wide awake from the breeze
(buddie) (2.2k) i swore i was going to write something for @summerofbuddie so here i am with something on the last possible day lol. very in character of me. title from blue sky & the painter which i will continue to push as The eddie diaz song for season 8
The air is crisp and cold, and finally, finally, Eddie can breathe.
The San Gabriels are beautiful this time of year, but it’s hard to appreciate the changing leaves when he’s watching Buck. Their color could never compete with his light.
Buck’s fingers tap against the steering wheel as he hums along to a song Eddie’s certain has repeated at least three times in the past two hours. He’s beautiful like this. He’s always beautiful, actually, but Eddie thinks this might be his favorite version of Buck. Happiness suits him.
They’ve been tumbling towards something since Buck broke up with Tommy, since Eddie finally let loose the words that have been stuck in his throat for years. For once in his life, Eddie isn’t overly worried about time. For once in his life, he’s got plenty of it.
They reach a scenic overlook, and Buck pulls over. He takes his sunglasses off and drops them on the dashboard, then looks over at Eddie and grins.
“See,” Buck says brightly, “I told you it’d be worth the drive.”
Eddie twists in his seat so he can face Buck a little more directly. His curls are wild from the wind, and his eyes glow in the late afternoon sun. “I didn’t doubt you for a second,” Eddie murmurs.
Buck’s smile grows impossibly wider. The foliage doesn’t stand a chance. “You want to get out for a little? Stretch our legs?” he asks.
“Yeah,” Eddie agrees easily.
There’s a trailhead just a few hundred feet away, and Buck bounds toward it eagerly.
“Half a mile out and back?” he calls over his shoulder after studying the map for a second, as if there’s anywhere Eddie wouldn’t follow him.
“Let’s do it,” Eddie replies as he sidles up next to Buck.
Buck smiles at him again, and it’s a little like watching the first light of dawn stretch across the horizon.
They mostly walk in silence, but every few minutes Buck pauses to point out a particular tree or bird. It’s kind of incredible, the way he latches onto information and then gifts it to Eddie in a single excited breath. Eddie’s got his own personal guidebook to the world, and he makes everything feel new and special.
The trail ends at the bank of a small, placid lake surrounded by rocky outcroppings. Buck sits on one and pulls Eddie down next to him.
The sky above them is cloudless and clear, a brilliant blue that’s reflected in the water. A few leaves drift slowly across the surface, leaving behind tiny wake trails. It’s peaceful in a way Eddie’s rarely gotten to experience in his life. He isn’t sure he’d even be capable of appreciating that if it weren’t for Buck.
“I think I want to do this forever,” Eddie says as they stare out across the lake.
Buck knocks his knee against Eddie’s. “What?” he asks, “Watch the leaves turn?”
Eddie looks at him and finds a soft smile that tells him Buck knows exactly what he means. “Yeah,” he says, knocking his knee back, “something like that.”
For a long moment, Buck holds his gaze. “Yeah,” he says finally, “me too.”
Eddie leans to the side, allowing his weight to settle against Buck’s shoulder. He tries not to worry anymore about whether or not he deserves to have someone like Buck in his life. He has him. Buck picks him, over and over again, and even though Eddie’s not sure he’ll ever quite manage to wrap his head around it, he’s long since decided the only way he needs to feel about that is grateful. And god is he grateful.
Buck closes his eyes and tips his face toward the sun. His cheeks are tinged with pink, and it’s hard to tell if it’s the cold, the beginnings of a sunburn, or something else entirely that’s caused it. Eddie finds that he wants to know, wants to press his fingers to Buck’s skin and see if the redness fades or grows.
It’s an impulse he could give in to; Buck would let him. There’s something about this moment he wants to freeze though, and if he moves it’ll change. Instead, he watches. He commits every detail to memory. When he’s old and gray and everything else is fading, this will be what he remembers.
