#Dream meaning about Keyboard (Piano) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

axigailxo · 2 years

Text

midnight musician | myg

pairing. yoongi x reader established relationship au

genre. smut, fluff, idol!yoongi

w.c. 2.2k

summary. Waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of your boyfriend playing piano, you follow the noise and end up getting more from him than just a sideshow.

contains. cute n fluffy moment that somehow turns into rough fucking on a grand piano, fingering (f rec.), creampie, slight hand kink, unprotected sex etc

—

Heavy asleep, mind turned off and tucked away in a dream, music begins to creep into your resting conscious.

Instinctively, you try to ignore it but still inevitably become more and more aware, soon opening your eyes to the dim room. Despite the lack of light, you immediately note that your boyfriend is not laying next to you. Traveling your vision to the digital clock on top of the nightstand, you softly hum in confusion.

Sitting up in bed, you’re once again greeted with a delicate noise sourced from the living room.

He’s at it again.

You fondly smile to yourself at this cute habit of Yoongi’s that you discovered, which is that he plays the piano when he can’t fall asleep. Perhaps to tire himself. A lullaby played by him and for him.

Eager to catch him in the act (and not miss out on a single note) you kick the sheets off and tiptoe your way through the tranquil apartment, over to the end of the hallway to which you lean your side onto the threshold.

Admiring your boyfriend, you cross your arms and can’t help but giggle when he gets a note wrong, his nose scrunching in frustration.

Upon your entertainment, his shy eyes dart to yours.

“What are you doing up?” He calmly asks while detaching his fingers from the keyboard, his hands lazily collapsing into his lap as he looks across the room at you, eyes helplessly noticing the way his shirt looks on you.

Walking up to join him on the small leather bench, his eyes don’t leave yours.

“Nothing… Just watching you miss those notes.”

Fitting yourself beside him, he nudges your upper arm.

“Aish, you can’t say that, had I known you were there I would’ve played way better!”

You smile once more at his whine, shaking your head before grabbing onto his wrist closest to you.

“Don’t let me stop you, you were doing good.”

He playfully rolls his eyes at your hypocritical statement but nonetheless places his fingertips back onto the glossy keys.

From the way his body is tensed up, you can tell he’s shy, and you want to tell him so badly how he shouldn’t be nervous about playing in front of you right now because, as bad as it sounds, your attention isn’t even on the noise… it’s on his hands.

Your eyes glance over every single vein that travels up his hand, sexily engraved into his slender fingers. His bitten-up thumb that he chews up when anxious. The jagged knuckles that rest atop. God, you love his hands.

“Aish…” He stops playing after missing another note, dramatically throwing his hands up in surrender. “I really need to work on tha—”

His words come to a halt as your lips capture his, and his body jolts only the slightest bit in startle before happily melting into your sudden touch.

Reluctant to end it, he forces himself to pull back, a fond lazy smile lighting up his face.

“What’s that for?”

You softly give him a few more pecks, unable to resist.

“I can’t just spontaneously kiss my boyfriend?”

He’s cherry red, and half of you has such a strong urge to pinch his dough-like cheeks because of how breathtakingly cute he looks right now, and the other half of you wants to fuck that blush right off his face.

“Pianos are like… sturdy, right?”

He furrows his brows in confusion, head tilting.

“I mean… I suppose? Mind me asking why?”

Mischievously biting your lip, you slowly stand up, fingertips toying with the fabric of his shirt.

“Do you think it’d be strong enough for me to sit on?”

You can see his already visible confusion become more prominent.

“But why would you want to sit— Oh.”

He darts his eyes away from yours, probably to hide the heat he feared was visible on his cheeks.

You and Yoongi were both naturally shy, so it took a while before you got completely comfortable with each other, and so with that being said, bold statements like that catch him completely off guard.

Not that he doesn’t like it, in fact, he loves it, he’s just shy.

“Yoongi~” you softly coo, fingertips walking up his shoulder. “I want you to fuck me on this piano.”

His eyes meet yours, hooded and dark.

His tongue hastily darts out to lick over his dry parted lips, his gaze flicking to the piano then back to you, then down your figure. Ironically, that’s the same time he felt something else rise up.

He doesn’t speak a word when he scoots the bench back and stands up, allowing you space to crawl up the piano, using the bench as a boost up.

You cautiously steer clear of the keys, not wanting to break anything or ruin the comfortable, desire-filled, silence with a sudden off-note.

Having maneuvered over to the opposite end of the piano, your back faces him and you casually strip his baggy shirt off of your body as you await his proximity.

The second the hook of your bra sprung open, your breasts slipping out and erecting in the open air, you hear footsteps gradually get closer until finally, the tops of his thighs are poking against your closed knees and his large hands are prying them apart, getting comfortable in between.

His gaze stays fixated on your breasts and how erect they are, and without much contemplation he allows those same hands- the ones that lead you to want to do this in the first place- to your breasts, squeezing ever so softly, almost like a massage. Each time he applied pressure his soft skin would graze your nipple, causing a series of very small, light moans to escape from you.

“Can’t believe we haven’t thought about this before…” You think aloud, breaking the comfortable silence with your soft mumble.

“Thought about fucking on a piano?”

His airy chuckle that followed his dumbfounded reiteration was still laced with slight nerves, the tinge of pink slowly slipping past his features the more the lust and desire take over.

“I suppose there’s a first for everything, right?”

Yoongi’s instantly brought back to the night he took your virginity, that beautiful, beautiful night. It was so pure. So incredibly intimate and just memorable. He remembers how gentle he was for you despite your commands to ‘go harder’, ‘go faster’. He remembers the way your brows creased upon feeling him for the first time. He remembers the satisfaction that came with satisfying you. You satisfying him.

The memories make the desire take over completely, both hands falling from your breasts, one landing on your outer thigh and the other going straight to where you need it.

“You never fail to amaze me.” his voice is a couple of octaves deeper than usual, the lust usually having that effect on him.

You recline back a bit on your palms, inviting him to press closer against you. He doesn’t fail to comply, chest flat against yours as he keeps an inch's worth of space between your core and his bulge to allow room for his hand.

“Yeah? Prove it.” Your hand finds home in his messy jet-black hair, blindly guiding the long strands out of his eyes as your head is too lolled back to see him clearly. “Prove how I amaze you by watching how fast I can cum for you.”

Your words were random and rushed, spoken from a desire-fueled place, but incredibly enticing to his ears. This only added to his point.

His fingertips brush against your panties, creeping them into its waistband before wiggling the pesky fabric off of you completely and letting them fall to the floor in front of his feet. You shiver as a gust of wind hits you right where you need it, his fingers accompanying the minor relief and transitioning it into something much more pleasurable.

“How are you always so fucking wet?”

His tone was one of appreciation and frustration, the idea of you being in said state for him all of the time makes him almost irritated at how great you are.

“It’s the effect you have on me.”

Sipping two digits past your entrance, it’s not long until you feel the slender length of them brush right against the deepest, most pleasurable part of you only to retract and repeat until you feel like your moans could potentially cause you to lose your voice.

What’s embarrassing is that even though he’s going moderately slow, allowing for you to pick up on the rhythm and adjust as needed, you still find yourself squirming to the touch, your vocal ability seeming restless.

He pulls his fingers out before he can feel your convulsions any further, wanting to reserve your climax for a better ending.

“So fucking hard right now, jagi.” he speaks in what may be reassurance or an explanation as to why he stopped fingering you and started untying his sweatpants instead.

“If that’s the case you just gotta fuck me a little harder than usual. Put it to the test, y’know?”

He knows all too well as his length stands hard and almost swollen beneath his touch, his legs squirming the slightest bit as he strokes himself slowly, the lingering remains of your juices that were left on his fingers being something of a lubricant for him.

You whine in anticipation and gesture for him to continue as planned, reclining a little further back and spreading your legs wide for him.

His eyes are on yours as his tip almost magnetically lines with your core, automatically slipping in due to the natural lubricant. Your moans are almost alike, pitch being the only differentiating factor. As he pushes halfway in, a light squelching sound is heard before it’s abruptly cut off by the skin of his hipbone slapping against yours as well as the yelp you let out.

“Yoongi…”

You don’t regret asking him to go hard moments ago as the newness is something you’re sure you can get used to very quickly and even die happily in. He’s usually soft and slow; sex between you both is almost always intimate and slow. So when he continues to fuck himself into you like it’s the end of the world, you can’t help but gradually melt away into that climatic pool of bliss a little quicker than usual.

Just as you began to mentally question how you were going to ever redeem yourself from potentially cumming too fast, his hips slow down and he pauses for a moment to catch his own breath and come back to earth for a moment.

“Fuck.” he mutters in a pant, forehead having just started to prick with sweat.

His hands engulf the tops of each of your thighs, bracing himself gently against you as you both allow your heavy breathing to sound up the whole room.

It’s not long until you miss that feeling of pleasure that was starting to creep its way into your lower stomach, so you begin to softly grind with his length still bottomed out in you.

He jolts at the unexpectedness but then molds into the pleasurable feeling that he benefits from it, an airy moan escaping from the depths of his throat.

Your arms lock around his sweaty neck, holding him close as your hips continue to grind onto him, his length rubbing your insides just right. His hands travel to your waist, gripping with slight pressure as if he doesn’t plan to ever let go.

Your moans as well as his are more of mumbled hums and whines rather than vigorous exclamations like how it was a moment ago. Those mumbled whines of yours pick up as his teeth latch onto the delicate skin of your neck, nibbling in a teasing yet comforting manner. You grind harder.

“Don’t stop, baby. Feels so good when you do that.”

You hum in response, easily complying with his request. The familiar sensation made its appearance in your abdomen after your pace picked up, the sensation slowly cascading throughout what feels like every bone and nerve in your body until it crashes down heavily into your lower stomach, releasing at your core that’s still filled with Yoongi.

“Yoongi, I’m c-cumming.”

He felt you as you pulsated around him, a familiar signal that lets him know whenever you're close, if not there. He doesn’t fail to get closer himself each time your pussy pulsates around him, suctioning him up so pleasurably until that same bone-felt feeling swallows him whole and spits him back out in the form of milky liquid pumping out of him and cascading deep inside of you.

And it’s not until you’re both frozen, busy soaking in that feeling, that you relish in the realization of how good you make each other feel. The warm mess of both your climaxes balancing between your bodies, waiting for the retraction so it can drip out, showcasing itself to your vision.

Yoongi hisses through his teeth upon pulling out, the sensitivity at its highest. You retract your sticky arms from his heated neck, falling back onto your palms as you watch him use the back of his hand to wipe his forehead.

His eyes catch you staring, a lazy smile creeping onto his dazed features.

“I should play more often.” he humorously notes, nodding over to the tile side of the piano. You laugh to the best of your abilities, exhaustion having already taken over your body and mind.

“You should.”

