it down the hall. 

“You’re just now noticing that?” “Well, I haven’t exactly been in your office for anything other than to work on this case so… no I guess I never really noticed.”

“You can pick something to listen to, if you’d like.” He was gonna let me touch his records? This place was like a museum; autographed basketballs and baseballs, art hanging on the wall. “Or you can just stare at it.”

I flushed, picking up a record at random and handing it to him. In exchange, he handed me a glass a third full of whisky. I smelled it, it kind of made me scrunch my nose. I didn’t drink often; most of the time I was too tired to even feed myself let alone consume alcohol.

When I took a sip, I actually didn’t mind the taste. It was smooth, simple in flavor and didn’t burn too bad. Quite nice, for all it’s worth. 

There was a couch along the wall of records that I fixed myself on, Harvey taking the time to remove his tie and lay it across his desk before sitting across from me on one of the chairs. I toed off my pumps and set them on the floor beside the table. God damn did my feet hurt. 

“Do you do this with all the new associates?”

“What do you mean?” He asked, taking a seat in one of the chairs while I took up the couch. 

“I mean, when you think they’re ready, do you give them a case and help them get their foot in the door?”

“No, no I don’t,” Harvey admitted. “Louis is in charge of the associates. You know that.”

“Yes,” I nodded. “But I just thought that there was some deal between you guys: you have a mock trial with the new associates, whichever team wins gets to give a case to the best performing associate.”

Harvey laughed. I didn’t even know he knew how to do that. “Oh, Claudia, you really are that innocent, aren’t you?” My throat collapsed on itself. What did I say?

“Relax,” he set his glass down, swallowing his sip. “Yes, we do a fake trial every year for the first years, but we don’t just give them cases when they win. No one in their right mind would give a first year associate, fresh out of law school, the time of day. Normally they have to prove themself down the line, after years and years of loyalty to this firm to get their first case. And it’s usually pretty easy pro-bono shit.” I had to stop and think for a moment before I could speak. “You keep saying normally, usually… What are you saying?”

“What I’m saying, Claudia, is that in my decade plus of working here, I’ve never seen an associate who busts their ass quite like you. Who takes every ounce of bullshit from Louis and turns it into the Mona Lisa.”

“I think that everyone does tha-”

“No,” he cut me off. A stern look in his eyes, lips in that crooked line. “No they don’t. Not like you. You put your head down, get into it, and don't come up until you’ve found what you were looking for and thensome. You go above and beyond every time. You don’t go to Louis begging for more work, he brings it to you, and only you, because he knows he can count on you. Which means I know I can count on you, too.”

I honestly didn’t know what to say. I kind of just wanted the ground to swallow me whole. To make me evaporate and never see the light of day again. 

“Thank you, Mr. Specter. But I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not but I am not very good in the spotlight. I don’t do well with… all of this.”

“I know, but I’m glad that you are trying anyway,” his smile was very charming. In a way that made his eyes crinkle. “So, besides giving a hell of a cross examination, what else do you like to do for ‘fun’?” 

“Well, for starters, your definition of fun, and mine, are going to be very different. I am a very solitary person, I don’t need to be around people to have a good time. Most of the time I prefer to go do things by myself because I find when I ask, people already have plans, or they’re faking having plans so they don’t have to hang out with me. I can’t tell what is the truth and what isn’t so I stopped asking… that was totally not what you asked. Sorry, I didn’t mean to ramble.”

“Go ahead, talk about whatever you want. I won’t judge you.”

A small part of me believed that he wouldn’t. A tiny, microscopic part. 

“There is nothing like the feeling of getting lost in a good book. I’m a complete sucker for a cliche rom-com where the bad guy gets the good girl.”

Harvey let out a dramatic puff of air, laughing into the space around us. 

“You said you wouldn’t judge!” I chuckled. 

“I’m not, it’s just lame. Come on, what do you really like to do for fun?”

“That is what I really like to do for fun,” I let my hand fall to the cushion beside me. “I told you, I am not a very interesting person. I don’t have time for a whole lot of anything other than working here so… Most of my hobbies have been put on the back burner through grad school and working nonstop.”

“If you could be any type of sea creature, what would you be?” 

“What does that literally have anything to do with anything we were just talking about?”

“It doesn’t,” Harvey smiled. “I’m just curious.”

“I don’t know, a jellyfish?”

“Really?” He questioned, one brow rising higher than the other. “I’d be a great white shark.”

“Of course you would,” I snickered. “Harvey Specter, the Great White of New York. If you wanted to be a real predator that no one fucks with, you should be an Orca.” “A whale?” “The killer whale,” I corrected. “They put sharks in the obituary for fun, you know. They sink yachts for fun, too. If you really want to be on top, be an Orca. No one in their right minds fucks with an Orca. They’re intelligent and not afraid of anything.”

“Aww, you think I’m intelligent and not afraid of anything?” Harvey mewled. 

“Well, duh you’re Harvey Specter.” Everyone knew it. Harvey was the baddest cat in the sky, you didn’t approach him without giving him your respect. Cause if you didn’t, a whole boat load of shit will be coming your way. 

Harvey rolled his eyes. “Well, I hate to break it to you, but there is more to Harvey Specter than the title my name comes with.”

“Of course,” I agreed. “Harvey Specter, badass attorney and the best closer New York has ever seen, killer whale of the corporate world.” Harvey couldn’t keep his laugh inside, sending the rumbling noise into the office. I made Harvey laugh, and I have for the past however many minutes. 

“You left out the part where I’m devastatingly attractive and charming,” his smirk was nothing short of either of those things. Devastating and charming. It cut through me like a hot knife. I knew I blushed because his eyes went to my cheeks and that spot at the base of my throat that always gives it away. 

My fingers tapped away anxiously at the glass in my hands, fingernails rattling against its crystal surface. 

“It’s late I should… I should go.” Great, now I’m flustered and stuttering. As quickly as I could, I threw my heels back on and reached for my coat. 

“Claudia-”

“Thank you for the drink, and for all your help on the case,” I hurried out, trying to not let my voice break and give away all the things I wanted to say. “Have a good night, Mr. Specter.”

“Claudia.” His voice commanded, stopping my movements. I held still on the couch, drinking in his stare. “Stay.”

“Mr. Specter I really should-”

“Harvey,” he bit out a little harshly. “Stop calling me Mr. Specter.”

“I’m sorry. Harvey, it’s late.” He just nodded, taking a sip from his glass. “And?”

“It’s been a long day and I think we should both go and get some much deserved rest,” I spoke quietly, resuming my nail picking from earlier. 

“Do you really want to leave?” 

It was such a loaded question. Yes, absolutely I wanted to fucking leave. But there was something deep in his eyes, deep in his voice that made me want to stay and explore. My heart was hammering in my chest. I couldn’t keep my eyes off him, no matter how much I wanted to look away. It was impossible. 

“I don’t think you do,” he answered for me. “I told you I was going to help build your confidence.”

You never told me how, jackass, I thought. I swallowed, nothing going down, but I did it anyway. Harvey threw back what was left of his whisky and sat back, knees far apart, fingers drawing patterns on the arm rests of the chair. 

“Come here, Claudia.” What? “You heard me.”

Shit, I must’ve said it out loud. If I thought my heart was racing before, it sure as hell was halfway around the world now. Legs trembling, I rose. Why the fuck did I stand up? It wasn’t too late to make a beeline for the door and pray he didn’t catch up. Then again, it wasn’t like I could escape him, we worked in the same fucking building. On the same floor. 

When I came to a halt, a few feet in front of him, he held out his hand, palm up. As I put my fingers in his grasp, there was nothing I could do. Harvey yanked me to him, other hand catching my hip as I collapsed into him with a yelp. 

“Straddle my thigh,” he ordered. Something about the way his voice went down my spine made me obey. With extreme hesitance, I moved one leg on each side of his, lowering myself. I didn’t dare put all of my weight down. And he knew it because his hands came up to my hips and forced me all the way. 

“Sir, what are you-”

“Do not call me Sir unless you are ready to deal with those consequences.” His fingers dug into the exposed skin on my thigh, eyes full of his pupils. 

“Harvey, what are you doing? We shouldn’t be doing… whatever this is,” I tried to defuse the situation as best I could, but there was such a seriousness written in his features I wasn’t sure I could sway him. Maybe I didn’t want to, either. 

“How does it feel?” He asked.

I blinked, “H-How does what feel, Harvey?”

He smiled at the use of his name on my tongue. I hadn’t really ever called him by his first name.

“To have one of the most powerful men in the city underneath you, bent to your will?”

When I did look away from his face, to where I was seated on his lap, I felt my stomach start to twist and mold into something new. I did have Harvey Specter underneath me. Granted, at his own command, but still…

“And before you even think about it, no. I don’t do this with all the other associates.”

“Then why me?” My voice was a barely there whisper, gaze averted from his until his thumb caught my chin and made me look into his eyes. 

“Because I see something else in you that I don’t think anyone realizes. And I know the world will never see it unless you start believing in yourself and take control of the cards you’ve been dealt.”

I took a moment to steady my breath, and my uncontrollable thoughts. “And you think that whatever this is… you think this is going to help with that?”

Harvey shrugged, “I am in no way forcing you to be here, am I?”

My blush came creeping back. Of course he wasn’t forcing me to be here. I shook my head, my face just inches from his. I felt oddly relaxed under his touch.

“And I am not stopping you from getting up and leaving right now. It’s your choice, Claudia, but I think you want to be here, on my lap. Because if you didn’t, you would’ve already left.”

God dammit I hated this cocky son of a bitch. Was he right? Yes. Of fucking course he was. But the way his mouth curled up was dangerous. This was dangerous, and utterly a horrible idea. Was I really about to sit here, on one of my bosses thighs? He did look pretty good under me, shirt unbuttoned the top three, cologne wafting into the air every time he moved his head. 

Harvey’s hands came back to my hips as he leaned up.

“So, are you going to get up and leave? Or, are you going to ride my thigh while I tell you how pretty you look?” His breath tickled my ear, his lips trailing the space just below. I couldn’t help the shudder that went through my whole body, and I knew Harvey felt it because he cooed.

As I adjusted myself, I couldn’t help the movement, his breath on my skin was making me flutter, Harvey moved my hips back and forth. I felt the air take from my throat. The material of his pants against my core wracked through me. So unexpectedly I found myself pressing closer to him so I wouldn’t fall off. 

“That’s it, Claudia…” His voice was sickly sweet with praise. Harvey moved to fiddle with the front of his pants, and when I went to look, he caught my chin. “Eyes up here, sweetheart.”

“Harvey this… this isn’t the best idea,” I kept trying to reason. Not necessarily with him, but with myself. Obviously he wanted it, so why was I trying to convince myself to go?

“So?”

“This could have some serious implications if we don’t-”

He laughed against my neck, placing a few kisses right over where I always blushed. “Claudia, Claudia, Claudia. This is exactly what I have been talking about. You are wound far too tightly with concern. You need to let go, need to be out of control with something in your life.”

“Let me guess, that something is going to be you?”

“Only if you want it to be,” he said. “Look Claudia, I know we don’t exactly always see eye to eye on things, and we sure as hell haven’t really worked together, but that doesn’t make me less sure about this. About you. If you are having doubts, and this isn’t what you want, then walk away and we never have to talk about it ever again. But I think there is a part of you that really likes seeing me under you. That likes knowing you can make me this way.”

“And what if I do?” Harvey was right. God dammit he was right and he knew it. I looked and saw just what I had been doing to him. 

“Then just let yourself enjoy it because I know I want to.”

Man, he was quite the smooth talker. My resolve crumbled and I gave in. No, I didn’t give in, I made the choice to let this happen. Harvey wanted this too, for some reason known only to the great mother and beyond. This was not going to end well, I don’t know why I thought so, but I just know this is going to cause a problem down the road. Maybe it’ll be a good one, maybe it won’t– Jesus I need to get out of my head before I start thinking into oblivion. 

Harvey rolled his eyes, hand cupping the side of my face before his lips met mine. The gasp I let out… I could feel his smile. He guided my hand into the front of his pants, but did nothing else. Just left it there. 

When I tried to pull away, he bit my lip and pulled me right back in. Finger pressing into the front of my throat. In a commanding, possessive way that made my stomach burn with desire. 

I slowly traced around the outline of him. My fingers were trembling so fiercely that I wasn’t sure they were moving at all. As best I could control them, I made my way up to the waistband of his briefs, just… testing the waters. 

“You’re so close to where I need you,” Harvey purred, eyes looking at my surly swollen lips. “Go on, sweetheart, don’t be shy.”

