#is this a new Key album teaser?

[ultrakdramamama]

240304 shinee Mr. Freak‘s Lab : Sweet Escape We’re hiring Interns!🔎 ⠀ 세상에서 가장 달콤한 디저트 공장 ‘Sweet Factory’가 인턴십 프로그램을 진행합니다. 설립 이래 한번도 내부 공개를 하지 않았던 신비로운 공장에서 근무해볼 수 있는 기회! 지금 바로 지원하세요✅ ⠀ 💻접수 기간 및 접수 방법 접수 기간: 2024.03.04 20:00- 2024.03.05 20:00 접수 방법: 자유양식의 자기소개와 함께 Sweet! 한 입사 포부를 댓글로 제출 ⠀ 🧪모집 분야 및 인원 모집 분야: 인턴 - 연구직 (디저트 부문) 모집 인원: 40명 ⠀ 🔬자격 요건 - 연구에 성실히 임할 수 있는 마인드를 가지신 분 - 디저트에 남다른 애정이 있으신 분 - 남다른 추리력과 상상력의 소유자, 민첩하신 분 (?) ⠀ 📝전형 단계 서류전형>최종합격 *최종 합격 여부는 2024.03.07 12:00 부터 DM으로 순차적 개별 통보 예정

🥼근무 시작일 - 2024.03.09 12:30, 성동구 ⠀ #sweetescape#스윗이스케이프#mrfreakslab#mrfreak#미스터프릭

[eng tran]Mr. Freak‘s Lab : Sweet Escape We’re hiring Interns!🔎 ⠀ Sweet Factory, the sweetest dessert factory in the world, is hosting an internship program. An opportunity to work in a mysterious factory that has never been disclosed inside since its establishment! Apply now ✅ ⠀ 💻 Reception period and method Reception period: 2024.03.04 20:00- 2024.03.05 20:00 How to register: Introduce yourself in a free style and submit a Sweet! job aspiration in the comments section ⠀ 🧪 Recruitment field and number of people Recruitment: Intern - Research position (dessert section) Number of recruits: 40 ⠀ 🔬Qualification Requirements - Who has the mindset to work hard on research - Anyone who has a special affection for dessert - The person with extraordinary reasoning and imagination, who is agile(?) ⠀ 📝Selection stage Paper Screening > Final Acceptance *The final acceptance will be notified by DM sequentially from 12:00 on March 7, 2024 🥼 Work start date - 2024.03.09 12:30, Seongdong-gu ⠀ #sweetescape #sweetescape #mrfreakslab #mrfreaks #mrfreaks #misterfreaks

[starlightkun]

⏯ word count: 18.3k ⏯ genre: band au, retired floprockstar/venue manager!kun, rookie/keyboardist!reader, age gap (kun is older), fluff, v v suggestive (lol it’s a kun fic written by me this gets so unhinged im sorry), ft. jungwoo/mark/chenle/jisung as reader’s bandmates, wayv as kun’s coworkers & some special guest appearances maybe?? ⏯ warnings: uhm there’s some maybe weird power dynamics going on here? reader is a former fan of kun’s but like his band flopped and they never met back then so 🤷‍♀️ read at your own peril ig, not necessarily a warning but since i do avoid describing the reader’s appearance in my fics, i wanted to give a heads up—reader is in a punk/alternative band and is mentioned and/or implied to have some tattoos and piercings (other than earlobes). i don’t get super detailed, but since it’s there, i wanted to make sure y’all weren’t caught off-guard ⏯ extra info: set in the same universe as filler episodes & sugarcoated brain, but u don’t need to read those in order to understand this one at all i prommy ⏯ author’s note: those teasers of emo kun for frequency coming out right after i wrote a punk venue manager kun into sugarcoated brain??? oh i was not going to get out unscathed ⏯ now playing… frost – txt | doing this again! – bears in trees | entropy – beach bunny

── ⋆⋅♫⋅⋆ find more stories from backstage at venue:hell here!

“He played the keys in Vizions!” You hissed, anxiously looking over at the hallway as if Kun might reappear.

“You should see if he’ll sign your album,” Jungwoo suggested with a grin, nudging you with his elbow.

“Or fuck him,” Chenle deadpanned. “You’re in a band now too, not just a fan.”

“Venue:Hell…” Chenle hummed as he parked the band’s van in the alleyway in the back of the building. “When was the last time we were here?”

“We had a set at their Valentine’s Day event, remember?” You leaned over the console from the backseat. “When the lead singer of Roses for Eyes got decked in face?”

A chorus of ‘oh yeah!’s and other noises of recognition sprang up around you, as well as a few snickers and hisses of sympathy at the memory. You all had already performed that night and were in line for the bar nearby when the incident happened, practically front row for it.

“And we agreed to come back,” Jisung snorted.

“If we can make it out with no broken noses, I think that’ll be a success,” you grinned, reaching over Mark to open the side door.

After grabbing some of your equipment from the back, the five of you approached the back door. It was unlocked, as promised, and you all descended into the cool, dim basement venue.

“Hello? We’re Doing this Again! The new band!” Jungwoo called out from the front of the group. You shut the door firmly behind you.

A young man skidded around into your line of sight, bright smile on his face. “Hey! I’m Yangyang.”

“Our assistant manager is out for the next few weeks, so we’re kind of all sharing custody of you guys,” he explained, gesturing for you to follow him. “I’ll show you the green room, we’ll get the rest of your stuff, then our manager should be out here before your soundcheck.”

Yangyang and another employee, Kunhang, helped unload your equipment from your van, and began setting it up on stage. You learned that Yangyang was their sound guy, and Kunhang did lights and the rest of their tech.

Once your equipment was all set up, Yangyang and Kunhang exchanged uncertain looks, glancing over towards a hallway attached to the main room that you were in. Yangyang shrugged one shoulder and made a gesture for Kunhang to go ahead. The tech rolled his eyes at his coworker, but stepped forward anyway, flashing you all a bright smile.

“We’ll show you around since he’s not out yet. He said he wanted to talk to you before soundcheck,” he explained apologetically.

Kunhang and Yangyang showed you most of the building, ending in the main green room backstage.

“Uh, you can settle in,” Yangyang waved his hands around vaguely. “We’re going to go see if the old man finally keeled over or something.”

“I heard that.” A stern voice resounded from just outside the green room, making the two employees jump and turn around.

A third man had joined you all, focusing an unamused gaze on Yangyang and Kunhang. He was dressed in black from head to toe, a black leather jacket over black button-up shirt and black jewelry glinting from his neck, ears, and knuckles. He wore dark pants and big black work boots too, so you were doubly surprised at how quietly he could move. While you could tell he was older than the rest of you, you definitely wouldn’t call him old. As soon as his sharp eyes flicked over to you from under a curtain of jet-black hair, a jolt of recognition zapped through you, and you grabbed Jisung’s arm at the same time that you bit down on your tongue to avoid making a sound. Your friend’s arm tensed in surprise, but he thankfully stayed quiet too. The newcomer’s gaze went back to his employees as quick as it had flitted over your band.

“Go find something to do,” he shooed them away with one swift hand movement.

“On it!” They replied in unison, shoes squeaking on the concrete floor as they quite literally ran away.

He turned back to you all, taking a few steps in to fully enter the green room. The annoyance drained from his face, and his features became beautifully neutral as he greeted you all politely. “Sorry, I was on a call, it took much longer than I thought it would. If they didn’t already tell you, my assistant manager is out, so it’s a bit hectic around here right now. Normally our weekly act is her responsibility.”

“Is she okay?” Jungwoo asked.

“Yes, she’s fine,” the manager replied. “She’s assisting our usual weekly with their mini-tour. Which is why you all are here, of course. We appreciate you agreeing to fill in for RFE on this temporary basis.”

“Thanks for the opportunity,” Mark replied automatically.

“If you all do well, it might not have to be temporary, hm?” He said, and though his words were kind, his expression didn’t change. You were beginning to taste blood. “I’m Kun, manager of Venue:Hell. Please let me know if you have any issues while you’re here. I’ve delayed your soundcheck already, so I’ll let you go ahead.”

With that, Kun stepped out as briskly as he had arrived, leaving no room for further conversation or introductions.

As soon as he left, Jisung yanked his arm from your grip and looked at you incredulously. “Christ, Y/N, what the fuck—”

“He played the keys in Vizions!” You hissed, anxiously looking over at the hallway as if he might reappear.

“Wait, like that band that only released one album like a decade ago that you’re obsessed with?” Chenle questioned doubtfully. “How can you be sure?”

“She went to like every gig they had,” Mark recounted. “Got us grounded, and then would insist on sneaking out while we were grounded to go to even more. If anybody is gonna recognize a member of that band, it’s her.”

“You should see if he’ll sign your album,” Jungwoo suggested with a grin, nudging you with his elbow.

“Or fuck him,” Chenle deadpanned abruptly, dropping onto the well-used couch, stretching his legs out. “You’re in a band now too, not just a fan.”

“You guys don’t get it, I didn’t just think he was hot—”

“That was definitely part of it,” Mark snorted.

“—He was awesome on the keys! And he wrote all of their songs, and produced their entire album by himself!” You defended yourself. “He made me realize I didn’t just have to do piano recitals and that I could do something like this.”

“Alright, sorry, Y/N,” Chenle said softly. “We were just messin’ with you.”

“Do you think he recognized you? Since you apparently went to so many of their shows?” Jisung asked.

You shook your head. “No way. I never had the courage to talk to them. And that was like ten years ago anyway.”

“I still think you should see if he’ll sign your CD.” Jungwoo patted your shoulder. “It’d probably make his day.”

“I don’t know, clearly the band thing didn’t work out for him,” Chenle added. “He might want to just forget it all.”

You bit the inside of your cheek nervously, then let out a dejected sigh. “Nah, it’s not like I carry the CD with me everywhere…”

Your set at Venue:Hell that night was a hit, if you did say so yourself. It wasn’t nearly as big of a turnout as the Valentine’s event you’d played at, but that was to be expected for a random Thursday night. The crowd was surprisingly engaged, especially since you were careful to incorporate a couple covers of popular songs into your set.

Running off the stage, the five of you immediately tackled each other in a group hug that was all yelling, elbows, sweat, laughing, and chaos.

“One down, three to go!” You cheered, ruffling up Jisung’s matted hair.

“Oh my god, we’re doing this again!” Mark added breathlessly.

“Boo!” You all immediately jeered at the corny joke he made every chance he got. “Tomato! Tomato!”

He laughed loudly as you and Chenle pushed and jostled him, but not enough for him to fully leave your circle. Jungwoo tugged him back in.

“Good job, guys,” Dejun, a stage tech, congratulated you as he passed by, starting to break down some of the equipment on stage.

Your band broke apart to help the staff shut down the stage for the night as other music played over the speakers of the venue and patrons chatted and danced on the floor. A few came up to the stage to talk with you as you worked, interested both in you all as the new weekly, and what had happened to the old weekly. They seemed relieved to hear that Roses for Eyes wasn’t gone for good, and were really enthused in the feedback they had for you.

After putting your equipment that you would be taking home in the green room, you all decided to stay and mingle for a little while more. If this was only going to be for four nights, you wanted to make them count and do as much as you could to get your band’s name out there. You ordered a drink from Sicheng the bartender, at which time you found out that the 50% employee discount applied to you too for the time being. Turning back to the crowd, you strained to spot any of your bandmates among the bodies.

“Hey,” Kun had appeared next to you at the bar, and you jumped out of your skin.

“Fuckin’ Christ, dude,” you coughed, trying to catch your breath. “Can you teleport or something?”

“Sorry.” He seemed more amused than apologetic. “Good set.”

“Thanks.” You took a sip of your drink to avoid looking him in the eye.

“Who did the arrangement for that first cover?”

“I did. Uhm, it obviously wasn’t for a rock band, so I had to do some tweaking…”

He nodded, looking actually impressed. “You compose?”

“Me and Mark for the most part, yeah. The other guys pitch in on songwriting sometimes, too. Chenle’s adlibs are crazy good.”

“Cool. See you next week.” Kun pushed off the bar, disappearing into the crowd.

Mark and Jungwoo found you still rooted to that spot, robotically sucking down your drink.

“Woah, I know we did good, but I don’t know if it was ‘get absolutely smashed’ good,” Mark laughed, pulling your drink down from your mouth.

“Come on, we got Jisung dancing!” Jungwoo took your drink and put it on the bar.

Your eyebrows shot up at the news that your wallflower drummer had apparently joined in the fun. “Really?”

“Yeah, let’s go!” He grabbed your arm and toted you off with the two of them.

The next week when you all arrived in the green room, you were a little surprised to see a plate of cookies sitting on the table in the center of the room. You all exchanged uncertain glances, looking around for any clue as to who the cookies were from or for. Jungwoo was the first one to take one from the plate and bite into it.

“Pretty good,” he gave his approval through a mouthful, encouraging the other guys to each take one or two.

You were still wary as you approached, picking a cookie up and taking a small bite. It was soft and chewy, and soon you were taking another bite.

“Oh good, you guys found the cookies,” Kun was in the doorway, having once again snuck up on you all.

Jisung started choking on his cookie, and Chenle had to smack him on the back to get it back down the right pipe. Kun’s lip twitched as he was clearly trying not to laugh, a dimple appearing and disappearing on one cheek instead.

“Did you buy these?” Mark asked, muffled through the cookie in his mouth.

“Baked them, yeah.”

“You made them?!” You stared at him, half-eaten cookie in hand.

“Unless they’re bad, then Ten made them.” He winked at you before slipping out of the room without another word.

“God, Y/N, stop drooling,” Chenle snickered, wiping at your chin teasingly.

You smacked his hand away, glaring at him. “Shut up.”

“You seriously looked like you were about to pounce on him,” Jungwoo added helpfully, tweaking your cheek as he walked by.

“Ugh, you guys are the worst!”

Week three found you alone on the stage before your soundcheck. Your bandmates were out on a food run, but you didn’t feel like getting back in the van, so you were messing around on your keyboard. The venue staff was also scarce, you had only briefly seen Yangyang since showing up today. Tapping your foot to a familiar beat, you closed your eyes as you hummed a melody that you knew by heart, fingers flitting across the keys. It wasn’t your own band’s song, but one by Vizions, a powerful ballad.

“Haven’t heard that in a long time.”

Errant notes rang out as your eyes flew open, heart jumping out of your chest. “Fuck!”

You spotted Kun down on the floor, covering his mouth as he started laughing. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”

“You always mean to scare the shit out of people.” You rolled your eyes at him, crossing your arms over your chest. “It’s like your favorite hobby.”

“Alright, guilty.” He held his hands up, still grinning. “Seriously, how the hell do you even know that?”

“I used to go to your shows like, all the time,” you admitted, staring down at the keys. “You were like, kinda a big reason I started doing this at all.”

“Wait seriously?” All the humor had fallen from his face as he stared at you with confusion and a touch of wonder, brows furrowed and mouth parted.

“Yeah, I uh—” You grabbed your bag from the ground at your feet and fetched the CD that had been sitting in there for the past two weeks, since your first night at Venue:Hell. “I still have your CD.”

Kun jumped up onto the stage with you, taking the plastic case from you and turning it over slowly in his hands. “I don’t even have one of these anymore. God, I remember desperately trying to sell these at shows after we had them made…” He peered a little closer at your face, then shook his head. “No, I don’t remember you, sorry.”

“It’s okay, I never talked to you guys at any of the shows,” you assured him. “I mean, what if you were creeps?”

He let out a few hearty chuckles at that, nodding. “Okay, fair. Good self-preservation skills.”

“Also, I think someone else was at the table when I bought it.”

“It’s been a while since I’ve heard any of those songs.” He handed you the disc back.

“I didn’t realize you were going to hear me,” you muttered. “When I was playing that, I was just—”

“I’m not mad,” he reassured you. “I’m just… shocked. That’s all.”

“Great, because I kind of want to die in a hole right now, so—”

“When did you realize? Who I was?”

You rubbed the back of your neck. “As soon as I saw you…”

“That makes sense,” he nodded. “I thought I had scared you too, when you grabbed Jisung.”

“You did, just not the same way you scared Yangyang and Kunhang,” you joked. Then, panic flooded your veins as you quickly went to tack on, “I’m not like, obsessed, by the way, I just really like your music, and it was a big inspiration for me to switch from classical to—”

Kun started laughing again, waving his hands in front of him to try to calm you down. “I believe you, I believe you. It’s okay, I swear, I believe you.”

“Oh thank god,” you groaned, covering your face with both hands.

“You’re a lot better than I ever was.” He dropped off the stage, starting to set up the stools around the perimeter of the floor.

“What?! No!” You immediately argued.

“You improved on what I wrote, I heard it. That little—” he imitated part of the melody you had been playing, the fingers of one hand tapping imaginary keys in the air. “—that you changed in the bridge. I like it.”

“I was just messing around waiting for them to get back with the food, I wasn’t—”

“It’s good,” he insisted. “You’re good, Y/N.”

“So were you,” you muttered, futzing with the knobs on your instrument.

“Could you do me a favor?”

“Huh?”

“Don’t mention any of this to my employees.”

“What? They don’t know?”

“No.” He shook his head. “They know I’ve been around the scene for a while, they know I can play, that’s it.”

“Why?”

He shrugged. “Will you do that for me?”

“Yeah, sure, Kun.” You weren’t sure what sudden surge of confidence possessed you in that moment, but you picked the CD up off your keyboard. “If you’ll sign this for me.”

He blinked. “What?”

“You’ve got a Sharpie around here, right?”

“Yeah, in the-in the office.” He pointed over his shoulder.

You hopped off the stage, looking at him expectantly. He led the way through the venue in a bit of a daze, until you got to a door at the end of a cramped hallway. Kun ushered you into the back office, and you tried to ignore how fast your heart was going as you stepped inside. You’d never been in the admin office of Venue:Hell, only ever the main floor area, stage, and backstage.

The walls were plastered in album covers, most of which you recognized. A small futon was pushed against one wall while a desk and office chair were cramped into another corner. Kun dug through a cup of pens sitting on the desk until he had secured a black Sharpie.

“Seriously?” He double-checked with you.

“Seriously.” You pushed the plastic case into his hands.

He chuckled, uncapping the Sharpie with his teeth before quickly scrawling his signature in the bottom right corner. He fanned it a couple times to dry the ink, then handed it back to you.

“15-year-old me would be geeking out right now,” you beamed down at the fresh signature.

Kun spat the Sharpie cap back out onto the desk. “Fifteen?! We always played at 18-plus venues!”

You snickered. “Bold of you to think that I couldn’t get my hands on a fake ID, or that most of those places were actually carding in the first place.”

“Point taken,” he groaned.

“Anyway, your secret’s safe with me.” You made a motion of zipping up your lips and throwing away the key. “And the rest of my band. I kind of already told them.”

“As long as they don’t say anything either.”

“I’ll make sure they know.”

“Thank you.”

“Thank you,” you echoed, shaking the CD case. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

Kun shook his head, gesturing towards the door. “Nothing. Good luck tonight, Y/N.”

“Right. Thanks!” You opened the office door.

On the other side was Yangyang, who glanced between the two of you suspiciously. “Oh. Y/N. What were you doing in there? With the door shut?”

You kept the CD tucked between your arm and your side. “Had some questions about the weekly slot.”

With that, you practically skipped away, giving the sound tech no further opportunities to ask questions. Of you, at least.

Kun approached the stage from the floor as you all were doing your soundcheck for your final night at Venue:Hell. He waited patiently for you to finish the song that you were on. When he saw that you all had removed your in-ears, he spoke up.

