#'Signals' is a fuckin' bop

[nohalosinhell-archive]

"Would anyone else I've fucked like to sing a song about what a piece of shit I am?"

[w3ath3r-0f-sw34t3rz]

˗ˏˋ cavetown songs. ´ˎ˗

i just wanna talk about em

this is home 💭 (what do you want from me? this song isn't even real it makes me feel The Most. the first note and i have ascended into the heavens above. there are no words)

just add water 🦕 (makes me feel like i'm underwater)

banana bread 🐝 (underrated. i hope you're alright i didn't wanna wake up last night but i quite liked the dream i had of holding your hand? oh my god it goes so hard)

talk to me ☎️ (the hug that i need)

boys will be bugs 🐛 (gender👍)

sweet tooth 💞 (BANGER this is what alchohol SHOULD taste like FORUUUUMYHONEYYDEWWW)

smoke signals ✨ (underrated AS ALL HELL. so fricken beautiful)

sharpener 🩹 (i have issues)

grocery store 🪫 (SO ME CODED FR)

we're alive 🪦 (theres a fire on my floor telling me to sleep some more. chilling and yet comforting in a way only cavetown can be)

hazel 🌙 (i wake up with this in my head often. there's just something about it)

devil town 👻 (it's devil town)

snake & the prairie dogs 🐍 (AUUGGGHHHHHH DIRTINYOURHEADNYOUDONTKNOWHOWTOGETITOUT vibe tm)

trenchh 🐚 (nobody anywhere has anything on this chorus)

nostalgia in my bedroom 🌸 (such vibe tm)

lavaicerink 🧊 (vibe tm)

sliipping lately 📼 (bop. and vibe tm.)

it's u 🌌 (my wedding song idc. ifufalldown2far&icantseeuthrutheesmarks&ureyesrcoveredinscars&myheadisfillingw/tardwwellfindanotherwayoutursilhouettedoesntlookquiteright&icanneverfindthetime2burymyhandsinwordsidgrowanewkindofevergreentreejust4u&meon2ndthoughtswilluevenrememberme.)

big bowl in the sky 🪽 (makes me throw myself on my dog and sob every time)

888 📀 (👏trapped👏in👏my👏tiny👏human👏brain👏 IF I MOVE MY HANDS FAST ENOUGH I WONT DIE???!?!??!?!"?!? BRO?!?#??#!?@)

poison ☠️ (i feel like i'm lying in the middle of the road in the rain at dusk and something is coming and i should be afraid yet i know everything is gonna be ok)

pigeon 🩻 (ya novel main character moment)

pyjama pants 💤 (my love language)

empty bed 🧸 (oof. this. this gets to me)

guilty 🦴 (insane bro just so good)

a kind thing to do 🌱 (OH MY GOD??? HUH??!?? the way this fuckin song tickles my soul)

wasabi 🧦 (wow. huh)

i swear to god 🦇 (aughhgh it's sog ood. so sgoodfs. sog)

juno 🐾 (one of my favorite things about cavetown is how many songs he has talking about connections with animals. that is just something so personal to me and this song in particular i just relate to on such a deep level)

juliet 💐 (shit he is so pretty.)

ty for ur time

[somereaderinblue]

I now I'm bombarding you with asks at this point BUT I really wanted you to be witness to my Kane's Kitchen crew brainrot dkdkd (mainly ocs, so don't read if you you're not into it!! Just being silly sjsjs)

Look,

the crew down at Kane's Kitchen is a tough one; every single inch in that place screams rock and roll, classic Chicago scene. You could see Escobar clearly smoking in a corner with Al Capone and not question it.

And the crew? Man.

Man, did Mikey have a trip...

Ricky smells like a man; Mikey's been around them all his life, from foster home to foster home.

Some are clean shaven and cologne riddled and hide the evil behind their eyes just fine. Some smell like poverty. Ricky, with his faux Gold around his neck, and Gotham knights shirt, and his smile like a razor blade smells like both.

It's a bit surprising his favourite bat is Black Bat.

Tweety's name isn't really Tweety-- Mikey thought it was, and TJ laughed till he choked on his cigarette, -- his name's actually Jean St. Bordeaux, but he says its a mouthful, and no one pronounces it correctly anyway.

He doesn't know why; He's very quiet. Quieter than Mikey, who's too afraid to talk on a good day, but be talks through cakes, and they understand eachother. He wears SPOILER merch to piss Ricky off.

Trina scares him; Plain and simple. Chi Chi says that's a good thing. Men would be better if they feared women more.

She's like Gotham; She's beautiful and old and deadly and doesn't forgive weakness. She notices cutting meat grosses him out, and puts Mikey on the grill until his skin smells like roast and smoke. She's Spanish, --

", cabron, -- don't go around saying that Hispanic Individual bullshit. You're gonna get the shit beat out of you."

Mikey blushes, hiding his gaze in the bucket of onions he's been chopping for a few hours.

She smells like fresh bread and spices and faint fruit soap one of his foster mothers used. " Your eye don't hurt?"

" No. I mean, -- I cry a lot, so I don't really, -- I don't really notice."

"Huh. Gotta teach me that sometime."

Her favourite is red hood; it's pretty accurate.

" saved my dumbass son from gettin' locked up," she snorts, but that little silver of fondness slips to the surface and gives her away, " Told me you got your ass kicked when he got jumped. Tryna check out early?"

"No. But it wasn't-- it wasn't fair."

She takes him off the grill and shares her cigarettes with him after, even if he always turns them down.

" who's your favorite?"

He has to think about it. Everything about Mikey is so new, and clueless, and not exactly made for this place. But when you walk in Gotham, you don't walk out. So he better get used to it.

"...Robin and Signal."

Ricky snorts, which isn't a surprise-- his purpose in life is to make Mikey's hell, it seems. " Course shorties pick eachother. What, you got a problem with young women being superheroes or something?"

" No! No, I--"

" cause that's very small dick energy of you, pipsqueak "

" ignore him, " tweety's voice is like whiskey when he messes up Ricky's grill, " His daughter's showing him new slang."

" Uh, yeah, cause she's a fuckin', like, English innovator."

Chi Chi smirks a little bit. " Ricky."

Two hands up, a symbol of surrender.

" who's TJ's favorite?"

"What, isn't it obvious?" She smiles, looking over at the man, -- Mikeys not sure what they are. They do what's conventionally established as ' boyfriend girlfriend things' (he wouldn't know, he never had one) and looking at them when they kiss or hug or laugh makes him embarassed in a fond way.

A corner girl went Into labor while Batman and Two Face were destroying their joint. They took her to the hospital with no argument.

TJ's talking to that little person like it gets him. Hand gestures, teasing jabs, bopping them on their nose.

He talks to Mikey the same.

"It's Batman."

I am honored to be witness to this dirt-crusted golden AU.

Ricky sounds like the guy strangers are sus with but friends would trust to get drunk around bcz he'll take the secrets that matter to you to his grave. He likes Black Bat and I wholeheartedly approve. Man has taste.

Idk why but I vibe with Tweety. Can't blame Mikey for thinking that's his actual name. Name purgatory is a thing, yk.

Trina, she can step on me and I'd thank her. That's all imma say. Absolute queen and TJ knows it.

Mikey seems to lowkey embody the Audience Surrogate trope but unlike some characters, he doesn't come off as a burden. The babygirl is a little wet behind the ears but he manages to keep up. Kinda like a cub in the wild. Yeah, it's a literal adorable baby but its in the wild and adapting is just wired in its bones.

Far as I'm concerned, Gordon Ramsay's got nothing on TJ.

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

Agrippina (Drottningholm, 2021): Reactions, Part II

let’s continue now

rivals to lovers (“savannah—“ they’re fruity. come on now.)

is it really a handel production if the singers don’t dance during their arias (and they have every right to! the man knew how to write a bop)

bros being bros

okay this is actually really cute

wind machine person is having a BLAST back there

twinsies

we love instrumentalists in the boxes!!!

well the whole world bows before that VERY GOOD LOW NOTE

wild goose chase

now let’s all make a sycophant—er, compliment line

poor confused bb

oof

well nerone that’s one way of doing it

when the entire rest of the cast makes callout posts about you

a little masterpiece

it’s giving pride and prejudice vibes

fair enough

MOOD LMAOOOOOOOOOOO

her voice is like butterscotch (also i love this aria)

actual footage of me after i figured out how to fake being asleep as a kid

oops

beware poppea with a weapon

“you trusted AGRIPPINA???????? you’re not that dumb”

“fiiiiiiiiiiiiine i won’t kill you then”

yes

congratulations for actually figuring that out

“fool me once…”

be careful what you wish for; it may happen immediately

y’know, it’s funny because this is one of the spiciest libretti ever and it was litchrally written by a cardinal

it’s not planking (see met 2020 staging of the same aria) but i’ll take it!

(also the flapping the toga around is ENTIRELY understandable i would do it too)

this orchestral introduction is a vibe to me specifically

I LOVE THIS ARIA (and that dress omg)

✨it’s a mental breakdown✨ *insert kazoo*

“i fucked up didn’t i”

“nope i am TOO SMART AND CUNNING AND GIRLBOSS TO FUCK UP”

a kiss can blow you away

“this is totally fine and normal”

Couple Of The Year (not)

so close…

“not in front of the wifey! don’t do the bawdy hand signals where my wifey-wife can see”

annnnnnnnnnnnd there it is

ANOTHER ARIA I FUCKIN LOVE

mother-son vibing times

surely there will be no more hijinks or obstacles!

…oh wait, there’s still another act

(which will be liveblogged later today most likely)

[cuddlesslut]

Part Eight: Hope

Atsumu x fem reader , Suna x fem Reader, Hinata x Fem reader

A/N: I’m so sorry it took so long to put out this chapter I’m gunna try to do better on posting faster. I’ve had a lot of stuff happening irl. I love see so many of your write in for the poll 😂 I did not expect Sakusa to pop off! I hope y’all like this chapter. Again it’s still kind of short but I wanted to get it posted. Also you can’t convince me Hinata doesn’t use an all in one cleanser!

Warning: crude language, not much angst, some fluff.

Part Seven: Regrets

Hinata stared at his phone questioning whether he should message you again. It had been four days since you ran out of his apartment. You had yet to respond to any of his texts. As concerned as he is he knows no good will come from spamming you. Although he wants nothing more than for you too talk to him. He was so confused where you both stood. But he was sure of one thing, and that was that things couldn’t go back to the way they were before. He can’t go back to pushing down his feelings and pretending he doesn’t want to be more. That he didn’t want to call you his and show you off to the world. To take you out on dates try new experiences and make memories with you. He can’t keep acting like he doesn’t dream of waking up to you in his arms every morning. He wants to be there with you every step in life and support you no matter what. He wants to show you that you are the most amazing woman he’s ever known. As much as the sex is amazing it’s not worth holding back anymore. He knows you may still not be ready for a relationship and he wouldn’t think about pressuring you into one after how horribly your last ended, he’d gladly wait for you to be ready but he has to be honest with his feelings instead of torturing himself.

The sound of his alarm snapped him out of his daze. Time to get ready for practice, he groaned pulling himself from the comfort of his bed before heading to the shower to start his day. He shuffled in the bathroom hooking up his phone to his Bluetooth speaker starting up with morning playlist beginning his morning routine. He loved jamming in the shower. He turned the water on letting the heat build as he brushed his teeth before climbing into the steaming shower bopping his head to the beat of silhouette by Kana-boon having to refrain himself from attempting to naruto running in the slippery bath. He stood there for a moment enjoying the heat hitting his back and loosening his muscles. Losing himself in the music as he grabbed his three in one, body wash, shampoo and conditioner. He scrubbed his hair and body screaming the lyrics to the next song. “Sawaras nai kimi wa shojo wa na no Boku wa yarichinbitchi no osu da yo !!,” he was jamming out when the song was interrupted by the sound of a notification. He thought nothing of it figuring it was just Bokuto-San. When the chimes continue his curiosity won out as he peeked out passed the curtain still covered in bubbles to see who was spamming his phone. His eyes grew wide as he saw your name lighting up his notifications. He rushed for his phone loosing his balance and slamming the shower wall to keep himself from falling on his ass as he scrambled out still dripping and soapy as he stood in bathroom unlocking his phone.

YN-Chan 🧡: Hey Shoyo

YN-Chan🧡: you’re usually up by now so I thought I’d message you to say I’m soo soo sorry for how I ran out the other day.

YN-Chan🧡: honestly I should have messaged you days ago but I’ve just been dealing with a lot . It’s no excuse but still I’m sorry.

YN-Chan 🧡: look I totally understand if you don’t want talk to me after how I acted but if you do I was hoping we could get together and talk?

Hinata could see the text bubble at the bottom showing she was typing but he wasted no time pulling up the call button needing to here your voice. It rang two times before connecting. His heart clinched hearing your soft hello.

“Hey Sho,” you answered.

“Hey there YN-Chan,” he greeted back.

He could here a sense of nervousness in your tone. “Hey sorry if interrupted anything.” He realized how hard he was breathing from excitement and from nearly dying trying to escape his shower.

“Oh no no, its fine I wasn’t busy,” he feigned nonchalance. There was a beat of silence as you both searched for words.

“Umm you had said you wanted to talk?” He questioned. He was really concerned for why you ran off that day.

“Oh yeah but I’d much rather talk in person, is there anyway we could get together soon I understand if you’re busy,”

“I’m free tonight,” he cursed himself for how desperate he sounded, “uhh do you want to come over tonight?”

You chuckled at his eagerness. “If it’s okay with you maybe we could go out... to like dinner maybe,” his heart froze his mind reeling with excitement you had never gone out before. Always just opting to have food delivered and eating in. He couldn’t help but let his hopes rise.

“I know it’s not what we usually do so I get if you’re uncomfor-”

“I’d love to!” He cuts you off. Not wanting to miss this chance.

“A-awesome um is 7:30 good for you?” You questioned.

“Yep!” He could feeling his heart soaring as the plans started to solidify.

“Great well I’ll message you all of the details later, bye Sho umm I’ll see you tonight.”

“Goodbye YN-Chan, can’t wait!” He heard a small laugh leave your lips before the line disconnected. There is a wide smile spread across his face as leaning against the wall next to him not even upset that his shower water was now starting to run cold.

Hinata’s day was instantly better with thought of seeing you tonight the Idea of having a date with you filled him with joy. Everyone could see the difference in the outside hitter today compared to the last few practices. It’s was like he was in the zone. He was all over the court making the cleanest receives and his spikes were just so on point. It was time for there first water break and stretch. He sat on the bench taking a gulp of water a big smile present on his face when he checks his phone to see a message with a restaurant address. His teammates shared a look at the way the ginger stared at his phone.

“What’s got you so happy Hinata?” Sakusa questioned.

“Yeah Sho you’ve been on fire today plus you won’t stop smiling at your phone!” Bokuto boasted wrapping an arm around his newest teammate.

“That obvious huh?” Hinata grinned. “Well uhh the girl I’ve been talking to wants to go on a date tonight!”