A gust of wind blows down through the valley, and Buck shivers with it, nose scrunching. He opens his eyes and looks at Eddie. “I’m cold,” he admits with a sheepish smile.
“You’re always cold,” Eddie says, voice dripping with fondness.
Buck tilts his head in acknowledgement. He flexes his fingers a few times, probably stiff in the autumn air.
“C’mere,” Eddie says a little nonsensically. Buck will understand.
Buck holds his hands out and Eddie takes them. He vigorously rubs at them until they’re satisfyingly friction warm. He keeps them when he’s done, holding them together between his palms to protect them from the wind. Buck ducks his head and grins.
“You’re like a space heater,” he says, shuffling impossibly closer.
“And you’re like an icepack,” Eddie replies.
Buck blows out a soft, amused breath. “Makes me handy to keep around in the summer,” he quips.
“I always want you around.”
Another version of Eddie might’ve hesitated, might’ve buried that instinctive reply as far down as possible, shoved it next to all the things he refused to examine. Too bad for that Eddie; he wouldn’t get to see the pink on Buck’s cheeks darken and spread.
“I always want you around, too,” Buck says, quiet, like he might scare away the moment if he speaks too loudly.
Eddie’s been waiting. For what, he’s not entirely sure. For him and Buck to be alone, though that’s hardly a rare occurrence. For all the doubtful voices in his head to go silent, but Buck’s been quieting those for years. For him to feel settled in his skin. For the world to stop turning around them long enough to do it right. All at once, Eddie feels like there’s nothing else to wait for.
“I love you,” he says, and the words taste good. They’re the icy fresh snow melt that streams down mountains in the spring, the bright tang of citrus in the summer, the spicy warmth of mulled cider in the winter, and soon, he thinks, he’ll know for certain that they taste like Buck in the fall.
A small noise spills from Buck’s mouth and he sways forward, less like he’s leaning in and more like he can’t help but be caught in Eddie’s gravity.
“Eddie,” he whispers. His eyes shine.
“Buck,” he replies.
For most of Eddie’s life, he’s been afraid. He’s pushed past it, locked it down, pretended that the twist of anxiety in his gut was never more than passing butterflies. Here, though, now, he doesn’t even feel brave. He’s too sure, Buck makes him feel too safe; there’s no fear for him to fight against.
Buck blinks a few times and swallows visibly. Eddie rubs his thumbs in soothing circles against Buck’s wrists.
“You…” Buck starts, rough and awed.
“Take your time,” Eddie says, unable to hide his amusement.
Buck huffs and kicks at Eddie’s ankle. “Forgive me for taking a second to process literally the best thing I’ve ever heard,” he retorts without any bite.
“Oh no, I mean it,” Eddie says with a wide grin. “I’ll sit here all day. I’m not cold.”
A startled laugh jumps from Buck’s throat. “Be quiet, let me finish processing,” he says.
“Process away,” Eddie murmurs.
A few seconds pass and he watches the gears turn in Buck’s mind. Eddie knows the way they like to twist and catch, but he’s not worried. They’ll have a lifetime to discard all the worst-case scenarios.
“Okay,” Buck says finally. “I’ve processed.” He pulls his hands from Eddie’s grip and raises them to his jaw. He leans in and Eddie meets him halfway.
Eddie was right, but also wrong. Buck tastes like love, yes, but he also tastes like home and joy and warmth and a little like the muscadines they’d stopped to buy from a roadside stand earlier in the day. Buck smiles against his lips and it feels like the rest of his life.
“For the record,” Buck says, pulling back just far enough to look Eddie in the eye, “I love you too.”
Eddie can’t help the bright peal of laughter that bursts from his chest. He feels free and alive and happy and everything else he was once afraid he’d never be able to. Buck skims a thumb along his cheek bone and grins.
“If you’re done, I really want to kiss you again,” Buck says once Eddie’s laughter has faded to a soft chuckle.