“Got word from Roses,” he started. “They’re going to be moving to every other week when they get back. How would you guys like to alternate the weekly slot with them? My staff and regulars all really like you, we’d love to keep you on. Talk about it, let me know by Wednesday?”

He didn’t wait for an answer from you all, pivoting back around on his heel to take care of whatever else was on his never-ending checklist. The five of you looked at each other, and you already knew the answer. Chenle and Jisung high-fived while Jungwoo hastily took his bass off to grab you and spin you around. You yelped and laughed, half-heartedly smacking his back to get him to put you down as he nearly crashed the both of you into Mark and his instrument.

At your first performance as a semi-permanent fixture around Venue:Hell, you were antsy as soon as you entered the basement, looking around expectantly.

“I’ll be back in a sec,” you told your friends over your shoulder as you left them on the main floor.

“Where are you going?” Mark called after you.

“I just want to see if Kun’s here, I want to tell him thanks for keeping us on.”

Knowing jeers and snickers sprang up behind you, but you ignored them, walking down the cramped hallway to the admin office. The door at the end was ajar, and you ducked around a precariously perched box of t-shirts to grab the door handle.

Through the crack, you could hear someone humming a faint melody. It wasn’t any song that you knew, but you did stop to listen for probably longer than you should have. You couldn’t help it, you were curious. Finally, when you started feeling like maybe a bit too much of a creep, you knocked softly, pushing the door open even more.

“Yeah?” Kun called out.

You poked your head in. “Hey.”

He looked over at you from the computer screen, nodding for you to enter the office fully. “Y/N, what can I do for you?”

“What song is that?”

“Huh?”

“That you were just humming, what is it? It’s nice.”

“It’s nothing,” he brushed it off. “Just a tune I’ve got in my head.”

“You’re still writing songs?” You asked eagerly.

“No. I haven’t in quite a few years.”

“Really? You stayed around the scene, I figured you might’ve at least had a notebook somewhere? Lyrics in your notes app? Some demos recorded on your phone?” After each one, he shook his head, and your hopeful gaze fell more and more. “Nothing?”

“Nope.”

“Huh.” You sat on the desk next to the computer keyboard, loosely crossing your arms over your chest as you tried to absorb that information. “Do you miss it at all?”

“Writing songs or performing?”

“Any of it.”

“Bits and pieces, yeah,” Kun admitted, leaning back into the office chair. “I wouldn’t go back, though.”

You tilted your head. “Why not?”

“We were broke, for one thing.” He laughed. “Don’t get me wrong, the excitement of having all those what-ifs in front of you, it was awesome. And I do miss the music. But I also like my life now just fine.”

“I didn’t mean to put down what you’re doing now, by the way,” you added. “I was just curious.”

Kun’s eyes crinkled as he smiled up at you warmly. “It’s okay, I didn’t take it like that. I thought I was going to be in the band forever too.”

You looked down at your lap, thinking about your own band, and felt an uncomfortable pressure pushing down on your chest.

“So, did you come in here for anything specific? Or to just watch me create the employee schedule for next month?”

“As thrilling of an offer as that is,” you chuckled, “I did have a real reason. I wanted to say thanks for offering us this slot. We’re all really grateful for the opportunity.”

He nodded thoughtfully. “You’re welcome. I’m glad that you guys accepted. I hope Venue:Hell can be the starting point for much more.”

“Thanks.” You stood back up, showing yourself out. You nearly slammed into Yangyang on the other side, though, and jumped back in shock. “Jesus fucking Christ, Yangyang! Why are you always in the damn hallway?!”

“Why are you always in the office?!” He retorted, just as exasperated.

You rolled your eyes and shouldered past him.

You had settled into your biweekly sets at Venue:Hell, becoming familiar with the staff, regulars, and rhythm of the venue. A private event was renting out the space tonight, so your set had gotten moved way up, to the early evening. You didn’t mind, it meant that instead of arriving after dark, you arrived before sunset.

Kun was out setting up the stools and tables around the perimeter of the floor when you all entered the building, and gave you a wave of acknowledgement over his shoulder.

“Do you live here or something?” Chenle asked. “I’ve never seen another car out there, and you’re literally always here.”

“I might as well,” the manager mused, continuing to set up.

“Pretty sure he’s a vampire,” Jungwoo laughed. “Never seen him out in daylight.”

“Very original,” Kun replied dryly. “I’m wearing all black, I work underground…”

“You’re old!” Ten interjected from what sounded like backstage.

“I sign your checks!” He immediately barked back.

“Uh, guys?” You looked at your bandmates pointedly. “I think the call is coming from inside the house?”

They all looked down at their own dark outfits and various smatterings of tattoos and piercings, muttering among themselves before walking off. You shook your head, following after them.

The performance itself was smooth like usual, some different faces in the crowd than usual, which you chalked up to the different time. You swore you saw Kun standing in the back of the venue with someone, but they were too far back and shrouded in shadows for you to be sure. After your set, you all couldn’t hang around like usual, having to pack up everything and get out so the private event could start setting up.

Your bandmates had already taken everything else out to the van, you were the only one left in the green room, gathering up the last of your stuff to bring out. You had just finished packing one duffel bag and were stuffing another when there was a light knock on the doorway.

“Y/N, you’re still here.” It was Kun, followed by another man that you only saw out of the corner of your eye.

“Sorry, I’m almost gone,” you promised, rushing even more now.

“First, I’d like you to meet someone.” Kun’s words made you slow down, looking up properly as he gestured to the tall man with him, inked from neck to fingertip. The heavy tattoos and time didn’t make it any harder for you to place the face, though, before Kun had finished the introductions, “Johnny, this is Y/N, she plays keys in Doing this Again! Y/N, this is Johnny, he—”

“—was your drummer in Vizions,” you finished, wide-eyed.

Johnny’s eyebrows went up before his face relaxed into an easy-going smile. “Damn, I thought Kun was bullshitting when he said he’d found a fan of ours.”

“No, I’m real,” you shook your head and laughed.

“Well, I’m honored.” Johnny beamed, holding a CD case and Sharpie out to you. “Would you mind?”

“Huh?” You stared down at the items in confusion. It was your band’s CD, a new press that was available at the venue’s merch table.

“Kun invited me out to see your set. I’m a fan of yours now. I’d be stoked if you could sign my album.”

You looked between Kun and Johnny uncertainly. Kun smiled encouragingly, mouthing ‘go ahead’ at you. That was the final push you needed to take the disc and pen. Your hands shook as you signed across the plastic CD case, and you hoped it hadn’t messed up your signature too much.

“Thanks.” He took both back, fanning the CD to dry the ink. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to check out the bar now. It was an honor meeting you, Y/N.”

“Y-You too, Johnny.” You shook the hand that he had offered, his palm noticeably calloused. “Thank you.”

That left you and Kun in the green room now, and you plopped down exactly where you stood, wrapping your arms around your knees and burying your face in your legs to muffle your screams. Kun chuckled as he patted you on the head.

“Woah, you alright?”

You glared up at him. “How could you do that to me?”

“Do what?” He asked, still laughing. “I thought you liked our band?”

“Yes, but you can’t jumpscare me with your former bandmates!” You whined, hiding your face again.

“If I had told you Johnny was coming tonight, you would’ve been freaked out before going on stage.”

You huffed. Unfortunately, he was right.

“I’m going to take your silence as admission that I’m right.” After another long stretch of silence, Kun added, “He was being sincere, you know. He really did like your set, bought your CD with his own money.”

You pulled your head up, resting your cheek on your knee. “Let me guess—Getting me to sign it was your idea?”

“All him.” At your suspicious squint, Kun smiled, “Johnny likes supporting new acts on the scene. And why is it so hard for you to believe that people actually think you’re good?”

You let out a drawn-out sigh. “Typical—My parents don’t.”

He squatted down in front of you to be eye level with you. “What did they want you to do?”

“My dad started teaching me piano ever since I could sit on his lap and press the keys. They wanted me to do classical,” you commiserated. “The first time I said no to a recital, I thought the world was going to explode.”

“Did it?”

“No. They didn’t get mad, or yell, or force me to do it anyway. It was so… anti-climactic. I had this big idea of teen rebellion in my head, I guess.” You let out another heavy sigh. “But they’ve never supported me since I started doing this. When I bought my first keyboard, Mark had to help me carry it home from the music store. They’ve never come to a single gig, never even ask how it’s going. When I do talk about it, they don’t say anything, just wait for me to stop talking. They just… pretend like it’s not real.”

“If you all don’t talk about your music, what do you talk about?”

“When I’m going to choose a career path, or get married. Pretty much those two things.”

“I’m sorry your parents don’t support you, Y/N. That sucks, and I won’t take that away.” Kun squeezed your forearm, resting his hand there. “I’m sure you know this, but it doesn’t hurt hearing it again—You’re good, really good, whether or not they acknowledge it. And I hope you let yourself see that.”

You couldn’t quite smile, but blinked slowly, and nodded in acknowledgment. “Thanks, Kun.”

“Here,” he stood up, grabbing one of the duffel bags and slinging it over his shoulder, “I’ll help you with your stuff.”

His words had made you feel a little better, but you were slow to move, still self-pitying. Kun held both his hands down for you. “Come on. Normally, I’d let you pout all night, but other people have rented this space and that contract did not come with a pouting keyboardist.”

You reluctantly put your hands in his, letting him pull you to your feet.

“So yeah, that’s what Retro Rewind is gonna be like,” you finished brightly, looking between your parents hopefully. “Do you think you think you can make it? I-I don’t expect you to stay the whole time, but we’ll be going on first, so just for our set? Maybe?”

Your mom pushed around food on her plate, eyes trained on her dish. Your father took another bite of his food, washing it down with a sip of water. The only sounds in the room were of your breathing, and utensils occasionally scraping against plates. With every passing second, the shame that usually forced you into quietly changing the topic transformed into a white-hot rage, the kind that made you feel like a teapot that was about to boil over, steam bursting from your ears as they went on ignoring you.

“Hey!” You yelled, gripping your utensil tighter. “Look at me!”

Your mother finally met your gaze, her features stern. “Quiet down.”

“I asked a question. Are either of you going to answer it?”

“You do not speak to your mother like that,” your father interjected furiously.

“Well, I’m the one doing all of the talking here, I thought I could speak however I like,” you retorted.

Your mom tried again, “Y/N, please—”

“Please what?” You stared her down. “I try to engage you guys in conversation and keep you updated on my life and get shut down every single time, but I still try the next time anyway. All I’m asking, for once, is that you acknowledge—”

“Acknowledge what exactly?” Your dad snapped, a vein in his forehead popping out. “All you do is recount grimy basement after grimy basement, events that don’t pay you, long stretches of time where you’re not even booked, clearing out your savings to record an album with no label to distribute it. What accomplishments, exactly, are we supposed to be acknowledging?”

You held his eye contact, clenching your jaw so tight it felt like your teeth might break.

“We wanted the best for you, sweetie,” your mom added weakly. “Concert halls, opera houses… not this.”

Broiling hot tears stung your eyes as you stood up, pushing your chair back with a blood-curdling screech of the legs against the floor. You swallowed down the sharp thorny thing growing in your throat enough to speak, “All I wanted was for you guys to listen to me. I didn’t realize you have been. It turns out you just hate what you’ve been hearing.”

Your mom cast her eyes back down to her plate as your father grabbed his glass, lifting it to his lips to drink, his eyes focused on something in the middle distance, looking right through you. The chair was knocked over entirely in your hurry to get the fuck out of there, and the doorframe shook and rattled as you slammed their front door closed behind you.

Running down the sidewalks, your feet pounded the pavement like it had done you wrong, and you took hiccupping gulps of air as tears streaming down your face. When you tripped over a crack in the sidewalk and narrowly avoided skinning your entire face only by skinning your hands instead, you finally slowed down. You hissed in pain as you looked down at your bloodied hands, then up at your surroundings. The street you were on was somewhat familiar. You should be about ten minutes from the venue.

A rather miserable but not terribly long walk later, you were at the backdoor to Venue:Hell. Fumbling your keys from your pocket, you unlocked the door, shutting off the alarm that you were very thankful to know the code to. You washed your hands off in the sink of the women’s bathroom. After drying them with probably too many paper towels, you could see that the bleeding had stopped, and the skin there would just be a bit raw for a little while.

Walking back out to the main floor, your keyboard was still set up on stage from your set last night. Without another thought, you were hopping up onto the stage and turning on the equipment. You needed to do something. Completely ignoring your usual warm-ups, you went right into the most vitriolic, hardcore song that you could think of, uncaring of how hard you were bringing your fingers down against the keys. In fact, the repetitive blunt force sort of felt nice against your bones. A different sort of pain than the anguish tearing through your chest, at least. You lost track of time, only thinking about the music blaring out of the speakers and shaking through you.

“Y/N?!” Kun entered the main floor from the direction of the stairs, plugging one ear. “Y/N!”

You immediately stopped playing. “Oh. Kun.”

“I got a notification that the alarm was set off, and nobody responded to my text saying it was them, so I figured I’d stop by…”

You took your phone out of your pocket. There was in fact a text from Kun from twenty minutes ago in the Venue:Hell groupchat, asking if anybody was at the venue right now, followed by several ‘no’s from the venue staff, other members of your band, and Roses for Eyes.

“Sorry,” you muttered.

He took another moment to look you over, then sighed. “Alright, come on.”

“What?”

“You’re going to break your keyboard like that.” He hopped up onto the stage, shutting off your keyboard and all the other sound equipment. “Come on.”

Interest piqued, and with nothing better to do, you followed him. Kun turned off all the lights and set the building alarm before locking up behind you. He took a sharp turn down the alley that your band normally parked your van in. The two of you walked in silence, which you were grateful for. If he tried to press you on your sour mood, you were sure you’d snap at him and just feel even worse.

Just a couple minutes later, and you were at an apartment building. Kun held the front door open for you, then the door to the stairwell. After an arduous hike up the fourth floor, you stopped in front of an apartment. He unlocked it, and led you inside.

“Is this your place?” You asked, toeing off your shoes by the front door as he did.

“Yup.” Kun pointed to the kitchen sink. “Wash your hands.”

With that, he disappeared further into the apartment. As you washed your hands, you looked around. From where you were, you could see the kitchen and adjacent living room. It wasn’t a very big space, only one bedroom if you had to guess, but Kun kept it tidy. A few vintage framed band posters were on the living room walls that you had walked past to get to the kitchen, and he had a nice plush-looking couch.

Kun returned as you were finishing drying off your hands. You looked at him expectantly. “Now what?”

He guided you over to a countertop, where he had a bunch of graham crackers double-bagged in two ziploc plastic bags. He held a rolling pin out to you. “I need these crushed into small crumbs.”

It felt good to swing the rolling pin down, to watch the cracks form in the crackers as they burst apart, then became smaller and smaller as you kept hitting them. Rolling the rolling pin along the bag would probably be more efficient, but this was more fun. Kun, for his part, said nothing about the noise as you repeatedly whacked the bag over and over with loud bangs. He was busy with something else, you didn’t really care—your attention was fully on the crackers. By the time the crackers were a fine dust, you had worked up a sweat, but the raging tension in your muscles was no more. You were still pissed, of course, but no longer had the itch to slash somebody’s tires at least.

Kun came by to review your handiwork. “Good. Dump that in the bowl, then do the other ones.”

You obliged, opening the bags and shaking out the crumbs into a metal mixing bowl before refilling the bags with a new box of graham crackers. With the bags zipped back up, you went back to work obliterating the crackers inside. You didn’t even realize somebody was knocking on Kun’s front door until he was opening it, and you heard an unfamiliar man’s voice.

“What the fuck, man? Are you doing fucking construction in there?”

“You’re complaining about noise right now?”

“Yeah, I’m trying to fucking sleep.”

“It’s two in the afternoon.”

“Keep it. The fuck. Down.”

“Get out of my fucking face.”

“Whatever. Just keep it down.”

Kun quietly shut the door, calmly doing his locks and deadbolts back up. You looked between the rolling pin in your hands and the crackers guiltily. He wordlessly pulled out his phone, and with a few taps, a hard rock song was playing out of speakers in his living room at full volume.

He rejoined you in the kitchen, having to raise his voice as he explained, “Downstairs neighbor. I can hear him and his girlfriend fucking or fighting every night. Sometimes at the same time.”

You burst into laughter, turning back around to take another swing at the graham crackers. Once those ones looked pulverized enough, you dumped them into the bowl too.

“Done?” Kun asked.

“Yep!” You nodded. “So, what is this for, anyway?”

“Cheesecake bars.” He slid the bowl over to him, pouring melted butter in and mixing them together. “This is the crust.”

“Ooh, sounds good.”

He placed a square glass baking dish in front of you. “Press the graham cracker into an even layer on the bottom.”

You did as he instructed, singing along to the next song that had started playing as you worked. Meticulously smushing the crust into the bottom of the dish, you squinted as you tried to figure out if it was even or not. As your focus increased, your singing dropped out, and you realized that there was another voice humming in the kitchen too, almost unintelligible past the loud music. You looked up from the crust to where Kun was mixing something in another bowl, his attention fully on that. Your ears strained to catch more of his voice.

Then his sharp gaze was on you, eyebrows raising inquisitively. “Done?”

“Yeah, I think.” You straightened up to let him take a look.

He gave it his nod of approval before popping the dish into the pre-heated oven. Kun went back to the other bowl, cracking two eggs into it. You followed him to that corner of the kitchen, hopping up onto the countertop next to the stand mixer. He gave you a brief look of intrigue before continuing on with his task. He secured the bowl in the stand mixer then turned it on. You watched with interest as the ingredients were incorporated together. Kun stopped it, scraping down the sides with a spatula and adding more ingredients before turning it back on. Finally, he stopped the mixer again and took the bowl and attachment from it. He handed you the mixing attachment that had just been in the batter, covering the bowl with plastic wrap and putting it in the fridge.

When he turned around to see you still dutifully holding the attachment, he pointed to it, “You can clean it off. We won’t need it again.”

You didn’t need to be told twice, taking your finger and scooping off a big chunk of batter. It was pleasantly sweet and creamy, and you eagerly licked off the rest. The sink was in arm’s reach, and you leaned forward to deposit the now-clean(ish) mixer attachment in with the rest of the dirty dishes.

Kun rolled his sleeves up to his elbows as he turned the tap on, and you shamelessly ogled his hands and forearms as he washed the dishes. Despite being in the scene for so long, he only had one tattoo between the two areas, an abstract ink swirl that started on his his right pinky finger and flowed around his arm and disappeared into his shirt. You remembered that tattoo from all the concerts you’d attended, watching these same hands play the electric keyboard.

When he held a soaking wet dish out towards you, you blinked at it, startled from your nostalgic reverie. A drop of water dripped off and onto your leg, making you panic and take the bowl from him. “Fine—Ack! It’s wet!”

“Towel’s on the oven door next to you.” He indicated with his gaze before going back to washing.

You grabbed the dish towel from its place hanging off the oven door, hastily drying both the bowl and your own hands. Another song came on that you knew, and you hummed along to the introductory guitar riff as you dried the next dish Kun handed you. As the actual vocals came in and you started singing too, you could hear Kun had started humming as well.

Pushing on his shoulder, you got an incredulous look in return, but simply grinned and pushed more insistently as you sung louder. He shook his head and poured more soap on the spatula he was cleaning.

You pushed his shoulder a third time, taking a guitar solo as an opportunity to say, “Come on, Kun. I know you can sing. And I know you’re not afraid of getting a noise complaint.”

“I haven’t performed in years—”

“You’re not performing! You’re singing with me while doing the dishes!” You gestured at said dishes zealously. “Please?”

