#but the bit that gets me is the new vocal line that plays in the instrumental part right near the end. the higher bit

[larabar]

"so, that was fun"

[mead-iocre]

Call Me ‘Love’ | Leah Williamson x Reader

There’s a new viral trend on TikTok. 

It’s pretty simple. Not a dance trend or a catchy song to lip-sync to.

All you have to do is film your partner’s reaction to you calling them by their real name. It often makes for some funny reactions from the partners who were unfortunately victims to this trend.

Perhaps for some couples, this wouldn’t elicit much of a reaction, but you knew your girlfriend well enough to anticipate that her reaction would likely make it worth trying the trend.

Outside of your families, friends and teammates, Leah was what most people would probably describe as…professional. She had captained her national team into winning the euros not too long ago, and as a result, the increase in media attention and scrutiny made her more conscious of the kind of person she portrayed herself to be in front of the media. 

On the pitch she was every bit a captain— a true leader. She’s has determination, grit, and a competitive drive that can pull the team together until the final whistle. Leah was very vocal on the pitch and unafraid to call out the referees for bad calls. She’ll get right up to their faces and stand her ground. Fans often joke online that they can hear her shouting from the stands. 

To add to that, she was a damn good player too. Leah is a crucial player to her team for both club and country. She’s fluid on the pitch, and her confidence in her skills is reflected in the way she plays. She’ll make risky but clean tackles, she can whip a wicked long ball, and she can score the odd goal when the opportunity lands on her head. Her confidence and skills can often leave people unnerved or in awe– depending on who you ask. 

It doesn’t help that while your girlfriend has a pretty face, she can also look quite intimidating at times. Furrowed eyebrows, lips pressed together in a tight line, and blue eyes darker than usual— all this combined is what you lovingly refer to as her classic “Captain Williamson face”.

The increased media attention has made the defender slightly more closed off during captain duties. Gone was the goofy, smart-mouth girl who was more than happy to yap at the cameras during media day. Nowadays, she may come across as slightly aloof and distant at times 

but that was only for the cameras. 

With you, Leah was still the same girl you fell in love with. The girl with a wicked sense of humour and a dirty mouth that went along with it. When she was around familiar company, the girl often made the most outrageous remarks— with jokes and quips that should not be repeated around those who can’t understand her sense of humour. 

Another surprising thing about the Arsenal defender and England captain— she can get pretty clingy. Physical affection is one of your girlfriend’s love languages and you are always more than happy to indulge her whenever. Your mornings together start with kisses, and your day ends with kisses. The blonde always needs to be touching you at all times whenever you are around— a hand on the hip, an arm over your shoulder, or a head on your lap. The intimidating captain they see on the pitch is definitely not the same girl that whines whenever you accidentally forget to give her a kiss before she leaves for training. 

Even though she might try and deny it, your girlfriend was a romantic. She loved planning dates, wearing matching clothes, and the cheesy nicknames.

And that’s why you were so excited to try out this new TikTok trend on her. 

——————————————

You situate your phone on the dinning table, fiddling around to make sure it is slightly hidden from view. You have it leaning against a vase which holds a charming bunch of tulips that the blonde had bought for you the other day. The back camera of your phone is pointed towards where your girlfriend usually sits during meals right across from you. The other decorative vase is what will hide your phone from the blonde, but is deliberately placed at an angle so your phone’s camera can still capture her reaction.

You glance at it one more time, making sure the record button is on. 

“Did you want extra parmesan on yours, baby?” You hear your girlfriend shout from the kitchen. 

“Yes, please!” 

You hear a “coming right up, madam!” before you hear the sound of a drawer being pulled open and then shut.

She’s probably grabbed the cheese grater. 

Soon the smell of savoury aromas reach you. You detect the earthy fragrance of garlic first. Then it’s the smell of onions sautéd in olive oil, mingling with the sweet aroma of ripe tomatoes. The scent of freshly chopped herbs— probably basil and oregano— adds a refreshing note in the air, while the unmistakable aroma of Parmesan cheese grating fills the air with a hint of nuttiness. It’s a familiar and comforting aroma simply because it’s the smell of the one and only dish that your girlfriend can successfully cook without setting the kitchen on fire. Not a moment later, Leah appears with a plate on each hand and a grin on her pretty face. 

And a smudge of red pasta sauce on her shirt. 

Mean, scary captain, my ass. 

Dressed in an oversized white T-shirt with the sleeves rolled up, grey Nike sweatpants, and her favourite fuzzy house slippers; your girlfriend is the least intimidating person in the world right now. 

She walks the short distance to your spot at the dinning table, placing a plate down in front of you. You eye the dish in front of you— the only dish perfected by your girlfriend. The blonde can’t make scrambled eggs right— they will either be too soggy or burnt— but she can make the dish that has become your comfort food since you’ve started dating her. 

You hear a throat clear from beside you.  Leah is still standing, her other hand still holding her own plate. “Doesn’t the chef get a kiss?” 

“Uhh— I don’t think my girlfriend would like that” You grin up at her. With her blonde hair tied in a loose low bun, she looks a lot more relaxed then when she first came home earlier after training.

“Baby, give me a kiss before I burn my fingers off from holding this hot plate” 

You roll your eyes playfully, before squealing at the ticklish poke given to your side. 

“Oi! Don’t act like it’s a chore to give your girlfriend a kiss when she rightfully deserves it”

You stand up from your seat slightly, reaching up to grab the side of the blonde’s neck to pull her closer and press a sweet kiss to her lips. “Thank you for dinner, chef” 

The smile that spreads across Leah’s face is one you would like to bottle up and keep close forever. 

“Pleasure is all mine, madam” And then her lips meet yours again, this time with a lingering bite on your lower lip just before she pulls back. 

You almost forget about the video.

Once the defender was seated in her own chair, you both dug into your dinner. 

“…how is it?” It’s sometimes still striking to you that England’s golden girl is the same shy girl in front of you, waiting for you to compliment her on her cooking. 

“That’s bloody delicious that!” You raise a hand up for a high-five and your girlfriend’s palm meets yours in a satisfying smack. Before she call pull her hand away, you grab hold of it and press a loud kiss to the back of it. The bashful giggle coming from the blonde almost makes you regret the prank you were about to pull on her. 

Almost. 

You decided to let the blonde get a few bites of her dinner, not wanting to start too early otherwise she will figure out that something was up. But now it was time. 

Bringing your napkin up to wipe at your mouth to disguise the grin that was already growing on your face. You swallow your last forkful of pasta and clear your throat to get your girlfriend’s attention. Immediately, as if almost instinctually, in the middle of scoping a bite of pasta into her mouth, the blonde looks up and all her attention is on you.

“Do we still have more parmesan, Leah?” 

The look she gave you was almost comical. Her mouth immediately drops into a small frown and her eyebrows furrow, a wrinkle appearing on her forehead. You itch to remind her not to frown but you cannot break character now. 

She swallows her mouthful, a frown still present on her face. “What?” 

“I said I want more parmesan—“ 

The arsenal defender picks up her napkin, wiping at her mouth, before balling it in her fist and dropping it by her plate. You nearly smile at the sight. Leah is the type to always neatly fold her napkin– an endearing habit you have grown to mirror over the past couple of months of dating her. She is clearly annoyed. “Excuse me?”

“Sorry— can I pleaseee have more Parmesan, Leah” 

She narrows her eyes at you from across the table. “Don’t do that” 

“Do what?“ 

“Don’t call me Leah. You never do that” 

“Yes I do” 

“Only when you’re mad at me” That was true. You only ever called Leah by her first name when you were mad or annoyed at her. It’s usually the first telltale sign that you were about to start an argument. You lowkey loved that she knew you so well and mentally reminded yourself to reward her for that later. 

“You only call me “love” or “baby”. Don’t call me Leah” You nearly laugh at how she spits her own name out at the end, as if it was a cursed word. You couldn’t wait to watch the footage back. 

“But Leah is your name” 

“Not to you”

You compose yourself, wanting to drag this prank for as long as possible, and raise an eyebrow at her. “What if I want to?” 

“No you don’t.” You almost laugh at how genuinely frazzled she looks. Hair a mess, loose strands falling out from her bun and now framing the sides of her face. The slight pout on her lips contrasts the stern tone she tries to take on. 

At your eyebrow raise and your lack of verbal response, her fork clatters onto her plate. She’s serious now. “Baby, what the fuck are you on about”

But you were having too much fun to stop now. “Nothing. Now will you please go grab the Parmesan, Leah” 

“No.” The defender crosses her arms across her chest, leans back and slouches in her chair. A familiar look of determination on her face, so similar to the face she makes whenever she’s marking a difficult opponent on the pitch; however this time, her opponent is you. “Not until you call me what you really call me” 

“Dickhead?” 

“Oi! Don’t be crass at the table” 

You roll your eyes for extra flair. “You’re being ridiculous—“

“Me!? You’re the one addressing your own girlfriend by her government name, mate” 

You stand up from your chair, ready to walk to the kitchen and grab the damn parmesan yourself, but you are stopped by an arm around your waist pulling you into your girlfriend’s lap. You right yourself on her lap, sitting sideways with your arm over her shoulders. 

She wraps an arm around your waist with one hand gripping your thighs to steady you. You nearly break once you look up and catch sight of the pout on the defender’s face. 

“Are you mad at me?” Her tone softens. It’s the same tone she uses whenever she’s feeling particularly clingy and she wants attention, so different from the tone she uses when she adorns the captain’s armband on the pitch. 

“Babyyy” When you don’t reply Leah grabs your cheeks, gently squishing them together so your lips are forced into a pout. She leans up and places a smacking kiss on your pouting lips, frowning slightly when you don’t react at all. “Hey! Are you actually mad or something? Tell me what I did wrong so I can fix it” 

Determined as ever, the blonde grabs your cheeks again with a hand on your jaw and pecks your lips a few times, drawing back slightly to gauge your reaction. When you once again give her nothing, an eye roll is your only warning before you feel a sudden, but very sharp, bite to the side of your neck.

“Ouch, love!”

“Aha! I’ve got ya!” You bring a hand up to feel the stinging bite on your neck, and your fingers graze the teeth marks left by your very own girlfriend. 

“That bloody hurt!” You try to scowl at the blonde but it’s kind of hard to do when you see the big grin she’s currently sporting. You do nothing to stop your lips from curling upwards into a smile. 

“Can you please go back to calling me “love”– please” Leah pleaded, the ‘e’ whiny and prolonged. 

She’s so bloody cute. 

“Yeah. I think I’ve had my fun. Prank’s over!”

“Wha– prank?!”

You point at your phone that was still propped up against the vase, just slightly hidden from her view but now the sole focus of her attention. 

You squealed at the pinch to your waist. “Don’t ever call me Leah unless you’re mad at me. I only respond to ‘love’"

“Yeah? What about ‘Captain’?”

“Baby, you know exactly what happens when you call me ‘Captain’” You barely had time to react to her words because the next thing you know, your girlfriend has you in a fireman carry and was walking down the hallway towards your shared bedroom. You playfully attempt to wiggle out of her strong hold, and is awarded by a sharp slap to your ass to still you. 

“You know what, I think it’s time for dessert, baby”

This was supposed to be up for Valentines Day yesterday lol but I forgot to schedule it.

Even if you don't choose to celebrate Valentine's Day, I hope you had a great day yesterday. Don't forget to take advantage of the heavily discounted Valentine's Day gift sets and chocolates.

Please accept this short fic as a token of my love and appreciation for you

-- kisses (and an extra kiss because it was Valentine's Day), butter.

[tiktaalic]

gay! taylor swift just released a new song, and she's COMING. OUT. as a lesbian? yes as a lesbian! okay. which she's always been! okay alright jesus. it's called rainbow dress. hot summer june. sleepless afternoons. june. wearing my rainbow dress. is this taylor? she sounds bad. so full of pride. listen! what's hidden inside. like the vocals sound bad. jonathan van ness. jonathan van ness! okay. yeah he's gay. her best friend. i wanna have straight sex. she wants to have straight sex? at the gay pride parade. that's not so gay is it? this doesn't sound that gay. just normal sex. she's at the gay pride parade. nothing too weird. it's very confusing this song. yeah. a regular hunk with a beard. i wish there was straight pride. come on. at the gay pride parade. it's like a right wing talking point. if you guys aren't gonna listen? no no no. i'm gonna stop playing it. alright we'll listen we'll listen. we're gonna listen. she's talking about being at the gay pride parade. if this is supposed to be her song where she's coming out like why does she talk so much about straight pride? you have such a limited view of gender. oh yeah. you sniveling fuck. listen to the next verse. the second verse is gayer. i - you guys are gonna like it. who produced this? i think it was jack antonoff. i dream about your sweat. it sounds really bad. dripping down your balls. a sparkling chandelier. does she like this? she's really good at allegory. inside your shorts. julia are you okay? it's an ALLEGORY for QUEER LOVE. the balls line? i'm lost without a compass when i can't smell your balls. jesus ew that's like digusting. your balls are like a compass to my nose. what is this? pause - pause this. julia. what the fuck is this. are you guys gonna talk the whole time? i dont get it! i dont get what you're trying to do with this! where is she jt in the song. ... she's at the gay pride parade. alright yeah let's listen to it. it's fucking gay this next part? okay you're gonna love this part. i hate all vaginas. aaaaalright. it's an allegory! it's not gay at all! this was written by a maniac! no it's gay. even the one i got. dudes go down on me then they wanna kiss. this seems really like gender essentialist and hateful. that's disgusting gay shit. she has internalized homophobia. i am heterosexual. how are we supposed to interpret that? you guys are fucking assholes. yeah you know what we are being a little bit negative. i agree. she's gay. uhhh. you know. maybe she just wasn't like that outward about it with this one song.julia? julia? julia? she's gay! i'm sorry! i'm sorry! i'll kill you!