…

After he took the initiative to clean you both up with a warm rag and wipe any evidence off of the piano, he guided you to bed to which you both ended up having a pretty great sleep, to say the least.

~~~

A/N: ew not the “and they lived happily ever after, the end” lol don’t mind the ending it’s 3 am and this took me so long to finish 😭 anywho, hope u enjoyedddd <3

released on 6/xx/22 ; revised and edited on 8/26/22

836 notes · View notes

trashmammal69 · 9 months

Text

NITW has a fantastic ost all around but damn something about "Dinner at Bea's" always gets me. I could gush about it for hours. (I don't know much about music forgive me if I say something completely wrong lol)

The first thing that always strikes me as I listen is the bass line(?) It's repetitive, and barely changes throughout the song, the same few notes throughout the whole piece, which to me highlights the monotonous and stale nature of Bea's life, never breaking from routine.

The main melody is even more heart-wrenching. It's a soft, bittersweet keyboard, which occasionally rises, before inevitably falling back into melancholy. It feels restrained, always faltering before reaching any meaningful peak, as if it's being repressed. It feels, to me, like the song itself is afraid to hope again, to feel any joy, in fear of it being stripped away. Snuffing out dreams before they can manifest. Focusing on the task at hand.

Soon enough, a subtle string arrives, tinny and lethargic, feeling like days melting into one another with no end in sight. This is then overpowered by a deeper and much more somber string, eclipsing all other elements of the music, like a dark cloud. There is also a distinct sense of longing, of yearning, that accompanies it. That deep, weighty feeling in your chest that tugs on your soul as you long for times long past is encapsulated in this section perfectly.

Then, a gentle piano pierces through the fog, accompanied by the keyboard, and builds to a crescendo before... stopping. Barely having time to conclude before immediately looping and returning to the start of the song, with the same, repetitive notes. It feels like snapping out of a daydream, ripped from hopes and aspiratons before being dropped back into reality.

I literally love this song so much, I feel it conveys so much about Bea as a character through such effective means that I can't help but place it among my favorites from the ost. I'm probably overthinking it but I always do that anyway, so may as well do it about a cool song from a cool videogame.

#nitw #night in the woods #bea santello #nitw bea #i love it so much you dont even know #im doong the hand flappy thing as we speak while listening to it #never fails to hit me in the feels #ramblings #i need to go to bed

116 notes · View notes

sounwise · 2 years

Text

“Inner Beatle Secrets: From Paul” (interview with Alan Freeman in Rave Magazine, April 1966 issue)

[Full transcript beneath the cut:]

No doubt, pop-pickers, millions of you would flip at an opportunity to entertain Paul McCartney in your home for a few hours. Well, if you ever do, take my tip . . . move the piano out first. Because Paul makes straight for it the way other people head for a good-looking chick.

“You eat, sleep and dream on it, don’t you?” I said. Paul grinned and rippled out another string of tuneful thoughts, the melody just growing from his fingers. Then he tried it over again, this time adding a jumping bass pattern that suddenly brought the whole thing to life. He stopped halfway through.

“That’s all I’ve got so far,” he said. “I must work on that a bit more.”

It took me half-an-hour to get Paul away from the keyboard and sit down and relax. I could see why the Beatles rarely run short of great new numbers. If someone invented a way of composing in your sleep, McCartney would be on to it like a shot.

It was nearly a year since I’d had a Heart-to-Heart with Paul, here in the same room at my London apartment. We’d met often since then, of course, on shows and in TV studios. But now, with a rare day free just to laze around and sip a long drink and chat about whatever came into his mind, you could see a big change in him.

In the old days Paul, like a lot of genuinely sensitive and creative people, used to cover up a little under a dry, wise-cracking front. Today he’s fizzing like a firework with all sorts of thoughts and theories about music, films, books and art.

People used to ask, “What happens when the time comes that the Beatles break up and go their own ways?” I don’t think we need to worry. I reckon their individual talents are possibly even greater than their achievements as a group. Even if the Beatles had never made a single disc, the Lennon-McCartney songs would have been a glowing milestone in pop anyhow.

So, if you don’t mind, Beatle-diggers, this is Paul the person talking of his ideas, his discoveries as his mind matures and the mad, hurtling pace of the world’s idols steadies down to a saner rhythm.

The phone rang outside, but I wasn’t letting anybody cut in on this revealing session with Paul. “No calls for the next hour, no matter what,” I said to Carolina, my secretary.

And Paul began to talk.

“It’s hard to know whether the Beatles have changed much in the past year as the public sees them,” he said. “But I know we have. I know I have, as a personal, internal change. I don’t mean things like getting the M.B.E. I think after the first couple of weeks we forgot about that.

“I’d say the really big change is in our tastes, in finding out about things we didn’t know before. For instance, George spends all his time now, listening to Indian music. He’s joined the Asian Music Circle. He’s really serious about it, too. It started when he got a cithar [sic]—the Indian instrument we used on ‘Norwegian Wood’.

“It’s the same with all of us. We’ve all got interested in things that just never used to occur to us. I’ve got thousands, millions, of new ideas myself. What I really want to do now is to see whether I could write all the music for a film. Not just to write tunes, but the music of the film itself.

“I want to read a lot more than I do. It annoys me that so many million books came out last year and I only read twenty of them. It’s a drag.

“What I’m reading at the moment is everything I can get on the assassination of President Kennedy . . . all the evidence, all the reports. I’m convinced that the real truth about that hasn’t come out. And I’m reading a French writer—Jarry. He’s great, weird.

“I’m reading plays like mad, too, I don’t know if I’ll ever want to write one. But there are so many things I’d like to have a try at.

“Painting. I’ve done quite a bit and I enjoy it. I’d like to do a lot more, find out if I might have a talent for that.”

Caroline brought in tea and passed the cups. “Paul,” I said, “how would you say all these new interests of yours might affect the Beatles’ music?”

He grinned, stirring his tea. “Well, if you mean are people frightened that we might suddenly go all sober or play stuff like Mantovani, they needn’t worry about that. We’ve got no intention of trying to rehash old things. The whole point is that we’re learning about new things all the time.

“Like doing ‘Yesterday’ with the string quartet instead of the big sweeping orchestra, which was the old way. But it would be a pity if we change the way which we think is better but everybody else doesn’t. It’d be a pity—but that’s the only way we’ve ever worked.

“We’ve only made the records which we think are good, and that’s the only standard we’ve ever gone by. Eventually we may get a bit too way-out. I hope not, but I don’t know.”

I pointed to the stack of newly released discs standing by the record player and said, “But if you go through those, for example, everyone can see that pop music is getting more and more way-out. People are going for it, all the same.”

Paul nodded. “Yes, to some extent it is. But there are still too many groups who are trying just to keep up. That’s no good. That’s what makes the whole pop thing dull in the end. You ought to be able to move on a bit further with every record, like The Who.

“And what’s more, they’ve got every chance. The equipment in most British recording studios is much better than it is in the States. But there’s some extra bit they get to the sound over there that we haven’t quite got. I don’t know what it is yet, but you get the sensation of that little bit more. The Stones always tell us we’d be better if we recorded in the States, but we never have. We probably will eventually.

“You put a record of ours with an American record and don’t alter the volume, and you’ll find the American record is always that fraction louder. And it has a lucid something I can’t explain. Funny, because as I say, I believe we’re technically better in Britain.”

Paul shrugged. But he had the contented look of a young man who has just come up with something else to investigate and find out about.

There must be many a group starting out now who are spurred along by visions of what life at the top must be like when you finally get up there in the Beatles class. But Paul said that although you obviously pick up the luxuries, you also discover that you’re going short of a lot of things that less successful people have more time to enjoy.

“I suddenly realised that because of the Beatles, as far as my own life was concerned, I’d got in a very severe sort of rut. And we all had, because we all just seemed to be working only towards trying to get pop things done. And we saw that obviously we must have missed out on quite a few things.”

He grinned and nodded towards the piano in the corner. “Only the other day I was working out a number and I stopped and thought, ‘What a drag. I’m twenty-three and I’ve never learned to read music.’ And I found I was thinking to myself as if I was finished. So I said, ‘Why don’t I?’ And now I’m doing it.

“Sooner or later it hits you that the average span of the British male is seventy-five years and you’ve had more than twenty of them, so you better make the most of what’s left. Then the brain starts working, and John and I rush out and buy loads of books.

“I’m lazy, but I don’t like myself being lazy. So the only way out is to do something about it. Like I made myself listen to classical records, though nobody in our house ever liked them. When one came on they’d just turn it off. But I thought, ‘I’d better sort this out for myself and see whether I like it or not.’

“And in fact I don’t like a lot of it. It’s too fruity and sentimental. But from that you get on to what the modern composers are doing. And it’s suddenly great, because you discover that there are all these things going on.

“Then I play them to John and he says, ‘What a drag—all these millions of records coming out all the time and we’ve not been getting on to them.’ Then we rush out and buy loads of modern compositions.

“The only thing to do is to listen to everything and then make up your mind about it.”

And that’s the best advice you’ll ever get on this planet, friends. Because it works, not just in the world of music, but in every profession they ever invented. I know people with no special gifts who’ve made fortunes just by listening. Not eavesdropping . . . listening. And when you know, then you can really start moving.

Paul shares with Pete Townshend of The Who a taste for the music of Stockhausen, one of the modern German composers. “His ideas are fantastic. It’s the farthest-out music yet. He uses electronic stuff that nobody else has got round to. And his records are listed under the classical section in the catalogues. So if you’ve got it in your head that you don’t dig classical music, look what you’re shutting out.”

He shook his head. “You can’t go putting music into little categories like serious and Merseybeat and so on. The great thing is that it’s music, whatever label they try to stick on it.”

Paul said with quiet intensity, “You see, you’re going to have trouble getting but unless you have fairly solid opinions on things. You live in a muddle. as soon as I noticed myself saying ‘I don’t know’ I thought, ‘Well, you’ll have to try. Why don’t I know?’ Unless you get at it, by the time you do find out you’ll be ready to die.”

The Beatles have obviously been the single influence on pop for decades. But Paul admitted that this influence would never have come about if he, John, George and Ringo hadn’t been excited and stimulated by other people’s thoughts and ideas.

“The whole thing is about trying to contact people all the time. And with everything . . . plays, books, music. Even cooking. Anything that breaks down any kind of barrier and lets you get through to another human being . . . that’s it, that’s what valuable, that’s what matters.

“I think that’s why the whole being-English explosion has been such a success in America and everywhere else. It’s a genuine effort, and it’s working. Everybody in England has suddenly got just a little bit more interested in everything and everyone else. Britain has just climbed up on to another level, and it’s a wonderful thing.

“You ought to hear the people who come over here, the ones we talk to. They’re knocked out, because the idea they had of England before was just ridiculous. They believe the whole bowler-hat thing, thought the English were very reserved and very cold. When they go to a few parties and see what we’re really like, they’re amazed.

“Oh, sure, there’s been a change in us, all of us. But there’s a lot of people who’re still apathetic, who’ve got one fixed opinion. You know, the kind who say ‘I just like pop music or rhythm-and-blues or Edmundo Ros and don’t ever tell me about anything else because I don’t want to know’. They’re still scared to lay themselves open to any new influence. And they stay in the don’t-know rut for ever.

“As far as the Beatles are concerned, we can’t just stop where we are or there’s nothing left to do. We can go on trying to make popular records and it can get dead dull if we’re not trying to expand at all and move on into other things. Unless you’re careful you can be successful and unsuccessful at the same time.”

The next the Beatles do a television film, Paul said, they want to use many more of their own ideas instead of leaving it to the network’s camera crews. “The one they did while we were in America could have been so much better. It needed just that little extra bit of imagination.

“Instead of getting someone in to do the music and the sounds, we’d like to do it ourselves. Spend a long time on it and really work at it.

“We’re getting something that’ll really give us some experience with mixing up sound and film in that sort of way. It’s a gift Capitol Records gave us in the States, and it’s the greatest little present event.

“It’s a television recorder. You just plug it into your set and you record the programme straight off, just like on to a tape. You can record the BBC while you’re watching ITV and show the film on your telly at one o’clock in the morning if you want to. They said we’ll be the first people in England to have them.

“So what we’re going to do when they come is go out and shoot film, weird shapes and patterns and light, and record special weird music to go with it and then come back and play it at home on the television. And we’ll be able to find out what works and what doesn’t, so that when we do a proper full-scale film we’ll know exactly what to put in it.”

The telephone shrilled in the other room. I looked at my watch. Our quiet hour had ended. “It’s Brian Epstein’s office for Paul,” said Caroline.

If you’re a Beatle, the world doesn’t leave you alone for long. While Paul was on the phone, the chauffeur arrived to pick him up for another business meeting. And for another while at least, all the schemes would have to wait while Paul the person made way for Paul the star.

As we shook hands on his way out, I wondered how far he would have carried his plans, what new excitements would be gripping him, the next time we have the chance of a Heart-to-Heart. More than likely, he would have come in from the bachelor cold by then and followed the other Beatles into marriage.

One thing for sure, I thought. No kid of Paul McCartney’s will turn out to be a don’t-know.

I looked at the piano guiltily as the lift hummed down to the ground floor. After all this time, I should be able to play that machine with the best of them. Why can’t I? I sat down and got a little chord shape going.

“Alan,” said Caroline around the door. “Fred Thing wants to know if you can come over.”

One note out in the bass somewhere—that’s got it.

“Tell him I’d love to,” I said. “But I can’t now. I’m working on an idea.”

Till next month—stay bright!

#i had to request this issue from a research library on the other side of the country...! shoutout to librarians forever #paul mccartney #alan freeman #rave magazine #the beatles #transcript #1966 #scans

248 notes · View notes

sunny-reis · 9 months

Text

hcs - enha as college students

notes: this isn't even an x reader (it may be in the future 👀) lmao, this is all lighthearted and i by no means intend to insult or deface any of the enhas or see them fr fr this way

heeseung: comp sci major w/a music minor

deep down would definitely want his degrees to be the other way around

but he would probs realize cs just leads to more of a stable job (not with ai on the rise tho 😍 we love going into a doomed field of study)

(as a cs kid i’m ABSOLUTELY projecting onto my little headcanons about him)

i think..he’d be a NORMAL person that enjoys programming more than learning abt computer hardware or theory

seeing as he’s normal he’d HATEEEEE object-oriented programming (the complex part of programming OUGHGG)

he’d probably know exactly what to minor in for his dream job: music production

he’d DEFINITELYYY be in the school orchestra as a piano

he’s not mysterious enough for a bass, annoying enough for a violin or trumpet, or quirky enough for a cello

he’s an attention whore he wouldn’t even LOOK at the violas 💀

but yeah overall i think he’d know his plans for the future down to a T

probs has an internship at microsoft (derogatory)

now for the most important question

would he be a tech bro?

absolutely NOT

for those that aren’t as familiar with tech bros

just imagine a redditor alpha male with horribly gelled hair that brings the LOUDEST gaming pc to class with a horribly oiled, light-up keyboard, and makes sleazy comments about the one or two girls in every comp sci class

in other words: a woman in cs’ worst nightmare (send help i’m one of TWO girls in a class full of tech bros.)

but yeah he wouldn’t be like that at all

he’d definitely suck at rizzing up women (bro plays LoL in 2023, the year of our lord, need i elaborate?)