“Oh yeah?” Atsumu smirked “the same girl that’s been marking up yer back recently?” Bokuto and the Setter busted into laughter when Hinata’s faced turned red. Sakusa rolled his eye at the childish behavior.

“Uh haha yeah that’s the one,” he chuckled rubbing the back of his head.

“Well if you’re already fuckin her why are you getting all giddy over a date?” The setter asked

“We’ve actually never been on date before,” Hinata admitted.

“Damn Sho, first date! Why’d you wait so long dude?” Bo wondered.

“Really Hinata-Kun I didn’t take you for the casual sex type,” Sakusa stated

“She’s a friend but I’ve like her pretty much since we met but she’s just not ready for a relationship,” he explains “ she has some bad history but we kept fooling around as friends. I’m so excited cause she asked if I wanted to get dinner so I’m hoping maybe she’s starting to open up to the idea.”

“Ha well good luck then bro,” Bokuto smacked him on the back laughing. The rest of them agreed in the well wishes before the whistle blew signaling the end of their break.

They resumed their intense training. Right now focusing on their serves and some indurance training. The coaches were wearing them out today going over and over drills. Soon enough they were in the locker room showering up a bit and changing as they got ready for their lunch break before they’d have to return to practice. The locker room filled with chatter as they discussed different plays they wanted to work on or where they wanted to grab lunch. There conversation was interrupted when one of the coaching assistants poked their head in.

“Miya-San your fiancé is here to see you, she waiting by the gym entrance.” He stated before turning to leave. All eyes were on the setter when he dropped his phone a look of shock present on his face. His mind was going a mile a minute he was so sure he miss heard the man . There was no way you were here. He stood up rushing to finish getting dressed. There was a pressure in the room he was ignoring some of his teammates sharing a confused look.

“I didn’t know you had a Fiancé Tsumu?” Hinata asked excitedly as the team started following behind the setter.

“That’s because he doesn’t,” Sakusa stated bitterly. Atsumu shot a dirty look back at the wing spiker.

“She left him months ago before you joined the team Shoyo-Kun, she’s are really nice girl though always brought us the best snacks when she’d visit,” Bokuto explained his hungry mind straying as he thought back to her delicious cooking.

“Oh I’m sorry Atsumu,” Hinata apologized.

“Don’t he deserved it,” Sakusa scoffed.

The setter paid no mind to comment there was no point in getting angry with the neat freak he was completely right. It didn’t matter at the moment what mattered was seeing you. He stopped in his tracks when he saw you standing there. You were even more beautiful than he remembered. You were looking at your hands picking at your nails. He could see you were nervous. So was he. What was he supposed to say he knew he owed you an apology and much more but it felt like he couldn’t breath looking at you. You looked up at him your eyes locking. There was a look he couldn’t quite pin point. It wasn’t exactly a look of hated which it was what he expected but it also nothing like the looks of love he used to receive. He didn’t even realize the boys had stopped behind him watching the scene. His eyes only focused on you and nothing else.

That is until he hears a sharp breath from behind him as Hinata called out your name. Bokuto and Sakusa’s eyes snapped to the ginger some confusion present. Atsumu however didn’t look away from you not even when you gaze shifted from the setter to his teammate. This look in your eyes he could distinguish. It was one you used to look at him with. It shattered Atsumu as he realized right then you were the woman Hinata had been talking about. It obvious when he saw a similar look of happiness on Shoyo’s face. It felt like a kick to the gut. An array of emotions swirling through his mind. He was hurt to think you moved on. Disgusted as he thought back to his earlier convo with the man and how they had discussed the scratches on his friends back and now realizing how they were from you. He felt like he was going to puke thinking of his teammate with you in that intimate way. But he knew he had no right to feel this way not after all he put you through so he pushed those emotions deep inside. Returning to the moment.

“Hi Sho,” you gave a small smile as you shuffled nervously in your spot.

“I thought we were getting dinner? We can switched to lunch if you need to tho.” He stated.

Sakusa and Bokutos eyes grew wide finally coming to the same conclusion the setter previously had. Sakusa had to stifle a laugh as Bo muttered “oh shit” under his breath at the awkward situation.

“Um actually Shoyo, I’d still like to get dinner with you. I know this must seem really confusing, and I promise to explain everything tonight, but uhh.. I actually here to see Miya-San.” You explain sheepishly.

Atsumu tried not to flinch at the use of his last name.

You turned to the blonde with a stoic face. “Can we get lunch, we really need to talk.” He nodded not knowing how to use his voice.

You turned back to Hinata with a pleasing look. “I’ll call you later before our date, Sho.” Before turning to leave with Tsumu.

Hinata may be beyond confused right now not yet connecting the dots. But that didn’t matter he couldn’t stop his heart from skipping. Date. It’s a date. He wasn’t overthinking or wishing hopefully. It was an actual date with you! The woman he can’t get out of his mind. And that one little comfort was enough for him to trust the situation as he watched you walk away.

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[i-dont-want-your-hysteria]

The Hangover (Def Leppard x Reader)

(Happy birthday to my blog!! To celebrate 3 years of the place where I concentrate my insane Leppard obsession, I thought I’d celebrate by posting the FIRST Def Leppard fanfic I EVER wrote ((which I have NEVER posted anywhere before!)) I began writing this exactly 3 years ago today- the day I made this blog ((February 19th, 2018))- and officially finished it about a year later. This is not intended as a romantic/sexual fic, it’s simply just an x reader in which the reader is basically one of the guys. In other words, it’s on crack.)

((I am aware this is kind of cringe-worthy at times... but I still like a lot of things about it. While I revised it very slightly before queuing it,  I was still 16 when I started writing this, okay... gimme a break...))

(Illustration by @paper-sxn​)

Words: 8,684 Prompt: Dublin, 1984. You’re with the Leppards in their early pre-Hysteria era house. You all wake up with hangovers after a boozed-up night at home, and you each try to put the pieces of the previous night back together. Meanwhile, you’re praying that one particular piece won’t fit in anywhere... (partially inspired by the “Blitzgiving” and “The Pineapple Incident” episodes of How I Met Your Mother)

-----

Gently piercing white light made its way through the windows of the bedroom. It hit your eyelids, and it hit your brain, igniting a brief but killer headache. As your eyes clasped together more, you turned your face into the gloriously soft pillow. For a second you asked yourself why you would have a headache so early in the morning, but then…

You laughed quietly into the bed, recalling without warning some vague happenings from the night before. There wasn’t much you remembered, but you clearly saw the image of the guys flat out drunk at some point (you along with them). There were some blips of you all singing together, Sav hanging from a door frame, you chugging some scotch, Joe chugging some vodka, Steve’s hair being in pigtails, and you think Phil might’ve been giving you a lap dance... or vice versa. It was, all in all, hysterical (at least- that’s what you wanted to think).

 Other than those faint events, unfortunately, the night was gone. Still, you were thrilled that it happened. Crazy times with your boys were always good.

You rubbed your eyes, ready for more sleep to combat the pounding in your head. When you did, they opened a little, and you realized… this wasn't your room you were in. Squinting around, you noticed that you were sleeping in Phil’s room instead of yours.

Oh, it’s not that much of a problem, you mused, I’m sure he doesn’t mind. I’ve woken up to worse in this place.

You let your eyes close again easily, and you found peace as you began to fall under again. That is, until you felt someone move next to you.

When it happened, you became aware of the warmth coming from someone else in the bed. They only shifted in their sleep a little bit before going still again. Your eyes went wide, and you held your breath. You don’t remember getting into bed with someone (in fact, you don’t remember getting into bed at all). Turning your head, you looked to see what sort of stranger was in bed with you currently. Instead of a stranger, scraggly blonde hair over a kind and shy face met your sight, and you were instantly calmed upon realizing that it was just Steve. That was good, that was good, but why were you and Steve sleeping in Phil’s bed? You were sure you didn’t have sex last night- at least, not with Steve. This tiny moment of appeasement and confusion was cut short by the faint sound of guitar chords coming from downstairs. The music echoed to your ears, signaling that it had to be Phil, and that he was playing the opening to Bringin On the Heartbreak. Cautiously taking the covers off you- not wanting to wake Steve- you felt obliged to go to the other guitarist. When you stood up and began walking, you nearly fell forward from the sudden vertigo of your hangover. You had to hold onto the counter of Phil’s dresser for extra support, and that’s when your reflection in his mirror caught your eye. Not only that, but that’s when your outfit also caught your eye. One of the guys’ Union Jack tank tops had been slipped over you somehow, and two hand prints were on either side of your face in dried paint; one was blue, one was green. "What…?“ you whispered, touching your face and feeling the shirt on you. It seemed to fit you alright, which made you wonder whose it really was. You were also in black underwear, and nothing else. While eyeing yourself, you took notice of Steve in the reflection. You now saw a few big red lipstick stains on his face, untouched and unsmudged. It was pretty cute, you had to admit, but another thing that came to your attention was that it wasn’t you who was wearing the lipstick at the moment. So then who kissed Steve all over his face? You treaded carefully down the hallway, putting one foot in front of the other and dragging a hand on the wall for support. The melody of the distant guitar didn’t cease the whole time you trekked through the house to get to Phil. When the chords of the song dragged on to the part where the vocals should have begun, no vocals came. Everything in the house looked remarkably the same (despite everything you remember from last night). There were large, ripped pieces of cardboard in the middle of the hallway;  scattered out as if leaving a trail. Alongside that, there was a piece of paper labeled “pay 2 the orerr of Rick: one fuckin bendee straw” in what may have been Sav’s handwriting on top of the stairs, and blue paint smudged on the railing going downwards (guaranteeing that whoever did that eventually got to your face, too).

Step by step you descended as the scenery of the house teetered around you (a little too reminiscent of Me & My Wine, you would add). When you reached the bottom of the stairs and looked into the living room, sure enough, Phil was there, strumming away.

“But it’s easy come and easy go…” he hummed.

“You’re…” you mumbled, burped a little, and continued, “Awake. How?” He stopped playing and crossed his arms, quietly sassing you, “Ah, she rises again. You regrettin’ anything yet?” You blinked and rubbed your eyes, scratching a little bit of paint off of your face and inquiring in a scratchy, tired tone, “I guess so… but- how? You, how?” Phil took off his guitar and stood up with his hands in his pockets, “Because I barely drank at all last night, and I also sure as hell didn’t shag Steve in someone else’s bed!” “How do you mean- I didn’t- wait- and Steve- what?” you rubbed your head, getting dizzy, causing Phil to guide you to the couch. “I didn’t- I didn’t shag Steve last night,” you insisted. “Mm hmm,” the guitarist hummed disapprovingly, “Alright.” “What the hell are you on about?” Phil smirked evilly and laughed, “He carried you upstairs, we heard the door close, and then some rather happy noises were heard, so we all just assumed-!” “That’s not-” you swallowed and lay your head back on the couch, “-a valid assumption.” “Oh, you poor thing,” came the sarcastic remark, “You really don’t remember, do you?” “Well I figured if I ever fucked any one of you I would- you know- remember it!” you raised your voice at him, then rubbed your temples. “I’m touched, really. But I’ll fill you in a bit,” Phil yanked up his guitar he’d put down, placed himself next to you, and played the into to “Ballroom Blitz”. Then a bit of the night came back to you. “Oh... that’s what started it all, didn’t it?”

