#the verses do alright I suppose but the chorus is out of the question. the lyrics are so strong too real gut-punch lines

[ereborne]

Song of the Day: February 17

“DYWTYLM” by Sleep Token

[fortisseto]

Hi, I'm Erin, and I think I Will (from the Bury Me at Makeout Creek album) by Mitski describes act-one Mendel and Trina as well act-two Marvin and Whizzer.

I Will by Mitski, and where Mendel and Marvin meet each other in the middle.

Is this an analysis? I couldn't tell you! Listen to me anyway.

The first verse.

"I will take good care of you

I will take good care of you

Anything you feel is good

If you would only let you"

It's easy to understand that Mendel isn't a good psychiatrist. He avoids the negative and he doesn't like questions, even though facing the negative head-on and being asked what to do is.. literally his job. My newly acquired mutual, @morphean42 , said this in his little analysis thing about the pose they do in March of the Falsettos. See, if you just change the word "evil" to "truth" it's see no truth (Jason, due to his immature perception, but still the least bad out of the others), hear no truth (Marvin, due to his ignorance to the criticisms told to him), speak no truth (Mendel, due to his refusal to speak anything negative, as he claims that if you don't speak of your problems, they're as good as nonexistent), and do no truth (Whizzer, due to his ignorance to his actions having consequences, and you can see that in The Games I Play and You Gotta Die Sometime). If we just change that variable, it's a lot more realistic as "truth" equates to flaw in this situation.

Considering this is mainly about Mendel and Marvin, I'll only be focusing on speak no evil and hear no evil. In my opinion, that's a parallel within itself when you think about how communication is supposed to work: it's input and output, then the cycle repeats in a little ping-pong game. Now applying it to truth in and of itself, when you take two people like Mendel and Marvin and put them in the situations that they're in, you would get an equal amount of ignorance but in different forms of execution. Following? Great!

That being said, I prefer to think about the first verse, second verse, first chorus, and third verse to be mainly Mendel's contribution. And like I said, this is talking about act-one specifically.

Obviously, since taking care of Trina is his job as a psychiatrist, the line "I will take good care of you" doesn't span over much unless you think about Mendel's admiration for Trina. "In just five sessions on my couch, she'll be good as new" and in those five sessions, he confessed his love to her (making references to In Trousers about not being a giant man compared to Marvin who is a giant man, as established in Another Sleepless Night). I've not much else to say about THAT particular line, but please, share your input if you do!

However, in the line "anything you feel is good if you would only let you" comes back to his speak no evil mentality, as observed in Jason's Therapy and A Day in Falsettoland. "Why don't you feel alright for the rest of your life?" and "Everything will be alright, feel alright for the rest of your life," denying any and all possible negativity even if it's the truth of the matter because that's what's convenient. That is a flaw. Yes, Mendel and Trina are happy, but that doesn't make him perfect (he sucks as a psychiatrist but he's great as a husband).

"If you would only let you," would be in regards to just speaking "good," contrary to evil. But in this case, considering "evil" equates to "truth," "good" would equate to a "lie." Anything you feel is good as long as you say you're feeling good, or do something that feels good. For example: laughing. And if you listen to I'm Not a Good Psychiatrist (Falsettoland) and the song prior to that, Mendel tries to make Jason laugh and dance as if that will make things feel better. He later recognises that it obviously doesn't because he (Mendel) doesn't feel better because of the action, but he still keeps up with his speak no evil mentality. God, am I still making sense?

Let's move onto the second verse.

The second verse.

"I will wash your hair at night

And dry it off with care

I will see your body bare

And I still will live here"

Interpreting this is a little tricky from a metaphorical perspective, but let's just talk about the head - or at least my perspective of it in this situation. The head is what carries the consciousness and it is also your crown chakra, so perhaps washing one's hair could equate to listening to their problems, and then drying them would be solving them. We know that Mendel dislikes facing problems head-on (pun unintended), but as a psychiatrist and considering he is madly in love with Trina, he does so in more ways than one regardless of his poor way with accepting/speaking the truth on his plate. Marvin at the Psychiatrist, Jason's Therapy, This Had Better Come to an End, Marvin Hits Trina... Need I go on?

As for seeing one's body bare, being self conscious about one's body, specifically during sex is a big insecurity. It probably was for Trina for a long time before she knew Marvin was gay considering Marvin had continued to be "nauseous before the game (sex)," avoiding sex entirely in the end. Mendel would see her body bare and he would embrace it willingly rather than having to be chased down a block just to look at her that way. You can use The Marriage Proposal as a point of reference, as there are many In Trousers references in The Marriage Proposal. "There's not a man in pants (trousers) who can love you the same as I," referencing how being "in trousers" equates to queerness, and how Mendel doesn't fit that criteria, so he can love her in ways Marvin cannot. "I'm not a giant man, forget that giant man" referencing Another Sleepless Night from In Trousers, where Marvin sings "This bed is too big for one person, I'm big for one person, but this bed is too big for the both of us (iirc)." The bed could be referencing the expectations of straight couples, or perhaps just how Marvin can't love her the way she wishes, as he is too giant (gay) of a man to do so.

Now, the first chorus and the third verse.

The first chorus and the third verse.

I'm choosing to clump these two together because of how closely related they are.

"Stay with me, hold my hand

There's no need to be brave"

"And all the quiet nights you bear

Seal them off with care

No one needs to know they're there

For I will hold them for you"

This is where Marvin and Mendel build a bridge. Now, I think if you tie together the end of the first chorus and the rest of the third verse, it can again describe Mendel's speak no evil mentality as well as his devotion to Trina seen in Marvin Hits Trina and The Marriage Proposal. As the line "there's no need to be brave" means, in this case, "there's nothing for you to be brave about because there is nothing wrong." You can flip this onto the third verse too, as Mendel often talks about NOT acknowledging and talking about the issue to deal with it. "No one needs to know they're there, for I will hold them for you."

Now, let's revisit Marvin and the last line of the first chorus. Hear no evil/hear no truth. As we've discussed, Mendel is parallel to that. So if we put this in the situation of act-two, Unlikely Lovers, instead of saying that exact line, Marvin would tell Whizzer not to say anything that contradicts it because he doesn't want to hear such truth. Marvin deals with the truth he hates by covering his mouth, as Mendel deals with the truth he hates by producing lies. That draws back to what I said about input and output in a conversation. "Just stop it," Marvin will say, and he still has a tendency to interrupt the moment he dislikes the conversational topic of the truth he hates. That's akin to covering one's ears (hear no evil). However, as I said this is building a bridge between Marvin and Mendel, he does fall into the speak no evil mentality with a different perspective. "Let's be scared together. Let's pretend that nothing is awful," just not to hear the truth.

The bridge (?).

"'Cause all I've ever wanted is here

All I've ever wanted

All I want is always you

It's always you"

This can directly reference A Day in Falsettoland where Marvin's "I want it all" turns into "all I want is you." Whizzer becomes what he defines as "it all." He is all he's ever wanted in life from thirteen when he first started dreaming of men in trousers, and in the two years he took changing himself, he found out what his vague statement of "I want it all" truly meant considering he worked on giving up his narcissistic views. "Do you know that all I want is you? Anything you do is alright. Yes, it's alright. Do you know all I want is you?" That's what makes the truth of Whizzer having AIDS so painful, considering Whizzer is all he wants, but you knew that already. I'd say this also directly ties to the pre-chorus/bridge/thing.

The pre-chorus (?).

"We're not out of the tunnel

I bet you, though, there's an end"

This can be used to reference both Whizzer and Marvin's perspective. Marvin, who is trying to be sickly optimistic about Whizzer getting better. Whizzer, who has already accepted his death. The tunnel is AIDS. Marvin perceives the end to be the end of Whizzer's sickness, whilst Whizzer has accepted it as the end of his life.

However, Marvin is stubborn. He will always be stubborn. Especially for Whizzer, as long as it meant he was right in the end (spoiler alert, he isn't).

The final chorus.

"Stay with me, hold my hand

There's no need to be brave

And while you sleep, I'll be scared

So by the time you wake, I'll be brave

I'll be brave

I'll be brave."

Like I said before, the line "there's no need to be brave" can mean "there's nothing for you to be brave about because there is nothing wrong." However, while Whizzer sleeps, being able to pass away at any moment, Marvin is petrified because he knows he has everything to be afraid of. But by the time Whizzer wakes, which could mean literally or it could mean him eventually passing away, Marvin will be brave for him because at the end of the day, you gotta die sometime.

[birthday-of-music]

donna ketsumatsu ga onozomi dai song/mv analysis because mizuki got one too

utc because as before im a little insane!!

alright so the very first thing is. in the game size mv, rui doesnt sing with anyone except miku. in the full version, he sings with nene as well, which is likely because she (other than hatsune literal mind reader miku) understands him the best because shes known him the longest.

so the very first thing is that rui mentions a bouquet of flowers which, in my random interpretation, are supposed represent his feelings and memories with wxs.

“if i reach out to the shadows of memories”

well. junior high rui. this could mean a lot of things, but it stands out to me the same way that a lot of the mv is set on a rooftop, which we can tell based on the view of the city during the chorus. its something like how the past is finally coming back to him now that theyre all going to have to go their seperate ways.

next we see a bunch of notes and photographs.

now, physical photographs like polaroids or the strip in the mv are usually used to bring about a feeling of nostalgia. which is what happens here. nene and tsukasas line is about having had a dream, which represents their desires for something bigger, their dreams to become a singer and a “world future star” respectively. emus line, however, is about “looking back, i see so many smiles”. she and rui, instead of looking to the future, are looking back at the past, and looking at what they have now, because they dont have big dreams like the others. rui talks about the bonds hes made and emu wants people to smile, but they dont have big ambitions like the others do.

then in the chorus, nene and tsukasa sing about putting a name to their dream, while rui asks if such a painful thing (the inevitable end of wxs) can still be considered a dream, as well as saying “i try to tell my heart this is the natural course”.

at this point, rui has his eyes closed, and when he opens them he looks a little bit sadder. the reality that this has to end is something that he wants to avoid, but he knows he cant.

the question “what kind of ending do you want?” could be a question for the rest of wxs, but along with the next line “cant these two thoughts coexist” makes it also a question to himself. those two thoughts being his desire to stay with wxs as it is right now, and the other one being the desire to see the people he cares about achieve their dreams.

in the second verse, he refers to that same bouquet of flowers that he wanted to protect before as “a bunch of crap.” which is likely up to the fact that he cant recognise his own feelings. he doesnt understand that his “selfishness” and hope for his friends can exist together, so he throws away that feeling because he doesnt know hes allowed to feel it.

this time, tsukasa says that love and dreams are real, and this time rui is grateful for the experiences theyve had. this time, he sings with nene and miku, instead of just miku.

in the end, they say they can laugh about this pain when its all over, and rui says hes sure itll be a happy ending, and that their bond cant be broken.

[cowboylikeyouu]

i said i'd relate it to marvel, not just poolverine, right??? great let's go:

anti-hero is so overplayed it's hard to think about it as an actual song with lyrics and not just the radio hit that plays every single fucking time i'm doing the dishes at work lmao, but ever since i first listened to it so many parts just scream tony stark to me, like c'mon. his workaholic ass basically invented "midnights become my afternoon"

but especially both the pre-choruses are sooo tony coded, like yeah sweetie, you most definitely end up in crises. and "I wake up screaming from dreaming one day i'll watch as you're leaving 'cause you got tired of my scheming (for the last time)"?????? can't convince me that wasn't written about pepperony.

alright, moving on: mastermind

that one's hard bc i've seen like 2000 edits to the bridge lmao

"no one wanted to play with me as a little kid / so i've been scheming like a criminal ever since / to make them love me and make it seem effortless / this is the first time i felt the need to confess / and i swear i'm only cryptic and machiavellian 'cause i care"

you could literally apply this to any slightly morally-grey character with childhood trauma ever lmao, but i think the most obvious marvel choice just has to be loki (only talking about the bridge)

with a bit of fantasy the entire thing is kinda cherik coded as well, yeah.

2nd verse is natasha, i'm not gonna elaborate.

i think my fav one is relating the entire thing to wanda in wandavision tho, like she literally is THE mastermind, NOTHING was accidental, it really was ALL her design, she's the "wind in our free flowing sails and the liquor in our cocktails" bc she's literally the entire fucking town, like come ONNNNN

anyway, on to fortnight:

kind of a reach bc this isn't entirely canon but i never said it had to be lolololol:

stony. STONY STONY STONY.

hear me out on this one okay:

pepper & tony broke up at some point prior civil war right? my stony shipping ass likes to imagine that steve and tony had a fuckbuddies-thing going after the breakup, that obviously wasn't just a fuckbuddies thing bc they're in love your honour. this was obviously going on longer than a fortnight, but that doesn't matter, the term fortnight is just metaphorical okay 🙄 anyways, then civil war happens and they obviously "break up" and steve runs away with bucky, and that's where fortnight (the song) is set:

"I was supposed to be sent away But they forgot to come and get me I was a functioning alcoholic 'Til nobody noticed my new aesthetic"

did you really think taylor could open a song with a reference to alcohol abuse without me relating it tony immediately? bc that's basically impossible.

"All of this to say I hope you're okay But you're the reason And no one here's to blame But what about your quiet treason?"

the treason in question? definitely not the whole socovia accords thing, nobody was quiet about that, no, in my little stony headcanon universe the quiet (& much worse) betrayal for tony personally was the fact that steve chose bucky over him. if you like stucky, you can interpret it as him choosing bucky romantically, but you don't really have to.

the chorus doesn't fit into that narrative entirely bc there wasn't any "run into you sometimes" until endgame, but we could just understand this as tony sometimes hearing about steve from someone else who's maybe in contact from him, but never from steve directly.

"your wife waters flowers / i wanna kill her"

more like "your wife (bucky) shepherds goats in wakanda / i wanna kill her" lmao. i personally really don't like stucky, but even if they aren't a thing, it makes sense for tony to be fucking jealous, so yeah. lol.

"All my mornings are Mondays stuck in an endless February I took the miracle move-on drug, the effects were temporary And I love you, it's ruining my life (I love you, it's ruining my life) I touched you for only a fortnight (I touched you) but I touched you"

nothing to explain i think, it just makes fucking sense. tony's love for steve ruined his life during civil war and continues to do so after bc isn't it the fucking worst to be so angry at the person you love so much, while they're not even talking to you??

anyways, yap yap yap they repeat those lines a million times, and then, AND THEN:

"Thought of callin' ya, but you won't pick up 'Nother fortnight lost in America Move to Florida, buy the car you want But it won't start up 'til you touch, touch, touch me Thought of calling ya, but you won't pick up 'Nother fortnight lost in America Move to Florida, buy the car you want But it won't start up 'til I touch, touch, touch you"

i think this is the point where i should remind y'all that this song is feature with post malone and that he sings some earlier lines together with taylor AND that he sings the first part of this outro, like THATS STEVE SINGING BACK AT TONY AHHHHHH.

okay, the "thought of calling ya" is obviously referring to the phone steve gave tony that neither of them ever called, like THE PHONE WORKS BOTH WAYS YOU STUPID ANGRY GAYS.

"'nother fortnight lost in america" *cough* lost in CAPTAIN america *cough* *cough* bottom!steve supremacy *cough* *cough*

"move to florida... etc." aka steve being on the run and tony getting back together with pepper yap yap yap but they won't ever feel really alive unless they touch each other again boo fucking hoo.

hope you're satisfied, this was so fun, literally my favorite activity ever, everyone send me songsssss!!

*cough* poolverine *cough*

[redge]

#LTWTManila [2022.07.16]

Disclaimer: This concert sum-up is written by someone who got lucky to attend the concert because of her best friend-- a Louis Tomlinson fan ♥

The concert was supposed to start at 8:00PM so most if not all of the concert attendees were already at the venue. Every time a crew goes on stage, fans go crazy haha. There was one time when fans went screaming so loud because other fans showed a poster (?) of One Direction. ♥ Around 8:45 or 8:50, the lights went off the first song played. 

1. We Made It

The verse belongs to Louis, but the chorus resonated inside Araneta because everyone was singing along, word per word. It even became louder when Louis shouted, “LET’S HEAR YOU SING!” before the chorus. Truly, Filipino concert goers never disappoint. ♥

2. Drag Me Down

Just the intro of this song and everyone went wild. I am not very familiar with One Direction songs so it was after the concert that I knew that this was a 1D song. 

Louis: “Alright Manila, I want to hear you sing every single word”. 

Louis needed not to say this because everyone really sang every word of all the songs. ALL THE SONGS. (Shoutout to the girl behind us who sang all the songs, even the 1D songs, perfectly. Like if she’ll join the Singing Bee Louis Tomlinson version, she’d definitely nail it haha. Fans are awesome human beings. ♥)

3. Don’t Let It Break Your Heart

Louis talked to us before singing this song and these are some of the things that I remembered / understood 😅:

 “MANILA SCREAM!” 

“I f*ckin’ love the Philippines. Without you guys, this show would not exist so thank you”

and we screamed out loud like crazy haha! I always love that part of the concert when the artist/band would talk to us or tell us to do something and we always deliver. ♥

I LOVE THIS SONG. I am not very familiar with Louis’ songs but prior to this concert, I listened to his songs and this one’s my favourite.  

Life gets hard and it gets messed up When you give so much, but it's not enough When the high's too high, and the low's too low When you love someone and they let you go

Don't you let it kill you Even when it hurts like hell Oh, whatever tears you apart Don't let it break your heart Time takes time to heal it You can't do it by yourself Oh, whatever tears you apart Don't let it break your heart

Such a comfort song. ♥

4. Two of Us

“The day that they took you, I wish it was me instead”

And the crowd goes ☹️☹️☹️ . Louis sang the lyrics as if telling the story and it really matched the tone of the song. 

