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mindofasupernova · 3 years

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The Inventor Part 2

Kaz Brekker x reader

Description: A killer is on the loose, eliminating Kaz's informants. In a desperate attempt, Kaz meets a certain inventor that has his mind racing, trying to figure out the complex puzzle she is.

Hope you like it, let me know what you think.

Kaz

A corpse? That's what she wanted? Did she think that he just kept all the bodies of his deceased workers in his room? How the hell was he supposed to get his hands on the corpse of one of his poisoned informants?

One day after meeting the young inventor, Kaz had sent Inej to gather answers to the Y/LN Manor. And just as promised, the girl had already identified most of the compounds, but due to "careless and messy manipulation", clearly referring to Kaz's pouch, she had been unable to determine a specific substance that acted as a catalyst. Inej returned to the Slat with Y/N's message asking for a meeting and a request Kaz wasn't exactly expecting.

According to Y/N, it was of the utmost importance for her to examine the body if she hoped to pinpoint the missing compound not to mention it provided a perfect opportunity for Kaz to tell her about how the poison had captured his attention.

Inej had returned later than usual, smiling and carrying a small brown bag that wafted a sweet and delicious scent. When Kaz had raised his eyebrows in question, Inej had told him Y/N had given her some recently baked cookies. He grunted in response and kept working, but his mind kept drifting back to the cookie bag and what that small act meant.

Inej was cautious but he also knew that she always searched for kindness in people. That snack could have been simply just a gift but Kaz wouldn't have made it this far if he considered all people as kind-hearted. Y/N was a stranger, a rich stranger from the highest of ranks of society who probably didn't care if Barrel rats like him lived or not. Y/N hadn't asked for a favor nor did she need money, she just wanted to know, that unsettled Kaz more than he liked to admit.

He had spent the day gathering information about her, her personal life, hobbies, and all the rumors he could find. He had found absolutely nothing that could give him an insight into the girl's intentions, he had finished empty-handed with the information he already knew: she was the only daughter of one of the richest men in Ketterdam, the perfect personification of a wealthy royal daughter, an innocent and pious little thing that went to Church with her family. Kaz scoffed at that, the defying look she gave her at their secret rendezvous accompanied with her enthusiasm for carving a corpse open proved she was far from innocent.

No, until he had more facts he wouldn't let his guard down. And yet, a small part of him yearned for her actions to be good-intentioned. Stop, hope is a dangerous thing. He had already made the mistake of hoping when he was nine and look where it got him.

Kaz returned his gaze to the papers in front of him, huffing in annoyance, he started writing down orders to get a corpse for Y/N.

_______________

Y/N : One day after the meeting

Y/N was quietly sitting at her vanity, a soft smile adorned her face, gaze completely lost on her new device when Inej, soundlessly crept inside her bedroom.

After Kaz Brekker had left the shop near the Church of Barter, she no longer felt the giddy spark she had when she left her manor. She couldn't blame Mr. Zhang for telling Mr. Brekker about their association, he was an old jumpy man who wished no trouble upon no one. She had left all the concoctions that Mr. Zhang had order, but she didn't show him her latest joy, she no longer felt as excited.

This new invention she had come up with consisted of a music box. But it was no ordinary music box, far from it. Y/N had noticed how most of the music boxes got damaged with time when the metal rusted and the music no longer sounded like a melody but more like a haunted house. So, instead of depending on metal to play music, why not use water vapor. Yes, she had spent four days perfecting the pressure at which each piston released the water so it was a perfect copy of one of the melodies in the Komedie Brute. Four days making sure that the amount of heat the flame distributed was enough to transform the water into vapor but not so fast it was gone before the song ended. And now, here it was, a vapor-based music box with a decorative firebird in the center that literally caught fire, warming the water below.

Mind too caught up on the mechanics of her own work, that, when the Wraith materialized from the shadows behind her, Y/N sent a rain of screws and nuts toppling down the floor when Inej's hand landed on her shoulder.

Wide-eyed, Y/N turned around to face the apparition in her room. The Suli girl raised her hands, to show she intended no harm and in a kind voice spoke:

"I'm not here to hurt you. Kaz Brekker sent me to check up on your progress."

With a sigh of relief, Y/N straightened relaxed her posture. "Why, of course, should have assumed Mr. Brekker would send someone. Please, take a seat. " with a small smile, she gestured to a plush burgundy armchair.

"As promised, I have successfully identified most of the compounds. However, I fear identifying the catalyst agent won't be possible unless I conduct a thorough autopsy on the unfortunate victim. The needle I was given was in an atrocious condition, too many foreign compounds had already interacted with it." Y/N answered, finishing with a hopeful tone.

Inej nodded her head and responded, "I'll let Kaz know, thank you Marchioness Y/LN." Inej turned around, making a bee-line for the window.

"You must not be thinking of going out in this beastly weather. Please, stay until this horrendous downpour ceases." Y/N quickly called back, wrapping her silk shawl around her petite frame, as if the thought of stepping outside was enough to send a chill running down her spine.

Inej hesitated, directing a fleeting glance at the crying sky outside, she resumed to her previous seat.

"Would you like a piece of Cinamon-coated Pavlova? I guarantee you won't regret it, the caramelized peaches are sinfully appetizing!" and before the Suli girl could respond, Y/N was rushing out of her room, the dainty patter of her heels clicking down the stairs.

Her room was exactly what Inej had expected: luxurious and overly grand. But there was something about it that Inej couldn't quite place, her room was tidy to the extreme, all the expensive perfume bottles lined up, gaps between that appeared as if they had been measured with a ruler. Nothing in her room showed a preference or indication of what she truly liked, at first sight, the room would have seemed like the perfect fairytale but now, upon close observation, the room looked generic, hollow, and cold. The spy wondered if all the riches were worth living into a life as impersonal as hers.

Y/N returned, carrying a tray full of fancy desserts Inej couldn't even pronounce.

"The baker proclaims himself a master of crème brûlées. I prefer his fruit-stuffed truffles, though. Mouthwatering" Y/N commented, gingerly placing the tray on her small mahogany table.

Y/N waited for Inej to take a bite out of the coffee tiramisu, after the Suli girl let a soft hum of appreciation, Y/N smiled and questioned: "I hope I'm not being too invasive, but how did you manage to climb all the way to my window? There are no nooks where you could have possibly held onto, you must have an incredible balance to perform such a feat."

And that's how Inej told her about her life as an acrobat, proudly sharing brief glimpses to her past, seeing no harm in the girl next to her. Y/N was more than happy when Inej started talking, she was glad the bronzed-skinned girl didn't treat her with timid whispers afraid of offending her royal title. It felt nice to have a normal conversation, being able to share honest opinions instead fake smiles and condescending words at galas, afraid that if the wrong statement slipped they'll become the next party gossip.

____________________

The morning after, Inej returned bearing Mr. Brekker's message agreeing to a nightly meeting where she'll be able to examine the corpse.

Saying that Y/N was thrilled, was an understatement, apart from a chance to put her brain to good use, it gave her the perfect opportunity to try a device she had specifically designed for creating an alibi while she was sneaking outside at unlikely hours.

Y/N hated piano. Don't get her wrong, it wasn't the instrument, it was the music, her music. Because for an unknown reason, her fingers seemed to have a mind of their own whenever she tried to. She admired the focus and dedication of musicians, she really did, but her mind easily got distracted thinking about her latest reading material instead of focusing on the notes. So, she had created a system capable of pushing the tiles as if her own fingers played the music. She knew it was wrong to fool her parents in such a way but it gave her a perfect cover to go in secret missions her parents would never approve of.

Proper ladies don't get excited over knowledge, much less probe in repulsive matters such as corpses. Look at you, Y/N, what would future suitors think if they discover you all cheerful over someone´s murder? The scandal! Zia Francesca's reprimanding voice resonated inside Y/N´s head. But she could care less about what the whole Ketterdam thought about her, science was her passion, and she would abandon it until the day she died.

Already outside, a navy blue scarf wrapped around her head to shield her delicate features against unwanted attention, Y/N waited for Inej at their chosen meeting point.

The sly girl slipped into view, with a grace greater than the one of a feline, leaving the shadows as if she and the night were one. With a brief nod, Y/N followed the girl into the awaiting hands of darkness. Leading her towards the Barrel, a place where monsters lurked behind every corner impatiently waiting to pounce any minute. Nonetheless, Y/N felt ecstatic, warm excitement pulsing through her veins, a river waiting in anticipation to break the thin modest facade she kept up to let her curiosity resurface in search of enigmas to solve.

When they arrived at a place named "The Crow Club", Inej went to get Kaz and some "others" and told her to wait. Y/N observed the lively atmosphere, seeing customers from different countries around the world when her eyes landed on a familiar head with wild red curls.

"Mr. Van Eck?" Y/N questioned in disbelief, the boy perked up at the sound of his last name, locking eyes with the hooded girl.

Never would she have imagined finding Wylan Van Eck down in the Barrel. She was shocked, Wylan supposedly should be in a music school outside of Ketterdam. Both belonging to affluent families, Y/N had met Wylan Van Eck at several parties. She hadn't gotten to know him very well, but she liked the quiet boy who shared the same look of misfortune Y/N had every time they were thrown into a classy social event. When his father had announced he was leaving to study abroad, Y/N was happy for him although she would miss being silently miserable together. But it appeared Wylan had been doing something far from studying, now sitting next to a tall Zemeni boy with his arm slung around his shoulder.

"Marchioness Y/N, I never imagined...W-What brings you here?" replied round-eyed Wylan, confusion, and astonishment written all over his features.

But before Y/N could respond, steps and the tapping of a cane interrupted their little meeting, Inej small silhouette trailing behind Mr. Brekker.

"So, you know Wylan?" he interrogated in that characteristic rasp, coffee eyes scrutinizing Y/N's form.

"Yes, Mr. Van Eck used to come to our social gatherings."

Wylan just nodded shyly while his long-limbed companion kept drowning shot like they were water.

Dirtyhands humphed in acknowledgment "Nice, know that we are all together let's go to...Jesper, I don't pay you to drink the bar dry. Get your ass down here and let's get moving so our dear inventor can examine the body, shall we?

"Wait, she is the contact you talked about?" the Zemeni, Jesper, questioned. Eyes going from Kaz Brekker to Y/N, as if this was some kind of joke.

"Wylan called her Marchioness? You asked for a royal's help?" Jesper asked, an incredulous mocking smile on his face. "Who are you and what have you done with Kaz?"

Mr. Brekker scowled at him and without another word turned around not even waiting for them to follow.

"Well, nice to meet you, my lady. The name's Jesper Fahey," he said, bowing down and kissing her hand, sending her a mischievous wink.

"Very nice to make your acquaintance, Mr. Fahey. And please, there's no need for formalities, just call me Y/N." she comforted, as they finally reached the others. Glancing at the rest while finishing her last statement, prompting the rest to call her by her first name.

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Kaz

Y/N radiated waves of elation, her whole face lighting up at the thought of an adventure, a star amid the tumultuous dark waters of Ketterdam helping him find his way to the shore.

Kaz wore an amused expression at Y/N's amused gaze roaming the dirty streets of the Barrel, a new unknown world full of carnage and sins. She isn't fit for the Barrel thought Kaz, her eyes dancing in amusement at every little detail that caught her interest despite her efforts to put on a serious face and regal posture. She probably saw wonderous adventures while Kaz saw the Barrel for what it really was: a ravenous, savage beast waiting to swallow the weakest whole and drain the lives of the ones who survived its ghastly bites. And somehow the concept that she didn't belong in this world, his world, made Kaz's heart wrenched a little.

During their walk, Kaz shared the details about the latest killer on the loose and his dead informants, all the while, Y/N remained quiet, evaluating every one of his words.

When they arrived at an abandoned building, a single man was stationed outside, leaning on the tainted wall with a tired look in his eyes. Kaz nodded at the guard who gave him a set of keys and trotted out of sight. Kaz guided them inside, careful no prying eyes had followed them. Kaz turned on the lights, briefly disconcerting his companions, and pointed to a table with a big bulk covered by a dirty cloth.

"As you requested, the unfortunate victim" announced Kaz as Y/N placed a small suitcase she'd brought with her forensic equipment and tenderly pried the cloth covering the thing that once had been alive.

Y/N didn't bat an eyelash when she saw the corpse's face, not even when Jesper started gagging or when Inej turned around and started quietly mumbling prayers to her saints. Kaz focused on her face, the calm inquisitive look of a scientist, he had expected a gasp at least. Kaz was impressed by her cool analytical demeanor when a simple glimpse of the man was enough to send Kaz back to the ocean, rotting flesh beneath his fingertips. Kaz shuddered at the thought, forcing down the vomit rising in his throat.

"If you need an assistant, Jesper is willing to help" Kaz stated, stabilizing his voice so it wouldn't show his true feelings.

"What?! Me? Umm..no...I...Helping isn't a Jesper talent." Mr. Fahey said, a fearful look in his eyes, face white as a sheet. Kaz hoped he didn't look as terrified as him.

Y/N stopped her scan, looked up at the two boys, and with a small smile spoke: "I appreciate it, but there's no need. I'm certain I can handle it on my own."

Quickly discarding her coat and scarf, pushing back the sleeves of her rouge-colored blouse, and pulling long laboratory gloves over her hands along with a white apron over her head, she set up to work.

Kaz stared at her features, as she transformed into an eager forensic, light illuminating her face, falling in the right places giving her an otherwordly glow. Rebellious strands of hair framing her forehead, a pink hue staining her cheeks indicating her joyous state. The sight before him would have put any masterpiece to shame, Kaz wondered how she could stare at a corpse and find glee in such a morbid image. But Kaz liked it, the brilliant gleam her eyes portrayed, her childish joy at the promise of adventure.

The spell was broken when she started pulling out scalpels, syringes, and other items Dirtyhands couldn't bother to learn the name of. Pulling the flesh taught beneath her fingers, Y/N made a Y incision, skin splaying open.

Cold lifeless hands gripped Kaz's throat. his brother's icy whispers brushing his skin. He turned his head away and as if perceiving his discomfort, Y/N's bewitching doe eyes stared back at him.

"You can wait outside if you prefer to, I'll notify you when I'm done." her gentle voice reached and Kaz couldn't have been more grateful.

With a sharp shake of his head, Kaz limped towards the exit, Jesper, and Inej quickly following his movements.

--------

After Y/N finished, she eagerly started explaining her findings, a prideful gleam emanating from her.

"Well, Mr. Brekker I must admit this case is a peculiar one. The simplest ones always prove to be the most challenging."

"Here I thought that after years of fancy tea reunions you'd know the meaning of a vast number of words. I'll be sure to buy you a thesaurus." mocked Kaz, a wolfish smirk creeping onto his face.

The inventor frowned at his comment, racing her chin higher, and started her rant, thoughts racing to prove her point.

"Oh no, Mr. Brekker do not confuse simple and easy. Simple is straightforward, plain facts to the observer. Ordinary details are hard to pinpoint, effortlessly found everywhere, which makes it harder to find unique characteristics that could serve as means of identification since their nature is so elementary." Y/N spoke swiftly, pacing around the room, eyes never faltering from Kaz's.

"And that's exactly what happened in this case. As I had mentioned, my extraction wasn't entirely successful, for an essential reactant was missing. However, it wasn't the only reason why I insisted on examining the body, no, a very simple and ordinary substance appeared when I separated the poison: Helianthus annuus or more commonly known as sunflowers." Y/N paused glancing at their surprised faces, clearly pleased with their reactions, she continued, the corners of her lips tugging upwards.

"You can imagine my surprise when I found sunflower pollen as the main component of the poisonous agent. I ran several more tests and the result remains the same, our killer is using these lovely flowers as a weapon. Now, back to the catalyst, the easy part of the equation. This component isn't as fastidious as the previous one, why, you may ask. Well, its vast majority consists of average materials but a small percentage of it contains alloys that are only produced in Ketterdam, that combined with the peculiar way they were fused, suggests a Grisha alkemi made this solution." Y/N concluded, grabbing a piece of paper and hastily writing before she handed it to Kaz.

"There are no signs of struggle, meaning either they knew the attacker or they were taken by surprise. A swift prick to the femoral artery, a clear pathway for the poison to reach the bloodstream, infecting the body within seconds."

"It shouldn't be very hard to find the alkemi. They aren't very popular and most of them are indentured. Here is the list of all the reactants, the specifics, and where I believe you might find them. " finished the girl, looking at the trio expectantly.

"If you don't mind, I have taken a sample to examine more carefully at my house. I'll try to find any details I might have overlooked."

Briskly reading the list, Kaz frowned and then pocketed the small scrap of paper. "First thing tomorrow morning, ask around for an alkemi who might have bought these materials. "

Kaz turned to look at his fellow crows, content with their nods of approval, grabbed his cane, and sauntered towards the door. Her chemistry knowledge was astounding, a marvelous domain of anatomy, and an even more gifted engineer from what he had heard. Hers was an indeed beautiful mind, not that he would ever tell her.

"Mr. Brekker?" her light voice shattered through the gloomy night. Kaz craned his neck, gaping back at her in question.

"Is there perhaps a place where I might be able to tidy myself up?" Y/N questioned, Kaz finally looking at her messy red-stained apron and her exposed arms displaying strokes of red all over them.

Kaz hesitated for a moment, unsure if he should bring the girl back to their home. "You can use the restroom back at the Slat." The girl had risked her reputation sneaking out on ill-advised affairs to help them, it was the least he could do.

"Thank you" Y/N replied as she carefully peeled her apron, attentive at not brushing her arms against her blouse.

___________

Once she had freshened up, Y/N stumbled upon the young Van Eck talking with a couple. The green-eyed girl was about Y/N's age, a generously carved complexion, holding the hand of a tall Fjerdan.

Y/N inclined her head as a form of salute, "I never pegged you for the rebellious type, Mr. Van Eck. I never thought you hated music lessons that much to run away." she told him in a joking tone.

"And I never thought you were the type to sneak out at ungodly hours just to play detective. " Wylan replied, a grin beginning to form on his face.

"Well, I suppose everyone has secrets."

"You must be Y/N, Inej told me you were the help Kaz so desperetly needed. I'm Nina, he's Matthias and well you already know Wylan."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Inej had briefly mentioned them, she knew now that Nina loved food, maybe next time she'll bring those exquisite truffles she had so eagerly talked about. If there is a next time Y/N reminded herself, she desperately hoped so, but now that her work was done she wasn't so sure Kaz Brekker would ever seek her again.

"Well, you have saved me the introductions." Kaz sarcastically glowered at the green-eyed girl, Nina kept talking as if she hadn't heard him.

It was one thing for Kaz to admire her intelligence, it did not mean he trusted her, though. Pieces were still missing to the intricate puzzle she was and until that changed Kaz did not like the way she rapidly befriended his crows, her intentions were still blurry to Kaz, and even though he would never admit it he cared deeply about their well-being.

"You should stay a little longer, we could go for waffles as a way of thank you." prompted Nina.

"Your offer is very tempting, but I'm afraid I'll have to pass. I should be returning home." Y/N declined, grinning at Nina, blissful someone had invited her for waffles.

Kaz stared at her and wondered how many times someone had done something similar, not to thank her but rather to use her, so that such a simple gesture put her in a joyful state.

"Scared of what your parents may do if they found out the truth?" Kaz quipped once his crows had left the two of them alone. A teasing tone masking true concern.

"Terrified. Someone may notice I've been playing the same four songs for the last couple of hours, always missing the same notes every time and they might get ideas of checking up on me," she confessed, mischief coating her features.

"Good night, Mr. Brekker. I'm happy I could be of assistance. Please, let me know if you find your killer or if my experience is needed again."

Kaz just bowed, signaling for his Wraith to get Y/N back to her manor in one piece.

Both girls disappeared into the night, leaving Kaz pondering what the hell she had meant with playing the piano.

___________

Y/N

Almost two weeks had passed, no signs of Kaz and no visits from the Wraith, well not that she was aware of. Y/N caught herself glaring at no point in particular, she readjusted her expression and plastered a well-practiced look of keen interest, trying to focus on Lady Stathos' rant about the attractiveness of the Viscount of Chagny.

Y/N politely excused herself, with no intention of making a fool of herself if Lady Stathos posed a question related to her gossip.

Too busy drowning in her own sorrow, knowing that Kaz had probably captured the culprit and was happily celebrating his success and no longer needing Y/N's help, that she stumbled forward, barely catching herself when someone bumped her from behind.

When Y/N turned back around, searching for that someone, she was met with a sight she had only seen once in an abandoned warehouse late at night. One that made her mind scream: Helianthus annuus.

Mercher Dupont's eyes were deranged, veins gruesomely popping and blood spilling from his lips, before toppling in the middle of the dance floor, taking his final breath.

#kaz brekker x reader #kaz brekker fic #kaz brekker imagine #shadow and bone #imagine #six of crows

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meimi-haneoka · 4 years

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Akiho Shinomoto - a manifesto of love

Despite becoming one of my favorite characters in the whole Cardcaptor Sakura franchise (and I would’ve never expected to love a new character this much), I realized I’ve never spent a long post for her, like the ones I did for SyaoSaku or for Tomoyo and Syaoran long time ago.

And there’s a lot to say, because Akiho Shinomoto is actually the first character who has introduced the concepts of evil and child abuse in Cardcaptor Sakura.

Something that wasn’t even remotely conceivable until (almost) 5 years ago.

Often considered boring and weak from the CCS fandom, Akiho actually harbors an immense strength inside of her, which goes mostly unnoticed to everyone, in-story friends included. Let’s see why.

Sentenced to death, for lack of magical powers

Once upon a time, a baby girl was born in a clan of powerful magicians, the most ancient of Europe. Clan members seemed happy and curious about the new entry to the family. They had great expectations about what magic she would develop, as everyone else in that family. At the ripe old age of 1 year and a half / 2 years, the baby girl was expected to show some signs of magic, but she had none. But hey, maybe she would become powerful later, let's pat her head and wait patiently. At that time, the Clan still showed some kind of "attention" for her.

But by the time the girl was around 6/7 years old, no fragment of magic appeared in her. Unacceptable. She's the daughter of two top rank magicians, in a clan of magic prodigies. Yet, she showed none of those gifts. They kept comparing her with some boy, living in a far away country, part of another famous magical clan. The girl suddenly held no more interest for her Clan. They actually started seeing her as a stain on their Clan's pride. Suddenly, the focus was all on how they could surpass the other rival clan. The girl was left all alone. A magicless member of the family is a member who doesn't even deserve being talked to. An interrogatory, at most. Who cares if the little girl wants to socialize, if she wants to play, if she's the only young person in that Clan, already without her parents who died so early on? The only thing this girl was good at was reading books, so all that's she's allowed to do. Not even playing with stuffed animals. For some reason, she's allowed to keep only ONE plushie, which is basically everything to her. But books and dolls can't fill that sinkhole she's already feeling at such young age.

Obsessed with this "anomaly", when she was about 2 years old, the Clan had the baby girl examined by a member of a Magic Association in England, known to be the den of shady magicians. A 8/9 year old bored magic genius, named “Yuna D.”, was her examiner. The boy said "She's like a blank book". The girl grew up, and the situation was still the same. The disapproving stares of her relatives cut the little girl’s heart like a sharp knife. They called her “worthless”, “useless”. They even doubted she could really be the daughter of her powerful parents. So what should they have done? Let the little girl live her life like any other regular human being, or taking literally the words of a BORED, EMOTIONALLY UNDEVELOPED CHILD who literally spat out the first thing that came to his mind?

Although the choice should’ve come easily for any normal human being with a functioning brain, they actually went in the other direction, greedy for power. And so, they decided to treat the girl like a tool, using her to store all kinds of magic for them to use. If she couldn’t be of any help to her clan with her capabilities, they would give her a purpose.

On some kind of altar, halfway between a lab rat and the sacrificing ritual of a sect, the most ancient Magicians of Europe together with the Magic Association performed a dangerous magic on her, which afterwards would take its toll even on the casters: they turned her into a magical artifact, capable of engraving in herself all the magical books she would encounter, transforming her de facto into a book herself. As if this wasn’t horrifying enough, this spell will progressively try to crush her soul and conscience, until it gets destroyed completely. So when the artifact will reach its limit, it will be the death of her, as a human being. Only a shell of her will remain. And judging by what was said later on in the story, they actually hope for her to lose her consciousness completely, so they can make use of her more easily.

Afterwards, they burned the book they took the ritual from, so the procedure would remain in their knowledge only. Greedy till the very last drop.

Once their perfect magical tool was achieved, turning a little girl into some sort of artifact, both the Clan and their accomplices couldn't stop bragging about it. The only positive words Akiho has ever received in her life by her people were after she was turned into a tool.

With a newly found purpose for that stain on their clan’s pride, they sent her away into the world to collect all the magic books she could find and write their powers into her, even though she was still just a child. For reasons still unknown, Yuna D., the boy who involuntarily caused this horrible ritual to happen and basically condemned her to death, offers himself to accompany her. The very first decision he took in his own life. That decision will change forever the course of their life, for both of them.

Rising from the ashes, towards a future of hope

Rehashing Akiho’s past is important to understand her personality and behavior fully. CLAMP, in the Clear Card manga, have portrayed the story of her past in a very peculiar way: it starts as any other fairytale, with light tones and cute designs. But as the story progresses, and the horror ensues, the tone of the tale changes, and so the drawing style too. It becomes serious, and “realistic” (ad opposed to the initial cutesy style). What started as a possible generic fairytale, turned into a real nightmare.

On top of being deprived of the love of her parents ever since she was born, because apparently they died right after, Akiho spent her early childhood in complete solitude. Those magicians who were supposed to be her remaining family were too absorbed into their own greed for power, to consider the needs of a baby girl. Not to mention that they had some kind of disgust for her, for being magicless. She was denied attention, cuddles, conversations, play activities, toys. She was denied love and care. All basic things that contribute to shape the personality and psychology of a person. Akiho grew up with the conviction that she wasn’t worth any of that, because no one gave it to her. One of the complaints I have seen the most about her in the fandom, is how she’s always so apologetic, to the point of becoming obnoxious. If you think about it, one of the most prominent characteristics of her personality is how she continuously apologizes to people, thanks them for any smallest thing, and is always, constantly seeking validation.

But if you stop for a second to think about her past, you’ll realize with dismay that those are none other than symptoms of the abuse she suffered in the past. She was called “good for nothing” and “useless” by her clan and the Magic Association, and those words carved themselves into her heart, forever scarring it. Akiho grew up believing that she was really worthless and good for nothing just because she couldn’t meet the expectations of her clan, and it’s apparent when we see her considering herself “extremely clumsy”, even though we have afterwards seen that she’s perfectly capable of cooking, sewing, even playing sports. She only needs the dedication of someone who would teach her that.

With a disastrous psychological situation like this, one would naturally wonder how this girl didn’t commit anything extreme yet. Completely alone in the world, deemed useless. Unloved.

Books, books were her first lifeline. The fictional, magical, wonderful worlds depicted in those stories saved her sanity, making her dream about a better life, about friendship, about love. They taught her everything. They gave her the hope that those things existed out there, and maybe one day she would be blessed with them too. The fantastical characters kept her company when no one was there for her (yet). And she loves them viscerally for that, to the point of seeing herself mending damaged books in the future, as a possible occupation. Just like they mended her lacerated heart.

The second lifeline was her meeting with Kaito. Uncharacteristically to him, Kaito showed immediately a kind and interested behavior towards her. This was so shocking, so incredible that Akiho’s first reaction to his introduction was to run away. No one ever addressed her with the intention of having a conversation. No one was ever interested in what she was reading. Even just by this you can get a glimpse of how miserable her life had been till then. Full of psychological issues himself, thanks to the human connection Kaito gradually turned his attentions towards Akiho from contrieved mannerism, to genuine and sincere gestures. Akiho can feel that affection, even if her self-criticism always pushes her to believe that she’s nothing more than “job” to him. It’s something small, but what she’s experiencing with Kaito is her everything, and more than she’s ever had.

The third lifeline is Momo: Akiho doesn’t know, nor remotely imagines she’s actually a living magical creature. But she has been her constant presence ever since she was born. Her connection to her is special, and you can see it in their daily (one-sided, for now) interactions. Akiho talks to Momo, she greets her when she comes back home, she constantly carries her around, she thinks about giving her a little dress as a present. Momo is Akiho’s strength. The love this girl pours into what she believes is just a stuffed animal is incredible. It goes to show Akiho’s immense capacity to love something/someone without expecting anything in return, but actually just enjoying the simple presence and courage they give to her. If you think about it, it’s the very opposite of what she experienced with the only human interactions she’s ever had before Kaito came into the picture. Her aptitude to selfless love is also remarked between the lines in chapter 49, when Akiho is telling Sakura about her relationship with Kaito. Despite all the ugliness she went through, she’s still able to find in herself the strength to overcome all of it, and change her life for the better.

