#litg roulette

[litgwritersroom]

🎅SECRET SANTA🎅

We interrupt your regular Love Island, Actually programming for a Bobby announcement! The WR gals did a fun Secret Santa which we all kinda forgot about, but I went ahead with it after a few prompts triggered my creativity. Thank you @tammyisobsessedwith for the fantabulous idea - Enemies to Lovers with Bobby. So here's my best attempt!

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

Bobby / OC - 4100+ words - @mrsbsmooth

Note: This fic is being continued into a chaptered fic. Below are chapters 1 & 2.

Chapter 1 - So Many Bright Lights

The singer on stage hit his final note, and the backing track switched off. Hope, their band manager, nodded, and directed him off the stage, thanking him for coming and telling him they’d let him know. 

Jax stretched her legs under the desk, her tattered, defaced notebook losing its pages all over the top of it. The band’s name, JackSlut , graffitied by various markers and black pens on every page. 

She frowned even deeper than her regular, everyday frown.

“Jesus Christ, Hope, how many more of these have you lined up?” she whispered. 

“Another few,” she grimaced. “But… you can take a quick break before the next one? He’s running late.”

Kassam and Seb groaned their approval, and the three of them got to their feet as Hope tried to tidy up the papers around the table. Jax pointed a warning finger at her, and she backed off, laughing, with her hands raised. 

No one touches Jax’s shit.

They walked through the waiting room, prompting a gasp from the seemingly starstruck hopefuls. Jax caught a few of their eyes as she strode past and didn’t like the look of any of them. Bunch of pale, white dudes with zero personality. 

Jax kicked the door open, lighting up before she got outside, exhaling smoke into the freezing air, watching the smug fucks in business suits walk past the club entrance toward Kings Cross Station.

“That last one was… something,” Seb laughed, flicking his custom lighter onto his cigarette, before lighting Kassam’s for him too. “What was his name? Rocco?”

Kas hit the upnod as a thanks. “Was fuckin’ shit.”

Jax just rolled her eyes. “Told you from the second he walked in. He looked like a fuckwit. Who shows up to an audition without a shirt on?”

Kas smirked. “Honestly, thought he was gonna bust out Wonderwall by the looks of him.”

She and Seb laughed, as they continued poking fun at the auditions they’d had so far. 

“Only good one was that girl this morning. Cherry? She’s it for me at the moment. But we’ll have to do a few songs with Angie as well so we can get everyone on the same page.”

The guys both nodded their agreement. But before long, it was time to go back in. They sighed, and Jax reached for the door, opening it for them.

“Heyyyy , looks like I’m in the right place!” a voice called from behind. 

Jax turned around, and did a complete double-take. 

A boy jogged up behind her, and she furrowed her brow at him. He was absolutely not in the right place.

Sparkly clean, beanie with pom-pom, cheeky smirk, freckles, dimples, the whole fuckin’ works. His lips were so full, like a pretty girl’s as the smile stretched across his face. And what helped the least, was the giant, unicorn-themed baked good plastered across his obnoxiously purple hoodie.

“I don’t think so, Cupcake,” she stared at him coldly. 

“Ahh,” he winked. “Don’t judge a book by its cover, lassie.”

A frown of contempt crossed her already annoyed face as he winked. He winked. She had allowed exactly one person ever to wink at her. So unless Albie, the homeless fella on her street had suddenly aged down 60 years, this dude needed to back the fuck up.

“Don’t wait up for me, lass,” the guy smirked. “I’ll get changed and meet ya in a bit.”

She shook her head, and turned her back on him, not making much effort to catch up with Kas and Seb. But when she did, she couldn’t help but laugh a little. 

“The fuckin’ nerve of that guy?” she scoffed. “Hope, honestly, where’d you find these fuckers?”

She shrugged, exasperated. The others laughed, as Seb and Kas poked fun at the fuckers in the waiting room when Hope suddenly checked her phone and smiled. 

“Ahhhh! Okay, he’s here. I’m really excited about this one.” 

Jax picked up her two pens, and drummed out an annoyed rhythm on the desk in front of her, before Kas started air-guitaring next to her. Seb looked at them both to shut up, and they laughed. 

“Here we are!” Hope grinned, “Okay, so his name’s Bobby McKenzie. Recently the frontman for Paisley Cuddle , who opened for Seventh Heaven in the Euro arm of their world tour last year, but recently broke up.”

“Paisley Cuddle? Holy shit,” Seb gasped. “They’re huge.”

Jax sat up straighter. She knew their sound. She wasn’t as big a fan of theirs as Seb was; she’d always felt their drummer was overrated. But Kas and Seb were both frothing at the mouth to get a glimpse of the apparently-oh-so-talented Bobby McKenzie.

“I heard he was the reason they broke up,” Kas whispered.

“That he fucked the bassist's girlfriend? Yeah, I heard that too. He’s still a great singer though.”

Jax scowled into her notebook, as the guys smartly stopped talking. 

If that was the kind of guy Bobby McKenzie was, then she wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. But as Hope opened the door, she could barely help but laugh. 

Because who should walk through it, but Cupcake. 

Jax was so focussed on the hoodie, that it took her a minute to notice the rest of him had changed dramatically. Nose ring. Eyebrow ring. Two lip rings, and countless earrings, replaced with expertise and speed. The beanie was gone, and in its place, sharp faded sides, and dark, floppy dreads that damn near covered one of his eyes. She hadn’t noticed the jeans before, nor the giant black doc martens. Those were women’s jeans; she had the same ones at home. 

A smudge of eyeliner, a flash of his warning-coloured eyes in her direction, the tiny hint of smooth, brown skin revealed as he peeled his sickeningly-sweet hoodie from his ripped black t-shirt. 

And suddenly it made sense. The beanie. The hoodie. 

He was trying not to be recognised . 

Fuck , he was hot. But hot wasn’t the right word - there was something too normal about it. He was hot in the way that an open flame was hot. Like a thermonuclear bomb was hot. He was fucking dangerous . Alarm bells rang in her head before she even finished taking him in, warning bells and sirens and air horns. 

Do. Not. Touch.

He winked at her again, looking her up and down like a hungry dog. “Hi, Lass, long time no see?”

Seb and Kas both looked at her in surprise, and she rolled her eyes. “We met outside five minutes ago.”

“I wouldn’t say met,” he smirked, strutting toward her, and extending his hand. “Bobby.”

She rolled her eyes for the third time since she’d met him, and sighed as she shook it. “Jax.”

“Aye, I knew that, just wanted to hold your hand for a bit.”

It took her by surprise, but she didn’t laugh; she wasn’t the laughing type, but he didn’t seem bothered as she ripped her hand from his, crossing them under her arms instead. He greeted Kas and Seb, who were both starstruck by him, and he grinned at them with a friendly warmth that she wasn’t offered. 

“Alright, Bobby,” Kas smiled. “What’re you singing?”

“Somethin’ a bit different to what you’ve probably been hearin’ today if that’s alright?”

And he winked at her again.

Smug fucker.

He nodded at Hope, who grinned, and an oddly familiar guitar riff started up from the backing vocals. She’d heard it somewhere before, but couldn’t put her finger on where. It was haunting. It was beautifully arranged. She watched him with vague disinterest as he picked up the mic, and her eyebrows furrowed. 

Because as his gaze fell on her, she suddenly recognised the song. 

“Nice to - meet you - where you - been?” he sang. 

Taylor motherfucking Swift?

The first few lines were relaxed. Teasing. Lazy. But as a heavy metal riff came in on the track, everything about Bobby seemed to come alive. His stance, his energy, the way he held the mic - as the tempo built, so did he. As the riff thrashed, so did he, his dreads hypnotic as they followed his head. His screaming tenor suited the cover perfectly, not a hint of strain in his voice as he hit the high notes, the deep gravel of his low notes so crystal clear she could hardly believe what she was hearing. His stage presence was unlike anything she’d ever seen, he was born for it, moving across their makeshift one as if he was playing to an audience of 60,000. He was incredible , in talent, in look, in vibe, shit. Shit.

He was everything they’d been looking for. 

