#And that was how it took me like 13 years to realize a band I liked and owned cds of may or may not have written a bunch of songs about god

[averbaldumpingground]

Life almost disappears, those summer afternoons spent reading in the park, your head half-leaning on his shoulder. Those mornings in the spring, a little late for work.

It didn't matter then, the way he took two sugars in his coffee. The way you let your hair grow out too long.

But these, the memories we keep, crammed in a shoebox full of polaroids, saved somewhere on a half-forgotten hard drive, they're what remains behind. They're what your sister finds, the weekend that she helps you pack your life.

And then it's sitting on the couch, your kitchen stuff already wrapped in paper. It's styrofoam containers, soda cans. It's wine that she's already drinking from the bottle.

And you can't figure out whose silhouette that was, who showed up to your party with a boa. And she is pretty sure her ex has kids.

But maybe that's why you and I keep postcards. Somebody's bow tie, paperclips, that bit of string.

They don't remind us of some other time, exactly. They're pieces of the people that we were, they're feelings that we'd wanted to hold on to.

#June 12 2023 #I've had 'Spin' by Lifehouse stuck in my head all day. #Is it about some girl? Is it about god? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Who the heck even knows. #I mean that's like a very large percentage of Lifehouse's musical output. #Well this one could also be about parenthood I guess. #And I'm pretty sure 'You and Me' is definitely about Jason Wade's wife and 'Hanging by a Moment' is about god per comments he's made. #But it's a fun party game isn't it? #Speaking of 'Hanging by a Moment'. Even though it came out when I was like 12 and I hadn't yet realized the whole religious thing. #I associate it most with the summer I was 25 and living with my parents for the summer for a grad school internship. #I remember driving my mom's car to work after dropping her off along the way and cranking up the radio. #Unfortunately my options were limited to the pop station (too many commercials) or the Spanish station (I don't speak Spanish) #or the Christian rock station (the one I usually listened to despite my uncomfortable relationship with religion especially at the time). #And the first time I heard them play Lifehouse I was like wtf? Why is the Christian rock station playing something I actually like? #And then I really listened to the words of 'Hanging by a Moment' and I was 'Oooooh.' #And that was how it took me like 13 years to realize a band I liked and owned cds of may or may not have written a bunch of songs about god #Which honestly would have turned 12 year old me off a lot because like it's not fun being an atheist when almost everyone's a dick about it #And I'm not sure it was the healthiest coping mechanism for the whole having my heart shattered by a religious dude when I was 25... #Actually that's not true. That year I mostly played the fuck out of Emmylou Harris's and Bob Dylan's most depressing hits. ('Gold' anyone?) #Followed by Royal Wood's divorce album when that came out. #But blasting the Christian rock station in the car? Definitely kind of intentionally masochistic. But also I really hate radio commercials. #I did listen to a lot of Lifehouse that summer. #So regardless of what the songs are actually about they all remind me of the highway and my mom's old car and carpooling to work. #Except 'Blind'. 'Blind' still makes me cry. #That was a really pointless aside because I don't feel like writing or going to sleep and will probably stay up listening to Lifehouse now. #I guess the moral of that story if it needs to have a moral is: #If you're a godless heathen and someone makes you feel like shit because they act like there's something wrong with you for it #you're much better off not wasting your time trying to understand why they think like that and living your best heathen life instead. #Or something like that. Idk.

[steddieas-shegoes]

more than everything else

For @steddieholidaydrabbles prompt ‘proposal’ wc: 999 rated m cw: suggestive language | tags: domestic fluff, sappy and romantic

💍💍💍💍💍💍💍💍💍💍💍💍💍

“Steve! Freezer’s working again!” Eddie yelled from his spot on the floor behind their previously defunct freezer.

Eddie insisted he could fix it himself, hence the hours he’d spent on the floor with tools that weren’t doing anything and a lip bitten until it bled.

“Told you if you took your shirt off it would work faster,” Steve said from the doorway, hands on his hips as he took in the sight of Eddie being half naked.

Sweat dripping down his chest.

A bruise forming on his side where he’d dropped a wrench on himself earlier.

His newest tattoo peeling because he’d forgotten to put Vaseline on it earlier.

“I always listen to you, sweetheart,” Eddie smirked as he stood up. “You got any plans later?”

“I actually do remember something on the calendar.”

Eddie walked over to him, covered Steve’s hands with his own and rocked him side to side. “Damn.”

“Why? You wanna make plans?” Steve raised a brow.

“I thought I could get a reward for all my hard work today,” Eddie pouted his bottom lip out, eyes widening as he leaned further into Steve’s space. “Maybe in the bedroom?”

“Reward? For fixing the freezer that you broke?”

“I seem to remember someone saying that the freezer was just ‘old’ and that this ‘could’ve happened to anyone.’ Or am I mistaken?” Eddie let go of Steve’s hands but stayed close to him.

“I’m not sure who said that. I do remember someone saying that if you turned it down too far for too long, it would break, though. Maybe you can recall who said that?” Steve leaned in to peck his lips softly, teasing just a little with his fingers along the waistband of Eddie’s pants. “Seems like a smart guy.”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well. At least the guy who broke it could fix it.”

“That’s right, baby.” Steve backed away. “Now. I’ve got baked chicken spaghetti in the oven for dinner and I made cookies earlier if you-“

“Marry me.”

Steve froze, his eyes widened.

Maybe Eddie could’ve been more eloquent, more romantic.

Shit, maybe he could do that still.

He reached for Steve’s hands, smiling softly at him as his eyes darted between Eddie’s, searching for him to say that it was a joke.

“I’m serious.” Eddie kissed his forehead before continuing. “You think I survived the hell of ‘86 to not end up with Steve Harrington? You think I’ve spent nearly every day of the last six years trying to be the best partner you could ask for, the kind you deserve? You make me wanna be more than everything else.”

“What-“

Eddie shushed him with a kiss. “When I was little, like barely old enough to ride a bike, my mom brought me to a flower shop. She said I had to pick a nice flower for my teacher so she knew I was a sweet kid. I picked a daffodil. She laughed and said ‘you know the love of my life always brought my a daffodil’ and when I asked why dad didn’t bring them to her anymore she said ‘he never did.’ And as I got older I realized what that meant. I never could ask her about it, but I eventually asked Wayne. He said-“ Eddie sniffed, biting his lip trying not to cry. “He said sometimes the love you get isn’t what makes you feel better than everything else, but that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to feel more than everything else. And I still didn’t quite get it, ya know? Made no damn sense to me when I was 13. Kinda thought Wayne was high.” Steve laughed, Eddie smiled. “But then I saw you in the cafeteria one day, and I saw the way you held the door open for some of the band kids even though Tommy was teasing you for it. And I saw how much you did for me at my worst, even before you had a reason to, before you knew it would be worth more. I see how you love, and how you keep loving, even when some people may not deserve it. I feel how much you are, how much more you can still be. And how much I wanna be more to be worthy of you. I don’t have much, you know I don’t, but you love me anyway. And you make me wanna be more.”

Steve���s tears were falling rapidly, a sob escaping at the end of Eddie’s words as he fell forward, his tears soaking Eddie’s shirt instantly.

“You’re enough for me,” he finally managed to say against Eddie’s neck. “You’ve always been enough for me. I don’t want more. I just want you.”

“I know, sweet love. I know.” Eddie’s arms tightened around him. “You think you could marry me?”

“Eds. I would marry you every day if we could.” Steve sniffed as he pulled away. “We can’t really do it, though.”

“Maybe not. But we can wear rings, tell everyone. I can call you my husband around the people who love us.”

That was a hell of a thought.

Husbands.

“You’re sure you want that?”

“Of course I am. Who else is gonna fix your freezer when it breaks?”

“Maybe you could try not to break it in the first place.” Steve smacked his shoulder. He kissed him slowly, tongue brushing against his bottom lip but not looking for more. “But I guess it would be nice to have someone around all the time to fix the stuff he breaks.”

“Hey!”

“I love you.”

It was that simple.

“So. My reward?”

“My hand in marriage.” Steve turned away and looked over his shoulder. “And maybe my hand in other places. If you hurry up and shower.”

“I’ll be done in five. Be naked on the kitchen table-“

“Eddie, not-“

“The kitchen table!”

Steve rolled his eyes but threw his shirt to the floor and winked before making his way to the kitchen. “Five minutes!”

#steddieholidaydrabbles #steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #stranger things #proposal

[wolfjackle-creates]

Bring Me Home Arc 2 Part 20: FINAL

So guess what I realized this morning. Today, November 13, 2023 is the one year anniversary of me posting my first DPxDC fic to tumblr. It was the original fill for this very fic. (Which you can find here.)

So I decided I just had to finish this arc and get it posted. This year has been amazing and so much fun. I've become a much better writer and joined a community that has brought me so much joy. I'm glad to be here and I'm glad so many of you like to read what I'm sharing.

I noticed I got a few new readers over the past week or so, so welcome to all of you! Hope you enjoy this early update!

In personal news, my nephew was born and he's adorable and I'll be meeting him tomorrow! (As soon as I'm done posting this, I'm off to make food for his mom.)

Story Summary: Tim and Danny are both neglected by parents who care more about their work than their families. They deal with this by spending too much time online and find each other playing MMORPGs. They keep up their friendship as Tim becomes Robin and Danny becomes Phantom and don't bother keeping secrets from each other.

Arc 1

Arc 2: Part 1, Previous

Word Count: 1.2k

-----

In the end, it ended up taking several hours for Danny, Sam, and Tucker to escape their families and converge on the park. In that time, Tim had called Bruce to let him know he’d be back in Gotham by tomorrow and finished most of his homework.

While he worked, Wulf and Bart were having an animated conversation in Esperanto.

Tim was pretty sure Wulf would be bringing Bart to the Ghost Zone for a tour sometime and started making plans to learn Esperanto himself and bribe Bart to get in on them.

Cassie was helping Conner sort through some of the music Sam had given him. Tim was jealous as he solved more banal trig questions. Why did school have to be so boring? He tapped his pencil on the paper in time to the beat of whatever music Conner had playing.

Tucker was the first to arrive. “Danny and Sam not here yet?” he asked as he plopped down next to Bart and Wulf.

“Nope. Haven’t heard from them, either,” said Tim. He opened his phone notifications again just to be sure, but there was nothing new.

Tucker shrugged and pulled out a stick of jerkey to munch on. “Not surprising. The Fentons will be all overprotective after the mayor was kidnapped by a ghost on live TV. And Sam’s parents are just as bad. Only they smother rather than check the weaponry.” He turned to greet Wulf in Esperanto.

An email came through on Tim’s phone and he groaned. “Our evening interview was canceled. No one wants to hear us try to defend Phantom anymore.”

Cassie cursed. “Course not. Bet the paper won’t publish our editorials either.”

Conner looked over, confused. “Won’t they? Clark works for the Daily Planet. They publish stuff like that all the time.”

Tim didn’t look up from his math as he answered, “That’s the difference between a big, Pulitzer winning publication and a small-town op-ed.”

Tucker sighed. “Well maybe someone will remember your interviews from this morning in a positive light.”

Bart rolled his eyes. “Come on, we can’t change it. So let’s move forward. Next step, make friends with more ghosts! Wulf says there’s a bunch of cool people in the Realms.”

“Realms?” asked Tim.

“It’s what he says the Ghost Zone is actually called. The Infinite Realms.”

“Huh. I’ll have to check JL databases, see if they have any information on them.”

Tucker asked something in Esperanto and Bart burst out laughing as Wulf looked on in confusion.

With Bart’s help, though, he rephrased until Wulf was able to reply. And then the three kept to Esperanto. Tim really had to find time to learn it.

Sam was the next to arrive. She grinned and sat down next to Conner. “How you liking the music?”

Conner grinned and showed her the sheets where he ranked the bands so far based on which songs he’d listened to. She then took over the speakers and searched for specific tracks to try and change his mind about some of the bands he liked the least.

Tim let his eyes close as his friends’ voices washed over him.

After some indeterminate time where he dozed between sleeping and awareness, a foot nudged his hip. Tim grumbled out what was supposed to be a, “What?” but was too mumbled to really be understood.

“Come on, Secrets. You can do better than that.”

Tim cracked an eye open to see Danny grinning down at him. He pushed himself up slightly and blinked heavily in the sunlight.

“Finally got away from your parents?” asked Tim.

Danny collapsed on the ground next to him. “Ugh, don’t remind me. They’re freaking out over everything that’s happened the last few days. Jazz and I are basically going to be on lock down until they feel confident the ghosts are gone.”

“Did you have to sneak out to get here?” asked Cassie.

Danny shook his head. “No, I told them I was going to find you guys to make sure you were all safe. You’re welcome to come back to ours tonight, by the way. Mom and Dad basically insisted on it.”

“What do you guys think?” asked Tim. “Spend one more night here at Danny’s and head out in the morning?”

Cassie sighed. “My mom’s already freaking out that I’ve been gone longer than planned. I should get back tonight.”

“I’ll stay,” offered Conner. “I’m your ride home, anyway.”

“Why don’t you come to my place, Conner,” offered Sam. “Your nails need a fresh coat after fighting today. And I need teach you about the different brands of makeup and what to look for in terms of cost, quality, and ethicality. Plus I can get you more music.”

Tim laughed when Conner looked to him. “Go for it. Have fun.”

Conner grinned. “Then yeah, let’s do it!”

Bart shrugged. “Wulf is going to go back to the Realms soon. I’ll head out after. Wally and Linda want me over for a family dinner tonight.”

“Well, looks like that’s it, then,” sighed Danny. “Been fun having other heroes around.”

Tim nudged his shoulder. “Join the Young Justice. You could join us and we'd help out whenever you wanted. Get you around people who actually appreciate what you do for them.”

But Danny was already shaking his head. “I have to stay here. And now Amity trusts heroes even less. I want to improve that, not make it worse.”

“Even if you don’t join,” declared Conner. “You’re not getting rid of us now.”

Bart nodded his agreement. “Yep. We’re gonna be stopping by all the time. You’re in the group chat.”

“Exactly,” agreed Tim. “And we’ll figure out ways to help you. Starting with how to minimize property damage. That seems to be the big thing people focus on. You can make shields, right? How big can you make them and how much power do they take?”

Danny smiled wryly. “Can’t say I’ve really tested it.”

Tim laughed. “Well, I know one thing we’re doing tonight. We’re going to go back to Nasty Burger—” Tim looked around at the whole group “—all of us. Then Cassie and Bart are going to go home. Danny and I, at least, are going to take a nap. Then we’re gonna test the current limits to Danny’s powers.”

Danny bumped their shoulders together. “You know, this is just like gaming with you all those years.”

“Yeah, well, it’s best to be thorough.”

“We’ve measured, like, his top speed and stuff,” said Tucker, pulling out a PDA. “Want to see what we’ve got so far?”

“Absolutely.” Tim took the device and looked through it. “You’ve a decent amount of information here. Maybe instead of taking a nap, I’ll help you organize it and come up with a testing plan.”

Conner flew over to him and pulled the PDA out of his hand. “Not after pulling an all-nighter you won’t. We’re going to get some food, then the two of you are going to sleep for at least four hours.���

“I’ll set Jazz on you, too,” threatened Sam. “Don’t think I won’t.”

Tim pouted as the device was given back to Tucker. And grumbled more when Conner picked him up and threw him over his shoulder.

“Come on, food time.”

“I am going to put kryptonite in your phone,” threatened Tim.

“Bingo!” shouted Cassie.

Danny laughed as he stood. “Does this mean I can join the next round?”

Tim scowled. “Traitors, all of you.”

-----

Next

And that's the end of this Arc! Arc 3 will pick up where the original fill did. (Only this time, Tim won't be the only DC character there to help Danny.)

I'd say something like I can't believe it's only been a year, but so much has happened to me in the last twelve months that it feels like a lifetime ago, to be honest. But it's been a good year and I'm glad this community has been part of it.

Please follow the subscription post if you want updates for when I start transferring this arc to AO3 or begin posting Arc 3.

#dpxdc #bring me home #my writing #i cant believe i've finally got to the end #i've really enjoyed writing this arc #even if parts of it were challenging #its been a fantastic journey #it's been a year #how wild #12 months #365 days #and i'm thrilled #thank you for following me on this journey #you've all made it completely worth it

[jhugas]

‘I OWE HER MY LIFE’- Jeon Jungkook

Masterlist

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

Genre: angst, fluff

Pairing: comforting, idol!Jungkook X sad, 8th member!F!Reader

Summary: You love Bts and Army, but you don’t think you’re made for this lifestyle. So you’ve been considering leaving the group. But how will Jungkook, the one that loves you the most, react?

Warnings/tags: mention of sasaengs, and death threats (only mentions, no details), reader feels depressed, Jungkook is extremely attached, Jungkook comforts you, sad Jungkook, crying, hugs and a lovely Jungkook.

Word count: ~1,2k

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

It’s been a long time you’ve been in BTS, the biggest band in the world… maybe around 5 years? You’ve had tours, fan meetings, collaborations, invitations… but also had death threats, sasaengs, people ringing at your door, and harassing you in the streets.

You’re a strong woman. Very strong. But you had limits, and limits got crossed over. This wasn’t the life you wanted; you just wanted some money to help your family. But now, you have the money without your family. You had to leave them from a young age, and with so much work and pressure, your relations with them got damaged. You believe that they won’t come back no matter what. But then, what was all of that for? Working so hard day and night since you’re 13, for nothing but money and fame.

Realizing how much better your life would’ve been without fame… tears form in your eyes. You love Bts, and you love Army, but maybe you weren’t made for this.

‘They‘ll understand. They love me too’

you reassured yourself, scared of expressing the decision you’re considering more and more; leaving Bts. Leaving the cameras, fame, and infinite money for an easier life. You try to imagine how Bts will react…

Namjoon, the one that you grew up with, that made you who you are today, comforted you every needed time and that considered you as his own sister.

Jin, that considered you as his very own daughter, bringing you to school and cooking for you.

Yoongi and Hoseok, bringing you to your bed when you fell asleep on the couch and went to the school reunions for parents.

Taehyung and Jimin being your closest friends you ever had, your big brothers, teasing you and bickering each other all the time. But always being there for each other.

And Jungkook that… loved you deeply. Very deeply. More than anyone else.

He always gave you lovely gifts, like portraits, drawings and paintings of you, and even tried sculpting you. Once, he gave you an album full of pictures he took himself of you, to prove you you were beautiful at your most insecure time. He gave you letters all the time, and was the type to write “Jungkook, you’re not so secret admirer :) ” as a signature. And always gave you the best Netflix and chill nights. Buying popcorns, letting you chose the movie, buying channels just for you, making his bedroom cozy with cute lights and more.

You were hung up on his walls. Said you were his love, passion and happiness as a person. And said he’d be your guardian angel the day he leaves.

“I’m not scared of dying because I know we’ll never really be too far from each other. In our next life, we’ll meet again, and love each other like we always did.” he said…

Tears roll down your cheek. How are you going to tell him? Will he get mad? Sad? Tons of questions go through your head as you blow your nose and throw the tissue. Will he hate you? Understand you? Does he feel the same thing? You blow your nose once again and throw the tissue. Suddenly, the door opens.

‘Y/n!! Why are you crying?!’

Jungkook comes in running and gets in front of you making sure to close the door behind him. He looks at you with worried eyes as you wipe away your tears, acting like nothing happened.

‘Y/n Im not joking! Please baby, tell me what’s wrong. You can talk to me you know it.’

He whispers the last part, taking care to not frighten you and to make you feel safe, protected. As you look at him in the eyes, you sitting on the edge of the bed and him crouching down to talk to you, he cups your face in his big hands, gets closer and kisses your forehead.

‘Jungkook… I… I’m not sure what to feel about being in Bts anymore… I’m scared, and lost… It’s not like I really want to leave but it feels like it’s the only way out…’

You look down, scared of how he’ll react. He’ll think you’re a traitor, you think…

There’s a silence. A long one. You wouldn’t be able to tell how long it was nor if it was uncomfortable or not. But it felt like hours. You hear him taking a deep breath in before saying in a weak voice:

‘Y/n… you can’t be real. You’re not thinking about leaving Bts right? You’re joking?’

He asks, sounding like he was about to cry. You slowly nod, making him understand that yes, you were indeed, considering it.

‘What’s wrong? What made you think about this? Y/n Im ready to do anything for you. Anything! Tell me what do you need I’ll do it! I’ll give it to you!’

He sounds desperate. You finally look back at him, tears still rolling down your cheeks but he gently wipes them away with his thumb. He gets on the bed and hugs you tight. His chest moving irregularly, strongly. And his arms holding you extremely close to him.

‘Im just… I’m tired! I’m tired of everything. I’ve tried having breaks, I really did! But nothing have worked…I’m exhausted Jungkook…I really am… and I’m sorry…’

You say. Your nose gets even redder. You almost can’t see due to the amount of tears your shining eyes are holding.

‘Put the blame on me. Put all of your worries in me. Give me all of your stress, fears, pressure. I’ll take it. I gladly will.’

He gets back.

‘Give me all of your pain. I know you’re suffering so put it all on me. Please.’

He yells in a whisper. He doesn’t want to scare you and he meant everything he said. He’s ready to do anything for you, even if it meant dying, or getting tortured till the end of his days.

You saved him and always comforted him when he wasn’t feeling good. So that’s what he told himself: ‘I owe her my life’. From the moment he realized how important you are to him, he knew he’d dedicate his whole life to you. There wasn’t any point in doing anything without you. And in fact, you were his whole life. He always did the most for you. He hugs you again…

‘It’ll be all right… I’m here… I’m right here.’

He whispers onto your neck, slightly laying a few kisses on it. You hold tight onto his hair and let your body rest in his strong arms. Tired from crying so much, you fell asleep. He laid you down on the bed, changed your clothes for pajamas, and stayed beside you. He spent the whole night cuddling you and whispering good things in your ear such as ‘you’re strong’, ‘you can do it’, or ‘I’m right here’.

He let you sleep as much as you needed and instead of not leaving until you wake up, he decided to make your favorite breakfast then decorated and cleaned the whole apartment.

He was right. It’ll be all right, he’s here…

Masterlist

Thank you for reading! If you liked it please like or reblog ^^

@dolliecat @icyllic ^^

#army #bts #fanfic #scenarios #jungkook #jungkook x reader #jungkook x y/n #jungkook scenarios #jungkook x you #jungkook imagine #jungkook one shot #jungkook angst #angst #fluff #Jungkook fluff #comfort #Jungkook comfort #bts comfort

[calliesadeckis]

Hey Jaiden!! I hope ur doing well today, I wanted to ask if you could write a Robin Buckley x reader where reader has to watch from the sidelines as Robin pines over Vickie and doesn't realize reader is right there. Then reader starts talking to simeone else (to distract herself from Robin because she believes it's a lost cause) and Robin's like maybe i do like reader?

Thanks:)

i'm doing well, thank you for asking <3 and oh my god, of course. i love robin so much, she's everything to me

—

and i despise my jealous eyes

pairing: robin buckley x fem!reader, and minor robin x vickie & steve x reader

summary: having a crush on your girl best friend was... complicated. even when knowing that she's attracted to girls, just one girl particularly, and that girl was not you

cw: many cups of angst, one sided pining turned two sided (because they're idiots), jealousy (on both ends), happy ending

a/n: robin is everything to me, she's a version of me as well because i kin her so bad, i just felt like she was created for me (as well as for other neurodivegent sapphics out there). also title is lyrics from lacy by olivia rodrigo and i thought it fit here

masterlist

you knew and have been friends with robin buckley since middle school and during that time, you've been inseparable. your parents would say how much you're both attached to each others hips, which was quite the understatement.

when the both of you were close enough, she came out to you. trusting you enough with who she really is and has not told anyone else. of course you'd understand, maybe not entirely for your 13 year old brain, but.... how could you hate your best friend, your ONLY friend for who she loves? you thought people hating on someone for that was dumb, yet again, you're young, you don't know much of the world and why they act the way it does. but nothing was ever gonna change on how you viewed robin.

once you started high school together, you've experienced some changes yourself. that you found yourself going through an experience that your friend was a couple years prior, but at the time, it didn't mean anything important. and you though, 'this can't be a coincidence that i'm attracted to girls, as is my best friend' and speaking of that best friend.... through this discovery journey, you started seeing robin a different light. she was still your best friend of course, but these feelings were just growing into more than friendship, and that feeling never went away.

you were unsure about your sexuality for most of your high school experience, up until senior year. robin was in band, and she met this cute girl in band, vickie, and it made your just a little bit angry. and it's not just the fact this girl is taking time away from your best friend, but it was the fact robin was looking at a girl like that, and that girl wasn't you.

it's not like you hated vickie, you don't even know her, it was just possessiveness that got to you. everything was just so fucked and you didn't wanna talk about your feelings because you weren't exactly the best at communicating your emotions. especially when you don't like talking about them to begin with.

so, the second best option was to move on, though that probably would take multiple year and not over a span of a few days. you needed some type of distraction, of course. so you decided to hang out with steve harrington. and you a a freshman would be confused and wouldn't believe they'd be friends with steve harrington during your senior year.

and we'll, you were in luck. steve was looking for someone to take as a date to lucas' championship game so you took the opportunity to volunteer. and getting to know steve, he wasn't exactly your type but he was sweet, and yeah, a bit dumb, but he had heart and cared for others. and obviously this wouldn't be a permanent thing for you, but you felt kind of sad for steve because he's been mentioning about finding a girl who isn't leaving out of state to go to college, to find someone who isn't gonna be some boring one night stand and never speak to you again. you knew he wanted something real with someone, maybe it wasn't you but... you wanted to help.

to be honest, he was a gentleman. it wasn't even a dinner date, it was going to a high school basketball game and the two of you were sitting in the bleachers. he did buy you some food as you watched the game, you weren't overly invested since you didn't know much about basketball, but you wanted to support lucas.

during the game though, you and robin occasionally gave one another glances. this had made your heart beat a little too fast, but you ignored it.

the game was over and you and steve were walking towards his car to take you home, then you made a pretty dumb move and kissed him. obviously you didn't like him like that but... distracting yourself in anyway with anyone felt good, but it made your stomach twist up in knots. that had gotten progressively worse that robin was watching the entire thing by the time you pulled away. and she was walking away heartbroken and you were just standing there frozen til steve snapped you out of it by clapping his hands together to get your attention, "hey!" and you looked at him, and you knew, that he knew, "go after her, okay? i'll be fine."

"i'm sorry, steve." you felt awful for using him like this, he was your friend and you took advantage. but he brushed it off, "it's fine. i'd rather have robin be okay than me." and you smiled at him before running after your long time best friend. and you called out to her, "robin, can we please talk?"

"there's nothing to talk about, alright." she didn't turn back to look at you and just kept walking, "i just want you and steve to be happy. i don't wanna get in the way of that." but you managed to catch up to her, making her face you. "that's not what that was, okay? he's not my type." and you got her full attention, "like i won't deny he's easy on the eyes and i think he deserves a girl who'll make him happy, but that's not me. i kissed him because i wanted to distract myself from my feelings. and i'm bad at talking about my feelings. so i just push them down and pray that they'll disappear over time but... some stuff just stays."

robin was trying to understand what you meant, she couldn't exactly understand who you were referring to, "so what are you saying exactly?"

"i like you." you blurted out, "maybe even love you. you're my best friend, and i didn't wanna ruin years of friendship because of how i felt about you. and you have a crush on vickie, which is cool. i'm happy for you, but i just... can't go on without being honest with myself. and i'm sorry if i'm talking too much and i-" but the buckley had cut you off with a kiss. and this time around, it felt great, and it felt real. the feelings and emotions were all there on both ends. she pulled away a few inches to just rest her forehead against yours, "i feel the exact same way. for years, actually."

you gasped in surprised and lightly and playfully punched her shoulder, "are you serious? why didn't you say anything?"

"i didn't think you'd feel the same." and she pulled away from your face with a big smile on her face, "especially since i thought you were straight and i didn't wanna ruin our friendship." and the two of you giggled like idiots. you brought her into another kiss before hugging her tightly, "we're both such idiots."

"yeah, pretty much." she chuckled.

#stranger things #stranger things x reader #robin buckley x reader #robin buckley imagine #robin buckley x you #robin buckley x y/n #jaiden writes things #peepshake

[ladykailitha]

Star Child Part 13

I told you I wouldn’t leave you hanging. In fact, I made sure I had the resolution to the cliffhanger WRITTEN before posting the last chapter. So here we go! Also a hint at future Buckingham...;)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12  

***

Tears ran down Eddie’s face. “You think that killing him will bind me to you?”

Creel smiled and touched his cheek softly. “Because if you don’t, you’ll be arrested for the murder Steve Harrington. One word from me and they’ll plant evidence that you killed him.”

“You can take my body,” Eddie said. “But you can’t have my heart or my soul. Steve had both. The band, too. My uncle. That’s what real love looks like. Something you’ll never understand. Everyone is below you and you think you can own every little thing. But you can’t. You’ll never own me.”

“We’ll see,” Creel said leaning closer to kiss him.

Suddenly the all the doors in the hotel room burst open, revealing the FBI and Hellfire Security all with guns drawn. Max and Lucas stood in front of a very much alive Steve Harrington.

Creel whipped around and then looked back at Eddie. “How?!”

Eddie took a step back with a grin. He flipped up his leather jacket’s lapel to reveal a wireless mic. “We knew you’d sweep the room. We also thought that you would search us, but you didn’t do that.”

“We knew you liked brute force,” Steve said from behind his security. “So we knew that you would try to kill me. If you had tried in the bathroom, it might have actually worked because it was harder to get agents in there after you swept the hotel suite. But you went cliche. So thanks for that.”

“What was the gun shot?” Eddie asked, his voice cracking.

Max’s lip curled in distaste. “Pollock over here went for his gun and I had to shoot at his foot as warning.”

Eddie looked down and sure enough one of the goons had a bleeding foot. He looked back up at Steve. “I thought I had lost you, babe.”

