#then friday im in love came on the radio and reminded me of him doing his stupid little dance and it made me smile and calmed me down a bit

[donttouchtheneednoggle]

shout out to thomas from ghosts for yoinking me out of a panic attack before it could really get going

[jemej3m]

(mobster/cop au) what did the foxes think Andrews husband would be like before they met Neil? Did they had a bet?

this is…..not what you asked. i went off on a tangent lol, but i aint sorry.

(also i, for some reason, just cannot write good betting scenarios. might be because gambling addictions are p.serious. i know its all in good fun though! so im sorry i couldn’t include it)

*

Getting information about Andrew was like pulling teeth, and this was news to no one. Seeing as Kevin was - probably, maybe, most likely - Andrew’s closest friend at the precinct (other than Renee. And Wymack, possibly), Dan and Matt seemed to look to him after the discovery that Andrew had a husband when they’d all been trapped in that basement. 

“Why would I know anything?” Kevin objected, when they’d approached him. 

“Because Renee won’t give up his secrets and I know you’re as curious as we are,” Matt supplied. 

“Well, I know nothing that y’all don’t already know. Apparently he’s married to a guy. I once overheard him talking on the phone to a Neil. Assuming that Andrew has no social life - which is an easy assumption to make - his husband is Neil.”

“Ooh,” Dan said, wiggling her eyebrows conspiratorially. “Mr Neil Minyard. Anything else?”

Kevin just shrugged. “Nope. Andrew’s a wall. You’ll never get anything more than that.” 

*

Dan crouched down behind the car, breathing heavily. “Fucking hell,” she muttered, as another round of bullets sprayed out. She hated shootouts. At least Matt was safe at the precinct: she’d been doing a patrol with Andrew and Renee when they’d been radioed. 

“Good that it’s a dead area,” Renee insisted, forever a ray of sunshine and goodness. How she and Andrew got along was a conspiracy to be marveled at, but it worked. “We shouldn’t be dealing with any civilian casualties.”

“Hey, coppers!” came a voice. “Fuck off! This ain’t your problem!” More bullets. 

Dan rolled her eyes, then flinched as the car they were all crouched behind was fired at. Andrew grunted, a furrow between his brows. 

“We told you to fuck off - !” the same guy yelled, before he was most definitely shot, making a gurgling noise in lieu of words. 

“Andrew, south east,” Renee called. Andrew got up on his knee and aimed quick: he was one of the sharpest shooters on the squad. Dan heard a female scream “Shit!” as the shooting quietened. 

“Nice shot,” she told the detective. He just grunted. “Right, clear out. Let’s never sign up to patrol this section of town on a Friday night again.” 

“Agreed,” Renee mumbled, holding her gun close. 

It seemed that whoever Andrew had shot got away: a pool of blood without a body remained evident on the path. The other group had abandoned their loud-mouthed friend, who was still writhing on the tar as the ambulance arrived. He’d only been shot in the arm, and it hadn’t hit bone. He’d be fine. 

“Alright,” Dan told her two officers. “How about we sign off?” 

They both grunted in agreement. 

*

It was Tuesday morning, and Andrew’s desk was empty for a second day in a row. Dan folded her arms and stalked towards Wymack’s office to demand that the captain give Minyard a call, but he held up a broad palm as she entered the room.

“Andrew’s cited a family emergency.”

Dan narrowed her eyes. “Sure.”

Wymack simply arched a brow at her. “His husband was shot. If you want to cross-check for me and give him a call, be my guest, Wilds.”

Dan slowly retreated out of the captain’s office. She wasn’t suicidal enough to give Minyard a ring, not under those circumstances. Wymack’s word was definitely good enough. 

She went back to her desk as Matt sidled up beside her, pressing a kiss to her hair. 

“No PDA at work,” she complained. 

“Shift’s over,” Matt pointed out, grinning. She rolled her eyes. “What should we get for dinner?”

“Not sure…” Dan trailed off as she watched Renee packing her desk, checking her watch rapidly and hastily slinging her bag over her shoulder. She pattered over to the bullpen’s kitchen and drew out a casserole dish from the freezer, lifting the foil to check its contents. With the dish held against her hip, she checked the freezer closed and made her way to the elevator. 

“Whatcha got there, Renee?” Matt piped up, helping the dish out of Renee’s hands when she’d dropped her phone. It wasn’t often that Renee got flustered: she hastily picked up the mobile and tucked her hair behind her ears. Dan noticed she was wearing lip gloss. 

“Well, since Neil’s been - sick,” she started. 

“Shot,” Matt supplied. Dan glared at him: he shrugged. “What? I read Captain’s lips.”

Renee snorted, taking the dish back now that she was more organised. “I offered to make dinner, and Andrew prefers punctuality. I just hope that Neil likes it: I’ve never made this quiche before.” she worried, quietly. “Andrew said he hates vegetables but will put up with them when they’re hidden away. And hopefully Allison will eat eggs, and cheese.”

“Allison?” Dan inquired. 

“Neil’s best friend,” Renee said, still distracted as she looked for her car keys. “Oh, heavens, I’m so late.” 

“Go,” Dan insisted. Renee smiled gratefully. “Tell Andrew we say hello.” She nodded and jogged towards the exit.

“And tell Neil to get shot less!” Matt added, unhelpfully. “I won’t keep doing his paperwork!” 

Dan laughed and leaned into her husband’s shoulder. She looked up at him, her chin brushing the crook of his neck. “Do you think Andrew will ever let us meet him?”

“Not sure,” Matt said. “It would probably completely ruin his cred as a stoic asshole. He’s probably a massive sap at heart.”

Dan smiled into the collar of Matt’s shirt. “Never put Andrew Minyard and sap in the same sentence again, babe.” 

Matt just laughed and looped a hand around her waist. 

*

“So,” Matt said, leaning against the edge of Minyard’s table. “How was your week off?”

“Great,” Minyard said flatly. “Go away.”

Matt ignored him and sat in the victim’s chair, leaning his chin on his hand. “You know, I’m pretty sure you and your husband have been married longer than Dan and I have. Do you have any anniversary suggestions?”

“Get a divorce,” Minyard grunted, looking at his report.

Matt grinned. “Don’t be like that. What did you and Neil do last time?”

“Nothing,” Minyard mumbled. Matt noticed his cheeks going red and rose up his eyebrows. Minyard noticed his look and scowled. “It was our anniversary this week and he was bedridden. Quit looking at me like that, Boyd.” 

“A January wedding,” Matt cooed. “Did you take photos in the snow?” 

“I will castrate you.” 

“Cool,” Matt said, airily. “Well, happy anniversary, Andrew. Tell Neil we said hi.”

“I won’t,” Andrew insisted. “Get lost.” 

Matt snorted and did as he was told. He’d intended to say hi to Renee, but she was over at Dan’s desk, so he sauntered over with his thumbs hooked into his pockets. 

“Hey, Renee,” he said, grinning. His fellow detective and his sergeant raised their eyebrows at him. “I’ve been thinking,” 

“You should be working,” his wife reminded him. 

“Andrew just had his anniversary, right? But they couldn’t do anything because Neil’s been bedridden. We should all pitch in for a gift. Maybe a weekend away?”

“That’s a lovely idea, Matt,” Renee said, grinning. 

“How the hell did you get that information out of him?” Dan said, incredulous. 

“I’ll email you some ideas: you know the two of them, best.” Matt rubbed his hands together. 

“Preferably not New York, not somewhere warm, or somewhere with lots of people,” Renee advised. “Neil is apparently forever antagonistic and it drives Andrew up the wall.”

“Sexy up the wall or angry up the wall? I don’t think we should be encouraging strenuous activity when Neil’s been recovering from a bullet wound.” Renee just laughed, neither confirming nor denying Matt’s inquired. She bid both of them good day and went back to her desk, ignoring Minyard’s inquisitive looks. 

