#why they had to sing nonsense in english on a stupid beat why......

[aryshacore]

[ofmythsandmadness]

laughing like there’s any other answer (part two)

part two to ‘laughing like there’s any good reason to smile’.

SUMMARY - maybe he should have ignored the voices above his room. pretended he was sleeping, or out, or mysterious murdered and unable to acknowledge that she was back, drunk again, and still laughing. but alas, the heart wants what it wants and it rarely thinks things through.

WARNINGS - egregious usage of the word ‘toothpaste’ at one point, some foul language, the avoidance of a lot of questions. one mention of throwing up (but it’s v quick and literally just two words and we skate past it, nothing graphic). also, poor onomatopoeia usage, as though i wasn’t an english fanatic in high school. WORD COUNT - 3790. diego hargreeves x female insert.

A/N - this was meant to be just a quick happy writ. and now it’s a bittersweet (more bitter than sweet) mess that’s just making this story more complicated, haha. but it’s fine, she says, nervously laughing like she hadn’t just mucked up the singular happy piece she’s ever written.  i’m not sure how i’m doing, thanks for asking. :)

“IT’S ALL SO STUPID, DIEGO, BECAUSE PEOPLE COULD LIKE YOU.”

After the events of last week, Diego was certain he would never see her again.

Maybe he’d see her, but not her, her. Not the drunk-off-her-ass, mumbling about nonsense and threatening to throw herself out of cars woman, who laughed like she hadn’t a care in the world and called him really dumb, nonsensical nicknames for no reason at all. The one that he couldn’t get out of his head, no matter what he did; she haunted him even without being dead, and he was honestly impressed because that was a hard gift to master so fast.

 No, that was a rare sighting of a weird miracle - like a double rainbow, just way less exciting and hopeful.

But as the week progressed, he had not heard from her at all. She was a ghost. He couldn’t find her anywhere, not at least where she would normally be. Diego was certain she wasn’t dead, because he would have heard about that, but apart from the most morbid of options, he was out of clues as to where she could possibly be.

He had not been sure how he felt about that. At first, the absence of her presence was a nice break, and he could do as he pleased without any arguments  - but as the days went on and his dreams about the other night got stronger, he found himself curious. More than curious; worried. He didn’t want to have their last conversation be that bullshit.

“I like you, you know that?”

A week after they last spoke, and Diego was trying his very best to not care. It was a Tuesday, and Tuesdays were the days he ‘got off’. The stolen - ahem, borrowed - police scanner sat beside him, crackling every so often, but it didn’t say much more than the usual, professional bullshit that didn’t need his input on. He’d wait the night out, see if anything exciting happened, but he had a feeling it’d be a quiet night.

Diego stared at the punching bag in front of him, watching it sway every so gently. Sometimes he imagined a face on it, most times he didn’t, it was just fun to hit and slash. He probably shouldn’t, the little shits were expensive and Al hated his ass already, but-

THWANK.

To hell with it, anyways.

Two more knives joined their friends, quivering. But they didn’t stay long; Diego yanked them out of the soft flesh of the bag, groaning as he sank back down onto the chair. He threw them again, and then again, creating a sad pattern he often enjoyed after the work was done.

THWANK.

The silver metal glinted in the lamplight, cold and bright. The tip dug into the pad of his index finger; he ignored it and twirled the knife anyways.

THWANK.

An old song played in the back of his mind. He didn’t remember the words, but he remembered enough for it to be annoying as hell, repeating the few phrases over and over like a broken record. Diego tried to think of something else, replace the half-assed memory, and yet still the song played on. His only option was to try to listen to anything else, anything at all, but -

-THWANK.

It was quiet in the gym. The only people there were Al and himself, and neither were making much noise. He only knew the former was still there because of his groaning footsteps as he walked the worn wood above Diego’s head, and the occasional curse thrown out like a bullet towards nothing in particular. But the music of the daytime was gone, and with it had gone the hubbub of conversations, grunts and groans and whatever else atmospheric nonsense he normally got.

THWANK.

He didn’t like the quiet much. And he certainly did not like it then, with the stupid song stuck - why couldn’t he remember the name of it, or anything about it? Just a couple bars of an oldie he didn’t even like...some name with an ‘F’, maybe. A shithead singing out his poor heart for a love never returned back to him...why couldn’t there be any other song stuck?

Diego groaned and threw another knife. He poised another in his long fingers, twirling the handle without much thought before pulling back and -

“-what the hell don’t you get, huh?”

He froze. The knife fell from his hand; he fumbled to pick it up a second later, awkward and absent-minded. So focused on whatever Al was bitchin’ about then, he hardly realised he had squeezed too hard, and then-

“-OW!”

Diego roared with all the sound of a mouse, throwing himself off the chair and towards the small bathroom. The wound wasn’t deep, but it stung bright red and painful, scratching out his stupidness across his tender palm. He should have been more careful, he was always so careful with the things-

“-look...I know he’s here, mister!”

He paused again, scratch forgotten. That definitely was not Al.

“I don’t giv’a crap. We’re closed.”

“Uh...so why is this sign saying it’s open?”

“What - no, you just did that!”

Diego could scream. He would scream, if he wasn’t going to lose his job and home to Al’s pissed off ass - but he definitely, really wanted to, frustration bouncing around in his head like a toddler with a tantrum. Gone were all the thoughts of where Y/N was; all he could think about then, was stopping Y/N as soon as he possibly could.

He hurriedly wrapped gauze around his bleeding palm (which really didn’t do much, it just made the wound look worse) and left the bathroom. Taking the stair steps two at a time, it took him merely thirty seconds to get up to the main area.

“What the hell’s going on?” 

“Ah - see, I knew you had him hidden away somewhere!”

Al spun around and fixed his glare on Diego. “You know this lunatic?”

He sighed and nodded (not because he wanted to, but because he had to - there was no way she would walk away from this quietly). “Yeah, I know her. I’ll take care of it, Al.”

“You know, I put up with every single one of your stupid stunts, but I don’t appreciate-”

“-yeah, yeah, I know. I know,” Diego nodded, pretending to listen without hearing a single word of his boss’ speech. “I got it. C’mon.”

Y/N perked up then and stumbled over to him with the biggest smile he might have seen her ever wear in his whole life. If he wasn’t so pissed off…

“What happened to your hand, dear boy?”

He quickly retracted his grip, hiding the injured limb from her sight. “Nothin’.”

“Diego, I’m not stupid.”

“You sure? Cause turning up here, in the middle of the goddamn night on a Tuesday-”

-she yanked her arm away from his tight grip and carried on without him. Even as he protested and hurried behind her, somehow she remained faster, racing down the stairs with the grace of a newborn deer. All limbs and stumbles, but not a care in the world as she shouted something back at him he couldn’t quite catch.

“You can’t just be here.”

“And why not? I mean, you’ve shown up at my place without-”

“-that’s different.”

She stopped then and turned just as he reached her. Both chests heaved, and her eyes darted about his face as though piecing together a mosaic. He just watched her.

“And why is it different, my dainty...dear...Diego?”

“I...I-”

“-gotcha,” she whispered, before pushing the door in with a laugh. “Gotcha, ha - you just got beat by me - how does that feel? How does that feel?”

Diego groaned. “You’re an asshole.”

“And you’re a loser,” she crowed back. But her interest quickly strayed from him, eyes tracing the walls of the tiny space. “You know, I’ve never been here before.”

“Yeah, well-”

“-I like it! I was worried it’d suck total ass, but honestly, out of aaaall the guys’ rooms I’ve seen, this...this is pre-tty close to the top.”

He wasn’t sure whether to take it as a real compliment or not, but at least she didn’t seem interested in a response. It gave him the chance to head back into the bathroom and collect the gauze he had left all over the ground.

“Don’t you have,” he grunted, peeling off the fabric to reveal the sliced palm underneath, “work tomorrow?”

“Work, shmork.”

His teeth gritted. It wasn’t a bad cut, not at all - but it always had to be the shallowest that hurt the most. “Thought you were married to that shit.”

“We’re getting a divorce.”

“Holy shi-give a man a warning,” he retorted, stepping back as much as he could. Though, in the tiny bathroom, there wasn’t much of that - the backs of his legs hit the shower curtain, and she just looked on with a sloppy smile and lidded eyes. “How’d you move so quietly--”

She waved off his question and pushed into the tiny room. “You’re gonna make a mess, trying to deal with that. Let me, loser.”

“You’re drunk.”

“Tipsy. And I’ve got the hands of a surgeon, with or without,” she grinned, refusing even the slightest rebuttal in her triumphant claims. Without any hesitation, she reached for the bottle of peroxide and promptly poured it down his hand like it was water off a duck’s back. Her expression didn’t shift when Diego shouted in pain; she just kept up the swift work with his hand as her hostage.

“You’re a dick.”

“And you’re a little baby.”

“Rude.”

She stuck her tongue out his way.

“You don’t need to-ow,” he hissed, when the gauze tightened too far against his palm. “I could have done it, asshole.”

