#and being so filled with love thanks to music and all that Coldplay do and it's not mutually exclusive and never will be | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

laufulneutral · 3 years

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We all know how much I love music Inspos! So here’s one that came to mind whilst I’ve been obsessing over this Coldplay song recently.

I’m sorry if this is crap. Only briefly re read so have fun or not cool thanks bye haha

(It’s a sad Arthur moment)

You are Arthur’s fiancée. Arthur turns up out of the blue after disappearing for 3 months after shish went down in Valentine and the gang had to leave. He never told you and he hasn’t been responding to letters. This isn’t the first time he’s had to go, he disappears a lot to do jobs for Dutch, but you always knew. However things have been strained since the trouble in Blackwater and Arthur goes for longer periods between seeing you, and he doesn’t have the time to see you and it’s all coming to a crashing reality, that unless you keep running with the gang, you can have no future together

A sharp knock on the door takes your attention away from the book you had become so engrossed in. You look up as your Aunt leaves the room to answer the door.

Soon enough you hear the familiar drawl of the outlaw,

“Hello m’aam, is Miss Y/LN here?”

A brief sense of happiness and relief floods your system before it’s taken over by anger again. Anger that he left, anger he hasn’t written once to you or even responded to any of the letters you wrote to him.

“I shall go see”

You hear the door close, and your aunt appears in the entrance to the room

“Mr Morgan is here to see you” she smiles gently, worry etched into her face. You return the smile, and nod once before putting your book aside and standing to straighten your skirt.

“I can tell him your busy” you aunt offers,

“No it’s okay” you reply, twiddling the silver band with a single ruby raised from it on your finger. “He is meant to be my fiancée, I cannot ignore him”

Pulling open the door you are greeted by the familiar cowboy,

“Arthur” you greet him

“F/N” he smiles broadly, taking your hand and raising it to his rough lips placing a gentle kiss against your knuckles. The touch sends electric through your body, some things never change no matter how long it has been. “Y’look lovely darlin’”

You close the door behind you and attempt to offer him a smile. You can’t bring yourself to say anything amongst the anger and hurt that’s bubbling more now you are seeing him in person.

“I’ve missed ya” he says, awkwardly knocking his foot against the wood of the porch. The tension between you is thick, “ain’t stopped thinkin about ya since I’ve been away.. some strange people down south”

“Why are you here Arthur?” You snap, unable to continue anymore small talk. His face blanches and his eyes show a quick glimpse of shock and hurt

“I missed ya, and I wanted to say sorry” he answers plainly

“For what?”

“What?” He grunts

“For what Arthur. What are you sorry for?” you demand, impatient with him already.

“Erm…”

You let out a harsh laugh, walking away from him to the low fencing of the porch. You wrap your arms around yourself pleading it will keep you together,

“I would have been back sooner but we ran in to trouble”

You shake your head “ain’t that always the way”

“Ain’t nothing I could of done.. Dutch said..”

You spin round to face him, your patience snapping “well if Dutch said it then it must be gods word”

“Y/N.”

“Don’t” you hiss “I am your fiancée … least I thought I was till you disappeared and I had no idea where you were for 3 months”

“I’m sorry.. Pinkertons showed up and after what happened in Valentine I couldn’t come back and see ya in case someone recognised me”

“How about letters Mr Tacitus Kilgore? Did pinkertons take over the postal system too!” You sneer,

“No” Arthur mumbles, his eyes stuck firmly on the floor. He is so inherently frustrating, he never understands how him disappearing effects you,

“You cannot begin to fathom the thoughts I’ve had about you since you left! I thought you was dead!” You exclaim, your hands swing around widely

“Oh darlin..” Arthur hums, his eyes meeting yours with concern, “course not, I ain’t trying to make you worry”

“What was I meant to think ? I rode out to horseshoe and found it abandoned.. I thought cause I hadn’t heard from anyone that you must be ..” you take a deep breath to stop your voice from cracking and shake your head “That was till I saw Trewlany, he told me you were holed up somewhere near Rhodes. I didn’t believe him at first.. said you would have let me know if you had to go”

Arthur says nothing watching you with a blank expression

“Arthur I have wrote to you. I have wrote and wrote and worried and cried…” you stop yourself, turning away from him again to not have to see his face,

“What can I do to fix it?” Arthur asks you, his voice desperate

You shrug, before mumbling “I just wish it could be like it used to be, y’know back in Blackwater”

Silence stretches out between the pair of you, only broken when Arthur sighs heavily,

“I ain’t too sure what to say darlin.. I’m sorry and I’m here now… ain’t that enough?”

“We’ve done this before Arthur, you do something wrong, I get hurt and then you apologise. We are running in circles, and I keep getting hurt. I’m tired of it”

Arthur comes up behind you and wraps his two warm arms around you. The scent of pine and campfire invades your senses, the smell of him bringing comfort to you the same as it always has done.

“You darlin, are the most important thing to me” he says gruffly, his lips kissing you lightly on the side of your face, the electric tingle igniting your skin, “please forgive me”

“I always do” you answer, your voice exasperated “but that ain’t changing anything, you do it again and again .. disappear for weeks .. this time 3 months. What will it be next time Arthur? 6 months ? A year?”

Arthur’s arms stiffen around you,

“This is my life Y/N, you knew that when you met me and you knew that when you agreed to marry me” he says, his voice irritated “Nobody said it would be easy”

You laugh, shocking yourself, before shaking your head “you’re right ! Nobody said it was going to be easy. Being in love with an outlaw” you take a deep breath before admitting the truth “but no one ever said it would be this goddamn hard”

Your voice cracks, and your eyes begin to threaten unshed tears that have built up over the last few weeks. Arthur turns you in his arms so your face to face, you look up into his sea blue eyes,

“What are ya sayin” he asks warily,

You search his face for something to change your mind on the hard decision you’ve been thinking over for the last month. You find it hard to face the reality when you are in his presence, he is so intoxicating and just seeing the man you love brings you such comfort. Yes he looked different. His beard has grown out a lot since you last saw him, his scar no longer visible under the untamed hair, and he still wore that silly blue, very worn shirt that suited him so well, but he was still that same man who you fell in love with. The same man who drew pictures of you and taught you to ride a horse. The man who when he proposed dropped the ring cause he was so nervous. The man you thought would be your husband

“Say something’” Arthur whispers, his eyes watch you intently,

“I can’t do this anymore” you say barely above a whisper . His eyes go wide and a hand immediately holds your chin so you can’t turn away. His eyes frantically search your face,

“You’re leaving me?” He says with disbelief.

You close your eyes, as tears start to form. When you open them again, you look down at your ring finger. Sliding the gold band off, you hold it out to him. Disgust fills his face at this gesture, his grip on your chin loosens as he steps away from you.

“Y/N… no... I love you” he says, his voice cracking. His face is holds a frown, as he looks at you with hurt and disbelief,

“I love you too Arthur.. but it’s not enough, this is too…hard” your voice cracks and the tears fall down your cheek. You look away from him, but Arthur grips his hands on your arms, making you look up at him through watery eyes,

“It won’t be much longer darlin’…I know it don’t seem great now, but as soon as we have enough money we’ll be gone.. just the two of us” he reassures you with so much belief that you so badly want it to be true. However you know the horrible truth, that there was never going to be that time.. there is always one more job, one more favour to do.

You shake your head, “I think you know as much as me that ain’t the case… you’ll never change that part of you, I wouldn’t want you too. It’s what makes you who you are” you place your hand with the ring in over his heart, “but I am not the women who can live that life with you, I’m sorry”

You slip the ring into the breast pocket of his worn shirt. The same shirt he wore when you first met, it hugs his frame so well and was the first thing you noticed when you met him in Blackwater. The grin he gave you after he brought you a new drink to replace the one his friend Sean spilt when he was trying to dance on the saloon bar. Arthur was so carefree back then, but since the trouble in Blackwater it’s got worse. You respected his lifestyle but couldn’t be a part of it yourself, and had enough of moving all the time. Staying in Coulter was the breaking point, and you both agreed you would stay permanently in Valentine, since it was not meant to be long till you and Arthur left together.

Stepping back out of his grasp, his faces drops and he reaches out again taking your hand which his larger one.

“I love you…so much” Arthur mumbles confused, a broken look on his face that is no longer hidden by his facade of confidence

You smile weakly at him, tears running down your cheeks “I know”

Your voice cracking through the sobs as you pull your hand from his and turn for the door

“Goodbye Arthur”

You step through the door, closing it behind you before he does anything stupid, like kiss you. You knew that was all it would take to get you to stay, you love him too much. Leaning your back against the door you slide down, the sobs overtaking your body.

After a few seconds you hear Arthur’s foot steps recede , and then hooves disappearing until the house becomes silent.

#Spotify #arthur morgan x y/n #red dead #arthursty #rdr2 arthur #red dead redemption 2 #red dead redemption arthur #red dead redemption community #thirsting after arthur morgan #arthur morgan x female reader #arthur morgan x reader #arthur morgan #fanfic #red dead fandom #sfw

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xiaomomowrites · 3 years

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home

Genshin Impact | TartaLi/ZhongChi

Summary: “Home isn’t always a place,” he taps Zhongli’s chest, “home can mean a lot of things to different people. For me, my home is my family. Wherever they are is where my home is. And maybe that’s in Liyue, maybe it’s in Snezhnaya, or maybe it’s in Inazuma. Either way, wherever my mother is, wherever my siblings are, that’s what I call home.”

As Childe trails off, he’s suddenly aware of how he’s fidgeting with a button on Zhongli’s coat now. The tips of his ears turn red. He meets his gaze abashedly. “Does that answer your question?”

Zhongli smiles fondly at him. “I believe it does. Thank you for indulging me.”

Or; Zhongli struggles to define what exactly “home” means to him.

Find it on Ao3!

This part takes place between act V and Zhongli, Come Down. I know I posted this series totally out of order, please forgive me for my lack of organization :,D

A/N: First of all, I finally have a beta reader!! She’s helped me through the process of writing this and I’m incredibly thankful for her support. I accidentally made her cry with this fic though, even if it wasn’t necessarily sad?? Regardless I appreciate her feedback haha.

Oh my, I feel like I’ve been writing these two being really soft for too long. After this, I really need to face the music and write these two fighting. The time has come. They won’t be in the honeymoon phase forever!! I’m gonna vibe check all of you.

Also, do yourself a favor and listen to the songs Home by Michael Buble and Sparks by Coldplay after or during you read this. You’re welcome.

Lastly, you can find me on Twitter @/xiaoscribbles where I’m extremely active and talk too much about Genshin. I love making friends there!

Enjoy <3 -u.n.

Zhongli never had a place to call home.

Or rather, he never bothered to find one of his own and commit to it.

He was always too mobile, too nomadic. He had places to be, people and adepti to see, contracts to see through. Zhongli never found himself settling into one place for too long. Sure, when he was Rex Lapis, he had nested many times. He was a beast whose presence was too large to be confined into one space, so he would glide to the highest mountain in Liyue with ample space for a dragon like him, and settle. Zhongli remembered how he would make it as comfortable as possible for himself using all kinds of things he would pick up on his travels. A deep purr of satisfaction would rumble through him as his scaled belly would make contact with the coolness of the earth, and Rex Lapis would allow himself to relax against the stone, body sinking as if he were weightless. Although, no matter how he shifted, tossed and turned when he tried to rest, something was always missing.

Even the familiar feeling of the Liyuan ground was not enough to fill the void in his chest.

It was satisfying, sure, but never completing.

Hence, his lack of understanding of the human desire to settle down in one home for the rest of their short, yet meaningful lives.

Were they not itching to get up and go somewhere else? See the world? Appreciate the land beneath their feet in all its entirety? Zhongli failed to comprehend. Even an ancient being like him fell short in understanding the idea of a “home”.

Well, what consisted of a home, anyway? Four walls and a roof over their heads? A kitchen filled with food? A soft bed with layers and layers of sheets? What was the meaning of all that, when the true beauty of the world was beyond those four walls, high into the sky, and deep beneath the sea? What kind of pleasure could possibly come out of being domesticated?

Nevertheless, Zhongli did make an old promise to try to understand humans as they were. So sure, Zhongli supposed he could appreciate the art of architecture. He saw how hard people worked to build these beautiful houses with intricate designs to maximize safety for the residents excited to inhabit them. It was endearing, Zhongli thought, how enthusiastic humans got about a house. The idea of settling down with their loved ones would give them so much serotonin, so much drive. It was inspiring to him. Zhongli had always hoped that one day, he could feel the same way about someone.

So why couldn’t bring himself to understand the joy in this “home” everyone spoke of? What was he missing? Was he missing the duvet? The one thousand thread count sheets? Was he missing the fine China he saw peddlers selling on roads far from town? Because he had tried his best, living in his mortal form, to find the simple pleasure in decorating his home.

But no matter what he did, no matter how many throw pillows he placed on the couch, he simply could not deny the gaping hole in his chest when he went to bed at night. He had reached a point where even cooking for one every night upset him so, and he would go to bed disgruntled and hollow. The vast margins left on the king sized bed in the middle of the night kept Zhongli awake. Though he did not even need sleep, he had tried his best to form what the humans called a “proper sleeping schedule”. Apparently, according to Hu Tao, sleeping at four in the morning and waking at seven for work was “not suitable”.

But in truth, what was he supposed to do? Pray tell, what could he possibly do to absolve the issue of the chasm growing in his chest with each passing night?

“Xiansheng!” A jovial voice snaps him out of his reverie.

Zhongli looks up from his mundane paperwork to see a familiar head of red hair bounding toward him languidly. Oh, what a sight for sore eyes.

“Childe,” he greets, “did you pester Miss Hu Tao into letting you back here again?”

“Pester?” Childe brings a hand to his chest to mock his hurt, “I hardly have to bother her to come back here. A simple ‘you look fantastic today’ is always my ticket in.”

Zhongli scoffs fondly. “How can I help you, Childe?” He sets his pen down and leans back in his chair, amber eyes following the Harbinger curiously.

“Well your break is in ten minutes, so I figured I’d come grab you for lunch at Wanmin?” Childe plants two hands flat on the cherry red oak desk and leans forward into Zhongli’s space. There’s his signature teasing smile spreading slyly across his face, the one he knows Zhongli won’t be able to resist.

Zhongli hums in approval. “Sure, let me just wrap up this last form and I should be ready to go shortly.”

Childe drops down to his elbows in response and rests his face between his palms. “You sure? We could just go now, you know. I got Hu Tao consulting Ying’er about the new fragrance for the next hour or so.”

Zhongli leans forward and meets him in the middle. “I must be responsible, Childe. If my lunch break is at noon, then I will not leave my post until then.”

Childe pouts, jutting his bottom lip out cutely in an attempt to convince him otherwise. Zhongli, immovable as ever, simply leans forward and captures his lips between his own. The Harbinger makes a happy noise in the back of his throat and presses closer, positively humming when the ex-Archon reciprocates. But the older man is quick to get back to work, pulling away as quick as he came, but not before he nips at Childe’s bottom lip. The ginger whines petulantly at the loss of contact.

“Have a seat, Ajax.” Zhongli speaks, a hair’s width away from kissing him again. Childe grumbles, but agrees regardless. He seats himself in one of the plush armchairs located in the corner of the office and makes himself comfortable for the next ten minutes.

Zhongli readjusts himself in his seat and picks his pen back up, glancing back down at the form he had already completed. He blinked owlishly at it. He must have finished signing it while Childe was talking without realizing what he had done. Regardless, he moves onto the next document to peruse silently. Mid sentence, he scoffs playfully, shaking his head at the thought of the ginger distracting him so. Is he even surprised at this point? Not even a little bit. The ginger has an incomprehensible hold on his heart, one that he doesn’t really want to shake off.

“Something funny, Xiansheng?” Childe teases from his seat. He’s reclined in his chair, relaxed, head lolling against the cushioned headrest. His eyes are closed and his shoulders are drooping into the leather. He’s relaxed, for once, and the thought of Ajax allowing himself to let his guard down in his presence makes Zhongli’s heart thump happily in his chest.

“Not particularly,” Zhongli pushes himself up with a groan. Goodness, his joints are getting tired. He pads over to where Childe is seated and forcefully makes room for himself on a chair that is clearly made for one person. Childe lets out a surprised yelp at the sudden intrusion but scoots over to make room, anyway. Zhongli makes himself comfortable by angling his body to where it’s being cradled by the junction between the armrest and the back, and opens his arms as a silent invitation.

Childe takes it happily and launches forward to burrow into Zhongli’s chest. He rests a gloved hand over his heart and snuggles closer, inhaling the deep scent of silk flowers and leather. Zhongli’s arms come around to strap him against his chest, gloved hands petting his sides as he presses a kiss to red hair. The contact immediately vanquishes the discourse in his mind. He squeezes him tight for good measure, forcing a grunt out of his Tartaglia.

“Xiansheng,” he calls.

“Hm?”

“You’re working too hard again.”

“Am I?” He questions absentmindedly. “And here I thought I was pulling my weight just fine.”

Childe snorts. “Pulling your weight? You know I make enough for the both of us. You could retire and stay at home, relaxing and reading books, or whatever it is you do at home.”

Ah, there it is again.

Home.

For the second time that day, Zhongli is struck with confusion.

“What is home to you, Childe?” He asks, voice soft and far away. Childe frowns against his chest in confusion.

“Home?” He parrots.

“Yes, home. What is ‘home’ to you, Tartaglia?”

“Hmm,” the Harbinger hums, tapping a gloved finger against the ex-Archon’s chest idly as he speaks. “I suppose home is Snezhnaya. Home is what I grew up in. The unbearable cold and the old cottage house. Ice fishing with my siblings, massaging my mother’s back. Those things are all home to me.”

Zhongli ponders. Of course that is what home means. Familiarity, yes? So, technically, his home was Liyue. The hustle and bustle of trade by the harbor, the loud sizzling woks at the food stands, the loud marketers on the street that work hard day and night, the enthusiastic story tellers spewing exaggerated lies— that was all home to him.

So why, then, was Zhongli still dissatisfied with this conclusion? Home should obviously be Liyue. He created this land with his own two hands. Gave people the very drive that keeps them alive today; he gave the idea of mora and fair trade and economic prosperity. He’s watched countless faces pass him every day, every year, every century. He’s seen new faces, young faces, old faces, familiar faces, too, the ones he had seen on older souls. Reincarnated souls. Zhongli knew those souls. He’s had dinner with many of them on multiple occasions.

And it was no secret that Zhongli was well known in his hometown. Every business owner was familiar with his eloquent way of speaking and ambitious ways of buying. With the arrival of Childe, every business owner all but doubled their enthusiasm now that Mister Zhongli finally had a means to pay. People knew Zhongli, they adored him. They admired his amber eyes and long, beautiful hair, the ends of it looking like it had been dipped in melted mora. When he walked, people’s eyes followed. They would stare longingly at his beautifully crafted coat, his single earring, the fine leather gloves that cover his deft hands, and they would admire the way he walked with purpose, and with fire. A confidence so set in stone, it was almost difficult for one to even approach Mister Zhongli. For so long, he was considered Liyue’s most handsome bachelor, until of course Tartaglia came along and swept him off of his feet, capturing his attention in a way no one else could ever imagine imitating.

Yet, despite all the attention his people lavished upon him, there was always a nagging feeling of isolation nipping at him in the back of his mind. Despite creating the very ground beneath their feet, he simply felt like he did not fit in. Only when he was with Tartaglia did he truly feel like he belonged anywhere. It was rather inexplicable. There was something about the way Tartagali’s presence wrapped around him with a level of tenderness he had never experienced. It covered him like a gentle embrace, welcomed him without judgement, and loved him without expecting anything in return. The thought of Ajax himself made Zhongli’s heart swell

Speaking of which, the said man was now pressed tightly against his chest tracing lazy patterns into the fabric of his coat. Their long legs were tangled where they were dangling off the seat, with Tartaglia’s foot rubbing affectionately against the older man’s ankle.

Oh, how far they have come.

“But,” Tartaglia suddenly interjects, jolting Zhongli out of his thoughts. “If my family were to come here to Liyue to stay, then I suppose Liyue would be home, too.”

Zhongli hums. “Naturally. I’m sure they would find the variety of houses here in Liyue nice and peaceful, perfect for a new home.”

At that, Childe lets out a light laugh. “Honestly? They could live in a cardboard box in Inazuma, and I would still call that home.”

Zhongli frowns. Well now he’s even more confused than when he started. Since when was a cardboard box a suitable home for a human? It completely lacked all the appliances the houses here in Liyue had. Why would Childe settle for that? He of all people was aware of the love he holds for his family, there simply was no way he would call that a suitable home for his family.

“I don’t understand,” he says instead, “a cardboard box, Tartaglia? You do not strike me as the type to settle for such an...unbecoming home. Especially for your family.”

“No, no, Xiansheng,” the Harbinger chuckles, sitting up slightly so he can look Zhongli in the eye. “I was just exaggerating. And, home isn’t always supposed to be a house, you know. Those two things can be mutually exclusive. Maybe not all the time, but, definitely most of the time.”

Well this was certainly new. Now he truly did not understand what it meant to have a home.

“Apparently I do not know.”

Childe sits upright to look down at the ex-Archon.

“Home isn’t always a place,” he taps Zhongli’s chest, “home can mean a lot of things to different people. For me, my home is my family. Wherever they are is where my home is. And maybe that’s in Liyue, maybe it’s in Snezhnaya, or maybe it’s in Inazuma. Either way, wherever my mother is, wherever my siblings are, that’s what I call home.”

Childe is aware he’s rambling, but he can’t help it. Once he starts talking about his siblings, he simply cannot stop. “It wouldn’t matter where I was if I couldn’t hear my siblings from the other room. If I didn’t wake up to Tonia’s loud blow dryer every morning, or if I didn’t hear Anthon trying to talk to her over the blowing, then it isn’t home. If I can’t hear Teucer’s footsteps coming toward me asking about a new Mr. Cyclops toy, it isn’t home. Not to me. But like I said, it’s different for everyone.”

