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stuckinapatriarchalbullshitland · 4 years ago

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How the music world works

Hi guys!! I’m back again with another long ass post. I’m the Italian Anon, F Anon, and, for those who don’t know, the same one who wrote: “There is a light at the end of the tunnel” – “Hi Ciao Hola” - and the “Camren timeline”. So, yeah, hi, my lovely fellows CS. 🥰

I spent the last days writing this post, Mari/Stuck can confirm this to you guys, and it’s dedicated to all those who want to understand a little bit more how this shit works. Maybe understand even more what the girls went through. There would be many more things to say, but I’ve tried to summarize as much as possible and include the things I think are the most important.

Premise: I’m not an expert. These are simply things I know because I’ve loved music since I was a kid and because I’ve always been intrigued by the music business and how it all works.

Okay, that said, grab something to eat or drink, and let’s get started:

Bear in mind that the music industry uses what are called ‘royalties’, calculated in percentages, for any form of payment.

Copyrights:There are two types of copyrights in the music world regarding a song: 1) one for master recording, and 2) one for music/composition.

1) ‘Master’ is a term used to refer to the copyright of a song’s final and effective original audio recording. The copyright of a master’s recording can belong to an artist (artists) if they’ve recorded independently, [and if they’ve recorded with a producer then also to the producer who gets a small share of the master’s rights (up to 12%) in producer royalties], or to the record label, or to the recording studio if the artist is unable to pay for the recording services, or to any other X person who financed the recording.

2) The copyright for the music/composition belongs to the authors, that is, the songwriters (lyrics) and the composers of the song (melody). Owning music copyrights allows authors to control who can play their song, or distribute it, or publicly perform it by doing a cover, or sample a piece of the original composition to use for a new song, etc. Therefore, whenever a record label or a singer wants to record a song that is not their property, they must ALWAYS apply for a ‘mechanical license’ (which allows them to do everything I’ve just written) from the authors who are the legitimate owners. These copyrights can be fully transferred and assigned to others, usually publishers, who can authorize the use of that music through the transfer of a mechanical license, issued in exchange for a money contribution (mechanical royalties).

So, to recap to better understand. If someone records an artist/songwriter’s song, they own the copyright of the recording of the master/song. They DON’T own the lyrics of the song because there’s a difference between the authors of a track and the actual owners of the master recording. The musical composition made by the authors is generally represented by a publisher, while the sound recording, made by the artist and the music producer, is generally represented by a label.

In 5H’s case, Simco Limited still owns both copyrights. First of all because, especially for Reflection and 7/27, they didn’t have the chance to write and be legally recognized as songwriters except for ‘All in My Head (Flex)’ (and I believe they definitely did ghostwrite something). And secondly because, a recording agreement states that the label becomes the owner of all the master recordings recorded by the artist during the period of the agreement. Therefore, upon signing the contract, the artist is forced to cede the copyrights of the master recording [Cede/Assign: is the transfer of ownership for the entire duration of the copyright. In the case of sound recordings, it’s 50/70 years from their release. It doesn’t matter if artists manage to reimburse all recording expenses, those recordings/songs, including unreleased recordings, will still be labels property] to the label and to the publisher, which is often the label itself. In most cases, it is. In their case it’s a little different though. Although their contracts were with Syco and Epic, record labels, it’s Simco Ltd. (Limited), holding company, that still owns the copyrights for music and sound recordings. Simco Limited (Salmon Simon) is used to own copyrights and grant licenses, and indeed, Syco, which was in a collaborative partnership with Epic (both Sony), granted the exclusive license rights to Epic. When 5H signed the contracts, they ceded both copyrights to Simco, which granted the master recording copyrights to the publisher, in 5H’s case, the publishers. Of the many they had, four of the most important ones: Simco itself, Syco, Epic, and Sony.

Publishers: Publishers are responsible for the authors’ copyrights license and administration, and part of their job, is also that of pushing authors’ music by promoting it and actively trying to get it included in TV, movies, advertisements, etc. The authors grant publishers the copyright of their musical composition through a publishing contract, and publishers are responsible for ensuring that the authors receive a royalties’ payment when their compositions are commercially used and for monitoring where this happens.

This royalties payment takes place thanks to the registration of authors’ music that publishers make to collection agencies such as MRI (Music Reports, Inc.) and HFA (Harry Fox Agency), which take and distribute mechanical royalties, usually 50/50 between publishers and authors, and ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers), BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated), and SESAC (Society of European Stage Authors and Composers), which take and distribute performance royalties, usually 70% to authors and 30% to publishers.

Labels and publishers are not always the same thing, and indeed, there are four types of publishers: 1) administrator, a person or a small company, 2) independents, 3) major publishers, (labels) such as Sony, Warner, Universal, Epic, Columbia, etc., and 4) self-publishing, an author who holds the role of publisher themselves. They all do the same job but the differences between them are two: the first one is that among the first three, the difference is in the royalties’ commissions that start from the lowest (administrator) to the highest (major publishers), and the second one is that independents and majors can also provide advances. Majors especially, advance millions of dollars to the authors in exchange for a percentage that can reach up to 50% of royalties.

Distributors: A music distribution company signs deals with record labels or artists which then give them the right to sell their music. Distributors are simply concerned with providing music to consumers, not only by taking it to the stores to sell it, but also online for both sale and streaming. Their commission varies according to the agreements, but is usually 15%. Distributors can be real stores, record labels, and digital online like: SoundCloud, LANDR, Baby CD, TuneCore, DistroKid, etc. which pass it to Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Tidal, Amazon Music, Deezer, Napster, Google Music, Shazam, YouTube, etc.

Ghostwriters: Ghostwriters are authors who write on commission. The musical ones, can write an entire song or even a single sentence for an artist, without of course receiving credit for doing so. That’s exactly why the name ghostwriter/s. Ghostwriters sell their songs to record labels for their artists or can be contacted specifically to write a song. When ghostwriters sell their songs, they sign a contract with a confidentiality clause and receive a payment in advance. A big payment, by the way. Some ghostwriters remain copyright owners of their song, so they not only earn on the advance received for the sale of the song, but also receive some royalties when the song is used. Other ghostwriters, on the other hand, most of them actually, also sell copyrights, and for this reason, they earn absolutely no percentage in royalties because the song they sold is no longer theirs.

Labels: Record labels earn money when their music is purchased, downloaded, streamed, and licensed for use. When an album is released, the label derives a percentage of profits from the total sales in royalties. The percentage may vary according to the agreement that the artist initially signs in the contract, and of course, the more the artist is of a high level, such as Beyoncé or Rihanna, the lower the percentage obtained from the label. The percentage can be 97%, or 95%, or 90%, or 88%, or 85%, or 83%, and so on, but usually never below 75% unless the label is an independent label. The remaining percentage, whether it’s 3%, 5%, 10%, 12%, 15%, 17%, and so on, is given to the artist. But before the artist is paid, there’s the ‘recoupment’, that is, the label recovers all the expenses invested. And from their percentage, the artist has to subtract royalties that are to be distributed to the producers of the songs, to management managers, to the business managers, to the lawyer, etc. Producers’ royalties vary from 1 to 3% of the record’s selling price, managers’ ones vary from 15 to 20%, and business managers’ and lawyer’s ones are usually 5%. AFTER the costs have been reimbursed, the artist gets paid.

When an artist is signed by a label, the latter buys some songs for the album from authors and ghostwriters, and invests on the artist by giving them an advance to make that album. This advance is mainly reserved to pay for the recording of the album, and this means paying for the recording costs, which include the payment of the recording studio or more recording studios, the payment of instruments and equipment, the payment of producers, arrangers, assistants engineer, recording engineers, editing engineers, mixing engineers, and mastering engineers, the payment of the artwork that includes covers for the album and singles, both printed and digital, album booklet, promotional pictures, merchandising, etc., etc., but a part of this (advance), is given to the artist as ‘living expenses’, that is, as personal use.

Example: Let’s say the label gives $100,000 in advance to the artist. $80,000 must be reserved for recording expenses and the remaining $20,000 are artist’s for personal use. If this $80,000 are enough to record the album, things remain unchanged, but it may happen that it takes more money to record, or even less. If it took less, that money is added to what the label gave the artist for personal use. Let’s say that it took 70,000 to record the album, the remaining 10,000 are added to the artist’s 20,000, thus becoming $30,000. If, on the other hand, it took more, the artist must pay the difference or the label has the right to terminate the contract. Let’s say it took 90,000 to record the album, it’s up to the artist to take $10,000 from the 20,000 of their living expenses and add it, in the hope that they haven’t already spent it all on jewelry, clothes, and cars as many artists have done in the past, thus finding themselves in debt to the label from the very beginning. Same thing if it took more than 100,000 to record the album; the artist starts getting into debt even before the album is released and the label could conclude the contract. But, if the label exercises their option for another album, cross-collateralization takes place. Cross-collateralization allows the label to sequentially recover the money advanced for past, present, and future albums, considering them as a single total advance. Example: the label advanced the artist $200,000 to record the first album and $300,000 for the second one. For the first one, they only managed to return half, and for the second one, 200,000. These two debts (100,000+100,000), accumulate together by becoming a single debt to be paid in the third album.

It’s therefore important that the artist doesn’t go over budget, especially because, in addition to the advance to make the album, the label advances the artist more money to pay for many other things, such as music videos, promotions, designers and costume designers, make-up artists, choreographers, travel, merchandise, tours, etc., along with paying the management to advertise such as, booking TV shows, paying radio stations to play their music, and SO on. So, basically, the investment that the label makes towards the artist concerns:

1) the purchase of some songs.

2) the advance, which includes 3) the recording costs, which in turn include the payment of the recording studio/s, the payment of instruments and equipment, the payment of producers, arrangers, engineers, artwork, etc., 4) and 50% of marketing and promotional and legal costs.

Then 5) the packaging costs that vary from 15 to 25%, which include: both the physical sale (CDs, vinyl, cassettes) and the digital download of the album despite the fact that there’s literally nothing to physically pack, - the breakage costs which vary from 10 to 20%, and which are a precaution for possible breakage (CDs, vinyl, cassettes) during shipping, - the digital breakage costs, which is completely ridiculous given that, especially in this case, there’s literally nothing to physically pack, - the free goods which vary from 10 to 20%, and which concern a certain number of album copies that the label gives to distributors, radios, and other entities for promotional purposes, and since these goods are NOT considered as sold, the artist doesn’t compensate for those free albums since they’re paid only for (physical and digital) sales and streaming of the album, - and the reserve costs which are a precaution that the label takes by temporarily withholding a small percentage of the artist, considered to be a reserve, against potential returns that happen only when the stores send back the unsold albums to distributors by receiving a refund.

6) 50% of the video production costs from which the label usually also derives 50% commission on the royalties’ share earned by the artist.

And lastly, 7) the tour support costs.

Royalties and licenses, and there are several:

The artist royalties, also known as recording royalties and master-generated royalties, are those earned by the label and the artist thanks to the sales of their music. Whether it’s the digital sale, or if it’s downloaded, or streamed, or whether it’s the physical sale, that is that of a CD, or of vinyl, or of a cassette. The royalties are collected by the distributors, who draw up a maximum of 15% commission, to then distributing them in division to the label and the artist on the basis of the agreements made. Let’s say, for example, 85% on the label and 15% on the artist.

The mechanical royalties, like artist royalties, are those generated by all old and new music formats such as: CDs, vinyl, cassettes, digital downloads, and streaming services. But unlike artist royalties, these are earned by authors (songwriters and composers) when the song is: played and sold as a ringtone, streamed through on-demand services (e.g.: Spotify and Apple Music), sold for digital download (e.g.: iTunes and Amazon), performed by someone else as a cover, sampled and used for a new song [in addition to the mechanical license (the rights in the form of permits granted by the authors to use their music), a master license (the rights in the form of permits granted by the owner of the master recording to use a pre-recorded version, therefore with the voice of the artist who sings the song, of a song in a video or audio project, but doesn’t allow to be recorded again with a voice other than that of the original singer) is required to do so], modified in other versions (like for e.g. a remix of the same song) and performed by someone else (besides the mechanical one, it requires a master license to do so), and bought from a store (usually it happens with albums and not with single tracks).

These royalties are collected by a mechanical licensing organization such as Music Reports, Inc. (MRI, which manages those of Apple, Pandora, Amazon, SiriusXM, Microsoft, etc.) or the Harry Fox Agency (HFA, which manages those of major record labels: Sony, Universal, and Warner), which usually draw 11/12% commission from them and then distribute them in division to publishers and authors for musical composition. A single streaming listen generates both mechanical and public performance royalties. But to make a single dollar, on Spotify for example, it’s necessary to obtain about 230 streams on that song. Artists DO NOT earn any mechanical royalty unless they’re writers or co-writers of the song.

The public performance royalties are earned when a song is broadcast or performed publicly. That is, when a song is broadcast on the radio, on TV, or at the movie theater, or at a game, or in a club, or in a restaurant, or in a hotel, or in a shop, or in a gym, or from a jukebox, or in a live concert, etc., etc. Organizations such as BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated) and ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) also called PRO (Performance Rights Organization) where songs are registered with licenses and legal rights and which (these organizations) protect and act on behalf of those who hold the copyrights of authors and publishers, even granting public performance licenses (the rights in the form of permits granted by authors to use their music in public), are the ones that collect these royalties by usually drawing 16/18% commission, to then distributing them in division to publishers and authors for musical composition. Another PRO organization such as SoundExchange, on the other hand, is responsible for collecting royalties by usually drawing 14/15% commission, and then distributes them to: the featured artists of the song, usually at 45%, to the copyright owners for the master recording (usually the label) at 50%, and to the non-featured artists (artists not present in the song) such as for e.g. chorists, at 5%. As with mechanical royalties, artists DO NOT earn any royalty from public performances unless they’re writers or co-writers of the song.

*** Remember how I said earlier that management (through the label) pays radio stations to play their artist’s music? Well, that’s because radio stations have to pay a PRO organization in their turn to be able to play it, and in short, if they want to work. Basically, based on what the artists/management have paid to have their song played, the radio stations create a list of all the songs. About once a month, the radio stations deliver the list, which indicates which songs they’ve played and how many times they’ve played them, to BMI or ASCAP, on the basis of who they have agreements with, or to both. Radio stations have to pay a blanket license (the rights in the form of permits granted by authors and issued by PRO organizations to have access to a part or complete repertoire of authors’ songs for a fixed annual fee. Such as, for example, precisely a radio station, or a shopping mall that wants to play background music) fee to BMI or ASCAP, which then in their turn transfer the money/royalties to songwriters, composers, publishers, and record labels. Each track’s play that one of the biggest commercial radio stations does, generates about $12 in royalties. Those 12 dollars, multiplied by every single time the song has been played on the radio, are collected by BMI or ASCAP, then equally divided, and delivered. If an artist wants their single on the radio, they pay about $500 to $1,000 to $2,000. If they want it to be played often and advertised more, they pay between $100,000 and $125,000. And for the single to become the number one hit on the radio, the artist has to pay around $200,000, sometimes it can cost over $350,000/400,000. Costs vary depending on the radio station and the competition. Payola isn’t a practice that’s SO illegal after all, since EVERYBODY does it! Ask the song Despacito that. Oh, hey! Hey, girl, how ya doin? I saw that Baby Shark, a fucking children’s song, top you on YouTube. ***

The synchronization royalties are generated when copyrighted music is paired or ‘synchronized’ with visual media, such as: movies, trailers, tv shows, commercials, video games, music videos, etc. In the case of movies, royalties are also generated both for performance, derived from the performance of the song at the movie theater and on TV, and mechanicals, derived from the physical and digital sales of the soundtrack. If, for example, a person wants to use a copyrighted song for their YouTube video, along with the synchronization license (the rights in the form of permits granted by the authors and issued by PRO organizations to use the authors’ music coupled with visual media, and unlike the master license, this allows to re-record the song with a voice different from that of the original singer), they will need the master license by making an agreement with the owner of the master recording, such as a record label. Just as with performance royalties, these are collected by PRO organizations and distributed among publishers and authors. Artists earn from these royalties too.

