#i think because he stopped touring for like a decade

[lock-my-feelings-in-a-jar]

[lovebugism]

Random conversations with rockstar eddie while high that obviously lead to something dirty 👀

ty for requesting :D — eddie asks you who you'd most want to have a threesome with and confessions are shared (band!au, established relationship, mentions of weed and smut 18+, 1.2k)

fictober (㇏(•̀ᵥᵥ•́)ノ)

It started out all cute, in your defense. 

The tour bus was parked in Colorado for the next couple of nights, and the mountains and trees were aflame with a very distinct golden color. You and Eddie chose to bask in the orange while the rest of the band spent the evening in the hotel.

Your night alone was an innocent one — despite the cheeky taunts and whistles from the rest of Corroded Coffin. Squished together in your bunk, the two of you got high and proceeded to talk about everything and nothing all at once. 

You share one pillow, noses mere inches apart, just barely fitting together on the small mattress. The skunky smell of weed and Eddie’s musky cologne is all-consuming, suffocating in the best way. 

Your poorly concealed giggles fill the silence of the bus as you press your palm against Eddie’s pale one, comparing the size difference between the two. It shouldn’t amuse you as much as it does.

“Would you still love me if Roger Taylor asked you out?” Eddie blurts, growing suddenly serious about the question that only just popped into his mind. 

He hadn’t meant to say it out loud. He thought it, and the words just sorta spilled from his mouth.

Your brows pinch at the sudden question, though there’s still a small smile on your face. You can’t be sure where he’s coming from — if it’s the weed or if he remembers the one time you very drunkenly confessed to having a decade-long obsession with the blonde-haired drummer in your girlhood.

“What?” you wonder, still giggling.

“I mean, like, if he showed up to one of our shows and asked you out, would you say yes?”

You ponder the question. For a few seconds too long, maybe. Mostly because it takes you a little while to understand him through the brain fog.

“Well… no,” you answer finally, voice wavering as your eyes flit to the darkened ceiling.

“No?”

“No,” you repeat, more firmly this time. Your gaze returns to his chocolate one, made a darker shade from the black night — they sparkle, still. A grin blooms on your face. “But I think if you really loved me, you’d let me fuck him. Just one time.”

You’re obviously kidding. It’s just a stupid joke made more evident by the dumb, lopsided smile on your face and the pointer finger you hold up to your nose.

Eddie knows this, and he’s sporting his own rosy grin accordingly. A fleeting thought sears his brain. It bubbles up in his throat and tumbles out before he can stop it.

“Only if I get to watch,” he retorts, all boyish and quiet. 

It’s hard to tell if he’s joking or not. But then again, it usually is. You decide to toe the line, anyway. “Really?” you hum, shifting on the mattress to face him more intently.

The boy shrugs while you smooth ornery curls from his temple. “Yeah. You’re hot. He’s hot. One plus one equals two… Or whatever that expression is.”

“Fair,” you concede, laughing still.

“Alright. Your turn.”

“My turn?”

“Mhmm,” he nods sloppily against the pillow. “Who would you wanna have a threesome with? Like, in a different universe or whatever, ‘cause I don’t think I’m strong enough to share you in real life.”

Again, you giggle. You can’t seem to stop, apparently. You answer quicker than either of you expect.

“Umm… Maybe Nancy,” you answer with a strange sort of nonchalance. “She’s hot… And also she looks like she slaps really hard.”

Eddie’s brain goes blank. And not from the weed this time.

He knew Nancy. Vaguely. Mostly from you. She’s your old friend from high school that you reconnect with every couple of months. You don’t talk crazy often — ‘cause life is too busy for an up-and-coming rockstar and Indiana’s best journalist — but the connection is never truly lost.

And it’s not just that you chose Nancy without having to think about it very hard. He just wasn’t expecting it to be someone you knew in real life. Someone so tangible. That Roger Taylor scenario would only ever happen in wet dreams — his, namely — but Nancy Wheeler? That could be arranged.

The thought alone has him reeling.

You watch him get in his head about the whole thing, though maybe the faraway look in his eyes is just from the weed.

“Well?” you press with an urging lilt and a girlish grin. “You’re turn, Eds. Don’t leave me hangin’ here.”

He goes quiet, which is very unlike your loudmouth boy. He thinks before he speaks, measures his reply before he answers. His absentminded fingers trace up and down the length of your arm all the while, leaving prickling goosebumps in their wake.

“What about Steve?” he wonders with a painfully nonchalant inflection.

Your face screws up instantaneously. You don’t mean to act as shocked as you do, but you can’t help it. “Steve?” you blurt, louder than you meant to. “Like… Steve Steve?”

As in your ex-boyfriend Steve.

As in one of his best friends Steve.

As in roommate Steve the couple weeks out of the year you two aren’t on the road.

It makes your head spin something fierce.

“There another Steve I don’t know about?” Eddie jokes.

Brows still pinched and face still twisted, you question, “So you wanna… fuck Steve? Like, Steve The Hair Harrington?”

“You did,” the boy shrugs, then fakes a soft pout. “Sometimes I feel left out…”

You press your palm to his chest, pushing him playfully away. His arm curls around your back to pull you close again. The proximity is lesser now, so much so that the tips of your nose brush together and your skunky breaths entwine.

It all feels so much heavier now. The intensity of the moment makes you fight back a shiver crawling up your spine. Eddie’s palm smooths up and down the length of it in a slow and measured rhythm. It does little to ease your breathlessness.

“I don’t know. I just think it could be fun,” the boy concludes with a sudden seriousness. His voice is as low as his eyelids. “And I think it’d be real hot to watch him fuck you… ‘Cause we both know he can’t make you cum like I can. Can he, doll?”

Your thighs clench together instinctually, as though to quell the sudden ache pounding between them. You nod slowly, wordlessly.

Eddie’s rosy lips quirk in a cheeky half-smile at your honeyed reaction. He continues — half because the high has loosened his tongue and half because he wants to see how flustered he can make you.

“And then he can watch you fall apart on my dick after, yeah?” he questions like you’re in any space to answer him. “Maybe I can give him a few pointers… Teach him how to fuck you properly, you know?”

The distant ache between your thighs has grown to a full bloom now. It’s a little embarrassing how effortlessly he can drive you crazy — how quickly he can make you drench your panties. You might’ve been a little shameful about it if you couldn’t feel his cock stiffening against your hip.

“Fuck, Eds…” you sigh, the words tumbling from your mouth without thinking. 

With parted lips, you drift towards the boy and his unkissed mouth. He juts his chin slightly backward, only lets your plush bottom lips graze together. You don’t know why he’s teasing you. You’re already a puddle at his feet.

With a smirk and an all-consuming touch along your spine, he makes a quiet promise. “And maybe, if you’re real good, you can watch me fuck him, too…”

[therealcocoshady]

The Eras of Eminem as a Dad

A/N : Ok guys. I’m ovulating and I just can’t stop thinking of what it would be like to have Marshall’s baby in different eras. 🥹 I have said it before and I’ll say it again : this man is the ultimate baby daddy !!! Tell me what Dad you’d think he would be haha. I’m going feral over the thought of having a baby with this fine specimen of a man !!!

1999 - 2004 : The debut era

* His career is just taking off, and it’s definitely a bad time. It’s hard enough for him to be able to be there for Hailie and deal with all the coparenting issues with Kim. I can see him freaking out over the news of your pregnancy.

* However, his new success and the money he is starting to make allows him to be in a more positive mindset than the one he was in when he had his first child. He always wanted to be able to provide and now, he can actually see it happening. It drives him to work even harder.

* He is not able to be very present throughout your pregnancy, but whenever you get to see him, he melts at the sight of your belly.

* He’s not home too often but he calls whenever he can, telling you how much he misses you, asking how you’re feeling.

* When the baby is born he is virtually unable to shut up about them. He talks about them all the time in interviews and it’s endearing.

* He tours a lot, he’s always on the move and, frankly, there’s a possibility that he’d miss the birth. God knows his life is hectic. But he absolutely makes it up to you and the baby and he tries to be there for every important moment of his children’s life.

2005-2009 : hiatus

* In this era, he was going through so much… I think it’s just as well that he didn’t get anyone pregnant.

* He’s got a lot on his plate. Between rehab, relapsing, Proof’s death…. If he learns about you being pregnant, he absolutely loses it.

* He’s not really present, mentally speaking. He’s there but not really there. You feel really lonely in your pregnancy.

* That being said, he tries to be a good father. He absolutely loves you and the baby, and it is one of the reasons he is fighting so hard to get sober. Fatherhood and his love for his kids is the trigger to him realizing he needs to get help because he wants to be there for them.

2009-2013 : Comeback era

* In this era, he is healthy and he has a more positive outlook on life. He is comfortable with his success, he has conquered a lot of demons…

* He focuses a lot on making good music so he’s busy. Him being so involved in his work makes you nervous when you tell him about your pregnancy.

* He’s really happy though. He is sober, happy to make music again and he gets to have a baby with the woman he loves ? He feels like the luckiest man in the world.

* He makes adjustments to his schedule to be able to be productive and be there for you and your child at the same time. He tries his best but he’s under a lot of pressure, though.

* Of course, family comes first. He was given a second chance at life and he will not be making the same mistakes.

* Speaking of mistakes, he’s certainly learned from the past decade and he wouldn’t be so open about his family life in interviews. He would tell the world he is a father again, share the baby’s name but quickly shut down questions about it in interviews.

2014-2018 : Maturity era

* Sort of the same as the previous era.

* I feel like it would be the one where he is most likely to be 100% happy and at peace with the idea of welcoming a baby. Maybe having actually tried for it ?

* In this era, he has matured a lot as an artist and as a person. He’s had to deal with a lot of criticism regarding his work and he has become really wary of social media and how weird fans can get about him and his personal life.

* If it were up to him, he wouldn’t say anything and keep his family life a secret. Maybe that’s exactly what he does.

* Your growing family is what keeps him going. He wants to make you proud. Family life keeps him grounded and he hold on tight.

* He is definitely emotional. His emotions are very raw. The songs he writes about you, your family and the baby are gut-wrenching. He is baring his soul, trying to be the best version of himself.

* He is very protective of you and the baby. It’s hard enough when criticism about his music get to him but if someone mentions your name or the baby’s ? He will go to war. Careers will be lost.

* Tours are much much shorter in this era, because he doesn’t care for it as much and because his ultimate priority is being their for his children.

2020-Present Day : Current era

* This man is in his fifties, he is secure, it’s all about hip-hop and he makes the music he wants, and does promo how he wants. Media appearances are more rare, performances are sparse…

* He’s in a good place mentally but being and « older dad » does something to him. It makes him kind of freak out when you discuss the topic of children. He knows he’d be a good father, he is able to be present and provide. But the perspective of doing it all over again ? He definitely freaks out a little.

* Your relationship, your pregnancy and even the baby’s existence are almost a secret. He has never been more secretive about his personal life.

* He is happier than ever with you and your little family. He does things however he wants and though he loves music it’s not his priority.

* He’s all about family and football. And sometimes he raps.

* I think present era is the one in which he is more likely to raise a little brat who gets spoiled to much. The GOAT title is secured, he’s wealthy, his other kids are grown up… the eldest went to public school and were encouraged to live a normal life but it might be different for the baby.

* He is so paranoid about people harassing his baby that it’s Nannies instead of daycare, private school instead of public one…

* And as if often happens when people have kids later in life : he is much more lenient. He will always insist on respect and manners but that baby has him wrapped around their finger and they probably won’t hear the word « no » from him too often.

[twifairy]

Absolutely fascinated by the personal connections Seishiro Jigoku has to the main TGAA cast like its actively insane

But Jigoku is someone Susato knows by name, and someone who is seemingly comfortable with her. Yujin was worried Susato might be recognized by Jigoku when even Rei couldn't recognize her immediately.

Jigoku is a family friend of Susato and Kazuma's. Like. That's the text. Do we get how close Jigoku and Yujin are? Not really specifically.

And then Kazuma. Yujin takes Kazuma in and Jigoku is close enough with Yujin that when Kazuma gets sent the letter about the Professor, he feels like the right answer is to go ask Judge Jigoku. Because if Yujin is too kind to tell him the truth, Judge Jigoku will do it.

But also Jigoku and Yujin's relationship.

Jigoku knew Yujin before the study tour. He was so worried about Yujin's well being when he was grieving Ayame that he dragged him along for the study tour (something he was already signed up to do, but was likely considering quitting, is how I read that)

I don't think saying Jigoku and Genshin were less close by the end of the study tour (if they were ever close at ALL) is a stretch. Genshin deliberately tells Yujin not to bring Jigoku when going to help Lady Baskerville, or to even mention it to him.

Yujin knows the identity of Klint van Zieks' daughter. Jigoku knows who killed Genshin Asogi. They both keep those secrets from each other for 10 years, on top of over 16 years of very close friendship.

That is a man who has had dinner at the Mikotoba family home many times. That is someone Yujin trusts with his children. We never see Yujin throw someone the way Susato does— Jigoku does it. The person handling most of the logistics of Kazuma's study tour is not Yujin, it is Jigoku.

Jigoku has been a family friend for a decade. It's possible Susato has known him all her life.

And with the knowledge that he killed Genshin Asogi, and that Yujin Mikotoba trusts him with his children, Seishiro Jigoku chooses to look at Kazuma and say "You seem like you would do anything to find out what happened to your father. Would you kill for it?"

He does not stop Kazuma from going. He does everything in his power to send Genshin's boy across the sea to kill for him, dangling the promise of answers in front of him, knowing damn well he is the one responsible for everything wrong in Kazuma's life.

[glassartpeasants]

One Piece Asylum Au .01

Asylum Patients!Kidd, Zoro, Law, Luffy, Sanji, Killer, x F!Reader

Warnings: asylum au, mention of self harm (not in detail just in passing), medical malpractice, angst, mention of death, I AM NOT A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL/THERAPIST

A/N: Alright so the majority won the vote for female protag, Im sorry my gn bros just know that i do love you guys <3 also, this chapter just has Luffy and Zoro in it so far

prologue

music playlist

~~~

Pulling into the parking lot, the view of your new job made you swallow the lump in your throat. While yes, you’ve already taken a tour or ‘orientation,’ this would have been your first actual day on the job. You’ve studied long and hard for this opportunity, yet you couldn’t shake the shiver that’d run down your spine when you entered the hospital.

Taking a deep breath, you put your car in park before stepping out and making your way to the front doors. The cold metal of the doorknob bit against your skin as the door squeaking echoed off the walls. 

The eerie silence that was once outside was now filled with murmurs and patients' voices. The silence of the morning is replaced by the talking of oneself, and conversations about god knows what. LED lights shine down on you as you take off your coat, the biting cold of fall now gone.

Leaving the entryway, you can see equipment lining the walls of the hallways: some old, some new. There was even one that looked like it hadn’t been used in decades. It looked familiar, but you couldn’t name it exactly. Walking up, you notice another thing lying next to it, which also catches your attention. Touching it, you notice it’s made of cloth and leather before it finally clicks back into your mind after entirely unfolding it. You’ve seen it in your textbook while studying the old medicine practices in college—specifically, those they deemed mentally ill in those days.

“Are these…straight jackets? I thought they stopped making these in the 1950’s. How the hell is this still in such good condition?” While sure you remember the head psychiatrist talking about some of the patients being in restraints, you thought it was just something she was joking about. A little way to spook you or whatever. Because who in their right mind would use these things in the 21st century?

You pulled back before wiping your hand off your pants, as touching it felt wrong. Looking each way down the hallway, you quickly pull out your phone, turning it on to snap a picture of the jacket before swiftly putting it away. The urge to be sneaky and secretive at your new job felt crazy, yet something inside you told you to be.

Taking another quick look around to ensure nobody saw you, you rush to the employee break room, at least where you remember it to be. 

“Okay, if over is the kitchen…and the dining room is over there…then the break room should be-ah!” Turning the corner, your met with a patient wearing maroon clothing. Most likely, uniform/scrubs for the patients since you didn’t see a name tag.

“Oh gosh, you scared me, haha. But it's okay. Are you lost? Do you need help?” You approach them with a calm and cool voice, not wanting to agitate or spook them. “What’s your name? I’m Dr. (L/N), I’m new here.”

The patient refuses to speak but looks at you with a less guarded look. Examining them from afar, you see the peculiar straw hat on his head. 

“I like your hat. It suits you well.”

“...you think so?”

Sending a smile, your happy that the patient finally felt comfortable enough to speak at least a few words. “Yep! Can you tell me your name so I can know the owner of such a cool hat?”

“I’m Luffy.” His voice was lighter as he smiled at your compliment. His aura of standoffishness melted as he faced you fully.

You remember the head psychiatrist talking about him. His case and the notes you wrote down to help you. “Oh, Luffy! I’ve heard good things about you. I’ve been waiting to meet you! What are you doing right now, huh? It’s early in the morning. Wouldn’t you like to sleep?”

Luffy’s face drops as it seems that the happiness that was once there has disappeared. “No. I hate sleeping.”

“Oh? Why is that?” Luffy stays silent as he looks away from you. “It’s okay. If you don’t wanna talk about it right now, we don’t have to. How about you show me around? Specifically, where I can clock in and officially hang out with you?”

This seemed to make him feel better as he smiled. “Yeah! This way!”

“Perfect. Lead the way.”

