#i have loved the wedding singer for like ten years

[allwaswell16]

A fic rec of One Direction fics where the characters miss an opportunity to be together but reconnect at a later time as requested in this ask. If you enjoy the fics, please leave kudos and comments for the writers! You can find my other fic recs here. Happy reading!

- Louis/Harry -

🩵 Next to your Heartbeat (where I should be) by jaded25

(M, 130k, cheating) All it takes for them to fall in love is one night. All they have to do is wait one year to see each other again.

🩵 I'll Fly Away by @juliusschmidt

(E, 122k, friends to lovers) Harry and Louis grew up together in Lake County, Harry with his mom and stepdad in a tiny cottage on Edward’s Lake and Louis in his family’s farmhouse a few minutes down the road. But after high school, Louis stuck around and Harry did not

🩵 Home To You by Crowsonthewire / @crows-onthewire

(E, 54k, friends to lovers) At fifteen, Harry wrote his first song for an oblivious seventeen year old Louis Tomlinson. Ten years later he’s a singer/songwriter who cant find any words for his second album and Louis is a closeted actor tired of LA.

🩵 Late Night Talking by @kingsofeverything

(E, 53k, famous/famous) Promo season gets underway with a stop at Late Night Talking, the late night show hosted by Harry Styles, and Harry Styles just happens to be the man who blew a chance to date Louis a decade ago.

🩵 It Had To Be You by @kingsofeverything

(M, 45k, When Harry Met Sally au) Ten years after their post-college road trip, Louis and Harry meet once again, but this time they become friends. Eventually, things get complicated.

🩵 Runner on Third by kikikryslee / @flamboyantommo

(M, 39k, friends to lovers) the AU where Louis and Harry were best friends growing up, but lost touch after Harry moved away. Ten years later, Harry has moved back to town, but he and Louis don't pick up where they left off.

🩵 Heart Beat by @allwaswell16

(E, 33k, kid fic) When Harry returns to start a music academy in his hometown, he finds himself face to face with his high school crush—and his charming daughter who wants to learn to play the drums.

🩵 With the Rising Sun by Tomlinsontoes

(M, 33k, sister's best friend) Louis had been living in NYC for two years now while studying at NYU, and was probably the least social 21-year-old ever. Somehow he got roped into his sister's brilliant idea of getting her college best friend to help him branch out and meet people. 

🩵 It's Been So Long by elsi_bee / @elsi-bee

(T, 31k, crush) Harry Styles' first crush was one of his sister's best friends, a certain someone named Louis Tomlinson. And Louis? He just vaguely remembers Gemma's younger brother from back in the day. A lot can change in ten years.

🩵 The Melody You Never Heard by bananasandboots

(E, 30k, camping) the one where Harry gets roped into a four-day camping trip with the boy who kissed him and never called back.

🩵 once bitten and twice shy by @pinkcords

(M, 19k, Christmas) in a rush of bravery only senior year can bring, Harry confesses his feelings in a letter to his neighbor and best friend, Louis, only for the entire school to hear it and laugh him out of their small town in Wisconsin. Ten years later, Harry's a successful lawyer at Columbia Records, coming home for Christmas for the first time since he departed for college. 

🩵 What do you mean he's coming? by MediaWhore / @mediawhorefics

(G, 15k, wedding) Now, not only does he have less than two weeks left to find something moving and inspirational to say, but Gemma just confided in him that her old childhood best friend is going to be in attendance. 

🩵 through the jungle through the dark by YesIsAWorld / @louandhazaf

(E, 15k, ex-friends) Louis and Harry were best friends, until they weren’t. Five years after they last spoke they’re forced to drive cross-country to visit an injured friend. If they can’t get over the past, it will be a very long week together.

🩵 You Turned Up (Like a Friend of Mine) by @lululawrence

(NR, 10k, parallel universes) the one where Harry disappears on graduation day only to show up on Louis' door looking exactly the same ten years later. 

🩵 Read My Lips by superglass / @gaymoustache

(NR, 6k, friends to lovers) Old Uni friends Harry and Louis reconcile for the holidays after Louis’ early success as an indie singer. NYE 1999/Y2K scare au.

🩵 We're Getting Better With Time by @haztobegood

(T, 5k, social media) the one where Louis is single, Harry is recently divorced, and they reconnect on Facebook forty years after they first met.

🩵 Any Man of Mine by QuickedWeen / @becomeawendybird

(T, 5k, childhood friends) Harry goes to visit his old friend Louis at his ranch in Texas after they reconnect during the pandemic. He learns a thing or two about cowboy hat etiquette.

🩵 Seems You Cannot Be Replaced by QuickedWeen / @becomeawendybird

(M, 5k, swimming) Harry and the popular boy in school, Louis Tomlinson, share a tension-filled night together when they're young. Fifteen years later they see each other again.

🩵 Time will tell, I suppose, or at least, these pages will. by Spiralblissx

(G, 5k, pen pals) Harry goes to a public diary reading thing at his local coffee shop and gets more than he bargained for

🩵 On a Day Like This You Know It's Meant to Be by @allwaswell16

(T, 2k, fate) Harry is certain he'll never see him again, even if they did make a pact to reunite should the Chicago Cubs win the World Series.

- Rare Pairs -

🩵 It’s About A Boy by @missrefridgefreetorator / mynameispiaivy 

(G, 4k, Louis/Luke Malak) when a mysterious boy turns your birthday celebration into a night you will never forget, or when it's like, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas unless someone asks for your number and you just don't want the night to end.

🩵 Costumes Must Be Sexy, Slutty and/or Stupid by LadyAJ_13 / @ladyaj-13

(T, 4k, Louis/Nick Grimshaw) It's a bit of a blast from the past to get an invite to Nick Grimshaw's fancy dress housewarming.

[hothothotch]

𝒂𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒏𝒆𝒓 𝒙 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕

since i'm getting lost between my own stories, i decided to organize them in a masterlist that will be fixed on my profile.

so, behold: the aaron hotchner x reader multiverse!

requests:

'Til I See You Again: Reader was a part of Aaron's first case, and they meet again after years. TW: they flirt.

Breaking Hearts: Set on S03E20/S04E01. Reader is a BAU Agent and is mistreated by Hotch on behalf of Kate Joyner. TW: angst, fluff, 5.3 k words.

Midnight Snacks: Aaron catches you and Jack having midnight snacks! TW: fluff.

Don't You Say You're in Love: Your and Aaron's daughter pretends she's not dating someone... until Aaron meets the guy. TW: Hotch being a Dad.

Friends In The Corner: When Jack is bullied for having pink polish on, Aaron decides to help boost his confidence... by doing the same. TW: Hotch being the cutest Dad in the world.

Courage: When your father discovers about your and Aaron's situationship, Aaron stands by you. TW: protective Aaron, swearing.

series:

(𝑰 𝑷𝒖𝒕 𝒂) 𝑺𝒑𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝑶𝒏 𝒀𝒐𝒖 | 𝑨𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒏 𝑯𝒐𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒏𝒆𝒓 (coming soon)

SUMMARY: in which a witch hoping to fulfill a promise ends up falling in love with the absolute man she wasn’t supposed to

PAIRING: beast! Aaron Hotchner x witch!Fem Reader

WARNINGS: story loosely based on Beauty and The Beast’s plot, but with a few (read: a lot) changes. Magic. Grief. I think that’s it.

LOVE IS ON THE RADIO! (coming soon)

PAIRING: Aaron Hotchner x Famous Fem! Reader

SUMMARY: it’s common knowledge that the closest Aaron Hotchner always got from listening songs was his old Beatles’ album that played on repeat in his car — that is, until you stumble over him during one of his workouts.

T/W: fluff in its purest form; reader is a singer; fluff again; talks about cases; a lot of McFly songs being mentioned for no apparent reasons; fluff; reader pretends to be a normal girl (but that obviously doesn’t work — oh look, another McFly song); fluff; potential angst; media harassment; fluff; age gap (reader is 30 and Aaron’s 41, but the age is not so important, so feel free to change it as you want); fluff.

𝚝��𝚖𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚍 | 𝚊𝚊𝚛𝚘𝚗 𝚑𝚘𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚗𝚎𝚛 (ongoing)

SUMMARY: after ten years dormant, The Boston Reaper attacks again in the dead of night, one day after Tom Shaunessy's — the officer to whom the case was initially given — passing. having inherited the case from Shaunessy (read: having stolen the case from the Boston PD), the only thing Aaron Hotchner wants is to get the killer and finally put an end to his history of endless murders. but when he unexpectedly bonds with a surviving victim, it's not only Aaron's desire to do the job that drives him but the urge to protect the only person that saw in him something he couldn't see anymore.

PAIRING: Aaron Hotchner x Fem!Latin American Reader

TW: talks about stabbing (it's Foyet, after all); actual stabbing. Specific triggers written on the chapters.

𝓲𝓽'𝓼 𝓷𝓸𝓽 𝓾𝓷𝓾𝓼𝓾𝓪𝓵 | 𝓪𝓪𝓻𝓸𝓷 𝓱𝓸𝓽𝓬𝓱𝓷𝓮𝓻 𝔁 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭𝓮𝓻 (ongoing)

PAIRING: Aaron Hotchner x BAU!Fem Reader

SUMMARY: aaron hotchner knows that when you’re not in a relationship with someone, it’s not unusual to see the person you’re smitten with (but won’t admit) falling in love again and again and again… for someone else. but when his feelings start to grow too much and become a bit too obvious, maybe he should start marveling the idea of making it known.

TW: fluff, a lot of fluff. comments about cases (possible spoilers). aaron being jealous, a lot. reader has a brief (like, one chapter) relationship with derek. cannon typical cm content. other warnings on its respective chapters :D

one-shots:

𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 | 𝒂𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒏𝒆𝒓

SUMMARY: you’ve been working as Jack Hotchner’s babysitter for the past two years, but as your wedding day gets closer and closer, you start questioning if you’re taking the right step — or if you should jump into the abyss of feelings you developed for you boss, Aaron Hotchner.

PAIRING: Aaron Hotchner x Female Babysitter Reader

TW: fluff, really, a lot of fluff. except for the beginning, that’s is pretty much angst (i think?). there’s a small suggestive comment towards the middle of it, but i don’t think it can be considered NSFW (let me know if it does).

[smoooothoperator]

What A Shame

01: Red

Driver! Charles Leclerc x Singer! OC (Juliette Morelli)

Exes to Lovers, Forced Proximity, Childhood Sweathearts

Summary: two once lovers see each other again after ten years. Will things go well?

Words: 2.3k

a/n: hello and welcome to my newest fic!!! I really hope everyone enjoys this story since it's the first one I write after a long time!

Every interaction is very welcomed!!!!

Masterlist

next part

Just to get some things clear:

this fic happens on 2030 and there will be some flashbacks of previous years, making Charles be 32 years old

most of the songs I'll be using or make references are from Taylor Swift, and if you want to I could post the playlist I'm listening while I write

🎤

Maid of honor. The most important woman of the bridesmaids, the person that will be there for the bride whenever she needs her. Historically, the maid of honor was the attendant of the a queen in royal households or the most important woman of the house; she was a maiden that never have been married and a virgin. A woman that could be there for someone superior or more important for her.

When you have years of experience being the maid of honor, supporting and helping your friends on their most important day, you get used to the term. It's easy to joke and laugh about it, to ignore the ache on the chest when friends ask one more time to be their maid of honor.

"You should work as a wedding planner" the parents of the bride use to tell me, patting my back and congratulating me for my great job.

"Too bad I'm a singer, huh?" I use to answer them with a smile, hiding the pain of their words.

They never ask why I'm always the maid of honor. Why I'm always there for their daughters, making sure everything is perfect and ready for them, telling always the same line after my speech.

"With love, Juliette: always the maid of honor but never the bride" I use to say, turning off the mic and smiling at my friends, hearing laughs and people clapping, not knowing that it hurts admitting to myself that I'll never be on that spot of the table wearing a dress that makes me look like a princess.

So, when Valerie didn't ask me to be her maid of honor, it took me for surprise. Valerie was always by my side when he left me, giving me her shoulder to cry and her spare room to stay when I needed it. Valerie was like a sister for me, someone I would say yes no matter what she asked me to do.

"I know you hate it" she sighed. "I won't torture you, I know you always joke about that but deep inside you are in pain. I won't put you on that position ever again. But I want you to be there on my wedding"

How could I say no? She's my best friend and actually the first person that took that tag of the maid of honor off of me.

"I want you to be happy, Juliette" she sighed.

"You know I can't " I sighed looking at my hands. "He hurt me and there's no way I can get out of that whole"

"You can, you know you can and you will" she said sure if herself, like making a promise. "I heard Pierre will invite some of his friends, I bet you'll find someone out there"

Pierre Gasly, Valerie's boyfriend for many years and nod her fiance. He's a known racing driver for some years now, being famous and all it comes with that. The wedding will be an important event, media wants to know every small detail of it and share it to the world. Now it makes sense why Valerie didn't ask me to be the maid of honor.

But I was with her all the time, dreaming, looking at her trying all those white dresses and wishing it was me for once, trying the cakes with her on our sleepovers and wishing to have someone cutting the cake with me, looking at the pictures she sent me of the flowers and imagining myself holding them when walking to the aisle.

I wished, again, that I was the bride.

The wedding was coming, looking now at the calendar it was closer than I thought it was going to be, making me search for a dress desperately, not wanting to use of of those dresses I used as a maid of honor.

"Wear something simple" Valerie said sitting on my bed. "Maybe one of those satin dresses you like"

"But that's too simple" I frowned. "It's your wedding, Val"

"I don't care, Juliette" she said smiling, shaking her head. "Plus, you look amazing on those dresses. The red one you wore on that charity gala last month was amazing, you could wear it on the rehearsal dinner"

"But what about the actual wedding!"