He remained silent, then the guitar solo was over, and he joined in when the singer on the recording came back in. You were so surprised that actually worked that you ended up missing the cue, which Kun immediately noticed. He pinched your thigh, and you jerked your leg away from him with a pout, but started singing with him nevertheless. Kun had only ever done background vocals in his band, but you’d listened to that CD so many times that you knew every layer of sound, every adlib, every second of every song by heart. That’s how you could also immediately tell that Kun’s voice had matured in the years since they’d recorded that album. He’d already told you that he was out of practice, but even if he wasn’t maybe hitting all the notes perfectly, there was something richer about his voice now that left you wanting this song to last forever.

Right as he passed you the last utensil, the timer on the oven beeped, and Kun dried his hands off to attend to that, ending your sing-along. He took the cooked crust from the oven, setting it on a cooling rack. After adjusting the oven temperature, he brought the cheesecake batter back out from the fridge, pouring it over the crust. Kun put it back in the oven and set the timer again.

“Fifty minutes,” he informed you.

You swung your feet. “So what are we going to do for fifty minutes? Other than blast music to piss your neighbor off?”

Kun walked into the living room, and you hopped off the counter to follow him. He paused the music on his phone and sat on the couch, picking up the remote from the coffee table, turning on the TV, then tossing the remote at you. “You pick.”

You sat down on the couch too, quickly trying to figure out all the buttons on his TV remote. A few minutes of unsuccessfully scrolling through streaming services later, and you turned it back off with a huff. “I don’t want to watch anything. Can’t we just—I don’t know, talk or something?”

“Sure.” Kun shifted, leaning back against the armrest. “You guys have your setlist for Retro Rewind yet?”

“Ugh—Not about work,” you groaned, dropping your face into your hands.

“Okay… Do you feel better?”

“Huh?”

“Y/N, I walked in on you Phantom-of-the-Opera-ing your keys this afternoon. You looked one chandelier away from burning our shitty opera house down,” he said frankly. “I won’t ask about what—But do you feel better now? Even a little?”

The mention of Retro Rewind and opera houses brought your conversation with your parents back to you, and you pressed the heels of your palms hard into your eyes to banish the thoughts, to keep living in this nice time now with Kun. You nodded. “Yeah. I do. Thanks, Kun.”

“Good.”

“I got lunch with my parents.” You stared down at your feet. “This whole time I thought they weren’t listening to me… They were, they just wish I was somebody else. They really think I’m a fucking failure.”

“Shit…” He breathed out, scooting over to rest a hand on your shoulder.

You let out a sharp laugh, lolling your head around to look over at him. “That’s it?”

“You don’t need me to tell you I’m proud of you. You’re a kick-ass musician without me or your parents.”

“Can you tell me anyway?” You mumbled.

Kun chuckled, stroking your hair. “I’m proud of you.”

His praise made you feel warm, especially with the gentle hand still petting your hair and his playful but genuine gaze fully focused on you. You suddenly had never wanted a man more in your life.

You tilted your head curiously, “Wait, you said your neighbor and his girlfriend are always…”

“Fucking and fighting,” he repeated for you, hand resting on the nape of your neck. “At all hours of the night. At least the nights I’m here, you know.”

“Have you ever gotten payback?”

Kun took a millisecond too long to point to the speakers, as if he’d caught on but wanted to see if you’d really go for it. “I just did…”

“No, I mean…” You stood up, leaning over him and grabbing the back of the couch next to his shoulder, ignoring the roadburn on your palm. “Ever given him a proper taste of his own medicine? Fucking and fighting…”

He calmly watched you. “I haven’t.”

“Do you want to? We don’t even have to fight after.”

“You just got in a fight with your parents, I’m someone older that you used to look up to—”

“Diagnosing me with daddy issues, nice,” you snickered derisively, caging him in with your other arm. “Maybe it’s that. Maybe I feel shitty and want to feel good. Maybe I think you’re like the hottest man I know, and we have at least forty minutes until those cheesecake bars are ready.”

“Forty minutes isn’t a lot of time,” Kun mused.

“Oh?”

His eyes flicked down to your lips, then back up to yours. “You sure?”

You answered by crashing your mouths together, every nerve in your body coming to life. Kun grabbed your waist, encouraging you to sit on his lap. He let out a groan into the kiss when your hips pressed down against his, guiding you to do it again. You wrapped your arms around his neck, tangling the fingers of one hand in the hair at the back of his head, pulling every so often. He kept the rhythm of your hips as he kissed and nipped a wet trail from your mouth under your jaw and down your neck. He bit down harder at the junction of your neck and shoulder, soothing over the indents of his teeth with his lips and tongue. You were already letting out needy, obscene noises and all your clothes were still on. At this rate, his neighbor would never sleep.

“Ah! That tickles!” You giggled, trying to push Kun’s hands away as they crept under your (his) shirt and skimmed over your sides.

Kun’s chest shook against yours as he laughed, hands continuing to explore your skin again. “Sorry, baby. I can’t help it, I’ve got a fucked out, pretty girl in my lap.”

“And whose fault is that?”

“You want to play the blame game right now?”

The hint of chastisement in his tone made you shift unconsciously on top of him, leaning in to kiss him again. He indulged you, hand coming up to cup your cheek as his tongue slipped into your mouth. You had just grabbed his hand and started guiding it lower when a faint jingle rang in the background, past the blood roaring in your ears and lewd sounds of you two kissing.

Kun pulled away with a regretful sigh, planting one more lingering kiss on your lips before whispering, “The cheesecake bars.”

“No,” you whined, dragging out the ‘o’ as you pulled his mouth back to yours.

“Yes,” he mimicked you, also dragging out his vowel in a petulant tone. Kun flipped the two of you over, depositing you on the couch and taking advantage of your surprise to loosen your arms around his neck and stand up. He stretched his arms over his head, walking into the kitchen.

You slumped into the couch cushions, opting to rest your eyes for the moment. You could hear Kun turn the timer off, open the oven door, and take the pan out before setting it on the cooling tray. Then, his footsteps reentered the living room, and you peeked your eyes open again.

Kun stopped in front of you on the couch, tucking his hands into his sweatpants as he looked down at you. With you wearing his shirt, you could very clearly see his other sporadic tattoos on his bare torso—over his hip bone, ribs, one on his inner bicep, shoulder, and you knew there was one on the back of his neck too. He cocked his head as he looked down at you. “Taking a nap?”

“Yes. Honk shoo mimimi.”

“That’s too bad. The cheesecake bars have to cool for one to two hours.”

You sat up straight. “I can nap later.”

He offered his hand. “Come on, I’m fucking you in a bed this time.”

“Couch isn’t so good for your old bones?” You teased, accepting his hand as you went to stand up. Your legs wobbled, and you only stayed upright because you were already holding Kun and used him for balance.

“I don’t think I need to say anything,” he snickered, pulling you closer until your back was against his chest. “Let’s go, my pretty girl deserves a real pillow.”

Kun reentered his bedroom with a plate stacked high with cheesecake bars and glass of water. You smiled as he sat down in front of you, insistently handing you the water first. You gulped down half of it in one go before reaching for a cheesecake bar.

As soon as you bit into it, you groaned in appreciation. “So good.”

“Do you always make obscene noises when you eat?” Kun scoffed.

“Sorry,” you mumbled through another mouthful. “‘S really good.”

You held the rest of the cheesecake bar in your hand out to him. He wrapped his hand around yours, holding it still for him to lean forward and wrap his lips around your fingertips, taking the food in one bite. You watched him, unblinking.

When he finally let your hand go, you were snapped from your trance. “Now who’s being obscene while eating?”

He laughed, covering his mouth to keep crumbs from flying out.

Noticing that it had gotten darker out, you glanced at the time on his bedside clock. “Do you have to go to the venue tonight?”

“No, I’m off today.” He squeezed your thigh. “Not kicking you out.”

You looked down at his hand on your leg, your fingers tracing his ink up along his arm. There was a small clink as he set the plate down on the nightstand, then he was tilting your chin up so you’d look him in the eye. You twisted your head out of his gentle grip, looking back down, away from his too-intense gaze.

“You’re pouting again, baby,” he stated, breaking the long stretch of silence.

“Maybe so,” you admitted with a huff. “It’s my thinking face.”

“And what are you thinking about?”

“What—” Your throat closed up as your brain was going too fast for your mouth to keep up with. You decided to pick a simultaneously simpler yet much harder question, “Now what?”

Kun raised an eyebrow. “I need you to be more specific, because I don’t think you’re asking about dinner.”

“That’s what I mean! Are we going to eat dinner together? Or is that too much? Is it going to be just work from now on or like… something else? Some people just know but I don’t! I don’t know anything and I can’t do that!” You covered your face with your hands to hide your tears from him, embarrassed at your outburst, embarrassed to be young and insecure and having the ‘what are we’ talk right after sleeping with an older guy, embarrassed to be crying in front of him, embarrassed, embarrassed, embarrassed. God, that’s all you’d ever done since you’d met Kun, embarrassed yourself.

“Ah, Y/N,” Kun sighed, taking his hand back. “I’m too old for this shit. I thought you were awesome the first night we met. When I got to see you perform, then you told me about the arrangement you made. Even after I found out you knew about my old band, I tried to support you as crew because I figured you wouldn’t want to get tied down to an old flop like me.”

You sniffed, messily wiping your face on the sleeves of Kun’s hoodie that you were wearing. Finally meeting his eyes again, you said, “This whole time, you’ve been getting on me about not believing that I’m a good musician. Why can’t you believe that you were too? I haven’t seen a keyboard or anything around here, you don’t write songs anymore, don’t tell anybody about it at all, you won’t even sing while doing the dishes!”

He smiled bittersweetly and shrugged. “We didn’t make it.”

“You run an underground punk venue, you should know that success doesn’t equal skill!” You insisted. “Or are you the exception for some reason?”

“You… are probably right. It seems I have some esteem issues to work on as well,” he acquiesced.

“You’re not a flop, at least not to me. And even if you were, you’re a lot more than that too.” You crossed your arms. “Like, if anything, you’re just retired.”

“Okay, now that really makes me sound old.”

“Says the man who literally just said, quote: ‘I’m too old for this shit.’”

“About the petty relationship stuff.” He wrinkled his nose. “Retirement is just too far.”

You giggled at his reaction, and while he rolled his eyes, the corner of his lips twitched, betraying his amusement too.

“Let me be even clearer then,” Kun declared, sandwiching one of your hands between both of his. “If you want something—a relationship—I’m all yours.”

You practically launched yourself at him, throwing your arms around his neck and locking your lips together. He let out a noise of surprise, wrapping his arms around your waist to steady you nevertheless. You mumbled ‘mine’ against his mouth, to which he immediately nodded, cradling the back of your head and pulling you closer. He slowly eased back onto his elbows, encouraging you to straddle his hips as his thumbs stroked the bare skin of your thighs. You grabbed his shoulders, pushing him flat to the mattress as you disconnected from the kiss, sitting up higher to look down at him. He looked up at you, arching an eyebrow as he stayed down.

“Now what, pretty girl?” He questioned.

“Say it again?” You requested sweetly, leaning down to kiss his throat.

“I’m all yours.” The words vibrated under your lips, and you moved back up to kiss them right out of his mouth.

“Welcome home.” Mark was sitting on your couch when you got back to your own apartment the following afternoon, feet kicked up on the coffee table as his fingers flitted over a video game controller.

“Feet!” You reminded him loudly, throwing the front door closed.

Your roommate removed his feet from the coffee table, sitting forward with his elbows on his knees instead. He kept his eyes on the TV screen as you walked by. “So where were you?”

“I told you, I had lunch with my parents.”

“All night?” He snorted.

“You’re a smart boy, I’m sure you can figure it out.”

You went into your room to change out of your outfit from yesterday. You had already showered at Kun’s place but definitely needed some fresh clothes. Emerging from your room in a new set of pajamas, you plopped down onto the couch and stretched your legs into Mark’s lap.

“You usually give me a heads-up in case the guy’s an axe murderer,” Mark commented, shifting to accommodate your feet. “Were you wearing a crew hoodie for the venue when you walked in?”

“We work there?” You pointed out rather than admitting that it was actually Kun’s. “Anyway, sorry I forgot to text you. He wasn’t an axe murderer, by the way.”

“Figured as much when you came back with your head attached.”

When his character onscreen died, you snickered. “You suck.”

He turned the TV off, sitting back as he asked, “How’d lunch go?”

“Awful. They finally said the quiet part out loud: They think I’m a failure and will never support me doing this,” you sighed.

Mark winced, but nodded sympathetically, more than familiar with your strained family relationship. “Damn, I’m sorry, Y/N. I really thought they would’ve come around by now.”

You shrugged. “Yeah, it fucking sucks. But we’re really good, even if they’ll never come to a show.”

“Hell yeah!” He offered a hand out, and you smacked yours against it in a resounding high-five. “Ooh, hey, a couple of the guys from RFE told me about this guitar shop that I wanted to check out. Do you want to come? We can get dinner after?”

“Sure.”

Rock music played over the speakers of the guitar shop, guitars of all shapes and sizes covered the walls and displays, accented by the neon lights lining the floors and ceiling. You meandered with Mark, letting him gasp and gush over the instruments as you kept your hands to yourself, looking at the cool variety that was in stock.

“Anything in particular you guys are looking for?” The man that had been sat behind the glass counter called out as your path through the store brought you closer.

When you turned to look at him over your shoulder, intending to let him know that you all were just looking, he lifted his head from where he had been replacing the string on an acoustic guitar, shifting his long hair from his face and granting you your first good look at his features. He had large sunglasses perched on his head, dark makeup around his eyes, his nails painted black, and thanks to the black bleach tie-dyed tank top he wore, you could see the chain and lock tattoo going around one of his biceps.

You screeched to a halt, desperately smacking Mark to make sure you weren’t seeing things. Your friend yelled and fought back, swatting at your hand. “Dude, what the hell?”

The worker was still looking at you, amused confusion on his face as he tilted his head curiously. “Is everything okay?”

“Sorry, this might be weird—Were you in a band like ten years ago?” You asked hesitantly, despite being very sure of the answer yourself.

Whatever he thought was going on, he clearly hadn’t been expecting that, looking pleasantly surprised as he sat up a bit straighter on his stool. “Yeah, actually. I—”

“You played bass, and your band was called Vizions,” you finished. “Yuta.”

Yuta chuckled. “Right on the money.”

“Seriously?” Mark’s eyes were popping out of his head.

“We saw you guys perform a few times, actually.” You pointed between you and your friend. “In like, high school.”

“High school?” Yuta must have had the same realization that Kun did, but just smirked. “Cool. You guys are actually not going to believe this, hold on—” He stood up, leaning over the counter to yell out towards another section of the store, “Hey! C’mere!”

A few moments later, another man came around the corner, looking a bit out of place. He was wearing a rainbow pastel checkered sweatervest over a white button-up shirt, with brown corduroy pants and sensible-looking tennis shoes. His light brown hair had soft waves as it was neatly cut and styled, and he pushed a pair of square clear-framed glasses up the bridge of nose. As he stopped at the counter near you, Mark, and Yuta, you could faintly make out the faded marks where he had let piercings close up in his eyebrows, nose, along the cartilage of his ears, and a few open ones on his earlobes that had no jewelry in them. The change in style threw you off for an extra second, but seeing him next to Yuta gave you enough context to place his face as well.

“TY!” You immediately named the newcomer.

He startled, but his features were immediately overcome by a bashful smile, blushing from his ears to his neck. “Please, Taeyong. Nobody calls me that anymore.”

“Right, sorry…”

“It’s fine…?”

“Oh, Y/N, and Mark,” you introduced both of you.

“They used to go to our gigs when they were in high school,” Yuta informed Taeyong with a grin.

Taeyong paused on this, letting out a short sigh. “As a teacher, I will say that I can’t condone that anymore… but we may or may not have had fakes in high school as well.”

You perked up. “You’re a teacher now?”

“Yes, I teach music at a primary school.”

“I own this place,” Yuta added, gesturing to the guitar store. “Do some songwriting on the side.”

“That’s so cool that you guys still do music stuff!” You said brightly.

“We’re not the only ones,” Taeyong said. “Kun, our keyboardist, he works at a music venue. The other two, not so much. Johnny, our drummer, he’s a tattoo artist, but he goes to so many gigs it’s like he never left the scene. And then Jaehyun…”

Both of them laughed, and you and Mark exchanged a glance as you were on the outside of the joke.

Taeyong continued, “Stay at home father of four.”

“That’s fucking crazy.” Mark shook his head.

“Well, that’s pretty much why Vizions is no more,” Yuta explained. “Jaehyun’s girlfriend got pregnant, and he wanted to be a dad more than he wanted to be a rockstar. We decided that was a good place to call it, and started doing our own stuff.”

You shot Mark a look. “If you leave the band because you knock a girl up, I’m going to kill you.”

He held his hands up defensively. “Woah! So not called for! And who was at some mystery guy’s house last night?”

“Shut up!”

“You brought it up first!”

Taeyong cut into your squabbling, “You guys have a band?”

“Yeah, it’s called ‘Doing this Again!’” You answered brightly, jabbing your elbow into Mark’s side to make sure he knew that you had won. “I play keys and do some vocals.”

“I play guitar and sing,” Mark added through gritted teeth. “We’ve got another guitar, drummer, and bass.”

“You got any upcoming shows?” Yuta asked.

“We uh, we actually have a recurring slot at Venue:Hell every other week,” you answered. “We rotate out with another band, Roses for Eyes. Our next set is this Thursday, but there’s a special event next month, Retro Rewind.”

Taeyong and Yuta exchanged a confused look before the shop owner spoke up. “Wait, Kun’s place?”

“Yeah, he’s the manager.”

“Have you told him you know about our band?”

You nodded. “He signed my CD.”

“You should’ve brought it,” Mark clicked his tongue regretfully.

“You still have one of our albums?!” Taeyong’s eyes went wide.

“She’s obsessed,” your roommate muttered.

“Shut up, no I’m not,” you hissed back, smacking his arm this time. “You say that like your first electric guitar wasn’t the same kind Taeyong had because you—”

Mark slapped a hand over your mouth. “It’s a good guitar!”

You stuck your tongue out, and he immediately jerked his hand back, wiping it on his pants. “Gross! God knows where that thing was last night. Do I need to get a shot or something?”

“I’m going to shave your head in your sleep.”

You entered the green room just enough to toss your bag onto the couch, then pivoted right around. “Be back!”

“Where are you going?” Jungwoo called after you.

“To piss!”

Walking right past the bathroom, you stopped outside the closed admin office door, knocking on it eagerly.

“If you’re Yangyang, figure it out yourself!” Kun’s annoyed voice rang out from inside.

You poked your head in, offering him a sheepish smile. “Bad time?”

The peeved look on his face faded, and he waved you in with a tired smile. “No, not at all. Perfect timing, actually.”

“Why’s that?” You quietly closed the door behind you, moving to lean against the desk.

“I was stressed out, and seeing you makes me feel better.”

“You’re in the same clothes as when I brought you lunch yesterday,” you observed suspiciously, then looked over at the rumpled pillow and blanket on the futon. “Did you sleep here?”

“We had these back-to-back events—”

“You live a block away!”

“I went home to shower—”

“But you couldn’t grab a change of clothes while you were there? Or sleep there?”

He rubbed the back of his neck guiltily. “Old habits, I guess.”

You tilted your head. “What?”

“After Vizions, when I first got hired, business at the venue wasn’t really great. The owner at the time let me crash here until I could afford my own place.” He stared at the old futon and chuckled, “Turns out the venue was failing because the owner was keeping everything for himself. When the current owners took over, they started paying me a living wage and suddenly I had an apartment and a real mattress.”