~~~

After clocking in and grabbing your walkie-talkie, you allow Luffy to show you around. Of course, you’ve seen it yesterday, but he didn’t need to know that. He seemed content with helping you, and having the residents be comfortable and safe with you would be in your best interests. This was the perfect time to start that journey.

“Do you have any friends, Luffy? Surely someone as cool as you has friends.”

“Yeah! I have my crew! Zoro is my swordsman; he’s working on being the world’s greatest swordsman! Then there’s Sanji, who’s the cook! He makes the best food in the whole world, and he’s gonna see the all-blue!”

“Wow, sounds like an interesting few. I’ll have to meet them.” It’s nice to be able to look into Luffy’s mind without probing him with personal questions. “Do you have any other friends?” Luffy was practically buzzing with excitement to the point you thought he’d start bouncing off the walls.

“There's Torao! Jaggy sometimes whenever he’s allowed out of his room.” Raising a brow, you look at Luffy. You’ve never heard those names before. Could they be part of a different wing of the hospital? Or did they perhaps get new patients after you left yesterday?

“Oh? Are they new? I don’t think I’ve met them before. Do you know their room numbers?”

“104 and 105! You should meet them. Torao is a surgeon, and Jaggy is a mechanic! Their pirates just like me!”

Ah, there it was. The pirate delusions you were told about. Maybe you could peek into his mind more and ask questions. Pulling out your notepad, you begin to write down some notes of the things Luffy is saying. The most important is the pirate fixation.

“Really now? Tell me more about this pirate crew you have.” Luffy begins to open his mouth, but before he can speak, a loud voice booms through the halls through the intercom.

“BREAKFAST IS READY! PLEASE ESCORT PATIENTS TO THE DINING ROOM!”

The voice repeats those words three times before the intercom goes silent. Why couldn’t they have just said it through the walkie-talkie? No doubt, patients could hear the noise from their rooms, and how it might cause some patients distress who are scared of loud noises. Maybe you could speak to the head about it.

“Well, that was pretty loud. But I guess it’s time to eat. We can walk there together, but I have to go get more pa-friends. Yes, friends.” Thankfully, you managed to catch yourself before anything.

Leading the way, you and Luffy walk to the dining room. The sunlight lighting the room through the windows. Showing the sunrise, colors of pink, orange, and yellow painting the sky.

“Is there assigned seating, Luffy? Or can you guys sit wherever?”

“It’s assigned.” The voice of the head psychiatrist comes from behind you, causing you to jump from your spot. 

“Ah! Jeez, Dr. Cross, you scared me. I didn’t hear you coming.” You must be easily jumpy today because you don’t think you’ve felt your heart stop as many times as it has in so long.

“Apologies. Here, I will take Luffy to his seat. I need you to grab 102’s food from the kitchen and bring it to him. He bit a nurse last night, so he’s in seclusion.”

“What? He seemed okay yesterday. Did something set him off? Was there an incident?” A feeling of unease races down your spine as Dr. Cross narrows her eyes at you. Why was she seemingly displeased with you asking questions? These are reasonable questions, given the occupation you both find yourself in.

“Nothing. He just snapped. It’s a common occurrence.” Turning her head, she grabbed Luffy’s upper arm and began to lead him to his seat.

Her seemingly aggressive behavior toward patients set alarm bells ringing in your head. There was no need to use force when Luffy was calm and cooperative. Making a mental note, you watched her for a second more before going to begin the task she gave you.

~~~

“Zoro, are you awake? Breakfast is ready. It’s biscuits and gravy with orange juice and scrambled eggs.” Knocking on the door, you unlock it before entering. “I’m coming in, okay? No need to panic.”

Upon opening the door, your greeted with the sight of a muzzled green-haired man sitting in the corner of the room. He has his back to the wall and his gaze aimed directly at the door—at you.

“Hey Zoro, it’s so nice to meet you. I’m Dr. (L/N). I just started today, but I’ve been waiting to meet you. I brought you some breakfast.” Slowly but surely, you make your way to him before setting it down in front of him.

“Can I come near you to talk your mask off? I want you to be able to eat and gain some nutrition.” There was a moment's silence before a grunt could be heard emitting from behind the mask. Taking that as a yes, you stay crouched down as you wobbly made your way to him.

You quickly show him your hands. “Look, I’ve got nothing on me, it’s okay.” Moving your hands, you unbuckle the clip at the back of his mask. When you withdraw your hands, you take the mask with you instead of letting it hit the floor. “There, all gone. Don’t worry; it’s not going back on anytime soon.” Shoving the mask in your pocket as you speak.

Standing up, you feel the walkie-talkie in your other pocket begin to go off. “Dr. (L/N), are you still in 102?” It didn’t sound like Dr. Cross on the other line, so you grabbed the walkie-talkie to communicate with the person on the other line.

“Yes, I am. Is there something wrong? Who’s talking right now?”

“It’s Nurse Piper. I’m on Cedar Wing, and I’m having trouble with a patient. Dr. Cross is unavailable at the moment, and I’ve already gotten another nurse in here.” You could hear the stress and exhaustion in the nurse's voice. Looking down at Zoro, you reply.

“Understood. I’ll be right there. What’s the room number?”

“333 on Cedar Wing.” Letting out a hum, you put the radio in your pocket.

“Alright, Zoro. I have to go for now, but I'm sure we’ll see one another soon. Enjoy your breakfast.” Turning your back, you go to the door. As soon as you open the door, the sound of frantic footsteps rushing towards you. Out of the corner of your eye, you see Zoro sprinting at you at full speed.

You practically teleported when you left the room and closed the door behind you, locking it. It was only a millisecond before you heard Zoro pounding the door and screaming.

“Bring them back, you stupid bitch! I know you have them! I just saw them! Give them back to me!”

Without thinking, you try to back up, only to trip on your own feet, causing you to land on your butt. The pain didn’t even register as his obscenities and bangs against the door filled your mind.

It was apparent you being there upset him, so you didn’t want to get him more worked up, so you scurried away from his door. Darting to 333. His transition from docile to hostile was very concerning, something that obviously needed to be looked into. The only thing that you can think of is that when you turned your back to him. Was he waiting for an opening to attack you, or was it a triggered reaction? When you get done helping the nurse with 333, you’ll do some more digging into Zoro’s files to see if anything pops up.

Making your way to the elevator, your shoes echo in the hallways. The smell of disinfectant burns your nose, making it itch, as the scenery around you feels cold and unwelcoming. The aura the place gave wasn’t one you felt was appropriate for helping patients. You wanted them to feel comfortable like this is a place where they’d be safe. Some call this place home, so it should feel like a home. 

There were so many things about the hospital you wanted to change. How did they expect people to be on their best behavior if they feel outcasted?

You'd have to think about it later; right now, you were helping the ones who needed it most, including co-workers.

~~~

It felt as if your body was on fire as you sat down on your office chair, exhausted and out of breath. After what felt like forever, you managed to calm patient 333 down.  Having to wrestle a 6’3 man trying to cut off all his limbs with a butter knife he somehow stole was not on your to-do list for your first day. You knew you’d have to document the incident, so wiping the sweat off your brow, you log into your computer. With a few taps of the mouse and a password or two, you're finally able to document and enter the patient's files.

Name: Buggy, ‘The Clown’; real name unknown

Age: 39

Height: 6’3

Location: Floor 3, Room 333 on Cedar Wing

Incident Detail: At 9am, it came to the attention of nurses that 333 had obtained a butter knife. We thankfully caught him in time before he could harm himself or others. There was a struggle to get the knife back, lasting a total of twenty minutes. Most of said time was trying not to get stabbed by the patient. We had to calm down the patient with a sedative Dr. Cross had prescribed to him when he gets aggressive—syringe injection.

Entering the incident, you read up more about the man in 333. Why was he here? Does he have a history of self-harm? What was his treatment plan?

After an altercation with ex-best friend, he was sent to New World Asylum in order to seek help. He has told nurses to tell his neighbors to ‘be quiet’ when there’s been no patients near him. Will steal things reflective or he deems worth a significant amount of money: quarters, metal water bottles, utensils, pieces of trash, anything.

Has been influenced by a new patient into becoming a ‘pirate.’ Convinced he has a superpower or ‘devil fruit ability’ called ‘Chop Chop.’ Claims he can split parts of his body off and control them. He has cut off his pinkie finger after being left unsupervised. Must NOT be in the same room as 101 at any point in time. Will get very agitated and violent.

“Luffy? Why does he not like him?” Sure, Luffy’s a little out of it, but so far, you haven’t seen anything worth getting angry for. Then again, you’ve only been working here for three hours if you look at the clock. You got here at 7am, and it’s 10 now. How were you supposed to know someone with only three hours of entering their life. You honestly had your work cut out for you.

~~~

You surrounded yourself with files of each patient you were assigned to, determined to see anything to ensure they got the important care they needed to integrate back into society. Incident reports, pictures, documents on why they were sent here, to begin with—anything and everything.

Yes, you were already told about the reasons they were here yesterday, but you still wanted to read it for yourself. Learn from the source rather than word of mouth. But to Dr. Cross’s credit, she did nail it spot on—everything matching to a T.

Upon looking into Zoro’s file, you also look and write triggers for each correlation from your encounter with him and possible memories of the reason he’s at the hospital. As you pull up pictures of him before the incident, it’s here; you see his lover's face, and it clicks. The two of you had the same colored hair and seemingly wore it the exact same way. So when you turned your back to him, he must’ve thought you were his lover for a moment, so upon turning around and he saw it wasn’t them, he thought you had taken his lover away. 

“Hmm, this is a good start to work on when we have our first session to try and talk about everything.” You write yourself a note to change the style of your hair before entering his room, put on a hat, or simply walk backward. 

While some may say you're doing too much, why shouldn't you? This is their home, and it’d only take a moment to change. You could go outside and look however you wanted at home. And since this is technically where they live, they should feel safe and have a sense of self in their own sanctuary. 

Putting your files and notes aside, you check your emails, wanting to see if there have been any updates about the patients or their schedules.

Seeing the exclamation point near the inbox, you click on it. The email was personally addressed to you with Dr. Cross’s name as the sender. As you open it, you see a detailed time of who and when you’ll need to evaluate and speak to. Each having their own precautions as to ‘danger level’ or how easily they are to agitation. By the looks of it, she wants you to start off slow with whom she deems the ‘easiest.’ 

Grabbing your clipboard, you put down the proper paperwork, all your questions, and suggestions before leaving your seat. With an exhale, you grab the doorknob and open it.

“Perfect! You're here!”

The unexpected surprise of an unknown nurse has you gripping your heart and jumping back into your office. “Jesus! Why didn’t you knock? Does everyone around here enjoy scaring me..?.”

“I was going to! You just opened it!”

As your heart slows down, you finally grasp her appearance. She was an older woman in her late fifties or early sixties, with years of nursing etched into her skin. She smiled welcomingly and seemed genuinely ecstatic to see you. Coughing, you awkwardly introduced yourself.

“Well, anyways, my names Dr. (L/N). I haven’t seem to have met you yet.” Putting out your hand, you wait for her to shake it. Instead, she pulls you in for a hug before grabbing your hands as she pulls away. Thankfully, your clipboard was safely tucked under your arm.

“It’s so good to finally see a new face! We haven’t gotten one in so long! Your such a pretty lass. I’m sure everyone will adore you! But where are my manners? I’m Nurse Mallory. I’ve been working at New World Asylum for the last 41 years! I know this place like the back of my hand. Any questions, just ask me!”

Her happiness was almost suffocating. With how bright she was, it was like looking into the sun without sunglasses. You'd like to say you were a positive person yourself, but this seemed like a whole other level. That or handling and being all over the place in the span of at least four hours had turned your brain into mush, and finally, talking to someone who didn’t seem as stressed as everyone else was a change of pace.

“Alright. I’ll keep that noted. Thank you, and it was lovely to meet you, Mallory.” Smiling, you grip your clipboard and pull out your pen.

“It was lovely to meet you too, dear! Oh! Word of advice: perhaps bring a satchel with you. It can get pretty busy here, and you won’t have time to go to your office and grab something before being off to your next patient or helping to calm a rowdy patient.”

With a questioning look, you stop moving and look at her. “A satchel? wouldn’t that be a safety risk to myself and/or the patient if they got a hold of it? Or saw files that weren’t theirs in the risk as well?” You ask.

“Nonsense, darling! Every doctor carries one! Dr. Cross and Dr. Philip both have bags to carry things around. You’ll be just fine.” Her smile put you at ease and unease at the same time. But the prospect of being free of running back and forth constantly and being late did sound nice.

“I’ll think about it. But thank you for the advice.” Waving her goodbye once more, you turn to make your way to Pine Wing 101.

Monkey D. Luffy.

~~~

Knocking on the door, you make your prescence known to avoid anything that could upset him. Better to be safe then sorry.

“Luffy? It's me, Dr. (L/N). I’ve come to grab you for our appointment today. I simply wish to talk. Nothing serious today.” Entering his room, you see him standing on his bed, seemingly getting ready to jump off.

“Dr. (L/N)! Look! Watch this!” You were quick to scramble towards him. Wanting to avoid any unnecessary injuries. 

“Woah, Luffy, wait! Before you jump off the bed, let’s talk first, alright? I’ve heard that jumping off gives you a huge headache after. So how about we wait, hmm? How are we supposed to learn more about one another if your head is pounding? So let's get off the bed, and after we talk, you can show me.”

Luffy frowns before looking at you. “You promise you’ll stay after so I can show you?” Promising to stay and watch him jump off the bed and hurt himself wasn’t on your to-do list, so some word play had to be involved.

“I’ll stay for as long as I can. So let's get down and go to the small office. I even had a nurse put some candy for you guys.” The sound of chocolate has Luffy perking up before safely getting off the bed and rushing toward you.

“Perfect! Now the room is right around the corner.” Leading him out of his room, you enter the office.

The space was nothing like you expected. Instead of what should feel like a welcoming environment, felt the exact opposite. The walls were a dark red, and the wooden floor looked like it hadn’t been replaced in years. Ratty couches and chairs. The coffee table had a piece missing out of it, for god's sake! If this were to be your new ‘office’ for talking to patients specifically, then there were to be drastic changes. Starting with the ratty decaying couches and coffee table.

“Apologies for the mess. This…will be much different next time you're in here.” You lead him to the couch before sitting yourself on the chair. “So how about we start by telling something about ourselves, hmm? To break the ice? I’ll go first. For example, something that makes me calm is a nice calming song playing as I bathe. What’s something that makes you calm or helps you wind down when you're upset?” Luffy stayed quiet before speaking.

“I like to eat meat! Eat and hang out with my friends!”

“Ooo, that sounds like fun! What do you like to do with your friends?”

“Sail! Be pirates! Once we get out of Impel Down then we’re off back to sailing!” Impel Down? They didn’t say anything about that on his chart. Could this be a new delusion? Is he getting worse?

“Sailing, huh? Any particular reason you think? Or is it just something you wanted to try randomly?" Grabbing your clipboard, you write down everything so far before waiting for his answer.

“My brothers and I used to make boats all the time! We’d tie up sticks together and see if they’d float on the lake! We even saved up money to buy our own boat one day! We were gonna be pirates together!” Luffy said happily before his grin turned into a sad look. His shoulders slumped as the gleam in his eye dwindled.

“That sounds like fun. So sailing gives you a feeling of nostalgia and an urge to press forward?” Based on his file, which says his brother's death caused him to be here in the first place, it comes to click that perhaps the pirate world he speaks of is a way to try and remain happy so as not to confront the reality of his brother's death.

Yet he made it sound like there were two brothers. From what you’ve read, it sounds like there’s only been one. Perhaps there's something even deeper to Luffy than you initially thought. 