I guess there really was no turning back. As my hand ventured further, I ducked down and swept my tongue into his mouth. He approved very enthusiastically. Harvey continued to guide my hips back and forth and back and forth across his thigh. All too gently, all too slowly. One of his hands kept working my hip, the other camp up around my throat.

How could he know that was one of my weakest sides? It didn’t prevent any air, but it was a firm reminder. 

His breath broke our searing lips when I moved my thumb over the tip of his cock. Harvey’s grip tightened on my throat and a noise slipped through my mouth. There was little I could do to keep my eyes from lulling back, head going with it. He made an effort to weave his fingers between my locks and pulled. A lot harder than I think he actually meant to. 

“Sorry, sweetheart,” he murmured against my ear, sending goosebumps down my neck and arms. “I can’t help myself when you make such pretty noises. I’ll be gentle.”

I huffed out a laugh, as best I could with the straight against my neck. “I don’t mind.”

“Those are dangerous words, Claudia,” he warned, bringing my head back up. His eyes were dark in a way I couldn’t process in that moment. His lips were red and his hair was a mess from my fingers. 

I tugged at him as emphasis for my earlier words. “I don’t mind you being rough with me.”

His eyes closed, and his jaw clenched. I continued my motions, slow and long, drawing divine noises from him. Even with his hands away from my hips, I still moved them, picking up pace with my hand. I took the liberty to occupy his mouth with my own, hopefully filling him with euphoria. It was fast, and quite messy. My hair was sticking to the back of my neck with sweat, and I could taste it on his skin when I couldn’t help but trail my tongue up his throat. 

Harvey murmured my name, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t now, not with the constant moans and praise from his tongue. ‘Just like that sweetheart’, ‘I know that pretty mouth of yours will feel so much better wrapped around my cock’, ‘Can’t wait to take you apart’.

With his release, warm and wet over the back of my hand, he stilled my hips. Fingers digging in. At some point my skirt rode up, or he tugged it over my ass, and his nails left long lines of scratches. I hissed, and Harvey was breathing deep.

Harvey’s grin was nothing short of animalistic as he looked at where my hand still connected us. “Look at that, sweetheart. Look how well you’ve done.”

I could do nothing to keep my blood from rushing to my face. When I moved my hand– not entirely sure if I should get up and clean it off– Harvey snatched my wrist. 

“Open.”

I was going to question him, but I watched his eyes flick over my surely swollen lips. I flushed deeper. And deeper again as he moved them into my mouth. Bitter, but not in a bad way. And If I had been thoroughly fucked, I’d undoubtably find it irresistible. 

“Good girl, Claudia.”

There would be no way to recover from hearing that. I shuddered, so hard I clamped his thigh between my own, and whimpered. Like I had never before. And his stare… the way his eyes watched my tongue circle over my fingers. As they watched me swallow him down. 

“I bet you didn’t even realize,” he tilted his head, tucking hair behind my ear, flopping it behind my shoulder. 

“Realize…what?”

“How you took control. How confident you were with your hand… with that wicked tongue of yours. It was like it was second nature for you, wasn’t it? I didn’t even have to tell you to keep moving your hips. You just did it.”

I didn’t even know I was doing most of it… It all just happened. At some point or another. 

“I wouldn’t say that I was confi-”

“Yes,” he interrupted. “You were. And that feeling, of being in control, is what you need to feel when you are in the courtroom. You were able to do it here, with me, to me. It was the most powerful and direct I’ve ever seen you.”

“Sex and being a lawyer aren’t exactly the same thing.”

“No, but you were able to feel safe and let yourself go. To release all that potential and work miracles.”

“You’d consider me giving you an orgasm a miracle?”

He chuckled, leaning so his lips brushed against mine. “Your hands do miraculous things to me, Claudia. I don’t normally give myself to someone the way I did with you. I didn’t have any second thoughts about it because I knew how willing you’d be to please me. And god damn do I love watching you pleasure yourself for me.”

In the minutes that followed, Harvey stood me up and straightened out my skirt. He did give me some hand sanitizer until I could go to the bathroom. I watched as he tucked in his shirt, buttoning his pants and rolling the sleeves back up his arms. 

“Harvey?”

“Yes, Claudia?” His voice was much more mellow. 

“How often is this… you know. Gonna happen?”

He smirked, “Why, already picturing yourself on your knees for me?”

I wasn’t, but I sure as hell was now. One thing that I needed to learn to do was control my facial reactions because judging by the way his stepped closer, he could see that I was, in fact, picturing his hand in my hair while he forced me to take it down my-

“Oh sweet sweet Claudia,” he chuckled, tilting up my chin. “You really are that eager to please me.”

“I was just wondering when you were going to return the favor.”

Harvey seized my throat, tighter than he had before. “Don’t you worry, sweetheart. I will have my name dripping from your tongue for so long you will forget it completely and beg for mercy. And when you beg for it, just know that you won’t get it until I say you do.”

[scarletwitchproperty]

Your eyes whispered have we met? - Chapter 1

(i promise the picture will make sense for this first chapter, but like...Taylor in a suit...)

Pairing: Taylor Swift x Fem!OC (I swear I started writing this as a Taylor x Reader but I felt weird writing y/n even if I read xReader fics lmao), Taylor Swift x Joe Alwyn (it's short lived I swear)

Words: 4,9k

Summary: What started as a normal day at work ends in a way you never would've imagined...

Warnings: a little bit of angst I guess?, there's kissing involved and that's about it...I think for this one

masterlist

Enchanted to meet you (maybe?)

Standing out has been the norm for you for quite a while now. You live in a world where people know who their soulmate is just by looking someone in the eye and feeling pain in your dominant hand, and despite having met a lot of people through your twenty-seven years of life, no one was it for you yet. All your friends had met their soulmate, your best friend since primary school having met theirs in high school, your sister already married and having two kids with hers. Usually one would meet their soulmate before reaching their twenty years of age, but people not knowing who their person is was not unheard of, just like you. The longing inside you still wouldn’t disappear knowing others were in the same boat as you. Nobody could tell you how to feel, that’s one thing that couldn’t be taken away from you.  

You just couldn’t quite escape being reminded about soulmates every day, you worked at a nursery after all. All the parents looked so sickly in love it made your heart ache every single time you saw them. 

‘’Charlie? Earth to Charlie!’’ 

You blink, confused as you found yourself looking into your best friend/coworker’s eyes from the floor. Your hearing came back to you, the children’s loud laugh making you wince as one ran passed you and tripped on his own feet, landing right on your left foot. You took the now crying child in your arms and met your friend’s gaze. 

‘’What’s up Sam?’’ 

‘’What do you mean what’s up? I just asked you if you wanted to come with me to the Tonight Show? My friend working there was able to invite me in, and I’m allowed a plus one,’’ Sam prevented another child from falling as she continued talking to you. ‘’Are you on or not? It’s tonight!’’ 

‘’I thought you would take Alex with you?’’ 

‘’Nah, she can’t come. She just texted me that her work scheduled a last minute meeting for tonight,’’ Sam feigned being hurt, hand over her heart and everything, a big grin on her lips as the children giggled at her. ‘’What kind of wife is she, putting her work before her own wife?’’ 

‘’Someone who values rent money?’’ 

‘’Too true friend, too true.’’ Your friend got up to retrieve a little boy’s comforter stuck under a table and handed it back to him. ‘’She would’ve been so happy to go with me too! She loves the artist that they’re about to interview!’’ 

‘’Really? Who is it?’’ 

‘’Good gods Charlie, you were really out of it!’’ Sam rolled her eyes and sat back down next to you. ‘’Only the best singer in the world right now, Taylor Swift! Her new album came out like three days ago!’’ 

It was your turn to roll your eyes right then. Taylor Swift was all your friend could talk about since forever, as she became an instant fan as early as the singer’s first ever album came out. You heard her and so many people talking about the singer that it made you sick and you refused to join in. Of course you heard some of her songs on the radio or on a random Spotify playlist, but you never really bothered to listen to the woman’s songs on purpose nor have you ever seen her face. 

Yes, shocking. Your best friend was one of the singer’s biggest fan and never in her sixteen years of career have you bothered looking her up to see what she looked like. You just knew that she was blonde and had these killer blue eyes that could fold anybody (Sam’s words, not yours), and that she was nice. Allegedly. 

Modern music just wasn’t your thing. 

‘’Alright stop looking at me with those eyes, I’ll come,’’ you relented as you pointed a menacing finger your friend’s way. ‘’But! You pick up my early shift tomorrow, I can already feel the headache coming!’’ 

‘’YES! Thank you Charlie, thank you!’’ 

The end of the day couldn’t come faster than it did, and before you knew it you said goodbye to the last child, an eighteen months old little boy who refused to let go of you when his dad came to pick him up until said parent produced a pacifier out of his pocket, and closed up the nursery. 

Sam was waiting for you outside, claiming that you would be late to the show if you went back home to change. As you situated yourself in the passenger seat of her car, Sam looked at you with a strange look on her face. 

‘’What is it?’’ 

‘’What? Can’t I look at my best friend?’’ 

‘’Not if you’re silently judging her.’’ 

‘’I’m not!’’ Sam protested as she started her car, driving out of her parking spot. ‘’Fine I lied but…Earlier you had this look on your face, I just didn’t want to talk about it in front of the kids.’’ 

‘’Well out with it!’’ 

‘’Are you still sad about not finding your soulmate?’’ Your heart dropped in your stomach as Sam kept on talking, oblivious to your unease. ‘’Your eyebrows were scrunched in the way that they always are when you think about finding the one, and you clearly zoned out on me mid-conversation. I mean I don’t blame you for that, Lord knows how many times I do it too, but are you sure that you’re okay?’’ 

‘’Yeah, I’m sure.’’ You look back at Sam with the least genuine smile you could muster. ‘’I made peace with it. I don’t care how long I’ll have to wait for my soulmate. I’ve waited twenty seven years already, what’s a few more? Besides, I’ve grown used to living alone. I’m fine, I promise.’’ 

And that was the biggest ball of bullshit you’ve ever said. You knew it, and by the look on Sam’s face she knew it too but she clearly knew when and where to pick her battles and right now was neither the place nor the time to do it. She sighed and continued driving for at least thirty minutes before she could find a good parking spot not too far away from the building you were supposed to go in. 

You didn’t know why but as you sat down in your assigned seat in the audience, Sam vibrating in excitement next to you, nerves wracked your entire being. Your breathing picked up as you realized how many people were there, and while you could usually do with a small crowd, the setting was starting to get to you. Too many people made you panic, too many unknown factors, so few exits, so many ways in which it could get dangerous…

‘’Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome eleven times Grammy Award winner and International superstar, Taylor Swift!’’ 

Your heart slowed down as your eyes zeroed in on a tall blonde woman dressed in this black and white chevron suit tailored to fit her body to perfection, watching her like a hawk and your mouth wide open as she made her way to one of the two armchairs next to Jimmy Fallon’s desk. The manner in which she held herself captivated you so much so that you didn’t feel yourself falling forward until Sam caught you by the shoulders and saved you from a very embarrassing drop. 

‘’Charlie be careful, you could’ve gotten hurt!’’ Sam smirks at you as you blink owlishly up at her. ‘’Also you might want to wipe the drool off your face, someone might see.’’ 

You quickly swiped your hand over your mouth, and upon feeling no wetness there and therefore realizing that your best friend was just messing with you, you sock her on the back of her head and look forward to the interview taking place. Jimmy Fallon had his hands on both sides of a vinyl, holding it up and showing it to the audience. You briefly glance at it, fleetingly admiring the simple yet beautiful cover it displayed before your eyes were inevitably drawn back to the singer’s side profile like a moth to a flame. 

Only half of Taylor Swift’s face was available for you to look upon, and yet it was all it took for you to be hypnotized and tune everything out around you. From the line of her jaw, to the shape of her nose and the curve of her lips, the singer was the most gorgeous woman you’ve ever had the chance to set your gaze upon. 

How was it that today was the first time you’ve laid eyes on her? How much time have you lost not gazing upon such a masterpiece? 

‘’In just one day of sales, it became the top-selling album of the year already,’’ Jimmy chuckles as he reads the information on his card, seemingly surprised. ‘’Yeah, in just one day of sales. Of the whole year! ‘Midnights’ broke Spotify’s record for most streams in a day. Today the top ten songs on Apple Music and Spotify are from ‘Midnights’. By the way you can plug your ears because I’m going to just keep going.’’ 

‘’No, I like it too much!’’ 

The genuine joy and pride in Taylor’s voice at her own accomplishment made you feel all warm inside, yourself somewhat feeling proud at the artist’s prowess despite never really taking time out of your day and life to actually discover her work. It’s like the singer was bringing about this unexplained joy in you just by talking and existing just feet away from you. 

