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cowgurrrl · 3 months

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JUST WATCHED THE SAG-AFTRA FOUNDATION VIDEO WITH PEDRO PASCAL ANDDDD.....gotta mention her but the idea of actress!reader having a similar segment for herself, getting similar questions while rockstar!joel is there to support her?? YES PLEASE, it'd be so cute !!! and actress!reader would have some amazing answers and little stories to share about her career me thinks

I love this idea!!

Good Old Days

Pairing: rockstar!joel miller x actress!reader

Summary: this ask!!

Warnings: unedited because I simply cannot be asked, the kids are so grown up in this :(, fun little reflections, I think that’s it!

It feels weird to be at a point in your career to be able to do a Career Retrospective with SAG-AFTRA, but it also feels well-earned. You’ve been in the business long enough to have seen a thing or two and you’re excited for the opportunity to get to talk about it. Plus, Joel took the day off from working at the label and is sitting in the audience of other card-carrying SAG actors. The woman interviewing you introduces you to the crowd and you walk out to modest applause and an especially loud whistle from Joel. You blow him a kiss before settling across from your interviewer, Kate, who immediately gets into it.

“Thank you so much for joining us today. Should we start with the question everyone probably asks you? When did you get your SAG card?” She asks and you laugh a little at the memory.

“I got my SAG card literally the second I got my first gig in LA. It was mandatory for the project and the project was Sweet Water-”

“That was your first gig when you got to LA?”

“Yeah. My apartment wasn’t even unpacked when I got sent home with the script and they were like, ‘make sure you mark in your script’ and all that stuff and I didn’t have a dining room table. I was literally marking stuff while sitting on the floor.”

“That’s must’ve been a big leap.”

“It was huge. This was a tiny pilot that was coming onto this huge scene of TV medical dramas and it wasn’t supposed to be set in this big city, it was a rural hospital, and we didn’t know if it was gonna get picked up. So, yeah, it was pretty scary for a second. My family was terrified but they told me they felt a little better once I was a part of the union.” You shrug, not knowing how much you actually believe that, but their support got you to where you are for a reason.

“That’s surprising to know, especially now that it’s a huge success.”

“We didn’t know for a long time if it was gonna flop or not,” you admit. “I remember Carolina and I would always get stuck doing night shoots and we’d just be exhausted and covered in the fake blood or whatever and we would look at each other like, ‘what the fuck are we doing?’ But I loved that character and I loved that show.”

“How did you get into acting before all that?” She asks and you stretch your memory back as far as you can.

“I think I was always interested in it. I worked at a movie theatre for a while just so I could go see movies for free and when we read plays in class, I would always get really excited. I did theatre throughout high school and college but it didn’t really start to feel like a real career until I started working. Like I would act in little short films and get paid like $100 for a week of work and I thought that was what acting was. So, I just kept taking on projects and kept working and then eventually got noticed but I think even if I didn’t get picked up, I would still be acting in some capacity.

“And you went to NYU?” She asks and you nod. “What drew you to NYU?”

“I mean, isn’t it every young actors dream to go to New York? I just thought that’s where people were actors and artists and I wanted to be a part of it. I moved to the city and knew absolutely no one and it was a real starving artist kinda vibe for a while. Like I was a waitress at two different restaurants and one of them was in Midtown and the other was in the Upper East side so I was constantly jumping boroughs and spending money on subway tickets. But it was a really great experience and I met a lot of incredibly talented people.”

“Including Carolina Garcia-Long.”

“Oh, especially Carolina Garcia-Long!” You exclaim, excited to talk about one of your favorite people. “She’s such an amazing person and I’m so lucky I got to start my career with her. I just love her and Ryan so much.”

“Had you guys acted together before Sweet Water?”

“Yeah, so Carolina and I had been scene partners during class assignments and we were often at the same auditions for things. Ryan and I didn’t act together professionally until… I wanna say our first project together was Self Made Men? That was right when he was starting to pick up steam in his career and it was my first movie right off of Sweet Water and I played this super minor character named Sunday. I was really only on the call sheet for a few days but we had so much fun that he kept inviting me back, if not to work, then to learn and that totally changed things for me,” you furrow your brows as you think. “I might have to text him after this and ask because I’m almost positive we did something together before Self Made Men. But way before that, in New York, our paths just kept crossing and crossing and then Carolina and I finally moved in together in this tiny little apartment in Hell’s Kitchen with two other girls. I actually took Joel by there on our first trip to New York together and he was so shocked at how shitty the building was. Sorry, can I swear? If not, I think I’ve already broken that rule.” You cover your mouth and look around for someone to make a cutting motion at their throat to get you to stop but everyone just laughs.

“You can say whatever you want.” Kate says and you let out a relieved sigh.

“Okay, good,” you say. “But yeah, I remember him asking all these questions like, ‘wait, how many people live there?’ And I was like, ‘well four of us but sometimes their boyfriends or whatever would stay over so sometimes up to eight people.’ He was such a dad about it, just panicking about fire safety and whatever else. It was so stupidly endearing.”

“And he’s here today, right?” She asks and you look out into the crowd until you find his smiling face and point him out to her.

“He’s over there in that corner, trying to act like he doesn’t know we’re talking about him.” He blushes at your words and shakes his head but you just smile.

“Something I didn’t know about your husband is that he’s actually a card-carrying member of SAG-AFTRA.”

“He is!” You say, excitedly. “For like the first ten years of our marriage, he would come to set and just randomly get placed as an extra or a random character. I think he even said two lines once as like a barista or something but we did an episode of Things We Don’t Talk About together where they actually cast him as police officer and that entire production was a must-join so, yeah, he got his little SAG-AFTRA card and became a union man.”

“Did you ever think you’d get to do TV with your husband?” She asks and you laugh.

“I never even thought I’d be on TV, let alone my husband.”

“I guess that’s true because you did a lot of Shakespeare before coming to film and TV, what drew you to that?”

“I honestly don’t know. I think I just needed a job around the time I actually started doing Shakespeare so it was more of a necessity than anything. I didn’t really care about it in school and it was always confusing but once I got into shows and learning more about it, I was totally hooked. I did Shakespeare in the Park several times and did some off off off Broadway Shakespeare work, too, and I just love it. And we’ve raised our kids on it.”

