#verified rock playlist

[callmeblake]

oh, damn. all I really wanted was that picture, I don't think I have it. BUT I might.

Edit 2: found a version with

no overlay

Edit: I don't want the overlay, damn it

[kaylorkerfuffle]

I THINK I FOUND SOMETHING.

Yes, this is a Kaylor-specific blog, but I am a Gaylor first and foremost. This is a screenshot from a playlist under Dianna’s verified Spotify account.

“I don’t have to pretend I like acid rock” - Now That We Don’t Talk

💀💀💀💀

[n7punk]

What’s your beef with Spotify?

It's less beef and more just a product I don't like - because that's what Spotify is, a product. They really don't want you to think of it that way, but at the end of the day it's particularly invasive product packaging around the thing you actually want to listen to, and there are dozens of different ways to listen to music. As far as gripes, though, number 1 is that it doesn't really pay its artists for shit and its objectively kind of shitty audio-quality wise (I'm not a snob on this, but depending on your hardware it can be especially crunchy while other things like Youtube sound just fine). Number 2 is how much it spies on you and tracks your data. Number 3 is the ads. Number 4, and the actual reason I will never use it, is that it's the enshittification of media consumption.

I do, actually, have a Spotify account. I used it for all of a day before never logging in again or verifying my email. Spotify forces you to experience music the way it wants you to, with absolutely no benefit aside from cloud syncing cross-platform for your playlists that I don't actually need, and I'm used to the freedom from the dawn of the accessible mp3 era.

Better Kind Of Best Friend is a single. I bought it as part of the entire The Sex Was Good Until It Wasn't album, so it came with the album artwork. I wanted it to have its single artwork - so I changed it. And now, in MusicBee and on my phone, I see the single artwork because it's in the file metadata. Spotify doesn't give you that option. It's a little thing, maybe, except when it isn't, like when a song's cover art is graphic or otherwise upsetting to look at, or just plain doesn't fit it.

Sometimes I don't agree with a song's "official" genre (usually because the entire album classifies the songs one way while they actually span genres). The range of things that are classified as indie rock is insane. Anyway, other times I use the genre more specifically, such as "Dark Pop", which isn't actually a thing but if I played you Dark Pop songs you would understand what I mean. In MusicBee, I can change genres to be whatever I want, which is important for various auto-playlists in filtering.

I also have a custom tag for any sapphic songs that automatically populates my lesbian love auto-playlist as they're defined, and another playlist that automatically adds all music from my custom-defined list of queer artists to the "Gay Life" playlist. When I buy a new Reinaeiry song, it automatically gets added without me having to do anything.

I can't listen to demos or any music that Spotify has lost licensing to on it, which means that if I want a complete playlist with a demo song on it, I have to have all those songs exported anyway, and at that point why am I bothering to split my listening across platforms? Idk if you heard, but Spotify lost licensing to a giant catalogue of Kpop music at one point because one company pulled out, and all those listeners were fucked. I don't have to wait for an artist to upload their shit to Spotify (although right now I am waiting for Reinaeiry to put Too Sweet up for download - pls queen - this is luckily more rare of an occurrence than me seeing "please add this to Spotify" comments is).

I like music I can keep forever, listen to whenever, and do so without ads or paying three figures a year to hear uninterrupted. I'd rather buy one album a month with the Spotify premium money than pay for it. I like creating folder after subfolder worth of an unlimited number of playlists (admittedly idr if Spotify allows this feature. It varies by online listening platforms and I don't bother to track the ones I don't use). I like being able to drag and drop my playlists from MusicBee into iTunes to instantly listen to them on my phone (and thus cross-play isn't a concern for me as long as I remember to synch my phone). I like the feature of being able to instantly and permanently adjust the volume, as well as the beginning and end point, of any single song I chose (super helpful for when certain albums are inexplicably quieter/louder than others or have a stupid incongruous music or dialogue part in them).

If I want to listen to something without actually getting it, then I do it on Youtube, which has a wider music selection with more control. Don't like album art? Find a lyric video upload with a generic nebula background. Weird movie sample at the beginning? Someone might have cut that out in their upload (shoutout to the person who turned DICTATOR into a part 1 and 2 to match the two different mood halves), but otherwise Sponsorblock will skip the non-music segments. The only downside of Youtube versus Spotify is I can't share the playlists without exposing my name, but again I actually create those playlists in MusicBee 99% of the time so I wouldn't be sharing a link anyway.

[rokhal]

ANGR fanfic: Up Close

Tears running down my face 'Til he looks back and turns it up all the way / And then I feel, I feel a song holdin' me tight I think a drivеr might've saved my night

Robbie’s niche musical taste saves a life.

Warning for suicide attempt, non-graphic, subtextual.

(Inspired by A Driver Saved My Night (up close) which was playing at the gym, and which I mis-heard as A Driver Saved My Life, and which does not at any point appear in this fanfic. And inspired by the Colorado Street Bridge in LA, which is very beautiful and, uh, has very high fences to keep people from jumping off.)

Two-fifteen on a Sunday morning; the bars were closing, the amateur clubbers were heading home, and the locals with ties to some after-hours scene were heading to private parties in garages and basements to keep the music and tequila flowing. Robbie didn’t go to parties anymore, but his rideshare gig had opened his eyes to a far broader range of music and hedonism than he’d ever explored as a rebellious fifteen-year-old. Five years was a lifetime ago.

Robbie was in Pasadena. This was a problem because he had work in the morning and Pasadena was anywhere between twenty minutes and two hours from Hillrock Heights, depending on traffic and construction. But the Uber app had been considerate enough to actually book him a pax heading toward home, so he was trying to stay awake enough not to crash into a pylon or lose control of his body and let Eli strangle the pax as they meandered through roomy suburbs lit by brand-new LED streetlights.

“You can play your music,” the pax grumbled as she pressed her damp face into the Charger’s window. She was about Robbie’s age, wearing a designer sweatsuit and missing a shoe. She’d been waiting alone on a street corner by the bar for him to pick her up, no one watching her back as she verified that he was the driver who’d matched her in the app, which for a woman meant that she either had bad friends or no friends.

Robbie’s music was an acquired taste. Eli had suggested Robbie add his current selection to his playlist, not knowing what it was, and now Robbie played it at full volume whenever he wanted Eli to shut up. It was titled Fuck Your Punk Rock, and was the most punk-rock thing Robbie had ever heard. “You sure?” he checked, reaching for his phone.

“I’m done being an inconvenience,” the pax spat. “Sure.”

Robbie woke his phone up and un-paused Fuck Your Punk Rock. A scream of metallic rage thundered through the Charger, and the pax jolted away from the window.

The pax stared at Robbie’s phone, followed the cable to the tape deck and back again as though to confirm nothing was broken. The current track was mainly static and electronic glitches, but there was a swelling undercurrent of clangs and creaks, and faintly an angry human voice. “You like that?” she asked.

Robbie shrugged. Listening to it at full volume felt a little like being the Rider, and it soothed the frustration that built whenever he spent too long without changing.

They drove on. The pax didn’t start crying on his window again, and instead curled down over her knees, her seatbelt sinking into the fold of her hips as she buried her face in her hands and rocked slightly back and forth. Robbie was...concerned. She definitely wasn’t sober, but she didn’t seem intoxicated enough to be this out of control. As they pulled away from a stop sign, she let out a rising, wordless yell.

I can make it stop, Eli offered.

Robbie twisted the volume knob a little higher. The static pops strained the Charger’s speaker-cones. The pax got louder to match it. By the end of the block, she ran out of air, but she just inhaled and then slowly built into another yell.

At least she hadn’t tried to stab him yet.

Ten minutes of yelling, and they reached the pax’s destination of 529 W Colorado Boulevard which turned out to be just the middle of a two-lane road. On a bridge over the dark arroyo, a tall bridge, with a great view of the sleepy night-time streets and sparse roads that lit up the distant hills. There was nowhere safe to park. “Is this the right address?” Robbie checked.

The bridge had eight-foot chainlink fence on each side, just inside the pedestrian railing. Pasadena really did not want anyone falling off, though there was nothing to stop idiots trying to climb the fences.

There was no one coming behind him, so Robbie dropped the Charger to first gear and rumbled along at its parking-lot pace. “Hey, uh.” He checked the trip on his phone, paused the album. “Lacey. We’re at the destination but there’s nothing here.”

The pax slowly lifted her head from her hands and stared out into the night, the soft glow of street-lamps on roofs and bushes, the deep black of the arroyo below. “They fenced it off,” she said.

The fence probably spoiled the view in the daytime; the bridge was a nice old-fashioned one, with sculpted concrete railings made to look like stone, a little too short by modern standards. “It’s a safety hazard,” Robbie remarked.

Robbie. I don’t see no reason to get in her way. Understand? We can help. It’d be a favor to her.

What?

“What were you playing?” the pax asked, pointing at his phone.

“Uh, cut-up noise,” Robbie explained. “It’s by Sickness.”

“Sickness.” The pax pulled out her phone, made a note on it. “I wanna listen to that again.”

The Charger rolled slowly over the void below, street-lamps in their path shining on the fence to either side of them. “I think there might be a safe place to stop on the other side,” Robbie offered.

“Can you put the noise back on?”

Robbie un-paused Fuck Your Punk Rock, then hurriedly skipped the track with the sampled helicopter noise. He had to be in a particular mood for that one. The pax leaned back against the headrest and growled at the ceiling, then screamed. Robbie realized that she was singing along. He joined in, accidentally opened the throttle in time with his breath and launched the Charger from ten to forty miles an hour. They reached the other side of the arroyo and he parked. “Okay,” he yelled over the noise and the engine. “Here you go.”

“Can I change my trip?” the pax rasped. She’d apparently yelled too hard.

Robbie shrugged. Hopefully she’d still be traveling vaguely South. He watched for the new destination to pop up in the app: West. Close enough.

“I like your music,” she continued as they headed off again.

Robbie raised one eyebrow. “Really?”

“It sounds like inside my head.”

It would be a mercy, Eli insisted. Robbie grimaced in sympathy, then held out his free hand to bump fists with the pax. “Rock on.”

[retvenkos]

olive dearest! I listened to your skz recommendations (the ones you dropped in your last ask, I will tackle your playlist later) and can I just say I love them!!! I really love ice.cream's chill vibes, even though it had the affront of reminding me I can't whistle and i am Deeply Embarrassed By It :( they for sure make very catchy songs and I'm gonna be deep diving into their discography sooner or later <3 at the very least to understand all the CELESTIAL lore, asjbfjqsbfj

my mutual 🥺🥺🥺 liked the song recs???? 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 the k-pop song recs????? love for the mutual! love for a thousand years!!!

lol, no, but also yes <3. i'm soooo glad you liked them, clara, and because you said such nice things,,,,, let me really quick make a playlist for you <3 because my skz playlist is quite literally 79 songs long, and while you are a kind and dedicated person, i cannot possibly expect you to really Do All That.

so here's a short little playlist for you. i'll name it something catchy and give it a nice cover picture soon <3 i kinda chose these songs at random but they are verifiable bops and also i tried to include most of their more like,,, ballad stuff. because while i know you could rock out to charmer, i went with a more ~ice.cream~ inspired theme.

also, i made this in literally 2 minutes, don't question why i chose the songs i did, i have no answer for such behavior.

and bestie, i can't whistle either but i am Not embarrassed about it and instead legitimately weep over songs that have whistling in them. there's just something so,,,,, powerful about the mournful whistle in a song (side eyes my love for tokyo by rm).

and you want to understand CELESTIAL lore, bestie???? what would you do if i told you that i made a skz powerpoint for my cousin that you could totally look at if you wanted to???

asdfghjhgfdsdfghj not to make PowerPoints my thing once again (you don't realize, clara, that when i was in junior high and early high school i made powerpoint layouts in the summer. for fun. instead of going to hang out with friends like a normal teenager. as a hobby. i cannot stress my nerd status enough. i also can never get the skills i once had back,,,,, what happened to the vision i once carried 😫) but if you ever need an introduction to a k-pop group,,,,,,,, i can make you a powerpoint <3

[songvalle]

Exploring Vevo: What a Free Account Offers

Vevo is a leading platform for music video enthusiasts, offering high-quality, artist-curated content. Whether you're a casual listener or a die-hard fan, Vevo provides an unparalleled experience for enjoying music videos, exclusive performances, and live shows. One of the best parts? You can create a Vevo account for free and unlock a world of musical treasures without spending a dime. In this article, we’ll explore what Vevo offers with a free account, why it’s worth your time, and how to get started.

The Appeal of Vevo: Why It Stands Out

Vevo isn’t just another music platform; it’s a hub for high-quality music video content created directly by artists and their teams. While other platforms often focus on audio streaming, Vevo specializes in visual experiences, providing a seamless way to connect with your favorite artists through their music videos. With its HD video quality, exclusive premieres, and artist interviews, Vevo is the ultimate destination for those who want to dive deeper into the world of music.

By choosing to create a Vevo account for free, users gain access to features designed to enhance their experience. From personalized recommendations to curated playlists, Vevo ensures that your time on the platform is tailored to your preferences.

Features You Unlock with a Free Vevo Account

Signing up for a free Vevo account unlocks a host of features that enhance your music discovery and consumption. Here are some of the highlights:

1. Personalized Playlists

Once you create a Vevo account for free, the platform starts learning your preferences. Whether you love pop, rock, hip-hop, or indie, Vevo curates playlists that match your taste. These playlists are updated regularly, ensuring you always have fresh content to enjoy.

2. Exclusive Content

Vevo offers exclusive music videos, live performances, and behind-the-scenes footage that you won’t find on other platforms. Creating an account allows you to access this premium content, making you feel like a part of the artist’s journey.

3. HD Quality Videos

One of Vevo’s standout features is its commitment to high-definition video quality. With a free account, you can stream videos in HD, enjoying every detail of the visuals and sound.

4. Follow Your Favorite Artists

When you create a Vevo account for free, you can follow your favorite artists to stay updated on their latest releases. You’ll get notifications when they drop new videos, ensuring you never miss out.

5. Cross-Device Syncing

Vevo makes it easy to enjoy your music across devices. Your free account allows you to sync your playlists and preferences between your smartphone, tablet, and desktop.

6. Ad-Supported Experience

While a free Vevo account includes ads, they are minimal and non-intrusive compared to other platforms. The ads help support the artists and keep the platform running smoothly.

How to Create a Vevo Account for Free

Getting started with Vevo is quick and easy. Follow these steps to join the platform and start exploring:

Visit Vevo's Website or Download the App Head to Vevo.com or download the official app from your device's app store.

Click on "Sign Up" Locate the "Sign Up" button on the homepage or app interface.

Enter Your Details Provide your email address, create a secure password, and choose a username. You may also be asked to confirm your age and agree to the terms of service.

Verify Your Email Check your inbox for a verification email from Vevo. Click the link to confirm your account.

Customize Your Profile Once logged in, you can add a profile picture, select your favorite genres, and follow your favorite artists.

Start Exploring Your account is now ready! Dive into Vevo’s extensive library of music videos, create playlists, and enjoy exclusive content.

Why Choose a Free Account Over Paid Platforms?

While some platforms require subscriptions to access premium features, Vevo offers much of its premium content for free. Here’s why a free Vevo account is worth considering:

No Subscription Fees: Enjoy high-quality music videos without a monthly charge.

Focus on Visual Content: Vevo is dedicated to providing a visual experience that complements the music, unlike audio-centric platforms.

Exclusive Artist Content: From behind-the-scenes footage to live performances, Vevo gives you access to moments you won’t find elsewhere.

By choosing to create a Vevo account for free, you’re gaining access to a service that’s tailored for music video enthusiasts and fans of immersive content.

The Vevo Community: Connecting Fans and Artists

One of Vevo’s unique aspects is how it bridges the gap between fans and artists. With a free account, you can follow your favorite musicians, interact with their content, and even discover new artists through Vevo’s recommendation engine. The platform fosters a sense of community, allowing fans to connect over their shared love of music.

Is a Free Vevo Account Right for You?

If you love music videos, exclusive artist content, and high-quality streaming, a free Vevo account is a no-brainer. Whether you’re looking to discover new artists, relive classic hits, or dive into exclusive footage, Vevo has something for everyone. Signing up is quick, easy, and comes with no hidden costs, making it an ideal choice for anyone looking to enhance their music experience.

Conclusion

Vevo is a must-have platform for music lovers who value high-quality visuals and exclusive content. By choosing to create a Vevo account for free, you unlock access to personalized playlists, HD videos, and a treasure trove of artist-curated content. With no subscription fees or hidden charges, Vevo offers a premium experience at no cost. Don’t miss out—sign up today and start exploring the world of music like never before.

What are you waiting for? Join Vevo now and share your favorite music discoveries with the world!