I also like this song. I like most of his ballads. ♥

5. Always You

I am glad that when concerts were finally allowed in the Philippines, the audience were not restricted to sing along with the artists. There’s a different kind of bliss when the crowd sings in perfect unison to the artists’ songs. 

Louis: “SING!”

Crowd in perfect unison:  I'm wastin' my time When it was *always you, always you

*Shoutout to my bestfriend who pointed at Louis every time she sang the “always you” part. Haha. I love you. Thank you for bringing me to this concert ♥

6. Change

I LOVE THE GUITAR SOLO TOWARDS THE END OF THE SONG. ♥

7. 7

Louis: “Love the f*ckin’ lights Manila!” ♥♥♥

Funny conversation of me and my bestfriend during this song:

Me: Anong kanta ito? J: 7 Me: (iniisip ko baka ang narinig niya ay “pang-ilang kanta ito” kaya inulit ko) Ano ngang kanta? J: 7 Me: (Isa pa. Baka mali lang ako ng rinig) Ano title nung kanta? J: 7 yung title.

But I guess whether the question is “Pang-ilang kanta na ito?” or “Anong title ng kanta?”, my bestfriend’s answer was correct for both questions haha

8. Fearless

Louis giving the limelight to the band ♥ 

9. Only The Brave

I love fan projects. Watching your favourite artist / band on a concert in your country is a gift not every country in the world could experience and fan projects are what fans could give these artists / bands in return.

For this song, our section was given orange stickers to project orange light. From my point of view, I could not clearly see whether we achieved the rainbow lights, but I saw a tweet under the #LTWTManila hashtag and I think it was a success ♥ This is just 1/3 of the fan project prepared by the PH fanbase of Louis. The dedication of the fans to their favourite artists always amazes me. ♥

*after the song*

I think Louis saw our fan project which is why he exclaimed “Manila, one more time, I f*ckin’ love you!” That or he just really loves us. ♥ Earlier, he gave the limelight to the band, this time, he gave credits to the crew. We cheered for them as much as we cheered for Louis because everyone who were part of the show deserves to be recognized. Grateful to everyone who made this show possible. They made many fans happy that night. ♥

10. Habit

Sobrang intense ng sigaw dito sa paligid ko hindi ko alam kung (A) yung best friend ko yung sumigaw na nasa left side ko (B) yung nasa right side ko (C) yung nasa likod ko o (D) lahat sila hahahaha 

11. Copy of a Copy of a Copy

Louis: “Let’s hear you sing, ___” (not sure if that was “Araneta” or “Manila”. Walang subtitle guys huwag niyo akong i-judge please hahaha)

*PH fans in normal volume* Young man, hush your crying, dry your tears away Nothing is original, there's nothing left to say You won't be the first or be the last to bleed Every broken heart as far as your eye can see

*the person behind us, singing along in 80 decibels, full of emotions* "IT'S A COPY OF A COPY OF A COPY!!!"

Big shoutout to the person seated behind us. She was singing along at the top of her lungs the whole night, and sometimes a note higher.  😂

12. Defenceless

13. Beautiful War

I am not sure why but the crowd seemed calmer during this song. Maybe most of us were busy preparing our props for the fan project. Seated sections were given stickers to make their lights either blue or red (depending on the section) while the VIP standing section raised their banner “you are worth fighting for” ♥

That part of the song when a band member sang along with Louis. That duet part was beautiful. ♥ 

14. Little Black Dress

The crowd goes extra crazy when it’s a One Direction song. ♥ 

He said something after the song but I honestly did not understand what he said. 🤣

15. Walls

Cheeseburger. IYKYK. 😆

Encore: Talk before the song:

”Manila, I’ve been waiting to comeback to the Philippines.” ♥

I did a little research and read that the only Southeast Asian countries included in the tour were Indonesia and Philippines. I am truly happy for all the Filipino fans who waited patiently for this concert. ♥ 

16. Through the Dark

Again, the crowd just goes extra crazy when it’s a One Direction song. 😁 *after the song*

Louis loving the ocean of lights. Louis and the band taking a picture with the Filipino crowd (sobrang gulo nila sana may maayos tayong kuha, or video ba yun? haha)

17. Kill My Mind

*before the song*

“Manila let me get a little bit softy for a second.”

I think Louis mentioned the town where he was from saying it was just a small town and expressed his gratitude to his fans, that he will not be there if not for them. ♥

Also, not sure if he was a band member or a crew but someone was celebrating his birthday that night and all Louis needed to do was give us the first note and we all sang “Happy birthday” to... I think his name was Steve? Haha. Happy birthday, Steve! 🎂 (Pero Louis, ang taas po. Pang Lupang Hinirang sa boxing event ni Manny Pacquiao yung key. 😂)

Kill My Mind is the last song and the last of the fan project prepared and one I am most nervous about because I am not sure how to do it 😂 Thankful to the fan beside me because we just copied what she did. Louis saw what we were doing, copied us and did it on stage. Congratulations to Louis Tomlinson PH and all the PH fans for the successful fan projects. ♥

And now, the exciting part:

After the bridge part of Kill My Mind, just before the chorus, Louis went down the stage, the closest the fans on the VIP sections could get to him. That fanservice capped off the night ♥ 

Other things I remember from the concert:

Before the concert, a kind fan gave out  bracelets for free. Thank you so much for your generosity ♥

From the seated section, we could see that the bouncers on the VIP section gave out cups of water. I thought this would be just before the concert but it went on the whole night. It was my first time seeing this on a concert. ♥ 

FANS SINGING ALONG TO TEENAGE DIRTBAG PERFECTLY AFTER THE CONCERT. 

I am not as lucky as most fans because my favourite bands/groups/artist rarely or have never had a concert in the Philippines. So I am really happy when PH fans get to see their favourites for the first time. I am so happy for my bestfriend who finally got to watch Louis in a concert (nagstart lang tayo sa cupsleeve event tapos naging concert na ♥) I hope more fans get to see their favourites in the Philippines. ♥

Thank you, Louis Tomlinson for making me experience the happiness of attending a concert that I longed for so much when the pandemic happened. The pandemic stole this experience to all of us, but we’ll get it back, one show at a time. 😊

[Patron, 116]

[styx1an]

A Chat about Chat

A short fic about how Chat came to be a singular being, written by yours truly. By all means, this isn’t canon, it’s just my interpretation of things.

Word count: 1,863

Fandom: RTGame, Miitopia (NGL I’m a little displeased with how I wrote the ending, but oh well!)

You know, there is this odd sense of irony in knowing how terrified Chat was of Magical John when they aren’t even human nor a singular being in the first place. Wait, so you didn’t know? Of how they became such a being in the first place? (They chuckle.) Then I suppose that means I’ll have to tell you their story. Well then, shall we begin the tale of Chat? (You see the twinkle in their eyes. They must’ve been waiting a while to be able to do this.)

> You nod. You’ve been waiting a while to understand Chat’s origins. Tonight, like many others, belongs to the storyteller.

> You shake your head. No thanks, you think you’re too tired. Dawn shall rise anew soon, and you will not waste your time with tall tales.

(They nod, pleased with your decision.) Then I shall begin to relay their tale.

Our tale begins in the vast lands known as Twitch, a domain that belongs to another, a far crueler being whose tale is for another time. It is a place where one is free to express their opinions and whatnot (as long as it suits the many whims of its Amazonian overlords, of course), and many are versed in the easy to learn, but difficult to master art of gaming. Many such masters have gained a large following, and even if they do not possess such skill, more often than not their humor and charisma paves the way to fame.

One example of the latter would be RTGame, a man of sizable repute. Aside from the frankly ridiculous story of the origin of his moniker, he is also known for doing some… questionable things for the sake of entertainment. There are still tales of his quest in the bathtub along with Gilbert (yes, the very same Gilbert on the quest to defeat The Darker Lord Khadgar!), the night of the Painted Wall’s Communion, the birth of Mr. Compost- But my dear, we are here for one of his lesser-known exploits, one that would change the world as we know it.

> You lean closer to the campfire, watching the storyteller with a renewed interest. Where does the tale lead? Where does it end? You need to know.

> It’s getting even later. You think some rest will be needed before tomorrow’s travels begin. Perhaps the rest of the story can wait another time?

It was a dark and stormy night. The then-Dark Lord Von Karma had just been unleashed upon the land, and I Want Die set along the path of salvation with his fellow party members, Mr. Bean the Warrior, Goofy the Thief, and Mint the Horse. He was pleased with the ease with which they vanquished monsters and saved (literal) faces, but the lack of actual conversation within the party had begun to get to him. Mr. Bean had nothing to offer other than a simple “Bean!” every now and then, and Goofy terrified him with all the “hyuck!” and talks of absolving the world’s many sins. Mint is a horse and therefore cannot participate in a verbal conversation unless you happen to understand what her neighs meant. She also happens to be the most normal member of the party, strangely enough.

Either way, I Want Die longed for a proper conversation.

And God took notice.

It was inevitable. The fourth party member was always going to join, whether he wanted one or not. It shouldn’t be notable in any way whatsoever, yet here I am regaling this tale to you.

It is not how Chat had come to join the party that I wanted to explain, but rather how they came to be.

Do you remember the man I had called RTGame? I hope you had not thought of him as irrelevant to our tale, as he is the patron saint of I Want Die’s adventures. Surely you know of the vast armory that belongs to the party? The various delicacies fed to the team? All his work. Along with his followers’ contributions, of course.

Chat was what he called his followers, the ones who watched his various endeavors as he traveled across the land of Twitch. Oftentimes the crowd would conversate with him (hence their name), offering jokes and sardonic commentary whenever he did anything remotely comedic. Other times, RT would have to tell them off for being such a rowdy bunch- the usual group of thousands could never keep quiet for long.

It happened that Chat witnessed I Want Die’s pilgrimage along with RTGame. They all looked upon him with a jolly sense of humor (after all, their master is well-versed in the art of comedy), some wondering where his travels will bring him. The others who knew how it would all end kept silent at the behest of RTGame. Either way, every single one of them was enjoying the show he had put on for them. 

And came the time to summon the fourth member.

As per usual, RTGame withdrew into his workshop, closing the curtains around him so no curious onlooker could see inside. But that did not stop Chat from yelling their predictions and demands.

“EDGEWORTH” one cried.

Another begged for a certain “End Mii!”

“CHAT CALM DOWN!”

“!uptime”

“69420toesucker just subscribed for 5 months!”

“TURG”

RTGame smiled at them. He wasn’t surprised at all at their reactions, rather it was something he had hoped would happen.

“Alright then Chat,” he said, “here they are!”

His pale, thin hands reached out to open the curtains-

And unveiled a faceless, empty husk of a being. 

Under any other circumstances, Chat would’ve rioted, demanded justice against the irony of sending a faceless doll to retrieve the faces of others. But they had no time.

Almost in an instant, the skies darkened. Clouds swirled up above with vibrant shades of violet, cobalt, magenta. Bright blue lightning strikes a tree and dissolves it into dust. Somewhere distant, something roars. The air feels thick- something magical, something electric is positively buzzing. Magic truly is in the air.

And thunder strikes once again. 

The crowd is gone.

Silence fell. All that is left is the master and the doll, no longer an empty husk.

> You look up to the storyteller, their eyes reflecting the blazing flames. You have a feeling that you know how this ends, but you’d rather have them confirm it first.

> You’re sleepy. As tempting as it is to continue listening to their story, you must admit that the very idea of slumber is even more tantalizing.

RTGame had managed to do exactly what he wanted. Chat’s consciousness, placed inside of a single, physical being. A puppet controlled by a hivemind would not be very easy to control, yes. But the idea intrigued him. And wouldn’t it be better than having a large gaggle of people constantly behind him, watching his every move? It could help I Want Die on his journey too.

So it is settled. It happened that one of the members of his temple had just crafted a rather nice puppet, in case RT needed one. And he did come to use it. It does look a little plain, as both body and head are painted in the same shade of bright white. However, the face was not white like how it was in the beginning, but a disturbingly pitch-black space. No, that’s not the right word.

Rather, it was like a void had formed. That’s also not the right phrase to describe it either, as there were drops of ichor dripping down onto the ground, dissolving the once green grass. But I digress. 

Chat broke the silence that had fallen between them, wailing as a cacophony of noises and emotions spilled out. Despite what RT had done to them, they were still determined to voice their opinions. Quite in character, really. 

“RT WHAT”

“NO NO NO”

“!uptime”

“I'M ON TV!!!”

“bazingabanana just gifted 5 subs!”

“that’s kinda meta”

As their voices grew louder, ichor kept pouring out of the void. As expected, RT thought to himself. He still needs to act fast. So with a quick snap, he fastened a wooden mask the temple-goer made; the same shade of white, a pair of beady black eyes almost as dark and soulless as the void, bright purple ears. 

The yelling and complaining didn’t stop of course. Still, as their voices were muffled by the mask, it was an arguably better experience than the previous ear-splitting wails. And it was less deadly too. Ichor had stopped dripping down onto the grass, which meant that the constant sizzling would finally stop.

Now, one last thing.

RT stared into Chat’s eyes.

This in itself wouldn’t have been quite a remarkable action had it been anyone else, but it’s Chat that we are talking about. The very sensation of doing something as simple as gazing into a hivemind’s many souls wasn’t anything ordinary, either.

It felt like you had just plunged one of your hands into ice-cold water in the middle of winter and not only are you freezing, you’re scared and you don’t know whether you’d come out in one piece.

They all stared back. Thousands and thousands looked upon RT, all different yet whispering the same things, each claiming to be an individual yet virtually nothing distinctive belongs to them. A true hivemind. It’s exactly what he wanted, but he wondered if perhaps other troubles would arise.

He let himself go from their gazes. It asks too much of him.

“Alright then, Chat. Ready?”

A gaggle of voices reply, sounding their agreements.

“OK then!”

--

I Want Die finally opened the inn door, after convincing himself that he’d like this new friend. That this one would be neither an anime villain, a comedy star or a horse. Someone with actual rational thoughts and words to speak.

In front of the door stood a short figure, clad in a purple mage’s robes. Their pitch-black eyes looked at I Want Die, and a chorus of voices came from their permanent smile:

“Hi, I’m Chat!”

And I Want Die wondered if he had forgotten to cross off ‘hivemind’ off his list of potential party members.

Chat’s introduction ends here, of course. But not their tale. The journey was far from over in fact. The party had yet to meet the Royal Court, witnessed the court’s love affair, or get kidnapped by the Dark Lord Von Karma. Even the party wasn’t complete, as it was only the first party I Want Die would encounter in his tale of redemption.

And it’s not the only story either. You haven’t heard of Magical John’s past life, or how Cupcake isn’t as pure as she seems. Gilbert’s fear of the kitchen. How Jefferson came to be, and Obama’s past life with Mr. Bean.

But I’m afraid I must stop here, for it is late already, is it not? Our journey must continue tomorrow. Let us rest. Goodnight, may the stars shine for you. (They head off into their tent, leaving you alone with the flickering embers of a dying fire.)

> You bid the storyteller goodnight. Perhaps they’ll tell you another one of their stories, underneath the moonlight once more.

[boldlyanxious]

Pitch Woo

1. old-fashioned To court or seek the affection of someone through romantic gestures or overtures.

Jasonette July prompt 4: game on

Enemies to lovers if you squint

This was supposed to be a throw away prompt that I put no effort into but somehow I ended up putting a lot of energy into it. Please love it

Legal age drinking and questionable song choice

Jasonette July

My masterlist

"Okay and thank you for coming to our Karaoke face off. I'm DJ Carapace and I'll be running the show tonight."

He paused while the crowd cheered.

"For those who haven't been here before, long time patron Marinette has recently been butting heads with Jason who recently returned after a long absence."

Boos came from one section. He didn't recognize them as associated with either of the performers.

"None of that now. Here tonight we love all of our friends the same. The competition tonight is all about the performance. Also giving a performance is Dick back behind the bar. Show him some love and show him the money. Or your money maker. Shake your ass for him. He doesn't discriminate; he loves all asses."

Cheers went up as Dick did a few bottle tossing tricks before Carapace could continue on to explain the rules of the competition. Jason and Marinette start off with a duet chosen by Carapace. He mentioned that they would be singing multiple songs, some that they prepared for and others that would be a surprise before that started. At the end of the singing the voting would be opened up for everyone to choose the winner.

"Starting off with a little magic both singers will show us a Whole New World," Carapace said as he started the music.

"Are you ready for this, Princess? You aren't allowed to magically fall in love with me."

"That should be easy enough. I control all the magic here."

"Do you trust me?"

"Not at all, Street Rat." Marinette said into the mic before he started singing.

She would never admit to anyone how much she loved his voice. It was rich and smooth and he seemed to feel the music as he sang. She put everything she had into her part. This was one of the first songs she learned to sing in English so it was very nostalgic. They both had the same idea when the joined section came up. They turned to face each other and kept eye contact through the last note.

"Well they may be competing but they sound great together too. Next up Marinette chose the song Perfect."

It felt good to start off with a song she knew. Most of them tonight would be a surprise so it was good to start where she was confident. This song worked particularly well because it started soft and then got bolder as it went on. The words were very helpful too. Jason must feel the same way about singing his choice of It's My Life because he was nailing it. The crowd was cheering and Carapace played a Jagged song to give them a break and encourage people to get drinks.

"Alright, bringing us right back into the show Jason and Marinette are going to wow us with the song Senorita."

Both of them were sent shots and drinks during the break. Mostly Marinette wanted water but as the crowd ramped up she and Jason took a shot together for luck. Then Marinette saw the list of songs they were doing and drained her drink quickly. She needed the courage if they were going to put on a show. Putting on the best show is how she would get votes.