“Have you really?”

“Oh, yeah. Our son and daughter-in-law actually just had their first little girl and she’s named after a Shakespearean character.” You say, beaming from just talking about Juno.

“Do we get to know the name?” She asks and you shake your head.

“I’m afraid that’s not my secret to tell, but she is very, very cute.”

“Well, congratulations to both of you.”

“Thank you,” you say. The rest of the interview goes well and you even get to tease the new project you’re working on with Violet. It feels good to recap such a fun and still running career, a feat not everyone gets to celebrate. It also helps that Joel is waiting in the wings with a big hug and kiss the second you’re off stage.

#one for the money two for the show #oftm #oftm family #rockstar!joel miller x actress!reader #the last of us au #tlou au #joel miller au #joel miller fluff

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toskaas · 1 year

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IVY, 21, est; SHE/HER. | if you’re hearing XS BY RINA SAWAYAMA playing, you have to know VIVIANNE PARK (SHE/HER; FEMALE) is near by! the 26 year old ACTRESS/THEATER TEACHER has been in denver for, like, HER WHOLE LIFE. they’re known to be quite SELF-INDULGENT, but being DETERMINED seems to balance that out. or maybe it’s the fact that they resemble PARK SOOYOUNG. personally, i’d love to know more about them seeing as how they’ve got those REWATCHING OLD AUDITION TAPES, RED LIQUID TAPPING AGAINST A WINE GLASS, THE OVERWHELMING DESIRE TO BE ADORED vibes. and maybe i’ll get my chance if i hang out around the RIVER NORTH ART DISTRICT long enough!

hi luvs !! just wanted so say i'm ivy and it's sooo nice to meet u all ! info for her my first kid vivi is below, but please like this post if you'd like to plot ! malik's intro is coming v soon :)

𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐅𝐈𝐋𝐄

name: vivianne park

nickname: vivi / vi ( often used in place of her name by friends & family )

age: 26

gender: cis woman

birthday: april 11th

zodiac sign: aries

occupation: theatre teacher & semi-retired actress

sexual orientation: bisexual

𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘

vivianne's been raisied in denver her whole life , and is actually the sibling of daniel park ! she's definitely got little sister energy as you'll soon see lol.

vivianne has always been obsessed with the idea of getting attention ? which probably somewhat stems from her parents lacking in that department !

but since she was younger she'd make up these wild fantasy stories about if she was rich , famous , and everyone would know her name. it wasn't long before she began to really work towards that dream , and began to get heavily involved in school & community theatre programs !

by the time high school came , she knew she wanted to make her dreams a reality , and desperately wanted to get out of denver. so , to her delight she got accepted into a performing arts college in ny ( think juliard but smaller scale ?) and began working towards her dreams.

things were good ... for a while. it was her first time on her own which was terrifying, but she loved being able to party to her content without her city's watchful eye. she'd been able to pick up some decent acting & modeling gigs and started to think she could make it.

but ... she just couldn't. despite getting a few little gigs, she couldn't find enough to sustain her incredibly indulgent lifestyle by the time she's 4 years out of college. she was trying too hard to keep up w the lives of all her rich friends, and she was in for a reality check when she came home from a vacation to see an eviction notice on her apartment door.

so now she's right back where she started , in her hometown of denver. she's told most everyone here it's because she wants a "break", and that she'll be back to the big city soon. but she knows the truth and it angers her, to think of herself as anything close to a failure brings fire to her eyes.

but she's too proud to admit defeat, so for now, she's taken up a position teaching community theater classes with the occasional theatre role to earn a living. right now , she's still got one foot out the door , but who knows ... maybe she'll come around and find a home in denver again ?

𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐀

vivi has always been the type to live above her means. she's never been incredibly rich , but felt like it was something that she was just meant to be.

on one hand, it can make her come off as incredibly materialistic and at times snobby. but on the other it's made her incredibly innovative, as she's learned how to present as the best even when she feels like the absolute worst.

extremely opinionated, sometimes to a fault, it's like her filter is broken LMAO ? though it may seem like it, she's really not a mean person though. she's just a very objective speaker who knows what she wants and has no problems saying it.

and on that token , while she isn't mean , that's more so in terms of if it's unwarranted ? but if someone intentionally tries to get under her skin she has a baaad temper and does not try to hold back.

extremeeeely affectionate & loyal to those she attatches to. when you first meet her she may be v guarded, but once you get past those defenses you have a friend for life. loves physical affection & really craves it from those she's closest to. her loyalty may go a little too far, though, as she's incredibly defensive when it comes to those she loves. you may have to tell her to take it down a notch !

she has a bengal cat names cleopatra, but she's cleo for short! cleo is actually leash trained so if you see her walking about w her downtown ... yup that cat is on a leash !

instantly starts sweating the minute anyone asks her about her acting career / when she's gonna go back to ny. it's sort of a sore subject for her since she's moved within the last year !

unsurprisingly, has a wild streak. the type to drink first, ask questions later. also textbook definition of a serial dater and has more crazy stories about going out than she probably should.

but on that token, it's also made her incredibly nonjudgemental? she was a lot more sheltered and almost naive before she moved, so i would say those who knew her before would probably notice a difference in her. she may have her opinions, but they rarely are laced with judgement when it comes to other's lifestyles. she learned a lot in her time off alone & the biggest thing was not to insert herself into other peoples business without reason.

𝐖𝐂𝐒:

i lovelove plots that develop naturally , so brainstorming is always wonderful but these are some ideas to get the ideas flowing !

fellow theater friends ? vivianne's been doing theatre since she was basically in diapers , so it doesn't have to be someone who's taken up a career in it. even if they're new to it & just doing it for fun , vivianne now teaches & performs in community theatre projects too !

modeling / acting friends in general ! idk if any other muses lived in nyc for a time but it'd be great to have old coworkers !

maybe a childhood best friendship that got rocky when they graduated high school ? if we want to be messy , vi was always v verbal about her dislike for denver & kind of dropped contact w everyone for a while when she moved , so maybe it could've brought some conflict to their dynamic ?

party buddies / fwb / chaos twins / smoke buddies all of it !! she still hasn't gotten out her wild phase so would love someone who could feed into her & vice versa !

messy exes ! i love drama could we tell ?

a relatively new bff / friend group dynamic ! someone or a group that vi got a lot closer w upon her move back to denver ! i could see this playing out as equally messy or opposites attract so either way it could def work !