[illustratemagazine241]

Illustrate Magazine – Your go-to Music Magazine

Illustrate Magazine, a concern of Illustrate Media, is an uprising online platform based in New York, United States, dedicated to novelty music that deserves global recognition. It introduces a wide array of musical categories showcasing artists that break boundaries every day and up-and-coming independent musicians. When it comes to music, Illustrate Magazine is the go-to source for everything from mainstream pop to underground and experimental sounds from all around the world. It is all about going beyond the common and mediocre and searching for musical innovation.

In other words, it is a multi-genre music discovery channel, entailing a digital footprint across all the major digital channels. It is praised highly for its inclusivity and diversity – particularly in alt-rock, electronic music, hip-hop, heavy metal, country, folk, new jazz, improvisational music, modern composition, traditional music, and many more are all genres that are listened to with utmost eagerness and analyzed for their immersive, radical experience.

Up until now, Illustrate Magazine has published nearly 2000 features and over 700 news pieces and 600 music reviews combining debut singles, EPs, and LPs from solo artists and bands. Among the most-covered genres across the site, readers will find metal, indie, rock, country/folk, hip-hop/rap, EDM music, and R&B/POP in that order.

Although the magazine has been launched only in 2022 and it hasn’t even been a year of it, it has reached successful global leadership and it is evident in its many platforms. It's a great place to come across debut releases (singles, Eps, and LPs) from new musicians, artists, and illustrators, as well as read reviews and gets to know more about them.

Aligning with the year of establishment, Illustrate Magazine also makes it the 22nd pick in the Top 45 music magazines and publications according to FeedSpot in this blogpost. Among the saturated market of thousands of other magazines and publications, it is an honor for Illustrate and its writers to be included as a verified platform. Picked from an analysis of metrics that showcased domain authority, unique visitor impressions, social media engagements, and freshness and quality of content. 

Illustrate Magazine actively uploads around 20-25 pieces of content every day including interviews, music reviews, features, news about concerts, gigs, and band activities, and daily and weekly playlists on its own website. What sets its website apart from a lot of other music blogs and magazines that act as a platform for indie talents, is its unique arrangement with pops of important titles to catch the reader’s attention. The magazine not only provides Spotify features and handpicked imagery to promote independent original musicians and bands to a larger audience but also has records of over 300 exclusive interviews with the craftsmen behind them. Hovering on the intriguing thumbnails of each post enables the readers to become intrigued enough to pick the content of their choice.

 Apart from that, the magazine also updates its content feed on several widely-used platforms such as Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. They have their own Pinterest board full of good finds and have over one thousand streamers on the well-known streaming platform SoundCloud, and YouTube and thousands under each genre of Spotify playlists.

Despite the magazine’s attempt at opening the door to underrated musicians, it never shies away from covering features and news about the big names in the music industry. In order to give the readers a glance back to what may be familiar, the site spins newsworthy content besides interviewing artists from all corners of the industry.

Some of their notable works are mentioned in the following, under every category found across the magazine’s website.

In May of 2022, the magazine published an article featuring the song “Potion” by Calvin Harris featuring Young Thug and Dua Lipa, where they delve into an update, detail, and review of the musical production. RnB musician and queer advocate Kehlani’s “Everything” and more collaborations with other mentionable artists like Justin Bieber was also covered in a newsworthy piece. Featuring the rock and pop genres together, the magazine also talked about YungBlud’s collab with Willow in “Memories” and the music video for it, and Camila Cabello’s collab with her in “Psychofreak.” Pop artist and actress Hailee Steinfield’s sampling news for “I Love You’s” by Annie Lennox from March is also a noteworthy mention as Illustrate makes an effort by going in-depth to the behind-the-scenes of this initiative. Perhaps one of the more remarkable features covered is about the star of “Euphoria,” Hunter Schafer’s debut direction of the video ‘hornylovesickness.’

The inclusivity of such diverse projects goes to show that Illustrate Magazine keeps up with globally renowned artists and labels. Posting approximately 10 contents every single day also gives the magazine its edge on reviving fresh content to stay relevant and make it to the top among other highly-recommended music publication platforms.

Illustrate Magazine has also begun a new series to feature 10 releases in one go, in an attempt to diversify and expand its horizons, giving its global readers a chance at exploring music they have never heard of but should add to their playlists. Monday Blues, Tuesday Tunes, Wednesday Grooves, Thursday Thrills & Friyay Beats, all the picks from these pieces are Editor’s Choices, so readers can expect to find some of the most carefully curated music.

It is also worth mentioning that Illustrate Magazine goes the extra mile to include intercontinental writers and collaborators. Not only is it a media outlet for talented musicians, but it also takes into account the writers who keep it versatile with their own perspectives about the tons of musical talents that come through, and make every piece count for something.

With the aim to make a mark in the music industry, the US-based magazine, Illustrate Magazine, continues to cover underrated musicians and artists from across the world in order to support their passion, music and art. The magazine has a strong sense of community and wants to bring together up-and-coming illustrators within the growing independent music scene.

[actual-lich-queen]

Ghost History: Live Evil

(first post is here)

One day later, Ghost would appear again in London, England[1][2].

Live Evil is a metal festival inspired by the Band of the Week feature on the MySpace page of Darkthrone’s Fenriz[3][4]. In it’s first year it was organized by Marek Steven of Amulet[5] and Mark Lewis.[6]

Lewis conceived of the idea and reached out to Steven who “thought it was cool to use Fenriz's "Band of the Week" for a festival base”[7]. The duo then reached out to Fenriz for his stamp of approval.

“[T]he festival came to be because my idealistic and uncorrupt blog made another person get an idea of a festival with ONLY band of the week bands.  [T]hat means my whole life and interest became a festival without me doing nothing else than WHAT I ALWAYS DO.  [A]nd to me, it was the ultimate feedback to get!! WO HO!!” -Fenriz[3]

“One unholy weekend will see brutal performances from the very best underground metal from all over the planet. Live Evil is a 100% true metal festival, curated by Darkthrone’s legendary Fenriz, with all acts taken from his own ‘Band of the Week’ MySpace blog. Live Evil handpicks the truest cutting edge black metal, thrash, speed, death, heavy metal, metal punk and doom for two days of no-bullshit, real metal carnage.” -Originally from the Live Evil website via Kaledomagorics[5]

Live Evil was originally slated to be Ghost’s debut show after Fenriz’s Band of the Week introduced Marek and Mark to the demo and booking the ministry for their festival. But Hell had other plans, and Ghost made their live debut at Hammer of Doom the day before.[8]

Perhaps Hammer of Doom IV it was the dress rehearsal needed to put the final polish on the devilish service, because it was the ritual at Live Evil, where some of the best names in metal had gathered to rock and be rocked[8], that sent the ripples through metal’s underground[9] that would come back in a tsunami of Satan.

[1]Ghost Concert Setlists (page 90) | setlist.fm

[2]LIVE EVIL FESTIVAL 2010 (Live EVIl) | MySpace - myspace.com/liveevilfestival (archive.org)

[3]Darkthrone Interview April 2010 (nocturnalcult.com)

[4]ANGEL WITCH, VULCANO Confirmed For U.K.'s LIVE EVIL Festival - BLABBERMOUTH.NET

[5]Marek "Heathen" Steven - (Amulet) - Metal Temple Magazine (metal-temple.com)

[6]Kaleidomagorics: Live Evil // London Festival // Curated by Fenriz

[7]ANOTHER VISION: Live Evil Festival - Let's Move Your Skeleton. (mivecinosatan-aleh.blogspot.com)

[8]LIVE EVIL FESTIVAL 2011 PREVIEW - Decibel Magazine

[9]The 10 moments that made Ghost superstars | Kerrang!

More resources as well as video and spotify playlists from this show and more on my fansite here:

A fun fact I didn't add to the write up, but it seems that Mark Lewis was also Ghost's booking agent in their early career. The name is listed as the contact person for booking on early versions of the Ghost MySpace page, but I haven't verified it's the same Mark Lewis who started Live Evil or someone with the same name. (hence why it didn't make it into the "official" write up)

[soundofcar]

Rev Up Your Ride with Android Auto Car Stereos

Hey there, fellow road warriors! If you're tired of the same old humdrum in-car entertainment system, you're in for a treat. Today, we're diving headfirst into the world of Android Auto car stereos. Buckle up, because this tech-savvy upgrade is about to transform your driving experience.

Unveiling the Android Auto Revolution

You might be wondering, "What exactly is Android Auto?" Well, think of it as your car's smart companion, designed to make your journey safer, more entertaining, and highly connected. It's like having a personal assistant on four wheels.

The Perfect Harmony: Your Car and Android Auto

Let's talk about how Android Auto seamlessly syncs with your car. This technology isn't limited to just a select few vehicles; it's designed to work with a wide range of car makes and models. Whether you're cruising in a stylish sedan or an adventurous SUV, Android Auto can likely fit right in.

The In-Car Entertainment Overhaul

Remember those clunky, outdated car stereos? Android Auto kicks them to the curb, offering an intuitive, and touchscreen interface. This means easy access to navigation, music, and your favorite apps. Your car becomes an extension of your smartphone, and it's as easy as pie.

Navigate with Ease

Getting lost is so last season. With Android Auto, you'll never have to worry about missing a turn again. The built-in Google Maps navigation keeps you on the right path, with real-time traffic updates and voice-guided directions. It's like having a personal navigator, minus the backseat driving!

Jams On the Go

Who doesn't love some good tunes while on the road? Android Auto lets you rock out to your favorite playlists effortlessly. Whether it's the latest chart-toppers or your well-curated road trip mix, your car stereo will be your DJ for the journey.

Stay Connected, Safely

Safety is a top priority, and Android Auto gets it. You can send and receive messages, make calls, and access your contacts - all through voice commands. This hands-free approach ensures you stay connected without taking your eyes off the road. Talk about a win-win!

Apps Galore

Android Auto opens the door to a plethora of compatible apps. Whether you're into weather updates, news, or even audiobooks, you'll find something to suit your fancy. It's all about enhancing your driving experience with choices galore.

DIY Installation, Anyone?

Worried about installation? Don't be! Android Auto can be installed by professionals, but if you're a bit of a tech whiz, you can take on the challenge yourself. There are plenty of resources and guides to help you get started. It's like a high-tech DIY project for your car.

The Bottom Line

Android Auto car stereos are all about elevating your time on the road. They offer a safer, more connected, and highly entertaining driving experience. If you're looking to revamp your car's entertainment system and bring it into the digital age, Android Auto is the way to go. Say goodbye to the old, and welcome the new with open arms – your car will thank you, and so will your inner tech enthusiast. Happy driving!

Picking the Perfect Android Auto Car Stereo

Now that you're on board with the Android Auto revolution, you're probably itching to get one for your own ride. But before you hit the stores or start browsing online, here's what you need to consider when choosing the perfect Android Auto car stereo.

Compatibility Check

The first thing to verify is whether your car is Android Auto compatible. While Android Auto is designed to work with many vehicles, it's always wise to double-check if your car's make and model make the cut. You don't want any surprises after your purchase.

Budget Blues

Android Auto car stereos come in a wide range of prices, from budget-friendly to top-of-the-line. Determine your budget early on to help you narrow down your options. It's essential to strike a balance between features and affordability.

Screen Size Matters

Android Auto car stereos typically come with varying screen sizes. Think about what suits your needs best. A larger screen offers more space for maps, apps, and a better visual experience, but it might not fit in all car dashboards. Balance your preference with your car's design.

User-Friendly Interface

The beauty of Android Auto lies in its user-friendly interface. When shopping for a car stereo, make sure the interface is intuitive and easy to navigate. After all, you don't want to get lost in your car's digital world when you're on the road.

Connectivity Options

Consider the connectivity options provided. Most Android Auto car stereos support both wired and wireless connections. Wireless is super convenient, but it may drain your phone's battery faster. Wired connections might require some cable management but ensure a more stable connection.

Audio Quality

A great Android Auto experience goes beyond the visual. Check for audio quality, especially if you're an audiophile. Look for features like equalizer settings and amplifier compatibility to fine-tune your audio to perfection.

Expandability

Think about the future. Android Auto car stereos often come with additional ports and expandability options. USB ports, SD card slots, and extra inputs can be handy for your evolving needs.

Installation Options

You have two choices for installation: DIY or professional. If you're confident in your technical skills and enjoy a good challenge, the DIY route can be fulfilling. However, if the thought of wires and connections sends shivers down your spine, opt for a professional installation.

Reviews and Recommendations

Before making the final decision, browse through customer reviews and seek recommendations from fellow drivers. Real-world experiences can provide valuable insights into the performance and reliability of a particular Android Auto car stereo.

Warranty and Support

Lastly, check the warranty and support options offered by the manufacturer. A reliable warranty can be a lifesaver if you encounter any issues, and good customer support can make your experience much smoother.

The Road Ahead

In a world where technology reigns supreme, Android Auto car stereos are the future of in-car entertainment and connectivity. The ease of access, safety features, and entertainment possibilities are bound to transform your daily commute into a thrilling adventure. So, gear up and get ready to embrace the future of driving with Android Auto. Pick the perfect car stereo for your needs, install it with care, and let the road ahead be filled with music, navigation, and the perfect driving companion. Your car is about to become your favorite tech gadget!

[faydingrain]

Clovis Maclain

“That’s probably a good stopping place~” Lottie leaned down to put out her flame with a quick puff.

Meanwhile, her older brother was seething. “Why didn’t you tell me that happened?”

“Well I didn’t expect all that to happen~”

He grit his teeth. “Those assholes…I’m gonna—”

“Kill them?” Lottie finished, ‘ufufu’-ing. “I think it’s a bit late for that~”

“Wait,” Kai interrupted. “Did you find them, or…?”

“Nope! I called their families and none of them had made it home. Rather unfortunate, isn’t it?”

“You’re way too calm about it…” Enzo commented.

“Well, nothing I can do but hope they died quickly~”

An uncomfortable silence rocked the room.

“Aaaaanyways,” Ayan announced, “how about we move on?”

“Okay!” Lottie agreed. “Your turn to scare, Clovis~”

“...Thanks…”

***

Perhaps raging in a junkyard isn’t the smartest thing to do with one’s free time. However, under the pressure his father kept building on his shoulders, he wasn’t sure how else to cope with his situation. Counseling wasn’t exactly a viable option for him, and texting his crush could only do so much.

His chest rapidly rose and fell, knuckles flared around the battered baseball bat. Shattered glass, crushed aluminum, and dented steel could only do so much.

There were no more screams left in his lungs today. His playlist still rampaged through his earbuds, but his isolated therapy had come to an end. So, taking a deep breath to settle his heartbeat, his feet began dragging him off, distracting his mind through useless meandering.

The bat made a firm “thunk” as it was discarded off somewhere. Then, the boy shoved his hands in his pockets and searched for a song more in tune with his current mood. Roaming about the undesired remnants of humanity as one of their own—despair, fury, mixed together with a hell of a lot of teenage angst.

It was an odd, void-like darkness that ripped him from his brooding. Junk was stacked all around this opening, as if it had been here for some time, despite him knowing that it hadn’t.

He put away the buds and stepped closer. It truly was empty, devoid of sound, image, sensation. But when he stuck a hand to verify his reality, he found it bleeding through, as if the blackness was swallowing him.

Still in the midst of his angst session, he sighed. Fuck it. Can’t be any worse than this shithole, right?

And in he went.

As if submerged in ink, he pushed through an odd force deluging the space. There was nothing but the emptiness for quite some time until long threads of string hanging over him came into view. First, it was a couple. Then, more and more threads appeared, weaving around each other with no apparent purpose. They didn’t exactly seem like spider silk, but more like…actual thread, for use with textiles.

The whimsy of spiraling threads was quickly dampened upon Clovis spotting several men bound by the same thread, with blood pouring from their sewed eyes, and agonized moans rumbling through their sewed lips.

“Oh, how did a little boy get in here?”

He turned. A young woman in a witch hat and plenty of ribbons was dangling from her web of string, legs tangled among the fine hairs. An unsettlingly peaceful grin was plastered on her face.

“Ah, you’ve seen. That’s no good.”

Suddenly, his wrists were seized by string, and his body arched in such a way he couldn’t resist without injury. He cried out as he struggled in attempt, though.

“I can’t kill you, but I can’t let you leave after this.” The witch woman nimbly uncurled from her threads, then maneuvered between the rest to come face-to-face with her intruder. A claw-like apparatus made of long sewing needles was attached to the back of one hand, and she used the fine points to gently stroke his skin. “What should I do?”

Any and all protest was caught in Clovis’s throat.

“...I know!” The cold needles ghosted his lips. “I’ll simply silence you.”