But everything about him was screaming absolutely fucking not. Every time he looked at her, it was like he was drawing her in, and she suddenly figured out how Paisley Cuddle had sold out every one of their shows since the early days. 

It was him .

“Cause’ I know you love the players, and I love the game,” he screamed, the effortless control in his voice leaving her completely speechless.

Every line was like another warning, and boy, was she listening. She glared at him, but it only seemed to spur him on. He rounded on her again, drawing her in with his gaze, singing the chorus in a way that made her want to slap him - flirting with her as if he knew her, as if he wanted her.

“'Cause we're young, and we're reckless, we'll take this way too far, It'll leave you breathless, or with a nasty scar, Got a long list of ex-lovers, they'll tell you I'm insane, But I've got a blank space, baby- And I'll write your name.”

He dragged a finger across his heart at her, and she rolled her eyes, inspecting her fingernails, as the song finally drew to a close. Seb and Kas couldn’t contain their excitement, jumping to their feet and rushing him on the stage, Jax completely shocked by the overwhelming reaction by the two extremely unanimated guys. She sat in her chair, crossed her arms, and frowned. 

“Jax, come on!” Seb grinned. “You can’t say that wasn’t the best one we’ve had all day.”

She shrugged. “I still prefer Cherry.”

Bobby laughed, as if he’d seen this coming, and nodded his head. “Aye, ‘course you do; I’ve heard her sing. She’s got a great voice.”

Hope swept Bobby into her arms, and led him toward the door. 

“We’ve got to keep going, Bobby, but I can guarantee , you’ll be hearing from us soon.”

Bobby nodded, and pulled his obnoxious violet cupcake hoodie back on, throwing the hood up over his hair, and Jax frowned to herself. A final glance over his shoulder, and he shot her one last wink. 

And Jax felt a searing rage build in her stomach. 

She hated him.

Chapter 2 - they cast a shadow

“He’s disrespectful, he’s rude, he was late , he treated the audition like a joke, and he struts around like he shits diamonds. He fucked one of his bandmate’s girlfriends and broke the whole band apart, so he clearly doesn’t think about anyone but himself, and he’s honestly just a complete and total wanker. I don’t want him anywhere near us. I’ve looked him up. There are photos of him waking up on tour with three girls in his bed . THREE!”

“Lucky guy,” Angie snickered, prompting a chuckle of agreement from both Kas and Seb. 

“Shut up, Ange,” Jax scolded. “You weren’t there; you didn’t see him. He’s an absolute fuckboy.”

“Oi, you know I had to be home for Aparna’s bridal shower,” she frowned. “But it sounds like he’s just a flirt, and you’re mad about it.”

“I am mad about it!” Jax screamed, pelting her drumsticks across the room. “We’re a serious fucking band; we’re not One Direction. I want us to sell because we’re fucking good , not because the boy singing our songs is pretty .”

“Oh, she thinks you’re pretty, Bobs,” a sultry female voice laughed. “Hey guys, we’re a bit early.”

Cherry and Bobby walked in together, a clear familiarity between them that made Jax shoot Angie an ‘ I-told-you-so’ look. But she couldn’t hold it for long, as Bobby caught her eye, and winked at her again.

Jax regretted throwing her drumsticks across the room before, because she had a sudden urge to stab his eyes out, and nothing to do it with. But Bobby’s gaze soon turned to Angie, looking her up and down with the same hungry gaze he’d used on her not five seconds earlier. 

God, this guy made her sick. 

Angie seemed oblivious, and Bobby looked almost confused, before she came to her senses and met his gaze. “Oh, hey, if you’re trying to give me sex eyes, I wouldn’t bother.”

He grinned. “Boyfriend?”

“Lesbian,” she smiled back, a little more evilly, before turning to Cherry. “ You , on the other hand…” 

They both laughed, and introduced themselves, just as Hope rushed into the room, apologising for being only six minutes early instead of her usual fourteen. She got them set up, and Jax fetched new sticks, taking her place and waiting for everyone to be ready. Bobby and Cherry had both learned three of the band’s songs, and this entire exercise was a test to see how well they meshed with the band’s cues… a chemistry test, if you will. 

Jax settled in behind her kit, Seb on bass, Ange on synth, and Kas on lead. Cherry volunteered to go first, so Bobby left the room to avoid an unfair advantage, as Hope set up the video camera. 

But it couldn’t have gone worse from there. 

Any enthusiasm Cherry had shown in the initial audition was gone. Her cue was eight bars after Kas’s, and all she had to yell was ‘go!’, and then they’d break into the main riff. Simple. 

She missed it.

The rest of the band compensated by looping the riff, but she missed it again . Jax cringed to herself, but tried to look supportive as Cherry danced around a little on the spot. But she knew by halfway through the first verse that it was never, ever going to work. Once she did start singing, her sound just felt… wrong. She couldn’t hit the notes with her chest, only with a beautifully sweet head voice, which would’ve been great for any other genre… but for them? It just sounded weak. They finished the three songs, and Hope thanked Cherry for coming. She hugged Bobby on her way out, and he took her place on the stage. 

Instantly, the vibe seemed to shift. 

A rush of adrenaline flooded her veins at seeing him in front of her on the stage. He looked good. It felt… right. And it only got worse as she started. 

She hit the opening snare, and Bobby looked over his shoulder, a deep look of respect in his eyes as he nodded in time with her beats. For a minute, it sent a smug victory through her, validated by the fact she was so clearly better than Paisley Cuddle’s drummer, but she remembered who it was that was giving her the subtle compliment. She glared at him, and he chuckled, turning back to the front and hitting the eight-bar cue as if he was barely even thinking about it.

‘GO!’

Fuck .

These were some of their most famous songs, so she barely had to concentrate as she played them, her muscle memory guiding her. So she just watched him. Every movement, every note. He was softer at the right times, he read Kas’s cues perfectly, he knew when to emphasise, and he knew when to hold back. He was head banging with Angie, his voice melded perfectly with Seb’s on backing, he seemed to just… fit.

Hope was watching him with stars in her eyes, or perhaps dollar signs, as Bobby built through the bridge crescendo, waiting for it, waiting for the note that even Gabi had struggled to hit. 

The D5. 

She expected him to straighten, to prepare himself for it, to focus on his breathing. But instead, as he approached it, he only built in energy, bent in half and stomping his foot as he held the mic to his lips,

‘So I can’t hurt you anymore - so I can’t hurt you any morrrrre!’

Jax’s mouth fell open, as Bobby closed his eyes, hitting it with his full chest with such strength she almost gasped. Angie swung around to face her, her gaping mouth matching Jax’s, as she looked absolutely floored . Jax shook her head, as Seb and Kas gave the backup vocals for the final chorus, the song coming to a perfect and natural close. 

One song with Bobby and it felt like they’d been performing with him for years. Two more, and she felt like putting her foot straight through her kick drum. The chemistry was undeniable, he fit them like a glove. He was perfect. He was the only choice. 

Which is why she absolutely had to stop the others from voting for him. 

He would ruin everything she’d spent so long working towards. He would destroy their reputation. If their frontman was chasing and fucking everything with two legs and a pulse, it would eventually backfire. It always did. She’d met too many just like him.

He was fucking trouble. 

The final song drew to a close, and a silence fell across the room, before Angie broke it with an uncharacteristically excited squeal. 

“Holy shit,” she laughed. “I know who my vote’s for.”

Jax shot her a disgusted look, and Ange waved her off. “Don’t look at me like that, Jax. He was better and you know he was better.”

The others turned to look at her, and she frowned. “There’s more at play here than just musical ability. Like, yeah, he was good, but he’s got a fucking attitude problem. If he’s gonna cause us trouble down the line, I’d rather work with someone who’s not gonna break us up because he can’t keep his cock in his jeans.”

Seb, Kas, Angie, and Hope looked absolutely horrified, and she felt them about to pile on to her, when Bobby burst out laughing. 

“Awww, ” he grinned. “You thought I was good!”

Jax glared at him. “Thank you for proving my point. This is a fucking joke to him. My vote’s for Cherry.”