Y/N’s smile slipped a little at that, and for a moment she didn’t respond; her hands just worked the white bandages around his own, and pressed it together. Finally, once the task was done though, her eyes lifted to his again.

“Sometimes, we need the most help, even when we insist on the opposite.”

“What’s that s’posed to mean?”

She shrugged. “Dunno. I might have made it up. But it sounded real nice, didn’t it?”

Diego just nodded. 

“Can I…” her breath hitched, and somehow, she got even closer than before; he could make out every individual lash glint in the bathroom light, and the way her lips were swollen and a little bruised - he guessed from the constant worrying between her teeth. “Can I ask you a question, Diego?”

He nodded again. 

Her hand ever so lightly grazed over his own; fingers tracing up with the delicacy of a flower. “Do you…”

His breath caught in his throat. Gone were all the frustrations at her of before; all he could think about was her, on repeat in his mind like an EDM song, blaring her name as explosions echoed in the distance. Wasn’t it just seconds before, that she was torturing him with peroxide? Why couldn’t he think about anything but her eyes, and lips, the way she just -- 

“W-what?”

“Do you have any toothpaste?”

Diego blinked, then again, unsure if he had just misheard her. “What?”

“Toothpaste. Y’know, the shit ta clean your teeth?” Her head cocked, her eyes singing laughter, “don’t tell me those pearlies are magic-”

“-I have toothpaste - why the hell do you need toothpaste?”

Once more, she looked like she was in on a joke he just didn’t get. “To brush my teeth with...duh. You think I’m just gonna scrub my tongue with a plain toothbrush? Jeez, Diego, how-”

-he cut her off with a grunt that really didn’t sound like any word in the English language and swung past. In the back of his head, he was murdering his subconscious and wishing the idiot would stop acting for itself.  “Here,” he said, passing her the tube. “Knock yourself out.”

Y/N’s smile grew wider. “Kinky. But I’d rather just brush my teeth.”

“Jes-what does that even mean?!”

Diego, sadly, would never find out. He was left to simply watch her cross the room again, brandishing the tube with great pride in search of her purse - “I threw up on the way here,” she explained, “and I had my toothbrush, but no toothpaste! And I remembered, Diego has nice teeth, and obviously toothpaste is a necessity, so he must have toothpaste! I think that’s why I told the guy to drop me here, actually.”

“There - you know you’re making no sense, right?”

She shrugged, swooping past where he still stood again. She pulled a toothbrush out of its thin black case and started applying his toothpaste. He watched her, unsure what to do as she took over his bathroom and mumbled through an intense brushing session. Before he could even try to understand her, though, he realised something.

“Do you just carry around a toothbrush, wherever you go?”

Her motions paused for a second before resuming. It was so quick, a normal person would have just skipped right over it, but Diego gripped tight to maybe his only clue towards his personal investigation as to ‘what the hell she was doing there, and why’.

“I - I mwearn,” she paused, spitting out and resuming her brushing, “I dwown’t arwawys - swowry, wone swec.”

He waited.

“Sorry. I was saying, I don’t always have a toothbrush on me, but I did today, I had to pick up my stuff and I guess I just left this little guy in my bag. Which was lucky, right?”

Diego ignored her end question and pressed on. “Where were you picking up your stuff from? You’re moving?”

“Oh, ha - no, nothing like that. Just from a friend.” With a snap, the toothbrush had returned to its case and she was yet again pushing right past. That time, though, Diego followed.

“A friend?”

“You do know the definition of that word, right? I can-”

“-a friend that makes you get wasted after visiting with?”

Y/N pushed herself up her leaning, hands clutched tight to her tiny bag. Her smile still remained, but it wasn’t the easy one of just moments before; it was strained, forced onto unwilling cheeks like a suit of armour.

“I’m not wasted, dear, dapper, Diego. Far from it. If I was wasted, I’d be so much stupider than I am right now. I mean, I can-”

“-this the same friend from last week, too?”

“What? What are you-” Y/N swallowed. Her eyes slipped from his to her purse, watching her hands scrabble at the silver handle like it was her last lifeline. “Are you - I don’t get this routine, dude. I just needed toothpaste! I hate bad breath, don’t you?”

Diego stepped over and grabbed her hands in his uninjured one, pausing the frantic picking at the bag. It dropped with a solemn thud; neither looked down to it. 

“What was that for?” She asked, quiet that time.

“You’re not here cause you needed toothpaste.”

“Do you want me to reimburse you for it? Cause I think I might have a dime somewhere, I don’t know how much you want but I’ll pay you back for the tiny, TINY amount of your precious paste I used.”

Diego groaned. For a moment, that flash of frustration flared up again and he was tempted to give up this at all. But it was easily quelled when he looked up again, seeing the worried look she badly covered up with a smile.

“Why’re you here, Y/N?”

“What d’y…” her bottom lip was tugged up into the grasp of her hungry teeth; they worried and nibbled without relief. “D’you want me to go?”

“No. No, I don’t want you to go.”

“Then just let it be, darling,” she sang softly, “and let’s let the toothpaste incident die.”

“No, cause…” his hand pressed softly into her palm, intertwining their fingers with a gentleness he himself didn’t know he possessed. “This is the second time now, you’ve come or called me after getting drunk off your ass, which really isn’t your style. I mean, you’re a freakin’ workaholic. It’s a Tuesday night. You’d be fast asleep right now.”

Her eyes shifted to just behind him, avoiding his soft stare. “You been stalking me or somethin’, my dear?”

“No, but I know you. You’re too caught up in making sure everyone thinks you’re Miss Perfect to be late for shit. Let alone hungover.”

“Well…” she sighed, a sad little sound that barely echoed from her own lips. She seemed to contemplate his words, tossing them over before throwing them away and moving right along.  “You really think of me like that? You think everyone does?”

Diego frowned. “Like what?”

“Miss Perfect? Miss - miss -” her hand grew a little clammy in his grasp; she was getting nervous, and he supposed the alcohol wasn’t helping. “-you think of me as a stick in the mud, Diego? I’m not interesting or exciting, just a plain Jane who-”

“-I think you’re fascinating,” he murmured, even without thinking. He almost regretted the words the second they slipped from his mouth; her gaze snapped to his, wide-eyed and confused, and he could just see the cogs working behind her head. He wasn’t even sure where the words came from, or why they had - he hadn’t thought about anything past getting our where she was, and yet…

“You don’t even like me.”

Diego sighed and held her hand a little tighter. His injured palm came to rest over them, squeezing even with the twinge of pain. “Course I like you. You said that last week.”

“Did I?” She laughed, but it was shrill and pitiful. A mere shell of the glorious sounds that had filled his car days prior; if he hadn’t pressed every sound to his memory permanently, he’d have never known she was the same person. “I - doesn’t sound like me. Are you pulling my leg, Diego?”

He ignored her awkward question, pressing on. “That was the first time I’ve ever heard you laugh. You know that? And we’ve known each other for a while.”

“I’ve laughed before, dummy.”

“That’s - those - those’re bullshit laughs, professional garbage,” he responded, each word growing a little bit stronger. “I heard you laugh your ass off to nothing at all in my car last week, and it was be...n-nice. That’s the shit I know that’s real. Not this game you’re playin’ with yourself.”

Y/N still wouldn’t look at him, no matter how he pressed against her hand, or stared her down. Her eyes rested on a space past him, but they grew sadder by the second, losing that little spark of drunken happiness she had forced to build before. 

“The Y/N I know,” Diego continued, made bold by a feeling he didn’t recognise, “doesn’t take shit from anybody. You don’t think twice; you just do. You trust your gut and it’s almost always right. Sure, sometimes you screw up, but…”

“...not sometimes, dear. Always.”

“No, not-”

“-dear me, I don’t know why I came here,” she muttered, and within a single pull, she was free and pushing away from him. “Sorry, Diego, I mean - it’s a Tuesday! You’ve got your little black-leather Batman fantasy and I’ve got work tomorrow. You know, I’ve been prepping for this meeting and it’s going to be good, I just need to finish those blasted points…”

She rattled on about nothing at all, repeating phrases and half-mumbling the words as she gathered her dropped belongings up. Her jacket, the bag that had fallen between them before, and something he couldn’t quite catch that had slipped out with it.

And Diego, stupidly, just watched.

“You be careful, okay? And-” she paused then, swaying ever so slightly in the windless room, “-just watch yourself. It’s a shitty world, and I can’t have the one person that - that - well, I don’t know where I’m going with this thought, it’s going to stop now. Ha...yeah, no. Just be safe, and make sure you get your six to nine hours or whatever bull...shit…” A sob ended the sentence, soft and sad and joined right after by a loud sniffle.

Diego still watched in silence.

“I know you don’t like me,” she muttered, voice growing raspy from presumably, tears building behind shitty defenses, “and that’s okay. But I...I appreciate you putting up with me. You’re a good guy, Diego. And that’s good. That’s nice. I think you might just be the last goddamn nice guy in this whole city...hm. Should get you a medal, or something. That’d make a good t-shirt…”

He watched her cross and head up the stairs, staggering on one but regaining her balance quickly. And just as she opened the door-

“-you can’t go home by yourself.”

