#jeff ament imagine

[callme2heaven]

Welcome to my Blog

Hello! My name is Isa, I am 26 and I also run @metallicaislife.

I adore the Seattle Grunge scene and the men behind it so I've decided to start writing for them.

Feel free to send in headcanons or chat! :)

Thank you for checking out my blog!

There will be smut occasionally, MDNI with those posts.

Masterlist

Chris is so pretty🥹

[tryskomys]

Wet Sand

Stone Gossard x OC

Chapter 2 - I’m On Fire

Summary: Let’s meet in our dreams.

masterlist

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫

notes: chapter two has arrived! i hope it's not too eccentric and confusing to read, it's the only way i know how. hope you enjoy <3

tw: weed, swearing, psychedelic-headache-inducing imagination. you know those dreams that feel like you've taken a hit of acid and fuck up your day before you can say “these edibles ain't shit”? yeah, there's that.

songs:

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫

A flash of ruddy hair appeared in her peripheral as she felt his warm breath tickle the back of her neck.

“This is my room,” he mumbled in her ear and led her inside a strange place with four walls, a ceiling and a floor. It didn’t look like a room at all.

She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but it seemed to be made of something similar to cotton clouds, corporeal and see-through at the same time.

In the furthest corner, there was a single bed with bright pink sheets and a small tea table. It had a cup of coffee on top, along with a pocket weed pipe.

Her body twitched when he put his hand between her shoulder blades and extended his other lanky arm to point an extraordinarily long finger at the wall in front of them, landing right on a shiny sunburst Les Paul.

“This is my guitar,” he whispered again, his cold aquiline nose nudging her cheek. She wanted to turn around to take a peek at him, but she felt like she was frozen in time, gliding through the room as he gracefully pushed her further inside.

The walls expanded and shrunk over and over again, swirling like the smoke that was eerily sizzling out of the glass pipe.

“This is my bed,” he snapped her out of her dissociation again, his fingers wrapping around her waist. He led her towards the comfortable-looking mattress.

She didn’t protest when he spun her around and lifted her off the floor as if she were made of feathers.

She was looking right through him, unable to focus on his features, yet she knew exactly where to touch to caress his cheek. She could feel a few small freckles under her fingertips.

He hummed as he laid her down on the bed and straightened up again, reaching for the small transparent pipe crammed with green clumps.

His cheeks hollowed as he took a long, deep drag and then leaned on his knees, puffing the smoke right into her face. There was something inexplicably vulgar about the scent.

And as his hair fluttered under his exhale, it was as if she was simultaneously standing in a field full of wild strawberry bushes.

“This is my handy little grass pipe,” he breathed out the remnants of smoke, his voice low and stoic. Just when his features finally started to take shape and colour, he moved again and blurred into an unrecognizable tall figure climbing on top of her, knees at the sides of her hips.

He hovered above her as he swept her tangled hair out of her face, his Adam's apple moving up and down while he hummed an unidentifiable tune.

The melody was surprisingly delicate and gentle, contrasting his shameless indecency. When she subconsciously tried to look away from his scrutinizing stare, he swiftly caught her jaw in his hand, tutting.

"Nuh-uh. This is my dream, too. Don’t be a killjoy,” he mumbled, somewhat crass. He softly tugged on her chin to turn her head back to face him and when she did, his features finally took shape.

His eyes were impossibly big. Half-lidded with wildly dilated pupils, irises an unidentifiable, harsh shade of green. Encircled with smudges of messy black eyeliner, swirling through her brain like a head-spinning drug.

His lips curled into a cocky grin when a breath hitched in her throat. She reached up to run her hand through his red-tinted hair, but she grabbed nothing but air. He tutted again and slowly shook his head as if he was deeply disappointed in her naivité.

Suddenly, a shrilling high-pitched beep echoed through the floating room and wormed into her ear, pounding her brain like a sledgehammer. Her heart burst into rapid beats when he bent down to her face, a smug smirk still dancing on his angled features.

His phantom lips shivered over hers like a weightless quill, bony ribcage brushing against her chest as he let out an airy chuckle. His words were laced with condescending amusement.

“Oh, right. This is my alarm clock. It always seems to ring by the time we get here. What a shame…oh well. Tommorow, same time, same place. Don't you forget...”

His voice melted and got lost in the loud beeps as the room around her dissolved. Keeva let out a pathetic whine and she waved her hands in the air, trying to grasp onto his shoulders so he wouldn’t disappear with it.

It didn’t work, so she swiftly sat up in her bed, still grabbing the air around her.

When she realized the source of the noise was a blue alarm clock that sat on the coffee table next to her, she grabbed it and threw it against the wall with a childish grunt.

It stopped beeping, but its plastic container broke open and the battery fell out, rolling along the floor and stopping right at her feet as if to mock her.

She huffed, feeling a rush of blood pool in her cheeks as the fresh memory of her dream erased the ugly noise from her mind.

Huh. What the fuck…

She was extremely puzzled as she looked around her flat, finally grounding in reality. One room, that’s all she had, with a tiny kitchen counter and an even smaller bathroom.

Her window led to the street, though, so whenever she crawled out of her bed, she could open it right away and breathe in the frigid winter air.

She rubbed her eyes and looked out, watching as lone cars passed through the mist that settled above the dim streets of Seattle. She smiled to herself.

Could be a worse view.

Getting up, Keeva stretched and grabbed the alarm clock off the floor. She put it back together, finally looking at the time.

5:30. Fuck. That’s late.

She sped up her routine, clumsily slapping on mascara in the bathroom before quickly digging through her suitcase to fish out a clean shirt.

A month in and I still haven’t unpacked, what a well-mannered lady.

She couldn’t find anything, so she frantically looked around the room, kicking a rag and a bra out of her way. Her eyes fell on a white t-shirt that was thrown over the single chair next to her table.

She walked up to it and folded it open, revealing a round-shaped photo of an Indian man with a huge beard, long hair and sunglasses, circled with big words that spelled SOUNDGARDEN.

Oh. Oh, right.

The picture of the unruly guy from her dream finally fully materialized and her already heated blush grew even brighter when she realized that she did, in fact, not make him up.

Fuck. Beanpole.

“So you haven’t been to a gig here yet? God, that’s grim. Soundgarden is a great place to start, though. It’s a bit of everything, but mostly kinda metal-based. The U-Men are playing next week, if you’re into more punky stuff, ” Stone rambled and waved his hands around, which was clearly something he did a lot.

His strides were long and brisk, so she was a bit out of breath as she tried to catch up with him.

He had a big suede jacket on and a fuzzy knitted beanie with a big puffy ball on top.

Keeva had to giggle at his unusual visage, she couldn't put into words what made him so damn endearing, but he had an irresistibly charming skip to his step.

Now that he was in motion, he reminded her of a cub that hadn’t fully grown into its paws yet, his huge feet slapping against the crunching fresh snow, bony fingers wiggling through the air as he enumerated the upcoming week’s concerts.

Keeva threw the t-shirt on and quickly wiggled into her ragged denim overalls, cursing when the fuzzy brown sweater she stuck her head through made her hair stand up and crackle with static.

She promptly looked over at her clock again and tied her boots, grabbed her wristwatch off the table and put it in the pocket of her leather jacket.

As she skipped down the long stairs of the apartment building, she wrapped a long woollen scarf around her neck, scratching her forehead when a piece of cotton lint stuck to her eyebrow.

She hurried to the bike rack in front of the building, clumsily throwing her backpack on while trying to untangle the leather strap that tied her bike to the metal pipes. When she finally loosened it, she quickly grabbed the lock that hung on it, moved the three number buttons in the correct order and took it off.

She stuffed all of it in her pockets, too and hopped on her bike. And then she could finally set off to work, letting memories flow through her head.

“Stoney! Hey, Stoney! Stoked that you made it! Matt shed a few tears when he didn’t see you in the pit,” the seemingly intimidating guitar player called after the two of them, finally hopping off of the stage and excitedly waving to get their attention. He had a bushy black beard and hair messier than a bird’s nest.

Keeva tried to gather some courage by straightening her back and nudging Stone. He seemed to sense the tension in her muscles, so he delicately placed his hand on her back, putting in just enough weight to assure her that he was there.

“Oh, so it is your real name! Tough shit,” she mumbled as they moved through the crowd, earning a hearty chuckle while he answered various calls of 'Hi, Stoney', 'What’s up, Stoney', 'Hi ya, Stoney', 'Stop by for a shot, Stoney' and a bunch of other greetings. “Seems like I’m hanging with the popular kid, that’s an unexplored territory for me.”

“Chill out, you’ll fit in just right. The starving artists of Seattle generally respond well to greenies and you're undoubtedly irresistible.”

Irresistible.

That’s the word that occupied Keeva’s head as he locked her bike to the rack in front of a parking lot with the leather strap and lock she fished out of her pockets, but then she noticed there was another, bigger bike next to hers, similarly battered and covered in stickers.

Mötorhead, Butthole Surfers, Nets…

She frowned, took out her watch and checked it before finally tying it around her wrist.

Where did this thing come from? I’m supposed to be starting the shift. Weird.

She sank her ears into the fluffy scarf and headed towards the Raison D’Être. When she turned the corner and reached the door of the artsy café, she took a bundle of keys out of her backpack to open up.

But the key didn't go in, as there was one already slotted in from the other side.

“The hell…” she sighed and pressed her nose against the frosted glass, trying to decipher any signs of life. She knocked and heard an unintelligible answer before a figure rose from behind the counter and walked up to the front.

When the door opened, Keeva found herself in front of a tall guy wearing a bizarre furry hat and a sleeveless basketball jersey, an interesting choice for this kind of weather.

Pearl earrings were hanging out of his ears and his face lit up with a wide cat-like grin. He towered over her, just like…

Dammit, get out of my head, beanpole.

“Can I help you?” the guy mused, leaning against the doorframe. He wore a ring on every finger and multiple beaded necklaces of different sizes and colours dangled from his muscular neck.

What a character.

Keeva chuckled and rattled her key bundle in the air.

“Can I help you? You seem awfully suspicious,” she shrugged and mirrored his stance. He giggled.

“You must be Keeva. I’m Jeff, really a pleasure to finally meet you,” he stuck out his hand and waited for her to shake it. Just as she reached out, he gently took her fingers and kissed the cold knuckles, old-fashioned style.

She huffed, but couldn’t help a little blush.

“Uh, that’s me. Great to meet you…Jeff? Oh, yeah! Rod told me about a Jeff on sick leave,” she said and silently thanked him as he motioned her to come inside. “Glad to see you on two feet! Word has it that you got injured in a freaky water polo accident or something.”

Jeff laughed and the youthful energy around him only intensified. He locked the door again and jogged to catch up with her, helping her out of the leather jacket like a proper gentleman.

He had a pleasantly light cologne, mixed with the scent of coffee beans as he was just in the middle of grinding them. And a faint hint of weed that was nowhere near as arousing as her dream made it out to be.

“Yeah, I busted my knee. Playing basketball, just to clarify.”

“I mean, there’s a ball and there’s a net, right? The only basics that matter,” Keeva wiggled her index finger at him and grabbed the barista apron he offered her. It had a bright psychedelic print on it, almost hypnotizing. Jeff snorted.

“Jeez, thank god my friend Stoney isn’t here, he’d fall in love with you on the spot,” he mused and her smile fell a bit, eyes wide.

Oh.

Her cheeks grew red, she tried to play it off by nonchalantly scratching her forehead.

“Would he now?” she smirked and Jeff nodded, leaning against the counter as he lousily wiped it with a damp rag that he took out of his back pocket.

“With that smart-ass-will-o’-the-wisp-punk thing you got going on? Madly,” he looked Keeva up and down and gave her another disarming grin. “Fortunately he’s at work, little baker boy at Grand Central.”

“Let me guess…”

She folded her arms and put on a thoughtful frown. She hoped that Jeff’s comment was supposed to compliment her.

“About yay high,” she raised her hand as far as she could, “…bad dye job, ridiculous scrunchie…” she counted on her fingers and Jeff’s jaw dropped, laughing as she continued.

“...bug-eyed, punchable face…”

Stone smirked as the bearded man patted his shoulder a few times after greeting him and before he could ask about his female company, another man joined them, a mane of curls flowing around his face like a sea of black seaweeds. He had a linen shirt on, opened all the way to his navel. The singer.

“‘Sup, Stoney? The guys went for a blunt but they’ll be right back. Who’s your little friend?” he mused and then stopped in his tracks for a second before slapping the bushy guitarist's stomach with the back of his hand.

“Kim, that’s Keeva. As in Kiki. No way,” he whistled and the guitarist, Kim, raised his eyebrows with a surprised nod.

“Oh! Oh, right! Jesus, hi, we were wondering when you’ll show up! I’m Kim, pleasure,” he extended his hand and Keeva bashfully shook it, her cheeks full of a crooked smile.

The singer chimed in with an introduction, almost cutting off his well-spoken friend.

“I’m Chris, so nice to meet you! We’ve heard about you shredding your way through this shithole, but you never showed up! We were starting to think you’re just an urban legend!” Chris ruffled her hair and giggled as if he was a genuinely happy child receiving a new toy for Christmas.

