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mountsmase · 6 months

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a/n: surprise 🤭 this was never meant to see the light of day but I found this in my drafts and thought I might as turn it a little Christmassy and post it 😌 It’s unedited and definitely not my best but i hope you enjoy 🩷 feedback is appreciated as always 🫶🏻

word count: 2.1k

genre: Smut

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Peppermint Kisses - MM7

Today is what you’d call a ‘perfect day’.

You and Mase spent the morning at the Christmas tree farm, wandering around for what felt like hours before finally settling on the perfect tree. As soon as you got home, you got in into place and started decorating, your Christmas playlist playing through the speakers as you sorted through a variety of boxes containing everything from baubles to tinsel.

Now, a home cooked dinner and a shared shower later, you’re tangled up on the couch admiring your masterpiece.

‘Home Alone’ plays on the TV, your favourite candle flickers away and two half empty mugs of peppermint hot chocolate sit on the coffee table. But, you’re not paying much attention to the movie.

His touches started out innocent, his hands sliding under your (his) t-shirt to trace patterns over your back whilst his other rests on your leg, thumbs rubbing soothing circles into your PJ clad thigh. But, you soon get the idea that he’s not too keen on keeping it innocent, his hand sliding a little higher and grip tightening as his other moves to your waist.

You’d already given each other an orgasm in the shower, and you knew it wouldn't be long until he wanted to give you your second. To be honest, you’re surprised you lasted this long without jumping his bones again. He’d been teasing you all day, touching you and leaving lingering kisses on your skin whenever he could, and by the time you got home, you were all over each other. It’s a miracle you even made it through dinner.

Tilting your head up, your stomach somersaults when you meet his dark eyes, the chocolatey orbs swirling with desperation. You only hold his gaze for a brief moment before you’re leaning in to kiss him. He kisses you back with a certain tenderness, his hand coming up to hold the back of your neck, thumb brushing over your jaw whilst yours cups his stubbled cheek.

He parts your lips for him, taking a little more control of the kiss, and you hum into his mouth, the taste of peppermint still lingering on his tongue when he slips it inside. You battle for dominance, but he wins easily when he slides his hand under your top, cupping your braless boob and you gasp when his thumb brushes over your nipple.

He pays them attention for a while longer, hands kneading your skin whilst he brushes his thumb over your nipple, occasionally pinching the buds between his thumb and finger, knowing that always drives your mad.

Shuffling around a little, you climb onto his lap, straddling his thighs as his lips leave yours, instead trailing kisses across your jaw and cheek. He continues down to your neck and you shiver against him, his beard scratching over your sensitive skin and sending jolts of pleasure straight down your spine.

Travelling south, his hand leaves your boobs, fingertips dancing over your tummy as he sucks lightly at your sweet spot, teeth grazing over your skin before soothing the area with his tongue. His fingers fiddle with the waist band of your PJs before slipping underneath, and he smiles to himself when he feels your panties already soaked for him.

“Is this all for me?” He hums, meeting your gaze.

You nod, letting out a desperate whimper when his warm hand cups your centre over your panties, thumb rubbing a single circle onto your clit.

“Need to use your words, baby”

“Yes, Mase” You breath, and he bites back a moan when you rock your hips into his hand.

“Please, stop teasing”

“You gonna let me make you feel good?” He rasps, your breath hitching at the tone of his voice.

“Yeah, n-need you, pl-please” You nod, grinding into him once more to get your point across.

“Good girl, jump up for me” he murmurs, your heart hammering at the praise and he pulls his hand away from you, giving your hips a tap.

You do as he asks, climbing off his lap before standing in front of him and he follows suit.

“I’ll be back in one second” He tells you, brushing a kiss to your cheek and you watch as he disappears into the kitchen, leaving you confused in the middle of the living room, but you soon put two and two together when you hear him opening and closing the draws, returning a few moments later with a little foil packet between his fingers.

He throws it onto the couch, turning back to you and helping you pull off your t-shirt. Next to come off is your PJ bottoms, his fingers nimbly working to untie the strings before pulling them down your legs, your panties going with them.

“Off” You tug at his own t-shirt, not liking one bit that he still has clothes on.

He chuckles at your impatience, pulling it off before ridding himself of his joggers and boxers.

Sitting back down onto the sofa, he shuffles a few pillows around before relaxing back into the cushions and looking up at you with an expectant gaze.

You climb back onto his lap, melting into him when his lips meet yours again.

He blindly reaches to the side, taking the foil packet before tearing it open and pulling out the condom. Rolling it over his length, he pulls back and meets your gaze.

“Ready, angel?” He asks and you give him a reassuring nod. Your heart soaring at the way he still always stops and makes sure, even after so long together.

“Yes, yeah, need to feel you” you whine, voice catching in your throat when he wraps an arm around your waist.

He takes his length in his hand, giving it a few strokes before lining it up with your entrance and you whimper, not sure you can wait any longer when he taps the head against your clit a couple of times.

Holding your hip, he guides you down slowly, letting you take it at your own pace as you adjust to him. He swallows your soft moans, his arm tightening around your waist when he feels himself buried to the hilt inside of you. It takes every ounce of self restraint he has not to buck into you, not wanting to rush you and letting you to take this at your own pace.

You give yourself a few moments to adjust, one of your hands instinctively tangling in his hair and you enjoy the feeling of fullness as he continues working his lips over yours. The kisses aren’t rushed or desperate, but perfectly soft, and you feel yourself sinking into him when his hand cups your jaw, thumb gliding over the apple of your cheek.

Your legs are already feeling like jelly, but you can’t bring yourself to care, pleasure shooting through you when you start to lazily rock over him.

“Fuck y/n, so tight baby, feels so fucking good” he moans out, leaning his head back to look up at you and you revel in the sounds leaving his lips, a deep blush covering your cheeks knowing how good you can make him feel.

You’re so warm and tight around him and he thinks he might be in heaven as he gazes up at you. The lights from the Christmas tree are casting a golden glow over your skin and he swears he’s never seen anything so beautiful. Your hair is a little messy, your cheeks flushed and lips parted and you’ve got a slight bruise forming on your neck from where he got a little carried away earlier. He can’t help but lean forward, pressing his lips back to the same spot to soothe the tender skin.

“Masey, oh my- fuck” you whimper on top of him,

“Feel good, baby?”

You can only nod, lifting your hips and raising off of him until only his tip is inside of you before sinking back down and you cry out his name when he bucks his hips up into yours.

“Relax, bubba,” he murmurs, noticing your movements becoming a bit frantic as you search for your high.

His hands land on your hips, slowing your movements before lifting you off of him completely. You whine at the sudden feeling of emptiness, a pout taking over your lips as you send him a questioning gaze.

“Mase, what’re you-“

“Shh, I’ve got you angel” he reassures you and he silences any further questions when he gently rolls you onto your back, settling you into the blanket as he hovers over you.

Hooking your legs over his waist he lines himself up with your entrance, resting his forehead against yours and meeting your gaze when he pushes back into you.

He keeps his thrusts slow but deep, setting a steady pace and when he sees your hands grabbing aimlessly at the cushions, he takes them in his. He links his fingers with yours, holding one hand above your head and he guides your other to the back of his neck, your fingers instinctively tugging on his hair and he groans above you, hips faltering slightly when you clench around him.

“Fuck, I love you” he pants out, hot breath fanning over your cheek.

“I love you too, so much” you echo, voice raspy and shaky as he rocks into you.

The new angle has you seeing stars, his tip brushing that soft spot inside of you with every rock of his hips and when you throw your head back, he takes the opportunity to latch his lips onto your neck again, licking and sucking over the exposed skin.

His name leaves your lips over and over as he pounds into you, pleasure overcoming your whole entire body until all you can think about is him.

“Mason, feels so good, I’m so close” you sob, pulling his head out of your neck so that you can look at him.

His chocolatey brown eyes lock onto yours and you take him in. The skin on the bridge of his nose is flushed, his hair slightly messy and flopping over his forehead so you brush it back with your fingers, your heart fluttering at the look of pure want and adoration in his eyes.

“Yeah? Gonna cum for me baby?” He coos, reaching down in between your bodies and your hips buck into his when he flicks his thumb over your clit.

You nod frantically and his hips falter slightly when he feels his own orgasm fast approaching.

“Want you to come with me. Please Mase” You whisper against his lips, and he speeds up his movements again, working you both towards your highs.

“I’m right there with you, let go for me angel” his voice is husky and it’s all you need to go falling over the edge, your orgasm washing over you whilst he continues rubbing circles over your clit, working you through your high.

He buries himself to the hilt inside of you, and it’s the feeling of your walls fluttering around him that sends him over the edge, his own high hitting him before he pulls out and slumps on top of you.

You lay there for a few minutes, taking a moment to compose yourselves and enjoy the weight of his body on top of yours. Your heartbeats slowly return to normal, breathing calming down as he lays limp on top of you, well and truly spent.

He makes an effort to move away but you tighten your hold around his shoulders, not wanting him to move quite yet.

“5 more minutes” you say, sleepily nuzzling into him and he chuckles into your skin, accepting defeat but quite content to just lay with you for a while.

He brushes his fingertips up your sides, tracing random patterns into your skin and giving you all the time you need but soon 5 minutes turns to 20 and he knows if he doesn’t get you up now, you’ll be here all night.

“How about another shower?” He suggests and you jump slightly at the sound of his voice.

You groan in protest, feeling exhausted and wanting nothing more than to climb straight into bed with him and fall asleep.

“Gotta get you cleaned up bubba, we’ll be quick I promise” he speaks softly, not wanting to disturb the peacefulness of the moment.

He lifts himself off of you when you eventually loosen your hold on him, pressing a kiss to your forehead before standing off the couch and you pout up at him, already missing his weight and warmth.

He sends you the softest smile, switching off the TV before holding his hand out for you to take.

“You’re gonna need to carry me” You state simply, holding your arms out and he shakes his head at you jokingly before scooping you up, more than happy to comply with your request.

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a/n: this turned out being way longer than I thought it would be 🫣 I hope you enjoyed 🫶🏻🩷

#Mason Mount Imagine #Mason Mount Smut #Mason Mount Concepts #Mason Mount #Mason Mount x Reader #Mason Mount x You #Mason Mount Fic

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mashep23 · 3 years

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Traffic Jam Session

Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x Female!Reader

Word Count: +1.5K

Warnings: Nat being ridiculously confident and flirtatious? I think that deserves a warning. This is just pure self-indulgent fluff.

Summary: Stuck in a traffic jam, another commuter requests that you turn your music up

Inspired by this meet-cute prompt:

We are caught in an extreme traffic jam and have been sitting next to each other, parked, for the last five minutes. Your radio is playing my absolute favorite song so I ask you to turn it up. We spend the rest of the slow traffic aggressively singing along to the music at each other.

Prompt list found here

A/N: I tweaked the prompt just a little, hope it's still enjoyable. This was so much fun to write!

Thank you to @river-soul for her incredible beta skills and endless patience 😭❤️ and @whisperlullaby for workshopping with me 💗

Disclaimer: gif not mine

It's a decently warm day, sunny and clear, and the azure blue sky is dotted sparsely with clouds. A breeze blows through the car windows, playing with the feathers on your dreamcatcher hanging from the rearview mirror while you're stuck in traffic. You had been creeping along for the better part of 20 minutes, but you've been at a standstill now for almost five.

Typically one to drive home in silence to decompress, today the stillness and lack of road noise makes you want to turn on some music instead. Since nothing playing on the local stations feels right, you sync your car Bluetooth with your phone and scroll through your music streaming apps. A playlist you made simply entitled "Happy" seems to fit your mood and the gorgeous weather so you press Shuffle All and settle back in your seat.

The soothing, light-hearted Put Your Records On filters through the speakers and you can't help the smile that curves your lips as you close your eyes. Propping your arm on the window, head on your hand, you bask in the sun's warmth. You periodically crack open an eye to check on the car in front of you but there's no change. Everyone on the road has parked and resigned themselves to the long wait.

Your playlist contains a wide variety of genres, cherry-picked songs that unfailingly lift your mood. They're radio hits, usually well-known songs, and easy to sing along with. You happily bop your way through your playlist, getting a little more energetic, singing along to each song.

Walking on Sunshine just finishes and the next song is cueing when you hear a sweet voice ask lowly, "Do you mind turning it up a little?" You grin and twist the volume knob so I'm Gonna Be (500 miles) plays louder before looking to the eavesdropper that's enjoying your tunes.

Holy shit. How did you not notice the car next to you? There is no way they were there the whole time. They're all beautiful. Two men, two women - blondie is driving, two brunettes are in the back seat, and a redhead is in the passenger seat. She was the one that spoke and she grins gratefully, leaning closer, head tilted out the window. You turn it up a little more as she starts singing along.

You grin widely and start singing with her. Her companions in the car laugh and join in good naturedly, cheering as the two of you belt the call-and-answer part of the song.

When the song ends, you're both breathlessly laughing, smiles wide. You turn your stereo volume down even as the next song starts to play and stretch out for a high five. She gives your hand a satisfying slap as she laughs joyfully.

"That was so fun! Thank you so much, I love that song."

"I do too! You're a great partner! And the back-ups were awesome!" You playfully finger-gun point at the driver and backseat passengers. They cheerfully laugh and thank you. You don't remember the last time you smiled this hard.

"I'm glad you didn't mind - I could barely hear it. I had Steve try to get closer but that didn't really help much, so I just decided to ask you." She gives you a sheepish but pleased smile and you return it.

"Oh no I don't mind! I haven't had this much fun in ages!" You can't seem to stop smiling but maybe it's okay because she's smiling at you, too.

"I'm Nat," she says suddenly, and you don't hesitate to tell her your name. She repeats it quietly, still smiling softly at you.