Y/N stopped still and took in his words. She nodded slowly. “Sure...you’re...um, yeah. I’ll call my si...or...my friend, she’s at my place so...uh-huh.”

“C’mon, I’ll just-”

“-you’ve done enough for me tonight, dear,” she smiled, and he could just make out the glint of a tear on her cheek. “Let’s see if your boss won’t do me a favour, too.”

“Y/N.”

She mock-glared, though the expression wasn’t held long. “Diego - see, I can do that too.”

“Let me take you home.”

“This is good, trust me. I’ll...she has my car, so I’ll just call it in. I’ll be gone in four shakes of a scout’s tail, or…that’s not right.” She smiled. “Doesn’t matter. Thanks for the toothpaste, darling boy.”

“B-be safe...”

“I will,” she promised, still smiling like there was any reason to. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to waste anymore of your time, not going to make you have to save me...yeah. See you, Diego.”

She shut the door then, leaving him alone in the heavy silence.

Moments later, he heard the familiar voices above him again.

“Sir, sorry, if you don’t mind…”

“Great Scott, girl - did he do this to you?!”

“Oh, Diego? No, he’s a lovely boy and he was actually being very sweet, I just...I was just thinking about my grandma, and I...I need to make a call?”

The conversation continued, with Al trying his best to console Y/N, and her repeating - even on the phone - that she would be just fine, and that ‘she was awfully sorry for her behaviour, she’s not really the sort to play such sad pranks but desperate times called for bad measures’. Eventually, then, the voices faded, with her wishing him a cheery goodbye and footsteps clunking against the ceiling.

And it was only as her steps died into silence and the door clanged shut, that Diego unfroze from his standing position and realised what a deep, deep, ‘idiot’s only’ grave he had just dug for himself.

[leejihoonownsmyheart]

Sing to Me

Part of the Tsuredere Seventeen series

Summary: 

You write a song for Joshua as a way to confess your feelings towards him. Romantic, right? There’s no way this can end badly.

You had always felt pretty unlucky when it came to life.

You had to work really hard on everything for things to work out. If you didn’t things just didn’t end up well for you. You failed tests, you missed out on extra cool opportunities and more. So when you fell for Joshua you couldn’t really say you were surprised.

If he himself wasn’t intimidating enough... For goodness sake he was attractive, and kind, and then he just had to also be a freaking Korean idol in a boy group popular for their insane synchronization and their really good music and choreography. To make it even more insane he just had to speak English and Korean.

God, just thinking about it was making you angry.

Nobody asked you to be perfect at everything Joshua.

You were furious. Completely and utterly furious at him for being so dumb and perfect. How dare he turn to you and ask you one day to be his girlfriend. God and your first date had to be so fucking magical and it had to be outdoors too, right when the wind was blowing and the cherry blossoms were blooming. The stupid pink petals had swooped around him practically beckoning you to fall in love with him forever.

So, of course, you had been fooled by his wit and charm.

Now all you ever did was run around like an idiot trying to be half deserving of his affections- geez, why did he like you anyways? You were great and all but not that great.

Now your anniversary was coming up, and you couldn’t believe that you had been with Joshua for so long.

A year, a whole year had passed and he still treated you just as well as he had the very first day you two met.

He had never been unclear about his intentions either. When you two first met, you had been rather shy, but still introduced yourself as eagerly as you could. He took one look at you, offered his hand and gave you a soft smile.

“One day, I'm going to marry you.”

Your cheeks had gone crimson, and you avoided going to events for the next month in fear of seeing him again and finding out that he was just some player spouting nonsense.

You tugged your shirt silently, pressing closer to your friend as the two of you walked into the room where everyone else was. You spotted Joshua immediately. You had only seen him for moments before but you still recognized him. 

All you could do was stand there and hope he didn’t see you or hope that he didn’t flirt with some girl and turn out to be your average dirt bag.

You didn’t speak your discomfort to your friend... Mostly because he saw you before you could say anything.

His eyes light up, and he raised a hand in the air as a greeting.

“Y/n!” He said excitedly. He rushed over to you and smiled brightly. “I was starting to think I’d never see you again.”

You were surprised he remembered you, much less remembered your name. You smiled at him kindly.

“Oh, hello Joshua!” You said politely. He didn’t even waste a moment.

“I know this is really sudden, but would you like to be my girlfriend?”

Your jaw dropped, but Joshua continued before you could say anything in response.

“It’s just from the moment I saw you that day, I can’t stop thinking about you... And I hear about you all the time now, you’re possibly the kindest person that I’ve ever had the chance to meet. So please, will you go out with me?”

You couldn’t say no to such a nice confession.

And now it had been a year since that confession, and you had no clue what to get him.

You grumbled in frustration, shoving your head into a pillow.

And to make it worse, you had heard rumors.

Joshua was considering breaking up with you. A great way to celebrate your anniversary right? To find out that he’s thinking about breaking up with you because you aren’t affectionate enough.

Sure he’s been saying he loves you since like month two, and you’ve been hesitant to say the words, and you practically run anytime that you think he might kiss you, and you avoid going on dates with him and-

You interrupted your own stream off thought y rolling off of your bed, letting your body slam to the floor.

How had he dated you for an entire year and not dumped you yet?

“What’s wrong this time?” Seungkwan asked, lazily glancing over at you. “Is it Joshua again?”

“Of course it’s Joshua again!” You blurted. “If I can’t make our one year perfect and prove that I do in fact like him, then he will leave me. I know he will I know it.”

“Y/n, Chang-kyun did not tell you what Joshua said so that you would freak out like this,” Seungkwan chided tiredly. You sat up from where you were laying collapsed on the ground and sighed.

“How was I supposed to react? IM knows me better than this,” you mumbled. “I like Joshua, I do-”

“So tell him!” Seungkwan blurted. “Even I’m smart enough to know that you should do that!”

“Every time I go to I freeze up!” You argued back. “And now it has to be super special or he will think I’m just saying it because he says it so much.”

“Joshua knows you like him-”

“Does he?!” You blurted back. “Cause I thought he did before but IM didn’t even know we were dating before. That’s how unaffectionate I am!”

“You do act like he’s a stranger whenever we all hang out,” Seungkwan agreed.

You sighed and got to your feet.

“So I have to confess to my boyfriend of a year and I have to make it like the best confession ever,” you stated calmly. Your heart skipped a beat. “What do I do?”

“You should just walk up to him and like ‘uwu Jisoo oppa I love you’ and then like actually let him kiss you and there you go. Romantic as heck.”

“No.”

You stood there, staring blankly at your desk as your mind raced, trying to figure out exactly what you should do.

And then it hit you.

And five hours later, you wished to god it had never hit you.

Write a song? Write a song for someone in the idol industry, yeah that’s a great idea.

You crumbled up the paper in front of you and tossed it into the trash. Luckily enough for you, Seungkwan had left ages ago, so he wasn’t here to witness your disastrous attempts.

You started again from the start.

I wish I knew where to start

A way to open my heart

But trying to find the words

Are the only...

You tried to think of a word that rhymed with “words” but nothing came to mind.

Maybe the tune could switch at that?

I love you, I know that’s for sure

You wrinkled your nose in frustration. DId that even rhyme? You were pretty sure it didn’t. You crumpled this paper too and started over. Maybe the song lyrics needed a theme? Maybe that would help.

11:11, I thought of you today

Again and again day after day, the hands tick and the times change, but when that clock hits that same small time, four numerals in and you’re on my mind

Make a wish to be loved, make a wish to be free, but all those wishes go to waste when it comes to you and me

Yeah.... Yeah! Not too shabby. Maybe if you just kept with the number theme...

My clock was stuck on 10:10, when you kicked it back into the groove and now it’s 11:11 two times a day and still on the move

24 hours in a day, and you help me through 25

You showed me the time so I gave you all of mine

You squinted at the words, rereading it again and again. Something about it felt wrong... It didn’t work. You crumpled your paper again and tossed it to the side.

Music wasn’t always literal... Maybe if you took a different approach... Less literal...

Complicated

I’m standing at the start of endless paths

There’s so many different ways this can go

This world has endless possibilities

Even a speck of dust can make a change

You stopped again. One reread through and it was in the trash too. Maybe literal was the only way you could really go...

You started again from the top. Still a little less literal, not too nonliteral

Sometimes it feels like everyone skips my page in the book

It didn’t used to matter

You heard the door open behind you but you ignored it in order to try and think of the next line. You knew what you wanted to say... Geez, that’s how it always was with Joshua. You always knew what you wanted to say but you couldn’t.

The topic was pretty good, but maybe you needed to write it differently?

I never had a voice to begin with

But I’m starting to hear myself and I like what I hear

I want to share

You stopped again. Stared for a few seconds, crumpled the paper tossed it to the side and banged your head against the table, groaning loudly.

