#prince's house tour pt. 2

[gimme-a-man-after-midnight]

my royal roomie (part 2)

Fandom: Aquaman

Pairing: Orm Marius x Reader

part 1:

https://www.tumblr.com/gimme-a-man-after-midnight/693273500438429696/my-royal-roomie-pt-1?source=share

Summary: After a few days of living under your roof, Orm gets to know the little surface dweller he's been stuck with. With time, a stormy night, and a bottle of wine, the prince learns that he has more in common with you than he may think.

Word Count: 4,000+

Warnings: female reader, slow burn, light cursing, mentions of past emotional abuse, divorced parents!reader, dead parent, comic lore inaccuracies, floral inaccuracies??

Author's Note:

hi y'all! here's the full part 2 i've been working on for some time! thanks for the support on the last one and again, so sorry for the late continuation :/ i hope this story is to your liking! happy reading!

After the first one-on-one conversation you had in the living room, Orm didn't come out of the guest bedroom for days. You’d see flashes of platinum blonde out of the corner of your eye, just barely missing him by a few seconds whenever you’d be in the kitchen or outside of his door. You had made many offers through the red painted oak of his room to go grocery shopping together or take him on a tour of the town, but all of your efforts were met with a stern "No thank you." You had lost any hope you had of forming some kind of connection with the Atlantean for a while, cutting your losses by quietly resigning to a parallel existence. What you didn’t expect was the mutual understanding you two would come to on one fateful stormy Friday night, much like the one that brought him to your doorstep.

***

 Heavy traffic from the drive home, a full message inbox on your telephone, and the burnt attempt at roast chicken sitting on your oven rack had you nursing a glass bottle of wine by the living room window. Bad days were normal for anybody, but it didn’t make them easier to deal with on your own - the added stress of the stranger living in your space didn’t help either. You had been living a quiet life ever since you moved back to the sleepy town some years ago, taking up very little space and leaving minimal traces of yourself. Whether it was out of caution or cowardice, you weren’t sure yet. Either way, that silence had brought you comfort at a time where your thoughts were too loud, but now with another person occupying your space the quiet was becoming suffocating. 

Orm wasn’t by any means a bad roommate - he kept to himself, he didn’t make much noise, and he even managed to wash his dishes whenever he knew you weren’t in the kitchen - but he was a man.The last time you had lived with a man, the end of its course felt similar to how you two were living now, and maybe that’s why it was bothering you so much. Tip-toeing around the Atlantean made you feel uneasy in your own home, a situation you were all too familiar with. Typically at this time in the night you would be cooking up some plan to urge the man out of his guest room, but after the day you had, you didn’t have the heart to try. 

Once you took your final gulp of wine, wiping at the sides of your mouth with the back of your hand, you trudged away from the raging display outside of your window. The dishes could be a tomorrow problem, you thought to yourself as you were leaving your kitchen counter behind. You had only made it a few paces out of the living room before your body was overcome with chills, making you draw your blanket tighter around you. The draft through the house was unmistakable, confusing you thoroughly due to you always making sure the doors and windows were shut before bed. As you stepped deeper into the house, you realized the distinct breeze was coming from the direction of the guest bedroom. You had made it a point to allow Orm his space, but your brain was stirring with reasons for what he could possibly be doing in there  - most of them unsavory. 

With a deep breath and a tight fist holding your blanket, you gently rapped at the door. 

“Hey, Orm?”

No response. You knock again.

“I don’t mean to bother, but I’m feeling a bit of a breeze through the house and I can tell it’s coming from here, so I just want to see if everything is alri-”

The door suddenly opened a crack, revealing half of Orm’s face which was already more than you had seen in days. 

“If you don’t mean to bother, then don’t.”

The curt response, although expected, has you taken aback. Already seeing the Atlantean retreat from the spot again, you hold the door in its place in effort to keep his attention.

“Look, I know you wanna be alone, but I can’t help wondering why a cold ass breeze is coming from your room, so I just want to see what’s going on. Please, it’s freezing right now.” You do your best to keep control of your tone, not wanting to let on just how much the cold was getting to you - giving the prince another reason to look down on humans wasn’t on your agenda for the night.

 Almost as if he commanded the storm, the lightning cracked loudly outside as Orm swung his door open, revealing his full disheveled state to you. You jolted in place, practically leaping a step back in defense at the swift move.

“What’s going on is the stench of your burnt dinner was practically singeing my nostrils. I opened a window in hopes that I could find some relief, because clearly you surface dwellers have no trouble polluting not only the ocean, but your precious breathing air as well! I have little care for how cold your fragile body may get, so I suggest you retire to your room at once and leave me be.”  

There was a gap in the yelling match conversation, almost as if the blond was waiting for you to bite back at his harsh words, but the glazed look in your eyes and parted lips made it evident to the Atlantean that your mind was elsewhere. Orm followed your gaze, noticing that it was locked onto the maroon sweater he was adorning, looking at it with equal parts surprise and melancholy. His enhanced hearing picked up on a hitch in your breath and chattering of your teeth, confirming to him that you were clearly shaken.

After the long silence, you mousily spoke.

“I didn’t leave that sweater out for you.” 

 The arbitrary words silenced Orm, his expression turning to one of confusion as he looked down at the knit fabric on his chest.

“...where did you find it?” 

Your voice didn’t change in volume when you made your inquiry, but your tone was somber. The candid emotion made the Atlantean clear his throat awkwardly, unsure of how to handle such vulnerability from his host. You couldn’t even fully appreciate how much messier Orm looked in comparison to when he first arrived - looking like a 90s wet dream with his ungelled hair, clenched jaw, and broad shoulders peeking out of his loose fitting clothes. No, it was the clothes that were holding your attention hostage.

“It was deep in the wooden wardrobe of my room…the garb you set out for me wasn’t suitable for the storm,” Orm says, arms crossed in a defensive manner as he anticipates your response.

A part of you wanted to laugh at his retort, the corner of your lips quirking up for a millisecond before melting back into the numb expression you had prior. 

“Are you going to ask me to change? Because I don’t see why I should relent,” the blond goads, pulling a haughty expression that comes all too naturally.

Orm wasn’t sure himself why he wanted to urge a response from you - why he wanted to learn more about this sweater that was clearly jumbling up your thoughts enough to render you so silent. He tried to chalk it up to plain boredom, tried to reason with himself that all his time in self-isolation was making him yearn for more. Still, even with those excuses lined up to justify his actions, he couldn’t explain why seeing the down-turned expression on your lips felt so unnerving. This woman in front of him now was like a shell in comparison to the buoyant, eccentric character he had been previously introduced to - and for some bizarre reason he didn’t like it. 

Your thought process, on the other hand, was going in a completely different route. The glaringly red knit in your line of sight brought back too many memories that you had made efforts to bury. The cursed sweater in combination with the Atlantean prince’s snark makes your breath quicken and your mind wander to the whisper of a past life that still takes up space in your home. You couldn’t decipher if your shivering was coming from Orm’s open window or from your body trying to eject all of the feelings evoked from seeing that damn sweater.

“I-I…you…you shouldn’t-” you shakily exhale, your eyes surveying around your surroundings to try and focus on literally anything else. You backstep, hoping that physically running away from the situation will do you good, but your eyes lining up with the red-clad chest and the sound of the booming thunder makes you falter. Your hand clutches at your chest, the white knuckled grip on your blanket alerting your roommate.

The prince's body calls to action, making Orm take an instinctive step forward, reaching out as if to try and steady you. 

“What is happening with you? Why are you so high-strung? Do humans go into cardiac arrest so easily?” 

You couldn’t hear his stern questioning, your mind flitting to images of firm fists slammed against tables and nights spent alone, buried deep under your covers in the hopes of being swallowed by the sheets. It was like the space in your lungs was being taken up by a vice grip, and your ability to think - to form a simple thought that didn’t make your heart hurt - was completely ripped away from you. Even after four years, the memories of him still have so much power over you in a way that’s paralyzing.

“I-I just - I need - I need to breathe!”

With that final exclamation, you scurried away from the Atlantean, quickly making it back to your room before slamming the door shut behind you. Orm was left stunned outside of his door, his eyes trained in the direction of your room down the hall. 

What the hell just happened?

***

Arthur was done - so done.

The newly crowned Atlantean king had so much on his plate already, what with his upcoming engagement underway and him having an entire kingdom to look after. While he did appreciate his little brother feeling comfortable enough to call him at such an ungodly hour, the words the blond uttered made him want to pull his hair out. 

“I think I broke her - your human.”

“Bro, what?”

It was too fucking early for this. 

“Don’t call me - agh, nevermind - something’s wrong with your human and I’m not sure how to approach the situation. Is this really an environment you believe me to find enrichment from? My host is clearly on the brink of some sort of breakdown and I-”

“Wow, I never took you for someone that was so easily shaken, brother.”

Arthur’s poorly timed quip makes Orm stare back at the projection call with a blank face.

“First off, she’s not my human, she’s her own person. Second, what did you even do? She’s not one to just collapse on her own - although she is a serial overthinker and could definitely talk herself to an early grave...”

Orm, frustrated with his half-brother’s lack of support, rolls his eyes over the call.

“Okay, okay, but seriously. Something must’ve set her off or triggered her to react in a way. You sure you didn’t do anything?” 

“All I did was answer the door when she knocked. When she saw me at the entrance, she saw the sweater I was wearing and was overcome with emotion. That’s hardly my fault.”

Orm can see Arthur’s brows furrow in thought at the information, almost as if he’s assessing whether he’s been given the whole story or not.

“Well…where’d you get the sweater?”

“I hardly think that matters-”

“Just answer the question, bro-”

An exasperated grunt leaves Orm as he grips at the sheets beneath him in an attempt to contain himself. A part of him regretted bringing up the matter at all, communication with his half-brother being much too awkward to bear. 

“I got it from the wooden wardrobe inside of my chambers! It was much more practical to wear than the flimsy garb-”

“Shit,” Arthur cuts him off, the hologram shifting as the man rubs at his eyes. “The wooden wardrobe with vines on the sides?”

It was Orm’s turn to be taken aback, unsure of how he knew the detail from off the top of his head.

“Yes, that’s the one.”

A muffled sigh comes from Arthur’s end, the image changing again as the king shuffles out of bed quietly to not disturb a sleeping Mera.

“Listen, dude. It’s not my place to speak on her business like this, but all I can say is that the wardrobe - that room - holds a lot of memories that are painful for her. I know you didn’t mean to bring them up, but that wardrobe is off limits. Just try and apologize for now, but don’t pry.”

“But why should I-”

“Orm, seriously! I get it, you don’t like being there - that you’ve spent every day in your room ever since I dropped you off, but she’s been trying. She’s been doing everything she can to get you out of your shell and you’re not giving back anything. There has to be some give here, and that can start with you saying sorry.” 

Orm was surprised by the fact that Arthur knew of his daily whereabouts already, undoubtedly asking you for updates on him. However, what surprised him the most was that even though you have seemingly complained to his half brother, you never once suggested kicking him out - never demanded he leave your house and have Atlantis deal with him. You truly were a peculiar little thing. 

“...fine. But don’t expect me to continue such niceties with her.”

A belly laugh could be heard from over the call, surely out of amusement for the prince's unwavering coldness.

“Good. Now hang up, you disrupted my beauty sleep.”

With a scoff, Orm presses on the green gem of his wristlet and heads off to the direction of your room.

***

When Orm knocks on your door, he expects a big fuss - bouts of yelling, arguing, or cursing that’ll leave his highly sensitive ears ringing. What he doesn’t expect is everyone of his knocks being met with silence - deafening silence now that the storm has subsided. 

“Hello?”

The prince feels weirdly small waiting by your door for your answer, having no clue what he’ll be met with on the other side of him. (It also gives him some insight on how you must feel every time you knock on his door to chat, although he’d never admit to having similarities with you,)

“Are you ignoring me?” 

More silence. 

“Oh, enough of this childishness.”

With a deep breath in, Orm turns the knob of your door and lets himself into your room. He’s met with colorful tapestries embellishing the walls, big rugs covering the hardwood floor, and twinkling lights surrounding the bed frame. The scene that you set for yourself in your room makes Orm think about his home - the way that the colorful bioluminescence would sparkle throughout his kingdom. 

When the initial first impression of your room wears off, he notices there is no one in the bed. No squirming presence under the sheets or anyone sitting on top of the bed to give him a stern talking to. Where did you go?

The blond takes a tentative step inside, stepping over the fuzzy carpets to keep from disturbing their arrangement. When he walks past the bed frame and closer to the window, he sees a lump of a human wearing a large blanket over their shoulders and some type of bulky headgear that covers your ears and emits sound. You were completely enthralled by the scene outside of the window that you hardly notice Orm stepping up next to you. 

A sudden hand on your shoulder has you jolting upward with a yelp, your hand instinctively slapping away at the intruder before you turn to look at where they came from.

“Jesus fucking christ!”

Orm gets into his own defensive position as you scramble to press your back against the wall, looking at you as if you were a trembling animal.

“My god, woman!”

“What are you doing in here you scared me half to-”

“I knocked but there was no answer so I-”

“Oh, so you decided to just welcome yourself in?”

Orm purses his lips in frustration, not thrilled at being met with the uproar he had originally expected. You sigh to yourself in disbelief, willing yourself to be quiet since there would be no productive conversation if you two kept yelling at each other.

“Next time just take the hint that I’m busy if I don’t answer, okay? You can’t just barge in here when you want, it’s not cool…”

The Atlantean has some sense to feel a shred of shame when you speak, although your words are hardly convincing when your eyes don’t turn in his direction for even a second. You look so timid standing there in your corner with the blanket consuming you completely - not at all like the spitfire that called him an “asshole” and warned him not to “test her.” (He secretly felt some relief in your loud exchange mere moments ago, because it meant that version of you was still there.) 

“I…I apologize for intruding.” 

Your head whips up to finally meet the man’s piercing blues, your mouth left slightly agape at an actual apology leaving the arrogant Atlantean’s lips.

“Uh…it’s okay...although, try not to do it again.”

Another moment of awkward silence passes.

“So…why’d you come in here?”

You ask this question as you take a seat back on the floor, resuming your position of staring out of the window only this time without your headphones. You pat the spot next to you on the floor, urging Orm to sit next to you. With a small eye roll, the blond begrudgingly joins you on your multi-colored carpet, opting to rest his arms against his knees as means to shield himself from you.

“I came here to apologize, not just for barging in, but for what happened earlier. I shouldn’t have gone through the wardrobe without your permission even if I needed different clothes. I should’ve asked you instead of rifling through your belongings on my own accord.”  

His apology, although rehearsed, seems genuine enough for your shoulders to relax. Your eyes follow the droplets of rain slowly trickling down the glass of your window, racking your brain for the right thing to say. 

“It’s okay. You didn’t do anything wrong, I just…I haven’t revisited the memories that room brings in a long time. You putting on that sweater unearthed them today, and it got me bad. See, I was having a shit day already what with keeping up with the shop, and then an accident causing traffic on the way home, and the wine that I usually like being out of stock-” 

Your rambling gets cut off by a soft chuckle coming from the man next to you, a sound that seems so uncharacteristically happy for his usual demeanor. The corners of your mouth perk up in disbelief, the expression making Orm quickly look away from you. 

“Huh. So that’s what your laugh sounds like. It’s nice…”

Orm didn’t understand why he reacted in such a way, you weren’t saying anything particularly funny…

…It’s just the way your eyes became so animated as you spoke more, your hands gesturing stronger as you explained further - it was amusing to him. So different from the usual company he keeps, always firmly placed brows and crossed arms from the high council members he consulted. Even the Atlantean women, although much more pleasant company, were more regal in comparison to his surface dweller host.  However, what you did have in common with those women was your tenacity. Even with his cold attitude towards you, your kindness was unwavering - a few times a day, without fail, you’d knock on his door with the promise of food and semi-entertaining company. He’s starting to regret only agreeing to the food.

God, he must be going stir crazy.

“What is it about the sweater that made you react in such a way?”

This was when you noticed that Orm was no longer wearing the offending material, choosing to wear the simping cotton T shirt you had given him. It may have been nothing - a simple delusion on your part - but the weight on your chest felt lighter at the idea that the Atlantean took it off to bring you comfort. 

“It - uh,” you stuttered, “it belonged to my ex-boyfriend. All of the stuff in that wardrobe did, actually. We painted the vines on the side of it together…” 

Orm’s arms flexed tighter around his knees at your words. He didn’t know how to respond, feeling significantly awkward due to adorning your ex lover’s clothing, so he decided to just shut up and let you continue.

“When I was 14 my parents got divorced. My mom wanted so badly to make it work, but my dad didn’t like his life here in Amnesty Bay - a part of me felt like he also didn’t like his life with us in general. I mean, he never had a problem making his grievances known, so…” 

Now, this was something the blond was familiar with - uncomfortable family dynamics. The realities of his parents’ marriage were never shielded from him growing up - he often witnessed the brutality of his father whenever his mother, Atlanna, would make her opposing opinions known. He often felt conflicted about which side to take - the one of least resistance that prioritized the well-being of his people or the one that looked out for the well-being of everyone, Atlanteans and surface dwellers alike. Hearing you now, speak your piece on your own upbringing, comforted him in a way he didn’t expect.

“The divorce was messy. Lots of nights spent being pulled in every direction, but with no real place to find peace. After everything settled, my dad ended up moving to New York while my mom remained here. They agreed that for the school year I’d stay with my mom, so she’d have some help at the flower shop, but I’d visit him on major holidays…”

The blanket around you suddenly feels too thin, a chill running over you as you recount your tale. You take a sneaky glance over your shoulder to check if the blond was still listening, and you were surprised (and delighted) to find that his steadfast gaze was at the side of your face. 

“...At some point during my years at university, my mom stopped asking me to visit - demanded that I only live with my dad when I was out of school. You can imagine Arthur had his qualms about that…”

You chuckled to yourself at the memory of a young Arthur blowing up your home phone upon hearing the news. 

“It would only be for the same visiting time as before, so there wasn’t much fuss on my dad’s end, but my relationship with him had become so different after the divorce that it wasn’t ideal. It…It hurt to hear my mom reject me like that.” 