Zhongli smiles fondly at him. “I believe it does. Thank you for indulging me.”

Childe pushes himself up and off the chair, stretching and yawning obnoxiously. “Great,” he replies once his jaw finishes unhinging itself from that yawn, “let’s eat, I’m starving.”

—

To put it simply, Zhongli rethinks his definition of home all night. After he gets home from his dinner date (Tartaglia tugged on his sleeves until he agreed to leave his shift early in favor of a new restaurant that had popped up recently), he closes the door behind him to take in the composition of his home. Tartaglia had been the one to pick out most of the furniture, so although it lacked many of the traditional Liyuan decor Zhongli would have furnished the place with himself, it had a nice touch of Tartaglia everywhere he went.

His couch, for example, was a deep mahogany leather that stayed cool to the touch despite the hottest of summers. Zhongli’s dresser was nice and tall, a deep chestnut brown cut from the forests of Snezhnaya to match his bed frame. His bed was elevated by an incredibly grandiose four post frame that hung a beautiful golden translucent curtain all around the bed, draping the perimeter and creating an ethereal atmosphere for when he sleeps at night.

(“It’s kinda sexy, don’t you think?” Childe had asked one day, while he was pondering which bed frame to buy for his boyfriend. Not that he needed to, considering Zhongli finally has a stable salary, he just wanted to.

“Ajax,” Zhongli had said disapprovingly, “what about it is sexy to you?

“I don’t knowww,” the Harbinger hums, “maybe it looks like I would feel like I’m on cloud nine when we’re, you know…”

“You can say sex, Ajax, I believe in you.”

“Oh stop that!” Childe whacks him playfully with the catalogue, “I’m being a good boyfriend and getting you a beautiful bed frame cut from the finest oak tree and sheets woven with high quality silk! You could be nicer to me, you know.” He’s pouting, and he knows it. Zhongli’s eyes soften.

Zhongli shakes his head, laughing. “You know you don’t need to do that, you know.”

“I want to,” Ajax persists, “this is your first actual living space as a mortal! I want it to be perfect. I refuse to have my boyfriend, who is a literal god, sleeping on a bed with no bed frame. Unacceptable.”

Zhongli smiles and watches him as he continues to ramble about all the different bed frames he could buy. Oh, his love for this boy knows no end.)

The hints of Ajax everywhere he goes is how he keeps himself sane each night. His possessive urge to be around him every second of every day (courtesy of being a dragon deity his entire six thousand year life span) is soothed with the smell of him on his sheets and the extra toothbrush by the sink. One of Tartaglia’s scarves is folded neatly on the arm of his couch, and during those nights where he truly feels Ajax’s absence, he’ll hold the red fabric close and breathe the scent in deeply. The smell alone is enough to rock him to sleep on some nights, but on others, it simply is not enough. On those nights, he finds himself reading book after book about Snezhnaya culture until he passes out from exhaustion.

One would think that it would be better for them to just live together. Given that they spent every second outside of work with each other, even going so far as walking the long route home just to avoid saying goodbye, a person would look at the way they held each other close in public and think that they’ve been married for quite some time already.

But alas, they had agreed to take their relationship slow in the beginning. The both of them had much to adjust to, given that one of them was a notoriously fierce Harbinger, and the other was an ex-Archon adjusting to the world without his gnosis. They both had complex schedules that they were much too familiar and comfortable with to just up and leave for another person. There was a certain period of time that they had agreed to spend apart, well, as “apart” as they could be, before they decided to do anything drastic, like move in together.

There was too much to consider, anyway, Zhongli reflects as he gets ready for bed. Would their living habits even align? Would Tartaglia even be a good roommate? Would he take out the trash responsibly? As much as he loves the ginger with his entire heart, he doesn’t think he could do it for long if Tartaglia was the type to walk around with shoes on. Such an act should be considered illegal, anyway.

Waiting was the right thing to do.

Right?

The nights Tartaglia spent with him were the nights he could sleep a full, uninterrupted eight hours. They were the nights that Zhongli felt himself truly relax into the sheets and sink into a blissful sleep, knowing his beloved was being held impossibly close. And if nighttime was therapeutic for him, mornings felt ethereal. The mornings where he rose with the sun to be met with the sight of Tartaglia next to him were the mornings he felt like he could fly again, and soar through the open Liyue skies in his rawest form forever, so long as Tartaglia was with him.

In fact, more often than not, Zhongli thought about the way it would feel to have Childe by his side as he explored the skies again. He would think about the way he would have to strap him down, nice and close so he doesn’t fall off his back, and then take off high into the sky. Not too high, lest he accidentally give his boyfriend a heart attack, but high enough to hear those delightful shrieks Childe will let out when he’s excited. He thinks about the way Childe could grasp onto his mane for security, hands threading through golden locks, legs tightening around his torso to avoid falling. Oh, he thinks about this a lot.

But, waiting was the right thing to do. The last thing he wanted was for Childe to feel uncomfortable with the pace that their relationship was going and make him uneasy. Besides, just because he was a possessive dragon at heart, it didn’t mean Ajax was willing to cater to his needy tendencies. So, he promised himself that he would create a reasonable distance between them for the time being.

Why then, did he hate this distance with every fiber of his being?

Why is the distance so unbearable, especially at night?

Why is he so unsettled with the very few miles between them? It’s not like Zhongli is in Liyue and Childe is in Snezhnaya. Tartaglia is literally only at the inn.

Yet he craves nothing more but to be close to him at all times. Zhongli’s skin itches with the desperate desire to feel him by his side when he goes to bed, when he wakes up, and all the moments in between. Does that make him clingy? Maybe. But old habits die hard.

Zhongli huffs and looks down at his flattened pillow with disdain. No amount of fluffing will restore it to a state that is suitable for his likes. Even the elegantly woven silk night robe wrapped around his body offers little to no comfort.

He glances at the clock.

It’s only half past midnight. If all went well with Tartaglia’s shift, he should be home now, fresh out of the shower.

Without thinking twice, Zhongli throws together an overnight bag and rushes out the door.

—

“Coming, I’m coming,” Childe calls to the incessant knocks at his door. The knuckles continue to rap against the barrier, though, and Childe’s fingers itch to summon a water blade in the case that things go south. Considering that there is rarely anyone that would dare to disturb him at this time of night, Childe would say his precautionary measures are reasonable. He had summoned an angry water god, after all. It was only a matter of time before the angry mobs got to him.

The knocks sound again, and Childe angrily ruffles his hair against the towel. If they could just wait one second, he could answer the door with dry hair, but no. Peace was not an option, apparently, and neither was a perfectly fluffed head of hair.

He stomps toward the door and swings it open, ready to scold whoever had—

“Xiansheng!” He startles when he sees Zhongli standing in the doorway, donning a simple black t-shirt tucked into high waisted pants that were loose and slightly flared at the bottom, and his feet were covered by simple strappy sandals. Childe vaguely remembers purchasing those pants for him when he had mentioned wanting more loose and liberating clothes. The ex-Archon looks good like this. He looks… impossibly soft. Vulnerable, almost. There’s a distant look in his amber eyes that has Childe mildly concerned, though. Childe tries to ignore the sudden urge to protect him to his last dying breath.

“What are you doing here?” He sidesteps and reaches out to drag his boyfriend in. “I thought we had already discussed you sleeping so late! I know you’re an adeptus, you don’t require sleep, blah blah blah, but still, you—“

“I missed you,” Zhongli stated so matter of factly. “I wanted to see you. So I came here.”

Childe gawks at him and closes the door slowly. So he had just walked all the way here?! At this hour?! Goodness, the audacity—

“Xiansheng,” he whines instead, dragging the older man into an embrace. He wraps his arms around his neck and presses his cheek into his hair. “You can’t just say those things. It’s impossible for me to love you more.”

Zhongli holds him with desperation, welcoming the hug so enthusiastically that Childe knows there’s something to be said.

“Can I stay the night?” The adeptus asks once they pull apart.

Childe looks at him, dumbfounded. “You don’t even need to ask! Go, make yourself comfortable. Are you hungry? Have you had dinner?”

Zhongli drops his bag by his side of the bed and takes a seat, still watching Childe with careful eyes.

“I’ve eaten,” he answers carefully. “I just couldn’t seem to get comfortable at… home… so I came here.”

Childe frowns, and joins him on the bed. He flips the covers open and clambers in, resting back against the headboard. “Not comfortable? Is something wrong with your place?”

“Maybe,” Zhongli tries, “I really don’t know. Frankly I’ve been conflicted about… many things… recently, and I feel as if I have reached an impasse. I don’t know where to go from here.”

“Zhongli,” Tartaglia says, suddenly serious, “how come this is the first time I’m hearing of this?” His voice drops an octave, the worry seeping into his tone.

Zhongli reclines and rests against the headrest, too. “I did not know how to express my troubles to you, mainly because I’m having trouble defining it myself.”

Well, that’s fair enough. Tartaglia can’t find it in himself to be mad at that reasoning.

“Well,” Tartaglia begins, reaching for Zhongli’s hand and hugging his arm to his chest. He scoots closer and uses Zhongli’s shoulder as a pillow. “Why don’t you just start rambling and maybe it’ll come to you.”

“I think I have a vague idea, actually,” Zhongli adjusts himself to make himself more comfortable for Ajax. The both of them find themselves staring up at the ceiling as they converse. “Remember when I asked you what ‘home’ means to you?”

“Of course,” Tartaglia answers. Oh, he has an idea of where this is going.

“Well, I’m unsure of what it means to me.”

Bingo.

“What it means to you?” The Harbinger asks, craning his neck to look up at him. Zhongli hums, affirmative.

“Yes, I’ve been struggling to define the term for myself. I’ve been observing others much more closely and how they define their own home, but I’m afraid it has made me more confused.”

Tartaglia juts out his bottom lip in contemplation. “What do you mean?”

Zhongli takes a deep breath, a long explanation at the tip of his tongue. Tartaglia braces himself, as he usually does.

“Today you told me home was your family. Miss Xiangling told me home was her father, and the smell of their kitchen. Young Xingqiu told me his home was within whatever book he was reading, even describing it as his safe space. And Miss Ningguang, most peculiar of all, had told me home was when she was out at sea, but only when Captain Beidou was by her side. Mind you, I had fully expected it to be the Jade palace, considering the built it from the ground up.” Zhongli rambles, “and I just found it strange how so many humans find different definitions for the word home. Such a simple word, too, so imagine my surprise when I discover it’s true complexity.”

“I’ve encountered many things in my life, Ajax. I have met so many people in this lifetime and watched them grow, watched them die, and even watched some be reincarnated. But I think…” he trails off, and the warmth in his eyes glimmer as he reaches an epiphany. “I think I am struggling to define the term because I have never been presented with the idea of stability. Things are always changing. The world around me continues to warp and I have noticed, in my time so far, that humans find the need for stability and reassurance because of the nature of their short lives. That is where I am lacking.”

—

Try as he might, Tartaglia takes slight offense to his statement.

Lacking stability? The thought was bitter on his tongue.

Was… was Childe not enough?

No, no, he forcefully derailed that train of thought, he came here tonight because you’re the only thing he can rely on in his life right now. Show him that.

“Well,” Childe starts carefully, and thanks the stars that his voice is steady. “What about me?”

Zhongli makes a confused noise. “What about you?”

“Do you consider me as a stable thing in your life?” Childe prods, digging his cheek deeper into his shoulder.

“Oh, absolutely not,” Zhongli snorts.

Childe unironically feels an ache in his chest. He stills against Zhongli. Ouch.

Luckily, Zhongli is at least able to pick up on his sudden discomfort, and he’s quick to follow up his statement.

“You misunderstand, Ajax, you being wildly chaotic is a beautiful thing in and of itself.” Zhongli gently pries Childe off his arm to look at him directly. As expected, Childe is upset. He’s got the same glassy eyes he always dons when he’s upset, but doesn’t want to admit it, and his bottom lip is red and obviously bitten in an attempt to keep himself from feeling unreasonably angry.

“Oh,” Zhongli coos at the sight, “I’m sorry my love, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“It’s fine,” Childe blinks hard, “I’m just being dumb.”

“You’re not being dumb,” Zhongli is quick to negate his self-deprecative tendencies, “I must have come off very harsh just now. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” Childe thumps a fist against his chest, “it’s fine, really.”

“As I was saying,” the Archon continues, “nothing about my life so far has been stable, Ajax. Things are constantly changing. Time continuously flows, and it simply does not wait for any man. Unfortunately, I have seen many people come and go. And unfortunately, one day you will become one of them--”

“Zhongli stop,” Childe interrupts him. He’s angry, now. His brows are furrowed and there’s an evident frown on his face. There’s a slight scowl across his lips where there used to be a precious smile just moments ago. “What the hell?” He asks angrily.

“Ajax,” Zhongli scolds softly, “it would be in your best interests if you let me finish.”

“Well, not if you’re just gonna talk about death,” Childe retorts. He’s aware that he sounds childish, but such a topic is not to be taken to lightly. Especially when it revolves around him, and what he would be leaving behind. The thought makes him sick to his stomach.

“Whether or not you’re stable, whether or not you’ll be here forever, you are the most important thing to me, probably ever.” He speaks with a certainty that makes Childe shiver. “You are the first person in a very long time that has made me want to try to grasp at the fleeting seconds I have with you, Ajax. You drive me crazy. And I love you for it, because never in my six thousand years have I had as much fun as when I am with you.”

Dammit, Childe is crying now. Zhongli has such a way with words, how could he not? Dating him is just one, huge, glorified emotional rollercoaster. Zhongli brushes a stray, reluctant tear away with the pad of his ungloved hand.

“Frankly, stability is overrated,” the ex-Archon smiles at the soft giggle that escapes his beloved’s lips. “I have found, albeit slowly, that I would rather have someone loud and rambunctious than someone slow and settled. That is my role, if anything. There simply cannot be two of us, can there?”

A soft “no” is huffed as laughter from Childe. What a boring relationship that would be, truly.

“But if it is stability you seek, Ajax, let me be that for you. Let me be here, solid as stone and steadfast. Let me be the pillar of strength you need to turn to in times of trouble. Okay?” He brushes a knuckle gently across his skin.

Childe makes a sound that sounds a little broken and a little delirious. “When did this become about me, Xiansheng?”

“To me, it’s always been about you,” Zhongli smiles fondly. Childe feels as if he’s been shot in the heart.

Childe gives him a shaky smile and nods. He can’t seem to control his heart at the moment, so instead, he says, “You’re my home, Zhongli.”

The gears seemed to finally click somewhere in Zhongli’s chest. The hollow feeling inside suddenly swelled with a sense of nostalgia, bringing with it a feeling of peace and serenity. Zhongli’s eyes widen, and the ex-Archon looks down at Childe with a sudden air of solid certainty. Childe almost shrinks at the intensity of his gaze.

“Of course,” he mutters, mostly to himself. “Of course it’s you.”

“What?”

“How could I be so blind?” Zhongli cups his face with both hands, and Childe reciprocates by placing both palms on his wrists. Confused, but following along. Cor lapis eyes stare straight into his soul, unforgiving as it digs deeper and deeper into what makes him whole.

“Xiansheng?” Ajax asks, dazed by the intensity of Zhongli’s stare. God, his eyes are so golden.

“It’s you, Ajax,” for once, his voice cracks and he loses composure, “you… are home. You are home. To me, that is my definition of home. I only ever feel-- I only ever feel like I belong when I am with you. It was so obvious, and I--”

“Zhongli,” Ajax gently pries off the hands cupped around his face. His heart can’t handle this right now. It’s too much. He’s too in love, he needs to do something or he’ll explode. He stares directly into those beautiful, mesmerizing golden eyes. Ajax cradles Zhongli’s hands in his own, petting over his knuckles, when he asks, “Marry me?”

His eyes widen comically, as if they weren’t already the size of saucepans with his first epiphany.

“Oh.”

So that’s what he was missing.

“I know we said we would take it slow, and I know I’m young, or whatever” Childe begins to ramble, “but fuck going slow, Xiansheng, it’s been months and all I want to do is go to sleep with you next to me. I know what I want and it seems like you do, too, but if I misread that then--”

Zhongli hushes him with an incessant press of his lips against Childe’s. It is a loving kiss, yes, but it is filled with a desperation that only the both of them understand. It is a kiss that is so different from the others; one full of certainty and ambition, a kiss full of overwhelming commitment. The longing behind the contact is an answer in and of itself, but he pulls away to speak regardless.

“Yes,” he breathes, pressing his forehead against Childe’s, “yes.”

That night, Zhongli finally comes to the conclusion that home does not have to mean four walls and a roof. It doesn’t pertain to any kind of fancy kitchen appliances, or four post bed frames. Zhongli quickly learns that it doesn’t have to be about a place, and all the stories it tells. It’s not even Liyue, the very land he built himself. It has nothing to do with any of that. In fact, the sheer ridiculousness of Zhongli’s inner conflict has him rolling.

Instead, it has everything to do with the red head beneath him. It has to do with the way he calls his name in the middle of the night, claws his hands down his back and juts his hips forward, desperately seeking friction. Home has everything to do with swollen lips, red from being kissed, cheeks hot pink from the heat slowly filling the room, and strong thighs clenching and unclenching around his waist. Home has to do with his precious Snezhnayan soulmate.

Simply, home is Ajax.

#genshin impact #genshin impact fanfiction #tartali #zhongchi #chili #tartaglia x zhongli #childe x zhongli #character study #zhongli struggles a lot...#childe #tartaglia #zhongli #rex lapis #help i want what they have

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flamingplay · 3 years

Text

Coldplay’s New Music

(just encompassing everything in one place because of the informational chaos)

Thanks to Coldplaying and ColdplayXTRA (graphics below by them too) on Twitter we’ve got such encrypted message from alienradio.fm website about probably potential new single “Higher Power” being released on May 7th! (a radio day. Coincidence? I think not) As Coldplaying’s article goes, that was ColdplayXTRA who “led the decryption efforts by assuming Coldplay was the first string and using P, O, A, Y to fill the blanks” [x] There are also potential new single’s lyrics that has been deciphered by both of the teams joining up their forces:

“The joy is electric and you’re circuiting through. I’m so happy that I’m alive at the same time as you”

According to the news article on Coldplaying everything started with Alien Radio FM @alienradiofm account on Twitter following some of the coldplayers! (obviously, they follow 42 accounts lol) Alien Radio is not just a randomly popped up new name, we could see it popping up written on a whiteboard on 'The South Bank Show' in 2009, as Kyle @coldplaykb very rightly remembered

Also Sango @Coldplay5D finally found the ever-questioned Jon’s MX guitar with this sign (I looked for it for the whole night and failed even though worked on Jon’s guitars mag :/)

This account (also it’s represented across other social media platforms, as you can see from the website) had already tweets since April 18th:

Days later they uploaded videos with initiated scanning and found signals: one of them consisted of the previews of all radio stations’ messages in one short video and the other [x] was in Greek (the man reading out such dialogue as monologue I recognized later today as the man from typical "listening and comprehension" text for Greek proficiency certification I and my students passed many years ago) and went as following (transcription and translation are mine):

“Εμπρός, εμπρός! Με ακους; Ναι, σε ακούω. Ο δίσκος είναι σμασμένος; Όχι, είπα είπα είναι σπασμένος. Μπορείς να το φιάξεις; Δεν ξέρω. Πίστευα ότι ήξερες. Όχι... Εμ... ‘Οχι, δεν ξέρω. Το ηλεκτρικό μιάζει να είναι εντάξει. Είναι μυστήριο. Πραγματικό μυστήριο. Μπορείς να με βοηθείσεις; Ευχαριστώ. Θα το ήθελα πολύ. Εμπρος;”

“Hello, hello! Do you hear me? Yes, yes, I hear you. A disc is damaged. No, I said that it’s damaged. Can you fix it? I don’t know. I believed that you know yourself. No… Um… No, I don’t know. The electrical part seems to be fine. That’s mysterious. A real mystery. Can you help me? Thank you. I'd love to do that very much. Hello?”

That message was followed by several tweets with coordinates and a link to alienradio.fm

40°45'38.9"N 73°59'04.3"W which is in New York with the following photo

And 51°30'24.6"N 0°08'34.4"W in London

Messages that these stations broadcast talk mainly about space (astronauts and stuff), scientists, astronomy itself, frequency and such. There’s a theory by ColdplayXTRA that the messages in Greek, Welsh, English (about Scotland’s rural are) might be nods towards the bandmembers also, as I understand, for the fact that two of them are by now the only one represented in a form of video across social media accounts of Alien Radio FM.

Welsh message that appeared today talks about Leo Fender [translation taken from Coldplay’s subreddit]

“At the age of 8 years old, Leo developed a tumor in his left eye, resulting in the eye being removed and being replaced with a glass eye, making him ineligible for the draft in World War II later in life.While he was young he played piano, and then switched to saxophone. However, his interest in saxophone did not last long as he focused more and more on electronics When he was 13 years old, his uncle, who ran an automotive-electric shop, sent him a box filled with discarded car radio parts, and a battery.”

Some of the messages have no connection to the overall space theme, like the ones in Czech, Dutch, Finnish and Swedish.

In Czech they cite two children poems: one is about a little snail and the other is about an injured ant that was cured by some doctor, here’s the translation by @ri3o on Coldplaying forum:

“Little ant got hurt and the whole ant colony knew about it. At midnight they called in the ant doctor. The doctor checked his heart; then wrote a prescription. “One pill of sugar three times a day and he will be as strong as a lion.”They gave him the medicine as prescribed, but our ant was still sick. The whole day he was on fire, the whole night he spent crying. Four stood by his bed and a fifth one comforted him saying, “Do not cry, I will blow where it hurts and by the morning you will be fine.” He blew on the little ant’s wound and caressed his forehead, And in the morning, hop!, healthy little ant jumped out of bed.”

And a transcription in Chech by the same person:

“Šnečku, šnečku Šnečku, šnečku, vystrč růžky, dám ti krejcar na tvarůžky a trojníček na tabáček bude z tebe hajdaláček!”

