#lyrics from houdini because that song makes me think of him

[day-colors]

perfect gift from me to you

[thetorturedlovergirl]

Today my classes got canceled bc public transport isn’t working (buses, subways, trains, etc) as drivers are on strike so I finally had the time to watch The Chuch On Ruby Road !!

Here are some of my opinions:

Ncuti Gatwa as The Doctor? AMAZING. MARVELOUS. OUTSTANDING.

I know we get to see him in The Giggle, but that's just a fraction of what we get to see in this episode. I love his energy, his voice, and how nice and approachable he seems as The Doctor. You can see that he loves his job and that he loves being The Doctor, and that he will crush this job.

ALSO ALL OF HIS CLOTHES !! HE COULD USE A TRASH BAG AND STILL MAKE IT LOOK CLASSY AND STYLISH I SWEAR. I WANT TO SEE ALL OF THE OUTFITS HE WILL WEAR IN THIS SEASON.

AND MILLIE GIBSON? LOVE HER. LOOOOVE HER. Her accent is magnificent, her personality, her EVERYTHING. I know I’ll love Ruby Sunday very much (I already do, I can’t hate companions).

HER OUTFITS ARE ALSO GORGEOUS !! I know they’ll be fighting for their lives with cunty outfits this new season and I’m all here for it.

It’s funny how she just roll with everything like she wasnt that shocked as I’d have expected. It was like “oh this alien who had a hot wet summer with Harry Houdini is helping me save the foster baby that just came to my home from this coincidence-eating goblings? yeah ok valid.”

I’m so excited to know her origins. I don’t know if I really care who her biological mother is, BECAUSE CARLA IS HER MOTHER AND SHES WONDERFUL. But I want to know what RTD has in mind for her and where she comes from. I have my theories but they’re like… trashy and stupid so I want to know what the real deal will be.

The thing I love most about RTD episodes are how he shows that companions still have families outside of their TARDIS life. Like with some other companions I felt like it was like, three episodes where their family appeared and then they were just gone forever.

Rose and Jackie, Martha and Francine, Donna and Sylvia. I loved these interactions and how much it affected the companions and the whole plot. So Carla being present in Ruby’s life and the series is something important for me and I’m really looking forward to see how her interactions will affect.

Now, to the goblings…

Look, the whole gobling situation was really bizarre and funny. It made me really uncomfortable when the camera zoomed to their faces and I couldn’t stop thinking “why are they doing that? It looks like when my friends took really bad zoomed pictures”. It didn’t happened like, one time, IT WAS EVERY TIME. Also, when they jumped and danced was really funny and so strange they looked like Mii characters.

WHEN JANICE GLOBING STARTED SINGING!! THAT IS CINEMA!!. Her saying the many ways they could eat Lulubelle (I agree with the doctor, that is a great name), I was shocked, I couldn’t stop laughing and how silly the whole scene was.

Idk why people hate The Doctor and Ruby’s song. I heard many people criticizing the lyrics but the song was actually good. It was improvised by The Doctor and Ruby so it couldn’t be majestic (not like the gobling song lol), but they did great with what they had. I would have made a mess and just start singing something cringy just to annoy them, so Ruby really killed it with those lyrics. And the vocals? GOD THE VOCALS. I LOVE HOW MILLIE AND NCUTI SING!! IM REALLY EXCITED FOR THAT BEATLES EPISODE NOW (I was before watching TCORR bc im a huge Beatles fan but now that I heard them sing? ohh I can’t wait).

The resolution was meh but I was more interested in the characters so I didn’t rally cared tbh I wasn’t expecting it to be something astounding.

Overall, I loved the episode as as a whole (4/5) and I think is a good first episode for Ncuti and Millie.

WELL NOW WE JUST HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL TOMORROW !! NEW EPISODES AAAA

[gohnnyjuitar]

2 and 4 for tex, cobalt, rose, and romulus 😈

"what's the evil face for" i wondered before i spent an hour and a half hunched over this ask

2. a song lyric to describe their love life

Tex

"Yeah, I'm scared but I'll disappear Running around before it corners you Like he's someone who lost his way"

Houdini - Foster the People

a lot of the songs on his playlist that are about relationships are from the pov of the people he's broken the hearts of :') this one part of Houdini is chef kiss for an anxiety filled cowboy who only realizes what he had when he's disappeared for several month's with no goodbye!

Cobalt

"I can tell that you're tired But you keep the car on While you're waiting out front"

400 Lux - Lorde (runner up song was Happy Accidents - Saint Motel)

Cobalt is a very "live fast, die young" kind of fella, even with him approaching his 40s. his major relationships end (Mercedes) or almost end (Remington) because Cobalt is faced with the fear of settling down and becoming stuck (even though neither of those relationships asked him to give up what he loves to do, which is travel). this bit makes me think about Cobalt in the sense that, he sees that his partner wants to slow down and settle in, so Cobalt springs for more travel and more exploration because he's scared he'll get stuck.

what's funny is i think you added this song to their playlist dfhhgf

Rose

"I just want to love you, to love you, to love you well I just want to learn how, somehow, to be loved myself"

Two - Sleeping at Last

Rose is a fixer, and it's easier to fix everyone around her than it is to try to fix herself, especially after losing her memories. surely if everyone around her is happy, then she can be, too. Rose puts her all into a relationship because, for a while, she feels like she has to earn reciprocated love.

Romulus

"I took a low road in I'll take the high road out I'll do whatever it takes to be the mistake you can't live without"

The High Road - Three Days Grace

this bit basically has to do with Romulus being full of self-hatred and regrets. he doesn't understand why Rose gives him the time of day, let alone insists on helping him when she has a million of her own things going on. it goes from him begrudgingly thinking he owes her for helping him, to him fearing the worst because he's developed feelings. in the end, she makes him want to be a better person.

4. a song lyric to describe their personality

Tex

"I'm a hold my cards close I'm a wreck what I love most I'm a first class letdown I'm a "shut up, sit down""

Polaroid - Imagine Dragons

i think this is a pretty god summary of Tex's personality whether he realizes it or not. he's pretty good at freaking out and wrecking something good and not talking about any of his own personal issues. smiley face

Cobalt

"I wanna taste love and pain Wanna feel pride and shame I don't wanna take my time Don't wanna waste one line"

Could Have Been Me - The Struts

Cobalt loves life and all the experiences it can bring. a lot of his personality revolves around wanting to not miss an opportunity to experience something new and incredible. he's a very open minded and happy fella :)

Rose

"When they see you around You look down at the ground But when they walk away You wish they'd stay"

Bleeding Heart - Regina Spektor

a big part of Rosemary's character is her struggle with low self esteem and how this affects her normally happy disposition. she loves people and loves interacting with them, but there's always that horrible feeling gnawing at her insisting that they have no interest in her.

Romulus

"You were a child who was made of glass You carried a black heart passed down from your dad If somebody loved you they'd tell you by now"

That's Okay - The Hush Sound

this just so happens to be like one of the most recent songs on Romulus' playlist and boy does it make me think of how he's trying to come to terms with his father's emotional abuse and shitty childhood that he misses sometimes despite himself :)

lyric meme :)

[screadingchallenge]

Behind the Keyboard: Volume 9

Behind the Keyboard is a series of interviews with different Schitt’s Creek fanfic authors. The series will last as long as there is interest (from authors) and capacity (from me). If you are an author from the Schitt’s Creek fandom who would like to participate, send a DM to this account.  

Each author was given ten questions. The first five questions are the same for every author, the last five will vary.

Remember, this year’s Reading Challenge begins July 15, so polish up those MFL lists.

Let’s meet our next author:

@missgeevious / missgeevious

How many fics have you written?

22 for Schitt’s Creek

When did you publish your first fic on AO3?

I started posting All the Songs I Sing Are About You on 12/20/2019. It’s a retelling of one of my favorite romcoms, Music & Lyrics. It was part of a fest, and the first fic I’d ever written. I had no idea what I was doing. Hitting “post” that first time was t e r r i f y i n g, but I got so many lovely comments from people who really seemed to like it, and that was it—I was hooked, sucked into this writing life that is amazing (and sometimes awful) and which has brought me friends I treasure. Someone who especially loved that story, vivianblakesunrisebay, ended up becoming my beta and good friend. 

Describe your writing process from “Oh, I have an idea” to pushing publish on AO3. 

Process? I don’t know her.

Fine.

It’s something like this:

a) Have a shiny idea that excites me.

b) Flail and yell about the idea a lot to whomever will listen.

c) Realize I have to actually write something to make it happen and whine about that

d) Write

e) Complain

f) Repeat steps d and e until everyone in my friend group is borderline ready to kick me out of the club.

g) DM Houdini and whine more

h) Complain and Write

i) Repeat g and h until Houdini regrets everything

j) Fling it at Houdini and Viv for beta

k) Repeat prior steps as necessary until *I* am so sick of it all that I want to post it just to be done with it.

l) Realize summaries and tags are a thing and whine about that

m) Post and promptly realize I forgot or messed up a dozen things and go back in to fix them.

BONUS STEPS

n) Worry that what I wrote sucks spectacularly and no one is telling me.

o) Refresh and worry that I messed up posting somehow.

p) Repeat steps n and o until I remember/re-convince myself that it doesn’t matter if anyone else likes it because I did the thing and should be proud I finished it.