Orm’s mind flashes back to the rain soaked figure of his mother, presenting herself to be siding with his half-brother after his defeat. The sting of her counteraction still lingers in his chest.

“When I had started dating my ex during my third year, I found out the reason my mom was keeping me from home - she got sick…cancer. All of the overworking to pay the bills, lack of support, and the hereditary traits…she got really sick. I guess she didn’t want me to see her in so much pain…” 

Orm watches as you turn away to stubbornly wipe at your face, a sniffle coming from your direction. He hadn’t expected you to willingly speak on your background when he asked about the sweater, but a part of him felt guilty for being the cause of your current distress.

“When she died, I moved back here to look after the house and take over the shop…but my ex had moved in with me. Darren.” 

More tears fell from your cheeks at the same speed as the rain running down your window.

“Darren offered to help me with the business, help me get on my feet. A part of me knew that he was going to hate the life we were starting together based on talks we had about the future, but I ignored it all when my grief became the only thing I felt for a long time. He always wanted more - more than our little town, more than the flower shop…so when an opportunity presented itself to have a life on his own, he took it. Just like my dad did…” 

 Orm’s heart drops at the end of your retelling, knowing the feeling of rejection and abandonment all too well. His father would be rolling in his grave if he knew what feelings this little surface dweller was stirring in him. The gap between the Atlanteans and the humans was closing in his mind, and Orm wasn’t sure if he cared to stop it. All he wanted at this moment was to stop you from crying. 

“I’m sorry for putting on the sweater…and for being an ungracious guest these past few days. I’ve been a real dick.” 

You can’t help but guffaw at his choice of words, using your fist to mask the unsightly sound as a cough. 

“That’s not a very princely thing to say…” 

Orm’s head tilts back as he snickers, feeling slightly proud of himself for inciting a better mood in you.

Ah, that laugh again, you think as you admire how ethereal the man looks in his relaxed state. 

“Perhaps my brother is to blame for my much more…colorful vernacular.” 

“Perhaps,” you hum in agreement, “or you’re just not as much of a dick as I previously thought…sorry for coming on so strong that first day.” 

Orm’s blue eyes shine at you with something unfamiliar - different to the cold, distant stare you were first met with. You find yourself wishing to always be at the receiving end of his kind eyes. 

Orm clears his throat before uttering, “No need to be…I was the one that misjudged you before ever seeing you.” 

A silence falls over you two, a comforting one built between new comrades. Your (e/c) gaze meets his as the storm calms outside of your window, signaling the start of a new chapter for you and your royal roommate. 

[gyustarzzi]

ateez dating you

☆𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐣𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐠

hypes you up in your outfits, shy outside but confident at home, your parents absolutely love him, gets matching tattoo's with you, definitely makes songs about you on special occasions, kisses 24/7, finds you adorable even if you are taller/shorter than him , your nickname is star and his is minion

★𝐬𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐡𝐰𝐚

loves you more than the world, treats you like a queen, will clean your room if it's dirty, takes care of you all the time, bakes with you, will take you to fancy resteraunts on special occasions, your whole family calls him prince charming, your nickname is princess, his is prince charming.

☆𝐲𝐮𝐧𝐡𝐨

back hugs, compares height all the time, has to reach things for you, if your at a concert he'll carry you on his shoulders, karaoke at home, competes in everything, takes you to fun places on special occasions, your nickname is little sprout and his is tree trunk

★𝐲𝐞𝐨𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐠

shy when in public, softie to you but a devil to others that hurt you, finds you beautiful in everything, secret pictures of you that he looks at when he's on tour, fingers through your hair, loves neck kisses, takes you on cliché dates, your nickname is angel and his is love

☆𝐬𝐚𝐧

loves cuddles, touchy 24/7, holds your hands when your out in public, loves everything about you, has heart attacks when he sees you play with his cats, loves when you rake your fingers through his hair, morning kisses are a must, takes you to simple yet romantic dates, your nickname is kitten and his is mountain (obv)

★𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐢

loves that your shorter than him, cuddle pt.2, treats you like a princess, will always scream when watching a horror movie, will do anything with you even if it's out of his comfort zone, he loves it when you poke his cheeks, takes you to fun place for special occasions, your nickname is darling and his is baby giraffe

☆𝐰𝐨𝐨𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠

teases you all the time, laughs at you when you do something funny or unintentionally funny, touchy 24/7, steals kisses from you, loves it when your flustered because of him, makes funny faces at you when he sees you, bites you all the time when you get on his nerves, takes you to either romantic places or really fun places, your nickname is baby and his is boo

★𝐣𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐡𝐨

squishes your cheeks when you sleep, hums to you when you can't sleep, back hugs all the time, when you guys go to haunted houses he's the one protecting you, takes you to simple places on special occasions, will be used as your personal pillow, loves to play with your hair, your nickname is baby and his is teddy bear

[hometoursandotherstuff]

Paisley Park Pt. 2: The front lobby features second-floor balconies and clouds painted on the walls, as well as pyramidal skylights.

A relaxing music room with Prince's signature purple hue filling the space.

I think it would be kind of sad to go there and look around. 

Private nightclub that features a dance floor, TVs, and projectors. The room can reportedly hold 1,000 guests.

The caption for this photo said that it looked like Prince shopped where everyone else did. Well, duh, do they have special groceries for celebrities?

I didn’t expect the bathrooms to look like this. I thought they’d be super fancy. 

Reception desk for bands coming to use the recording studios.

A nice area for the musicians using the studio.

I just thought these clear things were cool.

One of the studios.

One of several offices.

Another bedroom, probably for a guest.

Hair and makeup.

A laundry room and shoe storage.

And, this is the elevator where he was found. 

various google sources for photos

[penny-beee]

Mysterious Marriages

Word Count: 3.6k

Warnings: none

Summary: She is one of Cregan Starks daughters, to be married to Prince Aemond. And Aemond, he just isn’t a man of many words.

Notes: I’ll make a pt. 2 if requested! Enjoy

The cold was all I’ve ever known, the vast darkness that kisses the castle walls every night. The constant clouds covering the sun, not allowing it to caress your skin. We were a pale folk. The North was brutal; it was a place for tough men and women. No one that made the journey to your family, lasted longer than a week. By then they were on the cusp of insanity. But us Starks, we were strong, well accustomed to the dark and harsh environments.

My father, Lord Cregan Stark; The Wolf of the North was a force to be reckoned with. He made sure that all 11 of his children were ready for combat, including the girls. He made our family The Wolf. So, when Queen Alicent sent word that the King had passed in his sleep, my father prepared for all 6 of his daughters to be married off. He sent us to be toured quickly, so that when the battle became rough; his heirs were across Westeros. I the middle child, fathers favorite was to stay in Winterfell and continue my daily duties.

I had never thought of leaving Winterfell, as much as people begged to leave my fathers depression filled town, I enjoyed the retched mead and winter. The cold kept me alive, as a child I would force myself to sword fight in the yard in my house dress. I wanted to be strong, strong like my father.

“Y/N! We have a visitor!” My lady’s maid yelled from the door.

“Is it urgent, I would like to finish my studies.” I pushed.

“It is a suitor, your father said he would like you in the council room.” She continued; her voice rushed as my father seemed to be.

“Let me get dressed, I will be down in a moment.”

I placed my charcoal pencil on my page of notes, letting out a stressed puff of air. I moved to my large wooden wardrobe. A beautiful grey dress hung right up front, dainty silver zig zags adorned the dress. I shuffled into the tight dress, my tummy now smooth and chest secured from a dark grey harness belt. The sleeves long and feminine. A thick fur cape like coat, sitting on my mannequin in the corner of my room. The salt and peppery fur matching perfectly with my ensemble.

A small smile grew on my pale cheeks, as I approved of my outfit. I sauntered down to the council room, letting the suitor wait for me. He came to my house, he would be on my time. My long brown hair, billowed behind me as I stretched the doors open. My father sitting on his wooden throne, a man with long white hair standing just next to him. A Targaryen.

He was tall, pale just like me. Missing an eye, a leather patch covering it. He was mysterious, his eyes not leaving mine as I walked to them. There was nothing showing but his curiosity. An almost silent ‘hmm’ left his pursed lips.

“Y/N, my doting daughter.” Father beamed. “I see you’ve put a true Stark dress on to show our guest who this family is.” He’s pleased, his deep jolly voice shook the room.

“Indeed Father, I wasn’t sure who the suitor would be. I am glad I chose the right dress.”

“This is Prince Aemond Targaryen.” He directed my eyes to the man. “He is here to wed you.” He jested.

“Father, I thought I was to stay here as sisters were out getting married.” I said, my own voice booming just a bit. My pale grey eyes peaked at Aemond, a simple smirk across his lips.

“I know my wolf, but this is a Prince. Your sisters are going to Lords, having you there puts Winterfell in higher standing.”

“But father, we’ve never been keen on the crown. We are happy with our people.” How could he go back on his word so easily?

“If I may interject.” Aemond started.

“Prince, you are to take my daughter to the Red Keep and if I am to receive any letters of infidelity, abuse or pain on my daughter. I will cut you down from the pompous throne you sit on. This is my one joy; this girl is the one I wished to make heir so many years ago.” My father stood, his sword at his side.

“We are to be married in a month’s time. Get packing princess, it’s a long ride.” Aemond stormed out of the room, his hair flowing beautifully behind him.

“Father, I wish to stay with you. I want to marry here with a Lord of Winterfell.” My voice cracked at the thought of leaving home behind.’

“Your brothers have that duty, as much as I regret this. I need you there.” He stepped down from the large chair, his large hands grabbed my cheeks.

I sighed as he held my body into his, I was the only child he’d ever really shown admiration to. My mother died when I was young, his affection was all that I have ever really wanted. I impressed my father daily, staying on top of my studies, becoming a well-crafted swordswoman, and a beautiful woman at that. I was a Siren.

I peered up at my father, our grey eyes meeting solemnly. “I will miss you father, dearly.”

“As will I my wolf, now get packing. Don’t forget to take Hell Bearer.”

I nodded, my hands now sweaty and softly shaking. A new world, a new life, a new companion. All in the span of an hour. I knew I was to marry; I was to become a breeding bitch; I was to become what my mother was and her mother before her. I was to stay silent and out of sight. I made my way back to my quarters, head held up high till my doors were firmly shut.

The ride to Kings Landing was brutal, the carriage stuffy and wooden. No cushion for my back or bum. Aemond was silent, his voice soft but hushed never made it passed a “Ill be back.” As he’d go to relieve himself. For a month we sat in those retched seats, him across from me, occasionally staring and then going right back to staring out the open window.

We covered hundreds of miles in just a few weeks. When we came across Kings Landing, the Red Keep standing tall in the back of the city. “We’re here” he whispered.

The sun was shinning bright in the sky, a sight I hadn’t seen in months. A rare delicacy for us northerners. The cage grew muggy, my hair starting to frizz just a bit. The thick furs no longer needed in the humid city. I shed the layer, feeling slightly relieved of the weight now missing.

“Aemond, before we go in. I would like to mention something.” I starred into his eye, sitting straight for the first time since Harrenhal.

“Go on.” His voice almost silent. Not entertaining the idea of speech.

“I know neither of us want this union. You want to be a free man, and I want to be in Winterfell. But please do not make a fool of me. I will stay faithful if you stay faithful. I will be your whore. I will bear your heirs if you protect us. I know things are different here for women. Please protect us.” I wasn’t begging, I knew better but I made it prevalent that I wanted to be happy and wanted him to share the feeling.

“I will do my best. I would surely hope to not be ‘cut down from the pompous throne I sit on’” He shot, his words simple but deadly.

I gazed back out at the city; we slowly came into view of the large castle I was to call home.

The castle was warm, uncomfortable compared to my last home. It was strange, bright reds and beige stones, beautiful flowers adorning most podiums. A vision of beauty, compared to the beast of Winterfell. Aemond stood just short of my side, his arm just barely grazing my back. Him and his few guards led us to the grand throne room. His family already waiting for us.

“Prince Aemond and Lady Y/N of house Stark” His guards announced as they opened the large metal doors.

The room was cold, few torches lit as the light came from windows behind the great Iron Throne. Many spectators stood to the side of the room, watching – judging as we walked towards King Aegon and Queen Mother Alicent.

“Hello, Lady Y/N. Welcome to the Red Keep.” Alicent paused, shifting her attention to Aemond. “My son Aemond, welcome home.” She smiled kindly at him.

“Thank you, mother. Afternoon brother.” Aemond bowed his head gracefully.

“You were right Aemond, she is a beauty. She’ll give you handsome heirs that’s for sure.” King Aegon laughed.

“Thank you for the betrothal proposal your grace.” I curtsied respectfully.

“Keep her hidden or I might make my way to her, dangerous beauty.” King Aegon jested, he found himself funny but no one in the room gave him a genuine laugh.

“Your wedding will be on the morrow.” Alicent was soft as she spoke, kind and motherly.

“Thank you, your grace.” I began tugging at my dress, ready to leave the gloomy room.

“You may leave. We have other matters to attend to.” King Aegon pressed, don’t with the site of you.

We gave a simple bow and ‘Your Grace’ before we turned to exit. Aemond, had a bad habit of storming out of rooms with no anger attached. He just had places to be it seemed. He led me down empty halls, up and down windy stone staircases to a living quarter. Two lady’s maids stood at the door with two guards posted at the door frame.

“These are your lady maids Helga and Serra, they will help you feel more comfortable in the palace. My room is this door here.” He pointed at the wooden door across from mine. “When we wed, we can decide to share or have separate quarters.” With that he disappeared into his room.

Standing, kind of slouched, I gazed at the two twin girls. “Its nice to meet you, could you help me find appropriate clothes for this place?” I shyly asked.

Nodding, they swiftly opened the door for me. The room was bright, a large patio as my window. Baskets of flowers sat on the fireplace’s mantel, a lovely red couch across from the small burning fire. My bed on the back wall of the room, a gorgeous red canopy with gold tassels fell above the dark maroon bedding. A vanity made of glass and wood sat just beside the door leading to the patio. A similar wardrobe to the one from home sat across. My fur coats already placed inside.

The fire crackled as I brushed the delicately carved mantel with my index finger. Winterfell was known for its beautiful wood work, this was definitely imported. A large gold framed mirror laid against the chimney, behind the baskets of flowers. Everything was so delicate. I was bound to break something in the privacy of my own company. Hiding to swing my sword around where I could freely.

Behind my bed, a doorway led to a large washroom. A footed tub in the middle of the room, a hole in the ground that led to a moat where private discretions could be dealt with personally. The room was in its self-amazing, even knowing the gross acts were going to happen.

The ladies stood at my door waiting for me to figure out what I was going to door next. Shockingly I chose to add some things to my room. “Please add a wooden post in the small room next to the washroom, I need a place to secretly train. I would also like a desk in that room. More books to, please.” I spoke, an urgency in my voice.

“We will let the carpenter know right away, your grace.” They curtsied and left the room.

Happily, I turned to take a cold bath on my own. I slipped out of my heavy Stark dress and filled the tub with the water provided. Dipping my toes into the cold water, I finally felt relief. A moment to myself, for the first time in a month. I wasn’t accustomed to all the company. I had been independent since I was a babe.

My long brown hair stuck to the tub and my soaked back as I laid my head on the back of the tub. Eyes closed in contentment.

“I see you have found the bath.” A smooth voice spoke.

“Shit! What are you doing in here.” Heart racing, I tried to turn my naked body from the voice.

“You’re to be my wife Y/N, I can be in your room all I would like.” Aemonds voice low.

Turning my head to see his own, rested on the stone opening of the room. I scoffed as I watched him stare at my bare back. A scar adorning my lean skin. The raised skin, ram from my left shoulder to the top of my butt. A scar from an intruder as a child. The one thing I hoped to keep from him, my deformity.

“I see we are the same.” Was all he said before he turned to leave the room.

Of all the things I wanted to know about me that was one of the last on the list. The huge scar I wore, day in and day out. I was lucky that mine was able to be covered and hidden from the world. My head spun as I turned to dunk my head in the water headfirst, barely scrubbed from the long journey here. I rubbed my scalp of the dirt that had collected since my last bath. I flipped my head out of the bath and stood slowly, to not slip and fall.

Drying myself, I walked to my wardrobe and grabbed a maroon dress. Something foreign to me, color. The long dress hugged at my waist, the sleeves long but mesh to keep me cool. The dress was different, less modest and warm than the ones I was accustomed to. I turned sharply to braid my hair into an intricate bun on my head. Smoothing out my dress, I decided for a walk about the castle.

They dressed me in a simple white dress, sleeves long and wide. The square neckline just barely showing my breasts, A gold sash was adorned on my hips. My hair was kept long and curling at my back. Aemond hadn’t seen me again that night, he didn’t join us for dinner, he didn’t walk to me to my quarters. I hadn’t seen him since the encounter in my bath. Now I was to be wed to him.

“You’re ready Y/N.” Helga voiced softly.

“Am I?” I stressed.

“We are to walk you to the gardens; there you will wed him.” Serra mentioned, the girls were quiet but kind.

“Thank you, ladies. I do apricate the kindness.” I beamed, keeping my smile small.

Oh, how I missed my family, how I missed the cold mornings and the snorting laugh of my father. The friendship I shared with my sisters. Not one laugh was shared here, everyone took themselves so seriously. I wanted to scream, shout, cuss this whole system out. I knew better. I was to be the silent wife to Prince Aemond.

We made our way down to the corridors that opened to the lovely garden. My hands quaked as we were told to wait for Aemond and Alicent to find their places. People rushed past us, servants, maids, knights, lords and ladies; alike filled into the seats outside. I shook my hands vigorously to rid of the anxiety.

“Lady Y/N Stark.” Was announced for me to enter.

The grand doors swung open, heart racing, eyes dry, I peered out to the bright space. Hundreds of men and women watching, judging, plotting as I walked down the long isle. There Aemond stood though, first time seeing him since the day before and he looked ravishing. He had cream white pants and undershirt on, a red overshirt and black boots. His lengthy hair half pulled up as usual and a black eye patch on instead of brown.

His eye wide as I gazed at him, his face unfazed otherwise. I noticed his hands fidgeting with each other as I got closer. A small quiet chuckle fell from my lips, hanging my head for a split second. As I raised my head to look at him again, I was there. His body towering over mine.