Eddie grips Buck’s waist and hums. “I don’t know, I think I need to process,” he teases.
“Oh, that’s fine, I’ll just sit here and freeze while you—” Buck makes a surprised noise as Eddie surges forward and cuts him off with his lips.
They break apart a second time and Eddie rests his forehead against Buck’s. “I’ve processed,” he says, quiet and smiling.
“Yeah?” Buck asks, a little breathless.
Eddie hums an affirmative. “Best thing I’ve ever heard, had to let it sink in.”
Buck presses a soft, chaste kiss to the corner of Eddie’s mouth. “It takes a second,” he agrees.
Another gust of wind blows past them. A few leaves begin their gentle descent to the ground and Buck shivers.
“Come on,” Eddie says, laughing lightly as he pulls back and stands. He holds his hands out and Buck takes them. “You’ve got a hoodie in the Jeep.”
Buck’s head tilts adorably. “I didn’t…” he says, trailing off as the confusion in his expression makes way for that quiet, disbelieving smile that seems to be reserved exclusively for Eddie.
“You’re always cold,” Eddie says with a fond eyeroll. He tugs at Buck until he stands.
“Not always,” Buck says, suddenly inches from Eddie.
Eddie swallows as a shudder of anticipation travels down his spine. “No?” he asks faintly.
Buck fixes him with a look Eddie’s seen before, though never directed at him. “Nope,” he says, eyes dark and lips curling.
The effect is lessened slightly as the breeze kicks up again and Buck cringes away from it. The tip of his nose is bright pink. Eddie wants to kiss it, so he does.
He laughs again and drops one of Buck’s hands. “Let’s go, cowboy, you can seduce me in the Jeep.”
Buck’s mouth opens and closes. “Uh, that’s—yeah, let’s do that,” he says in a rush.
They quickly make their way back up to the trailhead. Eddie can’t remember ever smiling this much, but even when his cheeks start to hurt it’s impossible to stop. He’s happy, happy in a way he didn’t even know was possible until very recently.
When they reach the overlook, Eddie pauses just long enough to lift their joined hands and press a kiss to the back of Buck’s.
Buck’s eyes widen. “When did you get so…” He gestures vaguely.
Eddie snorts. “I have game,” he says.
“No,” Buck says incredulously, “you don’t. Or—or didn’t.”
“It sounds like you think I have game,” Eddie teases.
“I think you should get in the Jeep so we can go home and test the theory,” Buck replies.
“Gonna have to let me go first,” Eddie says, nodding toward their intertwined fingers.
Buck blushes but makes no move to extricate himself from Eddie’s grip.
“Or not,” Eddie says softly.
“I just…” Buck trails off.
Eddie squeezes his hand.
“I want to remember this,” Buck says, ducking his head. “How everything feels right now.”
“Even the cold?” Eddie asks.
Buck squeezes his hand. “M’not cold,” he says.
The wind blows, and Buck crowds in closer to Eddie, trying to hide from it.
“I think you might be a little cold,” Eddie murmurs.
“Maybe I just wanted to kiss you again,” Buck replies.
Eddie grins. “Don’t let me stop you,” he says.
Buck presses a feather-light kiss to his cheek, then his nose, then the corner of his mouth. Eddie feels his cheeks heat beneath his touch.
“Okay,” he says softly. He steps back and lets go of Eddie’s hand. He fishes his keys out of his pocket and unlocks the Jeep.
Eddie climbs into the passenger seat as Buck settles in front of the wheel, just like they’ve done a thousand times before. He reaches into the back and grabs Buck’s hoodie, the slightly oversized one that he loves to wrap himself in on days just like this one. He hands it to Buck. As he watches Buck wriggle into it, he’s hit with a wave of joy all over again.
“I love you,” he says when Buck’s head pops out from the hood, just because he can.
“You’re such a sap,” Buck says, but it sounds a whole lot like I love you too.
Buck turns the key in the ignition, and the stereo comes to life playing the same song as before.