i can easily imagine him coming into class with gray sweatpants, a white t-shirt and flannel over, and a double-shot coffee from starbucks every day

he’d probably be the most decent-looking dude in every cs-related class i can’t even lie

for the dudes reading this: if you ever need an ego boost, do basic self-care and dress well (maybe even put on basic makeup), and join a cs class

the amount of mid ass incels with no concept of self-care will immediately make you the most attractive man in the class i kid you not

neways enough of me projecting 💀

as a music student

i could absolutely see him eat up every composition assignment (where you compose your own piece of music)

although i feel like he’d have a teacher that prefers classical music that’d be PISSED every time he submits something non-conventional

omg imagine him composing a whole dubstep instrumental for class

if the music production thing doesn’t work out he’d start a band with a bunch of losers in his dad’s garage and make horrible music that’d still get a decent amount of listens and attention bc he’s hot

it’s giving fallout boy but not emo

maybe shitty indie at best

more utc !

jay: english major w/a philosophy minor

first of all

his ass would NOT know philosophy is mostly math before signing up

i don’t think he’d be bad at math at all but he’d fs be regretting it all

but then he’d debate dropping out until whoop there’s only a semester left until it’s over. too late.

he’d dress up for every class for SUREEE

one word: beige.

he IS light academia pinterest

studyblr WISHES it was him fr

macbook user. i don’t need to explain.

he’d probably have his life together on the outside

bullet journal and aesthetic notion and all

i feel like he’d prefer discussions and deep thought (hence the philosophy) and debates over analysis

he’d LOVE discussing his thoughts abt different texts in class

he would NOT like writing out analyses abt random ass stories tho (hs english was a NIGHTMARE)

argumentative essays are his BITCH fr

i think he’d lose points for focusing more on broader concepts and going just a tad too off-topic in analytical essays, instead of focusing on details and cause-effect relationships and all that

now for the important part: his life outside of college

ik for a FACT he’d be the most likely to have a thriving social life outside of school out of all of enha

don’t @ me it’s not my fault the rest of them are MAIDENLESS – heeseung plays LEAGUE for crying out loud !!

probably goes out to the mall or new attractions like museums every weekend

even tho he minors in arguably one of the hardest fields of study ??

bro would finish up calc III homework in less than an hour 🤯

i bet he’d be there on a scholarship too 😒lucky ass

jake: international relations (global politics) major, no minor

note: ik the average writer would probs make him a physics major but that’s BOOOORING and overdone, plus i just don’t see it 🤷

EXTREMELY IMPORTANT NOTE !!! IR ≠ political science !!! IR focuses on politics around the world, pol sci is more of how internal governments work

(i’m also heavily projecting here bc i’m a politics student send your prayers please and thank you)

i pity IR majors

this boy is TIRED 25/8

tbh the thing with IR isn’t that the content’s hard

a (paraphrased) quote from my IR teacher: “political scientists are lazy, all they do is come up with generic concepts and slap an ‘-ism’ at the end”

it’s moreso the reading and writing.

god the reading.

politics textbooks are so big and expensive it hurts my wallet just to look at the library-issued textbook i have

he’d be running on caffeine and a prayer, no sleep we die like men

not that he’d be a bad student !!

i could definitely see him being that one student that asks the teacher the silent questions no one asks bc they think it’ll make them look stupid (ie. asking them to repeat what they just said or explain a not-so-complex theory)

would definitely word vomit about politics, current and past, to the rest of the enhas (but just to make sure he remembers it all, you gotta respect the grind man)

none of them would understand a thing

jake: “yeah so it’s stupid how there are a whole bunch of states fighting over the south china sea when it’s technically international waters [please don’t quote me on this it’s like 2 am and i’m pulling stuff out of my ass] and therefore has no legal ‘owner’ haha isn’t that stupid?”

the rest of enha, maybe except for jay: 👁️👄👁️

jay: “ermmm akshully 🤓👆it’s in the name, china has legal rights over the south CHINA sea bc it borders it”

i can picture it vividly

imma be honest this man would be a MESS

he’d probably make (futile) attempts to get his shit together like a notion pro subscription, trying to sleep on time, a gym membership, you name it

sadly that’s just the life of a politics student

it’s so hectic it’d be hard to keep up with, but it’s jake, he’d somehow stay afloat

he’d probably come to his minimum wage job after class half-dead but his manager and coworkers would take pity on him and let him sleep in the janitor’s closet

would probably be clinging to the whole “just get through tomorrow and it’ll get better” mentality

it does not. sigh

sunghoon: undeclared until sophomnore (second) year, kinesiology (bio?) major

man honestly

this mf would be irrelevant

probs has a generic major and says absolutely nothing in class

if you blink he’d probs disappear

i feel like he’d initially wanna go for med but then he’d hear about the whole you’re-gonna-sacrifice-the-best-years-of-your-life-for-this-field-of-study thing and said NOPE lmao

which is reasonable

with the amount of ppl doing med in the world he wouldn’t think it’d make a difference if he decided to switch

i feel like he’d just be there for the ride 💀smth abt wanting to “experience all life has to offer” (not in a rich, just here for the business degree way, but more of an “i don’t need a degree to get a job but it might make it easier” way)

so yeah he decides to major in kinesiology, the study of movement according to google

disclaimer i’m not a bio person at ALL so any misinformation is completely unintentional and i will NOT be held at gunpoint to do research about a college major for HEADCANONS at ass o’clock in the morning

neways

he has a decently light workload and therefore a healthy amount of free time

on the occasional he does get a painful assignment he’d procrastinate until he’d staying up and cussing out his past self for not doing it earlier

tbh i don’t think he’d be a horrible OR amazing student

he’s truly MID mid

maybe an average of like … 75% which really isn’t bad tbh the american education system has conditioned us into thinking it is but let’s be fr other than philly cheese steaks what exactly have we ever gotten right.

….neways again

he’d be something like a jack of all trades, master of none

overall a chill guy 9/10 would be fun to hang out with

now for the best part

frat boy sunghoon

idk anything abt frat or sorority life – i’m asian the only thing close to a sorority i’d be in would be like … the school orchestra or book club 💀my parents would kill me – so don’t take everything i say for gospel

you bet your ass he’d be at every party

100% for the booze and vibes he wouldn’t even be there to flirt or rizz ppl up (he’s a self-aware man he knows he has negative rizz but that’s what makes him so ALLURING)

wouldn’t get high or anything tho he’s not all abt that life (that life being running away from the popo)

i’d trust him to walk me home tbh

he wouldn’t hurt a fly the most he’d do is like … attempt to verbally abuse jay

sunoo: art major, english lit. minor

you saw it coming don’t lie

NEWAYS

he’d be amazing at art honestly

making a portfolio would be his Thing yk

yk those big artists that are all about “working on the impulse” and not doing anything until they do ridiculous shit to get over art block

that’s him

but he slays every time he gets over it

god i feel like he’d be the perfect college friend after jay

he definitely has his shit together

i’m talking he does his assignments on time, probably has a half-paid merit scholarship, works a decent job at a taco bell just off of campus, and somehow has a will to live and time to go to the mall every weekend

the thing is, he’s not the most perfect college friend bc he’s slightly more fun-focused and free-spirited than jay, who’s a perfect mix of both

neways no more talking abt other enhas it’s sunoo’s time to shine 😠

i bet his dorm would be the most organized and decorated too oughhgh

he’d be the lucky mf that gets the biggest dorm on the first floor (with like two other roommates but they respect his privacy and all that)

he’d probably be able to get away with dorm policy violations (ie. cooking with an iron or something Not meant for cooking in his dorm instead of the nasty ass moldy ass communal kitchen) by batting his eyelashes and sweet-talking to the woman that oversees the dorms or smth (i’m blanking and i completely forgot what it’s called)

overall the luckiest bitch ever

we should all aspire to be sunoo tbh

if you’re a man and you’re not sunoo … thin fucking ice. do better. /hj

jungwon: biochem major, going for med (specifically oncology, the study of cancer?)

sorry in advance to any ppl in medical 🫶i’m gonna get every part of this wrong lmao

he’s one of Those Guys that’s known exactly what they’re doing since like … middle school

important question: would it be bc he gave into the classic asian parent pressure into becoming a doctor?

they might've played a tiny role in it but i think he'd genuinely wanna go into medical bc he's insane

definitely gets the best scores out of everyone in his class (idk if they use bell curves in med but if not he’d get solid 90s on everything)

i could see him with his life together tbh

homework always done a week before, healthy lunches he makes himself, clear skin, all that jazz

definitely has a merit-based scholarship

probably got a 1560 on the SAT too 😒 lucky ass bitch

i hate to say it

i really do

but he'd be the mf that reminds the teacher abt homework

“ermmmm mr. kim you said we had a pop quiz at the end of class” followed by him being beaten to a pulp

(w reaction/lh)

really cares about getting into a good med school

would DEFINITELY have like two internships every summer

so to recap: basically every asian med student ever (i’m friends with far too many rip med kids)

at least they won't be replaced with ai …

heeseung crying in the distance

NEWAYS

for a med student i feel like he’d be busy 24/7 but he wouldn’t Look like it?

like if you’ve seen a med student, even in hs, they look like they lost a fight to a rabid raccoon

but for some reason jungwon has his shit together like the neurotypical know-it-all he is 😒/lh please don’t kill me

seeing as he’s known what he wants to do since like … middle school in this au, i think he’d fs be on top of all the content he’s learned, if not ahead of everyone else

i’d trust him to be my doctor 🫡

actually no i wouldn’t

riki: theater major w/a visual art minor (get it bc he’s a minor) (i’m hilarious LAUGH)

he’s a quiet little guy, definitely sits in the back of the lecture hall

would milk the SHIT out of being a minority for scholarships and applications

i'm talking his common app essay abt being socially isolated and politically aware, i'm talking abt using any and all minority scholarships possible – in the eyes of the law (and the college board), riki is now half hispanic

i’d say his grades would be pretty decent, not much in the A+ zone (96-100) but at the very least, B+’s

really not that bad tbh

he’d SO be a theater kid in hs

tell me he wouldn't be those mfs that have the whole hamilton soundtrack memorized and break out into random song and dance at inappropriate times

i bet he’d ship hamilton and laurens 💀

neways

i feel like he'd like art as a class but suck at meeting deadlines and portfolio assignments n stuff

which is valid tbh i don’t think any kind of teacher of the arts (not just visual) should be too strict abt that

classes with him and sunoo would make him INSUFFERABLE omg

if you put them next to e/o they won't shut up

which is cute don't get me wrong

but makes trying to work IMPOSSIBLE

but when they're separated he’d be dead silent

you wouldn't even notice he's there tbh

overall a dedicated student with the occasional tendency to be silly and goofy

i feel like his resume would be pretty to make up for the lack of content actually on it

i'm talking canva pro graphics, fancy fonts, graphic design is his passion (not literally)

logically the best career path for him based on his degrees would be a set designer …

but obv he’s either an actor or the manager

probably an actor being a stage manager SUCKS

(don’t get me wrong it’s fun i’ve done it before but oh my GOD. if you ever wanna lose hair really fast become a backstage manager it’ll work 100%)

bonus: best-dressed in class

sunoo - you’ll never catch him slipping tbh 🤷 he’d have the most free time out of the others and would probably spend his time going out and putting together silly little outfits and being cute and adorable bc it’s kim sunoo That’s Just How He Is

jay - light academia light academia light academia light academia light academia

sunghoon (unintentionally) - his sense of style in college would be mid, truly meh, nothing special to look at but his looks make up for the boring attire (hubba hubba 😍) – the type to wear a white t-shirt, timbs, and jeans to class every day (get it 2017 jungkook 😍), maybe even a jacket. his sense of style would be as spicy as salt so not spicy at all, it’s giving unseasoned, boiled chicken

riki - he just Doesn’t Care but thankfully all the items in his closet would be usable (thanks to sunoo, that man would NOT let riki leave the house without running his outfits by him. his logic is that no best friend of his should look like a dumpsterfire !!)

jungwon - similar to jake, no time !! matching sweatshirts and sweatpants ftw

jake - politics majors have no sanity or connection to the real world bc it drives you INSANE after a month, cut him some slack :(

heeseung - the venn diagram of ppl with no sense of fashion and cs majors is a circle.

39 notes · View notes

thesoundofmadness · 4 months

Text

rc9gn au band hcs for @asterous09 sorry this took so long lol time is very cruel mistress

pre-band backstory

Randy and Howard meet Lavander in 9th grade during the whole 'kick out of the band' thing, but they don't actually become friends till college

Randy has been mind wiped and has no clue about the ninja. He knows he went to high school, and during it alot of 'something' happened, but he can't place it no matter how hard he tries. Doctors claim it's some sort of dissociative amnesia. They speculate that whatever this 'something' is, Randy couldn't handle it so he locked away whatever memory he has of it. Randy feels like that's not it, but he doesn't know what else it could be.

Howard remembers tho. He hates it a lot. They drift apart.

Despite what happened before, Lavander is still very serious about music. It's his dream to become a rockstar, so he studies everything about music. From playing instruments to production to distribution, everything. It helps a lot that his parents just so happen to be already involved in the scene, and super fucking rich.

They don't go to the same college. Randy meets Lavander one night when Randy randomly goes to a concert at a local bar. Lavander recognizes him and talks to him afterwards.

Randy still feels bad about 9th grade (even if he can't remember exactly what it was he feels so bad about), but luckily Lavander has mostly moved on and has no hard feelings about it.

They talk and start becoming friends.

Lavander ends up leaving his band. They have a huge dispute because, despite having all the instruments and skills needed, they don't have a lead singer. No record label is going to pick them up without a singer. It leads to the bassist telling Lavander he doesn't have the talent for it, and Lavander leaves.

While hanging out, Lavander vents to Randy about it. He says maybe he should just quit. Randy tells him something the nomicon once told him about being yourself, and says something like 'Who cares if they think you don't have the talent? If you want to do it, do it. At the end of it, you gotta do what makes you happy. Though... maybe I'm not the one to be telling you that...'

Lavander then suggests maybe they should pair up. 'You still know how to play the piano and keyboard, right? If you get some singing lessons....'

I like to think that Randy and Rachel also become friends bc they wind up working at the same movie theater. Rachel is also going into music, and wants to be an idol/popstar. After giving it A LOT of thought, Randy ends up asking her for singing lessons.

This whole time, Howard is off doing his own thing. Probably studying business or cooking. He won't talk to Randy at all. Won't answer texts, won't return his calls, just avoids him in general. He hates every second of it.

I kinda think maybe Heidi, Bucky and Lavander, Rachel kinda.... force Randy and Howard to make up. They see the toll it's taking on each of them, as much as they deny it. I mean, they've been glued to the hip since they were infants. Heidi decides 'okay i'm tired of you being depressed, go make friends with him again'. Nearly drags him to the game-hole herself

Somehow, it works. Randy and Howard make up, and they decide to band up with Lavander.

actual band stuff

slowly they become the most popular band in Norrisvile somehow.

Randy is main vocals/keyboard, Lavander plays the guitar and bass, and Howard does drums. They don't have a permanent bassist for their live shows, but thanks to Lavanders connections, finding one isn't hard.

Lavander takes care of everything musically. Song writing, composing, producing, taking care of their instruments, keeping them on track during practice, everything. He takes it extremely seriously and won't let them slack for even a second.

Howard is their manager for the most part. He maintains the fiances and gets them gigs.

Randy manages everything regarding the public. He's the main face of the band. He maintains their social media, and is the perfect MC for their performances. He used to have a ton of stage fright (mostly because of his ninja trauma) but gets over it quickly.

Randy kinda puts on a 'confident dumbass' persona in public. He's very charismatic, very funny, open and honest, even if he's kinda stupid sometimes. Exact opposite how he is in real life. Irl he's very reclusive, and anxious. He tries his hardest to be relaxed and chill, but that's difficult around strangers.

