#they don’t have a lead vocalist they just all scream

[fulcrums501st]

Arcane au where everything is the exact same except the gang (Vi, Powder, Mylo, Claggor) all have a garage band and Vander lets them play for The Last Drop once a week, most of their songs aren’t necessarily good per say but who is the Hound of the Underground to not support local artists?

One night they played a surprise song called “Piltover more like DUMBtover” to Vander’s amusement and stress (thank janna Grayson and Marcus weren’t there). But it was an undeniable banger that instantly hit the lanes. Rumor has it can even make the Eye of Zaun smile and bop his head.

[lemonlover1110]

𝐍𝐎 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐃

Choso

Pairing: Bass Guitarist!Choso x f!Reader

Summary: You usually hang out with Choso after his concerts, only this time he wants to talk about your relationship. Luckily for you, you know how to distract him from important matters.

Warnings: MDNI, Smut, Friends with Benefits, Car Sex, Oral Sex (m. receiving), Vaginal Sex, Nipple Play, Squirting, Creampie, Angst if you squint

Discord +18 - Twitter - Ko-Fi

This art was sent in my server and I was forced to write about him in this AU, anyway I hope you lovelies enjoy!! likes and reblog always appreciated❤️

There’s a whole crowd that screams Choso’s name from the top of their lungs as his fingers strum against the strings of his bass. Choso, a very reserved man, someone who is not even the star of the band but the most beloved amongst fans. Is it because they barely know anything about him? Or is it because he looks too hot while he really gets into the song? For you, it’s the latter. 

Choso lets himself loose as his mind, body and soul embrace the song. It becomes an issue for him to stay close to the microphone, until he realizes his vocals come up. He’s sweaty, his eyeshadow smudged and running down his cheeks; it’s a look that drives the fangirls wild, and you can’t exactly blame them for it.

They get louder when they hear Choso’s voice, and you wonder if it drives Suguru insane that even though he’s the lead vocalist, he doesn’t get as much attention as Choso. There’s just something about Choso that has everyone in a trance. He looks so seductive even when he barely tries.

The song ends, and the crowd cheers, wanting more from the band. For a moment the only thing you hear is the crowd chanting Choso’s name. You don’t understand why they go wild over him, but then again, you guess that the lack of knowledge about him makes him intriguing. However, you know all you need to know about him. 

“I really don’t get why they go so crazy over him! I’d argue that Getou is hotter.” You yell to your friend, and she rolls her eyes. She knows you’re just talking to talk because given the option, you always choose Choso.

The noise dies as the sound of the bass begins again. All eyes are on Choso until Suguru begins to sing. Your eyes stay on Choso, and his eyes scan the crowd until they land on you. A smile comes onto his face as you maintain eye contact. His eyes finally look away, looking down at his guitar. You know you’ll be seeing each other later.

Just to tease you, he does something that he rarely does. Something that makes the crowd get louder, his tongue running up the neck of his guitar. You roll your eyes as your cheeks get hot. You fucking hate him. 

You have no issue getting backstage after the show. The security guard looks at your friend funny, but he knows you so he assumes that she’s okay to pass. He doubts that anyone will have a problem since you’re beloved among the band members.

“Hi, Lexi.” You wave at the woman who talks with her boyfriend. Suguru’s arm is thrown over her shoulders while they head to the door that you just walked through. She waves at you, blowing a kiss your way before focusing on her boyfriend again. 

“Where’s Gojo?” Your friend asks, her eyes searching for the white haired man, after all, she joined you just because she knew you could get her the opportunity to talk to Satoru. You were going to come either way since Choso sent you a message, it didn’t hurt for her to tag along. 

You’re about to help her, but your eyes land on Choso. There’s a subtle smile on his face when he notices you. He walks toward you, and you completely ignore your friend as she continues asking about Satoru. She rolls her eyes, knowing damn well that you were acting tough and annoyed as everyone chanted Choso’s name because according to you he isn’t a big deal. It’s clear jealousy.

From what she knows, you and Choso have an unusual friendship– Which is another way of saying that you’re friends with benefits. You both came to an agreement where you could use each other’s bodies with no strings attached, however, tonight it might all come to an end. Whether you like it or not. 

“I’m glad to see you here.” Choso says as you give him a side hug. You don’t like to get too touchy while others are around. He still kisses the top of your head, before he looks at your friend. “Who did you bring with you tonight?”

“Just my friend. She wants to meet Gojo.” You tell him, as his fingers intertwine with yours. Choso calls out for Satoru, hoping that the sooner your friend meets Satoru, the sooner you’ll get out of the place. Although getting out of the place so soon isn’t the best idea since there’s still an army of fans outside that will do just about anything to get a picture with Choso. 

The band’s popularity has increased over the past couple of months, and suddenly Choso always has someone throwing themselves at him. It ticks you off more than you’d like to admit. 

“What?” Satoru asks, clear annoyance in his voice. He notices you and he begins to approach you to give you a hug, but it earns a glare from Choso. All the members know you well and they consider you a good friend, which means they all know your situation with Choso. When Satoru notices the look, he sticks with a simple greeting. “Hey.”

“Hi, Gojo.” You smile at him. You then point to your friend, informing him, “She’s here to meet you.”

“Are you her ride home?” Choso questions, and you shake your head in response. She brought you here knowing that you would go your separate ways after the concert. She saw the message that Choso had left on your phone, and she urged you to come. “Does that mean we can leave?”

“I think so.” You answer. You still check to see if she’s okay being left alone with Satoru before leaving. When she says yes, you lead Choso out of the building. Your eyes stare at the case of his guitar and you ask, “Do you need help? I’m really strong, just so you know.”

He laughs, “No doubt about it, but I can handle it.”

“You’re in a hurry.” Choso comments when you step outside. He takes the lead, dragging you to his car. 

“Weren’t you the one that was asking if we could leave?” You chuckle, and he laughs as well. He opens the trunk to put the case in before walking to the passenger door and opening it for you. He watches you get inside before he shuts the door for you. He nearly runs to the driver’s side, embarrassingly impatient.

“Do you want to join Lexi and Suguru tonight? Or what do you want to do?” Choso isn’t exactly the person to go hang out with his friends after a concert, especially at a bar. But he knows that you like that sort of stuff, so he sticks with you until you’re ready to go back home– Or back to his apartment, whichever place is closest to the place you’re hanging out in.

“Can we just go back to your place?” You respond, your eyes focused on his side profile. You were too jealous earlier to admire just how good he looks tonight.

“Can we talk about–” He begins, but you grab the collar of his shirt and put your lips on his before he can finish his sentence. You know he wants to talk about the message that he sent, something that made you want to stay home tonight. Can we talk about us? Or something along those lines, you just know that you don’t want to change this perfect arrangement.

Your tongue enters his mouth, pressing against his while your hands go to his belt. He doesn’t know why you’re so eager tonight, it doesn’t click in his head. Maybe the little trick from earlier worked to rile you up, and he’s certain that it was that when you unbutton his pants and begin to pull them down. 

“Here? Aren’t you scared–” He begins when you pull away from the kiss but you begin to kiss his neck. Your lips go to that one sweet spot that makes him weak, sucking on it. You aren’t scared that you’ll get caught, that’s good to know. He’s the one that should be worried about getting caught since he’s the one that has to hold a public image. 

The parking lot is private, and it’s pretty much empty. He isn’t too worried about that. 

“Don’t you want to go somewhere more private?” He still asks but he doesn’t bother to stop you as you spit on his cock, your hand wrapping around the base and slowly stroking it. 

“We can talk later. Right now, I need your cock in my mouth.” You kiss his shaft before your tongue drags on his length and begins to circle on his tip. You begin to kiss the tip, causing Choso to bite down his lip. He’s certainly not going to stop now.

Your mouth wraps around his cock, hearing the moan whimper just at the feeling of your pretty mouth wrapped around his dick. Everything you do drives him wild. It’s why he can’t stop you when he wants to talk about more serious issues– Issues that concern your relationship and what you’re doing. 

He doesn’t like it like this though. He loves the sight of your pretty face as your mouth is wrapped around his cock. He still loves the feeling though. He praises you, “You’re doing so good, baby.” 

You take all of him in your mouth, gagging on his length which causes the tears to build up in your eyes. It’s a sight that usually drives the man wild, although he doesn’t like to admit it; unluckily for him, he only sees the back of your head. 

His head is thrown back as his eyes roll to the back of his head. You have complete control over him, and he hates it. But he certainly loves the way he feels at the moment. When the tears fall from your eyes, you lift up your head, detaching yourself from his cock. Your hand takes over, stroking his cock.

“Can we do it here?” You ask him as your thighs rub against one another, the heat between your legs getting too unbearable. Your libido is too high, you can’t wait to go back to his place. You need him now.

Choso’s cheeks are flushed, and the man’s brain goes a thousand miles per minute. What you’re thinking of is riskier, and if anyone walks by, you’ll get caught. But he doesn’t care. He needs you too. 

“Yeah, let’s do it here.” He agrees, and you crawl over to his side. You lift up your skirt, moving your panties to the side. Two of his fingers run through your folds, noting just how wet you are when he’s done nothing to you. The mere thought of him drives you insane.

You align his cock with your entrance before slowly sitting on it. His lips land on yours, feeling your moans vibrate through your tongue as you move on his cock. 

You move back and forth on his cock. You feel euphoric as his cock repeatedly hits your g-spot. 

Choso pulls away, grabbing the back of your neck to pull your face away. He needs to admire your beautiful face, taking in every single detail about it. You look so alluring with your messed up makeup. Your mascara runs down your cheeks, and he gets a sense of satisfaction knowing that he caused it. 

“You feel so good, baby.” He moans, his nose burying in the crook of your neck. He takes in your scent, getting more intoxicated by you. You’re controlling all of his thoughts lately, even though you’re not even trying.

“You’re so big.” You say, your back arching as Choso begins to thrust his hips instead of leaving it to you to handle it all. Your hand goes down to play with your clit, giving you more stimulation so your high approaches sooner. The faster you finish, the faster you can go again. “Oh– Choso!”

“Fuck–” He can’t help but curse. He’s getting so lost inside of you. In more ways than one. 

His hand pulls down your tank top, and the man gets upset at the bra that gets in the way of what he wants. He pulls down the cups of your bra so his tongue circles around your nipples. He greedily kisses and licks before his mouth finally wraps around one of your tits. 

His other hand begins to toy with the nipple that isn’t in his mouth, teasing it and pinching it. All the stimulation makes your brain foggy as your climax begins to get the best of you. You continue to chant his name, getting louder and louder. 

“Oh, fuck!” You yell as you come around his cock. You make a mess all over him, squirting on him. You’d be embarrassed with someone else, but Choso has seen you do so much worse– It helps that you know he absolutely loves it. Choso bites down on your nipple before unlatching.

“You’re such a good girl. Making a mess all over me.” His hands move to your hips, his nails digging into your flesh. 

“You always take me so well.” He’s kissing your neck, his thrusts getting sloppy. His warm cum fills you up not too long after, and you bite down your bottom lip to not moan. You fucking love it when he fills you up, but he rarely does it. He got too caught up in the moment. 

He stays buried inside of you, continuing kissing your neck, going up to your face. He almost whispers, “Can we talk?”

“Your dick is buried inside of me, might as well.” You chuckle, and he awkwardly returns the gesture. His soft eyes look into yours, and the look tells you all you need to know. You were suspecting it since lately Choso has been more… Romantic than what you had agreed upon. Getting flowers weekly isn’t what your friend is supposed to do.

“I want you.” He can’t put it any other way. Choso’s written what feels like hundreds of songs but he can’t find the right words to express himself. You don’t want to have this conversation now, or any time soon for that matter.

You take advantage of his indistinct way of expressing himself. It's not that you don't want him the same way, it's just easier to keep what you have going on. Choso is getting too big so fast, you don't want to start something that'll end up badly. Which is simply ironic.

You reach to the side of the seat, reclining the seat, pushing his back down. Your lips go to his ear, whispering, “You have me.”

It’s not the way he means it, not one bit. But he’ll take it until he can express himself properly.

[silentglassbreak]

if you’re still taking and writing delulu fantasies could i please request one where you meet noah (say you know people working in the scene so you meet them backstage after a show when your friends invite you to spend time with them?).

you’re used to meeting band dudes so it’s nothing but noah tries to appear chill in his pursuit of you. you think he’s cute so you go with it but the most awkward flirtation and cringy smut ensues. (my kink’s an embarrassed noah 😌) thank you so much! <3

Cringey, embarrassed smut? That’s a first for me, and I’m kind of excited LOL. Hopefully this is what you’re looking for!

After Writing Notes: Yaknow, every time I start one of these things, I tell myself I'm going to make it shorter...Anyway, here's 9000 words. Hope you enjoy! Also, huge shoutout to @notyourmomsromancenovel for helping me come up with ideas for cringey smut.

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: injury, fainting, smut (in the goofiest way ever)

Beautiful Mistakes

When you pictured Noah Sebastian - front man and lead vocalist in the viral metal-core band Bad Omens - you pictured something way different.

You had been following the band’s work for a while and, like everyone else, had noticed the immediate shift in their persona and presence. You had been a softcore fan of theirs since 2018, and spent many nights on Twitch, playing Elden Ring and listening to his streams as background noise. Sometimes you had been one of the only people in the chat, listening to him produce his beats or record rough vocals. Other times, you sat and chatted with him while he idly played guitar.

Once the pandemic hit full force, there were plenty of nights you sat and talked to Noah, watching the hilarity that ensued. Cat-eared headset on and music playing, Noah would stare at his screen, munching on the Body of Christ and making ridiculous noises.

“Where are my regulars? I need someone to talk to!”

/CrossContaminate/: I’m right here, calm down.

“Hey! Cross is here! I haven’t seen you in a while.”

/CrossContaminate/: I have a job, Noah. You wouldn’t know about that. 😝

“Woooooow…” He pressed a hand to his chest and stared straight into the camera. “That one stung, girl.”

/CrossContaminate/: How do you know I’m a girl? I could be a 50 year old dude, yaknow.

He raised his eyebrows at that. “You’ve got a point. Maybe you should come on video chat with all of us so we can be sure.” He lowered his glasses down on his nose and looked dead into the camera. “For my own safety, of course.”

You cackled loudly at this, typing out your response.

/CrossContaminate/: Nah, I don’t vid chat. You’ll just have to take my word for it.

He rolled his eyes, and smirked. “Same old Cross, I see.”

Noah tried to get you to join video chat regularly often over the years. He had DM'ed you a few times when he saw you were online, wanting to voice call or join a Discord with him, to which you always declined.

