#we went to the reputation tour together

[keclan]

my brother is getting us taylor swift tickets and i’m making him pick one of the locations where phoebe bridgers opens because unfortunately neither of us can justify the trip to arizona to see paramore open

[unequivocallyreid]

Stay With Me Till Morning

hi guys! another fic for you :) i got a little carried away at the end, but you know how it goes. this is for any munch!spencer fans 🤗

pairing: spencer reid x fem!reader

summary:

Spencer and you are co-workers, strictly co-workers, despite your feelings for him. A few nights sharing a room won’t change that, right?

warnings: mentions of body-specific insecurity, fluff, smut, oral sex (fem receiving)

wc: 3.2k

if i missed anything let me know!

One of the worst things about being a newbie, at any job, is coming into a place where connections have already been made. Working at the FBI, more specifically the BAU, was no different.

Now don’t get the wrong idea, working there was a dream for you, but there was no doubt that you were severely lacking in personal relationships compared to others. Derek and Reid had a sort of brotherly bond, JJ and Emily’s like sisters, and Hotch and Rossi’s went unspoken but still glaringly obvious. You existed in their orbit, and while you had all grown to love each other, you still felt a bit like an outsider sometimes.

Unfortunately for you, this feeling intensified whenever the topic of room sharing came up. Sure there were benefits, like having a room to yourself on occasion, but usually it just served to worsen your imposter syndrome.

The case that you were working currently, sans Rossi (he was on a book tour following his latest release), pushed this feeling to surface even more.

You all were in Upstate New York investigating a series of homicides that seemed to mimic a string of murders that had occurred 20 years ago. The town you were in was on the smaller side, so the only place you could find accommodations was a small bed and breakfast.

Said BnB did not have enough rooms available for anyone to ride solo, and with Rossi gone, Hotch and Morgan were buddied up, leaving Emily and JJ and Reid and you. Naturally, Emily and JJ bunked up together, leaving you to share a room with the boy wonder.

It’s not that you didn’t like Reid, quite the opposite actually, you liked him too much. You’ve always had a propensity for falling incredibly deeply incredibly fast, and when you met Spencer for the first time you proved you reputation correct.

Your first impression probably put him off slightly, but he was gracious enough not to show it. When Hotch introduced you, the first thing you thought was how ridiculous attractive the man in front of you was. His high cheekbones and big, brown eyes drew you in immediately. To make matters worse, he was fucking adorable. After snapping back to reality, you offered Spencer your hand, which he declined citing the pathogens and it being safer to kiss.

In one of your more impressive displays of cluelessness you said, “I think we could make that happen.”

This caused Spencer to flush and a ghost of a smile to grace Hotch’s face. Thankfully, in the last few months you had redeemed yourself slightly, developed a rapport with the doctor, and stood by hopelessly as you crush developed into a nasty little monster.

So, no sharing a room with Spencer wasn’t really an issue, but still, might just be the thing that breaks you.

~

“There’s only one fucking bed?”

You’d spoke far too soon.

After assuring Spencer you were completely fine and not at all uncomfortable with sharing a room with him, you and him walked together to your room, only to find a scene straight out of a shitty romance novel.

When Spencer heard you and noticed that there was in fact, only one bed, he immediately said, “I can sleep on the couch.”

Maybe you should’ve just agreed and saved yourself from a week of sexual frustration, but you couldn’t.

“Spence, that couch is maybe five feet long. I don’t even think I could sleep on it.”

You looked at him then to muster up some courage, “We can share the bed. We’re both adults.”

He looked slightly pained, which panicked you a bit. God, how fucking embarrassing.

“Or I can take the couch. I wont let you, but if you’re uncomfortable I can. I’m a bit shorter.”

Spencer hurried to speak, “No!”

His outburst took you by surprise but he quickly went on.

“I mean, no. I’m not uncomfortable. I just don’t want you to be at all or feel like I’m forcing you to sleep with me. Fuck, or I mean next to me-“

You cut him off before he could fall into a tailspin.

“We’ll share then.”

~

Sharing the bed had actually not been that bad for you at first. You were on your third day in New York, and you were making steady progress on the case. Hopefully, it would be wrapped up in a day or two.

Aside from the fact that you barely spent any time in the room, you had managed to stay on your side bed. The only spot of trouble was the dreams you were having, dreams about the person next to you that would turn even the worst sinner’s cheeks red. Still, Reid was acting no different, so at least you were confident you weren’t talking, or, god-forbid, moaning, in your sleep.

It had been an incredibly hard day. Not only was it freezing, but you had been outside and away from temperature controlled environments for far too long. Immediately once you got back to the Inn you were staying at, you asked Spencer if he’d mind you taking the shower first.

“I’m freezing my ass of right now. You don’t mind do you?”

“No, of course not. You know it’s kind of a superstition, but there’s some actual evidence that being cold can make you sick. I just read a study which showed 10% of people exposed to-“

You cut him off before he could finish.

“Spence, I’d love to hear about all that, but please just wait till I’m out of the shower.”

“Oh! Yeah, of course. Sorry.”

You shook off his apology as it wasn’t needed. That was one thing you didn’t get about the rest of the team; you loved hearing all the little tid bits of information that Reid let out. Yeah, he was like a literal encyclopedia at times, but it was never annoying. If anything it made you like him more. You loved the way he lit up when he told you about something he’d just read about, or read about 15 years ago. It was cute.

Getting into the shower was like a blessing. The water rolled over your cold skin and helped to loosen the muscles you’d been stressing all day. If you were bolder, or clueless to Spencer’s aversion to touch, you’d ask him to give you a shoulder rub. Your mind wondered off to where else he might touch you, but that was just wishful thinking.

After spending a near gratuitous amount of time in the shower, you shut off the water and reached for a towel. Only once you’d started drying off did you realize in you haste to warm up you’d forgotten to bring your sleep clothes into the bathroom with you. Now, you had to walk out in a tiny, hotel towel right in front of Reid. Sure, it was the start of a few of your fantasies, but in real life the idea seemed mortifying.

As quietly as possible, to not draw attention to yourself, you opened the bathroom door. With one hand gripping the point where the towel connected with itself, you tried to tiptoe unnoticed to your suitcase.

“Y/n?”

You looked up to see Spencer watching your frame like a hawk. As he took in your damp, barely covered figure, you wished to yourself that the lights in the room weren’t so fucking bright.

“I, uh, forgot to bring my clothes in,” and with that, you raced back into the bathroom to change.

After taking a minute to collect yourself, you make your way out of the bathroom again. The room is, thankfully, much darker and you see Reid tucked into his side of the bed. You climb in next to him.

“I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. That was weird. I, I won’t forget my clothes again.”

“It didn’t, Y/n, don’t worry.”

With that, you both tried your best to fall asleep and put the day behind you.

~

When you wake up, it’s decidedly not light out and you are decidedly not alone on your side of the bed. One of Spencer’s arms is over your waist, holding you against his body. Still, you don’t know why you’ve woken up.

You tend to be a pretty heavy sleeper, and you know that some light spooning wasn’t enough to wake you up. As you lay awake, trying to figure out why you are up and what to do next you feel Spencer move behind you.

Now, you definitely know what woke you. Spencer, who could barely look you in the eye after seeing you in a towel, was grinding into while you slept. Obviously, he was asleep too, but that didn’t stop the shock of it all from hitting you like a fucking bus. He was silent aside from the occasional whimper, which sent shockwaves straight to your core each time he let one slip.

Despite this, again, being the start to a few of your own wet dreams, you were pretty literally stuck between a rock and a hard place. You felt like you’d be taking advantage of Reid if you didn’t wake him, but if you did you know he’d just about die from embarrassment. Or, worse, he’d think that you somehow executed all of this in a sick ploy. Not likely, but still a source of anxiety.

It took you a few minutes to get your head on straight, what with the burning feeling brewing in your abdomen, but eventually you realized that waking him up was pretty much the only thing you could do.

“Spence,” you said while gently shaking his shoulder.

“Spence, love, you gotta wake up.”

You were turned toward him now and saw his eyes open a crack, “Y/n? What’s wrong what’s goin-“

The realization of your situation also hit him like a truck, which was sort of comforting because at least you weren’t alone in the feeling.

“Oh my god, Y/n. Fuck, I’m so sorry. Jesus, I, I can’t- Fuck I’m so sorry.”

He went to spring out of bed, but your hand grabbed his arm before he could.

“Spence, it’s okay I promise. Honestly I’m surprised it didn’t happen earlier.”

“No, no it’s not. You don’t even like me that way and I was all over you-“

You cut him off when you heard this, “Spence, what do you mean I don’t like you like that?”

“You heard me right? I said your name?”

The world stops spinning, “What?”

“Oh, oh no. Look, I’m so sorry. I’ll go sleep in one of the cars. Fuck, I’m so-”

“Spencer stop. Please stop apologizing.”

It’s like an old Western showdown for a moment, the two of you staring at each other without making a move.

“Were you dreaming about me?”

He nodded, about to speak and likely offer more apologies. But, before he gets the chance you push your lips to meet his.

The kiss is soft and gentle. At first, his lips don’t move against yours, and you start to pull back, worried you read the situation wrong. Fortunately, before your lips could even part from his, he’s pulled you back in. His hands find the side of your face and his lips pressed into yours with a bruising intensity. Slowly, his hands moved to your waist, holding you in place.

The feeling rushing through you was unlike any you’d ever experienced. His lips molded to yours so perfectly it was almost unbelievable. If you’re hands weren’t so preoccupied by his hair, you’d pinch yourself to make sure you weren’t dreaming. With a move you didn’t think he’d possibly pull, Spencer bit into your lip, making you gasp. He took the opportunity to press further into the kiss, tracing your tongue with his.

Before you could fall completely into the kiss you pulled away to ask, “Spence, are you sure this is what you want?”

“I’ve been thinking about it since the day we met, Y/n.”

With that, he pulled you back in. His hands moved more surely on you, dipping below your shirt. The feeling of his skin on yours sent shockwaves through your body. You moved to take off his shirt in turn, desperate to feel even more of him. He was relentless, breaking free from your lips to drag his mouth down your neck and over your exposed collar bone.

You felt needier than ever, and evidently so did he. In another move you didn’t expect (maybe you should throw your expectations out the window at this point) he grabbed your hips and pulled you into his lap. With you straddling him, he moved to take your shirt off. Insecurity grabbed hold of you before you could push it away.

You stilled his hands in yours, “I haven’t let anyone see me like this in a long time. Just, please don’t be disappointed by what you see.”

His face morphed into one so full of love that it made your teeth ache.

“You’re my dream, Y/n. You’ll never, ever disappoint me.”

You let go of his hands and they resumed their previous journey, pushing up your shirt and letting that part of you be bare to him. Admittedly, you had to fight the urge to cover yourself, but when you saw his face you knew it was pointless. He was ogling you, not offensively, but more like he couldn’t believe you were actually in front of him.

“You’re so, so beautiful.”

His words didn’t erase the thoughts you had, but they certainly made them easier to ignore. Moving up from your waist, he went to cup your breast, fingers playing with your nipple which made your back arch into him. He took the opportunity to flip you over so you were laying underneath him. The weight of his body over you was heavenly. You felt him press himself into your center through his sweatpants. There were just thin layers of clothes between you now.

“Will you let me taste you? I’ve been dying to.”

You’re stunned from words but you manage to nod your head. As he moved down your body, he took your shorts and panties with you, leaving you completely exposed. For the first time in a long time, you didn’t feel scared of the feeling or his reaction to you. With Spencer, you felt completely at home.

You felt him kiss down your things, teasing you in a way that made you feel completely crazy. His breath ghosted over your core, but he still hadn’t made contact with where you needed him most.

“Spencer, please.”

Hearing your voice must have broken his resolve. He dove in like a man starved. In the past, you hadn’t found yourself enjoying the presence on a man’s head between your legs. Not that you had much experience, but the men who had you in that way always seemed to treat it as a means to an end. One of the two boyfriends you’d had refused to go down on you at all, and the other wouldn’t unless you were completely shaved. Safe to say you didn’t feel like you were missing much.

Everything was different with Spencer. He licked into you there was no place he’d rather be. His tongue over traced over your cunt as he tried to find all the places that drove you wild, and god did he. The noises in the room were obscene, from the moans falling from your lips to the sound of his driving you to an orgasm.

You locked your hands in his hair, grinding into his face without even noticing that you were. You were so close, and you found the final push in his fingers. God, his beautiful fingers.

His mouth was on your clit as he pushed two digits into you, curling in before pulling out, over and over until your legs begin to shake. His unoccupied hand pressed on your lower stomach, building up the feeling until you burst.

You repeated a mantra of his name as you came harder than you can ever remember coming before. The sensation took you out for a minute, but when you came back down and looked down at Spencer, you saw him staring at you in awe and completely soaked.

“Fuck, Y/n. Have you, have you done that before? I think that was the sexist thing I’ve ever seen.”

You were confused for a moment, wondering why he’d think you hadn’t orgasmed before. That was before you felt the damp fabric of the bed beneath you.

“Oh! Oh god, uh, no I haven’t. I’m sorry I didn’t-“

“Don’t apologize for that, Y/n. Fuck, I’d spend the rest of my life between your legs if it meant I could see that again.”

The constat praise falling from him had you noticeably riled up, and you pulled him up, back on top of you.

“Spencer, please. I want you. I want you inside me.”

“Fuck, Y/n.”

He made incredibly quick work of his own pants, freeing himself. Your mouth dropped open as you took him in. He was big, the biggest you’d been with, and he was pretty. You would have drooled if it wasn’t for his lips pressing into yours. He ran his middle finger through your folds before grasping himself. He followed his own path and ran his member through your dripping cunt.

“Fuck, baby, you’re so perfect.”

The pet name made you even more desperate, “Please, Spence. Fuck, please.”

He put you out of your misery, sinking into you in one motion. You had to adjust to his size, but the feeling of him inside you, as close to you as possible had you reeling. You bucked your hips up, urging him to move.

He gave you exactly what you wanted, pushing into you at a perfect pace as he whispered sweet nothings in your ear.

You were overcome and all you could mutter was “thank you, thank you, thank you” in time with each of his thrusts. When he started to push into you harder, you couldn’t help but squeeze down on him.

His hips stalled, “You’re gonna make me come, Y/n. You’re so fucking tight”

You let your hands take down his back, “Please, Spence. Want you to, want to feel you come in me.”

His pace picked up, and you could feel how close he was. Still he wasn’t done. His fingers again found your clit and rubbed circles on it.

“Need to feel you come on me first baby. Need you to come.”

His words made your head spin. It only took a few more thrusts before you were coming again, just as intense as the first time. You pulsed around him and it pushed him over the edge. You felt him come inside you, filling you completely.

“I love you.”

You couldn’t stop the words from spilling out, but you froze immediately after saying them, worried that you had ruined everything. But, just as he had done before, Spencer quelled your worries.

“I love you too. God, I love you.”

~

The next morning was bliss. You woke in Spencer’s arms, and let him into you again. The sex was slow and you each let the three words spill uninhibited.

When you went downstairs, ready to finish the case, you were met with the sheepish faces of your team.

Derek spoke first, “I’d say congratulations if you both weren’t so loud last night.”

While you were mortified, watching the rest of the team hold back their chuckles, you couldn’t help but agree that this was all a moment to celebrate.

End

let me know what you think!!

[minimoxha]

My Babydaddy

In honor of my glorious blue eyed king coming back I conjured up a lil sum sum

The phrase “that's my baby daddy and ima stick by him” was a common phrase said by the famous rapper s/n. That was the only phrase she could say that would give her some type of strength to stick by her baby daddy as he did some pretty questionable things in the movies he acted in. Between the kissing scenes, the sex scenes, and the press tour flirting that was quickly turned into compilations that made her look like a stupid bitch for staying, Y/n didn’t know how much she could take. The answer was little to none.

There were already songs and diss tracks out to defend your reputation and you had already had talks with Gojo but it ended in him giving her a nod and continuing to do what he was told not to do in the first place.

“Satoru why the fuck is there another compilation with you flirting with this girl on a press tour? What did I fucking tell you?” She yelled into the bathroom, alerting her white haired boyfriend who was brushing his teeth while scrolling on instagram. Probably on other bitches posts too.

“You're always doing shit to embarass me.”

Gojo spit into the sink and wiped his mouth before looking at them through the doorway of their sometimes shared bedroom. He lived with her sometimes and others he would pick up his baby and do god knows what at his own penthouse located deeper in the city. “What are you talking about, Y/n?” He questions, a clear attitude in his voice.

She flips her phone back to him so he could see the true blasphemy for himself. “Look at this shit.” On her phone was sure enough a 10 minute compilation of him being a flirt to LENDAYA on their new press tour.

“What’s the problem?” He feigns innocence.

“You're cheating on me publically. Even cheating on me at all is crazy to me.” She yelled, walking up to him poking his chest with her new nails.

Satoru shrugs and gently removes her hand before scooting by the woman, much to her dismay. “What? Do you think we’re together or something?” He laughed. And with the upmost audacity he proceeded to sit on ‘his side’ of HER bed. “It was just flirting, its not that deep.”

The woman could swear her jaw had fallen on the floor and she wouldn't be able to lift it off after that comment. The friday date nights, constant fucking, petnames, kissing, all the aspects two people would have if they were dating turned out for them not to be dating? He had to be fucking lying.

“Fuck do you mean Satoru?” She cussed back. All he did was laugh again. She would be ten times more angrier if his voice wasn’t so crisp and beautiful.

“We’re just…coparenting. I thought we went over this, sweetcheeks.” It was now his turn to stand and put his finger on her. But he wasn't rough with it. He grabbed her chin in a playful way and smirked at her balled up face. “Why so angry, N/n?”

She thought for a moment. It had been five years of the same routine before and after King was born and it turns out he had been playing with her the entire time? No fucking way. She had to upstand constant name dragging every time they weren’t seen together for a while or whenever he decided to flirt and kiss other women. There was only so much she could take with this man. And it was in this moment where she decided to have a backbone and say something about all the shit shes been put through.

“Get the fuck out, Gojo.”

[southerngothicchic]

It's Only You I'm Dreaming Of

Modern!Actor!Steve x Actress!Reader

18+

Handsome bastard.

You narrow your eyes as you watch him smile for all the waiting photographers before moving down the line to talk to the press.

He's so effortlessly charming it makes your blood boil. He drinks in all the adoration and praise, all with that same smirk plastered on his lips.

That same smirk you had to endure for months while on set with him, and after when he'd follow you back to your trailer, using his best lines to get you to let him inside. He eventually wore you down, as the second you let him in, he pounced on you. He kissed you with a ferocity you had never experienced before, which only made you want more.

He had a reputation, though, and you felt so naive letting him get close to you like this. You knew he was just using you for sex, like he presumably did with his other female costars, but you still gave into him anyway. You hated yourself for it, especially when you started to develop feelings for him. You tried to ignore them, by locking them away, and pretending they didn't exist.

That was somewhat easy, once production wrapped and you went back to L.A. while he went to New York. The distance helped and for the first time in months you were free of Steve Harrington. That was, until it was time for the film to be released and you would be forced to do press tours together. You dreaded seeing him again, afraid of relapsing into your former, weaker self. You told yourself it'd be different this time, you weren't going to fall into that trap again.

That proves impossible, as you practically melt when you see him again. You actually gasp when you see how gorgeous he looks. You quickly avert your eyes, the last thing you need is for him to catch you gawking at him. Despite your best efforts, he still sees you, as you both make your way down the red carpet.

After posing for several pictures, you step over for the first of many interviews. You are in the middle of answering their question of what it was like filming your first big feature, when you feel an arm slip around you and lips against your cheek.

"And here he is, the man himself," they say, their face lighting up at his presence. "What was it like working with this guy?" They then ask while you try to maintain a neutral expression.

"Oh, it was great," you smile. "Its every actors dream to get to work on a project like this and with a cast like this. I was truly fortunate to be apart of it."

"And Steve, what was it like working with her?"

"It was wonderful, she's a fantastic actress, seriously, one of the best I've had the privilege of working with," he says, looking at you, fondly.

"Early reviews are raving about your chemistry and I can see why," they continue. "You both seem so natural together."

Steve smiles at this while you try not to cringe.

You bullshit your way through the rest of the interview, before you and Steve are ushered into the theater. He stays by your side the whole time, much to your dismay.

"What was that back there?" You ask him as you take your seats.

"Just doing my job, making us look good," he answers.

"Yeah, but you didn't have to crash my interview..." you add, as the room darkens.

"I wanted to see you and I knew you wouldn't be able to ignore me, not in front of everyone and all those cameras," he smoothly says, leaning in close to your ear.

"You couldn't have just waited until after?"

"No, because I knew you'd keep avoiding me like you have been for months."

"I wasn't avoiding you, we were on different coasts-"

"Yeah, you were," he persists, trying to keep his voice down. "When I was in town for my buddy's birthday, I texted you and you blew me off."

"Can we not do this here?" You snap, turning your head to the side.

"We can talk after," he relents. "I missed you, y'know."

You scoff. "I'm sure you did."

He sighs, frustrated, before leaning back in his seat.

You sit there, fuming, your thoughts racing. You feel trapped as you look away from his towering image on screen, only to have the real thing sitting next to you. You notice, in your periphery, that he's practically pouting. Your body feels like it's on fire, pent up frustration is threatening to burn you from the inside out.

Surprising him, you lean over and whisper, "Want to get out of here?"

He nods, taking your hand and leading you up the aisle. He pulls you through the empty lobby then out onto the sidewalk. You can't help the exhilaration you feel as he continues to lead you across the street, to a newer, luxury hotel.

"You're not wasting any time," you laugh, as he leads you into the lavish lobby.

"I got a room here ahead of time, in case I didn't feel like going home after the after party," he explains, as you both stand in front of the elevators.

He presses the button, then turns to you.

"Oh..." you reply.

"This is a nice change of plans, though. I'd rather be with you, anyway," he adds, with a smile.

The elevator dings before its door slides open. He lets you walk in first, with him close behind. The numbered button lights up when he presses it, before the door closes. As the elevator ascends, he pins you against the wall.

"I really did miss you," he breathes, ghosting his lips over yours. "And despite your icy exterior, I know you missed me too."

"Steve..." you gasp.

"You look so good tonight, honey..." he says, his hands now squeezing your waist. "This sexy little dress...I bet you wore this hoping I'd notice, didn't you?"

You gaze at him, innocently.

"I know you did, fuck..." he sighs, as you finally wrap your arms around his neck. "I'm gonna make you mine tonight."

He then presses his lips to yours for a filthy kiss. It has you both moaning, realizing just how much you've missed the other. Your fingers scratch at the back of his neck, before curling in his hair.

The ding from the elevator snaps you both out of your lustfilled daze long enough for him to pull you into the hallway. You're each panting as he leads you to his room. He quickly takes out his phone and holds it over the small panel, above the doorknob, to unlock the door. Once it lights up green, he hastily opens it and drags you inside. He takes you straight to the bedroom, almost tripping several times, as he couldn't be bothered to turn on any lights.

He sits you on the bed, while he sheds his jacket. You take this opportunity to slip off your heels and lean back on your hands. There's faint light coming from the bedside lamp and now you can see that his shirt was partially see-through. You bite your lip, wondering if he wore that on purpose. He also takes off his shoes before kneeling on the bed, next to you. He reaches for you but you pull away to lay against the plush pillows. He then crawls over to you and hovers over you. His body engulfs yours as he lowers himself onto you. You wrap your arms around him again while he gazes down at you, hungrily.