This certainly hasn’t been an easy or quick process, because in the flashbacks of her journey with Kaito we always see her with a pensive/serious look. It must have been extremely hard to start trusting others, when she had no one she could count on in her own home.

Akiho’s capacity to love and rise from the ashes of her terrible past has been so contagious, that it has started to affect Kaito too. As Momo said in chapter 51, once you’re given the reason to change, no person can ever stay the same. This must have been true for Kaito, but certainly for Akiho too.

I’m absolutely positive that Akiho (and possibly, Kaito too) will be the symbol for one of the most important, beautiful messages in the whole Clear Card Arc: even if your life isn’t perfect, even if your past scarred you in multiple ways, there’s always hope. Hope to turn over a new leaf and change yourself for the better too, in the process. Overcome everything that had you stuck in pain and grief. Achieve what you always wished for.

#Card Captor Sakura #cardcaptor sakura #clamp #ccsakura #akiho shinomoto #sakura cardcaptor #ccs #clear card arc #clear card

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sagefzy · 3 years

Text

PART ELEVEN: THE PERFORMANCE

perfectionism | prev | next

After sitting down for about ten minutes, Atsumu redirected his attention to the now dimming lights. The once lit up auditorium was now only being illuminated from the light appearing on the stage. There was almost an entrancing aura in the room, everyone gathered in the same room for the sole purpose of watching people showcase their musical talent. Though completely different activities, he couldn't help but be reminded of the similar feeling when watching a volleyball match.

Although Suna had mentioned to him many times that he and you had two very distinct and different personalities, he couldn't help but disagree. From the little he'd observed, you both had strong passions that you had dedicated your whole lives to. Even though you two may approach situations differently. You both have a mutual understanding of the thrill that comes with pushing yourself to the limit for something.

He had never really chosen to get to know another person on a deeper level. Of course, there was Osamu, but that didn't really count since that was his brother. Additionally, his friendship with Suna was only a byproduct of Osamu's friendship with him. Atsumu constantly had girls throwing themselves at him, and even though he enjoyed basking in their attention, he knew that they were only in love with the idea of him.

Outside of volleyball and his family, he never got the chance to have a close relationship with someone, but that was something he was willing to sacrifice for the sake of achieving his dreams. Not to mention, he always had the lingering fear that, in the end, people only hung out with him to get close to Osamu. He really hoped that you were an exception to that case.

The competition had to at least been going on for an hour now, Atsumu thought to himself. When he imagined attending a piano competition, he envisioned a relaxing show that he could attend for free, but that wasn't the case. Instead, he spent his time watching musicians attempt to play grand, complex pieces to perfection, but at most they only achieved mediocre performances. Just how long was it going to take for you to come on stage?

"Now presenting contestant 105, l/n y/n. Playing piano concerto number one in E minor, opus eleven: two. Romance larghetto."

His eyes were directed to your figure that now walked onto the stage. Your head held high, your footing confident. Atsumu grinned, noticing that you were sporting that perfect smile of yours. He watched as you took a deep breath while fixing your stool.

Before your hands touched the keys, he observed how, for a quick second, your eyes changed from confident to anxious when studying the crowd. Your eyes were glued in the same spot briefly, however they were quickly averted back to the instrument. Could it be that large crowds made you anxious? No, it couldn't be, you seemed way too confident walking out on stage. He wondered just what made you apprehensive.

He continued to watch you intently.

Your fingers graced the keys. They quickly found their tempo and danced to the rhythm. You didn't miss a single beat nor note as you played. Everything was played to perfection, just as it always was.

Your smile disappeared, only to be replaced with a face of precision and focus. Your hands produced a soft melody, making the sound glide into his ears. No previous performer enchanted the audience like you did. The notes danced and swayed in the air.

Your song had so much power to it. It was as if a mystical spell was casted in the room the minute that you started to play. Atsumu's eyes widened as he watched you get lost in the song. There was absolutely no hesitation as you played. Your body was completely in tune with the instrument.

Although you weren't saying anything, you were telling a story to everyone in the room, captivating them. It was all perfect. Your rhythm, notes, tempo, and tone- it was exactly as written on paper. You quite literally were playing the piece perfectly. However, the story you were telling with your music, wasn't quite your own, but rather the composer.

You were guaranteed a first place win since you were playing a technical piece perfectly, but it lacked the emotion. You played it exactly as the composer intended, nothing more, nothing less.

Atsumu recognized the seemingly stoic look on your face. It wasn't something he could decipher easily at first, but now hearing you play, he could understand it. You were so obsessed, so intent with playing it perfectly, something he often found himself partaking in when in an important match. You were perfect, but at what cost?

There was no denying that you were extremely talented, certainly more talented than himself, he thought. But, he could only imagine how much more captivating you could be when expressing your own emotions with your talent.

As your song neared its end, the whole room stood up in applause. You stood up, knowing you played it perfectly, but you still felt empty. You remember a time where you used to love savoring the gratification from an overwhelmed audience. Now, however, you stood in front of everyone clapping for your perfect performance, and you couldn't feel less accomplished. Perhaps you were being too hard on yourself. When did playing piano turn into a chore?

You glanced to the top of the audience, the same place you were looking before the performance, and locked eyes with your dad. The same unreadable expression was present on his face. He shook his head and walked out the exit door. Your chest grew heavy, trying its best to hold in your tears in front of the audience.

You bowed in front of the audience, trying your best to conceal the emotions running rampant in you. You swiftly paced yourself offstage, running past your mentor who was there for support and into the backstage bathroom.

Your back leaned on the heavy door, all of your bottled feelings washing out. You looked at your face in the mirror, placing two hands over your heated cheeks. Your eyes started to sting, but you still stared into the reflection. Anger, disappointment, humiliation, vulnerability, and most of all, loneliness. You let it all spill out at that moment.

There was so much more you wanted to do with your music, but at that moment no amount of praise could convince you that it was worth it. All in life you ever wanted to do was make your dad proud, show him that you are worthy enough to be your mother's daughter. Was anything you did ever going to be good enough for him?

"y/n, it's Haruka-sensei." A voice from the door knocked. "I thought you played the piece perfectly, I'll be in the lobby, so come out when you're ready."

You closed your eyes and took a deep breath. Your hands made their way to your face again, this time cleaning up the tears and smudged mascara. Looking up one last time, you smiled into the mirror. Over the years, you convinced yourself that if you faked being happy enough, eventually you will be. It's not like anyone could tell the difference from it anyways.

You opened the door slowly, trying to gain your composure again. You bumped into many kids roaming the halls backstage looking anxious to perform. The maze of people was something you were now used to navigating.

The lobby was empty with the exception of your sensei and dad, everyone else still in the auditorium watching the final stretch of the performances. Haruka-sensei and your dad didn't get along for the most part, which is why you weren't surprised when you saw them standing in completely opposite areas of the room.

Your dad was first to approach you. "What did you think that was?" His voice was laced with alcohol. Your gaze met his. His eyes filled with resentful judgement. "You think you can get away playing like shit and make your way to the top?"

Droplets of tears fell to the ground once more. "I asked you a question!"

You looked to the ground. "No, I know I'll never be good enough." You sniffed harshly, still trying to maintain your composure, but failing. You hated crying in front of your dad. It was arguably the worst feeling in the world, like you were being isolated in a dark void with nothing but disappointment.

He watched you cry. You could feel his gaze burning into the top of your head, which still faced the ground in fear. All of a sudden, you felt a harsh grip on your wrist that was sure to leave a bruise.

"And don't you ever forget that," He spat. "I bet your mother is even more repulsed by you than I am. It's a joke that you think you'll ever be anything great." He shook your arm firmly, forcing you to see the aggravation displayed on his expression.

"That's enough," Haruka yelled, shoving your dad to the side. She might've been a small lady, but she sure did know how to stand her ground. "I can't stand hearing you spread such bullshit hatred to your own daughter. You make me sick. Why don't you go and get yourself even more drunk. Maybe you'll wake up and find yourself passed out on a park bench."

He rolled his eyes and scoffed. He left the building, leaving just you and Haruka.

"Listen, y/n, I think you played beautifully. Your technique was perfect, and with just a few tweaks here and there, I'm sure you'll be more than ready to take the top spot at nationals." She praised. She gave you a genuine smile and pulled you into a hug.

Feeling overwhelmed, you started to cry for the third time that hour. "Shh- don't worry about your dad, he's just a loser-asshole that projects all his issues onto you." You felt comforted by her embrace. Although she'd only known you for about a month now, Haruka had quickly become one of your favorite piano mentors. She had the loving presence and embrace of a mother, something that was so foreign to you at first.

After your heavy tears and emotions subsided, you re-entered the backstage hallways. You sat in the corner of the hallway, directing your attention to a boy- who couldn't have been any older than twelve. He sat next to his mom, holding her hand as he kept on muttering about his nervousness.

You watched as the mom eased his nerves with a single statement. "My child, I love you now, and I'll still love you after you go out and perform." The words warmed your heart. The affection from a mother was a distant memory in your mind. You could never recall a moment you were sad around your mother. Why did she have to leave so soon?

Before the kid could respond, he was called out to perform. He hugged his mom quickly and scrambled to the stage. You sat there lost in your thoughts, imagining what life would be like if your mother didn't pass away so early on.

You sighed. There was no use in fantasizing about a false reality even if it brought you temporary peace from your discomfort. What only mattered now was the present moment.

You noticed that the boy was back, a giant grin plastered on his face as he met up with his mother, it'd only be a few minutes until the winners were announced. Soon enough, all of the competitors were asked to reconvene at the stage.

You looked out at the audience again, but this time it was different. Rather than feeling anxious when meeting the gaze of someone, you felt content. Atsumu flashed his famous smirk and displayed a thumbs up, only to be quickly smacked down by Osamu. The two seemed to get into an argument after that, making you look at Suna who was now a giggling mess. The whole event made you laugh, momentarily forgetting about the heavy reign of disappointment on your shoulder.

However, the three of them got their act together once the top three standings were being announced. This part always made you fidgety. The uncertainty of the outcome always twisted your stomach in knots. Once second and third place were announced you took a deep breath, hoping that you were to be crowned first.

"And-" Here it was, you thought. The moment that decided whether or not you'd go to nationals. "-first place for the Hyogo Regional piano competition goes to-" You could feel your heart beating out of your chest. Your nails dug into your arm, the tension eating away at you. "-l/n y/n."

You almost jumped to the front of the stage when they announced your name. You did it, despite what your dad said, you did it. And it didn't matter what hateful words of disappointment he spat at you because in that very moment, you were enough.

Atsumu watched as you were handed a certificate. A radiant smile now present on your face. This smile was different, though. The one he was used to seeing was the seemingly perfect one, the one so perfect it was almost fake. The one you wore right now was one of genuine, heartfelt joy. Was this the real you? Just what else were you hiding under that perfect smile?

Osamu tapped his shoulder. "Stop staring at yer little girlfriend and let's go to the lobby before it gets too crowded. Suna said we're going to go out for udon."

"Yeah, yeah 'm coming," He muttered, never once taking his eyes off of your smile.

fun facts !

Osamu and Atsumu are notorious for always being late for everything, whether it be 10 minutes to an hour.

Atsumu daydreams when he's bored, only paying attention to what he wants to.

Every time Osamu cooks, he always puts on music in the background and it always differs depending on his mood.

perfectionism ©

smau written by @sagefzy

taglist: open just send an ask :)

@shephard17895 @art-junkie-13 @vhsryuu @qualitygiantshoepsychic @everytimeswift @kritiiiii @why-couldnt-it-be @sunahyejin @jbsonelesslonleygirl @tanakasimpcorner @iwasunshine @succulentmom @ashy-lyn @bakudummy @rinsangel @kachuuha @sakusasimpbot

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25yearsofcrying · 3 years

Text

Julie and the Phantoms

Summary: Trying my own hand at JATP novelization, using the show rather than the novel or the scripts. I’m sure it’s been done before but there’s never enough Julie and the Phantoms, right? If nothing else, I have an excuse to rewatch every single scene of the show all over again.

CHAPTER 01: we don’t get older

Luke

This is what I’m talking about! The lights we are under are burning hot, we are half sweat and not one of us can keep a single hair in place but we’ve never sounded better. We’re amazing, playing on a proper stage. Our music and lyrics have never felt more true either.

I feel connected. To the guitar in my hands, to the guys in my band, to the music, to the audience.

Tonight, we’re playing the Orpheum. The energy of the place, or perhaps our own excitement, pushes our performance beyond what we’ve ever done before. Despite the sweat we’re drenched in, I feel I could do this for hours.

We ain't searching for tomorrow (tomorrow) | 'Cause we got all we need today (today) | Living on a feeling that's been running through our veins | We're the revolution that's been singing in the rain

But our song wraps up. We finish to a brief applause from the waitress cleaning tables and a few shouts from the Orpheum’s staff and our crew. Tonight, we are playing a sold out concert at the Orpheum, but that’s in two hours.

Reggie, our bass player, still pulls his mike closer and says: “Thank you! We’re Sunset Curve! Tell your friends!” He winks.

I laugh and shake my head. Bobby, the rhythmic guitar, knocks his elbow against mine before we grab our drinks. “Too bad we’ve wasted that on a sound check,” he says. “That’s the tightest we’ve ever played.”

“Wait until tonight, man,” I assure him as I turn to look over the Orpheum. “When this place gets packed with record execs.” This truly feels like the beginning of something new. It’s like I can feel the energy of everyone who’s ever played here before us and I’m living for it. This place makes legends.

Meanwhile, Reggie the eternal cheerleader, focuses his attention on our drummer. “Alex, you were smoking!” he shouts with a bright grin.

Alex, who’s emerged from behind the drums, looks humble and flustered for a moment. He instantly tries to play the compliment down. “Oh no! I was just warming up. You guys were the ones on fire.”

“Could you accept your awesomeness for once?” Reggie doesn’t give up.

“All right,” Alex agrees, red and shy but obviously pleased with himself. “I was killing it.”

It makes me grin and I rub his shoulders in excitement. Despite his insecurities, Alex really was killing it. As always. He might be one of my closest friends, but he wouldn’t be in the band if he wasn’t good. Trust me. I don’t make compromises when it comes to my music.

My names is Luke. Reggie, Alex and Bobby are my bandmates of several years and together we are Sunset Curve. And tonight, we’re going to prove why we live and breathe for music.

But first things first. “I’m thinking we fuel up before the show,” I say. I don’t know about the guys, but I’m starving. “I’m thinking street dogs.”

While Alex and Reggie answer with a chorus of approval, Bobby turns his attention elsewhere. He gets off the stage and heads straight for the waitress who’s showed her appreciation for our music.

“I’m good,” he tells us over his shoulder and to her, he says: “Vegetarian. I couldn’t hurt an animal.”

I roll my eyes but we are all drawn to the conversation. And the waitress – a very pretty Latina – turns to all of us. “You guys were really good,” she says and I beam at her.

“Thank you.” It’s always a wonderful feeling to see people connect with our music. We write all of it ourselves so up on that stage, people see and hear our souls.

“I see a lot of bands. Been in a few myself,” she continues and that makes her initial compliment all the better. “I was really feeling it.”

“That’s what we do this for. I’m Luke, by the way,” I say and the guys all introduce themselves. Bobby shoves himself in front of me when he says his name and I shove my finger in his ear. What can I say? We are brothers, even if not by blood.

“I’m Rose,” she replies, grinning at us.

She must be a little older than us, but even that doesn’t stop Reggie when his eyes light up as he senses an opportunity to promote the band. “Here is our demo…” He hands her a CD with our logo on it. “And a T-shirt. Size beautiful.” He adds a wink again. An opportunity to promote us and to flirt. Beside him, Alex groans audibly.

“Thanks?” Rose seems unimpressed but she adds: “I’ll have to make sure to not wipe the tables with this one.”

To the surprise of no one, words a little too honest tumble out of Alex’s mouth: “Oh, good call. Whenever they get wet, they just kinda fall apart in your hands.” He is not wrong. Our merch is produced on a budget.

Sensing that my awesomeness, Reggie’s forwardness and Alex’s lack of interest are ruining his game, Bobby turns to us with a pointed glare. “Don’t you guys have to go get your hot dogs?”

“Yeah.” I lean to the waitress with a conspiratorial smirk. “He had a burger for lunch.” I’m not trying to wreck things for him, just tease him a little. I don’t think he stands a chance to begin with, but it’s admirable he is trying.

With good-natured slaps to his shoulder, we leave Bobby to his flirting.

jatp jatp jatp jatp jatp jatp jatp jatp jatp jatp jatp jatp jatp jatp jatp jatp jatp

We leave the Orpheum through a back door and I take a deep breath. “That’s what I’m talking about!”

The last time I felt this level of excitement was before our first ever real gig.

Alex throws me a questioning look: “The smell of Sunset Boulevard?” It makes Reggie snort and I shake my head.

“No. It’s what that girl said in there tonight. About our music, all right?” Her words affected me. Not just because she thought we were good when she’s already seen so many other bands and it would take a lot to stand out in her ears. She felt our music. “It’s like energy. Connects us with people. They can feel us when we play.” I throw my arms around Alex and Reggie both and pull them closer. We’ve always had a connection, ever since we’ve started playing together. “I want that connection with everybody.”

They laugh, but I can see that they get it. Even if Reggie replies: “Then we’re gonna need more T-shirts.”

I can’t remember when Reggie became our dedicated promoter, but it’s a role he takes extremely seriously, which makes me think it must have been his idea in the first place. I am more focused on the music itself, on what it feels like to be on stage and play for a crowd that sings back the lyrics I wrote. And Alex, if we let him, would be perfectly content to play for himself in a garage somewhere, even if he clearly enjoys people loving his performances. Reggie is the one with the business sense. He claims that if we want to play in front of crowds, we need to let people know we exist. It hurts me to think our music on its own is not enough, but perhaps he has a point.

He shoves next few T-shirts into the hands of girls waiting in line for our concert. Their excited reaction and their instant recognition of us makes us all giddy, but I pull my hood over my head. No matter what anyone thinks, I don’t do this to be followed around by fangirls. It’s nice, sure, and one of the perks, but it’s when I am on stage that I want attention. Right now, I just want a street dog.

Though, I can’t help but think that Bobby is missing out by staying behind.

Establishments like Sam n’ Ella’s, which serves hot dogs from the back of a rusted car, are our main source of food these days. Most of our money goes into the equipment, transportation between gigs, creation of demos and merch. Between us, there’s not a single set of supportive parents and so the funds are tight to begin with. One’d think we’d be used to our food options by now, but Alex still frowns. “Man… I can’t wait until we eat someplace where the condiments aren’t served out of the back of an Oldsmobile.” We fill our hot dogs ourselves and he is dripping pickle juice all over the car’s insides as he speaks. He goes to apologize to the owner, but the man dismisses Alex’s fears with a laugh. “No problem, it’ll help with the rust!”

I can’t bring myself to care about the quality of food. My heart is still at the Orpheum. It doesn’t matter that we’re sitting on a questionable couch in the street and eating even more questionable hot dogs. “This is awesome, you guys. We’re playing the Orpheum. I can’t even count how many bands have played here and then ended up being huge. We’re gonna be legends!” I rise my street dog like it’s a toast. “Eat up boys. Cause after tonight, everything changes.” We won’t have to choose between food and paying for merch production anymore.

I take a bite and almost shudder. Any food is good enough for Reggie, so he eats his hot dog with gusto, but Alex pulls a face when he tastes his. “That’s a new flavor?”

“Chill, man. Street dogs haven’t killed us yet.”

Trust Reggie to provide the perfect last words.

#julie and the phantoms #jatp #jatp fic #luke patterson #alex mercer #bobby/trevor wilson #reggie peters #not tagging our queen julie in this chapter because she's not featured in it and I don't want to clog her tag #my jatp novel

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iffeelscouldkill · 3 years

Text

say what we wanna do, make it all come true (chapter 1)

A/N: It is! My fic for the Fiction Podcast Big Bang @podcastbigbang! I am a bit terrified to be posting this after working on it for so long! Also this is in the running for the Longest TSCOSI Fic I’ve Written So Far (not sure if it’s the longest because I don’t remember where my wordcount is up to for Adjusting, but like... it’s long, guys). This is Chapter 1 of 3, and the remaining chapters will be posted weekly!

You can read this on AO3 where the formatting is honestly much better, but here it is on Tumblr anyway. Also, please check out the FANTASTIC artwork made for this fic by the wonderful @bluereadingdolphin and @demonic-kitkats, who are my artists for this fic and their artwork is so good, you guys, I’m in love and they did such a phenomenal job with the honestly pretty vague info they got from me 😂

bluereadingdolphin’s piece

demonic-kitkat’s piece (from Chapter 2!)

Please give them all the love!

Content warnings: There is a relatively brief physical altercation described in this chapter, but it isn’t graphic or bloody.

Also, I play a little fast and loose with POV in this; the first section is told from Sana’s perspective, the rest from Arkady’s.

---

“Hello and welcome back to Radio Indie, Folk and Techno, also known as RIFT, where we play all the bands that matter outside of the mainstream! I’m Piper Tanaka, and I’m your co-host for this programme! I’m joined as usual by the lovely Kestrel Colvin, with Reina Sakamachi in the booth! Now – where were we?”

“You were introducing our guests for this next section,” Kestrel replied in a slightly despairing tone.

“Right! Indie fans, I am joined today by two members of the fabulous up-and-coming indie band Rumor! With me in the studio are frontwoman and lead guitarist Sana Tripathi—”

“Hey! It’s a pleasure to be here.”

“—and bad girl bassist Arkady Patel.”

“Bad girl?” Arkady repeated, sounding halfway between taken aback and annoyed. Kestrel just shook her head.

“Ignore her. She’s got a thing for a certain… aesthetic.”

Next to Arkady, Sana was doing an incredibly poor job of hiding her laughter. “It’s the combat boots,” she whispered to Arkady.

“These are practical,” Arkady told her in a tone that suggested they’d had this conversation a few times. Sana said nothing, but straightened back up with a smirk.

“Sana — or should I call you ‘Captain’?” Piper began playfully. Sana grimaced.

“In hindsight, it was a poor choice to share that nickname in an interview.”

“You know, I think it suits you,” said Piper. “There’s something commanding about your aura. Sana, you and the band — which I understand you and Arkady originally started as a duo a few years ago—”

“That’s right,” Sana confirmed.

“You’ve always had a dedicated and loyal following, even from your early days — and we’re proud to have been playing your music here on this station for almost as long — but I think it’s fair to say the past few months have seen that rocket to a whole new level,” Piper said. “You got signed to a record label belonging to the mysterious but notoriously discerning Red Gregor, are working on your second album, and played a major gig at the CUI stadium just a few weeks ago. And we are definitely going to talk later about what went down at that gig, which is already the stuff of online legend — but first I want to backtrack a little, because I think the moment that everything started happening for you was when you added a new member to your band. In the middle of a gig, if the rumours are true. Can you tell us how that happened?”

Sana and Arkady exchanged a sidelong glance, and Arkady gave Sana a tiny nod. Sana took a deep breath, and began to tell the story.

---

“Jeeter, for the last time, put the keytar away,” Arkady said irritably as she and Sana entered the draughty, abandoned warehouse that the band was using as their current rehearsal space. The acoustics were pretty weird, probably due to all the broken windows, but it was otherwise hard to beat a free place to rehearse — especially a free place with no asshole neighbours who would yell at them to turn it down and threaten to call the cops.

Admittedly, it was in kind of a rough area, but Arkady had only needed to knock someone unconscious with her bass once.

In retaliation, Brian played another bright riff on his beloved instrument, accompanied by some jazzy keyboard chords from Krejjh. The two had been jamming together before Arkady and Sana arrived. “Dude, c’mon, can’t you hear how good this sounds?” Brian wheedled. “How many other indie bands do you know that have a keytar?”

“None. For good reason,” Arkady said, unzipping her case and slinging her bass around her neck. Sana, unpacking the sound equipment, smiled in fond amusement at their well-worn argument.

“It would give us such a great edge! Totally unique. And Krejjh and I have so many ideas that would sound great with both instruments—”

“Okay, Jeeter,” Arkady interrupted him, twiddling one of her tuning pegs. “You can play the keytar. Just as soon as you find us someone else who can play the drums.” She stooped to plug her bass into the portable amplifier that Sana had just unpacked. “Or are you planning to grow an extra pair of hands so you can play both at once?”

“Oooh! No, I should have an extra pair of hands!” Krejjh immediately (and predictably) enthused. “Then I’d sound four times as awesome! Four hands, all rockin’ out!”

“I think you mean ‘twice as awesome’,” Sana told them, as Brian reluctantly put away his keytar and picked up his neglected drumsticks.

“With me, twice the hands equals four times the awesome,” Krejjh replied with irrefutable logic. Brian laughed and held up a hand.

“Dude, high five.”

Sana waited for the two of them to finish their congratulatory high-five before she called the band to order. “Okay, guys — remember that we’re only a few days out from our gig at the IGR Corp function, so we need to have our crowd-pleasers up to standard.”

Arkady immediately wrinkled her nose. “Ugh, corporates. Why are we taking money from them again?”

“Because we need to pay for rent and food,” Sana said, bluntly. “And they’re giving us a lot for it. I know none of us love playing corporate gigs—”

“Understatement.”

“—but we are living a hand to mouth existence at this point, and if I can guarantee our survival as a band by relieving some corporates of their excess funds, then I’m going to do just that,” Sana continued. She waited a beat, and then added, “Also, we’re gonna let them get really drunk and then start playing our best anti-capitalist anthems, and see how long it takes for them to notice.”

Arkady broke into a shit-eating grin. “That’s more like it.” Krejjh cheered, and Brian did a little run-down on his drumkit, hitting each of the drums in turn.

“All right, let’s start with ‘Fear for the Storm’? One, two, three, four…” Sana started strumming the intro on her guitar, joined after a few beats by Krejjh’s melody on the keyboard.

“So long, can’t dodge the dawn, red light shines on and on and on and on and on…”

---

Arkady had been on edge ever since the band set foot in the agonisingly hipster office complex — excuse me, ‘headquarters’ — belonging to IGR Corp.

It wasn’t just the fact that these guys were extremely corporate corporates, or that the whole place radiated an almost aggressively minimalist aesthetic, or that the walls were covered in bullshit, chipper slogans that were all fancy ways of saying, ‘Work should be your existence – if isn’t, you’re dead to us’ — although those things sure as hell didn’t help, reminding her of the absolute worst parts of every soul-sucking corporate job she’d worked before Sana mercifully re-entered her life and suggested they form a band.

No, there was just this weird vibe, like everyone was super on edge and trying to hide it — the higher-ups were stone-faced, muttering into earpieces or barking orders at underlings, who scurried, terrified, to carry out their wishes. And everyone else, from the tech types in plain white T-shirts and jeans to the smartly-dressed sales reps in suits, looked like they were there on pain of death. Wasn’t this supposed to be a party?

The atmosphere didn’t go unnoticed by the other band members. “Kind of a weird feel to this place,” Jeeter remarked as he unpacked his drumkit on the raised platform at the front of the ‘rec center’ where they would be performing. Normally, setting up was a noisy, clumsy affair, with the band elbowing each other, tripping over wires, and getting in each other’s way in the tiny space they were afforded in bars and nightclubs. Here, the platform that would be their makeshift stage was huge and extremely visible — but everyone was completely ignoring them. There was also very little background noise for a room packed with people, and the band found themselves speaking in hushed murmurs, almost tiptoeing around. “You’d think there would be a bit more… chatter?”

“Maybe the alcohol just isn’t flowing yet,” Sana speculated, but she sounded uneasy as she looked out over the tense crowd. Even Krejjh, with their signature hot pink, heart-shaped sunglasses perched on top of their dyed-lavender hair, dressed in a clashing, flamboyant jumble of clothes and accessories, seemed subdued.

Arkady plugged in her bass with a burst of static, and deliberately played a loud riff. Brian startled and dropped his drumstick, but not a single member of the sea of blandly-dressed IGR Corp employees flinched.