You didn’t have a hard and fast rule against chatting online with people via voice or video, you just didn’t do it. Your life was busy and hectic. You didn’t have a ton of time to yourself, so the nights where you got to sit and just not exist in the real world, and only online, it was nice to just remain anonymous.

You had stumbled across Noah’s Twitch by accident once, when looking for something different. His face captured you, however, and once you clicked into it, you were hooked. It wasn’t so much because he was good looking - he was definitely a cutie - but he looked ridiculous.

His hair was long and haphazard. He was wearing an oversized hoodie, drinking cheap wine straight from the bottle, and he was wearing huge bottle cap sunglasses. It was, by far, the goofiest thing you had seen in a long time. He was playing Dead Space, and would jump at the smallest noises, nearly screaming anytime a monster popped into the frame.

But, as all things, time moved on, and he changed. Once the pandemic was waning down, he had began preparing for the release of his next album. The streams became less frequent, and he put his account on a permanent hiatus.

It was a bummer, so you couldn’t help but try keeping track of him on socials. He was decently active on Twitter and Instagram, but even that began to slow down. He had enough followers that your personal account went unnoticed by him.

Aside from his online presence, his appearance also changed pretty dramatically in a very short time. He cut all of his hair off, which, to be entirely honest, broke your heart some. You had always loved the innocence he seemed to maintain by having the long hair. It hurt your feelings to see it go, but you had to admit, the short hair was something else entirely.

Before, Noah typically stuck to regular t-shirts and jeans, simple and timeless rock and roll fashion. Once they started touring for TDOPOM album, you noticed the dramatic change in their stage presence. Ski masks, all black clothing, track pants, and heavy coats. Noah usually ended the set in a black wife-beater top, and you noticed the other change.

He was fucking stacked, now. Noah had always been skinny and long - like a toothpick. Not anymore. His shoulders had broadened, his neck was thicker, and his arms were defined and muscular. That was a change you didn’t mind at all.

What happened? Was second puberty a thing? Because you swore that could be the only explanation for such a drastic difference in Noah in such a short time period.

Although you watched the band from afar, you never had made any time to go see them live, always working anymore. That sucked, because even if you had, it’s not like you’d be able to see him. He was too big of a celebrity now, and you were far from. He likely wouldn’t even remember you, so you never bothered.

As silly as it sounded, it almost hurt your feelings the same as watching an old friend change and grow apart from you over time, even though that wasn’t exactly the case here.

Although, you rationalized that you and him did speak nearly every day for almost two whole years - so it wasn’t that silly, was it?

So you were absolutely floored when your best friend called you, random Friday evening, and asked you for a favor.

“I booked a gig for tomorrow, and I know it’s last minute, but the guy who was supposed to be helping ate some bad sushi or something, and I could desperately use a hand.”

You groaned, rolling your eyes, trying not to be too loud in the Target checkout line.

“It’s my only day off, Iz.”

She huffed. “I know, I know, but I promise it pays really well!”

You growled into the receiver. “Dude, I just did a gig last night, and I have another to do tonight!”

“It’s only four hours! And it pays twelve hundred.”

You were ready to protest, but stopped. “Total?”

“A piece.”

“Fuck, dude. That’s more than double what a normal gig that long pays.”

“I know, that’s why I’m saying, worth the exhaustion.”

You finished scanning your items, pulling your card out to pay. “That kind of money, probably a big band. Who is it?”

“Bad Omens, have you heard of them?”

You stopped, eyes snapping up and fingers stalling at the card reader. “No shit, huh?”

“So, you have heard of them?”

You grabbed your bag, making your way outside. “Yeah, actually. Remember that guy on Twitch I used to talk to?”

“Noah?” It took her a second to put the pieces together, so you stayed silent while she did. “Oh, Noah! As in Noah Sebastian!”

“Bingo.”

“Well shit! Maybe he remembers you!”

You shook your head, taking a long gulp of your iced coffee. “Mm-mm,” You set the drink down. “he never saw my face or heard my voice. Didn’t even know my real name.”

“Seriously?”

“Yep. Only knew me by my tag. He called me ‘Cross’ for short.”

“Ah, okay, so he’ll have no idea who you are!” She laughed at this.

You switched the call to your Bluetooth and sighed. “I guess, since you asked so fucking nicely and I need to pay my rent, I will agree to do the gig with you.”

She squeaked in appreciation. “You’re saving my ass, dude.”

You shrugged. “Pick me up at least two hours before. We need time to prepare.”

“Noon, then?”

“I’ll be ready.”

You and Isobel were known, by the official term in the industry, as Venue Assistants. You were independent contractors who were recommended to acts by the venues, and hired by those bands for specific occasions to help ensure a smooth, easy show. This could mean anything from stocking the green room, switching out instruments, helping with outfit changes, grabbing anything the artists needed. It was an exhausting job, and you had been doing it for about five years now. As tiring as it was, it paid well, and it was a lot of fun. You had the opportunity to meet some of the best bands in the industry - and some of the worst. You had more stories to tell than anyone, and you wouldn’t change careers if you were paid to.

At the venue the following day, you had received word from the stage director that the band was running behind, and they needed you both to grab food and coffees for all of them. Typically, you’d roll your eyes at this, but you didn’t immediately, as you knew life happened, and it could’ve happened for a lot of reasons. You had gone and grabbed the guys their Chinese food while Iz picked up the Starbucks order, and arrived back at the theater just before the band did.

They came in, all looking rather tired and irritated. Noah was the last to enter, baseball hat on his head and wearing basketball shorts under his large hoodie.

“All I’m saying is, I don’t know how you had no idea the window would break.” The man who you recognized to be Jolly was still lecturing Noah as they came in, dropping their bags down.

You and Isobel were in the back of the room, speaking with the crew who were preparing to bring in the instruments and equipment. You planned to help unload it all, so you were listening to the stage director instruct them on where to place everything.

“It was a stress ball! Why would I think it would break the window?!”

“Because it was hard?” Folio piped up as he sat down, tearing into the food.

“Look, it’s not a huge deal. Safelite said they can have it fixed before tomorrow. It’ll be fine!”

You shook your head, sincerely wondering what the hell they were talking about. Your attention, however, was pulled back to Isobel. You followed her out to the truck where the loading ramp was being pulled down.

“You going to talk to him?” She asked as she began pulling a mic stand out. You grabbed one of the smaller amps, and followed her back to the delivery door.

“Probably not. We’ve got a lot to do.”

“I mean,” She set the stand down and looked over to where the band sat, apparently still arguing amongst themselves, and looked back at you. “you could go talk to him now? I can unload this with the guys.”

“I need to earn my paycheck too, Iz.”

“Why don’t you want to talk to him?”

You stopped walking away, turning to look at her. “I never said that.”

“So go talk to him? He’s just a guy.”

You sighed, narrowing your eyes at her. “Fine, I will.”

Stomping back toward the couches of the green room, you heard her laugh behind you. It wasn’t any big deal, you didn’t see why she was bugging you about this. You inhaled a big breath, and walked straight up to the group, noticing they were all now sat and eating.

“Hey guys.” You waved a hand at them. “I don’t mean to bug you while you’re eating. I just wanted to introduce myself. I’ll be one of your VA’s for the evening. If you need anything at all, or have any preferences I should be aware of, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

They all set their food down and stood, pushing their hands out for you to shake. You took each one gracefully, hearing them tell you their names, which you already knew.

The last to introduce himself was Noah, who, while leaning over the table to take your grasp, knocked a bottle of soy sauce down, causing you to jump back. It was too late, and your dark blue jeans had black splatter on them.

“Fuck! I’m so sorry!”

You grabbed a napkin and patted at the spots quickly, waving. “No, it’s okay. It shouldn’t stain.” Hopefully.

Nicholas grabbed a roll of paper towels from the back table and cleaned it up quickly, smiling sheepishly at you. “You’ll have to excuse Noah. He’s as clumsy as they come.”

Noah smacked a hand at his shoulder. “Not true, dick.” He looked back up at you apologetically. “Again, I’m so sorry.”

Moving around the table to approach him, you took his hand. “It’s really no problem.”

“I didn’t catch your name?” You gave it to him, and he smiled brightly at you. “That’s different?”

Smirking, you nodded. “It is. You can just call me Cross.”

For a second, you weren’t sure he was going to get it. His hand continued shaking yours for an unnecessarily long time while his brow furrowed, staring at you. After a moment, he cocked his head to the side.

“Cross…” He strung the word out on his tongue. “As in…” You could actually see the light bulb go off behind his eyes, and they popped open wide.

“Oh shit!” His hand let go of yours, and suddenly he was grabbing you by the forearms, startling you a bit. “No fucking way!”

He was smiling way bigger than you expected, but in that smile, you saw that same goofy guy that used to sit with you for hours, chatting online and dicking around.

“I wasn’t sure you’d remember.” You grinned back at him, trying to push down the little bit of butterflies that started trying to scoot their way into your chest.

You noticed how his face fell just slightly when you said it, likely remembering quite how long it had been. “Of course I remember.” His voice was even, but he still looked enthused.

“Well, it’s good to finally meet you.”

He looked up and down at you, taking a step back for effect. “Yeah, same here. I guess you aren’t a fifty year old dude after all.”

Your face flushed at that, and you shook your head. “Nope. Sorry to disappoint.”

“Care to introduce?” Jolly stood behind you, and you turned to see him stand with a raised eyebrow.

Noah took the initiative to push you slightly toward the rest of the band.

“You guys remember when I used to stream all the time? And I had that one chick who used to join every day and chat with me for hours? She was the one who used to tell people I was a Billie Eilish fan page.” He looked down at you with an eyebrow raised, and you broke out in hard laughter.

“Well, you practically were, Noah!”

He shook his head, turning to tower over you. “I was not! I just like her music!”

Folio stood up, smiling wide. “Oh, dude I remember that! Didn’t she hack into your account and change your profile photo and everything?”

Noah glared down at you, which caused a whole new fit of giggles to erupt.

“What?! It got you more subs!”

He rolled his eyes and pulled your arm, moving you to sit on the couch next to him.

“How have you been?” He shoved a mouthful of chow mein and spoke around his food. “I know it’s been a while, I’m sorry.”

You just shook your head. “No need to apologize. You’ve been busy.”

He beamed at that. “Have you heard the new album?”

“I have. It’s really great.”

“You think? I appreciate that.”

You sat back, watching how he inhaled the food in front of him. “Also, I’ve been good. Also keeping busy.”

Wiping his mouth on a napkin, he nodded. “This is what you do? Full time?”

“Yeah, been doing it a while. I like it.”

He leaned back also, arms falling into his lap. The other guys had began to disperse, heading to different parts of the building to begin their preparations.

"That's cool."

The conversation fell silent between you both, and you cleared your throat. "Well, it's really good to see you, Noah."

He affirmed with a nod, chewing on his lip. "I feel bad for not keeping in touch."

"Oh stop. You had no way to reach me other than Twitch."

"That's true. I don't have social media anymore, either." He shrugged his shoulders.

"Yeah, I saw that."

The quiet was strange and uncomfortable, and you decided not to stall your job any longer. "Well, I'd better get back to work."

He stood too, bumping into your shoulder as he did, nearly knocking you back into the couch. Instantly, his hand reached out to grab you.

"Shit!" He exclaimed, and in his attempt to hook your arm, his hand missed, and grabbed a full hand of your right breast.

A sharp gasp tumbled out of you, and he pulled his hand back with haste, causing you to lose your balance again, and fall backward, the back of your head smacking the arm of the couch.

"Damn it!" He crouched down to grab you, but your hand came up in front of you.

"Uhm," You squeezed your eyes closed, clearing the spots that formed in your vision. "I got it."

Sitting up, you rubbed at the back of your head. He sat down again, keeping about a foot of distance between you.

"I'm so fucking sorry."

Your eyes opened, seeing the look of absolute shame and guilt painted on his face. It was comical.

What a fucking doofus.

"Noah," You turned your head back and forth to assess if your neck was injured. It wasn't. "I think your clumsiness is spreading."

His face fell in his hands. "I'm so sorry." He apologized again, groaning loudly. "I don't know what's wrong with me today!"

"Everyone has off days." You assured, taking a moment before you stood back up.

"Not like today. I broke a window in the tour bus this morning, that's why we were late."

Your mouth fell open. "You broke the window?"

"I didn't mean to! I had one of those squishy stress-ball things? It was real firm, cause it was new. So I was trying to soften it up by squeezing it, and I thought, maybe if I bounced it a few times, it would get softer..."

Your eyebrows shot up in disbelief. "You didn't..."

"I just tossed it gently and the fucking thing broke a hole clean out of the window!"

Maybe it was the near-concussion or the obscenity of it all, but a guttural laughter came out of you, making you fall back onto the couch clutching your sides.

"It's not funny!" Noah tried to argue, but ended up laughing with you, his bravado deflating.

"Ah, Noah," You wiped the tears spilling from your eyes. "you really haven't changed."

After your unfortunate accident earlier, Noah had insisted on exchanging numbers with you, so he could check in and make sure you were okay throughout the night. This was after he failed to convince you to go get checked out at an ER, and swore him to not tell anyone what happened. The last thing you needed was an incident in the workplace.

Noah was half an hour from going onstage, and you were on the side stage, checking the battery level of all of the microphones. Your phone buzzed in your back pocket and you rolled your eyes. It had been nearly constant for the last three hours.

Noah: Checking in. How's the head?

You sighed, typing a quick response.

You: Same as it was twenty minutes ago - normal.

Noah: Any pain?

You: No.

That wasn't entirely true. You had a dull throbbing at the base of your skull, but you were doing a great job of ignoring it.

Noah: Okay. Where are you?

You: Stage left. I'm covering you and Folio tonight, so I'm checking the mics and making sure all your stuff is ready.

Noah: Cool. Need any help?

You: Shouldn't you be getting ready?

Noah: Yeah, probably.

You snickered, staring at your screen before sending the next message.

You: If I didn't know better, I'd think you concussed me just to ask me for my number.

It was stupid, but you couldn't help but fuck with him a little bit. His response came quickly.

Noah: Maybe I did. ;P

You scowled down at the phone. What the hell?

His type bubble appeared quickly, another message coming in.

Noah: Wait, that sounded creepy. I'm kidding, I swear.

You: Suuuuuuure

He read that message, but didn't respond. You had definitely caught him a little off-guard and it made you laugh. You stared down at the winking face emoji, and it dawned on you that he was flirting with you. You visibly shivered, somewhat stunned.

Noah Sebastian was tall, dark, and sexy in almost every video and interview you had watched of him since he went dark over a year ago...but inside, it appeared he was still just as dorky and uncoordinated as you always knew him to be. You didn't realize it was quite this bad, however.