Finding a dress was harder than I thought. As the maid of honor I had to wear the dress the bride wanted, but now I could choose whatever I wanted to wear.

"Hey, hey, relax. Just... Relax, okay? Just wear something you feel comfortable with" she said trying to calm me.

So yeah, I did what she asked. I bought a dress on a random shop, something I could wear with the most comfortable heels I had on the wardrobe, and put everything I needed on a suitcase.

Valerie and Pierre were going to do their wedding on a nice villa, with vineyards and all the luxury you can imagine when both of them have lots of money, and since his family is religious they will do the wedding on the cozy church of the village with a small group of close friends and family.

The dinner rehearsal will be there on the villa, making sure that the next day everything will be ready and will work smoothly.

The red dress was hanging on the door of the closet, brighter than ever. I used to like red, he made me love it. It was his dream since he was a child, watching the red cars drive under his balcony around the streets of Monaco, and imagining that once he was older he would drive one of those.

"I'll be your Michael and you'll be my Corinna!" he used to say while we sat next to each other on the floor as kids, watching the TV and how Michael Schumacher won those races with his red Ferrari.

Using red after him felt like a punishment, a self torture. How can I be so stupid? So weak to not move on and we drowned on self pity?

I took a deep breath, taking off the silk robe and getting dressed while looking at myself on the mirror.

"Come on, why can't you be with someone?" I said to the reflection of myself. "You are freaking Juliette Morelli, a well known singer! You fucked with freaking Shawn Mendes and the Sebastian Stan flirted with you! You can do better than him"

At this point I was too desperate to forget him. I needed to stop thinking about him, it happened nearly ten years ago. How can I be so stupid and still not move out?

But still... It feels like if that happened yesterday.

"I'm sorry, Juliette" he said suddenly after he sat on the couch of the livingroom. "This isn't working anymore, I need to focus on my job and you are distracting me. It was funny while it lasted. I wish your career goes good as well"

I can do better than him, a stupid driver.

When I walked out of the room, with the purse hanging on my shoulder, the hair down and the red dress hugging my body, I felt confident. I knew I can get over him.

"Wow, Juliette!" Valerie gasped when she saw me walk inside the big room with some of the important guests. "I told you that dress looked amazing on you. Red has always been your color"

"You are right" I smile, somehow sure of myself, believing my own words. "It looks better on me"

🏎️

The moment Pierre asked me to be his best man I didn't waste any second to say yes. Even if I knew that he wanted another person to be his best man, someone that is not longer with us, I said yes immediately.

"I know what you are thinking" Pierre sighed patting my back. "He'll be with me there, but I need my best friend right now and I need it that day too. Tonio would be so glad that you'll be there for me"

"I know, but..." I sighed, taking a deep breath. "I'll go, I promise you I'll be there. But right now I just realized that it's only you and I that's left from that group of innocent kids that only wanted to drive and have fun"

"Come on dude, don't talk like if Esteban is dead!" Pierre laughed. "We have arguments, we're no longer friends... but he was on the pictures too and he's still in this world"

"You idiot" I laughed rolling my eyes.

My best friend is going to get married. He's still with the girl he met when he finished high school and now they will spend the rest of their lives together, form a family.

I promised that to someone long time ago. I promised that I would be there for her and that I'll let her be there for me.

"You know, Valerie asked her to sing" Pierre sighed iling weakly at me.

"Huh? Who?" I frown, being taken out of my thoughts.

"You know who" he sighed.

"Oh... That's cool" I nodded. "Cool, cool, cool, cool... Yeah, all cool"

"When was the last time you saw her?" he sighed closing his eyes.

"You know the answer of that" I said looking down at my lap.

The last time I saw her I tried to not look at her. I walked inside her apartment and stayed there for less than five minutes, hearing her heart break and walking out of it before she talked. I had to be heartless, leave for her and my own good.

"You are so coward, dude" he sighed shaking his head in disapproval.

"I did what I had to do" I frowned looking at him. "Plus, her own career was starting to grow and I couldn't be distracted because of her"

I saw Pierre shaking his head disappointed, patting my back and walking away. I already know what he's thinking, that I shouldn't let her go.

I still remember how I felt when I walked out of her apartment, how the tears were blurrying my eyes and I had to take a deep breath and wait an hour to start driving to my own apartment. I still remember how I felt when I heard the song that made her fame grow, those three letters of the title laughing at me knowing damn well that she wrote that song pouring all her heard on it.

The next months of preparations of Pierre's wedding were intense. The season was still going on, since he planned getting married on our summer break in August, so we had to plan everything on the time we had free, making it easy for us since we spent most of the time together.

It was only the week before his wedding when her name came to my mind.

Juliette Morelli. Valerie's best friend. And my ex.

Pierre told me she was going to sing on their first dance, that she was going to be at the dinner rehearsal and that she was going to stay in the villa the whole weekend.

"You just have to not go on her way" I said talking to myself in the mirror on my own room of the villa. "Try to ignore her. Maybe after all this years she won't recognize me, right? Yeah, yeah, she won't recognize me"

I have to focus on the rehearsal. I need to work along side with Valerie's sister to coordinate everything and make sure that the flower girl is comfortable and I have to make sure that I don't lose the rings. Easy peasy.

But that focus slipped away from my mind the moment I walked inside the big room, with a small group of guests, and I saw a red dress.

But what unfocused me wasn't the dress. Was who was wearing it.

"Oh, I finally found you" Pierre said and looked at me, then who I was looking at. "And you found her"

"Does she know I'm here?" I asked, not taking my eyes off of her.

She's so much more beautiful than before. More mature. Oh God, how much I missed her laugh, how she played with her hair when she was feeling comfortable and relaxed.

"Earth to Charles" Pierre said nervous. "Come on dude, this is about to start and you are just staring to your ex. That's creepy, by the way"

"Shut up, mate!" I exclaimed, shutting him up covering his mouth with my hand. "Don't you dare to tell her I'm here. I'll make sure that she never sees me and in that way none of us will know about the other this whole weekend. Okay?"

Pierre nodded and then I let him go, looking at him carefully.

Juliette can't know that I'm here, I'm not ready to talk with her. After all those years I'm not ready to face her and even hear her voice, even if all this time I have heard her songs.

"Come on, everything is going to start" Valerie's sister came towards me, taking me out of my thoughts.

I nodded and took a deep breath, standing in my position and looking at the door, ignoring the need of searching that red dress between the people that was there. I can't look at her, I really can't.

But then I heard it. A gasp. And not of Pierre looking how Valerie walked towards him practicing how she will do it tomorrow, not the parents of the flower girl walking in with her little basket and doing like if she threw petals.

No. The person that gasped was the person I wanted to avoid. The one I hurt the most in this room. The one that right now is standing and walking out of the room, the red dress walking out of the room.

"Good job trying to avoid her, Leclerc" Pierre whispered looking back at me. "Another one of your plans working perfectly bad"

[sitp-recs]

Hi Sitp!!! Thank you so much for your recs! You're a godsent! Do you have fics where Draco, or Harry, realise they love the other one and the feelings are so strong they decide to run away? And then they come back and grovel? Or just fics with groveling only :)

Hello friend! Great flavour of make up/break up, I’m not generally into (a lot of) grovelling but here are some recs that I hope will work for you:

Be Still by Writcraft (E, 5k)

Harry’s back in England and Draco tries to fix things before he disappears again.

What Real Thing? by loveglowsinthedark (E, 12k)

They don’t cuddle, they don’t talk about their relationship (or lack thereof) and they certainly never fall asleep in each other’s arms.

Make Me a Headline (I Want to Be That Bold) by dicta_contrion (E, 31k)

Draco never expected to see Harry doing that again. Especially with someone else, in a grainy photograph that's landed on his desk one Monday morning.

Potential Gravity by zeitgeistic (E, 32k)

Draco is not good at Cards Against Humanity, but Harry’s not good at being human, so it all works out. Except for the explosions. And Harry’s inability to live when Draco’s not around.

Red Thread (that will lead me home to you) by xErised (E, 35k)

It takes four years of travelling and mutual pining for Harry to realise that Malfoy is the only one for him. Of course, he has to express his feelings in the most scandalous way possible—by stopping Malfoy's very proper, very pureblood wedding.

All Roads by korlaena, Saulaie (M, 36k)

Draco hates his job at the Prophet. He hates it even more when he’s assigned to write an article on Harry Potter, who left the country three years ago after their falling out. Draco doesn’t want to face the truth about himself, but he’s stuck between Harry and his duty, and he’s out of options.

(We'll Call This Fixer-Upper) Home by phdmama (E, 52k)

Draco Malfoy hasn’t set foot on English soil in ten years. After the war, he fled to America, where he found himself in a community, and healed himself through following his heart into music. He’s now the lead singer and songwriter for an internationally known band, who have come back to headline the Wiltshire Music Festival.

A Sword Laid Aside by korlaena (E, 128k)

When Draco’s cover is blown during a deep undercover operation and the Ministry is compromised, Ron takes Draco to the only safe place he can think of—Potter. Hiding out with a taciturn Harry Potter, who has been missing from the Wizarding World for almost two decades after a shocking fall from grace, is nothing like Draco thought it would be.

Dwelling on Dreams by The_Sinking_Ship (E, 135k)

Draco thought he could avoid Potter for the duration of his brief return to England. He’d stick to his schedule and be back home in Paris, where he belonged, in a few short months. No trouble at all.

[hyukassubi]

🍪06 | The Letter Tucked Under The Bonsai Tree/ This Shade of Green

♡𓂃 Pairing -> (Former) Knight! Huening Kai x Seamstress! Reader

♡𓂃 Synopsis -> Growing up, you never believed in purpose, nor destiny. Simply following the path of life, becoming a royal seamstress didn't at all seem like a bad idea. Only thing is, it wasn't your idea.

Your best friend who just so happens to be the crowned prince knows what it's like to grow up having limited choices, and Prince Kang Taehyun doesn't want the same happening to you. The commander knight, in turn, has other plans for the future. After Huening Kai closes a profound chapter of his life, he seeks refuge from the chaos of his past, opting for a cozier lifestyle instead.

... And it just so seems that those plans wouldn't be fulfilled without you.

♡𓂃 Wc -> 1,789

Half of the village flooded into the ballroom.

A five-tiered lemon cake stands tall in the middle of the buffet tables spanning the length of an outstretched rice field, guards stationed at every entrance and every windowsill, the royal family in the middle of it all.

What’s the occassion? A royal wedding? Young prince Taehyun’s coronation day? A special notice for war and drought because winter is six months away and the kingdom must take special precautions to ensure another safe Christmas?

No. None of that.

Above the cake sits a white banner with green paint spelling out the words: ‘MY BESTIE IS HALFWAY TO 24 SHOW HER SOME LOVE !!!!!'

It was your 12th birthday, and this time, the king and queen went above and beyond to celebrate it, as they always do.

Your fourth birthday was also celebrated in the castle, not that you or your family wanted it but the king and queen and especially their young son did.

No outsiders, no kindergarten friends or Taehyun’s extended family. Just your small family and the royal family in the throne room with some rich creamy chocolate cake and perhaps a present or two.

No pressure, for sure.

Your parents bowed at their feet while your best friend’s parents called up popes and a mariachi band to bless the birth of the child (only the popes gave your blessings, not the mariachi band. They played ten different catchy trumpet beats to get your four year old feet kicking up in the air).

From that birthday onward, there was no more bowing or negotiating with the king and queen anymore. Your birthdays were celebrated like national holidays, only thing’s left is to start marking it on calendars for all villagers to see. Anything you want, the royal family’s got you.

And they must’ve really meant that, because the current state of the ballroom was pure fulfillment and chaos: The buffet tables almost wiped clean, every piñata exploding open, the gift stash as tall as a pine tree.

“Remind me why you invited half of the human race to my party again?” Not that you were opposed to the idea but inviting three hundred kids to a party at age twelve is just. Beyond you.

“What? No. It’s just your classmates, and my classmates, and my equestrian coach, and your cousins, and all the knights we met two years ago who didn’t make it to the finale.” Taehyun crossed his legs beneath a bonsai tree— the bonsai tree, full of small notes and letters hanging off its branches to wish you a happy birthday.

The sassy little prince had apple cider in a wine glass to make himself look more ‘elegant’.

You jabbed your fork into your slice of lemon cake, wolfing down another heavenly spoonful of that zesty goodness.

Elegance be damned.

“Huh. Okay… And why isn’t Bangchan on stage yet?”

“Ahh, my father says he’s got a sore throat. That’s why his whole show got cancelled, and his band got bummed out.” He took a sip of his twinkling apple cider. “Too bad, I was really looking forward to his performances.”

“Right? I really wanted to see his bandmates too, but that’s besides the point. Your father’s going back to hiring the mariachi band, then?”

“No, some underground pop singer. I forgot her name… Baby Rexha?”

You practically spat his drink out. “Bebe Rexha?”

“Oh yeah, her. Kai told me a friend of his was really into her music, and I thought you’d like it too, so, yeah, I told my father about that, too.”

You couldn’t have asked for a better best friend. You stood up, ignoring your lemon cake for a second, spilling out the most genuine loving way of saying the next couple of words, “Get your ass over here.”

Taehyun beamed.

He got his ass over there, and the prince embraced his platonic soulmate in his arms.

And after that wholesome moment ended, he got back to picking out letters from the bonsai tree. “Wanna start reading these again?”