Dutch message, as discovered by Hannah @hvn42 quotes a beginning of “ A Mad Tea Party“ from “Alice In Wonderland”:

“There was a table set out under a tree in front of the house, and the March Hare and the Hatter were having tea at it: a Dormouse was sitting between them, fast asleep, and the other two were using it as a cushion, resting their elbows on it, and talking over its head. “Very uncomfortable for the Dormouse,” thought Alice; “only, as it’s asleep, I suppose it doesn’t mind.”The table was a large one, but the three were all crowded together at one corner of it: “No room! No room!” they cried out when they saw Alice coming. “There’s plenty of room!” said Alice indignantly, and she sat down in a large arm-chair at one end of the table.”

Here’s the translation from Finnish by Anniina @riddikulusfin with some editing by me:

When I was little I once went to a carousel in an amusement park. It was a gorgeous carousel. The carousel had horses, I mean, magnificent horses. I got on one’s back that had a purple mane and her name was Flower. I started running so that I could get on this exactly horse’s back. I was so excited. My mother shouted: “Hold on!”. But I was so excited that I didn’t listen to her. When the carousel started spinning I flinched. I was not ready. I fell down. Everybody was laughing and the carousel had to be stopped. It did not hurt but I was embarrassed. I started crying. It felt like I had let Flower down.

“Hold on. You have to hold on tight. Do you hear me? Do you hear what I am saying? Don’t let go, by no means don’t ever let go. Be careful. I hope you are listening carefully. You have to listen carefully.”

According to elin @elinhenningsson this signal on the radio has

“a Swedish guy talking about how to make meatballs”

Today a countdown in Portuguese appeared, still unknown what for...

coldpatrix on Coldplaying forum made an Italian transcription of a message that appeared to be a biography of Galileo Galilei!

Nasce il 15 Febbraio 1564 vicino a Pisa. Suo padre era un musicista e quando andò all’Università studiò medicina, per poi passare alla filosofia e alla matematica. Dopo l’università divenne professore di matematica ed iniziò a lavorare su esperimenti che includevano la velocità con la quale degli oggetti differenti cadono al suolo. Nel 1609 seppe che qualcuno, in Olanda, aveva inventato un telescopio. Nonostante ciò, non riuscì mai a vederlo di persona ma seppe comunque costruirne una versione migliore ed iniziò quindi a fare molte scoperte astronomiche, come ad esempio il trovare montagne e valli sulla superficie della Luna e delle lune di Venere, e tutte queste scoperte lo resero ovviamente famoso. Nel 1614 fu accusato di eresia per aver sostenuto la teoria copernicana, e cioè che il Sole fosse al centro del sistema solare. A quel tempo, la maggior parte delle persone credeva che la Terra fosse in posizione centrale e quindi gli fu proibito dalla Chiesa di insegnare queste sue nuove teorie. Nel 1632 fu nuovamente condannato per eresia dopo aver pubblicato un libro sulla teoria copernicana e per questo fu condannato all’ergastolo, che in seguito fu poi ridotto agli arresti domiciliari e tutto ciò lo costrinse a ritirare il suo sostegno verso la teoria copernicana. Continuò a scrivere, anche se stava diventando cieco, e nel 1638 pubblicò un libro delle sue idee sulle leggi del moto e sui principi della meccanica. Morì nel gennaio del 1642 ed è ancora oggi considerato il padre della scienza e dell’astronomia moderne. Viene inoltre menzionato più volte in una famosa canzone della band Queen.

The last sentence though tells about him being mentioned in Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen!

French one is translated by sophie @xylotommo:

“It was dark there, so dark.I stopped in a clearing among the trees, and I stood still.It was so calm.I couldn't hear anything.I rolled my eyes and saw it; a tiny speck of light moving across the sky.It was moving at the same pace. A constant white light. Like an airplane, but without blinking. I stared at it, wondering what it could be. And then I understood: This must be the space station I heard about on the news. They say it is moving at 27,000 kilometers per hour. It didn't seem so fast to me.I wondered if the people on board felt like they were going that fast. They must be very brave.And then I wondered if they were up there looking at me too, that's a nice thought to have. I felt less alone and waved to them.”

@OsamaColdplay said that the message in Arabic is

“about a player who scored the winning goal in minute 90+3 which he passed through three players and shot the ball and it was like a higher power controlled the ball to enter the net and that player (Mohammed Taha) had a strange energy at this moment “

According to @안@AsTeR0i Korean message tells the definition of the scientist and evolves around that, here’s the transcription:

“과학자가 무엇을 하는 사람인지 아는 사람? 과학자는 이론을 만들고 그것을 시험하기 위해 연구한 증거를 사용하는 매우 똑똑한 사람이에요. 그들은 이해와 지식을 얻기 위해 이와 같은 일들을 히고 그리고 여기서 얻은 정보를 세상에 나누죠.

과학자들은 정말 다양하게 분류되죠. 그들 중 일부는 통계나 데이터를 사용하기도 하고 또다른 일부는... 이를테면, 화학자나 지질학자는 세상의 원소를, 그리고 천문학자는 하늘의 별을 이해하고자 그들의 일생을 바쳐 연구해요. 또, 과학자들 중에는 심리학을 연구하는 사람들도 있어요.

이 모든 과학자들을 하나로 엮어주는 게 있죠. 바로 그들의 일은 쉽지 않지만 끊임없는 호기심과 그것을 만족시키기 위한 체계적인 접근법을 통해 하나가 된답니다.”

Michelle, Michelle @MichSwifty13 says that in Spanish the signal talks about Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, the first Latin American of African descent to become an astronaut:

“So, of course, life in Cuba in 1942, Arnaldo’s beginning was a little difficult in his life. He was an orphan and was adopted. He wasn’t rich. He was 13. He had to start looking for work. Started shining shoes and then selling vegetables. Later he started on work as a carpenter’s assistant. So that was their humble beginnings, but then they joined the army and so they joined the army and then they joined you in the Soviet Space Program, so that in 1980 he was part of the mission ‘Soyuz’. He was the first Latin American of African descent to go to space, you can see the truth. One never knows what can happen and where you can end up.” [link where translation was found]

Estinian translation by Almasmoothie

“Recently, a lot of attention has been paid to the use of machines in space, both to analyze in-orbit data and, for example, to detect various anomalies in satellite systems. In this context, we are interested in various machine accelerators, which are often not designed to work in harsh room conditions September of 2020, we ran the first satellite which had a machine learning accelerator, Neon Moon, on it's board. It's an interesting time and we're exited! “

@coldplayer2997 noticed that

“one of the signals talks about a gravity tunnel. It takes 42 minutes and 12 seconds to to fall from one side of the earth to the other though a tube.”

Also as many coldplayers noticed there were constellations in the code, also there are some still not deciphered images with the dotes, 4 symbols with swirl (like MX era one), infinity, atom, and pyramid/triange/air...

#Coldplay #Higher Power #Alien Radio #New album #Chris Martin #Jonny Buckland #Jonny Boy #Will Champion #Guy Berryman #the post contains all messages translations I could find so please check that out #if you like you can reblog so others would see too

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pastelwitchling · 3 years

Text

Hi! I have never done something like this, i don’t even know how it works, or how i should do it 😬🙈 it’s m’y first prompt but also this is the first time i leave a comment 🙈 my english is not very good, so, sorry in advance, but i was listening Coldplay’s A Sky Full Of Stars, and all i was imaginig was malex. And your stories are the best!!! So, If you have time, and if you like the idea, can you write something like: Michael wrote this song for alex, (and maybe he sang in front of everyone) because he wanted to show him how important Alex is for him, how much he loves him, And why not how much he regrets what happened with Maria 😬🙈 i want everyone, and especially Liz and Maria to understand how they didn’t know anything and how bad friends they were/are... Thank you for all your work!! J’adore!! And merciiii in advance!!! Even if you don’t write something inspired by this, i like the fact that i can share something i think or feel... So thank you for this space and for your creations!!

by @m-chuchi.

***

Michael tapped the back of his hand with the piece of paper he’d been clinging to since he left the airstream an hour ago.

He’d barely finished writing down the last of his thoughts, everything he’d been keeping in since long before Alex showed up in front of his airstream with a whole team of air force soldiers.

And he’d given himself ten whole seconds of pacing, of telling himself what a terrible idea it was, before his defenses went out the window and he’d slammed the gas on his way to the Pony. Because it was Open Mic Night. And he’d heard from Isobel that there was one person who was definitely planning to sing.

Not that Michael had tackled him the second he’d opened the doors. No, he’d stayed in the back, staring at Alex in his booth with Kyle, inching closer and closer without realizing he was doing it. As Alex smiled and laughed with Kyle, as Kyle repeatedly touched his arm or ruffled his hair (he was going to kill that doctor someday), Michael had to remind himself that if Alex didn’t want to keep things going with Forrest Long, then he definitely wouldn’t be starting anything up with his straight best friend.

He spotted Liz and Maria at the bar, also glancing at Alex every so often as they shared a secret conversation, but didn’t approach them. The last thing he needed was Alex seeing him around Maria this soon and getting the wrong idea. According to Isobel, Forrest had left some parting words for Alex before heading back to New York. Namely that his friends weren’t really his friends.

When Isobel had asked Alex about it, he’d confessed he felt a little betrayed that Liz had played favorites and Maria had done any of it in the first place. Nothing he hadn’t already told Maria and Liz themselves. Which was why they wouldn’t approach him now. That, and the fact that Kyle seemed to always have an excuse to keep either of them away.

“It’s temporary,” Isobel had told him. “He just wants them to know he’s hurt. But neither of them wants to think they did anything wrong, so it’s taking a little longer.”

If Michael was being completely honest, he felt a little bad for Liz and Maria, but worse for himself. He at least knew he’d hurt Alex, but his problem, unlike the women’s, lied with trust. Alex didn’t think he was anything special to Michael, not after he’d dated his best friend and dismissed him so many times. There was very little Michael could do to prove that the airman mattered more to him than anybody else.

But this, Michael thought, nearly tearing the paper in his nervous grip, this might fix things.

“. . . Alex Manes.”

Michael blinked. Caught in his own mess of thoughts, he missed the introduction to Alex’s performance. Move, he thought, and without any chance to change his mind, he quickly closed the distance between himself and Alex as Alex headed to the stage.

“Take this,” was his greeting, slipping the piece of paper into Alex’s hand.

Alex frowned. “What’s this?” he asked, and without waiting for Michael’s answer, he unfolded the torn paper and quickly scanned the contents. He blinked, startled, and looked back up at Michael. Something shifted in his expression. “Guerin, what is this?”

Michael held Alex’s gaze, which wasn’t hard since he didn’t think he could look away if he tried. “A song. I – I wrote it. I want you to sing it, Alex.”

Alex clenched his jaw. His dark eyes glistened to bright hazel for just a moment, like he could hear Michael’s song in his ears, feel everything he’d felt as he’d written those words.

“Why me?” he croaked, looking at Michael like he was terrified one word or touch from the cowboy would shatter him.

And for the first time in a year of pretending and trying to be someone he wasn’t, Michael genuinely smiled, helpless and in love. “You know why.”

Because it’s you. It’s us. And you have to be the one to sing it.

Alex bit his lower lip, hesitant. He glanced back at Kyle who seemed to realize that he was in safe hands. Kyle made a shooing gesture at him to get to the stage. Alex held the paper against his chest, locked eyes with Michael one more time, and went on to the microphone.

He sat at his piano and set the lyrics in front of him. His brows furrowed in that cute way they always did when he was concentrating, and his fingers hovered over the starting notes. Michael didn’t write songs. Science was always his specialty, not heart. But there’d been one or two instances in the past when he’d sat down at his guitar and worked at a melody that was what it is now.

Meeting Alex, in his dark clothes and black eyeliner and all his piercings and beautiful, kind smile and warm eyes, had given him his chorus. Turning his own back on Alex, seeing him happy without Michael, that had given him his verses. The risk of losing him forever had given him words.

He’d never known what to really make of the music he’d made, but when Alex started to sing, all doubt and nerves left his mind. All he could do was listen to his airman. Somehow, he found a chair and thoughtlessly sat down, his eyes never leaving Alex as his fingers flew along the piano keys, as he sung the words into the microphone with the same anguish and hope and love Michael had felt writing them.

As he sung, Michael’s eyes burned. So we’re still connected, he thought. They were beyond a relationship, beyond just two men. They were the entire cosmic universe of stars in one love. They were for each other, and no one else. Anyone who listened to Alex sing now, sing Michael’s words, would know that he was part of another heart, another soul. And Michael would never give him up to anybody. Not ever again.

Alex’s eyes glistened but his voice never wavered, as if he’d been longing to say these same words to Michael, too. Out of the corner of his eye, Michael saw Liz and Maria staring, Liz’s eyes filled with tears as a few had already escaped Maria’s. Michael saw Liz glance at him and back at Alex, as if seeing them together for the first time.

Michael wondered if they were anything like she’d expected. If they made any sense at all to someone like her, who operated in logic and reason. In what universe, after all, did an air force captain descended from alien hunters and an angry alien cowboy ever fit?

Michael didn’t care. Alex was his, it didn’t matter how. Only that he was.

When Alex played that last note, the bar erupted into cheers. Michael could even hear Kyle applauding behind him and Liz and Maria clapping, too, but Alex didn’t seem to see any of them. His eyes were fixed on Michael.

Michael was at the stage’s side before Alex could even stand. Alex stepped down, closer than an arm’s length away, shaking his head.

“I didn’t know,” he said weakly, as if the song had drained him completely.

Michael swallowed the lump in his throat. He took a step closer. “I didn’t let you.”

Alex noticed and didn’t stop him. He held up the paper. “Can I keep this?”

“It’s yours,” he scoffed. “It’s always been yours.”

Alex pursed his lips. “And you mean it?”

“Every word,” Michael breathed, moving close enough now to press their foreheads together.

Alex exhaled shakily, grabbing Michael’s jacket tightly. “Then why aren’t you kissing me?”

That was all Michael needed. He closed the distance between them, wrapping Alex in his arms without a care to who was watching, and taking his lips in his own. Alex’s hands came up to hold his face, tilted his head to deepen the kiss. Michael might’ve moaned, but he didn’t care. He just wanted to touch more of Alex, taste more of him. If this was a dream, he never wanted to wake up again.

Alex’s taste, his warmth, his beautiful tiny whimpers into Michael’s mouth – it was all so overwhelming that Michael wanted to drag him out to the parking lot and take him apart in the backseat of his truck.

Somewhere behind him, he could hear people approaching them, could hear Kyle’s voice saying, “Give ‘em a minute. You can talk to him tomorrow.”

Michael briefly imagined Liz and Maria trying to approach them, then felt the brush of Alex’s tongue against his, and all other thought vanished. Good, he thought at Kyle keeping the others back. He didn’t think he was willing to let Alex go for a single second.

“G-Guerin,” Alex breathed in between kisses as Michael slid a hand around the hem of his shirt. “We can’t – not here –”

Michael took his hand and kissed his fingers roughly, not wanting to be apart from him for even a breath. “Then come on,” he said. “I’m having you. Right now.”

And he pulled Alex towards the door, leaving the noise and conversations to be had behind them, Michael’s song to them between their clasped hands.

***

I’m not taking prompts (so please don’t send them in), this is just really late.

Merci beaucoup pour ton message, c’est très gentil de toi! (I’m so sorry for my awful French, I’m very rusty.)

Also, for those who didn’t know, I’m having an IG live for the last couple of pages of Heroes Never Die, chapter two. Right now, it’s looking like it might be this Tuesday. I thought it’d be a fun way to connect with you guys, let you see my writing process, etc. (Because so much happens in those last couple of pages). I’ll be writing for most of it, and it’ll be about an hour, but maybe you guys can come along and write with me? It might be fun. And then the following day, hopefully after edits, I can post the second chapter. I’ll keep my IG updated on the exact time, if anyone’s interested.

#michael guerin #alex manes #malex #malex fic #malex fanfic #malex fanfiction #roswell new mexico #roswell nm #malex angst #malex fluff #michael vlamis #tyler blackburn

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vanchlo · 4 years

Text

Green Eyes

*Thanks so much for reading! c: There are now several parts you can read here: 2 3 4

I’m so happy to share that I won a fiction writing award for this short story through my college’s art journal! c:

Blurb Synopsis: You had been subbing for Mr. Styles for the last couple of months, but you’ve yet to meet him. The notes you leave for each other have sparked a friendship, leading you to want more, and you wonder if he does too.

Genre: Teacher Harry, lots of fluff, friendship, and maybe even some romance? ;)

Warnings: None

Word Count: 5.5k words

Pairing: Harry x Reader

Music Inspo: Green Eyes by Coldplay (click to listen)

His shelves were full of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Rumi, and Charles Bukowski. His desk was covered in scribbled Post-It notes, Bit-O-Honey wrappers, and empty mugs of tea.

This is what you noticed the first few times you subbed in his classroom.

These were the only details you knew about the man whose face you’ve never seen. As you gradually began to substitute for his high school English classes more and more, you learned about him more. This was due to his students, and his personal belongings.

What he didn’t and didn’t like: all the way from no fringes on a notebook paper, no red pen ever because that was his grading color, no using the word ‘can’t’ in his class, and students can eat all the snacks they want as long as the trash goes in the bin where it belongs.

The CDs in a stack on the shelf told you which ones he actually listened to because they were the ones that were on top and without dust.

You learned that the pristine book on his desk was never the one he was reading. No, it was the weathered and used copy beside his mug with dog-eared pages and penciled notes.

His drawers told you another story with their contents: boxes of teas ranging from peach to vanilla macaron, journals filled to the brim with words, adult coloring books with tv show themes, and books on Van Gogh and Monet hinting at his artsy background. His students slowly warmed up to you, and through them, so did he.

At this point, you’d only been subbing for Mr. Styles the last five months, racking up around two and a half weeks worth of subbed days. He always left precise and concise lesson plans for you. The books were where he said they’d be. The webpages he mentioned were bookmarked on his desktop. The teacher copy of the textbook and current group book were on his desk. At the beginning, his desk looked like a professional organizer had gotten their hands on it. Slowly, as you came to sub more for him, it grew messier, albeit you kept it tidy during your appearances. As the first few months passed and you became one of the few subs in his room, you started to find notes. They weren’t just any notes. They were more than the straight forward sub notes for the day’s agenda. No, they weren’t that simple. You can still remember the first one you found on a Post-It note - it went like this:

Y/N, peanut butter on your waffles or syrup?

It took you by surprise, but nonetheless, you answered his call. Each time, you’d find a contrasting pen color and scrawl your answer underneath his. Then leaving it somewhere he would find it the next day. They were one-liners at the beginning, and always interesting. Walking to his classroom from your car on those mornings, you’d fill with excitement at the anticipation of finding the next one. Sometimes it took you the entire day to find where he had hidden them.

In the closet.

In a nook in a drawer.

Under the chair.

On the backside of one of his books.

Hidden in plain sight amongst his current choice of notes and lists.

They never failed to spark a smile on your lips, whether it was quirky, confused, astounded or humored.

Guitar or piano?

FRIENDS or The Simpsons?

Vanilla or Chocolate?

Would you rather become a superhero or a wizard?

The Beatles or the Rolling Stones?

Slowly, the questions became more personal, and more than just ‘this or that.’ His questions became longer, and so did your answers.

What was the moment that made you decide to become a teacher?

Is Donny a good student for you, or is he lying to me about that?

What color are your eyes?

What book/film do you believe had the largest impact on you while growing up?

What is the one meal you always order at a restaurant?

Do you have a family?

Should I splurge and buy a new desk chair?

What book should I buy for my classroom you think I need to have? Why?

Why don’t you have a classroom of your own?

When is your birthday?

Star Wars or Lord of the Rings?

They were never a chore for you, or tedious. No, they were fun and you felt as if you saw a little sliver of who he really was with each note. After a while, you started to write and leave your own notes for him to answer. At first, many of them were similar to ones he had left you, because you wanted to hear his responses, too.

The newest one stares back at you, his half-cursive registering in your eyes.

What’s your favorite part about subbing in my classroom? Don’t say the students, that’s what everybody says.

Giggling to yourself, you reach over to his Pink Floyd mug to pull out a green pen. You take a moment to think of your answer. This time you found the note peeking out from behind the smart whiteboard. The sounds of the end of a school day tickle at your ears as you scribble down your answer. Pressing it to an open square of wood on his desk, you turn back to the royal blue pad of Post-Its. Peeling one off, the green pen hovers over the paper, but you can’t get yourself to write the question you’ve been wanting to know all along.

He didn’t have a Facebook, or an Instagram.

The high school doesn’t have a wall of staff pictures like others you’ve subbed at do.

It’s late winter, so yearbooks are still a ways off.

For all you know, you could have seen him here before in the halls when you subbed in another classroom.

Exhaling, you press the pen to the paper before you can convince yourself to stop. Unlike the many times before when your fears got the best of you.

What do you look like?

With a proud but nervous smile you stick it to the desk, layering the first note on top. It sticks to your lips as you bend down to reach your hand into your bag. The glossy bag greets your hand, and you pull it out to set down beside the note.

A small bag of Bit-O-Honeys.

Looking up, your eyes scan the empty classroom. Few footsteps, voices, and lockers slamming trickle in from the halls. You suddenly realize that this is the same view he sees, these are the same sounds he hears, and the same place he sits in every day. Well, when he’s not away on personal days, sick days, on holiday, and at workshops, hence your appearances. The thought knits something together inside of you, making you feel just that bit more closer to him. Something that’s been slowly happening over time since you first stepped foot in his classroom.

One of the first things that did this was the posters scattered across his walls. A poster from the 2013 remake of The Great Gatsby, The Beatles’ Abbey Road album cover, a cartoon of William Shakespeare, a unifying print of Keith Haring’s art, and several posters of quotes from famous books - To Kill A Mockingbird, the Kite Runner, Of Mice and Men, The Life of Pi, and even The Hunger Games. It delighted you watching him add some of them to the walls since your time here, and you’ve been itching to purchase him one as a gift. You’re unsure of what he would like though, and the fear of failure has held you back from doing so.