He hardly had time to struggle before a prepped needle was summoned in her hand and thrust into his skin. The pain elicited a sharp scream, but that only aggravated further pain. The thread being pulled through his lips made his skin crawl, and he cried out once again as he felt the needle pierce back through.

All the while, the woman was eerily calm, almost seeming to enjoy the actions she was taking. She may or may not have begun humming to herself as she continued. Or maybe she was speaking to him in a sing-song voice. He was too focused on the pain to really notice.

Up and down, in and out the needle went, making crying out in protest more and more futile, trapping him in a hell of vital obedience. His face was wet and the skin around his lips burned with stinging pain.

“Well now,” the woman spoke as she threaded the opposite end of his mouth, “we’re not going to tell anyone about this, are we?”

When he didn’t respond, she ripped the thread upwards, causing the strings to crush the skin it laced together. Frantic moans hammered at the inside of his lips, but he managed to nod despite the sensation.

“Oh reaaally?”

She pulled tighter. Somehow, he found it within him to nod again despite the added resistance to the thread with the motion.

“Good.” She released the tension, assumedly with her magic, and watched as he sighed in relief. “Good little boys keep their mouths sewn shut, or I’ll sew it shut for you~”

Tying off the end, she then released his bindings, stepping back as he collapsed to the floor.

“Is this where you came from?” She pointed, though not waiting for an answer. “Well, off you go, then!”

He wasn’t sure if he believed it was a dream when he awoke alone in the junkyard. The black portal was gone, but the pain in his face rang clear.

His hands trembled as he felt the merciless string binding his lips shut, silencing any calls he could make for help.

Scaretober 2023

Brisk Wind on a Dark Trail

Midnight Moon

Gargoyle's Watch

Cold Stones in the Fog

Spirits Rising

Haunted House

Witching Hour

Bubbling Cauldron

Candy

Eyes

Spider Silk

Feathers

Tail

Scales

Fangs or Talons

An Offering of Blood

Dark Ritual

Spook Scary Skeletons

Carnivàle Morte

Still-Beating Heart

Sharpened Blade

Mask

Looming Shadows

The Devil's Hand

Monster

Reflection in the Mirror

Rusted Chains

Stitches

Precious Jewels

Incantation

Halloween

Epilogue

[pirefyrelight]

oh hello :) You just namedropped two bands that I had massive phases for not too long ago :) I got really into irish folk and sea songs for a bit, let's see what I can find from my playlists.

The Irish Rovers: Most of them are good folk songs

Orthodox Celts: A lot of the same songs as the High Kings but in their own style.

The Wolfe Tones/Young Wolfe Tones: You likely heard of them, they have folk songs as well as songs they've written

Celtic Woman: They have some good sweeping covers of older songs

The Dreadnoughts: Some modern polka, but a good amount of sea songs/shanties.

I found a website you might enjoy while trying to surface level verify age of songs since genius credits the singers as the writers (I have a genius account so I might want to circle back to that when I get a chance) https://traditionalshanties.com/2023/03/09/paddy-lay-back/

Pyrates!: pirate songs in a rock style, songs themselves overlap with longest johns a bit

Some bands that cover songs that Sound like they're old-timy:

Seth Staton Watkins: Horse Soldier is a bop, so is Ramblin Rover, so is St. Patrick's Battalion

The Jolly Rodgers: They might have a Few legit classic sea shanties, but it's mostly funny pirate band singing funny pirate songs, sometimes it's even about real pirates or events on the ocean that happened from that time period.

Kick Up the Dust- Three Jolly Rogues of Lynn: is from 1804 and is the only song of theirs on my playlist and it's a bop

I love the Longest Johns, I love the High Kings, but we gotta find some other contemporary musicians who record songs from before 1700. Reblog with recommendations if you've got any

[definitelynotdamiano]

Måneskin: Interviews, games, other videos

2018.12.01 - Måneskin playing Truth or dare with the cast of Netflix’s Baby

2020.11.01 - Che tempo che fa - interview

2020.11.01 - Che tempo che fa – backstage

2020.12.17 - Sanremo Giovani finale

2021.01.00 - RaiPlay

2021.01.00 - TV Sorrisi e Canzoni

2021.03.07 - Che tempo che fa - interview, Orietta Berti

2021.03.00 - Sanremo 2021 - Rai Radio 2

Damiano and Thomas

Damiano and Victoria

Damiano and Ethan

Damiano and Manuel Agnelli

2021.05.00 - Måneskin for Crudelia (Cruella) 2021

2021.05.23 - Che tempo che fa

2021.06.18 - Humberto - interview

2021.06.25 - newonce.radio - interview

2021.07.15 - BlickTV - Never have I Ever game

2021.08.15 - Interview in Belgium

2021.08.31 - Damiano dancing in a skirt (and flashing us all)

2021.09.01 - MTV Russia

2021.09.01 - Radio Europa Plus

2021.09.03 - Vecherniy Urgant - part 1

2021.09.03 - Vecherniy Urgant - part 2

2021.09.10 - Gucci Aria Advertising Campaign

2021.09.23 - Genius Verified: I wanna be your slave lyrics & meaning

Damiano singing IWBYS a cappella

2021.09.28 - Game: Who is the best? [I don’t know, when this was published; the date is the day I posted it here]

2021.10.11 - RTL 102.5 Social Room: Your playlist and Top 3

2021.10.11 - RDS

2021.10.11 - Radio Zeta

2021.10.13 - Virgin Radio France

game: Who is the most...?

2021.10.18 - Khalid & Sophie 

2021.10.19 - NPO 3FM

Måneskin talking about the memes their fans make

2021.10.19 - Mammamia Youtube Afterparty

2021.10.28 - NME Firsts

2021.10.29 - The Morning Mash Up

2021.11.00 - SiriusXM Hits 1

2021.11.01 - Z100 New York

2021.11.01 - The Chet Buchanan Show

2021.11.02 - Gucci Love Parade

all posts from that event

2021.11.04 - Måneskin talks about their first time in America

2021.11.05 - The Zane Lowe Show - part 1

2021.11.05 - The Zane Lowe Show - part 2

2021.11.09 - AskAnythingChat

2021.11.10 - Fan Vs Artist Trivia

2021.11.11 - ARTIST FRIENDLY: Joel Madden x Måneskin - part 1

2021.11.11 - ARTIST FRIENDLY: Joel Madden x Måneskin - part 2

2021.11.14 - EMAs - Måneskin winning in the Best Rock category

2021.11.12 - MTV Fresh out

2021.11.23 - Måneskin presenting the Grammy nominations (+ longer version)

2021.11.30 - Band Superlatives with Måneskin

2021.12.01 - Måneskin Reacts To Their Favorite Outfits | Style History

2021.12.03 - Zach Sang Show

[amphii-writes]

Random Haikyuu Head Canons I Have

these are all taken from my discord server cause i remember to write them there, if you want to request fanfics, my requests are W I D E open! there is also nO order! these are just all the headcanons i could find tbh

warnings: mentions of blood, and just overall wild times, swearing

Asahi loves knitting sweaters because his shoulders are broad and he also loves seeing the reactions from his teammates when they get a sweater from him! He says he buys them but he doesn’t

Aone likes knitting socks because he has big feet and he loves fluffy knee high socks but his team will never know

Asahi and Aone regularly hang out and knit together! (after asahi wasnt scared of him anyways)

Nishinoya gives you shiny rocks he finds because “your eyes shine like them!”

Yamaguchi likes to have your head rest on his chest while cuddling!

Aone likes to bake

Aone dressed like a polar bear because koganegawa told him to- halloween was amazing

daICHI HAS A KISS THE COOK APRON

Daichi secretly can make some kick ass steak and is amazing at grilling sorry

Okay but real talk, Kenma and Yaku swear like sailors and it scares everyone because they always whisper the most foul, insulting things under their breath. Hearing it is like seeing a cryptid

Speaking of cryptids, Fukunaga and Shibayama are THE most true crime, mythology, and mystery obsessed fanatics on the team and often fanboy about it together 

Fukunaga’s obsession with moth man has gotten to an unhealthy stage

Kenma absolutely had a vampire phase and has read twilight. Only Kuroo knows and has sworn to secrecy via blood pact

Kuroo’s a musical nerd. Knows all of the lyrics to Hamilton, BMC, DEH, Heathers, Rent, Beetlejuice, Etc. Kenma considered dropping him because of it

Iwaizumi tells the worst dad jokes and Kyotani, wanting to beat him, started doing it too and it drives everyone insane

Yahaba and Matsukawa get along surprisingly well. Both are true crime freaks and bond over their forensic files obsessions

Matsukawa didn’t really like his thick eyebrows so he got one of his female friends to pluck it for him, but almost cried and gave up after the first hair. Oikawa called him a pussy for the next year

Hanamaki jokingly flirts with everyone on the team so most of them just got used to it, but it still confuses Kindaichi to the point of mental breakdown

Makki called Kyotani ‘puppy’ as a joke once and now mad dog is truly terrified of him

Kyotani’s dog absolutely ADORES Oikawa and it’s the funniest shit to the rest of the team

Mattsun and Makki play DnD and once convinced Yahaba and Kyotani to join. Kyotani kept rolling to fight everyone and Yahaba was a bard that kept rolling to seduce everyone. They kept yelling across the board so they had to kick them out

Outside of his school uniform, Goshiki specifically wears only plaid

Tendou makes little chocolates for the whole team every once in a while so they don’t think he’s scary

Semi and Shirabu once had a fistfight in an abandoned McDonald’s parking lot while Tendou filmed and Goshiki cheered them on

Everybody makes fun of Shirabu’s haircut but nobody dares to say it to his face. its gotten to the point where they say he got it done by a blind old lady

There’s a running joke about Shirabu also getting his haircut from prison but Goshiki is starting to suspect that it may not be a joke

Yamagata and Tendou are good friends with the mutual goal of collecting as much blackmail on their team as possible

Tendou loves animals generally considered to be ‘ugly’ like rats, crows, reptiles, etc.

80% of Goshiki’s playlist is shit overplayed on the radio. Him, Shirabu, Tendou, Kawanishi and Ushijima have a permanent ban from the aux cord

Nobody watches YouTube with Ushijima because he never skips the damn ads (other than tendou)

Suna once said y’all’dn’t’ve unironically and made a first year cry

Akagi once said UwU unironically and had an identity crisis.

Osamu has one of those rainbow gaming keyboards and is constantly on a discord call. Atsumu always yells weird shit in the background to embarrass him and once pretended to be him

During Seijoh group chat arguments. Hanamaki and Mattsukawa like to drop facebook minion memes in just to piss everyone off even more

mattsun and maki both have separate photo albums in their phones labelled ‘minion memes to piss everyone off’

Hinata carries a pocket knife and no one has no fucking idea why

mattsun and maki both have matching rat fursuits that look like they actually where in a sewer- they chased oikawa around

For all his talk of plant analogies and metaphors, Ushijima cant grow shit

Goshiki’s Bangs are the way they are because his favorite character was Rock Lee from Naruto

Oikawa has watched Ouran High School Host Club front to back so many times and he can quote all of Tamaki’s lines by heart -He keeps bothering Iwaizumi to “be his Haruhi, since you’re shorter than me”

Koganegawa has definitely gone as an Angry Bird for Halloween

Fukunaga has those reflective cat eyes, and he has terrified Yamamoto on several occasion

Hanamaki and Matsukawa have a teddy bear that they pretend is their child and they share custody

Suga always sprays whipped cream straight into his mouth whenever he sees a can

Nishinoya definitely bit people as a kid

Nishinoya would be the guy to wear shorts all year round and even if it's snowing, he'll insist he's not cold

Tendou is still stuck in his emo phase and would fangirl over Creepypasta with me and I appreciate that (me too buddy, me fuckin too)

Kyoutani LOOKS like he’d listen to viking death metal, but in reality he listens to Mother Mother and knows all the words to Ghosting

Sugawara would definitely encourage me to dumb shit and not stop me, and you’re all dumb for thinking he wouldn’t 

KENMA IS NOT ‘uwu owo’ SHY, HE IS ‘your fucking gross’ SHY SO LITERALLY STFU

Bokuto listens to Nicki Manaj. And knows all the words. To every. Single. Song.

Ushijima for some reason knows an odd amount of 90′s-2000′s R&B and he will hum along to the songs if they come on the radio (he also loves Dolly Parton) ((he says he relates to her music))

Bokuto once ate instant ramen for an entire month

TERUSHIMA DID TRY TO FUCK A PLANT WHILE SHITFACED AND GOD I STAND BY WHAT I SAID

atsumu let’s you put makeup on him and pretends to eat the brushes (do yk what im talking about- like n o m)

tendou ran for school president as a joke but actually won

i 100% believe that all of karasuno’s third years apologize when they bump into inanimate objects, but when suga is really tired or stressed out, he’ll yell at them instead.

Tanaka, Nishinoya, and Taketora have a group chat called "Bros who want sum hoes" and they send each other hypebeast memes and shit

Sugawara knows how to do a bunch of flexible shit because he sometimes goes to yoga with daichi and asahi's moms, its fucking hilarious

tanaka and noya both breakdance- they work as a team and sometimes go to tokyo for underground competitions- saeko drives them

Daichi knows a little ballet- nobody other than Kiyoko knows because they saw each other at the ballet class and had to work together- dont tell tanaka and noya that he lifted her though

Osamu once put glitter on Atsumu's pillow- he still finds hot pink glitter on shit

kita knits and crochets with his grandma

Kita's grandma knows everyone's names because kita talks shit bout them, her favorite is Aran

Kuroo has burnt his eyebrows off doing an experiment. His goggles didn't cover all his brows,,, so he just showed up to practice like that. No eyebrows and a chemical burn

kenma has played all kinds of games, but he was dared to play corpse party by kuroo. He wasn't scared because of the gore, he was thinking about the trauma the characters went through. Punched kuroo the next day because that game was fucked up

Lev isn't a strong swimmer, so he often grabs people by the head to keep himself up. happened with kenma and lev couldn't walk due to the force of kenmas suprised water kicks

akaashi has those fancy pens that you have to dip in ink and they're so nice

Bokuto has and will eat pencil erasers again

Daichi once almost lost his shit at his team but instead he lost his shit at the door that decided to stub his toe on the way out of the gym. not the best thing to be found yelling to.

Yamaguchi for sure has been dragged to one of terushimas parties because he didnt wanna say no. oh and terushima has like frat boy level parties too. Yams has for sure had some wild nights and doubts anyone other than Tsukishima and the party-goers will ever know

Akaashi can actually flirt very well! He reads romance novels sometimes and has analyzed any and every book in his possession! so he's actually quite charming

Daihsou unironically posted on twitter after mika broke up with him "I still see her shadows in my room"

Mattsun and Maki run a fake oikawa account; its been going ever since twitter even started getting popular and they even started sending messages in spanish. The posts would range from "I love all my fans!" to flirting with them :) Oikawa is pissed cause the account got verified before he did and most of his fans also follow the fake oikawa. Tooru has no idea who runs it JUST IMAGINE OIKAWA JUST LIKE RANTING TO THE SEIJOH 3RD YEAR ALUMNI AND JUST "no Iwa-chan, you dont understand! they run a fake account and pretend to be me!" while makki and mattsun laugh their asses off

Oh, kenma for sure has pretended to be a girl on discord and has gotten someone to buy him stuff. after they do he says in his normal voice "fucking simp" and then hangs up and blocks the other persons discord

Yamamoto, despite his rough appearance, loves kids and has and will be a human jungle gym

suna in middle school had a game with his friends about who could make kids cry the fastest

The twins switched places back in middle school and nobody could tell because of how great they are at acting like eachother

Daichi once arrested coach ukai for public intoxication after a game :|

Daichi has arrested many people from his old volleyball team but the most memorable case was when he arrested tanaka and noya for reckless driving. poor idiots got so scared when they saw their old captains face in their mirror and started to pray

tanaka, while trying to intimidate someone, once said "You dont gotta tell me twice, i may be straight but these hands are bisexual" and he often cringes at night thinking about it

Kageyama, as a comeback to Tsukishima, said "one thing about us royalty is that we love to feast" and he also fuckin hates what he said

the third years made a cult for Kiyoko. they chant every wednesday "i'll do anything for kiyoko, she makes me go loco"

oikawas fangirls are known to be fucking rabid

yAMAMOTO AND KENMA AFTER THEIR FIGHT WERE FORCED BY KUROO TO MAKE IT UP: so they dyed their hair together

Makki and mattsun sang two trucks in front of the entire team. everyone was so confused. Makki: "twO TRUCKS HAVIN SEX!!" Mattsun: "oH yEs!"THEY'D SWITCH OFF AND HAVE LIKE CHOREOGRAPHY TOO LIKE THEY'D DO A TANGO WHILE THE SONG IS LIKE "two beer trucks, making love"

tendou once called Oikawa "mr. no-nationals" and got kicked in the shins before iwaizumi could save him

Tsukishima had a my little pony phase

you work with matsukawa at a morgue and he makes dead people jokes while you fix some dead guys face with wax and makeup he'd be like "so didnt he like,,, stick his head out of the sunroof of a moving fuckin car??" he'd be singing dumb ways to die the entire day

i feel like Kuroo has one crazy accident a year. like it might not be deadly but its fucking crazy like for example: Kuroo for sure has ridden in a shopping cart at past midnight with kenma (who pushed him down a hill) causing Kuroo to get scratched up hella well. he lied and said he spent the night with a girl and kenma fucking hated himself cause he would be the girl if that was true

Mattsun has flirted with the 4th years moms before (AS A JOKE), and because of this: he is known as “fuckin milf hunter” sometimes by the team

Warning, this next headcanon is talking about cannabis, weed, mary jane, the zoink root. so if your uncomfortable, please dont read below :)

dude i wanna get high as SHIT with Asahi 

i think Asahi would be one of those mfkers who takes one hit and is gone 

ASAHI ACCIDENTALLY GOING TO PRACTICE ZOINKED 

IMAGINE HIM SEEING TSUKISHIMA AND JUST "he looks so judgemental,,, im scared" 

OR LIKE A MAD DAICHI AND JUST "i'm gonna,,, im gonna go jump out the window now" 

Noya and Tanaka would know tho, i feel like they'd have a 6th sense when it comes to weed. they probably get some from Saeko cause she'd rather they do it in the house. they'd smell asahi like fucking dogs and just so,,, big guy had fun without us huh? 