But you’ll save the speculation for later. At this moment, it was about showing them you were a safe space—a person he could talk to if something was wrong, a person they all could talk to.

~~~

here ya'll go. I like drawing (Y/N) idk why

You in your perfectly appropriate therapy room

[yellowbrokenblue]

This tour had been the longest yet. You hadn’t seen him in almost four months and it was driving you crazy. You understood this was how it was going to be like when you started dating, and you knew you could handle it. You just didn’t realise it would be this hard.

It was the middle of the night in Los Angeles, you’d allowed for your sleep schedule to be messed up a little bit for Harry’s sake- the short text conversations you had at night were what was getting you through these months.

H: I miss you

It was a short and simple text, however still made your heart skip a beat.

You: I miss you too, babe

There wasn’t long to go until Harry would be home again, then you’d get a sense of normality for at least a short amount of time.

H: I just wish you were here

H: Wanna hold you

H: Want you.

When the multiple texts started to roll in, you knew what was going on. He’d been on tour for long enough for you to understand when your boyfriend was horny. You squeezed your thighs together with anticipation as you watched his little text bubble pop up and down, indicating they be was typing.

H: What you doing right now, baby?

You text him back at god speed.

You: In bed ;)

H: Are those pretty little legs spread open for me?

You: Do you want them to be?

As soon as Harry read that message, the facetime notification appeared on your phone, Harry’s face instantly appearing on your screen.

“Be a good girl for me and balance your camera so I can see everything, mhm?” Harry said, “Wanna watch my little princess get herself off.”

You done as instructed and placed the phone in a perfect position so Harry had a view of you, and your pussy.

“This good?” You ask him.

“I’m seeing too much clothes, princess. Get it all off I wanna see all of you.” He said, a groan escaping his lips as you peeled your panties off, “Tits too, wanna see it all.”

Fully exposed in front of the camera, you watched as Harry practically drooled over your naked body.

“Legs open.” He said, “Spread ‘em nice and wide.”

You done as he said, you’d always do what he said.

“Can’t wait to watch my princess get herself off. Your soft little fingers in your wet pussy.”

Your hands were creeping closer, desperate to touch yourself but awaiting his permission.

“All for you, daddy.”

You watched as Harry struggled to keep it together, he was on the other end of the line desperate to get off too, but he was waiting to watch you first.

“Pretend your fingers are mine, touch yourself for me, baby.”

Your hands slid into your soaked pussy.

“Tell me how wet you are.” He said.

“So wet,” You ran two fingers through your soaked folds, “All for you, daddy. Wish it was you touching me.”

“It’ll be me soon, my girl.” He said, “When I’m back you’re gonna cum all over my fingers so many times you’ll forget your own name.”

You found your clit and began to move in circles, legs twitching.

“Nice and slow, wanna drag this out as long as I can.” Harry said again.

Your cunt was aching for him. It had been months since he’d last touched you, since you’d felt him inside of you. The last time you slept together was the night before he left, it felt like a decade ago.

“Can’t stop thinking about the last time I fucked you. Against the window in my house. Made you squirt.” Harry was barely getting his words out, you could tell he was getting himself off. “Can’t wait to fuck you again.”

“Need you, daddy. Come home so I can feel your cock again.” You moaned, moving your fingers at a rapid pace, desperate to feel something relatively close to what Harry made you feel.

“You look so pretty like this, all worked up and desperate for me.”

“Harry- Fuck, fuck fuck.”

“That’s it, my girl. Keep going. Wanna watch you cum all over your pretty fingers.”

It was embarrassing that you were getting yourself off this fact. All because you’d been deprived of Harry for so long.

“Fuckin’ hell, darlin’ look at you. So beautiful.”

“Harry… Fuck. Harry, I’m-”

“That’s my girl.”

You came all over your own fingers, moaning Harry’s name as he watched from the other side of the screen. Hopefully soon enough it would be him here beside you.

[narcissistcookbook]

about thirteen or fourteen years ago @inkylizard told me about this show Sleep No More (description beneath the cut) they'd seen in an early run in Boston, and i had such bittersweet feelings listening to them talk about it because 1) it was absolutely my kind of thing, and 2) it was basically impossible to see it because it was so far away (i'm Scotland-based)

and since then i probably thought about the show more than most people who have seen it. i ended up working some of what kit described to me into my own music and shows, in a very vague sense

anyway, fast forward over a decade and i'm in NYC for ten days prior to tour and kit tells me that Sleep No More is still on, and it's about to close forever so this is my first and last chance to see it

so anyway

i finally saw it and it was amazing. for once hype wasn't the joy killer. it was inspiring and empowering and it's made me want to explore some of the more outlandish ideas that have been tickling my brain in terms of music writing/performance

i almost went again today, but low energy mixed with a fear of not wanting to dilute the magic by returning to the source convinced me otherwise. i think it means more to me to wait over a decade to see it, and then never be able to see it again.

Brief description of Sleep No More if you haven't seen it and aren't aware of it, told from the perspective of someone who had it described to them once and then saw it once 13 years later and has done no reading or research beyond that. Apologies if I describe it in a way that makes you squirm and go "nooo you aren't explaining it right" 💜

Sleep No More is an adaptation of Macbeth told mostly through the medium of Dance and Vibes. It takes place across the breadth and depth of an entire five floor building called the McKittrick Hotel, which is a dreamlike network of TV/movie-quality sets (a ballroom, a hotel, a city apartment, hell, a street of open shops, a mental hospital, a forest, witches' dens, a huge room full clocks connected to a tiny prayer vestibule, there's too many to mention) and masked audience members are encouraged to wander freely and explore the entirety of the building in any way they like

all the sets are fully explorable and designed to be examined in close detail. if you dig around you'll find letters, medical records, diaries, a fully stocked and unguarded sweet shop, hidden dressing rooms, discarded props, again much more than I could list off here. rooms have backrooms which have other backrooms. secret passageways connect parts of the building/story to other parts.

and through all this the cast are whirling and screeching and sprinting from place to another with little regard for who is or isn't following their storyline. at one point I was one of only two people watching an actor sew up a disembowled teddybear in a child's bedroom - and in the mirror, the same bedroom was reflected covered in blood. at another I was the only person watching a nurse tuck a man made of rocks into a hospital bed. at another, I turned a corner and one of the witches (with about twenty people in tow struggling to keep up) barrelled into me on their way to a scene elsewhere (he stopped and gave me a boop on the nose). another time, i walked into what I thought was an empty interrogation room only to realise after *far too long* that one of the characters was hiding in there with me

and on top of all this, each character has a scene they will only perform to one other audience member chosen by them

the magic for me is that not only can you not see the whole show in a single visit, but that it's basically impossible for anyone to see the whole show period no matter how hard they try. someone i know has seen it seven times and i've seen parts of it that they didn't even know about. it creates a sense of longing for what you'll never see, a sense of loss for the parts you missed, and a deep sense of personal connection with what you were lucky enough to see

what a banger

[blushweddinggowns]

Steddie Drunk Dialing Fluff

Steve Harrington-Munson was probably one of the happiest men to be alive in the modern era. He had the perfect life, against all odds. Because apparently having your late teens and early twenties ruined by demons equated to a fantastic adulthood.

He had it all. A loving family, the best friend/surrogate sister he could ever ask for, and he was married to the love of his life. And okay, yes. That had included some extremely embarrassing revelations and internal meltdowns and... a pretty brutal disownment. But he had figured it all out in the end. And here he was, a decade later with a ring on his finger and a nice hyphenated name. Not to mention how he was basically a trophy husband.

Eddie hadn't wasted a moment of the last decade. A symptom of almost dying it would seem. He went for the GED, gathered the band back up, moved across the country to chase his dreams and play in every shitty dive bar he could until they were discovered. All while dragging Steve along for the ride.

As much as Steve had believed in him, neither of them had been prepared for his music career actually taking off. Especially not to the level it did. It was undeniable that his husband was an A-Lister, despite how universally hated he was by half the country. You don't get many out and proud metal front man who loved parading around his high school sweetheart at every social event he could. But Europe loved him, as did the entirety of gay, rebellious youths world wide.

It was so stupid. There Eddie was, painted as an insane freak who was fake-married. With tabloids running story after story about his secret children, his drug addiction, a wife from another country, anything that they could think of. All while Eddie spent every free moment at Steve's side, always opting for a night in with his baby when given the choice. And when he wasn't doing that, he was busy playing surrogate fun uncle to the kids, who were definitly not kids anymore. But that didn't stop them from all getting together for Dungeons and Dragons once a month, hundreds and hundreds of campaign hours on everyone's belts. And that was his life. Spending time with his family, forcing them on hikes and runs, volunteering, working occasionally to help Robin with her translating work, all while coming home to the sweetest thing that ever existed.

God, did Steve love that man. Reminiscing about the love of his life while he was on tour was not helping his fretful sleep. He just... really had given him everything. He loved him so much in fact that he was only slightly pissed when he was woken up at three a.m. from the phone ringing off the hook.

Steve reached for it blindly, still half-asleep when he mumbled, "Mm-Eds?"

"Steeeeeeeeeevie," Eddie's voice slurred back at him, "Baby booooy. How's my baby boy? I miss my baby boy."

Steve smiled despite himself, yawning into the phone. Eddie was lucky he was so cute, considering how the love of his life who could not remember what time zones were, "He misses you too. And he's a little tired right now babe. What's up?"

"Day drunk," Eddie sighed, "Guys, morning show, mimosas, hotel room to sleep it off. Missing you."

"You won't be missing me for long," Steve softly laughed. Though... hearing his voice was quite the reminder of how cold the bed suddenly felt, "Just... one more week. That's not too long right?"

"Too long!" Eddie groaned, dramatic, "I miss you now. Why can't I see you now? Wait-Can I see you now? Cause planes and trains and-"

"And no," Steve interrupted with a chuckle, "You'd only get me for a few hours before you'd have to leave again."

"Worth it," Eddie mumbled out, his voice a little muffled as he tumbled around in his hotel bed, "Want my baby."

The pathetic tilt to his voice was enough to make Steve's heart clench. God he was too precious. Suddenly a red-eye in the middle of the night for a two hour make-out session didn't sound like such a bad idea. But he could be the strong one for tonight, "You have me sweetheart. Want me to stay on until you fall asleep."

"Yes please," Eddie sighed, "Love your voice. It's so... nice. Like... audible perfume. Like poetry or something."

"Oh baby you are wasted," Steve said as he laid back down, nestling the phone to his ear, "Please tell me you drank some water before laying down?"

"... maybe?"

"Babe."

"I knoooow. Keep nagging me though. I missed that too."

"Is my bitching your bed time story?"

He could hear Eddie nodding, rusting against the fabric, "And it's the best. Keep going?"

Steve rolled his eyes, but he did what he was asked. Saying every silly little grievance he could think of. He whined about how cold it was in bed without him, how Eddie had promised to take out the trash before he left and forgot. Again. How he hated how quiet it was without him, how much he missed hearing his voice trailing in and out of every room.

And Eddie listened, mumbling out a few sleepy m'sorrys and I love yous along the way. Until all Steve could hear was the slow, steady sound of his breathing. But he didn't hang up. Not when that was one of his favorite sounds in the world. And the perfect thing to fall asleep to.

Steve smiled to himself as he closed his eyes, a little amazed that Eddie could still make him feel so loved, from hundreds of miles away.

But one thing was for sure. He still had to be the happiest man on earth.

[purplespacekitty]

dude, i can’t get over Li Nalas.

he knew what was going on from the beginning. sure, a moment of brief confusion and then the realization that these people he’s been trapped in a labor camp with for the past ten fucking years, Memory Alpha says, believe his return to Bajor will bring restoration. the realization that they have such confidence in him as to place his life above their own.

he gets shot and then he’s hauled off to a shuttlecraft within minutes, forced to leave behind his decade-old reality. to leave behind people who shared it with him until just moments ago. and he’s dying, maybe. in excruciating pain, so he can’t even object, can’t even think. and Kira looks at him with this intense certainty. like he’s the missing puzzle piece she’s been scouring every last corner of the universe for. only he knows he isn’t.

and then he’s off to sickbay before anyone else despite his protests, where a human operates on him. a doctor who won’t stop regaling him with all the wonderful things he’s supposed to have done, all the battles he’s supposed to have won.

he is on his feet soon after, clean and dressed in warm clothes. he has no time to rest or breathe in his newfound freedom before he is swept up for a tour of the station he knew too long ago. and now every Bajoran he comes across in this ore processing center turned glitzy space mall looks at him the way Kira does, like they know him, like they need him. their words and shining smiles of praise when he reluctantly stands to address a crowd of them tells him just how much they believe they do. he does not forget the ones he left on Cardassia IV.

it is with relief that he hands the crowd off to Jaro. a deep sigh of familiar aggravation just beneath the surface of his skin as Jaro panders to the crowd's enthusiasm for his return.

that scene where Sisko shows him his quarters, i don’t blame him for striding over so tentatively but nevertheless excitedly to the small flower in a vase. Sisko hardly notices it but it is the first thing Li locks eyes on. a plant. a sprig of life clipped and close to its end, kept alive only by means necessary for display. a being which demands nothing of him here besides fresh water and a light to lean towards.

he stows away on a ship, running now, not from the Cardassians, but from Bajor. from the lies others fabricated on his behalf. Sisko - after the Tygarian freighter captain has dragged him by the ear back to the station, after Li has laid bare his truth in earnest - tells Li they are not lies. they are legends. and Bajor needs them.

and Li Nalas, a man encased in a shell of legends crafted by hands which are not his own, is tired. but he accepts the responsibility his people have placed on his shoulders. because Sisko is right. they do need him.

never mind the political unrest on his home world or the ministrations of the politicians, the Kai, the Circle: he can hardly wrap his head around it all, much less speak to it. the Bajor he has returned to is not the Bajor he knows. his people are afraid with a new kind of fear, one of unbearable uncertainty. they look to him and he can barely speak. but he will play the part he’s been told to. he will be a good soldier. that, he can do.

in the moments just before his death, he is Kira's puzzle piece. he is the flower in the vase. he is simple. uncomplicated. dying.

only then does he rejoice. he may finally rest.

[inpermanences]

Listen. Depraved Ford being into his ftm brother for decades. The longing never stopped and he’s all to eager to get his hands on Stanley after he confessed. Are you following. Rolling his tongue over Stan’s adams apple as his hard-on pushes into the crease of his younger brothers pants. Yanking it down harshly makes the flimsy zipper fall and slip between the floor boards. Ford’s pulling his cock out with his right hand as his left hand hooks into Stan’s bright red panties and pushes it down. He slithers his hand down to his cunt and uses two fingers spread his lips apart. He’s expecting Ford to fuck him in the shabby public bathroom stall, biting down on his lip because he knows he can be loud. Sometimes.

Ford ignores his little display. Grinds his dick on Stan’s swollen clit before he can spur him on. A jolt of lighting surges through his veins, sighing in euphoric pleasure.

—

“Come on Ford — fuck me. Fuck me.” Stan begins to beg.

Ford responds with a choked out groan. He pulls back enough for Stan to see through teary eyes a sadistic grin and crazed look staring right back at him. “I’m not going to fuck you, Stanley. Why would I do that?”

Stanley’s so close, so close to to cumming, his face burning in humiliation from Ford’s snarky comment. If Ford doesn’t want to get him off he’ll do it himself. He’s done it before. Sure, his eyes won’t roll back into his skull and feel the sensation down to his toes which happens when Sixer does it, but he’s masterbated to his incestous fantasies a million times. He tries to shove his twin off to no avail, because Ford uses his body weight to pin Stan chest-to-chest.

“I-I’m not going to fuck you, Stanley-!” The twins groan in unison as Ford pushes his dick right on Stan’s molten core. He tries to rut his hips down, hissing at the hot semen spurting at the entrance of his cunt, spilling downward into his panties. “You’ve been prancing a-around in all sorts of distracting attire.”

Rough pads of Ford’s thick digits run over his stomach, through coarse hair to settle on his engorged clit. “I’m going to pull you aside whenever I want today, Stanley. Rub out a fresh batch on top of this pretty pussy. You’re going to walk around with my sperm rubbing against you. And you’ll be crying for me to fill your womb instead.”

“Ford—“ Stanley’s orgasm hit’s him harder than he expects, head slamming back into the tile. Ford uses his other hand to cradle his skull, watching in fascination as his twin twitches and clings onto him like a newly born foal, unable to stand upright. Stan’s gushing copious amounts of slick that swirls together with Ford’s cum — that he’s all too eager to push right back into the latter warm hole.

When Ford’s satisfied, he pulls his fingers away, zipping himself up while trying to keep them both upright. Pull’s up Stan’s panties and rubs his fingers under the damp fabric for good measure.