And not only was he clumsy, he was bad at flirting too...

You shook off the feeling, trying your hardest not to smile at the thought. Despite the ickiness of it all, you were flattered. He may be kind of Scooby-Doo-ish, but he was handsome, and talented. He also had a soft, deep side of him that you had the pleasure of seeing on more than one occasion.

Maybe he was just nervous? Maybe you could just go with it and see how it turned out?

You resolved to push it to the back of your mind for the time being, placing yourself back into your professional work mindset as the show began.

Noah was entirely different on stage, completely in control and flowing effortlessly through the songs. He looked like an entirely different person out there. He would pop back to the sides here and there to get some water, switch out his mic, or wipe the sweat from his face. Each time, he'd give you a look of concern, and ask about your head again. You would just shush him and push him back out onto the stage.

You were also covering Folio, who was up on the riser, beating away at his drum set. The stairs you had to climb were tall, and after the third trip up here, you felt the room tilt like it was turning on it's side. You held the railing, catching Folio's eye as the darkened room began lighting up again.

He mouthed at you a quick 'You good?' and you just nodded, throwing him a thumbs up, and heading back down the stairs. Noah was stood, gulping his water, and staring at you.

"I saw that. What's wrong?"

You shook your head. "Nothing, go, the next song is starting."

He pressed a hand into your shoulder, now looking much more stern than worried. "I don't care. Are you okay?"

Still trying to brush it off, you grabbed hold of his arm, trying to push him away. It didn't occur to you that it was also instinctive, as your feet were starting to feel a little numb. "Noah, you don't have time for this."

He stood square in front of you, eyebrows raised and arms crossed over his chest.

"Are. You. Okay?" He enunciated each word, but he suddenly started to look so much taller than he did a second ago. And when did he become so fuzzy?

Your hand squeezed where it was hooked onto his bicep in an attempt to stop the inevitable, but, unfortunately, before he could manage to reach for you, the room went dark.

Your eyes cracked open, a harsh light shining in them, and you squinted against it.

"Hey, you with us?" A blonde man you didn't recognize stared down at you, a stethoscope around his neck and gloves on his hands.

A paramedic. Amazing.

When you looked around, you realized you were on a gurney, sitting in the back of an ambulance with the doors open, in the parking lot of the venue. It was the paramedic that was on call at the theater that night.

"Ugh, no fucking way." You tried to sit up, but a hand pressed onto your shoulder. You shifted your eyes to see Isobel sitting on the bench next to the stretcher. "Iz? What happened?"

The EMT spoke for her, putting his light back in his shirt pocket, and began moving his fingers back and forth in front of your face for you to follow.

"Well, you passed out, and cracked your head on the floor pretty good." You squeezed your eyes closed in frustration. "Big guy in there told us you hit your head earlier, too? That's probably what caused you to faint."

Yeah. Big, dumb, gargantuan guy.

"My head hurts." You winced as the medic turned your neck, checking your range of motion.

"I'm sure it does. You're all intact, it appears, but given that this was the second impact today, I strongly suggest going to the ER to get a scan."

You rolled your eyes, trying again to sit up. "I don't think-"

Isobel cut you off. "We're going."

The EMT nodded, and reached to begin shutting the doors. Admitting defeat, you carefully laid your head back down. The vehicle started moving and you let out a hard breath.

"We're so not getting paid for tonight."

Iz laughed, shaking her head. "I think it'll be fine. Noah was in a near panic attack when he moved you to the couch. Kept saying it was all his fault."

You snickered. "Kind of is."

"He wanted to cancel the rest of the show, but I told him you'd have a full stroke if he did that because of you."

Your eyes popped open, and you tried to sit up. "He didn't do that, did he?!"

The EMT pressed you back down. "Easy, easy."

Isobel patted your shoulder. "No, he didn't."

You melted back onto the bed. "Oh thank fuck for that."

The ride to the Emergency Room was short, and the nurses made quick work of getting you into a rollable bed and carting you off to get a CT scan of your head and neck. That was mundane, but they had given you something decent for the pain, so it wasn't so bad. You hummed to yourself as you were rolled back to your room, and Isobel was missing. You whipped your head around, looking to see if she was anywhere to be found, but a voice came from the opposite side.

"She went to get a snack."

Noah stood by the doorway, hands in the pockets of his cargo pants, white t-shirt on, and a beanie over his hair. He had cleaned up since the show, you could tell.

"The show is over already?"

He huffed out a laugh, stepping over to the end of your bed. "Yeah, for a little while now. You've been at the hospital for two hours."

You raised your eyebrows, but it didn't phase you too much. "Time flies when you're on morphine, I suppose."

His hands gripped the rails at the end of the bed. "How you doing?"

You nodded, sinking against the mattress. "I mean, I've been better, but I've been worse."

He lifted an eyebrow at you, and moved to perch himself on the very edge of the end of the bed. "Yeah? That's...better than nothing?"

You nodded, looking him up and down. He looked more like himself in this outfit, and you liked it. It felt more genuine.

"How did the rest of the show go?"

He shrugged his shoulders, hands still in his pockets. "Good, I guess. I was stressed, so I felt like I kind of rushed through it."

You brought your arms up behind your head, getting comfortable. "You shouldn't have. I'm good."

Noah deadpanned at you. "Obviously you weren't. You should've gone to the hospital earlier."

You scoffed. "Oh well. Doesn't matter now."

He was leaned over, his shoulder pulled in and he looked nervous.

"What's wrong?"

"What?" He looked bewildered.

"You look upset or something?"

He snickered, readjusting his feet on the floor. "Well, I gave you a concussion, couldn't convince you to get checked out and agreed not to tell anyone, which led to you getting an even worse concussion, and you're now potentially bleeding into your brain... That's probably got something to do with it."

You waved a hand at him. "Details. It's not a big deal."

He shook his head, looking at the wall adjacent from him and not at you. "This is not how I pictured us getting to meet."

This interested you, so you probed. "You pictured us meeting?"

He smirked. "We talked for a couple years, Cross. Of course I did."

"And how was that supposed to go?" High or not, you were curious.

He chuckled, still not looking at you. "Not like this."

You rolled your eyes. "Well, duh. But what did you expect?"

"I don't know. Something normal? Hanging at a movie or getting food? Like normal people?"

You cackled. "Well, you're not normal, Noah."

"Clearly." He said through grit teeth.

Leaning back again, you relaxed, and pursed your lips. "Were you trying to flirt with me earlier?"

You could tell this caught him by surprise, as he began looking nervous again. "What do you mean?"

"Well, either your were trying to flirt, or you actually gave me a concussion just to get my phone number."

He bit back a laugh, looking at you sheepishly. "Yeah, no that wasn't on purpose. Just a bad joke."

"Well, you could've just asked for my number, is all I'm saying."

He shook with soft laughter. "Noted." He stood then, turning toward the doorway where Isobel could be seen coming down the hallway. "Well, I mostly wanted to make sure you were okay. I should go."

Something about that didn't feel right to you, and you sat up a little quickly, your brain sloshing slightly in your skull, but you ignored it.

"You're leaving?" In your inebriated mind, you pictured yourself looking silly and desperate, but your logic knew that likely was just the drugs talking.

“Yeah, well, you don’t need a disaster magnet hanging around.” He said looking timid.

Isobel had joined you back in the bedroom, and was turning to look between the both of you.

“Everything okay?” She stared at Noah, and he reached a hand to palm the back of his neck.

“Yeah, I was just getting ready to head out.”

Your mouth moved before you could stop it. “No he wasn’t.”

Both of their heads snapped to look up at you, and he looked so puzzled. “No?”

You shook your head, soft smile adorning your face. “No, not unless you have somewhere to be.”

Isobel picked up on the tension in the room and made a show to look at her smart watch.

“Oh damn, look at that, I’m getting a call. Be right back.”

She slipped from the room and Noah focused his stare back on you.

“You want me to stay?”

You nodded, crossing your legs in front of you and sitting straight.

“That could be hazardous, you know?” He joked, but rounded back around by the bed, sitting a little closer to you on the edge.

“I don’t care.”

It took what felt like forever for the doctor to finally enter the room, interrupting yours and Noah’s game of hot hands you were playing while Iz sat in a chair on the side, chatting idly about the next gig she had booked for Motionless in White.

“Ah, I see your coordination is no issue.” The doctor spoke right as your hand came down to slap the back of Noah’s hard, forcing him to pull away hastily and hiss in pain.

You giggled, and turned to face the physician. “How’s my head?” He looked down at his paperwork, nodding in approval. Noah moved off the bed so the doctor could come around and shine a light at your eyes for the hundredth time.

“Looks good. No bleeds, no fractures. You shouldn’t have any lasting side effects aside from some headaches for a few days.” You smiled and glanced at Noah, seeing the physical relief he breathed out.

“You need to follow up with a neurologist in one week, and you need to stay in bed for at least five days.”

You grunted in disapproval. “That sucks.”

He sucked his teeth. “I know, but it’s just a precaution. Do you live with someone? Parents? Roommate? Boyfriend?”

If Noah were a dog, his ears would have been perking at that last word.

You shook your head. “Just me.”

He shrugged. “I don’t like the idea of you being alone. Can you stay with someone until you can go to the neurologist?”

I sunk down. “Not really? I have a cat that needs to be looked after.”

“I can come stay with you.” Isobel spoke up from her side of the bed, and I smiled at her appreciatively.

“Okay, good. I think I can get you out of here, then. No blood thinners for a few days, just Tylenol for pain. You experience any odd symptoms or pain that’s unbearable, you come straight back, yes?”

You nodded, and he smiled.

“Great, I’ll put in for the discharge.”

You turned to look at her, reaching out for her to take your hand. “You didn’t have to do that, Iz.”

She smirked. “Someone has to.”

You laughed. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Can we just stop by my place? I’ve got a couple things I need to do, it’ll take a couple hours, probably. Or I can drop you off and head back over?”

“She shouldn’t be alone, though, right?” Noah piped up from where he stood on the opposing side of the bed.

You sighed. “I’m so tired though. I want to go home and get in my sweats.”

He pursed his lips, mind working while looking at your face, before glancing back up to Isobel.

“Why don’t I take her home, and I can hang with her till you get there? That way you can do what you need to, but she can go home and get comfortable?”

Isobel eyed you, wanting to hear your thoughts on it before she answered. You just shrugged in response, and she slowly tore her eyes off of you to look back at Noah.

“Alright, but be careful driving her home.” She smiled in a patronizing fashion. “You can understand my hesitation after today.”

He clenched his jaw, knowing exactly what she meant, and looked back down at you. You felt your cheeks heat up under his gaze.

His eyes fell back to Iz, that sternness returning in his tone.

“I‘ll be careful.”

The drive back to your apartment was silent, the air hanging with uncertainty. The only sound above the whir of the motor was you giving directions to your place, and Noah humming his understanding.

It took until you were over halfway there for him to look at you, eyes looking sad.

“Feel like the morphine’s wearing off?”

You were rubbing at your temples, and you snorted. “How could you tell?”

He smirked. “I’m so sorry.”

You groaned. “Noah, if you apologize one more time, I’m going to slap you.”

He sucked his lips in and looked back out the windshield.

“It wasn’t your fault, it happens.”

His knuckles flexed on the steering wheel and he inhaled a long breath. "It's actually, technically, one hundred percent my fault." He admitted, gritting his teeth.

He pulled into the parking lot of your apartment complex, and his vehicle came to a stop just outside of your building.

"I don't suppose you live on the first floor?" He chanced, but you shook your head.

"Third." He looked like he was about to start stressing, but you smiled. "There's an elevator."

This made him relax back in his seat before he stepped out, moving quickly to your side and letting you out.

He carried your bag and sweater in his arms as you led up to the elevator, and down the hall to your small one-bedroom apartment. Once inside, your white, short-haired cat bound up to you both, meowing with fervor.

Noah looked down at her, and back up to you. You reached down and scooped up her small body with one hand, holding her to your chest.

"Noah, this is Narcissa."

He smiled, petting her head with one finger, which she accepted graciously.

"She's probably starving, I'd better feed her." Before you could move toward the kitchen, he put a hand on your arm.

"Let me. Where's her food?"

You pointed him in the right direction, taking the moment to head into your bedroom, kicking your shoes off and reaching for a t-shirt from the closet and a pair of shorts from the drawer of your long dresser. He appeared in the doorway right after you had slipped the shirt over your head, and he leaned against the frame.

"She's fed. Anything I can get you?"

You panned around the room, thinking for a moment. "I've got some chips and salsa in the kitchen. Chips in the pantry and salsa in the fridge. Want to grab it and meet me in the living room?"

He nodded, heading to complete his task. You padded over to the couch, dropping down onto the soft cushions, and pulled your sofa blanket over you. He joined you after a moment, setting the food on the coffee table, your phone next to it.

"Thought you'd want that."

He sat and watched the television as you flipped through Hulu, looking for something to watch. You could feel how uncomfortable he was, trying so hard to keep a wide distance from you, likely so as not to hurt you.

"Noah?"

He looked over, eyebrows raised. "Hmm?"

You made a show of relaxing back on the couch, and motioned for him to do the same. "Take a breath. I'm fine."

He tried, leaning back and exhaling loudly. "You okay with Evil Dead? It's one of my favorites."

"Sure. I've seen it a couple times."

You sat back, now munching on some chips, and offered him the bag. He grabbed some, crunching on them loudly.

The movie played, but you could feel how, as he finally did begin to relax, he was moving somewhat closer to you. It was fascinating. He wasn't doing it on purpose, it was almost as if he was a magnet, and you were the pole it attached to.

"Can I ask you a question?" He looked over at you, listening. "Why did you go dark?"

You could see he was baffled by the so off-topic ask, and he took a moment to gather his thoughts.

"Uh," He looked back at you. "A lot of reasons, really."

"Mm." You nodded, setting the chips back on the table. "Why did you go dark on me?"

This caught his complete attention, and his body turned to face you. "What?"

"You didn't even say bye or anything. You just...stopped coming online. And I had no way to reach out."

He furrowed his brow. "I'm a little surprised you wanted to, Cross."

"Why?"

He made a noise that sounded nearly annoyed. "Well, you never wanted to talk on a call. You never showed your face. You wouldn't even tell me your real name."

Guilt sunk in to your gut, reminding you that he was absolutely right.

"I just figured you weren't interested in maintaining the friendship beyond what it was, so I didn't think about it."

You nodded, understanding. There was nothing wrong with it, but it still sort of hurt your feelings.

"I get it. I was just curious."

"Why didn't you ever reach out?"