Stone chuckled, flicking her nose for the sixth time that evening.

“See, I told you you were a fucking cryptid.”

“Sylphs are known to migrate to America during this time of year, Stone. No wonder you dropped out,” Kim added, theatrically widening his eyes as Keeva rolled her eyes and scratched the back of her neck, grinning.

“Cool, so I don’t have to introduce you,” Jeff giggled and adjusted his hat. “When did that happen?”

“Last night. We met on the way to the Off Ramp. We were running late but he took me through a shortcut,” Keeva shrugged, walked behind the counter and hopped up on it.

She grabbed a small blackboard propped up next to the cashier and started writing down the Monday special - Hazelnut espresso.

Chris was a very attractive man, no doubt about it. He was even taller than Stone, but he filled the space around him, whereas Stone seemed to poke out. Even though Chris’s mane of curls had twice the volume hers had, Stone’s hair was somehow messier. Chris’s eyes were a cold shade of blue, but they felt warm and comforting. Stone’s saucer eyes made her want to look away, despite having an inviting golden hue.

He was everywhere, sticking out no matter who he stood next to.

“He, uh…he left an impression, that’s for sure,” she mumbled and cleared her throat, trying to get rid of the choking grip that was his face behind her eyelids.

“Like you wanted to slap him?” Jeff squinted, grinning again when she vehemently nodded.

“He’s good. A smart-ass for sure, plus there’s his whole chess club thing. But he’s kinda a brother by now. Oddly hot, chicks dig him. But don’t tell him I said that,” he wiggled with his finger when she gasped. “Doesn’t play ball, though, so that’s a little dent in his coolness.”

Chicks dig him, huh?

Oh, and of course he plays chess. Perfectly annoying.

“Depends. I mean, I personally never really got the appeal of sports. I’m more of a cheerleader,” Keeva smirked as Jeff’s smile grew even wider.

“Oh man, talk about two peas in a pod,” he muttered under his breath and disappeared into the back room for a moment before emerging with two big mugs.

“Fuck, I almost forgot. I kinda knew you were coming, so I made this when I opened up. Just a little welcome surprise,” he shrugged and handed her a warm cup of tea with milk. “A small piece of home, right? Hope you’re not allergic to milk or something.”

Christ, is everyone here a sweetheart? Talk about culture shock.

“Fucking hell, thanks so much, Jeff,” she pouted, humming when she took a sip. “Oof, it tastes better than my gran’s.”

“Maple syrup, that’s the secret ingredient,” Jeff winked and sipped on his coffee as well. “So, how did ya like Soundgarden?”

“Phew. It was breathtaking, seriously. I’ve never heard anything like that. And everyone was so nice, too. Stone introduced me to the band and stuff. We had a couple of beers, it was great…” she rambled and waved her arms around excitedly.

“How old are you? Can I even buy you a drink?” Chris chirped, squeezing her nose. Keeva grinned at his friendly gesture.

“Relatively fresh nineteen,” she retorted, her voice coming out as quacks as he still held onto her nose. He gasped.

“My god, you’re a baby!”

“Right?! Found her in a corner, too,” Stone chimed in, scoffing when Chris reached up and pulled his nose as well.

“Shut up, Stoney. You’re just jealous that you’re not daddy’s favourite child anymore,” he quipped, let go of them both and put his arm around Keeva’s shoulders. “Don’t listen to him, sweetheart. He may be barely legal but he still doesn’t know proper etiquette.”

She chuckled.

“Well, I don’t have citizenship yet and I’m fully legal in England. Therefore, there's technically nothing to feel bad about as I don’t exist in the federal records,” she shrugged and Chris laughed, the curls bouncing around his face like little black springs.

“Oh, Stoney, she’s a little minx, too. Now you’re in trouble, friend,” he slapped Stone’s scrawny shoulder and ruffled his hair. Stone shooed his hand away and shook his head, hoping his red hair would make the furious blush blend in.

Jeff clapped his hands like an excited kid.

“Wicked! Wait, are you even old enough to drink?” he teased and Keeva rolled her eyes.

“…and then everyone was like ‘Man, thank god Jeff isn’t here, he’s a fucking asshole.’” she added, making him laugh again. “I’m nineteen.”

“Jesus almighty, you’re a baby!” he exclaimed with a gasp and she closed her eyes, shaking her head.

Baby, we’re in the same boat here…

The words echoed through her head as a vicious cue to make her throat tighten once more.

“Here it goes again. Come on, you can’t be that much older!” Keeva crossed her arms and he straightened up proudly.

“I’m twenty-four,” Jeff retorted, but it definitely sounded like a kid trying to sell their age as grown and wise. That made her grin.

“Okay, big guy, I’ll believe that when I see your ID.”

Jeff was about to protest and reach for his wallet, but a firm knock on the front door made them both jump.

Keeva didn’t turn around, instead, she instinctively looked at her wristwatch while Jeff set off to check.

Hm. We open in an hour. Who’s -

“Dammit, Ames, I knocked like four times. If you want a new guitarist, just tell me. Making me freeze to death a bit overkill.”

The nasal voice from her dream created a wave of heat inside her, running through her body like someone dumped a bucket of scorching coffee on her head. She looked over her shoulder and there he was, in the flesh, right in front of her.

He had his big brown jacket on, a puffy checkered scarf bundled around his neck and a neatly tied burgundy bandana. His comically large hands were poking out of woollen fingerless gloves and he rubbed them together, slightly shivering.

When he saw her, he cracked into a wide crooked smile that made tiny little dimples appear on his frostbitten cheeks.

Irresistibly smug.

“Oi, cheerio, Baby! Beautiful morning, innit?” Stone chirped, putting on an atrocious accent again. Keeva narrowed her eyes.

“Well, look who it is. Are you stalking me, beanpole?” she hissed, the corner of her mouth twitching when he chuckled.

“You wish,” he raised an eyebrow and took off his backpack. “I came to welcome my rhythm section buddy Jeff back to the world of dead-end jobs.”

He mindlessly dropped the backpack on the counter and Jeff cursed, pushing it down to the floor.

“Dude, I just wiped it!” he frowned. “Did I miss something? What’s up with the baby?”

“She’s tiny, annoying and says ‘fuck’ like she’d just learned how to swear. Do the math,” Stone shrugged and flicked Keeva’s nose. She slapped his hand away.

“Give him a break, Jeff. It just makes him feel like a big boy,” she retorted and Jeff leaned against the counter, darting between them for a few seconds. Then he let out a huge sigh.

“Oh dear god, there’s two of them now.”

Keeva felt another wave of blood creep up her cheeks as Stone stared her down. He wasn’t wearing eyeliner this time, but his eyes were nonetheless overpowering.

Maybe even more so, strangely glowing in the dim morning light, seemingly lightened by the snow outside.

I don’t have time for this.

She stuck her tongue out at him, hopped off the counter and put the blackboard next to the cashier before turning her back to him. She began rearranging the to-go cups by size to occupy her brain with anything else but him.

He just smirked and loosened the top layers of his scarf.

“Andy’s not here yet?”

“Nope. Haven’t seen him since he brought me lunch three days ago. How was the gig?” Jeff questioned while he wiped off the snowdrops that fell on the counter from Stone’s backpack.

Stone leaned his elbows on it and rested his head in his hands, palms squishing his patchy red cheeks.

“Badass. The EP sounds even more incredible live, now that you have a comparison. There were, like, a ton of new people. Chicks everywhere, like mosquitoes. Hiro got hit in the face with a fucking bra. The whole of Sub Pop was there, too, all four of ‘em.”

“Were the guys there?” Jeff asked after a few moments of silence and the room suddenly filled with strange gravity. Keeva frowned a little and took a sip of her tea, trying not to eavesdrop. Stone sighed.

“Steve was. We kinda waved at each other, but we didn’t speak,” he shrugged and scratched his temple. He coughed to get rid of the strain in his voice.

“I met Baby, though, so that was significantly more stimulating. Intellectually, of course,” he mused and Jeff snorted, looking between the pair.

“Bet.”

Keeva turned around and hummed, still clutching her cup.

“Glad to serve, beanpole. When do I get to see the two of you play, anyway? I’ve heard that you’re hot shit and I’d love to confirm slash deny that,” she nonchalantly crossed her arms but tensed when she saw the sombre look exchanged between them.

Bad move.

“Actually, we just broke up. About a month ago,” Jeff mumbled and tucked the rag into his back pocket again. Stone’s expression turned serious again, hardening like a statue.

“It was for the best of all of us, we weren’t going anywhere.”

He didn’t sound as sure as he probably wanted to. He bit his lip and looked at Keeva as if he was waiting for her reaction. She let out a heavy sigh.

“Christ, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be nosy or anything,” she mumbled and Jeff shook his head, softly patting her back.

“No, no, it’s okay, we sort of initiated it, anyway. Musical differences and all that.”

“They told us to go fuck ourselves because we were careerists,” Stone chimed in and emphasized the word with bitter air quotes, clearly hurt by the sentiment.

Jeff smacked his lips and frowned at Stone, obviously trying to draw a thick line under that conversation. Keeva bit her cheek, thinking of something to say.

“To be honest, you do seem like little gold diggers,” she sighed and they both chuckled, which was a relief. “No, but seriously. Nobody’s punk enough to enjoy cleaning tables and swiping floors and scrapping for food. And if they say they are, they’re lying.”

Jeff and Stone exchanged a small content smile, obviously glad that someone was on the same page with them.

“Yeah. Sounds good if you have three warm meals and a comfy bed secured at home. Like Stoney here. He has a little trust fund, don’t you?” Jeff poked Stone’s chest.

He began to turn red in the face and once again, Keeva caught a rare awkward crack in his facade. She opened her mouth wide and gasped.

“Aw, you have a loving family, Stoney? That’s not very punk rock of you,” she tutted and shook her head, grinning widely when he reached over the counter and squeezed her nose.

“Shut it, Baby. I’m a working struggling artist just like you…fuck!” His eyes widened. “What time is it?”

She promptly checked her watch.

“Quarter to six.”

“Uh, yeah, gotta run. The baguettes won’t bake themselves,” Stone explained, tightened his scarf and grabbed his backpack off the floor. He turned his attention to Jeff. “Be back for lunch, the usual time. My treat today, I’ll bring some grub. Got any grass?”

“Dude, come on. You’ll ruin me. This is the last time, I'm telling you, you’re buying next. I only have enough left for three spliffs, anyway,” Jeff firmly shook his head and shooed Stone away.

Keeva chuckled, trying to shut down her embarrassing thoughts.

She was afraid that Stone could hear them, observing himself puffing a thick cloud of illicit smoke in her face from an obscenely small distance.

He certainly looked at her like he was seeing it as well, a pompous grin plastered on his face as he raised his eyebrows, innocently questioning why she was so flustered.

“Well, you're free to keep my share, weed stinks like a sweaty ballsack. Always, no exceptions,” she added the last part to convince herself. She would’ve succeeded if it wasn’t for Stone’s loud wolf whistle.

“Would you look at that, Ames? We got a good catholic schoolgirl on our hands,” he chirped. Keeva mocked a laugh and gave him a middle finger, using her offensive gesture to obscure the patchy blush on her face.

Jeff giggled, reaching for the coffee mill next to him.

“Leave her alone, dude. I wanna catch a jam with her before she gets a restraining order against you,” he affectionately patted Keeva’s head.

“Don’t care, I’ll corrupt her sooner or later, that’s a cross I have to bear. Are you two free today? Parents are out of town, so we can get that jam off our chests. I get off at five.”

“That’s weirdly specific,” Keeva squinted at him, still red in the face. Jeff’s cheeks puffed with a throaty laugh as Stone tried his best to keep the corners of his mouth down.

“Depends. If you’re good enough, I may cut it down to four, just for you. Now, fetch me a keg of cappuccino to go, fair maiden!”

She gasped and flung her arm to slap his head, but he managed to jump out of her way. Jeff’s chirpy laughter echoed through the room as he raised his arms to keep them apart.

“Okay, Tom and Jerry, knock it off.”

“I’ll fetch you a cappuccino when you fetch me a breakfast croissant, baker boy,” Keeva hissed and Stone broke into a smug grin, skipping away to the door.

“Deal. Be right back,” he waved and walked right into a coathanger. He caught balance pretty quickly, though, and slung the backpack over his shoulder.

“Don’t threaten us,” she called back at him and cackled at his stumble. He blew each of them a theatrical air kiss and backed out of the door, disappearing into the light snow around the corner. Keeva chuckled, staring out of the window for a few more seconds.

The faint cloud of his strawberry shampoo lingered in her head, along with the sweet freezing air that emanated from his clothes.

Keeva had heard some girls swooning over Chris when she and Stone made their way through the crowd after the show. She wondered if girls talked like that about Stone at his band’s gigs.

Considering the amount of chicks that greeted him with the affectionate nickname, the ghastly purring giggles already rang in her ears.

She fixed her dissociated gaze at no particular place in front of her. Chris led her through the small venue to the bar, answering greetings from all sides.

“Hey, you ok?” he questioned and he squeezed her shoulder. She jerked, realizing he was probably speaking to her the whole time. Stone chuckled.