“It’s not this hard,” you said in frustration. You started again. You heard Seungkwan beside you picking up the paper you had just crumbled, but you mostly ignored it.

How many songs fit this trope?

I think mine is in the thousands

Now you were just writing yourself into a damn box. You crumpled it, tossed it wildly and furiously wrote down:

I couldn’t sleep again

Hours spent keeping track of my dreams

Put two hours of rest in

And the page is blank

“What are you doing?”

You startled and looked up.

The person in the room was not Seungkwan.

Your cheeks turned a dark crimson and your mouth dropped.

“Joshua I-”

He had unraveled a number of your papers on the floor and he was holding one in your hand. You couldn’t find the words again. God  why could you never find the words when it came to Joshua.

“Who are you writing this for?” Joshua asked slowly. You got to your feet.

“I-I-” You swallowed thickly. “It’s just you know our special day is coming, and I was talking to Seungkwan and I was thinking about our relationship and I was just trying to figure out what to say-”

“What to say?”

“About us.”

“You talked to Seungkwan, and now you want to talk about us?” Joshua reiterated.

“I just want to make sure you understand how I feel about you,” you replied. He stared at you, looking slightly disheartened.

“Oh.”

You tilted your head.

“I’m sorry, it’s just so hard for me to say things like that,” you stated immediately. He nodded slowly and the paper dropped from your hand.

“No, I get it, I really do,” Joshua assured.  “I don’t know, I thought that I was ready for it but...”

“If you want me to wait-”

“No!” Joshua protested. “It’s taken you this long to say this, I won’t keep you stifled any longer.”

You opened your mouth, a little confused by Joshua’s attitude about the whole thing.

“So you get it then?”

“Yeah.”

You both started speaking at the same time.

“You want to break up because you don’t like me.”

“I’m in love with you.”

Both sentences spoken at the same time. Both completely different meanings. Your breath hitched in your throat.

“Wait. Why would I want to break up with you?” You asked. Joshua looked stunned as well.

“Because you’re in love with Seungkwan!” He stated. You stood up.

“What?! No, I’m in love with you!” You protested back. “I just can’t figure out how to say it and IM told me you were considering breaking up with me, and so I freaked out and Seungkwan said that I needed to just tell you already, but I couldn’t do that some easy way so I thought I’d write you a song and-”

Joshua interrupted by grabbing you by the shoulders, his lips pressing firmly against yours. You were so surprised that you didn’t even react. You stood stock still and waited until he pulled away to even breath. 

You gaped at him.

“Josh-”

“I hope that was okay, I’ve been wanting to do that for like a year,” he murmured shyly.

You smiled softly, hiding the look beneath your hand.

“Yeah... Yeah it was okay.”

You would explain everything later, but right now you would just appreciate that Joshua definitely wouldn’t be breaking up with you today.

[cassie-and-ren]

How Stray Kids would react to you asking them out.

Woojin

This soft teddy bear would have no idea how act if you liked you

So of course you had to be the dom in this situation

Woonjin’s dom side would come out if you pushed him enough

You tirelessly made an effort to touch him whenever you could

Tell him you loved his voice

maybe even ask him to sing you to sleep

You started to notice he’d do the same thing

Little by little it became obvious that Woonjin was feeling... something

You couldn’t quite tell if it was a crush

but you hoped it would be

So one day when you two have the dorm to yourself

don’t ask me how

Woojin sat kind of close to you

You didn’t mind

He didn’t either

So after sometime passed you just decided to come out with it and cut then tension with a knife

“Woojin, hopefully I’m right, but I like you and I think you like me too, I think we should go out.”

He’s not the type to take things as bluntly as you had said

but in this case he was

His smile came out and before you knew it you were trapped in a bear hug with him kissing random parts of your face saying how much he liked you too.

Chan

Personally I believe he would be so oblivious to your crush that you scream at him that you like him and he’d just

“Oh, yeah I like you too, we’re really good friends!”

Like you would get friend zoned so bad you would try and get caught by him

Either by reading questionable things in front of him

Watching videos of him and him only

Even flat out flirting

but none of this would work

That was until you decided to be full front with it and just ask him out one day

“Chan I’ve really liked you for a long time and this is the only way I can get you to even see that.”

Chan was surprised honestly

So much so that he’d ask you for how long you liked him

No matter what you said he would play it off like he knew that the whole time

Eventually he’d tell you his feelings

something like:

“I mean we get along really well and you support me a lot so maybe we should go out!”

You were relieved to hear that

Like anything even close to that would be good at this point

Though for some reason he acted dumb about crushes

He certainly wasn’t dumb about everything else that followed.

Minho

he honestly didn’t think you had a romantic bone in your body

let alone a crush on him

Minho was more than willing to go out with you still

“Of course I’ll give you the chance to date me.”

you were wondering why you even liked him after that

Though Minho was cool on the outside

he was panicking mentally

he liked you too

and was waiting for the best moment in order to confess and ask you out

But you beat him to it

So after he told you yes, he decided to get the jump on asking you out on a date

he planned the whole thing perfectly

leaving your night the same

his balance was restored and your relationship lived another day

Changbin

Changbin is actually two moods: In love

Or jealous boyfriend

Most times he was just in love with you

and he was very loud about it

Other times he was a tad bit jealous

okay really jealous... like all the time

You began to notice this

You did like him so it wasn’t any problem

But you felt like you couldn’t do anything with anyone while he was around

At least as long as you two weren’t a couple

One thing you understood was that if you were “his” he’d never get jealous

unless you gave him reason to

But Changbin wasn’t going to ask you out

What and risk his image with soft romance?

No, he’d continue to be a jealous almost boyfriend until one day you couldn’t take it.

“Changbin this is kind of hard for me to do, but it’ll never happen unless I do this now... ireallylikeyouandwantustodate!

Though he could barely understand what you had said he heard:

like you

date

and us

and mentally jumped off the roof of the JYP building.

He kept calm on the outside and just gave you the cool guy answer.

“Well you are cute, I guess we could go out.”

You knew how much of a softie he was and knew he’d never act cool around you again

You’d make sure of it

Hyunjin

Honestly

I don’t even know why I made one for him

You two act like you’re dating already

Everyone else thinks that too and even makes fun of you for it

You and Hyunjin never said anything about it

“We’re just good friends right?”

Of course you like Hyunjin

who wouldn’t

But how were you suppose to approach the Todoroki of your life?

maybe I shouldn’t use that reference

Hyunjin made your life ten times harder by always being nearly perfect at everything.

of course you noticed him at first for his looks

But as time went on that was normal

No it was his amazing dancing

rapping

cute personality

adorableness

like

*sigh*

One day you figured to just tell him maybe what everyone was saying should be official.

So you asked him out.

“Hyunjin, I know we’re friends and super close but... I think we should go out and d-date.”

You were expecting Hyunjin to friendzone the hell out of you

Instead he was shocked to hear that you liked him too

TOO?

“You like me?”

He nodded in a ‘of course” manner,

“We already act like we’re dating of course I started to get feelings for you (Y/N)!”

You didn’t know to say

But he did

He hugged you

“So is it official then?”

You loved hated his confidence, but what could you do?

Jisung

This boy...

This boy already had the biggest crush on you

and for some reason thought you didn’t know

He flirted with you

Tried to make you laugh all the time

Acted way dumber than he was around you

Anything to get your attention on him.

Even though it was obvious

not just to you but to everyone else too

You decided to ask Chan if he could call Jisung so you could be alone

Of course he agreed but not before spouting some bird and bees talk before that

So you were waiting for Jisung, you expected him to be late since he had been working on something all day

But no

He showed up five minutes after Chan texted you that he was on his way

“What’s wrong (Y/N)?”

You told Jisung nothing was and just came out with it.

“Jisung I know you have a crush on me... and before you get all defensive. I like you too and I think we should go out.”

Jisung had no words

You thought he malfunctioned for a second

“You l-like me?”

“Yeah, like a lot.”

Jisung was breathing hard but eventually he went over to you and hugged you tightly.

“I’ll be your best boyfriend... no your last boyfriend!”

No matter what you’d always love him and had no doubt he’d be the same.

Felix

It’s hard to think that if he had a crush that he wouldn’t just make it very obvious he liked the person.

changlix

I feel like Felix would have tried to ask you out

but for whatever reason you just turned him down

Maybe some “you need to focus on work” nonsense

Though it’d be a horrible regret later.

Felix still liked you and did pretty much anything for you

And like a true boyfriend

You were there for him

Though you weren’t dating.

So after a moment of realization

You said it was stupid not to go out with him.

“So you’re changing your mind?”

Of course you didn’t want to seem like you were playing with his feelings

“I’m not changing my mind, I always liked you I just didn’t think it was right for us to go out.”

“So you want us to go out?”

“Yes Felix I do.”

He was alright with that

“Well we should make up for the time we could have been dating.”

Felix then convinced you that staying over at their dorm would make up for you rejecting him

Of course you couldn’t say no to him

Seungmin

How could even you even think to confess to him?

