#if i ever wrote fic i would want to write. eiffel falling asleep to the drone of hera's servers vs. hera falling asleep to eiffel snoring

[commsroom]

two things about doug eiffel: 1) he's a very physical person; he's always moving and needs to keep his hands occupied, and that extends to physical affection, something he's largely denied on the hephaestus; 2) he is an absolute space heater of a man.

which is to say, if hera had a body, i would hope for her sake that it'd be more biological than mechanical, because that guy is going to cause something to overheat.

... but, also. because, the way eiffel interacts with hera, he's always attempting to establish some physical connection - i think he makes eye contact with her cameras, touches the walls, etc. and he knows she's "always there" but he still doesn't really get it. he keeps asking. i think the same thing applies to her presence in the station - he never fully gets that she's always everywhere. sometimes when he gets up to leave a room, he'll ask her to go with him - just force of habit.

and sometimes, when he can't sleep properly - which is often; he's a restless sleeper, overcaffeinated, and his thoughts keep him awake - he'll curl up next to hera's servers. and it's hot in there - and he's already a sweaty guy - or it's too cold, if the AC is actually working properly - and it's loud, but it's enough to quiet his thoughts. and at first hera reminds him that she's equally there in his quarters (which would be set up enough for a suggestive retort, if he were any less tired), but he looks so tired, and it seems to help. and she's not sure why, but it does kind of make her feel closer to him, too.

[tirednotflirting]

french press on the kitchen counter - a.i.

i recognize the severity of all that is going on in the world and i encourage all of you to please stay home and away from the humans you don’t already interact with on a day to day basis. my late night wine-tipsy fluff should not in any way encourage you to seek out additional company during these quarantined times.

I wrote most of this on sunday/monday and actually posted for about five min mon night and then ash put out that video and we were all concerned and i felt eh about putting out content then but now that we have a video of him dancing with a puppy in his lap i feel better so-

tagging @aspiringwildfire​ bc i actually started this before falling asleep after we talked fic and yelled about the guys for a bit the other night. thnx for the late night writing party <3

stay healthy and happy. xx

wc: ~ 1.4k

 as she let her eyes blink open from sleep, she found herself asking a silent question that had become a standard to most mornings: was that the sound of rain pattering against the wall of windows in the living room or drum sticks against a practice pad once again left on the coffee table?

she closed her eyes and focused on the noise. while it mostly sounded like the white noise of a spring rain, there was something distinctly rhythmic behind it that led her to believe it might be a rare morning when she got both. she sat up slowly against her pillows in the room darkened by black out curtains, the ones she had begged ashton to buy for the guest room since she had been finding herself often falling asleep at the drummer’s house after parties and nights out since they had met some several months earlier.

their friendship had been an easy one. a friend of a friend had invited her to a house party just a few weeks after she had moved to the city, insisting this was the best crew in la to spend time with. upon meeting the hazel-eyed host of the party, the two of them found miles of common ground and spent the whole night chatting about her new master’s program and their shared adoration for the city she had recently moved from. she was added to all of the group texts before the night was over and as the weeks went on, she often found herself on ashton’s living room floor, leaning against the couch with a beer in hand, teaching her favorite party games to this glittery, talented crew of artists that had adopted her into their circle.

given the near ever-present place they had in each other’s lives during the first few months of 2020, it wasn’t all that surprising to her when she received a call from ashton inviting her to quarantine in his home rather than all on her own after hearing that her on-campus studies were to be put on hold for the rest of the semester. they spent enough time around one another that it made sense and the thought of spending at least the next month or so alone in her studio apartment did sound pretty lonely. so she sent him a confirmation text, packed up a bag, and soon found herself sitting shotgun in frankie cruising down the interstate to her new-ish best friend’s quiet home.