#chq;intro

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qnewslgbtiqa · 4 months

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Meet the actor set for stardom in 2024: Matthew Backer

New Post has been published on https://qnews.com.au/meet-the-actor-set-for-stardom-in-2024-matthew-backer/

Meet the actor set for stardom in 2024: Matthew Backer

Brisbane’s own Matthew Backer chats to QNews about his career as an out gay actor, being a Play School presenter and his big year ahead.

Matthew has just flown in to visit family for the holidays and joins our video interview from his childhood bedroom.

He explains that his parents have turned it into a spare room, although they still have some posters of him on the wall.

It’s clear his parents are proud of his achievements and they have every reason to be.

Matthew’s rise as an actor and TV presenter has grown each year over the last decade and it feels he is on the precipice of something even bigger.

Matt grew up in Brisbane because of his dad’s rugby league career. His father, Bradley Backer, played for Easts and was in the first-ever State of Origin series for Queensland.

Other pursuits were Matt’s passions though.

“I went to an all-boys Catholic school in the 90s, enough said on that, but that’s where I found acting doing school musicals and plays,” he tells me.

Journalism

Despite his love of acting, his first career went down a different path.

He studied journalism at the University of Queensland and went on to become a cadet reporter at the Fraser Coast Chronicle in Maryborough.

Maryborough was his family’s home town and despite not living there he knew the place inside out as a regular visitor.

Although he loved the job and living with his grandparents, he started to feel it wasn’t the right path for him.

“I just constantly had that little voice going like ‘you should be acting’. So at the end of that cadetship, I was like It’s now or never. I just really wanted to audition for NIDA, so I came back to Brisbane for a year and did every amateur play you could think of and short films and promo work and then I auditioned.”

Matthew got into the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA) on first go and then moved to Sydney for his new life as an actor.

Acting career

Matthew’s credits since then are extensive.

After landing his first professional gig as Frankie Valli in Jersey Boys he went on to a substantial theatre career.

In 2016 he won a Matilda Award for Best Male Actor in Queensland Theatre’s production of Switzerland and a 2016 Broadway World Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in Sydney Theatre Company’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

He hasn’t shied away from screen roles with credits in Wellmania, Five Bedrooms, A Place to Call Home and Home and Away to name just a few.

The versatility of roles and medium has helped shape the longevity of his career.

“You just gotta take what you can get, the industry is not big enough,” he says.

“Thankfully, I can act and I can sing and I can move well. So I tick a few boxes, which you have to be able to do in Australia. Otherwise, there’s just not enough arenas for you to play in. But thankfully, I’ve got many fingers in many pies.”

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A post shared by MATTHEW BACKER (@matthewbacker)

Queer representation

Being boxed in as a “gay actor” has been a frustrating experience for Matt at times, particularly early in his career when the roles he was typecast for were consistently going to his straight colleagues.

“Six, seven years ago, it was pretty much all straight actors playing gay roles and the gay roles were not even that developed. I think some of the soaps had two gay stalkers on there,” he says.

“I don’t subscribe to the belief that only gay actors should play gay characters. That’s not it at all, but when the seesaw is like this [he puts out his hands to symbolise unbalanced scales] we have to level it out a bit.”

However, since he first began acting he has seen a demonstrable difference in the industry.

“I’ve noticed much more developed interesting queer characters that are really exciting. My mate Tim Draxl just got nominated for two actor awards for playing two gay roles and he’s openly gay. Like, that was not happening when I graduated, there was no gay actor openly succeeding that you could go ‘cool, I can do it’, but it is changing,” he says.

Play School

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A post shared by MATTHEW BACKER (@matthewbacker)

For all his thespian prowess, there’s one role he is probably best known for: Play School.

Matt became a presenter on the iconic program back in 2017.

“It’s just so fun. It’s so silly. I mean, it’s in the name. We just get to go in and play and be big kids, and I’m such a big kid,” he laughs.

He has also been part of the program as so many children in his life grow up with it.

“When I started, I had two nephews and they were like, in the right age bracket. So they’ve grown up with Uncle Matt on TV. Now I’ve got two more nephews and a little niece and so they’re all watching and my friends are having kids and I think I got it at the perfect time. It’s a reminder of how special it is, it’s like the funnest job I’ve ever had.”

With his exposure across so many different mediums, I ask him who recognises him the most. He says kids often spot him but he also gets approached out on the scene.

“I was at Mardi Gras, and you know, everyone’s dressed up and having a good old time and a lovely gay guy skipped up to me and pointed in my face and was like you’re on Play School and skipped off into the night!”

A big year ahead

2024 looks to be a big year for Matthew.

On January 18, the Stan series Prosper comes out where he stars alongside Richard Roxburgh and Rebecca Gibney which he describes as “his biggest TV role so far.”

The show has been described as Succession meets Hillsong drama series.

youtube

Also coming out during the year will be Die Bully Die.

The film is one that Matthew and his friend Drew Weston co-wrote and will star in together.

It’s a comedy horror that takes some inspiration from Matt’s experiences at that 90s Catholic school in Brisbane as well as an incident he had later in life at Tropical Fruits.

“I looked across the dance floor and saw one of my worst bullies and they’re shirtless and gay. It was fine, he came up and gave me a big hug, but I felt really angry and I didn’t show it. I remember thinking, gosh, there’s so much drama and conflict in what I felt because I was happy for him, but also really angry at him.”

“So we developed this idea, based around a character who maybe hasn’t let that go and is a little warped. Horror is my favourite genre, so we just made it a horror comedy. Hopefully, people love it, it’s it’s bloody entertaining.”

The film’s budget was crowdfunded and the pair are hoping to have it played in a number of festivals this year.

Matthew’s ability to be a chameleon throughout his career stands him in good stead.

He’s gone from journalist to theatre and screen actor, Play School presenter, and now film writer. All while fully embracing his queer identity.

There’s no doubt there is more to come in his career and the boy from Brisbane will continue to do his parents and his community proud.