There's a stretch of silence, you're both just looking at each other and one of her friends clear their throat, causing you both to blink. You think maybe you should be embarrassed but she doesn't appear fazed in the slightest.

"In the spirit of introductions, hello beautiful. I'm Sam." The male brunette sitting behind Nat says smoothly after his light cough. "This is Wanda, up there is Steve." He gestures to the woman beside him and to the driver, respectively.

Your gaze never leaves Nat. You can't tear your eyes from her even as Sam speaks, catching the quick tightness around the edges of her mouth before it relaxes again as you smile and respond to her rather than Sam.

"It's nice to meet you," you say sincerely to Nat. Her answering pleased expression as she returns the sentiment warms you. A pleasant tightness fills your chest as her lips quirk at something Sam mutters under his breath. The woman next to him, Wanda, laughs quietly.

"So, you know, we're gonna be here for a while. Let's see what else you got to listen to." Nat grins expectantly at you with a raised brow and you mirror her expression as you turn the knob.

You're pretty sure you've found your soulmate when her eyes spark in delight and she belts along effortlessly to Sweet Caroline, arms spreading dramatically as she almost nails the driver, Steve, in his face with the back of her hand. Sam and Wanda cackle as he shoves her arm away in mock affront and she sticks her tongue out at him.

You can't help but laugh at their antics, watching her perform, directing her friends' involvement ("bah, bah, bahh") before she turns to you ("so good, so good, so good!"). This is quickly becoming one of the best times you've ever had.

The song continues, both of you sharing the lead, absolutely ridiculous and uncaring of the scene you're making. If anyone in the surrounding cars felt disgruntled at the impromptu concert, you'd never know it. The girl in the car next to you has your undivided attention.

You're not sure how long it's been, how many songs you've played and sang along to, but after a while, traffic slowly creeps to life. Steve taps Nat on the arm during a lull between songs and you lower the volume as she turns to him. He gestures at the line of cars ahead, the ones directly in front still unmoving but in the distance you see brake lights releasing, vehicles rolling forward.

She turns back to you, chewing the inside of her lip as she looks at you thoughtfully. She seems to make a decision and reaches her hand out to you.

"Here, let me see your phone real quick." She makes a single gimme motion, fingers flicking closed then open as you hand the device over. Your lips spread into a wide smile at the triumphant look that crosses her face.

She beams at you before dropping her gaze to the phone, fingers moving quickly across the screen. You hear an unfamiliar notification tone and she pulls a phone from her lap, holding it up to show you.

"I text myself from your phone. Now we have each other's numbers. I wanna be able to call you later." She's unabashedly smug as she hands your phone back and you wonder if your face shows just how pleased you are.

You look down at the message thread she left open for you, the unsaved number displayed at the top.

"Traffic Jam Hottie 😍"

The single line of text and emoji sent from your phone to the number makes you bite your lip and shyly cover your smile with your fingertips. You look at her with raised eyebrows and she correctly interprets your unasked question and shrugs.

"That's your contact name. I'll probably never change it, not even after we get married."

It's sly and nonchalant, how she slips that in there, smooth as you please. Your jaw drops and her friends all seem to choke on air but her gaze, locked on you, is unwavering. The flirtatious expression on her face is simultaneously sincere and mischievous as she watches for your reaction.

Butterflies erupt in your stomach, your chest feels tight and pleasantly warm. Your smile stretches so wide your cheeks hurt as she winks and you're so giddy, you don't care how eager you look in this moment.

You quickly save her contact information and smirk, wiggling your phone at her.

"I'd hope not. I think having matching contact info is pretty cute and kinda romantic. A fun story for the wedding toasts." You grin cheekily.

Her expression shifts, full of mischief, a quirk of her eyebrow that makes your breath hitch and sets your heart racing as her friends whoop with glee at your banter. Her lips spread in a sly smile and you can't help but return it. You're positive you've never smiled this much in your life.

Too soon, the gridlock lets up and you both start moving with traffic. The cars in front of you begin to roll, the lane speeds varying enough to cause you to separate. She's still grinning at you as they get further ahead. You can faintly hear their teasing and you catch a glimpse of her profile, smiling and laughing, before she's no longer visible.

They take an exit as you continue on and you barely have a moment to mourn that they're out of view before your phone vibrates in your lap. Picking it up, you grin madly at the screen, the contact "Traffic Jam Hottie 😍" scrolling across the top.

Accepting the call, you hear it connect through you car speakers, her friends still audible in the background. Your heart stutters when she purrs her greeting.

"Hey hottie."

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

Tagging some of my amazing discord family: @buckyownsmylife @sweetkingdomstarlight-blog

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changkyunswifey · 3 years

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valentine’s day date l all members

wc: ~1.1k

request: //

genre: pure fluff

pairing: members x gn!reader

contains: what date you would share with the members on february 14th

a/n: wow i got so soft while writing this - i wanted to make one separate blurb for each members but i didn’t find the time so i hope this will do :((

happy valentine’s day everyone!!

Shownu :

so i don’t know if it’s just me but i really see shownu as a stay in type of person?

like of course he would like to take you out on cute and fancy date but there is just something about the intimacy of being together in a place that feels like home?

so yeah anyway

he would totally get you the cutest home date ever

if you can’t go out for valentine’s day he would bring that valentine’s day to you no matter what

he would cook your favorite dish, order your favorite dessert, buy you your favorite flowers, gift you your favorite item of clothing, jewelry or whatever as long as it is your favorite thing

he would give you all the things you like the most because you deserve it and all he needs is you because he loves you the most

help i’m soft for this man

overall a valentine’s day date with shownu will be cosy, loving and full of attention from him to you and you better be giving him some back

Minhyuk :

i could see minhyuk proposing you a variety of activities to do together?

want to draw and paint? let him grab some blank canvas

want to play some music? he got that piano ready for you

whatever you want to do, you name it

your wish is his command

i really think he would like to share a moment with you doing something you two would appreciate

like he could totally suggest you two painting something that represents your relationship

even if you just put some random colors all over the canvas

he would be so happy to have something that you two made

so yeah, basically this man just want to get a memory out of it for him to cherish forever :(

Wonho :

nothing else but cuddles and kisses.

i mean we’re talking about wonho right now????

the most loving ball of fluff out there

he would just want you two to relax on the couch

to put some random romcom as a background noise

and he would just want to give you all the love you deserve

through lots of hugs and small kisses all over your face and your lips

he just loves you so much and wants to shield you from the world with his hugs??? and his arms too but whatever -

he is a softie, even more when it comes to you so get ready to stay stuck on the couch eating sweets cuddled up in his arms for the all day

i’m jealous

Kihyun :

cooking date, period.

i mean come on, chef kihyun?????

he would buy everything to make you guys favorite dishes

get ready to make a full course meal

he would even buy some cute matching aprons for you two to wear -

honestly what’s better than to cool your valentine’s day diner with your lover?

if you’re not that good of a cook kihyun would guide you through the whole process

praising you whenever you would finish a step from the recipe

he would be your number one hype man!

and exactly the same if you’re a great cook

he would just be amazed by your skills

calling you “chef Y/N” and cheer for you

everything you’d cook would be delicious

he would definitively ask you to cook with him again <3

Hyungwon :

okay so i’m sorry to break it to you but this man is lazy

like okay he loves you to death and stuff but just no -

he doesn’t want to go out and honestly he is not even sure if he gets the point of valentine’s day

like why would he have to show you he loves you this specific day?

he’s spontaneous, he doesn’t like to plan things like that ahead because it just doesn’t feel really natural?

but if it is important for you, then it is important for him

he is a simp

still he would do the bare minimum........

staying in and ordering food from your favorite restaurant

catching up on that drama you two always watch together

honestly it would be a rather normal hangout moment but just with a bit more attentions

get ready for some lingering touches, light feathery kisses, delicate hugs, praises and honey coated words

he will do his best for you!!

Jooheon :

so soft?? so much love??

almost too much for you to handle -

he is totally the type to buy you a giant teddy bear

he would go all in with the flowers and chocolate

he would take you out for a walk near that river you like to go

would of course buy snacks and drink for an outdoor lunch if the weather allows it

but who wouldn’t brave the cold for this man -

he would shower you with small attention

playing the songs he heard you hum under the shower

gifting you this shirt you had in your cart the other day

small attentions mean a lot to him

so he would show you how he cares about you

because you’re the person he cares about the most and even if he shows it to you everyday

he puts in extra effort for valentine’s day

please love and protect him at all cost

Changkyun :

he said it himself : he is a romantic

but we all know this man is busy busy with his solo coming up :((

but nothing can stop him from loving you so get ready for a romantic date at his studio :)))

dim lights, soft chill music from his playlist, some wine and a simple yet tasty meal

that’s all he needs

aside from you of course

changkyun would take the opportunity to open up to you during those intimate moments/occasions

he’s a really to himself type of guy that’s why we love him so it will be a way to show you how much he trusts you for him to go more in deep with his feelings and thoughts

get ready for a loving tipsy make out session though -

he doesn’t speak his love a lot but he shows it through his acts so what is better than kissing you with all his heart for it ?

it would probably not go farther than this though

he would just want to have you close

he would kiss you deeply and passionately while whispering sweet nothing in your ear with that deep voice of his ugghh

it would just be really natural? like without any artifice whatsoever

just two humans loving each others

all he needs is you and he just wants you to know it

i’m weak for this man can i please marry him?

#monsta x #monsta x imagines #monsta x scenarios #monsta x fluff #monsta x shownu #monsta x minhyuk #monsta x kihyun #monsta x hyungwon #monsta x jooheon #monsta x changkyun #monsta x wonho

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paintingwithdarkness · 3 years

Note

"i run the night slot on campus radio and some jackass keeps calling in to insult my music taste and request high school musical songs instead” with BluePulse please!

“Good evening, Tigers! You’re listening to Houston U’s nightly segment. I’m your host, Jaime Reyes. Y’all just listened to ‘Today is the Day’ by Yo La Tengo. Next up we have ‘Seven Nation Army’ by The White Stripes.” Jaime pressed a button on the console in front of him, starting the next song before adding on to his commentary. “If anyone has any requests, don’t hesitate to call in!”

Jaime switched off his microphone and let the song play, flopping back in his chair. Running the night segment of the Houston University campus radio was a pretty chill gig. It paid him above minimum wage for every hour he worked, he only had to work six hour shifts, and it was only five days a week. Besides that, it was a solo job, and no one was there to tell him what to do. Obviously there had been some ground rules when he’d been hired— no cursing on air, and he had to take call-ins from students— but other than that, he had free rein of the radio frequency and he could play whatever music he wanted from 6 pm to Midnight, Monday through Friday. All he had to do was press buttons on a control console, sit back, relax, and occasionally answer the phone.

Speaking of which... Jaime checked the time. 10:28 pm. Great, that meant it was almost time.

With a groan, he raised a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose in exasperation, eyes squeezing shut. Every night for the past two weeks at exactly 10:30 pm, without fail, the same jackass student had been calling in to insult his music taste and request High School Musical songs instead. The first time it had happened, Jaime had been shocked at the audacity of the student, but had granted the song request anyway. (He had to. It was part of his contract. If a person called in with a song request, Jaime had to grant it. The only exception was if someone requested a song that was inappropriate to air. As long as it had clean/sensored language, and was free from overly explicit themes, Jaime queued up the song).

He mentally prepared himself. ‘Seven Nation Army’ was just about over, and Jaime already had his next song selected. If he timed things right, he could take the annoying student’s call during the next song, and wouldn’t have to subject himself to humiliation where everyone who was listening to his station could hear. It had only taken Jaime three nights to catch onto the trend.

As the guitar faded out, Jaime switched back on his microphone and addressed his audience, “That one’s a classic. ‘Seven Nation Army’ by The White Stripes. Hope y’all enjoyed that one. I’ve got a few more songs in store for y’all with the time we have left-”

The tell-tale ring of the phone interrupted him. Jaime had to bite his tongue to prevent the string of Spanish curses that wanted to fall from his lips from actually coming out. He had spent too long talking, and now he had to take the dreaded call on-air.

He took a deep breath, and had to layer on the enthusiasm thick as he ‘cheerily’ exclaimed, “It looks like we have our first caller of the night!” Jaime picked up the phone and gave the scripted greeting, “Hello, fellow Tiger! You’re on-air with Houston U’s nightly segment. Care to introduce yourself to all the listeners out there?”

Like all the nights previous when Jaime had asked this question, he got the same response. “Nah. I think I’ll stay anonymous. Keep things interesting. Though if you want a clue, I’ll tell you; I’m on the track team.”

Jaime scrambled for his notebook. That was the biggest clue he’d gotten yet about this mysterious student caller. It was almost like some kind of game. So far, every night when this student had called in, they’d said they wanted to remain anonymous, yet would give a clue about their identity. So far, Jaime had a bulleted list of eight items, with ‘track team’ being number nine. The other clues he’d received were ‘hates Indie Rock’ (which was Jaime’s favorite genre of music, thank you very much), ‘favorite movie is High School Musical 2’ (which was blatantly obvious, based on the songs this jackass student always requested), ‘favorite color is red’ (which told Jaime squat about who this kid was), ‘favorite food is chicken whizzes’ (once again, jack shit), ‘red hair’ (which was the first major clue Jaime had gotten), ‘green eyes’ (now it was obvious the kid wanted Jaime to figure out who he was), ‘5’9”’ (somewhat helpful), ‘Freshman’ (which eliminated 3/4 of the students on campus this caller could be), ‘mechanical engineering major’ (another somewhat helpful clue), and ‘gay’ (which, wow, Jaime would never out himself live on the air. This guy had some balls...).