You smiled even more as Taylor shyly hid herself while Jimmy rattled off another fact about her brand new album, the artist’s smile peaking out from behind her hand as if it was too large for her to contain. 

As time went on, you could feel your best friend Sam trying to get your attention, but all you could focus on was the singer being interviewed in front of your eyes. There was talk of the re-record of an album called ‘Red’ (you didn’t know what this meant for the singer but the tone of voice she used clearly meant that it had some deeper history behind it), ‘Folklore’ and ‘Evermore’ being described as albums used by the singer to tell a story, and Taylor’s overall feeling of being overwhelmed by the show of love and support that her fans kept bringing her and surprising her with each time she put out a new album. 

‘’When it’s time, we’ll do it.’’ 

You found yourself getting excited as Taylor talked about a potential tour for her new album. Her and Jimmy both chuckled as they looked away from each other, this being your occasion to really look upon the singer’s entire face. How was it possible to look so powerful and delicate at the same time? 

‘’I miss it, I really miss it. You know, when you write songs, and you’re proud of the songs, and you have the fans reacting, the most potent way that you can see them react is when you’re looking into their faces.’’ Taylor makes a short pause as she briefly looks at the floor and once again looks at Jimmy. ‘’Do you know what I mean? I miss that a lot. I really miss that connection.’’ 

‘’Well, they’re looking at you right now!’’ 

Jimmy Fallon gestures to the crowd and Taylor follows the movement, looking up just as you jump from the host to the singer. For a glorious second the singer looks you in the eye and smiles at you, but just as she turns her gaze away to do the same with another fan your right wrist starts to throb like a goddamn building fell on top of it. 

‘’MOTHERFUCKER!’’ 

The effect is immediate. All eyes turn as one, the mounting embarrassment evident on Taylor’s face as time drags on and she realizes everyone heard her outburst. Shame colors her face as she tries to hide it beneath her left hand, and slowly but surely the whispers amongst the audience start again. 

Nobody notices the understanding horror rising on your face as you watch the singer cradle her right hand to her chest. 

No. Fucking. Way! 

‘’Oh my god I’m so sorry I don’t know what came over me!’’ Taylor excuses herself countless times, her entire face turning red as Jimmy Fallon chuckles at her. The singer was trying to rub the pain away, her stunning pools of blue scanning the audience at the same time, looking for someone. Looking for you. Her next words make you freeze in panic, the implied meaning behind them clear to everyone. ‘’I only just looked up and my wrist started hurting.’’ 

Shit. 

Taylor looks at you from across the room, a flicker of hope in her eyes. You could almost see the relief on her face when she quickly glances down to see you holding your wrist against yourself just like she was. She meets your eyes once more, smirking when she sees you look like you just got caught stealing from the cookie jar, and nods imperceptibly to your left where you knew the exit was. It was as if she was trying to tell you something. 

I’ll see you after this, her eyes were telling you. 

‘’Charlie! Charlie, holy shit! Do you know what this means?! The entire world was a witness to the exact moment where the iconic Taylor Swift met her soulmate! They could literally be anyone in this room! I wonder who it could b-‘’ Sam gasps as she finally takes a good look at you, noticing your frozen state. But more importantly noticing the way you are wincing and trying to alleviate the pain in your own wrist, just like Taylor. ‘’You have got to be fucking kidding me! It’s you!’’ 

‘’Shhhhhh! Not so loud!’’ You look around in alarm, noticing one girl two rows in front of you looking on with a suspicious look in her eyes. ‘’Someone might hear you!’’ 

‘’No shit girl! Do you realize what this means?!’’ Sam takes you by the shoulders and crushes you against her. ‘’All the times you bitched to me about not finding your soulmate when you could’ve found her years ago! You literally refused to go to with me to the meet and greet of the 1989 Tour you little shit!’’ 

Tears gather in your eyes as more than a handful of people are starting to take notice of your conversation. If you had felt a minute amount of happiness when you realized that Taylor Swift was, in fact, your soulmate, it was all gone now.   

The interview kept going, and yet all you could now focus on was the people throwing you nasty looks as Sam continued talking. At least half of the audience had their eyes on you, looking you over in silent judgment. 

It didn’t take long for their words to reach your ears.  

‘’That’s her soulmate?’’ 

‘’She doesn’t look like much.’’ 

‘’I bet she doesn’t even know Taylor as much as I do.’’ 

‘’Taylor could do so much better!’’ 

‘’Isn’t she still with that Joe guy?’’ 

‘’Who even is she?’’ 

‘’I bet Taylor’s going to reject her!’’ 

‘’Yeah! I mean look at her, who would want that?’’ 

Your heart was in pieces and you were full on sobbing by the end of the interview. But,  despite the unpleasant things said to and about you, you couldn’t quite bear to have Taylor out of your sight. She had looked up as the foul whispers started with a glare on her face, and had kept her eyes on you ever since. 

You were indubitably scared of what being her soulmate meant, but all that fear went away as soon as you locked eyes with Taylor. The singer had quite literally bewitched you with a single look, and you could feel yourself falling for her the more you looked at her. Not a word exchanged between you two and yet she already had you wrapped around her fingers. 

Fingers, huh? 

‘’Charlie come on, the interview’s finished we have to go now,’’ Sam attempts to shake you out of your Taylor induced reverie. She let out a huge sigh as she saw that your eyes were still on the singer. ‘’Come on girl, we have to be at work early tomorrow.’’ 

‘’Do you know if there’s a bathroom nearby?’’ you get up, ignoring the pointed stares you now received from everyone. ‘’I feel dizzy.’’ 

‘’Yeah, I think I saw one on the way.’’ 

Your best friend grabbed you by the arm and made her way through the people exiting the room. Not even two minutes later and you were standing in front of the women’s bathroom. 

‘’I’ll stand guard if you want,’’ Sam opened the door, fingers up against her face like a ninja.  She stops you just as you go to close the door ‘’Don’t listen to these girls. I know you and I know you’re going to overthink it, but don’t listen to them. They don’t know what they’re talking about.’’ 

‘’I’ll try not to.’’ 

As soon as the door was closed you went to the sink to splash some water on your face. 

A soulmate. You had a soulmate. After all these years you had found them, her. Taylor Swift. What would your mother say? What about your sister, your nephews? Oh god, never mind what your family would say, but what about hers? Would her mother think you were nice enough? Would her father deem you worthy of his daughter? 

You shake your head. There you go, overthinking it like usual. 

Head against the wall next to the sink, you take some deep breaths. What was she doing now? Was she calling her friends, her family? Was she trying to find you? Or did she leave the building already, forgetting about you? 

Panic seized you and you stop breathing for a second. Were those girls right and Taylor was going to reject you? 

You barely pick up the sound of the door opening, too busy crying once again with your arms wrapped around yourself. Would she even want you? Were you even worth her time? Would you be enough for her? 

Soft hands took yours away from where they were tugging on your hair and a warm body wrapped itself around you before you could register what was happening. 

‘’Darling breathe, don’t pass out in my arms please.’’ 

It was Taylor. Taylor Swift was holding you to her body like you were the most precious thing she ever touched. 

You blinked, a blush rising to your face as you looked up and found yourself lost in electric blue eyes. 

‘’That’s it darling, you’re doing good. You’re doing so good for me.’’ Taylor smiled at you, her right hand cupping your cheek as she presses her forehead against yours. You breathed slowly, in and out, just like she told you. She smiled, a smile so blinding that it nearly brought you to your knees. That woman was definitely going to be the death of you. ‘’You’re doing such a good job for me Charlie. Such a good girl for me.’’ 

‘’I just- you just- what?’’ 

‘’I’m sorry was that too much? I’m sorry if I overstepped, I did not mean to make you uncomfortable.’’ Taylor made to step away from you, but you stubbornly held onto her. She felt warm against you, the kind of warm that made you want to wrap yourself in a blanket in front of a fire and take a nap. You never wanted to loose the feeling. ‘’Looks like I have a very clingy soulmate on my hands then.’’ 

You whispered something so low that even Taylor couldn’t hear. 

‘’What was that darling?’’ 

‘’I said-said- dammit. I said are your going to reject me?’’ 

‘’Darling, respectfully, but what the fuck?’’ Taylor seemed horrified by your question, as if even the simple thought of the words were making her sick. ‘’Who said anything about rejecting anyone? Tell me, I’ll sue them.’’ 

‘’Hey no! Don’t do that,’’ you sighed and suddenly looked away from her, your ears picking up on voices from outside the room. You panicked as you recognized some of them from earlier. ‘’I’m not worth it.’’ 

Taylor studied your face intently, a frown marring her own. 

‘’Did someone say something to you that made you feel that way?’’ 

You closed your mouth, looking away from Taylor. You felt a delicate finger on your chin and once again found yourself getting lost in your soulmate’s eyes. 

‘’Darling if this is gonna work, we need to communicate. I’m not a mind reader, I don’t know what’s going on in that pretty head of yours,’’ Taylor once again puts her forehead against yours, smirking at the blush covering your face. ‘’I can’t force you to talk, but I really need to know who made you think I would not want you. Whoever it is clearly doesn’t know me.’’ 

‘’Do they not? I mean, they made some really good point,’’ you sighed as you looked down, hands fiddling with the lapel of Taylor’s blazer, unaware of the glare on her face. ‘’You’re…you. You’re Taylor Swift, international superstar. Up until today I didn’t even know what you looked like. My best friend is one of your biggest fan and for sixteen years she didn’t even succeed at making me listen to your music. You have like a bajillion music out there and the only one I know is ‘Come in With the Rain’, and I don’t even know which album it is from but I know about it because my best friend puts it on every time it rains for some reason. For god’s sake I’m a nobody. I work in a nursery, I get covered in questionable food every day and I come home covered in paint and more often than not children’s snot. I get sick literally every other week. I’m fucking nothing compared to you.’’ 

You expect the glare Taylor has on her face. What you don’t expect is for her to put her hands on either side of your face and pull you towards her. The room, the entire world falls away as her lips cover yours in a soft yet demanding kiss. The world behind your closed eyes erupts into colors you didn’t even see with anyone else before, and somehow you manage to stay standing as Taylor steals your breath away. Her lips are as soft as you would expect, expertly exploring your mouth like she knows what to do to make you react how she wants. Her thumb applies a tiny amount of pressure on your neck and you a let out an obscenely loud moan that would’ve embarrassed you were you not being kissed like your life depended on it. Taylor’s tongue meets your own and it’s like the universe stops, you quickly loosing the battle as you let yourself be played by the mastermind that is your soulmate. Soulmate that is slowing down her movements, languidly kissing you until she pulls away. 

You’re out of breath, this time not out of panic, but you would go back to kissing Taylor if it meant not being apart from her. You tug on her collar, whimpering as she kisses the tip of your nose. 

‘’Did you want me to stop?’’ 

‘’Quite the opposite, please Taylor-‘’ 

You two are forced apart as the door to the bathroom opens with a bang, quite a large group of women and a tall blond man now standing there looking at Taylor and you with narrowed eyes. 

The singer looks like a deer in the headlights before she turns to you with the most regretful look on her face. 

‘’I’m so sorry darling. I’ll fix it, I promise.’’ 

You don’t understand what she means, but all you can do at the moment is helplessly watch as the man grabs her by the waist and kisses her soundly on the mouth. He kisses her and looks you in the eye at the same time, a malicious look to his eyes as he wraps his arms around Taylor’s waist. The man is clearly taunting you, in the same way that a jailer would dangle food in his prisoner’s face, dangling it right in front of you as if saying ‘look, look at what you can’t have. It’s mine.’

You’re physically numb, numb to your own tears running down your face, numb to the pain you still feel in your wrist. Your heart is crushed to pieces and you don’t realize you’ve fallen to the ground until you look up at a commotion and see Sam pushing through the crowd to get to you.

‘’Excuse me, would you just- Please move, I’m trying to get in there to my-Shit.’’ Sam freezes as she reaches the front of the crowd. One look at what’s still happening feet away from you is all it takes for a seething look to take over her face. She’s angry on your behalf, and you know she wants to cause a scene, but she’s not blind to the many people with their phones out, and a single look your way is her dealbreaker. Your best friend rushes to your side and crushes you in a hug. ‘’It’s going to be okay Charlie. Come on, let’s get you up. Tell you what, we’re having a sleepover at my house. Sounds good?’’ 