You can follow Matthew Backer on Instagram. Photos by Johnny Diaz Nicolaidis.

For the latest LGBTIQA+ Sister Girl and Brother Boy news, entertainment, community stories in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Check out our latest magazines or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

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popentertainmentconcertreviews · 11 months

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Dave Mason & Orleans – Keswick Theatre – Glenside, PA – June 2, 2023

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Dave Mason (he was inducted as a member of Traffic) has had a long, winding, fascinating career.

He has had a stellar career as a sideman: as Wikipedia explains, “Over the course of his career, Mason has played and recorded with many notable pop and rock musicians, including Paul McCartney, George Harrison, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Michael Jackson, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Steve Winwood, Fleetwood Mac, Delaney & Bonnie, Leon Russell, and Cass Elliot.”

For example, who remembered that he played a twelve-string acoustic guitar on his friend Jimi Hendrix’ classic Dylan cover “All Along the Watchtower?” He also played on George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass, The Rolling Stones’ Beggar’s Banquet and was briefly a member of Derek and the Dominoes.

He wrote Joe Cocker’s huge single “Feelin’ Alright” (which was actually originally a Traffic song). He has had solo hits like “We Just Disagree” and “Only You Know, and I Know.” So, there was a lot of guitar history coming onstage at the Keswick Theatre.

First, opening act Orleans played some of their big 70s hits to warm the gig up. Of course, there was only one member left from the band’s hitmaking years – bassist Lance Hoppen. Original drummer Wells Kelly died in 1984, guitarist and singer Larry Hoppen (Lance’s brother) died in 2012 and guitarist/singer John Hall left the band for politics, becoming a congressman for New York from 2006-2010. He has since retired from both politics and performing. However, the current players have been together for years, including keyboardist Lane Hoppen (Lance’s son) who has been with the band about 20 years, guitarist Fly Omero who has been there about 15, and the newcomer, drummer Brady Spencer, who has been with Orleans for five years.

They opened with the title track of their Let There Be Music album, followed up by their huge 1975 hit “Dance With Me.” They next did a terrific cover of King Harvest’s near-perfect pop single “Dancing in the Moonlight,” which has a tangential Orleans connection – who knew that late drummer Wells Kelly was a member of King Harvest before he started with Orleans?

Other smart pop songs included “Miss Grace,” “Slipping Away” and “Juliet.” Then Lance Hoppen announced, “This was our last radio hit in 1979.” Then he said tongue-in-cheekily, “You can pick it up at Tower Records.” The band launched into a sweet version of “Love Takes Time.” Then they closed it down with their soft-rock classic “Still the One.”

For his set, Mason opened with his first solo single, the sweet folk-rock stylings of “Only You Know, and I Know.” Surprisingly, Mason played more Traffic songs than solo tracks, so this was a welcome addition to the setlist.

The Traffic piled up soon enough, with a block of songs from that band made up of “Rock and Roll Stew,” “Pearly Queen” and “Forty Thousand Headmen.”

Then he slipped back into the solo stuff. Only a rock and roll royal like Mason can tell a story about songwriting icon Bob Dylan saying how much he loved his song (complete with a decent Dylan impression) before slipping into the gorgeous love song “Every Woman.” Then Mason pulled out his biggest solo card, the truly gorgeous (if just slightly cynical) love ballad “We Just Disagree.”

The big Traffic hits “The Low Spark of the High Heeled Boys” and “Dear Mr. Fantasy” followed soon after, with slightly altered arrangements (particularly “Low Spark”), but they were warmly received.

The show closed out on scorching versions of “All Along the Watchtower” and “Feelin’ Alright,” which had the crowd… well… feelin’ alright. Mason wasn’t feelin’ so bad himself.

Jay S. Jacobs

#Dave Mason #Orleans #Concert Review #Keswick Theatre #Glenside #Jay S. Jacobs #Jim Rinaldi

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the-hindu-times · 1 year

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BLUR - Eastbourne Winter Garden 21/5/23

Post-pandemic, having seen Daman Albarn perform for Banquet records, upon the release of his last solo LP, we knew going into a Blur reunion gig that the musicianship wouldn't be as high, and the vibe not as interesting as the reworked songs he performed with 'The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows' band. Still, to see the original line up, knocking out the songs as they were intended, in a 2,000 capacity venue (not too much bigger than Kingston’s Pryzm) was not to be missed. Eastbourne Winter Garden was the 2nd night on the 4 date ‘warm up’ tour, and it reminded me of the seaside spot that introduced me to live music at the end of the Britpop era; Folkestone Leas Cliff Hall - where I saw bands like Embrace and Stereophonics on their debut albums so, tonight's setting was perfect for that '90s' nostalgia.

For a room that is now rarely used, with the majority of tributes and the odd touring TV comedian happening in their other building, the Congress Theatre, walking around the costal town, you wouldn't know that a stadium-sized band were here for one night only; Apart from the queue beginning to form in the afternoon, and the pub next door getting busier towards stage time, the rest of this retirement region was just like any other sunny Sunday there.

We needed an extra ticket, and the first guy we asked happened to have a spare so, we gave him the face value of £60 (he would have paid more, himself, with the booking fee add-ons). Going in, we saw Ash's Tim Wheeler coming out just as we were met with another familiar face on the door; Max, who reps a lot of London shows, was running the guestlist, and we were equally surprised to see each other outside of the capital.

Down the stairs, the stage was directly in front of the open doors. We went past the merch stand (where there were Blur T Shirts [in black or white], with the 4 tour dates on the back, for sale, along with a black hoodie of the same design) to the bar, which was pretty much empty, with some exclusive beer options. Bassist, Alex James, was just outside, smoking so, we knew they wouldn’t be onstage any time soon. Looking at the positioning of the D&B V8 PA system, it was obvious it was going to be great sounding show.