“Kun.”

He turned his gaze from the piece of furniture up to you. “Hm?”

“That’s not your life anymore,” you told him firmly. “No shitty boss, no shitty futon, none of that.”

“Ah, you’re right,” he sighed, then a sly smirk creeped across his lips. “I might be more inclined to sleep in my own bed if I had a pretty girl in it, though.”

“A pretty girl?” You echoed pointedly.

“Just one.” Kun picked up your hand to kiss the back of it. “Just you, pretty girl.”

“Are you closing?”

“Mhm. I can give you my key if you don’t want to wait around here after your set.”

“Is it a dance night?”

“Mhm.”

You closed your eyes as you thought, enjoying the feeling of him pressing more kisses to your hand and fingers. “I’ll hang out.”

“Can’t wait.”

When your eyes fluttered open, they landed on the futon again, and your mind was still stuck in that bygone era that Kun had told you about, after his band broke up. You squeezed his hand to get his attention. “I forgot to tell you—Mark and I went to this guitar shop the other day.”

Kun sat up to look at you as you spoke, keeping a gentle hold on your hand. “Oh yeah? He get anything?”

“A new capo, but uh, the shop was actually owned by Yuta.”

His eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Really?”

“And Taeyong was there too.”

“A two-for-one, huh? Lucky you,” he laughed, easing back into his office chair again. “I think you’re just missing Jaehyun now?”

“Yeah,” you nodded. “Kun, why did you make it sound like your band broke up because you guys didn’t make it? They told us about Jaehyun having kids…”

“It never felt right to me to blame the kids, or even Jaehyun.” Kun ran a hand through his hair.

You frowned. “I don’t think it’s blaming anybody to say that he wanted to be a dad more than he wanted to be a rockstar. That’s just… what being a person is like. One day you want to be one thing, and then something happens and you want to be something else.”

“You make some good points,” he admitted. “I’ve never thought of it like that.”

“Not just a pretty face, hm?” You teased, getting to your feet.

He stood up as well, pecking your cheek. “Never said you were, baby. Beauty and brains, of course.”

You grabbed the back of his neck, pulling his lips to yours. As his mouth moved with yours sweetly, one of his hands cupped your cheek, the cool metal of his rings resting against your skin. A timid knock came at the closed door, and he let out a low groan against your lips. As Kun pulled back to address whoever was at the door, you peppered barely-there kisses along his jaw and neck.

“If you’re Yangyang, fuck off!” He called out, grip tightening on your hip when you nipped just above the collar of his venue crew t-shirt, on the front of his throat.

“No, not Yangyang,” Yangyang replied, his voice garbled as he deepened it in an attempt to disguise it. “Uh, I’m uhm, Sicheng! Yangyang wanted me to ask you about—” He was cut off by a hacking cough, then resumed in his normal voice, though a little strained, “Fuck! God! How does he do that? Felt like I was deepthroating my own tongue! Ugh!”

You burst into laughter, immediately trying to muffle it behind your hands.

“Woah! You got a girl in there, Kun?” His shit-eating grin was audible through the door. “We always joked about what the futon was for, but I didn’t know you got down like that, old man! Do you want me to leave? ‘Cause like—”

“Yes, I would like for you to leave because you are giving me a migraine!” Kun finally cut him off loudly.

“Alright, alright! Don’t need to tell me twice!” Yangyang acquiesced. “Doing this Again is going to start their soundcheck soon, so maybe keep it down? Or don’t, it should actually be the perfect cover for any—”

“Liu Yangyang!”

“Bye!”

Finally, you could hear the sound of his footsteps retreating down the hallway, and lowered your hand from your mouth, letting out a few giggles. Kun wiped his face from forehead to chin, red with anger. You could even spot a vein on his neck that wasn’t always visible.

“I’m going to kill that boy one day,” he swore, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I think I understand vampires now.”

He blinked at you. “What?”

You poked his neck vein. “I get it…”

He grabbed your hand with both of his, bringing it down, away from his neck. “And on that very normal note, pretty girl, you have a soundcheck to do.”

“You love that I’m extremely normal and say very normal things,” you teased, heading towards the door.

Before you could make it, he tugged on your hand, bringing you back into his arms. He dipped his head to attach his lips to your neck, teeth finding a spot that had already been fading. He finished it off with one last tender kiss to the area.

“There,” he murmured. “We can match.”

“I am definitely late for soundcheck now,” you whispered, reaching for the doorknob behind you with one hand even as you pulled him in for one more kiss with the other.

“Have fun, baby.”

With one last peck, you opened the office door and slipped out. Amazingly, you didn’t bump into Yangyang in the hallway. Instead, you quite literally tripped over him turning the corner out of the hallway and into the main floor area.

“Shit! Sorry, Yang!” You apologized as you stumbled over the employee who was squatted down behind the wall.

“Wait, Y/N?!” He didn’t even seem to care that you had just knocked him to the floor, scrambling to get to his feet and follow you as you hurried towards the stage.

The rest of your band was already set up for soundcheck, tuning their instruments and making other tweaks.

“Bathroom’s over there,” Chenle deadpanned into his mic, pointing to the ladies’ room on the opposite side of the floor.

“I peed and then got caught up talking to Kun.” You jumped up onto the stage, grabbing your in-ears and pack that somebody had already gotten out for you. “You see, people can travel from one place to another using these things attached to our torsos called legs.”

Jisung giggled from behind you as Chenle rolled his eyes. Yangyang was still looking between you and the hallway, obviously bewildered.

“You were in there when I was talking to him?” Yangyang asked, face screwed up in confusion.

“Yeah.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“There wasn’t anything for me to say?” You retorted, putting in one of your in-ears. “He was pissed at you, dude.”

“What were you guys talking about?”

“Retro Rewind.”

Jungwoo interrupted, “As thrilling as this play-by-play of Y/N’s conversation with Kun is, we’ve really got to start our soundcheck, Yang.”

“Sorry, yeah.” Yangyang shook his head, jumping over the ropes that served to divide the main floor from the crew-only entrance to backstage. He disappeared behind the curtain, emerging by his sound equipment just off-stage.

“Pizza?” Jisung suggested hopefully as soon as you all stumbled into the green room off the stage.

A chorus of agreeable sounds—varying from cheers to grunts—came from around the room, a new rush of energy pumping through your friends at the mention of food.

You packed your bag, but didn’t put your two cents in on the prospective pizza order. They ended up split on what restaurant to go to, and looked to you to be the tiebreaker.

You held your hands up. “I’m hanging out here. You guys will just have to play rock-paper-scissors or something.”

“You’re staying here?” Jungwoo cocked his head curiously.

“And I won’t be home tonight,” you told Mark specifically.

Mark’s jaw dropped. “He’s here?!”

“Who?” “What?” “Who are you talking about?” “Huh?” The others clambered around you two for a scrap of context.

“Y/N has been seeing a mystery guy who she swears is not an axe murderer, but she refuses to tell me anything about,” your roommate narrowed his eyes at you.

“God, it hasn’t even been a week, and you wonder why I don’t want to tell you anything,” you scoffed.

“Uh, sorry I don’t want you to get axe murdered, dude?”

“If I get axe murdered, you can get up at my funeral and say ‘I told her so.’”

“Come on.” It was surprisingly Chenle who saved you, grabbing Mark’s backpack and yanking him away from you. “I’m hungry and you’re taking too long.”

“Dude!”

Mark flailed as Jungwoo joined in, taking Mark’s hand in his to drag him along too. “Pizza!”

Jisung gave you a quiet wave goodbye as he followed the others, leaving you in a remarkably silent green room. You let out a deep sigh to calm yourself down, then walked out as well. Your bandmates made quick work of hauling Mark out, as you didn’t see or hear any of them when you stepped into the main floor. Keeping close to the wall, you sneaked around to the back office, intending on dropping off your bag before finding Kun. Instead, you found Yangyang in the office, nosing around for something.

“Uh, what are you doing?” You asked, plopping your bag onto the empty office chair.

Yangyang shot to his feet, spinning around to flash you an obviously guilty smile. “Oh, you’re still here.”

“Yeah, I’m hanging out for a bit,” you replied noncommittally. “What are you doing?”

“Close the door?”

You obliged, stepping and shutting the office door behind you. “Okay?”

“Promise not to tell Kun?”

“What are you doing? Booby trapping his office?”

“No, it’s not April Fools yet.”

“You’re going to booby trap his office for April Fools?”

“Pff, no!”

You arched an eyebrow in disbelief. “So what are you doing now?”

“Looking for proof,” he whispered, rubbing his hands together. “I’ve worked here for like three years and the old man’s never had a partner, talked about going on dates, brought anybody around, nothing. Now, in one week, he’s been late to work, come to work with hickeys, had somebody bring him food, has been smiling down at his phone instead of rolling his eyes at it—He’s humming, for fuck’s sake, Y/N! Humming! I’ve never seen him consistently in such a good mood since… ever!”

“Maybe that’s just because you piss him off all the time,” you pointed out.

“But the rest of it!”

“What kind of proof do you think you’re going to find in the office? His diary?” You snorted.

“Ooh, you think?”

You stared at him.

“You’re fucking with me,” he realized. “That’s not funny.”

You were already giggling. “It really is.”

Yangyang pushed the rolling chair out of the way to wake the computer up, cursing when he saw that it was locked.

“Anyway, why are you so pressed about Kun’s love life?” You questioned, watching Yangyang type in wrong password after wrong password.

“Aren’t you curious?” He asked. “I know you haven’t worked here as long, but the man is an enigma. After three years, I feel like I know as much about him as I did on my first day.”

“Have you tried talking to him? Since you’re so curious?”

“Have you?” He retorted, then his face lit up like he’d gotten an idea. He turned away from the computer that he still hadn’t unlocked. “Actually, you do talk to Kun, right? About like, your weekly slot and stuff at least, right?”

“Yeah…?” You answered hesitantly, unsure of where he was going with this.

Yangyang suddenly lunged forward to grab both your hands, smushing them between his as he pleaded with you. “Can you find out for us if he’s seeing anybody? Like, not be super obvious, but try to see if he’ll bring it up? Or say something about them?”

“‘Us?’” You repeated the one word that had caught your attention. “I take it the rest of the crew are in on this too?”

His eyes widened as he seemed to have realized his slip-up, then he grinned. “You’re clever, Kun won’t stand a chance. Thanks!”

“I didn’t say yes!” You yelled after him as he ran out of the office.

With a shake of your head, you walked out of the office as well, quietly shutting the door. Out on the main floor, you milled around for a little bit, ordering a drink from Sicheng at the bar before chatting with a few venue regulars about this and that.

“I’m excited for Retro Rewind,” Sunny, a regular who was a little younger than you, buzzed with excitement, and maybe a bit too much alcohol. “I love seeing you guys and Roses on the same night!” She suddenly gasped. “You should totally do a collab song or something! That would be fucking awesome!”

You laughed, endeared by her enthusiasm as always. “Could be fun. Those guys are pretty cool.”

“Oh my god, don’t look, but he’s totally looking over here!” Tsuki, the other regular that you were talking to, whisper-shouted over the music, grabbing her friend’s arm.

Sunny immediately whipped her head around rather obviously. You also peered around a bit more inconspicuously, curious as to who they were talking about. Sunny must have spotted whoever it was, as she squeaked and ducked her head again. The only person you met eyes with was Kun, who had finally stopped running around and was now calmly watching over the crowd from the back wall. You gave him a little smile before turning back to the two squealing girls in front of you.

“What’s going on?” You asked, swirling your drink around in your glass then taking a sip.

“Sunny thinks the manager is cute,” Tsuki giggled, much to the chagrin of her friend, who belatedly smacked a hand over her mouth.

You choked on the sip that you had just taken, barely avoiding snorting it back out your nose. Thumping yourself on the chest, you managed to swallow it down instead of doing a spit take all over the patrons. Tsuki only laughed even harder as Sunny covered her face.

“You didn’t have to laugh that much,” Sunny whined.

“Sorry, sorry,” you apologized quickly. “Not laughing, just uh, just went down the wrong pipe.”

“She’s just sensitive because I like to tease her about how she comes to a music venue and doesn’t even look at any of the acts, she looks at the manager,” Tsuki explained.

“It’s called practicality!” Sunny huffed, then looked at you hopefully. “Is he single? Do you know?”

“W-Well…” You stammered, trying to figure out what the hell you were even supposed to say right now.

“Oh, he’s totally like, married with five kids or something,” Tsuki snickered, making Sunny even more distraught.

“He doesn’t have a wedding ring!” Sunny argued.

Finally, you decided to go with, “He’s seeing someone.” At the way the girl’s face immediately fell, you awkwardly added, “Sorry, Sunny…”

Tsuki wrapped an arm around her shoulders as Sunny mumbled, “‘S fine, he wasn’t even that cute.”

“Yeah, that’s right,” her friend murmured supportively, patting her on the head. Tsuki looked up at you with a knowing smile. “I think we’re going to get another drink. Thanks for hanging out with us, Y/N.”

“You’re really fucking cool,” Sunny sighed, squeezing your hand as she let Tsuki guide her away.

Skimming your eyes over the crowd, you made eye contact with Kun again, still monitoring the room. You slid off your stool at the bar and shouldered your way through the crowd until you could sidle right up next to him. Leaning back against the wall, you propped up one foot, taking another sip of your drink and watching the crowd too.

“Found Yangyang snooping through the office earlier,” you informed him.

Kun groaned, letting his head drop back against the concrete wall with a thunk. “Do I need to check my chair for thumbtacks now or some shit?”

“That’s what I thought too, but you’re safe until April Fools.”

“So what was he doing today?”

“Looking for proof that you’re seeing someone.”

“And did he find any?”

“Nope. Well, technically yes, since I was in there, but he didn’t realize it,” you said with a grin. “He recruited me to try to covertly get information about it from you.”

“Kid’s a fucking idiot.”

“Not completely, the reasons he gave as to why he thinks you’re seeing someone were pretty observant.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Let’s see… Hickeys, you’ve been late to work, had a mysterious person bring you food, and are apparently smiling at your phone and humming.” You listed them off on the fingers of one hand. “I think if he doesn’t find proof of you seeing someone, Yang is going to start doomsday prepping.”

He rolled his eyes. “He needs a hobby.”

“Maybe he should take up crochet or something.”

“Anything to keep him out of my business.” Kun crossed his arms over his chest. “Is everything okay with those regulars you were talking to?”

“Sunny and Tsuki?” You tried to find them in the crowd, spotting them sitting in stools that they had scooted together at the bar, Sunny already looking much livelier again. “Yeah, I think she’ll be fine.”

“Good. What was it? Too much to drink?”

“Probably a little of that.” You leaned in towards him, your shoulder pressing against his as you lowered your voice, “She asked me if you were single.”

“Wait, really?” Puffs of air washed over your cheek as he chuckled.

“What are you laughing about?”

“Sorry—What did you say?” There was still a curl of humor in his tone.

“I said you were seeing someone.” You squinted at him as he started laughing again. “What?”

“Not laughing at you, baby, sorry,” he said through chuckles, his hand that was closer to the wall sneaking under your jacket and pulling you closer by the hip. “Just thinking about how many guys have asked me or the other staff about you. It’s kinda funny that it happened to you.”

“Oh? And what did you tell them?”

“That it’s against our policy to give out private information on our talent, of course.”

“Ooh, how professional,” you teased, biting on your straw.

“I am nothing if not a professional,” he smiled, thumb running over the skin just above your waistband.

You checked the time. “Only half an hour left.”

“Counting the minutes, pretty girl?”

“Until I’ve got you all to myself? Shamelessly.”

“Me too.” He looked at his watch. “Twenty-nine minutes.”

You let out a melodramatic sigh, looking around at where the other venue staff were. There was no line at the merch counter, Ten scrolling on his phone with his feet kicked up. “I’m going to go bother Ten for a bit. I’m afraid this drink is starting to taste like I should kiss you stupid right now.”

Kun tightened his hold on your hip, reaching for your drink. “Can I?”

You let him take the half-empty glass. He shook it first, the ice cubes clinking around, then he drank from the rim. A small sip, then another one. He tilted his head back and forth, humming thoughtfully before nodding, “You’re right. It does taste like that.”

That was all the permission you needed, grabbing his face with two hands and eagerly connecting your lips. He still tasted like your slightly sweet drink, and you greedily took kiss after kiss, biting down on his bottom lip. Kun groaned softly into your mouth, letting his thumb dip below your waistband then back up. Your head was spinning as your blood roared in your ears and you wished he’d just drop the fucking drink to have both hands on you, shattered glass and spilled alcohol be damned.

To his credit, he didn’t drop the glass, even when you suddenly pushed him back against the wall, kissing the column of his throat instead. When you lightly bit at an unmarred spot, he hissed and laughed, pinching your side.

“You were serious about that vampire thing, huh?” He teased. “Menace.”

“Who, me?” You asked innocently, taking the drink back and finishing it off.

He chuckled, using two hands on your hips to turn the two of you around, pressing you back against the wall now. Your free hand bunched the fabric of the front of his shirt, pulling his mouth to yours again. Kun had just grabbed your chin with one hand, tongue entwining with yours, when you felt him suddenly turn away from you. You instinctually whined at the loss, trying to pull at his shoulder as your eyes fluttered open, pout already forming on your kiss-swollen lips.

“—just can’t play grab-ass here, guys.” You caught the tail-end of what Yangyang was saying as he seemed to be giving some pre-rehearsed spiel, his eyes squeezed closed as he talked. Once he was finished, he opened his eyes, immediately jumping back as he registered who exactly he was talking to, “Jesus Christ! Ahh! What the hell?! What the fuck?!”

“Shut up.” Kun scowled at him.

“No?!” Yangyang replied indignantly. “What are you doing?!”

“Telling you to shut up.”

“Y/N!” The sound tech looked at you next, horrified. “You really want to do this?”

“Excuse me?” Kun snorted.

“Kun, come on dude, you’re better than this—”

“Excuse me?!” You pushed past Kun, fully intending on giving Yangyang a shiner.

Kun held you back, but you could tell that he was getting pissed too. “Yangyang, what exactly do you think is going on?”

“You’re cheating on your new girl with Y/N!” Yangyang gestured wildly. “Y/N, I totally thought you were a girl’s girl, by the way—”

“Shut up!” Kun yelled, loud enough that a few patrons even looked over. He glared at his employee, “You’re an idiot. I’m not cheating on anybody with Y/N.”

His face screwed up with confusion. “So you’re not seeing anybody? Then what was all—”

“It’s me!” You finally blurted out. “He’s seeing me! We’re seeing each other! Fucking Christ, Yang, you saw us making out and can’t process that?”

Yangyang blinked at you. “But he’s so… old?”

This time you had to grab Kun’s arm to keep him from doing something, and the sound tech skittered back a couple more steps.

“Go away, Yangyang,” Kun demanded sharply.

“God, can’t believe the couple Ten asked me to break up was you guys,” he shuddered, walking off.

You and Kun exchanged a knowing look. “Definitely not a coincidence…” You scoffed.

Looking back to the merch counter, you saw Ten wiping tears from his undereye, still laughing as he held onto the counter for stability.

“Does Ten have a car?” You asked.

“Yes, why?”

“I want to key it.”

Kun laughed, wrapping an arm around your waist and resting his chin on your shoulder. “As fun as that would be, how about I schedule him and Yangyang for back-to-back closing-opening shifts for a full week next month instead?”

“Oh, boo.” You let out a huff, leaning back against him affectionately. “Vandalism and property damage would’ve been so cathartic.”