Weird.

The sound equipment was all set up, sound check performed and instruments tuned by half past, but the set wasn’t due to start until o’clock. Normally, Arkady would be making a beeline for the bar, but she didn’t really feel like rubbing shoulders with any of these weird drones. She found herself reflexively checking the exits, mentally charting their fastest route out of there in case something really fucked up started going down. Sana half-jokingly called it paranoia; Arkady called it long, hard experience.

It was on one of her scans of the room that she noticed the woman with the septum piercing. Arkady chalked it up to professional interest — as a kid, she’d picked up some extra money working as an assistant in a tattoo and piercing shop, The Landing. She’d first met Sana there when the other woman came in on several occasions to have work done on an amazingly intricate floral sleeve tattoo — her own design. Later, Sana had led a campaign to save The Landing from being shut down over a bunch of bullshit health code violations so that the billionaire Cresswin family — who owned the property — could sell it off to a shitty corporation.

The campaign hadn’t worked, and there was now a high rise office block where Arkady’s home from home had once stood. But Arkady had never forgotten Sana.

Anyway, it was definitely the woman’s piercing and not anything else about her appearance that caught Arkady’s attention first. But then she noticed that there was something off about her body language and the way she was moving — something that Arkady recognised. She wasn’t scurrying about in a panic or affecting bored disinterest; her eyes were flickering around the room, carefully monitoring the comings and goings of the other employees while seeming not to do so. There were little devices studded around the room that Arkady had clocked as security cameras the moment they entered (it was the kind of thing she made a habit of noticing), and she saw the woman glancing up at them.

She was dressed like an employee – white blouse, dark rinse blue jeans – so why was she acting like she was casing the joint? Of course, Arkady reasoned, the outfit could easily have been chosen to blend in. It didn’t necessarily mean she worked there.

“Seen something interesting, ‘Kady?” Sana asked playfully. Arkady didn’t startle, but it was a near thing; she’d been so focused on watching this woman.

Unfortunately, Sana saw where she’d been looking. “You know, we’ve still got close to half an hour before we start our first set,” she said. “You can go and mingle.”

“I’m not here to socialise,” Arkady said witheringly. “Least of all with corporate drones.” She tore her eyes away from the woman to meet Sana’s amused look.

“I’m just saying, you seemed pretty absorbed there…” Sana said, and Arkady rolled her eyes, determined not to respond to her best friend’s teasing. She glanced back at the spot where the woman had been standing and found it empty.

A second later, Arkady had found her again, weaving through the crowd with her head ducked down. She was taking an odd route across the room that Arkady realised must have been calculated to avoid the security cameras. Occasionally she disappeared, behind people or objects (like a huge, obviously fake ficus plant), but it wasn’t hard for Arkady to spot her again. Clearly there was some kind of purpose to what she was doing, but the woman wasn’t a professional.

There was an elevator against the far wall, and as Arkady watched, the doors opened and a small group of people in suits – latecomers to the party – walked out of it. The woman mingled with them briefly, and then disappeared inside the elevator. The doors closed.

Well, that had been a way to kill five minutes, but now Arkady was stuck with nothing to do again. Krejjh and Jeeter had pulled out a pack of cards, and were playing one of their weird games on top of Krejjh’s keyboard. Arkady turned to Sana, about to make another comment about how much this place creeped her out, when she caught sight of the other person moving across the room.

Judging by the expensive suit, they were a higher-up, and were taking none of the precautions the woman had when making their way across the room, which suggested that they were confident about being allowed to do whatever it was they were doing. And to Arkady, it looked an awful lot like they were following the woman she’d seen. Based on the way the suit jacket fell, she’d also bet even money that they were armed.

Sure enough, the suit called the elevator, and disappeared into it a second later. Arkady swore under her breath.

It was none of her goddamn business whether a person she didn’t even know might be in danger, Arkady told herself. She was here to play music, not to get in the middle of whatever might be going down at this godawful corporation. Which again, was none of her business anyway.

Her resolve lasted all of ten seconds.

“I’m going to get a drink,” she told Sana, and placed her bass onto its stand.

“Oooh! Bring me a cocktail – no, a mocktail!” Krejjh said. Sana just looked at her quizzically.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

Arkady nodded briefly. “I’ll be right back,” she said, and jumped down off the platform.

She wasn’t under any illusions that Sana wouldn’t notice where she was going, and just hoped that her best friend would trust her to be back in time for the set. She slipped through the crowd, following the same path that the woman had taken to avoid the watchful eyes of the security cameras.

This worked right up until she entered the elevator, where sure enough, a security camera was embedded into the top corner. How had this woman planned to avoid getting caught?

Arkady pulled out her smartphone, and began to quickly and expertly worm her way into the closed network that IGR Corp was using for its security systems. After just a few moments, she’d managed to identify the IP address that the lift camera was using, and wow, whoever had set up this system was either incredibly lazy or was trying to lay out a welcome mat for hackers. They hadn’t bothered to change the default access password.

Arkady wound back the last few minutes of recorded video, and watched as the woman with the septum piercing pressed the button for the top floor. Arkady did the same, and as the elevator moved upwards, she introduced a glitch that would cause the security camera to loop footage of an empty elevator instead of showing who was actually inside. Then she worked to edit out the archive footage of the woman riding up in the elevator, and of herself getting in.

If it turned out that there was nothing weird going on here after all, well, she’d had some fun exploiting the corporates’ shitty security system.

But Arkady was pretty sure there was something weird going on.

The elevator came to a silent stop, and Arkady silently thanked the deities she didn’t really believe in for the fact that this place was too hipster to have an elevator that made a noise when it arrived at the right floor. The doors slid open, and Arkady immediately spotted another security camera on exiting the elevator. God, these corporates were paranoid. But apparently not paranoid enough to pay their security person to do their job properly.

Annoyingly, the security cameras for this floor seemed to be on a separate network, and Arkady started another hack as she crept down the corridor, straining her ears for the sounds of a confrontation. Further down, she saw an office door swinging open, as if someone had gone through it in a hurry. Arkady approached it, being careful to stay out of sight of the doorway. Closer to, she could hear a voice coming from inside – the suit’s, if she had to guess.

“…sure CEO Golding-Frederick will be very interested to hear just what you’re doing in her office, Ms. Liu.”

“Seiders, I can explain,” the woman – Liu – replied, her voice high with tension. “Project ADVANCE – it’s not what we’ve been told. The company is using it to-”

“What the company may or may not be doing with Project ADVANCE is not your concern,” Seiders said smoothly, over her, “and is a long way above your pay grade. But I’d be very interested to learn where you got your information from.”

“Do you know what’s going on at this company?” Liu demanded, outraged. “And that’s – you have no problems with what they’re doing?”

The closed network for the top floor of the building was much less of a pushover than the elevator, and Arkady kept half of her attention on the conversation inside the room as she worked to find a flaw in the system. Finally, she made it in, and began trying different password combinations for the camera in the hallway.

“It’s not my job to ask questions, Ms. Liu,” Seiders had been saying. “Neither is it yours. And if you value your job – not to mention the safety and security of your loved ones – you’ll step away from that computer, and go back downstairs to the party.”

“Are you threatening me? Are you threatening my family?” Liu demanded. “No, I’m not going to stay silent about this. Someone has to take a stand against what this company is doing. And if anything happens to me, that’ll only raise more questions.”

“We’re very good at making those questions go away,” said Seiders, and Arkady heard Liu suck in a breath. She moved so that she could see inside the room and shit, that was a gun. Arkady rapidly began calculating her angle of attack. “Didn’t you ever wonder what happened to Connors from Engineering?”

“That’s not – you can’t just make a person disappear,” Liu said, desperately. “I – I have insurance! Documents that I’ve sent to a friend of mine. If I don’t check in with them in two hours, they’re going to send them to a journalist contact, and it’ll be all over the press in the morning.”

Arkady could hear the lie in her voice so clearly, and she knew Seiders could, too. “If you had enough evidence to be worth a damn, you wouldn’t have broken into this office,” they replied. “I’m going to ask you one last time. Step away from the-”

Arkady slammed into the room, deliberately making as much noise as she could to draw Seiders’ attention. She took two, three steps towards them and grabbed their gun hand, forcing it down and towards the floor. She managed to hook one arm around their throat, pulling back and applying pressure. Seiders choked, struggling and jerking against Arkady’s grip. With the hand that was holding their gun hand, Arkady twisted and pulled their fingers open, causing the weapon to drop to the floor.

“Liu, grab the gun!” Arkady ordered. She saw the other woman yank something out of the computer that looked like a flash drive, stowing it inside her blouse. She dove for the gun at the same time that Seiders managed to thrust an elbow back, driving it into Arkady’s midsection.

All the air left Arkady’s lungs and as she struggled to draw a breath in, Seiders took advantage of her loosened grip to twist free. They grappled with Liu for the gun, but Liu succeeded in kicking it away, where it spun underneath a nearby cabinet. Then Arkady was on Seiders again, jumping onto their back and choking them.

She heard the sound of running footsteps, and someone else burst into the room. Arkady didn’t get a chance to see who it was before Seiders slammed their head back, knocking into Arkady’s and making bright white lights explode across her vision. She dropped to the floor and staggered, trying to clear her head.

She heard an oof and a thud, and blinked rapidly, sure that she would open her eyes to see Seiders bearing down on Liu – or worse, standing over her unconscious body.

Instead, she was greeted with the sight of Seiders crumpling like a sack of potatoes as Sana flexed her fist, having delivered a powerful uppercut that knocked them out cold.

Silence reigned for a few seconds, broken only by Liu’s sharp, panicked breaths. Rubbing her head, Arkady said, “Hey, Sana.”

“The next time you decide to go off on a rescue mission,” Sana said, wryly, “you could at least tell me where you’re going.” She frowned as she took in Arkady’s dishevelled state. “Is your head all right?”

“I’ll be fine,” said Arkady. She was more concerned with Liu, who looked like she might be on the verge of a panic attack. “Hey, uh, it’s okay. We took care of them.”

“Who-” Liu managed, taking deep breaths in and out, clearly trying to steady her breathing. “Who are you?”

Sana smiled at her, warm and reassuring. “My name is Sana Tripathi, and this is Arkady Patel. We’re-”

There was a noise that sounded not unlike a herd of elephants storming down the corridor, and Arkady closed her eyes. She had a bad feeling she knew what was about to happen. Sure enough, in the next second Krejjh and Jeeter clattered through the door in all their clashing multicoloured glory: Jeeter in his signature loud paid shirt and those stupid khakis, and Krejjh with their… everything. Most of the clattering was coming from Krejjh’s many bangles.

“Cap’n Tripathi!” Krejjh said. “We’re here to assist you with – oh my god, are they dead?” They stared at the unconscious form of Seiders on the floor.

“They’re not dead, they’re just unconscious,” Arkady said, irritated. “Did you two really take off without anyone to watch the equipment?”

Sana turned back to Liu like nothing had happened. “We’re the band,” she finished succinctly. “I’m the guitarist and lead singer, Arkady here plays the bass, and Krejjh and Brian are our keyboardist and drummer.” She indicated each of them in turn. Jeeter waved, and Krejjh saluted for some reason. “And who are you?”

Liu blinked at her. “You… you just saved my life, and you don’t even know who I am?” she said. “Why would you do that?”

“For one thing, because you’d probably be dead if we hadn’t,” Arkady said. “You’re welcome for that, by the way.” She pulled out the phone to finish the hack on the security cameras that she’d started before she entered the room.

“I – no, I know that. I’m not ungrateful,” Liu said, sounding a little stung. “I’m just a little… in shock. My name is Violet Liu,” she added to Sana. “I, uh, work in IGR Corp’s neuroresearch division.”

“Good to meet you, Violet Liu,” Sana said, sounding like they were old friends catching up at the bar instead of total strangers talking to each other over an unconscious body. “’Kady, are you erasing the security footage?”

Arkady nodded.

“Good; Brian and I will carry our friend here,” Sana indicated Seiders with her foot, “into the hallway. I think I noticed a closet there we can hide them in.”

“Uh… are you guys really the band?” Liu asked, as Sana and Jeeter – who was much stronger than he looked – bent down to pick up Seiders. “You seem very…” She struggled to find the right words. “…good at this.”

“We have some unorthodox skillsets,” Sana said, beaming and dimpling at her. “We don’t normally make a habit of rescuing people in the middle of a gig, but Arkady has a soft spot for damsels in distress.”

Arkady fumbled her phone, and nearly dropped it. “Sana,” she hissed, mortified. Sana, who was already partway out of the door, winked and disappeared into the hallway.

After a moment, Arkady realised that she and Liu were the only ones in the room, Krejjh evidently having decided to go along and supervise, or something. She refocused her attention on the hack she was carrying out; she’d managed to hack the hallway security camera, and was erasing the footage from that, but she still needed to do the one in the office.

“Uh…” Liu awkwardly broke the silence. “Is there anything that you need me to…”

“Is anyone likely to be monitoring the security cameras in real-time?” Arkady asked her. The question came out sounding a little harsher than she’d intended, but it was hard to be diplomatic when she was focused on trying to break into a security system. Also, it was a little annoying that Liu apparently hadn’t thought about security cameras beyond the ones on the ground floor.

“N-no, the system is all automated,” Liu replied. Well, that was something, at least. “I, uh, I do have a virus that I was planning to use on the security system that would corrupt the footage. I just needed to find an access point.”

Fine, so there had been a plan of sorts. “This is quicker,” Arkady told her. “And the way I’m doing it, it won’t be so obvious that someone has tampered with the footage.”

“Thank you for that,” Liu said, quietly. “And thank you for – I mean, you don’t even know me, but you came up here to help me. Why?”

Arkady shrugged, keeping her shoulders hunched and avoiding Liu’s gaze. “You looked like you were in trouble,” she said shortly. And that was the office camera done. Arkady resisted the urge to change the password to something rude, and withdrew from the network. “And I don’t like corporations. What were you trying to do, blow the whistle on them or something?”

“Um, I-”

Before she could explain, Sana poked her head back into the room. “Arkady, are you done? Because I don’t think we should be hanging around up here.”

“I’m done,” Arkady said with a nod, pocketing her phone. The two of them joined Sana, Krejjh and Jeeter in the hallway.

“We need a plan to get Violet back downstairs and out of the building without her being seen,” Sana said quickly. “’Kady, do you think you two can make it out in fifteen minutes?”

Arkady huffed. “I can hack the security cams, but I can’t actually make us invisible,” she pointed out. “People are gonna notice us. If we waited until you guys started the set, then we might have a better chance, while everyone’s attention is on the band.”

“Listen – it’s not that I don’t really appreciate the help,” Liu cut in. Her face was set, like she was preparing to go to the gallows. “But none of this needs to be your problem. It’s my mess, and I can get myself out of it. You guys should go and start your set.”

“Oh, pshaw!” said Krejjh. “We’re not just gonna leave you to the bears!”

Jeeter smiled. “To the wolves,” he corrected Krejjh.

“Are y’sure? Because bears can be pretty terrifying.”

“We’re not about to abandon you now,” Sana said to Liu, gently. “Between the five of us, I’m sure we can figure out a pretty good plan.”

“Can’t we just pretend to be loading something into the truck?” Jeeter suggested. “And Violet can help us? We could give her a band jacket – make her look like she’s with us-”

“It’s too bad you don’t play!” Krejjh said to Violet. “We could add you into the set. The ultimate entourage!”

“Uh…” Violet said (at the same time as Arkady said, “Camouflage.”) “I mean, I do play something? But you guys already have a drummer.”

“Wait, you’re a drummer?” Jeeter said delightedly, as Krejjh straightened up so fast that Arkady thought they’d pull a muscle. Even Sana looked interested. “Are you good?”

“Have you ever played with a band before?” added Sana.

Liu smiled and shrugged awkwardly. “Well, drums aren’t really a solo instrument, so yeah. I used to jam with some friends in high school, and played some underground rock concerts in college. I was never really with a band – we just sort of used to form collectives based on who was around and wanted to play. It was fun, though.”

She’d avoided answering the question about how good she was, Arkady noticed, which probably meant she was good and was being modest about it. Goddamn it.

“So if, hypothetically speaking,” Sana said, “you joined a set without having rehearsed any of the music beforehand, would you be able to figure out a drum part?”

“Okay, hold on,” said Arkady, before Violet could respond. “Don’t you think IGR Corp is going to notice that one of their employees has just… joined the band?”

“We’ll swear up and down that it isn’t her,” Jeeter said. “And even if someone figures it out, what are they gonna do about it in front of everyone?”

“But wait, what about you?” Liu asked Jeeter. “Wouldn’t I be putting you out of a role in the band?”

“Nah,” Jeeter said happily. “I brought my keytar!”

“Oh my god,” Arkady groaned. She could tell when she was fighting a losing battle, but it didn’t stop her from making one last, token protest. “This is going to sound really goddamn weird.”

Sana grinned at her. “Well, you wanted to annoy some corporates,” she pointed out. “What better way to do it?”

---

The problem was, the new line-up didn’t sound weird at all.

It sounded good.

Liu, hastily disguised with an old band jacket and a spare pare of Krejjh’s sunglasses, fitted in with their set like she’d been rehearsing with them for weeks – months even. They did a quick sound check, Jeeter looking far too delighted as he amped up his keytar. Sana gave her usual cheerful introduction into the microphone, introducing the band as Renegade, the name they adopted for corporate gigs (Arkady was even more glad of it now, since it would make them harder to track down later). After a lukewarm reception from the assembled employees (none of whom seemed to notice, or care, that the band had grown an extra member), they launched into their first number, a reimagined cover of ‘What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor’.

It started off with Sana singing alone, before Krejjh joined in, their voices singing in close harmony, and then Arkady and finally Jeeter, the harmonies becoming increasingly layered as they went. The addition of the keytar made the song sound futuristic, almost the kind of thing you could imagine crews of space explorers singing together as they made their way into the unknown.

Liu picked up the beat easily, and as the song unfolded Arkady suddenly realised she could hear a fifth strand to the harmony, weaving in and out of the other voices, soft but distinctive: Liu was singing.

They moved on from the conventional crowd-pleasing openers to a more eclectic mix of songs, including some punk and anarchist numbers. Each time, Arkady was sure that the choice was going to throw Liu off, but she adapted smoothly to each one, altering her style to fit the vibe of the song. In one of the louder, heavier songs she even threw in an impromptu drum solo that had Krejjh whooping at the keyboard and Sana laughing as she riffed on her guitar.

Sana threw Arkady a look as the song ended, and there was a light in her eyes that Arkady knew far, far too well. It was the same light that Arkady had seen when Sana tracked her down at her latest deadbeat job and persuaded her to quit and start playing music with her; the same light that she’d had when they met Brian and Krejjh a year later and Sana had decided to turn their duo into a band.

Sana wanted Liu to join Rumor. And Arkady couldn’t even think of a good argument against it, apart from the fact that they barely knew anything about the woman other than that she could play the drums. And that she was a corporate, which Arkady thought was important not to lose sight of, even if Liu wasn’t on the greatest terms with her employer any more.

Speaking of which. Arkady was on high alert throughout the whole set, constantly scanning the crowd for signs of trouble, anyone who might be looking too closely at Liu or showed signs of moving towards the elevator. As they’d been setting up, Liu had told them that Seiders was middle management: someone who outranked her, but not someone who held a position of particular influence within the company or had the ear of the CEO. Someone who had ambitions above their station. It didn’t mean no-one would notice them missing, of course; but it meant that they might be someone who, for instance, would go after a rogue employee without notifying their superior, hoping to reap all of the credit.

The band moved into their final number, ‘Landers Never Stand Down’ – one of Sana and Arkady’s early compositions, whose lyrics Sana had written as a tribute to The Landing, and her and Arkady’s shared history. Normally, Arkady would object to wasting it on a corporate audience, but tonight, it felt like the right kind of ‘fuck you’.

“Landers never stand down,

Landers never bow,

Landers never stand down,

We don’t know how…”

They wound up the song in their usual fashion, repeating the chorus and getting fiercer and more defiant with each repetition, before ending in a final blaze of guitar chords.

“Thank you, everyone, you’ve been a wonder to perform for!” Sana said into the microphone as the chords faded away. She said the same thing at the end of every gig, but it had never felt more like a colossal understatement. “We’ve been Renegade, and we hope you have a great night!”

There was a small scattering of applause. Sana beamed out into the audience again, and then turned away from the microphone, sliding the power to ‘off’. “Well, that was-”

“Attention, all IGR Corp employees,” came a voice over the loudspeaker system. Sana froze, and Liu, who’d been leaning over to say something to Krejjh, paled visibly. “Please stay where you are. We will be carrying out a routine attendance check. Please do not exit the building.”

“Attendance check?” Arkady repeated.

“It’s a standard employee procedure,” Liu explained. “To make sure everyone’s… accounted for at corporate functions. Supposedly they’re optional, but it looks really bad if you’re not there and you don’t have a reason.”

“Do we think there’s a chance this is linked to…” Sana gestured towards the elevator. Liu shrugged helplessly.

“It could be, but even if it’s not, they’re gonna discover that Seiders is missing pretty quickly. And that I’m… unaccounted for.”

“Don’t worry,” said Jeeter, reassuringly. ��We’ll figure out a way to get you out before that happens.”

“Dashing escapes are our speciality!” Krejjh contributed. This was true; the band hadn’t always played at the most above-the-board venues, and there’d been more than a few times they’d needed to get the hell out of Dodge before things got ugly. Well, uglier.

Sana nodded. “For now, just keep packing down, like nothing’s wrong,” she said.

As Krejjh packed down their keyboard and Jeeter helped Liu to disassemble the drumkit, Arkady said to Sana, “I’ll go with Liu, and we can sneak out a back entrance-”

Sana shook her head. “It’ll be more suspicious if we’re not seen leaving as a group.”

“We’ll just say we’re going to the bathroom,” Arkady said. “We’re allowed to do that, aren’t we?”

Sana started to reply, but then stopped, squinting at something on the other side of the room. Arkady tried to follow her gaze, but couldn’t see what she was looking at. “What is it?”

“I thought I saw…” Sana shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Let’s try the front way first, and if they won’t let us leave, we’ll get creative.”

Unsurprisingly, when they carried the first load of equipment over to the rec room entrance, two stoic-looking IGR employees blocked their path, bouncer-style. Arkady eyed one of them, pretty sure she could take her in a one-to-one fight.

“Sorry, we can’t let you leave while an attendance check is ongoing,” said the employee, with a bland detachment. “Company policy.”

“It should only take about an hour,” the other added. “You can enjoy the free refreshments while you wait.”

An hour? Even if they hadn’t had a very pressing reason to get the hell out of there, Arkady would have been looking for the nearest fire escape to break out of. They were just supposed to cool their heels at IGR headquarters for an hour?

“Can we not at least load our equipment into the van in the meantime?” Sana asked reasonably. “This is a very heavy amplifier…” She made a show of struggling with the amp she’d been lifting with ease a few seconds ago, and Arkady suppressed a snort.

One of the corporates had opened their mouth, looking like they were about to object, when a friendly voice spoke from behind them. “Is there a problem here?”

They all turned to look at the person who’d spoken, and Arkady carefully masked her surprise: the tall, dark-skinned man dressed in an expensive-looking suit jacket, T-shirt and jeans combination was none other than Red Gregor, a close friend of Campbell’s. They’d met him once or twice, but what was he doing here?

“Who are you?” asked Corporate One, audibly unimpressed.

“Theodore Gregor; I’m the band’s executive producer,” Gregor introduced himself smoothly, handing Corporate Two a business card. Their eyes widened at whatever was written on it. “My clients have another engagement to get to tonight, so you can understand why it’s very important they be allowed to leave promptly. Additionally, their contract stipulates that they’re only obliged to perform for your company until-” he made a show of checking a gold watch, “-nine-thirty P.M., after which time we’ll need to bill you for every additional half-hour. Will your supervisors be signing off on the additional expenses?”

Corporates One and Two were visibly thrown by the torrent of information. Krejjh made a noise that was hastily stifled, while Arkady did her best to look bored and important.

“I… no, let me just contact my superior to get you the all-clear,” said Corporate One, reluctantly. “Johnson will help you to load your equipment into your…” She eyed the band’s battered van, visibly out of place in the parking lot full of sleek cars. “…vehicle.”

“Great!” Sana said brightly, handing the amplifier to Corporate Two, who took it and staggered slightly. As Corporate One spoke into a walkie-talkie, Sana and Red Gregor strode quickly ahead, the rest of the band trailing behind. Arkady lengthened her steps to catch up with them so that she could hear their quiet exchange.

“…doing here? Did Campbell send you?” Sana was asking Red Gregor.

“In a manner of speaking,” Red Gregor said. “He talks about you so much, I wanted to come and hear what all the fuss was about. Love the new line-up – you guys sound completely different to when I last heard you play.”

“It’s kind of a new thing,” Sana admitted. “New as of… today. I can fill you in, it’s just a long story.”

“I can’t wait to hear it,” Red Gregor said, and Arkady remembered that she’d liked him, the couple of times that they’d met. She could see why he and Campbell were good friends. “But let’s focus on getting you out of here. I’m guessing you need an exit?”

“And fast,” Sana agreed.

“Well, fast’s your speciality,” Red Gregor said with a grin. Sana smiled back at him, and Arkady wondered if Red was basing this off stories from Campbell, or if he and Sana knew each other better than Arkady had realised. It was a strange thought to have in the middle of everything.

Sana unlocked the van and slid open the back door. While Krejjh, Jeeter and Liu loaded their items into the trunk, overseen by Corporate Two, Red Gregor pretended to help Arkady and Sana with their instruments.

“So what now?” Arkady asked Sana. “I think I can probably take Johnson.”

“Arkady, you’ve already been in one fight today,” Sana said, disapproving.

“What’s your point?”

“I have a more bloodless suggestion,” Red Gregor said. “You’ve got a few pieces of equipment left in the venue, right? I’ll go back inside with Johnson to ‘collect’ them, say we’re going to check their supervisor has given you the go-ahead, and you guys make a break for it. I’ll bring the equipment in my car and meet you at the dive bar, half a mile down the road.”

“Are you sure you’ll be able to get away? What happens when they realise we’re gone?” Sana asked.

“I’ll come up with something,” Red Gregor assured her. “Just focus on getting yourselves out of here.”

He walked over to Johnson, who was slightly bemusedly watching Jeeter and Liu (who were clearly stalling for time) rearrange pieces of the drumkit in the trunk, and took him by the arm, steering him back towards the building and talking rapidly all the while.

“As soon as they’re out of sight, everyone needs to get in the van quickly,” Sana instructed. “And hang onto something. Okay? Now!”

Krejjh slammed the trunk of the van shut and everyone piled into the back without a word of protest. Arkady jumped into the front as Sana slid into the driver’s seat, reversing out of the parking space like a shot and executing an alarming hairpin turn to get them onto the road. Liu cried out in alarm, not used to Sana’s driving, and Arkady hung grimly onto the handle on the inside of her door.

“Everyone okay back there?” Sana asked, peering into the rearview mirror.

Arkady looked back to see Jeeter and Krejjh scrambling to put on their seatbelts, each of them having thrown an arm over Liu to keep her in place. “Oops, sorry, I forgot we don’t have a seatbelt for the middle!” Sana said cheerfully as they thudded over a speedbump. Liu closed her eyes. “There’s normally only four of us.”

“It’s not far to where we’re going, right, Captain?” asked Jeeter.

“Just a half mile down the road,” said Sana. “Red Gregor’s going to meet us there with the rest of the equipment, as soon as he can get away.”

“What was he doing at the gig? Did Campbell tell him where we were?”

“I think so. He said that he wanted to come and hear us play,” Arkady said, watching buildings blur past on either side of them. “I guess it was lucky he did.”

“We would’ve figured something out,” Krejjh said confidently.

“Uh, who’s Campbell?” Liu asked, cautiously opening her eyes again.

“He’s our… manager? Kinda?” Krejjh replied. “He doesn’t tell us what to do or anything, but he has a lot of contacts, so he gets us most of our gigs.”

“Contacts in the music industry? Or contacts in like… events venues, bars and clubs?”

“Yes,” Krejjh said helpfully.

“He just has a lot of contacts,” Jeeter said with a smile. Arkady smirked at Liu’s look of consternation.

“Tonight’s gig did not come through Campbell,” said Sana, spotting the dive bar Red Gregor had specified and indicating to turn off the road. “We got it through an agency, Fowleys. I guess that’ll teach us not to go outside Campbell’s network.”