"Always playing hard to get..." he chides.

You shrug, feigning innocence again.

"I know how much you love to tease me, honey..." he says, leaning in close, his voice low and sultry. "...it makes me ache for you even more."

He kisses you deeply, as you whimper against his lips. He grinds himself against you, emphasizing just what you do to him.

You hold him closer, as you make out, your earlier feelings now forgotten, because all that matters to you is him. You should be furious with yourself over how easily you gave into him again, but his lips feel so right on yours. You want more, though, your greedy thoughts taking over. You remember the delicious way he thrusted his hips, making you scream until you barely had any voice left.

Your hands move down his back until they're pulling at his shirt. Once it's untucked, you slide your hands under it and press them against his skin. He moans at the feeling of your fingertips gliding up his spine. Your nails claw at his back once, before he breaks the kiss.

"Get undressed, honey," he breathes, "I need to feel you."

You nod, before he leans up. You sit up and move to the edge of the bed.

"Can you unzip me?" You ask, glancing over your shoulder at him.

"Of course," he smiles, moving closer to you.

He pulls the zipper down, revealing your bare back. He sharply inhales at the sight. When you're fully unzipped, you stand and push your dress to the floor, leaving you in dainty, black panties. Steve's so mesmerized by you, that he can't help but stare. It actually makes you blush as you climb back onto the bed. He then quickly pulls his shirt over his head, ruffling his already perfectly messy hair. His fingers fumble with unbuttoning his pants at first, but he soon pulls them from his legs. You smile at his tiny, blue underwear as he joins you, on the bed.

He crawls on top of you and props his hands by your head, as he gazes at you.

"You're so fucking beautiful," he laments, lowering his body to yours. "After I left, I thought about you every night, looking up at me just like this...it's my favorite thing in the world."

He pauses to kiss you, lowly moaning into it.

"Do you believe me when I say I missed you, now?"

You nod.

"I need to hear you say it."

"I believe you," you say, reaching up to run your hand through his hair.

He smiles, leaning in to kiss you again.

"Now," he begins, leaning up, "until you admit that you missed me, too, I'm not going to touch you."

You look up at him, mouth slightly agape as you watch him move to sit beside your head, with his back resting against the pillows.

"Seriously?" You ask, sitting up and turning to face him.

He nods, as he palms himself through his underwear.

"You know what you need to do, honey...I want you to show me how much you missed me, too."

He's extra smug, leaning back, waiting for your next move. You narrow your eyes before crawling over to him. You kneel between his legs, then run your hands over his thighs. His eyes stay trained on you as you lean down, to press wet kisses to his inner thighs. You kiss your way up one then move to the other side, while he's quietly moaning above you. You glance up at him before pressing a kiss to his clothed length. He shudders at it as his hand immediately goes to cradle your face.

"God, you're so fucking gorgeous," he laments.

You continue kissing him through his underwear, until moving your lips upward, to kiss up his stomach, then his chest. You nuzzle your face in his chest hair while pressing intermittent kisses to his skin. Your nose brushes against the thick silver chain that rests below his collarbone. His hand is still gently holding your face as you place kisses up his neck. His smile is plastered on his lips as you kiss the moles on his cheek.

"Steve..." you breathe, into his skin. "I missed you, too."

He whimpers before pulling you into a kiss.

"Mmm, I knew it," he smiles, making you giggle. "Was that so hard to admit?"

"Kind of, yeah," you confess, pulling away. "I didn't want to get my hopes up only to have them crushed again."

"That's not gonna happen this time," he assures, as he caresses your cheek with his thumb. "I want to be with you."

"Like, exclusively?"

"Yes," he laughs. "I only want you, being away from you made me realize how important you are to me, and that...I love you."

Your eyes widen at his admission.

"You what?" You ask, before you can stop yourself.

"I love you," he says again, pulling you tightly to him, so your chests are pressed together. "Even if you don't feel the same, I had to tell you."

You feel an aching in your chest that you hadn't felt in months, that you felt the last time you were together. Tears sting your eyes as you try to pull out of his embrace.

"You're not going anywhere," he whispers, "I'm not letting you leave me again."

"I'm not the one who left," you finally say.

"It felt like it," he counters. "I asked you to come to New York with me, and you said no-"

"Because it was all too much, being with you was too overwhelming, I needed a break," you defend. "I needed a break from how I felt when I was with you, because...I was falling in love with you, and it terrified me."

His eyes light up at your confession.

"Really?"

You nod, averting your eyes. He cradles your face with both hands, getting you to look at him.

"So, you love me too?" He asks, gazing into your eyes.

"Yes," you breathe, before he pulls you into a passionate kiss.

You finally allow your body to melt into his, as you fully lose yourself in his kiss.

"You don't need to be afraid of loving me," he then breathes, into the kiss.

You pull him even closer, kissing him harder, which illicits another whimper from him. His hands grip your hips as he thrusts up against you.

"I've been waiting all my life for you, honey," he pants, before kissing his way to your neck.

"Steve..." you whine, unable to think of anything else, but him.

"Take these off," he then growls, as he drags his finger under the waistband of your panties.

You scramble to the side of the bed and peel them from your body. He raises his hips and quickly takes his underwear off, throwing them to the floor.

"Get back over here," he says, his voice dripping with lust.

You climb back onto his lap and slowly sink down onto him.

"That's it, honey, fuck..." he praises, his eyes already rolling back from how tight you were.

You moan his name when you feel him fully seated within you. You press your forehead to his as you acclimate to him.

"Feel good?" He asks, as your eyes meet.

You nod. "God, yes..."

Your hands then cradle his face, before kissing him deeply. His moans reverberate into your mouth as you begin moving your hips. His hands have a firm hold on your hips as he tries to guide your movements.

"Yeah, bounce on it, honey..." he pants, as he watches you.

Obnoxious moans leave your lips as you ride him. You missed this, how good he felt, how he was the only guy to ever fuck you this deep. Your thighs burn as you can't get enough of him.

He then leans forward and presses wet kisses to your breast. His tongue swirls around your nipple, before sucking it between his lips. Your back arches, pushing your chest into his face even more.

"I fuckin' missed your body so much, angel," he breathes, with his face buried between your breasts.

You shiver from the significance of his pet name. He only ever called you that during sex, and it always made your head spin.

You moan his name again when he sucks multiple lovebites across the tops of your breasts. Your hips then slow as you lean forward, resting your head on his shoulder.

"Need me to take over, angel?" He asks, against your ear.

"Please..." you breathe.

He smiles, tightening his hold on your hips as he begins harshly thrusting up into you. The sounds of skin against skin echoes in your ears, as you sink your teeth into his shoulder. He moans as he fucks you harder.

"Such a perfect pussy...I'd keep you in bed all the time, if you'd let me..." he says, as your lips find his neck.

You whine his name, unsure of how much longer you can take him fucking you at such a brutal pace.

"Look at me, honey," he then breathily commands.

You raise your head and meet his hooded gaze.

"I love you, so fucking much...I'm never gonna leave you again..." he continues, before pulling you into a sloppy kiss.

"I love you, too," you reply, before screaming his name as he finally sends you over the edge.

He keeps thrusting until he finds his own release, moaning your name as he fills you with every last drop of him.

His body stays still, with his arms wrapped around you, pressing your sweaty bodies together. He murmurs more 'I love you's' into your hair, as you're still struggling to catch your breath. After just holding each other for what feels like hours, he suggests that you both have a shower. You breathlessly agree and that leads to more sex, as he presses you against the shower wall and makes you scream for him again.

You each then settle into bed, with his arms wrapped tightly around you, once again. He kisses you so softly, making you feel like the most precious thing in the world, to him. Which is exactly what you are, and he plans to spend the rest of his life making you feel that way.

[jo-harrington]

Standard Operating Procedures 1.01 (Eddie Munson x Store Manager!Reader)

Previous Part: Sales Pitch

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader

Summary: Eddie Munson's Official Comprehensive Pizza Tour of Hawkins

Warnings/Themes: Reader works at the Claire's at StarCourt. Eddie works at TapeWorld. Fluffy and awkward and a little bit emotional. Slowish Burnish because of reasons. AU where the Upside Down doesn't terrorize Hawkins.

Note: Don't know if this should become a series of Standard Operating Procedures that specifically feature their hang outs/not-a-date nights? Because I have other ideas that are not their Sunday nights that I am also interested in writing. I JUST LOVE THEM OK?

Also minor disclaimer that Reader mentions being from Chicago in this, but has mentioned knowing small town mentality in Sales Pitch. She's from the suburbs, she's saying Chicago but she's from the suburbs. It's just what we do. (And if you're in the know but are suspish, she is not, I repeat, is not from Naperville.)

You can find my masterlist here for more featuring Eddie and his favorite Store Manager, and all of my other random Eddie Headcanons.

Please do not interact if you are not 18+.

Enjoy!

---

"Tonight’s the night!"

"Yep."

"You going to meet her upstairs?"

"Uh huh."

"You seem nervous...you nervous Ed?”

"Really trying to keep my mind off it, man," Eddie grumbled and went back to counting down the registers and ignoring his boss' teasing.

Kyle was like the older brother Eddie never realized he wanted and now, after working together for a few weeks, was kind of glad he didn't actually have.

Eddie had been shitting bricks at his interview. This job was something he really wanted and he truly thought that he would be rejected immediately, knowing his reputation around town. But Kyle was not from Hawkins. He had been the manager at the Tape World at the Muncie Mall and then transferred when he heard that a new store at StarCourt was opening.

And in what was either the dumbest or smartest move ever, when Kyle asked if Eddie had any questions at the end of the interview, Eddie asked why he chose to move to the desolate pit that was Hawkins, instead of literally anywhere else.

"For some people, escape is a thousand miles away," Kyle explained. "And for others, it's like...an hour up highway 65."

Then Kyle offered him a job as a key holder, saying that had been the most insightful question he had gotten all day. (With the added bonus that Eddie was also over 18.)

Even after the official paperwork was filled out, after Eddie got his keys, after the first paycheck was cashed, after Kyle literally asked him one night after closing if he knew of any dealers in town that could hook him up, Eddie still felt like it was the biggest prank being played on him.

(Eddie gave him Rick's address because there was no way in hell he was going to sell weed to his own boss. He might be stupid but he wasn't dumb.)

And sure, Kyle could be a hardass sometimes, like any boss could be. He cared about his business. But he was so easygoing and took care of everyone. Made sure everyone was able to have the hours they wanted. He knew a lot about music and really challenged Eddie to be open minded about his personal music preferences.

He also ribbed Eddie to no end after you, "the cute chick from that jewelry place," brought him cookies during opening week.

"She thinks you're cute too by the way," Kyle insisted.

"That's hilarious," Eddie snorted. "She was super rude when she came in."

"Food beats rude, Ed. She likes you."

Eddie, of course, refused to believe it. He had seen his fair share of stuck up, fake, cheerleader types yanking his chain only to laugh in his face when he made a fool of himself.

So he stuck to the Munson Doctrine. And vowed never again.

When he told Kyle as much, Kyle just shrugged and ate the cookies himself. "Your loss man."

But Eddie kept seeing you around and you kept smiling at him. And then...well, he didn't really know what to make of you. One plus one was not adding up to two. And when you didn’t give up whatever game he was convinced you were playing, Kyle was inevitably there to play Devil’s Advocate.

“Just go and say hi. Or at least smile dude. God, no wonder people think you’re some evil brooding asshole. Kidding. I’m kidding. She’s new in town. Maybe she needs a weed dealer too. Or maybe she likes metal. Just go talk to her. Fuck it, ask her to hang out. What’s there to lose?”

So he took Kyle's advice, and that was probably the last thing he should have done because now he had a date. Was it a date? Neither of you had really specified. Eddie kicked himself when he got back to the store and realized that aside from the agreed upon Sunday after close and Pizza, no actual commitment to a date had been made.

All Eddie knew was, Kyle wouldn't get off his fucking ass about it.

"Ok so here's what you're gonna do," Kyle clapped him on the shoulder after they locked up and Eddie was about to head up to meet you. "You're gonna be really respectful--"

"I've got it."

"--and really cool, because you can kind of be a nerd sometimes--"

"I've gone on a date before, fuck."

"Did you or did you just fool around with someone at the back of a dark movie theater?" Eddie refused to look him in the eye and Kyle snorted. "I knew it."

He proceeded to give him some halfway decent advice before sending Eddie on his way. The advice was now bouncing around Eddie's head, along with every single shred of self-doubt he'd ever had, as he waited outside of your store.

You had smiled and waved when you saw him through the gate, and he was really trying not to stare as you wrapped up your own closing tasks. He fidgeted with his rings, he nodded as other mall employees he knew passed by on the way to the exit, he wondered if he would survive the fall if he just fell backwards over the railing overlooking the food court.

Surely a cracked skull would be better than everything he was feeling right now.

When you disappeared into the back for several minutes, Eddie let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. There really was no turning back now. He was going to be spending the rest of his Sunday with you.

He tried not to smile like an idiot, but he honestly couldn’t help it.

Finally, you made your return and ducked under the gate before locking it. When you turned to face him, Eddie stared and that smile disappeared as he went from giddy to utterly dumbstruck.

No neon, no scrunchies, no stacks of jingling bracelets. Your hair was down and the obnoxiously bright eyeshadow you were just wearing--that he could clearly see, even from outside of the store--had been wiped away.

"Hey, so I obviously drove to work," you closed the distance between the two of you, breaking Eddie from his reverie with a long string of words that, were he in his right mind, Eddie would have wondered whether you had practiced beforehand. "But I didn't know if you wanted to maybe drive and I'll pay for the pizza because I really don't know my way around yet except for home, work, and the grocery store. And if I just follow you and we get separated or something, you're probably gonna have to send a search party.

"Unless it’s kind of near Main Street then I’ll be…well if—what?" You raised your eyebrows when you noticed he was staring.

"What?" Eddie parroted, processing...well, just processing. Trying to figure you out once again.

You looked down at yourself and fidgeted where you stood.

Shit.

"Yeah I know, it's different," you shrugged down at your perfectly normal outfit. A Cherry Coke t-shirt, jean shorts, and a baggy sweater. "I thought...well it's just pizza…so I figured casual—”

"No, it's totally fine, I'm sorry. You look..." Eddie suddenly couldn't remember any of Kyle's advice.

He had been practicing the whole you look nice compliment with the picture of you that existed in his mind: The trendy store manager. Which, yeah did look nice on you, but was also a little intimidating, if Eddie was honest with himself. Those clothes were the same clothes as the girls who lived in Loch Nora who teased him because he lived in a trailer park. The high ponytail and scrunchies were the cheerleaders who laughed when the jocks pushed him and his friends around. All of it tied back to people he hated, people who hated him.

And now suddenly, that wasn’t you. It was a relief. He could look at you and not worry that some sharp, pain-inflicting words would be directed at him.

But the look on your face, the fidgeting, the stammering and backtracking. Eddie realized you were just as nervous as he was.

How many times had Wayne--or even Rick once or twice--said the kind of people who judged someone’s looks before their character were not worth having around anyway? Now here he was, doing just that.

Shit.

"I just wasn't expecting you to look--"

"Yeah," you laughed nervously, interrupting him. "I really only wear that stuff for work. It's a lot. And you kind of have to look the part. I think I mentioned that…before right?”

"It's fine, you look great," Eddie offered, gaining enough courage to stop you from feeling bad because of his stupid nerves and big mouth. "Really. I just...have never not seen you like that. And now—”

"It's silly. I feel silly wearing that stuff sometimes," you admitted, playing with the hem of your sweater. "And I do like some of it. The jewelry, for sure. But altogether...well it's still me. It’s just the me who also answers the phone in a different voice, and comforts kids when they're scared to get their ears pierced, and tells people what's on sale. And this is me when I'm not that."

You shrugged and held your arms out, and Eddie could clearly understand the unspoken "so take it or leave it."

Eddie took a second to process and then smiled again. Of course he would take it. He would be stupid not to.

"I get it," he nodded.

"Really?" you smiled. “Cool.”

"Cool." There was a beat. "So back to the original topic of conversation, I can definitely drive us around but there is no way I'm letting you pay for pizza. I'm the one who asked you to hang out, after all."

He started walking away, leaving you to protest as you followed.

---

There were only 3 really good pizza places in Hawkins, in Eddie's professional opinion: Lou's on 8th street, Pizzeria Uno which was conveniently in the same strip mall as the arcade and the video store, and Domino's. None of which had any indoor seating, which meant the two of you could sit in the back of Eddie's van with the doors open so you could enjoy the nice weather and talk.

Eddie, of course, had cleaned the van beforehand. All of the shit his friends left after gigs or when they stopped for food when he drove them home from Hellfire during the school year. Random empty baggies, magazines he really didn’t want you to see (yet…or maybe ever), and some other questionable things. It all needed to go.

And although you seemed a little hesitant when Eddie led you to his trusty chariot, you happily agreed to Eddie’s plans for the night.

“Sorry, I’m sure you get that reaction a lot,” you said as he helped you into the passenger’s side. “I dunno, van…suspicious.”

“Either that or they’re calling it a rusty old shitbox,” Eddie laughed it off, happy that you still seemed to trust him. “Which is even more offensive. Especially when it comes from my friends.”

“Listen, as the owner of my own rusty old shitbox, I can totally relate. And it’s not even that bad. No holes in the floor.”

The drive back into town was filled with Eddie’s own personal rubric for good pizza along with your comments.

“Pepperoni pizza.”

“Why pepperoni? Why not just cheese?"

"With a coke."

"Do you guys not drink RC here?"

"And ranch. I usually just pour it on, but I'll leave it on the side. For you. In case you like to dip your slice in."

"Of course you're a ranch guy," you scoffed.

"Of course you're not," Eddie challenged. "What's your perfect slice then?" And you went into a tirade that he, quite honestly, enjoyed watching.

Eddie honestly never thought he had ever had such an in-depth discussion about pizza with anyone (except when he got high at Rick’s, but that was mostly one-sided anyway). It really said a lot about you. Incredibly opinionated, but willing to stop every so often and hear his side of things. Willing to let yourself be convinced, let yourself be wrong.

Which he found out as he pulled into the Domino's parking lot on the first stop of the Pizza Tour and you finished off a passionate speech about red pepper flakes and "good parmesan" only to give him the most skeptical look.

"Eddie," you began. "When you said pizza--"

"This is pizza," he assured you.

"I'm from Chicago for one thing," you explained. "And besides that, I used to help my grandma cook as a kid, every Sunday, in her basement kitchen."

"Then you've never had Domino's before?" he assumed, correctly if your sudden fidgeting was any indicator.

So it wasn't gonna take much to make you nervous...noted.

"Just trust me--for today--ok? If you hate everything, you never have to see me again."

"Eddie! I--"

"But if you like it, then one day I'll let you make your grandma's pizza recipe for me.  And I'll trust you not to poison me."

It was a risky bet to make, on Eddie's part at least, because he really hoped this wouldn't be a one time thing. But you nodded and he grinned and left you in the van to choose something from his little box of cassettes while he ran inside to place the order.

When he got back he teased you and grilled you on other delicacies you might have missed out on thanks to the "gourmet cuisine" of your obviously superior upbringing. No Swanson TV dinners, no snack pack chocolate pudding, no sloppy joes, no chocolate milk.

"That's it," he threw his hands up in the air, looking to the heavens for guidance. "I'm going to have to teach you everything."

"Stop it, oh my god, Eddie!"

He grabbed your shoulders.

"Have you ever experienced the sweet taste of Mountain Dew," Eddie begged. "A Twinkie! Please tell me the truth; have you ever eaten a Hostess Cupcake?"

"Yes," you laughed as he shook you. "Yes I have. Stop!"

"Maybe you're not hopeless after all," he sighed in feigned relief. "There's still time to undo all that's been done to you." As though homemade dinners were some sort of torture.

When the order was ready, you toasted with your cans of coke and Eddie watched with great anticipation as you took your first bite of a Domino's pizza. You even dipped a little in the ranch dressing--just for him, you explained. You chewed thoughtfully and then took a second bite, this time from the crust.

Watching and waiting was torture for Eddie, sure, but he got to see you scrunch your nose in thought, bob your head side to side along with Blue Oyster Cult as it played lightly from the stereo, stare right back at him and enjoy the torture you were putting him through.

"What's the verdict, sweetheart," he asked. "I don't think my heart can take it anymore. I can drive us back to StarCourt right now."

"It's...good," you agreed and he whooped, punching the air in victory, before he took a slice for himself. "I'm still not a fan of the ranch though."

"That's fine. Different strokes for different folks," Eddie shrugged. "My uncle always says that."

---

Pizzeria Uno was next and Eddie mocked your look of relief as he pulled into the lot.

"You act like spending time with me is some kind of torture," he teased, secretly voicing some of the anxieties that he had been pushing down since you had agreed to hang out with him. He knew, even with a short amount of time in your company, that you were enjoying yourself, that you seemed to like being around him.

Historically, that hadn't stopped things from going south for Eddie though. There was still time to screw it up, if he hadn't already.

"I'm just happy that it looks like they use oregano in their sauce," you explained. "Maybe you do know your stuff after all."

"Hey, don't speak too soon," he teased. "There's a Chuck E. Cheese down the road; we could be headed there next."

He left you in charge of the music again, really interested in what you would pick this time, since you had started with--what he believed to be--the most mainstream tape he had in the van.

"Alright," he cheered as he stepped out of the shop and heard the shredding of Quiet Riot over the sounds of kids running around as they got dropped off at the arcade. "This is what I'm talking about."

"You didn't like The Cult?" you asked, still digging through the box as you kicked your legs out of the back of the van. "These are your tapes, right?"

"What you don't know is that this is all a test," Eddie began. "To see if you have taste."

"It's all metal," you emphasized. "Taste means variety. You're lucky I don't grab a tape out of my bag."

"Am I going to need to start you on music lessons too? Seems like it, since you don't think metal is variety." He jumped into the back and snatched the box from your hands. "Gimme that, it's quiz time.

"Metallica?"

“They’re good,” you nodded.

“Good?! Just good?!” Eddie knew it was better than he was gonna get from mostly anyone else in town, but he was still gonna give you shit for it. “You’re wounding me here, sweetheart.”

“Oh please!”

"My band's gonna be touring with them someday, so if you want to be on that VIP list, you're gonna need to do better than just good. Here," he passed his copy of Ride the Lightning off to you. "For tonight's homework."

“Homework!?” you laughed.

“Yeah,” he shook the tape in your direction and you reluctantly grabbed it. "I expect you to listen to that at the highest volume you can, til your ears bleed. There will be an essay due next Sunday." You rolled your eyes at him but smiled cutely and Eddie felt incredibly smug.

"Fine. I guess if I want to be on that VIP list," you said mockingly. "Tell me more about this band though. Are you any good?"

"You'll have to come to one of our shows and find that out for yourself. But yeah, the best you're gonna find in Bumfuck, Indiana." He puffed his chest out a little bit. "We play at the Hideout every Tuesday night. Not a big crowd or anything. It's just this little place anyway."

Eddie goes into detail about the bar, the makeshift little stage and the single spotlight, and the handful of regulars who probably don't even notice the music as they drink their troubles away anyway.

He doesn't notice the guilty look on your face for a few minutes.