Jason didn't feel like he could keep up with her. Her song choices were stellar. He had always loved her range. He had wandered away to take a couple shots to loosen him up. Still when they met back at the stage they took one together before they looked at their set list. He felt a bit better watching her drain her drink after she saw the set list. Maybe it wouldn't be as easy for her as he thought. He allowed the energy of the crowd to flow into him. He could do this. As he watched her start the song, he suddenly remembered how he had actually been interested in Marinette when they first met, but she had gotten very frustrated over something to do with the song choice or order. He couldn’t remember now. It was the first in a long list of times they had butted heads here.

He moved to the beat of the song and started singing. He kept his voice low and sultry and his attention focused on his partner for the evening. He wasn’t sure exactly when it happened but the room and the crowd disappeared. It was just him and her looking at each other and singing. She shimmied around to the song and he reached out for her hand, spinning her until she was against him. He leaned over her shoulder and sang the ooh- la-la-la into her mic. He could feel her tense and suck in a breath before she sang her next section. He swayed her back and for and then spun her around. She did her oohs and then he dipped her down and then back up at the last notes of the song.

She was happy that it was his turn next, singing Fields of Gold. She had to catch her breath. She needed to convince herself that it was from the singing and dancing and not from being so close to him. She sipped on her drink and sat on the provided stool as he moved between singing for the audience and serenading her. As the song was at the final repeating line he pulled her back up and sang directly to her. He bent low and kissed her hand as he passed her the mic.

Marinette started singing the song Only Exception and as she did she circled him before guiding him to the stool. His performance was stellar so she needed to start strong and continue through the whole song. As he had she made sure to sing to the audience and not just him. She wandered down from the stage and near the tables to get the most visibility during the instrumental interlude. She sang the part that picked up right to the crowd before turning to him and walking back to him with determination at the ending lines. At the final line she got very close to him to sing directly at him that she was “on her way to believing”

Next they were singing Landslide as a duet. Marinette loved this one. But it was slightly bitter for her. The first time she met Jason she had put the song in but the old DJ XY said he would save it for her for later in the evening. Jason had arrived after that and when her song came up it was him singing it instead of her. He had done really well but the DJ didn’t like to do repeats so she didn’t get her chance to sing. It hadn’t helped that he had come up and used a terrible line on her and laughed at her reaction.

Jason loved this song. He knew she did it really well too. He had heard her sing it once before. It worked great as a duet for them. They were both able to showcase the best of themselves. Carapace was right, they did sound good together. They took turns with the parts and joined in together at the chorus. They addressed the crowd for the beginning of it but part way through she walked slowly up to him as she was singing. He put his mic to the side and met her in the middle. Something about sharing the mic made it feel more intimate. They were no longer looking out. They were looking right at each other. Her eyes closed during one part and he didn’t seem to be able to stop himself from reaching up and touching her face. She looked up at him as they sang the last line together, drawing it out.

Carapace gave them another break and played a couple other songs before he would call them back up. Alya was ready with a couple waters and people were basically lined up to buy them drinks and shots. Alya told her she was recording the whole thing and would be posting it after, linking back to both of them so they would probably get a lot more traffic on their pages soon. The break went quickly but Marinette was ready to be done with it. The songs were a little more upbeat so it would feel like it was going faster even though it was more songs. She laughed when she saw the first song. She knew Alya picked that one because she had told her how much she liked it but was always too nervous to sing it.

Marinette took another shot while bantering with Jason to get the crowd invested again at the end of the break. She didn’t hold back. She stalked towards Jason channelling all her sexy energy as she started singing Do Not Disturb. She didn’t turn back to the crowd at all. She moved with the song and sang with everything she had and based on the look on his face, he was eating it up. She dared approach him and slid her hand up his chest before seizing his shirt and pulling him to his feet. He moved right along with her. That is what made him a great opponent. He didn’t want to trip her up and win by default. He wanted her at her best and she felt the same. An even playing field so they could get a good gauge of a winner.

Jason could feel her almost groan when she heard the opening of Give Me Everything start. He had played along with her song and she went all out. Now it was his turn. He was pretty tame. Just serenading her and moving to the beat. He could tell she was expecting more though, she moved easily with him when they got to the line “grab somebody sexy tell them hey”. She was ready for it and matched him move for move. He liked it better this way. They may be competing but he was having a blast. He had the sudden thought when he sang the last line "we might not get tomorrow". He put the microphone under her chin and used it to tilt her face up to his. She stared right up at him perfectly. The natural move would be to lean down and kiss her but he didn't think it would be right complete the move.

"Okay guys get ready to vote after this last number here. Their grand finale and then we can go back to your regularly scheduled karaoke until we announce a winner."

Marinette and Jason both took drinks and readied themselves to sing. Jason started out the song Shallow. He didn't bother with the audience. The song was designed as a romantic duet and he loved watching her eyes widen slightly as she looked up at him. He dropped his hand when he finished but during her verse she moved up to him and places her hands on his chest. At the end of that verse she patted his chest before turning to the crowd for the bridge. They came back together to sing the chorus. Without thinking, they moved closer at the end. They were right next to each other and sharing a mic again. He pulled her close to his as the song ended and the crowd cheered. He turned off the mic before asking his next question.

"Are we gonna make the ending a show stopper?"

"I'm already doing that. Try to keep up."

She smirked at him. He spun her around and dipped her low. His face was right in front of hers as he whispered. She could feel his breath by her chin.

"The audience would love a finale. If you think you can handle it."

"I can handle anything you can. Game on." She said.

He was pulling her back to her feet out of the dip. Their eyes never strayed from each other's. As her feet touched the floor, she grasped his collar. He met her halfway pulling her against him. Their lips met as the crowd cheered again. It was meant to be a momentary thing. For the audience. They had both done it for show. But the surge they felt as they kissed was not just because of the crowd. They pulled back but felt the loss even as they stood in each other's arms under the shining lights.

DJ Carapace was announcing how to complete the voting but Marinette couldn't hear anything over the heartbeat thumping in her ears. Maybe Jason felt the same because he guided her back behind the makeshift curtain of the stage. He planted his back against the wall and pulled her flush against him. She didn't expect to crash against him so suddenly but she used the momentum to pull herself to him and resume kissing.

They could find out who won later.

Tags

@jasonette-july-event | @theymakeupfairies | @emjrabbitwolf | @vixen-uchiha | @trythisagainlove | @trippingovermyfeet | @tbehartoo | @adrestar | @zynna

[pan-ickinggeekformanythings]

Idk why I'm doing this but Imma post the song I wrote here, just the lyrics that is. Which is also on Wattpad, and is very long. Sorry...😅

It's titled; It's Too Late Now

Verse One;

This song is to all my ex-crushes,

The ones who made me feel the most rushes,

And made me feel like I was getting lashes from a whip,

I'm just singing this song, to let you know,

I am trying to let you go~,

But what was I supposed to do?

Was I supposed to give up on us?

Because it was a complete bust,

It's okay, it might be hard,

But part of loving you is letting you go,

This is too much to bear, but I'm glad to hear,

You're doing well, my dear

I hope you find the one for you,

Just know that I love you too,

It's insane how much pain is building up inside my brain,

Yeah, it comes raining down because I was thinking about you,

24/7 and what to wear~,

Chorus;

But it's too late now,

We can't date now,

Why did I ever say, "It's up to fate," babe~?

Verse Two;

If a time machine costs my life,

I'd give my life with no regrets,

Because I'd be able to take it all back,

And have a second chance,

I'd ask for a dance and say, "I'm sorry I broke your heart and tore you apart."

I'd make the good things last because I was falling fast,

I'd go to the past and go to a time in my life when I didn't understand a thing about love,

When you looked at me as if I was something,

I'd stop acting so foolish, childish, and selfish,

But it was only because you made me feel so feverish,

Chorus;

But it's too late now,

We can't date now,

Why did I ever say, "It's up to fate," babe~?

Verse Three;

I hope they hug you tight,

Until you're feeling alright,

Never letting you out of your sight,

Showing you the way through the night,

Always being you're light,

You know that game that we used to play?

I know it's lame, but I was only calling you those stupid names to make you notice me,

I'd run the extra miles,

Just to see your perfect smile,

I can never win you back

Because of all the things I lack,

I wish the one for you is better than me,

I wish they fill you up with glee

And make you feel happy,

Especially when you are feeling lonely

Chorus;

But it's too late now,

We can't date now,

Why did I ever say, "It's up to fate," babe~?

Verse Four;

For now, I'll try to lay low and keep it real,

I'll try not to be my worse and burst by telling you how I feel,

You don't look at me the same way I look at you,

You look at me and treat me like one of your older siblings,

So for now I'll hide my feelings,

I wish you both are happy, I hope you get along,

And sing a song that reminds you of each other when you're both together,

I wish I could tell you how much my heart aches from losing you,

It hurts how you and I have been broken into a zillion parts by another and by each other,

I wish I could be the one,

But it looks like they have won

Chorus;

But it's too late now,

We can't date now,

Why did I ever say, "It's up to fate," babe~?

Verse Five;

I wish we could have tried better and I wish I never questioned, "Why?" when you asked to be best friends with me, I miss all the times because now we barely talk anymore,

But I'll still love you, since October four, and forevermore or until I've moved on or died,

I miss how we laughed, talked, mocked, joked, and sang with each other,

I miss it all, and I built a wall around me but I still seemed to fall for you

Ending Chorus;

But it's too late now,

We can't date now,

Why did I ever say, "It's up to fate," babe~?

From, the person that loves you~, mhm~, from the person that love you~ ooh ooh, from the person that loves you

[quillsandtypos]

Ours Stars Collided- Part 2

Summary: As our reader, a musically gifted high school junior, navigates life she realizes not everything goes as planned. She didn't plan on getting close with Julie's band. But not any band, her band is made up of ghosts. But is the afterlife enough to keep her feelings in check towards the main guitarist?

Words: 3.8k

Pairing: luke patterson x reader

Warnings: none

...........................................

“Hey, you ready?” you asked.

“Yeah, just let me grab my stuff,” Julie answered.

She pulled the emoji covered backpack out of her locker and shut it.

“Alright, you ready?” she questioned, as she let you lead the way.

“Yes, and no,” you said, with a nervous smile.

She placed her hand on your shoulder. “You got this, besides, you’re in good hands with Luke,” she reassured you.

“No doubt about that, it’s just a matter of whether I’ll embarrass myself or not.”

She smiled genuinely at you. “You got this, trust me.”

You held the door open for her.

“That car is yours, right?” She pointed across the parking lot.

“Yep, that’s the one.”

You unlocked it and threw your bag in the back, before getting into the drivers side.

“Alright, whatcha wanna listen to?”

Julie paused in thought before hesitantly asking, “You know who Lizzo is right?”

“Oh my god yes! You listen to her too?” you excitedly asked.

“Yes! How could you not listen to Lizzo!”

“Lizzo it is then!”

The first song was Soulmate, followed by Tempo which the two of you practically yelled, and the third song was Like a Girl. When Truth Hurts came on you both gasped and made eye contact through wide eyes.

Soon enough your sound system was blaring through the car and the two of you were belting the lyrics.

“Help you witchya career just a little,” you sang. Then you pointed to Julie to take the next part.

“You supposed to hold me down but you holding me back and that’s the sound of me not calling you back!” Julie was somewhere in between belting and yelling and still managing to sound good.

Then the both of you took the chorus. “Why men great till they gotta be great, don’t text me tell it straight to my face!

You were both animatedly pumping your fists with bright smiles as you finally rolled into her driveway.

Julie opened the studio doors to the boys all sitting there, ready to go. “Well you guys certainly look like you were having fun,” Reggie commented, smiling.

“We did,” you agreed.

“But now it means that break time is over for you guys,” Julie teased them.

Alex had already poofed over to the drums before she said anything.

“Yes ma’am!” Reggie said, getting off the couch.

Luke had a playful smile on his face. “We were the ones working on a new song, so I think that means the break is up for you,” he teased.

You couldn’t help but notice their closeness in that moment, you tried not to; but a small part of you couldn’t help but wish that was you.

Julie just rolled her eyes at him and walked to her piano to put her bag down. And just like that the moment was over.

After you and Julie had settled in and warmed up your voices and practiced a bit with your instruments, you figured you should probably figure out what you were doing.

“So do you guys want me to sing, or play, or listen?” you asked.

They all looked over at you, but Luke was the first to speak. “I can show y/n a couple of the songs with her while you guys run through Bright. Then we can see how she fits into that?” Luke brainstormed.

He held eye contact with you for a few moments before shifting to his other bandmates to gage their reactions.

“Sure! Sounds good to me,” Alex offered.

“Yeah you guys can go sit up in the loft if you want, just so you won’t be distracted by us,” Julie suggested.

“Yeah, sure, come on newbie, let’s see what you got, shall we?” He gestured to the stairs, and allowed you to go first.

“Don’t you already know what I’ve got since you technically already heard me play?” you said, as you ascended the stairs with your guitar.

“Yeah, but that one doesn’t technically count since it wasn’t in here,” he argued.

You paused and turned around, as you desperately tried to fight the smile forming on your lips. “Well technically you shouldn’t break into someone’s room and watch them play without knowing, so,” you trailed off.

“And to think I wanted you to be in the band,” he tutted, with no malice in his voice.

You couldn’t hide the grin on your face now, so you instead choose to plop down on the floor and start on your guitar.

“Alright I’m gonna show you the first couple chords that I have for Bright,” he explained as his fingers effortly slid across his guitar. You watched as he repeated it a couple times before joining him.

He looked up at you as he continued to play. “You’re a fast learner,” he commented.

“Eh, I’m just a visual learner.”

“That must help, I mean with the music school that you and Julie go to. It must be easier to learn things,” he guessed. He continued watching you play.

“Well I mean yes, I go to the same school as Julie but I’m not in the music program,” you admitted.

Luke abruptly stopped playing. “What?”

“Yeah, I wasn’t able to get in.” You were getting somewhat embarrassed.

“Seriously?” he asked in disbelief.

“Seriously,” you confirmed.

“How could they not let you in? I mean you obviously belong there,” he insisted. He sounded slightly upset about the situation.

“There are plenty of people in that school that are much better than me Luke, trust me,” you reassured him.

He leaned forward slightly which forced you to make eye contact with him. He looked quite somber but his eyes seemed to reflect a sort of light; it was as if he was looking through your soul with how intense his gaze was. “I doubt that,” he said.

You nervously swallowed and hoped he didn’t notice. “Thank you,” you uttered quietly, though it did not obstruct the feeling in your voice.

“You’re welcome.” His gaze tore away from yours. You were half relieved and half disappointed.

“So you ready to learn the rest of the song?” He said, breaking the rest of the momentary silence in the loft.

“Whenever you are.”

“Is she show ready?” Julie asked as you walked back down the steps twenty minutes later.

“I think she can manage,” you responded. You sounded more confident than you felt.

“Alright, let’s start Bright from the top. Y/n I want you to sing the chorus, pre-chorus, the second verse and then out to the end of the song, except for the bridge. Luke I’m gonna have you not sing, just for this one. And I will sing the intro, chorus, pre-chorus, the bridge, and verse one. Y/n just sing on this one, we’re not gonna add your guitar yet,” she explained.

You were glad she had a plan, so you at least knew what you were doing. You attempted to shake out your nerves a little bit and Julie gave you a thumbs up from her piano.

She started her intro and of course she sounded amazing. Luckily, you had listened to their song before so you knew when you needed to come in.

“Life is a risk but I will take it

Close my eyes and jump, together I think that we can make it

Come on let’s run”

The guys joined in with their instruments as the two of you reached the chorus. You started to relax through the chorus until you remembered that you would be singing on your own in a couple seconds. Pulling up your previous lesson from Luke in your mind, you tried to remember how high he had you sing it, it wasn’t quite Julie’s level but it was definitely higher than his. You once again made eye contact with Luke who mouthed ‘you got this’ with a determined look on his face. You heard the drums starting to quiet slightly and you knew you were up.

“In times that I doubted myself

I felt like I needed some help

Stuck in my head with nothing left

I feel something around me now

So unclear, lifting me out

I found the ground I’m marching on”

You were once again back with Julie’s voice as she came to stand beside you. You turned to face one another and sang with a harmony you were quite certain you hadn’t heard before. She was practically glowing with happiness and you couldn’t help but reflect that same joy on your own face.

As her individual part finished up again the two of you sung the final parts of the song as you went low on the last bright as she sung her iconic high note. The music faded and you couldn’t help but cheer a little bit.

Julie pulled you into a tight hug. “See I told you you’d be amazing!”

You returned the hug. “Thank you, but you should seriously hear yourself. You are so talented.”

“She’s right y/n you sounded really good,” commented Alex from the back; Reggie nodded in agreement.

“Thanks Alex,” you replied. A small smile was on your face and a certain amount of heat was creeping up to your cheeks from the levels of attention on you.

Luckily, Julie quickly took it off of you. This time she was going to have you play a version of Luke’s part on the guitar but complimented it as he sang; which you were grateful for because it meant you could take a background seat for a minute.

Julie started up on her piano again. This time you were waiting for the chorus to start, and as it did you almost forgot what you were doing when Luke started singing. Sure you had heard him sing this song in full once before. But damn could that boy sing.

It wasn’t until the chorus hit that things started to go wrong for you. You once again couldn’t help but notice their closeness, or the way they looked at each other. You continued on playing but you would be lying if you said it was with the same energy you had minutes ago.

The final chorus hit and your face had fallen all the way from buzzing with joy to mopey. You noticed Reggie creeping up from your right and your spirits were slightly raised as you watched him awkwardly wink at you and walk over to finish the rest of the song with you. For a second he made you forget all about your moment of sadness. As you finished up the last of the chords with each other you ended up back to back towards the end of it, for dramatic effect. Alex laughed as the song ended and he noticed the stance you and Reggie had chosen.

“What?” Reggie grinned.