that was 8 days ago. since then they had been working their way through dozens of movies and books, taking turns on who cooked and who queued up music on Spotify while sipping on topo chico (sometimes spiked with tito’s and lime). there were nightly facetimes with the band, the two of them squeezing together into the frame to see what everyone else had been up to during the days stuck inside. when he got antsy, she would leave whatever book she was annotating for class to help him rig up a camera to record another drum cover. it was a fine way of living, she supposed, with all of the pain going on in the world beyond his four walls.

she was reflecting on the state of the world (and reminding herself to do her daily news check on her New York Times app) as she padded out to the living room to check if her ears had proved her right today. she turned the corner to find ashton beating away at a dark red practice pad as he faced away from her and towards the windows that were being beat with raindrops by the angry storm clouds above their sunshine city. so she was right.

she didn’t want to scare the man yielding the fast moving sticks so she moved around the far end of the long couch to take a seat beside him. when his eyes landed on her as she rounded the back of the black sofa, noting to himself how small and homey she looked in a tshirt of his she must have stolen to sleep in, he finished the lick he was on and moved the pad from where it had rested on his lap to the coffee table in front of them.

a lazy grin stretched across his scruffy face as he watched her pick up the coffee mug he had filled for her only about ten minutes earlier. after 8 days in the same house, they were starting to learn each other’s routines. setting down his sticks, he lifted the French press he had brought out from the kitchen to top off his own mug before bringing it to his lips and lifted his other arm to allow her to rest comfortably against his chest.

“hope i didn’t wake you, love,” he mumbled, his first words out loud of the day coming out groggier than he anticipated.

he felt her hum against his chest after she took another sip of the hot, pleasantly bitter brew. “nah, my body could feel the rain and knew it was time to see the world.”

“not much to see beyond my backyard, unfortunately,” he replied, his head falling to rest against the top of her own.

he felt her smile against his chest through the fabric of the old, worn tshirt he had thrown on after rising that morning. “ah, well,” she mused, “who needs anything beyond that anyway.”

they both remained quiet for a few moments, not quite sure where to go from there. his calloused fingers drew shapes against the skin on her arm that his fingers could reach as he sipped from his mug. she sat up some and his arm fell from around her shoulders to her waist as she tossed her sock clad feet over his lap. “tell me about paris today?”

this had become another regular activity in their days shacked up together. she would think of a big, beautiful city she had always dreamed of traveling to and, after remembering that he had gone on a few world tours and had probably been to most of them, she would get him to tune into his nostalgic side to tell her stories of his travels with his brothers.

he squeezed her hip before moving to stand. he grabbed the French press and both of their (now cool and nearly empty) mugs. “paris will need more coffee,” he nodded his head toward the kitchen. “come on.”

in the kitchen she jumped up onto the island and let her legs swing back and forth as she watched him refill the kettle and exchange the old coffee grounds for new as he started his stories. he told her about andy convincing all of them to take cheesy pictures with roses in front of the eiffel tower in the night time and about what he tried at the different bakeries and cafes he had discovered in their few trips there. he recalled on a fashion show they had all attended at one point and smiled with his eyes as he spoke fondly of their first trip to the louvre.

she wiped tears of laughter from her eyes after he finished the story of how they all tricked luke into eating snails during their first trip to the city of love as he stepped between her legs to hand her a fresh mug of coffee. neither thought anything of it as he stayed at that spot and gently set his own mug beside her bare thigh on the counter to wrap his arms lazily around her waist. the counter has leveled the playing field on their height difference so after taking a big sip from the mug, she mirrored his actions except letting her arms lay across his shoulders. “once this is all over and done with, we should take a trip,” she hummed, her fingers playing with the soft hair at the back of his neck.

“to paris?” he teased.

she pouted at him, her eyes rolling some. “no, silly, just somewhere.”

“why do you wanna go somewhere with me?” he was fishing, he knew that. but as he allowed himself to wrap his arms more fully around his still somewhat new friend’s waist, he couldn’t help but wonder if all of this time together had her feeling the same way that he did.

she looked into his hazel eyes with a content look to her own. “you tell the best stories,” she responded easily. “best people to go through life with are ones that know how to tell you a good story.”

and as a smile spread slowly across the drummer’s face, he couldn’t help but look forward to all the stories he would get to write with her.