“Why are you doing this?” Dan murmured. 

Matt shrugged. “Dunno. I feel like he deserves it.” 

Dan smiled at him. “Alright.” 

*

Kevin, Renee, Matt and Dan were all sitting in the breakroom. Andrew stormed in, bright and cheery as ever. It was a blissful Tuesday morning, sleet pelting down and temperatures well below freezing: As Andrew tugged off his scarf, revealing a wind-pinked nose and a fair amount of love bites just above his collar, he chucked a tin onto the table. 

“Who’s idea was it?” Andrew accused. 

Kevin watched Matt grin, looking up at Andrew. They were almost the same height even with Matt sitting down. “How were the mountains?” 

“Very pleasant,” Andrew muttered, peeved. “Neil baked those as thanks. I hope he poisoned them. You’re all the worst.” After a moment, and a reprimanding glance from Renee, he mumbled out a quiet “Thank you.”  and just as quickly as he’d come in, he turned to leave. He must have caught his reflection in the window, because he hastily tugged the scarf back around his neck, cheeks turned pink. 

Kevin huffed, looking to his colleagues. “Are you satisfied enough, now? I, for one, now know way more about him than I ever wanted to.” 

The Boyd-Wildses opposite him just grinned. 

*

ehheeheewill i ever post the renison + wedding thing? hopefully yes - if i dont run out of steam first. almost 2/3s of the way through my rbb and its taking longer than i thought!!!! also moving out of state, so a lot is happening rn and if that means i neglect ur asks and prompts i am very sorry!!!! 

[taexual]

HOLIC - 33 | jb x reader

pairing: Im Jaebum x Reader

genre: enemies to lovers au | roommate au

warnings: fluff + some mild angst to spice things up

words: 6.5k

disclaimer: i do not own the gif, please let me know if it belongs to you, so i can give proper credit

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Once Friday came, you and Jaebum had already planned out your entire weekend. You were going to leave right after both of you were done with work, endure the six hour drive without falling asleep behind the wheel, spend the night at the motel that refused to book you a room beforehand, insisting that you could just choose a room once you got here; then you’d go to your interview and then the two of you would make your way back to the city. The simple plan somehow excited you a lot more than you would have ever cared to admit, but, at the same time, it caused the sharp ends of your nerves to perk up.

You already lived with Jaebum so you saw him nearly every minute of every day and yet, the thought of spending the next six hours in the car with him still made you want to wrap yourself in the extra blanket you’d packed and hide your face in it so you could cover up your obvious anxiety. Jaebum would have probably loved to see you do that.

But then, when you two smiled at each other from across the apartment, your overnight bags in hand, you thought you could see the same exact joy mixed with slight nervousness in his eyes as well. He wasn’t anxiously tapping his hand against his side like you were, but that didn’t necessarily mean that he was sure what was going to come of this, either.

“Are you all ready?” he asked after checking the time on his phone.

“Yeah,” you nodded. “Clothes packed, phone charged, GPS ready. Let’s go.”

Jaebum smiled – and stayed still, just smiling for another few moments – before responding to your nod with one of his own. “Let’s go.”

He’d allowed you to exit the apartment first – thus, making you wonder if he did that because these unexpected gentlemanly gestures were just something that he did now, or because he was starting to get more apprehensive. It was going to be just him and you together in the small space of his car for a whole quarter of the day – perhaps more if you got a flat tire or something equally as bothersome and yet, knowing your luck, more than likely – and, while you were undeniably excited to experience that, both of you were obviously anxious as well.

As you and Jaebum descended the stairs, cursing the permanently broken elevator, however, you realized that this excitement-turned-anxiety was precisely the kind of mix of emotions one experienced before a first date. It was thrilling in a way – so many feelings caused by the uncertainty of going out with someone you liked for the very first time – but you already knew that Jaebum was the best shot of adrenaline you’ve never asked for. You and him had already gotten to experience a lot more things together than people who were preparing to meet up for the very first time had. And yet, when you looked at him – hopping down the stairs two at a time and stopping every now and then to wait for you – you still felt as if you, too, were about to go on a first date with someone you’ve liked for a long time.

Truth be told, this weekend did include a lot of date-like activities, in theory. Firstly, the two of you were going to be one-on-one for an extended period of time. Not to mention, this was happening immediately after you and him have—sort of—established that you’d passed the roommate label and landed on something that wasn’t quite as easy to put a name on – but it was, naturally, much more intimate than just a friendship. What was more, you were going to talk a lot, share more than a single meal with each other, and later, even sleep in the same room – which probably wasn’t a part of the cliché first date and definitely wasn’t something that you and Jaebum haven’t done yet, but this was the twenty-first century –  you could make up your own clichés now and repeat them as often as you liked – and all of these activities made your heart race by just imagining them.

“Okay, listen,” Jaebum suddenly spoke as he waited for you at the bottom of the staircase. His legs weren’t that much longer than yours and yet somehow he was still faster. “If you’re going to keep smiling like that the entire time, I’m going to need a warning.”

“Like what?” you asked, consciously stopping yourself from smiling and making a comically agitated face instead. “I’m just smiling. It’s a nice day.”

“We’ve had this conversation before,” he reminded you, joining your rhythm now that you’ve reached him instead of running down the stairs ahead of you. “You don’t have to lie about your reasons for smiling. I don’t mind it, I’d just prefer it if you warned me beforehand. It’s not good for my heart.”

You were suddenly very hot – Jaebum was grining as he said this because, the smartass that he was, he knew very well what his words were going to do to you – as you pushed his shoulder and scoffed. “You’re not good for my heart.”

“It’s going to be an interesting trip, isn’t it?” he asked, playfully taking a step away from you to avoid another punch.

“Well, I’ve never been in a car for six hours straight before, so it is going to be unusual,” you said, mirroring his cocky smile as you tried to outwit him, “but… interesting, with you behind the wheel? Not sure.”

“Are you saying I’m boring?”

“I’m saying I have a playlist ready to listen to as I nap while you drive.”

“Oh, I see,” he was laughing as he nodded, opening the door of the building for you. “I’ll just have to keep you awake, then.”

The first hour and a half of driving was alright. It wasn’t perfect – Jaebum couldn’t figure the heating out and refused to open the windows, so you tried not to die of heatstroke – but it wasn’t a complete disaster, either. Both of you got to talk a lot – mostly arguing about which radio station you were going to listen to – and the scenery wasn’t awful, either.

“This is the first time that I’m leaving the city in years,” you realized when you exited the hustling and bustling city center where you’d lived, and instead entered a dull – but decorated by unusually green trees – expressway.

“Really?” Jaebum seemed surprised to hear this. “I’d go camping here with my friends all the time back in the day. Of course, the last time I’d gone here with Youngjae and BamBam – both of whom are, uh, sensitive to all that lives in the woods – the two of them nearly burnt the entire forest down, so I’ve been kind of staying away from nature, too.”

You raised your eyebrows. “How’d that happen?”

“They’ve read somewhere that fire keeps wild animals at bay,” Jaebum told you. “So, they started it. And, naturally, since we were in the clearing of a dark wood, the only place for every single bug in the vicinity to set out camp was right by our fire. Or, in other words, right in the faces of Bam and Youngjae. To this day, I can still hear their screams.”

This got you to laugh – and Jaebum to smile proudly in response – as you shook your head. “Your friends sound like they’re an interesting bunch.”

“They are. They’re somehow different from each other, too,” he confirmed. “But you’d never be able to tell that when all of us are together.”

“Each piece of a puzzle is different, too,” you pointed out. “But when you put them all together, it creates a beautiful picture.”