Coming on at 9:06pm, they opened with the punkish new song ‘St. Charles Square’, which was a red herring for what was to come; possibly not wanting to have too many live versions of songs from the forthcoming album appearing on Youtube before its official release. ‘Modern Life Is Rubbish’’s ‘Coping’ was performed for the first time since 2003, when The Good, The Bad & The Queen’s Simon Tong was the guitar player – so, the last time Graham Coxon had played it would have been in 1999. ‘Parklife’’s ‘Trouble In The Message Centre’ from Friday’s first night in Chelmsford made way for this. Another ‘Modern Life Is Rubbish’ song that wasn’t aired in Essex was ‘Young & Lovely” which, again, replaced another ‘Parklife’ track – the sadly missed ‘Badhead’. Of course, both shows couldn’t go without the title track of that album, but in Eastbourne we were treated to Phil Daniels, from the original recording, joining the band onstage for his part; where Damon met his match, with the heightened boisterous behaviour. Heading down to the toilets, where there was an extra, empty beer-only bar, I walked past Phil Daniels in the corridor but I dropped my clear earplug on the floor, which comedian, Josh Widdicombe, helped me find.

Stereolab’s Lætitia Sadier would have also been a welcomed addition for her vocal part in ‘To The End’, as the call and response duet lacked without it.

‘Modern Life Is Rubbish’’s “Oli Water’ was swapped out to represent the day of the week with ‘Sunday Sunday’ from the same album, whilst ‘Trimm Trabb’ was restarted after Damon locked into the wrong beat, which was all part of the charm of this intimate gig; feeling like we were part of the process which they wouldn’t be able to get away with at Wembley Stadium.

After 20 songs, it was time for us to catch the last train; passing the girls and boys outside the venue, who weren’t lucky enough to get tickets but were trying to get a good view through the window; sticking around for the final 3 songs.

Blur will play Wembley Stadium on Saturday 8th (with support from Self Esteem and Jockstrap [Slowthai is now longer performing]) and Sunday 9th July 2023 (with support from Paul Weller and The Selector)

Nic Bennett

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mygrandmotherspiano · 2 years

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Hey! Remember that choir concert I mentioned? The reason for all the choir nonsense on here for the last month? Well, they recorded the concert, so I thought I’d share the link. That’s me in the center of the middle row on second soprano. The concert starts at around the 20 minute mark of the recording (which was taken from a livestream). This group is very near and dear to my heart. I don’t know if I told this story on here before, but now on about ten years ago (oof...) I was part of the UAH music department, not as a major but just as a student musician. Most of my friends were in the conducting classes and I often came and sang or played with the lab groups. Every year, the senior conducting students would get the usual final project for advanced conducting: get yourself a small conducting gig, and rehearse and perform a piece for an audience. This was usually done by student conducting an ensemble at the university or by using the music group at a church (because everyone had the ubiquitous church job, or knew someone who did). But that year, two things were a little different. The class was big, for one... eight students were graduating that year (usually it was more like four). And for two, they were all very close friends. There had been a lot of upheaval in the department that year... a lot of drama among the faculty... so this class was especially tight knit. So they decided this; Why don’t we pool our resources for this project and work together? Everyone call in every favor you have. Spread the word that we’re looking for musicians. Let’s get a small chamber wind ensemble and a chamber choir together, and put on a concert for our final exam. And it worked! We had around fifteen singers and about twenty wind players and we put on an hour long program with eight conductors. It became a yearly tradition after that. Nothing to do with the actual class anymore. Just a chance to get some conducting practice and play some cool music. Every summer, we’d light the beacons, so to speak. We’d gather everyone up and put on a concert... only now it’s two concerts since there’s one for wind band and one for choir. Though they’re still connected, and are sometimes done back to back... one year the choir did a set of Holst folksongs and the band did the Holst Suite in Eb based on the same songs. The goal remains the same though; giving young conductors in town the chance to whet their skills at the podium. There’s really no other way to learn the craft. Score study and research and listening to recordings will only take you so far when its time to stand up in front of a bunch of people who may or may not be looking at you and give that first breath and downbeat. And that’s to say nothing about all the intricacies and pitfalls of producing a concert. Advertising. Venue rental. Rehearsal scheduling and planning. Hiring soloists. That’s more or less where I come in. Sure, I am a dependable voice on second soprano and know which end of a clarinet to blow in, but I’m also a professional stage manager for live music and theatre, so I lend my expertise and help the conductors plot and plan... not doing it for them, but offering gentle guidance just like the conducting clinicians we have. So anyway... give the concert a listen. It’s great fun and was quite a unique set of music. The conductors, while very new and very nervous, were amazing and conducted both themselves and us with aplomb. And the history of the group warms my heart. That gentleman speaking at the beginning? He was part of that first group of conductors all those years ago. This year he was our conducting clinician. Now he holds a master’s in conducting, and teaches at the university. He went from student to mentor. Boy, ten years can fly by.

#choir #choral music #conducting #personal

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andrewrenaissance · 2 years

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hi! for the song blurb: tonight from west side story ????? like hello?? falling in love in a dance/ prom thing (or if it’s andrew in a award show)

Dude! I have two ideas. One for Remus and the other for Andrew.

The first thing that came to mind for whatever reason was teenage Remus Lupin and the rest of their gang getting themselves a gig at some posh wizardy event where they smile people and pass the drinks. Maybe the Potters made them do that since those assholes broke something in their home that can no longer be fixed. Yes, they do have the money to just replace it but what would that teach them? The evening is the worst. The only Marauder enjoying it is Sirius and that is only due the fact that everyone knows he is a Black, his family is among the guests too and the shame that appears in their faces when they see him brings him so much glee. The others do spend most of the time just hiding in the corners not doing a really good job because it's boring and awful. Even Remus who can look at things a bit reasonably and responsibly than others is dreading it with every cell in his body. But then the door open and you and your family make your entrance. As sappy and stupid as it sounds, everything else seems to fade away when your eyes accidentaly meet. He then tries to stand a bit taller in his ill-fitting suit that and starts to roam among the crowd, leaving the two other watch him in disbelief because what the fuck has just gotten into him? He tries to make his way to you, his heart pounding fast and hard in his chest when he appears behind your back and musters all his courage to speak out and offer you a drink.