The copyrights royalties belong to the authors of the song. Authors, who may be songwriters and composers, grant their rights as authors and copyright owners to publishers. Royalties are divided between publishers and authors. Very often, 50/50 for both synchronization royalties and mechanical royalties, but this depends a lot on the agreements made between them. As for mechanical royalties, if publishers have provided an advance, the percentage they’re entitled to can be up to a maximum of 50% royalties. Authors are guaranteed a minimum of 50%, and some agreements can give them up to 90% of the profits. If an author is self-published, in the sense that they act as their own publisher, they can receive 100% of the mechanical royalties. As for performance royalties, on the other hand, publishers receive 30% and authors 70%. Based on how many songwriters and composers there are, that 70% is divided into equal parts. For example, if it’s two of them, 35% and 35%. Unless, by mutual agreement, they decide to divide them differently, like: 50% and 20%, or 47% and 23%, or 60% and 10%, always to reach 70%. It usually happens when one of them has contributed more to the song.

Print license, the rights in the form of permits granted by authors to be able to make copies or reprint the lyrics of the scores of one of their songs. Theatrical license, the rights in the form of permits granted by authors to use their song on a theatre stage in front of an audience.

Basically, the artist earns very little or no earnings at all because they get into debt, especially if they’re not a songwriter and don’t co-write their music. The way in which the artist really earns is thanks to merchandising and the tour. The artist takes the percentage that varies from 75 to 90% of the ticket price. Labels, on the other hand, gain on all fronts. They earn mainly thanks to 360-degree contracts, also called multiple rights deals, which allows them to receive a percentage of artists’ ancillary rights, that is, artists’ earnings deriving from everything they do. So, not only do they earn when their artists’ music is physically and digitally purchased, streamed, and licensed for use, but they also earn from songwriting incomes, concert and live performance incomes, merchandise sales, licensing, endorsement and sponsorship deals, movie and TV appearances fees, ringtone sales, etc., etc.

Like, for example, once the artist signs the recording agreement and the labels become the owners of all the master recordings, they put the artist to work with songwriters chosen by them to write songs that the artist sings, and they earn from the public performance licenses (having the songs put on the radio, in movies, on TV, etc.) they have granted as publishers. And in this case, not only do they earn royalties that go half to publishers (themselves) and a half to the songwriters they hired (and IF, only IF the artist has written something in the song, then they get their share which is also made in half with the songwriters), but also by having the artist sign a mechanical license agreement that allows them to release CDs, vinyl, cassettes, sell digital downloads, and streaming services. The artist then gets into debt with the labels, usually with advances of millions, and tries to earn on tour with the proceeds from ticket sales and merchandising to pay back all the advances. They find themselves in deep shit, also because those debts will be carried on in the next albums thanks to cross-collateralization, and if they try to rebel, the labels stop promoting them and their songs, and as a result of that, sales decrease by cornering the artist even more since they would no longer earn their artist royalties. It can also happen that, when they’re under enough pressure, the artist can be dropped by the labels in exchange for the absolute renunciation of all rights of their own music. When this happens, the labels/publishers start to strongly promote the artist because by then, they and their writers are the ones to get all the money. None for the artist.

Practical examples about 5H to explain everything:

I would like to clarify that, except for the actual sales numbers of the albums I researched, these are examples of numbers I invented. I’m gonna base the real data on invented numbers to help you understand how it all works. In truth, there would be a lot more things to calculate than what I’m gonna show and, of course, the numbers are much higher in the real world as we’re talking about major labels that are known to be willing to advance millions. In my examples, 5H will not be indebted into the final earnings estimates. The reality is, however, that the girls were in debt. At 100%, at least definitely until 2016. Having said that, we can start with their EP: ‘Better Together’.

The Better Together era lasted for a year, to be more precise, from July 16, 2013, with the release of ‘Miss Movin’ On’, until July 7, 2014, when they released ‘BO$$’. As I’ve already said, I’m gonna only use the real sales data of the albums, in this case, the EP. I won’t use anything else, although I know they made money from other projects. Therefore, I won’t include the earnings from: ‘Juntos’, the covers they did on YouTube (‘Thinkin’ Bout You’ by Frank Ocean, ‘American’ by Lana Del Rey, ‘Lego House’ by Ed Sheeran, ‘Stay’ by Rihanna, ‘Red’ by Taylor Swift, and ‘Honeymoon Avenue’ by Ariana Grande), the two covers (‘Mirrors’ by Justin Timberlake and ‘When I Was Your Man’ by Bruno Mars) they did with Boyce Avenue in their EP ‘Cover Collaborations, Vol. 2’, the collaboration they made with Mattel who launched the Barbie doll collection inspired by them ($19,99 each), together with the promotional song (‘Anything Is Possible’, + the video) and the episode (‘Sisters’ Fun Day!’) in which they appeared as their dolls, the collaboration with AwesomenessTV for the takeovers (from 2013 to 2015), the appearance in the episode 2x06 of Faking It, the collaboration with Wet Seal for their clothing lines, etc., etc.

As for Better Together, Fifth Harmony sold a total of 120,000 copies worldwide, of which 51,000 album-equivalent units and 69,000 traditional sales. In America, the album-equivalent unit is calculated as follows: the sale of 1 album is equivalent to 10 songs downloaded, which in turn are equivalent to 1,500 streams of a song. 51,000x1,500= 76,500,000 streams. 382,500 in royalties from Apple Music, 306,000 from Spotify. I’m gonna use only and exclusively Apple’s royalties in my examples, so let’s pretend that all the royalties they earned from selling the album-equivalent units (51,000), come from there. Now, the original price of the album was $4,99, and having sold 69,000 copies of the physical album (CD), we get the sum of ($69,000x4,99=) $344,310. The sum of both sales brings us to a total of ($382,500+344,310=) 726,810 dollars/royalties earned.

We know that Simco Ltd. gave the exclusive license rights to Epic, which invested the money and then shared the profits with Syco. Therefore, we know that it was Epic that gave 5H the advances to record the albums. We also know that things were pretty bad until the end of December 2015, when thanks to the intervention of Dina LaPolt (the musical lawyer they hired at that time – she didn’t represent C), they managed to renegotiate and adjust their contracts. Dina said: “Every agreement they signed, were the worst I’ve ever seen in the music business”, and thanks to that, we can imagine how high the profits Epic and Syco made. Of those 726,810 royalties earned from EP sales, let’s imagine that Epic, according to Dina’s words, made 92% of profits from the girls’ artist royalties. 726,810-8%= 668,665.2, rounded 668,665, *I’m gonna round all numbers automatically*, from which Epic subtracts 15% commission to give to the distributors (like Sony Music Entertainment) of the album (668,665-15%= 568,365), before splitting the sum in half with Syco (568,365÷2= 284,183). All this would leave (726,810-92%=) 58,145 royalties to 5H. …right? No. Why?? Because before being paid, they have to subtract the royalties to give to producers (let’s imagine 3%), management managers (let’s imagine 20%), business managers (let’s imagine 5%), and the lawyer (let’s imagine 5%), [actually a lot of other people too, but I’m gonna just calculate these], and then, most importantly, the recoupment happens.

Epic recovers:

1) The advance, which let’s imagine to be $380,000. Of these $380,000, $250,000 was initially intended to cover the costs of creating an album (LP), but since they eventually opted for an EP, let’s imagine that the advance dropped to $300,000. Now, of these $300,000, 190,000 had to cover:

2) the recording costs, which included the payment of recording studios (there were six for the EP), the payment of instruments and equipment, the payment of arrangers, assistants engineer, recording engineers, editing engineers, mixing engineers, and mastering engineers, the payment of the artwork that includes covers for EP and singles, both printed and digital, EP booklet, promotional pictures, merchandising, etc., etc.

3) 50% of the video production costs, that is, the costs for the music video of the first official single extracted from the EP, let’s imagine $50,000 for ‘Miss Movin’ On’, therefore $25,000.

and 4) 50% of the marketing and promotion costs for ‘Miss Movin’ On’ and the EP: radio stations, TV shows, interviews, billboards, magazines, advertising on websites and social media, merchandising, etc. Let’s imagine 150,000, therefore 75,000, thus leaving (300,000-190,000-25,000-75,000=) $10,000 as living expenses, (10,000÷5=) 2,000 each.

But that’s not all. Epic also advanced other money during the EP era, and also recovers these:

5) the packaging costs, let’s imagine that they are 20%, which include the breakage costs, let’s imagine 10%, and the free goods, let’s imagine 10%.

3²) 50% of the video production costs for the second music video extracted from the EP as a promotional single (‘Me & My Girls’), let’s imagine another $40,000, therefore $20,000. [So from here, the label not only recovers the anticipated costs for making the videos, but they usually even get 50% commission on the artist’s share of royalties earned on the views].

And lastly, 6) the tour support costs: book and promote tour dates, make sure of having approval and sponsorship agreements, hire a team for the tour, travel, hotels, restaurants, choreographies, costumes, makeups, tour merchandise, etc. Let’s imagine $300,000 for all seven tours [Four tours of their own (2013: Harmonize America Mall Tour. 2013: Fifth Harmony Theatre Tour. 2014: The Worst Kept Secret Tour. 2014: Fifth Times A Charm Tour), plus the three for which they were the opening acts (2013: Cher Lloyd, I Wish Tour. 2014: Demi Lovato, Neon Lights Tour. 2014: Austin Mahone, Live on Tour)].

Having co-written three out of seven songs on the EP, the girls earned: let’s imagine 70% public performance royalties (minus let’s imagine 14% to give to PRO organizations), 50% synchronization royalties (minus let’s imagine 14% to give to PRO organizations), and 50% mechanical royalties (minus let’s imagine 11% to give to mechanical licensing organizations such as MRI and HFA) as songwriters. Therefore, we’re gonna do: 100% of performance royalties, minus 14% to give to organizations, is equal to 86% (100-14=86). 86% is to be divided between 30% that goes to publishers, and 70% that goes to the girls. 30% of 86 is 25.8/26, while 70% is 60.2/60 (60.2+25.8=86 / 60+26=86). Same thing with synchronization royalties (100-14=86. 50% of 86 is 43), and mechanical royalties (100-11=89. 50% of 98 is 44.5/45). The sum of 5H royalties is (60+43+45=) 148.

These 148 are now to be divide with the other songwriters of the three songs. For ‘Don’t Wanna Dance Alone’, they are to be divide with two songwriters (Julian Bunetta, Andre Merrit), for ‘Who Are You’ with three (Julian Bunetta, PJ Bianco, Nasri Atweh), and for ‘Me & My Girls’ with four (Julian Bunetta, PJ Bianco, Beau Dozier, John Ryan). Six songwriters to divide them with. I say six because Julian Bunetta is in all three songs, while PJ Bianco is in two. Therefore, let’s divide the royalties between 5H and the six other songwriters: 148÷7= 21. This would be 5H’s gain for performance, synchronization, and mechanical royalties. [It’s obviously not a complete calculation because to that number, the numbers of plays and sales of the three songs taken individually must be added. I remind you that this is just a generic example to help you understand how it works]

By doing all the calculations:

[300,000 (initial advance) – 10,000 (living expenses)] = 290,000 (recording costs, ‘Miss Movin’ On’ video, marketing and promotion) + 20,000 (‘Me & My Girls’ video) + 300,000 (tour support) = 610,000.

58,145 (artist royalties earned) – 73% [3% (to be given to the EP producers which were three) + 20% (to be given to the management managers) + 5% (to be given to the business managers), + 5% (to be given to the lawyer), + 20% (packaging costs) + 10% (breakage costs) + 10% (free goods)] = 15,699.

15,699-610,000= -594,301.

This, would be 5H’s proceeds. $594,301, (594,301÷5=) $118,860 each, of debt with labels. Now, let’s imagine a $1 million profit from the seven tours, from which let’s imagine that 5H took 80% on the sale of a ticket price. Not owning their trademark (5H Partnership) yet, and as crappy as their contracts were, let’s imagine they didn’t get any percentage from the tour’s merchandise.

1,000,000-20%= 800,000. By subtracting the debt from this new figure, we get: 800,000-594,301= 205,699.

205,699 + 21 (performance, synchronization, and mechanical royalties earned) + 10,000 (living expenses) = 215,720.

And lastly, by dividing the share equally among the girls, we get: 215,720÷5= 43,144. ß This, would be the final figure of the total dollar earnings per head of 5H’s Better Together era, which I remind you lasted for a year. A spit, basically… But, if the tours hadn’t compensated enough to overcome the label debt, cross-collateralization would’ve occurred. That debt, let’s imagine the same debt that I mentioned earlier, -594,301, would’ve been carried on for the next album if the label had exercised the option of recording another one (-594,301+-594,301= -1,188,602), and the next one (-594,301+-1,188,602= -1,782,903), and so on, more and more accumulating with variations of increases or decreases in the debt figure based on how much the girls would’ve been able to pay off whenever it was possible for them.

Oh and, I forgot. From that figure, that one of the total earnings (215,720), they also had to pay taxes…

Even in this case, I’m gonna only use the real total sales data of the album: ‘Reflection’. And even in this case, I won’t use anything else, although I know they made money from other projects. Therefore, I won’t include the gain on: the two songs they did for the Christmas EP ‘I’ll Be Home For Christmas’ (‘Noche De Paz’ and ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ ß + the video) along with other singers, the collaboration with Clean & Clear for which they recorded a series of commercials to promote their products, the collaboration with Candie’s for which they became the face of the ‘5 Girls, 5 Styles’ campaign by also releasing the promotional song (‘Rock Your Candie's’ + the video), the cover of ‘Uptown Funk’ (+ the video) by Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars which they did together with Jasmine V., Jacob Whitesides, and Mahogany Lox to promote the tour, the soundtrack for the movie ‘Hotel Transylvania 2’ (‘I’m In Love With A Monster’ + the video), the song ‘Sin Contrato’ with Maluma, etc., etc. The Reflection era lasted for about a year and seven months, to be more precise, from July 7, 2014, with the release of ‘BO$$’, until February 26, 2016, when they released ‘Work from Home’.

As for Reflection, in America alone, Fifth Harmony sold a total of 142,000 copies at the debut, of which 80,000 were album-equivalent units and 62,000 traditional sales. By February 2016, the album sold 155,000 copies (in America alone), so let’s imagine 93,000 album-equivalent units and 62,000 traditional sales. 93,000x1,500 (the album-equivalent unit) = 139,500,000 streams. 697,500 in royalties from Apple Music. The original price of the album was $9,99, and having sold 62,000 copies of the physical album (CD), we get the sum of (62,000x9,99=) $619,380. The sum of both sales brings us to a total of (697,500+619,380=) 1,316,880 dollars/royalties earned. Since we know that they didn’t hire Dina before the end of December 2015, of those 1,316,880 royalties earned from the album’s sales, let’s imagine that Epic still made 92% of the profits from the girls’ artist royalties. 1,316,880–92%= 105,350. 105,350 royalties that we know didn’t go directly to them without first having subtracting those to be given to the producers (let’s still imagine 3%), to the management managers (let’s imagine 15% because they decrease every year), to the business managers (let’s still imagine 5%), to the lawyer (let’s still imagine 5%), and the recoupment.

Epic recovers: 1) the advance, which let’s imagine to be $400,000. Of these $400,000, $270,000 had to cover: 2) the recording costs, which included the payment for the recording studies (there were three for Reflection), etc.; 3) 50% of the video production costs of the first official single extracted from the album, let’s imagine $80,000 for ‘BO$$’, therefore $40,000; and 4) 50% of the marketing and promotion costs for ‘BO$$’ and the album: radio stations, interviews, etc. Let’s imagine 170,000, therefore 85,000, thus leaving (400,000-270,000-40,000-85,000=) $5,000 as living expenses, (5,000÷5=) 1,000 each.

Then Epic recovers the rest of the money advanced during the Reflection era: 5) the packaging costs, let’s imagine that they’re still 20%, which include the breakage costs, let’s still imagine 10%, and the free goods, let’s still imagine 10%. 3²) 50% of the video production costs for the music videos of the other two single extracts from the album, let’s imagine 65,000 for ‘Sledgehammer’ and 95,000 for ‘Worth It’, (65,000+95,000=) $160,000, therefore $80,000. And lastly, 6) the tour support costs, let’s imagine $500,000 for all three tours (The Reflection Tour, Reflection: The Summer Tour, European Reflection Tour).