Is that a blue sky? The singer asks.
“It’s about damn time,” Eddie can’t help but sing along.
Buck grins at him and grabs his hand.
It’s about damn time.
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2024 Book Review #47 – City of Last Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky
This book was recommended to me by a few different people, and in any case I am generally a pretty big Tchaikovsky fan. So of course I’m only getting around to reading it now, however many months later. Having put it off so long for no good reason at all, I can say that the book is in fact very good. Not Tchaikovsky’s best work (that’s still Children of Time in a walk), but a good read and one that left me curious (if not exactly excited) about checking out the sequel.
The story takes place in Illmar, the eponymous City of Last Chances – scarred and oppressed, tyrannized by cursed dukes and conquering imperialists, built upon a dangerous and unreliable route to other worlds and forever attracting the sort of people with no better options available to them. While the book has any number of characters, it’s really the city itself that is the star of the story – a story of how the theft of an imperial magistrate’s ward before he makes an experimental voyage through the gateway in the woods leads to a whole series of byzantine intrigues and bloody misadventures, culminating in an abortive revolution against the Pallseen who occupy and rule them. Which in one sense is an absolutely massive spoiler and in another just feels like stating an inevitability that was obvious from the first chapter.
The book was apparently quite heavily marketed as harking back to the whole New Weird trend of a decade or two ago – marketing that is lived up to wholly and entirely. The whole book absolutely drips with Mieville and Vandermeer. The oblique worldbuilding, the mundane day-to-day life built around the opportunities and inconveniences of some intrusion of the sublime, the awkward intersection of ancient magic and industrial bureaucracy, and so on, and so forth. The Reproach in particular feels very Area X (or very Roadside Picnic, as you prefer), but in general the city feels like absolutely nothing so much as Bas-Lag with the weirdness dial turned down from an 11 to a 5 or 6.
It’s a real triumph of the book, I think, that the world genuinely feels vast and strange even beyond the points where it matters to the story - that all the little asides and the ways something affects a certain character feel like just small parts of something far grander and more uncanny than anyone can hope to understand. Maybe I’m just painfully tired of rpg-system worldbuilding, but it’s an effect I dearly love.
Much like Bas-Lag, Ilmar is very clearly a magical fantasy city going through a magical fantasy 19th century industrial revolution (instead of steam engines its demonic slave labor contracted and imported from the Kings Below). The meat of the book is playing into the whole tradition of the idealistic, virtuous but tragic liberal revolution – 1848 in Berlin or Vienna, the June Days and Commune in Paris, Warsaw a dozen different times, Les Mis. You know the type. Students singing patriotic old songs, workers rising up against class oppression, ‘revolutionaries’ who are mostly cowardly nobles pining after lost privileges and criminal syndicate putting on airs being caught flat-footed by events. You can probably tell the basic story in your sleep. But for such a venerable genre, this book's honestly probably the best rendition of ‘fantasy 1848’ I can recall. Something which won it my instant affection.
The other thing the book just overwhelming shares with the Mieville’s Bas-Lag books is a very keen sense of the necessity of revolution combined with an extreme cynicism towards anyone who might actually carry it out. The university students are sincere believers, and also naive sheep the narrative views with condescension (at best). The professional revolutionaries are all power-grabbing hypocrites who have wrapped themselves in the flag. The workers syndicates have a real sense of solidarity among themselves, and also none at all to the demon slaves that are used and broken powering the mills and factories. And so on. The overall thrust of the book is a tragedy not in the sense of railing against the inevitable, but in the sense that triumph and revolution were absolutely possible – indeed plausible – but for the flaws and frailities of the revolutionaries who might have accomplished it.