~The night before~ Rick began banging out a tune on his drum kit in the house with you, Sav, and Steve sitting close by, them being at the ready with their guitars. “You ready, Steve?” you mimicked the original lyrics. “Uh-huh,” he replied exactly like Steve Priest in the original song. “Savy?” you said next. “Yeah,” Sav bopped his head to the beat. “Rick?” “Okay.” “Alright, fellas,” you called out, “Let’s go!” The two guitarists let their instruments ring out around the house, playing the all-too-familar tune. As soon as they started this, the front door opened, and none other than Phil and Joe walked in. Joe was holding a bag that was weighed down by the mass inside it (a painfully obvious sign that there were a few bottles of booze). Although the two of them weren’t talking, they were physically hushed upon hearing the situation you and the others had created. “Oh life’s been getting so hard, living with the things you do to me…” you sang lowly and quietly along with the music being made, just to make sure the musicians knew their places. You noticed Phil run out of the room in excitement, and into the one where he keeps his guitars. Joe, on the other hand, stayed put and watched the rest of you from afar, fighting a smile. “My dreams are getting so strange, I’d like to tell you everything I see…” You stood up, and Joe began walking towards you when you called out the next line of the song, “Oh- I see a man in the back, as a matter of fact, his eyes are as red as a sun!” Joe chimed in without warning at the next line, putting an arm on your shoulder and pointing at you, “And the girl in the corner, let no one ignore her, ‘cos she thinks she’s the passionate one!” *** “It’s, it’s a ballroom blitz, it's, it's a ballroom blitz,” Phil sang the ending teasingly to you when he put his guitar back. It felt like he was rubbing his energy in your face (since you lacked it). Before Phil could continue, Joe suddenly appeared in the doorway. “Yeah! It’s a ballroom blitz!” he announced, throwing his arms into the air and taking a bow. He sounded a bit tipsy still. Joe was wearing his Union Jack shorts, but no shirt. Instead of a shirt, though, he had the words “PROPERTY OF DEF LEPPARD” sloppily painted across his chest in blue and green paint. Right over his nipples there were also two handprints, almost exactly matching the ones on your face. Joe stumbled in the doorway, falling to his knees and groaning in discomfort, “Ohh... probably should’ve stayed in bed.” Phil sluggishly trekked over to the singer and pulled him partially to his feet, yanking him towards the couch, “Oh yeah? And by ‘bed’, you mean-?” “Definitely not the bathtub.” Joe assured him, but winked at you. “No matter where you slept, it’s still not as bad as where she slept,” Phil pointed at you, “And what she did there.” “Why? What’d you do?” Joe’s tipsiness wore away in his sentence, making him sound genuinely concerned and curious. You rolled your eyes, knowing exactly what Phil was going to say, “Phil, I-” “It’s not what she did, it’s who she did- she shagged Steve in my bed!” the guitarist accused you again while pointing a finger. Immediately Joe exclaimed, “Nice!” and held up a hand to high-five you. “Joe!” you scolded him, surprised that he took this as good news. “Oh-uh, not… nice?” he took away the offer of a high-five and scratched the back of his head awkwardly instead, “Also, is that my shirt?” You took a look down at the Union Jack tank top you were wearing and back at Joe’s torso. Then something clicked in your head. “Ohh…” you continued staring at Joe’s chest, feeling yourself blush as old memories unraveled in your head, “I think... I think I remember something else that happened last night.” *** You were all drunk; it was no lie. After your quick jam session, there was a booze-filled music fest going on in the house. Joe had even put on his Union Jack outfit, pretending he was getting ready for a show. At one particular point of this “festival” you'd all created, records were being played, and you ended up dancing in front of Joe to REO Speedwagon’s “Take It On the Run”. “You’re bringing up your white lines, you’re pullin’ on a bedroom eyes, you say you’re going home, but I won’t say when,” you sang the wrong lyrics as you swayed and drunkingly made flirty faces at Joe on the couch. Sav, meanwhile, was playing with some old craft paint off in the corner. The blue and green substances were all over his hands (but somehow, one color managed to stay on each hand). “Yeah, you dance for him, Y/N!” Rick cheered you on from the kitchen as Steve and Phil sat on the couch. Phil was perfectly sober, and Steve was giggling and laying with his head on Phil’s lap. You, on the other hand, were now moving closer to the singer, almost like you were giving him a lap dance. “You take it on the run, baby,” you sang along, slowly taking Joe’s Union Jack tank top off of him (with no objections from below), “If that’s the way you wanna, baby...” In return to Joe being shirtless, you slowly took off your own shirt (triggering wolf-whistles and cheers from the guys) to replace it with Joe’s tank. “Sav, mark him up!” you ordered the painted bassist in the corner as you tried to dress yourself. He happily made his way over to you and questioned, “What should I mark him with?” A single hazy idea came to you, and you eagerly whispered it into Sav’s ear. He giggled in response, and proceeded to move over to Joe, drawing something on his chest in the paint. To keep Joe from looking at what it was, you went behind the chair and covered his eyes, ordering coyly, “No peeking!” “All done!” Sav announced and retreated back to whatever he was doing in the corner. “Now, wait, Sav!” you sped over to him, lifted his hands up, and double high-fived him, getting the paint on your hands as well. To finish off what Sav had started, you ran back over to Joe on the chair, and slapped your hands on his chest, right over his nipples. Laughter erupted from everyone in the room (including Joe) and you repeated Sav’s words. “All done!” Joe gazed down at the words “PROPERTY OF DEF LEPPARD” on his chest as you continued to dance to the song playing. “You’re mine, now! You take it on the run, baby... if that’s the way you want it, baby...” Joe tried to tell you in a sexy voice, “Am I your baby now?” “If that’s the way you want it baby,” you repeated the words from the song to him, “Now I’m done dancing for you! Somebody dance for me!” Steve began pointing at everyone individually, childishly suggesting, “It should be, eenie, meenie, miney, Phil!” “Why me?” Phil laughed in objection as you took a seat across the room. “Because you’re not wasted,” his terror twin argued, poking him on the nose. The sober guitarist looked over at you with happy anticipation, awaiting a comment, while all you did was wiggle your fingers at him with a goofy grin. After that, you returned the gesture to the man on his lap, giving Steve a sexy wink. *** “Oh my god...” you put your head in your hands shamefully as Phil and Joe giggled at the memory of the previous night, “I can’t believe I did all that...” “That was a treat!” Phil laughed, hugging you from the side and pulling you closer to him in consolation, “It was funny! We never get to see that side of you!” “There’s a certain reason why you don’t...” you moaned with embarrassment, then asked out of guilty curiosity, “How many times did I grab your ass during that lap dance...?" Phil thought for a bit before telling you, “Four. Well- four and a half...” You gave a loud groan of protest as Joe laughed and slumped back into the couch. “Oh, you only did those things because you weren’t thinking!” Phil consoled you, swayed back and forth with you in his arms. Joe chimed in, “Yeah, and see what happens when you don’t think? You do! Most importantly, you do Steve!” “I didn't do Steve!” you shot your head up and yelled at Joe. You received only laughs and snorts from both men in reply. Suddenly, Sav appeared on the staircase and began singing “Squeeze Box” by The Who with a tired yet cheeky smirk, “Mama’s got a squeeze box she wears on her chest, and when Stephen comes home, he never gets no rest-” Joe and Phil joined into his song with, “Cos' she’s playin’ all night, and the music’s alright! Mama’s got a squeeze box, Stephen never sleeps at night!” You just put your head back in your hands, trying not to accept your fate of being teased. You didn’t want to think that you possibly shagged Steve. He always seemed so innocent to you in a way, and you feared that this would kill your friendship. If everything the boys said was true, you would never hear the end of it, and you don’t even know what Steve would think of you from now on. Was it possible that he remembered anything about the night before? “It didn’t happen, it didn’t happen...” you repeated to yourself in a whisper as Phil unwrapped his arms from you. Sav came all the way down the stairs; his body language making him look grumpy with the world, but his tired grin signaling that he was pleased with seeing you. “Oh, it happened, sunshine!” the frizzy-haired bassist laughed, but quickly regretted it and rubbed his head with his still-painted hands, “Ah- yep, it happened. You could probably hear you two up the whole damn street.” As Sav wearily joined you all on the couch, Joe complained, “Sounds like that was a treat; I wish I remembered it!” Phil was caught off guard at the comment. His head turned to Joe in the blink of an eye and gasped, “Wait, you don’t remember hearing them?!” “I wish I could say I do, but there’s nothing there,” Joe stood up after he spoke, and quickly held onto the wall nearby. His hand went over his stomach as he whined, “Oh... fuck, Y/N, why did you make me race you last night?" “'Race me'?” you squinted as you inquired, “Race you with what?” Joe didn’t answer, but slowly took steps into the kitchen, using the wall as his guide. His answer came when you, Sav, and Phil all heard him throw up into the sink. You sighed, resting your hands over your eyes, trying to remember the cause of Joe’s sickness, “Oh no, was that really my idea?” *** “Look what I found!” you trotted into the room tipsily, holding two bottles; one of scotch, one of vodka, “Only half full! Who wants em?” While you weren’t full-on drunk, it was no secret that the title wasn’t that far away. After your little Ballroom Blitz, it was one beer after the next, then it was digging into the fancy liquors that Phil and Joe had just brought home. Your judgment was impaired, no doubt about it, and so was the judgment of all the guys. Joe even changed into his normal live-show-only Union Jack tank top, claiming that he was gonna "put on a show." The only one who was still sane and sober was Phil, who seemed to be staying away from your poison. Upon registering your sacred offer of alcohol, Rick ran forward, chanting, “Me! Me!” You lifted the bottles away from him, commanding, “Uh-uh! I get the scotch.” “Oh, bollocks, then you can keep the vodka,” the young drummer grumbled and turned away from you. Just as Rick rejected your offering, Joe sprung up and eagerly trotted over while shouting happily, “I’ll take it!” “Sold!” you handed the bottle over to him, “Betcha can’t finish before me!” “Betcha I can!” he sneered back before taking the cap off his bottle. There was no official “ready, set, go” for the race; you both just kind of went for it without any saying. While your throat and stomach were already protesting your actions (and you could almost sense that Joe’s were doing the same), you didn’t stop once; neither of you did. You held up your bottle and announced, “Done!” Looking over, you saw Joe was also finished. “I finished first!” “Nuh-uh!” you insisted, “It had to be me! Tell him, guys!” The four others hadn’t been paying attention to you and Joe’s little competition; they were instead focused on a box that Sav had pulled out from a cupboard. From the box they pulled out bottles of paint and various types of used makeup.

Joe scolded them all in a more sober manner, “Oh come on, you lot weren’t even watching!” “Yeah, yeah, it was probably a tie, anyways,” Rick chuckled, pulling out more items from the box. “This box is much more interesting, too," Phil protested, holding up a stick of lipstick as Sav held up two bottles of paint, "This is a box of makeup that I had for me and the lads in Girl! Just look at it all! Think we can have some fun with this?" "Oh, piss off," you threw the empty bottle onto the couch, "We need some music." Joe had slumped down onto a chair, and you stumbled your way over to the shelf with all the records on it, flipping through and eyeing them all as carefully as your body would let you. After only a few seconds of searching, your eyes lit up at a discovery. "Here's a good one!" you exclaimed as you pulled out a copy of Hi Infidelityby REO Speedwagon, "Let's give it a spin!" ***

Joe wandered back into the room and fell onto the empty couch with a grumble. “Sorry, Joe...” you muttered over to him, realizing that you pressured him into more consumption of the booze. “It was probably gonna happen anyway...” he admitted, wiping his hands over his face, “It’s was my stupid choice to go through with it.” “Woah,” Phil pointed out out of nowhere, looking at you with great surprise, “What’s that on your neck?” You felt your heart drop into your stomach. “What!?” you shot up from where you sat (bringing on more dizziness), and rushed over to a mirror. Once your dizziness subsided, and you could finally see your reflection, the pink shape of a hickey on the side of your neck was now clearly conspicuous. You wondered how you hadn't noticed it before. Joe exclaimed with a smug and proud grin, “Is that from Steve!?” You groaned angrily, feeling yourself become more and more defeated. “I can’t believe it,” you gasped, slapping a hand over the mark, “Something did happen between us-!” “Y/N,” Phil pointed out again, “There’s lipstick on your thigh...” Looking down at your legs, you saw that he was right. There was a single red symbol on your right thigh that marked a kiss from the night before. Upon seeing this, what you saw when you woke up popped into your head. “Looks like Steve went to town down there,” Sav smirked at you, only wanting to rub it in more. “Guys,” you softly noted, “That wasn’t Steve... he has lipstick marks all over his face from someone else...” The three men all exchanged confused looks with each other. There was a dead end to the story of the previous night. None of them knew how to solve the mystery of the lipstick. Not even Phil, who was as good as sober 12 hours ago, didn’t have any input. Sav suddenly blurted out, “Wait a minute, I know what happened- I think...” No one said anything, but eagerly leaned forward, ready to hear the tale the bassist had to tell. “You lot remember how we found that box of old makeup last night?” he began, “Well, I walked into the bathroom with you afterwards, Y/N...” *** Rick looked at himself in the mirror in the bathroom, carefully applying the makeup to his lips, and being extra careful to not get it on the blazer he was wearing. The drummer put on his best suit just to see how it would look with the makeup he was putting on. He thought he was doing a good job for the most part; he didn’t look half bad at all! It was far easier than he expected it to be, and wondered if he was good enough to help you with your makeup at times. Thinking of you seemed to have made you appear in the doorway next to him. Both of your hands were still covered in paint. “Sink,” was all you commanded of the drummer. He moved without a word and you began to wash your hands. At the same instant, Sav appeared nearby. He grabbed the doorframe and began to swing from it, leaving conspicuous handprints afterwards. “Aren’t you gonna wash up, too?” Rick crossed his arms to sass him. “Nah, I want the colors, they’re makin’ me feel- colorful...” Sav grinned, walking over to you at the sink, requesting, “C’mere.” You looked up, only to have your face taken in Sav’s paint-covered hands. He softly giggled as you squared your vision in on him with a sneer. “Rude,” you teased, then went back to washing your hands; paint now all over your face. “What’s really rude,” Rick pulled back the shower curtain and taking a step into the tub, “Is you two interrupting my makeup time! Good night!” He sat himself down in the tub and laid himself down as if he was going to sleep.