Creel grunted from the handcuffs being put on him and said, “You think you’ve won, but this isn’t the last you’ll see of me.”

“Oh it certainly is,” Steve said. “We have you for conspiracy to commit murder, blackmail, and breaking and entering. And that’s just for this conversation. That’s not including the case these boys have been building for years.”

“How did someone like you beat me?” Creel snarled.

“Everyone thinks I’m just a pretty face,” Steve said with a smile. “It makes people underestimate me. A lot.”

Creel struggled to lunge at Steve in anger, but the two agents that held him, kept him in place.

The agents started listing off Creel’s Miranda rights as they led him away. More agents led Castor and Pollock away.

A beat.

Eddie launched himself at Steve and it took every ounce of strength to keep them both on their feet.

“I’m sorry, sunshine,” Steve murmured over and over as he rubbed circles into Eddie’s back. “I’m so sorry. But it worked, baby. We’re safe. We’ll never have to look over our shoulders ever again. You’re safe, baby. You’re safe.”

Max turned to Lucas. “Fine. I’ll marry you.”

Lucas’s jaw dropped. “Wait, are you serious?”

Max rolled her eyes. “Yes. I was watching them and was insanely jealous, wanting what they had for all of two seconds before I realized that I did. With you. So yes, I’ll marry you.”

Lucas let out a breathless laugh and the picked her up, spinning her around. He kiss her soundly and then let her down slowly.

Janice shook her head fondly. “All right, you lovebirds. Let’s get Eddie and Steve to his room. And we’ll reconvene with the band there.”

They all nodded.

Janice led the way with Eddie and Steve in the middle and Lucas and Max bringing up the rear. Eddie and Steve’s hands were clasped tightly together as they made their way through the halls of the hotel to Steve’s room. Janice keyed in her security badge and opened the door to a concerned Corroded Coffin.

“Everyone okay?” Jeff asked, leaping to his feet.

Gareth and Brian were on their feet in moments, too. Suddenly Eddie and Steve were getting dog piled by the band as they all sobbed in relief.

Janice called up her team in LA. “Marty, Vince how goes the lovely ladies?”

Vince, a rather large Pacific Islander who answered her video call, smiled. “They’re doing fine. Right now they’re painting each other’s nails.” He turned the screen so she could see the two women on Steve’s sofa painting each other’s nails.

“Miss Cunningham, Miss Buckley,” he called out behind him. “Janice is on the line, come on over.”

Both women were on their feet in an instant.

“Is Steve okay?”

“How about the boys, are they okay, too?” Chrissy asked as they both tried to crowd Vince out of the frame of the video.

“Everyone is fine,” Janice assured them. “Well, except one goon. He has a newly minted hole in his foot for pissing Max off. But other than that, not so much as a single scratch on the clients.”

Everyone in LA let out a sigh of relief.

“Can we see them?” Robin asked, chewing on her bottom lip.

Janice smiled and turned the phone to show all five men laughing and crying.

“Dingus!” Robin called.

Steve startled at her voice. “Robs?” He made his way over to Janice and peered into her phone. “Robin!”

Robin waved. “I made a new friend!” She waved her hands at Chrissy.

Steve waved back. “Don’t worry, Chrissy. I took good care of your boys. They’re safe and sound.”

Chrissy giggled. “Good job. You treat Eddie right, you hear?”

“Yes, ma’am!” Steve said. He took the phone from Janice, who squawked at its removal from her possession.

He ignored her as he brought the phone to where all four Corroded Coffin members were huddled together.

“See?” Steve said as leaned back into Eddie so Chrissy could see all five of them. “I kept them safe,” he whispered.

Chrissy teared up. “You did so good, Stevie. You did good.”

Janice walked over to them. “I have a private plane on standby. So tomorrow morning, we’ll swap Steve for Chrissy. Chrissy, you’ll meet them in Vegas for their next show. And Steve you have to be back for meeting with the record label. Erica called this morning excited about how well your coming out did for her case.”

Every murmured their agreements.

“Good,” Janice said. “I think the boys have a couple of hours before the sound check and will want to be left alone.”

Eddie and Steve blushed while everyone else gave confused noises.

Jeff rolled his eyes when he finally got it. “Don’t fuck too loud, I’m in the room next to yours.”

Eddie and Steve hid in each others shoulders from the sheer embarrassment of it all.

Robin’s mouth formed a soundless, “Oh.”

And suddenly everyone was finding places they had to be. Janice hung with the LA crew and turned to remaining four.

“Max and Lucas will still have to remain outside your door,” Janice reminded them. “So for their sake and Jeff’s, please keep it down.” She waggled her eyebrows at them suggestively.

Steve was mortified and Eddie was subdued. The three security guards exited the room, leaving the two men behind.

Eddie looked around the room to avoid having to look Steve in the eye after that embarrassing display.

“Not a bad room, Stevie,” Eddie said. “Not what I would have chosen, but it’s nice.”

Steve scratched his cheek ruefully. “I don’t usually go for this nice, if I’m honest. I’m too used to the label and my parents bugging it to make sure I didn’t step out of line. I would book a place like this and then go stay a Motel 6 or something.”

Eddie’s expression softened. “I’m sorry, babe. But I’m sure Janice made sure the room was clean before she let you stay here.”

Steve nodded. He had even watched her, but there was still a part of his mind that worried.

“Come here, darlin’,” Eddie cooed, holding out his arms. “We don’t have to do anything right now. Because I don’t think I want to do anything right now but hold you until it’s time for the sound check.”

Steve slumped into his arms as if he was a puppet whose strings had been cut.

They made it to the bed and tumbled into it. They lay there in each other’s arms until it was time for the concert.

*

Steve paused in front of his suitcase. He could wear his usual disguise that he wore to Corroded Coffin concerts, or he could go out and be himself for once.

He chewed his lip nervously before deciding on half of a “disguise”. He pulled out the skin-tight leather pants and chunky boots. He put on a band t-shirt that had the sleeves cut off and the sides hollowed out so that you could see his ribs when he lifted his arms.

He ditched the hat that hid his signature hair and the dark sunglasses. He stepped out of his room with a leather jacket in his hand. He smiled at a passing maid and hopped into the elevator, Max and Lucas trailing behind.

“Is this how you’ve been going their concerts dressed as?” Lucas asked as the elevator took them to the lobby.

Steve nodded. “I cover my hair and keep my head down, and no one has spotted me once.”

Max laughed. “I bet someone did but couldn’t believe pop star Steve Harrington would even like metal so it couldn’t be you.”

Steve grinned. “I’m about to blow my disguise though.”

Lucas laughed. “Yeah, but people think you’re dating Eddie Munson and expect you to be there tonight.”

“And I can’t wait,” Steve said with a wink.

***

Part 14 Part 15  Part 16

@bejeweledbaby @eboyawstenn @moonshadows-13 @ohlook-afrog @goodolefashionedloverboi @linkydinky06 @livelaughlexa @spectrum-spectre @cutepumpkin4 @whatthemeepever @gleek4twd @anything-thats-rock-and-roll @novelnovella @celtrose-ish @artiststarme @plasticcrotches  @failedstarsandgoldenclouds @anaibis @nelotegreitic @steddieassheg0es @abstractnaturaldisaster @scheodingers-muppet @tiny-enthusiast @yes-im-your-mom @thegingerrapunzel @milf-harrington @avacrebs @gregre369 @raisedbylibrarians @reverseteehee @lillys-weird-world @deadlydodos @runyousillydetective @justrandomfandomstm @piebook67 @clumsywriter @donttouchmycarrots @fiore-della-valle @idkareallyreallygoodname  @idontgetpaidenoughforthisshit @imfinereallyy @ravenpainter @ellietheasexylibrarian @maya-custodios-dionach @child-of-cthulhu @estrellami-1 @lillithhellfire @nerdsconquerall @space-invading-pigeon @localgaydisaster @bookbinderbitch

#My writing #stranger things #steddie #rockstar au #song fic #ladykailtiha writes

[basementdoll]

Do you remember the first time you got drunk, the first time you fell in love, the first time you got in a fight? Wednesday 13 does, and those memories aren’t all pleasant…

The Memory Remains

When was the first time you had sex?

“I was 15 and I was in the garage of my mom and dad’s house in North Carolina. I lost my virginity on a Roger Rabbit blanket, because it was really cold. The year was 1991, I believe. The girl was my high school girl and she’s now my wife. I’ve been with her for a long time.”

What were your first impressions of Murderdolls colleague Joey Jordison?

“My first impression, when I first saw him come by in his car, was that he was a girl. I was like, ‘Wow, who’s that chick?’. And he got out of his car and I realized it wasn’t a chick, it was actually Joey. But it was just that he looked so young, like a 16-year-old kid. Like I said, when I saw him in a car I thought he was a chick and then when I saw him up close I thought he was a 16-year-old kid.”

What was the first record you ever bought?

“I didn’t buy a record until I was 18 because I was too much of a cheapskate to get a job. The first record someone ever bought for me was an Alice Cooper record, a Mötley Crüe record and a Poison record in my stocking from Santa Claus. Alice Cooper had a big influence on me visually, and Mötley Crüe were a big influence because they were just a bunch of scumbags. Poison were cool, too.”

What was the first gig you ever attended?

“Mötley Crüe on the ‘Dr Feelgood’ tour. I was in the Seventh Grade, so I think it was 1988, and the venue was the Charlotte Coliseum. For a little kid who had never seen anything like that it was just awesome, to see all the lasers going off in the shape of a giant pentagram, to see the devil in the house from the first song. And to see those guys going about their stuff literally changed my life. It was such an awesome night.”

When was your first fistfight?

“It was in the Sixth Grade. It was with a guy who was once my best friend, and the fight was over a girl. Well, it was for him, because she’d left him to hook up with me. So we walked in the bathroom and he started swinging at me, and every time he swung he missed, he kept hitting the walls. He hit the walls more times than he hit me. So I just laughed at him and smacked him in the head a couple of times and that was about it. Sixth graders don’t really hurt each other that much. I do try and get along with everyone, but if I’m onstage and you throw a bottle at my head I will go after you.”

When was the first time you got drunk?

“I was 15 and it was during the time I was with my first high school band. The drummer had a party at his mom’s. They just lined up a bunch of different drinks for me and I had a go at each and every one of them. By the end of the night I was in a bedroom jumping up and down on the bed and then I passed out. But then next morning I was okay. I don’t get hangovers, not even now.”

When was the first time you ever took drugs?

“I have never, ever in my life taken any drugs apart from the ones you can buy over the counter. I have never smoked weed or done anything like that. And I’ve been around it all. It’s just not for me; I’ve never had the desire to do drugs. I drink but that’s because I want to, not because I need to. I’m a strong man.”

When was the first time you left America?

“It was on the first Murderdolls tour in the spring of 2002. And the first place we went to was Amsterdam. 

What were your first impressions of Amsterdam?

“It was actually pretty scary. For a start I couldn’t believe all the people riding bicycles, about how easy it was to get run over by one of them. And there were all the drunk people, and the drug people. People stoned everywhere, people collapsed and shooting up on the street. For a boy out of North Carolina it was really quite a lot to take in, so I just observed a lot of things and kept my mouth shut.

When was the first time you ever laid a groupie?

“I’ve never done that. I know how that sounds, but it’s true. I have a cool family, I have a kid so I’m responsible.”

When was the first time you ever pissed off a tour bus driver?

“It was on the very first tour bus I ever got on, and it was with the Murderdolls. The bus was a piece of shit and it broke down, so me and Joey just started yelling at the driver. He got the bus started and we were like, ‘Don’t ever let that happen again’. And he told us to fuck off, and we told him to fuck off. And that was about it. But normally I get along pretty good with bus drivers, and I’ve had some very cool ones.”

When was the first time a fan asked you to autograph her breast?

“I get asked that every single day. The first time it happened I was like, ‘Are you serious?’. But over the years I’ve learned a distinction - I will sign above the breast, but I will never, ever sign on the nipple. I just tell them no, because I think it’s stupid. But I’ll sign the chest if they keep it covered up. I don’t really get a thrill from signing tits.”

When was the first time you really pissed off a headline band?

“There’s been many, but the best one was Iron Maiden. We pissed off their whole entire crew who wanted us kicked off the whole entire tour. We were in Croatia, it was extremely hot, we had a day off and we were in a hotel. We went out drinking and got completely wasted. We came back to the hotel and we were making noise down the street, throwing bottles at the windows of the hotel. The people inside the windows began shouting at us and because we didn’t know who it was we just started shouting at them to fuck off, that we would kill them if they didn’t. But it was Iron Maiden’s crew, because when you’re drunk everyone looks like everyone else. And the next day we found out we’d threatened to kill everybody on Iron Maiden’s crew, and we weren’t even allowed in the venue. So we had to buy everyone roses and apologise to every one of their 30-man crew. It took a couple of days but by the end of the tour they were hugging us again. But I think Iron Maiden themselves would rather not ever see us again.”

#wednesday 13 #murderdolls #joey jordison #my scans #“WOW who's that chick?” #i fucking loooove this page its going on my wall

[melodygatesauthor]

Okay guys, I can't believe it's been a full year since I published the first chapter of my first fanfiction story and I'm still going strong today. - (Side note...it was actually yesterday but I wanted to get all my fics posted to AO3 so I could get an accurate word count and tell you all what I've done so...it took me an extra day)

This is going to be a really long post, and I thank everyone in advance for reading all the way through if you make it. I'm taking a moment to allow myself to talk about my accomplishments over the last year, my goals for this next year, and gas myself up just a bit. As an artist, it's really hard to talk about myself in a positive light without being critical, but I'm going to do it anyway. No one asked, but this is one of the ways I wanna celebrate my ficversary so...I'm gonna do it lol.

My First Fanfic Ever

I'd like to start by sharing my beginnings with writing. If I really think back to the very first fanfiction I wrote, I thought it was a Gorillaz fic (which I still have a handwritten copy of in my closet lol), but it wasn't. I think the very first fanfic I wrote technically was a Pirates of the Caribbean fic when I was 11. I didn't even realize that's what it was, I just knew that I was SO into POTC that I wanted to write about it. It had just come out by the way, so I'm really dating myself. This was...2003.

We had this thing we had to do for school, it was like a writing assignment or something, one of those big ones that they gave you, a standardized whatever. I managed to find a way to spin it into a POTC related thing and I went OFF writing this story. It had its own twists and turns unrelated to POTC, but it was a fanfic through and through.

The Beginning of My Fan Art

When I was 12 I started listening to Good Charlotte, to a point that it was my entire personality. Everyone who knew me, knew I loved them. Every fucking art project I had in middle school (7th and 8th grade) was revolved around this band, particularly Joel Madden.

My love for them has come and gone, but I still remember how I felt at the time (not unlike how I feel toward Oscar Isaac now lol). I mean my art teacher literally had to be like "I want you to branch out, you can't make everything about them." And as an adult, I'm wondering -why the fuck not but- ...I digress.

The First Fanfic I Ever "Published"

When I was 12 (or maybe closer to 13), I became OBSESSED with the Gorillaz. When I say obsessed I mean...I listened to the album Demon Days on repeat until it fucking broke. I changed my G's when I would write by hand to match the G in their logo. I made tons of fan art and it was a damn vibe. This was the first time I really discovered fanfiction and learned what it was.

I remember reading one fanfic from some girl on this website (I'm really dating myself here, some of you will know what site this is...) Quizilla. Quizilla was THE site at the time (other than LiveJournal I think, but I never used LiveJournal and didn't know it existed at the time) for fanfiction and what you would now call "buzzfeed quizzes". This girl's writing inspired me to write my own fanfic, which I handwrote and kept in a green folder which, as I said, I still have to this day sitting in my closet.

My very first fic, and yes at 13, included some romance, some non-con (don't fucking ask me why idk even how I knew about that at 13. I was never exposed to this type of thing as a child fortunately) and other nonsense. I published it on this site, and it made me really happy. I don't remember if anyone ever read it or not tbh, but it will forever hold a place in my heart <3

My Best Friend/Emo Era

I met my best friend in high school when I was about 14. She and I are still close to this day. Not as close, but I can still tell her my most unhinged thoughts and she loves me regardless. We met because we both wrote fanfiction and lost our minds over the fact that we did. Thus started my emo era.

She was into My Chemical Romance, and I was into The Used. 2005 was a time lol. The two of us had either a binder or a composition notebook where we'd handwrite our fics and pass them back and forth between classes. I still have the ones I wrote tucked away in my house. When we'd read them she and I would leave little notes in the margins like we all leave comments today.

Most of these fics never got published, they were just for us to enjoy. I did, however, publish a fic when I was about 15, that I wrote to completion. Quizilla ended up going down, and most of us moved to Mibba.com instead, which is still a website.

Edit: I looked at Mibba, and it looks like the website is still there, but you can't search for anything, so Mibba is gone too. Not gonna lie, broke my nostalgic heart just a bit to see...Some fics I wrote on there will be gone forever. Maybe for the best, but it's still kinda sad.

The Avenged Sevenfold Era

When I tell you that Avenged Sevenfold has been my favorite band since I was 15, I'm dead ass. Are they the best band ever? Not by a long shot, but damn the way I still lose my shit over them is unhinged. Anyone who was around during this time fucking knows...they were fucking HOT. Matt Shadows really had the bulky but not shredded body type going on, they all kinda did, and I'm so here for it.

Why I'll never post any of the fics I wrote during this time, even if I get my hands on them...

I wrote them when I was 15, and I was writing about things 15 year olds shouldn't write about.

You don't know cringe until you've read those fics.

It's about real people and I'm not a fan of rpf anymore. I'm all for writing whatever you want and fiction being fiction but there's something that gives me the ick about real people fiction. No offense to anyone who writes it, that's just my feelings.

The way these guys had a hold on me for the next 5 years was ridiculous. I wrote about them a lot, by hand, on my laptop, however I could. I had so many unhinged ideas and stories it's insane. I loved every minute of it, and I always look back on this as my true start into fanfiction.

The End of an Era

All good things come to an end. After graduation, my best friend and I stayed in touch, but grew apart. I went to college and continued writing fanfic. I was pursuing a major in graphic design with a minor in creative writing. I was convinced that even though I was writing fanfiction, I was going to write a book too and it would be a bestseller.

As time went on, probably when I was about 20 or 21, I kinda stopped writing fanfiction all together. My friend wasn't really writing it anymore, and the community around Avenged Sevenfold was slowing down. I was also in the middle of a breakup and it was a whole thing, so I kinda stopped writing around this time.

I'd also, unfortunately, felt like fanfiction was for kids/teens, so didn't feel the need to continue writing anymore. I didn't want to seem like a loser writing fanfiction in my twenties...so I didn't.

For the record, you're not a loser for writing fanfiction. It's a very valid artform and it's fun. We only live for so long, so enjoy it doing what makes you happy, period. I'll probably be writing in my 50s I fucking hope lol.

Anyway, at that time, that's how I felt. I now know it's bullshit to think that way. So fanfiction fizzled out for me, and I kinda moved on to other things.

My Not-fanfiction Era

What was I doing instead of writing? Going through an emotionally and mentally abusive relationship, working on trying to build what I thought was the 'dream' (marriage, kids, a house, e.t.c.), working and playing video games.

Fortunately that relationship ended. After years of therapy (which he told me I needed because he gaslit me into thinking I was crazy lol), I grew the balls to finally tell him to fuck off and leave. It was the best decision I ever made, especially considering this was JUST before COVID hit. I shudder to this day thinking about the fact that I was almost stuck in a house with that freak during lockdown.

When that relationship ended I moved back to Maine to be with my family. I missed them and had spent basically my entire 20s in another state with some loser.

Back to Fanfiction - Kylo Ren Era

So how did I get back here? How did I get back into writing and creating fan art? The truth is, a switch literally flipped in my brain over this guy right here...

I mean...

The funny thing is, I wasn't SUPER into Star Wars before this. I liked it, I'd seen the sequel trilogy in theaters, but to me it was just a movie series. I was literally watching a Sam Collins video on YouTube where he made fun of a Kylo Ren cosplayer's thirst trap on TikTok and was like...oh that's actually kinda hot.

Thought nothing of it though, just moved on with my day...until I dreamt about him too. And then I felt this spark inside me that I couldn't shake. I literally was like...👀 something is happening here.

So I remembered this feeling from when I was a teen and recognized the impending obsession immediately. I actually googled "is fanfiction still relevant" and "is it ok to write fanfiction as an adult?"

The short answers are - yes - and - of course it is -. This was how I discovered the VERY popular Kylo Ren fic Fix Your Attitude by Kassanovella. I read it in a matter of a week, and in that time I started writing my own fic. I also rewatched ALL the Star Wars movies, and then continued rewatching the sequel trilogy on repeat just so I could get Kylo Ren's character down. I wanted to make sure I captured his voice and personality perfectly. - When I say I watched the sequel trilogy 20 times, it's not an exaggeration, I had it on constantly.-

The fic I wrote was called, Yes, Master

The first chapter of that fic was published on 09/05/2022 (one year ago today), and the last chapter was published on 10/14/2022 with a word count of 100,701. Not only is it the longest fic I've written of all the fics I've done, but it's the one I wrote the fastest. I was posting a chapter a day every day until it was finished. I mean...I literally went OFF on this story. I was so proud of it that I went to lulu.com and made myself a physical copy of it that I intend to read as part of this celebration I'm doing lol.

Wondering if anyone would be interested in me revamping this story (rewriting and updating it) and posting here? I would definitely do it if there was enough interest.

I then wrote a sequel called By Your Side which taught me SO MUCH. Here's what I learned when creating this sequel...

Not everything needs a sequel.

Writing a chapter a day isn't realistic.

I should've planned a full outline before diving into this fic.

I'm not into pregnancy fics/domestic fics all that much as far as longfics go.

It's okay to genuinely dislike something you've written and you should try to learn from that.

By Your Side is still to this day one of my least favorite fics (if not my LEAST favorite). I am still proud of myself for finishing it, (it sits at a hefty 85,599 words). I don't have to love it though. I'm just grateful for what I learned in the process of writing it and proud of myself for finishing it despite being sick of it by chapter 8 and still writing 20 chapters after that.

I also wrote my very first Yandere fic, Just You. It's a bit darker, in my opinion, than The Fractured Moon. This fic was a blast to write, and it felt very freeing to write something so disturbing. It was fun to just let myself get into a dark headspace without holding back and not feeling bad about it. It was more

The Rainbow Six Siege Era

During my time writing for Kylo, I went back to a video game I used to play a lot, Rainbow Six Siege. My Oscar Era bleeds into the Kylo and R6S era a little but I'll talk about that soon.

The Siege fandom was an interesting one...one that I'll probably not go back to much, though I may still write a little fic for it here and there as I feel inspired to. I won't dive too much into this as I know most of you are Oscar fans, but I'll mention my accomplishments here and the things I learned.

I wrote another novel-length fic for this fandom called The Recruit and the Hunter which has another 83,888 words. I actually LOVE this story, and still look back on it fondly. It was a fun one to write, and I really challenged myself to write less smut for it, and I succeeded. It focused heavily on the relationship that built between the main pairing and in my opinion it's one of my better slow-burns I've done.

Why did I leave this fandom?

Well, I'm not going to throw shade, I don't like doing that unless I have to, so I'll keep it brief. The long and the short of it is this...

The readers were getting EXTREMELY demanding. I have comments on RATH of people saying things like "I'm going to be upset if you don't give us a happy ending" and "there better be smut or I swear...". It can get really discouraging as a writer when people seem to say "I love your fic but I'll only continue to love it if you do xyz." It puts us in a dilemma, and makes it hard for us to find a balance between providing fan service, and doing what's fun for us to write. It definitely changed the outcome of RATH and I'm not happy that I gave in like that.

The requests I got were confusing and downright weird. I didn't do some of the really weird ones, and I'm not meaning to kink shame, but it was just very niche things that I couldn't get myself into. I think part of why I felt obligated to provide fan service like I mentioned in the point above, and why I caved and wrote some fanfics for these more unique requests, is because this fandom is very small, and I felt an obligation to provide.

Some of the other writers in the fandom are fucking rude. I'm not going to mention names, like I said, but I had very poor experiences with several writers in the fandom, and since I was also integrating into the Oscar fandom at the time, I could see a stark difference in the way I was being accepted in one, versus the way I was being pushed away in the other. There aren't a lot of x reader writers in the R6S fandom, and I was one of them, and there seems to be some animosity between the people who ship characters, versus the people who write x reader and that's where this mistreatment came from. I don't know, I tried making friends over there, and felt like I was getting pushed out.

So anyway, it's not for me anymore, but I still think back to certain parts of it fondly, and I may write a little more here and there as I see fit.

The Oscar Isaac Era

This really is THE era, isn't it?

As I was working on the last 10 or so chapters of Yes, Master, and after my 12th time rewatching the sequel trilogy movies, I started to fall for Poe Dameron, naturally. How could I not? I mean look at him...

So I decided that I would give Poe a prequel to my Yes, Master story called One Hell of a Pilot. This fic was so fun to write, and it's how I became involved with the Oscar Isaac community in the first place. Immediately I started following Dee, and through her I found Mona, and it was just snowballing from there. Whitney and Romana were some of the first to follow me and my shenanigans.

In December, which is when I started writing One Hell of a Pilot, another novel-length fic that ended with 80,517 words, is when I started reading Dee's fics, along with Mona's and many others. I saw their interactions and felt excited by the prospect of making new friends who were just as into some of this stuff as I was. A place that I could be myself and lose my shit over this idiot and not be judged.

I had no idea what the hell I was getting myself into.

It all started with a fic that Dee had written, I can't remember which one, probably a dbf!Santi fic, and I asked the innocent question of...

What movie is this from?

Oh shit...I didn't realize what the fuck I was getting myself into. After she told me it was Triple Frontier and I should watch it, my brother and I watched it right away. I told him a friend of mine suggested it. The way we spent the entire 1.5 hours laughing at how bad it was is still a memory I hold dear to my heart. I still didn't know at the time that this loser (Oscar my beloved) would hold a place in my heart from that day on.

My first Santi fic was a headcanon about Santi w/ a plussize reader that I called Preciously Plump. A headcanon that later got a full fic, appropriately named Preciously Plump the One-shot.

So then I read something about Moon Knight, and between Dee and Mona shoving me into it (peer pressure ftw) I caved and watched the show.

Phew...

That gave way to the first Moon Knight fic I ever wrote, How Unexpected which came out on January 3rd, 2023 of this year. I was sure that between Steven's adorable nerdy behavior, and Marc's tough exterior, I'd be head over heels for those two. I was nervous to even TOUCH Jake, because I didn't know shit about his character, and the last thing I wanted to do was write a character without it sounding like them.

I was also afraid at the time of writing the Moon Boys with DID because I didn't know anything about it, and I didn't want to misrepresent something like that. After some time went by, I got my bearings, and started working on A Bit Dodgy.

ABD is definitely one of the fics I'm most proud of. I had learned a lot from my past fics I'd written, Yes, Master, e.t.c., and figured out what it was that works best when I'm writing to not only keep myself interested, but to create a good balance between smut for smut's sake, and pushing the story forward.

When I first started writing ABD, I was sure it was going to be a 30-40 chapter fic, but as I started writing it more, I realized quickly that a lot of the chapters were just porn. Is there anything wrong with that? No...but as someone who's written nearly a million words in this past year, I don't feel the need to draw my chaptered fics out with smut just to say I wrote something x chapters or x words wrong.

That's why ABD ended up getting cut down SO MUCH from my original plan. I just made some decisions that I felt maximized the story more and used the smut as a major plot device, rather than the fic revolving around smut as the plot...if that makes any sense lol. I'm happy to say, that as of today, A Bit Dodgy has concluded, though it's the only fic I've ever finished with such a heavy heart.

I was an Oscar stan HARD after that, diving into Sucker Punch and other silly little movies filled with that silly little man whom I love so so much.

Statistics

Numbers aren't important when it comes to kudos (AO3) and likes (Tumblr) so I'm not focusing on those. What I am going to focus on...is my personal accomplishments. Like I said, I don't normally toot my own horn, but I fucking wrote A LOT this year, and I'm going to take a minute to pat myself on the back.

So NOT including my random blurbs (since I'm not bothering to cross-post those)...

My total word count from 09/05/2022-09/05/2023 is (drumroll please):

791,829 words

OH

EM

GEE

I had thought I would've hit a million by now but I am NOT going to complain. By the grace of the horny demon that runs the smut factory in my brain, I've written more than I ever even thought possible.

In the Moon Knight fandom alone, I've written:

238,950 words

I think the only fandom I've written more for is Star Wars, but I'd have to add it all up and I'm not doing that rn haha.

Just kidding it's:

368,566 words

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I wrote 6 novel-length fics, a total of 147 works, MK holds the record for most fics I've written at a whopping 82 fics!

----

It's shocking to look back and see what I've accomplished, and to look forward to seeing what else I can do. I know that this next year I won't have the same word count, probably not even close.

I'm focusing a lot on drawing now as well as writing, plus I'm working on my first novel that I'd like to publish so things will definitely be slowing down. I'm going to continue writing, but the speed at which I churn out fics will be slower in the future.

In Conclusion

Thank you all for the support throughout this year. There's no way in HELL I would've had the drive and desire to continue writing if not for the amazing community (most the Oscar Isaac community lol) behind me. It's not just the kudos and the reblogs, it's the people who I've grown to know since joining the world of fandom.

I never had a ton of IRL friends, and I live alone (happily btw) with my dog. Being able to make some friends here that I genuinely call friends, not just people I know online, has meant the world to me. I would list everyone out, but I have a fear of accidentally forgetting to tag someone despite how much they mean to me so I'll leave it at...those people know who they are.

And to my readers (I hesitate to use the word "fans", that makes it sound so conceited), thank you to the moon and back. Without out, I wouldn't have had the drive to keep going. Kudos, Likes and Reblogs aren't everything, I can't stress that enough, but they do help keep the drive alive. (Particularly the comments). Without the little boost of excitement I get when I see that other people are just excited about what I'm doing as I am, I probably would've given up ages ago.