Not to say that it's misanthropic – the book is very humane towards the vast majority of its POVs. Of which there are enough for ‘vast majority’ to be a meaningful term. It was something like 130 pages in before any character got a second chapter through their eyes, a feat I had previously only seen in Malazan – and that’s not including the chorus chapters which just give a half-doze vignettes from across the city. But yes, most characters (even the ones who are really just viscerally repulsive) are shown through their own eyes as someone who is at least understandable, if not particularly sympathetic. The sheer size of the cast in a 500 page book mean that no one character or set gets that many chapters from their perspective (you could easily have written as long a book about roughly the same events with half or less of the cast), but some of the dynamics that are very lightly touched on are just incredibly compelling. Its enough to make you wish this was a series that would ever get any fanfiction written about it, really.
Given the way the book is so deeply concerned with oppression and violence on the basis of culture, class, and nation – imperial occupiers, native population, refugees and immigrants used and scapegoated by both – it is kind of fascinating that this is a world where misogyny and (possibly? Not very explored, the only example of a queer relationship we see is hardly going to be concerned by normative society) homophobia just flatly don’t exist. Which would be less interesting if it was unusual, really – the same could be said about very nearly every recent sci fi or fantasy book on the same lines I can recall. Interesting because it is very much not the case in Melville’s stuff – the cultural impact of Ancillary Justice continues to echo down the years, I guess. So yes the imperial police inspector will extort sex out of a brothel owner in exchange for not stringing up the entire workforce for peripheral involvement with the resistance, but also this is entirely gender-neutral. Something very modern about how oppression is imagined relative to the ‘90s or ‘00s (or just a different genre of self-consciously feminist novel a few book shelves to the left).
But yeah, great book, I am compelled. No idea where the sequel would be going, but will probably hunt it down sooner rather than later.
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I saw Jungkook's documentary this weekend and have just a few thoughts. If you're avoiding spoilers, don't click the cut!
The Hybe Documentary Format
So...as a reminder to you all, I do not have professional expertise in the film industry. I'm just a very discerning consumer. I also haven't seen Hobi's documentary and I watched Road to D-Day while I was quite ill last year so I only vaguely remember some bits. (I'll definitely be getting back to those sooner rather than later though as research for a series of posts I'm developing.) That being said, I think we have enough data points to state that Hybe has absolutely no interest in filmmaking techniques outside of music videos.
I did mostly enjoy my experience seeing this film yesterday and I'm always grateful for any amount of footage the members are willing to share with us but this 'documentary ' was worse than Jimin's Production Diary. Any of you that managed to make it through my rambling review will know how dissatisfied I was with that.
I Am Still is not a documentary, it's a mixture of showcase footage and behind-the-scenes clips, most of which has already been divulged in the various episodes and shooting sketches on YouTube. Honestly, if you're not able to see the film, just go rewatch all of the bangtantv content for JKs solo period and the showcase and you'll be up to speed with 85% of what was in the documentary.
There are definitely some expansions to the storylines featured in the bangtantv content; mostly being anything that wasn't overtly optimistic. For example, we learn a little bit more about just how sick JK was during the Seven/3D promotions. That content likely was pulled from the bangtantv edit because it would have put a damper on the promotions and given certain 'fans' a focus to fixate their vitriol. But overall, it feels more like an extended version of existing content rather than a new work. At least JPD didn't continually feed us footage we'd seen before.
I'm someone who gets completely bothered by previews spoiling content so I didn't watch any of the promos until after I saw it and I am so glad I skipped them because most of the 'original' scenes of the film were featured in least one of them. Alas, that's a separate issue of which I'm definitely in the minority.
Was There No Structure?
Kinda. Like JPD, there is a semblance of a structure: Attempting to follow the chronology of release activities for JKs GOLDEN album through the lens of JKs staement trying to prove that he is still worthy of everything he was being hailed as during the BTS group activities but I don't feel this was successfully executed. It jumps round enough and isn't very successful in explaining the events if you didn't already know about them. The film starts with the SEVEN performance at GMA and footage that we've already seen of JK recording SEVEN, not mentioning anything about the music video or really how JK got involved with the song in the first place. The rest of the story beats have similar missing points.