“She does that a lot, just zones out to make contact with the Mothership.”

“Har har, beanpole. Sorry, I’m just…getting a bit tired, I guess. Long day,” she shrugged and gave Chris an apologetic smile.

“It’s past Baby’s bedtime, you see?” Stone patted her head and she frowned, elbowing him in the stomach.

“I’ve spent basically my whole evening talking to you, Stoney. No wonder I’m falling asleep,” she put on a sarcastic smile and emphasized what was apparently the only correct way to address him.

Stone was just about to return the jab when Chris interrupted them with a hearty giggle.

“Shit, didn’t you say you’ve just met? Like, today? Can’t wait to see you twenty years of marriage deep,” he grinned and ignored their heated cheeks as he ordered a round of tequila shots.

After a few seconds of staring through the glass door, Keeva noticed Jeff in the corner of her eye, studiously watching her.

She did a double-take between the street and his smug smirk and frowned.

“'Sup?”

“Nothing, nothing,” he raised his arms in surrender with a small wink and then started grinding coffee again, humming. When she disappeared into the back room with a suspiciously bright grin, he added the lyrics.

“So this is love, mmhm hmhm…”

[jeffament]

No offence, but I had no idea you were so hot!

yayyyy thankzxxx youu pls don’t let this stop u from imagining me as the tall buff goth jeff ament eddie vedder test tube baby

[wearethewitches]

i lied to myself, the playlist is complete.

yes, that is sango-blep's amazing art. the title is from the series name for my (selune, thou) works, a blueprint (of life, death and undeath).

i had a lot of fun with this one. For the interested, songs 1-5 are chapter one, 6-14 are chapter two, 14 intersecting into chapter three with 15, and chapter four will be songs 16-32. Lastly, The Power (Credits song) acts as our epilogue tune. Some of the songs are ones I had on repeat for the majority of my writing time, and I was really sad when I couldn't figure out where to place a few different others.

I'm pretty darn proud of how well it turned out, and thankfully, the amount of songs does reflect a semi-accurate outline of chapter four.

Currently sitting at a pretty 8.3k/40k.

full playlist beneath the cut:

Nightsong - BG3 OST

Quest for a Cure - BG3 OST

Thus Always To Tyrants - The Oh Hellos

Blood // Water - grandson

The Moon Will Sing - The Crane Wives

Shadows, Curse and Death - BG3 OST

Animal - AG, MOONZz

Last Shelter - BG3 OST

Who We Are - Imagine Dragons

Hunt You Down - The Hit House, Ruby Friedman

The Power (Choral Version) - BG3 OST

Runs in the Family - Amanda Palmer

Who We Are - Hozier

My Love Mine All Mine - Mitski

Lights Are On - Tom Rosenthal

Tethered - Sleeping At Last

the perfect pair - beabadoobee

Beautiful Boy - The Last Dinner Party

Fear and Trembling - Gang of Youths

Moonbeam - Cassandra Coleman

Not Yet / Love Run (Reprise) - The Amazing Devil

Moon - Sleeping At Last

cult leader - KiNG MALA

King - The Amazing Devil

The Legacy of Bhaal - BG3 OST

Eternal Life - Jeff Buckley

Which Witch - Florence + The Machine

How Villains are Made - Madalen Duke

Wash My Dreams Away - BG3 OST

golden hour - JVKE

Moonlight Sonata (Epic Version, AOT style) - Samuel Kim

The Water is Fine - Chloe Ament

The Power (Credits song) - BG3 OST

curating a spotify playlist for (selune, thou) with softest starglow., for funsies. i'll link it eventually, but for now, i want to get the next chapter written up, because i know Exactly where the playlist has massive gaps, and also i've not listened to it all the way through yet. just the middle section.

[dissident-vedder]

- dissident-vedder masterlist!

 disclaimer: all of these are purely fiction and of my own creation. this blog is a mostly pearl jam fan blog, so there will be very little other characters in this outside of the group.

 please do not repost my work, i spend a lot of time on them.

if any of them seem ooc, i am sorry, i don’t know them personally.

i am not going to do any of the drummers of the band, i am very sorry!

if you want to be tagged in any future imagines, please message me!

( eddie vedder! )

( series! )

pessimist! | optimist! | sanguine! 

once upon a december! | once upon a december ii! 

fame!

( oneshots / blurbs / etc! )

moral of the story!

wine & rooftops!

( headcanons! )

n/a!

( jeff ament! )

( series! )

almost!  | hiraeth! 

( oneshots / blurbs / etc! )

n/a!

( headcanons! )

n/a!

( mike mccready! )

( series! )

n/a!

( oneshots / blurbs / etc! )

american daydream!

( headcanons! )

n/a!

( stone gossard! )

( series! )

n/a!

( oneshots / blurbs / etc! )

towards the sun! 

the christmas miracle!

( headcanons! )

n/a!

( anthony kiedis! )

( series! )

n/a!

( oneshots / blurbs / etc! )

in a week!

like real people do!

breaking the girl!

( headcanons! )

n/a!

( tags! )

i | ii | iii | iv | v | vi | vii | viii

[jaggersgroupie]

[groupieimagines]

Blonde- Stone Gossard Imagine

Me and my boyfriend had dumb ideas... But this one... Was by far...the stupidest one, yet here we where buying bleach.

*Earlier that day*

- babeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. My boyfriend Stone whined "I'm bored pay attention to me"

"I swear you're more needy than me" I told him

"And proudly" he smirked.

"I'm bored let's do something" he said.

"Like what?" I asked him curiously raising my eyebrow eager to know what idiotic idea he came up with next, one of his many ideas was to dye my hair blue, I must admit that was not the dumbest idea, it's been three years and here I am with blue hair and loving it.

"Bleach my hair" he said casually, making me choke on my own saliva. I looked at him dumbfounded.

"You want me to WHAT?" I asked a little too loud making our cat who was sleeping next to us on the couch jump and run away, to which stone laughed loudly now scaring me.

"You heard me" he said inbetween laughs "bleach my hair, I've always wanted blonde hair" I thought about it for a second and it made me weak in the knees.

"Alriiiiiiiiiight let's go buy the bleach"

And that,,, brings us here, two grunge looking adults giggling like maniacs infront of the nearest Walmart we could find.

We walked in and immediately walked to the hair section. "Oh fuck" he said "there are too many here" he cried out

"Well babe you wanted this" I told him shrugging, grabbing everything we needed and grabbing some blue dye for me because my hair was a hot mess, just like the stupid weather.

We paid for everything and started heading home, "why did you pick the hottest day of the year to dye your hair and make us walk all the way over here"

"Well it's hot but I can't complain, you look damn hot in shorts" he said laughing slapping my butt as I slap his shoulder.

"Dude some decency please, we're in public"

"Excuse me for saying the truth" he sticked his tongue out at me and I did the same.

After a really really hot twenty minute walk we finally made it to our shitty small apartment we happily called home.

"Let's do this, go change into a dirty shirt I'll go set this up in the bathroom" he listened to me and went to our bedroom to change, meanwhile I set all the shit up in the bathroom knowing it was gonna end up being a mess I took extra precautions. I suddenly felt a pair of skinny arms wrapped around my waist and a kiss on my cheek making me blush.

"sitttttttttt let me start" I said

He took a sit in a chair I had placed infront of the mirror as I started mixing the bleach and started putting it on his short brown hair, he suddenly jumped scaring me

"Sorry it's very cold" he told me looking at me through the mirror

"It's okay I blushed"

Fifteen minutes later I was done adding the bleach and I started preparing the dye for my hair while Stone waited for the bleach to set.

I finished doing my hair and we waited together untill we could wash the gooey stuff out of our hair. While we waited we talked about everything, he was so excited because his album had just reached number one in the States and I was so proud of him. We chatted for another ten minutes when he told me his head was itching a lot so we decided to hop in the shower together washing the stuff out of our heads. We stepped out of the shower and I looked at him swooning

"You look so good babe" I said with heart eyes

"You look amazing too" he said blushing and kissing my shoulder softly. After our reveal we dried up and got dressed

"What do you say we go show this to the boys"

"OH YESSS" I exclaimed happily

Let's just say the boys where shocked to say the least.

[harold-of-the-rocks]

Jeff Ament’s back is really sexy

[callme2heaven]

callme2heaven masterlist

I will write for:

Pearl Jam - Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament and Eddie Vedder (possibly more in the future)

Alice In Chains - Jerry Cantrell and Layne Staley (possibly more in the future)

Nirvana - Dave Grohl and Kurt Cobain (possibly Krist in the future)

Soundgarden - Chris Cornell (possibly more in the future)

I will only write angst or fluff for Kurt, Layne and Chris

✨ = fluff

🌹= smut

😿 = sad/angst

PEARL JAM

Stone Gossard

Unannounced 😿/✨

Eddie Vedder

nothing yet

Jeff Ament

nothing yet

ALICE IN CHAINS

Jerry Cantrell

nothing yet

Layne Staley

nothing yet

NIRVANA

Dave Grohl

nothing yet

Kurt Cobain

nothing yet

SOUNDGARDEN

Chris Cornell

nothing yet

[stateofloveandnegan]

Hatred - Eddie Vedder

could you possibly do one where the reader is really good friends with stone and mike and jeff because she's in another band and they invite her to open for them because of their new singer, eddie. and when she meets him, for whatever reason, they both really hate each other but in the end, they end up getting together. thanks!

Godddd it took me long enough, but it’s finally here! Enjooooy :)

Requested by: anon

“Soooo, you’ve finally found a singer?” I ask Jeff when we’re walking outside. We don’t really have a destination to go to, we’re just walking around bit, enjoying the fresh air.

Jeff smiles, “Jup, and his voice is really amazing. He’s coming over from San Diego in a few days. I can’t wait to meet him.”

I throw my arm around his waist and rest my head on his shoulder, “I’m so happy for you and the guys, Jeff. You really deserve the best, after all you’ve been through.”

I feel Jeff wrapping his arms around me in a hug and he lifts me off the ground, “Oh my god! Jeffrey Allen Ament, put me down right now!” I scream and struggle to get out of his arms. He just laughs and gently puts me down after a couple of minutes, “You’re adorable (Y/N).”

I scoff, “I keep wondering why I’m friends with you, Jeffrey.”

“Because you like me too much, dear. And stop calling me Jeffrey, you know I hate it when people call me that.”

I send him a smirk, “That’s exactly the reason why I’m not gonna stop calling you Jeffrey, Jeffrey.” I say and wink at him.

He groans in defeat and throws his right arm around my shoulder. “Just don’t call me that in front of the others, will you? It’s already annoying enough you’re calling me Jeffrey right now.”

I laugh and take his right hand, the one that’s hanging next to my ear, in my hand and intertwine our fingers, “I guess it’s the least I can do.”

Days go by and soon I receive a call from Stone. “Hey Steno! How’s life?”

“Hey, love! It’s very, very, very kind to me and the boys these past days. We’ve got ourselves a singer and he actually wants to become a member of the band!”

I smile at how happy Stone sounds. It’s been such a rollercoaster ride for them and it’s a real blessing for them to have finally found a singer. “I’m so happy for you, Stone! Really, I can’t wait for the day you guys go worldwide, I know that day will come! Just don’t forget me, will ya?”

Stone laughs through the telephone, “We won’t ever forget you, (Y/N)! Just don’t forget us, either, then we’re even. Oh, by the way, Mike is coming to get you right now. You’re going out for dinner with us. Unfortunately you won’t be able to meet Eddie, he had to go back to San Diego..”

“Eddie? I assume he’s the new singer?”

Stone tells me he is and right when we hang up, someone’s knocking on my door. I put down the phone and walk to the door. When I open it I’m met with Mike, as Stone said. “Hey Mikey, it’s good to see you.”

“Hey (Y/N), likewise, now come on, I’m starving. I need food!” he says in a whiney voice. I laugh, “Let me get my bag, then we can go.”

Not much later after that Mike and I make our way into a small diner. Jeff, Dave and Stone notice us and gesture for us to come sit with them, quite a useless move, it’s not like Mike and I were planning to sit somewhere alone..

“Congrats guys! I’m so happy for you, I know I keep saying it, but it’s just because I genuinely am!” I say while greeting all of them with a hug. “So, I just decided, that as a present I’ll pay tonight, to show you how proud I am of you.”

Four heads snap up and I’m met with confused faces, “Like hell you are, we’re not gonna steal you from your money, (Y/N).”

I can’t hold my laughter at Jeff’s comment together with his seriousness, “There’s no stopping me, Jeff. Don’t worry, I can afford to treat my best friends for once. I’d be happy to do it, just let me, alight?”

Jeff realised there was no way he could stop me, so he dropped the subject and soon after we ordered some food and drinks.

The night went on and things were great. It’s always so much fun with the guys, they’re all just so nice and I can’t imagine life without them.

The hours flew by and before I even know what I’m doing, I’m already paying the bill. Only shortly after Jeff had tried to get Stone to keep me still so I couldn’t reach the cashier; they always underestimate my strength.

“Thanks again, dopey.” Mike said while we all made our way outside. It’s his thing to call me ‘dopey’, I don’t mind, I think it’s kind of cute.