Since they couldn’t didn’t co-write anything for this album, the only royalties they earned were artist and synchronization ones (minus let’s still imagine 14% to be given to PRO organizations). 100-14=86. 70% of 86 is 60,2/60. On this album, they have three featuring (‘Worth It’ ft. Kid Ink, ‘Like Mariah’ ft. Tyga, ‘Brave Honest Beautiful’ ft. Meghan Trainor), and for this, we have to subtract let’s imagine 14% of commission royalties collected by SoundExchange, which then deals with distributing them to the featured artists of the songs.

By doing all the calculations:

[400,000 (initial advance) – 5,000 (living expenses)] = 395,000 (recording costs, ‘BO$$’ video, marketing and promotion) + 160,000 (‘Sledgehammer’ & ‘Worth It’ videos) + 500,000 (tour support) = 895,000.

105,350 (artist royalties earned) – 82% [3% (to be given to producers) + 15% (to be given to the management managers) + 5% (to be given to the business managers), + 5% (to be given to the lawyer), + 20% (packaging costs) + 10% (breakage costs) + 10% (free goods) + 14% (collected by SoundExchange)] = 18,963.

18,963-895,000= -876,037.

$876,037, (876.037÷5=) $175,207 each, of debt with labels. Now, let’s imagine a gain of $3 million from the three tours, from which let’s imagine that 5H still took 80% on the sale of a ticket price. Not owning their trademark (5H Partnership) yet, let’s still imagine that they didn’t get anything from the tour merchandise. 3,000,000-20%= 2,400,000. By subtracting the debt to this new figure, we get: 2,400,000-876,037= 1,523,963.

1,523,963 + 60 (synchronization royalties earned) + 5,000 (living expenses) = 1,529,023. And lastly, by dividing the share equally among the girls, we get: 1,529,023÷5= 305,805. This, is the total gain of 5H’s Reflection era, which I remind you lasted for about a year and seven months. Still a spit considering how hard they worked, and considering I didn’t include taxes payment.

Let’s conclude with the real data of the total sales of the album: 7/27. By the end of November 2016, Fifth Harmony sold a total of 1,600,000 copies worldwide, of which 1,075,000 album-equivalent units and 525,000 traditional sales. 1,075,000x1,500 (the album-equivalent unit) = 1,612,500,000 streams. 8,062,500 in royalties from Apple Music. The original price of the deluxe album was $13,99, and having sold 525,000 copies of the physical album (CD), we get the sum of (525,000x13,99=) $7,344,750. The sum of both sales brings us to a total of (7,344,750+8,062,500=) 15,407,250 dollars/royalties earned.

Now, what happened here? Thanks to Dina’s entry, there have been a lot of changes. The first one was the fact that they no longer had Eric Greenspan as their lawyer, but Dina herself and Jessie Winkler (who works for Dina at her law firm, LaPolt Law, P.C.). The second one, the change of management. They used to have Jared Paul and Janelle Lopez from Faculty Management. After: Larry Rudolph, Dan Dymtrow, and Tara Beikae from Maverick Management. The third one, their contracts were renegotiated for the better and LAND became the owner of the trademark (5H Partnership) from April 27th, exactly one month before the album’s release, finally being able to earn from their name.

Of those 15,407,250 royalties earned from the album’s sales, let’s imagine that Epic, according to the new agreements made, made 85% of the profits from the girls’ artist royalties. 15,407,250-85%= 2,311,088 royalties which, as we’ve seen, don’t go directly to them without first having subtracted those to be given to producers (let’s still imagine 3%), to management managers (since they were new, let’s still imagine 20%), to business managers (let’s still imagine 5%), to lawyers/Dina&Jessie (let’s still imagine 5%), and the recoupment.

Epic recovers: 1) the advance, which let’s imagine to be $1,000,000. Of this million dollars, 570,000 had to cover: 2) the recording costs, which included the payment of the recording studios (there were two for 7/27), etc.; 3) 50% of the video production costs of the first official single extracted from the album, let’s imagine $250,000 for ‘Work from Home’, therefore $125,000; and 4) 50% of the marketing and promotion costs for ‘Work from Home’ and the album: radio stations, interviews, etc. Let’s imagine 370,000, therefore $185,000, thus leaving (1,000,000-570,000-120,000-185,000=) $120,000 as living expenses, (120,000÷5=) 24,000 each.

Then Epic recovers the rest of the money advanced during the 7/27 era: 5) the packaging costs, let’s imagine that they still are 20%, which include breakage costs, let’s still imagine 10%, and free goods, let’s still imagine 10%. 3²) 50% of the video production costs for the music videos of the other two singles from the album and for the promotional one, let’s imagine 180,000 for ‘All in My Head (Flex)’, 350,000 for ‘That’s My Girl’, and 70,000 for ‘Write on Me’ (180,000+350,000+70,000=) $600,000, therefore $300,000. And lastly, 6) the tour support costs, let’s imagine $800,000.

Even in this case, they couldn’t didn’t co-write anything for this album except for ‘All in My Head (Flex)’, but let’s pretend they didn’t have credit for that song. Therefore, let’s imagine that the only royalties they earned were artists and synchronizations ones (minus let’s still imagine the 14% to give to PRO organizations). 100-14=86. 70% of 86 is 60.2/60. Also on this album they have three featuring (‘Work from Home’ ft. Ty Dolla $ign, ‘All in My Head (Flex)’ ft. Fetty Wap, ‘Not That Kinda Girl’ ft. Missy Elliott), and for this, we have to subtract let’s still imagine 14% commission royalties collected by SoundExchange. By owning their trademark (5H Partnership), they not only earned on merchandising, but they also earned on brand licenses (which vary from 25 to 30% according to the agreements), which they granted to Simco, Epic, Syco, and Sony so that they could use their name associated with the music for the album, the tour, etc. Let’s imagine 27%, to stay on topic.

Since Camila wasn’t part of the partnership, I’m gonna do all calculations in division between her and LAND:

[1,000,000 (initial advance) - 120,000 (living expenses)] = 880,000 (recording costs, ‘Work from Home’ video, marketing and promotion) + 300,000 (‘All in My Head (Flex)’, ‘That’s My Girl’, and ‘Write on Me’ videos) + 800,000 (tour support) = 1,980,000. 1,980,000÷5= 396,000 ©, 396,000x4= 1,584,000 (LAND).

2,311,088 (artist royalties earned) - 87% [3% (to give to producers) + 20% (to give to management managers) + 5% (to give to business managers) + 5% (to give to lawyers) + 20% (packaging costs) + 10% (breakage costs) + 10% (free goods) + 14% (collected by SoundExchange)] = 300,441. 300,441÷5= 60,088 ©, 60,088x4= 240,352 (LAND).

60,088-396,000= -335,912 ©. 240,352-1,584,000= -1,343,648 (LAND).

From LAND’s debt figure, let’s subtract 27% of the earnings occurred thanks to the commissions received from the brand licenses. 1,343,648-27%= 980,863.

Thanks to these calculations, we were able to see that Camila had a debt of $335,912 with the labels, and LAND of 980,863, (980,863÷4=) $245,216 each.

Now, the real box-offices earnings data for the tour are $5,100,000 for 31 concerts. The concerts of that tour, and therefore of 2016 with still Camila, were 58. Including those 27 non-calculated concerts, let’s imagine that the total profit was $5,110,000. Let’s also imagine the merchandising gain was $890,000. $5,110,000, minus, let’s still imagine the 80% profit on the sale of a ticket price, is equal to (5,110,000-20%=) $4,088,000. 4,088,000÷5= 817,600 ©, 817,600x4= 3,270,400 (LAND).

By subtracting the debts to this new figure, we get: 817,600-335,912= 481,688 ©, 3,270,400-980,863= 2,289,537 (LAND).

60 (synchronization royalties earned) ÷5= 12. 12x4= 48. 481,688+12= 481,700 ©. 2,289,537+48= 2,289,585 (LAND).

120,000 (living expenses) ÷5= 24,000. 24,000x4= 96,000. 481,700+24,000= 505,700 ©. 2,289,585+96,000= 2,385,585 (LAND).

2,385,585+890,000 (merchandising earnings) = 3,275,585 (LAND).

These, are the total earnings of the 7/27 era divided among the girls, taxes to be paid not included. Camila: $505,700. LAND: 3,275,585 (3,275,585÷4=) $818,896 each.

Think about ‘FIFTH HARMONY Rehearses before Winning at RADIO DISNEY MUSIC AWARDS!’ takeover recorded in April 2014: Kevin Maher: “Last one on the floor pays $5!”, Lauren the living meme Jauregui: “NOT MEEEE!!!!”

Think about the ‘Fifth Harmony “We’re not rich!"’ interview with Live! Starring … You! posted on April 14, 2014: Camila: “We’re literally more broke than we were before the competition”, Lauren: “EXCUSE ME!!! I can only afford the bus, taxis are expensive!!”, Normani: “We have like Ritz crackers for dinner”, Camila and Normani: “We’re bankrupt”.

Think about the two leaked audios: Lauren: “They’re making decisions on a regular basis, to fuck us over, to make us literal slaves, like literally slaves, Ally” Ally: “I know, I know, I know” Lauren: “We’re doing fucking labor every day and we see nothing”. – Camila: “Sorry I couldn’t come down today. They were actually working us to the fucking bone. We did like, literally five songs”.

Does it all make a little more sense now?

Aaand here we are. I hope you enjoyed it and that this too was worth the long ass reading. I’d like to thank Mari as usual for giving me the opportunity to post on her blog. Thanks, buddy, I really appreciate that 🤗😊

I ❤️ u, guys. Please stay safe. Stay patient. Stay strong. And stay woke, especially for what’s coming in these months. Always with love, F.

__ 💖

#submission #f anon #long ass post #how the music world works

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btwxsixesandsevens · 3 years ago

Text

CH 3C: Only a Paper Moon, the last bit

Whew, why did I split this chapter into 3 parts? Because I'm foolish, that's why.

Anyway.

Read Ch 3b here:

The Sarah Bucky Songbooks MasterList

Summary: The ending of this chapter. They make up.

Words: just under 3k

Tags: So much angst in this one. So much comfort. And beer.

“We’re here,” Sarah stuck her head out of the cabin and called out to Bucky at the stern. He’d been hiding back there for hours. He remained out of sight as Sarah carefully steered into Fred’s Marina and pulled up to their designated spot under the direction of the dock master, who was probably Fred. Bucky emerged with the saddle bags from the bike over his shoulder.

“Laundry?” he asked, not deigning to actually greet her. She tipped her head at Fred. If he wasn’t going to bother to speak to her, she wouldn’t bother to speak to him either.

Bucky took it in stride, and went down to talk to the dockmaster without hesitation. Sarah finished tying off, then went back to find her own laundry. All of the clothes were gone. Even in a fit, he was doing her laundry too. This man made no sense at all.

As the sun hit the horizon, Sarah went up to the main street to grab a hot meal. She ate alone — a rare situation — but was too agitated to enjoy it. Full but not satisfied, she returned to the dock, sat down on a bench to watch the water. The mugginess of the day had increased. She could smell the thick threat in the air. It was definitely going to rain tonight. She sighed heavily and almost started to cry again at the thought of sleeping on the hard bench on the boat, in the rain. And Goddamn it, where was Bucky going to sleep? As she thought of him, she recognized the pace of his boots on the dock. He stepped to the end of the bench and said her name in that way he had, like a sigh.

“Sarah,”

“Evening Bucky.”

“Where you been? I was worried when you weren’t on the boat.”

“I wouldn’t leave you, Bucky.”

“I was worried about you, not me,” he said. He was wearing his leather jacket, had his hands stuck deep into the pockets. It was 85 degrees out and muggy, 100% chance of rain. And he was wearing leather. “Or really, I was worried I’d fucked this up.”

Sarah looked up at him but said nothing.

“Mind if I sit?” he asked.

“Don’t mind,” she gestured at the end of the bench. He sat. It was Her move. “So, what do you think you’ve fucked up, Bucky?” she asked.

“Well, almost everything, but right now in particular…” he gestured back and forth between them. “Us.”

“Us,” Sarah repeated. She wanted it to be a question, but somehow it wasn’t.

“Yeah, with my, what did you call it, episode. That wasn’t something I ever wanted you to see.”

Both of them remained resolutely staring out at the water as the light faded. Water bugs buzzed around them but didn’t alight to bite. The lake lapped at the pillars of the pier with a strangely relaxing sound. Overhead one light on a pole swayed in the growing breeze, making their shadows slide side to side.

“We all want to hide that tender underbelly, Bucky. We all know it is there.”

“You talk like you know so much about showing your underbelly. The woman who argues with me when I carry groceries from the car.”

She rolled her eyes, but had to accept that. “Touche.”

“I feel like,” he continued, “like maybe you’re not telling me the whole truth a lot of the time, Sarah. And as I know I’m not telling you the whole truth either, that makes our conversations…”

“Like dancing to two different songs?”

He chuckled. “Yeah, like that.”

Sarah took a deep breath and let it out with a hiss. In the distance, she thought she saw a flash of lightning, but heard no thunder.

“You’re right, Bucky. I do keep things to myself,” she said.

“Probably for the same reasons I do.”

“Similar reasons, anyway.”

“I guess you haven’t killed anyone and are desperately trying to not think about it,” he joked bitterly. She smiled ruefully.

“Yeah, haven’t done that. What I have done is be scared of getting attached to another person, after everything. I suspect that’s something we have in common.”

Bucky shifted, rocking the bench carefully so she knew he was looking at her. “It is too late for me not to be attached, Sarah. And that’s the truth.”

She looked at him, let him see her smile. His face had tanned over the previous days, and there was a shade of stubble on his jawline, highlighting his cleft chin. My God, how could he be more handsome. “Yeah, me too.” She licked her lips and looked down. “But we don’t want to admit that, so we’re…” she trailed off with out the proper word to say.

“What are we, Sarah?”

“I’m not sure, Bucky. I’m still figuring that out,” Sarah said, “What do you think we are?”

“I think I’m not the only one who’s getting used to wanting things.”

She let that sit between them for a long moment.

“Damn, that’s some serious truth there.”

“I’m working on it,” he responded. “Would love to have some of that truth back.”

“Here. I think Sam being Captain America is more complicated that I can understand.” The words she’d been rolling around in her head all afternoon spilled out. “I don’t know if that’s what you’re asking about…”

Bucky made an accepting face. “We can start with that,” he said, bending his arm on the back of the bench and giving her his full attention.

“I’m just saying that the title of Captain America is a symbol of a country that hasn’t ever done right by me, but always demands my respect and my patriotism. I didn’t want to say this to you, on account of you being a vet and all — for part of me America isn’t mine. But for part of me, it is mine whether certain people want it to be or not. I’m stuck with it. So that’s how I feel about Sam being Cap. Like it isn’t as simple as a Yes or No.” She waited for his defensive confusion, but it didn’t come.

“Sam tried to explain some of it to me,” he admitted. He fidgeted his metal fingers on his leg as he thought. “I’m still learning to hear that. Hear it and not take it personally.”

“You’re really wrapped up in the whole Captain America thing.”

“I am. For better or worse.”

There was another flash in the distance and his attention immediately diverted in that direction. He took a deep breath to steady himself.

“Lightning,” Sarah explained.

“We should go in,” he said, standing. He offered her his arm. She nodded and accepted it, wrapping her right arm around his metal one. He rested his right hand over hers and lead her back to the boat in a silence that was close and comfortable, but not yet right. With the last of the beers from the night before, they sat down under the awning that shaded the back of the galley. At their feet, his bike lay under a tarp. He took his jacket off with a flourish and tossed it inside. He was in a t-shirt, his metal arm bare from the bicep to fingertip.

“It is beautiful,” Sarah observed, sipping from her bottle and looking up at him.

He inclined his head, inspected it in the light from the galley. “When Wakandans make a thing, it is both useful and graceful,” he mused, flexing his arm and admiring it before sitting down next to her.