Jaebum looked away from the road to give you a long – well, as long as the passing vehicles permitted him – look before returning his eyes to the road.

“That’s nice,” he commented weakly and somewhat distractedly because his mind was already on a different instance when he’d heard the exact same thing being said to him. “I think it was Mark who’d used the puzzle metaphor on me once before.”

“He has?” you smiled. “Must be my telepathic connections at it again.”

Jaebum chuckled with a small shake of his head. “He wasn’t talking about our friends, though.”

“No?”

“Hmm,” Jaebum gripped the steering wheel tighter before turning to look at you again. “He was talking about you and me.”

Honestly, his words didn’t take you off guard quite as much as they would have if he’d said this at any other point in your relationship. But, here in this car, as he was driving you to your meeting with the representatives of one of the galleries of your choice, every single thing he said to you seemed to be the exact thing he was supposed to say, and you’d have lied if you said you didn’t think the conversation was going to turn in this direction after you’ve mentioned puzzles.

You’d also thought of yourself and him in this way before. While you two were as similar as it was possible to be without actually being related, you also had your differences that, when assembled properly, were able to create a fairly peaceful harmony – like the one right now, with you two watching each other as Jaebum miraculously managed not to escape his lane by driving without looking at the road.

“Well, I’d say it’s a sophisticated metaphor,” you said then. “No wonder Mark would say something like that.”

“Hey, let’s remember who’s driving you to that gallery now, okay?” Jaebum replied, happy to return to the laid-back banter instead of the charged state you seemed to enter whenever the topic turned to your relationship. “It’s not Mark, as far as I know.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying choose who you compliment here wisely.”

“It wasn’t a compliment,” you said for the upteenth time since hearing Jaebum say it to you, “it was an—”

“If you say ‘observation,’ you’re walking from here on,” he warned half-jokingly.

You snorted. “I don’t have to say it if you know what I’m going to say. My point has been made.”

Jaebum just rolled his eyes instead of replying and then prepared to say something else, but you pointed at something in the distance ahead of you, distracting him.

“Is that a gas station, right there?” you asked, squinting. “Can we stop? I’m starving.”

Jaebum glanced at the GPS to confirm that it was really a gas station and then sighed. “We should have packed some food. We can’t keep stopping every half an hour.”

“This sounds too much like a “we have food at home” speech, so please don’t,” you closed your eyes as you shook your head. “We must buy ice cream. It’s too hot in your car.”

“The conditioner worked fine the last time I drove it,” Jaebum insisted. “It only stopped working when you got into the car, so it must be your energy that’s making it malfunction or someth—”

Your phone buzzed loudly all of a sudden, forcing Jaebum to stop talking in surprise. You glanced down, picking your phone up from where it had been resting on your lap, and then nearly tossing it out of the window as soon as you saw the name of the caller that had interrupted your progressing conversation.

“Who is it?” Jaebum asked, noticing you flinch faintly.

“No one,” you answered right away, hanging up the call so as to avoid having to tell him that Jiho’s name had just lit up your screen.

Jaebum gave you a confused look. “No one?”

“Probably a prank call or something. It said the number was unknown. I don’t answer those.”

Lying came surprisingly easy when you were hoping to avoid another argument similar to the one you’ve had in his studio the last time Jiho had tried to call you. You hadn’t answered his call back then and that was probably why he was trying to reach you now. There was not a chance in hell you were going to answer him, however. Not after what had happened between you and Jaebum in the past few days and certainly not with Jaebum sitting literally right next to you – you’d have rather stopped using your phone altogether than ruined the indescribable leap your relationship with Jaebum had taken.

“Really?” Jaebum was unsure. “What if it was the gallery?”

“No, I have the number of the receptionist,” you insisted, staring at the screen of your phone for another minute to make sure Jiho wasn’t going to try to call you again, and then putting it back on your lap, screen down. “So, the gas station? The food? The ice cream?”

He groaned – luckily, not finding your abrupt return to the previous topic suspicious – and, remaining true to his nature, proceeded to protest. “We’re on a tight schedule, we—”

“Jaebum,” a whine passed your lips and he immediately shot you a look that, if you hadn’t known better, you would have described as pleasantly surprised.

Clearing his throat, Jaebum sighed very dramatically – he had an appeal for the theatrics, but you knew that he’d deny it if you bought it up – and then switched lanes so he could pull into the approaching gas station.

“Fine,” he declared, making sure to give you a look that was supposed to be warning but was anything but. He clearly didn’t mind stopping at the gas station that much, it was all his pride. “But if you get crumbs in my car—”

As soon as he stopped the car, you were already leaping up from your seat, unbuckling your seatbelt and opening your door all at the same time.

“Great, thank you!” you exclaimed quickly. “I’ll get you some chocolate, too. Maybe that will wipe that frown from your face.”

“I don’t have a frown on—hey, if you’re leaving to the store without me, the least you could do is say goodbye properly,” Jaebum called out before you could close the door of the car after having climbed out of it.

You leaned down so you could see him. “What are you talking about?”

He smirked knowingly and tapped his cheek with his index finger instead of replying properly. Your eyebrows furrowed at this gesture.

“Jaebum, I will be gone for five minutes tops, I—”

He shook his head, tapping his cheek again. “I’m waiting.”

“I’m already out of the car, just—”

“I’m waiting.”

“God,” you groaned, resting your thigh on the passenger seat and crawling back into the car to press a kiss on the spot on his cheek that he’d touched before, and then pulling away to give him a blank look. “Happy?”

“No, actually, I’m not,” he replied, the neverending teasing making you roll your eyes even if your heart was thudding in your chest. Jaebum leaned in to connect your lips in a kiss that was just as innocent as the one before, yet it made your stomach do twice as many cartwheels. He was all smiles when he pulled away. “There, that’s better. Now go. Get me some chocolate ice cream, yeah?”

Inhaling deeply as you pulled back out of the car and then smoothed out the shirt you were wearing, you shook your head at him. “You’re too demanding. We’re going to have to work on that.”

“Oh, I hope we will,” he said, his eyebrows raised suggestively.

“We’re going to have to work on your flirting, too,” you added. “You need to recognize when the time and place for that is.”

“I’m sure I recognize it just fine.”

“You—”

“Do you hear that?”

You frowned. “What?”

“It’s the sound of my ice cream melting while you’re wasting our time.”

You didn’t bother dignifying that with a response and slammed the door of the car shut instead, all while keeping aggressive eye contact with him and then shaking your head one more time as you turned around and finally headed for the convenience store.

Getting away from Jaebum for a few minutes did not help you clear your head and reach a proper explanation that could have justified the reasons why Jiho kept on calling you – surely he couldn’t have cared that much about you not showing up to his exhibition? – but, at least, now you had enough time to make sure your facial expression didn’t look guilty even if you hadn’t done anything wrong.

Quietly humming along to the song that played on the speakers inside of the convenience store, you checked your phone again and then focused all of your attention on the very limited selection of ice cream here.

You were usually quick enough when shopping, but with such a huge list of things you’d have loved to eat and such a small store, offering very few snacks you’d have actually enjoyed, you struggled to choose what to buy. By the time you settled on whatever chips the store offered – you would have considered buying fruit or something equally as healthy if they had anything of the sort here – you felt someone’s presence behind you and turned around instinctively, only to see Jaebum standing there.

“Wh—shit,” you mumbled, startled. “Weren’t you supposed to wait in the car?”

“I was,” he nodded and continued to explain, his voice completely nonchalant as if he hadn’t just been creepily standing behind you, waiting for you to notice him. “You said you’d be gone for five minutes. It’s been fifteen.”

You looked down at the watch on your wrist and then concluded, “you’re impatient.”

“No, I just missed you,” he shot back and then before you could register the new wave of surprising warmth that had overcome your body, he continued, “hey, did you get me that chocolate ice cream?”