You opened your mouth to respond, but had to stop, because you realized...you didn't know. There wasn't a clear, concise reason why. Maybe you liked the idea of Noah being just an idea? A friend? Someone who didn't know you, and all that came with? Maybe it made it easier to feel safe talking to him?

He noticed you were uncomfortable with the conversation, and waved it off. "It doesn't matter now."

You had to agree with that. It wasn't going to change anything.

"Well, let's just watch the movie and you can rest."

You leaned back on the couch, and it wasn't lost on you that Noah was slowly scooting closer still, only now, you were pretty sure he was doing it on purpose. The room felt warm, and you adjusted under the blanket to kick a leg out, it being pressed against his. His eyes darted down to where you had touched him, and back up to your face. You kept your eyes straight ahead, smirking at the situation.

He leaned forward, pulling his beanie off and running his hand through his hair. "Is it warm in here?"

You smiled, just dropping your shoulders. He leaned back, and tried so desperately to smoothly slip an arm on the back of the couch, stretching at the same time.

He wasn't actually doing this, was he?

He was adorable, despite how absolutely ridiculous he was. He was nervous, and you knew that, but you worked overtime to hide your amusement, just shifting so you were pressed into his side.

His hand hesitated on the back of the couch, twitching as if he wanted to just wrap it around your shoulders, your head now resting on his chest.

You sighed loudly. "Noah, just put your arm around me."

"Yup." He gripped you, and adjusted to curl into him closer, leg falling over his. You giggled at him, and he pressed his face into the top of your head, embarrassed. "Clearly, I'm not good at this."

The movie played on, and at the scarier parts, you gripped his shirt tightly. You weren't very spooked, but it was what you did when snuggling on the couch with a cute boy, so you just went with it.

"Cross?" His voice was small, and you pressed in closer to hear him better.

"Hmm?"

"I really want to kiss you, but I'm kind of," He cleared his throat. "afraid?"

You scrunched up your nose and lifted your face to look at him. "Afraid?" His eyes were so big and doe-like, it pulled at something in your chest.

"Yeah, after all that's happened today? What if I miss and...I don't know...break your nose, or something?"

It took a second, but your face broke out in a large grin and you started laughing like a hyena. It was so absurd.

"What?!"

You had to take a breath, the ache in your head beginning to throb a little harder with your labored breathing. "I'm sorry!" You squeaked out, trying to contain yourself.

"Is it that hard to believe?"

You shook your head. "It's not." You could barely hold the giggles in. "That's why it's so funny."

He narrowed his eyes, pulling his arm from where it was wrapped around your back, but you pushed in closer, finally halting your laughing and looked at him.

"Noah," You lifted one hand to press your palm against his cheek. "if you want to kiss me, just do it."

His eyes flipped between both of yours, considering, before he leaned in and you closed your eyes.

Problem is, so did he...

His top teeth collided into yours making a harsh clacking sound, and causing you both to pull away hastily.

"God damn it!" His hand pressed into his gums, and he stared at you. "Are you okay?" You were laughing again, and he growled. "Maybe we should just not even try."

The tears in your eyes glistened, making him look glittery in your vision, and you just smiled brightly at him.

"Fucking hell, Noah."

You lifted yourself up, grabbing his face, and pressing your mouth to his, this time without incident. Your lips molded to his, and you felt him let out a breath he had been holding. His hands cautiously grabbed you, gently moving you to position so you straddled him, lips not disconnecting as he did.

Your hands gripped his hair, pulling his head back and exposing his neck. Your lips went to work laying featherlike kisses on the soft skin when you heard his voice.

"Uhm, Cross?" He was out of breath, and his chest was heaving. "We probably shouldn't do anything too crazy, on account of the concussion." His voice sounded unconvinced, but still, you pulled back, raising an eyebrow at him.

"My brain is fine. Now, let me have some fun, for fucking once."

His fingers dug into your sides, and your tongue was tracing his tattoos on the side of his throat.

"B-But, I really don't know if we should. The doctor said-"

You pulled back again, this time becoming annoyed. "The doctor said I needed to stay in bed. This counts."

"Okay, but, what if it makes it worse?"

You deflated a bit, hands falling down onto your lap. "Do you not want to do this?" Your voice had cracked just slightly, and you silently cursed yourself for it.

His eyes bulged, and he grabbed you harder. "No, I do! I really, really do. I just don't want to hurt you."

Even with the concern and empathy in his voice, you couldn't help but grind down onto his hips, noticing his pants were significantly tighter, and pull a moan straight out of his chest.

"You won't Noah. At least, not in a bad way." You wiggled your brows at him and gripped the sides of his neck.

He looked confused. "Is there a good way?" Incredulously, you dropped your forehead on his chest, his mind catching up a second later. "Oh! Oh right! Sorry, I don't know where my mind is right now."

You just kissed him again, tired of talking - or whatever that was - about it. Noah lifted his hips to push into you, which was the first thing he had done right all evening. You felt his erection beneath the layers of fabric between you, the friction delicious against your crotch. This time, he began placing soft kisses on your neck, barely touching the skin and teasing you.

His fingers loosened around your hips and wandered up to your shirt, slipping underneath and goosebumps rose on your skin where he touched. His hands found your breasts and took them in handfuls.

You couldn't help but giggle at the memory that flashed through your head, which caused him to look up at you.

"What?"

You smiled down at him. "Nothing, it's just that you grabbed my chest earlier when you tried to catch me. I was just thinking, I like this better."

He sighed, his head falling back. "I was hoping you hadn't noticed that."

You kissed him again, pressing back down on him, and regaining his attention.

"Noah?" His eyes looked at yours, his body now rhythmically pressing into you. "Fuck me? Please?"

You didn't mean to sound quite so needy, but it just came out that way. You were aching so bad for it, and you felt as if he didn't slip inside you soon, you may explode.

His eyes darkened, and he smiled back at you, his arms flexing around your waist and lifting you gently to lay you down on the couch. Hands making quick work of your shorts, pulling them off and staring at you. You may have forgotten to put panties on when you changed earlier, so he was marveling at the sight in front of him.

His tongue darted out to lick his lips before he pulled his own pants and boxers down, exposing his cock. You were impressed. Where Noah lacked grace and technique, he made up elsewhere. He slipped his hand into his pocket, fishing his wallet out. He located the condom quickly and applied it, giving himself a few long strokes as his free hand slid down your stomach, fingertips running through your folds for a second.

"You're sure it won't hurt you?" His mouth was hung open, and you rolled your eyes in response.

You reached your arms up, grabbing at him and pulling him down toward you. He fell forward with you, and his hand came down hard on the edge of the coffee table by mistake. He pulled it back, yelping.

"Fuck!" He shook out his hand, and you grabbed his face, forcing him to look at you.

"It's okay. Just look at me." Doing as he was told, his dick pressed against your entrance, nudging for approval.

You rocked your hips up, assisting him as he slipped partially inside of you. The stretch burned incredibly, your eyes rolling back with it.

"Oh, wow." Your words were just breaths, arms wrapping around his neck. "T-That's...wow."

Noah's hips pulled back before snapping forward, driving into you with force. Your body shook with the feeling, clenching down around him. His lips were pressing kisses into the skin on your jaw and collarbone, adding to the lovely sensation.

"Holy fuck, Noah." You lifted your legs to lock around his waist, pushing your hips up. "Harder."

He rammed your body into the cushions, the back of the couch smacking the wall loudly.

"J-Jesus. So good." His words were so quiet, you almost didn't hear. His face was buried in your neck, sweat forming in his hair. "You're so tight."

His whispers were pushing you off the edge. "Ugh, keep talking to me." Your hands gripped his hair, pulling at the roots.

"Fucking can't take it, it's so good. So perfect. So wet." He was railing you so hard, you felt as though you may cry from the sensation. "Just want to stay buried inside you all night, baby."

His words came out so softly, so soothingly that you let your body relax and let go, orgasm ready to tip.

That is, until...

"Ow..." It was almost silent. "Oww..." That was louder. "Ow! Ouch! Fuck!" He sat up suddenly, falling back on the couch.

You sat up, your head still spinning. "What's wrong?!" Your hands wandered over him, but he lifted his leg up on the couch, gripping his calf.

"Fucking leg cramp." His fingers pressed into the visibly tight muscle, and you fell backward, orgasm officially lost.

"I'm sorry!" He tried to reach for you, but you lifted your head, shooting him a warning glance. He pulled back, face turning a deep shade of red.

His cock, however, was stood at full attention still.

Rolling your tongue around in your mouth, you swung your legs off the couch and stood. You pointed to the cushions, and demanded him. "Lay down."

Without hesitation, he did as he was told, laying flat on his back, and stared at you longingly.

Wasting no time, you sat down, sliding onto him with ease now that you'd had a chance to adjust. The angle made you feel so full, so satiated. You let out a long, comfortable moan.

His hands grabbed you, and you began to rock back and forth, begging to chase that lost climax. He peered up at you through half-masked lids, fingers gripping your thighs now.

"Is that better, baby?" You nodded, fingernails scratching down his chest. "Going to come this way? Make a mess all over me?"

Just like Noah was on stage, when he was fucking, he liked to be in control. He was good at it, too.

You nodded, pressing your clit into the skin of his pubic bone. The friction combined with the pressure he was putting on that spot inside you had your thrusts more erratic.

"Can't last like this, honey. You're going to make me come if you keep riding me so fucking good."

His hips were rocking up into you, finding the wave you were riding and helping it wash over you.

"Noah..." You whimpered, hands digging into the skin of his sides. "I'm going to come."

"Yeah, baby, come for me."

His voice, so deep, raspy, sultry, shoved you over that edge, your body slowing down and spasming around him. His hips only had to buck up two more times before he was groaning, leaving fingerprint bruises in your thighs.

You both stayed still, breathing heavily, staring at each other. A grin creeped up onto your face slowly, a matching expression on his.

Both lost in your own universe, neither of you had heard the front door unlocking...

"Hey! I got finished quicker than I expected, so I-"

Both of your heads whipped to the front door, where Isobel had stepped in, duffel bag on her arm and food bags in the other.

"Jesus fucking Christ!" She turn around, covering her eyes with her hand. "What the fuck!"

You and Noah promptly jumped together, scrambling to right yourselves. He pulled at his pants that were still wrapped around his ankles, and you grabbed the blanket from the couch. He sat upright on the sofa, and you pressed against him, pulling the blanket over yourself.

Mortified, you both waited for her to turn around, which she did, eventually.

"Sorry about that, Iz." You said as you interlaced your fingers with Noah's, who was using his other hand to fully cover his face in humiliation.

"Not what I was expecting to see today!" She squealed, walking past the couch toward the kitchen. "I have food, you fucking pervs."

Once she had left the living room, you and Noah looked up at each other, both blushing furiously at having been caught in the act.

Even with the added mishap, you both broke out into large, shining smiles, laughing at the situation.

What a fucking doofus.

[soojinieshifts]

INTRO TO…

MY LE SSERAFIM DR

Hana Arie Anná, mononymously known as Ari, is a Chinese actress, singer, and rapper of girl group LE SSERAFIM under HYBE’s Subsidiary Label Source Music. She had her solo debut on June 12, 2024 with the mini album “Dark Dreams”.

!★☆ 𝑨𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝑴𝒆

#☆…! Name: Han Arie Anná

#☆…!Stage Name: Ari

#☆…!Race: Asian

#☆…!Gender: Female

#☆…!Sexuality: Lesbian

#☆…!Pronouns: She/her

#☆…!Birthday: June 10, 2002

#☆…!Age: 21

#☆…!Zodiac sign: Gemini

#☆…!Place of birth: Wuhan, China

#☆…!Siblings: Kevin, Rachel, handong, xiaojun, ningmei (twin sister)

!★☆ 𝑰𝑫𝑶𝑳 𝑺𝑻𝑼𝑭𝑭!!

#☆…!Brands: Chanel, Calvin Klein, Adidas, and Sanrio

#☆…!Positions: Lead Rapper, Lead Dancer, Sub-Vocalist, Center, and Producer

#☆…!Titles: Chinas Princess, Face of China, 4th gen’s hot girl, 4th gen rapper, 4th gen it girl

#☆…!Solo fandom: Ariboos

#☆…!Rep. Emoji: 🦊

#☆…!Projects: GLITZY! by Girls Generation (ft. ARI of LE SSERAFIM) - 2022, Dream Girl by Chungha (ft. ARI of LE SSERAFIM) - 2023, Diamond by KAZUHA (ft. YEJI of ITZY and ARI of LE SSERAFIM) - 2024 , Luv Me by JENNIE (ft. ARI of LE SSERAFIM) - 2023, Wish You hell (My pre release single before my solo debut) - 2024, DARK DREAMS (my official solo debut!) - 2024 , Magic by nayeon (ft. ARI of LE SSERAFIM) - 2024

#☆…!Trainee time : 6 years and 3 months

!★☆ 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒔!!

🐯Chaewon — Best friends! Was close during her Iz*one days and have gotten stronger since. SHES ALSO THE MOST DELUSIONAL BITCH YOU WILL EVER MEET LIKE MY GOD. She has an obsession with gummy bears and other fruity candy currently. And she’s back with her ex (this is a good thing! I love them together!) so she’s finally stopped screaming ripping her hair out over her! I love giving her songs to cover cause it’s fun. And her vocal tone makes me ascend to the heavens tbh.

🌸Sakura — THIS IS MY MOM!! I actually love Sakura so much and I’m so mad that freaking swing RUINED her voice. Her natural voice is so pretty and I used to have her sing me lullabies back when I was scared to sleep alone because of the massive hate I got in 2022. She’s so amazing and it makes me so sad that people don’t see it and I love her talent and wished she didn’t feel the pressure to be the best all the time. I love her and Mina together (I want them to adopt me.) but I don’t love seeing them make out in the living room. I watched her once fall to her news because of my “alleged” project with Sabrina carpenter as she proceeded to beg me to take her to meet her…..(I did).

🦒Yunjin — SIGHHHH. Jennifer huh…(or as I call her Jenni!). We started off as basically attached by the hip,! Like this girl was my best friend fr and then we started dating 😭 (she asked me out in the most craziest way tbh…). Probably one of the most amazing things ever cause she was literally the most perfect gf….until she wasn’t. Long story short: we broke up and it was messy as shit. Then I got with ryujin and She started getting mad at me for weird reasons and then we were back to best friends like we used to be…AND THEN ON FREAKING TOUR SHE TOLD ME SHE WANTED ME BACK EVEN THOUGH SHE KNOWS IM HAPPY WITH RYUJIN??? Long story short….we’re just friends now but not as close as once were and it makes me sad cause..Jenni ☹️😞

🦢Kazuha — MY ZUHAAAAA MY SWEET SWEET BABY!! I actually was the main one who talked to her during trainee days and we still are just as close! This is basically my little sister and when she had her solo debut I freaking SOBBED because of the song she made for me :(. She’s my sweet little swan and has a very big collection of white tennis shoes…SHE ALSO STARTED DATING BELLE FROM KIOF AND I ABSOLUTELY LOCE THEM!! Ballerina and the princess is what they are.