You’d either get chewed to pieces if he rejected you

Or crushed to death by a big dog if he liked you back

Either way you couldn’t even tell if he liked you because of his poker face

All the time he didn’t show any more affection than he did a piece of chicken.

Seungmin was still the most adorable thing when he wanted.

especially when he spoke English

Because he knew you spoke english there were times when you’d help him learn something

So there was this one time when you noticed he had been asking about things about romance

“How do you say true love?”

“What do you say when you want to ask someone out?”

You began to think that he had a crush on someone who only spoke english

Even though you answered his questions

You wanted to know why he was asking this

It was too invasive

You knew he would just play it off

So when when he asked about girlfriend and boyfriends you couldn’t wait anymore

“Seungmin this is going to be kind of weird but... I kind of have a crush on you and really want to go out with you...  I’m sorry if I’m ruining our friendship but I needed to tell you especially if you l-like someone else.”

“Who do you think I have a crush on?”

“I don’t know, someone who speaks english... who you’ve known for a long time... “

“Yeah you!”

He said that in english

“I really like you and wanted to learn from you.”

He took your hand.

“Do you want me to be your boyfriend?”

Jeongin

Jeongin was always the cutest

So you had no clue how to approach him with such a serious question

You were convinced he had no clue about your crush on him

And you weren’t trying to hide it either.

“Aww you got your braces off... but you’re still so cute~!”

So when you even thought about telling him your feelings

You still weren’t sure about it.

So you asked everyone else about it

Besides the few who just made fun of you for your crush

you were told just to be honest with him

“He won’t be mean to you especially if you’re really serious about it.”

After this talk you spent a little more time gathering yourself

You planned out exactly what you were going to say to him

This would go perfectly even if he rejected you.

Though you wanted that to happen you brain had other plans.

You see one day when you and Jeongin were just lounging around

Something made him excited

The way his eyes get when he’s really happy about something

“That’s so cute how excited you get, I bet as a boyfriend you’d be even cuter!”

“Boyfriend?”

You screwed up

You tried to just tell him an excuse you could as if anything you said wouldn’t make if more awkward.

But eventually you caved in and just told him.

“I actually had this whole thing planned about how I wanted to confess to you. This is probably so weird.”

Though he didn’t look weirded out

He was actually smiling

“You like me?”

“Y-yeah-”

He practically screamed out when you said that

“(Y/N) I like you too! I just thought you didn’t want to date someone you think is cute!”

You realized that you’re babying of him may have been a bit much

“Now I can be more than just cute to you!”

[delakoks]

It’s my first attempt to translate in English something bigger than 4-5 paragraphs. This translation definitely has mistakes, so please please please point me at them~  I hope you’re gonna enjoy this Nellis fluff c:

In the twilight of the room touching each other with glances full of love, two men were talking. The older one half-sat, leaning against a carelessly thrown pillow. His words, rare and slow, poured like a viscous honey. It seemed like all the strength remained after a long day, he saved just to mess with the wavy hair of the guy lying next to him. The young man nestled his head on the man’s lap, and couldn’t tear his tired squinted eyes away from him. 

Nick put his free hand around the kiddo, palm resting on his warm, even hot, chest, rising and falling from the ragged breathing. Desperately fighting sleep, Ellis almost cheerfully was telling one by one all sort of stories - about his past, about his family, about their music band, about his friend Keith and all absurdities that happened to him…

Nickolas was smiling widely. Not so much because of all these stories, but mostly being touched by kiddo’s appearance and tone. His sleepy eyes lost their inhetent blueness in the twilight, they were trying to close, and time to time Ellis had to slightly shake his head to wake himself up. Mechanic’s voice sounded unusually quiet, and the words, usually ringing, changed places, fused and even disappeared, causing Ellis to giggle foolishly and shyly at his own mistakes.

“El?” - Nick softly interrupted another story, still gently touching dark curls of kiddo’s hair. Mechanic with his eyes half closed with pleasure mumbled questionably, allowing himself to rest a little from incessant chatter. For a moment Nick almost changed his mind to speak, hoping that Ellis could finally get some sleep, but… he was darted with this widely opened puppy eyes. “Tell me… Tell me something no one knows”.

Ellis frowned trying to remember some story that he never told anyone, something special and interesting… Nick watched with unconcealed interest kiddo’s concentrated face. Dark eyebrows so unusually seriously moved to the bridge of Ellis’s nose, marked by the thin scar from long-healed wound. There was a scattering of almost imperceptible freckles… but Nickolas even with the closed eyes could tell about each of them, about every little dark drop on these tanned cheeks. And his lips… seductively soft lips faintly moved when Ellis, lost in his thoughts, was biting them from the inside. Nick struggled with the desire to slide his finger from the upper lip to the lower, push slightly, opening Ellis’s mouth…

The kiddo started to talk: “Once, when I was in high school, I found…”

Ellis instantly stopped as Nick, gently smiling, shook his head a little. That wasn’t what he meant, and they both knew it. Ellis swallowed nervously and for the first time in that night looked away from the gambler, shooting his gaze to the ceiling. Nick felt how under his palm Ellis’s heart suddenly started to beat faster, his breath became more uneven, and Ellis without even noticing was biting his lower lip, causing it to fill up with blood and become even fuller. For a moment the gambler almost regretted interrupting kid and forcing him to feel so uneasy in the midst of this peaceful night.

“Actually… I have one thing to tell” - Ellis muttered very quietly, nearly inaudibly, still without looking at Nick. His voice changed, suddenly deprived of all his mischievous gaiety. The hoarseness, that usually could be heard only when kiddo laughed too much, suddenly seized his voice adding him a dozen years and making Nick forget about Ellis’s common carelessness. “It’s… about you. It’s not a story, it’s more like… confession”

Nick felt a shiver run through his body. This naive young man always managed to impress him with his childish sincerity. And now he was so serious, and it wasn’t like his usual mask of maturity and importance. Because of the dim light his face seemed to be carved out of stone, and there wasn’t even a single hint of the silly southern child as he was known by most people. Now, alone with Nickolas, he was completely honest, he was himself, he let the gambler learn his innermost secrets.

Nick couldn’t help but note that Ellis behaving this way… turned him on.

“I have a confession for you, Nick” - Ellis finally blurted out. Looking for some comfort kiddo touched the hand lying on his chest. Nickolas turned his palm to gently squeeze Ellis’s fingers, inviting him to continue. “I love watching you”.

Nickolas briefly snorted in surprise but stopped at the same second, fearing to offend Ellis with such a reaction… But Ellis, with his head deep in his thoughts, continued:

“I love watching you. I watch you when you don’t even notice… Like when you’re cooking. Oh! You always smile when you bake cupcakes! You hum some tune, sometimes even sing quietly, and your hands are covered in flour, and you knock with your fingers on the countertops. And when you make the cream, you always lick the spoon, and sometimes you get some of the cream on your cheeks, or it stays on your lips, and I always want to…” - Ellis, blushing, suddenly snorted in embarrassment and briefly shook his head. Nick didn’t dare to interrupt, so the kiddo continued.

“In the morning, when you read newsfeed on your phone, you’re always serious and even gloomy. You frown, and suddenly some deep wrinkles appear on the bridge of your nose. Sometimes I notice how the corner of your mouth twitches or you sigh so irritably… And I want to take away your phone just not to let you read all that nonsense, and tell you something stupid to distract you, to make you laugh… I love watching you reading. Your eyes (gosh, your eyes!) run from line to line, and your face is like an open book, and I can see what you feel and what you think, and it’s so strange because any other time you’re so hard to read…

Or when we watch movies together, sometimes I don’t even follow the story because I’m always trying to look at you. And when we were watching that horror movie, I buried my face in your shoulder and even thinking of it still gives me a shiver… You hugged me, pushing closer, so warm and real and… protecting. Like you were hiding me from the whole world, not only from my fears…

But most of all…” Ellis froze, swallowing nervously, but then spoke again with the same quiet tone that he started with. “Most of all I love watching you sleep. At first your eyes still move under the closed eyelids, sometimes you frown and pull your lips together in the thin line, sometimes you smirk with the corner of your mouth… And then in a blink of an eye you relax and… I know it’s the real you. Without all these problems, without worrying, without trying to prove anything… You’re so innocent and so defenseless and I know it’s stupid, but I… I’m just me, good old silly Ellis, but I wanna keep you safe from… everything. I wanna make you forget about your past, I know, it haunts you. I wanna make you feel safe, make you.. smile more… So… you’ve certainly been told that a lot of times by all those girls… Yeah, Nick. I love watching you”

…the room fell silent, and Ellis was pretty sure that Nick could hear his heartbeat. The mechanic couldn’t make himself look at the gambler, so he continued to inanely blink at the ceiling. He could feel the blush burning on his cheeks and nose.

The kiddo flinched as Nickolas tightly squeezed his fingers.