You all are the reason that this was even possible.

With all that being said, I have a small celebration planned that I'll announce later tonight. In the mean time, stay amazing. You keep supporting me, and I'll keep providing the fics that you all love so much

Love, Melly

#melody talks #moon knight #steven grant #jake lockley #marc spector #triple frontier #santiago garcia #poe dameron #star wars #kylo ren #good charlotte #avenged sevenfold #the used #my chemical romance #pirates of the caribbean #rainbow six siege #oscar isaac #ben solo #melodys 1 year ficversary #ficversary

[alovesreading]

Constant Repeat | Part 13

Summary: Having worked at Focus Creeps for a year, Ella knows that as a production assistant and part of the crew, there’s one important rule: don’t interact with the talent unless it’s needed. But once she meets Arctic Monkeys, and the recording of the music videos for their upcoming fourth studio album starts, the band seem to become her exception. Not only because they treat her more like a friend than just someone else they’re working with but when Alex continuously makes her blush with his flirting, so enthralled by her that he forgets he’s got a girlfriend, Ella finds herself growing closer to him. As videos are filmed, wrapped and edited, the friendship lines become blurry. Situations unfold, secrets are told and others are kept under lock and key, but how long can Alex and Ella endure being stuck in each other’s minds on constant repeat.

Word Count: 24.9k

Story Warnings: Throughout this series there will be suggestive talk, jealousy, cheating, alcohol and drug use, angst, smut.

A/N: Well hello... It's the one we've been waiting for and I'm actually fucking jumping in my spot as I write this. Cannot wait for you to read this, and yes the pictures in the moodboard are what you're thinking. Safe to say it’s gonna get a bit steamy, enjoy ;) xx

Masterlist

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | 

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Ella woke up slightly terrified yet excited that Saturday morning.

She hadn't gone on a first date since the one she went with her ex at the start of the previous year and after everything that had happened with him, the prospect of going on a date, even if it wasn't more than a last minute plan, was wracking her nerves.

The feeling had made her almost miss breakfast, her appetite almost gone until she started feeling faint and she realized that if she wanted to actually not have a miserable day then she'd have to eat.

She had gone downstairs to the hotel's restaurant in a zombie-like state, ordering herself some scrambled eggs and pancakes so the homely feeling of the food made her feel better. And it did.

When she got upstairs, she took a shower and lounged in bed, still in her robe and letting her hair air dry, until it was at least half past twelve. The date wasn't until four but she figured she'd slowly get ready so she'd not freak out about the date and bail out of it at the last minute.

Ella had been absentmindedly straightening her hair and curling the ends of it when her phone rang, and it was none other than Mrs. Healy.

"Good afternoon Miss Hayes, are you ready for today?" Flo greeted her with a chipper tone in her voice, Ella could practically see the beaming smile on the artist's face just from her voice.

Biting on her bottom lip, she let the phone rest on her lap as she continued with the next section of hair and admitted, "I'm actually nervous..."

Flo cooed at her, "Good but also don't be. He's an absolute dream."

The tiny piece of information only made Ella more curious about the person's identity, who she now knew was a male but that being the only hint she'd gotten had her somewhat obnoxiously asking, "Are you finally gonna tell me who it is?"

But all she got was another vague answer, "All you have to know is that he's fit and I know you'll get on with him perfectly well."

At least the reassurance that they would get on well was easing Ella's nerves a little. Not as much as she wished though, but that was because she knew herself and when she first met anyone, she got shy and was a bit awkward, so she was praying that she'd be able to get a bit of courage not to make a fool out of herself.

Thankfully Florence had stayed on the phone with Ella as she finished doing her hair and she'd actually video called her when was doing her makeup, making her laugh throughout it all and somehow making her forget about how tense she had been for a bit.

Matty had just come back from a meeting when Ella was showing Flo the dress she had gotten in Manchester for the date and, to Flo's dismay, he had almost slipped and told Ella who it was that she was seeing in merely an hour from then.

"Matthew!" Flo had exclaimed loudly before the name fell from his lips and he had quickly thrown his hand over his mouth with wide eyes.

His honest, "I'm so sorry." sounded muffled behind his hand and it only got an eye roll from his wife.

Ella was gutted that her only chance to find out had gone that way, telling Flo, "Why are you so fast?" with a sorrowful voice which had the British woman laughing.

Flo took her husband's close mishap as a sign to let the girl go, "You're gonna have to get faster Miss, it's quarter past three and it's a twenty five minute walk over there."

"Shit, right." Ella cursed under her breath, realizing she needed to get dressed already and leave as soon as she could so she wasn't late.

"You're gonna look stunning, hun." Flo reassured her since she seemed to start growing panicky, "I'm gonna leave you now so you can change but you have the best time Ellie, alright?"

Ella pursed her lips at the camera and clutched her chest, "Thanks Flo, love you."

Flo grinned sweetly at her American friend and reciprocated, "Love you too. And let me know how it goes, alright?"

"Will do, but I don't promise anything too interesting." Ella made sure to make that point clear, she didn't have much expectations for the date just so she wouldn't end up feeling defeated for it not meeting whatever she could imagine it to be if she allowed herself to.

But Florence was in heavy doubt of it not being interesting considering she knew who Ella was meeting with. So she offered Ella a gallic shrug, "Yeah, well... We shall see about that."

The artist looked as if she was holding back laughter so Ella narrowed her eyes at her and sternly inquired, "What?"

Which wasn't answered because Flo played dumb and simply said, "Okay byeee! Love you!" loudly before hanging up the phone.

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Ella walked the best she could in her high heeled chelsea boots which were not a great pick when mixed with how nervous she was and how far she'd had to walk. She had debated getting a taxi when she was walking through the hotel lobby but decided against it when she realized that if she did, she'd get there quicker and she wanted to stall as much as she could.

She wasn't even late yet, ten minutes left for the clocks to strike four in the afternoon and she was merely five minutes away. The whole walk, she had been practicing in her head whatever she could say to the guy she was meeting with, just to prevent embarrassing herself. If anything went wrong though, she had brought her camera with her and a few rolls were stuffed in her pocket so that she could at least take the opportunity to take pictures.

She had gone from any topics she could come up with about herself, deciding against being the one to mention her tragic love life and definitely not touch the subject of her lack of driving skills when it came to manual transmission—she had enough with the Monkeys teasing about it even after two years—, and picking a few questions that could be interesting to ask the guy.

But all the inquiries and words she had been rehearsing died in her throat when she rounded the corner on the end of the restaurant's street and she saw the tall guy smoking a cigarette, leaning on a lamppost right by the entrance of the establishment.

Ella thought of making a run back to the hotel, hesitating which way to go and how it would work with her long dress but his eyes fell on her before she could make up her mind and when he smiled sweetly at her, cigarette perched between his lips, she knew it was too late.

On Ella's face a shy smile broke and she gave him a little wave before approaching him, faking confidence as she got closer until he was only a few feet away so she said, "Oh hi, I wasn't expecting you."

Her face was burning and she knew he could see it because he smirked down at her, and cheekily asked, "Were you hoping for someone else?"

Looking up at him through her eyelashes, Ella smiled harder at his playfulness and in a rush of braveness she chose to play along, "Do you really want to know the answer?"

He took a drag of his cigarette and let the smoke out steadily as he shook his head, "I'm just hoping you remember my name."

And how could Ella forget, "Of course I remember you, George."

George hummed, taking one last drag as he took in her appearance and he grinned mischievously when seeing the dark satin and lace of her dress contrasting on her skin, her leather jacket making her look even more stunning and coincidentally matching the one he was wearing.

"Glad you haven't, Ella." The drummer replied with a wink, dropping the bud on the ground and stepping on it before taking something out of the pocket of his dark jeans, "Flo sent this for you."

An involuntary "Oh." fell from Ella's lips, entirely intrigued by what could be that friend had wanted to tell her that couldn't be said on the phone because George handed her a folded piece of paper that only said Ellie x on the front.

Ella carefully opened it, trying her best to avoid George seeing it—which was a bit of an issue since he was so tall he could've easily read if he looked down—and she instantly blushed harder when she read Get the nice kind of messy ;) x

A flashback of the moment at Glastonbury when she had been gawking at George and she had let slip how fit she found him came to the forefront of her mind and she couldn't help herself getting a little flustered at the mere thought of it.

In an attempt to try and play it cool, Ella folded the note and shoved it in one of the pocket's of her leather jacket, clearing her throat, adjusting the strap of her camera on her shoulder and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear like it was all fine.

But George could see her cheeks bright pink, the rush of color even going to the tips of her ears which she had just let show with her last action. "What did she say?" He had kept his promise that he wouldn't open the note when Florence gave it to him earlier that day, even though he had been really tempted too, especially when he realized Matty knew what it said for he was giggling when his wife handed it to him.

Ella didn't give him an answer though, only a little cough that acted as a coverup of her avoiding his gaze and a subtle shrug, "Just a little joke."

"Can you share?" He tried further, his hand coming to nudge her softly in the arm.

Not even that helped her answer change. She shook her head and said a shy, "Not really."

"I see how it is." George had narrowed his eyes at her and added, "S'alright, I'll remember that." which was a promise that had Ella biting her tongue.

"Shall we go inside?" The drummer said then, watching her struggling to come up with a response to his previous statement.

The new question was much easier to reply to, a soft "Yes." falling from her lips, breathlessly.

And he took her breath even more when he let her walk ahead, only to rest his hand on her lower back delicately and casually comment, "You look beautiful by the way. Really like that we're matching with the leather jackets."

The opportunity to not acknowledge the compliment was perfect because she felt like she was going to explode under George's attention. She giggled and nodded, "What a great coincidence huh?"

His answer being, "Hot coincidence." accompanied by a wink didn't make it easy for her though and she found that being on a date with George Daniel meant blushing every five minutes even if the chat was about mundane topics.

They had talked about their hometowns, to which George had found the opportunity to say how much he liked cowgirls and comment on how good she looked at Glastonbury with her boots. They had exchanged stories about their jobs, Ella asking all that came to her mind about producing music which she found fascinating that he was the one to produce all of his band's songs. They had told each other how they had ended up doing what they were doing currently, Ella cooing constantly when George told her how the guys became friends and how the band had come together, George being fascinated about her knowledge on films and everything to do with photography and cinematography.

Then he had asked her about her hand tattoo, smirking when he rubbed his thumb over it and asking if she had any more which ended up in them sharing the amount of ink they had on their bodies which George beat her to by an incredible amount. They both had ended up taking their jackets off and showing each other each piece they had on their skin.

Eventually, the chat had come back to the band and Ella had asked him whereabouts they had toured so far, her jaw dropping the more his list continued and she genuinely had a hard time wrapping her head around them being relatively new to the mainstream scene when they were already going to all those places.

She'd been so amazed at every place he'd mentioned that she'd ended up telling him it was her first time in England.

"Really? First time here?" He asked intrigued before taking a sip of his wine.

She nodded because she had a bit of food in her mouth and she waited until she swallowed to correct him, "Anywhere outside the States really."

George was quite surprised about that, "No way. Are you liking it here then?"

"Yeah, it's quite nice." Ella admitted with a soft smile, "Love how different it is from what I've grown up seeing."

He hummed, "Have you been anywhere else other than London and Glasto?"

And she nodded, her smile growing as she said, "Went to Sheffield and Manchester yesterday and the day before."

"Ohhh, big up Manc." He smirked, liking hearing that she'd visited the city he held dearest to his heart, but then he traced back to what Ella had said and with an eyebrow raised added, "Sheffield though... Did the lads take you?"

"Alex did, yeah." She mindlessly answered as she gathered some more food with her fork and took it in her mouth.

"Right, Turner." The drummer nodded, and before he could let the subject go he had to mention, "Thought you two were going out actually. Surprised me when Flo called me and asked if I wanted to go on a date with you."

"Oh no, we're not. But god, that's embarrassing." Ella winced at the information, both pieces of them.

George smirked playfully, "Dating Turner?"

Ella laughed in response to that, shaking her head before clearing up, "Flo asking you if you wanted to go out with me. You know you could've said no."

He frowned at her, like she had just said the most outrageous thing and he wholeheartedly asked, "But why would I?"

"Oh George, stop it." Ella warned him, pursing her lips and narrowing her eyes at him.

"What's wrong sweetheart?" George reached his hand out to touch hers, the one with her 'Pure Desire' tattoo again, and she almost shivered under it.

Ella let her fork down beside her plate and fanned herself with her hand as she said, "You're making me blush."

But that was nothing that would keep him quiet, because he honestly admitted, "Yeah and I quite enjoy doing it."

The rest of the date had been spent between good food, good wine, laughter, a picture she had taken of George, and chatter that had been really nice. Getting to know George had been like a breath of fresh air, that's why when they had left the restaurant, the drummer had offered to walk her back to her hotel and Ella hadn't even doubted to accept.

He had taken a few detours, taking her around to places that she hadn't seen from where he had hilarious and very wholesome stories of his childhood and teenage years when he would come around to London with the lads and other friends just mess about.

And Ella had been grateful for the anecdotes because she was making sure to capture each place in its unique beauty and she knew behind each shot she'd have the memory of what George had shared with her.

George watched her closely every time she took a picture, taking in all that she did every time she wanted to take a picture. She was so adorable to him, the way she lit up when she'd pressed the shutter and looked at him excitedly when she rolled the film.

The two had walked through a gorgeous park, one that was bustling with people. Some were running, others having picnics, some walking their dogs, some biking past everyone and some just leisurely taking a stroll like they were.

They had been approached by the cutest dog who had strayed away from beside their owner who was sitting on a bench and excitedly walked up to them.

Ella cooed as she crouched down, petting the husky's head and put on a funny baby voice to greet the dog. George had chuckled, crouching down right beside her and showered the dog with attention as well.

From the bench, they heard the owner apologize to which they replied that it was alright and complimenting him on how gorgeous his dog was.

They asked about it, which ended up being her and called Daisy, which had Ella and George cooing again.

She had asked the owner if she could take a picture of Daisy and he had nodded right away, telling her to please do so. Ella had the biggest smile on her face as she looked through the viewfinder and tried focusing the shot, George had helped her by waving his hand right on top of the camera so it looked like Daisy was staring into the lenses perfectly.

Before they could continue walking after managing to get a few pictures of Daisy, Ella asked the owner for an email address so she could send the pictures to him and she was so glad the man had one.

After saving it on her phone's notes app, Ella and George waved the man and Daisy goodbye. The dog wagging her tail around as she stayed sat beside her owner on the bench this time.

Ella blew the husky a kiss and said loudly, "Bye Daisy darling!"

That just made George's chest swell and in a lack of any more self control, he wrapped his arm around Ella's waist and pulled her into him, her chest hitting his chest and making them both stop.

"Oh hi." Ella giggled at the sudden action, her hands had subconsciously ended up on his chest after that.

But any other words died in her throat when he dipped his head and trapped her lips with his.

Ella hummed into the kiss, which was a dizzying combination between sweet and determined. His left arm stayed wrapped around her waist, pulling her flush into his chest but the other one came up so his hand cupped her jaw and kept her at the perfect angle for him to kiss her.

Her arms slowly moved up until they were wrapped around his shoulders and she let her fingers tangle in his hair. It was soft and slightly long which she really liked. His tongue brushed against her bottom lip, his fingers clutching her tighter and she let her mouth open so they could taste each other.

She had completely forgotten where they were until a cyclist rushed past them and rang their bell multiple times, startling them out of the kiss. Yes we are in the middle of the road but that was fucking rude, she thought. She had really enjoyed that kiss, and it showed in the way she looked up at George with rosy cheeks and something written on her face.

"I liked that." George cheekily stated, getting ahold of her hand and resuming their walk.

Ella hummed, trying not to giggle because of the feeling that was bubbling inside her. "Yeah, I liked that too."

She felt like a teenager. Blushing to herself while she walked hand in hand with the person she had a crush on, and it was so ridiculous but so relieving at the same time to feel that kind of pathetic elation instead of despair and heartache.

Their chatter resumed, only it was getting more and more flirty and she liked where it was going until they managed to get to the hotel she was staying at and she sighed sadly when they were a few feet away from the big glass doors.

"This is me." Ella mumbled, squeezing his hand in hers but he didn't let go.

He hummed as if hesitant of believing what she'd just said and instead he suggested, "Don't you wanna take another walk around the block?"

"George, my feet hurt." They had been hurting for a while but she hadn't said anything just to not ruin things.

The drummer came to a quick solution, "I'll carry you."

Which made her chuckle, "Sure you would." She genuinely didn't want the date to end so in a bit of a rushed decision, she bargained, "Don't you... Do you wanna come upstairs?"

He got a kick of excitement inside him but he wanted to play it cool, so he joked, "What, are you gonna take my picture?"

Ella held back a snort of laughter, and shrugged as if it was fine by her that he only wanted that. "If that's what you want." There was a little voice in her head that told her not to but there was another one that purely encouraged her to have fun.

"Yeah, that works." George casually said, like he wasn't praying that he got lucky to even get another kiss out of her.

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"Where'd you want me?" George turned to look at her as she dropped her camera on one of the bedside tables and shed her jacket off to perch on the back of a loveseat close to the door.

Ella took one of the new rolls out of her pocket and changed it for the one she'd almost fully used earlier that day. "Wherever you're comfortable." She indicated the drummer, focused on perfectly lining the roll before she could turn to him.

"Bed's quite comfy." She heard George say from behind her and when she looked up to see him, she found him lying on his side, head perched on his hand and a smirk on his face. "Paint me like one of your french girls." He teased, resting his other hand dramatically on his forehead.

The American girl giggled at his antics, "You're such an idiot." She shook her head as she came up to the bed, and tried looking at the scene through her lenses but she wasn't quite convinced by the shot.

George watched her struggle, stepping backwards and forwards, to the sides before sighing. He reminded her, "I'm not used to being the one to pose for the camera. You're gonna have to guide me."

"Okay." She thought about it as she bit on her thumb and once a vision came to her, she started instructing him, "Lean into your forearms, sideways so you fit in the bed." But she found what was bothering her and it was that his legs were half hanging off the bed.

"Why are you so tall, oh my god." Ella went over to the drummer and prompted him to go further into the bed, perched one of his sock-clad feet up on the bed and the other leg stayed stretched on the bed. "There, now look at me."

George looked at her with a blank face first to which she complained about him not smiling but when he smiled he started giggling and if there had been something she had learned about George quite early into her date was that his laugh was incredibly contagious so she found herself shaking with laughter as she tried to take his pictures and she had to call him out for it.

"Don't laugh! You're making me laugh!" Ella scorned him, struggling to sound serious between her giggles.

"Sorry, sorry." He apologized halfheartedly, swallowing his laughter until he went back to a stoic face and he gave her the perfect soft smolder.

Ella hummed in satisfaction of that frame and then she moved onto instructing him to do the next pose, "Throw your head back a bit and close your eyes." He silently listened and did as she said which earned him a sweet, "Just like that." from her.

Her words made George give her a look though, one that had Ella lightly blushing which she hid behind her camera. "What?" She asked into the air, and warned him, "Don't look at me like that."

George chuckled to himself, wondering if she was that naive or if she was playing dumb but she took another picture of him and, purposely, he complained, "My leg's cramping." to then throw himself back on the bed, ending up completely splayed over the duvet and breaking the pose.

"George!" Ella scolded him, a bit of amusement sneaking through her words.

He groaned in response and without moving, told her to "Just take a picture like this."

Ella clicked her tongue and shook her head, "I can't even see your face."

"Come here so you can see it." He resolved easily for her, making her roll her eyes but in the end having to do just as he said because he really wasn't moving.

She tried getting a picture from above while standing beside the bed and she just couldn't. "That's an awkward angle, look at me." She tried to get him to turn to his side again but he closed his eyes and shook his head. "Need you on your side." She said explicitly this time but he didn't let up either.

Instead he suggested, "Why don't you just get up here?" He patted the bed, right next to his hip and she blushed just thinking about it. At her silence, he opened his eyes and turned his head to the side to encourage her with a "C'mon."

He offered his hand so she could use it as leverage to kneel on the bed on each side of his hips and hover above him. She struggled as she did so because she was growing nervous and therefore clumsy. "Fucking hell, George." She cursed under her breath, seeing him from above was an angle that she didn't know if she could handle.

"What?" George bit his bottom lip to not let a smirk break on his face.

Yet, not even that kept her from knowing that he knew just what he was doing but she wouldn't say anything, because she was enjoying this a lot more than she intended to. So she stuck to just replying, "Nothing." as she took yet another picture of him.

Remembering his tattoos, Ella bit her bottom lip for a few seconds before hesitatingly asking, "Why don't you take your jacket off?"

George let his hands rest right above her knees and squeezed her legs as he teased, "Is that code for something?"

She hoped her blush wasn't obvious so she could play off her nonchalant, "For 'I want to see your tattoos', yes."

It went right over his head though, because he kept smirking as he sarcastically replied, "Right, right."

She moved so he could take the piece of clothing off without her hovering over him but when he was done and laying on the bed again, he patted his right side so she could move her left leg there and have her hover over him properly again.

"How's that look?" He asked cheekily as his hands went to touch her legs again, the skin up to her mid thighs showing because her dress slit allowed it to open and rise up in the position she was in.

"Amazing." She breathlessly compliment, making him raise an eyebrow at her.

The shutter went off again and, as she rolled the film, he tested the waters, "Do you want to see them all?"

"Sure." The word came out so soft it could've gone with the wind, his hands leaving her thighs for a second to come grab the bottom of his shirt.

"Top's coming off next then, is that alright?" He asked for confirmation first and she nodded eagerly, her pupils dilating in anticipation.

He shed himself off his shirt in the constricted space he had, Ella was so spaced out that she hadn't moved but it wasn't a problem for George. If anything, his smirk grew at her inability to act and it got bigger when he threw it somewhere across the room and Ella was shamelessly gawking at his naked top half.

After a minute of Ella's eyes wandering everywhere, George brought her back to reality by letting his hands come over her thighs again. She trembled at the same time as the drummer said, "Ella?"

"Yeah?" She asked, slowly coming back to reality. Her brain had been completely taken over by the view of the taut muscles of his arms littered by colorful ink, a pair of symmetric 'broken' tattoos on both sides of his collarbones and his torso beautifully chiseled with a defined six pack.

"When are you taking the picture?" He reminded her trying not to smirk too hard not to put her off.

"Shit, sorry." She said under her breath and, quickly focusing, finally took a picture of him like that.

There was a heavy silence that hung over them, the trail of his fingers making her skin grow hot and her throat going dry at the growing need for anything at all. So Ella found herself surprised when he broke the silence to ask her, "Can I take your picture?"

"Mine?" She repeated like she'd heard wrong.

But George nodded entirely sure, and let her know, "You look really pretty from here."

In a feeble attempt not to have him do that, Ella reminded him, "You don't know how to."

"Matty had a film camera a few years ago, I know how to." George surprised her even further when he explained and just to try a bit harder, he pouted at her and said, almost begging, "Please?"

"Okay." She let herself accept, her mind too distraught by the view beneath her to even fight.

Once she handed him the camera, he lifted it up to his eyes and let out a chipper, "Smile." as an instruction, which she followed only just a bit shyly.

She was about to get the device back from him when he pulled it away from her grasp and pleaded, "Another one please?"

She sighed at the drummer's exaggerated pout, so it turned into a giggle and that was when the shutter went off. Her cheeks burned again when he complimented as he rolled the film, "Stunning."

Letting the camera rest beside them, George tried his luck and let his hands rub on the skin of her thighs a bit further up. She didn't refuse it, he could clearly see the growing hunger in her eyes as she looked down at him so he continued, letting his gaze trail down her body to drink in all of her but when he reached down to her legs was when he caught a slight glimpse of red ink on her left thigh that made him ask, "Do you have more tattoos?"

He didn't remember her mentioning any other tattoos than the ones she'd shown him at the restaurant. So when she nodded, he couldn't help but ask, "Where?"

"One, right here." Ella grabbed his right hand so he could touch over the fabric of her dress where the one on her rib was. Her eyes were looking right into his and his lips drew open further when she continued, "And this one here." lifting the fabric up to show her 'Divine Feminine' tattoo on her leg.

George let his right hand fall until it reached the one on her thigh, Ella still clutching the satin in her first so he could fully see it. He rubbed on the red ink on her skin as he stared at it, eliciting goosebumps to break on Ella's entire body.

He looked up and asked with a low voice about the only one he hadn't seen yet but she'd let him touch over her dress, "What's the other one?"

"A word." She vaguely said, as if he was encouraging him to continue asking about it.

"Which word?" His fingers were trailing further up, making her knees go completely weak. They had been hurting from hovering over him for so long but his touch had been the thing to finally have her sit on his lap.

And that was when she had felt him growing hard in his jeans.

His fingers had already been making her every thought go straight down to her core so Ella was driven by lust when she fully lifted the satin up and shed the dress off her body, leaving her only in her underwear and in full show for George.

It was involuntary, his hip jerking forward and pressing on Ella's center, his mouth agape at the sight and he grew even more breathless when Ella rolled her hips against his hardening cock.

"Fuck." He cursed under his breath, taking one quick look at the strange word on her rib before perching himself up on his left forearm to wrap his right hand around her neck and pull her in for a hungry kiss.

She leaned further into him, one arm wrapping around his shoulders and digging into his hair to pull on it as their lips moved with each other. Her fingers tugging on his hair made him groan into her mouth and, as payback, he tightened his fingers around her neck, eliciting a loud moan from her.

George pushed himself up with his left hand until he was sitting on the bed, his right arm wrapped around Ella's waist to keep her flush against him. Their tongues tasted each other and their breaths grew heavy when they started rolling their hips, meeting in the middle and creating a delicious friction that soon enough forced them to break the kiss only to gasp in pleasure into each other's mouths.

His fingers came to graze the ink on her left rib, her desperate side having her sink her hips down to roll against him and turned his, "What does it mean?" into a gorgeous moan. Their lips brushed as he asked and Ella responded to his sound with a mewl of her own and when that reached his ears, George forgot ever asking anything for he couldn't wait any longer to feel her lips on his again.

The kiss grew needy then. His hand went from her ribs down to knead the flesh of her ass, fingers harshly digging into her skin and encouraging her to move against him. Her clit was getting so stimulated from only being covered by the thin material of her lace thong against his jeans which meant she couldn't kiss him any longer.

A string of moans fell from her as she quickened her pace, getting louder as she went but her actions were interrupted when George clutched her tightly by her middle and swiftly turned them around so it was Ella resting on her back on the bed with him hovering right over her.

Her breath hitched in her throat at the sudden change of positions, her hand flying to cup his face and bring his lips back on hers and wrapping her legs around his waist to pull his hips into her core in a desperate attempt to have the friction back.

The feeling of his hard on coming down to rub harshly against her every time he bucked his hips forward was making her head spin. He started off by teasing her with the friction and leaving her hanging for a few seconds before going back in but when she started gasping into his mouth, he kept himself close to her and relentlessly rolled his hips on hers, hard cock pressing deliciously against her throbbing clit.

The pace grew faster, making it impossible for her to continue moving her lips with his so he took it as a sign to continue on with what he wanted to do first. Unfortunately, that meant his hips stopped moving and left her throbbing and clenching around nothing but he made it up to her with his lips all over her.

Wet kisses trailed down her neck, his lips taking their time to give every bit of her skin attention on the way down. Kissing, sucking, licking. His fingers ran down her sides until they clutch tightly on her hips, fingers pressing hard on the skin there and making her cry out in pleasure even louder.

Her breath was heavy by the time he stopped sucking bruises all over her chest and abdomen, her fingers tangled in his hair and tugged on it so he could come back up but instead his tongue ran flat from just above her belly button agonizingly slowly up until his nose bumped against the hem of her bra.

George looked up at her through his lashes, teeth coming to bite on the fabric and tugging them the slightest bit down so she knew what he wanted to do and Ella desperately nodded.

Without much of a proper attempt to take the piece of clothing off, he just tugged down the lace cups on it and let her tits spill out freely for him. He groaned from the pits of his chest, hips bucking forwards into the mattress harshly in search of some relief for himself.

But not letting any more seconds go by, George dove to suck one of her nipples into his mouth. Groaning around it, the vibrations of the noise causing white heat to run straight down to Ella's throbbing wet cunt.

He switched the sucking for flicking it with his tongue, blowing cold air and smirking as her nipple hardened at his actions, ending with a soft bite and tug that had Ella loudly saying his name in call for mercy.

She needed something, anything. She felt herself clenching around nothing and it was almost torturous. But her cries fell on deaf ears for he moved onto her other nipple and repeated his process. Ella was only ruining her underwear further, so wet she felt uncomfortably sticky with her thong still on.

"George, baby, please–" She pleaded in anguish when he started sucking bruises on her tits, biting them until she whimpered loudly under him.

"What do you need Ellie?" He asked sweetly, a stark contrast to his vicious attack on her chest.

"Anything. Just–" She tried to say, her words catching up in her throat as her desperation for release clouded her logic and made her sound stupid.

So she relied on grabbing one of his hands from her hips and guided it down to where she needed him most. The simple graze of one of his fingertips on her swollen clit eliciting a pathetic mewl out of her.

"Oh sweetheart," George tutted, "Made quite a mess, haven't you?" His pointer finger ran up and down her clothed core slowly and so faintly Ella didn't know if she was imagining it.

Applying a bit more pressure assured him to hear every one of Ella's needy sounds and feeling like she had waited enough, he left a light feather kiss over her center.

"Need help cleaning up this mess, yeah?" His words were sweet, like he was finally taking pity on her. The thought of him doing absolutely anything at that moment sounded so fucking good her hum in agreement sounded more like a whine, barely able to make eye contact with him in her hazy mind.