Tell me about your most recent fic? What do you love about it? Is there anything you think you could have done better?

My most recently posted fic is Nothing About This Was Proper. It’s a fic I started a while ago that ended up fitting a little collection I did with some friends. If that collection hadn’t come along to motivate me, the story would probably still be languishing in my WIPS folder. I’m terrible at talking about what I like about my own fics (hello, imposter syndrome is so real). I guess I like my set-up in that one—the whole thing with the dog being the catalyst (ultimately) for David & Patrick getting together, and the banter in the car (David’s position that the dog is trying to “assault” him). As for what I could have done better, I would’ve liked to tie up some of the loose ends (e.g., whose house were they in and those folks coming home to find them), but the fic was already getting long and the deadline was looming so I focused on getting the boys together. 

What advice would you give to someone who’s thinking about publishing their fic for the first time?

This question assumes you’ve written the fic already, which is a huge accomplishment. Congratulations! You’ve agonized over making it the best you can, no doubt spending time and energy and likely putting a bit of your heart in it. Finishing a story is hard work—as opposed to starting a story, which is usually easy and fun, in my experience. You should absolutely publish that story and give folks the chance to enjoy it. Make sure you also take some time to be proud of yourself. You did the thing! You saw it through from start to finish! That’s huge! 

Weirdest thing you’ve googled as research for a story?

Heh. When I was writing the bathhouse fic (Thank God. It’s You) I did a lot of googling that was, shall we say, enlightening? I forgot to use a private browser half the time, too, so my ads got real interesting.

How has writing fic changed you?

Writing fic has brought me friendships that have changed me for the better and a hobby I (usually) love and a new life goal of publishing a novel. I think it probably had an extremely beneficial impact on my mental health during the pandemic as well. 

Most memorable comment you’ve had on one of your fics?

Oh, gosh. This one is really hard to answer. I can’t think of a specific one. My pal weathereyehorizon’s comments regularly make me feel like I could slay dragons and I love her for them. Overall, the comments folks made on All the Songs I Sing were life-changing. They helped me believe I might be good at this and should keep working at it. 

Would you rather find a title or write a summary?

I’d rather write a title. They usually come to me by the time I reach the end of a story and I kind of like coming up with them, but figuring out a summary is always difficult.

Do you remember the first SC fic you ever read?

I do not. I wish I did!

[wannabe-cartoonist-blog]

🎶 Listen on YouTube 🎶

An untitled Teiko angst playlist because I have a lot of feelings about Kuroko + the GoM in middle school, okay? You can find all these songs on whatever you use to listen to music.

Deep dive + song analysis (with screen caps) below cut.

Harmony Hall | Vampire Weekend

And the stone walls of Harmony Hall bear witness Anybody with a worried mind could never forgive the sight Of wicked snakes inside a place you thought was dignified I don't wanna live like this, but I don't wanna die

I loved the juxaposition of Teiko being this really prestigious school that everyone envies but it churns out just absolutely fucked up children lmao. ‘We always win’. You fucked up a perfectly good kid is what you did. Look at them! They have depression. Also, the first line about the “vow” is very fitting for Ogiwara + Kuroko, and Kuroko’s feelings of inadequacy when it comes to being stuck in the third string.

Houdini | Foster The People

You never knew what I could find What could come when we realize I don't want to compromise

Yeah, I'm scared but I'll disappear Running around before it corners you Like he's someone who lost his way

I know that you want me 'Cause it's simple to see of my ability

This song’s about wanting to escape from your present situation and feeling trapped, but ultimately overcoming those feelings and making a future for yourself; Kuroko to a T. But especially Kuroko prior to joining the Teiko team, imo. He feels very helpless in his efforts to climb the ranks of the team, but keeps at it anyway. Then he gets a little tease from Akashi + Aomine about what Kuroko can potentially become… ‘Rise up to your ability,’ indeed.

What You Know | Two Door Cinema Club

In a few weeks, I will get time To realize it's right before my eyes And I can take it if it's what I want to do I am leaving and this is starting To feel like it's right before my eyes And I can taste it, it's my sweet beginning

Being swept up in the moment and blinded by the promise of success…yeah, I think that happens to our poor baby. But this is definitely one of the more positive songs on the playlist. I could see this being like Aomine and/or Akashi making the promise to Kuroko that he can do much more and Kuroko being the one to jump at the chance for companionship and notoriety.

Hard Times | Paramore

Where do I go? Gimme some sort of sign You hit me with lightning! Maybe I'll come alive

This song’s deceptively peppy beat can almost distract from the bleak lyrics, which I think is very fitting for the Miracles. I think this is a fitting theme for when Kuroko is “coming down” from the high of being on a team that always wins. He’s among the first to realize there’s a problem with the team’s methods and attitudes. Not to mention notice how unhappy everyone seems suddenly.

Over My Head (Cable Car) | The Fray

And suddenly, I've become a part of your past I'm becoming the part that don't last I'm losing you and it's effortless

For when Kuroko’s feeling outnumbered by the Miracles’ change in attitudes and unsuccessful in breaking them out of their haze. I also imagine the “she” the singer speaks of is Momoi. Kuroko worries about keeping the Miracles together but struggles with the responsibility. The thought of disappointing Momoi - who spoke of wanting to “always be together” - along with the reality of losing all of the Miracles, is crushing and overwhelming to Kuroko.

Jumper | Third Eye Blind

And your friends have left you, you've been dismissed I never thought it would come to this And I, I want you to know Everyone's got to face down the demons Maybe today, you could put the past away

Remember the aokuro playlist? This is the song I cut from it. I think it’s just such a good fit for the aokuro dynamic - with the “jumper”/”the angry boy a bit too insane” being Aomine and Kuroko being the friend who is pleading with them. Aomine kinda dives off the deep end (metaphorically) and we see Kuroko struggling to bring him back to himself (unsuccessfully, during their Teiko days). It’s one of my favorite songs and I think it just so happens to work with aokuro really well. And the singer sounding so angry and sad and desperate is a plus, because that’s definitely Kuroko in this situation. But it could be taken as more platonic than it is “romantic”, which is why I decided to save it for this playlist.

Drown | Seafret

What doesn't destroy you Leaves you broken instead Got a hole in my soul growing deeper and deeper And I can't take

One more moment of this silence The loneliness is haunting me And the weight of the world's getting harder to hold up Hold up, hold up

Haha. Oof. Pretty self explanatory, this one.

Broken Crown | Mumford & Sons

I will not speak of your sin There was a way out for him The mirror shows not Your values are all shot

Angry Kuroko. That is all. JK. Yeah, Kuroko, despite how dejected he seems in canon, I just know is pissed over what happened to Ogiwara. This song I think is perfect for Kuroko officially rejecting the Miracles values - namely Akashi’s. I imagine the “other” Akashi is the one Kuroko is addressing in this song.

Shadow of the Day | Linkin Park

Sometimes beginnings aren't so simple Sometimes goodbye's the only way

And the sun will set for you The sun will set for you

Despite the obvious choice of this song having “shadow” in the title, I think it’s a good fit for Kuroko post-Teiko. He accepts the Miracles’ decision to all go to different high schools, but only because he knows that beating them all at their own game, one-by-one, is his only way of getting through to them.

The First Days of Spring | Noah And The Whale

But I'll come back to you In a year or so And rebuild, ready to become The person you believed in The person that you used to love

KnB begins in the spring so I was thrilled to have a song that reflected the series’ theme of new beginnings in new school years. The song “Blue Skies” by this same band was also a contender for this playlist, but I decided to cut it since I think this song is a better ending point (bc of those themes I mentioned).

[talkfastromance4]

Lost Without You-- Calum Hood oneshot

Copyright talkfastromance4 © All works is intellectual property of the author. All rights reserved. Any redistribution or reproduction or any part or all contents in any form is prohibited. You may not, without written expression and consent from the author, distribute works amongst other social media platforms

A/N: based off of Fly By Midnight’s new song Lost Without You. Give it a listen as  some of the lyrics are incorporated in the piece! 

Warnings: angst, moody and broody

Word count: 2,577

donate to my ko-fi here :)

Masterlist

Enjoy! :)

• • • •

Calum is a man of deception; the Houdini of keeping his six-year relationship hidden from the media sharks’ eyes. He’s the mastermind of averting their invasive questions of why he hasn’t found a special someone yet, what’s the hold-up, to the attention of this awesome bass riff he’s been working on. It’s not that he was ashamed of you or your love, he wanted at least one part of his life to stay private.

Part of his deception is keeping his lips sealed. He’s perfected the silent-yet-observant role of the band, only speaking when he deems it necessary and if it’s related to the band, Duke, or their music while simultaneously he was having a full conversation with you on his phone about how all the planets share the same sun.

For six years, your relationship worked amazingly well. He adored your compassion for his dream, always referring to you as his biggest fan which always made you laugh. It’s been six years of late-night calls, paragraphs shared of how much you meant to each other filled with promises of the adventures you’d have when you’re reunited again. It’s been endless voice notes of a new song he wrote, memories upon memories printed on polaroid’s and saved in a lot of albums on your phone.