The rest of the evening is spent with some booze and music in my garage. I, myself, am also part of a band, so there’s instruments all over the place in the garage, since we always rehearse here.

When the clock hits two in the morning, the guys decide to call it a night and all head home. I’m not really tired yet, so I stay in the garage to play some more guitar and maybe write a song, you never know when the inspiration hits you.

Days pass and in the blink of an eye it’s time for me to meet the infamous Eddie Vedder. I’m curious to know what he’s like and I can’t wait, honestly. If he’s really as cool and chill as the guys described him, there must be no problem for us to become friends.

“There you are! The guy’s can’t wait for you to meet him, they’re just backstage now. They’ll be here in a minute.” Kiara exclaims when I make my way into the club. It’s a small club where Soundgarden, our friends’ band, just performed. That’s why the guys are backstage, to talk to Chris, Kim, Matt and Ben.

Kiara and I take a seat at the bar and as we take our seats I can’t help but look around a bit, to see if there are some familiar faces. I can’t spot many people, though. Just some faces I’ve seen here and there, but no one too familiar.

“What a loser.” I mumble under my breath while looking at a guy who’s just come from backstage. Kiara turns her face to me, “What, who?”

I nod in his direction, “Him. Who is he anyway?”

“Oh god, (Y/N). That’s Eddie, as in the new singer of the guys. Do you know him already?” Kiara asks with a hand covering her mouth.

My eyes go slightly wide, “Eh no, I’ve never seen him.. He just has this air around him that annoys me. Don’t you see it?”

Before Kiara can answer, my name is called by the one and only Stone Carpenter Gossard and I’m dragged by the said person backstage. “Y/N), this is Eddie. Eddie, this is (Y/N).” Stone says while dragging me and Eddie across from each other.

I notice Eddie must feel the same about me, ‘cause he doesn’t seem too happy to see me. “Oh, well.. hello.” he says

“Welcome to Seattle. Hope you’re gonna have fun.” I reply dryly.

Months have passed and Eddie and I got worse every time we met. The hatred built up between us isn’t even humane anymore. I can’t stand a word he says, same goes for the other way around. It’s madly annoying that exactly the one person I hate with my everything has to be one of the closest friend of my best friends. It’s utterly frustrating.

In the mean time the guys have also changed the band’s name from ‘Mookie Blaylock’ to ‘Pearl Jam’. It fits them good, the name.

I’m just hanging around ad chilling in my apartment when there’s a knock on my door. “Come in, it’s open!” I yell from the couch and within a second Stone is standing behind me. “Hey there.” I say, looking up from the tv to meet his face, which is very happy. He’s not usually this happy.

“Wassup?” I ask him as he takes a seat next to me.

He turns to face me and as I sit straight, he takes ahold of my hands “I’ve got a surprise for you.” Is the first thing he says since he’s come in.

“Soooo, tell me..” I tell him after he’s silent for a couple of minutes, waiting for me to give some sort of reply.

He nods, “I’ve booked Pearl Jam another gig and they said we could also get a supporting act, so I asked if I could choose who that was gonna be and they said yes and I’ve kinda booked Purps a gig as our supporting act….?” he says, all way too fast and without any punctuation, with puppy eyes on his face and with a hint of insecurity.

I process everything he’s said and when it finally gets to me, I jump off the couch and start screaming in happiness. “YOU’VE BOOKED PURPS A GIG?!”

Stone starts laughing and gets up as well. He takes my hands in his and looks me straight in the eye, “So, you’re in?” he asks questioningly and hopeful.

“If it were up to me I’d say yes right away. I can’t believe you’re doing this for me. For us! But of course, I need to ask the others first.” I say as I give him a hug, tighter than ever.

“Yeah, ‘course. Just let me know as soon as possible. Otherwise I’m gonna have to find another band..”

Stone stays for a while longer, just chilling at my place. In the meantime I’ve called my bandmates (Elisha, Darren, Damien and Kim) and they all sounded very happy and excited about the news. We have never played live-show before, this is because all five of us are kind of scared to go on stage and we just like keeping it low-key in my garage, sometimes performing for some friends, but that’s it.

The day of the show soon arrived and Purps was completely ready for it, all the nervousness replaced by excitement. We all knew we were just an opening act for Pearl Jam, but it was a big thing for us.

As soon as we got on stage, we started playing like our lives depended on it, maybe it did. Maybe this was the beginning of a big something.

After the first three songs it was time for me to introduce ourselves.

“Helloouh everyone! We are Purps and tonight we’re opening for our good friends Pearl Jam!” the crowd went wild when I mentioned them. I am so proud of them, having so many people that support them already, it’s amazing to see. “Enjoy your night and thanks for having us!” I say before we start our next song. I notice the guys backstage and every once in a while one of them gives us a thumbs up, except for Eddie, obviously.. Because of the fact that he can’t stand me, he’s also built up hatred towards my band, which I think is idiotic, ‘cause even if I hate Eddie, I still think he makes good music. It seems he doesn’t think that way about us.

About 45 minutes later it’s time for us to leave the stage, but not after receiving a huge applause from the crowd. I never imagined playing a show would feel so good, especially if you’re being appreciated by the people you’re playing for.

“You were great guys! Congrats on your first show ever.” Mike states while giving us a big sweaty group hug. The rest of the guys congratulate us as well, but once again, except for Eddie. I decide to leave him be, not being in the mood to spend energy on him. It’s been such a blast tonight and I won’t let him ruin that.

“Good luck, guys. You’ll do great!” I tell the guys before they head on stage. I notice Eddie looks at me and I can’t place his expression. I want to say something, but first of all I don’t know what and second of all I can’t, ‘cause before I can say something, Eddie’s gone on stage.

My bandmates and I decide to head into the crowd to have a better view of Pearl Jam. They were already playing there fourth song when we reached the crowd and most of the people were singing along with the words. It was a great view.

They played their show and when they were done I clapped harder than I’d ever done before. Heading back backstage I ran up to them and gave them a big hug, “I’m so proud of you all! You don’t even know.” I say loudly and squeeze them tighter. That is until I’m being pushed back by a certain someone.

“Get off me, (L/N).” Eddie mutters.

I stumble over Dave’s feet and prepare myself for a fall, but I’m being held up by strong arms. “Thanks Jeff.” I say as I look up to him.

“What is wrong with you? I just congratulated you, asshole.” I snap at Eddie, who’s just looking pissed off at me.

He starts walking away and drops the subject, but I’m not done yet. “Ugh, I feel like punching him in the face so hard right now.” I sigh frustrated by anger, just loud enough to hear him. Jeff is the only one who stayed with me, the others have already left to get some drinks.

Eddie suddenly comes to a halt and his head turns in my direction, “Why don’t you just do it then?” he says coldly.

I look him directly in the eyes and at this moment Jeff realises it’s time for him to leave, knowing moments like this could get heated between me and Eddie. It isn’t the first time something like this happens.

“Because,” I say as I slowly start walking in his direction, “you’re not worth my and especially not my punch. You should be honoured if I punched you.”

Eddie scoffs and walks closer to me, we’re now just inches apart from each other, our noses almost touching. “You’re so full of yourself, aren’t you?” he says through gritted teeth.

“Says the one who has never even congratulated my band, because of his hatred towards the singer. How am I full of myself when I always say how proud I am of Pearl Jam and how much I think you deserve it? Huh? Tell me, Vedder. Enlighten me about the situation, ‘cause I’d love to-”

I’m cut off by his lips being pressed against mine. At first I desperately want to push him away, but it’s only then that I realise how good this feels, as if it’s meant to be. His tongue slides across my lower lip, asking for entrance, and I gladly open my mouth. Our tongues meet roughly. I’ve never kissed anyone with so much passion.

When we break apart, we’re both very much in the need of air, resting our foreheads against each other, we regain our breathing. My hands are resting on his chest and his are around my waist.

“I hate you. I hate you so fucking much.” I mumble while still trying to regain my breath.

He chuckles, “I know you do, I feel the same.”

We both start laughing a bit, something that’s never happened before and it catches us both off guard. “This is weird.” I tell him while were looking each other deeply in the eyes.

He nods and puts his hand on my face, rubbing his thumb against me cheek slightly, “I know, but it feels so good, doesn’t it?”

“God it does!” I say and I completely melt into his touch.��“I could get used to this, it feels a lot better than hating you, actually.” I confess

“you better get used to is, I’m not planning on leaving this behind any time soon.” he smirks and gives me another kiss.

[tryskomys]

Wet Sand

Stone Gossard x OC

Chapter 3 - For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her

Summary: there’s a first time for everything.

masterlist

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫

notes: chapter three is go! hope you enjoy the voyage through the start of the weird relationship between these punky dummies - you met a day ago, it’s not that deep. right? right?!

tw: weed, virginity talk, allusions to the word that rhymes with eggs. dreamy pining psychedellia.

songs:

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫

“Morning! What can I help you with?”

“I’ll have a latte, please. Do you have something else than milk, though?”

“Jeff? Do we have any oat milk left?”

“Yep, I just opened a fresh carton.”

“There you have it!”

“Great, I’ll take that, thanks.”

“That’ll be a dollar in total, please. One oat milk latte, Jeff!”

“Coming up, Keeks.”

Just as Keeva took a dollar bill from the cute ginger girl in front of her, the front door swung open, sending in a swift of cold air.

It was Stone, excitedly waving a paper bag in the air. Her jaw dropped and she shook her head with a huff. Stone seemed out of breath as he ran up to the counter, fog still puffing out of his mouth.

“Here it is, milady, it’s still warm. My apple turnovers will burn if I don’t come back in ten minutes, so make it quick, please,” he spewed, leaning against the counter as he tried to catch his breath.

“You’re so weird,” was all Keeva stuttered out through giggles. That made a huge smile appear on his face, his eyes twinkling. She took the paper bag from him and peeked inside, sighing with contentment when the scent of freshly baked pastry filled her nose.

“Jeff! One cappuccino with an extra shot of spit, please,” Keeva called over her shoulder and Stone’s Cheshire cat grin grew even wider, chuckling. She scratched her forehead to hide her raging blush with her hair.

Jeff shook his head as if he was already over what he called ‘the Tom and Jerry on crack routine’ earlier. He gave her the ginger’s order and as Keeva handed her the oat milk latte, she noticed that the girl checked Stone up and down. And he gave her a little side-eye, smirking.

“Oh! Oh hey, Stoney! Haven’t seen you in ages, almost didn’t recognize you! Great hair,” the girl blurted out and went in for a hug. Stone seemed to know who she is, but Keeva could notice that he tensed up, clearly not too keen on hugging everyone he bumps into.

She felt some sort of twisted satisfaction when he awkwardly gave her a half-assed hug, but as soon as the girl let him go, it was as if a switch flipped in his brain. He eased again and folded his arms, as cool as ever.

“Mel, Mel, Mel…fancy seeing you here. Thanks, there was a sale on red box dye in CVS. Not like you need that,” he chirped and reached out to flick a strand of her hair, a sly smirk plastered on his lips. "You might find a few of us strolling around town."

Mel’s airy giggle rang through the room and Keeva darted between the two of them. The dynamic seemed to be slightly similar to the one she’d seen with the blondie last night. And once again, she couldn’t help but feel awful.

‘Kay, mate, I get it, you enjoy flirting with everybody else, but do you have to fling it in my face?

“There’s a rumour going around that you’ve dropped out and ran off with a travelling circus show. Disappeared for, like, what…” he continued, scratching his chin.

“I don’t know, five months? I just had tons of work for school so I wasn’t out much,” she shrugged. “I’m back now, though, Christmas break. So we can get the party started right where we left off,” Mel quipped and took a sip of her coffee, leaving a lipstick stain on the lid.

She looked at him through her lashes to emulate a ginger Bambi and he smirked, but his words were seeping with sarcasm.

“Can’t wait.”

Oblivious to his jab, she took another sip and asked Keeva for a napkin. Without leaving Mel out of her sight, she blindly reached under the counter, whipping out a tissue box.

Stone carefully observed the shorter woman in front of him, biting his cheek when Keeva put on a fake smile and theatrically presented the box to Mel.

“Hate to barge in on your planning session but I might need to serve another coffee, so I gotta ask you to move slightly to your left or right, depending on your preference,” she explained, moving her sardonic gaze to Stone.

He was already darting across her face with a cocky grin and he didn’t seem too phased. On the contrary, his scoff indicated that he was amused by her acidity.

“You still have my number, right? So that’s sorted,” Mel said after patting her lips dry as they shifted to the side.

Nobody was behind them, but Stone knew better than to comment on it. He knew Keeva’s frigid response would provoke another war for the last word.

“I keep it in a heart-shaped locket next to my bed, no worries,” he retorted and Mel blushed a little, putting a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

“Always the tease. Let me know then and we’ll figure something out,” she purred and took a look at her wristwatch. “Oh, gotta run. My class starts in half an hour. See ya, Stoney!” she went in for another hug and he lousily put his arm around her shoulders, his smile once again twitching with an uncomfortable cramp.

“Yeah, see ya,” he mumbled, giving her a jittery wave.

“Cheers, have a great day,” Keeva called after Mel as she walked away, narrowing her eyes at Stone when he turned back to her.