And then there’s the other Andrew concept that followed. He is back in theatre and he loves it. It is obviously a completely diffent atmosphere than when you are on a film set, which is always a nice change for him but he appreciates the thrill of standing in front of the whole crowd of people even more now after the whole pandemic thing. People coming together to enjoy art is incredible. And he loves to be sharing and providing them with such experience. He’s more ready than ever, knows all the lines, all the moves and the cues. Adrenaline is pumping through him. He’s going to deliver. But the play gets about 30 minutes in when he finds himself lost for words. The rest of the screenplay just vanishes from his head. He no longer remembers the dancing steps necessary for this scene and has to rely on his co-star guiding him through it while he keeps glancing over his shoulder to you where you are dancing with someone else from the cast. He has actually never seen you around, knew your face only from the pictures hanging on the walls in the backstage since you were participating in different projects than he did. He figures that you must be the fill-in for Madeline, the wonderful understudy who hurt her ankle while getting ready to cover for the actress that was originally casted. It had caused quite the commotion in the backstage earlier. Some suggesting that they just cancel while the director insisted that he will find a way for it to work somehow. Looking at you dance around the stage, just barely opening your mouth as you count the steps you must have learned in a matter of minutes, Andrew smiles. Even when you mess up, you move on so smoothly and naturally that no one, who hadn’t spend months on this play, can notice it. He can not go closer to you, not yet, but his eyes follow you as you and other members of the cast leave the stage as the song ends and he has to quickly compose himself before his monologue. And it’s good that he can’t see you watching him from the backstage because the smile you wear then, wondering whether you had imagined or if the of you had really locked eyes a couple of times out there, would just distract his focus all over again.

#remus lupin x reader #andrew garfield x reader #remus lupin fanfic #andrew garfield fanfic #andrew garfield concept #remus lupin concept

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itsbeaconhillsbaby · 3 years

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distractions || tom holland x reader

a/n: I cannot believe I've now written three of these and actually posted them on here but I've had such lovely responses and you guys are such wonderful readers, so if you’ve liked misty morning, CLPS or this fic - thank you so much for reading! means the world. I still have a bunch of ideas I want to tackle, but thought I'd see what you guys felt about me possibly opening up requests in the future? would anyone be interested in that? let me know, and as always don’t be afraid to send me a message, lets be friends yo x word count: 1127 warnings: none, its just fluffy summary: tom completes a day of zoom interviews whilst you work upstairs, except its the first day of your trip in atlanta and you haven't seen your boyfriend in weeks...

You stumble in between Tom’s legs, laughing as he pulls you closer into him until you end up perched on his knee; ring lights, cameras, phones and a laptop all set up on the counter in front of him. “Don’t touch the hair!” Rachel warns. You hold your hands up in mock innocence as she smirks, winding up the hairdryer and gathering her brushes before sneaking out and into the smaller room next door. A small station was set up just out of shot with all the products she’d used, as they would be needed to touch up Tom later during his long day of interviews. You wind your arms around his neck, as he curls his around your waist. You restrain yourself from playing with the tendrils of slightly curling hair sitting at his nape. “Good to see you dressed appropriately this time, Holland,” you tease. He tilts his head back and to the side, pretending to be offended, eyes creasing slightly at the edges giving away how amused he was. “Oh yeah?” You press your lips together, mouth twitching as you nod in response. He sighs, “Sorry about all this, when I flew you out here I completely forgot how much time press would take up. You wanna decide what you want for dinner and we’ll order in tonight?” Keeping one hand firmly around your waist, he brings the other to brush some of your hair out of your face, tucking it into place behind your ear instead, sweeping a thumb back along your cheekbone. You felt your face lean into his touch. The minute Harry had text you regarding Tom’s latest on-set injury, after checking it was nothing dangerously serious, you asked him to make sure Tom called you that night. Despite the reassurances, you wanted to see for yourself that everything was fine. As well as that, you knew he wouldn’t be too happy with an injury especially if it was going to push production back, and you knew he would need to vent. You’d be lying if you said you were surprised when he asked you to come and spend the week with him. It wasn’t long until he was home for good, and whilst on a tight deadline with your own work, you thought you’d bite the bullet anyway and before you knew it you were being flown to Atlanta. “I have plenty to keep me busy. I just like knowing you’re here, plus I can nip down in between interviews-” you softly nudge his nose with your own, before gently sweeping his mouth with yours. You feel those flutters in the depths of your stomach, continuing to speak as you speckle kisses across his jaw, “-as you do make a pretty good distraction.” This time he took control, bringing your lips together again, pushing further and harder this time. Your eyes fluttered shut, and you pressed closer, you’d twisted your body round enough that your torsos were pressed into each other. Landing late last night, you knackered from your flight and Tom sleepy from his previous busy day at work, plus slightly drowsy from some pain medication, you had both basically curled around each other and fallen straight into bed, sleep coming almost instantly. “Hey, you are not going to use me as an excuse to procrastinate! You have a deadline.” he says, in between peppering kisses along your jaw and down your neck slightly. “Oh, really?” you pull back, before fully shifting off his good knee and standing up. “I’m going to procrastinate with or without you around, Holland,” you said with a wink, opening the door to the hallway, “let me know what you prefer.” Tom stared at you slack jawed, your laugh ringing out in the hallway as you left him to his interviews. //// You were deep in concentration. Your brow furrowed, as you frowned at your laptop screen, gliding the cursor back and forth trying to find that perfect sweet spot to cut the video. You were editing a promotional video for a big theatre down in London and it had to be perfect. This was a big digital marketing gig for you, and you wanted to prove that you were good enough to take a chance on, despite the fact you had only graduated from your degree 10 months ago. Headphones on and back to the door, sitting on the desk chair legs folded underneath you, you didn’t hear the creek of the door opening. You jumped slightly at the arms that wound themselves around your shoulders, “Hey.” You slid the earphones off your head, resting them on the desk, saving your project before spinning round in your chair to face him. “Hey, you!” You’d already headed downstairs a couple of times, on a drink or snack run. You popped in on Tom every so often, smiling in support as you watched him charm countless interviewers before leaving him to it. You looked at the time on your phone, noting it was now past six. “We’re all done down there, how are you getting on?” “I had a breakthrough on it earlier, now it’s just getting it perfect...” you couldn’t put your finger on what it was but there was a different sort of glint in Toms’ eyes. “Can i see?” he asked, excitedly, leaning against the back of the chair.