He kissed your cheek apologetically. “I know, baby, I’m sorry.”

You were gently pulled out of sleep by a quiet tune and fingertips skimming over your forearm. Yawning, you squinted an eye open, watching Kun’s fingers trace the lines of your tattoos. With your mind still foggy with sleep, you listened to what he was humming.

“Hey…” You mumbled, shifting onto your back.

“Hey,” he repeated humorously, pressing a soft kiss to your temple.

“You were humming it again.” You rubbed your eye.

“Did I wake you up? Sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. That song…” You frowned. “It’s not from somewhere?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Hm.” You repeated the tune, your throat a little scratchy this early in the morning. “It’s nice.”

“You think?”

Rolling over, you buried your face in the crook of his neck. “Mhm.”

Kun rested a hand on your back. “Your phone was going off, by the way. You were still sleeping, I put it on silent, hope you don’t mind.”

You let out a big sigh, blindly reaching out towards the nightstand where your phone was. He grabbed it for you, placing it in your seeking hand. Turning your head just enough to see your phone screen, you saw three missed calls from Mark and a text.

“He better be dead,” you groaned. “Or I’m going to kill him.”

Opening the text, you saw that it was only one word, and from around two a.m., several hours before the phone calls.

[mark: KUN????????????????????????????]

[you: wrong number?]

You decided that you’d call him back if he didn’t text back in ten minutes.

That determination was useless, however, as he almost immediately called you. You declined it, texting him instead.

[you: DUDE are you fucking dying or something??]

[mark: the axe murderer is KUN????????]

[you: did yangyang text the whole venue gc or smth???]

[you: also he’s not an axe murderer jfc]

Another incoming call, which you once again declined.

[you: im going to block you if you keep calling me]

[mark: ARE YOU WITH HIM RN?!!!!?!??!?!?!]

[you: girl where tf else would i be? i told you i wasn’t coming home]

[mark: ok i did a few calming breaths]

[mark: idk what ur talking abt w yangyang but we figured it out at pizza last night. chenle saw ur FRESH HICKEY AFTER COMING OUT OF KUNS OFFICE]

[you: i hate to sound like my parents rn but maybe u guys actually should get real jobs and leave me tf alone]

[you: average unemployed friend behavior tbh]

[mark: bro the call is coming from inside the unemployment office??]

[you: actually it’s coming from kun’s bed rn xx]

Finally, your phone was silent, and you harshly dropped it back onto the nightstand. You only had a few moments of peace before a different ringer was going off. Letting out a guttural groan, you smushed your face into your pillow as Kun reached over you to grab his phone.

“Morning, Mark,” he answered, sounding very amused.

Your head snapped up automatically, eyes going wide with fear at whatever the hell your friend was saying. Kun rested one of his hands behind his head as he leaned back against his headboard, listening with interest.

“Oh, I thought you had a question about work,” he said with a grin. “You know, it’s against our policy to give out private information about our talent.”

You covered your face with your hands, shaking your head.

“Mhm, see you, Mark.”

As Kun set his phone back down, you lamented into your palms, “So much for keeping it private at first.”

“Yeah, I think we forfeited that last night,” he reminded you, pressing a kiss to your shoulder.

You took your face out of your hands to properly argue. “Not my fault you looked like that.”

“I thought it was the drink?”

“Mm, both.”

He chuckled. “Anyway, did I mention that I’m off today?”

“All day?” You looked at him hopefully.

“All day,” he confirmed. “I don’t have to be back at the venue until tomorrow night.”

“We’re practicing our Retro Rewind set later, but other than that, I’m free today too.” You beamed. “Can we go somewhere?”

“Somewhere?”

You shrugged. “I don’t know. Somewhere other than the venue or your apartment.”

“I do have some errands to run…” Kun mused. “Groceries, the laundromat, I have a package to drop off at the post office—”

“No, I mean like a real date!”

“There we go, just wanted you to use your words, baby,” he snickered, pinching your bottom lip. “You’re pouting.”

“You’re being mean to me.” You rolled onto your back, your elbows getting tired from propping up your head for that long.

“Aw, I’m sorry.” He leaned down to kiss you. “Get dressed, I know where to take you.”

You narrowed your eyes. “Not the grocery store, laundromat, or post office?”

“A real date, I promise.”

The destination Kun had in mind was apparently within walking distance, as the two of you took off down the sidewalks hand-in-hand.

“So what’s your day job?” He asked.

You weren’t expecting that. “What?”

“What do you do when you’re not doing music? You know, to pay rent and stuff?”

“Oh, I work with a temp agency and a babysitting agency. Picking up gigs here and there, you know?”

He almost seemed amused. “Really?”

“Yeah.” You touched your nose jewelry habitually. “I know I don’t look like your average office worker or childcare professional, but I clean up good, okay? Take out the nose ring and eyebrow piercing, put on some longsleeves, they never know. That’s why I don’t dye my hair crazy colors.”

“What sort of places have you temped at?”

“Lots of different places.” You hummed as you thought through a brief list of the various businesses that you’d worked at. “I usually do their filing, answer phones, that kind of stuff. I’m really only there for a few weeks at a time. I think the longest place I worked at was for… three or four months? That was actually at a music studio, so it was pretty cool.”

“Meet anybody cool?”

“There were some big names that came through. I got everyone’s coffee.” You shook your head, then looked at Kun curiously. “Have you ever thought about working somewhere other than the venue?”

“Oh, plenty of times,” he sighed. His face turned contemplative as he went on to admit, “I didn’t tell you the whole truth before. I tried to get back into songwriting and composing dozens of times over the years. I tried everything, every process out there, every tip and trick I could find—nothing. I couldn’t even remix our old tracks into something palatable. The staff at the venue only know I used to play the keyboard because when I finally gave up, I sold mine to Dejun.”

You couldn’t help the frown on your face when he described the creative block he had faced. “When was that?”

“Three, maybe four years ago now?” He seemed much less perturbed by it than you, like he had long accepted his fate. “I like working at the venue because I like being in the scene, even if I can’t contribute anything new to it.”

“That tune that you’ve been humming—”

“—Is not going to go anywhere. That happened before. I would think I had something, but as soon as I sat down to write, nothing,” he insisted calmly. “It’s fine.”

“So you just… got rid of everything?”

“It’s not like I denounced music forever,” he chuckled, squeezing your hand. “Just changed my focus.”

You thought about your own band, about all the half-written songs in your notes that you were working on, the demos you had recorded on your phone that you hoped to release someday. Would you let it all go one day too?

“We’re here,” Kun announced, gesturing to the business you had found yourself in front of.

“Mini golf?” You strained to read the faded sign.

“Unless it’s not good enough. I mean, I’ve got a long list of things that aren’t the post office…”

“No, Kun, this is perfect,” you laughed. “Let’s do it.”

“Great.” He smiled, pecking your cheek before grabbing the front door for you.

Tonight was Retro Rewind, and the venue was abuzz with excitement. Doing this Again! was opening, and you were on stage waiting for the rest of your band to join you for your soundcheck. The staff were all bustling around getting set up, and you were at your keyboard, absorbed in your own world as you played around with a tune that had been stuck in your head.

Kun slowed to a stop in front of you, taking his headset off to listen with fascination. “That’s…”

“The tune you were humming. Plus some other stuff,” you confirmed, pausing your playing for the moment. “I figured since you weren’t going to do anything with it… I started messing around with it.” You jerked your head for him to join you. “C’mere.”

He obliged, hopping up on stage and letting you drag him behind your keyboard with you as you explained your idea. “I think it’ll be better layered. Can you play it an octave down?”

To your relief and delight, he didn’t argue, hands immediately finding familiar places on the keys to your left. As both of you started playing, you listened carefully.

“Mm… A step down?” You requested, and he immediately complied. You grinned. “Hell yeah.”

“And then it’s…” He trailed off as he followed your lead into the part that you had added onto his tune, playing it entirely by ear.

“Mhm, and then I was thinking you repeat and I would—”

He did as you said, repeating the melody as you added even more on top, making him absolutely beam. “Alright!”

“But then I get stuck there.” You frowned and took your hands off the keys. “On the bridge.”

“That little flair you had going…” Kun said carefully. “If you slowed it down, and dropped it a full octave…” He played a portion of your part again on his half of the keyboard exactly as he had described. “Could be something.”

“Play it again?”

“Mm?” He made an indicative noise as he went to do so.

You listened and contemplated it, slowly nodding. “Yeah, I liked that. Really moody.”

“You got any lyrics yet?”

“Nah, just messin’ with it.” You started from the beginning again. “If that’s alright with you. I was planning on having more to show you when I asked your permission to make a real song with your tune.”

Kun blinked at you, his hands sliding off the keys and hanging by his sides as he stared at you with wonder. “You really… want to?”

“Yeah, of course.” Your head bounced to the beat as you skipped to the moody bridge that he had just suggested. “I really like this, the more I hear it. That was a good—ack!”

Discordant notes rang out as Kun had surprised you by throwing his arms around you. You took a step back to stay upright, wrapping your arms around him too, rubbing his back.

“Uh, hi?” You murmured uncertainly.

“Yes, you have my permission. I-I’d be over the moon.” He cupped your cheeks, eyes sparkling as he looked at you. “God, you’re so perfect, baby.”

You let out a sputtering laugh, ducking your head as your face heated up from his adoring gaze. “Kun, fucking hell, you’ve got to warn me.”

“You never warn me.”

“Before doing what?”

“This.”

“Eh?!” You made an indignant noise, looking around at your general demeanor. “What am I doing? Breathing?”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“Okay, I can’t warn you every time I breathe.”

He snickered, giving you a quick peck. You huffed, immediately leaning back in for another, longer kiss, hooking one arm around his neck.

Giving a final wave to the audience, you ran off the stage arm-in-arm with Jungwoo, laughing and grinning madly. Your bandmates all followed, hugging and cheering. You all couldn’t take up space there for too long though as the next act got ready to go on. You hastily gave Roses for Eyes your best before heading further backstage. Chenle, Jungwoo, and Mark packed up their instruments and idly chatted with a couple of the acts that were hanging out in the cramped space. Everybody was sharing what instruments they could, meaning that the drumset and keyboard were staying onstage, which made yours and Jisung’s lives a bit easier.

“We’re gonna go catch some of Roses’ set,” Mark announced to the room in general, tapping your arm in a silent indication for you to join the rest of them. A few of the other performers who wouldn’t be going on until later got up as well, and you fell into the group too.

When you got backstage, however, your eyes were habitually searching for someone, and you quietly slipped away. The office door was thrown open as soon as you got to it, and a breathless smile came to Kun’s face when he saw you.

“Hey, I wanted to catch you when you came off stage, but there were way too many people.” He pecked your forehead. “You did so good, baby.”

“Thanks.” You kissed him on the lips. “Do you have time to watch RFE’s set? Or—”

“Hey, sorry.” Ten’s head poked around the corner into the hallway. He pointed over his shoulder into the main room. “Uh, these guys are saying they know you?”

Kun offered you an apologetic look, stepping past you down the hall. “Sorry, everyone says they know the manager. I’ll be—”

“Not you.”

With Ten’s gaze focused on you, you pointed to yourself in surprise. “Me?”

He nodded. You exchanged a confused glance with Kun, but as soon as you saw one of their heads poking over Ten’s shoulder, your jaw dropped.

“Nono, it’s fine, Ten,” you informed him hastily. He stepped aside to let the gaggle of men in.

Kun was possibly even more baffled than you. “What are you guys doing here?”

“We were invited,” Yuta informed him with a wide grin, gesturing to you.

“Oh my god, I didn’t think you’d actually come!” You bounced up and down with excitement, hugging him, then Taeyong, who was still in his kindly teacher attire.

Taeyong directed your attention to a figure at the back of the group. “We brought somebody.”

The man went to introduce himself, “Hey, I’m—”

“Jaehyun! Ah, sorry!” You slapped a hand over your mouth, thoroughly embarrassed.

“They said you might do that.” Jaehyun smirked, offering you a hand to shake. “It’s really nice to meet you, Y/N. You were awesome up there.”

“Thank you. It’s so cool to meet you.”

“Good to see you again, Y/N.” Johnny squeezed past Jaehyun to wrap you in a bearhug.

“Johnny! Hey!” Your greeting turned in a squeal of surprise as he lifted you off the ground. “Woah!”

Kun cleared his throat, appraising eye scanning over his former bandmates. “And uh, any particular reason I wasn’t told about this reunion?”

“We wanted to surprise you!” Taeyong explained as Johnny put you back down.

“Well, you succeeded,” Kun chuckled and crossed his arms, but you could tell that his smile didn’t reach his eyes, his gaze locked on where Johnny’s hand lingered on your back.

Giving Johnny one last friendly pat on the arm, you stepped back over to Kun’s side, eyes shining as you looked them all over. “Seriously, this is so cool. When was the last time you were all together?”

They looked at each other as they thought. Jaehyun asked, “It was probably for Juju’s birthday, right?” There were murmurs of agreement, and Jaehyun gave you a firm nod. “So, yeah, a couple months ago for my daughter’s fifth.”

“We’re going out after this, you guys should totally come!” You offered.

“Oh, your band?” Yuta surmised.

“The home team; us, Roses, some of the crew…” You trailed off, your eyes widening as soon as you realized your mistake. You winced as you turned to Kun, “Sorry, is that gonna be okay? I wasn’t thinking—”

“It’s fine,” he reassured you, wrapping an arm around your waist and pulling you closer. “They all need something new to talk about anyway.”

The others exchanged a knowing look, Yuta pointing at Kun with a smile. “Mystery guy, I presume?”

“Wh—Ugh, you seriously remember that?” You groaned as Taeyong giggled behind his hand.

Kun glanced between the three of you, confusion apparent. “What?”

“When Mark and I went to his shop, Mark was freaking out about the ‘mystery guy’ I was seeing,” you explained. “I can’t believe you guys remember that.”

“You two were funny.” Yuta shrugged.

“Anyway, I think Roses for Eyes started their set,” Johnny cut in. “The drummer is one of my clients and I told him I would watch.”

Everyone acquiesced, starting to filter out of the cramped hallway and back to the main floor. You laced your fingers with Kun’s, making sure to not lose him in the crowd. He squeezed your hand back, following your lead.

⤷ au masterlist | blog masterlist

TAGLIST

@sunnyuto

@annenakamura @bee-the-loser @lotties-readings @ppddpjdr @reiofsuns2001

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@winkeuu

[alotofpockets]

Hard launch | Florence Pugh x Singer!Reader

Where you and Florence hard launch your relationship and your new album

A/n: faceclaim for this is Florence as Taylor Swift and Reader as Gracie Abrams

Marvel masterlist | Words: 2.6k

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Over the past few months you have been all over the world. Your world tour started out in America and after a little break, you had continued to the European leg of the tour. While you loved touring, performing, and spending time with your fans, you craved the feeling of home. 

There were multiple places in the world that you called home. But only one of them was a constant, and you were about to walk into her arms, as you turned the keys to open her front door.

As soon as you opened the door, your girlfriend was in your arms. “Hi baby, I’ve missed you so much.” You whisper into her shoulder as you hold her close. “Why didn’t you say you were coming home today? I would’ve picked you up.” Your girlfriend had been at a couple of your shows, but since she was on set for most of your tour, your schedules didn’t often line up. 

You still had a few shows left in London, but you had the weekend off before you were performing 6 shows at Wembley. “I wanted to surprise you.” You leave your bags at the door as she pulls you into the home. Both your jobs required you to be in different parts of the world often, that’s why you decided that instead of moving into one of your houses, you just moved in together and kept both your places. Meaning that you shared her home in London, and yours in Los Angeles. 

After catching up for a bit, during which you lay cuddled up together on the couch, you told her you had really missed her food, with all the simple and easy meals you had during the tour. “Well, I was planning on filming a Cooking with Flo, so you are in luck, my love.” 

She was getting the ingredients laid out, while you set up her camera for her. You had been there from the start of her Cooking with Flo series, where she would film little videos on her phone and post them to her instagram story. You had been in London for work when covid hit, and you weren’t able to travel back to the US. There weren’t a lot of people that you knew who lived in London, except Florence who you had met a couple weeks prior, you shot her a message and moved in with her the same week.

The difference a couple of years could make. The two of you went from strangers, to roommates, to best friends, and finally to lovers. Florence her cooking show had also expanded. No more wobbly iPhone uploads to her Instagram story, but proper camera setup on a tripod and streaming the show live on YouTube.

“You know how I’ve been having special guests on the show?” You nodded. Even when you were away you kept up with her cooking videos. “Would you want to join me tonight?” The two of you kept your relationship away from the public, though many people had their suspicions, neither one of you had ever spoken out about it. 

That’s why Flo fully expected you to say no to her questions, but you surprised her by saying yes. “Really?” She asked excitedly. “Yes really. We can give them a little teaser for what’s to come, right?”

You had been working on a new album, where you wanted to put focus on what fame had been like for you. The way that everything you did was criticised by the media. That had been one of the reasons that you and Florence kept your relationship away from the public. 

Over the years you have hidden not only your relationship, but also parts of yourself. When you were younger it felt like something you just had to live with now, but you didn’t want to anymore. You wanted to be yourself and not care what people thought, and your next album would be the first step.

“Alright, ready to go whenever you are.” Florence says once she has checked everything over one last time. “Yeah, let me just finish this post and then I’ll be ready.” Your girlfriend walked over and leaned on your shoulders and watched you write the little caption you were giving your post from the last show.

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y/n_y/l/n just posted

y/n_y/l/n: Thank you to everyone that came out last night, it was an honour to play in front of a crowd like you! I can't believe we are nearing the end of the European leg, this tour has been amazing so far, and that is all thanks you x

-----

You put your phone away and set up the laptop for the livestream. A little countdown started counting down a minute while Florence got ready behind the kitchen island. You turned on the camera and waited to the side waiting for Florence to introduce you.

The countdown on the screen ticked down and Florence got ready to start. “It’s Cooking with Flo, bitches! Today we’re joined by a very special guest. You’ve been asking for this for a while now, and I have finally convinced her to join me. Please welcome Y/n to the show!”

You stepped up beside her. “Hi everyone! I’m so excited to be here.” You spoke nervously. Florence chuckled lightly, you were used to performing in front of thousands of people, but standing in front of this camera got you nervous. “I am so glad you’ve finally agreed to come on the show. Do you want to tell them what we’re cooking?”

“Yeah, for sure. We are making truffle pasta with one of Florence's own recipes today, and I for one cannot wait to try it.” Florence laughed, “But before we get to that part, we will show you exactly how to make it.”

Florence explained every step to the camera and you followed her lead on what to do. The conversation flowed easily between the two of you, the familiar banter making it feel like it was just another evening at home. A sense of familiarity you’ve been missing so dearly while you have been on tour.

She handed you a whisk and told you to mix up the ingredients you had just put in the bowl to make the sauce. Out of the two of you, Florence was definitely the one cooking most of the time, she was amazing and you were.. Well you were nearly decent. 

“Careful there,” Florence teased, “we don’t want the sauce all over the kitchen.” You laughed at your hand covered with the sauce, because it had definitely gone over the edge of the bowl. “No? I thought you were wanting to redecorate the kitchen. This seems like the perfect colour for the walls.” You joke back.

While your cooking and playful banter went on, the chat was blowing up with comments. Many of them were excited about seeing the two of you together and noting the chemistry that was evident on the screen.

You stayed on the easy tasks while Florence did all the hard work, but neither one of you minded, you were just enjoying the time you were able to spend together. 