🐈Eunchae — so this is my daughter Eunchae!! I’m not joking when I say I spoil and baby her. She’s literally my little and I just love her and her chubby lil cheekies. She goes through weird phases like how she used to always say “Gyatt” whenever I walked in the room….She always comes to me mainly whenever she’s overwhelmed or when things do become too much for her and I try my best to make sure she gets to live her life as a kid since she still is one. She has had a few cutie crushes on ppl but I don’t think she’ll date anyone right now. (And she’s scared to date rn…)

!★☆ 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬!

#☆…!Friends: NingNing, Seijun, Jennie, Jungkook, Soyeon, Hobi, Beomgyu, Felix, Jisung, Yeji, Garam, Jaylie, Natty, Jiheon, Maeyo, Keeho, Nabi, River, Reverie

#☆…!Gf: Ryujin of ITZY

#☆…!Exes: Jurin (2021-2021), Yunjin (2022-2024 I think ???)

[simplydannie]

Poisoned (Velvets Version #1)

I haven’t touched on the Poison AU and what ifs in a while. This was inspired by a picture I saw on TikTok here.

TRIGGER WARNING ‼️ MENTION OF UNALIVING/ BLOOD

Jealousy begins to overtake Velvet. Suddenly, she finds her brother in the spotlight. Does this means she’d be forgotten? A blind uncontrollable rage takes over her… one she can’t protect her own brother from.

The cameras flashed, the voices of fans were heard all around. Velvet smiled and waved, blowing kisses left and right.

“Velvet! Over here!” She’d heard them call. She’d pose for pictures and sign autographs. Yes, this was the life she’s always wanted since she was a girl…. To be somebody. For too long she put this life aside all for her brother… now it was her turn.

Veneer never minded that his sister took the spotlight over him. After all the years she protected him from bullies, she deserved it. He’d take every moment to make sure the spotlight was on her.

“Thank you! Oh, thank you!” She gushed as they took her picture…But something began to change…

Was it her, was she being crazy? She began noticing the camera’s focusing on her brother more, his name being called more often. A twinge of jealousy began to overcome her.

“Veneer, we love hearing your voice in the background? But any thoughts on leading a song in the future.” One interview went. Veneer grew nervous, he side eyed his sister.

“Uh, no, no. I’m more of a background vocalist. Vels has always had the talent to sing lead. It’s just in her nature.” Veneer did is best to redirect the conversation.

“Of course she is! But that’s to bad, fans would really love to hear your voice. I’m I right folks!” The audience applauded and cheered. A curiousness began o grew inside Velvet…what was happening? But it would only get worse from there.

Why him? He was a nobody, always was and always would be. He was a nerd who would get bullied at in school…If it was for her, he wouldn’t even be here. And this is how he repays her. She sat at her vanity and looked herself in the mirror. What does that little weasel have that I don’t, she thought to herself. Why is all the attention on him now? A voice kept repeating and repeating inside her head…You’re not good enough. You’re not good enough.

“Stop it.” She said aloud.

Even with the Troll…You’re still not good enough.

“Shut up! Shut up!” She told the voice…The more she tried to stop it, the more it came back with vengeance.

He was always the favorite. Mom and dad would give him everything.

“He was sick. Of course they did.”

He even had you playing into his little trap…You even gave him everything. Even gave up having friends, being popular, homecoming, prom…

“He’s my brother. He’d do the same for me.”

Would he?

Knock. Knock.

“Vels?” Veneer popped his head through her door. “Vels, are you okay? I heard you talking with someone?”

“I’m fine Ven. I’m just tired.” She replied crossly.

“Oh.” He walked over and sat on her bed, his hands balled into fists on his knees. He kept biting his lower lip, “Sooo, do you want to maybe watch a movie?”

She turned him, giving him a questionable look, “What?”

“We haven’t really hung out or do anything like that in a while. That new movie we talked about is streaming. Maybe we could cook up some popcorn and-…”

“No.” She replied coldly turning back around.

“Oh come on Vels. OH! I know, maybe we can watch that new season of that reality show you love-…”

“I SAID NO! GET OUT!” She screamed. A sense of pain crept into her brother’s heart…She’d change…She didn’t want to do anything they loved doing anymore. He could see how consumed she was with this fame…but it’s what made her happy, who was he to question it? She sacrificed a lot for him, why not sacrifice this much for her…

“Oh…Okay…” With that he left her….She wanted to call him back, because once he left, the voices began to creep back in..

Immature. Freak. And they want him to solo?

“They never said anything about soloing…” She told the voice.

Oh but they did! Imagine when they see the potential he has…Why, it will no longer be Velvet and Veneer…Maybe your name won’t even be included anymore…

“Shut up! That’s not true! He wouldn’t do that to me.”

Oh but he would…It seems that he’s growing tired of you already…You have to do something…

Velvet’s eyes began to glow with a tint of pink hue, what was real and wasn’t began to mix, her mind growing in confusion and rage…She was starting to loose control.

You have to do something…He’ll betray you…He’ll take over, grab that attention of love YOU deserve…and keep it all for him…

“….That backstabber….” She said.

They love him. Adore him. They want HIM, not you…You’re irrelevant now.

“Not I’m not! I made us what we are!” She screamed looking at the mirror, her glowing brighter and brighter. “WE ARE HERE BECAUSE OF ME!”

Does he think that? He think’s you’re irrelevant. You have to show him who’s boss…Rid him, before he rids you….

The last words echoed in her mind. Her breathing grew heavy as the pink hue around her eyes grew brighter…Her body felt hot, she began to sweat…

“….Rid him…” She repeated and walked out the door.

Floyd sat in his diamond, hugging his knees….How did it come to this? Why? He did nothing but care for them, or at least try to… but then again…He did threaten to leave them because he couldn’t follow this path they were on. Instead of trying to help, he just watch change little by little…but the change he saw was, scary…as if little by little they were being replaced by something different. by an entirely different being… especially Velvet… he worried for her… His thoughts were broken as he heard the door open. Floyd looked round to see Veneer walking in, a sad look in his eyes.

The teen looked at Floyd….why did he do this to him? He walked up and sat on the chair, “Something… is wrong with Velvet…”

The small Troll glanced at Veneer, he had seen something into make him notice this, “I’ve been thinking the same thing for a while now bud.”

“But what? Why is she acting like this?….This isn’t Velvet, my Velvet… the one who was always there for me…” A sadness crossed his face, “What’s happening to her?”

“I…I don’t know…” Was all Floyd could say. There was silence between them. Veneer looked at the Troll, he grabbed the diamond. The two looked at each for a moment…Veneer then began to open the diamond.

“Ven?” Floyd said, but his name echoed in a voice behind him.

“Ven. What are you doing?” He turned to find Velvet staring at him… her eyes glowing pink.

“V-Vels.” He stuttered.

“Why do you have the Troll?”

“I was just… talking to him.”

“Nothing else?” She saw how his hand was over the lid.

“Y-yes.” Was all he mustered to say. He caught a glint of metal in his sister’s right hand….a knife? “W-why do you h-have that?”

“…Be honest with me Ven, do you ever think about a solo career?”

“N-no of course not!”

He’s lying.

“All this fame isn’t getting into your head. Making you feel that you’re too good for me.” Velvet continued.

“No. Vels what’s going on? You know I’m doing this for you.” He replied setting down the diamond. Floyd watched helplessly as the next events unfolded… she crept closer to him.

He’s doing it for himself. No one else. He’s such a freaking liar.

“Don’t you dare lie to me Ven! All these questions they’ve been asking you. All the attention you’re getting. It’s all part of your plan isn’t it.” She said, the dark circles under her eyes growing deeper.

“Velvet no of course not! I don’t know what they’re saying that! But… I’d never do that to you.” He walked closer to her, “It’s us against all of them right…” Floyd couldn’t warn Veneer in time, he had gotten to close, to comfortable, she was his sister… so he’d never imagine her doing what she did then…

Reaching up with her left hand, she tightened her hand around his throat. Veneer gasped for air “…V-Vels…”

“No… no it’s not is against them anymore….” The pink hue still around her eyes, a redness glinting across them. “It’s just me.”

“Velvet no!” Floyd screamed….Taking the knife she had, she stabbed her own brother on the neck. Floyd turned away, he couldn’t bear the sight. The shock in Veneers face turned to hurt, to betrayal…

“Why?” He gagged as tears rolled down his face.

“You can’t betray me… You won’t now..” Velvet replied as she dug the knife deeper. He winced and cried with every inch it dug…

“….youre…. My sister….. I…. love….” But nothing else came out, his body grew limp. She released him letting his body fall with a thump on the floor.

Good. There’s only room for one superstar now. The voice told her… then it was gone. Her head spun, she wobbled on her feet…

“What the heck…” she began to say. Velvet then noticed the knife in her hand. She gasped and let it drop to the floor… “Why, why do I have that. Vennie?” She noticed her brother’s limp body on floor.

“Vennie?” She noticed his eyes halfway open, the last of his tears falling to the floor…. A pool of blood forming around him. “….oh my god…” She knelt next to him. “Vennie!?” Picking him she shook him.

“VENNIE!”

No answer…. His body beginning to grow cold. She looked at the knife she had dropped on the floor…. The knife that was in her hand..

“No….no…..no…” She looked up to see Floyd. His little head was leaning against the diamond, tears staining his cheeks, “What happened?….Floyd! What happened!” She saw the look of sadness in his eyes as he stared at her..

“Tell me I didn’t do this. PLEASE TELL ME I DIDNT DO THIS!” She began to cry. Velvet picked up her brother’s body and hugged it tightly, hoping it would bring him back… his blood staining her clothes. “PLEASE TELL ME I DIDN’T DO THIS!!” She cried again.

“Velvet…. Something’s happening to you…. Something bad…”

But she couldn’t hear him… she let the pain in her cries fill the air, her eerie cries and screams. She had always protected him… but in the end… she couldn’t protect him from herself…

[vodkababy]

cherry margaritas & confessions ✩°｡ ⋆⸜ 🍒✮

tom kaulitz x vocalist! fem! reader

angst. very very angsty rich teenagers in the midst of summer with margaritas & tequilas IM SORRY ITS KINDA EHHH

age pairing : 16-17

warnings🍧 ; smoking, mentions of sex, sexual innuendos

note: bold italic = german

it was the summer of 2006, of course after all that touring, tokio hotel had to take a break for a while. that’s how we wounded up in this beach house that we had rented for 2 weeks.

it was around 9 pm as i went in the pool, the scent of marijuana lingered on my nose, beside me was tom who swam from the other side of the water.

tom and i were truly friends, nothing more. friends who kiss. friends who sleep with each other. friends who don’t look at each other like how friends do.

it was more of a friends with benefits relationship. he always had some groupie over, everytime after a concert he’d take some pretty blonde girl into the tour bus and i’d hear them have sex from the other room.

it hurt me, but at the same time it didn’t. know why? i didn’t want to have a relationship. we got drunk and had sex with each other, leading us to only fuck when we want to. now, it’s awkward. i was surprised he didn’t bother to bring a girl here, recently he had been so— distant.

“wanna smoke?” he chirped. “sure.” you took a hit on his joint and puffed the air away

“you seem so lonely lately. why all of a sudden?” he asked with a tinge of concern in his eyes. did he really care about how you felt just now?

“it’s just that something has been bothering me, a lot.” you answer coldly.

“you can talk to me about it.”

you really had no time for his bullshit.

“i don’t feel like you need to know.” you say, gulping your cherry margarita.

“oh. so now, when i’m trying to talk to you, you’ll act distant?”

“what is your problem with me tom? first thing, you’ll say you love me, then the next day you bring some whore who doesn’t even know you as a person over and fuck her like i’m not there? god tom!” you scream at him, your eyes tearing up, clearly drunk. you had taken a couple 5-6 margaritas earlier leading you to this state.

“so this is what it’s about, huh? me fucking some other girl who isn’t you? y/n, you’re so jealous it’s funny. you’re clearly drunk. do me a favor and try to think of what you just said.”

“what do you mean?”

“i told you i loved you. what did you say that day?”

flashbacks of you and tom kissing fuzzed your brain, not wrapping your finger around what you had told him after he confessed. your lap was on tom’s as both of your lips moved with passion in your bedroom.

“y/n.”

“mmh?”

“i love you.”

“t-tom.. tom, i don’t know.”

“what do you mean you don’t know?” he said catching his breath, exchanging kisses with one another.

“i just don’t want to get in a relationship.” and that’s how his heart tore that night.

your thoughts were snapped back into reality as soon as you started to cry. you didn’t want to cry, but you felt weak. why didn’t you tell him you loved him too? was it because of the girls? was it because he seemed like someone who’d be good with a one-time thing and act like nothing ever happened? the ideas swarmed your mind and took over.

“tom, i’m sorry. i love you” you said, feeling your salty tears reach your lips.

“i loved you. loved. get that y/n? it’s been done. i don’t want to talk about this anymore, good night.” he said, getting off the pool, wrapping a robe around him and walking to his room.

you bawled your eyes out, your cherry margarita getting hit by your arm and it’s glass crashing on the ground, thinking about what you have just done. you just threw out the love of your dreams. you were just too oblivious about him actually having feelings for you.