His long tongue ran flat over her underwear, wetting even more than it already was and he moaned at the taste of her soaking through it. His fingers tugged the fabric down her legs and threw it somewhere behind him in record time, and he found himself almost drooling at the sight of Ella completely exposed for him.

If Ella'd had any hint of inhibition left in her, she would've tried to close her legs under his attentive gaze but he was entranced and she'd had it with waiting any longer so she propped her legs wide open and squirmed in her place.

"George, please."

Her pleading was so sweet, so desperate, he couldn't deny her. So he dipped his head in between her legs and started lapping at her like a starved man. At the first proper taste he had moaned loudly, tongue running up and down her slit to gather as much of her as he could and enjoying every drop of her on his tongue.

"Are you not gonna continue taking my picture?" George interrupted his task to tauntingly ask, going back to using his tongue on her, this time flicking it up and down quickly on her clit and making her shiver.

Her words caught in her throat when he didn't relent his actions, "Right– F-fuck! Right now?"

Only allowing himself to stop for the amount of seconds it took him to say, "Yes baby, be a good girl and take my picture."

That 'good girl' had made Ella roll her eyes in utter pleasure. Her head turned quickly to see where he'd left the camera and brought it to her eyes to take a picture as fast as she could. Her thoughts were already becoming clouded by the growing heat in her lower belly.

His disheveled dirty blonde hair in between her legs, his arms underneath her legs and hands clutching her thighs in place was what she captured in that frame. The shutter went off letting George know she'd done as he'd said and he congratulated her by praising her with a proud, "Such a good girl." and a few kisses to her clit which made her jolt.

He went back down, trying to clean up the mess of slick and saliva that was dripping down her inner thighs and onto the duvet and a desperate Ella had started rocking her hips against his face, trying to steer him back to where she wanted him to be and, to her satisfaction, he followed the silent instruction by going back to her center and this time pointing his tongue and dipping it inside her.

Her legs instinctively closed around his head, eliciting a breathy laugh from him that hit her core as he continued tongue fucking her. His hands came to spread open her legs again, holding her limbs down on the bed strongly, not allowing her to move any longer.

The feeling of his wet tongue dipping in and out of her had her growing louder, begging and pleading with him not to stop, but he did.

In that moment, Ella swore she could cry as she'd felt herself nearing closer to the edge but just before she could pathetically let her frustrated tears roll down, his lips wrapped around her throbbing clit and he sucked on it applying the perfect amount of pleasure. Enough pressure for her to let out a string of moans of his name and then a bunch of "Yes! Fuck yes!", hands flying down to tangle her fingers in his hair and keep him in his place.

"I'm gonna cum!" She yelled out loud, eyes shut tightly since the pleasure impeded her from keeping them open, and when George started humming as he sucked her clit, she was done for.

Her legs trembled under his hold, toes curling and her fingers surely tugging his hair tighter than she was before. She blacked out as her orgasm hit her hard, the oxygen in her lungs leaving her entirely as her back arched off the bed and she came back when his incessant sucking became too much for her oversensitive self and she pulled him back off her.

He giggled, completely entranced by her fucked out state. Watching her cum had been an experience but god didn't she look beautiful with her chest heaving, bruises looming on her skin, a flush to her face and chest, a thin coat of sweat making her body and face shine.

But before he could give her any more attention, his gaze fell back to her cunt and it was glistening with arousal. She tasted so good to him, so he wasted no more time to lick her clean. Her legs trembled at the resumed contact of his tongue on her sensitive core, whimpers stubbornly leaving her as he went.

Her fingers had left his hair alone but her left hand cradled his head as he lapped up at everything she gave him and after a whole minute of him meticulously licking clean every inch of skin that had been wet with her arousal, he started a trail of kisses from her mound until he reached her belly button.

Flashing a smile up at her, George rested his chin on her lower stomach and she couldn't hold herself back from brushing his messy hair back almost adoringly, post orgasm haze making her extra appreciative of him and his skilled tongue work.

His fingers rubbed circles on the top of her thighs, "Feel good?" He asked before leaving more soft kisses on her lower stomach.

"Very." She answered with a smile, fingers brushing through his hair.

He hummed at the feeling of her touch, "Good to know, pretty."

Turning to see where she'd left it, Ella reached out to grab her discarded camera, melting into the duvet under George's gentle touch and his lips pressing on her skin leisurely. She went to lean on her forearms so that she could get a better look at him, and he looked up at her with a dizzying smirk that she managed to capture.

His lips tickled the skin of her lower stomach when he pointed out, "Didn't even have to tell you this time."

Putting the device back down on the bed, Ella shrugged, "You look good."

"Do I, now?" He teased, dropping his hands from her thighs and pressing them on the mattress so he could slowly push himself up and crawl his way up to hover over Ella again.

"You always do." Her words came laced with lust, his eyes darkening as he got closer and she just couldn't wait any longer to have him in more ways. "Come here." She instructed by wrapping a hand around his neck, fingers pressing on the sides of it until he groaned loudly in pleasure and when he let the sound leave his lips, she smirked and warned, "My turn."

Pulling him in by his neck meant that their tongues met instantly when they started the kiss, and when Ella tasted herself on his tongue, she moaned so loudly George groaned just as loud in response.

The kiss was all teeth clashing, spit dribbling down to their chins, noses bumping, deep exhales sounding loudly and trying to overpower the sounds of their swollen lips moving together.

It had been George the one to grow louder when Ella's hand dropped from his neck, down his naked torso to the button of his jeans, which she undid with quick fingers and pulled the zip down before she could palm him over the fabric of his boxers.

"F-fuck..." He let out when her nimble fingers squeezed him and stroked him up and down, he was so hard that her touch was making him shiver.

Ella could feel him so swollen under her hand, her mind already spinning about how big he was but she wanted to have him unravel under her so badly, she pushed any worries about his size to the back of her head.

His hips moved slowly, as if he was helping with her movements, clearly wanting to reach his high but she wanted to taste him and she wanted it now. So she left his cock alone to instruct him to, "Lay down, baby."

They switched positions, so George was laying on his back and Ella was kneeling between his legs. He panted as he watched Ella shamelessly gawk at him, her mouth going dry at the clear outline of his cock.

"Fucking hell, George." She cursed as she tugged on the top of his jeans so he could lift his hips up for her to take them off him.

He did as instructed and Ella just was too impatient to wait any more, she wanted to feel him heavy on her tongue already. His boxers came off quickly after his jeans, his hard cock springing up to touch right by his navel.

Ella gulped. He was thick, angry red tip already leaking from how aroused he was. Intimidating but so inviting. She dipped her head down to start kissing his hips, kisses that went from sweet to wet and messy the more he squirmed under her.

"Ella..." George pleaded, hand coming down to cradle her head. Not to push it towards where he wanted her but to have her look up at him and see just how fucking desperate he was for her.

Ella felt that look go down straight to her core, mewling at the feeling. "I know baby, I know." She said in a coo.

Her fingers wrapped around him, the pressure of them making George huff with his lips pressed together. He felt so heavy in her hand, veins popping for her to see how pained he was.

"You're so big." She trailed off, a bit of wander in her voice. She had no idea how he'd fit in her mouth, he was by far the biggest dick she had ever come across but she liked a challenge.

Her tongue licked a bold strip from base to tip, eyes rolling to the back of her head when she tasted the salty arousal that had already been leaking from him. He had cursed under his breath at the feeling, but the breathy words turned into a loud moan when she wrapped her lips around him and sank her mouth down onto him.

Barely able to fit half of him in her mouth until he hit the back of her throat, Ella pulled back to catch a breath, her hand taking over for a few seconds as she inhaled deeply and went back in. She gagged around him when she managed to get him deeper, George moaned loudly as she did so, trying his hardest not to buck his hips upwards.

His hand went back to hold her head but this time, his fingers tangled in her hair, only to pull her up so she could breathe. But she didn't want to have it easy, she wanted to see how much of him she could take and hear every one of his moans.

So she went against his hold, sinking her mouth further down and gagging around him again. Her hand stayed at the base of his cock, stroking the rest she couldn't get to, as she continued bobbing her head up and down on him.

George was a mess of groans and moans, gasping for air whenever she gagged and moaned around him, her throat tightening around him was driving him insane.

He lifted his head up slightly to look down at her, pulling her hair so she would come off him and meet his eyes. And George was met with a panting Ella, pink wet swollen lips, saliva dripping down her chin and neck, tears falling out of the corner of her eyes, hair disheveled but pupils dilated and a satisfied smirk at it all.

Her hand kept stroking him up and down, fingers applying the perfect amount of pressure and he moaned at the combination of her touch and his view of her, "Fuck, you're so perfect."

The praise only encouraged her more, for she leaned back down and licked a strip up his cock again, this time looking up at him through her lashes. An innocent look in her eyes as she lapped at the tip of his cock.

He exhaled in awe, "Look at you– Shit!" He cursed loudly when she sank slowly back down until again he reached her throat, his hips bucking upwards involuntarily and making her gag loudly.

She gasped out for air for a mere second before she did it again, until she managed to control her gagging a bit better and encouraged George to fuck her mouth with a simple squeeze to his hip.

"Oh fuck– Such a pretty filthy girl." He praised as he obeyed the silent instructions and rocked his hips forwards slowly and ever so slightly. "You like it when I fuck your throat?" His question was thrown out into the air in between groans.

She answered with a hum that vibrated around him and that was when he started feeling like he was losing control. His hips grew erratic and Ella noticed so she hummed and moaned around him even more, causing him to get closer to his high.

"Ellie m'gonna cum!" He warned her loudly, the wet squelching sounds of him going in and out of her mouth and their moans bounced off the walls.

And when her hand dropped from around the base of his cock to play with his balls, he was sent over the edge. He pushed his hips forwards and stilled as he came, dick twitching in her mouth and his cum coated the walls of her throat with a warmth she appreciated with another low moan.

His hips fell back on the bed but she didn't relent just yet, sucking him off for a little longer to take everything she could. But he pulled her off him by her hair when he couldn't take it anymore, cursing and calling out her name like he was scorning her.

"Fucking hell." He mumbled, still dizzy from his orgasm but completely entranced by the way she came off him with a whimper and a satisfied smirk.

She wiped the drool off her chin with the back of her hand and slowly crawled up until she was laying on her side right beside him, staring right into his eyes with hunger still flashing in hers.

"Feel good?" She asked just what he'd asked her but in a mocking manner.

It got her a chuckle in response before one of his big hands came to cup her jaw and crashed their lips together.

Kissing George had Ella dazed. His lips were soft but firm when moving along with hers, they were wet and swollen, warm exhales leaving his parted lips for her to swallow, tongue peeking through them to meet hers. He'd moaned so loud when he tasted himself on her tongue, fingers digging into her cheek and making her mewl in response.

Her skin grew hot the more they kissed. He didn't even let her get a proper breath whenever he pulled back for a brief second, because he was back on her mouth—lips smacking and tongues licking at each other.

Ella's hands had gone on a path from his face to his head, the back of his neck, his shoulders, and eventually to his back, fingers digging into it when he started nipping at her bottom lip, at the same time as his right hand dropped from her jaw down to pinch her nipples, eliciting gasps out of her.

"George..." She let out in a gasp when he had her nipple pinched and twisted between his thumb and index finger.

He was smirking right over her parted lips, amused at the way she shivered every time he went from one nipple to the other. Her nails clawed at his back when she felt the electric shocks that his touch gave her travel all the way down to her center, feeling herself growing wetter and that familiar knot in her lower stomach forming.

His lips slotted between hers again, distracting her from his missing touch from her tits and it going down to tease her cunt.

With his thumb, George started rubbing circles on her clit, making her pull back from the kiss with a loud gasp that turned into a cry of pleasure. She could feel herself throbbing already, and it got worse when he picked up his pace.

He wasn't going too fast but not slow either, the speed in which his thumb rubbed at her had her writhing her hips in response, subconsciously trying her best to get closer and closer to her high.

And Ella had felt herself start clenching around nothing when he slid a finger inside her. "George! Fuck!" His fingers were thick and long, curling inside her and making her see stars already, half lidded eyes catching him smirking at her and heavy breathing at her reaction.

"You like that?" He asked her teasingly, pecking her lips as her face scrunched up in pressure.

She hummed in response to him but he found that not good enough, so he added another finger, stretching her out easily and making her back arch as she moaned loudly. "Yes! Yes!" She encouraged, and when he curled his fingers again, knuckle deep inside her, she felt herself be completely overcome by pleasure and unable to grasp at her inhibitions, "Oh my– Fuck! Your fingers feel so good."

His fingers were slipping in and out of her easily, her hips erratically moving as he thrusted them inside her, "That's it, cum on them baby."

The praise had Ella completely fucked over, "George, I'm so– Fuckkkk!" She couldn't help but scream out when he pushed a third finger inside her, feeling completely stuffed with him.

It felt so good how much he was opening her up, and he was loving the way whenever he pulled his fingers back her walls pushing him off and having to slowly sink his fingers deep inside her again. "I know, I can feel you clenching hard around them." She was squeezing his fingers so tight, his throat went dry just thinking about her milking his cock, "Can't wait to fill you up and feel how tight you're around my cock baby."

She agreed, so drunk in pleasure she just wanted to feel even more of him, "I need you. George, I need–"

But he tutted, "You're cumming on my fingers first." She was about to cry out like a brat, about to beg for him to stuff her up but his words beat hers, "Come on baby, give it to me like the good girl you are."

His voice was low in her ear, so sultry and inviting she felt it deep in her core and she just couldn't say no. So she let go. Her toes curl as his fingers kept pumping in and out of her, hitting that spot perfectly for her to see stars as she came, white heat enveloping her and taking ahold of her body, "Fuck, fuck! Oh– George!"

"That's it, baby. So fucking stunning." He encouraged, watching his fingers continue to disappear inside her tightening cunt, her legs shaking and her hips moving clumsily to meet his hand.

She gushed all over him, slick drenching his hand and dripping down her cunt onto the duvet. He couldn't let it go to waste, so he pulled his fingers out and sucked them clean, moaning around them when he tasted her again. Soft and sweet. He wanted more.

Ella felt his fingers gathering her mess and she managed to peel her eyes open to watch him as he sucked it all off his fingers again.

Shamelessly, she just watched as he dipped down time and time again until he deemed his work of cleaning her up was done, the last one being offered out to her and Ella obeyed, wrapping her lips around his fingers and sinking her mouth on them to suck them clean. Her eyes stayed on his as she did so, moaning loudly around them while she batted her lashes at him.

The view made George's dick twitch. So he reached out behind her for the forgotten camera and when she was trying to catch her breath, eyes closed in bliss, he took a picture of her.

Her eyes snapped open at the sound of the shutter going off and she looked at him all startled like she needed an explanation. "You're so beautiful like this." He quickly justified, lifting the device back up to his eyes and adjusted the focus to take another one as he added, "All fucked out. Fucking gorgeous."

"Stop." She whined when the shutter went off again, hand coming up to grab at her lenses and force him to put it down, "I must look a mess."

His head shook, tongue swiping at his bottom lip with his eyes taking her in again, "You don't. You look hot." Skin glowing due to the thin layer of sweat their activities had caused, lips swollen and a hot pink color that matched the flush of her cheeks and chest, the gorgeous pattern of every bruise he'd sucked on her skin which were darkening more and more, hair disheveled and splayed over the pillows.

"I'm confiscating this." That was the brief ultimatum she gave him, grabbing the camera and turning the action on him instead.

She took just one picture of him and he allowed it, only to complain by saying, "You have enough of me." and taking the camera back.

She rolled her eyes, faking being annoyed and kissed him quickly before pushing herself up and off the bed, telling him, "Gonna go to the bathroom." making a beeline for her suitcase and getting herself a new pair of underwear first, adjusting the cups of her bra so they held her breasts again.

It wasn't longer than five minutes that she took, coming back to him wearing his boxers again and laying over the bedsheets—he'd discarded the duvet and left it a big crumpled knot on the floor by the foot of the bed—, a hand behind his head whilst the other was scrolling on his phone.

His position looked inviting, so she crawled on the bed and sat on his lap with a mischievous smile on her face. She reached out to get the camera he had placed on the bedside table at the same time as he dropped his phone there and his hands went up to hold her at her hips.

"Put your hands behind your head again." She instructed him softly, almost a mutter that sounded so shy, the corner of his lips tugged into a smirk.

She took a picture of him like that and another when he ran a hand through his hair but she stopped when his hands came back to grab at her skin, going from her waist until they softly came down to rest at her hips.

With a soft squeeze on her sides, he tilted his head to ask, "Am I allowed to smoke?" to which Ella nodded and got off him to open the balcony door and get him a cigarette and a lighter.

Getting back on top of him, she placed the cigarette between his lips but before she could give him the lighter, she grabbed the camera again just so she could capture the moment he lit it alive.

George looked so fucking hot lighting it up: cheeks hollowing ever so slightly, brows furrowing, long fingers that made the lighter look minuscule in his hand, lips pursed around the stick. She snapped away and captured the moment he blew out the smoke upwards, taking another drag and then blowing it in her direction.

The familiar scent of the tobacco and just how arousing she found it all, impulsed her to start moving her hips slowly on him. The sudden movement made his breath hitch in his throat, causing him to erupt in coughs when the smoke went up the wrong hole.

That's when she guided his hand to her mouth so he could place the cigarette in between her lips for her to take a drag. His mouth opened agape as she did so, the rolling of her hips only growing more intent and he started twitching and getting hard in his boxers.

He could feel her heat, the way she was wetting her underwear and starting to wet his own, the pulsing of her swollen clit. He could see how her nipples grew hard through the lace of her bra, and the way goosebumps rose in her skin as she went. Soft gasps that turned into hush whimpers that he wanted so badly to turn into those loud moans of hers that he was quite enjoying getting drunk on.

"Have you brought a condom?" She asked breathlessly, camera being once again forgotten somewhere on the bed for her to be able to rest her hands on his chest as leverage.

A flip switched inside George, the simple hint of him finally being able to sink himself deep in her making his blood rush down to his cock. "Yeah." He nodded eagerly and it was a relief when she quickly got off him so he could rush to get it, not without running out to the balcony so he could put out the cigarette on the ashtray outside and closing the balcony door behind him the second he stepped foot back into the room.

He had thought it was foolish of him to pocket a couple condoms before he left his flat earlier that day, fully scorning himself for being so ridiculous as to assume Ella would want to shag after their date but oh was he glad he had right then.

Condom in hand, George went back to the bed but not without shedding himself off his boxers first. Ella bit her bottom lip as she got her bra off to throw it on the floor behind her, seeing him wrap his hand around his length and pump it slowly as he watched her almost naked figure. Her hands went down to her hips so she could quickly tug down her underwear, eagerly taking it off and throwing it on the same spot on the floor she had dropped her bra.

Crawling up to the edge of the bed, she hummed as she watched him stroke himself up and down, her mouth watering for another taste of him. And when she got right in front of him, she dipped her head down until her mouth was right before his hardening cock and sticking her tongue out, she licked his head slowly.

He grew heavy on her tongue as she went, twitching in her mouth when she wrapped her lips around him again, his head thrown back at the feeling of her wet mouth enclosed around him and sucking him off patiently.

But he had to use an incredible amount of self restraint to pull her off him, a hand delicately coming around her neck to have her let go off his dick with a pop and pull her up to face him.

"I'm fucking you now."

George wasn't asking, he was simply informing her and that made her squirm under his gaze. Thighs pressing together and eyes drinking in the way lust made his behavior change. But Ella wanted a bit of control, even if it just was for him to ruin her.

"Can I ride you?" She asked innocently, puppy eyes that she prayed would get her a yes.

She took the way he pulled her in for a messy kiss as one.

In no time he was laying on his back with his head resting on the pillows, teeth ripping the condom wrapper open while Ella had her hand wrapped around him waiting for him to put the latex on. The anticipation grew and hung in the air like a heavy cloud as George rolled it down his length, sighing at the feeling of it around him.

She caught a glimpse of her camera through the corner of her eye and thought there wouldn't be a thing that was better than capturing his pure ecstasy in a picture so she grabbed it before she straddled him again.

Ella lifted the camera up to her eyes with one hand while the other got ahold of his cock to line him up, rubbing his head on her clit and making herself gasp at the feeling. She clenched around nothing as she did so, and she could feel herself drenched.

Even after he had stretched her out with his fingers, it was slightly challenging for her to take him when she started sinking into him. Her jaw dropped in a loud gasp when every inch of him started stretching her out, eyes watering at the feeling and trying to get her to shut them tightly but she did her best to not let her eyes close entirely so she could capture the way he groaned loudly with his head thrown back as she let her cunt swallow him.

Breath hitching in her throat, Ella sank down completely until she could feel him so deep it had a pathetic cry of pleasure slipping past her lips.

She drew her hips up and back down on him slowly, testing the waters on his size and what angle would be best for her to feel the best, and they both moaned loudly at the feeling. He was so big, he was filling her up in a way she'd never felt before so her walls were clenching hard around him which had his head spinning.

"Ella–" He breathed out, hands flying to her hips and clutching them tightly just to show how bad he was holding himself back from just thrusting up into her, or better yet just flipping them around and fucking her into the mattress.

"Fuck–, I know. I know." She said in a high pitch tone. One of her hands fell to rest flat on his chest and use as support, "I– oh, fuck..." She cursed as she rolled her hips forwards and then backwards this time, making her completely still at the insane sensory overdrive she was getting from it.

George knew she needed a second or two but she stayed frozen for longer than he could hold so he pleaded, "I need you to move baby, you're so tight."

"Just–" She tried to say, rolling her hips again and mewling loudly. George moaned back in response, his hands sliding down to her thighs as her head hung in pleasure.

Ella established a slow place, George's fingers digging into the flesh of her upper thighs grounded her into the moment and allowed her to take another picture. A picture that captured her legs on each sides of his toned chest, his fingers turning the skin under them white, his adam's apple bobbing as he gulped back a moan, the box tattoo on his thumb right next to the red ink of her 'Divine Feminine' tattoo on her thigh.

But after she pressed the shutter on that one, barely being able to clumsily roll the film, Ella just tossed the camera to the side mindlessly and used her new free hand to rest on his chest as well and the second hand of support helped her start moving her hips faster.

It was fucking delicious the way he kept hitting her g-spot from that angle, and when he started bucking his hips upwards, meeting her in the middle, she couldn't hold back the noises she let out. "George, fuck!" She cried out, clit feeling a bit of pressure every time she rolled down and he hit her pelvis.

His hands ran up from her thighs to mercilessly grab her ass, fingers harshly digging into her skin and stinging just in the best way. "Just like that baby. You feel so fucking good." He praised her with a groan, helping her sink down harder into him.

"You're so– Oh fuck–" She was cock drunk, her thoughts stupid and leaving her without even being able to finish a sentence.

"Tight little cunt, can barely fit inside you." George could feel himself meeting the hilt inside her every time, her cries growing in volume the faster the pace got. "You love it huh, being filled to the brim?"

"Yes, fuck! Yes, I love it, love your cock." She was dripping all over him, the noise of the wetness and their skin slapping every time they met bounced off the walls and, combined with their moans, made for a pornographic symphony.

"I know you can go faster. Can you do that for me baby?" He genuinely could feel himself not lasting any longer with how tight she was squeezing him.

"I can, I can." She promised almost desperately, wanting to be good for him. So she picked up her pace, her hands moving ever so slightly so she could straighten up a bit and when she did so she cursed out loud at the new angle, "Ah fuck!"

Her hips grew erratic, her knees helping now when she bounced up and down his cock ever so slightly, enough for her to incessantly gasp in a high pitch every time he hit that spot.

"Such a good girl for me." His hands stopped groping her ass to spank her, making her jolt forward with a loud gasp that turned into a mewl and a whine that tried to pass as a 'yes'. His dick twitched inside her at that reaction so he did it again and again, feeling her walls flutter around him with every hit, "You're squeezing me so tight baby, you gonna cum all over my cock?"

"Yeah, yes..." She gasped, and if she hadn't been so adamant on chasing her high, she would've noticed George quickly getting the camera and snapping a picture of her riding him. Hair a mess covering up her face but her mouth wide open in a moan, tits bouncing as she rode him, hands on his chest as support.

He'd just about managed to put the camera back down when he felt her squeezing him the tightest and that was when she came. "George! George! Ge–" She cried out, his name breaking down into a loud moan that tipped him over the edge along with her cunt milking him into the condom as she sloppily continued to ride him.

"Fuck! Ella!" He moaned loudly back, his hands going to her ass again to help her continue as he came, his dick twitching the more he spurt out into the condom, sweet relief making him see stars.

Unable to uphold herself any longer, she collapsed over him, chests heaving in sync as they came down from their highs. It was hard catching their breaths when their skin burned from the heat and stuck together from the sweat. And George knew she was rather uncomfortable from the way she groaned into him, her fingers lazily trying to brush the hair out of her face but huffing as it stuck to her sweaty forehead.

He brushed her hair back for her, fingers delicately grazing her face and earning a soft smile and a sigh from her. But then his hold went down to her hips so he could lift her up and off himself, to set her beside him, she whined at the loss of him.

Ella didn't even try to open her eyes, completely spent from their activities and snuggling into the pillows to find some comfort in the post orgasm haze.

George shed himself off the condom and tied it so he could throw it away, groaning as he pushed himself up and off the bed to make way to the bathroom.

He took about five minutes there and when he came back into the room, he smiled, finding a sleepy Ella struggling to keep her eyes open and smirking at him. He giggled as he walked up to bed and after taking her camera and placing it on one of the bedside tables, he carried her bridal style to take her to the bathroom.

Yes she was still on cloud nine but she had a bit of sense in her then so, after thanking him with a kiss, Ella told George she was alright from there and he could wait for her in bed.

She had realized what she'd said as she was washing her hands after peeing and she was cringing just thinking about him being gone once she went back into the room, but she found that he hadn't left and instead he had gone under the bedsheets and was waiting for her to cuddle up to him so they could get some rest.

Ella giggled when she got under the sheets and he hooked his arm around her waist to push her flush into him, her back pressed to his chest and he nuzzled into her neck from behind. Their legs tangled together and their breaths synced and slowed down as the minutes went by until they succumbed to their slumber.

✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧

They got startled awake around ten in the morning when someone knocked on her door horrendously loud.

For a few seconds they stared at the door as if they were waiting for that person to knock it down and come into the room but then they announced who they were with a "Hello! Housekeeping!" and Ella sighed in relief.

Ella had to spring up from bed, calling out "Coming!" so that the staff member wouldn't come into the room, and after hastily grabbing her robe from the hanger and putting it on, she opened the door just enough to poke her head out and apologized.

"Sorry, can't come in yet." She said with an embarrassed flush on her cheeks.

But the lady outside her door waved her off and offered, "I can come back in around an hour or so."

The American nodded with a smile, "Sure, that'd be great. Thank you!" To that, the woman nodded and started walking up to the next door, so Ella closed the door and locked it again, her soul coming back to her body.

George laughed at her mortified expression which she scowled at him for but then she confidently shed herself off her robe and walked back to get in bed and she was met with a smirking George just taking in every inch of her body.

"Come here gorgeous." He invited her back into his arms and she didn't have to be told twice for her to go back being the little spoon for him. She'd had such good sleep being completely enveloped in him, heavy limbs acting like a weighted blanket and it was utter bliss.

But after seeing her naked again, skin littered with love bites he had left all over her, hair messy and tits perky and bouncing as she walked, George felt the need to show her a bit more of the appreciation he had shown her the day before.

His hand brushed her hair to the side so he could have access to the skin on the back of her neck. Goosebumps breaking on the skin there when he started pressing open mouthed kisses on it, fingers ghostly running down her back and stopping right on her lower back that had her back arching into him. Her ass grazed his dick every time, making it twitch and start to harden.

In search of friction, he pushed his hips forward and she reciprocated by pressing her ass against him. She couldn't help the passing thought of this being how it could've gone the morning after the wedding with Alex, if they wouldn't have freaked out and just let it happen. But all thoughts of the singer went out the window when George pressed himself against her again and had her mewling out loud at the feeling, "Hmm, George."

"Yes, baby?" His lips brushed against her skin, a shiver running down her spine and making her shudder, "You're so fucking beautiful, please let me make you feel good."

"Yeah..." Ella nodded quickly, it was a no-brainer. Her breath caught in her throat when she pushed his hips forwards again at the same time as she did and the tip of his cock grazed her entrance.

"Yes?" He moaned in her ear, hand coming around her front to play with her tits, "Can I make you cum again, sweetheart?"

She nodded eagerly, swallowing a moan as he pinched her nipple and when he cupped her whole tit with one hand, kneading it harshly, her "Please." came out in the form of a whine.

"Good girl. M'gonna make you feel so good baby, I promise." His hand continued playing with her tits as they kept grinding on each other, and when his cock was hard enough it had come up to rest heavily on his lower stomach, he let his fingers trail down until they hovered over her mound and he breathlessly asked, "D'you trust me?"

"Yeah, George..." She was basically pleading him to continue, hand coming to clutch his and guide his fingers down to her soaked cunt and when he felt just how wet she was, he groaned and pulled away.

"Wait." George instructed her, leaving her alone on the bed to get a condom. Ella heard the wrapper rip and him moaning as he put the condom on, stroking himself up and down a few times before he tugged the sheets off her and turned her from her side to her front so she was facedown and he could hover over her from behind.

His knees were on either side of her hips, forearms pressed on the mattress next to her shoulders and he kissed and sucked all over her back as he praised her for how gorgeous she was over and over. He kept bruising her up until Ella pushed her ass up and begged him to do something, the ache in her cunt too unbearable.

So George let go of the patch of skin he was bruising and did as she asked for, spreading her legs open as he knelt in between them and rubbed his tip up and down her slit.

"Don't tease, please." She cried into the mattress, her cunt fluttering around nothing and it was painful knowing just how good he felt inside her but he wasn't allowing her to feel it yet.

But then he just let himself slowly slip inside her and his jaw fell at her tightness in that angle, "Oh Ellie... Fuck–" He felt like he could barely fit in, but she was dripping with slick so it made it a bit easier for him to bottom out.