Ange frowned at her, shaking her head with disapproval. 

“Well mine’s for Bobby.”

“And mine,” Kas nodded. 

“Mine too,’ Seb said, shooting Jax an apologetic look.

Hope beamed at the others, before jumping up on stage. 

“Well, Bobby, 3 to 1 means you’re in. Welcome to JackSlut .”

Jax stood, kicking her stool out from underneath her, and for the second time that day, pelted her drumsticks across the room. She stormed out, lighting up her cigarette halfway down the studio hallway, nodding at Jakub, the security guard, who ignored the transgression in favour of  Protein Weekly magazine. 

She stepped out into the alleyway, ducking behind a large pillar in case the others came to try and talk her into apologising. Drag after drag of her cigarette, it wasn’t enough to quell the anger pulsing in her veins. Bobby was just like every other self-obsessed, alcoholic, sex addicted pretty boy vocalist that thought they deserved the world to be handed to them on a silver platter, and she wanted nothing to do with him. 

She heard the alleyway door swing open, and she rolled her eyes as a happy whistle joined her in the cold alley. 

“Ahhh, there you are,” Bobby laughed. “Nice little tantrum you had there. Anyone’d think you don’t like me.”

“I don’t,” Jax glared.

He grinned at her, as if it was exactly what he wanted to hear. “Well, now, we’ll have to change that, won’t we?”

Jax flicked her long-cold cigarette butt almost all the way down the alley, and pulled another one from her pack. She felt around in her pockets for her lighter, before checking the ground around her feet, and seeing it nowhere, frowned. 

Bobby pulled a beautifully intricate silver box from his pocket, and shook it for her. 

“Let me bum one and I’ll light ya?”

She glared at him, but the temptation was too great, and she tossed the crumpled pack at him. He tugged one out, and lit it, before taking a step closer to her, and leaning in, with his hands up close to her face.

Watching her lips as he lit the flame, she watched the concentration in his eyes. He was so close it sent goosebumps up her spine, the cold long forgotten as a heat flushed her skin. 

He looked so good with a cigarette in his mouth, the double rings through the full, pouty lips putting images in her head that she seriously didn’t need to be thinking. No wonder he was a sex addict. She could just picture the long line of girls willing to bend themselves into whatever position he wanted, to take as much of him as they could take, wherever he wanted them to take it, just to get a flicker of his attention on them. 

He was that fucking pretty.

No sooner had the flame caught, he stepped back, and the warmth under her skin began to fade. 

“So why don’t you like me?” Bobby grinned. “Or is it just ‘cause you think I’m cute too, and you’re trying to turn me off you?”

“...Were you not listening in there?” she frowned. 

“Aye, I was. But I kinda zoned out after ‘attitude problem’,” he teased.

Jax glared at him. “It’s got nothing to do with your looks. Kas and Seb are both hot as hell, but they don’t carry on about it like you do. You’re so fucking arrogant, and that might’ve worked for you in Paisley Cuddle, but this band is a team. We do everything democratically. No one is more important than anyone else.”

“That’s not how I see it,” he chuckled, before laughing harder at the disgusted look on her face. “What I mean is, from what I hear, you’re the one that writes all the music. The band was your idea, you’re the one who forked out ten grand for the demo tape that got you a record deal, and the others respect the shit out of you. Sounds like you’re easily the most important one in the band, so it’s you I’ve gotta get on the good side of.”

Jax was speechless momentarily, her mouth gaping. “How do you know all that?”

Bobby smiled. “Did my research, asked around. Besides, it’s not hard to see when the others all turn to you before making any decisions.”

Jax frowned, annoyed at being proved wrong about him being unprepared. “Except on who our lead singer should be.”

He laughed again. “Come on, you saw the chemistry we have. Even with Paisley Cuddle I’ve never had chemistry like that. You guys are next level musicians. I’m not gonna fuck this up for you.”

“You’d better not,” she glowered. 

“So… what. I’m in?”

Jax stared at him in disbelief. “Did you not just hear me say everything’s done democratically? I was outvoted. I’ve got no more say than anyone else. The others want you, you’re in, despite how big of a mistake I think it is.”

Bobby grinned, and nodded contemplatively. “Well, I’m looking forward to working with you. And getting to know you better,” he smirked.

She cursed the blush that flooded her cheeks. “Okay, first things first, back the fuck off . I’m not interested in you.”

“Alright, lass, I believe you,” Bobby chuckled, and took a step forward, letting his hand fall to her waist. Jax didn’t move, frozen to the spot at the heat that flooded through her again, as he brought his lips down next to her ear, growling in a deep, gravelled whisper.

“But you might need to work on convincing yourself.”

Her breath caught, and a rush of heat flashed between her legs, and she found herself, inexplicably, not pushing him away. Instead, she glared up at him, ignoring the way her body ignited as she met his narrowed eyes. 

“This is exactly the kind of bullshit that gives me zero confidence in you,” she frowned. “Even if I was interested, fucking a bandmate is never a good idea, and that extends to their significant others, too. But I’m sure you’ve figured that one out by now.”

Bobby huffed a laugh. “Don’t believe everything you hear, lass.”

Jax finished her cigarette, and flicked it all the way down the alley. “Whatever. Just show up on time to rehearsals, be polite to Hope, and don’t make me regret not putting my foot down.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he grinned. “Looking forward to working with you, lass.”

She glared at him.

“Jax, ” he sighed. “Looking forward to working with you, Jax.”

She nodded, smirking at how much he seemingly hated that she didn’t like her nickname.

“Don’t fuck it up, Cupcake.”

[queen-of-boops]

Remi is the best PR agent in the business. But even she can't put a good spin on having to share an office with Marshall Singh. And when their two biggest clients become the world's worst PR nightmare, she's forced to re-evaluate their relationship.

Written for the LITG fanfic trope roulette. My tropes: office AU + forced proximity.

Pairing: Marshall x MC

Word Count: 8,835

Rating: E

Read on ao3.

[luckyqueenreign]

Her Name Was Lola - Suresh POV

NC – 17 

When I was reading the spoilers one of my favorite callback memories was the boat scene in Monte Carlo, as soon as I read it I knew I wanted to incorporate it in a fic somehow. Using Suresh's own words that he can't stop thinking about it, I take him through a day where Gemma makes it particularly difficult for him to forget it.

Contains spoilers through episode 23 so I would recommend reading those episodes first. Episodes 20-22 are live on the app today, but Episode 23 can be found here if you haven't gotten a chance to catch up on the spoilers!

--- 

@kunepie @fujihime-litg @future-mrs-suresh @squishy-noodles @hi-im-karla

Suresh tried to shield his eyes from the glare of the sun to no avail. He’d been no stranger to the daybeds, as he’d been sleeping outside since he’d first arrived in the villa. He had wanted to show Gemma, he’d give her the space she needed to make her feel comfortable being around him again. He knew it couldn’t’ve been easy to see him after all that time apart and after all they’d been through together. But after the recoupling a few nights ago, he was finally sleeping in the main bedroom once again. That is until his late-night antics landed him in hot water with Arlo and she swiftly ushered him out of the bedroom, and they slept out on the daybeds.

Arlo stirred next to him, slowly turning to face him.  

“We should talk about last night, then,” she said icily. 

He sighed. 

“Arlo it was just bants.” 

“Her blowing you kisses in the middle of the night is just bants?” 

“It’s my fault, really. They’re in the bed next to ours when I turned over, I saw Gemma and Alfie cuddling so I just teased her and blew her a kiss.” 

“And why was she blowing you kisses back, then?” 

“It was just jokes, seriously. We always used to tease each other like that.” 

Arlo looks at him incredulously. 

“Arlo, it’s a new day. I’m really sorry what I did upset you, that wasn’t my intention. Let’s just enjoy a new day in the villa and not make something out of nothing.” 

Arlo studied him for a second she sighed and seemingly resigned to Suresh’s charm.   

“I guess you’re right. I’ve got to get dressed for the day.” Arlo gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and headed towards the villa. 