You sighed, showing him the two different kinds of ice cream you’d grabbed. “Yes, Jaebum, I got you the ice cream.”

“Okay. What’s taking so long then?”

“I’m trying to decide between—”

His eyes were no longer on you, however, as he searched his back pocket for something. “Hold on for a moment, I’m getting a call.”

“Oh, so a call is more important than me all of a sudden,” you mumbled sarcastically but Jaebum only smiled for a moment before frowning at the sight of the screen of his phone.

“It’s an unknown number,” he said. “Do you think your prank call was redirected to me?”

Your stomach dropped. You sure hoped that wasn’t the case or else Jaebum was about to hear Jiho’s voice on the other end of the call.

“Uh, I don’t know,” you said carefully. “Why don’t you answer it and check for yourself?”

He hesitated for a moment and then reluctantly picked up the call. Choosing to give him some privacy in case the call ended up being important, you went back to the chips and peanuts display and decided to buy packs of both – although the peanuts looked like they’ve been sitting on display for half a century.

When, a minute later, you turned around, Jaebum was still on the phone, but a huge scowl was on his face. He genuinely looked as though the same “prankster” that had called you before had now called him. It could have been a telemarketer, insisting he bought something or updated his phone plan, but the emotion on his face was far too grim for that – no one, no matter how much they hated phone calls from advertisers, looked this unhappy to be talking to them. This call was personal, you could tell.

And, suddenly, you were feeling incredibly uneasy. There was a handful of people who could have made Jaebum unhappy with a single phone call but, obviously, Suji was at the top of that list. If you hadn’t known better, you would have thought Suji and Jiho had conspired against you and Jaebum, purposefully refusing to leave your lives and poking their heads in just when your relationship had started to progress.

Once Jaebum finally hung up the call another minute later – you were certain the ice cream in your hands had already melted – you approached him with an obviously apprehensive face.

“Who was it?” you asked, dreading the answer.

Jaebum cleared his throat, putting his phone back into his pocket. “Cassie.”

So it wasn’t Suji, after all, it was one of her minions – as you’ve learned at the ice cream store the other day when you saw Cassie for the first—and, hopefully, the last—time in your life. You were still more or less correct about the nature of the call, though. Suji still had one foot inside of your lives.

“She’s throwing a party,” Jaebum continued, your stomach clenching more and more with each additional sentence. “She said she wants me to come. Reunite with our old friends and all that stuff.”

You nodded, your mind as blank as the fruit section of the convenience store. “When?”

“Tomorrow night,” he replied.

You looked down. “Are you thinking of—”

“Not a chance in hell I’m going. I’m done with that part of my life,” Jaebum answered before you could even finish your question. He looked gloomy just retelling the conversation he’d just had, so, to avoid making eye contact with you, he grabbed the ice cream and the packs of chips and peanuts from your hands, and brought them to the cash register before speaking again, “Besides, she probably only invited me because she told Suji she saw you and me together, and now Suji wants to know if we’re… together together.”

You’d followed him to the register where the cashier scanned your food with impressive speed – that, really, was almost as rapid as your pulse when you dared to ask him, “are we?”

Jaebum gave you an almost confused look as he handed the cashier his credit card and then took your hand. You thought this gesture was going to be his way of answering your question but, after intertwining your fingers, he added a quick, “we’ve always been.”

His ambiguous response didn’t please you – you sure were always together; that was sort of a given for people who shared one living space – but you waited until the two of you had left the convenience store and had unwrapped your half-melted ice cream before expressing your disapproval. “That doesn’t answer my question. You know what I’m talking about.”

Pulling your hand up to his lips and pressing a lingering kiss on your knuckles, Jaebum gave you a meaningful smile. “I know.”

He didn’t say it out loud and, honestly, he probably wasn’t ever going to, but you knew. You had asked because you couldn’t waste the perfect opportunity and not ask, but, deep down, you already knew.

There you were, walking hand-in-hand to his car, still teasing each other like you did when you first met, but this time, when Jaebum stopped walking to wipe the side of your mouth because you’d gotten a bit of ice cream there, you didn’t try to conceal your smile. You didn’t ignore the sudden surge of butterflies. You embraced them because you needed the strength they provided when, the next second, it was Jaebum’s lips on yours, tasting your ice cream as he kissed you.

And when he pulled away a moment later, the smile on his face gave you all the answers your heart might have been seeking.

You were together together.

A few hours later – once you’ve finished the questionable peanuts and the chips, too – it started to get dark. You were still only halfway there, and after already having endured a full working day, you realized how tired you were and how tired Jaebum must have been, too.

“Should I drive now?” you offered after you saw him yawn. “You could rest.”

“No, it’s fine, I’m not that tired,” Jaebum replied. “I’m just getting sleepy because the road is empty.”

“Oh,” you glanced out of the windshield, the empty road stretching out ahead of you, dark and lonely. “Do you want me to keep you awake?”

He looked at you, clearly curious. “How are you planning to do that?”

“Well, I could talk endlessly,” you suggested, watching his smile widen, “or we could play the question game.”

“The question game?”

“Yeah. Or 21 Questions, or whatever. Basically, just asking each other things back and forth,” you said and then, since he didn’t reply, added, “it’s like Truth or Dare, but without the dares.”

He was intrigued – because he knew that this would give him the opportunity to ask you the things he hadn’t gotten to ask you yet – but, at the same time, he was hesitant because, right here in the car, there was no way for him to escape if he was going to receive a question that he didn’t feel like answering. And it wasn’t like he could have taken a shot to get out of answering it, either, since, well, he was behind the wheel and neither of you had brought any alcohol.

Eventually, because he knew he would have fallen asleep otherwise and because that small part of him that was curious about learning more about you wasn’t actually all that small, Jaebum sighed and nodded.

“Yeah, alright,” he said. “Let’s do it.”

“Okay,” you leaned back in your seat, finding a more comfortable position. “I’ll start us off, then. Have you ever driven for six hours straight before?”

“No,” came Jaebum’s reply. “This is a first for me.”

Smiling, you realized that this was another first experience that you and Jaebum shared with each other – the very first one being, of course, your living arrangement. Neither of you had ever accidentally moved in with a one-night-stand before.

“Okay,” he said after a moment. “How long have you been a photographer?”

“Oh,” the question made you think, your mind taking you back to the early days, back when your dad had bought his first Canon when you were barely five years old. He would sit you down for photoshoots every day until he realized that you preferred holding the weird, sturdy device yourself instead of posing in front of it. “I mean, I’m not actually a photographer per se. Not yet, anyway. But I’ve been taking pictures for as long as I can remember. My parents were lenient, they let me use the camera that they had to take pictures of my toys. All of them came out blurry. I mean, up until I hit puberty, literally every single picture I’ve taken was blurry or had my finger covering half of it.”

Jaebum was smiling. “And what happened then?”

“Well, then my parents got me a professional camera for my thirteenth birthday,” you said, very fond of the memory. “It must have cost them a fortune but they were the kind of people who believed that, when kids expressed an interest in something, you had to encourage them in any way you could. You should have seen the look on their faces, when, aged fourteen, I told them I preferred painting to photography.”

“You had a painting phase?” he seemed surprised – but amused nonetheless – to hear this.

“Yeah, for a few months,” you confirmed. “But then I went back to photography because, as we’ve already established, I had very shaky hands, and paintbrushes, contrary to professional cameras, could not make them seem steady. Also, painting took up a lot of time and, at that point, we were approaching the rise of the age of social media, and, just like everyone else my age, I preferred spending my time on the internet instead of being creative. But that’s where I was introduced to Photoshop which, dare I say, improved not just the quality of my pictures but also of my life, so it all worked out.”