“Hey, it worked out!” Krejjh said. “We got a new drummer out of the deal.”

“Well, for tonight, at least,” Sana said, now reversing into a parking space. “I gotta say, Violet, the way you fitted in with our sound? That was amazing. Our set sounded better than I could’ve imagined.”

Liu blushed. “They were great songs,” she demurred, as the van came to a stop.

“Too bad it was wasted on IGR Corp,” Arkady remarked, undoing her seat belt as they all climbed out of the van.

They got a table in the corner of the dive bar, which was pretty full and made it easy to blend in. As Sana went to get them all drinks, Krejjh and Jeeter started up some kind of nonsensical word game. Arkady and Liu glanced at each other occasionally, but otherwise sat in awkward silence.

Finally, Arkady asked something that had been on her mind since she intervened in the confrontation between Liu and Seiders, though it had taken a back seat to more pressing concerns. “What was it you were trying to get from that computer, anyway?”

“Sorry?” Liu asked, looking away from Krejjh and Jeeter, where she’d been listening in on the game with a slightly baffled expression.

“In the CEO’s office,” Arkady clarified. “I saw you take a flash drive out of the computer. What were you trying to get?”

“Oh,” Liu said, drawing out the little drive from inside her blouse. “Yeah, I was… trying to copy some files onto it. I’m not sure how much I got, though – I had to pull it out before the transfer was complete, and I think they’re encrypted.”

“What kind of files are they?” Arkady asked, thinking that she could probably break the encryption in an afternoon. Maybe less.

Liu hesitated, and Arkady narrowed her eyes. “You’re not still trying to protect your company, are you? In case you don’t remember-”

“No, no,” Liu said quickly. “I just – I’m not sure if it would be safe to tell you. Safe for you,” she added. “Right now, you have plausible deniability if anyone questions you. You genuinely don’t know what’s on this flash drive. So maybe it would be better to keep it that way.”

Arkady was a little bit pacified by that, but still – “Considering I’ve already aided and abetted you, I think that ship has sailed,” she pointed out. “No-one is going to believe I did it without having any idea what you were up to. Which I’m fine with,” she added, as a guilt-stricken look crossed Liu’s face. “I made a choice to help you, and so did the others. But I may as well know what the stakes are.”

“Yeah, that’s… fair,” admitted Liu. Next to her, Krejjh was doing a fairly poor job of pretending not to listen in. “They’re blueprints. My company – the company – has been developing… do you know what IGR Corp does? What kind of a company it is?”

“Some kind of a tech company?” Arkady said. She vaguely remembered Sana saying something about that when they got the gig. She hadn’t really been paying attention to the details.

Liu nodded. “Smart technology – specifically, smart home technology. We produce – I mean, they produce things like smart security systems, smart doorbells, systems that can detect when someone has a medical emergency. Systems that are designed to help keep people safe.”

Arkady had to work to keep from grimacing. She wasn’t sure that being monitored by a computer 24/7 fitted everyone’s definition of ‘safety’, but maybe Liu had never had cause to doubt that the people with power had her best interests at heart. Lucky her.

“But then,” Liu went on, her voice bitter, “I found out that the latest product we were developing – the one that was supposed to make everyone’s lives so much easier, so much better – is being created as a surveillance device. To eavesdrop on people and send their data back to the company. And I know that a lot of smart devices have audio capabilities, but – this was hardwired in. Impossible to disable. And this weird, secretive new division of the company has been set up to process the data.”

“What are they gonna do with it?” Arkady asked.

“Who knows,” Liu said. “They could be collecting it for the government, but – I think it’s more likely they’re just planning to sell it on to the highest bidder.”

Arkady’s eyes narrowed, and she wished that Sana had brought the drinks already so that she’d have something to down.

“You know,” Liu said, her voice suddenly much softer. “I, uh. I still haven’t thanked you properly for, uh, well-”

“O-kay!” came Sana’s voice, loudly, as she finally arrived at their table carrying a small tray laden with glasses. “Sorry for the delay, guys, there was a heck of a crowd up at the bar. Also, the bartender was really interested in talking to me while he pulled these drinks.” She made a wry expression, her dimple deepening in one cheek. “Cheer up, ‘Kady, I’ve got your favourite-” She slid a pint glass of raspberry ale in front of Arkady.

“Thanks,” Arkady mumbled, not looking at Liu.

Red Gregor arrived not long after, having apparently evaded IGR Corp by pretending that he was going outside to look for the band, and then driving off with the equipment before anyone realised what was happening. Sana passed him a drink from the tray; no-one asked how she already knew his preferred drink order.

“So look,” said Arkady, after they’d done some small talk and toasted to a successful getaway (Sana’s idea, of course). “Not that we didn’t appreciate the save earlier – you had pretty good timing – but why’d you go to all the trouble of coming to an IGR Corp function just to hear us play? How did you even get in?”

“I know a lot of people,” Red Gregor said mysteriously, with a fluid shrug. “As for why I came – you probably don’t know this, but I’ve been getting into the music biz lately.”

Arkady tried to remember what ‘biz’ Red Gregor had been in before, and couldn’t. He was one of those people who seemed to do a bit of everything.

“That’s awesome!” said Krejjh, looking delighted. “Are you going to start a band? Or manage one?”

Red Gregor smiled. “Actually, neither. I’m starting a record label,” he said. “And I want to sign you guys to it.”

Liu choked on her drink; Jeeter said, “Wow, really?” and even Sana looked taken aback. Clearly this hadn’t been the answer she was expecting.

“Us?” she said, as if Gregor could have meant anyone else. “As in…” She gestured around the table, including Liu.

Red Gregor nodded. “Look, your new sound is like nothing I’ve ever heard from a band before,” he said. “Campbell has always spoken highly of you guys, and I really liked your originals the last time I heard you perform. But with this new line-up? I think you could become really big. If that’s something that you want, of course.”

Sana sat back in her chair, looking thoughtful, while Krejjh looked practically ready to vibrate out of theirs with excitement. “That would be a pretty big step for us,” she said. “Not that we wouldn’t love – more exposure, better opportunities-”

“Gigs in legal venues?” put in Jeeter.

“More above-the-board performances,” agreed Sana. “But we’ve only played once with this new line-up. We don’t know for sure if we can replicate that – and I mean, we’d be asking Violet to just drop everything and join us full-time-”

Red Gregor held up his hands. “Like I said, it’s completely up to you,” he said. “I’m not here to pressure you into something you’re not ready for. But don’t underestimate yourselves. I wouldn’t be offering if I didn’t have faith in you guys.”

Sana looked around the table, taking in the mixture of expressions, ranging from Krejjh’s eagerness to Liu’s uncertainty to Arkady’s… Arkady didn’t know what her face was doing. “We’ll have to put it to a vote,” she said, predictably. “And if any of you need more time to think this over-”

“I’m in!” Krejjh said instantly. “We rocked tonight! I want to keep on rocking that hard. And we should totally record an album.”

Jeeter smiled fondly. “I’m on board with anything that will let me keep playing the keytar,” he admitted. “And I thought we sounded pretty awesome, as well.”

Sana looked at Liu. “Violet, you’re the one who this would be the biggest change for,” she said. “The rest of us are already playing in a band full-time. Well, with the odd side gig,” she added, because yeah, they did not yet make enough money from performing to cover the bills. “You barely know us, and you’re not under any obligation to stick around – or to switch careers.”

Liu gave a slightly broken laugh. “Well, I don’t really think I can go back to my old one,” she said. “That option evaporated as soon as one of my colleagues pulled a gun on me. Not… sure I’ve really had time to process that yet.”

Sana nodded. “If it’s too soon-”

“But no amount of processing is going to make my situation any different,” Liu went on. “I could try to get another job in my field, but… IGR Corp is a pretty well-known company. Word’s going to get around that I’m untrustworthy, especially if they put it about that I tried to steal corporate secrets.”

“They can’t do that,” Sana said immediately. “I used to do some union work; whistleblowing is a protected activity, and it’s against the law for them to blacklist you – to make it more difficult for you to obtain future employment.”

Liu smiled slightly. “I don’t think IGR Corp are too concerned with breaking the law,” she pointed out. “I appreciate it, but… this isn’t my first experience with a hostile work environment.”

Okay, so maybe Arkady should take back her earlier thought about Liu never having had cause to distrust the people in power.

“Besides, I haven’t even blown the whistle on them yet – I’m not sure if the information I have is worth anything,” Liu said, a little grimly. “And anyway… I think it’s time for a clean slate. So, if you’ll have me… I’m in.”

Which just left Arkady. She could see how pleased Sana was that Liu was willing to join the band full-time, even though she was trying to hide it. Krejjh and Jeeter, too, were excited – and not just at the prospect of getting better gigs and earning more money (though that was a very appealing prospect).

The fact was, Red Gregor was right – they’d sounded like a completely new band during their performance. Arkady had always liked their stuff (of course she did; she’d even co-written some of it) but the new sound gave it a flair she hadn’t even realised it had been missing. As much as she couldn’t help thinking of the dozens of ways this could go wrong, she wanted them to keep sounding like that. She wanted to see what else they could do.

“‘Kady?” asked Sana.

Arkady took a deep breath. “Sure. Let’s do this.”

#TSCOSI #Podcast Big Bang 2021 #The Strange Case of Starship Iris #Vikady #Arkady Patel #Violet Liu #Brian Jeeter #Krejjh #Red Gregor #who turned into a surprisingly key character for this fic which is fun #I'm kind of inventing his personality from wholecloth but I like him #the background Sana/Campbell/Red Gregor sort of came out of nowhere and I just went with it #love me some OT3 vibes!

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gottlem · 4 years

Text

favourite song (lemonjuice)

a/n: well here it is! gonna keep this short and sweet but i wanted to say how much i love these two and i wrote this just bc i felt like we needed more lemonjuice fics !!! props the the handful of writers who have already written this ship, they’re all so great !! quick sidenote, i haven’t written in a while, so i really hope y’all find this up to standard !!! <3

summary: Juice found that the best way to get her feelings out was through writing songs, but she would never tell her best friend and long time crush, Lemon, about that. Well, until she does. (3.3k words)

Juice was never really the best at outwardly expressing her feelings. Even when she tried to open up to her best friend from childhood, Lemon, it was as if the words got lost somewhere between her mind and her mouth. And as someone with far too many emotions to keep bottled up safely, she needed a way to let them out. So she began to write songs. Over a few years, she taught herself to play a guitar she had found stocked away in her home, which had been surprisingly intact and functional for it’s age.

At first, her songs were mediocre at best. The chords sometimes wouldn’t sound right together and she couldn’t really get the lyrics to flow in the way she wanted them to, but after writing and writing she started to find her sound. And it was good. Once she was truly happy with the content she was creating, she didn’t want to keep it to herself any longer. It’s not like she wanted to become famous, no, the idea of fame scared her shitless. But she wanted somewhere to put her work, she didn’t care if one person or one thousand people listened. So she made a small Instagram account. It didn’t have her name, and she didn’t tell any of her friends, but over time it acquired a small but surprisingly active following.

It was Friday night when Juice started on a new song. It was one she had been meaning to write for a long time, but was about something she was scared to even admit to herself. Feelings she was scared to face. Feelings for Lemon. They had been there for a while, festering under the surface, and only recently had they gotten out of control. Nothing had triggered it, not particularly, but suddenly she had found herself thinking about her friend far too often to be considered platonic. They had been best friends for as long as Juice could remember, and she knew she was far into the friend zone. Lemon would flirt often, make jokes about them becoming girlfriends. Which was fine. It meant she was comfortable enough in their friendship. And as long as Lemon loved her in any way, Juice was happy. Or at least, that's what she told herself.

She was in the middle of writing her very first song about the girl when her strumming was interrupted by her phone ringing. Loudly. She should have remembered to just put it on mute. It’s ringing startled her enough to be taken out of the zone she was in, so she decided the least she could do was check who it was. And she figured the universe had decided to play a massive practical joke on her right at the moment, because the caller ID read “lem”. She answered it anyway, it was Lemon after all, how couldn’t she?

“Lem! Hi!” She cursed herself for how smitten she sounded, Lemon would be quick to figure out her feelings if she wasn’t careful.

“Juicy! What’s up? What are you doing right now?” Juice’s heart stopped. Partly because of the nickname that she still hadn’t gotten used to, and partly because she has no idea how to answer that question without having to explain why she’s kept this hobby secret for so long.

“Umm, well”

She didn’t actually know why she had kept this from Lemon all this time. Maybe telling her would be good, maybe it wouldn’t even change anything. So she bit the bullet and made the split second decision to let the cat out of the bag. She didn’t have to say what, or who, she was writing about, right?

“I was in the middle of writing a song, you actually kind of scared me, my phone was so loud” There was a beat of silence. Juice bit her bottom lip nervously and just hoped she wouldn’t be asked a question that she was absolutely not ready to answer.

“You were- since when did you write songs? Juicy how did I not know about this? Can you even play any instruments? What do you play?”

These questions, Juice could deal with.

“I uh, started a few years ago, didn’t tell anyone because I wanted it to be something I could keep for myself, and I taught myself guitar after I found one in that spooky cupboard you can never go into.”

Lemon chuckled, causing Juice to blush instantly. Because of course she did.

“Wow. Years, huh? Why didn’t you tell me though?” Juice didn’t expect her friend to sound almost hurt by the fact that she had kept this from her. But then again, they tell eachother everything. She didn’t really know why she never told Lemon. Maybe she was scared of opening up too much, sounding dramatic. Maybe she was scared she wouldn’t like her songs. Maybe she was scared she would.

“I don’t know Lem. Just didn’t come up I guess”

“Well, can I hear one? What about the one you’re writing now?”

“Not yet. Maybe next time you come over once it’s finished.”

“Oh. Okay, yeah, definitely. Well I’ll let you finish it then, text me when it’s done!”

When Lemon hung up, the silence of the room fell heavy on Juice’s ears. Obviously, she wouldn’t show Lemon the song she was writing just then, but she didn't have to know that. She would show Lemon a song she wrote a month or two ago, she remembered it well enough and it’s not about anything too serious that Lemon doesn’t already know about. No harm done. Easy.

Lemon was set on hearing at least one of Juice’s songs. She couldn’t believe that after knowing her for so many years, she had hidden this from her! It’s not that she was angry, she wasn’t, she just wished she hadn’t missed out on all this. She wondered what she could have written about over the years, what she writes about now. She wondered what her voice sounded like, would it be smooth and silky, or breathy and soft? What would her songs even sound like? Does she have her own special sound, distinctive from everyone else? She just wanted to know. She wanted to hear them.

When Juice finally performed a song for Lemon, she was speechless. They sat on Juice’s bed, candles burning on the windowsill and hot chocolates resting on her nightstand. The moon shone from the window, it was quite late, probably too late to make any noise, but nobody was home to hear, so neither girl tried to keep quiet despite the late hour. From the moment Juice started to pluck a soft pattern on the nylon strings of the old guitar, she was mesmerised. The melody was soothing, and her voice was soft enough to send her to sleep if she closed her eyes for too long. It was a beautiful song, about a story Lemon had already heard a thousand times before, but never in this format. That made it feel brand new.

The pair fell asleep soon after that, limbs tangled in Juice’s bed just like all the other times before, except a soft humming could be heard that sent Lemon straight to sleep in her friend's familiar arms. Juice wished it could be like this every night. But her and Lemon were just friends, eventually she’d be okay with that reality. She’d have to be.

It didn’t take long for Lemon to find Juice’s account dedicated to her songs. After she went home that morning she went straight onto Instagram, remembering something Juice had said about an account where she puts all her music onto. At first, she didn’t quite know where to look, but she ended up searching through the followers and following on Juice’s main account and eventually stumbled upon it. She just wanted to hear more.

Lemon checked the most recent video posted, expecting it to be the same song Juice had performed for her the night before, since she had been told it was the one her friend had just written, the one she had interrupted the writing of. It took her a minute to realise the song was definitely not the same, but she didn’t think too much of it, maybe she hadn’t posted that one yet. Hearing one of her songs before anyone else made Lemon’s stomach do a little flip, something she was growing used to around her friend.

As Lemon scrolled through the account, listening to each and every song, she encountered one that sounded extremely familiar, posted months ago. It was the exact same one Juice had performed to her. But if she had only just written it, how had it been posted months ago? She tried not to dwell on it for too long, opting to just enjoy the music instead. Once she had sifted through every video, she followed the account, wanting to hear everything her friend came out with.

Juice’s songs were special. They allowed Lemon to feel more connected to her friend; she always felt as if Juice was biting her tongue, holding back. All she had ever wanted was Juice to open up around her, and if it was through her breathtaking music, then so be it. Some songs were about stuff that Lemon had never heard her friend even mention before, and she was tempted to give her a ring or text and ask her about them, talk more into detail about the contents, but she always stopped herself at the last minute. If Juice wanted to talk about something that was bothering her, she would talk. Maybe she was scared to.

Juice almost screamed when she saw the notification that Lemon had followed her account. She looked over every one of her posts, making sure they were all good enough for Lemon to see. She wanted Lemon to love her music now she knew about it, and hoped she would bring up one of her songs to her. She wondered which song would be Lemon’s favourite, and why. She wanted to know how many she had listened to. Had she just followed the account and left it at that? Had she watched her most recent video? Had she listened to all of her posts?

So Juice waited. She waited for Lemon to bring it up. But even after posting a couple of new songs, she got nothing. She was quick to come to the conclusion that Lemon wasn’t really looking at her new posts, though in reality that couldn’t be further from the truth. When Juice figured Lemon wasn’t listening to her new music, she found the courage to post her song about the girl. It wasn’t very specific, it was clearly about a girl she had some strong feelings for, but there were no identifying details that could lead to the conclusion of the song being undoubtedly about Lemon. This meant if Lemon did happen to hear it, there was no way she would know right off the bat that the song was about her. She didn’t need Lemon to know her true feelings.

When Juice posted her first song about Lemon, the feedback had been overwhelmingly positive. She received a few more likes than usual, and the comments were filled with well wishes for her and the mystery girl she had written a song about. But there was nothing from Lemon, as usual. Juice was confident that she wasn’t listening, so she posted more and more songs about her. It wasn’t like she only ever wrote about Lemon anymore, though she was definitely getting more comfortable doing so and began writing about her more often than not, allowing herself to fall deeper for the girl. As she posted more songs, they became increasingly more specific, but never enough to allow her to be figured out. Someone would only be able to tell it was Lemon if they were actively looking for that specific conclusion.

Lemon couldn’t believe it when she heard Juice’s first love song. She watched her best friend’s eyes light up on her screen while singing about this mystery girl, but there was something else to her facial expression that made it all seem bitter sweet. Maybe it was the way her eyes would lose that sparkle for just a moment every once in a while, or the way her lips never really formed into the beautiful smile Lemon had gotten so used to over the years. The song itself was beautiful, as always. Juice sounded as if she meant every single word, truly singing right from her heart.

It hurt Lemon a little to find out Juice felt so strongly about someone and hadn’t told her, but perhaps she was just getting round to it. It hurt her even more that it wasn’t Lemon she was singing about. She knew she had liked Juice for a while, but tried to keep things platonic in fear of her feelings not being reciprocated, and it looked as if that was the right move because now she was listening to Juice sing a love song that wasn’t about her.

Even though she knew she would be hurt by the truth, Lemon was determined to find out who Juice had been singing about in her more recent posts. Each song hurt to listen to more than the last, because she was creating a fantasy where Juice was actually singing about her. It was only made worse that everything Juice said about this girl and their relationship could be used to describe Lemon. She just needed confirmation that it wasn’t her and then she could move on with her life as Juice’s friend. And be content with just that.

Her idea was simple, but effective. Just ask her. Juice was a terrible, terrible liar, made worse when it was Lemon she tried to lie to, so she knew she’d be getting the truth about whoever this girl was. All she had to do was try not to show her feelings, and try not to get jealous of this girl. Shouldn’t be too hard, right?

Juice enjoyed whatever time she could spend with Lemon, but nothing could beat when she stayed over. They turned on fairy lights and lit candles before making hot chocolate and turning on netflix, watching from the comfort of Juice’s bed. Maybe she liked it so much because they always ended up tangled together. She just liked the way Lemon’s skin felt against hers, even if it was just some small brushes under the covers.

They were chatting about nothing in particular when Lemon changed the subject without warning, something she always did.

“Hey Juicy, I’ve loved your songs lately by the way. Not that I don’t always love them. I just thought I’d tell you”

Juice’s heart stopped. She could practically feel the colour drain from her face. Lemon listened to her songs. Her recent songs.

“You’ve heard my new ones?” Is all she could get out.

“Duh! I’m your number one fan, juicy”

“Oh.”

“Just one question though, who are all the love songs about?” Juice wouldn’t really describe them as love songs, more like ‘hopelessly crushing on my best friend who I have virtually zero chance with’ songs. But sure, love songs it is.

“Lem. You can’t really write a love song about a stupid crush. Love is a very strong word, I don’t love her. I can’t”

“Honey, you’re in love. You can see it in your eyes when you sing about her. Must be some special girl, huh?” Lemon rubbed salt into her own wound with every word she said. It almost physically hurt to ask about this girl Juice was so clearly smitten for, knowing it wasn’t her.

“Yeah. She’s special. But you don’t get it Lem, I can’t be in love with her. I just can’t”

“Why not?”

Juice just shook her head, defeated. She knew the answer to that. She can’t be in love because she’s her best friend. It would ruin what they have. She would get rejected. Everything would change.

Lemon wiped a stray tear from her friend's cheek.

“Hey. Look at me,” she did, “whoever this girl is, would be so, so lucky to have you. I promise you, one day you’re going to find someone who loves you with just as much passion as I hear in those beautiful, beautiful songs. You deserve to be loved by someone who loves you that much. Okay? Don’t cry baby”

The pet name slipped out of Lemon’s mouth before she could stop it, but it felt so natural as she took the crying girl in her arms. They sat there for a while, Lemon whispering little reassurances in her ear, rubbing soothing circles on her back.

Until Juice pulled away, took a deep breath, and looked Lemon straight in the eye. She was going to tell her.

“I just- Sorry for crying on you”

But she couldn’t. Love is scary. But Lemon is not. It was a painful cycle.

“Don’t be.” Lemon couldn’t stand seeing her Juice so broken, so she figured she’d try to lighten the mood and try to find out who it was so she could finally just get over her. “Sooooooo, who is it?”

“No, I can’t tell you” Juice managed a weak chuckle, shook her head affectionately.

“C’mon, do I at least know her?”

All Lemon got in response was a nod. She was confused, really. She had set herself up to be told a random girls name and have her heart broken. She would take a few weeks to recover, but eventually Juice and this girl would get together and they’d all live happily ever after. She had prepared herself for that. She had not prepared for tears and love and self doubt and secrets. They had never kept anything like this from each other. Ever since coming out to each other, they had vowed to be one another’s wing-woman, so what happened? The only reason Lemon could possibly think of as to why she couldn’t tell her who, was-

“Juicy...” Her tone felt unfamiliar in her mouth. It wasn’t sharp or soft, it wasn’t happy, angry or upset. It might have been hope. Juice just looked up at her, eyebrows furrowed.

“Is it-”

“Whoever you’re going to say, I can almost guarantee that you’re wrong” Juice almost found it funny that she was about to guess.

“Let me finish,” Lemon looked at her in the eyes, and smiled softly “ Is it me?”

“I-”

What was she even supposed to say to that? She couldn’t lie, Lemon would see right through it. She couldn’t tell the truth, everything would change. What if Lemon felt weird about it? What if she didn’t want to be as close with her any more? Was she uncomfortable with the idea of Juice having a crush on her?

Lemon giggled softly, “I guess the silence answers that question, huh?”

“I’m sorry. You don’t have to stay here if you don’t want to anymore. I swear I can just move on and get over it. I really don’t want to ruin our friendship and I’d hate to make you uncomfortable or anything. Are you mad? I don’t blame you if-”

“Shut up” Lemon almost whispered, her soft tone still somehow cutting through Juice’s words like a knife. Juice said nothing. She let the silence take over for a second or two, before Lemon took a breath, and spoke again.

“Shut up, and kiss me”

So she did. Juice had always wondered what kissing Lemon would feel like, but now she was actually doing it, all her expectations didn’t even come close to the real thing. They fit together so easily, the kiss hardly ever breaking, staying as soft as ever. They had all the time in the world, so why rush it?

After that night, Juice wrote countless more songs for her now-girlfriend, and every single time a new one came out, Lemon would say the same thing.

“I like this one. I think it’s my new favourite song. I love you”

And Juice loved her back. You could see it in her eyes. Feel it through her kiss. Hear it in her songs.

#well... hope u liked it!!!!#i hope u know how long it took me to decide who was gonna be the songwriter #im happy with my decision of it being juice #anyways #pls give me validation #ty #lemon #lemon cdr #lemon gives you life #lemon queen #juice boxx #lemonjuice #rpdr fanfiction #canadas drag race #lemon x juice boxx #my writing:)

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zwiezraczek · 5 years

Text

The Perks of Being Roger's Girl... [Chapter 1]

SUMMARY: Anna is Brian’s friend, his childhood best friend. They were separated for a long time, but when Smile performs at the Royal Albert Hall, Anna is here, invited by Brian. There, she meets Roger, the dentist drummer, a loverboy.

CHAPTER 1: Begining - CHAPTER 2

WORDS: 6.4k

Anna walked into the concert hall. It was hot in there, she could almost feel herself sweat as she entered the place. She thanked herself for wearing only a long coat above her red dotted white shirt and her brown fabric bell-bottoms. She touched nervously her afro, before going towards the bar to have a beer. It was exciting to see Brian, her friend, playing on stage. It was something she missed a lot. She heard that he was playing in a band, she even went to some of his early concerts. But, sadly, her studies disabled her from coming to see her friend, she only wrote letters to him while being in Cambridge as a broke student for several years. But now, she was back home, to work and study – that she could now afford, not being too busy at University. She could even afford a small flat, nothing too cozy, but nothing in too bad shape; after all she wasn't paying much.

When she heard some agitation near the stage, after her first beer, she looked in that direction. The band was there, Smile. She immediately recognized Brian's luxurious hair, she missed her long-lost hair twin during the years they were apart. She was extremely happy to see him embracing his natural hair, because she remembered the times when he used to straighten it. Real massacre.

Anna rose from her seat at the bar to go see them clearer. She tried to catch Brian's gaze while he was adjusting his guitar, the Red Special as he used to call her. She waved at him, he saw her – who wouldn't recognize this afro in a crowd? – and shyly waved back before the beginning of the show.

Introductions were made. She swore that Brian spoke about four members, not three; but somehow, during that night at the Royal Albert Hall, only three of them were here, on stage. Tim, the lead vocalist and bassist, Roger the blond drummer and Brian, her friend, no Chris. Something must have happened, but for now it wasn't important.

They began to play. People around her seemed to know their music by heart, sharing their energy with the band which was exciting and beautiful. On her side, she was mesmerized by their performance. They were in such symbiosis that everything around her – cigarettes scents, alcohol, the crowd – seemed to fade away. Brian was absolutely amazing, she definitely knew it before but this performance brought it on another level – she had to admit that the last time she saw Brian perform was a few years ago. The other members of the band were mesmerizing too, Tim seemed so passionate about his singing, and so concentrated while playing bass and on the other hand, Roger looked so carefree, so wild while playing the drums. Everything looked so perfect, everything was enchanting.

When the magic ended she could go backstage to join Brian and the band. She had to make her way through the crowd towards the stage and to almost fight with the guards around the scene while explaining to them that she was invited by one of the members of the band, no she wasn't a groupie, no fuck off. Finally, Brian had to come and tell the guards that it was okay for her, that she was indeed his friend and she was invited backstage. Anna felt relieved, she had a haughty expression while getting there before it faded when she was alone with Brian, almost alone. She was so happy to see her old friend that she hugged him, a little more than usual. He was still taller than her, something that she always found irritating because she was used to be the tallest around. This was how they began their friendship, height and hair. He was doing well, he was still studying astrophysics, still playing music, and still full of talent. She always admired how versatile he was, it was one of his biggest qualities. Anna on the other hand was just studying English literature, nothing big, but she was good at it. She used to write with Brian when they were in high school, he had such a way with words. Anna only added some touches when he was writing, telling him what sounded better in her opinion, and he listened to what she had to say; they could discuss about the text for hours. Good old days.