“That was awesome!” you yelled, high fiving him

“Yeah it was!” he said, mirroring your enthusiasm.

“Ya know I think she’ll fit in quite nicely,” Luke observed. You could’ve sworn you saw him smirk and his eyes move slightly, but it was only for a moment.

Julie smiled in a slightly mischievous way. “I think she will too,” Julie agreed, as if you weren’t in the room listening to their conversation.

“You guys know I’m right here right?” you quipped from the other side of the room.

“Yeah I know, but I have a LOT of homework so we gotta wrap this up.”

“I can do that!” You raced over to the couch to get your stuff.

“Gentleman and Julie, it was lovely playing with you and I will see you all tomorrow,” you said as you waved goodbye. They all waved back as you pulled out of her driveway.

It turned out that heavy homework wednesdays were becoming a thing for Julie because in the following week she was told she wasn’t allowed to have band practice until her homework was done. She said something about her dad not being too happy about her staying up till twelve doing it. Though Julie didn’t sound so happy about it either, for obvious reasons; but she did of course want to have band practice, so she promised all of you she would be done as quick as possible. But she still needed a ride home, and Flynn’s house was on the way to your house, so you offered to drive her too.

Flynn called shotgun which Julie groaned about, but she took the back. You turned on Lizzo before putting the park in reverse to get out of the parking lot and driving off.

“So how is your new spot in the phantoms going?” Flynn asked.

“I would say pretty good, but I’ll let Julie answer that one.”

“She’s doing really well, her and Luke have really figured out how to compliment one another on the guitars, and she gets along great with all of them,” Julie responded.

“Well I think they might, maybe, just maybe, be keeping you,” Flynn told you, sarcastically.

“Thank god they are, I don’t know what I would’ve done if they hadn’t," you worried aloud.

“Probably would’ve still thought you were insane,” Flynn suggested with a shrug.

“Harsh! But, yeah, probably,” you admitted, laughing a little bit, and the other two joined you.

“At least now I can get people off my back about me and Luke,” Julie spoke. Flynn pointed at her in acknowledgement.

Now that peaked your interest. “What?” you asked, trying to sound nonchalant about it.

Julie casually waved you off. “Oh just people thinking Luke and I are together.”

You thought you were going to jump up and down from excitement, “Wait, you guys aren’t together?” You hoped you didn’t sound as excited as you felt.

Julie had a borderline concerned look on her face. “Ohhhhh definitely not, we are just friends, and neither of us want to be anything more. I mean don’t get me wrong, I see the appeal, but he’s not my type,” she explained.

“Yeah cause her type is Nick,” Flynn sang, snapping her fingers.

Suddenly a lightbulb clicked. “Was that the guy you were talking to by your locker the day Luke saw me?”

Julie facepalmed in embarrassment. “Yes.”

“See she’s not even denying it,” Flynn pointed out.

“That’s true,” you agreed, looking through your rear mirror at your bandmate.

Flynn's face suddenly turned from mischievous evil to somehow even more evil. “Though I mean we could instead talk about how you obviously think Luke is cute.”

Now that took you by surprise. “I do not!” you insisted.

Flynn’s eyes got slightly larger with her raised eyebrows and she pursed her lips. “Okay so we’re lying now?” she teased.

Julie laughed before slamming her hand over her mouth. “Flynn stop, if she says she doesn’t like him then she doesn’t.”

“Thank you Julie.” You specifically enunciated Julie and Flynn stuck her tongue out at you. And just as she did you turned onto Julie’s road.

You waved goodbye to Julie, wishing her luck with her homework. And then went to drop Flynn off before arriving home yourself.

You rummaged through the fridge to find something and you managed to settle on an orange before also finding hummus and pretzels.

You sat down in your empty kitchen and took a bite of a hummus covered pretzel, and realize you forgot to get water. You turned around to come face to face with Luke…. again.

“HOLY SHIT!” you yelled. It wasn’t your first time but it didn’t mean it wasn’t just as scary.

“Sorry didn’t mean to scare you,” he said, not looking very sorry at all.

“You have got to stop doing that.” You walked past him and by that you mean you accidentally walked through him. You turned back to him for a moment to see if he was okay but he seemed to be looking at you curiously so you assumed he was fine.

“No promises, remember? It’s kinda a ghost thing,” he reminded you as he followed you around your kitchen.

“Okay well what do you and your ghost thing want?” you asked, immediately regretting your choice of words. You could practically feel his smirk from behind you.

“Did you just-” he started but you cut him off.

“Nope, no, no I didn’t. What do you want Luke?” You were trying to pivot and luckily, he took the bait.

“Well, can you come to the studio?” he asked.

“Yes, I was already going to be coming there later.” You were getting slightly confused.

“No, I mean like now,” Luke explained.

“Why?” you asked, finally sitting back down with your water.

“We’re bored,” he confessed, slouching on your table.

“You came here to tell me you’re bored?” you giggled.

“Well I guess technically, yes, so can you come?” he impatiently asked. He just looked restless. Though you supposed being in a garage for a large majority of your day and only having two other people to talk to would do that to a person, or ghost in this case. But unfortunately, you still couldn’t come.

“Sorry Luke, I already told my parents I would be leaving later tonight, and I don’t wanna have to switch plans on them,” you apologized.

“Oh come on, your parents aren’t even home,” he pointed out.

“I’m well aware, but I try to keep my promises to them,” you defended. Though he looked so goddamn cute at the moment you could feel your will power breaking.

“It’ll be fun!” he promised. He must’ve known that his smile could get to you because when you looked at him you swore it had grown three sizes.

“Tempting, but I’m gonna have to pass.”

“Please?” he asked. You looked him in the eyes, which was a big mistake because he was giving you a puppy face. I mean it’s not like you already thought he was cute, but this? This was on a whole nother level. His lips were in a slight pout as his head was tilted doward just a smidge, and his blue eyes mocked sadness, in a way that was just unbearable.

“Okay, okay, fine,” you agreed, you tried to sound annoyed but it didn’t work in the slightest.

“Yes!” he shouted.

“Just let me grab my keys, wait, can you even go in a car?” Could he even get in the car? Could he get in the car, and then his physical state or lack thereof, could suddenly go away and he wouldn’t be sitting in the car anymore? But Luke’s voice interrupted your hypotheticals.

“How about I just meet you there?” Luke suggested.

“Good idea,” you agreed.

Ten minutes later you had pulled up to Julie’s house and entered the studio. “Oh hey Reggie,” you greeted, taking a seat on the couch.

“Oh hi y/n! Are you here to practice with us, or? Not that I mind you being here,” he quickly stammered out.

“It’s fine, you’re okay Reggie, I know I’m not usually here unless it’s for practice. But yeah, I’m just here to hang out.”

“Oh, cool!”

“So where’s everybody else?” you asked.

“Well I think Alex is with Willie and I’m actually not sure where Luke is,” he answered.

“I wonder wh-” you started, but you had a feeling that someone had landed beside you.

Which, of course Luke had, and practically right on time too.

“Sorry, I was just checking on Julie and seeing how much homework she has,” Luke explained.

“How’s it looking?” you asked.

“Not so great, she still has a lot left to go,” Luke admitted.

You shrugged. “Well I’ve got nowhere to be.”

And for the next two hours or so the three of you sat there and talked about all sorts of things, from mundane things, to really deep things, to things they missed the most about being alive. Which mostly consisted of food, not that you blamed them.

Soon enough Luke went to go check up on Julie again.

“Are you cold?” Reggie asked you.

“No,” you lied.

“Dude, I can see you, you’re literally shivering.”

“Yeah, I forgot to grab a jacket before I left my house,” you admitted.

“Here-” he threw a jacket at you, “wear this one, it’s nice and warm.”

“Reggie you really don’t have to-” you started, but he insisted; and you were pretty cold so you gave in.

In a couple of minutes Luke returned to the same spot.

“How’s it looking now?” you asked.

“I don’t think she’s gonna,” Luke suddenly stopped mid sentence to glance over at you, “nice jacket y/n.” For whatever reason, he had a very interesting look on his face, to say the least.

“Thanks, Reggie lent it to me.”

“Oh is that so?” he asked, now turning to look at Reggie, who looked slightly frightened.

“Um, yes?” you said, though it was more of a question.

Luke turned to you, “Y/n?”

“Yeah?” you responded.

“You know that’s my jacket right?” he asked.

Now you also turned to stare down Reggie, “What was your intent with this-”

“Wait what’s his full first name?” you asked Luke in a whisper.

“Reginald,” he whispered back.

“What was your intent with this Reginald?” you asked.

“I have no idea what you guys are talking about,” Reggie said, looking up at the ceiling.

Luke took one step towards him and Reggie yelped before poofing out.

“Why does he keep offering up your stuff?” you laughed.

He scoffed, “I wish I knew.” It seemed like he did know but you weren’t going to press him on it.

“Oh, here, you can have your jacket back now.” You awkwardly handed it over to him.

“Oh, thanks. You did look good in it though, by the way,” he casually mentioned.

You were pretty sure your brain just shut down for a couple seconds. “What?” you asked, you were still working to catch up with what just happened.

“I said, you looked good in it,” he repeated, as his voice was becoming soft and slightly deeper.

“Thanks,” you managed to mumble out. But meanwhile you thought your face was on fire.

“Oh also you might wanna head home, Julie said she’s not gonna be able to practice tonight,” he mentioned.

“I probably should, but hey, I’ll see you tomorrow!” you yelled as you left the studio.

“See ya!” he yelled and waved.

By the time you got home there was a note on the kitchen table, ‘Don’t worry I cleared it with Luke this time -signed Reggie’ and next to the note sat the jacket. You laughed quietly to yourself before taking the note and the jacket upstairs with you.

[deejadabbles]

A Thousand Songs (Atem/Yami x Reader)

Chapter Five: Hello, My Old Heart

One /// Two /// Three /// Four /// Five /// (Six coming soon) ///

Summary: You knew that you and your band could make it big. Not only that, but stay together while doing it; the five of you were family, after all. The only problem was that despite all your musical talents...none of you were particularly good at lyrics. After years of struggling to put out your first full album, the solution finally made himself know in chance meeting on an empty stage.

Rock Band AU, Atem x Reader, gender neutral reader.

You could visibly see the poor young man swallowing hard as he settled in the seat across from you and the rest of your bandmates. Try as you might to make the setting casual (cushy chairs instead of a desk, offers of soda and chips, greeting him with an ‘what’s up, my dude?’, etc.) Atem still seemed rather nervous. Not that you blamed him, you distinctly remember Honda making a joke about “oh yeah, ask the dude to come to our secluded studio by himself to meet five strangers, that’s not creepy or anything” when Yugi told you guys how he had invited the man to meet with the rest of you.

“So, Yugi said that you write songs as a hobby?” Anzu began, giving him the warmest smile she could, an effort to ease Atem’s mood.

He nodded, then started unclasping the latch on his leather messenger bag, “That’s right, I’ll admit, I don’t have too many that are finished, but that’s mostly due to boredom and moving on to a new idea, not lack of inspiration.” He then pulled out some papers divided by paperclips. “Here are the songs I think best represent my usual work, the work that’s easiest for me to write as well as what I would prefer to put out there.”

Honda grabbed the small stack and passed out songs to each of you. A bit of an awkward silence fell as you all started reading the various lyrics, but not even that could tarnish how impressed you were with the ones you were reading. Poetic, but not too over the top or pretentious, nice. You glanced up at the others, nodding your head with an impressed smile before switching papers with Yugi to look over another example (you also didn’t miss the way Yugi beamed at you). Now this song struck you, after only reading the first verse you could already hear the beginnings of a beat and chords you could put with the lyrics.

“Yugi also said you have a killer voice,” you said, shifting your eyes from the page to peer up at him.

He gave a cute little cough, “Uh, yes, I suppose I’m not a bad singer.”

You had to actively keep your mind from gushing over how sweet he was. The dude looked like a typical adonis hottie, but his shy outer demeanor just added an extra layer to him. He was wearing something more stylish than the few tabloid pics you’d seen: a long-sleeved black shirt with a silky maroon and gold vest, accessorized with a few rings, bangles, necklaces, and a pair of gold dangling earrings.

You shook the wandering thoughts on his attractiveness away; this was for business, not pleasure. “I was just wondering if you’d mind singing one of the songs for us, that way we can get a feel for the melody you had in mind.”

Again, Atem seemed to swallow something in this throat as a hand reached up to briefly play with one of the flat triangles dripping from his ears. “I suppose I could do that, but, do you mind if I play my violin with it? I’ll find it easier to sing with some music.”

“Of course,” you waved an eager hand, egging him on before handing him back the music sheet in your hand.

His eyes scanned the pages, reminding himself of what song it was before nodding his head and reaching down to the instrument case beside the armchair. Jonouchi had made a comment about Atem carrying his violin everywhere, trying to set a joking mood, but it just caused a flushed Atem to mumble about how he had just picked it up from getting its weekly tuning.

Once Atem was standing, violin in hand, he took a deep breath to collect himself. Then, after two slow heartbeats, he began to play.

The first note was a sorrowful one, long, like a quiet, mournful hum, his slender fingers pulsing to create a wave effect on the sound. Then he was singing. His tone came out like a deep, almost breathy moan, letting the lyrics flow like a story at first- before his tone rose and belted out the chorus.

Atem was captivating, pulling you in with every line, every inflection, making you want to hold your breath lest the sound of it distract from the song. He kept his eyes closed, lost in the music his hands and mouth crafted, and the longer the song went on the more he seemed to relax, to lean into his own notes.

You blinked suddenly, realizing that your mouth had been hanging open just in time to close it before Atem ended his performance on another soaring note and breathy lyric. He stayed like that for a moment, catching his breath, basking in the lingering sound of his song.

Finally, his eyes blinked open and shifted to gauge everyone’s reaction. You weren’t the only one left in awe.

“Holy shit,” Honda breathed.

Yugi’s beaming smile was at maximum sunshine as he leaned into you and whispered, “That’s the song I heard him sing at the theatre, isn’t it beautiful?!”

You nodded and opened your mouth to say something but Anzu beat you to it.

“Can you do that again?” she asked, eager, as she jumped up and walked to her keyboard.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” you asked, also bouncing to your feet and joining her.

Anzu smiled back at you, “Keeping that longer intro and adding keys to it?”

“Yes!” you turned to Jonouchi- who was still staring at Atem like he didn’t quite believe the man was standing there. “Jou, add some drums? Something steady and subtle at first, drawing everyone in before the lyrics start and-”

“-and picking up when the chorus kicks in?” he finished, snapping to attention in an instant, “You got it!”

With that Jonouchi vaulted off the back of the couch, plopping onto the stool at his drum set. Atem was still standing there, now looking a bit bewildered and amused as he watched everyone get to work, perhaps some pride shining in his eyes that his music had inspired it.

“Atem?” you asked, tone gentle and drawing his attention back to you, “Can you play that again?” you repeated Anzu’s question, seeing as how she was fully engrossed in her keys now.

Again, the man seemed hesitant, “Shouldn’t you be taking over, you’re the lead singer after all.”

“Dude, we have to keep that violin track,” you insisted, finding your voice breathy as you pointed at Atem, “It’s perfect for the song, it’s deep and beautiful and-” speechless, you gave an exaggerated chef’s kiss to emphasize just how much you meant what you were touting.

The expression earned you a smile from the violinist, a hint of bashfulness mixing with the fresh and rising pride. “Alright, if you think it will improve the song.” With that, Atem lifted his violin, took another deep breath, and started the song again.

***

It was strange how no hands had officially shaken, no one even told Atem he was hired, but that session was immediately followed up by the band asking when his next free day was and asking him to come back for another practice session. Atem had never intended on actually playing with the band, but, when they acted so enthralled with his playing, he could hardly say no.

The next time they got together (almost a week after their first meeting) Atem found himself just as nervous as when he first met them. Parking outside their studio, he found his chest heating up with some anxiety. Atem never was good around people, after all.

Hello, my old heart

How have you been?

Are you still there inside my chest?

He rubbed his hands against the steering wheel, letting out a long breath and holding it a moment, before making himself grab his violin case and climb out of the car. His feet crunching on the gravel driveway grounded him a bit and he had managed to calm down slightly before knocking on the studio door.

I've been so worried, you've been so still

Barely beating at all

He heard the sound of laughter coming closer on the other side of the door and a moment later it opened, revealing you in the doorway and more laughter echoing yours in the next room.

“Atem, there you are! Come on in,” you stepped aside and waved an inviting arm.

Atem felt the heat in his chest climb up his neck, “Sorry, am I late?”

“Huh?” You then waved your hand again as you shut the door behind him, “Oh no don’t worry, we just got here early, that’s all.”

He heard someone else call his name before he even got to the room where everyone was sitting, and by the time he did enter, the whole band was waving and greeting him. He cleared his throat before nodding back to everyone and saying a weak ‘hello’ before you spoke again.

“Come on, sit down and chill for a bit before we get started,” you waved at a beat-up arm chair even as you perched on its armrest.

Atem realized with a quick look around that there was nowhere better for you to sit and you were likely offering him your own seat. “Oh, that’s alright, I don’t want to steal your seat-”

Before his offer to sit on the floor was out, you shook your head, “Dude, we can’t have our muse sitting in a creaky fold-up chair, at least sit on the other arm so I don’t topple it!” You laughed again as Honda made some comment about how a topple would probably bust the thing in half.

His cheeks were hot now, but he took the offer with grace (or at least, as much grace as he could muster) and perched himself on the other armrest, setting his violin on the actual seat. Atem also remembered how last time, he had been offered the armchair while Anzu took the creaky fold-up chair. Everyone here really seemed to care about making him comfortable.

Hello, my old heart

It's been so long

Since I've given you away

When was the last time he met anyone who had greeted him with such...openness? Such compassion. And a whole group of someones at that...