Jaebum chuckled, impressed. “Wow. You’ve really been doing this for a while.”

You nodded with a wistful sigh.

“Yeah,” you said. “But what about you, though? How long have you been singing and writing songs?”

“Are you stealing my question? That’s cheating.”

“That—it’s not cheating,” you scoffed. “There’s no rule against asking the same question back if it’s a good question.”

The quick compliment soothed his sour expression but it still took a good minute for Jaebum to find the answer.

“I think I’ve been singing for a long time,” he revealed finally, “or, at least, I was trying to. I remember my mom getting a headache because I would not stop singing this catchy pop tune from some toy commercial, but she never actually told me to shut up. She didn’t really buy me microphones or anything of the sort,” he gave you a look and saw the smile on your face as you listened to him, “but she never discouraged me, either. It was, uh… it was the teachers. And my friends at the time. They were the ones who told me to get my head out of the clouds because singing wasn’t going to take me anywhere.”

You figured there had to be a moment in his life where someone told him his music wasn’t good enough or that he shouldn’t have tried to pursue it, and that was why he was so bashful about his songs now. Only, you’d thought that it was Suji’s fault – she was the one who never supported his dream – but, the truth was, Jaebum was already insecure about his talent when he met her. She just merely strengthened his uncertainty.

“I wrote my first song – it was a rap song, actually – when I was in school,” Jaebum continued when a car – the only other car on the road – sped past you, distracting him for just a moment, “what the hell is that asshole speeding for, and with no headlights? I didn’t even see him approach—okay, anyway. That first song that I wrote was the ultimate diss track. I mean, it was so full of rage and included just about every swear word I knew at the tender age of thirteen. Which was a lot. Not to brag or anything, but I always considered myself one step ahead of my peers and that meant having more comebacks ready than any of them could ever have, so I would always win every argument. Naturally, my cursing game was at a very advanced level. And I put it to good use when I wrote that song, essentially, telling everyone who ever doubted me to go fuck themselves.”

“Oh, wow,” you laughed. “Maybe that song should be the first single of your album.”

He snorted, shaking his head. “Maybe not. It’s not exactly radio-friendly. They’d have to censor every second word.”

“Did anyone ever hear the song?”

“No, because my mom found the rough draft and grounded me for two weeks,” he revealed, the pout on his lips making you laugh again. “She didn’t want her son to turn into a perpetually furious rapper, so there went my lyrics.”

“Ah, I’m sorry,” you said, your voice full of humor.

“No, no, don’t be. It was a good thing,” Jaebum went on. “It made me realize that if I actually ever ended up releasing a song, I wouldn’t be the only one listening to it. My friends would hear it. My family, too. So, I realized I had to write the kind of lyrics that wouldn’t embarrass me. And also, you know, wouldn’t make my mom ground me again.”

“Hey, that’s actually solid advice for beginners – write the kind of music you wouldn’t be embarrassed to play for your mom,” you pointed out. “Did she ever get to read any of your other lyrics?”

“She did, yeah. A few times,” he said. “I was already older, though, and going through a phase where grounding didn’t mean anything to me, so, you can probably imagine the turn my lyrics took. I truly went through every single genre of music before the age of twenty, but the sort of lyrics that made my mom the least disappointed – oh, don’t laugh, I care about her opinion a lot – were the ones that weren’t overly explicit, but contained specific emotions if you just managed to read between the lines.”

“Ah, that’s where your hatred for abstractions must come from,” you remembered. “You and your mom are very close, aren’t you?”

“We—ah, no. It’s my turn to ask a question now,” he gave you a glance when you sighed, his life story interrupted just when your questions took a slightly different direction. “How many boyfriends have you had?”

You raised your eyebrows at this. “That is what you’re choosing to ask instead of telling me about—”

“Hey, at least I’m not stealing your question instead of coming up with my own,” he shot back.

“I didn’t—fine,” you rolled your eyes and exhaled slowly, trying to find a way to answer him without making yourself sound—and feel—pathetic. “I… I’ve gone on dates, sure. But I’ve never really had a serious relationship before. My longest one was a little over three months but, I don’t know, even though we were exclusive, I didn’t really know the guy very well, so calling him “my boyfriend” always felt weird. We broke up before I got a chance to get to know him properly.”

“Why did you break up?”

It was your turn to ruin his fun. “It’s my turn.”

Jaebum groaned. “This game is shit.”

“How many girlfriends have you had?” you asked instead, already expecting him to accuse you of stealing his question again.

But no such accusations came as Jaebum just cleared his throat and stared at the road ahead for a few seconds. The road – although almost deserted – was suddenly vibrant in his eyes as he realized the hazy state he’d been in before was long gone. He was fully awake now, each question you’ve asked causing shots of adrenaline to erupt into his bloodstream.

“One,” Jaebum said then. “Suji was the only girlfriend I’ve had.”

You hated the silence that always seemed to follow whenever one of you mentioned her name, but there was nothing you could do as, for the next few minutes, both of you just stared out of the window. You caught yourself counting the stars in the night sky just so you wouldn’t have to think about how many first experiences Suji got to share with Jaebum before you met him.

“My turn,” he spoke another moment later. “How many one-night-stands have you had?”

The question took you completely off-guard and you were very glad it was relatively dark inside of the car and Jaebum probably couldn’t see how flustered you suddenly got. You absolutely did not want to answer this.

“What is it with you and your obsession with numbers? Are you going to ask how many pets I’ve had next?” you accused, your voice nervous although you hoped he didn’t notice that.

“You told me there are no rules,” he reminded you. “I can ask whatever I want to ask.”

“Well, you can go ahead and ask something else because I’m not answering that.”

Your adamant refusal intrigued him to no end. There was no way he was going to drop this now.

“I wasn’t aware you could refuse to answer a question,” he said, as always, absolutely overjoyed to see you squirm.

“Now you are,” you replied sternly. “Ask something else.”

“No.”

“No?”

“No,” he repeated. “Answer me.”

You groaned. “Jaebum, come on.”

“You come on,” he countered just as childishly. “Just answer the question. That’s it. I’ll try to refrain from commenting on it if that makes you feel better.”

“You’ll try?” you said. “Oh, sure, that does make me feel better.”

“Stop trying to change the topic.”

You closed your eyes, suddenly regretting suggesting this game. After taking a deep breath, you crossed your arms over your chest, already prepared to defend yourself from his teasing that was to follow.

“Fine,” you snarled. “You’re the only one.”

Jaebum whirled his head to a side to give you a surprised look. He’d expected you to give him a number that would have explained your lack of serious boyfriends, but he was absolutely not expecting the reason for your refusal to answer him to be this.

“You’ve—” he began but you waved your hands, stopping him.

“My turn!” you cut him off, desperate to change the topic. “Are you working on any new songs right now?”

“I—” his mind still hadn’t moved past your previous revelation. “Y-yeah. I am. I’m working on a song right now. It’s almost done already, I have the lyrics and, uh, everything. Just need to work on the melody a little.”

“Oh, that’s great!” your smile widened as your heart continued to thud wildly in your chest at the sight of him, clearly so affected by your confession. “Will I get to hear it?”

“Sure. One day,” he said. “And that was a freebie, by the way, because, actually, it’s my turn to ask you something now.”

“Oh, God.”

You felt like you’ve wasted your turn. You should have asked him something more serious; something that would have made him break into another long story about his life so he would, hopefully, forget about the fact that he was the only one-night-stand you’ve ever had in your life. But, obviously, that was all Jaebum could think about as he kept repeating the next question he wanted to ask you in his head.

“How long have you had feelings for me?” he finally asked, his throat suddenly as dry as yours was.

You knew there was no point in refusing to answer this now because Jaebum was simply not going to have it, so you lowered your head and admitted the truth.