[lesbianmarrow]

We need to figure out which xmen would start the worlds most middling teenage garage band. Unless I’m missing something I find it incredible that this hasn’t happened in canon

this screams generation x to me. canonically jono was in a band before his mutation manifested, i think he played guitar? maybe one day he’s telling jubilee about it and she notices how he seems to miss it and decides they should start a band. jono plays guitar. everett plays bass. jubes plays the drums and she doesn’t know how to play the drums but she’s having a blast. angelo also plays guitar. paige is too shy to be onstage but she writes their songs. they have to beg monet to be their lead vocalist and at first she scorns the idea bc she finds it childish but eventually relents. of course she has a perfect singing voice. emma and sean think the band is a wonderful idea that is sure to promote teamwork and coordination and they’re very supportive although they don’t really get the music that teens today are into. the only people who really know what they’re doing are jono and monet, though everett picks up bass pretty quickly. angelo and jubilee have no idea how to pay their respective instruments but they’re just having fun with it. paige’s lyrics are exactly what you’d expect from an awkward 16 year old girl with a big crush on a guy in the band. she’s the main songwriter but angelo and jubilee and everett all pitch in with ideas now and then. jono and paige occasionally have one on one songwriting sessions filled with teenage heterosexual sexual tension. at one point he tries to teach her guitar and he’s like moving her hands on the guitar and it’s just unbearable. the band starts off just performing for emma and sean and penance and artie and leech, but eventually they start doing local community performances partly so people stop thinking they’re in a weird cult. of course things go wrong during their performances and they get ambushed by supervillains but theyre able to get one last song in that brings the house down. the band eventually breaks up bc monet refuses to sing a song paige wrote bc she’s like this is stupid nonsense and i’m not singing stupid nonsense and paige runs away crying and angelo comforts her and is like monet apologize! and she’s like if paige doesn’t want me to tell her her lyrics are stupid nonsense she should just try writing lyrics that are good? but the real thing that cements the breakup is everett’s death. nobody wants to play together again after that.

[th3-0bjectivist]

Dear listener, if I wasn’t trying to entertain an audience on this platform with a variety page, all I would post is metal music, all the time. Why? Because metal is my favorite type of music and has been since I was sixteen. I grew up listening to lots of sludge metal, like Crowbar and Mastodon. I still love immortal tunes by iconic heavy metal acts like Judas Priest. If it weren’t for bands like Slayer, I would never have gotten to experience the extreme highs and lows of thrash and death metal! But you know what I don’t like? Modern metalcore. Seriously, most of it really, really sucks, folks. To instantly access metalcore that doesn’t eat shit, all you must do is take a listen at some of the great bands that invented and popularized it. Zao practically started metallic hardcore, along with a handful of other equally distinguished groups, which is simply a merger between metal and hardcore punk. Just above, you’ll find The Rising End (The First Prophecy) from their 2004 album The Funeral of God. Once you smash play and discover for the first time what quality metalcore is, you will no doubt join me below for more if you enjoyed it.

Metal is defined by many facets, but for me it comes down to guitar solos, lyrics that are heavy on imagery, intense aggression, and powerful drumming. Most of the metal music that I personally listen to has a galloping quality; immersing the listener and making them feel as if they are riding on a steel-armored steed that is charging toward an epic battlefield. Metal is the only type of music I’ll listen to without being able to fully understand what the lead vocalist is screaming, as much of the lyrics aren’t necessarily comprehensible without looking online for the stanzas. Zao does all of these things very, very well, and blends in a little hardcore punk for audial variety and inventiveness. This is probably the closest thing to a Christian band I’ll ever post on my page, as Zao’s original works were thematically ‘Christ-centered’. Their overall catalog, however, is clearly divided into different eras, with completely different band members and shifts in tone from one era to the next. This isn’t Christian metal, they only started off that way. Upon listening to many of their full albums in preparation for this post, I can tell you, this band has simply become one of grand storytelling. The lyrics are often poetic, thoughtful and majestic. Their lead vocalist does something other metalcore leads don’t do; NOT sound like the Cookie Monster on bath salts or a whiny pop band-reject on a heavy dose of autotune. This is a rare group that manages to establish atmosphere alongside raw intensity, unclean vocals, and a sprawling and complex story to tell, filled with glimmers of lore and intrigue. Zao brings strong material into a type of music that has largely become flabby, lame, diluted and fundamentally weak in the last decade and a half. Metalcore was once fresh and experimental, and groups like this were and are still the torchbearers ensuring it has some semblance of an enduring future. Just below, you can smash play on The Final Ghost from their 2021 album The Crimson Corridor and enjoy metalcore in its most resplendent form.

The next time one of your senseless friends starts playing ‘music’ by metalcore groups like Lamb of God… immediately tell them you WILL NOT STAND for this insulting sound, flog them, tell them their taste in music is questionable and that the lead singer sounds like a pissed-off Cookie Monster. And then ask, “If you’re going to put metalcore on, can you at least put on some good metalcore!?” And then, when they ignorantly ask what good metalcore is, you can tell them, Zao. And tell them your pal, th3-0bjectivist on Tumblr, evangelized you in The School of Quality Music while you’re at it. Image source: https://www.metalsucks.net/2024/03/16/zao-share-video-from-upcoming-live-release-and-announce-listening-party/

[married-2-the-music]

K-pop Discography Deep Dives: Dreamcatcher (Part TWO)

A Disclaimer: I was planning, when I first started Tumblr, to be a lurker, but then I began an office job and needed something to listen to to keep myself occupied. And then, I started going through entire K-pop groups’ repertoires, album by album, and jotting down my thoughts. And then, I stumbled into K-pop tumblr and decided, you know what, there’s at least four people on this hell site who would read in depth rants about these discographies and at least five who wouldn’t read it and then get mad because it’s kind of our job as K-pop fans. My lukewarm takes should be taken with an entire silo of salt and the knowledge that this is completely for fun and occupying my very bored, very neurodivergent brain. All this to say, for the love of god, I’m a sleep-deprived student and I don’t have time for internet hate, so don’t kill me. With that being said, enjoy!

Here are my credentials: I’m a huge fan of Dreamcatcher, and have been an Insomnia since mid-2021 or so, just after the release of BEcause. They were actually the first concert I’ve ever been to, and I couldn’t have asked for a better experience for that. They totally gave their all for those two hours and I ended up loving them even more afterward. I’m even considering going again if they have another tour.

So, we left off after the end of their nightmare arc and a few special singles. Scream begins their next work, the dystopia trilogy, focused on hate speech and cyberbullying. This was the first DC song I heard, and god what a starting point. Those flashes of angry guitar and drums that pound like a heartbeat lead into a soft pre-chorus that lulls you into a false sense of security before that chorus just destroys you. The song is just so done, fitting for a person driven evil by cruelty because they simply couldn’t take it anymore, and its expansive string section adds layers of drama, especially with the distorted (kind of demonic) voice that echoes throughout the post-choruses. Overall, one of their best, though I wish that Handong (who, as mentioned before, was on hiatus during 2020) was there too,

The Tree Of Language is their first full album, and it’s so tough to pick a hidden gem. I know a lot of people love Red Sun but it’s a bit too vibey and meandering for me; it’s never been my favorite. Sahara is a total head-banger and I hope that they take its harsher rock for a title track again sometime. Black or White has some great Michael Jackson energy with its sharp moves and equally sharp chorus, letting the rock take a backseat. Jazz Bar is softer than I expected, with the jazz being more of an undertone and a nice backdrop with the dancy piano for the “I think I love you, oh I love you.”

Paradise is the last song on the album and is a solo for Siyeon, which makes sense given that she’s their main vocalist. It’s a bit calmer of a ballad than usual for DC, who often favor power ballads, but her vocals bring some great depth and emotion to what could be an average b-side. Also, shout-outs to the distorted strings in In The Frozen and the great energy in Tension.

BOCA is part two of the trilogy, and focuses more on the cyberbullying part than the hate speech as Scream does. It’s probably their most popular song overall, breaking into a k-pop market that, in 2020, was much more willing to accept rock than it had been at their debut. BOCA starts muted with a common-for-the-time tropical house beat, which should feel out of place but doesn’t. It then begins to build, as all their best work does, to a power ballad above an insistent electric guitar. It wasn’t one of my favorites at the beginning, but there’s no denying that it’s grown on me in the years since. Coming right on the heels of two tragic suicides in the k-pop industry (Sulli and Hara), which were partially due to immense amounts of online bullying, the lines of “Why do you fill your precious time with hate?” and especially the soul-piercing belt after “Too many angels dying now, I’m gonna change your mind” never fail to get me emotional.

From Lose Myself, despite the sweetness of fan-song Can’t Get You Out Of My Mind, I can’t think of a better hidden gem than Break The Wall. In K-pop, it’s common to decry “ugh this should’ve been a single”, but this should’ve been screamed from every rooftop in the galaxy. From start to finish, it’s a full-on alt-rock anthem that riles up its audience to stand together, rise up, and break the walls of prejudice with all of their strength. Seeing this in concert and screaming the words with thousands of teenage girls and the assorted parents, partners, and siblings that they dragged along (who ended up loving it) was what I might call a transcendent experience. For a couple moments, one would be forgiven for thinking that we could’ve really saved the world.

Odd Eye is the final part of the trilogy, and the return of Handong! It’s a great song, especially in its building pre-chorus, its cathartic bridge, and its distorted background mixed with traditional rock elements, but it’s never been one of my favorites. Unlike with You & I, where I had a very specific reason for feeling meh? about it, I don’t really know why I’ve never connected with this one. Even so, I do love how it ends the series, with the phrase: “in the end, the Dreamcatchers couldn’t find the Utopia they were looking for”, a surprisingly dark finish. When asked about this, member JiU said that they were trying to communicate that a perfect world doesn’t exist, but that the imperfect one we have is still worth fighting for. So, I have to give the song massive props for that.

From Road To Utopia, my hidden gem was Wind Blows. It maintains Dreamcatcher’s essential energy, but both slows it down for a hand-clapping pre-chorus and then ratchets it forward with an EDM-driven chorus that decides to end with a chant-filled post-chorus (that I don’t hate? I know, shocking). I also liked Poison Love, although a lot of that is due to the absolute hilarity of its music video, which is basically a 4-minute soap opera. New Days returns to their early years’ anime soundtrack energy, which is always appreciated.

BEcause is a special single in between the Dystopia and Apocalypse trilogies. It’s technically a love song, but I really like how it plays into many k-pop cliches—cutesiness, love, doll-like aesthetics—but in keeping with DC’s dark concepts, it’s actually about a stalker. The verses are understated, quite upbeat, and poppy, before the pre-chorus figuratively (and literally, in the music video) turns that calm feeling completely upside-down. The vocalizing and the “Be…cause I like you” in the chorus is chilling, and the song goes from 0 to 100 so quickly but so well, as you immediately get the sense that something is very, very wrong.

This EP is, hilariously enough, called Summer Holiday, as though the title track wasn’t one of their most horrifying. It does have some very upbeat tracks that are a rarity in DC’s discography, most notably Whistle, which turns its namesake into a recurring underscore and makes a quite catchy hook. Overall, though, this isn’t one of my favorite albums of theirs.

MAISON is both the beginning of the Apocalypse trilogy and my first Dreamcatcher comeback as an Insomnia (since BEcause came out when I was just becoming a fan and I wasn’t really “aware” of it at the time). Full disclosure, this was the song that made me buy tickets to their concert, and in hindsight, I’m not surprised. Unlike many of DC’s songs, it comes out of the gate swinging. There’s no slow first verse, no ballad to be found, and no way of reading its message as anything other than it is: a vicious criticism of the leaders who stand there doing nothing while climate change ravages the earth (“Oh no, you can’t fool me anymore. It’s weirdly warm, right? The planet, and your conscience drying up”), (“Pretending not to know, you can’t make it disappear”). It ends with only a simple plea: “Please, someone fight for us.” This song remains, to this day, my mom’s favorite Dreamcatcher song. (Hi, mom).

Apocalypse: Save Us is another full album, and has a lot of great songs (some we’ll get more into in a minute). I particularly liked the fun, boppy synths of Starlight, the choppy jazz-meets-alt-rock energy of Locked Inside A Door, and the very sweet Always, which is a song written for fans that they performed near the end of the concert.

Apocalypse: Save Us also contains a solo song for each member, which each of them got to write, and I was lucky enough to see them perform a medley at the concert I attended. First is JiU with the bouncy, retro Cherry, which is a love song written for JiU’s pomeranian Cherry. Yes really. It’s utterly delightful. Second is SuA with the EDM No Dot, which totally fits her role as main dancer because she performs the hell out of it. Third is Siyeon’s traditional Entrancing, which is quite soft and lovely, and makes the best of her excellent vocals.

Fourth is Handong’s quiet Winter, which is a fairly standard k-pop ballad but gives Handong a chance to sing a short a-capella section in her native Mandarin, which, as a linguistics major, I really loved. Fifth is Yoohyeon’s smoothly jazzy love song For, which is the rare k-pop song in English that I don’t mind. Sixth is Dami’s pop-punk Beauty Full, which has some great 2000’s energy and always gets me head-banging. And seventh is Gahyeon’s upbeat and youthful Playground, which is about holding onto childhood. These are all good songs and reflect their own styles well, but my favorite would either have to be Beauty Full or Cherry. I’m a huge fan of artists writing their own tracks so I’m so glad they got to do this!

After that slight digression, next up is Vision, the second song in the Apocalypse series. This one builds on what Maison began, but is resolved to take a far more involved position and not simply wait around for someone else to save them. Instead, Dreamcatcher leads the charge, giving Vision a militaristic feel with its insistent drumline, very present electric guitars, salutes, and flags. It’s a call to action if ever there was one, and features a breaking point just as Scream does, but this time it’s for good. “For your bright tomorrow, and this beautiful place,” JiU announces on the microphone, “For ourselves, give it up tonight! March! Raise your flag and fight again!” And Siyeon’s power note at the end? Excellent.

From Vision’s EP, Follow Us, I liked the synth-pop-meets-chill-rock of Fairytale, which works way better than I thought it would. It’s a sweet love song, and honestly would have made a great single for them if their singles weren’t set on storytelling. It’s very Dreamcatcher while tying that rock to another genre, which is part of the reason why DC’s work always sounds both fresh and true to their core. Some Love is more straightforward rock and EDM, and the Outro is peaceful, steering us into the next song quite well.

Bon Voyage wraps up the Apocalypse trilogy, and begins in the exact opposite way to Maison. Its first minute sounds like a classic love song, and in a way it is one, to the Earth, but I was left slightly baffled. And then, of course, that pre-chorus takes off and we’re back to classic Dreamcatcher in its excellent guitar riffs and power ballading to the stars. The bridge strikes a middle ground, keeping up the energy as the song barrels to its conclusion in what may be Siyeon’s most incredible high note yet. It may be a love song, but it’s also a promise to keep fighting for the Earth, until the day we have to say goodbye.

From the From Us EP, I had trouble choosing between Propose & Demian. Propose at first seems to be this album’s obligatory ballad, but the background crackles with an odd sound and suddenly pulls away with the “Don’t run away, you can’t escape my love,” and I got flashed back to BEcause’s stalking concept. Propose takes that and runs with it, delivering what can either be read as a creepily obsessive song or a power ballad in the name of love. Demian, meanwhile, is very disjointed, going from a usual Dreamcatcher b-side to Dami’s scream-talk sections, sharper raps, and a full-throated run into metal with a guitar breakdown that they haven’t really reached since No More. (And, as a lover of Break The Wall, I of course appreciated the shout-out.)