"I close on Tuesdays," you mutter. "I'm sorry. It's one of those things when you work retail long enough, you get kind of set in your schedule."

"That's ok," he tried not to sound too disappointed.

"I could try trading with my ASM," you offered quickly. "Or maybe..."

"I-it's totally fine," he held his hands out. "Jeff's trying to get us on the schedule for the Hawkins 4th of July carnival in a few weeks anyway. So you might even see us there. Don't sweat it."

"Ok. Sounds like a plan. I'm sorry," you reached across and placed your hand on his.

"No worries." Eddie really doesn't want to pull his hand away from yours, but he needs to go back in and grab the food. It's been long enough, right?

When he returns, he basks in your cheers as you find the thin crust, party cut pizza, pre-sprinkled with red pepper flakes and no ranch in sight.

"Ok so Jeff," you recall after shoving the crunchy corner piece into your mouth. "You mentioned him before. Working on his confidence, right?"

"Yeah, not everyone can be as naturally charismatic as yours truly," he brags.

"Uh huh," you deadpanned. "Charismatic."

"You wound me, my lady. But yeah, Jeff used to jam with us...with the band from time to time. He's part of this club at school with me, and then..." Eddie pauses. "Well, then the band pretty much broke up last summer. I mean...we did break up. And it sucked because we'd been playing together for years.

"I was...kind of in a bad place. But Jeff said he could take over rhythmic guitar. Thus Corroded Coffin 2.0 was born. And I noticed he needed to build up his confidence more so I let him front every now and again. And he got his friend Dave on Bass, but it wasn't that hard to convince him, he's been worshiping Geddy Lee for years. And then Gareth on drums, which he said he could play pretty good, but the little shit was actually in an orchestra and played timpani.

"Can you believe it? What the fuck even is a timpani? Had us all fooled too, until we started practicing Hot for Teacher and he could barely keep up. But he's a lot better now, and like...he's stupidly good. Better than Mick ever was."

Eddie gets caught up for a second as he says a name he hasn't uttered for an entire year, after he told his childhood best friend he could go fuck himself.

Grow the fuck up Ed. This band was just some fun, it was never gonna get us out of Hawkins.

It wasn't gonna get Mickey out of Hawkins, because he already left. But it was gonna get Eddie out. It had to.

You clear your throat awkwardly, and Eddie appreciates you not bringing up the pain that he couldn't hide very well yet, the wound obviously too fresh.

"So, your club at school," you began instead. "Do you take classes nearby?"

Fuck. Well...if he hadn't scared you away yet, this might do it.

"You...could say that," Eddie hesitated. "I, um, am still at Hawkins High."

He watched all of the thoughts run clearly behind your eyes like they did when nearly everyone else found out he had failed senior year again. He had heard all of the whispers, the fake politeness. Some people weren't as polite and just said it out loud.

Eddie the Failure. Eddie the Idiot. Eddie the Freak.

"Oh, well shit, if I knew you were still in high school." Eddie looked away from you, unable to deal with seeing the disgust in your eyes. "I mean, Tape World is your first job right? Duh. I mean...Jimmy just got his first job too, god...how did I not...Ok. I should have asked. You do look a lot older than 16 though."

Eddie's head immediately snapped back to yours. You thought--

"I'm not...not 16," Eddie coughed awkwardly. "I'm 19. 20 in October."

"Wh--"

"I'm repeating senior year," he explained, still waiting for the penny to drop, for you to start laughing at him. "For a second time, actually."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Hey listen." Eddie steeled himself for the words he knew were coming. This has been fun but I'm a serious adult and don't want to hang out with someone who failed high school twice. Let alone date them. "Everyone learns at their own pace and yeah school sucks."

What?

"Is that like...any different than the kids who repeat kindergarten though?" You laughed, trying to lighten the mood. "My cousin Doug actually had to repeat kindergarten twice because he couldn't handle it and now he's running for Mayor back home. It's all relative."

Eddie was looking at you like you were the freak now.

"You don't care?" he asked.

"Not...particularly," you shrugged. "Do you...mind that I don't care? Is that weird?"

No one else wanted him around after he failed the first time. He believed. Let alone this second time.

Aside from his buddies who were still in high school. Wayne and Rick told him he could take the time he needed to finish up school...or get his GED, whichever made him happy. It didn't matter to them. And Kyle didn't really seem to mind either.

Would Eddie care if the tables were turned? Probably not. So why should it be weird if you didn't care.

"No," he finally answered. "It's...thank you for saying that. Everyone...is kind of shitty when they find out."

"Are they shitty because they find out?" you ask sagely. "Or are they just shitty to begin with? You don't want people like that around anyway."

No, he definitely did not.

---

It was dark by the time you got to Lou's. The dinner rush in full swing. Eddie suggested going somewhere else since the lot was small and already pretty full. You agreed but hopped out of the van before he could, insisting on paying.

"I'm trying to be a gentleman," Eddie protested, grabbing onto your arm before you could leave, trying to at least grab your wallet out of your hand if not stop you altogether. "My uncle would kill me if he knew I let you pay for dinner."

"You already paid for two pizzas, let me get this one!" You quickly pinched the skin on his wrist and he let you go, looking shocked and betrayed that you would stoop so low. "With two brothers and a bunch of cousins, you gotta think on your feet. Pick out some music. I have tapes in my bag too. You can snoop, I don't care."

The passenger door slammed shut and Eddie at least waited until you got into the shop before he grabbed your purse, unable to help himself since you gave him permission.

Rush, Moving Pictures. Dave would love you. Styx, Paradise Theater. Not really his thing but passable. The Smiths. Billy Joel. The 5th Dimension? Pass. Pass. Pass.

Ok so this is what you meant by variety.

He popped the tape out of your walkman. Boston. Ok he could get behind it.

He popped it into the stereo and winced as it skipped and dropped out, Brad Delp's voice warping every now and again. He wondered if "Hitch a Ride" was your favorite--interesting--or if the wear and tear was just bad on the whole tape. Very interesting.

Eddie ejected the tape and put it back into your walkman. Maybe something lighter, something with more meaning.

He twiddled his fingers for a second, about to reach for the box of tapes, before turning his attention to the glovebox and popping it open.

It honestly was the one spot he didn't worry about cleaning. The guys knew the glove box was off-limits. It was filled with the usual shit: napkins, vehicle registration, condoms, a forgotten joint that was hastily put out and thrown in that one time Callahan caught him and the guys parked up by the quarry. And then at the very back, rubber banded together, a couple of cassettes. 

The Monkee's Greatest Hits and More Greatest Hits.

You had inadvertently shared something with Eddie by letting him see your tapes, and now Eddie could share something with you.

Besides, you had both been sharing all night, whether you had planned to or not.

Was this a good idea though? It was a heavy topic, these tapes were something he typically would listen to on his own when he couldn't make it over to Rick's to listen to the records he had stashed there, no room for them in the trailer with all of his amps and other shit. He had gotten the tapes last year, after his falling out with Mick and the guys and...

Ugh don't think about that.

Well, if you hadn't been scared away yet, you probably would be now. No better way to end a first date than with some tears right?

"Edward I-dont-know-your-middle-name Munson," you exclaimed as you pulled the door open. "Why didn't we start here? Pizza by the slice and cannoli? I would say that I get to choose where we go next time, but I don't know what else there is, so I guess I have to trust you." You shoved the boxes at him as you climbed in.

"Gotta end the night on a high note sweetheart," he explained. "And next time?" He grinned cheekily.

"Yeah we're having a great time," you shrugged and took the boxes back once you were situated. "I'm having a great time, at least. Except for the part where you made me think I was spending the day with a literal child and gave me a stroke--"

"You did that to yourself," he chuckled and started driving. "But yes, I'm having a great time too. Except when you told me you've never had Chef Boyardee. I took that kind of personally."

"So did you snoop or what?" you asked as you spotted the tapes in his lap. "What are we listening to?"

He passed them over to you and took a breath.

"Oh cool, I love Daydream Believer," you nod and put the cassette in the stereo only for that exact song to start playing. You looked at Eddie in shock. "Shut up."

"It was my mom's favorite song," he explained. "I listen to it whenever...I need her with me. The whole album actually."

"Oh shit," you muttered. "Eddie, I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry? I'm the one bringing up heavy shit when we're supposed to be having a good time." He scratched at the back of his neck. "I've kind of been stepping in it all night, haven't I?"

"No," you shook your head. "No, you've been sharing things with a friend. Important things."

"Right."

"And here I thought I was the one stepping in it," you admitted. "Maybe I have been if you need your mom's strength to finish this night out with me."

"Absolutely not," Eddie disagreed, laughing. "Listen, if anything, this is her stamp of approval. If you love Daydream Believer, she would have loved you. Dumped me off on the side of the road and you two would have driven down Highway 77 singing it at the top of your lungs together."

"Not you too?"

"I mean, yeah, but she used to drive this two-door car, and I would be too tall for the backseat now, but she wouldn't let a guest sit in back, so I would just be stranded."

Eddie started telling you about her as he drove. How she taught him how to play guitar, how she was an absolute sweetheart, how she did everything she could to protect him and take care of him, both when his dad was around and then once he was--thankfully--sent away. How she was hesitant to start dating Rick, and then hesitant again to let Rick meet him.

He got around to talking about Wayne and Rick a bit too, how they did their best to raise him once she was gone. How he knows it wasn't easy--it still isn't--but he did what he could now to make it up to them.

"Except finish school, apparently," he said in a self-deprecating way that had you tutting at him.

He finished his story by the time he made it to the destination, which just so happened to be Lover's Lake--Rick's house, more specifically, although the house was dark and locked up as Rick was out on business. Eddie backed the van up Rick's driveway so you could have a view of the lake from the back as you ate.

"Well thank you for sharing that with me, Eddie," you began as you settled into the back of the van. "That's...yeah that isn't easy to share with someone new. And it all sucks; it sucks, and you don't deserve that, but I'm sure your mom is still here with you."

"Yeah she is," he agreed. He's proud that he made it through without crying. "She's my angel."

He didn't believe in the divine. But he believed in his mom.

"She is," you smiled brightly and stared at him for a moment. You then turned and surveyed your surroundings. "This is nice, where are we?"

"Lover's Lake," Eddie answers offhandedly, then realizes his mistake as your head pops back and you look at him with wide eyes. "Not that I...that's just what it's called because it's shaped like a heart!

"Not that I wouldn't, because you look...but not that I would because this is just...we're just hanging out. This isn't a date or anything. Right?"

Fuck.

Kyle was not gonna let him hear the end of this.

Eddie was so caught up in his own misery that he missed the disappointed fall of your expression.

"No, that's fine, I get it," you chuckled lightly. "It's still really nice. We don't really have something like this back home. Well, the lake lake, and there are like...forest preserves, but it's not...nature, you know? Not like this."

"Furthest out of Hawkins I've ever been is Indianapolis," Eddie admitted. "So no, I guess I don't."

"Well I've never even been to Indianapolis and never left Illinois before coming here," you explained. "So I guess we're in the same boat. Maybe I'll get to show you where I'm from some day. Show you a real pizza tour."

"Hey, don't knock Lou's 'til you try it," Eddie teased.

"Thank you Eddie, tonight's been really great," you said sincerely.

"It has, hasn't it," he agreed. "So next Sunday?"

"Yeah?" you laugh. "What do you have in mind?"

You started eating as you discussed plans for the next weekend, and more talk of music as it's now Eddie's turn to give you shit for the tapes you had with you. You mentioned a few things about your own family, not going nearly as in-depth as Eddie did about his mother, but enough for him to get the gist.

And then Eddie opened the box of cannoli you had gotten and handed one to you, before taking one of his own.

"To new friends and Sunday nights," he offered as a toast.

"New friends and Sunday nights," you repeated.

---

Next Part: Standard Operating Procedures 1.02

Should I do a tag list? Does anyone want that? DM me or send me an ask if you wanna be tagged...idk.

[callmewrinkles3]

Fresh Ink

Summary: Dan decides to get a new tattoo that Em has inspired. She decides to be a little more spontaneous.

A/N: we don’t have a full oneshot, so have a lil drabble we’ve been keeping close to our chests!

August 2018

In the short time she’d spent with Dan, Em learned to not be surprised by the weird ways their days could go. From sitting on the couch for a lazy day, to being surprised with a trip to see the Reputation tour, anything could and did happen. Which was why she wasn’t surprised when she got a text from Dan saying he was going to get a new tattoo and wanted her to come with him. Daniel “I’ll just get a big one and then no more” Ricciardo getting a tattoo wasn’t a new thing and she loved the ink already on his body and the differences in the artwork they both had. But what did surprise her was what he was getting.

A couple of weeks before she’d sent him a text before a race. She was up watching and it had been a shitty practice and qualifying, the car kept failing on him. Her little Shine on, Handsome, text was supposed to just make him smile. She didn’t want to call and distract him, or wish him luck make him think his performance was what she cared about. She didn’t expect his little heart emoji response to make her grin and giggle like a kid. But her Sky Sports subscription was on the telly and she watched with rapt attention until he had yet another DNF and she wanted to throw something at the stupid car that kept failing him.

But they never mentioned the text after that. Not that Sunday night when he arrived at her front door with flowers and his suitcase. Not the next day when he kissed her goodbye before going to the sim and coming back to her that night. It was too easy to spend time together.

But he’d come back early from his summer break to spend time with her and had dragged her to a fancy tattoo shop in the middle of London to show her the perfectly printed font for her text. The “shine on” that was going onto his bicep where everyone could see it and she felt stupidly proud of it. He’d just asked if she wanted to be there while he got a new one and surprised her when they got to the shop. If he hadn’t mentioned that he knew the owner the tears might have come out in pride but she held them back.

“You are actually insane, you know that. Right?”

“I drive a car hundreds of kilometres an hour every single week. We knew that.” He grinned and gave her a shrug as the rest of his answer.

They were waiting for the tattoo artist to finish setting up as she looked in the glass showcase of piercings. The only ones she had were the gold studs in her earlobes. She’d had them since she was a kid and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d actually changed the studs in them. She just liked looking at shiny things and ended up staring at a tiny little nose stud with a small opal on it. The colours hit it and showed the iridescent sheen and she loved looking at it while Dan was talking to someone she didn’t know. At least he was until an arm went around her shoulder and his lips were against her temple.

“Find something you like? Cause I just found someone I really like.” He smiled against her ear, whispering lowly so only she could hear. “Gonna get a new one? You’d look cute with a tragus, or maybe something in your upper cartilage.”

“Nah, not really. Besides I don’t even want to know how much one of those cost here.” It was only half a joke as she glanced up at Dan and then back to the accessories.

“Did you plan to get a new one? You’ve loads of space in your ears for whatever you want.”

“Ha, no, I’m too cool for that now. I mean I always wanted to get my nose pierced. Mum would have killed me if I did it when I was younger and now I’m too old for it.” Her mother’s words echoed around her head that she’d look like a cow with a ring in her nose, how would anyone ever want to marry her with it? She shook her head a little to try get it away from her.

“You just turned 28. I’m barely 29. Are you calling us old?” It was mostly a joke.

“Definitely.”

“Meanie.” He squeezed her shoulder to soften the word. “But you should get it. You’d look really good with a nostril piercing. A little gold hoop would be cute and match the rest of your jewellery.”

“What if I don’t like it?” That knot of anxiety bubbled up a little.

“You take it out and let it heal over. It’ll leave a tiny mark that nobody will see. The only person who gets close enough to see something like that is me, and I won’t care about it.”

“Who told you that you’re the only one who gets that close?” It was said jokingly but she saw how he stiffened slightly.

“Hey!”

“I’m joking!” He was still tense and she squeezed his arm. “I’m joking, Danny. You really think it’ll suit me?”

“You’re gorgeous anyway but it’ll look good on you. Plus, there’s one there with a shiny lavender opal so I call it destiny.” He pointed at the exact one she was looking at.

“And I’m calling you a bad influence.”

“I’m a bad influence who’ll hold your hand when the needle gets close to your face. Sound good?”

“And I’ll hold your hand when you’re getting your tattoo?”

“See, teamwork.” He turned around and called someone over. “Em wants to get her nose pierced, do you have space?”

She grinned and started filling out the paperwork, signing it and picking out the temporary jewellery while it healed. And true to his word, Dan held her hand for the entire time.

[taylorrepdetective]

We went from “still just getting to know each other” to full on fanfic courtesy people mag in exactly 14 days. Do you think this could mean it will be short lived? Seems to be moving fast.

I don’t know what is going to happen because I don’t know what her goal is beyond simple publicity for the movie and 1989 tv (and just in general being seen dating a man which is important for her image and for selling music) and we’ll have to wait to see how it goes. I still stand by it likely to be short lived but whether that means November or March, your guess is good as mine. I think I’m currently leaning more in the March direction as being most likely, but it could be tomorrow or it could be forever or whatever she said in Blank Space.

In case anyone’s keeping count, I also have pretty much settled on all of this being well planned out in advance, including his appearance at the July KC tour in the first place. I wouldn’t be surprised if it had been planned for a very long time, just like Matty was.

1) have them linked publicly (for Travis it was the concert and friendship bracelet digits story). Sit back and watch the reaction, and give it a bit of a push in the right direction. With joe this was all done retroactively, after their relationship was “accidentally” leaked we found out they hung out in Oct. With Matty this was done over the course of late 2022-early 2023.

2) soft launch it by announcing an appearance ahead of time to get all eyes on it, while planting stories that they’ve hung out a few times, to establish a timeline back into the summer (august 1ish). Have her publicly meet his mom and get her approval. Again, with joe this was done retroactively, where we found out she had pined over him all summer and their anniversary was sept 28, and we’ve even now got a hook up on Aril 29. For Matty, she met his mom in stage 1), then this stage was her announcing the break up on Matty’s bday, and then planting stories that they were dating, that he’d go to Nash and there’d be PDA, and then stories that she thought maybe he was the one who got away, and had quietly been in love with him for almost a decade.

3) launch, but keep it casual. There’s still time to back out if things go poorly. People have time to get used to it and talk about “are they or aren’t they” serious, and you can control the narrative via media outlets and inside sources to set people up the way you want them to lean, all without even having them seen together more than once or twice. Set up a casual photo of them that seems to taken without their knowledge in a private moment. (Balcony with joe, private club with Matty, after party in KC with Travis.) This is far as she got with Matty then she cut her losses. Or I guess you could argue they had spilled into step 4). It’s a spectrum. With joe, again this was done retroactively but also the summer of 2017, no one knew how serious they were until secret sessions/rep came out.

4) hard launch during movie opening weekend. WE ARE HERE. For Matty this was probably supposed to happen during speak now release. But who knows. For joe it was reputation’s release.

5) Optional: push things hard until enough people seem to be generally getting tired of it. I assume this is next with Travlor. No idea how long this will last. Days or weeks I think. With joe this wasn’t a big deal because of the privacy narrative. No one could get tired of something they never saw (though they could get bored of it which was ok at that stage but boredom is the opposite of what she wants now.) With Travis I think this stage will be more of an important thing. If you go back to Calvin, this stage was most of their relationship.

6) cool things down so then people talk about “are they or aren’t they still together?” This was a constant with joe. I think this was just at the end for Calvin and the answer was they weren’t still together.

7) relaunch so everyone is excited to see them again. Steps 6-7 happened a lot with Joe naturally because of the privacy narrative. Will travlor get to this stage? I think so but it will be much accelerated. Like nothing for a week and people will wonder. Then, bang, she’s there again. Something like that.

8) ongoing: periodically lightly escalate the seriousness of the relationship. We’re already in this stage and it will continue. There is current chatter about her house shopping in KC. The usual (she actually BOUGHT a house one time for a man. And remember her Scottish castle, and how she and joe were constantly buying a London house for 6 years including furniture shopping right before they broke up?) And there will be constant talk of settling down and getting engaged.

9) and on and on until it ends. We could zoom through these stage over the next 2 weeks, or in seemingly endless loop of stages 6-9 for two years. No way to know until it ends or they get married, have 10 kids and teach them how to dream.

10) optional: black swan event. All bets are off.

I think it’s likely she’ll go to a couple of more games, and be seen spending as much time with him as reasonably possible before her next tour date. They need to “get to know each other” and “enjoy this fun honeymoon stage while they’re both smitten” while she can. Keep in mind her SA tour section is only 3 weeks long, and he could even potentially go to Argentina on his off week, so that’s not really enough time for the “their busy schedules were too much” excuse. Possible but you know not as likely. Then she’s off for for a couple of months again. Imagine the fun they can have over Christmas. We’ll skip the island vacation around new years or star-studded New Year’s party this time because he’ll still be playing football, so imagine her at playoff games. She’s getting literal millions of dollars in almost free publicity from this, and no matter how many people want to say she’s getting negative attention or being over-exposed or whatever, I don’t see it that way at all. It’s going very very well. All for the price of a few hours of her time and some jet fuel. So, like I didn’t see any reason for her to end it with joe because he was serving his purpose, I see no reason for this to end. Until she has reached her unknown-to-us goal.

There is a lot I can’t see or know, so these are just my best guesses based on what we’ve seen so far and what I see on their schedule for the next few months, and of course, my belief that this relationship not real.

[claire-elvisgirl]

LITTLE SISTER

Summary: You and your big sister Emily have become Elvis’ friends and now you’re on tour with him and the guys. But suddenly he realizes he sees you as something more than just a friend.

Warnings: 18+, smut, Age gap (f 18/m 35), flirting, Elvis is facing an ending marriage (not Priscilla), cheating, sex

Word cunt: 4451

Las Vegas, Elvis’ dressing room

“What do ya think y/n?” he asked looking at himself in the mirror. You went close to him and stared from his hair to his feet. He wore a two-pieces suit, black pants and a gold jacket with black boots, his hair perfectly combed. Sometimes you forgot how perfect he was. “I think you look wonderful!” you answered gently.

He smiled and pinched your cheek: “Thanks y/n. This suit is really great, but…don’t ya think the jacket it’s too flashy?”

You made him turn around for you and you waltzed around him like a vulture on a prey: “Well, the stage is dark, you need something to enhance your figure!”

“That’s a very good point baby, I knew I didn’t waste my time keepin’ ya around…ehehe!”  he joked.

“Hey!” you slapped him on his shoulder “Don’t you dare, you know? You’d be lost without me!”

You two loved to play; you pranked each other and laughed together, even for the littlest thing. You shared thoughts, memories, bad and good moments and lately you got closer and closer to each other. You were attracted to him, but he was a married man and even if his marriage wasn’t going too well, you didn’t want to be pointed as the one who broke it definitely. You held your feelings in your heart, hoping that maybe someday, things would have changed. You were still drowning in your thoughts, when he took you back to earth.

“Maybe if it was of another colour…” he mumbled.

“I think you’re perfect! And besides, it’s not what you wear that makes the show, it’s your voice!” you reassured him patting his arm.

“Well thank ya y/n, you’re always so sweet…I’m very grateful that ya are close with my family. Aaand if it wasn’t for my wife, I swear I could have a lil’ crush on ya…” he laughed and slapped gently your butt, making you gasp.

“I…I think I better go now…” you blushed.

“Sure baby…I understand. Well, if ya ever wanna hang out, sometimes, just lemme know!” he smiled and winked, then he came close to you and kissed your cheek: “See ya around!”