A bleep! catches your attention. Casting your eyes to the dormant desktop screen, you wiggle the mouse. A red circle has appeared on the title of a tab opened to your professional email. Clicking over to it from a YouTube video he had you show the class, you find you have a new message. At the sight of who sent it, your heart skips a beat: harry.styles@isd . . . . . . .

Hi. I reckon you’re still sitting at my desk this moment, now that’s a funny thought. I wanted to ask you a question while I remembered. I have to go out of town on Friday for a funeral. Believe me, I wouldn’t go if I didn’t have to, but these things are a must. I apologize for it being short notice, but I thought I’d ask you if you would like to take it before I posted it to the sub database. Please let me know either way by tonight, so it has a few days to sit on the website to be claimed. Also, I wanted to say thanks for everything you do. My students really love you, and it makes me wonder what I’m missing. Enjoy your night!

Sincerely,

Harry Styles

“Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you. - WW”

A smile warms your cheeks as you finish reading his words, and the familiar poem that ends every email of his. You quickly type up a response to him, agreeing to take the job on Friday, thanking him for thinking of you. A new email appears in your inbox shortly after from another colleague, which occupies you before you lose yourself in your thoughts again.

Perhaps your favorite addition in his classroom is the Fender acoustic sitting on a stand in the corner. Of course, you’ve yet to see it move in the last five months. The stories his students have told you in a way have given it legs of its own in your mind. Much like the little notes you’ve been leaving for each other, something you dread ever ending.

It was a Wednesday. You’re convinced that Mrs. Watson’s Pre-Calc class is surely the bane of your existence. You keep cursing yourself for taking sub assignments for math classes. Seeing that you’re terrible at the subject, you vowed you’d never take one of her assignments again, but you have to pay the bills somehow. You found your respite in the cozy staff lounge. Couches lined two of the walls, along with an arrangement of tables on the other side of the room.

As you walk in, you see that one of the ancient history teachers has nodded off again on the plaid couch. Otherwise, the room is empty, and all to yourself. If that didn’t make you happy before, the assortment of food on the counter definitely does.

Voices float in through the open door as the plastic lid to the cupcakes opens with a pop!

“Ah, looks like ya got tha last chocolate one. I was savin’ that one fer me,” a voice comments from behind you. Turning, you find a tall man in his late 20’s walking towards you.

“Oh, I’m sorry, you can have it,” you volunteer, holding the blue-iced cupcake out for his taking.

His blush lips curl up with an amused smile. Dimples fall neatly into his cheeks covered with thick stubble. Its deep brown color matches that of the short quiffed curls atop his head. Misty green eyes stare back at you in the middle of his round, but sharp face. “‘m only joking. Go ahead and have it. I already had one earlier. They’re quite good actually, but I dunno ‘bout tha vanilla. Never really cared fer tha flavoir when it comes t’ cake and ice cream,” he comments, passing you to stop at the nearby sink.

“Yeah, I like to forget vanilla exists half of the time,” you remark, peeling away the paper liner of the cupcake.

Leaning against the counter, you watch as his ringed hand grabs a red coffee mug from the cabinet. “So do I. ‘s ratha boring, if I do say so meself.”

Nodding to yourself, a silence follows your words. The sweetness of the cupcake is shocking when you take a bite. It makes you wonder how you devoured these sugar bombs as a child. A few beeps and a hum from the microwave echo throughout the room as you check your phone.

“Y’know, I haven’t seen ya here at tha school befo’. Are ya new dis year or a sub?” he asks, bringing your eyes back to his lean figure. He pulls a yellow square packet from his tight-fitting black slats, a blush button-down tucked into its waist.

“I started subbing here this year,” you answer before taking another bite of the cupcake. Half of it consists of the sickeningly sweet frosting that makes your teeth ache.

“Mmmm I see. How d’ya like it so far? Are ya a new teacher, ‘s that why yer subbin’?”

“Yeah, I went back to school kinda late in the game after doing something else. I figure I’d sub for a little bit for some experience, because what’s another year of waiting by this time?” you comment, observing how he fiddles with his black tie while searching in the refrigerator.

“Well, congratulations. ‘s a big step t’ go back t’ school fer sumthin’ ya love. ‘s a good profession, I reckon. I’ve been teaching fer 7 years, and here at dis school fer 5. Sumtimes schools even hire subs they’ve had when a position opens, so keep yer eyes open,” he tells you, turning to you with a smile, a yogurt in his hand.

“Thank you,” you say sincerely, returning the smile. “I appreciate the vote of confidence.”

“Sure thing. I know it helped loads when I was a newbie. ‘ll see ya around, I gotta get back t’ class befo’ me students do first. Have a good one!”

Walking towards you with the steaming cup of tea in his hands, he pats your arm with his other hand on the way out. Nodding at your ‘thank you’, a small ‘you’re welcome’ falls from his lips before the door closes behind him. Eating the last bite you can muster of the cupcake, you toss its remains in the bin. A thought worms its way into your mind as you sit down at the table.

Wow, I wonder who that guy was? And is he married, because shit, he was handsome.

The smell of orange essential oil greets you when you stepped foot into his classroom the next time. The state of his desk made you frown, and made you want to scratch the itch to clean it. You resisted it and didn’t, and that thought was taken away when his students began to find their desks.

Another day of 7 classes came and went. 2 classes of Introduction to Creative Writing. 3 classes of American Literature. 2 classes of World Literature. Amusing YouTube videos broke up the monotony of your day, and those of his students. The lesson notes he left for you had become more concise as the months have passed, and as you learned from each other. The same couldn’t be said for the dish of Bit-O-Honeys on his desk that he’s kept stocked for your appearances. You’re just glad he’s put the bag you left for him to good use. All throughout your day you had been looking for his newest note, but this time it wasn’t in any of his usual spots. After correcting some quizzes from today, you finally found it in the bottom left-hand drawer of his mahogany desk. Stuck to a tall can of Coke, your favorite drink of choice.

I’m sorry it’s warm, although I’m not sure how you like to drink it. I just find warm soda to be rather nasty. The answer to your question is I have green eyes, brown hair, I’m rather tall, and I like to dress up. Is that good enough for you? Now, what do you look like, love?

Your insides melt at the sight of his answer, but then you groan at the vagueness of it. Off the top of your head, you know there are at least 10 male teachers here at this school with brown hair, maybe more. Maybe even with green eyes, too, and you know that because you’ve seen them in the staff lounge or in the halls. The thought only grows worse when you lose count of how many teachers there are here at this school. Let’s just say, there’s a lot. Yeah, that sure helps a whole lot. Annoyed, you pluck a pen from the green mug and answer his question with as little detail as possible. Two can play at this game, you think to yourself as you sigh.

If you could have a jam session with any musician, dead or alive, who would it be?

Sticking the new note where its corner peeks out from under his tabletop calendar, your eyes return to the Coke. It’s undeniable, you feel a little less perturbed at him just at the sight of it. Only a little bit, that is. Sure, you’ve subbed for a countless number of teachers at this school, and more so in this school district. A few of them are even friends or relatives of yours, but you’d never connected with one before like you have with Harry. You just wish more than anything you could find out what he looks like and what he’s really like. Continuing to take his sub jobs doesn’t really help with that. It only drives you crazier wanting to know the other side of this fascinating human being.

There he was, snoring on the couch again, tv remote in hand. The weather channel is playing, surprising you very little. Snickering, you yank open the door to the black refrigerator. After retrieving your striped black and blue lunchbox, you place the container of leftovers in the microwave. A laugh is heard over your shoulder, and when you turn, you find Green Eyes from the other day.

Tittering as the door closes behind him, he says, “No fail, John ‘s always passed out on dat couch, I swear.”

“I know, it’s every time I’m here. Maybe he should just retire already so he can take his naps at home. Then maybe we could watch something on the tv for once,” you comment, shaking your head. Unpacking your lunch box, you take out a clementine, vanilla yogurt, and silverware.

“Nah, he loves it too much. I don’t see him leavin’ anytime soon,” he remarks, walking past you to search the shelves of the fridge. “What’re we having’ t’day? Couldn’t find any cupcakes dis time?”

“No, those ones were too sweet anyways. They gave me a stomachache,” you complain with a grimace. The beeeeep! of the microwave interrupts your thoughts.

“Mmmm, I dunno, I thought they were pretty good.” Rubbing his tummy, he pulls a breathy laugh from your lips.

Your steaming container of leftovers almost burns your hands, and you dread trying to eat it within the next 10 minutes. Setting up for a lesson in Mr. Harrison’s classroom was a pain, making you wonder why you take any sub jobs besides Harry’s anymore.

“No free food fer us t’day,” he pouts beside you, closing the fridge door before venturing to the vending machine in the corner. Your eyes drift to his outfit choice today - a white button-down topped with a buttoned vest the shade of ochre, all tucked into brown slacks.

“That’s why you pack a lunch. I thought you’d know the drill by now, since you said you’ve been teaching for a while.”

“I do, but sumtimes I forget. Yer already ahead o’ me with dat part, love,” he who doesn’t have a name answers with a short laugh. Sliding a leather wallet from his pocket, you see him type in a number before you sit down at the table. “Who are ya subbin’ fer t’day then?”

“I’m on the west side in the Science wing for Harrison. Bloody Bio.”

“Ugh, I neva cared fer science. Where were ya a few weeks ago when I last saw ya?” he questions, sliding out a chair across from you. An assortment of vending machine food hits the table with a slap - peanut M&M’s, a nutrigrain bar, and a bag of Sun Chips.

“Upstairs in Watson’s Maths class. Remind me to never sub for her again, because I can’t understand Pre-Calc for the life of me. I never could in high school so I don’t know why I thought I could know,” you chuckle. A warmth fills your cheeks at the sight of his lips spreading into an amused smile.

“Yeah, I neva cared fer Maths meself eitha. Numbas neva made a bit o’ sense t’ me, words were always betta,” he explains. You nod along with his words, your mouth occupied with a bite of spaghetti and meatballs. “What subject would ya like t’ teach once tha year’s ova an’ ya go searchin’ fer a job o’ yer own?”

“Um, probably something in English since that’s my focus area. Dabbling in History has been fun, though. I enjoy learning about it myself, and I always have a better time subbing in either of those classes,” you reveal.

“I see,” he replies, his head going up and down. The crinkling of the granola bar wrapper fills the silence between you before he takes a bite. Crumbs pepper his chin, but he wipes them away from his thin beard. “How often d’ya sub here then?”

“I’d say probably 3 days a week typically, but some weeks are 4. Otherwise, I sometimes sub for a friend or somebody I know over at the middle school.”

“Ah, so yer license is sumthin’ like 8 - 12, ‘s it?” he inquires, picking up the black mug you hadn’t noticed he had.

“Yeah, I thought that would give me a good range for those grades. With my experience now, I think I’d like to stay at the high school level though,” you continue, twirling you fork around in the noodles covered in tomato sauce. Crossing your legs, the satiny fabric of your black dress pants moves with you.

“We could always use anotha good teacher here. Ya neva know what’ll happen,” he smiles, standing to his feet with his snacks held in his large hand. Returning his smile, he adds his mug to that hand, patting your back once on his way out. “See ya next time, love. Keep yer head up, it’ll get betta.”

“Thanks,” you automatically respond with. When you go to say his name, you’re lost for words, because you suddenly remember you’ve never gotten it. Now, he’s already too far away to ask for it.

Shrugging your shoulders, you stab a meatball with your fork, wondering when the next time will be that you’ll see him again. Because, he sure is nice to look at, and he’s nicer to you than anybody else here.

Stevie Nicks or John Lennon, it’s a tough call. Okay, I’m doing two questions from now on, because you ask such good ones :( Who would you jam with then? Question #2: What was the last concert you went to?

This time, you found the Post-It before the school day even started. It was on the seat of his chair, making you think he wanted you to find it right away. You’re thinking maybe he remembered one of the last times you complained about how hard he had made it. Sometimes you worry about how excited you get to look for these each time you sub in his classroom, but then you remember it’s only once every few weeks.

That can’t hurt, can it?

That day the hallways were louder than they usually were after school. You attributed that to the boys’ semifinals basketball game set to be played tonight in the gymnasium. The school’s home team against a nearby rival school. Students couldn’t stop talking about it all day, and many of them shared they’d be sticking around after school to attend. Checking your watch, you note that you should have enough time to stop at home to eat dinner before coming back for it. Even though you hadn’t even known about it before today.

The Sufjan Stevens song floating from his desktop fills the room as you get out books for tomorrow. Your hands are full with copies of The Kite Runner, making you feel grateful again to Harry- Mr. Styles for picking a decent classic for the class to read. Although you’d only read it a few years ago yourself, and it broke your heart, you’re excited to sub next time to help his World Lit class with it.

“Oh hey, be careful there, yer gonna slip and fall with all o’ those,” somebody says from behind you, distracting you from your mission of bringing the pile of books from the closet to a desk.

Don’t I know that voice? Turning your eyes to the doorway, you find Green Eyes walk in with a coat slung over his arm. Wait a second.

“I-I’m fine,” you stutter, but your actions that follow negate your words. Your eyes run over his familiar features, and slowly the puzzle pieces start to click in your head. Harry? A thought bomb explodes in your head, and the books tumble from your arms. “Shit, I’m sorry.”

“Yer okay,” he murmurs, stopping in front of you. Kneeling down, you both begin to pick up the books, stacking them on top of each other. “Thanks for gettin’ me set up fer t’morrow though. I appreciate it.”

“Mmmhmm,” is all you can say, because any words that want to come out can’t get past the lump in your throat. One that’s there because of the realization you just had.

Green Eyes and Harry are the same person.

How did I not figure this out sooner?

“So, ya must be Y/N, huh?” he giggles, his head bent down as he helps you pick up the books.

“Y-Yeah, surprise,” you admit, and your laugh soon joins his. Before you know it, the both of you can’t stop laughing.

“Here,” you hear him say. Looking up, you find him standing in front of you holding his hand out for you to take. A cozy looking maroon sweater covers his upper half, and blue jeans don the rest. “Fancy meetin’ you here,” he jokes in between laughs.

“You’re right about that,” you answer, taking his hand. He helps you to your feet where you smooth down the violet skirt of your dress. “I can’t believe I didn’t connect the dots.”

“Yer not tha only one, love,” Harry comments, bending over to grab a stack of books. He begins to set one on each desk as he walks down the aisles of them. “But I s’pose there wasn’t any way t’ know.”

“Yeah, I couldn’t find you on Facebook,” you confess, cursing yourself for the slip up a few seconds later. Lifting your head from the book you just set on a desk, you find his amused eyes on you across the room.

“Ah, so ya were stalkin’ me, were ya?” he smirks, his delightful laugh following his words.

“No, I wasn’t! You’re just one of the only colleagues I’ve subbed for who I’ve never met, or like don’t know what they look like.”

Your small stack soon disappears and when you return to the pile at the back of the room, he does too.

“So, what d’ya think? Are ya disappointed then?”

“No,” you say automatically, lifting your eyes to his green ones that land on you. His cheeks lined with a thick, neat beard crease with dimples as he smiles at you.

“Neither am I . . . . Ms. Vance Joy fan,” he returns, holding your gaze. The sincerity in his words gets under your skin, going straight to your heart. The sarcastic joke inside of them makes you giggle.

Clearing your throat, you look away with what you’re sure are blushing cheeks. Most likely, an entire blushing face. “What are you doing here, anyways, if you were gone for the day?”

“I can’t miss me boys’ big game, a few o’ me students are on tha team. I thought I’d catch up on sum emails and grading befo’hand, but didn’t know ya’d still be here.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I was just leaving, anyways,” you mutter, your movements stilling.

“I didn’t mean it dat way, love. ‘m glad we finally met, it was about time, anyways,” Harry insists, and you nod before continuing to place a book at each desk. “Hey wait, you said you were short and all plain in yer note. No, yer not, ya fibber.”

“Oh like your description was any more accurate,” you scoff lightheartedly, setting down a book before grabbing another from your dwindling stack.

His rich laugh meets your ears, and you can’t resist looking over to him. “Ya didn’t give yerself enough credit, ya know,” he almost coos, and you swear your heart melted into a puddle right then and there. That’s if it hadn’t done so already when you realized he’s Green Eyes. Swoon.

It’s hard to hold back the excitement curling at the edge of your lips. Soon, you run out of books again and when you take a peek at him, so has he.

“Were ya gonna go?” he questions, and you deal him one when you look at him confused. “T’ tha game, I mean.”

Your body feels like jello, and that any move you make would be sloppy. Embarrassing. That’s the last thing you want to look like in front of him. With his dazzling smile, adorably dimpled cheeks, and the cozy vibes he’s giving off. Not to mention, the clean citrus scent wafting off of him. A smell you certainly would be okay with smelling for hours on end. If only.

“Well bloody Rob around tha corner bailed on me, so I have an extra ticket now. Would ya like t’ join me? I was thinkin’ o’ grabbin’ a sub from ‘round tha corner befo’. Concession food ‘s always too expensive, and never worth tha lines at halftime,” Harry suggests, tucking his hands into the pockets of his jeans. One corner of his mouth climbs up his cheek, making you feel like maybe you’re not alone in these jumbled feelings. Or in the fun you’ve had carrying on this blind relationship with him.

“Yeah, that sounds like fun. Maybe we could get to know each other a little better than the few words Post-It notes can hold.”

Slowly, the other corner of his lips curls upwards, making the dimple fall into his cheek once again. Nodding, his lips split into a full-fledged smile, singing with a chuckle. “I’d really like that,” he reveals before venturing to the door and shutting off the light. Extending an arm, he waves a hand towards himself.

“Hold on, let me get my things.”

“No rush. ’s not like ‘ve waited seven months fer dis or anythin’,” he quips. By now, you’re certain your face resembles a tomato. You hope that in the muted light, perhaps he won’t notice.

Hurriedly, you slip on your light coat and drape your bag over your shoulder. Your eyes catch something as you’re tucking your phone in your pocket. Grabbing one last thing, you turn to find him watching you from the lit doorway.

“What?” he wonders aloud, still with that smile etched onto his face. One you’re fairly sure you could get used to seeing.

“Here,” you tell him, placing the Post-It note in his palm. His fingers dotted with dark hairs brush against you, just for a second longer than need be.

“Ah, can’t forget dis now. Important stuff here.”

“Indeed,” you note, stifling a laugh as the sarcasm floats in the air.

You observe his eyes flit across the paper holding your cursive as your steps echo down the empty hallway.

“Hmmm, funny. It says ‘would you like to meet up sometime’ on here,” Harry reads, casting his twinkling eyes to you. Green eyes. “I was jus’ ‘bout t’ ask ya tha same thing on me next note. But I had sumthin’ that woulda took tha cake fer sure.”

“What’s that?” you remark, wondering how that could be. Those thoughts fly out the window when you feel his arm come around your shoulder. A squeal sounds inside of your head, but hey, at least that’s far less embarrassing than doing it out loud.

“I was gonna tell ya dat Tracy across tha hall from me ‘s leavin’ afta dis year, and I may have recommended a certain sumbody t’ tha principal t’ replace her,” Harry hums, a knowing glint dancing in his eyes as they hover over you. “What d’ya say t’ bein’ colleagues instead o’ bein’ me sub?”

“I think I could get used to that,” you answer, letting your smile take over your entire face.

“So could I, love. So could I.”

455 notes · View notes

polar-stars · 3 years

Note

ok. i must know the music tastes of *preparation cough* [insert all of your ocs here] :}

Thank you for enabling me to talk about this 🙏

Kimiko Yukihira 🍳

Kimiko has her own little radio in her room and this radio is pretty much her main source of exposure to music. She therefore listens to a lot of Pop and is especially fond of the upbeat kind. Thanks to the men in her family she has been introduced to various Rock or more Alternative songs as well though.

Favorite Artists: I feel she’d like Owl City & possibly also Paramore

Hiroshi Aldini-Tadokoro ⚓️

Hiroshi listens to soft things that ease him down. His playlist is full of cute, soft-sounding pop songs and acoustic stuff.

Favorite Artists: Hm, Jason Mraz, Sleeping At Last & Ai Means Love, I think

Mika Aldini ☀️

As an avid dancer, Mika mainly listens to songs that you can also dance to. So her playlists mainly consist of very fast-paced, exciting songs. Her favorite Genre is Latin-Pop, but she listens to a lot of regular Pop as well (as long as it’s good for dancing). She also does enjoy some Reggae once in a while, especially if she does feels like relaxing.

Favorite Artists: Shakira & Jennifer Lopez

Kaori Hayama 💐

Kaori listens majorly to Soul, R&B & Blues. She considers it very relaxing and she does mainly listen to music in order to relax. Kaori does also have a little soft spot for a lot of older jazzy tunes from her mother’s favorite movies.

Favorite Artists: Aretha Franklin, Sade, Alicia Keys & Adele

Lola Nakiri 🦊

Lola is Daddy’s little girl when it comes to the matter of music. When Lola Nakiri puts on headphones, she’ll be blasting her ears off with Rock & Heavy Metal. She’s also known to have a rather impressive collection of band T-shirts. She can find some appreciation in the sassy Pop her mom listens to, but ultimately Rock & Metal is where her heart is.

Favorite Artists: Iron Maiden and Led Zeppelin I guess. And probably another Metal Band. I sadly only know a few and only by name because I do not listen to Metal, ever.

Mona Nakiri 🐺

Techno. Mona walks around with her headphones a lot more than Lola does and what she listens to is all sorts of Techno sub-genres and House, with a good number of Remixes in-between.

Favorite Artists: Lea doesn’t know any tbh sfghgfhg

Takayuki Hojo 💥

Takayuki listens to Rock like the tough cookie he is. Should he ever listen to anything that isn’t Rock, his father or Suzume most likely made him listen to it. His two favorite songs of all time are “T.N.T” by AC/DC & “Eye Of The Tiger” by Survivor (Takayuki loves the Rocky movies)

Favorite Artists: As long as it’s Rock he doesn’t care who sings. Okay but he is pretty fond of AC/DC and Guns n’ Roses

Kazuo Mimasaka 💕

My boy Kazuo surely has one big playlist that is filled with nothing but the most sappiest and emotional love-ballads imaginable. And I don’t even want to think about how long it would be. Kazuo can listen to almost anything, the exception being Hardcore Gangster Rap, but what he listens to privately is...yeah, Ballads.