[bittersweet-folder]

~□☆ seventeen imagines:

☆Types of kinks I think Seventeen has [hyung line version]

[ MINORS DO NOT INTERACT JUST FUCK OFF IF YOU DON'T LIKE THINGS LIKE THESE:) ]

[ Maknae line version ]

• masterlist • ps: reader here is a female with vagina and breasts and identifies as a female as well •

☆Seungcheol: (soft dom who goes hard eventually)

Breeding kink: this man wants kids so bad. Of course he'll talk with you about it and if you don't want kids he'll still love to fill you up with your consent of course.

Foreplay: please we all know he radiates big dick energy. Hence he needs to prepare you well before he uses the actual thing.

Very light bondage: loves tying up your hand with a piece of silk cloth

Creampie: he can and will make you cum more than once. And will make you squirt too <3

Praise kink: He. Has. A. Huge. Praise. Kink. He literally worships you and your body and well how good you're doing.

Daddy kink: self explanatory im hoping.

Thigh riding: he loves to see you struggle to get off, on his thigh without his help.

Extras: he's always so ready to try different positions when you tell him to.

☆Jeonghan: (switch with a sub lean who teases you a lot)

Edging: this man loves, literally loves to control your orgasm so that you cum hard later.

Oral fixation: either you are giving him the best head of his life or he's pussy drunk so he's eating you out like there's no tomorrow.

Sensory deprivation: he loves it when you blindfold him he loves the adrenaline rush he gets while anticipating what you might do next.

Pegging: he took a lot of time to open up about this and when he did he had the best experience ever.

Degradation: when he's taking control he will be like "only my fucking cock can make you feel this way and make a moaning mess of you right kitten" and so on<3

Overstimulation: he wants, sorry needs you to push his limits. It goes the same way around for you as well.

Extras: this man is very vocal. He will moan loudly. And has the ability to make you moan loudly as well.

☆Joshua: (the soft yet mean asf dom)

Edging: he loves to see how frustrated you get when he stops and doesn't lets you cum.

Shower sex: very self explanatory I'm hoping

Cockwarming: the warm feeling of your pussy around his cock. He loves it when you squeeze around his cock too.

Dacryphilia: he loves to make you cry on his cock, literally loves to see how desperate you become to reach your orgasms. "Fucking hell you're so pretty when you cry baby" that's what Joshua says.

Squirting: again, he loves to make you cry so he would push your limits a little bit if you give him the consent.

Praise kink: "being such a good girl for me yeah" "you're doing so fucking good baby" "you're driving me crazy do you realize that" yeah this man would go crazy.

Extras:he sometimes would let you ride<3 he would have his hands grabbing your hips while you ride him and cry on his cock<3.

☆Jun: ( soft dom through and through until he's- well- all riled up )

Edging: with his fingers and mouth until he uses the real thing.

Marking: he loves, literally loves to give you hickeys on your neck.

Creampie: he can and will make you cum twice to fill you up.

Overstimulation: he's soo pussy drunk he craves and needs more.

Bondage: he likes tying your hands only if you're okay with it and will try something new as well if you talk about it to him.

Sensory deprivation: he loves to blindfold you. Also he's into wax play

Mirror sex: this man's a menace as we all know. He literally loves the position where you're bent over on the edge of the bed while the mirror right beside the bed displays everything. He'll make you look at yourself while whispering "see how it's me who makes you scream like this baby". Yeah he's a menace.

Extras: he has a thing for you in lingeries because he loves foreplay.

☆Wonwoo (soft to kinda hard dom)

Edging: he enjoys it so much when you get frustrated because he isn't letting you cum. Oh and he will make you cry outta too much pleasure later on.

Dacryphilia: he will make you cry on his cock. No one can stop.

Choking: I hope that's self explanatory or should I say he loves it when silent moans slip from your lips and squirm a bit under him.

Daddy kink: I mean you can't convince me that this man doesn't have a daddy kink.

Degradation: oh he gets cocky on how you're crying on his cock begging for more.

Thigh riding: he loves it when you ride his thigh while hold onto him and he will kiss you while doing so with his hand on your hips while the other hand caressing through your hair.

Very light bondage: like tying your hands or just holding your hands together by the wrist while he thrust hard.

Extras: he has a thing for skirts because he likes how it slides up to your waist during the process and how easy access he gets as well, he can and will make you sit on his lap.

☆Woozi (switch with a dom lean but a switch)

Foreplay: he loves the intimacy of those kisses and touches all over each other's body before the actual thing takes place.

Creampie: this man loves it in a messy way with his cum dripping outta your pussy.

Squirting: told ya he loves it so so messy getting his freaking studio couch wet.

Slight like very slight exhibitionism: since he's fucking you in his studio.

Reverse cowgirl: this man loves literally lovesss groping your ass.

Mommy kink: he has a mommy kink you can't tell me otherwise. He gets very vocal when you ride him. He loves it when you take control and make a mess of him.

Praise kink: showers you with praise and makes you remember that you're the prettiest girl he's ever laid his eyes on.

Extras: he'll make you sit on his cock for hours when he's working. He relishes that warming yet tight feeling of your pussy.

☆Hoshi: (a pure switch with a slight sub lean)

Marking: he loves leaving bite marks and hickeys on your neck and chest.

Mommy kink: he'll moan so fucking loudly and lewdly when you ride and call him a babyboy.

Praise kink: it goes both ways. He showers you with praise. You shower him with praise as well.

Orgasm control: in other words edging. He has to see you struggling to cum. He wants you to beg for it as well.

Oral fixation: he's so pussy drunk too. He'll eat you out as well as finger you until you can't take it any more.

Creampie: another man who loves it so so messy. He'll make you squirt eventually as well and then he'll eat you out just to overstimulate you more.

Overstimulation: the sight of you squirming and crying on how good he makes you feel is literally heaven to him

Extras: he has a great stamina and will go on all night long in various positions until you're crying. He likes to bend you over on the table the most.

~~☆~~

a/n: I'm working on that Hoshi fanfic presently but i can't guarantee you when exactly I'll post.

Also here's the taglist till now: @hongmingoo @shuabby1994 , @nishloves , @unlikelysublimekryptonite , @asyre , @yumiyumis-blog

[If anyone wants to be in the taglist please comment under this post]

[avatar-anna]

Assistant! Reader x Harry Styles Masterlist

April 2016

“Thank you for meeting me.”

Y/n settled into the seat across from Harry. Her hands curled tightly around her mug, apprehension seeping into her bones. “Of course.”

She had been surprised when Harry called her, asking to meet at the Beachwood Cafe. She hadn’t heard from him in months, not one call or text, not even an email. Not that Y/n really expected much when One Direction finally went on hiatus, but after zero communication, she wasn’t quite sure why he’d called her all these months later. 

“How are you? I haven’t seen you in ages,” Harry asked.

Y/n’s eyebrows raised a bit, but she answered him anyway after taking a sip of her coffee. “Fine, I guess. You?”

“Good!” Harry said excitedly. “Taking a break the last few months has been…I don’t know. Peaceful, but odd, you know? I’ve never had so much time to myself before.”

“Must be nice,” Y/n said, trying to hide the irritation in her voice.

“Yeah, but I realized that I kind of miss it,” he said. “I knew once we decided on the hiatus that I wanted to do my own thing, but I thought I would take a longer break, but I feel like I’m…itching to get back to work.”

That definitely seemed like Harry. Y/n had worked for him for years, and even when there were breaks between tours, he was hard at work—writing, going to Fashion Week, collaborating with other artists, vocal training, even trying new recipes in his state-of-the-art kitchen, which led to a phone call at one in the morning where Harry asked Y/n to come over and see if his macrons tasted "fluffy enough." It seemed only right that he rested for mere months before starting a new project. She could practically picture him at either of his homes in LA or London, scribbling in his leatherbound journal or playing new melodies on his guitar or piano (and the occasional late-night pastry party). As long as she’d known him, Harry had been a hard worker through and through. A little on the wild side when he had some tequila in him, but when it came down to his career, he was focused, determined. 

“Good for you,” Y/n said, meaning it. She always thought he was capable of more. “So what comes next for you? Have you recorded songs already?”

“Not quite. I’m planning a trip to Jamaica to write and record there. It’s remote, serene, a good place to get away. So we’ll have to start booking flights and places to stay and—”

“I’m sorry, ‘We?’” Y/n asked, her brow furrowing with confusion. 

Harry matched her look of confusion with one of his own. “Yeah, I mean—I need you. I can’t do this without you.”

The sentiment warmed Y/n’s heart for a moment, but his immediate assumption that she would drop everything just because he asked her to brought the irritation swarming back. “Mr. Sty—Harry, you know I don’t work for you anymore, right?”

“What do you mean? Are you talking about the hiatus? I just thought we could all use some time off, but…I guess I just thought—”

Harry didn’t finish his thought, but his cheeks were flushed with embarrassment. Y/n would’ve found it cute if he hadn’t been so dense. Resentment still circled around her like a fog, and she wouldn’t let it go so easily, she couldn’t. 

“I was employed by your management, Harry. To be an assistant to a member of One Direction,” Y/n explained. “I was let go. I had to quickly find another job doing something else.”

“Oh.”

Y/n supposed she should’ve anticipated being fired, but she didn’t. There was a lot of information that she was privy to that most people weren’t, secrets that were tightly bound by an NDA when she was first hired, but talks of the hiatus was very hushed. She knew to suspect that somewhere down the line the boys would finally take a break, but it came a lot sooner than she was prepared for, and she was left jobless before she had the chance to line something else up. Y/n thought that Harry would give her the courtesy of a warning, but he said nothing about it to her, didn’t offer much except a side hug after One Direction’s last performance.

So yeah, she was a little bitter.

“I’m—I’m really sorry, Y/n. I know it doesn’t make up for…all of this and everything you went through, but I am truly sorry.”

“Thank you.” 

Y/n believed him, believed that he was sorry for everything that went down, but it still hurt to know she wasn’t someone he was close enough to talk to about all of this at the time. She was Harry’s assistant, she knew that, but they’d been through a lot together. But he was ever the professional it seemed, and it was her job to remember that, not his.

When she realized her coffee was finished, Y/n stood up. “Well, it was good seeing you, Harry. Good luck on your next project. I’m sure it’ll be great.”

“Wait, but—you’re not—you‘re leaving?”

“I have to run a couple errands before work," Y/n explained. She rested her hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently. “But really, no hard feelings. I wish you all the best.”

She left Harry at the table, heading for the front of the cafe and toward the busy street beyond. Her heart felt heavy as she walked away, but she tried to shake the feeling that she was walking away from more than just her boss. Former boss. Like her mother always reminded her, she couldn’t be a personal assistant forever.

“Wait!”

Y/n turned on instinct, eyes widening as Harry jogged after her, his little bun bouncing with each step. He skidded to a stop in front of her, green eyes wide and searching. For what, she wasn’t sure, but the heat of his gaze was enough to make butterflies stir in her stomach.

Putting on her best front, she raised her eyebrows, waiting for Harry to say whatever he needed to.

“I wasn’t kidding earlier. I need you, Y/n,” he said. “I—You’re the only one who really knows me, who I know will have my back no matter what. I need a familiar face in my corner.”

I need you, Y/n. Those words were her kryptonite. Year after year, Y/n heard Harry's voice over the phone as he roused her from sleep, read the text messages while she was getting her nails done or watched TV in her hotel room, or on the rare occasion she went on a date. But she had to hold strong. Y/n had been devastated by her sudden layoff, but now she had a life, and she didn't want to get sucked back into Harry's very alluring web of charming smiles, cheesy jokes, and endless adventure. That was his life, not hers.

“I have a job, Harry. I can’t just drop everything and quit because you suddenly want me to—”

“What are they paying you?”

Y/n’s brows furrowed. “Excuse me?”

Harry pushed on. “What are they paying you? I’ll double it.”

Scoffing in disbelief, she said, “It’s not about the money—”

“Triple,” he countered. Harry took her hand in his and squeezed it. He looks desperate, Y/n thought.

“I can’t just quit my job because you remembered I existed,” Y/n said quietly, pulling her hand out of his. She clung to her resolve, hoping Harry would make this easy and just let it go, let her go. “I—I deserve more.”

More of what, she wasn’t sure, but Y/n knew it was true. Harry only reached out because he needed something from her, and that hurt more than she cared to admit. 

“You’re right. I’m sorry,” Harry said, looking down at his shoes. A pair of scuffed Chelsea boots he wore practically everywhere. Y/n had bought him a pair of Vans one year, an attempt to switch up his wardrobe, but he still chose the boots nine times out of ten. “Just—At least think about coming to Jamaica. Please?”

“Harry—”

“Not as my assistant. As a guest. A friend,” Harry amended. “We’re planning on staying at a huge villa, and I want to make up for being an idiot. Just—Just think about it. Please.”

Despite everything, Y/n found herself wanting to say yes. It was that magnetic pull she felt toward Harry that had kept her working for him for so long. He was an important person in her life, and up until he’d all but ghosted her after the hiatus, she thought she was important to him too. In spite of his misgivings, Y/n still wanted to believe that she was. 

It was so stupid, but it felt good to be wanted by him. She was an idiot, she knew that. But her friendship with Harry was legitimate, he'd just acted like a complete idiot. She'd known him long enough to know he was very capable of acting like an idiot. So even though she shouldn’t, even though she had carefully lined up her reasons not to in a little line, she started to cave. 