“You have your first tour group at 9 AM.” Ford murmurs, pulling up Stan’s pants and buttoning his slacks. “Don’t even think about changing. I want you walking around in this all day.”

Stan’s face burns impossibly brighter. “You can’t be fucking—“

“Come on, Lee.” Stan coos. “Don’t tell me you’re embarrassed after everything you’ve done?”

“No—“

“Then do as I say, and you’ll be rewarded. Deal?”

The pout Stan makes with his teary eyes makes his flaccid cock throb; Ford has to resist the urge to cave in before the bet’s even started. “Deal.”

[belokhvostikova]

Hiii!!! I just went to see Metallica in concert recently and it made me think of rockstar Eddie going on tour like 20-30 years later and still having a great time performing with his buddies idk why

Are you kidding?! How was the concert? Hope you had fun! <3

They’d 100% pull an Oasis! It’s been over a decade of quietness, as the guys had all retired, choosing to spend their older years with their partners and kids, when all of a sudden, they post a future line up of shows they’re performing, and everyone is losing their minds to snatch tickets!

It’s totally their own doing, too. Screw management, let’s just perform like the good ol’ days! Of course, Rockstar!Eddie is dilf of the century—still got the long hair, now just decorated with bits of silver; his tattoos are a bit faded, but perfect for his dad bod; and he has to keep the piercings in, pierced lip, pierced nose, pierced eyebrow (they did have to previously be taken out, because one-year-olds are terribly curious with shiny jewelry).

But, my god, he’d just be the hottest.

Definitely not the most extravagant setup, “just some forty-year-olds tryna keep their blood pressure low and work out,” he’d joked, but it’s definitely the most special to them and their fans!

Yes, Eddie loved the quiet life he got to lavish in, but Christ, did he miss performing for the people that could still scream back his lyrics 10+ years later. Only better, though, as he can look to the right and see his little family backstage cheering him on. You may not be brandishing the platform heels and leather you once wore to his concerts, but those mom jeans make your ass look the best, and your body has filled out so perfectly after bringing life into the world, Eddie Munson could just eat you up (and he absolutely will, age has not stopped his stamina)!

And now, his kids are growing old enough to sing his songs, and it’s the best seeing them grow up into their own personalities as individuals without judgement—something he never got to do, but promised it to his babies.

Yeah, Rockstar!Eddie is living the dream! <3

[paranoidomens]

stuck in my brain

trigger/content warning(s): mentions of depression, self-loathing, and hurt/comfort. i think that’s it but if there is more, please let me know

a/n: i am currently listening to stuckinmybrain by chase atlantic and had to put my thoughts into words. this is my first time writing since 2016 and i might be a little rusty. sorry in advance. please feel free to give your criticism in the comments. and lastly, i hope you enjoy :))

you were never good with expressing your emotions to people. it wasn’t something you were proud of either. trying to articulate how you particularly felt in your heart was hard, and quite a waste of time in your opinion. you trained yourself to isolate and keeps things to yourself. you were always dismissed or invalidated by people in your life when it came to your feelings: that is until noah showed up in your life.

noah has always been infatuated with you since the day he saw you. you attended a bad omens show and met him at an after party, and you both hit it off instantly. he has always been intrigued with how you look, the way you carry yourself, and how you speak. although he wonders about what your pretty little head thinks about and how you feel. he’s never the type to force anything out of you, but he does worry about you 24/7 since you guys became a couple. he feels like he’s known you for decades and also knows nothing about you at the same time. he doesn’t know how you feel or what you think about at certain times.

you’ve had a history of depression before you two met, and he knows that. he knows that you have your lower moments, but does he really know how you feel? what you think? why you feel that way? like i said, he never pushes you to talk when you don’t feel like it, however, he’s curious on how he can help you more. sometimes he doesn’t sleep much because he’s overthinking about it. he wants to help you, guide you through your highs and lows of your emotions. but you won’t let him. you can’t let him.

“love, i’m home!” noah shouted. he puts down his keys, looking for you. his eyes roam around the living room, wondering where you could be. walking to your room, he hears faint sniffles coming from your bedroom. oh no.

“love?” noah knocked on the door, opening it and seeing that you’re covered in blankets with the curtains closed. “go away.” you say. but your heart wants him to stay. you’ve always hated how you push people away when you hit a low, especially when it comes to the people you care about.

don’t go. please stay. i need help. you think to yourself.

“y/n, my love, what’s wrong?” noah softly speaks, joining you under the covers and his hands roam to your physique. “i don’t want to tell you. it’s stupid.” you whisper. “nothing is stupid when it comes to you. you know i would never push your boundaries when it comes to talking, but i want to help you. trust me when i say this.” you finally turn and face noah, and he sees your tear-stained cheeks. they’re a rosy pink, and he wonders how long you’ve been like this since he was gone from tour.

“i have been stuck in my brain recently. i don’t know how to get out of this funk. i hate this. i feel terrible for shutting you out when you want to talk to me. every since you’ve been touring, my mind keeps dragging me in a dark and lonely place. i don’t know how to stop thinking this way. i want help, but i don’t know how to ask you. ” you rant to noah, tears streaming from your eyes like an angry and rapid river. you feel vulnerable letting your lover hear about these dark thoughts that he’s never heard from you before.

“y/n… you know you can always talk to me. i want you to come to me whenever you feel too much, when you hurt too much. that’s the whole point of us being in a relationship. we help each other out when we need it.” noah strokes your face, pushing the stray hairs away. “i will never judge you. i hope you know that. especially when it comes down to how you feel. promise me you’ll start coming to me when you’re low.” noah adds.

“pinky promise?” you ask, holding out your pinky and earning a chuckle from your lover. “i pinky promise.” he says. you finish explaining and apologize for holding on to your emotions, which he tells you not to say sorry for that. you continue to work on opening up to noah more frequently. he’ll always be there for you, especially until the end of time.

sorry for the short blurb, but i hope you guys enjoyed! let me know what other types of content you guys would like for me to write! all criticism is greatly appreciated, and don’t forget to write your ideas for me to make so i can get the gist of writing again. thank you!

[thisapplepielife]

Written for @corrodedcoffinfest.

If It Makes You Happy

Day #24 - Behind the Scenes | Word Count: 1000 | Rating: T | CW: Language | POV: Goodie (Freak) | Pairing: Goodie/OFCs, Minor Steddie | Tags: 1990s, Touring Corroded Coffin, Superstitions, Goodie Just Wants To Go To This By Himself, But No, Fucking Road Manager Steve Harrington

"What's the big rush?" Eddie asks, propping his feet up on the coffee table, in another hotel room, in another city. Another tour date among dozens of others. Nothing particularly special about it.

"Nothin'. Just, you know. Stuff," Goodie says, "I'll be back later. Don't wait up."

"Well, where are you goin'? Maybe I wanna go with," Eddie says, and that's not happening. 

Not no way, not no how. 

"Nowhere," Goodie says, "stop harassing me."

"Stop being so weird, and I will," Eddie pops off, slipping a cigarette between his lips. 

Eddie won't stop being intrusive, never will, and being harassed by Eddie is just part of life. Has been since Goodie was a teen.

"I have plans, okay? Without you."

"Do you have a date?" Eddie asks, sitting up.

"Yes. Happy? I have a date."

"Gareth! Gareth!" Eddie screams, "Goodie has a date!" Eddie bleats, hoping to draw Gareth out of the neighboring suite. 

Gareth doesn't show up, and Goodie is getting out of here before any more questions can be asked. 

"Gotta go. Gonna be late," Goodie says, slipping his leather jacket over his shoulders, "for my date."

Goodie gets into the taxi outside of the hotel, and has the cabbie take him right back to the venue that they played at last night.

When he gets out, he looks at the ticket that's burning a hole in his pocket.

Front row, dead center. 

Sheryl Crow.

Goodie is impatiently waiting for the opening act to get on with it, when he's jostled from the side, and when he turns to look…

Eddie. 

He tilts his head back, as if to ask God why? What did he ever do to deserve this?

Eddie jabs his fingers into his ribs on his way by, and Goodie swats him away. Then sees that Gareth and Jeff are flanked by security, squeezing past everyone else around, drawing a whole shitpot full of attention onto themselves. Jeff is falling over himself apologizing, but nobody gives a fuck, because they aren't known. Not here. Not in this crowd, which is what Goodie had counted on when he planned to come all by himself.

Blend in. 

Fucking Steve Harrington. 

Steve must have told Eddie, and then got them all tickets. Not just the one, single ticket Goodie had requested to have a night to himself, looking up at Sheryl Crow. Listening to her sing and play the guitar, like a badass.

Now, he has to look at Eddie, Jeff and Gareth. And that's way less enticing of a prospect. 

He's been stuck looking at their ugly mugs for the past decade.

He knew Eddie dating Steve was a horrible, terrible, awful idea right from the start. 

And there is the little Judas now. Steve is pulling up the rear with Robin, and Goodie glares, and Steve looks back at him, absolutely unphased. Asshole.

After the show, they pile out of the arena with the rest of the crowd, and Eddie leans into him as they walk to the waiting van, their driver sitting behind the wheel.

Once they're situated, Eddie wraps his arms around Goodie's neck from behind, tight, squeezing, choking him a little.

"Just tell us if you want to do something, next time."

And Goodie nods.

Then Eddie slaps a shirt over his shoulder. 

Goodie pulls it down, and laughs. It's her silhouette, backed with blue. 

It's cool, and something he'd have picked for himself if maybe he'd been alone. 

"I expect you to wear it tomorrow night on stage."

"Don't think I won't," Goodie answers, dryly. 

Eddie squeezes his shoulders, shaking him, "If it makes you happy, then it can't be that bad," he teases, leaning over the backseat, talking right into Goodie's ear. 

And then he kisses the back of Goodie's head, and the rest of them laugh.

The next night, he does wear the shirt, with his leather jacket over it. 

And there's a girl in the front row that points at it, and then makes a heart with her hands. 

Maybe this will be his new lucky shirt. 

He thinks that really might be true when she's waiting outside of the stage door, looking for him. Not Eddie. Not Jeff. Not Gareth. 

Him. 

And it is his lucky shirt. 

Every goddamn night he wears it, he pulls, and without much effort. The women damn nearly throw themselves at him. 

Gareth is seething with jealousy, as Goodie holds his hotel room door open for the woman from last night to be on her way. 

She runs her hand over his chest, and leans up to kiss him again. 

The shirt, now soft with wear and magic, is the best thing that ever happened to him. 

And then it's lost in the laundry. 

Steve's gonna die. Goodie will make sure of it. 

"It'll turn up," Steve says, not looking up from his clipboard. 

"Steve. I need it." 

"It. Will. Turn. Up," Steve stresses, and then walks away. 

Goodie resigns himself to a dry spell, but he takes the stage, and kind of forgets about it. 

He gets the same attention he got the last time he wore it. 

And that happens again. And again. 

Then, about a month later, Eddie slaps it over his shoulder again, just like he did the first night. 

"It was never the shirt. I don't know why it finally gave you the confidence to flirt back with women, but it did and I just wanted you to know it was you. Not the shirt." 

Goodie doesn't say anything, can't think of what he could possibly say to that. 

It's still his favorite shirt. The most comfortable one he owns, and he wears it at least once a week, but now, it's not always on stage. 

Sometimes he wears it on travel days, or off-days, when nobody sees him but the guys. 

And, yeah, sometimes he still wears it on stage, even as the print fades. Because he likes it. 

But he doesn't need it.

Not anymore. 

If you want to write your own, or see more entries for this challenge, pop on over to @corrodedcoffinfest and follow along with the fun! 🦇

Notes: That does appear to be a Sheryl Crow tour shirt from the 90s, I found it on eBay, but I'm not sure what year. So, just pretend it's right for this, haha.

[imagine-that-100]

Will We Talk? | Part 1 |

Description: Alex Turner x Reader | Being Katie Cook’s best friend means you see a lot of a certain band, so it’s too bad that the lead singer can’t seem to stand being in your presence. You’re all too aware that you get chatty when you’re anxious, and despite being around each other for a decade, Alex still makes your heart race (and not in a good way). But then he asks a question you never expected to hear, and it changes everything: “Do I make you nervous?”

Word Count: 13.2k

A/N: Well hello there besties! Alex stannies your time has come again because I’m back and this short series is going to be soooo much fun! This was inspired by a harry fic I read many moons ago and I just knew I needed to do a grumpy Alex fic. I started writing this fic on the 15th of December 2021 so it’s been a long time coming. That being said part 2 isn’t yet finished (blame @nriacc​ lol) but I felt we all needed a new Alex ficccc! Big thank you to the author of the harry fic for the inspiration, and to @red---moon​ and @alovesreading​ for helping me/ keeping me inspired for this one. I would loveeee to know what you all think so please give me your reactions! Just keep an eye out for the time jumps, it goes back and forth quite a bit but I hope it makes sense. Thanks a million for reading, hope you enjoy x

| My Masterlist |  

~*~*~*~ 29th June 2018 ~*~*~*~

Just do it Y/N. Be polite, stop being a child.

Internally, you’re debating pretending that you don’t need another drink and to go back to Katie and Kelly without a new one so you don’t have to suffer what’s bound to be another awful encounter. Alex is standing at the busy bar with his drink in his hand, and you’d think that after 8 years of knowing someone you’d feel comfortable enough to have a chat with them at their best mates birthday party. But no. Not with Alex.

He might just be the grumpiest person you’ve ever met. He’d never once started a conversation with you, it’s always been you making the effort with him since the day you met him.

Truthfully, your tendency to talk a lot more than you should when you’re nervous probably hasn’t helped that. You’d seen interviews of him over the years and it’s clear that he really didn’t like talking to anyone who he wasn’t close to. And you’re not stupid, just because Katie is your best friend doesn’t mean that you’re someone he has to converse with.

Of course over the years you’d seen each other a lot but you’d only had a handful of conversations with him. Frighteningly few of those conversations were just between the two of you, and you were happy with things staying like that.

But this time you’re going to have to brave it. You’d promised Katie you’d grab her another drink along with getting yourself a new one.

The bar is fairly busy with a few people standing around chatting as they wait for their drinks. A few people have been standing there for the majority of the evening in this decently sized function room.

Of course for Jamie’s birthday, and with the band being back off tour for a short break, Katie had thrown her husband an early birthday party because she’s the best wife possibly ever. You’d helped her plan it and sort everything out so she didn’t get too stressed like any best friend would do and you’re so glad everything has gone to plan and Jamie seems to be having a great night.

Equally, you’ve been having a great night too. Getting to see everyone again is fun. You’d not seen Miles for a while nor had you really seen any of the band because they’d been on tour but each time you saw them it was like no time had passed. Miles has always been your favourite to chat to, you think because the both of you are just as chatty as the other so you always feel at ease around him.

You’ve always had a tendency to talk someone's ear off and even more when you’re drinking or nervous. So tonight with you being both tipsy and nervous about seeing Alex standing at the bar, inconveniently for you the only free space being one beside him, you don’t want to go over.

But you need another drink.

Just fucking do it Y/N.

Taking a deep breath you bite the bullet and head over to the empty space at the bar. You’re hoping that you’ll get served immediately but by the looks of the bar staff looking around like headless chickens, you don’t think your prayers have been answered.

Reaching the bar, you put your empty glass back down on the sturdy wooden surface and wait patiently for the bartenders to serve you.

“Hey.” You greet Alex as you turn to face him.

You smile once his eyes meet yours and you see the flicker of recognition in them. You expect a smile or something along those lines from someone you’ve known for almost a decade but no.

All you get from Alex though is a quick, “Hi.” before he glances back towards the rest of the party.

After a second of silence, you have to ask, “How are you?”

“Yeah, good thanks.” Alex smiles before taking a sip of his drink and looking away from you as if he’s searching for someone else to talk to.

Wow, great chat. Why do you actually still bother Y/N?

You make eye contact again and you can feel the tightness in your chest building as if storing up all the shitty conversations you want to blurt out to get rid of the silence. But you also don’t want to annoy him. So you don’t mention anything about the goatee that he’s grown since the last time you saw him. You want to be nice and complement him but you seriously don’t think you can survive the awkwardness of you doing that.

Thankfully you don’t have to think about it for much longer because someone else caught his attention.

Alex’s eyes flicked from yours to someone coming up behind you and you hear a male voice excitedly saying, “Alex, hey!”

A grin comes to the singer's lips then and you watch him as he enthusiastically asks, “Hey man, you alright?”

You've never seen the guy who’s taken Alex's attention before but it seems like they are friends. From Alex’s smile and the way they just shook hands you assume they must be, “Yeah good thanks, where’ve you all come back from?”

“Middle of the month we were in the States, then we went Germany, and we flew back from Denmark yesterday.” Alex explains enthusiastically and you can only imagine him ever being that engaged in a conversation you had with him.

“Christ, and you’re here now.” The guy shakes his head in disbelief, “I don’t know how you do it.”

You tune out of their conversation then and glance back at the bar. You really want your drinks so you can leave before the guy leaves and it gets awkward again.

It’s not that you want to be his best mate or anything close to that, you’d just love not to feel nervous around him all the time. In the beginning the nerves were probably due to you being a fan of the music and you’d never met him before.