She took a big bite of her croissant, humming when Stone raised his eyebrows in question.

“Hm, it’s digestible.”

“Excuse me? We at Grand Central Bakery pride ourselves in the best pastries in town,” he shot back, shaking his head as he leaned on the counter. “I chose the crispiest one I had, don’t be a brat.”

Keeva dusted off a fleck of puff pastry that settled in the corner of her lips, ignoring the rush of blood that crept up her neck. She scoffed.

“You don’t strike me as a locket kinda guy.”

“I had to think of something,” he shrugged, fiddling with little clumps of wool on his left glove. She raised her eyebrows with a dramatic gasp and clutched her invisible pearls.

“So you’re saying you don’t have it?”

“The only things I keep next to my bed are a grass pipe and a mug that’s been collecting coffee debris for two months.”

That’s, uh…not surprising. Somehow. What the -

“I’ve seen her once at the Ramp and didn’t have the heart to turn her number down. She had cute handwriting,” Stone shrugged again, biting his lips to contain a grin when she let out a loud annoyed sigh.

“How chivalrous of you. Your turnovers are burning as we speak, so you should make like a Mel and disappear,” Keeva said as she took the coffee Jeff handed her. “One spit cappuccino to-go, that will be fifty cents.”

“It says a buck on the board,” he squinted at the menu and grabbed his cup. His freezing fingers brushed against Keeva’s knuckles and she stifled a cough before taking another big bite of her croissant.

“You paid the other half in material goods,” she mumbled with her mouth full and stuck out her palm. Stone chuckled and fished a half-dollar coin out of his back pocket, theatrically slapping it on top of her palm.

“Should I make like a Mel and give you my number? As a little tip?” he grinned, taking a sip of his coffee as she raised her eyebrows.

“Tempting…but, no,” she gave him a mocking smile and tossed the coin into the cashier drawer. “I don’t have a locket to store such a valuable thing.”

Stone scoffed and mirrored her sarcastic smile, reaching over the counter to flick her nose. She slapped his hand away and tapped on her watch to remind him to leave.

“Touché. I’ll be waiting ‘til you get one,” he gave her a silly wink and whistled to get Jeff’s attention. “See ya at lunch, Ames.”

Jeff just quickly looked over his shoulder and continued to wash his hands in the sink.

“See ya, now go before they sack you,” he mumbled with a grin. Keeva gasped.

“Jesus, don’t give him ideas or we'll never get rid of him.”

Stone was already half out of the door when he gave her a middle finger, leaving his arm between the doorframe. He held it there until the door squished him and then snaked out, once again disappearing into the icy fog outside.

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Precise like a Swiss clock, he came back to the café exactly at half past noon, just as Jeff reached the door to lock it for the lunch pause. He let Stone in, eyeing the bag in his hand with a gulp.

“I have arrived, children. Turkey salad sandwiches from Cyclops, fries to share,” Stone sharply exhaled when he walked in, slightly out of breath, and shook the plastic bag in the air. His hair was tied up in a neat ponytail, pointy ears red and tender from the frosty wind.

Keeva’s stomach growled on cue at the whiff of fries and Jeff whistled, reaching into the bag like a starved raccoon.

“Woah, fancy. Got your allowance, buddy?” he mused, chuckling when Stone softly slapped his cheek.

“Fuck off. Took three extra shifts last week to pay you back for the weed, asshole. You’re a spendy date,” he hissed and walked away from Jeff before he could finish taking his food.

He came up to Keeva and reached out to ruffle her hair, throwing his arm around her shoulders. As he led her to the back door, he called after Jeff. “Baby didn’t even want me to buy her a beer yesterday, you should take notes.”

Keeva chuckled and grabbed her leather jacket as they walked past the coathanger. A picture of his awkward wince at Mel's hug flashed through her head when he tugged on her hair as if it was the most natural move in the world, his cold fingers grazing her neck.

“Hungry?”

“Like a wolf,” she quipped back, chuckling when Jeff mocked Stone’s hair tug and yanked the bag out of his hands. He reached inside and chomped down a bundle of fries.

When they walked out, the cold air felt refreshing, in stark contrast to the overheated café. There was a small roof over the short staircase as well as a part of the patio.

It was quite clean and without any snow, so they all sat down in a circle and took their food, plopping the fry basket in the centre.

When Keeva took the first bite, it was a heavenly sensation. After days on crusty bread, the juicy salad and grilled turkey hit just the right spot. She closed her eyes and hummed, dipping a few fries into the signature Cyclops spicy mayo dip.

“My, my, Ames, I think she likes it,” Stone mused and she rolled her eyes, scoffing.

“I shall die and go to heaven, now. Bye,” she mumbled with her mouth full, resting her head against the brick wall.

Jeff laughed and reached into the inner pocket of his windbreaker. He grabbed a cigarette pack with three blunts and a lighter inside and offered it to Stone, who took one out and lit it. After he took a long drag, he handed it to Keeva, who just took a bite of her sandwich.

“I told you, it’s like sticking your head into a fratboy’s gym locker,” she shook her head and pushed his hand away.

Stone exchanged an amused look with Jeff as he passed him the joint and chomped down a bunch of fries.

“Oh, and I can’t jam today, gotta go get the knee checked for the last time,” Jeff shrugged and Stone shook his head. He wiped his hands on his jeans and loosened his scarf to scratch the back of his neck, just where the tips of his ponytail tickled him.

Jeff did a quick double-check between Stone and his food as he passed the joint back and prepared to take the first bite.

“Stoney. My dude. Is that a fucking hickey?” he gasped, breathing in a bit of toast.

Stone's eyes popped open as if someone dumped a bucket of cold water down his jacket and started feeling around his neck in panic.

“Huh? Where?”

“Holy shit, how old did you say you were?” Keeva scoffed, slapping her forehead when she leaned over to take a peek at the small purple bruise under his ear. “Fifteen?”

“Twenty-one?”

They spoke at the same time and Jeff started laughing at Stone’s sudden defensive body language, choking on his sandwich.

“I’ve seen worse, Keeks. One time, he ca-“

“Okay, okay, okay. Chill out or I’ll tell her why the hat stays on when you fuck,” Stone reached over to Jeff and slapped the back of his head, forcing the blunt into his mouth.

Jeff was still trying to cough out the piece of bread stuck in his throat, so he started wheezing even harder.

When Stone guaranteed that Jeff was properly shut down, he finally let him go and slapped his back a few times while taking a puff. His brawny friend finally calmed down after a minute of furious coughing, but he still didn’t lose the wide grin on his face.

“Jesus fuck, I need water. Be good,” Jeff stuttered and hopped up, disappearing behind the staff door.

A moment of slightly awkward silence passed as they exchanged a look, both eagerly trying not to burst out laughing. Stone tried to offer her the blunt once again, but Keeva took a bite of her sandwich instead.

With a little bit of luck, I’ll choke too and won’t have to look at you anymore. That would be cool.

“Pussy,” Stone huffed and broke into a wide grin when she gave him the finger. He sighed and leaned his back against the cold brick wall, crossing his legs as he chomped on a fry.

“So, you came here all alone?” he questioned, his face clouded by remnants of smoke.

“Yup. Free as a bird, I guess. Weehoo,” Keeva chuckled, wiping toast crumbs from her cheeks with the back of her hand.

Not getting into that right now. Not when I have this glorious toastie in my hand.

Stone whistled.

“Left a strapping young lad named Arthur behind, I presume?”

“Do I really seem like a desirable object of attention?” she huffed, softly tugging on her freckled cheeks and pointing at her mismatched irises. He gave her a side-eye and took another fry.

“I mean…”

Stop taunting, asshole.

“Shut it. No, there was no Arthur to leave behind.”

“Tommy?”

“No.”

“Charlie?”

“No, there were no Tommies or Charlies or Henries, so save that.”

Stone shut his mouth and his eyes slowly widened as he sat up straight, taking the half-eaten fry out of his mouth. He stared at her for a few seconds before raising his eyebrows as far as they could go, his hand still hanging in the air.

“Uh, wait, wait, wait. Let me get this straight. You mean…I’m sitting in front of a real, unadulterated Virgin Mary?”

“I’m not -“ Keeva interrupted him way too abruptly and shrugged so hard that a piece of turkey flew out of her sandwich. When his overwhelming stare grew even wider, she lowered her voice. “I’m not a virgin, okay?”

“Sure. And I am,” he snorted out a laugh and slapped his knee as if it was the most amusing information he’d ever learned. “Bet you never even kissed a guy, Mary.”

She kicked his shin as hard as she could, adding a weak punch to his bony shoulder. Stone just giggled again and his freckled nose scrunched.

Irresistibly irritating.

“Leave me alone! I have! I have kissed a guy, okay? Once or twice…or once,” she mumbled, getting more quiet as her excuses ran out. His jaw dropped.

“Holy. Shit.”

“Fuck off! It’s not fair to compare me to you, you’re a little whore!” she shrieked, her voice jumping a few octaves higher than usual. That made him laugh even harder.

“I’d take a whore over a Mother Theresa,” he shrugged and finally ate the cold fry he’d been squishing between his fingers. Keeva shook her mop of curls, trying to curtain her patchy cheeks.

“You know, Stoney, you talk a lot for someone who’s at an arm’s length from my virgin fists. So watch your mouth.”

He raised his hands in defence and bit his lips to contain the laughter. She threw him a scolding stare and took an angry bite of a big bunch of fries.

Stone inhaled to speak and she already raised her finger to shut him up, but he just wouldn’t let it go.

“You know, there’s two things I can’t stand in my proximity. Girls with freckles and virgins. And you’re sitting right in front of me.”

“Yeah? Tough shit, can’t do much about that,” she shot back, her mouth full of potatoes. He raised his eyebrows again, breaking into a poorly contained grin.

“Uh…I have a few ideas.“

Okay, now you’re crossing a line.

“You disgust me,” she coughed out after a few moments of chewing.

Stone just slowly took a big hit and lazily leaned closer to her. He puffed the thick cloud right into her face and a tingle ran through her vertebrae as if he shocked her with a taser.

Fuck. That’s impossible. He knows. He must know.

“Do I? Why are you blushing?” he added, voice hoarse from the smoke.

Keeva took a moment to compose herself, suppressing a sneeze that tickled her nostrils. She gulped down the fries, mindlessly staring at his smirking lips as she recalled her dream.

“Fucking hell. Your hubris is baffling, mate,” she muttered and cleared her throat to get rid of the strain in her vocal cords.

“My hubris is baffling? Golly gee shucks. I shall dub thee ‘granny’ instead of ‘baby’ if you keep talking like it’s the eighteen hundreds,” he calmly retorted, tipping his head to the side. “I’m just saying, if you ever need a friend to help out…”

Keeva scoffed.

“You know, this whole ‘sarcastic lanky stoner punk‘ shtick you got going on might work on girls around here, but I can see right through you,” she sneered, trying to show confidence in her words. “You’re like an annoying old book I’ve read ten times over. I’m in your fucking head, beanpole.”

“Yeah, you are,” he quietly quipped, tipping his head to the other side. Keeva raised her eyebrows.

“Stop staring at me like that.”

“Why?” Stone tipped his head again and put on an innocent pout, his eyes gleaming as if he flipped a light switch.

How the fuck does he do that?

“Because I don’t like it,” she weakly shot back.

“Somehow, I don’t believe you.”

Neither of them moved an inch, though. And after a few moments of tense silence, she finally thought of an answer worthy of the personified mischief in front of her.

Payback, beanpole. Payback.

“Stoney, Stoney. My great-great-grandma used to have this saying. You know, in the eighteen hundreds,” she nonchalantly waved her hand and tipped her head as well, carefully taking the joint from his fingers.

“It went ‘Never trust a guy with a hickey,’” she mumbled and raised it to her lips. “‘…especially when he says he wants to fuck you real bad.’”

She finished by taking a deep hit and without a single blink, she blew the smoke in his face.

“And I’ve lived by that ever since.”

Before he could respond, she stuck the blunt between his lips, backed away and took another unassuming bite of her sandwich.

Stone’s eyes fluttered closed for a split second before he raised his eyebrows and cleared his throat.

Just as he took the joint out to shoot back at her, the metal door swung open and Jeff hopped off the small set of stairs, landing right between them.

“Ah, I could’ve died back there and you didn’t even come to check on me! Bet you were talking shit,” he chuckled and scooted over to his food, chomping on a few fries. “What did I miss?”

Stone stared at Keeva and she just shrugged, challenging him to answer. He blinked and then finally eased back into his immovable cool facade, scoffing.

He took a quick look at his watch and got up, unceremoniously putting the joint out on the door before slipping inside.

“Keeva is a virgin.”

She was carefully scanning the empty street for any signs of human appearance, but it seemed like this ghost town was empty.

What a haunting feeling.

She was evidently waiting for something - someone, anxiously tapping her foot in a steady rhythm.

It was the dead of night, soft snowflakes soundlessly floated around her and muffled all sounds of the darkness like weightless cotton balls. As if she was stuck in a crystal snow globe filled with ink.

Warm lamps stood along the pavement of what was eerily similar to Pioneer Square. They emanated a beautiful amber glow, making the white flecks seem almost like fire sparks.