But she couldn’t make the decision now. Not when Harry was looking at her with pleading green eyes and his sad little puppy dog face, his cologne dizzyingly lovely. No, she owed it to herself to really think about what she wanted. If getting sucked back into that whirlwind was worth it. Worth getting her heart properly broken when she knew he would never feel the same about her.

"I'll show up at work, you know," Harry said. "I'm not above it. You might think I am, but I'm not."

Y/n had no doubt in her mind that he would. Along with being an idiot, Harry was very stubborn, and very persistent. She had years with him to know that. Did she really need Harry Styles showing up at her place of work?

“Fine, I’ll think about it,” she finally said, trying to pretend like her heart was screaming to just agree. But her heart was an impulsive little shit that was bound to get her in trouble.

Harry’s face broke out into a wide grin, one that displayed those famous dimples and lit up his entire face. It was hard to feel like he didn't think she was the only person on earth to exist when he looked like that, like he was convinced she’d already said yes. “I’ll take it.”

[sugarnspice630]

Radio Head - Hongjoong

"Your voice is like a siren. You’re just so smart and beautiful. You drive me insane with how talented you are.”

•pairing: hongjoong x afab!reader

•word count: 1.6k

•tags: mdni, smut, reader is a vocalist, Hongjoong is definitely a Simp for reader, cunnilingus, praise kink, oral (f receiving), producer hongjoong, recording booth sex, Hongjoong asks for consent (💕), moaning sample for music (👀), cum eating, aftercare

Summary: Helping Hongjoong produce a song by providing some backing vocals and he gets desperate so he meets you in the recording booth and services you, and surprises you at the end with something unexpected.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆───

Hongjoong was working late in the studio one night and you decided to tag along with him. One, so he wouldn’t be lonely and two, because you wanted to hang out with him and help him if needed. You were chilling on the little couch that was in the corner of the studio, playing on your phone, listening to Hongjoong working away at the new songs he was producing. He would occasionally mutter a curse word under his breath, a sign that he was getting irritated by the song not sounding the way he wanted.

“Fuck…this just isn’t working.” he sighed out. You placed your phone down and walked over to him to reassure him. Placing your hands softly on his shoulders and rubbing them gently as his head rested on the desk in between his arms.

“There there love. I’m sure you’ll get it eventually. You always do.”

“It just sounds empty! Here..take a listen.” He shoots his head up and drags the song back to the beginning and presses play. You listen to the song closely, trying to figure out what Hongjoong thinks is missing from the song. The members have already come in and did rough vocal guides so there were melodies to also pay attention to. After a few more seconds, Hongjoong pauses the track.

“See what I mean? It’s just empty! There is nothing in this that screams original! It sounds like every other song under the sun.” He throws his hands towards the screen before resting his left arm on the desk and placing his head on his hand.

“I’m not quite the producer like you baby, but I think I might have a suggestion, if you wouldn’t mind me sharing.”

“Please do. I’m all ears at this point.” You take the mouse and drag it back to the part of the song you think needs some work.

“I feel like at this part here, it should have something subtle in the background, like *laaa la la laaaa*. Just to fill this part where Yunho and Wooyoung are harmonizing, and that melody could repeat throughout the bridge.” You watch as Hongjoong’s eyes light up at your suggestion.

“Y-yes! Y/N that’s perfect!” He takes the mouse back from you and goes back to the start of the part you are fixing. “Um, if you don’t mind, I’d like you to record this part.” his hand motions towards the recording booth,

“Joongie, a-are you sure? I don’t think that would be right.” you shake your hands in front of you, signaling that you would feel bad for recording lines when you are not a member of the group.

“Yes I’m sure. You have a similar vocal tone to Jongho, so the fans will never know. I promise.” he reassures you with a smile and you softly nod your head before making your way to the recording booth. You open the door, close it softly, and pick up the headphones hanging from the mic stand. You put your hair behind your ears and rest the headphones over top. Hongjoong begins to talk to you through the headphones.

“You ready love?” You look over to him through the glass window and give him a thumbs up. He looks down at the mixing table and presses a button. You begin to hear the couple seconds before the spot you are recording for playing through the headphones. You take a deep breath and put your heart into singing the notes perfectly for him. You try a couple different takes to the beat of the song to give him some different options to play with. After a bit, the song changed parts and you stopped vocalizing for him. You side eyed over to the window to see his reaction and noticed Hongjoong wasn’t sitting at the desk anymore. Your eyebrows contorted as you were puzzled on where he went. Your eyes lead back to the microphone and you see Hongjoong standing directly in front of you, his eyes meeting yours and there is a certain glint in his eye. Before you could say anything, he ripped the headphones off of your head and pressed his lips into your’s. You whimpered softly at the impact and he wrapped his arms around you, pushing you into the wall that was behind you. His hands caressing all over you and his lips grazing across your skin.

“H-Hongjoong?” you breathe out confused.

“I just couldn’t help myself love, Your voice is like a siren. You’re just so smart and beautiful. You drive me insane with how talented you are.” he purred against your skin.

“I-I don’t understand what I did” 

“Shh, relax baby, just let me treat you right now. I need you so badly. You’ll be a good girl and do that for me, right~?” he softly placed his finger over your lips and traced it down to your chin, tilting your head up softly to look him in the eyes.

“Y-yes.” is all you can manage to get out. You’re at a loss for words right now. This emotion came out of nowhere and your heart is racing like crazy. He traces his hands down your body as he slowly squats down to the floor in front of you. His hands stop at the top of your pants and he looks up at you softly.

“May I~?” he questions with a slight smirk on his face. You look down at him and nod, resting your head on the wall you’re pressed against. You feel Hongjoong tug at your waistband and pull your pants down to your ankles, allowing him full access to your lower body.

“You’re so good for me baby, you know that~?” he whispers against the skin on your legs and gently kisses the area below your womanhood. He reaches his hand back up and pulls your underwear down to where your pants are. You feel the cold air blow across your exposed area and you shudder lightly.

“My my~ so wet for me already and I haven’t even done anything yet. How adorable~.” he teases as he runs one of his fingers across your slit. You let out a breathy moan and tilt your head back into the wall more. “I want you to be as vocal as you can darling. Show me how good I make you feel, yeah~?”

“Y-yes Joongie~.”

“Spread ‘em.” He demands and you quickly place your legs further apart so he has full access to your dripping area. He softly kisses the area around your crotch before gripping your hips and diving straight in to licking you up.

“F-fuck! H-Hongjoong!” Your hands reach down and grip onto his hair. His tongue slowly drags across your slit, almost like he is teasing you. His nose presses perfectly onto your clit. A loud moan gets caught in your throat for a moment and it releases when Hongjoong pushes his tongue into your opening.

“Mmm~ F-fuck yes baby~!” You secretly bite your lip to try and suppress your moans, even though you are in a soundproof room and no one could hear what’s happening. Hongjoong takes notice of your lack of noise and slaps the side of your hip harshly, causing you to whimper.

“I told you to be vocal.” He growled and rubbed your hip where he hit it.

“S-sorry!” You stutter out. Hongjoong continues to lick and suck, showing that he accepts your apology. His hands gripping onto your sides and he pushes his face further into you. You moan out softly at the new sensation. You call out his name as his fingers claw deep into your skin. You’re panting and moaning like crazy and you can tell you’re close to your release.

“You gonna cum for me baby?” he whispers softly from underneath you as he gently licks your pussy lips.

“Y-yeah~. J-just a bit more please~.” you beg out, so close to your release. Tilting your head against the wall again as you try to hold on a bit longer. Hongjoong takes one of his hands from your side and begins to rub your clit while pushing his tongue into you. The sensation of his finger rubbing you and his warm delicate tongue lapping your dripping hole. It’s almost too much to bear. 

“H-Hongjoong, I’m gonna-!”

“Cum for me sweetheart~, I wanna hear you.” He continues to rub your clit and within a few seconds the knot in your stomach comes undone. Your legs become weak, but Hongjoong holds you up while you continue to cum on his fingers. You let out the loudest moan you have ever heard from yourself. Hongjoong glides his fingers through your slit while you ride out your high.

“Oh-oh my god.” You pant out. You open your eyes slightly and you see Hongjoong looking at your fucked out face as he lifts his fingers to his mouth and licks the cum off of them.

“You taste delicious darling~.” He says lowly and then he smirks at you. You whimper and softly smile. “Let me help you out here baby.” He grabs your underwear and pants from the floor and lifts them up for you. After that, he caresses your face and looks at you lovingly. You smile at him and he smiles back. “You feel okay?” He looks at you concerned as you haven’t said anything since you came.

“Yeah, I’m okay baby.” You pause for a moment. “Thank you~.” He leans in and gently kisses you.

“Good~.” He goes to your side and puts your arm over his shoulder, helping to carry you out of the recording booth. “Oh…and thanks for the samples by the way~.” He says and you can tell there is a smirk on his face. You feel your body temperature rise out of embarrassment.

“Wait what?”

[pristine-rose]

sooo Columbina and Arlecchino with a female darling they are possessive of and has long hair? maybe like a new harbinger darling and childe just won't stop challenging her and something that gets on arlecchino's nerves more than columbinas even pantalone talks to the new harbinger sometimes with gifts in hand just to piss off arlecchino

hnnggg y’all know the harbingers are my fav in this game <3 this’ll keep a similar theme to the hair-brushing-doll fic for arlecchino that i wrote previously, just bc i thought it fit :]

arlecchino and columbina — devil take the hindmost

warnings : sfw, female reader, mentioned to have long hair ( enough to brush ), feat. childe and pantalone, themes of possession / jealousy / and “jokes” of capivity , columbina has ‘truth’ powers similar to aponia

“that’s lady signora’s melody, isn’t it?”

“indeed.” arlecchino smiled a bit when she answered you, lips curling up in a moment of slight tranquility at the mention of the late harbinger—one could almost believe she was kind. and with the same grievance, the third harbinger continued to hum such sweet notes from behind you, amidst her fingers threading through the strands of your hair. “columbina knows it by heart.”

the third harbinger made no response, instead choosing to continue humming behind you, dainty fingers threading through your locks. the vocals parting via sealed lips were gentle-sounding, very much like her own appearance. gentle… you’ve come to learn that columbina succeeded in deception.

“where did these come from?”

arlecchino knew no boundaries as she lifted up your wrist with undeniable force. those keen eyes of hers bore only a battlefield, and it was no different when the slashes on pupils matched the faint lines and scratches on the underside of your wrist.

looks like hiding them was no use.

“so unsightly…” columbina mumbled. and it was the first and only thing she’s said to you all day—choosing to only comment in distaste when her play-doll was marked up.

arlecchino glared. “they looked stiched.” the room almost felt colder. “expertly, so. as if a certain doctor did them.” the silence already bit at your stomach. they don’t like it when other people make modifications to what they claim as their own. “it seems like someone here got them in a rush.”

those wretched eyes were settled on you now. and you would’ve avoided them, had not columbina so gracefully clenched her fist at your hair, forcing you to look up. “tell me, who gave these to you?”

you would’ve lied under a guise of self-infliction, you really would’ve. but it was almost as if the mental, twisted powers of the angel behind you hammered nails down your tongue, forcing you to spit out the bloody truth of your comrade.

“childe.” his name felt dry against your throat. “he wanted to spar, and i got hurt.”

arlecchino’s eyes shifted darkly. and somehow—in some sick, decaying way—you wished the bore a look of sympathy. but she would never give anything of the sort, no. only anger fueled from selfishness that someone else would make their mark.

“o, dearest of knights,” columbina sweetly muttered against your hair, calling out the attention of her other harbinger companion. “you haven’t noticed yet another grotesque addition to our darling.”

as arlecchino’s eyes dipped downwards towards your neck, the air in your lungs suddenly restricted.

“a golden accessory dangling from her neck,” columbina whispered so ghastly disapprovingly. “there’s only one man i know who would gift such an expensive, yet tasteless piece of jewelry…”

arlecchino scoffed, “so shes flocking along with the men of our ranks now, is that what is happening?” she seemed enraged. to witness this demented side of her was no matter to take lightly with a temper like hers; it would actually make you thankful of the kind hand that was still choking your airflow,—for if it was arlecchino’s torn, inked monstrous of a hand, your skin would be in shreds by now.

“w…wait…” you croaked out through shallow, constricted breaths. the thin fingers of the third harbinger felt like sharp spider webs at your skin. “please… let me explain…”

“explain well, foolish one,” said the harbinger behind you.

“they’re… just my friends…”

—which was truly, a completely idiotic thing to say. but you were exasperated as it was not even a lie. childe just wanted a friendly spar, simple as that. he would get dottore to stitch your wounds to avoid this exact occurrence from happening. and, pantalone really just gave you this necklace as a welcoming gift for joining the harbinger ranks.

and yet, the chain of that same gold necklace was being clawed at by the knave. she did not care whether she tore at the skin of your collarbone, or at the pout of columbina—all she cared was to tear that accessory to crumbling chains on the hard floor.

“my knight,” columbina frowned, and you took a gasp of breath as her hand suddenly loosened. “you’ve shaken her up. look, our darling is trembling, and her blood is dripping to the new clothes i just dressed her in…”

shaking? were you really trembling so much in the third harbinger’s arms?

“to hell with it,” arlecchino scowled. “if she thinks she can be oh-so good friends with the others, then she better learn to take a scar that damned doctor cannot stitch.”