Jamie was the most normal person so you didn’t quite believe Katie when she first told you that her boyfriend at the time was in Arctic Monkeys. But then you met him and clearly found she was telling the truth.

You’d met all the band by the end of the year and you got on well with them at various after parties that Katie had dragged you along to in your mid twenties. But Alex has always been quiet and marginally grumpy with you since day one.

Probably your nervous chatter that did it the first time considering he said ‘hi’ to you and nothing else. He just listened to you rambling on until he was pulled away by someone much more important than yourself.

But over the years you got to know him, even if it wasn’t directly through him.

Katie fed you all of her gossip as she thinks of you as her most trusted confidant so when someone in the band annoys her and she can’t show how annoyed she is to Jamie, she’ll have you over for a wine night. So you’re aware of everything that’s just happened between him and Taylor and a certain french bitch.

If he hadn’t have left the French bitch as what she was, a stupid fucking fling, you think Katie may have killed him. She was really close with Taylor and after finding out about the cheating she was round at your house for days trying to yell all her anger away. Obviously she didn’t want to make things more awkward by airing her current murderous feelings towards Alex to Jamie so you’re the one who heard it all.

Of course you disapprove of what he did too. But it’s not your place to have an opinion. You’re just there for Katie. But you have to admit, for Alex’s sake, you’re glad he just left the French girl. Katie would have murdered him if he started seeing her as something more.

You’re brought out of your thoughts by the guy who was talking to Alex accidently bumping your shoulder as he was turning round to head back to whoever he was with. After he apologised and you promised him it was fine, back comes the uncomfortable silence that hangs between you and Alex.

He makes eye contact with you again as he sips on his drink, the smile previous on his lips now gone, and you can feel that you’re about to start nervously chatting to him. So you’re eternally grateful for the voice from behind the bar.

“Hi,” The bartender grabs your attention, “What can I get you?”

Thank you, God.

“Can I get two Amarettos on ice please?” You ask for two of your own drink because you don’t want to come back over if the grumpy fucker beside you is still over here.

The bartender preps the glasses and adds ice before he grabs the bottle of Disaronno and the double ended measure before asking, “Singles or doubles?”

“Doubles please.” You smile and watch as he pours them.

You’re glad he isn’t stingy with his measures because you don’t want to come back for a while, and after pushing the drinks towards you, the bartender asks, “Anything else?”

Smiling, you politely ask, “Can I get a large glass of Montepulciano please?”

“Yeah sure…” You watch as the guy looks around for a second and you know from his irritated expression what’s coming before he even says it. “I’m just going to grab another bottle from the cellar, I’ll be just a minute.”

You smile, “Okay, thank you.” as you can’t even change which wine you’re after because he’s already gone. You feel bad as the guy disappears off but you can feel the nerves bubbling back up inside you.

The silence falls once again, and despite the room being busy and there being a lot of people-watching you could do, you feel like because you’ve known Alex for so long you should be trying to converse with him. You really wish you didn’t care about uncomfortable atmospheres but you can’t really help but avoid it with Alex, you wish you could get over it.

Both of you are awkwardly standing beside each other once more with nothing to say and you can’t stand the stiff air between the both of you. So you end up doing what you do best when tipsy and nervous: You talk.

“I know you don’t like me very much, but I really rate your music and I don’t think I’ve ever told you that.” You begin to nervously digress looking Alex straight in the eye, needing to get rid of the silence between you. You hesitate before oversharing, “I say that, but it took me a long while to get into your new album but I like it now. Think it’s the one I listen to most actually.”

“Right, thanks.” Alex nods, before adding in a little confusion, “At least, I think that was a compliment.”

“Yeah it was.” You nod, your mouth unable to stop from rambling now. “I know my opinion means fuck all in the grand scheme of things but I just thought ‘give credit where it’s due’, right?”

Stop talking Y/N/N, you’re embarrassing yourself.

“Right.” Alex smiles at you, but you can’t help but feel a little stupid under his gaze.

You’ve told Jamie time and time again how you felt about his music, but never once have you felt this awkward about it. It really is just a reaction to Alex at this point because you could tell he just doesn't want to know.

However, just as he looks like he’s about to say something else, probably him finally telling you to leave him alone, you’re saved from whatever it was. Whilst your blundering conversation took place the bartender had returned and had poured Katie’s glass of red and it’s ready and waiting just in front of you.

“That comes to twenty-two all together, please.” The bar man asks and you happily give him your undivided attention as you take a £20 and a £5 note from your purse and hand it over.

“Keep the change.” You smile at the bartender who looks pleased with the tip you’d just given and as you pick up your alcohol carefully you glance back to Alex who’s clearly only watching you because there’s no one else around taking up his time.

He probably wants you to get a move on so he can chat to someone who actually peaks his interest. You half smile at him as you politely say, “Can’t keep the birthday boy’s wife waiting for her drink any longer. See you later.”

“See ya Y/N.” He nods, sounding just as disinterested as when you started the conversation.

Christ. Get me out of here.  

Thankfully for the rest of the night Alex is easily avoidable. Most people want his attention all the time so even if he joins a conversation that you’re involved in, he gets ripped away from it.

Miles keeps you entertained for a good portion of the evening, both of you chatting more as you drink more and more. Closer to the end of the night, Jamie gets up and does a speech thanking everyone for coming and that’s when Alex comes up beside you and Miles.

You just about hear him say to Miles that he’s just paid for a drink for him at the bar and for him to go and choose what he wants and then once again, Alex is left standing beside you with a full beer in his hand as you both listen to Jamie’s short and sweet speech.

Obviously, the guitarist brings up his lovely wife and thanks her for everything. Jamie gives Katie a stunning bunch of flowers which you can instantly tell that she loves, but as he hands the microphone over to her, Alex grabs your attention.

“Why do you think I don’t like you?” You're shocked as you hear that question fall from his lips, but you don’t hesitate to be honest with him.

You’re a little taken aback if you’re honest. He may as well have just shouted it at you because you’re genuinely that shocked by the question despite his voice being just above a whisper.

“Erm,” You swirl your drink around the glass before looking up into his brown eyes, “You never say more than a few words to me whenever I see you.”

Jesus, this is fucking awkward.

You see him frown a little then though, and after a second's thought, he asks, “That makes you think I don’t like you?”

“Well, it doesn’t make me think that you’re overly fond of having a conversation with me.” You say with a little chuckle of disbelief as to why you had to say it outloud. “And you’ve never tried to get to know me like the rest of your friends have and whenever I try with you, I don’t get much of a response.”

“Never intended for it to come across like that.” Alex tells you, and he does look like he feels bad, but it’s not like you’re holding it against him. So you don’t need his, “Sorry.”

All your brain is telling you right now is ‘Avoid confrontation at all costs’. You’re really not equipped to have that conversation with him drunk but you did tell him the truth.

“Don’t be.” You shake your head before looking back at Katie, “It is what it is.”

You can still feel his eyes on you and you’re half sure you hear him say the start of your name but your attention is clearly ripped away from him when Katie say’s your name down the microphone.

“Y/N,” She grins at you gesturing for you to come to her, and you see Jamie now holding a bunch of flowers that turns out to be for you, “Couldn’t have done this without you Hun. I had to get you these.”

You shake your head and go over to thank and hug her, leaving Alex watching after you. He just stays in his head and drinks his drink, silently processing your previous words.

~*~*~*~ January 26th 2018 ~*~*~*~

“Hey!” Jamie shouts as he runs through the front door and quickly starts routing around for whatever it is he’s looking for.

Katie says a surprised, “Hi?” and you can see and hear the distaste that he’s back so early.

Tonight Katie had invited you round once Forrest had gone to bed because Jamie was meant to be out for the evening with the lads. She needed a wind down after a long week of work and looking after her toddler whilst Jamie was away doing PR for the new album.

You’re both half way through your first bottle of red wine as Jamie now comes scurrying into the lounge, almost frantically searching around for something. You find it quite funny too because he definitely hadn’t noticed you sitting in his lounge.

That changes a second later when comes towards you and pulls out the messy drawer on the side table just near you. He smiles quickly, “Hey Y/N, good to see you.”

“And you Jamie” You grin, seeing his wife still waiting for him to announce why he’s intruded on your night in.

After scurrying around the lounge, clearly trying to find whatever it is he’s lost, she asks, “What are you doing back here?”

“I forgot my wallet.”

You’re desperately trying not to laugh at Katie’s silent sigh, or when she lets out an annoyed, “You left the door open J.”

You look towards their door and you can see it’s half open, letting all the precious heat inside their cosy house out. The winter air is absolutely freezing and it’s causing a draft that both you and Katie can feel without coats on.

“Al, you tosser!” Jamie shouts as he continues looking around for his wallet, “Don't wait outside come and help me find it, you prick!”

You can almost hear Alex’s sigh as he steps into the house, “Not my fault you left it here.”

“Alex, please come in and shut the door.” Katie waves him in from her seat, “It’s fucking freezing.”

He sighs a little as he says, “Yes, Miss Cook.” before closing the door and walking into the house with his coat wrapped tightly around him.

He looks like he doesn’t want to be out of his own space, let alone be here. He’s not smiling like he usually is when he sees Katie and he’s practically rolling his eyes watching Jamie run around like a headless chicken.

“Ignore him. He didn’t want to come out at all.” Jamie shakes his head as he walks around the lounge and back around the corner to the hall where he came in and heads past Alex and up the stairs.

Katie continues talking to you about your previous conversation and Alex just stands under the open arch between the hall and the lounge. Or that is until you all hear a loud bang come from upstairs.

A few seconds later all of you hear Jamie make another loud bang and Katie inhales sharply through her nose. Annoyance is bubbling through her system when you all hear him say “Shit.” from upstairs, clearly very loudly.

“He better shut the fuck up or he’s going to wake Forrest up.” Katie looks at you with a death glare that’s definitely meant for her husband.

Katie gets herself up from her seat opposite you and walks past Alex to half mute her voice as she yells, “Jamie!”

“Don’t mind me,” She looks from Alex back to you as she half smiles, “I'm just gonna go kill my husband.”

Alex chuckles at that and you let out a little giggle before taking another sip of your wine as you hear your best friend walk up the stairs. That leaves a silence between you and Alex and one that you’re itching to fill. You hate that it’s always awkward between you both.

After taking another sip of your wine, you politely ask, “How are you?”

“Good, thank you.” Alex nods, walking towards the wood burning fireplace that Katie was lighting when you arrived.

You debate mentioning that his hair is a lot longer since the last time you saw him, but you decide not to. The last thing you want is to make anything more awkward, so you go for something that he’s used to talking a bit more about.

“You enjoying the build up to the album release?” You ask, praying the conversation will being to flow a little easier.

But all you get is a half hearted, “Yeah. It’s been alright so far.” as he crouches by the fire and puts another piece of wood onto it.

“Good good.” You smile despite him not even looking your way.

… And nothing. No follow up question about you, not even a smile.

You’re sure he hates you. There’s absolutely no other possible explanation for why he would make things this uncomfortable for you both if he didn’t. You can’t stand uncomfortable silences which makes you more nervous and the need to chat takes over again.

You’d think that someone who does interviews for a living would know how to make people feel comfortable and you know for a fact that he does. You’ve seen a fair few in your time being their friend, and you’d seen Alex interact with his friends and his fans. You have no idea why he makes life so awkward for you.

You try again, hoping to ease your awkwardness by asking him about something he enjoys.

“How did you find writing this one?” Is the only thing you can come up with that you’re genuinely curious about, “I think Jamie mentioned that you got writer's block or something for a while, is that true or was he bullshitting me? Because you’ve always seemed to write and record really quickly from an outsider's perspective.”

“Yeah,” Alex nods with a sigh, still not even glancing at you, making you wish you never asked, “Was difficult at the beginning, got there in the end.”

Wow.

Amazing.

Enthralling story.

Taking another sip of your drink, the uncomfortable tension feels like it's suffocating you and you’ll do literally anything to ease it. Blabbing on about where they are going seems to be the direction you take.

“Where are you being dragged out tonight? Just to the George and Dragon,” which is about a 2 minute walk from here, “Or are you going into town?”

“Heading into town I think.” Alex stands himself back up and tucks his hands back into his pockets, glancing at you as he walks back to the centre of the lounge.

After taking a sip of your wine, you politely ask, “Anywhere nice?”

“No idea.” He shakes his head.

Smiling, you try to make light of the situation. “You really don’t wanna go, do you?”

“No,” Alex shakes his head, and says under his breath probably not meaning for you to hear, but you do, “I don’t even want to be here.”

To you that’s another way of saying shut the fuck up. Biting your tongue after that is difficult, but it's easier than letting him make you feel like shit again.

After drinking your last mouthful of wine, you get yourself up and out of this uncomfortable situation. You don’t bother telling him where you’re going as you doubt he cares but you’re just thankful that you don’t have to deal with him anymore.

Disappearing to the Cook’s downstairs toilet, you’re glad when you hear Jamie race down the stairs a minute or two later, shouting, “Right Al, come on. Let’s go.”

As you open the door and make your way back round to the hall, you hear Jamie say bye to Katie, followed by Alex politely saying goodbye to Katie. He gives her a hug and his eyes make contact with yours as he slips out, not even nodding a ‘bye’ as he leaves, closing the front door behind him.

“Hiding again?” Katie turns to grin at you, knowing just how uncomfortable you find interactions with Alex after years of the same behaviour.

“He’s so awkward.” You nod laughing, but you’ve got better things to be thinking about tonight. “Come on babes, I need another glass of wine.”

Thank fuck for that.

~*~*~*~ 21st September 2018 ~*~*~*~

“Y/N, Hey!”

“Jamieee.” You grin, walking towards his open arms so you can give him a hug.

You walk into his arms and you appreciate the tight hold he traps you in. As you give him a squeeze, the guitarist says, “Missed seeing you in my house.”

You can’t help but chuckle a little at that. After greeting Nick and Kelly as you walked in with Katie, you couldn’t wait to see Jamie backstage tonight. Matt unfortunately doesn’t seem to be around this communal area just yet but you're grateful for the lead singer's absence.

“Ahh well, I've been there more than you.” You tease him, his tour has been so long it feels like forever since you last saw him, “I’ll be sleeping in your bed next.”

“Surprised you don’t some nights,” Jamie laughs as he releases you from the embrace, “You’re both piss heads.”

You can’t help but laugh and nod. You just end up shrugging, “Well, red wine calls us both.”

Both you and Katie can’t help it. You’re just living your best lives and the wine nights you share are the highlight of your week.

“Thanks for inviting me tonight.” You grin at Jamie.

You’re actually thrilled you’ve been invited to their gig tonight. Them being back home in Sheffield must be awesome for them and the fact that they have four shows back to back at the FlyDSA arena makes you happy too. It’s a proper homecoming. And after a stressful week this is definitely what you needed to let loose a bit.

“Oh, I’m not the one that you need to thank.” Jamie smiles and you think nothing of it, assuming Katie’s told him you have to come.

She usually does that when she’s invited somewhere anyway. She really likes taking you out with her and sometimes out of your comfort zone.

Katie calls you over to the fridge in the communal area where she asks you what you want to start the night off with. You’re shocked as to how much alcohol is in the fridge, there’s got to be at least 30 cans of beer and there’s also wine in there. Bottles of red are left on the side beside it too.

“Fucking hell, I can’t believe they get this much stuff every night.” Your eyes go a little wide seeing the fridge.

Katie laughs at that, “I know they are greedy, I’ll have a route to see what there is.”

You watch her astounded at just how much alcohol is in there. But your attention moves to the scouser who’s just walked through the door.

“Y/N.” Miles calls your name from across the room and you grin when you turn to see him.

“Course they had you come for their home shows.” You laugh, throwing your arms around him.

You adore Miles. He’s been a good friend for a long time and you feel really comfortable around him. Unlike his best friend, Miles seems to listen to what you have to say and he’s interested in it.

It meant that you’d been close for a long while and he always makes an effort to check in with you every month which you love him for. He’s honestly such a good person and you think the world of him.

“I’ve been here the past two days and I’ve been asking for you.” Miles informs you, “I was going to text you but Katie said you were busy?”

“Yeah sorry, I’ve had some planning to do for work and had to see family the last few days.” You shake your head, not wanting to think about all that right now. You grin at Miles, clearing your head, “So glad to be here now.”

“Ooo Y/N/N,” Katie gets your attention and she has a big grin on her face as she tells you, “There's a full bottle of Amaretto in here. Not seen this before.”

“Oooo amazing.” You grin, selfishly loving the fact you won’t have to pay for your own drinks until the after party later.