The people sat back in their chairs as I stood in front of him. Princess Helaena behind me holding a bouquet of flowers.

““We stand here in the sight of gods and men to witness the union of man and wife: one flesh, one heart, one soul, now and forever.” The minister started, his voice booming for all to hear. He tied our hands together tightly with a thin ribbon. “Let it be known that Prince Aemond of House Targaryen and Lady Y/N of House Stark are one heart, one flesh, one soul. Cursed be he who would seek to tear them asunder.” Pausing for effect. “In the sight of the Seven, I hereby seal these two souls, binding them as one for eternity. Look upon one another and say the words.” He finished.

We shared a kiss of bloodied lips, binding us together, we whipped the blood away and looked at the intrigued crowed watching. In the very back my father sat, a small smile pulling his beaten lips up.

“I present to you Prince Aemond Targaryen and Princess Y/N Targaryen!” Shouted the minister.

Aemond lead us to his chambers, the room was nothing like mine. Dark and cold. His room clean at the very least. The fire was going, little crackles and pops grabbed my attention. Warmth by a fire was a favorite of mine. To finally have peace and quiet after a long and loud day was even better. I stood above his fire, toasting my heads to distract from the nerves. I knew what was about to happen I knew he was about to take all I had ever saved for a man.

Aemond had never said more than five words to me at once and now he expected me to just give myself to him? I felt a shy hand on my shoulders. He was there. Swiftly, I spun to look only to see his chest. Huffing, I gazed up at his beautiful purple eye. “Aemond.” I started.

A small ‘hmm’ leaving his lips once more. “You haven’t said a full sentence to me since we met. Now you are expected to take me?” I asked, my voice firm as to not cause any confusion.

“Princess, I have been ripped from my life to marry you.” His voice just as firm as mine as he started. “As my wife, I will say. I am scared.” He admitted. Eye never leaving mine.

What was he to be afraid of? “Aemond, I don’t understand what to be afraid of?”

“I know you’re a strong woman, you’re a Stark. I don’t want to be anything less than what you need and deserve.” His voice low and his body now inches away from mine.

“I understand but this has been the plan for a month now.” I pried. “Tell me about you so that its comfortable for us.”

With a sigh, he backed up and sat on his luscious couch, legs crossing. He poured a glass of wine for us in two delicate goblets. I sat next to him, my feet curling under my bum. Wine in hand.

“I was the underdog as a child, my brother Aegon was always to be King and married, he gained a dragon at birth. Rhaenyra the heir to my father’s throne. I was the last, I was the joke. I fought them, I claimed what was mine rightfully and my eye was taken for it. I am a master swordsman, I pride myself on that, I pride myself on my mountainous dragon. I however didn’t get the one thing I wanted most.” He paused to sip his wine, my eyes fully on him. “I wanted a wife. Someone to love and care for.” He finished.

“Well you have one, I am here and I made a promise to be your wife and faithful to you.” I spoke softly, trying to make him feel the emotion I felt. I swirled my wine as he sat quiet for a moment.

“What about you, Y/N?”

“I am a fighter just as you, I enjoy sword fighting, painting, my family, the cold.” I giggled at the thought of never seeing another Winterfell snow. “I am the middle child out of the 11, and the most loved. I worked hard to be who I am and I too am scared to lose myself in this castle.” I confessed, nothing but the truth left my lips.

Aemond gazed at me, his eye peering down at me as I twirled my hair. “You really are beautiful. I did get very lucky.” He bashed; he was smitten on me.

“And you are very handsome husband.” I retorted. “Your voice is so soft and soothing, I could listen to you talk for hours." I too was smitten and couldn’t lie.

I kept twirling my hair as I stared into the fire. His body engulfed mine, his arms softly wrapping around me as his chin laid on my head. For the first time I felt a connection to him. I felt like we could genuinely be happy with each other.

“Our bedding can wait for tomorrow.” He spoke, placing a soft peck on my head.

“May I sleep like this my husband?”

“Please.” He hummed.

[astaroth1357]

More undateables with a demigod hades mc???

By request, have yourself a part two!! 

Demigod MC Series: Hades Pt. 2 (Un)Dateables Edition!

I will ask that y’all please don't ask for continuations of other gods unless I say it’s okay to do again. This series already fills my inbox something fierce and this is a one-off that I allowed for during the request window.  If I have to make ideas for new gods while continuing a bunch of old MCs, it'll burn me out fast...

Demigod MC Series: Intro, Aphrodite, Hermes, Hades, Dionysus, Demeter, Athena, Hades Pt. 2

Diavolo

Oh, he has no problem at all hosting a child of the Underworld, hell he even throws them a welcome banquet when he finds out! Hades is a dear friend - and practically a parental figure to him growing up - so he's more than happy to take in one of his children for a year.

Diavolo is actually one of the few people that the MC can talk to about their home with any kind of fondness. Usually when they bring up things like the comforting wailing of the River Coctyus, the brothers will give them weird looks... but Diavolo knows where they're coming from!

He spent numerous summers in the Underworld growing up doing things like pestering Charon on the River Styx or playing games with Cerberus (the other one) in the Asphodel Meadows... His beach house is actually modeled after his childhood summer home in the Isles of Paradise! Really, it can be a lovely place if the gloom doesn't bother you!

So in the spirit of his fond memories, Diavolo really tried to make their time in the Devildom a fun one!... in his maybe trying a little too hard way…  

Poor MC found themselves offered pretty much everything under the moon… Tickets or exclusive passes to different cultural events/festivals, invitations to gala events, and tours of nearly every inch of Hell by the Prince himself - it was… it was a lot for the poor introverted thing…

It didn’t help that Diavolo would have a hard time gauging if they were having any fun due to their naturally melancholic nature, which only pushed him to try harder… He means well, he does. He’s just not the most in touch with what would make an anti-social doom child happy...

It took Barbatos and Lucifer stepping in for the mortal to actually start getting some much needed space and that improved their experience significantly. Sometimes less is more, Dia… Less is more. But they appreciate his efforts anyway.

Barbatos 

Also has a pretty amicable relationship with the Ruler of the Underworld, though his is much more professional compared to Diavolo’s. He actually has a good deal of appreciation for the man for taking good care of the Prince during his visits, so he sees this as an opportunity to return the favor.

Like Diavolo, he’s rather focused on making sure the MC is having a good stay in the Devildom, but he’s much more subtle about it. He’ll come by the House often to check up on them and make sure everything is to their liking... 

Even the brothers notice that he treats them like anothering visiting Lord/Lady in that way, which he would argue they very much are and should be respected as one. It’s the least the Devildom can offer their father at this point.

His visits may also be an excuse for keeping an eye on the brothers to make sure they don’t do anything to inconvenience their “young guest…” To be honest, the entire House is a little paranoid about that… Nobody wants to know the punishment for hurting MC if Barbs is the one dishing it out...

Apart from watching out for them, Barbatos tries to encourage the MC to accept the Young Lord’s gifts (while also actively advising Diavolo to go easier on them at the same time). It would be so disheartening to him if his Prince feels like he hasn’t offered them the best experience that he could… He’s sure they understand.

Any time that he invites the MC to tea, they usually end up talking about their father in some way. Barbs knows a surprising amount about the god… He’s been around about as long as Chronos - preceding the birth of Aether and Chaos themselves - so he has some stories to tell.

The MC did once ask him why he doesn’t just run everything if he’s really been around for so long... his answer was: “Kings and their kingdoms will rise and fall… Worlds upon worlds are born, then cease to be. But time is what brings about all changes… So, I think I’m perfectly content with the power I possess. Wouldn’t you be?” 

Annnd they never asked Barbs another question like that again… and people think death is scary… 

Simeon 

He was honestly a little worried for their new companion for quite a while… It’s not like there’s never any sadness in the Celestial Realm or anything, but they seem to have something else entirely…

He’s heard stories about the Underworld. He’s never been himself, that’s usually a job for the Seraphim due to the… dreary nature of the place - but he’s heard it would make the Devildom look downright festive…

If he were being honest, he had half expected the MC to be obsessed with skeletons, ghosts, and other elements of darkness but that wasn’t the case. They certainly knew a lot about those things, but they appeared to have a healthy interest in the afterlife in general, so they asked him a lot of questions about the Celestial Realm, angels, and how the souls of the blessed are treated up there… It was surprising to say the least.

Of course he did the same and, frankly, Simeon found it incredibly wasteful that so many Greek followers find themselves just wasting away in a field of nothing for so long… but that’s neither here nor there.

He was also surprised by how gentle of an influence the MC ended up being on Luke as well. He had always suspected that the little angel just needed a bridge between him and Devildom to start finding appreciation for it, and the MC fit that bill perfectly - nothing he was used to, but still approachable enough to make everything less frightening. He thanks them a great deal for that… but...

It’s just that… Well they’re just so… depressing sometimes…! He doesn’t want to blame them because it hardly seems like their fault! They’re a very kind person, it’s just an atmosphere around them… It brings him to tears if he isn’t careful…

He’s invited the MC to Purgatory Hall on multiple occasions to chat and try to make them smile… When they do, the gloom is dispelled - even just a little - and they’re a truly beautiful creature regardless. It’s just so unfortunate that their life brings so much sadness...

Even so, he actually likes the MC enough to consider basing a character on them if he ever wrote another book. Something about a gloomy but sweet protagonist at home in a world of darkness sounds appealing… doesn’t it?

Luke

He didn’t know how to feel about the MC when they met. At first, he actually thought they were just as unhappy as he was to be there due to how depressed they looked but when they told him that wasn't true, he was really confused...

The Devildom is a dark, brutish, and dangerous place. Why would anyone feel at home down here??

But… well… He would spend time with them at RAD between breaks (partially to help scare off their many, many demonic suitors) and it might be weird to say, but they really made the Devildom look beautiful… literally.

The world just looks better when they’re around! It’s really hard to describe because it’s not something you notice much until they leave, but when the MC is around everything looks more vibrant and inviting! The grass gets greener, flowers grow bigger, and butterflies/birds hover around wherever they are like they have their own gravity - the realm loves them!

It started getting hard for Luke to hang onto his disdain for the place when they made it look so appealing… And then they started talking to him about the Underworld and the creatures they’d befriended there… creatures a lot worse than any demons he’d seen there...

Like. If the MC can be good friends with a bunch of rude walking corpses, then he could probably make friends with a demon right? There’s nice ones… kind of… 

Beel. He can make friends with Beel.

Like Simeon, he does feel bad that they seem so sad all the time… but unlike the older angel, he’s a bit more understanding that this is just how they are and enjoys his time with them regardless. (It helps a lot that just being around this little bean of a boy can lift their spirits anyway).

And you know what’s even better for him? When Lord Diavolo gives the MC tickets to things that they don’t want to go to, sometimes they’ll invite him along or give them to him instead! 

He’s gone to the Devil’s Coast with MC and Simeon sooo many times by now and he loves it!! Maybe the Devildom isn’t so bad after all, I mean, it can be a lot of fun when you go to the right places, anyway.

Solomon

Oh, he finds them both deeply fascinating and utterly terrifying - so just his sort of test sub-er, person!

He kids (somewhat), Solomon isn’t that dumb/lacking in self-preservation instinct. Experimenting on a child of death in a land of the dead (even if it’s not their “home turf”) would be asking for trouble. They’d have more than enough ammunition to fight him off and if their father found out? Immortality wouldn’t even begin to save him...

That being said, questions aren’t necessarily experiments… and oh boy, does he have a lot of them.

If the MC isn’t being pestered by Diavolo or the brothers, then they’re probably having to put up with Solomon nipping at their heels trying to get them to use their powers or answer all sorts of “innocent” scientific questions…

“MC, reanimation of Greek dead requires a blood offering, correct? Do you have to sacrifice animals for that process or do you allow them to feast on your own?”

“MC, when you’re controlling a skeleton do you move the body as a whole or do you have to animate each individual bone due to their lack of ligaments?”

“Think fast!! Oh look, you just caught the skull of my good friend, Richard! Could you bring him back from that, or should I fetch the rest of him?” 🙂

They put up with it because, believe it or not, he’s not nearly the weirdest person they’ve ever met (a lot of crazy people drift in and out of the land of the dead…) and well… they’re a pretty lonely person too so it’s not like they have a lot of standards when it comes to friendships anyway.

But the second they breathe a word of this to Barbs or Diavolo, this boy is on his way to a royal restraining order… Where does he even get those skulls…?

[kickerofelves]

Deaner had been keeping the story of using Carlos Santana’s guitar and gear to himself for over a decade, yet finally felt it was time to share the incredible tale. Check out what the guitarist wrote:

I think enough time has passed where I can finally tell my favorite Ween story of all-time. The businesses and the people involved have long since closed their doors and moved on for good and hopefully the people involved (and Carlos himself, if it comes to that) will have a good sense of humor about this story.

In 2003 Ween released our album Quebec on Sanctuary Records. We worked on the album for two years in our beach house in Holgate, NJ, a rented house in the Pocono Mountains of PA, the garage behind Aaron’s house in Pt. Pleasant, PA, my upstairs guest room, and finally Andrew Weiss’s living room in NJ. We also worked at Water Music in Hoboken, NJ and Graphic Sound Studios in Ringoes, NJ. It was not a great period in our personal lives, Aaron was going through a divorce and I was partying way too hard myself — it was some dark shit. The record is one of my favorites, but it is a depressing album lyrically. It was not an easy record to make either, as evidenced by the amount of places we worked, trying to find the right environment. There are demos available online that I posted where you can hear the process at work, we racked up our normal batch of like 6 dozen songs or more before whittling it down to what was finally released, 15 tunes.

I am a huge fan of Carlos Santana. He is one of my favorite guitarists of all-time. He is playing better these days than ever before in my opinion. His music is more radio friendly, for sure, but as a guitarist he has aged like a fine wine. Only Neil Young, Prince, and a small handful of others can make that claim as they become members of the AARP.

We were working in Andrew’s living room on the song “Transdermal Celebration,” our drummer Claude Coleman had just gotten into a horrific car crash and left us without a drummer for the recording and ensuing tour. Eventually it worked itself out where the record took so long to complete that Claude made enough of a recovery to do the world tour with us supporting Quebec. In the meantime though, even though Claude had played on some of the demos, drumming on the album was left up to me, Josh Freese, and Sim Cain.

“Transdermal Celebration” had been recorded three times by this point, with a drum machine, with Claude playing drums, and the final take on the album which features Josh Freese. It was the eventual single from the album. So, we’re in the middle of this session and I get a phone call from my roadie (nameless) who also worked for a backline company (nameless) that supplied amps, drums, lights, etc. to bands touring in the Northeast. My roadie told me that Carlos Santana’s equipment (including his guitars) had arrived via a trucking company that night at their depot. Carlos was recording an appearance on “Good Morning America” the next morning and his equipment was to be delivered to the set in NYC in a few hours.

What needed to be done was immediately clear to me, I had an opportunity to play the solo on “Transdermal Celebration” through Carlos Santana’s amplifier and guitar. I had one shot at it, it meant taking a hard disk recorder to a storage space where all of Carlos’ stuff was sitting in transit. I arrived at 2 a.m. We (very carefully) unpacked his equipment and set up his stage gear and in one take I recorded the guitar solo for “Transdermal Celebration” (the one that appears on the album, playing through Carlos Santana’s guitar, pedalboard and amplifier. The whole thing took 10 minutes and we were terrified we were going to get caught. A lot of people would have lost their jobs. We got the fuck outta there really fast after that. So the solo on “Transdermal Celebration” was played through all of Santana’s shit in what resembled an early morning bank heist or something…

Of course a story like this requires visual proof, so here it is. Don’t tell anyone about these please.

-Dean Ween 6/14 [link]

[cristalconnors]

TOP TEN ALBUMS OF 2020

10. Women in Music pt. III, HAIM

Think back on all the flavor of the month acts that came and went in the 2010s, bursting onto the scene with a distinct sound and, inevitably, a sophomore album that proved their toolkit wasn't all that deep or varied. It was easy to imagine this fate for Haim, with the bubblegum pop rock of their juggernaut debut Days Are Gone in permanent rotation at Forever 21. That in 2020, nearly 8 years after their meteoric rise, they'd deliver an artistic declaration this varied and admirably strange is kind of shocking. You can hear the liberation of stylistic experimentation across the album as the Haim sisters let go of any ideas they had about how their music should sound.

9. songs, ADRIANNE LENKER

With the world on pause, sequestered in a cabin in The Berkshires, time and space folded in on themselves for Adrianne Lenker when she wrote the 11 tracks on the aptly titled songs. Refracted childhood memories, tender observations on relationships built and broken, and stunningly ethereal ruminations on the nature of life and death coalesce into an improbably straightforward folk album that feels almost like a religious experience.

8. What’s Your Pleasure? JESSIE WARE

What’s Your Pleasure? is often heralded as a glorious revival of disco, and it is that, but it isn’t just disco. It’s also classic R&B. It’s modern synthpop. It’s Prince. Jessie Ware’s luscious tour of the dancefloor tries on a lot of different subgenres on for size and they all fit like a pair of skin tight bell bottoms as Ware puts on her boogie shoes, lets her hair down, and exudes confidence and raw sensuality. 

7. Muthaland, BBYMUTHA

Trap at its most effervescent. Brittnee Moore is firing on all cylinders as she crafts a deceptively complex, hilariously filthy freak-out that charms with its saucy witticisms and insightful observations on motherhood set atop sprawling, immersive beats. The smartest, most expansive rap album of the year and it’s a debut! Look out for bbymutha. 

6. folklore, TAYLOR SWIFT

What a journey I’ve had with Taylor Swift. I couldn’t stand her for years. Hers was music for the simple, homophobic Baptist girls I went to high school with, not me. Still, the rapturous praise folklore received upon its surprise release piqued my interest, so I gave it a go. Listening to it, I couldn’t reconcile what was happening- why is this so good? Everything I’d ever heard of hers (admittedly not much beyond the singles) had been so wooden. So Wal-Mart. But this was stunning. Lush production you could bathe in. Complex melodies atop sparse accompaniment, drawing out layers of meaning in Swift’s lyrics. Was she always like this and I was just a hater? I went back to make sure and *Annette Bening voice* well, yes and no. While I’ll say I hand’t been giving her enough credit before, this is still leaps and bounds better than anything she’s ever done. Of all the unwelcome changes 2020 brought me, becoming a Swiftie wasn’t so bad, I guess. 