He cleared his throat again, trying to draw himself out of his wandering thoughts. “So, are we just going to work out more of the music today?”

And every day, I add another stone

To the walls I built around you

To keep you safe

Everyone seemed to respect his want to get down to business, perhaps thinking that he had other engagements, and only chit-chatted for a handful of minutes, before getting down to their rehearsal. It went well, just as the previous session had, and Atem found himself in awe of how well the creative process of making notes together flowed. Just like that first day, everyone seemed to work off of each other so well, bounding ideas left and right, almost always being on the same page. Even when they weren’t, there were just a few goodhearted jabs and sighs before working everything out.

Again Atem found himself shaking his thoughts away. He really should stop, it wasn’t wise to get attached to this process, these sessions, these people. After all, he was just their ghostwriter, nothing more.

Oh, don't leave me here alone

Don't tell me that we've grown

For having loved a little while

He found himself smiling again despite himself, when you started throwing popcorn kernels at Jonouchi; retribution for a comment about how you needed to change the chords up in the third chorus.

“I’m not changing it,” you said with your tongue sticking out, all while Jou looked affronted at your kernel bombing. “It’s a steady beat, that’s the whole point! Right, Atem?”

At the sound of his name, Atem’s eyes went wide, “Uh- What?”

“Eh, don’t drag him to your side!” Jonouchi pouted, tossing some popcorn from his lap back in your direction.

“I’m not dragging, I’m asking his opinion, there’s a difference,” you said matter of factly, then turned back to Atem, who was sweating a bit now, “What do you think, Atem? Are the same chords during the third chorus too boring? Or does it fit the subtle, powerful nature of the song?”

“You’re leading his answer!” Jonouchi countered, again looking appalled, then squawking as you tossed more popcorn at him.

Atem was a bit distracted by the way Honda kept laughing as Jou picked kernels out of his shirt, but eventually he managed to swallow thickly and answer your question. “I actually like the way you have it now, if I’m being honest.”

You beamed at him, stuck your tongue out at Jonouchi in victory, then held the popcorn bowl out to Atem. “Thank you, my muse! Here, have some brain food.”

His face was heating up again at nickname- or, dare he say, endearment? However, even as he blushed, and took a handful of popcorn, he couldn’t keep that smile from making yet another appearance.

Oh, I don't wanna be alone

I wanna find a home

And I wanna share it with you

When everyone called the day's session to an end, Atem tried not to feel...disappointed. Stop that , he told himself again, this was not something to get attached to. As everyone packed their notes away, Honda started asking about dinner.

“Heeey if I give you a ride to work, think you can get me a discount on nachos again?” he asked, turning to you with an eyebrow wiggle.

You scoffed, “Dude, the boss was barely okay with that one time I did it, I can’t convince her again. But I can just buy your nachos if you really want.”

“Where do you work?” Atem found himself asking, far too late to stop himself from getting involved.

“Oh- ever heard of The Mark? It’s a bar downtown.”

Atem shook his head, feeling a bit embarrassed. Admittedly, the only bar he had been in since college was the high-end one in his apartment building.

You didn’t seem to take notice of his embarrassment though and just shrugged, “It’s only popular to a certain crowd. Anyway,” you continued, turning back to Honda, “give me a ride and I’ll buy you nachos.”

“Okay, all this talk of nachos has me hungry,” Jonouchi groaned, “Let’s go with em, Yug.”

Anzu perked up at that, nodding to you as she said, “You know, I’ve really been craving your specialty daiquiris. Jou, got room in your truck for me?”

“Sure,” the drummer shrugged as everyone started milling towards the door.

Yugi was smiling brightly as he held the door open for everyone, “Guess it’s a band outing now! Atem, you want to join? You can follow us to the bar, it isn’t far.”

As his feet were once again crunching on the gravel drive, Atem had to stop. He looked back to the group, ready to see at least one of them giving an uneasy expression at the invitation, if not an outright protest.

Instead, he saw Anzu nodding her head eagerly while Honda locked up the studio. Neither you nor Jonouchi looked wary of the suggestion and instead just looked to him for an answer.

You must have thought he needed further prompting, because you said, “Hey, our ‘girls night’ plate of nachos is more than big enough for all of you.”

Atem had to swallow another something in his throat. All of you were already inviting him out for drinks?

Hello, my old heart

How have you been?

“I- sorry, I have to get up early in the morning. Thank you, though.” Atem could only cast his eyes to the ground during the half-lie.

How is it being locked away?

He saw something flicker in Yugi’s eyes, but he was quick to hide it with a smile. “Okay, maybe next time.”

Your smile matched Yugi’s as everyone headed to Jou’s truck and Honda’s bike, “Have a good night, Atem.”

Don't you worry, in there you're safe

“See you next week,” Anzu waved.

All he could manage was a nod as he turned towards his own car.

And it's true, you'll never beat

But you'll never break

It only took one more session to get the rest of the music figured out, and then it was time to record. Atem was interested in the process, how the five of you set up the sound equipment, what programs you used, he even asked you how you had installed padding to improve the sound quality.

The video part of the recording would be left for later, right now it was just the song to worry about- though you did make a point to tell Atem that you wanted to discuss setting ideas for the video soon. Atem felt his heart swell a bit at that. Not that he wanted to admit it, but he was glad that you wanted to involve him in every step of the song. This song in particular, this first one that had so enthralled Yugi first, was likely one of the more personal ones Atem had written.

Your voice rose with the chorus, fingers dancing gracefully against the bridge of the guitar, and Atem found himself admiring how well suited your voice was to his lyrics. A perfect fit. Though you likely had no way of knowing the background behind this song or why Atem had written it, you belted the lyrics with passion and depth, cared for every bar as if you were singing from the depths of your heart.

Maybe you were. Music spoke to more than just those who wrote it, perhaps not in the same ways, but that hardly mattered.

He heard the way the ending lyric stole your breath, and his violin hummed its final note with you in a harmony Atem had admired a dozen times during these rehearsals. When the last note ended, everyone waited a moment, seeming to hold their breaths, before daring to move. When everyone did, Jonouchi was already bounding over to the computer hooked up to the recording mics. With a few clicks and a quick look over something on the screen, the blonde gave a clap of his hands.

“We got it! That should be all we need for a high quality recording.”

Everyone cheered or hooted at that, and Yugi made a comment about finally having something new to give their fans. Atem was smiling with the rest of them, but he was failing to ignore the way his chest ached just a bit. The song was done, and, unless they asked him to join them on stage, Atem supposed this was the last time he would play with the band.

Writing songs for them was all nice in of itself, but, despite all his personal warnings not to, he would be lying if he said he hadn’t grown a bit attached to these evenings and nights with the band.

Oh, I don't wanna be alone

I wanna find a home

And I wanna share it with you

A sudden call of his name had Atem jolting back to the present, and he saw you standing beside him, a hint of concern creasing your brow. “Everything okay?”

“Uh-” he cleared his throat, “-yes, I’m alright,” he lied, just as he had lied to deny himself the after-work drinks weeks ago. “I was just thinking, we got so caught up in recording this song, that none of you got the chance to discuss if any others were to your liking.”

“What, any of your other songs?” Honda asked, and when Atem nodded, he literally waved the comment off, “Dude, I’m pretty sure we liked all the examples you gave us, right guys?”

“Definitely!” Yugi didn’t miss the chance to boost Atem’s ego (or rather, soothe any worries). “We actually looked over your other songs the other day, and all of us agree we want to record all of them. I told you you were a perfect fit for us!”

The words, as well as the wink Yugi gave, did make Atem smile, but it didn’t do much to alleviate the root of his woe. “I’m glad they fit with the band so well. If you want to know the melodies or themes I had in mind for any of the other songs as well, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

That seemed to give everyone pause.

Nothing lasts forever

Atem watched as they began giving each other looks, very pointed looks, in turns, and he couldn’t ignore the sinking sensation in his chest. They seemed to silently agree on something a moment later, because Anzu spoke up as her eyes turned back to Atem.

“Actually, we were talking about that a lot too…”

Some things aren't meant to be

Atem swallowed hard, heart starting to pound in his ears. Perhaps he wasn’t good enough, perhaps they thought him too pretentious, or maybe he had overstepped the boundaries of his role here, maybe he and his violin didn’t-

“How would you feel about joining the band for the whole album?”

But you'll never find the answers

Until you set your old heart free

Again, your voice put a break on Atem’s reeling thoughts, and he had to blink to collect himself again. “I- you mean, you want me to play for the other songs as well?”

More looks were exchanged, quick ones this time, before Yugi chimed in next. “We talked it over a lot the past week and we all agree that you gel with us pretty well! And not only that, but your violin really adds a lot to our music, we’d really love for you to record more songs with us, not just write them.”

Until you set your old heart free

Now Atem’s heart was pounding in his ears for a whole other reason. He almost wanted to smack himself when he felt the widest, most giddy grin he ever remembered smiling spread across his face.

“I would like that very much,” he said, cheeks going a bit warm when everyone was returning his smile.

Hello, my old heart

“So what are we waitin’ for?” Jonouchi jumped in, all enthusiasm and eagerness, “What song are we doing next?”

That sparked conversation, and everyone started chiming in with their votes almost immediately, Yugi and Anzu even digging out Atem’s sheet music for references. Atem could only take the scene in with a smile that was widening the more he watched them bicker good-heartedly.

And he was glad he had gotten attached to this process, these sessions, to these people.

I wanna share it with you

[breadboylovin]

NEW POST FOR MY 95060 PLAYLIST!!! complete with explanations of every song choice under the cut because i love explaining my own creative decisions for some reason (PLEASE DO NOT FEEL COMPELLED TO READ ALL OF IT IF YOU DONT WANT TO ITS VERY LONG LOL). i may add a few songs here and there later on, or more likely rearrange what i've already put in slightly, but for now i consider it done.

alright now heres a look into my twisted mind

PART 1: TEMPTATION

Franz Ferdinand - Michael: It's a song about seducing someone named Michael. What more can I ask for (serious explanation is that it’s also very homosexually charged like you just have to listen to it… also feels taunting in a way where it’s like ‘oooooh you want me so bad’ and he’s RIGHT Michael DOES want him so bad). Also credit to this post for letting me know this song existed and inspiring me to make this playlist in the first place :-3

Mystery Skulls - Paralyzed: Just another song about how Michael is awestruck by David and feels compelled to follow him for whatever reason (the reason is that he wants him so bad)

TAEMIN - WANT: This is one of three Taemin songs on here because I think if David survived until present day he would fucking LOVE Taemin. Anyways this is a song about knowing you’re hot shit and everyone wants you and I think after seducing Michael through fucking?? Fatal motorcycle races and evil noodle mind tricks??? David deserves to feel that

Glass Animals - Gooey: OHGHGHGHFH THIS SONG… the vibes are impeccable on this one, Dave Bayley’s alluring voice feels like a slight remix of what David is going for and the way it feels like the singer is trying to convince the listener of something (even though it’s purposely vague) just FEELS like David with Michael. The line “I can’t take this place, I can’t take this place/I just need to go where I can get some space” especially fits when imagining how Michael is new to Santa Carla and may want a place to belong that David and the boys are happy to provide

TAEMIN - Impressionable: I see this as the moment that Michael downs the bottle of “wine”, where this song is David’s internal monologue reveling in how easy it was to charm Michael and get him to join. I always thought this sounded like a taunting villain song so it just fits. Also it’s like ridiculously horny which is a plus

PART 2: THE RELATIONSHIP ITSELF

MGMT - Me and Michael: In my head this is directly after Michael drinks the “wine”, and if it were an actual song in the movie, it’d play instead of Cry Little Sister in that scene. I already made art related to this but I really just love the juxtaposition between something that Michael will later see as horrible (becoming a half-vampire) and David seeing it as a perfect slow-dance moment. Also “Me and Michael, it’s not a question now” because the blood drinking has now linked them together… mmmmm. Credit to this post again for making me find this song!!

ALI - DESPERADO: This one is less about David and Michael specifically and more about how the night in the cave went down for everyone there, starting with a soft slowness as they ate and then descending into chaos as Michael downs the wine and they celebrate a new addition to the pack. The bacchanal energy is off the charts

Dorian Electra - Man to Man: This song is just one that I attribute to all of the boys because I think they do a lot of homoerotic sparring. Also the part of the movie where Michael punches David in the face and David just goes >:-3 back at him

Chase Atlantic - Friends: I don't know what it is about this one but it just Hits… The chorus kinda sounds like David and the boys trying to convince Michael to stay with them instead of coming back to human society after drinking the blood, in the same sort of taunting manner that they had when David (presumably?) made Michael hallucinate the bike lights and sounds outside of his house

Taking Back Sunday - You're So Last Summer: THIS SONG IS JUST REALLY GOOD. I don't know what it is about this one either… I guess the “Maybe I should hate you for this/Never really did ever quite get that far” part could represent the first glimpse of Michael’s more conflicted feelings about David. Also the second half of verse 2 not only fucks so hard but could also be indicative of Michael’s repressed gay feelings, lying to himself about how he wanted to be around David because he’s cool or whatever but he actually just has the hots for him and would let him do anything if he asked to

MGMT - Little Dark Age: Mostly here just for vibes. Have y’all seen that one edit set to this song? Yeah

The Neighborhood - Prey: I feel like this song captures the general unease that Michael feels right before he sees the boys kill for the first time, knowing that he’s probably turning into a vampire and something horrible is happening… especially with “Something is wrong, I feel like prey” just generally describing what it must feel like to be a human among vampires (though he’s not fully human anymore at this point)

PART 3: REALIZATION + FIGHTING BACK

TAEMIN - Criminal: YET ANOTHER TAEMIN SONG!!!! It’s all about realizing you're with someone who’s like, an evil manipulative villain and genuinely bad for you but you can’t escape just yet because you’re kinda into it. I don't think David is THAT bad of a guy, but Michael could be like “I need to get out of this situation because this man is a vampire but I feel attracted to him and it’s hard to really get away”. Also the line “My hands holding yours that stabbed me are not clean either” just HITS cus Michael hates David’s vampirism but HE’S a half-vampire now so it’s not like he’s innocent either. This is just a really good 95060 song AND a good song in general, listen to it even if you don't normally like K-pop cus it slaps

Glass Animals - Wyrd: This would be the moment where Michael snaps out of it and just starts running away, but to no avail, because he’s still a half-vampire (“You can’t run so you must hide” meaning that he can’t outrun his new monstrous nature, the best he can do is hide it until it eats him alive). Meanwhile David laments over how this is a stupid decision from his perspective (“So, my friend, our time is done/You and I could’ve had so much”)

Moonface - Minotaur Forgiving Theseus: This is a very veeeeery bitter song from Michael’s perspective about David being a vampire… with the “You’re just a hitman” repetition referencing how David. Y’know. Eats people. And the “I heard you're coming for me now” references both how David first approached him and the impending confrontation

The Neighborhood - The Beach: This song goes from the bitterness of the previous one to a pseudo-acceptance of the end of their brief friendship and what’s inevitably going to happen next. However, I think the bridge of the song illustrates the little bit of Michael that doesn’t want this to happen, that wants this relationship to somehow work out because he cares about David even if he is a vampire (unfortunately he ends up repressing this because he feels a duty to kill David now)

Gorillaz - Rhinestone Eyes: This is mostly in here because of the music video, the buildup to a battle just echoes in my head whenever I hear this song now. In the context of this playlist it makes me imagine David looking up at the Emerson’s house from the hotel (and Michael doing the opposite) knowing that something’s about to happen and it’s going to be horrible

Glass Animals - JDNT: This entire song feels like the climax of the movie. Verse 1 feels like the Emersons and Frogs getting ready to attack the cave (“I’m all armored up”) with “I feel that final poke” being when Marko gets staked, and the chorus right after is a tinge of regret that Michael feels once the plan starts to take shape. Verse 2 is the other boys waking up to see that Marko is dead + them dying themselves (“Where my funny friends gone?”) and the bridge is Michael and David’s fight before Michael finally gores David on the antlers. The outro of “You can’t breathe without me” VERY much feels like David taunting Michael from beyond the grave, knowing how much Michael loved him and how horrible what he’s just done is

PART 4: GRIEF

The Brazen Youth - Burn Slowly/I Love You: Ooooooghghgh the conflicted feelings about their relationship is STRONG in this one… The “Burn Slowly” part being him trying to convince himself that he did the right thing by killing David while the “I Love You” part is him realizing that he really did love David and it fucking hurts

Sufjan Stevens - The Predatory Wasp Of The Palisades Is Out To Get Us: MAN. MAN… Everything past “I can’t explain the state that I'm in” is just so… it’s Michael realizing what he had even more and just how much it hurts that he’s lost it. He knows he was in love now and it fucking hurts SO MUCH!!!!!

Sufjan Stevens - The Only Thing: [head in my fucking hands] Michael moping around Santa Carla because it feels empty without David. All the “should I tear my eyes out now?/Should I tear my heart out now?” parts oh my GOOOOOOOOD sufjan stevens i'm going to slap you on the head.

Paramore - Tell Me How: THIS SONG HURTS SO MUCH ITS SO. It’s another one about conflicting feelings so theoretically it should be earlier in the story but I always envision something very morbid when listening to this (and have now written a fic about it so check that out)… Michael going back to the hotel where he put David’s body and musing to no one, asking how he’s supposed to feel now, the “And always coming to your defenses” where Michael keeps defending David and their relationship to his family who all think David was a horrible monster… this song fucking hurts. Also I unintentionally drew a parallel between JDNT’s “You can’t breathe without me” and this song’s “Do I suffocate or let go?” and now that I’ve realized that it hurts even more. Fuck this song

[princessjungeun]

5:18 pm: Jihyo x 10th Member! Reader

cw// crying, anxiety

Even though you and the rest of Twice made your debut long ago, you still felt that you lacked skills. Specifically vocal skills.