You ran out of his dressing room and took a deep breath. His words took you by surprise. He put on his jacket and started to get ready for the show. He looked one last time at himself in the mirror and he mumbled: “I hope she ain’t taking it seriously…I mean, I said that I would have a crush on her if I wasn’t married, but…God, I was only kiddin’…” he laughed and practiced some karate moves, then he walked up to the stage.

You ran back to your sister Emily and you told her what happened with Elvis. She widened her eyes and couldn’t believe her ears: “Wow, it seems he has a crush on you, sis. I didn’t imagine Elvis liked you, now I’m getting’ a bit jealous! I might have to take him away from you!”

You both laughed together talking about him. You agree with Emily that he could be a little hard to handle sometimes, but he was also incredibly kind and a good friend.

“He sure is cute and I like him a lot, but you know he’s married!” you sighed.

“Yeah sis, it’s the only problem here, and it’s quite a big deal, but let me tell you something, he has a bit of a reputation with girls…if you know what I mean!”

“A good or a bad one?” you laughed; but at the same time Emily’s words made you think that he could make a move on you.

“Well, you know he’s very charismatic and handsome. Maybe he won’t do anything to embarrass you, but I would be cautious sis!”

He showed up, walking through the hallway.

“Shh, he’s coming…” she hushed you.

He came up behind you and Emily: “How’s my favourite lil’ girls? Why are y’all whisperin’?”

You smiled at him: “Oh nothing, we were just tattling about you!” you and Emily looked at each other and laugh. He looked at you both with a questioning look: “Oh really? What did ya find so funny? Tell me!” he asked squeezing your arms. He seemed interested in what you said and he laughed at himself a bit.

“Don’t worry, nothing serious…now go, or you’ll be late for your show!”

Alright, alright…” he gave you and Emily a quick kiss on the cheek for good luck “Love ya both!”

He smiled and walked away getting ready for the show.

“We’ll be in the first row!” you yelled. He laughed and after a while he was on stage, performing for his fans, doing what he loved the most. He made sure everything was set up, the band prepared and the audience was all sitting He went on stage and got an amazing response from the crowd. They cheered and screamed as he walked out. He gave them a quick wave before standing in front of the microphone. Your eyes didn’t lose him for a second while he was singing and you thought he was really handsome, more than you’ve ever noticed before. He sang his first song and he noticed you watching at him almost hypnotized. He smiled and winked at you. At the end of the show, he went back in his dressing room and you followed him. You knocked on his door: “Elvis!? It’s y/n!”

He opened the door and smiled: “Y/n, come in honey!” he let you in gladly surprised “Ya need something?”

“Well, I…just wanted to congratulate I guess…it’s been an amazing show and…” you stuttered.

“Aw thank ya honey, it means a lot that ya came back just for that!” he grabbed you and gave you a quick hug “But I hope ya didn’t come just to tell me this…” he lifted your face gently. He kept hugging you as you admired his handsome face so close to you: “I…no…me and Emily were leaving and…”

He stopped you: “You’re leavin’ already? I was hopin’ ya would stay and hang out with us, but…okay…I’ll see ya tomorrow!”

He gave you a sweet kiss on your cheek as he ran his fingers through your hair. You felt his hand running down your back and down to your hips. You pulled back from him: “Well…thank you again…bye!”

As you left his dressing room you felt strange, he never made you feel that way. You found Emily and came back to your room with her. After an hour you were almost asleep and you felt someone knocking softly on your door. “What the…who could that…”

You got up from the bed and opened the door. Your jaw dropped on the floor and you covered yourself as you were wearing just a very small shirt and panties: “Elvis!? What are you doing here? Are you crazy?”

“Shh baby…I know it’s really late, but I just wanted to say goodnight and lettin’ ya know how much I appreciate our talk today. You’re really a wonderful girl…you’re really not a baby anymore…and…”

You stood there waiting for him to finish: “I…I wanted to know if ya wanted to…to hang out with me sometimes…I-I mean…just we two…without the guys…what do ya say?”

You were about to say no, without thinking too much, but his request left you speechless. You didn’t want to admit it, but you were very attracted to him, even if he was much older than you: “Look Elvis…I was going to sleep, can we…can we talk tomorrow?”

He seemed upset and disappointed: “Why tomorrow baby? Ya can’t talk right now? What the hell…sure I can wait tomorrow, sure I’m not that important, am I?! You don’t wanna go out with me, then why don’t ya just say it!?”

“Sshh…look I didn’t say no, it’s just…this is not the right moment, I don’t wanna wake Emily up…and I’m tired too…please…” you answered whispering.

“Oh yeah, right…sorry…forget about it. I mean, I have so many women to talk to…I thought we might have been a thing, but forget it, really…” he walked away pissed.

You ran after him: “No no no…wait…wait…”

He stopped and yelled: “What do ya mean ‘no wait’? Ya think I’m playin’ games? Ya know what…I ain’t got time to waste!”

He left you there in the hallway and walked away. You felt suddenly sad, as something broke inside you. Emily got up from her bed and came close to you: “Honey what’s going on? Why was he so upset?”

You got back in the room: “Forget it, you were right about him…he’s an asshole!”

You slammed the door behind you, you buried your face in your pillow and cried all your tears out.

*

Three days after…

You avoided him for the following three days and even when you met by chance, he ignored you completely. Then you decided to try to talk to him. You went to his room and you found him relaxing in his armchair. The sunlight was peeking through the window, kissing his hair, making him look incredibly beautiful; he looked like a god. You stood in front of him: “Hi…”

He didn’t even raise his eyes and you tried to talk to him again: “Please, say something…”

Silence again. A silence as heavy as a rock. You kneeled down, almost between his legs, trying to catch his eyes. You moved a hand on his knee, but you gasped as he grabbed and squeezed your wrist and looked at you with a cold stare: “You’re in a dangerous position baby!”

You jumped back scared, but he didn’t let you go: “What do ya want y/n?”

“Look…I’m sorry for how I treated you! I just wanted to say I’m sorry, I really am!”

You knew his pride would have never let him lose, not at first at least, but you had to try. He meant too much to you to lose his friendship. He didn’t say a thing, he kept looking at you with his deep blue eyes: “First ya treat me like a piece of trash and then ya came crawlin’ back?!”

“It’s not like that…I knew you were angry and I didn’t want to disturb you. You had concerts to do and you surely didn’t have time to spend with me…after all, you said so yourself, didn’t you?!”

He jumped from the chair and towered you: “Don’t ya dare to talk to me like that, girl!!!” he whispered in gritted teeth. You swallowed hard. You never saw him that angry.

“Look baby, I’m havin’ a lil’ trouble forgivin’ ya for what ya did last night, but…” his voice softened, he took you closer to him and hugged you tight: “…I’m glad ya came back!”

He held you for a very long time, as he was afraid of letting you go. You could feel the strength of his arms keeping you safe and you felt like nothing in the world could harm you. You lift your arms and hugged him back whispering: “I’m sorry…” while a tear fell from your eyes. Without breaking the hug, he caressed your hair gently and moved his lips on your neck: “It’s okay baby…the only thing that matters is that you’re here with me…I thought I’d lost ya!”

You heard him sighing deeply, almost like he was crying, but you didn’t have the courage to check if it was true. You just enjoyed the most wonderful hug of your life, while his lips explored your neck, leaving a trace of sweet little kisses all over. Then you whispered in his ear: “I’m here!”

*

The morning after, Emily got up before you and came to wake you up. You yawned and stretched in your bed and slowly you woke up, thinking again about that sweet moment with him just a day earlier. Emily shook you gently: “Rise and shine sis, I got something to show you!”

“Oh God Emily…what could be more important than breakfast now?” you answered tired.

“Check your phone princess!” she answered throwing it at you. You grabbed the phone and found a message from him. Emily smiled and teased you: “What you’re hiding? Why now he writes you in private?”

You looked at her, unsure to tell her or not what happened. But then you thought that she was your only sister and you shared everything with her, so, why not?

“Okay can you keep a secret?” you asked her “I saw him yesterday and…he’s gonna take me out…tonight!”

Emily widened her eyes: “What???”

You shut her mouth: “Sshh…I told you…it’s a secret. Please, don’t ruin everything!”

Emily stood there in disbelief: “Are you gonna go? You never know what might happen…I mean, we know him pretty well, I’m just prayin’ he doesn’t want to take advantage of you…”

You sat on the bed: “Actually I was planning to go, but…I can’t help but think he’s married…I mean, if he’s ready to cheat on his wife with me, what could stop him to cheat on me with someone else?”

Emily listened very carefully, then she headed for the door: “You only live once, sis! You would be crazy to turn him down, besides you think all these men are all that loyal? So just put on your sexy dress and heels and go make me proud! Just be careful!”

You jumped out of bed and hugged her: “Thank you! I’ll tell you all about that tomorrow. And remember, don’t let anything out of your tongue!”

“I got your back, cross my heart!” she laughed as she left the room.

You went to fix your hair and you picked up your favourite dress, the one he loved so much. You still couldn’t believe what was about to happen.

*

When you met him that night, he smiled. “I couldn’t wait to see ya baby, ya look so beautiful tonight!” and he kissed you, with a gentle touch. You were very excited, but still you wondered if you were doing the right things.

“Thank you, Elvis…you look great too!” you answered blushing. You were excited and nervous at the same time and you didn’t know how to handle all these new feelings. “You did ask me out so gently and I treated you really bad, but now I’m happy we settled everything!”

You got in his car and as he drove away, you looked at him; he was really beautiful. You felt your heart beating faster than ever and you realized that, maybe, what you felt wasn’t just a simple friendship, but you couldn’t let yourself go with him: “Look I wanna make one thing clear…before we go any further…I hope you don’t think this is a romantic date…I mean…we’re…friends, right?!”

 He smiled mischievously staring at the road ahead: “Sure…friends…”

His answer left you speechless and you kept talking: “I mean, I’m not ready for a relationship and I think I’m way too young for you!”

“Well, you’re young, but you’re not a child…and ya make me feel things I’ve never felt before. I just can’t explain it…” he smiled with passion.

“Oh please…you’re married!”

He frowns: “Oh baby…I think it’s time I tell ya something…my marriage isn’t the same anymore…and I think we both know what is happening! Please, give me a chance!”

“Oh God, this is so weird…”

You looked out of the window and your mind raced away in a thousand thoughts. You never imagined he was going through such a pain. He never showed his feelings to anybody, but in that moment, he was opening his heart to you and you saw him extremely human and vulnerable.

He spoke again: “Please…give me a chance…ya don’t have to answer now, but I want ya to know it. This isn’t a normal date, let me show ya the way I feel and then ya decide what to do!”

“I don’t know what to say…”

“Baby I know you’re confused, I know it’s a lot to handle, but I promise ya won’t regret it!” he caressed your hand. The last thing you wanted was to ruin him and his career, but he was pressing on you so much and deep inside your heart you knew you loved him: “I don’t know…what if someone finds out?” you asked.

“Look, gimme one night…just one night and then ya can decide if ya want me or not. I promise ya won’t regret a thing, please!? Will ya do this f’me?” he asked sadly.

“Just one night?” you asked.

“Yeah y/n, just one night…and if ya should find out ya don’t love me…I’ll understand, or at least I’ll try to!”

You looked away from him. His eyes were pleading you, and you wanted to resist, but you couldn’t. If something would have gone wrong, it would have been very hard not to see each other again, as you were practically always together. After a while, you both realized ya didn’t have a choice, because the feelings that bonded you was too strong and you accepted his offer. One night. Just one night with him to really understand your feelings. You grabbed your phone and you texted Emily:

“I’m officially in trouble! He wants to spend the night together…I couldn’t say no!”

She took her phone and as she read your message, she widened her eyes. She texted back:

“What’s going through your mind? It was supposed to be just a dinner, why did you say yes?”

“I don’t know…I’ll go and then I’ll see what happens…I’ll text you later. Love u!”

Emily was worried about you. Things were starting to slip out of hand and she didn’t want you to get hurt or heartbroken. She tried to call you, but you didn’t answer. She couldn’t help but think that he was twice your age and she was scared to see you suffer. But you were so excited about what was happening, that she decided to give him a chance with you. She texted again:

“Okay, enjoy your night, but if he breaks your heart or if he tries something wrong, I swear I’m gonna kick his ass!”

*

After dinner, you drove back to the hotel and he walked you to his suite. He looked around to check no one was watching and then he locked the door. He got close to you and he hugged you: “Don’t be scared baby…I’m not gonna hurt ya! Now that you’re here I’m never lettin’ ya go, but first I wanna show ya a good time. I wanna make ya feel good. Can I have a kiss for a start? Pretty please?!” he asked you with puppy eyes.

You were scared to death, but your lips met after a while and the kiss became longer and deeper. You seemed to melt as he pulled you closer to him and you kept kissing until you fell on the bed. You kissed him passionately and you took it slow at first, but then you became more eager and he returned your kiss with passion. He pulled you on top of him and you moaned a little. You seemed to be losing yourselves into each other and your lips were moving faster.

“That’s it baby…let it go!” he whispered. He moaned and breathed heavily. He pulled you even closer and you felt your heart pounding like a drum. You became more intimate as he started to making you experience what real love really was. You kept kissing him on his neck making him moan louder. In that moment you felt the urge to touch him and you moved your hand underneath his shirt, caressing his chest. He was turned on and he enjoyed every second and every little touch you gave him. He wanted more, he wanted to take it further. While he breathed heavily, he touched your body too, feeling your waist, your thighs and your chest as he moved his hands all over you.

“Baby, I’m goin’ crazy…come a lil’ closer, move your hand down baby, make me feel like a real man, show me what ya can do!”

You obeyed and you moved your hand down, caressing him in his most intimate parts. You were nervous and you started very soft, but after a while, the sensation of feeling his member pulsing for you, gave you courage and you slid a hand in his pants, touching it, feeling it, hard as rock under your touch.

“Oh baby...ya can do anything ya want with me, I’m all yours…touch him, play with him…yeah…that’s it…”

After a while he grabbed your hand and removed it from his pants. He took you and he rolled you over, pinning you down on the bed: “Baby I can’t wait anymore, I love ya so much…” he whispered as he caressed your hair. He kissed you desperately on your neck and as you felt his body on you, you moaned more and more. You were enjoying his body and suddenly you felt him fully on you. You hugged him, pulling you closer to you and you whispered in his ear: “Elvis…I…I never thought I would feel this way, but…I love you…that’s what I need…that’s what I want…I need this, right now…”

He breathed loudly and groaned: “Yeah baby, I don’t know how much longer I can hold back…I wanna feel ya, kiss ya…I…I wanna take ya…now!”

He looked at you deeply and passionately with love and desire in his eyes. You looked back at him and you both knew what you want from each other now. The fire inside of you both was burning strongly and you didn’t want to control it anymore. He lifted up your shirt and you felt his hand on your skin, but it only turned you on more than ever. Then he started to kiss your chest making you gasp: “D’ya like that darlin’? Does that feel nice?”

You gulped, trying to think, but your mind was blown away. He got back to your lips and as he kissed you, his tongue slipped in your mouth. You let your hand moving over his body as you kissed him, your body pressing up against his. He pulled away for a moment and whispered: “Keep it up baby, that’s what I was talkin’ about…” he nodded in pleasure as you moaned and kissed him more passionately.

“So damn sweet…so good…keep goin’ baby…that’s it…God, you’re getting’ me so hot…” he was turned on as never before and with every second passing, he wanted you more and more. Suddenly he moved his hand down and touched you right between your legs, without taking off your clothes.

“Oh God…” you felt his hand caressing you, gently, sending shivers down your spine. It was just a matter of seconds and you were slowly undressing each other, enjoying the touch of your bodies one against the other.

He looked at you with love: “Oh God, just look at ya, you’re so perfect…” he sighed and put his hand back into your hair, looking down at you. He smiled at you and his hands moved down to play with the fabric of your panties. He moved them aside and his hands reached your core, but this time he was touching it directly, his fingers playing gently with your sensitive flesh. You moaned louder as he kept caressing you. He was gentle and delicate and you enjoyed every second of it, but suddenly he paced up and you felt two fingers sliding inside of you. His thumb started to play on your clit, gently pressing on it in circular motion. You were over the moon. You didn’t think you could ever experience such a pleasure.

“Elvis...please…don’t stop!” you begged him arching your back and moaning. He kept moving, but after a while he stopped and looked at you. He didn’t say a thing, but you knew what he wanted. Without answering, you nodded, giving him your consent to reach the next step. He took off your pants slowly and stood there for a while, staring at your white panties. You felt you heart beating faster and faster, but you were not afraid. It was excitement, pure love for him. He looked at you, almost as if he was afraid of hurting you, but when he saw your total surrender to him, his hands grabbed your panties and took them off. He took off his clothes too and he spread your legs apart. The sight of your trembling pussy, made him turned on even more and he leaned down, kissing your clit with passion and as he breathed and moaned on you, your excitement grew stronger. He climbed on top of you and as he did, you felt the tip of his hard cock pressing gently at your entrance. He stood there for a while, looking at you with eyes full of love.

“Baby, are ya…”

You hushed him with your finger on his lips. He perfectly knew it was the first time for you, but he knew you wanted it and so he did. He moved slowly, pushing himself inside of you, making you gasp as you felt his member stretching you.

“Oh God…”

“Sshh baby…I won’t hurt ya…don’t worry…”

He pulled back a bit, before shoving it in a second time. As he kept moving in and out, his pace increased, making you almost cry. You grabbed his shoulders, piercing his skin with your nails. The pain soon turned into pleasure and as he caressed your hair he whispered sweetly: “My lil’ baby…all mine…”

His words made you trembling. Just the thought of being completely his, sent you right on your edge. He thrusted again inside of you and every time he reached your g-spot, you let out a loud moan.

“I wanna make ya mine baby…mine forever…can I…?” he didn’t finish his phrase, as he felt a long wave of pleasure hurting him and before he could say something he came hard into you, filling you up. Feeling his cock releasing inside your body was the highest pleasure you ever felt in your life and after a while, the same wave hit you too, making your walls clenching around him. He enjoyed your orgasm groaning and then he fell on you exhausted, with his head resting on your chest. The room was suddenly silent. Your bodies were still wrapped around each other and the only sound that echoed around was your breaths slowing down. He kissed you with passion as he tried to catch his breath and then he held you tight.

“Well, I used to pull your pigtails

and pinch your turned-up nose,

but you’ve been a-growin’

and baby it’s been showin’

from your head down to your toes”

[th3maestr0]

‘Got Ya Drummer’

Blur vs. Oasis, the typical 90s debacle. The two bands are shoved together at one party at the same time, where the drummer of Oasis meets her ‘rival’ Damon Albarn, although he’s sloshed out of his mind.

Word count: 6672

Flashing lights, interviews, tours, recording studios and sold out venues, something you'd never thought you'd experience after being asked to join your friends band back when you were still teenagers. You almost missed the calm and peaceful life, without cameras and microphones being shoved in your face every-time you went outside, but at this point dodging the paparazzi was an everyday chore, and you'd gotten quite used to it, but the fans, cheering and tours all felt unreal, it felt amazing knowing you have a part in something that brings so many people together, so you didn't mind the bad side of fame, as the good side cancelled it out.

You fixed your outfit in the mirror, giving yourself a look before thinking over wether you should've gone with another outfit, but before you had time to make a move for your closet you heard banging on your bedroom door. "Y/N! Let's go!"

You heard a very Manchester accent call from the other side of the door, of course Liam had let himself into your apartment.

You just shook your second thoughts on your outfit out of your brain and headed for the door. "Alright! I'm ready!" You flung the door open, as you nearly hit Liam, receiving a glare from the younger Gallagher brother, which only caused you to smile innocently.

Liam rolled his eyes, "Noel is parked on the street waiting for us, he's getting impatient." He scoffed, as the two of you began heading for the door out of your apartment.

"Of course he is, he's probably hungry." You laugh as you grabbed your keys off the table next to the door, and slipped a hand around the doorknob, opening it for the both of you.

"Fuckin' potato he is." Liam insulted his brother, a tint of sarcasm dripping from the words, causing you to chuckle as you shut and locked the door behind the both of you. The two of you began walking down the hallway away from your apartment as you checked you had everything you needed for the night, tucking your keys into a safe pocket in your bag.

Looking back toward Liam, there was still a bit of a grouch on his face, surely he's not annoyed over his brother, what's with his mood? You nudged him with your arm, grabbing his attention. "What's with you?" You quipped, with a slight brow raise.

"What do you mean, what's with you?" He scrunched his brows, or say, brow, at you.

"You're obviously in a mood." You continued, as the two of you turned a corner into another hallway, toward the elevator.

Liam's shoulders dropped and huffed before speaking, "Blur's going to be there... all four of em'." You whipped your head to look up at him.

Blur, Oasis's rival band, who the band (although you tried to stay out of it), especially the brothers, had been bickering with non stop. You thought the fighting was cliche, of course the top two most highly acclaimed bands in Britain were constantly at each other's throats, but why? Both bands were equally successful, was it greed? You didn't want to think about it further. But, of course, you would have to be on edge the entire night knowing that an egotistical rival could pop up out of nowhere.

You crossed your arms and rolled your eyes, "Well, the host definitely knows how to make a party interesting." Liam chuckled from beside you as you reached the elevator, his finger pressed the down arrow before he leaned against the wall.

"Maybe a fight will break out." Liam smiled widely, a hint of evil swirling in his eyes.

You just shook your head with a smile, "That will give Oasis a bad reputation, you know."

You watched Liam shrug as a smug look crossed his face, "Do we really have a good reputation at the moment?".

You crossed your arms, shrugging your shoulders, "Well, we are invited to a massive party with all the biggest bands in England," You thought a moment before continuing, "so we have some sort of reputation."

Liam nodded, "For making good as hell music, we don't have pretty privilege like Damon." The elevator door dinged as the doors slid open, the two of you walked in and hit the button for the ground floor, as you scoffed.

"Are you saying I'm not pretty?" Liam gave you a look, dragging his eyes slowly up and down.

"You're pretty, but you're practically a guy, you drum." You gasped, fake offence, used to those kind of comments.

"Well, you weren't wrong when you said Damon was pretty." You smirked, knowing that would set Liam off, either shut him up or set him off on a rant.

You heard him choke on his own spit, glaring down at you. "What."

You shrugged, "I said what I said." Liam moved as the elevator bounced slightly at the ground floor. Before he could give you a lecture you slid out of the elevator as fast as possible, Liam straggling behind you.

"Y/N!" Liam called after you, you shot him a smile over your shoulder as you slowed down, not that it would've taken him much to catch up to you. "Did you seriously compliment our rival?"

You rolled your eyes at him, "Liam, it was a joke." Liam shook his head, before pushing the door open with one hand for the two of you.

"Joke or not, you better not be thinking betraying us, Oasis." You shook your head, stepping out into the cool dusk air.

"Liam, Damon would be way to scared to even look at me, considering I'm part of your band." Liam gave you a look before you two saw Noel's car and began walking toward it.

"You think I'm scary?" He asked.

"Me? No. Everyone else? Most definitely." You dropped your conversation there, knowing if you continued on you two would begin bickering as you always do.

Liam opened the car door of the backseat for you, as you slid into the seat on the far side. Liam sat down next to you, before slamming the door shut, before interrupting Bonehead who was just about to greet you. "You will never guess what Y/N just said!" You rolled your eyes and settled back into your seat, zoning out of Liam's rambling after the car's engine rumbled to life and pulled out of park.