For six years it worked until it didn’t.

Complacency became very apparent and the feeling of being stuck in one place crept up your neck and whispered in your ear while your friends were getting engaged left and right. While out and about you felt jealous of other couples who could freely kiss one another. Seeing the guys and their girlfriends cuddle while you were all out dinner left a burning hole in your heart while Calum was three seats away.

For six years it did work, but the comfortable bubble you were in for so long suddenly became uncomfortable and claustrophobic. It was a long break up that left you both teary eyed, your makeup cleaned off from the salt in your tears, and your voices hoarse from talking. You tried talking it through, but the only solution seemed to be taking a break.

A break from your best friend of six years, a break from a love so genuine.

It’s been six months since that miserable night where half his heart was taken and Calum doesn’t want to be by himself these days, he doesn’t want to think of himself this way without you. But he has been thinking about it, every second, every day. He’s been thinking of you constantly.

And you’ve been thinking of him too. Recently you’ve been seeing a new guy, someone from the gym you go to who has shown interest multiple times. He’s the opposite of Calum, so you thought you’d give it a try. Something different, something new.

“Why’d you decide to give me a chance now? I’m glad you did, don’t get me wrong, but I’m curious,” Matt asks while you’re out for coffee.

“I haven’t been alone since I was eighteen,” you confess. You felt a release as you finally opened about your relationship with Calum, leaving his name anonymous so Matt wouldn’t blab to the press you were dating a member of 5 Seconds of Summer.

Your heart burst open of your whole relationship, six years of memories, love, a friendship set on fire, finally released into the open.

“Then why did it end?” Matt asks while he walked you up to your door. You hadn’t realized you talked about your relationship for the whole date, how pathetic is that?

Instead of answering him, you pulled him in for a kiss that traveled to your bedroom. Opening up about Calum opened your sadness of the breakup as well. The whole time you were with Matt, you compared him to Calum in your mind. His fingers were clumsy while Calum’s were sure and precise, years and years of bass playing under his belt did wonders. His hair was thin between your fingers while Calum’s was thick and fluffy. Matt’s movements were jerky while Calum’s were fluid as water.

When it was over, you rolled over to gaze out the window, tears brimming your eyes because for the first time in six months, you felt lost without Calum. There’s another body where he used to be, and you can’t stand the thought. Thoughts of Calum left you awake until Matt kissed you goodbye and left.

Calum’s over at Michael’s, he’s on his fifth white claw and he feels the alcoholic bubbles taking effect. In his impaired state, he pulls out his phone and scrolls to your text conversation, six years’ worth of conversation still held in his phone’s memory.

Him: I miss you when it hurts

Knowing you won’t reply but hoping that you do, he stumbles to the hammock. With one foot on the earth he sways from side to side staring at the stars through the trees. He’s wondering if all those stars have been in the sky since your relationship started when his phone does the two-toned ding reserved only for you.

Excited and nervous all at once, he almost falls out of the hammock reaching for his phone that falls between the netting of the hammock. Cursing under his breath he stretches until his fingers grab hold of the device, the light of the screen illuminates his face.

Her: I’m sleeping in your shirts

His heart skips a beat, his mouth goes dry just imagining you in his shirts. He hasn’t seen his sensation shirt in two years because you stole it and claimed it yours. Every couple months he’d get it back so that it would end up smelling like him and you’d steal it all over again. He loved seeing you walk around your place in nothing but his shirts, he loved the way your ass peeked out from the hem.

Him: but seeing you would make it worse

He impatiently waits while your gray bubbles pulsate on his screen. Then they stop and then your pretty face is on his screen followed by your ringtone. Surprised, he nearly drops his phone again before answering.

“Hello?” he asks breathlessly.

“Can we still talk on the phone sometimes?” you ask.

Calum falls out of the hammock this time because he hasn’t heard your voice in so long. Six years he’s been hearing your voice in his head, on his phone, in his ear while you whisper dirty things. Six months without your voice has been hell and hearing it now, it’s like he’s at the gates of heaven.

“Of course, we can,” he finally responds climbing back into the hammock. He licks his lips. “How are you? Are you okay?”

“Yeah…I’m okay,” you respond softly. He knows every nuance of your voice; he can tell you’re telling him the half-truth. “Are you okay?”

“I’m better now.”

Over the next several weeks, you’ve been talking on the phone more frequently. You’re still seeing Matt every now and then, just to give you something to do and hopefully not think of Calum. That’s damn near impossible.

You’re on the phone with Calum while you’re sitting out on your balcony watching the sun go down. Both of you haven’t said a word in about five minutes, but hearing his breathing makes it feel like he’s right there with you. The two of you always had comfortable silences of enjoying each other’s presence.

“Can we be the exes that still stay friends?” he asks.

Your feet slam to the floor that were perched on the railing at his question. It filled you with butterflies.

“I’d like that, Calum. I’ve missed my best friend,” you admit shyly.

“He’s missed you, too.”

Matt spent the night and after your morning coffee, you laid on the floor staring at your ceiling fan as it rotates. The cool air blows on your skin and it reminds you of all the times you and Calum would lay on the floor or the grass, heads next to each other, as you talked about random things. Matt found you like that and asked what you were doing.

“Come lay with me, let’s talk,” you say reaching for his hand.

You feel his hesitancy as he lays next to you.

“What do we talk about?” he mumbles in confusion.

“Anything. Don’t you think it’s weird that Mars has the same sun we do?”

“No,” he snorts.

Suddenly, your door opens and with a rush of panic you sit up expecting to see Calum thinking that it’s him. Part of you wants him to see Matt and the other part of you wishes Matt weren’t in the picture at all. Crestfallen, it’s one of Matt’s friends who came by to pick up a video game he had. Matt leaves you on the floor and you send a text to Calum asking him about Mars and the sun.

He replies quickly with how that fact still blows his mind and you smile.

Ten months have gone by and Calum is pacing back and forth in his kitchen. Duke is following his motions, tongue lolling out and panting while the rest of the band follow the dad and dog duo. You’re coming over for the first time. For the first time since the breakup he’s going to see you and it has his stomach reeling.

“Why are you freaking out so much?” Michael asks.

“Because, it’s been so long! It could either go really well or end horribly,” Calum huffs continuing to move back and forth.

“Will you stop pacing?” Ashton demands, “you’re making me dizzy. It won’t end horribly. You’re already broken up.”

That stops Calum instantly. He glares at his best friend for his blunt remark, Michael and Luke share the same look.

“What?! I’m not wrong! What could be worse than that?”

“We’ve only started being friends again…she could decide she doesn’t even want that,” Calum sighs leaning against the counter. Duke sits at his feet.

“You’ve been friends for six years…yeah, you were also a couple, but I don’t understand how you can just stop being friends with that much history,” Ashton shrugs.

“Yeah, you don’t understand,” Calum shakes his head. Only you and he know where your relationship stands. He’d give you the moon if he could, lasso it and all that like from that movie you love so much.

The doorbell rings and Calum stands up stick straight, he breaks into a cold sweat. Michael offers to get it and when he returns, it’s only Andy and Sarah. At every doorbell Calum waits for you to walk through his door again but is met with disappointment when it’s another party guest.

Feeling defeated he collapses onto the couch, swiping through apps on his phone while the party blurs around him. Duke hops up and lays in his lap.

“Hey guys. Where’s Calum?”

Upon hearing your voice, Calum and Duke both perk up with Duke bounding off his lap and running to wherever your voice came from. Calum stands slowly, hearing your sweet words to Duke as he rounds the corner. Seeing you after all this time is like he can finally breathe again. You’re giving Duke kisses and Calum notices that your hair is different, the new cut and style takes him by surprise but you’re beautiful as ever.

Then your eyes lift to his and he swears he felt the planets align within him. When you smile it’s like he’s seeing the sun for the first time.

“Hey, you made it,” he says gruffly then mentally slaps himself. He should have said something cooler, more riveting but you smile all the same and stand up.

“Hi. Yeah, I did. I wouldn’t miss it.”

After grabbing you a drink he ushers you to a quiet corner where he awkwardly asks for a hug. You share a timid embrace, but it still feels like home. He wants to hold you forever but reluctantly lets go so you can catch up some more.

For the whole night you stay in that spot, unless he left to refresh your drinks, or you grabbed a snack that you shared on the same plate. As the last people left, you and Calum were left alone on the couch, the lights dimmed, and the music changed to something more chill.

“I thought you would’ve brought Matt with you,” Calum says. The other guy’s name leaves a bitter taste in his mouth and his next sentence tastes like bile. “I want to meet him.”

“I thought about it,” you sigh leaning your head against the couch. Your head presses against Calum’s arm that’s slung over the back and he sucks in a breath at the contact. “But it’s not working with him.”

“No? Why’s that?” he tries to sound polite.

You stare at him for a long time, taking in his dark eyes, the slight curl at the ends of his hair, his tattoos peeking from his shirt and the three moles you’ve always loved to kiss.

“I’m lost without you,” you confess.

He stares back for a beat.

“You’re lost without me?”