You don’t react, your eyes locked on Sam but unblinking. She grabs you by your right wrist by accident, but you don’t even react to the pain anymore. Sam curses under her breath as she pushes people away, and you can vaguely hear someone else call after you but you don’t want to look back. You wouldn’t be able to handle it, seeing what was yours for a stolen moment in a bathroom. What should’ve been yours forever. 

The universe is unjustly cruel. Making you wait years for you to find your soulmate, only to get her taken away from you right under your nose by someone who’s name you don’t even know. 

You are so out of touch with reality that you don’t come to until you’re wrapped up in a blanket and sitting on your best friend’s couch in the living room. Sam is trying to provoke a reaction out of you, softly poking you in the cheek, but nothing. Alex, your best friend’s wife, comes in your field of vision with a glass of water in her hand. 

‘’Is she okay?’’ Alex sits down, taking the tv remote and flipping through the channels. ‘’What happened?’’ 

‘’Charlie found her soulmate.’’ 

‘’That’s great!’’ Alex startles as you break into heaving sobs, further burrowing yourself inside the blanket wrapped around you. ‘’Okay, not so great then. Did something happen?’’ 

‘’She-she kissed me. Made me feel-feel things,’’ you manage to say, eyes peeking out of your blanket.  You’re oblivious to the surprised look all over Sam’s face at your admission. ‘’She made it seem as if-as if she would hurt anyone who said that she didn’t want to be with me. She hugged me, and it felt so good. It made me think, even if it was just for a moment, that someone like her would love someone like me. She’s so pretty, I just want to keep looking at her for the rest of my life.’’ 

‘’Okayyy, Sam? If think she lost it.’’ 

You were about to speak, say something in your own defense, but your eyes spotted something on the tv screen that made you freeze. It was her, Taylor Swift, hand in hand with the man that single-handedly broke your heart just by existing. Your soulmate looked gorgeous on the screen, black tights on her legs with a checkered skirt covered by this really soft looking black sweater. 

Sam reached for the remote to turn the TV off, but you snatched it away before she could have it. 

‘’Joe Alwyn and Taylor Swift, breaking up? That’s right folks, your ears are not deceiving you. Late tonight, as the ‘Shake It Off’ singer attended an interview with one Jimmy Fallon, rumors say that a swearword came out of her mouth, unprovoked, and it was later revealed by Taylor Swift herself that the cause of it had been the pain she felt in her wrist as she simply looked at the audience in the studio. 

That’s right guys, you heard it. Taylor Swift has finally found her soulmate. One can wonder if the singer will choose her boyfriend of six years or this mysterious person, a woman no less? 

Sources say that the mysterious woman took off in a run with someone else, fleeing the building before they were further questioned.’’ 

A grainy picture of you getting shoved inside Sam’s car by your best friend herself showed up on screen. 

‘’Fuck. How did they even do that?’’ 

‘’SAM WHAT THE HELL?! You didn’t tell me Charlie’s soulmate was Taylor fucking Alison Swift!’’ 

‘’Well you didn’t give me the chance to tell you!’’ 

‘’This also means that Taylor Swift broke your best friend’s heart.’’ Alex turned to you, saddened by the tears running down your face as you were looking at all the pictures of Taylor and this Joe guy now popping up on screen. ‘’It will be okay Charlie. You’ll see, Taylor’s going to dump his ass for you. She would be stupid not to.’’ 

‘’ALEX!’’ 

‘’What? She could do that!’’ 

‘’But why would she?’’ You felt yourself fall to the ground in front of the couch, eyes still glued to the screen. ‘’I’m a nobody. At least he’s…something.’’ 

‘’Charlie, she’s your soulmate! Of course she’s going to leave him for you!’’ 

‘’You don’t know that Alex.’’ You wiped even more tears off your face, the blanket around you now soaked with them. ‘’She has a reputation to think of. Being with me wouldn’t help her.’’ 

‘’Oh, honey no…’’ 

a/n: yeah so here's the first chapter (there's six in total including an epilogue chapter which totals 30,9k words for the entire story) maybe I'll post the second chapter tomorrow, maybe not I don't know yet (it's finished already but I might get distracted by something else and forget about it XD )

Chapter 2

@moon-witchs-world

[ppeonppeonhan]

Songs That Remind Me of BL Characters & Couples

@zimmbzon kindly tagged me in their post, prompting me to share the first ten songs in my On Repeat playlist. Highly recommend checking theirs out, because mine is...rather basic. And becauuuuse it's basic, I'm gonna add another layer to this and tell you which BL character or couple perfectly matches the vibe of each song.

1 | "imperfect for you" by Ariana Grande: This one's off her new "please feel sad for me because even though I'm messy when it comes to love I still have feelings" album. I may have listened to this one "on repeat," because it's just cathartic to two-step to these lyrics: "I'm fucked up / anxious / too much / but I'll love you / like you need me to / imperfect for you." What's that? Self-awareness? Respect. I just know Ming from My Stand-In would have the audacity to sing this to body-swapped Joe.

2 | "Acid Dreams" by MAX and Felly: Could not tell you who either of these people are but this song is a snap-worthy bop that got me feeling myself every time it comes on -- probably because it opens with: "You look so good in a night gown girl / freckles on your face / lemme kiss each one." This was clearly meant for my generation, because there is not a single human under 30 in possession of a night gown. But Khem from Deep Night would 1,000% use this song to charm the pants off of someone.

3 | "Toco Toco To" by Dixson Waz: I'm Dominican. And even though I understand Spanish, I cannot for the life of me tell you what this man is saying, but I can assure you it is inappropriate. Rated NC-17 without a doubt. And for that reason, I'd pair this song with the entire cast of Playboyy -- just casually playing this in the background of one of their random, impromptu, midday sex parties.

4 | "Lie to Me" by Meghan Trainor: Obsessed. Not with her. With her music. She has so many non-butt-related songs that are worth a listen. I truly feel like she's underrated -- on par with Ed Sheeran -- and she doesn't get enough credit for it. In this track, she sings: "I don't want the truth / I want you." That sounds exactly like our lovesick boy Nick in Only Friends, thirsting after anti-monogamy Boston like he didn't know better.

5 | "Jealous" by Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, & Big Sean: While it is true that every single person on this track is problematic, including producer DJ Khaled, the swagger is immaculate. Every time it comes on, I, sincerely, close my eyes and just picture BTS's rap line to cleanse the beat. Not gonna miss out on a banger because men are the worst. Anywayyyy, the most jealous character I can think of is Way from Pit Babe, who tried to r-word his "bestie" because he chose a random nerd over him. He fits in well with these clowns.

6 | "Bounce Back" by Little Mix: The only British pop girl group I've ever intentionally streamed is Spice Girls, but the algorithm clearly thought it meant I'd like this group, and the track that hooked me was one that sampled the iconic Soul II Soul's "Back to Life." Instant replay. Someone I think lives and breathes the mantra "You can have me however you want me / however you need me" is the Sultan of Simp, Karan from Cherry Magic (Thailand). Achi could've asked for a kidney, and he would've delivered. But coming in a close second is obviously Rain from Love in the Air. Payu had to practically beat him off with a stick -- no pun intended.

7 | "Body" by Loud Luxury and Brando: It's the buildup to the chorus for me -- come to find out many listens later that it's about a guy who is begging a girl to sleep with him because he's been "waiting too long." 🙄 This one very obviously goes to Yuan from Unknown, who damn near disintegrated Qian's clothes the minute he saw even the glimmer of a green light. Talk about a slow build.

8 | "Into You" by Fabolous feat. Tamia: Back in 2003, rappers used to drop an R&B hit every now and then to remind women that they were romantics. The gaslight kings of the aughts. So in this track, this duo talks about an inexplicable-but-undeniable connection, which only makes me think of Vegas and Pete from KinnPorsche. Those two needed a PowerPoint presentation to explain to their friends and family how they went from hostage situation to star-crossed lovers. But we got nothing -- just good vibes and patricide.

9 | "i wonder..." by j-hope feat. Jung Kook: Do I miss them? Yes. Will I listen to any BTS track that's easy to Namjoon to? Yes. Now that we got that out of the way: This song is about enjoying the moment and not wasting the good times by dreading the future. And that just screams Be My Favorite to me. Kawi just kept trying to time-travel his way to a hetero fantasy, not realizing his queer happily ever after was standing right in front of him the whole time in the gorgeous form of the eternally patient Pisaeng.

10 | "MY HOUSE" by Beyoncé: Not to bring up BTS again, but 👀...j-hope would body any choreography set to this song. Without breaking a sweat. And mother would be proud. On this track, the Queen B speaks of once dreaming of the wealth, fame, and stability she has now, and making sure to only keep positive people around her, because love heals. Sailom from Dangerous Romance would certainly relate to having similar dreams and beliefs, and effortlessly exudes equally feisty bad bitch energy. I still can't get over how he disarmed his bully (and future love interest), Kanghan, by basically saying, "You clearly like me. Shut up." And saying it with tongue.

That was fun. 🤸🏿‍♂️

[frankenstein-ate-my-left-shoe]

i'm outta my head over you Pt. 6

prologue (Pt. 1) | Pt. 2 | Pt. 3 | Pt. 4 | Pt. 5 | AO3 | playlist

ok, i really love this one; i hope you guys do too!

today's @steddie-week prompts are: together and Hold the Line - TOTO

C’mon, Munson, get your shit together. You’re the music guy here!’ He tells himself. Okay yeah, that’s true, but that doesn’t mean he’s great about expressing feelings. ‘ That’s what the music’s for, dumbass. ’

Eddie spends the rest of the night and into the next morning pouring over what other songs he could add to the B side of Steve’s tape (and what songs he’s gonna use for the Party Tape…he’s gotta have a blank tape around here somewhere…).

He has a couple contenders, he just doesn’t quite know how they fit yet. Steve had a reason or an explanation for each song on his side, so Eddie wants to do the same. Only problem is that the songs that already do remind him of Steve, are ones Steve’s already put onto the A side.

Fuck, has he been telling him his feelings all this time? The first half of Steve’s side of the tape were his go-to songs whenever they’ve hung out together, while Eddie was recovering at his house.

He goes to sleep that morning with a handful of possibilities, but nothing concrete, then is awoken just before lunch by his phone ringing. 

“Shit,” Eddie hops up groggy and disoriented with sleep, but scrabbles down the hall to the phone so Wayne doesn’t wake up.

“Munson residence, the fuck d’ya want?”

“Eddie! Ste– Ok, rude.”

“Rob? What’s up, Birdie?” Eddie scrubs his eyes with the back of his hand.

“Steve’s coming back a day early!” Eddie’s hand freezes. “Do you have the tape done??”

“N-no, no I only have three fuckin songs on it! Damn it, I thought you said he was coming back tomorrow!”

“Hence the call telling you he’s coming back early. He’s landing in Indy at noon, will be here by 3, and somehow Dustin’s already found out so now I’m roping you into ferrying Steve’s children to the arcade with us after he’s back.”

“Hey, they’re my children too!” Wait, what? “Wait, I didn’t say that. Why’d I say that? I don’t even want kids.”

“Nope, too bad. You already said it. You and Steve have joint custody of the shitheads.”

“We’re divorced now?”

“You were married in the first place?” Robin snarks back then mumbles, “Didn’t I just have this conversation?”

“What?”

“Nothing. You coming with or what?”

“No, Buck, I gotta finish his tape now!”

“Too bad, you’re coming. And I’m going to tell Henderson you are so he won’t let you back out.”

“Robin don’t you dare-”

What is with her and hanging up on him??

He’d just gotten back to his bedroom door when the phone rings again. Just barely stopping himself from screaming, he goes back to the handset.

“Hello..?”

“Dude. Would it kill you to sound excited?.”

“Henderson, your sarcasm is not appreciated this early in the morning. And why would I be excited about being volun told to pickup you hellions for the arcade?”

“‘Cause you like spending time with your friends, maybe? Now, do you and Max wanna come pick up me and Lucas? Steve will pick up Will and El at theirs, and pick up Robin and Mike on his way.”

“Sounds like you’ve already got everything planned out, Dusty.”

“Your exasperation is not appreciated this late in the morning.”

“...I don’t have to come, you know.”

“But you know you wanna.”

“Do I?”

“Yes. See you at 2:30.”

Just once , Eddie’d like to be the one hanging up on someone else.

Whatever. Looks like he’s got plans this afternoon.

Eddie looks at the clock on the wall above the fridge. Four hours. Now, does he nap, or does he eat and start getting ready?

They’ll probably grab pizza while they’re at the arcade…nap it is.

Eddie wanders back to his room and is out as soon as his head hits his pillow.

—

Miraculously, he wakes up exactly two and half hours later; just enough time for a shower and to get ready before picking up his half the goblins.