5. how i’m feeling now, CHARLI XCX

When we first went into quarantine, we all had that one friend we were particularly worried about how they were going to fare in lockdown. Oh, her? She’s gonna lose her fucking mind 6 weeks in. Charli XCX strikes me as that girl. Hell, she was regularly performing at warehouse parties in her mid-teens. Her whole life has played out at the club, surrounded by strangers and friends alike, lost together in the pulse of the dancefloor. But it turns out, being involuntarily thrust into a life of domesticity turned out to be good for her. Trapped together with her boyfriend for the longest consecutive period of time in their 7-year relationship, she sounds more content here than she ever has. The vast majority of these tracks are incredibly vulnerable, relatively straight forward love songs, not distracted by the frenzied production of A.G. Cook and co. but rather deepened by it. 

4. Fetch the Bolt Cutters, FIONA APPLE

In an era where most music is made with the expectation that its listener will be wearing headphones or earbuds, Fetch the Bolt Cutters demands to be played on the record player in the living room. It needs to reverberate off your walls and fill the room to the point where you can’t tell if the many household sounds that populate the album are coming from your house or hers. Fiona Apple moves with the trees in the breeze, but also the blinds, the floorboards, the pots and pans. She achieves a kind of symbiosis with her surroundings to create a world that’s tactile and buzzes with an always palpable, hard earned sense of self that she’s still working at. 

3. Róisín Machine, RÓISÍN MURPHY

"Fuck, I’m still unfolding” Róisin Murphy tells NME. So are the 10 tracks of the brilliantly titled Róisín Machine, the only disco released this year that a) actually sounds like it should be playing at the Paradise Garage, and b) pushes the genre into uncharted territory. Parrot’s production is velvet smooth, with heavy, rattling bass and synths that breathe, pulling its listener like a current you can’t fight and don’t want to. What a blessing to all the gays that discovered Murphy via Grey’s Anatomy and So You Think You Can Dance all those years ago to have this miracle of an album. 

2. Set My Heart on Fire Immediately, PERFUME GENIUS

The corporeal and the divine cross paths often on Set My Heart on Fire Immediately, a vivid symphonic vision that is, like Mike Hadreas’s voice, in turns delicate and coarse, evoking baroque pop at times, shoegaze at others, but feels beholden to nothing. After a near decade as music’s premier purveyor of queer longing, this is Perfume Genius’s panoramic opus. 

1. Heaven to a Tortured Mind, YVES TUMOR

Yves Tumor confronts stardom on Heaven to a Tortured Mind. Granted, they’re more critical darling than household name, but listening to this you’d think they were Bowie at the height of the Ziggy Stardust years, being dogged by rabid fans everywhere they went. This is rockstar shit. After the sinister textures of 2018’s masterful Safe in the Hands of Love, electric guitar becomes Sean Bowie’s talisman, unlocking a newfound swagger and fire that permeates every minute of this jagged, unhinged rock n roll triumph.

MORE READING:

#30-21, #20-11

[jistays]

know you’re my destiny pt.1

you saw it everywhere on the internet, those soulmate aus. the ones where the first words your soulmate says to you are tattooed on your wrist on your 18th birthday. you never believed in it, you just thought everyone had a wild imagination. phone in the name of science could such a thing happened? hence you always brushed the topic off whenever someone brought it up. until your birthday.

there it was, a short “hi, what’s your name?”. you couldn’t believe it. were you seriously that cursed? you heard that sentence multiple times a day in your life. that was a turning point, if you didn’t believe the whole soulmate thing in the first place, you absolutely despised it now. you vowed to yourself to not fall for it.

the next few weeks, a new year of school started. a perfect situation for more hi, how are you’s. you grumbled at yourself at the thought, slowly peeling off the duvet, (not) ready to face such disappointments.

“hello!”

“hi!”

“what’s your name?”

“how are you?”

these greetings flew past your ears, yet you didn’t hear a single “hi, what’s your name”. weird, but it was probably a coincidence. your best friend cut your thoughts — “WE GOT IN THE FANSIGN LOOK” she shoved her phone in your face. “seriously? we bought 2 albums” you muffled under her phone. “we must be the luckiest broke atinys out there” she stood there, wide eyes, realising that she was going to have her y/n moment with choi san.

you weren’t a hardcore fan of ateez, perhaps you liked their songs and found hongjoong cute, but that was it. you joined this fansign for the album, and the 0.001% chance that you’d be chosen. apparently you were. “is it offensive to tell san that he looks like prince charming from shrek? i mean it’s prince charming right?” your friend rambled on your way to class. all you could do is sigh and try to keep the squealing girl under control.

the day had finally come. you had watched their content and researched the members and it was safe to say you fell in love. these boys were so charming and full of talent, it was unbelievable. also, you had completely and utterly fallen for hongjoong. the short, silver haired rapper had caught your heart and he now lived inside your head. “let’s goooo to ateez!” your best friend dragged you out the house, to the venue.

7 members in, you had concluded that they were in fact the sweetest boys, making nicknames for you, and them gently grabbing your hands (no boy had acted this way towards you, to say jung wooyoung was your first is now your biggest flex). “i hope to see you next time, my aurora!” jongho flashed you a gummy smile, handing your signed album to the next member, kim hongjoong.

now, your heart was beating out it’s chest. the man that was a couple of feet away from you was absolutely breathtaking. he was there, raw, no editing done. his skin glowed, hair slightly messy from the headbands fans had given him. “hi, what’s your name?” the ethereal boy started off conversation. wait. you stopped you and your beating heart for a second. you were anticipating that phrase, but from where? meeting ateez had made your mind blurry, you forgot everything that wasn’t the 8 talented idols.

it couldn’t be. “uhhhhhynsnhmmmm???” you uttered out, in disbelief. “i never knew a person could keyboard smash in real life, could you believe the surprise when you appeared on my wrist?” hongjoong smiled, seemingly confident.

excuse me?

“s-so we are-“

“i believe we are soulmates, uhhhhhynsnhmmmm”

in that moment right there, everything stopped — did hongjoong just clown you? the lights dimmed, you stopped hearing the chatter around you, you no longer felt the boys hands in yours. he was an idol. he was soon going on his second world tour. you were just an ordinary student. you had barely scraped the money to be in this position.

“hello? i don’t know your name but... i’ll call you my shine light, if that’s ok with you of course” hongjoong snapped you out of your trance. “y-yeah it’s perfect joongie” how did he not seem phased by the knowledge that you were his soulmate? was he trained to ignore it? was this an idol thing? you decided to brush it off, rambling on about how he was your bias to him, earning you the sight of red ears and little giggles. he was so cute. alas, it was time to go. you were left with an unforgettable memory and your soulmate, who you could never rejoice with.

“i know he’s your soulmate, you lucky hoe” your best friend caught up to you, “i was listening”. “what am i going to do now?” you almost cried into her arms. you realised that it could never happen, were you supposed to settle with someone you didn’t love? “i don’t know, but you’ll be together, someday. this world has its ways” your friend stroked your hair comforting you.

“guys... i just met my soulmate. what am i gonna do?” hongjoong walked in the dressing room, addressing his members. “she’s a fan? damn atiny really are our destiny” mingi piped up, followed by a series of cheers by yunho, and yeosang. “i think you should tell kq, they’ll have a solution” seonghwa patted hongjoongs back. thank god seonghwa has braincells, hongjoong wouldnt know what to do without him.

part 2

[outerspaceisbetterthannothing]

My Ultimate Reading List v2.0 Fics

A/N: As some of you have heard or seen, My Ultimate Reading List (in it’s original version) has crashed on desktop because of (as I realised trying to restore it) too big number of links, so I’m basically recreating the whole thing in a new format. This post goes for One Shots and Serieses. There’s one more post for Blurbs. I’m really sorry for the tag notifs for the people who has been tagged already in a previous version. Hope it’s not much of an inconvenience. I’m also not going to delete the first version of the list, as it’s been liked and reposted a lot of times, it’s still working on mobile, so some might still use it. But all the updates are going to happen only on this post, which I’m going to put in my bio instead of an old one.

So, this list was created because of my crazy urge to reread favourite fics and blurbs from time to time. It was made purely for me, but if it helps you to find a fic or a writer you’d love, I’d be only happy. I tried to make navigation easy. For blurbs links go to my reblogs, for oneshots and full lengths links go to the original posts. I try to check links from time to time, but if you see that some of them don’t work, please, hmu.

* stands for the implied smut

*** stands for the pure smut

This list is far from finished, that’s just the first things that came to mind and/or were reblogged. Still have a ton to add. So will update it every now and then.

NOTE, pls: There’s no Michael content here! And that’s not because I don’t like him or don’t appreciate him enough. I guess, it’s quite the opposite tbh. There’s no Michael content here because I appreciate him too much. I love this cute little kitten, he’s the most precious soul and, most of the time I think, there would be no 5sos without Michael Gordon Clifford. I just don’t have any fantasies or images of him in me, don’t see him in any way romantically. That’s why I don’t read (or write for that matter) about him as main character. I understand, that I miss a whole lotta great authors and fics because of that. Maybe it’ll change in the future. But for now, it is what it is.

Also HUGE SHOUT OUT TO THE PEOPLE WHOSE WRITING IS ON THE LIST - THANK YOU FOR THIS! THESE FICS AND BLURBS BELOW HAVE REALLY GIVEN ME ALL TYPES OF FEELS, INSPIRATION, MOTIVATION AND CONTENT. I’M FOREVER GRATEFUL FOR THESE WONDERFUL GIFTS YOU GAVE TO ALL OF US.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, WONDERFUL PEOPLE! ALL MY LOVE FOR YOU!

Oneshots

Ashton

Heartbeat by @gigglyirwin [Classic fluff and one of my all time faves]

Our Shining Star [Dad!Ashton] by @myloverboyash [Special thank you to @lashtoncurls for the tracking down the runaway author lol]

Blindfold*** by @cal-puddies​ [Cashton smut which is too hot for this world]

Ain’t nobody got a drummer like mine*** by @myloverboyash [Drumming and banging 👀 at the drum kit]

I Can Love You In The Shower*** by @myloverboyash [Cute giggly shower sex with a little bit of trauma]

Will We Always Be Pretending*** by @myloverboyash [Bff to lovers AND fake dating in one fic, what else could you wish for???]

Wherever You Are*** by @myloverboyash [childhood best friends to lovers]

Let Me Be The One To Save You pt 1 and pt 2 by @myloverboyash [prince!Ashton Au by which I am intrigued and I AM WAITING PATIENTLY, SKYLER, LOL]

Noticed Nights by @calpops [Artist!Ash and another masterpiece by Eve]

Calum

The Little Spoon by @gigglyirwin [Classic fluff] 

Valentine’s Day*** by @angelbabylu

Lucky Shot In Paradise*** by @cakesunflower [Bartender!Cal]

Heartbeat by @uncrownedqueeen [Dad!Cal]

All These Years by @felicitycal

Blindfold*** by @cal-puddies [Cashton smut which is too hot for this world]

No chemistry*** by @novacxlum [Heartbreakingly great college enemies to lovers]

Where were you in the morning?* by @snapbackcake [If this ultimately truthful but sad af one won’t make you cry, consider asking for help, because it’s too sad but also beautiful as hell]

Let me good to you*** by @snapbackcake [The description says it’s 6.8k words of absolute filth, and I have nothing else to add besides of what a great filth it is, so, 18+ kids]

Road Trip: Cake*** by @softforcal [Er, Cake threesome, idek what to say here]

Redamancy by @cakesunflower [Heart wrecking fluff]

Birthday Getaway by @etherealhood [Cuteness and romance overload]

Ghost of you by @myloverboyash [Super angst, prepare to cry your eyeballs out, and i’m still in my feels, Skyler, how could you???]

Picture this by @currentlyupcalsass [One of the best college au’s ever]

Best Friend’s Brother*** by @lukescaboose [Nerdy Cal and soft smut]

Another Ride*** by @babyloontrash [Another Cal smut which is like, really hot]

The Course of True Love Never Did Run Smooth*** by @i-calumhood [Wonderful enemies to fuck buddies to lovers with an asshole college!Cal]

Ice*** by @morningfears [Super hot enemies to lovers with hockey player Cal aka an ultimate dream]

Ka Hopena by @wildflowergrae​ [Soulmate AU, surfing and Hawaii, what else can you ask for?]

We Got That Good Love*** by @myloverboyash​ [Sex in the shower and like wet Calum)]

Balloon*** by @currentlyupcalsass [one of the most precious things I have ever read in my entire live! realisation of love to Calum of mc and absolute happiness for you]

First Concert by @ukulelecal [dad!Cal and kids visiting 5sos concert]

Eleven*** by @babyloontrash [fwb with breakfast]

Luke

Boyfriend’s little brother*** by @lukehemmingssmut  [There was also a second part promised, sooooo ^.^]

Fuck me like you hate me*** by @myloverboyash

Baby*** by @lukescaboose [Sweetest ever bff to lovers with soft boi Lu]

Hashimoto by @burncrashbromance​ [special for Disabled!Sos]

Full lengths and Serieses

Ashton

Hate sex Series*** by @irwinofficial Tell Me How Much You Hate Me, Our Kinky Secret, Good Enough, No Longer A Secret  [one of the best Ash smuts ever 👀]

Side chick*** by @cal-puddies [Beautifully filthiest smut with cheating, all the wrong choices and Cashton love triangle] part 1, part 2

Calum

Sugar Coated Pain by @cakesunflower [Boxer!Cal] [That’s what I lost my 5sos-fanfiction-virginity to, so, hey, Summer, thanks for the experience lmao]

Cigarette series*** by @cal-puddies [Best friend!Calum and a lot of hot smut 👀] Cigarette, Corona, Rolling Papers, Black on Black, Stuck [which was later replaced by the next part, but I’ll put it as long as it exists on the original list of parts, but don’t get confused], Navy Button Down, A Hotter Touch, Pancakes, The Second Thing, Ours, Losing You, Little toes, Holy Water, Date Night, Me, You and Little Hood, Five Years Later

Wherever you are by @mysticalhood [Long distance with Cal and tons of tears with me]

Dates With Cal by @calpops [this is so cute i higkey don’t want it to end like ever] First date, Second date, Second date pt, Third date, Calum cooking part one and two, The next evening, Cuddling and meeting guys, Worrying about ‘his girl’, Being her only guy, Meeting Mali, Soft nights, Talking about her family, Not everybody liking her, Tropical getaway, Being smitten around guys, Leaving talk, Night before the tour, Being away from each other, Cal coming home, Saying ‘i love you’, Cal being jealous of Duke, Watching her in the morning, Taking a bath together, Talking to guys about taking a next step, Grocery shopping, Asking her to move in, Choosing a house, Packing her stuff, Packing his stuff, First night in the new house, Unpacking, Finding out habits

Business Blurbs by @calpops [series of blurbs of Calum and Ash being owners of a record shop, Luke keeping an antique store and Mike having a bakery]

Masquerade Made by @calpops [fake dating college AU blurb series] First party, Fighting in a philosophy class

Veiled Valor by @calpops [pirate!Calum, runaway princess, heart wrecking mutual pining and writing style deserving 19th century prose] Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7

Versace on the Floor by @singt0mecalum [Dad’s friend Calum, age difference and *supposedly* hottiest content] Intro chapter

[behind-the-screen-of-bangtan]

BTS 2020 Festa

← BTS 2019 Festa

The Festa is the celebration of BTS’ debut on 13 June 2013. It takes place in the first half of June, with something being released almost every day. There are usually dance practices, songs, photo albums, and members’ profiles.

The teasers released on Twitter and Instagram (#1, #2, #3) included several references to The Little Prince such as the airplane, the rose, the desert, and the quote “Here is my secret” (src). 2020 is the 77th birthday of the book (cr.) and the 7th birthday of BTS.

There is also a nod to the sea and desert metaphor used in several BTS songs (src #1, src #2). You can check this post for more details about the use of this metaphor in BTS discography.

The door at the beginning of the video is the same one as the one of the Magic Shop in the 5th Muster. The song played is “Epilogue : Young Forever” from the 2016 album 화양연화 YOUNG FOREVER.

Audio messages from each member were released on Spotify to promote the Festa. BTS answers to “what does BTS FESTA mean to you?” (English translation: text format, video format).

The timeline confirms the references to The Little Prince as the different elements of the poster are nods to the six planets the little prince visits before Earth:

Street lamp: the planet of the lamplighter

Cork: the planet of the drunkard

Wind rose: the planet of the old geographer

Mirror: the planet of the narcissistic man who only wants praise

+01110-0   0+1010x1: the planet of the businessman who counts the stars

King statue: the planet of the king with no subjects. The statue is the one of King Saint Stephen in Budapest

The asteroid on the top right is most likely a reference to the little prince’s house: the asteroid B 612.

During the episode of DJ SUGA’s Honey FM 06.13 with Jung Kook that happened during the Festa, on the 6th, they read The Little Prince.

There are 8 doors in total, including the door of the magic shop of the 5th Muster.

Here’s the timeline for the 2020 Festa: 

OPENING CEREMONY: 'Airplane pt.2' (Summer ver.) @ 2018 SUMMER PACKAGE in SAIPAN

You can learn more about the 2018 Summer Package in Saipan here

BTS 7TH ANNIVERSARY FAMILY PORTRAIT

Episode

The pink outfits are a reference to “Boy With Luv” MV. Here is the detail of their outfits (cr. Stylish BTS): RM, j-hope, Jimin (cr. Jimin’s Closet), V, Jung Kook.