The entry signs of all surrounding shops were written in unreadable letters that moved and changed time and time again, appearing and going as they pleased.

A clump of snow glided its way to the tip of her nose. She crossed her eyes to look at it and tried to blow it away, but she accidentally breathed it in instead.

She let out a suppressed sneeze and rubbed the melting flake away, her fingertips freezing.

Looking up from the sparkling gravel under her feet, she scanned the starry sky with childlike wonder. She couldn’t exactly tell the stars from the snowflakes. Both twinkled similarly, illuminated by the full moon that hung right above her.

The light mirrored in his peculiar eyes, making them seem like glowing gems from afar when he emerged from the surrounding fog on the opposite end of the street. He made his presence known with a soft whistle.

She already knew he was there, though. The air shifted around her just as he appeared out of nowhere.

She turned her head to look at him, breaking into a wide grin when he took his hand out of his pocket and gave her an endearing wave.

He skipped along the road in long hops, nearing her a lot quicker than the distance seemed to be. As if he was skipping through time as well.

He wasn’t leaving any footsteps behind, he didn’t have a shade. But then again, neither did she.

Sprinkles of snowflakes fell on his messy red hair, tied into a tangled bun on top of his head with an outrageously pink scrunchie. Here, though, the fabric seemed to be muted and warm, surprisingly soft. Just like him.

“Oh, look who’s here! You were waiting for me in this weather? I’m blushing,” he mused, putting his arm around her as soon as he reached her.

He gave her what would normally be a bone-crushing squeeze, but in this place, it felt like catching fog with bare hands.

“You told me not to forget. You’re more intimidating than you think,” she mumbled and folded her arms to warm her hands in the armpits of her leather jacket. He grinned.

“Well, I think pretty highly of myself, so…”

“Yeah, I figured,” she squinted at him, curiously studying the red frostbitten patches on his cheeks with a sly smile.

“Wanna take this? It’s fucking freezing out here,” he mumbled when her teeth started chattering and began to take his suede jacket off. But she shook her head, holding his arms in place.

She ran her hands through thin air.

“Nope, I’m fine, ta. Did you make this weather up, Stoney? Like a weird yawn-to-put-your-arm-around-a-girl type deal?” she nonchalantly chuckled and blood quickly rushed to her cheeks when he unexpectedly took her fingers in his palms, rubbing them together to melt the freezing sensation.

It was eerie, to suddenly feel his skin on hers. Icy and silky, like a soft breeze tickling her pale knuckles. The intensity of her blush was painful, stinging and scratching her cold flesh from the inside.

He lifted her hands to his lips, softly blowing on them. His breath was balmy and caressing, like running one’s hands through a bowl of honey.

“Maybe I did. Twenty-one years alive and I’ve never seen as much snow as this year. It’s like you brought it with you, like a little punky Jack Frost,” he mumbled into their intertwined fingers. “I’m not complaining, though. Feels like we’re in a song or something.”

“Why do I have the feeling that you’ve already used that trick a couple of times?” she playfully lifted her index finger to nudge his aquiline nose, but once again, she only poked air.

Like she was able to touch him only when he permitted it. Manipulating the matter of her body, the sole sovereign of this bizarre world, above the limits of time and space. The look he gave her wasn’t as mischievous as she’d expected.

“Would it hurt you to stop being bitchy for just a couple of seconds?” he raised his eyebrows but continued to softly caress the back of her hands.

Silence hung in the air as she averted her eyes, embarrassed by his sudden crassness.

“I never dream,” he added and waited for her to look at him. His eyes were brutally honest. Older, wiser, burdened with something she wasn’t able to decipher. “But when I see you out there, I can’t tell if I’m awake.”

She opened her mouth to say something, but she wasn’t able to find words that would describe the feelings running through her head like a freight train.

Instead, she opted for carefully loosening her hands out of his grip and then took his fingers in hers, now returning the favour by blowing on his red knuckles.

His expression softened a bit as he watched little puffs of fog leave her lips, eyes dissociating when she gathered the courage to plant a feather-light kiss on his fingertips. Then, she gently pushed the hand back to his face, pressing the fingers against his lips.

They were still warm.

His eyes fluttered closed because somehow, he could still feel the soft skin of her lips on them.

Without thinking, he mirrored her action and returned the roundabout kiss by reaching back down to her, lingering on her lips for a fleeting moment before finally slipping his hands back into his pockets.

After what felt like hours in a maze of his strange gaze, she gathered enough strength to steady her breath and finally spoke.

“Let’s not wake up, then.”

And as if on cue, the shriek of an alarm clock disturbed the ghostly silence. It seemed to be slightly muffled by the glowing fog around them, but it still pierced her heart like a scalloped knife.

His murky voice washed over her like a warm ocean wave, spilling into her veins. Slowly, calmly, somberly.

And as always, crowned by a daring smirk.

“Tomorrow, same time, same place. Don’t you forget…”

[jeffament]

i love u jeff ament but imagine my power if i was @eddievedder

[shewantedtobeasecretgirl]

7. Bass is heavy a.k.a. useful finger techniques, Dee Dee Ramone’s yelling and helpful octopuses

„Damn, I forgot Sly and Ethel in the van!” she groans and slaps on her forehead.

“No problem, I bring them with the next round.” Scully offers and disappears in the hallway that leads to the backdoor. I have no idea who Sly and Ethel can be but I don’t want to know it either… Now that she’s been left alone she tries to push the carriage trolley with the amps to its place on the stage. With little success. But her fight with the gear twice as heavy as her reminds me of a scene.

“Old woman!” I call her.

“Man!” she corrects me still pressing against the load at full strength. Okay, she passed the test again but that’s not a big deal, Monty Python’s Holy Grail basically became a mainstream movie by now, anybody could quote a few scenes from it. Okay, not everyone, none of my former girlfriends was familiar with absurd humor and neither is Amber. I got her to watch it with me but I gave up the mission and turned off the video recorder when she asked for the third time how much time was left of it. It’s just not for her.

“Okay, Dennis, where’s my cow?” I inquire while I’m helping her win the battle; otherwise hours later, the amps would still stand in the middle of the stage and our crowd would enjoy her hopeless struggle instead of the show.

“Are you deaf? Or just concentration problems?” she asks harshly, avoiding my glance and trying to ignore my intervention but her rush moves uncover the surprise she might feel about it.

“Hey, it’s not easy to talk with you, do you know? I asked you about something, I even emphasized my lack of information using a different tone, in grammar text books you can find the encyclopedic explanation in chapter “Question”.” I draw a question mark with my index finger in the air. “The next communication panel is the so-called “answer” in which you satisfy my need for details…” I gesture the quotation marks too.

“I won’t satisfy you in any way, excuse me…” she cuts me off and even tosses me away a bit as she steps dynamically to the monitor board to plug the cables into it.

“I’m just trying to ask where’s my…” I don’t need to finish the sentence since Scully arrives back with Dave’s stage prop, holding my cow under his arm.

“And I was trying to refer to the fact that we take care of Ethel and Sly.” she nods at the two mascots.

“Ethel?” I blurt out frowning. This chick isn’t sane, she was serious about searching for a name for it… “Since when has she been called Ethel?”

“Actually her name has always been Ethel, you’ve just never asked her about it.” she fixes her glasses with a wiseacre face. “She was quite unhappy, did you know that? I caught her searching for numbers of slaughterhouses in the phonebook as she wanted to volunteer to be a steak ingredient, no wonder knowing you. But when I told her we were traveling to Texas soon she immediately changed her mind. Now she wants to be the spokesperson of the anti-rodeo movement. A little care makes wonders.”

Her fantasy is quite intense, I have to admit.

“So you’re obsessed with stuffed animals?” I ask leaning against my Marshall and watch her wiring the stage with quick moves.

“…asks the guy who keeps one on his amplifier…” she mumbles darting at me for a second and raising one eyebrow. “What are you doing here, anyway? Are you supervising me or what? As far as I know I’m an unbearable person who makes the others admire her and uses her family ties…”

Nice attempt but not enough to distract me.

“…and who told, ahem, yelled at me that I should get to know her better, that’s what I’m trying to do right now.” I continue the sentence. “So tell me, Judith, how many stuffed animals do you have exactly? I bet there are a few ones in your bedroom… my first estimation would be somewhere between five and ten.”

“Oh yeah, my bedroom. Damn, you’ve got me… First of all there’s that huge teddy sitting on my bed, how did you figure it out? Then there’s the bunny in the armchair, the cute seal on my desk and my stuffed pony and unicorn collection, I gave up counting them a few years ago. And I have to mention that everything in the room is very pink and very fluffy. Do I meet the profile you created about me?” she bats her eyelashes.

Clever, but not clever enough to drive me to the wall.

“Actually, when I asked you about stuffed animals I was talking about stuffed animals. Like, dead animals which are stuffed. I mean, I could totally imagine a few stuffed bats, snakes and rats hanged on your shelves full of mysterious ingredients for occult purposes. Candles arranged on the points of a huge pentagram, right next to the coffin-shaped bed…”

“You left out the voodoo dolls. I have a bunch of them, the latest one I prepared wears denim pants and a Luv Co shirt tucked into them…” she approaches threatening me with a jack plug and for one second I think she’s about to stick it into my eyeball but in the last moment she changes direction and plugs it into the matching slot of the amp. I acknowledge, she didn’t need much time to know her way around our gear… But come on, even a chimpanzee can be trained how to put different solids into the right holes, she’s on the level of an average lab monkey. “But how come I turned from a nun into a witch in one single day? You’re pretty much inconsistent at insulting, Gossard…”

That makes sense. I open my mouth to cite the witch hunt scene from the mentioned movie but Scully intervenes in our conversation.

“Guys, if you go on like this I’ll claim payrise from Eric…”

“For what? How do you mean it?” she turns in his direction with hands on hips.

“Conflict management bonus.” he shrugs casually. “Seriously, could you just stop for a moment? For just a few seconds, I feel like I was at a fucking dogfight.”

“It was him who started it!” she exclaims outraged pointing at me.

“Don’t look at me, I don’t know what she’s talking about.” I play dumb raising my hands in front of me.

“Jesus, you’re hopeless. Forget the stopping part, I just want the money.” Scully shakes his head resigned.

“Money? What money? I don’t know what’s going on here but I want money too.” Smitty enters in the company off Dave, Karrie and Jeff.

“When did everybody get so greedy? Actually, it is you who should pay me for my show, I’m the only one who keeps you entertained in this boring touring life.” I smirk as I begin to tune my orange Les Paul.

“As for me, I prefer boredom by all means.“ she rolls her eyes and begins to flipping through her notebook.

“Hey, Judy, we have a few spare hour after the soundcheck and I thought… I thought we could begin your bass guitar lessons.” Jeff scratches his nape holding his other hand deep in his pocket. Awkward loverboy alert… I pull a few steps away because I’m not interested in this embarrassing lovey-dovey but I also try to stay within earshot. Not that I give a shit about it, it’s just better to keep up with the sequels.

“Sure!” she smiles. “I mean, Karrie, do you have any plans for the rest of the afternoon? If you don’t, we could…”

“Beth wants to do some shopping, I forgot to mention it… so I’m going with her. I wanted to ask you too but I have a mind like a sieve…” Karrie answers suspiciously quickly.

“Oookay, then why not?”

“Your place or mine?” Jeff asks not noticing how ambiguous he sounds.

“Jesus, Jeff, you don’t waste your time, straight to the point…” I throw in, which makes the others stop staring them and suddenly everybody pretends to be busy with their work to hide their grins and snorts.

“There’s that small park near the hotel, what if we go there?” the target person of the courtship tries to ignore my remark but can’t disguise the tremble in her voice.

Clever, again. She picks a neutral place. Cautious enough not to show her closest surrounding and smart enough not to get in awkward situations. I mean, boys’ rooms tend to be quite messy, the mixed smell of sweat and deodorant for men, not to mention the stinky sneakers and boxers left on the bed…

“Great. I’ve already mapped out which things I want to show you first.” Jeff goes on enthusiastically and more awkwardly if it’s possible at all. I see Dave’s shoulders shaking as he kneels behind his bass drum to fake-fix its pedal.

“Let’s begin with the basics, I only learnt the most common chords to be able to play some accompaniment to campfire songs and nursery rhymes.” she insists on keeping the conversation under control but Jeff doesn’t seem to cooperate.

“I can teach you a few useful finger techniques.” he exercises the fingers of his bear paws with sincere innocence in his eyes but at this point everybody cracks up; even his future music student giggles bashfully.

“What’s with everyone?” he looks around confused. “What’s so funny?”

“You should… have… heard yourself...” Scully hiccups as he and Smitty collapse of uncontrollable laughter onto each other’s shoulder.

“Oh yeah. That conversation was… juicy.” Dave adds winking and doing unmistakable moves with his hips and arms.

“Oh fff…” Jeff buries his face into his palms replaying the scene in his head. Dave steps to him to pat his shoulders a few times.

“You know what, Ames? You shouldn’t talk so much about what you’re going to do. Just… do it.”