"George–" Ella choked out, head turning to the side to catch a glimpse of him. Her hands clawed at the sheets beside her head for dear life.

"I know. You're so tight." He cried out in pleasure, barely able to move an inch out of her because she was so snug it felt like she was pushing him out.

"Move baby, please." She begged again and he started going then, a slow pace at first that grew in speed rather quickly and had her cursing out loud, "Fuckkkkk!"

He gasped into her ear with every thrust, and it was soon that the sound of their skin slapping drowned the room along with their moans. "Gonna miss this tight little cunt so much." He said into her neck, sucking a bruise on the back of it before asking, "Gonna miss me too?"

"Ye– Yes! Oh!" She gasped when he hooked his left arm under her leg, pulling it upwards slowly and allowing her to stretch a bit more so she felt him deeper, "Gonna miss you so much!"

He chuckled smugly, "I know you will."

"Oh fuck!" She cursed as he hit her g-spot perfectly from that angle, his hips hitting her ass and reminding her of how sore the skin there was from the spanking he gave her the night before. "Yes, yes! Don't stop, please!"

"If you could only see yourself right now!" He cursed under his breath when he looked down to see himself disappear into her, over and over. If he kept looking at how he kept sliding in and out of her so easily, he would burst right then so he looked back up to her face and praised her once more, "Taking me so well baby."

"Harder, please." She asked for and stilling for just a second to get a better standing on his knees, George did as she asked, making her instantly get even louder when he hit that spot with more intensity, "Oh my– Fuck! Right there, yes!"

"Just like that, yeah?" His smirk grew on his face, feeling how it kept getting easier to slide inside her which meant she was fucking drenched and dripping all over him, her walls fluttering around him already making him see stars.

"Yes! Yes!" She chanted like a broken record, the coil in her lower stomach tightening by the second and threatening to snap at any moment, "I'm so close!"

His left arm lifted her leg even higher and then left it there to be able to bring his fingers down to rub at her clit and send her over the edge, "C'mon baby, cum for me sweetheart!" He encouraged her as he rubbed fast circles on her throbbing clit, which earned him choked out moans that turned into a throat ripping moan of, "F-fuckkkk! George!"

George felt her squeeze him so tightly as she came, making it so much harder for him to continue thrusting in and out of her which ended up with him stilling his hips as he came a few seconds after her with a loud, "Ah shit! Ella!"

His thrusts became sloppy and messy as she spasmed around him, whimpering as the aftershocks of her orgasm had her legs trembling under him and her white knuckle grip on the sheets faltered.

Letting his weight fall over Ella slightly, George sighed in complete bliss and he kissed the back of her head and her cheek multiple times to say, "Did so good for me sweetheart." He dropped a kiss on her lips for the first time that morning and praised her once more, "Pretty girl."

The way he spoke to her made Ella's stomach flutter, and he felt it when she clenched around him, "You like that huh?" He teasingly asked, to which she only mewled in response.

He pulled out, hearing her whine this time when she felt upsettingly empty again but her rubbed circles on her hips soothingly and asked, "Shall we go take a shower? Do you want me to help you up?"

Ella had barely managed to reply with a quiet, "Mhm..." when a loud ringing snapped them out of their bubble.

She didn't recognize the ringing so she figured it was George's. The drummer didn't do a thing to go and get it though, as he came to lay down beside her and shed himself off the condom they'd used.

He got up to discard it in the bathroom and just as he crossed the threshold of the room, he heard his phone start ringing again. He didn't listen to it, taking his time in the bathroom until he heard Ella call out for him.

A grunt left his lips when he came back to the room and picked up the phone and read his sister's name on the screen so he answered with a meek, "Y'alright?" to let her know he wasn't in the mood for constant ringing.

Ella heard pure silence surrounding them for a good half minute before George sighed a, "Fucks sake." The American opened her eyes to see him and moved onto her side to watch him as he spoke. "Right now? Really?" He asked, entirely unamused. "Yeah, really busy actually." He said sternly, looking at a naked Ella in front of him with wide eyes. That made Ella purse her lips not to laugh but what broke the giggles out of her was when he sighed loudly and muttered, "I hate you." to whoever it was. It was barely another half minute that he ended the call with an impatient, "Yeah, yeah. Sure. See ya'."

"What's wrong?" Ella asked curiously, her fingers playing with the ends of her hair.

George rolled his eyes at the situation, "My sister needs me for something. She says it's urgent but I doubt it." He shrugged then, ignoring the importance of whatever it was she needed him for, he had only been half listening really. "I can stay though, it wouldn't be the first time I ignore her."

That had Ella snorting in laughter, "Go, you idiot."

"But–" He tried to argue as he came to hover over her, head dipping to steal a kiss out of her which Ella broke after a few seconds by pushing his shoulders slightly so she could reassure him it was fine.

"It's okay. I had the best time with you, and that's all I wanted." Her hands came to the back of his head, fingers digging into the hair at the nape of his neck and scratched his scalp softly.

George clicked his tongue and he pouted to joke, "Knew you only wanted me for my body."

Ella cackled at his antics and told him to "Shut up." only to do it herself by pulling him into her so they could share one last kiss. It was sweet but it wasn't soft, their lips moving together with intent as if to prove they'd need to do it again because it was just too good.

But she had to stop it before it could turn into something more. She pulled on his hair so their lips separated with a smack and with the sweetest smile and looking at him with those gorgeous hazel green eyes of hers, she said, "Thank you George."

"I had the best time Ellie." He replied wholeheartedly then, agreeing with her previous point.

"Me too." She nodded softly to reiterate her point, hands coming back down to cup his jaw, thumbs rubbing circles on his skin.

One last short kiss was all they got in that bed before they both stood up and got dressed. Well, George did, in the same getup as the day before, while Ella put her robe back on and tied it around herself slowly as he finished getting his shoes on.

"I'll see you soon, yeah?" He said when they got to the door, a glimmer of hope in his eyes. "When are you leaving again?"

"Friday."

He nodded, it was very soon but there was still time. "We have a week then." He winked right as he opened the door, stealing one last peck from her and leaving her with a stupid smile on her face that only got bigger when she closed the door behind her and she looked at the mess they had left the bed looking like.

And it got even bigger when she finally reached for her phone, which she had put on silent, for the first time since before the date and she found her most recent notification being a message from Florence which made her cackle.

When she opened that message conversation, she giggled loudly for she had messages from the day before and Flo hadn't taken the time that passed between the texts she sent lightly.

(13/07/2013 18:38) How did the date go? Hope he behaved for you x

(13/07/2013 18:52) No, I actually hope he didn't ;) xx

(13/07/2013 20:51) Okay, it's almost nine now... You better be ignoring me for the right reasons Miss Hayes x

(13/07/2013 23:46) I'm about to go to bed but I've driven Matty crazy tonight because I'm so intrigued about this. Answer woman! I'm going mad!!!!

(14/07/2013 08:22) Good fucking morning you lucky bitch! Still no response? You better tell me all about this later!!!! xx

(14/07/2013 09:35) Should I start getting worried?! If you don't answer in an hour, I'm texting him just to ask if he didn't fuck this whole thing massively x

That text had been sent almost an hour before, and Ella knew Flo was faithful to her promises so she typed an answer the quickest her fingers allowed her to.

(14/07/2013 10:18) Hello... Why does this text feel like a walk of shame? Hahah x I'm sorry for just now replying, I had my hands a bit full...

Ella laughed loudly when a minute later, when she had been choosing what to wear after taking a shower, Flo replied.

(14/07/2013 10:19) Eleanor Hayes!!!!!!!! Tell me every dirty little detail right now!!!!!

(14/07/2013 10:19) I'm gonna take a shower right now but I'll call you as soon as I'm out x

(14/07/2013 10:20) You're just now showering?! Did you go again this morning?!

(14/07/2013 10:21) Why do you want to spoil this story for yourself?

(14/07/2013 10:21) I'm actually so fucking jealous right now, it's an issue x

(14/07/2013 10:22) HAHAHA Give me five minutes and I'll call you as soon as I have dried my hair. Get your popcorn ready x

(14/07/2013 10:23) Will do you, lucky bitch! CAN'T WAIT!!!! xxxx

Ella took the quickest shower she could, just because she was actually dying to talk about it all with someone and who better than Flo.

So the second her hair had gone from wet to just damp under the hot blow of air of the hair dryer, she ran back to the room and ringed her up.

The call had been hilarious and had elongated to almost an hour because Flo asked for every little dirty detail and Ella had used the call as an opportunity to process what had happened so the artist had gotten things Ella wouldn't normally tell anyone.

But the end of it had been entirely mortifying because Ella had found out that Matty had been listening too when she was talking about what had taken place that morning. And just when Flo had been trying to tell her it was fine because Matty was George's best mate and he was her friend now too, Ella's phone started ringing with another incoming call from someone she'd tried not to think about yet.

"Erm, sorry Flo, Alex is ringing me." She apologized like she had too, her insides being coated by nervousness.

"Oh it's alright hun," Flo waved her off, and with a mischievous tone assured her, "We'll continue this later."

Ella's hands had started to sweat and she let a little nervous giggle before reminding Florence, "Next time warn me when your husband is there so I can keep a bit of dignity to myself."

Flo cackled at that but Matty was the one to reply with confidence, "No dignity lost here Ella, you're a fucking legend."

That answer made Ella snort in short laughter, "Thanks Matty, I doubt it." As soon as she let those words out, she felt Alex's call go to voicemail and here phone stopped vibrating in her hand, so she cursed, "Fuck, call went through. I'll go now." She sourly let them know, and Ella smiled softly when they assured her it was alright so with a sigh, she added, "Love you guys, bye!"

"Bye Ella!" She heard coming from the other side of the line and with that, she ended the call.

Her fingers hovered over her screen with doubt, debating whether or not to make the call back but Alex rang her up again, answering that for her.

"Hi Al, sorry, I was on the phone." She apologized first and foremost as soon as she picked up.

"S'alright." Alex reassured her, and he was about to ask how the previous day had gone because he had texted her a few times and he still hadn't gotten a response, when Ella interrupted him.

Her nerves made her sound breathless when the words came pouring out of her lips, "How are you? Did something happen?"

"No, I, erm..." He frowned a bit at her behavior but didn't really know if he should pry on anything yet, so he stuck to bringing up the topic of one of his texts, "Doesn't Ben and the crew arrive later today?"

"Oh, yes." One of her clammy hands came up to her forehead and she closed her eyes just to think of when that would be but her mind was a knot of thoughts. "I think I have Ben's itinerary here." She remembered in a lucky spark of logic so she took her laptop out of her suitcase and opened it quickly to find the ticket reservations somewhere on her desktop.

She hummed to herself as she looked for it and snapped her fingers when she found it, "Yes, they're landing around three."

"Are you going to get them?" Alex asked shyly, not really knowing what was the plan for the Focus Creeps crew when they got to London.

"No, they're actually staying here too so I'll meet them downstairs when they arrive."

Ella noticed how recoiled he was being when he softly inquired, "Do you think Ben would mind me intruding?"

"Absolutely not." She reassured him, though she had no idea why he'd want to come over to meet Ben when they had the shoot planned for the following day. But she got an idea as to how to make the day productive if he was to come over, "We could have a little meeting considering we're shooting two days in a row starting tomorrow. You know, run over the last few things and make sure everything's alright and meets your expectations."

The clicking of his tongue and his little scoff made her giggle, "Darling, it's you and Ben directing, I will definitely love it."

"You better boss." She said as she closed her laptop, putting it back in her suitcase.

"Shush." He said with a giggle managing its way out through his words. That wasn't why he had called her though, so he pushed with what he actually had been meaning to ask, "Have you got any plans for earlier today?"

In all honesty, Alex had spent the previous day wondering and wondering if everything was okay then. He hoped it was, and thinking back to the previous two days when they'd been in Sheffield and Manchester, it seemed like it. But he couldn't help but wonder, what if it isn't? So he had anxiously waited for the day to pass until it was late for him to text her and not interrupt her plans—eight in the evening had been decent enough for him—but he'd gotten no response and he'd tossed and turned all night overthinking.

He'd only managed to get some sleep around three in the morning and that was why he had woken up rather late and only been able to wait just another half hour after his eyes peeled open and he saw there was still no response, before calling her up.

His heart had sank with the worst feeling, his brain just telling him she was completely ignoring him but he was stubborn, so he decided to call again and thankfully she had picked up. He hadn't been more relieved to hear her voice before.

"Right now?" She asked, biting on her thumb and blushing when she looked up and was met with the mess her bed had been left as after George went away.

"Yeah."

She hesitated, not really remembering what it was that she was doing, a long "Ermmmmm," coming from her until her eyes fell on her camera which was propped up on her bedside table and it clicked, "Oh, just going to pick up my pictures I sent to develop. Might take the ones I took in Manchester and Sheffield to develop as well before I leave."

Alex tried his luck, carefully asking, "Mind if I intrude in those plans too?"

To his relief, she chuckled and replied with a relaxed, "'Course I don't." One that really contrasted the way her insides were churning at the fact of having to face him after what had happened merely an hour before. She turned her back to the bed, trying to will her memories of the day before and the morning out of the forefront of her mind.

Clearing her throat, she suggested, "Wanna get some breakfast first? Haven't eaten anything yet and I might faint if I go walking around London on an empty stomach."

"Absolutely." He smiled at the thought of going out for breakfast with her but in the back of his mind he wondered why she had yet to eat. Shrugging it off, he turned back to his room to get his sunglasses and a jacket so he could leave, "I'll be there in fifteen."

She hummed, slightly panicking about getting ready that quickly but not sounding it at all as she forced a smile that she knew he couldn't see, "Amazing. See you soon then, sweets."

"See ya' darling."

When Ella shed herself of the towel and saw her reflection in the mirror, she blushed instantly at the trace George had left on her. Love bites everywhere on her chest, neck, inner thighs and when she turned around she caught a few lingering around her back, along with the faint print of his hands on her ass. She started getting hot at the memory of it all, and she had to force herself to focus on the task of getting ready before Alex could arrive.

She'd ended up choosing a black turtleneck with long sleeves and some black jeans just to make sure nothing would peek through and cause any type of conversation that would end wrongly.

Not that she owed Alex anything, but she would rather avoid any arguments like the one at the pub if it had been sparked by him finding out she was messing about instead of spending time with them.

When Alex had arrived and knocked on the door of her hotel room, she'd been making sure if she'd gotten all the rolls she'd used with her. She was debating whether or not to take the roll she had in her camera as well as she tucked it back inside its case and placed a new roll inside her Minolta, when Alex knocked again and she just panicked, shoving her latest used roll inside her bag along with the rest.

"Coming!" She yelled as she grabbed her phone, wallet, cigarettes and lighter, the room keys and her leather jacket.

He had barely heard her but before he could knock again, the same housekeeping lady who had knocked the door earlier walked right by him and warned him, "She was busy."

Alex frowned quite confused, she had a brow raised at him and almost like a smirk on her face, but he didn't have much time to ask what the lady meant when Ella came out of her room, opening the door just enough for her to walk out and she froze when she saw the housekeeping lady right behind him.

"Hi sweets." Ella greeted him tensely, her eyes going warily from the lady to Alex as if she was a prey about to be pounced on.

Alex was still confused, his smile crooked as he greeted her back with a soft, "Hi darling." and not even sure if he should hug her when they had prying eyes over them.

But before they even tried to, the lady cleared her throat and asked, "May I come in now?"

"Oh yes, I– erm," Ella stuttered under Alex's intent gaze. He noticed the way her cheeks warmed and turned pink as she lowered her voice to apologize, "Sorry about the duvet, it's on the floor."

Ella didn't miss the way the lady looked from her to Alex and chuckled like she knew a secret, and nodded, "That's alright."

"Thanks!" Ella let out breathlessly, before grabbing Alex by the hand and pulled him to where the lifts were.

Before she went into Ella's hotel room though, the lady turned to look at the hold Ella had on Alex and shook her head. She'd seen George walking out of Ella's room earlier, and if the duvet was on the floor then she could imagine what had went on, but hearing Alex call her darling made the lady start making assumptions that made Ella look bad. She just laughed about it, turning the key in the lock so she could walk into the room and do her job.

Ella couldn't stay still while waiting for the lift and Alex was just dead silent, entirely confused about what had just happened. In his head, he was just hoping he was being too creative and driven entirely by jealousy when going on about his theories, silently praying it was anything but what he was thinking.

Entirely distracted by her own nerves and the lift doors opening in front of them, Ella didn't see the way Alex eyes her up and down for signs of anything that could prove what he was thinking of but he found nothing that could confirm his suspicions.

It wasn't like it was much he could see anyway, he frowned at how her clothes covered her almost entirely. Not even her neck on show with the turtleneck she had on.

He sighed when the doors opened again when they got down at the lobby and decided to just ignore it all so he could enjoy being in her presence like he had wished for all day yesterday. So he just intertwined their fingers as they walked through the lobby, giving the receptionist a quick smile and wave goodbye before leaving the hotel.

They missed the way the receptionist frowned, having seen that the guy Ella had brought in the day before had just walked out an hour before in the same clothes. The receptionist had laughed to herself and shook her head at what she imagined Ella had done, "Americans."

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Barely a few minutes had passed as they walked the busy London streets when Alex just couldn't bite his tongue any longer. The complete silence from her part the day before, her hesitation to answer when he asked about it, and what she'd said to the housekeeper. All of it was making his curiosity grow inside him until it became uncomfortable to keep it in any longer.

"How was yesterday? You had fun?" He started off easy, thinking that would be the best way to get anything out of her.

But all Alex got was a hurried and stuttery, "Oh, I'm– Yes, I did."

"What did you do?" The singer tried again, looking at her to try and see if she gave anything away with the look on her face.

But all he saw was her avoidant stare and her blushing cheeks, "Just, you know– Had lunch." She paused for a little bit until she eventually added the rest, "With a friend." almost with regret to have said it after a second of it slipping past her lips.

"Oh right." He nodded with a soft smile, confused as to why it was being so hard for her to say that. In another attempt to understand, or scratch that itch in his brain more like, he asked, "Where'd you go?"

She hummed as she thought about it, giving herself a bit more time to act put together, "This restaurant in Covent Garden. Think it was called Cora Pearl."

A surprised "Oh." came from him in response and just to give a chance to prove his theories wrong, he suggested, "Romantic, wasn't it?"

Ella stiffened and Alex noticed because he was still holding her hand. He frowned at her reaction and she giggled nervously, "What?"

"That place. It's a bit romantic innit?" From what he remembered, the last time he went to that restaurant, it had been a very cozy and romantic setting so it made him suspicious.

"No, not really. It was alright," She toned it down with a click of her tongue, only to shrug lazily as she added, "Food was good."

"Right, right." Alex let her have it that time, and switched topics to tell her, "I texted you yesterday."

Her hands had started getting sweaty and she hoped he wasn't noticing—he had—but she played it cool. "Did you?" She asked back, she'd barely glanced at her notifications that morning, the first one being from Flo and therefore the only one to grasp her eye so she'd fully put off checking the rest as she catched the artist up on what had happened.

"Yeah, but s'alright. Just wanted to know when Ben was coming." His fingers squeezed her hand softly as if to calm her clear nerves out and she sighed slightly before dropping his hand and reaching for her cigarettes and her lighter because she needed a smoke desperately.

"We have a bit of time until then, don't we?" Ella mumbled as she placed the cigarette between her lips and lit it up, taking a long drag and offering it to him. Alex took it from her and nodded, she watched as he took a drag and said, "Let's just go somewhere to eat, I'm starving."

Their shared cigarette had been stomped over on the asphalt when they stumbled into a cute little cafe five minutes later. It was small and cozy, the smell of coffee inviting and the look of the different flavored croissants and pastries made their mouths water.

Before Alex could continue asking about the previous day, like she knew he was dying to, Ella started asking him about the album release and tour. She'd kept him distracted by asking about the album rollout and which songs they had decided as singles along with 'R U Mine?', 'Do I Wanna Know?' and 'Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?'.

When he'd shown her the schedule they had so far for the tour, up until the end of the year, her heart sank at the sight of how after she left, she'd only have a couple chances to see him and it'd only be because they'd be having a gig in LA.

They'd left the cafe almost an hour later and made their way to the photolab. It was almost a half an hour walk but it had been spent smoking, talking and taking pictures.

Once they got to the photolab, Ella was greeted with two envelopes thick with pictures she'd printed out, a USB with all of her scans and the sleeves with her negatives inside.

"Oh thank you so much!" Ella said with a big grin on her face, she couldn't wait to see them all. "I have a few more I want to develop, if that's alright."

"Of course." The man behind the counter said, "Do you want them scanned as well? So I can keep the USB and put the new ones in there."

Ella nodded, "That'd be perfect, yeah." She let her bag slide down her shoulder to hang on the crook of her elbow and rummaged around to see the used rolls she'd brought. "Erm..." She let out as she tried remembering which one was the George one, not knowing if she really wanted to leave it or just develop it when they got back home.

"How many are there?" The man asked intrigued by the way she was frowning.

"Only four I think." She really was trying to remember which one was from the day before but she couldn't for the life of her remember, so she just sighed and took them out of her bag and left it on the counter, "Just these."

"We could have these ready for you Wednesday afternoon, maybe?"

Ella waved him off as if not to worry him about rushing, "I'll be here Thursday morning, no need to rush."

The man flashed her a smile, "Thanks doll." He went on to click a few things on his computer to get her order ready, printing a spreadsheet with what she wanted for her order and turned back to her, "Are you paying in advance again?"

"Yeah, much easier that way." She instinctively dove into her jacket pockets for her small card holder but she only fished out the note Flo had sent her with George the day before. Ella blushed, leaving it on the counter mindlessly under the gaze of the man in charge of the photolab, and went to look through her bag again.

Whilst she went around looking for her credit card, Alex's attention was completely caught by the folded piece of paper. His eyes magnetized to the Ellie x written on top of it, he had to fight the urge to grab it and read it.

Alex's trance was broken when she snatched the note off the counter, shoving it inside her bag quickly and then turning to the man to offer her credit card up to him.

The transaction was fast, and with a promise to send her an email once they had her pictures ready, Alex and Ella left the place. Her bag was heavy with the weight of the photos she'd printed but it lit up this feeling inside her that she loved. There was nothing like picking up your prints and scans and just admiring every frame up close.

Ella knew what she had in there though, Alice's pictures were definitely in there somewhere and she wouldn't take her chances pulling the pictures out in front of Alex. But the singer wanted to see the pictures, taking her to a park that was a bit over five minutes away from the photolab and sitting down with her to encourage her to show the prints.

She took one of the envelopes out, opening it slowly and peeking through to see if anything she didn't want Alex seeing was there but she was thankfully greeted with the first batch of film she'd take when she'd arrived.

"Awh, these are from Glastonbury!" She exclaimed and pouted, taking a handful out of the envelope for them to see.

The first one was of Bre and Matt dancing around in the backstage area, right next to the drinks tent that was up for the artists to grab. There was one of Flo and Matty with Adam, George and Ross around them, all of them cheering after the 1975's set had finished. One of all the girls together, drinks in hand and big smiles on their faces during the Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds set. A few of everyone lounging around the tour bus, sunglasses on to not show their tired hungover eyes.

"Look at Jamie's face." Ella pointed out before a loud cackle managed its way out of her lips. It was a picture of Miles in his Union Jack tracksuit, jumping in the air and Jamie just so happened to be behind him with a terrified look on his face.

Alex's giggles joined hers when he caught a glimpse of the picture, "What was Miles doing?"

She barely managed through a new wave of giggles, "Dunno but this one's hilarious."

They continued flipping through the handful of pictures, tucking them back inside the envelope once they had seen them all and taking another handful out to see.

It was when they were flipping through the pictures Ella had gotten at the London Eye that her phone pinged with a new message and had interrupted their appreciation for Ella's photography.

With quick fingers, she unlocked her phone and read what Ben had just sent her, telling Alex what it was with a simple, "They've landed."

"Ben?" Alex asked pointlessly, there was no one else coming other than the Focus Creeps crew.

She nodded, putting her phone back inside the pocket of her jacket and then placing the pictures they had been looking at back in the envelope, "He just texted me that they're at baggage claim. They're probably getting to the hotel in an hour, shall we head back?"

"Sure." Alex nodded, watching as she placed the envelope inside her bag.

He stood up from the bench and offered her a hand. She took it with a smile and, hand in hand, they walked back to the hotel.

It probably took them around thirty minutes to get back and since they calculated they still had enough time until the crew arrived, Ella thought it would be good to book a conference room for a small meeting.

She walked up to the reception desk and sweetly asked, "Hi, sorry could I get a conference room?" She'd seen they had them back when she had booked her room but, if she wasn't mistaken, there were only three in total.

The girl behind the desk smiled back, "Of course, can I have your name please?"

"Eleanor Hayes."

"For when would you like to book it?"

She fiddled with her fingers, looking up at the big clock perched in the lobby's wall. It was almost half past three and she reckoned her co-workers wouldn't arrive until four so she ended up settling for five. "Is there any available around five?"

"Yes, I have one available then." The girl clicked away on the desktop and wrote something down in a spreadsheet to her left.

Ella gave her a grateful grin, "Oh amazing."

The typing away filled in the few seconds of silence and then the receptionist looked back up at her to say, "Alright Miss Hayes, you can just come around by then and I'll walk you over to the room."

"Thank you so much, see you then." Ella left her with a double tap of the desk.

She heard a faint "You're welcome." behind her as she turned back to the lobby's lounge area, where Alex was occupying half of a two seater settee.

Once she settled beside him, Ella let her bag fall in between the both of them and looking down at the envelopes peeking through the top of it, she asked him, "D'you wanna keep looking at the pictures?"

Alex nodded, wanting to see how the pictures he had taken of Ella had turned out, so she pulled out the envelopes and was about to open one of them to inspect it when ruckus coming from the hotel doors made them look up and they were surprised by the crew carrying multiple suitcases into the place.

"Oh my god! Hi!" Ella sprung up from her seat, shoving the envelopes quickly inside the bag and leaving it forgotten there as she walked over to help the crew.

She'd gotten two of the cases that looked to be carrying their filming gear whilst Alex came around to help Tyler, their camera man, with a bag he was struggling with along with a suitcase he clumsily was managing to roll around.

When they properly came inside the hotel and into the lobby, the crew left the cases alone to greet their missing co-worker. "Ella! We missed you!" Ben said before hugging her tightly and swaying her side to side.

Ella cooed and chuckled, because she felt the same. Ben had gone from being her boss to her mentor and he had been so incredibly supportive when she had gotten promoted to a director, their relationship had turned into one that felt like they were siblings.

They had started working as a duo since Ella had officially been promoted and that was why they shared a PA now, but that meant their creative brains were in sync and they spent more time together, therefore their trust in each other grew so much they had become almost inseparable and it hit Ella how much she missed having him around when he walked through the door. "Awh missed you too Ben! How was the flight?"

Ben let go and huffed in exhaustion, "Too long."

"I know." She said sympathetically, looking around the rest of the crew with a pout before going over to each one of them to greet them.

"Alex, hi man!" Ben said to the singer enthusiastically.

"Ben, nice seeing you again." Alex said with a genuine smile and pulled him in for a brief strong embrace, waving at everyone behind him briefly.

"How are you? Glastonbury was brilliant!" The director hadn't missed the chance to compliment him because he had thoroughly enjoyed their set a lot, it had been stunning.

Alex waved him off like it wasn't needed but he still appreciated the comment, "Thanks mate. I'm alright, how are you?"

"Tired but we're here." Ben sighed, the heaviness of the long flight now weighing down on him. But when Ben looked up at Alex, he found the singer to have his eyes stuck on Ella who was hugging her PA last with a soft smile. Just to tease, Ben cleared his throat and said, "Hope Ella's been behaving."

Ella had heard that as she turned back to him and Alex, rolling her eyes to call him out, "Oh shut up Benjamin."

But Alex didn't find it hard to admit, "She has been, she's a gooden."

"She is." Ben agreed, a slight smirk on his face which earned him another roll of Ella's eyes. He chuckled before turning his attention back on his crew and suggested, "Right, let's check in everyone, yeah?"

"You sound like a teacher on a school trip Ben." Ella pointed out with a raised eyebrow, almost like she was scolding him for it.

Tyler made it worse for the director when he added fuel to the fire by pointing out, "He was worse at the airport."

To which Ella winced and shook her head, "Oh god." She sighed as if the information pained her but let them move onto the reception desk and check into their rooms. They all got their respective room keys and once everyone had them in hand, Ella stood in front of them all and informed them, "I got us a conference room at five so we can go over everything and have it all ready for tomorrow, just so we don't have to cut your well needed rest short and run around in case something goes wrong."

Ben smiled at her with narrowed eyes, "Always thinking ahead. That sounds great."

Ella looked smug at Ben's reaction, flipping her hair exaggeratedly to make a point of how she always was right. Ben shoved her playfully out of her smugness and it made her giggle. But she turned serious again when Lydia yawned loudly behind her hand, "I'll let y'all settle then? I'll text the chat when I'm back down here so we can go."

The crew nodded, completely satisfied with the idea of at least a short rest before the meeting took place and Ben was the one to eventually accept, "Sure, yeah." His gaze fell on Alex though, and he asked, "You leaving Alex?" just to know if he had to say bye before going up to their rooms.

But Alex shook his head no, brows slightly furrowed, "No, no. I'm gonna intrude on your meeting. Ella said it was alright."

The choice of words made Ben chuckle but he nodded in agreement, "More than alright, that way we can double check everything."

"Brilliant." Alex said, slightly relieved at yet another confirmation that it was alright that he stayed for the meeting.

Ben was a bit nosy, and eventually let his curiosity win when after a few beats of silence, he inquired, "Are you leaving and then coming back?"

Before the singer could answer, Ella let out that, "No, he's coming upstairs with me." and that answer was enough for her co-workers to grow curious.