Hanging birthday wishes on a bonsai tree was your father’s idea, having the little sapling grow with you, the letters adding up as more branches spiraled out of the trunks… your mother’s eyes puddle up just looking at how much it has grown, how much you have grown.

“Let’s get this thing over with.” Is your honest response after jetting through thirty seven short but sincere wishes and a couple bittersweet three-paragraphed birthday notes. (From your two loving parents, of course, and Taehyun).

Taehyun nods, reaching for the deeper ends of the tree, “Alright... Let's see what's left of this.”

Ten birthday notes left.

Ten wishes left.

The ballroom and its occupants have ran out of energy after the main events of the birthday party, some having conversations over circular tables, some lounging around the buffet tables, the entire place looking more like an italian restaurant than a ballroom birthday party.

It didn’t matter that you finally read the king’s birthday wish, you went over that piece of paper the way girlbosses do when they see their ex.

"Y/n, don't do my father like that,” Taehyun retorted, having his third cup of apple cider. “I'm sure he has some nice things to say."

"He scribbled up a 'wish you a blessed day' and the rest is smudged in cake frosting."

“Wow, okay I guess he just really loves your mother's cakes." Taehyun turns to reach for another letter. "Okay, how about this one?"

You sighed as your hand slugs its way to the fighteningly thick rectangular piece of paper that genuinely looked like a typical letter instead of a purple piece of cardstock folded into two.

You opened it.

Your eyes stretched wider.

It's from Kai.

Dear Y/n,

Happy birthday, I hope you're doing well and having fun at this party, because even though I didn't get to spend time with you (I didn't get to see you, hehe) I did have fun. Um... anyways I bought you a present but the present stash is too high up for me to add mine so... I'll place it in Taehyun's room for now if that's okay? (please tell him the gift is NOT for him and is only for you)

Okay, I hope you keep smelling like sunflowers and cookies in the future and stay happy and healthy but mostly happy because I can never get tired of looking at your precious smile and rosey cheeks and enchanting beauty.

Um, pretend I didn't write any of that. I don't want to scribble on the page because guards are telling me to speed up because I'm hogging up the feather-pens and-

Hyuka<3

You both sat there, quiet for a good chunk of a minute.

You spoke first. "See, Taehyun, I told you not to invite the entire kingdom! Now Kai feels left out!"

Taehyun sets his fancy cup aside. "Yeah no you're right. Where did he say he'll go? My bedroom?"

You grab his hand and book it up the staircase. "Yes he is, now come on! I wanna see what present he's got for me!"

He clutched your hand back right. "As we should!"

The last thing you wanted to do on your birthday was to make anyone feel left out, let alone Huening Kai.

Huening Kai, feeble and stiff as he was, stood pensively in front of Taehyun’s bedroom door.

Going to parties with such forgettable people isn’t his go to way of having fun, and a part of his soul did wish the party was limited to, perhaps, a dozen people maximum instead of hundreds of guests…

At least you had fun.

Clutching onto the teal box wrapped in a glossy emerald bow, that’s all he hoped for today, that you remained happy.

A soft trail of footsteps pitter-pattered in the distance.

He looked to the side, eyes widening when he sees a girl with bows in her hair, the crowned prince trailing just behind her.

“Kai! I’m so sorry—” You blurted.

“Both of us are!” Taehyun cuts in, breathless.

“Yeah, no, both of us are sorry. We didn’t mean to make you feel left out. The party was just so huge and there was so much going on and I guess we were all just caught up messing around with the piñatas and bull rides and mini concerts and food.”

“Especially the food. It was my fault for not tagging you along with us, honestly.”

Kai went back and forth making eye contact between the prince and the girl, his eyes finally landing on the prince. “It’s okay, I had fun with my other friends.” He couldn’t tell why and it took him a while to even be aware of it, but his insides were all soft and fluffy, especially around his chest, at his heart. And. Huening Kai liked the feeling.

The feeling of being safe around you two.

It was not Taehyun who answered, but you. “Your village friends? Was it the Bebe Rexha fanatic you’ve been rambling about to me recently? I kinda forgot his name… as well as the others. My bad.”

Huening Kai blinked. He released the box that was previously clutched by his small hands glued to his chest, bringing it forth. “Here.” a little while later, “For you.”

… Purple was your favourite colour, but perhaps you’re starting to like this shade of green, too.

Huening Kai cleared his throat. “Open it, please?” The question sounded more like a plea rather than a demand, but it didn’t matter how demanding Huening Kai tried to sound, he’d never be feared by you because to you, not a single bone in his body screamed ‘if you don’t do this for me, I will eat you alive.’

So, of course, you ripped opened the box (not literally) for the two boys to see, but mostly Huening Kai since he was the gift-giver after all

Taehyun looked over your shoulder, eyes wide, smiling, giggling here and there; Huening Kai remained quiet the whole time, simply watching, and once the lid of the box lifted up?… You gaped.

It's a crochet set, with wool in pastel shades and hooks of all different sizes.

“I noticed you liked doing crafty stuff and.” Huening Kai visibly gulped. “You picked up on embroidering some time ago, did you not?” An awkward chuckle. “I mean, I could’ve totally bought you an embroidery set but my friend- I mean, my gut told me you probably already had everything you needed for embroidering so—”

You attacked Kai.

With a throat-clenching embrace.

And it took him a good minute to hug you back.

Not so long after, it was Taehyun that wrapped his arms around the both of you.

Previous| Masterlist | Next

♡𓂃A/n: Tyunning and the reader having their bittersweet bestie trio moment:

‧₊˚ ⋅ —U_U— \^_^/ —>3•— ‧₊˚ ⋅

Soobin and Yeonjun enjoying a Bebe Rexha concert in a literal ballroom:

(JUST IN CASE YALL DIDN'T CATCH THAT OR NEED CONFIRMATION, YES. KAI'S VILLAGE FRIENDS ARE YEONJUN AND SOOBIN)

♡𓂃Tags: @sweetheartsaku @imcringebutimfree @i-like-to-read-at-4am @pengningie @marloree @stormy1408 @blossommi @flaminghotyourmom

Reblog & review if you like my work !!

[matttgirlies]

Matt & Me🎀

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

a story heavily based on Priscilla Presley’s Book “Elvis & Me” based in the 1950’s - 1970’s.

fem! reader x singer! matt

disclaimer!! - in no way am i saying matt would ever support or do these kind of things, for the sake of the book certain unethical things do happen at times.

warnings - none

y/nn = your nickname for any confusion🩷

Chapter 19

Matt and I often talked of having children, but we certainly weren’t planning on having them right away. Then one day we were at the ranch. It was early afternoon and Matt was still asleep. I lay in bed and felt a strange sensation in my stomach, a sensation I’d never felt before. I lay staring at the ceiling. No—it couldn’t be. Again, the same feeling. I slid out of bed. I’ll call Patsy, I thought. She’d know. I went to the phone in the next room.

“Patsy, when you found out you were pregnant, did you feel strange?”

“Strange like what?”

“You know. I mean, what did you feel?”

“Well, I missed my period.”

“But didn’t you feel something in your body, something strange?”

“I really don’t remember, y/n. Why?”

“Because I think I’m pregnant. I know I am. I’ve never felt this before.”

“Maybe it’s nerves.”

“No—I just have a funny feeling. I’ll talk to you later.”

I didn’t tell Matt right away: I couldn’t. But he saw that I was quiet and preoccupied.

If I were pregnant, I knew that our plans to travel would have to be postponed. I wouldn’t be able to head off to some exotic locale and leave my child with nurses and maids. For the first year, I truly wanted to be alone with Matt, without any responsibilities or obligations.

For a few days I was angry with Matt. Before the wedding I asked him if I should start taking birth-control pills, but he had been adamantly against it.

“They’re not good for you. I really don’t want you taking them. They’re not perfected yet, Baby. There’s all kinds of side effects.”

A week passed before I told Matt my suspicions. I expected him to react with the same mixed emotions I’d felt, but he was ecstatic. He made arrangements for me to see a doctor right away, accompanied me to the doctor’s office, and sat anxiously in the waiting room while I was examined.

When I came out I put my arms around him and said, “Guess what?”

“What? What?” He was barely able to contain himself.

“You’re going to be a dad.”

He couldn’t believe it and immediately wanted to tell everyone. Just then his father, who had driven over with us, came into the room. Matt grabbed him.

“Dad, you won’t believe this. y/nn’s gonna have a baby. You’re gonna be a grandad.”

“Good Lord Almighty,” James said, stunned. “You’re kiddin’ me.”

“No, Dad. We’re telling you the truth.” Then Matt teased him, saying, “You’re going to be a gray-headed granddaddy.”

I loved seeing Matt happy, but I was still uncertain about how my unexpected pregnancy would affect our marriage. This was supposed to have been our time alone. I wanted to be beautiful for him; instead, my debut as Matt’s bride was going to be spoiled by a fat stomach, puffy face, and swollen feet.

As far as I was concerned, the less people mentioned about my looking pregnant, the better. I intended to prove that a pregnant woman did not have to get fat. I wanted to refute Matt’s claim that “women use the excuse of their pregnancy to let themselves go.” Although the doctor said that a twenty five-pound gain would be fine, I immediately dropped from my normal one hundred ten pounds to one hundred. During the next four months, I regained just five pounds, and only nine more by the time of delivery. Eating one meal a day and snacking on apples and hardboiled eggs, I prided myself on never needing to buy a maternity outfit. My doctor advised that in addition to taking multiple vitamins I should consume plenty of dairy products. Being vain, I amended my doctor’s instructions and lessened my intake of dairy products. I did not want to gain weight and get stretch marks. As a further precaution I resolved to slather myself with cocoa butter for the next eight months.

A few days after I learned I was pregnant, we left Boston for L.A., where Matt was to begin preproduction on a new film, Speedway. It was to be the last drive in our customized bus before it was sold. During the trip, Matt and the guys had a ball, punching each other and playing practical jokes. I played photographer, clicking away at everyone. But when I kept smiling and laughing I still felt very ambivalent about my pregnancy. I wanted a baby, just not so soon.

Matt was extremely sensitive to my moods. He missed his little girl’s “twinkling eyes,” her “bright, smiling face.” Finally, in Flagstaff, Arizona, at a small roadside inn, he sat me down and said, “What do you want to do, Little One?”

I broke down and answered, “I don’t know. What can I do?”

“What do you think?” he said. “I’ll back you up whatever you want to do.”

Instantly I knew what he was talking about. He was leaving the decision up to me. “It’s our baby,” I said, sobbing. “I could never live with myself, neither could you.”

There were no words, only his smile of approval; he held me tightly in his arms as I cried. The two of us, bound by love, accepted our new little creation wholeheartedly.

When I first felt my baby move I suddenly understood the full joy of carrying our child. My smile returned when Matt delicately placed his hand on my slightly swollen stomach and said, “How can such a little person carry another little person?” The pregnancy was bringing us closer. He would call me from the studio every day, just to say hello and make sure I was fine. It was because of the baby that we decided to buy our first home in Los Angeles instead of leasing as we’d done in the past. While he was filming I searched the Beverly Hills-Bel Air area for a place that would suit us.

Later that fall, when we were in Arizona for location filming on “Stay Away, Joe”, I saw an advertisement in Variety for a house that sounded perfect: a beautiful home in Trousdale Estates, completely furnished, three bedrooms, a guest cottage, pool, and good security.

I flew back to L.A. The house was owned by a prominent landowner who was recently divorced. With a built-in bar, antique furnishings, and collectors’ art, it was a far cry from Rocca Place, where each room was decorated to each employee’s specification—a different carpet, a different color, a different style in each room. Unfortunately, I’d tried to satisfy everyone’s taste, and architectural indigestion was the result. This time I would be able to live with everything the way I liked.

As soon as Matt returned from Arizona we moved into our new home and began preparing a room for our baby. All I could think about was how happy I was, how wonderful life was.

Naturally, I got a lot of advice about what I should and shouldn’t do while I was pregnant. Steeped in her Southern superstitions, Grandma was especially solicitous, telling me I couldn’t brush my hair over my head or else I would wrap the umbilical cord around the baby. She also said I shouldn’t stand on my feet too long or my legs would swell and I wouldn’t be able to walk again. She was as concerned as any doting mother and some of my activities gave her reason to worry. I still kept up with my ballet, rode my motorcycle and my horse Domino, right up until the eighth month of pregnancy. Matt thought I was absolutely incredible to keep up with him in every way. That made me happy. I was pleasing him and still by his side every day.

Then I began hearing rumors about Matt and Madison Beer, the same rumors that I had read about in Germany: that she had a passionate crush on him, that they were having an affair. I was extremely sensitive and quick to cry. Matt assured me that I was just being oversensitive because of my condition. I agreed. Six months into my pregnancy Madison called and said she’d like to give me a baby shower. I didn’t know her that well and thought it a little strange that she was so accommodating. But Matt assured me that she was very nice and that I should get to know her. It was agreed that I would go to the shower under one condition, which Colonel suggested: All the pictures that were taken that day were to be handed over to me. That way, there’d be no shots popping up in the national movie magazines. It turned out quite nicely. Madison was very friendly and very supportive. I found that I liked her and I decided to ignore the rumors.

Life takes such surprising turns. Just when you’re getting confident, along comes the unexpected. I was upstairs at Graceland when Matt called me to his office, the one adjoining my dressing room. “y/nn, I have to have time to think. Things just aren’t going right. It’ll be good for the two of us to take a little time off, like a trial separation. Be apart from one another for a while.”

I wanted to die. I was seven months along and could not believe what I was hearing. It had to be a joke. “What are you saying? What did I do?”