“You let the boys play with it, but you don’t want me to see it.”

“I don’t want you to, to think about it. About me that way,” he was obviously flustered. She leaned against him as the rain started to fall on the far side of the lake.

“I forget about it. And then you see it, and I see on your face that you’ve seen it and, I can’t forget anymore.”

“Whatever face I’m making, Buck, it isn’t a bad one,” Sarah said, “but I’m sorry if I make you uncomfortable.”

“It is a tender thing,” Bucky responded. They were seated right together, legs touching, arms pressed.

“Ironic that.”

“I guess.”

“Sorry, poor joke. I can see where it is tender and I should keep my thoughts about it to myself. That wasn’t my place to presume to understand. I’m sorry.” Sarah genuinely apologized. He bobbed his head and smiled.

“It is hard for me to hear you say you think it is a normal thing. After all I went through with it, to get it, keep it, have it, live with it. It is the least normal thing,” he explained.

“I mean, you’re right. It is a pretty special arm,” she said. The rain reached the boat, a frantic patter on metal and wood that quickly passed, leaving a gentle cool drizzle cutting through the hot air. “What I was trying to say when, when I held your hand is that it doesn’t matter to me what you used to do; it only matters what you do now. And whatever else, you deserve what everyone deserves — a home, some peace, some companionship, some happiness. You’re as normal as anyone, whether that arm is from Wakanda or outer space. I’m not afraid of you.” Sarah turned and looked at him directly. He dipped his head and eased out a long sigh that finally seemed to break his brooding mood.

“You really think so.”

“I really think so.”

“It makes me happy to hear you say that.”

Sarah raised her hand and moved it over his hair gently. It was supposed to be reassuring, but his reaction, the way he turned into her palm, his eyes barely closed, lips parted, stirred her belly in a different direction. She pressed that feeling down deeper and dropped her hand back to her lap. Sarah turned back to the rain, now draining in irregular drops over the corrugated roof just past her flip-flopped feet. Bucky pulled his legs in and sat up straighter to keep his boots dry. He cleared his throat dramatically. She changed the subject.

“Anything you want to say about your episode?” she asked.

He sighed. “They happen. Usually I just hide out of sight until it passes.”

“It isn’t a weakness, B.”

“I know. They don’t make me feel weak. They make me feel too close to the past. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah, like it can just reach out…” Sarah extended her arm.

“And grab me whenever it wants,” Bucky finished the shared thought, pulling his arm into his chest.

“The past is like that,” she concluded.

“Does it get easier? The farther away the past gets?”

“I’m no expert, Bucky. That’s a question for your therapist.”

“I’d have to tell her about them, huh.”

“Buck.” Sarah’s head snapped to stare at him. He caved with another sigh.

“I know, what’s the point if I don’t tell her?”

Sarah nodded. “This is important Buck. You’ve got the tools to grow that distance from your past. Use them.”

He grit his teeth. “I’ll try. Next time I talk to her. Can I tell her you helped? Or would that be breaking confidence?”

“You can tell your therapist about me, if you want.”

“I’ll tell her you helped. That it was important to me.”

Bucky moved his right hand on his thigh, opened his palm and invited her hand. She gave it. The out of sync feeling of their disagreement faded as the rain passed over them. It left a cool breeze and a relief from the pressure of the day. She pulled her ponytail from the back of her neck, let her hair fall messy and sweaty down her back. Then she dropped her head to his shoulder and enjoyed the peace of it.

“You owe me two questions,” Bucky said softly into her hair.

Sarah chuckled. “I guess I do.”

“Can I ask them now?”

“Sure.”

“What do you know about my past?”

“Um…I know that you were born in the nineteen teens. That you’re from New York. That you joined the army with Steve. Back then, he was a twerp and you weren’t. In the war, it all went to hell. You both got the super serum or whatever. You ended up a POW and he ended up on ice. They messed with your mind, kept you like a murder jack in the box for decades, until Steve came back and broke you out somehow. Then you were on the run with Sam until things kinda settled down and you went to Wakanda. The Wakandans helped you get your head right. Then the aliens and the Blip and then you’re back. And that’s how you landed on my porch looking like a cool, dark, drink of water on a hot day.”

He chuckled, nudged her hair with his chin playfully, tenderly. “That’s not a bad summary, really.”

“You’re not the only one who remembers things,” she quipped.

“It means a lot that you’re holding my hand knowing what I’ve done.”

“Like you said, the past keeps reaching out for us all. Don’t mean we have to reach back.”

“I guess.”

“Last question?”

“Do you like me?”

Sarah’s eyes got wide as she froze. “Yeah, I like you Bucky. We’re friends.”

Bucky stiffened in response. He sat up straight, so Sarah did too. “No, I don’t mean like, friends like. I mean like like like.”

Sarah looked at him, his earnest face, his brow up and questioning and almost hurt. His fuller bottom lip on the edge of a pout. She looked and burst out laughing. She pulled away and bent over her lap, her face in her hand to cover her own embarrassment.

“Oh,” Bucky said, retreating into himself. He released her hand.

“No, Bucky, sorry, I’m laughing because…” she instinctively reached for him, one hand on his shoulder, the other on his thigh. “I’m not laughing at you, I’m laughing at myself. Buck, I, I, yeah, I do really like you.” She met his eyes and smiled broadly. “And not in just a friendly flirty way. In a having intentions way.”

He exhaled, blinked his eyes. “Thank God. I’ve been lying about that for a while.” He smiled, flicked his gaze from her eyes to her lips. She was sure he would do it, but he didn’t. He sagged back into the wall, finished his beer.

“Well, I guess that’s another truth we can have out in the open,” Sarah said, relaxing herself and leaning into his arm again. He wrapped his arm around her, so her head rested on the spot where his arm met his shoulder.

“What should we do about it?” he asked.

Sarah picked at the front of his shirt with her fingertips, feeling the chain around his neck, the dog tags against his skin. Then she flatten her hand to feel the muscles underneath. His breath was steady and deep, his body warm and firm. It was a truly comfortable spot. She made herself relax. She shrugged. “Don’t know. Depends on if you’re staying or not, I think.”

He hissed out a breath. “Yeah…I still want to.”

“Do you still want to because of us? Or because you’re trying to find somewhere the past can’t find you. Either is a fine answer, Bucky.”

“I have to think on that. And like you said, figure out how to be correct,” he chuckled sourly.

“Don’t have to figure it out tonight,” she said idly, tracing her fingers down his torso. Those were definitely the ridges of his abs she felt. She had to focus on staying relaxed. As she did, she felt her self drifting, listening to his heartbeat, the rain on the water. He started humming something, the vibration rumbling through his chest and making her even sleepier.

“I’m exhausted,” Sarah finally admitted, burrowing her face into his chest. He squeezed tighter.

“I’m pretty wiped myself,” he said. “To bed.”

Bucky untangled from Sarah and pulled her to her feet. Close again, chest to chest, another moment for a kiss, but he kept moving, leading into the interior.

“I’m not looking forward to…” she muttered, remembering the inside of the galley. Bucky flicked on the light to reveal the bench made up with a sleeping bag and…a pillow?

“Buck…” she exhaled as he gestured gallantly. “That’s your bag.”

“Yeah. I don’t sleep, remember? You can use it. I’ll sit up in the helm or whatever it is called.”

“Buck,” she said his name again and pressed him into a hug. He nuzzled the side of her neck and breathed deep.

“It’ll give me time to think. No baseball to watch,” he replied.

That wonderful combination of comfort and excitement flowed over Sarah in a fresh wave. As she was considering taking the initiative and kissing first, a yawn stretched her face.

“Good night, Sleeping Beauty. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Previous chapter: Only a Paper Moon, Part 2

Next chapter: Dancing.

#bucky barnes fanfic #buckysarah #bucky x sarah #sarah wilson fanfic #sarah wilson #sarahbucky #on a boat #roadtrip fanfic #BySixesAndSevens

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thewritingstar · 5 years ago

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Star’s Master Fic Page!

Updated: 11/19/2020

This is where you can find all of my fics!!!

Current Fic Count: 200

Original Content Count: 6

Fandoms: Fairy Tail, My Hero Academia, Miraculous LadyBug, The PowerPuff Girls, The Promised Neverland, Ducktales, Gravity Falls, Original Works

Bold are Chapter fics!

My asks are always open for requests!!

Commissions are open!!

Fairy Tail

1. Lying - Gruvia

2. It Should Have Been Me - Gruvia

3. Of All The Colors: 1 - 2 - Gruvia

4. Blue Skies -Gruvia

5. My Savior - Lucy and Aquarius

6. Little Notes - Lucy and Aquarius

7. Movies - Gruvia

8. Books - Gajevy

9. Candles -Nalu

10. The First Snow -Nalu

11. Letting Go - Gruvia

12. Written In The Stars Au. 1 2-Nalu

13. Fine- Gruvia

14. Reassuring- Gruvia

15. Melt for Me- Nalu (Candles pt 2)

16. Marshmallows- Nalu

17. Book Shelves- Gajevy

18. Flower Crown- Gruvia

19. Sweatshirts and Coffee- Gruvia

20. Bloody Smile- Nalu

21. Water Body- Gruvia

22. Balloons- Gruvia

23. Marriage- Gajevy

24. Can’t help falling in love with you- Nalu

25. The Siren Song- Gruvia AU. 1

26. Mario Kart- Nalu

27. Beating Hearts- Nalu

28. Mint- Gajevy

29. Can you feel the love tonight?- Gruvia

30. Clock- Nalu

31. Show me whats behind your back. -Nalu

32. Just Smile- Gajevy

33. Can we?- Nalu (Adult Content)

34. Broken- Gruvia

35. Immortal- Gruvia

36. Russian Roulette -Gruvia

37. Sit Down -Gruvia

38.Don’t Cry- Gruvia

39. Water Lily Wedding- Gruvia

40. Cycle Of the Rain -Gruvia

41. Lost -Gajevy

42. Forgiveness -Jerza

43. Auto Shop Hearts -Gajevy

44. Valentines Day?? - Gruvia

45. Music- Gajevy

46. Past and Future -Gajevy

47. Leave me alone -Gruvia

48. Valentine Exchange -Nalu

49. Cold Feet -Gruvia

50. Silence -Nalu

51. You’re Hurting Me- Gruvia

52. Magic Trick- Nalu

53. Damp Skin- Gruvia

54. Mall Adventures- Gruvia

55. I prefer blondes- Nalu

56. The Secret Admirer- Gruvia

57. Forgiving- Gruvia

58. Missing You- Gruvia

59. Ill Keep You Warm- Nalu

60. Ive Got You- Gruvia

61. Adventures In Lush- Fairy Tail Girls + Others

62. The Anniversary To Remember - Gruvia

63. A Chance Meeting- Gruvia

64. Do You Have A Ride Home?- Nalu

65. I Can’t Trust You- Gajevy

66. You Could Have Warned Me! -Nalu

67. SnowBalls- Gruvia

68. Stuck In The Elevator- Gruvia

69. Labor- Gruvia

70. Rescued- Gruvia

71. Liquid Locket- Gruvia

72. Very Happy- Gruvia

73. Gruvia Week: Proposal

74. Gruvia Week: Surprise

75. Gruvia Week: Devotion

76. Gruvia Week: Sport

77. Gruvia Week: Heartbreak

78. Lost- Gruvia

79. Mortifying Merch- Gruvia

80. Never Stop- Gajevy

81. Blind Date- Gruvia

82. Fates Desire- Gruvia: Chap 1 Chap 2

83. Stairwell Kisses- Gruvia

84. Stolen Shirts- Nalu

85. “Kiss Me”- Gruvia

86. Happy Birthday- Nalu

87. Enough- Gruvia

88. The Moment- Nalu

89. Are You Safe- Gajevy

90. Bruises- Gruvia

91. The Ex Boyfriend- Gruvia

92. Double Date: Gruvia/Nalu

93. A Royal Heart- Gruvia (Big Bang Event)

94. One More Time: Gruvia

95. Deserving of Love- Gruvia

96. Kiss As a Lie- Gruvia

97. To Ignore the Rain Would Be A Pity: Gruvia Chap 1 Chap 2

98. Go Get Your Happiness- Gruvia

99. Death n Diamonds- Gruvia

100. Drabble- Gruvia

101. Silver Shorelines- Gruvia

102. Gruvia Day 2019

103. Fire n Water- Navia

104. Starsoba Fictober- Candy- Gruvia

105. Chained With Love- Nalu

106. A Years Difference- Gruvia

107. Grains Of Purple- Gruvia

108. Truly Beautiful- Nalu

109. Dress- Nalu

110. Back to those Summer Days- Gruvia

111. The Legend of The Lake- Gruvia

112. Upon the Frozen Lake- Gruvia

113. Waiting in the Rain- Gruvia

114. Only A Fairy tale- Gruvia

115. Learn to Love Again- Gruvia

116. Toxic in Trade: Chap 1 Chap 2- Gruvia

117: Gruvia Week 2020- Day 1

118: Gruvia Week 2020- Day 2

119: Within The Darkness- Gruvia

120: By Your Side- Nalu

121: A Touch of a Hand- Gruvia

122: Scars- Gratsu

123: Promise Me- Gruvia

124: Ice Ice Baby?- Gruvia

125: The Melody of Loving You- Gruvia

126: Holding You Close- Lucy x Juvia

127: Gruvia Day 2020

128: Beautiful Revelations- Gruvia

Miraculous Ladybug

1. Why Can’t You Just Love Me Back?- LadyNoir

2. Fallen Heroes -LadyNoir

3. Regret -Adrientte

4. Lights- LadyNoir

5. Not the Time -Adrienette

6. Reason to Live - LadyNoir

7. Indigo Tears -MariChat

My Hero Academia

1. Credit Due -Kiribaku

2. Angry Kiss -Kiribaku

3. Tell me you need me- Kacchako

4. Bath- Kacchako

5. 3 A.M - Kacchako

6. Sick Days- Kiribaku

7. Dance Dance Revolution- Kiribaku

8. A Confession- Kiribaku

9. The Assassin Code- 1

10. No Time To Waste- KiriBaku

11. KiriBaku Week: Dance

12. KiriBaku Week: Scars

13. KiriBaku Week: Support

14. KiriBaku Week: Soulmate

15. My New Dream- KiriBaku

16. 90’s- KiriBaku

17. Best at Boasting -KiriBaku

18. My Everything -Kacchako

19. StarSoba Fictober: Pumpkins-KiriBaku

20. Gift Swap- BakuDeku

21. Gift Swap: ROCKin Around the Christmas Tree- Kiribaku

22. What It Could Be- Kiribaku

23. Sleepover Secrets- Jiroumomo

Powerpuff Girls

1. Own Escape- Blossick

2. Up In The Clouds- Blossick

3. Pretty Sparks- Butchercup

4. Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince: Chap 1 -Blossutch

5. Green Light District- Butchercup

6. Enchanted For a Moment- Chap 1, Chap 2 -Blossick (orphaned)

7. Valuable Possessions- Butchercup

8. Bite my Tongue- Blossutch

9. Tease-Blossick

10. Cute- Butchercup

11. Come Get Me: Butchercup

12. Hair Twirling- Blossutch

13. I’m a Mess- Butchercup

14. Stay- Blossick

15. Fireworks- Butchercup

16. Shields and Sparks- Butchercup

17. The Talk- Butchercup

18. Spa Night- Butch and Bubbles

19. Roomies- Butchercup

20. Desperate Hugs- Butchercup

21. Incinerate- Blossutch

22. Bounce House Blues- Brickercup

23. Bruises- Butchercup

24. Tender Kisses- Butchercup

25. Like Ashes We Burn- Blossick

26. Little Red Bow- Blossutch

27. More than you Think- Butchercup

28. When The Night is Still Young- Prinbrute

29. Like the Weight of the World- Blossick

30. Enchanted For A Moment (Revamped) Color Code- Chap 1

31. Falling Back to You- Blossick

32. The Freedom of Being Yours- Blossick

33. Until My Heart Stops Racing-Mike x Mitch

34. Blue With Envy- Boomubbles

35. Drawn That Way- Blossucth

36. Don’t Panic, I Got You- Boomer and Blossom

37. In The Depths Of The Deep Sea- Blossutch

Duck Tales

1. Drive Thru- Fentonald

Poems/ Original Work

1. Red

2. A Fateful Friendship

3. Head Held High

4. Turn Your Back on Me

5. Ashamed

6. Like A Rainbow

The Promised Neverland

1. To See Her Smile- RayEmma

Gravity Falls

1. Mystery Mom- Wendy’s mom commission

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secretly-of-course · 4 years ago