Before he had the chance to catch some shut-eye, you marched over to the tub and objected, “Rick, if you’re gonna sleep, I want a goodnight kiss first.” Without another word, Rick sat up and planted a kiss on your thigh (since it was closest to him). There was now a bright red imprint of his lips on your leg. “Thank you.” you smiled down at him, “Now goodnight.” “Don’t leave the water on, you hear?” Sav nagged him, pointing a colored finger, “You’ll drown." Rick chuckled with his eyes closed, “I’ll drink myself out. I'm in a drinkin mood, anyways." “Oh yeah? You haven’t got a straw or anything,” the intoxicated bassist continued to argue with him. “Then don’t let me drown! Get one!" “I’ll get you one later. I’ll just-“ Sav burped, and continued, “I’ll write a note or something.” “Sounds good, mate,” Rick slumped further into the tub and pulled the curtain closed, “Now you gonna stay here all night?” “Actually,” you noted out loud to yourself, different alcoholic emotions boiling up inside you, “I wanna go downstairs- I just need to see Steve- like right now...!" You turned on your heels, speeding past Sav and flying back down the stairs. *** “So that explains the paint on my face, and the paper in the hallway, and the lipstick, but what happened after that?” you asked Sav, as you were now slumped on top of Phil’s arm again. “Beats me,” Sav ran his still-painted hands through his hair, “That’s all I’ve got.” “But wait, if you said that Rick fell asleep in the bathtub...” Phil began his sentence, only for you and the other two men to exchange knowing looks with each other. All four of you immediately sprung up and rushed (as much as you could) up the stairs and into the bathroom. Upon getting there, Phil flung back the shower curtain to reveal a partially awake Rick, dressed in a suit, and still wearing the lipstick from the night before. “Mornin’,” he groaned as he stretched, then winced, “Ah, fuck- sleeping in here wasn’t the best idea for me neck.” Sav looked back at the paint on the doorframe and asked the drummer, “So then why did you sleep in here?” “Oh,” Rick looked around the tub, stating as-a-matter-of-factly, “The porcelain keeps the suit from wrinkling. I guess drunk me was very careful last night.” “I’ll say,” Joe complemented, “The lipstick’s still holding up pretty well.” Phil halted the conversation, “Wait, so you were in here when I went to the bathroom in the middle of the night?” Rick chuckled, “Yeah, and let me tell you, for a smaller guy, you’ve got a big bladder.” “Wait,” you slowly turned and pointed at Joe, “I thought you said you slept in the bathtub-?” He gave you a cocky smirk in return, “I told you, ‘definitely not the bathtub’...” Rick sleepily laughed and pointed at you, “Ha- Y/N, you look like Joe!” “Why, just because of the shirt?” you inquired, pointing at Joe’s tank top on you. “And the paint!” Rick corrected you, “I can’t believe you guys didn’t wash it off yet!” In a second, you felt a rush of worry upon realizing that Rick hadn’t said anything about you and Steve yet. It made you suddenly come to the possible conclusion that he may not know about it all. “Wait,” Phil snapped his fingers, “So you do remember some stuff from last night?” “Yeah, a bit, I think. Why?” “Philip Kenneth Collen, don’t you fucking dare....” you growled at him in an almost pleading manner, rubbing your temples and grinding your teeth. “What do you remember?” Phil asked him, not giving any sort of reaction to your begging. Rick thought for a few seconds, clearly as hungover as the rest of you. It didn’t take him long to list off some brief happenings he recalled. “Well, I remember us singing Sweet, there was a lap dance, I remember- uh, being denied a bottle of scotch, there was, uh... there was lipstick... and did I try to ice-skate on pieces of cardboard down the hall...?” “Is that why there’s cardboard all down the hallway?” you motioned towards the door. Rick gave you a big proud smile and a nod in response. “So...” Joe looked around, definitely looking eager, “What’s the last thing you remember before falling asleep?” Rick rested his head back on the tub again, thinking as hard as his hungover mind would let him. You hoped to every god there was that he didn’t say anything about Steve. “Just Phil comin’ in here and having a long piss, that’s all.” came the verdict. “You sure you didn’t hear-“ Phil anxiously began to ask him, but got a hand slapped over his mouth by you. “No!” you yelled on impulse, sending more daggers through your burned-out head. All eyes were now on you, and silence fell. For a few tense seconds, you stared into Phil’s eyes, sending him visual messages of both threats and desperate requests. “...what the hell happened last night?” Rick broke the silence in a tone of utter confusion, knowing that something more serious than what he remembered had taken place. You pulled your hand back from Phil’s face, “Yuck, Phil, come on!” “You licked her hand, didn’t you?” asked Sav. “Yes,” Phil confirmed, and continued without missing a beat, “And I’m glad you asked that, Rick, cos' I know what happened after Y/N and Sav paid you a visit last night.” “Phil, if you love me in any way, shape, or form, you will not tell Rick what happened,” you begged to him as you began to walk out the bathroom door, heading back downstairs to wallow in more of your shameful hangover, “I refuse to believe it happened until there’s hard proof.” “Well what more proof do you want? A positive pregnancy test?” Phil shrugged, but suddenly slapped his own hand over his mouth, realizing what he’d just said. You shot him an angry look. You were too tired to have it out with him, so you stumbled away. Right about now, you were ready to give up and accept the fact that you probably did shag Steve. Phil turned to Rick, gaping, and slowly began to speak again, "Right... so last night, after those two were in here, I think that’s when they came back downstairs..." *** "So why are you tying up my hair again?" a drunk Steve asked Phil, who was happily putting his hair into pigtails. "Because I knew you’d look pretty, and I knew you wouldn't object, either," the other guitarist laughed evilly as he finished tying the second bundle of golden locks together, "There, you're all done now." "Cool... I think," Steve tilted his head, staring at himself in the mirror on the wall as footsteps began pounding their way down the stairs. "I think you look pretty, Steve. Pretty, pretty, pretty," Joe giggled as he was flipped off by the pig-tailed guitarist. As this happened, you trampled the stairs in your descent, calling out, “Steve- Steve! Come here!” More than happy to be ripped away from Phil’s pigtailed plans, he let you run up to him as you belted out, “I’ve got an idea...!” He didn’t say anything, but he did let you whisper something in his ear. The second he heard your idea, his eyes lit up and an evil smirk crossed his face. Steve was always in the mood for causing terror. You pulled back and exchanged the same look of understanding with the guitarist. He stared at you with a sort of appreciation, and without another word, swept you off your feet, carrying you bridal style now. With a quick smooch to your lips, he began carrying you up the stairs as you giggled with some sort of glee. Phil’s jaw dropped, looking at Joe with astonishment in the process. The singer’s face mirrored the exact same expression. “I should’ve bloody known...” Phil gasped in astonishment, “She’s been eyeing him up real funny all night... I can’t fucking believe it!” Sav came down the stairs slowly, his life depending on the railing as he dragged his hand on it. He left a long streak of blue paint as he did so. “What’s gotten into their pants?” “Each other, apparently,” Joe scoffed, taking a sip of a beer he found, “Lord knows how the hell that happened.” *** You were all sitting back on the couches in the living room, all seemingly regretting the night before (you knew you most certainly were). Everyone knew that the end of Phil’s story was the true ending of the night. Now there was really a dead end to the whole tale. “I can’t believe it,” you whispered with sorrowful acceptance, “Me and Steve...? What happened next?” Joe scoffed, “Well that’s kind of a stupid question.” “That’s where it ends, Y/N. I went up to bed afterwards, only to hear-“ Phil cleared his throat to impersonate you and Steve, “‘Oh, Steve! Yes!’ coming from my room! So after an immense helping of disapproval, I slept in Rick’s room.” “No, no, that can’t be it!” you insisted, “Guys, what really happened next?” “Can’t say,” Joe mumbled, holding his head. “Sorry, mate,” Rick apologized. Sav remained silent, but looked apologetic. “That can’t be where it ends...!” you persisted, “Sav? Tell me I’m right!” Sav rolled in his lips, and darted his eyes away from you. You continued to stare at him suspiciously, but no one else thought anything of it. Phil tried to finalize your fate sympathetically, “Give it up, Y/N, at least it’s all over now.” “But it still happened! What am I gonna say to Steve when he wakes up? You know what- no. It didn’t happen, I refuse to believe that it did.” “How much more proof do you want?” Rick shrugged, pointing at Phil and Sav, trying to make you face the terrible truth, “They both heard ya, and Steve even gave you a hickey.” You hung your head, thinking you might just decide to cry out of shame. Yes, you loved Steve, just as you loved anyone else in the band, but you never had (or planned to have) any sort of sexual relationship with them. Even if you ever did, you were afraid it would ruin everything your friendship had stood for. “Sav, what’s wrong, mate?” Joe asked out of the blue. The bassist in question was still avoiding the conversation, staying eerily silent and weaving his hands together. At this point, you noticed that he was also blushing. “That wasn’t Steve.” he stated bluntly, still not looking at you. “What wasn’t Steve?” you asked as you stared at him dead on, your heart now pounding. “That hickey... that wasn’t Steve,” he paused, “That was me.” Immediately you gasped and slapped a hand over the mark on your neck. “What?!” the other three exclaimed. Joe and Rick immediately hissed at the searing pain their outbursts caused. “Sav, what the hell?!” you scolded him, finally happy that you weren’t the only one being called out for their mistakes. “Now before you say anything else,” he finally looked at you and held up a hand, “It was your idea.” Your face fell, softly asking him, “What do you mean?” “Well, after you and Steve-you know- and only Joe and I were downstairs, you actually came back down, too- wipe that smug look off your face, Joe. You’re not entirely innocent here, either.” *** You stumbled down the stairs, giggling to yourself. Your mission was now accomplished, and Steve was asleep upstairs. In a word, you were pleased. In two words, you were still drunk. Records were still being played when you returned to the living room, and Joe currently had his copy of Sheer Heart Attack on the turntable. “She Makes Me (Stormtrooper In Stilettos)”flowed softly from its speakers. “There’s our killer queen!” Joe cooed to you happily. He was now sprawled out on the couch, two empty beer bottles on the floor beside him. Sav wasn’t too far off. The paints on his hands were now dry, and he was reclined in a chair across the room, twiddling a bottle in his hand. They both looked ready for bed, and it made you wonder how they held out for this long. The singer slurred on with an interested smirk, “You two have fun?" Sav spoke up with a scoff-like laugh, “Sure sounded like it!" “Oh, you know it,” you gave them a wink, setting yourself down on the couch next to Joe, “Guess Phil finally ditched, huh?” “Yeah, the wanker went to bed- but you��ve lost your pants!” he gestured to your black underwear, made room for you to lay down with him, and took you in his arms like a teddy bear with a sigh of appeasement. You reached back and playfully poked at Joe’s dimple, “Steve's fault." “Well, that’s no good,” Sav objected, pushing the footrest of the chair in and returning to a sitting position. “What isn’t?” Joe asked him, "Steve gettin' into it with her?" “No, that cuddlin' you're doing- it’s boring. You stay like that, you’ll fall asleep on me!” He was certainly right about this. With you in Joe’s arms and his face nuzzling into your hair like some sort of animal, he was already falling asleep. “What do you want us to do?” you chuckled, thinking that Sav was only jealous of his friend. Joe mumbled happily into your hair, “How 'bout you just do me like Steve, and we’ll be good.” At this point, you noticed the feeling of something pressing lightly against the bottom of your back; a certain weight where Joe’s hips were, and a weight that wasn’t there at first. “Joe,” you whined at him, “You’re fucking gross.” He chuckled, then slowly moved his hips to lightly rub himself against you, a low quiet moan rising in his throat from the temporary pleasure it provided. “Ah- Joe!” you protested again, reaching back and hitting him as best as you could. You wiggled out of his embrace as he burst into giggles like he had just accomplished something. Sav, on the other hand, cringed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “You’re even hornier than when you’re sober!” you grabbed a pillow and whacked Joe with it. “You’re one to talk! You just shagged Steve!” he smirked evilly, "Why not me?" “Ha! The only way I’ll do you is by some miracle, or at least a dare,” you threw yourself onto the other couch, picking up a nearly empty beer bottle and pouring whatever was left into your mouth. Sav’s eyes finally lit up, “That’s what we oughta do- truth or dare!” “Ooh, sounds like terrible fun,” you turned yourself so you were sitting upside-down on the couch, “Sav, truth or dare?” “How come he gets to go first?” asked Joe, “I wanna get down to business!” “Dare,” Sav declared, ignoring the singer’s objections. Immediately, your intoxicated mind thought of a scheme. Despite the plan you and Steve had executed ever so perfectly, you were still a child seeking more terror. You knew Joe wanted you, and it was no secret either, so how exactly would you use Sav to reign terror over him? You wanted something to rub in Joe’s face- something that would leave a mark on him. “I dare you to-" you clumsily pointed to your neck, "Gimme a hickey.” Joe's jaw dropped with offense and jealousy; exactly as you had expected. Sav began to laugh rather loudly at the request, and stood up, now understanding your true intention of making Joe jealous. “C’mere,” he motioned with his hand. More than happy to obey the command, you strutted over to him and paused, waiting for him to make the first move. He took a step so your bodies were practically pressing together, moved your hair out of the way on your neck, and dove right in. You smiled with glee, taking in the feeling of Sav’s mouth and tongue moving over your skin (as well as Joe’s groans of protest coming from a few feet away). As the bassist sucked on your neck without hesitation, it only made you think of one thing: “Wow, there’s definitely gonna be a mark after this.” *** Rick and Phil were staring at Sav with their mouths open in shock. You kept a hand over the mark he left on your neck to prevent everyone from looking any more than they already had. “So, wait, if it was you who gave me this, why didn’t you say anything before when we said it was Steve?” you asked Sav, more suspicious than outraged now. “I- ah, didn’t... wanna say anything...” he looked away, beginning to blush again, “I guess I was too embarrassed." “I think the only person who should be embarrassed is you, Joe,” Rick turned his attention back to the singer, “You fuckin dry humped her!” Joe exclaimed in his own defense, “Yeah, and I don’t even remember it! It’s not my fault- I was drunk and horny!” “See! Just like me and Steve! I don’t remember shagging him, either! So I guess we’re even.” “Even Stephen,” Phil scoffed. You slumped into the couch more, staring blankly ahead and realizing, “So I pretty much got to second base with all of you last night...?” “I think you made it all the way home with Steve,” Rick pointed out. “Thanks, Rick,” you kept your head hung, “I feel like a slut.” “You mean you’re not?” Phil joked, only to be hit in the arm by Sav.

Just then, you all heard the sound of movement upstairs. Your heart stopped and your blood ran cold; Steve was awake now. Everyone's jaws hit the floor, and for a second, you thought they were all afraid of what you were fearing. "He's awake..." Rick announced in a sing-song voice, teasing you. “Oh no...” you gasped quietly, “Oh no, oh no! Oh god, what am I gonna do? What am I gonna say to him?!” “Hate to break it to ya, but this isn’t necessarily our problem!” Joe shrugged in a panic, hearing Steve’s footsteps get closer. “But guys! You’ve gotta help me! You’re his best friends! What should I say to him?!” “Just act like it didn’t happen! Maybe he doesn’t remember-?” Sav proposed. Rick suggested, “Just straight up ask him if he remembers anything!” “Just get out of here!” Phil made a swatting motion towards the other room. “None of those are gonna do me any good! It still happened!” you yelled at them in a whisper, “I have to live that with that fact, even if neither of us have any memory of it to live with!” It was too late for any salvation; Steve was already at the top of the stairs. The band members held their breath, and- without words or warning- all scrambled out of the living room. “No!” you whispered, “Guys- wait!” You caught Rick by the wrist when he stood up. “Rick, c’mon, please don’t leave me here!” you begged. He yanked out of your grip and apologetically condemned you, “Sorry, Y/N, but this is your business.” As the four of them retreated, you tried to bolt after them. As soon as you hit the doorway, however, Phil turned around and pushed you back on the couch nearby as slowly as he could. It was so sudden that you were on your back before you knew it, and they were all gone. “Hey!” you called out after them, “Assholes!” Steve’s voice suddenly came to your ears (rather closely, too), “What’s their problem?” You jumped, “Ah- Steve!” He had a silent step, and made it down the stairs and across the room without making a sound. He also looked just as he did a little while ago when you first woke up; scraggly hair, lipstick stains all over his face, but no visible evidence of a hangover. “Hey, wow,” you forced an awkward chuckle at him, “Nice- uh, nice- lipstick...” Steve slumped down onto a chair and grumbled, “Thanks. Who even did this to me? Doesn’t look like it was you.” “That was, that was Rick- I’m assuming... I don’t remember that happening and I don’t think he does, either. He’s still got the lipstick on, too.” He played off the remark with a tired smile, “Oh, nice... last night really was something, wasn’t it?” Heat rushed to your face, and you tried to look away without being conspicuous. “Ha ha... yeah... really something!” you faked your amusement for him, now wondering if he was implying anything about the previous night. Steve leaned forward and asked, “Do you remember Sav and the paint? That was pretty funny, wasn’t it?” Still blushing, you darted your eyes around the room and nodded in agreement, “Mm hmm, yeah... he was like a toddler or something.” He sunk back into the chair again and closed his eyes, reminiscing about the events of the previous night. For a second you thought you were in the clear, and that maybe he didn’t remember the specific event that Phil and Sav did.

That illusion was shattered when his eyes snapped open, whispering “Wait a minute”, and sitting back up. Immediately, your heart dropped into your stomach.