He showers, scrunches a majority of the water out of his curls (Steve’d shown him that little trick, would start on about “Eddie, we went over this! You gotta take care of your curls!" and, "They’re so gorgeous and you’re soooo handsome and hot and I totally wanna pull that hair when I fuc—” OKAY maybe that last part was just wishful thinking, but Steve’d definitely have a conniption if he shows up today with flat hair), and gets dressed.

From the extra spluttering their feeble A/C is doing, and the not-at-all refreshing breeze that crawls through his window when opened, Eddie can confirm that it’s definitely too fuckin’ hot out.

He pulls on his most ripped, well loved pair of black jeans, the holes in the knees long since flayed mid-thigh to mid-shin, a sleeveless cropped Metallica shirt, and his vest.

Grabbing up his rings and chain, he leaves a note for Wayne as to where he’s gone, slides his feet into his reeboks, and heads out the door, keys in hand.

He’s just got the back end of his chain hooked around his hip when he makes it to Max’s door.

“Y’ready Red?”

“Just a minute! It’s unlocked!” she calls back through the door (and slightly cracked window over her sink)

“Need any help?” he asks, closing the front door behind him.

“Nope, just gotta get my other shoe on and I’ll be good. Did you bring the van over?”

“I…did not. That’d probably be a good idea, huh?”

Whoops. He spins back around and jogs back across the street to hop in his van. By time he’s parked outside the Mayfield trailer, Max is hopping her wheels over the threshold onto the tiny step outside the door.

“Whatcha want me to do?” He’d learned real quick not to just start doing things for her, no matter how much he assumes they’d help. Max did not like anyone thinking they have to help her with every little thing, so now they all make sure to ask what it is she’d like them to help with before doing it.

“I just need to lock the door and you can help me into the van. You’ll probably have to come back for the chair though.”

“Of course, your highness.” he gives her a low bow while she locks her front door. “Your hand please, m’lady.” 

She rolls her eyes, but takes his hand. 

Max is able to walk across flat areas pretty well and for an OK amount of distance before getting too tired, but the breaks to her leg really did a number on her. 

She’s got steel pins all through her leg, and has just gotten out of her cast so she wants (and needs) to walk more often to get her strength back up, but has her chair to get around much easier.

So until she gets stronger, she needs help going up and down stairs, and will need help getting up into Eddie’s van, but should be okay for a while once at the arcade.

Once she’s settled, Eddie goes back for her chair, loads it into the back of his van, and they’re off to Henderson’s.

He and Lucas are already waiting out front when he pulls up.

“About time.”

“Dustin. It’s literally 2:31. Calm the fuck down.”

“You guys better get all your swearing out before you see Steve again, you know he’ll go all mom on you.” Lucas laughs. “Here, I’ll start. Hey Max, how the fuck are ya?”

They’re all in so Eddie starts off towards the arcade.

“Hey, show some fuckin’ respect for your mother, Sinclair.”

“Shit Eddie, didn’t know you were our goddamn father.”

“Of course he didn’t fuckin know, Steve hasn’t gotten his shit together enough to propose.”

“Damn, alright, calm down”

“Don’t fuckin’ tell me to calm down! I swear, I’ll put my foot straight up your ass.”

“Fuck, fuck, fuckity, fuckfuckfuck.”

All four bust out laughing at that, not quite able to catch their breath before one of them is saying some random curse. 

They’re all red in the face from laughing so hard by time they pull into the parking lot between Steve’s beemer and Nancy’s station wagon.

Dustin runs in immediately after the van stops, and Eddie slyly leaves his keys with Lucas so he can lock up after helping Max, heading inside himself

Now, up until the exact moment he saw Steve (2 whole seconds ago), Eddie thought he was taking the whole “Steve Harrington has big sappy feelings for you” thing really well. Perfectly, in fact! 

No freak out, no huge feelings of doubt, just full focus on ‘responding’ to him.

But now, seeing him again after finding this out…It’s a wonder he doesn’t collapse. 

This beautiful, perfect, amazing man standing in front of a whole herd of teens (two of whom are at eye level or taller than he is now) with a scolding glare, hands on his hips, and flanked by the two most badass ladies he knows…wants him.

Eddie Munson.

It still doesn’t seem real.

Eddie immediately wants to be simultaneously on the other side of the planet, and wedged so close to him that they’re basically the same person.

“Pizza in an hour and a half!” Steve yells after the herd as they disperse. Even Robin and Nancy head off toward the skee-ball machines.

“You okay big boy? You look like that trip took a lot outta you.” 

‘Wow, nice one. You just got here and you’re asking him why he looks gross? Great job, Doofus.’ Why does his inner voice sound like Robin?

He looks over, and Eddie sees his face light up. “Eddie!” he breathes, pulling him into a tight hug.

Steve lets him go, and reaches up to rake through his travel-mussed hair. “And yeah, it was fine, always nice to see my grandparents.”

“Yeah, Robin mentioned you needing to go over their will or something? Everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, they’re—“ he cuts himself off with a half-hearted chuckle, “They wanted to meet with my parents and I to let them know that their estate is being split 50/50 between us when they pass. Like, half to me and half to both of them.”

“Damn. It’s nice to know I’m marrying into money.” Eddie jokes, leaning into Steve’s side to whisper: “Max spilled your secret on the way here; I promise to act surprised when you finally get the guts to propose.” he whispers with a wink.

Steve’s face turns bright red, but he smiles all goofy. Fuck, he’s cute.

“Aw shit, I really wanted it to be a surprise.” He says, his voice getting gravelly with how low he’s speaking. 

It most definitely does not make Eddie flush red himself, nor do his jeans start feeling tighter, thank you.

Steve gently pushes Eddie back, his hand lingering on the back of his arm a moment too long before his fingers trail down and off his elbow. He starts again, back at a normal volume. “But yeah, Richard and Denise were not happy; I was surprised, though. I’m really appreciative that my grandparents would do that for me.”

“Okay, so it was good news! Why the…” Eddie gestures to all of him. “…glum.”

“It was just the plane ride man, I flew from Cali to Indy with a screaming baby next to me. It was hell let me tell you.”

“I bet.” Eddie winces.

“Plus, Robin stole my favorite tape while I was gone so I couldn't even listen to it on the way here. And that’s been like, the soundtrack to my life lately. Felt weird coming home and then not having it in my car already.” he shakes his head “I dunno, it's dumb, but they are my favorite songs.”

“I know what you mean,” Eddie nods, his heart in his throat. “Can't you just like, go get it back from her house?”

“She’s ‘gotta find it’.” He sighs, throwing up air quotes around Robin’s flimsy excuse. “Which for her, is code for ‘I lost it.’. It's no big deal though, it’s just music.”

“Nah man, music is important, you can communicate a lot with it.”

Steve just shrugs again, a good ol’ ‘What can ya do?’ , so Eddie pats Steve’s shoulder sympathetically and walks over to the far wall of machines. He leans up against the one that Max is bashing away at and looks around the side, like he’s watching what she’s doing.

“What’re you doing over here? You’re not gonna beat my score, Munson.” she snarks from her perch on one of the arcade’s few padded stools.

“Huh?” He looks at the cabinet. Dig Dug. “Oh. Wouldn’t dream of it, Mad Max, just came over to try and look cool, scope out the scene,” ‘Scope out the scene’?? WHO ARE YOU?? “Don’t mind me.”

She just rolls her eyes, “For some reason, Steve already thinks you’re like the coolest guy in the world. You don’t need to fake it.”

Eddie blinks down at her. “OK, seriously, how do you know so much?”

“I dunno; something about losing one of my senses? Or maybe my brush with death left me wise beyond my years…” she sighs wistfully.

He snorts, “Oh yeah? Then I should be way smarter.”

“Yeah, you should be.” She fights to keep a straight face after that one. Damn that was slick.

“Good one, Red.” he pats her once on the shoulder, then goes back to watching her play. It’s actually pretty impressive being that she’s got brand new coke-bottle glasses she should be wearing.

“I’m not gonna wear ‘em. I look like a doofus when I do.”

“Aw, I thought you just said I was cool!” he pouts.

Her mouth twitches up at that. “No, I said Steve thinks you’re cool. I think you’re a Doofus.”

“Exactly! And if the big man himself thinks I’m cool, then you’d definitely be cool.” He leans in and looks around conspiratorially, “and I have it on good authority that the rest of these goblins think whatever he thinks is cool, is cool too.”

She smiles, and her game bleeps to an end. “Yeah, they all do think he’s like, the greatest ever.”

“And you don’t?”

Her face blushes a soft pink. “Shut up, Munson. How do you know so much?”

He stands up straight and grabs hold of his vest lapels like some stuffy professor. “I’m smart ‘cause I died,” he says in a haughty tone “...or something.”

A couple of unhinged barks of laughter burst out of her. “I’m gonna go with ‘or something’.”

Eddie spends the next hour trying to mess up the other shitheads’ games. 

Smack a wrong button here, a poke under Dustin’s armpit there, general fuckery. 

And every time he and Steve pass one another, there’s some sort of touch. 

He didn’t notice it the first time, thinking Steve really did need to hold onto him while passing behind him. A classic midwestern “Ope, lemme just sneak by ya” just to get close to him.

When he looked back, there was no one at the cabinet behind him.

So Eddie gave it back tenfold the next time he encountered the party’s beloved babysitter.

Walked behind him on his way to where Mike and Lucas were now trying their hand at DigDug, and gently squeezed his hip.

Steve jumped about five feet, but it was worth it when Steve came up to his side later and wrapped his arm around Eddie’s lower back, settling his large palm briefly on the exposed skin of his hip and stomach where it peeked out from under the cropped shirt.

Eddie immediately felt the need to pull his hair up; Fuck is it hot in here?

Bun secured, and Steve gone off to bother Robin and Nancy at the air hockey table, Eddie knew what he was going to do next. 

He left Wheeler and Sinclair to continue to lose to Max, heading toward the water fountain. 

Steve’s standing with his back to Eddie’s path so when he passes, it’s just too easy to reach out, grab a lock of hair, and pull .

He’s rewarded with the sound of a poorly muffled moan (that he’ll be thinking about forever, thanks), and Steve is gifted an unobstructed view of his ass while he bends over to get a drink.

Eddie stands when he hears Steve’s panicked “Robin, can I talk to you a second?”

He comes back to take Robin’s place next to Nancy where they’d been playing two on one with Steve.

After a beat, Nancy says, “I hope you’re ready to have Robin as a permanent third wheel.” She’s still looking forward at the other end of the table.

Hah! That’s hilarious. “Won’t be as bad since you’re the fourth.” Eddie shrugs, then puts his fist out towards her, also looking off to where he can see Steve panicking at Robin.

Nancy’s knuckles knock into his, and he’s never felt closer to anyone in his life.

Only one half of the Harrington-Buckley twins come back, coming up to her girlfriend and linking their fingers behind the folds of Nancy’s skirt.

“Mama Harrington is getting the pizzas now; we’ll go get some tables pushed together, will you herd the cattle?”

“I feel like they’re more like cats. Especially that Max one, she’s got her claws out like, all the time.” Eddie says, half over his shoulder, as he heads off, hunting down the gremlins.

Mike and the elder Sinclair are still nowhere near Max’s high score, Dustin’s getting berated by baby Sinclair over how bad he’s doing at Donkey Kong, Will and El are together at the Polybius cabinet, Max in her chair now at El’s side.

‘ That’s all of them right? ’ Eddie counts them in his head while he looks around. Yep, that’s all of them.

He heads back to the little arcade pizzeria area, freezing in his tracks as he rounds the corner into the open arched doorway.

Every little thing he’s ever noticed about Steve Harrington over the last however many years feels like they’ve just been building to this moment.

Every damn day spent thinking he was the most beautiful person to ever grace the halls of Hawkins High (he is), every story he never believed about how badass he was from the mouth of his oldest adopted kid, every moment he spent shielding each of these people that have become so beloved in Eddie’s life.

Every painful scar, every dreadful day spent healing with Steve at his side, every. Single. Thing. Has built up to this one.

The most mundane of them all. 

The nine most important people in his life, the biggest family he never wanted but now can’t even think about a life without them, sitting around three tiny tables and clamoring over one another for a slice of the pizzas in the middle of them all, being hovered over by Steeeeeve Harrington.

“Careful Mike, don’t put your elbow in Dustin’s face! That thing’s sharp…Max, do you want me to grab you some? What kind do you want? No, Ellie, sweetie, I’ll hand it to her, no powers needed today, okay? Will, which pop do you want, bud, you gotta speak up so Dustin doesn’t drink all the Vernors. Lucas, will you grab some more napkins—no arguments you little shits, everyone needs napkins. Erica, are you good? Okay, good. Ed—where’s Eddie, he needs to eat too…”

Oh.