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thank you for the tag @localspacelesbian!

name/nickname: Amanda

gender: cis female

star-sign: aquarius

height: 5’3”ish

time: 7:13 pm

birthday: january 22

favorite bands: Julie and the Phantoms (obviously), ABBA, the Vamps, and Big Time Rush always holds a place in my heart

favorite solo artists: Lauv, Taylor Swift, Shawn Mendes, lately has also been a lot of Olivia Rodrigo and Jeremy Shada too

song stuck in my head: i should call my friends by Shawn Mendes

last movie: technically i have Moana on right now lol but the last movie i watched in full was To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before

last show: jatp,,,, i think everyone in the fandom is just constantly rewatching lmao

when did i create this blog: early 2019 i think

what do i post: original content? diary of andi and the phantoms (but reblog pretty much anything i enjoy)

other blogs: my primary blog @/miracufan which i abandoned a while ago ( @staff needs to let us switch primary and secondary blogs 😤)

do i get asks: surprisingly yeah sometimes :D (ik there is at least one anon who doesn’t have an account and sometimes people just want to tell me things and it’s very exciting every time i get one)

why i chose my url: it’s a spongebob reference plus my irls don’t really know i’m here so it fits lol

following: 300+

followers: 400+ (thank you guys 💕)

average hours of sleep: idk bro 6-9 on any given night (which i recently learned makes sense since our sleep cycles occur in 3 hour increments? who knew)

lucky numbers: 🤷🏻‍♀️ kinda vibe with 18 no idea why

instrument: none

what am i wearing: blue sweatshirt-ish shirt with stripes just on the chest (i mentally refer to it as my Adrien Agreste shirt and if you understand that reference i am sorry you share my trash taste), blue jeans, and Rilakkuma socks my friend gave me (if you don’t understand that reference look it up it’s very cute)

dream job: a fashion designer of some kind (but tbh just vibing would be so nice)

dream trip: i’ve always wanted to visit my long distance best friend in Tokyo (same friend who gave me the socks actually) but who knows when we’ll get up go places and see people again 😔

nationality: american :P

favorite song: you can’t even ask me this 😔 my number 1 spotify song last year was Modern Loneliness by Lauv, ive listened to Driver’s License by Olivia Rodrigo lord knows how many times in the past week, there’s ab 85% chance at any given time a jatp or taylor swift song is playing in my head,,,, honestly who knows

last book i read: bruh when was the last time i read a book that wasn’t fan fic probably Michelle Obama’s memoir

top three fictional universes i’d like to live in: Andi Mack/Shadyside (i just want to enjoy a milkshake at the spoon please 😔), atla universe (bruh i just want to be an air bender), and an animal crossing island (what i wouldn’t give to own my own home and just vibe on an island with all my friends and do crafts and such,, the dream tbh)

i’m gonna tag @camb99-cbmi6 @arthurandmerlin and @liamisthesun (only if you want to of course! ik it’s a pretty long one!)

#tag games #long post

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danyellelovessurveys · 4 years ago

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lets get personal.

1: 6 of the songs you listen to most?

When You’re Looking Like That - Westlife

Hysteria - Def Leppard

Beautiful - Flickerstick

Hello My Love - Westlife

For What It’s Worth - Buffalo Springfield (covered by Anti-Flag)

2: If you could meet anyone on this earth, who would it be? Michael Rosenbaum - Smallville

3: Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 23, give me line 17.

4: What do you think about most? Too much shit... because I have BAD anxiety.

5: What does your latest text message from someone else say? Headed out.

6: Do you sleep with or without clothes on? With

7: What’s your strangest talent? Pick up things on the floor with my toes.

8: Girls… (finish the sentence); Boys… (finish the sentence) Are crazy/ Are a pain in the ass.

9: Ever had a poem or song written about you? Yes

10: When is the last time you played the air guitar? 2005

11: Do you have any strange phobias? MANY

12: Ever stuck a foreign object up your nose? No

13: What’s your religion? Wiccan

14: If you are outside, what are you most likely doing? Chillin Out

15: Do you prefer to be behind the camera or in front of it? Behind

16: Simple but extremely complex. Favorite band? They aren’t totally a band... but I have to say Westlife... if we are talking proper band, either Def Leppard or Avenged Sevenfold or Flickerstick

17: What was the last lie you told? Anytime I play nice with my dad

18: Do you believe in karma? Yes

19: What does your URL mean? Random Crap nickname.

20: What is your greatest weakness; your greatest strength? Weakness is my emotions, Strength... I have survived this long.

21: Who is your celebrity crush? It is actually a hockey player... Martin Necas of the Carolina Hurricanes

22: Have you ever gone skinny dipping? Does sex in a hotub with other people in the room count??

23: How do you vent your anger?

24: Do you have a collection of anything? All kinds of things.

25: Do you prefer talking on the phone or video chatting online? Texting/ Messaging

26: Are you happy with the person you’ve become? No

27: What’s a sound you hate; sound you love? Chalkboards/ The Middle

28: What’s your biggest “what if”? What If the last 20 years never happened.

29: Do you believe in ghosts? How about aliens? Sure why not?

30: Stick your right arm out; what do you touch first? Do the same with your left arm. Table/ Couch

31: Smell the air. What do you smell? Ham

32: What’s the worst place you have ever been to? Oh there are so many!

33: Choose: East Coast or West Coast? East

34: Most attractive singer of your opposite gender? Nicky Byrne

35: To you, what is the meaning of life?

36: Define Art. Something I just don’t get.

37: Do you believe in luck? Yes

38: What’s the weather like right now? Sunny early evening in the 50s.

39: What time is it? 7:14

40: Do you drive? If so, have you ever crashed? I don’t drive, though I have been in a couple benders....

41: What was the last book you read? The Secrets of Birthdays

42: Do you like the smell of gasoline? No

43: Do you have any nicknames? Yeah

44: What was the last film you saw? Mom’s on a date with a vampire.

45: What’s the worst injury you’ve ever had? Thyroid Storm, not an injury... (there are plenty of those) but the storm was the worst thing of my life.

46: Have you ever caught a butterfly? When I was little

47: Do you have any obsessions right now? Always, I have OCD

48: What’s your sexual orientation? Straight, I like guys.

49: Ever had a rumour spread about you? I am sure... but I don’t care

50: Do you believe in magic? Yes

51: Do you tend to hold grudges against people who have done you wrong? Yes

52: What is your astrological sign? Scorpio

53: Do you save money or spend it? Both

54: What’s the last thing you purchased? Coffee Creamer

55: Love or lust? I think one can turn to the other

56: In a relationship? I wish

57: How many relationships have you had? A few

58: Can you touch your nose with your tongue? No

59: Where were you yesterday? Home..

60: Is there anything pink within 10 feet of you? Yes, my bed jacket

61: Are you wearing socks right now? Yes

62: What’s your favourite animal? Giraffes, Manatees, Kitties

63: What is your secret weapon to get someone to like you? Eyes, and a full flirt package

64: Where is your best friend? Not sure where she is

65: Give me your top 5 favourite blogs on Tumblr.

66: What is your heritage? 1/4 German 1/4 Dutch 1/2 crap

67: What were you doing last night at 12AM? Almost asleep

68: What do you think is Satan’s last name?

69: Be honest. Ever gotten yourself off? Duh

70: Are you the kind of friend you would want to have as a friend? Yes

71: You are walking down the street on your way to work. There is a dog drowning in the canal on the side of the street. Your boss has told you if you are late one more time you get fired. What do you do? Help that Pup

72: You are at the doctor’s office and she has just informed you that you have approximately one month to live. a) Do you tell anyone/everyone you are going to die? b) What do you do with your remaining days? c) Would you be afraid? A - They would figure it out, from the look on my face/ B - Live it Up!/ C - Terrified

73: You can only have one of these things; trust or love. Love

74: What’s a song that always makes you happy when you hear it? Hello My Love & When You’re Looking Like That - Both Westlife

75: What are the last four digits in your cell phone number? No Clue

76: In your opinion, what makes a great relationship? Trust

77: How can I win your heart? Play Hockey? I don’t know... changes with my moods

78: Can insanity bring on more creativity? Huh?

79: What is the single best decision you have made in your life so far? Getting my kitty Binx, even though he can be a pain in the ass.

80: What size shoes do you wear? 8 1/2

81: What would you want to be written on your tombstone?

82: What is your favourite word? Fuck

83: Give me the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word; heart. Mom

84: What is a saying you say a lot? Not really a phrase, more like a word... and that is Fuck.

85: What’s the last song you listened to? Roll Me Away - Bob Seger

86: Basic question; what’s your favourite colour/colours? Blue/ Pink/ Purple.

87: What is your current desktop picture? Ravenclaw wallpaper.

88: If you could press a button and make anyone in the world instantaneously explode, who would it be? At this point in time, there is a good chance of that.

89: What would be a question you’d be afraid to tell the truth on? Wat is my true worst fear.

90: One night you wake up because you heard a noise. You turn on the light to find that you are surrounded by MUMMIES. The mummies aren’t really doing anything, they’re just standing around your bed. What do you do? Scream!

91: You accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what’s even cooler is that they endow you with the super-power of your choice! What is that power? The power to make people/ animals live forever

92: You can re-live any point of time in your life. The time-span can only be a half-hour, though. What half-hour of your past would you like to experience again? HA HA.... Playing with the Serge.

93: You can erase any horrible experience from your past. What will it be? The loss of my Kitty...

94: You have the opportunity to sleep with the music-celebrity of your choice. Who would it be? Nicky from Westlife.

95: You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere. You have to depart right now. Where are you gonna go? In a perfect world, I would be going to see Westlife perform.

96: Do you have any relatives in jail? I have in the past.

97: Have you ever thrown up in the car? Yes.

98: Ever been on a plane? Yes.

99: If the whole world were listening to you right now, what would you say? STAY THE FUCK HOME!

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ella-se-vuelve-loca · 5 years ago

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Chapter 19

Grand Masterlist

Series Masterlist

I’m sorry that this is posted a little late today! Lmao I’ve just been super busy with a lot of shit going on. I’ll keep trying to post up more chapters for y’all! I hope you guys enjoy chapter 19! I was gonna put the music video that Johann did of “Treat You Better” in this chapter, but I don’t want to give him more exposure and tag his shit in my story LMAO oops

Previous Chapter

~1 Week Later~

Joel’s P.O.V.

“Hola cncowners!” I smiled at my phone screen as more and more people started pouring in, watching my live stream. I had my laptop next to me playing some music while I waited a few moments, letting everyone get settled in. “How are you guys?” I asked and reached for my bottled water I had off to the side. I took a sip and started reading the comments of what everyone was saying.

“Uh I’m good. I’m just hanging out here in the hotel with Richard, but he’s currently FaceTiming Aaliyah right now.” I chuckled and switched the camera so it showed him holding his phone up to his face and smiling at his baby girl.

I turned the camera back to me and read the next following questions. “The rest of the boys are in their rooms probably sleeping or something, I don’t know.” I laughed. “I just wanted to check up on you guys and see how you’re doing.” I cleared my throat and continued reading the comments that popped up on my screen.

“Um.. ‘Mexico misses you! Please come back soon’. We miss you too! I love getting to travel and seeing new faces everywhere I go.” I smiled as more questions were being asked and I began answering them as much as I can. I turned my attention back to my laptop when a song ended and I looked for another video to play. “Hey, do you guys have any song recommendations? Any songs you wanna listen to?” I asked as I had looked back at my phone screen.

So many song titles came through and I waited until I kept seeing a repeat. I saw a few that told me to react to music videos and whatnot, but I played their songs and answered their questions while Richard was laughing at what his daughter was doing on the other line. “Okay you guys. I gotta head to bed really soon, so I’ll play one more song for you guys and then I’m off.” I smiled.

My good mood slowly went out the window as I saw Johann’s name pop up on my YouTube page with a new video that had been posted recently. I was going to scroll past it until I saw someone who looks very familiar on the cover. I sat there in shock, not quite sure if what I was seeing is true. “Uh actually.. I see something on here that caught my attention. I can stay for one more song after this one. Let me just..”

It’s peaked my curiosity though and I can’t help but wonder what he put out. I clicked on the video and was met with her beautiful face on my laptop screen. I felt my breath get stuck in the back of my throat for a few seconds as I heard Johann’s voice start singing to my girl..

“Huh…” It’s like all the butterflies in my stomach had just died watching his hands on her waist.. his face buried in her hair.. her smile. This doesn’t just mentally hurt, this physically hurts. “Treat You Better.. this is uh..” I cleared my throat and continued to watch Johann hold her close to him. I bit my lip and slowly brought my head down. I don’t know if I can continue watching this.

The way he looked at her made my blood boil and I wished that it was me instead of him. It’s been a few months, but I didn’t really think she would… I thought maybe we can… why does my heart hurt so much?

“Alrights, mamas, papá has to get going. I love you!” I looked up at Richard blow a kiss and say goodnight before turning his attention back to me, smiling. He placed his phone inside his front pocket and sat on the bed next to me. “What are you doing?” He asked as he looked at the video playing on my laptop. “I’m just.. I’m.. watching a music video and doing a live..”

He went silent for a few moments as he looked at who was on my screen. “Hey.. isn’t that – ”

“Yeah.” I cut him off and looked away from my laptop as Johann leaned down close to her face, indicating that there must’ve been a kiss at the end. I cleared my throat and exited out that video. “Okay uh.. one last song before I head to bed. How about we let Richard pick out what we listen to next, yeah?” I pushed my laptop closer to him as I looked down at the comments.

“Hola.” Rich spoke and waved at the camera as the cncowners greeted him. He typed in one of our songs and let it play for everyone to hear. I could feel him staring at me from the corner of my eye as I tried to not think about what I just saw. Richard pretty much took over as he started reading an answering questions they were asking as I got up and walked to the other side of the room.

“I’ll be right back. I’m gonna head to the bathroom real quick.” I spoke as I turned my back towards him and walked into the restroom, closing the door behind me. I’m just reminded of the fact that I can’t talk to her and now she’s in his arms. Then again, this could just be acting and nothing more, but it still doesn’t stop the hurt I feel in my chest. He’s rubbing this in my face, I know he is. Why else would he have picked her and sing that song?

I have to find a way to get the ball back in my court without damaging more relationships and my career that I’ve worked so hard to get where I am. Should I even attempt to fight for her back? I know you shouldn’t give up on people you love, but I don’t know if she loves me anymore. Is it worth the fight?

I walked out of the bathroom as I realized the song was just about finished. “Okay you guys.. it was nice getting to talk to you all, pero necesitamos dormir.” Richard spoke as he saw me walk back out of the bathroom and walk towards him. I put on a smile and waved goodbye. “Buenas noches.” I turned off the live and grabbed my phone, tossing it onto the bed carelessly without another thought.

“Bro – ”

“No.. you know what? This is what I get. I don’t deserve to feel the way I do because I did this. I just wish..” I bit my lip and shook my head, ripping open the blankets as I lied down. “I think I’m just gonna sleep on it…” I heard him sigh and walk around, but was shocked when he sat on the edge of my bed. “She’s moving on..” I softly spoke and brought the blanket close to my face. “With him..” He stayed silent for a few moments before speaking up.

“You still love her?” He asked. “What kind of question is that? Of course I do.” I spoke and gripped onto my blanket. “Do you want that second chance?” His eyebrows scrunched together as my body turned towards him. “Yeah..” I said, looking up at him. “Dude, what are you – ”

“Just answer the damn questions.”

“Why? What difference does it make?”

“’Cause I’m willing to help you pendejo, but only if it means that much to you. Now answer the fucking questions. Do you or do you not want that second chance?”