As Arlo walked back into the villa, Suresh’s thoughts centered solely on Gemma and their “kiss” the night before. He sat there smiling as memories from years past started to flood his mind. The Monte Carlo trip was a particular one that kept creeping back into his mind more and more recently. 

MONTE CARLO – SUMMER 2019 

Gemma had always been up for a laugh, especially a naughty one. When they arrived at the casino, Gemma told him she’d find him at the Roulette table and that she’d be right back. 

Suresh assumed she’d gone to the ladies room, so he made his way over to the bar to order them drinks and went to meet her at the Roulette table. 

“Place your bets, sir.” The dealer said. 

“I think you should go with black, sir.” Gemma said with a French accent. 

Suresh turned around to see Gemma in a short black wig and a provocative smile. 

Suresh handed the dealer a large number of chips and feasted his eyes back on Gemma. 

“All on black, please,” he said to the dealer absentmindedly, all eyes on Gemma. 

“Bonsoir Monsieur, my name is Lola. Maybe I can be your good luck charm tonight?” She said batting her eyelashes at him. 

“Maybe we can wager a kiss for every win to see how lucky you really are?” he said resting his hands on her lower back. 

“6, Black” the Dealer called. 

She smiled as she closed the distance between them. This wasn’t his girlfriend, this was Lola. She craved him. She grabbed his neck and kissed him passionately entering his mouth with a ferocious hunger. She bit down on his lip as she released him, gasping for air.  

Everyone around them stared at them in disgust and shock. But they didn’t care. They did it over and over again. Suresh was on a winning streak with “Lola” by his side, to the tune of 10,000 Euro….

“Earth to Suresh…” Eddie said as he and Finn plopped down killing Suresh’s trip down memory lane. 

“Alright mate, tell us what happened last night. I was a bit…preoccupied.” Finn said laughing. 

Suresh paused to gather his thoughts; he ran his large fingers through his thick black hair. 

“It was really a bunch of nothing…Gemma and I were just teasing each other. It was just bants.” Suresh said. 

“Yeah, are you sure? I feel like it’s never just bants with you two,” Eddie said. 

Suresh thinks about this. 

“Ok, let me rephrase the question. Do you wish you had picked Gemma over Arlo?” Eddie asked. 

“Whew…Eddie boy. You’re really going there, aren’t you.” Finn said patting him on the back. 

“Boys as much as I’m enjoying this chat, I think I’m going to head down for a swim.” 

---

Water dripped down from his shorts creating large puddles as Suresh walked to grab a towel from the lounger. The droplets on his chiseled chest and abs glistened, he worked to dry most of it off. Relaxing into the lounger he watched the other islanders settle into villa life. He could hear the soft clinks of metal and soft grunts coming from the gym where Alfie and Eddie were working out. In the kitchen, Kat hugged Finn tightly from behind while he laughed at something she said. Arlo seemed to be making herself a coffee, to take to the swings like she did most mornings. She looked beautiful today in a cream-colored bikini that contrasted her creamy mocha complexion perfectly. Her hair was pulled back into a top knot and she wore large sunglasses that hid her eyes. Suresh found Arlo to be attractive, but if he was honest with himself that was where the connection between them stopped. He didn’t feel anything close to what he felt when he first met Gemma.

Where’s Gemma? 

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her laughter, he looked up to see Gemma walking arm in arm with Dana into the garden. The trill of her laughs still had a way of sending tingles down his spine. Gemma looked directly at him with a mischievous glint in her eye, as she adjusted one of the straps of her red string bikini, showing Dana the current tan progress on her golden skin. 

Suresh’s eyes went wide, and his heart immediately started to quicken, when he noticed it. 

She’s wearing the exact same bathing suit she wore in Monte Carlo. She knows I love that bathing suit. She’s got to be playing games with me. Especially after last night.    

Gemma whispered something in Dana’s ear and Dana walked off to the swing set with Arlo. 

What are you doing Gemma? 

Gemma sauntered to the other side of the villa directly opposite Suresh. Even halfway across the garden, Gemma had so much control over him. 

I know you’re doing this to get back at me for last night with Arlo and Alfie. Well played, Gem. We always did love a good cat and mouse game, didn’t we? 

To the other islanders, it all looked innocent enough. Suresh was sitting on a lounger by himself, catching a tan. Gemma was sitting on the other side of the villa, working her suntan oil in. But the two were speaking a secret language only they understood. Gemma positioned herself exactly in his eyeline and sprayed the suntan oil. He loved the mixture of the coconut and vanilla fragrance on her skin, and he could smell it even from this distance. He breathed in deep as she sprayed it on her long legs and worked the oil in slowly. Suresh imagined his fingers instead of hers working their way up her long legs. 

You’re not playing fair, Gemma. 

Slowly caressing and massaging the oil in. She worked up to her inner thighs and opened her legs wide. 

I’m yours, Gems. I’m yours.

She started to trace small circles in her inner thighs, just like he used to do after sex. 

Fuck Gemma. 

His fingernails gripped the sides of the loungers and he tried to control his breathing as

she continued working her way up her smooth stomach. When she got to her shoulders, she looked directly at him, and he could see a small smile forming on the corners of her mouth. He swallowed hard and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. She worked her way up to her neck. She was punishing him for last night. Gemma always enjoyed a good tease, look but don’t touch. 

As Gemma’s show came to a close, she gathered her things and slowly sauntered over to the swings where Dana and Arlo were still hanging out, but before she got there, she paused and gave him the same smoldering look that he had been reminiscing about for months. 

MONTE CARLO – SUMMER 2019 

“10,000 Euros Gemma, I can’t believe this night,” Suresh said laughing as they walked out of the casino holding hands. Before she could say anything, he grabbed her and kissed her fiercely. “My good luck charm.” 

“I don’t know who this Gemma is you speak of, tonight I’m Lola,” she said laughing, wrapping her arms around his neck. 

“I think I have somewhere else I want to take Lola before Gemma comes back,” Suresh said mischievously.

“And where is that?”

“Come on!”

Gemma giggled as Suresh led the way to a Marina filled with luxurious yachts. 

“Suresh, oh my god! A boat?” 

“Yeah, I’m sure no one will mind if we borrow for a little rendezvous. You up for it?” 

“You know, with you I’m always up for anything.” 

Suresh moved closer to Gemma and kissed her lovingly. He held her chin as he stared into her sea green eyes. 

“I love you, Gem.” 

“I love you, too Resh,” she said smiling. 

He took her hand, and they walked over to a large yacht, there seemed to be no sign of anyone on the boat, no lights on, no movement. From the dock, they could easily walk onto the lower deck of yacht. Suresh led Gemma up the stairs to the upper deck, and it was a millionaire’s playground. One area of the yacht was covered in plush seating with nautical pillows and towels, to the left there was a luxurious bar area and to the right a large dining area big enough for a table of twelve. 

Suresh headed to the bar area to look for champagne. 

“Sit down Suresh,” Gemma said provocatively. 

Suresh turned around and saw Gemma had a suggestive glint in her eye and he immediately made his way to the couches and sat down. Gemma’s heels clicked as she sauntered closer to him. Never breaking eye contact she started to unzip her dress. Slowly she started to remove one strap and the second, gliding the silky dress down to her stomach and letting it fall on its own. Suresh’s breath hitched as he saw Gemma’s bare breasts and a lacy white thong. 

“My God, Gemma.”  

Gemma smiled sultrily as she walked over and straddled Suresh. 

“You’re Mine, Suresh.” 

Without breaking eye contact with him, Gemma slowly unbuckled Suresh’s pants and slid her hand inside, she grabbed hold of his cock that was rock hard for her. 

“I’m Yours, Gems. I’m Yours,” he whispered in her ear.  

He passionately kissed her neck as she softly moaned. She gently stroked him up and down, paying particular attention to his tip. He let out a soft moan, breathing heavily into her ear. As he was getting close, they heard a noise behind them. 

A middle-aged man in his pajamas stood at the steps, staring at them in shock. 

“QUI ES-TU?! INTRUS! Who are you?? Intruders!”

Suresh grabbed a pillow and towel next to him to cover Gemma, as her dress was on the yacht deck many paces away. 