With the pasta and the sauce presented on two plates, you thought the dish was done. “It smells so good, I cannot wait to taste it!” You already reached for a fork, but Florence stopped you. “Hold on, it’s not done yet.” She grabbed a truffle and the grater and got to work.

With the most serious expression, Florence delicately shaved the truffle over the pasta, her concentration made you giggle. “What’s so funny?” She asked with a raised eyebrow. “It’s just that you look like you’re performing surgery on that truffle.” You have to try hard to hold back your laughter.

“This is art, okay?” You don’t just throw truffles around.” You burst out laughing, unable to contain it any longer. Her serious tone combined with the silly way of putting on the truffle fully sends you over the edge.

“Hey, this is important stuff!” Florence tried hard to stay in her serious character, but failed as she watched the tears spring in your eyes from your laughter. “Truffles are a very delicate matter!” She got out through her own giggles.

You doubled over, clutching your stomach, and before you knew it, you had collapsed onto the kitchen floor, laughing uncontrollably. “Oh no, we’ve lost her!” Florence exclaimed, setting down the truffles on the counter to check on you. “I think I've broken Y/n.”

Florence always had the ability to make you laugh, but right now she got you so far that you could barely breathe, and the tears were streaming down your face. Florence snapped a quick picture before turning to the camera again. “Don’t worry, I will share that with you later. Now, let’s try this pasta.” 

You stood up as you were wiping your tears. “Wait for me! I wanna try.” Both of you take a bite at the same time. “Oh my god, this is so good!” Florence smiled proudly. “You heard it here first, people, you can even impress mega pop stars with this meal, so try it out at home.” You rolled your eyes playfully, “Food easily impresses me, but you should definitely try this recipe, because this was delicious.”

“And that’s all we have for tonight. We are going to enjoy this meal and soon Y/n will head to Wembley for her final shows of her Europe tour. Thank you for watching, and I’ll see you next time!” You both wave to the camera before it shuts off.

“I’ve missed you so much.” You say as you walk into her arms. “No one can make me laugh as much as you do.” She held you tight while telling you she missed you as well. 

"I can't believe we did that. The fans are going to lose their minds." Florence says as she walks both your plates over to the dining table. You smiled, feeling a warmth in your chest as you looked at her. "I think we just gave them something to remember." Florence smiled and leaned in to kiss your cheek. "And this is just the beginning, my love."

-----

florencepugh just posted

florencepugh: An all new Cooking with Flo out with special guest Y/n Y/l/n! Watch how she takes a break from her tour to spend some time on my floor 😂

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y/n_y/l/n: In my defense, the floor was very comfortable

-----

Your next few shows in London were incredible. A sold out Wembley night after night, was something you didn’t even dare to dream of a few years back. But now you were playing your sixth and final sold out Wembley show of this tour.

Nervous was an understatement. You had announced things on tour before, but this, this was something on an entirely different level. While your piano was being set up on the stage you talked with your fans. 

“Most of you have been with me for a very long time, and have stuck with me through the many changes I have gone through as a person and with my music, and that is something I am eternally grateful for. The support I get from each and everyone of you, is what gives me the strength to evolve.” 

While you were still nervous, you also felt a sense of serenity. The fans in the stadium were excited even when they had no clue what was coming.

“Growing up in the spotlight for me came with a lot of negativity. Something I haven’t spoken about often. It has made me hide parts of my life, parts that no one should have to hide.” 

You didn’t think you’d get this emotional, but you had to wipe a tear that had started rolling down your cheek.

“I decided that I no longer want to hide these parts of me to make other people happy. I am the one that should be able to share my happiness, and that is something I’ve been working on this past year. I’ve taken a deep dive into what fame has been like for me, the struggles, and the things that I’ve had to hide away.”

You paused for a moment, taking in the crowd that was listening to your every word. The people that have allowed you to continue to make music. The people that loved you unconditionally, no matter what the media had put out about you. The people that have defended your honour again and again.

“All of that, I’ve put it into something that I am very proud of.” The noise of the crowd grew with anticipation. “And I cannot wait to share it with you… so I won’t! New music coming soon on my next album "The Secret of Us.” 

The screen filled with the announcement and the crowd went insane. You stood there basking in the love the fans were throwing your way. The clapping didn’t stop for minutes. You sat down on the stage, looking up at the audience with tears in your eyes.

You got up again, because you weren’t done yet. “And if you’ll let me, I would love to perform one of the songs from the album for you tonight.” You smiled as they cheered even louder. 

“This song is called Close To You, and it’s one of the most meaningful songs I have ever written. The reason that it is so meaningful is because it’s about someone who means the world to me. This person has been so supportive of me throughout my career, they are a big part of my happiness. The things I want to let you be a part of from now on.”

There really was no turning back anymore, that made you extra nervous, but also excited, you didn’t want to turn back, you only wanted to move forward.

“Performing this song with me tonight, as well as on the album, is my girlfriend Florence Pugh. Please welcome her to the stage!”

You watched as she walked onto the stage in her yellow dress, a big smile on her face as she waved to the crowd who was loudly cheering.

You started playing the first chords to the song as Florence made her way to the microphone stand that was just placed next to your piano for her.

I don't got a single problem with provocative See the bodies, how they burn, it's just the way it is Smoky, dark, crowded room, I need nothing Under pink light in June 

You start singing, while making eye contact with your girlfriend, who started strumming the guitar. 

I was so cool, but then, all of a sudden You saw me look at you Florence joined you in the next verse, like you had practised so many times.

I burn for you And you don't even know my name If you asked me to I'd give up everything To be close to you

The two of you continued singing until the final verse. It was just you singing the final part.

You should be mine for life, I'll be signing Every dotted line Chemical override, ultraviolet You could be mine tonight

The crowd went absolutely crazy and you could not believe that you had just done that and gotten instant support from thousands of fans. Florence looked at you with nothing but pride as she opened her arms for you.

You hug her, “I am so proud of you.” She tells you loud enough for you to hear over the cheering. In response you grab her face and place a kiss on her cheek. “Thank you.” With tears falling down your cheeks you turn to the audience and wave and thank them too.

Florence left the stage again and you continued performing the rest of your set like nothing happened, though internally you felt amazing.

-----

florencepugh just posted

florencepugh: Incredibly proud of you, always. Thank you for letting me be a part of this amazing album, I cannot wait for the world to hear your briliance.

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-----

After a couple more songs you closed off the show by thanking the fans over and over again. “You’ve made this tour incredible, I will never forget the memories we’ve made here. Thank you!”

The moment you get backstage, Florence flies into your arms. “You did it, my love!” 

-----

y/n_y/l/n just posted

y/n_y/l/n: What a way to end this leg of the tour. I am incredibly thankful for all of your support, and cannot wait to share my new album with you soon! And Florence, thank you for being my biggest supporter though it all 🫶🏻

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florencepugh: So proud of you 🫶🏻

fan1: New music and a new favourite ship? that was not on my bingo card

fan2: The hardest of hard launches

fan3: AAAHHHH

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y/n_y/l/n_updates just posted

y/n_y/l/n_updates: Y/n and Florence Pugh after performing their love song from Y/n's upcoming album.

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fan1: They are so cute!

fan2: I want what they have

fan3: So happy she finally doesn't care anymore. All the best to them

-----

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[fairyofshampgyu]

OMG SANCUARYYYSJDHH!!$) !!<3

My ranking so far 🤭:

1. DANGER - HOLY SHIT BRO SO FUCKING GOODNSJDN THE BASS? THE RAP? yummy yummy yummy my fav song ITS SO GROOVY. WHEN YEONJUN SAID TOMORROW BY TOGETHER AT THE START ?OMG MOANING. I love the part when, idk what they were saying but the melody in the part ‘something korean, so obsessed’ like I like how it’s a little minor and descends idk how to explain. txt are so good at r&b we love you beomgyu for being the main lyricist on this, he ate it up (the lyrics ‘deeper into me?’ What was…that beomgyu? 🤔🤔🧐…) also I love the little short backing vocal interjections in the pre chorus that ascend and descend they bless my ears

2. Over the moon - over the moon is so good! I love the little sparkles you can hear in the background at the start of the verses it’s so pretty, and I love the ethereal like intro, BEOMGYU STARTING AGAINSJDHD !, bass is good in this and I love the backing vocals they’re so heavenly and the harmonies make me float. Also I just love the lyrics to this song, they’re so pretty and so good for a love song like they’re actually so romantic but not in a cringe way WORD PAINTING TOO ! The over the moooonn over the starrrsss part is so pretty I love soobins falsetto. And also I love the call and response like parts with sookai and taegyu 😩😩 BUT ☹️! Icl I was slightly underwhelmed listening to it the first time, I think I hyped it up too much and the teaser kind of gave away the whole song 😭 it’s way too short 👎 I really wanted some new material, instrumental section maybe, a bridge but it’s lowkey just verse chorus, verse chorus, end. I think there was way more they could have done with this song bc it’s so good IF THEY ADDED JUST A LITTLE BIT MORE IT COULD HAVE BEEN AN ABSOLUTE MASTERPIECE but even without i really love this song so much

3. Forty one winks- INCOMING !!🗣️ chill like r&b, I knew i would love this song !! Sounds like it would have been on the freeze album. This song is very fun and I will be listening to this all the time to make me happy it’s very feel good !! You can kind of hear this little sparkley like thing in the keys sometimes in the background like in over the moon and I love that. I love the adlibs for this song too !! Ooh and the strings in the outro !! Love that

4. Heaven- cute and fun!! I really loved this song more than I expected I would, I love the verses and melodies in the verses 😭😭

5. Resist - resist being this low seems criminal but every single song was too good tbh idk whether to put this is as 4 or 5 or 3 😭. I knew I was going to love this song but omg I didn’t expect the genre! After the beat kicks in it really changes but it’s toooo good I love the guitar chords in the verses at the start of every bar ? and the guitar in the intro and I love the high notes in this song. I love how txt do different styles and genres AND PULL IT OFF they make kpop so fun for me 😭😭😩 plus I just like the rhythms in this song

6. Higher than heaven— I really liked this song more than I expected bc icl I was not much of an early 2010s pop boy band fan back then but I love that txt did that they really suit it. I really love the melodies in the verses so much and even the chorus is fine for me. But I really don’t like when they sing HIGH. HIGH. HIGHHHHH !, that part really kinda annoys my brain sm like it’s kind of so jarring to me 😭😭 I’m sorry it hurts my ears a little but other than that THE SONG IS SO GOOD I LOVE EVERY OTHER PART BESIDES THAT 😭😭 THE BRIDGE WITH KAI AND TAEHYUN IS SO ETHEREAL TOO AND THE BACKING VOCALSSJJDHD!! it’s just that one part for me personally 😭😭

[kookslastbutton]

Those Eyes Chico ༓ myg (m) | Teaser

✒ Summary: As the new marketing director for Min Yoongi’s upcoming D-Day album & tour, you’re expected to bring your expertise to the table. This shouldn’t be a problem—you’re the best in the business and you’re used to drawing a strict line between your professional and personal life. But what happens when the lines you’ve fought to keep as separate blur for the first time?

pairing: idol!yoongi x plus size!poc!reader

genre/AU: angst, fluff, smut, slow-burn, coworkers2friends2lovers, winter setting, forbidden love?

word count: tbd, 835 for this teaser

warnings: oc is 28, Yoon is 30, oc is not originally from South Korea, oc has light brown eyes, swearing, mentions of alcohol consumption, mentions of anxiety, panic attacks, body insecurities, fear of being blacklisted, emotionally restrained Yoon, mentions of smoking, unstable parental relationships, conservative parents, mentions of therapy, mentions of dating scandal, eventual sexual content, and more specific warnings per chapter.

now playing: Sweet Dreams by The Last Shadow Puppets

a/n: Okay this has taken over six months to release but it's finally beginning and I am super excited to share! 🫣 I am low-key terrible at choosing a proper teaser so hoepfull this works haha. ANYWAY, this series is dedicated to my wonderfully crazy friend and beta, Gloom @theuselessdaydreamingidiot, and to all our fellow Yoon lovers bc we miss our sweet man SO MUCH 🥺 Enjoy! 🥰 Also huge thank you to @itaeewon for designing this beautiful series header! Love it!!

Series Masterlist

“Did you get the files I sent to you?”

The woman nods her head in affirmation while sweeping a few pieces of her long, silky hair behind an ear. To strangers, she appears to look about 24 which is only four years younger than yourself but nonetheless she’s the same age as you. Hei-Ran is her name, meaning “graceful orchid” according to Korean translation.

Hei-ran is one of Hybe’s newest hires and based on her experience, a near perfect fit to being South Korean boy group Tomorrow X Together’s new marketing manager. Until about three months ago, this had been your job.

You never imagined giving up the position after three years of working in the role. But with December right around the corner Hybe had other plans for you.

"Graduated summa cum laude with a bachelors degree in BTech in Electrical and Electronics Engineering and a MBA in Marketing from NYU Stern. You worked two years as a brand manager for U.S record label Atlantic Records immediately after graduating, and are now working at BigHit Music as a marketing manager for TXT including liaison with their global marketing team.”

You recall PD Bang’s voice vibrate in the back of your mind from mid-August. You thought you were called into his office to discuss details of TXT’s latest promo, so having your resume read back to you was a sweeping curve ball. Your determination must have far exceeded the heaviness you felt in your chest because before you knew it you, you were shaking hands with your boss in acceptance of your role – the new marketing director for Min Yoongi’s upcoming D-Day album & tour.

The tedious knot that’s formed in the nape of your neck reminds you that as surreal as the situation might be, it’s undeniably real.

Months spent drafting a comprehensive marketing proposal for D-Day; often until the wee hours of the night, inevitably takes its toll on even the mightiest of warriors. An entire new team of fifty people, all of who you’ll be in charge of orchestrating for the next eight months, doesn’t provide much to relief either.

You’re excited nevertheless. Working with one of the most respected artists in the music industry is an opportunity you couldn’t let slip by, especially since the album’s rock-inspired genre aligns closely with your own music taste.

“Thank you so much for helping me get settled __,” Hei-ran’s gentle voice returns you to the present. “I appreciate the time you’ve taken these last few months to train me despite the tight deadlines you have.”

Smiling, you shake your head. “It’s no problem at all and if there’s anything you need in the future, feel free to give me a call or stop by my office.”

“On the 16th floor right?”

“1656A. Take a left off the elevator and walk to the end of the first hallway. The door on the right is mine.”

Referring to any room on the 16th floor as your own is something you don’t take lightly. For one the offices are double the size of any other office spaces in the building. Yours in particular has a giant skyscraper window draped with heavy white curtains. Secondly, the floor above is the 17th floor which is exclusive to Hybe artists only.

"How's the proposal coming along, by the way?" Her curiosity is palpable, genuine in its nature. You’ve always appreciated that in an individual.

“It’s done,” you respond. “Only thing left to do is to prepare for our meeting with C-suite executives next Monday. It’s nearly perfect as is, but the presentation could use a bit of refining in terms of organization.”

Hei-ran is silent for a moment longer than usual before her next inquiry, which is undoubtedly the question on both of your minds. “I can't help but wonder what it'll be like to meet him for the first time,” she muses.

You don’t bother asking for clarification on who the “him” is; you’re already well aware that it’s Min Yoongi. The same subject has managed to intrude your own thoughts more and more as the date of meeting him draws closer. It's peculiar honestly, considering you’ve encountered him before. Granted, it was only a small handful of times the hallway, both heading in opposite directions. Min Yoongi typically greeted you with a hoarse 'Good Morning' those instances, along with a curt nod of his head. You would nod back with a brief 'Morning' yourself. Deep down you feel he'd make a quality friend, though it's only a premonition. It’s not like you actually know much about him beyond those small exchanges.

"I'm not sure what to expect, honestly," you admit. "I imagine it'll be similar to previous professional collaborations—composed, focused, and intense. D-Day is poised to become a global sensation for the next year, so it's going to need our full, undivided attention."

Hei-ran gives a knowing nod. “Good luck __,” she wishes you well as you head towards the elevator doors. Breaks over, back to work.

a/n: Chapter one will be released soon 🙃 Thanks for reading the teaser!

Masterlist | Requests: closed | Taglist | Fic Recs

no reposting, copying, or translating my work– © kookslastbutton

[youremyheaven]

butterfly motif 🦋& vedic astrology

ive wanted to exclusively dedicate a post towards the use of the butterfly motif in pop culture, so here it is!! i think butterflies have had a re-emergence in fashion in the last few years and im here for it!!

🦋 as i've mentioned in many other posts, the nakshatras closely tied to using this motif repeatedly are the pisces rashi nakshatras of ubp and revati along with punarvasu nakshatra.

Revati moon, Rihanna wearing butterfly eye lashes.

Venus exalts in Pisces and ive noticed that these natives are often drawn to Venusian aesthetics and imagery.

Rihanna at a Savage x Fenty show. You cannot tell me this isn't reminiscent of the Birth of Venus and the colour scheme is super Venus coded as well.

UBP sun Lady Gaga wearing butterfly face paint. she has often gravitated towards this motif over the years.

here she is in a blue butterfly dress

idk about you but when i see wings, i think butterfly 🦋. hence why this look is here 🤭😌

yet another lady gaga butterfly lewk

2. bella hadid for Swarovski. bella has ketu in ubp and girlie is obsessed with butterflies 😍

3. kendall jenner, ubp moon wearing a butterfly print dress

4. emrata, also ubp moon wearing a butterfly print dress

5. urfi javed, an indian entertainer who has ubp ketu wearing an outfit with a butterfly motif

6. dua lipa, punarvasu moon and known for her butterfly obsession wearing a blumarine butterfly head to toe lewk

7.brie larson ubp asc wearing a winged dress

8. sarah jessica parker is ubp sun & venus with revati mercury atmakaraka and this is a vvv iconic look from sex and the city

9.bella hadid had an nft thingie and the teaser(?) for it depicted her as a cyborg in a pool of water with butterflies. couldn't get more pisces coded than that tbh

10. queen latifah, ubp sun with those butterfly tats. ive noticed a lot of pisces girlies specifically choosing blue butterflies over any other type👀

11. halsey, punarvasu moon and has a butterfly tattoo!!

12. mariah carey, i mean we all know the OG iconic butterfly top moment but here's an underrated lewk from this punarvasu queen who also has an album titled Butterfly

she also has a perfume line called Lollipop Bling that's packaged like this:

13. Kendrick Lamar's to pimp a butterfly

he has mercury and mars in punarvasu. jup in revati atmakaraka and ubp rahu. lamar has implied that the title alludes to the nature of celebrity and how something free spirited and beautiful can be so violently controlled. again, VERY pisces coded.

14. brand new eyes by paramore

hayley williams, who is the lead singer has revati mars amatyakaraka.

15. dolly parton has a very very famous song called love is like a butterfly, she has punarvasu mars conjunct saturn. look at the lyrics of the song, only a cancer girlie would go so soft like this 🥺

Love is like a butterfly

As soft and gentle as a sigh

The multicolored moods of love are like its satin wings

Love makes your heart feel strange inside

It flutters like soft wings in flight

Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing

Dolly also has a perfume called "Tennessee Sunset" and its packaged like this:

16. alexander mcqueen, the fashion designer had ubp sun and used lots of winged imagery in his work

17. vincent van gogh, revati sun ubp venus and mars and punarvasu rising has a series of paintings called butterflies. i personally associate whimsical art with both pisces rashi and punarvasu. ill make another post some day but the impressionist movement and even the surrealist movement were vvv influenced by these two placements.