Brian showed her around, leading her to the band's small space backstage. The question about not being four burned her lips and finally the fire started, Brian put an end to it by explaining why Chris had to leave them – argument, Chris Smith was out now, ugly argument really. Brian didn't give names, but something told her that Roger, this troublesome friend of his, the dentist, was the cause. She referred to Roger like that in their letters, which amused Brian a lot. When he pushed the curtain a bit, Anna and Brian came across the room dedicated to the band. Everything was blurry from smoke, heat, groupies. A lot of groupies on the couch, three groupies, for a small space three too much. She first met Tim, sitting on one of the chairs while discussing with a man with a peculiar face, but peculiar in a good way, it was something about his teeth... Tim shook her hand with a smile on his face, bringing her back to reality. She told him that she really enjoyed the show they put on tonight and he thanked her, he seemed genuinely relieved that she enjoyed the show. And then, Anna saw this blond head with this little smile, looking at the girls gathered around him on the couch, both hands spread on the headrest. The dentist. Yes, she now remembered that Brian told her about his “attractiveness”, which on the one hand brought them fans but on the other was a pain in the ass, Brian's words. But Roger seemed to enjoy the mess he made around him, if we believed the smile displayed on his pretty face. A loverboy. He smirked when he saw Anna. A dentist loverboy. Great. She wasn't sure if it was their coming or their hair that caught the drummer's attention when they entered the small space. Brian sat in front of Roger, on an armrest while Anna made herself comfortable in the same chair.

“Hey, Rog, this is Anna. You remember, my friend, the one I invited tonight,” Brian precised while pointing at Anna who waved shyly. Brian quickly looked at the three girls gathered around Roger, all having a good laugh with the drummer.

“How could I forget mate,” Roger replied, Anna and Brian had his full attention now. It was quite spectacular to see two persons with such hair in the same room, near each other. “I'm Roger Taylor, nice to meet you Anna”, he said looking at her. “Damn, you two look like twins, even the look and stuff. Brian, you didn't tell me you had a beautiful sister!”

“Rog, please”, Brian seemed to have enough of all of this, he only sighed and looked at Anna with an apologetic smile. She wasn't upset, she liked the idea of them looking alike, it always was fun to be taken for siblings. Especially with Brian. Hilarious situations came to her mind at that moment. Like the time they tried to convince a man while entering a bar that Brian was Anna's twin, the guy was slightly drunk but he saw most of the trick, but let them in anyway. Good time.

“Yeah, nice to meet you too,” she replied, with a kind expression which reassured Brian. “Great show, great drum work and all,” she wasn't really a specialist, she knew it, but she found the performance really interesting, and her compliments were absolutely genuine. Even if they were not totally important, at the end, who was she to judge their performance? A mere mortal.

“Oh you know, these hands can do wonders”, he answered with a cocky smile making the girls around him burst into laughter and cuddling up a bit more against him. Anna just looked up at Brian, a little confused, a little amused. Brian wasn't surprised at all.

“As you can see, I didn't lie to you when describing Roger in my letters to you,” Brian said with a little smile on his face, just to tease the blond. Anna absolutely knew that little smile of his. Classic Brian.

“Described me? What letters?”, Roger asked, loosening the cuddling position he was in. A wave of incomprehension crossed his face, he seemed to be processing every information he heard, slowly, without understanding everything, what Anna found quite funny.

“Oh, the dentist things, he only described the dentist things”, Anna playfully answered, then casting a knowing look at Brian. “Only dentist things, right?”

“Brian, for the love of God I won't become a dentist,” one could hear determination in Roger's voice. He became petty, pretty petty, and this blond hair was only enhancing his childish look which made him look so innocent, even if, from what Anna could read and see, he wasn't at all.

“If you say so, Rog.”

Roger processed the information, he had the whole process of thinking on his face, his eyes slightly shut, his mouth open a little and a gaze into nowhere. Anna didn't really know how to react to that... Absence. Brian elbowed her, as if everything was alright, and then started to ask how Cambridge was. They had so much to catch up, she had so much to tell him, she had so much to hear. Everybody in the room had their occupation, beer in hand, Anna having a great time speaking with Brian about the crazy stuff she did while in Cambridge while laughing, cross-legged in the chair, Brian laughing wile leaning closer to her to hear what she actually said to him because of Roger's girls laughing at his jokes. It was getting later and later, darker and darker outside and Anna had to go back home, into her small flat. Something she didn't enjoy much, she was having a great time there, with Brian, just like in the good old days. But everything had to come to an end. Sadly. Brian offered to walk her home, just in case and she gladly accepted that offer. Brian took his guitar, excused himself for not helping with the instruments tonight but he had to walk her home, safety first. Roger smiled, a knowing smile.

“Roger, she is my friend.”

“Yeah, for sure mate,” he winked at her, while hugging on of the girls more against him.

“Have a very, very pleasant night,” Anna commented while smiling at him. He pissed her off a bit, but nothing to serious, it was all in fun.

“You too girl, tell me if Brian was nice enough then,” he commented and Anna's attempt to reply was covered by one of the girl's laugh. Great.

And while Anna a Brian left the room, Roger was still thinking about Anna.

~~~~

Seeing Anna around during their gigs was something absolutely normal by now. She came back to London four months ago, and for the past two months she was going to see them perform as much as she could. In London, at home, everything was easier.

She finally became a huge fan of the group, it was inevitable with Brian's texts. He had some talent, no doubts. She was very fond of Doin' Alright, she always enjoyed when it was played during gigs. Something soothing the atmosphere, dulling the rumble of the crowd, making everything blurry when she was sitting legs crossed at the bar, a beer in hand and watching the stage from afar. And obviously then, she went backstage with them. There, she met Freddie, Tim's friend, the one she saw the first time she came, a talented art student. Shy and exceptional. He had extra teeth, something that made Roger laugh at first, but when he heard Freddie's singing voice, he, and his falsettos, got their jaws dropped. Anna herself was amazed. His performances, she guessed, will be bomb.

Tonight, Roger came in long after Anna – Anna was usually the last one to come into the band's space, knowing how much they needed a bit of rest after a gig – something that became normal, usual with the bringing girls ban Brian and Tim established especially for Roger. So now, Roger came in late. Everybody knew why, nobody wanted to hear it. But Freddie was always teasing him about it. When he showed up with a sheepish smile, some lipstick on his neck and a napkin with numbers on it, Freddie couldn't resist the urge to comment.

“Darling, you're always playing the perverted part after gigs,” and Roger just rose his shoulders, innocently, a dazzled look, a flirtatious smirk for Anna and a reply.

“You know, somebody has to play that part, I don't really see Brian playing it, nor Tim,” he explained, it sounded as a self-sacrifice for the greater good of the band. So dramatic. So Roger.

“Sure Rog, I could definitely not be as perverted as you are,” Brian replied and the looked at Anna, smiling. He once told her a Roger's adventure, when two girls showed up after their gig, claiming they were his girlfriends. He had an immense pleasure watching Roger hiding in closets while the girls were chasing him. Anna made a funny face, and could only nod in order to not burst into laughter while thinking about it.

“What “sure Rog”, mate? And you, what was that nod for, huh?” Roger looked at both of them, suspicious, straightening himself on the couch, scrutinizing them and their chemistry.

“Nothing Roger,” she replied amused, “nothing in particular. I mean, Brian could never be as good as you are at this kind of games.”

“You're on tight rope, Anna,” he warned her with dark yet smiling eyes, pointing right at her. He wanted to know why he was the butt of the joke, right now.

“Literature students are always on tight rope, Roger, I'm used to it. Plus, when you have Brian's hair because you're half black, being on tight rope is your destiny,” her answer was full of sarcasm, but full of truth too. She had difficult times with her hair, really difficult ones. But now, with her hair pal, everything seemed lighter, more joyful.

“Be careful Roger, she's taller than you,” Brian warned him changing the subject.

“And? What does that change exactly, mate?”

“She's taller, that's the joke,” Tim insisted encouraged by Freddie's laugh.

“Fuck you”, Roger replied, arms crossed on his chest, looking from time to time to see if Anna was looking at him. And she was. This dentist was a funny guy after all.~

~~~~

Smile was dead. God save the Queen.

Smile had to fade to let Queen rise. This was how Brian explained Anna that Tim wasn't playing with them now, they separated after a few more gigs together, but remained friends. Funnily enough, the one replacing Tim was Freddie. The Freddie that Roger first called a “dental freak” to what Freddie replied that a drummer dentist shouldn't give any opinion on his teeth, especially when he couldn't sing properly. Roger was red, and Brian and Anna were only laughing, covering their mouths while doing it. But then, they became friends, even when Freddie called him a perverted little brat. Even then, Roger could only be more bitchy than ever and cock-fight with Freddie about who had more sass. Anna secretly loved these small challenges.

As Tim left the band, they needed a bassist. Freddie wasn't really suited for the bass, and God knew they tried to make him play – it was a disaster that Anna never wanted to forget, seeing Brian's absolutely jaded expression while Roger was screaming at Freddie for not playing it alright, a priceless moment – but this never really worked, and they needed a bassist. Quickly. And there he came, John Richard Deacon, born on August 19th 1951. He was studying electric engineering, nothing too fancy, he looked like a shy person who had nothing to do on stage – Roger's words when he came in, according to Brian – but he shortly proved that they absolutely needed him in the band while softly playing the bass, with such passion, yet stiffly but they could work on that. And when Anna saw the whole band for the first time, during one of their rehearsals, as Mary, Freddie's friend was sitting next to her on the couch, she immediately saw, and said to Mary, that these guys were going to go places. Mary agreed. Both of them thrilled by the aura the group made.

Anna was already in bed, her hair in a a blue turban, thick socks on and under a huge blanket when somebody knocked at her door. She wondered who could bother her at that hour. First, she thought that something happened to her parents, so she rushed towards the door, but instead of gloom and doom she found Freddie, mist coming from his rosy lips as he smiled when he finally saw her open the door. It was cold outside, and Anna asked herself how Freddie was not freezing his ass out there.

“Freddie,” she yawned. Then, she rubbed her shoulder in order to heat herself up a bit. “Come inside, it's so damn cold outside. I'll make some tea and you'll explain to me what's happening to you.”

“Oh, nobody's dead, darling,” he playfully said while sitting on one of the chairs around the small round wooden table. “Not yet.”

If this sentences was meant to reassure her in any way, it failed its purpose. Truly. Anna turned around to face Freddie, the water was boiling behind her, two cups with jasmine tea were ready to be used. Her expression was perplexed, she was still sleepy, and didn't get the joke nor any other information.

“Nobody's going to die, darling, I swear,” Freddie said after a small chuckle as he looked at this sleepy-head. “I just need another genius to help me with a song, nothing more, darling,” he finally told her as he put a small notebook on the table. It once was a small notebook, but now it was composed of hundred different papers flying around and some brown pages. All Freddie's works. Every one of them better than the previous one. And Anna was supposed to... Help him? She heard the boiling water and poured it into the cups before serving them on the table. She sat in front of Freddie, thoughtful.

“I don't know how I could help you,” she admitted and drank a sip from her cup after the water became brown, “ I mean, Brian is a better specialist than...”

“Darling,” he interrupted her abruptly, “here lays the whole the fun. Brian won't know anything about it because we will rewrite Keep Yourself Alive together before Queen's first performance! Isn't that fantastic?” he frantically asked her, absolutely thrilled about the idea of creating something new out of this song.

Anna wasn't sure about what was going on. She wanted to help Freddie, so badly, but at the same time Brian should know about the changes before their first concert which was in a few days... But everything was so exciting, adrenaline ran through her veins at the thought of being part off a secret project like that. And Anna liked surprises, she liked to surprise Brian a lot, he always made funny faces when something unusual happened around him, and she secretly enjoyed these funny faces and these moments when he lost his composure, just for a second.

“Show me these lyrics, Freddie,” she said and drank some of the tea from her cup, “we'll work this out and this will be the best song ever I swear!”

“Your enthusiasm is so divine, I love it Anna!”

They both smiled before beginning to look at the pieces of paper. And so was the song, divine.

Anna and Mary were in the crowd in the small bar Queen performed in, standing along strangers, standing close to one another, waiting for them to begin their performance. She then felt a presence, some guy tried to touch her hair in the back, drunk as hell, she absolutely told him to fuck off while Mary just put her arm around Anna's shoulders to keep her closer and to – somehow – avoid another unwanted contact. When Anna rose her eyes on the stage, she saw Roger's expression. It was a true mixture of rage, incomprehension and anxiety. She could ready each one of these emotions from where she was. She was curious to know why he had such expressions imprinted on his pretty face, why he had to experience these feelings all together. Suddenly, Freddie's voice broke the hubbub in the room after Brian's introductions and some cheers for Roger, who wasn't clearly paying attention to whoever shouted his name in the crowd.

“Hello beautiful people,” Freddie cheered the audience as a voice rose asking where Tim was and who this “Paki” was.

Anna and Mary looked back at the man and almost killed him with their eyes; but as soon as they turned back to face the stage, they saw Freddie struggling with the microphone during the beginning of the song. Nearly hitting John, nearly killing John on his first performance, with the microphone. Yet, he still managed to catch audience's attention while singing so perfectly the song they all knew, or thought they knew. As soon as the lyrics began to change, Freddie winked at Anna and the grin on his face grew.

Brian's expression went funny. Anna could kill – metaphorically speaking – to see this expression on Brian's face; she could almost hear him saying “Wrong lyric, Fred” while continuing to play on his guitar, which was absolutely hilarious when you were aware of the little trick Freddie had prepared.

The band's meeting just after this gig was the best one Anna assisted to so far. When Mary and her entered the space, Freddie almost ran to hug Anna tight. She hugged him almost as tight as he did.

“Thank you darling, thank you for helping me,” he exclaimed after breaking the hug a while after and fondly looking at Mary then. “Anna's the other genius who wrote this song.”

“The other what?!” Anna could hear irritation in Roger's voice. She wasn't sure what it was about. Was it about what happened just before they came on stage, when his expression was a monstrous medley of emotions or because of the change of the lyrics?

“Anna you didn't,” Brian interrupted while looking at Anna, somehow disappointed, or just maybe weary.

“We worked all night long,” she admitted as she sat on the armrest of the couch, playing nervously with her afro, “and the result isn't as bad as I thought it could actually be.”

“I feel betrayed,” Brian said, looking like a sad puppy at Anna who just sent him a kiss across the room. “No kiss will heal the betray of a friend, Anna.”

“Soothe the pain maybe then?”

“I can go for a kiss as an apologize,” Roger said while looking at Anna from across the room with a playful smile on his face. “I'm all for negotiations.” She blew him a kiss, jokingly and then began to laugh. Roger's face became paler than usual, he went silent for a long moment, maybe for a too long moment.