“but i want her to all clean and pretty for us,” columbina whined. “so mean… i can’t play with a doll that’s covered in her blood…”

a doll… that’s all you were to them. not a fellow member of the fatui, or even a harbinger.

it was times like these you missed lady signora—these cold, chilling nights when columbina returned to humming the late harbinger’s tune and cleaning you up.

but not for kindness, no. just for display.

hi hi i’m still here !! i just left tumblr for a little bit because honestly it did not feel rewarding or worth it to post when no one—like not even my friends—can see my fics since they get labeled so fast… 😭

but we’ll work on it, or i’ll just give up and make a new blog LOLOLOL

[demonslayedher]

Not-very-spoilery thoughts on the movie release of Pillar Training (+SSV conclusion)

Behind a cut anyway just in case!

--Very nice to hear familiar background music brought back--Yuukaku themes when Uzui & his wives appear, Mitsuri's "Koi Kogare" BGM when she has a good batch of lines, Giyuu's BGM as he's like, "bye"

--I am very happy with the new OP, both sound and imagery-wise.

--One very short clip in particular made me, a fanfic writer, very very happy, but then there was more gratuitous focus that reminded me of another one of my best fanfics. The rewards of writing fic as closely based on canon as I could get them gives me the satisfaction of feel liking like canon-based imagery honors my fics by extension.

--Speaking of imagery in general, Ufotable is finding lots of ways to try to harp on the idea that everyone's wishes to destroy demons find their accumulation in Tanjiro, the Sun Breath user and first person in centuries to unlock the Mark. It is perhaps a little clumsy at times, but hey, that's a theme I like in this series.

--I was sad that Suma sounded so different, and had to look up afterward if she still had the same seiyuu. She does, but I think they might have given her totally different vocal direction so that she wouldn't sound too similar to Mitsuri

--Japanese crowds tend to be very quiet at movie theaters, but people could not contain their giggles at many of Mitsuri's lines

--I had the honor of sitting next to a huuuuuuuge fangirl who before the moving was saying stuff to her friends like, "(Hanae) Natsuki-san was at USJ the other day, and since it's a VR ride, you know, you have to wear the goggles, and I think, what if I wear the pair that he wore??? You know?? Our faces??? Would be so close?????" and then at the review of previous seasons at the beginning of the show, she started crying the instant the Mugen Ressha part started. Not loud crying, but crying.

--You can tell everyone was waiting for the "welcome back" scene, and although I thought Zenitsu would steal the show in that scene, it was indeed Nezuko. In the seiyuu greeting that was broadcast across all Japanese theaters on the opening day, Shimono-san noted that he thinks the audio was turned down on his performance of that scene. I think it was probably was too.

--So much happy daily life in this episode. If you have any friends who complained about last year's theater showing being a let-down because it was just regular anime episodes instead of a Mugen Train style movie, please tell them to just sit this one out and spare us their complaints. Most of this showing was just Tanjiro having a nice time after having a panic attack over Nezuko (oh, and like, killing Upper Moon Four, that too).

--Shinobu's hair seems distinctly longer. Giyuu's hair seems distinctly fluffier.

--Ufotable has put a lot of touches into humanizing Amane

--I wish Ufotable would stop trying to drive the "Zenitsu thinks Aoi is happy to see him (just because Aoi is a girl)" point. First off, yes, Zenitsu being a creep to girls is played up a bit in the anime. Second, the first fanbook states that the only kind of girl who is not so much his type is the Aoi-type.

--Also, on the promo art, I like the design they gave Shinobu's sword, but that's ignoring the fact that the four engraved kanji characters are on either side. Go ahead, Ufotable, hire me as your canon double-checker. EDIT: Oh wait, that is its sheath. Lovely, carry on.

--That said, the original filler they gave us? Gold star. Excellent. So happy with it. One... well, two tiny nitpicks that don't bother me much but stating it here would spoil it.

--One more non-spoilery thing to say about that filler: the people at Ufotable were probably like, "our fans are nerds. We already give them this, this, this, and that to nerd over. You know what else they are probably nerds for? Yeah. Let's give them that." Thank you, Ufotable. This nerd accepts and loved it.

--Tiny Nezuko filler as they set the stage talking about Muzan is probably looking for her? LOVE THAT TOUCH, at every level.

--Shinobu does have multiple goldfish, but they look a bit different?

--Genya's makes the best face in this whole episode

--Speaking of Genya, in the seiyuu greeting they had actors in big chibi costumes of the Kamaboko gang come out... PLUS GENYA. Giant chibi grumpy Genya was so, so, so, so freaking cute. Also, his seiyuu Okamoto got to join the stage with everybody and was talking about how he always used to scroll through his social media seeing the other seiyuu at KnY events and he was like, "sigh... sure looks like everyone is having fun..."

--Hanae Natsuki and his wife are big Genya fans, though, it seems

--Okamoto had a lot of trouble performing young Genya in the flashback, especially the emotional screaming. The desperation Genya always displays as he fights? That was Okamoto. --Meanwhile, Matsuoka always looks very overwhelmed at these things. I think having to embody the spirit of Inosuke terrifies him.

--IT WAS SO GOOD TO HEAR INOSUKE AGAIN

--Those actors in chibi costumes? The Zenitsu and Inosuke ones embodied them SO WELL. I don't usually care for those giant mascot character costumes, but these were legit so much fun to watch, like with Inosuke going right up into the cameras and Zenitsu trying to pull him back and then the two of them pushing and shoving. Zenitsu acting like he is being bullied and Inosuke showing off his muscles. I loved them. I am very sad that I will not be in town when they travel across Japan and come to my area.

--Also, the baritone voice of Oyakata-sama's personal crow? LOVED IT.

--Himejima at the the Pillar Meeting is such a statement. The new promotional material has a tag line that prominently uses one of the kanji in his name ("cry out"), and I feel like this is set-up for him to have a lot of impact later on in this season. Here's hoping!

--I am probably gonna go watch it again in a couple weeks, ufufufu

--Which is worth it for that KIZUNA NO KISEKI REMIX WHICH SOUNDED SO COOL IN SURROUND SOUND, OH MY GOSH

[raccoonsrummagerostrum]

Can you do a yautja reaction to Reggaeton or bachata? 🥺💜💜

Yautja reacts to your taste in music

A/N1: Good for you for expanding my world. I had never heard of either of these before, and it was a lot of fun listening to something new.

Yautja x GN!reader

Word count: 558

Warnings: Nothing (Let me know if you find anything)

Summary: Your lover discovers music, and immediately does not like it, or so they think.

A/N2: I tried listening to a reggaeton mix while writing this, but I prefer soft lofi ambience when writing, so I found it a bit distracting 😅I’ll save it for my party mix though. 

The yautja do not have music. They do have ceremonial displays with percussion and vocalization, but nothing that you would recognize as music. 

They first found out about music as the two of you were watching TV. They asked about the noise playing in the background. Wondering what they meant, you asked them to point it out next time they heard it. When they did it was during the opening of the episode, thus you quickly realized that they were referring to the music. 

“Noise?” you asked them “Noise! That isn’t noise, that's music. Here.” You promptly switched off the TV, getting up you grabbed your phone and put on your favorite music. It was smooth, leisurely but not too slow, and you bobbed your head to the tresillo rhythm (3+3+2). 

Your lover, still on the couch tilted their head back and forth. They had never seen you like this. It was almost as if this strange noise was controlling you. You moved in a completely new way, swaying your hips and moving your arms. They weren't sure what was going on and what had happened to you. You noticed your lover again, and laughed. Still enjoying the beat, you turned and asked them.

“Do the yautja not have music?” They shook their head.

“We have nothing like…” Their eyes raked across you as they stalled for a moment, “This.” That earned another laugh from you. “What even is this, and why?”

“It's music, it just is and it doesn't need a why. We oomans just like it.” Your giggling rapidly fell out of your control as you threw your lover's word for humans back at them. The song faded into its end, your movement slowed then stopped and you stood watching them. Their mandibles twitched and biceps bulged as they crossed their arms. “You’ll like it eventually,” you said while shaking your head. 

“Fat. Chance.” Was your lover’s response. 

From then on out you played your music every chance you got. While cleaning, while working, while cuddling, much to your lover's irritation. You carried this on for weeks. You even tried different genres, reggaeton and bachata, latin pop for its broader appeal. You even tried to get them to dance with some classic tango and salsa. 

Eventually all your hard work paid off. You were cooking with your lover's help. In order to avoid overheating you went to your closet to change to a cooler shirt, only to return to hear your lover humming. At first you weren't sure what you were hearing. It was deep and scratchy, and badly off key. Turning the corner and looking into the kitchen revealed your lover gently nodding their head to the rhythm, and listening closer you could hear the humming lining up with the song. At first you wanted to call them out. The ‘I told you so’ urge was very strong. But you knew that if you did, this would never happen again. 

You calmly walked back into the kitchen, making sure that they saw you. Curiously they didn’t stop. The two of you continued on like nothing was happening. When the song ended you heard a small whine from your love, before a sigh of relief when the next one came on. You smiled to yourself, and repeated in your own head, ‘I told you so.’

[jelliclekay]

Kay Sees Regional Cats

I saw my first regional Cats production the other day! It was so exciting to go see a local theater production of Cats. I'll be honest, I don't really pay much mind to the regional production bootlegs of Cats that exist on YouTube. But when I learned a theater only an hour from me was putting on Cats, I knew I had to go, especially since the US tour ended and there's been no news in site of any official production picking up anytime soon.

My expectations were fairly low- I knew going in it was just a small community theater doing the show, and it obviously wasn't going to be anywhere near the official production. That said, the performance was incredible and blew my small expectations totally out of the water. This is going to be a long write-up of all my thoughts on the vocals, dancing, and character interpretations, so thank you for anyone who decides to read my ramblings!

Here's a photo of the set and the cast list.

One thing you may notice is, well, how many cats there are. From my understanding, the performing arts center who put this on combined their theater department and their dancing department. The majority of the cats were played by young dancers who only appeared on stage during the heavy dance numbers. Yes, there were many kids in this show.

In fact, all the vocals were done by and really only by Munkustrap, Tugger, Demeter, Bombalurina, Jemima, Old Deut, Jelly, Jenny, Skimble, Griz, Bustopher and Gus.

Costume wise, the unitards and warmers were the weakest part. Very faded looking unitards with normal winter-wear warmers rather than the standard Cats warmers. The wigs and makeup were all London replica, and a lot of the wigs were so nice. I assume most of them just looked up their characters and did whatever makeup first popped up on Google.

The Munkustrap was incredible, by far the best Munk vocally that I've ever seen. I could not rave enough about him. He did everything perfectly, and I would love to see his performer go on to play him in an actual official production.

Jenny was so fun, and she actually stayed in her Gumbie coat the entire show. She would frequently just nap during numbers.

Demeter slept during Tugger's number and looked annoyed and hissed at him when he tried to interact with her during it. Queen shit, honestly.

Bustopher and Gus were played by two separate performers, which meant Bustopher got to hang on stage the entire time! Also, he had his giant spoon.

Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer did not sing their song. They were both played by dancers, while Bomb and Munk sang the song in the background. It was an interesting choice, but like I said, I love Munk's vocals, so I was happy to hear more of him.

The Jellicle Ball itself was cut down significantly. There was no pas de deux, and they didn't do the part where Griz shows up halfway through. This was probably my biggest disappointment for the entire show, but I also wasn't all that surprised.

A change that I really loved and would love to see implemented was Old Deut AND Jemima staying to listen to the Memory prelude.

During Moments of Happiness, Old Deut himself reached out and led Jemima up to sing her lines. The Jemima had a BEAUTIFUL voice as well.

Jelly and Gus were SO good. Her voice was perfect for the character, and it was so nice getting to see a performer who wasn't John Anker Bow as Gus. This production did Gus Pekes. Demeter and Tantomile were the lead Peke and Pollicle, which I thought was cute. Also, they added a fun bit where Gus got a hairball when he came out as the Rumpus Cat.

A small detail was that Griz was in the back basically the entire time singing along. Seeing her hiding away, but still singing along with everyone made her character feel even more tragic.

Macavity didn't kidnap Old Deut persay as much as he just led him away with a giant cat toy. It was so silly (in the most positive way possible)

The Macavity number was interesting, and not in a bad way. Demeter and Bomb took turns singing into a microphone and would physically push one another out of the way. As someone who wishes the professional productions would have Demeter and Bomb be Meaner to one another, this really scratched my itch for them to be more catty to one another.

During the Macavity fight, Tanto and Cori were the ones who led Demeter to safety. Ships were the farthest thing from my mind when watching this production, but Demeter and Tantomile were so close in this production. and I just really loved that, and it makes me wanna make them close in my hcs now.

Tugger helped Munk fight Mac!! And it was bad ass!! I loved it. More Tugger fighting please and thank you

I don't really have much to say about Misto. He was played by a younger dancer, and the solo was about what you would expect from a regional production. It was still fun to see, and just sparked so much joy just hearing the song in general.

Griz sang directly to Demeter for a lot of Memory. Her voice was great, no complaints there. I honestly thought they were going to have Demeter be the first to touch her, but that honor was given to Old Deut and Munk instead.

The Ad-Dressing really got me. I already get emotional whenever I hear the song normally, but hearing it live even at just a regional production after so long almost made me break down. The cats all came into the aisles too!!

And that was my experience at regional Cats! All in all, it was so much better than I expected, and I had such a fun time. If there's ever a local theater doing Cats near you, definitely go and check it out. Supporting local theater is important, and who knows, you might be completely blown away by some of the performers you see. I know I was!