“Well of course I do!”

“You want to try again?”

“Yeah, but she won’t – ”

“Are you gonna give up on her?”

“No! No, I don’t want to. But Johann said – ” I sat up he kept going. “You want to be able to continue where you left off and grow together as a couple?” The tone of his voice grew a little louder as I became irritated and answered him back.

“Yes! Yes, okay!” I exclaimed and slowly brought my head down, angry at myself. “… But I can’t. I want.. I want to be able to do all of that and more without anything else getting in the way. I want to start over.” He slowly nodded and held up his hands as in question.

“Okay… so the question is, what are you gonna do about it and what do you need me to do to help you?”

‘Why did the color drain from Joel’s face when he saw Johann’s new music video on his live a few days ago??’

‘Joel looked so sad at the end of his live recently :( are you okay bb? We love you! x’

‘Is anyone else gonna ignore the fact that Joel unfollowed Johann or…?’

‘Does that girl in Johann’s video mean anything to him or something? Was it the song he didn’t like? He looked so upset but didn’t say much about it’

‘I thought the video was good, I don’t know why he got quiet the way he did’

I shouldn’t have watched that during my live a few days ago ‘cause now the fans are asking why my mood changed right after. I haven’t addressed any of them and just continued like nothing happened.

“Alright, this song is fire because it’s telling your girl, or telling that one person ‘I don’t wanna keep fighting’, you know? ‘I don’t wanna keep bugging about things that happened before, let’s just start from zero. Get to know each other again.’” Richard spoke as the rest of us all sat around holding microphones in our hands, getting ready to perform.

“Well, we’re coming out with our new EP that we wrote like maybe 85% of it and we’re really really excited for the people to listen to it. Just going around and spreading our music and hopefully go around the country.” Chris smiled as he looked directly into the camera and cleared his throat. Now it’s time to introduce ourselves..

“Hola, soy Erick.”

“I’m Christopher.”

“I’m Joel.”

“I’m Richard.”

“Yo soy Zabdiel y nosotros somos – ”

“CNCO.”

“Y bueno este es nuestro más reciente sencillo, De Cero.” Zabdiel spoke as he started to strum his guitar. Music is a powerful weapon and can be used in any way you want. A love song to somebody? You got it. Breaking up and moving on? You’ll find one. Going out with friends and partying the night away? Pretty easy to find. Wanting to start over with someone you love? That’s promising..

youtube

“Niña, tanto tiempo

¿Qué estás haciendo?

¿Qué es de tu vida?

Dicen que estás sufriendo

Creo que tengo

Una salida”

I’m talking to her through the lyrics without mentioning her name. This is my apology and it’s the only way I can talk about it in public without Johann spilling the beans. I frowned as I brought the mic up to my lips, continuing the next verse.

“Cuando dejemos el orgullo

Y las barreras entre tú y yo

Soltamos lo malo

Nos inventamos un atardecer

Sin mente yo me entregaré

El pasado olvidamos”

I pictured her face and thought about her listening to us perform this song. I wonder if she would even listen to this and know that I’m sorry? I’m singing this for you, (Y/N)..

“Y de cero empezamos

Otro chance nos damos los dos

Mejor dejemos la estupidez (Oh)

Que el amor llega solo una vez

De cero empezamos

Otro chance nos damos tú y yo

Mejor dejemos la estupidez

Que el amor llega solo una vez”

I never thought I would relate so much to a song as I do now. I don’t want to give up on the possibility that we can make us work, but considering the way things are right now, I don’t think she’ll even give me the time of day.

Erick started to sing his next part as I thought about what I’ll do if she were to take me back. I’ll definitely work harder to make sure she feels loved and not a second choice ever again, that’s for damn sure. Have I even considered the possibility that she would just tell me to leave and never see her again? Yes.. yes, I’ve thought about that.

I heard Christopher’s voce start singing and knew my part was almost here. If I can’t have her, I at least want someone who will treat her like I should’ve done. Someone who will give her all the love she deserves and never make her second guess herself. Someone who will make time for her, make her happy and never break her heart. If it’s not me, it’s definitely not Johann. I need to know that she’ll be in good hands if I don’t get a second chance.

“Can we accept all of our differences

And put aside all of the pettiness

Just forget, no regret

I'll take you anywhere you wanna go

I got so much I want to show

Let's restart and we'll go far”

I guess I got so caught up with the cncowners shipping me with Emilia so much that I started to believe that there was something between us. I became nervous whenever I was around her and felt butterflies in my stomach, but nothing compared to the feeling I had whenever I was with (Y/N).

I never knew I could feel like this. Listen to my heart, (Y/N). Can you hear it sing? Please come back to me and forgive everything..

I can’t get that image out of my head. Johann’s hands resting on her waist… his lips just inches away from hers. She’s been seeing him more and more since I left and is getting comfortable around him. My mind became all discombobulated after that video and my heart literally ached at the thought of her falling for someone new.. someone like Johann.

Before I knew it, the song was over and we were free to get up and walk around. “Thank you for doing this for us. You guys were amazing!”

“Thank you for having us.” Richard smiled and shook hands with the video producer. I stood up and stretched, craning my neck back and forth. “We’ll have this video up soon and notify you guys when it’s posted.”

I zoned out the conversations around me as I thought about Richard’s words he said to me that night.

“What are you going to do about it?”

That’s a good question. A very good question indeed..

Next Chapter

Wanna be tagged for future fics?

@apla-o-eaytos-mou @pretendcnco @joelitos-baby @chellybear98 @ericksmamita @littlestripmix @pizzaspirits @theweirdsideofstuff @cncoaddicted @prettymuch-cnco @guitargirl006 @cncoawo @ash-zahira @ashhemmingsstylesvelez @cncohhhhwoah @pimentelssmile @shordyfromdablock @h-bea92 @xxxstormyninixxx @buttercup-chey @cncogirl18 @urafakebetch @boundtobreakk

#cnco #cnco imagines #cnco imagine #cnco fic #joel pimentel #joel pimentel imagine #Joel Pimentel series #cnco angst #Joel Pimentel angst #mistakes were made #Joel Pimentel fic #joel fic #I HOPE THIS ISNT SHIT LMAOOOO

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gretahs · 5 years ago

Note

pls post the rewrite 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 need me a shot of serotonin

There’s something so beautiful about looking at space through the scuffed glass of a T-70 windshield.

Everything looks a little smudged: the stars bleed into each other just enough to look like patterns of light on a pool of rippling water, the kaleidoscope of ionized clouds changing in colour and tone depending on how Poe tilts his head. His mother once described it as the reflection of a clear night sky on a bottomless lake, as they sat beneath the tree on Yavin IV with her helmet pulled down over his eyes.

If he listens, past the familiar staccato vibration behind him and the white noise chatter over the comm and the sound of BB-8 whistling something to itself, he can almost hear the tuneless silence of the galaxy, something he used to crane his ears to hear back when he had two feet on the ground on Yavin IV. It’s the gaping nothingness that sings to him, past the planets and systems and traffic, that someday he’ll take his hands off the joystick and float away into the abyss and find out where that song is calling him to.

Now, though, they’ve entered the debris, and that conversation fades into a concentrated quiet, and he flicks on his responder again. Even now, days later, the open, jagged wound the New Republic left behind is bleeding and raw. Starkiller did its job well: it pulverised Hosnian and her sister planets to dust, dragging fleeing ships back with a bright red, stinging grasp, and ate them all to ash. Space here is thick with dust and smouldering sparks, but here and there Poe can catch glimpses: of houses, buildings, ships, trees, moons.

Of bodies.

“All clear in Sector Three,” Testor says, her voice cracking in grief, and to his left he watches as Blue Three swerves around a sphere of cracking, scorched marble.

“All clear in Eighth Sector,” from Iolo.

Karé says: “Nothing at Courtsilius – Sector Thirteen –” before cutting herself off with a horrible gasping sound as the hull of a broken starship floats past, wires idly buzzing with the ghost of life, and from its open rim are floating hands and hair and montrals and faces reaching outwards, nails frozen over and blue and unfeeling. Someone gags, and Poe realises as he bends over it’s him, and he has to choke back bile and tear his helmet off his head, gasping through the recycled air.

His eyes are shut, so all he can hear is a chorus of horror as his squadron grieves. A fleet of escapees, it seems, trapped in time and unable to decay. Rows and rows of transports torn in two: not warships but civilians, old and young and children, running for their lives. Poe can hear BB-8 whistling in a worried tone behind him, a comforting sound of Friend-Poe Friend-Poe Friend-Poe Friend-Poe Friend-Poe, but all the same he keeps his eyes screwed shut until the nausea passes, until he can rub furiously at the wetness on his cheeks without fear of vomiting at the sight. When he pulls his visor back down its to silence, because they’ve flown into a graveyard.

They’ve been tasked with locating any survivors, Poe knows, and that General Organa wishes to keep hope alive no matter what, regardless of the adversity, but in that moment, as he sees screams of silent agony and terror and desperation, the despair is almost crippling.

As long as there’s light we’ve got a chance, he thinks to himself. The heat of the attack had ignited Hosnian Prime’s core, so that even those furthest from the point of impact had been incinerated when their planet had erupted from beneath their feet. From D’Qar, it still shone as a temporary sun, but from this distance it had long since spluttered out into a swirling black pit that caught more like than it broadcast. He’d been looking up at Raysho from the tarmac just that morning, leaning backwards and watching as five hundred billion lives lived on in the past. Poe had almost expected to fly out and somehow find the Republic still intact, that Korr Sella would greet them with a sharp smile and a quick word for Leia in the atmosphere, that he could pass beneath the clouds and feel the earth beneath his feet.

Space is beautiful, but like an ocean it didn’t discriminate between those it swallows whole.

His comm clicks back on.

“I’ve got something,” Paige says. She’s speaking past her filter unit so her voice is mechanised and toned, but Poe can still tell that she sounds confused. Disturbed.

Poe frowns. “This is Black One, please clarify.”

“Starboard side, at your three o’clock.” Karé this time, and he watches as she carefully flies the transport to their right, away from where they held in tight formation. Her voice turns panicked. “Poe– Poe –”

“Force there’s more,” Iolo says, his voice hushed, and as a line of debris rolls past him, Poe finally sees: if the junkyard they had passed through was a graveyard, then this was a battlefield.

The carnage seems endless, a forest of shrapnel and metal bent into circles in the heat, shattered glass shining like crystals past the broken bodies of hundreds, thousands, of people, both military and bystander alike. He’s holding the joystick in both hands, but his fingers are slick with sweat and frozen in his gloves, and he can’t tilt it forward. He’s stuck, peering out that scuffed windshield at a field of indescribable horror, and somehow he can hear himself keep speaking.

“I need a scan,” says the stranger with his voice, “right now, immediately. Paige? If there are survivors, if anyone survived out here we need to locate them and – and get them on the damn transport. Iolo, Testor, I need a broader scope of the damage. Is this the fleet? Is there a possibility that we missed–” He stops, and blinks furiously, jerking Black One suddenly sideways to BB’s sudden loud beeps, and pulling up closer to the wreckage of a T-85, peering as far forward as the straps on his suit will allow. “– that we…”

“Poe?” Karé asks. She can’t get close to him because of the cumbersome size of her craft, but he knows she’s halted behind him, ready to engage, and he doesn’t turn to check. “Poe – Poe what do we –?”

“Run a diagnostic on that ship,” he says, and BB burbles out a concerned reply. “No, wait, hang on. I said hang on Paige!”

There’s a ringing in the helmet, but all he can do is stare forward past the glass, past Black One and his team and the wreckage and the death and the fire so hot it still smoulders in space, as a giant, looming shadow falls over them.

“Iolo.” His voice is cracked and almost a whisper. A line of sweat curls around his jaw, and down his throat. He doesn’t look away. “Iolo, get them out of here now.”

“Poe –!”

“You need to go now!”

“The civilians –” Testor is steel beneath a sob. “There could still be civilians in those ships, we can’t just –”

“Black One,” Snap crackles in over the line, “we’ve got a dreadnought on your starboard side. Repeat, you need to go now!”

“How is that possible?” Paige says, through heaving breaths, “that’s not – this is closed space – does that mean that they broke through and murdered –”

“How do they have a ship!” Karé shouts back, abandoning comm protocol entirely with the horror. “We destroyed their base!”

“Poe!” Iolo, his voice unsteady.

His heart jerks back into his chest, and he comes back to himself with his hands trembling on the controls and screams in his ears. Everything feels flushed, but he knows that if he were to reach out in front of him, it would be cold to the touch. Get it together, says the little General Organa in his head, come on, these people here died for something, honour them by saving your own! RUN!

Poe shouts: “Disperse! Kondro manoeuvre to my port side! Disperse and regroup outside the flare! Disperse! Disperse!”

Then he hits the throttle, and swallows his cowardice, and leaves the people, their people, the people of the ashes of the Republic, behind to the inky black.

#OOPA DOOPA editing time #star wars #poe dameron #oscar isaac #star wars the last jedi #tysm!! im pulling the trigger on the seratonin drop..... Hopefully #Anonymous #excerpts from the rewrite #which is a tag apparently #the ask and the answer #grefics

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writingamongtheroses-archive · 5 years ago

Text

Showtime, Chapter 2

(Because, somehow, I never posted 2.)

Night 1

The uniform was too big.

Liza ended up rolling up the pants to tuck them into her work boots and used a few spare pins to keep the sleeves of her button-up rolled up. The entire thing was a shade of blue, faded in the way a few hundred washes could only do. Over her heart was Ted Bear's Pizza, stitched in golden thread. (Which was weird, since none of the characters were yellow.) The worse part was the hat.

She could've just dropped the scarf. It wasn't like anyone was going to see her or the scars that arched across her forehead. But the very thought of losing her comfort item made her want to faint. So, she struggled for fifteen minutes to get the too-small hat to fit over the scarf before she glanced at the clock and gave it one last pull before booking it out the door.

She could take the hat off at the office.

Liza arrived at 11:40, right when the last of the cleaning crew was leaving. Mr. Calworth was waiting for her just inside the dining hall. "I forgot to mention yesterday- to save power, we use a generator during the night," he said, patting her shoulder. "I'll lock the door."

"Wait, but I'm supposed to-"

He was already out the door. "Lock up..." Liza raised a brow but decided to ignore the...shadiness of the entire thing.

Sv'h srwrmt hlnvgsrmt.

She settled into the office easily, picking up the tablet that was apparently used to monitor the cameras. Liza hummed an absent tune as she flipped through the cameras. Ten, then twenty minutes passed before the clock showed 12:00. The lights shuddered as the restaurant switched from city to generator power.

The phone rang.

Liza let out a yelp, nearly falling over in the chair. She righted herself and grabbed the phone. Had Mr. Calworth forgotten to tell her something? "Hello-?"

"Hello, hello! Hey, I wanted to record a message for you, to help you out on your first night." Oh. It was a recording. Liza set the phone back into place. "Um, I actually worked in that office, finishing my last week. I know this job can get...overwhelming."

Liza scoffed. "It's watching a bunch of animatronics to make sure they don't get stolen." She returned to leaning back, flipping through the cameras. "How overwhelming can it get?" She stopped on the dining hall's cam, noticing something

"There's this company policy thing I have to read, so here we go. Welcome to Ted Bear's Pizza, a magical place for kids and smiles, blah, blah...Ted Bear's Pizza is not responsible for damage to property or person..." All the animatronics were staring at the camera. "Upon discovery that death has occurred, a missing person report will be filed in 90 days, or until the cleanup and bleaching is done." Liza stiffened, staring at the phone in horror.

What the fuck.

"Now, I know it sounds bad. But really, there's nothing to worry about! The animatronics here do get a bit...quirky at night, but do I blame them? No! If I had to sing the same stupid songs for years without a bath, I'll be a bit irritable too! So, remember, these characters hold a special place in everyone's hearts and we need to treat them with respect!"

He continued on about some free-roam mode and servos locking up, Liza still stuck on the 'death has occurred' part. "Uh, they used to be able to free-roam during the day, but then the Bite of '85 happened. Then they got taken off free-roam a few years later, but a kid got too close a few years ago and the Bite of '05 happened."