“You got Roger but not me,” Brian continued, and Roger internally thanked him for his intervention at that particular moment, when he felt maybe too much, when he remembered how pissed Anna looked when that guy touched her hair while he was on stage, not able to tell him to fuck off and when he remembered that she blew him a kiss, jokingly. Softly. He got shivers down his spine, body relaxed, his mind being somewhere else for a long moment as he lost himself into her blue eyes.

~~~~

As Queen was rising, Anna became a regular in their rehearsing room along with Mary. The two girls were always sitting somewhere in the room, doing their things as the boys were playing music. Anna found it absolutely calming, even when they were trying to rip their heads off – when Roger tried to rip Freddie's head off mostly – because the music they made right after was divine. Especially when The Night Comes Down was performed next to them, the two girls caught themselves moving their heads in rhythm with Roger's drums while listening to the song. One of Brian's masterpieces, and Anna, as an English major, went crazy when she heard it for the first time. She had already read the lyrics and found them particularly beautiful, but hearing these in Freddie's mouth was another experience, an experience worth living for. She immediately stopped writing whatever she was writing and endlessly looked at them playing, Freddie sitting on the chair next to the piano and Brian carelessly touching the strings of his guitar while John was in the back, playing softly, stiffly. And Roger, Roger never seemed so calm and focused. Anna remarked how glowy his porcelain face was when he was playing, making kissy faces unknowingly as he played. His hair was smoothly moving along with his sharp and precise movements, and sometimes, she managed to catch his eye. His glistening eyes looking at her, and for a second, his confused face became a smiling one: he winked. She chuckled, shaking her head still in rhythm.

On other days, while Mary and Freddie were speaking, Brian in the small kitchen space drinking another tea and Roger somewhere, over the rainbow probably, John and Anna found themselves in the room, each of them sitting on a chair, in perfect silence. Anna would lie if she told that she found this silence awkward, it was, indeed, a great silence. Mostly, John was scribbling something on a notepad, Freddie gave it to him a few months after he joined the band, as a gift and John felt really happy about it, genuinely happy, and Anna would sit an try to write an essay about another lecture she had or about another poet's feature. The would look up, lock their eyes, smile and finally, go back to their activity. It was strangely relieving. John wasn't talkative, and Anna usually neither and somehow this kind of relationship brought them close. It became a ritual, nobody – except Roger, – would disturb them.

“What are you doing,” Roger finally asked, after making so much noise that Anna could hear John sigh while writing something, so she rose her eyes and smiled. He smiled to. Roger smiled too and came nearer. She hoped that he wouldn't ask questions, vain hopes.

“Magic as you can see,” she sarcastically answered as Roger was peeking over her shoulder, “trying to cast a spell to maybe become rich and famous someday and to have a good grade. But the grade part is optional actually,” she admitted while looking up. She saw his beautiful eyes looking down at her, nearly veiled by his fringe. He had a halo made of light-bub light above his head.

“Want some help?” he offered.

“You're a dentist, Roger.”

“Fuck off Anna,” he replied visibly annoyed. But this comment didn't prevent him from sitting next to her in the couch. “I may be a dentist, but that doesn't mean I don't know shit about literature and whatever you're doing here.”

“Oh really? Wow, Mr. Taylor will help me with my essay,” she teased him as he looked at her. “Okay, let's see what you've got then. See?” she asked while pointing at the line she was actually studying, “I need to find the exact definition of the term, so I'll be able to...”

They spent an hour and a half trying to understand what exactly the author meant in this poem, what could be useful to comment upon this Nightingale. Roger was smart, smarter than Anna thought and she was ashamed to admit it. He frowned when he couldn't get the point of the author, trying to analyze the structure of the line as well as he could, while Anna was analyzing the stress pattern of the line, iambic pentameter, fade away... They didn't even notice when Freddie's voice could be heard from the other side of the room, complaining about Roger being “so involved” that Brian had to seriously talk to him, for his own sanity. And maybe John's.

“Rog, Freddie will rip your head off if you don't get up and come banging your drums,” he said, as both Roger and Anna looked up at him, in great confusion. “You're late Roger, and you're lucky that I'm the one coming and not Freddie.”

“I heard that darling,” Freddie commented.

“Shit, sorry!” Roger said, understanding finally what was going around him. The bubble burst, and the moment he was sharing with Anna was over. “I was helping Anna with this analysis and then...”

“Freddie, I'm absolutely sorry,” Anna said looking at Freddie across the room, “it won't happen again! I won't steal your drummer any longer I promise!”

“He wasn't bothering you?” Brian asked, a bit off and confused as he got a nasty look from Roger.

“Hey, I'm not the botherer here, mate!” Roger commented, with or without innuendo.

“He was actually quite helpful, Brian! Who knew something was under this blond wig!” she joked.

“First of all, fuck you Anna and second of all, don't you give me that look Brian I can be helpful!”

“If you say so, Rog,” Brian commented , a smile on his lips after Anna's comment.

“Yes darlings, be all lovey dovey while John and I are dying out here because we can't rehearse,” Freddie remarked, striking a dramatic pose that made Mary chuckle as John just rose his shoulder, having his bass hanging on one side.

“I'm ready Freddie, let's do your thing,” Roger said while getting up, before turning again to look at Anna. “Mr. Taylor was pleased to help you, Mrs. Anna,” he winked at her, with a teasing smile. Anna could hear Brian sigh and catch a glimpse of his deary expression. The poor guy had to deal with this group – Freddie and Roger – all day long, courageous man. “So, we're playing what now?”

“Liar,” Freddie answered, his look full of surprises, Mary standing next to him.

“Very funny Fred,” Roger remarked as he reached his drum set and sat, waiting for them to begin.

John and Anna were sitting in silence, each one of them trying to focus on their work, on anything while the band took a small break. Strangely, Roger was nowhere to be seen, no shouting, no talking, no peeking, nothing. When both of them heard light footsteps next to them, they rose their heads to find Roger: Anna gave John a knowing look as the man just nodded before heading back into his work. Russian roulette: who Roger wanted to bother today? Anna already felt that her essay's conclusion was to be forgotten, not done here, not today actually but how wrong she was. Roger sat on the couch where she was, on the opposite side with a pen and a small notebook. He curled one leg up on the couch, as he put the notebook on his lap and began to think, deeply think as he frowned. He then began to scribble on his paper. John and her exchanged a curious look, as Roger sat silently and began to tap his fingers on the hard cover of the notebook. Curiosity killed the cat. Anna approached his side of the couch, leaving the conclusion of her essay, and began to peek over his shoulder, as he always did either to John or her.

“What are you doing here, Roger,” she playfully asked, as he always did when he came in the room to bother John or her.

“Magic,” he sarcastically replied mocking her as her eyes opened a bit wider in confusion, “trying to cast a spell in order to have a great song, the great part is actually optional.” She chuckled as she remembered saying the exact same thing to him the other day.

“I guess you could use some English major help then,” she offered as Roger always did.

“You're implying that I can't write all by myself?”

“I'm implying that you came here because you wanted either John's”, she began to say before noticing that John was already on the other side of the room, speaking with Freddie, “or my help. But it seems that I'll be the only one offering help here,” she suggested. “What's the title of the song?”

“Modern Times Rock'n Roll,” he proudly answered looking at her.

“Very evocative of... Rock'n roll?” She had a little smile on her face as she wasn't really sure what to say about the song.

“You're so perceptive it hurts Anna, I'm impressed,” he admitted nodding slowly.

“Show me that thing, I want to see the lyrics Mr.Taylor!”

He put the notebook on her lap and she looked at the lyrics with great attention. It wasn't Brian's fondness and delicateness put on page, but something more... Effective? She knew absolutely nothing about rock compared to Roger who was following every trend, many bands, reading, writing about it... And these lyrics weren't made to sound only “pretty” – these actually weren't what Anna could call “pretty” but “accurate” and “well chosen” for this subject – but to state something: the changes in the rock world. So, it didn't require a lot of metaphors, no love interest, no Kings nor Queens, but only words, raw words arguing about the new rock facing the old one. And Anna would lie if she didn't admit that it was pretty interesting to see lyrics under this perspective. She laid her eyes on him, on this porcelain face framed by blond strands of hair and asked if he could sing it. Bloody yes, was his only answer. He looked as excited as a child on Christmas Eve. He closed his eyes for a moment, began to tap his fingers on the couch they were sitting on and sang. So he did. His raw and raspy voice was everything the lyrics needed. Anna could not imagine Freddie singing this song, not with as much passion as Roger did with his own song, with the knowledge, the wisdom. Freddie was amazing, but this was Roger's turn to show off – besides his falsettos that they once discovered when the man saw a spider and began to cry his lungs out, a marvelous moment as Freddie recalls. Anna's mind was dazzled, impressed.

“So?” he finally asked, looking at her a bit longer than he should, making her realize that she went silent for a moment.

“So?”

Nothing to say?”

“You want compliments or real judgment?” she said joining her hands around her knee and leaning back.

“Do I look like somebody craving for compliments?”

“Kind of,” she joked as he frowned before she continued. “It was really good, I'm pretty impressed,” Roger's ego was puffing in front of Anna as a mating pigeon.“But”, she continued as his enthusiasm faded immediately away, “I have a problem with this line, let me show you...” She looked at the paper, searching with her finger for the line that didn't sound good to her ear, not as good as the rest of the song. “Here! And my musical's life lookin' // Like a long Sunday School cruise, the idea is good but... It doesn't sound well actually... It lacks something...”

“Lacks something?” he asked, astonished by her remarks as she began to bit her thumb while thinking about something better. The verb “lookin'” was really bothering her, there was an alliteration in “l” which should be nice, but as a matter of fact it gave a heavy tone to the line...

“It seems a bit off, you know what I mean?”, he frowned even more, but now in incomprehension. She remained silent for a while, thinking about what could replace this verb to make it more airy, a sunny afternoon, a light afternoon... “What about changing lookin' into feelin'?”

“This was the only thing bugging you, like really?” his voice was almost full of reproach, but more full of relief. He thought that his song was absolutely off, lacking something more essential, but here, she was just going into details. Which was good. Actually really good.

“Shut up Roger!” she said as she straightened on the couch and pointed at the lyrics. “The alliteration in “f” will be more effective here, it will give a lighter effect than the one in “l” which is basically heavier... Try with feelin' then.”

“You became a musicologist or what?” he joked as she elbowed him with a small chuckle.

“Poetic studies specialist would be more accurate,” she corrected him, “I want to hear it, try it please!”

Her excitement was remarkable. Roger sang the lines as she requested, and it felt lighter, gave some air into the structure of the song. But this wasn't Anna's only remark, the real work only began here. They finally sat there, for a few hours, figuring out ways to make the text as light in sounds to contrast with the heaviness of the thoughts. At one point, their shoulders brushed against each other. They were so close to each other, invading the other's personal space a lot, Anna putting sometimes her hand on Roger's shoulder while he was singing again to give birth to the text again. When she leaned closer, her hair tickled his nose making him sneeze and Anna could only laugh. Roger joining the fun right after. Sometimes one could see some blushing faces when both of them realized how close they were.

#roger taylor #roger taylor x oc #ben hardy!roger taylor #brian may #freddie mercury #john deacon #queen band #queen #mary austin #ben hardy #gwilym lee #rami malek #joe mazzello #lucy boynton #borhap cast #bohemian rhapsody movie #queen fanfiction

36 notes · View notes

fortheheavenssake · 5 years

Text

💜💜 PG MM Anon💜💜 Interpretation Collection- 6

Anon said:

You go PG!!! 😊😊😊🌸🌸🌹🐼🐼🐝🐝👍👍👍💖💖💖🌻🌻🌼🌼🌼😊😊😍😍💜💜🌹🌹🌹🌺🌺🌺💙💙💙🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌹🌹🌹❤❤❤👍👍👍👍 Violets 🌼

Anon said:

💗🌲🌞😺 hi Skippy this is for PG and JG🏡🌲🥰🥰🧚‍♀️👑👑🐱🐰🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🐥🌺🌹🌼🌸💐🐿

*********

43.

💜💜PG INTERPRETATION OF MM ANON💜💜

MM Anon

MM ANON … In their Teflon bubble …… roast grief and Yorkshire pud… 👪🥘🍺……PR’what PR…… “ we believe you Harry”……💩💩💩PA💩💩💩…… “All you’re effort to no avail lillibet”…… send in the gowns ⚖️💼…… thank God for the G grandchildren ……” I’m the Queen of the castle!!!” …… A little patience!!…… O’ no!! She’s coming next week. ……”I bloody hope not!!”

💜💜🙏🏻THANK YOU MM ANON🙏🏻💜💜

In their Teflon bubble

The royals, the ones that are at Balmoral, HMTQ,PP and others are sheltered from media unless they want to access it. The horses, the outdoors and various beloved memories are a welcome respite although the issues, to put it mildly are still there and desperately needing to be dealt with.

Roast grief and Yorkshire pudding 👪🥘🍺

🤣🤣🤣 l laughed so hard when l read the news, oops PR article of PH, mm, amw taking a meal at the local😂😂😂, vegan eating roast beef 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣making point PH drinks several drinks but she only had water…fuel her PR of another pregnancy. Oh they had a cot and amw never stirred or made a sound🤣🤣🤣🤣THATS BECAUSE THIS DIDNT HAPPEN AND HE IS A RUBBER DOLL!!

PR what PR

PR has been off the charts, some seems to be done by LG , but lots of Megan name first in article s, you know it’s PR.

“ we believe you Harry”…

Those of us loyal and took time to watch the signals know and realize PH has been acting a role. We believe you Harry, you’re serving HMTQ!

💩💩💩PA💩💩💩

PA is in deep doo doo, he will have to be interviewed. The headline today was VRG singling him out! He is in deep trouble!

“All you’re effort to no avail lillibet”

This is most definitely PP talking, that’s the sweet name for the Queen. All of the work trying to deal with mm to no avail. Also past denials re PA. But this is mostly mm.

Send in the gowns ⚖️ 💼

In the UK system as in our, black robes are worn by the attorneys and the judge, white wigs also. This clearly means charges and cases to be filed in court imminently.

Thank God for the G grandchildren

These are our beloved Cambridge trio of little angels we all love so much. Such a welcoming distraction!!!

“I’m the Queen of the castle!”

And you’re the dirty rascal, anyone remember that?😁 There are definitely times when HMTQ has to put her foot down and rule/make the final decision. And she has decided as is described in this riddle.

A little patience

We need to be patient a little bit longer , softly softly…. remember from yesterday . Next week awaits…..

O ‘no she’s coming next week! I bloody hope not!!

Mm is coming to Balmoral next week, the second line is absolutely PP.

So we are asked to be patient just a bit longer. Next week, at Balmoral, there will be an intervention/confrontation. The charges will have been filed, per earlier in this riddle, l do believe this to be telling us that next week this will end!

GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦

💜💜🙏🏻THANK YOU MM ANON🙏🏻💜💜

Wonderful! Thank you so much dear PG! We love you! We love you too MM Anon!😊💜💜💜

Aug 28th, 2019

————

44.

💜💜🙏🏻THANK YOU MM ANON🙏🏻💜💜

Difficulty level off the charts. I feel like nothing here that l have done is even close to correct. I am so so sorry everyone, l just cannot figure out most of this properly. I am embarrassed to submit it 😞☹️ l submit this with a heavy heart due to the extreme difficulty of this riddle for me. Whatever you do PLEASE don’t laugh at me, l have always tried my best and today is no different.💜🙏🏻😊👋

MM ANON … under-Cover flight … she played a Dummy… the accounting doesn’t ADD up!!…… a questionable salary …… this engagement Rings of petulance … a net-flick opportunity …… “ she can’t act’ and she can’t f@#ing spell”. …… “but it’s him in the bloody photo”!!…… an old grey friend …… “ fix this for the family Ian”…… an Atlantic backhander …… “ once smitten, twice sly”… “don’t fret, I’ve buried it!

Under-Cover flight

Might mm fly to the U.S. very quietly, ie under-cover for the U.S. Open? Who else is Under-Cover watching her and all she does. Will she make the cover of newspapers by her appearance there? Oh wouldn’t she just love that.

She played a Dummy

A Dummy can be something fake meant to look real ie Archieficial. She has been using that fake baby for months. She doesn’t have to really play a Dummy as she isn’t that intelligent just look at her grammar etc.

The accounting doesn’t ADD up

Is this the Sussex Foundation? The cost of her clothes? All sorts of marching going on.

A questionable salary

Salary for SL and Natalie Campbell resigned from the Sussex Foundation. Also mm taking her percentage of items on their Instagram.

this engagement Rings of petulance

Petulance is childishness, sulkiness. Will she appear at Balmoral in this manner?

She also changes her engagement rings with her mood , on a whim. Nothing precious or to be cherished, it’s all fake.

a net-flick opportunity

Videos of various people,l read code names as isle, combover and liar along with a certain female, l read today being shopped around for paid viewers. This allegedly took place in the souther U.S. but who knows?

“she can’t act and she can’t f@#ing spell

ThisLittlePetal, Twitter is exactly this, We know she couldn’t act her way out of a paper bag. But her grammar, spelling and attempts to use English colloquiums as she calls them, colloquialisms is the correct spelling and has totally different meaning that the other word. This is PP, l can hear his voice!

but it’s him in the bloody photo!!

This too is PP. riled up about the photo of PA, VRG and GM that is years old but once again is all over the media. Questions have now arisen questioning its authenticity.

an old grey friend

LG , continues to be close at hand, assisting in all aspects of this that he is able.

“fix this for the family Ian”

HMTQ asking for assistance to sort things out for her family.

Is she asking intelligence, MI5, MI6(SIS)to fix this, bring in the cleaners?

Ian Fleming

Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was an English author, journalist and naval intelligence officer who is best known for his James Bondseries of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his father was the Member of Parliament for Henley from 1910 until his death on the Western Front in 1917. Educated at Eton, Sandhurst and, briefly, the universities of Munich and Geneva, Fleming moved through several jobs before he started writing.

While working for Britain’s Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War, Fleming was involved in planning Operation Goldeneye and in the planning and oversight of two intelligence units, 30 Assault Unit and T-Force. His wartime service and his career as a journalist provided much of the background, detail and depth of the James Bond novels.

an Atlantic backhander

US Open, might she attend? Might that be a poor choice considering there are legal issues pending? Might she be compelled to remain there?

“once smitten, twice sly”

Once bitten twice shy, basically one learns after an experience that is bad not too do it again. However our Harry is sly and onto her, he has been all this time working on behalf on HMTQ,

“don’t fret, I’ve buried it”

PP? has hidden something very incriminating where it’s unreachable . The possible evidence of guilt or threats has been buried deep , unreachable by anyone except the one who hid it, l believe is PP.

GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦

Dear PG! No one would laugh at you…and just people know….we only laugh with people here..not at them..(except Mm and gang). We appreciate you doing this riddle, although you found it difficult…..you still did a fantastic job! We thank you😊💜💜💜💜

Aug 29th, 2019

:::::::::::::::

MM Anon

As usual PG did a fantastic job. But can I add this

She played a Dummy

In association football, rugby league, rugby union and Australian rules football, a dummy or feint is a player deceiving the opposition into believing he is going to pass, shoot, move in a certain direction, or receive the ball and instead doing something entirely different, thus gaining an advantage.

🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

Thank you😊❤️❤️❤️❤️

22 notes

Aug 29th, 2019

::::::::::::

💜🙏🏻THANKS FROM PG 🙏🏻💜

💜💜🙏🏻💜💜Thank you everyone for your kind words about today’s and other riddles. I found today’s very hard but l am committed to any role l can be part of in helping our Queen and her family, l will do. Somedays, like today are more difficult but that’s all ok. God bless all of you Thank you 🐼💜🐼🙏🏻😊🐼💜, for allowing us into this space.💜💜💜💜GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦

Thank you dear PG! You are the best🙏🏻💜💜💜💜

Ask Skippy submission

Aug 29th, 2019

————

45.

MM Anon

💜💜🙏🏻THANK YOU MM ANON🙏🏻💜💜

MM ANON ( Dedicated to all riddle busting anons). …… The Prince And the Show-girl and a duchess??…… he’s innocent until proven innocent …… 🎼if you leave me now I’ll take away the biggest part of you 🎼…… “ what!!! She didn’t sign a bloody pre-nup”…… “My client suggests a compromise” …… Tower Bridge is solid …… Westward “Hoe”……” dear boy ,everything’s bugged “… a sealed envelope. …👧👩🏼‍🏫🍎📚🎀…… a fall in fall

The Prince and the Showgirl and a duchess?

Great old movie, check it out, Marilyn Monroe. A traveling party of royals from central Europe arrives in England in 1911, as the host country prepares to celebrate the coronation of a new king. But when the visiting Regent , goes to a musical theater, his attraction to American performer makes it hard to stay focused. Soon, the female performer learns of a potential coup in the Regent’s home country, and it’s up to her to smooth things out – or watch as the nation hurtles toward instability.So is this the suggestion this is PC as potential Regent, MM as showgirl, and duchess, l say her because duchess is not capitalized, for any other Duchess it most definitely would be. However in this scenario she has no caring what happens to the monarchy. She is me me me, money money money.

🎼if you leave me now I’ll take away the biggest part of you 🎼……

Ooooo no baby please don’t go, l love this song. MM threats to PH ,no pre-nup, she will take everything in terms of finances etc.and quite possibly secrets and embarrassments as well be revealed.

He’s innocent until proven innocent

PA, family and friends are stalwart and stand firm. He has done no wrong.

What!!! She didn’t sign a bloody pre-nup?

OMG! No pre-nup for mm and PH . They may well have quite a payment to end the marriage, which l still have my doubts about annulment being the way to go. But l am not privy to information.

My client suggests a compromise

PA attorney suggesting a compromise on how, when and in what manner he may be interviewed by the F.B.I. or answer questions. President Trump had written questions submitted to him, which he answered in written form and returned. Might this be the way things will go?

Tower Bridge is solid

This is code name for HMTQ. Reassuring us that she is well and handling things. She is solid and committed to the course of action chosen.

Westward “hoe”

Used to be a hotel chain minus the letter e, abbreviation for hospitality. Sounds like our girl is definitely heading to the U.S. for the tennis and then what??? If she goes, l can pretty certainly say, she will not be allowed re-entry to the U.K. She is not a citizen, and l highly doubt she has applied for a longer VISA. No one tell her shhhhh🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫

Dear boy, everything’s bugged.

Soho, all places are bugged, wired, that’s how they catch people, blackmail them…this is someone talking to PH, likely PP, yet again the wise one. Any place where wealthy, Royal, celebrities politicians let their hair down so to speak, or have conversations there is surveillance absolutely.

A sealed envelope.

Contains secrets, photos? in exchange for $$£££££€€€€,who is presenting the envelope. Or is it a subpeona? Sealed envelopes containing a myriad of options of items inside.

👧👩🏼‍🏫🍎📚🎀

School resumes next week, and the pink bow refers especially to our beloved Princess Charlotte joining Prince George at Battersea. How exciting for her! She is growing up so fast!

A fall in the fall

A fall, l sooooooooooooo want Humpty Dumpty off the wall and gone to America. Please! Please! If l read this correctly that is what will happen

GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦

HMTQ, PP, PH and all are in my prayers

💜💜🙏🏻THANK YOU MM ANON🙏🏻💜💜

Thank you so much dear PG. Sounds good! Much appreciated!😊💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

Ask Skippy submission

Aug 30th, 2019

———————-

46.

💜💜🙏🏻THANK YOU MM ANON🙏🏻💜💜

We remember today, in 1997, our beloved Diana, left us tragically 🙏🏻💜. My prayers for her boys🙏🏻🙏🏻💜

MM ANON

MM ANON … “bloody hell No!! Stick her in the lodge” …… A tabloid tirade …Sunday surprise??……”and the moral is?”…… sex lies and video tape ……… YOU CANNOT SHOW THIS!!!!!…… “tell Ann to talk to her”…… “ sooner or later “…… 🇬🇧🏰🎣🧘🏾‍♀️💅🏼…… the 4/10 or 12 bore Harry?……… “ private or public flight …… “ O b#&@cks more bad press”…… no cameras,no cameras!

“bloody hell No!! Stick her in the lodge”

This is our beloved, l say that word a lot don’t I?, but it’s true, our beloved PP!

No way, no how is she setting one grimy craggy toe into Balmoral? I say, put her in the barn!🤣

A tabloid tirade

Oh how predictable, a Markle distraction at its finest?? Can l use that word to describe it? Grandpa Markle comes out his shed to yammer at the world wanting to see Archie? Give him the website link to where Darren dolls are sold, he can look all he wants and even but his own. A loud distraction, a defensive distraction by the home team nearing the end of this game. She must be in dire straits to be using the grandpa card!

Sunday surprise!

I await this with bated breath, what’s coming tomorrow!! Pictures, videos, who knows. But we are very near the end game here my friends!😊

and the moral is?

Every story has a moral, sometimes good, sometimes very bad. Now we all know this whole ‘story’ or the life that we know of, of mm, and her past, but more importantly the last two years and the present has been, lies, obfuscation, manipulation, disrespect, vulgarity, l could go on and on. The moral is, rather the lesson is, karma. Life all comes back at you by your deeds, if not in this world, than God judges. I actually do pray for her soul, l want no one to not be redeemed. But we choose our behaviour and by those choices, there are consequences. We have seen the devastation on the face of Our Harry for a very long time now, the entire family, England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, the 🇬🇧,Canada 🇨🇦and the Commonwealth. You reap what you sew/sow. As in sowing seeds. Justice awaits, if she goes to the 🎾, the U.S. Open, will there be men in suits waiting at the airport? IRS? If she goes and than tries to return to the U.K. will she be allowed entry? I think not, she is not a U.K. or. Commonwealth citizen, she has no job or Visa to work in the U.K. and she certainly has no family “that she never had”. She doesn’t think, consequences don’t affect her. Nothing bothers her, she has no conscience l now please understand, l am a Christian, it pains me to describe a human being this way, but l am also a realist which a lot of experience dealing with people with severe personality disorders. THEY DON’T CHANGE, EVER! , unless years of therapy, but the underlying personality is there.

sex, lies and videotape

We had this in a riddle awhile ago, at least, my answer was Steven Soderbergh film of the same title. We know that our girls’ life has been full of these things. I wonder if finally the videos will crawl from the depths and become public!

YOU CANNOT SHOW THIS!!!

Wow! 😮, how bad is the information/photos/videos that they uppercase exclamation marks indicate it’s VERY bad. Who is on the information, does it include important friends/family. I shudder at the thought. In revealing her truths, how much more damage will she continue to do. This sounds very dire!

“Tell Ann to talk to her”

The Princess Royal is such a sound individual, smart, elegant, amazing, dedicated to the Crown and her family. She is also tough as nails, very like her father , perhaps they think if she spoke with, the one who shall not be named, she might be able to get somewhere. I don’t know, they have all the information. I think she is never one to be reasonable, but l am on the outside and privy to nothing. So they must think, with whatever is the data, Princess Ann can get through to her.

Sooner or later

Sooner or later, this has to end, things will be made public, the law will come calling, people have turned their backs on her who were her ‘friends’, backers. By the way, where is her bestie of all besties MA? Where is he? He has literally vanished. Odd odd.

🇬🇧🏰🎣🧘🏾‍♀️💅🏼

While the country waits political issues, like Brexit, what will happen with BJ , DC etc, by the way, if you can see the film Brexit with Benedict Cumberbatch, l highly recommend it, not only because l love😍🥰BC, but he plays Dom Cummings so so well. It’s a great watch. But l digress, as l tend to do. While HMTQ and family are at Balmoral, fishing outdoors activities is she doing yoga and having her nails done? Is she going there at all??? Spending time with the family she never had oops never will have. Sorry, not sorry!

the 4/10 or 12 bore Harry?…

Bore, in weaponry, the interior of the barrel of a gun or firearm. In guns that have rifled barrels, e.g., rifles, pistols, machine guns, and artillery or naval guns, the diameter of the bore is termed the calibre. … The measurement of the bore in shotguns is expressed in terms of gauge.

The .410 bore or .410 gauge, is the second-smallest caliber of shotgun shell commonly available. A .410 bore shotgun loaded with shot shells is well suited for small game hunting . The .410 started off in the UK as a garden gun. The “12” 12-gauge “ means you can make 12 lead balls, each of equal diameter to the gun barrel, out of 1 pound of lead.

Now with that out of the way, sounds like if not there already, Harry will be at Balmoral for some hunting and these are probably the weapons he prefers that are on offer/available for him to use. Oh he needs a good long rest/ holiday, doing things he loves. Physical activities like hunting to get the accumulation of stress out of his body.

“Private or public flight”

Debate about how to get mm to come to a Balmoral? Certainly not PH, he flew commercial when he went to Italy for the Polo. Mind you, maybe they think he needs away from the public even the flight to Aberdeen. I have done that flight about four times, Aberdeen to London is like you’re up and you blink and you’re landing, it’s about an hour-ish, very short flight. So l certainly think most would not need private for such a short flight, but if they want her there for a confrontation/intervention type of meeting, a private flight might be an inducement to get her there. I wonder what’s all happening that we are not privy to!

“ O b#&@cks more bad press”

This is most definitely PP, angry about the Markle grandfather yammering away a wanting too see Archie, l can only imagine how this riles the BRF up. The lady thing they want/need is this guy crawling out of the woodwork again. Is this the never ending story? That was a great film, but this is not a film and it’s not great!

no cameras,no cameras!!

Again the Grand Dame of PR, wants no pictures taken as she goes to Balmoral, if she goes. I do not know how close l am. I just cannot see her going there. But there might be a very important reason to get her out of England!!

GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦

My thoughts and prayers are with you William and Harry.💜💜🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜

Thank you MM ANON 💜🙏🏻💜

Thank you so much dear PG! Much appreciate all you do!🙏🏻💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

Aug. 31

——————

47.

💜💜PG INTERPRETATION OF MM ANON💜💜

🎼 “and the clouds are grey” 🎼…

California dreaming on a winters day..ongoing PR of D and DOS looking for a mansion in L.A. oh she is delusional. I doubt California wants her.

It’s rainy today as HMTQ attended church, Princess Anne looked stunning. Her husband was also there, The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall. I was glad to see PC face and hands were not so red and swollen today. I worry he has some sort of autoimmune issue he struggles with. The issues the BRF are grey as well, not sunny and bright.

anticipation of street-parties

It’s a very British thing to do whenever a major royal event. Tables set up, everyone outside celebrating the wedding or the Jubilee etc Are we anticipating a street party once madam is gone? I sure think so!!! There will be dancing in the streets all over the world!

little black orphans, “apply in writing “

So she has given up on using a surrogate again, she wants to join the celebrity club of women that adopt third world children. She has an exception though, the orphans must be able to write and in English, l am not sure she knows other languages. Oh what a humanitarian she will be to adopt a BLACK child. Just fits her pathetic narrative. This truly angers me.

“playing bloody golf”

PA spent the last two weeks in Sotogrande, golfing a lot. I hear PP in this comment, disgust PA is on holiday memories golfing while this massive PR and potentially legal crisis looming overhead!

“ fly public, you’re joking,”

this is madame, refusing to fly public to Balmoral or anywhere! Still ever the narcissist!

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦🎒🍎🏫

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince George and Princess Charlotte will all arrive together at Battersea for the first day of school on September 5th. I can hardly wait for the photos!!

A waving poppet

Princess Charlotte loves to wave and interact with crowds. We will get the cutest waves when she starts school.

👩🏻‍🦳🙏🏻🧢🏃‍♀️

This emoji is tough. Someone with grey hair, were it HMTQ there would be a crown, someone is praying while, someone disguised themselves with a hat.and does a runner. Or does she plan to dye her, hair, put on hat and do a runner praying it works? I am sorry, this should be obvious but it’s not!

I know Betty, you can pick your friends “

This is a very close friend or lady in waiting, l am not certain, but in talking she is telling HMTQ the old line, you can pick your friends but you cannot pick your family. This is likely in discussions about PA, and the worry she has for her son.

… it’s the constitution, we’ve no choice …

They have to follow the constitution, how many times has Skippy said that. The “of the body “ law applies. It’s not a royal baby. They must act. They have no choice. Keeping the charge of a baby that isn’t PH in line of succession is treasonous.

…D&DOC and family 2020 commonwealth tour?

WOW, I know they, as a couple are doing an Asia tour in the fall, security must be a nightmare in that region 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻. How exciting would a tour of the entire family be. Oh heavens, l am twitterpadded at the thought😊😊😊🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜💜😁😁😁😁

GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦

Thank you so much dear PG! You do such an amazing job! We love you!🙏🏻💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

Emojis

Grey hair lady…..Diana as she would be today

Praying hands

Blue cap

Jogger running

gstqaobc

BRILLIANT SEE, I SAID IT WAS OBVIOUS, SHE ALWAYS WORE HAT COMING OUT OF THE GYM IN HER SHORTS!! Thank you for seeing what l just couldn’t. But I KNEW IT SHOULD BE OBVIOUS,, GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦

Source: skippyv20

Sept. 1

———-//

48.

Sept. 2

💜THANK YOU MM ANON💜

MM ANON …… “ love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs”…… heart of darkness …… which-doctor …… dis-ease with one another …… no photo-op worthy …… a phoney die-anna …… a controversial decision …… legal discord within …… thinly covered deception …… images of happy anger. ……🦟🦟👶💉🧸

“ love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs”…

MM ANON does love Shakespeare, this is from Romeo and Juliet.

Act 1 Scene 1

“Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs;

Being purg’d, a fire sparkling in lovers’ eyes;

Being vex’d, a sea nourish’d with lovers’ tears;

What is it else? A madness most discreet,

A choking gall, and a preserving sweet.”

ROMEO

Yes, this is what love does. My sadness sits heavy in my chest, and you want to add your own sadness to mine so there’s even more. I have too much sadness already, and now you’re going to make me sadder by feeling sorry for you. Here’s what love is: a smoke made out of lovers’ sighs. When the smoke clears, love is a fire burning in your lover’s eyes. If you frustrate love, you get an ocean made out of lovers’ tears. What else is love? It’s a wise form of madness. It’s a sweet lozenge that you choke on. Goodbye, cousin.