Miles traps you in another conversation whilst Katie makes you your drink. Before she pours your drink though, she can’t help but wonder why the bottle is there in the first place.

“J?” Katie calls her husband over and when he’s standing beside her, she asks him, “When did you add this to your rider?”

“I didn’t know we did.” Jamie frowns in confusion looking at the bottle of Disaronno. He knows no one in the band drinks it so he asks his wife, “Why? Who drinks it?”

“Y/N does.” Katie tells him, ”It's her favourite.”

“Well, happy days then.” Jamie smiles and shrugs it off, thinking nothing of it.  

Drinks flow for a while after that. Now you’ve had two glasses of your favourite, you really feel like it’s a Friday night and you can finally have a bit of fun.

That thought slowly dies though when Alex comes into the room with Matt in tow. You’d seen him a few times since the night you couldn’t get an Uber home from the Cook’s house and he walked you home but he still wasn’t all that chatty with you.

It was a little easier but you were still the one making all the effort and actively trying to make conversation with him. You can’t imagine anything different happening tonight, christ, you’ve still not mentioned to him that you like his new buzzcut.  

In fact, you imagine he’ll be a little worse because he’s got everyone who he wants around him and you’re just Katie’s plus one. Thankfully you’re distracted for a minute by the bubbly man that is Matt Helders.

He’s a gooden too. You do love him but you can’t lie, he made a questionable decision with his love life. Why anyone would leave Breana you have no idea.

Like Katie’s rants about Alex doing the dirty on Taylor, you heard the same rants for her about Matt cheating on Breana. Once again, it wasn’t really your place to have an opinion so you just let her rant at you.

But Matt had always been lovely to you, so obviously you wouldn’t bring the things you heard about him into your dynamic. You chat to the drummer for a few minutes and he makes you laugh countless times at how tipsy he is.

You genuinely don’t know how he can perform for two hours when he’s like this before. But you can’t blame him, and he seems to be having fun and you know he’ll put on a good show.

Matt wonders off to grab himself another drink leaving you alone at the side of the now busy room. But you don’t mind people watching, it’s quite a good pass time for someone like you who doesn’t like awkward encounters. Anything to keep you from rambling on like you always do when you’re drunk and nervous.

Your eyes mostly roam over the people you don’t know, you find them more interesting to try and figure out. Guess which members of the band they know and how they’re friends.

But your people watching hobby fucks you over royally. As you eyes glance over at who Alex is chatting too, the singer's eyes connect with yours and you avert your gaze immediately.

You honestly just can’t deal with the awkwardness today. You need more alcohol to deal with that. Being drunk was the only reason you survived that walk home with him.

But turns out you’re not so lucky, because when you glance back, Alex is on his way over to you which almost makes you spit your drink out. What the fuck?

Miles, your absolute saviour, runs into his best friend though and wraps him into a hug which you can’t help but laugh at. He kisses his cheek which makes Alex laugh and the smile lingers on his face after Miles tells him whatever it is he needs to tell him.

They chat for a minute and you just find yourself watching them. They chat so easily. It really makes you wonder what you’ve done to piss Alex off so much that it seems like he couldn’t care less if you were in the room with him or not.

If you had to bet, it would be your nervous rambling. But that’s not your fault. That’s your shyness taking over and your hatred of awkward silences.

Your jaw almost falls open though when Alex smiles at you from over Miles shoulder, and even more so when he moves around his best mate as greets you, “Hey Y/N.”

“Hey,” You say, a little surprised that he’s stopped his conversation with Miles to come over.

“How’ve you been?” He asks, which makes you want to pinch yourself.

Did he really just ask me how I was before I asked him?

You just about manage to smile as you say, “Yeah I’m great, how are you?”

“Good thanks, excited for the gig.” The singer smiles, and you can’t help but find it unnerving that he’s giving you his undivided attention. Alex follows up like he’s curious, “I didn’t think you were coming to any shows?”

“Oh no.” You shake your head, thinking Katie must have forgotten to tell the lads she invited you. “What's better than a gig, right?”

“Right.” Alex smiles, and it shocks you because it actually seems genuine, “Glad you could make it.”

Is he drunk? Why is he talking to me? He’s glad I could make it????? What now?

You smile at each other then. But your brain is all too aware that after two seconds there’s nothing more to say. So as you try to stop yourself from getting skittish, or making it more awkward.

“You been enjoying the tour?” You ask him, but you don’t give him any time to reply because you start your nervous talking, “I’ve seen a few videos and they’ve been good. Four Out Of Five seems to really pop off. I like that one, might be my favourite off the new album actually. But I really like One Point Perspective too.”

“Good choices.” Alex chuckles and you can’t help but silently scorn yourself for being awkward.

God, you wish you could have one normal interaction with him.

“Oh,” Alex’s eyes seem to light up for a second before he tells you, “Follow me a second, got something for you.”

You frown at him, not believing what he said in the slightest. You ask in confusion, “Me?”

“Yeah.” Alex nods and turns with a gesture for you to follow him.

The shock of it is what actually makes you move. You can’t help but whisper a small, “Oh.” though.

He surely has to be drunk?

But what’s mind-boggling is that he really isn’t. On the way out Miles asked him if he wanted another drink and Alex responded yes and added ‘this is only my first, definitely need one more before I go on’.

He leads you out of the room everyone was in and around the corner to where a group of the crew guys are. There’s a quiet word exchanged with who you assume to be the main crew guy and you watch from behind Alex as the guy nods at him and a second later he hands the lead singer something.

You shake your head as soon as you see Alex turn back to you and hold up the AAA pass that’s hanging from the lanyard he’s trying to give you.

“Oh Alex, I don't need that.” You shake your head, “I like watching from the arena.”

Half of them in that room watch from a box which is where you expected to be watching from. It’s no issue to you where you are in the arena, it’s nice enough you were invited by Katie to come tonight for free. Christ knows you wouldn’t have been able to get a ticket on Ticketmaster.

“Come on,” Alex presses on, “I’ve never seen you back here.”

Because you really like watching from the arena. You’ve never been at the side of the stage and you’re not sure if you want to be. You’ll just feel like you’re in the way.

You try to argue your point, “But-”

“No buts,” Alex smiles as he puts the lanyard over your head so it falls around your neck like a necklace. The singer continues, “You can’t be leaving Katie on her own. She’s been missing you for the last two weeks. I’m sure Jamie will like you being at the side of the stage too.”

He gives your shoulders an encouraging squeeze and the smile on his face makes you believe that you’ve swapped bodies with Katie for a hot second. He’s never talked to you like this before.

“Thanks Alex.” You smile sheepishly, not really knowing what else to do other than accept in this situation, “You really didn’t have to do that.”

The singer shakes his head like he doesn’t need your thanks. He just smiles at you and says, “It's nice seeing you here.”

It goes silent for a second then between you and your mind scrambles for something to talk about so this surprisingly good interaction doesn’t take a turn for the worst. You’re thankful it’s not your rambling that ends the conversation though.

Someone from the crew a bit further down the hall shouts Alex’s name then which makes the both of you turn to look at where the voice came from. You both see someone wave and then they tap their ear at the same time they almost do the Asda Price bum tap thing.

Whatever it is goes straight over your head. But Alex seems to understand because he nods and holds up a finger telling him one minute.

“Sorry to be a pain,” Alex says as he turns back to you, “They are shouting me for something about my mic pack.”

“It’s okay.” You smile.

Alex smiles back at you, and he says, “See ya in a bit Y/N, hope you enjoy the show.”

“Always do.” You smile and as you turn back around, you say, “Break a leg.”

The singer just smiles at you and you head your separate ways.

Great. Now you just sound like a fucking suck up. Go and get another drink Y/N/N. For fucks sake.

~*~*~*~

Surprisingly, that isn’t your only interaction with Alex tonight. During the short interval between the encore, when they came off stage both Alex and Matt came over and talked to you whilst Nick and Jamie spoke to their wives.

You were tipsy at that point so you started chatting their ear off like you usually did and Matt of course entertained you, but what surprised you most is that Alex was actually smiling. He actually seemed interested in what you had to say - even if it was just nervous bullshit - and he didn’t try to look for someone else to talk to which was very surprising to you. But that was probably just because Matt was there though.

Expecting that to be it, you didn’t give the singer much thought other than that. Knowing that you’re all going into town after this with quite a lot of people settles your nervous energy. You’ll probably have Katie and Kelly to yourself for most of the night because of their men interacting with everyone who wants to speak to them.

And for the most part you’re right about that. Katie gets you drunk, to the point where you’ve had to stop drinking for about an hour so you don’t throw up in the toilets. But the party is still in full swing and you - along with everyone else - have had a nice night.

You’ve just come back from the toilet and you’re looking around for Katie who has now disappeared from the table you were previously at. Kelly had gone home a little earlier, leaving Nick here to have his fun, so you and Katie had been chatting the night away and you’ll be getting a taxi with her back home because you live a 10 minute walk away from her house.

You just take your seat back at the table you were previously sitting on and pull your phone out. The last thing you wanted to do was interrupt anyone else's conversation so you were happy waiting for Katie to find her way back to you.

Sitting there, your still tipsy mind is paying no real attention to what you’re seeing on Instagram. You do find yourself singing along to the Tame Impala song that's playing in the room which you can just about hear over the noise of the busy chattering.

“Hey,” Alex's voice startles you out of your thoughts as he comes and sits himself down next to you with a smile on his face as he asks, “You enjoy the show?”

“Hey, yeah,” You nod, taking a deep breath to stop your shocked heart from giving out. Smiling, you tell him, “Well done.”

“Thanks, Y/N.” Alex grins back at you, and he places a glass down in front of you, “Got you a drink.”

“Oh,” Your eyes go a little wide looking at the whisky glass he’s put down in front of you, “Thank you.”

You pick it up and swirl the liquid around the two ice cubes and initially you thought it was whisky like he’s currently drinking, but you notice the liquid is lighter and a little thicker. Is this your favourite liqueur?

And the singer confirms that it is your favourite drink when he must notice you glancing at your drink. He brings you out of your thoughts and you look back at him as he speaks.

“You drink Amaretto on the rocks when you’re out, right?” Alex nods down to your drink like he’s worried he got it wrong.

“Yeah, yeah.” You nod, completely baffled that he knew that about you, but you smile nonetheless, “Thank you, you didn’t have to get me that.”

Christ, what a good guess on his part.

Alex smiles, “Least I can do.”

You take a sip of the drink and you can’t help but love the taste of it. And after not drinking for an hour or so, the taste is lovely and refreshing on your tongue.

“Did you enjoy your show?” You ask to fill the silence between you.

Granted the noise in the busy room makes his absence of conversation not as bad, but you hate the awkward feeling in your chest. Talking always makes it feel better and your tipsy self can’t control what you say anyway.

“I bet you don’t hear that a lot, or I guess you might.” You ramble, “But I imagine, with performing like that, you just get a lot of people telling you that they enjoyed themselves despite you maybe not feeling it was your best or whatever.”

You notice his lip twitch up at that and you feel like you’ve just shot yourself in the foot. “Sorry, that made it sound like I’m saying you were shit. I’m not. You weren’t. I’m just saying, bet you don’t really get asked a lot. So yeah, um, sorry.”

After the singer takes another sip of his drink, he smiles, “You don’t need to apologise… Yeah, I enjoyed myself. It was probably the best night this week.”

You nod at that, taking another sip of your Amaretto before you open your mouth again, “That’s good. I guess it makes the home shows more special. Has anywhere ever beaten home shows? I imagine all the UK ones are pretty special with you all literally travelling around the world.”

“God, big question.” Alex chuckles a little, before looking at the ceiling as if the answer was written up there. He comes back with, “I think home shows are the rowdiest and loudest which is fun. I think the best ever was Glastonbury though.”

You grin, “Which one? First or second time?”

“Full of good questions.” Alex smiles before he swirls his glass around as he thinks which reminds you of something else entirely.

“Oh,” You practically giggle, which brings his attention back to you, “You make me laugh when you do that ‘losing your train of thought’ thing on stage. Wasn’t aware that an Arctic Monkeys show is actually shitty stand up comedy these days.”

“Offended you think it's shit.” Alex scoffs which makes you drunkenly giggle.

As you finish laughing you shrug and tell him, “Was better in the days that you did the kung fu fighting thing still.”

“Damn,” Alex shakes his head, “Need to step my game back up. Any other suggestions?”

You think about it for a second and you’re just about to give him a long spiel of awkward suggestions that probably should never leave your mouth. But they thankfully don’t because the most gorgeous wife in the world comes back over and grabs your attention.

“Hey Y/N,” Katie grins at you with her coat folded over her arm and she asks, “You ready to go?”

“Yeah,” You nod, grabbing your coat from just beside you, “Yeah.”

As you slip your coat on and finish your drink in a quick mouthful, Alex keeps Katie entertained.

“Mrs Cook.” Alex grins, taking a sip of his beer after calling her out, “You lightweight.”

You have an amused grin on your face as she frowns at him, “Some of us have kids to look after in the morning, Turner.”

“I’m so glad I'm not you right now.” You laugh honestly.

The last thing you’d want was to be hungover and then have to get up early to deal with kids in the morning. Definitely not happening any time in your near future.

“You and me both.” Alex chuckles before he glances back at Katie. “Did you have a good night Mrs Cook.”

“Stop calling me Mrs Cook, you make me feel old.” She playfully scorns him.

“You are old.” Alex fires back just as cocky as she was, pointing out some fair points, “You’ve been married for half a decade and you have a child.”

Katie scowls at the singer then, and she fires back, “Well at least I don’t have a fucking ugly orange settee where I choose to live.”

You have to laugh at that. You’ve heard about how weird and wonderful this sofa is. You know she’s hated it ever since she’d seen it when he moved in, but Alex apparently likes how his furnished flat came. So he’s not changing it.

Alex argues back, with a look of determination, “It matches the blue walls.”

“Your flat looks like a pop art painting.” Katie fires back, narrowing her eyes at him.

“You’re just jealous because you can’t have pretty things like that because your kid will draw on it.” Alex defends himself with a grin, before adding his final joking remarks, “And you’re boring because you have your Mum brain on all the time.”

“At least she’s a milf.” You grin at her, “It’s very lucky Jamie is away so much. Get her all to myself.”

Katie burst out laughing at that and you hear Alex chuckle at you too. Not that you’ll remember any of this tomorrow, you can practically feel the memories already leaving your mind.

Christ, that one extra drink has really done you over. You feel just as drunk again. God you already don’t want the hangover tomorrow.

Katie tells you that she’s going to go and find a few people to say goodbye to and that she’ll meet you over by the door in a few minutes. So you politely ask Alex to let you up from the booth you’re in and he does so without any argument.

As you stand in front of him, the singer wonders aloud, “You’re coming tomorrow, right?”

“Oh I, um,” You don’t really know what to say other than, “I didn’t know I was invited?”

The last thing you wanted to do was be in the way again. Because god knows at some points tonight when the crew was running around you, Katie, and Kelly you felt like you were in the way. And you never want to outstay your welcome anyway.

“Course you are,” Alex tells you, and he says as if it’s obvious, “You’ve been on the guestlist all week, Y/N.”

“Oh.” You say, a little dumbfounded because you really didn’t know and his gaze still makes you feel a little uneasy.

Well if Katie had told you she’d done that for you you might have been able to come a few dates earlier. Or maybe not considering it’s still been a little awkward tonight with Alex, you’re grateful for the conversations you’ve had though.

But you won’t remember your discussions with him because you’ve had so much to drink. And tomorrow you’ll blame your hangover on Katie for more than likely asking Jamie to put the Disaronno in his rider.  

“You don’t have to,” Alex backtracks a little, but it’s nonchalant and you think nothing of it anyway. He follows it up with, “Just thought that you usually spend your saturday nights with Katie and she's here anyway. You’re welcome to come again.”

How kind of him. He must have been abducted by aliens and this is a nicer clone. There's absolutely no other explanation to your tipsy mind.

“Thanks, yeah,” You nod and the singer smiles at you when you confirm, “I’ll be there.”

Because you won’t be turning down free live music or alcohol any time soon.

You glance at the door and notice Katie giving Jamie a kiss so you figure it’s time to get going yourself. You look back at Alex and he smiles knowing what you must already be thinking.

“Then I’ll see you tomorrow Y/N/N.” Alex grins and you give him a smile and a small ‘bye’ as you turn to leave.

But the singer shouts your name after you take a few steps away, so when you turn back to him, he answers your earlier question, “First time. First Glastonbury blew my mind.”

All you seem to be able to do in response to that is grin. You nod a little before saying, “See you tomorrow Alex.”

~*~*~*~ 20th August 2018 ~*~*~*~

“I want to cry, the Uber cancelled again.” Katie whines, pouting slightly as she looks out of the window at the rain.

“Just our luck for not booking a proper taxi in advance.” Jamie sighs, scorning himself for not thinking better of it earlier.