“These ten months have been so hard. I think about you all the time, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to come over and beg for you to take me back. But I hurt you. I know I did. I hated that night we broke up; it was one of the worst nights of my life. But why would you want me back after I threw in the towel because I was feeling affection deprived? That’s not fair. And then when you texted me…I felt so happy. This whole thing was stupid, and I understand if you don’t want—”

Calum silences you by pressing his lips to yours. You kiss back eagerly, welcoming the comfort of his soft lips against your own, your fingers immediately flying into his hair. His own hand cups your face, you melt at the warmth of his skin and a chill runs through you when his tongue slips between your lips. The world stops, the music drifts away as you kiss your best friend, your soulmate after so many days apart.

The kiss leaves you both breathless and gasping for air as you break apart, but you don’t move far, his forehead rests on yours. You caress the back of his neck while his thumb caresses your cheek.

“I’ve been lost without you, too, cupcake,” he mumbles and your heart rushes at his nickname for you. “I was nervous as shit before you came, I didn’t think you were going to.”

“I almost didn’t come,” you chuckle, “I kept imagining I’d see you with some new girl hanging off you.”

“The only girl I need is you.”

You’re kissing him again, then ask on his lips, “Maybe we should--?”

“Baby, we should start again,” he finishes for you. “We’re both different now. We’ll be different, we’ll…we won’t hide this time. You’ve been a part of my life for so long, you held my childhood that I didn’t want to let go of yet.”

“It’s not letting go, it’s moving forward,” you trace his eyebrows then poke each one of his small moles that you love because they’re like stars.

“Move forward with me?” he asks, nudging his nose against yours kissing you again. You nod against him as he pushes you onto the couch. Your love lost was found again.

• • • •

Taglist: @galcalirwin​ @cashtonasff5sos @thecurlsofgod​ @myloverboyash​ @rotten-kandy​ @tea4sykes​ @jannimoeller3​ @loveroflrh​ @iovehemmings​ @cxddlyash​ @princesslrh​ @here-for-the-uproars @katiaw2​ @g-l-pierce​ @fairyintheglass​ @gosh-im-short​ @banditocth @dezzym17 @koalacal​ @lukeisbaby​ @spicycal​ @mysticalhood​ @notinthesameguey​ @wastedheartcth​ @atlcalm​ @itjustkindahappenedreally​ @calumance​ @babylon-corgis​ @thew0rldneedsmcreycghurt​ @lanternlover2​ @istaywithmyjonas​ @calteahood​ @sarcastically-defensive17​ @another-lonely-heart​  @calumhoodaf​ @frontmanash​ @philthepegacorn​ @mantlereid​ @lukedorkyhemmings​ @addietagglikesbands​ @kikixfandoms @sanrioluke​ @mayve-hems​ @morguelth @haikucal​ @thatscooibaby​ @meghanrose05​ @idontneedanyone​ @dinosaursandsocks​ @cassie-sos​ @suchalonelysunflower​ @burstintocolor​ @zhangyixingxing1​ @dead-and-golden​ @mymindwide​ @everyscarisahealingplace​

**if your url has a strike through it’s because your blog didn’t show up as a tag! :(

[werezmastarbucks]

Whitmore Guy - party animals

Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five

Part Six Part Seven

Kai Parker x fem!Reader slowburn

word count: 1600

warnings: Y/N’s bitching about people misinterpreting skate punk culture

music: neck deep - serpents (mark hoppus remix), good charlotte - i don’t wanna be in love, metro station - wish we were older, sum 41 - in too deep

The party was a success. The people did remember early Fall Out Boy, and they did still love them. Gerard Way’s name was still ringing bells in people’s hearts – the only thing Y/N was unhappy about was the fact that they completely mistook the idea.

“I mean… this is not an emo party”, she repeated for the thousandth time. Damon was at her side, just as he’d promised. He was at the very best disinterested in her youth’s culture. In fact, she remembered him mention once, Damon started feeling really tired exactly in 2006, and this outburst of depression made him migrate to north for some time, before returning to Mystic Falls. His silver-green eyes were snapping from one shape of human to another, he wasn’t really listening to her.

“They’re all misdressed…” she gasped. “Except… ah! That’s Mal. He always looks like he’s about to break his nose on the asphalt”.

“Why?” Damon asked absent-mindedly.

“Because he’s about to go skating”.

“That’s the guy?” Damon nodded at Mal, eyes focusing on him.

“Yeah”.

Music was blasting, and people were dancing. They were shaking, thrashing their heads. A couple of immortal hits already made the whole place sweat a little, their cervical vertebrae did not feel good about that.

Mal was chatting with a girl. The system Y/N was remembering people was, she remembered the kind of troubles they were in. This one, Cindy, or Sandy, she once failed to submit not five, not six, but ten papers in a row, and a group of teachers was very unhappy with her. Y/N could not really help her, except to say that she should probably stop partying and go study. Not a lot of time actually has passed since she was a student at a college herself; but she was never a party animal. She had problems with her studies because she had a cluster of minor disorders, from eating to insomnia.

From the looks of it, he was all over the girl. Wide smirk, and the way he bent to her slightly; his eyes were watching her expression closely, and the thin silver chain he always wore under shirt gleamed faintly in the blue lightning.

“I thought you said he was stunning”, Damon sneered.

“I never said stunning. I said adorable”.

“He’s very, very usual, Y/N”.

“Well, compared to you, maybe. Not all people tend to look like fucking Renaissance statuary, Damon”.

Damon sniffed, ruffling his invisible feathers.

“So, what don’t you like about him?”

“He looks like a man with a plan. I don’t really know what’s going on in his head”.

Damon turned to her and eyed her with the usual oily look of a hungry lizard.

“Man. I thought your intuition is kicking in. And you just wanna hit it up with a guy”.

Y/N rolled her eyes.

“Please, please, just for once, just do what I ask you to. Just check him out. Did you find anything about Martha Hopps, by the way?”

“I did, stalker. She is a real human person and she lives in Mystic Falls. She moved in recently with her parents and two sisters. Which is, whatever, considering she’s almost twenty four, and they all live in one house”.

“They’re millenials. It’s normal for us”.

“You don’t live with your mum”.

“Yeah, because I don’t talk with my mum. So, is her family crazy?”

“They sure look lame. Hopps papa seems to have complete control over his daughters. Obsessive type”.

“Oh, god. What if he really is the bad guy?”

“They’re a bunch of boring Christians. Martha is not even that pretty”, Damon clicked his tongue and started looking for the table with the punch. “I think her sister, Laura, is way more interesting”.

“Who cares”, Y/N said tiredly. She felt awful for spying on Mal’s girlfriend, second-handedly. “What you think. Let’s go find something to drink”.

“What do you mean, find?” the vampire went indignant in a moment, “didn’t you organize the whole thing?”

“I did, but Caroline moved all the tables in the morning. I didn’t manage to monitor everything”.

Together, they moved through the crowd, floating like two ships in the sea of shaking heads. Damon led Y/N by the elbow to keep her on her feet, because In Too Deep came on, and the crowd went wild. Mal was still flirting with Cindy/Sandy as they left. Minutes later, Damon abandoned Y/N at the table, to observe and have fun, and set off to look for the guy.

His face was showing in the crowd here and there, shooting Y/N glances of confusion. Mal seemed to have vanished, and the vampire couldn’t find him anywhere. He shook his head in amazement; the music was irritating him. He listened to different stuff; Salvatore’s heart belonged specifically to indie rock of the latter decade. For some unknown reason. In a way, Damon was an essence of the Mystic Falls town.

Soon, Damon disappeared, too, leaving her behind. She didn’t mind much; they kind of fell out in these last months. Y/N knew that Damon always had her back regardless, but they just didn’t talk much these days.

A song came in, the kind of it, that usually makes you see yourself from aside, standing alone, at the table with beer and punch, while everybody grabs their dancing partners by the waists. The sick lamp went from orange to pink even, and then an interesting turquoise shade flooded the hall; people all looked like sparkling fish, in their hats and pins and bright ribbons.

Something pushed her in the back, and moved the table, and Y/N jumped off just in time not to be stepped on.

Mal came round the table. He looked troubled, and his hair was ruffled. There was an even blush on his cheeks, making him look like he was no more than nineteen.

“Is that sex hair, Mal?” Y/N snorted, refusing to empathize with his wild gaze.

“She’s here”, Mal uttered, “dance with me”.

They took each other by the hands. Y/N downed her cup and threw it back on the table. Mal combed his hair with one hand, looking above her shoulder, and pulled her closer to himself.

“Who’s here?”

“Martha”, he said without expression. The eyes on his face were incredible, pulsating, like he was extremely horny, or very distressed; Y/N saw eyes like that on vampires after they’ve just eaten. His hands and face, on the opposite, were sturdy, mechanical.

I gave her my heart, she didn’t want it,

Took it anyway, put a dark spell on it,

Since then I haven’t been the same…                              

He looked down at Y/N like he’s just realized he was holding her.

“Go talk to her. Or nah?”

“Nah. I have nothing to say to her”.

“Really?” she went on with distrust.

“She doesn’t know I’m here”.

“You mentioned. You think she’ll scream or something?”

He snorted. His eyes warmed up just a little.

“Nobody’ll hear her. It’s a loud party”.

Mal put his hand on Y/N shoulder and let it rest.

“You’re a good friend”.