“How did our plan go?” he questioned quietly, figuring that the others were still somewhere nearby and listening. “P-plan?” you stuttered, partially afraid of what he meant, but partially caught off guard, “What plan?” “You know-” he whispered again, thinking you remembered, “It was your idea. Did they believe it? We were convincing enough?" You darted your eyes down to the floor, confused, but also embarrassed. 'Convincing'? What did that mean? "Oh come on, don’t tell me you don’t remember!” he smiled playfully. As you stared at him with fearful confusion in your eyes and redness on your cheeks, his smile was suddenly wiped away. He muttered under his breath as his face fell, "Oh... you don't remember... bloody hell, okay, this is gonna be hard to explain..." "Then explain it, because I'm really fucking confused..." your voice wavered with a sarcastic chuckle. Steve sighed and leaned forward, slowly weaving his hands together. He didn't know where to begin. "This is one of the few things I remember from last night..." he started off, "And there's no way to make this sound... good... in any way, but you came up with the idea of us pretending to shag- like making noises and shit like that- to trick the others into thinking we really did. For some reason I thought it was a great idea, and I'm pretty sure I carried you upstairs, too.” Instantly, a huge weight was lifted off your shoulders. It wasn't real; you didn't shag Steve, and he could even tell the guys himself! You blew out a big sigh of relief, and slumped back into the couch, closing your eyes. "Oh, god," you slowly panted, "What a huge relief- I suppose we were really convincing, then." "Why d'you say that?" You laughed tiredly, now feeling rather thankful for your raging hangover, "The guys are all convinced that we fucked last night. Only Phil and Sav seem to remember it, though. They've been hounding me about it all morning. I kept telling them it couldn't be true- and I was right!" "What, would it be so bad if we actually did?" he teased you in a hushed voice. "Well, I've had to live my day so far under the impression it did happen. I was teased, ridiculed, embarrassed, and felt guilty about it. I was afraid it'd ruin our friendship if it was true... I was kinda hoping you didn't remember so we could just forget..." The red in your face returned all over again. Steve, however, didn't seem bothered. "If you really want to, we can keep pretending it happened and steer into the act; give em' what they want." "What? No!" you laughed out loud, standing up, "You're crazy, Clark! I think I better go tell the others the bad news. They'll be disappointed-ha!" You walked across the room to go find the others and disclose unto them the "bad news", giving Steve a pat on the shoulder when you passed him. Once you were gone and out of sight, Steve also blew out a big sigh of relief. "She didn't remember anything," he thought to himself, "That was a close one." While he knew you two didn't go all the way the previous night, he figured if you didn't remember it, then it was for the best you didn't find out. It was nothing serious; just a bit of fooling around, really. Just a bit of drunked-up teasing, and nothing more. The guys had no proof that anything actually happened between you two, and you were about to tell them the partial truth anyway, so why say something to reignite the suspicion? After all, they were all hungover to begin with, so there wasn't much memory of the whole affair, either. "Thank god for these hangovers,"Steve thought, "Thank god. I couldnt've asked for anything more." ~Epilogue~ When you got to the top of the stairs, Steve put you on your feet and spun you around. "You ready?" he whispered, childish excitement in his voice. You nodded with equal excitement, "Take me away, Clark." The two of you began eagerly walking hand-in-hand to whatever room you pleased, but before either of you had the chance to pick one, the bathroom door opened, Rick popped his head out and commanded, "Stop right there!" Both you and Steve froze and looked at him. He still had his lipstick and his suit on, and a kind of serious look overtaking his face. A finger was kept in a pointing position at you, a few large pieces of cardboard were underneath his other arm, and he slowly took steps down the hall to meet you. Neither of you moved, but both of you waited. When Rick got to you, he didn't say a word, but did take Steve's face in his hands (dropping the cardboard in the process), and proceeded to the kiss the man all over his face.

Steve remained silent, and let Rick have his way until he decided to stop. When he did, there were several lipstick stains on various parts of the blonde's face.

"Thanks, mate," Steve muttered sarcastically as Rick kicked some of the cardboard pieces in different directions. He then stepped on two of them, trying to slide down the hall on them as if they were ice skates. When he got back to the bathroom, he went back inside and shut the door again.

Without another word, you turned Steve's face toward you, gave him a peck on the cheek as Rick had done, and kicked open the door behind you (which just so happened to be Phil's bedroom). You both fell back into the room, giggling with makeshift lust in your eyes.

After all, you had to make this authentic, right?

[violetwolfraven]

It’s A Romcom Cliche

@gendistic42 here’s something I wrote as a Christmas present for you! I’m a bit swamped right now as far as writing projects but I may expand on this later. For now, enjoy a holiday piece. :)

I’ve never written from Mike’s perspective before, so this should be interesting.

Tw: underage drinking, general teenage chaos, vomit, who knows how to write that kind of party that doesn’t actually exist anywhere but in movies? not me!

Mike was definitely a bit drunk right now, but in his defense, he didn’t actually know the eggnog was spiked until he’d already had a huge cup and Ike told him matter-of-factly that he was going to throw up later.

In hindsight, Mike really should have seen that coming, but honestly he probably would have drank it anyway. It wasn’t like he didn’t usually leap before he looked.

That was what made life fun, after all. Taking risks without thinking. Thinking just lead to doubting yourself and doubting yourself just lead to not doing fun things and not doing fun things meant you were wasting your life. You had to seize the days you got, because otherwise why even live?

That was most of Mike’s friend group’s philosophy. Their little (junior, according to Elmer’s big brother who claimed they were too young to be a real motorcycle gang) motorcycle gang was full of impulsive, slightly-eccentric kids who lived in the moment. Of course, they looked out for each other as much as they could, confirmed excuses and alibis when necessary, but none of them worried much about their own safety.

Hence why they were having a huge party with spiked eggnog in December, meaning there was a likely possibility a lot of them would be staying overnight. Not that it mattered much.

Spot’s dad was at a conference in Boston and wouldn’t be back for at least a few more days. And if he did come back early for some reason, he’d probably just give them a lecture and then not tell anyone’s parents. Denton was cool like that. As long as nobody died, ended up in the hospital, or got anybody pregnant, he favored having the group’s trust over busting them, probably so he could be sure they’d come to him for help if there was a serious problem.

So far, through taking care of each other as best they could while having fun, there hadn’t been a serious problem.

Mike jumped as a tipsy Elmer grabbed his arm.

“Mike, buddy, this song fuckin’ slaps!”

Mike hadn’t noticed what song was on, given that his reaction time was currently a little slow, but he had to admit that Turn Down For What would always be a banger and being drunk just made it better.

He didn’t know how long he was bopping to the beat among his friends before he stopped, realizing that Ike’s prediction was about to come true, and barely made it to the toilet before puking his guts out.

Mike groaned. This was already becoming very un-fun, but throwing up was making him think about the killer hangover he was going to have in the morning. Also about how Ike had probably been drinking, too, so they’d need to stay the night at Spot’s. They could get a ride home, but hiding two drunk twins was significantly harder than just one.

In short, he was thinking ahead, which was reminding him why he didn’t like thinking ahead.

“Whoa, Mike, are you okay?”

Someone was rubbing his back as he retched, and Mike was officially shitfaced, because he could swear when he looked up that was Jojo de la Guerra.

He’d been joking when he invited Jojo. Not because he didn’t want Jojo to come, but because he’d never in a million years thought he’d actually show up.

“Did I pass out?” he groaned, hoping his words weren’t too slurred, “Am I dreamin’? Is that what’s happenin’ right now?”

“No?” Jojo looked confused, “You invited me.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t think you’d actually come.”

“Wait, are you drunk?”

“Yeah, that’d be accurate.”

Jojo now looked extremely nervous, “Ain’t everyone at this party underage?”

“Uh... I thinks one of Albert’s older brothers stopped by, so no. Wait, he left a couple hours ago, so yes.”

Mike was a little surprised when he slipped standing up and Jojo had to catch him. That was, he was a little surprised that Jojo could catch him. The nerd didn’t look like he had that much muscle on him.

Well, Mike was sure he was blushing, it wasn’t just the alcohol making his face flushed, but he wasn’t sure if the pink in Jojo’s cheeks was his imagination or not.

“Uh, do you need a glass of water or somethin’?” he asked nervously, “Why is there alcohol at a party where everybody’s underage, anyway?”

“Cause it’s fun,” Jojo said simply, “Ya think Mush and Blink’d be makin’ out against a wall in front of everybody if they wasn’t absolutely sloshed?”

“Okay, well, do ya need water?”

Mike thought about it, and he was pretty sure it wouldn’t take him so long to decide if he hadn’t drank so much.

“Nope. But I could do with some air.”

None of the others were sober and/or focused enough to notice as they made their way through the party to Spot’s back porch.

The air was icy cold, but Mike was overheated, so it felt good. And the snow was beautiful, reflecting light from the windows of the house. A few small icicles were hanging down from the roof above.

He wasn’t quite drunk enough that he didn’t notice when Jojo leaned against him, just a little, because of the cold. After all, Jojo was beautiful, too. Probably more beautiful than the snow.

But he didn’t say that.

“I love winter,” he said instead, “Ike and I used to play in the snow till we damn near froze to death. Or until one of us got a headshot in a snowball fight.”

“Sounds fun,” Jojo muttered.

“Oh, it was. And we’d stir our hot cocoa with candy canes when we went inside, so’s it’d be all minty.”

Mike smiled at the memory. They never did that anymore, whether it was because they were busy with homework or because they just... forgot, what with TV series to binge and Among Us games to win and friends to meet up with for a big snowball fight.

He liked their life now. He really did. Mike wouldn’t trade his friends for anything. But he had to admit, it had been simpler back when the only people he and Ike had were each other.

“And here you are now,” Jojo noted, “Drunk at a high school party on a back porch with that nerd ya partnered with for a science project once.”

“Well, that nerd happens to be my friend, so I counts that as a win.”

Jojo didn’t respond for a few seconds, and Mike realized.

“Wait, are we friends?”

They were close enough together that he could feel Jojo take a deep breath.

“I thinks so.”

That felt nice. And he could tell now. Jojo’s face was definitely flushed and it had been since before they came outside, so it couldn’t be from the cold. That sent a pretty clear signal, and...

“Mike, stop. What’re ya doin’?”

“I was gonna kiss you,” Mike said. He’d been pretty sure it was obvious.

Had he... been reading Jojo’s signals wrong?

“Mike, you’re drunk. Ya probably ain’t gonna remember this tomorrow. You don’t really care, it’s just that I’m here and no one else is. You don’t mean it.”

“I do mean it. Jojo—“

“You’re a boy in the biker gang all the girls and gays swoon over and you’re goin’ for me, the nobody from science class,” Jojo scoffed, “Sounds likely.”

“Jojo, it don’t matter who my friends are,” Mike tried to insist, “I like you. Like, like like you.”

“Even if I could believe you, there’s no way I’d kiss you while you’re drunk.”

That was worse than straight up rejection. Because Jojo was kind of saying that he did have feelings for Mike and just wouldn’t believe that Mike had feelings for him.

Mike had to focus on not crying for a good few minutes before he started realizing just how fast the snow was coming down.

“Hey, Jojo, how deep do ya think that snow is?”

“Shit.”

That made Mike laugh. He didn’t think he’d ever heard Jojo swear.

“It’s gotta be at least a foot, and still comin’ down. There’s no way anybody can drive home through that. Most of you’s is on motorcycles, and—“

That was when the lights inside went out abruptly, and more than a few people screamed.

Mike got up carefully, trying not to stumble too much, “We should find out what that was.”

They made it inside just in time to hear Spot holler, “A fuckin’ power line went down! And that don’t just mean no light and no WiFi—that means no heat! We ain’t got long before it starts to get real cold here!”

“I found the candles!” Hotshot (Spot’s little brother) yelled.

“Oh, that’ll help a ton,” Jack said sarcastically before Davey ran up.

Naturally, Mike’s mind chose that moment to go off on a tangent of how if Jack Kelly could get a smart boyfriend who was way too good for him, maybe he could too if he could just get Jojo to see that he really liked him, but he still caught what Davey said.

“There’s a foot of snow on the hood of my car. Nobody’s goin’ anywhere, so everybody text your parents before your phones run out of batteries.”

“What if my mom can tell I’m drunk?” Romeo shouted.

“I’m textin’ Mom, dumbass!” Jack shouted back, “For all of us! I’m the soberest person here!”

Race, Romeo, and Crutchie all called their thanks to their big brother.

“I think that’s me, actually,” Davey pointed out, “Soberest ain’t even a word, Jackie.”

Mike cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled into the darkness, “Ike, ya wanna text Mom and Dad, or should—“

“I’ll do it, moron! You’re shitfaced!”

“Shit,” Jojo was muttering as he typed a text, “Shit, shit, shit, I told my dad I’d only stay for an hour. Shit.”

“It ain’t your fault ya got snowed in,” Mike pointed out.

“No, but if my parents find out there was alcohol at this party—“

“Good news, y’all!” Spot hollered from the stairs, the multiple phone flashlights pointed at him the only thing making him visible, “Me and Hotshot’s dad has a big stash of blankets and sleepin’ bags and stuff, so we’s all gonna make a big nest and huddle together in the living room. Hopefully nobody freezes to death. If anybody don’t wanna sleep in what they’s wearin’, come find me!”

With that, he disappeared to go grab blankets.

“My parents are gonna kill me.”

“Don’t let ‘em,” Mike said, “I’d have to avenge you. Then I’d go to hell and I wouldn’t see ya in the afterlife! Plus you’d hate me for killin’ your parents, so—“

“Mike, please stop talkin’.”

“Wanna sleep with me?”

“What?!”

It took Mike a full 10 seconds to realize.

“Not like that!” he exclaimed as soon as he did realize, “Like if we’s all makin’ a nest to keep warm, ya wanna sleep next to me? For not freezin’ to death?”

Jojo was still looking at him pretty weird, and that made Mike sad.

“I’m sorry. Ya don’t have to. That was stupid. I’m stupid. I shouldn’ta said that, but I did cause I’m stupid. I’m sorry for everythin’. Like, everythin’. Everythin’ I’s ever said and—“

“Stop,” Jojo interrupted, “That’s... this is just gettin’ sad. Mike, it’s fine. Just... I guess I can’t expect ya to say things in a less weird way—you’re drunk.”

He didn’t seem especially annoyed or even uncomfortable. Just... blushing. Definitely blushing.

Mike could barely see him in the dark, but he still was pretty sure Jojo de la Guerra was the prettiest thing he’d ever seen.

“Uh, yeah, I’ll sleep with you. Next to you. Ugh. Just don’t barf on me.”

“Okay,” Mike mumbled. God, now that it was dark, he was already yawning. He didn’t remember where he’d left his hoodie. He should probably ask Ike about that.

It was already getting cold in the house, and the candles Hotshot was lighting definitely weren’t helping that much.

Mike didn’t mind how Jojo was sticking close to him even if it was probably just for warmth.

[xmxisxforxmaybe]

"I could just pull your bikini bottoms to the side, no one would even notice" smutty with Merriell, of course. 🤤❤️

When Eugene had invited you and Merriell to John’s 8th birthday party, you happily accepted, most especially because the invitation indicated it was a pool party. Mer had helped Eugene put the in-ground swimming pool in two summers ago and you all had spent a few happy nights here and there enjoying the fruits of their labor.

As soon as Mer saw the invitation on the table, he went back into your closet to start digging for his favorite bikini—a little yellow and blue polka dot number that never failed to have him grinning like a Cheshire cat each time you put it on.  

“I don’t know that a bikini is appropriate for a child’s birthday party.”

“Course it is! Kids don’t care what grownups are wearin’ or doin’ cuz a birthday party means they get to run wild all day.”

You pursed your lips as you thought it over and figured what the hell. You looked good in it, and it made Merriell giddy with excitement.

The party fell on a gloriously hot weekend, so everyone was either crowded in or around the big pool in the backyard until Jeanne’s voice rang out from the kitchen door.

“Time for cake!”

All the guests began to scramble for the kitchen, but when you made to get up from the double lounge, Mer grabbed your wrist and held you back.

“This the perfect oppa’tunity fo’ some alone time,” he drawled, lowering his sunglasses to give you a wink.

“Merriell Shelton! There are children—”

“In the house. With a cake. They ain’t gonna miss us.”

You couldn’t help but laugh as he moved half onto your body, both of you slouching lower in the chaise, pretty well hidden from anyone who might happen to glance out of the kitchen window toward the pool.

Merriell’s skin was so warm as it pressed into yours. He hadn’t gotten in the pool at all, instead choosing to drink beer and talk to the guys while Gene grilled. Their laughter had drawn your attention more than once and you thought he looked gorgeous, his dark skin a perfect contrast with his light green swimtrunks, Mer completely at home, shirtless and shoeless in Gene’s backyard.