DAICHI WOULD KNOW ABOUT ASAHI BEING ZOINKED, SMASH HIS FACE INTO THE WALL, TURN AROUND WITH A RED MARK ON HIS FOREHEAD AND WITH A BEAMING SMILE AND FEUX ENTHUSIASM SAY: "YOSH, LETS WARM UP!"

[80sfern]

delicate

so basically this is really, really hot and i can’t stop thinking about best friend’s dad!duncan. i have a thing for older men. sorry about the hozier reference.

warnings: older!duncan, smut, spanking, oral (fem and male receiving), fingering, choking 

word count: 6.6k

You met Del in college, you filled out roommate surveys and got matched with a 94% compatibility and you hit it off right away. You ended up filling out request forms the next year to be roommates again and then the next year decided to get an apartment together. Now, almost 22 and going into your senior year of college, Del invited you to stay with her at her dad’s house for a few weeks before going to your families own place together for a few weeks. She warned you that her dad’s shower was broken and wouldn’t be fixed until the week after they arrived so you would be having to share the guest bathroom with him for the time being. 

You had met Duncan a few times before, the first time when he helped Del move into the dorm room freshman year. The next was on her birthday, then at the end of the year when he picked her up. After that, you saw him once every few months when he came to visit and insisted on buying the two of you dinner and again when he helped the two of you move into your first apartment. Every time you saw him, it hit you how attractive he was. His hair hadn’t started greying yet and he didn’t have many wrinkles, and an amazing body for someone his age. He didn’t have the typical dad bod, he wasn’t rocking a six pack, but his body was muscular, he was fit. He was a wet dream of a dad.

He carries your bags in when you arrive, shows you to the guest room and around the house while Del uses the bathroom. He insists you call him Duncan when you say Thank you Mr. Shepherd when he carries your luggage to your room. He welcomes you to use the pool and hot tub and raid the fridge anytime you want, shows you the grocery list stuck on the fridge and says anything you want or need, write it there. 

He lets you get settled in while he cooks and you immediately go up to the guest room, your room, to change into something comfier. Del comes in after a few minutes and tells you where the towels are kept and shows you to the laundry room and gives you the walkthrough of how to use the machines. Dinner is amazing, you can tell Del doesn’t get her cooking skills from her dad because she can’t cook frozen pizza without setting off the fire alarms. He makes chicken parm after verifying that you do eat meat and you almost make a dirty joke saying you love meat. He says it’s a family recipe and he jokes that it’s a good thing he has a sister who can cook, and that she passed that skill down to her kids because he would hate for them to get lost because Del can’t cook for shit. She kicks him under the table, but you all laugh because you know it’s true.

A few nights after you’ve been staying, Del runs to the store to get supplies to bake cookies and Duncan borrows your shower while you cook dinner, insisting that it’s the least you can do when they’re letting you stay in their home. 

When Duncan finishes his shower, he opens the shower door a crack and reaches for the towel hanging on the bar, a groan falling from his lips when he doesn’t see one. He shivers when he steps out to get one from the cupboard, doing his best not to trail water all over the bathroom. He doesn’t know what to do when he finds the shelves empty and almost runs out to his own room down the hall but stops himself when he remembers that he isn’t living alone anymore. He can hear you playing music downstairs and can smell the food and he’s trying to decide if he should make a run for it or call for a towel. 

You cut off the music when you hear Duncan’s voice over it, making your way upstairs when you hear him calling your name again. You knock on the guest room door and peep your head in, “You okay, Duncan?” 

Duncan feels embarrassed to ask, he’s forty years old, he should remember to bring a towel to the shower by now. “I uh, can you bring me a towel? I thought there were some in here and there isn’t.” His voice sounds sheepish from the other side of the door and you hide your laugh as you tell him you’ll be back in a moment. You retrieve two from the linen closet between the rooms and knock on the bathroom door, laughing when it cracks open enough for you to pass the towels through. A moment later the door opens and Duncan steps out with the towel around his waist, the other around his shoulders and you blush when he catches you watching him. 

You step back, avoiding his gaze as you tell him dinner is ready and leave the room. Del gets back before Duncan comes down and she sneaks her bowl of chili before you can tell her to wait. You’re both already eating when Duncan comes down, dressed in grey pajama pants and a t-shirt from his college days. He looks so boyfriend-y that it makes your heart skip a beat and you scold yourself for thinking your best friend’s dad looks hot and boyfriendy. You eat around the table while Duncan tells embarrassing stories and you comfort Del by exposing some of yours to be fair. Afterwards, Duncan washes up while you and Del make more of a mess by making homemade chocolate chip cookies, and peanut butter after Duncan complains that they’re his favorite. You mostly end making both batches while Del ends up snapping and getting the ingredients out. Duncan tries helping but after you tell him to just sit down and DJ the music, he takes a seat across from you at the bar and connects his phone to the Bluetooth speaker Del brought down. The whole scene is ridiculously domestic as Duncan watches you beat the liquids and Del pours in the powders slowly and Duncan finds himself wanting to wipe away the flour smudge on your cheek. 

When the cookies are done, you scold both of them for trying to eat them fresh off the pan and make them find a movie to watch while you put them on the cooling racks. You fall asleep almost as soon as the movie starts, curling up against the arm of the couch under one of the throw blankets. When it’s over, Del puts up the cookies in baggies while Duncan carries you to the guest room after refusing to let Del wake you up. He thought you looked so peaceful and stress free and didn’t want that ruined. 

A week later, after he goes for a jog he comes back and spends some time working his arms out on the punching bag, he retires for the shower. He walks into the guest room without thinking, his headphones drowning out any sound with the workout playlist he had still going. He opens the bathroom door and doesn’t realize that you’re in it until he sees you through the textured glass door. He only catches he outline of your body before he’s apologizing and closing the door. He takes a cold shower in Del’s bathroom, shivering the entire time as he scrubs his body with her tropical body wash. 

You can’t stop thinking about Duncan walking in on you, you know it wasn’t on purpose from his stammered apology, his words on repeat in your mind as you finish your shower. When you walk out of the guest room, you can hear the shower in Del’s bathroom as you go downstairs but you can hear her watching Brooklyn 99 downstairs, so you know Duncan is in it.

You join her on the couch and don’t see Duncan again until he comes downstairs to say he’s ordered pizza for dinner and gives Del cash to pay for it. Neither of you say anything about the incident. When the pizza arrives, Del fixes him a plate and asks you to carry it up to him while she carries both of your plates to the living room. You knock on his office door and open it enough to stick your head in, “I come bearing pizza.” Duncan looks up from his work and grins, he holds his arm to take it from your hands and mumbles a quiet thank you as you walk out. You don’t see him again for the rest of the night. 

Later that night, Duncan can’t get the image of you in the shower out of his head. Despite the fact it was a blurry outline he could still make out the contour of your body and he can’t stop thinking about it. He drifts in and out of sleep, each time waking up because he has the same dream over and over; him walking in on you in the shower, you invite him to join you, shower sex ensues. He hates himself for it, he shouldn’t be thinking of his daughter’s best friend like this. He refuses to jerk off to the thought of you and it doesn’t help that he can’t take a cold shower without having to go through your room. 

After he wakes up the third time at two in the morning, he’s sick of thinking about you and decides to take out his frustrations on the punching bag. He doesn’t know how long he’s spent on it until his body is exhausted from the exertion. He jumps when he finishes unwrapping his hands and turns around to find you leaning in the doorway. “What are you doing up? It’s what, three in the morning?” He quirks an eyebrow at you and you raise the glass of water.

“It’s four, just got thirsty, couldn’t sleep. Guess we’re in the same boat, huh?” You can’t stop looking at his arms, or his chest, or his hair that’s been pushed back so many times throughout the night. You want to push it back. He looks glorious despite the fact he’s so sweaty, you think that might be why he looks so good. Duncan nods as he walks towards the doorway, surprised he went at it for two hours until he was worn out. He takes the glass from you and downs it before handing it back, a small smirk gracing his lips as you stare at him with wide eyes. 

You’re frozen in that position until you hear him going up the stairs, then the shower starts so you fill the cup back up and go back into your room. The sight of his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat as he gulped down your water and licking his lips as he handed you back the cup is stuck in your head, making you think of filthier reasons for him to be licking his lips at you. The shower makes it easy for you to fall back asleep, despite the lingering thoughts that Duncan is completely naked only feet away from you.

When Duncan gets out of the shower, you’re asleep on your stomach, blankets pushed off you and shirt ridden up to expose your panties. He tries not to look as he shuts off the bathroom light and mumbles a good night even though he knows you won’t hear him. 

You start waking up earlier when you hear Duncan’s alarm going off and he sneaks into your room for a shower, his shower was supposed to be fixed days earlier but some issue with the piping meant they had to replace it. Which meant breaking down the wall, and then putting new a new wall in which took so much longer than what a draining issue should have. So, every day Duncan comes in at six to take a shower, he does his best to be quiet but you’re a light sleeper, so the shower wakes you no matter what. Eventually your body gets used to it and you wake up before he even comes in some days, and then you end up starting coffee for him and making tea for yourself. He apologizes the first time in the kitchen when he comes down in slacks and his dress shirt on but completely unbuttoned and you nod and pour him a cup of coffee. Within a few days you know how he likes his coffee and you have it made before he even comes down. As soon as he’s gone, you’re crawling back into bed and falling asleep.

Duncan notices, the first few times you wake up when he showers you just play on your phone until he’s done. After the third day he finds you in the kitchen making tea, the day after his coffee is brewing and you’re drinking tea, then his coffee is brewed and when he walks into the room you’re getting a cup from the cabinet and pouring half and half. Your shirt rides up when you get his mug down, he doesn’t mean to look but he walks into the room and you’re just there for him to look at. 

Over the weekend Duncan wakes up late and goes outside to find you and Del lounging by the poolside and decides to join. He grills burgers at lunch time and throws Del into the pool, sneaking up behind you to do the same when you’re laughing at Del being thrown in the pool. Del goes in to shower after another hour of being in the pool after complaining about the smell of chlorine but you stay outside with Duncan to try and tan a little more. Duncan can’t help but stare when you and Del are swimming around the pool and shooting each other with the water guns Del’s younger cousins left behind weeks prior. It doesn’t help that you keep pulling the top down and complaining that the bottoms are going up your ass. 

When you’re laying down to tan, you slide your arms out of the straps of your top, so you don’t get tan lines on your shoulders. When Del comes back out, you roll over onto your stomach, “Del would you mind rubbing the tanning oil onto my back?” 

Del groans and shakes her head, “I just got out of the shower and I don’t want oily hands. Ask Dad.” She turns to go back inside with the excuse of getting more beers. 

You turn so you’re facing Duncan, “Would you mind, Duncan?” 

He hums, lifting his gaze from his book to look at you. “Would I mind what?” 

“Just rubbing tanning oil into my back, Del refuses because she doesn’t want ‘oily hands’ even though she could easily wash them.” You do quotation marks with your fingers when you say oily hands and Duncan seems to think about it for a second before he’s setting his book down and getting up from his chair. He sits on the edge of the lounge and asks for the oil, and moments later his hands are pressing into your shoulders. You let out a gasp at the cold sensation, goosebumps rising on your skin as his hands massage the tropical scented oil into your skin. You hold back a moan when his fingers press into a knot and let your eyes flutter shut. He moves over the strap in the back until you reach back and pull the strings undone, mumbling something about not wanting a back with stripes all over it. So of course, he gets more oil and rubs it into the rest of your back and shoulders, his hands rubbing over your arms too to make sure you’re covered before he wipes his hands on his swim trunks and stands up. You lift your head to say thank you and he gives you this soft smile and nods before going back to his book. 

You don’t mean to fall asleep, but the sun is like a warm blanket and you can’t help it. Duncan wakes you up when he’s going inside twenty minutes later because he’s worried if he doesn’t, you’ll get burnt. Before he wakes you, he can’t help but watch you for a moment, giving into his urges and finally letting his eyes admire your body in a way he hadn’t let himself when Del was out. After he wakes you, you watch him walk away, admiring his back muscles and thighs while you have a chance to because you don’t know when you’ll see him shirtless again. 

The first night you’re completely alone is when Del leaves to visit her girlfriend for the weekend and Duncan goes out with friends for someone’s birthday or anniversary. You don’t know what to do know that you’re all alone, so you spend some time taking a long bubble bath and shaving and pampering yourself. You start reading a book before you get bored and decide you don’t like living alone because there isn’t anyone to entertain you. After giving up on reading and not finding anything interesting to watch you give up on finding something to do and decide to do nothing and take a nap. As you fall asleep, you can’t stop thinking about Duncan in ways you definitely shouldn’t be thinking about your best friend’s dad.

Duncan’s fingers dragged across your stomach, his mouth finding yours when you open to protest, to tell him how wrong this is. You give in immediately, wondering how something so wrong can feel so right. His hands find your hips and he push himself between your thighs. You can feel his bulge against your panties through the sweats and it makes you whimper when he rocks his hips between yours, his cock lining up with your center so perfectly. His teeth nip at your throat, “Imagine being loved by me,” he nearly moans into your skin, the gruff of his voice causing a gush of wetness in your panties and a whimper in your throat, your hips rising off the bed to grind into his own 

 He takes his time kissing down your body until he reaches your panties, then he teases you through them for a moment before pushing aside the lace to wrap his lips around your clit, your body jolting at the sensational feeling. Your fingers tangle in his hair and you moan his name, over and over as he builds your orgasm up with his mouth, his fingers joining the mix after a few moments. You can feel the knot growing tighter and tighter, your fingers tangling in Duncan’s hair as you beg him not to stop. He laughs against your center and nibbles on your clit just enough to send you over the edge.

You wake up and find yourself panting in bed, clit throbbing in your panties from the dream. Before you can overthink it, you’re pushing your right hand into your panties and rubbing your fingers over the bundle of nerves. A shaky breath leaves your lips as the other hand begins teasing your nipples, you haven’t done this since you got here a few weeks ago and hadn’t had sex in longer. Your body was craving a release more than you realized until this moment. You pull your hand away from your cunt to push your panties down before rolling over onto your stomach and pushing yourself onto your knees. You prop yourself up so you can ride your fingers, slowly rocking your hips against your hand and pretend it’s something much bigger filling you up. You wish you had though the pack your small vibrator but when you were preparing you didn’t think you’d be so needy. It only takes a few minutes for you to come undone to the thought of Duncan’s fingers, tongue, and cock and you can’t help but thank god no one is home to hear you moaning his name his name when you came around your fingers.

You dab off the thin sheet of sweat coating your body and wash your hands before redressing in a cami and fresh panties before going downstairs for a glass of water. Your eyes widen when you step into the kitchen and see Duncan leaning against the counter, his shirt half unbuttoned and his hands in his pocket. You suddenly regret not putting on shorts when you came downstairs, assuming everyone else was gone. You try not to blush at the sight of him and hope he didn’t hear you moaning his name as you came. You smile softly as you get a glass down and fill it with ice and water before walking past him once more,

His hand grabbed your wrist before you could walk past him, pulling you into him and swiftly switching your positions so he had you pressed to the counter, his chest against your back. You let out a gasp and shakily set down the glass as his free hand guides it to the countertop. You can hear the rasp in his voice when he teases, “You want it that bad, huh?” A shaky breath leaves your lips and you can’t think of a response as his head dips and his lips brush your bare shoulder, his cock pressing into your ass. “You want my cock so bad you’re gonna make yourself come around your fingers to the thought of me?” You feel your whole body heat up at his words, toes curling against the tiles as you try not to moan at the feeling of him pressed against you.