[juliacoller]

Ghoul and Ghoulettes Smut HC's

I absolutely needed to throw all of my ideas out there, and this isn't even all of them

Warnings: breeding kink, biting, nipple play, choking, dacryphilia, puppy!Mountain, size kink, praise kink, body worship, foot fetish, roughhhh sex, feminization, strap on play, and oral (female and male recieving)

Word Count: 2,334 words

Swiss:

He absolutely has a breeding kink

Loves to bite on his partner, leaving marks just from scraping his fangs over their skin

Could spend hours just sucking on his partner's nipples, loving the way they squirm and whimper as he licks and laps at their rosy buds

Speaking of whimpering, he absolutely loves a noisy partner, as he himself cannot shut up during sex. He loves being vocal, moaning, groaning, whimpering, and especially crying

"Gotta cum in you"

"One more for me, baby"

"Gonna let me knot you?"

"Gotta fuck you so good"

"Such a messy boy/girl/baby"

Loves to watch his partner cry from pleasure, so overwhelmed that all they can do is sob and beg

Wants to watch mascara and tears stream down their face, trace the lines, and lick the tears off of them

Get a hand around his throat and he's immediately gone, stare into his eyes and threaten him with a real sweet promise and he will be putty in your hands

He's willing to get on his knees for anyone he finds worthy, nearly kissing the ground they walk on. He will go to embarrassing lengths to worship their partner

Sidenote: We all know that all of the ghouls are in intimate relationships with each other aka... they fuck

To continue on that: Swiss absolutely LOVES sex with Cumulus, something about how plush her thighs are around his face, the squish of her tummy against his as he fucks into her, and the jiggle of her tits as she viscously rides him. He just has something for the way her body envelopes him and reacts to each movement he makes.

Aether:

Aether likes to be reminded that he is bigger than his partner (if true), likes having them under him, watching them drown in his presence

Def hard dom vibes, will do anything for his partner to service them but will not take any brattiness, he won't be asking them to do anything, he will be forcing them to obey

Will fuck the brattiness out of anyone, he once got Dew to stop bitching about how bad his fingers hurt from practice by giving them something else to do

Likes to have his nipples played with, I HC that he got them pierced at some point when they were on the road. He saw just how much Dew loves having the jewelry played with and had to know what it was about.

Please touch his nips.

Wants to put his hands to use, will use them to jack off any of the other ghouls before a ritual, or sink them so deep into his bandmates until they are whimpering and sobbing into his shoulder

He misses touring with the Ghost Project but doesn't shy away from sending videos to his pack mates, reminding them of just how much he misses fucking them

Phantom:

He has a ginormous praise kink, with him being so new and unsure of everything it can be overwhelming, but the moment Swiss opens his mouth to say, "Pretty boy really does have some talent" at their first rehearsal, Phantom can't get it out of his brain until later that night as he whimpers and moans in the shower

He's so bendy??

Likes when his partner forces him into different positions, wants his partner to shove his knees above his head as they hold him and fuck him into the bed

When he first gets involved with the other ghouls, he is almost always the bottom, a bit too shy to be bratty or take control of a space, but once he gets a bit more comfortable he works his way up to topping Sodo, but having to rely on (to Sodo's excitement) his quintessence a bit much

He tends to be a bit quiet in his day-to-day life but is very expressive in his body language, his eyebrows are always responding and his posture is a giveaway of his emotions

His quietness does translate to his loudness during sex, he's normally quiet and tries to swallow his noises as much as he can, but when his partner gets him too worked up he can let out little whimpers and groans that are soooooo meek, but it definitely gives his partner a sense of achievement

He likes his hair being played with, tugging, braiding, brushing, just about anything will make his heart tug simply because his partner wants to play with his hair

Sodo:

He's a brat...

What more do you want me to say?

He wants to get pissed off and have someone put him in his place, force his face into the bed as they pound him from behind, tell him that he's dramatic and ridiculous, degrade him and remind him of just how rude he can be, but he is never, ever, left to feel alone or unwanted.

Sodo has some separation issues, fearful that his pack will leave him to be alone, that they will ostracize him, that one day they will get sick of his antics.

Due to these fears, he needs reassurance. He loves his rough sex, loves when his fellow ghouls degrade him, but he needs the aftercare after.

Like Sodo wants to lay in bed or in the bath and cuddle until he falls asleep, he doesn't ask for much but he just wants to be held and reassured.

He's kinda like a kitten after sex, he just makes little mewling and purring sounds and squishes his face up against his partner

Enough kitty dew, Sodo will do just about anything and everything with his partner

Want him to choke you? He's there in a second

Want him to cry when you fuck him? Don't even have to ask

All to say, Sodo is pretty much all game for anything his partner wants. But, I think that comes from the people pleaser in him.

Rain:

He's babygirl.

He wants to be rammed into the bed while being called pretty

Put him in some frilly lingerie and embarrass him and he'll be blushing like crazy

When he blushes, it's not only his cheeks. His chest erupts in blooms of red and pink, his ears get red like cherries, and his neck becomes a beautiful light pink.

He wants to get all hot and embarrassed in front of his partner, he wants tears to flow from his cheeks, and he especially wants them to lick said tears off of his cheeks when their done

Loves to have sex in water, sign him up for shower sex any time

He wants to be in touch with his element while his partner sucks his soul out of him, or while he shoves them against the wall and desperately fucks them

He likes to have sex in the lake that is near the Abbey, on the bank or while in the water, wants to just be in his element and in his partner

Isn't afraid of domming sometimes, he will put someone in their place and fuck them until they're crying desperate

He is very clumsy

He tends to get a lot of bruises, he wants to look at them and see how the blue, purple, and yellow stain his skin

He especially likes when his partner pushes their thumb into the bruises, a cry erupting from deep in his chest

Wants the pain to intervene with his pleasure, sting through just as he feels good

He falls a lot, he has a hard time with his exceptionally long limbs, this translates into his sex quite often

He's bendy, tied up like a human pretzel, and he wants to be treated as such. He likes pulling his knees up and holding the backs of his knees, he especially likes when Aether pushes him back, up, and over so that his knees are over his head and pushing into the bed.

Please... he's the definition of Babygirl

Mountain:

He's just so biggggg

He looms over his partner, and it comforts him to know that

His hands especially are big, can wrap them around his partner's neck and they easily cover the entire front

He likes to shove his hands in his partner's mouth, make them gag and swallow around his fingers and see the way tears prick in the corner of their eyes just from the mere size of his hands

His large size also translates to his cock, and boy does he love to watch the way his partner's body swallows him and eagerly takes him

He has a foot fetish, sorry

He loves to give foot rubs, using the excuse that he just wants to "relieve some stress" for his partner, but they both know how much it affects him

Their foot in his lap and hands, his cock is twitching in his pants, saliva is pooling in his mouth

It's not long before he's drooling over them and kissing up their legs, begging to be inside of them

He likes to be called things like, "pretty boy", "beautiful", and "little thing"

Make him feel pretty, he's so big and he's always equated with being so masculine, he wants to be someone's little toy

As much as he loves being the dominant one, he wants to be humiliated, wants to submit to someone

He wants to sob and scream for his partner, bow to their feet and worship the ground they walk on

He wants them to tell him just how bad he's been, shove his face into the ground and watch his tears dampen the carpet

I also am a firm puppy!Mountain believer.

Cumulus:

She's so soft, and everyone knows it and wants to benefit from it\

She loves when she gets to dom her partner

Likes watching tears flow down their face, especially likes when they wear mascara or eyeliner, the streams of black only encouraging her more

Likes when she gets to shove her partner's head between her thighs, not only does she enjoy the blinding pleasure they give her, but she likes that she gets to see their eyes roll back, hair get all jostled from her fingers, and tongue lapping so deliciously at her folds

She wants to see bruises on her thighs from her partner gripping her too tight

Please squish your face in her tummy and thighs, she's so soft and comfy, it's a real turn on for her if you squeeze and love these places on her

She def has a strap and uses it frequently

The boys in the pack beg for her to use it on them, hearing stories from Dew about just how rough she was on him, he couldn't walk for quite some time after

Cirrus and Sunny are very familiar with her strap and beg for it quite often

She is waiting to fucking Rora with her strap, too nervous to break her down too quick

Cirrus:

She's mommy. She expects to be called such.

She likes standing above her partner, making them feel small under her stare, shrinking into their own embarrassment

She wants to ride her partner and pretend that it isn't affecting her at all, stare in their eyes and see the tears as they form

Her fingers are dexterous, nimble, and lithe

She wants to shove her fingers in every place possible

Shoving her fingers into her partner's mouth, forcing them to swallow and gag around them, she wants them to swirl their tongue around her digits and sob as she deprives them of all sensations besides her fingers in their mouth

Shoving their fingers in their hole, watching them sob and writhe around her, their hole squeezing on her fingers

Although she wants to stretch her partner out, she doesn't plan on utilizing their hole, she wants them to impale her

She'll leave them leaking and stretched, only for her to sink onto their cock/strap

She is desperate to leave marks on her partner, scratching and sucking all over their skin. Going as far as drawing blood after digging her nails in too far

Cirrus wants to look at the marks afterwards, run her hands over the cuts and bruises with care, pressing kisses to all of the parts of their skin that are still sensitive

Aurora:

She's such a princess

Which also means she's a pillow princess, she loves when her partner takes care of her, she feels like it's proof of their dedication for her

She wants her partner to tell her how pretty she is as she lays there and takes whatever they give her, little tears pricking her eyes as she gets so incredibly overwhelmed with pleasure

She wants to be overstimulated and overwhelmed, she will take whatever her partner gives her, even if that means her body is writhing and begging for them to stop

She likes when her partner gives her hickeys all over her body, she likes when she can look at the purple blooms all across her beautiful skin

She especially likes when her partner rubs their hands all over her when she's sore after sex, pressing their fingers into the bruises forcing a small moan to leave her lips

She wants to be called such lovely names, make her feel pretty

"Princess" and "Pretty Girl"

She will also become a bit bratty if she is called anything different, when her partner calls her "messy girl" when she's got a bit of their cum dripping out of her mouth she immediately pouts and becomes a bit more resilient

She's just so soft and pretty

The pack is so gentle with her, but she snapped at Mountain one day and begged him to absolutely wreck her, that she's "not made of glass, now please fuck me"

She ended up sobbing as he folded her in half and fucked her within an inch of her life

After that, the pack was a little less gentle with her and realized that she can take more than they originally thought

[blueberry-beanie]

The New Cue #357 February 12:

Everything Everything's Jonathan Higgs

"We were weirdos then and we’re weirdos now"

At the beginning of next month, Everything Everything release their seventh record Mountainhead. It’s another brilliant album from one of the UK’s most imaginative and forward-thinking guitar bands, a quartet who never tread water and have been consistently honing, reworking and outdoing what’s gone before for over 15 years, always coming up with a new version of themselves without ever losing what makes them special. The pillars of their music tend to be a mix of danceable synth-y grooves and inventive art-rock, intricate arrangements constructed around big pop hooks and surrealist lyrics, frontman Jonathan Higgs’ vocal delivery emotive and exuberant at the same time.

Higgs is at the centre of it all, a creative dynamo who seems to sum up their idiosyncratic approach and who has the ability to inject emotion into the bizarrest lyrics, lines such as:

“And no reptiles! Just soft boiled eggs in shirts and ties, Waiting for the flashing green man Quivering and wobbling just like all the eggs you know”

That one is taken from Get To Heaven’s epic standout No Reptiles.

Or this, which somehow sounds poignant when Higgs sings it on the electro-pop banger Arch Enemy:

“Fatberg you smile, with your grave wax eyes, will you consume me?”

Or how about this oddball corker, from the euphoric electronica of Raw Data Feel closer Software Greatman?

“Maybe I see Klingons on the starboard bow Maybe, I’m a cat inside a sacred cow

Higgs is at it again with this zinger from their excellent recent single Cold Reactor: “I sent you the image of a yellow face To tell you I’m sad about the emptiness that’s all around me”

That song, released in autumn last year as the first single from Mountainhead, has become Everything Everything’s biggest radio hit yet. It’s spent weeks on the Radio 1 B-list, a very uncommon position for an indie band whose members are all in their late 30s, but its success that sums up the vibrancy and relevance of Everything Everything in 2024. Even better, it probably meant Radio 1 have had to get their heads around this blurb from Higgs on what the new record Mountainhead is about:

“In another world, society has built an immense mountain. To make the mountain bigger, they must make the hole they live in deeper and deeper. All of society is built around the creation of the mountain, and a mountain religion dominates all thought. At the top of the mountain is rumoured to be a huge mirror that reflects endlessly recurring images of the self, and at the bottom of the pit is a giant golden snake that is the primal fear of all believers. A ‘Mountainhead’ is one who believes the mountain must grow no matter the cost, and no matter how terrible it is to dwell in the great pit. The taller the mountain, the deeper the hole.”

Well, you don’t get that with Catfish And The Bottlemen. A few weeks ago Niall – that is me, I am The New Cue’s resident Everything Everything nut in case you hadn’t guessed – spoke to Jonathan over Zoom about the mad concept around the new record, the dynamics of being in a band in 2024, his favourite Liam Gallagher tweet and more. I’ve made this playlist of my favourite Everything Everything songs to listen whilst you read,

Hello Jonathan. I love the new record, it feels different to Raw Data Feel, a bit looser… Yeah, it’s got a lot more freedom and it sounds more like a band playing a lot of the time rather than the rigid, more computerised stuff that we were doing before. We made an effort to make it feel a bit more real and laid back.