He’d just gotten a haircut, too, so his curls were perfectly ringleted on the top of his head, his sunglasses hiding everything about his big eyes except the laugh lines that crinkled along the corners.

You’d been bopped in the head twice while playing with the beach ball in the pool as you watched Merriell, and you knew he had eyes on you, too. Every time you moved around the pool, he always seemed to pop up right in your line of view.

“Mer,” you whispered as he moved down your neck, his lips placing soft kisses over your pulse point, stopping to suck just enough to increase the wetness that was already pooling between your thighs.

His fingers were gleefully ghosting over your exposed skin, enjoying his nearly unfettered access to your body while in the outdoors.

"Ya know,” he murmured against the top of your cleavage, “I could just pull ya bikini bottoms to the side. No one would even notice.”

His hard cock was insistent against your hip and you raised your thigh to grind against him, signaling that you didn’t care what he did just so long as he did something.

Popping his sunglasses on top of his head, he looked at you with sparkling green eyes, the pupils blown wide despite the bright sunlight.

You spread your legs wider and he wriggled between them, pulling his cock out of his low-slung trunks. He pushed aside your bottoms, just enough to work himself inside of you and you both groaned with pleasure once he was bottomed out.

“Ya look so fuckin’ good like this,” Merriell said before he kissed you, his tongue working into your mouth so he could let you suck on it.

He moaned as your lips pulled on his tongue before you released him and smirked, bucking up into his hips to spur him on.

“The birthday song isn’t that long, Mer. Hurry up.”

“Ya wicked, baby girl. Ab-so-lute-ly wick-ed,” he grinned as he increased his pace, punctuating his phrases with the thrusts of his cock.

“I need your fingers,” you panted, getting close but not close enough at this furtive angle.

He complied immediately, reaching into the gap created by his cock to find your clit.

His fingers slipped into a familiar, sweet pattern of strokes and you were both groaning toward your climaxes, utterly wrapped up in the sex, the sunshine, the sound of lapping pool, and the distant laughter of the party guests inside the house.

Mer was panting into your neck, his lips near your ear as you grasped his curls and knocked his sunglasses somewhere onto the chaise.  

“Come on, baby girl. Let go fo’ me.”

“Ohhh, Mer. Fuck yes. Just like—”

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Your scream was ear piercing as the bucket of ice water came splashing over your body, your vision completely blurred until the water flushed away from your eyes.

You sat up as Merriell jerked out of you, his soaking hair covering his eyes and his sunglasses crunching under his hand as he rolled off of you and onto his back.

“Honestly, Y/N. I expect it from him, but from you?” Gene tsked with disappointment.

A few chuckles broke out farther away in the yard and you blushed furiously as you realized the men of the party knew exactly what Merriell and you had been up to.

“Sorry, Gene,” Mer said, slicking back his curls, tucking in his dick and peeking over the chaise lounge. “Couldn’t be helped.”

“My son’s birthday party! You’re fuckin’ shameless, Snafu!”

“Tell me somethin’ I don’t know,” he said, relaxing into the chair, his hands crossing behind his head as he closed his eyes and grinned, his face already drying in the hot sun while you looked on in embarrassment.

The men all laughed and began to filter back over to the pool while you excused yourself, praying to god the women in the house had been paying less attention. Wringing out your soaked braid, you listened as a fresh round of laughter and whooping erupted from around Merriell as you walked away. You could hear him tell Gene that payback was a bitch, and you shook your head as you walked into the house, still in shock that you’d been caught and doused.

The women and children were scattered throughout the kitchen and dining room, Jeanne giving you a friendly wave as you made your way toward the decadent, chocolate birthday cake. You helped yourself to two slices, figuring you’d at least eat cake to compensate for the loss of what was proving to be a glorious orgasm.

You glanced out the window and laughed as you saw the guys hoist Merriell up from the chaise and toss him into the pool. He came up sputtering but grinning. Even though he often got you into these embarrassing situations, you knew you wouldn’t trade a single moment of mortification.

[forgeandgredimagines]

Ew, Feelings『Bakugou Katsuki x Reader』

Request: could u write a bakugou x reader based off of the song crush by tessa violet? i feel like it suits him a lot on the inside. maybe like the readers in his class and he just constantly notices her in and outside of classes? and he tries to keep his cool and not blush even when they’re 10 feet away from him but he can’t help it. idk if u take song writing requests but ur writing is rlly nice and i couldn’t help myself :”) (@skinciiq)

A/N: This has been sitting in my drafts for so long, I’m so sorry!! I finally finished it tho, thank god for that. I don’t really do song fics but I liked the concept and the song (Crush is such a bop istg) so I wrote this instead. I hope you like it :’) 💕💓

Warnings: Swearing ofc, this is Bakugou after all and I guess OOC Bakugou?? 

“Fuck.”

That was all Bakugou could say when he figured out what was wrong with him. Why he was always so nervous around you. Why his heart always beat so hard when you were near. Why he couldn’t stop thinking about you.

It wasn’t hard to figure out, just hard to accept.

He felt weak, he didn’t understand how he felt so goddamn vulnerable around you, how you always managed to fluster him, how your very presence threw him off guard.

How was he supposed to become the number one hero if he couldn’t even keep his own feelings in check?

Why were crushes so complicated?

It didn’t help that these feelings didn’t lessen even when you weren’t around. His mind always wandered back to you, he wanted to know how it would feel to have your hand intertwined with his, his arms wrapped around you…his lips against your own.

The very thought had him go red at once. He turned over to his pillow and muffled his screams of frustration against it as he punched his mattress.

He had to keep it down or he was going to wake up the whole building, he didn’t need his classmates knowing about his predicament or worse you finding out about it.

He would never be able to live it down if anyone found out. He had to suppress it, hide it somehow. Nobody could know.

Bakugou Katsuki was never ever going to let you or anyone else find out about his feelings for you. Never.

Easier said than done.

Bakugou felt the true weight of the saying now more than ever. Hiding his feelings was much harder than he thought. He’s become hyperaware of all the people around him now that he’s realized his true feelings for you, making him jittery and paranoid.

It would probably have been more bearable if you weren’t constantly nearby.

Well, it wasn’t as if you could help it, you two were classmates after all but god, just having you in the same room had Bakugou on edge.

It also didn’t help that he know had, dare he say, friends (though he’d never admit this out loud to them) As much as he called them idiots, he knew they weren’t entirely stupid. He knew that if he didn’t control himself they’d eventually catch on.

This was all so frustrating.

Bakugou was suddenly torn away from his thoughts by the familiar bell that signaled the start of their lunch period. He hadn’t even realized that class was almost over, he spent the whole period ignoring Midnight’s lecture and thinking about you, more specifically how you were affecting his heart.

He felt himself getting annoyed, now this stupid crush was affecting his studies. If he was aiming to be the best he had to maintain his grades. He made a mental note to borrow Kirishima or Sero’s notes later.

He slowly got to packing his things while watching you from the corner of his eye, you were chatting animatedly with Kaminari, Bakugou tried to ignore the pang of jealousy that hit him.

He wondered whether you liked Kaminari, you two always seemed to be talking and it didn’t seem that far fetched of an idea to him. Kaminari, though can act incredibly stupid sometimes, was warm, funny and sociable, everybody seemed to like being around him, heck he even managed to force Bakugou into an unlikely friendship. He seemed to have everything that Bakugou lacked.

Bakugou found himself thinking about things like this way more often than he’d like. A few days ago, you were helping Iida carry papers to the faculty room and Bakugou found himself feeling bitter towards the class representative for a few days before realizing how ridiculous he was acting.

He knew that he shouldn’t go around resenting and getting pissed off at others for interacting with you. It was stupid and jealousy wasn’t a good color on him.

Besides, it wasn’t as if you two were dating or anything, as much as Bakugou wanted that to happen.

Bakugou never thought he’d find himself in this position, he felt so clueless, he didn’t know what or what not to do. He’d always been smart, he always had a plan ready for whatever hurdles came before him but for the first time in his life, Bakugou was devoid of any ideas or plans.

In the end, he resorted to avoiding you. He couldn’t exactly cut you off 100%, you two were classmates after all so he just didn’t talk to you and he avoided any situations that led to him having to interact with you.

Bakugou didn’t really know how to feel about this, on one hand, he was glad that the chance of embarrassing himself and revealing his true feelings didn’t present itself but on the other, he couldn’t help but long to be close to you.

You two suddenly made eye contact. Bakugou found himself almost dropping his notebook, he tore his eyes from yours as he made a beeline to the exit.

He was hyperaware of your eyes in his, what did you want? Did you find out about his feelings? Bakugou didn’t want to know, right now he had to focus on getting away from you.

He was halfway to the cafeteria when he heard quick footsteps approaching and a voice calling out his name.

He turned to see you jogging towards him, he felt his heartbeat quicken as you slowed down to match the same pace as Bakugou.

“What do you want?” Bakugou asked a bit more harshly than he intended, he was trying to focus on not tripping over his words.

“I wanted to talk about our project.” You said not affected by his aggressiveness, you then listing out ideas about said project before Bakugou cut you off.

“What project? What are you talking about?” Bakugou asked in confusion. You furrowed your eyebrows, you were equally confused as Bakugou now.

“That project Midnight was talking about last week? She made a big deal about it, remember?” You explained, “She just announced who would be partners just earlier in class, were you not paying attention?”

“No, I wasn’t.” Bakugou said through grit teeth, you weren’t saying what he thought you were saying right?

“That’s not like you.” You muttered offhandedly, you didn’t seem to have meant to say that out loud, once you realized you did you decided to act like you never said anything at all “So yeah, we’re partners now.”

Of course you were. Out of all his classmates, it just had to be you to be his partner, the world certainly was cruel.

What was the point of trying to distance himself from you if you two were going to be forced together like this? He couldn’t run away from you this time, from what he could remember this was a big project and failing it would be detrimental to his final grade this year.

He had to prioritize this over his stupid pride.

“When do you want to do the dumb thing?” Bakugou grumbled, he avoided your gaze, he was afraid that you’d notice how red his cheeks were.

“Let’s start working on it this weekend.” You decided after thinking for a few seconds, you two reached the entrance to the cafeteria but before separating to your respective seats you asked “My dorm or yours?”

“Whatever, I don’t care.”

“Mine then. See you.” You waved in farewell and headed to your usual table. Bakugou could feel himself grow more relaxed once you left, his warm cheeks slowly returned to its usual state and the butterflies in his stomach calmed down. God, you were going to be the end of him.

-

Bakugou knew that he swore not to tell anyone about his feelings, nobody at all but he just couldn’t handle it anymore.

After it actually sunk it that he was to spend hours with you, alone together in a tiny room, he was just hit with a wave of anxiety and panic.

He didn’t know what to wear, what to say, what to do! He couldn’t even be in a 10 feet radius away from you without blushing like a total idiot!

“–Okay okay, Bakugou, calm down.”

Kirishima’s soothing voice advised, Bakugou did just that, he had been rambling frustratedly to the redhead without realizing it. It was nice to vent like this, he could see why people loved doing it so much.

“So, you have a crush?’” Kirishima asked a look of mingled shock and amusement etched on his face.

Bakugou grit his teeth “Have you not been fuckin’ listening, Shitty hair?!”

Kirishima laughed loudly, more than used to Bakugou’s temper “It’s just surprising, Baks. I can’t believe you’re in love~” Kirishima said the last sentence in a sing-song voice making the blonde blush even more than he was already. He shoved Kirishima off his bed.

It proved worth it to tell Kirishima about his feelings. Kirishima was much better with people than Bakugou could ever be, he would give advice to the blonde and he was pretty much a pro at calming Bakugou down so that was a plus.

Kirishima would tease but not as much as Kaminari or Sero would, he swore not to tell the others about his crush. Kaminari was a loudmouth and the whole school would know about his crush in less than a day, Sero was the biggest tease ever, he would have teased and poked fun at Bakugou and that would probably lead to the class catching on. Mina, like Kaminari, wouldn’t be able to keep her mouth shut, plus you two were friends so he definitely couldn’t have her finding out.

After telling Kirishima his feelings and being able to talk about it, Bakugou was able to relax more but as Saturday quickly started approaching his feeling of dread and anxiety came with it.

-

“Why the fuck is it so hard to pick a goddamn outfit?”

“Because you’re overthinking, it doesn’t matter, just wear whatever.” Kirishima said from Bakugou’s bed watching amusedly at the panicked blonde who had been rummaging through his closet for the past hour.

It was Saturday morning, an hour before Bakugou had to go do the project with you.

Bakugou now knew what those protagonists in those rom-coms his dad liked to watch felt. He found himself worrying over every little detail like his hair, his clothes, his everything.

He’s never felt this nervous ever since his UA admission letter arrived, he couldn’t understand how you could affect him like this.

Kirishima finally took pity on the distraught male and rummaged through the closet with him. He found a simple t-shirt and pants and handed it to the blonde.

“Bakugou, remember what I said, just relax! You’ll be fine, just go on up there, do the project and boom, that’s it! It’ll be a piece of cake.

-

“Piece of cake, my ass.” Bakugou grumbled as he stared at your dorm door hesitating to knock. He finally stopped stalling after a few more seconds of heated grumbling and quickly rapped at the door.

The door quickly burst open revealing you, Bakugou felt his heartbeat quicken as usual. You smiled warmly at him which only worsened the hammering of his heart.

You let the blonde in and directed him to the small table on the floor which already had a couple of textbooks and research papers sprawled on it, you seemed to have been getting started with the project already.

Bakugou sat down on the floor and you then sat down on the space beside him making the blonde almost jump in his seat. You were so close, he didn’t really think about this.

“Is something wrong?” You asked noticing his odd expression. He averted his gaze and shook his head. “Nothing, let’s just get this over with.”

The next few hours was probably one of the tensest and stressful moments of his life, well that was an exaggeration but it still felt like it for Bakugou. He was worried he’d say something wrong that he only spoke when absolutely necessary and usually responded with nods and “Mhm“s.

He was also blushing like crazy the whole time too, it was so overwhelming and Bakugou didn’t know how to get rid of his red cheeks so he just covered his face with his hand while he “casually” leaned on the table.

You did most of the talking and seemed to be relatively normal but Bakugou knew something was bugging you. Maybe it was all the times he observed you from afar because Bakugou knew all the little cues and quirks you had, he could see that something was bothering you. He didn’t know how to ask you if something was wrong or if he should even meddle but he did not like seeing you like this.

“What is it?” He asked out of the blue breaking the silence and your focus on the project in front of you. You looked up at him confused and let out a “Huh?”

“Something’s bothering you. You got a problem or somethin’?” Bakugou asked, he didn’t mean to make the last part sound like a threat but it was the best he could do.

You chuckled nervously and fiddled with your pencil “It’s nothing, Bakugou, I’m fine.”

“No you aren’t, it’s obvious as fuck, just spit it out.”