Your breath hitches when his left hand trails up your arm before pulling your hair back, his lips ghosting up your neck before he bites down on your earlobe, and you can’t hold back the whimper of his name that leaves your lips. He chuckles lowly, “Don’t stop now honey, tell me what got you off. What did you think about?” You head tips back against his shoulder, debating if you should tell him about your dream or what you thought about while you touched yourself. When you don’t say anything, he tugs your hair, “Cat got your tongue? You didn’t have a problem teasing me these past few weeks or getting off to me, what’s wrong now?” And his lips finally press into your neck, his teeth nipping at the skin and his tongue soothing the bite and you hope there’s a mark left when he’s done. 

The action snaps you out of your daze and you find Duncan’s hand pressed into the counter and rest yours over it, squeezing it softly as your head tilts to the side to expose more skin. “I had a dream about you, your mouth… Woke up ‘cause I was moaning your name.” You explain, eyes fluttering shut as his lips move to a new spot of skin and he hums, waiting for you to continue. “No matter how many times I tried thinking about other guys I couldn’t stop thinking about you.” this time, he chuckles, and you can feel the vibrations rumble in his chest against your back. You let out a soft moan when he sucks on your skin, “I couldn’t stop wondering if you were as good in real life as you were in my dreams.” Your grip on his hand tightens and you pull is away from the edge of the counter and guide it towards your panties. 

He sighs against your skin as you part your legs for his hand, he can feel your wetness on the tops of your thighs and soaked through your panties as he rubs his fingers over you, drawing a whine from your lips. Duncan’s lips move back to your ear and he kisses the shell of it, his voice low when he finally speaks again. “You’re dripping for me, huh slut?” A shudder runs through your body at his words and you whimper, nodding because you can’t find the words to say. “You gonna be good for me?” He asks, and you nod again, following his lead as he grabs your hip and twists you around, so your back is against the counter. You take the moment to drink in his appearance, admiring the way his shirt fits tight over his shoulders and how the top few undone buttons reveal his chest. The way his cock is outlined in his slacks, pressing against the fabric and your mouth waters at the thought of having him in your mouth.

His hand on your shoulder guides you down on your knees as he steps back to give you room to sit comfortably between him and the counter. Without being asked, your hands start undoing his belt and soon enough you’re greeted with tufts of black hair peeking from his pants as you unzip him. You glance up at him and quirk an eyebrow at him, slightly amused by the fact he isn’t wearing any underwear. A moment later, you have his slacks around his thighs and his cock is standing proud in front of you. The hand in your hair stops you from moving forward when you try to get him in your mouth. He tugs softly to tilt your head back, so your eyes meet his once again, “You want this, yeah? Let me hear you say it.” His voice is softer than before, but he doesn’t relax his hold on you until you tell him that you want to suck him off. His grip loosens but not enough for you to move, “I’m gonna fuck your mouth, I’ll go slow and if you want me to stop or you can’t, just tap my thigh, okay?” You give him a nod and when he continues staring at him you tell him he can fuck your mouth and he finally nods and wraps his free hand around his base and guides his cock to your lips, tapping for you to open up for him.

He lets you get comfortable and take the lead before he begins rocking his hips and holding your head still by your hair. He holds you still when his cock pushes against the back of your throat, waiting for you to relax before he pulls back and does it again, watching the tears well up in your eyes. You’re holding your hands behind your back, being so good for him and taking him so well. He pulls out after a minute and lets your head drop forward against his hip while you catch your breath. His hand pets the back of your head until you pull your head to look back up at him, your mouth opening for him and he’s pushing back in without a second thought. This time, he picks his pace up and fucks your mouth until you have spit and precum around your lips. You focus on his moans and gasps, the praises leaving his lips when he pushes into your throat and he feels you tighten around him, fighting the urge to gag around him.

Your eyes stay focused on him as he tilts his head back and moans before he looks back down at you, one of his hands moving to cup your cheek and wipe the tears away. Duncan pulls back so just the head is in your mouth and he lets you suck on him for a minute and calm down before he slowly starts pushing back into your throat, this time pushing until your nose is pressed to his navel. He can feel you forcing yourself to relax and breathe through your nose and begins fucking your throat, slowly thrusting into your mouth. 

Duncan can feel himself growing close, the knot in his stomach tightening and he isn’t ready for this to be over. He pulls out and watches as you immediately slump back onto the counter, your head falling back as you catch your breath, feeling dizzy from your lack of breathing. When you finally look up at him, he can’t help but smirk at the sight of how fucked you look. He can’t help but think you look pretty with your spit and his cum coating your lips. He holds out his hand and without missing a beat you grab it and let him pull you up, your knees red and shaking as you steady yourself on his chest. 

You can’t help but blush when his hand leaves yours to grab a hand towel and wipe away the mess on your lips. When he’s satisfied, he drops the cloth back on the counter and cups your cheeks with both hands before finally pressing his lips to yours. You instantly moan into the kiss, your hands sliding up his body to tangle in his hair and press yourself closer. A gasp escapes your lips when you break the kiss and trail your lips down his neck, sucking at his jaw. Duncan’s hand slides down your waist and down your thigh, squeezing it and pulling it over his hip. He slots his hips against yours and grinds his cock into your core, a shiver running through your body at the feeling of him against you.

Before you can do anything else, he’s dropping your leg to the ground and sinking to his knees, tugging your panties down your thighs before lifting your right leg over his shoulder and kissing your thigh. His right-hand stays on your thigh, holding you in place as his left hand slowly trails up the inside of your thigh. You softly tug his hair as he drags a finger through your folds, groaning against your thigh. You have to lean back on the counter to stay upright when his lips wrap around your clit, two fingers easily pushing into you at the same time.

It seems like he knows all the right buttons to push, your body overwhelmed with pleasure instantly as his tongue grinds against your clit and his fingers curl in you as he thrusts. You can’t stop yourself from pulling on his curls and you’re pleased even more when he moans against your clit, the vibrations making you pull harder.

He removes his tongue from your clit and flicks it over your center, between his fingers before talking, “Gonna cum for me baby? Let go, let me taste you.” He immediately sucks your clit between his teeth, sucking harshly as his nose rubs your entrance. He slips his fingers further into you and brings his free hand down on your left cheek, moans falling from your lips as the combination sends you spiraling over the edge into your orgasm. Duncan held you down to his mouth, rolling your clit between his teeth and lapping his tongue over the bud. Without his grip on your thigh you’re sure you would have fallen over from the strength of your orgasm as your legs shake and his fingers and tongue work you through your orgasm. 

Duncan doesn’t stop until you’re whimpering and pushing his head away from your aching cunt, head fallen back between your shoulders and chest heaving. He takes the moment to admire the sight while he can before he guides your leg back to the floor before placing his hands on your waist and standing up again. He brings his wet fingers to your lips and without being asked you part your lips, his fingers pushing into your mouth as he smirks down at you. You suck them clean until he pulls them out of you, his lips quickly replacing his fingers as he slides both of his hands to your thighs and easily lifts you onto the countertop. He breaks the kiss for a moment to pull your tank top off over your head, fingers teasing your nipples as he begins kissing you again.

He keeps kissing you until you’re out of breath and break the kiss, his lips finding your neck as you push the shirt off his shoulders after fully unbuttoning it. His pants follow soon after but not before he retrieves the condom from his back pocket, a soft laugh escaping your lips before you can stop it. “You been holding onto that for long?” You murmur, fingers rubbing over his bare shoulders as he tears the silver package open with his teeth.

He scoffs and shakes his head. “Actually, I came home early and heard you moaning my name, hoped you’d come down and let me fuck you. Guess it worked, huh?” You blush at his words and nod, unable to come up with a real response. You rest your forehead on his shoulder and watch as he rolls the rubber onto his cock before stepping closer to you, his free hand cupping your cheek and guiding you to look at him, “You sure about this, honey?” His voice is soft and concerned, a complete flip from what it was only moments before.

“Yes, I’m sure. Will you please fuck me Duncan?” You bat your eyelashes at him, and he nods, pulling his lower lip between his teeth as he presses himself to you. He runs his cock along your slit a few times, rubbing your clit with the head of his cock before finally pushing in without warning. A gasp leaves your lips and your legs instinctively wrap around his waist as he slowly pushes in, a whine drawing from your throat as he bottoms out. The moan he lets out is music to your ears and you can’t help but want to record it and save it for you to use later. Your lips press to his while you adjust to him, softly kissing him until you’re ready for him to move.

Duncan slowly pulls his hips back, waiting for you to object before he pushes back in, both of you moaning at the sensation. Your right hand wraps itself in his curls while the left grasps his bicep as your legs tighten around his waist, pulling him as close as possible. Your nails bite into the skin as one of his hands presses into your lower abdomen, his fingers rubbing against your clit. Moans are falling from your lips as he fucks into you, his free hand resting on your ass and massaging the skin before spanking it twice. Your head falls back as a string of curses leaves your lips, your back arching and his lips find yours briefly before trailing down your neck and chest. Duncan wraps his lips around one of your neglected nipples, his teeth tugging on the bud and his tongue massaging over it. Your fingers tighten in his hair and your nails dig into his shoulder as you feel yourself clenching down on him, a signal of your rapidly approaching orgasm. “Duncan, I’m so close, fuck I’m so close.” You whine, pushing your hips into his. 

He moans at the feeling of your nails scratching down his back, his hand on your ass moving up to wrap around your throat. “Fuckin’ hell, baby, feel so good wrapped around my cock. You look so pretty, all wrecked for me.” He sounds so different than normal, his voice low and raspy like he just woke up but mixed with lust and need. His words only turn you on more, your hand in his hair pulling on the curls as the knot in your stomach tightens. “Harder, baby. Pull my hair princess, can feel how close you are. Gonna scratch me up when you cum on my cock?” You can’t find the words to respond, settling for moaning and pulling his hair harder, scratching your nails down his back. 

His hips work harder as he tries to get you to your orgasm, his hands roaming your body, his lips finding yours for the third time that night. You moan into his mouth and let yourself be kissed; your body too overcome with pleasure for you to put effort into kissing him back. You barely mumble how close you are, and he nods, pulling away from the kiss and rubbing his fingers into your clit harder. You chase his body and wrap your arms around his neck, tangling both your fingers in his hair and pulling. The new angle has the head of his cock pressed right against your sweet spot, and he stops thrusting and rolls his hips into yours, grinding the tip of his dick into your spot. Duncan lowers his head to kiss your neck, his mouth hovering against your ear for a moment while he whispers, “Come on my cock, baby, know you want to. I can feel you clenching around me, cum for me honey.” He nibbles at your lobe and you come undone, your fingers and toes curling as your orgasm washes over you. He works you through your orgasm until you let out a final whimper and relax in his arms, your fingers petting the back of his head as you bask in the pleasure of your orgasm. 

You feel his cock twitch in you and a moment later he’s pulling out, pulling the condom off and jerking his cock off as a shudder runs through his body, his cum shooting out onto your stomach and thighs. Duncan’s teeth bite into your shoulder as his orgasm hits him and you know there’s going to be a mark left when he’s done. You hope there’s a lot of marks left, that his fingers left bruises on your hips and neck and his lips left hickeys all over your body. His body feels heavy as he leans against the counter, one hand holding himself up on your hip and the other wrapped around his cock. Your fingers run through his hair as he softly kisses all the marks he left on your neck before he presses his lips to yours, this kiss slower and softer than the previous ones.

When he breaks the kisses and finally looks at you, he almost feels bad for the bruises he left on your body. He feels worse for not feeling bad, feels bad because he likes the sight of his red hand print on your neck and the teeth indentations in your skin. He softly runs his fingers over the red hand print, “Fuck I’m sorry, I didn’t realize. Haven’t done this in a while, I didn’t mean to be so rough.” He softly kisses your lips once more before grabbing the hand towel and wiping the rest of your body clean. 

You stop him before he can do anything else, “it’s okay, I wanted it… If I didn’t want it, I would have told you.” You press your hands in his chest and push him back before grabbing your top off the counter and explaining, “I’m gonna shower um, I’ll see you later?” 

The guilt hits Duncan as soon as you’re gone, and he’s left with a mess to clean up to clean up before his daughter gets home. The daughter whose best friend he just had sex with in his kitchen. The best friend who he’s nearly twenty years older than. He pours himself a drink as he hears the shower come on, pulls up his pants and wipes down the counter before grabbing his shirt off the floor. He grabs your panties from the floor without thinking, shoving them in the pocket of his slacks on the way up the stairs for his own shower.

[meganshinsou-tm]

Crimson|Ink. (m)

↳ chapter seventeen: with ears to see and eyes to hear

❧ genre:  tattoo-shop/hitmen au | tattoo artist/hitman kirishima

❧ fic warning: major character(s) death; happy ending

❧ chapter warnings: multiple panic attacks, confrontations, yelling, mild blood

❧ chapter song:  With Ears to See and Eyes to Hear by Sleeping With Sirens

♬crimson|ink playlist | ♧ character profiles

[multi-chap masterlist] [previous chapter - next chapter]

Endless ripples formed in Sero’s mug as he sat at the lobby desk, his lean leg bouncing nervously and fingers drumming a pencil on the counter-top while he waited. He couldn’t tell anymore if the noise in his ears was the sound of his heart pumping blood to his veins at a faster rate than normal or if it was some sort of static from all the confused thoughts swimming around in his head causing too much racket. Whatever it was it hadn’t shut up since Todoroki told him and the others the shocking call he received and he wished it would. There was no way. 

No fucking way.

A new noise rung in Sero’s skull now, the bell of the shop door went off, making him look up to see that familiar set of hair blowing in the wind and being drenched in snow flakes, those same (e/c) eyes crinkling in the corners as that sweet, no, innocent smile gleamed at him. You entered the shop, teeth chattering and hands rubbing your arms up and down to warm yourself.

“Morning handsome!” You chimed and went to turn the shop sign over to ‘open’.

Sero blinked and stood finally, clearing his throat and stopping you. 

“Uh no need for that babe.”

“What?” You questioned him with a quirked brow.

Rubbing the side of his neck he waved his hand and grinned. “We’re closing the shop for the day, no big deal, we’re allowed to do that you know. Perks of the job!”

You looked from Sero to the sign still in your hand and chewed on the inside of your cheek before letting go of it. You shrugged your coat and wrapped it around you tighter before walking over to Sero, looking at him with question. Your eyes wandered around the shop and ears listened closely, from what you could tell, no one else was there but you and him.

“Is everything okay Ser?”

The male took a deep breath, head looking down to your hands now splayed out on the counter-top. His own reached for them, grabbing gently and holding them in his wide palms, feeling the coolness and softness of them. They were so small, gentle - innocent. They weren’t the hands of the person who did such a thing to his leader, no fucking way!

You repeated his name again, fingers wrapping around his hands. Sero looked up to you, that question growing even more in your expression. He put on his most convincing and chill smile, nodding slightly.

“Yes, yeah - everything is okay cutie. There’s just some stuff that’s come up, a little family emergency and we all decided to shut down for the day to deal with it.” 

Sero looked down at his watch and saw the time. “In fact we should get going.”

“Go where? What kind of emergency Sero? Where is everyone, Ei, where is he, why didn’t I hear anything about this from him?”

From your tone Sero could tell that there was hesitation, confusion and even panic, starting to fester, it was in your eyes as well, you even started to try and back away slowly, looking like a mouse trapped and searching for a way out. He was doing a shit job right now at trying to keep the situation at a neutral level. Swallowing thickly, Sero squeezed your shoulder lightly before cupping your face.

“Hey chill for a bit okay. I know this is a little unexpected but I told you, it’s okay. He’s with everyone else, where we’re going, you’ll find out when we get there. No one is hurt or anything, I should’ve re-phrased that, not emergency, just a little misunderstanding that needs attention from everyone at the moment. Needs to be taken care of as soon as possible so we can get back to business.”

“It’s something to do with the shop?”

“Yeah in a sense. Look, we’re wasting time sweetheart, if you just come on then we’ll get it sorted it out soon. I’ll stop and get you breakfast on our way there if that’ll make you feel better.”

You looked at Sero, that hesitation still there, still growing. Your body cowered down a size, face turning and looking for a possible way out.

“I - I don’t know Ser, I have a hard time believing that everything is okay. This is weird and I can tell something is off. Fuck ... I want Kiri.”