"Right." Ben replied with a smirk growing on his face, and he repeated another "Right." as if the first one hadn't been given in the best tone. It wasn't needed, because it was written on his face how he was enjoying hearing that for it gave him something to taunt Ella about.

So the director nodded slowly and offered them a gallic shrug, "See you at five then." to then grab their stuff and start to walk up to the elevators.

"See ya'!" Alex said a bit loudly as they walked away, a giddiness bubbling up inside him when knowing this meant he could go upstairs with Ella sooner then.

Ella added to the short farewell with an enthusiastic, "Bye guys!"

Alex watched as the crew disappeared into the lifts and Ella went back to the lounge area. He turned to see her grabbing her bag and once she had it perched on her shoulder, she walked back to him.

With a "Let's go." and a pat on his back, she encouraged him to follow her upstairs. She'd slowly opened her door, peeking through the barely cracked open door to see if the room was no longer a mess of tangled sheets and thrown duvets and she was glad to see it all in place like that morning hadn't happened. Seeing the bed, even if it was tidy, made her cheeks heat up though.

She pursed her lips watching as Alex toed off his shoes by the door and went straight to lay down on the bed. Her mind played tricks on her that weren't doing more than quicken her heart beats and tinting the tips of her ears as red as her cheeks.

"You can turn on the TV if you want." She invited, giving him the remote after she'd gotten a cigarette out of the pocket of her now forgotten jacket she'd perched on the back of the settee in her room.

Opening the door to the balcony, she pointed out, "M'gonna go for a smoke." and once he nodded with a smile, she escaped to the small area.

Five minutes of mindlessly going through channels with shit programmes on was enough for Alex to get up from the bed and walk outside with her. He got a cigarette out from his pocket and lit it up, silently smoking beside her.

The newfound silence between them was giving them time to think. They'd had silence before, comfortable ones where they settled and somehow it felt like they could silently communicate through looks and lingering touches. But this one was strange, it was a silence that just emphasized the distance between them and how their eyes didn't meet to talk wordlessly anymore.

Alex looked at her as he took his first drag and she turned to him to give him a fleeting smile, turning back to watch the people walking the English streets and the cars driving past. Ella felt his gaze burning on the side of her head but she forced herself to pay it no mind, what could she do? She hated having to walk on eggshells around him but after realizing they had never been acting properly like just friends, she was trying to navigate what that meant for them from then on.

It was weird feeling how she just couldn't talk and talk to him like she usually did, scared she could say something that could give him the wrong impression or that could set him off like before. Yes, he had apologized and promised it wouldn't happen again but she didn't want something going wrong because of something she could've prevented.

"Are you alright?" Alex ended up asking her, noticing just how tense she was.

Ella was taken aback by the question, "Yeah, why?"

Alex shrugged, the corners of his lips tugged down in a soft pout that he ended up switching for pressed lips as he mustered the courage to say, "You're quiet."

"Oh, sorry." The smoke left her lips as she spoke, turning to look at him while leaning into the wall on her back, "Just thinking about the video and how I'm leaving on Friday."

"Don't remind me." He pouted before taking another drag of his cigarette. Having merely five days left with her was an actual cruel joke. "Is Breana leaving on the same flight?"

Ella nodded, "Yeah, eleven in the morning so we're gonna have to be early at Heathrow." At least she would have Bre with her on the way back to assure her of not going crazy on such a long flight. "Matt's taking us, by the way, so you don't have to drive us."

"But I'm coming with." Alex chatted back, eyebrows raised at her and offended at the fact she was even giving him an out.

"It's gonna be really early." She warned, not really wanting to bother him about waking up so early just to go to the airport.

But Alex would never not go, "Don't care." He stubbed out the remaining of his cigarette out on the ashtray that was placed over the coffee table and walked over to her.

Wrapping his fingers around her wrist, he pulled her off the wall for her to walk into his arms, which she did without a peep of complaint, melting in his hold like she was used to.

Alex's fingers clutched her tightly, keeping her close to his chest and Ella let her head rest in the crook of his neck, drowning in his scent and closing her eyes to relish in the feeling.

"Don't want you to leave." He admitted with nerves bubbling up inside of him. He just wanted to let his words run loose and slip past his lips easily but god was he scared of her not reciprocating.

Ella hummed, the noise making her chest vibrate against his, "Don't want to either." She admitted right back and those words were enough to spark something inside him.

Would it be selfish of him to just ask her to leave it all behind for him? Would that be what his confession end up meaning to her?

The fear of rejection turned into a fear of asking too much from her, enough to drive her away, and just because of how much he was overthinking that sudden train of thought, he bit his tongue and stayed silent.

Silence which ended up in Ella sighing at the lack of response and choosing to add, "But I have to." in the end.

Those words came like heavy bricks over his heart, a confirmation of his worries being valid and right. He couldn't do that to her. He couldn't just ask her to go with him because of his feelings, not when she had so much waiting back home for her.

How badly he wanted to be selfish, to have this go his way, but it would be cruel to even lay that down in front of her and put her in the difficult position of having to even make that decision—if it even was a possibility for that to be a debate within her because he was still struggling to wrap his head around the chances of her feeling the same way about him.

Why is everything so complicated? He hated how he just couldn't let the words slip without thinking of the consequences, but there was just too much to lose and he had to weigh down if it was even worth it to risk it.

Flo's words came back to him. The moment he had finally let out how he felt for Ella for the first time came back to him and how good it had felt to get that off his chest. He clutched her a bit tighter when that flashed in the forefront of his mind and he smiled to himself when he felt Ella wrap her arms around his waist.

He thought then, it wasn't that he felt like it was a weakness to let it out, no, it was just how who he was wouldn't allow him to give Ella what she deserved. Because in the best of outcomes, she reciprocated, but what could he give her if she was in California and he was traveling all over the globe with no rest until the end of the year. And he was sure the next year would be the same, a plane from one country to another, day in a tour bus touring all across continents and no stability to give her the time she deserved.

Alex wanted to pull his hair out. He had done distance before and it had only been so long until he moved all the way to New York for his then girlfriend. Would Ella drop everything to join him? Would Ella let go of her dream job to follow him around the world? Would Alex be able to ask that from her?

Ella felt him drop a kiss on top of her head and his lips stayed there for a minute, his breathing slowed and got heavy and eventually she had to look up at him because it felt like something in the air had shifted.

"Are you okay?" She was the one to ask this time, and he saw the soft furrow of her brows and her lips slightly pursed when she pulled back to see his face.

He nodded, but he looked full of sorrow so Ella had to make sure, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, why?"

She took a step back, going to stub out the burnt out cigarette she had been holding and when that was done she stood back in front of him. "You're quiet." She repeated his words to him with a hint of a smile, like she was trying to cheer him up.

He caught onto it, offering a tight lip smile as he shook his head. The knot in his throat started tightening and it was like she had noticed without him even giving a sign of getting upset, so she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and hugged him tightly.

"I'm gonna miss you so much, sweets." She promised him with a whisper in his ear, goosebumps breaking on his skin as his arms wrapped around her waist. "But we have this week left so let's not get ahead of ourselves okay?"

"You're right." Alex nodded again, Ella squeezed him a bit tighter and after a few seconds she broke the embrace, pulling back and smirking at him.

"I told you I always am."

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It had been almost five when Alex woke her up. She had fallen asleep with her head resting on his shoulder as they watched some British show on BBC, not long after they'd come back inside from the balcony. Ella apologized profusely when she'd gotten back into her senses, apologies which he didn't accept.

They had made their way down to the lobby after Ella got her laptop and a little journal, texting the crew's group chat with one hand to let them know she'd be waiting for them there.

Fortunately, the small group had made an appearance at the lobby not long after she'd sent the text and they had gone into the conference room they'd been assigned at merely a quarter past five.

Ella settled with Alex to her right and Ben to her left, across the table sat Lydia, the new PA, Tyler, the cameraman, Margaret, the sound recorder, and Cameron, the lighting specialist. It was a small crew but it would do, plus they were the ones to come all the way to London because they were the best they had, the heads of each of their departments back home.

Whilst she opened her laptop to pull up the list of things she needed done for this shoot, Ella felt a gaze burning on her and when she let her eyes up to see who it was, she found Lydia staring at her and then at Alex.

She didn't give it attention until she looked up again and she found Lydia still gawking at Alex shamelessly. Ella thought it might've been because she hadn't been properly introduced to the singer so she took the matter in her own hands.

Interrupting her clicking and typing on her laptop to do so, Ella startled Lydia out of her trance when she turned to Alex and said, "Alex, this is Lydia, our new PA."

Alex looked up at the new face and smiled softly, "Nice to meet you."

Lydia's face seemed to light up at the attention and Ella had to hold herself back from scowling. The new PA waved shyly at him and said, "Such a pleasure to meet you Alex. Big fan."

"Thank you." Alex said kindly, before dropping his gaze back to Ella's laptop screen.

"I'm sure you remember everyone else." Ella said before continuing, knowing everyone had met Alex already at the same time as Ella had so there was no need for new introductions.

And Alex confirmed that when he nodded, "I do. Great seeing you again."

Everyone reciprocated the kindness and once that was over, Ella smiled at everyone and asked, "Right, so let's dive right in then?" to which she got nods that gave her the green light to start going over every bullet point.

Firstly, she had noticed the gap in her checklist where it said Stylist/Hair and makeup and just to make sure that was covered before moving onto what was confirmed already, she turned to Alex to ask, "Is your stylist coming tomorrow?"

Alex hummed, "Yeah she is." They had let her know she was needed for the shoot since it had been arranged, but it probably slipped past someone's mind to confirm that.

"Is she also taking care of hair and makeup?" Ella asked for the full confirmation.

And to her relief, Alex replied positively, "She is."

"Oh perfect." It was relieving checking that off and having the list look complete, "Okay so we have Lamie Stewart, she did the casting with an agency here and we had the video sent over, she's brilliant you'll love her." The model had been so brilliant and professional, an absolute laugh when she'd gotten to do the video call with Ella and Ben and it had been very refreshing to have such an easy going person as their main talent.

Alex smiled and nodded softly, completely trusting Ella's judgment about the main girl for the video. And with that approval, Ella moved onto the main point, "Let's go over the video concept again." She drummed her fingers on the table before they opened up the journal she'd brought with her and flipped through the pages until it was opened on the video.

Her eyes went over the words written in the preface for the project swiftly and she cleared her throat to start reciting it back, "We're gonna have you drunk out of your mind walking out of the pub, texting 'Stephanie' for a booty call. And you're gonna be hallucinating she's getting, erm, fucked as you walk up to her house. But you end up in the wrong house just across her street."

Alex chuckled when she'd weirdly said the word fucked, amused by her shyness coming back in front of her co-workers. With a smirk, he nodded, "Yep. Just like we talked about back in May."

"Nothing you wanna add or take out of it?" She layed out the chance for him to do anything to it, just in case it would be needed to arrange something else before it was too late.

But he shook his head, nothing really coming to mind, "No, I trust your vision on it."

"Good." Ella smirked at him, entirely satisfied with his words, "Lydia could you please phone the pub for me to make sure they know we have the place booked out for tomorrow to shoot?"

"Yeah, sure." Lydia nodded gracefully as she pulled out her phone and looked through her own journal for the number of the place. But before she could actually dial the number, Ella asked for another task to be done, "And please give the agency a call as well so they can notify Lamie and the extras when and where the shoot will take place."

A nod of Lydia's head was enough for Ella to deem that done, so she turned to Alex, "The lads know when I want them there tomorrow right?"

Alex's honest, "I wouldn't trust them." made Ella sigh and nod in defeat.

"You're right." She replied, thinking maybe Jamie would be the only one to remember that, "I'll send them a text right now, then."

But Alex let his hand come over hers to ease her worry about it and took the task off her by offering, "I'll do it for you, don't worry."

A tight lip smile was what he got in exchange and a soft, "Thank you." since Lydia's phone had started ringing as she called the pub. "Tell them to be there at 5pm sharp." Ella whispered to Alex while she watched him start to type away on his phone.

"Ben, anything you wanna add?" She turned to the director, a bit shy after realizing she hadn't let him do a thing.

It wasn't like it bothered him though, because he smiled big at her and shook his head briefly, "No, you covered it all Ella. Good work."

She gave him a toothy smile and a quick "Thanks." before she fell silent when Lydia had started speaking on the phone, everyone looked at the new PA expectantly as they heard only one side of the call.

They watched as the call lasted a few minutes and she thanked them before ending the call, but before Lydia could debrief anything, she got a call from the agency.

About five minutes later, when the agency had let her go, she finally let them all know that, "Pub says we can head there around five and we have four hours to shoot and the agency is sending emails out and contacting everyone to confirm they're coming tomorrow and Tuesday if needed."

Ella frowned and hummed, thinking about how much four hours would give them, "Four hours, alright. We need to wrap everything at the pub first thing, the rest of the band will only be needed tomorrow then."

Whilst Ella continued thinking about which scenes to record first, Ben pointed out another checked item off the list that most definitely needed a double or triple check before the recording, "Make sure to double check the bikes, please."

"We're having bikes in there?" Alex's curiosity sparked, knowing Ella had come up with it back when they recorded the Suck It And See videos and having loved those clips.

"A little scene, yeah." Ella nodded, biting her bottom lip to hide the excited smile at the thought of her vision for it, so she timidly asked, "Is that alright?"

Any worry about it not being what Alex wanted was out the window when he gave her a big grin and a wink as he decided it was "Perfect."

A wink that only made her chuckle and quickly turn to look at Ben to inquire, "Okay so do we have all the gear we need?"

Ben's slow nods were accompanied by, "All we need and a bit more just in case." which completely settled her, knowing that the director had all that covered before they'd gotten there was another big breath of relief.

"Amazing." Ella muttered, glancing over the checklist again and finding it all talked about, "Well, perfect then, team. We shall have a good shoot tomorrow and the day after will be even better."

"Damn right." Ben agreed proudly, eliciting smiles from the rest of the crew. Ella let her laptop close and closed her journal, putting it over her closed electronic device and then looked at everyone else's tired expressions and pouted.

"Are y'all having lunch anytime soon?" She asked them, it was getting quite late and she was hungry so she could imagine the just arrived would be too.

"Yeah, definitely." Cameron answered, he was starving and tired after the flight but he would rather use the last of his energy to eat. "Any recommendations?"

Ella tilted her head to the side slightly as she tried to think but eventually settled for an easy and good answer for them, "The hotel restaurant is quite good actually."

Ben nodded, too exhausted to even think of making a decision of where to go to have a bite of food. "Think it'll be that today, we're too tired to go somewhere else." The last statement was one that everyone agreed on, Alex and Ella smiled sympathetically when they hummed and mumbled in agreement.

"Bless you, I'll come with you." Ella settled, having missed her familiar crew after a while away from home. But she didn't want Alex to feel left out so she offered, "Alex, wanna join?"

He hesitantly looked around the group as if to silently ask for permission to intrude but they were all neutral as they looked back at him so he used his words to ask, "If that's alright?"

Tyler clicked his tongue and smiled at him, "'Course man, the more the merrier." which got the same enthusiastic response from the rest of them so he gave in.

"Cheers mate." He thanked, and followed as they all rose from their seats.

Quickly going upstairs to leave her stuff in her room, Ella came back downstairs and walked into the restaurant to find them all sitting down at a big table. It didn't take them long to make a decision on what to eat, entirely driven by hunger and the need to just get back to their rooms as soon as they could.

And just as quick as they ordered their food, they ate it. With conversation in between bites, but regardless of it, they had only taken forty minutes to ask for the bill and get out of there.

"That was lovely." Margaret said kindly, after Alex had offered to pay for their meal and they had reluctantly agreed he could.

Ben agreed with a soft groan, "It was, but I'm exhausted now."

"Did you manage to get any sleep on the way here?" Alex seriously asked, Ben's undereye bags looked heavy and dark.

Cameron beat the director to an answer when he snorted in laughter, "Only think Tyler did, we were all pretty restless."

Tyler chuckled, a smug look on his face since he was the one who looked least like a zombie, "Knocked out most of it."

"Lucky Tyler." Ella shook her head in an attempt to taunt him and it got her a middle finger which made her laugh.

Soon enough, the waitress came back with Alex's card and receipt and they were all good to go. They slowly walked out and into the lobby and just as they got to the lifts, Alex turned to Ella and then Ben and decided he would go.

"I'll leave you guys to rest." He said softly, watching as everyone but Ella and Tyler looked at him through half lidded eyes, "See you lot tomorrow." He took his time to briefly hug everyone goodbye.

"Goodnight Alex." Ben said as he patted his back, letting go of him a few seconds later.

Alex wrapped his arms tightly around Ella then, and she did the same, savoring the feeling by closing her eyes, "Bye Alex."

"Goodnight darling." He dropped a kiss on her cheek before wishing her "Sweet dreams."

His words had a toothy smile breaking on her face and she just couldn't not say it back, so she pulled back and wished him, "Sweet dreams, Al. See you tomorrow." with a soft nose scrunch and a little squeeze of his shoulders.

That was enough for him to melt inside so he left feeling all warm and fuzzy, a grin stayed on his face as he walked away and turned to wave at them one last time in the middle of the lobby before he disappeared from their view as he went.

But then Ella was met with a bunch of intent looks, a few smirks and raised eyebrows. It was like she'd been caught red handed and she didn't like it.

"What?" She asked, annoyed at the silence and the unwavering looks on their faces, pressing aggressively on the button to call down the elevator.

"Nothing." Ben replied innocently, but his smirk grew bigger in contrast so Ella sighed exasperatedly.

"You know what? I didn't miss you, I take it back."

Ben took that as an opportunity to taunt her further though, so he teased, "Yeah, bet you're having the best time here aren't you?"

The crew laughed at the words and Ella let her mouth open and close as her confusion grew, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing." Ben said again and it made her roll her eyes harder.

The elevator's door opened and she was the first to go in, calling them out and scolding them with a stern "Y'all should go to bed." that made Tyler and Margaret snort out in laughter. Ella paid them no mind and asked, "Which floor are you on?"

"Fourth."

She was selfishly glad their taunting would be cut short by the fact that they weren't floor neighbors and she faked a pout as she said, "Awh, okay. I'm on the third."

The lift didn't take long to take them up to the third floor and when the door opened, she walked out quickly and wished them, "Goodnight guys!" with a blown kiss to follow with "Love y'all!"

The crew said, "Goodnight Ella!" in unison right as the door started closing and with a sigh she made way back to her hotel room.

It had been a very long day but at least she was glad that the two following days would be filled by her doing what she loved and it would serve as a great distraction to the looming ache of her homecoming approaching faster than she wanted it to.

Five more days was all she had, and she wasn't sure if she was even prepared for what they would bring.

✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧

A/N: Ella's UK trip is coming to an end :'( How are we feeling about it? What do you think is gonna happen? Some of you actually guessed who the date was with and I fucking love that! Hope you enjoyed that, it was really fun writing it to be honest and I'm really excited to see your reactions. Thanks so so much from the bottom of my heart for reading and commenting and voting/liking, sending asks and messages about this story, it makes me so happy beyond words to see y'all enjoying it *cries* Love you lot and see you soon with the next one! x

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#alex turner #alex #turner #alex turner x reader #alex turner arctic monkeys #arctic monkeys #alex arctic monkeys #alex turner fanfic #alex turner fanfiction #alex turner fic #alex turner fluff #alex turner smut #alex turner angst #alex turner blurb #alex turner one shot #alex turner drabble #alex turner imagine #alex turner x you #alex turner x y/n #alex turner x oc #matt helders #jamie cook #nick omalley

[penkura]

last forever [4/13]

Summary: Zoro only offered to marry you to keep you out of an arranged marriage with a man much older than you. You agreed with the caveat of ending it via annulment once you received word from your parents regarding the original engagement, despite your growing feelings for your close friend.

Pairing: Zoro x Fem!reader, mentioned Sanami later (like epilogue later so chill)

Warnings: Marriage of Convenience, Fake Marriage, referenced sex (waaaaaay later on), mutual pining, Zoro is bad at feelings but what's new there, eventual romance I promise, mention of past attempted assault (I'll warn in that chapter), creepy older dude later on

Note: I DID IT, IT'S DONE IN TIME FOR MONDAY POSTING. This has been waiting to be finished for MONTHS. I feel so bad about that. uuuh but I'm setting up a little bit, introducing Reader's older brother, a few other things for later down the line. Hope you enjoy it.

Arriving in Loguetown felt almost like a dream come true, finally being able to get off the ship and stretch your legs. You'd not seen such a busy, bustling town in years. It put even Shells Town to shame with how many people were going about. The stalls of food and trinkets, you were excited to go around and look at everything before you'd all board the Merry again and be on your way to whatever was next. Nami immediately took you to shop for clothes, but you ended up distracted by some of the trinkets at the shop while she got an employee to look at everything she tried on.

The main thing to catch your eye was a sword on the wall, wondering if you should go find Zoro to bring in to see it.

“Oh,” one of the shop clerks smiles seeing you looking at the blade, “That’s from Wano, allegedly! Dad says he brought it back from a trip, but he’s not gonna sell it. It’s just decoration at this point.”

Your jaw clenches and you flinch the tiniest bit hearing Wano, but the clerk doesn’t say anything if she notices. Quickly you turn it into a smile, thanking her for the information and simply stating your friend would like to see it, you’ll try to bring him by, slipping out of the shop before Nami sees you leaving.

You take a deep breath and try to shake off the dread you feel hearing Wano, pushing out thoughts of your higher up fiancé who had every intention of taking you from your family there after the marriage was finalized. You’ve done your best to keep it a secret, it’s not like you’d all end up there anytime soon, if ever, so there’s no need to worry your crewmates about something and someone so far away, right?

Right.

So no need to say anything.

You try to convince yourself of that while looking over the trinkets at a stall you’ve found, not like you really need any of the items you see, but there’s something about the box you’ve been taking glances at constantly that leads the owner to pick it up and bring it over to you.

“It’s a set of wedding bands,” the older woman opens the box, showing you the two silver bands that are obviously meant for a man and a woman, a husband and wife, “Bought them from a jeweler in the South Blue years ago, no one has taken a shine to them yet. Are you in a relationship?”

Blinking, you feel your face grow warm as you smile nervously and shake you head.

“W-Well, I wouldn’t call it a relationship but…I…I have someone I like…”

“Oh I see! What’s this person like then? Must be special if they have your heart.”

“Um, well,” scratching the back of your neck, you don’t really have to think too hard, but it does feel a little weird telling this stranger about Zoro, “He’s really strong, an amazing swordsman, he taught me a good bit of what I know now. He's loyal to all of us, he fought to protect our friend and he…he saved me, I suppose is the biggest thing…”

The older woman smiles as you speak, seeing a shine to your eyes she wasn’t fully expecting. Whoever you’re talking about seems to have more of a hold on your heart than even you realize, she believes. Almost reminds her of herself when she was younger. She doesn’t ask anything else, instead waving you over with her as she starts to package up the ring box and hands it to you in a small bag.

“I won’t charge you for these, I’ve had them so long. Please, give the one to the man you’re so smitten with, maybe some good will come of it.”

She all but forces the bag into your hands, refusing to take no for an answer, even as you offer to at least pay for the bag or buy something else. She makes the excuse that she’s closed now and won’t accept even one berri from you, turning you around herself and sending you off. You felt bad that she just gave them to you, but she was so persistent, you think Nami will believe you haggled with the woman until she gave them to you for free.

Once you’re far enough away from the stall, you stop to take another look at the rings that were essentially forced on you. You don’t know why you wanted to check the box so badly before the woman brought them over to you, maybe some strange sense of what the box was, some weird hopeful part of you just somehow knew what it was.

They were pretty rings at least. Plain silver bands, the thinner one having a small clear jewel on it, you wonder how no one had ever bought them before when the woman said she’d had them for years. Part of you wonders what it would be like to wear the ring and actually be happy about it, and not feel like tearing it off and throwing it in the sea.

Not like it matters, it’s not a real marriage.

Sighing, you close the box and slip it into your pocket, starting to walk back towards the Merry before you hear someone say your name, shouting it a few times with excitement in their voice.

Wait. Wait, I know that voice.

You quickly turn around and have to will yourself not to cry when you see the person calling for you.

+!+

Once Zoro finally has three swords again, his next plan is to find a tavern before you all take off from Loguetown. He’s passed several places that he assumed some of you would be at, but just ducking his head in and looking around briefly showed no signs of any of you.

Mostly he’s been looking for you, to make sure you haven’t gotten yourself into any trouble. Since the day you’d met, Zoro knew you had the ability to put yourself in less than ideal situations, your home life did very little to make you skeptical of strangers, likely almost having it beat into you that you should be ready and willing to help anyone who asked for it. The one and only time it took to get it into your head not help anyone without asking questions was when you’d nearly been kidnapped, if Zoro hadn’t shown up in time and dragged you away. You sure got an earful from him later that night, with the threat that maybe he’ll just let a human trafficker take you next time if you’re that stupid again.

Zoro does realize that’s probably why you stay by his side, clinging to him like glue, but when it was just the two of you, it was the best way to make sure you didn’t get left behind or taken from him.

Part of him wonders how well that actually stuck, now that he sees you on the other side of the road, looking like you’re near tears as some guy talks to you with a bright smile on his face. He looks older, definitely taller than you but still shorter than Zoro, but not by much. He’s almost as blond as Sanji, and seems like he knows you very well. The angle he’s at doesn’t let Zoro know if you’re happy or upset, just that you’re wiping at your eyes with your sleeve, and he feels the need to hurry over to you, especially once this new person pulls you in for a hug that you can’t seem to return.

This guy.

He isn’t your alleged fiancé…right?

No, he’s too young.

“I’m so glad you’re doing well, who are you with right now?”

You sniffle a bit and give a smile before responding.

“I’m with—”

“She’s with me.”

Zoro surprises you by speaking and putting his arm around your shoulders, making you look up at him.

“Oh, Zoro, where did you—”

“Zoro?? So this is him?!”

If it weren’t for his previous status as the pirate hunter, Zoro would be questioning how this guy knows his name. He doesn’t even look at this other person, looking down at you to make sure you’re okay, even when you smile at him.

“Zoro, this is—”

“Hey, nice to meet you finally,” the blond holds his out for Zoro to take, but your swordsman is still wary of him, setting his free hand on his swords to maybe scare him off if he’s upsetting you, “Thanks for taking care of my little sister, man.”

“…little sister?”

Nodding, you move from Zoro to beside your brother, still smiling.

“Zoro, this is Elias, my older brother. He’s the one who helped me runaway and gave me his sword. Elias, this is—”

“Your husband!” Elias gives you such a bright grin that he doesn’t notice how you turn red and start trying to correct him. “I know already, mom and dad were pissed when your letter came. They’re still not sure what to do, you know.”

While he laughs, you sigh a bit, figuring that was why you hadn’t heard anything from them. Your parents must still be expecting you to come home, to say you’ve ended your marriage and they were right the whole time, you’ll just marry the man they chose for you.

It's not going to happen, but you think that’s probably what they want from you. To be a good daughter and do as your told.

It makes you want to throw up, remembering how they treated you.

“You’d think they’d be glad you and I both found people we love, but, you know mom and dad.”

“Since you married Amaya, I thought they’d leave me out of it all but, mom and dad of course.”

You keep up conversation with Elias for several minutes, Zoro barely listening as he just wants to make sure you’re really okay. You’ve never had a bad thing to say about your brother, he knows this, and truthfully, Zoro is happy to see you at least had someone from your hometown who cared about you. He does make note of how you aren’t trying to correct Elias regarding your relationship with him, but it’s likely so he keeps thinking you’ve found someone to keep you safe and away from your parents, even though you’re whole crew has promised that at this point.

Eventually Elias notices Zoro still staring at you both, looking like he’s getting antsy and wanting to leave, and your brother grins just a bit.

“I should get going. Amaya and our parents are expecting me back home in two days.”

“Oh,” your happiness suddenly drops, but you still nod, even when Elias hugs you again and you’re able to return it this time, “It…I was happy to see you, Eli.”

“I was even happier to see you doing well, princess,” Elias ignores you protesting him calling you that, while he turns to Zoro after releasing you, sticking his hand out again, “It was good to meet you too, Zoro. Thanks for taking care of my sister. I’m happy to know she found you.”

For a second you wonder if Zoro’s even going to bother shaking your brother’s hand, until he finally does you feel relieved.

“Yeah, no problem.”

You wave Elias off until he shouts something about you two having a child one day and letting him know immediately, causing both of you to blush fiercely as he laughs until he’s gone, and you look back to Zoro.

“S-So…where do you wanna go now?”

“Let’s…let’s find everyone else. Or at least Luffy.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Zoro turns and starts walking away from you, until you grab his wrist and start dragging him back the other way.

“No, this way.”

“…I knew that.”

He really didn’t, he fully believed that the best way would be back towards the docks, but when you giggle at him and start heading back into town, Zoro tries his hardest not to look at you too closely. Not to dwell on what your brother said, he was just messing with you both, since he doesn’t know the reality of your marriage.

So the fact Zoro’s suddenly wondering what your kids might look like makes him avoid eye contact, ignore the fact you’re still holding onto his wrist as you look for your crewmates. He’s so tired of this, of having people believe your marriage is real, and the thoughts that come with it every time someone brings it up.

Your annulment can’t come soon enough.

+!+

For all the time you’ve spent traveling and the people you’ve met, the strangers from Whiskey Peak were the weirdest ones. You should’ve expected something was up with how accepting they were of pirates, anything except them being Baroque Works members, so it was a shock when you found out that’s exactly what they were. You’ve only heard of the group once or twice from Zoro in the past, normally when you’d lost a bounty target by mere minutes due to their quick work.

So once you found that’s all that inhabited this place, you weren’t surprised to hear Zoro had already taken all of them down by the time you woken up from your nap on the Merry. You’d chosen to stay behind and watch your ship, your home, while the rest of your crew went to the island. You’d been woken up by their sudden return and new members on the ship in the form of Vivi and Karoo, who you’ve taken a quick liking to as you all make your way towards a place called Little Garden.