Are there possibly feelings between PH and mm? Is the Stockholm syndrome rumours true?

Heart of darkness

Great book by Joseph Conrad. An Englishman becomes obsessed with an ivory trader. This is referring to PH love of Africa, perhaps some could call it obsession, he finds it very peaceful. I can’t imagine his inner conflict having to be on parade , so to speak, with mm, leads to another part of the riddle, images of happy anger.

which-doctor …

Play on words witch doctor is medicine person in many tribes around the world. Also which doctor will administer the necessary vaccines to amw and mm. Is she using some mumbo jumbo herbal stuff like she was thought to have been using whilst “pregnant “.

dis-ease with one another

Dis-ease is a play of words from disease to dis-ease, meaning PH and mm are not at ease one another. Let alone being together for an extended tour on behalf of HMTQ. There is also obvious dis-ease with every member of the BRF and mm.

no photo-op worthy

There will be no opportunity for photos on most of this ‘tour’. Even though it’s on behalf of HMTQ, it will be private🤨🙄

…… a phoney die-anna

Phoney PR mm has blighted us with regarding the late Princess Diana. Plans to go visit her grave with PH and amw. How she has yearned to know her, when in fact she has be stealthily researching her for years and her goal was and remains to be Diana 2.0

a controversial decision

Travelling to Africa with a baby, the public will go mad!!! More $$$$£££££££££€€€€€€ spent, on what? Givenchy that doesn’t fit? Faux-humanitarian makes me very angry and 😡🤢🤢🤮.

legal discord within

There is some legal disagreement in how to proceed. I believe this is regarding PA interview or questioning but the F.B.I.

thinly covered deception …

She, mm, is almost not covered in her deceptions. THATS ALL SHE DOES! Lie, obfuscate, now reactivating gramma markle into the mix right on cue!

…… images of happy anger. …

Fake PR trip, photos of the family appearing happy but seething underneath. Anger shows in non verbal communication, actually all feelings show. Non-verbal communication is about 85% of how we, as humans communicate. Although with social media, that might alter.

🦟🦟👶💉🧸

This is the need for regular vaccinations of a child along with the vaccines needed for Africa especially malaria. This is a high risk trip for such a young baby. It’s hilarious that another article, l think in the Express, stating they’re postponing the North America trip because amw is too young!😏🧐🤨

GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦

💜🙏🏻 THANK YOU MM ANON🙏🏻💜

Interesting….the Stockholm syndrome…..PH has been acting since Toronto IG…..doesn’t live with her, never has….is never alone with her….only sees her at events….so interesting….. Great job once again dear PG😊💜💜

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grayhyacinth · 5 years

Text

The Final Show

Ship: Kaminari X Jirou from BNHA

Description: The final year at UA also concludes Jirou's band. With her music, can she reach Kaminari's heart with her final performance?

Author's words: I absolutely ADORE this ship! I regret making it long... I also uploaded it to my ao3 account, click here! I made a banner :P

Warnings: Cussing

-----------------------------------------------

Jirou was beyond ecstatic for her final year at UA! Especially since her goal at becoming a Pro Hero was just around the corner. Unfortunately, there were some obstacles that obscured her path.

For instance, every 3rd year student at UA had to decide their future. Such as going to college, joining an agency, finding mentors, and finding a trustworthy insurance company-- to fix any damage that might happen while working.

For Jirou, this was a walk in the park! She had planned-- months prior, that she was going to mentor under Present Mic before joining an agency.

Although she laid down her future path, Jirou was like any students in her year. Apprehensive. But not for the reason that you may think.

The purple-hair girl had started a band in the middle of her first year, that had grown sensationally! Reaching many thrilling hits and succeeding in several genres, Jirou was extremely proud to have been the leader.

But all of that was coming to an end.

Bakugou was going on to bigger and higher platforms that would no doubt, make him the number one hero; Yaoyoruzu was going to be a huge publicity hero and make herself known in the public eye; Tokoyami was going to train up in the mountains for years, before coming back into the city; and Kaminari? Well, the big doofus was going to join Kirishima and mentor under Fat Gum, who unfortunately had to put up with both of their stupidity.

These were all wonderful and exciting futures for her friends, but why did she feel sad?

Jirou was scribbling down lyric ideas into her notebook when suddenly, a body collided into her desk.

"Hey!"

"Ah! Sorry, Jirou!!" Kaminari grinned widely at her, before throwing another fake punch at Kirishima.

"Pshhhh... It isn't manly of you to disturb a lady while she's busy, Denki."

"Hah!" Kaminari landed a punch before Kirishima activated his hardening quirk. "It's not my fault! You're the one who push me into the desk!"

Jirou rolled her eyes at their bizarre antics and picked up her notebook, shuffling over to Yaoyoruzu's desk.

"They really do share one brain cell, huh, Momo?"

"Hm?" Yaoyoruzu barely lifted her head to greet Jirou, too engrossed in her own notebook to pay attention.

Jirou frowned. "Heeeeeeey, earth to Momo?"

As if on cue, the black-hair girl snapped out of her concentration and fully faced her friend with an apologetic smile.

"S-Sorry about that!! I really need to get more sleep these days..." Yaoyoruzu trailed off. She then shook her head once more and lifted up her notebook, showing a design of a hero suit.

"I was thinking about changing my costume," she said sheepishly. "Do you think this is too... girly?"

"Girly? It looks like a suit for an R-rated hero!Besides, aren't you going for PG13 at most?"

Yaoyoruzu nodded her head slowly in agreement, before clasping her hands together and thanking the purple-hair girl for her opinion.

"So! What did you need?"

Jirou opened her mouth to reply, but then the bell for class rang, and she quickly dived to her seat.

"Later." She mouthed.

- Time skip -

"Later" was a complete understatement. Usually for the soon-to-be hero, it meant "until lunch." But this time, this time, it meant "give me an entire week because people SERIOUSLY cannot get their shit done!"

For the entire week, Jirou was tasked with fixing her entire band! Even the words, "fixing up" was an understatement! She had to buy new supplies, get new wires, re-order speakers, re-edit the soundtracks, and find out why her online merchandise store was glitching.

But, by the end of the week, it was all finally fixed!

Jirou collapsed onto the dorm room's couch in pure exhaustion. Her body was sinking into the couch, sending her into bliss. Even her eyelids were on the brink of shutting! Dream land was just an arm length away. But unfortunately, her mind was bursting with ideas, each running frantically into different directions.

With a sigh, Jirou sat up and searched through her backpack.

"Ah hah! There you are!" With a delighted smile, the purple-head slammed down the notebook onto the coffee table and turned to an unfinished song.

"Hm? What did you find, Jirou?"

In an instance, the girl shrieked and threw the notebook across the room. She then turned around and strained a grin at the person behind her.

It was Kaminari.

"Oh... Hey Kaminari! What's up?" Jiroy twirled the dangling part of her ear and fluttered her eyelashes. Hopefully the dunce part of his brain will kick in...

With a raised eyebrow, Kaminari walked over to the thrown notebook and picked it up. "So... am I not supposed to ask why you just freaked out? Or should I stay silent?"

As he was about the hand back the notebook, Kaminari conveniently looked down and noticed the unfinished song. "Hm? What's thi- hey!"

Jirou had hastily grabbed her notebook from the yellow-head and turned away, a blush forming on her cheeks. Please tell me he didn't read it...

"It's nothing! Just a list of agencies I was looking into..."

"You know," Kaminari said slowly. He then placed a hand on the Jirou's shoulder. "Fat-Gum was looking to find another student... preferably a female." He chuckled.

Jirou blinked. "Wha-"

"Anyways, it would be nice to be partners with you again... but this time in crime!"

Partners in crime. The words stayed glued to her conscious as Jirou quickly walked away. It was a good title.

"Yeah... sure... I uh... have things to do! Don't be late to practice and I'll see you tomorrow! Good night!"

"Okay! Good night, Jirou! Think about it, would yeah?"

Jirou walked away without a reply and the open she reached her room, she had slammed shut the door behind her and grabbed the nearest guitar.

Playing a couple cords, her heart returned back to it's original beat and Jirou leaned her head back, deep in thought. The song was close to finish-- all it needed was a title and an ending verse.

But, it wasn't the fact that one of her band members saw an original-- because that was a petty thing to get angry over. It was because the person who she wanted to dedicate everything to, saw it. The one person who made her panick with a red face and a heart that beat 1 million beats a minute, read it. That was almost as bad as fighting All Might face to face!

Hopefully things will get better. Jirou thought.

Hopefully.

- Time Skip -

That fucking, son of a bitch, mother fucking of a Pikachu, deserves death. No, no, no. The dunce didn't deserve death, he deserved a thousand years of hunger and agonizing pain!

Jirou stomped into her room and slammed the door shut. She grabbed the nearest guitar and strung a note with so much furry, the sound vibrated for minutes. After a while, the note died down and so did the purple-head's anger.

She was infuriated at none other, than Kaminari. Who, conveniently was being a huge piece of shit these last few weeks.

For example, three weeks ago Jirou declared for the band to practice one last time before heading back to the dorm room. Usually, this meant to go all out and don't. Hold. Back.

Who would have thought that Kamin fucking Nari decided to actually go all out??

"Okay, guys! One last practice and then we can all head back home!" Jirou had declared proudly. For her, these practices meant a time to rejuvenate and connect to music, passionately. "One, two three-"

All of a sudden, the speakers had blasted music that made everyone fall to the floor, clutching their ears in pain.

It was the sound of a guitar.

"WHAT THE FUCK, KAMINARI?!"

"YOU WANNA FUCK???" Kaminari gave a playful-wide grin at Jirou and continued with his charade.

She became bright-burning red with embarrassment. As she scrambled up the turn off the speaker, Jirou had listed 100 different ways the kill Kaminari. Scratch that, 1 million!

The purple-head had successfully turned off the speaker and turned towards the blonde, "OUT!"

Thinking back to this time, Jirou regretted the way she acted. After all, it wasn't Kaminari or Jirou's fault for their actions.

They-- including all of the 3rd years, were all incredibly stressed out with studying for their finals and college entrance exams. That including rigorous training and last minute plans for the future.

Jirou pulled out a song labeled, "Hopefully Partners." She had finished it a couple weeks back, but never had the time to play it. It was, after all, a song she dedicated for Kaminari.

He had been the one to encourage Jirou to make the band, created the name, and made her life rotate around his words. He was the only one who had done anything for her, out of pure kindness.

Picking up her guitar, she strung a chord.

"Electric waves are dancing. Oh yeah. Dancing around you, babe." She took a deep breath, "The thumping beat of thunder, is creating a symphony that makes me think, will this all fade?"

Jirou stopped after. This is super cheesy... With a shake of her head and a smile, she picked up her phone and diled Yaoyoruzu's number. If she was going to sing this song, then she better get practicing.

- Time Skip -

"Jirou... what are you wearing?!"

The girl in question turned around, confused. "What do you mean?"

Yaoyoruzu sighed and exclaimed, "This is a monstrosity! How are you supposed to go onstage with this... this horror?!" She waved arms up and down, pointing out all the flaws of the dress.

This was their very last performance. After tonight, the band was just another prominent figure in history. They had all played several songs before this, but performance was special.

Jirou had called the manager to schedule a secret show, dedicated to Kaminari-- who was going to be in the crowd, oblivious and certainly living up to his nickname.

"Momo, it doesn't look that bad,"

Rolling her eyes, Yaoyoruzu grabbed the purple-head by the ear and shoved her to the nearest changing room. "This is why I bring extra clothes! You're going to look absolutely fabulous tonight!"

Groaning, Jirou shook her head and slipped into the outfit. She was then pulled into a chair while Yaoyoruzu did her makeup. All when having to hear the black-hair girl exclaim how much of a disappointment Jirou was.

"And done! What do you think?"

She stood up and walked over to the nearest full-body mirror. The dress came down, mid-way to her thigh, and it was similar what she wore to I-Expo. Except, it had black-dark clouds on her chest, then a sunset color bow on her stomach, and then purple and yellow lighting strikes going all the way down.

She was in awe.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we actually have one last performance from your beloved band! As an apology for this long and late night, drinks and appetizers will be free!"

Jirou snapped out and quickly gave Yaoyoruzu a hug, whispering a thank you into her ear.

"Please don't thank me," Yaoyoruzu giggled, "Thank your terrible fashion skills. Now come on, we have a show to preform!"

Jirou shook her head in laughter and together, they went on stage.

The bright lights hit her in the eyes, blinding her from the crowd. She walked over to the microphone, guitar in hand.

"Uh..." she turned around and faced her friends with a smile. "I would first like to thank my amazing band members for pushing through these last three years, my classmates for attending every show, and all of you for encouraging us every night."

She blinked.

"But I would like to thank everything to Kaminari Denki. This song is for you!"

With that, she strung her guitar and the lyrics poured out of her like water. Every note-- every word fit in like pieces of a puzzle. The music flew through the crowd, entrancing them in a slumber that made them lean in for more.

The song was three minutes long, but for Jirou, it was as long as ten seconds. As the last note played, she bowed. There was so much more that she wanted to say. There was so much more songs that she wanted to make and preform.

A bitterness filled her heart as she walked off stage, but then a thought occured to her. Jirou ran back, bumping into the backstage members and hastily grabbed the microphone.

"I LOVE YOU, YOU STUPID PIKACHU!"

Jirou was pulled off stage by embarrassed backstage members and she was carried over to Yaoyoruzu, who gave them a sympathetic smile.

"That was... really amazing of you, Jirou."

Jirou froze in her tracks. Her blood rushed to her head, her muscles screamed at her to run, but her feet stayed rooted to her spot.

"S-shut up... Kaminari."

Yaoyoruzu, who felt extremely awkward gave Jirou a pat and gave hand signals to everyone to leave them.

"Ugh. Just get a room, jeez." A girl-- around Jirou's age muttered while passing by them. The words only made her burn like lava.

"Wh-what do you want?"

Kaminari hummed, amused by the girl's mortification. "I was thinking.. how about going to the park?"

"What?" Jirou whispered.

"I kind of... planned something tonight, as well." Kaminsri stated, also embarrassed. He then held out his hand. "Wanna go?"

Jirou reached out, but then retreated a bit in hesitation. Was she really willing to go out with the biggest idiot in Japan?

"F-fine."

Unfortunately, Jirou was looking at the ground as Kamianri led them to the park, because she didn't notice the adorable grin that spread across his cheeks.

The lamps lit the path and as they neared their destinations Jirou couldn't help but let out a suprise gasp. Kaminari-- with help by all their friends, had decked out the park like a full on love paradise.

There were fairy lights and lanterns that hung from tree to tree, heart shaped balloons that twirled in the wind, and even sprinkled rose petals on the gravel path.

If this was extravagant, then Jirou didn't know what else to call the next biggest suprise of the night. Because at the center, there stood an ice gazebo with the most romantic dinner laid out.

"You're going to attract flies, Jirou." Kaminari chuckled.

Jirou immediately shut her mouth and playfully smacked him. "S-shut up."

As they both sat down to eat, the atmosphere changed. Their normal, playful chatter that consisted of pure stupidity filled the night's air, and if you recorded their conversation, it would sound like a quarrel between a squirrel and a chipmunk.

"So," Electric boy placed his utensils down and scratched the back of his head. "I've been meaning to tell you something for a long time..."

Jirou looked up and as if a boulder was in her throat, she swallowed. "Yeah?"

"Jirou... no, scratch that. Kyouka-- wait, can I call you Kyouka??"

"Sure...?" This wasn't the first time Pikachu boy had said her name. But, the tingling senses in her heart definitely hadn't happen the last time.

Kaminari coughed. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

His gaze penetrated hers. There was no laughter, no sense of playfulness that usually surrounded Kaminari. Hi eyes that was usually bright and cheerful, was filled with a serious glint that was as hard as steel. The pounding in the poor girl's heart had increased three times it's usual beat, but she couldn't care less.

"HAH! Stop joking around Pikachu! You seriously need-"

"I'm serious."

The cherry blossoms that surrounded them, swayed to the wind, creating a beautiful scene that surrounded Jirou's vision. As if it were possible, the dunce head in front of her looked truly handsome.

She smiled. "Fine. But then I get to call you Pikabae."

Kaminari burst out of his seat and with a quick swoop, picked up the magnificent girl in front of him. "You can call me whatever you want. As long as your mine!"

They both laughed, eyes twinkling beneath the starry night. Kaminari slowly set her down, but his arms never left her waist. They were centimeters apart, and if Jirou wanted to, she could close the gap.

And she did.

#jirou kyouka #mha jirou #bnha jirou #kaminari x jirou #kamijirou #kaminari denki #mha kaminari #bnha kaminari #mha denki #bnha denki #denki #bnha fanfiction #bnha #mha fanfiction #mha #boku no hero academia #my hero acadamy #my hero academia

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fluffy-marshmallow-heart · 5 years

Text

Feeling The Music

Choices Platinum- Shane x MC

Words: 4059

Warnings: Swearing? All my fics have swearing. There's nothing crazy here

Alright so, here is a fic that absolutely nobody asked for and yet here it is! I haven't been overly thrilled with the book Platinum...until this latest chapter where our dear friend Shane became a love interest. I wasn't expecting it, I hadn't flirted with him, and when it came time to shoot the music video, I figured, why not choose Shane? I'm not infatuated with either Avery or Raleigh, so I'll just use my friend. Now, I went into this knowing there would be a kiss involved. (There was an option not to, but I'm thirsty so naturally I did). I was pleasantly surprised at the adorableness of it.

And so, I wrote chapter 6 from Shane's POV, and I dedicate this to my bestie @dancetothestoriesinyoursoul because it is her birthday and she told me about Shane becoming an LI in the first place.

Happy Birthday my wonderful friend!!!!!

Master List

Shane rushed around in the early morning hours, getting his camera equipment ready for an early morning video shoot. He didn’t know what it was, just some music video. He didn’t know the artist, the song…it didn’t matter. He was really enjoying film, and he picks up whatever work he can, wherever he can. He’d heard David Winton, a distinguished filmmaker, was in charge of production. He’s known for everything from arthouse films to vinyl-award winning music videos. He’s hoping to introduce himself at some point in the day, he just needs it to be the right moment.

Walking into the studio, he began to set things up with the rest of the crew, listening to the stage buzzing with life. The music video will be called Knockout, and it’s about getting back on your feet and rising up in spite of obstacles. Suddenly he hears his name being shouted from across the room.

“SHANE????”

His mouth drops as he took in the sight of the star…none other than his best friend forever, Cadence Dorian. She was hardly recognizable, wearing jean shorts, an emerald green top, and a see-through black shirt with flowers. Her hair was purple and tied into two knots on top of her head, along with a purple bandanna. She looked nothing like his girl next door.

“Whoa, Cadence?”

She sprints forward and gives him a way overdue hug. “What on earth are you doing here?”

“I signed up as a camera assistant for a music video shoot, but they didn’t tell me it would be your video” He exclaimed.

“That’s amazing! I hope we get to spend a lot of time together…We have so much to catch up on! I’ve barely seen you.” She squealed in delight.

Shane just grinned, not even knowing what to say. Her excitement of seeing him was blowing him away. She’s always happy to see me but…this is a whole new level. What is going on? Why are her eyes sparkling that way?

“A-hem. We must get started.”

Cadence eyes widened. “Right! Of course, sorry. Shane, I’ll catch you later!”

“Go kill it!” He called after her, as she sprinted back across the set, straight to…Shane gulped. David Winton.

David Winton. She’s talking to THE David Winton!!?? Of course she is, she’s the star, of course, that makes sense.

Shane continued helping the rest of the crew set up. He kept glancing over at Cadence as she spoke animatedly with several people. He inched closer to hear the conversation.

“The backdrop should be a tropical each” She was saying. Shane smiled to himself. She’s always loved the beach. She’d always said that one day, she’d make music on the beach, and now here she was, making it happen.

David steepled his fingers together. “An excellent choice, young Cadence, I see it now…The beach as liminal space. The serene ocean waters…and the chaos that lies beneath! Now, I have one last question. Given that this short film is to be a romance…”

Shane dropped his tool with a clatter but luckily no one seemed to notice. A romance? She’s shooting a romance? But I thought this was about getting back up after falling and…

“Shane? Come over here a minute!”

His eyes snapped back up as Cadence waved him over, both David Winton and another woman staring at him blankly.

As Cadence explains to him the situation, he could feel himself becoming nervous. Me? She wants me to be in the video? Why not Raleigh? Why not Avery? Or anyone recognizable? I’m no one.

“Chemistry is difficult to fake.” David explained. “The two of you are best friends? The chemistry is already there! I can see it now! Two young lovers finally realizing the true potential of their relationship! Feelings that have been hidden so deep down, they didn’t even know they existed!”

Shane gapes at him a moment. “Wait. Are you sure? But I…I’m not an actor. I’m strictly a behind the cameras person.”

Cadence grabbed both of his hands in hers. “Look, Shane…I’ve known you forever. I’m terrified of doing this, and I just need…I need you up there with me. Okay?”

Shane’s heart was pounding. When I woke up this morning, I was not expecting anything like this to happen.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. He’s a nobody!” The woman exclaimed.

Cadence turned and glared at her. “He’s not a nobody to me. This is my best friend.” She grabbed his arm and led him off to the side, speaking in a whisper. “Besides, Shane, you love Dave Winton. This is your chance to get noticed!”

Shane found himself agreeing readily. She squealed again, wrapping him in a giant hug, and he was overcome with her presence. It had only been a month, but it felt like they’d been apart for ages. Did she always smell this good? Was her skin always this soft? Has she always fit so perfectly in my arms?

He pulled back. “All right. So I’ll, uh…head along to hair and makeup then!” He gave a wide smile. He was nervous, but extremely excited. This could be his big break. His film idol is going to be directing him all day. This is insane!! Thank you, Cadence!!

To his great relief, he was mainly left with his regular image, and in no time he was back on set. For a few minutes, David goes over staging for the scene, and they rehearse the scene together as Cadence mouths along to the recording.

Shane was in awe of her. He always knew that she’d make it big. He’d missed her big One In A Million win, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to miss this. He was so grateful she chose him to star with her. It will be a memory for the ages.

“So you see? Your love interest is your lifeline in the story, when everything else has you down. Together, you triumph over the forces that landed you on this metaphorical desert island of the soul.”

“Got it! I think.” Cadence caught Shane’s eye and they burst into a fit of giggles. Starting again, Shane couldn’t keep his hands off her…per David’s direction, of course.

No other reason! David Winton wants us close, so we’re close. And she’s my best friend so we’ve touched lots of times…not like that but…we have…ah crap! He could feel himself blushing more and more, every time she danced around him, grabbing his hand, placing it on her waist, teasing him mercilessly with fuck me eyes and flirty moves. He was captivated. This was a whole new Cadence.

Confident. Sexy. Funny. Gorgeous.

“You okay?” She whispered loudly as he spun her around, her back pressed against his chest, looking into his eyes while still swaying her hips.

“Just hot!” He nodded vigorously. She rose an eyebrow but didn’t ask anything else, to his great relief. Suddenly she was grinding on him, and he felt his dick twitch.

Fuck!!

He spun her out quickly, as though it was all part of the scene, hoping she was none the wiser.

Some time later…

David Winton clapped his hands together. “All right, everybody, take five! Imbibe nourishment and fresh air. Consider your character’s ethos.”

Cadence sprints to the craft services table, where Shane joins her.

“Wow, this is amazing! I’m learning so much! Thanks, Cadence. I don’t know why I was ever nervous about playing your love interest. This was so worth it.” I’m just going to forget any type of weird feelings I may have had up there. We’re professionals right now, that’s it. She’s in character. I’m in character. Totally it.

“Aww, Shane. I’m glad we get to help each other out today.” She smiled at him, and he smiled right back.

“Alright! That was five! Places everyone! Let’s get back to it.” David announced.

Cadence laughed. “Ready? We’re probably almost done. I think. I hope.”

Together they walk back to the stage. Cadence grabs the prop for the scene in preparation, a fake glass of tequila sunrise. Then she picks up a guitar that Shane’s never seen before…except for when she performed on One In A Million. He’d just assumed it was part of that show. But now she’s carrying it around like she owns it.

I wonder what the deal is with that. How did she get such a fancy guitar so fast? The Cadence I know wouldn’t have given up her old faithful so quickly…

Then he realized David Winton was talking again. “Now, see, something’s been missing from those first fifty-two takes, and I’ve finally identified what it is. This is a love song, and yet the love simply isn’t palpable.”

“What do you mean? How are we supposed to make the love…palp?” Cadence asked, sounding confused.

“Well, when one person loves another, traditionally, how do they express it?”

Oh no. “Is he…is he talking about…”

“Kissing! Kissing, you fools!

Hold up. “Wait. You...you want us to…”

“Yes.” He interrupted. “Would you be amenable, then? To a brief kiss in the scene?”

Holy crap. This is not happening. There’s no way I can kiss her! No possible way! And I know she feels like that too…

“I think…we should kiss onscreen.” Cadence said slowly, before looking at Shane in surprise, as if she couldn’t believe she’d just said that out loud. “If it’s alright with you, of course!” She finished a little too loudly.

Oh crap. “Oh! Yes, of course! I mean, as long as you’re comfortable with it!” Oh my god, am I that loud too?

She flashed him a killer smile. “I am.”

Really? She…is? It’s not going to make things weird? I hope it doesn’t make things weird. She’s like my sister.

David lit up. “Wonderful! Lights! Camera! Surrealism!”

Cadence lip syncs again, and as she sings the last line of the song, she sets her instrument aside and turns to Shane. He takes a deep breath. She’s been his best friend since they were four. He rests a hand on her waist, leans in close, and whispers in her ear.

“Are we actually doing this? Are we really, actually doing this?”

We can still do something else.

She whispers back. “We are. We are really, actually doing this.”

She leans in and their lips gently connect. Oh my god, I’m kissing Cadence. On the mouth. And she’s kissing me. And she’s good at it. Fuck me, her lips are so soft, so sweet, I need…oh god, I need to taste her.

He removes one of his hands from her waist and cups her face in it, while moving the other hand to the small of her back, pressing her flush against him, and parting her lips with his own and sweeping his tongue inside. She moaned lightly, and all sorts of images flashed in his mind. Images of her. Moaning. Screaming. Writhing in pleasure beneath him. On top of him. Everywhere.

“CUT! Brilliant! We’ve got it! We have created a piece de resistance that will outlive and outlast us!”

Shane freezes, feeling Cadence doing the same as David’s voice boomed. They quickly break apart as the crew begins to break down the set.

Shane rubs the back of his neck nervously. “So. Um.”

“Yeah. Um.” She stammered.

They stared at each other a moment before he finally clears his throat. “I’m gonna go and…uh…”

“Right. Yeah. Totally.” She agrees, a strange look still on her face.

Shane shrinks into himself and slips off into the crowd of crew members, his thoughts running wild.

Was that a real kiss or was that a stage kiss? That felt real. It felt…very real. Shit, I just kissed Cadence. Cadence. I’ve seen her eating play-doh, what the hell is the matter with me? I shouldn’t have been in the video. I should have said no. I should’ve stayed behind the cameras.

Leaving the building, his thoughts turned to the way the he pressed her tight against him, the way he demanded more from her, needed more of her. He could still hear and feel her moaning into his mouth.

Shane sees her exit the building and sign autographs. Before he could stop himself, he approached her.

“Oh, hey! What are you doing out here?”

“I’m just waiting for my ride. What about you?” She asked.

“Also waiting for my ride.” He paused a moment before continuing. “So, um, listen, about that kiss…I just wanted to say I’m really sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable, or if…”

“No, not at all!” She responded, Looking surprised. “Not uncomfortable. In fact, I’m sorry of I made you feel uncomfortable.”

“No, you didn’t! Not at all! So, we’re agreed. We’re cool with the kiss, and things are not awkward at all.” He rambled.

She grinned. “Exactly! Great! Can I just say that I’m really glad you’re with me in this world? I feel like so many of these people have forgotten what it’s like to be…normal.”

His expression soured “Yeah. Tell me about it. One guy on the crew offered to read my aura for $599.99.”

Then an idea occurred to him. “If you want to get away from all of this just for a little while, me and my roommates are throwing a party back in our loft in NoHo.”

Her face lit up, the face he was so familiar with, no longer masked by makeup and wigs. “That sounds amazing. I still haven’t seen your dorm!”

He watched as the light then vanished from her eyes. “But I’m worried about getting recognized. It’s starting to get more common.”

Man, she looks so sad. That’s it. She needs to come. “I mean, we could throw together a disguise for you. I bet your stylist has a lot of looks and wigs leftover from the music video shoot.”

Her green eyes brightened again. “Wow, getting to dress up as someone else and pretend to be normal again sounds really fun.”

He slapped her fondly on her back. “And, man, we’d finally get to catch up! I feel like it’s been forever. I miss you!”

“I miss you, too!” She launched herself into his arms, and he held her tightly, wondering what was going on with her. He was kicking himself for not keeping in touch like he should.

Why haven’t I been? I know I’m busy but…wow, that’s a really lame excuse. And damn, she’s so soft and warm.

They go back inside and rummage back through the set until she finds a disguise. He averts his eyes as she changes.

“Okay. I’m ready. What do you think?”

He looked back at her and his breath caught in his throat. Now she had hot pink hair, a black one shoulder crop top, extremely short denim shorts, a black belt, layered necklaces…and her glasses.

It took him a moment to find his voice again. “Damn, Cadence, you look great! Loving the hair. Is this your version of a Sasha Fierce alter ego?”

She let out a loud laugh. “Thanks, Shane. Man, I haven’t been to a college house party since that dead week trip we did when we were seniors. Do grad students go hard?”

He shrugged. “I guess we’ll have to see.”

After a quick subway ride, they glide through the doors of Shane’s dorm, the party already in full swing. Dozens of students fill the space, music blasts in the speakers, and red cups clutter the ping pong table.

He leads them to the drink station and mixes them each a hard drink before turning back to her. “So, what do you think? Is this as cool as Propaganda?”

“Oh, much cooler. I feel like I’m right back I my element. Come on, let’s talk about what’s going on with you.”

They find a quiet corner of the dorm and sip on their drinks while watching the party.

“So do you guys host parties here a lot?” She asks.

“Here and there. But I spend so much time in class or trying to get work experience. And then when I do have free time I use it for…you know. Sleeping. Eating.” He admitted sheepishly.

She bumped his shoulder with her own. “Aww, Shane. One month into grad school and already working yourself to the bone.”

He scoffed. “I mean, I’m having the time of my life! The people are amazing,”

“Isn’t it hard, though? Balancing everything?”

He nodded. “It’s hard, but it’s a good kind of hard. When you really care about someone…”

Wait, what?? “I mean, something…even when it’s hard, it still feels good. It still feels rewarding.”

Cadence was gaping at him. “Wait…Someone? Shane, oh my god, have you met someone already? Tell me, tell me!”

She’s…excited? But…really? It’s only been a month…

He shook his head. “Um, no, I just…I misspoke. Let’s get another drink!” He stood abruptly and led her back to the fridge for another round of drinks, when suddenly…he grabs her arm excitedly. “Oh my god, Cadence, they’re playing your song from the One In a Million finale!”

“No way!” She gasps, as students around them sing along, arm in arm, raising their cups.

“This is my new favorite song!”

“Right? I think it was the best performance on One in a Mil, maybe ever.”

“You hearing this, Cadence?” He looks over at her shocked face, pride and warmth swelling throughout him.

“Wow, I can’t believe it! It feels amazing to hear about it while being anonymous!” Her eyes were wide and almost…glistening?

What the hell? “Then I’m sure you needed the break.”

All around them, the party breaks out into people dancing to her song.

She whirls on him. “May I have this dance?” Putting out an overly formal accent, she places her hand out for Shane to take.

He looks at it in surprise. “Really? I mean, I know I’m not the best dancer, but…”

“Come on, Shane. You tore up the floor at our senior prom. Not to mention you just danced in a music video. Trust me. You’ve got moves.”

He felt a blush rise to his cheeks. “Then…Of course, m’lady.”

Shane gives her what he’s sure is this shy, stupidly cute grin, and he puts his hands on her waist and…he pulls her close to him. So close. He can smell her light scent of amber and…oh no. I’m feeling…feelings. I’m feeling all kinds of feelings. Get a grip, man! What is wrong with you?! This is Cadence! You’re best friend! The girl next door! You used to bet which color play-doh tasted best!

But he can’t stop. He can’t back away. Instead, he leans forward, resting his forehead against hers. “I’m so glad you’re finally here, Cadence. I’ve missed you so much.” He murmured quietly.

“Yeah? I’ve missed you too, Shane…” She whispered.

They’re close. They’re really close, her lips are a breath away, and the thoughts erupt in his head again. Thoughts of kissing her. He doesn’t want to admit it. He doesn’t want to admit that a single kiss may have changed things for them. For him.

As the song comes to a close she spoke again. “Man, who would’ve thought we’d be dancing to my song one day.”

His brown eyes met her green ones. “I did. I’ve always believed you could do it, Cadence.” He watched a blush cross her features this time, and he brushed a strand of pink hair out of her face. “Come on.” He takes her hand and they climb onto the fire escape together.

She lets out a low whistle, taking in the view. “Okay. NoHo, you win.”

A chuckle escaped his lips. “I bet the apartment the label put you up in isn’t too shabby, right?”

“It’s amazing. I just wish our neighborhoods were a bit closer. This city’s so sprawling.” She frowned, and he took her chin with his fingers and made her look at him again before letting go.

“Hey, where there’s a will, there’s a way. We’ve gotten into too much trouble to break the tradition now.”