Oh.

Part 7 here!

yes, i did have the wonder twins playing Polybius.

also, mayfield/munson sibling vibes are so important to meeeeee.

also also, i love max getting adopted by steddie just as much as dustin BUT you cannot tell me she doesn't also have just a lil' crush on steeb.

tagging the lovelies: @hellomynameismoo, @messrs-weasley, and @manda-panda-monium

[asthedeathoflight]

Folk music recs as very kindly solicited by @subwaylesbians. Just know that i have arcane and inscrutable ways of coming across music and also literally nobody I know shares my taste in music so I listen to music exclusively in isolation and therefore have no idea what is like normie overplayed music and what is cool obscure music. If anything on here is like the taylor swift of folk music well rest assured that i decided i liked it all on my own. Also. Is all of this music folk music? I dont actually know. I dont know what genres are man i just listen to music i like and then spotify tells me I listen to a lot of folk. Or like sometimes it calls it fucking "stomp and holler" or whatever.

First and foremost. Obviously. Famed pnw folk music outfit Seastar. I personally like their album Never Go Back the best. Very classic folk vibes, they've got songs about like cursed sailors and ghosts and selkies and shit.

The Oh Hellos. My Oh Hellos phase was the stuff of legends and its always threatening to return at a moment's notice. They love to do a concept album and I love that for them. All of their stuff is really good but I will give a special shoutout to the Family Christmas album which i avoided for a while bc like who wants to listen to christmas music, right? Wrong. Its good as hell.

I think Lizzy McAlpine might technically be a pop artist? Whatever I dont care. I like her. I liked her before tiktok knew about her. To The Mountains and Apple Pie are both on my folk playlist because I said so.

The Civil Wars. Are they technically country? Yeah. But who cares we love country in this house. I broadly recommend all their stuff but Barton Hollow and Devil's Backbone are like particularly folk-y for a place to start.

Celtic Woman has the craziest name of any music group ever and it always makes me feel like I'm being culturally insensitive when I say it. Like oh you like music from Ireland? Whats the group called. Whatever man leave me alone. I feel bad for Ed Sheeran recording the original I See Fire for the hobbit movie because they ate him up so bad his version sounds like a shitty knockoff of theirs. For full effect imagine you are me age fifteen flying over the west coast while staring down into active wildfires while listening to that song on loop.

Ill be real with you i Dont understand whats going on with Trousdale like I dont know what their deal is. They seem to be a pop/country group. But in 2021 they released one (1) folksy song called Wouldn't Come Back. And you should put that song on your folk playlist. I love folk thats just like a guitar and some crazy fucking vocals and thats what that song is.

I haven't done enough of my homework on Secret Sisters but their music seems kind of quiet and moody and acoustic and thats like exactly my shit. So. Also do have to give the shout to He's Fine because I love songs that are like gossip. Girl fuck Davey and the Louisiana girl they sound lame as hell.

Usually starting with spotifys suggested tracks for an artist is fine but i think if youre gonna listen to The Arcadian Wild you should start with Wander. Wonder. because its. Weird. And i like it <3

Delta Rae is almost certainly a country band but they qualify as a subgenre of music i like to listen to that my mom calls "evil pagan music" so if you are likewise an evil pagan enjoyer you should listen to them.

Anyways thats a bunch and i need to go to bed now. If anyone listens to any of these and likes them I can point out more that feel similar to them.

Also important note. The actually most important folk band in the world to me is a band my family saw at an outdoor festival when I was like 2 and bought their CD and who have since completely fucking vanished from the internet. I found one reference to their existence on a music venue's website and that's it. My family has been passing the .wav files my mom pulled off the CD (long gone unfortunately) from phone to computer to phone to flashdrive for decades now. I dont know how to share these files with the people of tumblr most effectively but rest assured they matter very deeply to me and I will find some way to put them somewhere.

[that-wildwolf]

Thank u @lilmissnatcat24 for tagging me. I have no idea who to tag because most of my moots already have been... Oh well worst case scenario some of y'all will get double tagged

Rules: List your top 10 favorite albums, and (if you want) include a brief description for why each one made it onto the list. Then, tag 10 (or however many you want, really) others to do the same.

tagging @luciferbecons @gammaraydeath @kalliesa @whiskynorocks and @jaina-lyn :)

My top 10 albums! (underneath the cut because I ain't making you all scroll through that)

These will be in no particular order other than how my train of thought went. Picking out my top 10 was hard enough, arranging them in order would probably destroy me. The numbers don't mean anything!! I love all my children equally meme

Also I promised myself no soundtracks. I know this was not in the rules, but I just don't want to make the music rec into a movie rec. I know myself.

1. Hawaii: Part II by Miracle Musical

I love love love Hawaii: Part II. There is something going on here. The only album this band ever released before disappearing into the aether, with a supposed overarching narrative, and just banger after banger? I think Labirynth is the only song on this album I actually dislike, and almost half of them are in my permanent rotation. I love when albums have songs that seamlessly flow into one another, too! God. This album has motifs???? Wah. There is nothing I could say about this but please give this album a listen if you've never heard of it. It's... I don't know what it is really. It's so good. The only thing that could have made this better would have been including Variations On A Cloud at the end instead of releasing it as a single.

2. Powstanie Warszawskie by Lao Che

I am making you suffer through Polish music and I don't even feel bad. Remember what I said about an overarching plot and songs flowing seamlessly into each next one? Well this is that but on steroids. A Warsaw Uprising themed music album?? No way that could work-- *gets blasted by the power of Lao Che* Like. Jesus Christ. They really made this and they put their all into it huh. This fucks severely.

3. Worlds by Porter Robinson

Is this a good album? Yes. It's a very good album. It's an incredible album filled with absolutely amazing songs. Is this why I put it on here? No. Honestly, Worlds was just so formative to me I think I couldn't not include it in here even if it wasn't amazing. Thankfully it is amazing. It really feels so so important, not just to me but to other people too. I don't know. I just like to put it on, close my eyes, and not do anything but listen. (For the record I really like Nurture and I think Sweet Time is extremely good and Blossom is extremely painful, but this is THE Porter Robinson album.)

4. The Click by AJR

You know what it's like to be in your 20s in the year 2024? Because AJR know, and they're making me feel seen with almost every song on this album. This one also kinda has motifs? It has an Overture with most of the songs included in some way. Anyway, I think most of the songs here are straight up bangers but if you don't wanna listen, maybe at least read through the lyrics. If you're in your 20s or early 30s now, I feel like it captures that feeling painfully well.

5. Human Bloom by RADWIMPS.

Man, I couldn't possibly start talking about my music taste without mentioning RADWIMPS at some point. Consistently my #1 artist at every year's spotify wrapped, at least one of their songs in my on repeat playlists at all times, forever and ever in my heart and in my mind. This album is my favourite of theirs, probably because I was obsessed with it just before the pandemic hit — maybe it feels like the last time things were good or something? Idk! Stick Figure was my favourite song for so so so so long. And Sparkle.... Man. I have no words for Sparkle. All around a really really solid album with quite a few bangers.

6. The Eminem Show by Eminem

Sometimes an album is only good because it came out when you were 17, and sometimes it's only good because you were obsessed with it when you were 17. That's what this is to me. This is me trying to get through high school. This is me coming home on the bus on hot summer days. This is the soundtrack to my teenage angst and my teenage joy.

7. Forever Daze by RADWIMPS

Hey guess what I'm obsessed with this band. I wanted to say this one just came out a few months ago but I checked and it was in 2021???? So time just isn't real anymore huh. Not as dear to my heart as Human Bloom, but I feel like this one has a more... consistent quality. All the songs are good. And Masaki Suda featured on one of them???? Heaven.

8. Mentors by Fish in a Birdcage

Okay so this might be recency bias because I think this came out like two weeks ago? But I am so obsessed with this album. Long Way From Home stole my heart when they released it as a single, and the rest of the album is also sooo good. Not just two great songs in an otherwise mediocre release: this has a few great songs in an otherwise good release. Really liking this one.

9. All At Once by The Airborne Toxic Event

I have no idea what I can say here. This is my go-to when I'm writing but want something more uniform than my playlists. It has a very distinct vibe, but not sure if I could pin it down. I only listen to two songs from this one outside of the album, actually, but I will often play the Whole thing.

10. Atlas by Sleeping At Last

Can any music rec list be complete without mentioning Sleeping At Last? I mean it probably can, but not one of mine. I'm cheating a bit by listing what is actually two albums: Atlas I and Atlas II. I think of it as one single experience though. I couldn't pick just one of them if I wanted to. Part I had the planets series (and Sun!) but part II had the senses series, and Hearing is one of my favourite songs of all time. Touch also knocks me out every damn time I listen to it. Man's got a real gift for writing lyrics. Probably a good, solid way to end off this list.

[edandstede]

5 random songs that remind me of gentlebeard (that exist on various of my playlists) because sharing’s caring, feel free to share your own and tag me if you wanna, or hell tag someone else to share theirs :•) ❤️

1. watch me - labi siffre

watch me when you call my name / see me sparkle, see me flame / singing a song, playing a game / oh, i’m so glad you came / watch me when you look my way / see me smiling, be my night and day / touch me in your own sweet way / feel me tremble if you take my words away

2. skies the limit - fleetwood mac

if i’ve been acting just a little strange / and you have noticed it too / it’s ‘cause my life has been rearranged / with the presence of you / the sky is the limit now / we can hit it on the nail / and when we do, i’ll think about you / how can we fail?

3. my lover - birdtalker

you came like a resolution / under a starry sky / you are my one solution / to the mystery of why / let’s pack a bag and migrate / to anywhere we please / clamber up the mountains, underneath the sea / just you and me / oh, and we’ll hold on / for the rest of our lives / we don’t have to figure out what hasn’t happened yet / through whatever whirls around us, i won’t let you forget / you’re my lover

4. rescue me - a taste of honey

for so long i’ve been waitin' and waitin' / for someone like you to come along / deep inside it's got me wanting and aching / for you to fill me with your charms / rescue me, i need your lovin' / rescue me, i need some tender loving care / rescue me, i need your lovin' / and i guarantee i’ll make you so very happy

5. paradise is you - la roux

the runners run and the teasers tease / but none of these faces can set me free / and the water here is crystal clear and bright / when i compare this pleasure beach / to all the places in your eyes that i have seen / it could be anywhere, if you're not by my side / and the palm trees make it feel like paradise / but without you here there's nothing nice / ‘cause in your eyes, that’s my paradise / when all the roads ahead of me stop looking new / my paradise is you, my paradise is you / when everything i know is slipping out of view / my paradise is you, my paradise is you

[1moremilgram-enjoyer]

i’m new to Tumblr and i’m not sure if this is the place to ask but i’m a drdt fan and milgram looks really cool, however i’m not sure where to start or how to get into it, is there anything specific i should do or?

Ah, the DRDT -> Milgram pipeline strikes again I see. Welcome! And yeah, you can ask me anything! Milgram is really fun, even if it can feel a bit intimidating. Take your time! It's quite a bit.

Here is a playlist with some of the most important things in chronological order, and I'll also recommend this masterlink post by doctorbunny, but you can take things at your own pace and do whatever you want forever. However, I'll explain the main things, since there's a lot!

1- Jackalope's Announcements

The first thing you should probably watch is "Jackalope's "This is the MILGRAM"", which explains the premise of the series.

Inside a prison named the Panopticon reside 10 prisoners, all of which are, by some definition of the word, murderers. There is a Warden of this prison, named Es, who must observe their sins and decide whether they should be Forgiven* for their murder, or if they shouldn't be. This is done in a system of three trials. At the time of writing, the First Trial has been completed, the Second Trial is about to end, but we still have the entire Third Trial ahead of us!

Es learns of the prisoners' crimes mainly by watching music videos extracted directly from their minds, though they also interrogate them beforehand.

The twist? Es' decisions on Forgiveness are decided by the audience. Every Trial, after a prisoner's MV (music video) is released, for a period of time (three months), the audience votes whether the prisoner should be Forgiven or not for that Trial. This can be done in the Judge page of the official website or the app (link is for browser), and you can vote once per day. (Technically twice if you use both the official website and the app). You can also just not vote if you don't feel like it. Again you can consume media in any way you want.

[*The localization actually says "Innocent" and "Guilty" instead of "Forgiven" and "Unforgiven", but keep in mind when you vote you're not voting innocence or guilt, but forgiveness and unforgiveness.]