Through the two and a half years you trained with a dancer focus. You and Momo were both often trained together, among others but you two were the ones that stuck out the most in your classes. In addition to this you didn’t get much vocal training due to your own choice.

Every time you went into a vocal booth or vocal practice room as a trainee, there was never any positive feedback. You knew that your voice was lacking and instructors didn’t fail to remind you. Going through nothing but criticism with very little praise took a toll on your confidence.

You barely even made the debut line up for Twice, ranking 10th overall by the skin of your teeth. After debut you already felt inferior when you saw how your other members sang. With time you saw the way all of them got better and better, however you felt like there was no difference.

Jihyo, being your unnie, leader, and girlfriend was always there to make you feel better during these times. She knew how self conscious you were about your voice. She also noticed the way your anxiety increased at the mere thought of being in the recording booth.

Producers always teased you for the fear you had with recording vocals. All they saw was how you’d always push your members to record before you, trying to wait as long as your could before going inside the booth.

What they didn’t see was the way your hands would shake and clam up when you laid eyes on the recording booth. The real reason you hummed before singing was because you couldn’t open your mouth to sing right away. Almost nobody understood the anxiety and deep pain that recording studios brought you. They thought you were silly for turning off all the lights in the studio when you had to record. They just didn’t get it.

Recording studios were supposed to be a safe space, somewhere that singers can relax and let everything out. For you, everything bad during your trainee days happened in a recording booth. There were no good memories associated with the space.

But nobody understood that except for Jihyo. She knew from the moment you two were put in the same team on Sixteen. For that reason she always kept a close eye on you during vocal sessions. Especially after you two got together, she was there when you needed her.

Today you all were recording for...honestly who knows what. Your company kept you all busy with very little breaks despite your desperate pleas for one.

“Alright Mina, good job. You’re done for the day. Y/N. You’re up.” One of the producers sat in his chair, freeing Mina and telling you it was your turn.

“Oh wait would it be any trouble if I went before Y/N?” Dahyun hopped up from her spot, it was just you and her left for the day.

The producer looked at you and all you could do was nod. The vocal coach next to him stayed silent, but shook his head with a smile on his face. The producer rolled his eyes slightly annoyed and told Dahyun she could head into the booth.

“You know one day you’re gonna have to stop with this litte not wanting to record thing. If you didn’t want to become a singer than you shouldn’t have become a trainee.” He stated with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

You nodded and told him “y-yes sir I’ll work harder to fix that. I’m sorry.”

He ignored your comment and turned to focus on Dahyun who was now ready to record. Even though Dahyun was younger than you, she always did her best to take care of you here in the studio.

Less than ten minutes into her session the door opened and Jihyo entered. Your heart warmed knowing that Dahyun must have texted her to come when she saw the producer giving you a hard time. The producer paid your girlfriend no mind, most of the reason was that she was his favorite.

“You okay love?” Jihyo leaned over to you, wrapping her arm around you and pulling you close to her.

Not even able to speak you nodded and leaned closer to her. She smiled and placed a kiss on your forehead as you melted into her side. Her thumb grazed the side of your arm and she hummed softly hoping to ease your anxiety.

After Dahyun’s session the producer told you “alright Y/N it’s your turn. Go on in and thumbs up when you’re ready.”

You tried to get up but it felt like you were stuck in your seat. Jihyo mumbled into your ear “give me the signal and I’ll go in okay? It’ll be fine love. Just imagine you’re singing for me.” She pushed you up gently, tapping your butt reassuringly as she does with the younger members.

Closing the door of the booth behind you, you removed your shoes, a common habit when you came into the booth. You pulled your mane of curls into a messy puff and stood in front of the mic. The producer glared at you through the glass, just past his head you saw Jihyo giving you a bright smile.

You put the headphones over your head and gave a thumbs up. He started the first take and you did your best to relax, let the music guide your voice.

By the fifth take the producer had gotten impatient, the vocal coach speaking up for the first time this afternoon “Y/N all you need to do is sing the first verse. You aren’t hitting the notes you need. We’ve practiced this before and it was fine. Get it together.”

The producer added on, “this happens every time we record. It’s been years and you’re still struggling to sing one verse.”

Your vocal coach adding “I’ll talk to Jinyoung and see if we can switch parts with another member. I think Jeongyeon can take this part. Y/N can do the backing vocals for the chorus and then-”

Jihyo’s eyes were locked on you and the second you rubbed the bottom of your nose she was ready to be at your side. She got up from her spot and asked “can you give us fifteen minutes? I swear it’ll be fine after just- please?” The two men nodded and got up to walk downstairs to get who knows what.

Jihyo opened the door and kicked her shoes off next to yours. Your girlfriend held her arms out for you and immediately you crumbled.

Tears streamed down your face as your breath got caught in your chest. She rubbed your back soothingly, telling you “it’s okay. Shhhh it’ll be fine, i’m right here.”

She sat the two of you on the floor, wiping away your tears and holding you in her arms until you stopped crying.

“Can you tell me what’s wrong?” Jihyo asked softly

You told her “no matter how hard I try I can’t do this. The first time I ever get a full verse to myself and I cant even sing it. I’m just a failure and I don’t deserve any of this.”

Jihyo firmly said “don’t you say that. You have worked so hard to get where you are now. You have improved so much since the beginning of this. Don’t take away from your success when you hit one little bump. You deserve everything good this world has to offer you okay? You were doing well just now too.”

She continued “so take some deep breaths and when they come back I can stay here with you while you record okay?”

You nodded and leaned back into her arms, not wanting to leave the safety of your girlfriend.

When the two men came back they sat back in their chairs. They knew that Jihyo sometimes stood in the booth silently while you were recorded so they didn’t ask questions. You gave them a thumbs up followed by a weak smile.

Jihyo flicked the lights off in the booth, another thing you usually did when you needed it. She stood behind you with her arms wrapped lightly around your waist.

You shifted from foot to foot as you hummed, vocalizing softly to the music until you could sing. Feeling her hand slip into yours you smiled, gaining enough confidence for the first time today to sing.

When you finished your last take of the day she kissed you softly. You gently carded your hand through her hair and mumbled “thank you Hyo...i love you.”

She smiled and kissed you again, “of course baby.”

Jihyo linked her pinky with yours, kissing the two gently, “always.”

You flicked the light back on, and the two of you headed back to the dorm. Thankful that you had successfully finished a day of recording with your girlfriend by your side.

[ificanthaveu]

Open Door Policy || Shawn Mendes

Description: You and Shawn Mendes have always been best friends, neighbors and cowriters until you start feeling something more. But how do you tell the guy you write love songs with that you think you love him?

A/N: OK this is another one of those fics that came from a day dream and spun together really quickly. I honestly don’t have much to say and I feel like I usually do but I hope you love it :)

Word Count: 4.5k

As time ticked by so did your patience. 

It was nearly 11:00 pm on a Friday, and the last place you wanted to be was in the studio with an up and coming singer-songwriter who thought he was a lot better than he actually was. 

You sighed as you leaned back in your chair, watching Hayden scribble something down from the other side of the glass before looking up at you and motioning for you to turn on your mic. 

“I got something,” he said with a big grin. 

That phrase usually meant you had at least another hour of work to do. 

“Shoot,” you said as you grabbed your notebook, prepared to fix the line however you could. 

He pointed at his notebook with his pen before saying, “we’re meant to be, but we haven’t figured that part out yet.”

You cocked your head to the side and nodded, the line showing that maybe he was making progress. 

“It’s supposed to be you and me, we haven’t figured this out, but I know somehow we’re meant to be?” You said with questioning in your tone as you switched words around to make it rhyme and flow. 

“I like that,” Hayden said, jotting down the line again and erasing other things. 

“Um, not to rush you, bud, but how much longer are you thinking of working?” You said carefully. 

He glanced at his phone propped up next to him. 

“Maybe just fifteen minutes? Finish the chorus, and we can finish it and record it next time I see you?” He asked. 

You nodded your head as you took note of that. 

“Next Tuesday still work?” You asked. 

“Perfect,” he said as he hung his headphones up to sit next to you and finish the chorus. It just needed a line or two, or the start of a line or two, and then you could just go home. 

“Alright, well, dig into that line you just said,” you started as you turned towards him as he pulled up his chair. “How do you know, but still don’t know?”

He sighed and leaned back, looking at the ceiling and turning his chair in circles slowly. 

“I don’t know,” he said with a shrug. 

You tried not to sigh and hang your head, knowing his one line wasn’t going to carry through to a whole chorus. 

“I’m just thinking of, like, two friends. And they’ve been friends for a while and there’s this looming feeling that they’re going to end up together, but they just don’t know when or how, and honestly, have kind of been avoiding that feeling without even realizing they’re doing it,” he tried to explain. 

“So, everyone knows, no one wants to say it?” You offered. 

“Exactly,” he said as he rested his elbows on the table. 

You looked through some lines you had written before, trying to see how you could alter them and fit them into the song to convey what he just told you. 

“Stuck between something we can’t see…” you trailed off, writing it down in your notebook. “What if we never know what this is really about?”

Silence floated between the two of you as you both wrote them down.

“Man, I was thinking of going towards a happier ending with his, but I like where you’re going,” he said as he closed his notebook. 

You shrugged your shoulders, following suit as you put your notebook in your bag along with a few of your other things scattered in front of you. 

“Guess that’s just the feelings that want to come out of me right now,” you said with a soft smile.

Hayden looked at you for a moment before standing up. 

“I’m not giving up on that happy ending of the song,” he said as he walked to the door, he leaned against the doorway for a moment before continuing. “And neither should you.”

Once he left, you leaned your head against the edge of the chair. He may be a pain in your ass sometimes, but he was always really good at reading you. Which is why you worked well together. And why you were the cowriter on most of his songs. 

You finally picked yourself up and gathered your things before locking up the studio. Once you got in your car, you glanced down at your phone for the first time in the past few hours. 

5:12 - Shawn: When do you get home? Pizza night?

6:36 - Shawn: Maybe Chinese?

7:04 - Shawn: You know, at this point I might just eat cardboard. 

** Missed call - Shawn Mendes - 8:47**

8:48 - Shawn: [Y/N], I’m starving. 

9:15 - Shawn: Ok, so I ordered pizza and ate, like, half of it. But stop over once you get home and eat the rest, please. 

9:57 - Shawn: I know you don’t like that Hayden guy…is it because he’s been planning to kill you? Are you DEAD?

10:51 - Shawn: FINE, this is my last text, but actually please call me on your way home, so the pizza can be heated up and ready for you :)

You smiled down at the multiple messages before shaking your head and wiping it off your face. You pressed on his contact and put him on speakerphone before pulling out. 

“Thank God. You’re not dead,” he answered. 

“What do you expect when I’m with Hayden? We never finish anything in a timely manner,” you said through a laugh. 

“You finish things in a timely manner. He does not,” Shawn reminded you. 

You heard him rustling around as you assumed he was getting the pizza. 

“I got pepperoni by the way, and my door is unlocked,” he said. 

“You’re a lifesaver,” you said as you made the final turn into your apartment complex. “I just pulled in. I’ll be up in a minute.”

“See ya,” he said before hanging up. 

You gathered your things and locked your car before heading into the building. You stopped by the front desk to grab a package that was delivered before taking the elevator to the top floor. 

There were only four apartments on the top floor. One of them was owned by you. Two were being taken up by rich couples who traveled for a living and were never really there. And the last one was Shawn. 

You’d met him through James when you started writing with him when he was on tour with Shawn at the beginning of their careers. You were young and inexperienced, as was James, so you made a good duo. You had no idea Shawn lived in the apartment across from you until after you started moving your things in almost a year after you first met. Shawn kept an eye on your apartment when you were gone, and you did the same for him. But if you asked anyone, it was more like the two of you lived together with how often you’d just walk across the hall into the other’s place. 

The elevator dinged, and you made your way to Shawn’s door. You opened the door, and Shawn peaked his head past the wall to see you. 

“There you are!” He said with a big smile. 

“Yes, it’s me. I’m here. Alive,” you said as you set your phone on the counter. “Lemme run this stuff over.”

You crossed the hall, not bothering to close Shawn’s door before you opened your own, also not bothering to close it, and set your package just beyond the door before going to your room to change. 

You heard Shawn’s footsteps outside your bedroom before he said, “Do you want a Coke with your pizza?”

“You shouldn’t have to ask that,” you said through a sigh as you opened your door, this time in sweatpants and a sweatshirt. 

Shawn rolled his eyes. “It’s almost midnight.”

“You can’t have pizza without Coke,” you reminded him. 

“Alright, fine,” he said as you followed him back to his kitchen, closing both doors behind you. 

Shawn had your pizza set out for you with a glass of Coke next to it. He sat down across from you as you took your first bite.

“Write anything good today?” He asked, sipping at his water. 

You nodded your head and swallowed. “Yeah, he actually came up with some pretty good lines today. I don’t know if it’ll be a single, but it’ll make the album.”

“What’s it about?” 

“Being friends with someone, and kind of knowing you’re going to end up with them, but not really knowing when or how or how to even convey those feelings,” you said slowly. 

“Sounds complicated,” he said. 

“You bet,” you mumbled before taking a sip. 

“Have you ever felt that?” Shawn asked. 

“Felt what?”

“You just described it,” he said with a small smile. 

You returned the smile and took another sip. 

“Yeah, but I need you to explain it another way, so I can use it for the final verse.”

“Do I get a writing credit?”

“That’s up to Hayden, so probably not.”

He laughed as he leaned his elbows on the table and cocked his head to the side. 

“The questioning,” he started before pausing and looking out the window behind you. “Like you’re with this person and one moment, you think, this is it. This person is the one you’re going to spend forever with. And then the next…” he trails off. “You’re doubting everything you’ve ever known about them. About love. About the two of you. And you don’t want to screw it up. Because you’d rather ignore the love you feel than screw up this beautiful thing you already have.”

You stayed quiet as he described it. You didn’t notice you hadn’t responded until your eyes met his, and you nodded your head. 

“Yeah,” you whispered. “I get it. It’s complicated.”

“Exactly,” he said just as quietly. 

It went quiet again as you finished your slice of pizza. 

“Did I just give you your last verse?” He said through a smile. 

You shrugged as you grabbed your notebook from your bag and scribbled down a few of the words and phrases he used: questioning, moments, doubt, beautiful thing, screw it up. 

“We’ll see. Hayden wants a happy ending, but with where we are now, I don’t know if that’s going to happen,” you said as you looked Shawn in the eyes. 

“Never know,” he responded. 

“That’s what he said.”

“I think he’s smarter than we give him credit for.”

Shawn took your plate from you and put it in the dishwasher as you kept sipping at your drink and adding notes to the words you just added. 

“So…I know you’ve been writing all day, but-“ Shawn started before you cut him off by holding your hand up. 

“No ‘but’s. It’s almost midnight,” you said. 

“[Y/N], I already owe you my life and my firstborn child. Please, for the life of me, just look at the verse I’ve written so far,” he begged. 

You groaned as you rested your head on the counter in front of you. 

“Do I get a writing credit?” You mumbled. 

“You have a writing credit on half the songs on my new album,” he said as you lifted your head up. “And you’ll have it on this one, too. Like always.”

“You’re too nice to me, Mendes,” you said as you stood up and walked towards his piano in his makeshift studio. 

Shawn sat down at the piano, and you leaned on the side of it. 

He started playing softly and humming along to the song inside his head. You got lost in how his hands moved across the piano and how his body moved when he pressed down on a pedal, watching the expression on his face as he sang. 

“So, what do you think?” He asked. 

You hadn’t even registered anything he just sang. 

“Um,” you said softly as you sat down next to him to look at the lyrics jotted down on his notebook and quickly read over them. “Well, I like the music.”

“That was the most backhanded compliment you’ve ever given me,” he said through a laugh. “Do you like any of the lyrics?”

“Don’t say, ‘I’m falling in love,’” you said as you took the pencil out of his hand and crossed out the line. “There are so many better ways to say that and falling in love is a made-up term by The Bachelor.”

“It is not made up,” he defended. “You’ve never felt that feeling? That feeling of knowing you’re going to be in love with someone, but not quite there yet?” He asked. 

You shrugged as you looked down at the keys your hands were laid on. 

“I just think there are better ways of saying you’re falling for someone,” you said quietly. 

“Enlighten me,” he said as he turned to look at you, leaning his elbow on top of the piano. 

“Feeling something I’ve never felt before, the start of something worthwhile, the beginning of what could be,” you rattled off. 

“None of those fit in the other lyrics,” he said. “And I write what I feel, and this is what I’m feeling right now.”

“You’re falling in love? How are you so sure?” You asked, not even wanting to know who it could be. 

He shrugged as he tore his eyes away from you to play the notes again. 

“You just know,” he whispered before looking at you. “And that’s how I know you’ve never felt it.”

Your hands slammed down on the keys as you let them loosen up. 

“I had a boyfriend for over a year before I came out here,” you reminded him. “And I loved him.”

“But were you in love with him?” He asked. 

“There is no difference.”

“There is definitely a difference.”

“Well, then I guess I don’t know it,” you said a little louder than expected. “Happy?”

Shawn didn’t say anything as he stared down at his hands. You ran your hands down your face before staring at the lyrics jotted across his notebooks and your harsh line drawn through them. It was safe to say that you weren’t feeling the love songs. 

“I’m sorry,” you said, still not looking at him. “I just haven’t really been in the right headspace to write happy love songs.”

“Why?” He asked. 

You shook your head softly. “It’s complicated.”

“It’s always complicated.”

“Yeah.”

Silence filled the room again as you both sat facing the piano, your legs almost brushing up against each other. 

“I should go to bed,” you whispered. 

“Yeah, yeah, me too,” he said back. 

Neither of you moved, still staring at the piano or the notebook or the wall behind both. 