Was there much overlap? No, partly because we put everything we made for Raw Data Feel on that record, we didn’t leave anything in the banks. We did the opposite with this, we actually went back and looked at some old demos and brought them back to life because we were looking for some kind of angle that we weren’t going to stumble across, we wanted to go back to our youngest selves and go, ‘What was that thing we were doing?’.

That’s interesting, how far back did you go? I think it’s sessions for A Fever Dream, or it might be Re-Animator, so five or six years ago. Some of the songs on this are from that time, or at least elements of them are or a little demo was made and then thrown away and then we went back and said ‘Let’s explore this and breathe new life into it.’

When you’re seven records in and you start to look back like that, does it feel like different versions of the band? Yeah, definitely. There’s definitely been eras, we’ve never got stuck in one way of doing things. There’s an evolution, for good or for ill, since our first songs to now. I can find myself very quickly thinking in those terms when I hear a song from then, I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, I was trying to do this’ and that stuff changes over time and I’m glad it does because otherwise, you just make the same record again and again and no-one wants that.

Yeah. Without naming any names, for some bands it ends up becoming a process of survival and maintenance. Yeah, thankfully, we’re not in that position. I know what you mean, this idea of being a nostalgia act does not appeal very much, partly because we were at our peak three albums in so we can go back and feast on Get To Heaven-era but I have no interest in going back to Man Alive and trying to recreate that partly because we were weirdos then and we’re weirdos now, it wasn’t the glory days by any means. I’m immensely proud of what we did back then but I’m not going to try and retread it. This is an odd thing to say having just said that I went back to some old demos and put them on our new record, but those demos were rejected for reasons that I find interesting now. And I don’t feel that we need to play the games we were playing them because we’re so good at writing successfully now, I think.

Something like Cold Reactor, I didn’t labour over it and I knew as soon as it was done, it was great and I knew that would that would carry us through. It allows you to feel a bit more relaxed about creativity rather than ‘Must get that radio single or we’re doomed!’, which obviously is the burning hot coal under our butts most of the time because it’s easy to take that stuff for granted, popular songs, but you’ve got to actually write them and they’ve got to actually be popular otherwise no-one cares. Basically, every album usually comes down to one, two or three songs and if none of them have any interest, then people just go, ‘Did an album even come out?’.

Cold Reactor is a good example of the band right now, it seems to sum up all that’s great about Everything Everything and it’s become this mad radio hit. I know! We’ve watched a lot of friends’ bands struggle in this period we’ve had, 15 years now. There is a tendency to rest on your laurels or try and repeat the thing and it’s very difficult to not do that. Sometimes, I’ve done it myself when I’ve sat down and written a song and then I get to the end of it, I go, ‘Well, we did that better with X song on Arc’ and it’s like, ‘I could do this and our fans will really like it because it sounds just like us, it sounds just like Arc’ and then we’re like ‘No, into the bin with you, let’s try and take that same sensation but do something new with it’. That often comes down to the production. I think if you were to strip all of our songs of their production, then you could probably find something I’ve written now very similar to something I’ve written.

There’s a simplicity to a lot of the songs on the new album, nothing is overloaded and it makes the more outlandish stuff more potent. That’s been a big thing to learn over our careers. You’ve got the ability to do outlandish stuff, and you’ve got these players who can play really well but that isn’t enough to just present all of those things at once and expect people to go, ‘Wow!’. Some of them will, and that’s how we made our name, the prog dads, as we used to call them, that came to our shows in the very early days and just stand there and go, ‘yes, this sounds like Yes!’, and that’s fine. But that I felt like it wasn’t really a challenge. It felt like being a music student still, trying to dazzle each other with complexity and emotion slowly rose through all that and they all just fell away. I was like, ‘No, that is the hardest thing to communicate’ and that’s the challenge. That’s what the greats do is, they get your emotions and you can’t manufacture that and you certainly can’t bamboozle that into people, you have to start with a strong, simple, true, or as close to true as you can manage, emotion and then you can start having fun with it. I think that’s the thing that took us the longest to learn.

Everything Everything’s work has grown more emotional with every record. You’ve got these big concepts around them but that disguises the fact they feel a bit more personal and vulnerable each time… I think that’s what happens to humans. Twenty-three-year-olds are a strange breed to look to for sustenance when it comes to art, there’s a rawness to being that age, it’s an age of discovery. And that stuff is very exciting but there’s no real reason why someone older would create like that or go to that well, it actually gets quite sad when people try to go to that well. Now I’m older and I’m more of an emotional person and I’m less about fireworks and more about volcanoes! I don’t know how to put it, there’s something much deeper now when I create than when I was a young punk.

On that note, rather than me crowbar into an incredibly long question, why don’t you sum up the concept of Mountainhead? It’s extremely simple, a one metaphor fits all type-deal. I knew I wanted to sing about capitalism but not put too fine a point on it. I mean, it’s not a very subtle metaphor. But I knew there were certain elements of it that I wanted to get across, namely the Sisyphean sort of feeling of it being pointless and also, the fact that there’s this trade-off between building the mountain but having to live in the dark, which was a big touchstone for me when I read Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher, this sense that our lives are getting worse in some ways, that the more we progress we’re becoming more isolated and we’re shutting off large parts of our humanity in the search for this goal of ever expanding and growing our economy and trying to climb the ladder. It’s simple enough that you can’t really fault it, I’m not saying this is exactly how we live, there’s not enough to it for it to fail. It’s something everyone gets straight away.

A lot of the lyrics touch on that theme but which of the songs is the most personal to you that veer away from the concept? Probably The Witness, that’s definitely not really related to the concept. That’s pretty personal. There’s a line in there about this… I shot this bird with an air rifle when I was a kid. I walked into the shed and I saw it, this cute little chaffinch or whatever and it just sat there looking at me and then I picked up the air rifle, I knew where it was and I killed it.

You bastard! I know, I’m telling you this now cos I felt bad, I’m not saying it was a good thing! For some reason that came back to me. During the very early sessions on the album, we’d all gone away somewhere and when we got back, Alex went up to his studio at the top of his house and a pigeon had got into the room and thrashed and thrashed to get back out for four days, there’s like blood all over, feathers everywhere. I was like, ‘Guys, this is a sign… we’re gonna call it The Pigeon!’. Obviously we didn’t but birds do get into it - Canary obviously is a song there - and this thing about that bird and it flew into my head. That’s very personal. But then the rest of the song is about some fucked up stuff that happened to me in the pandemic that haven’t properly been able to talk about in these situations because it’s a bit too personal, basically. A lot of Raw Data Feel was about trying to deal with that as well. I should’ve called it Raw Data Deal. That’s the only moment I’ve given over to that thing on this newest album, the last song. I haven’t actually been able to listen back to it because it makes me too emotional when I think about what it’s really about. But that’s not for public consumption, it’s not needed.

Fair enough. Tell me about the dynamic between the four of you, because that seems like a really important point in your longevity. Apart from a very early line-up change, it’s been the four of you the whole way. Yeah, it’s great. We’ve settled into our roles over the last 15 years. Alex [Robertshaw, guitarist and keyboards] is very much the producer now and by way of that, he’s ended up writing a lot of the guitar and keyboard parts, which I would usually write more of in the past. I’ve become completely consumed by the emotion of getting the message across in the lyrics and stuff like that, as well as obviously writing songs. But in terms of how they sound, I’m less and less involved or concerned, that’s Alex’s playground more. Mike [Spearman, drummer] and Jez [Pritchard, bass] are very good at taste-making. Me and Alex do 98% of the composition and then those guys are much more like, ‘Well, I feel like this is a good way for us to go or this is better than this one,’ things you can’t really tell when you’re the creator and you think everything’s great. They’re also really good at the whole business side of the band, which is the less romantic end but incredibly important. So talking to accountants and they’re having meetings with the labels and Mike’s producing the videos, getting organised, all the stuff that me and Alex being “the creatives” are terrible at because we have the luxury of being terrible at them. Those guys fill in the gaps and they’re really, really good at that. Jez is really good at meeting people and all that kind of shit, so it works really well. You’ve got at least one person covering every possible angle. I’m doing a lot of the visual stuff now. I’m designing a lot of the visual side of the band, basically most things that we’re tweeting or videos is all being done by me. As a unit we could basically do this by ourselves... if someone gave us loads of money, which is how we operate.

My last question is a random one but it’s been on my mind. On Christmas Day, you dug up a four-year-old Liam Gallagher tweet where he called the producer Dave Sardy “Dave Sardine”, and I wanted to know how your Christmas Day mind had been drawn back to that. Haha! Well, when it happened someone tweeted it to me and I thought was funny and I retweeted then. Then recently, I remembered it and I went to see if it was still there. It was and I was like, ‘I’m gonna save that for Christmas Day’ - it wasn’t related to what I was up to. It’s just like, right, ‘Christmas Day, time to tweet my favourite tweet’. It will always be my favourite tweet because it’s how angry he is about Dave Sardine. It’s so good.

The full article is available on substack.

[harryforvogue]

the one where mia still hates horror movies and harry gets distracted far too easily. this contains smut and is about 4k words. happy reading <3

***

“I do not want to watch this,” Mia says for the fourth time in the past ten minutes. Normally, her insistence of not trying anything new would bother Harry, who’s typing the movie’s title into the streaming platform for tonight's choice, but he doesn’t pay much attention to her. Because he’s waited several months for the movie to start streaming. And he’s not going to let his girlfriend talk him out of watching it.

She’s already done it once. When it came out in the movie theaters, he’d asked Mia to watch it with him, only to be hit with just a resounding “NO” that he never brought himself to ask again. It’s not as if anyone else would go see it with him anyways. His sister only goes to the movies to see comedies. Zack only goes to the cinema to fall asleep in a comfortable recliner, and anyone else would just piss Harry off too much.

He’d asked Mia once and then never again. It was a risk asking her anyways. She doesn’t like horror films. But Harry can’t help loving them. And he goes to see whatever she wants to in the cinema.

So after waiting long months and avoiding spoilers like the plague, the movie is finally out and Harry will not let his wimp of a girlfriend stop him from enjoying it.

So he shrugs in response to her petulance and flips the duvet back over her side of the bed. “Fine. Then, don’t.”

“But I want to spend time with you.”

He flips the duvet again, patting the mattress invitingly. “Then come.”

“No.”

Flip. “Okay.”

“Why can’t we watch something we both want?”

“Because I have been waiting for this movie for a long time and I haven’t seen a decent horror film in months. Look.” He sighs and gestures to the shopping bag he came home with. “I’ve got your favorite snacks. And you don’t have to watch all of it. Just come here and look away when it gets really bad.”

Harry removes a bag of popcorn and opens it. He pops one in his mouth and smiles, tilting his head back on the stack of pillows behind him. He holds his hand out. “Come here, baby.”

“No. I don’t like you.”

“Mhmm. Come here.”

She stares at him for several long seconds and then gives in, reaching for his hand. Harry knows she’s not going to be able to resist him.

Mia’s spent the entire day following him around like a lost puppy, running her hand over his face. He’s grown out a bit of stubble, which Mia is completely enamored by. She’s not a fan of facial hair normally, but he’s tidied it up a lot. He’s cleaned up his upper cheeks and neck. She’s kissed his face several times today.

She’s also been very vocal about his hair. The way one side of it flops over his brow. It’s long enough now that his curl pattern is returning. It’s more like a wave right now, but Mia seems to be loving it.

He slides her closer once she’s in bed, settling the duvet around her. She even opens her mouth when he presses popcorn to her lips.

“Can you just tell me when something is about to happen?”

Mia’s already got her arms around him, laying right beneath his shoulder. She takes a deep breath, but Harry knows she’s actually taking in his scent. She does it a lot. He especially loves it when her shoulders relax after she smells him. He wraps his arm around her waist.

“I haven’t seen the movie so I don’t know when it’ll get scary but I’ll try my best.”

She’s not satisfied with that answer, judging by the way she slides down and mumbles something along the lines of “yeah, whatever”.

He presses play and then reaches over to turn his lamp off.

Mia immediately complains, “No, it’s too dark. Now it’ll get too scary.”

Harry takes a small handful of popcorn and pushes it into her mouth. “Shut up.”

She accepts the popcorn and chews angrily. But at least she stays silent after that.

The movie starts the way all horror movies do: happy. And Mia watches silently. Somewhere around the five minute mark, she reaches for Harry’s hand and tucks it under her chin. Occasionally, she’ll press a kiss to it before returning her attention to the screen.

But of course, the tensions begin to brew, and Mia’s hand tightens around Harry’s, almost to the point of discomfort. And after the first jumpscare (and scream from Mia), Harry sighs and raises the duvet, throwing it over her head. 

“Just stay there until the scene passes,” he says, partially to help her, but mostly to avoid his eardrum bursting from her next scream.

She slides down and buries her face in his stomach, whining. “I hate this.”

He pats her covered head. “I know.”

“I hate you.”

“Totally.”

“I wanna watch something else.”

“Mm, too bad.”

“I can’t breathe down here.”

“Also too bad.”

She groans and raises Harry’s shirt, putting her head against the flat plane of his stomach, where his butterfly tattoo rests. His muscles clench as he bites down a laugh. She sighs and kisses his skin before laying her cheek down.

“You know,” he says, once he’s contained himself, “saying you can’t breathe and then putting another layer over your face isn’t the smartest decision.”

“I could punch your dick right now and you wouldn’t be able to do anything,” Mia retorts.

She’s got him there. Harry knows she won’t do anything, but if he’s learned anything about her, it’s that it’s best not to provoke her to the edge of insanity.

He just pats her head and continues watching.

Mia says, “I can still hear it.”

“I can’t really help with that, baby.”