“A while,” you said, unaware of your ability to make his blood run still with just your words. “Far longer than I probably realize, anyway.”

The answer was vague – and Jaebum, theoretically, should have hated all things that weren’t specific – but he let it slide, staying quiet instead of inquiring further. Maybe it was because he could sense your next question and he was already trying to figure out how he was going to have to answer it.

Knowing that your vague response could end up being mirrored if you asked him the same thing, you shifted in your seat and rephrased his question, “when did you realize you had feelings for me?”

He remained quiet, his breathing uneven. After looking away from the road to glance quickly at the GPS on his phone – anything to win him some time – he suddenly frowned.

“Oh,” he spoke then. “We might have a problem.”

You were confused. “Sorry?”

He pressed something on the screen of his phone, glancing at the road and then looking back at the GPS.

“That’s funny,” he said but it was obvious that it was not. Pressing something again, he exited the GPS app and turned on Google Maps instead. “The sound of my phone is off because the battery’s dying and it would almost seem—huh.”

“What is it?” you asked, your tone a little more demanding now. “Please don’t tell me—“

“Yeah. It would seem that we’ve gotten lost.”

    chapter directory

[dat-town]

hearts in the foam (and typos in names)

Characters: Minhyuk (Rocky) & You

Genre: so much fluff!

Setting: coffee shop au

Summary: You always spell his name wrong because his frustrated face is too precious.

Words: 1.7k

Shoutout for @kmhoodys because I totally stole this from our list of AUs, hope you enjoy it! ♥ Also for @restlessmaknae as a thank you for getting me into the fandom.

Park Minhyuk would like to think that he's a patient and kind person in general. He's pretty sure his friends would agree – maybe not Sanha but that's only because that brat likes to dance on others' nerves. His mom is probably biased but according to her he is the sweetest boy in the universe – okay, most definitely biased. But the thing about Minhyuk is that he gets on well with everybody: with the elderly of the neighbourhood because he's genuinely interested in their stories and is happy to help with their Internet connection when they want to FaceTime with their grandchildren, with his classmates who know they can count on him whenever because he is a trustworthy member of the student council and even with all kinds of animals – except cicadas – but dogs in particular love him. So he's an overall lovable person, okay?

But mornings are definitely the rock bottom for him. He knows he can be pretty grumpy before a reasonable hour but he still tries hard to behave like a decent human being. One thing he needs in his morning routine is some kind of coffee even is he prefers latte over strong caffeine. And since he is a man of reasonable choices he always buys his daily cup of energy in the lovely café on the campus because it happens to be on his way to university. They make it just as creamy and sweet as he likes it. However there's one thing he can't stand about the service there.

“They keep getting my name wrong!” he groans dramatically as soon as he slumps down next to his friends at the lecture hall. They all – except Moonbin who looks like as if he had run the marathon this morning – look up at him just as sleepily as he feels with bones buried under tiredness.

“Who?” Jinwoo furrows his brows as he tries and fails to contain a yawn.

“This one girl who works in the morning shift of the café. I’m a regular but she still asks for my name and manages to mess it up,” Minhyuk blurts out what his problem is all at once. He puts down his paper cup on his desk and glares at it so gruesomely as if it was the source of all his troubles, the bane of his existence.

“Maybe she has very bad memory?” Dongmin tries to reason with a weak guess.

“But come on, I have one of the most common male names in Korea! There are at least dozens of idols with this name,” the offended guy shakes his head and instead of useful advices or mental support what he gets is Myungjun arguing whether there's really that much Minhyuk in the kpop industry and he starts to count them out loud. Only Jinwoo seems helpful and attentive enough to engage in the conversation even further.

“True, you have a pretty usual name. What can she confuse it with?” he wonders and the question makes Minhyuk sigh as he is reminded of all times he faced with different syllables written on the cup instead of the ones he should have.

“Minhyun, Mingyu, Minhoon, Minjae, Min-whatever or today: Minhee! For god's sake, that's a girl name!” he grimaces when he loses counting the names on his fingers. There were even more occasions but he really couldn't keep track on all the names that girl came up with. He was fairly sure she was doing it on purpose and probably spent her time on Naver searching for even more names but the 30 million dollar question was: why? Why would she do that?

“Maybe you should try something new. An English name maybe,” Sanha suggests and Minhyuk can't believe that he's actually planning to take his advice but he has run out of any better ideas. Now he wanted to see once for all if the girl really did it on purpose or not.

 So the next morning when he walked into the café and saw you at the counter, he mustered up all his courage to go to you like he did almost every day and make a bit of a fool out of himself with a smile on his face.

“Good morning! What can I get for you?” You turned to him, lovely as always. He swore your smiles were similar to sunrays warming the Earth and the glint in your eyes was like the stars in the universe. You looked the prettiest in that cute apron out of all the baristas at this place and it was truly devastating that it was your habit that made him frown with each cup of coffee he got.

“A large vanilla latte to go, thanks,” he repeats his usual order almost automatic and when you say the price he already knows, he pays without any other word.

He knows how the process goes by heart. He has been through this routine half-asleep, running to classes and totally out of it too, so it’s no-brainer what's next. So there it comes: you grab a pen and a big empty cup looking up at him with curious anticipation in your expressive eyes.

“Your name, please.”

It takes everything in him not to snap or blurt out his real name this time, but he keeps a straight face as he says: “Rocky.”

He watches your expression closely but you're either oblivious or a great actress because you don't even bat an eyelash before shifting your gaze to the cup and scribbling something on it.

“I'll let you know when it's done,” you promise softly and turning around you start to work on his drink as he sulkily sits down at a table while waiting. These quiet, short minutes has always given him the perfect opportunity to watch over you, the grace in your movements, the way you dance a bit to the silly songs from the radio or just the frown of concentration on your forehead as you draw the perfect heart in the foam of his latte. He almost forgets about his little test until you remind him to it in that melodic voice you have.

He's almost dreadful when you call him and he takes his cup. He shouldn't worry since everybody knows the American movie, you can't mess that up. And yet, you still do. The writing on the cup is definitely too long to be Rocky and isn't even a name to begin with.

You look cute when you are annoyed, it says and he just stands there dumbfounded while you're already serving another guest not paying attention to him any longer. He sticks by just a bit longer watching as the next guest gets his coffee – without heart in the foam! – then his alarm reminds him to get going.

He reads the message again and again as he walks towards the university building. At first he doesn't know what to do with it but then it makes him grin, then laugh. He doesn't even complain to his friends about the coffee girl that day and decides to change his strategy next time he visits.

 It’s a lovely, warm morning, yet he can’t wait to have a hot drink in his hands. This time he came prepared. He waits for his turn patiently but he can't suppress a sly grin on his lips when he finally gets to the front of the queue. You nod in acknowledgement when he orders his usual, curly locks of hair falling into your eyes as you hover over the cup, pen ready in hand.

“Can I get your name?” You follow the routine and at this point, Minhyuk becomes sneaky.

“Yes,” he says simply, irrevocably and for once you seem surprised halting in your movements.

“What?”

“Yes.” he repeats clearer, not breaking eye contact as you croak a brow at him.

“Okay,” you huff out with an amused smile tinting your rosy lips.

Then he has nothing better to do than play with the piece of paper in his hands and wait until you call his so-called name for his done drink. He steals glances at you a few times in the meantime and once he catches you staring back at him. You both look away caught red-handed. Though, it boosts his confidence enough to stride to the counter with pride when you call for him.

“Large latte for Yes,” you say it with all seriousness in the world without any wariness in your voice. The other guests in the café might look weirdly at the two of you but you don’t care.

“Thanks,” he walks up to you and gently takes the cup from your hands finger still brushing yours lightly. Quickly he checks the ‘name’ written on it and he puts a similar paper cup into your hands.