“First of all” - the man whispered, leaning closer to Ellis, so he could feel the hot breath on his face. “No one… you hear me? No one ever told me something like this”

Nick stopped, licking his parched lips. Thank God, kiddo wasn’t looking at him, otherwise he definitely saw the blush on Nick’s face. And that wide smile, which made his jaw ache, but which never left his face. And if only Ellis hadn’t been so nervous, he would have noticed the throbbing of the hot fingers cluthing his hand. If only, if only…

“Secondly… Goddamit, Overalls! The way you behave doesn’t match your words!” Nick rebelled playfully. And it worked - Ellis sharply turned his head to look into the man’s face. Surprised and even insulted gaze darted Nick, and he explained with a grin: “If you love watching me, why the hell are you so interested in watching the ceiling for half of the night?..”

Ellis snorted and blushed even more. Embarrassed he tried to turn away, but Nick, releasing kid’s hand, quickly caught mechanic’s chin with his fingertips. Ellis didn’t resist, so the gambler gently touched his tanned cheek with a thumb and slowly moved it to the lips. Ellis sighed unevenly, closing his eyes and surrending to Nickolas completely. Nick finally reached the goal - southerner’s full lips, dry from a long monologue, chapped from the constant biting, hot from this Ellis’s shyly-sleepy condition.

Nickolas leaned even lower and, slightly raising kiddo’s face by the chin, softly touched his lips with the kiss. He wanted to be tender, as tender as he could be; he wanted to put in this kiss all the warmth that Ellis was giving him, he wanted to explain with one kiss all that immense that he felt… Very carefully Nick ran his fingers through Ellis’s fluffy curly hair and continued, weightlessly touching mechanic’s lips with his tongue, almost teasing, not wanting to rush…

Suddenly Nickolas got away from Ellis’s lips and began to lightly and gently kiss mechanic’s cheeks and cheeckbones and then finally kissed the tip of the freckled nose.

Gray-blue eyes, bleary from tiredness, stared at Nick in surprise. Nickolas smiled happily and whispered warmly: “You need to sleep… We can continue in the morning…”

[drkreviews]

The Meaning of Things

Here I am with the first part of this month’s themed week in “Lyrical Love”! Today’s subject is a song by the freaking visual kei band Liphlich, precisely Great Nonsense, released as first and lead-track of the second mini-album Grateful Nonsense on 4th June 2014. One of the most enjoyed songs by the band, it encloses a lot of singular influences, all in the pure freaking vibe of this band, where the core theme plays with different images, hinting to a notable literary genre.

THE MUSIC

Shingo’s resonating voice opens the song in a creepy intro, turning in an unpredictable way. The sound goes on with a really fresh and fast rhythm, enriched by electronic beats, and energetic riffs, featuring a peculiar funky touch. The vocals are more animated and sustained, accompained by a sparkling rock melody, especially in the funny refrain. A really awesome, peculiar and incredibly energetic rock song in each its part, well built in each musical influence featured in, with a notable guitar solo in the second part showing off Liphlich’s technique.

Lyrics (Romaji)

GREAT NONSENSE aa banshou to iu nazonazo GREAT NONSENSE aa fukakai to iu kaitou. Mina ga shinjiru kare no uketa kurushimi no koto dareka kurai na no darou kanojo ga ai shiteru bokura no warui hito wa takusan kodomo o tasuketa. Aru hi dobunezumi ga utsukushiku naru koto mo aru mondai wa jibun ga sou dobunezumi katte koto sa. Yuiitsu no shangurira kimi no shangurira tatoeba boku ga shitta to shite mo dou de mo ii bokura ni totte wa sore yori ima hayaki shiyou. Yuiitsu no shangurira boku no shangurira umareta toki wa nanimo nai shi sayonara ni nanimo nai you ni kuchi ga nai kimi ni KISS shite. GREAT NONSENSE aa banshou to iu nazonazo. Aru hi kimi wa itta kore ga wakarimasu ka to naze ai to tsukue wa niteru? mou kikiakita koto sore nara kou kaesu yo naze ai to bokura wa niteru? Iki o suru you ni koroshitsuzuketa hito mo ite sore ga ima no bokura ni kankei aru katte koto sa. Yuiitsu no shangurira kimi no shangurira hisshi ni sagu sou to shiteru mono wa otoshitara wareru tiikappu kurai na mono kamoshirenai. Yuiitsu no shangurira boku no shangurira dakara daiji sou ni tana ni shimau hokori ni mamireru koto sura osoretara arisu mitai da ne. Yuiitsu no shangurira kimi no shangurira sono uchi shireta nara ii yo ne ima boku no tashika na mono dake utau yo fuku kaze no you ni. Yuiitsu no shangurira boku no shangurira ai shite iru to ka inai to ka kudaranai koto o tada kimi e mimi ga nai kimi e utau yo. GREAT NONSENSE aa banshou to iu nazonazo GREAT NONSENSE aa fukakai to iu kaitou.

Lyrics (Translation)

Great Nonsense, oh, defined the enigma of all the created things Great Nonsense, oh, defined an incomprehensible solution.

I wonder how much pain I had received for what everyone believes in Our evil that she loves helped many children. (I)

One day that rat will probably become beautiful But the problem is that I am the rat.

The only Shangri-la, your Shangri-la, even if for example I would be aware Now let’s make it better and profitable for us, whatever it takes. The only Shangri-la, my Shangri-la, when I was born it was empty I don’t have anything more if not saying you goodbye and kiss you. (II)

Great Nonsense, oh, defined the enigma of all the created things.

One day you told that I understand this Why the love and a desk are similar? Now if I become tired of listening, I will return to ask Why the love and we are similiar? (III)

Some people continue to kill in order to breathe This relates to us.

The only Shangri-la, your Shangri-la, what I am trying to search desperately It would be known to be a tea-cup which breaks when it drops The only Shangri-la, my Shangri-la, so much important to be kept in the shelf. It seems Alice who is afraid to be covered by the dust. (IV)

The only Shangri-la, your Shangri-la, if I had understood it before Now I will certainly sing something in order to blow the wind The only Shangri-la, my Shangri-la, among the other things I love you. I will sing for you only stupid things, you who don’t have ears.

Great Nonsense, oh, defined the enigma of all the created things Great Nonsense, oh, defined an incomprehensible solution. (V)

THE WORDS

Written by the singer Shingo Kuga, the song presents all the elements of each typical text by this band: lines with tricky and symbolical words, where the meaning of each seems really hard to untie, some English word and references to other artistical works. The title of the song is quite clear, as the nonsense indicates confusion and incomprehension and it brings out the ultimate purpose, which is searching a meaning, a sense in each thing, for making the life more authentic. The nonsense is even a literary genre, where we can remember the limericks but above all the novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol, used as reference for some parts of this text. And now... let’s analyze the song!

I) The text starts directly with the title word, expressing the central idea of the song; the great nonsense, defined as the enigma of all the created things (banshou to iu nazonazo) and as an incomprehensible solution for the reality surrounding us (fukakai to iu kaitou); then the protagonist wonders how much pain he has received because of the things all the people believe in (Mina ga shinjiru kare no uketa kurushimi no koto dareka kurai na no darou), bringing to be excluded from the mass and the sequence ends with a contrasting image, where the evil man loved by a girl is helping many children (kanojo ga ai shiteru bokura no warui hito wa takusan kodomo o tasuketa), an image of a benefactor who hides a obscure purpose.

II) One day a rat will probably become beautiful (Aru hi dobunezumi ga utsukushiku naru koto mo aru), but this rat is none else than our protagonist, making this process even harder, because of his flaws, (mondai wa jibun ga sou dobunezumi katte koto sa); then it comes a recurring image of the text, Shangri-la, knows as an utopia, an ideal world, defined unique and related to his loved one (Yuiitsu no shangurira kimi no shangurira) and even if the protagonist would be aware of its meaning (tatoeba boku ga shitta to shite mo), he wants to make it better and profitable for him and his loved, it doesn’t matter how it will cost (dou de mo ii bokura ni totte wa sore yori ima hayaki shiyou); then it defines Shangri-la as something related to him (boku no shangurira), because when he was born, it was empty (umareta toki wa nanimo nai shi) and now he wants only to say goodbye to his loved one and to kiss her (sayonara ni nanimo nai you ni kuchi ga nai kimi ni KISS shite).

III) After repeating the first line of the text, the protagonist recalls when one day his loved told him that he understood something (Aru hi kimi wa itta kore ga wakarimasu ka to), which is the similiarity between the love and a desk (naze ai to tsukue wa niteru?, a symbol of the contrast between spirit and matter) and if he will become tired of listening her, he will return to ask a more important thing (mou kikiakita koto sore nara kou kaesu yo) the similiarity between the love and them (naze ai to bokura wa niteru?, putting a comparison between people and feelings, things which has to be more tied).