18. Papillon 1973

its based on the true story of henri charriere, who is played by steve mcqueen in the movie. not only is the movie called papillon (french for butterfly) the character also has a butterfly chest tattoo and steve mqueen has ubp sun, revati venus atmakaraka and punarvasu rising

19. silence of the lambs<3

one of the most iconic movie posters of all time features a moth. this moth also plays a key role in the movie and is a major motif.

the book on which the movie was based was written by thomas harris, who has a revati stellium (sun, jupiter & ketu)

20. SPOILER ALERT!!

in the movie corpse bride, the titular character dissolves into a bunch of butterflies at the end of the movie

corpse bride is played by helena bonham carter who has ubp saturn and ketu in revati

21. Kali Uchis, punarvasu sun often uses butterfly imagery

This photoshoot was conceptualised and shot by the South Korean photographer Choi Gi Seok who has purvabhadrapada moon (0 degrees pisces)

His work heavily features butterfly imagery ;

XxxxxxX

my own take is that, since pisces is the final rashi and the point of "absolution" it represents the end of chrysalis, when all elements have come together to create transformation; in pisces there is nothing left to do, but seek liberation from these cycles (its purpose is moksha,after all) and dissolve entirely into the cosmic ocean.

a butterfly is a beautiful symbol, representing not only the death of the creature that inhabited the cocoon but also reminding us that that death is necessary because only then can something as beautiful as a butterfly emerge from within that womb. the womb is the source of creation but you're not meant to stay there forever, that's not just stagnancy, that's death. birth is a painful process because you're leaving behind the only place you've ever known but you have no other option so you must be brave enough to face it.

this brings us to the connection of punarvasu nakshatra to butterflies. punarvasu's deity is goddess Aditi who is creation itself; she is the cosmic mother, she created this universe. in pisces, you seek liberation from the cycles of life but in punarvasu, life, the universe, creation itself takes place. thus it represents the butterfly emerging from the cocoon to claim its identity as a butterfly because the life it led before that was a non-life, it wasn't yet a butterfly, it was a non-being. goddess Aditi embodies infinite space and primordial vastness. what better way to represent the cosmic abundance than with a symbol like a butterfly? 🦋you cannot ask who created you because you are your own creation

“Once upon a time, I dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was myself. Soon I awaked, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man.”- Zhuangzi

xxxxxxx

that's it for now but i'll keep updating as i find more examples💛i hope this was interesting<3

[earthtoharlow]

Flashing Lights

Jack Harlow x SingerOC

Series Masterlist

8) Every Kind of Way

“Maryse, I love how hard working you are but are you seriously writing another song this close to the deadline?”

Maryse was currently in the studio working on a new song. The last couple days she’s locked herself up in the studio and played every single track over and over again making sure it was perfect. This was her debut album and she had a lot to prove. 

“Yes, CoCo. I promise this is the last song. Besides, I'm almost done with it.” She replied before picking up her guitar and strumming chords. 

“Ok well, while you continue writing more love songs about Jack I’m going to draft up your schedule for the next couple months.”

Maryse rolled her eyes and continued harmonizing to herself. She didn’t even want to think about how busy she was going to be. TV appearances, photoshoots, magazine interviews, private concerts, listening parties, signings, tour rehearsals and it all ended with performing at the Video Music Awards and then going straight to the world tour.  

Pushing that to the back of her mind she thought about her feelings for Jack. CoCo was right, she was writing a lot of love songs for him, half of which wasn’t going to make the album. 

She had never liked someone this much. Music was her only source to express how deeply she feels for him…other than telling him of course. 

Just as she was falling into the rabbit hole of thinking about Jack, he texted her asking if he could stop by the studio to show her something he was working on, Maryse immediately told him yes.

He arrived 20 minutes later with his laptop in hand. “Hey, babe.” Jack said walking over to where she was sitting on the couch, plopping down next to her after giving her a kiss on the forehead. 

Butterflies swirled in her stomach as he sat close to her, it amazed her how she still felt nervous around him, months later. 

Putting her guitar down, she sat cross legged and gave her his full attention. 

“I’ve got this song I’ve been working on and I’m pretty sure I’m going to make it my second single off the album.” Jack said as he fumbled around with the keys on the laptop. Maryse could tell he seemed nervous to show her. 

“Well, I’m excited to hear it!” Maryse wasn’t lying with that statement. Jack had been pretty secretive when it came to this album, not telling her much about it.

Jack bit his lip right before he pressed play. “Promise me you’ll give me your honest opinion, okay?”

“I promise.”

Jack took a deep breath and pressed play.

Mm

I been a (G), throw up the (L)

Sex in the (A-M), uh-huh

(O-R-O-U-S, yeah)

And I can put you in (first class, up in the sky)

A huge smile creeped on Maryse’s face as she heard the sample. She couldn’t believe it as she nodded her head and sung along. As the song came to an end the smile never left her face. 

“So, what did you—“ Jack couldn’t even finish what he was saying before Maryse reached over and wrapped her arms around him, words coming out in a squeal

All Jack could do was laugh as he wrapped his arms around her. “So you like it?”

“Are you kidding me?! I fucking love it!” She could see Jack immediately relax at her approval. 

Letting out a happy sigh, she continued. “One of our first conversations was you telling me about how much you loved Fergie as a child and now you’re sampling one of her biggest tracks, I’m so proud of you.” Maryse told him honestly.

Jack's face warmed when hearing her say that, dropping his head shyly.

“Thanks, M. When I was recording this I was telling the whole room it was a hit, but no one seemed to believe me.” 

“Well, no offense but they’re idiots.”

Jack bumped his shoulders against hers as they both laughed. 

Maryse perked up with an idea. “Prove them wrong.” Jack raised an eyebrow confused. “Prove who wrong? And how?”

“Post a teaser of First Class on Tik Tok and see how the world responds to it. When it goes viral, like I know it will, your team will be eating their words!”

JACKHARLOW

liked by summerwalker, lifeofmonet, dojacat, champagnepapi, neelamthadhani,urbanwyatt, druski, chloebailey and 967,456 others

jackharlow: First Class out NOW!

view all 12,567 comments

user: AAAAAAAH

user: maryse is so gorgeous

user: 😍

user: you made this song for the bitches!!

user: sweet sweet sweet semen is crazy

lifeofmonet: no free promo!

user: 🤣🤣🤣

user: wait is that maryse in the song saying “I am”

user: FINALLY

user: classic already

***

Jack rushed around the hotel room ignoring the laughs from Urban who was sitting in the corner of the room rolling a joint. 

“Dude, you’re sunburned BAD!”

He groaned at the reminder. He had spent the weekend in Turks and Caicos with Drake recording music and jet skiing which left his arms and face red as a tomato. The sun was never on his side. 

Jack had just stepped off his private jet having taken a red eye to New York. Maryse was having a private concert for her fans to celebrate her album that was coming out in a few weeks. He wanted to surprise her since she wasn’t expecting him back in town for another day.

The show starts in an hour and Jack still needed to find something to wear, if he didn’t leave in the next 15 minutes. He was going to be late. 

Quickly deciding on a pair of cargos and a hoodie, Urban and him rushed to the venue hoping he would make it in time to wish Maryse good luck. 

Because of traffic he wasn’t able to surprise Maryse before she got on stage. The show was about to start in 5 minutes. The stage crew was making sure the microphone and instruments were in the right place as the DJ played the last song. Jack pulled his hood over his head so he didn’t draw too much attention as he and Urban made their way to the friends and family section. 

Once in his seat he greeted Doja and Saweetie as they were both shocked to see him there.

“Maryse ain’t gonna be able to focus when she sees your sunburnt self in the crowd!” Saweetie said jokingly, Jack just rolled his eyes as Doja and Urban laughed around him. 

“NYC! Show some love for Maryse Monet!”

***

Maryse was doing her vocal runs to herself backstage while she mentally prepared herself for tonight’s show. This was going to be the first time fans, friends and family were going to hear the new music from the album, needless to say she was nervous. And she wished Jack was there. She hadn’t heard from him much today, too busy in the studio with Drake. 

Noticing she was nervous, Coco placed both her hands on her shoulders. 

“You’re going to kill it tonight. Like you always do. Just take a deep breath.”

Maryse took a deep breath and simply nodded. She checked her phone once more seeing if Jack messaged her, frowning when she saw no new messages. Luckily she didn’t have time to harp on it as the DJ introduced her to the crowd. Taking one last deep breath, she walked on stage. 

The crowd screamed in excitement as Maryse walked on the stage. Maryse kept her outfit casual as she wore a red mesh top with a long orange jacket and denim shorts. Her long curly hair flowed down her back. 

The nerves immediately went away as she saw the sold out venue, smile spreading across her face. 

“If you guys didn’t know, my name is Maryse!” She paused as the crowd cheered louder

The opening chords of Focus started playing as Maryse placed her mic back on the mic stand. As she began to sing she couldn’t help but smile as the crowd swayed and sung along to every word. 

After about 5 songs, Maryse grabbed a drink of water from the side of the stage as a stagehand adjusted her mic and placed a stool down. 

As she sat back on the stool she looked up and waved to Doja, Saweetie. “I have some friends here tonight, hey Doja and Saweetie!” She laughed as the crowd screamed, trying to catch her friend’s attention. Maryse squinted a little when she noticed Urban sitting next to them as well. Smiling to herself, thinking Jack must have told him to come since he couldn’t be there himself. 

“Ok, y’all I got one more song tonight for you. But I have a question, how many of y’all are in loooove?” She asked, putting emphasis on the word love. 

Maryse nodded at the cheers from the audience. “Falling in love is so scary, but you know what? It’s one of my favorite feelings in the world. I think I might be in love too.”

The crowd cheered loudly at the admission, some even cheering Jack’s name. “This next song is called Every Kind of Way.”

The crowd was silent as she began singing. It wasn’t until she got to the chorus when she started to feel chills. Glancing up in the friends and family section, that’s when she spotted him. Jack was standing behind Doja, towering over her because of his height. 

They both locked eyes. All her focus was on Jack now. It didn’t matter that they’ve only been dating for 4 months. She knew for certain that she loved that man. It was like she was speaking to him as she sung.

I wanna love you in every kind of way, I wanna please you, no matter how long it takes, If the world should end tomorrow and we only have today, I'm gonna love you in every kind of way

Tears were threatening to fall as she sung those words to Jack. A smile creeped on her face as he blew her kiss in greeting. The smile on Jack’s face widened when he watched her pretend to grab the kiss he blew, kissing it and placing it in her pocket. 

She loved him, and couldn’t wait to get off stage and tell him. 

***

Maryse was fidgety with excitement when a knock sounded on the door of her dressing room, rushing to open the door she couldn’t hide her disappointment when it was just CoCo. 

“Oh, hey.” Opening the door wider to let her manager in. 

“Okay, rude. Jack will be here in a second. I'm just grabbing my laptop that I left.”

Just as she was about to apologize for her reaction, there was another knock, but this time they didn’t wait for her to answer the door. 

The man Maryse wanted to see walked in. Jack stood at the door after closing it, holding his arms out for Maryse to jump in them. 

“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU'RE HERE!” Maryse squeaked, face buried inside his neck. Jack squeezed her tightly, before walking them both to the loveseat. He leaned forward and kissed her, moaning into her mouth.

Their legs and arms and mouths became two missing pieces of a puzzle, fitting together effortlessly. 

The chair was small and cramped.

It’s perfect. 

“Oh, this is my que to leave.” Coco said leaving the dressing room. 

Jack and Maryse didn’t even hear her, too wrapped into each other. 

Pulling away, Jack spoke first. “You did amazing tonight. The crowd loved you.”

Love. 

There goes that word again. 

Maryse watched with a smile as Jack rambled about the show, and the songs she performed.

“Hey, Jack?” Maryse said, interrupting him. 

“Hm?”

“I love you.”

Jack froze at the words. Maryse was praying that she didn’t just fuck things up. 

“I know, it might seem too soon but—“ It was Jack’s turn to interrupt now, but this time with a kiss. Both of their hearts were beating out their chest. 

“I can’t remember what it’s like to wake up and not have you be the first thing on my mind. Every morning, I roll over and check and see if you’ve called. I wanted you to be mine the second I laid eyes on you at the Grammy’s.” He told her.

Maryse was looking at Jack with so much love and appreciation that it made his chest hurt. The smile on her face was beautiful, he thought to himself. The tears that were streaming down her cheeks were beautiful. She was beautiful and so was her love. 

“I love you, Maryse Monet.”

Maryse exhales a soft breath and leans in slowly gently pressing her lips to his. 

“I love you so much it feels like a constant flow spilling into my soul.”

She pressed another kiss to his lips, feeling speechless. This kiss was filled with tenderness and affection. It felt like an unspoken promise that she was his now. Forever. 

Maryse pulled away, wiping the tears that fell from Jack’s face. “You know this means you’re stuck with me.”

Jack couldn’t help but laugh at that. 

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

It was silent for a moment as Maryse rested her head on his chest.

"Also, you look like you got in a fight with the sun."

Jack groand as Maryse's giggles echoed through the room.

***

An: OUR BBS ARE BACK!!!! sorry this took so long, I've been busy but next update won't take that long I promise

Tag List:

(message me if you’d like to be added or removed)

@heavyhitterheaux @hoodharlow @neon-lights-and-glitter @babiefries @toocriticalharlow @mace23477 @jackmans-poison @dstark-0706 @harlowsbby @itsyagirljaz @leftapricotprofessorlover @ilyangelsxo @comehomeimissyou @minkookie95 @harlowcomehome @jackharloww @w1ldthoughts @hufflewhore128

[februarytodeath]

🧡 thoughts on girl prometheus track by track!!!

track 1: biblical love

forreal just sat there with my jaw hanging during my first watch/listen

she's tied to the altar .......

aside from october birds it could also be referencing prometheus being bound to a rock?

everything about this song is so good. the lyrics. the music video. the dress. the screams especially! it was a welcome surprise

very much enjoying how the first songs of the past two flower face albums include screaming (spiracle+biblical love)

i'm really not over the dress. like i Need a dress like that. and the one she wore for the pisces moon mv

the first part of the song reminds me of virgin

the song also sounds a bit like the garden so now i'm imagining a mashup even if they aren't related

the music in the teaser for this mv sounded like cornflower blue i Think

track 2: cat's cradle

i remember hearing the demo!!!

this song is soooo me

her description of it on bandcamp...like Yes. i Get It.

me whenever i find a new guy to have a weird romantic/platonic/gender envy/[???] type of obsession with

so sad i couldn't get a you're so cool shirt. it's so cute :(

track 3: maniac

i was kiiinda expecting it to sound more aggressive/frightening sonically? sortof like the way the audio was edited in the teaser

but! after having listened to it, i do think the more stripped back sound Does work with the tone of the lyrics ... the "[laughing] so you don't scream and cry," as she describes on bandcamp

track 3: valentine

GODDDD THIS SONG

second verse hits. entire song hits really.

this was the snippet i got after pre-saving the song:

i was like ??? Does She Know ???

yeah sometimes i think i feel too much for my own good and that's what this song is to me

also! i have to say the instrumentals are just So beautiful. this includes love of mine and outro 🫶

track 5: eternal sunshine

i might watch eternal sunshine after this ... i've been meaning to

"it's your fault that that i'm alive / it's your fault i want to die / but i will learn to love this world / i won't be november's girl" waow....

the repeated mentions of hands is interesting

track 6: the ides of march

my only thought is that i really want to hear this live. it just sounds so ... i'm not sure. i can't come up with the right words to describe it. all i know is that i want to lose myself in this song

track 7: cordelia

heard the demos for these too!!! when i saw they were taken off tiktok i got really excited bc that meant the song was making it onto gp

when i recognized the first lines i got so happy

then i got sad because this song is devastating

if this had a music video ohhh i would never shut up

tangent: the titles in the middle of the album are all references ... unfortunately i'm not the kind of person who would fully get them

track 8: squirrel cinderella

really depressing lyrics for a song called Squirrel Cinderella

the internet is gonna make me crazy too flower face

this feels like lonely summers where you have nothing to do but sit in your room and think and be sad

"and i've tried so hard to find a soft way out" ... man ..

track 9: skeleton key

"i want you the way that i want to be eaten alive" yeah

the mv was great too ... i'm no stranger to romanticizing my hurt and trying to turn it into art

track 10: pushing daisies

cornflower blue when gunpowder blue

actually now that i think about it this kindof feels similar to cornflower blue ... it's the violent but soft lyrics i think. and trains

track 11: if i beg you

absolutely one of my favs

october birds good ending

"well, goddamn, you're just like your father" could also be a reference to back to you?

the music video for this is soooo good too. very fun, very cathartic

also! definitely the perfect track to end the album

overall:

what a way to start november

flower face is great at picking songs to open and close her albums. spiracle and bad astrology for tsiyw and biblical love and if i beg you for gp just Feel Right

love the recurring motifs in the mvs (tv, heart mirror, red and blue lighting)

every lyric is like a stab to the heart

revisiting the thread she made of pictures related to each song on gp and going OHHHHH

the story behind the girl prometheus title + the orange album cover referencing the fire are actually so genius

i need to cover every song on this album and write a whole essay on it and draw stuff based on the mvs and and

i love you flower face

[commajade]

kibum fucking did it again that teaser video was incredible he's a genius. this mv is gonna be sooooo good. people have been begging for sm to have the promotional shoot and mv have the same concept for ages cuz what used to be surprising and cool got old and felt arbitrary. everything key makes is so cohesive and connected and well thought out and so distinctly key he's a genius.

key's early career image was all about being shocking and standing out and being able to look good in anything because he has style and star power. and at the same time he was the multi-lingual multi-talented one from the start even if he wasn't recognized for it yet, he's always been about adaptability and being global in an organic connected way because he genuinely has in interest in places that speak english and japanese.

he came back from the military a lot more mature and more interested in ordinary people and being relatable and honest and down to earth and it shows in every single career choice he's been making. i live alone and his return to amazing saturday in conjunction with his viral live broadcasts and news stories about his gardening made him a household name in south korea like he had never been before, even at shinee's peak mainstream popularity in 2013.

and now he just wrapped up a fantastic and mainstream popular and critically lauded retro trilogy of albums that show everyone exactly what he likes and what he's capable of. from art direction to costuming to performance to promotion on variety shows he absolutely nailed it. so of course he comes back now with an extremely down to earth relatable feel-good pop song trying to give comfort to his new bigger audience as they live their ordinary difficult lives. he's shown korea through variety exactly how hard he's worked for so many years and how he still keeps moving forward despite the entire industry tending to cycle out and replace idols who are much younger than him.

it's just so perfect! it's definitely influenced by bss's fighting in the office setting and theatricality but he adds the city dance scenes that remind me of in the heights, a musical he starred in. his performance skills were primary in the retro trilogy but here his acting and storytelling skills are at the forefront. it's cute and well made and a little quirky and fantastical in a way only key can even think of.

[vaporvipermedia]

“My heart cannot wait until I see your face again”

Name: Kei Yoshihiko 

Stage Name: KEISHI

Age: 18

Birthday: Sept.30

Height: 5’6

VO:

 Rina Satō(JP)

 Anna Graves (EN)

Singing VO:

 Ms. Ooja(JP)

 Taeko Ohnuki(JP)

Likes: Songwriting, directing, making close bonds

Dislikes: Being alone for a long time, Escalators (after an embarrassing incident that happened)

Favorite Artists: SUZY, Ms. Ooja, Ladies Code

Favorite Food: Tempura

Least Favorite Food: Oysters

(She tried them at an event party she went for her company and immediately ended up sick from the taste. Having her live stage appearance to be pushed back until she felt better)

Idol Division: Ramshackle Division 

Idol Group: N/A

Position: Soloist

Background:

Kei was a young child actor at seven who starred in mystery/detective shows. She was mostly casted in side character roles until she finally became a main role in a show called “Give It Your All Tamiko-San!” A mystery show with a bit of magical girl elements. She also sang and wrote lyrics for the show's opening “The Lead to Your Heart” which gained a lot of love and popularity. According to old fans of the show, it was extremely catchy and even played on several radio news sessions just because it was that well liked. 