Concerning the second series of pictures:

the eight doors from the timeline (minus the one from the Magic Shop) are the set

On the top left of one of the pictures, you can see a picture from the 2019 Festa

The boys are wearing the outfits they had when they performed their solo songs from the Love Yourself series: “Epiphany” for Jin, “Trivia 轉: Seesaw” for SUGA, “Trivia 起: Just Dance” for j-hope, “Trivia 承: Love” for RM, “Serendipity” for Jimin, “Singularity” for V, and “Euphoria” for Jung Kook. The outfits are either from the Speak Yourself tour, the Speak Yourself The Final concert, or the 2018 Gayo Daechukjae. See this tweet for the details

You can spot a copy of Sword Point by Harold Coyle among the books

Bangtan Style identified the glasses they wear in the suit series. In addition, Jimin had bamboo hoops from Bittersweet (cr.)

Choreography video 1: Rehearsal Stage CAM 'Dionysus' @ SY IN SEOUL

BTS PHOTO COLLECTION 19/20

STILL WITH YOU by JK

Blog post

You can see that the link to the song is titled “thankyouarmy2020″

Lyrics (Doolsetbangtan, Colin)

2020 BTS Profile 1

English translation: BTS trans, Modooborahae, btstranslation7, u4eakooks

Several people noticed that the picture for the group’s profile has the boys doing the same pose as the picture for their first profile from the 2014 Festa (x, x)

CHOREOGRAPHY VIDEO 2: 2018 MAMA Performance Practice (Formation Check ver.)

Official video of the performance at the 2018 MAMA

Answer : BTS 3 UNITS: 'Respect' Song by RM & SUGA,  'Jamais Vu' Song by Jin & j-hope & Jung Kook, '친구' Song by V & Jimin

On June 9, the BTS 7TH ANNIVERSARY FAMILY PORTRAIT was updated with pictures of 3 units

The 3 units are the ones from the Map of the Soul tracks: Jin, j-hope, and Jung Kook on “Jamais Vu”, Jimin and V on “친구” (Friends), and SUGA and RM on “Respect”

In their interview, SUGA and RM introduced themselves as 일촌 (il chon), a term for friends in Cyworld (src)

2020 BTS Profil 2

English translation: BTS trans, btstranslation7

MAP OF THE SONG : 7

[BANGTAN BOMB] 'MAP OF THE SONG : 7' Behind the Scenes

'We are Bulletproof : the Eternal' MV

Character design by Studio Pivote

The animated MV references the sets and outfits the boys had in previous MVs and for some performances

The MV was made by Studio Pivote who also did IU’s “eight(에잇)” (post #1, #2, #3), the special film for the BT21 x Baby Shark collab (post #1, #2), and the  LINE FRIENDS HOLLYWOOD video (portfolio)

방탄생파 (Bangtan birthday party)

Teaser

Behind Photo

In the first part, the members reenact their first birthday party

CLOSING CEREMONY

English translation: BTS trans

BTS 2021 Festa →

[kpoprunsmylifenow]

ATEEZ Masterlist

Best Friend!Ateez ~ You get attacked by some sasaengs the same night you were supposed to have movie night. You cancel on them last minute and they all are whiny about it. They text you and ask why you won’t come and try and bribe you into coming over. Seonghwa finds out why you aren’t coming and tells the guys. Pissed and furious, Seonghwa convinces them that they should stay home while he goes to see you.

So Grateful for your Boys ~ You'd just broken up with your cheating ex boyfriend when you see him again at a party. The boys proceed to help you get over it and cheer you up while they're at it.

Series: Prince!AU

Seonghwa Part 2

Hongjoong 

Yunho 

Yeosang 

San 

Mingi 

Wooyoung 

Jongho

Soulmate!AU

Seonghwa 

Hongjoong 

Yunho 

Yeosang 

San 

Mingi 

Wooyoung 

Jongho

❀ ✿ ❁ ✾ ✽ ❃ ❋ Seonghwa ❀ ✿ ❁ ✾ ✽ ❃ ❋

Oneshots

I’ll Be Home Soon ~ Seonghwa decided that he wasn’t going to go explore the city today, but he was going to talk to you.

Management Sucks ~ You had a meeting with their management and he told you something you never thought you'd hear ever, you had to break up with him.

Blind for Your Love ~ Seonghwa really, truly is blind.

Blurbs

“I’m scared” “Please hold me”

“We’re not even dating” “Then maybe we should start” “I missed your dumb smile”

“You’re cute when your angry” “Yeah, well I’m about to be real adorable”

13, 18, 25

Stop picking me up when we fight! It’s not fair! 

You are supposed to put the wine in the food, not drink it.

You think you can beat a woman in her own game?

 I do see the appeal in wanting to start a fight with her, but you do realize she would absolutely destroy you.

“Ew, you stink. Go take a shower” “Only if you shower with me”

“I’m coming over.”

“aww no kiss for me?”

“I’m not good enough for you.” “You deserve so much better.”

“Just pretend to be my date.” “This is, by far, the dumbest thing you’ve ever done.”

“Are you still awake…?” “I had a nightmare about you and I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

Social Media AU

Badboy!au

❀ ✿ ❁ ✾ ✽ ❃ ❋ Hongjoong ❀ ✿ ❁ ✾ ✽ ❃ ❋

Oneshots

Warm Tones or Cool Tones

~ You decide to paint Hongjoong’s fingernail cause it was chipping and he had a performance coming up.

I Love You Mrs. Kim

~ It’s your wedding and Hongjoong pulls out all the stops for your vows.

Take a Break Please

~ You're at Hongjoong's studio but he won't take a break.

Pain or Painless?

~  Who knew having a soulmate would hurt.

Blurbs

“I crave affection” “I only want you to cuddle me!”

2,6,26

“I can’t believe you” “Ew, you stink. Go take a shower” “Only if you shower with me”

I really want to talk to you. And not through the door.

Why are you sleeping underneath my bed?

“I made a mistake.” “It’s never too late to get back up again.”

“Aren’t you just adorable?” “I’m not short.”

“Don’t think I didn’t notice you staring at me.” “I can be your blanket.”

“Were you ever going to tell me?” “I am not losing you again!”

Social Media AU

Soft bf!au

❀ ✿ ❁ ✾ ✽ ❃ ❋ Yunho ❀ ✿ ❁ ✾ ✽ ❃ ❋

Oneshots

Bear ~ Lazy day with Yunho.

Birthday Boy Vlive ~ It's Yunho's birthday and you decide to surprise him by watching his vlive.

Safe and Sound ~ When nightmares hit you, Yunho shows you that he’ll always be there.

Blurbs

 “You’re an asshole” “Because you love me”

“We’re best friends, so of course this was going to be disastrous”

Let me explain human feelings to you. 

Truth is that most of us don’t exist anymore.

The only time I’ve seen you smile was when s/he’s smiling.

“True love is when you bully each other, but you know, it’s in a funny romcom way”

“When you love someone, you don’t just stop. Ever. Even when people roll their eyes or call you crazy… even then. Especially then!”

Social Media AU

Soft bf!au

❀ ✿ ❁ ✾ ✽ ❃ ❋ Yeosang❀ ✿ ❁ ✾ ✽ ❃ ❋

Oneshots

Surprise ~ Yeosang’s S/O surprises him while on tour because he missed her a lot.

Why Did I Fall for the Bad Boy  ~ You should've known better than to fall for the bad boy and resident player. But it was a bet that started it all.

The Best Apologies ~ Your friends helped you so much after that mess with Yeosang at prom. But when one of them starts to push you to talk to Yeosang, you cave.

After Late Night Practice ~ It was Yeosang's first time staying the night at your house.

How the Hell? ~ It was only clothes!

Ruined Surprises ~ Accidentally walking in, you saw something you probably shouldn’t have.

Blurbs

“What- what are you doing? Why are you winking?” “I need a hug”

“I’m too cute to resist” “Don’t give me that look”

“Your hand is so sweaty.” “Deal with it, we are holding hands.” 

You need to pay the kiss toll. Are they really worth starting a war for?

“Where are my morning kisses?!”

Social Media AU

Soft bf!au

❀ ✿ ❁ ✾ ✽ ❃ ❋ San ❀ ✿ ❁ ✾ ✽ ❃ ❋

Oneshots

My Two Boys ~ You’re babysitting your younger brother which ruined your plans of having a date with your boyfriend. Your bf doesn’t mind and says that he’ll help you watch him. Your brother ends up loving him and won’t let him go.

Cheer Up Buttercup ~ an gives you some encouragement before take an exam and then he comes and visits.

Surprise Surprise ~ You decide to surprise San at one of their fansigns.

A Birthday Surprise ~ You're parents didn't agree with your relationship with your bad boy boyfriend but you didn't care, he treated you like a queen. And today is your birthday and he has a surprise for you.

The Grey One ~ This was your first night staying with your boyfriend.

Blurbs

“This is probably going to end up with us in jail”

“Be my fake boyfriend/girlfriend/partner!”

“Ew, I wouldn’t date any of you. Except maybe (name)” “My lap is the best seat here”

Sorry, I had to move away so I won’t punch you. 

Are you sure you want me as an assistant? You know I have problem holding in my options and snarky comments, right?

“Let’s not stoop down to his level!” “No, you’re right, let’s go one under it.” 

“I’m going to take care of you, okay?” “Look at me—just breathe, okay?”

“I don’t care what they said, it doesn’t mean shit!”

“I know it’s 3 in the morning, but I can’t find my cat.”

Social Media AU

Soft San and Stressed Reader

Badboy!au

❀ ✿ ❁ ✾ ✽ ❃ ❋ Mingi ❀ ✿ ❁ ✾ ✽ ❃ ❋

Oneshots

I Miss You When You’re Gone ~ You're having a tough time at uni and Mingi's on tour. You'd facetime every once and a while, but you'd always end up doing some homework. When you'd miss him the most, your roommate would catch you crying. Suddenly your phone is going off with a facetime call. You answered and hid your face, knowing that he'd see that you were crying. He asks about your day and you decide to tell him how much you'd been struggling cause you miss him. He says he misses you too and that he has a surprise for you and that it'd be there in a couple of days.

It’s Okay to be Sad Sometimes ~ You hadn't left you bed all day, but Mingi and the guys knew how to cheer you up.

Bad Boy and the Bad Girl ~ No one knew you were a bad girl. So when you start to have issues with your brother, what happens when your brother’s friend Mingi is there to help you?

Late Nights ~ Mingi always came by your house after he got into fights.

Thanksgiving Cookies ~ Who allowed Mingi in the kitchen?

Blurbs

“Will you marry me?”

You can keep pretending that it didn’t happen and keep avoiding me, but I can’ do it anymore.

“None of this is your fault.” “I know it hurts.”

You need to pay the kiss toll.

My butt is not a drum, dude.

Stop picking me up when we fight! It’s not fair! 

“Are you still awake…?” “You’re safe now. I’ve got you.”

“Let’s move in together.”

“When I picture myself happy… It’s with you.”

“I’m not going to stop poking you until you give me some attention.”

“I could kiss you right now!”

“I’m not jealous.”

Social Media AU

❀ ✿ ❁ ✾ ✽ ❃ ❋Coming Soon❀ ✿ ❁ ✾ ✽ ❃ ❋

❀ ✿ ❁ ✾ ✽ ❃ ❋ Wooyoung ❀ ✿ ❁ ✾ ✽ ❃ ❋

Oneshots

Protective ~ You get hurt during a fight and Wooyoung is there.

After Tour ~ Wooyoung comes home from tour and cuddles pursue. 

Meet My Best Friend ~ Wooyoung wants you to meet his best friend who’s had a crush on him for a long time.

Stood Up ~ All you were doing was trying to finish your project with Hongjoong, but Wooyoung just wouldn't leave you alone. So what happens when you fall for the bad boy when you're also the bad girl?

It was always You ~ After so many lies, you didn’t even know what to believe anymore.

It was always You Pt. 2 ~ After Wooyoung wouldn’t leave you alone, you decided to let him explain.

Blurbs

29 +41 +62 +90

“Wait, you love me?! People don’t even like me!” “Maybe I’ll consider it, if you give me another kiss”

“We are getting a divorce.”  “I do think you need to marry me before you can do that.”

You can’t dirty talk your way out of this!

Cute Woo blurb

“Can I live with you guys?”

Social Media AU

❀ ✿ ❁ ✾ ✽ ❃ ❋Coming Soon❀ ✿ ❁ ✾ ✽ ❃ ❋

❀ ✿ ❁ ✾ ✽ ❃ ❋ Jongho ❀ ✿ ❁ ✾ ✽ ❃ ❋

Oneshots

My Lovely Guy ~ Y/N boyfriend goes to another school but they’ve been dating for a while but their friends have never met him before. So they take them with to one of their BF’s games and they finally meet him. They meet his friends and they all end up hanging out afterwards.

I’m Sorry Guys ~ You were always insecure about your status with your  best friend, and his girlfriend made sure that you left him alone.

Pick Me Up  ~ Part 2 to I’m Sorry Guys

Vacation ~ You’re on vacation with Jongho and the boys, but he just wants a day to have you all to himself.

Science ~ You honestly didn’t know what to expect when Jongho came home, but it wasn’t this.

Blurbs

“Newsflash asshole! I’ve been in love with you the entire goddamn time!”

“I need a hug” “You’re so warm”

25, 26, 27

Mornings Spent with Jongho

Social Media AU

❀ ✿ ❁ ✾ ✽ ❃ ❋Coming Soon❀ ✿ ❁ ✾ ✽ ❃ ❋

[dregstrash]

gilded crowns (pt. 6)

A/N: Me? Updating my fics? Unbelievable. But here’s part 6! Thanks for reading as always! 

Part 1  ||  Part 2  ||  Part 3  ||  Part 4  ||  Part 5

Description: Prince Kaz of Ketterdam has been subject of much mystery and speculation, but that doesn’t stop his brother, King Jordie, to arrange a marriage to Princess Inej of Suli. Neither party are happy with the arrangement. Kaz has other ideas and if he can drive Inej away, he can get back to the plans that’ll silence the demons that plague his dreams. Of course, what happens when she proves to be as stubborn as he is?

Tagging: @birdskullsandboats @lavehl @hysteriaas @definitely-not-procrastianting @fromferfer @lupine-teddy @ifangirlninja @spell-cleaver @s-artsnstuff @locksandbobbypins @friendo-nintendo @thatonefangirl-mrc @readmeaway @looking-for-wisdom @terrywho-cartoons @mykitchenisonfire151 @ysitsohardtofindaname @timeinhereyes @stormwitch-zoya @spvcexpeachvs 

- 

“Do my eyes deceive me or is this a wedding invitation?” Jesper’s brassy voice trampled any thoughts that Kaz was mulling over, and he didn’t hesitate to shoot his friend a glare. Jesper wore his grin much like his clothes, haphazardly and entirely too open. He held out a cream colored piece of parchment that had been sent out a week ago. 

The Zemeni didn’t have a monarchy, but they still had a council and was governed by the general public. Both Jordie and Kaz had to learn about the different types of governance throughout the world, and had to know the corresponding terms that belonged to each. So while the Zemeni didn’t have a king, they did have chancellors, and Jesper happened to be the son of the High Chancellor herself. 

The first time Kaz had seen the lanky boy, he had been twelve and Jesper’s mother had just been elected. Her and her husband had decided to take a tour around the neighboring kingdoms to assure no changes would be done with their treaties. At first, Kaz had been unsure about the boy who seemed to smile and talk far too much. He was a system of movements that seemed independent of one another, and while it was intriguing. Kaz also found it incredibly annoying. It wasn’t until he, Jordie, and Jesper took a trip to the armory that Kaz had decided to befriend the Zemeni boy. He did beat Jordie in a shooting contest, and any chance to knock his brother’s ego off its high horse was a good starting point to any friendship.

“You’re early.” Kaz stated as he watched his friend make himself at home in his study by pouring himself a drink and flopping down on his couch.

“Mother has some other business to discuss with your brother.” Jesper shrugged and taking a long drink, “And Da decided that he finally had time to examine the farming techniques of the Kerch or whatever.”

“Your mother still lets your dad run Jurda farms? Isn’t that slumming a little?”

“It’s not so much as letting him, as giving him a break from council meetings. He’s always hated the attention.”

“A trait that you don’t share, apparently.” 

Jesper threw Kaz a wink, “Would be a shame to put these good looks to waste, don’t you think?”

“Why don’t you save it for someone who actually cares.” Kaz shot back. 

Jesper just chuckled, and Kaz logged the reaction as a confirmation to Jesper’s changing feelings. He’s always known that Jesper had harbored some feelings towards him, but Kaz had never done anything about it. Besides the fact that he had always seen Jesper as a brother, Kaz wasn’t built for the kind of relationship that his friend was craving. The night he broke his leg was plenty of proof of that. Kaz had always thanked whatever saints were present that someone else had shown up at the right time to divert the affection. 

“Speaking of someone who actually cares.” Jesper drawled while also getting up from his horizontal position to sit. He threw his legs out and tapped his glass with nervous fingers. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen a shy, anxious, chemist running around, would you?”

Kaz rolled his eyes, “I’m not Wylan’s keeper. And you know better to ask me that.”

“Yeah, well, I figured I could hit two birds with one stone, I get to know about Wylan and also transition to the real reason I’m here.”

Kaz had a clue as to what Jesper wanted, but he still said, “Spit it out.”

“The Princess of Suli.” Jesper said his smirk reaching his eyes, “Do tell me all those sordid details.”

“It’s an arranged marriage, Jesper. How sordid can it be?”

“You forget I know the princess, dear Kazzie,” Jesper intentionally said the nickname that should have ended with Jordie, “And she’s not just beautiful, but accomplished, smart, determined, kind--”

“I know.” Kaz didn’t need the rundown. He notices Inej too much as it is, he didn’t need the comprehensive list. “But this is all just a means to an end.”

“I’m glad that all these years haven’t taken the cryptic out of you. Any chance you’re going to elaborate?”

Kaz hesitated as he weighed the cost of telling Jesper his plans. Nikolai had sent him a missive two days ago saying that they were close to uncovering the Dime Lions. Thus far, they’ve only given him the name of the gang leader: Pekka Rollins. It wasn’t much, but it was something.

It was enough for Kaz to find out that he used to be a stonemason on the small nation of the Wandering Isle. He had moved to Kerch almost twelve years ago. He ran gambling halls and whorehouses and leased his thugs out to powerful men. This could include the person who had ordered the assassination of his parents. 