“You didn’t do anything, Baby. You don’t understand. It’s not you. It’s just that I’m going through some things. I think it’d be better if we took a little break.”

I looked at him in silence, feeling a new strength. If he excluded me at this time, then he didn’t deserve me at all. I stood up and said, “You’ve got it. Just tell me when to leave.” I went into my dressing room and closed the door.

I was numb. This was not the man I knew. I instinctively withdrew, my affection numbed, my thoughts suspicious, my heart aching.

I don’t think Matt really intended to leave me. It wasn’t his style. I later realized he too had questions about how a baby would affect his life. Would his public accept him as a father? He wasn’t even sure if his fans had adapted to his becoming a husband. How loyal would they be?

Within a short time Matt’s sensitive nature brought him back to his senses. Two days had passed. The idea of a trial separation was never mentioned again. We both acted as if nothing had been said. It was at times like this that I wished Matt and I had the ability to truly communicate with each other, to confront our insecurities, fears, and frustrations instead of pretending these feelings weren’t there. We probably would have been surprised at how much understanding we both really had. I could not escape the impact his words had on me, leaving me with a sense of doubt.

As my pregnancy progressed, we still played hard. I wanted to be included in everything that everyone else did. That Christmas we went to the ranch and rode horses, had snowball fights and went on hayrides. Matt would sit up front in the wagon and call out to me, “How you doing, y/nn? That’s my girl. How’s she doing back there?”

I’d call back, “She’s doing pretty good. I’m okay.”

If we’d go horseback riding, he’d always ask me, “Are you sure you can do this? Did the doctor say you could?”

“Yes,” I’d answer. “I can do it.”

I was determined not to ask for special treatment.

It was only in the last month or so that I slowed down at all. Instead of sitting through two or three films a night, Matt would take me home after just one.

He arranged his schedule so that he could be home with me at Graceland during the final month. To be absolutely prepared for the big day, we even performed practice drills for the trip to Baptist Memorial Hospital. As my time drew near, Matt became more and more nervous.

On February 1, 1968, I awoke about eight o’clock and found the bed beneath me soaking wet. Frightened, I called my mother in New Jersey and she suggested I ring the doctor immediately. He told me to head straight for the hospital. I gently woke Matt up and told him the big day had arrived. Matt groggily asked me if I was sure. When I said yes, he called James and told him to notify everyone, then yelled downstairs, “She’s ready! y/nn is going to have the baby!”

Ignoring his frenzy, I disappeared calmly into the bathroom and applied my ever-so-black mascara and teased my ever-so-black hair. Later at the hospital I requested special permission to keep on my double set of lashes.

Downstairs there was pandemonium. As planned, the decoy cars raced off first, Steven and Nate frantically waving for the fans to follow them. Then we took off, but despite the rehearsals we headed straight for the wrong hospital. We had changed hospitals, but obviously Jerry, who was driving, hadn’t been informed. Charlie Hodge saved the day, convincing Jerry it was Baptist Memorial, not Methodist. Luckily we arrived in time.

Our daughter, Charlotte Grace, was born at 5:01 that afternoon. The nurse brought her into my room and I cradled her in my arms. I couldn’t believe she was mine, that I had borne this child. She was so tiny, so beautiful. Matt came into the room and kissed me, thrilled that we had a perfectly normal, healthy baby. He was already in love with her. He watched me holding her and his eyes misted with happiness. Then he took us both in his arms and held us.

“Baby,” he whispered, “We have a little baby girl.”

“I know,” I whispered back.

I asked if he wanted to hold her. He looked petrified at first, but then he started to touch her. He played with her hands, her feet. He was in awe, saying, “I can’t believe that I made part of this beautiful child.” Matt knew that I had wanted the baby to have dark hair like his, and Charlotte had been born with lots of silky black hair. “She’s so perfect,” he said, “even the color of her hair is right.”

We stayed in each other’s arms for a long time, caressing our infant and each other, a young couple sharing the first pleasures of parenthood.

The man in my hospital room that day was the man I loved, and will always love. He didn’t have to try to be strong and decisive or sexy, he wasn’t afraid to show his warmth or vulnerability. He didn’t have to act the part of Matt Sturniolo, superstar. He was just a man, my husband.

Excerpt from: "Elvis and Me" by Priscilla Beaulieu Presley. Scribd. This material may be protected by copyright.

a/n - this is the cutest chapter ill write i swear its so so cute🎀

[thefloatingwriter]

I'd adore more of your wiress and beetee hcs if you had any more to share maybe

thank you so much for this ask anon i love any excuse to talk about them. i can’t tell if you want just beetee and wiress or them separately but i’ll give you both because i have lots of thoughts.

Beetee:

he was born on july 23rd, 21 ADD.

he has five siblings, two brothers and three sisters. he’s the oldest. in order they are: adeline (six years younger), roent (eight years younger), tera and ruther (ten years younger), and dayta (thirteen years younger).

he grew up really poor, his family barely making ends meet. his father died when he was fourteen and his mother kind of lost herself after that.

because of that, he became his siblings only real parental figure when he was really young.

his favorite color is blue.

he won the 40th at nineteen. it was the oldest a victor ever was at the time of their victory.

he dismantled an old computer he found in the trash and then put it back together when he was six.

he’s either still up at three in the morning or is out at nine pm. there’s no in between.

he also wakes up really early every single morning. wiress thinks he’s insane.

he’s actually pretty tall.

he knows how to ice skate.

he prefers cold weather over warm weather.

he loves the snow.

he’s a dog person.

he’s really good with kids.

Wiress:

she was born on november 6th, 29 ADD.

she has an older sister named barbara (four years older).

she’s polish and her last name is lisiecki.

she’s an acrobat and singer.

her family was richer than most residents of three. her father was a software developer until he passed (i have a lot of dead dads in my hcs). her mother ran a sort of theatre group/circus to entertain capitol and three citizens. it’s where wiress learned acrobatics.

her hair is naturally curly.

she won the 48th when she was eighteen.

she’s really good with crowds but hates one-on-one talking.

her favorite color is lilac.

she had a cat before she won named fleur. fleur went on to have three kittens named iris, leni, and luna.

she loves the smell of lavender.

she is not a morning person at all. she can barely function in the mornings.

she loves both coffee and tea.

she has a giant sweet tooth.

she cannot cook. like seriously. last time she tried she started a fire and almost burnt her house down.

she was always a naturally curious person. as a child she snuck into the woods surrounding three and took walks for hours. it scared her mother senseless every time she up and disappeared and she always sent barbara out to go find her.

her district token was a woven purple bracelet her sister made for her when she was younger.

Wiress and Beetee:

this is basically canon but they can talk with their eyes/just understand each other without saying anything. the other victors have made a game out of figuring out what they’re talking about.

beetee’s token was his glasses for both of his games, so for the 75th he took his wedding band and added two silver stripes on the sides out of the metal.

most of the victors have absolutely no idea what their relationship is. like some of them think they’re just really good friends, some of them think they’re dating casually, and some are like, “no they’ve been married for a decade.”

he was her mentor. the 48th was the only year where both tributes were from “richer families” (i.e. three’s version of merchant families). atlas, the other victor from three, came from a merchant family but beetee didn’t and there’s a lot of animosity between the poorer and richer people in three (similar to twelve but if like everyone acted like mrs. mellark) so he was really worried that wiress was going to be rude or disrespectful. and then he meets the sweetest eighteen year old he’s ever met who sings for fun and hums to herself when she’s anxious. safe to say he was surprised.

beetee really hates explaining stuff so when wiress comes along they can sometimes forget they have to explain stuff to people and they won’t get it if they give them The Look even though they both get what that means. they don’t even mean to but they can be hanging out with anyone and make them feel like they’re third-wheeling.

bonus:

Beetee adjusts his glasses as he squints at the computer in front of him. “Our brains are made of the same wires.”

Wiress looks over at him, a small smile playing on her lips. “That’s genuinely the most romantic thing you have ever said to me.”

(this is 100% going in a fic but why do i have the best ideas for random lines at one in the morning like why can’t inspiration hit at a normal time ffs)

sorry this took a minute for me to post <3 i hope you like these! anyway, again anon ilysm for this ask seriously i love love love talking about them.

[your-coquette-queen]

GUYS IM BACK!

HEY EVERYONE!

I'm sorry for the two year hiatus, I went through a period where I struggled and I really just had to come out the other side finding who I am. However, I am now back and feel so much happier! In case come of you forgot, I'm Ava! I originally had this account and ended up talking mainly about rock bands (notably KISS), Stranger Things, and Star Wars!

However, over the past two years a lot has honestly changed. I still love music, mainly now pop and musical theatre however I do love rock and still love talking about it with people. I love Star Wars still however my main fandom is currently Supernatural. Hopefully I have some Supernatural enjoyers in my audience and we can connect.

I also love 2000's everything and Incorporate into a lot of my style , so just expect to likely to see lots of 2000's core on here

A little UPDATED bit about me:

IT WILL BE LONG JUST NOTE:

Expect lots of music on here! I think I will just have one blog and move throughout fandoms that I enjoy so expect a bit of everything!

I am Christian! Christianity has been a long journey for me but I am so thankful to be in a really positive place with my faith. I left this blog two years ago with a lot of struggles but have come back overcoming those problems! I likely will not post a lot about faith as that is not the main part of the account but it is a big part of my life and something I am proud of. If I have other Christians here, I am always open to talking!

I love makeup!

Favorite tv shows:

Supernatural

ER

Movies:

Ten Inch Hero

Wedding Crashers

Cinderella Story

Legally Blonde

Without a Paddle

Star Wars: Phantom Menace

Star Wars: A New Hope

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith

Clueless

Hunger Games

Scooby Doo!

Batman: Dark Knight

Twilight

Princess Diaries

She's the Man

Singers/Bands:

Britney Spears

Christina Aguilera

Rihanna

Destiny's Child

Duran Duran

Katy Perry

Beyonce

NSYNC

Nelly Furtado

Timbaland

Frankie Valley and the Fourth Seasons

Simple Minds

Alice Cooper

KISS

Megadeth

Journey

Motley Crue

The Temptations

Dianna Ross

Michael Jackson

Ice Spice

Lay Bankz

Ayesha Erotica

Meghan Thee Stallion

Fergie

Madonna

Nikki Minaj

Jessie J

Marvin Gaye

1 Direction (when I was like 14 but idc their songs still cook😭😭)

Fav Musicals:

Cats

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Starlight Express

Falsettos

25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Book of Mormon

& Juliet

Miss Saigon

Rocky Horror

Spamalot

Back to the Future

Guys and Dolls

Suisical

Pippin

Legally Blonde

Ain't Too Proud

Little Shop of Horrors

Guttenberg

Young Frankenstein

Little Women

Music Genres:

Rock(multiple genres within!)

Pop

80's/90's county

K-Pop

Musical Theatre

Opera/Classical

New Wave

Alternative

Actors/Celebrities I love:

Paris Hilton: SHE'S MY QUEEN/ ONE OF MY BIGGEST INSPIRATIONS

Jared Padalecki

Jensen Ackles

Matthew Lillard

Misha Collins

Christian Bale

Ryan Reynolds

Channing Tatum

Hayden Christensen

Ryan Gosling

Pamela Anderson

Heather Locklear

Chad Michael Murray

Mark Wahlberg

Reese Witherspoon

Josh Hutcherson

Elizabeth Taylor

Taylor Lautner

Tom Cruise

Tom Selleck

I will likely update this as I start interacting on here again but I am so happy to be back!

Excited to talk to some of you guys again🤍

[insomniac4000]

First Impressions ChrisMD

Bethany Margaret Johnson didn't sound like a popstar name so she used the moniker Annie J professionally. Her first top ten single "Like Me" debuted in the charts at number four when she was just nineteen years old and she had gone from strength to strength over the past seven years. The thing that Bethany or Betsy to her friends believed what set her apart from others and the reason for her continued success was her love for music had never wavered.  Even when she was being hounded by the press and paparazzi, spent months away from home, was working fifteen or sixteen hour days for tour preparations she still loved her music. That didn't stop at her music either, she loved music in general and always kept up to date with the goings on, her contemporaries and competition as well as newer artists. 

Betty could be a perfectionist and would be the first person to admit she could be a bit of a control freak about things, she was never rude with it as she had a great team but she was not one of these artists where the team did all of the work, she needed to know all of the goings on, she chose the setlists for her shows, if the record company wanted to release a certain song she would push back as much as she could to fight her corner, she okayed her outfits and she always chose her own support acts. Her her latest UK tour the artists she had chosen to open for her was the Welsh MACY and the singer and TikTok/Youtube star Arthur Hill. She had previously has Talia Mar open for her a couple of years ago which exposed her a little to the online world, Betsy had to admit that was the one part of her job she was happy to hand over to her team, it wasn't really a world she knew too much about but Talia's then boyfriend and now husband Simon seemed like a decent guy. Her and Talia had struck up a friendship and she was even invited to Talia's wedding, she went despite the fact that she didn't know anyone. 

*Flashback*

"You look so beautiful! Congratulations," Betsy smiled as she hugged Talia, as the bride was the only person she really knew properly at the wedding it was a little awkward but she was glad to see her friend get married. 

"Thank you, you look gorgeous I'm so glad you're here! Now we've sat you next to one of Simon's friends Chris," Talia started to explain but Simon cut her off as he hugged Betsy while she congratulated him. 

"He's not long been dumped so sorry if he's a bit miserable." The sideman commented.

"Oh great," Betsy rolled her eyes a little, she came for fun. 