He HATES it whenever someone recognizes him out of the blue. Being the ninja, he had to keep his identity a secret to keep himself safe. Whenever a random fan recognizes him when he doesn't expect it, it triggers his paranoia and it takes him EVERYTHING not to hit them and run. He always wears a disguise whenever running errands.

Randy's usually the one who comes up with ideas for their shows and music videos. He knows quite a bit about directing and cameras. He can be a little demanding on set, always trying to get the absolute best shot, but treats everyone with respect.

Howard loves it tho. 100% always willing to give a random person an autograph when he's just getting snacks at the store. He's also more than a little demanding backstage, but Randy usually puts him in his place.

Lavander doesn't mind it either, but usually dresses up with Randy to help him feel better. He's very camera shy though. He doesn't mind letting Randy and Howard take care of interviews and such.

They're friends with Rhymes and his group. They have a few songs together.

They also have a few songs with Rachel. She's norrisviles biggest popstar (basically their equivlent to taylor swift). It's known that her and Randy have been friends for a long time. It's probably speculated they're dating.

Randy and Rachel don't mind it much. It keeps people from finding out about their actual relationships (Randy's with Theresa, Rachel has her own relationship).

I like to imagine the bros live together to save money. they got a weird gay thing going on.

Lavander and Howard probably drink alot. Randy not so much

I just know they probably have a ton of fangirls and simps. there's probably fandom wars on who's the best.

There's also a small bit of speculation that Randy is the ninja. I mean, he has a weird fascination with swords and martial arts, tends to wear black/red a lot, grew up in norrisvile, absolutely hates robots... Luckily the ninja has shown up a few times at their performances, immediately debunking the whole thing. Randy refuses to comment on it.

Lavander's old band is very popular too, and they have a weird rivalry going on on stage. It's fake of course, irl they get along well and there's no hard feelings, but Randy suggested they play up on the 'ex-band' thing for no reason and people absolutely ate it up.

Randy and Howard steams lets play sometimes. Lavander sometimes joins in too.

resentments hcs:

Their longest and most popular album is titled 'RESENTMENTS' and is about Randy and Howard's ninja trauma. It's double the length of a normal album, half of it is in japanese, (randy speaks it), and no one can figure out what the hell any of it means. Randy's said before it's meant to be a message to 'someone', (the nomicon), and that alot of it doesn't make sense to anyone besides him and Howard. not even Lavander knows what the hell is going on in it, and he produced it.

I have a bunch of ideas for what songs are on it, but one of them is called 'graduation'. It's about 10-12 minutes long. It's supposed to be Randy talking directly to the nomicon, telling it everything he meant to say before he mind wiped.

Another one is called 'Demons eye', and it's like, maybe 5-7 minutes long. It's about Howard recounting what it was like to be possessed by the tengu.

Not sure about the title, but another one was written by Lavander. Lavander doesn't know anything about the ninja, but he's seen the massive toll it's taken on Randy and Howard. He wants them to talk to him about it, so the song is just him telling them 'I'm here for you'.

One of them is called 'Secret Garden' and it's a love song about Theresa. It's one of their singles that released before the album, and Theresa absolutely adores it.

One of the first songs on the album is called 'Hornet's Nest' and it's a disstrack against McFist. McFist tried to sue them over it. The artwork for the song in the video is inspired by one of McFist's old advertisements. Tried to say it was defamation, but everything in the song is publicly available information you can find with the right google search. Then he tried to sue them for copyright for the artwork, but the judge ruled the artwork is transformative enough to not count. Which then led to an investigation of McFist's entire company, causing them to find out about his ninja destruction attempts. They got a fuckton of money out of it, and Randy absolutely LOVES to tell the story of it. (Ya know 'rat' by penelope scott? that's basically this one)

Another song is called 'Heroic Death' and is about leaving a legacy and like, if randy died as the ninja no one would really know. All of the album is emotional, but this one might be the most heavy hitter next to graduation. It's a sin in the fandom not to like this one.

i have thought too much about this

#the docs #rc9gn au #rc9gn

15 notes · View notes

a-writes3 · 2 months

Text

Strings

Chapter One: The Offer

Fatin Jadmani x reader

the wilds band au.

I promise it'll get better I just never know how to start stories. BTW all of their songs will be existing songs in the world from a bunch of different artists. I will be making playlists of songs in each chapter.

series masterlist

Living in L.A there are a lot of bands trying to make it big, get record deals. But The Unsinkables were different, they had an instant draw to them. Talent and charm that couldn't be matched, a stage presence that captured everyone's attention at once. The Unsinkables are also a sapphic band, a band of women for women, they are all of the queer community wrapped around their fingers.

There was Shelby, the bands lead singer and rhythm guitarist. The blonde was known as the sunshine of the group, always smiling and cheering others up. she is also in a relationship with fellow bandmate Toni, who is the Lead guitarist, though hot headed at times she has a heart of gold and will only come after you if you hurt those she cares about.

Dot, the drummer, is everyone’s masc dream. rumored to hook up with fans backstage and at after parties. a stone exterior at first after a life of hurt and disappointment but the softest person when you get to know her.

and then there’s Fatin, the bass player, everyone in the world has a crush on her and basks in the attention. she's hot and she definitely knows it, uses it to her advantage often. pushing lovers away after a day is normal for her, she keeps a lock around her heart for fear of it being broken. she can be icy at first but deep down, she cares deeply.

Shelby walks into the local music center, which is filled with practice rooms and walks through the halls, glancing though the small windows in the doors. Near the end of the hall, she finally finds who she is looking for, y/n, sitting in a room at a piano playing a melody that she seemed to have written, going back and forth between the keys and the paper she was writing notes on as she went. The blonde knocks quietly on the door and you look up to meet her eyes through the glass. Getting up and opening the door, Shelby gives you a friendly smile. You had known the girl since high school, you were in choir together throughout the years. The friendship has grown quite a lot, you consider each other best friends. though in recent times with her band, the closeness isn’t quite the same, she’s always busy.

“Hi Shelby” you offer her a smile back while making space for her to enter the room.

“Hey, y/n” she seems nervous, picking at her fingernails a bit.

“Is there something wrong?”

“No, not at all. I just had a little question for you.”

“Oh, go ahead.” you couldn’t help but feel nervous too at the question.

“So, my band needs a new keyboard player. and I thought of you.” she must’ve sensed wariness from you and continued quickly, “you don’t have to but maybe you could come to practice, meet the girls, play a couple songs and we can go from there.”

you hesitated a bit, anxious about what the others would think of you especially over a year into their time as a band.

“I don’t know shelbs, what if your band mates don’t want me there. i mean do they even know you’re here right now?”

“Well, not exactly. we floated the idea of a new keyboard player months ago, but no one could agree. our bassist, Fatin, thinks she can handle both instruments at once but with how bass heavy all of our songs are, she’s struggling on stage to switch back and forth. we need you.” the girl explained, a pleading look in her eyes. “Plus, wouldn’t it be nice to see each other more and make music together?”

you smiled softly at the last part, but your brain goes to Fatin, she went to your high school as well, a popular kid so you never spoke to her, but truth be told you always has a fascination with the girl. she was attractive no doubt and she had an undeniable charm to her.

“Fine. one practice” you say sighing. “But I am not agreeing to be in the band yet.” you add on before Shelby gets too excited.

“Yes!” the blonde exclaims. “Be at my house at 6 tonight!"

You watch Shelby walk out the room, smiling at her excitement. You sit back down to get more work done and pass the time until 6 o'clock comes.

#the wilds imagines #fatin jadmani x reader #shelby goodkind imagines #the wilds #fatin jadmani #dot campbell #leah rilke #shelby goodkind x reader #shelby goodkind #rachel reid #fatin jadmani imagines #dot campbell x reader #dot the wilds #dot campbell imagines

11 notes · View notes

strnqer · 2 years

Text

something about you

— pairing: corpse husband x afab!reader

— quote: “did you mean it?”

— warning(s): cursing, hurt/comfort

(𝐲/n) sighed for what felt like the millionth time that day, she was contemplating on wether to post the cover song on her platform or not.

she rubbed her hands on her eyes to rid her of any desperation and replayed the song once more.

in my room,

singing along with you

and my baby

you know that i got you

(y/n) closed her eyes as she leaned back on her gaming chair remembering every face-time call they've had just to listen to music. they'd simply sit and take in each other's presence, corpse' eyes would remain on his screen as he watched her write on her journal or feed her cats(or just breathe), his longing stares would always remain unnoticed seeing as every time (y/n) glanced at the camera she'd be met with the comforting sight of darkness—

not that she minded, she loved seeing his outline, she'd memorized it by how often they'd call just for (y/n) to go on with her day as corpse watched with soft music playing in the background.

it was a safe space for corpse to come to when he needed a small escape from reality, every second spent with her was a moment more where he truly felt happy.

hit the road

i'm taking off with you

not in a hurry

there's something about you

late night drives were the highlight of her day, (y/n) loved how either her or corpse would randomly jump into their car and drive up to the others place to pick them up. most of the time corpse would appear on her doorstep late at night when he couldn't sleep, he'd ask her to take a drive with him—usually with (y/n) driving since she preferred having corpse fall asleep mid song. it'd give her a peace of mind knowing he at least slept for a few minutes with her.

aside from his naps, the air around them would be filled with loud chuckles and spilling of secrets, they'd always have some sort of calming music in the background mostly consisting of piano or guitar. (y/n) could always tell he had the biggest smile on his face underneath his signature face mask, she loved to know he was happy because of her. she loved him.

he looks just like a dream

the prettiest boy i've never seen

from the cover of a magazine

(y/n)'s shaky hand lifted up to press pause once more. she took in a deep breathe, deciding to post it once and for all. what's the worse that could happen?

her fingers moved efficiently across the keyboard, matching black nails that she'd done with corpse clicking against the letters. ' something about you cover — for you, bear; the man i'm fucking in love with ' she'd type, using the same nickname she'd given the older man long ago. (y/n)'s mind drifted back to what this decision might cause, the pain, the loss. . .she took in a deep breathe allowing her mind to relax before allowing herself to upload the video—patience is all that was left.

the video didn't take long to upload, in fact in less then 10 minutes the video was up and running on her youtube—fans had already begun their attacks, many were already suspecting and other were painfully clueless. she received dms and tags on all of her social medias but none were from the man she wanted most.

a few fans began a chain on twitter, they pointed on the fact that she was wearing corpse's hoodie and the painfully obvious one which were the lyrics. (y/n) let out a sigh of relief, everyone was taking it somewhat okay and the weight was finally lifted from her sore shoulders.

the pretty girl lifted herself up from her desk to make her way over to her bed but before she could even move a muscle the familiar ringtone flared noisily through the air. she winced at the sudden noise but accepted her fate, and with a shaky hand she answered corpse's call.

heavy breathing filled the tense atmosphere that surrounded the pair, no one dared to say a word. "cor—"

"do you mean it." corpse's voice ripped through her like a cut to the heart and suddenly everything became much more realistic. there really was a chance she'd loose him.

"i mean it." (y/n)'s voice wavered slightly, she shut her eyes tightly waiting for his rejection to come but nothing came. his heavy breathing filled her thoughts before suddenly it disappeared, she snapped her eyes open only to see he'd ended the call. . she should have expected it, she shouldn't have done it. words of rejection filled her head, voices flared their thoughts around her and loud ringing made its way to her ears. she was dying. she couldn't do anything about it, she felt herself explode yet nothing had happened, she still remained in the quiet room, everything was in order.

(y/n) lifts her hand as if to delete the video but decides against it knowing that it'd cause problems among their fans.

an hour passed, she'd lost any and all hope she had.

two. suddenly she was hyperventilating, the song she'd sang so lovingly for her best friend played over and over again in the background. large, hot tears made their way down her face, leaving a wet trail in their wake. she sobbed and sobbed yet no one heard, her heart hurt inside of her chest, she didn't feel a thing. a knock ripped through the moody air and straight into her chest, she stood, hope evident in her dull eyes as she walked over to her door. she hesitated slightly, her hand pulled back to wipe away her tears and runny mascara.

corpse waited patiently outside of her door. he had paced around his room in the brinks of a panic attack, the only person that could help him through it wasn't there—he was in disbelief, he felt stupid for how he ended the call. he couldn't imagine how terrible she felt at that moment, he punched himself repeatedly, over and over. he couldn't say those simple fucking words over the phone. he needed to tell her. corpse had determinedly made his way over to her apartment.

the door creaked open only to uncover her, oh how he wished he came sooner.

her eyes were rimmed with red, purple ish bags were already forming underneath her eyes from all the stress she—he had put her through along with the furious scrubs of her sweater clad hands against her weak features.

he despised himself. the way he felt now seeing her in such a fragile state pained him to the rim. he wished only to make it right and hoped that he wouldn't make a fool out of himself for trying.

upon opening the door the weight on her heart multiplies, the man of her dreams stood a few inches away wearing the same stupid mask he wears out in public that she unknowingly adored.

(y/n) takes in a deep breathe while pacing along her thoughts for words.

"i- what're you doing here corpse?" her voice broke slightly off at the end and the man whom it was directed to winced.

"i had to come see you.." her eyes casted to her feet before she took a few steps back into the comfort of her home, allowing him to move in and shut the door behind him.

as if he were in a trance, corpse practically ripped his mask off along with his beanie, then throwing it somewhere in the room.

as if on instinct (y/n)'s eyes cast down to the floor, suddenly the small cracks seemed interesting. she felt the taller man walk up in front of her which caused her muscles to tense. "look at me." he demanded, yet his voice was far from stern and his hands which now rested on her cheeks were far too gentle.

her eyes slowly trailed up his figure until they finally met his eyes. she took her time in memorizing his perfect features. he was everything she's imagined him to be and much more.

the slight tremor in corpse hands didn't go unnoticed, she gently placed her own hands on top of his, uttering those three little words that had corpse flush like a little kid. "you're so gorgeous"

his hands moved swiftly and efficiently as he pressed her against his body. his back hunched over as he shoved his face in the crook of her neck. (y/n) gently stroked his back as he took her in, "d. . .did you mean it?"

"i-i did." she took in a huge breathe, her muscles slowly tensing underneath his weight and soon he was laughing. laughing.

she closed her eyes, heavy tears building up and piling over as she waited for his rejection. but it never came.

corpse moved away from her for a split second before his lips came crashing down to hers, the salty mix of both their tears caused them to smile and soon enough the contagious sound of laughter forced its way out of their throats and their lips were no longer able to meet.

corpse held her tight, and she held on just as tightly.

a childlike demeanor overcomes the darker male as he excitedly asks her to sing the song to him.

(y/n) nods with a loving smile on her face as she sits on the beanbag with her guitar.

corpse on the other hand has the widest smile he's ever had, his cheeks were almost strained and red from the amount of happiness he displayed for her, yet there he was,

asking her to play it again and again as he listened to her talking so lovingly about him.

taglist:

@georgesbee

#imagines #corpse #corpse husband #oneshot #hurt/comfort #dsmp #dsmp fanfic #gaming #gamer #handsome #hand kink #writers on tumblr #self insert #x reader

180 notes · View notes

yjyt85r98r · 6 months

Text

Aikatsu song reviews: Dreaming bird

Song

The guy who composed this song was definitely showing off. It's a huge arrangement with frequent time signature changes, and too many instruments and sounds to name.