***

“So what’s your plan with that skateboard?” Judy asks while we’re walking in the park searching for a remote place. She hasn’t come up with that awkward conversation yet and I can’t be grateful enough to her for that. I don’t know what happened to me, usually I’m not that clueless type… I was probably way too much focused on the possible outcome of this day. If can I stick to my plan, I’m going to ask her out in like one hour and I have absolutely no idea what she might answer and that drives me crazy. Cool down, Ament, don’t act like a junior high school student before his first prom…

“Uhm… I know it sounds surprising but I thought I could skateboard here…” Aaaand in the category of meaningless answers, the Oscar goes to… drumbeat… Jeffrey Allen Ament, Big Sandy, Montana!!! “Plus, I thought if being a qualified musician, you found the class boring, we could spice it up with some physical challenges… like… you should play bass lines while rolling and balancing on this skateboard. And if it was still a piece of cake for you we could search for a skate park with half pipes and you could even do somersaults and flips.”

“I don’t know… I’m not an athletic type… I’ve only tried to ride a scooter once in my life. Mary Sue Kellerman, my classmate lent me hers on the playground when we were second graders. She explained and showed me how to do it but somehow I didn’t feel the technique, I stepped on it, drove it a few times and enjoyed the speed so much that I forgot to drive it again.” she giggles.

“And… what happened?”

“Seeing I was slowing down she yelled after me like ”Drive, drive!” but I felt paralyzed, I pulled up gradually and ended up tumbling from a standing position…”

“Poor you! But my first skateboarding attempts weren’t glorious either and I still collect a few injuries when I decide to learn a new trick. But I fell in love with it at first… try, and I never want to give it up.”

“You could be a cool, skateboarding grandpa who shocks the youth!”

We find a calm, trellis-like corner and settle down still discussing the same topic. Unlike most girls I know, she doesn’t mind it at all and when I tell her how my father convinced me to build my own skateboard instead of buying that expensive Stacy Peralta board, she turns out to know him. I can’t believe my ears when she mentions Tony Alva too, I mean, who’s this girl?

“And how did you pick up how to play the guitar?” she nods towards the bass on my lap.

“Believe or not I took a few lessons… But they were boring, at least for me, no chords, no songs, only scales…”

“Scales are important!” she corrects me. I always forget that she’s pretty conscious as for music which isn’t typical at all in the band.

“What can I say… I grew up listening to my uncle’s records and as I could spare some money I spent all of it on ordering music magazines and vinyls. And when I started playing bass I figured out how to use my stereo vinyl player to learn Dee Dee Ramone’s parts.”

“I love them!” she exclaims.

“Really? I mean, you know a lot about music and punk songs aren’t very sophisticated concerning the musical part…”

“But that’s the best in punk. Even if you’re not very talented technically you still can play a bunch of songs… or if you can’t, you can still reproduce Dee Dee Ramone’s totally out-of-rhythm “one-two-three-four” yelling. And most punk songs operate with the classic scale degrees. Ramones also use the holy trinity of tonic, subdominant and dominant like the greatest composers before them and…” she jabbers enthusiastically without breathing.

“Waitwaitwait, stop! I don’t have the faintest clue what you’re talking about, if you want to analyze my favorite songs to me you have to go back to Genesis to make it understandable for this Montanan jerk!” I cut her off chuckling.

“Do you mean the Old Testament or the band?” she grins. “Anyway, it’s very simple, look.”

She grabs the instrument out of my lap, disposes it onto hers and strums all strings one after another.

“Normal basses are tuned like double basses, right?“ To my nodding she names them. “E, A, D, G. So, let’s take Blitzkrieg Bop which is written in A major.” She plays the bass line of the mentioned song flawlessly and explains its chord progression in the meantime. I listen to her with dropped jaw and when she falls silent for a second, I take my bass quickly back.

“Okay, the lesson is over, excuse me but I have to go and bury myself alive.” I remark trying to keep a straight face.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t want to sound like a nerd or show off with my theoretical knowledge, I…”

“You don’t have to apologize for amazing me! But now it’s my turn to amaze you… Do you like graffiti?”

“I don’t know… I’m ambivalent… there are a few ones which look good and are also meaningful but if someone destroys a clear wall with stupid scrawls…” she frowns.

Oh. That’s not a good sign… Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale…

“I prefer the creative ones too, such as my friend from the art school. He studied photography and spent his last years with shooting the best graffiti he’s seen all across the country and Canada and his exhibition opens on Thursday in Boston. And since we have a day off right that day, right there, I thought you could join.” I utter fast with one big breath. She stares me silently for a few seconds which seem like an eternity.

“ ’Course. Cool.” she answers briefly as if she was declaring something evident. I don’t have too much time to process the positive reception since she begins to roll my skateboard back and forth with her foot.

“Your introduction made me curious, I want to try this diabolical device.”

“Haha, okay, but only if I can walk next to you, you may need a handhold.”

She steps onto the board and she rolls cautiously on the path where we got here in a few minutes. She’s too busy with balancing to notice the rest of the band approaching from the gate.

“Hey Jeff, a suspicious woman is trying to steal your baby!” Eddie shouts.

“Look, guys I’m skateboaaaaaa…” she has to circle with her arms a few times and grab my shoulder to prevent herself from tumbling.

“Carefully, Judy. You should try surfing, it improves sense of balance and falling in water is safer than concrete.” Ed recommends.

“Say yes, if you don’t want to be fired…” Mike whisper-shouts hiding his face with one hand from Eddie preventing him from hearing it, which is obviously totally unnecessary.

“I’m not a big swimmer, so…” she shrugs apologetically.

“Anyway, did Jeff force you to try it? You can answer by signaling with your eyelids…” Mike jokes on.

“No, she just turned out to be a way better bass player than me. So I’ll quit the band and she’s begun to practice before she has to take over all of my tasks.”

“Ah, I see. Judy, I warn you, you’ll have to slam-dance with me. You should gain some weight, I don’t want to kill you…”

“Ed’s right. I’m going to slap you in the face with the guitar neck a few times… I mean literally… but no offense, you can hit back anytime you want or you can land on my foot after jumps from the monitor box like Jeff does…”

Judy wrinkles her nose as she tries to follow the relay of jokes. Stone – who has stayed silent until now – flashes an evil grin and clears his throat. The well-known first signs of his moronic verbal diarrhea.

“Guys, you forgot to prepare her for the most important circumstances. But that’s why I am the band leader… Judith, you have to do some shopping. The polyester basketball shirts are essential parts of our stage look, we can’t allow ourselves losing them just because Jeff quits. And the hats… that’s a more difficult question, they look quite… unique… so I don’t think you have any other choice than borrow them. Do you have sensitive scalp? Because… nevermind, I can lend you a few bandanas to make it more hygienic. Oh, and at certain points of the shows you’ll have to strip. Jeff often drops his shirt and plays on half-naked as you could already see it, you can’t break this tradition. But you also have to keep the hat on your head, don’t ask me why, that’s the rule.”

I sway my guitar case pretending I want to hit him and in the meantime I bite my lower lip to repress my grin. Stone is an idiot but sometimes he has good ideas… I mean obviously I can relate to that plot if I can be in the crowd… Jesus, when did I become such a sexist? I’ve just asked the poor girl out and… I’d better take a cold shower.

***

“And can we see you on TV on Saturday?” I ask rolling the film with my finger back and forth on the table. When Judy called me I was selecting pictures I want to show to Krisha as reference works and I found a few ones which I have to have developed.

“Nah, I don’t think so. We’re going to be with the guys in the studio but we’re not going to be filmed with the cameras. I think Karrie and Brett will have to work with the sound staff in the control room and I… I don’t know yet, if they let me in too I’ll just watch them like a useless idiot… which I am…”

“Control room? Wow, that sounds like a sci-fi, I can totally imagine the Star Trek characters there…” I deliberately ignore her low self-esteem-powered remark. “I’ve also seen in the previews that Sharon Stone would host the show, that’s an interesting combination…”

“Yep, Eric mentioned the creators wanted a funny scene or spot with her and the band but I don’t know if they can find a common ground. They only want to play music and aren’t interested in show business at all.”

“Maybe they want to gag with their physical appearance. Like, Sharon is tall and her legs are unrealistically long whereas Eddie is short so the screenwriters may figure out a joke about him being able to walk between her legs without bowing his head.” I guess as I start rummaging the photo heaps in front of me.

“Haha, you’re evil! You have no right to joke about Ed’s height, you’re a dwarf just like me…”

“But dwarf jokes are the best ones, you have to admit it. And… what are your plans until Saturday? Have you used the tape recorder yet?”

“Noooo…”

“You’re unbelievable, I’ve said you should…”

“…borrow a guitar, I know. Uhm, yesterday Jeff gave me a bass lesson, does that count?”

“Mmmmh, Jeff Ament?” I ask meaningfully. Since Judy joined the staff I played with the idea of them getting together, he seems to match her.

“No, Jeff Goldblum… of course Jeff Ament, who else? And he also let me ride his skateboard.”

“He let you ride his skateboard? That’s how you call it? It’s that a new slang or…” I cackle.

“Shut up, I meant it literally. No slang, no obscene details.” she cuts me off severely. So typical, usually she isn’t against sex related jokes but when actual guys around her come into play, she suddenly turns into a prude spinster.

“Okay, okay, I was just kidding. I’m just surprised, you haven’t mentioned yet you two spend time alone.” Actually I’m happy for these news, not only because I think they’d click but also because in the first ten minutes of our conversation she was cursing Stone Gossard. And even if only the half of what she claimed is true, I can’t blame her; the dude must be quite obnoxious. But still, she barely mentions anyone else from the band and I’m afraid if she goes on like this, these negative feelings will spoil her tour. “And how went the skateboarding? Did you collect a few bruises?”

“Haha, not yet. I didn’t try any tricks and I was probably quite clumsy but he kept encouraging me, he’s a nice guy. And ah, as for plans, he asked me whether I want to go to the photo exhibition of his friend in Boston. The guy invited them and Jeff asked me to join too.”

“That sounds great! And what kind of photos?”

“Photos of interesting graffiti. Jeff used to draw graffiti as well, did you know that? He told me a lot about himself but not in that annoying way when one is talking and talking and isn’t interested in the listener at all… this and the fact Eric defended me and they even gave me a cake… and that Jeff invited me with the bunch… make me feel they really accepted me as a member of the crew… and… oh, shit, I have to go, we have to set off for the show! Kisses for Mom and Granny!”

“Bye, take care of…” It’s needless to finish the sentence since she hung up in the meantime.

A few minutes later, I can hear the key turning in the lock and Mom literally falls in the apartment with her heavy shopping bags.

“You should have knocked, I would have helped you if you had asked me…” I shake my head and collect the apples and small cans which rolled everywhere on the ground.

“If I can give injection to Mrs. Mueller while she’s yelling at me calling me Gestapo’s slut, I can do everything…”

“Your foundation should employ octopuses, they are strong, can use their legs independently and are good listeners. And some of your clients wouldn’t even wonder if one crawled into their home…”

“That’s sure. I ask the opinion of my boss about it.” she settles to the table staring exhausted in front of herself.

“Anyway, you’ve just missed Judy’s call.”

“Damn… I wanted to hear her voice, I literally tossed Mrs. Muller into her bed to finish earlier…”

“Unfortunately you can’t see her either… I asked her about Saturday Night Live and we won’t see her in the show… But we still could watch it together, I would show you the guys and tell everything I’ve heard about them from her. We could make some popcorn and…”

“Oh, sweetie, haven’t I mentioned yet? I… I have to work…” she suddenly gets embarrassed.

“What? In the evening? On Saturday? By the time the show begins your clients are already sleeping the sleep of the just.” I complain.

“I know, but… there’s a former colleague from the hospital who works now in a nursing home. A few nurses quitted and I thought we could use the extra money so she recommended me to her boss as an occasional substitute nurse. And I begin on Saturday.”

Great. Since when have we concealed things like this from each other? I thought we could finally have a mother-daughter evening when she didn’t talk only about the insufferable old terrorists and didn’t pass out of exhaust right after dinner… she should finally relax and I need her company too, since Judy left I’ve felt like a lonely prisoner. And that’s more important than money, we don’t starve and if I got a few jobs I could contribute to our budget too, I wouldn’t be the cripple anymore who costs them a lot.

“And why didn’t you tell me that? Is it a secret or what?”

“Effie, honey, stop pouting, please. You can record it to me and we can watch it on Sunday. And I won’t even say a word if you stop it at every single shot, I’m going to listen to every single detail about these jam boys, I promise.”

“Mmmkay…” I mutter. I don’t like this patronizing voice, I’m not a toddler, I just want her to be honest with me.

“And what are you doing? Selecting pictures?”

“Yes… nothing particular…”

If she doesn’t tell me everything, why should I, right?

[dissident-vedder]

- almost ( 𝐉. 𝐀.)

capturing the sadness of the word: “almost.”

A/N - layout by @adoresobs​!