“Been training for years. Still not sure though”.

“I think I saw Demi here”.

“Who?”

“Your ex-crush whom I disapprove”.

“Dude”, she grinned, “he left”.

“Very impressive individual. Masculinity and bulllshit oozing out of him. God, his balls must be huge. Looked like he wanted to chat, but I Houdinied the fuck away”.

Y/N shifted uncomfortably, unable to stop herself from picturing everything he said. Mal was not completely wrong, and yet, the way he spoke about the older Salvatore was so poisonous you could die from listening too closely.

“Don’t like him, huh”.

“Don’t know him”, he nodded, “don’t really care. Just don’t let him hurt you. Why would he leave you alone? even I understand it’s not nice”.

“He didn’t come here to dance”.

“Why then?”

“Masculine stuff. Wanted to talk to somebody. Or check up on me. I don’t know”.

“Uhh, Y/N”, Mal sighed, sincerely enough. She got a desire to give him a hug, like a human, as a friend. Just because she hasn’t hugged anybody for a while. Because it’s been a month, and they got pretty close, attracted to each other like two wandering bog lights. So, she just did it. Wrapping her arms around him, Y/N pulled him close, and laid her head on his shoulder. Mal didn’t push her away, but the song ended, so they just stood. Mal smelled like candy again, and his skin, clean and white, had a trace of female perfume. Y/N didn’t know what to make of him. She wasn’t really jealous. She wasn’t really anxious. Their embrace existed outside their world. Mal still smelled of trouble. Y/N never for a second supposed that there wasn’t something utterly and vividly wrong with this guy. She just didn’t care enough.

“All that heart trouble”, Mal said suddenly, “just makes me wanna dance. Let’s get smashed. It’s Good Charlotte, isn’t it?”

“Back it up now, you’ve got a reason to live. Say, I don’t wanna be in love”.

“I like me a gal who knows all the lyrics to all the shitty songs”, Mal grinned wide, and they separated a little, but did not leave each other’s sight.

“This song is not shitty”.

“Nah”, Mal yelled, as the dynamic, loud part of the verse started, “some music is crap, and it’s good. Remember the motto of your favorite dudes”.

Y/N laughed. A little bit more of music, less light, and they were dancing like monkeys, waving their hands and thrashing their heads, a couple of happy, careless children. They managed to trick the whole college into listening Metro Station for fifteen minutes straight.

[grimelords]

Hello I’ve finished my February playlist for you. There’s no timeline on these things anymore they just come out whenever they come out it seems. A good mix, and I’m sure there’ll be at least one thing in here you’ve never heard before that you’ll like. 

Doncamatic (feat. Daley) - Gorillaz: This song is extremely traumatic for me because they released it after Plastic Beach as a standalone single and Damon Albarn said they had a whole other album worth of songs from the Plastic Beach sessions that they were thinking about releasing with Doncamatic as the lead single that just never materialised, and the idea of Plastic Beach 2 sitting on a hard drive while we get The Now Now (The Fall 2) instead is maddening.

Portait Of A Man (live) - Marlon Williams: I feel like I've used The Secret to bring this album into existence. It's exactly what I wanted from him - no studio artifice or weird genre pigeonholing and his huge voice on full display. It's incredible and long as hell and this is definitely the highlight.

Houdini Crush - Buke & Gase: I'm in love with the structure of this song. It takes SO long to get back to the chorus. It takes about three different sections in the middle and then finally gets back there and it's so satisfying because of it. You could edit this song into a tight indie pop piece but instead it has the space to go wild and jam and it's great.

AE_LIVE_KRAKOW_200914 - Autechre: Sorry but Autechre finally put all their live albums on spotify and they're very VERY good. Not the sort of thing that you want to listen to as part of a playlist exactly cause they go for an hour each but a very nice reminder nonetheless.

Sheet Metal Girl - Pig Destroyer: I think Pig Destroyer is one of the best band names I've ever heard. I found out later they meant pigs like cops which is still good but the idea of absolutely eviscerating a hog for no reason is very palpably metal. Just looked up the lyrics and this song seems to literally about having sex with a girl made out of sheet metal. Good!

Horizon - Aldous Harding: I absolutely love this song and the way she says 'babe' lights my brain up like a christmas tree. Every now and then I think about when you’ll die baaaaabe.

Born Slippy (Nux) - Underworld: There's a good bit on the Genius page for this song that says "Lots of 1990s acts helped popularize techno, but in Karl Hyde, Underworld had something that was the exclusive province of rock bands: a totally full-of-it frontman who sounded cool." and it's interesting that Underworld and The Prodigy are the biggest names to survive that time and still be at least slightly relevant now. No matter how much you put into your instrumentals nothing can really compare to just having an insane guy yell a bunch of garbage over it.

A Change Is Going To Come - Baby Huey & The Baby Sitters: This is like all good all normal and then he does that huge squeal at 2 minutes in and you're rocked to your core and then it only gets bigger and bigger and better from there. Also maybe one of the best mid song monologues I've ever heard.

No Signal (feat. Roy Woods) - 24hrs: The whole thing of emo rap mirroring mid 2000s emo is still so strange because it's not just the mindset and content being repurposed it's the literal melodic conventions. Change the instrumentation of this song and it's melodically just an emo song. Very strange, but this song is great regardless.

De Aqui No Sales - Cap.4: Disputa - Rosalia: Rosalia rocks and I only just found out El Guincho co-produced this album which is very exciting to me. I love the way this song feels like it never really gets to the big build up it's promising. It has a big intro for about half the song and then when it feels like it's about to blow up when the handclaps come in it just sits in that groove for a while and ends. I also feel like I should mention the video for this song because it's like the platonic ideal of a music video. It's got everything you could ask for. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvGt2BcDl_g

Glass Jar - Gang Gang Dance: Here's how good brains are: I had a sudden urge to listen to this album the other day but couldn't remember what it was called or who it was by, only the album cover, but for some reason locked away in my brain was the fact that it was from 2011 so I just looked through Pitchfork's Best Of 2011 list until I recognised it. Incredible. Anyway I'm so glad I did because I ended up having a huge phase with this album. They walk the fine line of psychedelic jammy bands like this of taking up a lot of space with atmospherics but it never feeling like it's lost momentum. Even when this song takes fully half of its 11 minute runtime to properly get started it never feels like wasted time somehow, it's always moving somewhere.

Heavyweight - Infected Mushroom: It's unbelievable that this song's good because it absolutely shouldn't be. The unholy mix of goa trance and metal usually reserved for Command And Conquer soundtracks is so unbelievably naff that it's come all the way around again and I absolutely love it.

Black Static - Health: I'm still absolutely furious about Pitchfork giving this album a 3 and not particularly for the score but because it's some of the worst Pitchfork Writing I've seen in a quite a while. They tried to cancel them for calling the album Slaves Of Fear I think: "The “we,” it seems, refers to the slaves, the slaves of fear, and if I try any harder to connect the dual sensation of edginess and laziness with slavery, the all-American institution that killed and brutalized millions of people for hundreds of years, I am going to have to take a long walk into the sun." Not sure about that. Anyway this song's great sorry for talking about a review instead of the song!

Burn Bridges - The Grates: Twee pop is an underrated genre and The Grates are an underrated band because they brought so much attitude and power to it it's hardly twee at all. It's huge and it rocks!

Girlfriend (feat. Lil Mama) - Dr. Luke Mix - Avril Lavigne: Sorry for putting Dr Luke on your dash in 2019 but this is mostly for Lil Mama. Removing Avril's verses and replacing them with Lil Mama but keeping the chorus and big guitars makes it sound like a lost Girl Talk song and it's so, so much better than the original. There's also a good bit in this where she really puts a lot of emphasis on saying 'Jennifer Hudson' and the weird harmony vocals in the background mirror it which I like a lot.

Panic Switch - Silversun Pickups: It seems like Silversun Pickups had no lasting impact beyond being one hit wonders for Lazy Eye which is so strange to me because their first two albums were absolutely solid. This is also a good example of totally nonsense lyrics feeling like they have meaning because the melody it so good.

3 - Seekae: It's very strange now to think that Alex Cameron was in Seekae. But that's not important. What is important is how good this song is. In the extremely narrow genre of Mount Kimbie-ites +Dome really stood out to me as album from guys who really got it. It's extremely catchy music but it still sounds like nothing you've ever heard before which when you think about it sounds like it should be impossible.

Shooting Stars - Bag Raiders: Bag Raiders did a little Song Exploder thing for Triple J about this song a little while ago and pointed out something I'd never noticed before which is that this song has the extremely strange structure of 1 really long verse, breakdown, 1 really long chorus, end. Which is.... completely amazing. And also that this song blew up and charted higher than it ever had before via memes like 6 years after it came out is still bizarre. Remember when it was in the video for Swish Swish by Katy Perry? God I hope they got paid a million dollars for that.

Romantic Rights (Erol Alkan's Love From Below Re-Edit) - Death From Above 1979: Huge fan of this remix that seems to just drop the full song unedited right in the middle. The perfect way to remix an already great song - just make it longer.

Dwa Serduszka - Joanna Kulig: I saw Cold War and subsequently couldn't get this song out of my head. I loved that movie so much but I also extremely agreed when @cyborgbree said the ending was like a Simpsons parody or foreign movies.