Favorite Artists: Lionel Richie & Celine Dion are the first names to come to my mind. “My Heart Will Go On” is at the very top of Kazuo’s playlist

Yasu Ibusaki 🌲

Shun passed his liking for Rock down to Yasu. When growing older, Yasu additionally also developed a love for all things Indie & Folkish. Has been called a Hipster for his music taste more than once by Hideyoshi.

Favorite Artists: Arctic Monkeys, Twenty One Pilots, Hozier

Chieko Marui 📚

Chieko does listen to a lot of LoFi or Movie/Video Game Soundtracks for studying and relaxation. Her favorite movie soundtrack is that of “The Theory of Everything”. However, when it comes to casual listening her mother got her into Pop. And also thanks to her father, Chieko kinda became accustomed to Pop from all decades. She majorly listens to all sorts off love songs.

Favorite Artists: TAYLOR SWIFT, Chieko is a confirmed Swiftie. Also really likes Britney Spears tho I feel.

Hideyoshi Kawashima 🎤

Hideyoshi listens mainly to things you can #party to. Out of all the characters he’s the one who keeps up with the charts the most. Likes Pop and also K-Pop! His dad did successfully get him into some HipHop as well though. Hideyoshi also has a secret soft spot for the boybands of the 90s.

Favorite Artists: Jason Derulo, Backstreet Boys & BTS

Daisuke Aoki 🎸

Daisuke is our Retro-Kid. His music libraries is mostly 80s and 70s, with some songs of the 50s and 60s that his father likes in-between. Is usually the last one in Polar Star to discover the newest hit in the charts, because he’s too busy bopping to the past. Lea can relate.

Favorite Artists: Queen, A-ha & Huey Lewis & The News

Hiraku Yukihira 🐙

Hiraku likes the modern Rock from the 2000s and 2010s. Occasionally he will stumble over something in the Indie and Alternative department and then be real proud over being the only one who knows a particular song.

Favorite Artists: Panic! at the Disco, Coldplay and Imagine Dragons

Akio Hayama 🌱

The same as Kaori. This is a thing they have in common, they both do enjoy the same music pretty much. Though I can picture Akio liking some Reggae once in a while in addition. Also just a few days ago, I established that he’s a secret theatre kid who also listens to a lot of Show Tunes.

Favorite Artists: Stevie Wonder & Marvin Gaye

Suzume Hojo 🔥

Out of all the characters in the cast, I’d say that Suzume probably has the broadest music taste. She is capable of enjoying a lot of stuff. Being the Meme-Lord that Suzume is, she does love to put on some Meme- and Guilty Pleasure songs. Though of course, there is irony playing into that enjoyment. When it comes to the songs she enjoy unironically, they’re mostly very fast-paced and energetic. I guess you could say her favorite genre is bouncy pop of all decades. Her favorite song of all time would be “Girls just want to have fun”.

Favorite Artists: Lizzo, Beyoncé and Cindy Lauper.

Shigeo Eizan 💎

Jazz is Love. Jazz is Life. Shigeo listens to Jazz ahdhd. A lot. He basically always has Jazz going on in the background when he’s working. When he finds the time to listen more attentively, he loves listening to Swing the most.

Favorite Artists: Frank Sinatra. Also likes Michael Bublé tho I feel.

Noboru Shinomiya 🍂

Noboru loves nothing more than his collection of classic French Chansons. It’s what he listens to on his long autumn walks through Paris and it makes him happy and content. He also does like the Enka-songs his mother enjoys though.

Favorite Artists: Joe Dassin and Édith Piaf

Kiyoko Saito 🌸

Kiyoko really loves Classical Japanese music a lot but she only really does listen to it on special occassions. She does also enjoy a lot of modern Pop and also K-Pop as well though and she really loves to put it on whenever she dresses up, paints her nails... etc. (Also I can see her being into Vocaloid tbh).

Favorite Artists: BLACKPINK. I can also see her liking Ariana Grande

Masashi Eizan 🍜

Okay this is our true Classic-Fanatic. All of Nene’s efforts to bring Masashi to operas, ballets and just plain classical concerts have paid off. Masashi listens majorly to Classical Japanese music or Western Classical music. He also does really like Enka.

Favorite Artist: His favorite Western composer is Beethoven, I haven’t figured out anything else yet.

Ran Mimasaka 🖋

Ran listens to a lot of operas actually ahdh because, well, she likes operas. Aside from that, she does also enjoy Rock and ChillHop though shdhf. To some this might be a weird combo, but it do be like that sometimes.

Favorite Artists: In the Rock-department it’s David Bowie.

I admittedly only did the most important high schoolers here, I will need a Part 2 I guess ahdhdf

But still thanks for asking ☺️

#Well #That took longer than I expected #But it was still fun ahdfhf #Gofer answering to stuffz #Shokugeki no Kimiko Stuffz

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johannesviii · 3 years

Text

Top 10 Personal Favorite Hit Songs from 2020

You know, when I finished my latest list and realised every decade had the same pattern and that we were slowly going towards a series of great years for pop, I didn’t realise how good that year would be.

What’s at the top? Am I boringly predictable because I already said I loved that song all the way back in January 2020? Let’s find out.

Disclaimers:

Keep in mind I’m using both the year-end top 100 lists from the US and from France while making these top 10 things. There’s songs in English that charted in my country way higher than they did in their home countries, or even earlier or later, so that might get surprising at times.

Of course there will probably be stuff in French somewhere on this post. We suck. I know. It’s my list. Deal with it.

My musical tastes have always been terrible and I’m not a critic, just a listener and an idiot.

I have sound to color synesthesia which justifies nothing but might explain why I have trouble describing some songs in other terms than visual ones.

So. Uh. How was your 2020?

Mine was actually surprisingly good, considering. I’m lucky enough to have a job that I can partially do from home, and I was extremely paranoid from the get-go and nobody got sick under this roof so far. Turns out I’m even better at my job from home and I got permission to work from home one day per week even after the health crisis is over! My first name was also finally officially approved and I can’t tell you how happy I feel about that. I almost feel bad to have had such a good year considering the circumstances. I feel like an asshole just because I’m happy, haha.

The only frustrating part was that I was supposed to see Hatari in concert in Paris in early April which, as you can guess, was cancelled. I’m not too mad about it though, since their tour was called “Europe will crumble” and the message saying the tour was cancelled started with “since Europe is actually crumbling due to Covid-19″ and that’s hysterical.

Good or interesting albums that came out in 2020 now, let’s see.

Nightwish released Human/Nature, which was a huge letdown compared to their previous album, but I will relisten to it at some point to make sure I wasn’t just in a bad mood that day.

The Birthday Massacre released Diamonds, which might be their weakest album since their debut, but contained some real gems (I listened to The Last Goodbye on a loop, it floored me. Flashback and Enter are also very good).

The 1975 released Notes On A Conditional Form, and let’s be real, it’s a f█cking mess. You could cut half the tracks and end up with an excellent album, but as it is it’s like, yes, a collection of notes ; however there’s some truely excellent shit on it (see unelligible songs).

Thanks to a friend on a discord server I was exposed to Dorian Electra’s music and I haven’t been quite the same ever since. I’m so happy to be alive to see other enbies making such great music with an insanely good aesthetic surrounding it and asking so many interesting questions about gender. Also the arc the ‘gentleman’ character goes through over the course of the entire tracklist of the 2020 My Agenda album is absolutely hilarious, don’t @ me.

I also discovered 100 Gecs this year. Why are most of you guys saying it’s unlistenable garbage. It’s just as abrasive and over the top as industrial music is, but with none of the edginess or drama. I love it. What the hell. But yeah Tree of Clues was released this year. Good.

Speaking of industrial, in March 2020 Nine Inch Nails were like “hey remember when we released Ghosts I-IV a decade ago entirely for free and how amazing that was? Well we’re all in lockdown and bored as hell so here’s Ghosts V-VI and it’s also free. Enjoy” and I f█cking died instantly. And it’s even better than I-IV. What the hell was that year

Jonsi released Shiver. It’s strange and highly experimental. I’m pretty sure it’s a good thing I was into hyperpop this year, otherwise going from his previous material straight to this album would have been brutal.

Yadda yadda yadda After Hours by the Weeknd good yadda yadda.

I’ve joked about that already but if you had told me in 2019 that 2020 would have fires, a pandemic, riots, monoliths appearing and disappearing, and also a super good Machine Gun Kelly album, guess which part I would have found the most ridiculous. But yeah uh. Tickets to my Downfall good

So uh this year I tried to listen to some hyperpop and liked it a lot, and I also dipped my toes timidly into screamo and listened to Svalbard, who released When I Die this year, and the entire album was a very beautiful, very intricately decorated punch to the face. It sounds like God Is An Astronaut except with a shit ton of yelling. I love it. Open Wound is my favorite track on it.

But no, despite all of this, my album of the year was from a band I had never even heard about before that year, called Spanish Love Songs. The album is titled Brave Faces Everyone and it’s line after line after line of extremely relatable generational angst but yelled with complete sincerity and it’s so propulsive and energetic you can’t help but feel both exhausted and ready to fight the entire universe. I don’t know how it works, but it’s incredible. The entire album is wonderfully brutal, so it’s kind of difficult to pick my favorite songs on it, but Beachfront Property and the title track stand out.

Unelligible songs, now, and there’s, uh, quite a few of them too so I’m also gonna use bullet points. Good lord this post is gonna be long.

First, let me say I have literally no idea why Midnight Sky by Miley Cyrus wasn’t a bigger hit. It’s not on the year-end US top 100 and it feels extremely wrong. Would have made it to #4 on this list otherwise.

I still entertain the vague hope that stuff from Machine Gun Kelly will chart higher in 2021 but I doubt it will happen so I might as well tackle it now and say that Bloody Valentine and especially Forget Me Too are both excellent and that it’s a shame radios aren’t playing them more often.

Heaven by the late Avicii featuring Coldplay should have charted in 2019 and still didn’t chart in 2020 and that’s a real shame.

If the world was a bit less unfair, Lovesick Girls by Blackpink would have been a hit rather than the awful Ice Cream.

One day I will stop complaining about my bafflement concerning the lack of mainstream pop charts success of The 1975. Today is not that day. I just love how they keep making songs about extremely awkward relationships full of weird details, and I haven’t grown tired of that yet. So yeah If You’re Too Shy is about a guy who’s crush is asking him to get naked on Skype in his hotel room and he’s, uh, not too sure about that idea.

And Me & You Together is about a guy who never finds the right moment to tell his best friend he’s in love with her, and he manages to do so at the end and it’s cute as hell. My fave part is “I'm sorry that I'm kinda queer / It's not as weird as it appears / It's 'cause my body doesn't stop me (Stop me) / Oh, it's okay, lots of people think I'm gay / But we're friends, so it's cool, why would it not be?”. Relatable as f█ck.

And now for an international hit that should have been bigger in the US and/or in my country but wasn’t: Head & Heart by Joel Corry and MNEK.

I’ve heard Nos Célébrations by Indochine extremely often on French radio for months now so I was very surprised to see that it didn’t crack the local year-end list. What happened.

I can finally hear the appeal of Bring Me The Horizon. It took me ages. And also Death Stranding. The song Ludens isn’t in the game per say, but it’s among the ones you can pick to broadcast briefly when people drive by your constructions, and long story short it's been living rent-free in my head for months now.

Phew.

It’s time for a round of Honorable Mentions for elligible songs, containing a couple of guilty pleasures, which is saying something considering the kind of shit I put on some of my previous lists.

Ne Reviens Pas (Gradur et Heuss l’Enfoiré) - Heuss is a French artist that kept baffling me while making my lists for the previous years, and I was like “??? ok, that’s it then, I guess I’m getting too old to get what teenagers find funny”. This one worked for me, though. And the music video doesn’t hurt. Really dumb and really fun.

Adore You (Harry Styles) - Perfectly good little pop song, very pleasant to listen to, never outstayed its welcome for me.

Mood (24kGoldn) - This doesn’t sound like a very good relationship, my dude, but that’s still a super pleasant song.

WAP (Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion) - This song is absolutely hilarious and I will hear no argument from any of you.

Control (Zoe Wees) - Was clearly a hit here. Should have been even bigger though. What a powerful but comfy voice. If I had better taste it would be on the list.

Hot Girl Bummer (Blackbear) - I. Uh. Listen. I keep saying I have bad taste and nobody believes me. Do you believe me now. But yeah. “F█ck you, and you, and you~, I hate your friends and they hate me too” is gonna pop in my head every single time someone is being a jerk anywhere near me now. It’s been happening all year already. Someone trashed my documents at work? Someone isn’t wearing a mask in public? That guy has filled his car with rolls of toilet paper? Brain goes “F█ck you, and you, and you~”. Every. Single. Time.

Come & Go (Juice WRLD & Marshmello ) - Damn, that’s a pretty good little song. I’ve seen plenty of people saying it’s ruined by the drop, but may I remind you I’m the person who loves Blue by Eiffel 65 with all my heart. If the song was ramping up consistently until the end instead of ending like that, it would have made the list, definitely.

And now, the actual list. This one actually feels pretty solid, I genuinely like everything on it, there’s no filler here for once.

10 - The Box (Roddy Rich)

US: #3 / FR: #23

Now this is a weird case, because for the longest time I couldn’t figure out why this song was so popular and I was completely neutral about it. Then, one morning in September, my mental jukebox (which always, always puts a song on a loop in my head when I wake up) decided to play it. And I was like oh wow?? I never noticed the atmosphere in that song before? It’s so great. And that hook too. Let’s listen to it.

So yeah, I don’t know what happened. It just clicked one day and everything fell into place, I guess.

9 - Alane (Wes & Robin Shulz)

US: Not on the list / FR: #93

Come on. You can’t do a remake of one of my previous #1 songs and let it chart in 2020. That’s cheating. Even with this subpar drop, I have to put it on the list, now.

I’ve already said my piece about the original, so I’m just going to send you back to my 1997 list.

8 - Kings and Queens (Ava Max)

US: Not on the list / FR: #76

[BBC documentary voice] After Lady Gaga decided to make piano balads and left her musical niche vacant, Ava Max quickly took her place as the top predator pop diva. Even after Lady Gaga was re-introduced to her natural habitat in 2020, she still hasn’t fully recovered in Europe, where Ava Max still reigns supreme on the charts -

(tldr I think it’s hilarious that this isn’t on the US Billboard while Lady Gaga isn’t on the French year-end top 100)

7 - Roses (Saint Jhn & Imanbek)

US: #19 / FR: #3

What an earworm. It doesn’t even bother trying to have an intro or an outro, so it loops almost perfectly. It’s like entering a party that started long before you arrived, and it will go on long after you leave it to go back home. Kind of hypnotic in a way.

And yes, my mental jukebox was very fond of using it to wake me up this year, so this is another song that’s here almost solely because of that.

6 - Physical (Dua Lipa)

US: Not on the list / FR: #69 (hehehe)

“Hey I’m not that old” says the guy who’s definitely a sucker for this kind of retro throwback that was so popular this year. Oh well.

I don’t have anything interesting to say about this one, though. Apart from the fact that everyone seems to have a different fave song on that album. Guess that’s quality for you.

5 - Rain on Me (Lady Gaga & Ariana Grande)

US: #48 / FR: Not on the list

That is far from being Lady Gaga’s best song, but it was a joy to listen to everytime it was on the radio anyway. Also Ariana Grande has surprisingly good chemistry with Gaga! This year was full of strange duets mostly made for commercial reasons, and this one isn’t an exception, but unlike a lot of them, it really, really works.

4 - Dynamite (BTS)

US: #38 / FR: Not on the list

I’m still not 100% sold on k-pop even if a ton of it sounds super good, but come on. Even if some bits of this song (especially the beginning of the second chorus) sound a bit like they were made on autopilot, it still sounds just as happy and fun several months after I first heard it and I never got tired of it. That’s quality. You hear it and you can’t help but tap your feet and smile.

Actually, I’m sure there’s people somewhere that don’t smile when they hear this song. And they must be avoided at all costs.

3 - Godzilla (Eminem ft Juice WRLD)

US: #62 / FR: Not on the list

What are you doing so high on this list, old man. Why are you still here in the year 2020. I thought we left you in the previous decade. Who gave you the right.

I’m gonna tell you who did, and it’s actually Juice WRLD. Because that chorus is incredible, and like a lot of people I’m pissed off because the guy died super young and this shit shouldn’t happen to anybody. No, his early material wasn’t great, but I’m sorry I’m gonna say it again: have you heard this damn chorus? It’s suspenseful and dark, it’s got this lowkey menacing quality, it’s an earworm and a half, and it’s more convincing in like six lines than Eminem’s own flexing is in the entire song.

The beat is extremely good as well, and the flow, obviously, impressive. The weakest link is Eminem’s writing, which is as usual full of puns and weird wordplay, except here a lot of it isn’t great, and that last ultra fast part at the end is technically impressive but it also drives the song up a cliff and stops it dead in its tracks once it’s over. But frankly the lines fly by so fast it’s difficult to be too annoyed by them.

Can I sincerely put this extremely flawed song so high on my list? A better question would be “did I spend hours trying to learn how to sing this shit without choking on my own spit?”. The answer is yes. To both.

2 - Heartless (The Weeknd)

US: #28 / FR: Not on the list

I’ve said it on my 2015 and 2016 lists already, but just for the record I’ll say it again: it took me ages to like The Weeknd, mostly because I found most of his songs fairly boring, or disliked the lyrics, or both. Also I never really liked the general vibe of his “sexy” songs like The Hills, they felt dark but in an unpleasant creepy way. Felt like miserable hedonism, if that makes sense.

So, because I’m a person with extremely consistent and logical tastes, here’s the exact same shit he was making before, except that this time I absolutely adore it.

What is he doing differently that makes the whole After Hours album click for me whereas almost all of his previous material failed to do so? Is it the energy? Is it the reverb? Is it the fact that the narrator sounds properly unhinged and, frankly, scared to be spiralling out of control? Why are the colors so beautiful yet full of anxiety? Why is that bridge so fantastic? How can you make your voice look like a glowstick in the dark?

I give up. I have no clue. At least I’m done talking about-

Oh.

1 - Blinding Lights (The Weeknd)

US: #1 / FR: #1 (listen sometimes something’s just that good, ok)

Surprise. Or not.

Wow, look at that, Johannes has put this year’s number one pop song at number one on their personal playlist. The audacity. The edge. What a hot take.

I discovered that song when it first came out at the end of 2019 and I adored it instantly. And I was so scared it wouldn’t be a hit. Which means I’m a f█cking dumbass considering it ended up breaking all sorts of records in 2020. But what can I say, overplay can be a blessing when you love a song that much.

Like every single song I put at number one on one of my lists, I will draw this one at some point and you will understand how incredibly satisfying it is to listen to a song called Blinding Lights, talking about city lights looking blurry when you’re driving at night, while looking itself like a bunch of blurry city lights passing by super fast. Perfect in every way.

Also it sounds exactly like A-ha, and that never hurts.

See you next year! Pretty sure it will be even better music-wise.

#Johannes’ bad not good pretty terrible music lists #music #long post #eye contact tw

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connordavidscamera · 4 years

Text

Love Notes | Connor Brashier

A/n: I would like to thank the person in the dorm next to me for inspiring this meet cute situation. *there might be a part 2 or a blurb to follow this because there is a specific part that isn’t in here that I promised Rina.

Summary: someone on your floor has been playing piano and you can’t not love it. (college!AU)

Warnings: none

Word count: 3.5k

***

It’s been one of those days. You know the one where you’re awake, you’re alive, but you can’t seem to focus on anything. You’re going through the motions, but you can’t sit still, can’t pay attention in your lecture, can’t get yourself to work on a homework assignment for more than five whole minutes. Yeah, it’s one of those. I’ve been alternating between scrolling through my phone and working on this five page essay that’s due Friday that I currently only have an introduction for. Well… if you consider two sentences an introduction. My professor definitely would not.

I sigh and toss my phone on my bed, where it bounces and lands on the floor with a loud thud. I groan and run my hands over my face, maybe I just need caffeine. However, getting said caffeine would mean walking all the way across campus for a $5 cup from Starbucks that definitely would not keep me awake without a few extra espresso shots. It’s not worth it. But then again, maybe the walk outside would do me good. (Not that it did this morning when I was walking to class.)

I’m grabbing my shoes from my closet when the first note fills the room. And then the second and the third. At first, I think I’m imagining it, maybe it’s coming from my computer, but then I remember that I didn’t have music on. The notes get faster, louder, almost more aggressive, like the person playing them is pushing harder on the keys. But it still sounds so pretty - I might be a little biased though because I’ve always been a sucker for piano. I’ve always wanted to learn how to play too, but I never had the chance to take classes.I stand there for a while, just listening. It’s so pretty, soothing.

It takes me a minute too long to figure out what the song is, because every time I think I have it, I’m wrong. But it’s a popular song. Not new though. At least a few years old. One that was played on every radio station for months and months. Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran, I finally decide. And that’s when the melody comes to me and I find myself humming along to it. And that’s when I realize that I’ve finally focused on something for more than a second.

The notes continue to fill the room as I look over at my abandoned paper. Their fingers on the keys though, are slowing down just as I sit in my chair, convinced that if they just keep playing a little bit longer, I can get through maybe half of this essay. And much to my delight, they do keep playing once they finish the other song. It stops for just a moment though, probably to think of another one to play. This one I don’t recognize at all, but it’s soothing and while they continue to heat each beautiful, melodic note, I type away at my computer.