“Hope you are free Friday,” he says with a cheeky smile leaving your astonished once again.

“What?” you blink, fingers mindlessly playing with the used cup you just got.

“You just said yes,” Minhyuk shakes his own drink flashing your writing on it and you look down on the cup placed in your right. It's the one from last time, your compliment and a new line in messy handwriting under your message: Would you like to go out sometime?

Very smooth, you have to give him that and you can’t help but smile. You wondered when he was going to step up his game. You were anticipating, to be honest.

“Do I have to call you by your name then, Minhyuk?” you teasingly ask, mouth curled up in a charming smile as you gaze settles on the boy with most beautiful chocolate eyes you have ever seen. Not to mention the cute nose scrunch he does when he��s frustrated. If he asked you would admit that the first time was a mistake for real, a careless typo but after that you became careless and it turned into a game to play. You’re glad he went along with it.

“I don't know. Maybe you can come up with a better one,” he shrugs now and the smile he flashes you might become your next favourite thing about him. He leans a bit forward and quiets down his voice as if he whispered a secret.

“Maybe you could try something sounding like boyfriend. We will see,” he winks at you and when he leaves the café shop he not only brings his latte along with him but a little piece of your heart already.

[avicii-fanpage]

Pouring out my feelings about Tim...

(I know no one will read this, just wanted to get my feelings out) I wanted to do this for a long time now. I started listening to Avicii when the song "Levels" came out. I remember he just blew up on the radio (Im from Europe, Slovenia so the fact that it happened so quick after its release is fast). From that point on I followed his every move. With the album True, i remember that we went to this deeper connection. I really became a die-hard fan. I did love all the tracks that were mainstream, but i LIVED for the less popular ones like "Hope theres someone" and "Heart up my sleeve".

By now he gained so much popularity across Europe and around the world. And thats when I saw that he was playing in Austria. I begged my sister she would go with me since I was like 16 years old. I saved up for the ticket and we went. It was the best day of my life. I was in the front line and Tim had so much passion performing.

I remember i set a reminder when the "Waiting for love" song was going to come out. And the day that it did my dad was sent to the ER. I could't relate to the lyrics more. - Monday left me broken (when he went to the ER), tuesday i was thru with hopin (i went to see him and he was in such a bad shape, tubes connected everywhere), wednesday my empty arms were open ( when he finally woke up and i was able to hug him), thursday waiting for love, waiting for love (he was so doped up on medication he couldnt recognize me), bang the stars its friday (i saw a shooting star) and on sunday he could finally go home.

I then saw him on a Festival in Austria. I didnt have such a pleasant experience. The set was still bomb, but he was hardly on stage and kept going on and off and it kind of ruined my experience. Now we all know the back story of his Tour life and performing.

The day he announced that he will stop I was devistated. I really had this menality that the third time I went to his set I was really going to meet him... guess not.

For a few months it was quiet from him. He slowly started posting about recorning new music and I regained my initial support.

Long story short. The day that the news came a part of me died. His music helped me a lot with my battle of anxiety and depression. I saw myself in him. Shy, caring human just pleasing others. Just a few days before i rewatched his documenatry and my feelings were still raw.

We all know that you are in a better place now Tim. This world just took stuff from you, without giving back anything you truly wanted - peace. No one will ever take your place. Tim, we love you. ❤

[thosekillerheels]

The Mystery and History of Tori’s Piano (s)

[BACKGROUND]:

I've volunteered in the library's adult literacy program since 2008, and have been working with the same student, who has unique mental challenges but is still whip smart, since January 2009. He knows I go see "my piano friend" Tori sometimes, and that I will again this Fall. When I showed him a picture on Friday, heccould tell her hair was dyed and was concerned her hair would start to fall out. After I told him she lives in England, he was concerned about how the Bosendorfer would get to the states. He also was concerned with how much money she would make on tour after she paid the crew. He still reminds me how I went out of town (to Austin) in 2011, so Im not sure how I'm going to "live down" disrupting our meeting schedule for an entire month ❤️

FB friend:  Doesn't she have one for the States and one for Europe. I swear she has 3 at least

[MYSTERY AND HISTORY] (so many thanks to Richard Handal- Tori sleuth extraordinaire:

I apologize in advance for TMI. This stuff has made me nutty for years, and it’s been nearly impossible to figure out. The Böse she keeps at her Florida home stays put. I’m pretty sure it came from a convent or​ Catholic​ girls’ school or something in New England, if I remember the ancient radio interview correctly when she spoke of it. It’s not considered tour worthy. She said it has visible cosmetic damage to the outside, if nothing else.​ It was cheap. I don’t know its model number, and I doubt it has MIDI. It’s for home playing and composing use.​ In Dec 1993, she chose a model 275 from the factory in Vienna. She concertized with it exclusively, and I ​believe also recorded with it, through 2007 (although a much smaller ​baby grand ​Böse was brought on tour​s​, too, to use for promo stuff​,​ and as a back-up ​in non-MIDI situations​, which I don’t believe ever happened​). By 2007, the venerable 275 started to have some serious structural issues. I never confirmed it, but what typically happens with the 275 after decades is the glue joint on the far end of the case begins to pull apart. Tori’s 275 had been schlepped around the world over 24 years, so hers would naturally pull apart faster than if it had sat in a living room or studio all that time, and Bösendorfer gave her a new 280. ​​(By 2007, the 280 had replaced the 275 in the Böse product line because of the joint issue, but whereas the 275s have 92 keys, 280s have the standard 88.​)​ She did the 2009 tour with the 280, (although at some late 2009 events she is seen playing a smaller piano with that weirdo silver-colored metal Mid-Winter Graces logo on the side of the case). I surmise she missed her extra keys and the richness provided by the sympathetic vibrations of those four extra low strings. Around this time a quality Böse restorer was found, and he performed a Lazarus move on the 275 that was good enough for them to try it out at the 2011 Helsinki, St. Petersburg, and Moscow concerts, which preceded the proper Europe tour. The 280 was used with the quartet on that 2011 Europe tour, but they were so happy with the resurrected 275 that they sent it by boat as​ per​ usual from Moscow to the U.S. for the leg here. (There were four non-quartet concerts in South Africa after the 2011 Europe tour, for which the local promoter procured a rental Böse of undetermined model—at least *I* haven’t determined it. Ha.) I know nothing of​ any​ pianos between the end of the 2011 U.S. tour and the start of the 2014 tour, but for the 2014 tour​ both​ the 275 and 280 were gone, and she was using a full-on​ model​ 290 Imperial Concert Grand Bösendorfer​ with 97 keys​, presumably the same one we’ve been seeing recently at Martian​,​ when studio photos are shown of the piano there. I’m expecting the 290 t​o be used on t​his tour, but we’ll have to wait and see. In addition to all this, when there was a problem with the MIDI on the 275​ starting​ in ​Pittsburgh on 6 Nov ​1998, a Yamaha with MIDI was trucked up to Ithaca and Binghamton from NYC ​for use ​while the 275 was under the weather. Elton John’s MIDI-savvy piano tech had to be flown in from London before the 275 was back with MIDI in Poughkeepsie on 13 Nov 1998.  Also, a little, ​itty-bitty, ​teeny​-tiny Böse was custom made for Tori to be used at promo and other small events, and it made its debut on 26 Aug 2002 at a label event in NYC to kick-off the Scarlet’s Walk campaign. I only know this because a dear friend of mine was with Epic-SONY at the time and was in attendance. I’d love photos of that thing. She must not have liked it much. It sounded like a neat idea if one could make it happen, much like a Yamaha CP-80 with strings, action, a pickup, but no soundboard, but I have no evidence of its us​e​ anywhere after that one Aug 2002 label event.