After the mad scramble for a pencil, Jaime flipped the notebook open and single-handedly jotted down the new piece of information, balancing the phone against his ear with the other hand. When he was finished, he leaned back in the big leather chair, kicking his feet up against the edge of the desk in front of himself, feeling satisfied. Jaime knew he had enough information now to track down this annoying student and put an end to these stupid calls interrupting his radio show every night. Tonight would be the last time ‘We’re All in This Together’, ‘Bop to the Top’, or ‘Get Your Head in the Game’ would play during his segment, and Jaime was RELIEVED.

“Is that why you feel the need to call into my show every night?” Jaime fired back at the student. “So you can rope all of your track mates into singing ‘We’re All in This Together’ while you run in circles?”

An airy laugh was the response. And there a slight second where Jaime thought to himself, ‘Wow. That’s actually kinda cute,’ before his brain rebooted and he realized how counterintuitive that was. This guy was an annoyance that had to be dealt with. So what if he had an attractive laugh? It didn’t erase all of the other judgements Jaime had already formed of this student. And they were that this guy had terrible music taste and needed to find another hobby besides calling in every night to bug the shit out of Jaime.

“What better song to commemorate mutual suffering?” The other man laughed again.

Jaime scowled. ‘Mutual suffering’? Sure, Jaime knew the vexing student was talking about his track mates, but he couldn’t help catching the irony in the choice of words. As far as Jaime was concerned, the only one doing any suffering was him.

“So is that your request for tonight?” Jaime just wanted to get this over with already.

A contemplative “hmmm” made its way down the line, before being followed with, “Well, I was originally gonna ask for ‘Get Your Head in the Game’ but ‘All in this Together’ works nicely, too.”

“Por Díos,” Jaime mumbled under his breath. “¿No puede este idiota tomar una decisión?”

“Woah, hey, is that Spanish?!” Apparently Jaime’s mumblings hadn’t been quiet enough. “Yo hablo español!”

Jaime cringed. The pronounciation was terrible, but the enthusiasm was endearing. And dammit! He shouldn’t be thinking things like that. His train of thought was off the tracks again.

Without saying anything else, Jaime turned to his computer, quickly punched ‘We’re All in this Together’ into the song search bar, and hit play. He switched over the audio connection so that the only thing his audience could hear was the music, took a deep breath, and then made his rebuttal to the annoying student.

“You might want to work on that pronounciation, ese.”

The response was whiny. “Aww, it’s not that bad!”

Jaime cringed. “It’s not great, either.”

The student on the other line sighed. “Fine. But at least I have good taste in music!”

“That’s debatable.” Jaime didn’t know why he was dragging out the conversation. Usually after he granted this annoying caller’s request each night, the student rattled off a final jab at Jaime, before just hanging up. Why was he staying on the line tonight? Maybe Jaime just had to direct the conversation in that direction?

“My music is better than what you play every night. I’m doing you and your radio station a favor!” And yep, there it was.

“I don’t think people are tuning into my station to listen to the one High School Musical song you insist I play every night.”

Jaime could practically hear the smirk through the line when the other student responded. “Even if people are tuning in to listen to your crappy music, my song is still the highlight.”

Jaime groaned. He was growing weary of this conversation. “Do you listen to anything besides terrible High School Musical songs?”

That cute laugh caught in Jaime’s ears again. “Doi. A guy needs to have a little variety in his music. I’ve also got ‘Can’t Stop Singing’, ‘Turn Up the Music’, ‘Determinate’-”

Jaime’s eyes rolled skyward. “I’m gonna stop you there. Does your playlist contain any songs that aren’t from Disney Channel movies?”

A horrified gasp marked the beginning of the indignant response. “What’s wrong with Disney movies? High School Musical is the crashest movie series in existence.”

Jaime didn’t have enough time to think over the choice of the word ‘crashest’ before the other student continued rambling on.

“What other kind of music do you need?! Disney movies have great numbers, teach you about life and friendship, and growing up, and you gotta be kidding me if you don’t think Zac Efron is hot playing Troy.”

Jaime snorted a laugh for the last amendment to the other student’s statement. He’d only watched High School Musical once, and that was enough for him. And despite occasionally finding other men attractive (being bisexual himself), Zac Efron had never really done it for Jaime.

“I wouldn’t exactly call those ‘musical numbers’ as you put it, any type of masterpiece, however, I suppose you earn a pass for the friendship and growing up part.” Jaime smartly decided to skip the Zac Efron comment altogether, “I would say I’m more of a fan of the Disney animated movies. At least I can tolerate the Lion King and Aladdin sound tracks.”

A little puff of a chuckle, and then, “You should really get a better hobby than bashing on Disney movies.”

Jaime scoffed and immediately fired back, “You’re the one who calls me every night to bash on my music.”

“Oooh.” The other student made a hissing sound, as if a flame were being extinguished. “Caught red handed. But—” And here, Jaime could sense something dangerous was about to be said— “how about we settle this once and for all. You obviously don’t get out of the radio studio enough. What say you come to the next Houston U track meeting? We can settle this music debate once and for all.” Yep. That was a challenge.

Jaime took a few seconds to deliberate. He was curious to see who this mysterious caller was. Besides, what harm could it do? Jaime was not the type to back down when he was challenged. He had his pride and dignity. He would not be bested by this asshole. He was going to go to that track meeting.

“You’ve got yourself a deal, ese.” If the other student were there in person, Jaime could imagine shaking his hand to seal the contract.

“Alright,” the other student said, and if Jaime wasn’t mistaken, he sounded rather gleeful that Jaime had taken the bait, “I’ll see you there.” And then the line went dead.

Jaime ran a hand through his hair as he hung up the phone with the other. What had he gotten himself into?

The next Houston U track meeting was a week and two days since the fated phone call. Since that night, the mysterious student caller hadn’t rung Jaime’s radio station. It was a power move, and a good one at that. He had put the ball in Jaime’s court (or passed him the baton? That was a track thing, right?), meaning all responsibility was on him. In all honesty, Jaime was tempted to skip out on their ‘deal’. Sure, he’d agreed, but only because Jaime’d thought it was the key to get the student to stop calling. Now that the calls had stopped, Jaime saw no reason to get involved and draw attention back to himself. Maybe if he didn’t go, the annoying student would just leave him alone.

On the other hand, if he didn’t go, wouldn’t that just give the other student more incentive to start calling him again? Not only would Jaime continue to get bashed for his music taste, but then the other student would also be able to expose him as a liar. That was definitely NOT the reputation Jaime wanted to have. He had no choice. He HAD to go to that stupid track meeting.

It didn’t mean he didn’t drag his feet the whole way to the field though. Even with his ticket and getting there five minutes early, it was near impossible to find a seat. Jaime had no idea a sporting event like track would be so popular. What was so special about a bunch of guys running around in a circle?

It took a little shoving and some mumbled “sorry”s and “excuse me”s before Jaime was finally able to plunk down next to a young couple, in one of the only empty seats left. They seemed like nice enough people; the man even tried making small talk with him once Jaime sat down; but Jaime’s shy demeanor prevented the conversation from launching into something deeper.

Once the couple was no longer paying him much attention, Jaime surreptitiously slipped his little pocket notebook out of his jeans and flipped it open to the page where he had noted all of the little clues his mystery caller had given him.

Unfortunately, only some of them were usable in this context. Clues about the other student’s personality and preferences wouldn’t help Jaime identify anyone. Only the clues the track star had given Jaime about his physical appearance would be of use. He was looking for a redheaded, green-eyed, 5’9” Freshman. Should be simple enough.

When Jaime glanced down to where the runners were stretching by the starting blocks, he immediately noticed three boys with red hair. Luckily, this track meet was only a Houston U event and other schools weren’t participating. That meant one of the three was his mysterious caller.

From this distance, Jaime couldn’t judge eye color, and height was difficult to gage. He supposed he would have to wait for the announcers to give the names and grades of the competitors. Hopefully only one of the redheads would be a Freshman, and Jaime could find his culprit.

Within a few minutes, a runner was at the blocks for every lane. The first event was the 100m sprint. Everyone on the team would be participating. Only six could go at a time, and the announcer said that there would be three heats. Unfortunately for Jaime, the announcer didn’t bother with the names of the competitors since everyone was running, but he hoped that at least the winners would be announced, in case his redhead happened to be one of them.

In the first heat, two of the three red-haired boys were lined up at the blocks. Jaime trained his eyes on them. The first boy was in the second lane, and the other in the sixth lane. Hopefully one of the two would win so that Jaime could narrow down his suspects.

When the starting gun fired, all six runners took off like rockets. The pure speed was quite a shock for Jaime to witness. Within fifteen seconds, all six runners crossed the finish line.

“Winner!” The announcer shouted, once first place for the heat had been determined. He held up the arm of one of the redheads Jaime had been watching. “Senior Wally West with a time of 10.8 seconds!”

An elderly couple three seats over from where Jaime was sitting sprang out of their seats cheering. “Yeah, Wally!” shouted the man. His wife was enthusiastically clapping.

When they sat down again, the couple next to Jaime (conveniently sandwiched between him and the cheering couple) turned to face them.

“Wow!” the blond man next to Jaime exclaimed. “That’s his fastest time yet!”

The other blond man laughed (and it was then that Jaime noticed the striking resemblance). “He’s been working hard. Of course, he’s no match for Bart, but just maybe Wally might have a shot at beating him in the 3200m.”

The brunette woman of the younger couple hummed, a smirk resting on her lips. “I don’t know about that one. Our Bart’s got Thawne blood, too. He’s got runners from both sides. Wests... not so much.”

“Mel!” the man next to Jaime gasped, scandalized. “I thought we said no family rivalry at track meets?”

Immediately the brunette woman, Mel, appologized. “Sorry, sorry.”

“That’s right,” the man from the elderly couple interjected. “You have to remember Donny’s got some West blood himself. Iris was a West before she married me.” He slung an arm around the graying red-haired woman sitting beside him.

It was then that Jaime was able to piece it together. The young blond man— Donny— sitting next to him, was the son of the elderly couple— Iris and her husband (unfortunately Jaime didn’t have his name yet). The younger brunette woman— Mel— was Donny’s wife, and one of the runners— Bart— was their son, and the grandson of the elderly couple. Wally— the runner who had just won the first heat was a relative (?) of the two couples.

By the time Jaime was done puzzling out the relations, the next heat of runners was already at the starting blocks. Unfortunately, the other redhead, whom Jaime guessed was Bart, was not in this heat.

The starting gun fired, and the race was over within fifteen seconds again. The winner was announced, and the runners of the third heat took their places.

Jaime’s gaze zeroed in on the redhead in the first lane. That must be Bart. Mel and Donny were balanced on the edges of their seats next to Jaime.

As soon as the gun fired, Bart was nearly a quarter of the way down the lane. He was insanely fast. Jaime wouldn’t be surprised if he hit an Olympic time. His teammates stood no chance.

When he was announced the winner, Jaime had to do a double take at the 9.63 second time blinking on the screen behind him. That was more than a second faster than Wally, who had won the first heat.

“‘Attaboy, Bart!” Donny yelled.

The exclamation caused Bart’s attention to be drawn towards them. He waved proudly at his parents, and then his gaze caught on Jaime. Even from this distance Jaime could see the electric green eyes trained on him. There was no mistaking it now. Even with the other redhead to consider (since Jaime hadn’t heard his name or grade announced yet), he was certain Bart was his mystery caller. There was something in his eyes— a knowing glint— that made Jaime nervous. Could Bart know who he was?

It wasn’t completely impossible. Because he ran the campus radio at night, Jaime had a page on the school website. His name and picture were plastered right along side Cassie and Gar’s. Cassie had the morning shift from 6 am to noon, and Gar’s comedy segment ran from noon to 6 pm, when Jaime started. All Bart had to do was look him up and he would know exactly who Jaime was.

In retrospect, Jaime easily could have done the same to figure out who his annoying caller was. Once he’d received the track team clue, he could have pulled up the roster and narrowed his suspects down. He could have ruled out Wally because he was a Senior, and possibly even the other redhead based on his year. The announcer had said that Bart was a Freshman when he’d announced him as a winner, so Jaime figured he was the most likely of the three to be the caller. He matched all of the physical descriptors.

There were two more sprinting events that followed, each doubling the distance of the previous. After witnessing the 100m event, Jaime wasn’t surprised when Bart came in first for the 200m and 400m. It was honestly impressive. Bart was talented both in the art of running and annoying Jaime over phone calls. Truly difficult feats.

Once the sprinting events were finished, the competitors moved onto the field. Unlike the sprinting events, some members of the team sat out. Jaime noticed only six members of the team were participating. Two for discus, two for shot put and two for javelin. Neither Bart nor Wally was one of the six. The other redhead on the other hand, was lined up at the javelin throwing line.

Jaime paid him little mind. As soon as the announcer introduced him as a Senior, Jaime tuned out completely. Now there was absolutely no doubt whatsoever. Bart was his mystery caller.

While the field events took place, Jaime watched Bart stretching out on the side of the track. He was surprisingly limber. And Jaime had nothing to blame but the part of his mind attracted to men when he watched Bart bend over in his running shorts to stretch out his hamstrings. He had really nice legs, among... other things.

Jaime shook his head. He shouldn’t be thinking things like that. He’d come here to put Bart in his place because of the annoying phone calls. Not admire his amazing calves.

When the field events were over, some members of the team moved back onto the track for the hurdle events. Again, Bart was not amongst them.

“He doesn’t do hurdles either?” Jaime accidentally mused aloud.

Donny turned to look at him. “First track meeting?” he asked, kindly.

Jaime felt a blush crop up on his cheeks. He hadn’t meant for his comment to be out loud.

“Yeah,” he admitted, despite his embarrassment.

Donny gave him a smile. “They each only do one event plus the sprints. You’ve got the three field events, hurdles, and long distance.”

“Oh.” Jaime nodded to show he understood.

Donny outstretched his hand. “I’m Don.”

Jaime shook Bart’s father’s hand. “Jaime,” he returned.