*

[asthecrushgoes]

Dancing with a Stranger - part one

GIF

Who: Luke

Inspiration: the 5SOS cover of Dancing with a Stranger (Sam Smith and Normani) mashup with Latch (Disclosure ft. Sam Smith)

Warnings (part 1): Swearing, drinking, implications of casual sex

Word Count (this part): 2,209

A/N: Sooooo….. the cover of ‘Dancing with a Stranger’ fuckedddd me up and I still think about it, so I decided to write a short fic. This was supposed to be two parts, but I wrote a lot and it ended up being three. If you don’t like smut, this first part can act as a stand-alone one shot or with part two if you want little hints of it! Part 3 is alllll the smut though, so get ready for that. Also, because they put ‘Latch’ at the end, I thought it really changed the whole meaning of the song and wanted to incorporate that into the story. Let me know what you think! 🍻

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

It was that time of night again. Luke was sprawled on his couch, wearing an old, torn sweatshirt, stuffing his face with takeout (tonight’s choice was Thai) and watching a movie. Alone. Always alone. 

In actuality, he wasn’t really watching whatever film he had thrown on the TV. He never did. Instead, his eyes were fixed on his phone, thumb swiping through old pictures. 

Pictures of her. 

Luke and Elyssa had been together for three years and Luke had thousands of photos still stored on his phone. He flicked through their cheesy, touristy photos in front of the Eiffel Tower, action shots of them surfing when he took her to Australia for the first time, candids of Elyssa across the table wearing the most gorgeous light pink dress on their first anniversary, screenshots of cute texts and weird Snapchats…

Basically their whole relationship was available to him at all hours of the day and he never seemed to be able to stop himself. He couldn’t bring himself to delete the pictures, but his heart broke again and again every time he pulled them up, which he hated to admit was often.

Luke took a large gulp of the whiskey he had sitting on the coffee table and closed his eyes. As always, he had to force himself not to dial Elyssa’s number. He clearly wasn’t over her, but that didn’t mean it was a good idea to start something that would only lead to more drama and heartbreak. 

It seemed like every time Luke got into these moods, his brain left out all the bad parts. And why wouldn’t it? The relationship portrayed on his phone looked perfect--full of smiles, laughter, kisses, romance, love. It didn’t show all the nights Elyssa would start a fight for no reason or would flirt with guys at the bar just to make Luke jealous and angry. It didn’t show all the times Luke would forget to text her when he was out with the band or when he would lie about where he had been or who he was talking to just to avoid a huge blow up.

But none of that ever seemed to stop Luke from missing all the cute things she did. Like the way she used to run her fingers through his hair when they were falling asleep and hum lightly whatever song was stuck in her head from the day. Or how she would always mix half regular and half decaf coffees and Luke could never remember which jar had which type of grounds in it, so she bought a label maker and they spent an entire night, staying up until 2:00 am, printing labels for her entire kitchen. 

Or when Luke would show her the band’s new music and she would sit and listen with her eyes closed, taking in every note and lyric fully before making any comments. Her face was always so composed, it was nearly impossible to tell what she was thinking. Luke would wait on the edge of his seat until Elyssa would crack a smile and he would instantly wrap his arms around her, lifting her into the air. 

“So you like it?” he would grin and her soft giggle would be all the affirmation he needed.

But now, Luke was surrounded with only the sounds of the television and Petunia’s snoring. Finishing the remainder of his drink and taking a deep breath, Luke dialed his phone.

“Luke?” the voice on the other line said after a few rings. 

“Um, hey,” Luke began, clearing his throat, “Did you guys end up going out?”

“Yes!” Calum yelled excitedly into the phone, “Are you gonna finally come this time?”

“I’m thinking about it…” Luke replied slowly. 