“Yeah, we got away with so much nonsense when we were kids. Do you remember that time we got married in front of our teddy bears?”

“Oh, my god, yes!” He gasped. “Mr. Fuddlewuddle was the pastor!”

“And Barbie was my maid of honor! So kind of her to be in our wedding party. Even though we beheaded her and amputated her plastic limbs…” She smirked at him.

“Poor Barbie. Suffering in the name of science.” He agreed.

“You know, I hate to break it to you, Shane, but I don’t think the ceremony was legally binding. I mean. Unless Mr. Fuddlewuddle went out and got ordained without us knowing.”

He shrugged with a smile. “Regardless, the reception was great. Orange Kool-Aid. Oreos. Mac and Cheese with little cut-up hot dogs, courtesy of your dad.”

“Oh, yes. We were party planners extraordinaire. Oh! And do you remember when we had to raise an egg as our child?”

He burst out laughing. “Yes! Our little John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt!”

“Can’t believe we were advanced enough to give our egg a hyphenated last name.” She joked.

“And we made it the whole week without putting one single crack in that little guy!”

Cadence grimaced. “He really reeked by the end of the assignment, though. And then we rode our bikes out to the overpass just to drop him on some unsuspecting vehicle.”

“Man, it was so hot out too. We watched our son fry to death, right there on the car’s sunroof.”

“Okay, but we were really good parents up until we threw him into traffic.” She stopped speaking a moment before starting again. “I had an awesome time tonight, Shane. We need to do this again sometime.”

Shane slid his eyes over to her. “Yeah, for sure. I know you’re super busy all the time, but…”

“But I’ll make time for you. I’ll always make time for you.” She answered softly. Standing looking out over the city, she rests her head on Shane’s shoulder. He puts a warm, comforting arm around her, and they watch the cars go by.

“Shane…” Cadence tilts her head up to gaze into his eyes, their faces only inches apart.

Oh god…Should I kiss her again? This feels like a moment…

“Cadence…About that kiss, at the shoot…” He started, before a sudden crash sounded from inside and the music cut short.

“Ooooow!” Someone groaned.

Shane looks inside. “Oh, shoot! Looks like a keg stand gone bad. I better go handle that.”

She opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again. “I should head back anyway. I have an early morning studio session tomorrow.” She gives him one last hug before Shane goes back inside to handle the situation, watching quietly as she slips out the door.

The following morning, someone’s banging on his bedroom door. “Yo Shane! Get up, man, you’re famous!”

He groaned into his pillow. After Cadence left he’d pounded the liquor, trying to forget that one kiss had brought him to his knees. His head was throbbing. He reached over and grabbed his phone, disappointed that she didn’t let him know when she arrived home. There was, however, a link from one of his friends. Opening it, he gasped, sitting straight up. Her music video already has hit one million views. He watched himself dance around with his best friend, noticing how wide his smile was, seeing how much fun they were having together. But then he watched the kiss. He saw it transform, right before his very own eyes. One second he was hesitant, while in the next it became one of the best kisses he’s ever witnessed. He pressed pause.

And I’m a film student. I’m a camera man. I’ve seen a lot of kisses. That…that looks real. That looks intimate. That looks…

He sighed, laying back down and looking at the screen, which he’d managed to pause at the exact moment they were breaking apart, their lips still hovering close, eyes still closed, his hand in her hair. He scrubbed his hand down his face.

I need to know. I need to know if there’s real merit to these feelings. I need to know if she felt anything at all. I need to kiss her again…no. I want to kiss her again. Damn it, Cadence. What the hell are we doing?

@annekebbphotography @gardeningourmet @zigortega4life @eileendannie @thequeenofcronuts @drakewalkerfantasy @friedherringclodthing @coffeebeandragon @drakewalker04 @jlpplays1 @desiree-0816

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@mfackenthal

@dancetothestoriesinyoursoul

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speckofglitter · 6 years

Text

silver boys reaction to you being jealous

-oof this is way angstier than i thought it would be, who hurt me lmao-

Seunghun:

Seunghun had just finished performing for the ygtb finals. As you were watching his performance, you were incredibly proud and shaken at his bold and seductive performance. That is until you went onto your twitter. Your feed was full of girls thirsting over your boyfriend and talking about how attractive he was. It was slightly annoying, to the point where you wished he hadn’t gone so far as to lift his shirt up. You scroll down, a tight smile on your lips as you read every single comment about his performance.

‘Damnnn he really radiates BDE’

‘Pass me the holy water’

You roll your eyes, turning your phone off. You felt like that's something only you should be able to enjoy. You unconsciously took it out on your boyfriend, being extremely cold towards him when he called you after the semi-finals. It didn’t help that he had been cut and desperately needed your support. When he asked why you were acting so different, you mentioned all of his ‘supportive fangirls’ and how he didn’t need you because there were so many other girls who would kill to be in your place, comforting him.

He immediately went over to your apartment, reassuring you that you were the only person he needed and that he wanted you to be by his side all the time. He even cheekily mentioned that the abs part was dedicated to you, leaving you a blushing mess. You felt incredibly guilty for not being more mature and so you decided to dedicate the following day to spoiling Seunghun, making him his favorite dishes and taking him out.

Byounggon:

Byounggon was starting to explore different opportunities in the music world and a rising female artist actually contacted him to have him feature on one of her songs. When he got the call from her manager, Byounggon was ecstatic. He couldn’t believe he could finally start making music and getting the recognition he deserved. You were the first person to congratulate him, even buying him a cake. Soon enough, Byounggon started working with the artist and it seemed like you never saw him anymore. He was constantly at the studio, even sleeping there sometimes. You knew he was with her but he always insisted that it was nothing but work. When the collab dropped, Byounggon’s work finally started blowing up as people were fascinated with his smooth lyrics and cool demeanor. He started to ignore you even more. You felt like a fan who watched him from afar. One day, you decided it wasn’t fair to yourself to be kept in this relationship that just didn’t make you happy anymore. Since Byounggon wasn’t answering his phone, you texted him.

‘hi gon, i really hope you’re doing well, i’m super proud of everything you’ve achieved for the past few weeks but i just can’t stay in this relationship anymore. I’ve watched you completely put me aside as if i was a piece of trash and openly flirt with ‘her’ in interviews, acting like i don’t even exist. I will always root for you from afar. goodbye.’

As soon as Byounggon got the message, he started panicking. It was true, he had been neglecting you but he truly just wanted to succeed and him flirting with a female artist had made the fans ten times more interested in their collaboration. He immediately went over to your shared apartment, holding your favorite flowers, daffodils, in his arms. When he got there you were already packing your stuff. Seeing him enter, you paused. You didn’t even expect him to show up. Before you could say anything, he got down on one knee, shocking you even more.

‘Listen y/n i know i’ve treated you absolutely horribly for the past few weeks. I don’t expect you to forgive me but i just want you to hear me out. When i first met you, i was 15 years old and just getting into music, i didn’t know anything about love but you taught me how to love, not only how to love you but how to love myself and when the trainee life wasn’t going well, you taught me how to love music again. As time passed, i’ve once again forgotten everything you taught me but i want to try again. No amount of success or fame will ever be worth it if you’re not by my side.’

By the end of his speech, you were both in tears. You hugged him tightly, letting him know that you were willing to give him a last chance.

Jihoon:

You and Jihoon were pretty much considered #relationshipgoals. You had amazing chemistry and were always super caring with each other. The only problem was that Jihoon was a bit touchy, with everyone. You hated how nice he was to every female trainee, your insecurities reminding you of how pretty and slim they were compared to you. On top of that, he rarely complimented you, making you feel even more insecure.

You decided to talk to him about it one night as he came over after training.

‘Hey Jihoon, can we please talk?’ you called out as he entered your apartment. You always called him by a nickname so he knew something was up.

‘Yes of course baby, is everything alright?’ he smiled before giving you a quick peck on the lips.

You fiddled with your fingers, before answering hesitantly ‘listen, this is really hard for me to say but i feel like i’m not good enough for you.. Seeing you interact with all of these talented and beautiful trainees all the time makes me feel like maybe you would rather be with one of them. I just feel like you’ve become unattainable to someone like me.’

He blinked for a few seconds before grabbing your hands, ‘baby i don’t know if i gave you the impression that you weren’t good enough for me but that’s not the case. I just feel like you already know that i love you so i don’t need to reaffirm that anymore. I guess i was wrong.. I don’t want you to compare yourself to anyone else. You’re mine and that’s all that matters.’ he spoke, wrapping his arms around you in a tight hug.

Yedam:

Yedam was your first boyfriend. You had met at school although you never expected him to notice you since you were quite shy. After working on a school project together, you two became close friends and soon enough. Yedam confessed to you after 4 months of knowing you, blushing and scratching his neck in embarrassment. Fortunately, you reciprocated his feelings. I mean what was there not to love? Yedam was kind, gentle and caring. He was everything you wanted in a boyfriend. Until he wasn’t.

One of the reasons why yedam had fallen for you was that you were just as much in love with music as he was. Unfortunately, your parents were against you pursuing it as a career and wanted you to become a doctor. One day you were taking a walk in a nearby park, trying to forget all of the stress and problems that you were dealing with as you came across someone who looked very familiar. As you look closer you recognize your boyfriend, except he’s sitting on a bench next to a girl who you don’t recognize. You immediately turn around, understanding the situation. You realized how much you had idolized yedam up to that point. You never thought that he could have illusive intent towards you but what you had just seen proved you wrong.

You gave him the cold shoulder for a week before you decided to confront him. You were hanging out in your room and yedam was talking your ears off about something funny junkyu had done during practice but you couldn't focus. All you could think of was that yedam was cheating on you.

‘So, who is she?’ you casually asked.

‘Huh? What are you talking about?’ yedam straightened his back, staring at you in confusion.

‘Don’t play dumb yedam. I’d rather you admit to it then play me like i’m stupid’ you responded harshly.

Yedam gulped, surprised at your sudden outburst.

‘I saw you at the park last week. Do you wanna explain who you were with?’ you asked, voice raspy with sorrow.’

‘Y/n, i was with my cousin Mina. She’s visiting Seoul and i wanted to spend time with her since i’m always either practicing or with you. I’m really sorry if i made you misunderstand.’ he explained.

You signed in relief but placed your head in your arms as you realized how guilty you felt for blaming Yedam.

‘You know, i would never cheat on you. There’s only one girl for me.’ he mumbled, lifting your head up before placing a kiss on your forehead.

Junkyu:

When you met junkyu you were most definitely not in the best place. You had just gotten out of a relationship and your ex-boyfriend had cheated on you. You spent your days journaling in the local coffee shop. On one rainy afternoon, the coffee shop was incredibly crowded. As junkyu walked in after a grueling dance class, he realized that the only empty seat was across from you.

‘Hi, do you mind if i sit here?’ he asked shyly.

You nodded curtly, getting back to writing. After a few minutes of junkyu sipping his drink while you wrote, junkyu decided to ask you what you were writing. For a moment, you stared at him, wondering if you should share something so personal with a complete stranger but he looked so intrigued that you decided to tell him about your ex. You liked how he just listened and nodded as you ranted about how he made you feel unloved and insecure. He wasn’t imposing, he didn’t offer unwanted advice. He was just... there. After you had finished talking you felt a lot better so you decided to buy him a muffin to thank him. He then gave you his number, telling you to call him whenever you needed to get something off of your chest. Soon enough, you were calling junkyu weekly and then nightly. even meeting up at the coffee shop. After a few weeks, junkyu could tell that you had completely forgotten about your ex. Meanwhile, he had fallen for you. However, he had absolutely no idea how to tell you about it so he decided to ask his Hyunsuk for some much needed advice.

He immediately regretted that decision after he heard the words ‘operation make junkyu’s future bae jealous!’ come out of hyunsuk’s mouth. His plan was to make junkyu hang out with hyunsuk’s little sister at the coffee shop in order to make you jealous. Junkyu didn’t really see how that would help but he agreed as he had no other viable options.

As you entered the coffee shop, humming your favorite song, you noticed junkyu was there. He was sitting in your usual spot although there was someone sitting across from him. You had never seen her before but they seemed to be really close. Their body language was perfect. She was leaning into him, talking loudly as his eyes sparkled, smile apparent. You got your coffee and left, feeling more rejected than ever. Of course, you and junkyu weren’t dating so you couldn’t say anything but you thought it was obvious that you had feelings for him. He obviously didn’t feel the same way. You avoided junkyu for a whole week after that incident. When he finally caught you at the coffee shop and forced you to shit with him you were quiet, staring at your hands.

‘Can you please tell me why you’ve been avoiding me for the past week?’ he asked sternly.

‘I just didn’t feel like talking to you’ you answered, avoiding his eyes.

‘That’s bullshit. There has to be another reason.’

You looked at him for the first time, getting annoyed at his judgement.

‘Excuse me? You’re the one who came here with another girl, i don’t have to explain myself to you’ you retorted.

‘Interesting… that was just hyunsuk’s sister by the way, i was helping her plan a surprise for him’ he smirked, leaning back on his chair.

‘Ohhh um good for you. I don’t care.’ you muttered.

‘Are you sure?’ he leaned into you, grabbing your hands.

You stared at his hands on top of yours, breathing hard. Pretending to cough you looked back, whispering ‘kim junkyu stop making my heart beat so fast challenge’. Obviously, you thought he wouldn’t hear.

‘Don’t worry, you make my heart beat faster too’ he giggled, leaning in to press a soft kiss to your cheek.

Doyoung

You were taking your first lesson at ygx when you met doyoung. He was assisting the choreographer. As the class passed by, he went around, helping students who were having a hard time. Naturally, girls were all over him, asking him questions about treasure’s debut and a lot of more intrusive questions. However, you were perfectly in the zone. You wanted to gain as much as possible from this class. The practice continued until it was time for various groups to perform. The choreographer had noticed your seriousness and decided to let you perform alone. As you executed the choreography to ‘reel it in’ by aminé, everyone’s jaw dropped. You were confident, lively and your moves were incredibly clean. After class, the choreographer complimented you on your performance. You were ecstatic, smiling widely as you packed your bag up. Doyoung came over, praising you as well.

That day, you finally gained confidence in your dance skills and decided to audition to become a yg dancer. You really didn’t expect to make it and yet you made it on your first try, auditioning with the choreography you had learned during the dance workshop. After you started working at yg, you started to see doyoung frequently, even letting him watch you practice sometimes. You became close friends as you were the youngest female backup dancer and he was the closest person to your age in the company. As you spent so much time together, you started developing feelings for each other and decided to date, not letting anyone know. As you were in the same company, it wasn’t that hard to date secretly at first.

Soon enough, treasure 13 was doing better than ever and doyoung was asked to model for a famous sportswear brand. He was ecstatic, seeing as it was his first ever modeling opportunity. You were excited for him as well, cheering him on as he talked to you on the phone right before the shoot. What doyoung failed to mention was that he would be working with a female model, izone’s yujin. The photographer instructed doyoung and yujin to dance together and bring a lovey-dovey vibe during the shoot. Doyoung was careful to ask yujin what she was comfortable with before, settling on twirling her around and blowing kisses at her. Obviously it was acting but it didn’t seem like that when you saw the commercial a week later. Doyoung’s eyes were twinkling as he stared at yujin, looking a type of happy you’ve never seen him look around you. You decided to text him.

y/n: yooo i just saw the ad.. Why didn’t you tell me you would be with izone’s yujin??

lover boi 💖: oh i’m sorry y/n i was so nervous i completely forgot to tell you..

y/n: interesting… funny how you looked more in love with her than you ever would with me.

lover boi 💖: umm no wtf. I was ACTING. Look i don’t know what’s gotten into you or why you’re being jealous all of the sudden but the second i saw you dancing that day at ygx i knew you were the one for me and i’m sure as hell not letting a commercial break us up so get ready i’m taking you out on a date in 10 minutes and i don’t wanna hear about yujin.

y/n: …. Okay

You screeched, heart beating faster than ever as you got ready for your date with your boyfriend. He hadn’t changed after all...

Hyunsuk: Hyunsuk was your best friend. You had known each other since middle school, always sneaking out to go to karaoke or get noodles at the convenience store. You were his partner in crime. He could ask you for the world and you would give it to him if you could. You always thought hyunsuk was cute but you never realized how much you loved him until he loved someone else. When you got to highschool, hyunsuk attracted a lot of attention due to his good looks and charisma. Unfortunately, you fell short compared to him. And yet he never strayed away from you, at least not platonically. You would always go to parties together, but never leave together. One night you just got tired of it. You were both on byounggon’s couch getting high off of edibles when you started questioning him.

‘Do you ever get tired of it?’ you asked, twisting the brownie in your hand. ‘Huh? Tired of what?’ he responded in between a huge bite. ‘Of messing around with all of these random girls...’ ‘What does it matter to you? You’re not my girlfriend’ he laughed, not catching your annoyed look. ‘That’s the problem.’ you whispered getting up before putting your jacket on, attempting to leave. ‘Wait what? Where are you going?’ hyunsuk went after you as you quickly said goodbye to byounggon, thanking him for the edibles. ‘Listen hyunsuk i’m really tired of wasting my time. I’ve been in love with you since middleschool and you won’t even give me a second glance yet you fuck and leave all of these random girls who know nothing about you?’ you yelled out in frustration. Hyunsuk just stood there in utter confusion, watching you leave.

That night he decided to text you to apologize.

fashion killa 🎙😩: heyy i’m really really sorry y/n. I never realized you felt the same way about me which is why i just chose to friendzone you… can we start again..

You read over his text, already annoyed at how you immediately wanted to forgive him and go over to his house. Until you realized he said he felt the same way...

y/n: wait what do you mean ‘the same way’?

fashion killa 🎙😩: i like you y/n. Why do you think i tell every guy who likes you that you’re a lesbian?

y/n: YOU DID WHAT? fashion killa 🎙😩: hahahaha so when’s our first date? I’ll be at ur house with nuggets soon hehehehe

y/n: those nuggets better come with an explanation or else

••

Ok this was not supposed to be so long but i accidentally wrote a mini fic for byounggon’s so i had to add on to everyone’s so it wouldn’t feel unequal lol hope you like it anon and i’m so so sorry for not finishing this sooner...

#ygtb #yg treasure box #yg silver boys #treasure #magnum #ygtb scenarios #treasure scenarios #yg silver boys scenarios #yg ent #yg trainee #kim junkyu #park jihoon #kim doyoung #bang yedam #lee byounggon #kim seunghun

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tentimesbetter · 6 years

Text

Unchanging || Mark Lee

Pairing: Mark Lee x Reader

Genre: Fluff; Childhood Friend!AU

Word Count: 2.9k

Summary: The one where you and Mark have been friends almost all your life and nothing could change that.

Or, the one where you and Mark slowly and unknowingly fall in love.

It was almost impossible to find you and Mark without each other. He was almost omnipresent in your life– an unchanging constant ever since you’d been toddlers who were learning to make their way around the playgrounds without getting hurt or encountering mean older kids to now, when you were older– almost adults– attempting to make your way through life without disappointing your over-expecting parents and without getting hurt.

Growing up, you didn’t come without the other– wherever Mark got invited (because between the two of you, he was better at warming people and making friends), he would make sure you came too. In middle school, when puberty hit, transforming you into an awkward, gangly preteen– something your self-esteem took the hit for, you spent a lot of time wondering if he did it out of pity and making sure to stay out of his way best as you could so he wouldn’t have to. It seemed to make a lot of his friends happy, especially the girls. You assumed it made Mark happier too to have you out of the way of his social life so you sucked up any sadness you felt about losing a friend telling yourself that it was for the best until he came up to you after-school, asking to walk home together. Refusing to take no for an answer until you’d said it too many times.

“I don’t know why you’re avoiding me but I’d like it if my best friend could at least talk to me instead of trying to cut me off.” He’d walked away after he said those words, making his way towards a group of boys you recognized as part of the school’s music club. His words continued to ring in your ears all the way home.

It took another week of crying yourself to sleep because of the guilt you felt before you could muster the courage to walk to his house, carrying a tub of his favourite ice-cream in your hands and an apology on your tongue. He accepted your apology too easily, leaving you feeling like a bit of an idiot, and pulled you into a hug which made sure you knew he cared about you more than he cared about the opinions of any of the people he hung out with in school.

The next morning, the two of you returned to the routine you’d known all your lives: Walking out of your house to find Mark already waiting for you so that you could walk to school together. Waiting for each other on days you had club work so that you could walk home together. It almost felt like nothing had ever changed and in less than week you were inseparable again.

***

When you started university, for a brief period in your first year, Mark and you branched out; maintaining only a friendship which involved smiling at each other when you passed by in hallways. It was almost fate that you’d managed to get through into the same university and there was only so lucky you could get. Thus, slowly and understandably Mark and you found other friends and integrated into different circles– ones which didn’t intersect at any point.

You became increasingly involved in university events, putting yourself out and going out of your way to get yourself known as the one person in your department who could be relied to know about almost everything. You were convinced that everyone on campus had your number saved for whatever reason and you went out of your way to make sure you didn’t have anyone’s unless it was absolutely necessary. It was the clearest hint you could give of your disinterest without appearing outright rude.

Mark spent his time with the other performing arts majors– getting involved in school productions when the theatre kids needed music and dedicating the time he didn’t spend studying to keep up his grades to a band he formed with a few others from his department. The band was instant hit– something you often begrudgingly credited to the literal face value of its members who included both Jung Jaehyun and Lucas Wong– the two uncontested instant crushes for most of your batchmates– as well as Mark Lee– someone all your friends found cute, going even as far as to ask you to set them up with him when they find out you know him. You watched, mostly subconsciously, as he went from the shy, awkward seventeen-year-old who would only play at church or when you two were alone to a slightly less awkward and significantly more confident guitarist who took centre stage at many charity events and could effectively make enough girls feel that he was serenading to them when he sang.

When you both returned home that Christmas, it felt as if you’d never be back to who you used to be earlier and you felt a little burst of sadness at the thought: You hadn’t been very good at making friends until recently and the thought of losing the one person who’d known you throughout was bound to make you sad but you didn’t feel the need to dwell on it, deciding it was for the best. The feeling of slight melancholy persisted only when you had nothing to do and it would go away with time.

Sometime near the end of your first week home, your mother invited the Lees over for dinner: A move that made complete sense– your families, after all, had been neighbours for as long as your memories went back. The entire day leading to the dinner, you felt your stomach flop around uncomfortably around you, making you feel as though you would throw up at the slightest interaction– the feeling only got worse when you heard the doorbell signalling their arrival. The feeling also dissolved almost immediately when Mark greeted you with the same smile you’d grown up seeing and a hug.

“I haven’t seen you all year,” he said, matter-of-factly. “Or all semester, more precisely.”

Nothing in his speech held any accusation or anger and you still couldn’t help but think of the first time you’d ever distanced yourself from him. It filled you with unnecessary guilt. “We should go out sometime,” you offered and you felt your heart flutter a little when he beamed.

“I’ll pick you up for breakfast tomorrow morning,” he said before moving to join everyone else in the living room. “Don’t forget.”

The two of you spent the rest of the party keeping each other company– having each others’ backs against any snide remarks which his brother made towards you and any questions either of your parents seemed to have about your future. It almost felt as if you were the same kids who’d spend every possible waking hour together again and you couldn’t help the sense of relief that you felt. From across the room, your mothers shared a smile both of you were too absorbed to notice as if they knew something you didn’t.

***

The following semester shocked everyone who knew either of you. The newly revived friendship between the two of you seemed to go against everyone’s expectations and apparently against the bets all your friends seemed to had placed.

“You could have been the enemies-to-lovers trope so much more easily,” Ah In laments. “You fit the roles so well– extremely reliable nerd meets campus cutie guitarist.”

You roll your eyes and tell her very clearly that there was nothing romantic that could ever develop between you and Mark. “I’ve known him too long,” you tell her, which makes her laugh and remark that if nothing romantic happens, maybe she’ll shoot her shot at Mark. You snort at the remark but you can’t ignore the way your heart falls at the idea of Ah In dating Mark.

Mark’s friends seem even more surprised when they bump into you two at the cafe a few blocks away from the university residency– you’re sure Lucas was close to dropping his steak on your table when he sees the both of you. Their expressions make you laugh as you introduce yourself to them and good-naturedly dispel any ideas about Mark and you being on a date.

They almost join you for lunch but then don’t at Jaehyun’s insistence. “Maybe next time, Y/N,” he smiles and you can’t help but swoon a little at how deep his dimples are. He looks at Mark, smiling, secretly– it’s a glance you cannot really decipher– and his ears turn a little red as he nods before Jaehyun leaves almost dragging Lucas with him. Mark feels a little guilty at how relieved he feels when his two friends are gone, leaving him alone in your company. The guilt dispels quite easily when you make off-handed remark about how cute both of them are and Mark isn’t quite sure why that is.

***

It’s during that summer that Mark Lee kisses you for the first time. You’re not quite sure why or how it happens but you’re quite sure when it happens. You’re not sure you could ever forget when it happened– the moment seems burned into your memory and you’re convinced that you’ll carry the imprint of it to your next life if there’s any and to your grave if there isn’t.

It’s in the second month of your being home that it happens. You haven’t seen Mark much until that week– both of you too busy with internships and part-time jobs and family to meet until you wake up to the sound of something hitting your window. The ‘something’ turns out to be Mark Lee throwing some of the tiny pebbles his mother uses to decorate the fish-bowl in their house.

He grins wide, nose scrunching cutely when he sees you awake. “Rapunzel, let down your hair,” he whispers, trying his best to hold his giggles from turning into full-blown laughter. It makes you laugh, a now-familiar fuzzy feeling spreading through your chest.

“What’re you doing?” you ask him, leaning closer out of the window. He doesn’t reply, instead asking you to be careful and to hurry down.

“We’re going to watch the sunrise,” he says, once you’ve managed to join him on the road– fortunately without waking anyone up. You’re about to open your mouth to make a comment about how ridiculous it is (especially since you’re anything but a morning person) when he grabs your hand and pulls you along when he starts running towards wherever he has in mind.

Your protests are quick to die in the face of how soft Mark’s hands feel against yours– how they seem to fit in almost naturally and you can’t help but wonder if it’s at least in part because of how much of your childhoods have been spent going around with your hands linked together.

The sun rises at 5:23 AM that morning. You’re standing next to Mark, his jacket draped over you because at one point you started shivering when the sun appears near the horizon. Next to you, you can feel Mark bouncing on his heels; you’re not sure if it’s because of the chill or if he’s excited but you move closer to him and he instinctively wraps an arm around you.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” he asks, his dimples becoming visible as he grins from ear-to-ear. The sun’s rays light up his face as he looks at you and you find yourself distracted by how his dark eyes seem to absorb the light and shine without getting lighter.

“It really is,” you admit, not looking away from his gaze . It’s the first time you see Mark blush around you and the knowledge makes you blush in return.

The sun is starting to rise higher when he moves forward leaning closer and you freeze up in surprise. Mark looks at you, the fear and confusion that has your stomach swirling and tightening, is reflected in his eyes and somehow it makes your nerves a little calmer. “Is this okay?” he asks you, softly, like he’s afraid of breaking the moment.

All it takes is a nod from you for him to lean into the kiss, his hands cupping your face gently as you place your hands on his waist to steady yourself. It’s awkward and unsure and sweet and a part of you wants to giggle at juvenile the kiss feels but your mind is too buzzing with exhilaration– making you feel like all your nerve endings are on tingling with liquid fire– to do anything but kiss him back at that moment.

“Wow,” is the first thing he says when he pulls away, finally and you finally giggle because it’s so Mark to not have proper words after a kiss. “You’re adorable, Mark Lee,” you tell him, not pulling away from the embrace he still has you in. The way his ears turn red at your words only make you giggle more.

He kisses you again when he drops you home.

***

When you return back to university after the summer, it’s with Mark firmly interlocking with yours. It makes him blush when anyone who knows either of you (which is everyone on campus because of who you are) looks at you both as you pass by. You need to stifle a laugh and the urge to kiss him in front of everyone every time he blushes.

All your friends are much less surprised. With the exception of Lucas, who all but screams “what!?” when Mark walks up to his bandmates and best friends with you right beside him. Jaehyun grins, ruffling his hair and tells him how glad he is that Mark finally “gathered the guts to tell Y/N how you feel.” Mark smiles awkwardly through it and you stand on your tiptoes to kiss his cheek right in front of everyone. The action makes both Mark and Lucas scream in the middle of the university grounds for different reasons and you cackle with almost childlike glee at their reactions while Jaehyun shakes his head, commenting at how juvenile they are.

“You make him really happy,” Jaehyun tells you when you meet him later that day while heading out of one of your lectures. “I’m glad he told you, honestly.”

You smile, your eyes warming almost visibly and for a brief moment, Jaehyun can see why Mark is in with that smile– with you. “I’m glad he did too,” you admit to Jaehyun. “He’s always made me so happy.” The answer seems to satisfy Jaehyun.

Your friends are much less affected by the news. You assume it’s also because of how they found out from Soo Mei after she saw Mark kiss you outside your door before he leaves. You tell them everything about the summer– where it began; the first time he kissed you and how it made you feel like you were made of small evolving galaxies; and how he asked you to be his girlfriend on the last week– and blush good-naturedly through their teasing.

Ah In rolls her eyes and reiterates how she always knew. “Your feelings are quite romantic, aren’t they, reliable nerd?” she asks you and begrudgingly accept her following comments about how well she knows you and what she calls “the ways of romance.”

Mark spends the first two weeks of the new semester answering “fan mail” on the radio show Jaehyun co-hosts with someone named Johnny Seo– which consisted almost entirely of Twitter mentions from either your friends who ask him to take care of you well or from fans who want to know “the whole story” about you dating each other.

He comes to the library after the recording and finds you in the historical fiction section of it. He sounds exhausted as he laughs and tells you about his day and all the fan mail. “I just want to date my childhood crush in peace,” he whines. “Why is it suddenly everyone’s business if we’re together or not!?”

You laugh at how whiny he is about the entire ordeal and agree with him about how it should be no one’s business but your own that you’re dating. “But what can we do?” you concede, turning on your chair towards his side. “Such is the tough life of celebrities.”

Your dramatics make Mark laugh and you feel your chest warm at how much he sounds like the child you’ve known all your life when he laughs. A part of you is reminded of Jaehyun’s remark some time earlier in the week. “I love you so much, Y/N,” he whispers, once the librarian has shused him for laughing so long.

The words catch you off-guard, your cheeks dusting in a shade between red and pink at the sudden confession and you watch as Mark literally bites his tongue at having slipped up. “I love you a lot too, Mark Lee,” you say, softly, slowly, reaching out to hold his hand.

He looks at you a few moments as the words seem to process in his head before he breaks into another child-like smile– biting his lip in shyness and trying to look away from your gaze on him and you can’t help but laugh at how flustered he is. Instead, you choose to make it worse by bringing his hand to graze your lips upon it– the action catching him so off-guard that he actually squeals, earning glares from near everyone in the library.

“Please don’t ever change, Mark Lee,” you whisper once everyone has returned to their work. When he nods, eyes wide and full of an unsaid promise to stay the same, you are reminded of why you ever fell in love with him all over again.

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