Now that you had a moment to think about it, Liam was not wrong and neither were you. The lead singer of Blur, your rival band, was quite attractive. That dusty blonde hair, blue eyes, perfectly curved nose, his confidence, he could definitely have any girl he wanted.

You had never met him, only seen him in magazines and on tv, and you must admit, he never failed to make you stop and stare. You always read magazines about music, and you're only now realising how much you read about Damon specifically.

You crossed your arms over yourself as you struggled to push the thoughts away. Liam would hate you if he knew you thought anything more than Damon being "attractive", which you said was a joke, but was definitely not, his weird obsession with the rivalry was getting old.

You fell back into reality as the car stopped at a light, Liam was talking about something completely different now, Noel was humming, probably trying to ignore his brother, and Bonehead was engaging in Liam's chatter.

***

The car pulled to a stop in front of a large, very fancy looking house. A large garden, that was filled with sloshed zombies, which you mused at for a moment, and obviously Old London-inspired architecture. Although the fancy look of it was quickly overshadowed by the blasting music you could hear blocks away before you arrived, some shitty pop band playing, flashing lights and large crowds of people in every direction, some obviously drunk, maybe a fight or two starting in the middle of the circles.

Who was hosting this party again? And how did they get Britains most popular bands at one party? Of course you never knew who hosted these massive parties, the band never cared to ask and in return there was no identity to the host.

You pushed the thoughts out of your mind as your opened the car door for yourself and stepped out of the vehicle, all the noise you could hear instantly becoming louder. Normally you were the life of the party, being the easiest of the Oasis members to talk to, but something drew you away from the building in front of you as you scanned your surroundings.

You watched as Liam and Bonehead immediately made a B-line toward the building, but Noel stood next to you briefly, slouching against the car, you appreciated how he stopped for a moment to check on you, after watching you hesitate.

"You excited?" He asked, glancing over at you.

You shrugged, "This is definitely the biggest party I've ever been to." Noel chuckled before nudging you with his elbow.

"And it definitely will not be the last." He foreshadowed before continuing, "This makes the parties we went to in high school look lame."

You smiled and turned to face him, "Well, those parties were hosted when the parents were out of town, with booze from the cabinet the parents tried to hide the key of."

Noel sighed at the truth behind your words, "Those were the days."

The two of you watched the party silently for a moment before he piped up, rubbing fake dust off his hands, "Listen, theres definitely a lot of fit birds in there, I've got to get in there before they're all over Liam."

You laughed at his shallowness as he began walking off, the gravel driveway crunching beneath his steps, locking the car and stuffing the key in his pocket.

"Say, you should find someone for the night, yeah?" He lifted a brow at you, "You seem to try to avoid one night stands."

You tilted your head with a smile "How would you know that, i never kiss and tell."

Noel gave you an intrigued look before you continued, "We'll see." He shot you a wink before turning his back to you, but he quickly stopped in his tracks and turned to you once more, "One rule," he started, "No twats from Blur."

You rolled your eyes, "Of course not." With that he once again began walking toward the open doors to the building.

You straightened up your outfit before following suit, the crunching of the pathway grounding you, as you walked toward the doors.

A man who stood at the door smiled at you, woozily, was he drunk? That was a stupid question, everyone in this party would be. You stepped inside the building and immediately the blasting music and loud chatter met your ears.

You felt your ears immediately begin ringing as a light nervous buzzing filled your veins. You just needed to get shit-faced drunk, and you'll be your regular extroverted self again, you were sure.

You pushed through crowds of people you didn't know, spotting some familiar faces from popular bands you either met or had read about, you wondered how many of these people were drunk, high or both. You heard your name get shouted a few times, of course people wanted to talk to you, get you riled up and dancing on a table, but you kept moving, conversation and stupid decisions were for when you had a drink in your hand.

You pushed through the crowd, because there was not a chance a simple 'excuse me' would move people for you. At times like these you felt like a bit of a pushover, the Gallagher brothers, especially Liam, make a crowds part like it's nothing, you though were definitely too 'nonchalant' as people would describe you, often wondering how you're friends with such brash people, to move a crowd with sheer fear like the brothers do, although you appreciated what they did, made it easy to walk behind them.

You finally popped through the last group of people in the large first room, still though, no alcohol in sight. You groaned, loudly than you meant to, catching a few peoples attention, which you quickly regretted as you spotted a tall, lanky figure make its way over to you. "Well isn't it Y/N L/N." The man said, teasing glint in his eyes.

You put on a mischievous demeanour before responding, "Alex James."

Alex, Blur's bassist, was always at these parties, wether or not the rest of his band mates where here with him, he seemed to have a true love for the parties, flashing lights, blaring music, having to scream to talk to people. You wondered how damaged his ears must be, but you're one to talk as you are a drummer.

"What a surprise to see you here! Didn't know a mediocre band was invited." He talked slowly, obviously very much wasted, he would not remember this interaction tomorrow.

You rolled your eyes at him, smile on your face, "It's lovely to see you too, Alex." You turned your eyes back around to try to spot anywhere to grab a drink, but there was no luck, Alex very obviously noticed this.

"What'cha looking for?" He asked, before you could respond he continued, "Maybe someone to shag for the night?" He said, almost eagerly.

"I want to grab a drink, I just have no clue where to find the booze."

Alex laughed, "You're not drunk already?"

You scoffed, "I just got here."

"You're no fun when you're sober, " He muttered, sure if you were actually drunk you may of flirted back at him, but you knew damn well Liam would've knocked him out if he laid a hand on you. "Plus, I need someone to start shit with."

You and Alex when completely black out drunk we're two peas in a pod, partners in crime, sure the two of you were in rival bands and had absolutely no contact outside of the off occasion you see each other, but your personalities mixed perfectly, maybe if your friends didn't hate each other you'd be close friends.

You always started shit together, fights would break out because of complete lies the two of you made up, you were chaos creators and you both gained a reputation for it. "Remember the last party-"

you immediately kicked Alex's shin after that, "Don't remind me."

Alex just chuckled, and threw an arm over your shoulder, "Don't worry babe, I've got you." He began walking, leading you with his arm, you were hoping in the direction of alcohol.

As you walked you caught glances, for one or two reasons, people knew that if the brothers saw this they'd go insane. And two, people knew you two were up to something. In reality, you just wanted booze, save the chaos for later.

As you continued walking it was obvious Alex was heavily sloshed, his black hair swayed with the way he walked, clumsily, maybe he only put an arm around you to steady himself, but he also smelled horrible, like sweat, cigarettes and alcohol you just hoped he knew what he was doing.

After a long winded lap of the room, you ended up in the same spot you started, you crossed your arms and sent Alex a deadly look, "You're no help right now Alex."

He blinked slowly, a teasing smile on his face, "What were we looking for again?" You groaned and turned away from him, walking away, damn did he need to lay off of the drugs. He'd distract himself with a pretty girl anyway, forget all that just happened. You heard him call behind you "Hey, say hi to Damon-" and then something muffled from the noise in the house, odd, but that was Alex for you.

You grumbled a bit at that interaction, and made your way to where the crowd was the heaviest. You bumped shoulders with Liam, chatting up some blonde girl, shooting him a wink before pushing through the crowd once again.

Finally you were spat out into a kitchen, you scrunched your nose at the smell. The floors were sticky and the room felt hot. You quickly grabbed a beer from a cooler, you found it funny for such a big party to be organised so horribly.

Popping open the cap you were met with the noise once again, blaring in your ears, it disorientated you and made your skin itch and all you wanted to was crawl into yourself. Maybe it's because the music was so shit you couldn't handle listening to it. You decided it would be a lot more easy to listen to when you can barely walk, so you grab another beer to carry and look around for an escape.

On the other side of the room was a glass door, open and leading out into a garden. You knew it would be quieter out there, although you might risk some couple publicly shagging in a bush. You scrunched your face at the idea.

You walked outside, stepping down the marble steps and onto the grass. Your eyes laid on a dimly lit gazebo, which seemed very inviting. The sight of it continued to amuse you for such a sleazy party.

Your feet quickly crossed the ground, getting farther from the noise and closer to the gazebo, but as soon as you stepped in it your expectations were immediately dropped.

It would've been a nice place to sit and drink in self pity until you were ready to go inside again, but that was quickly ruined as a very drunk blonde who lay on the floor of the gazebo smiled up at you. Not another Blur wanker.

"Are you an Angel?" He whispered, a slur to his voice, you could practically smell the booze on this breath from above him.

"No, Damon, I'm your worst nightmare." You spoke with a grimace, taking a sip of your open beer, the other still clenched in your fist.

"Did you bring that for me?" He looked at the beer in your hand.

"Er, no." You pressed your lips together and looked around. Who left him here?

You watched as he sat up, rolling over slowly, a wonky smile plastered on his face with lidded eyes that screamed sex, it almost made you shiver.

He rubbed his eyes and looked at you once again, before a short realisation covered his face, although it was replaced with a flirty expression just as quickly.

"Ah, Y/N." Your name rolled off his tongue as he was trying to keep it pressed to it, liking the taste of it, what was this?

"Whose that for?" He wiggled his brows.

"Me." You shamelessly spoke, might as well be honest.

"You're telling me you're out here to drink on your own? At a party?" He laughed.

You couldn't deal with this, you were far too sober to interact with this man, especially because it's the first time you've actually met.

"You know what, I'll be leaving now." You turned but he grabbed a hold on your ankle which caused a shiver to rush up your back.

"No- no." He said through a hiccup. "At least stay and let me talk to you."

"Why on earth would I do that."

Damon frowned and shrugged.

"You know the boys would kill you if they saw you talking to me."

Damon rolled his eyes, "What's with that, why do they get so violent like all the time."

You frowned at him but sat down next to him on steps anyway. Placing the beer you haven't opened down between the two of you. You watched Damon consider pinching it for himself for a moment. You glared at him.

"You wouldn't get it Damon." You mumbled taking a sip of your beer.

He didn't push but just looked up at you with those blue eyes, which met yours as you looked at him to get a better view. Sure, they were piercing, but in a way that actually pierced your heart which caused you to look away with a scowl.

"I thought you were the easy going one, why you are you all uptight." His drunken mind allowed him no shame as he questioned your mood.

You lifted a brow at him, "Because I'm not drunk, and I'm with someone I'd rather not be."

You've seen the things Damon's said about the music, about the boys, a part of you wants to hate him but a part of you can't get how charming he is out of your mind.

"Oh please." He pushed himself up with his arms, and leaned forward so he was in your line of view. "You like me, I know it."

You shot him a look, which caused him to chuckle. "Yeah, those hateful looks, you don't mean them."

You took a big sip of your beer, you'd had to be shitfaced to deal with this.

"Are you projecting Damon Albarn." You joked, moving your face close to his. Two can play at that game.

"Yeah, real bad." He whispered, tilting his head down to give you bedroom eyes, you laughed and looked away.

"Your flirting is not going to get you anywhere with me Damon." You spoke with amusement.

"Why not?" He asked with a pout.

"Because I can tell you're only talking to me for a one night stand."

Damon rolled his eyes, "How would you know."

"Because we barely know each other."

Damon just scoffed, "I want to know you, badly."

"Uh-huh, okay." You laughed, "You disgust me."

"Do I?" He spoke, before lifting a hand a placing it on your shoulder.

"Yeah a lot." You eyed the hand with a grimace on your face.

"Now that's just not true is it baby?" He tried.

"Uh, ew." You laughed at his expense. "Not a chance Albarn."

He grumbled and took a hold of your beer in his hand, before he popped the lid off. You were going to drink that but if it'll get him to stop whatever this is, it's worth it.

"Try your luck with someone else." You smiled sheepishly at him and just rolled your eyes.

"You're no fun."

"No, I just don't want you dead."

You watched as the already horrifically drunk boy took a swig of your beer. You pressed your lips together in thought. Does he really need that? Will he be able to stomach it?

You got you answer as through his second sip his eyes widened and he gagged loudly.

"Ew! Not on me!" You shouted, dropping your beer and standing up quickly.

You watched him cough and stand up, making a B-line straight for the house. Why didn't he just throw up in a bush? What a strange man.

You crossed your arms as you stared at the door he just ran through, probably looking for a bathroom to throw up in.

Your eyes peeled back over to your beer bottle, which was now empty on the grass, the booze watering the grass, if they even drink it. Can grass get drunk? Oh dear yeah you're tipsy.

You sighed as you made your way back inside to grab another drink, maybe finally make some casual conversation.

As soon as you walked in though you heard two girls chatting.

"What was with Damon?"

"I wouldn't mind it, he's probably just sloshed."

"Yeah one of his band mates will help him out."

You frowned at that, because his band mates were definitely in the same state, if not worse than, as him. You felt an urge to go look after the poor boy.

Did you really want to waste the rest of your night looking after some messy, drunk man child, and miss out on the party? Your ears tuned back into the music which made you cringe. Yeah, maybe you did.

You grabbed another beer for yourself, making sure to only grab one this time and immediately broke out into the crowd.

You saw Bonehead talking to a few blokes and immediately walked over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and smiled when he realised it was you.

"Y/N! these are my friends," he tipped his head toward the two guys he was talking to. You politely waved at them, one of them was gaping at you, it was slightly second hand embarrassing.

You rose to your tippy toes and spoke into Bonehead's ear. "Where's the bathroom?" He pointed across the room at a staircase.

"Up those stairs first door, you'll find it."

You gave him a smile as thanks and waved you off, quickly you made your way over toward the stairs, stepping between the people sat on the stairs that excitedly greeted you.

Finally, you reached the top, quickly making it to the door and pushing it open. No going back now.

Immediately you heard gagging and in front of you with his head above the toilet bowl kneeled Damon. This was almost humorous to see, but you resisted from laughing.

"You could have a least locked the door." You spoke as you scrunched your nose.

Damon turned around with a smile on his face, "You followed me!"

You tipped your head at the boy, he seemed way too excited for gagging and throwing up. "I felt obligated to."

Damon chucked up one last bit before falling into a sitting position. "You came to take care of me?" He asked, which caused you to roll your eyes.

In your half an hour of being around this man you had learned nothing of him but he's an alcoholic. You had no clue why you followed him and now store at him sick on the floor of a bathroom. You're following your heart once again.

You watched as he rested his head on the germy toilet seat and you made another face for the hundredth time that hour.

"You're disgusting. Flush the toilet and sit down on the seat." You commanded, and he did just that.

You grabbed a few towels from the hamper, how fancy, and wet them before making your way over to the boy, and sat your beer down on the sink.

He smiled up at you as you looked over his face. A bit of vomit sat on his chin, and some dribbled onto his shirt. You just shook your head.

You began to wipe his mess off his face as he lazily looked up at you. It made you uncomfortable.

"Stop staring at me."

"Why." He slurred.

"Because I told you to."

Immediately his eyes dropped, dropped to your chest. Your firmly grabbed his chin and made him look up again which caused him to laugh loudly, you smiled at that, it was quite funny.

You reached for his tee, wiping at the small stain on the front of it with a new towel, the other dropped to the floor.

"First time we meet and you throw up everywhere and I have to clean you up, talk about first impressions."

Damon shrugged with a smile, "Not like I'll remember it in the morning." You let out a chuckle at that.

"Fair, I guess we can start over than, because I would rather forget all of this."

Just as you finished speaking the door to the bathroom flung open with a loud slam. It made you jump and look over your shoulder. Noel stood there, surprised at the scene in front of him, you could tell by his expression.

"Hi Noel." You spoke and as casually as you could continued to wipe up the mess.

"What is this, did you forget what I told you-."You cut Noel off.

"No, I er... found him on the floor in here, he spewed everywhere. I couldn't just leave him like that." You made the excuse up quickly, you hoped it sounded real enough.

"No, you-" Damon started up, before you gave him a kick to the shin which shut him up quickly.

Noel stood there for a moment in silence as you finished wiping, discarding the towel onto the floor with the others. You turned around with your arms crossed to face him, Damon sat aloof behind you, still hazy from his spew.

Noel hummed, "Alright." Before pointing with his thumb over his shoulder to the hallway. "I need to piss, out both of you." He commanded which made you laugh and roll your eyes.

You grabbed Damon by the collar and pulled him out in the hallway, grabbing your beer as-well and shutting the door behind you. You heard it click locked.

Damon went to grab the bottle from your hand but you slapped it away. "Absolutely not." He pouted but you looked away and resisted his face.

"You need to sober up."

"No I don't, I need to party." Damon grumbled.

You sighed, and looked him in the eyes.

You quickly looked through your brain for a bribe or some way to convince him to sober up so you don't have a repeat of what just happened. Although if you did let him loose you'd be able to cause a riot in the party with Alex, and that did sound tempting, but you had to refuse.

"Uh, here, I'll kiss you if you sober up for a bit." You reluctantly said, wishing you could take it back immediately as soon as it left your mouth.

He brightened up and that and smiled boyishly. "Yes!"

You watched as he turned and began walking down the the dark hallway, further away from the party, you laughed at his eagerness.

You followed a distance away, allowing him to find somewhere to sit to his standards, you don't know why you're making sure this posh boy doesn't party too hard, but then again you cannot deny the way you feel when you're around him.

Damon found a room fairly quickly, away from the blaring music but close enough to be able to hear if someone shouts Police.

You stepped inside and almost gasped, it was a small ballroom, very small for a ball room, but big for a room on its self. The ceilings were high and intricate designs covered the walls, not to mention the large windows that allowed moonlight to wash over the room. The room was completely empty except for the stage on the far side of it. How much was this house to rent for a party, this is shocking.

Damon settled happily on the floor against the wall, he rested his head back against it and shut his eyes. He looked peaceful like this, you almost wished you got to meet him sober, when he wasn't like this, because you must admit deep down inside of you wanted to know this man, badly.

You walked over and sat down next to him, close but not close so you were touching. You placed your beer down next to you, away from him so he couldn't get to it.

He opened an eye to look at you, which caused you to laugh. "Why are you peaking at me."

"Because." He opened his eyes fully and faced his head toward. You lifted an eyebrow at him as he scanned your features. "I just like the look of you."

You made a face, not one of judgement or disgust, but one of amusement. "Are you calling me pretty Albarn?"

He nodded, "More than that, beautiful." He said truthfully.

You smiled and looked away, "Corny."

He grumbled, "I'm trying my hardest to flirt with you."

"Try again when you're a bit more sober Damon."

His face lit up, "You mean if I was sober you'd be into this?" He asked slyly.

You shrugged your shoulders, "Dunno, I barely know what you're like sober, but I'm assuming not much different."

Damon rolled his eyes and he splayed his legs out in front of him. "I think I deserve that kiss now."

"We've barely been here for 5 minutes." You spoke and he just shrugged and moved closer to you.

"I know you want it." He spoke lowly. Oh dear god, back to this?

You looked into his eyes suddenly they're deep, you find it funny how he can somehow change the way his eyes look so quickly.

You smiled very amused, "You think so?"

He nodded his head and leaned in towards you.

You watched as he lidded his eyes and began leaning in, reaching a hand to your waist. Quickly you slapped a packet of mints to his mouth, the cold metal on his lips causing him to gasp and open his eyes, quickly pulling away.

"What the hell-" he spoke before seeing what was in your hand. He frowned while you laughed deviously at the poor boy.

"You're not getting anywhere near me after you've been vomiting," you tossed him the pack. "Take a few and I'll think about." You shifted away from him, creating space between you two which felt cold.

"Where did these even come from." He asked, popping the cap open as you watched him shake out 2, 3, 6, 7 mints into his palm before shutting the lid and shoving it into his pocket.

You smiled and leaned back against the wall, "Pockets."

He rolled his eyes and threw the mints into his mouth. You watch as he chewed them, and he made a face at the extreme minty feeling that burnt his tongue, you just shook your head.

You listened as the band downstairs stopped playing, finally, the singer was total crap, and music began to play over stereos downstairs. You heard a song spin into action and quickly recognised it as Girls & Boys by none other than Blur. You let out a laugh as Damon made a face at the party host playing his music.

"Eugh," he made a sound of disgust, "I party to get away from the music."

You glanced at the boy with a tilted head and a questioning smile. "You don't like your own music?" You asked.

He shrugged and rested his head back against the wall, "Yeah, sometimes, you get sick of hearing your songs over and over again, and having to play them over and over again at gigs. You know, you get it, you're just as big."

You nodded solemnly, "Fames a crazy thing, we all end up on heavy drugs or turn to alcohol." You motioned to him and rolled his eyes. "It just comes with the career."

Damon nodded, "Did you ever think you'd end up famous?"

You shrugged, "Of course it was a dream, it was every kids dream at some point. I just ended up lucky. I don't think I deserve it."

"Why not?" Damon questioned.

"I didn't work as hard as everyone else, I got lucky." You hummed out.

Damon shook his head quickly and placed his hand on top of yours that rest on the floor, you let your eyes drop to it. "You're talented Y/N, I've seen some of your shows on tv. You're one of the best... hell better than Dave."

You chuckled at the compliment, him putting down his own drummer just to assure you, it felt weird, it felt personal. Did he really mean it that much?

"What about you?" You asked.

He nodded, "Yeah I always had a feeling it would happen, wanted to be an actor and would've made it doing that if I didn't do the music."

You rolled your eyes at his confidence, "You're shocking, Damon."

He raised his brows at you, "Honest as possible."

You slid your hand out from under his and you watched him wince at lack of hand in his.

You heard the song end and a new one pick up, which caused you to gasp and Damon to laugh loudly. Shakermaker tuned in which caused you to cringe slightly.

"I love this song." Damon laughed as he stood up, nearly tripping over his feet as he walked out into the middle of the room.

He air guitared the intro very over exaggerated, which made you chuckle, as you lifted a hand to cover your mouth.

"I'd like to be somebody else!" He sang scratchily in his best Liam impression which was even more exaggerated than his air guitar. "And not know where I've been!" He pointed at you, and then back at him, which referenced how he probably wouldn't remember this in the morning, oh dear he was still completely drunk.

"I'd like to build myself a house, out of plasticine!" He motioned around to the room you were in as he spun.

"Ahhh, ahhh, shake along with me!" He winked as he walked over toward you, grabbing your hands and pulling you up to dance with him.

You laughed and threw your arms over his shoulders as he grabbed your waist and spun the two of you. "Ahhhh, ahhhh! Shake along with me!" You both sang.

"You are a brilliant dancer." Damon joked through breaths. You just pushed his arm.

The two of you calmed down as a new song tuned in, one neither of you payed any attention to. You smiled brightly at each other once you were breathing normally again.

"I think I'm sober enough now, hey?" Damon cheekily smiled as he walked closer to you, placing his hands on your waist where they were not long ago.

"Not quite." You laughed as you put your hands on his chest to push him away.

"Oh, please." He begged, which made you laugh and how badly he wanted to kiss you.

"I don't understand why you want to kiss me so bad."

"Who wouldn't?" He asked as he moved his face closer to yours, you reluctantly wrapped your arms over his shoulders.

"You talk to me like you are infatuated with me." You rolled your eyes.

Damon shrugged, "Not yet, but I like you, I like seeing you laugh on tv and I like watching your interviews, I like reading about you in magazines." He admitted, shamelessly.

You sighed at that, "You have no shame you know, anyone would be nervous to say that."

Damon shrugged, "It's that alcohol, baby."

The two of you stared at each other for a moment, and surprisingly it was you who finally closed the tensioned filled space between you.