Reason is a special single for DC’s 6th anniversary, and starts out delightfully sappy: “Because of Insomnia, Dreamcatcher exists”. Overlaid on adorable footage of DC’s journey throughout their years in the industry is a song that somehow manages to be both a rock-metal anthem and an incredibly sweet tribute both to each other and their fans. “I will go far away, I spread out my wings to fly, I have to go on…because you are the reason.” No, I’m totally not crying right now. What are you talking about? (Cue me blubbering into a handkerchief).

OOTD came out less than a week ago, and I admit I was a little wary with its teasers. And it turns out I was right to worry. The song starts with a good EDM smash and some great vocalizing right away, and its pre-chorus’ build reminds me of Vision. I’m intrigued by its choppier editing and its commentary on the fashion industry. Overall, though I think the song has some great ideas (the nu-metal mixed with hip-hop), it goes far too into sing-talk for me and I don’t like the chorus. Honestly, the most accurate thing I could say is it doesn’t sound like Dreamcatcher. It’s not a bad song, so perhaps it’ll grow on me, but for now…I’m afraid not. I think this is the first track of theirs (in an almost 7-year-career) that I haven’t liked to some level, and as long as the issues I had with it don’t continue into other releases, I’m willing to overlook it, like I did with Birthday by Red Velvet, as a “you can’t win them all”.

Versus Villain, the EP, is thankfully as strong as always. Rising carries that great alt rock energy and DC’s signature encouragement to keep going (“raise your arms up, with all your strength, shout!”), which is always nice to hear. I loved this one from the first chorus, and immediately wondered, why on earth was this not the title, guys? It would’ve been perfect!

This may be the most fun I’ve had in my reviews so far! Besides having an excellent discography in just sound alone, they’ve covered trauma, cyberbullying, stalking, climate change, depression, hate speech, love, and hope in under 100 tracks, all while waving pride flags on stage, writing special tracks about loving their dogs, and working their way up in the k-pop world from a tiny company. Their work reminds us all that it’s okay to have bad days but that one day, we will have the strength to accept ourselves, wake up from our nightmares, and start changing the world. And really, what’s more empowering than that?

My Top 5 songs are Break The Wall, What, Deja Vu, Bon Voyage, and Maison, with Wake Up and Fairytale as honorable mentions. Dreamcatcher gets a 10 out of 10 from me, which is no surprise. I can’t really think of anything I would change about what they’ve done, and even though I have my tiny gripes here and there, none of them are enough to make me change my mind. Maybe I’ll be eating my words in a few months, so we’ll see how this ages, but for now I don’t think that there’s any group out there whose work I would rate higher. For now, I’ll end by saying that I’m very proud to be an Insomnia.

Next time, we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming with another boy group of the week, this one one that I barely even know, so I’m looking forward to it! Tschüss!

[weekend-whip]

Band au!!

The ninja: A VERY popular band with huge turnouts for their concerts. Their music can vary a lot, but they land solidly in the alt-pop/rock area when they aren’t doing any sort of solo acts.

Kai: Basic electric/acoustic guitar, but he’s the lead vocalist and absolutely SHREDS when a song calls for a saxophone. Master of improv and is able to continue on with confidence if something goes wrong at a show. He likes it when he gets the chance to scream and jump.

Music type examples: I/Me/Myself by Will Wood, some of Bleacher’s more popular songs, Grandson, Bruno Mars, and a lot of FoB type-stuff.

Jay: Plays a little of everything, but his one true calling is the main melody on electric guitar. His fingerpicking skills are unparalleled. Girls throw themselves at his feet. It’s so sexy how fast his fingers move. He’ll also record some solo tracks on uke!

Music type examples: Complicated guitar melodies, All Time Low, and for uke think of stuff like ToP’s House of Gold and The Judge. The Orion Experience’s The Cult of Dionysus.

Cole: Bass guitar, and a little slap bass. He CAN NOT improv, he’s too scared to. Out of all of them he practices the most. He can do some solo piano stuff too, but not keyboard. Mostly stays back and lets the others take the spotlight, but when he gets really into it he might go up front and dance around with Kai.

Music type examples: I don’t know a lot of bass-centric songs, but he enjoys a lot of songs like Love Grows Where my Rosemary Grows. Autoheart. IDKHBTFM.

Zane: Keyboardist with experience in violin. When he gets in The Zone you cannot pull him out of it for anything less than the venue being on fire. He enjoys both fast-paced and slower music, and will sometimes join in on vocals.

Music type examples: Jake Wesley Rogers, Golden Hour, Cody Fry

Nya: Drums. She wants to hit things. Smack. Anger management. People are SO into it.

Music type examples: Anything with heavy drums and drum solos.

-

Jesse: Up and coming artist who does a lot of stuff with his sister. Can’t play any instruments too well so she makes tracks for him to add vocals to! He opens for the ninja a lot at their concerts.

Music type examples: Jake Wesley Rogers, other stuff you have already talked about, Bruno Mars if he’s feeling confident.

-

Olivia: Popular solo artist with a cult following. Leans heavily into the alt-rock and electronica scene. Sometimes she’ll hire the shark army as background players. Dances a LOT.

Music type examples: Paramore, P!atd, All Time Low, Daisy Grenade, K. Flay, and SPECIFICALLY Black Sheep from Scot Pilgrim vs. the World

Antonia/Bridget: Managers for the ninja/Jesse and Olivia respectively. God help them.

Jamie: Stage hand and photographer for both! He focuses too much on Olivia, though. Is it hot in here or is it just him? Has nothing to do with the drop she did while dancing and how she looked into the camera- no way.

Nya: We're really calling ourselves "The Ninja"? Kai: It's quick, it's catchy, it fits nicely on merch!!

Nya: Jay, I need you to stop being so hot while playing guitar Jay: It's not like I can turn it off???? *plays a riff* Nya: Pls your fans are starting to bruise with how hard they're falling at your feet Sunni: *lying on the floor* One more solo please!! I can handle it!!

Cole: All right, guys, let's rehearse one more time— Kai: Oooooor we could just jump onstage and just do whatever!!! The crowd loves spontaneity, that's why Jesse opens for us Jay: YEAH, FREESTYLE! Nya: *loud cacophony of drum slamming* Cole: PLEASE ANYTHING ELSE BUT THAT

Zane: I just think we should be incorporating a lot more violin into our songs— Kai: Zane. We're a pop-rock band. Save it for the solo album. Cole: Well, hold on, maybe it could put some extra spice into our music? Kai: When you can match a violin to my sister's erratic drum playing, then come talk to me Cole: Tch, bet Jay: *popcorn*

Jesse: *coming off from his act* You got a pic of my good side, right?? Jamie: Uhhh— *tries to run, drops several photos of dancing Olivia* W-Wait, I can explain, I— *drops even more photos of closeups of Olivia's smirk* WAIT JUST HOLD ON— Miranda: You had one job, man!!!! Antonia: At least get them autographed so we can sell them Jamie: *dies*

Olivia: —and then I struck a pose and threw him this sneaky little smirk and I thought he was gonna drop the camera, teehee Bridget: Bridget: We're doing a concert, not a runway model show!!! Olivia: I'M MULTITASKING

Nya: ...Do you ever think the band could use more...green? Kai: Not unless I'm wearing it *plays Careless Whisper on sax*

[scrarefest]

Happy Thursday!!! Please enjoy some wonderful sibling bonding, burgeoning relationships, and fanart!

Want to follow along with us? Create a copy of this handy, dandy spreadsheet to keep track of the works you read & engage with. And don’t forget to leave a kudos or comment if you enjoyed the works!

***

catch you when you fall

[Alexis/Twyla and Alexis & David, Teen, 9,718]

Alexis makes a surprise visit to Schitt's Creek to spend some quality time with her girlfriend. But David is under the weather, and with Patrick out of town, Alexis tries her best to take care of him.

***

Hey, Brewer

[Patrick, Ronnie, Teen, 6,393]

A week before, Patrick would have said Ronnie asking for his help was impossible but when she comes into the store to do just that he tries his hardest, despite his confusion and questions. Even after she leaves, their interaction preys on his mind. Over the next few weeks something starts to shift between them but Patrick can't help but be curious as to what started it all off and what Ronnie's thinking.

***

here kitty, kitty

[Ted/Patrick, Teen, 1,352]

Patrick didn't expect to find a cat or meet a hot vet 

***

oh, i kinda of think i wanna make it last forever

[Stevie/Ruth, Teen, 2,206]

Ruth can scream. She can wail. She can effortlessly hit the kind of notes that Axl Rose has to warm up for, jumping from pitch to pitch with the kind of abandon that seems like precision. And she knows how to dial it back, following Patrick's lead with an obvious ease that startles Stevie. When their voices meld together, Ruth matching him beat for beat, note by note, Stevie can't help herself.

She catches Mutt's eye, tilting her head towards the vocalists, and bites back a grin when the two of them join in.

And the funny thing is: this shouldn't be so effortlessly easy. The four of them have never played together before.

Voting her into the band, though, is the easiest decision that Stevie's ever made.

--

OR: Stevie hates when people tell her to smile. After Ruth joins her band, though, she can't stop smiling.

***

[Fanart] There’s a Dead Guy in Room 4

[Stevie & Roland, General, 0]

The coroner said he’d be discreet with the body removal…so why did 6 people show up to assist? And, why were they all wearing hazmat suits?

***

Creators, don’t forget to update your posting dates if your work was revealed today!

[existentialmagazine]

Review: Love Ghost and Ritorukai collaborate for new single ‘Human Error 404’, an angsty emo-rock anthem drowned in mental health struggles

Returning with yet another new release in collaboration with Ritorukai, the emo-rock stars Love Ghost have just shared their newest single ‘Human Error 404.’ As Love Ghost’s Finnegan Bell is currently in Mexico recording with many Latin artists, we’re sure this won’t be the last single the duo have to come, continuing to offer a staggering amount of new tracks to listen along with while never letting their sound suffer for it.

Just like all of Love Ghost’s work, ‘Human Error 404’ finds itself angstily encapsulated by a sound of grit and down-to-the-bone emotion, unafraid of the darkness and embracing it wholly. From the rich electric guitar strums and the emphatic riff that leads things in, ‘Human Error 404’ immediately captures a sense of foreboding, floating through a raincloud cloud that’s only seconds from a downpour. Thudding drum beats and subdued guitar strums add a more pounding resonance for the opening shortend chorus, all the while Love Ghost’s vocalist offers a more clean, hooking vocal delivery that urges you learn and sing along to every word. Things shift for Ritorukai’s introduction, wrapped between electronic scattered beats, dark guitar strums and hoarsely half-screamed backing vocals that lace around his cleanly sung emo-rap styling. The second verse makes way for Love Ghost to take centre stage, continuing scattered beats and prominent guitar strums while he offers an emotive set of lyrics to unpack. The final chorus climaxes into a peak of everything, from vigorous guitar strums to thundering drums and multiple layers of clean and raspy vocals, ‘Human Error 404’ wraps up with a heightened moment exploding from all the built-up emotion tied within. Delivering yet another emo-rap and alternative-rock anthem, Love Ghost have been knocking it out the park as of late, and ‘Human Error 404’ is just another hit you’ll be eager to add to your playlists immediately.

Delving into mental health complexities, ‘Human Error 404’ is another staple from Love Ghost that entangles within it a poignant message of struggling through depression and darker thoughts without an escape. Led in by the line ‘weightless I am floating, watching the sky turn red’, it’s made clear that the reality for Love Ghost has seemed to shift, no longer seeing the world for its blue-tinted skies but instead drowned in the darkness of their mind. Continuing ‘I wanna find a place where I can’t be in my head’ , Love Ghost yearn to be freed from the shackles inside of them, desperate for an exit from the never-ending stream of bad energy their mind continues to forge. Though the world fails to offer them a much-needed escape, lyrics like ‘I haven’t slept for three days, I’m always uncomfortable so I’ll make a new world in my head’ focus on transporting them elsewhere, creating a safe-place to go when the world’s torment becomes too much to bear. As the song closes out with the hard-hitting line ‘please don’t give up now’, Love Ghost seem to sing to both themselves and their audience listening along, urging anyone in a similar place to keep on living and make it through. With a mass of thought-provoking lines and an achingly real resonance of what it feels like to go through the burdens of mental health issues alone, ‘Human Error 404’ is a song you’ll both want to scream along with and hurt for all the same.

Check out ‘Human Error 404’ here to appreciate the hard-hitting lyrical lines and edgy soundscape Love Ghost have to offer.

Written by: Tatiana Whybrow

Photo Credits: Unknown

// This coverage was created via Musosoup, #SustainableCurator.

[s-o-n-de-r]

THEY’RE ONLY CHASING SAFETY – Underoath celebrates 20 years of groundbreaking album

Tampa metalcore juggernauts Underoath closed out 2024 with a hometown show at Jannus Live in Saint Petersburg, Florida, celebrating their groundbreaking 2004 release They’re Only Chasing Safety. On a cool night at the popular open-air venue near downtown, the band played their last show of the year, which included a start-to-finish performance of the album and a number of selections from the rest of their catalogue.

There was enthusiastic energy in the air, this being the final of a whopping four shows back to back at Jannus Live, the previous three which sold out and the last being the closeout show for the band for the year. Tampa Bay fans were also treated to a last-minute addition of the band Anberlin to the bill, also from the area, who have recently chosen a new singer in Matty Mullins (Memphis May Fire) after longtime singer Stephen Christian chose to step away. All this hype and anticipation could be felt around the venue, especially considering that for some fans, this was the fourth show in a row.

They’re Only Chasing Safety (published by Solid State, an imprint of Tooth & Nail Records) was one of those seminal albums from the aughts that broke down walls and re-defined genre lines. This one got people talking; it was the album that put Underoath on the map. It popped up at a time when its success helped further the genre-blending in the greater music scene – the mid-2000s felt like the start of a wave in which bands did not have to fall in line with genre boundaries as much anymore, leaving us with phenomenal melting pots in the decade such as AFI’s decemberunderground, A Day to Remember’s Homesick, or Silverstein’s Discovering the Waterfront.

Indeed, the most accessible song on this album, “Reinventing Your Exit” weirdly brought together a diverse group of fans. TOCS is arguably a post-hardcore album, but “Reinventing” is a wildly accessible song for those unfamiliar with the genre, a result of the poppy clean vocals by Aaron Gillespie (drums, vocals) and uplifting melodies and chorus while unclean vocalist Spencer Chamberlain (his first album with the band) takes more of a back seat, providing flourish with his screams. “Reinventing” was probably a successful onboarding for a ton of fans unfamiliar with this space of music; I know it was for myself and blew the door open on expanding my musical tastes.