𝐌 𝐀 𝐒 𝐓 𝐄 𝐑 𝐋 𝐈 𝐒 𝐓  

[y/n] has had some troubles with previous pregnancies, first one being a miscarriage, second being stillborn, and this pregnancy, her third pregnancy, was going along well enough to the doctor’s likings, however, saying there might be some issues during the birth. they didn’t know what was exactly going to happen, they only knew that there might be issues. upon hearing the news, [y/n]’s stress went through the roof, something the doctor said to keep at a low level, and she began wondering what the hell was going to happen. 

she read as many pregnancy books as she could get her hands on, tried to see what would work for her during the birth, even started going to a massage parlor more often to loosen her muscles, which began cramping from stress. jeff was with her every step of the way, rubbing your knuckles with the pad of his thumb at every doctor’s visit, telling you everything was alright, and even his band members got involved. eddie, knowing the feeling of the world crushing upon your shoulders, was there to calm you down, doing some breathing exercises that have worked for him in the past. mike was there, trying to help you by doing what he did best; make others laugh. he would not leave until he had you red in the face, lungs hurting as you tried to control your laughter. stone was someone you could talk to, him being the more serious of the bunch, and he listened to your ramblings and often pitched in his own advice.

the day of your due date arrived and left, leaving you still heavily pregnant and in pain. your body ached, your feet had swollen and always felt like you were dancing on needles, and your back seemed to be giving out with every passing day. 

two weeks had gone since the day that was prospected to bring your child into the world, and finally, you had a contraction. it was mildly painful, yet somehow exciting, that you were able to meet the child you and jeff created so long ago.

it had been a day since you had your first contraction, and they just kept getting worse, when, finally, the doctor announced that you were fully dilated. when he told you this, you felt immense fear of what was to come, remembering that he told you, once upon a time, that there could be issues with the birth. however, knowing that you had to push, you pushed with all your strength once the doctor said it was okay, crushing jeff’s hand as you felt the head crowning, a ring of fire developing around its head.the worst part was the shoulders, you heard. you felt it, the pain that somehow multiplied as the baby’s shoulders peeked, a small scream erupting from your lips. “it’s almost done,” the doctor announced, tiny body in his hands, and he finally came out, bloodied and crying, eyes shut tight, hands into little fists. after the cord was cut and the baby cleaned, he was placed over your chest, but you could barely felt his weight. 

you felt as if you were floating in an endless space, vision blurring, and your breathing slowing down, and you heard, through what seemed like a pool of water, as the doctors began to frantically talk, of what, you didn’t know. a hand touched your shoulder, shaking you, the child taken off your chest. The heart monitor slowed steadily, alarming the doctors of your impending doom.

jeff was escorted out of the room, to where his bandmates were waiting for the news, trying to calm him down when they saw him pounding on the shut door, demanding to be let back in. they all heard it, the haunting sound of the flat line, alarming everyone that you had passed away.

an almost forever.

[trustglobe]

Guitar jam tracks

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Coupled with his excitable, athletic stage presence, these hats made Ament impossible to ignore in Pearl Jam’s early music videos, immediately distinguishing him from at least 90 percent of bass players in rock history. Ament in the early ’90s decided to take both approaches.įollowing Simmons’s example, Ament took to wearing tams-also known as rastacaps-onstage.

Simmons did it with his loud, brash sartorial choices, and Entwistle did it with his loud, brash bass tones. Entwistle, for one, is perhaps the most technically gifted bass player in rock history Gene Simmons, on the other hand, is not.īut upon closer examination, there is one essential attribute linking Simmons and Entwistle to Ament-they were all players who demanded the audience’s attention, in a manner that isn’t typical for bass players. At first glance, it’s hard to imagine two musicians-one quiet and stoic onstage, the other bombastic and blood-spitting-who are more different. When Pearl Jam’s bassist started playing his instrument in 1981, the year he turned 18, his musical role models were the Who’s John Entwistle and Kiss’s Gene Simmons. Naturally, we’ll begin by discussing Jeff Ament’s collection of floppy hats. Below is an excerpt of the chapter on the song “Jeremy.” To purchase a copy of Long Road, click here.īefore we examine “Jeremy”-unquestionably one of Pearl Jam’s most famous and iconic songs-as a piece of music, a music video, and a signifier of social problems, we must first discuss it as a metaphor for shifting power dynamics inside Pearl Jam in the early ’90s. You will then be able to take out of the song when you compose solos, not merely specific scales you know! You will also be able to play cool mega jams whilst not bugging the band.On Tuesday, author Steven Hyden will release his new book, Long Road: Pearl Jam and the Soundtrack of a Generation, from Hachette Books. As you really have to listen to the band to know the time to play and when not to play, jam tracks provide you with a fantastic chance to hear the things the band is playing. Moreover, all the stuff you actually understand like various modes as well as keys now means the greater amount of resources you now have so that you can create musical voices and make your jamming sound more captivating, particularly over top of a good musical foundation such as a guitar jam track.Ī second perk will be an enhancement in your listening skills. You are going to actually want to master scales once you start jamming using these pieces. Needless to say, you are able to play phrases on top of guitar jam tracks and simply having to understand what notes to use in addition to just where these are over the guitar fret board will be critical knowledge you can build. Your sense of rhythm is considerably improved whenever you practice with guitar jam tracks. The metronome, though helpful, is a poor second best to guitar jam tracks. Before too long, you’ll see your songs are taking shape and also your guitar playing really getting a vocal quality to it. Keys with sharps and flats in them can be very confusing when first learning music. Learning to play, and in particular reading music i c major will allow you to learn music and then be able to transpose to other keys. There will be a clear rhythm pushing you to carry on and it’s something you’re able to feel and build all your solos using all natural notes in the key of C Major.

That is definitely precisely where the power of guitar jam tracks in c is.

Should you stop and analyze precisely what it is about any of your favourite tunes that you like, you’ll recognize a portion of it is surely the rhythm (this definitely goes for any style/genre of music). Understanding this is absolutely paramount. Undoubtedly one of the significant elements to performing a song will be the rhythmic factor. This is not even counting how much fun you’ll get with a backup band anytime you’d like. You’ll discover countless amazing benefits to performing together with jam tracks.

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You ‘re able to jam over top of a full music group at any time. The perfect solution to this challenge is jam tracks. The time you do have I am sure you’d really like to dedicate to playing and/or jamming.

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[90simaginesandfanfics]

Omg, can I jump on the Jeff Ament bandwagon? How about a one shot where he hooks up with a dancer? Her studio is near where the band rehearses and they’re friendly in a neighborly way and she teases him about learning to dance. Then he shows up and it leads to smut!

He was there again. Leaning against the wall of the studio on the other side of the street, one of his friends propped up next to him smoking a cigarette. You had noticed Jeff for the first time a month ago or so whenever you left the dance studio. He would usually be outside the recording studio seemingly taking a break from whatever he was doing, or getting something from his car. You had introduced yourselves to each other not soon after, but you still felt nervous every time you saw him, not sure whether or not to approach him first. This time you didn’t have to though, as he noticed you and waved you over. His friend sent you a quick nod before putting his cigarette out and making his way back into the building.

“How you doing?” Jeff asked as you got closer, and you tried to ignore the fact that he was wearing a tank top which showed off his muscular arms. You snapped out of your reverie and focused on his face instead, which held a goofy smile.

“Good. Just practising routines as usual. We’re all getting ready for the show next month.” You said. You had been dancing since you were born, and it was amazing that you got paid to train and teach kids, while also competing yourself.

“I’m expecting you to win, I mean you can’t let me down.” He replied and you laughed nervously.

“Well there are tonnes of amazing dancers competing this year, so the likelihood of that happening is small. I’m going to have to put all the stops in.” You told him, not feeling confident in your ability to win anything this year. Jeff scoffed.

“Oh come on, how hard can it be to win one of those things? All you have to do is jump about, I’m sure you’ll win.” He said, although the teasing tone of his voice suggested that he was only trying to rile you up,

“Oh really? Why don’t you show me how easy it is then Mr. Perfect?” You smirked and crossed your arms in front of your chest. He smiled before he raised his arms above his head and started to twirl around like a lumberjack doing ballet, not caring about the fact that anyone driving down the street could see him. You started laughing at his antics, and that despite his claims, he had two left feet. Jeff nearly fell over as he spun around, eventually giving up and ending his little routine on his knees. You clapped slowly after his performance.

“Well, what can I say? That was shit Jeff.” You said bluntly and the both of you started laughing at his miserable excuse for dancing.

“Well then let’s hope you’re a lot better and you do me proud.” He said through his laughs and you silently hoped that you would.

“Well of course Mr. Ament. And if you ever feel the need to learn how to dance properly and not like a constipated fish then let me know.” You said and he gave you a small smile.

*****

“Okay, one last run through before you leave guys!” You shouted out in the studio, watching as all the kids got into their starting position for their routine. You had been training the 5-8’s for the past couple of months for the competition, and you had to admit that the routine you had choreographed was showing off how cute they were. You played the music and watched as they danced, trying to pick anyone up for any mistakes or things to improve on. But like you suspected, everything was perfect. You knew that even though the might not win anything tomorrow, it was clear that they were at the best they could be and were going to do amazingly. The song stopped and you started to clap while the kids looked around excitedly, nerves for the competition tomorrow setting in.

“Okay guys, you can go now. Get lots of sleep and make sure you don’t stay up too late!” You said and they all said goodbye to you before running out of the room and meeting their parents.

After a while, you were left alone in the studio, not wanting to go home quite yet. You removed your jumper, only in a pair of sweatpants and a sports bra as you started to move around the room, watching yourself in the mirror as you practiced the routine you were working on. You wove around the room, hearing the music in your head and hearing the sounds of your feet smacking the floor as you leap into the air and extended your body to the rhythm.

You swept your body to the floor with a final flourish as you finished. You stayed in position for a second or two, about to get up, when you heard clapping coming from behind you. You quickly stood up and turned around, only to find Jeff lent against the door frame of the studio and clapping his hands together, giving you a small grin.

“Very nice. If I didn’t know any better I would say you're the next Ginger Rogers.” He said and you scoffed.

“Ginger Rogers was ballroom. And how did you get in here?” You asked quizzically.

“I have my ways. And my reasons.” Jeff replied, still with a goofy grin plastered on his face. You gestured for him to continue, vaguely aware of the fact that you were standing in front of him in a bra.

“Well, I decided that although I love music, I would also love to learn how to express myself in other ways. So I figured I should learn how to dance. And funnily enough I know one of the best dance teachers around and she happens to rehearse across the street.” He finished dramatically and you quirked your eyebrow at him.

“You want to learn how to dance?” You said and he nodded enthusiastically. You sighed but then nodded and he fist pumped the air and made his way closer to you, making you laugh. You told him to get in a certain position and showed him what to do, and he followed. You spent the better part of half an hour trying to get him to do what you wanted, only to find that he - despite your efforts - wasn’t improving at all. He finally conceded and agreed that he was never going to be a good dancer.

“Well if you’re done, I’m going to get changed and then head home.” You said to him, before turning away and leaning down to put your stuff in the gym bag you brought. But you suddenly felt his presence behind you. You stood up and spun around, only to find yourself pressed against his chest. Jeff’s hands made their way around your waist and you look up to find his face directly in front of yours, his breath fanning your face as you saw his eyes flicker down to your lips.

“What are you doing?” You asked, your voice coming out quiet and breathy as you became overwhelmed by his body pressed against yours.

“Something I should have found the balls to do a lot sooner.” He replied, and stared at you for a few seconds longer, before his lips descended onto yours. They were soft and sweet, just like you could have hoped, and he wove his tongue around yours perfectly, making you release a soft moan into his mouth. That seemed to awaken something in him as you squealed when he suddenly picked up your body. You wrapped your legs around his waist as he held you up, barely giving you time to think before his lips melded against yours once again. You felt him walk forwards, until one of his hands left you to open a door. He walked the both of you inside, still kissing you intensely, as you realised he had brought you both into the equipment room. He put you down on one of the tables covered by a mat, your legs still wrapped around him tightly. Jeff hooked his fingers in your sweatpants and your panties, and started to pull them down. You released yourself from his body and stepped out of them, unhooking your bra afterwards and watching as Jeff’s eyes hungrily took you all in. He started nearly ripping his own clothes off, which left the both of you naked in front of each other. You didn’t have anytime to appreciate his appearance as he grabbed you and lifted you back up onto the table.

You moaned in ecstasy as you felt Jeff enter you, and his long groan suggested that you were making him feel the same way he was making you feel. His head went straight to your neck as he started to kiss and suck up and along your jaw while he moved in and out of you. You moans and heavy breathing were the only things that could be heard in the room, and you were growing hotter and hotter the faster he moved.

Your mouths met once again and you felt yourself build up around him. He started to move faster and that was it. You let go and screamed out his name, not even being able to keep your body held up due to the intensity of the pleasure coursing through your body. You felt Jeff’s body tense up as he released a guttural groan and came himself. Your legs felt like jelly and you were struggling to catch your breath.

“I think I should sign up for your dance lessons officially.” Jeff suddenly said, breaking the silence in the room. You couldn’t help but burst out into laughter, reminding you of the reason you had started to like Jeff in the first place.

“Maybe I could squeeze in a private lesson at some point.” You replied back and earned a smile from him, before he kissed you once again, neither of you making a move to get dressed or leave. You wanted this moment to last forever.

*****

Happy New Years Eve! Here’s a Jeff imagine to bring in the New Year. I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas and I’m sending lots of love and positive vibes your way xxx