 I should mention the 280s do not have a joint in the case as the 275s do, the layered piece of wood is steamed and curved around into the needed shape, so there *is* no joint to work loose. The 290s have the same case joint as the 275s, but seem to stay together longer than the 15-cm shorter 275s.  The last piano pictured is the 280

[steves-on-a-plane]

From This Moment

Words:508 SONG FIC: From This Moment - Shania Twain Tony Stark X Reader  Request: “So im listing to this song tonight and I just HAVE to have a Tony Stark story to this song. "From this moment on" By Shania Twain. OMG I just had feels lol. Of course I leave it to you to be creative. Thanks !”  -tonystarksgirl 

“For the love of god not this song again!” You complained as the drum beat of the familiar black Sabbath song blared through the car stereo. “We get it, you’re Iron man! Now please play something else. Anything else!”

“My car, my music.” Tony countered, dialing the volume up ever so slightly.

“Funny because last week when we were in Steve’s car, you insisted that shotgun got to play DJ.” You folded your arms over your chest.

“I’m sorry, did you want to listen to the fifty greatest hits from the big band era?” Tony smirked, keeping his eyes on the road.

“They weren’t all bad. C’mon just let me pick one song!” You reached for the touch screen that controlled the music, but Tony swatted your hand away.

“Absolutely not! I won’t have any of your Taylor Swift or whoever it is your into this week playing in my car.”

“Don’t be such a baby!” You snorted.

“I’m serious, [Y/n]! We listen to my music or we listen to nothing at all.” His tone was playful but absolute.

“Fine.” You hiss. “Nothing it is.” He didn’t stop you this time as you reached over and tapped the radio off. You whipped down the curvy road in silence. The quiet stretched awkwardly as the Avengers Compound came into view, still several miles away. You took a deep breath, about to do the one thing you knew would save the moment. 

“From this moment...” It was your song. The song that had been playing at the party the night you met. The song that never failed to remind you both just how much you meant to each other.“Life has begun.”

“Oh that’s not fair!” Tony wagged hims index finger at you in warning but you just smiled, continuing to sing. 

“From this moment, you are the one. Right beside you, is where I belong! From this moment on.” He was smirking now. You could see it just behind the long fingers he’d poised to cover his mouth.

“You’re a dork. I hope you know that.” He mumbled from behind his fingertips.

“From this moment I have been blessed...” He rolled his eyes at you.

“Oh alright.” He took his hand away from his mouth and joined you. “I live, only for your happiness and for your love, I’d give my last breath. From this moment on. Play it FRIDAY.” The car’s AI obliged, playing the song from the next verse.

“Give give my hand to you with all of my heart...” For that moment it was just the three of you; Tony, Shania Twain and yourself. Each of you singing your hearts out to the beautiful melody. Your voice was shaky and your vocals untrained, but Tony didn’t care. He took one hand off the steeling wheel and wove it around one of yours.“Can’t wait to live my life with you, can’t wait to start. You and I will never be be apart.”

“I love you, baby.” Tony smiled, bringing your hand to his lips for a soft kiss. 

@weirdnewbie

[kgysj-blog]

day 3 - 4/27/17

dear depression, hiya again!! ill just get right into it for the day since im a little late doin my daily post haha okay so i had a cute outfit sat out for school today & i got up at 7:05 & the tardy bell rings at 7:30 so i just threw on the cute outfit & straightened my hair really really fast & i had no time to do my make up so i went to school without that shiz. during first period (english) we watched wuthering heights again & it was super good. idk i just have some weird thing for doomed love stories it's weird idek.. lol. then i went to second period (math) and we got our tests back & i made a frickin 99 bc i forgot to change the sign on one of the problems & it made me hellllllaaaaa mad ugh but its gucci. we went over some more problems but ford made them harder and challenging for the people that don't pay attention i guess bc they weren't hard for me or connor lmao. i was in a great ass mood and i got to break and i was walkin in and chezly was walkin out and this nigga picked me up and took my to a chair & sat me down then patted my head and I ab died hahahahah i love that dude. then i ate two pieces of pizza at break bc it's good as shit. then i went to third period (anatomy) and did this learnsmart thing & i was actually really surprised bc i knew a few of the answers without having to go back and read on it so that was good. i finished w half an hour to just chill so i played the beer pong game on my phone (which im good as frick at might i add). then i went to fourth (economics) and we had an open book test which im pretty sure i most likely failed l o l but it's fine im fine. after that ky was crackin me up the entire time idek why i was laughing like a dumbass the whole time hahahaha but brett kept telling me shit wasn't really funny & all that & he's usually not like that and it really annoyed me tbh. like i can laugh at whatever tf i want, take ya bitter ass and go on somewhere bih. everyone was just in a really good mood i loved it (other than Brett, lol) then i went and sat in bakers w the rest of my buddies and it was like every single thing was funny and i felt happy it was weird idek i was just happy and relaxed & laid back. Andy looked over to me & he was "seriously everyone is in a good mood today" and it made me happy bc i love it when my friends are happy. so anyway, i went to career tech & i made up this test from like 2 weeks ago & i made a 100 on that bit and it put me in a good ass mood. then we had this practice sheet & i was answering correctly left and right & it was just good. then i was walking to the bus & i looked at Ry & i was like "im just really happy right now like im in such a good mood and i have been all day" and she said it makes her happy to see other people happy & that made me happy/sad bc i don't think she is.. i don't like when other people have problems bc i have a ton & it really does suck. well when i got to the bus i had a text from my bud that im not supposed to be talking to. it was just a game request thing but... why are we still talking? i am supposed to be on like my fourth or fifth day without him.. i think he's scared of what ill do if we cut off contact completely idk. he's the one that came up with the idea but now he's the one texting me. i mean im not complaining bc i dont know how id feel or be doing if he wasn't talking to me but ya know im just really confused. we played a few games & he stopped replying which i understand but, like i said, im just v confused. i slept when i got home from like 5-8. it was nice bc no practice. but i actually have some feelings to talk ab now lmao here we go. i think i have an over thinking issue. i mean i know a lot of girls do but for some reason i feel like mine is super bad. i psycho analyze EVERYTHING. its honestly ridiculous. also, i heard this song on the country radio & it reminded me of summer & Peyt and it made me sad so i turned it off bc no sadness :) i just wish i didnt have problems and we could work one day :/ last week its like i had come to the conclusion that he was ready to be done which meant i had to be obviously & i was hella fucking depressed and cried every single day but it wasn't all bc of him. i just have those kinds of problems & for some reason i couldn't control myself last week it was strange. last week it's like i had come to terms w being done w him & then he texts me on friday and tells me we need to talk in person and clarify some things & all that. well i thought what he said ab us needing to distance ourselves meant we were done so i was confused on what else there was to say...? but anyway i was kinda looking forward to closure and all that in person. like finally getting to hear his thoughts face to face so he could get it all out and us be done and learn to move on. well he never texted me back about it and then at like 1 am Sunday morning he tells me we don't have to talk anymore? idk THE WHOLE THING IS A MESS. we talked and said we needed to not talk until i had bettered myself bc my cutting and all that scares the shit out of him (and all my friends) and that he feels he is part of the reason. it made me sick when i read that. i don't want him ever upset or scared or anything when he thinks of me... i felt really bad. but i was like okay ya know we are gonna have to learn to not have each other soon anyway so i guess starting now would be helpful. and i was completely on board. and now we've talked every single day. and its so confusing idek. I just know i still love him and for some mf reason i can't change it and its embarrassing bc i feel like we will never be the same or even be together again. idek i just needed to get it all out :) i have sectionals tomorrow and i am really freaking nervous like REALLY NERVOUS but i need to chill out and focus so i can get top 3. i guess that's all for tonight.. goodnight :) love, g