Right from the very beginning, there's already a lot going on, and it quickly builds up to a ridiculously maximalist ordeal with piano, bass, loud side stick (?) percussion, a keyboard, an ominous choir, and probably even more that I'm missing. It's momentarily turned down for the first verse, which is accompanied only by piano and percussion, though personally I think it should have been only piano at that part, or at least the percussion could have been quieter. Then comes the best part (in my opinion) – the electric guitar suddenly kicks in as the time signature switches to 4/4. It's awesome and exciting, but because the loud sharp percussion goes away at that moment, it also has a slight calming effect.

The pre-chorus in 7/4 time has a stiff, blocky feel that makes it feel like there are glitchy cubes in my blood, if that makes any sense. The entire atmosphere changes, and it feels surreal how there's the same singer, the same bass, the same keyboard, when the feeling is so different. And then the fast part is so satisfying to listen to.

it's interesting that Dreaming bird meets almost all of the genre conventions for gothic rock, except for the extremely characteristic minor key.

On a technical and lyrical level, this song is definitely unique. But I think, at heart, it's actually very similar to your typical anime song. Of course it's different, but what I mean is that the melody, bass line, and tempo are very anime-like.

Vocals

Nanase's Lily voice is pretty similar to her other character voices, except it's a bit more emotional and expressive. However, that doesn't really show up in this particular song, because it's too fast-paced and busy to put in a ton of expression, and also this was her first song as Lily so she was probably still trying to decide how she wanted to portray the character. Nevertheless, she gave us solid vocals like always. The song has a lot of complicated-sounding parts that don't usually show up in idol music, and she delivered them with ease.

Actually, this song isn't too difficult to sing as long as you can manage to remember all the lyrics and rehearse them a bunch of times. In that sense, it's sort of like riding a bike – there might be a steep learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, you're unlikely to fail. But none of that is to discredit the song's stellar vocals, of course.

Lyrics

This song has what I think are my favourite lyrics in all of Aikatsu Stars. The metaphor of singing for a caged, flightless bird is so lovely. I also love that the lyrics highlight the bird's own responsibility and awareness in the situation, without acting like having those things will suddenly make the problems go away. There's a clear sense of what can and cannot be done. It's a lot more pragmatic than those "you can do anything!!!" songs – a mindset well-suited to a disabled character like Lily. And the line about finding peace like sunlight filtering through the leaves... I think reading that for the first time changed something in my brain. For the better. The repeated "anata e" at the end is like a prayer being willed into existence.

Choreography

Some people have said this song has weak choreography. And yeah... it could be better. The live version especially has some sloggy parts that are just kind of bouncing around and making vague hand gestures. But there are parts of the choreography that I like. The arm movements during the 7/4 part suit both the music and the lyrics. And I like the movement before the first verse (as well as before the chorus in the live version) which looks like pulling on a chain.

The fashion show version definitely has superior choreography to the live version. The live version appears to have, for the most part, just taken the same choreography as the fashion show version but removed the leg movements from a lot of parts. Sometimes it supplements them with different leg movements, but a lot of the time, they're just supplemented with nothing.

Visuals

I love the stage design so much! Genuinely one of my top 3 favourite stage designs in all of Aikatsu. The palette is right up my alley, and the design reminds me of a ghost pirate ship. The bright cyan against the dark indigo is a good visual representation of the contrast between the low-pitched bass and high-pitched keyboard. It is slightly weird, but kind of delightful, looking at the stage during some of the brighter parts of the song... seeing the dark purple and ripped curtains while hearing major-key music sure is something.

As for the outfits, and even just the character's appearance... they're a bit more elegant than the song? Lily's white oujo ringlets seem to signal 'neoclassical' rather than 'rock', as do all her Gothic Victoria dresses. The Spice Chord outfit she wears for her earlier performances suits the song alright, but it's a bit plain compared to the flashy music, and the palette doesn't feel quite right either. The white bows on the shoes are particularly unfitting, though they do match her hair well. I think the diamond-checked leggings suit the song, though.

Good points: Amazing and meaningful lyrics, strong vocals, time signature changes keep things interesting. Bad points: Instrumentals are too busy to the point where they could even hurt your ears a bit.

Rating: 8.5/10; could be even higher if it toned things down slightly. Personal rating: I want to say 8.5/10 again, but it isn't an easy song to listen to, so I don't know.

#aikatsu song reviews #dreaming bird

14 notes · View notes

tsutenstar · 2 years

Text

Quick analysis for the upcoming WxS event. (Spoiler: there's a piano)

Hoo boy. This event caused quite a stir when the teaser was released, didn't it? Who knew the absence of a single 'x' could cause discord for almost an entire community?

That aside, I haven't seen a lot of talk about the song other than it being commissioned from the producer TUYU, but there was something that did catch my attention very quickly: the piano.

Now, the event itself is most likely going to be a Rui-focused event. The mechanical pencil and notebook are pretty dead giveaways. But the significance of the piano--especially after Tsukasa's focus event On This Stage of Dazzling Light does intrigue me.

The piano is heavily associated with Tsukasa even more than it is with Saki (who's now more so associated with the keyboard) and Toya (for obvious reasons discussed his story). I mean, after an entire event focused specifically on the importance of piano for Tsukasa during his past, it isn't surprising.

So for there to be a prominent piano playing during WxS' next commissioned song after the events of Dazzling Lights, it feels...important to a certain extent.

With this in mind, I believe there's going to be some significant event or confrontation between Rui and his relationship with Tsukasa specifically. It's been pretty well laid out that Tsukasa thinks highly of Rui's directing and the same can be said for Rui and his admiration (and perhaps adoration) for Tsukasa's growth as an actor. From Tsukasa assuring Rui and wholeheartedly trusting his directing in It's On! Wonder Halloween! even after getting injured to Rui's heartfelt message about Tsukasa's growth as an actor at the end of On This Stage of Dazzling Light the two have built a strong bond with each other. The King and his Alchemist.

But it's also been stated that for Tsukasa to become a world renowned actor, the most likely decision he will make is to leave WxS to pursue his dream to the fullest. Having to let go of the person who has always willingly gone along with Rui's borderline-insane inventions, who trusts Rui with his life, who gives Rui his 1200%, and the one who took him by the hand and wholeheartedly accepted Rui for who he is...

The thought of that friendship disappearing alongside the rest of WxS probably terrifies Rui to his core after being alone and outcasted for almost his entire life. And with the prominence of the hourglass and falling cherry blossoms (commonly meaning the fragility and shortness of life), this will likely be the story's premise.

But, I do have another thought I'd like to discuss.

Coinciding with this event, I think that alongside On This Stage of Dazzling Light, this event will possibly continue to build up towards a future Tsukasa-centered event. I'm not going to go in-depth with it here, there are many other posts about the complexity and mystery of Tsukasa that are great to read to get a good understanding. But there will come a time when we will finally see the Tsukasa that lies beneath his eccentric charm and loud voice. Where he will be pushed over the edge; the small crack of his facade we saw in the previous event will shatter and Tsukasa will have to face reality head-on, hoping that they'll accept him for who he truly is like he had for them.

TLDR: If there's a piano in a WxS commissioned song, there's going to be angst and even more angst to come.

#project sekai #tsukasa tenma #rui kamishiro #wonderlands x showtime #wxs #proseka #ruikasa #wxs tsukasa #wxs rui

67 notes · View notes

bending-sickle · 8 months

Note

death and temperance for the tarot ask game!

death: what are three things you want to do before you die? - oh. oh we are going to keep this one light because i can just see the edge of the Swamp of Sadness out of the corner of my eye.

so... i know the question is more of the "for the first time" variety, but i would really like to a) ride horses again. like, properly. i took lessons for over a decade (english saddle, jumping and dressage) and i still miss it so very much. b) piano, baby. here i took lessons for far less time but also miss it a lot. for years i have been eyeing the little roll-keyboards, the How Are They This Expensive little keyboards, and just yearning. c) and for my third and final trick i would like to... oh man, if i could just be 1/3 of a loving relationship, i would be a very happy camper.

and okay, fine, just so i'm not really cheating, two other things i have never done and would love to: i need (need) to see monument valley navajo tribal park (yes, even more than i need to see the california sequoia trees) (and all the other places i want to visit) and i want to...

i can't think of anything else that wouldn't be too soul-crushing to think about.

yeah no i'm getting maudlin. next question!

temperance: can you describe a strange dream you’ve had? - welp, most of my dreams are of the sci-fi variety (zombies! aliens! apocalypse!) so, y'know, those. (oh and, thanks to jurassic park, so many dreams of "ah, i am being chased by velociraptors!") they're pretty straightforward, all things considered.

(i actually went through a few years where i would write my dreams down upon waking, and i got really good at remembering my dreams every morning (not so good at writing legibly every morning), so there's sure to be some good ones strewn about in my notebooks.)

but right now all i can think of is the dream where i was a little cabin boy on a ship, with all the...accoutrements of a little cabin boy. i was just there, in a cabin, being a little cabin boy, but it was nice.

(i mean it's that or the monster in the tree hollow that got me while i was catching a baseball. the angel that fell through the ceiling and lay in a charred empty apartment i've turned into a whole mess of fics so...there's that.)

ask and ye shall receive

#reasons why notascreepyasyouthink is awesome #ask box adventures

2 notes · View notes

myloveforhergoeson · 9 months

Text

That's All She Wrote - Chapter 16

Previous chapter

Find me on wattpad + ao3!

Show: Big Time Rush

Pairing: James Diamond x Original Female Character

Chapter 16: Burnin' Up (1.16) ~ 12k

Mornings off, though few and far between, were often spent by the band and their assistant in different ways. The boys loved to spend their time lounging out by the pool, especially now that school was out for the summer, and while Roxy would often join them on the especially hot days, most of the time she was holed up in her room songwriting or practicing piano. That, or she was focused on completing errands and chores to keep her fridge stocked, wardrobe fresh, or her apartment clean.

Living by herself was a bit challenging, though she was never truly alone. Sometimes she was able to convince one of the guys, mainly Logan, to come out and enjoy the day together, which was an added bonus since she wouldn’t have to navigate the sketchy streets of Los Angeles all alone. Even though errands sucked, they were always better with a friend.

Today was no exception, except Logan had elected to join her in her room while she was focused on completing the exercises in the piano book Gustavo had given her at the band’s last practice. Since she had begun playing the piano, she was determined to practice as much as she could to get as close to her boss’ level of skill as possible. The two of them were similar in many ways, both had been playing an instrument since a very young age and were very good at writing songs utilizing that instrument, but it often made collaboration more challenging than it needed to be.

Now that she was tearing through as many piano books as she could pick up from his office or the music store around the corner from Rocque Records, it was a bit easier for her and her boss to be on the same page - though neither of them had written anything close to good enough to be the next Big Time Rush hit. It had been a few days since Roxy had thought about her work in progress, meaning it had been a few days since she had thought about Dak Zevon, and she was happy to keep it that way. She hadn’t even picked up her guitar since the little writing session she had with James before the end of the dance.

So, in order to keep up with something musical, she had been focusing on honing her piano skills at the small, electronic keyboard Gustavo and Kelly had gifted her the first week she and the boys had settled in L.A.

After he had joined her for breakfast, Logan had asked if he could stick around and listen to her play while he went over an MCAT study book as they finished clearing the plates from their shared breakfast.

“Dude, it’s summer! Give yourself a break and go hang out by the pool or something,” She told him, gesturing towards the window at the back of her apartment. “I don’t mind if you stay, but you’ve got all the time in the world to study.”

Rolling his eyes, Logan scoffed at her statement. “Yeah, but I don’t want to fall behind!”

“Behind who?”

The boy crossed his arms and cast his gaze down to his shoes, tucking the book under his sleeve as he grumbled something unintelligible. Clearly, he was stressing over his study timeline, and she was only making it worse by teasing him.

Poor guy, she thought to herself, and without another teasing word, she finished putting the last dish away and made her way to her bedroom. In tow, Logan gathered his notes, study books, and pencil bag before plopping down on the edge of her bed.

Watching as he meticulously set out his supplies, Roxy wondered just how much medical knowledge a person could hold. She knew he wanted to be a doctor, but what did he want to specialize in? Did he want to work in a hospital or a private office? How soon was he planning on abandoning Big Time Rush to make his dream come true?

That last thought was quickly pushed out of her mind as she sat down in front of the electronic keyboard and flipped it on, picking out the book Gustavo had given her with more challenging songs to learn.

Between the two instruments, guitar and piano, she found the guitar to be much more fun. It was exciting to hear the loud chords reverberating in her ears that come from the amp whenever she practiced on her electric, and equally as wonderful to feel the vibrations come from the body of the acoustic as she held it close to her chest when she played.

While still fun, the piano offered neither of those sensations to a similar degree - and she was still finding herself messing up during some of the harder songs, making it tough for her to want to keep practicing. Roxy was the kind of person that hated learning through trial and error - she had been blessed with natural talent when it came to picking up guitar and songwriting - so whenever she messed up on the piano it drove her crazy. That, paired with Logan sitting quietly behind her, all hearing her embarrassing mistakes, almost made her quit her practice after one song.

After getting a few warm-ups in, she turned the pages of the book trying to find one she knew better as to save herself the embarrassment of messing up in front of a friend, Logan cleared his throat, causing her to turn around.

“You’ve only been practicing for a couple of months, Roxy. Give yourself some time to grow and get better.”

Somehow he must have sensed something was wrong, maybe by the way she tensed up whenever she missed a note, or by how she slammed her fingers onto random keys in frustration to “end” the previous song she had been playing.

“I know, I know…” She trailed off, staring down at her fingers covering a few of the black and white keys. “It’s just so frustrating! Guitar came so easily to me… Maybe because I always had my dad there to help when I messed up.”

When she turned around to face him, he was nodding even though he had his nose buried in a book. “Gustavo did just kind of throw you out of the frying pan and into the fire.”

“Yeah, I guess so. But, like, the four of you are doing so well with your singing and dancing despite never doing anything musical before becoming a band… I can’t even play a song on the piano without messing up and I eat, sleep, and breathe music.”

“Then play something on the guitar. It’ll boost your confidence and remind you of how talented you are.”

Sitting there, she blinked and turned the thought over in her head. It was a simple solution, one she should have thought of, but she wasn’t feeling too fond of the guitar at the moment either.

Buzz buzz

A notification going off on both her phone and Logan’s drew her out of her stupor.

K: Pool time?

C: Im in!!!!

J: Sounds chill

Maybe I need a morning off from my morning off, she decided, shooting her own message back.

R: Ok, be down soon

L: Sure. Fine. Not like I told everyone I needed to study.

L: I’m going to keep getting behind.

K: Behind who?

With a chuckle at his friend’s similar question about his study timeline, Logan began to pick up his things, giving a small little shrug as he stood, “We’ll figure it out. Just let me know if you ever need a practice partner. I can’t play, but it’s nice to listen to you play when I study.”

“Will do,” His assistant responded, walking with him out of her room and to the doorway connecting their living spaces. “Thanks for the advice, I think I’ll hang back a bit and try it out.”

Logan nodded, stepping into his apartment with a small wave. “See you soon!”