What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck...

"The first kid died. I think the second kid was in a coma for a bit, but she survived after they stitched her brain back together. Amazing, right? Now, concerning your safety, the only real threat to you as a nightguard is that the animatronics will confuse you for an endoskeleton without a suit. That's against the rules here, so they'll try to stuff you into a suit. That wouldn't be so bad, except they're filled with machinery and stuff. Which can cause a little bit of discomfort...and death."

QUEMIERDAQUEMIERDAQUEMIERDAQUEMIERDA...

"Yeah, the only part of you that would likely see the light of day again is your eyeballs." There was a sardonic chuckle. Liza started to hit her head against the desk, resisting the urge to wail. "Yeah, they don't tell you this when they hire you. But, hey! The first day should be a breeze! Remember to conserve power, check your cameras, and use the doors only if absolutely necessary. Talk to you tomorrow!"

The recording ended. Liza peeled her face off the desk to grab the tablet. She paled at not only seeing that the power was already at 98% but the dog...Rex, that's right, was off-stage. He was standing in the center of the dining hall, staring at the camera with a cross look. She gulped, glancing at the remote.

She could figure out what the military-grade doors were for now.

-_-

There was a heartbeat.

It could feel it, all the way in the dark. It hummed absently. It was too hard to choose during the day, it distracted from the adults by the lovely, glowing heartbeats of the children. It was forced to choose during the night, with only one type to choose from.

Talk about slim pickings.

It reached out for the heartbeat-

Oh.

Cruel irony. Too cruel for this world, but not cruel enough for this family tragedy. It could feel its Other shift, recognizing the familial bond. It pulled away to soothe before returning to the feeling of the heart.

The choice was cruel. But it didn't have a choice.

It had been too choosy in the past. He had been too choosy.

Cruel irony could wait.

-_-

When Liza decided to try the east hall light and saw Rex's leering face, she let out a scream and jabbed the button for the east door hard enough that she was sure for a minute that she had broken her finger.

She sat there panting for a minute. Tio Rafael was right, I need to cut down on la cafeína. She glanced at the tablet to see the battery had dropped from 96 to 85- crap, she still had the door down. Liza peered through the door’s window. The lack of Rex meant she could probably open the door.

She glanced through the cameras to see the trio's guitarist, Kitty-Cat, was gone. The camera in the kitchen lacked a picture, but it did have audio. She could hear the crash of pots and pans. When she glanced at the Parts and Services room, Rex was glaring at the camera.

"Buen perro. Quédate ahí."

She stopped at Treasure Cavern's camera, noticing that the curtain was twitching. Eventually, it moved to reveal Captain Bun. Liza raised a brow at the bunny's position. The animatronic looked tense like it was preparing to-

No.

"No, no, no," Liza hissed, trying to figure out which hallway. Her tablet choked for death. "No te atrevas!"

Bun took off. The woman froze, realizing she could hear the bunny coming. She sprang for the remote, slamming the west door button. It slammed down right when Bun was at the doorway. Liza let out a sigh of relief, glancing at her watch. It was 2. Huh, time ran fast when you were fighting for your life-

Bang.

BANG!

BANGBANGBANGBANGBANG-

It sounded like Bun was trying to break down the door. Liza took a chance and checked the east light. She was forced to push the east door button when she saw Kitty. It felt like an eternity before the banging stopped and she heard Bun run away. It took a little longer before she heard Kitty limp away.

74%.

This tablet was a traitor, she decided. A horrible traitor. Un horrible, horrible pedazo de mierda bastardo. She was calling Tio Rafael after her shift to demand what he and Tio Vincent were thinking when they were making these things. Then she was quitting.

The hours slipped away as she fended off Rex, Kitty, and Bun. Strangely, Ted himself hadn't come by yet, even though he was clearly off-stage. As the hours passed, it seemed like they were getting discouraged. It was 5:50 AM when the pedazo de mierda that called itself a tablet was at 5%. She whimpered as it fell to 4, 3, 2...

It was exactly 5:59 when it hit 0.

The doors slid up. The lights died. The horrible, horrible pedazo de mierda bastardo went dark. Liza sat frozen in the dark, dead silence. She covered her mouth when she heard heavy footsteps, trying to stifle her breathing. A music box was playing- sickeningly, she recognized the tune. It was a lullaby that her family sang to each other. She resisted a hysterical giggle.

Voy a morir a manos de la creación de mis tíos, escuchando a mi canción de cuna familiar.

Before she could think of some type of escape plan, the footsteps stopped at the door. She looked up to meet Ted Bear's brown eyes. She could recognize Tío Vincent's eyes in the brown glass orbs. This time, she didn't resist the hysterical giggle.

A hand reached for her...

The lights flipped on. Liza let out a squawk, closing her eyes. When she peeled them open, Ted had stepped back. Was it just her or did he look frustrated? She didn't have time to take in his expression, because he turned and walked away. She grabbed the tablet and let out a cheer when it came to life. She watched through the cameras as the animatronics returned to the stage.

It took a good ten minutes before Liza could manage her way out. She was forced to pass through the dining hall, stopping to consider the bots on-stage.

There, they looked perfectly innocent. Nope, nothing weird here at all, no siree.

They could buy steel bombproof doors, but not a technician to reprogram these things?

Tomorrow, she was going to call Mr. Calworth and try and quit. She shot out of the restaurant with that thought, heading to her car. She tried to start it. One look at the dash and the arrow pointing to the E and Liza let her head thunk against the wheel.

One more day couldn't hurt. She could try and call the recording guy back.

One more day, and then she'll quit.

#heartbeat series #heartbeat #wip #writblr #writeblr

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jul-iet · 4 years ago

Text

weird asks that say a lot

1. coffee mugs, teacups, wine glasses, water bottles, or soda cans? Coffee mugs

2. chocolate bars or lollipops? Chocolate bars

3. bubblegum or cotton candy? Bubblegum. Cinnamon

4. how did your elementary school teachers describe you? Performative, joyful, clever? Haha

5. do you prefer to drink soda from soda cans, soda bottles, plastic cups or glass cups? From soda cans

6. pastel, boho, tomboy, preppy, goth, grunge, formal or sportswear? ...

7. earbuds or headphones? Earbuddies

8. movies or tv shows? TV shows

9. favourite smell in the summer? All of it! Seaweed, wind from the ocean, rain on hot ground, thick air

10. game you were best at in p.e.? Most. Running maybe? I enjoyed soccer, basketball

11. what you have for breakfast on an average day? Croissants on the best of days, otherwise— some kind of toast maybe paired with fruit

12. name of your favourite playlist? Nice to revisit ones named after places I went

13. lanyard or key ring? Key ring

14. favourite non-chocolate candy? Sour ones

15. favourite book you read as a school assignment? Catcher and the Rye maybe, at the time? Or Lord of the Flies. I really liked studying Shakespeare

16. most comfortable position to sit in? Criss cross or w my knees tucked up to my chest

17. most frequently worn pair of shoes? White sneakers

18. ideal weather? Sunny

19. sleeping position? Usually on my left side, sometimes on my back in a crescent shape

20. preferred place to write (i.e., in a note book, on your laptop, sketchpad, post-it notes, etc.)? Journal

21. obsession from childhood? Fictional relationships in my teens, the movie Spirit in my early childhood

22. role model? A well adjusted person with creative life and intellectual exertions

23. strange habits? A bunch I’m sure

24. favourite crystal? Don’t know that I do

25. first song you remember hearing? Apart from movie soundtracks, it’s Tiny Dancer whilst driving south through a desert

26. favourite activity to do in warm weather? Swim

27. favourite activity to do in cold weather? Get warm? Maybe read

28. five songs to describe you? Girl from the North Country, Wildflowers, People I’ve Been Sad, Shrike, Come Back to Camden

29. best way to bond with you? Be kind and interested in things

30. places that you find sacred?

31. what outfit do you wear to kick ass and take names? Tank top wide legs pants and sneakers

32. top five favourite vines?

33. most used phrase in your phone? Probably “haha” :P

34. advertisements you have stuck in your head? NB shoes may b

35. average time you fall asleep? Between one and two, but I’m trying to remedy that

36. what is the first meme you remember ever seeing? Couldn’t recall

37. suitcase or duffel bag? Suitcase

38. lemonade or tea? Tea if I had to choose, but I love lemonade (could make lemon tea and cool…)

39. lemon cake or lemon meringue pie? Lemon cake

40. weirdest thing to ever happen to you at your school? Maybe the fire alarm fiasco

41. last person you texted? Group of 2

42. jacket pockets or pants pockets? Jacket pockets

43. hoodie, leather jacket, cardigan, jean jacket or bomber jacket? Cardi

44. favourite scent for soap? Mmm lots

45. which genre: sci-fi, fantasy or superhero? Fantasy, maybe? None, really

46. most comfortable outfit to sleep in? Shirt knick

47. favourite type of cheese? Brie

48. if you were a fruit, what kind would you be? A rasp I think? Or a tomato

49. what saying or quote do you live by? This one rings true to my daily thoughts. By Cheryl Strayed: "You go on by doing the best you can. You go on by being generous. You go on by being true. You go on by offering comfort to others who can't go on. You go on by allowing the unbearable days to pass and allowing the pleasure in other days. You go on by finding a channel for your love and another for your rage."

50. what made you laugh the hardest you ever have? Probably shenanigans w my sister

51. current stresses? Circumstance, school, direction, reflection

52. favorite font? TNR!!!

53. what is the current state of your hands? Fabü

54. what did you learn from your first job? How to make coffee and to serve strangers

55. favourite fairy tale? Don’t know that I do. Is Dumbo a fairy tale? A Little Life is part fairy tale according to Hanya

56. favourite tradition? Cards

57. the three biggest struggles you’ve overcome? Lightly, quickly, vaguely: childhood, panic, listlessness

58. four talents you’re proud of having? Painting, writing, smarts, quick reflexes

59. if you were a video game character, what would your catchphrase be?

60. if you were a character in an anime, what kind of anime would you want it to be? IDK anime

61. favourite line you heard from a book/movie/tv show/etc.? Recently, from A Little Life:

"“I’m going”, he tells Jude, but then he doesn’t move. A dragonfly, as shiny as a scarab, hums above them. “I’m going”, he repeats, but he still doesn’t move, and it is only the third time he says it that he’s finally able to stand up from the lounge chair, drunk on the hot air, and shove his feet back into his loafers. “Limes”, says Jude, looking up at him and shielding his eyes against the sun. “Right”, he says, and bends down, takes Jude’s sunglasses off him, kisses him on his eyelids, and replaces his glasses. Summer, JB has always said, is Jude’s season: his skin darkens and his hair lightens to almost the same shade, making his eyes turn an unnatural green, and Willem has to keep himself from touching him too much.”

62. seven characters you relate to? I feel that I’m more able to understand than relate to characters, but… the way Patti Smith expresses herself in her biographical books, Little Creek, Willem for how he deals with other peoples’ pain… I think I don’t encounter enough characters for this

63. five songs that would play in your club? Waterloo, Right Down the Line, Nobody’s Diary, Cringe, Take Your Mama

64. favourite website from your childhood? Haha freearcade for wiz 3 maybe

65. any permanent scars? From trips falls cooking singes

66. favourite flower(s)? Wild! No one particularly

67. good luck charms? I feel like my rings are good luck. I’ve had good luck symbols that have come and gone in time

68. worst flavour of any food or drink you’ve ever tried? I think root beer is rank

69. a fun fact that you don’t know how you learned? I know there’s a bunch but they come up by chance not choice

70. left or right handed? Right

71. least favourite pattern? Houndstooth?

72. worst subject? Maybe physics

73. favourite weird flavour combo? Idk if I have a favourite… dipped digestives in tatziki recently and it wasn’t bad

74. at what pain level out of ten (1 through 10) do you have to be at before you take an advil or ibuprofen? 7 maybe

75. when did you lose your first tooth? In kindergarten

76. what’s your favourite potato food (i.e. tater tots, baked potatoes, fries, chips, etc.)? Salt and vinegar chips

77. best plant to grow on a windowsill? I’d say herbs for cooking… thyme, basil, rosemary, mint

78. coffee from a gas station or sushi from a grocery store? Gas station coffee

79. which looks better, your school id photo or your driver’s license photo? School ID

80. earth tones or jewel tones? Earthy

81. fireflies or lightning bugs? Fireflies

82. pc or console? Beyond me

83. writing or drawing? Writing usually

84. podcasts or talk radio? Pods

84. barbie or polly pocket? Neither

85. fairy tales or mythology? Mythology?

86. cookies or cupcakes? Cookies

87. your greatest fear? Balding unfulfilled potential infection insanity

88. your greatest wish? Romantic love

89. who would you put before everyone else?

90. luckiest mistake? I feel like the way certain trips fell together was lucky

91. boxes or bags? Bags

92. lamps, overhead lights, sunlight or fairy lights? Sunlight

93. nicknames? Jet yetti jules julio

94. favourite season? Summer

95. favourite app on your phone? Spotify, duolingo, YT… soft spot for all my old travel apps

96. desktop background? Lake water

97. how many phone numbers do you have memorized? I think around 5

98. favourite historical era? Don’t have one

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braceletofakechi · 5 years ago

Text

MUNDAY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS .

( answer the questions and tag followers you want to get to know better . don’t answer anything you’re uncomfortable with , just strike it out . )

BASICS

NAME OR ALIAS : Ellen Crystal GENDER + PRONOUNS : female, she/her ZODIAC SIGN : Leo RP EXPERIENCE : 4-5 years

FAVORITE…

MOVIE : X-Men TV SHOWS : SpongeBob SquarePants ANIME : Boruto BOOK : The Hate You Give POEM : None MUSIC ARTIST : Too many to decide~ COLOR : Icy blue NUMBER : 85

LAST…

MOVIE WATCHED : Dolittle TV SHOW WATCHED : Hell’s Kitchen BOOK READ : The Art of Angry Birds THING GOOGLED : lowongan magang (Eng: Internship job offer) SONG LISTENED TO : Taigatoutou

RANDOM

SONG STUCK IN HEAD : None WHAT I’M WEARING : T-Shirt and shorts HOGWARTS HOUSE : I can’t remember POKEMON GO TEAM : I don’t play pokemon :’) AVERAGE HOURS OF SLEEP : 8 - 10 hours

BLOG

WHEN I CREATED THIS BLOG : 2016 DO I GET ASKS REGULARLY : Not so much like before tho... EXPLAIN YOUR URL : It’s a mix of a character’s weapon in a game and also a family clan name

RPC / FANDOM MISCONCEPTION YOU HATE

GIVE SOME RPC SALT :

Personally, nothing much that I can say but... If there’s anyone try to interact, please give them a chance to experience how to do roleplay look like, it is for everyone. Do not judge the mun if they are just learning basic RPing, it takes times to experience and they have daily jobs or schools as well. And please, whatever happens, do not start a drama as it really disturb other RPers happiness while they don’t get involved (I happened to witnessed the incident although I am not sure what exactly happened few years ago in 2015 before I started RPing)

GIVE SOME RPC SUGAR :

I love all my followers even if we don’t chat that much (although I wish I could xD). Whatever you do, just have fun with your life and we shall chat more... It is okay to learn to roleplay as it improved your english skill (especially if you are an English as a second language person)

tagged by: Nah, I just do this for fun~

#outofwonder #munday

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dippedanddripped · 4 years ago

Link

Watching Aminé’s “Caroline” music video can evoke vivid high school memories of the days when a freshly minted driver’s license conferred upon its holder the freedom to meet up with friends and do anything — or nothing. The video, like the song, is bubbly and carefree; it documents Aminé and his friends riding around town in a Honda Sedan stocked to the gills with bananas, lounging around in the grass, and watching each other play video games. In that 2016 summer of #BlackBoyJoy in hip-hop (when Chance the Rapper, Lil Yachty, D.R.A.M., Anderson .Paak, Rae Sremmurd, MadeinTYO, and Desiigner also flourished), “Caroline” went quadruple-platinum and helped make Aminé the first rapper ever from Portland, Oregon to become a national star.