When Don took his hand back, he used it to point to his wife. “This is my wife, Meloni.”

The brunette woman waved at him.

“And my parents, Barry and Iris.” He gestured at each member of the older couple as well.

Jaime ducked his head shyly. “Nice to meet you all.”

The pop of the starting gun drew their attention back to the track where the hurdlers had just taken off from the blocks. Jaime watched on in interest, amazed at the skill that had been displayed today. He’d never imagined a track meet being this entertaining.

After a few moments, Don turned back to him. “Who’re you here for?” He pointed down at the track members surrounding the edge of the rubberized circle, cheering on their participating teammates.

Jaime felt that blush bloom on his cheeks again. Should he be honest? He was sitting right next to Bart’s parents. What if they started asking questions he didn’t have the answers to?

“Uh, I-I’m here for Bart.” He didn’t really have any other options. He didn’t know the names of any of the other track members.

Donny’s green eyes suddenly lit up. “Bart didn’t tell us his boyfriend was coming! It’s quite a coincidence we ended up sitting next to one another!”

Jaime gave a hard blink, processing the sentences that had just exited the blond man’s mouth. “Uh, we’re not-”

Meloni cut him off. “Oh! You’re the one who runs the campus radio! I knew your name sounded familiar. Bart talks about you all the time!”

The first thought that went through Jaime’s mind was, ‘Does he now?’. There was no mistaking it. Bart was 100 percent the annoying student who called into his radio segment each night. And Bart knew who he was. As soon as this track meeting was over, Jaime was definitely going to have some words with him.

“It’s so nice to finally get to meet you!”

Jaime didn’t know whether he should burst their bubble. Don and Meloni seemed like genuinely good people, and they were happy for their son having seemingly found a relationship. Although their assumptions weren’t true, Jaime knew he would feel extremely bad telling them otherwise.

Luckily, there wasn’t much time for him to dwell on the subject. As soon as the winners for the hurdling events were determined, the obstacles were cleared off the track and the next set of runners were lining up at the starting blocks. Two heads of red hair immediately caught Jaime’s attention. Bart and Wally were lining up in lanes one and two, while a few more of their track mates joined them in the other lanes.

“Who do you think it’ll be this time?” Barry posed the question aloud.

“I think Bart’s got a running shot.”

Everyone groaned at Don’s poor-quality joke.

“I apologize on my husband’s behalf,” Meloni mostly addressed Jaime, “What he meant was that Bart’s been working on his pacing. He’s the fastest on the team, and has always taken first in all of the sprinting events, but Wally always gives him some good competition for the long distance stuff.”

Jaime nodded thoughtfully. Bart had definitely been fast; no doubt about that. But he was curious to see how he would do in an event that required more endurance. Apparently he would actually have some competition this time, unlike in the sprinting events where Bart had left all of his teammates in the dust.

When the starting gun fired, Jaime found himself actually holding his breath. This first distance was 1500m, just shy of a mile. Jaime could remember having to do the one mile run in P.E. back in high school and how much of a pain it had been. The best time Jaime had ever gotten was just over six minutes.

For the first lap or so, Wally and Bart were neck and neck. The rest of their teammates were about half a lap behind. Then, when they went into the second lap, Bart kicked it up a notch, pulling ahead. Wally kept his own even pace, a schooled look of determination set over his features, while Bart’s lips transformed into a confident smirk.

By the final lap, Bart and Wally were shoulder to shoulder again. It was clear that Wally had the superior skill when it came to pacing, as he had been able to keep the same speed the whole time, whereas Bart’s speed had varied in spurts, depending on his level of endurance. It was unclear which one of them was going to win.

When Jaime looked around at the stands, he could see fans eagerly debating which one of the redheads they thought was going to win. The general consensus seemed to be Wally, but Jaime had a feeling his High School Musical-song-loving caller had a trick up his sleeve.

When they reached the last 100m or so of the race, the stadium burst into cheering, each person of the audience shouting encouragement to their respective runner. Against all odds, and to the surprise of many, Bart burst into a full out sprint, easily overtaking Wally, and crossing the finish line with an enthusiastic whoop.

Jaime was absolutely shocked to say the least. After running three laps, how had Bart found the energy for that last burst of speed?

A time of 4.02 minutes flashed on the screen behind them as the announcer proclaimed Bart the winner. Meloni and Don broke into cheers beside Jaime, and Barry and Iris clapped as well to show their support. Even Jaime found a small smile working it’s way onto his lips as he clapped, in awe of the impressive speed Bart had just displayed.

There was a few minutes between events while the results of the race were recorded and the next set of runners lined up at the starting blocks. Again, both Bart and Wally were among the competitors. This time, the distance was more than double what they had just run at 3200m. Jaime was curious to see how Bart would hold up against the longer distance.

When the starting gun fired, all of the runners took off as a group, rather than Bart and Wally distinguishing themselves from the pack right away. With eight laps to go, Jaime supposed it made sense. No point in going all out during the first half of the race, only to burn out when it really mattered. Bart and Wally would probably wait until the final few laps to burst ahead of their teammates.

Around and around the track they went, keeping pace with one another until the sixth lap. As soon as they passed the starting line, all of the runners kicked it up a notch, and gaps between the competitors became more noticeable. As expected, Wally and Bart pulled ahead of everyone else, and chatter broke out amongst the crowd about which redhead it would be this time.

Barry and Iris seemed to have their money on their nephew (Jaime had finally pieced it together when Barry made the comment about Iris being a West before marriage), whereas Don and Meloni, being the proud parents they were, were betting on their son to come out on top. Jaime couldn’t help being biased, and was also rooting for Bart. After all, he was the whole reason Jaime was at this track meet to begin with.

Bart was giving his all. Halfway into the last lap, he was ahead of Wally by a few steps. It seemed like he had the win in the bag. Then out of nowhere, Wally pulled the same stunt Bart had last time.

Jaime could see Bart do a double take when his cousin passed him, but there was nothing he could do. Bart’s strength was his speed; not endurance. He was only able to give about 80 percent, whereas Wally had paced himself better, and could pour 100 percent of his speed into the last leg of the race.

While Jaime was disappointed to see Bart take second, he was still impressed overall. Wally had beat Bart by two seconds, but Bart had beat the rest of his team by nearly ten seconds, meaning he and Wally had had quite an impressive lead.

Barry, Iris, Don and Meloni were engaged in a chat about the outcome of the latest race, but Jaime found his eyes glued to his not-so-mysterious (anymore) caller. Despite losing the last event, Bart seemed to be a good sport. He and Wally were standing on the sidelines, getting a quick drink and catching their breaths before the final event was set to start. Between gulps of water, Jaime could see the cousins teasing one another, egging each other on, and hyping one another up for the competition of the next race.

When they were called over to the track for the last event, Bart elbowed Wally in the ribs with a cocky smirk on his face, and Wally retaliated by pulling the smaller man into a headlock to ruffle his hair. Jaime didn’t quite know what to make of it, other than that Bart seemed to have a cocky, playful personality. It explained why he had been so adamant about playing the stupid identity game he had roped Jaime into over the phone during his radio segments each night.

The last distance was 5000m, or approximately 12 laps. Just thinking about that much running made Jaime want to cry. Needless to say, he wasn’t a huge fan of running. Other sports, sure, but running was not something Jaime enjoyed for himself. He would have to give massive kudos to Bart for having enough dedication to running to put himself through the 12 lap race.

Again, all of the runners stayed in a pack for the majority of the race. By about lap eight, it was clear who the real endurance runners were. The six competitors had spread out, a few feet behind one another, with Wally leading. There was a black-haired guy on his heels, and following behind him were Bart and another black-haired runner, a little shorter than the man in front of him. Two more runners were taking up the rear.

Laps nine, ten and eleven passed without much change. It wasn’t until they got into the final lap that Bart mustered the energy to pull ahead of his two black-haired teammates and take up the trail behind his cousin.

Wally’s winning time of fourteen minutes and two seconds flashed up on the scoreboard, followed by Bart’s time of 14.08. Jaime almost had to do a double take. When he calculated the math, it meant Bart had averaged a time of approximately a minute and eleven seconds per lap, and Wally had been faster still!

While the judges and officials were confirming the results of all of the events that had taken place, the stadium around Jaime burst to life as audience members began to make their exit down to the track to meet with and congratulate the athletes they had come to support. Beside him, Don, Meloni, Barry and Iris stood from their seats and gathered up their belongings, preparing to go congratulate Bart and Wally on their wins in today’s events.

“You should come with us, Jaime,” Meloni suggested when Jaime didn’t stand up with the rest of them.

Immediately, a stone sank in the college student’s stomach. What would Bart think if he saw Jaime with his parents? He and Bart hadn’t even met yet. How would Jaime be able to explain if Bart’s parents brought up the boyfriend issue?

Reluctantly, Jaime got up to follow the two couples down to the track. He was sweat-dropping. He really hoped Bart’s parents wouldn’t make things awkward.

As soon as he was in range, Don slung an arm around his son’s shoulders, congratulating him on his multiple wins. Meloni also smothered Bart in a hug when she got her opportunity, cooing over how well he had done. Beside them, Barry and Iris were doing much of the same to their nephew, expressing their awe of Wally’s endurance in the long-distance events. Meanwhile, Jaime stood awkwardly by, waiting for a chance to hopefully have a chat with his not-so-mysterious caller.

When the Allens finally separated from their son, Jaime locked eyes with Bart. There was a glint in those green irises that Jaime couldn’t place. It wasn’t good or bad per say; Jaime could only describe it as making him feel on edge, ready to tip one way or the other.

As soon as Meloni noticed the stare between the two boys, she immediately turned on Bart, much to Jaime’s horror.

“Bart! Why haven’t you introduced us to your boyfriend? He’s such a handsome young man.” She used an insistant hand to push Jaime forward, so much so that he almost stumbled and fell into the chest of his supposed “boyfriend”. Luckily, Bart’s hands came up and caught him by the biceps before that could happen.

Both his and Bart’s eyes widened. Pink burned hot on each of their cheeks. Jaime took a quick step back. He felt like he wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

“Well?” Don goaded. “Don’t be shy! I’m glad to see my son’s finally been able to put the Allen-family charm to use! How long have you two been together?”

Jaime could feel the color in his cheeks getting darker by the second. Bart was still giving him this weird look, as if it weren’t his parents who had instigated this whole conversation in the first place. The prolonged awkward eye contact was making Jaime uneasy, and he was tempted to just speak up and shut down Bart’s parent’s idea about him and their son being in a relationship, but before he had the chance, Bart was clearing his throat to speak.

The track star raised a hand to the back of his neck, and Jaime had to do a double-take at the innocent “embarrassed” façade he was now putting on. “Well,” he said, playing bashful, “Guess the cat’s out of the bag, Babe.”

Jaime’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates upon hearing the pet name. Bart was just going to go along with this?!

Without preamble, the redhead slung his arm around Jaime’s shoulders, crushing him into his side in a display of “affection” for his parents’ benefit. “Jaime’s a little shy,” Bart said, when Jaime failed to fill in the silence. “He wanted to keep our relationship a secret. I’m actually a little surprised he came to the track meet today.”

Bart subtly bumped Jaime’s hip with his own, which was a cue for him to talk. It took a moment for the raven-haired boy to scramble for a response. He would play along... for now.

“I had to see if you were as good as you were making yourself out to be,” Jaime had noticed Bart’s encoded message; he hadn’t expected Jaime to take his phone call seriously and show up. Jaime was giving his own back in return (I had to discover who the annoying caller was).

Bart chuckled. “Would I ever lie to you?”

Jaime had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. Now the guy was just laying it on thick.

“Of course not, Chiquito.” The pet name came out from behind clenched teeth.

Luckily, Mel and Donny seemed to buy their act. When it was clear they were in the clear, Bart asked, “Mom, Dad, is it okay if I have a few minutes alone with my boyfriend?”

Meloni and Don shared a look before Don said, “Okay. But no hankey-pankey behind the bleachers!” He waved a finger at them, teasing smile in place over his lips.

Jaime felt himself going pink. “Of course not, Sir,” he managed to get out, in spite of how mixed up this situation had gotten.

Bart grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him a little ways down the track so that they were out of Meloni and Don’s hearing range. As soon as he had the opportunity, Jaime whirled on him.

“What the hell was that back there, ese?” Jaime hissed.

Bart shrugged. “They bought it, didn’t they?”

Jaime felt his eyes narrow into a glare. “Why didn’t you correct them?”

Bart did another shrug, this time with a knowing expression on his face. “It’s not like you said anything either.”

Jaime’s glare fell apart under the truthful accusation. It was his fault for not immediately shutting down the idea when Don had first brought it up to him in the stands.

Bart placed his hands on his hips and began rocking back and forth from the balls of his feet to his heels. “In all honesty, I’m actually surprised you showed up.”

Jaime emulated Bart’s pose, resting a fist against his hip and gesturing with the other. “Well, I couldn’t risk you calling back during my segment tonight and accusing me of being a liar in front of my entire audience, now could I?”

Bart tilted his head in such a way that Jaime had to repress the thought of ‘Oh, that’s cute,’ before it accidentally slipped out of his mouth.

A faint pink blush rose to Bart’s cheeks. “I guess I did kind of back you into a corner, didn’t I?” He raised a hand to the back of his neck, and it was the moment that Jaime realized Bart was genuinely sorry for having done so. While he may have wanted Jaime to show up today, it was clear now that he wouldn’t have used Jaime’s absence as blackmail against him if he had decided not to show.

Not wanting Bart to feel guilty, Jaime shrugged it off. “No es gran cosa.”

A smile worked its way onto Bart’s mouth. “I have no idea what that means, but I’m guessing by the look on your face, you’re not actually all that bothered by it.”