When the door closed, she felt as though was completely alone, standing in the uncomfortable silence of her apartment. It was unfair for her to compare herself to her four friends' musical progress, and she knew that, but the nagging feeling in the back of her brain telling her she wasn’t good enough to represent Big Time Rush began to creep in. Very similar to how she felt when her relationship with Dak ended, the thoughts swirling around up there were unwelcomed and unappreciated, but they were also hard to ignore.

Get it together! She told herself. You’ve already made it this far, no time for doubt.

A true statement, but not one that quelled her anxiety as she went to grab her acoustic guitar from her room.

Just as she was about to strum out some chords to the first song that came to mind, her phone rang again, displaying a picture of her dad on the home screen.

Buzz buzz

Incoming call: Dad

Placing her instrument down and hitting accept, she wearily brought the phone to her ear - normally it was she who called him, not the other way around.

“Hey, Dad. Everything okay?”

“I was just gonna ask you the same thing. I know it sounds silly but I just had this… feelin’ somethin’ was wrong.”

“Oh…” The girl trailed off, not knowing what to say. Not wanting to lie, but also not wanting to tell the truth, she did her best to dodge the question. “I was just headed to the pool with the guys.”

Though it was hard to tell, it sounded like he let out an audible sigh of relief on the other side of the speaker. “Okay, sorry, kiddo. Didn’t mean to disturb ya.”

“No, no! Not at all. Actually, I was thinking about calling you myself,” She lied, hoping he wouldn’t feel too bad for ringing her out of the blue. “I, uh… I’m learning how to play the piano, remember? When I was practicing earlier I was just having a bit of a hard time. It reminded me of when we used to play guitar together… Maybe it affected my mood a bit too.”

“Would it be crazy if I told you I was just thinkin’ that this mornin’, too? I went into your room to open the window and let some air in and…” The pause on his end lasted a bit longer than normal. “I’ve been tryin’ to get some time off to come see you, but we just found a new copper vein…”

“It’s okay, Dad. Gustavo really hasn’t let us have any time off either. In fact last week I was finally able to convince him to let me have a few days rest-”

“You sick?”

Shit, she mentally cursed herself. Aside from their regular check-up calls, she had never actually told her dad that she had been kind of seeing one of the biggest celebrities in Hollywood. It just felt like too permanent of a thing to tell him before they were going out, but before she even had a chance to tell him they were, their relationship had ended. Besides, her dad was the last person she would ever want to talk about boys with.

“Yeah,” She replied, which wasn’t that far from the truth. “I had a fever or something, but I’m fine now.”

A rap at her door drowned out whatever her father had tried to say in response before she ended up cutting him off.

“Ah! Sorry, Dad. The guys are here waiting for me. I’ve gotta go.”

“Alright, I suppose I should go too. Love you, honey bun. Talk soon.”

Doing her best to sound as cheery as possible, she made an exaggerated kiss sound into the receiver, “Love you too, bye!”

Pressing the red button to hang up, Roxy then slipped her phone into her bag. Trying to ignore the nagging feeling in the back of her head telling her something might be up with her dad, the girl quickly opened her front door to find Logan, Carlos, and Kendall loaded up with their own pool supplies.

Each boy was equipped with a towel, a pair of goggles, and a pool noodle with Carlos going the extra mile and wearing a cute frog floatie around his waist. They wasted no time with greetings, only rushing off down the hall once they knew she could see them, complaining about the horribly high temperature in the city. That was, before they finally stopped altogether once they fumbled out of the elevator and out to the edge of the pool.

Once the girl caught up, she noticed all of the other teen patrons of the hotel standing around the edge of the deck as well, staring at one person floating around in the center of the pool - hotel manager Reginald Bitters.

“It’s 95 degrees out!” Kendall nearly yelled, bringing attention to a fact anyone standing outside could feel. “Why is Bitters the only one in the pool?”

From the crowd of teens to their left, Tyler poked his little red head out and pointed to a handwritten note on a whiteboard that hadn’t ever been at the pool before. “Check out the sign.”

It read Adult swim NO KIDS ALLOWED sending a very clear message to the underage residents of the Palm Woods.

“That’s just plain rude…” Logan noted, moving to take off the goggles strapped around his head and feeling quite defeated.

Though Roxy had mostly been planning to tan, she nodded in agreement, “This heat is killer, too.”

It only took moments for Kendall to come up with a plan to get everyone exactly where they wanted to be.

“No, no, no, no, no,” The boy kept repeating, running his hands along the back edge of the board until he found just what he was looking for - a red whiteboard marker - which he used to make some changes to the grammar of the sentence. “You guys are reading it wrong. Look again.”

Now the sign read Adult swim? NO, KIDS ALLOWED! and no one was waiting around to be told otherwise. The horde of children crowding the pool jumped in immediately, soaking Bitters and any bystanders still off to the side. Though the members of BTR and their assistant used this time to find their own lounge chairs, the other hotel patrons were having a blast in the cool water.

Just as she was putting her things down, Roxy noticed Camille walking away with an iced tea from the Palm Woods café and waved her over to join them. Even though it was hot enough to cook an egg on the sidewalk, she looked absolutely beautiful in her red sundress - not even one black curl on her head was out of place.

Giving Roxy a quick greeting, the actress smiled once she noticed the changes to the sign remarking, “You guys are great!”

“I know!” Logan said a bit too quickly, happy to impress his crush in any way he could.

Before Camille was able to respond, Roxy noticed the loving way Logan looked at her as she surveyed the pool. They were just made for each other; it almost made the assistant sick.

“No, I mean it!” The actress reassured him. “I mean, a few months in Hollywood usually changes people, but you’re still the same down-to-earth people you were when you got here.”

“Hey, guys!”

A hand placed itself on the girl’s shoulder, causing her to jump a bit, but she recognized the voice to be James’. Only, when she turned to face him, she was met with the sight of a terrifying, orange monster. It wasn’t kind to let out a little yelp, but it left her mouth involuntarily as she searched the rest of him, noticing the same orange pattern covering all of his skin.

James was just passing through as he gently moved the girl to the side to squeeze by her and Kendall on his way to one of the open lounge chairs to the left of the pool. Something was wrong with him, but thankfully, he hadn’t heard her small cry due to the headphones trailing from his ears to his phone.

“Another tan-tastic day in Hollywood!” The boy shared as he placed his things down and brought his new magazine out of his bag. All settled in, he leaned back into the chair, hoping to peacefully catch some of the natural sunlight bathing the pool area.

Within seconds, Roxy fet Camille wrap her hands around her arm and pull her off to the other side of the pool with the guys. No one could stop staring at James, but today, it wasn’t for the usual reasons.

The first to speak was Logan, who sounded very upset his pool morning was interrupted, “Does he know he looks like a yam?”

“No way he doesn’t… Did he skip the part of his morning routine where he stares at himself in the mirror for half an hour?” The writer half-joked, concern for her friend growing. There was no world in which the normal James would allow his tan to be anything but natural.

Beside her, Camille shook her head, “Looks like I spoke too soon… James has Hollywood fever.”

The Minnesotans whipped their heads to look at her, then back to James, then back to the actress. None of them had any idea what that meant, and frankly, they were too scared to ask.

“Oh, no!” Carlos wailed, hands flying to the sides of his helmet. “I told him not to buy clams from that guy on the freeway!”

“You let him do what?” His assistant hissed, finding a new cause for concern about James’ condition.

Shushing their sidebar, Camille continued, still fixated on the lounging, bright orange figure who was now openly admiring the shade his arms had turned, “No, this town is starting to change him, and the heat is clearly making it worse.”

“Not possible,” Kendall rolled his eyes. “We made a pact when we got here to stay true to ourselves.”

His three friends nodded along, confirming the story he told the actress who only chucked at his response. “Yeah? Look at him!”

The words she spoke came out a bit too loud, causing James to look up from his magazine and see the five staring at him. With a wink, a grin, and a finger gun, the boy turned back to his magazine as if nothing were the matter.

“You have to shut this down before it snowballs, like it did with Guitar Dude.”

Soft chords of an acoustic guitar began to sound across the pool, emanating from where Guitar Dude sat at one of the tables underneath the shady veranda. As per usual, he was surrounded by his regular posse of three girls who were laughing and giggling around him, swaying to the gentle music.

When Camille noticed everyone cocking their heads in confusion, she continued to explain. “When he first moved here, he was a concert cellist. Oh, yeah, and when the Jennifers moved here, they walked in normal motion.”

Between those two things, it was harder for the writer to believe the Jennifers ever walked in any fashion besides their strange-hypnotizing-slow-motion usual. Her point was further proven as the three actresses rounded the corner by where James was lounging and made their way down the stretch of the pool as if it were their own personal catwalk. When they passed by the group of five on their way to the café, Carlos eagerly slid up to them but was quickly denied even a simple greeting as the three held one hand up in his face and continued walking.

It was a sad sight to see, but not enough to make medical expert Logan lose his train of thought.

“Hollywood fever…” He turned to the actress beside him. “So that explains all your weird behavior.”

The boys found the comment amusing, though their assistant did not as evidenced by when she smacked the back of Logan’s head. “Don’t let all the chlorine in the air go straight to your brain, genius.”

Camille, however, just furrowed her brow at his comment and asked, “What weird behavior?” before slapping Logan clear across the face, giving him a kiss to make up for it, and then slapping him one more time for good measure before waving goodbye to her friends and leaving the pool.

Serves him right.

Completely ignoring Camille’s strange display of affection, Kendall scoffed, scanning the pool and taking in all the individuals that shared the common spaces of the Palm Woods hotel with them. Surely, not everyone had been changed by the city.

“Pft… Hollywood fever. I’ll cure his Hollywood fever!”

He then proceeded to pass off the pool noodles he was holding to his assistant and made his way over to James. Logan and Carlos followed, hot on his heels, leaving Roxy to scramble to keep up with everyone as she juggled both her pool supplies and Kendall’s.

Stopping in front of the boy’s lounge chair, the blond was not blunt about his statement to his friend. “James, you’re orange and you look like a freak.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

This comment, however, didn’t seem to bother James one bit. Instead of the offended gasp he typically let out when insulted, he smiled as he placed his magazine on the side table next to his chair. He then reached into his pool bag and pulled out two black and orange aerosol cans.

“Actually, I’m mangerine,” He corrected, standing up from his chair and taking one of the cans out, spraying a bit more onto his upper chest. “As in ‘Mangerine Action Tan’ by ‘Cuda.”

To demonstrate the easy application of the Action Tan, he pressed down on the buttons on both of the cans, causing a thick, orange cloud of spray tan to cover the air between him and his friends. Once it was sufficiently thick, he stepped through it, coating his already orange face in more of the foul-smelling substance.

Though he hadn’t meant to, the cloud traveled over to his friends who quickly backed away - sending his assistant into a coughing fit the moment the spray entered her lungs.

At least the ‘Cuda cologne he wears smells nice!

“In Hollywood, if you can’t tan with the big boys…” He stopped to admire the cans he was holding and let out a strange laugh. “Don’t even bother showing up at all.”

What that statement truly meant, none of the four knew, but James’ confusing logic and over-inflated ego were leading him to believe that was currently a mantra to live by.

“I-I don’t even know how to respond to that.” Logan stammered, looking to his friends for some help.

Catching on, Kendall added, watching in horror as the wannabe continued to spray the tan onto his body, “Yeah, James, we all agreed that we wouldn’t let this town change us.”

“So, unless you’re auditioning to be an Oompa Loompa in a new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie, it’s probably a good idea to ease off the tan,” Roxy did her best to warn him, getting in a subtle dig while still expressing her concern for James’ wellbeing.

None of these comments seemed to deter James, who was still coating his limbs with both of the cans. “Hey, I’m still me… Just better!”

By now, the four realized that their friend was beyond words as his only form of cautionary care. Together, they began to inch forward, hands out, ready to grab the tanning solution from him.

“James…” Carlos cautioned, getting the closest of his friends. “Give us the spray. Now!”

Before any of them could get any closer, James yelled, “Action Tan, activate!” and began to spin in a circle. Pressing the buttons on the aerosol cans shrouded him in a thick cloud of mangerine, which pushed the other four back in fear of getting their skin and clothing stained. This was just the cover the singer needed, using his cloud to escape from the poolside and into the lobby before any of his friends could take the spray away from him.

Waving her hands in front of her face to try and get as much of the orange cloud away from herself as possible, Roxy nearly missed Kendall’s call to action - announcing “Get him!” as they ran off in the direction of their friend.

There was always so much running whenever these boys were together.

Taking off after him, she followed the rest of the band through the lobby and did her best to disturb the least amount of hotel patrons she could - a fact proved very hard by a screaming, orange figure ahead of them, and three hockey players barreling behind him.

***

Roxy and her friends were, unfortunately, unable to get the ‘Cuda spray away from James, but had spent nearly all of their free morning chasing him around the Palm Woods and the surrounding shopping center. By the time they needed to leave for work, they had no success turning James back into a normal color.

Oddly enough, as Roxy examined her friend on the car ride to the studio, she ended up getting a little reminder of her dad. Tangerines were his favorite fruit; in the mornings when they were able to eat breakfast together, he’d always split one with her. It was a fond memory, but one she wished would have popped up under other circumstances.

The funny feeling she had after they had spoken on the phone earlier radiated from her gut again. Experiencing this level of worry over her dad with no identifiable source was eating away at her, but she didn’t know how to bring it up to him without concerning him.

Once they got into work, however, she was hit with even more reminders of the men in her life when Gustavo decided, despite James’ predicament, he wanted the band to officially record “Stuck” as their next single. While it was nice he liked it enough to officially record it as a Big Time Rush song, it took a lot for Roxy to sit in the studio, as stone-faced as possible, listening to her band sing a song she wrote about her ex.

They had only made it through the first half of the group recording, but it was clear both the boys and their bosses were very uncomfortable working with the orange singer.

Eventually, their producer had it and stopped the song recording yelling, “Cut! Cut!” through his headphones like he was some sort of movie director.

“Will somebody please tell me why James is orange?” He continued, practically screaming the last few words into the microphone.

Roxy, Carlos, Kendall, and Logan all shrugged while James corrected Gustavo, “Actually, I’m mangerine.”

Like he did at the pool, he took both aerosol cans out of his back pockets and sprayed a thick cloud in front of him, before walking through it to recoat his entire face in the spray. In the process, he had also managed to blast his friends, who were standing in the tight recording booth with him.

On the other side of the glass, Roxy could practically smell the stuff, watching as the other boys tried to plug their noses before the substance reached their lungs.

“Boys, can I see you out here for just a quick minute?” Gustavo asked calmly, waiting patiently for the band to make their way out of the booth and into the other room.

First to emerge and remove his headphones, James seemed confused as he pulled out two cans of tan, “Something wrong, boss?”

Kelly and Roxy exchanged glances, knowing a famous Gustavo Rocque meltdown was imminent.

“James, in this business, image is everything, and the image that I’m going for is not three normal boys…” Gustavo breathed in before yelling, “And a tangerine freak!”

Gripping the aerosol cans, James smiled, “So what you’re saying is that the other three guys are too pale? I can fix it!”

“No!” Roxy felt herself shriek, nearly launching forward to try and wrestle the cans from him again as he aimed them toward the other three boys. “The last thing this band needs is more orange.”

Thankfully, she didn’t need to jump in as the boys let out protests of their own, physically lowering the cans James had aimed at them.

“We think he might have Hollywood fever,” Kendall repeated the lingo Camille had taught them once he was safe from an orange blast to the face.