Holes - Mercury Rev: This song gives me depression and makes me feel like I'm sorting through old records and merch from my old band that tried really hard but never got anywhere even though I've never even been in a band. That's the power of music!

It's Never Over (Hey Orpheus) - Arcade Fire: Reflektor is a great and underrated album and to this day I am still finding new things to love about it! Namely this song which I've never paid much attention to before but massively jumped out at me last time I listened. It's a 3 note riff but it's absolutely amazing.

Dance Your Life Away - Audiobooks: Huge fan of having the gall to name your band Audiobooks and a huge fan of this song! It sounds like if Life Without Buildings was a dance band, which is a theoretically perfect idea. It sounds like she's just making the words up on the spot and she probably is and it's absolutely great.

Everything (Deathless) - JW Ridley: I'm so glad that War On Drugs brought heartland rock back for the masses and finally gave us back extended guitar solos outside of a metal or prog context. It is so inspiring what you can do with two chords and a propulsive groove.

Unmarked Helicopters - Soul Coughing: Sorry for continually putting Soul Coughing in these playlists but check out how good this song they did for the X Files movie soundtrack was. 'check out this Soul Coughing song they did for the X Files movie soundtrack' is a very specific kind of 90s sentence. Anyway the 'black black black black and blacker' part with the distortion on the vocals is so good, love it lots.

Don't Sit Down Cause I've Moved Your Chair - Arctic Monkeys: I saw Arctic Monkeys a couple of weeks ago and it was amazing but also extra good because they played this song that I'd completely forgotten about and it went off. The Josh Homme produced Arctic Monkeys albums are very good because his fingerprints are all over them and they sound like Queens Of The Stone Age covers.

What Can I Do If The Fire Goes Out? - Gang Of Youths: It's fucked up how good this song is. I listened to it the other day and was like 'what the fuck how come I never listened to Gang Of Youths second album that much? But then I kept going and realised it was 70 minutes long and had about five interlude tracks on it. I love Gang Of Youths but they need a producer that will yell at them until they make a 40 minute album. Fuck this song's good though. So good I'm mad I haven't seen it live yet.

Shark Smile - Big Thief: I don't even know the words to this song or what it's about but it makes me cry anyway. I'm very glad I found out about Big Thief this month, like two years after everyone else. Their description on Bandcamp says "Listening to Big Thief is like the feeling of looking at a dog and suddenly marvelling that it is like you but very not like you; when you are accustomed to looking at a dog and thinking 'dog', watching Big Thief is like forgetting the word 'dog' and looking at that naked animal and getting much closer to it and how different it is to you" which is a certainly a way to feel.

Inhaler - Foals: I don't know how I've avoided it but I've never really gotten much into Foals even though they have multiple songs that I really really love, this one being one of them. I think it's an amazing piece of recording simply for how huge it gets. This song swells to about ten times its original size as the chorus hits before totally deflating again. Also a huge fan of anyone that can make a Battles riff work in a conventional song like this does.

Red Bull & Hennessy - Jenny Lewis: Another fantastic song in the long pantheon of great songs about getting twisted and being horny. The isolated 'ohh' after 'all we've been through' feels like a real Shania Twain piece of production and I love it. Also the drums on this song are absolutely massive for some reason which is very cool.​

listen here

[anagentinwriting]

To Catch a Thief - Part 4

Summary: Being an FBI field agent was your dream job but having been stuck behind a desk for most of your career you’ve almost given up. Fortunately, a series of robberies with minimal evidence forces you to assist a team in the field to help solve the case. But when the only thing left behind is a series of song lyrics, will you be able to find the perp? Or will the number of obstacles and lack of evidence keep you from solving the case?

Pairing: Peter Quill x Reader

Word Count: 2429

Warnings: Swearing

To Catch a Thief Masterlist / Main Masterlist

“The same hologram system used in Vegas was used here, too,” Gamora informed. “The Norway police told us the case the Space Stone necklace was in was supposed to be the most secure in the world, but it's not anymore. The case has bulletproof glass and sensors running every which way. There is also a metal box below it where the necklace is stored at night, so no one ever needs to touch it. SL must be good at picking locks or has a tool that can break into anything.  One thing's for sure, SL must have friends in high places to get him equipment in a foreign country.”

“No kidding.”

“And the museum still has no idea when this happened,” Kraglin added. “They only realized it was missing when the hologram shut off and underneath it was a paper with lyrics on it. We figure the theft happened three days before since it took that long for the hologram from Vegas to trigger off.”

“What were the lyrics this time?” You asked as Kraglin handed you a picture of the paper with the lyrics on it.

It’s magic you know

Never believe, it’s not so

It's magic, you know

            Sorry, SL

“Do you recognize these lyrics at all, music expert?” Gamora asked with a hopeful smirk.

“No, it's a little vague, but I’ll do some digging. Do you have any idea how he did this?”

“Magic, according to him,” Kraglin insinuated, making you and Gamora shake your heads. “It’s crazy how Harry Houdini died from getting punched in the stomach, but I guess, later it was found out he had acute appendicitis. He may have been one of the best escapologists, but no one can escape death.” You narrowed your eyes at him. How did he know the randomest things and share these things at the most inconvenient times?

“Interesting Kraglin, really, but there’s no such thing as magic,” Gamora declared. “We need to try and figure out a plausible way for how he managed to do this."

“Abracadabra,” Kraglin chimed in, twiddling his fingers in the air.

Kraglin and Gamora got to work looking over the evidence the Norway police sent over by email. Kraglin would be flying out later this afternoon to collect anything physical he could find and bring it back to further examine it.

You sat in your chair listening to the song Magic by Pilot after doing a Google search on the lyrics.  From your understanding, it’s a happy cheerful song.  It’s about loving life and not taking every day for granted. It’s short and to the point. SL could've forgiven himself for doing the things he did in his past, and instead of dwelling on them any further he's moving on. He was finally looking to better days ahead of him, and you were happy for him. Both his last songs were uplifting and this one seems like he’s happier.

“Find anything, YN?”

“I did and last night Luis gave me some insights as well…” You filled them in on what you found out from Luis and what you were thinking with the new song lyrics.

Gamora wanted you to search the database for anything related to Space-Legend or Star-Leader while she got Kraglin ready for his trip. But like always you found nothing on the names. Then, you remembered SL exposed a few companies a couple years ago. You ran a search, but without the company names, it would be hard to narrow down the long endless list related to the mistreatment of animals.

SL had to of committed previous crimes before this, but with no leads you needed to move on to something else. With Gamora watching the Vegas footage, you started on the two months worth of camera footage the Norway museum sent over.

“Peter, why is this even a discussion Faithfully by Journey beats their song Separate Ways.  It’s no competition.” After getting locked out of your apartment a couple weeks ago, you and Peter struck up this weird friendship. He has his issues, but he’s a nice guy even though you have petty arguments over music and movies.

“What? Are you crazy?  Separate ways is so much deeper than you are making it out to be,” Peter argued, making his voice rise a bit higher.

“How? Faithfully is how love should be. It proves that even though the distance and the problems are putting a strain on their relationship, he will always fight to make it work because he loves her.”

“I agree, 100 percent. But, hear me out, Separate Ways is more realistic. I mean, a guy falls in love with a girl that thinks she’s unworthy of love, whether it's from a bad past relationship or whatever, but the dude understands this.  He tells her someday she’ll be able to love, and he hopes that one night they touched will get her to come back to him. But, even though he tried his best to show his love is real, he knows she will never feel worthy of it.  All he wants is for her to be happy, even if it's not with him.”

“I'm done having this discussion, but if you ask me it sounds like you have experienced this first hand.”

“Doesn’t matter, I’m right and your wrong.  So, how is your case coming?” Peter ignored your comment by covering it up with a quick question.  He walked to the fridge to grab another beer, but before he closed it he peeked over at you silently asking if you wanted one.  You nodded as he pulled out another one for you.

“I'm afraid that's classified.”

“Still? Wow! It’s almost like the FBI is keeping this under wraps and away from the public, huh?”

You narrowed your eyes grabbing the beer from his hand.  Why did he always insist on asking you about your case? Was he curious or did he want to help?  To keep things safe you decided to stick with a one-word answer.

“Sure! Back to my previous topic, who broke your heart? Was it a high school sweetheart? A friend with benefits ordeal gone array?”

“What makes you think someone broke my heart? My heart is rock solid like my body.” He plopped down in his usual spot on the couch, staring at the coffee table.

“Rocks are breakable with enough force.” You took the seat next to him, setting your beer on the coffee table.

“Smartass,” he sighed, taking a swig of his beer. “If you must know, there was this one girl, Beeret, we were dating all through high school.  She was a super cool and amazing painter.  We both claimed to be in love, but before she left for college, she broke up with me.  She didn't want to try the long distance relationship thing since it never works. She wanted me to forget about her and move on. She told me she’d always love me but she didn’t want to be with me anymore.”

“What? Who wouldn’t want to be with you? Any woman would be lucky to have you,” you blurted out, feeling your face begin to heat up as your palms started to tingle. Your eyes moved to your beer bottle on the table, before returning to Peter.