Tonight you, Katie, Jamie, and Alex had been out separately but you’d all convened back together at the Cook household so Jamie’s parents could be relieved of babysitting duties. You and Katie shared another bottle of wine and gossiped for another 2 hours whilst the boys drank their beer and chipped into the conversation now and again.

“It’s not the end of the world,” Alex tells them, “We don’t live that far away.”

“Yeah, I’ll just brave the cold.” You assure Katie, and add in a little jest using air quotes, “At least it’s ‘summer’ and not snowing.”

“But the rain.” Katie points to the window.

Yeah walking home at the end of the night in the rain can be a little shit. But it was nothing you’d not done before. Granted you were like 21 the last time you’d done that but it’s really not the end of the world.

“It’s not heavy, I'll be okay.” You promise her to try and ease her worries, “At least I’ll go home looking like a drowned rat and not the other way around.”

You grab your coat from near the door and Katie follows you saying, “You can’t walk home on your own at three am, Y/N.”

“I’ll be fine.” You tell her as you slip your shoes back on.

Alex shocks both you and Katie to your cores when he says, “I’ll walk her home.”

Katie mustn’t be able to believe her ears because she asks, “What?”

You almost laugh, because she sounds like she’s as shocked as she was when Alex walked in on your wine night with Jamie and Nick the other month and she first saw his buzzed hair cut.

“We live the same way with about five minutes between us.” Alex points out, and he looks at you and nods, “I’ll walk you home.”

So that is how you’re currently walking from the Cook’s house to your own with Alex by your side.

Since Jamie’s party when he came up to you and asked why you didn’t think he liked you, the singer had surprisingly been a little better with you. He said hello to you and he seemed to engage a little more.

He’s still quiet around you, but you’ve noticed now that he goes like that around most people he doesn’t really know that well. You guess you can’t really change that though considering whenever you start asking him questions he doesn’t really give you much of an answer.

You’ve come to terms with that thought which is why you’re biting your tongue as you walk beside him. The urge to start asking him a bunch of questions is really strong but you’d rather not have the sinking feeling in your chest when you just receive one word answers back.

To occupy yourself as you’ve been walking the past few minutes, you’ve been running over the lyrics of your favourite song in your head. Alex seems to be in his head as it is so you don’t feel too bad as you walk despite the strong urge to rid yourself of the awful silence between you.

All you really focus on is making sure the umbrella that Katie lent you keeps you dry. Alex had a coat with a hood and even when you offered to share the umbrella with him he told you it was fine and that was the last thing you said to each other.

Or that was until Alex speaks up and asks you, “Am I right in thinking you were married?”

“Yeah for four years.” You nod, glancing over at him, and chuckling a little, “If you can believe it.”

Thank fuck he spoke up. The silence was eating away at you.

Alex’s eyes go a little wide, “Really?”

The poor man probably shouldn’t have asked, because the floodgates you were holding shut have just burst open and your nervous chatter just comes out. And considering you’re drunk, there is no chance you can stop it.

“Yeah, together since we were sixteen. Married at twenty one and stayed together for four years. But we just didn’t love each other anymore. Well, not in the way that qualifies you still be married to someone.” You ramble on before continuing, “Don’t get me wrong I would be devastated if something happened to him. Touch wood nothing does. But we just lived separate lives, went to work, came back home, and went to bed. Half the time he did shifts so I never saw him.”

You carry on to explain, “My life was just boring and I thought to myself I shouldn’t be feeling bored aged twenty-five. I wanted to travel and see the world but I just got a mortgage straight away so the only travelling we ever did was when we went to Vegas and got married.”

“So I got divorced, and how sad is it that I've got to tell people I'm a thirty one year old divorcee.” You finish off with.

But then you realise who you’ve said all of that to. And that he doesn’t like chatting to you at the best of times. So he probably didn’t care about anything you just told him, or appreciated the amount of rambling you just did.

You feel the need to say, “Sorry.” and you glance at Alex as you sheepishly say, “You didn’t really ask that, did you?”

For fucks sake Y/N. A ‘yes’ would have done!

“It’s okay.” Alex assures you with a small smile.

“No, it's just me rambling when I'm drunk and nervous.” You scorn yourself, hating the uneasy feeling in your chest. Unable to understand why you do it, you still end up saying, “I’m sorry. I’m a chatty person in general and getting alcohol into my system just makes me worse. Not to mention if I'm nervous too… Can never stop me going then.”

You guess getting it off your chest and him knowing that about you may make you easier to understand. Maybe he won’t find you as annoying because the last thing you want is to annoy him. You’re close with Katie and Jamie so you’re bound to run into each other more now he’s going to be living in Sheffield.

The singer frowns a little then before looking back to you to curiously ask, “Why are you nervous?”

Because you’re the most awkward man to talk to possibly ever?!!??!??!?

Course you can’t say that though. So you give the other true reason.

“I don’t like walking home in the dark usually.” You tell him sincerely, because it does freak you out. “I don’t know, bit of an irrational fear at this point but someone followed me home when I was younger and it really freaked me out. So um yeah… Thank you for doing this.”

“It’s really not a problem Y/N/N,” He smiles at you in what seems like a genuine way then, “I wasn’t going to let you walk home alone.”

You can’t help but think that’s really kind of him considering he really doesn’t know you very well. You tell him, “You’re a gooden, Alex.”

The singer just smiles a little at that, but you can see he’s being completely genuine when he says, “Sorry that happened to you.”

You give him a small smile then, appreciating how sincerely he said it. But you don’t really want to dwell on that whilst you’re walking in the dark so you change the subject.

“Do you prefer being back in Sheffield after all your time away?”

Alex wonders in what context you’re on about, so he questions, “You mean like over tour?”

“No, I mean like from living in different places because you were in New York when I first met you. Then you were in LA and you’ve got a place over there, right?” You double check, looking to him for assurance.

Alex nods and you continue, “Then you were to and from LA and London, right? And now you decided to come and stay back home? Or do you not plan on staying now?”

And you’re pleasantly surprised at the lengthy answer he gives you.

“Oh I'm definitely staying in Sheffield now… At least for a little while after the tour is finished.” He explains, “I think I just need time back where everything is normal and familiar again. Like Miles goes and stays back home quite often and I’ve not been back here for more than two months maybe since I was twenty two… It’s a long time away and it's quite nice to just come back and feel normal.”

You understand what he’s saying completely, but you can’t help but jokingly add, “Well… As normal as you can, being the front man of Sheffield's pride and joy.”

Alex laughs a little at that which shocks you because you never expected to make him laugh. But he does remind you, “You’re forgetting about Pulp.”

“You’re forgetting Pulp haven’t released anything since 2012.” You raise your eyebrows at him as your defence.

“Fair dos,” Alex laughs a little and you take what joy you can out of the fact that you made that happen. “But yeah, I like being myself back here and I like that I’m with most of my good friends and I get to be a proper uncle to the kids over here now.”

“They talk about you all the time. It's funny.” You can’t help but grin at the thought of your little god children, “Katie blames Jamie for being gone on you so when Katie has Kelly and Nick’s kids round too they complain like ‘Why has Uncle Alex taken Dad away again?’” You mimic in a whiney voice that again makes Alex laugh.

Alex chuckles, “I need to have a word with that Mrs Cook. She’ll get me into trouble with them.”

You promise him, “It’s nothing a chocolate bar wouldn’t solve.”

“I must owe them so much chocolate.” Alex grins.

You nod and begin to slow your walking down because you’re about to reach your house, “Oh yeah, you definitely do.”

“I’ll get Katie to invoice me.” The singer says as he notices you glance to the houses just beside you both and you slow down.

Matching your speed, you both come to a stop just in front of your house and you smile at the singer, “Thank you for walking me home.”

“Not a problem, Y/N.” Alex smiles back and you’re really glad that

You start slowly moving closer to your house as you say, “I hope the next leg of your tour goes well.”

“Thank you.” He says as he watches you get closer to your house.

“See you soon Alex.” You say with a smile as you unlock your door and push it open. “Thanks again.”

Alex smiles, “Bye Y/N.”

~*~*~*~ 24th November 2018 ~*~*~*~

Chaos. That is the only word to describe the current situation that you’re in.

The Cook household is manic, Forrest is running round like a mad man as any toddler who’s just been given sweets by his uncle would be doing.

Toys are everywhere and Jamie is running around too as he’s been tasked with tidying them before the grandparents get here to babysit. Katie scolded Alex for giving Forrest sweets before they were due to go out before she went upstairs to get ready.

Katie’s Mum wasn’t here yet to babysit Forrest for the night whilst you were all going out and that added to the stress because the taxi was due in about 25 minutes. So you’re trying your best to be the good Auntie that you are and calm your godchild down before you all go out, but your good nature results in a causality.

Alex catches your arm as you almost fall over a mountain of toys Forrest decided to pull you through, but as you tried to salvage your footing you must have caught the leg of the table your shin smacked into as well. It didn’t hurt too much, the initial shock of it got you and the fact you almost fell over, but then you hear the awful sound of fabric ripping, it makes you wince. You know what's happened before you even look down to check.

“You’ve got to be fucking joking.” You mutter under your breath before you quickly glance at Alex and say a small, “Thanks.” as he stopped you from going arse over tit.

Alex asks slightly concerned, “Are you okay?” and that’s the first interaction with him since you walked in the door ten minutes ago.

You could blame that on the fact the Cook’s household was fucking mental, but it’s more than likely just normal that he doesn’t want to talk to you. You’re just glad he caught you if nothing else, the last thing you need is to fall and bruise yourself.

“Yeah, thanks,” You nod, letting go of his arm you were still grasping to perch on the back of the settee so you can get a look at the damage done to your tights, “Can’t say the same about them, for fucks sake.”

They are beyond salvageable. There’s a massive hole in the calf which is that big it almost fully reaches round to your shin. Theres now a massive fucking ladder up the side of them which makes them more transparent and you can feel it’s gone right up to your arse too.

“I can’t go out like this.” You sigh, wondering what you can do but it also pisses you off because you literally arrived a matter of minutes ago in your taxi feeling really good about yourself for a hot second, but now that’s all fucking disipated.

Jamie shrugs, suggesting, “Take them off.” as he watches Forrest play with some toys across the room.

“Oh yeah,” You roll your eyes, and your sarcasm rings clear telling him that you’re not in the mood for such a simple comment like that. You wore them for a reason, and that reason is because it’s fucking freezing outside, “And get fucking hypothermia because I’m shivering all night? I don’t think so Jamie.”

You’re only wearing a skirt tonight because Katie asked you to anyway. She wanted you to wear the skirt version of the dress that she had which you were fine with doing.

Katie was wearing a really cute red tartan dress with a long sleeve black top underneath whereas you opted to buy the dark green high waisted tartan skirt and you paired that with a white long sleeve top and you had your tights and ankle boots on.

You’re bloody freezing as it is, the last thing you want or need is to be taking your tights off. It’s a strong no from you.

“I mean you wanted a quick fix.” Jamie holds his hands up in innocence and you just ignore him for a second before walking out of the lounge and to the bottom of the stairs after hearing your best friend begin to walk down them.

“Katie, do you have tights I could borrow?” You ask her as she gets to the bottom of the stairs.

“I binned all mine the other day and ordered more but they haven't arrived yet.” She tells you and your once jolly mood plummets further, “They all had holes in them… How come?”

You show her your right leg and you turn slightly to pull your skirt up a little, making sure the lads don’t see but Katie can see just how high the ladder runs up.

“Oh.” Katie winces at that, feeling bad she can’t help you.

“I’ve got stockings you could wear?” She offers as the both of you walk back into the lounge, “They’d come up to your thigh?”

You almost want to slap her. You know exactly where those items of her clothing have been, which is why you give her a disgusted look as you say, “I’m not wearing stockings that you’ve been wearing whilst Jamie’s railed you.”

“They’ve been washed.” She scoffs.

“Thanks, but no. I can’t wear these though.” You sigh as you both walk into the lounge. You stick by the arched frame though and after a second of deliberation, you say, “Whilst you're sorting yourself out, I’ll walk home and change.”

Katie looks at you with concern filled eyes, “But the taxi is due in twenty minutes.”

“Exactly, and you don't have the time to be messing about.” You say as she’s clearly still got things to sort out. She’s only just now plugging her straighteners in and she doesn’t have her shoes on yet either. You continue with, “And your Mum isn’t here yet to look after Forrest. If you can pick me up on the way out, that’d be grand.”

Katie nods at you through the mirror as she starts parting her hair so she can style it, “Yeah that’s fine.”

“Right, I’ll go now then.” You tell the room before turning to grab your coat from the bannister.

But you almost stop dead when you hear Alex say, “I’ll walk with you.”

Did those words really just leave Alex Turner’s mouth?

They clearly did because he’s pulling his jacket back on and taking a step towards you. Not wanting to be a burden, you shake your head, “You don’t have to, it’s not that late.”

“It’s okay, I’ll walk with you.” Alex insists, giving you a look that’s assuring but he makes it lighthearted by saying, “Gives them more incentive to come and pick the both of us up from yours then, right?”

You assume he must remember from your walk home a few months ago that you didn’t like walking home in the dark. You see no other reason for him as to be so kind to offer. So you don’t argue with him further, even though you already feel nervous to have to spend time with him alone.

“Right.” You nod and avert your gaze from his. You look back to Katie and Jamie and say, “See you in a bit.”

~*~*~*~

The walk home was uncomfortable to say the least. Despite your speed walking, it really did seem to take forever to get back to your house with silence between you and the singer.

You’ve got past the point of trying to start a full conversation with him at this point, so you just opted to repeat the lyrics to your favourite song, Not fair by Lily Allen, to yourself three times knowing that by the time you finish the song in full for the third time you should be home. And when you’re correct, you’re very thankful.

Unlocking and getting into your house leaves a new sense of anxiety in your stomach though. You’ve left the place a fucking mess and you hate that when someone new walks in. Especially someone like Alex who hasn’t always been the nicest to you in the past, so you start rambling again as you let the both of you in.

“My house is a tip so sorry about this.” You tell him as you quickly slip your boots off so you can change your tights when you get a second. “Please ignore everything you see. I’ve really not had any time to clean up today. I was out this morning and then by the time I got back katie was mithering me to get ready for tonight which is fucking comical because she wasn’t ready even before we left.”

Alex closes the door behind and walks into your home and you don’t need to look at him to know he’s already looking around at your possessions. Most people do when they walk in anyway considering the back wall of your lounge displays your ever growing record collection.

You’re unsurprised when you hear him say, “Christ, that’s a lot of records.”

“I know right,” You smile and walk the both of you further into your home.  

And because you can’t handle silence as you start searching your shopping bags for a new pair of tights, you give him another anecdote, “My Dad gave me all of his from back in the day. Couldn’t believe it when he said I could have them all. I’d only just started my collection at the time and I probably had about twenty of my own and then he gave me all of his because he said it was old technology and he’ll never have any use for them anymore. And then my grandparents followed suit and they gave me all theirs too. Couldn’t believe my luck.”

“Three generations worth of collectors then?” Alex smiles and you nod.

“Yeah, I guess so.” You nod, not bothering with the bag you were currently routing through anymore because you’re a little bit taken aback by the fact he’s pulled your favourite Gorillaz album out.

Abandoning your search for replacement tights for the moment, you carry on your story as you watch him, “Been fun adding to the big collection though. I love just putting on a record to pass the time. It’s why my Spotify unwrapped is always so shit because I always listen to my LPs and not on my phone so at the end of the year it’s like ‘you listened to two thousand minutes of music this year’ and it’s bullshit because I just listen to so much more but it’s all on my turntable unless I'm walking to work.”

Alex hums with a smile on his face as he continues searching for more records. He’s pleased to see all of his own up there, including his EP, the TLSP albums, and the Submarine soundtrack. And when he pulls out Miles’ latest album Coup De Grace, he can’t help but chuckle seeing that Miles had signed it and written a message to you saying, ‘Y/N/N, my biggest fan in the world. Love you loads and I hope you enjoy the new tunes. All my love, Miles x’.

When you notice the singer looking at that, you laugh and tell him how Miles had given you a lovely message on the front of all his LPs.

“Bless Miles, he always writes me a nice message on each album I get sent.” You start to ramble as you search for new tights. “I don’t really remember when he started doing it… Oh yeah I do, I think it may have been when I mentioned when I first met him how much I liked Age of the Understatement and we were talking about it for ages. And then like a month later I get the record in the post and he’s signed it and it had the sweetest message on the front to go with it and he’s never stopped. He’s a gem.”

You stop talking about Miles when you get baffled for a moment how your tights weren’t in the shopping bag from the shop you thought you bought them from. So your search persists as you carry on routing in other bags you’ve yet to take upstairs.