“Sir, I’m sorry we thought this was our friend, Jacques’ boat. Our mistake. We will be off now,” Suresh said apologetically.

“Get out!” The man didn’t know where to look, he wasn’t sure what to do, but he kept shoo’ing them away with his hands while also trying to avert his eyes from a half-naked Gemma. 

“Yes sir, right away.” 

“Get! Out!” 

Gemma quickly got dressed and they left holding hands, running out of the yacht. When they got out to the docks Gemma couldn’t stop laughing. 

“Who is Jacques?” she said giggling.

“A friend of Lola’s,” he said smiling. 

Suresh snapped out of his Monte Carlo haze with a smile on his face and looked around the villa, Finn stood by the pool with Alfie and Eddie sneakily heading his way, Arlo was now at the loungers and Gemma was alone in the kitchen. Suresh got up while Arlo wasn’t noticing and made his way over to the kitchen.  He walked up quietly behind Gemma and grabbed an orange from the fruit bowl, she was so fully engrossed in the other islanders throwing Finn in the pool that she didn’t hear him enter the kitchen.

“How honorable,” he said.  

Gemma turned around to face Suresh. 

“What does that mean?” 

“Gotta fight for the ones you love, right?”

###

[hopeshoodie]

More fun couple activities that my dream LITG would make into challenges because S4 has had like what... one challenge so far?

Style your partner: my friends in highschool used to do this- everyone is assigned someone else, you go to a department store, and have to style them an outfit based on what you find. It'd be a fun makeover sequence in LITG and have good player choice

Full body painting: take the S1 challenge and make it spicy

Just straight up compulsory trauma dumping: If Fusebox is going to weirdly insert the islanders' baggage into the story without really transitioning to it or justifying it well, let's just make a challenge of it

Water balloon fight: but I want a whole 20+ line scene afterwards of everyone awkwardly picking the rubber bits out of the grass to clean up afterwards.

Fear Factor Style Food Roulette Challenge: where you can get something with a gross flavor to eat or something good but if you do it three times or whatever you get to spend the night in the hideaway

Villa-wide mafia game: We did this my freshman year of college, where everyone in the dorm had a plastic bracelet and a sock to throw and if you got hit with someone else's sock you were out and had to give the person your bracelet. I got super far because I never left my fuckim dorm, but it'd be super fun to watch the islanders either fully embrace the game and go on the defensive or not care in the slightest

Fun couples challenges LITG can implement in season 4:

Couples therapy: all the pairs have to sit with a therapist for an hour and be grilled about their relationship problems. At the end they all get ranked based on who the best is at communicating

Assemble an ikea bed

Boulder Canon: if yall didn’t have the pleasure of playing this in grade school gym class- a select number of people stand in lines on either side of side of a corridor (making a canyon). Then poor idiots run through the space between them, as the people on the outside throw dodgeballs at them. If you’re hit you have to join the canyon, until everyone’s trying to pelt the final, nimblest person.

Day long silent contest: the final person and their partner get to go to the hideaway, hijinx ensue as people try to get others to vocalize without getting out themselves

Project Runway-esque sewing challenge

Past life regression meditation: bonus points if it’s led by a Lottie-type so we get organic ‘WTF’ reactions

Facial play dough: this is an irl technique that my couples counselor used where you sit on the floor facing your partner and fuckim… take turns rubbing their face around like playdough. Allegedly it helps you “truly see them” but I think it’s more effective and being so unbearably uncomfortable. 

Lipsynch for your life

The FitnessGram ™ Pacer Test: bonus points if it’s the team version that people got weirdly competitive over

[queen-of-boops]

We did a trope roulette in the LITG ff discord and I got sports AU + exes reunited! This (long) oneshot was the result!

Summary: Three years after Zoey broke up with him and Lucas has finally become the star footballer he always dreamed of being. But now that Zoey's back in his life, things are getting... complicated.

Read on ao3.

Pairing: Lucas/MC

Word count: 9360

Tag list: @0shewrites0 @future-mrs-suresh @kunepie

[queen-of-boops]

2023 Fic Year in Review

Thanks for the tag @longbobmckenzie! Somehow, 2023 was my second full year publishing fics in this fandom!

In 2023, I...

Finished/wrote the following chaptered WIPs:

Are You The One? (Henrik/MC)

Wild Child (Henrik/MC)

Dead to Rights (Bobby/MC)

Deep Dive (Levi/MC)

Uninhibited (multiple pairings)

Like No One's Watching (Ozzy/MC)

Wrote/completed the following oneshots:

Crash Into You (Oliver/MC)

Lessons In Lust (Noah/MC)

Sparks Fly (Angie/MC)

Special (Tai/MC)

Perfectly Infuriating (Blake/MC)

Take The Shot (Lucas/MC)

A Midsummer Night's Song (Rafi/MC)

Image is Everything (Jasper/MC)

Just Say No (Andy/MC)

How I Met Your Mother (Andy/MC)

Wipe Out (Jamal/MC)

Diamond In The Rough (Roberto/MC)

Try (Tom/MC)

Not Another Horror Movie (Rafi)

Evergreen (Henrik/MC)

Frozen (Lucas/Henrik)

Snow Joke (Bruno/MC)

Reached the following milestones:

had two fics reach 100 kudos for the first time, one of which had gone on to blow me away with over 250 kudos

Past 25k total hits on ao3

Participated in three gift exchanges and a trope roulette

Wrote ~400k words in 2023, published ~390k words Wrote for a ton of different LIs (can't even count them all if you count kinktober) Read a bunch of new fics (no idea how many). Made a bunch of new fandom friends

Tagging: @whatisreggieshortfor (LITG or all fandoms, I want to celebrate how much you've written!) @rebelrayne @oodelally3

Don't feel obligated! Let's just celebrate the things we've done this year!

Here's to hoping 2024 is another fantastic year!

[0shewrites0]

about me |

Hi, I’m Rae! This blog is all about LITG (and maybe a little TVD & RC sometimes too) 🤍

ao3 name |

SweetlikeCinnam0n

The reason behind that?

fav islanders of seasons 1-8 |

🦋 S1// Levi, Tim & Rohan

🦋 S2// Lucas, Kassam, Carl & Gary

🦋 S3// Seb, Harry & Ciaran

🦋 S4// Will, Oliver & Youcef

🦋 S6// Lewie, Toby

🦋 S7// Alex, Joyo

🦋 S8// Jin, Kyle

chat to your fav LI’s | overview

💬 There are Bobby, Bruno, Gary, Lucas, Will, Oliver and many more (to come)!

💬 a little tutorial on how it works

fanfics | LITG

📝 Lucas x Sienna - I’m Yours (completed)

📝 Kassam x Aaliyah - Seamless (completed)

📝 Eddie x Liv - if not today, maybe tomorrow (HIATUS)

📝 Lucas x MC - A Fine Line Between Hate And Love (one shot about Elisa entering the Villa on Day 20)

📝 Lucas x MC/Lucas x Blake - crossroads (completed)

📝 Toby x MC - It was meant to be you (s6 finale rewrite / one shot)

📝 Alex x MC - liquid gold (s7 villa fic, ongoing)

📝 Alex x MC - a thief and a liar (s7 Christmas AU two chapter fic)

📝 Jin x MC - rainbow (s8 one shot, part I of Tempting Fate, vol I)

📝 Jin x MC - cotton candy clouds (s8 one shot, part II of Tempting Fate, vol I)

fanfics | RC

📝 Malbonte x MC (HS/HS2) - Dead of Night (ongoing)

📝 Amen x Evthys (SCN) - his neferut (one shot)

prompts |

🍀 All Your Lies - prompt: Lie Detector Test || Kassam x Aaliyah

🍀 Too Many Maybe’s - prompt: the recoupling where Eddie doesn’t want to waste his time with MC 😭 || Eddie x MC

🍀 A Bite Of Your Love - prompt: monthly prompt competition on r/LITGFanFiction on Reddit || Youcef x MC

🍀 One More Chance - prompt: the one that got away / returning!Lucas (part of the litg s2 tumblr gift exchange) || Lucas x MC

🍀 The Heart Wants What It Wants - prompt: rewriting Operation Nope || Gary x MC

🍀 Of moss irises and monochrome worlds - prompt: all things Christmas || Ciaran x MC (part of the litg discord Christmas gift exchange)

🍀 Like salt and pepper - prompt: friends to lovers || Tai x MC (part of the monthly prompt competition on Reddit r/LITGFanFiction)

🍀 burgundy in my veins - prompt: mermaid AU / soulmates || Rohan x MC (part of the litgff discord trope roulette)

🍀 the ghost of you - prompt: write something for Oliver (anon ask) || Oliver x MC (READ THE TAGS ON AO3!!)

asks & requests |

📩 What life with Kassam would look like

📩 Song lyrics/quotes that remind me of I’m Yours and Seamless

📩 Would Will (s4) and Lucas get along?