You let out a resigned sigh “Well if you insist,” You fiddled even more with your pencil and bit your lip anxiously. You seemed to be trying to look at anything asides from Bakugou’s eyes. “I was just thinking about what I did…to you.”

Now it was Bakugou’s turn to be confused. He raised an eyebrow and asked “What?”

“Well, I just–I know you don’t like me.” You stammered out, Bakugou raised an eyebrow “You seem to not like people in general but it’s like you hate me the most.”

You had dropped the pencil on the table and instead stared dejectedly at your lap. “You’re normally so loud around the others but when I’m around you’re quiet and you can’t even seem to look at me. You always act weird around me.”

“I don’t know what I did wrong.”

Bakugou felt waves of guilt and panic wash over him. He felt horrid for making you think this, was this what he seemed like from the outside around you? He always thought that he was being obvious and that his feelings were as clear as day but he was apparently doing a great job at hiding them, so great in fact that you and probably everyone else thinks he hates you.

“What!? You–you didn’t do anything fucking wrong, are you a dumbass?” Bakugou exclaimed incredulously.

“Really? But then why are you-”

“Because I like you!”

Bakugou felt himself freeze. He fucked up real bad this time.

He didn’t even realize that he was saying what he was saying because of how angry he was, not at you but at himself for all of this.

Your head shot up and he could see a look of equal shock that must have matched his own expression at that moment. It took a few seconds for you two to comprehend what just happened.

Bakugou felt his blood pressure skyrocket and his brain short circuit.

“I-I-I–” He couldn’t manage out even some half-assed excuse in the few seconds of silence after that, you two simply stared at each other like a deer in headlights.

“You…like me? As in like like?” You asked incredulously, disbelief evident on your expression and tone. Bakugou nearly choked on air.

How was he supposed to respond? He couldn’t just go “Yup!” And pretend nothing happened, he also couldn’t deny it because then how would he explain himself.

“I–I–Fuck. It doesn’t matter okay? Just forget about it.” Bakugou hissed, he avoided your eyes and tried his best to hide his blushing. He was humiliated.

He wouldn’t find it surprising if you were completely disgusted and revolted at his feelings for you and he wouldn’t blame you for kicking him out of your dorm but to his surprise, you just started laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Bakugou asked, he was already embarrassed enough as it was but now you just had to laugh at him?

“I just think it’s so stupid.” You said in between laughs “That I’ve been panicking over my crush hating my guts for weeks when they actually like me back!”

It took a few more seconds for Bakugou to sink this in.

“Wait, what?”

You stopped laughing, flushed bright red and covered your face with your hands. “I’m trying to say that I like you too.”

Bakugou felt waves of relief wash over him, mixed with a lot of shock and pure joy. He couldn’t help but grin.

His heart was still beating rapidly and his cheeks were still the same shade as tomatoes but this time it didn’t feel all that bad. Maybe crushes weren’t as bad as he thought they were.

[mirkwoodshewolf]

The Rock angel shines; Queen x reader

Hello people and beyond. Well like I promised here is the first part of my Rock Angel series.  So for those who have asked to be tagged I have you up, let me know if it doesn’t work and I’ll try to fix it as best I can. I hope you all enjoy this and have some warmly big brother feels with this chapter. Not really any warnings except for some mild swearing, scars (not suicidal but of this triggers you this is a warning for you) and TOOTH ROTTING FLUFF.

Taglist (open):

@phantom-fangirl-stuff

@mr-badguymercury

@onebigfangirlworld

@labessieisallama

@starswin

@naturalswifty89

_______________________________________________________________

April 20th, 1982

Frank Bough was hosting his Breakfast time interview discussing the next rising star of Britain.

“We first saw her make her big debut at a Queen concert at Madison Square Garden last year and ever since then she’s been recording her first album which will be released at the start of summer. Her biggest single ‘Set it all free’ took her to the charts as the youngest performer at 19 years old. Let’s have a listen.”  What would then play on the television was the newly made music video for “Set it all free”.

(Y/n) was on the guitar in the same attire she wore that day at Madison Square garden, her hair this time was dyed a blood red as the chorus of “Set it all free” was being sung.  As (y/n) would rock out in one shot, in another she was wearing normal clothes trying to escape the confines of what appeared to be a jailcell she would constantly beat against the walls trying to escape but then cry every now and then.

“(Y/n) (l/n) welcome to the show.”

“Oh Frank it’s an honor to be here, how are you?” I asked as I leaned up against the couch and extended my hand out to him.

“I’m doing well and you?” he said as we both shook hands.

“Fine thank you.”

“Well you have truly made a name for yourself, the Rock Angel tell me where did that name come from? Did you come up with it yourself?”

“No I’m terrible at coming up with names” I joked out as I laughed. “It was actually Freddie who came up with the name Rock Angel. Back when I was helping them and when I told them that I had written songs and played music he’d always just call me their little ‘Rock Angel’.”

“Now when you say, ‘work for them’, how do you mean?”

“I was an intern for Jim Beach.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah. At the time he was asking for interns at my University and I was one of probably hundreds of other young kids to apply and by some miracle I was picked and the rest is history.”

“Now on your album ‘Set it all free’ you also include Queen on a couple of your tracks. Is that because of your history with them?”

“I love my boys so much. When it was fully announced that I was to make my first full length album after my single was released, they were so supportive and happy for me. And actually it’s a sweet story, I was recording my album at Rockfield studios, the same place where they recorded their hit Bohemian Rhapsody as well as the rest of their Night at the Opera album. And while I was recording they just suddenly popped in for a visit…..”

*November 11th, 1981*

I have been here at Rockfield studios for the past six weeks now recording my first album ‘Set it all Free’. Now I began to understand why Fred said they needed to be away from all distractions to record A Night at the Opera, because out here with all the country side, the fresh air, never have I felt such creativity flow through me.

I mean sure I’ve hit a couple of speedbumps and obstacles when it came to some songs but after feeding the chickens and riding the horses, I would suddenly get inspired.

I was currently in the studio now doing my latest song that I’ve titled “Who I am”.  I had completed the guitar and vocal portion of my song and now I was recording the drums.

Now I know what you’re thinking? Why are you doing all the work? Why hasn’t a band come in and help you with the percussions?  Well the answer to that is because of the sudden reservation I had made with it being the autumn season now, no one wanted to risk driving along the roads to the studio so living at the studio is just me, Mack and a couple handlers just to keep an eye on me.

Using the lessons that Rog has given me, I twirled my sticks and began doing the rhythm I had in mind.  After the first half of the song was done, I stopped and flexed my hands and I said.

“How’d it sound Mack?”

“Come out and have a listen.” I took off my headphones and left the booth as Mack played the first half of the song back to me.  I bopped my head up and down as my voice came up for a brief moment before I heard the strum of my guitar.  The whole song so far sounded good and I said.

“Sweet, okay play it from the second verse.” He gave me a thumbs up and I went back into the recording booth and quickly put the headphones back on and as I gave him the signal that I was ready, I began the next verse of the songs for the drums.

We kept going with the song until it was perfect and as I had Mack play back to me the entire song, I got goosebumps all up along my arms and shivers up my spine.  I did a successful ‘Deacy’ dance as I was happy for the song.

“Love it, I fuckin love it!” I praised.

“Sounds good love, why don’t you take a break now love?”

“Mack my deadline is fast approaching and I still got three songs to do, plus one of my songs that’s already been recorded is still missing something. I can’t afford a break.”

“But you’ve been hard at it for the past week with no break love, if you don’t slow down your fingers will bleed out and your arms will pop out.”

“I’m fine Mack.”

“Doesn’t sound like it love,” I froze right there in my spot. Mack looked just as surprised as I was, when I turned around there stood my boys.

Freddie, Brian, Roger and John.

“Oh my god….what—what are you lot doing here?”

“Well we heard our little Rock Angel would be here, so we’d thought we’d check on her to see just how her first big album is coming along.”

“And it’s a good thing we did, cause from what we just heard, you’ve been over working yourself, haven’t you love?” Brian asked using is dad voice.

“No” I said shamefully kicking my foot around as I avoided looking at them.

“Then let us see your hands.” John stated using his dad voice.

Damnit.  Now I knew there was no escaping this lie this time.  Truthfully my hands were heavily imprinted with both base and normal guitar strings, and my palms were scarred and cracked from the drumsticks.

“(Y/n) (l/n) show us your hands” demanded Roger.  I sighed and held them out palms down.  Both Roger and Bri took my hands and flipped them over and they were all horrified at how extreme they were.

“Love do you know how serious this could’ve been?” stated John.

“Based on these string imprints, any longer and you could’ve damaged a nerve allowing you to not be able to feel a note again.” Brian answered.

“And your palms, you’re lucky these scars don’t need stitches, not to mention they are as dry as the desert.” Hearing the boys say this made me rethink a little bit on how strict I’ve been to keeping my schedule.

“I’m sorry guys. It’s just that—my deadline is in a couple of weeks and with it just being me and no one else willing to travel this far up north during this time I….I had to work three times as hard as I am just a soloist and I didn’t just want my songs to be recorded separately from what I’ve already delivered through singing. You guys get what I’m saying right?” They all looked at me and Deacy said.

“We do love, but we also understand when we need to step away and not strain ourselves to the point of almost losing the limbs that need to be required in order to play them.”

“And don’t take offense to this darling but you look like shit at the moment.” Freddie stated.

“Oh gee thanks Fred.” I sassed sarcastically.

“What Freddie means is that you look so exhausted. When was the last time you had a proper sleep?”

“I’ve tried to get my daily 8 hours but so far I haven’t.”

“And what about a decent meal?”

“I had a big breakfast earlier this morning before we started recording.”

“But that was hours ago.” Mack piped in. I turned and glared at him but he explained to the guys, “In fact that usually all you would eat minus a piece of fruit, a granola bar or some water to stay hydrated.”

“Thank you Mack” I sneered at him.

“Alright. (Y/n) you need to take the rest of today plus tomorrow off, you are running yourself ragged at this point. You need a proper meal, some rest, and all the pampering you deserve.” Roger said.  One look at these boys and I knew I wasn’t going to win. So I gave in and told them.

“Alright, I fold. Take me away.” I was then taken out of the studio picked up bridal style by Roger and taken back towards my room.

John unfolded the sheets from my bed and Roger put me in and John tucked me back in.

“Anything in particular you would like me to cook up?” Roger asked.

“I’ve been kinda craving for Tikka Masala. But you don’t have to make it if you don’t want to.”

“Nonsense, I’ll get right on it.” He kissed my head before leaving my bedroom.  Deacy came back with a first aid kit and he said to me.

“Okay give me one of your hands, love.” I handed him my right one since it was closer to him.  He took out the rubbing alcohol and some cotton swabs and he began to lightly dab around my palms which made me wince in pain.  “Sorry.”

“It’s okay, not your fault. It’s mine. You all were right, I’ve been overworking myself.”

“You have such dedication poppet, that’s the first thing that I noticed about you. But it is always best to take a break. You’re already a star to us and to the world. And you always will be, don’t let the pressures and stress of this business affect you, otherwise we’ll lose our Rock Angel forever.” I looked up at John and nodded.

He paused his doctoring and looked straight in my eyes and softly smiled before leaning forward and pressing his forehead against mine. I smiled softly as his nose bumped up against mine in an Eskimo kiss before he kissed it and went back to doctoring my hands.

Once they were bandaged up John adjusted my pillows and soon Brian came up and he said.

“How are things up here?”

“Well I’m officially the mummy’s wife” I joked as I raised up my bandaged palms.  The two of them chuckled then Brian came in and he sat down beside me as he handed me a cuppa of Jasmine tea.

“Your favorite, just how you like it.”

“Thanks Bri,” I took the mug and took a small sip and hummed in content.

“Dinner is served madam.” Freddie gestured as Roger came in with a tray with my meal, plus a plate of cracker, and some ham and cheese sandwiches.

“You guys really did go the full yard of pampering.” I said as the tray was sat down in front of me.

“All the best for our little angel.” Freddie said as he gingerly took one of my hands and kissed my fingers, his tache lightly tickling them. I then began eating my masala and my taste buds had died and gone to heaven.

“Oh my god, Rog this is…..this is incredible.”

“Thank you darling, of course I had help from Fred here.” I thanked them both and continued eating.  I would occasionally dip the crackers into the masala for a little kick.  I then moved to the sandwiches before finally feeling so full I felt like I was going to burst.

“Ohh that was so good,” Brian gathered my now empty tea mug and placed it on top of the tray and he took it back down to the kitchen.

Once he came back, I noticed he had actually brought up one of the acoustic guitars.  Probably the one I may have left in the kitchen one time just to practice my chords and experiment with a song.

“Alright now that that belly of yours is full, its time you got some sleep.” Freddie said.  Brian strummed on the guitar and I said.

“You guys are gonna sing me to sleep?”

“What better way, with the way your little brain has been buzzing lately, it needs a sedative. Allow us to be that sedative you need.” Brian then began to play notes to “Love of my Life”.  Even without a piano, it still sounded just as beautiful as Freddie began to sing the song.

I adjusted myself to lay down on the bed as Fred kept singing the song and soon the rest of the guys joined in on the backup vocals.  Their voices harmonizing so beautiful which soothed my mind and I began to relax and shut my eyes.

“The next day after just hanging around the farm, in thanks for all that they’ve done I asked them if they’d be interested in being featured in my album, at first they were hesitant but I managed to convince them and so we got to recording once my hands were better of course. And as for the song I had a problem with, it was fixed up when I decided to make one version of the song just me singing, and then the same song featuring Queen, which to be honest I prefer the latter’s version.”

“So what’s up next for you?”

“Well I’m gonna take a summer vacation but then get ready for my first ever European tour.”

“Well, all the best of luck to you. (Y/n) (l/n)’s album hits the shelves this summer and you can catch her up in her upcoming tour. We’ll be right back after these messages.” With that we went off the air.

After my interview I was back at my flat and collapsed into my couch after having to wake up at 4am just to get to the station and get ready for that interview.  Just before I went back to sleep, my phone rang and I groaned as I answered it.

“Hello.”

‘We saw your first television debut love.’ I heard Brian’s voice say on the other end.

“Did I screw up?”

‘You were perfect darling, and the press won’t hold anything against you. Well done love.’ I heard Roger’s voice say.

“Thanks lads, well I’m bloody exhausted these past few months have been brutal, I’m getting some sleep and sleeping until supper time.”

‘Alright love, you deserve the rest. Rog and I will pop in on you later to make sure you aren’t oversleeping too much.’

“Okay, good day guys.”

‘Sleep well love.’ I heard them both say. With that I hung up the phone and fell right asleep there on my couch.

[grownups-are-the-real-monsters]

Coming Out

 Eddie had known there was something that was different about him ever since the day that Beverly had sunbathed in front of them, clad in her underwear. And what popped into his mind, as he stared was ‘I wonder what we’re having for dinner tonight?’ As he looked around at his friends, it occurred to him that they we’rent thinking the same thing. No, their batting eyes, sharp intakes of breath, and parted mouths told otherwise. So Eddie tried to keep staring, just to make sure he hadn’t missed something. But Beverly started to turn her head and his time was up. He was immediately flustered and snapped his head back around like he was burned. 