“Dude, we’ve been trying to get you out of your damn apartment for a month! Please come out. You need to do something to forget about--”

“Fine,” Luke cut his friend off, “I’ll come. I don’t really want to be alone tonight.”

“Perfect! Your first drink is on me,” Calum promised. “See you soon.”

Luke peeled himself off the couch, finally managing to shower and look somewhat presentable. He couldn’t remember the last time he wasn’t in sweats and his black skinny jeans felt tight and uncomfortable. 

“Bye, P,” he cooed, leaning down to give the portly bulldog a treat, before making his way out the door and into the Uber waiting at the end of the driveway.

The ride to the bar was silent, aside from the low hum of talk radio playing. Luke almost told the guy to turn around and bring him home a dozen times, but he figured he needed a night out. Needed a distraction. 

Once arriving at the bar, Luke easily spotted Ashton’s red hair and began making his way over to his friends, hands stuffed in the pockets of his leather jacket. As he approached Ashton, he quickly regretted not bailing on the night when he was still in the Uber. 

Michael, Crystal, Ashton and KayKay were dancing, mingling and getting way more touchy than Luke wanted to witness. Michael and Crystal were still on a high from their recent engagement, and Ashton and KayKay only started dating a few months ago, so they were stuck in the early ‘you’re the only person in the room’ phase. Calum was nowhere to be found. 

“Luke!” Michael called out upon spotting his friend. He pulled Luke into a quick hug, patting his shoulder without letting go of Crystal’s hand. “Hey, man. Glad you came.”

The others in the group echoed with similar greetings as Luke scanned the nearby faces.

“Where’s Calum?” he asked, desperately wanting to find the only other single member of the band. 

“He’s around,” Ashton grinned, “He disappeared to buy some girl a drink, of course.”

Luke groaned to himself, although he shouldn’t be surprised. Calum always got a lot of attention from women when they went out. His muscular arms littered with tattoos, dark curls, soft eyes, and cheeks that always maintained a perfect rosy hue when he drank, easily impressed strangers at the bar, never mind once his laid-back, goofy personality took over.

“I need a drink,” Luke mumbled, then turned towards the bar. He spotted Calum in a crowd on the dance floor, his hands sitting low on a woman’s hips as they moved together to the beat. 

Squeezing his way to the counter, Luke ordered a whiskey on the rocks, sighing as the liquor finally hit his tongue. He did not want to return to being the fifth wheel. Or seventh, Luke thought as he glanced over at Calum, who was still pressed up against the same woman. So, he absentmindedly pulled out his phone, fingers automatically opening photos. 

He looked down at the most recent one: Elyssa was looking over her shoulder, laughing at Luke as she stood in line at the grocery store, her arms full of as much junk food as she could carry. Luke took it the day before they were supposed to leave for a road trip to Vegas. It was the last photo Luke had. Later that night, Elyssa accidentally left her phone open on the counter and Luke saw texts from the friend she insisted Luke didn’t have to worry about. Apparently not. 

Wincing at the painful memory, Luke shoved his phone back in his pocket. As he looked up again, his eyes met these narrowed ones across the room. As he registered the rest of the woman attached to them, Luke noticed she was smirking at him as she sipped her drink. She had long, perfectly-styled loose curls that fell over her bare shoulders. Her black, strapless shirt came just above the waistline of her jeans, jutting out in small frills and giving Luke a small glimpse of the strip of skin on her stomach. Luke immediately felt a fire grow inside him. He was completely and immediately captivated by this woman.

When she noticed Luke finally looking back at her, her eyes unabashedly trailed over his body before snapping back to his face. Her smile widened and Luke took a deep breath.   

“Luke! You made it!” Calum called, slapping his friend on the shoulder and drawing Luke’s attention away from the other side of the room. Luke reluctantly turned towards his friend, giving a weak smile.