But it would be a missed opportunity to filter this album down to this one song’s impacts. After all, TOCS has earned a place in the history of the scene, even if it sits slightly in the shadow of its younger brother, Define the Great Line (which I would argue is one of the greatest albums of the ‘00s). “Young And Aspiring” is a shredder of an opener – all business, all chaos. “It’s Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door” experiments with production flourishes, features a choir, and provides us with the iconic sing along line of “my knuckles have turned to white / there’s no turning back tonight / kiss me one last time.” “I Don’t Feel Very Receptive Today” mimics the frenetic pace of the album’s opener, and “Some Will Seek Forgiveness, Others Escape” is just a wild ride of a closer. It’s a light and fluffy religious track with guest vocals from Aaron Marsh (Copeland) that explodes with Gillespie and Chamberlain at the end.

“A Boy Brushed Red Living In Black And White” is probably the best on the album, a song with punch that features good play between Chamberlain and Gillespie similar to “Reinventing” but not as clean. This one feels more like an epoch than anything else on the album. It captures a lot of emo intonations of the scene at the time, and its feverish pitches lead to the iconography that cements the album’s place in the genre. It feels very much like a summation of everything the album does right, but it also exists more than just these parts put together. This song, specifically, captured that same frenetic energy that could still be felt 20 years later on stage, a certain magic and sense of time and place that becomes a treasure for those who were there when it first happened.

I’m also a little biased. “A Boy Brushed” was, genuinely, one of the first “harder” songs I ever heard, played from a custom-burnt CD over the speakers of my friend’s mom’s car on the days I’d carpool with him. The song was responsible for me clawing my way out of my comfort zone, leading to the start of the dominoes falling that would become a decade of going to and covering shows. These songs are anthemic at a time when anthem ran wild. Any of these could not be mistaken for another period of the band’s work, especially since the album is sandwiched in a weird place between the heavier Define and the more genre traditional The Changing of Times (which also featured Dallas Taylor, the screamer before Chamberlain).

Ultimately that’s what makes TOCS stand the way it does. It has a prominence and mood you can’t quite place except in that “you know it when you hear it,” which is partly why getting an anniversary tour for it was such a treat. This album justifiably receives praise for what it does musically, but it also doesn’t have to be a masterpiece 10/10 to live inside of us nostalgically the way so many of these iconic albums from the era do. It was massively cool to see Underoath dedicate the effort to it, especially given that Underoath is a band that has survived its ups and downs and a disbandment of a couple years. Fans who were around and young and captivated when TOCS first hit are older now and a lot of the bands from that era are defunct, so it can feel a little hard to re-live that time. But getting this whole album, and if you were lucky enough, getting to see it at the last string of shows of the year for the band, is a rare opportunity to step back to the fervor of the scene at that time. Underoath’s set wove in a wide set of picks from the rest of their catalogue after they played TOCS – some personal favorites were “In Regards To Myself” and “Breathing In A New Mentality.” The crowd was positive, and the band sounded great – it was great to see the palpable excitement and the band closing out the year on such a high note.

Like this? Sonder is an independent music, travel and photography publication at sonderlife.com. Give us a follow here or at our Twitter or Instagram  if you like this!

[chorusfm]

Linkin Park – From Zero

After the tragic passing of longtime front-man Chester Bennington in 2017, Linkin Park were faced with an impossible decision. Should they retire the band, or find a way to carry the LP flag with a different vocalist? From Zero has a dual-meaning: Xero was the first name of the band and From Zero also refers to the re-birth of Linkin Park with two new band members in Dead Sara vocalist Emily Armstrong and drummer Collin Brittain. The new album was produced by vocalist/guitarist/band leader Mike Shinoda, and it has a familiar sound and feel, even with a lot of new elements injected into the band. Armstrong and Brittain each make their presence felt throughout the record that is filled with stadium-ready anthems that borrow key sections of past Linkin Park albums all with a renewed focus towards the future. The album kicks off with a brief introductory track that finds the band pondering what From Zero means, while quickly transitioning into lead single “The Emptiness Machine.” The song is vintage Linkin Park in its construction, with a steady build-up in the verses to a growling chorus of, “Let you cut me open / Just to watch me bleed / Gave up who I am for who you wanted me to be / Don’t know why I’m hoping / For what I won’t receive / Falling for the promise of the emptiness machine.” Emily Armstong commands her first vocal performance in the band in a way that would make Chester proud, and it feels like the band found the right fit with this talented vocalist. ”Cut The Bridge” follows with a steady beat laid down by Brittain, while guitarist Brad Delson adds in some unique riffing blended with Joe Hahn’s turntable work to set the right atmospheric canvas for Shinoda/Armstrong to paint over. The bridge section of the song features some great wordplay by Shinoda as he croons, “Something in my head feels broken / I’m the gas from a burner left open / I’m a tightrope held up by a clothespin / Holding out, but the pressure keeps growing / Wanna go to the light and not the shadow / But the branch isn’t shiny as the arrow / You don’t ever find a way around a battle / You will always choose / Just to watch it burn.” The way Shinoda puts emphasis on the last word of each line adds more power behind each pointed lyric. ”Heavy Is The Crown” was the second single to be released from the set, and features an impressive sustained scream from Armstrong when she growls, “This is what you asked for!” It does feel a bit like Bennington cosplay at times, but overall it fits well into the lore of Linkin Park. “Over Each Other” offers a softer side to Armstrong’s vocal approach as she softly sings in the opening of the track, while eventually adding more growl and grit to her vocals as the song accelerates. Mike Shinoda offers the advice at the end of the song by suggesting for Armstrong to “get your screamy pants on.” Armstrong happily obliges, as the front half of the LP ends with “Casualty,” a song about not being the victim in a one-sided relationship. The chorus explains by stating, “Let me out, set me free / I know all the secrets you keep / I, I won’t be / I won’t be your casualty.” The back half offers some great material too, as it opens with a synth-laden beat on “Overflow” that steadily picks up steam as it gets going. Shinoda shines on the early verses, while Armstrong adds in some angelic vocals in the chorus of, “Turning from a white sky / To a black hole / Turning from the sunlight / To a shadow / I know I can’t make it stop / I know I’m out of control / I keep on filling it up / To overflow.” The band shows that they have plenty left in the creativity tank by creating a familiar sound while still covering some new ground. Current single, “Two Faced” kicks into a new gear with a great metal riff by Delson, while Phoenix adds in some outstanding bass lines throughout the heavy track. Armstrong continues to make her presence felt all over this song and others, while doing a commendable job of filling the weighty shoes of Bennington. My personal favorite on… https://chorus.fm/reviews/linkin-park-from-zero/

[thisaintascenereviews]

Beartooth’s The Surface Was The Best Metalcore Album Of 2023

Metalcore, as a genre, has been going through a bit of an identity crisis the last few years, and you can thank a handful of bands for that, such as Sleep Token, Issues, Bad Omens, Bring Me The Horizon, and a few others. That’s not a bad thing, as metalcore has been gone through many phases, eras, and sounds over the last 30 years, but it seems that the genre has started to embrace a more accessible and pop-friendly sound, at least to a degree. I’m all for it, personally, because I want a lot of these bands to be huge, and I also really enjoy a lot of pop music. Depending on who you talk to, they may not like that, because a lot of heavy music fans don’t like pop music, but metalcore has been on the decline for that last decade. Hell, I didn’t listen to it for the longest time, because of how generic and bland it had become (the late 00s and early 2010s gave rise to what became known as “Risecore,” as a lot of bands on Rise Records sounded the same), but bands like Issues came up around the beginning of the 2010s, and they took pop, R&B, alt-metal, nu-metal, and metalcore, ultimately to create something new and exciting. It’s a shame they called it quits, although I can’t blame them, and I already wrote about that, but I can’t help and mention them again here. Since then, other bands have popped up in that vein, and metalcore is becoming a more interesting genre again. It’s also becoming a more accessible genre, thanks to adding pop, R&B, and even some hard-rock elements.

That’s where Beartooth comes into play, and I didn’t purposely mention them earlier for a good reason — their last album, The Surface, was the best metalcore album of 2023, bar none. It was in my top five of last year, too, but it wasn’t higher for a couple of reasons (there were four other albums that I didn’t feel like it surpassed, and it would have been very hard to top those, so that’s not the album’s fault), but in terms of the genre, it was easily my favorite. The Surface was also one of my most played albums, too, because of how catchy and fun it was. I’m getting ahead of myself, however, as knowing who Beartooth is and where they’ve come from is important to understand why this album is so important. Beartooth is the brainchild of Caleb Shomo, who’s known for being a backing vocalist snd keyboardist for Attack Attack in the mid-00s, eventually becoming their lead vocalist. He left the band in 2012 and formed Beartooth, which they’ve put out their fifth album with The Surface, and it’s interesting, because I only got into them through their third album, 2018’d Disease. I enjoyed their first two albums, but they were just generic metalcore with lyrics that were a little too tryhard at being edgy and dark. I understand why they sounded that way now, as Shomo was going through a lot at the time, but 2018’s Disease was where their sound clicked for me.

That was the first album where they got catchier and introduced more hard-rock sounds and ideas, including less screaming and more hooks, something that Shomo was very good at. I didn’t get too much into 2021’s Below, but I’ve listened to it a few times and I enjoy it, although it just felt like they went back into old habits. A lot of fans seemed to really like it, because it was heavier, and I agree it was, but I was curious about their newest singles, “Riptide,” and “Sunshine,” which had a couple of things going for them, include very uplifting lyrics, as well as a very pop-friendly sound. The former of which didn’t have any screaming at all, only boasting one of their best choruses. The latter was heavier, having a really cool loud-quiet dynamic on the verses and choruses, and I was excited for The Surface. It ended up being worth the wait, too, because The Surface, as I said, is the best metalcore album of 2023. It’s their catchiest, most accessible, and most fun album. The lyrics are more positive, as Shomo was in a better place mentally, and wanted the lyrics to reflect that, so this album feels very joyous and celebratory a lot of the time, but its sound is the best part of it.

This album is what I would call a “gateway album,” and these are the most important kinds of albums. Not always the best albums, but these albums are good because they’re a gateway for people who want to get into heavier kinds of music. Other bands or albums that come to mind for good examples of gateway albums would be Linkin Park’s first couple of albums, or Metallica’s 1991 Black Album, but there are tons more. This is another one, I think, they have a sound that can appeal to a lot of different people, whether you love heavy music but also love hooks (that’s where I fall), you don’t really like music with screaming, or super heavy, but you want something “heavier,” or you’re into hard-rock / rock, and want somewhere to start when it comes to metal or heavier music, this is perfect. This has some harsh vocals, breakdowns, and heavier stuff, but it’s insanely catchy. I could see the argument that fans can make about this band possibly “selling out,” but let’s honest — do you want your favorite bands making the same albums forever, or do you want them to progress and mature, even if that means changing their sound? I’m all for that, especially when it’s like this. This is their best album, at least to me, and it’s an album that I think will go down as a metalcore classic in the future. This is the album could make Beartooth a household name in the rock scene, and I hope it does, because Caleb Shomo is the best metalcore frontman currently. There’s no questions about it, and The Surface is a great example of why.

[shutupnsing]

ENOUGH!!

Okay! All Right! E-frigging-Nuff with the ignorant, ill-advised, chock-full-of-bunk tutorials on “Singing With Distortion”, “Warm Up Exercises For Heavy Metal Vocals”, Singing With Compression Like __________” and so on. If you are serious about developing your singing voice as a tool to bring joy into the world AND wish to do this for the duration of your adult life, DO NOT follow the path of these knuckle-brained quasi vocal experts by parroting the disgusting noises they claim will allow you to sing/grunt/scream aggressive music just like this or that recording artist. You would be better off spending equal time hitting yourself in the forehead with a wooden ruler to a metronome set to 72 BPM.

For a start, almost every tutorial of this nature seems to draw from the same script—“Hey guys, welcome to ’Sing Better Than Anyone In The History Of Singing” where even YOU can learn how to do this—“ whereupon the imbecile of the moment lets loose upon the world a raspy, fried, nasal, guttural screech and then smiles as if he/she has just out-farted a bull elephant. Most of these clowns add a brag to the effect of “My method is the shit because just listen to me sing!” And then they sing—and anyone but Helen Keller must instantly realize that the sounds they are making are unlike anything a real producer in the big boy music world would want anywhere near a live microphone.

There are myriad ways in which to express emotion as a vocalist. But emotion is a matter of the moment, and not something that is plotted, planned or practiced. What IS practiced is developing your vocal ability to the high level at which you gain the ability to express true emotion in performance on demand, AND to be able to do this repeatedly night after night. 

Years ago when I was traveling and gigging about 200 days a year, we occasionally found ourselves between shows at state and county fairs. My favorite was always the Minnesota State Fair. It was big. It had fried cheese curds. And best of all, it had a guy in a tent that sat on a stool and stuck steel needles through his hands, arms, ears, tongue and any other appendages that couldn’t get away from him. Once you caught the act, you couldn’t look away. It was a wonder, how he could do that shit day after day for the run of the fair. But did he have talent? Or was he stoned, high or drunk and just said “Well fuck it. It’s money and I can pull this off as long as I don’t spring a leak." Yes, it is possible to harm yourself for the entertainment of the masses. Ask any NFL lineman. But should you? Doing harm to your instrument for the entertainment of the masses is like burning your furniture to stay warm. Eventually you'll run out of fuel.

A singer’s instrument is his/her body and needs to be taken care of and not abused. Practicing these spurious quasi exercises puts the voice into a position akin to Pete Townsend’s guitar at the end of a WHO concert. But in Townsend’s case, the guitar is external and has no choice in the matter. The smashed up guitar is a vehicle through which Townsend expresses whatever emotions lead him to the point of destruction. And the more refined point can be made that he can’t smash up the same guitar night after night. 

You have but one voice to give to the world. Learn how to use it well. Learn how to make it last. Don’t take these morons seriously. Vocal fry, blasting air to set the false chord into distortion, screaming—these things are DAMAGING. PERIOD. If they find their way into your performance and becomes part of your act, fair enough. Let your emotions of the moment lead the way. But practicing and drilling detrimental technique will have a price. You won't get better at it. You'll just get used to the pain and tell yourself it's okay because youtube can't possibly be wrong.

Watch these vids for entertainment. Make some popcorn, have a laugh. But DON’T think that you can make those noises and have a positive outcome. Enjoy the entertainment, set the metronome to 72 BPM and grab a wooden ruler. A few minutes of head-slapping fun and most sentient beings will come to their senses.