📩 Does Lucas deserve to be cheated on by MC with r!Henrik?

📩 Suresh & Hazeem’s last names

📩 Lucas dating an insecure girl - what would that look like?

📩 Yandere Lucas ??

📩 Henrik as the best man at Lucas’s wedding 🥹

📩 what’s up with Lucas’s disaster recoupling speech and is he worse than Rahim?

📩 Would Lucas date someone who’s into pastel goth aesthetic?

📩 Lucas x MC diagnosed with ADHD

📩 yandere!Lucas x MC

📩 yandere!Klaus Mikaelson x human fem reader hc’s

📩 yandere!Klaus Mikaelson x reader pregnant w/ Hope

📩 21st century non-hybrid yandere!Klaus Mikaelson

📩 request: Tai x MC - Like salt and pepper

📩 request: Oliver x MC - the ghost of you

more fun stuff |

✨ Kassam’s moodboard & face claim

✨ Aaliyah’s moodboard

✨ Aaliyah & Kassam - art

✨ I’m Yours moodboard (Lucas x Sienna)

✨ theory: Why Lucas brings back Blake

✨ moodboard: crossroads (Raven)

✨ Lucas’s 🌶️ scenes

✨ Lucas being his protective self 🥺

✨ moodboard: Eddie Harris

✨ moodboard: Olivia Machado (if not today, maybe tomorrow)

[mrsbsmooth]

New fic because I can’t help myself

Read Chapters 1&2 on AO3 here

Jax's band need a new singer. Fuckboy and absolute narcissist Bobby McKenzie needs a new band. Match made in heaven, right?

Wrong.

Despite his talent, Jax doesn't want him, trust him, or need him. He's never going to win her over.

Never.

🎅SECRET SANTA🎅

We interrupt your regular Love Island, Actually programming for a Bobby announcement! The WR gals did a fun Secret Santa which we all kinda forgot about, but I went ahead with it after a few prompts triggered my creativity. Thank you @tammyisobsessedwith for the fantabulous idea - Enemies to Lovers with Bobby. So here's my best attempt!

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

Bobby / OC - 4100+ words - @mrsbsmooth

Note: This fic is being continued into a chaptered fic. Below are chapters 1 & 2.

Chapter 1 - So Many Bright Lights

The singer on stage hit his final note, and the backing track switched off. Hope, their band manager, nodded, and directed him off the stage, thanking him for coming and telling him they’d let him know. 

Jax stretched her legs under the desk, her tattered, defaced notebook losing its pages all over the top of it. The band’s name, JackSlut , graffitied by various markers and black pens on every page. 

She frowned even deeper than her regular, everyday frown.

“Jesus Christ, Hope, how many more of these have you lined up?” she whispered. 

“Another few,” she grimaced. “But… you can take a quick break before the next one? He’s running late.”

Kassam and Seb groaned their approval, and the three of them got to their feet as Hope tried to tidy up the papers around the table. Jax pointed a warning finger at her, and she backed off, laughing, with her hands raised. 

No one touches Jax’s shit.

They walked through the waiting room, prompting a gasp from the seemingly starstruck hopefuls. Jax caught a few of their eyes as she strode past and didn’t like the look of any of them. Bunch of pale, white dudes with zero personality. 

Jax kicked the door open, lighting up before she got outside, exhaling smoke into the freezing air, watching the smug fucks in business suits walk past the club entrance toward Kings Cross Station.

“That last one was… something,” Seb laughed, flicking his custom lighter onto his cigarette, before lighting Kassam’s for him too. “What was his name? Rocco?”

Kas hit the upnod as a thanks. “Was fuckin’ shit.”

Jax just rolled her eyes. “Told you from the second he walked in. He looked like a fuckwit. Who shows up to an audition without a shirt on?”

Kas smirked. “Honestly, thought he was gonna bust out Wonderwall by the looks of him.”

She and Seb laughed, as they continued poking fun at the auditions they’d had so far. 

“Only good one was that girl this morning. Cherry? She’s it for me at the moment. But we’ll have to do a few songs with Angie as well so we can get everyone on the same page.”

The guys both nodded their agreement. But before long, it was time to go back in. They sighed, and Jax reached for the door, opening it for them.

“Heyyyy , looks like I’m in the right place!” a voice called from behind. 

Jax turned around, and did a complete double-take. 

A boy jogged up behind her, and she furrowed her brow at him. He was absolutely not in the right place.

Sparkly clean, beanie with pom-pom, cheeky smirk, freckles, dimples, the whole fuckin’ works. His lips were so full, like a pretty girl’s as the smile stretched across his face. And what helped the least, was the giant, unicorn-themed baked good plastered across his obnoxiously purple hoodie.

“I don’t think so, Cupcake,” she stared at him coldly. 

“Ahh,” he winked. “Don’t judge a book by its cover, lassie.”

A frown of contempt crossed her already annoyed face as he winked. He winked. She had allowed exactly one person ever to wink at her. So unless Albie, the homeless fella on her street had suddenly aged down 60 years, this dude needed to back the fuck up.

“Don’t wait up for me, lass,” the guy smirked. “I’ll get changed and meet ya in a bit.”

She shook her head, and turned her back on him, not making much effort to catch up with Kas and Seb. But when she did, she couldn’t help but laugh a little. 

“The fuckin’ nerve of that guy?” she scoffed. “Hope, honestly, where’d you find these fuckers?”

She shrugged, exasperated. The others laughed, as Seb and Kas poked fun at the fuckers in the waiting room when Hope suddenly checked her phone and smiled. 

“Ahhhh! Okay, he’s here. I’m really excited about this one.” 

Jax picked up her two pens, and drummed out an annoyed rhythm on the desk in front of her, before Kas started air-guitaring next to her. Seb looked at them both to shut up, and they laughed. 

“Here we are!” Hope grinned, “Okay, so his name’s Bobby McKenzie. Recently the frontman for Paisley Cuddle , who opened for Seventh Heaven in the Euro arm of their world tour last year, but recently broke up.”

“Paisley Cuddle? Holy shit,” Seb gasped. “They’re huge.”

Jax sat up straighter. She knew their sound. She wasn’t as big a fan of theirs as Seb was; she’d always felt their drummer was overrated. But Kas and Seb were both frothing at the mouth to get a glimpse of the apparently-oh-so-talented Bobby McKenzie.

“I heard he was the reason they broke up,” Kas whispered.

“That he fucked the bassist's girlfriend? Yeah, I heard that too. He’s still a great singer though.”

Jax scowled into her notebook, as the guys smartly stopped talking. 

If that was the kind of guy Bobby McKenzie was, then she wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. But as Hope opened the door, she could barely help but laugh. 

Because who should walk through it, but Cupcake. 

Jax was so focussed on the hoodie, that it took her a minute to notice the rest of him had changed dramatically. Nose ring. Eyebrow ring. Two lip rings, and countless earrings, replaced with expertise and speed. The beanie was gone, and in its place, sharp faded sides, and dark, floppy dreads that damn near covered one of his eyes. She hadn’t noticed the jeans before, nor the giant black doc martens. Those were women’s jeans; she had the same ones at home. 