“You'd be surprised,” he said, keeping his eyes on yours.  

“Hmm, that's why you don't like Journey's Faithfully." He shrugged with one shoulder. "At least this explains why you have lady friends and not girlfriends.” You watched his eyes move from yours to your lips before he leaned back licking his lips.

“Hammered that nail right on the head didn’t you.”

“I’m an FBI agent, it’s my job to notice things.” You shrugged, patting him on the thigh before leaning back into the couch.

A month in and you’re still analyzing security tapes. Two months worth of tape was exhausting to look over. Staring at this screen all hours of the day was starting to strain your eyes, but all you could do was rub them and keep going. You never heard of these necklaces until you started this case, but every time you switched on the footage you noticed they attracted a lot of attention.

You were watching the recording three weeks before the thief happened.  In the corner of the camera, a guy with a notepad walked by looking around each exhibit like he was taking notes. Is he doing recon to see where the cameras and sensors are at?  You couldn't see his face, but notice the red jacket he was wearing.  You speed up the camera keeping a close eye on him, but he doesn’t stay before he wanders off in the other direction. You make a note of the date and time of his appearance and what he was wearing. You skip over to the next day but saw nothing.

A week later, Red Jacket showed up on camera again. This time he was standing close to the blue stone necklace almost like he was examining the cases lock mechanism. Then, you don’t see him again until three days before the hologram turned off.  You go to the front entrance camera of the museum and watch him walk in.  He never gets anywhere near the necklace nor does he leave the museum out the front door. You might finally have something.

“Gamora, I got something.”

“Seriously? What is it?”

“A possible suspect, Red Jacket,” you said, pointing at the screen.

It was Thursday night, and once again it involved hanging out at Peters apartment. You always hung out on Thursdays because he worked at the bar, Trash Panda, on Friday nights and weekends.

His apartment was always a disaster with takeout containers, and clothes laying on the floor. Cd's, DVD's, cassettes, and records laid everywhere else. Peter also had some weird decor, or as he called them his useful relics. There was a broken sword, which he called Dragonfang, a knock-off Jackson Pollock painting, and a basketball size Pac-man head.  It might’ve been dirty but it felt more like a home than your apartment ever did.

“Why do you always insist on watching the old Footloose versus the new one?” You asked, taking a seat on the couch next to Peter.

“The old one has Kevin Bacon. And if you don’t like Bacon something is wrong with you.” You rolled your eyes and Peter’s phone starts ringing. “Pizzas here. I’ll go get it, can you put the movie in?”

“On it.” You put the disk in the player and grabbed the remote off the end table. A picture frame you never noticed before catches your eye.  You pick it up taking your usual spot on the couch. The image was of a much younger Peter laying on the grass listening to his Walkman with a woman you could only suspect to be his mother.

“Got the pizza. You got the beer. Let's watch this flick.” Peter carried in the pizza kicking the door close but stops short seeing you staring at a picture in your hand. “Ahhhh….whatcha got there?”

“Is this your mom?”

“Oh ah, yeah.” He walked over setting the pizza down on the coffee table and taking a seat in his usual spot next to you.

“She’s beautiful. Is she....”

“Dead…...no. She’s very much alive,” he answered, taking a deep breath before continuing. “Um, her name is Meredith. She’s an amazing mother, but she does have an inoperable brain tumor.” You set the picture back down beside you.

“I'm sorry, Peter.” You reached for his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

“It's okay. It's not the first time she fought this. She’ll beat this thing again, I just know it,” he said with a hopeful spark in his eyes.

His mom beat cancer before and it’s back. You couldn’t even imagine how hard it was for him to see his mother going through this the first time; let alone a second time. You would never want to relive any of your bad memories all over again.

“Still, it must be hard to watch her go through all this again," you sympathized, squeezing his hand again before letting go. “I’d hate to see you go through this alone, so I’m here if you need anything, okay?” He nodded with a sly smirk on his face. “I’m serious! If you want a home-cooked meal or need help getting your mind off this or --”

“I get it,” he interrupted you by patting you on the leg. “Thank you. I appreciate it. Really.”

“Is your dad still around at all? It must be tough on him, too?"

“No, he’s not. He’s dead, but he was never really in the picture when I was growing up.  I mean he was, but he wasn’t.  He taught me a lot but it was always me and my mom.” Peter grabbed a beer and rotated the bottle in his hand smearing the condensation across the label.  

“I’m sorry, that’s tough to deal with growing up.” He nodded his head before twisting off the top and taking a sip. “Do you at least get to see your mom often?”

“As often as I’m allowed,”  he murmured, wide-eyed at the floor before flickering them back to you with his eyebrows raised. “Anyways, ready to watch this flick?” You nodded, dropping the subject. He didn’t want to continue talking about this and you understood, but you couldn’t stop thinking about his choice of words.

“How’s work? Find any new clues on your case or whatever?”

“Yeah, I may have found a break in the case actually. Gamora seemed pretty happy about it so did Kraglin and he’s tough to impress.”

“Nice work.” The opening credits start coming across the screen and Peter starts tapping his leg and humming some tunes before he starts singing. “Leaning on my pillow in the morning / Lazy day in bed music in my head / Crazy music playing in the morning light / Oh-ho-ho It’s magic you know / Never believe it's not so.”

“Stop singing and watch the damn movie.” You nudged him in the ribs, forcing him to stop and snicker. “Why are you singing that song anyways?”

“Oh, the pizza guy was singing it. It’s a classic, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, something like that,” you replied, grabbing a slice. It was the same song from the recent heist. It might have nothing to do with the case, but it didn't hurt to look into this pizza place or their employees, even if it led to a dead end.

[statesmanillusionist]

Hope County | pt. 7

so we’re ignoring everything that happened in “through the bliss” and just.. letting this happen.

Everything was green as Houdini opened her eyes, bracing herself for the sickness that comes with the Bliss exposures. Wherever she was, there were Bliss flowers surrounding her, along with fields of other,  albeit wild, flowers. The nausea she expected never came, though.

“I’m so glad you’re okay!” Faith smiled, offering her hands out. Houdini took them as she was helped to her feet, and she blinked, confused. “Don’t worry. We’re safe here.”

There were blue butterflies circling their heads as they walked in the grass, Faith pulling Houdini along. It felt as if her feet were barely touching the ground, the greenness of the whole place rather shocking. Flowers seemed to grow as Faith walked by them, a skip in her step with Houdini’s hands in hers. She seemed to be humming one of the songs she had heard on the radio, but found it hard to focus on the lyrics. What exactly was going on? Where was she? Was she even alive?

“You know how I keep talking about purpose? About how we all have a purpose, just like the Father says?” Faith pauses for a moment, threading their fingers together as they stop at the base of a large oak tree. “I know I said mine was to be with you, to protect you… but I didn’t know why. Not until now, anyway. It’s because you and I? We’re the same.”

Houdini frowned, and dropped her hands from Faith’s. “No we’re not.”

“No?” Faith hummed, and sat down at the base of the tree, tucking her legs underneath her. “Why not?”

Houdini found herself following Faith’s movements, sitting in the grass across from her. “Because we’re not. How can we be the same people --”

“I know you’ve been hurt,” Faith said calmly, running her fingers through the grass. “I’m going to do everything to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Her stomach sunk; how did she know? There was no way.

“My family - my first family was the same way. I saw the way you flinched at the door slamming in the bunker, after John left. I saw it when Jacob slammed the door earlier, too.” Faith’s voice is soft, and she hums softly under her breath. “It gets me sometimes, too. But that’s okay. We can protect each other. We can fulfil our purposes here, together.”

There’s a long pause, where neither of them said anything. Faith continued to hum, while Houdini stared at her, mouth hanging open. She’d lost count of the butterflies floating around, and had, at some point, noticed a jackalope by Faith’s side.

“But Ja--” Houdini’s mind finally flipped to escape again and she shook her head. Jack needed her. This wasn’t real. She wasn’t sitting under a tree with Faith. He was out there, and she could find him, and --

“He’ll hurt you, too.” There was a sudden change in tone as Faith practically snarled.

The green started to shift to red, and Houdini scrambles backwards. The other woman seemed to be angry at the thoughts floating through her head. “He wouldn’t.”

“The world is dangerous, and the Collapse is coming. What makes you think a man like that won’t hurt you?” Her hand waves, irritated, as she speaks.

“He’s not like --”

“Save it.” Faith is bitter, angry, as if she were thinking about the men who had hurt her in the past. Clearly, she was projecting.  “You are never going to leave my side. I’m going to make sure of it.” She stood up, grabbing Houdini’s wrist, and pulled her along in the grass.

Houdini struggled, but for some reason was unable to break free from the grip on her wrist. As she turned to look back at the tree they had been sitting under, she noticed Whiskey standing against the trunk, adjusting his pistols.

In the blink of an eye, he was gone, and everything went to black.