"He's a nice guy I think he was just blindsided by the whole thing but he is dating again so you might have fun," Talia teased and Betsy smiled but rolled her eyes. She walked round the room a little before finding her table and she smiled at the dirty blonde boy with piercing blue eyes. He had some facial hair which peppered a nice and not too defined jaw line. He was wearing a blue suit with a soft yellow gold tie, he looked good and obviously knew how to dress for an occasion. 

"Hi, I'm Bethany," Betsy  smiled as she sat down, smoothing out her gold dress as she did so. 

"Chris nice to meet you," the male said smiling showing off his white but slightly crooked teeth, not only was he cute but he was refreshingly normal. She had dated before, and as a musician the press were all over it, she dated her childhood sweetheart for six years but when they split when she was twenty five and she was linked with a model and a couple of footballers the press went wild. She wasn't a fan of footballers, she doesn't know why she did it and wasn't sure if it was all footballers or the ones she chose but they were self absorbed and pretty sure had photographers of speed dial. 

"So what do you do? The brunette asked taking a sip of water which had been pre poured in glasses. 

"Oh I do football videos on Youtube," Chris explained, Betsy surprised a sigh, not again. "You do music, right?" Chris asked also taking a sip of water, it was too early in the day to  be drunk yet. 

"Yeah," Betsy nodded she didn't mind being recognised but in some circles it could be so superficial. 

"I really loved that one you did  about the note. I had that on repeat for a while," Chris admitted and Betsy smiled, the song, Pen to Paper was an album track so he was obviously a fan.

"Thank you. I'm sorry I can't say I've watched any of your videos," she apologised, turning in her chair a little to face Chris slightly more.

"It's okay, it's like a ninety seven percent male audience so I'm not surprise, and thank you for the honesty."

The pair were interrupted as more people joined their table and introductions were made as well as Chris there were four couples on the table, Will and Mia, Theo and Jodie, Chip and Sabina and Callum and Laura. Betsy knew what Talia was trying to do, as the wine and conversation flowed it was working. 

By the end of the night Betsy and Chris were on the dance floor together getting incredibly close, his hands on her bum during fast dances and their arms around each other during slow ones. 

"Your room or mine?" Chris whispered in a gruff tone when the place was starting to empty and the after party was beginning. They had a good time and the pair swapped numbers but she grew disappointed with him when she messaged him but failed to receive a reply so she thought her very first impression of him was spot on, stupid footballers.

*Present day*

"Ah here she is!" Betsy's tour manager Lance announced when Betsy walked into the room. 

"Hi, I am so sorry I had a meeting and it overran," she apologised before shaking the hands of her support acts, she was meeting them for the first time and wanted to get to know them a little bit better, break the ice and give a run down of how she usually ran things. While she wasn't uptight she wasn't the biggest fan of the sex, drugs, and rock and roll cliche, she didn't care what people did on their own time so long as they arrived on time for rehearsals and their stage slots and didn't flaunt things in the public eye something which was a very reasonable request. 

Everything was set and everyone then had some casual chat to get to know each other a little bit. Soon Betsy was called away for another interview and made her goodbyes.

"Really nice to meet you both, let me or Lance know if you have enough tickets for friends and family I'm sure we can sort some things out, and VIP passes and things. 

"Oh great, my roommates said they're free to come now," Arthur mentioned  and Betsy nodded. 

"We'll sort them out don't worry," the brunette smiled before being ushered off.

Tour went underway and was a huge hit, they reached London of which there were three dates.

"This is really cool," George commented as him and his other housemates enjoyed the backstage tour. 

"It is, the crowds have been great too." The musician responded looking at his friends and noticing the smallest of the four was staring at the door as he clutched his beer, something he had been doing since he got there. 

"You've been very quiet," Arthur H said to Chris who just nodded his head, he was in two minds about whether he wanted to see Betsy or not, he did intend on messaging her back but by the time he got round to it it was a long time, plus he was quite intimidated by being with someone well known his relationship with Shannon was under the microscope enough and they were only two content creators. 

"Hi Arthur," Betsy chimed as she walked into his dressing room, stopping dead in her tracks when she saw the short male, his hair had changed but it was undeniably him, she looked in those eyes long enough to know them. 

"Sorry I didn't know you had company," Betsy went to retreat as she stared at the curly haired man who was suddenly finding his shoes very interesting.

"These are my flatmates, Arthur, George and Chris. Guys this is Betsy otherwise known as AnnieJ," Arthur Hill explained pointing out everyone in turn. George greeted her with a hug, Arthur and Chris settled for a handshake, the two previous lovers ignoring the spark of electricity that flowed through their hands. 

"Have you got time to hang out for a little bit?" Arthur asked, Betsy nodded as she didn't want to be rude plus the other two could be a laugh. 

Chris looked on clutching his beer bottle so hard his knuckles turned white staring at Betsy who was laughing at one of George's jokes. 

"Sorry I need to get ready, enjoy the show guys, it was nice to meet you Arthur and George and hopefully I'll see you after?" Betsy smiled before rushing off out the room. 

"What is your problem? We've only heard two grunts out of you," George commented pointing at Chris who just shrugged. 

"This is just not my scene," he replied, saying more words than he he had spoken in the past two hours.

"Okay, well next time I'll give your space to someone else," Arthur Hill replied as he checked the time, it was approaching show time. 

"This is nothing to do with the fact you two slept together at Simon's wedding and she's obviously forgotten about it," Arthur TV explained, he had only gotten Chris's side of the story so didn't know he had failed to message Betsy back. George and Arthur Hill looked at each other before laughing. 

"Chris we need to get you fixed," Arthur Hill joked before announcing he had to go and warm up. 

The show had calmed Chris down somewhat, MACY was good, Arthur was great and he enjoyed watching Betsy, it was obvious she loved doing what she did things changed slightly again when she sang one of her hit songs Infamy. On the surface it just sounded like the song was about relationships but there was a deeper meaning which was about the press's judgement and hounding of people's personal lives. There was one moment where Chris swore Betsy looked at him momentarily and he felt incredibly guilty, he ghosted her because of something she was already afraid of he felt small, well even smaller.

Arthur Hill was slightly surprised when Chris asked if he could come again, considering he was quiet the day before but Arthur agreed and this time Chris came with a plan. He kept himself a little scarce at the beginning but watched her intently from the side lines that was the first time Betsy noticed his presence there. 

After the show Chris knocked on Betsy's dressing room door he took a deep breath when he heard a soft come in. Chris couldn't help but smile when he saw Betsy in black leggings and a green jumper. Her regular casual self was so much different to her stage persona, she was just a regular girl underneath it all and Chris wanted to get to know her and not the flashy musician exterior he was afraid of before. 

"Hi, good show," Chris smiled. Betsy just nodded before placing her glasses on, her eyes got tired if she wore her contacts for too long. 

"Look I have been an absolute arsehole and if you don't want to listen to me excuses that's fine but I think I owe you an explanation," Chris continued and Betsy looked at him. His blue eyes looked so sincere, so kind and there was something about his little face she couldn't resist. 

"Look if you didn't want anything else a simple text would have sufficed," Betsy replied as she sat on the arm of the grey sofa. 

"But I did! I looked you up and saw all these stories and got flustered. When my ex and I broke up there's still jokes going on about it now and she still gets comments on social media and I just thought about how much worse it would be," Chris admitted and Betsy sighed, she had heard this before. 

"I get it. It's fine."

"It's not, look you probably don't want anything else to do with me but I just owed you a sorry." 

"I didn't say I didn't want anything more to do with you," Betsy smiled getting up from the sofa  and walking slowly over to Chris who nodded as he gave a small but cheeky smile. 

"Good," he smiled before his and Betsy's lips touched. 

[ohanny]

another friday, another cutie pie episode! so here are my thoughts while watching the second episode:

kuea is absolutely not me because i would never check my email first thing in the morning, notifs be damned

also even if i did get good news, i would not have the energy to throw a full "blackpink in your area" on top of my bed

kuea: oh yes, i am a bit... sore lian: ��‿¬

ugh, why can't you just talk to this man who just happens to be a supportive, relatively mentally stable, functioning adult who dresses nice, cooks you food, pulls out your chair and YOU ACT LIKE THE RETURNING HIDE AND SEEK CHAMPION OF 2022

lian: if you need help, you can always tell me me: IF ONLY

nonetheless, i've had a boyfriend for a decade and i feel as single as the last crushed pringle at the bottom of the tube of doom when zee looks at nunew

kuea, a lying liar who lies: kon diao texted me lian: i love you me: KUEA DO YOU FEEL EVEN A LIL BAD???

i love the mission impossible theme tune

nong diao squared ready to cover up crimes

yi can smell bullshit a mile away but unfortunately for him, he's also a weak victorian bitch who gets flustered by a cheek touch from a twink he (alledgedly) fucked in his car just last week

JUST SHOW ME PERTH YOU COWARDS chapter 2

diao is a good friend with a good brain cell. we all need a diao.

kuea: i have a lot to think about. me: you also have a lo to TALK about goddammit

meanwhile poor lian is just trying to plan his barbie dream wedding, oh dear

yi is here to be the best man but also to watch the world burn.

kon diao loves lists. kon diao is me.

the world does not deserve diao. this show certainly doesnt. if he was running it, again, it would be 5 minutes long. well, maybe 15. he would keep all the spicy bits.

this beauty clinic is totally not the sponsor of this series.

the totally not sponsoring intensifies

"how do i look?" EXACTLY THE SAME AS YOU DID 30 SECONDS AGO YOU BABY SKINNED MOCHI OF PERFECTION

i will never not mishear this as "cosmic-exo entertainment" and i am not sorry

uh-oh, their barbie dream weddings are NOT the same

lsakjfkasljfafj a nuer x syn intermission! and nuer has a less questionable shirt on!

you two (ಥ﹏ಥ)

but props to syn never hiding his intentions and props to nuer respecting his choices even if they make him a sad boy. SOME PEOPLE could never

hia yi is eternal suffering personified even at a cake tasting and quickly becoming my favourite.

foei: oh is it too crowded? do we need more room? the gays: *offended*

salaldkjf i am catching vibes. pls tell me they will grey's anatomy this and diao and yi will end up getting married in the barbie dream wedding horror show while kuea and lian elope in korea

"you can make the final decision" says lian, not having any idea they like the polar opposite things.

he is a smooth bastard though. "ah yes, my favourite wedding singer will be too busy being my husband"

"oh no, how will our suits match if we cannot see them?" you dumbo, you have kon diao, the wedding planner extraordinaire. he has a list for that.

diao has been calling out bullshit since birth at this point.

yi: ah yes, they are so compatible. diao: dude, they can't agree on anything. yi: which is not my problem.

yi really be like "pfffft, let them talk it out between them" as if we have time to be here for the next ten years. he really couldn't give less fucks, lol

DIAO LEGIT IS LIKE IZZIE PLANNING MERDER'S WEDDING

how can he answer cosmic-exo in that suit. go change.

oh, the straights are at it again

lian: thank you yi: oh, you already picked a suit? lian: yes yi: wow, i am so helpful. you are blessed to have me tolerate you.

i love how nunew's voice gets so much deeper when he switches to english

IF ONLY YOU WERE THAT EXCITED ABOUT YOUR OWN WEDDING

kuea: what should i do? me screaming at my tv: TALK TO YOUR MAN

diao is seriously like baby yoda and syn doesn't need to become a monk. he just needs to hang out with diao more for some deep wisdom and then keep living in sin.

nuer is a sweet understanding angel and syn is a pouty baby and i could watch these two forever

"it's our wedding, not just mine." except you have NO IDEA you're not getting your wedding but an industrial scale keerati legacy production

yi: see? they're totally on the same page diao: ...

who is this random laxatives lady and why does she look like she's about to place a curse on kuea?

lian: you pick kuea: i am fine with everything narrator: he was not, in fact, fine with anything

diao turn of the tap for fucks sake, it is very obvious you are not paying your own bills in this economy

diao: my dog is so smart yi: your dog is literally an idiot

oh god here we have hia yi talk about marriage and kasdjflkafj they might kiss and i can't believe i am about to say this but at this point diao needs to worry about me cooking that cockblocking dog :D

WE HAVE A STAIRCASE WITH A HAND RAIL? IN A BL?!?!?!

lian: *trying* kuea: cosmic-exo is calling, byeee

look at his sad eyes, he KNOWS

"why am i talking to a doll?" BECAUSE IT IS MORE LIKELY TO HAVE AN ACTUAL CONVERSATION WITH YOU. you deserve better, boo.

lian: aren't you kirin already kuea: but i could be cosmic-exo kirin in korea. lian: okay. kuea: ... wait what?

OH FUCK SCREW THE WEDDING WAS THAT PERTH I JUST SAW?!?!?!?

[phdmama]

When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass it on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love! 🩷

OO thank you baby!!! Okay. Gosh. I'm not great at picking favorites (like my kids, they're ALL my favorites) but I will say, there are some I feel like I put a lot into.

I'm gonna cheat and do 3 Drarry and 3 Larry because I can't cope with asymmetry and both fandoms matter very much a lot to me.

Drarry:

(We'll Call This Fixer-Upper) Home

Draco Malfoy hasn’t set foot on English soil in ten years. After the war, he fled to America, where he found himself in a community, and healed himself through following his heart into music. He’s now the lead singer and songwriter for an internationally known band, who have come back to headline the Wiltshire Music Festival. But as Draco is about to learn, his past isn’t as far away as he might have believed, and his future may hold more than he ever could have dreamed.

This is probably my OG Drarry fic and I just... yeah. I really love this one.

Maybe You're the Difference

It's been years since the war. Sure, it's probably a bad idea to hook up with Harry Potter, but Potter is gorgeous and interested.