Jaime sighed. “Well, besides inviting me here so I can tell you how much I hate granting your High School Musical requests every night, what exactly is the reason?”

Bart scoffed. “I can’t believe you had the audacity to say that to my face!” He was trying to deliver the line seriously, but the smile on his lips told Jaime that he wasn’t actually offended.

Jaime shrugged, a small smirk working its way onto his own lips. “What can I say? Disney Channel movies are cheesy, and their sound tracks are even worse.”

Bart chuckled. “Your music is too depressing. You need something more upbeat. Less lyrics about death, sad childhoods, and oppression. ‘We’re All in this Together’, right ah-me-go?”

Jaime cringed, both at Bart’s pronunciation and at the stereotypes. His music was more complex than what Bart was making it out to be. Besides, Jaime wasn’t here to argue anyway. Bart had invited him to this track meeting with ulterior motives, and Jaime was determined to figure out what they were.

“Not all of my music is depressing,” Jaime countered. “Besides, you ignored my question. Surely you had some kind of motive in inviting me here besides to just discuss your terrible music taste. I want to know what it is.” Jaime raised both eyebrows.

An unexpected pink blush rose to Bart’s cheeks, covering up the freckles sprayed like paint across his Caucasian skin. “I wanted you to notice me.” Jaime nearly missed the words, for they came out of Bart’s mouth in a whisper.

“You wanted me to notice you?” He repeated the statement, hoping for a bit of an explanation.

Bart’s blush deepened, skin in competition with his hair for reddest feature. His green eyes were piercing the ground, seemingly in an effort to burn a hole big enough to burry himself in to avoid such embarrassment. His fingers twisted harshly against one another. His whole aura had changed from the confident runner he had been on the track to nervous schoolboy.

“We’re in the same physics class.” Bart’s sneaker kicked up a puff of dirt as he ground his toe into the sand.

Jaime blinked. He’d never seen anyone like Bart in his physics class. Was he that non-observant that he had missed him?

“I-I usually sit behind you.” It sounded like Bart was struggling to admit something difficult. Usually Jaime was the shyer one in conversations, so he completely understood what it felt like having to lead a difficult conversation. But he wanted to get to the bottom of this. Bart was on the edge of a confession, and Jaime had to know what it was.

“I noticed how a-attractive—” Bart’s blush deepened yet again— “you were pretty much as soon as I laid eyes on you. I-I wanted to get to know you better, so I asked around a little. Turns out Cassie’s a mutual friend of ours. She told me a little bit about you, from working with you at the radio station, and I did a little bit of research on my own. I looked you up on the school website. I started calling in to your station. I kept asking Cassie if she could find out more about you for me. Your favorite color, food, movie... Any hobbies, or things you like. I started piecing together this picture of you in my mind, using our conversations on the phone to confirm or deny my theories about you. Eventually, I couldn’t take it anymore. I was desperate for you to notice me, so I started dropping hints on the phone, hoping you would take an interest. But you didn’t. And I-I can understand if-if you don’t feel the same way but IthinkIaccidentlyfellinlovewithyou.”

Jaime blinked hard. “¿Qué?” That last bit had left Bart’s mouth in an unintelligible jumble of sounds. Had Bart just admitted he was in love with him?

When Jaime snapped out of his confusion and looked back at Bart, he saw that the track star was struggling to hold back tears. A salty droplet fell from his chin and landed on the ground between them, creating a dark spot in the dirt. His shoulders were trembling with the effort to not let out a cry.

Guilt settled hard in Jaime’s stomach, like a boulder being dropped into a lake. The aftershocks were still rippling through his system. The pieces were slowly coming together.

Bart was in love with him, and wanted the feeling to be mutual. He had called in to Jaime’s radio station, hoping that he could get Jaime to take an interest in him. He wanted Jaime to pursue him, that way he would know for sure that Jaime felt the same way. And Jaime had taken an interest; he’d just done a poor job at showing it.

Hesitantly, Jaime reached a hand forward in an effort to get Bart to look up at him. “Por favor, no llores. Lo siento, I-”

Bart took a step back, angrily wiping his tears away with his fists. “No. I-it’s stupid. I built this idea of you up in my head, and it’s probably not who you are at all. I was just desperate and wanted you to like me back. And I know that me calling you every night was probably annoying and that you probably aren’t even into guys-”

Jaime surged forward, grabbing onto the other boy’s bicep with one hand and cupping his cheek with the other, and did something that surprised himself probably even more than it surprised Bart.

Bart froze, teary eyes wide in shock as Jaime’s lips smashed against his own. He was too surprised to react.

As soon as Jaime realized what he had done, he pulled back, blushing madly. Despite his embarrassment however, he couldn’t help the truth that fell from his lips.

“I am.” When Bart still looked confused, Jaime rushed to clarify. “Into guys. Into... you. I’m bisexual.” He raised a hand to nervously rub at the short raven hairs along the back of his neck, chuckling awkwardly.

Bart seemed to snap out of his stupor. “You’re into me? I didn’t think you were interested. I thought you only came today because I was blackmailing you.”

Jaime’s awkward laugh turned amused. “If you think I showed up today because of your so-called ‘blackmail’, you need a new definition for the word.” He moved his hand from his neck, slipping it into his pocket to pull out his notebook. Jaime flipped it to the page where he had taken down all of the little clues Bart had given to him over the phone and turned the book around to show it to the track star. Bart’s green eyes widened slowly as he read over all of Jaime’s scrupulously written notes.

“I wrote down everything you told me about yourself.”

Bart’s gaze slowly ascended from the page, an awed look in his eyes. Hastily, Jaime closed the notebook and placed it back in his pocket. He shifted his weight from foot to foot in consideration before finally saying, “I’d like a chance to get to know you. I want to give us—” Jaime used a finger to gesture between himself and Bart— “a chance. If that’s... crash?” He tested out the word he’d heard Bart use during a few of their phone calls.

The redhead’s face lit up like a child’s after receiving a piece of candy. “Yeah! That’s totally crash! When are you free?”

“Uh-” Jaime pulled out his phone to check his calendar, and nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder.

“Time to get this show on the road, Kiddos.” When Jaime looked up to see who the hand belonged to, he saw Bart’s father standing between them, his other hand grasping onto his son’s shoulder. “Who knows what you two would get up to if Mel and I left you alone any longer.” Don playfully shook his head, before turning the eyes Bart had inherited from him on his son. “Your mother and I were college sweethearts, too. We know what kind of things kids your age get up to.”

Both Bart and Jaime blushed at the implications.

“Dad!” Bart groaned in embarrassment.

Don chuckled, as if it were all in a day’s work embarrassing his son. He turned to Jaime. “We usually go out as a family after track meets to celebrate. Everyone’ll be there. It’s a good opportunity for Bart to introduce you to the family. If you’re up for going, Jaime?”

The raven-haired student shared a look with his boyfriend? friend? person-he-thought-was-very-attractive-but-wanted-to-get-to-know-a-little-better-before-dating? Bart shrugged.

Jaime felt put on the spot. He and Bart had just discussed the possibility of beginning a relationship, and now he was supposed to meet the ‘rents? Not that he hadn’t already, but that was beside the point. Going out for a meal with Bart’s parents, grandparents, cousin and who-knows-who-else, and having to pretend that he’s madly in love with someone he was just meeting for the first time today? This had the potential to kill any chances he and Bart had at actually beginning a real relationship.

“I’m sorry, I already have plans,” was what Jaime wanted to say. Instead, he said, “Sure. I’d love to get to meet your family, Cariño.”

“Good evening, Tigers! You’re listening to Houston U’s nightly segment. I’m your host, Jaime Reyes-”

“-and his amazing boyfriend, Bart Allen-”

Jaime had to stifle an ‘oomph!’ as his boyfriend of three glorious months slung an arm around his neck and plopped down on his lap, leaning in close to the microphone so that he could be heard, too.

“-Next up we have ‘Flourescent Adolescence’ by Arctic Monkeys-”

“-And after that, ‘I Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You’ from High School Musical!” Bart slammed a finger into the ‘play’ button, starting the next song in the queue, before swinging his leg around so he could straddle Jaime’s lap and drag him into a kiss.

When they pulled apart, Jaime had a pout on his lips. “Who let you in here?” Bart wasn’t supposed to be in the studio, especially when Jaime was live on the air.

The younger smirked deviously. “Cassie might have loned me her key so that I could pay my boyfriend a visit while he was working...”

Jaime shook his head. “Of course she did.”

Bart booped his nose with a fingertip. “Don’t act so put out. You know you looooove me.”

Jaime shook his head, trying to keep a poker face. “Nope. You just tainted my reputation by saying that we’re gonna play High School Musical songs voluntarily. How could I love someone who would pull such a slanderous act against me?”

Bart poked his nose again. “You looooove me.”

Jaime shook his head. His lips threatened to quirk up into a smile. His poker face was cracking. “Nope.”

Bart hovered his lips dangerously close to Jaime’s own. “Admit it, Babe. You love me more than anyone in the world.”

Jaime’s mask crumbled. “Yeah,” he finally admitted. “Te amo con todo mi corazón.” He pulled Bart that little inch forward to kiss him again.

Unfortunately the phone cut their loving moment shorter than either boy wanted. Jaime picked it up.

“Hello, fellow Tiger! You’re on-air with Houston U’s nightly segment. Care to introduce yourself to all the listeners out there?”

“Yeah, Jaime, it’s Gar. I’m glad to hear that you finally found yourself a good partner, but next time you might want to make sure your mic is off before making any declarations of love while you’re live.”

Crimson bloomed to life across the entirety of his face while Gar hung up on the other end of the line. Immediately, the radio host leaned forward and flicked off the switch to his microphone. Jaime buried his face in his hands.

“I hate you!” He directed at Bart in an embarrassed moan.

Bart chuckled. “Nah. You looooove me.”

Here it finally is @purple--waffles! I’m so sorry it took me so long! I’ve been slowly working on it since the day your request arrived in my asks. Life is crazy, and I haven’t had a whole lot of time to write recently, but I really wanted to finish this for you. My mind ran with the prompt, and even though it took me awhile, hopefully the length makes up for it??? Maybe? Anyways, I hope you enjoy it!

#young justice #yj #bart allen #jaime reyes #kid flash #impulse #blue beetle #bluepulse #asks #answers #writing requests #sorry this took me a little while to finish

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lorenamackellar-blog · 5 years

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benjaminjamestaylor · 5 years

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My Top 10 Albums of 2018

If you know me well, you know I do this every year. It’s not in the hope that people will read it; more a sort of time capsule that I can look back on in the future and fondly remember the music that soundtracked my year. Some years, there’s a clear and obvious number one (Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly in 2015, for example). Others – such as this one – are more of a close-run thing, with the top spots changing sometimes as late as the writing process.

Before I get to my top ten, I would be remiss not to mention a few albums that missed out but have nonetheless been regulars in my rotation this year. Firstly, I should tip my cap to the experimentation shown by Beach House, Ben Howard, and Low, all of whom showed a refreshing intent to break from their norm and make some greatly interesting music. I’m also acutely aware of the lack of representation for R&B and hip-hop in my top ten – I didn’t ignore these genres, it just so happened that they weren’t among my ten favourites. Kids See Ghosts and Earl Sweatshirt in particular came close, and Janelle Monáe was another that I enjoyed greatly. Here’s my honourable mentions list in full:

Beach House – 7; Ben Howard – Noonday Dream; Low – Double Negative; Janelle Monáe – Dirty Computer; Brockhampton – Iridescence; Anderson .Paak – Oxnard; Villagers – The Art of Pretending to Swim; Jeff Tweedy – WARM; Matt Maltese – Bad Contestant; Kids See Ghosts – Kids See Ghosts; Pusha T – Daytona; Earl Sweatshirt – Some Rap Songs; Parquet Courts – Wide Awake; Kurt Vile – Bottle It In; The Beths – Future Me Hates Me; Jungle – For Ever; Courtney Barnett – Tell Me How You Really Feel; Mitski – Be The Cowboy; Hop Along – Bark Your Head Off Dog; Lucy Dacus – Historian.

Also, here’s a Spotify playlist of all my favourite tracks from the year.

Now on to the top ten…

10. Blood Orange – Negro Swan

I’ve got a soft spot for a true album – one that’s greater than the sum of its parts, and should be listened to as a whole. There are actually very few tracks on Negro Swan that hit home outside the context of the album. But there’s so much to like here: the way tracks flow into each other, punctuated by regular snippets of dialogue from the likes of transgender activist Janet Mock. The word that defines this album is ‘introspection’ – there are regular references to the desire to be loved and the fear of allowing oneself to be loved completely. At times the tracks feel frustratingly unfinished, and that’s all that keeps this at the back end of my top ten.

Highlights: ‘Saint’, ‘Charcoal Baby’, ‘Nappy Wonder’

9. Snail Mail – Lush

It’s been a hell of a year for young, female indie rockers (more on that later…), and Lindsey Jordan (A.K.A. Snail Mail) is perhaps the most prodigious of them all. The teenager’s debut, Lush, is a highly impressive record that showcases her signature sound: subtle, twinkly guitar melodies and foot-tapping drum beats. It tails off a little towards the back end of the album, as the novelty of her style begins to wear off. You wonder if this was a record she rushed into making, to capitalise on the considerable hype around her. If that’s the case, it’s a shame as a few more songs to the standard of ‘Pristine’ and ‘Heat Wave’ may have pushed this album up into my top five.

Highlights: ‘Pristine’, ‘Heat Wave’, ‘Stick’

8. The 1975 – A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships

This album is getting a lot of love, and I’ll admit that on first listen I didn’t get the hype. The 1975 are a somewhat controversial band – they face lavish praise and upturned noses in seemingly equal measure. There were moments of their absurdly-titled previous record that I liked, but their overly synthetic sound and Matty Healy’s unique vocal style are occasionally grating. ABIIOR has its flaws, but there’s also much to admire. They’ve incorporated a variety of styles, from stripped-back acoustic to arena pop and even jazz. The obvious themes of life and love in a digital age are well-explored and the production is, at times, gorgeous. Stick with it – it might just grow on you.