He’d need more information though. It wasn’t enough to rely on a king who sometimes moonlights as a privateer. He needed an ear on the ground, and as Kaz looked at Jesper, an idea came to him. 

“You still play the tables, don’t you?” Kaz said casually. 

Jesper scratched a spot behind his ear, suddenly sheepish, “Um...sometimes.” 

“By sometimes you mean you try not to get caught?” 

“My parents have made it clear that if they catch even one card in my hand, I’d be shipped to the Shu for university, so no I don’t get caught.” Jesper said his glass was empty but he rolled it in between his palms.

“How about a job then?” Kaz said slowly. 

“A job?”

“Yes. One where you get some credit every night, and you get to play in some of the best gambling halls Ketterdam has to offer?” 

Jesper’s eyebrows raised in shock. And he couldn’t blame his reaction. He knew that his friend had gotten into his fair share of trouble over nights of endless “just one more hand”s, but he couldn’t think about that now. Jesper wasn’t going to change unless he wanted to, so it seemed like a wasted opportunity to not use that to his advantage. 

“Let me get this straight,” Jesper got up from the couch and started to pace, “You’re offering to give me money so I can play cards up and down the gambling district?”

“I’m offering to give you money, so you can play and listen to conversations and tell me what you hear.”

If he had looked shocked before, it didn’t hold a candle to the expression he had on now.

Kaz got up from behind his desk and moved to the drink cart, “I’m getting close, Jes. I’m getting close to figuring out who had ordered my parents’ death. And I need someone to get me information. I can’t trust anyone at the Crow Club and I don’t trust any of the guards to not tell my brother about this. Jordie can’t know. Will you do it?”

He turned around to face Jesper, and he saw him sift through the risks. It wasn’t just the playing in less-than-reputable gambling houses, Jesper would also be risking his parents finding out or that someone might recognize him, or losing to the wrong people. But then again, Jesper always had a taste of the wild and dangerous, it had benefitted Kaz on more than one occasion. And he felt Jesper’s agreement even when he said, “What do I get out of it, Prince Kazzie?”

“Besides my silence regarding the trouble you got into the last time you were in the Crow Club? I’ll tell you where Wylan is.” 

Mischief danced in his gray eyes, “I can always trust you to deliver the vinegar before the honey, can’t I? Okay, fine. I’ll do it.”

Kaz nodded once, “Start tonight. I need anything you can find out about the Dime Lions and Pekka Rollins, but don’t be stupid about it.”

“When have I ever?” 

“I’m serious, Jes.”

“Don’t tell me you’re actually worried about me?” There was that smirk again.

“I’m worried about the excuses I’d have to make to your parents and my brother if you’re taken hostage or dead in a ditch. So be careful, Jesper. I’ll have Anika and Pim escort you. Meet them at the Crow Club.” 

“Nothing says safe better than bouncers.” Jesper rolled his eyes and began making his way to the door, but Kaz noted the tension in his shoulders, the danger of this assignment settling into his spine.

Kaz went back to his desk, his drink in hand, while Jesper raised an eyebrow at him.

Kaz sighed, “Wylan’s hiding out in the music hall. I suggest you hurry. His father thinks he’s at university right now.”

-

As soon as Jesper eagerly left his study to go bother someone else, Kaz waited a few more minutes before saying, “I can feel your questions burning a hole through that wall, Princess. Speak your mind.”

He sat back in his chair as he heard the secret door open off to his left and Inej materialized in front of him with a stony expression on her face.

“How did you know I was there?”

Kaz shrugged. Call it a sixth sense or intuition, but Kaz had always been finely attuned to the feeling of being watched, and since Inej walked through this world like a spirit, he had to more or less rely on that. 

“You sent Jesper out to a gambling hall.” Inej stated, her eyes as sharp as the dagger sheathed at her waist. She was dressed in dark trousers and a tunic today. An attire made for battle than a palace. 

“I sent him out to several.” 

“And you know about the scandal he had caused because of his taste for cards?” 

Kaz did know about that. He was the one who had bailed him out. With the added benefit of Jesper owing him a favor. 

“Is there a point to his inquiry?” Kaz said instead.

“You sent him out to find information for you even at the risk of ruining his reputation and the reputation of his country?”

“Jesper doesn’t need my help in ruining his reputation. He does it fine by himself.”

Inej studied Kaz for a long while. Her rich brown eyes, analyzing his face as if there was some secret there that she longed to pull out. He stayed perfectly still under her scrutiny. He wouldn’t be intimidated by her. He wouldn’t let her infuriating righteousness distract him from his goal. 

“How long have you been looking for your parents’ muderer?”

There it is. He knew that the question had to come eventually, especially since she seemed to have heard his entire conversation with Jesper. 

“Since the day I had found my parents dead.” Kaz said simply. The rest of the story was on the tip of his tongue, but he held back. Those memories had already plagued his nights, he didn’t need that darkness to seep into his days either. 

“Why don’t you want your brother to know you’re still looking for them?” 

“Because he’d tell me to give it up. Jordie has always been the better man, so he was able to let it go. To move on. I won’t. I can’t.”

Inej was silent again, but he noticed a shift in her eyes. They went from scrutinizing to sympathetic and he hated the comfort he found there.

“Revenge is a dagger that you hold over your own heart, prince.” Inej said.

“I have no interest to hear your Suli proverbs, princess.” Kaz snapped. “If you have nothing else to berate me for, or if you insist on lecturing me on a pain you don’t understand than I invite you to leave.”

Inej’s jaw ticked, and the sympathy in her eyes disappeared. She stalked closer to his desk, and Kaz felt his own anger spark with hers. 

“You will never know anything about my pain, prince. I had to suffer a kidnapping, two years in hiding with a circus, and no way to contact my parents. You have no right to say anything about my pain.”

Kaz knew the story. The princess of Suli had been taken, but no ransomed place. They said that slavers were responsible for it. His brother had tightened their security when the news had reached them. And the rumors were rampant about the fate of the princess. Some had said that she had died. Or that she was sold to a pleasure house on the shores of Shu. Or that she still lived. It had come to a great relief when she had turned up back to her home, dirtied, half-starved, but alive. 

His parents had been dead for two years, and he had been floating on his own delusions to really have time to put out his own conjectures. While Inej studied him, Kaz took his time reading the emotions behind her eyes. There was annoyance, disdain, and more importantly anger. Anger was understandable. Anger was easy. Anger still meant that she cared. And that was worth everything.

“Tell me, princess, given the chance, if you could look at those slavers in the eye as you drive that knife into their hearts. Would you do it?” 

Her hesitation was all the answer he needed. 

“Revenge may be my undoing, but not before I take down the demon that created me.” Inej didn’t say anything, and Kaz felt something else move between them. Something other than contempt and disdain. It came close to understanding, maybe that’s why he offered something to her. “You have certain skills I can use, Princess. Skills that’ll bring our engagement and my goals closer to the end. If you help me, I can help you.” 

They hung suspended in silence. Caught in a battle of wills that neither was used to losing. 

Eventually, Inej took a step back. Her face suddenly unreadable.

“Can you guarantee that you can find them? The slavers that took me?”

“No.” Kaz said bluntly. “I can’t guarantee them, but you seem the type to still have hope in the impossible. Now, what do you say, dear fiancee? Help me, help you?”

[eerythingisshaka]

Will the Bell Ring? Pt. 3

(Erik Killmonger x Black!OC)

Part 1 Part 2

Kimara pays the barista for her green tea and goes across the street to the studio.  This week has been a hectic one for her since she’s been working with Peter Gafflin, an alternative rock artist who is on the come up since his EP dropped last year.  Kimara was owed a favor from the owner of the studio, Rick, after Erik helped get him some new equipment from a group that trashed the place after a drug fueled mosh pit they formed to add ambiance to their album.  Suffice to say, they would not be returning to record any time soon.

When she enters the studio, Rick is there playing in his grey locs nervously.

“Kimmy!  Good to see you 15 minutes past showtime, I really appreciate it.”  He smiles, dimples still displaying powerfully under is grey beard.

She shrugs.  “You know I have a process, Ricky Kanicky!  It all works out in the end, thanks for the hookup on this gig.  Are they waiting on me?”

Rick holds out his arm to escort her to the back.  “Nah, I stalled them with some mic check mumbo jumbo, so at least their warmed up properly.  You need some time in the booth before we start?”

She shakes her head as he opens the door.  A gust of patchouli hits her senses.  Peter Gafflin and his gang were warming up in a way much different than how Rick described.

“Rick!  Thank God, I was ready to call the police, you were gone for like three hours man!”  Peter’s rough Carolinian accent boomed as he walked wistfully over to you two in his holely jeans and cowboy boots with his fringed black leather jacket and matching wide brimmed hat.

“No, I just had to go get some extra talent to guide our recording session along.  This is Kimara, she’s the third part to our banging backup we keep on hand for artists.”

Peter towers over her at 6’7, but humbly bends to kiss your hand like a prince.  “To God be the glory for creating women and music.  Put them together and I’m a happy Papa, you know what I’m saying?!”  He ribs Rick before clapping thunderously to liven his group.  “Aight y’all!  Look alive.   Dave get your Fender, Bill get your wide ass behind them drums, everybody take your places!”

Kimara goes over to the mics with her other singers.  “Wassup Brenda?  Tara?”

They roll their eyes at you before mumbling their hellos.  You put your headphones on to get ready for the track to play, not studdin them today.  They were the fourth pair this year to work for Rick and the studio.  They all get inspired to be solo artists or get too wrapped up in the artist of the day and think they can keep up with a touring schedule to only come out of it broke with no plan B, and pregnant.  

Singing has always been her dream to do, and any capacity in which Kimara can fulfill that, is one she is willing to go for.  It’s her escape, her home away from home, it’s her church, especially when the artist has some good stuff to work with.  Kimara hadn’t gotten as in depth with Peter’s discography as she usually does with artist’s before a recording session because her mind could not focus lately.  Trying to have a baby has been on her mind 24/7 and Erik filling her mind with hope and then trying to tell her to chill made her crazy.  Did he want a baby as bad as she did?  Kimara didn’t think so anymore.

She shakes her head and takes a few deep breaths before looking over the music with the girls.  Brenda catches her up on the tempo of the song and little points in which Peter wanted them to blow.  Southern singers couldn’t deny the power of a good Black gospel when they needed it.

Peter certainly is no exception.  He places his hands in front of his mouth in prayer before raising them up to the sky, bringing them down with shaky fists.

“Now THAT is a climax if I ever heard one.  What did I tell you Rick?  Music and women, the best sounds on this Earth come from both.”  Peter smiles pointing victoriously at the three of them before taking his place at his mic.  “I’m ready ladies, let’s record this thing!”

After a few dry rehearsals, time came to record.  Kimara gives a thumbs up to Rick as he queues up the track to play in your ears.   The song isn’t bad, kind of bluesy and it’s about a love misunderstood.   Peter plays a man who is trying to convince his lover out of depression, using the analogy of being in shark infested waters.  His lover finds the water and waves so beautiful she jumps from the boat and dives in after he protests over and over.  He is subjected to watch as the sharks circle around her, he reaches out to her the whole time reminding her that he is there and to take his hand.  He can’t tell if her face is wet from the ocean or from tears but she is smiling all the same and it frustrates him to see the danger looming but she isn’t phased.  

The song ends ambiguously but Kimara can’t stop her emotions from spilling over and affecting her vocals a little bit.  Rick notices immediately and cuts the session short, popping into the booth.  

“Hey Kimara, you alright?”  He asks in a fatherly manner.  

All she can do is nod and wipe her eyes as she wishes she was anywhere but there.  Being late is unprofessional enough, but costing an artist studio time, she might as well hang it up now.  Peter comes over to Kimara, waving at Rick.  “We’re fine, just give us a minute.”  He dips his height down to look her in her eyes.  “You alright there, ma’am?”

Kimara nods shrugging.  “The song is just that good I guess.”

Peter shakes his head.  “No, it isn’t.  My buddy Ralph helped me to write it, I’ve been wondering about the composition of it since, but when he died in a car crash a couple months ago, I haven’t been able to nail this thing down.  He’d know exactly what it needs, but he ain’t here to tell it.”

“I’m sorry for your loss Peter.”  Kimara says apologetically.

Peter smiles.  “I didn’t kill him, so all’s good!  I want you to sing a little something on the track for me, just you, to kind of hear how it sounds.  Don’t worry about my notes, just do what feels good to you.”

Peter motions to Rick as he walks Kimara over to his mic, setting the headphones over her ears.  Kimara feels nervous instantly, not knowing what to do with the spotlight being on her, this has never happened to her before.  

But as the track plays, she sings the lyrics from her heart.  They were pretty simple and easy to memorize so when she closed her eyes and flowed with the track, she began to feel that familiar emotion again, accept this time she honed it as best as she could.  She knew where her inspiration came from, it was undeniable, but why did he bring the sadness out so easily?  Before she knew, the song was done and when she opened her eyes, Peter was on one knee with his hands out.

“You see me right now?  This is what you just did to me, an old bachelor crooner ready to lay down it all for your hand.  Are you betrothed my dear?”

Kimara laughs as she takes off her headphones, stepping back.  “None of your business, because you are too wild for me anyway!”  

Peter gets up pointing at Rick.  “You hiding treasures from me, you greedy bastard!  This girl ain’t a back up, she’s a star in the making!”

Kimara felt hot, trying her best to appear humble, but this man has a way with words that made her completely big headed.  “It’s nothing.  I don’t have the time for that right now.  I’m focusing on my personal life.”

Peter smiles but appears disappointed.  “Girl the places you can go.  I hope you have someone in your life to remind you of your-your QUEENLY-ness!  I wouldn’t leave the house without you by my side.”

Kimara shakes her head.  “Well luckily I do have someone.   He’s….pretty great I think.”

Peter pulls his glasses down the bridge of his nose.  “Well until that ‘think’ turns into a ‘know’ keep me in mind.”

Kimara cackles pushing him away.  “You have some nerve.  Get back to your spot so we can make this album and go home!”  

They share a laugh but before Kimara goes back to her mark she turns to him.  “Peter, I did wonder though, with the song:  Does the lady ever take your hand?  Gets out?”

Peter smiles weakly shaking his head.  “Nah, never does.  Cuz I pushed her in.”

Nine Years Ago

Kimara sits on the couch with a movie playing in the background but she isn’t really looking at it.  Her eyes have glazed over the moving images on her screen and the sounds are similar to being underwater.  There is too much happening in her mind at the moment to even be bothered with the world around her.  

Kimara hangs her head clutching her knees as she thinks back to a couple months ago, when Erik was there.  She had left her part time job at the music college and cautiously pulled up to her house when an ominous figure sat on her front doorstep.  Her keys tucked between her knuckles and 911 ready to just hit dial, she steps out the car.  

“Whatchu want?!”  She bellows, bringing the bass out her voice as much as possible.  His head hung low enough that the front door light couldn’t catch his features, face masked in the darkness.  

She hears him chuckle.  “The hell you barkin at?”  He lifts his head up to look at her.

Kimara’s heart dropped in her stomach at the sound of his voice.  Covering her mouth, she drops her keys to the concrete, overcome with emotion.  He wasn’t supposed to be there, practically considered him dead.  Erik gets up, hugging her tightly.  “I told you I was gonna be aight.  I told you.”

Kimara gasps for breath.  “No!  You ain’t told me though!”  She punches his chest for emphasis.  

Erik pulls her away to lift her face toward his, wiping her eyes.  “I like a surprise, what can I say.”

Kimara sniffles her snot bubbles, stepping back.  “This is so damn embarrassing.  How can you act so cool right now.  I’m a mess, and you put on so much damn weight, like, the fuck!”

Erik opens his jack to look down at himself.  “Well damn!  You still know how to talk crazy to somebody.”

She laughs.  “No, like, look at you!  You got so damn….BIG, like….”  Kimara holds his jacket apart a bit to run her hands down his chest.  

Erik bites his lip nodding.  “Now that’s more like it.”

“Shut up!  I’m just in awe!  You weren’t scrawny for real but not nearly this buff!  What kind of undershirt you got on, you feel bumpy.”  Kimara puls at the collar of his shirt, but Erik swipes her hand away.  

“Uh uh, you gotta earn the show.  Cash upfront.”  Erik jokes, putting his hands in his pockets.  “You look good too, real….real good.  Gettin them squats in huh?”  Erik stands on his toes to look around her backside but Kimara steps sideways.  

“Here you go!  Go on!  I don’t see you for two years and you drop yourself here for what?  Are you back for good?”  Kimara picks her keys up, going to her front door to open it.

“I’m just here to talk, hang out.  I needed a place to lay my head, so I figured I could get two birds with one stone.”  Erik walks in behind her, closing the door.  

Kimara takes off her jacket and sets her bag down.  “That’s fine.  You welcome here.  You gotta tell me how things went!  I know you went to Japan at first, but I didn’t get a letter from you after that, I got kind of worried…”

Erik told Kimara about his time in Japan; he was only there a few weeks before he was selected for Special Ops training, which gave him the physique.  Most of the rest of his missions were confidential, but the orders he was given were implied.  

When he showed his scars and the meaning behind them, Kimara just about lost it.

“How can you mark yourself up like that?!  The memories aren’t enough to live with?  You have to see them on yourself everyday you look in the mirror?”

“Might as well!  I see it when I wake up, when I sleep!  In a way, this is therapy for me, makes me feel like what I did wasn’t for nothing!”

Kimara paces the floor agitated beyond compare.  “Why would you hurt yourself like that?  Haven’t you been through enough to make these permanent changes to yourself?  I still can’t believe the day you signed up for that damn program.  The details were shaky at best.  But the Navy was more important to you than what I thought.”

Erik scoffs.  “This wasn’t about you to begin with.  We didn’t have anything to fight for.  You’re my friend, I had plenty of those.  You think you’re the only one that told me to fall back from it?  Huh?  This gave me purpose, it gave me a vision for my future, something I ain’t had EVER.”

Kimara looked at Erik with disgust.  “You’re a damn dumbass.”

Erik cocked an eyebrow.  “You better be glad I know you like that, I don't let anybody talk to me like that no more.”