IV) Some people continue to kill in order to breathe more (Iki o suru you ni koroshitsuzuketa hito mo ite), synonym of a spreading and insensitive violence, and this important thing is really related to them (sore ga ima no bokura ni kankei aru katte koto sa); retaking the image of Shangri-la, the protagonist talks about a thing who he is trying to find desperately (hisshi ni sagu sou to shiteru mono wa), which can be seen like a tea-cup which breaks when it drops (otoshitara wareru tiikappu kurai na mono kamoshirenai, where the tea-cup might represent the heart and a possible reference to Alice���s Adventures in Wonderland); the Shangri-la is defined as something so much precious to be kept in a shelf (dakara daiji sou ni tana ni shimau), making it appearing like Alice who is afraid to be covered by the dust (hokori ni mamireru koto sura osoretara arisu mitai da ne, reference to the mentioned novel, symbol of something genuine and pure ruined by not being used).

V) The final sequence takes again from the Shangri-la, where the protagonist shows a bit of regret, because he didn’t know the true value of it (sono uchi shireta nara ii yo ne), so he will certainly sing something in order to make the wind blowing, for giving a personal goal to himself (ima boku no tashika na mono dake utau yo fuku kaze no you ni); among other things, he loves her (ai shite iru to ka inai to ka) and despite this feeling, he will sing her only stupid things, because she doesn’t have ears for listening to the important ones (kudaranai koto o tada kimi e mimi ga nai kimi e utau yo) and the text ends with the repetition of the first two lines, closing it in a balanced way.

A world made of nonsense, uncertainity, incomprehension and doubt, where only the knowledge of the sense, of the meaning of each part of the reality, can stand against it. The enigmatic world of Liphlich takes a peculiar shape in a fresh and animated theme, where the many metaphors and symbols are the basis of a deeper meaning, which is giving a sense to human life, in each its aspect.

That’s all folks! See you tomorrow for the weekly review in “Let’s Listen to”!

Thanks for the reading!

*Sorry for the delay*

[deadcactuswalking]

PROMISE ME NO PROMISES -- THE TOP 10 WORST HIT SONGS OF 2017

Let’s just get on with it. I’ll be less intricate and eloquent here – I’m just going to rip and tear into all these songs. Hello and welcome to...

THE TOP TEN WORST HIT SONGS OF 2017

I would give you dishonourable mentions but I feel there isn’t much here that is truly terrible enough to be noted other than the songs on the list so let’s just get straight into it!

#10

Have you ever hurt so much, physically or emotionally, that the only thing you can do is yell and yell, like a primal release of your...

PAIN!

#10 – Imagine Dragons – “Believer”

There are many, many elements in this song that mesh together like an insipid soup of gouged eyeballs, but on their own are more like slightly expired cheese strings – just that right balance of annoying, gross and still kind of okay, so much that you just don’t notice it if you don’t pay much attention. Let me tell you how about every single one of them:

1) What on earth is that percussion? This was supposed to be powerful but just sounds like the drummer fell asleep on his drum kit, with the bassist swirling his head around when needs be so he can hit the right drums.

2) The buzzing synth that is ever so subtle but ever so murderously annoying.

3) Dan Reynolds’ vocal inflections and singing – we’ll talk about those later.

4) The backing vocals sounding like wolves howling so weakly you’d think they’re in...

PAIN!

5) That.

6) The fact that Dan makes a weak attempt at rapping.

7) The lyrics making next to no sense and having next to no structure.

8) The whole point of the grating-as-all-hell chorus being so it can have that pause and dramatic drop for a movie trailer.

9) The fact that it’s still insanely catchy despite all these flaws.

10) And finally, the collision of all these intestine-munching parasites in the stomach-curling hell of a final chorus, with even more of those shrill additional vocals from the rest of the fantasy dragons that sound like a choir straight out of Robot Hell.

God, and this is only #10.

#9

This will be unpopular. Very unpopular.

#9 – SZA – “Love Galore” featuring Travis Scott

Let’s talk about how much of an autotuned non-prescience Travis Scott is. He sounds like he’s been drowned out entirely by his own waves of sing-rapping. Not to say SZA’s inflections and melody aren’t any more annoying. The “love” melody is, I swear, one of the worst melodies I’ve heard all year. SZA has a faux-Jamaican accent thing going on, which wouldn’t be bad if it weren’t so obnoxious. Those effects piled onto her vocals aren’t doing her any favours, either. The worst part of this song is not Travis and it’s not SZA. It’s the production. The minimalistic, boring production in the intro leads to a bass-boosted apple-picking session where the apples are filled with helium, the tree is shaking and I have a knife to my throat. There’s a metaphor in there somewhere. I would put this in a tied entry higher on the list but I can’t deny the harmony later into the song and Travis’ adlibs are always a treat, honestly. Ya! I don’t know why, but I love them. You could say I low-oh-low-ah-oh-love them. I’m sorry, everyone who like this – and I know, there’s a lot of them – but I’m not a fan.

#8

[chuckling and snickering]

#8 – Drake – “Fake Love”

[bursts out laughing] This song is probably too hilarious to hate, but it’s so pathetic that I just had to put it on here. If you like subtly autotuned wailing leaping out of Drake’s confused, blurred mess of a vocal performance, over steel pans and trap percussion, you’re in luck.

Whole time, they wanna take my place / Whole time, they wanna take my place

That falsetto sounds like a whimpering child whose sandcastle just got stomped on. It’s somehow both cute and ear-shredding.

I’ve been down so long

You were never down; in fact, we’re damn near sick of you, Drake. You don’t sound like you were on any type of downer when you recorded this though.  The sheer emotion in his vocals is clear, but they’re not very good at all. They just aren’t, and I can’t listen to this song without clocking a smile. When I’m sad, I put this song on. It’s that depressingly hilarious.

Fake people showing fake love to me / Straight up to my face

The lyrics to this are blunt but fragile, and are actually a beautiful set of lyrics that really capture Drake’s anger – are people showing him fake love? Probably not, but he’s so paranoid that they are. It’s a great set of lyrics, but Drake’s delivery is equivalent to a parrot who just got dumped and is feeling human emotions like grief, denial and sadness for the first time in its life. This could have easily been the same spot on my best list, so much that I had to go to random.org to decide if this should go on the best or worst list because this is simultaneously terrible and terrific. That Scary Hours EP is pretty cool though, you should check that out... or if you want a laugh, just open up Spotify and listen to “Fake Love”. Better luck next year, better luck next year, ‘cause I’m excited to start giving Drake love next year.

#7

I put two Maroon 5 songs on my best list. I suppose this is my punishment.

#7 – Maroon 5 – “Don’t Wanna Know” featuring Kendrick Lamar

Everyone’s already talked about this song, so I’m not going to beat a dead horse. I’m going to beat a pissy, mind-numbingly repetitive, vocally ear-splitting, blandly tropical, trend-hopping, Kendrick-wasting, badly-tasting, copy-and-pasting, dung-pile of a horse. Oh, wait, I kind of already did that just now. I’ll just leave with you with one of K-Dot’s most fitting lyrics – from this very song:

No more, please stop

#6

This isn’t a hit song; this is a godforsaken nursery rhyme.

#6 – blackbear – “do re mi” (remix) featuring Gucci Mane

The intro to this song is just a bunch of random noises. I’m not kidding, there’s a few synthesizer sounds, a pitched-up reverb-affected sample of blackbear singing the hook, blackbear’s very own ad-libs, some of which are pitched-down, and Gucci Mane yelling “Gucc’!” at the top of his lungs, which I’m surprised isn’t a meme. You know what else is meme-worthy? This dude’s falsetto.

Do re mi, fa, so f**king done with you

And this hook, these lyrics and that melody. Am I the only one who thinks it would somehow be more obnoxious and cringe-worthy if he said “freaking done with you” instead? No?

I think this song is just purely bitter, but not in a way I can relate to, just dark chocolate without flavour or texture. Fittingly, the instrumentation and production is some of the blandest trap-R&B I’ve ever heard. blackbear sounds like a robot for most of the verse until he breaks out as nonsensical child turned angry R&B sing-rapper who broke up with a supposed floozy. Honestly, Gucci Mane’s verse is pretty good but it has hardly any relation to the rest of the song so it’s almost a certainty that I’ll enjoy it, because this song is garbage. How in the hell did this trash make the year-end? I hope blackbear has another hit because frankly, I quite enjoy some of his music, and I don’t want this to be his only hit. Gucci Mane is still awesome though.

#5

There are two songs on this list with a Beyoncé remix, both of which I have credited as the original instead because I don’t want her to be on the list twice when she’s easily the best part of both songs by a landslide. You know why this next one’s on the list, so let’s not waste our time.

#5 – J Balvin and Willy Williams – “Mi Gente”

To describe this song, I have to ask you two questions, the first one being: Have you ever heard a goat or sheep blaring in a farm or zoo? This is what that screeching ear-piercing sample makes you think of – a herd of goats all angry, hungry and confused – which is taken from a song that samples that very sound as well, from another song. The second question is: have you ever heard a reggaeton song? Of course, you have, you’ve heard “Despacito”, haven’t you? Imagine them mixed together, but no, not mixed in a sleekly-designed modern building, collided in a messy derelict ramshackle of an apartment with sweat dripping down every single piece of dirty laundry, in which the sweat is coming from the rats inside the walls instead of the ghastly insane elderly woman who lives there with her ten cats, who is so moist and dry in old age she has lost the ability to sweat, cry or her favourite thing to do, spit on people. Hence, she’s criminally depressed and so am I after listening to this song, as it is so unbearable to the point where I’m flabbergasted at how this became a top 10 hit. Next!