Sero sighed and grabbed your face in his hands, making you look him in the eyes. The pools of black were pleading with you, his mouth carved into a straight line and brows furrowed. You were nervous and scared. He was nervous and scared. Nonetheless, he needed to get you to everyone else, he needed to let you tell your side and prove your innocence. Damn he needed this shit to be over already. All the secrets, from both sides.

“Look I know nothing I’m saying right now is convincing at all and it’s only making you even more weirded out but just - just trust me okay, I can’t really explain everything because this is a family matter, we all need to be together. If what I think is happening is true then there’s nothing to worry about sweetheart, just remember, we’re family and if you can trust us then we’ll trust you, okay?”

You blinked at Sero, his thumbs rubbing your cheek bones softly and trying to calm your nerves as his eyes were silently begging you. With a sigh, you gave up and hung your head low.

“I don’t think I really have a choice here,” you finally answered defeatedly. 

After removing Sero’s hands from your face you went to lock the front door and started to make your way towards the other where everyone came in through and looked to your friend. 

“Let’s go.”

After leaving the shop without another word, Sero did as he said he would and got you breakfast, you only opted for a small tea and muffin though, not even eating more than half of it on the drive. Your stomach was in a thousand and one knots, there was no way in hell you could focus on food. There was so much going through your head at the moment but at the same time it was blank. 

You were quiet and staring down in your lap the whole time, Sero catching glances at you here and there and asking if you were okay. You’d never answer him.

More than anything you were longing for Kirishima. 

Of course whatever the fuck was happening right now was weird but you really did trust Sero more than anything and probably anyone. You felt safe with him but with Kiri it was different, no matter what, there wasn’t any doubt in your mind and body at all if you were safe when he was around. Sero was like a protective force-field but Kirishima was like a impenetrable rock solid force-field times two! But for him to not have contacted you at all yet, just made the knot in your belly twist and turn that much more. 

Something wasn’t right, something was very wrong.

Before you could ponder anymore, the ride suddenly went from smooth to rough. The truck bouncing lightly as it went from pavement to off-road. Looking up you verified that you were being taken down a back road, barely even noticeable unless you knew it was even there. 

Red flag. 

Your hands rested on and gripped your knees as you tried to search your surroundings more. There was nothing, nothing but trees and thick blankets of snow, no other roads in or out. 

Major red flag. 

Chewing on the inside of your cheek you tried to calm yourself, looking back down inside of the jeep and counting to yourself. 

“Trust him, you trust him. You trust them! It’s nothing.” 

You shook your head lightly and looked to Sero, he was focused on the rough road and terrain, eyes quickly flashing to you before looking back ahead. He nodded forward as his black eyes seemed to land on something of interest. Yours followed and your mouth went dry. In the middle of this blinding place was a lone steel warehouse. 

Huge fucking red flag.

“Sero, forgive me if I sound a little irrational but, I’m getting Wrong Turn vibes here, maybe with a side of Hostel. Where the fuck are we, why are we so far out.”

Pulling up to the building, Sero parked between Kirishima’s truck and Bakugou’s own vehicle. There was a small sense of safety from seeing them but it still wasn’t enough yet. You slightly jumped when something squeezed your hand. Looking to your side, Sero was softly smiling and brushing his thumb along the top of your hand.

“I totally get those vibes at this place too but it grows on you after a while. This is our warehouse, we do a lot of our other business here. You don’t need to be scared (Y/N), just calm down and know that I’m right here and by your side, okay? I’m gonna be upfront with you, what you’re gonna walk into isn’t going to be pleasant, everyone's a little on edge right now, so just listen to us and be honest with us. Trust us.”

“You all trust me right?”

“I trust you sweetheart and I’ve got your back. They trust you too, I promise, it may seem rocky at some point but I fucking swear, we all trust you!”

You fought back emotions. Most definitely something was not fucking right! 

With a nod and release of a breath you were holding in, Sero kissed your forehead and got out of the vehicle and made his way to your door. After he helped you out, your hand immediately grabbed his again, squeezing it for dear life as he held on and walked you to the massive sliding door. Sero knocked a few times and stated it was him before opening it, your body taking shelter behind his own and you walked in. 

It was quiet except for the sound of radiators heating the place. You shivered and used your free hand to tighten the collar of your coat closer to your face. Everyone was in fact there, sitting around in different areas. Bakugou leaned against a workbench, Denki sitting on a bucket, Shouto and Deku both on a couch and Kirishima on a stool. Some of them looked at you but your eyes focused on the redhead. His arms were crossed, a foot propped up on the bottom bar of the stool and his own eyes looking at you.

There wasn’t happiness, nothing of the sort, upon seeing you. 

You didn’t know what exactly was in his red eyes or if there was truly anything at all. He looked down at the ground and your heart followed. Hand still holding Sero’s it squeezed and started to tremble. The male looked at you and frowned. Before he could do anything, Shouto was standing from his seat and walking over, so far the only one greeting you as he pat your head softly. 

He’s speaking but you aren’t listening, still looking at Kirishima over Shouto’s shoulder and trying to piece together what the fuck is wrong for everyone to be acting like this, for him to be acting like this. Little by little, even if Sero was keeping you grounded by not letting go of your hand, you felt like you were alone.

“(Y/N),” Shouto spoke.

Your eyes blinked and looked at him, expression totally blank, “I’m sorry - what did you say?”

The bi-colored man smiled warmly at you, his hand brushing your cheek before falling to the small of your back and leading you, along with Sero, to the center of the group of men. 

“I know this is probably the last thing you were expecting this morning but something very important has come up and it involves everyone here, even you, and we all just want to get answers. I trust you’ll be truthful with us and we will be too and if at any point you feel like this is taking a turn then let us know.”

Brows furrowing you looked at Shouto then to Sero, next you looked around the area to everyone else, all of them only sparing you a short glance, each one feeling like a sharp stab. Your lips parted, wanting to say something but going mute. You couldn’t distinguish if you were upset, mad, confused, hurt, so many emotions were running rampant in you and causing you to malfunction. 

Why was no one looking at you or saying anything, why was that spiky haired bastard just looking at the fucking floor and why - why was this starting to feel like an interrogation?

“Guys please tell me what’s going on. Something isn’t right, I-I can tell ... none of you will fucking look at me, did I do something? D-Did I fuck up at the shop, what?” 

You questioned, trying to keep a strong voice but feeling it becoming frail.

“Tell me something first, what does family mean to you exactly huh? That tattoo you got, what does that mean little one?” 

Kirishima finally spoke, his last word seething with animosity.

You were shocked to say the least, but you shouldn’t be right? 

This wasn’t the first time Kirishima spoke to you like you were some bug he wanted squashed, old habits die hard? Maybe this tension is making that jackass resurface and you just need to shoo him away. This wasn’t your Eijirou. He was trying to shake you down for some reason but still you answered him, hoping it would calm everyone.

“Uh - family isn’t a very familiar concept with me, you all probably know that, especially you Ei. In the past few months though I’ve started to learn more about it. Just from being with all of you I think family, at least to me, means to be with people who love and accept you without any conditions, people who have your back and would jump into the fire for you if it meant keeping you safe. Unconditional and true love, safe love. Family means being able to finally fucking breathe.” 

You paused to steady your quickening heart rate, taking a moment to see if anyone is even listening and sure enough, all eyes are on you. Denki, Bakugou and Sero having softer expressions than the others but you can feel the thick tension thinning out. Licking your lips and rubbing your neck, you continued and touch the space of your oni mask. 

“This tattoo, means that I’ve found family, I’ve found everything I’ve ever needed and that you all love me, accept me and most of all - trust me.”

Denki looks to Sero and they both smile, catching your eye and you feel a tiny wave of relief knowing you have someone else in your corner now. Bakugou grunts and shrugs his shoulders, glaring over at Kirishima with an annoyed expression.

“Alright asshole, she answered your question and passed with flying colors. Now can we get to the fucking point and be done with this bullshit?”

“What point? I still don’t know what the fuck is going on here guys, can someone at least tell me why I’m here - anything please!”

A growl comes from Kirishima, making you glare at him. He moves and digs his wallet out from the back pocket of his jeans, digging around in it before removing a small piece of card-stock and blatantly flicking it at you, causing it to pelt your chest. 

“That’s why. You know who that is?”

You gasped with shock from his action and immediately Denki and Sero are on their feet, fists clenched as you stared back at Kirishima before grabbing what turns out to be a picture and examined it.

“Dude, are you fucking serious right now?” The blonde chides.

“Don’t make me kick your ass Eijirou,” Sero warned, only making Kiri roll his eyes.

The small photo is of Eijirou and Yagi Toshinori, the man who also was a part of their family and shop. You didn’t know too much about him, just who he was to the guys and that he had died in an accident. The man being brought up now only made things blurrier to you.

“That’s you and Yagi right?” You finally answered, causing the three men to shut up and pay attention.

“Yeah but do you know him - personally?” Kirishima asked.

“No, I don’t, I’ve never seen this man in my life!”

“You sure about that?”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean, why would I lie about that? Why am I the only one on the stand right now huh? No one is answering me, what does he have to do with any of this, what do I have to do with any of this?” 

You retort and flick the picture back at Kirishima, becoming more fed up with his accusing tone, slowly starting to make your way to the red-head.

Of all people, Deku finally speaks with a sigh, putting up his hand in defense as he comes between you and Kirishima.

“Since you know who he is from the picture, I assume Kiri and the others told you who he is right, what happened to him.” 

You nod, quickly agreeing with Izuku, saying that he died in a accident. Deku nods with a twinged expression. 

“Yes, he did die, but his cause of death wasn’t actually by accident.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that but I still don’t get what this has to do with me Deku. I’m in the dark here.”

The sound of Shouto scraping his booted toe across the concrete floor catches your ear and makes you look to him. He runs a hand through his hair before addressing you.

“Yagi was murdered (Y/N) and unfortunately we have reason to suspect that you were involved in some way.”

Things go silent, a deafening silent, as you looked around to your now accusers. You don’t know whether to scoff and laugh, to think if this is a joke or not. By everyone’s look though apparently it’s not a joke at all. For some reason you’re growing numb, mind reeling as sound finally invades your canals and you blink at Kirishima who is staring at you. His jaw tight and fists clenched.

“I-I’m sorry what? Guys I don’t know this man, how would I - how could I? The f-fuck -” you croak and take a step back, stumbling before falling to your knees on the floor, arms trembling and trying to hold yourself up. “Suspect m-me? So, you think I did something like that?”

Denki shakes his head, hands waving defensively as he quickly comes to your side and cautiously rubs your back. 

“Well n-not exactly but something isn’t right here babe, you see we got a tip from someone who was very adamant that you did, that you’re not what we think you are.”

In a flash you were shrugging Denki’s hand away, pulling back from him and staring into his eyes with disbelief. 

“A tip? What is this fucking Most Wanted or some shit? Denki you know me -,” you looked away from him and chewed on your lip, tears welling up before you focus on Sero and Bakugou and shake your head. “You fucking know me you asswipes! After everything I told you, could you even imagine me doing such a thing? I couldn’t even fucking save myself and you think I could kill someone - you think I could be .. that I could f-fucking be like him?”

Deku and Shouto look at each other, both wondering what you were talking about - they were the only two still left in the dark about your past. Bakugou grunted, his eyes softening as your breaking voice hits him, that one night coming back to him like a fucking train and he sees the tears starting to fall from your eyes. He curses under his breath and moves to go for you but Kirishima holds a hardened arm out to stop him, making Bakugou growl in response.

“Then how come your name was given huh?” Kiri asked with desperation. “Even if you didn’t do it, y-you’re involved somehow, if you know who did it then why are you protecting them huh? That’s just as bad - just fucking tell us what you know, that’s it!”

Bakugou scowled at Kirishima, his palm grabbing his forearm and setting off controlled explosions to try and remove him from his path. Kirishima elbowed him in retaliation before demanding you stop fucking around and answer him. Deku watched closely, his own firsts clenching and green electricity crackling around them, the sound of ice forming comes from Shouto as he also prepared to take down their emotional friend.

You don’t focus on anyone else but Eijirou who is slowly coming undone before your eyes, there’s betrayal all over his face, confusion and fear.

“Eijirou,” you finally reply with in a broken sob. 

Your head hung low, fingers digging into the cold concrete beneath them hard enough to start splitting your nails before you look back up at him and plead your case. 

“I’m just as fucking lost as you are but I told you I don’t know the man! I’ve never seen him! I’ve never lied to you, to any of you and I swear on my own shitty life that I’m telling you the truth! You know what I’ve been through, you all fucking know, how could I take someone’s life when I could barely even fucking save my own? And how could you even think ... how c-could you think so poorly of me.”

All the men went silent as you sat there on the floor and started to fold in on yourself, the warehouse ringing with your sobs and gasps for air in between. Denki quickly goes to comfort you but you yell at him to back off, making him wince as he pulls back. Deku also winced, his fists clenching and biting back a whimper, heart breaking at the clear betrayal heard in your voice. 

Kirishima blinks, the sounds of you in so much pain making him snap out of his irrational mindset. Shaking his head, he tried to move towards you but Sero quickly stopped him with a glare that made his blood run cold and is soon on his knees before you, hands up and voice soft.

“(Y/N), please.”

“You s-said you trusted me, that you a-all trusted me …” you stuttered and tried to back away as Sero grabbed for you. 

With all your might you try to fight him off, his hands gripping your forearms, trying to calm you down but at the same time letting you fight him. Finally Denki wrapped his arms around your waist from behind, resting his cheek to your back and shushing you, immediately you fell forward into Sero’s arms, giving up the fight and crying harder than you ever have.

“You k-know me ... I couldn’t, I’d n-never … I c-couldn’t save myself, I couldn’t save him.”

Denki shakes his head, his own tears soaking into your coat while Sero pet your hair and held you close. Kirishima pressed forward though and Bakugou pulled him back by the shirt.

“Couldn’t save who?” Kiri asks, voice cracking with desperation.

“Give it a rest man! Can’t you see she’s having a fucking mental breakdown right now and you still want to push her? What kind of shitty boyfriend are you huh?” 

Denki scolded as he lifted his head, teeth bared.

The words stung Kirishima as he watched his friends, your friends, consoling you before his eyes. What he should be doing. What was his fucking problem? He didn’t mean to come at you so hard, so accusing, his emotions were just getting the better of him and he was scared and so fucking confused! 

Meanwhile Bakugou was watching, listening as you mentioned not being able to save him, assuming it’s the man you told him about after staying with him that night. Turning on his feet, Bakugou went to Deku.

“Do you have any other pictures of Yagi? Of him looking like shit?”

Deku nodded and took out his phone, finding his pictures and scrolling till he comes to one that Bakugou would be satisfied with. 

“Like this?”

The blonde nodded, eyes widening and snatched the device from his hand before walking over to you and the others still on the floor. Sero turned to look at Bakugou and figure out what he’s doing, Bakugou doesn’t speak for a moment and takes time to pat your head, letting his fingers run through your hair until your own face turns to look at him. Cheeks stained with tears, your eyes red and devoid of their usual light. His own heart broke, seeing you like this yet again is fucking him up, he wanted to do everything to put a end to this now and end your suffering most of all, so he took a deep breath and put on a friendly smile.

“Hey princess, ignore that fuckwad over there for a minute okay. I know this looks like we’re cornering you or some shit but we just need to get the facts straight. I think I stand for everyone when I say we’re confused and just a little fucking scared alright? You don’t know the call we got, the image we saw and most of all to have you dragged into this - that’s the last fucking thing we want.” 

His hand moved to cup your fleshy cheek, thumb smushing it inwards and making him smile.

“Our main concern is you and the danger of this situation, trust me when I say we truly are all on your side, call us biased if you want but even we have a hard fucking time believing this and yes I mean all of us. Just take a deep breath okay, I know you’re getting tired of being questioned like some fucking suspect but just hang on a little bit, you can do that, I didn’t raise no bitch right?”

“You’re so fucking stupid,” you choke out with a pathetic smile. Sero and Denki chuckling as well.

“Hey it got you to smile though, I needed to ease the fucking tension here, shit!” Bakugou ruffled your hair and looked to the phone in his hand. “I’m gonna show you a different picture of Yagi and maybe this will start to clear things up. Will you give it a shot?”

You sniffled and wiped your nose, Sero smirking and suggesting to just use his shirt as your tissue. After taking a few breaths you looked to Bakugou and nodded. He nods back and turns the screen for you to see. You’re paralyzed immediately, skin going pale and cold as you laid your eyes on the picture. Turning to look at Sero, your brows furrowed.

“Is that really him?”

Sero nodded, looking at the picture then back at you. 

“Yeah sweetheart, that’s Yagi. Something happened to him years ago that caused his quirk to be busted and it always took a lot out of him to keep up that buff ass form of his, so around us, that’s who he was.”