Damon quickly reciprocated though. He was minty, you thanked the mints for their work as you filed your hands into his hair.

Damon pressed his hips against you just as the door to the ball room flung open. You both pulled away from the kiss quickly, but not quick enough for who ever was at the door to not see what was going on.

As your eyes adjusted you saw none other than Liam Gallagher at the doorway, hand on the door knob and mouth agape, staring straight at the both of you, the blonde girl he'd been chatting up from earlier peaking over his shoulder.

You felt your face go white and your heart drop as you looked over to Damon, who definitely didn't look as horrified as you were.

"What was that." Liam said, deadpan, as if he was warming up to yell, which he probably was about to do.

"Got ya drummer." Damon laughed, which caused you to cough on a lump in your throat.

"I'm going to kill you Damon Albarn."

[heavyhitterheaux]

Unpretty

First Lady of Private Garden Fic

AN: To my beautiful black queens, you are always worthy of love and don’t you ever forget it

Synopsis: You feel the pressures of being in an interracial relationship and the dam finally breaks

Pairing: Husband!Jack Harlow x Wife!Reader

Please Do Not Repost My Content Anywhere

Urban was currently giving you a piggyback ride around the arena where Jack’s show would be held tonight because you were complaining about how your feet had been hurting in your heels that you had been wearing. 

Those six inches just weren’t on your side today.

So of course you asked your best friend to help you out and originally you simply wanted to switch your shoes for his, but Urban had looked at you as if you had lost your mind and told you to hop on his back.

"AYE, What is Jack feeding you? You were lighter this morning."

"Kiss my black ass, Wyatt!"

"I've done more than that to your ass if we're being honest."

"Urban Henry!"

“Did I lie?!”

“You know what? I plead the fifth. When will Curse get here?”

“In about another hour or so. She told me that she was just going to catch an uber over here since it’s not far from the airport.”

“I can’t wait to see her so we can talk about how annoying our husband and boyfriend are.”

“If I’m so annoying get your ass off me.”

“I kid, I kid. Love you Urby.”

“Uh huh, that’s what I thought.”

“The two of you are annoying though. Have been since I met you.”

“Keep talking and I’m not sharing my blunt.”

“Oh, you mean this one?”

You pulled it out from your pocket and waved it in front of Urban’s face who rolled his eyes.

You had snatched it when he hadn’t been looking earlier that day. 

“I need to bring you to your husband so he can deal with you.”

“And what is he going to do? Neither one of you can ever tell me no and I literally get my way all the time.”

“I….”

“Yeah, don’t have a comeback for that one, do you?” You asked as Urban sat you down in a chair in the corner of the room where the meet and greets would take place for Jack’s current tour.

“You’re lucky he’s right over there because I’ll kick your ass.”

“I’d like to see you try!” You said while slipping the blunt into your bra and Urban’s eyes went wide.

“Y/N!!!!!”

“I’m keeping it safe, don’t worry.”

“Baby! Are you over there behaving?”

“Yes!”

“No!”

“Urb, shut up!”

“I can’t take the two of you anywhere.” Jack responded as he waited for the next fan to approach him.

“Hey, long time, no see. Remember me? You look good.”

“Oh hell no.” You heard Urban mutter under his breath and quickly rolled his eyes.

“Kara?” Jack said while looking at her unimpressed.

He had told you that the two of them had dated for three months before the two of you had met and you knew ever since Jack had asked for you to be his girlfriend that she was jealous.

Dirty looks at you in the hallway

Rolling her eyes if you spoke up in class

Even almost trying to get you hurt when the both of you were practicing a new routine after school being as you both were on the cheerleading squad

She had it out for you and all of PG knew it

However, she didn’t dare step to you to say anything during your high school days because of your reputation and you knowing how to fight.

This was no different as Jack turned towards you and seeing you look unfazed. 

“The one and only. I just can’t believe the two of you lasted this long and are still together.”

Here comes the eye rolls and dirty looks.

“Why wouldn’t you think that we would be?”

“I mean? You kind of lowered your standards.”

You remained quiet as Jack began to get a pissed off look on your face.

But, you kept your cool knowing that your husband would always protect you and defend you.

“Excuse me? Lowered my standards how? If anything they got higher because she was definitely an upgrade from you.”

You immediately snorted and stifled a laugh and Kara cut her eyes at you.

“I guess that’s what I would expect from someone who is a nig-”

Jack immediately cut her off with her not being able to finish her sentence and for once in your life you were speechless.

“You can remove yourself from me and my wife’s presence. One thing I’m not tolerating is you disrespecting her or our marriage. Safe to say you still haven’t changed.”

“I just call it like I see it.” She shrugged as she smiled towards the both of you.

Kara walked away without another word and it was quiet for a few minutes because everyone was taking in the fact what she was about to say.

However, this was nothing new to you.

You knew racism was alive and well and that some people would never accept the fact that there are people who have a different skin color than they do.

You saw the comments under your posts on social media and did your best to ignore them.

One thing you avoided was telling your husband and wanted to keep it that way for as long as you could.

When you first laid eyes on Jack when you were fourteen, your first thought besides the one thought of him being cute with his glasses and blue eyes was if he liked black girls.

That was something that went through every black girl's mind if they liked someone.

No matter what his race was.

The most disrespected woman in America or the world rather was the black woman.

You admit that at times you did get insecure thinking that Jack would be better off being with someone who shares the same race as him, but you would quickly push it to the back of your mind.

He loved you and only you

And that was never going to change

“Did she really just try to say that shit out of her mouth and expect for us to let her get away with it?” Urban asked as he looked over at you and checking if you were okay.

“She always acted like an asshole. Anyway, you okay, mamas?” Jack asked while looking down at you and bringing you into a hug which you immediately accepted.

“I’m okay.” You quietly answered before Jack lifted up your chin to look up at him and kissed you.

Only you weren’t okay, not at all.

It was only so much you could take and the dam finally broke.

You were happy when Curse finally arrived at the arena so that you could take your mind off what happened earlier in the day, but it wasn’t working and you feel that she knew that something was wrong.

The two of you were standing to the side watching your husband perform while Urban was taking pictures when she brought it up.

“Um, Y/N?”

“Yeah?”

“Is something wrong? You just don’t seem like your normal self. You’ve been really quiet since I got here and that’s not usually how you are.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Obviously it is something because it almost looks like you’re about to cry. Now, who do I have to fight? Even though you’re good in that department, I’m always here for back up.”

You made sure Urban wasn’t paying attention before deciding to tell her.

“Jack’s ex-girlfriend Kara showed up at the meet and greet earlier today and it just put it into perspective how disgusting of a person she is.”

“How so?”

“I had my suspicions that she was racist when we were in high school, but I tried not to let it bother me. When she found out me and Jack were dating it seemed as if all hell broke loose. She would give me dirty looks any time she could and she even try to get me hurt when practicing one of our routines for the cheerleading squad after school one day.”

“Have you told Jack any of what you just told me?”

“No, but I feel as if he and PG knew to a certain extent but they didn’t realize how bad it was.”

“Y/N, you need to tell him.”

“What good is that going to do, Yasmin? She already almost called me the n-word earlier in front of Jack and Urban.”

“She did WHAT?! AND YOU DIDN’T KICK HER ASS THEN?!”

“I get tired of fighting all the time. I…. just being a black woman and being in an interracial relationship is a whole different ball game. You want to know what my first thought was when I saw Jack besides the fact that I thought he was cute?”

“What?”

“If he liked black girls or not. But that’s across the board. When we like someone that is where our mind immediately goes to. The way we are treated in this society is horrible and when Jack started becoming more famous, my comments would be filled with so much hate. They still are, but I do my best to ignore it.”

“And Jack has no idea?!? He loves you for you! The last thing on his mind is that his wife is black.”

“Yasmin, you’re not understanding. I know that he loves me, I get that. But, society has it ingrained in our minds that races shouldn’t mix. It doesn’t matter that it’s 2022.  I can’t even tell you how scared I was to tell my parents that my boyfriend was white. I knew that they wouldn’t care but it’s the outside aspect. Like what are people going to say? What are they going to think? I was raised to find someone who loves me for me despite what their race is and that’s exactly what I did. My parents and my family absolutely adore him and they know he’s going to take care of me. When me and Jack are by ourselves no one has the ability to say ‘I don’t know why you’re with her when there are plenty of white girls you could have married’. That shit hurts like no other. It has happened plenty of times before, but I try to not let it bother me. I’m always wondering in the back of my mind if I’m good enough and I know that there are a lot of other black women who feel the exact same way.”

“I.. I think you should tell him. You have been holding this in for too long. You literally have tears in your eyes from holding this in. I’m so sorry you have to go through that but let that bitch say something else and I catch her. It’s on sight.”

“I.. I don’t know if I can.”

“That’s your husband and you can talk to him about anything. His wife is hurting and needs to know why.”

“I’ll tell him eventually.”

“No, not eventually, tonight. After the show, you need to tell him.”

—

Jack could tell that you had been off ever since that incident with Kara and he was doing his best to cheer you up and get you to smile, but nothing was really working.

The both of you were laying down in a comfortable silence when you thought it’s now or never.

You needed to get this off of your chest and soon because it literally felt like a crushing weight and you were struggling to come up for air.

“Babe?”

“Yes, mamas?”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course you can.”

“What… what made you date Kara and then suddenly turn around and date me?”

“What do you mean baby?”

“Kara is white and I’m obviously not.”

“Where… where is this coming from? What she said earlier today?”

“She has always had it out for me ever since we were in high school and I know it’s because of me being black and according to her, I stole her man.”

“I like you for you and it wasn’t a race thing. That was literally not even on my mind when I first saw you. How did you steal me when I’m the one who asked for you to be my girlfriend? I thought Kara was nice until I found out she was bat shit crazy and that’s why we only dated for three months and truth be told that was way too long. But, she is absolutely nothing compared to you.”

“You aren’t really hearing what I’m saying.”

“Baby, I am. She is nothing compared to you like I said and come on didn’t I marry you?”

“But, there are people who have it in their minds that interracial relationships shouldn’t be a thing.”

“Who the fuck said that? I’ll go and kick their ass right now.”

“In general, babe.”

“Like I said, I love you for you and fuck everybody who thinks that. Try not to let this bother you anymore baby girl. There is literally no one on this earth that I’d rather be married to.”

“Easier said than done.” You quietly muttered under your breath as you scooted closer to your husband and drifted off in a restless sleep..

Jack woke up to see that his wife wasn’t next to him in her usual place and he was clearly confused. 

He could probably count on one hand in the past ten years the number of times that you woke up before him and it was definitely few and far between.

“Baby?”

No answer.

“Baby girl?”

No answer.

“Mamas, where you at?”

No answer.

Jack looked all over the suite for you and panicked when you were nowhere to be found.

Oh

And your suitcases were missing too.

If Jack had only been panicking before, he was unhinged now.

He had steadily called your phone multiple times only for it to go straight to voicemail which made him pull at his curls indicating his frustration.

Smush- Baby girl where are you?

Smush- Babe, what is going on and why aren’t you answering your phone?

Smush- Y/N come on and answer your phone. Baby you got me panicking over here. I need to know if you’re safe

When Jack didn’t get a response from you, he immediately called Urban to see if by some miracle that you were with him or knew where you were.

“URB!”

“What? Damn. Why you yelling this early in the morning?”

“BECAUSE MY WIFE IS MISSING!”

“Wait, what?!”

“I CAN’T FIND Y/N AND HER SUITCASES ARE GONE.”

“But she wouldn’t just get up and leave without saying anything to anyone. That isn’t like her to just up and run off like that.”

“Apparently now it is! Has Yasmin seen her?”

It was quiet for a few minutes and he assumed that Urban was asking her if she knew anything.

Jack’s stomach immediately dropped when Urban had told him no.

“Just try to calm down, we’ll find her.”

“How am I supposed to calm down?! Urb, IT’S MY WIFE WE’RE TALKING ABOUT!”

“Jack, I know and she’s my best friend. She’ll be back before you know it.”

There you were laying in your mom’s lap crying your eyes out at home in Louisville, Kentucky.

You waited until Jack was in a peaceful sleep before you made your escape.

You threw your clothes in your suitcases and booked the first flight back home that you could find. 

You were overwhelmed and everything happening around you finally made you come to your breaking point.

The pressure of being famous

Making sure you didn’t say the wrong thing so that they wouldn’t be able to twist your words 

Being a good wife to Jack

As well as being a good friend and a good sister, and a good daughter

“Now, is my baby girl going to tell me what’s wrong? You have been crying ever since you got here and you haven’t uttered a word.” Your mom asked while moving some of your curls out of your face.

“We don’t have to kill Jack do we?” Your big sister Danielle asked and you immediately shook your head no.

Your father then walked into the room to take the scene in front of him looking at his favorite girls.

You were close to both of your parents as well as your sister, but you had always been a daddy’s girl.

It hurt him to see his youngest daughter upset and would do anything to fix what was going on when suddenly they heard your voice for the first time.

“I’m so overwhelmed and I’m tired of feeling like I’ll never be good enough.”

“What… what makes you think that?” Your dad asked before coming to sit next to Danielle who was sitting on the couch across from you and your mother.

“I have dealt with people being racist towards me ever since Jack became famous and I.. the rude and mean comments left underneath my pictures, the dirty looks when I’m with him as well as the stares, the feeling that no matter how good I am at what I do, you know that society will never see us on the same level as them and I just don’t feel good enough. It’s a sad reality when men who share the same race as you don’t even like you and talk so bad about you but then when you get with someone who is of a different race all of a sudden they have a problem and are calling you a traitor. Black women cannot fucking win and I am so tired of it.” You said through sniffles and there was nothing but silence as they were taking in what you were saying.

“I know that you raised me to work twice as hard to get half of what they have and to find someone who loves me for me despite what race they are which I’ve done. I couldn’t be happier being married to him and that is the honest truth, but I just got so overwhelmed. I know that it’s something that is never going to go away, but still. Why the fuck do people have to be so mean?”

“Have you told Jack how you feel?”

“I tried last night, but I don’t think he understood the direction that I was coming from. So when he was sleeping, I left.”

“Wait, so he doesn’t even know where you are?!”

“No.”

“And you already know he is probably pulling his hair out looking for you and freaking out.”

“I know I should have told him, but I needed to get out of there. His ex-girlfriend showed up to his meet and greet yesterday and almost let a certain word slip from her mouth before Jack and Urban shut it all the way down.”

“SHE DID WHAT?!” All three of them collectively said at the same time and you simply nodded your head.

“What’s her name?”

“Kara Hamilton and apparently she’s trying to break into the industry with her clothing line and I heard she does make up too.”

“She got another thing coming if she thinks for a second that she can mess with my baby sister and get away with it. I’m surprised you didn’t fight her.”

“I told Yasmin the same thing. I get tired of fighting all the time.”

“But, back to Jack. You know we taught you better than to run away from your problems. That isn’t how marriage works and it’s only a matter of time before he’s calling us to see…”

Just then your dad’s phone went off indicating that he had an incoming call from no one other than your husband.

Jack was extremely close to your parents just like you were to his and would talk to them all the time.

There have been times when you called Maggie at three in the morning because you needed advice from her and of course she always welcomed you with open arms.

Your dad went into his home office before answering his phone.

“Hey Jack.”

“Please tell me you know where my wife is because I am over here losing my mind.” Jack pleaded through the phone and it almost sounded as if he was in tears.

“She’s here.”

“Why didn’t she say anything to me?! I don’t even know what brought this on. She’s never done anything like this before. Did she tell you anything?”

“She did. She’s overwhelmed with everything going on around her and she mentioned the pressure on her from being in an interracial marriage.”

“But, why would she keep that from me?”

“I’m not sure but knowing Y/N and how she is, she keeps things in until it gets to be too much and then everything is hitting her all at the same time. Back in my day being with a white man was taboo for black women. Not a lot of people were down with the swirl and truth be told they still aren’t to a certain extent. Even though it is more accepted than it was before, the trauma is still there rooted in us, and that’s where Y/N is insecure about your relationship. She loves you to death, we can all see that, but she’s insecure because of that trauma. It’s a matter of them, them being black women being worthy to be loved by anyone, especially from those outside our race because they don’t get as much love here either.”

“Wait, are you serious?” Jack curiously asked taking this all in.

“Yeah, most men are like that here. I’m not ignorant and see no difference, but a lot of black men don’t see black women as their equal. They treat them horribly as if they were a stranger.”

“But how does that work? Ain’t they momma black?”

“Exactly. I don’t get it either. But yes, my point exactly. So when black women go out and seek love from other races, it’s automatically a problem. Y/N loves you, and I don’t want you to forget that. But she’s… the trauma is rooted in her that she’s not good enough. For anybody. And it’s not because of anyone before you, but this standard that society holds black women to.”

Jack was speechless.

After your dad spent a few more minutes talking to Jack on the phone, he came back to join the rest of you in the living room once again.

Your tears had now dried and your sister had taken the liberty of getting you one of your favorite desserts from your favorite bakery in Louisville in hopes of cheering you up.

You were halfway through the mini cheesecake when you heard your dad.

“That was Jack, baby girl.”

Your heart immediately skipped a beat and you looked over at him.

“What did you tell him?”

“That you were safe and why you ran.”

“Did he sound mad?”

Now you were starting to feel a tad guilty because of how you just left without telling him anything.

“No, he sounded scared shitless.”

“Hmm.”

“And that you’ll be on a plane to meet him in the next city.”

“WHAT?! DAD!”

“No, lil bit. The same way you told us how you felt needs to be heard by him too. We don’t run from our problems especially in marriage because it never ends well. He deserves to hear this from you.”

As much as you didn’t want to admit it, he was right.

It was now 2 am and you were now about to board a flight to Miami when you decided to turn your phone back on.

You were immediately bombarded with missed calls and messages from Jack, Urban, Curse, Neelam, 2fo, Quiiso, Shloob, Nemo, Ace, Saweetie, Normani, Megan, SZA, Druski, Nas, and even Dua.

Your mind was still racing about what had taken place two days before, but you knew that you couldn’t hide from it or your husband much longer.

He had already learned that you were in Louisville and would have no hesitations to come and get you himself.

It was literally only a matter of time. 

Just then a new text came through from Curse.

Curse- Your husband is losing his mind. Please tell me you’re coming back soon.

You- I’ll see you in Miami

You turned your phone back on as you had gotten settled in first class in the hopes of drifting off to sleep so that you would be able to confront your husband as much as you didn’t want to. 

As promised, you were now sitting in the living room area of the suite that you and Jack would be sharing on the couch simply staring off into space.

You had landed around 8 in the morning and you let Neelam know so that she could send you the details about where everyone would be staying for the next three nights.

Once you reached the suite, you collapsed onto the couch and haven’t moved since.

You knew he would be awake soon and was just waiting for him to make an appearance.

You decided that to feel better, you would take a hot shower and changed into something more comfortable.

Once you had finished and had successfully made sure not to wake up your husband, you went back into the living room to turn on the television for some background noise.

You were only out there for maybe 45 minutes before you heard his footsteps.

He came and quietly sat next to you while you continued to look at the tv.

“Baby girl, I talked to your dad.” Jack started while taking your small hand in his larger one.

“Mmm hmm, I heard.”

“I’m sorry baby. I never knew… you went through that.”

You remained silent as the tears were threatening to fall once again, not trusting your voice to speak because you knew they would.

“I never knew what black women went through when it came to dating and I didn’t know how that trauma instilled that fear in you.”

You finally glanced over at him and was waiting for him to continue.

“I’d choose you over anything and anybody and I asked you to be my girlfriend because of who you are and how you captivated me when I first met you, not because I wanted some shot at the title or some weird shit like that. And that the fact that fear is instilled in you because of society… I’m so so sorry baby girl. But please know that I am here for you. I love you and you’d have to kill me to get rid of me.”

“I know, I’ve tried.”

“HUH?!”

“I’m kidding, or am I? But seriously thank you boo bear for reassuring me. For the longest time, I didn’t feel whole as a black woman. I didn’t feel like I could date anybody, but then I met you and I fell in love with such an amazing person. I just… love you so much and I don’t know why I let her or anyone else allow me to lose sight of that.” You said as the tears were now beginning to fall and Jack immediately slid you onto his lap and cuddled you into his chest.

“It’s not your fault. And look, you’re always worthy. For anything, not just for me but for the awards, the features, the honors, the gratifications, the hits, the bangers, the money, all of it and you deserve the world. You’ve worked for it and worked hard. Twice as hard as anyone I’ve seen and now I definitely know why. You deserve everything you have, baby girl, and don’t you forget it.”

Liked by y/ninsta, urbanwyatt, saweetie, softtcurse, danivalentine, champagnepapi, maggieharlow, theestallion, druski2funny, and 9,806,742 others

jackharlow: To my beautiful wife Y/N, I didn’t realize the weight that you were carrying on your shoulders from being a black woman in this society. Every day I am amazed by no matter what people may say about you, you get up and give it your all. From the time I first saw you, you captivated me at 14 and even at 24 you captivate me just the same. I have the greatest wife in the universe and no one else compares or will even come close to the love that I have for you. We’re almost five years in with a lifetime to go, words can’t express how much I love you and don’t you ever forget that. I’ll always be here for you.

Until the end of time 💖

y/ninsta: Jackman Thomas, you stole my heart at 14 and haven’t let it go. Love you boo bear.

urbanwyatt: y/ninsta love you best friend and don’t ever pull that shit ever again. had us ready to call the FBI

y/ninsta: urbanwyatt I promise I won’t

softtcurse: y/ninsta I love you mamas!

y/ninsta: softtcurse love you more!

softtcurse: oh I didn’t tell you this! little miss now has no job since she wanna be racist towards people Let this be a lesson Kara Hamilton I DON’T PLAY ABOUT MY GIRL!

y/ninsta: CURSE 😭😭😭😭

saweetie: don’t let me see her because it’s on sight

danivalentine: saweetie I second this. I don’t play about my baby sister

softtcurse: y/ninsta you know she was probably jealous because she has no lips and has an ashy personality. Urban confirmed this.

jackharlow: why are yall always ready to throw hands?! I mean she definitely deserves it but damn

normani: we don’t play about ours over here!!

y/ninsta: jackharlow come give me kisses

jackharlow: y/ninsta you know you never have to ask 🥰

y/ninsta: jackharlow patiently waiting for you to put a baby in me 😉

jackharlow: SAY LESS MAMAS

Taglist:

@harlowsbby

@babyharleezy

@hoodharlow

@stefansalvatoresgf

@jackiehollanderr

@primadxna-girl

@dessmxsworld

@cockslutslurper3000

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[bananaofswifts]

HOW DO WE measure the impact of a musician in 2023? Streams can be bought. Awards can be finessed. Is it when demand for show tickets leads to a congressional hearing about Ticketmaster’s policies? Or when flight attendants shout out a fanbase making a pilgrimage to see a tour opener? Or when TikToks of merch inspirations and setlist predictions rack up millions of views? Nearly a decade ago, a headline ran declaring ‘Taylor Swift Is The Music Industry’ and those with even the slightest pulse on pop culture can tell she’s only grown more omnipresent since. It all led to a warm evening in Glendale, Arizona where months after delivering her most commercially-successful album to date, Midnights, Swift debuted a discography-spanning setlist that lasted over three hours and kicked off an aptly-named stadium run. The Eras Tour has arrived.