They have a vague narrative with the 'I Am Still' points but that's mostly carried by subs and a couple of moments that JK mentions himself. I'm not saying it's not true or wasn't top-of-mind for JK during this process but it's not the main point of many of the moment/messages he shared with us during this time period so it feels a little disingenuous since everything else jn this film really only makes sense if you've already seen quite a lot of behind-the-scenes content.
Honestly, it makes me question the intended audience. Obviously, they know that ARMY will shell out whatever we need to when there's new content from our members but most of us will have already seen all of the bangtantv content so we are already familiar with the most of the footage in this film. I genuinely don't think this was produced in such a way to be palatable for audiences not familiar with BTS so who does that leave? Our friends and family that are peripherally aware of the content but haven't learned the basics of JKs album? ARMY with short term memories only?
But again, it seems this film was compiled by an editing team and not lead by a director with experience in crafting a documentary. The only new footage that Ican guarantee was captured with the express purpose of being included in this film was the few clips of JK talking in the practice room with the albums displayed by him. But we all know that's where all of the promo clips were gathered as well. I have issues with that approach as well but I'll leave this point alone for now unless anyone is interested.
Suffice it to say, all of these suppositions over the past year about how JKs documentary was getting special treatment or even questioning about investment in a project up front are dead. This was a product assembled with bits of what they already had completely in-house which was sold for distribution.
So, Did We Learn NOTHING?
No, there are a few Golden nuggets (see what I did there?). I can't recall everything having only seen it once (and having a rather disruptive audience - I swear there were only dozen or so ppl in my theater but I forget how obnoxious teenagers can be. I'm glad they're enjoying and supporting but we really didn't need light sticks flashing during a film and how many times does one person need to get up to answer their phone during this runtime? Three according to the row in front of mine.)
Anyway, something I thought was interesting to learn was that Standing Next To You was initially recorded the day after JK heard it for the first time. And hearing a little more about how JK yearned to perform that song definitelygot me thinking a little more about it. We can't reach any conclusions just with this little nugget but it does open the door to some theories. Like perhaps they were initially planning to have JK record two separate albums? SEVEN and 3D would be the singles of the first and JK would perform them as we saw but perhaps STNY was originally planned to be the single of the 2nd album that would release while he was in the military and thus be unable to perform it? Maybe JK loved STNY so much that everything was grouped into one album and Never Let Go was the only track held back for ms? Definitely some theorizing space to be had now.
Final thoughts?
Similar to my thoughts on the GCF: Budapest (which I feel would have had a much better reception if it had been labeled as a bangtan episode rather than a GCF), I AM Still should not have purported to be a documentary. It was much more similar to the annual Memories compilations. But the general public would not have shelled out the $25 to go to a theater to watch a Memories DVD so alas, we have our content packaged as a ~documentary~...
Did my view on the music change at all? Not because of the documentary. We're coming up on the year anniversary of GOLDEN and it's still definitely not my favorite. I completely understand why some people like it but it's just not to my taste. The overall impact falls a little flat for me. Too much breadth and not enough depth. I came into my musical soul during the 00s emo phase and will always be a sucker for music that absolutely drips in an emotional way rather than catchy songs vaguely referencing heartache and love. Again, just a matter of viewpoint.
I do think most of these songs stand much better being shuffled amongst other artists in a Playlist and several of them are significantly better when JK sang them live but I still won't be listening to them regularly. I wholeheartedly believe JK completed his task of proving himself as an extremely dedicated and versatile singer and performer. He's definitely got some solid points added to his resume after this project.
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divine.
-> pairing: nanami x fem! reader
-> summary: the moment you walk down the aisle, nanami realizes just how deeply in love he is with you.
-> cw/ tw: nothing (suprisingly lmao).
-> wc: 430 (dang, i fell off T-T)
-> song inspo: die with a smile - lady gaga, bruno mars.