“I have a question,” Shawn whispered. 

You didn’t respond and instead turned to look at him. 

He cracked a smile as he looked at you and said, “How do you write the best love songs I’ve ever heard when you’ve never experienced being in love?”

“Talent and a romcom obsession,” you said with a smile. 

Shawn laughed and leaned his head back for a moment. 

“Well, you got me there.”

You both stood up at the same time, and Shawn followed you out of the room. You grabbed your phone and bag off the counter before making your way to the door. 

“I’ll see you later,” you said with a smile before Shawn nodded at you and you left. 

Shawn sighed and hung his head back as he nearly punched the wall in front of him. But instead of having to explain that to your building manager again, he went back to his studio, playing the same notes over and over again, not getting what you said out of his head. 

Meanwhile, you willed yourself not to cry as you climbed into your bed and pulled your covers up over your head. You sighed and laid on your back, staring at your ceiling. 

You couldn’t blame Shawn for anything. He loved everything he encountered. 

You just couldn’t do it as easily as him, which is something he couldn’t really wrap his head around. 

Because how were you supposed to write love songs about the guy who was writing them about someone else?

You could hear his piano still playing softly. Your phone lit up before you could text him. 

Shawn: You were right. “The beginning of what could be” sounds way better.

You smiled softly before quickly typing back. 

[Y/N]: Go to bed, rockstar. 

—

You heard rustling just moments before a pillow hit you in the head. You groaned and rolled over, burying your head underneath the covers. 

“Get up,” Shawn said as he kept hitting you. 

“No,” you mumbled as you glanced at your watch. “We didn’t go to bed until nearly 1:00 am, and you’re waking me up at 8:00? What have I ever done to you?”

“You said you’d work out with me this morning,” he said with a tinge of sadness in his voice as you turned to look at him. 

“I thought you meant around 11:00.”

“That is not the morning.”

“It most certainly is.”

“Please, I’m hanging out with Brian and Connor at noon, and you promised me,” he begged. 

“I have never broken a promise with you,” you started. 

“Exactly.”

“...and now’s the perfect time to start,” you finished, turning over again. 

“What? No,” he said, yanking your covers off you and off the bed completely. 

This made you shoot up and glare at him. 

“Are you going to be the one to make my bed now?” You asked. 

“No, now get dressed. Let’s go,” he said as he walked out of your room. 

Ten minutes later, and you were walking out of the building for a run with Shawn, still cursing him that you were up this early on a Saturday. But once your music started playing and you started running, you weren’t threatening his death any longer. 

You followed closely to Shawn as he lead the way through your usual route to a park down the street. The plan was to run there, hike and then run back. 

You made it to the park and slowed to a walk as you followed a path that Shawn picked. 

“Any chance you’re available to head to the studio at some point this week?” Shawn asked with a pleading smile. 

You rolled your eyes at him before you answered, “I’m pretty booked, so it depends. I think Thursday morning is the only thing I can do unless you want to do it at midnight.”

“I can make Thursday morning work,” he said, dodging a branch. “I’m going to need help finishing that song then because you were definitely right.”

“I always am,” you said with a smile as he bumped his shoulder into you. 

“Also, I’m sorry about last night. I went too far with the love thing,” he said quietly. 

You nodded your head, not wanting to look at him. 

“It’s fine. I guess no one’s ever really asked about it. I just wasn’t prepared,” you paused. “And you know I’m not as good at saying things as I am as turning them into a song.”

“You and me both,” he replied. “How come you don’t write a song about it then?”

“About never being in love?”

“Yeah, it’s real feelings. It’s what you’re feeling right now. And maybe for once, you could keep it for yourself,” he said. 

“I don’t sing. I write,” you reminded him. 

“You can definitely sing.”

“Doesn’t mean I want to do it in front of people.”

“Doesn’t matter. I’m just saying it could help to write about it since you don’t want to talk about it. I know how you are,” he reminded you. “I know this would be a lot easier than talking about it. Even if you just trash the song after, and it never sees the light of day.”

“Maybe I will,” you said with a nod. 

“I won’t be home until late tonight, so the piano is all yours,” he tempted. 

“You really know how to get me,” you said with a laugh. 

“Better than you’ll ever realize.”

—

You heard Shawn’s apartment door slam as he left to go see Brian and Connor. You took that as your cue to grab your notebook and laptop and head over to Shawn’s apartment. 

The door was unlocked as usual, and you grabbed water from his fridge before going to his little studio. You set your things down on top of the piano before making yourself comfortable. 

You didn’t even know where to start. You weren’t used to writing something like this. You didn’t even know what things you said in songs about not being in love. 

You pressed a few keys, trying out a melody you had come up with a few days before. You hummed slowly to it, writing down words that came to mind. 

“But maybe I’m wrong,” you sang quietly. “Maybe it’s been in front of me all along.”

You wrote it down before sitting back again. 

“Maybe my front door has always been open, maybe you’ve always walked through, maybe it’s always been you,” you sang louder. 

“I’ve never felt like this,” you paused. “But with you, I wouldn’t mind.”

You wrote it all down quickly as it flowed out of you, taking Shawn’s idea and mixing it with how you’ve been feeling about him lately. 

You tapped your pencil along your notebook as you thought of the next verse, getting lost in what time it even was as you finally felt like you were being honest about what you were feeling. 

— 

He heard it before anything else. As the door cracked open, the soft noise of the piano and the hum of your voice came rushing out of the room as if it had to get out. As if it had to be anywhere but with you. As if it was looking for Shawn and trying to pull him in. 

Shawn didn’t make a noise as he walked into his apartment and made his way to the studio to see you still sitting at the piano, putting your whole body into the keys of the piano and into the words you were singing. 

He almost spoke up until he listened. 

Your voice sounded so delicate yet powerful as you maneuvered into the chorus of the song, singing about feeling things you’d never felt before. The subtle references to a neighbor and unlocked doors didn’t make it past Shawn. He could feel his cheeks heating up as he didn’t know whether to walk out and act like he hadn’t heard it or just sit down next to you. 

Before he could make the decision, you made it for him as you turned to grab your water but froze when you saw him standing there. You could see his pink-tinted cheeks from a mile away. 

“Shawn,” you said softly, feeling your heart beat out of your chest, stuck between hoping he’d heard it and hoping he didn’t.

“Hey,” he said back just as soft. 

“You’re home early.”

“Yeah.”

Silence filled the room as Shawn finally moved to the piano bench to sit next to you, your legs pressed against one another as both of you tried to calm your breathing. 

“It’s a beautiful song,” Shawn finally said, letting his hands land on the keys and looking up at your notebook with scribbles and lyrics. 

“Thanks,” you choked out. 

“Sounded like you were really saying what you felt,” he paused. “What you truly felt?” He said in a questioning tone as he looked at you from the corner of his eye. 

“Uh,” you paused, trying to figure out how to get yourself out of this one. “Yeah,” you said through an exhale of breath. 

Shawn played the notes you had written out, the only noise being the music he was playing. 

The music you had just written about him. 

“It’s beautiful.”

“You said that already.”

Silence filled the room again as Shawn stopped playing. 

“I don’t know what to say,” he said quietly. 

“You don’t have to say anything,” you said quickly after. “You really don’t.”

“But I want to,” he said slowly as he turned to look at you. 

“What do you want to say?” You asked. 

“What’s this song about?” He asked in return. 

You went silent, turning away from him and back to staring at your notebook. 

“About not knowing what love is until you think you’ve found it.”

“And did you find it?”

“I don’t know. That’s the whole point of the song.”

“Open doors and something that feels like it could be more,” he sang softly. 

“Please just say something,” you finally said. 

Shawn stayed quiet and your head told you to run. 

You grabbed your notebook and laptop with one swoop as you stood up and walked out of the room. You heard the screeching of the piano bench as Shawn stood up quickly to follow you, catching you as you left his apartment. 

He grabbed your wrist to stop you before you made it to your door. You didn’t turn around and willed yourself not to cry as you gripped onto your things with all the life you had left in you. 

“They’re about you,” he said as he let go of you. “Every song I’ve written for the past year. They’ve all been about you.”

Your heart beat out of your chest as you turned to look at him. His cheeks were just as pink as before and he was breathing heavily, his chest moving just a little too quickly as he just stared at you. 

“It’s funny. It’s really actually really funny because you help me write most of my songs. You’ve been writing songs about yourself for over a year now and -“

Before you could overthink it, you took a step forward and pressed your lips to his to shut him up. After a moment of shock, his arm held onto your hip and pulled you closer to him as his other hand held your chin up. Your left arm stayed around your laptop and your right one found its way to his cheek. You only stopped once you thought you were about to drop everything, but even then, your forehead stayed settled against his as you both breathed heavily. 

“It’s about you,” you whispered. “You said to write it into a song. About never being in love. But you were right. I think falling in love is more real than I gave you credit for.”

“How so?” He said as a smile graced his face. “You falling in love or something?”

“Don’t make me say it.”

“Maybe you can just sing it for me sometime?”

“My door is always open.”

Reblog! Comment! Share! Send to your friends! Send me cute things! Tell me what you think!

Taglist (send me an ask to be added :)): @hauteshawn​ @havethetimeeofyourlifee​

[jaskiers-sweetkiss]

Sunset Swerve - Part 8

Pairing: Luke x OC

Word Count: 2.7k

Warnings: some light swearing

A/N: For some reason I really want to say ‘We’re in the endgame now” about this chapter but its not true? We’re in like the mid-game lol. Anyway, shoutout to @meangirlsx who unknowingly inspired some of the dialog between Luke and Jordan in this chapter with her tags on a previous chapter. Send me a message if you’d like to be added to the taglist and, as always, let me know what you think!

Part 7  Masterlist

___

When they arrived back in the studio, they had not expected it to be filled with music.

Julie grinned at them from behind her keyboard and everyone else stopped playing at their arrival.

“Grab your guitars, we’ve got work to do.” Even without saying it, it was obvious that the girl had forgiven Luke and Jordan wondered what Alex and Reggie had said to her.

Jordan did as she said, heading to her stand and slinging the strap of her electric across her body while Luke headed straight toward Julie.

“What made you come back?” He asked the question Jordan had been wondering herself.

“I realized how much music meant to all of us, and we’ve lost so much already.” The way Julie said it made it seem like she knew more than Jordan would’ve expected and she wondered again what the boys had told her. “We can’t lose this too.”

“Thanks,” Luke nodded thoughtfully, slipping the strap of his guitar across his body. “Alright boss, where we at?”

Julie smiled, settling into her place at the keyboard before leaning forward again. “Oh, and by the way, happy birthday.”

The genuine smile that drew from Luke sent a pang through her chest and she frowned, wondering if it was another one of those jolts. However, as she looked around she noticed none of the boys felt it. Oh hell, she cursed herself silently. She was so lost in her thoughts that she nearly missed Julie’s instructions to start at the pre-chorus.

Jordan was grateful for the distraction of the music, all her focus going into singing and playing, no room for stupid thoughts about stupid boys. Practice ended too quickly for Jordan’s taste but she knew realistically that Julie needed time to get ready and travel to the venue while they could just poof around. She just needed Luke to do something stupid so that she could remember why she hated him because her stupid smooth brain (Julie taught her that) had forgotten it.

Instead, he turned and directed his dopey smile at her and she swore she nearly swooned.

“We are gonna rock those managers’ faces off!” He exclaimed as they put their instruments away.

Jordan grinned back at him, silently blaming it on the rush of playing well and having a performance soon. She was always more agreeable around music. Out of the corner of her eye though she thought she saw Reggie and Alex share a knowing look and she glared at them suspiciously.

“Yeah man, it’s gonna be awesome,” Alex responded to Luke and the rest of the ghosts nodded in agreement as they shuffled around the studio getting ready for the performance.

Jordan decided to keep the outfit she’d been wearing all day, fishnets and her old black Madonna t-shirt under a pair of overall shorts and her Docs. With her outfit and hair already taken care of thanks to Past Jordan, she was just left to slap on some makeup, thankful that she hadn’t done it before she’d spent the afternoon crying. Luke sat down on the couch next to her, watching curiously as she worked.

“Do you mind?” She asked, looking away from the small mirror Julie had lent her to stare blankly at the boy.

“Nope!” He responded cheekily and she groaned, turning back to her mirror and her eyeliner.

She’d finally managed to get the wings down again, making only one mistake this time, so the process went by fairly quickly.

“Do you need me to do yours?” She deadpanned, turning to stare at Luke who was still watching her.

“Nah,” he breathed, smiling cheekily at her as he flipped his imaginary hair over his shoulder. “I’m naturally gorgeous, I don’t need makeup.”

Jordan gasped.

“Asshole!” She exclaimed, smacking his shoulder but laughing anyway. “You’re lucky it’s your birthday or it would be on sight for that.”

“‘On sight’?” Luke asked, puzzled.

“Some twenty-first-century lingo Julie taught me,” Jordan explained superiorly. “Basically means I’d fight you as soon as I saw you.”

Luke nodded lightly, eyes going wide at the threat but slowly a mischievous look began to take over his face.

“Hey Alex, Reg, who would win in a fight? Me or Jordan?” Luke called out and Jordan rolled her eyes, putting away her makeup stash.

“Jordan,” they both answered at the same time and Jordan laughed, giving them both high fives as she returned her makeup to her designated cubby in the back of the studio (they’d had to create an official organization system because the boys tended to just take anything they found and claim it as their own).

Luke pouted, sitting on the couch with his arms crossed like a petulant child as he glared at his bandmates.

“Sorry, man,” Alex shrugged, “Have you seen her boots? She’d absolutely curb stomp you without a second thought.”

Reggie nodded and Luke huffed, standing up from the couch and making his way to the door.

“You guys are mean,” he whined. “I’m gonna tell Julie.”

He’d meant it to be a threat but the other three ghosts weren’t fulling listening, only hearing Julie’s name.

“Oooh, I wanna see Julie!” Reggie exclaimed and Alex and Jordan responded with a chorus of ‘Me too!’s and ’Same!’s as they began clamoring around the furniture in the studio in a race to the door.

Luke rolled his eyes, grumbling under his breath as he followed after them.

When they arrived at Julie’s door, Reggie held his arms out dramatically, effectively halting the movement of the three ghosts behind him. Once he felt sure they weren’t just going to barge in he stuck his arm through the door, knocking three times while the other ghosts rolled their eyes or laughed.

“What are you guys doing?” They heard Julie ask through the door and Reggie stuck his whole torso through.

“We’re being classy,” Jordan snorted at that and Luke huffed, pulling Reggie back through by his belt loops.

With Reggie out of the way, Luke stepped through the door but at the sight of the girl sitting on her bed, all thoughts of tattling left his mind.

“What’re you doing? We go on in twenty minutes,” he asked as the rest of the ghosts stepped through.

Julie was sitting on the bed doodling on her mic, still in her clothes from earlier.

“Shouldn’t you be getting ready?”

“I lied to my dad,” Julie explained forlornly, “So now I’m stuck in my room all night.”

“Yeah but like, the venue is packed with VIPs and managers,” Alex protested and Joran hit his arm.

“She’s grounded, the presence of VIPs and managers isn’t going to change that,” she huffed and Julie gave her a tight-lipped smile.

“What’re we gonna do about my aunt? She’s right downstairs.”

“Your aunt,” Luke repeated, chuckling as he crossed the room, throwing open her bedroom window. “You’re not taking the stairs.”

Jordan opened her mouth to defend the girl, never having been as big a fan of going around her parents’ backs as the guys had been, but before she could say anything Julie grinned at the group of ghosts.

“Okay. Let me get dressed, I’ll meet you guys there,” she said and the guys all grinned while Jordan looked at her nervously.

“Are you sure, Julie?” She asked warily and Luke whacked her arm with the back of his hand.

“Moss, don’t change her mind!” He hissed and Julie laughed.

“Thanks for the concern Jo,” she said, giving the girl a kind smile and Jordan felt her heart warm at the new nickname. “But it’s fine. We have managers to impress.”

She nodded and the ghosts prepared to poof out to the venue when Jordan stopped them again.

“Wait!”

“What now, Moss?” Luke groaned.

“I wanna grab my flannel.”

“Why?”

“It’s chilly.”

“You’re a ghost you can’t-“

“Shut up.” She said, ending their back and forth by poofing into the studio and grabbing one of her flannels from her cubby.

When she poofed back to Julie’s room the boys were gone and Julie was sifting through the trunk in her room.

“The guys went ahead to the venue,” Julie explained and Jordan nodded.

“Alright, I’ll see you there then,” Jordan nodded. “By the way, that vest is super cool.”

Julie smiled in thanks before Jordan poofed away to meet the guys at the venue.

___

The announcer had just called Dirty Candy to the stage when Julie arrived.

“Am I too late?” She asked, slightly out of breath.

“Too early,” Flynn huffed, gesturing up to where Carrie was taking the stage.

Jordan couldn’t figure out how she felt about Dirty Candy. On one hand, Carrie was the spawn of a fraud who she’d always hated and Carrie was mean to Julie and Flynn but on the other hand, the group was really talented and she loved their sound. She supposed it was like her feelings towards Sunset Curve, she loved the music but hated the musicians.

“Wait, did she just make a big show of putting on sunglasses just to throw them away in the first verse?” Jordan laughed, furrowing her brow in confusion at the choreography.

“Shhhh,” Alex hushed her, staring enthralled at the performance.

Before they knew what was happening he was on the stage, dancing with the group.

Jordan whooped excitedly, cheering him on while the rest of the group exchanged looks of surprise.

“You having fun out there?” Julie questioned when Alex poofed back to the group.

“It’s not my fault. It’s my, um… it’s my feet.” Alex gulped.

“Yeah,” Julie said, clearly not believing.

“Put me back in coach,” Alex breathed, poofing back to the stage.