My two sentences quickly become ten, then fifteen, then twenty, then thirty and I’m on a roll. Before I know it, I’m working my way down my third page and the playing still hasn’t stopped. To anyone else this is probably the most annoying thing to hear, because who in their right mind would be playing the piano for, I glance at my clock, an hour and fifteen minutes straight? And I definitely don’t have an answer. At least not right now. But I’m gonna find one. I close my laptop and shove my feet in the shoes I had taken out of my closet earlier. I don’t close my door completely when I step out of my room, knowing that I’ll go back in just as soon as I find the source of the notes. They get louder as I make my way down the hallway. I stop in front of the door where I’m 99.9% sure the music is coming from. Room 1327.

Cautiously, I press my ear against the door and am once again met with the aggressive taps on the keyboard. I take in a deep breath and nod before heading quickly back to my room. I grab a stack of sticky notes from my desk and a sharpie. I scribble out a few words and then rush back out to the room. Half of me says not to do this. To leave it alone. But the other half of me says that whoever lives behind that door needs to be told that they play beautifully. Which is exactly what the note you stick on their door says. Just three simple words and a smiley face.

‘You play beautifully. :)’

And with that I go back to your room to grab my bag and keys, now in desperate need of that caffeine I was craving only an hour ago. I lock the door behind me and head to the main exit, opposite of what is going to easily become my favorite room, if they continue to play like they are now. I open the door to the closing notes of “The Scientist.”

When I come back, much later than I anticipated (but I guess that’s what happens when you go to the only open Starbucks on campus at eight at night, with an abundance of due dates fast approaching.) my eyes are threatening to close on me - despite the two extra espresso shots I added to my order. I don’t notice it until I’m at my door, key in the lock, that the music hasn’t stopped. And being the oh-so nosy person I am, I make my way down to the magical room 1327 and notice my note is missing. I smile softly and I hope - selfishly - that they play just long enough for me to fall asleep.

I trudge back into my room and the first thing I notice is all the lights are on, which means my roommate, Tara, is back. She’s not a huge fan of the dark when alone, always keeping at least two of the lights on when I’m not in the room. She’s laying on her side, with her phone in her hand and her earphones in. I move farther into the room, turning off the bathroom light on my way to my desk. I set my bag on my chair and toss my keys on the smooth, although kinda crowded, desktop. She sits up, pulling her earphones out. “Hey.”

“Hey, sorry I’m back so late. Starbucks was packed. And then I ran into one of my friends and we got a bite to eat.”

“It’s okay. Do you hear that?” She asks quickly.

“Hear what?”

“The piano. Do you hear it?”

“Oh that? Yeah, they were playing before I left.”

“Yeah, well they’ve been playing for almost two hours now. Nonstop. It’s driving me crazy.”

I shrug and reach for a fresh pair of pajamas, “I don’t know. I think it sounds nice. I’m gonna go shower.”

I don’t hear the music in the bathroom, but that’s definitely because I’m playing my own, needing something that could wake me up just enough for me to get through my shower without passing out from complete exhaustion. I’m disappointed to find that the notes are no longer filling the room when I get out of the bathroom. It’s strange, but I already kinda miss them.

---

Mystery piano person continues to play for the next week, sometimes repeating songs from the day before, but mostly playing new ones. I wonder if they knew these all previously or if they’re just learning as they go. Sometimes it’s hard to tell, but that could just depend on the difficulty of the song, I guess. I tug on the sleeves of my jacket, pulling it off my shoulders before going to my desk to write another note for the piano person.

‘Still beautiful. But aren’t you scared your fingers will fall off with all that tapping? Lol :)’

I leave the room to put the note on their door when I notice one already there. I scrunch up my face. The one I left yesterday was already gone by the time I got back to the dorm last night, and it was written on an obnoxiously bright pink sticky note. This one, however, is blue. I don’t want to be nosy, but I can’t help but read it when I go to place mine.

‘Thanks for the notes. Glad you like it. Have a favorite so far?’

I stare at the writing for a while, it’s scribbly, and small (half of the sticky note is left untouched), but legible enough. It’s Part of me thinks I shouldn’t reply. Because if it’s not for me then that would be totally awkward. But if it is, it would be rude not to answer, right? I scurry back to my room to get a pen. I’ll answer, I decide. There’s no reason not to.

‘Yellow - Coldplay’

The music stops on the other side and I quickly run back to my room, not wanting to get caught. Because sure this isn’t wrong or anything, but some part of it feels… intrusive. I hear the door opening just as I’m shutting mine and I so desperately want to peek out and see who mystery piano person is, but that would give me away as well. And even though we live on the same floor, I’ve hardly met anyone that wasn’t Tara and a few girls that lived down the hall, and I’m not quite ready for that yet.

---

It goes on like this for another two weeks, passing notes back and forth. Him asking for feedback - I usually have none. He thinks I’m lying, says there’s always room for improvement. I tell him that since I don’t have a background in music, I have no room to judge. He asks if he can teach me. I tell him maybe someday.

‘Okay Yellow, we’ve been at this for weeks. You gonna tell me your name yet?’

I smile at the nickname.

‘Not today, piano man. Soon.’

‘Fine. But you know my room number. Can I have that at least?’

I think it over. It seems only fair that he knows that.

‘1320.’

The note is not on his door the next day. It’s on mine. But I don’t respond to this one. I don’t have time.

And when I get back to my room later in the evening, the note was still there, untouched, unanswered. And even though I wanted to, I didn’t have the energy to respond. I was spent. It was one of the rougher days. One thing just piling on top of the other until it’s like that one chair that has all your clothes on it that’s not necessarily dirty, but you wore it for a few hours so it’s not clean enough to hang back up. You know the chair that becomes the biggest fucking inconvenience when you need to work at your desk so you have to throw all the clothes on your bed only to throw it back on the chair when you want to lay down.

Yeah, my day was pretty much that chair. I woke up late thanks to my alarm that just didn’t go off? So I was running really late, and I had to sprint to my first class, and I was still late. Then when I went to get coffee, the line was long, and when I finally got my drink I had a total of two sips before someone bumped into me and I dropped the cup on the ground outside the building of my next class. Then there was a pop quiz in said class that I’m quite sure I failed because I don’t think our professor had even covered half of what was on that test. Then my phone died and in my rush to get to class, I left my charger in the dorm. And the cherry on top of this already melting sundae, I locked myself out of my room. I swore I had it when I was leaving, but as I retrace my steps, I remember leaving it right there on the bathroom counter. And it’s just my luck that Tara won’t be back until after midnight tonight because she’s closing at work. I let out a loud groan and take a seat across from my door, legs crossed in front of me.

I know I should work on my homework that’s due at the end of the week (in literally just two days, actually) but my computer is on the verge of dying too, so there’s no point. I pull out the book I’ve had stuffed in my bag for days, in hopes of finding some time to read it. I guess with nothing to do for the next four and a half hours, I could read.

I don’t know how long I’ve been sitting there, but I notice about ninety pages in that the familiar sound of piano man is not filling my ears.

“Locked out?” Someone says, the first one that I’ve seen come down the hallway since I’ve been here actually. I knew this floor was pretty dead, but I didn’t ever notice that it was this dead.

I chuckle bitterly, “Yeah. Just a little bit.”

“Is your roommate on their way?”

I shake my head, “No, she won’t be back until late.”

“Did you call the RA on duty?”

I hold up my phone which rested beside me - habit, I guess, to take it out of my back pocket in case I get notifications, “Phone’s dead.”

“You can use mine, if you’d like.”

I shake my head, “No, it’s okay. Thank you.”

“Well, it’s cold out here. Why don’t you come to my room? You can charge your phone and get off this dusty floor that I don’t think has been cleaned since we got back from break,” he says light-heartedly.

I can’t help but laugh, “You have a point there. Okay… sure. But I have to ask you something first.”

“Shoot,” he holds his hand out to help me off the ground.

“What’s your name?”

He looks down with an embarrassed smile on his face. “I’m Connor. And you are…?”

“Y/n.”

“Well, y/n. It’s nice to meet you. Uh, my room’s this way.” He takes the lead and I sling my bag over my shoulder. I think my heart stops when we get to his room. Room 1327. Fuck.

He frowns for a second, looking from his door to mine just once before opening the door. “After you,” he pushes the door open and I smile sheepishly before entering. Sure enough, there’s a keyboard against the far wall, where the window overlooks campus. The odd number rooms definitely got the better views. I stand awkwardly near the wall, allowing him to walk through and set his stuff down.

“You can sit down. Let me just, move some of this stuff real quick,” he takes his towel off his desk chair and takes his shoes from under the desk, throwing them carelessly to the corner. “Sorry, it’s a little bit messy. It’s laundry day tomorrow, so there’s shit everywhere. Please, sit.” He gestures to the chair and I do, setting my bag down next to me, leaning against one of the legs of the desk. “Do you want something to drink? I have water and… no that’s about it. I need to go grocery shopping, too.” He laughs.

“Thanks, Connor. But I’m fine.”

“Okay,” he nods, sitting down at the stool in front of the keyboard. “Oh! Charger,” he stands up and goes over to his nightstand. “May I?” he holds his hand out and I nod, handing him my phone from my back pocket. “Sorry, I’d plug it in over there, but that outlet is fucked. Hasn’t worked since I moved in here.”

“No, it’s fine, really.”

Slowly he makes his way back to the keyboard, facing me, away from the setting sun. I spare a glance behind him and notice the bright pink sticky notes that rest on the wall beside the window. They’re my notes, every single one of them. I clear my throat. “Um, I’m assuming you’re the one who’s been playing the past few weeks.”

He cringes, “Yeah, sorry about that. It’s just how I’ve been destressing recently. It’s probably been getting on everyone’s nerves.”

“Not everyone’s… you play beautifully.”

He doesn’t say anything for a second, and then clears his throat, looking down at his feet. “Uh, thanks.”

“How long have you been playing?”

“It’s actually a pretty recent hobby. My friend started teaching me like last March, I think. And then I started watching a lot of videos on YouTube and I got pretty good at it, I guess. I mean, I won’t be selling out any arenas or anything like that.”

I laugh softly, “Well, I would definitely buy a ticket.”

I swear I see his cheeks tint pink, “Do you play?” He asks, avoiding the compliment.

“No,” I shake my head. “I’ve always wanted to learn, but I’m pretty sure I don’t have a musical bone in my body.”

“I don’t think that’s true.”

“Oh it is. I uh, I auditioned for my school musical in like fifth grade. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone cover their ears so quickly.” I laugh and his eyes crinkle at the sides as he tries his hardest not to. “It was definitely not one of my shining moments. Yeah, I told myself that day not to even think about starting a career in music.”

“Were you singing?”

I nod.

“Okay, well singing isn’t playing. And if you ask me, the notes, the chords, that’s what makes the music, not the words. Although those are important too.”

“Can you sing?”

“My shower head hasn’t told me to stop yet.” he jokes. And when I laugh, genuinely this time, he just watches me for a minute. “So you like yellow,” he says, turning to face the keyboard.

“I’m sorry?”

“The song. You said it was your favorite one that I’ve played.”

I sigh, “What gave me away?”

“‘You play beautifully.’”

“Well, it’s true. However, my preference did change since you last asked me. And don’t think I haven’t noticed that you now play yellow at least twice every day.”

He’s really blushing now. “Gotta keep the audience happy.” His fingers press gently over the keys not settling on a melody yet. “What’s your new favorite then?”

“You played ‘happier’’ the other day. I’ve never heard it on piano like that. I really liked it.”

He nods and starts playing the opening notes to it. “Now, I told you I wasn’t a singer,” he looks back at me, “but I’ll try it just for my biggest fan.”

I roll my eyes, “Oh shut up.”

“‘When the morning comes and we see what we’ve become, in the cold light oh na na na na na na na na…’ definitely don’t know those words.” He smiles and I think my heart melts at the sight. “‘Every argument, every word we can’t take back. Cause with all that has happened, I think that we both know the way that this story ends.’”

He continues through the song, but doesn’t continue singing after the first chorus. I’m sitting here, watching his fingers dance across the keys like they were made for it. He moves his body with each note and I am absolutely mesmerized. I know I’ve always loved piano, but watching him do this makes me love it even more.

“God, you’re perfect.” I mutter when he’s done and immediately cover my mouth because holy fuck, I said that out loud.

“Well, I wouldn’t say perfect.” He turns back to face me. “You’d have to get to know me more before you could make that assumption. And I can guarantee that you will not feel the same way after.”

I shake my head, covering my face with my hands. “I’m sorry. I really did not mean to say that out loud.”

“It’s cool,” he waves it off. “Although, I wasn’t kidding about getting to know me. Because I’d love to get to know you.”

I clear my throat, removing my hands from my face. “Well, I’m free right now,” I say, crossing one leg over the other, this newfound confidence foreign to me.

“Can I take you to dinner? Or to get coffee, if you’ve already eaten.”

“Right now?”

“Why not? You said you’re free, right?”

I nod, “Yeah. Yeah.”

“Okay, then it’s a date.”

“A date?” I question with a raised eyebrow.

“First dates are usually meant to get to know each other, aren’t they? And hopefully this isn’t too forward. But I think I have an idea for our second one too.”

“Oh you do? Well someone’s optimistic.”

“Only when it counts. So, may I?”

“May you what?”

“May I, Connor,” he stands from his seat and holds his hand out to me, “take you, y/n, on a date? Right now?”

I bite the inside of my cheek, “Yeah,” I finally say, placing my hand in his, “Yes, you may.” He pulls me to my feet and we’re so close. He smells nice, clean, with just the slightest hint of cologne that I can’t quite place. But I know it’s easily becoming my favorite scent already.

***

I hope you enjoyed reading!! Like, reblog and leave feedback!! Permanent tag: @soyalimoncada-blog @tinycertain @magcon7280 @daisyangei @devilmendes @babybrash @fallinallincurls @lovewithanattitude @sinceweremutual @myyohmyuohmyy @perfectly-mendess @enchantingbrowneyedgirl @baroness-alison @lostinmendess @linanilssonfurberg @luvluvxx @mariamuses @shawnieeboyy @divinginfearlessly @mendesficsxbombay @shawnsthighs @shawns-badreputation

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#connor brashier #connor brashier imagines #connor brashier x y/n #connor brashier x reader #connor brashier imagine #connor brashier fanfiction #connor brashier blurb

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deadcactuswalking · 3 years

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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 15/05/2021 (Coldplay, J. Cole, Trippie Redd & Playboi Carti)

I’m awful at predicting this chart, I really am, but most of that is probably down to how I only make vague predictions at the end of each episode without even considering most releases that’ll actually chart. Let’s just say I didn’t expect nine new arrivals this week. At the top, however, little has changed as the absolutely huge “Body” by Russ Millions and Tion Wayne with a remix featuring whoever the hell is spending its second week at #1. The rest of the chart, however, gets a bit more interesting. Welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS.

Rundown

The biggest story to effect the chart this week is of course 2021’s BRIT Awards happening this Tuesday, which I’m sure boosted a lot of songs during the mid-week. I also actually covered the awards show on that day if you’re curious, with some of my observations, predictions and opinions. We can very clear see – or hear, for that matter – the impact of the BRIT Awards in this week’s chart, as it did cause a lot of gains and new arrivals that shook up the chart right in the middle of the tracking week. Firstly, we do have some drop-outs from the UK Top 75, which is what I cover, only one of them, “Paradise” by MEDUZA and Dermot Kennedy, being all that important given it was a top five hit but we do have a handful that lasted five or more weeks or peaked in the top 40, like “Medicine” by James Arthur flopping embarrassingly, “Addicted” by Jorja Smith dropping out to prepare for the rebound next week given her album release and “Solid” by Young Stoner Life, Young Thug and Gunna featuring Drake.

Speaking of Drake, he also provides the singular returning entry as “Wants and Needs” featuring Lil Baby is proving to be the actual hit from that three-pack from March, coming back to #65. Scaling down the chart, we also have some notable losses, songs that dropped at least five spots on this week’s chart. Those that fell include “Your Power” by Billie Eilish dropping harshly to #15 off of the debut, as well as “Your Love (9PM)” by ATB, Topic and A7S at #18, “Confetti” by Little Mix to #21 off of the return (with Saweetie, the artist quite literally solely the reason it’s had this second wind, still bizarrely left without a credit by the UK Singles Chart), “My Head & My Heart” by Ava Max at #27, “Titanium” by Dave at #31, “Wellerman” by Nathan Evans and remixed by 220 KID and Billen Ted (yes, THEY’RE credited) at #36, “Patience” by KSI featuring YUNGBLUD and Polo G at #42, “Heartbreak Anniversary” by Giveon at #44, “We’re Good” by Dua Lipa at #47, “Way Too Long” by Nathan Dawe, Anne-Marie and MoStack at #49, “Head & Heart” by Joel Corry and MNEK at #51, “Beautiful Mistakes” by Maroon 5 and Megan Thee Stallion at #55, “Don’t Play” by Anne-Marie, KSI and Digital Farm Animals at #56, “Calling My Phone” by Lil Tjay and 6LACK at #59, “Commitment Issues” by Central Cee at #67, “You” by Regard, Troye Sivan and Tate McRae at #69, “Get Out My Head” by Shane Codd at #70, “Hold On” by Justin Bieber getting ACR’d at #71, “Streets” by Doja Cat at #73 and finally, “6 for 6” by Central Cee at #75.

Filling up the room for those losses, however, are the gains, always a tad more interesting, as the songs that rose at least five spots on this week’s chart – or make their first appearance in the top 40, 20 or 10 – are usually having the BRITs to thank to some capacity. The climbers include “Summer 91 (Looking Back)” giving Noizu his first top 40 hit at #31 (and I’ll admit, the song is growing on me), Griff also getting her first with “Black Hole” at #35 thanks to her win and performance at the BRITs, “WITHOUT YOU” by The Kid LAROI rebounding to #13 thanks to that once-again uncredited remix with Miley Cyrus and finally, entering the top 10 for the first time is “Anywhere Away from Here” by Rag’n’Bone Man and P!nk at #9, getting the boost from a perfect trifecta of gains: Rag’n’Bone Man released his album on Friday then on Tuesday had the closing performance of this song at the BRIT Awards with additional vocals from the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS choir, who are also now appearing on a new release of the song the day after, prompting a whole lot of sales, of which I assume and hope are going to charity. It’s Rag’n’Bone Man’s third top 10 hit, P!nk’s 21st(!) and interestingly enough, the NHS choir’s second top 10 hit as they had the Christmas #1 back in 2015. With all of that out of the way, I suppose it’s time to get to our varied array of new arrivals.

NEW ARRIVALS

#74 – “Dick” – Starboi3 featuring Doja Cat

Produced by Nius and SoFLY

This week is kind of a weird week if that wasn’t immediately obvious as our new arrivals are kind of all over the place, starting with... well, I think I could say less about the song than the title does. Starboi3 is this SoundCloud rapper from New Jersey who made a song with Doja back in 2019 – I assume she was more accessible for features back then –and it didn’t blow up at all, really, giving Starboi3 some additional traction but not until 2020, in which Doja Cat got her #1 hit and TikTok picked up this explicit single as a new sound. Sadly – or thankfully – the song was never released officially onto streaming until very recently, meaning, surely, the hype’s over by now? The answer to that is no, as it’s climbing up charts in both the UK and the Bubbling Under in the US... so there’s got to be something good about this song, right? Well, no. Not at all. Of course, that is subjective, but I do question your sanity if you’re honestly enjoying this unlikeable nobody shout “Dick!” over a basic, no-melody trap instrumental with heavy 808s not too dissimilar to drill, before going into a beyond basic chorus and verse about, well, you can guess, with rhymes sounding either like an awful freestyle or a kid with a rhyming dictionary. “She not with him tonight, she not with Jim tonight”? Of course, that’s in the post-chorus because if there’s one thing this song needs, it’s a freaking post-chorus. I also don’t think Starboi3 realises that making her scream for her parents is quite the opposite of sexy – or even raunchy and mindless, as it’s actually just creepy and terrifying. Speaking of terrifying, Doja Cat is here and not even she can add a less basic flow with a verse that just ends up going in one ear and out the other, even if I do like the seductive backing vocals that at least try to make this not a slow, joyless slog. However, I do NOT like the Pickle Rick reference. To be fair, this was 2019, but also to be fair, never reference that again, I am begging you. This is a disaster on all fronts and probably one of the worst tracks I’ve had to review in this series. Good start!

#64 – “Freaks” – Surf Curse

Produced by Surf Curse

This new song is actually even older, being released initially as a deep cut from this Nevada duo’s 2013 album. As you’ll probably tell, this is charting off of people streaming after hearing the song on TikTok and, I mean, at least the song’s actually good this time, careening off of a clearly surf-inspired clean riff surrounded by some basic drumming and a good bassline. It’s not great as it does feel increasingly basic as I said, almost like one of those local bands that don’t get much national attention or traction but do play some gigs and get some love at those places, to the point where it’s kind of big if they play shows outside of their region... which makes sense because that is exactly what they are. This is just some band from Reno but here it is charting on the UK Singles Chart and while it’s here, I should say whilst there’s not much here to discuss given how minimal it is, Nick Rattigan’s vocals are fittingly desperate for the theme of social alienation and particularly rejection as it’s pretty obvious he’s aiming venom at himself for a bad break-up, although given the sound and tone of the song, probably his first, with that double meaning of the mantra in the outro, “I won’t wake up this time”, potentially being a crushing line for someone in similar circumstances. That’s not me, exactly, so this doesn’t hit, but I’m glad that Machine Gun Kelly song from last week got replaced with some actually decent alternative rock on the chart. I hope this does well.