Kei was taken aback by this praise for her song. By then, he was just a well known enough actor but now to the world he’s a natural born singer. He started to wonder if this was truly a path he should go down on. And after the final season of “Give It Your All Tamiko-San!” he finally had an answer. 

Not only did she pursue becoming an idol but she also trained under NRC for two years. Eventually becoming a soloist at the age of 16 with her first solo mini album “Open Shut Case”. The whole concept of the albums’ meaning is that no matter what your love for her is very clear. An open and shut case if you will- ok imma shut up now

TRIVIA:

Kei is a soloist who has mostly jazz-like and casino-vibes songs

He often gets invited to be the MC of some award shows for other idols, announcing the winner of each category

Has a YouTube channel that shows what happens behind the scenes of her music videos and mostly does livestreams to talk to her fans

Still keeps in touch with his old actor crew and often goes on lunch dates with them

Used to have a old channel that was dedicated to her acting profession but decided to make a new account for a fresh new start

Often gets asked to sing her old show’s opening for nostalgia sake

Had a whole ARG as a teaser for his up and coming comeback as well as new mini album based around city-pop music

Is friends with @oseathepebble’s Tsukiko in the idol AU and usally hangout away from cameras

Kei’s fandom called themselves “Scenes” before Kei could come up with an official name. She thought the name was cute and decided to make it official when she decided to post on Magicgram on stage with a crowd behind her the caption is “scoping out the scene!” (@twst-vampire came up with the suggestion)

Kei’s favorite song is Love Space by Tatsuro Yamashita, and often finds herself listening to it from time to time in order to help her insomnia and just help herself settle down when work gets too stressful.

Reblogs > Likes

[writingmochi]

ｌｏａｄｉｎｇ ｉｎｔｅｒｆａｃｅ．．．

you have reached year 2

lissie: greetings, visitor! this is your flight director speaking~ welcome to the two-year anniversary of this blog (freaking awesome if you ask me). thank you so much for reading, indulging, and/or interacting with this blog, me, or my works. the sentence before cannot describe the gratitude i'm expressing towards all of you. this is a yearly recap for me and maybe for new visitors who come to know what has happened on this blog for the year.

before we get to it, i'm doing a survey to get to know my audience better (and more research). if you have spare time, do fill in the survey so that i get to know more about the visitors, the works, and the audience on tumblr in general! (average time is around 3 minutes~)

survey link! (survey closed)

leggo!

all research done (read: works written and released)

troubled pixies | txt's taehyun (2 parts; 52k [novel])

smirch episode 2: jay | enhypen's jay (27.4k [novella])

isobel | txt's soobin (43.3k [novel])

pizzeria run | enhypen's sunoo (17.9k [novella])

total: 4 works (1 two-shots, 3 oneshots) and 140.6k words written

all the navigators connected (read: mutuals i got within the year. check last year's recap if you didn't find yours!)

@it-rains-blue (via @itz-yerin)

yerin! the other biggest bamtori i know here! gosh i hope you're doing well irl and online... hope for the best for your confession cafe >> check it out folks @the-love-cafe

@heart2beom

hey jazmine! i notice you haven't posted in a while now. so i'm hoping your doing okay, okay?

@tyunlatte / @wave2tyun

alex! if you are lurking, i hope you're doing so good irl! live your life for the best (edit: alex's back!)

@lovejoshua

1/6 angels: ilem istg! hi! you've been like one of the constant presence when i check the discord server. hope you treat yourself well!

@junniieesbby

2/6 angels: whenever i see a heart, it always reminds me of you, angie. i think you're busy currently, so the best i can say is that hope you have a good rest cause you need it and always hydrate ;)

@hanniejie

3/6 angels: hey lex! i just saw the band au teaser on your blog and i wanna punch myself for not noticing that sooner! /j hope you have a great time writing that one :D

@txt-yaomi

4/6 angels: sof!! i gotta have to consult you more for street spirit cause just the way you work with the album for angel is just *chef's kiss*

@talesofyuan

yuan~~ ngl i can't wait to read your kei lovesick series (tho i'm hoping to staying loyal to yixiang) can't wait to see more of your &team fics. check the blog out for &team content, folks!

@choistick

5/6 angels: saph !! thanks for the tag and hope your hiatus is treating you well~

@robin-obsessed

6/6 angels: lee~ i've just seen that you also like riize like akfjbaieufiw okayyyy i hope you have a good day/night whenever and wherever you are!

@dido-of-the-endless

hi nida! tbh you have so many side blogs i'm confused in which one you post your writing (so i'm tagging your main account). feel free to consult me if you have any wips you wanna let out lmao >.< n thanks for joining the txt hub server, i won't know you if not from there...

@pyeonghongrie (via @pyeonghongrie-main)

rie! thank you so much for letting me in the cult (mueheheheh) and hope we can interact more here or on the server

@aduh0308

welcome to the roster, ada! thanks for letting me join the soobin collab and nice to see you!

director's journal entries (read: all the rants i have thought out the past year. some are genuine, some are sarcastic):

wow… i freaking broke tumblr huh

i shouldn't have been too ambitous fook me

bruh my body's crumbling…

i swear i hate college for not allowing me to write

i broke tumblr twice w/ a txt fic alsnskdams

tumblr can’t handle things :(

is my mind running too fast or is it just harder for people to understand me? annoying much…

i’m literally a step away from going out of the kpop fandom. this kind of fan behavior is sickening

^ and the fact is: i’ll probably survive

kinda wish someone could appreciate my writing just like i do for other people here

is there something wrong with how i write asks? i should have put more tone indicators…

the desire for me to revert back to web 1.0 is crazy. like, me owning a blog? ughh yes pls!

i’m getting freaking frustrated!!!

AGGHHHGHHHHHHHH

… will i ever … :")

*queue yoda's voice* you pushing back more wips i see

how the fuck have i made fewer works yet the wc is 20k away from last year's result? (166k for 12 compared to 140k for 5 works)

^ it's quality over quantity now darling

^^ and the fact that the year 3 count will get higher because of the fics you've delayed

notable moments from the past year

established @a-dream-bookmark, a rec blog + kpop writer & reader network

reaching 200!

started writing for ateez!

joining @kflixnet, @k-labels, and @cultofdionysusnet networks

what’s next?

lissie: if you haven't seen it, i'm starting a new big-scale series called terra incognita for enhypen's jake, do check it out if you like cyberpunk, or dystopian fics! also, i an doing the wips that i promised will be released this year (will prioritize evaluation and subterranean homesick alien first)

lissie: once again, thank you so much for following me on this journey! cheers~

[dlstmxkakwldrlarchive]

241214 ONEW B-Day Party Review

(credit) Apart from ONEW Noraebang Corner, another party pre-corner was a Jinki mock-up quiz. (Through a qr code, jjinggu could access the quiz and submit their answer sheet – they had to answer 20 questions!)

Q1. Favorite food during wintertime

Correct answer: bungeoppang

Q2. Food Jinki wants to eat after the fanmeeting

Correct answer: samgyeosal

Q3. Current Jinki's phone screen

Correct answer: phone basic wallpaper

Q4. Where does Jinki place his Jjingnyang doll

Correct answer: studio

Q5. Jinki thinks he lacks

Correct answer: charisma

(source)

Q6. How long is Jinki's 4th finger?

Correct answer: 7.5 cm (source)

Q7. What kind of food do you think ONEW is similar to?

Correct answer: dakugomtang (source)

Q8. What's the hardest thing to choose?

correct answer: a title song (source)

Q9. What did you care most about when you traveled?

Correct answer: choosing a restaurant (source)

Q10. Favorite ice cream flavor

Correct answer: chocolate (source)

Q11. What's Onew's favorite birthday meal?

Correct answer: Seaweed soup (source)

Q12. First memory

Correct answer: a fight with a friend when he was five (source)

Q13. What do you think after you've done your makeup when you see yourself at the mirror?

Correct answer: I have to take care of it (source)

the ? in the concert hall map was revealed to be a mini stage in the middle of jjingu!

(source)

Noraebang Corner songs: All About You Taeyeon, The three of us Toy, Blue ONEW, Gasoline Key, Starry Night x2 and G.o.d. 촛불하나

The Noraebang app gave only 72 to JJINGGUx ONEW Starry Night duet, so they sang it twice (source)

ONEW didn't want to sing a SHINee song because they have too many parts & theyre impossible to sing alone but someone asked for 'Quasimodo' so he chose to sing only his parts but the noraebang app didn't have it. So he didnt sing it. (source)

Another song rec was KEY 'Gasoline'! Jinki said that he doesn't really know 'Gasoline', so he couldn't sing it, but JJINGGU pushed really for it to be sung, and he tried to! JJINGGU offered to lead ! Jinki promised to sing it one day after he rearranged it (source)

about three of us by toy & sung si kyung: jinki shared story about him actually sitting with yoo hee yeol directly when they produced the song and even recorded the guide version of it but then he got the chord surgery and so the final song is sung by sung si kyung instead (source)

Yay live performance will be released Monday (16th) source

Ceo jang said that it was a pity that flow didnt get any music show promo so him & ONEW role played as idol and pd and pretended that ONEW was performing at dawn during a music show pre-recording broadcast on ONS channel (source i ii)

Connection (the new mini album) will be released on 6th January, and Ceo Jang announced that teasers will start next week! (source)

ONEW performed Yay four times (before the encore, once for the yt vid, once without an ending fairy and once with an ending fairy - ceo jang scolded him before bcs he forgot abt it the first time 'onew-ssi i know it's a long time since you went to music shows but aren't you forgetting something?') source

the bday party lasted 3 hours and 6 min.

Other songs Jinki sang today: Last Christmas, Lovephobia (only a bit), Dice, Your Scent

Two Vcr: Tone deaf Replay Noraebang vcr & Jjingnyang VCR

Exit gift: photocard, polaroid (random) and 5cm jjingnyang doll

credit

[rimouskis]

okay here are ALL the other music rec asks, all in one post!

@paintingtheice asked: song recs! the whole Commie Cowboy album by Pink Williams is great, but I Don't Know About You is one of my favourites! along that line, Draft Dodger Rag by Phil Ochs always makes me giggle :D

ahh I've seen this musician on tiktok!! I haven't heard the full album though, thanks for reminding me. I enjoy the old-school-country, political edge to it. bringing that political edge in, here's some music from 2016: "aquarius apocalyptic" by stop light observations

Anonymous asked: living room floor by sammy rae and the friends for the song game!!

nice, light instrumentation, unique voice. I like it! in return, I give you: "atomized" by andrew bird

Anonymous asked: this is about to be a mouthful but i’ve really been loving “rage against the dying of the light” by the world is a beautiful place and i am not afraid to die

loving the song name and band title, haha. and I like the groove of the song, too! it makes me nostalgic for this band, who my sister and I first found back when I was in high school: "bang bang" by hippo campus

@entzleboffin asked: Music rec: frown by mxmtoon. This song is such a bop

This is sweet! it actually reminds me of some of the kpop I used to listen to? saccharine, sweet, boppy. it's a feel good song, so I'm going to give you MY feel good song in return: "good news" by MUNA

Anonymous asked: For the music ask - Jailbreak by Thin Lizzy?

omg more 70s rock. delightful! here's some modern rock... "dim the lights" by mitchell martin.

@jayyynine asked: Song: tighten up - the black keys

I love the black keys! I hope you like this song in return: "strange" by stuck on planet earth

Anonymous asked: For the song ask - Never Say Never by Romeo Void. :D

this is so cool! I've never heard of this song or band. can I give you some laura jane grace in return?

Anonymous asked: Lol I’ve actually wanted to ask about that for a bit. I really loved 32 Days by Numblife from one of your edits and i wanted to ask if you got any recommendations

ooo thanks! that was from the teaser vid I made for my fic TKK. I hope you've gotten the chance to listen to both the playlists for TKK and its sequel. they both have more... thematically similar songs? but I love 32 days, it has such a unique sound. if you want similarly dark... this is less rockish, but still an intense song, I'd go with "parasites" by san fermin

...actually I'm going to give you two recs. here's the second one:

Anonymous asked: The Lathums - The Redemption of Sonic Beauty <3

this song was pretty!! in return, here is: "are you wanting it all" by youth club

[ecl1pse]

TEN LEE THE ARTIST U ARE!!!

ngl just from the film teaser he released last week i got so excited to hear the full songs. nightwalker was soooo good. definitely in the lines of what key & taemin have done by playing a villain in their solo releases, but still a progression of the sound ten has had from his dream in a dream / new heroes days. ngl ido prefer nightwalker over even birthday. his music so far has felt more like pieces for him to showcase his dancing w occasional singing portions, which was fine, he IS one of the best dancers in the industry. but i've felt like his amazing singing is often overlooked for how much improvement & capability he has shown both in wayv's discography & the nct year-end projects over the years (his high note in the round&round bridge is still one of my favorites in probably all of nct's discography).

ten can be as much of a capable singer as he is a dancer is he's allowed to be, he's just emotive when singing & i really feel like this album shows that.

water is definitely my favorite song in the album, this was pulled straight out of the clubs in 2003, it's something that would've been an absolute hit in méxico & probably all of latinamerica imo. he did this for meeee!! thanks king.

on the other hand dangerous sound like something pulled from the 2003 anglo-saxon clubs. there's a over all very 2000s feel in the album, but mixed with a modern production imo.

while i would love for any of the b-sides to be performed alongside nightwalker, i think the one thay will be mainly promoted is going to be on ten, not only because it's a callback to his artistic name, but also the other song in the mini album with a modern feel aside nightwalker + plus it has such a good beat that it's bound to have a really good choreo (im thinking something very bouncy, fast & very hard for fans to replicate lol).

shadow is probably the song that aligns mostly with what he did with birthday albeit a little more melancholic. i love the little touches of the acoustic guitar that have been nearly all the songs across the album, it really seems to link them in a story.

we all know sm loves to add at least one ballad to their artists' repertoire, lie with you seems like the closest thing ten will have to one so far & it's honestly really fitting with how deceptive the song is. it comes off like such a cute lovey-dovey song -- until you pay attention to the lyrics. in the verse he's trying to pay nonchalant & make his lover believe it's ok if their relationship wont last & just wnhoy it for what it is, & then the chorus starts & he lets out just how much he also wishes it would all last for him. even the track video also being so cute serves to confuse us into thinking this is a short but very cute love story.

as you probably can tell, i really enjoyed this mini album. honestly, i kinda wish it were a full album so we got a fuller story cuz i'm sure there's a clearer through line than what i'm reading as of now from the few listens i've given it today. the sounds ten explores in this mini are sooo up my alley, like u dont understand, this kinda sounds like my childhood??? yet it doesnt sound like any song in specific that i can clearly point out the influnces, they're just blended really nicely to me. i havent liked a mini in a while like this, like enough that im probably gonna buy it even tho im supposed to be saving money. its a 10/10 for sure!!!

[wonwooy]

I've seen a lot of people disappointed with taemins teasers and while I agree with it to an extent I wanna give kind of a different view I'm having

this feels a lot more like taemin (the person) instead of taemin (the idol). while I personally haven't been watching a lot of the work taemins been doing solo the past few months, I've seen people notice that he seems to be kind of sullen these days. with the album being called guilty, it makes me think that it's just about how he feels about having to put his career on hold to do service. if I'm thinking correctly, he may have been the longest working idol to do his service last essentially. pretty much every other 2nd gen male idol did theirs way before him and even 3rd gens getting to it now. going 13 years (2008-2021) is kind of insane for industry male idols.

but even besides that, I think guilty is kind of his key word this year. maybe he feels guilty for his service hiatus, maybe he feels guilty that he can't perform to the standards either he has for himself, or fans have for him. maybe he's just feeling something.

I will say SM sucks at promotion and they've never been good with hyping up things that they should (did y'all know that chanyeol has a single out and also the nct new team released a pre-debut song?) and releasing like 40 images over 4 days is like... what am I supposed to see here? HOWEVER... like I said, the pictures feel very much like it's just lee taemin. that's just a guy doing everyday guy things, not an idol in a photo studio. I think knowing the album title and seeing how domestic but... kind of sad, the teasers are, that this comeback is going to be raw for him.

now I do say all of this with the assumption that he had a hand in his album concept production. I'm also saying this with blatant criticism of SM. SME knows how to make music; they know music production incredibly well, but management and marketing? non existent.

anyways, I'm excited to learn more about the comeback but I agree the teasers and hype right now ain't it

[what-if-nct]

hellooo today's reminder is one: key and renjun hiking together what is this friendship I'm obsessed i need to see so much more of it and two: hosh and taemin doing the god of music challenge which. whom should I be jealous of, my husband or my son? I'm gonna go with husband because they probably filmed him doing taemin's challenge on the same day and that means he's heard the song already and i NEED it to come out asap because the teasers look SO good. also i was thinking about it and i realised this will be taemin's first solo album since he was discharged, which is i think nearly two years ago now. I'd expected they'd have him on his insane promo schedules instantly, but it looks like they've given him time to prepare, and i know there's a lot of his own input in his music and i absolutely can't wait because i feel like this will be the spiritual successor to criminal and idea in a way that advice just wasn't

also re: k pop fans being annoying. i saw a reel that explained it perfectly yesterday. i can't find it anymore but it was basically this girl saying k pop is so fun if you ignore all the 14-year-olds who think it's a lifestyle. like i have silly little photocards in my phone and i giggle about grown men cheating in games and when I see my bias with my friend's bias, I'll send it to said friend saying "us". and honestly she's so right, k pop is super fun if that's as much as you immerse yourself. I've been very careful to avoid any and all drama for a while and I'm having a blast

I really wanna know more about Key and Renjun's friendship it feels so random like key being friends with Ten, of course that makes sense they're the same person. But I need key and Renjun to have a cute little show together I need to see their full dynamic. Aww, your family has come together, and Taemin was so cute and looked so happy. Oh wow yeah he's had a pretty long break before any solo activities of course the shinee comeback had to come first. But I'm glad he had such a long time to prepare and I am so excited to see and hear everything it's going to be amazing. Also wayv's newest track video is sooooo good, like Wayv has never disappointed they just give us hit after hit and I can't wait for the main track mv. And Riize!! I knew I'd love it but I really love it and Taro clearly already my son, Anton my new son. But Sohee, like it's hypocritical of me to say he's too young when I've dated someone his age, it was horrible and I'd never do again, younger is not safer learned that the hard way I still can't accept what happened but none the less Sohee, all I can say is he has my undivided attention. Someone said he looks so 2nd gen and he really does.

Yes! Like I was a 16\17 year old kpop fan but I don't remember us being this horrible. And they're so puritanical it's ridiculous. There was a video and it was saying all the things that were apparently banned as a kpop fan, being over 25, being delusional for fun and saying an adult idol is sexy while said adult idol is being sexy. Cause you're sexualizing them. I want all kpop fans to remove sexualize from their vocabulary cause they don't know how to use it properly. It's wild an adult can't find another adult sexy. Also pretty sure most of bts is 30 or will be 30 soon. Jin and Yoongi are actually older than me. Hell Taemin is older than me by a few weeks. Like kpop isn't even a hobby, it's genuinely just an interest it's not serious at all. Just silly fun. Ignoring everyone under 22 is the best bet and won't lead to a headache.