As you do though, your nervous chatter persists. You really hate that you can’t stop it, and you’re sure you’re annoying your guest but he doesn’t stop you, and thankfully he doesn’t look annoyed by them today. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t take you by surprise today by actively starting a conversation with you.

Just as you’re about to run upstairs to your room, you hear Alex ask, “Can I ask you a question?”

If Katie would have asked you that, you’d have said ‘You just did’ but because it’s Alex and you’re certain he doesn’t get your humour, nor would he tolerate it, you just say, “Yeah, of course you can.”

And you walk back into your lounge so you’re not being rude as you wait for his question. Alex looks as relaxed as possible as you feel like your heart is going to start beating out of your chest despite him still plucking records from your shelves.

His brown eyes linger on you as he asks, “Do I make you nervous?”

You certainly weren't expecting that question.

“What do you mean?” You find yourself asking, not understanding where that’s come from and you feel like you’re frozen in your spot.

Alex seems to think about his words before they leave his mouth next. And your heart that's thudding ten to the dozen in your chest doesn’t feel like it’s able to cope for much longer so you’re very thankful when he says what's on his mind.

“Well when I walked you home in the summer, you said that you ramble when you're drunk or nervous. And yes, on a few occasions we've seen each other lately we’ve been drunk, but you’re not now and you’re exactly the same.” Alex points out as he looks between you and the track listing on the back of your Brian Eno LP.

“You’re really chatty and jumpy when I come near you and it's like you’re flustered and jittery... Like the way a fan usually is but you’ve known me for too long for it to be that, so that’s why I'm asking,” Alex repeats himself, “Do I make you nervous?”

“Erm, yeah.” You nod, unable to say much else, “I guess you do.”

“In what way?” The singer asks you as he puts the record back where he found it before giving you his full attention and starts making his way over to you.

“I’m not scared of you or anything… You just really stress me out. I can never read you, never read what mood you’re in or even whether you like me as a person or you just think I’m Katie’s annoying friend that never shuts up.” You struggle for your words because you truly don’t know how to tell him without offending him. The last thing you’d want is for him to dislike you anymore.

But Alex’s gaze and increasing proximity makes you say more, “I don’t really know why you make me nervous after all this time. But you definitely unsettle me.”

You want to curl up into a ball and hide. You feel fidgety with the closer he gets and you want to avoid his gaze. But because he’s pointed it out, you don’t allow yourself. You stay strong and keep his eye contact despite his teasing.

“When you’re around me you talk like you- I don’t know how to describe it… You almost act like someone who's addicted to the E-numbers in sweets.” Alex grins, almost like it’s a little inside joke with himself. You try to keep yourself calm when he reaches his point, as he stops a few feet in front of you. “So that's why I’m curious if I made you nervous or not.”

“Well I guess the simple answer is yes.” You nod, but now with him so close, you try to look anywhere but at him.

This is far too awkward for your liking. Alex hums in response to that and he plucks another record that you recognise to be Histoire de Melody Nelson from your shelf that’s just beside you.

You think you’ve escaped the conversation now and you pray you can just go back to being awkwardly silent with each other and never relive that again. But apparently that’s not the plan.

Just as you were turning yourself around again to head upstairs, Alex leaves you shell shocked when he asks, “Do you want to fuck me?”

Instantly your eyes are the widest they could possibly get and you’re sure your jaw falls open. Looking at him intently to try and make sure you’re not dreaming this, you deadpan, “Excuse me?”

“Do you want to fuck me?” Alex asks, putting the record back like it's the most casual thing to ask someone he barely speaks to, “Is that why I make you nervous?”

This should be the easiest response you’ve ever given him.

“I-”

But your words fail you. Your heart feels like it’s about to beat out of your chest.

Wait… Do I want to fuck him?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A/N: So... What did you think??? What do you think is going to happen next??? Did you enjoy it? I really hope you did! 

Let me know if you want to be added to the taglist x

Taglist: @alovesreading​ @kennedy-brooke​ @ohladymoon​ @hazskillerqueen​ @more-multifandom-of-maddness @thereisaplaceintheheart​ 

[hiwelcometothemonstersancturary]

so, I read the whole "House Tour (not the house we wanted, but the house we have)", and I loved it so much, and I asked a question after reading it because of the ending, so what was everyone's reaction of toys eating pizza for the first time?

Your First Ever Pizza Night

Synopsis: Angel has to teach the toys how to eat pizza. It's confusing.

---

James' eyes were so wide you thought they would pop out of his head. You nervously smiled at him, feeling the eyes of the toys staring at you from inside the house. "Thank you for your work", you tell him, money in hand. "I, uhm, am sorry for how Catnap tried to scare you away".

"I-it's okay!", he shakes his head. "No big deal, don't worry, Angel".

You eye the group from behind. Catnap tilts his head, still not very trusting of the stranger. You figured that would be the tenth human he talks to in more than a decade. "Take care, okay?"

"You too", he takes the money, counts, and then sighs. You also sigh, giving him a pat in the back. "Man, you really scared everyone out there. I thought you had... You know".

"I've been clean for years. I wouldn't do that", you reassure him. "And now I have those guys to look out for".

Your friend chuckles. "Feeling the weight of parenting on your shoulders already?"

"Urgh, don't even let me start talking about it", you smile. "Okay, I'll head inside now. I don't think half of them know what pizza is".

You tell James your goodbyes, watching him leave. You feel guilty for having him deliver so many pizzas to you, but it is what it is, the kids (your kids) must be hungry. You prepare yourself mentally before entering the house, closing the front door:

"So! Who's hungry?"

Dogday adjusts himself in the sofa as most of the mini toys yell "me!", rushing towards you, including the mini huggy that was using him as an oversized pillow. You laugh as they swarm you, and you pick up Driver and Bunzo on your arms. The little green huggy stims her hands, while Bunzo climbs on your shoulders: "Show us what that pizza thing is! Show us!"

"Bunzo, you're going to fall if you keep like this", Long Legs warns him, stretching all the way from the other corner of the living room to shoosh the crowd away. One catbee blows a raspberry at her, annoyed. "Get away from them! They're going to fall if you guys keep on like this!", the same catbee from before repeats the gesture, but now a candy cat and a bron imitate her gesture. "Angel!"

"You heard her", your warn the little ones. "C'mon, guys".

They coo away, and you watch Catnap proudly looking after the mini critters, most of whom didn't swarm you. He really is their big brother, uh...?

"Okay, guys. Are you ready?"

Driver stims again as you enter the kitchen, piles of pizza boxes distributed in the counters. Delight is counting them, muttering numbers under her breath, and stops when she notices you: "We have 26 boxes for 80 of us! They may last up to a week if we are careful".

"... What?", you chuckle. "Delight, no. The Prototype gave me enough money to feed everyone for years to come, we don't need to ration our food. You can eat as much as you want to".

You grab the first box you find. Bunzo tries to climb your head to take a look, and you laugh. "Eat as much as we want to? I'm going to explode, then!"

You bring the box to the living room, knowing well the kids are waiting for you to take the first slice. You show the box to Dogday, currently incapable of leaving the sofa thanks to his surgery stitches still being fresh. He deserves to see the first slice, you figured.

"You seeing this, pup?"

"With my two eyes!", Dogday nods. Catnap has approached you, and, with a smile, you open the box: "Behold: Pizza!"

"OOOO!", Bunzo yells. Huggy, who was following you around like a shadow, claps his hands, surprised. Kissy is still holding Poppy, who copies Huggy's clapping.

"It's been so long since I saw a real pizza!", the doll smiles. "And it smells even better!"

"This one is pepperoni pizza. There's 8 slices in every box - you guys should all take one. Eat as much as you want to!"

You take a piece, offering it to Bunzo, who grabs from your hand and shoves it on his mouth. You try your best not to accidentally drop him or Driver thanks to your chukling as he tries to deal with the cheese hanging out from his mouth. "Is elishious! Wha is disss?"

"You're going to get food on Angel's hair", Long Legs politely lifts Bunzo up from your head, using her arm to hold him. "And that's called... Cheese".

"Elishious!", he jumps.

"Please try not to choke!", you offer the next slice to Dogday. The big puppy's eyes go wide, and he shakes his head.

"Give it to the others, Angel..."

"There's enough for everyone, dummy, now eat" you take another slice, giving it to Long Legs, who stared at Bunzo in horror as he was still trying to deal with the cheese. "Theeere you go".

The pink spider stares at her slice with a strange look. She eyes Bunzo, then Dogday, who was holding his own as if it were a delicate piece of ceramic, then opens her mouth, then closes it.

"You eat pizza like this, Long Legs", you grab a slice of your own, biting it and using your teeth and fingers to free yourself from the cheese. Still chewing, you add: "Use your hands to deal with the cheese, everyone, you guys don't want to put too much into your mouths or you'll end up choking on your own food!"

You offered the next slice to Kissy, who stared at it with sparkling eyes before taking her first bite. Huggy bites his in one go, and Driver takes the last one before Delight appears, giving you a new box, still of pepperoni.

"Thank you", you give her a nod. "C'mon, take a slice! You too, Driver".

The mini wuggy jumps from your shoulder, and Delight gives a slice to her first before taking one herself. She blinks many time. "Ooh... This is very... Interesting...?"

She gives it another bite.

"Lots of different tastes... And it's so warm and soft!"

You sigh, noticing Dogday had given his slice to a catbee. "Pizzas aren't exactly soft, but I guess they look like it, considering what you guys had to eat..."

You offer a slice to Catnap.

The feline lowers his head. "Savior, please feed the others first...", he asks. "They're hungrier than me".

"You and Dogday have a lot to learn, uh?", you shake your head. "Okay, kiddos, you heard your boss. There!", you put the box in the ground, watching as the critters stare at you, hesitant. "One slice for each, don't fight each other for more, we have a lot of boxes. Speaking of which, can someone grab the other box... Oh!"

Delight chuckles, one box in each hand. She's polite in the way she gives it to everyone, despite all her isolation. Huggy, on the other hand, is less careful thanks to his lack of proper coordination, but he manages to feed all the mini huggies with some help from Kissy.

Dogday only eats after he's sure every single other toy is doing so. By that point, you're sitting on the sofa, Poppy using a plate, knife and fork to each her own slice of pizza. Catnap merely stares.

"Oh... Ooooh!", the orange dog mutters. His tail is wagging. "A-Angel, this is incredible!"

"Nah, it's just pizza. You're going to have fancier food as soon as I get more groceries".

"Fancier food? Are... Are you sure?"

"The doctors are going to kill me if I don't give you all the nutritients", Dogday stares. "Not literally! It's just a joke!"

"Ah", he sighs, forcing himself to laugh. "Even fancier food, uh...?"

"More!", Bunzo yells, jumping up and down. "I ate two slices already, but I crave more! I think I'll explode!"

"Please don't explode", you mutter. "It hurts".

The bunny mischievously laughs, running towards the kitchen. You eye Catnap, who eyes you back with a head tilt.

"Aren't you going to eat?"

"I... Ate yesterday, savior".

You hear a growl coming from his stomach. "Your 'savior' wants you to eat. Go on, you gotta get those calories. No one should starve".

For the first time since the confrontation agains the Prototype, Catnap lowers his ears and fidgets, nervously looking away from you. Around him, the small critters all eat their own slices, some trying to comfort him with a headbonk or by cuddling next to him.

"Catnap", Dogday calls. "You need to set up a good example for... Them", he points to the critters. "They aren't going to eat more if they see you aren't doing so".

"You know well how our rules work, Dogday. They eat first. Me, second".

"And now you are outside PlayCo. and playing by my own rules, kitty", you bite another slice of pizza, before offering the box to Catnap. "Go on, even Dogday and Long Legs are doing so".

"..."

Catnap's stomach once again growls. Using his hand, he takes a single slice out of the remaining three, eating it in one bite. You patiently wait for his reaction.

His eyes become brighter. His tail curls and moves left and right, and his ears go up as well. He stares at you, asking for permission, and you nod. He eats his second one almost immediately, now using both of his hands so he can take more bites and savor the taste more.

You chuckle, grabbing another box next to you and opening it for him and Dogday to share. The two bigger critters have the same sparkle in their eyes, and both go to their next slice almost at the same time.

This... Feels nice. All of this "family" stuff. Seeing them light up and talk about how this ordinary pizza is the best thing in the entire world, how they are eating so much when only at their second slice. It feels nice. They really are acting like normal kids would.

Maybe we can indeed become the parent they need...?

[corrodedcoffins-blog]

First impressions

main masterlist

older!eddie munson x popstar!reader

note: takes place october 2023

word count: 1 k

Y/N L/N’s voice was a constant in Eddie’s house with his daughter, Isla, being a huge fan. He most likely listened to Y/N’s album more than the singer herself had. And as soon as Y/N L/N had announced her tour Isla had been begging for tickets. And one thing about Eddie is that he would do anything for his little girl, so he patiently waited for when the tickets would go on sale. And when they did, he was busy. Of course.

Eddie, even though he has been out of the limelight for a decade now, he never stopped working in the industry. He now was a producer, and god he loved it, he may have loved it even more than being a recording artist. 

So of course he was working with one of his favourite clients, finishing a song they had been working on for a while now. Working past their set hours of today. 

He had only learned he missed the tickets, completely forgetting it was today, when Isla comes barrelling down the stairs of their New York penthouse.

“Dad! Tickets were today! Did you get us some?” Isla said, hastily, clearing having been waiting hours for her Dad to get home. 

Eddie on the other hand can’t believe he forgot, it’s just been the only thing Isla had been talking about for the last few weeks. He felt awful, he never wanted to disappoint her. So he lied. 

“Of course I did, Sweetie!” What else was he supposed to do? When Isla jumped into his arms in joy, he almost didn’t even feel guilty. Almost, because now he had to think of a way to get himself out of this. 

“Oh, my god! Thank you, Daddy! I have to go tell Jenna!”

As soon as Isla was out of Eddie’s sight, his slime slipped right off his face. He had to jump right into action. Being in the industry helped, but being a legend to the industry helped more. Eddie emailed his team, to try their best to get tickets, spare the cost. When they all came back empty handed, he went onto his next order of business, getting in contact with the woman herself. Now he couldn’t exactly get into contact with her directly, he messaged her team. Which in his opinion was close enough. 

Y/N’s team had responded first thing the next morning, sharing a more than enthusiastic response, saying he and his daughter could even have backstage passes. At that Eddie couldn’t wait to tell Isla, not only would she be going to Y/N’s concert, that would also get to meet her idol.

-

Today was the long awaited day, the day of Y/N’s concert. It wasn’t only Eddie and Isla that were excited for tonight's show, Y/N’s team had told her today that Eddie Munson, a rock legend, and his daughter would be attending her show. Y/N always gets nervous before shows, but knowing that Eddie Munson would be in the crowd and that she would be meeting him after the show, caused an unforeseen amount of worry to form in Y/N’s stomach. 

But as usual all the nervousness and worrying thoughts left as soon as she played the first note of ‘emails i can’t send’ as the concert began.

-

Eddie did not expect to enjoy the concert that much, the music itself wasn’t exactly his style, but it was the presence that Y/N had on stage that captivated him. And it was at this point Eddie realised he had never seen a picture of Y/N before, and god was she gorgeous. She had this beauty that ran deeper than just her looks, her smile redacted warmth and her kindness shown through when she talked to the crowd. 

Eddie naturally felt awkward about his attraction towards her, she was easily 20 years younger than him, his son had a better shot than he did. But that sure as hell didn’t stop the thoughts that came into mind when Y/N sang her more explicit lyrics. 

And with Eddie’s new found attraction towards Y/N, it only made him nervous for their meeting after the show. 

-

Eddie and Isla were currently walking down the hallway they were directed to, with Isla leading the way. And when Y/N came into their view standing at the snack table, drinking a bottle of water, Isla ran up to Y/N not being able to contain her excitement. Eddie in the meantime, having a reaction to seeing Y/N of his own. Eddie froze, his breath caught in his throat.

“Hi! Oh god, I can’t believe I’m meeting you! Can I have a hug?”

“Of course, sweetie. You’re Isla right?” Y/N said, pulling Isla into a tight hug.

“Yes. I can’t believe you know my name.” As Isla was having an existential crisis, Eddie spoke up, finally having the courage.

“Hi, I’m Eddie. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Yes, you too! My parents love your music.”

“Oh, that aged me.” Eddie joked back, with no real offence in his voice. Though he did place a hand on his heart to seal the deal.

“No! Please, you’re not that old. You’re what 35- 40” Y/N said, looking into Eddie’s eyes, her cheeks spread in a wide smile.

“Now I know you’re kidding.”

“No, really I’m not. How old are you?”

“46.”

“No!”

“Yes.”

While the two had their little back and forth, Isla recovered from her crisis, and watched the two adults that were clearly both into each other. So of course in true Isla fashion, she did everything she could to make her idol, a possible new step-mom.

“He’s single too.” Isla blurted out, she’s never been good with filters.

“Isla-”

“Is he?”

“Oh- I- I’m not- you’re not-” Eddie stutters, not knowing exactly how to respond to that.

“Well, I’m staying in New York for a couple weeks, you could call me?” Y/N says, having no idea where this new found confidence of hers is coming from. But nonetheless runs with it, grabbing a napkin from the snack table the trio was standing by and writing for number on  it before handing it to Eddie.

“Um, I have to now. It was so lovely meeting you Isla, and it was great meeting you Eddie..”