You laugh, nodding - unplugging the headphones, letting the video and sound play as you leaned back in your chair. Instead of the screen you were focussed on Tom’s face, who was giving your video his full attention. “That was sick!” he says, as it comes to an end. “You think so? I just hope they’ll love it when it’s done,” you take your lip between your teeth, worrying at it slightly. He brushes a thumb over your lip, stopping you from biting, “Of course they’ll love it, you’re amazing.” He takes your hand allowing you to uncurl yourself from your seated position, “Hungry?” You listen as people leave out the front doors, the styling team all had their own digs and you were pretty sure most people were gone now that the interviews were finished. “I dunno...feel like we could work up a bit more of an appetite?” “I’m so glad you said that, knowing you’ve been up here the whole time has been killing me...” You yelp slightly as he fireman lifts you out the room you were in and into the master bedroom you were sharing together. You were both laughing as he did so and you took the opportunity, as he put you down on the bed, to finally mess up his perfect styled hair, finally running your hands through those curls at the back of his neck. “Would you say I was a good distraction?” you whisper. “You have no idea.”

#tom holland #tom holland one shot #tom holland x reader #tom holland imagine #tom holland fanfiction #tom holland fanfic #tom holland blurb #tom holland imagines #tom holland fluff #I feel like this didn't fully go the way I wanted it to but I also like it so fmdsfnds idk #lisa writes

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mandoalorian · 3 years

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Sunkissed [Maxwell Lord x Reader] SMUT

Warnings: SMUT; foreplay, oral (m! receiving), spanking, slight exhibitionist kink, cum facial, rough, Maxwell is a subtle (?) asshole.

Word count: 3k

Rating: 18+ only.

Author's note: YACHT SMUT YACHT SMUT YACHT SMUT. This whole one shot is based off this gif alone. I wish we got to see more of Yacht!Max in the movie because wowww this was a look.

Masterlist

Today was the day.

A few months ago, your agent called you with an opportunity you just couldn't resist. You were new to the 'acting' world, having only scored gigs in a toothpaste commercial and a local theatre production. This was different though; your agent stating there was a spot available for an infomercial. You weren't sure what to think. You imagined it being for some boring historical or political campaign and scrunched your nose up in displeasure. Nevertheless, you needed the money and all the experience you could get, so you prepped and went to the audition.

You were surprised when the directions your agent gave you took you to Black Gold Cooperative. You waited in a small room amongst a dozen other girls, before the CEO, Maxwell Lord, came padding in, doting his famous television smile. He hummed in delight, looking around, his eyes flicking between each girl. He pursed his lips together but didn't say a word, before pointing a ring clad finger at you and wiggling it in the air. "You're hired!" he grinned, his voice rich and filled with vibrancy. You knotted your eyebrows together in bewilderment, wanting to say something, but he was already gone. The other girls sighed and huffed, slowly disbanding and leaving the room. You were the last to leave, hesitantly standing up and tugging on the arm of a woman who worked in the office.

"I got the part," you bit your lip nervously and the blonde woman nodded her head, listening carefully. "But I don't really know what for."

"Mr Lord is shooting a new infomercial to promote the company, to try and boost investments." the lady explained.

"But I didn't even audition." you replied, genuinely confused.

"Why would you need to audition? Mr Lord is the star of all his infomercials. All you have to do is sit there and look pretty," the woman in the pink pant suit looked down at her clipboard. "We don't start shooting until summer, but we'll mail you all the details closer to the time." And with that, she was whisked away. You stood there in the middle of the office, completely dumbfounded.

About a week ago, you had got the details just as she promised. You showed up at the harbour fifteen minutes early that morning with a small case full of clothes that would last you the weekend. That's what you were promised as payment for the infomercial. Not cash, but a weekend away on Maxwell Lord's five star private yacht. To be honest, you'd rather have the money, but you'd never been on a yacht before, so you were looking forward to the experience.

"Right!" the director called, pulling her headphones down around her neck. "Mr Lord won't be boarding until noon so… just do as you please until then, but try and not cause any havoc," you looked around. It was only you and four other girls who'd be starting alongside the businessman. "He'll be boarding from a different harbour so we'll be sailing out there in around fifteen minutes. I'd recommend you all get ready for shooting."

You felt isolated. It seemed like the four other girls were quick to befriend one another, giggling and chatting about everything and anything. You didn't usually consider yourself shy but they seemed so different to you. You felt like an outcast.

You sighed, entering the yacht and finding your cabin. You spent a few moments settling in and adjusting yourself to the room before remembering the director had advised you all to get dressed and ready for shooting. You looked outside the small round window and couldn't help but smile. It was a beautiful, hot Summer's day. You stripped out of your clothes and into a floral bikini you'd forked out and purchased especially for today. You did your best to style your hair, but figured it was pointless knowing the salty sea air would get to it anyway. You felt like you had forgotten to grab something, but shrug it off, heading back outside to the deck of the ship. The golden sun rays beamed onto your skin and it felt amazing. Deciding you had a few hours, you placed down a towel and lay on the floor to sunbathe. You could hear the faint laugher of the girls who must've been gossiping elsewhere on the yacht, but you were thankful for a few moments of relaxation before shooting began.

You fell asleep. You didn't know how long you were out for, but it was long enough. You woke up when a cool shadow loomed over you, cutting away the sun beams and sending a shiver down your body. You slowly fluttered your eyes open, them widening when you saw who was standing before you.

Maxwell Lord.

Shit, had you really been asleep that long? You groaned apologetically, sitting upright and hoping you weren't in trouble. Maxwell was doting a blue and white vertical pinstripe button down, the top three buttons undone showing just enough of his bronzed chest to create a weakness in the pit of your stomach. His hair was golden under the sunlight, and he sported a pair of gold rimmed sunglasses. Upon inspecting closer, they looked like limited edition RayBans. He didn't stay a word, just stared at your body hungrily, admiring the way it was spread out.

"I-" you started. "Have we- have we started shooting? Shit, did I sleep through it?" you asked nervously and Maxwell couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

"No, we start shooting in half an hour," he replied, shaking his head. Something about his presence still made you nervous. He sank to his knees, resting beside you and didn't tear his gaze from your body once. He placed his large, ring clad hand over your stomach. "Hot." he commented.

"Huh?" your eyes widened almost comically. Was he calling you hot? You shuddered under his touch, and it didn't go unnoticed by Max.