Kimara stands her ground with him.  He really forgot who she was.  “I ain't scared of you Erik! You forget that I've known you for years now, I'm not just somebody off the street! I've seen you stressed out for exams, I've seen you dealing with people giving you a hard time for being on scholarship, hell US cuz we Black and they didn't believe us! I get that every year on your father's death date, you get extra distant but you let me in to your little rituals to honor him.  That Wakandan chant you'd do? I still know it by heart, hell I said it for you!”

Erik looked at Kimara angrily but not because she was wrong.  “Stop talkin bout that shit.”

Kimara steps to him.  “What you think you hard now?  You think you got everyone figured out, you so damn smart??  But you won’t even let yourself FEEL shit no more, is that what your big plan is?  Shooting people up and taking their things, like that’s ever worked for anybody.”

Erik snarls.  “Except it has, and I have no problem sending it right back to people.”

Kimara points to the door.  “Get the fuck outta my house Erik.  I didn’t ask for this bullshit in my face.”

Erik turns his chin up at her. “So you done with me now?  Now is when you wanna throw me out?  I knew you wasn’t worried about me anyway.”  As Erik turned away, Kimara pushes his back to get him to the door quicker.

“You fucking bastard!  I wasted my fucking time thinking about you!  You can’t get outta your own damn head to realize who cares about you!”

Erik reaches for the doorknob, standing there a moment listening to her wail.  

“You could’ve been great here with me!  I don’t give a damn how tough you think you are, you aren’t this.”

Kimara grows weak from yelling, crumpling to the floor sobbing.  Erik crouches down to her quicker than he meant to.  It was instinctual more than anything.  “Come on now…”

She holds her hands up.  “No!  You don’t get it.  Whatever those people told you over there isn’t true.  You aren’t more of a man for doing this shit, for scarring yourself up, for not caring.  You’re not human!  You’re not yourself!”

Erik freezes when she says this, something finally clicked in him with what she said.  Erik apologizes softly, but Kimara was tired.  Tired of crying, tired of fighting, she just wanted her friend, she wanted to be happy and for him to be safe and happy too.  Erik just held her in his arms, allowing himself to feel like she kept reminding him to.  It hurt worse than getting the scars did and when he broke, Kimara was glad.  Looking into his face she finally saw the Erik she always knew, the one that she wanted so much from.  The world didn’t trample his soul that day, or any day for the next few weeks following.

Kimara allowed Erik in her heart, something she always fought with herself over because they were such good friends and Erik wasn’t the first person she would assume wanting to settle down.  But when he looked at her it seemed so genuine, so pure she couldn’t help but fall into him.  And that's what she was kicking herself over on that couch a month later, sore and opening a bottle of pills.

Present Day

When Kimara left the studio, she tried calling Erik but didn’t get an answer.   Instead she got a generic text saying he would call her later, in a meeting.

She rolls her eyes and decides to go check on his cousin at the community center.  He’s helped Erik through a whole helluva lot of bullshit before so maybe he could listen to hers.

The state of the art facility was amazing to see given what it used to be.  Old apartments where crime and drugs ran rampant, now it looked like something you would see downtown in the upscale neighborhoods.  

When she got inside, it didn’t take long for her to find T’Challa, crouched and talking to a small child standing next to their mother.  The child gives him a hug, which he took genuinely and that’s when he sees Kimara.

“Janae, I will see you next week to work on your long division, ok?”  He points to her, thanking her mother at the same time before heading over to Kimara.

“Hello!  How are you?”  He says to Kimara warmly.

Kimara bounces on her toes.  “I’m good T’Challa, you?”  They share a church hug.  Kimara is so happy she can call T’Challa family, without him, Erik wouldn’t even be there.

T’Challa sighs heavily, putting his hands behind his back.  “I’ve been better.  I’ve been drowning in chamomile tea and crackers to settle my stomach.  American alcohol is horrendous.”

Kimara laughs.  “Oh yeah, Erik took you out on the town.  Did you have fun at least?”

T’Challa half shrugs, smirking.  “It was successful for what the goal was.  I met with a young lady there and we may have hit it off.  I haven’t contacted her about it yet.”

Kimara’s jaw drops.  “Whaaat?  You playin with women’s heart now T?  I never thought of you as the type.”

T’Challa stutters a bit to find his words.  “It wasn’t really….well, Erik just wanted to cheer me up for me and Nakia not being on the best of terms, so-”

“Yeah, that’s how he was in college.  One girl doesn’t stop his show.”  Kimara rests her hand on the back of her neck, playing with her curls knotting at the nape.

T’Challa looks away, visibly uncomfortable.  “But I do intend to call her back, I just don’t want to appear too eager and things.”

Kimara pokes her bottom lip out, bucking her round brown eyes at him.  “Aww, now don’t go soft on account of me.  I know how guys are, so lemme stop asking about your love life.  However, if it ever becomes official, feel free to invite her to hang with us.  We can make a double date of it.”

T’Challa nods, smiling humbly.  “Of course, that would be delightful.  I am glad you stopped by actually, I imagine you’re looking for this anyway.”  T’Challa turns on his heels, the tails of his jacket picking up with a flourishing wave as he clicks down the hallway.

Kimara follows behind him confused.  “What are you talking about?”

Walking down the halls decorated with projects and works tagged with an ‘A+’ or 100% mark whizzed past them as they approached his office.  Opening the doors to his office, his footsteps muffle against the lush carpet to retrieve something out of his desk.

He pulls out a burlap pouch to hand to Kimara proudly.  “There.  Erik is pretty eager to get started on that regimen so you guys can….have at it!”  T’Challa gestures awkwardly shaking his hands about in front of him.

Kimara screws her face up looking from T’Challa to the bag.  “But I still don’t….OH!  He actually asked you about some erectile, baby juice making bull from you?”

T’Challa’s eyes widen.  “You and him never stray much from details, eh?”

Kimara opens the drawstring of the bag.  “I’m sorry, I just don’t….what is the shit, T?”  Kimara pulls out dried leaves and herbs from the pouch.

T’Challa tuts at her.  “Aye aye, put it back!  He is supposed to boil some water and put that in a cup and drink it.  It’s just a mix of common teas and spices, more of a placebo than a real cure.”

Kimara sighs, closing the bag up and placing a hand on her hip.  “So I guess Erik really does wanna have this baby.”  She murmur to herself.

T’Challa comes around the front of the desk, leaning against it.  “Were you having second thoughts?”

She shakes her head fervently.  “No, I want to be a mother more than anything right now which….may be part of our problem.  I’m forgetting how to be his partner.  We got into a bit of a thing when he had his appointment today.  He keeps saying I should slow down with the baby making regimen, and I thought for a second he wasn’t taking things seriously.”

T’Challa gives an empathetic glance, crossing his arms thoughtfully.  “Excuse me in advance if I’m getting too personal but Erik has told me only a few things, so I’m not unaware.  But I know that Erik has your interests in his heart.  He knows this is important to you and it is equally important to him.  However, he doesn’t do well with rules and regulation.  He likes to make things happen and if it works great, if not, move on to something new.  And maybe this is his way of moving on to a new method.  But it sounds like he wants to take pressure off of you,  like with this herbal method.”

Kimara looks at the bag in her hand, feeling herself relax as she held onto it tightly.  “I think you’re right.  He’s been getting on my nerves with it but I think he’s just trying to show he cares.”

T’Challa nods.  “He does, I’m certain of it.”

Kimara gives T’Challa a grateful hug.  “Thank you so much!  I’m gonna take this to him.  Thanks for your help, I knew I would get what I needed coming to you.”

T’Challa gives her a soft pat on the back before breaking the embrace.  “Anytime.  You guys are a great pair, he’s lucky to have you.”

“You too.  He’s come so far because of...because of you.  So even though these are dud teas, it may make things a little more hopeful, who knows.”

T’Challa clutches his chest, looking hurt.  “Dud teas?  I will tell you those are delicious and very relaxing, if nothing else!  Fresh import from Wakandan gardens of the royal palace-”

Kimara yawns.  “Yeah yeah, I gotta go home now.  Tell Shuri I said hello, and if Nakia give you any trouble…”  Kimara boxes the air with weak punches.

T’Challa walks her out giving final goodbyes before making her way home to the man of her life.  

Walking into their place, Kimara finds Erik sitting on the couch playing 2K.  

“I’m home!”  Kimara calls out, kicking off her shoes and jacket.  Erik presses a combination of buttons on his controller, grunting as he misses his shot at the basket over and over, losing to the computer.

Kimara climbs over the back of the couch, laying her calves over his chest, warming his neck with her serried thighs.  “Erik…”  she whines.

Erik remains unconcerned with her presence.  “Come on, I’m almost done with this quarter, don’t fuck it up.”

Kimara plays with his head, pushing it side to side before resting her breasts on top of him.  “Are you still mad at me?”  

“When did I say I was mad at you?  I thought you were mad at me?”  Erik says, still focused on the game until a loud buzzer makes Kimara jump and Erik tosses the controller on the table in defeat.  

“I’m not mad, I was just...upset and assuming shit.”  Kimara says softly, massaging his scalp.  She feels his shoulders relax under her legs as he strokes them.

“So what problems you tryna work through still?”  Erik says deadpan.

“None!  We don’t have any.”  Kimara says sweetly, feeling hands along his face to scratch his beard.  “T’Challa gave me his little love potion stuff…”  She dangles the bag in front of his face.

Erik takes it, staring at it in his hands.  “Aight, just let me know what time you want me to take this and I’ll be on the way to the bedroom.”

Kimara swings her leg around to slide beside him holding on to his arm.  “Erik, you ain’t gotta worry about that!”

Erik looks so tired, looking at Kimara wearily.  “I don’t wanna be a reason you feel like you can’t get pregnant.  I know you think I’m being childish sometimes but I want a kid just like you.  This ain’t been good for us though, how we doin it.”

“I know,”  Kimara says, resting her chin on his shoulder.  

“And soon as those results from the lab come back, we can talk about other shit, but right now, I got you and I’m good with that.”

Kimara’s heart pounds in her chest, what a lovely man he can be.  “You’re the fucking sweetest.”

“So don’t be looking at your phone in bed with that tracker, don’t just fuck me without tryna be sexy about it, and don’t down my manhood in the heat of your anger.”

Kimara rubs his chest.  “That was bad of me.”

“Damn right it was.  Cuz that ain’t no fucking problem.”

Kimara shakes her head.  “Never.”

“I know faking, and THAT ain’t it.”

“It’s impossible for me to fake THAT.”  Kimara says, knowing exactly what he’s talking about.

“So as a man and as your man, lemme take care of what I gotta do on my own terms.  You just keep being cute and fine and smart as you always acting.”

Kimara lays her head across his lap looking up at him.  “Never an act babe, I’m all those things and more.  Including hungry.”

Erik plays in her wild fro with one hand, the other resting at the base of her throat.  “What am I supposed to do about that?  You ain’t got hands to dial delivery?”

“Erik!  I know you got something in that kitchen, I smelt in soon as I walked in.”

“Yeah, for ME.  This a every man for himself house, Ma, you know that.”

“Pleeeease.”  Kimara widens her eyes a bit for good measure.

Erik smirks.  “You better quit all that for I poke your eye out.”

Kimara scoffs, smacking his stomach as she gets up to look in the oven and pull out a brown paper bag with two containers of penne pasta slathered in marinara meat sauce and melty cheese with the crispy crunchy bread she loves so much.

“You were gonna eat two by yourself, huh?”  Kimara quips.

“I can eat a lot more than that, so don’t try me.”  Erik calls across the room.

Kimara gets her serving out and practically skips back to the couch to enjoy and watch Erik play his game.  Except he still had it on pause.  

“So you couldn’t bring mine back witchu?”  He asks, voice raising an octave.

Kimara slurps up a stray string of cheese off her fork.  “Erik, seriously?  I just got in!”

Erik kisses his teeth.  “Ok, lemme have a bite of yours.”

“Uh uh!  Get your lazy self up and get your own!”  Kimara kicks her feet up at him, scarfing another bite.

Erik doesn’t take no for an answer, pushing her legs to one side pinning her.  “Gimme some!”

“No!  You’re gonna make me drop it!”  Kimara squeals, barely holding onto the aluminum container.

Erik just opens his mouth open coming closer and closer to her face.  “You gonna spit on me, close your mouth!”  

Erik guides his mouth to her fork and she hesitantly puts it in his mouth.  He dramatically pauses to savor the flavor, chewing slowly.  “Mm!  Damn that’s good.”

Kimara rolls her eyes.  “Can you get off me now?”

Erik nods, swallowing.  “Yeah, just lemme have some bread and-”

“NIGGA IF YOU DON’T GO!”  Kimara squirming under him.  

Erik takes the container from her hand setting it on the table.  “Chill I gotta digest now.”  Erik proceeds to open her legs up laying his head against her chest, snuggling in her womanly comforts.  Kimara is lowkey seething when all she wants is some damn dinner, but in reality it had been a while since they had been this playful with each other.  Putting her needs aside, she takes the time to enjoy his weight on her, his heartbeat on her stomach, the warmth in between her.  

“Sing me somethin.”  He mumbles in her titties.  

That night and every night following for the next two weeks were grand.  Kimara hadn’t felt that kind of love for Erik in a length of time she would be embarrassed to admit.  It felt like they were dating all over again and she would’ve loved for that to have stayed that way, but then his results came back and her worries erupted all over again.

Part 4

Masterlist

Ragtag

@chaneajoyyy @sarcastic-sunshines @muse-of-mbaku@dameshaemonique  @fonville-designs @destinio1@bakarisangel @wakanda-inspired @klaine15689 @savageiz @nickidub718 @yoyolovesbucky

[randxmthxughts]

MASTERLIST (UPDATED)

Shawn Mendes imagines/one-shots: (fluff - *, angst - ^, somewhat smut - (s.))

Lost luggage * - Shawn gets very upset over losing his suitcase and you find out that there is a bigger reason for his distress. 

Aaliyah’s birthday * - Overprotective but extra-cute Shawn on his sister’s birthday.

Dirty mouth * - You get stuck in the janitor’s cabinet with the biggest asshole in the school, Shawn Mendes, and discover that he is actually not that bad.

It’s cute or whatever * -  Y/N and Shawn being extra-mushy and cheesy with each other makes Geoff feel lonely, so they decide to set him up with someone.

Flight to Toronto * - When Y/N gets asked to switch her seat on the plane to Toronto, she finds out that her new seat is next to famous singer Shawn Mendes.

Appreciate yourself ^* - Shawn finds out that Y/N is very insecure about her body.

Daddy issues ^ - Shawn witnesses your fight with your dad and when it takes a bad turn, Shawn cannot help but gets involved.

Giving it a chance * - You cancel your date to go and support you best friend!Shawn whom you always liked, and the night turns out to be very interesting.

You won’t die, honey * - Shawn takes you on a date to an ice skating rink even though you cannot skate.

Do you have a question for me? * - Shawn asks Y/N on a date during one of his q&a sessions, even though he sees her for the first time.

When you’re ready * - Shawn gathers all of his family and friends, including you to celebrate new album, and you find out that you’re more than a friend to him.

Stay ^ - After not seeing and talking to Y/N for months since the break up Shawn wakes up to her in his bedroom.

You were always right ^ - one-sided love relationships between you and Shawn has been eating away at you, but you still comfort him when he is heartbroken

Distant *^ - you feel out of place while touring with Shawn.

Day with Aaliyah * - Shawn gets jealous of you and Aaliyah spending so much time together.

Play night (s.) - you show up to Shawn’s “play night” in a lingerie, but it turns out he has guests over.

I want that D (s.) - after being teased by Geoff you make an erotic comment, making everybody uncomfortable 

Are you pregnant * - having a conversation about future while cuddling in bed.

Try my best * - meeting Shawn for the first time at a wedding.

- What did your mom say? - She called me an idiot ^* - having an argument with Shawn right in front of his family.

It will get better, I promise ^ - you have a hard time living in another country with Shawn.

Are we actually dancing to Charlie on a Sunday morning in the gym? * - you try to lift up Shawn’s mood by dancing in the gym while he works out.

You’re so clingy right now * - Shawn keeps distracting you from the homework.

Do I smell jealousy? * - Shawn gets jealous because of your love towards famous actor.

A huge surprise * - surprising Shawn after he comes home from touring.

I don’t want to hurt you ^ - opening up to Shawn about your anxiety.

You got a tattoo? ^* - Shawn gets mad when he finds out you got a tattoo... of him.

So are we having a baby right now? ^* (s.) - Shawn finds your birth control pills.

At the end of the day, it’s MY song ^* - Shawn gets mad when you don’t let him to release his song about you.

I’m not mad, I’m furious ^* - having an argument with very jealous Shawn.

We’re keeping it * - as you feel sick during the road trip, Shawn holds your hand the whole time.

Babe, you’re bleeding ^* - Shawn cuts his hand while playing.

Shawn Mendes blurbs:

No Reason to Cry - you were feeling down lately and Shawn noticed it right away.

Binary star - Shawn buys Y/N a star for their anniversary. 

Jar of Pickles - After having a fight with you, Shawn decides to make up by tightening up the jar of pickles.

I’m pregnant - You and Shawn go to his parents house to tell them you’re pregnant, afraid of their possible reactions.

Distraction -  Shawn is having an important conversation over the phone with his manager but Y/N is a quite distraction to him.

Small hands - Y/N and her best friend!Shawn have funny conversation about her hands after smoking weed together.

Sleepy boy - cuddling with Shawn on the couch late in the night, listening to his silly mumbling, as he falls asleep in your lap.

Fuck yourself, Shawn Mendes -  Shawn gets turned on by your angriness after you two have a massive fight.

Love? Certainly, love - how being in love with Shawn feels like.

I told you she’s a treasure - you amaze Shawn and his family with your bilingualism.

Gryffindor - getting annoyed with Shawn Hogwarts conversations you call him a Hufflepuff 

You smell like peaches - cuddling in bed, while Shawn tells you how good you smell.

You don’t wear lipstick because of me? - Shawn finds out why you haven’t been wearing lipstick anymore.

Parenting with Shawn - Shawn sings a lullaby to put your baby to sleep.

You are soft, Shawn - explaining Shawn what ‘soft’ means.