Highlights: ‘Love It If We Made It’, ‘Inside Your Mind’, ‘I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)’

7. U.S. Girls – In A Poem Unlimited

In many ways, this record is a better executed version of the 1975’s. Meg Remy looks at similar themes of our problematic modern world, though in her case she explores them through a lens of feminine anger. Songs like ‘Rage of Plastics’ and ‘M.A.H.’ are direct, furious tirades towards American politics in the Obama era. The instrumentation and production is staggeringly brilliant throughout, with each track demonstrating a different string from Remy’s bow. On ‘Rosebud’, she channels her inner Madonna to produce one of the finest, most listenable indie pop tunes of the year.

Highlights: ‘M.A.H.’, ‘Rosebud’, ‘L-Over’

6. Maribou State – Kingdoms In Colour

My favourite electronic album of the year, Kingdoms In Colour improves on Maribou State’s encouraging debut, 2015’s Portraits. The improvements lie in their balance between the dance-pop hits, where they utilise long-time collaborator Holly Walker on vocals, and the more experimental, sample-based pieces that make up the rest of the album. It’s the latter that leave the most lasting impression, no better than on ‘Vale’, with the sample of Melanie de Baliso’s ‘I Feel You’ dovetailing beautifully with the group’s accompanying melody. If you’re looking for an album to put on as a backing track at your next party, look no further.

Highlights: ‘Beginner’s Luck’, ‘Nervous Tics’, ‘Vale’

5. Big Red Machine – Big Red Machine

A collaboration between Bon Iver and the National was never going to be bad, was it? Big Red Machine doesn’t quite hit the heights you might expect from such a high-profile meeting of minds, but there are enough moments of genius here to make it an album worth revisiting repeatedly. For the most part, Justin Vernon leaves his trademark complex song structures at the door in favour of simpler, more lineal compositions. This leads to some tracks feeling repetitive at times, although even these feature a central hook strong enough to keep you interested. And on 'Lyla', with its polyrhythms and meandering structure, there are hints of the exciting fruits this partnership could eventually produce.

Highlights: ‘Lyla’, ‘Hymnostic’, ‘I Won’t Run From It’

4. Arctic Monkeys – Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino

Perhaps Arctic Monkeys’ most divisive album since Humbug, TBHAC is also their bravest and most ambitious. It’s essentially a concept album – tales of a futuristic hotel on the moon brought to life by Alex Turner’s controversial switch from guitar to piano. It’s no surprise that the album has alienated some of the band’s more fundamentalist fans, as there’s a blatant lack of Turner’s usual indie dancefloor hits as well as a side-lining of outstanding drummer Matt Helders. Instead, we’re treated to songs without clear structures and, aside from ‘Four Out Of Five’, catchy choruses. Turner occasionally strays too far towards self-indulgence (‘Batphone’ is a difficult listen), but he’s still a remarkable lyricist and he’s produced an album that cements their status as the band of their era.

Highlights: ‘Star Treatment’, ‘American Sports’, ‘Four Out Of Five’

3. boygenius – boygenius EP

I may be cheating a tad here by including an EP, but given that there’s as much to enjoy here as on many fine albums released this year, you’ll excuse me. boygenius are a supergroup of sorts, featuring female up-and-comers Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus. Individually, all three are well worth a listen. But their collaborative EP propels them to new heights. Each has their own songwriting moments (two each from the six-track EP), and these intertwine through stunning vocal harmonies to form a completely cohesive collection of songs. The finest moments are Bridgers’, with her soft vocal timbre particularly captivating on ‘Me And My Dog’. We can only hope the success of this experiment results in a full-length album in 2019.

Highlights: ‘Me And My Dog’, ‘Souvenir’, ‘Ketchum, ID’

2. Kacey Musgraves – Golden Hour

No album surprised me more in 2018 than this one. After a slew of out-of-this-world reviews, I decided I had to give Golden Hour at least one listen – if only to be able to confirm it as what almost all country pop albums are: ‘not for me’. The thing is, this record transcends genre, and even those who like neither country nor pop will appreciate its beauty and the quality of its songs. Everything on Golden Hour is well-executed: Musgraves sings beautifully; the instrumentation feels minimal yet rounded; the production is absolutely on-point; and the melodies are to die for. There are even psychedelic elements throughout – nods to Musgraves’ use of acid during the album’s production. Give this album a chance, leave your prejudices at the door, and you’ll be treated to a simply perfect collection of pop songs.

Highlights: ‘Slow Burn’, ‘Wonder Woman’, ‘High Horse’

1. Soccer Mommy – Clean

As I mentioned, this wasn’t a runaway number one. But the more I re-listened to my shortlist, the more it became clear that Clean was the strongest candidate for top spot. Snail Mail and boygenius have already taken spots in my top ten, demonstrating what a strong year it has been for female indie vocalists. But Soccer Mommy’s (Sophie Allison’s) album just feels like the finished product that both Snail Mail and boygenius are aiming to eventually produce.

Clean doesn’t just contain great songs with deliciously spiky lyrics (the opening line of ‘Your Dog’ is a belter), it also feels so well balanced. Laid-back, melancholy tunes like ‘Still Clean’ and ‘Blossom’ are countered by catchy indie numbers like ‘Cool’ and ‘Skin’. Allison’s voice seems refined too – perfectly able to handle those two ends of the spectrum. Considering the album centres on a feeling of teenage angst, the sound feels remarkably mature. It’s a worthy album of the year.

Highlights: ‘Cool’, ‘Skin’, ‘Blossom (Wasting All My Time)’

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btsbrainfood · 7 years

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Maybe

Characters: Namjoon x Reader

Genre: Fluff ~~~

Word Count: 2237

Summary: With the help of a sarcastic remark by Yoongi, you manage to come up with the perfect present for Namjoon on his birthday.

(A/N: aaaa okay so I power produced this fic in a short amount of time so if there's any mistakes I apologize! The time where I am right now is just before midnight on September 12, so I had to make sure I posted before Joonie's 'technical' bday was over lmao.,,,but it's rlly sweet I promise, so I hope you enjoy <3 btw the song that this fic references is Maybe by Birdy, so give it a listen if you would like to! shoutout to the Birdy song on Jungkook's Spotify playlist)

You could feel his eyes on you from across the living room. Uncomfortably, you curled yourself deeper into the blankets you had snatched from the corner of the room. Burying yourself into the edge of the couch, you tried desperately to calm your sudden stuttering heartbeat and the pink blush that was growing on your face embarrassingly fast. You lifted your eyes to turn your attention to the two idiots goofing off with each other on the opposite couch, clutching game controllers in their hands and yelling excitedly when they beat the other.

You didn’t know if he was still looking at you, but considering the intense feeling of someone’s eyes on you that just wouldn’t go away, you assumed that he was. Boldly, you snapped your gaze up to his face and saw a glimpse of his eyes quickly flickering away from yours. You had to applaud his effort, he had almost gotten away without being caught by you. Almost. You felt a tiny bubble of confidence start to surface within you with the knowledge that he didn’t want to be caught staring at you. But that feeling was quickly covered up with utter bashfulness, your shyness when it came to any feeling of these sort getting the best of you.

It wasn’t your original plan to be here, when the reality was you should be using this time to study. In the middle of cramming for your exams coming up, books lying open on your desk in front of you, your phone had started abruptly going off next to you. You had picked up the phone only to be met with the playfully screaming voices of your friends Hobi and Taehyung, who started shouting over each other into the speaker. You had smiled against the receiver before finally being able to decipher what they were trying to tell you.

“Y/N! Come over here and hang with us, we’re bored.” You recognized Taehyung’s playful voice from the other end of the line as he dramatically stretched out the word bored. There was a rustling noise, and then you heard Hobi’s voice sound from the speaker. “You can’t spend every waking second studying, Y/N. Come and hang out for a bit with us. You need a break.” You could hear the smile in his voice as you realized he was probably right. You needed to loosen up, and there was no way you would be able to focus on your exams if your brain was fried from studying so much. So you agreed, but now you were starting to question your decision.

“So, Y/N.” You lifted your head up, snapping out of your daze. The game was paused on the television screen and you glanced over to see Taehyung looking at you smiling slyly. Turning and leaning backwards slightly he laid his head on the arm rest, moving his legs on top of Hobi’s lap. Hobi batted at them with a displeased expression before giving up and resorted to crossing his arms over the younger’s feet. Tae turned his head sideways eyeing you, before saying, “You know it’s Namjoon’s birthday in a few days, don’t you?”

A light chuckle met your ears from across the living room and you felt tiny butterflies flutter in your stomach at the sound. But you remained your composure, looking up to meet Namjoon’s eyes with a small smile growing on your face. “Of course, how could I forget?” You played along while sitting up to slightly unwrap yourself from your blanket cocoon. A ghost of a smile laced itself on Namjoon’s face, and you didn’t move your gaze as he blinked and looked down at his feet.

“Oh? You already have a present picked out?” Hobi said with a snicker as he toyed with Taehyung’s toes before resorting to ferociously tickling them. Taehyung yelped before kicking his feet violently, eventually causing him to roll off of the couch and onto the floor. You laughed at him for a few seconds before letting his question sink in. Of course you knew that Namjoon’s birthday was shockingly soon, the problem was that you had been trying to think up the perfect present for him for what felt like weeks. None of your ideas seemed to match right.

“You should give him a song or something for his birthday. I mean, he always freaks out whenever he hears you sing, you know.” A calm and familiar voice sounded from just outside the living room, and everyone in the room looked up to see Yoongi casually stroll around the corner, looking at the phone in his hand.

“Hyung, how long were you standing over there and not bothering to walk in and say something?” Hobi asked sarcastically, not truly surprised. Yoongi shrugged in response, still gazing at his phone screen with a slight crease between his eyebrows. “Just trying to help.” He muttered under his breath as he walked over and sat down next to you. Yoongi had said it as if he didn’t think you would really take it seriously, but the idea hit something within you. Call it inspiration, or a sense of realization. Now that you looked back on it, every time you would subtly hum along to the radio while he was present the room would suddenly get quiet. Did he really like your singing that much? You were too preoccupied contemplating this new idea to notice the daggers that Namjoon started sending Yoongi, or how his ears started to flush a slight shade of pink.

You finally came to a decision on what you were going to do. Standing up more abruptly than you intended, the boys in the room looked up at you in question. Fumbling for an excuse, you casually said something about having to get back to your studying. They all shouted a few quick goodbyes as you gathered your things and headed out, back to your place.

The next day, you were walking down the street with your bag over your shoulder, a small, nervous smile seemingly transfixed on your face. Earlier you had sent a few texts to Yoongi, arranging to meet up with him at the place you were heading to now. Anxiously, your steps slowed as you were met by your destination. Pushing the door open, you made your way inside.

The near moment you stepped inside the building you saw Yoongi standing in the entrance hallway, leaning against the wall. He met your eyes, before giving you a small smile. You raised your hand halfheartedly and gave him a wave. “Hey.” He murmured as he stood up to start leading you further into the building. Soon enough you found yourself inside of his studio, glancing around to take in everything that made up his workspace. You stood there lost in thought for a moment, before you felt a light nudge on your shoulder and turned to see Yoongi watching you, something that resembled amusement dancing in his eyes. “So, are you ready for this?” He asked playfully, but there was a sort of serious undertone to his voice.

“Yeah,” You responded. It didn’t sound like enough, so you added confidently, “Let’s give Namjoon one of the best birthday presents he’ll ever receive.” The smile that grew on your face was as genuine as the air you breathed in through your lungs, exhaling any negative feelings you might have had earlier. Yoongi nodded at you, and the two of you got to work.

Namjoon slipped on his light jacket, heading out to gather the mail for the day. Yawning, he closed the door behind him and started walking down to the small cluster of mailboxes, one of which contained the things he was looking for. It was a bit earlier in the morning than he was used to, but he had gotten up at this time on purpose. The cool, morning September air clinged onto him through his jacket, but somehow it made everything perfect. Like just another piece of a big jigsaw puzzle, fitting in right where it was supposed to be. It was the day of his birthday, and he always enjoyed waking up as early as he could muster on his birthdays, wanting to be awake for it as much as he could. That night he would probably go to sleep later than usual as well, just to experience as much as he could fit into one day. He only had a birthday once a year, after all. So why not enjoy as much of it as he could?

Finally, he reached the mailbox he was looking for. He reached in, feeling a handful of letters of different sizes. Pulling them out, he was greeted with wild varieties of colors and some misshapen envelopes. The purest of smiles grew on his face, already knowing that they were all from the other members, who always gave him an array of cards on his birthday. There were a few from some of his more distant friends as well, the addresses scribbled on the envelopes blinking in familiarity. But on the bottom of the stack was a gray envelope, with no return address.

Not wanting to wait until he was back inside, his curiosity got the better of him as he ripped open the gray envelope. On the inside of the flap, there were a few small words scribbled in familiar handwriting. They read, For Joonie, I hope you like it as much as I hope you will.~

He knew the handwriting, the way all of the ys looped over their own tails. But for some reason he couldn’t put his finger on it. Sliding his finger into the envelope and widening the opening, he peered in only to be met with nothing except for a small flash drive. He shook it out of the envelope and into his hand, holding it up to examine it curiously. Shrugging, he slipped it into his pocket and turned, cards in hand. Eventually he made it back inside, closing the door behind him and making his way in, excited for the rest of the day to unfold.