The video for “Shimmy,” the lead single from Aminé’s forthcoming album Limbo, is a collage of Portland-specific flexes, a tribute to how far he’s come. He cheeses for the cameras while flanked by a phalanx of lawyers and dances midfield at Providence Park. He stands, perhaps symbolically, on the roof of Mike’s Drive-In (the burger joint where “Caroline” was shot) and trades the Honda for a speedboat zooming up the Willamette River.

Just as importantly, “Shimmy” is a subtle homage to the heavily gentrified areas of northeast Portland, where Aminé — born Adam Daniel to Ethiopian and Eritrean immigrants — grew up. In the video, he meets up with other members of the Portland rap scene plus Yosief Berhe and Jonathan Ressom, his two friends who co-star in all of his videos, to bike en masse down NE Alberta Street. He stops by Kee’s, a popular soul food truck, and heads to Woodlawn Park, his old stomping grounds located a few blocks from his childhood home.

“Woodlawn is the neighborhood that I grew up in,” he tells Highsnobiety over Zoom. “It used to be very much a part of the Black community. It’s kind of turned into a hipster park now, but it’s definitely the first place I got jumped. The first place I had my first fight in. Woodlawn represents a lot of good memories for me and my friends. Like our innocent adolescence.”

Rapid gentrification continues to gut Portland’s Black community, which accounts for less than six percent of the city’s total population. Aminé alluded to the transformation of Woodlawn on his 2017 song “Turf”: “Flipping through my past like I used to flip the phone / They kicking out the Blacks and all the houses getting clones.”

“The gentrification is insane,” he says. “I used to have only Black neighbors. And now my parents only live next to white people. The only reason my parents are still on that block is because, you know, I pay for everything. But it’s not the same for a lot of Black people in Portland.”

His friends Yosief and Jonathan echo this sentiment during a phone interview: “You’re getting chains of dispensaries on the same corners where police would try to nail people for weed,” Jonathan says. “I can go in there, and it’s gonna be a girl in a skirt giving me a dub. Meanwhile, no lie, like six, seven years ago, homies getting locked up doing the same shit on that same corner.”

“People in Portland sometimes have the right intentions,” Yosief adds. “But it really irks my nerves when I go down Mississippi or Albina or through historically Black neighborhoods, and it’s 85 percent white. All the houses have Black Lives Matter signs on the lawn but displaced a bunch of Black families to be there. It’s unfortunate.”

Limbo arrives four years into Aminé’s tenure as a major-label rapper, at a point where he’s established himself, but is still unsure of where to go or how to proceed with his career. “The title came from where I’m at in my life,” he explains. “There are two meanings behind it. I feel like I grew up thinking that once I achieved one level, the next level would be easier to achieve. But as I’ve grown, I’ve come to realize that with every level that I achieve, every level gets harder, just like the game of limbo. It just doesn’t seem to change for me, and it’s honestly made me feel like I’m completely in limbo. I thought the older I get, the wiser I’d get. But I’m figuring it out.”

Bittersweet nostalgia for high school and college years has been a recurring theme in Aminé’s music. In this sense, Limbo picks up where his 2017 debut album Good For You left off. Co-executive produced by Aminé and “Caroline” producer Pasque, it features one song that is entirely dedicated to Woodlawn Park, another to Aminé’s mother. Other songs, including his recent release “RiRi,” wistfully revisit past romances that sputtered. That era, which saw the first, fitful yawns of Aminé’s music career, is fertile terrain for storytelling. “I miss being naïve. I miss hoping, not knowing what your future was looking like,” he told Pigeons & Planes earlier this year. “Just being in your room in college, broke as hell.”

Aminé’s rap career began in the booth of Benson High’s radio broadcasting program, where he and his friends once rapped over Flockaveli beats. “Then we actually realized that Adam was pretty good,” Yosief tells us. He spent summers in New York, working youth camps in the Bronx and holding down internships at Complex and Def Jam — staying with his aunt in Harlem, eating plain leftover rice out of her fridge when food money inevitably got low. After high school, he started putting out mixtapes into a localized scene that Pasque describes as “stuck in the golden age.” Casual co-signs from Damian Lillard (who came to a show) and Kaytranada (who sent free beats) were good omens that also helped him stand out. All the while, he matriculated at Portland State University and lived at home with his parents. PSU is where he met Pasque, and where they made “Caroline.”

“We found out about this classroom inside of the music building that was always left unlocked,” Pasque says. “We had a schedule. I would go to work, and then after I clocked out, I would go immediately to school and work on music all night, basically. And it was like that for about five or six months. And then, eventually, it got to the point where we had a good amount of music, and our manager, Justin, was like, ‘You guys gotta put something out.’ We decided to put out ‘Caroline.’ And after that, it was no looking back.”

“I remember him putting out these little mixtapes, trying to get stuff retweeted, putting freaking fliers on corners, and [getting help from] all our friends in Portland,” Yosief says. “The slow grind. I remember Adam was trending [on Twitter] just in Portland, and it was like a big-ass deal. I remember him having like 1,000, 2,000 views on SoundCloud, to him going like, ‘Hey, this song got two million plays on Spotify, we’re about to make a music video for it.’ All of us still broke.”

Weeks after “Caroline” came out and started racking up gaudy streaming numbers, Vevo offered to fly Aminé out to New York to record a video performance of the single. He was in his senior year, and the video shoot conflicted with a finance final, but he decided to go anyways.

“I literally was told that if I failed this final, I would fail the class. So, I was like, ‘I don’t give a fuck.’ I just didn’t care,” he says. “I hated college. I knew it wasn’t for me, but I still kept doing it because I have strict African parents that I lived with. There was no other alternative for me to live under [their roof] without going to school.”

Aminé’s affable, low-key charm and new deal with Republic Records facilitated his smooth entry into the mainstream. The summer after “Caroline” blew up, Malia Obama requested to meet him after his set at Lollapalooza, and Young Thug called him a “young legend” backstage at a European music festival. “I didn’t even know if [Thug] knew who I was,” he says. He relocated to Los Angeles, where he has lived a charmed life, ensconced in a network of the city’s coolest, smartest, and most famous young artists. Late last year, Issa Rae — who co-starred in his 2017 “Spice Girl” video — asked him to guest star in Insecure as a dumb guy named Darnell. “I moved to LA just because, like, half of the features I get are just because me and the homies are in the studio,” Aminé explains. “Like, I can text Vince [Staples] and he’ll pull up to the studio. Money can’t buy timing. That’s pretty much the only reason I’m here.”

Still, to a great extent, Aminé strives for anonymity rather than celebrity. “When people want to go to, like, 1 OAK, or the club, I’d rather just go to a small bar with a couple of my good friends and chill,” he says. He adds that “normal things” have helped him stay sane during quarantine — like meeting friends in the park with food, or his morning ritual of smoking a joint and walking his 11-month-old goldendoodle Oliver.

This aversion to the limelight extends to his relationship with Portland, where he is something of a modern cultural icon. He doesn’t go out to restaurants with his parents anymore, for the sake of their privacy. He expresses his hope that he could signal boost Portland’s Black businesses and the city’s overall profile in the music industry, rather than don the cape of Captain Portland: “I’m just such an indoor person, and I don’t love that kind of pressure on me. Like, I was never really prepared for this type of career.”

Aminé intends to eventually build a massive compound in Portland, with a studio and acres of land. It’s likely to happen one day — just don’t hold him to it. Public expectations can be dangerous. “The main thing to take away from [this album] is, I’m still just a guy figuring it out,” he says. “I don’t have the answers. And I don’t want fans to look at me for every answer. I’m just a guy, literally. I’m just in limbo.”

Limbo is out August 7 via Republic. Pre-order the record here.

#limbo #Aminé #pdx hiphop artist #portland oregon #hiphop blog #music blog

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beanfic · 6 years ago

Text

Sunshine

Pairing: Tyler Joseph x reader

Word count: 1720

Warnings: Just some fluff

Author’s note: I haven’t written a fluffy fic for what seems like in forever? I was able to write this during a quick moment where my writer's block disappeared! I have about three requests I need to write so hopefully I will get some inspo and write them this week!

“Ty, are you sure it’s safe for us to go to the beach?” you asked your husband with worried eyes. He took a few steps towards you and placed his hand on your left cheek.

“My sunshine, it will be okay.” He leaned in and placed a soft kiss on your nose making you giggle softly. “The tour is finally over and we finally have time for us.”

“I know but the fans, what if they recognize us and use this an opportunity for a spontaneous meet and greet?”

“I promise it will be okay,” he said softly. He pulled away from you and continued to pack a picnic basket for the meal. “Plus we only have three more days left in LA until we head back to Ohio and we rarely get chances to go to the beach during the summer.”

“I suppose that’s true.” You rubbed your arms which has goosebumps from the A.C being turned up all the way. You and Tyler were house sitting Josh’s home while he was on his own little vacation to New York with Jordan and Jim, which you were disappointed that you weren’t also dog sitting.

“Huntington Beach is about an hour drive,” Tyler mentioned and you nodded.

“Can I play music?”

“You always get to play music,” Tyler whined.

“That’s because you always are playing music!”

“How about you get the aux there and I get it back,” Tyler suggested and you shrugged with defeat since there was no way you could argue so you gave in. “Ready to go?”

You nodded, “I’ve been waiting!” You both headed out to Josh’s Tesla that he stupidly allowed Tyler to drive. It made you nervous driving such an expensive car, especially when it wasn’t yours but Tyler was also a good driver.

The car immediately started playing the radio so you quickly plugged your phone in and shuffled your ‘be happy’ playlist and Take Me Home, Country Roads started playing. You could feel Tyler glare over at you while he started to drive but you turned up the music and rolled down the windows and started to sing at the top of your lungs.

“West Virginia,” Tyler sang along with you and you couldn’t help but to giddily smile. You both harmonized the rest of the song and he headed on the freeway. The sun was hot on your arms but the breeze cooled you off.

“I’m thirsty,” you yelled over the music.

“What?” Tyler yelled back. You ended up leaning over and turning down the music to a reasonable volume.

“I said I’m thirsty! Is there a Starbucks we could stop at?”

“I think there's one off this exit,” he said. Sure enough, the sign for a Starbucks at the next exit showed up and Tyler ended up taking a small detour to quench your thirst. He pulled up to the drive through and ordered a Venti Vanilla Cold Brew and then looked at you.

“Could I please get a venti iced caramel latte with coconut milk, please?”

“So fancy,” Tyler teased. He pulled up to the window and you braced yourself for him to get recognized.

“Hi! $8.50, please! Oh my gosh, you’re Tyler Joseph,” the barista said with shock. You knew it was going to happen.

Tyler chuckled, “Nice to meet you! Here’s my card.”

“I love your music so much, oh my gosh, I saw you live last year and I ended up being under you for Trees and it was amazing,” she ranted as she swiped the card.

“I’m glad you liked the show!” Tyler took his card back and placed it back in his wallet.

“Thank you so much for everything,” she said over and over as she slowly but surely handed you both your drinks. You noticed that on top of your cups had the twenty one pilots symbol written in sharpie.

“Nice to meet you!” Tyler waved goodbye before driving off.

“At least she didn’t ask for a picture,” you whispered once you were far enough away.

“True.”

“What if that happens at the beach?”

“I told you not to worry!” He placed his hand on your thigh and gave it a little squeeze to reassure you. You tried to do some heavy breathing to bring your heart rate back down. The rest of the ride was spent listening to your playlist which included Walking On Sunshine and Lookin’ Out My Back Door. You had almost finished your entire drink before Tyler was finally arriving at the beach. The sounds and smell of the ocean filled your nose and it made you sigh with happiness.

“Is this parking spot okay do you think? I don’t want anyone scratching Josh’s car,” Tyler asked.

“I think it should be fine! I’ll grab the towel bags and you grab the picnic bag!”

“Already on it!” Tyler yelled from the trunk as he had the picnic basket thrown over his shoulder and was also carrying the two towel bags.

“Ty, you can’t carry everything. Let me help!”

“I said I got it!” Tyler quickly moved away from your reach.

“Whatever you say,” you laughed.

The walk down to the beach was quick and you both found a spot that had a little bit of shade and sun and was away from most families. It was around 85 degrees out so you knew you were going to end up getting in the water.

“Here’s your towel!” Tyler handed you your white beach towel that said ‘Mrs. Joseph’ on it. It was a wedding gift since you had gotten married on Manele Bay in Hawaii. Tyler laid down his towel next to yours and took out a small portable speaker.

“I didn’t know you brought that.” You narrowed your eyes.

“Yep, and I get to play music since you called it in the car,” he remarked.

“As long as it’s not twenty one pilots, I’ve had enough of that from tour.”

“Hey, that hurted my feelings.” He stuck his lower lip out and pouted. You picked up a handful of sand and threw it at Tyler’s legs making him groan.

“You’re annoying,” you smiled.

“I know, and that’s why you love me.”

“Very true.” You leaned in and planted a kiss on his lips. “Can you help me put the sunscreen on?”

“No, no way, I would never want to do that,” Tyler mumbled sarcastically. You stripped off your tank top and shorts to reveal the floral print bikini that you were wearing.

“Stop staring, Ty.”

“Sunshine, you’re so gorgeous.”

“I know, you tell me every day.”

“And I will continue telling you.” He squeezed some of the coconut scented sunscreen into this hand and began to lather it on your back. Your body got goosebumps as his cold hands slid across your skin.

“It’s cold,” you whispered softly.

“You’ll warm up soon.” Tyler placed a kiss to your neck and you moaned with happiness. This is everything you have ever wanted in your life.

“Do you need some sunscreen?” you asked him and he shook his head.

“I need to tan to make sure I stay darker than Josh.”

“I think you’ll always be darker than Josh! That man is pasty.”

“I’m going to tell him you said that,” Tyler joked.

Tyler grabbed your hand and started walking towards the ocean. The sand turned from soft warm grains to being cold, hard and wet. You stopped right before the tide came in and closed your eyes to take in your surroundings. The sun was shining and warmed your skin, the seagulls were singing, and the waves were crashing.

“The last one in is a rotten egg!” you screamed as you let go of your husband's hand and went splashing into the cold salt water.

“Not fair!” you heard Tyler yell behind you but you were already throwing yourself into the water before he even started moving. You found your footing on the ground and wiped your hair out of your eyes. You didn’t spot Tyler so you turned in a circle to try to find him.

“Ahh!” you screamed as Tyler slid up behind you grabbing your legs and pulling you under.

“Shark attack,” he laughed as you sputtered.

“Saltwater does not taste good!”

“It probably tastes even worse now too, did it just get warm?” he raised his eyebrow at you and your eyes got wide.

“Tyler Joseph you did not just pee.”

“I’m joking! I wouldn’t do that right next to you.”

“Boys are gross!” you threw yourself onto your back and floated there. You kept your eyes closed as the sun beamed down on you.

“I’m going to go lay in the sun, care to join me?”

“We just got in, but sure.” You grabbed Tyler’s hand once again and followed him back up to your towels. The sand stuck to your wet feet and once you laid down on the towel you tried your best to brush them off.

“Why did we bring our wedding towels? I don’t want them to get dirty,” Tyler mumbled.

“They can be washed, love.” You put your sunglasses on and laid down. Your eyes were closed but you could sense that Tyler was still looking at you. “Ty?”

“Yes, sunshine?”

“You’re staring again,” you smiled.

“I can’t help it! I have the most beautiful wife in the universe.”

“I have the most beautiful husband in the universe.” You lifted your sunglasses so you could look into his chocolate brown eyes. He batted his eyelashes and you rolled your eyes. You could feel the sand move as Tyler laid down next to you. His fingers made their way over to yours until they were intertwined.

“I love you, Y/N.”

“I love you, even more, Ty.”

“I need to play music!” Tyler sat up quickly and grabbed his phone to link to the speaker. The song Hooked on a Feeling started to play and you couldn’t help but to smile like an idiot. Josh and he played this song for you at your wedding, and even though it was a hilarious scene, it was also one of the best memories you have.

“Today was amazing,” Tyler whispered. “In the sunshine with my sunshine.”

“Yeah, it really was.”

“Can we get Taco Bell for dinner?”

“Sure, Ty.”

“Thanks, sunshine.”

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