-> an. suprise! it's yena! yes, i'm alive, yes i wrote this, yes, this sucks. i suck at writing fluff, but what are you expecting from someone who's 20 and still never even held hands with a boy romantically (please help me, i want to stop being single PLEASE)💀😭
starting a new masterlist for certain fics that were inspired by certain songs, so make sure to keep an eye out for what is basically my way of giving out song recs lmao
apologies about not writing more often, i'm just much more of reader then i am a writer so I've just been reading a crap ton, so I'm sorry!!!
forgive me, i'll write more angst i promise 🙏
main masterlist. | yena's playlist.
✎ xoxo, yena.
“i, i just woke up from a dream.
where you and i had to say goodbye.
and i don’t know what it all means.
but since i survived, i realized
wherever you go , that’s where i’ll follow.”
there were no words to describe the feelings that nanami feels in his body right now.
you are so, so beautiful.
as he watches you walk down the aisle towards him, he feels as if everything around him has disappeared, all he could see was you. from the way your hair was done to how you look divine in that pristine dress as if it were made solely for you.
his heart is beating so fast that he’s sure he might not even make it through the rest of the event. his hands are shaking from nervousness and wet from sweat. every step you took felt like cupid’s arrow shooting him in the heart over and over again, and everytime time he made eye contact with you felt like lightning shooting through his entire body.
you were everything that he’s ever wanted and more.
“nobody’s promised tomorrow.”
by the time you arrive right in front of him, nanami is sure he’s no longer breathing. you looked like the epitome of an angel and he couldn’t believe he was gifted the opportunity to stand in front of you and declare his love for you.
holding his hand out for you to take, he couldn’t help but tighten his hold on your hand. the heat radiating of from it reminds him that this was real.
that this was all, very, very real.
he was getting married. to you.
“so i’m gonna love you like it’s the last night, like it’s the last night.”
he felt like crying.
being able to hold onto you like this and stare into those eyes of yours that he loves so much. he’s sure his heart is beating loud enough for everyone in the hall to hear, but he couldn’t care less.
not when you stare at him as if he was the most precious person in the entire universe. not when you wrap your warm, comforting hands around his. not when the biggest, sweetest smile blossoms on your face as your eyes slowly turn red.
nothing else mattered.
nothing, other then you.
“if the world was ending, i wanna be next to you.
if the party was over, and our time on earth was through.
i wanna hold you, just for a while.
and die with a smile.
if the world was ending, i wanna be next,
to you.”
@ sugarygetoo, all rights reserved.
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𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐚 ᝰ 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨
𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬; inspired by california by lana del rey.
𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬; none. absolute fluff
𝐰𝐜; 1,000+
𝐬𝐡𝐞; hiii. lmk what you think of this. first thing i’ve ever wrote of the triplets.
the sun had just began to set over the golden state, casting a warm glow across the land. the air was heavy with the scent of pine trees and the distant salt of the ocean. it was summer in california, and the days were long and lazy.
matt had been on the road for what felt like forever. he was making his way up the coast, just him and his old pickup truck against the world. he’d left his small hometown in the dust, seeking adventure and a fresh start. but tonight, he found himself longing for something more.
as he drove through the redwood-lined highways, the song “california” by lana del rey played on the radio, filling the cab of his truck with her haunting vocals. the lyrics resonated with him, stirring up memories of a time long past.
he pulled over at a viewpoint, overlooking the vast pacific ocean. the sky was painted with hues of pink and orange, the sun sinking bow the horizon. he rolled down the window, breathing in the fresh sea breeze. that’s when he saw her.
a figure stood at the edge of the viewpoint, her silhouette framed by the fading light. there was something so familiar about her, and as he stepped out of his truck, he realized why. it was her, the girl from his past, the one who had haunted his dreams for so long.