The next of Jackalope's announcements is the "Report on the End of the First Trial", which only really tells you about how each prisoner was voted T1 (Trial 1), something you'll learn about in other videos anyways, so it's not too important beyond some characterization for Jackalope if you care.

However, before you start watching the Second Trial MVs, I would recommend you watch "Second Trial Commencement Notice", which will give you insight into how the verdicts affected each prisoner. The consequences weren't made very clear during the first trial, but this video establishes them a bit more explicitly.

2- Music Videos

Welcome to the main event! The music videos are the main draw of Milgram, and through vague symbolism, extremely fun visuals, beautifully written lyrics, and banger songs, they tell you things about each prisoner. Don't worry if you don't quite get them at first, they're really complex and understanding them is a community effort! Feel free to come to your own conclusions or read analyses or anything else!

Now, the order you watch these MVs in... there's really no set order, beyond "you should probably watch the First Trial videos before the Second and Third Trial ones." You can watch them following the prisoner order listed in that playlist I linked, but if there's a character you're particularly interested in, you can also just watch theirs before anyone else's. In my personal experience, I actually watched Amane's and Kazui's before anyone else's because their Second Trial Voting was going on, then hopped around between Shidou, Muu, Kotoko... until a month later I realized "wait I never actually watched This is How to be in Love With You" I am so sorry Mahiru-

My point is: Do what you want, experience Milgram at your own pace.

There is one exception, of an MV you should probably watch before the others, and that's Undercover. This is a video connected to Es, which serves as an introduction to all the other characters. There is a lot to talk about in this video, from Es' characterization to a lot of symbolism for the prisoners, but it's a great starting point to theorize on what exactly each prisoner's murder was.

In any case, these videos are probably the most important pieces of information for the prisoners, to the point some Milgram fans just watch the videos and nothing else, but there's still a lot more if you want to dig deeper.

3- Voice Dramas

In-universe, before the songs are extracted, Es holds an interrogation with the prisoners, which are the Voice Dramas (VDs). The exception is Es' own Voice Drama, which in typical Es fashion is an introduction which also has some interesting information.

If you want to fully put yourself in Es' shoes, you can watch a subtitled version/read a transcript of the VD before watching the MV for that Trial, which is the way they're ordered in the playlist I linked. But again, do what you want.

The only reason I'm only mentioning them after the MVs is that not everyone feels like watching/reading them in full, which is fine, but be careful, you might be missing some critical information. The things stated in VDs are maybe not always as revealing as the MVs, but they're usually more direct and offer great characterization, so I'd recommend at least reading transcripts. Although the voice acting is always on point, so listening to them is always a fun experience!

4- Interrogation Questions

During the course of the Trials, there comes a point when the fans are asked to send the prisoners questions, and a selection of them will be answered by them. Since the creators hand-pick the questions they actually want the prisoners to answer, they range from very interesting to "why the hell are we asking this?" level questions. They're very fun and add a lot of information and characterization to the prisoners!

They're usually done in prisoner duos, so 01-02 (Haruka and Yuno) get the same questions, then 03-04 (Fuuta and Muu) get a different set, etc. The exception for now is T1 Mikoto and Kotoko, because Kotoko's T1 MV was delayed, and it may happen again since Kotoko's T2 MV was also delayed (not confirmed yet).

5- Timelines

In the Milgram app, there will occasionally be updates to the "Timelines" tab, generally during prisoners' birthdays. These feature conversations between the prisoners, which range from extremely funny, very interesting, extremely depressing, etc. They help build up the dynamics between prisoners and are the origin of certain fan-favorite platonic pairings. They sometimes give hints to the prisoners' backstories, but usually they're more for characterization purposes. You can find links to translations of these timelines in the masterlink post I linked to before (thanks doctorbunny you're very cool).

6- Cover Songs

Every Trial, apart from their original song for Milgram, each prisoner gets to cover one song from DECO*27's catalogue. There is no official confirmation these songs are chosen for any reason other than "they sound cool" (which they do!), but as someone who's looked at all of them pretty closely... listen, a lot of them fit extremely well. I personally think they are important, but that's up for interpretation. Also Es had one for T1, Hibana.

These are not to be confused with the Es prisoner song covers, which are done as celebration for when an MV reaches a million views. They are released in hiatus periods, which is why at the time of writing there are no T2 Es covers. These are mostly just for fun, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's a bit of characterization hidden here. I haven't actually heard them all yet oops.

7- And a lot more!

Milgram never really runs out of ways to reveal lore. From distorted lines in the Character Voice Trailers, fun visuals in the "Songs of Prisoners" teasers, fun symbolism in promotional art such as the birthday cakes, album covers, etc etc... There's no real way I can compile it all, just be patient and take your time! Most of it isn't too important, so don't worry too much.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Again, take things at your own pace! Milgram is a really unique experience, and given how the story is presented, you can engage with it in the way that feels the most comfortable for you! Just make sure you're always having fun! Take care!

[rivetgoth]

I got tagged by @captainspaulding to list my 10 favorite songs of the month so far :D I feel kinda stupid because I don’t completely get what that means/how to rank or categorize them so I’m just gonna list 10 songs that’ve stuck out a bunch to me this September so far in no order!

Idk who to tag uhh… @lysistra @maldoror-est-mort @ourladyofomega @omegaverse @theonlycure @john--adreams @testure-1988 @blackchantilly No pressure of course, just if you want to :) And TY Mason for the tag!!

1.) Portishead— Sour Times

This month started out really cool and cloudy and it felt soooo exciting having September begin and early fall weather and pumpkin spice and Halloween things going up in stores. I love listening to trip hop in that kind of weather and I’ve listened to a lot of Portishead’s “Dummy” in particular the last week or so.

2.) Sneaker Pimps— 6 Underground

Ditto but even more so because I heard this at a birthday party last night. Birthday girl was playing a trip hop playlist and I was sooooo excited lol. Hearing this one encouraged me to revisit Sneaker Pimps’ debut for the first time in a hot second.

3.) Oingo Boingo— On the Outside

Polar opposite to trip hop, I’ve also been listening to Oingy Boingy with October and Halloween coming up. It’s the right vibe for this time of year ykwim. Not much else to say… it’s fun it’s spooky etc.

4.) Shock Doctrine— Blood Copy

I saw Shock Doctrine live last weekend and they were cool so I checked out their studio albums and they blew me awayyyyy. They’re extremely talented and fun and I’ve been listening to both of their EPs a ton.

5.) Shock Doctrine— Compound Eye

Ditto. Another really good track of theirs off of their other EP.

6.) Murder, Inc.— Uninvited Guest

I LOVE Murder, Inc.’s self-titled album and think it’s grossly underrated and totally horrible how obscure it is nowadays. Shock Doctrine kinda reminds me of ‘em so I’ve been revisiting them lately. Love love love this one but I could list anything off the album tbqh.

7.) Tricky— Christiansands

Fuck it, more trip hop. I’ve been listening to a lot ov it. This is one of my very favorites of the genre, it’s so cool and so atmospheric and so psychedelic. Never gets old.

8.) PIG— Cult of Chaos

September 5th was the anniversary of seeing PIG live for the first time! 2023 is also the 5 year anniversary of Pig’s album “Risen” which came out that same year, and which blew my fucking miiiiiiind when it first came out. I listened to it nearly daily for basically the rest of the year. So it’s been on my mind. I’ve been listening through the whole album but this one is one of my very favorites lol.

9.) Vision Video— Cruelty Commodity

Again, colder drearier weather (and more stress recently, tbqh, what with new jobs and all 😭🙏) has me listening to different music, right now alongside the trip hop there’s also been more classic gothy music on rotation and I finally caught up with Vision Video’s new releases. I LOVE this song. Such classic goth rock, reminds me a lot of Southern Death Cult. Really really really fantastic song.

10.) The Bellwether Syndicate— Dystopian Mirror

Along the same vein I also revisited The Bellwether Syndicate whose work I super enjoy, and I’m still blown away by this song after it dropped last year. It’s SO good. Gets me so pumped up. Omg. I think these guys are crazy underappreciated to be honest.

[a-flickering-soul]

Heyyy, I don't have a number for the spotify wrapped, but I do want to ask something. I've been slowly getting into steam powered giraffe, and i saw you had some of their songs in your list. Could you list some of your favourites of theirs? I know next to nothing about them, and I don't really know where to start. Feel free to recommend as much as you like, I'd really appreciate it!

Oh my god I love this QUESTION!!! It's been so long since I got an SPG ask!!!

Honestly, when I started getting into them I genuinely just listened to their whole discography in chronological order while I was doing homework or whatever and that was a really great introduction, because you get to see how their sound and aesthetic evolved over time and that's really cool! I also recommend listening to their albums in order at least once because for a bunch of them, there's a distinct theme or ongoing bits and bobs and skits that flow into each other (Album 1 and VQ most noticeably, 2c Show and MKIII less so).

Otherwise, my two favorite albums are Album 1 (either version is really fun to me) and 1896, which bookend nicely as of now. I like Album 1 a lot because it's just very. . . themed? It's one of their most stylistic albums and there's a lot of really solid "beginner SPG fan" songs in there that are pretty classic. 1896 will also always be one of my favorites because I'm just enamored with Zer0's voice and the influence he brings to the band and I just think it's a very cohesive and nice-sounding album overall.

I would not, however, recommend starting off with Vice Quadrant 1 and 2 until you get a grasp on SPG and their whole. . . thing. There are bangers in there for SURE, almost all of them criminally underrated, but it's also a space opera performed by three vocalists and as such is very hard to follow at times.

For specific songs that make me go CRAZYYY that are also pretty beginner-friendly I'll limit myself to a few from each album because I'm taking you seriously when you say to recommend as much as I like:

Clockwork Vaudeville

On Top Of The Universe

Brass Goggles

Electricity Is In My Soul

Honeybee

Mecto Amore

I'll Rust With You

Over The Moon

Starlight Star-Shine

Sleep Evil Sleep

Shattered Stars

Eat Your Heart

Bad Days On The Horizon

Hot On The Trail

I will end this with a shameless self promotion of my own personally curated Spotify playlist of my fave SPG songs (it's a good mix from all the albums IMO but it also is curated to my personal taste so YMMV ig?) as well as my big ol YouTube playlist of some of my fave performances by them, since I really do think seeing them perform is half the fun of this band!

Happy listening and hope you have fun! I love SPG and it's always very exciting seeing other people getting into them :)

[skullhaver]

and if 3.5 years into a D&D campaign I put together an OC playlist for Athren for the first time and wrote up comically detailed accompanying notes, what then

[Menzoberranzan]

1. Why We Build the Wall // Between the Wars - Billy Bragg

The enemy is poverty And the wall keeps out the enemy And we build the wall to keep us free // For theirs is a land with a wall around it And mine is a faith in my fellow man

These two songs function together, both in Billy Bragg's voice. "Why We Build The Wall" functions here as an overarching, archetypal "oppressive society" song. Here we establish our lawfully-reflavoured homebrew Menzoberranzan, with its assigned-at-birth haves and have-nots. Then we zoom in on this ordinary family doing their jobs between extraordinary times of conflict. Athren grows up and becomes a young adult as Just Some Guy during, "The peace we knew between the wars."

2. Second Child, Restless Child - The Oh Hellos

See, I was born the second child With a spirit running wild, running free And they saw trouble in my eyes They were quick to recognize the devil in me This song is so straightforwardly, heart-wrenchingly Athren, it doesn't need annotation. He wants to do his duty but his main character/PC energy is just too strong.

3. A Sadness Runs Through Him - The Hoosiers

Oh, he could not break surface tension He looked in the wrong place for redemption Athren can tolerate chaffing against the restrictions of his caste, but he can't tolerate the abuses perpetrated on him and his family by his House's nobility. Wonder what he's gonna do about it?

4. Santé - Stromae

Et si on célébrait ceux qui ne célèbrent pas Pour une fois, j'aimerais lever mon verre à ceux qui n'en ont pas [In English] What if we celebrated those who don't celebrate For once, I'd like to raise a glass to those who don't have one [also functions as a pun - "raise a glass to the have-nots"] This song salutes ordinary workers (the title, meaning "health," is a toast), including some specific jobs like house cleaners and nannies, who keep life running while the rich party. Fills the narrative role of growing worker solidarity between House Vandree and House Auvryndar during coup strategizing.

5. Blue Automatic - Thank You Scientist

Toxic feeling, pacing back and forth again The floor, the ceiling, feel it closing in This is the end Without a place, to rest your head You got nowhere to go, your Back's against the wall Your back's against the wall I listened to this album a lot while we were first doing character creation and kicking off the campaign. I came to permanently associate it with Athren. This song in particular has long been the "chaos of the failed coup attempt" song.