Almost immediately Kelly raised a frenzied hand over her mouth to cover a sharp gasp. Clearly, Hollywood fever was a lot more serious than Camille had made it out to be if it was sending such a shock through their boss.

In response, Gustavo raised a calm hand as he turned to face his assistant, ordering, “You, don’t panic,” before turning and screeching at James, “You, stop being orange!”

Despite telling Kelly to calm down, Gustavo did the exact opposite and launched himself at James, attempting to wrestle the ‘Cuda cans out of his grasp. Unsurprisingly James put up very much of a struggle, muttering incomprehensible words every now and then between different spray clouds emanating out from the cans and into their boss’ face.

After a few minutes of intense fighting, Gustavo emerged victorious, however, his bright white hoodie was permanently stained orange in many places. That was, until James pulled two more cans of Mangerine Action Tan out of his back pockets, spraying himself a cloud of concealment, and running out of the studio into the halls of Rocque Records.

“Well, that didn’t work.” Gustavo expertly pointed out as he stood towards the back of the room, covered in orange handprints and gripping two presumably empty ‘Cuda cans. He was quick to get in the faces of the other band members, offering a new solution, “Let’s try this. Fix your friend, or I will fire him and replace him with someone that is not orange!”

None of the boys said anything before taking off after their friend.

I hate it when they do that.

Saying a quick “thanks, bye!” to Kelly and Gustavo, Roxy grabbed her bag and rushed after them through the halls, eventually chasing them all the way back to the Palm Woods.

James didn’t have all that much of a head start, but whatever taxi he took was far faster than the car service the teens usually relied on, so when the four piled into the lobby and noticed their friend was nowhere in sight, they decided 2-J was a good starting point.

“He’s not in the bathroom,” Kendall announced, after walking through the kitchen and into the small corner room.

Carlos, who had run up the little stairs that lead to the loft, ended up coming down the yellow slide to report, “He’s not in the swirly slide!”

From the orange couch, Roxy plopped herself down on to take a little break, she was happy to share, “He’s not on the couch,” while pulling out her phone and sending a quick heart emoji to her dad. The more and more tangerine came up, the more it was making her think - and by extension, worry - about him.

“Look!” Called Logan, jogging down the hallway leading to their bedrooms and the door to 2-H with one familiar-looking bottle in hand. Suavely, he flipped the can a few times, sharing, “I found an empty bottle of Mangerine Action Tan. According to the label, this stuff dissolves with water.”

Like a lightbulb went off above his head, Carlos jumped excitedly before pulling Roxy off the couch and bringing her over to where their friends were standing in front of the kitchen, “You thinking what I’m thinking?

No. The girl thought. I’m never thinking what you three are thinking, but allowed her friends to rush off once more in search of whatever they were looking for.

Buzz buzz

D: <3

D: Everything o.k.?

R: Yea, just thinking of you

D: <3

Smiling, she put her phone down on the counter, only to be met with Logan tossing a large, blue water gun, a pair of sports glasses, and a black bandana toward her. The three of them were decked out for a full-on water war, complete with the matching accessories she had been tossed. Presumably, they normally belonged to James, but Roxy was happy to oblige and tug the bandana over her hairline - completing her accessorizing with the black sunglasses that made it a bit hard to see indoors.

“I was thinking we could get snow cones to beat the heat,” Carlos said, pumping the fore-end of his water gun. “But this works too.”

“And should break the fever quite nicely!” Called Logan, who seemed to have been waiting to use that line for quite a bit.

Nodding along, the girl grinned as she tightened her grip on the gun, “Anything to annoy James!”

“Carlitos, you scope the pool for orange James,” Kendall began, instructing his friends on how to split up and look for their target. “Logan-ator, you hit Palm Woods Park. Rox-star and I’ll stake out the lobby.”

Aw, cute nickname.

“Now move out!” He finished, and the four made their way to their designated areas.

Roxy’s moves were a bit more normal than her friends, who were acting like makeshift black-ops agents - spinning as they ran down the hallway, stopping to the side of doorways to peek around the corner, and never leaving their backs exposed as they reached the stairwell. Though, she also allowed herself to have a bit of fun too, busting the door to the stairs open with her foot and rushing down with Kendall right behind her.

Maybe it was a bit childish, but they were on an important save-their-band-mission, so a little bit of flare was necessary.

Carlos was the first to branch off, then Logan, leaving their assistant and frontman to stake out opposite sides of the lobby in case James was dumb enough to head that way. While Kendall ducked behind the front desk since Bitters was nowhere to be seen, Roxy placed herself behind the planters at the back of the lobby near the elevators. From her hideout, she was able to see both Kendall in his hiding place and Carlos out by the pool while still keeping an eye on the hallway to the elevators.

Outside, she noticed Katie running a shaved ice stand and Carlos talking to the Jennifers - well, two of the Jennifers - and mentally cursed him for being distracted on their mission, before she heard Kendall let out a war cry and scream James’ name.

That didn’t take long at all.

Using the planter as a stable surface, the girl ducked between the palm fronds and did her best to properly line up her shot, while Kendall had both of his guns aimed at the orange boy. Across from him, James boosted similar weapons, a can of Mangerine Action Spray in both hands, ready for a showdown.

It felt a bit wild, wild west, watching the both of them aim their equipment at each other - a showdown neither of them were interested in losing. As she looked on, she continued to train her gun on James, though she was too far away to get in a good shot.

After a few moments, Kendall shot first, using the stream of one of his guns to aim at James’ right. Surprisingly, the other boy quickly stepped to the side, allowing the stream to miss entirely before it hit another hotel patron behind him square in the face.

Continuing to shoot, Kendall unleashed his artillery as his target managed some impressive acrobatics around the lobby of the hotel. A cartwheel was his current move, allowing none of the shots of water to hit his orange-tinged skin. Scripts flew as the pair disturbed a budding actor in the lobby, water hitting him square in the chest as he acted like a shield for the singer, who leaped into another cartwheel, growing closer and closer to his assistant.

Though there was a horde of people lining the lobby to the hotel at this point, doing their best to keep out of James’ way, Roxy was finally able to line up her shot and pulled the trigger.

She would have hit him, definitely, if he hadn’t managed a backhand spring into the hallway containing the elevators. And just his luck, the elevator door managed to open at just the right time, allowing him respite from the onslaught of attacks coming from his friends - not before he poked his head out as the doors were closing to spray a little bit more Action Tan onto his face in defiance.

“Ugh!” Groaned Kendall, shaking his duel guns in the air as the assistant moved out from behind the planter to join him, equally as dumbfounded. “I can’t believe I missed!’

Nodding at his words, Roxy was a bit more concerned with James' level of elevated acrobatics, “When did he become a gymnast?”

Her question was swiftly cut off by the patrons of the hotel lobby, now soaking wet since every drop Roxy and Kendall shot missed their target, who began to swarm the pair. It seems like not everyone wanted to cool off on this hot Hollywood day, and they were not shy about letting the teens know that.

Sharing a nervous glance, the two let out chuckles before Kendall cracked, “Looks like you guys beat the heat.”

This, of course, only made the patrons far angrier than they had been, leading the pair to waste no time racing for the stairs and into the safety of 2-J.

2-J, where James just happened to be chilling in the kitchen, enjoying a cool glass of water.

When the two reached the door, Kendall froze, inadvertently blocking his assistant from entering, as he stared down his opponent.

All the girl heard was a cry from the frontman and the sound of glass shattering onto the tile before the chase was on once more.

Neither of them were very tactical in their strategy of trailing behind their target, allowing him to easily escape from the apartment and tear back down the stairs they had climbed moments ago.

In an orange blur, James faked them out on the first-floor landing and ended up heading to the left, easily making his way down the pool deck.

Both of the boys were fast, too fast, but the assistant kept running after them, doing her best to keep pace with Kendall. Whenever she thought she could hit James, she took a shot but ended up missing every single time.

To their right, the pair noticed Carlos dipping his feet into the pool with two of the Jennifers.

What could possibly be more important than this right now? Roxy kept to herself as Kendall was less kind in his statement, yelling out, “Carlos, a little help here!”

His call was ultimately ignored, and the three continued to tear up the pool deck as they made a circle around the body of water. Lapping the helmet-wearer once more, this time it was Roxy who called out his name, against the better wishes of her lungs. “Carlos, come on!”

Like her friend’s, her cries also went ignored.

Though, it didn’t look like they’d need his help after all. As James tried to loop into the lobby again, he miscalculated his speed and ended up running into another pool-goer - knocking himself completely off balance. Taking a rough tumble, he fell to the floor and somersaulted his way into the back wall of the hotel.

When Kendall and Roxy caught up, they had no trouble cornering him. Each of them watched as he struggled to upright himself, though the girl couldn’t keep her eyes off the two ‘Cuda cans he kept clutched into his palms. The concern she felt for her friend was ultimately outweighed by the chances of staining her clothes.

“Sorry, James, but you’ve got the fever,” Kendall said, incredibly smooth, as he took a few more strides to box the boy in. Once he was close enough, he held his two guns up and everyone surrounding the three ran off to avoid being soaked.

Joining him, Roxy stepped up as well, pumping the fore-end of her cannon. “Good thing we’ve got the cure.”

Both of them took far too much pleasure in aiming straight at his chest, watching as the boy did his best to shield himself with his arms. It was a strange sight to see, but curing his Hollywood fever was their number one priority right now.

When each hunter finally pulled the trigger, they were dismayed to see only a small trail of water dribble out from the barrel. Realizing far too late, the pair had miscalculated just how much their guns could carry and had wasted all their ammunition in their high-speed chase.

Rookie mistake.

“Unbelievable!” Her partner cried as she shook the entire gun, hoping maybe there was a little more water left in the chamber.

In that time, James was quick to hop up, slowly advancing toward his friends. As much as the assistant hated it, now he had the upper hand, and that fact scared her quite a bit.

Gripping the ‘Cuda cans so hard his fingers were nearly purple from lack of circulation, James stopped advancing a few feet away. “What’s the matter, you two? You’re looking a little pale…”

“James!” Roxy cried before he was able to do anything with the spray, holding one of her palms up in defeat. Doing her best to remember some of the acting strategies Jo and Camille would often discuss, she stuck out her bottom lip, widening her eyes a bit, “I’m just… so worried about you…”

This statement seemed to catch the boy off guard, he even lowered the ‘Cuda cans for a split second before catching himself and raising them again.

Eyeing Kendall to hope he would get her message, she turned her attention back to James. “Don’t you remember what happened the last time you used ‘Cuda? It really affected…”

She wasn’t sure how to articulate her thoughts behind It really affected your attractiveness so instead, she pulled her free hand to her face, wiggling her fingers to imitate that strange move the boy often pulled.

As the two stared at each other, the writer noticed Kendall slowly back up in the corner of her eye. The pool wasn’t that far away, she just had to string him along long enough for the blond to reload.

“Oh, don’t be worried!” James’ voice was full of cheer as he began to shake one of the cans. “I’m still me, just better!”

“S-sure,” The girl faltered, taking a micro-step back when she noticed he began to shake the other can as well. “But your allergies… you know…”

Her step back was met with one of his steps forward.

“Don’t you want to join me in feeling tan-tastic?”

It took everything in her not to look over her shoulder and check on Kendall’s refill progress.

“Oh, no,” She shook her head as she stepped back even farther, trying to force out a fake smile. “You’re the star, James, not me. It’d really be a waste.”

“Not when I’ve got two cans with me… Tanning powers, go!”

As quickly as she could she turned tail and sprinted out to the pool, hoping Kendall would be able to provide her with some much-needed backup.

Instead, she spied him arguing with Carlos and two of the Jennifers and made a mental note to curse him out later. Some backup he was.

Thankfully, James was just using his ‘Cuda smoke screen to make a quick escape, and the girl was able to catch her breath by the green cabanas towards the back of the outdoor area. As she took inventory of the space, everyone - save her friends - looked so relaxed. Surely, she deserved a full day off after this entire fiasco.

For whatever reason, her thoughts flickered to her father. On their call earlier, he sounded tired and shared that he hadn’t been able to take any days off since her time in Los Angeles. There was no way he was getting enough rest and relaxation, and that worried her.

Before she knew it she fished her phone out of her pocket and dialed his number.

When he didn’t pick up, it only furthered her anxiety before she realized he was probably still at work. Instead, she left a voicemail, promising to call him back later to check up.

Returning to the land of Los Angeles, she spied Kendall back in the lobby, also on the phone. By the pained look on his face, she could only assume he was on the phone with Gustavo, probably looking for a progress update on curing James’ Hollywood fever.

When she caught up with him to try and save anything he said that might have upset their boss, she was instead met with the other three members of her band standing on the other side of the lobby. While James was acting - and as orange - as ever, Logan and Carlos were looking odd as well. The studious boy had traded in a cardigan for a chunky, knitted blue and gray sweater. A headwrap and sunglasses were his new accessories, complete with a pair of bongos tucked under his arm which he would not stop hitting. Beside him, stood Carlos with two of the Jennifers at his sides and fawning over his new charcoal suit, black scarf, and ugly hat.

She had many questions and looked to the frontman for answers, but his gaping mouth suggested he was more lost than she was.

***

Gustavo had called the band in when he had been speaking to Kendall over the phone, but the two teens without Hollywood fever were too far over their heads to be able to fix anything before they got to the studio.

While the assistant sat with her bosses in the sound room, the recording booth was packed to the brim with hippie Logan, even-more-orange James, Carlos and his posse of Jennifers, and Kendall. Safe to say their recording of “Stuck” was not going at all how their producer would have liked.

The sound of bongs flooded the girl’s headphones, making her cringe against the background track of her guitar. Carlos kept trying to take the lead on parts that didn’t belong to him, while the two Jennifers tried to back up his vocals. Every once and a while the distinct sound of an aerosol being sprayed could be heard. It was an awful cacophony of sounds no human being should have to hear in combination.

By the end of the recording, Gustavo was quick to shut off the background track and use the two-way talk feature to call Kendall out into the room with him.

When the door opened and Kendall walked out, their boss pointed to him, their assistant, and then towards his office.

This is gonna be fun.

Judging by how hard Gustavo slammed the door after Kendall and Roxy, he was less than pleased with their solution to curing James’ Hollywood fever. Instead, they had let the contagion spread.

Gustavo didn’t even try to hide his concern as leaned back into his desk and took a deep breath before screaming, “What is going on?!”

Equally frustrated with the situation, the teens shot back, “We don’t know!”

“Carlos, Logan, Roxy, and I were trying to wash off Orange James, and then things just kind of snowballed,” The frontman tried to explain, though it almost sounded too wacky to be true.

Buzz

The assistant’s phone went off and she didn’t think twice before pulling it out in front of her boss, even in his angered state.

A message from her dad popped up on her home screen.

D: Got your voicemail. Yes, I am relaxing. Don’t worry. Sounds like you could use some more time off. Everything okay?

She breathed a sigh of relief, even as she glanced up to see Gustavo red in the face, about to boil over once more.

R: Yes, everything is okay

R: Just in a mood today I guess

R: <3

Finishing just in time to hear the rest of the lecture, the girl nervously held her phone, tapping her palm on the top a few times while she impatiently waited for her boss to end his very loud rant.

“Listen, you two are kind of the leaders of this band, so kind of fix it!”

Behind them, the door burst open to reveal Kelly attempting to hold off the horde of people piling into the room, though Roxy was more focused on what her boss had just said.

Kind of the leaders of this band…

“Sorry!” The talent scout called, a pained tone pushing out of her lips. “Couldn’t stop them!”