A smudge of eyeliner, a flash of his warning-coloured eyes in her direction, the tiny hint of smooth, brown skin revealed as he peeled his sickeningly-sweet hoodie from his ripped black t-shirt. 

And suddenly it made sense. The beanie. The hoodie. 

He was trying not to be recognised . 

Fuck , he was hot. But hot wasn’t the right word - there was something too normal about it. He was hot in the way that an open flame was hot. Like a thermonuclear bomb was hot. He was fucking dangerous . Alarm bells rang in her head before she even finished taking him in, warning bells and sirens and air horns. 

Do. Not. Touch.

He winked at her again, looking her up and down like a hungry dog. “Hi, Lass, long time no see?”

Seb and Kas both looked at her in surprise, and she rolled her eyes. “We met outside five minutes ago.”

“I wouldn’t say met,” he smirked, strutting toward her, and extending his hand. “Bobby.”

She rolled her eyes for the third time since she’d met him, and sighed as she shook it. “Jax.”

“Aye, I knew that, just wanted to hold your hand for a bit.”

It took her by surprise, but she didn’t laugh; she wasn’t the laughing type, but he didn’t seem bothered as she ripped her hand from his, crossing them under her arms instead. He greeted Kas and Seb, who were both starstruck by him, and he grinned at them with a friendly warmth that she wasn’t offered. 

“Alright, Bobby,” Kas smiled. “What’re you singing?”

“Somethin’ a bit different to what you’ve probably been hearin’ today if that’s alright?”

And he winked at her again.

Smug fucker.

He nodded at Hope, who grinned, and an oddly familiar guitar riff started up from the backing vocals. She’d heard it somewhere before, but couldn’t put her finger on where. It was haunting. It was beautifully arranged. She watched him with vague disinterest as he picked up the mic, and her eyebrows furrowed. 

Because as his gaze fell on her, she suddenly recognised the song. 

“Nice to - meet you - where you - been?” he sang. 

Taylor motherfucking Swift?

The first few lines were relaxed. Teasing. Lazy. But as a heavy metal riff came in on the track, everything about Bobby seemed to come alive. His stance, his energy, the way he held the mic - as the tempo built, so did he. As the riff thrashed, so did he, his dreads hypnotic as they followed his head. His screaming tenor suited the cover perfectly, not a hint of strain in his voice as he hit the high notes, the deep gravel of his low notes so crystal clear she could hardly believe what she was hearing. His stage presence was unlike anything she’d ever seen, he was born for it, moving across their makeshift one as if he was playing to an audience of 60,000. He was incredible , in talent, in look, in vibe, shit. Shit.

He was everything they’d been looking for. 

But everything about him was screaming absolutely fucking not. Every time he looked at her, it was like he was drawing her in, and she suddenly figured out how Paisley Cuddle had sold out every one of their shows since the early days. 

It was him .

“Cause’ I know you love the players, and I love the game,” he screamed, the effortless control in his voice leaving her completely speechless.

Every line was like another warning, and boy, was she listening. She glared at him, but it only seemed to spur him on. He rounded on her again, drawing her in with his gaze, singing the chorus in a way that made her want to slap him - flirting with her as if he knew her, as if he wanted her.

“'Cause we're young, and we're reckless, we'll take this way too far, It'll leave you breathless, or with a nasty scar, Got a long list of ex-lovers, they'll tell you I'm insane, But I've got a blank space, baby- And I'll write your name.”

He dragged a finger across his heart at her, and she rolled her eyes, inspecting her fingernails, as the song finally drew to a close. Seb and Kas couldn’t contain their excitement, jumping to their feet and rushing him on the stage, Jax completely shocked by the overwhelming reaction by the two extremely unanimated guys. She sat in her chair, crossed her arms, and frowned. 

“Jax, come on!” Seb grinned. “You can’t say that wasn’t the best one we’ve had all day.”

She shrugged. “I still prefer Cherry.”

Bobby laughed, as if he’d seen this coming, and nodded his head. “Aye, ‘course you do; I’ve heard her sing. She’s got a great voice.”

Hope swept Bobby into her arms, and led him toward the door. 

“We’ve got to keep going, Bobby, but I can guarantee , you’ll be hearing from us soon.”

Bobby nodded, and pulled his obnoxious violet cupcake hoodie back on, throwing the hood up over his hair, and Jax frowned to herself. A final glance over his shoulder, and he shot her one last wink. 

And Jax felt a searing rage build in her stomach. 

She hated him.

Chapter 2 - they cast a shadow

“He’s disrespectful, he’s rude, he was late , he treated the audition like a joke, and he struts around like he shits diamonds. He fucked one of his bandmate’s girlfriends and broke the whole band apart, so he clearly doesn’t think about anyone but himself, and he’s honestly just a complete and total wanker. I don’t want him anywhere near us. I’ve looked him up. There are photos of him waking up on tour with three girls in his bed . THREE!”

“Lucky guy,” Angie snickered, prompting a chuckle of agreement from both Kas and Seb. 

“Shut up, Ange,” Jax scolded. “You weren’t there; you didn’t see him. He’s an absolute fuckboy.”

“Oi, you know I had to be home for Aparna’s bridal shower,” she frowned. “But it sounds like he’s just a flirt, and you’re mad about it.”

“I am mad about it!” Jax screamed, pelting her drumsticks across the room. “We’re a serious fucking band; we’re not One Direction. I want us to sell because we’re fucking good , not because the boy singing our songs is pretty .”

“Oh, she thinks you’re pretty, Bobs,” a sultry female voice laughed. “Hey guys, we’re a bit early.”

Cherry and Bobby walked in together, a clear familiarity between them that made Jax shoot Angie an ‘ I-told-you-so’ look. But she couldn’t hold it for long, as Bobby caught her eye, and winked at her again.

Jax regretted throwing her drumsticks across the room before, because she had a sudden urge to stab his eyes out, and nothing to do it with. But Bobby’s gaze soon turned to Angie, looking her up and down with the same hungry gaze he’d used on her not five seconds earlier. 

God, this guy made her sick. 

Angie seemed oblivious, and Bobby looked almost confused, before she came to her senses and met his gaze. “Oh, hey, if you’re trying to give me sex eyes, I wouldn’t bother.”

He grinned. “Boyfriend?”

“Lesbian,” she smiled back, a little more evilly, before turning to Cherry. “ You , on the other hand…” 

They both laughed, and introduced themselves, just as Hope rushed into the room, apologising for being only six minutes early instead of her usual fourteen. She got them set up, and Jax fetched new sticks, taking her place and waiting for everyone to be ready. Bobby and Cherry had both learned three of the band’s songs, and this entire exercise was a test to see how well they meshed with the band’s cues… a chemistry test, if you will. 

Jax settled in behind her kit, Seb on bass, Ange on synth, and Kas on lead. Cherry volunteered to go first, so Bobby left the room to avoid an unfair advantage, as Hope set up the video camera. 

But it couldn’t have gone worse from there. 

Any enthusiasm Cherry had shown in the initial audition was gone. Her cue was eight bars after Kas’s, and all she had to yell was ‘go!’, and then they’d break into the main riff. Simple. 

She missed it.

The rest of the band compensated by looping the riff, but she missed it again . Jax cringed to herself, but tried to look supportive as Cherry danced around a little on the spot. But she knew by halfway through the first verse that it was never, ever going to work. Once she did start singing, her sound just felt… wrong. She couldn’t hit the notes with her chest, only with a beautifully sweet head voice, which would’ve been great for any other genre… but for them? It just sounded weak. They finished the three songs, and Hope thanked Cherry for coming. She hugged Bobby on her way out, and he took her place on the stage. 

Instantly, the vibe seemed to shift. 

A rush of adrenaline flooded her veins at seeing him in front of her on the stage. He looked good. It felt… right. And it only got worse as she started. 

She hit the opening snare, and Bobby looked over his shoulder, a deep look of respect in his eyes as he nodded in time with her beats. For a minute, it sent a smug victory through her, validated by the fact she was so clearly better than Paisley Cuddle’s drummer, but she remembered who it was that was giving her the subtle compliment. She glared at him, and he chuckled, turning back to the front and hitting the eight-bar cue as if he was barely even thinking about it.