Besides. Draco knows he’s in no danger of doing something stupid like falling in love with Potter.

This one was one of those fics where the opening scene came into my head and took me by the throat and WOULD NOT LET ME GO.

The Privilege of Being Yours

Once more, Harry Potter is being called upon to save the world, only this time, instead of dying, he's going to have to have Ritual Sex with Draco Malfoy.

This was one of those fics where I was like OH HEY WHAT IF HARRY AND DRACO HAD TO HAVE SEX FOR RITUAL MAGIC REASONS™ and then because I am who I am as a person, this happened, complete with So. Much. Magical. Theory.

Larry:

Feels Like Coming Home

The last thing Harry Styles expects when he's hanging out at the Someday Cafe in Somerville one rainy October day is for his ex, Louis Tomlinson to walk through the door, but that's exactly what happens. After a spectacularly ugly break-up three years prior, Harry hasn't heard one word from Louis, and he's moved on. Gotten over him. But having Louis back in his life, not to mention working at the restaurant where he's a chef, isn't easy, and the feelings that Harry thought he'd left turn out to be not so easily forgotten.

This is a story about love and the power of forgiveness, and how the hard choices we make define us, and change our lives.

This is definitely one of my OG fics. One of the first long things I posted, and one I worked really hard on and poured SO MUCH of myself into.

no heart for me like yours (no love for you like mine)

When Harry Styles, wedding dress designer to the stars (sort of) and Louis Tomlinson, wedding planner and relationship expert (kind of) meet on the occasion of their sisters' engagement, sparks fly. But not the good kind. Louis thinks Harry is a dick and Harry thinks Louis is an asshole.

That doesn't last long.

The road to true love isn't always smooth or uncomplicated. Can two stubborn men find their way?

This is nowhere near one of my most popular works, but honestly, it's one of my favorite things I've written and I really think it's one of the best.

I'm Hot for Teacher (series)

This is probably cheating because it's 5 fics, not 1, but it's one cohesive story written for Wordplay 2021. I just really had fun with this, and I think it's the first thing I wrote in this particular way, as installments. And it's sort of a love song to academia.

[smoooothoperator]

What a Shame

02: Love Story

Driver! Charles Leclerc x Singer! OC (Juliette Morelli)

Exes to Lovers, Forced Proximity, Childhood Sweathearts

Summary: she has to deal with him on her own way, and he has to deal with the consequences

Words: 2.5k

warnings: Lando x OC, charles being stupid, flashbacks are on italics. Love Story

Official Playlist (I will add more songs as I write)

Every interaction is very welcomed!!!!!

Masterlist

previous part | next part

a/n: hi hi loes!! welcome to de second chapter of this beautiful sroty i'm making!!! if you want to be tagged don't forget to massage me!!

🎤

He's here.

Charles Leclerc is here. Of course he is! Why did I never think about it? He is Pierre's best friend. He's one of those drivers that would come to the wedding.

"Shit, shit, shit" I groaned storming out of the room even before Valerie walked in.

"Juliette!"

I sigh and take a deep breath. She saw me, fuck!

"Hey, where are you going?" she asked me worriedly, walking towards me.

"Why didn't you tell me he was coming?" I asked her, hurt. "Why didn't you tell me Charles is Pierre's best man?"

"Because I wanted you in my wedding, Juliette! I wanted you to be here even if he was here" she sighed holding my hands. "Do this for me… Please?"

I look at her taking a deep breath. The last ten years the only moment I thought about him was while looking at the calendar and watching the day when he broke up with me. Every year I wrote my frustrations down in a notebook and those words became songs. And now he's here, standing next to Pierre and clearly not bothered.

"He better stay away from the entire weekend" I said walking back inside, sitting back on the chair and looking at him one last time before moving my eyes to the other side of the room.

The rehearsal of the wedding was quick, they just skipped their vows and the exchange of rings, just doing what they had to do to make sure everything was ready.

"The dinner will be at the restaurant of the villa" the maid of honor said to the few people that came to the rehearsal in the church.

I got up when I noticed his eyes on me, looking away and walking out of the church. The villa is not far from here, just to the other side of the village.

I took a deep breath and looked around, swallowing thickly when I heard him call my name. No, no.

"Oh god, you are Juliette Morelli?" a man asked behind me, making me turn around and smile.

He had curly brown hair and bright eyes, a British accent and a cute smile.

"I am" I smile, looking at Charles for afar walking towards me. "And you are…?"

"Lando Norris" he smiled, walking with me as I started the way towards the villa. "One of Pierre's friends"

"Yeah, I imagined" I nodded smiling.

While we talked I felt his eyes on the back of my neck. I know he's looking at us, I wish I knew what he was thinking.

"I guess you are staying here in the villa" Lando smiled looking at me. "Which room?"

"Oh number 203" I said smiling. "I'm Valerie's best friend, so…"

"Oh? And how is it that you are not her maid of honor? I thought every girl does that?" he frowned, making me laugh weakly and shake my head.

"I'm tired of being a maid of honor, so… Hey, but I'm going to sing at their first dance" I laughed.

"So I'll be at a free concert of Juliette Morelli?" he laughed.

I looked at him and bite my lip. Maybe I can have a little fun with him, just to get Charles out of my mind.

The dinner was a little messy. Kids around, parents trying to control them, Pierre and Valerie nervous and just to add to the mix, Charles was killing me and Landon with his eyes all night.

"So tell me, which song will you do tomorrow?" Lando asked me, leaning on the back of his chair.

"Hm, is a surprise" I smirk. "The only hint I'll give you is that it's a gift I made for them"

"A new song?" he said surprised.

"Yeah" I nod smiling. "I don't think I'll drop it, actually. Is a song I wrote for them and only them"

Lando was someone I could talk easily with. He liked many things and always had a way to start another conversation with me. At least it helped me to not think about him during the dinner.

When people started to go back to their rooms I just got up from the table, going to grab a drink. I just felt like I needed to drink something to stop my own instinct: going to Charles.

"I'm going to grab something to drink" I told Lando, getting up from the chair and looking down at him. "You coming?"

"Oh, I… Yeah" he nodded standing up too.

I smiled and bit my lip, looking at him. Yeah, I could have fun with him tonight.

"Juliette" I heard him say my name, making me stop my steps, freezing.

I wanted to keep walking, to make my legs work. But it was like they were jelly, shaking when I heard his voice. Is deeper than ten years ago, he still keeps that french accent I once loved, but the way he said my name is not the same he used to say it.

"What? You know her?" Lando asked him, surprised. "Dude! You know I'm a fan and you never introduced her to me!"

"Can you leave us alone for a minute, Lando? I have to talk with her" he sighed and I just took a deep breath when I saw Lando walk away.

Well, there goes my chance of having a funny night. Thank you, Charles.

"Don't you dare to hook up with him" he said on my back, making me turn around and look at him, incredulous.

"First of all, who I hook up with is none of your business anymore" I said frowning, looking at him disgusted.

"It is when he's my friend!" he exclaimed, making me laugh.

"Really? The first thing you say to me after all this time is that?" I laughed shaking my head. "How ridiculous"

"Juliette, I-"

"No, Leclerc" I said frowning, pointing my finger at him and making him shut up. "You are no longer my boyfriend. Not even my friend. You don't have any rights to tell who I am allowed to fuck and who I am not. I'm over you"

"Oh, yeah? Tell that to all your Grammy winning songs about me" he said crossing his arms, a mischievous grin on his lips.

"Fuck you, Leclerc!" I exclaimed and walked away.

He doesn't have any right to do this to me. He was the one that ended things, the one that said I was distracting him.

I just walked the way I saw Lands leaving, smiling relieved when I saw him sitting on one of the highchairs of the drinks bar.

"Do you two know each other?" he asked me, making me sigh and roll my eyes.

"Unfortunately" I sighed.

He looked at me and I just turned around, ordering a glass of whiskey and taking a sup of it after the bartender served it to me. I heard Lando humming and saw him nodding, looking in front of him.

"Well, he's looking at you" he said and I just sighed groaning.

"Good for him" I scoffed and looked at Lado, biting my lip.

I saw him looking at me and I just smiled, resting my head on the palm of my hand. He smiled back, taking a deep breath and leaning his back on the bar.

I bite my lip and smirk, cupping his cheek with my hand and leaning on him quickly to peck his lips, pulling away and chuckling.

"You are cute" I said smiling, looking at how he blushed and laughed nervously.

"Hm, you are too" he smiled, biting his lip, licking afterwards. "But why did you kiss me?"

"Oh, because I wanted to" I laughed. "I mean, if you have a girlfriend I'm so sorry!"

"No, no, it's okay" he laughed. "I'm single as fuck"

"Good, me too" I said, making him laugh. "Come to my room"

"What? I… Are you sure?" he frowned surprised, quiet shocked.

"Hey, let's just have fun" I said, nudging his side. "We're two single people at a wedding. Believe me, I know for experience how boring that is"

I looked at him and by the corner of my eye I saw Charles leaving mad, just making me smile at Lando more.

Good. Let's have fun.

🏎️

I wanted to talk with her. To hear her voice, her laugh.

But that didn't go how I wanted it to. I heard her voice, but not while she talked to me but to Lando. I heard her laugh, caused by Lando. I saw her smile, while she talked with Lando.

"Dude, you are staring again" Pierre whispered in my ear, making me jump on the seat and gasp.

"Pierre! Dude, stop doing that!" I exclaimed.

He laughed and it made me groan. My eyes went back to her, sitting with Lando and touching his arm while she laughed at something he said, throwing her head back. That means she's having fun for real.

"Why don't you talk with her?" Pierre asked me, making me frown and look at him.

"Are you for real? You saw how she reacted when she saw me in the church not long ago" I scoffed. "You really want to see her screaming at me?"

"I mean… You kinda deserve it" he said, shrugging his shoulders. "Now you have to deal with the consequences, all by yourself"

I looked at him frowning, kinda hurt with his lack of support, and looked down at the plate with food.

Hearing her laugh makes my appetite go away because I'm not the one causing it.

After some hours since everyone finished their dinner, people started getting up to go to their rooms or to the drinks bar, and I was still sitting on the table doing as if I heard what Valerie and Pierre were talking about.

They are not getting up. She's sitting closer to him. He rested his arm on the back of her chair. She's doing that thing when she feels relaxed, playing with a little strand of her hair and twisting it on her finger. They are sitting too close.

But then she got up and he followed her, looking back at the drinks bar.

Then my legs worked alone, making me stand and walk towards her. My lips worked alone and pronounced her name, and I hated it because it sounded different than when I used to say it.

I heard her heels stopping, how she took a deep breath. I ignored Lando, not looking at him and just fixing my eyes on her. She turned around and I just felt the world stop.

She looks more beautiful than ever. Her eyes are different, they don't look at me the way the used to. Her lips are no longer making that perfect smile she used to gift me. She's skinnier, but her body is perfect, all the curves she had are better and made her look more mature, more adult.

I didn't plan what I wanted to say to her, but it definitely wasn't what I said. I didn't want to argue with her, but watching her with Lando made something grow inside of me that I never felt before. Hearing her say that she's over me, even if I deserve it, made me feel angry, but I didn't have the right to say those things to her.

"I am stupid" I groaned to myself when I saw her walk towards Lando again, watching how she sat on the high chair and talked with him.

But what hurt me the most was when she kissed him.

That's not the Juliette I once knew. That's not the person I fell in love with. She's someone else right now. Someone, even if I hated to admit it, I was destroyed.

I felt many emotions inside of me. Anger, jealousy, pain, anxiety. All the emotions I had buried in the deepest part of my soul are now getting out of that box, coming to the surface and exploding right in front of my face since the moment I saw her a few hours ago.

I never wanted to recognize it, but now watching her with someone else makes me regret what I did to her.

I just walked out of the building, sitting on a bench that was under fairy lights. The place is beautiful, Pierre and Valerie made a great choice with this villa.

I remember when Juliette and I were younger, dreaming awake on the bed while holding each other how our future could be. She used to tell me that she would be my trophy girlfriend if I was her trophy boyfriend. That she would go to my races if I went to her concerts.

I still remember how I played the piano with her when she wrote her songs, helping her with the melody and finding the right notes for it. She was always a genius with words, writing beautiful poems that she transformed into songs.

"Hey, I just had an idea" she told me, sitting next to me on the couch with her back notebook and a book in her hand. 

"What are you doing reading Romeo and Juliet?" I laughed when I saw the title of the book, grabbing it and opening it to find some lines highlighted. 

"I just wanted to write a song, you idiot" she laughed, taking the book away from my hands. 

"Remember when I told you that the way we met reminded me of their story?

"Yeah, at the annual ball the prince does" I nodded, smiling at the memory. "Your dad really hated me that night"

"He was just overprotective" she laughed, rolling her eyes. "I just... I just wanted to write a song about us, you know?"

"That's so beautiful" I smiled, wrapping my arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to me. "Any ideas?  You already have the lyrics?"

She showed me the notebook and I just smiled reading it, falling for her even more. 

"Wait, let me add something" I said, grabbing the pen and writing the last verse.

Marry me, Juliet, you'll never have to be alone. 

I love you, and that's all I really know

I talked to your dad, go pick out a white dress

It's a love story, baby, just say yes

"Wait, what?" she gasped, making me laugh.

"If this song is our story, it should end this way" I said while playing with her hair. "This is a promise, yeah?"

"It's a promise" she said smiling, looking at me.

I looked up at the dark sky full of stars and smiled sadly. I made many promises to her and broke most of them.