6. DEBT COLLECTOR - Jhariah

It's all catching up to you now Hope you can run 'Cause soon your past will come and drag you Down, down Immediate aftermath of the failed coup attempt, of course.

[The Underdark Wilds]

7. Far From Home (The Raven) - Sam Tinnesz

The air is cold The night is long I feel like I might fade into the dawn Fade until I'm gone Oh, I'm so far from home Our harrowing and sorrowful transit to the surface.

8. Brother - The Rural Alberta Advantage

There's a dream I had Where somebody watched out for me and you And in the end of life There was no one there for me and you I had trouble finding a song about brothers that fit what I wanted to convey about Athren and Adinar's relationship. This one has an emotional intensity and clarity that spoke to me. Some lines are easier for me to imagine as from Adinar's point of view ("Brother, my brother / You've got to hold yourself together") but broadly this song to me is about Athren's despair at leaving Adinar behind. It's a kind of dream/fantasy that somehow Athren and his parents could go back. Despite how angry he was about the (perceived) betrayal, of course Athren never stopped loving his brother.

[Waterdeep]

9. Heartbreak Feels So Good - Fallout Boy

No matter what they tell you The future's up for grabs, you know No matter what they sell you Is there a word for "bad miracle?" Athren's on the surface now and he's adjusting to the idea that his life is really his own, with all the terrifying uncertainty and glorious possibility that entails.

10. Immigraniada - Gogol Bordello

But if you give me the invitation To hear the bells of freedom chime To hell with your double standards We're coming rougher every time Props to Athren's parents' gumption to go from being a scribe and scout to running a restaurant. That idea originally came about because I thought it would be a funny parallel with another character's family, but as the game's gone on, the Dahanas being an immigrant family has started to feel genuinely poignant and badass.

11. I Guess This Is My Life Now - Roan Martin

I guess this is my life now Will this be my home? A younger me thought by now we'd be grown I guess this is my life now At least it's now my own And what did young me know? Kicking off the songs set solidly during the Dragon Heist campaign, with Athren's eternal mood of, "Haha what the fuck are we doing. I guess this is normal now. I guess this is what 'making it' feels like apparently!"

12. Mr. Invisible - Thank You Scientist

Sole contender For what I believe to be a mess All I know, we'll never put it to the test [...] When I say that you can count on me, it's true But it seems to me that I can't count on you What are you waiting for? As previously stated, I strongly associate this album with Athren. To me, this jazz prog rock odyssey of a song resonates with our party's efforts to parse Waterdeep's various factions and dig deeper into the Grand Game.

13. Old Scars / Future Hearts - All Time Low

I don't wanna be the one that's left behind Don't blame me, don't hate me I don't wanna be the one that's left behind I won't fade away Be forgotten or just cast away This life is mine to live Like "Second Child, Restless Child' this one feels so vivid and so personal, there's almost nothing to say :') Bonus for another use of "walls" to refer obliquely to Menzoberranzan. ("If you could see beyond the walls that you have built" and "But you won't think outside the lines that hold you in")

14. You're Gonna Go Far Kid - The Offspring

With a thousand lies and a good disguise Hit 'em right between the eyes Hit 'em right between the eyes When you walk away, nothing more to say See the lightning in your eyes See 'em running for their lives By the end of the adventure, we've become Big Damn Heroes of Waterdeep and Athren feels like his life is just getting started!!

[Bonus Track] 5 Finger Discount - Choking Victim

'Cause I want to see, what's on sale what's for free Every time I go to shop I steal from enemies Who steal from me, and from you If only you knew, then you would steal too Yes, this punk/ska song is about shoplifting and hiding a package in your pants next to your dick. It's silly. It's unfortunately perfect for him.

[evil-jennifer-hamilton-wb]

Tagged by @thesternest for the tag game: Shuffle your on Spotify repeat playlist and then list the first ten songs and tag ten people I don't use spotify so I've shuffled the Youtube Music replay mix. 1. Cicada Days (Live at Knitting Factory) by Will Wood: I like Will Wood's more serious feeling songs, the vibe shared by this song and Against the Kitchen floor.

2. A World Alone, Lorde: I feel mildly embarassed having this song in here because how dare I let it known I listen to pop music, but I do listen to pop music and pure heroin is a fantastic album fight me.

3. Yoshis island things 04, glass beach: This is a demo for Yoshi's Island, the demo where j uses faggot. It feels so raw and it goes hard every single time.

4. Joy of Rememberance, Lena Raine: Recently playing Celeste again probably explains this. This song plays during Farewell subchapter-2, and is such a beautiful song.

5. 愛人錯過, by 告五人 (Accuse5): For those that don't know, 告五人 is one of the largest Taiwanese pop bands. 愛人錯過 is my favorite song of theirs, but 我肯定在幾百年前就說過愛你 is in general such a good album all the way through and non-Taiwanese people should check it out!

6. Extraordinary Machine, Fiona Apple: My favorite Fiona Apple song, "I'll make the most of it i'm an extraordinary machine" is a mantra for me. it helps me push through the worst of ED-recovery-caused GI distress. It's rather poetic that the Fiona Apple song Paper Bag was repeated as a mantra when I was trying to make myself worse, and now a Fiona Apple song is my mantra to get better.

7. Motions, glass beach: New glass beach album plastic death! Came out in Jan and i've been listening to it since. I'm a massive glass beach fan, and I love the prog rock elements in Motions and other plastic death songs.

8. Tongues and Teeth, The Crane Wives: this song is such a banger, and a favorite of mine of their discography. It's been nice that my mother's gotten into The Crane Wives, so I can share that interest with her.

9. Candlelight (feat. OHHYUK), by 落日飛車 (Sunset Rollercoaster): Sunset Rollercoaster is a Taiwanese indie band, and this song has great vibes. I play it when I'm walking alone in the city at night, with warm orange/yellow light from the streetlamps dimly lighting the road, and the air fresh with the Petrichor of recent rainfall. Makes one feel so alive.

10. 超度我, by 福禄寿 (FulushouFloruitShow): I learned about this band & song from a Rain World PMV, and it's such a beautiful song. It's also been a steppingstone for me getting into Chinese indie music. @greatwyrmgold @chaoticrushu @ty-bayonet-betteridge @wertpq @stims-4-breakfast @therandominternetperson @kiiamn @tuulikki @bluwuming @lumsel

[strandnreyes]

Hi Jen!

First, I've been wanting to tell you that I think you were one of the first kudos I ever got on my first chaptered story come and take a walk on the wild side and that really made my day when it happened.

I was so new to the fandom at the time and it was so cool to see someone was interested in a story that was far out of my own writing comfort zone at the time.

Now, for Nice Ask Day, I have to ask:

If you could have a soundtrack made for any of your stories; which would it be, who's five artist that would be on it, and if you want, what would their songs be called?

omg really? I didn’t know that! I remember being super intrigued by the premise!

I’ll go with the universe that I have the most extensive playlist for which is the vampire universe (I’d link my playlist when I post the sequel, but I’d be revealing my whole name and I don’t want to go through the effort of making a new spotify account lol). Embarrassed to admit that yes, some of the twilight soundtrack is on this playlist.

I actually have so many scenes that when I write, I think about how awesome it would be to watch this scene play out with a particular song in the background, so I’ll give you an artist and then what song of theirs would play during which scene! (Side note: I had to take a theater appreciation class in college and I was in charge of sound design for our final project and I actually loved it! My professor recommended me to take more classes, but it was so far from my degree that those class didn’t fit into my carefully curated schedule. I will channel that energy here instead)

1. Noah Kahan

Maine (specifically the intro) would play in the beginning of as if you were a mythical thing. I’m picturing an overview of the town before zooming into Carlos on his run because duh, look at the title of the song.

2. Taylor Swift (the folklore/evermore type music)

Peace would play on the drive back from camping after Carlos finds out about TK. Picture the scenic backroads with both of them looking out the windows wondering what happens next

3. Bon Iver

Roslyn (hello twilight soundtrack) would play during the scene on the beach when TK tells Carlos about his parents

4. Hozier

I’m thinking Work Song would be a nice slow yet powerful, meaningful song for either tarlos’ first time or their last time with Carlos as a human (coming soon!)

5. Lord Huron

The Night We Met would play during the final scene of the sequel, which will make a lot more sense eventually!

As you can tell, the soundtrack for this very much matches the gloomy autumn woodsy mood of this universe!

I appreciate the creativity of the final part of the ask, but that is not my strong suit AJDHJA I already struggle to title my own work

[bandedbulbussnarfblat]

We're playing a tag game today y'all. Put the "on repeat" playlist on spotify on shuffle and listin the first ten songs that come up. i was tagged by @keepoffthetardis (thanks😊) and I'm tagging @uozlulu @allegras-sunflower and @birdisland

These songs should be fun bc I never use spotify anymore (I use youtube music) so these songs are gonna be old.

1. When You Were Young by The Killers. I love this song. I love the early stuff the Killers did, but this is also probably one of my favorite songs of theirs. It's so damn catchy. And I don't know, I just vibe with it.

2. Hey There Delilah by Plain White Tees. I have no excuses. This song is objectively horrible. But I did once read a tumblr post about how it works as a parent to a kid, like a parent that for whatever reason can't be with their daughter and misses her and I like that interpretation a lot.

3. The Hand That Feeds by Nine Inch Nails. Ok, this is giving me Armand/Daniel vibes. Honestly, a few Nine Inch Nails songs work for them. Also, I think Anne Rice, like knew them.

4. Are You Gonna Be My Girl by Jet. Remember Jet y'all? They had a few really fun songs then disappeared.

5. Show Me How To Live by Audioslave. This song fucks when you are high. I feel like a teenager jamming out in my room, finally free from being around people and so finally at peace.

6. Supermassive Black Hole by Muse. Muse is also a great band to listen to high. Also, hole, heh.

7. Take Me Out by Franz Ferdinand. Y'all I don't even like this song. It low key irritates me. Why did I like it? Oh, I bet for when I listened to it with my friends. One of them loved that stupid song.

8. Somebody Told Me by The Killers. Awesome song for dancing around your room in your pajamas. Very good for jumping to. Anyone else adhd just have to fucking bounce or jump sometimes? (I was undiagnosed/unmedicated till I was 30. I was living life on hard mode.)

9. Come With Me Now by Kongos. I think I did like this song at one point. And I don't dislike it now, but it's kinda meh.

10. Fade Into You by Mazzy Star. I fucking love this song. It has that dreamy, floaty feel. And I love her voice. This song can work for literally any otp, I swear, y'all

[daisychainsandbowties]

casper!!!!!!!!! did you get a spotify wrapped 🤔🤔🤔🤔 or what would be your top artists if you didn’t 🥰🥺

um. so. well. listen. my spotify wrapped is always a hateful creature. wretched and covered in ooze and not in a super sexy way 🥺😭 i listen to songs until i hate them and then🫠 they’re on the spotify thing. but uh um well this year i got someone else’s spotify wrapped (someone with the best music taste in the world 🥰🥰❤️🙏🥹) and THAT. is incredible. i listen to it all day 🥰🥰 so. uh. i could pretty much tell you now what my spotify wrapped for next year will be 🫠🫠🥰😭🩵🩷🥰🥰 (hint: it’s gay)

but even though i kind of hate the songs on my spotify wrapped the top ones aren’t actually bad. they’re like. if a guy with no music taste listened to music? you know? 😔🫠🥺🥺😭 so here they are!!

my top artist is The Weepies & my top song is River From the Sky 🥰🙏😭😭🥰💖 it was my star wars au chapter 3 song. you know. the 39k chapter of star wars au? so i listened to it a lot. the second song of theirs is Little Bird 🥺💖💖 it’s my wolfwren song. (cry cry cry 😭😭😭)

then hozier. Sunlight. guess what that was star wars au chapter 1 & also the avatrice thesis song in that au. so. i played it a lot. Shrike is lilith-core so that’s there. Eat Your Young sounds 🫠🫠😳😳 frankly really good when i lay on the accent. and also there’s biting in it 🥰🥰 with hozier i’m also good at singing his songs, and i tend to play songs i have vocal affinity for because i sing literally all the time. same with the weepies songs they suit my vocals 😌😌🩵 so well.

then my next top artist was Lorne Balfe. wrote the Wheel of Time soundtrack & that’s my reading & concentrating playlist. Egwene’s song actually sprinted up that top songs list even though it was released not that long ago 🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠 she’s baby 🥰😘

there’s others but those are the ones i’m not embarassed to say (okay fine Bambola is like…🫠🫠🫠🫠 number 4. because ava looked at her like that)