#4

Wait a second... I don’t even know what “mi gente” means. Oh, it means “my people”? Talking about a group of people, here’s our first, last and only tie on the list, and it’s a doozy.

#4 – Yo Gotti  - “Rake it Up” featuring Nicki Minaj / Lil Uzi Vert - “XO Tour Llif3”

These are completely different songs, but they both represent the oversaturation of trap in their sleep-inducing beats, stupid, scatterbrain lyrics that show off every single rap cliché possible (I’ll go into detail some other time in a bonus list after this one) and a whole dose of bad vocal performances, most notably Lil Uzi Vert’s autotuned whining in “XO Tour Llif3”. At least they’re the only God-awful trap songs to be hits this year.

#4 – Kodak Black – “Tunnel Vision”

Oh, yeah, the song about racial profiling that also includes a lyric about or at least implying a reference to your rape charges... I think I know why they want you locked up, mate. While you’re there, we should also give you some basic English education, because anyone who thinks “iggin’” is a perfectly usable word, and that “winning”, “listen” and “iggin’” rhyme with “penitentiary” should probably start re-thinking if the school they went to did the best job they could. Well, at least Rae Sremmurd didn’t have a hit this year.

#4 – Ayo & Teo – “Rolex” / Rae Sremmurd – “Swang”

Two—two of them? We have two of them now?!

Hop out, drop-top, f **k y’all talkin’, I need it right now, right now

What’s with the falsettos this year? Did everyone forget how to sing in a higher pitch properly?

#4 – ZAYN and Taylor Swift – “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever (Fifty Shades Forever)”

Oh, so, that’s a yes, then? How about we just give hits to people who can’t sing at all?

#4 – Julia Michaels – “Issues”

I have issues with this song, but again, it’d be beating a dead horse with a sack of coal. At least it’s a woman who can’t sing this time... Girl power, I guess?

#4 – Halsey – “Now or Never”

Well, at least she can sing, I suppose. It’s just that this song is all over the place, like a bed that’s way too...

#4 – Migos – “Slippery” featuring Gucci Mane

Sorry, Gucc’. I love you, man, I really do, but you associate yourself with some of the worst singers, some of the least interesting rappers, and sometimes...

Two b****es so fine that I masturbated

...some of the worst yet still very interesting lyrics.

Yes, those are all my picks for #4. They are all as equally lazy and incompetent as each other.

#3

Now let’s move onto one song that is somehow worse than every single song in the last spot combined, mostly due to the annoyance of every single possible sound effect the producers crammed into it.

#3 – Hailee Steinfeld and Grey – “Starving” featuring Zedd

I didn’t know that I was starving ‘til I tasted you

Okay, a bit of a weird metaphor, but it adds some sensuality to it all so it gives the relationship some lip-biting romance, so that’s a decent line.

Don’t need no butterflies when you give me the whole damn zoo

Oh... never mind. Seriously, the concept of this line is okay on paper, but “the whole damn zoo” is so forced and downright nonsensical that it really takes me out of whatever sensuality, romance or even fun this line was supposed to be portraying. Butterflies aren’t even typically animals that are perceived as “zoo animals”; they’re found in zoos in those enclosures but that’s pretty much it. What were you going for here, five writers? Seriously, you had five writers, none of which are credited because of sampling or interpolation by the way, three of which being professional, two of which being Grey themselves, and none of those grown men and women could figure out any reason to why this line is incredibly corny, or have the gall to object it? Yes, most of this section has been about that lyric but what else is there to criticise other than that lyric and the drop, which is one of the weakest this year? I’ll pass.

#2

So what’s number #2? It can’t be as bad as that song.

#2 – Imagine Dragons – “Thunder”

...Then dishonourable mentions time it is!

Dishonourable Mentions

Ed Sheeran – “Shape of You”

This is in order of the Year-End and not my opinion because I just want to not talk about “Thunder” as easily and as long as I can. If the most popular song of the year is this terrible, it should be a bad sign, but 2017 is great, so I suppose there are exceptions.

Sam Hunt – “Body like a Back Road”

I’ve made a rule to never put country songs on any lists because I have a negative bias towards them; just never enjoyed the genre that much. Sorry.

James Arthur – “Say You Won’t Let Go”

Boring.

Kygo and Selena Gomez – “It Ain’t Me”

This drop just completely ruins the song.

Logic – “1-800-273-8255” featuring Alessia Cara and Khalid

Khalid saves this.

Who can relate? (whoo!)

Taylor Swift – “Look What You Made Me Do”

This has a really good pre-chorus. That’s about all my positives.

Machine Gun Kelly – “Bad Things” featuring Camila Cabello

“Havana” must have been a fluke.

Ariana Grande – “Side to Side” featuring Nicki Minaj

Wrist icicle, ride d**k bicycle / Come true, yo, get you this type of blow / If you wanna Minaj, I got a tricycle

D**k bicycle... okay, Nicki.

Shawn Mendes – “Mercy”

I suppose this has enough of a rock edge for me to forgive.

Some random teenage nobodies – “that Vine dance song (why do these still exist)”

Dead horse.

Katy Perry – “Chained to the Rhythm”

Are we tone-deaf?

Are you talking to the people who bought your album?

Jon Bellion – “All Time Low”

Out of all of their discography, I can’t believe “Jon Bellion” is the song that got big. “Weightless” is so much better.

Sam Smith – “Too Good at Goodbyes”

This is so perfect that it sickens me.

P!nk – “What About Us”

This is so non-descript that it sickens me.

Cheat Codes – “No Promises” featuring Demi Lovato

Whoever the guy is needs to input the singing codes. It’s D, O, O, R, left.

Shawn Mendes – “Treat You Better”

Ew.

Rita Ora – “Anywhere”

Oh, how I wish you crossed over.

The Chainsmokers – “Closer” featuring Halsey / Future – “Mask Off” / DJ Khaled – “I’m the One” featuring Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper and Lil Wayne

I’ve yet to decide if these songs are heaven-sent or hells spawn.

Now, let’s talk about the demon that is “Thunder”.

Thunder, feel the thunder

There are so many things about this song that make me want to shrivel up in the corner and rot. First of all, there’s the way-too-bouncy trap production for an otherwise triumphant song; it shouldn’t be this joyful and plucky. Those finger-snaps are so blatantly fake, and that synth sounds like literal yawning edited to sound like a chirping tone that just scratches the surface of unbearable. Dan Reynolds in general is an absolute plonker throughout the verses, with the vocal inflections of a Pez dispenser who just, for no reason, slides off into a spiral of autotuned murmuring in the first verse.

Just a young gun, with a quick fuse / I was uptight, wanna let loose / I was dreaming of bigger things / And wanna leave my whole life behind

The lyrics, by the way, are literally saying “I was into this band before you were cool”, which makes the second verse even more aggravating, especially due to the pitch-shifted vocal that appears on every single one of his terrible vocal inflections.

Kids were laughing in my classes / While I was scheming for the masses

Now I’m smiling from the stage while / You were clapping in the nosebleeds

The verses are terrible, but it’s not the worst part of this song, and neither is the next thing I’m going to bring up, but this is awful too.

You know how Kanye West manipulated samples so they’d sound kind of like a chipmunk? Well, Imagine Dragons do the same, however here, instead of a low-key soul-influenced hip hop track, it’s supposed to be a triumphant synth-pop victory lap, so this repetitious pitch-shifted nonsense is unfitting, unnecessary and unbearable. What are they repeating, you ask? The word “thunder”, which Dan does in the chorus as well. Hence, the word “thunder” is used approximately 78 times, excluding when only one syllable of the word is said (that happens a lot too). This song is just barely over three minutes, and there’s not many instrumental parts, apart from a certain section we’ll get to later. “Thunder” doesn’t have as much of an impact when it’s said nearly 80 times in your relatively short song, that was made for pop radio so of course it’s going to be played frequently.

There’s also that guitar solo... that pathetic wimpy guitar solo. There’s such a leap in hatred and lack of quality and redeemable moments from #3 to #2... what was #1? “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran? Well, I hate that song, but technically, it doesn’t count because it didn’t make the Year-End... screw it.

#10 – Cheat Codes – “No Promises” featuring Demi Lovato

Which means...

#1 – Imagine Dragons – “Thunder”

You happy, Dan? I’m officially jealous of you, like you wanted me to be. I’m envious of your success despite several attempts to make the radio play garbage – and not even the good kind like recyclable garbage or guilty-pleasure garbage, just plain, unadulterated crap worthy of no more attention. Congratu-freaking-lations. I’ll see you for the next episode of Reviewing the Charts or the next review or whatever, I don’t care. Goodbye. Hopefully next year is the same quality or even better than this year. So far it doesn’t seem to be even close.

Thun-thun-thunder, thunder.