Although, you have noticed Sanji treating you differently from your other female crewmates.  While he openly flirts and falls over himself for the two, when it comes to you, he’s much more subdued and less extravagant, still treating you with respect but in less of a romantic way, it’s more friendly than anything.

But you still feel nervous when you bring it up to him, hoping you haven’t done something to make him like you less since you really do want to be his friend.

“Hey, Sanji, can I talk to you?”

“Of course!” Sanji gives you a grin while you sit at the table, smiling back, as he dries his hands and comes over to stand in front of you. “How can I help the lovely lady today?”

“Why do you flirt with Nami and Vivi but not me?”

You almost instantly shut your mouth when you finish speaking, biting your tongue before groaning over how you just blurted your question out. Sanji doesn’t respond right away, tilting his head as he thinks about it, and you continue to fight the embarrassment you now feel over even bothering to ask. It was a stupid question, Sanji could flirt with whoever he wanted, it didn’t mean anything. It didn’t mean you weren’t wanted, he just didn’t feel anything romantic towards you, that’s all, you reason.

It still hurts to think that though, you’re just making yourself more upset as you wait for Sanji to say anything.

“Well,” he scratches the back of his neck, trying to figure out how to word it in a way that won’t offend you, “I can’t rightfully flirt with a woman who’s heart is taken, can I?”

“…huh?”

That isn’t what you expected from Sanji, of all people. You expected him to apologize that you felt left out, fall at your feet because that’s what he does, groveling and begging tour forgiveness for not showing you the same attention as the other girls.

But this makes you feel better about it, really. You think it’s a testament to Sanji’s character, that he won’t go after someone who has feelings for another, even if you’ve yet to confirm to any of your other crewmates the feelings you have for Zoro.

“I’ve seen how you look at that mosshead of ours. I know you guys said your marriage isn’t meant to last forever, but you really like him,  right?”

Nodding slightly, you smile a bit as Sanji continues to grin at you.

“He might piss me off, but if you like him, there’s something good there.”

“I could tell you how we met one day.”

“Sure, might help me understand why you like that shitty swordsman so much.”

Sanji’s constant nicknames for Zoro actually make you laugh, and he keeps up conversing with you as he does the dishes, allowing you to help him bring drinks around to everyone a few minutes later. You two talk and laugh on your way out of the kitchen, you don’t even notice how it’s caused Zoro to watch you again, or how his jaw clenches after you bring a drink to him with a smile, before following Sanji back into the kitchen.

Now seeing you with the damn cook was making chest ache, what the hell is happening?

All of this needs to stop already.

#zoro x reader #roranoa zoro x reader #one piece x reader #reader insert #last forever

[quickspinner]

Indelible - Ch 23 Terminal

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 | Chapter 18 | Chapter 19 | Chapter 20 | Chapter 21 | Chapter 22 | Chapter 23 | ??? | AO3

I'm changing my name and moving to an isolated cabin in the woods before everyone comes after me. 😂

I also regret to say the next chapter is not one where I had parts written ahead of time so it may take a bit to resolve this mystery I've left you with, but I have some scheduled free time coming up so I hope it won't be *too* long.

He wasn’t used to living alone.

He hadn’t ever had occasion before to consider it, but it was a fact. He had shared a room with Juleka until he left home. There was no privacy in the whirl of Jagged’s retinue, and even in the off times between tours, Luka had spent most of his time traveling, working with various mentors Jagged had connected him with, or otherwise getting experience in different areas of the music business. It felt like a large part of the last year had been spent trying to find time to himself, and now—

Well, he had it. Dingo had moved in with Bri for the off season, or until she got sick of him and kicked him out, whichever came first. Luka hadn’t wanted to intrude on Juleka and Rose for months, and now the little studio apartment he had rented felt…very quiet. He left his two small windows open to let in the street noise when it got too much for him. 

He played, of course. He played, and he tried to write, and the pen shook in his hand, knowing that his whole future and the future of everyone who was betting on him would depend on what he wrote. He paced the small space, and he took long walks, and he sat in the park and ate in cafes and tried to remind himself why he loved Paris. He showed up at the studio and at band meetings when he was required to, but his answer was always the same when they asked him how the new album was coming. “I’m still working on it.”

He missed Marinette. She would have been so excited for his first apartment alone, no matter how small it might be. She would have made him floor pillows and curtains while he pretended to protest through his laughter. She would have filled the room with her larger than life personality and even after she left, her energy would linger in him, spurring him to at least tack up some pictures of his loved ones, and he’d be smiling as he tried to work out his plan for the new album, even if it frustrated him.

She wasn’t answering his calls at all, now. Not since Kagami had gone to see her. Luka had finally called Kagami, and when he finally got through her layers of assistants, the flat way she had answered the phone made him change his question to, “Are you okay?” 

That seemed to take her off guard, and she answered softly, “I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore. Were we ever really friends, Luka?”

“That bad, huh?”

“No…no, not exactly. It was just—it felt like I was having lunch with Adrien instead of Marinette. Like she was reading a script. She just kept… smiling …” 

She couldn’t see his slow nod, of course. 

“Was it ever real?” Kagami asked. “Did I just imagine it was different with her?” 

“No,” Luka promised her, but it was all the reassurance he could give. 

“Are you sure you can’t…” Kagami trailed off, and it took him a moment to realize she wouldn’t continue, so accustomed was he to her clipped, precise speech.

“No,” he whispered. “I can’t. I told her a long time ago I would always respect her choices. I can't go back on that now.”

If his work had been slow going before, it had practically dragged to a halt since that conversation. There was only the quiet, and the sense that he was waiting. For something to happen. For something to change. 

And now…

Luka sat at the tiny second-hand table he used for both eating and working, and stared at the blank white wall without seeing it.

Some days he hated himself for asking her to put her name on him. Maybe if he hadn’t, he’d think they were still fine. Still friends. Maybe he’d still believe what she told him last time he saw her—that they were good. Still good. 

Luka glanced at the magazine on the counter next to him and shoved it away. He picked up his glass and took a large swallow. Only water. He didn’t trust himself with anything stronger right now.  

He wondered if she ever hated him for putting his mark on her. She always kept it covered, either with her clothes or her hair, only the edges peeking out here and there in all her press photos. 

For his privacy, she had once explained.

Was that still why?

Luka was sure it was as dark as it had ever been. The less she thought of him, the more he thought of her. Did she hate him for that? 

Did she even think about him enough to hate him?

His hand bunched the fabric of his shirt over his side and he sighed. 

The ring of his phone wasn’t at all unexpected. Luka picked it up, figuring he might as well get it over with. 

“Hey,” he said dully.

There was a gusty sigh on the other side of the line. “You saw it, didn’t you.” 

“Yeah.”  At least when she’d been dating Adrien, she’d cared enough to call him personally. Now he didn’t even warrant a phone call for one of the biggest events in her life. 

“And now you’re moping around telling yourself how you’re glad she’s happy.”

“I am glad she’s happy.” If she even was happy. He had his doubts, looking at that picture, at the model-perfect smile on her face and the careful posing of her hand to show the glittering ring. At her blond, smirking fiancé with a face that was far too similar to another one he remembered. What are you doing, Marinette?

“You’re so full of shit.”

“Sure, Ding,” Luka sighed. 

“Look, Lu, I don’t know what changed between you guys, but this...thing, isn’t good for you anymore.” 

Luka grunted, not especially interested in Dingo’s opinion of his love life, or lack thereof. He drew circles in the condensation his glass had left on the countertop. He still loved her, yeah, but right now…he’d give a lot just to have his friend back. 

“Lu,” Dingo said, his voice uncharacteristically serious. “Finish the song.”

Luka froze, stomach turning to ice.

“Finish it, perform it, record it,” Dingo said firmly. “Tell her all the things you’ve been holding back all this time. Get it—” He paused, and didn’t say get it out of your system, for which Luka was grateful. 

Luka pressed his lips together, and swallowed the lump in his throat. “You think?” 

“Yeah. It’s time, mate.” 

Luka’s shoulders hunched, and he gradually folded in on himself until his forehead rested on the table. It was cold, he noted absently. 

“Lu?” 

“I’ll think about it,” Luka sighed. 

“Don’t think about it,” Dingo advised, “Just do it. Your work sucks when you think. Just…get it out. You’re going to choke on it if you don’t, anyway.” 

Luka snorted softly. “I gotta go,” he said, quietly, and didn’t wait for an answer as he hung up the phone. He put it carefully on the table next to him, and folded his arms around his head. His breathing had gone shaky and it was loud in spite of the road noise and raised voices coming through his window. Some detached, blank corner of his mind listened to the rhythm of his harsh breaths drowning out the sound of the world rolling by, listened to the rhythm change as his eyes began to sting, listened to it become stuttery and uneven as breaths became sobs. Later, when he could play, when he could hear the music again, he would need that rhythm. But for now, it just felt...silent. Empty. No music. No color. 

No smiles, no laughter. No stuttering, no crescendo to that’s not what I meant, Luka! and no sighs of exasperation that always ended in comforting hugs given and received. No late night calls, no trading frustrations and mock threats. No quiet whispering of fears that couldn’t be admitted beyond the quiet space beyond the two of them. 

He had to let all that go. She had let him go, and he had to respect it. 

But it hurt. It hurt a lot, and he sat with his head down on his tiny table and cried, mourning the loss of something that had been such a huge part of his life. 

***

In the end, he wrote a whole album full of songs. He wrote hopeful songs. He wrote sad songs. He wrote angry songs. He wrote his love and his heartbreak and he didn’t stop until it was all out. He wrote it, he recorded it, he performed it, throwing his entire self into his work, both the recording and the performing. Night after night he relived his heartbreak in front of crowds of screaming strangers, and every night he went back to his hotel room feeling like he’d left a piece of himself on stage, wondering if he left enough pieces then it wouldn’t hurt anymore, or when the repetition would finally dull the pain. He fell asleep exhausted and woke up empty, and somehow had to find it in himself to do it all again.

Critics praised his musicality. Fans gushed about his sincerity and passion (and, of course, his good looks). Gossip magazines passed rumors of conflict in the band, affairs with his personnel, and speculated on his diet and weight changes. They published pictures of him haggard and depressed with theories about his deteriorating mental state, and gleefully predicted the band’s downfall when the bass player left, or was kicked out, depending on the “source.” Ticket sales soared through it all. 

And then when the tour was over, proclaimed a wild success, Luka Couffaine disappeared. Vanished from the music scene like he had never been. A sabbatical, his publicist assured the press and his disappointed but devoted fans. He’d be back, recharged and ready to create. 

A breakdown, suggested the tabloids. Maybe even a drug spiral. They published photos of him with his head in one hand and a bottle of pills in the other. Maybe he was in some celebrity rehab facility somewhere. His fans scoffed. Everyone knew he struggled with headaches, ever since he had had to stop a show in Sweden to ask them to change the lights. He had admitted it and everyone loved him for his vulnerability and humanity. Addicted to prescription painkillers, countered the tabloids, to the outrage of Luka’s defenders.

His representatives only reiterated what they had always said, and the press’s search for him went nowhere. Eventually, they ran out of news, or even rumors. Fans mourned and hoped by turns.

But the entertainment industry moves quickly, and before too long, Luka Couffaine was forgotten. 

Fiction Master Post

#quickspins #then quick hides😂 #indelible #lukanette #endgame lukanette #lukanette endgame #luka couffaine #marinette dupain-cheng #miraculous ladybug #miraculousladybug #pro lukamari

[amaranthine-enihtnarama]

Feel Alright (Goku x Reader)

(it’s going to be more fun than it sounds; manic pixie dream BOY; s3x; crushes; grief; hiding the past; friendships; jealousy; slow burn; “friends”, healing; growing; will-they-won’t-they; tension babyy)

Inspired by @sevenstarsinning ‘s Sweat” Taglist: @ilove-evanpeters @moonyscardigans @twinshii @raspberryhaterade @iwenttoshiratorizawa @uselessdoodlesdude @khai-luvs-iida @ferneskin @burneraccountant @de4ds0up @bellaisasleep @arougeme @aurorarevenclaw1927 @applecandy14 @fingersnapples @langdoncult @loona-thebadchild @anlin2058

When Bellatrix moves to the city after a personal tragedy under the wing of her friend Bulma, her life is completely turned around after she leaves everyone—including herself—stunned with the discovery of her own powers. Suddenly she finds herself swept up in a world of aliens, new bizarre planets and training, along with prospects of romance. One problem, though; she can’t leave the past to answer the new life that’s knocking at her door.

𝖕𝖆𝖗𝖙𝖘 (((𝖔(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)𝖔)))♡: part one : 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 / part two: 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

part one | it’s been a long night

I didn’t get to sleep in my new apartment until the sun was starting to rise, which was great for me, since this was my first day at work. My alarm woke me up about thirty minutes later, and after a brutally cold shower, some supplements, and a thermos of fresh black coffee, I was driving myself down to the giant sphere building where my friend was waiting for me. She waved ecstatically as I pulled in, and pulled me into a tight hug after I’d parked and gotten out of the car.

“Oh, Bels! This is going to be so great, you’re going to love it here! How are—oh…”

Her face fell a little after getting a good look at me. I gave a wry smile.

“You look like shit,” she remarked.

I feigned shock. “What? But I took those multivitamins! I can’t believe they didn’t do anything like I said they wouldn’t when you gave them to me…”

She rolled her eyes, hooking her arm through mine and leading me inside. “C’mon, I’ll take you to your office.”

I looked around as she led me through the lobby and we went into some kind of heavy-duty elevator. She took a out a key, turned it, punched in a code, and with a jolt, we started moving. I stared st my appearance in the reflection, feeling a hint of self-conscious. The clothes were fancy—everything she’d bought me back then was—but they were wrinkled and mismatched, and I tugged uncomfortably on the cream silk blouse that sagged around my much skinnier torso and smaller cup size. The door opened, and I made sure Bulma went ahead so I could try to smooth out some of the bumps on it. I noticed the way my black trousers hung onto me, and realizing I could see the band of my underwear, I tugged my coat around me and tied it tight enough to nearly suffocate me as I rushed after Bulma when she called me.

I was wearing the pair of sneakers she got me, too. It was last year. I remember her smile when she joked that these wouldn’t need the soles glued back together, it made me laugh at the time, but not when my mother’s loafers ended up in the dumpster the next morning. She was always trying to get rid of my past, my memories of another life, another world; anything that wasn’t her in that sanitized, harshly-lit loft that no sane person would call a home. I wonder if that’s why he ended up dead—all part of her plan to create the perfect blank slate to draw on without any problems.

“Bels!”

I jumped slightly, registering Bulma’s voice and the new building around me.

“Huh?”

“Are you okay?”

“Fine.”

She didn’t seem convinced. “You were gone for a second.”

“I’m fine,” I said firmly. “Just sleepy. Zoned out. What were you saying?”

“I was saying ‘don’t freak out, I know you wanted some kind of grunt work so you didn’t feel like you weren’t earning anything, but I made you my assistant’.”

I frowned, exclaiming slightly. “What?”

Several sets of eyes settled on me in alarm before going back to work. Bulma laughed nervously.

“I know, I know, you said you didn’t want charity, but—“

“You went ahead and did it anyway?”

“Look, we’re going to do a lot of good stuff, okay? Building cool space shit and everything.”

I shook my head, pinching the bridge of my nose. “I should’ve stayed home.”

“Bels, come on.”

She grabbed my shoulders, turning me to face her. “I get you have your pride, but let’s be real for a second. You’re not exactly in a position to get picky. And…you’re probably not well enough to do grunt work.”

I sighed, glancing away, then meeting her eyes. She smiled awkwardly, nodding.

“Take my help, okay? I want to help you out. You’ve got enough shit to worry about right now. Let me lift some weight off of your shoulders.”

I hesitated, but dropped my shoulders. “Fine. But your assistant’s taking a nap.”

She laughed. “God, please do. You look like you haven’t slept at all.”

“Pssh, I got thirty whole minutes.”

“Bels…”

I recoiled at the sound of worry in her voice and waved my hand dismissively.

“Don’t freak out, I’m fine. It’s just the city. I’m not used to all the nighttime noise. Don’t…pity me.”

“Come on, I’d never do that. Oh, over here.”

We got in the elevator, and Bulma pressed the button for the eleventh floor. My stomach twisted a little; I hated heights. With a soft exhale, I popped open my thermos and drank some coffee. My tastebuds screamed in refusal, and my face scrunched up. I cleared my throat.

“You know…I think I heard a car crash last night.”

“There has been some street racing lately.”

“Mm.”

“Yeah. It’s the summer, so you know. Kids out of school being idiots.”

I smirked. “Didn’t you do a street race during our first year?”

“I—well…In my defense, I was super drunk.”

My face fell in alarm. “You were what?”

The elevator doors opened and Bulma left the elevator quickly.

“Come on! It’s time for you to meet your new office!”

I shook my head, following her. She beckoned me through a doorway at the end of the hall, then disappeared.

As I made my way down, a door opened behind me, and I quickly turned around. I made eye contact with a surly-looking man with tall, spiky hair and an aggressive stride. He scowled at me, and I, in total confusion by the undeserved aggression, waved back awkwardly. That was a mistake—he approached me. As he got closer, I realized he was much shorter than I thought, and he quickly saw I was taller than he expected as well.

I was a little tense from the vibe he was giving off, but I was willing to give the benefit of the doubt—I wasn’t the best at reading people, and he might’ve just had a mean looking face.

He addressed me gruffly, sounding impatient.

“Who are you, woman?”

I frowned, immediately put off. “Who are you, man?”

He seemed surprised by my response, but quickly grew more upset.

“How dare you address me in such a disrespectful way! I am—“

“What, a higher-up or something? Bulma had better not given me some fancy job, she said I was her assistant. God—I don’t have to dress like you, too, do I?”

His outfit was strange—okay, ridiculous—for a workplace. He wore white boots and what looked like a white breastplate and a skintight blue body suit. I grimaced as I looked at it longer. He tensed, and for some reason that was what caught me attention to how fucking jacked he was.

I frowned. “Shit, man, what do you need all those muscles for, don’t you work on computers or something?”

“Bels?”

I turned at the sound of Bulma’s voice.

“Be right there!”

I turned back to the stranger, but he was already leaving and grumbling to himself. I couldn’t make out his words very well, but I could’ve sworn he said “earthling women”.

I shook my head at the thought, laughing to myself a bit—I was definitely just a little bit delirious. I sipped some more coffee as I went into my office and fought back a gag as the taste hit me again. The sound of quiet bickering caught my interest, and I frowned, peeking into the office before going in. Bulma was trying to usher a strange man out of the room—he was dressed in an orange gi with a large symbol on the back and had tall, black, spiky hair. He was resisting Bulma’s force with minimal effort, and I suspected that it had something to do with the insane muscles on the guy.

“Goku, you need to go!”

“But I want to meet your friend,” he insisted with a smile, “You told me how great she was, I want to meet her.”

“Bellatrix needs some rest, okay? She can’t keep up with all of your energy right now—“

“Hey, there.”

“Hey, Bels—oh!”

I walked into the room with an awkward smile and gave the stranger a wave. He waved back a little, but he just stared at me like the guy before did, save for a lack of obvious rage issues. I stared in slight astonishment at the absolute tank of a man standing in front of me. I held his stare for a moment with a questioning frown, but the longer he looked at me the more shy I started to feel, and I laughed awkwardly, locking onto a desk by the window behind him and brushing past him.

“Creepy friend, Bulma,” I remarked, sitting down and propping my feet up,“So…is it some kinda fun costume day, or can I dress far less nice tomorrow?”

The tank came over to me with bright-eyed curiosity. I couldn’t shake how remarkably similar he looked to the angry guy I’d just ran into in the hallway, but he felt completely different.

“Hi! I’m Goku, Bulma’s friend.”

“Bellatrix, nice to meet you.”

He turned to Bulma, who looked like she was visibly sweating.

“What did you want me to do again?”

She pointed to the door. “I wanted you to get out!”

“No, that’s not what I—“

She pushed him out of the room, and I watched in confusion. What is it with all of these jacked dudes with spiky hair and weird clothes? I get that Bulma had some odd friends—I mean, example one: me—but that dude looked like some kind of LARPer or something.

I shrugged, sipping my coffee mindlessly.

“God, I hate black coffee.”

***

I returned to my office well into the evening, letting out a sigh, picking up my thermos still filled with black coffee. I took out my car keys and headed for the elevator. Bulma rushed in before the doors closed.

“Oh! Almost missed you.”

I smiled. “What, all day wasn’t enough? Do these count as work hours?”

“I’m taking you out tonight.”

I paused, looking at her. She smiled, nodding enthusiastically.

“Please tell me you’re finally killing me.”

“I’m having a party tonight, and you’re coming.”

“Since when? I don’t think so.”

“Since now,” she said, “I’ll put it down as work if it’ll get you to come.”

“You’re paying me to come? Is it really so crucial I come to this party?”

“You’ll have so much fun. I promise.”

“I don’t do well at parties.”

“You don’t drink enough,” she quickly retorted, “You’re way too uptight. Only alcohol can fix that.”

“What?! I’m not uptight.”

She gave me an unconvinced look.

“I’m serious! I’m not uptight, I’m just…”

The elevator dinged, signaling we’d reached the ground floor. I let out a sigh.

“I’m just not good at parties, okay? But I’ll come.”

“And?”

I shook my head with a smile. “And drink copiously.”

“That’s my girl,” she encouraged, patting my shoulder as I left the elevator, “You’ll get picked up at about 7-8ish!”

“Those are two different hours.”

***

I sat quietly on my patio, taking a long drag on my cigarette. I didn’t know how to dress for this party; Bulma gave me no details. I’d texted her a while ago but got no answer. I let out sigh, smoke flowing from my mouth as I savored the scent and taste of nicotine. I promised Bulma I’d quit and that the only time I’d smoke is when she wanted to get high sometimes, but I couldn’t find a quicker, simpler way to cope besides lighting a cigarette.

Not to mention I didn’t need the extra stress of withdrawals—talk about adding to the weight on my shoulders…

My phone suddenly buzzed, and I placed my cigarette between my teeth then checked it.

Something sexy ;)

I narrowed my eyes. What the hell did Bulma have planned for me, exactly?

I’m not in the mood to have company over tonight.

-_- …How much more do I have to pay you to keep you in the party spirit?

I blew out more smoke in exasperation.

Fine, fine! No more money! Jeez.

Yay! See you at 9! (^_−)−☆

I furrowed my eyebrows. “Wait, nine o’ clock? The hell?”

As I checked the time, I burned through my cigarette. It was close to six, and since I had a three-hour time window, I’d better get ready quick.

I didn’t have a lot unpacked, but I found a nice black jumpsuit with adequate cleavage and that hugged my curves enough to keep Bulma off of my back. I put on some black heels with it, and then added some hoop earrings, let my locs down over my shoulders, and next thing I knew I had on makeup, a brown, glossy lip, some rose perfume, and—forget sexy—I looked goddamn amazing.

By eight o’clock, when I was chewing about three pieces of gum so Bulma wouldn’t smell cigarette smoke on me and reading a book, a knock came on my glass patio door. I froze immediately, staring at the curtains.

Who the hell got up there? How did they know where I lived? What—

“Hello? Hello, uh…Bellatrix?”

I let the tension go from my shoulders as I recognized Goku’s voice. My stomach was still in knots though. I got off the couch and pulled the blackout curtains open, looking at Goku quizzically. He wasn’t dressed very differently, which was concerned considering how hard I went in dolling myself up.

I opened the sliding door.

“How did you get on my patio?”

“I flew, obviously!”

I blinked, staring at him as he laughed.

“Come on, let’s go.”

I frowned, looking at his outstretched hand.

“Uh…where are we going? And how?”

“Bulma sent me. You’re still coming right? Bulma said you might not want to go anymore.”

I crossed my arms with a slight smile, leaning on the wall.

“And what did she say to do in that event?”

He smiled awkwardly. “Throw you over my shoulder and fly you there.”

I laughed. “Yeah.”

Once my laughter faded, I realized that he’d mentioned “flying” again.

“By the way, what exactly do you mean by ‘flying’?”

He looked at me in confusion. “You don’t know what flying is?”

I chuckled, feeling my confusion build. “What? No, of course I do, I just mean—I mean, no one can really fly—“

“Of course I can! See?”

The air around us shifted as he began to levitate, then hovered in front of me. I felt my jaw drop and slam onto the ground.

“WHAT THE FU—“

***

Once I got to the party—which by the way, Goku teleported us to—I immediately went to Bulma and dragged her into an empty room and closed the door.

“Hey, you made it! Oh, what are these glasses, Bel? Glasses aren’t sexy!”

She gave me a playful nudge. “You know, you were late.”

“Oh, yeah, sorry, I was just cleaning up after shitting myself at the sight of a flying man!”

Bulma frowned. “Oh, you mean—you didn’t know?”

“Know what?”

“Pretty much all of the people here can fly.”

I slouched against the door, throwing my hands in the air.

“Well then, go ahead,” I said, gesturing to her.

“Well, I can’t obviously!”

“Of course.”

I waved my hand in dismissal.

“Look, I know I’ve been living in the mountains for about the last decade, but you can’t tell me humans can just fly now? Not to mention Goku teleports? What the fuck is that shit?”

“I’m sorry, I should’ve let you know. I’ve just gotten so used to it that I didn’t consider how strange it would’ve been for you.”

“Yeah well, anything else you want to let me know before I go back out there and drink?”

“Okay, you’re not just drinking, Bels.”

“That’s what you think.”

Bulma sighed, then looked away with a sheepish smile.

“But now that you mention it…there is one teeny tiny little thing…”

“Well, go ahead.”

“You know that angry guy you met today? Well him and Goku are Saiyans.”

I shrugged. “And those are…?”

“Please don’t kill me, okay?”

“Bulma,” I urged.

“Saiyans are aliens. Then there’s this huge green guy, Piccolo? You’ll probably meet him eventually, he’s a Namekian, which is another alien, and there was this whole thing where we went to Namek to get Earth’s dragonballs back after Piccolo died—“

“Holy fucking shit!”

She hopped onto the couch and armed herself with a pillow. “You said you wouldn’t kill me!”

“I’m not, but you couldn’t have sent a letter that said ‘hey girl, there are aliens and I went to a planet filled with civilized life, just thought I’d let you know’?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

I shook my head, then laughed, then leaned against the closed door.

“Okay.”

Bulma looked out from behind her pillow. “You’re not going to kill me?”

“Of course not,” I said, smiling.

“Okay, cool. I swear the only reason I didn’t send you a letter is because we were constantly on the brink of death.”

“Sounds crazy.”

“Yeah, it was.”

We stared at each other, falling silent. A certain tension in the room began to build. Bulma watched me closely as I got a pillow, and retreated to the door. Her eyes narrowed. A grin that has routinely been described as evil formed on my lips.

“Don’t—“

“Think fast!”

I threw the pillow at her face and ran out of the room, quickly losing my footing when a pillow slammed into my back. I yelped, about to fall, when an orange blur caught me.

I looked up at Goku with embarrassment. He smiled bright as ever.

“You okay?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

He had a nice smile, I suddenly noticed. Maybe it was because I was feeling how solid his body was pressed against mine. As those thoughts crossed my mind, I felt blood rush to my cheeks in embarrassment and straightened up.

“Yeah—I, uh—yeah, I’m good. Thanks. Sorry.”

“It’s no problem! It’s fine.”

He was eyeing me, I could tell. I looked to the ground, then glanced around the room with concern—thankfully no one seemed disturbed by my loss of footing. I looked at Goku, unsure what do to but offer another apologetic smile.

“I don’t wear heels a lot. I don’t go out a lot either…”

I adjusted my glasses, eyes briefly darting away. He was staring at me—like, directly at my face!

“You look…nice.”

I held his stare for a moment, then chuckled.

“You hesitated a bit there.”

“Well, I don’t think the word I’m thinking of is nice, but I used it anyway.”

“Okay, thanks for saving my pride,” I joked.

He suddenly reached out and touched my lips. I reflexively, jumped and slapped his hand away.

“The fuck was that,” I questioned sharply.

His expression shifted into immediate regret upon my react. “I’m sorry, it’s just your lips looked shiny for some reason and—“

“What, have you never seem lipstick before?”

“No, I have…just usually it’s a different color.”

“Hm.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think you’d be upset.”

I raised a brow as I took out my mirror and lip gloss.

“What, you just go around touching people’s bodies the moment you see something curious about them?”

“Well…yeah.”

I looked at him. “Seriously?”

He laughed. “Well, not as much as when I was a kid.”

I checked my lips, then closed my compact mirror.

“Well, thank god I’m meeting you now.”

He laughed again and rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry! I won’t do it again. Promise.”

“Mm.”

Bulma came out of the room and grabbed me away from the awkward situation with boisterous laughter. I was swept away gratefully.

“Let’s drink!”

“Yes.”

We made a beeline to the bar, and did just that. I am, admittedly, a lightweight, and by the third drink of whatever the hell Bulma had me drinking, I was already thoroughly loosened up—any further and I would be unraveling. Our laughter tended to disrupt the ambiance of the party—I got some stares but I wasn’t in a stare to really feel them. Eventually, though, I needed some fresh air. I slipped away and went to the balcony of my favorite room in Bulma’s place.

I let out a sigh, closing my eyes. I was perched questionably on the balcony, humming some song, giggling to myself. I swayed a bit to the melody in my head, and opened my eyes, falling silent.

My mind had wandered again as it tended to do if I get too still or fell to quiet. I was with her during that vacation at the beach, perched on the balcony just as I was now, feeling her adoring gaze on me, awaiting her gentle embrace and her scent to envelop me.

“I’m getting lonely in bed all alone, sweetheart.”

I furrowed my brow, staring ahead vacantly. The melody had stopped.