The sheer length of the set is a feat, but not completely surprising considering the breadth of catalog at Swift’s disposal. Watching the 12-time Grammy winner take the stage right at 8pm, and continue past 11pm triggers the often overused cliché: Who’s doing it like her?

After night had fallen and GAYLE and Paramore revved the crowd up with a mix of recent chart-toppers (GAYLE’s “abcdefu”) and cultural anthems (Paramore’s “Misery Business”), it was time for the main event. At 7:57pm, a timer appeared on a massive screen prompting screams from all corners of State Farm Stadium. Lesley Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me” played as fans braced themselves for the arrival of Swift. When the timer hit 0:00, the house we’d seen in the “Lover” music video assembled on the screen, indicating that this evening was first and foremost about reviving the feelings each era evoked.

“So tonight, we’re going to be going through an adventure, one era at a time,” Swift said. “We’re going to be exploring the last seventeen years of music that I’ve been lucky enough to make and you’ve been kind enough to care about.”

It’s easy to compare one of Swift’s stadium shows to something you’d see on Broadway — never has that been more true than for The Eras Tour. The setlist is cut up into acts, grouped together by eras for each of Swift’s ten studio albums. For each era/act, Swift went full-send into that album’s look, feel, costume, color blocking, and more.

Many eras got a few songs. At one moment, it seemed like Swift’s soft spot for Folklore would mean we’d hear the entire album. On the opposite end, Speak Now’s part of the show was short but impactful. Swift played only one song from her third studio album, “Enchanted,” while wearing a stunning floor-length ballroom gown designed by Nicole + Derr. Hopping from act to act, Swift made it extremely clear when she’s taking the audience out of one era and into another. This isn’t a hastily put together setlist with a vague thread of connective tissue — Swift is taking her audience on a nostalgic extravaganza.

For both Swift and her fans, it’s been a long road to get to The Eras Tour kickoff. Friday night’s opener was four projects, millions of record sales, and over 1,500 days removed from the last tour stop on the Reputation stadium tour in 2018. Plus, who can forget the Ticketmaster fiasco in handling the sale of The Eras Tour tickets, which not only prompted an apology to Swift from the ticketing monopoly but also for Congress to investigate.

In perhaps a sympathetic nod to the canceled Lover Fest, Swift began the festivities with the Lover era. Wearing a jaw-dropping Versace bodysuit, Swift launched into “Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince” for the opening number. Swifties eager to see “Cruel Summer” live weren’t disappointed, as Swift strutted down the catwalk towards the stadium’s center, belting out the fast-paced bridge eager to deliver what stans had snatched away from them due to pandemic-related cancellations.

For “The Man,” Swift completed her Versace look with a blazer and made sure everyone could see the red bottoms when she kicked her feet up on a conference room table as she delivered the masterfully written and scathing assessment of gender inequality in pop culture. Swift closed out the Lover era act with “You Need to Calm Down” and “The Archer,” the latter getting a beautifully stripped down rendition so Swift’s vocals echoed across the stadium: “Because all of my enemies started out friends / Help me hold onto you.”

At one point, as Swift ran through hits from her Fearless era, she flashed a smile and announced to the crowd that she was taking us back to high school with her. The nostalgia seeped into the show, resulting in some of the loudest crowd participation yet, especially from those old enough to have grown up with Swift and were in high school at the same time she was. The singer ran through “Fearless,” “You Belong With Me,” and “Love Story,” reminding us of a time when we discovered the pop phenomenon unbeknownst to the level of celebrity she’d achieve.

Something about Swift — she’s online. If the fact that she decided to end last night with the TikTok-friendly “Karma” doesn’t make that obvious enough, her joke about disliking Evermore hammers home the point.

“We’re currently in the middle of the Evermore album, which is an album I absolutely love despite what some of you say on TikTok,” Swift said with a grin.

Later on in the act reserved for her ninth studio album, in line with how theatrical the event was, Swift set up a beautiful dinner setting only to deliver a heart-wrenching rendition of “Tolerate It.” She also performed “Tis the Damn Season,” “Willow,” “Marjorie,” and “Champagne Problems,” giving fans a sizable taste of the Evermore live experience they weren’t able to receive when the project came out in 2020.

For the acts dedicated to Reputation and Red, fans were treated to a masterclass in visuals and hitmaking, two key elements that has assured Swift prolonged success for as long as she’s had it. The powerful, striking, snake motifs were an awesome callback for fans who attended the Reputation tour.

For Red, Swift went through “22,” “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” and “I Knew You Were Trouble. She closed out the act with a beautiful performance of the 10-minute “Taylor’s Version” of “All Too Well.” In the evening’s most ethereal moment, small white confetti made to look like snow blanketed the State Farm Stadium as she neared the end of her magnum opus, singing “Because in this city’s barren cold/I still remember the first fall of snow/And how it glistened how it fell/I remember it all too well.” Not only is Swift a savant for world-building, but she’s perfected the ability to translate those worlds into the live experience.

Swift wasn’t shy about making sure people got the full Folklore live experience. A makeshift cabin, not unlike the one made during Swift’s 2021 Grammys performance, sat on the stage with Swift perched on it during “Invisible String.” The star also discussed how she finally got comfortable crafting narratives for purely fictional characters, rather than ripping them from the headlines about her life.

“Folklore was such a different album for me. I start writing it about two seconds into the pandemic. I was just so very aware of how much time I was going to have to spend away from you,” Swift explained before launching into “Betty,” “The Last Great American Dynasty,” “August,” “Illicit Affairs,” “My Tears Ricochet,” and “Cardigan.” “With this album, I thought it would be so fun to create characters, and storylines, and they can live in different times, and then can do all of these things, and they could fall in love and hurt each other and go to war…”

1989’s era act turned the party up and restored the energy, with Swift donning a Roberto Cavalli top and skirt and going through “Style,” “Blank Space,” “Shake It Off,” “Wildest Dreams,” and “Bad Blood.”

To cap off the evening, Swift returned to Midnights, performing album highlights “Lavender Haze,” “Mastermind,” and more. It was hard to ignore the immense gratitude the singer continued to exude throughout the evening, with the “thank yous” coming more and more often the closer she got to the end.

Eventually, the singer asked the crowd if they had time for one more and launched into her finale, “Karma,” a track with a passionate chorus that’s begging to be scream-sung in a room of about 60,000 who’ve been waiting for this exact moment for years. Maybe it’s fitting that an artist who’s had more than her fair share of ups and downs, and at times has been the most polarizing musician alive, ends her stadium tour opener with a song about how she can finally protect her peace. Karma’s a relaxing thought, indeed.

The Eras Tour is a feat. It’s live music at its highest spectacle and greatest excess. And for most, without the catalog and showmanship of Swift, it’d be too much. But 17 years into her career, maybe we ought to stop being surprised when she finds a way to top her own efforts year after year. Towards the end of Paramore’s set, Swift’s good friend Hayley Williams said we had gathered that evening to celebrate Swift’s incredible career. There’s something funny about a greatest hits concert for someone who’s never been more in her prime, isn’t there?

[the1975attheirverybest]

Maybe I'm dumb, but I'm a newer fan of The 1975 and a few of the other Dirty Hit bands andd...did Jamie do something? 😅 like when i found out who he was, he was one of those people where i just...got the vibe that he wasn't great, but i thought i was reading into things so just curious, don't have to answer, but has Jamie ever actually done anything? (sorry if this sounds bitchy towards you either/targeted at your last post, that wasn't my aim 😭)

Awww, welcome to the fandom baby 🩷

Yeah, your sense about his vibes is true hahaha.

1. He’s absolutely shit at his job. He’s the sole CEO of DH and yet does nothing for the label. Not that he’d have time to since he’s always on tour with the boys. Like if he’s not there to actually run the label no wonder it’s clumsy.

2. He doesn’t really care about any of the artists that aren’t the 1975. He doesn’t promote others as much or put as much effort. Except I guess recently Bleachers. Cuz Bleachers signed with DH a few months ago. And I mean nobody wants to cross Jack Antonoff.

3. He’s so obsessed with kissing Matty’s ass it’s pathetic soemtimes. Which is insane since he doesn’t channel that energy into doing his job to keep matty / the band happy and successful. Even at the beginning of their career, if it wasn’t for Matty’s stubbornness and annoying personality, they wouldn’t have booked as many gigs. The boys do more work for themselves than Jamie.

4. He absolutely doesn’t know how to handle bumps in the road. He did fuck all when Matty’s reputation was in the toilet this summer. Rina (a dirty hit artist) literally went onstage and called Matty out MORE THAN ONCE. What do you think that looks like if people from his own label are doing that? Not to mention her stuff about how he owns her masters or whatever. Seemed like she was trying to send a message and that says to me that Jamie isn’t taking care of his artists the way that he should.

5. His unprofessional behavior towards fans. He went against Matty and the boys wishes when he opted into platinum pricing for tour and when we complained about it he replied to dms saying that “everyone needs to chill.” Like don’t tell me how to feel about spending my hard earned money on the band even AFTER Matty had said he doesn’t approve of jacking up prices etc.

6. He spends more time posting memes about “controversial” matty stuff than he does working. And when the whole Taylor stuff happened, he was posting himself listening to Taylor Swift at the height of the whole are they together / did they break up drama.

7. His feet.

[sowoozoo-7]

Love, Lust & Litigation | Ch 1

Pairing: Jungkook x Fem Reader x Namjoon

Genre: lawyer!AU, coworkers to lovers, slow burn, eventual smut

Rating: M (18+) whole fic, this chapter PG-13 (for language lol)

Warnings: some swearing in this chapter, nothing explicit

Word Count: 4k

Summary: Unfortunately, you have developed a massive crush on your new boss. Even more unfortunately, your equally attractive coworker is also harboring massive crush on your boss. AKA Jungkook and reader both pine for big, sexy brain Namjoon. 

A/N: Phew! Here she is! The first chapter of my first fic. This has been slowly chewing away at my brain for the last few months, and I finally decided to say fuck it and write it. I don't know anything about law or lawyers other than what I've seen from movies and read in books so I'm sure I've gotten something wrong, but whatever, it's my own alternate made up universe.

Anyway, I’m new to all this — longtime reader, first-time poster — so I’d love feedback if you have any! Hope you like it ~

mlist | ch 1 | ch 2 | ch 3 | ch 4 | ch 5 | interlude | ch 6

Two hours into your new job at Bang and Associates, and you’ve already made a fool of yourself.

The first couple of hours went smoothly. Check-in with HR was all standard forms, waivers, and NDAs, and the view from your new office is killer. 

Though your new boss and the other associate on the litigation team are at court for the morning, you get to meet two of the paralegals on your team, Jimin Park and Hoseok Jung. They look like they just stepped out of a menswear ad, in their fitted suits and slicked back hair. You'd normally be wary of office workers who look a little too put together, but you get the sense that they’re going to be good coworkers from the few minutes you spend talking to them, both good-natured and quick to share a laugh. 

It’s when they’re giving you a tour of the office that your heel slips on a set of marble stairs and you find yourself briefly experiencing flight. You decide flying is overrated when you land on your ass and bounce down several steps. One of your shoes takes its own trip and lands a few yards away. You sit on the steps, frozen for a minute, with your bare foot just out there for the world to see. 

“Oh my god,” says Hoseok as he rushes down to the step where you landed. “Are you alright?” 

You’re quiet for a moment while you deliberate whether or not you’re going to cry. It’s inevitable that you’ll cry in front of your coworkers one day, but looking around, you see everyone else in the atrium glancing over at the absolute idiot who fell down the stairs on her first day. 

Not the day to cry, you decide. First impressions and all that. At least you wore a pantsuit today and not a dress.

“I think I’m okay,” you say with a rueful smile. “Just a bruised ego.”

Jimin retrieves your shoe and hands it to you with a sparkle of laughter in his eyes. “Another one bites the dust." It’s not malicious, you don’t think.

“He means that you’re not the first to slip down the stairs,” says Hoseok. “We think the janitors are polishing them extra to get back at all the asshole lawyers.” 

You limp for the rest of the office tour. 

***

You get sent to the courthouse after finishing the brief admin in the office to shadow your new boss, the firm’s superstar. 

Namjoon Kim is mesmerizing.

You have heard of his reputation — how could you not? Top of his class with a winning streak unmatched in the industry — but you have yet to see him in action. 

He lives up to his reputation. 

You sit at the back of the courtroom, trying not to put too much weight on your bruised ass, watching as he delivers his closing statement.

His voice is deep and measured, drawing everyone to the edge of their seat to hear every twist to the argument he’s crafting. You pity the opposition. They went first with their closing statement and now they’re squirming in their seats as Namjoon takes down every argument, point by point. The jury hangs on to his every world. 

Maybe it’s the way he carries himself, with a quiet confidence and authority, maybe it’s that he’s built like a tree and looks like a dream in his pinstripe suit. Whatever it is, you get the feeling that working under a beautiful genius is going to be some kind of Dantean torture. 

“Thank you, Your Honor.” 

You blink, realizing it’s over, and you watch as he goes to sit. Silence hangs in the court room in the brief second it takes the courtroom to snap out of their Namjoon-induced daze. The room shuffles as everyone shifts back in their seats. The closing formalities continue, with the judge sending the jury to deliberations. 

“Court is adjourned.” 

The room rumbles with a flurry of activity as everyone goes to exit. You hurry to catch Namjoon — you want to introduce yourself to your new boss as soon as possible — but you get lost in the shuffle of people filing out. By the time you catch up to him outside, he’s giving a press interview on the steps of the courthouse. 

You wait on the outskirts of the small crowd that’s gathered. Deja-vu hits as you watch the reporters lean in to hang on to his every word. He takes the questions with grace, and even a little humor, and smiles at a joke one of the reporters makes. 

Dear lord. He has dimples.

“Spectacular, isn’t he?” 

A young man stands next to you, smirking as if he knows how much you’re fangirling over your new boss. You recognize him as the second attorney at the defendant’s counsel table. The remaining member of the litigation team. 

If you weren’t so preoccupied with Namjoon, you’d be mooning over this man instead. His just-messy-enough-to-show-he-doesn’t-care hair frames his face in waves. An eyebrow piercing and a lip piercing glint in the late morning sun. Tattoos decorate the back of one of his hands. He would look like a punk kid up to no good, but you can the tell the suit he’s wearing costs more than your monthly rent. Jesus. Is everyone in the office just a walking GQ campaign?

“Excuse me?” 

“Namjoon,” he says with a smile that changes his expression entirely, from a little rakish to boyish in its delight. “I call it the Namjoon Effect. No one’s immune. I think it’s the dimples.” He puts out his hand to shake yours. “Jungkook Jeon. I’m th—“

“The other associate on the litigation team. I know.” You shake his hand and introduce yourself. “Looking forward to working with you.” 

“Ah, I thought it was you. Jimin texted me to look out for you today.” 

The impromptu press conference breaks up and Namjoon ushers his client down the stairs. 

“Come on, I’ll introduce you,” says Jungkook, flying down the steps. You follow at a slower pace, the twinge in your hip reminding you of your fall earlier that day. Still, you try to strike a confident stride in your heels. First impressions and all. 

Namjoon pats the roof of the private car he has bundled his client into and straightens as Jungkook claps him on the shoulder. 

“I thought we weren’t going to talk about any type of evidence to the press.” 

Namjoon raises an eyebrow. “The PR team said that. I didn’t agree to anything. Besides, it’s the same evidence we presented at the trial, just in a different light. Even if we have a less-than-favorable verdict, we’ll still have the public on our side.” 

Jungkook rolls his eyes. “Why do you even bring me with you?” He sees you and gestures you over. “Namjoon, may I present your latest lackey.” 

“I resent that,” you say, mock-frowning and pointing a finger at Jungkook. “But you’re not wrong.”

You introduce yourself to Namjoon and shake his hand. It’s warm and firm. You hope yours isn’t cold and clammy. “Pleasure to be working with you.” 

“Pleasure’s all mine. I’ve heard great things from your former boss,” he says with a smile. There go the dimples again. He glances at his watch. “Shall we discuss our caseload over lunch?” 

You feel a little thrill at being included in the “our.” Bang and Associates have a reputation for working on some of the most high-profile cases in the city and you’re ready to dig your greedy little fingers into the cases. 

“Cat’s Pajamas?” asks Jungkook. He doesn’t wait for an answer. “I’ll drive.”

Namjoon sighs as Jungkook turns to walk towards the garage. “He always weasels his way into lunches. I swear he’s a never-ending pit,” he says with a note of fondness for the younger man. 

Cat’s Pajamas is an airy bistro just a few blocks away from the offices. There’s a sizable lunchtime crowd, filled with self-important business people taking their clients out to lunch. Jimin and Hoseok meet your group at the restaurant. 

You wince at you sit down, rubbing at the side of your hip. The bruise you expected from the fall is developing faster than you thought. 

“Are you okay?” Namjoon asks. 

He and Jungkook look at you with concern.

You wave them off. “Just a bruise.” 

Jimin shakes his head. “The marble stairs have claimed their newest victim.” 

“Ah,” says Jungkook with a knowing nod. “I almost broke my wrist when I fell down those stairs a couple months ago. It’s practically a rite of passage at Bang and Associates at this point.”

“Looks like you’re already part of the team,” says Namjoon, lifting his water glass in a toast.

***

The rest of the day passes quickly.

You return to your office to find a stack of documents already on your desk, with a sticky note from Hoseok on top. Welcome to the team!!!! it says, with a big looping smiley face next to it.

You slip out of your heels and bring your legs up under you as you settle into your desk, a routine study position that has followed you from college through to your professional life. There’s nothing you like more than finding your way in the maze of paperwork and laying out your trail in court. You lose yourself in the legalese, getting familiar with an ongoing case that Namjoon mentioned over lunch. 

Jungkook pulls you into his office when you’re returning from the bathroom to strategize about the case. His office is exactly the same as yours, with enough space for two guest chairs, a large desk and a set of bookshelves crammed with leather-bound law books. And, your inner petty competitor is pleased to see, the view is also almost exactly the same. Of course, he has a slight advantage because he’s worked here longer, but you have the same job title, the same office. You’re almost on even footing. You’ve noticed a competitive streak in him, and you’re excited to play against it. It’s only going to make you a better lawyer. 

The “quick chat” turns into an hour-long discussion and you decide by the time you leave his office that you’ll head home at normal close of business hours. You’ll be staying late anyway as your caseload grows. 

You’re surprised to find a brown paper bag on your desk, one of the simple gift bags you can find at the drug store. Inside, you find a get well soon card with a cartoon of a man on a hospital bed in a full-body cast with a thermometer coming out of his mouth and an ice pack on his head. Inside, it reads: 

Even though your welcome to Bang and Associates was a painful one, I’m very happy to have you on the team and I look forward to working with you. Now you know to avoid the stairs :) 

-Namjoon

Inside the bag you find a bruise balm and a travel size pack of ibuprofen. Warmth spreads through you, pleased at the gift. There’s another layer to that warmth, a feeling that you don’t want to examine too closely, because he’s your boss, and you suspect (no, you know) it's inappropriate to feel that towards your boss. 

Later that night, though, as you’re applying the balm to the colorful bruise on your hip, you can’t help but think of his dimpled smile.

***

“You’re babying me.” 

You’ve won your first case for Bang and Associates. Your client, a rich young widow who married an older man for love, was the sole inheritor to his massive fortune. His children, some older than the widow, were upset that they got nothing in the will. As you worked with the client, you got the sense that she was genuinely sad about her late husband’s passing. Not that it made any difference. She was a paying client, and you had to represent her regardless, but it made rooting for her easier.

“I thought it was for sure a trick case and that there would be something to trip me up in the prenup, but it was so straightforward.” You’re in the elevator with Namjoon heading up to the office. He was present at the trial, to keep an eye on you to make sure you lived up to the promise of your initial interview.

He shrugs. “It’s nice to start off with a win. You’d be surprised with how many people don’t prepare or get wrapped up in how things should be and completely flounder.” He pats your shoulder as the elevator dings open. “You did good today. Good prep, good execution.” 

He nods a goodbye and heads to his office without looking back. You head to yours at a slower clip, your shoulder burning where he touched you. You feel warm overall anyway, knowing you did a good job, but the praise still feels good. A little too good, maybe. 

Over the next month, the cases get harder and harder, and you have to pull out the most obscure references from your time in law school. You start spending more and more time at the office, racking up insane amounts of billable hours. You have a permanent cup of coffee at your desk and you change into your fuzzy slippers you brought from home to give your feet a break from heels whenever a new case file lands on your desk for review. 

At least you’re not the only one pulling crazy hours. The rest of the litigation team often stays late. You fall in quickly with the guys, cracking jokes over the Nespresso machine you all hover around. They were wary of you at first, an unknown entity coming into the equation, but you proved worth after the second night you stayed late and cracked the key piece of a case buried in ancient tax laws. They treated you to drinks at the local watering hole afterward. The biggest reward though, was getting a small dimpled smile and a thumbs up from Namjoon before he called it a night.

It helps that your boss stays late with the rest of the team. Every time you come to him with a tricky case, without fail, he gives brilliant insight or a nudge in the right direction, giving you advice on where to look for the answer.  And when he goes to his fancy client dinners, he’ll always bring something back to the office when he inevitably stops by the office on his way home. You can’t say no to a good takeaway creme brûlée. 

One Friday afternoon, Namjoon pulls everyone into a meeting a half hour before close of business. “It’s been a tough few weeks. You’re all going home at five today.” He holds up a hand when the team starts to protest. “I’m going to be at Silver Spoon for happy hour. Drinks are on me. You don’t have to come, but you can’t stay here.” 

“I have too much work to do,” Jimin says with a pout. 

“I’m firing you if you don’t leave at five on the dot.” The good-natured threat falls easily from Namjoon’s lips. “That goes for all of you. Wrap up what you need to.” 

You spend the rest of the time cataloguing what you need to finish Monday morning. Usually you’d work Saturdays too, but with the promise of an early weekend, you decide everything can wait until open of business Monday. Well. Maybe you’ll work on that memo from home over the weekend, but everything else on your to-do list can wait. 

You join Jungkook and Hoseok at the elevator bank three minutes before the hour. 

“Think he’s gonna make it?” asks Hoseok with a laugh.

You check your watch. “Two minutes left. He’ll make it right at five.” 

“He’ll be two minutes over,” says Jungkook.

“I think five over,” says Hoseok. 

“Loser buys the nachos,” you say. They both shake on it.

Jimin runs into the elevator bank just as the clock ticks over to five. You pump your fist in victory while the other two groan. 

Jimin leans over to catch his breath. “I thought I wasn’t going to make it.” 

He straightens just as Namjoon rounds the corner from his office.

“Glad I’m not losing any of the team today.”

“And I get two sets of nachos,” you say, getting into the elevator behind the rest and pressing the button for the ground floor.

“Hobi gets the nachos. I’ll get the wings,” says Jungkook.

Jimin looks back and forth between you two, a confused pout on his face. “What did I miss?”

***

Silver Spoon is all leather and dark wood. Namjoon leads the way to a large booth in the back, waving to the bartender behind the gleaming wooden bar. 

“You know everyone,” comments Jungkook as you all pile into the booth. It ends up with Namjoon in the middle, you and Jungkook flanking him, Hoseok next to you, and Jimin next to Jungkook. 

“I’ve been working in this area a long time. It pays to get to know the people working at your favorite haunts.” 