[wannawrite]

Time Will Tell [ pt.1 ]

who?: Wanna One’s Ong Seongwoo genre: 🌺🌸 type: scenario, short series word count: 1.5K, a continuation of short and sweet scenarios :”) part one / ? 

blog navigator. • idol AU, soulmate AU • time speaks, looks like you just need to listen but it also looks like time is running out of things to say to you the angst has arrived, I hope you guys are prepared but for what, lol I’m not a good angst writer so don’t prepare to cry or anything!! It’s still pretty sweet! Thank you for requesting this anon!! I came up with this concept thanks to you! Not sure if anyone else has done this hourglass idea. - Admin L 

The hourglass. All the time spent in the studio, all the song lyrics that littered your notebook and all the songs on your albums were because of the hourglass. Sand seeping through that slim crack between the two holders. The sand seemed like all the chances to meet the one slipping through your fingertips and out to another world. It left your hold faster than you could catch it, not sparing any mercy. Allow me to elaborate. The universe was one full of trickery, especially with this whole soulmate idea. Everyone was gifted with an hourglass that seemed to never run out of the sand, the sand just kept falling and refreshing. It will repeat the cycle until the day you find your soulmate. When you do, time around you will stop for a couple seconds, just for confirmation. That’s when you know. You know your life will be complete. You know that you have found your other half, one who was specially selected for you. You know you will not be doomed to a long life of loneliness. You know that you have not completely lost all sensibility. As an idol, you have probably met everyone in the universe - staff, fellow idols, trainees, MCs, fans - yet the hourglass that had your name scribbled on continued to allow the sand to run. Many of your songs were based on your peculiar hourglass. Somedays it the falling sand fell faster than ever. Other times, you could shake the hourglass until it threatened to shatter without any sand moving an inch. The quickness of the sand usually indicated how far away your soulmate was from you. It appeared that your only lover was the Houdini, he was there but at the same time, he was not. He popped in and out of your life quicker than The Flash. Some days you wondered if your other half even existed. The hourglass hung from a thin gold chain around your neck, it followed you everywhere. You feared losing it in waiting rooms so your necklace never left you. Additionally, if the hourglass was not with you, you could never tell if someone was your soulmate. The only times were when you had to perform on stage but you made sure to store it safely in your personal handbag before preparing to go on stage. It was precious, of course. That tiny time teller dictated your future. A staff directing cameramen clutched onto her hourglass tightly, afraid of letting it slip from her grasp. Lucky her, you thought. Her hourglass is filled to the brim with sand. Not only had she found her soulmate but their relationship was a joyful and prosperous one, according to the amount of sand in the glass case. It usually indicated the owner’s relationship status, what kind of relationship it was and the happiness level of the owner. Again, whatever your hourglass revealed was inconsistent, unreliable. “Y/N, please get ready. It’s almost time to head backstage,” Manager informed, checking off a box on his list. He continued bustling around, making sure things were in check. You nodded, unclasping the necklace from around your neck and holding it in front of you, observing every grain of sand that fell and returned to the top. Every grain represented whatever hope you had left. Your hopes were falling at a rather slow speed today. Gosh, this is harder than the road to becoming a singer. It swung like a pendulum on the chain, entrancing you, trapping you within its thin, glass walls. It hypnotised you into believing he existed, into thinking he was around. Whispering false hope into your ears. He will come soon. He’s just waiting for the perfect moment. Maybe it was your own fault for listening. You shook the fuzzy feeling off, sucking in a deep breath to call yourself out of your thoughts, to bring your mind back to reality. A reality that you forced yourself to accept. One where there was no one destined for you. Where you would live your life in solitude. There was no reason to lose hope so easily but it felt as if all odds were against you. Was there even a purpose behind gifting an hourglass when there was no soulmate? No conclusion could be formed, therefore, you had no answers. You inhaled a shaky breath. One day. After all, someday, it was to happen. There must be a balance, Earth must align. 

Sweat dripped down your face as you stepped off the stage, a huge smile gracing your face. It was always energising to perform on stage, no matter the circumstance. “Y/N, you did well! Would you like to stay to watch the other stages? There is nothing else scheduled for today, plus, we have time,” Manager said. “It’s rare we ever run ahead of schedule. Today must be special.” Staffs escorted you back to your dressing room. On the way, you passed by various rooms of other idols, a few names that rang a bell but some were completely foreign. “Maybe I should go and greet other groups. I am still a rookie after all,” you mentioned. “While I’m still dolled up.” No one held any opposition so you ventured back to the waiting room to collect a couple of your albums. “Y/N!” A staff yelled, clutching something in her hands as she raced towards you. Another staff interrupted her, announcing that a fellow rookie group named Wanna One was on their way to greet you. You shot her an apologetic smile, assuring that you would see to that issue later. She opened her mouth to protest but clamped it shut and nodded. You tried your best to shake off the nerves of meeting another idol group. Oh goodness! I’m not even a senior yet rookies are greeting me? Okay, this must be scheduled, scripted. MNet is behind this, I must be prepared for everything. Or it could just be Jisung and Daniel. Maybe MNet wanted an MMO reunion? Two solid knocks hammered on your door before it swung open to reveal the members of Wanna One, smartly dressed in their performance attire. “Hello!” Automatically, your lips stretched into a wide beam, glad to see friends from MMO - the company you signed with. Your palms began sweating as if someone had pulled a trigger, your heartbeat began racing off the charts. What is happening? What is this feeling? Nerves aren’t like this. Your eyes fell on a particularly tall, handsome, dark-haired man. He seemed to carry an air of poise, comedy even. That made you crack a shy smile directed at him. Seongwoo felt flattered. Of course, he already knew he had good looks and the amount of recognition he received from them, but this was different, your acknowledgement somehow gave him an extra boost of confidence. You posed next to the fellow idols for a proof shot of exchanging albums. “Please listen to mine well! I promise you won’t regret loving MMO talent,” you insisted, giving the Yoon Jisung and Kang Daniel high-fives. Ong Seongwoo chuckled and stepped forward. “I would never doubt your talent, sweetheart.” The redness crept up the back of your neck before you could stop it. This was one of the rare moments you were lost for words, your lips moved but no sound was produced. Meanwhile, Seongwoo had a somewhat smug look on his face. “Oh god, stop that,” Daniel groaned, slapping Seongwoo’s shoulder. “This is why we cannot bring you anywhere.” “Well, all the best for your stage. I’ll be watching!” You encouraged as the boys bid you farewell. Seongwoo’s words still resounded in your mind, the blush tainting your cheeks could not subside. “Y/N!” The same staff called out, a greater sense of urgency in her tone. You heard it before you even saw it. The drumming of sand as it pounded against the glass was faster and louder than usual. Stunned, your eyes enlarged until they were cartoon wide, mouth forming a small letter ‘O’. If your soulmate was that near, why did the sand not stand still? Why did it not began filling up? You wanted to rip your hair out in frustration, taking the hourglass from the director and holding it in your palm. The sand had begun to calm down but you had never witnessed such an urgent cry, such a prominent promise of your other half. Four fingers folded around it, hiding it from your sight. You exhaled a shaky breath. So close yet so far, the questions seemed to bounce off the walls of your brain. Who was it? It had to be one of the eleven. Woojin? Jaehwan? You felt your heart slam against your ribcage, breathing compromised. So far there were two things you were able to comprehend, 1. Your soulmate was just within your reach 2. You reacted so positively to Seongwoo, as if it was meant to be. Am I falling for someone who can never be mine? The sand in hourglass was shaken vigorously, desperate for more answers but the talk time had already passed and you were left with silence.

[skinks]

i met n,n and im getting highly emotional aboUT IT

y'know, I would’ve been more than happy to just tell him how much I fucking live for his music and get my album signed but dude. what happened was a million, a billion times better. I’m so happy

first, like I said, I got my hoodie and the merch guy was like “it might be half an hour after the set but I’ll make sure he comes over”

then the set, the SET, I got the closest to crying I ever have at a gig. he played houdini, which is my fave track from the new album, I love every single one of his songs and I only wish he could have played them all. there were three support acts and he was first, but it was just me and another four people in the crowd yelling along to every song. fuck man, his voice sounds just as good and beautiful and raw live, and the bass and drums liquified my guts. then i cried them out lmao. i’ve still got a knot in my stomach thinking about it ;u;

then afterwards I hung around the merch stand and the guy went to find him in the green room, and I was wearing my hoodie and watching the door like a hawk when they came back in. I didn’t know what to do, how eager to look, but he came over to me immediately (his name is also joe lmao) and gAVE ME A HUG STRAIGHT AWAY WITHOUT ME EVEN SAYING ANYTHING, A REALLY GENUINE SMILEY GRATEFUL HUG and I was overcome. i’m shaking right now writing this, EW

I can’t even remember what we talked about at first because then these other two fans came over and the three of us talked with him for honestly like an hour and a half, about everything under the sun. he even likes Alan Watts!!! I fucking told him I included Alan Watts quotes along with his lyrics in a fic I wrote and then I wanted to DIE

those other two fans are fucking cool and my new friends and we’re going to hang out cause they live nearby. we got the train back together, bless

he was so nice. so fucking nice. and chill and funny and interesting, with all these insights into his process and funny stories. he signed my album and I managed to tell him what his stuff means to me and he was thanking me like “I don’t know what to say” and he’s much shorter irl than I expected!! THEN WHEN WE ALL SAID GOODBYE HE HUGGED ME AGAIN (AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA)

I love him!! My sadboy!! I’m gonna get a n,n tattoo in time for his next uk tour. im a mess help me