She presses her fingers to his hip, poking hard. He doesn’t shift, but he’s suddenly very aware of where her hand is. How close it is to…other places.

Her fingers walk over to the other hip, slowly, exploring his warm skin as if it’s the first time. Harry swallows and doesn’t move, letting her. He waits for her fingers to dip a little lower towards his sweats, and nearly groans when she pauses at the knot of his pants.

Without uttering a word, Mia slowly undoes the knot and waits a second as if she’s expecting him to stop her.

He would never ask her to stop.

And after a moment, she slowly drags her hand over his thighs, pushing her fingers against the rigid muscles, and then finally slides her hand into his sweats. Harry freezes, holding his breath. His screen is showing some violent scene, but his head is filled with Mia and what she’s doing. His attention is barely on the movie when she takes him into her hand.

He’s already half hard. He faintly hears her giggle. 

“Mia,” he says.

“What?” she replies innocently. Her hands move over his clothed dick, slowly, softly. Almost tenderly He knows she must be feeling how he’s getting harder by the second. Mia removes her head from under his shirt and peeks up at him out of the duvet. “What?” she repeats, dragging out the word.

“Have I ever told you what an utter pest you are?”

“Not enough clearly. Hasn’t gotten through my thick skull.”

She strokes him again, and Harry tilts his head back, staring up at the ceiling in disbelief. She has such a control on him. He reaches blindly for the remote and pauses it, thankfully at a not so gruesome scene, and lets Mia come out of her hiding spot. She grins at him, reaching up to straddle his hips. Her arms fling themselves around his neck.

The movie is completely forgotten about when Mia kisses him. He holds her tight to his chest, leaning into the kiss to reciprocate. She holds his curls between her fingers tightly, presses herself against him. Her teeth bite down on his lower lip, just the way he likes it, and she whimpers into his mouth when his own hand tangles into her hair to give it a sharp tug.

He needs to be on top of her. So he flips her over, making her laugh in the process, and pins her wrists down to the mattress. Her eyes are lit with an intense fire, her pretty mouth pink, and her hips raising to meet his. He gathers her wrists in one hand to secure them above her head, and uses his other to open her legs, slotting himself in between.

“Just one night,” Harry whispers, kissing down her neck. She gasps and squirms under him. “I just want one night where we get to watch a movie of my choice. Why must you always act up?”

“It’s fun,” she whispers back, raising her head to kiss him. He kisses her passionately, but too briefly. Moving away from her, he works on her shorts, gently pushing them down to her calves until she’s able to kick them off herself. “Getting you all annoyed is so fun.”

“Is it?”

“Yes, because you never get angry. Just all worked up.”

“It’s an everyday thing with you.”

“That’s why you love me,” she gasps as he works on his own sweats, pushing them down and off the bed. He leans down and kisses her neck again, all the way down to her shoulders. Between her collarbones rests a pendant he bought her for her birthday a few months back and he decides he’ll leave that on. But nothing else will stay between them.

He releases her wrists and makes a quick work of removing both his shirt and hers. “Amongst other reasons, but you being the most insufferable person I have to deal with daily is definitely at the top.”

She bites away a smile and wraps her arms around his neck. “I was gonna use my mouth.”

Harry swallows. “Thought you just wanted attention.”

“That too, but I wanted to taste you.”

He lets her go, rolling off her body and sitting against the headboard. “Go ahead.”

She looks very determined suddenly. She reaches for a hair tie on her wrists, but discovers none, so Harry says, “It’s all right, I’ll do it.”

She nods. After the removal of clothes, she’s left in a tanktop and underwear, while Harry’s just in his briefs, which are also lost when she pulls them down and wraps her hand around him again. Harry can’t just not touch her, so before she begins, he pulls her closer and gently thumbs her clit through her underwear. Her eyebrows immediately scrunch with pleasure as she grinds herself against his palm, but he lets her go soon after.

“Rude,” she says, eyes already hazy. It’s so easy to get her riled up too.

He bites back a swear and watches her lean over him. She doesn’t take him into her mouth immediately. As he reaches over to turn his lamp back on, Mia slides down between his legs and kisses his thighs.

She looks up at him through her lashes and he nearly groans, the sight of her making him grow harder. He takes her hair, making it into a ponytail and lets her do her work.

She raises her head. “You can…you know.”

He absolutely knows what she means. 

Mia’s hair is very long. It’s always been long ever since he’s known her, and so he wraps the silky brown strands around his knuckles and tugs hard. She whines and lets him pull her slightly up. She opens her mouth and gently takes him in.

Her tanktop’s strap slides down her shoulders, but neither of them pay it any mind. Mia knows how to treat him well, from the careful suction of her mouth, to the hand around him that strokes him, meeting her mouth. Hot need pulses through him as she bobs her head, taking her time with him.

Harry knows that after a while, Mia gets tired of working her mouth over his cock, so he prepares himself to take over once it happens. He pulls on her hair, enjoying the sound she makes at the back of her throat when he does. He lifts his hips up, just barely, and Mia’s nails dig into his hips in response.

“Fuck,” Harry whispers, lovingly tucking her hair that’s escaped his grip away from her face. “You are unbelievable.”

Accompanied by a soft gasp, she pulls off of him, her lips shiny with spit, chest heaving for breath. “I learned from the best.”

With that nod to their previous relationship, she wraps her lips around his tip and focuses there, using her hand to run up and down his shaft. His fist tightens around her hair, his other hand grasping the duvet hard enough to make his knuckles go all white.

Mia’s eyes flutter shut and she runs her tongue along the underside of his tip where she knows it feels best.

Her cold necklace dragging along the inside of his thigh mixed with the heat of her mouth makes him go near insane. He tugs on her hair, mumbles praises, and throws his head back in pleasure.

“Going to treat you so good after this,” he whispers, raising his hips again. She chokes softly, but doesn’t mind. “You deserve the world for how good you make me feel.”

It’s not a new promise, per se. Mia’s been hinting about how Harry’s facial hairy may feel between her legs. 

She hums in agreement and doubles her efforts. Harry slowly begins to work with her, carefully pushing down the way she likes whenever she’s sucking him off. He’s been told by Mia that she likes the encouragement from him. He never pushes it too far, but he’s not one to deny her of anything. When he brushes against the back of her throat, she chokes again, pulling up for air.

“Sorry, baby,” he murmurs, running his thumb over her mouth. He smears her left over lip tint from the day.

“It’s okay,” she says, her voice hoarse. “You wanna take over?”

“Sure.” He releases her hair and lets her adjust herself before handing herself over to him. “Actually.” He says, reaching over a pillow. He throws it over the side of the bed and sits up. “That’ll be easier.”

She nods, getting up. She slides off the side of the bed and then kneels between his thighs when he goes to sit on the edge as well. He gathers her hair back into a ponytail. “Comfortable?”

“Yeah.” She looks up at him with wide eyes, smiling. She rests her cheek on his thigh and closes her eyes briefly. Harry presses his thumb to her mouth and lets her suck on his finger for a moment. When she bites down on him, he decides it’s enough, pulling on her hair to get her back up.

In a flash, she’s ready to go again, opening her mouth. She doesn't need to do anything this time, letting Harry guide her head and set the pace. He’s not gentle about it. Neither of them are in the mood for gentleness.

He presses in and out of her quickly, enjoying the scrunch of her nose and the fire in her eyes as she keeps up the best she can, eyes trained solely on him. When she coughs, Harry pulls out, just leaves the tip on her tongue. After she clears her throat, he pushes in again and keeps pushing until her eyes close and she focuses on not choking.

“I fucking love you,” he breathes. He drags one hand down the side of her jaw and then wraps his hand carefully around her neck. Her eyes fly open, tears in them. He releases her neck and wipes a stray tear from her eyelash. “So much. You make my life so much better, Mia.”

She makes a noise that identifies something along the lines of “is this really the time to be saying these things?” and Harry laughs through the tightness in his lower stomach. After a few more bobs, Harry releases her and lets her breathe.

Mia turns her head and coughs once. Then she turns back to him.

“Don’t really feel like coming in your mouth today,” Harry murmurs, sliding his thumb back into her awaiting mouth. She blinks the tears out of her eyes.

“Why not?” she asks around his finger, blinking up at him.

“Have something else in mind.”

Her eyes light up with excitement. Harry’s plans for the bedroom are always amazing, no matter how spontaneous.

“Bend over the bed,” he says, standing up to give her space. “And take off the top. I’m hot just from looking at you in clothes still.”

She hurries to do as she’s told. She’s done taking off her tank top when Harry returns from the closet with one of her vibrators. He goes to the bathroom to wash it off quickly and when he’s back, she’s bent over the bed, looking up at him, intrigued.

“Here,” he says, handing it over to her. She takes it, and then he disappears behind her. She peeks over at him, but he just pushes her underwear down, kissing her spine. He seems to kiss every vertebrae, her hips, and her thighs. But finally, he stands up, carefully spreads her legs, and slowly pushes into her.

Mia’s gasps and Harry whispers, “Fuck.”

He starts at an even pace, spreading his hands over her hips. He doesn’t pull her along with him when he retreats. Instead, he fucks her into the mattress, his speed building gradually.

“Fuck! Harry, I– wait Can… I use this?” Mia asks, her eyes closed, holding the wand tightly in her grasp.

“Yes, go ahead, baby.”

She doesn’t need to be told twice. She slides her arm between her legs and turns the wand on, pressing it to her clit. Immediately, she cries out, her free hand holding the sheets hard. Harry drags his hand over the skin of her back, enjoying the way her muscles tense and release with every thrust he gives her. Mia’s mumbling into the sheets, swearing, moaning.

Harry presses his hand against her shoulder blades and makes her drop her head to the mattress. Her whimpers are muffled but nonstop. Her shoulders shake with emotion as Harry holds himself up by resting a hand on the mattress, speeding up his thrusts.

She takes him so well, his body hot from the feel of her walls around him. He could stay here for days. Weeks. Just basking in her warmth, the sound of her pleasure filled cries, her trembling thighs.

His thrusts deviate from relying on speed to intensity. They begin to get harder, and she jolts every time he gives her a rough thrust. When she picks her head up to breathe, she’s sobbing, “I love you. I love you. I love you so much, it feels so good. So good. Feels so fucking good. You always feel so fucking–”

“Fuck,” Harry says with an edge of a laugh. He has to hold her hips to make sure her knees don’t give out from such pleasure. “I love you too, baby.”

“No,” she cries, “like I really really love you.”

He laughs again, digging his fingers into her hips. It’ll leave marks and he’ll be kissing the bruises later, apologizing while Mia cards her own fingers through his hair gently, assuring him it’s all right. “I know,” he says now. “That’s why you’re going to come for me, right?” Mia’s already nodding her head before he’s finished with his sentence. “Going to show me how much you love me, isn’t that right?”

“Yes, yes, yes, please, yes!”

“Go ahead then, my love. Show me.”

Mia gasps and near shrieks at the intensity of her orgasm, and her pulsating walls send her spiraling towards his own orgasm. She holds her vibrator to her clit throughout the entire time, sobbing into the sheets with her eyes tightly shut. His hands hold her hips tight as he buries himself inside of her one last time, groaning through his release. He drops his head against her back and catches his breath, still kissing her skin while his lungs ache.

The sound of the vibrator falling against the floor makes both of them open their eyes and glance at each other. Harry’s the first one to laugh, wrapping his arms around her when her knees finally give out and she nearly falls on the floor. He holds her up and gently helps her back onto the bed when she dramatically lays on her front, sniffling.

“Are you alright?”

Mia nods. “Mhmm.”

“You sure?”

“Positive.”

Harry wipes her face clean of any tears. Her hair is covering half her face and he fixes that so he can see into her pretty grey eyes. Her lip looks red from her biting down on his, her cheeks flushed.

“I love you,” he whispers, poking her cheek.

“I can tell,” she croaks back. He smiles, throwing the duvet over her naked body to make sure she doesn’t get cold. She seems too tired to do anything but lay there.

So Harry is the one who gets up to go to the bathroom and clean himself off. He returns with a washcloth, flips her over, kisses her softly for several long seconds, and then wipes the remainder of the makeup from her face, as well as the inside of her thighs.

Mia watches him do all of it with tired eyes, running her hand gently through his hair. His curls are all messy. “I like your hair like this,” she says when Harry’s folding the washcloth. He tosses it into the hamper and turns his head to kiss her palm.

“I thought you liked my long hair.”

“I did. But this is so nice too.”

He kisses her palm again, leaning down to kiss her mouth next. “You are so nice.” He kisses her slowly, savoring her taste.

She suddenly smiles, finding the strength to push herself up to her elbows. Harry’s busy kissing down her neck to her breasts, his arms tight around her when she says, “No more movie tonight.”

He laughs. “Was this all a plan of yours?”

“Nope, but it worked out great, didn’t it?”

“Yeah, but I’m really in the mood to finish the movie now.”

Mia frowns. “What? No. No!”

“Come on, baby. It was just getting good.”

Mia’s already putting her head back under the covers. “Nope. No. Absolutely not. No way.”

Harry laughs, resting his body on top of hers. Mia peeks her head back out and wheezes from his weight, but he just kisses her face repeatedly. “Alright. No movie. Just kiss me a little bit, yeah?”

The color returns to her face when she manages to shove him off. “Fine! Just. Turn the light off and come back to me, please.”

And with that command, Harry is once reminded that he’s not the type to ever say no to his love. He does as he's told.