Namjoon drinks whiskey, neat. Junkook orders a pint of the house craft beer. Hoseok has a glass of red wine, and Jimin has a double straight vodka. You get an elderflower spritz, light and refreshing in the unusually hot fall afternoon. 

The conversation deteriorates to work talk, as it usually does among coworkers. The nachos and wings follow the drinks, and everyone digs in. They’re good, just the right amount of elevated to make the price worth it, but not so fancy that the bar food is unrecognizable. 

Silver Spoon fills up as the finance bros and hedge fund managers who work in the area trickle in. You recognize a few former coworkers, and you raise your glass to them in a toast when they wave hello, but you don’t attempt to engage further. You don’t care to reconnect with them. The cutthroat, backstabbing environment at your last firm is what made you leave in the first place. Bang and Associates hires ambitious lawyers, but fosters a workplace that manages to keep the ones that are ambitions without the cattiness, encouraging a collaborative work environment over individual hotshot lawyers. You're settling into your new workplace just fine, thank you.

Namjoon gets a call shortly after the third round of drinks, and Jungkook and Jimin shimmy out of the booth to let him out so he can take the call in private. 

Hoseok picks up where the conversation left off, brainstorming where to start to research a tricky case. Jimin interrupts him before he can get a full sentence out.

“Uuuugh,” he says, dragging his hands down his cheeks. “Can we talk about anything but work?” 

“Please,” you say. 

Jimin looks at you with a mischievous grin and pops his chin onto his hand. He calls your name in a singsongy voice. “Are you seeing anyone?” 

You snort into your drink. “Do I look like I have time for a relationship?” 

“It’s amazing what you can get up to in our limited free time if you have some determination,” mutters Hoseok with a sidelong glance at Jimin. 

“Jimin is slowly working his way through the office,” explains Jungkook.

Jimin crosses his heart with his finger and holds a hand up. “All above-board with HR, of course.” 

“Doesn’t mean you haven’t left behind a trail of broken hearts,” says Hoseok. 

“They all knew what they were getting into when they consented to the relationship.” 

“Or lack thereof,” says Jungkook with a snort. 

Jimin turns to look at him, eyebrow raised. “Speaking of lack of relationships, still hung up on Namjoon?” 

Jungkook turns an impressive shade of red. “Stop, I’m not—“

“Ever since he broke up with his ex-girlfriend, he’s had this massive crush on Namjoon,” Jimin tells you.

“Shut up!” 

“We all see how you look at him,” says Hoseok, not unkindly. “Stars in your eyes when you think he’s not looking.”

So you hadn’t been imagining that. 

Jungkook’s only response is to chug the rest of his pint. 

“I don’t blame you,” you say, then freeze as three heads whip around to look at you. “What?” you ask, voice squeaky.

“Not you too,” groans Jimin. 

“What?” You hope the heat creeping up your face isn’t noticeable in the low bar lighting. “I have eyes. He’s attractive. You can’t deny that.” 

“And smart,” says Jungkook morosely. 

“And kind and he’s a good leader. I’m surprised you guys aren’t also harboring secret crushes,” you say, as if they’re the idiots for not having a massive crush on their boss. In reality, it’s terrifying to say these things out loud, everything you’ve been thinking over the past month you’ve been working at Bang and Associates. 

“Unfortunately, I’m straight,” says Hoseok. 

“And disgustingly in love with his fiancée,” sneers Jimin. “It’s actually sickening to see them together. She’s super pretty and an amazing dancer — you’ll see at the holiday party— and you really want to hate her but she’s also really nice on top of all that.” He takes the rest of his drink in one shot without a wince. You’d think he was sober if you hadn’t seen him down his vodka doubles like they were water. “And I’m not straight, but I know a lost cause when I see one. Namjoon’s practically married to his work. There are other men and women still waiting to be added to my bedpost.” He waggles his eyebrows in an exaggerated imitation of a leery cartoon character. 

“You’re disgusting, you know that?” 

“Thought I don’t know about Namjoon.” Jimin continues like he didn’t hear Jungkook’s comment. “I don’t think he’s married, because I’ve never seen a ring, and I’ve never seen him flirting or taking anyone home after drinks. No dates to company parties.” 

“Maybe he’s asexual,” says Hoseok. 

“That would be a shame because I bet he’s got a big d—“

Jungkook interrupts Jimin with an elbow to his side. He sits up straight, and you follow his line of sight to see Namjoon coming back to the table. They move out of the booth to give him his spot back in the middle. 

“Sorry about that. What are we talking about?” asks Namjoon as he settles in, just an inch closer than he had been sitting before. The intoxicating spicy smell of sandalwood that you’ve come to associate with Namjoon fills your nose and you suppress the urge to take a deep breath. 

You and Jungkook exchange guilty glances over the table. Jimin heaves a dramatic sigh, thankfully drawing Namjoon’s attention away from you two. 

“We were just bemoaning our single status. Not Hoseok, of course.”

“I’d be surprised if you all have time to date, what with the hours we’ve been pulling.” 

“How do you balance it all? Work, a social life, dating?” The question falls from your lips and you wish you could shove it back in your mouth. Jungkook kicks you from the other side of the table, and Jimin looks impressed that you actually asked the question. 

Namjoon lets out a hollow laugh. “I’m the wrong person to ask.” 

You exchange glances with Jungkook again. Does this mean he’s single? 

Before anyone can ask a follow-up question, a group of lawyers from the (mostly) friendly competition approach the table to make small talk. You want to shoo them away like pigeons so you can continue the conversation, but you busy yourself with your drink instead. 

Your coworkers disperse soon after, with Hoseok slipping away to go home first, red-faced and quiet. Namjoon talks to a group of his law school classmates by the bar. 

As the evening progresses, it’s painfully obvious to you now that Jungkook is mooning over Namjoon. You’d had your suspicions before, but after the conversation from earlier, the not-so-subtle glances make you cringe a little. You hope you’re not that obvious too. 

Not that Namjoon’s presence stops him from chatting up sone of the women who join your table. They work in the advertising firm a few floors below you, and you’ve gotten friendly with them over the past few weeks. The petite woman with the swishy blonde hair touches him a little more than necessary. 

You and Jimin exchange looks when you both clock her hand on Jungkook’s bicep for the third time in as many minutes. 

Jungkook and the blonde head out together not too long after. Good for him, you think, not getting so hung up on Nmajoon that he can’t focus on a different pretty face for the night.

When it’s just you and Jimin left at the booth, he leans in a little close. “What do you say you and me head out?” 

You laugh in his face. “I’m not going to sleep with you, Jimin.” 

He takes it in stride, and stands with a wink. “If you ever change your mind, you know where to find me.” 

He blows you a kiss before zeroing in on one of the finance bros who’s been looking over at your table for the past hour. He won’t know what hit him once Jimin is done with him. 

You don’t bother trying to pull someone at the bar, choosing instead to slip away without any fanfare. Though you’re no stranger to one-night stands, you’re looking forward to sleeping in and you can’t be bothered with the logistics of a hookup. Tonight, you have a date with your bed, and your bed only. 

The air has a bite to it as you step out of the bar, and you pull your coat around you as you hurry to the curb to your Uber. You settle into the back of the car as the driver pulls out into traffic. 

You can’t help but feel kinship with Jungkook, what with both of you lusting after the same ill-advised man. The city lights blur by and you let your eyes unfocus.

You wonder what would happen if you were the last three people left in the world. Would he go for you or Jungkook? In your buzzed state of mind, you think you really wouldn't mind sharing.

©sowoozoo-7 2023

Please do not copy or repost. I do not crosspost anywhere else.

[justforbooks]

When Tina Turner, who has died aged 83, walked out on her abusive husband Ike in Dallas, Texas, she feared it would spell the end of her showbusiness career. It was 1976, and she had been performing with Ike for two decades, since she had first jumped onstage and sang with his band at the Manhattan club in East St Louis, Missouri. Yet, although she was desperate and had only 36 cents in her pocket, she was on her way to a renaissance as one of the most successful performers in popular music during the 1980s and 90s.

She had to endure several lean years, but a turning point came in 1983, when David Bowie told Capitol Records that she was his favourite singer. A version of Al Green’s Let’s Stay Together followed. Produced by the electro-poppers Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh from Heaven 17, the track went to No 6 in the UK, then cracked the US Top 30 the following year.

Turner cemented the upturn in her fortunes with the album Private Dancer (1984). Driven by the huge hit What’s Love Got to Do With It? (her first American No 1), the album became a phenomenon, lodging itself in the American Top 10 for nine months and going on to sell more than 10m copies. Suddenly Turner was one of the biggest acts in an era of stadium superstars such as Michael Jackson, Dire Straits and Phil Collins.

In 1985 she was recruited to play Aunt Entity in the film Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, for which she recorded another international chartbuster, We Don’t Need Another Hero. A second Thunderdome single, One of the Living, won her a Grammy award, and she was an automatic choice to join the Live Aid benefit concert in that year, as well as to participate in its American theme song, We Are the World.

Her follow-up album, Break Every Rule (1986), launched Turner on a global touring campaign, during which a crowd of 184,000 watched her in Rio de Janeiro. The tour spun off a double album, Tina Live in Europe (1988).

The album Foreign Affair (1989) sold 6m copies and generated another trademark anthem, The Best, which was subsequently used to add oomph to numerous TV commercials and adopted both by the tennis ace Martina Navratilova and the racing driver Ayrton Senna. The subsequent Foreign Affair tour ended in Rotterdam in 1990, after which she duetted with Rod Stewart on the old Tammi Terrell/Marvin Gaye hit It Takes Two. Designed as the theme for a Pepsi advert, the track was a chart hit across Europe.

Turner was born Anna Mae Bullock in Nutbush, Tennessee, to Zelma Currie, a factory worker, and her husband, Floyd Bullock, a Baptist deacon. Abandoned by their father and temporarily by their mother, in 1956 Annie and her elder sister, Alline, moved to St Louis, Missouri, where they encountered Ike Turner and his band the Rhythm Kings. After Annie had talked the initially reluctant Ike into letting her sing with the band, he recruited her as one of his backing singers.

It was in 1960 that Tina – who had by then changed her name because it reminded Ike of the cartoon character Sheena, Queen of the Jungle – first sang a lead vocal with Ike’s band. A session singer failed to turn up, and Tina’s stand-in performance of A Fool in Love was a hit on both the pop and R&B charts. Ike immediately rebuilt his act around Tina, and christened it the Ike and Tina Turner Revue. They married in 1962.

Featuring nine musicians and a trio of skimpily dressed backing singers, the Ikettes, the Revue took the R&B circuit by storm. Tina rapidly developed into a mesmerising performer, radiating raw sexuality and bludgeoning audiences with the unvarnished force of her voice. They began to pepper the charts with hits, including I Idolise You, Poor Fool and Tra La La La La, and even if they only intermittently crossed over from the R&B charts to the pop mainstream, the band’s performing reputation was second to none. Evidence of their stage prowess was preserved on the 1965 album Live! The Ike and Tina Turner Show, recorded on tour in Texas.

However, the seeds of the couple’s destruction were being sown in their successful but intense lifestyle. Ike was a habitual womaniser, and also developed a destructive cocaine habit. This provoked violent outbursts against Tina, who, as she later revealed in her 1986 autobiography, I, Tina, was beaten, burned with cigarettes and scalded with hot coffee. She gained a glimpse of what life beyond Ike’s intimidating orbit might be like when she worked with the “Wall of Sound” producer Phil Spector in 1966. To Ike’s frustration, Spector refused to allow him in the studio while he worked on the single River Deep, Mountain High, which subsequently became regarded as a high point of both Spector’s and Turner’s careers.

The Turners’ work won them the admiration of many of their peers, not least the Rolling Stones, who invited them to open a UK tour for them in 1966, then to join them on their American tour in 1969. Mick Jagger was regularly spotted at the side of the stage during Tina’s performances, fascinated by her stage presence and dance routines. One of the high points of Live Aid in 1985 was Tina and Jagger performing together at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia.

Working with the Stones prompted the Turners to import a rock-orientated edge into their work, a ploy that worked most successfully when they recorded John Fogerty’s Proud Mary in 1971. It was their first million-selling single and a Top five hit on the American pop charts. In 1973 they notched up another landmark with Tina’s feisty composition Nutbush City Limits, inspired by her Tennessee origins. She took the role of the Acid Queen in Ken Russell’s film of The Who’s rock opera, Tommy (1975): her performance was one of its few critically acclaimed moments, though her spin-off solo album, The Acid Queen, made little impression on the charts.

After her split from Ike, Tina stayed with friends and was forced to survive on food stamps. When their divorce was finalised in 1978, she preferred to take no money or property from the settlement, to establish a complete break from her husband. She earned cash from TV guest appearances on the Donny & Marie and the Sonny & Cher shows, but her late-70s albums Rough and Love Explosion sold poorly.

In 1980 she signed a management deal with Roger Davies, an Australian promoter working in the US, who secured some lucrative engagements in Las Vegas. The following year the Rolling Stones galloped to the rescue once again by booking her as the opening act on their Tattoo You tour of the US, and she also appeared with Stewart in a California concert broadcast internationally by satellite.

By the time she was inducted (with Ike, though he was then in jail) into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, Turner had little left to prove. She was able to spend more time at the homes in Switzerland and the Cote d’Azur that she now shared with the German record executive Erwin Bach. A singles collection, Simply the Best (1991), reeled in more platinum discs as Turner entered the senior stateswoman phase of her career.

In 1993, as she launched her first US tour in six years, her film biography, What’s Love Got to Do With It, based on I, Tina, was released, starring Angela Bassett as Turner. The film brought forth a bestselling soundtrack album and another hit single with its opening track, I Don’t Wanna Fight.

A three-disc anthology, The Collected Recordings – Sixties to Nineties, appeared in 1994, and the following year came Turner’s recording of GoldenEye, the theme tune of the eponymous James Bond movie. The tour that accompanied her eighth studio album, Wildest Dreams (1996), became another record-breaker, grossing more than $100m in Europe alone. Twenty Four Seven (1999) teed up what Turner announced would be her last major arena and stadium tour. She had intended to tour with Elton John, but the idea was scrapped after she argued with him about the piano arrangement for Proud Mary during rehearsals for a TV special, Divas Live ’99. Her subsequent solo dates became the top-grossing tour of 2000.

A quiet period ensued, during which Turner confined herself to hand-picked events, such as a 2005 performance on the Oprah Winfrey Show. She contributed a version of Edith and the Kingpin to River: The Joni Letters (2007), a tribute album produced by Herbie Hancock. She performed alongside Beyoncé at the Grammy awards in 2008.

That October she went back on the road with the Tina! 50th Anniversary Tour, synchronised with the compilation album Tina: The Platinum Collection. In 2010 she became the first female artist to score top 40 hits in the UK in six consecutive decades (1960s-2010s) when The Best bounced back into the UK Top 10. Her Love Songs compilation appeared in 2014, and her remix of What’s Love Got to Do With It with the Norwegian DJ Kygo in 2020 made for a seventh decade containing UK hits.

Between 2009 and 2014 Turner appeared on four albums by Beyond, an all-woman group formed with her neighbours in Küsnacht, near Zürich. The music reflected the spiritual and religious beliefs of the participants, with Turner considering herself a Baptist-Buddhist (she was raised as a Baptist, but began practising Nichiren Buddhism in 1973).

In 2013 she married Bach and gave up her American citizenship to become a Swiss citizen. Three weeks after the marriage she suffered a stroke, and in 2016 she was diagnosed with intestinal cancer, then suffered kidney failure when “the toxins in my body had started taking over”, as she put it in her second autobiography, Tina Turner: My Love Story (2018). Her husband volunteered to give her one of his kidneys and a transplant operation was carried out successfully in 2017.

The following year, the biographical stage musical Tina opened at Aldwych theatre in London, directed by Phyllida Lloyd and starring Adrienne Warren in the title role. Turner received a Grammy lifetime achievement award, to go with her existing tally of eight Grammy awards and three Grammy Hall of Fame awards. Among her vast collection of honours, Turner also had five American Music awards, two World Music awards and three MTV Video Music awards.

In 2021 she joined the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an outright solo performer and sold the rights to her music catalogue to the publishing company BMG for an estimated $50m. Ready to retire fully, she bade farewell to her fans with the two-part HBO documentary Tina.

Alline died in 2010. Tina’s eldest son, Craig, from a relationship with the saxophonist Raymond Hill, took his own life in 2018. Ronnie, her son with Ike, died in 2022.

She is survived by Erwin and two sons, Ike Jr and Michael, from Ike’s first marriage.

🔔 Tina Turner (Anna Mae Bullock), singer and songwriter, born 26 November 1939; died 24 May 2023

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

[arse-crack-thistle]

rwrb characters and their eras tour outfits

so i saw this tiktok asking what we think alex and henry are wearing to the eras tour, so here’s what i think the super six would do if they were all going together (in new york, i assume)…

(in my head they all choose an era and base an outfit on that…probably nora and pez’s idea)

alex - he fights for reputation and wins. i’m thinking black, sparkle, and chains. leather jacket with a black rhinestone snake on the back and a black mesh crop top underneath. black distressed jeans cuffed over combat boots. chains around his neck and hanging from his jacket and pants. thin black sunglasses that he later uses to hold back his curls when the house lights go down. oh and he definitely has the sharpest black eyeliner on his lids.

henry - he has a choice: either live in his reputation era with alex or be his complementary opposite. so he chooses lover. i’m thinking ‘80s high school student with lover energy. light-washed jeans with white chuck taylors. tucked in, a loose-fitted pastel button-up with cuffed sleeves. maybe it has splotches of color or faded butterflies on it…idk some kind of print. on top, a hand painted jean jacket with “london boy” in loopy pink typography on the back. a glitter lover heart around his eye (bc nora insists).

nora - speaking of, i’ll keep this simple for her. a fully identical ring leader costume to what taylor had on the red tour. she may be an irl chaos demon but i think she’s anointed herself the unofficial leader of “super six does eras tour 2k23” so this fit is appropriate for her. i mean she almost made them all wear matching t-shirts like they’re a depressed cishet family at disney world but june talked her down.

june - the queen of fashion herself. this is the trickiest for me bc june wants to do folklore and just wear shortalls and the silver star cardigan to be comfy, but she’ll be damned before she doesn’t match the energy of the others. june goes with evermore and all in on “cowboy like me” to piss alex off since he almost went with rodeo wear. cropped cream fringe jacket with an elegant ivy embroidery on the back and trim. underneath, a bustier and shorts of the same fabric with the same embroidery. of course she’s wearing a cowboy hat, cream with the ivy details. and caramel cowboy boots (rounded toe bc she’s a utility girl). everything but the boots are custom made in austin.

pez - “this night is sparkling! don’t you let it go!” yeah so as soon as he saw taylor in all of her enchanted ballgowns, he knew he had to be her nigerian billionaire glitter prince. and that’s exactly what he does. he commissions a nigerian designer to make a suit and headpiece using akwete fabric in the colors of the speak now era’s visuals. all accented in rhinestones of course. he’s also all about the accessories with a watch, bracelets, necklaces, shoes, and glasses from various luxury brands. he does the absolute most, and everyone loves him for it.

bea - angel is in her midnights era, and i am here for it! bc of bullshit princess rules she couldn’t wear a bodysuit like she wanted. but no matter, she’s still going to shimmer. having not seen anyone do it yet, she literally learns to sew and diy’s a mini dress version of taylor’s yellow dress at the end of the bejeweled music video. it was totally, incredibly frustrating but she nails it! complete with lace, bows, and a little more sparkle, the dress hits so hard. she pairs it with sparkly louboutin boots and replicas of the hair clips and choker she bought off etsy. june helps her do taylor’s hairstyle from the video, while she does the makeup, beauty mark included.

so yeah that’s what i got. what do you think?? bc this is such a fun prompt and i could see each character doing like fifty different things lol <3

[danikamariewrites]

hi there!!! how are you?? hope everything is fine 🫶🏻🫶🏻

now, i was thinking something, i started to listen to taylor swift (I'm obsessed with her, and I love her so much 😭❤️‍🩹), and i just know that Aelin would be one of her biggest fans and also reader.

so imagine modern rowaelin taking reader to a taylor concert, like it was her dream and they would do anything for her 😭😭

SENDING LOVE!!! LOVE U!!! 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹

Eras Tour headcanon

Modern!Rowaelin x reader

A/n: they absolutely would be swiftys and would have a great time at this concert

When Taylor announced the Eras Tour you were so unbelievably excited

You ran into Rowan’s home office demanding a meeting in the living and then went to Aelin’s office demanding the same thing

You already had the power point set up on the tv as to why the three of you should go to the tour

The two of them sat, letting you finish your presentation with huge smiles on their face

Yeah Aelin and Rowan are Taylor fans and would go obviously but you felt the need to convince them

“And that concludes why we should go to the Eras tour. Thank you. Questions, concerns, hopes, dreams?”

“Obviously we’re gunna go!” Aelin yelled and you both jumped up and down holding hands screaming

The two of you looked to Rowan waiting for his answer, “What ever makes my girls happy. And I love Taylor too. I’m obviously dressing as Midnights.”

You all register for the presale and buy something from her website to give you a boost

By the grace of the Gods Rowan got the email with a presale codes

Aelin was so happy she started crying

The day of the presale you all took the day off work

The three of you got up early, you made a starbucks run while Aelin went and got food and Rowan sat in the living room watching his laptop with Ticketmaster open (we all sat there and watched Ticketmaster an hour before don’t lie)

You were so anxious you could barley eat

You and Aelin did chug your coffees tho which you might regret later

When it was time you were all yelling at the computer to load

Then the worst thing happened….Ticketmaster froze and no one knew what was happening

“What happened? Rowan what did you touch?” “Nothing Aelin! It just did that.” “No no no no no no no no WHAT IF WE DONT GET TICKETS!” “DONT SAY THAT Y/N!”

Of course you and Aelin scroll TikTok to find out what happened

You both made sure Rowan kept his eyes on the computer

When you jumped to the front of the line and could buy tickets you started screaming

“WE CAN CELEBRATE AFTER LETS GET THESE FUCKERS!” You yell

Rowan quickly picked out 3 floor seats bc they have money and want this to be a fun experience

And when he hit purchase and actually had the tickets the screaming started again

You were relieved and so very tired

So tired that you and Aelin ended up napping on the couch together for 3 hours

Now the real fun begins

Waiting for the show and picking/making your outfits is sm fun

Rowan goes as Midnights and Aelin can’t believe he picked a fun sparkly blue outfit

Aelin goes as reputation and has the coolest snake bodysuit

You go as Fearless and wear a gold sparkly dress with white boots

When the day came you were all so excited

You drew 13 on your hand and Rowan and Aelin’s

You got to the stadium super early

Got the merch you wanted (all 3 of you got the blue crew neck and a tshirt)

When Taylor took the stage you and Aelin didn’t stop screaming and singing and jumping around

Rowan obviously sang and danced with you guys

You cried during Marjorie

The surprise songs were your favorites

When the show was over you were dead tired

You couldn’t feel your feet and Aelin was begging Rowan to carry her

Rowan had made sure to hire a car for the night so you guys wouldn’t have to worry about driving home

He definitely carried both of you to the car

You were both falling asleep on his shoulder until he suggested McDonalds

The driver stopped and you got so much food

You pig out until you get home

When you get home it’s 1 am and you don’t even think you can change

The three of you just wash your face and strip passing out in a heap on the bed