“So,” Calum continued, “What’re you drinking?” he asked, leaning against the bar to order another round of drinks. Luke could tell he was drunk and didn’t want to ask how many Calum had already had tonight.

“Whiskey,” Luke mumbled, his attention drifting from Calum back towards where the girl had been standing. But, she had disappeared. Great, Luke thought and downed the remainder of his current drink.

“Cheers, mate!” Calum said, handing Luke a refill. 

“What happened to your dance partner?” Luke asked.

“Ahh,” Calum sighed, “Georgia left with her friends.”

Luke stirred the ice in his drink. He didn’t want to be here. He didn’t even want to go out tonight, but for some reason he thought this would help him get over Elyssa. The numbness from the alcohol was starting to take over and he just nodded along to whatever story Calum was telling. 

“Excuse me,” said a voice coming up in front of Calum and flashing him a small smile. 

Luke’s eyes shifted to the source and fell upon the girl from earlier. Of course she was going for Calum. Luke opened his mouth to make an excuse to leave, but the girl spoke again. 

“Sorry to interrupt your conversation, but your friend’s going to dance with me now,” she said to Calum, then turned to Luke, holding out a hand for him to take.

Luke obliged and was led by this stranger through the crowd to the center of the dance floor. The way she took control made Luke feel like he didn’t have a choice in the matter, and honestly, he preferred it this way. Elyssa had screwed him up so much, he wasn’t sure he’d even be able to approach someone at the bar, let alone attempt to pick them up, so he was willing to follow this new girl wherever she wanted to go.

His body moved automatically, arms instantly attaching to her waist and pulling her close. She responded by running her hands along Luke’s body--dragging her fingers over his chest, playing with the soft curls at the back of his neck, and pulling lightly on the fabric of his t-shirt. She bit her lip as she moved, her hips dipping low to the beat blasting through the bar. 

Luke felt his breath getting heavier and his heart beating faster. This girl was beautiful. And she had picked Luke out of the crowd. Her smirk hadn’t disappeared since she grabbed Luke’s hand and he felt himself unconsciously returning the smile. 

As they danced, Luke’s mind flashed to Elyssa. He wondered what she was doing tonight. What she would think if she saw Luke in the middle of a club, pressed against a new girl. But, in that moment, Luke decided he didn’t care. He was dancing with a stranger and he liked it.

He loved the feeling of her body in his hands. He loved how she moved against him. He loved the way she tugged on his hair, pulling a little harder than Luke was used to and eliciting a low growl from his throat. 

Luke didn’t want this moment to stop. He spun her around, pulling her back flush against him. His arms stayed on her hips and his head dipped low against her neck. She tilted to the side, allowing Luke to start running his lips against her exposed skin.

They continued moving together, completely forgetting about the rest of the room. Suddenly, she spun around and grabbed at the back of Luke’s neck. She pulled his lips to her own and immediately took control of the kiss. She had to stand tiptoe to fully reach him and she swayed slightly in his grasp.

Luke’s arms tightened around her, his hands wandering to the bare skin on her back. He let out a soft groan as she pulled at his bottom lip with her teeth. He could feel his arousal growing and he knew she could too. She rotated her hips against him and broke from the kiss, just slightly. Her fingers played with the chain around Luke’s neck and she looked up at him with the most seductive, mischievous eyes.

“We can continue this night elsewhere...” she said. She phrased it more of a suggestion than a question, already starting to back up towards the entrance, never breaking eye contact with Luke.

She was giving Luke a choice. He could turn around on the spot and retreat back to his friends, this girl turning into just a random make-out at a bar. Or, he could follow her out that door and let her lead him on into the night. 

Luke chose the latter. He caught up to her in two quick strides and grabbed her hand in his. She smirked at him, pausing for a moment to capture Luke’s lips with hers, then spun on a heel, pulling Luke through the crowd, out the door, and down the street.

—

Next part preview: “He could feel her hot breath against the sensitive skin of his lips and he shivered slightly at their proximity.”

—

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3