[centipedelightning]

Hear me out Val

Sans, Papyrus, Red and Edge (separate) with an S/O that has a huge crush on. One of the fictional guys to ever; Kronk from The Emperor’s New Groove and watches the movie every weekend

toni you're so real omg. kronk is The Man Ever. This is gonna be a bit short sorry lmao

| UT/UF x gn!Reader || Romantic || Fluff |

Sans

Sans is secure in himself and your relationship to not get Genuinely jealous.

That doesn't mean he won't be super annoying jokingly though.

His ass is sat every weekend to watch it with you but just know that he will throw himself across your lap whining lightheartedly if you ever vocally crush on Kronk.

"you like him more than meeeee. oh woe is meeee"

It's remixes of that for the Entire film.

Start talking about Kronk too much and he'll just slap a boney hand on your face.

Papyrus

Papyrus is Kronk is a different font come on now.

He loves watching Emperor's New Grove with you because he genuinely enjoys the movie.

He has tried to replicate some of Kronk's recipes from the beginning of the movie with you for your watch party.

The success of that attempt is solely on your cooking skill and ability to wrangle the guy in the kitchen.

Papyrus will pause the movie to get up and pose for any scene you are clearly crushing extra hard on.

He had been planning a couple's costume with him as Kronk.

Red

Kronk is so wildly different from Red and he knows it.

He pouts the whole movie.

He attends every viewing every weekend just to sit there and moderate.

Despite his pouting, he does love the movie and will quote lines as they happen. He'd never admit it but he also has a crush on Kronk.

If you ever manage to pull that information out of him, you two can bond over shared thirst.

Edge

Shameless.

No matter what you say about Kronk, Edge will loudly and proudly proclaim all the ways he's better.

Similar to Papyrus, he also tries to make a few foods Kronk does.

Dissimilarly, you have no hope of stepping in to save the food and it comes out burnt to a crisp and completely inedible.

It's up to you whether you want to take a bite.

If you start playing up the thirst, he will just (playfully) wrestle you off the couch or bed to shut you up.

[squeakybit]

The DAMN Fam Spotify Playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/25JoiJWm91JmYrC2WM5ifA?si=OEMzJS7bSSmXGrskN56UxA

The DAMN Crew has a Spotify playlist that Freelancer (Lev) started during one of their classes and invited the others to add to it.

Lev added “Wasteland” from NEONIE first. They've always liked the music, but after the inversion the line “got my pack, my pride, my brothers” hit a little different. They wanted the guys to know just how much they all meant to them.

When told that this playlist was to unwind and just enjoy each other's vibe, Lasko was, surprisingly, the next to add a song, choosing Girl in Red, loving the carefree summer vibe. He'd listen to ”I wanna be your girlfriend” while grading papers or documenting notes in his guidance counselor cases. He used to picture Lev in place of “Hannah” in the song, especially when they started hanging out one on one. “I don't wanna be your friend, I wanna kiss your lips” when he added that song, a slight flash of those feelings returned, but with his new partner in the kitchen making them coffee, he shrugged it off. He just likes Girl in Red.

Gavin likes jazz. The slow smooth music and round vocals. It's classy. The song "Fly me to the moon” played in a movie he and Lev watched very early on in their relationship. His hand on their hip, their head on his chest, he listened to them hum along, and the moment had been so perfect. He deemed it their song. He'd drown himself in it if he could. The version by The Macarons Project is his favorite.

Lev added Can't fight this feeling anymore to the playlist, dedicating it to Huxley and Damien after they'd all watched Rock Of Ages together. Huxley finds it funny and a bit sweet, listening to it whenever he's at work and missing Damien. Damien is embarrassed, feeling called out, but will listen to it and fantasize being held by Huxley like that. (Happens fairly often in the bedroom)

Heaven by Julia Michaels was put in by Lev in honor of Gavin, and after he actually listened to the words, he rifted right in the middle of a crowded DAMN-owned bus and into the apartment where he saw the walking out of the bathroom and he picked them up off the ground in a hug and kiss.

Pure imagination by Kathleen it's a lullaby for caelum that Lev found sometime after the inversion and before Caelum returned from Aria. They put it on the playlist too listen to when they missed him with the determination to sing it for him if he ever had an emotional attack like that again.

Stressed Out by Twenty One Pilots - The first song that Damien added to the playlist. He'd never say it to them but he loved TØP during adolescence, and only justified it by “well aren't we?” he says it's too relatable.

Centuries by fallout boy - Huxley added this for no other reason than immaculate vibes.

Warriors and bad liar by Imagine Dragons - Huxley added both of these to add some pump to his morning jogs. He loves Imagine Dragons and wants to get his friends into it.

I hear a symphony by Cody Fry - Lev added this song immediately after hearing it as a Spotify suggestion and got really emotional, sending a voice memo to the group chat, telling everyone to listen to the song and that they loved all of them.

Gavin added Immortal by Reinaeiry to the playlist after finding it coincidentally during an internalization of the Damn crew’s - particularly Freelancer’s - mortality. The lyrics made him cry, and he walked around the apartment parking lot around 2am while Lev slept soundly. These nights happened often as the years went on, but especially around each of their birthdays and he always feels guilty for feeling a littlesad while everyone else is having a blast.

[flamingplay]

Everything Everything's Mountainhead: a Track-by-Track commentary from AppleMusic

Everything Everything lead vocalist Jonathan Higgs thinks that the thread running all the way through the Manchester quartet’s catalogue is the urge to encapsulate the effect on humanity of living in this time. “That’s really what all our albums are about,” Higgs tells Apple Music. “It’s a varying degree of looking inward and outward, observing how it feels to be alive in this place in this time. This one is very much looking outward for the most part.” “This one” is Mountainhead, Everything Everything’s seventh record and another astounding leap forward from one of the UK’s most inventive bands. It mixes pulsing synths and gleaming guitar licks, euphoric electro grooves and art-rock dynamism—music where the strange and the soothing seamlessly overlap.

The album pairs a dystopian concept about a society which has built a huge mountain and its people live in the shadowed pit it has created at the bottom (a “Mountainhead” is someone who believes the mountain must continue to grow taller no matter the cost) with some of their most rhapsodic pop hooks yet. It’s all been created with the confidence that there is an audience for this sound. “It always feels like we’ve got a lot of goodwill from the last thing we did, so a lot of people are waiting for the next thing we do,” says Higgs. “I think people really liked the last record [2022’s Raw Data Feel] and this one’s better.” This is the sound of Everything Everything on the crest of a wave, confidently hitting new peaks seven albums into their career. Allow Higgs to guide you on a journey to the top of Mountainhead, track by track.

“Wild Guess”

“This was a little demo we made on tour with Foals back in 2017 or something. I put a vocal on it but it was all sung an octave up from what you hear, which was ridiculous. We happened to rediscover it and were like, ‘Remember how ridiculous this song was? Maybe it’s fine to do it now.’ There was just something about the confidence of that big fat solo beginning the record, no vocal for ages and it’s not very nicely played. It’s the same recording Alex [Robertshaw, guitarist and keyboardist] did backstage into his laptop all those years ago. It just felt like this was a good way to start a record, basically, like, ‘Fuck you. Here’s your big fat solo that sounds awful and you’re going to have to wait for your vocal.’”

“The End of the Contender”

“This is vaguely about Ronnie Pickering [ex-boxer who went viral in 2015 for a road rage incident] and people of his ilk, but it’s also about the creep of capitalism and how it’s seeping into everything. I’ve tried to put a reference to money or electricity on every song, so he talks a lot about it in that song—whoever ‘he’ is. Obviously, ‘It’s all about the Benjamins’ is quite a cheeky thing to sing in the chorus, but I don’t think I’m going to get sued for it.”

“Cold Reactor”

“This is setting out the stall of the record. It really hinges on the human element of it and the desperation of it. The ‘I haven’t left the house’ line, somebody being quite isolated and communicating through screens and emojis, felt very relatable. There’s a sad longing for connection that you can’t quite get to that runs through it and because it has this rushing feeling of everything coming to a point, it really emphasises the desperation of it. It was a question of getting the right sort of heartbreaking-versus-hopeful tone and trying to get across a lot of exposition in the verses in quite a short time. It feels like a film script in terms of its simplicity.”

“Buddy, Come Over”

“This is about cancel culture a little bit, it’s got this dark-side- and underworld-type feeling to it. There’s a line, ‘Make me a website so I can completely ruin my life’ and that made the guys laugh quite a lot. Sometimes when that happens, we’re just like, ‘Yeah, let’s go down this path.’ It fell together quite easily, it was more like a really fun one to play live, like, ‘What can we play that feels good in the moment rather than trying to get all these tracks on the go.’”

“R U Happy?”

“This is about the effect of isolation, living in cities, living now and asking the question, ‘Are you happy? Does all this stuff make you happy?’ in the simplest way I could, which is to literally say, ‘Are you happy?’ over and over again. There’s definitely a through line of being an animal and the ‘dance in a skeleton way’ line was me saying if there’s a skeleton there, you’re dead but if there’s a skeleton there, you’re alive as well, talking about being alive and trying not to be sad all the time.”

“The Mad Stone”

“This is more about the religious element to the idea [of the album]. It’s more like a spiritual song in its presentation and its content. It sounds like an argument between two or three people who really believe in this idea of the mountain and people who are very doubtful about it. The thing on top of the mountain [in the chorus] is this big mirror that reflects you over and over again into infinity—that’s the more magical element of what might be at the top of the mountain. I was trying to come up with a metaphor for an idea of something that would be an actual goal that someone might want to get to, but it’s also really obviously selfish and self-aggrandising. It took an afternoon of singing it to get the chorus right, getting it so it just didn’t sound silly—being understood and not sound like I’m mumbling.”

“TV Dog”

“This was a demo that Alex had made that he called ‘Coney Island’ and we all thought it sounded like a New York string quartet. Coupled with that title, it opened up a few little avenues on the record, some strings that appear on other songs. I had about twice as many lyrics and we were like, ‘Is this song going to develop into a bigger thing? Are we going to bring the drums in?’ and then we were like, ‘The most poignant thing you can do is just hear it for a minute and a half, a couple of good lines and then it’s gone.’ Alex went down to a cathedral and recorded loads of ambience in there and put that all over the track in the background, so you get this sense of it being in a huge space.”

“Canary”

“If some of the other songs feel like you’re on the mountain, this one’s very much in the pit, it’s being in the dark. It’s the canary in a coal mine, a warning song that just so happens to fit very well with the larger concept. It’s the darkest underbelly of the album and the imagery is the most fucked up. It feels like a warning about something bad that’s coming, which tends to be where I often find myself as a character in my songs—as a warning character. This was a big production number for Alex, I think he wanted it to be a bit Björk or something.”

“Don’t Ask Me to Beg”

“I started with layering up vocals, I was trying to make a kind of choir thing. I was listening to Massive Attack, even though they don’t really use choirs. We tried different rhythmic schemes for ages to try and get it sounding less white-boy funk and cool. It took us ages working on the drums, actually, and then trying to re-record all of those cluster vocals. I think we just gave up in the end and used the demo ones, so no one knows how to sing those parts. If we have to do it live, we’re going to struggle!”

“Enter the Mirror”

“This is about a friend of mine who was struggling and I wasn’t sure if he was going to make it through. It’s a song about singing to him as if he was gone and remembering our childhood. I haven’t really worked out what it means yet. I think I wanted to say that we’re both the same deep down, even though there’s two of us. But there’s also the mirror on top of the mountain, which might be like you find yourself if you go into it. I don’t know, I’m still a bit too close to that song to even fully say.”

“Your Money, My Summer”

“This was another demo from around the same time as ‘Wild Guess’, something that we thought was just a bit too silly to do something with back then and now, I guess we didn’t. In the past, we would have had a litany of reasons why we wouldn’t do that and now it was like, ‘This is good.’ It’s definitely the most relaxed track of ours you’ll ever find. You won’t find us playing like that anywhere else, a sort of Chili Peppers rhythm section. We would usually run a mile from that stuff but we were just like, ‘Why are we running?’ It’s an example of us being relaxed with each other.”

“Dagger’s Edge”

“This was an older demo. It always had that feeling of being a song of two halves. I think I wrote the second half and Alex wrote the first. We’d binned it because we thought it was too silly. It does sound pretty light-hearted in the first bit, but then the tone changes. I’m taking the piss out of somebody and saying a lot of ridiculous things and then suddenly just turn into this really desperate old wise man on a mountain. No other band could do that and I really believe that that’s very much our thing—a song that sounds like Dr. Dre and I’m taking the piss out of a guy, calling him those ridiculous names, and then suddenly, a harpsichord comes in and it’s turned into a really existential thing about everyone turning into bacon.”

“City Song”

“This is another one that’s got that New York strings thing going on. I wrote the demo and it was much more hip-hoppy. It’s got a hip-hop speed, but, stylistically, that’s been shed. I was trying to do like a David Byrne-style lyric, the sadness of mundanity or trying to make mundane things special. I think there was also some elements of the Mark Fisher book Capitalist Realism, where he was talking about how impersonal it can be to work for a big company where no one really knows each other. I wanted to get across that feeling of isolation, but also no one really knowing who you are and no one knowing each other, living under the lights of the city and it all being very anonymous.”

“The Witness”

“I’ve barely listened back to this because it makes me quite emotional. It was about witnessing somebody go through a weird transition, thinking that it might be a kind of religious experience. It was written on guitars but Alex swapped out the guitars for synths because it sounded like a Radiohead-type song, two guitars picking and a sad guy with a falsetto. It was just like, ‘People would like it but this is really music from 25 years ago that we could do standing on our heads.’ It’s what we were trained to do, we’re good at it, but it wasn’t pushing us in any direction. So we swapped out the guitars for synths and we made a few other weird changes.