You looked back at the picture, the skeletal man had the same tattoos, same blackened eyes with dots of blue in them and most of all the same smile. Your face softened, hand reaching out to touch the screen, to touch the ghost of your past, the man that saved your life.

“That - that’s him. The man that saved me back then, that’s the same tattoos. That’s really Yagi?”

The three men around you nodded and hummed in agreement, making you faintly smile as you remembered the man again. There was a sense of relief in finally being able to put a name to his face, it made him that much more real for you and brought about a form of closure. You blinked and looked at your friends, then around them to the other three and all at once there was guilt again. This man belonged to them before he ever met you, he was loved by them and by some fucked up twist of fate you crossed paths with him and that path took him from his family.

Your mouth went dry as you looked at the picture again and frowned, teeth pulling at your bottom lip as your head shook.

“I didn’t know ... I’m so sorry. If - if he had never met me, if he would’ve just left me there and saved himself, none of this would’ve happened. God I’m so sorry guys, I wish I could go back -”

“And what, fucking die?” 

Bakugou cut in, his red eyes zeroing in on you as they looked back at him. 

“Yagi wouldn’t have allowed that shit by no means. That idiot knew what he was doing and he’d do it all over again - if we were in his shoes, you bet your ass we would too! The important thing is you’re alive and he went out in a fucking blaze of glory doing what he does best! Don’t ever think for once that it was your fault and don’t you dare fucking think that we blame you! There are some other things here that we all need to discuss for this to make more sense to you but at the moment I think we have the answers we needed from the start!”

Bakugou turned to look at Kirishima then Shouto and Deku before turning his eyes back to you. You went to speak again but he only shook his head, fingers pinching your chin as he stood back to his feet and ruffled your hair again and turned to go join the others. Sero rubbed your back once more, placing a kiss to the top of your head and he looked at Denki.

“I’m gonna go help him explain to the others,” he spoke before gently handing you off to Denki, “Take care of her for a bit, get her some water too.”

Denki nodded in response, his arms wrapping around your body as you clung to him. He stood from the ground holding you close like a child and turned to go and find you something to drink, leaving the others to talk among themselves. Kirishima watched the two of you closely, his heart aching to go comfort you himself. Bakugou cleared his throat, making the others give him their full attention as he handed Deku’s phone back to him.

“This is a fucking set up, that asshole is framing her.”

Deku is the first to ask what he means and along with Sero, Bakugou explains the story you had told them. Kirishima, Deku and Shouto listen closely, finally getting the whole story once and for all.

“He was in his weaker state when she met him, that’s why she didn’t recognize him in the other picture. He’s the one that got her out of there and saved her from that fucked up ex of hers, the ex that I’m guessing called you, right?”

Shouto nodded.

Sero crossed his arms and looked back to see you still wrapped around Denki, head on his chest as he held you and talked. 

“She didn’t mention anything about his tattoos, but maybe she wanted to keep his anonymity for him to be safe. That guy, her ex, he’s a fucking monster and it makes sense why she wouldn’t give those details about him. She thinks the only way she can keep anyone safe is by keeping all of this to herself. Even when she told all of us the story, that was her reasoning for not revealing his name, she said it was the only thing she could do.”

By now the tension in the air is gone, all the guys are on the same page and know the whole story. Still it doesn’t do anything to help with the guilt they all start to harbor. None of them truly ever doubted you, it was just that the entire situation was a difficult subject and it was confusing. 

It came out of nowhere and threw them all off guard to have you all of a sudden associated with the death of their leader, but everything made sense and now the only thing that mattered was making sure you stayed safe. Shouto remembered the blatant threat Dabi made, once he found out that they weren’t going to do his dirty work, that they trusted you and knew the truth, then he would come for you.

“Still she knows who killed him, it’s her ex and it doesn’t make it any better that she’s protecting that bastard!” Kirishima sighed.

Suddenly there was an explosion going off in his face, making him stumble back and glare at the palm before his eyes and the blonde that stood behind it.

“Do you even fucking hear yourself right now? That monster is fucking batshit crazy, he tried to kill her for no fucking reason, you think her going around and telling people the shit he did won’t piss him off even more? Do you not get that in the time she’s been with us he’s probably been looking for her and guess what idiot - he fucking found her! This call is just a warning and he’ll be coming for her any day now, has that penetrated through your thick fucking skull yet?”

Kirishima went pale all over, paralyzed on the spot as he looked to Shouto.

“What is he talking about?” 

Shouto gave Kirishima a sympathetic look and nodded, his expression cool and collected as it had been the entire time. It was starting to piss Kiri off, how his friend could be so level headed in a time like this, how he could act like this isn’t damning news in the least. Kirishima bared his teeth as he stalked towards the two-toned male, his hand grabbing Shouto by the collar and pulling him close. 

“Answer me now!”

“He’s the one that called Kirishima,” Shouto answered, his eyes looking back at his friend calmly, “He said so himself that she is his ex and she ran away from him. Having the whole story now, I believe Bakugou is right that he is framing her, thinking that we would lose our heads about it and ‘get our revenge’ on her.”

Shouto grabbed Kirishima by the wrist, easily unhanding himself from the man and straightening his clothes before continuing. 

“From his call it appears that he does in fact know where she is now, he even said that he’d be watching to see what we did with his information. Most of all, he wants her dead Kirishima and he made it very clear that if it wasn’t done by us then it would be done by him.”

Deku groaned and ran his hands over his face and through the thick green hair on his head, gripping onto the locks as he looked over to you and Denki. 

“What a small fucking world huh? This is so fucked up! We have to keep her safe, we’re going to keep her safe, right?”

Without hesitation the group of men nodded, Sero patting Deku’s shoulder reassuringly.

“I know we all can agree that he is probably the one that killed Yagi and is trying to frame her for it since she is now so close to us but she still has yet to actually tell us that he did. I’m just as concerned about her and her safety as much as you are Kirishima but being the leader of this group, I still have to keep my head on straight. I don’t let my emotions get the best of me like you do because the calls I make not only affect me but everyone else involved here and before I can get equally pissed off and be blood thirsty for that asshole’s life just like you, I still need the verification that is in fact him that killed Yagi. You know I won’t proceed with ending someone’s life, no matter the circumstances and who is involved, until we have all the facts.”

“Then I’ll get that fucking fact for you right now! I’m not going to have that fucker live another second and take her from me!”

Before any of the men could calm Kirishima, he was already pushing past them and walking over to you and Denki on the couch. The yellow-haired male looked to see his friend coming in hot and only clung to you tighter like a bear protecting its cub.

“What the fuck do you want man?”

Kirishima ignored him and crouched down to see you clearly. You looked back at him and he couldn’t help the empathetic look that came across his face. There was no easy way to say it, that you looked like total shit and he knew it was all his fault. He brought a hand up slowly, inching towards your own that was resting on Denk’s arm. The closer he got you still didn’t pull away or give off that you were going to. Finally he made contact with your hand, you allowing him to take it and hold it in his own.

“Little one, look - this is all a major fucking misunderstanding and I know it doesn’t excuse how I acted, I promise if you give me a chance we’ll talk about it but right now you have to tell me - did that bastard do this?”

You sighed and blinked at him, Kiri already knowing what your answer would be.

“Ei I’m sorry but ... I-I can’t tell you that, you know that!”

“Yes you can and you will! I’m not going to ask you again, now tell me, please!”

Your hand pulled out of Kirishima’s, it was tightening more and more around yours and starting to become painful, your brows furrowed at him as you sat up and refused to back down. 

“Eijirou, I told you I can’t!”

That was it. It was the last straw for Kirishima. 

His fists both hardened before he slammed them down to the concrete below him, his quirk releasing in his face and causing sharp edges to emerge as his teeth bared and he broke.

“Why the fuck not huh?”

Everyone of you winced at the display, Denki clutching you closer and pulling away from Kirishima as the others quickly emerged behind him, all ready to take him down if needed. You whimpered, trembling in his hold as you looked at Kirishima with tears in your eyes, retaliating with your own yells.

“Because he’ll kill you you fucking idiot! He’ll kill every single one of you if he finds out I said anything and he’ll make me watch! You already know too much,” your voice broke from the sheer volume and power behind it as you cried out. 

You removed the arms from around you and pulled away from Denki, stumbling to stand on your own feet and trying to walk back away from all the colorful and worried eyes looking back at you. 

“I shouldn’t even be here, I’m only fucking everything up and putting you in danger, I can’t - I can’t be here.”

As you went to walk away Denki jumped up from the couch, turning to Kirishima and flaring up with currents of electricity before landing a solid kick to his chest and causing Kiri to fall back on his ass, releasing his own quirk.

“I know I didn’t win last time but I fucking swear I’ll kick your ass up and down this warehouse today if I have to!”

Before Kirishima could lunge for Denki, the sound of items crashing caught them both of guard, along with the others, they all looked to see you on the floor, bleeding from a gash in your thigh. Immediately Kirishima was pushing Denki down and running towards you, his heart feeling like it would explode out of his chest at any minute. You sat there on the ground, trying to wipe the blood from the wound and holding up a red hand to stop Kiri when he tried to come closer on his hands and knees before you.

“No, get away, I’m fine I just - bumped into the table and got cut by that shitty nail sticking out. I-I’m fine.”

Kiri reached out only for you to slap his hand away. 

“Baby please,” he breathed out, strained, “you’re f-fucking bleeding, just let me look at it!”

“I said no Eijirou! Just l-let me leave, please. You should’ve stayed hating me.”

Shaking his head, Kirishima reached out again, not caring that you kept trying to push him away with bloody hands that stained his own skin. Your eyes connected and he could tell that you were just as scared as him. Continuously and gently he’d shush at your cries to get away, his hands finally grabbing hold of your forearms as you tried to squirm in his hold. His own red eyes were starting to prick in the corners with tears as he witnessed you so broken down, letting you try and fail to kick and fight him until finally you exhausted yourself with dry sobs and fell into his chest. 

Wasting no time, Kirishima pulled you close, his arms protectively wrapping around you and hand petting your head as he spewed repetitive apologies. Your body shook in his hold, breaking his own heart piece by piece as he cried quietly with you. Watching on, all the other guys took their own time to let their emotions finally surface, sniffles being heard here and there, hands patting backs and squeezing shoulders with reassuring nods and glances to each other.

“Little one, I’ve told you time and time again that I never hated you and I never will. Even I can’t begin to grasp how fucking much I love you. Just hear me out here and let me explain. I know everything I’ve done, in the beginning and today, it doesn’t deserve your forgiveness or kindness, I above all don’t fucking deserve you! I swear on my life though, despite how I acted, not once did I think you could do such a thing, I was just scared and confused and I wanted answers. My emotions just get the best of me and I act out on them, I’m used to having to put fear into people to get my answers and I forget that it doesn’t work like that with others, especially you.”

Kirishima paused to take a breath, to shake his head and press his forehead to yours.

“I shouldn’t have been here pointing a finger because I didn’t know a fucking thing, I should’ve kept my cool and talked to you civilly. I shouldn’t have lost my shit like I did just now but I just want to protect you, that’s all I’ve ever wanted! To keep you safe and with me. The thought of anyone, of him, taking you from me and me never seeing you again - fuck, it scares the shit out of me. Baby ... I can’t let that happen, I won’t let that happen. I-I can’t let you leave, please, just stay here with me. Let me - let us keep you safe ... don’t fucking l-leave me. I’m so sorry, for everything and I’ll-I’ll make it up for the rest of our lives just please s-stay here.”

Your hands clung to the fabric of Kirishima’s shirt, tears drenching the front of it and you hugged him closer. The sound of his heart pounding away inside of his chest rung in your ear, along with his subtle cries. Finally you looked up to him, seeing his already red eyes now red with tears. Your hand came up and wiped away the droplets before cupping his sharp jaw and softly brushing his cheek. Kiri leaned into your touch, letting out a shaking breath.

“I should be apologizing Eijirou, to all of you. I should’ve tried harder to save him. If I had known I would’ve said something, I really mean it. You don’t have to apologize to me, none of you do. You’ve lost someone dear and tragically, I don’t blame you for getting defensive and reacting how you did. If I were in your shoes, I can’t say how I would’ve acted. It’s just as you said, as everyone else said, we’re all scared and confused, that’s it. Fear makes you become irrational at times, I know that more than anyone. I mistook my own fear for love. I want to go, I really do, to save all of you since I couldn’t save him but. .. I’ve already run too far and I feel like he’s found me now and I’m terrified.”

“We’ll protect you,” Shouto spoke as he walked up with first aid supplies in hand. “Always have and always will.”

Next, Deku was making his way to you as well with a warm rag and soft smile on his freckled face, handing it off to Kiri. The red-head took it and started to gently clean your face full of tears while Shouto and Deku worked on patching up your leg. The nail ripped a decent sized hole in your jeans, revealing not only the wound but the burned flesh beneath it. Shouto examined it closely before blinking and asking Deku to grab his phone from beside him and to pull up that morbid picture of Yagi’s deceased body. 

Once Deku did as asked, Shouto looked closely at the picture, there happened to be the same type of burns covering his own body as well. Denki, Sero and Bakugou join to hover around your group on the floor now, all reassuring you that things got out of hand and were misconstrued. You let Shouto finish his task of cleaning the wound before healing it yourself and taking the rag from Kiri to wipe your hands clean from the dried blood.

“I don’t want to brag or anything but I believed you from the very beginning, just saying,” Denki gloated with a charming smile and shrug of his shoulders before Bakugou was taking him under his arm and roughly rubbing his head.

You chuckled and sigh. 

“No guys really, I get it, I would’ve freaked too. But - you did kind of just drag me out here in the middle of BFE with zero context clues.”

“Hey I was just doing what they told me to do, I wanted to tell you everything but I had rules. I’m sorry babe.” Sero held up his hands in defense with a smile.

“I’m still just amazed at the coincidence that you came to our shop of all places. Like that’s fucking fate right?” 

Denki spoke as he pushed Bakugou off of him and fixed his now messy hair.

“It is crazy. I just wanted to make him happy you know, he said to get a tattoo and live my life like I should, so I figured it was the least I could do. Once I got settled somewhere with Toshi’s help, I just Google’d shops in the area and you guys looked much better than those other trap looking shops. I wanted a tattoo, not tetanus.” You replied and smiled, lightening the mood and making everyone have a small laugh.

However Kirishima was still pretty silent. Still holding you in his lap, his hand brushed your hair back as you looked to him and poked his cheek upwards to get a smile. Taking your hand in his, he looked into your eyes and smirked while shaking his head.

“Why - why do you still smile like that? After everything that’s happened, what you’ve been through, what I’ve put you through ... why do you still smile at me?”

You sighed and sat up straighter, leaning closer and placing a kiss to Kirishima’s cheek.

“Because Yagi told me I have a beautiful smile and should wear it proudly and that it tricks the fear inside of you.”

All the men smiled and shook their heads, huffing and puffing, some snorting.

“Of course he’d say some cheesy shit like that before kicking the bucket.” Bakugou chortled and pat the top of Kirishima’s head.

One by one, everyone agreed and started to disperse from the group, Shouto being the last. With a sigh, he got your attention, his eyes looking to the skin of your thigh before up at you.

“The person who did that to you, did they kill Yagi?”

Blinking at him, your hand squeezed around Kirishima’s, his free one came up to rub your back, slowly working away the nerves that were starting to build up again. Turning to look at him you swallowed nervously, eyes asking him what you should do. Kiri only smiled and kissed your cheek, pressing his own to it and talking quietly in your ear.

“It’s up to you little one, no matter what though, you’re safe with us. We’ll protect you, I promise. A simple yes or no will suffice, trust me.”

You mulled over his words for a few seconds before looking back to Shouto. He waited patiently for your answer, something in his eyes letting you know that he already knew the answer himself. This may have been the only chance you had to put this information into good hands without having to directly give that cursed name and giving you a safe way to finally tell the truth. Taking a deep breath you blinked and nodded at Shouto.

“Thank you, that’s all I needed to know.” He replied before standing to his feet.

Kirishima went to do the same, Shouto reaching out a hand and helping you get up as well. His hand moved to cup the side of your neck as he leaned over and kissed the top of your head.

“(Y/N) I just want to apologize for how things happened today, they could’ve went smoother and I hope you can forgive us for the misunderstanding.”

Your head shook at him, hand waving off his apology with a smile. 

“It’s no problem Shouto, really. I understand and now we all have some closure here, I just hope we can get back to normal.”

“Of course we will,” Shouto smiled and looked at Kiri and around the room at the others, catching their attention before he glanced back to you. “I assume you’re wondering what all this is truly about, the ‘tip’ we got. I think it’s about time we told you our own secret.”

Your eyebrow quirked at him before Kirishima cleared his throat, causing you to turn and look at him. He pulled you into his side, wrapping around you before he spoke to his friends.