Though there had been no time at all to put himself under the microscope to figure out what exactly that meant. Because being chased by a disgusting demon clown didn’t offer up much free time. Not that he thought the thirteen year old version of himself would be able to figure it out. The sixteen year old version of himself could barely figure it out. He had to bite his tongue last week in the theater to keep himself from audibly fawning over Indiana Jones.

He thought about telling his friends one by one, maybe at least starting with Beverly but that would mean he’d have to go through the process more than once. So he was planing to just to get it over with and tell all of them at once. He was thinking this all over while he sat in Bill’s passenger seat, his friends all packed in the back. And he wasn’t quite sure why but his thoughts were interrupted with what sounded like his mothers oven timer going off in his head. saying ‘It’s time! It’s time!’ “I have something to tell you guys!” He shouted, impulsively. He knew that he had no time to back out when the whole car quieted, even Richie shut up for him. 

Eddie played with his fingers in his lap and tried to think of something he could use as an excuse. “I…well I just wanted to say-”

The radio let it’s last song fade out, the previously soft tone was replaced with it’s bursting new song choice. “I’m Coming Out!” Chimed the radio in Diana Ross’s voice. The car went silent. Eddie took the leap, knowing this way he wouldn’t have to actually say it. 

“That! I wanted to say that!” He pointed his finger at the radio like a child. He felt everyone’s confused eyes and was not looking forward to having to actually explaining himself. But before he could open his mouth, Beverly started. 

“That....you’re coming out?” she asked, a small smile starting at the corner of her lips. Eddie could hear a pin drop, it was so quiet. So he just nodded.....profusely. And suddenly, it was ok to laugh because that’s what everyone did, apart from Eddie who was sure they were laughing at him. 

He was wondering if he could make the jump if he just opened the door and barreled out and was debating if the injuries were worth it, when Bill slapped his hand down on his back as the car rolled to a stop. “It’s o-o-ok Eddie. This doesn’t c-c-change anything. We still love you.” 

Eddie breathed a little sigh of relief and nodded. “So you love me anyway?” He voiced his paranoia one more time. Everyone’s faces seemed to look concerned before Ben decided to speak up. 

“We don’t love you anyway, Eddie. We just love you.” 

Eddie was touched and bit into his lip as he gave Ben an appreciative smile. The car went silent again until...

“Damn, we’re such sentimental bastards.” Richie chuckled and everyone promptly slapped him. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Coming out had most definitely agreed with Eddie. And it was pretty obvious, in more ways then one. There was the good. Which included, Eddie being a lot less mousy and skittish as he’d been in the last few months. The boy was practically glowing. He’d even let Beverly paint his nails, a creamy citrus orange color that was easily removed. It was easily one of Eddie’s favorite memories and he knew it before it was even over. 

~~~~~~~~

Beverly capped the polish and leaned back on the tree next to Richie as Eddie examined his nails. He glanced up at Richie, looking close to apologetic. “Sorry, Rich. That was a pretty gay hour we spent.” Eddie was still getting use to being out. And for some reason, he was still apologizing for it. 

“I can think of a much better way to spend a gay hour with you, Eds.” Richie smirked suggestively, crawling over. Eddie rolled his eyes and put his entire hand over Richie’s face and pushed him backwards with laughter. 

~~~~~~~~

Eddie smiled at the memory. But the obviousness of the situation was not only a good thing. There was a bad side that almost made Eddie regret even coming out. Everyone in the school seemed to just know too. He wasn’t sure how but he was sure it was not in the school syllabus that was sent home. No, he didn’t think that right by the parents signature the flyer read ‘And by the way, Eddie Kaspbrak’s gay!’ But it almost seemed plausible the more he thought about it. 

He scratched under his chin and tried to focus on his science project and not the fact that his partner was inching farther and farther away from him. He tapped his pencil before glancing at him, his name was Trevor. And he was biting on the eraser of his pencil, Eddie cringed as he thought of all the germs he was biting into. And maybe Trevor mistook his cringe as a look of interest, though Eddie wasn’t sure why...maybe he was just paranoid like all the other boys were around Eddie. 

He quickly pulled the pencil end from his mouth like it burnt him and glared at him. Eddie bit so hard into his cheek, it drew blood. He glanced up at the clock and tried not to let it get to him. He shouldn’t care what his frickin’ lab partner thought about him, but he did. And it hurt. He broke his pencil in half, the wood stuck out and snapped. “Shit.” He whispered and hopped out of his seat, taking note of the fact that Trevor moved to the side as he breezed past him. 

He marched himself to the bathroom, after asking of course. He slapped his hands on the heavy door, it swung open and slammed against the wall. Thankfully, no one was inside the blue and gold tiled shit hole. He gripped onto the cool sides of the sink and sighed. He mentally went through every occurrence within the past few weeks where some guy had purposefully hopped away from him. It was like they thought it was fuckin’ contagious or something. Eddie glanced up, taking in his appearance in the mirror. He spent too fucking long convinced he was sick, he wasn’t going to be made to feel like shit about this. 

He took another deep breath and marched back out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So I said to him- I says-” Richie starts out his story in some sort of greaser voice that Eddie had been known to call ‘A knock off Danny Zucko speaking during a trip through a blender’. Eddie chuckled. Richie proceeded to throw his arm around Eddie’s shoulder without a blink of his eye.

Richie had always been the touchy type but Eddie had convinced himself that when he came out, Richie might stop doing things he used to do. That’s just what happened, right? All the boys in school gave him dirty looks and moved away from him. But his friends, the Losers club, didn’t change one bit. Stan still corrected Eddie’s body to show him how to crack the baseball the best, Bill still gave him piggy-back rides, Mike still gave him boosts to reach high places, Ben still sat close to him when they studied and Richie still pinched his cheeks. Eddie had never been more thankful for that in his life. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Other people though, were not as thankful. In fact, they looked at Richie like the boy had gone nuts. Every time he put his arms around him or set his chin on Eddie’s head or squished Eddie’s cheeks, nearby students seemed to try and give him a silent signal. One that read ‘Watch out, He’s gay!’ but Richie never seemed to be looking back. 

So it was up to them to formulate a plan to warn Richie. Before it was too late. In Mrs. Roshner’s history class, a group of students voted Skippy Peterson as the chosen one. He was the one who supplied Richie with smokes in the bathroom during the day anyway. 

When Richie took off to wait for him, Skippy was pushed out of his seat and excused for the bathroom. He tapped his pocket, whistling as he slapped the door open to find Richie sitting on the edge of the sink. 

“Ah! Skippy my boy! Skipping class, huh?” Richie chuckled at the bad joke before gesturing for him to come over. Skippy shook his head and handed him a cigarette. He flicked the lighter in his hand and a reflection of red filled his eyes. 

“You’re close to the Kaspbrak guy, right?” Skippy asked, a little nervous when Richie gave him a heated look, breathing out smoke. 

“Yeah.” 

“Y’know...he’s gay right? Aren’t you worried he’ll think you’re flirting with him? What if he thinks he has a shot with you?” Skippy was fidgeting now as he was getting more and more curious and worried, on Richie’s behalf. Richie, shoved his lighter back into his pocket and looked Skippy up and down. 

“I sure hope he does. I’ve been flirting with him since we were like six. He could’ve had me back then. We could’ve been holding hands at recess if he wanted.” and then he spun out the door, leaving Skippy feeling dumb.

Skippy watched the door close as he tried to wrap his brain around that. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Richie hopped happily out of the bathroom and smoked down the halls like it was no big deal. He rolled it to the other side of his mouth and felt the warmth in his chest as he bounded towards his favorite place in the entire school to linger. But as he approached, there was a tall figure standing at Eddie’s locker, fidgeting a little. 

He stopped and leaned on the wall behind him as the bell rang overhead and people poured from the classrooms. Eddie’s tiny little figure came bopping from his nearby class towards his locker and that boy. Richie scooted to the best position so he could hear them but they couldn’t see him. 

“Hey, Eddie right? I saw you with your friends the other day but I was a little nervous to talk to you then.” The boy was shuffling on his feet and stroking his own hair like it would improve his looks. Richie rolled his eyes.

“Why would you be nervous Connor? I have those notes you wanted in my locker, if you would’ve asked I would’ve given em’ to you.” Eddie shrugged as he opened his locker.

‘Ahhh, so Connor was the boy band member knock off’s name’. Richie scowled. ‘And my oh my was his boy oblivious’. 

Eddie stood on his tiptoes and Connor decided it was the best time to drag his eyes up and down him, a twinkle in his eyes. And Richie wanted nothing more than to knock the twinkle right out. So he bounded over and threw his arm around the smaller boys shoulders. “How ya doin’ Eds?” He ruffled his hair and gave Connor his best ‘back off’ glare. Though, Beverly once told him that she could kick his ass at that. 

“Don’t call me that- Oh here you go, Connor.” Eddie handed him the notes and he looked like he might say something else to Eddie but then took another glance at Richie and decided against. Eddie pretended that Richie’s hands roaming on his ticklish sides were irritating, but he flourished at the attention. 

Connor gripped the notes and took off. “Huh, wonder where he’s going so fast?” Eddie frowned and held his books to his chest. Richie put his chin to rest on Eddie’s head and hummed. 

“Probably off to flirt with all the other boys.” He felt Eddie try and look up at him, his hair tickled under his chin. 

“He was not flirting with me.” Eddie furrowed his brows, that cute wrinkle forming on his forehead. Richie put on a smug smile and leaned on a neighboring locker. 

“Please, He had his eyes all over you, Eds. His flirting isn’t as good as mine though, Right?” Richie stuck his nose in the air. Eddie gave him a confused look.

“How would I know?” Eddie crinkled his nose, Richie sighed. 

“Because I’m always flirting with you…..is this not as clear as I thought?” Richie asked in exasperation. Eddie’s eyes widened and he started to chuckle awkwardly, trying to pass the moment by as one of Richie’s weird comments.

“Do you have the psych notes cause I left mine-?” 

“Eddie.” Richie interrupted him with an expectant thin lipped smile, Eddie clamped his mouth shut and looked at him. “I’m not joking.” Richie put it simply and Eddie nearly just dropped his books and ran. 

“Ok, you flirt with me but it’s just what you do I know you don’t mean it” Eddie ran his fingers down the sleeve of his sweater. Richie pursed his lips and shook his head. 

“Oh no, I mean it. I always have. Even when we were six and I pushed my block tower on you....do you remember that? Because that was hysterical, I think that’s why you didn’t talk to me again until we were ten-” 

“What are you saying, Richie?” Eddie interrupted him with urgency and Richie felt heat crawl up his neck and hit his cheeks. 

“I’m saying...we’re great friends but if you asked me to make out with you, I would.” Richie shrugged, explaining it in a way that only he could. Eddie took a breath and bit into his cheek.

“Huh.” 

“Huh? That’s all I get, Eds? Be a little more creative than that. Y’know? a ‘fuck off, Richie’ or a ‘Shut up Trashmouth’ are some gems-” 

“Richie!” 

Richie hopped back slightly, not expecting Eddie to shout. He tilted his head and waited for him to say something. “Give me time to have this sink in, ok?” Eddie said with a breathy sigh. Richie nodded. 

“Sure, take your time. I can stay away from you for a bit if you want. Give you some space-”

“It sunk!” Eddie shouted again and hopped up to Richie, hands boosting himself up from Richie’s shoulders. Their lips met for a few seconds, the best few seconds of Richie’s life. 

“You adorable little bastard.” Richie scrunched up his face as Eddie kept on giggling. 

For those who wanted to be tagged: @megelizabethvh @gazebros @deliicateloser @iammcclame @im-not-psychotic @thatonewhereshetries @okayscorbus @acidic-oblivion @spicyymoon--lovve   (I hope I got everyone)

[chennan-121]

If it was not for some OSRS drops being worth 6B RS3 I would not- play OSRS

I am still discovering everything but at $11 a month (BTW) you have so much to explore as a new/returning RuneScape player! And worse comes to worst you log into OSRS and continue playing that! If you need a bud to perform or need to join the clan me I will hook you up! Enjoy RuneScape man. As somebody playing grind Nightmare out and OSRS to RS gold get inferno cape, I gotta say that OSRS combat is...so dull. So fuckin boring. The Inferno is hard, instead it is a puzzle where every tide you figure out the most appropriate course of action or you die, which is true fun but not wise. I've made it to wave 60 so far, and eventually become bopped using an inven of untouched sara brews and sup res, using a poor spawn. Iremember what dull was too and've played since 2005. If it was not for some OSRS drops being worth 6B RS3 I would not- play OSRS. Ever.

That having been said, I think my favorite thing about battle that is RS3, that OSRS lacks, is your capacity to increase your damage output signal via mechanical skill. Moreso using Mage, but actually just knowing and executing the top rotations to your scenarios that are best is something you cannot do in OSRS, and I truly miss it. Two people in OSRS at Kree with rigour firing, a twisted bow, and maxed equipment? It is literally 50/50 (55/45 if someone misses a tick ingestion, but you get my point.) Two people in RS3 at Kree with Eldritch Crossbows? The one with the rotation will find the drops 100% of their time. Want to increase your PR in Zulrah? Gl on strikes, have max gear. As long as your Tbow strikes you're good. As soon as you've mastered the art of switching your prayer and equipment, and standing in the ideal spot for the next phase, you've hit the skill ceiling to get Zulrah.

Want to Boost your PR? There is so many ways to improve. I believe that the world record is like 1:30 when it is already end to get it in 2:30, and regular in 3:30. And you do not want the best equipment in RuneScape to hit that 2:30 mark, only the necessary wisdom and enough equipment. There no ability expression in OSRS that tick eating pvm wise and is flicking, and no way for people to increase their damage output signal because you can everything do in OSRS is abandoned click. For many people that is all the want. (Edit: I shall throw in multi manner switches in OSRS though, in relation to PvP. You can, or you could practice, and that's a fantastic thing. But that is for gaining KO possible and advantage, rather than related.

A pvper cannot increase their DPS from an opponent using the exact same gear, they can only"turn the tables" if you may, by switching to an favorable combat mode ). I am just saying. Any high end pvmer or perhaps med level pvmer (Being able to perform Rax/Nex period) will have 0 problems transferring over to OSRS for things such as TOB, COX, Nightmare, but any OSRS RuneScape participant that switches over to RS3 for even lower degree supervisors like Nex, Rax, as well as Helwyr at GWD2 is faking na possess a shit time. If being in charge of your damage output is significant to youpersonally, RS3 is the place to buy rs gold paypal be. And just for fun, I heard Zul' rah for comparison until Inferno. Ican certainly do 3/4 + kills/trip with trident/blowpipe and barrows and'm not 50 KC. I have been told that is"mad". It is not.

How RuneScape is helping Venezuelans Endure

[mercurywlw]

signal by twice ,,,, wot a fuckin bop

GOD RIGHT?!?! 😫