#60 – “One Day” – Lovejoy

Produced by Cameron Nesbitt

“One Day” is the biggest track from new English rock band Lovejoy’s debut EP, Are You Alright?, and whilst I was planning on not mentioning the fact that the band is fronted by Minecraft YouTuber Wilbur Soot, that is the only reason it’s charting – and he’s charted with “Your New Boyfriend” a couple months back, a song that I actually kind of liked. It’s also immediately obvious in the writing that this comes from an Internet personality, with some not-so-well-woven detail and increasingly gratuitous self-awareness that eventually cycles back and ends up as seeming like they have none at all... okay, like most indie bands but that’s beside the point. This happens to be Wilbur’s least favourite song on the release – one that I haven’t listened to because even if I’m not too old for mindless pop music, Minecraft YouTuber alt-rock may be where I draw the line – and I can completely understand the distaste for this given that it starts with the line, “Why’d you have to kill my cat?” I also have some qualms with the song sonically as it may be the most derivative rock single I’ve heard on this series, given how obviously it rips from indie rock bands of the 2000s, with an oddly clean mix that doesn’t exactly fit the obvious stream-of-consciousness lyrics and Wilbur’s erratic delivery. Also, there’s a whole lot of trumpet on this song, which I guess is a surprise, but that doesn’t make up for a drummer who can clearly play very well but has to chaotically play over a song with practically no groove. I do like that second chorus in how it builds up to a somewhat anti-climactic guitar solo but as a full song I do not really get the appeal of this that I don’t get out of other post-punk revival bands from decades back who are still pumping out music. This isn’t bad – I swear, don’t dox me – but I just want something more compelling from this. I will always be glad regardless of the quality that we have more rock on the chart, though, even if this’ll be gone by next week.

#57 – “It’s a sin” – Years & Years and Elton John

Produced by Stuart Price and the Pet Shop Boys

One of my favourite performance from the BRIT Awards this year was Olly Alexander of Years & Years sharing the stage with the iconic Elton John to cover Pet Shop Boys’ “It’s a Sin” which had renewed interest from last year as it was the namesake for a hit TV series about HIV/AIDS, for which this fittingly played a role and has kind of been recontextualised as a gay anthem, which makes complete sense if you look at its lyrics about the Church telling Neil Tennant “how to be”. It’s also one of the Pet Shop Boys’ most camp and theatrical songs, so giving it to Years & Years and Elton John to cover for the BRIT Awards make all too much sense. No, they’re not able to live up to the theatricality of the original, especially if Alexander’s vocals are going to be this clearly manipulated at points, but with Elton John’s piano laying a perfect foundation for the rising intensity of the track, we do get a sense of that original melodrama, with the synth-work and house groove coming in before Elton John’s voice, sounding smokier and wiser with age, and in my opinion, more compelling as a vocalist, especially if they’re both going to sell this song with the most convicted of deliveries. I don’t think a cover could ever live up to that original iconic track but if anyone’s going to get close, it’s Elton John. Expect this to rise next week.

#50 – “Never Left” – Lil Tecca

Produced by ThankYouWill, Taz Taylor and Cxdy

I’ll always be annoyed that Lil Tecca blew up as a rapper instead of a producer, as I don’t think this guy has any likeability or charisma about his flow, cadence or delivery, and that’s only after you get over how dry and whiny his voice can get. However, he can make some great and incredibly infectious beats for other rappers, including a song I see becoming a hit soon in SoFaygo’s “Knock Knock”, which I will bet on at least making the Billboard Hot 100 if not the UK Singles Chart. It’s unbelievably catchy. With that said, Tecca is here in the form of some SoundCloud raps over a boring synth pluck and vaguely tropical Internet Money trap beat, sounding and flowing way too much like Gunna for his own benefit, or Gunna’s benefit, if we’re honest, as this shows how easily he can be replaced. I usually don’t write off this type of rap and will absolutely defend it, but this song isn’t even catchy or unique. I mean, I don’t like “Ransom” either but at least it was kind of fun and I still know the lines in the chorus a couple years later. I’ll forget all about this by next week if it doesn’t stick around. At least he shouts out Chief Keef. God, I hope he charts sometime, that’d be funny.

#45 – “All I Know So Far” – P!nk

Produced by Greg Kurstin

So, P!nk is back but not with a studio album, rather an upcoming live album in which the two new, original songs are about or featuring her daughter. This is the second single from said album and is probably coasting off her appearance at the BRITs in terms of a relatively high chart debut. I’ve never been that big a fan of P!nk but she has her classics, none of which are in the past 15 years but that’s beside the point. This single in particular is an acoustic ballad dedicated to her daughter in which P!nk provides a rapid intensity alongside pretty great-sounding acoustic guitars, pounding drums and strings that sells the content about empowering yourself, with some nice lyrical detail about always being yourself, basically, which would come off as cliché and preachy if it weren’t for some oddly specific lyrics in those verses and the chorus that basically just tell her daughter that despite the fact the world will constantly try to crack down on her and everything she does much like life does to anyone but especially women, she should stand up for herself and what she believes in. However, none of that cuts deep when she’s being raised by a millionaire, huh? There’s little Hell to be put through when you’re born with a silver spoon, huh, Willow? Regardless, this isn’t a bad pop song and its content isn’t as misguided as it is just sang by the wrong singer, although I’d find it hard to get a singer with as much rasp and wisdom in the mainstream to sell this as convincingly as P!nk does – vocally, not lyrically. This is a couple steps above that last single, “Cover Me in Sunshine” at least, which was just insidious. Next.

#32 – “Miss the Rage” – Trippie Redd featuring Playboi Carti

Produced by Loesoe

Okay, so all of our last three new arrivals are in the top 40 and we start with... o-okay, well, it’s 2021, anything can and will chart and I should know this by now, but it’s still surprising to see a song by these two guys debut so high, especially since Whole Lotta Red produced absolutely no charting hits in the UK outside of “@ MEH”, which doesn’t really count. This is Trippie’s highest-charting song ever in the UK that isn’t fronted by KSI, so I guess streaming must have been that good – also, the charts are still weak. For what it’s worth, I do like both Trippie and Carti to their respective extents, and I am aware that this is only as big as it was because of the hype from the leak, which also featured Mario Judah, and that in itself was a big song but it took years for Carti’s feature to be cleared by the label, as is infamously true for much of Carti’s work and even his last official collaboration with Trippie that was actually deleted after release. I’m still hoping on an official release for his verse on Yung Lean’s “Yayo”, but whilst we have this instead, I might as well talk about it and... Well, let me explain to you what I see as the appeal of these two rappers. That appeal is, mostly, that they don’t rap even though they both very much can. Trippie yells, moans, growls, screams and spends most of his work singing in his typical raspy, venomous voice, whilst Playboi Cart spits and coughs his way through substance-less ad-libs to the point where any actual wordplay or lyrical detail gets you excited for that brief moment. In this song, Trippie and Carti don’t eschew the typical role of a rapper and both just... rap normally, which would not be a complaint if they weren’t so bland in that role, which is the whole point of their unique, phlegm-filled deliveries in the first place. As a result, this song just ends up feeling empty, even if this awfully-mixed, bass-boosted beat with some lovely distorted video-game synths and hardly audible trap skitters does go incredibly hard. Don’t get me wrong: this is still catchy and Trippie flows very well over a beat that sounds made for him and Carti. Hell, Carti has grown on me so much recently that my fondness for this might just be me eating anything he releases up. With that said, he’s the worst part of the song as his baby-voice style emphasises how lacking this song is in just anything. I do like the wordplay at the tail-end of the verse as, yes, that happens, perhaps not as iconic as some of his other oddly profound or clever lines on his last record but at least it’s something. At least this is some interesting American trap, unlike...

#25 – “i n t e r l u d e” – J. Cole

Produced by J. Cole, Tommy Parker and T-Minus

The pandemic has affected the music industry to the point where big-name rappers release album interludes as lead singles. Said album has songs shorter than this interlude, with most of its dull filler feeling like additional interludes, quite unbefitting for such a big and hyped-up album from Cole which frankly is just another boring addition to an already consistently dull catalogue. I’m just not interested in what Cole has to say because he’s never been likeable and I feel like there’s better rappers that bridge the gap between old and new like how Cole sees himself as doing, the “MIDDLE CHILD”, perhaps, like, you know, Drake? If we want to go for a more direct comparison from lesser-known rappers, the direct comparison I use for this new record is Aminé’s latest, also made up of a variation of trap bangers featuring massive, charting names versus introspective, conscious lyrics, yet Aminé is an interesting character with quotable lyrics that aren’t embarrassing, knows how to write an actual hook and whilst he also brings on both classic and modern features, he’s never out-done by them, creating an actual bridge rather than just some guy who thinks he can write his own role in the industry and culture without his own music backing his case. Unfortunately for me, it works – every freaking time – largely because of his continually loyal fanbase but also a general public interest in the guy that I do not understand, especially when more than a decade into his career, he’s still pushing out mediocre projects. He cuts his album’s length by a ton and still ends up with a bloated record. I barely need to talk about the track itself, right? Even if it has as much structure and effort put into it as his normal songs do, it’s labelled quite literally as an interlude. Sigh, well, in this interlude, Jermaine raps over a drowned-out soul sample and admittedly, sticks to the topic of reminiscing on where he came from, the violence in Fayetteville, a similar violence of which was what killed Nipsey Hussle, who he compares amongst Pimp C and Jesus as they all died at 33. Cole himself is 36 so I guess for once he doesn’t think he’s Jesus. It took him a while to realise.

#12 – “Higher Power” – Coldplay

Produced by Max Martin, Oscar Holter and Bill Rahko

I assumed this would debut at #3 until the BRIT Awards performance gave it a boost to debut at the top but I guess everyone else had the same opinion of that awful opening performance as I did, because here it is at #12. Well, that doesn’t matter, right? Coldplay’s last album similarly underperformed... but at least that time, they had a genuinely ambitious album for once in their careers with some genuine experimentation and themes I did not expect to come out of Coldplay. It was a better album but not an accessible one, with its only pop single being a bittersweet anti-war anthem which trivialises bombing in the Middle East to onomatopoeia. It’s a great song but it wasn’t going anywhere, so it’s no surprise that their next lead single is a soulless synth-pop track produced by Max Martin. Admittedly, the synth tone in the intro is kind of unique in all its nasal 80s nostalgia, but, man, I thought we moved past just rehashing for a hit, Coldplay. This is pretty obviously just a crap attempt at being “Blinding Lights” which trades in its machine-gun loco-motive drum pattern for one that is a lot more stiff, and its iconic, memorable lyrics for a forgettable set of love-struck laziness. Oh, yeah, and Chris Martin is far from the Weeknd both in the studio and live at the BRIT Awards – seriously, dude sounded half-alive. This isn’t offensive, just a bore that is clearly a desperate label move ready for when they can tour again, and if their last record proved anything it was that Coldplay seemed like they were finally above that.

Conclusion

Well, that’s our week – again, a questionable one at best and kind of a bad one at worst. Either way, this is a strange array of songs and I do like how the UK Singles Chart subverts everything you’d expect of it so often that chaos becomes the trend, even if not all of it is any good. I guess Best of the Week goes to “Freaks” by Surf Curse, with an Honourable Mention to Elton John’s cover of “It’s a sin” with Years & Years. Surprisingly enough, J. Cole actually doesn’t get Worst of the Week as the album gets a lot worse than that interlude, so he gets a Dishonourable Mention alongside Starboi3’s “Dick” being crowned Worst of the Week, and honestly probably Worst of the Year so far, not that I’m keeping track of that. Here’s this week’s top 10:

What’s coming next week? More J. Cole, Olivia Rodrigo’s newest single and probably – and hopefully – some album tracks from Jorja Smith and Nicki Minaj. For now, though, thanks for reading. It’s a big week next week, and I’ll see you then!

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shibalen · 3 years

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hi !! can i get a romantic haikyuu matchup with ♫︎ + 𑁍 please? she/her pronouns, i'm pan, infp, with a libra sun+moon ! i'm introverted, very chill and free spirited, also very patient, to the point that i'm sometimes a doormat :/ i'm in touch with my emotions, i'm usually quiet but can get really talkative when excited. i get in my own head a lot and have a hard time asking for help. cursed memes and playful banter are my cups of tea, and i'm not easily flustered (but that's probs partly bc i'm kinda dense oof). 🃏 [1/3]

i do competitive debate and it's kind of my sport! i'm a theatre kid too, i absolutely love performing! i'm bilingual and learning french, i love classic books, philosophy, and cats. i'm a pop culture nerd! i speak very animatedly. sharing songs is a love language for me. i think i'm very supportive towards my friends, i don't always give advice but i always try to be there for them as much as i can (even if i nag them sometimes).🃏 [2/3]

i love writing analyses on media i like! i'm especially into stuff that has lots of themes and focus on character psyche, i like picking them apart. i also like fashion and playing uke! i don't have an ideal type for an s/o, all i ask is they understand when i'm super busy and need to be alone to recharge, but also know when to call me out when i'm trying to burn myself out lol. i like spontaneous, spur of the moment dates! this got long hshs but thank you sm and hope you have a great day !! 🃏 [3/3]

♡ matchup for anon

haikyuu: i match you with . . .

tetsurō kuroo !!

• i'm convinced you'd go great with Kuroo, and that you're exactly his type! relaxed and quiet yet fun, you'd catch his attention quickly.

• he adores your analytical, nerdy side but also your funny and free-spirited personality. definetly the type to playfully make fun of you for those traits to express his affection tho (until you point out he's just as much of a geek himself)

• being Kenma's friend, he has no problem getting you out of your head and laying out the facts. he'll help you focus on smaller goals to keep you from burning out. taking breaks is obligatory and if he's not there himself you guys will have video chats to take your mind off work. his dedication knows no bounds, trust me.

• boy is super vigilant about your health but not in an annoying naggy way. he sends you reminers to drink water and have a meal because he doesn't want his dearest person hurting herself (｡╯︵╰｡)

• you guys met at a debate competition. Kuroo didn't really want to be there but he was recruited by his peers to fill in for another person from the debate club who couldn't make it. he's always this kind, right?

• funny thing is that you never had an "official" debate but instead one in the corridor of the building the competition was held in. you were trying desperately to get a drink stuck in the vending machine when Kuroo came to your rescue.

• he taught you a useful hack how to get those things free but also teased you about not asking for help sooner you know he had to

• you ended up arguing over whether or not it was okay to ask strangers for help. it was dumb and far from any structured debate, but it was fun! Kuroo really had a bast seeing you switch from your polite ways to excitable chatter during your conversation and knew immediately he liked you.

• so, you exchanged numbers and social media before parting ways. getting together as an official couple no doubt took a while but that only resulted in a relationship that was all the more sound and comfortable for the both of you (*´▽`*)

• if anyone plans to take advantage of your politeness, Kuroo will just stare at them over your shoulder with that smile of his. i assure you no one is going to take advantage of you on his watch! "hmm? what was that you were about to say? let us hear it."

• you playfully tease each other on daily basis, light-hearted banter and snarky remarks, but by god when he tries to be the slightest bit more romantic you completely miss the point. rip Kuroo he's taken it as a challenge to make you flustered and will stop at nothing.

• you guys would have so much fun debating over everything from philosophy to ridiculous opinions such as whether cheese goes before or after the ham on a sandwich.

• gets all smug when you start being more talkative with him because you're showing a special side to yourself, hehe.

• has the s o f t e s t smile on his face when he listens to you talk !! like, resting his chin on his palm and leaning in, hanging on your each and every word while thinking how precious you are ♡︎

• can't forget about all the cursed memes you send each other in the middle of the night! not mention how you have entire conversations in them??

• it's completely all right if you don't have advice to give. when Kuroo's feeling down you being there is all be needs ♡︎ your presence alone is enough to remind him everything is going to be okay.

• !! sharing earbuds during bus, car and train rides !! change my mind. he especially likes it if you rest your head on his shoulder all the while, it makes him feel happy that you trust him so much. plus the fluffy intimacy.

• once he tried doing the same to you but he's kinda heavy so eventually you had to tell him to lift it. but in exchange, you let him lay his head on your lap. he actually prefers it that way now.

• such an overly dramatic couple honestly. if one of you starts acting dramatic, the other will jump the bandwagon no questions asked. yeah . . . your friends don't third-wheel on your dates much . . .

• your dates include shopping for fashion (imagine trying to style his hair to fit with the rest of his outfit but the last second it just goes poof), aimless "we'll figure out a date on the way there" drives, trying out funky science experiments from youtube, donating blood, pillow fort parties and childhood movie nights ♡︎

♫︎ music box

— Yellow by Coldplay

— Nicholas Sparks by Kinda Collective

— Sweet Talk by Saint Motel

— Backyard Boy by Claire Rosinkranz

— Dance, baby! by Pablo

𑁍 jewellery box

— favourite memory with you

afrer a big volleyball game victory Kuroo had decided to cofess to you. it was the perfect opportunity, he was feeling the most confident and ready. so, after the celebration with his teammates he invited you over to his place where you'd get some peace and quiet. however, before he got to say what he'd been agonising over for months now, you asked to play a song for him. you had written it yourself, especially for him, for this victory and your own confession! boy was absolutely shooketh but all the more smitten. he almost cried you were so perfect shh it was you both laughed as he said his confession right after ♡︎

— favourite activity to do together

i said it before and i'm gonna say it again: Kuroo loves playfully bantering with you. your wit never ceases to surprise him but it also gives him an excuse to throw an arm around your shoulder and get even closer to you ♡︎ as for actual activities i wanna say simply hanging out with you is more than enough for Kuroo because it's then when you're the most relaxed. it also leaves room for more spontaneous dates, your adventures are always new and exciting!

— favourite place to kiss you

Kuroo is a tease and will kiss you anywhere but the lips (or any other place you want him to). he loves giving you kisses but in most situations you might think he lives to see your pout or glare as he takes his time. in the end though, his kisses are the sweetest, meant only for you. in conclusion, i think his preferences very much shift according to yours.

— favourite nicknames to call you by

okay i know 'kitten' is very popular in the fandom, and i think since you like cats he enjoys calling you by it. but the nicknames he likes calling you by the most are usually in foreign languages, like 'chica' 'ma cherie' etc. if you like nicknames then do i have good news for you because cheesy ones as 'hunny bun' and 'boo' are also on his list!

— favourite thing about you

your sense of humour, among other things, is something Kuroo finds endearing about you! it's very similar to his own so he thinks of it as something that connects the two of you. also, the fact that you're in touch with your emotions is precious in his eyes. it's not common these days so you're a special treasure to him ♡︎

♡︎ runner up: Rintaro Suna

hihi! here i am doing requests hahahahaa . . . right. no excuses. i am terribly sorry for the wait so i'm trying to improve the quality of these in an attempt to make-up for the mega long wait. i sincerely hope you see and loke this!! stay safe and remember to be kind to yourself ♡︎

#len's matches #matchups #haikyuu matchups #🃏anon

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nadiestar · 4 years

Text

Can't Say No, Another Love and The Best Day Of My Life: Chapter 3/7

6 years. I am still coping. I am still working through it.

On my way I get one more hug, one more lesson, one more music video, one more discussion, one more story and one more joke.

And well, another goodbye.

In memory of my brother.

First | Previous | Next

Chapter 3: One More Music Video

I knock at the door. It feels like the better choice to be careful with this side and not just burst into his room and make him panic and probably causing him to make me panic as well. Just sounds like a very stupid idea to me.

So, I wait for a moment. I knock again. I wait. I knock. I think of turning away as I hear a muffled: “Who’s it?”

I take a deep breath and answer: “Miriam. I was at Logan’s yesterday and at Patton’s the day before. Can I come in?”

I hear shuffling and a few seconds later the door is opened. Behind the door sill stands Virgil, who eyes me eerily and I put on a brave smile. Somehow this talk intimidates me more than the others.

“Can I come in?” I ask again as Virgil doesn’t move.

Immediately the anxious side shuffles to the left and gives me the space to enter. I see the headphones lying on the coffee table next to the couch and a sketching pad next to it. Almost instantly after I have spotted it, Virgil moved into my line of view and crosses his arms in front of his chest.

“What do you want?”

His tone is defensive and I try to be understanding. The topic must rattle him. The prospect of someone who has gone through such an experience and now comes to him for a talk, possibly advice even, seems terrifying.

“Talk about music. Actually. Or what it does for me”, I say and see Virgil’s eyes go wide.

“And you come to me with that? Not to Princey?” he asks confused and I shrug curtly.

“I have some other stuff I want to talk about with him. Writing and such. It’s a big thing for me. Music on the other hand is mainly something I listen to; I did use to sing a bit but lord that’s no longer something I could present in front of people.”

Virgil furrows his eyebrow and sighs. With a short wave he shoos me to the couch and we sit down. His room feels colder than the other two. The noises are also a little unsettling. Not creepy, just a little bit more creaking of floorboards than necessary.

“K, so how do you want to start?” Virgil probes and I take a deep breath.

“I think I came into this fandom because of a song of yours, actually. “The Things We Used To Share”. I’ve listened to that one in the beginning of May on repeat and – Then I googled Thomas and I remembered a blog on Tumblr I follow, which always posted stuff about you guys and – well I thought “Why not?”. I started watching Sanders Sides and it kind of gave me a new perspective on – I don’t know, on many things actually.”

“It did? How?” Virgil asks surprised.

“Yeah. Like the first time I saw Joan in a video and everybody using they/them pronouns for them, the same with Talyn, and both presenting the way they did, it just made me so happy. It’s cool seeing non-binary people who don’t look androgynous still getting recognized as non-binary. Makes me feel better with my own identity and presentation. Or the first video with you actually. The things that were explained to help with anxiety, I remember them and I’ve used them since. Not always with success but it’s a work in progress, am I right?”

Virgil shrugs visibly flustered and I grin. I guess getting praised for your work even gets the most emo side in the world a little railed up.

“Thanks, I guess”, he says behind a fake cough. “But back to music. I mean besides Thomas’s stuff you must listen to other stuff as well, right?”

“Yeah! Sure. The second I’m out of my home I almost always wear headphones, since I’m often in busses or trains. It also makes shopping a lot easier. I’m a lot less anxious that way. I don’t really have a favourite genre, I just like when it somehow speaks to me, you know? And I usually don’t really know the singers or the band members that well, I just listen to the music. Actually, I’m kinda glad when I remember the title and the interpret at all.”

I laugh a little embarrassed but Virgil doesn’t seem to mind it. If anything, he looks quite entertained.

“Tough I do have a soft spot for certain interprets. Some German and a few Swiss ones, like Silbermond, Roger Cicero and Patent Ochsner, but also a lot of English-singing musicians. I think, my all time favourite and also the start for how I really got into the whole thing is … Coldplay. Imagine Dragons…”

I stop and look from my knees up to Virgil. He frowns and I see a suspicion creep in his eyes.