Later, Namjoon stood in front of the computer in his studio. A crease between his eyebrows, he pulled the flash drive out from his pocket, staring at it for a few seconds before shutting off his thoughts and plugging it into his computer. A notice popped up on the screen, showing the contents of the flash drive. The only thing that showed up under contents was a lone audio file. Namjoon quirked an eyebrow, snatching up his headphones and putting them on before double clicking the file. The screen was consumed in darkness, and he heard the quiet sound of static-like silence that signified the beginning of a recording.

Maybe~

I know it’s just maybe

And we’re only dreaming

For how this will go

Your smooth voice flowed into Namjoon’s ears, and he lifted his head in shock, reaching up to place his hands over the muffs his headphones. He took a seat, listening to your crooning voice continue the sweet and cheery melody.

But maybe

One day this daydream

Will turn into real things

For all that we know~

Namjoon smiled the hardest he had the whole day, sitting still and listening to the rest of the song play. He knew it would be in his head for hours, if not days to come. Finally, the last note of the song was hit, and the audio track ended with a click. Namjoon slipped off his headphones, letting them fall around his neck. Still smiling, he pulled out his phone and sent a text to you.

I got the song… |6:24 pm

He watched the screen as you opened his text, the little R showing that you had read it. A typing bubble showed up after a few seconds, and eventually your response was sent.

Oh? What did you think? |6:26 pm

Namjoon contemplated his response for a minute or so, before typing out his answer.

I liked it. A lot, actually. |6:28 pm

The response from you came sooner than he expected, and as he quickly skimmed your text he knew that you hadn’t caught on to what he truly meant.

I’m glad. Happy birthday, Joonie |6:28 pm

Beginning to type again, he felt a bubble of confidence rise in him. Pressing send, he patiently waited for your answer.

Still, not as much as I like you, Y/N. |6:29 pm

He watched in amusement as the bubble signifying you typing appeared, then disappeared just as quickly. This repeated quite a few times before he let out a chuckle and refused to save you, turning off his phone and leaving you to yourself. He stood up, spontaneously deciding to visit your place so that you could continue the conversation there. Stopping abruptly while he was halfway out the doorway, he pivoted on one foot and turned back to his computer, reaching forward and making sure to click ‘save file to computer’. Another smile played on his lips as he imagined your astonished expression when he turned up at your door, and he revelled in the idea as he walked out of the room, closing the door to his studio behind him. The day had definitely lived up to his expectations, being the best birthday he had experienced in a while.

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entergamingxp · 4 years

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Song of Horror is a quietly inventive homage to survival horror’s glory days • Eurogamer.net

What does safety sound like in a game? We spend a lot of time as players thrilling over compositions and effects that get the adrenaline flowing – spectral piano, frantic violins, ambient mitherings that might, if you’re very lucky, just be a broken aircon – but what about the compositions and effects that soothe and reassure? The Resident Evil series is full of them: bundle together every last Save Room melody and you’ve got a half-decent yoga playlist, though I’d probably chuck in some Okami or whatever to lift the mood. Gears of War has that satisfied guitar purr when you’ve winkled out every last Locust. The Sunless games have their port themes, wafted to you from off-screen like smoke on the breeze – music indeed to the captain coasting home on their last few lumps of coal.

And what of Song of Horror, Protocol’s absorbing homage to the Silent Hills and Alone in the Darks of yesteryear? In Song of Horror, safety is a soft tap, right on the edge of hearing, like somebody very carefully setting down a glass. All being well, you’ll hear it after a few seconds when you put your ear to a door. The tap, which surely represents a lot of calculation on the part of the audio designer, is a vital cue in a game where silence has many textures. Sometimes, silence sounds like silence. And sometimes, it sounds… bonier. Squelchier. As though you had your ear pressed against a misbehaving stomach. In which case, opening that door is… unwise. Better to switch to your map screen, work out another route, and hope like hell that when next you put your ear to a door, the tap is all you can hear.

Now three of five episodes in, Song of Horror is a third-person, combat-free spookfest with automatic camera perspectives and a refreshing taste for the procedural. Players rove dark, abandoned buildings solving puzzles while evading various ambient threats known collectively as the Presence. Snooping at doors is crucial because said threats – which kill off characters forever, should you fail the associated QTEs – are ever-changing, assuming different forms at different times in different places, based on a mixture of loose scripting and monitoring of player behaviour. You’re hurrying down some stairs, brandishing a candlestick like the shotgun you sorely wish you had, when oily black handprints blossom all over the walls. You’re inspecting a desk when something bandaged and breathy pops up on the other side of it, snuffling for your blood.

Who exactly you’re playing is one of the more important variables, though not, I think, as decisive as it should be. There are four character stats, Serenity, Strength, Speed and Stealth, which lightly skew the odds ahead – the first two determine how difficult it is beat those QTEs, while Stealth appears to set the basic probability of an encounter triggering in any given room. More substantially, choice of character alters the mood of the space you’re in, as each character describes each interactive object a different way – a quietly surprising flourish that hasn’t been developed to the full. Last year I wrote about how it feels to return to Resident Evil 2’s police station in different games, the phantom-limb disquiet of finding familiar objects altered or removed, old rooms expanded or sewn shut. Song of Horror is also about the relentless return of a space, a space that both has a mind of its own and is gently (re)characterised by the poor souls doomed to roam it.

Each episode stars a different building and gives you three or four characters to play with, some (providing they survive) carried over between episodes. Lose a character and you must try again with the next, retracing their steps to gather up the items they were carrying and the bloody, bitten-off threads of whatever riddle they were unravelling. The first is set in the gloomy mansion home of a novelist, Sebastian Husher, whose disappearance owes something to the music box you can hear, warbling away behind the skirting boards. You might begin here as Sophie van Denend, an art dealer searching for her ex-husband. Sophie comes armed with scented candles, useful for creating a calm atmosphere that minimises the chances of an icky manifestation. She can also name and date the house’s ominous paintings, some of which play a role in puzzles.

The robust and heavy-drinking Alexander Laskin, meanwhile, is one of the Husher family’s housekeepers. He lacks Sophie’s book smarts, but he understands each painting’s history within the house, remembering where they used to hang and how it felt to work around them. Security technician Alina Ramos is a stranger to both the Hushers and fine art, but she does know how to deactivate a door alarm, and has plenty to say about the house’s former occupants based on her own family background.

In changing characters the character of the building changes, which makes killing people off essential to appreciation of Song of Horror, as morbid as that may seem. Sadly, the script isn’t that hot, and the voice-acting is B-movie to the hilt (there’s an English character who sounds like he’s doing a drunken impression of Eddie Izzard’s drunken impression of James Mason), but the game gets enough out of its relatively unusual ensemble premise to keep you guessing. You only need to keep one particular character alive between episodes to progress the story – a run-of-the-mill Lovecraftian race to determine the origins of a cursed artefact – so feel free to let the odd person go for the sake of variety. Characters don’t quite vanish when the Presence snaffles them, mind you. There’s never a body, but the victim may linger on in other ways.

Song of Horror’s obvious strength is its architecture and interior design, which spurns the genre’s beloved impossible geometry in favour of good old-fashioned sense-of-place. The Husher estate is smaller, but every bit as intricate as Resident Evil’s legendary Umbrella mansion, and rather less silly of structure. It’s divided between the housekeepers’ quarters, a winding basement, a small library, an office, bedrooms, creepy playrooms – there’s a dollshouse that uncannily resembles the one you’re in – and a mouldering attic. Episode 2 takes you to an antique shop with an eerie fairground attraction in the lobby, backing out onto apartments where the owner and his daughter live. The quality of the interior design is heightened by solid camera composition: think views from a ceiling corner, as though your fly on the wall were the Babadook, and head-on tracking shots that deny you a clear look at what awaits you down the hall. A little disappointingly, the university in episode 3 consists of three, separately loading departments rather than a persistent space, but it does contain one terrific puzzle that troubles the border between image and reality.

The puzzles are gentle, quite varied, and mostly intuitive: good and bad, they exist to keep you shuttling back and forth between the far corners of the layout, in the face of the Presence’s efforts to box you in or scare you off. Many are just about combining objects (which can be rotated in the pause screen to reveal clues) in mildly eccentric ways. Some are numbers-based, others see you matching telltale details in documents to things like library signs. There’s perhaps one puzzle that is just plain annoying, a meandering riddle left for you by a smug professor (as with dialogue lines like “not another fetchquest?!” having characters call a puzzle irritating in the game does not actually lessen the irritation). The puzzles are best when they symbolise some element of the story being played out, and when they work with or against the structure that contain them. The dollhouse, inevitably, is more than it seems.

Song of Horror’s greatest weakness is, alas, probably the Presence itself. It’s oppressive indeed when out of view, because you’re always wondering when it will show up. You learn to time its appearances, and there’s nothing like the dread when you’re close to completing an episode but overdue a reckoning. The Presence’s actual manifestations aren’t that startling, however – think skellingtons and tentacles – and the problem with this being a procedural affair is that you quickly start to think of the scares as mechanical moving parts. The QTEs are as divisive as QTEs tend to be. I’d rather not spoil either the specific dangers or how you escape from them, but suffice to say you can expect button-bashing and rhythm-matching. The latter bits led to the game being all but unplayable over the winter, thanks to a performance bug that made it impossible to keep time; thankfully, this seems to have been fixed.

Song of Horror’s spooks aren’t quite worthy of the build-up, then, but isn’t that true of every monster, once it has shambled into the spotlight? The quality of the game’s location design, together with the not-quite-realised potential of its ensemble premise, make it something more than a Greatest Hits. It’s like a collection of planetary fragments that has mustered enough gravity to form a brand new planet. I’m looking forward to episode 4, out at the end of the month, which takes place in a ruined medieval abbey. Who knows what lurks behind those ancient doors? Better listen extra-carefully for the tap. Mind you, fostering a sense of security is one of the more devious tools in the horror designer’s arsenal. Perhaps where this game’s safer flavours of silence are concerned, the other shoe is still waiting to drop.

Song of Horror is out now on PC, and coming to PS4 and Xbox One this year.

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/01/song-of-horror-is-a-quietly-inventive-homage-to-survival-horrors-glory-days-%e2%80%a2-eurogamer-net/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=song-of-horror-is-a-quietly-inventive-homage-to-survival-horrors-glory-days-%25e2%2580%25a2-eurogamer-net

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mpicowen · 5 years

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Beginnings

I’m starting this blog a little late, so I will try to outline everything I have already done with correct dates.

I found my artist to record - The Truly Rasmussen Band - on the 29th of January. Her style is encompasses a variety of genres ranging from indie folk to dream pop. More information can be found on her facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/trulyrasmussen/ . She told me that she had three songs that were EP ready and was getting a bassist and drummer together for the band so I would not need to source these musicians. I booked studio time for early March and several microphones. We discussed how best to record the band and we settled on recording all instrumentation at once, a method which will give a more natural, organic feel to the music.

While discussing a feel for the EP, we identified reference tracks and stylistic choices. When we identified artists and songs, I created a playlist of them; these consisted mainly of songs by Snail Mail, Japanese Breakfast and Big Thief. Stylistically we landed on creating a “dreamy vibe”. This would include a large use of space and reverb. Truly sent me demos of her playing the songs, rough recordings only containing her vocals and guitar parts.

For the drummer I chose to book out the AKG Rhythm pack, as well as two Beyerdynamic M160s and a few SM57s. I plan to replace the overhead mics given in the Rhythm pack for the M160s as the ribbon mics give a slightly brighter overall tone that I believe will suit the style of music. I then plan to use 3 SM57s for the snare: one above, one below, and one that will be heavily compressed, sitting in between the snare, hi-hat, kick and high tom to give a foundation to this area of the kit. This has an effect similar to parallel compression. The rest of the rhythm pack will then be used on the toms and kick respectively. While having 9 microphones on the kit may sound over the top, I believe it creates a crisp image of the drums that allows every element to shine through. For bass guitar I booked out a DI Box as the bassist will be recorded in the same room as the drummer. To record the electric guitar I have booked the Neumann U87 and the Shure SM7B microphones, both very well made microphones that work very well with amplified sound. For vocals I have booked out 3 mics for testing, however many other mics listed here could also be used. The Mojave MA-200, the Telefunken CU-29 and the Shure SM58 are the mics I have chosen to test. The Mojave and Telefunken are both brilliant tried and tested male vocal mics and I am hoping that this will translate over to a female voice well, while the SM58 has been chosen to emulate the live sound - whether this will work or not is another matter.

The vocals will first be recorded as a guide while the instruments are being recorded, before later being re-recorded with no spill. As Truly will be singing and playing guitar simultaneously I will need to think about spill coming from the vocals onto the guitar tracks.

Thursday 14th Feb

I received a couple of demos from Truly a few days ago and have begun to add arrangements to them. I have started with cello and violin, but I am also planning to add piano and a synth pad. I have chosen these instruments as I feel they would be able to add to the dreamy landscape that Truly is looking for. First I had to figure out the key and scales of the songs, which all turned out to be in E Major. Then I had the challenge of actually composing parts. One major issue I came into while doing this was that none of the songs were recorded to a metronome so I couldn’t simply just write the parts in using the DAW; instead I had to record my parts in using an MIDI keyboard. This limited me to only being able to write parts that I myself could play on the piano. In other projects this lack of complexity in the parts could cause problems, however as this is a more spacious project slower, legato parts were more complementary to the music.

Monday 18th Feb

Truly has now heard the arrangements that I have added to the songs. She seemed to enjoy the parts, however she also described them as weird. This was due to the way I had interpreted her songs. One song she had envisioned as a more angry song, however I (and her mother) had identified them as more ballad, “soundtrack” style songs. We also had a chance to discuss some more pre-production, such as what the band would need to bring to the session, whether they would be happy to record to a metronome and the day plans of the session.