‘GO!’

Fuck .

These were some of their most famous songs, so she barely had to concentrate as she played them, her muscle memory guiding her. So she just watched him. Every movement, every note. He was softer at the right times, he read Kas’s cues perfectly, he knew when to emphasise, and he knew when to hold back. He was head banging with Angie, his voice melded perfectly with Seb’s on backing, he seemed to just… fit.

Hope was watching him with stars in her eyes, or perhaps dollar signs, as Bobby built through the bridge crescendo, waiting for it, waiting for the note that even Gabi had struggled to hit. 

The D5. 

She expected him to straighten, to prepare himself for it, to focus on his breathing. But instead, as he approached it, he only built in energy, bent in half and stomping his foot as he held the mic to his lips,

‘So I can’t hurt you anymore - so I can’t hurt you any morrrrre!’

Jax’s mouth fell open, as Bobby closed his eyes, hitting it with his full chest with such strength she almost gasped. Angie swung around to face her, her gaping mouth matching Jax’s, as she looked absolutely floored . Jax shook her head, as Seb and Kas gave the backup vocals for the final chorus, the song coming to a perfect and natural close. 

One song with Bobby and it felt like they’d been performing with him for years. Two more, and she felt like putting her foot straight through her kick drum. The chemistry was undeniable, he fit them like a glove. He was perfect. He was the only choice. 

Which is why she absolutely had to stop the others from voting for him. 

He would ruin everything she’d spent so long working towards. He would destroy their reputation. If their frontman was chasing and fucking everything with two legs and a pulse, it would eventually backfire. It always did. She’d met too many just like him.

He was fucking trouble. 

The final song drew to a close, and a silence fell across the room, before Angie broke it with an uncharacteristically excited squeal. 

“Holy shit,” she laughed. “I know who my vote’s for.”

Jax shot her a disgusted look, and Ange waved her off. “Don’t look at me like that, Jax. He was better and you know he was better.”

The others turned to look at her, and she frowned. “There’s more at play here than just musical ability. Like, yeah, he was good, but he’s got a fucking attitude problem. If he’s gonna cause us trouble down the line, I’d rather work with someone who’s not gonna break us up because he can’t keep his cock in his jeans.”

Seb, Kas, Angie, and Hope looked absolutely horrified, and she felt them about to pile on to her, when Bobby burst out laughing. 

“Awww, ” he grinned. “You thought I was good!”

Jax glared at him. “Thank you for proving my point. This is a fucking joke to him. My vote’s for Cherry.”

Ange frowned at her, shaking her head with disapproval. 

“Well mine’s for Bobby.”

“And mine,” Kas nodded. 

“Mine too,’ Seb said, shooting Jax an apologetic look.

Hope beamed at the others, before jumping up on stage. 

“Well, Bobby, 3 to 1 means you’re in. Welcome to JackSlut .”

Jax stood, kicking her stool out from underneath her, and for the second time that day, pelted her drumsticks across the room. She stormed out, lighting up her cigarette halfway down the studio hallway, nodding at Jakub, the security guard, who ignored the transgression in favour of  Protein Weekly magazine. 

She stepped out into the alleyway, ducking behind a large pillar in case the others came to try and talk her into apologising. Drag after drag of her cigarette, it wasn’t enough to quell the anger pulsing in her veins. Bobby was just like every other self-obsessed, alcoholic, sex addicted pretty boy vocalist that thought they deserved the world to be handed to them on a silver platter, and she wanted nothing to do with him. 

She heard the alleyway door swing open, and she rolled her eyes as a happy whistle joined her in the cold alley. 

“Ahhh, there you are,” Bobby laughed. “Nice little tantrum you had there. Anyone’d think you don’t like me.”

“I don’t,” Jax glared.

He grinned at her, as if it was exactly what he wanted to hear. “Well, now, we’ll have to change that, won’t we?”

Jax flicked her long-cold cigarette butt almost all the way down the alley, and pulled another one from her pack. She felt around in her pockets for her lighter, before checking the ground around her feet, and seeing it nowhere, frowned. 

Bobby pulled a beautifully intricate silver box from his pocket, and shook it for her. 

“Let me bum one and I’ll light ya?”

She glared at him, but the temptation was too great, and she tossed the crumpled pack at him. He tugged one out, and lit it, before taking a step closer to her, and leaning in, with his hands up close to her face.

Watching her lips as he lit the flame, she watched the concentration in his eyes. He was so close it sent goosebumps up her spine, the cold long forgotten as a heat flushed her skin. 

He looked so good with a cigarette in his mouth, the double rings through the full, pouty lips putting images in her head that she seriously didn’t need to be thinking. No wonder he was a sex addict. She could just picture the long line of girls willing to bend themselves into whatever position he wanted, to take as much of him as they could take, wherever he wanted them to take it, just to get a flicker of his attention on them. 

He was that fucking pretty.

No sooner had the flame caught, he stepped back, and the warmth under her skin began to fade. 

“So why don’t you like me?” Bobby grinned. “Or is it just ‘cause you think I’m cute too, and you’re trying to turn me off you?”

“...Were you not listening in there?” she frowned. 

“Aye, I was. But I kinda zoned out after ‘attitude problem’,” he teased.

Jax glared at him. “It’s got nothing to do with your looks. Kas and Seb are both hot as hell, but they don’t carry on about it like you do. You’re so fucking arrogant, and that might’ve worked for you in Paisley Cuddle, but this band is a team. We do everything democratically. No one is more important than anyone else.”

“That’s not how I see it,” he chuckled, before laughing harder at the disgusted look on her face. “What I mean is, from what I hear, you’re the one that writes all the music. The band was your idea, you’re the one who forked out ten grand for the demo tape that got you a record deal, and the others respect the shit out of you. Sounds like you’re easily the most important one in the band, so it’s you I’ve gotta get on the good side of.”

Jax was speechless momentarily, her mouth gaping. “How do you know all that?”

Bobby smiled. “Did my research, asked around. Besides, it’s not hard to see when the others all turn to you before making any decisions.”

Jax frowned, annoyed at being proved wrong about him being unprepared. “Except on who our lead singer should be.”

He laughed again. “Come on, you saw the chemistry we have. Even with Paisley Cuddle I’ve never had chemistry like that. You guys are next level musicians. I’m not gonna fuck this up for you.”

“You’d better not,” she glowered. 

“So… what. I’m in?”

Jax stared at him in disbelief. “Did you not just hear me say everything’s done democratically? I was outvoted. I’ve got no more say than anyone else. The others want you, you’re in, despite how big of a mistake I think it is.”

Bobby grinned, and nodded contemplatively. “Well, I’m looking forward to working with you. And getting to know you better,” he smirked.

She cursed the blush that flooded her cheeks. “Okay, first things first, back the fuck off . I’m not interested in you.”

“Alright, lass, I believe you,” Bobby chuckled, and took a step forward, letting his hand fall to her waist. Jax didn’t move, frozen to the spot at the heat that flooded through her again, as he brought his lips down next to her ear, growling in a deep, gravelled whisper.

“But you might need to work on convincing yourself.”

Her breath caught, and a rush of heat flashed between her legs, and she found herself, inexplicably, not pushing him away. Instead, she glared up at him, ignoring the way her body ignited as she met his narrowed eyes. 

“This is exactly the kind of bullshit that gives me zero confidence in you,” she frowned. “Even if I was interested, fucking a bandmate is never a good idea, and that extends to their significant others, too. But I’m sure you’ve figured that one out by now.”

Bobby huffed a laugh. “Don’t believe everything you hear, lass.”

Jax finished her cigarette, and flicked it all the way down the alley. “Whatever. Just show up on time to rehearsals, be polite to Hope, and don’t make me regret not putting my foot down.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he grinned. “Looking forward to working with you, lass.”

She glared at him.

“Jax, ” he sighed. “Looking forward to working with you, Jax.”

She nodded, smirking at how much he seemingly hated that she didn’t like her nickname.

“Don’t fuck it up, Cupcake.”