Have you been reading tweets this whole time? - you stay up late with Shawn to read tweets about IMB

Shawn Mendes series:

  The Royal Engagement - Prince!Shawn AU, you have to sacrifice your freedom to marry the prince and save your country, but his heart is already taken by someone else. - masterlist/cover, pt 1, 

Back to you (in process) - you go back to your family house and rediscover your friendship with Shawn, who is visiting his family too - pt 1

Girl like a curse (fic 8K) - how weird it is to fall for your professor’s daughter? who is also in toxic relationships?

Love Actually (finished) - masterlist/cover, pt 1, pt  2, pt 3, pt 4, pt 5, pt 6

First (finished) - three parts of you meeting, getting to know and going on a date with Shawn. | all parts here

Unsteady (series | in process) - spending most of your days in the hospital you meet Shawn who is going through the same sufferings as you. | pt. 1

Time flies (finished) - Shawn finds out he has a four-year-old son, all parts here

Writing week masterlist

[revancheofthecommas]

Yearbooks from the 70s, pt. 2

I found my mom’s yearbooks from 1978 (her Junior year) and 1979 (her Senior year) and they are fascinating to say the least, in part because she grew up in a small, backwoods town.

I’m going to share some of the best life goals from the Senior classes (1979):

“To make the most of whatever I get in life (and to see the ocean).

To be happy and never feel alone.

To become a successful lawyer and to be happy with my life.

To be an art therapist.

To go to college in Conn., last through law school, to be successful and happy.

To get my diploma and get out of this town for good.

To publish stories.

To become a model.

To marry Fran, finish school, go on and become a cosmetologist.

To find Nirvana, transcend restrictive materialistic views and to complete search for truth on a small 5,000 acre ranch in Texas.

To be a great artist, breed bricks of gold, learn electricity.

To own a Porsche, make it through college.

To be wealthy and someday visit Europe.

To live in the Rocky Mountains.

To be an environmental scientist, or work in a similar field.

To retire.

To make it through at least another year of school, to become something better.

Marine biologist, life long and happy.

Not necessarily to be “successful,” but just happy.

To be well-off and have fun.

To own a van, get married, travel, be a handyman, get more friends.

To get as far away from this town as possible.

To be able to speak many different languages.

To live life slowly and to its fullest.

To become a successful computer programmer.

To be a rock drummer.

To be a professional firefighter after a career in the Air Force and to succeed to my own standard of life.

To become an Elementary Physical Education teacher, to be happy and enjoy life.

To live happily in a house of my own.

To be happy, own a riding stable, work at a race track.

To get out of school, but go to college.

To own my own store.

To go to school and live in Florida, to quit smoking.

Happiness.

To pursue a career in business and to share my life with someone special.

To master the art of patience, to marry Mel, to smile always.

To live forever or die trying.

To be a plumber.

To take in as much good music as I can and meet as many people as I can before my time is through.

To be happy, live in a log cabin.

To go to college and learn everything about special education that I can.

Undecided.

To have money, a good job, and a happy life.

Auto body technician.

To be a licensed hairdresser and cosmetician.

To be a millionaire.

Graduate from college, never get married.

To understand the unknown.

To make it through and come out on top.

To play Pro soccer.

To enjoy.

To be a nurse, to life life to its fullest.

To be happy in whatever I do, to play in the PGA tour.

Not sure at the moment.

Elementary education, to become rich!

To get out of the Navy, fast, and own a cattle ranch.

To be a mechanic, to be my own boss.

To find true meaning in life, to be free, to own a house on a lake.

To sell decorative bathroom fixtures.

To achieve some of those hopes and dreams that are locked deep inside.

To own a Jaguar XJ-S that will beat a turbo carrera.

To find it.

To own a Mercedes before Sam, have many adventures.

To make it in music, to be happy, to be a friend to anyone who needs one.

Logger, big house.

To work with handicapped children, especially the blind and deaf.

Not only to achieve what is expected of myself by others, but also the goals of my inner self.

To teach art, to be rich.

To gain 40 pounds.

To be myself and nothing more.

To live a hassle-free life and return as a mushroom.

To cease my personal war and have serenity within myself.

To be a music therapist.

To become President of General Motors.

Flight Engineer, Pilot, Parachutist, Air Traffic Control.

To surround my life with Theatre, and let it take me wherever it may.

To build a high performance car.

To own a used car lot.

To become a person, and lead my life right.

To be happy, own a Corvette, live in a log cabin.

To conquer the world’s greatest fears with a smile ... To pursue my musical career as a pianist enough so Liberace can finally retire!

Master Electrician.

To be married on schedule in July and to start my own Humane Shelter someday.

Electronics Technician or related occupations.

To be a Polish Prince.

To be able to return back to my home.

Go to plenty of concerts, get a Trans Am.

To see the whole U.S.A., to teach Special Ed.

To visit Ireland, to have a family, to be happy.

To work with children, to enjoy life and living.

[moonwaif]

Snow Over Insomnia: ch. 2

Pairings: Gladnis, promptis

Theme: snowed in

Summary:

Once a year, Shiva blesses Insomnia with snowfall. This year's snow day finds four friends in transition. There's Noctis, who's trying his best to enjoy freshman year. With his best friend Prompto enrolled at a different college, it hasn't been easy. When a particularly controversial lecture puts Noctis on the spot, he says some things he regrets. Can he make amends before their friendship freezes over?

Meanwhile, there's Gladiolus, who's finding it increasingly difficult to deny his feelings for coworker and friend Ignis Scientia. The appearance of a mysterious figure from Ignis's past might just be the sign that it's time to come clean. Will Gladio make a move, or will he let the opportunity melt away?

PT. III: 15:45 hours    

Noctis could tell his uncle was back the second he got off the elevator; the muffled music vibrating through the hall announced his presence. He gave the door a light push, already knowing what he’d find within: Ardyn draped over the couch, wearing a long, raggy house coat and drinking wine straight from the bottle. His head lolled back against the arm of the coach, eyes closed and oblivious to his nephew’s arrival.

Noctis walked straight to stereo and punched the “off” button. The sudden silence roused Ardyn from his stupor.

“Well, well. If it isn’t my dearest nephew!”

Noctis slung his backpack from his shoulders. “I’m your only nephew. How long you staying this time?”

“A few days, a few weeks - who knows.” He took a long drink from the bottle, swallowing with a grimace. “This last tour left me feeling particularly uninspired. I need time to re-channel my creative energies. Where better to do just that than Insomnia, my home?”

Normally Noctis liked having his uncle around. It didn’t happen extremely often. Ardyn was usually in the hospital or on tour with his band. On the occasions that he did pop in for a visit, it always felt like having an eccentric older brother slash next-door neighbor. It also meant putting up with his uncle’s neediness and extravagance.

Today, Noctis wasn’t really in the mood.

“Can’t you rechannel in your own apartment?” he groused.

“That’s not very neighborly of you, Noct.”

Noctis ignored him, heading toward the kitchen. He pulled a soda out of the fridge and gulped down such a large mouthful that his chest burned.

It was no coincidence that Ardyn and Noctis were neighbors. In fact, it was the only reason Regis had allowed Noctis to move out of the palace in the first place - well, that and the fact that Iggy had agreed to be Noct’s roommate. With the entire apartment building belonging to Ardyn and security guards posted around every corner, it was hard for Noctis to get up to much trouble without the Citadel hearing about it.

He took another drink of soda.

“Sorry,” he muttered gruffly. “Long day. Lots of classes.”

“Oh yes; I forget, you’re a ‘college boy’ now. Are you enjoying my alma mater?”

“I guess.”

“I hope they’re teaching you children to be good, obedient little civilians. What do they have you majoring in, anyway?

An image of Ignis at the podium flashed across Noct’s vision. “Political science,” he ground out.

“How dreadful. Still, you’re better off than I was. To think, back then I actually intended to become a doctor. Laughable.” The bottle sloshed noisily. “By the way, when does that little chef friend of yours get home? I'm famished."

Noct's jaw tightened. He returned to the living room, plopping into an armchair across from the couch. He glanced at his uncle, dismayed to see the heavy bags under his eyes, the sallow complexion of his cheeks.

“Should you really be drinking during a flare-up?” he asked, eyes flickering toward the half-empty bottle.

Ardyn laughed drily. “If you’re going to act like my doctor, I hope you don’t plan on sending me a bill.”

“Uncle.”

“I’m fine,” he said pointedly. “They call it chronic it for a reason, Noct; none of this can kill me.”

Noctis frowned, but held his tongue. His uncle’s condition had been a touchy subject as far back as he could remember. In fact, all the Lucis Caelums tended to be tight-lipped about the health issues that plagued their line. After all, it wouldn’t do for the public to see the royal family as feeble or sickly, not when kings needed to be virile and strong. Even Ardyn, who turned a middle finger up at most courtly conventions, rarely commented on his own health in public.

Noctis didn't want to think about it.

“Anyway…” Ardyn rolled over onto his side, propping himself up on his elbow. “It’s obvious something’s troubling you. Spill the beans.”

Before Noctis could even attempt to answer, his phone rang. He answered immediately.

“Dude, I just saw your text! What happened?”

Noctis felt his shoulders relax. “Hey, Prom.”

He could hear raucous laughter on the other end of the line. Something clattered loudly in the background.

“Sounds like there’s a party going on over there,” Noctis noted, smiling.

Prompto laughed nervously. “Oh, y-yeah. Sorry about that. We’re at the karaoke. My buddy Dino Ghiranze’s birthday.”

Ghiranze? As in, the "Ghiranzenator"?

Noct's smile fell.

“Kind of early for a birthday party, isn’t it?” he asked, shifting in his chair. He could feel Ardyn watching him closely.

“Yeah, well, they’re just hanging out here until the clubs open, then everyone’s going bar hopping.”

“Heh. You, uh, never mentioned you had other plans.” Noctis scratched his ear, struggling to find the right words. “You gonna join them?”

“Of course not! We’re getting snowed in at your place, remember?”

“Yeah, but...it sounds kinda fun. We could go too, if you want.”

‘And, I don’t know, maybe you could actually introduce me to some of your other friends for a change,’ he thought to himself.

“No way!” Prompto exclaimed quickly - too quickly. “And miss up on the opportunity to kick your ass at King’s Night? Hello no, I’ve been looking forward to that all week! Besides, you hate going out, and the weather is supposed to be total shit. That's a no for me. But dude, back to your text. I wanna know what happened with Iggy! You sounded pissed off.”

Noctis sighed. He let his head fall back against the chair.

“It was just really weird. He started talking about this anti-monarchy stuff in class today for no reason, but he never really -”

“WHAT? Sorry can you say all that again, I didn’t hear you!”

“He started talking about anti-monarchy stuff,” Noctis repeated loudly. Ardyn snickered.

“What?! Dude, that IS weird.”

“I know, right?! I wish you would’ve been there Prom. It was like he was actually trying to defend these guys -”

“Yeah. Uh-huh. Look, dude, give me a sec, I’m on the phone.”

A muffled voice was yammering on in the background. Noct's lips thinned. He wondered if it was Dino.

“Sorry about that Noct!” Prompto shouted, returning to the phone. “But yeah, that definitely sounds wild. Did you talk to Iggy about it yet?”

“I mean, I asked him a few questions in class,” Noctis admitted, trying not to sound as annoyed as he felt. “He just dodged it all with some academic mumbo jumbo.”

“Really?" Prompto sounded doubtful. "That doesn’t sound like Ignis. He’s like, the most thoughtful guy I know. I don’t think he’d say something without having a good reason for it. Plus, he works for the Citadel, so...maybe he's just trying to teach you guys -”

A burst of laughter exploded in the background, drowning out the end of Prompto’s sentence. Noctis’s grip tightened around the phone.

“Teach us what?” he demanded. “That people who’d like to waste thousands of lives and destroy all of our infrastructure in a civil war should get an equal say?”

“Noct, you know that’s not what I - Six, Selphie, can you watch where you’re swinging that thing?! Look, just hang on a sec, I’m still on the phone...Noct. Hey, Noct, can you still hear me?” He was practically bellowing now, voice raised over a roaring chorus of ‘For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.’

Noctis didn’t answer.

“Look, Noct, I just think you gotta try to see it from Iggy’s point of view! He’s probably just, I don’t know, trying to broaden your horizons or something! Dude, stop, I told you stop swinging -”

For the second time that day, something in Noctis snapped.

“Are you kidding me?" He leapt to his feet, too indignant to stay still. "He was talking about radical terrorists who’d like see me and my family dead. Don’t you realize how fucked up that is? I can’t believe you’re actually taking his side!”

“Easy, Noct,” Ardyn murmured. “You’ll disturb the neighbors if you keep shouting.”

“Noct, I’m not taking anyone side!” Prompto’s tone was pleading. “I just think that Iggy -”

“Forget it. My uncle’s here, I gotta go.”

“Noct -”

“Enjoy the party.”

He hung up and threw the phone down on the coffee table.

“My, my. What a temper! Is that really what’s got you so worked up?”

Ardyn’s smile was sardonic, but his gaze was surprisingly tender. Noctis didn't answer. He was too busy already regretting his outburst.

“People have despised those who rule since time immemorial, Noctis. You shouldn’t let it trouble you.”

“You don’t get it.” Noct's voice was raspy with anger and frustration. “I had to defend our family by myself, in front of the entire class. And they just  laughed  about it like my life is some kind of joke.”

"What life? To them, you’re the prince, not a human being. You exist to serve  the people, or did you forget, your majesty?”

The last words were spoken softly, almost pityingly. Noctis clenched his fists.

“But Ignis and Prompto aren’t ‘the people.’”

Ardyn raised himself from the couch, emitting a single, brittle laugh. “True friends are hard to come by for men of no consequence such as you and I, Noct,” he said, strolling over and resting a hand on his shoulder. “I’m afraid that’s something you’ll learn in time.”

The hand fell away, leaving Noct weary and cold. Ardyn strode to the door. “Call me when dinner’s ready.”

Noct listened to the creak open, then thud shut. A few seconds later came the ding of the elevator as it whisked Ardyn away to his penthouse suite. He suddenly realized he’d been sweating. He ran a hand across his forehead, glancing at his phone on the coffee table. Part of him hoped that it would vibrate with another call from Prompto.

It didn’t.

It was then that Noctis remembered. He hadn't asked Prompto about the presentation.

PT. IV: 16:10 hours  

The only thing worse than having a crush on your best friend was having a crush on your coworker. The only thing worse than that was a nosy little sister who knew about it.

“What’s wrong with you?” Iris demanded, interrupting what had up til then been a mostly silent car ride. “I’ve been playing Catoblepunk ever since we hit this traffic jam, and you haven’t complained once!”

“Sorry,” Gladio muttered, glancing in the side mirror. “Just got a lot of stuff on my mind.”

“Stuff on your mind, huh?” Iris flashed him a devilish grin. “Stuff like Ignis?”

It was a good thing the car wasn’t moving, because Gladio’s foot slammed so hard against the brake pedal that it definitely would have caused a pile-up.

“Not funny, Iris!”

“Sorry, sorry.” She snickered behind her hand, not sounding sorry at all. “Looks like I was right though, huh?”

Gladio made a low, grumbling sound. She was kind of right. He hadn’t been thinking about Ignis exactly. Instead, he'd been thinking about Ravus. The prince had been heading in the same direction as Ignis’s office when they’d ran into each other at the department. In fact, if he kept going he’d walk right by it. He wouldn’t have gone back to talk to Ignis, right? Not after that awkward exchange they’d all been forced to experience. But even if he did, Ignis would be able to hold his own.

Wouldn't he?

Iris patted his arm soothingly.

“Aw, Gladdy. You got it bad, don’t you?”

“Iris, I swear to -”

“Just tell him how you feel!”

“It’s not that simple." He had to raise his voice over his sister's trash playlist. “We’re colleagues, Iris.”

“So?”

“So, it wouldn’t be professional. Besides…” His hands tightened around the steering wheel. “Iggy’s my friend. I don’t wanna mess that up.”

“Maybe it wouldn’t mess it up, though. Maybe you’d sweep him off his feet and live happily ever after!”

A vision of a rosy-cheeked Ignis pressed against his chest rose to Gladio’s mind. The car felt suddenly claustrophobic. He cracked a window.

“Seriously, I don’t get you!” Iris crossed her arms with a pouty frown. “Normally, you’re so gross and flirty it’s embarrassing! What happened to all that confidence?”

“Because it’s not just anyone, Iris!” His voice was practically a roar inside the SUV. “It’s Ignis Fucking Scientia!” He broke off with an exasperated sigh. “Look, I’d really prefer not to talk about this kind of thing with you, okay? Save the gossip for your little girly friends.”

“Hmph. Fine. But roll your window down some more. Your gym bag stinks!”

“Roll your own window down!”

“It’s too cold!’

Gladio lowered the driver’s side window.

“You sure can be annoying.”

She jerked her head in his direction. “What?!”

Thankfully, Gladio’s phone chose that moment to ping. He snatched it up from the ashtray.

“Hang on, just got a text.”

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to text and drive? Let me see it.”

Not wanting to set a bad example, Gladio unlocked the phone and handed it over.

“Don’t open the message yet,” he cautioned. “Just tell me who it’s from first.”

“Prompto. Should I open it?”

“...all right.”

“Okay. It says, ‘Just got off the phone with Noct. Sounded upset. My phone is dying by the way.’”

Gladio heaved a sigh. “Looks like our precious prince is still throwing a temper tantrum. Tell Prompto not to worry, just let Noct cool down for a while.”

“Okay. Message sent!” Iris returned the phone back to the ashtray. “So Gladdy, what’s going on with Noct? Is everything ok?”

“If you’re so worried about him, go ahead and give him a call,” Gladio suggested innocently. “I’m sure hearing your voice would perk him right on up.”

The tips of her ears were beet red. “Shut up!”

“Oh, I’m sorry; did I strike a nerve?” Gladio chuckled, his own troubles momentarily forgotten. “My bad.”

“You’re such a meanie!”

“Yeah, yeah; I know.”

Iris grumbled something under her breath that Gladio chose to his ignore. His eyes drifted to his phone sitting in the ashtray.

First Ignis and Noctis, then Ignis and Ravus. Whatever was going on with Iggy, Gladio hoped it would all work out soon.

TBC...