Wednesday 20th Feb

Truly has changed her mind regarding arrangement. This is fine as I still have other ways to help shape the music as a producer and can explore other avenues, especially in terms of engineering in the studio.

Thursday 21st Feb

There is one song which may still require some arrangement, as Truly wishes to play the song without drums or bass. Unfortunately this is the song that I received a little later than the other and so have not done any arrangements for it yet, if it even requires any. This gives me 10 days to arrange and source musicians for the parts if I wish to record them during the same sessions as the band. I have also begun to make a template in Logic for the session to speed up time in the studio. For now I will look into interesting production techniques, production techniques used for the reference tracks and work on figure out if there is any more pre-production I will need to do.

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joementa · 7 years

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Week of April 17, 2017 - We Love RSD, and We Miss Prince.

I hope everyone had a great day on Record Store Day and was able to get all of the releases that they wanted. Record Store Day is a really special day for me, and I think it probably is for most music lovers. Record stores are the gateway to a world of musical discovery, and they need to be supported as much as possible. Obviously record stores should be supported for more than one day a year, but what’s fun about Record Store Day is that so many music lovers are all there on one day, and often at the same time. Meeting these people is very exciting. One of things I love most about music is hearing others talk about their favorite musicians. It doesn’t matter at all if it’s a band or musician that I also like. But when you have a conversation with someone about his/her favorite musician, you can see and feel their passion, which is the same passion that you have for your own favorite musician. How great is that!

I was really pleased with the release list for this year’s Record Store Day, and I was able to get nearly everything that I wanted. That included releases from some of my favorite musicians, including Bruce, Prince (SIX 12” maxi-singles!), DMB, Against Me! Pearl Jam, Jason Isbell, Drive-By Truckers, The Goo Goo Dolls, and The Black Crowes (with Jimmy Page). Yes, it took getting to the store hours before the store actually opened but I didn’t mind at all. I have been doing this for a few years now, and it’s a lot of fun talking music with other people who just love music. You get to spend a few hours of your day with people who just “get it.”

While the town I live in has two record stores, I only shop at one of them, Electric Avenue. They do Record Store Day the way record stores should. Everything is on a “first come, first served” basis, and all of the releases are perfectly organized. There’s no mad rush to get inside when the store opens. The releases aren’t placed randomly in a bunch of boxes. Their entire stock is in alphabetical order, so as long as you carefully go through the crates, you won’t miss a release as long as it’s in stock. If there’s a release that you want, all you have to do is show up early and you’ll get it. That’s pretty simple. So to the guy in the back of the line a few years ago who told me to hurry up, I will tell you the same thing I told you then, “Next time, just get here early, bro.”

After hitting up the record store in the morning on RSD, we actually went back to the store because there was an in-store acoustic performance by a band called The GoAround. I had never heard of them before, and therefore had never heard their music before, but I loved it. It seemed like there was a lot of 90s rock influenced in their sound, as well as just traditional, all-time classic rock influence as well. I enjoyed it a lot. We stayed for the entire hour of their set, and I’m pretty sure that as long as they keep playing shows, I will end up seeing more than just one hour of them performing. Here’s a link to their website (which also contains a link to their Facebook site – it looks like that gets updated a bit more than the website). Then before we left for the day, we had to buy some more music. Thou shalt not leave a record store empty handed.

Friday was the first anniversary of Prince’s passing. I hope you spent some time over the weekend commemorating one of the most talented musicians that has existed on this planet. There were numerous interesting articles about Prince that were released over the past week or so. Here’s one that appeared in Friday’s NYT, about all of the artifacts they’ve found in Paisley Park. 7000 items so far, and it’s not even 5%! Here’s a link to that article. Hasit Shah wrote a very interesting article for NPR’s The Record, that’s about how we might approach new Prince releases from his vault. But it’s primarily about something that I think all of us Prince fans are saying….we just miss him, and we always will. Here’s a link to Hasit Shah’s article.

I listened to nothing but Prince on Friday, and I still don’t feel like I listened to enough! One of the great things about Prince was his variety of genres, all the while continuing to make great music. I made a playlist that you can find right here that shows the proof of this. These are twenty fantastic songs that weren’t even hits. Your mind gets boggled even more when you imagine how many great songs are in the vault. Hopefully one day we’ll find out.

Just like one of my other favorite musicians, I could go on and on about Prince. That’s funny, because I think Prince and that other musician have a lot in common. Prince gets compared to Michael Jackson a lot, but I think comparing Prince to another singular-named musician who was very popular in the 80’s is more appropriate. Nope, I am not talking about Madonna either. I am talking about Bruce. Think about it. Both approached music as something that would save your life. Both were very controlling about their own music. They never wanted to do the same thing twice. They crushed the guitar (Eric Clapton was once asked what it was like to be the greatest guitarist in the world. He said “I don’t know, go ask Prince”. And Bruce was always known as the fastest guitarist in Jersey). They crushed the songs and the songwriting, seemingly effortlessly. Unlike other older musicians, they continued to create and try new things with their music.

Oh, and the live shows. Let’s not forget those. Both are known as two of the greatest performers ever. I can vouch for Bruce – the bar is so high that a three hour show is considered short. Unfortunately I cannot say the same for Prince because I unfortunately never got to see him live. The stories are legendary and I don’t doubt it for a second. The man lived and breathed music. There was no way he would approach a show casually.

I don’t even think I covered all of the similarities between Prince and Bruce, but I’ll let a COVER (get it?) speak for itself. As I write this, one year ago today I was lucky enough to see Bruce in Brooklyn. We all were unlucky in that Prince had passed just two days before. You could feel it in the room. Bruce and the band hit the stage, with the lights dimmed. There was a clear purple hue to the lights. Nearly all of the band members had some form of purple in their clothes. Bruce was wearing a purple AND paisley scarf. With that, the opening chords of “Purple Rain” hit, and we were all feeling it. The outro was both heartbreaking and cathartic. The show could have ended right there and I wouldn’t have complained after witness something like that. Here’s a video of that performance. As Bruce says at the end of that performance….”Prince…..forever……God bless.”

#music #record store day #vinyl #record store #record shopping #prince #bruce #purple #purple rain #rsd #the goaround

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musicmapglobal · 7 years

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Ivo Schmetz (Basserk)

Amsterdam is one of Europe’s most popular tourist destinations. The city claims a majority of the Netherlands’ 14 million yearly visitors, who compete against the 800,000 permanent residents for space to take bridge-selfies. There are, of course, the obvious attractions: easily accessible weed, the Red Light District by night, museums, the medieval streets and pretty canals. There is, also, a more underground side to the city.

MusicMap got in touch with Ivo Schmetz, a co-runner of Basserk Records, the Amsterdam Alternative newspaper, and a programmer at underground venue OT301, to talk about the “creative Amsterdam” which is often celebrated within the city itself.

The below track is taken from a 10 year retrospective of Basserk’s output. That compilation can be heard in full on SoundCloud.

In ten words or less, how would you describe where you live? A small apartment in Amsterdam west.

What label do you run, and why did you start it, is there a particular philosophy behind the project? Basserk records is the label I run with two of my best friends. We started the label at the end of 2005 when we were still very active as a band. We couldn’t find a label that wanted to release our punky electronics so we decided to do it ourselves. Because we played a lot of live gigs with our band at the time we met loads of other bands and producers so it didn’t take long to get other musicians wanting to release on our label as well.

As a label we focus on discovering young talented producers and bands. We do not stick to a specific genre because we think that the creation of music is about experiment and joy. All the music we release fits within the description ‘Bleeps, Beats & Bass’. You can discover it on our website, SoundCloud page or of course the streaming channels.

What are the dominant music styles in your country, are there any exciting new music trends currently emerging? I guess the most dominant styles of music are the commercial ones. The ones that are being played most all over the world. I think Dutch radio for example is horrible. They only play the most boring hits ever and have no intention at all to play something that isn’t mainstream. They only care about the amount of listeners, which means money. This also translates to bars and clubs as well. The majority plays mainstream pop or mainstream house music. It is fine with me because this is what the majority of people likes. Luckily there is enough non mainstream places and channels, especially in Amsterdam and other big cities. Places that allow experiment and are not only focused on making money. In these venues you have most chances to hear new emerging styles (and of course online). New trends go very fast nowadays. I have given up trying to be up to date on everything. I still discover new things every week but I am not concerned about trends anymore.

☀️ Sunny view from a rooftop in Amsterdam. Read Ivo Schmetz’s interview @310k_amsterdam @basserk #LinkInBio 👉🏻 🇳🇱 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #Amsterdam #Subculture #Alternative #Culture #Underground #OT301 #creative #Basserk #electronic #bass #22tracks #urban #dance #squat #Amsterdaminsights #Amsterdamguide #tipsandtricks #musicmap #electronica #femalevocals #dutch #downtempo #single #insturmental #Insight #viewfrommywindow

A post shared by MusicMap (@musicmapglobal) on Apr 18, 2017 at 1:55am PDT

Who are the key local acts we should be listening to right now? That is a very difficult question. There is a lot out there and that could change every day. From the top of my head I would say:

Precursor is a producer from Haarlem. We have released his debut album and second EP not long ago. He makes atmospheric electronics, sometimes a bit more techno style, sometimes more down tempo. Sjamsoedin is one of the guys from Nobody Beats The Drum. They split up a while ago. Sjam started his solo project. Lots of electronics but a great drive.

Awanto 3 is a project from Steven de Peven. He always does nice and funny things. A true artist. Red Light Radio is a good channel to discover new music.

Also, head to 22tracks. They curate nice playlists on Spotify. There is always a lot of Dutch talent on the lists as well

Tell us about the free newspaper you co-organise, what’s that project about and how does it tie in with the music scene in the city? The newspaper and website is called Amsterdam Alternative. It is a collective project from most of the non-profit alternative spaces in Amsterdam. We started the project in 2015 with a crowdfunding campaign. Obviously to get a little budget to start up the project but also to see if there was interest and enthusiasm for it. We made it and the reactions were very good. Most people were very happy to see this collective project happen. The nice thing about the newspaper and website is that it contains most of the programming/agenda of all the venues but maybe even more important there is space and a platform to publish articles. We write about political and social issues but also about art and music. I think it’s very important that the voice of alternative Amsterdam has platform again because it is important for a city like Amsterdam. The people that govern Amsterdam are very proud of the so called creative industry but they fail in a lot of things. Somehow they do not have the ability to see the long term effect of their stupid decisions. Everything is about money but the thing that has made Amsterdam great wasn’t money. It was freedom, variety, subculture, open minded spirits and the artistic minds that gave color to the city. Nowadays everybody that wants to do something a little different is banned, unless you bring a big bag of money. If you have money you can do everything. This way of life will destroy the true creativity and vibrancy that made Amsterdam. I hope there will always be a strong alternative group in Amsterdam, and that is why Amsterdam Alternative is an important project.

You’re involved as a programmer at the OT301, what’s the history of that venue and how did you get involved? The history is kind of long, we actually have published a book about it when we celebrated our 15th birthday. The book is called ‘Autonomy by Dissent’. To explain a bit about our history and what we are we have a short text that we have painted on the wall in our building. It says:

The OT301 has been squatted (1999) and bought (2006) by a diverse, international community that is united in an association called EHBK. We run this alternative, not-for-profit platform as a collective, in which housing, workspaces and public functions are combined to contribute to the arts, politics and subculture.

Are there any other venues in the city visiting musos should definitely check out? For sure. There is still quite a few alternative venues like OCCII, Vondelbunker, ADM, Plantagedok, Cinetol, Ruigoord, De Ruimte, Zaal100 en Filmhuis Cavia. You can actually find all these places on the website of Amsterdam Alternative. Besides the alternative venues there is also more commercial ones that have good musical programming from time to time. Think about Paradiso, Melkweg, De School or Radion. But there is more. Amsterdam isn’t dead yet.

For anyone visiting, what should they see and what should they eat and drink? Most people visiting Amsterdam for the first time want to see some of the obvious tourist attractions but once you have ticked them off your list there is still a lot to discover. It all depends on what you like but I would recommend the Amsterdamse bos or some of the parks on a sunny day. Amsterdam is small so the best thing is to just walk out of the city centre and see where you end up. Of course you can check the Amsterdam Alternative agenda online to see what is going on in all the alternative venues as well. A couple of those venues have a vegan kitchen as well. They are nice but besides that Amsterdam is full of good restaurants nowadays. If you want to eat something Dutch then go for kroket, frikandel, stroopwafel, haring or drop. (Don’t blame me if you don’t like it.)

What one song, past or present, sums up your country best? I am not sure about this one. In general I do not like Dutch singing or rapping that much. Some people would probably say that Andre Hazes has a couple of songs that would sum up Holland best but I think Doe Maar would probably be better because they made a lot of songs about Nederwiet and free thinking. Personally I have always liked the first couple of albums of Urban Dance Squat. They don’t really represent our country in song texts but it was one of the first bands world wide that started experimenting with the crossover of different styles like hiphop, rock and electronics. It was quite powerful and somehow that fits quite well with the Dutch mentality.

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How do most people prefer to consume music in your country? I think most people are on streaming channels like Spotify or Apple music so that’ll be the way to listen to music when at home. Besides that we have a very lively festival culture. In Amsterdam alone there is more then 250 festivals a year so that is def a way that a lot of people consume music.

What are the biggest challenges faced by musicians in your country? The same as everywhere else. Most musicians struggle with the issue of making money from their creations. It is quite easy nowadays to produce music. Everyone with a laptop can make beats and get their tracks online but most people have a hard time reaching an audience. There is so much new releases every day, it is hard to get noticed. So for the people that want to a living from their music it can be difficult.

Besides this fact I think it is also getting harder and harder for musicians to be really original. So much stuff has already been made. I guess that is where the real artists distinguish themselves from the ones that are just making music because it’s fun and cool to make music.

Photo by Marieke de Bra

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