Despite the bongo melody being loudly played by Logan, Carlos and the Jennifers stepped up to the producer, speaking in a manner the older man didn’t take a liking to.

“Yo, Gustav, I want a solo on the next album we record.”

“And his new name is Jennifer!” The girls behind him chorused.

“Okay, maybe not that,” Carlos cringed before starting up again, “But the band’s new name is Carlos and The Rush!”

At the end of his statement, the boy pulled out a poorly photoshopped mock-up of the current work in progress for the band’s first album cover. Instead of the working cover, the four friends laughing and posing for a picture together, this version featured Carlos in the middle, predominantly in red, while the rest of the band was clad in black and placed in the background. Even the Carlos and The Rush title was written in the same font and same logo as Big Time Rush on the original.

Not even blinking, Gustavo took the large mock-up out of the boy’s hand and tossed it behind him, shattering one of the trinkets on the mantle above his desk. “Well, you and your princess posse can take this and-”

Like he sensed a string of bad words were about to erupt from his boss’ mouth, Logan’s bongo music grew louder to the point that anyone could hardly think.

“Everybody chilllll it out,” The boy said, exaggerating his words and hopping down from the short filing cabinet he had been sitting on. He guided himself through the crowd of people, waving one hand in the air to represent his strange metaphor, “and hop aboard the Logan Train - whoo-whoo - to Mellowville.” Finally coming to a stop in front of his boss, Logan bopped him in the nose with a drawn-out, “Biiink,” before tapping the bongos once more.

Roxy couldn’t ignore the distinct smell of skunk in the room as she rolled her eyes at his actions.

There were mere milliseconds from the time it took for Logan to stop touching their boss and Gustavo to stand up and smack the instrument out of the boy’s hands.

Whatever profanities he was definitely about to scream in his face were cut off by a knock at the door, followed by most of the group asking, “Who’s there?”

“Orange!”

“Orange who?”

The door opened, to no one surprise, to James, now armed with four cans of Mangerine Action Tan. “Orange you glad I brought enough Mangerine spray for everybody?”

With little warning, the boy pressed down on all four of the triggers, causing a colossal cloud of orange dye to form in the room. It was chaos as everyone tried to push past the tall boy and make their way out into the hallway to avoid the disgusting spray from damaging their clothing, skin, and lungs.

In the commotion, Roxy was able to grab Kendall’s arm and pull him out with her, dragging them to the supply closet that housed their former classroom to escape the mess.

Buzz

Immediately, the girl let go of her friend and whipped her phone out so fast it went flying across the room. Thankfully the floor was carpeted, or she might have had to send it back to the repair shop.

D: Sorry about your mood. Playing the guitar or hanging out with your friends used to help when you felt bad. Are the boys being nice to you? Are those two girls you told me about still your friends? Are your bosses giving you too much work?

R: No need for an essay, dad

R: Both the band and Camille and Jo are as kind as ever… As for Gustavo and Kelly, it’s complicated

D: Okay. Let me know if you need anything.

“Since when are you so obsessed with your phone? You didn’t even act like that when… he messaged you.” Kendall thought aloud, trying to avoid using Dak’s name but was unable to think of anything better than a bitterly pronounced pronoun.

“It’s my dad, I’ve kinda had this weird feeling all day about him. That he’s too busy, not getting enough rest… Oh, my God, he always used to leave the stove on when he went to work I need to text him again-”

Kendall reached out and easily plucked her phone out of her hands before she was able to get the messaging app open. “Dude… You’re infected!”

“No, I’m not. Give that back!” She fought, trying to wrestle her phone out of his hands. It was a losing game once he held it above his head, signature Knight smirk wiping across his face.

“You so are.”

“I’m not orange, I’m not joining the Jennifers, and I’m not some hash-huffing hippie. I’m fine!”

Before he was able to fight her back, Kelly and Gustavo managed to break away from the orange massacre and decided the closet was a good hiding spot as well.

Closing the door, Kelly ran to the opposite side of the small room, attempting to get as far away from the other teens as possible, “They’ve got the fever, and it’s bad.”

“And this heat is only making their symptoms worse.” Gustavo agreed, holding the door handle in case anyone discovered their hideout.

Still attempting to claw and get her phone, Kendall did his best to ignore Roxy’s efforts as he said, “Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You guys know about Hollywood fever?”

“It’s broken up nearly every one of my bands.” Shared the producer, a solemn tone evidencing how serious this illness is. “It starts with tanning or bongos. Before you know it, they quit to start movie careers or they move to Canada to live among the moose! Boyquake.”

“We have got to snap them out of this before it is permanent!” Declared Kelly, pumping her fist in determination.

Nodding at her statement, Gustavo added, “We must divide and conquer. Kendall, you take Bongo Boy and drum some sense into him. Kelly, find Carlos and remind him that he’s not a Jennifer! And Roxy, get a shrink for James, would you?”

“Yeah… One issue with that.” Kendall noted, his arm growing sore from lifting it above his head for so long. Glancing at his bosses, he pointed to Roxy, who was still in the process of trying to get her phone back. What if her dad had accidentally burned down the house while Kendall had kept her phone away from her?

“She’s got it too.”

***

Though she was still denying her diagnosis of Hollywood fever, Roxy did realize it was a bit embarrassing that as long as Kendall had her phone she followed him everywhere he went. As evidenced by their trip back to the Palm Woods on foot because he wouldn’t let her use her phone to call a car service, and around the floors of the hotel to collect Camille and Tyler, then out to the Palm Woods park to help break Logan of his fever.

Once the four found him sitting on a blanket under a large, shady tree, pounding his bongos like there was no tomorrow, they donned their tree hats and spied on him from behind one of the medium-sized hedges lining the walkway.

“Tyler,” Kendall began, putting his best game face on as he directed his friends. “All you have to do is tap into the old Logan’s love of math. Then, he’ll trade in his bongo rhythms for logarithms.”

Involuntarily, Roxy laughed really hard, too hard, in hopes that Kendall might be kind enough to give her phone back.

“And bingo…” Camille added, giving her friend a worried glance. “No more Hollywood fever.”

Pulling three apples out from his small cargo shorts, Tyler raced over to Logan to put his acting skills to the test.

As Tyler began speaking to Logan, Camille tugged on Roxy’s arm and pulled her over to one of the many benches scattered around the park.

“You’ve got it too, don’t you?” The actress stated plainly, reaching her hands out to cup the writer’s face, pulling her eyelids up to check her pupils, and placing the back of her hand on her forehead to check the temperature.

Impatiently, Roxy smacked her hands away, “I don’t! Kendall just has something of mine and I need it back.”

“That’s it? You were acting like you were in love with him a second ago, all ahah!” Imitating the actions the assistant had taken moments ago, Camille delivered a spot-on impression of her strange laughter from before.

“Eww. Seriously? Gross! I just need my phone so I can text-”

Camille’s jaw dropped, reaching out to take Roxy by the shoulders and shake her back and forth a few times, “Oh, no! I will not allow Hollywood fever to let you think texting your ex is okay!”

“-My dad, Camille. I need to text my dad and make sure he’s alright.”

What is with all the Dak talk today… Listening to the band record “Stuck” is enough torture.

Though her hands didn’t leave Roxy’s shoulders, Camille’s expression softened a bit, “Why? Is he sick?”

“No-”

“Is he doing something dangerous?”

“Well, mining-”

“Is he making you send updates about the guys every 20 minutes?”

“No-”

“Then why do you need to text him so badly?”

“Because I miss him, Camille!”

Saying the words out loud felt like a pound of bricks were thrown her way, hitting her directly in the chest.

“I- I know it's really stupid,” The writer said after a moment, wringing her hands together as she articulated her thoughts. “It was, like, my dream to get the hell out of Duluth no matter the cost, and now I’ve done it and I thought it was so great but now we’ve been in L.A. for months and everyone else seems to be so well adjusted and I just… I’m worried about him because he’s all alone. We only had each other and now I’m gone.”

Nothing was said by the actress in response, she just gathered her friend in her arms and clung to her, letting her know that she understood her pain and wanted to do anything she could to take it away.

“And, God, Camille. I got played so hard by a guy I was so into I just feel like… a gross, disgusting monster unworthy of even a decent date. It was a big joke he was ever hanging out with me, he just wanted to pull someone stupid and ignorant-”

The actress was quick to cut her off, though still comforting her in her grasp, “Roxy, knock it off! You aren’t any of those things; this town just hasn’t been kind to you these past couple of weeks. Don’t you remember how incredible it was when you first got here? How you’d tell me nonstop about the things you wrote about and the shenanigans you and the guys got up to?”

Nodding the best she could against her friend’s shoulder, Roxy let out a weak, “Mhm.”

“Sure, your dad might be alone back home, but you’re away from him as well. You need people to care for you and check up on you, too. Bottling up all your feelings and letting them manifest in crazy ways is just… so unhealthy.”

Pulling out of her friend’s embrace, Roxy tucked a few strands of loose hair behind her ear and slowly nodded. “I know… Thank you. I think that was something I needed to hear.”

Playfully, the actress punched her arm, “If you’ve been here as long as I have, you learn a thing or two about the nasty effects of this town. But, for every negative, I’ve always found a million positives!”

“Yeah…” Roxy thought for a moment. “You’re totally right. Like, I can’t think of the last time we hung out together like this. It sucks I feel this way, but at least you’re here with me.”

Laying her head on Camille’s shoulder, the assistant scanned the expanse of the park and noticed Kendall and Tyler had ended up leaving Logan at his spot under the tree. Wherever they had gone, they didn’t think to invite her, but honestly, it didn’t bother the girl as much as she thought it would.

“Do you mind if we sit here for a while?” Roxy asked once she had come to her conclusions about the overall situation she was facing. All of her strange actions were a manifestation of homesickness, but now that she knew this to be true, it didn’t irk her as much as she thought it would. “I don’t think you told me about your last audition.”

***

“Roxy… Roxy!”

Someone calling out her name drew the assistant out of her sleepy state, and when she opened her eyes, she found Kendall, dressed in his hockey gear standing in front of her and Camille. She must have dozed off at some point in her conversation with Camille, but the actress didn’t seem all that bothered, in fact, she was pretty focused on Logan’s bongo playing across the way. The scene was too serene for her not to want to say, so she closed her eyes again.

“We figured it out, Hollywood fever is just a weird form of homesickness!”

Good, we both came to similar conclusions.

Kendall didn’t wait for a response before he continued, “I’ve found a way to cure it. Wanna hit James with a snowball?”

“It’s tempting. But I’m hanging out with Camille right now.”

Boof.

Something cold, wet, and icy hit the girl in the stomach.

Peeking one eye open, she noticed Kendall had a stored-up arsenal of snowballs in his hockey duffle. While he had already used one to hit her, he was holding onto another, arm cocked back to throw it at her once more.

“Leave me alone.” The girl said, hoping Camille would back her up, but the actress was still pretty focused on her crush wailing away on his instrument.

“Nope! Not until you come help me.”

Throwing the snowball, he hit her in the legs this time, and since she was wearing shorts it sent an unwanted freezing sensation through her body. When the boy noticed that harbored such a reaction out of his assistant, he did it again, and again, and again, until she finally stood up - groaning and shivering against the summer heat - and reached her hand out to graciously accept one of his weapons.

Without another word, he grabbed her hand and pulled her through the park, all the way back to 2-J.

When they carefully entered the door to the apartment, the pair did their best to stay incredibly quiet as they searched the layout for any of their friends. Why Kendall didn’t go for Logan in the park, she didn’t know but didn’t have the energy to debate her friend’s strategy.

That was when they heard a voice come from the bathroom, “There really is no such thing as too handsome!”

Roxy was the first to spot James through the open door, checking himself out in the mirror, and chucked the icy sphere across the kitchen - hitting the tip of his shoulder.

“Hey!” The boy protested, turning her way to find himself outnumbered in both friends and weapons.

Taking the next shot, Kendall wasn’t as kind and sent the snowball directly into his friend’s face.

Biting back laughter as some of the Mangerine Action Tan rubbed off on contact with water, Roxy raised her hand to throw another, much to James’ protest.

“Woah, all right, you do that again-

With a nod from Kendall, the two of them launched as many snowballs as they could hold in James’ direction, pelting him as fast as they could before the singer got fed up and charged toward them. By now, the girl was nearly falling over from fits of laughter, which was not advisable as she began to run down the halls of the hotel with Kendall. At least now if she got hit with the action tan, she could just launch a snowball at James’ face and feel better.

When they reached the lobby, they found Kelly, also armed with a horde of icy weapons after she had hit Carlos a few times. He looked as upset about it as James had, resulting in an incredibly similar reaction.

Now, Roxy, Kelly, and Kendall were being chased by one orange boy and three Jennifers.

With the closest exit being the pool, the three ran in that direction, spotting Logan in Guitar Dude’s usual spot. He was still drumming away on his little instrument, surrounded by Guitar Dude’s posse of girls, chilling under the poolside veranda. As they ran by, the three took this as their chance to shower him in snow as well, catching his attention and sending him running off after them.

As they burst through the doors leading to the park, Roxy noticed immediately why Kendall had taken her elsewhere. The entire surface of the ground was covered in fresh powdered snow thanks to a strange machine Katie and Buddha Bob were standing near. They had even managed to use a park bench to construct a snow fort. It almost looked like how it would back home in the snow, though missing the dangerous element of slipping on ice which the girl was endlessly grateful for.

Once the others realized this was well, their anger shifted to something more childlike, and wondrous, as if they had been reminded of long-lost memories of Minnesota.

“Fire at will!”

From behind the snow fort, Gustavo and many of the other teens from the Palm Woods jumped out and began pelting Carlos, James, and Logan with as many snowballs as they could, and now that they had their own ammunition to fight back, it was almost a fair fight. Kendall and Roxy used this as their opportunity to dump out the remaining snowballs from Kendall’s bag to use as their own personal supply, ducking into each other with every incoming attack from their friends.

This was a proper snowball fight - something the assistant, and her friends, hadn’t experienced in a long time.

As the ice and snow saturated her clothes and body, the familiar chill of Minnesota soaked through as well. She remembered all the good times she had had constructing snow forts, making snow angels, and even learning how to drive in the snow thanks to her dad. Whatever twisted-up feelings she had about home before slowly dissipated as she ran over towards Camille and brought her over to where she and Kendall had their stash.

During the fight, the two Jennifers had demanded Carlos protect them, which he wasn’t up for, causing him to shed his strange outfit and don his helmet once more, screaming as he reached down into the snow and threw the contents back up towards his assistant.

As the snow continued to fall, courtesy of Buddha Bob’s contraption, it got through to James as well. After being hit with so many snowballs, his Action Tan was nearly all washed off, though the boy allowed himself to fall to the ground and make a snow angel of his own, eliminating any trace of the Mangerine chemical that had stained his skin the entire day.

Logan was now alone as his friends hurled snowball after snowball his way. Try as he might to protect himself with the bongos, the sound the snowballs made as they bounced off wasn’t as sweet as he remembered them sounding. Eventually, he ditched the instrument, allowing a snowball Camille had formed to knock him down into the snow before he built up a snow pile of his own and retaliated right back.

During the fight, Kendall managed to catch up with his assistant, pulling her out of the way of Tyler’s line of fire before handing her her phone back. “Look, I know today was a little rough but, thanks for all your help.”

Smiling back up at him, the girl graciously accepted her phone and slid it into her back pocket before tossing the snowball in her left hand up and down a few times. “No problem, nothing the world’s best songwriter-assistant couldn’t handle. Now, wanna round up the guys and help me launch an all-out attack against Gustavo?”

“There’s nothing I’d love more.”

Thanks for reading! I hope you'll like what I've got in store as we round out the first season <3

#thats all she wrote fic #big time rush #btr #james diamond #james maslow #kendall knight #kendall schmidt #logan mitchell #logan henderson #carlos garcia #carlos penavega

2 notes · View notes