“Why have we been keeping him behind the drums?” Jordan joked as they watched him dance out the rest of the song. “He’s got moves.”

Reggie nodded enthusiastically in agreement, their eyes never leaving the stage.

“I was just doing that for you guys,” Alex said when he returned and everyone expressed varying forms of disbelief.

“Mhmm,” Julie hummed while Luke and Jordan rolled their eyes.

“Yeah, you can’t stop smiling now,” Reggie smirked knowingly and Alex blushed.

“That was, actually kinda good,” Julie admitted, looking as though she’d rather cut her tongue off than admit it. Jordan knew what that was like.

“Yeah, I forgot why I hate her so much,” Flynn agreed.

“Hi girls,” Carrie said in her overly-perky voice as she made her way over with her entourage in tow. “Isn’t it past your bedtime?”

“Now I remember,” Flynn pursed her lips, glaring at Carrie and Jordan snorted.

“If you’re looking for nick, he didn’t come,” Carrie addressed Julie coldly.

“That’s not why I’m here,” Julie scoffed, squaring up to the pink-haired girl.

“Okay, we have one more act tonight,” The announcer called, reading off the list on stage. “Julie and the Fat Ones?”

Dirty Candy snickered while the rest of them turned to glare at Luke.

“Yeah man, my handwriting sucks,” he admitted and Julie shook her head, making her way onto the stage while Carrie and her group stomped off.

“Hey. It’s actually Julie and the Phantoms,” Julie greeted the audience, quickly realizing they didn’t seem to care. “Okay.”

Jordan rocked back and forth on her heels excitedly as Julie placed her hands on the keyboard, beginning the song.

“Hearts on fire. We’re no liars, so we say what we wanna say,” she sang, the apathetic audience starting to pay attention. “I’m awakened, no more faking. So we push all our fears away.”

“Don’t know if I’ll make it cause I’m falling under. Close my eyes and feel my chest beating like thunder.”

Jordan took a deep breath, steadying herself as their time to join in approached. She reached out, grabbing Alex and Reggie’s hands on either side of her repeating the small ritual Apollo 81 had always done before going on stage.

“I wanna fly, come alive, watch me shine,” As Julie sang the refrain Jordan squeezed the boys’ hands comfortingly, letting go just in time for them to poof onstage.

“I got a spark in me. Hands up if you can see and you’re apart of me. Hands up if you’re with me,” Luke joined Julie for the chorus as she made her way out from the piano to center stage. Jordan immediately made her way over to Reggie, the two ghosts rocking out together in front of Alex’s drum set. The mood in the venue had become electric, everyone’s interests piqued by their sudden appearance. “Now till eternity. Hands up if you believe. Been so long and now we’re finally free.”

Luke joined her and Reggie on Alex’s platform, giving Julie the stage as she sang the second verse. As arranged, Jordan hopped down, joining Julie for the pre-chorus.

“We know we can make it, we’re not falling down under,” they sang together, Jordan taking the lower harmonies. They’d bonded a lot after the dance, they could see it in each other’s smiles. It felt good to be performing together. “Close my eyes and feel my chest beating like thunder.”

“I wanna fly, come alive,” Jordan started the refrain with her before backing off to give her the final line. Rejoining Luke and Reggie in the back. “Watch me shine.”

The three guitarists jumped down from the platform as the chorus hit, Luke immediately taking up the mic next to Julie as he joined her in the chorus again, Reggie and Jordan singing the background vocals on either side of them and Alex in the back. At one point in the chorus, Reggie made his way over to Jordan’s mic, the two singing together briefly before he bounced over to Luke, finally returning to his own mic as they hit the bridge.

Luke and Julie took up center stage as they shared a mic, singing through the call and response bridge. The two had obvious chemistry and as Jordan watched she felt a pit forming in her stomach. She passed it off as just nerves, she was about to pick up the chorus after all, and exchanged smiles with Alex and Reggie, the two boys calming her down.

The crowd roared as they hit the chorus for the final time, Reggie and Jordan leaning into their mics as they joined the chorus.

“I got a spark in me. Hands up if you can see, and you’re a part of me. Hands up if you’re with me…” They sang through the chorus, Jordan taking up Julie’s part so that she could riff off the vocals. They’d decided the final run-through of the chorus was the perfect place to really show off Julie’s pipes.

As the song wound down, the three guitarists backed off again, leaving Julie to sing the last “Finally free” on her own.

The crowd erupted into cheers when the song ended. Jordan sung her guitar to the side as they all took a bow, the four ghosts disappearing. They reappeared at the back of the venue, sitting on the countertop of the bar and giving Julie huge thumbs-ups as she finished out their performance.

“Thank you. We’re Julie and the Phantoms,” she said into the mic, soaking up the applause before adding with a wink to her ghost band, “Tell your friends.”

The four phantoms nearly lost their minds at that, all of them whacking each other’s limbs as they yelled excitedly. They were only starting to calm down when Julie bounded over to where they were sitting behind Flynn, giving her best friend a hug before grinning at the ghosts.

“You were incredible!” Flynn gushed to her friend.

“Yeah, we were!” Reggie exclaimed and Julie rolled her eyes slightly with a grin.

Just when Jordan thought the night couldn’t get any better, a woman in a power suit started making her way over to them, gracefully dodging Dirty Candy on her way.

“She looks all business,” Alex whispered and Jordan nodded.

“Wait! Who should do the talking?” Reggie panicked before looking around at the group, all of them giving him looks that said ‘really?’ “Oh, right, Julie.” He nodded.

“You’ve got this,” Luke whispered as the woman approached, sticking out her hand in introduction.

“Hi I’m Andi Parker and I would love to-“ she began but was cut off.

“Julie,” Ray called sternly from behind and everyone’s eyes widened.

“It’s time to go.” He said and Julie gulped, dropping Andi’s hand.

Oh shit.

Part 9

___

JATP Taglist: @meangirlsx

Sunset Swerve Taglist: @oopsiedoopsie23 @angryknightstatesmantrash @onlygetaway @deni-gonzalez @advicefromnixxxx @brooke0297 

[amylillian22]

Fu#k!n’ Perfect - Chris Evans Imagine

Summary: Y/N comes home after work to find Chris sitting in the living room in the dark. She does her best to not only cheer him up, but remind him he’s perfectly perfect just the way he is.

Warnings: Curse Words and fluff!

Author's Note: I came across this song (which I attached at the end of the post) and immediately thought this would be a good fanfiction for Chris Evans. Also, I wanted to switch it up. I'm constantly seeing Chris comfort the reader when the reader is feeling down. This time around, I wanted the reader to cheer up Chris. 

Also, please read this post if you haven’t already: Important Info. Regarding My Writings. PLEASE READ!

Enjoy and let know what you think.

[My Chris Evans Master List]

Y/N unlocks her front door and quickly closes it behind her. After locking it, she takes off her jacket and puts it on the coat rack. She untied her boots and put them on the shoe rack by the door. She turned around and noticed the entire house was dark. She furrowed her eyebrows as she also noticed Dodger didn't come running towards her the second she opened the door.

"I thought they would be home," she spoke to herself, knowing Chris didn't mention he and Dodger would be out. "Honey?" She called out as she walked towards the living room. As she got closer to the living room, she saw a soft glow.

"In here," Chris mumbled more to himself than to Y/N.

It wasn't that he didn't get up to hug and kiss her, and ask her about her day. It was the fact that he was sitting in the dark house and his eyes never once leaving the tv. Not to mention, he was holed up under a blanket it on the couch with Dodger by his feet, who looks just as sad as his owner.

"Honey," Y/N kneeled down in front of Chris. She massaged his scalp with the tip of her fingers, enjoying the buzzcut he gave himself a week ago. "What happened? What's wrong?"

Chris let out a huge, deep frustrated sigh. He slowly sat up, giving her space to sit down next to him. Still refusing to leave his side, Dodger made himself comfortable and rested his head on Chris' lap.

She sat with her legs crossed and facing him, giving him her full attention. Chris wrapped the blanket around himself, including the top of his head. Although it was clear something was bothering him, Y/N couldn't help the small smile forming on her lips as he looked like such a big kid.

"Honey," she soothed as she got closer to him.

Chris leaned his head on her shoulder, Y/N immediately taking the opportunity to wrap her arm around his broad shoulders.

"You know how I had that audition today?" He asked.

"Yes, the one you were really excited about."

Chris nodded. "I didn't get the part."

"I'm sorry, honey," she said sincerely.

"They said they didn't like my buzz cut because their character is supposed to have long shoulder length hair-"

"Did you tell them you can grow it out?"

"Yes, but they need someone right away. Then, they said I was too short-"

"Too short?! You're 6 feet tall! How much taller do they need you to be?" She asked in disbelief.

Chris ignored her question and continued, "they kept pointing out how wrong I was for the role and I didn't like it. It made me more insecure about myself than I already am." He let out another sigh of defeat. "It just sucks because this was the first real project I've been really excited and passionate about since Cap."

"Hey, you have nothing to be insecure about," she gently moved his chin towards her to make him look at her, but he didn't.

"You have to say that. You're my girlfriend," he mumbled.

"Honey, I can go on and on about why you are absolutely perfect. I can list what makes you the beautiful human being that you are. And, I would be happy to repeat how much I love you," she cupped his cheeks.

Chris' eyes welled up with tears. "Can you just leave me here so sulk while watching Disney movies?"

"No," she sat up and turned off the tv.

"Baby-"

"If I can't convince you, then I know someone who will," she grabbed her phone and connected it to their Record Player with a Bluetooth speaker they had underneath their mounted flat screen tv.

"Made a wrong turn once or twice," Pink's voice echoed through the speakers. "Dug my way out, blood and fire. Bad decisions, that's alright. Welcome to my silly life."

As Pink sang the next verse, Y/N swayed her hips to the beat as she walked to the kitchen. She grabbed a wooden spoon and made her way back to the center of the living room.

She sang along to the chorus from the top of her lungs, using the wooden spoon as her microphone, "Pretty, pretty, please, don't you ever, ever feel like you're less than fucking perfect. Pretty, pretty, please, if you ever, ever feel like you're nothing. You're fucking perfect to me."

Chris' lips started forming a smile. She knew her plan to cheer him up was slowly working. Chris got up from the sofa and extended his hand. Y/N gladly took it before Chris pulled her in for a slow dance. She pulled away from his hand and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist as Pink sang the next verse, hoping he would understand that she too is also echoing those same words to him with her loving embrace.

You're so mean, so mean when you talk, when you talk about yourself. You were wrong. Change the voices, change the voices in your head, in your head, make them like you instead.

He held her close as he slowly swayed back and forth. He buried his nose at the crook of her neck. Y/N's hand was at the small of his back, tracing small circles with the pad of her thumbs. She gently pressed soft kisses along his neck.

So complicated. Look how we all make it. Filled with so much hatred, such a tired game. It's enough. I've done all I could think of, chase down all my demons. I've seen you do the same.

Chris twirled her once before he spun her out and they both jammed out as the tempo picked up for the chorus. They danced and lip synced  like no one was watching and they were having their own private concert in their living room.

Pretty, pretty, please, don't you ever, ever feel like you're less than fucking perfect. Pretty, pretty, please, if you ever, ever feel like you're nothing. You're fucking perfect to me.

Chris grabbed the wooden spoon Y/N had used towards the beginning of the song and jumped on top of the wooden coffee table and started rapping.

The whole world's scared, so I swallow the fear. The only thing I should be drinking is an ice-cold beer. So cool in lying and we try, try, try, but we try too hard. And it's a waste of my time. Done looking for the critics, 'cause they're everywhere.

Although the lyrics were pretty intense, Y/N couldn't help but laugh as Chris' hand covered the wooden spoon as if he was rapping into a real microphone. Not to mention, his dance moves were as horrible as when Chandler Bing jumped on the coffee table and did his ridiculous infamous dance moves.

They don't like my jeans - Chris wigged his butt and tried his best to twerk. - They don't get my hair - He ran his hand over his buzzed haircut.

Exchange ourselves and we do it all the time. Why do we do that, what do I do that, why do I do that?

Chris moved a little to the side, motioning Y/N to join him. She jumped up as the chorus repeated again. She laughed as they both tried their best to dance without pushing the other one off. Dodger was excited as he started barking at his parents and started circling the coffee table with this tail wagging.

Pretty, pretty, please, don't you ever, ever feel like you're less than fucking perfect. Pretty, pretty, please, if you ever, ever feel like you're nothing. You're fucking perfect to me.

Y/N wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him flush against her body. Chris accepted her warm embrace, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist. She cupped his cheek and looked deep into his beautiful blue eyes. "Please don't ever, ever feel like you're less than fucking perfect. Pretty, pretty please, if you ever, ever feel like you're nothing. You're fucking perfect to me," she said hontestly as her thumb traced his cheekboone.

"I fucking love you," Chris said as he tightened his grip around her. "I don't know what I'd do without."

[morganaseren]

62. “It’s only one night, we’ll just share the bed.”

((Had to adjust the sentence structure somewhat, but how about I spoil you with a future scene from OtSttCA? ;) ))

“Have there always been so many steps leading back to my quarters?”

Leliana shook her head fondly as she guided Niamh up the staircase in question, practically half-carrying the other woman as she readjusted the arm slung around her shoulders. After her resounding victory of the archery contest, the celebratory party following it had been quite the raucous occasion.

“I had no idea your extended family could be so lively,” she mused humorously.

The Arlessa of Amaranthine had come to pay a visit to her dear niece and--given her history as a former raider of the Waking Sea like the rest of her family--she had brought along her sailing crew. Although well into the prime of their lives, they were all still a rather spirited group, and such energy inevitably fed back into Bull and his Chargers. As such, Skyhold’s tavern was overflowing with festive cheer and drink before long.

The latter had proven to be Niamh’s undoing, especially as her aunt pulled her into a rather intriguing challenge of sorts. Her friend had wound up singing an old folk song that was cumulative in nature, and as each verse lengthened, Niamh had to drain a full tankard of... whatever homemade brew her aunt and crew had brought along in the form of several casks before the rest of the crowd finished the song’s chorus.

“Ah.” Ghostly-grey eyes took a few moments too long to focus on her, but Niamh’s lips spread into a languid grin of satisfaction. “You’ll find the Mac Eanraigs and those under their banner know how to celebrate under any occasion.”

Leliana arched a brow in amusement. While her friend had won her aunt’s challenge, she was certainly more than a little inebriated now in doing so. She wasn’t quite slurring her words, but there was an overly-careful way to how she pronounced them. She was always amused with the way the woman’s accent came on a little stronger with enough drink in her system.

It was perhaps a surprise in more ways than one, as Leliana had never known Niamh to overindulge in all the time she’d been in Skyhold and because she had also been unaware of the woman’s singing ability.

---

“You never told me you could sing,” she had said, turning to Niamh in surprise when the challenge had been issued, and from the eyes of the other patrons within the Herald’s Rest, they all seemed equally intrigued as well.

“I can’t. I mean, it’s not--Um.” From the other woman’s wide eyes, it seemed she hadn’t expected the sudden attention. “It’s mostly just folk songs and old sea shanties--nothing like what you were capable of during our adventuring days together.”

“I certainly wouldn’t have minded if you wanted to share them at our campfire back then.”

“I suppose,” she admitted, shrugging then with a rather sheepish smile, “but I always liked listening to your songs more.”

---

“I’m surprised you held out as long as you did,” Leliana admitted, having sampled the drink that had led to her friend’s current state. “

“My Aunt Eithne would argue it’s in my blood. I can hold my drink,” she answered confidently even if Leliana was all too aware that the other woman would likely fall back down the stairs were she to stop aiding her. “Besides...” Niamh flashed an actual smirk her way. “It’s certainly nothing that would lead me wake up in another province with only a towel and my shoes.”

Leliana couldn’t help her laughter. “I can’t believe you remembered me telling you that.”

“Oh, I remember a lot of things about you.”

“Do you?” she questioned somewhat distractedly as she opened the final door leading up the woman’s quarters.

Niamh simply nodded, but the gesture was taxing enough that her head drooped down until her chin nearly hit her chest. “You’re not an easy woman to forget,” she murmured, and from the way those pale eyes lidded themselves, it seemed complete exhaustion would soon be upon her.

Before Leliana could respond, she heard the clicking of claws upon the hardwood floor above them, and she looked up to see Bain--Niamh’s mabari--standing at the top of the stairs. The long, fluffed tail that had been wagging upon their arrival soon slowed as he eyed Niamh uncertainly. She gently shushed him when he began whining in concern at the unfamiliar state of his mistress.

“She’ll be alright. She just needs sleep.”

“No, I don’t...”

“Considering how long it took me to get you up here, I beg to differ,” Leliana deadpanned, gently depositing the other woman on the bed. She was thankful that Niamh had been casually dressed prior to the archery contest even if she hadn’t been an active participant in it. The sleeveless tunic and loose trousers would likely be more comfortable to sleep in than the woman’s usual formal attire. As such, she only had to loosen Niamh’s boots and set them aside before pulling the furred pelts of the bed over her. “Do you need anything before I leave?”

“Would you stay here with me?”

Leliana’s brows rose. “Pardon?” When the other woman didn’t immediately respond, she looked around the room and saw the couch sitting next to the balustrade of the stairs as per usual. It certainly seemed comfortable enough. “Very well. I can sleep here if you wouldn’t mind me taking one of the blankets.”

“No, no. It’s only one night; we can share the bed.” She yawned, and the gesture laced the rest of her words with drowsy abandon. “I don’t move around much in my sleep, and even if that had been the case, it’s large enough that we wouldn’t easily bump into one another in the middle of the night.”

“Oh? Do you feel you’re going to have that bad a time come morning?” she asked in amusement, causing wintry-grey eyes to slowly open in sleepy regard of her.

“No,” she answered, a lazy smile playing on her lips. “I just missed you is all.”