“They were the bands your brother listened to?”

His tone is cautious but no longer filled with the underlining tone of dread. He knows I’m not out to hurt him.

“Yeah. Viva la Vida has a fricking awesome Minecraft cover. It was probably one of the first music videos he showed me. And he loved to show them to me. I don’t remember many of them. Some which stuck are “Payphone” and “Radioactive”. He had a wild music taste. Avicii and American Authors, and “This is War” by 20 seconds to the Mars on repeat for an hour every night before he went to sleep. And then sometimes some classical music as well. It was diverse and it was cool. And in a way this love of his gives me the opportunity to connect with him. Listening to his songs and enjoying them like he did. It’s a nice way without having to go all the way down to memory town.”

He shifts on his seat and takes a deep breath.

“Must be hard to nod be able to share them with him anymore.”

I nod.

“He loved Star Wars too. He never got to see the new films and judge them for himself. He’ll never find out about the end of Fairy Tail and One Piece. We started them together and theorized about it. And he’ll never get to see the end. He’ll never listen to the new albums from the musicians he loved and the new ones that come up. There is so much enthusiasm and love that can never be given. So much I can’t share with him anymore.”

“Yeah… Not being able to share that stuff with people who aren’t here with one anymore… sucks hard. Very hard.”

I think of the break up Thomas must have gone through. Longing was never the same but for fuck’s sake it was always a bitch.

“I also… I also can’t share myself with him anymore. To him I’m still his sister. I never got to tell him that I’m non-binary. Or ace and aro. I can’t show him my friends and I also can’t bring my new friends to meet him. They never get a chance of knowing him and to a point also knowing me, because he – he used to be in every part of my life. He was the one I actually felt comfortable to talk about anything and now – It’s gone…”

Virgil is still for a moment. He scratches the back of his head and stands up. I watch him walk into the kitchen and get a jug of water and two glasses. Silently, he puts them down on the table and fills them. Awkwardly, he hands me one and I gratefully take a drink. I feel better.

“Thank you. I got a little dramatic there”, I say and hear him huff.

“Happens to the best of us. Also, I think I’ve seen a lot more dramatic people in my life.”

He smirks and I’m suspect that he thinks of a certain Prince but say nothing. In thought I put my right hand on my left upper arm and smile.

“You know, actually he isn’t all gone.”

Virgil looks at me expectantly. I pull up the left sleeve of my t-shirt and show him my tattoo.

“See here? In the middle of the twelve-sided die? That’s a combination of the astrological signs of Taurus and Pisces. For me and him. The die for destiny or luck, I’m not sure I believe in either but I can’t deny them neither, so it’s there. And around it the feather of a peacock. In some circles the peacock is associated with the phoenix. Rise of the Ashes and all of that. Something that never dies and like that I can carry him with me. Nobody can ever take that away from me again.”

Virgil gives me a crooked grin. He looks at it and nods in acknowledgement before he asks me about why astrology signs and I start to tell him all the weird knowledge I have about astrology.

And as I sit there and talk, I realize that in a weird way I never have to experience any music video, any manga, anything at all on my own ever. Because I am carrying my brother with me at all times and if I’m lucky he’s listening.

So, let me pull up YouTube and play one more music video.

#Suicide #suicide awarness #cw: suicide #tw suicide #sanders sides #patton sanders #logan sanders #virgil sanders #janus sanders #roman sanders #remus sanders #Lukas❤

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glorious-blackout · 4 years

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this might be too many XD but for pretentious music fan asks: 2, 6, 7, 12, 16, 19, 22

Thank you!! 😊

2) what band/ artist needs more love?

Kaizers Orchestra! 😃 They need to make a comeback already - I need to see them live at least once before I die.

6) when someone asks you for a music recommendation what bands/ artists do you say?

Depends what music they’re already into. If it’s someone trying to get into rock, Queen usually work as a good gateway band purely because of how many catchy hits they have. One of my friends at work is only just getting into rock (he mainly loves soul) after falling in love with Black Sabbath’s Paranoid album, so I mentioned Deep Purple and Pink Floyd as other bands he might like. Biffy Clyro and Cocteau Twins tend to be my go-to for Scottish artists... honestly at this point, @rock-n-roll-fantasy could answer this question better than I can considering how many recommendations I’ve thrown her way over time 😅

7) how much do you actually like those artists, be honest.

I love all the artists I mentioned. I can’t really think of a specific example where I recommended an artist I didn’t regularly listen to myself, but I imagine it must have happened once or twice...

12) what was the first artist you remember being pretentious about?

Honestly, it was probably Muse 😅 They were the first band I truly fell in love with on my own without any parental influence, so I was really protective of them for a few years and thought they were the greatest thing on earth. I’m slightly more relaxed about them now; even though I doubt they’ll ever be robbed of their status as my favourite band, my attitude now is very much one of ‘Yes they’re idiots, but they’re *my* idiots!’

16) how do you feel about artists “selling out”?

For the most part I think the concept of artists ‘selling out’ is bullshit and is just used as a blanket term for certain fans who are annoyed that they have to share *their* band/artist with more people. I can certainly think of examples of bands who seem to have become less interesting as their popularity grows (Coldplay comes to mind), but artists becoming more popular and being able to fill arenas rather than tiny venues isn’t a bad thing - musicians need to eat! 😅 I also think the term ‘selling out’ is used far too often when bands go beyond their comfort zones and experiment with other styles, which just strikes me as being creatively stifling.

19) what artist did you know about before they got big?

I’m rubbish when it comes to being ahead of the curve with new artists 😅 The closest I can think of (even though they’re not particularly ‘big’) is Jaded Hearts Club; I remember when they were supposed to be a one-off tribute act for a friend’s birthday party and now they’ve got an album coming out and a tour in the works.

22) what artist did you try to like because you thought they were “cool”, but just couldn’t get into?

When I was a teenager a lot of my friends were really into Slipknot, but try as I might I just never understood the hype. Same thing with Panic! At the Disco and Paramore - one of my friends at school really loved them, but I just never found them interesting despite trying to give both bands a chance.

#music ask

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mikeywm3 · 4 years

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This is a music story. Give it time, it’ll get there.

WRITING TO REACH YOU:

It’s October 3, 2001 and I’m riding the PATH train to NYC for only the second time in the last 3 weeks. The train has just stopped between the stations of Christopher Street and 9th Street. As we patiently await the train to start moving again, a sudden jerk happens. And then it happens again. A look around the train finds very nervous faces, wondering what’s going to happen next. What happens next is the train eventually starts rolling again and gets to 9th Street without incident. I’ll be getting off a stop later, 14th Street. Still, I’m nervous to be on this train.

The first time I was on the PATH again was a little over a week earlier, September 22 to be exact, riding with my cousin Brian and his wife Dana into NYC. They had joined me prior to that at Mulligans Pub in Hoboken, where I was living at the time (Hoboken, not the pub), to watch a rugby match between Ireland and Scotland. The match started with the playing of each country’s national anthems and then, unbeknownst to me at the time, the American national anthem followed by a moment of silence. I’ve never heard such beautiful silence in a pub before. Ireland lost the match that day, but it didn’t matter. We were out of our apartments, and the Scots always make for a fun match and rivalry. We kinda love each other, as Braveheart had shown. My love for the Scots will come up again.

WHY DOES IT ALWAYS RAIN ON ME?

We decided to go into the city afterwards and walk around a bit and get a bite to eat, settling at a Mexican place just off of Washington Square Park. Margaritas, chips and salsa and some quesadillas are quaffed, and soon we are hugging each other and going our opposite directions, thankful to have seen each other and to be able to hug some family. The hug will come just a little bit too soon.

As I’m walking back to the PATH station at 9th Street, I cross through Washington Square Park, a walk I’d been hoping to avoid, but decide it needs to be done. The area around the arch is now like many other areas in downtown NYC, a shrine to the missing. Walls of posters and leaflets of people whose loved ones found the best picture of them that they could find and affixed them to the arch with words like “MISSING” or “HAVE YOU SEEN…” or “LAST SEEN AT…” After about 10 minutes of looking through them all, I decide to begin my journey back to the PATH station, but then one last look captures the face I’d hope to not see: my roommate’s sister, her big smile and bright eyes staring right at me. I’d seen this picture of her before, but only on the leaflets in the apartment I’d been sharing with 3 others.

Our apartment had been ground zero for the family of my roommate, as they were doing the full rounds of hospital visits hoping to find their daughter, their sister, their niece, their cousin. Many of them lived in Pennsylvania and made treks back and forth many times over the ensuing days. I tried to do the best I could to make them comfortable by making sure our apartment was stocked with things they might need: towels, soft drinks, water, clean bed sheets and blankets, etc… Soon after, I didn’t need to do it anymore. They stopped showing up. Their search was over.

My walk back to the PATH station should’ve been no more than 5 minutes, but it will take 20, because this is the first time in 12 days that I’ve been able to have a private moment. I stopped on 9th Street on the steps of a brownstone and sat myself down and lost it. I cried for about 10 minutes. A kind soul walking by with some friends actually came up to me, didn’t say anything, and just put his hand on my shoulder. I touched his hand, looked up at him, took a deep breath and said “Thank you.” Eventually I would make my way back to the PATH and get the train back to Hoboken. Only two stops away, but like my second ride, filled with sudden stops and jerks between stations, terrifying me. This was a time of terror afterall. I worked at Exchange Place in Jersey City at the time and we unfortunately had a direct view of the WTC. I saw most of it, heard all of it. A lot of terror. My ride ends in Hoboken, and I randomly run into my friends Ann & Steve (in town from Massachusetts), Doug and Maria outside of the station. They’re about to go to the city and pay respects at the shrines and vigils set up in Union Square park. And for the second time in 25 minutes, I melt down and throw myself into their arms.

LAST TRAIN

I’m getting off at 14th Street in order to meet up with my friend Jo, where she is having dinner with some mutual friends. She and I will be attending the Travis concert at Radio City Music Hall that night. This will be the first concert/gig that I’ve been to in the last three weeks. If you knew me then, I was probably going to about 10 shows during that same time frame. We meet at a place called Chat and Chew, and this is the first time I’ve seen Jo or our friends in the last three weeks. Pleasantries are exchanged as are the questions of “How are you holding up?” to each other. It might have been the first time that I said I was alright but that, of course, was a lie. I wanted a return to normalcy that wasn’t going to happen, but dammit, this concert tonight is going to be a step towards that, right?

We get to our seats at Radio City, where the opening act is a band called Remy Zero. In all honesty, I don’t remember anything about their set that night, including if we were even there to see any of it. Remy Zero was a band that, during that time frame, seemed to be the opening act for almost every Britpop band that was on tour at that time. Supergrass? Remy Zero opened. Morrissey? Yup, them again. No disprespect to them, they just didn’t make too much of an indent in my musical psyche.

ALL I WANNA DO IS ROCK

Soon the lights are dimming and Travis is about to take the stage to what seemed like polite golf claps. It wasn’t that the audience were unappreciative of them. We just didn’t know how to react anymore. Am I allowed to dance? To sing? To show joy? Are we allowed to have fun anymore? What do I do? This was a dilemma that even New York institutions such as Saturday Night Live and David Letterman were struggling to deal with. All I wanna do is rock! Can I? The answer: Yes, you can, but it’ll take some time. Let it ease in.The first smile occurred as the band took the stage and walked to the front of it and did something I’ve never seen at the beginning of a show before: They gave US a standing ovation. The four of them, for a good 30 seconds, just happy to see our faces, knowing that for some of us this was our first attempt at something lighthearted in the last 21 days, applauding the audience.

“We’re so happy to see your faces. We know a lot of events were cancelled around here, but there was no way we were going to cancel this show. We’re here to try to put some smiles back on your faces tonight and are so glad to be here.”These words are paraphrased, but essentially was the message from Fran Healy, Travis’s lead singer, and for the moment, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that he COULD put a smile back on my face. And then the show started with ‘Sing’ the first single from their latest album “The Invisible Band,” and Fran and Travis had already done it. I smiled. Also, I sang.

SING

And sing more I did. For the uninitiated, Travis started as a very Britpoppy, guitar based band, before giving way to their emo side and melancholy to write some rather lush and fuller songs. They’ve often been referred to as Radiohead-lite, particularly given their association with producer Nigel Goodrich. An unfortunate tag, I think. They were Coldplay before there was a Coldplay, and I mean that as a positive, irregardless of your feelings about Coldplay.

The set continued with selections from their three album catalog, many tugging at my heartstrings, but even allowing me to sorta dance a bit. Example: their biggest hit, “Why Does It Always Rain On Me,” obviously has a title straight out of the Morrissey songbook, but also a song construct from the Smiths canon: lyrics that hit the emotional buttons of sadness, self doubt and worth (“Even when the sun is shining, I can’t avoid the lightning”), yet a rhythm and melody that allows for happiness, including a chorus that, every time I’ve seen Travis, has led to me, the rest of the audience and Fran to pogo dance. Yes, the show started with me singing and the main set ended with me dancing.

HAPPY

The encore started with a song that was the general feeling that I was hoping to attain from seeing this show, “All I Wanna Do Is Rock,” a foot-stomping, fist-pumping rocker from their first album. And those two things I did. A faithful cover of ‘All The Young Dudes’ followed before Fran and the boys decided to bring tears back to our face, but this time they were good tears. Fran stated that they’d spent part of the day at Ground Zero volunteering, and that every single penny from the show was being donated to one of the WTC funds. I love these Scots. Oh, did I happen to mention that Travis are from Scotland? I told you it would come up again.

And then as if they knew that the setlist that they’d put together was a musical therapy session for 5,500 people who needed it, they closed the show with a rocking song from their first album with the perfect title of “Happy.” And it was probably therapeutic for Travis as well, as the chorus over and over sings “I’m so happy, that you’re so happy.” And for the first time in a while, I was closer to that feeling. A few weeks later, U2 would play 5 fantastic shows (I was at three of them) at Madison Square Garden and receive rightful praise for bringing the right balance of levity and music to a sad city. You may have heard that a lot of cops and firemen are Irish. Yeah, a lot of them needed those shows. And they got it.

But for me, it all started with this Travis show. The show ended and Jo and I walked out into the night, knowing we had just had a great therapy session. A kiss and a hug goodnight, and a train ride back to Hoboken for me followed. This time I would get on the PATH train at 33rd Street, the end of the PATH line. The station was emptier than I was used to, as this was still early in the return to normalcy process.

The train left the station and I couldn’t help but feeling a little happier than I’d been. But I was also feeling a tremendous sense of guilt, knowing I was returning to an apartment where my roommate’s return to normalcy would never actually be achieved. Nor would it be for me, but nowhere near what he was going through. My guilt was then jolted by the train suddenly stopping between 23rd street and 14th street. And then a sudden jerk. And then a brief return to a feeling of terror. But then a reminder of this being the PATH train. This happens all the time. It’s normal. A new normalcy.

For BS and CS

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d6official · 5 years

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DAY6 Interview with IZM

All the members of DAY6 are vocalists. How does the composing process work?

SJ: Most of the work is done together. We try to reflect our collaborative opinions in various areas such as riffs and melodies. Of course, there are also times when we write songs individually or in units. Participation in the “points” of each song varies depending on what we want to convey.

On the topic of “point” in composition, is there an emphasis on making the song a popular hit or a perfect song?

SJ: I think it differs from song to song. Mostly, we consider the two together and try to blend together the tastes of each different member. But since each of us likes slightly different genres, once we work together, the colors of different genres come out and the focus is on breaking them all down and “refining” them.

If you could tell me more specifically the type of music each member likes.

SJ: I like modern rock and British pop. Radiohead, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran…

WP: I’m similar. I used to really like R&B, but now, I’m looking for light-feeling songs and songs that aren’t trendy/mainstream.

J: I like folk music. The most memorable album that I’ve listened to recently was Jeremy Zucker and Chelsea Cutler’s EP <brent>. I prefer music that is sincere.

DW: From trap to Queen XCII, I listen to diverse types of music. I like electronic music, so I used to listen to a lot of EDM.

YK: I used to listen to a lot of hip-hop, punk rock and Brit-pop when I was young. These days, I prefer bright music, music that is makes me feel good and is comfortable to listen to. I learned the process of building chords from boy bands like Why Don’t We, and bringing out bright moods from Rudimental.

The members have differing tastes, were there any conflicts when coming together as a group?

WP: There were a lot. It took a long time for us to mesh together personality-wise. Each member has different taste in music and different tendencies, so it was inevitable for us to clash when writing songs together. But now, we don’t have such problems and we work well together. Maybe it’s because we went through those conflicts early on while preparing to become a band that we now work harmoniously and joyfully together.

When DAY6 first joined JYP, you guys weren’t a band, but a dance and vocal team.

SJ: Except for Dowoon, who joined after later auditions, all of the members liked to sing. Because we liked to sing, we learned how to play instruments and studied to write lyrics and songs while practicing at the company.

Dowoon is the only music major on the team.

DW: I’ve played the drums since I was in middle school. Just playing with my friends (laughs). I don’t think I play well.

YK: He is the only music major in DAY6. After Dowoon joined the group, the speed of song production increased immensely.

As the member in charge of guitar, how would you evaluate your own guitar play, Jae?

J: The more I look at it, the more I feel like I’m lacking. I want to show gradual improvement.

And what about you, Young K, in terms of bass?

YK: To be honest, it took me awhile to see myself as a bassist. While practicing, I came to realize the role that the bass has in bringing the components of the band together and its importance in filling in the empty parts.

You debuted in 2015 with the EP <The DAY> and you’re already in your fifth year as a band. You’ve released 2 full-length albums, 4 mini-albums, as well as 25 self-produced songs for the "Every Day6" project in 2017.

DW: The Every DAY6 projects started off as an idea from the company. Before that, we were steadily writing songs, but after hearing a series of feedback from the company, they proposed, “The songs are good, wouldn’t it be nice to release songs each month?”

SJ: Whether it’s a full-album or a mini-album, we have to decide on a title song. And for each and every song, we put in great effort to make songs that we can play for the public.

YK: As an aside, we actually have the least contact with Park Jinyoung PD-nim in the company. But even though that is the case, at each company meeting, PD-nim says, “I’m looking forward to hearing DAY6’s songs!” I’m thankful for that.

SJ: I remember that PD-nim really loved ‘I Smile’.

Could you pick a song that you would pick as your most popular or a song that you didn’t expect to be so popular?

SJ: The response to “You Were Beautiful,” “I Loved You” and “I Like You” were really good.

J: “I Wait” for the latter part of your question. We thought it was a good song, but we never imagined that it would be as popular as it is. Thank you for giving it so much love.

The first full-length album that came from the project in 2017 was <Sunrise>. It was chosen as IZM’s “Domestic Album of the Year” for that same year.

SJ: It contained the singles we had released so far through the project as well as the final versions of some songs that we had worked on before. It was our way of showing the completed results of our hard work. There were new recordings and we redistributed some parts. We tried to capture the diverse sides of DAY6 and we got good results from it. I remember being really thankful reading IZM’s special year-end edition and reviews.

Although the number has increased compared to the past, band activities in the K-pop scene still feel unfamiliar to some.

J: When we work, we don’t think much about that or about the “idol” aspect. To be honest, no group thinks about that when writing. We look to express the music that we like. If you like rock, then you do rock; if you like pop, then you do pop.

Even so, we can find the idol pop concept and a touch of rock on top in DAY6’s music.

J: I would like people to go through this process of analysis. Rather than separating music by only idol pop style or only rock style, we try to take the parts of different styles that most strike a chord with us and draw inspiration from the various styles. In that regard, we want to take the strengths of all of those things and make music that’s distinctly “DAY6’s music”.

Your most recent work, “Youth” was released in two parts. Trying out different types of music, such as the intense “Shoot Me” and the retro synth-pop “days gone by”, is impressive.

SJ: Listening to various types of music, there are times when you have a gut feeling like “This is it!” and just like that, after we decide on subject matter, without following any set of rules, we try to apply DAY6’s color and make it our own.

These days, young bands, such as Why Don’t We and 5 Seconds of Summer, have taken on the tones of synth-pop more often than pop-punk.

YK: Any genre can be prepared. Of course, foreign bands are using a lot of electronic sounds lately. It’s a genre that gets a lot of response. But if you constantly just follow the trend, you’ll be stuck again. We want to be able to broaden our colors as a band through a wide range of (different music styles) and be stuck in the same place.

We mentioned DAY6’s color earlier, I think that lyrics that express the natural emotions of those in their 20s are the message that symbolize this team. But because you’re a band, do you not greed to talk about big topics or public opinions into your lyrics?

YK: Before debut, I wanted to discuss big issues in my lyrics and there was a time when I tried to do just that. But then I realized that if the lyrics became too full of ideas and if others would have a hard time understanding those lyrics, wouldn’t they then be considered failed lyrics? Park Jinyoung PD-nim also gave me a lot of advice about it. Now, I want to express our lives as they are and our honest emotions through song.

To sum up, we can say that the band’s present is represented by themes like “youthfulness” and “youth”. I’m curious as to what DAY6 thinks of “youth” and about the music you want to express through the theme.

SJ: “Youth” is passion. Old age doesn’t mean that passion disappears. If you keep passion in your heart, you’ll always have youth.

WP: Youth is “continuing to walk”. Even after bad things arise following good things. I think it’s a period of enduring and being thankful for what’s been given.

J: I agree with Sungjin’s “passion” (laughs). To add to that, it’s difficult to weigh the importance of everything, whether it’s something small or big. It all feels gigantic. As important as it is, it’s also a time to work hard.

DW: Youth is “a time to do whatever you want”. It’s as if to wonder many times if you can try this or that and maybe hesitating to do it. But then saying, “Let’s not hesitate and just try it first!” This is the mindset of youth.

YK: Youth is a “period of growth”. That’s why it’s hard to define. I think the moment your youth ends is when you stop trying to learn and you don’t grow anymore and you’re stuck as you are. And that is why we should continue to live to the best of our abilities in this period of our lives.

#day6 #ot5 #t: interview #trans #190504

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