"I am so stupid" I sighed, closing my eyes defeated.

taglist

@lestappenloverr @racinggirl @roni-midnights

[buggywiththefolkmagic]

Queer Vintage Music

For no particular reason....have some Queer old music stars to listen to if you want~ Wilma Burgess! Honestly one of my favs and she also opened the first lesbian bar in Nashville in the 80s. She's such an icon. She also specifically picked love songs with no gendered wording, and was supposedly the first 'out to the industry' lesbian to hit Nashville. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbiAlu2tpHI Lavender Country! Possibly the first full gay album in country music. Patrick Haggerty is a beloved icon for a damn good reason! A massive advocate against hate, his band disbanded only a few years after coming together but he married his partner and spent 30 plus years performing for both pride events and alzheimer's patients. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HL1qqHKe8bQ Billy Wright! The man who inspired Little Richard, he was a flamboyant man for his era and even often wore drag. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob-BjIQr-E4 Esquerita/The Magnificent Malochi/Fabulash! Another big inspiration for Little Richard, he was entirely self taught and had mad piano skills. He took on various names and performing-personas throughout his musical career. Sadly we lost him to AIDS far, far too young. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjJ6okMLGDs Jackie Shane! She came out as trans in the 70s which holy moly what a powerhouse to do so! She originally got her start from watching a Frank Motley concert. She went off to do solo work after a few years and ooh such a smooth voice! She stopped performing after the 70s and turned down at least one offer to sing for another band in order to take care of her mother. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiDVfi5dVp0 Janis Ian! A lot of her music surrounds social issues, which I really appreciate. Good soft listening and she began her career at 14!! Came out in the late 90s and married her wife a decade later. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESS0eKJpEZQ Johnnie Ray! Johnnie Ray was considered one of the 'top ten' artists amongst young people in the 1950s. He was hip, cool, and was given the nickname Mr. Emotion because of how out there and physically in tune with his music his facial expressions were. He sold it. Johnnie was deaf in one ear, and was Judy Garland's best man at her wedding. He never officially came out, only arrested for cruising, but passed of liver failure in 1990. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gX82VcjJvew Johnny Mathis! He began his career in the 50s and had hits scattered up throughout the 70s! He came out in 2017 in an interview saying, "Hey everyone's a little gay in San Francisco." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCjTWYoRTzM Leslie Gore! The absolute icon behind "It's my Party" and "You Don't Own Me". She weas heavily influenced by the feminism and peace movements and didn't come out until after the peak of her career. One of my personal favorite artists of all time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09qLEYB8e0A Sister Rosetta Tharpe! Her career started in the late 30s, the godmother of rock n roll and the ORIGINAL soul sister. She was one of the first gospel artists to change genres entirely. She'd remain a powerhouse and sing alongside other amazing artists like Muddy Waters, unfortunately she was a massive target of both racism and sexism, often told that she "played like a man" when she often outplayed any guitar player that tried. Artists like Muddy Waters, Aretha Franklin, Johnny Cash, and Tina Turner called her the first and massive influence. She supposedly dated fellow gospel singer Marie Knight for quite a few years. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9a49oFalZE And that's it for now! Obviously not a complete list, but a list of ones I find super influential and important, at least to me!

[whats-wild-to-you]

omg u have to write something about yesterday plz im on my knees and im begging 😭

It’s the ultimate wedding serenade… like Jay will be singing this to his wife at their wedding … there’s no other way … not today though 😈

p.s. trigger warning: towards the end I’m using the R word … twice 🫢🫣

____________________________________________

You were 5 when you saw Park Jaebum for the first time. He played with his friends at the playground, his knees all scraped up but in that moment he was the most fascinating person to you. 2 years later, he kissed your cheek at school. 10 years after that you shared your first real kiss. He became your first boyfriend, but your first love didn't last long.

"I’m going to Korea!" He proudly announced one day. "I'm going to become a singer!"

You were happy for him, although your heart broke into a million pieces when you heard the news.

Trying to forget him was harder than you expected, especially when you saw him perform on tv. Several years had passed but he still occupied a big portion of your thoughts. And heart.

Only one year later he returned to Seattle. At first you weren't aware, but when you found out you looked for him. He was still the same, yet had changed so much. You wanted to be by his side again, but he pushed you away.

"I'm not going anywhere!" You called after him.

When he decided to return to Korea once more, you didn't hesitate. "I'm coming with you!"

He shook his head, told you you wouldn't like it, you'd be incredibly homesick and for a second you thought if that was how he had felt.

"I don't care. I'm not leaving you!"

"Ever?" He questioned.

You nodded.

"Promise."

"I promise!"

Luckily, you adjusted to life in Seoul pretty fast. Jay was busy recording songs and promoting, but he always brought you with him, proudly showing you off.

Luck was on his side and soon he was able to establish his own record label. The further up he climbed the ladder of success, the more you struggled to keep up with him.

Doubts started forming in your head, maybe you were holding him back.

You became Jay's shadow, always by his side but always hidden in the background as well. You didn't want to interfere with his business and never complained when he casted beautiful models to be in his videos. To you Jay Park and Park Jaebum were two different people.

You believed Jay appreciated you for that, but every now and then you questioned yourself if he took you for granted. You had become part of his team, his entourage, his inner circle, but you didn't feel as if you were his girlfriend anymore.

Afraid to approach the subject, you told yourself that he was too busy caring about important things and you shouldn't bother him with such trivial issues.

"Are you okay?" One day he asked you.

"갑자기?"

At that point you had known him for almost 20 years, and had been living with him in Korea for 10 years.

"How about I take the week off and we go somewhere nice?"

"Sounds good!"

While laying cuddled up on a lounge chair, overlooking the sea, you heard Jay sigh deeply.

"What is it?" You mumbled half-asleep.

"I just realized that I never thanked you. For sticking by me."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"The last ten years were crazy, right? But you were always there by my side, walking with me."

"Of course, babe!"

He placed a dainty kiss on your cheek and pulled out his phone.

"I started working on a song last night, when you were sleeping. Here!" He handed you his phone where he wrote down a few lines in his Notes app.

Lost in thought, you read them out loud.

Whether I'm up or down Or I wear no crown Love me the same way the same way U did as yesterday Whether I'm rich or poor Just call me yours Love me the same way the same way U did as yesterday

"Did you write this for me?"

"Is it that obvious?"

"Well, to me it is. Because I've been knowing you all my life."

"Through it all, the ups and downs, you were the one person always sticking by me. I wouldn't be able to be where I am right now without you. I hope you know that! With you by my side I'm not scared to retire because I know you will still love me just as much."

"If not more. But where is this coming from? Retirement?"

"I'm just thinking a lot about the future these days."

"Oh, yeah? What does the future look like?"

"You and I living in a house on the countryside, with a garden and a hairy dog."

"Tell me more."

"We would run around, chasing after our three kids while we ..."

[vegietribe]

Actors Who Turned Vegan

If you're one of the non-vegan diets following readers, I would like to ask you to set your philosophical and cultural ideas of what it means to be human aside. I know if I were reading this article about veganism instead of writing it, that's exactly what I'd be thinking about.

It is strange that most of us are still not aware of what veganism actually means. What is it? Where does this term come from? There are going to be two points of view about this post. First, veganism is a type of healthy diet that excludes the consumption of animal products. It includes total abstinence from meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, and dairy products. This term denotes ethical vegetarianism.

As time is changing, a vast section of society is considering the problem due to unplanned and unhealthy food. Hollywood celebrities and big companies are turning to the vegan lifestyle. The list is quite long, we will discuss some of the leading red-carpet celebrities who recently turned vegan.

Joaquin Phoenix ‍ We are sure you have seen his incredible Oscar-winning performance in Joker. Who would have thought that people who don't like animals would start eating plant-based food? Because a celebrity likes Joaquin Phoenix switched to such a healthy type of eating habit?

Woody Harrelson

We are very confident that you must have loved the "Now you see me" series. Then you must be a fan of him; but, did you know that Woody Harrelson has gone vegan? Woody Harrelson is the poster boy for ethical eating and has turned vegan almost ten years back. He's also invested in Vegan's parent company for more than five years now. To top it all off, he's an active supporter of ethically vegetarian meat substitute vegan buffets, plant-based snacks and more products, Tofurky.

Peter Dinklage ‍ Peter Dinklage doesn’t seem like a man who’d be on board with the Red Wedding. Like Tyrion Lannister, he’s a charming, diplomatic, thoughtful guy. Dinklage has been a complete vegetarian since the age of 15.

Billie Eilish

Billie Eilish, the pop singer, is a vegan. She decided to become a vegetarian at 13, and then a few years later, she made the leap to veganism. For her, it was a matter of principle. She kept telling people that no one should murder animals for others to eat them. Hence, supported vegetarianism on her behalf.

Zac Efron

‍Zac Efron is a great example of boldness in action. He says veganism helps him stay fit and be healthy organic food. Zac Efron is an actor in many movies, but I'm not here to talk about his acting career. Zac Efron is vegan. He also decided to become a bodybuilder. He didn’t want to exploit animals for personal means. It shows a lot of courage and reveals his boldness too.

Since there are so many misunderstandings about what vegans can (or should) eat. Vegietribe takes pride in offering you the service with all vegan nutritionally healthy and organic food platters at one place. Basically, veganism is a way of living that excludes the use of animals for food, clothing, entertainment, or any other purpose. To be vegan is to support all animal liberation, animal rights, and anti-specialism movements. A vegan strives to live in harmony with animals. Basically, the vegan lifestyle seeks compassion and decency toward all creatures. There are many reasons to go ethically vegetarian or vegan, but there is one that rarely gets mentioned. It's the only diet practical for someone who wants to live a long time.

[sinceileftyoublog]

St. Lenox Interview: Good Waterpark Design

Photo by Aaron Cansler

BY JORDAN MAINZER

You may think you have very little in common with a PhD holder and lawyer who also happens to be a brilliant singer-songwriter. But Andrew Choi, who records as St. Lenox, continues to cull from his experiences, whether they've happened to him or others, to tell tales that transcend background, let alone educational level or salary. His studio albums have followed the same format: ten songs centering around a theme, often presented as a gift to others, sometimes as a gift to himself. They've covered Choi's own experiences with life and love, his father's immigration to the United States, and our collective existence during periods of political upheaval. And though his latest, Ten Modern American Work Songs, out today via Don Giovanni and Anyway, technically strays from the pattern (it has an introductory track for a total of 11), it sports everything you love about a St. Lenox record, from Choi's powerhouse vocals and diaristic lyrics to underratedly complex arrangements of chintzy chamber pop and hearty indie rock.

Written as a (facetiously non-financial) 10-year reunion contribution to the NYU Law Class of 2014, Ten Modern American Work Songs is notably filled with regret, the songs' protagonists often struggling to reconcile their current status symbols with the familial warmth they've left behind. But it also imbues a universal hope, for things as tangible as fairer wages and better work-life balance and as abstract as gaining or maintaining happiness. "Victory!" shouts Choi on "Courtesan", the album's first proper song after its introductory vignette. "After seven years of agony, I get to be a courtesan this year." Atop a swirling synth arpeggio and steady, marching drums, the anthemic chorus is both a shout of moral panic and a weight lifted off of the protagonist's shoulders: He can finally make some money. The tone is sarcastic on "Lust for Life", rife with organ, harmonic synths, and toy-like mallet percussion; though the protagonist is happy that he's going to be part of unionization efforts, he recognizes the fact that his job is thankless, that "Everyone comes running back to us when the hour is dire or they are near death."

A lesser songwriter would make songs about labor sung from the perspective of someone making good money, even if they are paying off debt, sound cynical, especially given increasing wealth inequality. Though Choi is careful to separate his voice from that of the protagonists, it's clear his lived experience contributes to the album's realness. It's why a song like "Rudy" works, about a classmate who prioritized family life over the corporate ladder; the protagonist calls himself, in contrast, a "big city, fast-talking asshole" and a "weeknight twilight pissant." You know, at the same time, that there's part of Rudy who wishes he, too, was a "weekend corporation peon." On album closer "On Fulfillment", the narrator commiserates with a fellow lawyer at the wedding of a mutual friend. Equal to their sense of, "What could have been?" is a hilarious recognition of their own economic privilege." "Jet-setting off to Venice or at the high-society gala," Choi sings, "It seems they always waste these things on us mere middle-aged attorneys."

My favorite songs on Ten Modern American Work Songs, or at least the ones that best showcase Choi as not just a songwriter or lyricist but scene-builder, are those that take place in seemingly mundane locations. Sure, you might find touching and relatable, lines about the protagonist's dad teaching him how to drywall and lay tile, and him nevertheless abandoning a house in Columbus for the least bang for his buck in NYC. But a song like "New York Speaks Softly at Night", with its layered organ and keys, provides even more gut punches, the narrator taking the subway, looking at people around himself and perceiving their lives, even a "wet orange cat in the pouring rain." "It looked at me like I could be its midnight savior / Hard luck Garfield got the Mondays yet again," Choi sings, the most MJ Lenderman line on a non-MJ Lenderman record this year. “Quasi-Nichomachean Ethics (Drunk Uncle Advice)” sees someone giving advice to his 21-year-old nephew, a mix of words earnest, empathetic, pragmatic, and snarky. "Don't underestimate the tendency of humans to keep on disappointing you at every waking opportunity," Choi sings. If at first, it sounds harsh, the more you listen to it, you wish someone would have told you the same thing when you were young. And "Kalahari" takes place at a waterpark in Sandusky, OH, the narrator beholden to the exact speed of the lazy river, the perfect place for existential pondering. "Forget vacationing down in Mexico, where all the ex-pats hate the tourists like you," Choi sings, peeling back layers of American obnoxiousness while expressing a genuine love for a "not real authentic" park.