“hey,” he called out, his voice carrying across the quiet evening.
she turned, her face illuminated by the soft twilight. a smile played on her lips, and her eyes sparkled with a familiar warmth. “hey you. it’s been a while.”
matt nodded, feeling a rush of emotions. “yeah, it has. what are you doing here?”
“i could ask you the same question,” she replied, taking a few steps towards him. “but i’m glad i ran into you. i’ve been meaning to get in touch.”
matt felt a spark as their eyes met, the same spark he remembered from their first encounter ever. it was as if no time had passed at all. “me too,” he admitted. “i’ve thought about you a lot over the years.”
her smile widened, and she gestured to the viewpoint. “care to join me? the sunset’s almost gone, but it’s still a pretty view.”
matt followed her lead, and they sat side by side on the edge of the overlook. the sky was now a tapestry of deep blue and purples, the stars beginning to twinkle above. they fell into an easy conversation, catching up in the years that had passed.
“so what brings you back to california?” matt asked, curious about her story.
“i never really left,” she confessed. “i went to college down south, but i’ve always called this place home. there’s just something about the west coast that keeps me here.”
matt nodded in understanding. “i know the feeling. we’ve been traveling up and down the coast, but i keep finding myself drawn back here. there’s a certain magic in the air.”
“exactly,” she said, her eyes shining with a shared sense of wonder. “the sun, the surf, the endless summers. it gets under your skin.”
they sat comfortably in silence for a moment, taking in the beauty of the setting sky. matt felt a sense of peace, a feeling of belonging that he hadn’t experienced in a long time.
“you know,” she said softly, breaking the quiet. “if you’re sticking around for a while, i’d love to show you some of my favorite spots. i think you’d like them.”
matt turned to her, seeing the invitation in her eyes. “i’d like that,” he said with a smile. “i’m in no rush to leave anytime soon.”
and so, their summer adventure began. they spent lazy days by the lake, swimming and soaking up the sun. they went camping in the redwoods, stargazing by the light of a campfire. they took road trips along the coast, exploring hidden beaches and quaint seaside towns.
they fell into an easy rhythm, their old spark rekindling into something stronger. they shared inside jokes and created new memories, laughing and loving as if no time had passed at all.
but it wasn’t all sunshine and daydreams. they had their fair share of deep conversations, too, talking long into the night about their hopes, dreams, and fears. they shared their struggles and supported each other, offering a sense of comfort and understanding.
one afternoon, they found themselves napping in a hammock strung between two tall palms. the breeze was gentle, and the sun filtered through the leaves. matt stirred first, his eyes drifting open to see her peacefully beside him.
he brushed a stray lock of hair from her face, his heart feeling fuller than he thought possible. in that moment, he knew he never wanted to let her go again.
as if sending his thoughts, she stirred, her eyes fluttering open to meet his. “hey,” she murmured, a soft smile crossing her lips.
“hey,” he replied, his voice thick with emotion. “i was just thinking…”
“yeah?” she propped herself up on one elbow, her eyes searching his.
he took a deep breath, his heart pounding in his chest. “i don’t want this to end. i mean, i know summer can’t last forever, but i want us to keep this going. if you’re up for it, of course.”
relief washed over her features, and she leaned forward to press a soft kiss to his lips. “i was hoping you’d say that. i don’t want to lose you either. we’ll figure this out.”
and so, as the days turned to weeks and the summer began to wane, they made plans. they called about the future, dreaming up ways to stay together even as the season changed.
the summer nights turned to autumn, and the leaves began to change. but their love remained constant, a warm glow in the shifting seasons. they knew that no matter what life threw their way, they would face it together.
as they walked hand in hand along the beach one crisp autumn evening, matt looked at her, his heart full. “i’m glad i came to california,” he said softly.
she squeezed his hand, her eyes shining in the twilight. “me too. it brought me to you.”
and in that moment, with the waves crashing against the shore and the stars beginning to appear, they knew that their california dream was just beginning.
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