I slid off and left the room. I needed a smoke, and I needed to go home to do it.

“Hey, there you are!”

I turned around, seeing Goku approaching me. I didn’t intend to be, but I was feeling a little annoyed by his face.

“What, are you here to complete your physical examination, Doctor?”

“Bulma told me to find you. She seemed—“

“Worried, yeah. Sorry. A little drunk.”

“You okay?”

I looked at him, laughed a little then turned away.

“Fine,” I muttered.

He followed me.

“Hey, why don’t you come back to the party if you’re feeling down?”

“I just…I need to smoke, okay? Bulma can’t know.”

He regarded me, then suddenly swept me up, tossed me over his shoulder, and walked back to the party.

“Hey, what the fuck?! Let me down!”

“I think you should stay and have fun with your friend.”

“And I think you need to get the fuck off of me before I stab you!”

“Not to be rude, but I doubt you can actually hurt me.”

“Oh, I’ll wait until you’re asleep, I swear to—“

I eventually gave up and just laid on his shoulder. He had on hand planted in my back, very respectful-like. (As respectful as carrying someone like an annoying kid can be.)

“Okay, you win. I’m staying. Put me down.”

“Great!”

He set me onto my feet, and I pushed his arm away, scowling at him. He only laughed.

“Sorry. Again.”

I fixed my clothes. “I’m going to start demanding cash payments as apologizes from you; maybe they’ll actually be worth something then.”

“I meant it,” he halfheartedly insisted.

I laughed softly. “You’re almost too convincing.”

My attention shifted to my surroundings.

“Man, it feels like centuries since I’ve been here.”

“Where did you meet Bulma?”

“Oh, I’d say when I started schooling. To be honest, we didn’t care for each other at all.”

I laughed at the memory, walking slower, and eventually letting out a sigh and leaning against the wall, crossing my arms and shutting my eyes.

“We only really became friends in college—we kept ending up in the same classes so of we had no choice but to become close friends.”

I opened my eyes and looked at Goku, pushing up my glasses.

“How about you? I’m very curious how you two crossed paths.”

Goku frowned with thought, scratching the back of his head.

“It was a really long time ago…I was a kid. She kinda found me, to be honest. We went looking for the Dragonballs with Oolong, Yamcha, Pu-erh, the was the Red Ribbon Army—“

I gestured for him to slow down. “Those are a lot of names that belong to complete strangers. But I figure you were the source of all her adventures that kept her out of the house back in the day.”

“Yeah, we went everywhere! And don’t worry about not knowing people, you’ll know them soon enough.”

I nodded. “What do you do?”

“What do you mean?”

I eyed him. “You know…work? What’s your job?”

“I don’t think I have one of those…I’m pretty much training all the time with Vegeta.”

I frowned deeply. “How do you…live? Without any kind of job?”

He shrugged. “I dunno. But I like my life.”

“Okay. Can’t be mad at that. All that matters is that we enjoy the life we live at the end of the day.”

He returned the question. “Do you do anything?”

I sighed. “Ah…yeah, I did. I was a cosmologist.”

“Cos-uh-what?”

I looked at him and smiled. “I studied the Universe.”

He still didn’t seem to understand fully, but his eyes brightened regardless. “Wow, the whole Universe? So you’ve been to a bunch of planets then, huh?”

I snorted. “Fuck, I’d love to, but no. It’s way less flashy than you’re thinking. A lot of screens. That’s how I got my raccoon eyes.”

I frowned. “Raccoon? You don’t look like a raccoon.”

“Underneath all this concealer are some killer dark circles.”

“Are those bad? Because you’re pretty.”

I froze for a moment, my eyes widened, and a brief smile formed on my face. I looked away from Goku sheepishly.

“I—um…hah! Thanks.”

“Bulma helped me figure out the word I was thinking of. She said the word was beautiful, but that I should call you pretty instead so I don’t freak you out since you’re shy.”

I laughed nervously, turning my attention to the wall. I hope Bulma’s enjoying her night, because it’s the last one she’ll enjoy alive.

I felt him move towards me a little and met his eyes directly. He had a self-conscious look about him that seemed unfit for his build and stature.

“Do you think I’m pretty?”

I quickly changed the subject as I felt my heart leap into my throat. “Um—want to drink with me? Copiously?”

“I don’t know what that means—“

“A lot, a lot, I’m going to drink a lot.”

I rushed to the party room as I heard the sound of Bulma’s laughter. Goku kept up with me easily.

“Sure!”

Four or five drinks later and I was slouching on the bar, humming to myself again. Goku was still annoyingly sober, but starting to approach tipsy—he’d had about twenty drinks.

“Goku, you should be drunk or dead.”

“What?”

“Those amount of glasses are alcohol poisoning numbers! What, Saiyans don’t get alcohol poisoning?”

He beamed after gulping down another beer. “I’ve never heard of it happening.”

I snapped to get the bartender’s attention. “Hey—hey—sorry, just give him a pitcher, will you?”

“Vegeta! Did you ever get alcohol poisoning?”

He sounded enraged by the proposition of it. “What? Of course not! Ridiculous!”

I laughed quietly, my shoulders quaking.

“What the hell are you laughing at, woman?!”

I pointed at him. “You’re angry…because you’re short.”

The whole party fell silent as I continued to laugh.

“Why, you—“

I don’t really recall what else happened at the party after that, but I do know from Bulma that I had to be removed for my own safety.

***

My alarm clock woke me up brutally—the sound was unbearable and shrill and stabbed through my eardrums as I forced myself upright. The world tilted in the opposite direction as I got out of bed, summoning up a wave of unbearable nausea. I rushed to the bathroom and vomited profusely.

I must’ve spent a good twenty minutes clinging to the toilet, cleaning the toilet, cleaning myself, then cleaning my mouth. I got dressed in clothes that I knew were clean and covered my body—anything beyond that wasn’t my concern. I put on sunglasses and headphones to play soft music to buffer the horrible, loud world that awaited me, and went to the kitchen to gulp down a liter or two of water.

I passed the couch on the way there. At first, I didn’t notice that there were signs of life in the living room; curtains billowing from a wind coming through the open balcony door, articles of bright orange clothing strewn on the floor. I did, however, notice the broken champagne bottle on the floor after nearly stepping on glass, and I took off my headphones.

“Shit,” I muttered.

I got my cleaning gloves back from under the kitchen sink and began to pick up glass and put in a paper bag. My head pounded as I squatted down and got back up. That’s when I heard a soft sigh come from the couch, and a body shift, and I whirled around in confusion and horror to see a stranger sleeping in my home, on my couch.

I lowered my sunglasses. On a second glance, I recognized the stranger to be Goku—although since I barely knew him, it didn’t make much of a difference. He was shirtless, snoring a little, and completely knocked out. I was glad he was wearing pants.

I hesitated to approach him, so I whispered first.

“Goku!”

No response. I didn’t want to go over there; what if he accidentally hit me whike waking up? I did that all the time. From the look of his back muscles, this man could send me flying straight through the roof and then some.

With that in mind, I chose the best alternative I could come up with. I sprayed his face with a water bottle when he turned over and he responded immediately.

“Aah, what?!”

“Are you awake? Don’t fall back asleep!”

Goku shielded his face, sitting up.

“Jeez, what are you doing?”

I waved the water bottle as he wiped his face off and gave me a surprisingly annoyed look. I guess he could get pissed off after all.

“This was my second best option.”

He stood up, walking aimlessly into the kitchen.

“Where’s the bathroom?”

I pointed in the opposite direction. “Don’t puke. I just cleaned the toilet.”

“I don’t feel sick,” he dismissed brushing past me, “My head just hurts a lot…”

“Hah! Did I get the Saiyan hungover? I think I did.”

“Wow, I must’ve drank a lot…”

He closed the bathroom door behind him.

“Don’t puke,” I called out again, sighing, “God, I hope he doesn’t vomit in there.”

I collapsed onto the couch, taking Goku’s place as a wave of exhaustion overtook me. My eyes were struggling to stay open when loud knocking reached my ears, and I dragged my miserable body to the door. Bulma was leaning on the doorframe with sunglasses and a big sweatshirt on to cover her head. She examined me with displeasure.

“Bel, you look like a depressed clown.”

“I do? Huh. Okay.”

“I texted you. And called you.”

I frowned. “What now?”

“Breakfast, then brunch, and now lunch. Let’s go!“

“No, no, no way. First of all, I look like a depressed clown and I have no intentions of changing again. Secondly, no. It’s too bright and hot and—”

“But I’m hungry,” she complained, “I haven’t eaten all morning so I can wait to eat with you!”

“What did someone say about lunch?”

I jumped at the sound of Goku’s voice behind me. Bulma lowered her sunglasses as if to make sure it was him, then turned her gaze onto me. I shook my head and she rose her brow in response. I gave her a sharp look of refusal, but she only grinned in response, looking to Goku.

“Goku? What are you doing here? You stayed the night with Bellatrix?”

“Oh, yeah! She passed out, but her food was great!”

“Wait, what?!”

I shoved past Goku and rushed into the kitchen, hurriedly searching the freezer, refrigerator, cupboards, and pantry.

“Oh, my god…”

“Goku, you shouldn’t have eaten her food,” Bulma exclaimed with disapproval.

“I’m sorry! I was just so thirsty—then hungry…”

I whirled around and glared at Goku, who met my gaze uneasily and gave an apologetic smile. Bulma poked her head in through the door.

“So, looks like lunch is on, then?”

I let out a sigh. “I’ll go get changed.”

Goku was thrilled at the prospect of eating. “Great!”

“Oh, go put on your shirt,” I dismissed, sliding past him to my bedroom.

With an annoyed sigh, I shut the door behind me. I pulled on some black jeans, a white t-shirt, and a grey hoodie. I grabbed my keys, my wallet, a purse, then my phone. It rang before I could put it in my pocket. I grimaced in annoyance, who the hell would call me at this hour?

My blood ran cold at the number. She didn’t have a contact in this new phone, but I wouldn’t ever forget her number. I stared at the screen in complete paralysis—it rang until it stopped. There was no voicemail.

For a moment, I’d forgotten about drinking—my head was clear with fear and confusion.

A knock at the door startled me, and I shifted my mind back to Goku, Bulma, and the glaring, hateful sun awaiting me outside. The call faded away to lurk in the recesses in my mind. I put my phone in my purse.

“Coming!”

#amaranthine_enihtnarama #black y/n #fanfic authors #goku x reader #dragonball z fanfiction #spotify #my wriitng #🚬_feel-alright_👾 #dragon ball super #dbz fandom #vegeta x bulma #Spotify

[souryogurt64]

I’m happy we’ve all allowed ourself to make fun of the cringe in the new album now. When I listened the first time I took an edible and literally every other song there would be a lyric so embarrassing that would sober me instantly. Like the cherry on top line??? I’m a millennial so I am unfazed by the word lit but every time I heard the word “serotonin” it was an immediate hello-fellow-kids type of ick!!! Like….I assume some of this is like post-irony type of humor but Patrick how did you take yourself seriously?? To be clear! I actually enjoyed most of the album but like…. Bruh… :/

Huge fucking disconnected essay cause I'm procrastinating

Thats how I felt too, the cherry on top line didn't bother me but the shiny dimes lyric did. When Mania came out everyone was roasting the "wearing black" line to death so this is not new lol

Also regarding the serotonin line specifically, it is pretty clearly a 2019-2020 Covid song and even drops 2019 in it, that's when that was first emerging as a meme so I don't necessarily think it was a "fellow kids" thing then. And I think how fast things move now where memes are dead after a week that can be difficult with albums. I also think the song reads as very slightly sardonic

I did think it was strange they mentioned 2019 in a song that came out in 2023, but I also feel like that was a really emotionally charged time that's important to write about and document. But back then, it read as really tone deaf and bratty and out of touch and genuinely incited such raw rage and incensed disgust and primal hatred in me when bands were releasing music about it as it was happening. And I think that feeling was pretty universal. But I like WATTBA now because it's been years and life has moved on. And I think Pete has even talked about how some of the record was written years ago but he knew coming out with a rock record then was a very wrong thing to do, which I agree with completely and admire that he isn't too brainrotted by Los Angeles to notice that.

Speaking broadly about his cliches, I suspect part of this might be that the stuff on their earlier albums was similar, but we were so young when it came out or listened to this so many years after, and therefore didn't recognize it as the same level or incorporating trends. If that makes sense. So perhaps theres some bias there. Like I can't help but wonder if lyrics and vibes like “car crash hearts” was the same level of social media trendy as “serotonin” is now, but I don't know and think it's so wonderful now because I never knew it was an overdone social media thing. If that makes sense. (Also: "I'm every cliche but I simply do it best.")

Sometimes I think theres some questionable lyrics of his that work— ie my favorite album is Save Rock and Roll, and I think it might be the strongest lyrically except maybe Infinity on High. But there are moments like “Let's put the D in dirt now baby” or “Anything you say can and will be held against you, so only say my name” that are like. wannabe coy and stolen from Twitter. But just work really well for some reason. I think the songs are (/ record is) so dark and scary thematically it balances out the pseudocleverness and just comes across as neutral, and Patrick's voice being the way it is really helps. I was also just past 13 when the album came out and wasn't really on social media, so i didn't recognize them as like contemporary cliches and thought Pete came up with them, and by the time I realized he borrowed them I was already so used to them it didn't register at all.

Also I think some of his lyrics aren't particularly clever but are really universal, like "Let your dirty sadness fill you up just like a balloon" doesn't look that great on paper but I think about that line a lot because it's how a certain type of feeling just is and expresses it better than anything else, I think.

Also, their base is kind of aging which is probably a factor as well-- a big business talking point of WWWY and the latest Blink tour was the fact that everyone who listens to that genre of music has disposable income because they're in their 30s now. (I mention Blink specifically because Mark is like Pete's friend and capitalism fuck buddy.) And like as another example after cat prom I realized I'm a lot younger than I thought the average age for being involved with them was. So I do not think anything HC posts is funny at all but he has like a kajillion followers so clearly it's working for their target demographic.

Also 10ish years ago FOB and Panic concerts were like teeny bopper central, and there were some kids at the Metro show but I felt like there were also a lot of 30 year olds too.

And I think there are some really good lyrical moments on the record too, like "I will never ask you for anything except to dream sweet of me" is so good

This is way too long already but anyway also I got a really good job where I started doing (not super glamorous) writing professionally recently. And I think that I had kind of a dim view of a lot of FOB lyrics because they were so simplistic and short and repetitive. And that's what writing professionally is like, and there is so much research and meetings and discussion and analysis and data and Excel and money that goes into writing things that are unbelievably short and simplistic but work, it's making me rethink how I look at those more recent lyrics of Pete's.

[cevans-seb]

a request where ari returned from his African-Jewish mission then goes and ask his ex-wife, reader to give him a chance

Hii, thanks for the request. Hope you like it!

5 months. It took Ari five months on his excursion, utilizing his makeshift hotel to smuggle refugees to safety. 5 months of risking his life for the betterment of others. He loved his job, as it was something he was passionate about, but it came with more risks than death. Sacrifices outside of the camp were made. Marriage was also sacrificed. Y/N was tired. Ari would spend days upon days away from his phone and when things became sticky communication was obsolete. Never a letter, text, or call came from him. It was what led to their divorce. 20 years with a seemingly best friend, tarnished because of it. Their kids' reactions to the divorce were mixed. One was understanding because they also experienced Ari’s neglect, but the other refused to accept it. They wanted their family to stay intact, with no separate living, birthdays, or Christmases. 

“Mama, can’t you two work it out?” the youngest pleaded. “ I bet papa won’t do another mission if you tell him, please!” fresh tears pricked their eyes as you held them. 

“Baby, I want that to be true and I know your dad wants it to be true, as well. Unfortunately, your dad is also headstrong and loves putting others before himself. This last mission we could’ve lost him and I can’t keep this charade any longer that I’m okay about it. I want you both to grow up in a home that’s filled with love, joy, and sweet memories, but I can’t give you that with your dad anymore.” you sniffled. Your youngest was 13, but you didn’t know how to explain the severity without wallowing in agony about losing your best friend. 

“Dad comes back in a few days! Can you both try for me? For both of us!” their heart wrenching sob tore throughout their vast home. The eldest heard their cries and rushed in to alleviate the situation. 

‘Y/YC/N, let mama rest. We know this isn’t easy for her.” they ushered the youngest away from you. 

“She’s ruining this family!” 

There was silence lingering at their outburst which made your heart shatter. Shards decorated at your feet with each thump that erupt your eardrum. You thought about the risk of divorce and how it would affect everyone, but after news broke out about Ari’s camp being infiltrated. It crushed you. Sadly, divorce has been a topic even before his mission. Ari was never home, spending his time at meetings to prepare for his mission- much to your dismay. Although, he never took heed when you presented papers to him and merely thought of it as a threat, he would soon realize how severed his ties were. 

“Ari, I don’t want to go on this mission. Think about us for once.” you bellowed. “The kids and I are tired of staying up to the crack of dawn because we have no clue if you’re alive or not. Those missions affect us a lot more than you think, and I really need you here to help raise our kids! Please Ari, don’t go.” your ears were ringing as your head pounded. It was a marching band playing in your head by how much noise was occurring.  

Ari leaned against the kitchen island, frustration evident on his face. He glanced between you and the papers laid straight on the table. 

“This is my job, Y/n.” he retorted. “ It’s my job to help people that need it and right now they need me.”

“We need you too! God, can you actually see that or you don’t care how we feel about this. The kids have spent more time around their uncles than you. You are so caught up with these missions that you forgot our child’s birthday or how about the time you left our child in your mom’s care because you left early for one of your missions. Open your eyes, Ari!” you argued, cursing under your breath when you began sobbing. 

Ari quickly rushed to engulf you, but you knew better than to melt in his warm embrace and slipped out of his grasp.  He was still pressed on going to Sudan and knew that he would have to make a choice sooner rather than later. With a long sigh, he took the pen that settled beside the divorce papers then signed underneath your signature. 

“I know you want me around more,” he started. “The kids understand how important this is to me and I would think my wife would too. This is something beyond myself, something I know I need to be involved with, so I'm going.” he strained to say. You noticed his eyes also started to water before he left to stay with one of his friends. 

The divorce was finalized within a few months and with that Ari was gone. He would call the kids but reframed from contacting you. Adjusting to life without contact broke you, his aura still lived in this house. Those days he arrived home, throwing his jacket on the couch while the kids latched onto him or when it was summer and he tended the grill, wearing his favorite flannel and crocs. Your doorbell brought you back to reality. Reality that have you  recently divorced and yearning for Ari’s return. 

“PAPA!” your youngest announced. 

He’s here early. Ari was home and now you have to approach him after 5 months. Staggering to your front door, there he stood in all his glory. He wore a pink flannel with brightly dusted stars on it while he matched it with a pair of cargo shorts. His normally trimmed beard was bushy and his chest hair covered his necklace. Without thinking, you approached him.

Ari cleared his throat as your youngest let go of the hug. “Hey Y/n,”

“Hi,” your voice broke. You fail to realize how much you missed him. His contagious smile and warmth started to surround you as you let your guard down. He whispered apologies in your ear while you cried in his arms. The fight evaporated from within you as you recalled the events he experienced. Losing Ari terrified you, but right now he was home. 

#i take requests #hope you like this! #ari levinson x black!reader #ari levinson #chris evans #chris evans imagine

[recordsfm]

╰   ☆  ◞  dylan minnette / cis man / he/him  ———  no way is that ASHLEY DIMARCO? you know they’re TWENTY-FOUR YEARS OLD and they’ve been in los angeles for THREE MONTHS. they’re chillin’ as a ASSISTANT MUSIC PRODUCER for PINNACLE RECORDS. oh and they’re notoriously known for being STUBBORN but there are some people who have seen them be CREATIVE. i heard they’re a part of a BAND called THE WALLETS, yeah they’re a SINGER/GUITARIST. to be honest they sound a lot like BRADEN BALES & WALLOWS. they’re actually A RISING STAR.

PART ONE: STATISTICS. 

basic information:

FULL NAME: Ashley Jett DiMarco

NICKNAME(S): Ash

AGE: 24

DATE OF BIRTH: June 3rd 1999

PLACE OF BIRTH: New York City

GENDER: Cismale

PRONOUNS: he/him

ORIENTATION: Bisexual

LANGUAGE(S) SPOKEN: English

NEIGHBOURHOOD: Los Angeles

LIVING ARRANGEMENTS: Roommates with twin sister.

family ties:

MOTHER: Natalie DiMarco

GRANDMOTHER: Abigail Anderson

FATHER: Elliott Anderson DiMarco

SIBLINGS: Amity DiMarco

SPOUSE / PARTNER: none

CHILDREN: none

PETS: 1 cat named Eevee

occupational information:

OCCUPATION: Assistant Music Producer at Pinnacle Records

answer only if your character is a musician:

NAME OF THEIR ACT: Wallets

SO THEY PLAY INSTRUMENTS? IF SO WHAT?: Keyboard and guitar

HOW LONG HAVE THEY BEEN A PART OF THE ACT?: 10 years

ARTIST INFLUENCES: Bob Dylan, Weezer, and too many to count

CURRENT MONTHLY SPOTIFY/APPLE MUSIC LISTENS ON AVERAGE: 510.2 K

personality:

WESTERN ZODIAC: Gemini

CHINESE ZODIAC: Rabbit

POSITIVE TRAITS: Creative, Thoughtful, Chivalrous

NEGATIVE TRAITS: Stubborn, Anxious, Shy

HOBBIES: Origami, video editing, playing guitar and keyboard, drinking

PART TWO: QUESTIONNAIRE. 

IF YOUR MUSE IS A MUSICIAN:

start at the beginning, who are you and why are you important?

"Hi, uh, my name is Ash DiMarco, and I'm one of the founding members of The Wallets."

how long have you been making music?

"Well music kinda runs in my family, so it's been a part of my life forever. I mean my mom literally was pregnant on tour. But uh, when I was about 13 I started to really take it seriously. It's around this time when I begged my older cousin to be in my band and well, that's how this kinda all started."

how would you describe the kind of music you make?

"It's definitely indie rock. A little bit of pop, a touch of singer- songwriter vibes."

who are some of your biggest musical influences?

"Well obviously my mom was a huge influence on me, considering how amazing she really is. And many of her influences too, for obvious reasons, but I really draw from like blackbear, Jeremy Zucker, Jon Bellion, the 1975, Wombats, you know very alt artists that are just extremely talented and lyrical geniuses. "

what is the first record you ever bought?

"Make believe by weezer"

what has working in the music industry meant to you thus far in your career?

"I haven't been as successful as some of the members of my family, but I really love this industry. There's so much that goes into making an album or doing a show that I dont think people realize, and that's kinda what I love about it. I love how much work it really takes."

what are some stand out moments from your career so far?

"Well out music videos are what I really love and are most proud of."

how would you describe your style of performance? what makes your shows worth seeing?

Awkward. The Wallets only did one tour in ten years. With local shows few and far between, and it was all because of him. The anxiety he felt on stage. "Well, we don't do a lot of shows, so..." He gave a small chuckle hoping they would move on.

what are you still hoping to achieve in your career, and what’s next for you?

Ash took a long pause, thinking about the future, what he wanted. And the truth was he didn't know. Wallets was crumbling, every member moving on in separate directions, and here he was. clinging to the music industry, cause it's all he really knew. "Sky's the limit."

#sonicfm:intro

[raspberryconverse]

(pardon my bad cropping: it's been at least 8 years since I took a class on video editing and I can't figure out how to do it the way I want it)

When I saw this scene, it really got me thinking. At first I thought, "I never had any crushes on girls when I was younger. Discovering I was bisexual came out of nowhere." Or so I thought, until a few days ago.

I realized I was bisexual when I took a photography class my senior year of high school. My best friend was gay (so gay my mom could tell from across the street when we were 13), so it's not like I didn't know any queer people, but it just never really occurred to me that I could be queer too. Enter Purple-Haired Sarah. She had just moved to our town (I lived in one of those places the majority of people spend their entire childhood there), so I had just met her that year. She wasn't just pretty, but she (obviously) had purple hair and a fun style. If we had to work in pairs or groups, I wanted to be with her. Then one night I had a sexy dream about her. And that's when it clicked for me. Definitely a, "Well, guess I'm bi now." (There was a bit of experimentation with a friend of a friend to confirm, not that you necessarily need to do that)

But I really, truly thought I never had any crushes on other girls when I was younger. I saw this scene and thought, "Yeah, that was never me." I never had that urge to impress or desire to always be around certain friends- oh wait. Maybe I did.

My very first best friend was named Steph, or Steffy when we were younger. We met in second grade. I was always at her house or she was at mine (more often at hers because she had a computer and AOL so we could go in the chat rooms and do other online stuff in the early 90s). She used to live around the corner from me, but she moved a little bit away. Luckily, the school district let her and her brother still go to the same elementary school, but she did end up going to a different junior high/middle school (my district switched when we were in 8th grade, so we only spent 2 years at those schools). We also joined orchestra in 4th grade (violin for me, cello for her), though she didn't continue into JH/MS and I did. What was really interesting was that she facilitated in a crush I had on a boy who played viola (who eventually became a good friend in high school and we did make out a few times). I'd write him notes and she'd drop them in his viola case on her way to the cello section when we had rehearsals for the district wide Orchestra Festival. When we were younger, we both had a major love for the Baby-Sitters Club books. I remember one year I wanted us to dress as two of the characters for Halloween. She was supposed to be Kristy and I was Mary Anne (before her dad loosened up and let her wear things other than skirts and dresses). She didn't follow through with it though, and I was really upset about it.

I was really sad when Steph wasn't able to go to the same school as me for JH/MS. And when she went there, she really changed. TBH, I kinda did too, but I always was really disappointed that she changed so much. We were both big Hanson fans when they first were popular, but I never got into any of the other boy bands or pop artists of the late 90s/early 00s. She became really preppy and I was more punk/alternative (I went through a big Nirvana phase in 8th grade). It broke my heart that she wasn't my best friend anymore and we didn't have as much in common as we used to. We did go to the same high school and we were still friends, but it definitely wasn't the same. But I think the fact that I always wanted to hang out with her, was so disappointed when we weren't at the same school and that she changed so much might have been signs of an early crush (even if I was having crushes on boys at the same time).

The next one without a doubt (though I just thought of this yesterday) was my best friend Rachael. Rachael and I met in third grade and she was a part of my friend group with Steph. Later in elementary school, we were inseparable. She was definitely my best friend out of the friend group. In seventh grade, I spent a lot of time at her house. She even took me on a vacation with her family one summer. Unfortunately, in eighth grade she moved out to the county (IDK why my particular area uses the term "county" instead of "country," but that's just the local vernacular for the area west of the interstate). We stayed close friends, though. I still spent a lot of time at her house because my mom really liked her (not that she didn't like Steph) and as we got older, we got into similar music and clothing styles, unlike Steph. All through high school we spent a ton of time together, despite her being a 25 minute drive away (if that doesn't say something about how much I loved being with her, IDK what does). She was my partner in crime when I had a boyfriend my mom didn't like and she kind of a had thing with his friend too. We talked my grandma into taking us to see them, even though my mom forbade it. When I got a car, I would drive out to hang out with her all the time (and drive her and her boyfriend around and they'd make out in the backseat of my mid 80s Buick and I'd "accidentally" have to slam on the brakes so they'd go flying off the seat). We remained super close all through high school, despite not even being in the same school district. We went to local punk band concerts together, thrift shopped for fun random t-shirts from the kids section (that was kind of our style) and crushed on similar boys.

The only thing that was a bit of a problem with Rachael was when I came out as bisexual, it made her uncomfortable. Maybe she realized my feelings for her were more than platonic even though I didn't. I mean, there was always a lot of ass smacking and other silly things that could totally be seen as flirting, even though I didn't perceive it that way. But looking back, I totally see it now.

The last crush I didn't realize was a crush was the first one that got me thinking about this: Rhianon. I met Rhianon in seventh grade and she was just so cool, especially with such a cool name and I was boring Nicole V. Her parent let her dye fun color streaks in her dark hair and she wore such cool clothes. She was fairly popular, but not in a preppy way like it was in the late 90s. She didn't like boy bands or the other pop singers like Steph. She liked bands like No Doubt (she was very inspired by Gwen Stefani's fashion) and other alternative bands of the time. Honestly, she was kind of an inspiration. I wanted to be more like her. I wanted to be her. Maybe I just wanted her.

We were friends in high school because we still hung with the same crowd. I was definitely jealous of her: her confidence, her style, the boys she was able to date. I distinctly remember a local band show where she was dating one of the trombonist of one of the ska bands who I really like and I legit spent most of the show crying in the bathroom because seeing them all over each other made me so jealous. But was I jealous of her or was I jealous of him?

I certainly wouldn't have thought so at the time, but looking back, it probably was.

I definitely remember her posting on LiveJournal after she went to college that she had joined a sorority. I actually commented on the post and said I was very disappointed that she had because that just wasn't the Rhianon I knew. One of her new friends replied and didn't understand why I felt so strongly about it. But sororities just weren't very Rhianon, if you asked me. She still remained pretty cool all this time, though. She got married a few years before I did and she wore this really cute almost sort of rockabilly shorter wedding dress with a birdcage veil. I would have loved to be able to pull off something like that (not that I didn't love my wedding dress, because I wouldn't change a thing about the way my wedding turned out, minus the way the arch got set up), but I've just never had the confidence she's always had.

Oh, and the interesting thing about my Rhianon crush I didn't realize was still definitely a crush: she often comments or reacts to my Facebook posts and I was super disappointed that she didn't go to our high school reunion. I would have loved to have seen her. And now I know why.

That a-ha moment is really interesting to think about. Needless to say, Nick's bisexual discovery has made a lot of us older bis realize we had some of those feelings earlier than we originally thought. Even me, who swore up and down it was just Purple-Haired Sarah during senior year that did it for me. The more I think about it, the more I realize she probably wasn't the first.

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