As if the density of Ten Modern American Work Songs, the album, wasn't enough, St. Lenox has also released videos for all of the album's singles, titled differently than the songs themselves. He and his husband Elon star in each of them, but as with the album, he refers to the characters in the video as distinct from himself. In the video for "Rudy", titled "How to Get a Table at Tatiana", the main character's unable to get a reservation at the acclaimed NYC Afro-Caribbean restaurant of the same name, so he works on his own cooking skills instead. In the video for “Quasi-Nichomachean Ethics (Drunk Uncle Advice)", titled “Introduction to Modern Philosophy”, the narrator tells us about the death of a mentor of his before he has to give his nephew advice, Choi inverting the plot of the song. The video for "Your Local Neighborhood Bar", titled "Open Mic: The Egalitarian Institution", is the protagonist's tribute to past post-work performances, where everyone was on the same playing field. The video for "Lust for Life", titled, "What Do We Do with the Roses in our Garden", sees the protagonist and his husband weighing their new life in suburbia, having recently purchased a home, decorating it with their items and taking care of what existed there before them. The one first person exception is the video for "Courtesan"; entitled "The JD Vance Couch", it's the true story of how the couch that Choi and his husband are sitting on in the video, as they wave at their infant daughter, was given to him by a law school classmate who was roommates with the Republican nominee for Vice President. Potential jokes aside, in the video, Choi laments Vance's idea that leaders must have direct stakes in the future (their own children), considering that Vance may have been in an ethics class, taught by Choi himself, at The Ohio State University.

Though it may be challenging for the average listener to connect all the dots, thankfully, Choi was willing to answer some questions over email about the world of Ten Modern American Work Songs. Below, read his responses, edited for length and clarity.

Since I Left You: In your track-by-track breakdown of the album, you refer to the song's narrators as "the protagonist," who often lead a life similar to yours. How autobiographical is the album?

Andrew Choi: Fairly autobiographical, but from time to time, songs evolve on their own. Sometimes, the stories of people that I know make their way in, or sometimes, I'll change a few details for the sake of anonymity. "Rudy", for instance, isn't exactly my story. There are some details of my life that are in there--I did forget my mom's birthday one year, and I felt awful about it. But I don't have a friend in Missouri named Rudy. (I do have a friend named Rudy, but the song isn't about him, it's just that the name works for the song). In "Rudy", the protagonist has mixed feelings of contempt and envy for an acquaintance who has prioritized things in life somewhat differently, and I think that is definitely something I can identify with.

In "On Fulfillment", it's based initially on a real event, of law school classmates meeting up many years later at the wedding of another classmate, and some of the song is about me, but some of it is stories I hear from other people. Most of the rest of the record is more completely autobiographical, but I'm sure there's some artistic license taken throughout.

I refer to the song's narrators as "the protagonist" partly as a defense mechanism, because a lot of American listeners will see me as an Asian-American musician and have an instinct to view this as music about "other" people. But these are stories about work life that I think of as more broadly applying to young Gen-X and elder Millennials, about education and social mobility, that I know my friends talk about a lot. People have a very strong tendency to identify with people who look like them, and it affects their ability to interpret what they're seeing or hearing, whose side they take in an argument, or how they relate to one another. So I provide that as, perhaps, guidance or emphasis on the way to approach the record as a listener--that they see the narrator as the protagonist, because in America, you have to kind of correct or guide those tendencies up front. As someone who gets "othered" constantly in the music industry, in person and in print, its a constant struggle to adjust that tendency and have especially white Americans think, "I can identify with him."

SILY: At times, it seems like the songs on this album have a difference in tone between their sound and subject, or even between themselves and their respective music videos. Was achieving a certain level of contrast important to you?

AC: Regarding the music videos, I think if you spell out what the subject matters of the song and the videos are, you'll find that they talk about the same things, though I admit that processing the music videos takes some time to work through, because I have multiple narratives happening simultaneously. Perhaps the video will provide a different take on an idea from the song, but even, then it is advancing the subject matter in a way that makes the pairing meaningful.

For instance, in "Rudy", the protagonist is living a more ambitious life and has regrets over whether he should be doing some of the more domestic things that his friend is doing. In the music video, the protagonist has moved out of the city and now lives in New Jersey, where he complains about not being able to do some of the high social status things he could have done if he still lived in the city. These are different but related perspectives on ambition and social status or FOMO; the protagonists have FOMO but desire (almost) the exact opposite of what the other does. And looking at the issue from multiple perspectives is meaningful.

In "Quasi-Nichomachean Ethics" the protagonist is giving advice to his nephew, much of which is somewhat half-assed and not very philosophical. The protagonist in the video is the same protagonist, but talks in a more philosophical way about advice itself, reflecting on the philosophical tradition of passing along wisdom, and (perhaps) arguing about how relevant the practice of philosophy is to life in general. The subject matter of the music and video are pretty complementary, because they both talk about advice but from different perspectives. And while I'm inclined to think the song gives less important advice because it's less "philosophical," I also think its the advice I would tend to give a young person, because it's very practical.

I don't think contrast is important in and of itself. Between the music and subject matter of the songs, I use the music mainly to set the emotional perspective of the protagonist, as context for interpreting what's happening in the lyrics. If the music seems contradictory, it may reflect a more nuanced attitude of the protagonist. I could have written "Courtesan" with music that provided a more sneering and cynical take on law school, but I didn't because I want the listener to look at it from the protagonist's eyes. It should sound more hopeful, because that is how the protagonist feels. Despite future uncertainty, he's gained social mobility and his experience is a mixture of hope, excitement and a bit of fear. I would say in general, if the music sounds unexpected, it's providing a direct emotional cue to interpreting how the protagonist views the subject matter, maybe 100% of the time, in my songs.

SILY: Why did you decide to (technically) break the 10-song pattern of your albums with a prologue track 0?

AC: The track 0 was originally going to be a longer song, but the first pass, I think, presented the idea completely on its own and, I think, set the stage for the record, so I didn't need to write a full 3 passes. Sure, in some sense, it's a song. But for me, the songs that I put down will generally have a more complete narrative structure. Track 0 doesn't (in my opinion) have that. It more sets the tone for ingesting the rest of the record, because it prompts the listener to think generally about the value of work. If anything, it's like that ditty before Joan Osborne's "One of Us": not a full song in and of itself, but it provides an emotional context for the full song, whereas my ditty provides as a context for the record as a whole. (Also for modern practical purposes, I would want to present "Courtesan" on its own without including "Eulogy", so combining them into a single track wouldn't work out very well.)

SILY: I love how "Kalahari" toys with ideas of authenticity when it comes to tourism, often in a tongue-in-cheek way. As someone who has spent years in both the Midwest and the East Coast, do you ever feel uniquely positioned to comment on how we perceive parts of the country different from ours, even if you're still poking fun at yourself when commenting?

AC: I think, maybe, it makes me twice as frustrated to see things get lost in translation both directions? A few months ago, I visited this restaurant in my home town in Iowa, which is where I went with friends for our high school senior prom. It was known in high school as the best restaurant in town, and served elegant French food, including escargot, which we tried for the first time as young naïve high schoolers. Many years later, the restaurant had reverted to something like a mixture of a TGIFridays and a pan-European cafeteria, which was a very jarring, memory-destroying experience. I actually looked the restaurant up the other day, and saw that many years before I had even gone there in high school, it was written up in the New York Times as a restaurant with a hopeful chef trying to bring old school French cuisine (like you might find in New York City) to the Midwest. It's such a depressing story, and yet, I was able to get dinner there for myself, my husband, and my parents all for less than $100. Anyway, I don't think you're going to get that perspective without living in the Midwest and living on the coast for some time, but it puts you in a funk just having that perspective. So, I guess the answer is, "Yes?"

SILY: Do you often find places like waterparks--that can be rife with loads of loud people and music--conducive to self-reflection?

AC: It depends what you're looking at. Have you ever been to the lazy river? "Kalahari" was intended to connect to aspects of the lazy river. The electronica element is the bubbles floating up to the surface, and the slow metronome tempo, the constant speed of the lazy river. It's where all the parents and depressed adults go to avoid the high energy of the rides. In the lyrics, I situated the protagonist there at the beginning (and end) of the song. You're sitting in the lazy river, with the water pushing you along in a dream state, and you watch people from every stage of human life pass by you by. It's very existential. That's not even me being artistic or especially insightful, that's just good waterpark design.

SILY: "New York Speaks Softly At Night" describes someone recalling the various people and things they saw while riding the subway. As a writer, do you find shared spaces, like public transportation or airports, inspirational?

AC: I think shared public spaces are places where you are forced to be in acquaintance with people and stories that you might not otherwise choose yourself. I'm not saying that public transportation doesn't have predictable patterns, but I think, these days, it's a nice counterpoint to social media, where people either manicure their interactions or have their interactions manicured by the algorithm to the point that they lose perspective. But in this song, I was just pointing out maybe an unexpected positive aspect of working late at night, is that it puts you in touch with different characters and stories you might not expect.

SILY: Is your violin on "Quasi-Nichomachean Ethics (Drunk Uncle Advice)" meant to sound overbearing, or at least in-your-face, like a reflection of the narrator giving advice?

AC: It is a reflection of the narrator, in the sense of being a kind of drunken happy revelry? I think it may sound overbearing, but I think in modern times, that's partly because we interpret stringed instruments as passive, chord-blocking orchestral filler. If you're a concert violinist, you will know that the violin in particular is one of the instruments that best mimics the human voice. It's a soloist instrument and deserves to be utilized in solos in the way that rock bands use the guitar, only it does a better job of mimicking the human voice than the guitar for a variety of physical and technical reasons. It's heavily under-utilized, because pop music writers keep relegating it to chord filler or mood-setting background music. I think, in many cases, it's not even mic'd in such a way that captures its full expressive range. And I don't say this as someone who was merely "classically trained." I won national and international competitions for the violin as a soloist, back in the day. Pop and rock musicians don't understand the virtuosic potential of stringed instruments. At all.

SILY: Are you at all involved in any music industry labor efforts like United Musicians and Allied Workers?

AC: I'm not involved with the UMAW, though I'm broadly friendly to what I see as many of their goals. There are unions like the American Federation of Musicians whose goals I also broadly support.

What I do spend a fair bit of my free time on is trying to remedy what I see as socioeconomic inequality in the music industry. Many independent musicians don't have a grasp of the financial and institutional barriers to success as indie musicians, and they don't understand the extent to which "successful" indie bands are financed by large amounts of family money. My musician friends who are, for the most part, middle-class at best, simply don't have that kind of money, and if we were ever to put the screws to every band that gets a writeup or review in any major outlet and see how things were financed, you would end up with a population that looks a lot more like Princeton University or NYU Law School. Musicians who have less means need to be educated on that, so that they can plan accordingly. And look, I definitely support musicians trying to do things like increase streaming royalty rates (which the UMAW champions). But a musician friend that has a stellar but overlooked record is not going to get much from doubling the streaming royalties on his 500 streams last year. He would have gotten more from understanding ahead of time how to best allocate his limited savings on his record release, given inequalities in the system.

SILY: Are you planning on performing these songs live?

AC: If I can find a place that works for me. We moved to New Jersey somewhat recently, and its hard to book a show after you've moved, because nobody knows who you are, and who would you even invite? I have a kid now, too, so do I even have the time for that? I go to open-mic fairly regularly. In fact, I workshopped most of the songs on this record at an open-mic in Hoboken called Finnegan's Pub, and an open-mic in Cliffside Park, called Brass Rail Pub 2. I think music listeners should go to things like open mic more often. If rumors are correct, people actually used to do that more often in, like, the 1960s. You get to see the writing process up close and personal and see how a song develops over time. I have friends in comedy that invite me out to perform, so I'm sure I'll hit up some variety shows in the future.

SILY: Is there anything you've been listening to, watching, or reading lately that's caught your attention?

AC: I occasionally participate in Paul F. Tompkins' Varietopia, and if it comes to your town, I suggest you visit. It's just a really interesting mix of music and comedy--you never know who is going to perform, which is really the best way to ingest music and comedy. I ran into a comedian there, Hannah Pilkes, who was just so hilarious and intense with her characters, and I'm excited to see more.

I ran into a comedian, Dave Hill, through Cabinet of Wonders, put on by Wesley Stace, a few years ago, and then later at a radio show Come To Papa, put on by Tom Papa, and he has such a new sense of humor, and is a genuine guy himself. I am trying to get out of the house and catch his show "Caveman in a Spaceship" in the near future.

Joe Peppercorn (who is featured in the song "Your Local Neighborhood Bar") from Columbus has been putting out some really interesting records. Not a lot of people are that skilled at both songwriting and production/orchestration. He's a complete package in that sense, which you'll get a sense of by listening to his latest, Darkening Stars.

Mary Lynn, also out of Columbus, released a record a few years ago, Where I Wanna Be, which I was just very impressed by. It's a peak example of a record that I thought deserved much more exposure, but did not receive it, because of those financial/institutional barriers I mentioned.

Niall Connolly's last two records, The Patience of Trees and Dream Your Way Out of This One, are great. He has been organizing a great singer-songwriter community in NYC called Big City Folk for a long time and has been instrumental in keeping a sense of community alive amongst songwriters in the city.

I happened to hear a record last year, Ryan Wong's The New Country Sounds of Ryan Wong, which I found to be striking and fresh. He's just someone really mixing up country music in a way that doesn't feel forced or overthought.

Micah Schnabel has such a big body of work, I wouldn't know where one would start, but I found his latest, The Clown Watches The Clock, to be thought-provoking and topical, in a meaningful way.