“I uh - I was actually wanting to tell her on my own, maybe at home after she gets some food in her system and is in a much more comfortable setting. This is something I need to do myself, please if that’s okay with all of you.”

Your arms wrapped around his waist, cheek pressing to his side as you stayed silent and listened on, the rest of the group agreeing. Bakugou stood from his seat, stretching and smirking as he walked over and lightly nudged Kirishima’s shoulder.

“Do what you gotta do Red, just keep your eyes open. One of us will follow you two and make sure you get there safely and scope out the place too before we head off and it’s not a fucking suggestion.”

Kirishima smiled and nodded, agreeing with his friend. 

The blonde himself decided he’d be the one to follow the two of you home, Deku suggesting he tag along as well. Before leaving, you went around to the others, hugging them tight and saying your goodbyes for the evening before heading out of the warehouse and to Kiri’s truck. The red-head helped you up and into the vehicle, grabbing his jacket from the backseat to blanket you in. 

You felt a hand on your cheek and turned to look at him, snow pelting his red hair and dark lashes. Without another word you leaned in closer and connected your lips with his own, instantly feeling his body relaxing at the kiss and a wave of relief crashing over him. His hands moved to cup your face as he deepened the kiss, doing everything he could to convey his feelings with his lips. 

It was cold on the surface but inside yourself was nothing but warmth and that impenetrable force-field that came along with having Kirishima by your side. Hesitantly he broke the kiss at the sound of Bakugou honking his horn, both of you huffing into the cold air with a chuckle as you touched the scar above his eye.

“Let’s go home little one.”

[blackmuzak8484]

nortey dowuona’s best of 2020

to be completely honest, I decided to do this entirely for TSJ. otherwise, I wouldn’t have bothered at all. Best end lists are for music nerds and billboard chart nerds and industry vultures, and i happen to be subscribed, in the discord and in the comments of the youtube vids of these folk. so, i decided to pick 10 out of random from the big best of 2020 i was compiling for the whole of the year, which I was gonna post to this Tumblr at the end of the damn year, but I guess I can just post the link to the playlist in the bottom of this post. Here, i’m gonna write about 10 songs I personally love, and pick out a few artists i specifically loved:

artist of the year.

RAP Ferreira put out his best album and best verses in a year everybody either stagnated, fell off or got rendered irrelevant by the world at large. He was ebullient, hilarious, thoughtful and even surprisingly honest. I enjoyed the fact that now he’s begun to create a real platform for many talented folx, and I hope he continues to do that in the margins and make even more beautiful music in the years to come.

rookie of the year.

Enny by a mile. Everybody else who debuted this year got hamstrung by the pandemic but she created 3 great songs, each thoughtful, insightful and a joy. Apparently she just started publicly releasing music to a large audience, and I hope she gets better and better, and even gets bigger than J-

most pleasant surprise.

Vic Mensa’s V Tape. An artist who I though had no more moves left completely turned around his whole career with a fantastic performance at Lollapalooza, a fantastic fleet of features and tis gorgeously produced EP which had some of his most brilliant songs on it. I love it all, Vic Mensah is well and truly back. Welcome back bro. (ALSO, DROP THE DRILL TRACK.)

GREAT THING A GHANAIAN ARTIST DID.

Strongman Burner, Amarae, Okunta Kinte, Vic Mensah in general.

cool things my friends and classmates did.

Justine Darcenne’s #4TheBaeless. Valencia Rae’s Siren thyhomebodies’s Coming of Age. (Phil, a producer in the group, made his own studio!) Brad built his own computer. petit abri put a track on APT9 Record’s compiliation album Volume II. khaalid anderson’s transitions. (khaalid will also be performing at Beats & Brunch on January 23, 2021 at 11 am.) Yannick Paul’s Bear Fruit. The Big Climax’s This Is Ya Boy kxng jetson’s Waves (ft. Kokko Williams & Mike Mezzl) Nicole Gonzalez performed in The Composer’s Melody. Victoria Marie released a bunch of beaufiful covers on her Insta, @toriiii_marie @ph0ssy_jaw works as a counselor online. Pay her at her PayPal. Johnny Aperano Yoba was on People AND Vogue. Dalitso is a wonderful pianist at his church back home in Zambia. Kobina is a fantastic drummer at his church. Kayla graduated with a BS in Music Technology and Industry! Damian been cookin on his insta. Travis graduated! (Look out for Clan of Dragons.) Rorghino Flores made a documentary! Francis (and Animax FYB) put out Mmofra on AmaLexPrime! (play it with yo kids.) A Hype has been dropping crazy all year, roll by his SoundCloud and check out Persistence Of Memory. Reina H been doing great covers on her Insta, @challenges_inlife. Hannah placed music on C. B. S.

best albums of the year (that nobody’s written about).

Maya Huyana -1991 DaWeirdo - Broke and Ugly $ilkMoney - Attack of the Future Shocked, Flesh Covered, Meatbags of the 85 VI Seconds - Because Why Not/Never Knows Best Erik Cain - Heart & Soul Vol. 2 Dimitri & the Scarecrow - Messenger is Sender (from 2015, finally got released onto streaming this year, still pretty great and another great Zimbabwean rapper for us to all fawn over, just like billy woods) Flowking Stone - Gifted 1 The Hoodies - Incommunicado Jayy Grams - Every Gram Counts Domo Genesis/Mike and Keys - Just in Case1/2 Madwiz - God’s Gold Teeth Maez301 - Hasaan Daara J Family - Yaamatele Dai Burger - Dessert EP TeePhlow - Road To Phlowducation II Tef Poe/Blvck Spade - Preacher in the Trap Terrell Hines - Portal One: The Mixtape redveil - niagara Nyukyung - Trap Harmonix AdrianXpression - Sucka Deante Hitchcock - Better (Deluxe) maassai & jWords - ve.loc.i.ty tobe nwigwe - cincoriginals everything Kelsey Lu did this year.

strangest things happening in music in general.

vic mensah actually making a great record. goldlink going through a narcissistic collapse and winding up making the best music of his career. redveil blowing up off Fantano calling him wack. pharoahe monch finally making a rock pivot and it actually works. meet me@the garden coming 10 years too late for my 14 year old self. RAP Ferreira being in the NYTimes, selling a vinyl record for $72, creating an actual nostrum grocers in a video game so we can listen to his next record. The entirety of the playboi carti phenomenom. The entirety of the lil uzi vert phenomenom. The entirety of Chance’s instagram EP being far more money worthy then the entirety of the Big Day and yet being released on Insta and not immediately monetized. Deante Hitchcock releasing a great album and being completely forgotten armand hammer releasing their underground kings wayyy too early. my ass continually not actually looking into amapiano despite always loving it when I review it. several good songs needing to be tacked on to a prior youtube vid as an ad for me to find them instead of actually listening to the artists. santan dave still releasing good verses after he made his illmatic. (expect his new album to suck.) slowthai becoming cake. (we let that go way too far.) Guapdad and BfB Packman being wonderful. Finding out BfB PAckman is a better rapper than Sada Baby. John Boyega putting on Ego Ella May. Having to admit Young Dolph was good all this time and i missed out like a fool.

best tv performance.

Chance The Rapper’s “A Chi-Town Christmas.” IDK’s “Change The Channel.” Sa-Roc’s Tiny Desk Concert. Chika in general. Robert Glapser’s “This Changes Everything (ft. Denzel Curry).” SZA at the Roots Picnic. Sampa The Great at the Roots Picnic. RAP Ferreira in general. Umi’s “Introspection Live Show.” Alexa Esperanza’s cover of “Is It A Crime.” Bad Bunny in general. the jwords, nappy nina and MIKE performances at Satellite Syndicate

most embarrassing piece of music i love with all my heart

Logic’s No Pressure. In all sense of the words I should not love this album like I love my siblings but I do. It is beautiful.

best 10 songs of this year objectively

1 - RAP Ferriera - An Idea Is A Work Of Art (ft. Mike Ladd) [prod. by Kenny Segal, mr. carmack and Mike Parvizi]

I know, I know. In all honesty Doldrums should be here. Then Noz put it on his best list and I had to be all ChiTown Go-Getter and pick the next better thing: this. And in all honesty, it has the best lyric RAP spits on the album: “we build better answers.” But it’s not just that, it’s RAP’s most animated performance, the most dexterous piece on the whole album and the most gorgeous beat, a loping bassline sliding behind the flatfooted drum, allowing Mike Ladd, his musical father, to gently drift through, saying, “what if royalty depised us?” and knowing the only gold is soul and giving it to all of us, all us maggots and vultures and locusts and weevils, to hold to the light so we can finally see. On the quest to get open and free, we continue.

2 - Chika - U Should [prod. by Lido]

I heard this the night it dropped and shot 2 insta videos playacting as it played. But apart from that, it’s a intimate, beautiful song about getting to know a new lady love, so tenderly sung it might melt and disappear if not held gently, with a sweeping guitar lick and purring trumpets sliding all over the place, Chika softly holding each frayed piece together into a considered, gorgeous piece - wait, she’s talking her shit.

3 - Issa Gold - Boys Don’t Cry [prod. by Kingjet & Sherwyn and Matt Zara]

The only reason this isn’t number one is because it dropped on Christmas Eve. But otherwise, it’s a openheart letter to us all. “it’s a lonely path being different,” Issa says, swimming in the melted ice caps as he once danced happily on the edges of melting glaciers that failed to drown him, looking at the world that keeps hurting his heart, yet he still opens his eyes and smiles, and dances. The heavy drums are so bouncy the whole song suddenly flies, formerly a hidden murmur becoming a bright sunlit flight across the sky so we can all see. I can’t wait to see Tempus, if it’s anything as good as this was.

4 - Deante Hitchcock - Growing Up/Mother God [prod. by Brandon Phillips-Taylor]

In all honesty, “Growing Up” is really not the best song on Better. It’s a sweet, happy song with a smooth, crackling bassline with soft, ghostly synths, but still kinda ok. It’s the song added at the end, “Mother God”, that has warm, sizzling piano chords and gorgeous singing in the back. It’s one of the few time I’ve ever heard a man pay homage to the woman in his life and to the God above while being entirely sincere and not faking the funk. The way he praises his mom, his lady, remembering the women in his family taking care of him and him foolishly neglecting Breonna due to his overburdened mind feels full of details, remembrances, explanations and praises. Plus, it actually makes sense that God, if she exists (she does) is a woman since -

5 - Yana Perrault - whiskey and weed [prod. by slate]

Apparently, Yana Perrault is verified now. Excellent. {YES YES MY GOD YESS}, It means more folks know about how great this song, and Yana herself is. If I had any sense, I would’ve written up 12:21 as the best song of 2018, but such is life. Anyway, we have this smooth, bass heavy slinker with shimmering percussion and lumbering drums about hooking up with a former flame who’s “sober” yet keeps on calling Yana to break their sobriety, “know we ain’t talked in a while but you still know my address,” she wryly mentions. As the beat sprints away under a warm cocoon of accapella echoes, it mirrors a relationship so tenuous it might disappear into the wind. Yet still strong enough to have whiskey on call.

6 - Marlon Craft - Culture Sick Freestyle [prod. by Cormill]

Apparently this was supposed to be a shot at Flex. And since Flex is a woman beater and a lame, good for him. Shouldn’t have even gone on Flex to be honest, but then again neither should Jay Critch or Tyler or Black Thought and besides, I watch those freestyles too. And on the freestyle, Marlon frankly put things in perspective. “You don’t want us to better, you just want to be cool still.” This describes all of rap media to be real. And tellingly, it only has 310,000 views. Methinks nobody really wants real. But I do. Thank u Marlon, you continue to be the best white rapper alive. (Nowhere near the best rapper tho, and if Token hadn’t fell off -)

7 - Miah - Cascades [prod. by Cedes]

I’m sideeyeing the boy Miah cuz I had to search up his Audiomack to find the producer’s name (it’s Cedes, and they have a really great avalanche of Drake Type Beats is you like that kind of thing). Were you trying to trick folk into thinking you produced it yourself? You don’t need to do that shit. Especially since you’re writing stuff like “back in high school all my peers were tryin to hit the league / until the league too far from reach so they tap dancing over beats.” When you can frankly break down life that clearly, don’t be trying to hide producer’s names unless you actually learn to produce too. Plaster your name all over that shit.

8 - Justine Darcenne - Off Days [prod. by Mikhail Miller] / Enny - Peng Black Girls (ft. Amia Brave [prod. by Paya]

Justine is indeed my classmate, but that’s not why this song is here. it’s here because it’s a nice little guitar driven song with a spellbinding bridge that’s the best thing I’ve heard her do yet. And I’mma keep it short cuz I already wrote this up at the Singles Jukebox.

Enny released this soft, cushiony record with washed out synths over bulky drums and floated FLOATED over them without even trying to run in the tar, saying frankly, “He said to me, 'they put guns in the streets, that’s what they wanted for me.’ And I said, ‘G, someone can fix you a plate but no one can force you to eat.’” After all, why not try to live for something greater than what the world has expected you to be. And Amia sings, “We’re gon be alright, ok?” with the joy and excitement of someone realizing the words coming alive on their tongue. One of the best songs of this miserable year, and it’s kinda funny watching Jorja accidentally Drake out Amia and even Enny (and by funny I mean irritating.)

9 - Tobi Lou - okay (ft. Dreezy) [prod. by Matteo Woods & Dilip]

Fun fact: Dilip did some great songs with Otxhello, a producer who recorded and mixed 2 records on my first album. That again is not why this song is here. The warm, swinging synths and heavy, bouncy drums are why this is here. Oh, and Tobi’s goofy, silly lyrics and his surprisingly effective Missy Elliott tribute are great too. But obviously, the verse that vaulted this into top 10 was Dreezy, which opens with such a openhearted line, “i can’t help it, it’s too hard to say I’m sorry.” And every line is harder than the last, until she closes with “and I ain’t talkin frontals but we got the city sown up.” Absolutely amazing.

10 - Strongman Burner - Pilolo (ft. KelvynBoy) [prod. by Nixie]

The sweet, gooey synths are poured over the soft, zipping and smooth drums as the wiry bass whirls between Kelvyn’s soft, thin crooning as Stoneman tap dances over the drums, both desperate and defiant, trying to salvage a sinking relationship that he knows is already gathering coral and snappers. It’s the best afropop song of the year and yet it still has a Nigerian on it (well, I put 4 Nigerians on here, next year I’m rectifying that.) And they even did a song together last year , not as good as this. At all. (still pretty good tho.)

best 10 songs i love (but not enough to write full paragraphs for, I already put 10 in and this is already 5 goddamn pages)

11 - Logic - Heard ‘Em Say

best song on the project that isn’t Dadbod but at least it isn’t tempting fate.

12 - Deqn Sue - Creep

I already love this for having a gorgeous bridge, and is cute af. Yes Sue, you can creep.

13 - Quelle Chris & Chris Keys - Sudden Death/ka - i love {moms, mimi, kev}

QUELLE CHIS CAN SANG SANG./ka can heart heart write.

14 - IDK - Square Up (ft. Juicy J)

I don’t know why this is here either but this slaps regardless.

15 - Nappy Nina - Modestly (ft. Maassai)

Maassai is creating some of the best raps out here. so is Nappy Nina.

16 - Kehlani - Lexii’s Outro (ft. Lexii Ajaii)

Let’s celebrate our great rappers when they’re alive (and this includes me. Pls Chika, don’t win Best New Artist.)

17 - Samad Savage - Goodnight

What Travis Scott should’ve tried to be instead of what he is now. Samad still dope af regardless.

18 - Bad Bunny - Si Veo Tu Mama

The way Bad Bunny actually hits that last note makes me feel so excited and alive.

19 - Fat Tony - Back In The Saddle

I fucked up. But I’m getting back in the saddle, back in the saddle next year. NO NIGERIANS ALL NIGERIENS. #ENDSARS tho.

20 - Lady A - the truth is loud

Why am I the only one who has this on a best list? I have 34 bot followers. Vibe, step it up.

best of 2020 music right here folxs.

worst music things of the year:

The Pop Smoke album. Just in all areas. (Better win that Grammy tho.) Travis Scott in general. (So loud and empty and boring.) Big Sean’s Detroit 2. (why does this exist? Just put out Deep Reverence and Detroit Night Cypher and leave everything on the cutting room floor fo the next album.) Remembering all the great rappers who are dead or incarcerated. No Kendrick album (just leaks. Not good enough.) J. Cole and Noname beefing and Noname getting strung up by twitter. Jay Rock pushing being anti-vaccinations. The realization that Normani might never drop a single record ever again. Tory Lanez in general. Joyner Lucas making actually good songs and falling off almost immediately. Cardi B in general. Anything positive being said about steven Universe songs. Luzamity shipping (until it’s canon please stop! Willuz is RIGHT THERE!)