"Yeah, you're hot," his voice was gravelly and sensual as he began to trace his finger around your belly button, admiring the softness of your skin. "Quite literally burning up."

"Ohhhhh," you drawled out, feeling your cheeks heat up with embarrassment. For a second you thought he was coming onto you. And suddenly, you knew what he meant. You had fallen asleep under the sun for what might've been hours. It's not like you were going to be cold. "Oh right, yeah. I knew I forgot something. Sunscreen."

Max laughed light heartedly and it almost put you at ease, that is if you weren't already so nervous from his soft and delicate touches. "Don't fear," he smiled, dragging his fingers along your tummy. "Max is here." He pulled out a bottle of sunscreen from nowhere and presented you with it, a small and dorky 'ta-da!' escaping his lips. "May I?" he asked, slowly pushing you back down onto the towel that you were previously laying on.

It was hard to read his expression through the sunglasses, but you noted his quirked eyebrow and the wicked smirk that played across his lips.

"Okay." you affirmed with a reassuring smile. Maxwell pulled his sunglasses down the bridge of his nose to read the back of the product he was holding. For a second, you caught a glimpse of his dark, chocolate coloured eyes.

"This lotion has biotin in it, makes you glow like a teenager. Great for when you're in front of a camera," Maxwell explained as you heard him click open the cap and squirt some of the product into his hands. "Let me do your back first."

You wasted no time, following his instruction and turning over. Maxwell spent a moment, admiring the way your body was shaped so beautifully. His eyes trailed from the nape of your neck, down the dip of your back and along the curve of your ass. Your swimsuit panties left very little to the imagination and Max could already feel himself getting turned on, his cock twitching as he began to rub the cream into your shoulders. You hummed at the pressure of both of his hands as he worked at you.

"You know, I remember you," his voice was friendly and approachable, so much so that it almost distracted you from what he was doing to you. "I remember you from all those months ago. I remember the way you stood out from the other girls. There was just something about you I couldn't put into words… but now I see it." he didn't describe what exactly he saw but you could feel the butterflies stir in your stomach at his compliment. "I mean, look at you. You have a body that will sell. And I mean that in the best way possible." you felt his fingers play with the string that kept your bikini together. "May I?" he asked again. "Want to make sure I get every piece of your skin." he murmured.

"Yes," you breathed out, a little too shakily. With a gentle tug, the string came undone and Maxwell continued to rub the lotion down your body, his large hands travelling to the small of your back.

"This ass too," he hummed, giving you a little spank. You gasped, tossing your head back in pleasure. "Oh I see, you like that, don't you?" he chuckled, smacking you again but this time a little harder. You moaned, your lips parting into a perfect 'o' shape. He spent a considerable amount of time rubbing the silky lotion into the curves of your ass cheeks before working himself down the backs of your legs and to your feet. "Turn around and let me get your front."

You eagerly did as you were told. You rolled over, forgetting your bikini top had been untied from the back and gasped slightly when the thin, colourful material exposed your breasts. Maxwell tsked, shaking his head. You used your hands to cover your chest as the straps fell down your arms. "Don't worry darling, you don't have to hide yourself in front of me." he chuckled, slowly peeling your hands away from your body. He pulled off your bikini top and threw it aimlessly to one side.

He took the bottle of sunscreen and squirted a little more into his hands, before smothering it all over your chest. He dipped his fingers into your collarbones and gently stroked down the valley of your breasts. He got your stomach again, rubbing in the cream and making sure not to miss a single inch of skin. You moaned wantonly as his fingers glided across the hem of your bikini panties, slipping in just under the waistband teasingly.

You reached out, grabbing a hold of his wrists and dragging them back up to your chest, placing each of his hands so they were cupping your breasts. He squirted some more lotion, this time straight on your tits, and started to massage it into your soft skin. He still looked composed, despite his hard and leaking manhood pressed against the confines of his cream coloured, fitted pants.

His thumb grazed the bud of your nipples, even occasionally pinching at them to see if he could gain a reaction out of you. You moaned wantonly, feeling your folds grow slick with arousal as he teased you. Maxwell positioned himself on top of you, leaning down and pressing sloppy kisses all over your breasts, his tongue swirling around your nipple and sucking on it greedily.

"Mm, what if someone sees?" you managed to whimper out as Max pulled away from you with a 'pop'.

"Don't worry princess, they're all preoccupied elsewhere. But we don't have long until the shoot begins and oh… look what you've done to me." Max pressed his crotch against your thigh so you could feel the thick, hard imprint of his cock. "You're gonna have to take care of this, sweet girl." he muttered, unzipping his pants and freeing his aching manhood.

You gasped as you took in the size of him, subconsciously licking your lips greedily. Max rose to his feet, jerking himself off as he walked over to the metal bars that gated the edge of the yacht. He looked over into the ocean, slowly pumping his length with one hand and with his free hand, he pulled up his sunglasses so they were resting in his hair. He turned back to you and pointed a finger, curling it and gesturing for you to come over. You didn't stand up, instead, crawling towards him with a primal glint in your eyes. Max leaned against the cool bars as the wind gently breezed through his hair and you straightened yourself up. You stayed down on your knees as you gently pulled Maxwell's hand away from his dick.

You felt your mouth begin to water with anticipation as Max's hands fell into your hair. You ran your fingers down his cock to tease the CEO the best you could, knowing full well this might be the only time you'd be able to exert your dominance over someone as powerful as Maxwell Lord. Max grunted under your delicate touch, and began to subconsciously thrust himself into your hand.

Eventually, you leaned in to lick the tip of his cock. You found yourself lapping at his small slit which was leaking with his salty precum. Your small kitten licks earned groans of pleasure and praise from Maxwell as he quietly begged for more. Max's breathing got heavier and he started to exhale sharp sighs, everytime you swirled your tongue against the tip of his cock. You finally sunk your mouth down as deep as you could, and Max's breathing became shallow as he mewled a string of dirty curses.

You cupped his balls with your hands, playing with them as you deepthroated the businessman to the best of your ability. You ignored the way tears pricked your eyes and your saliva mixed with his precum dribbled down your chin. Max Lord always liked to take control, and he began to thrust his cock deep into your mouth. But as always, he craved more. He craved for something warmer and wetter. He ran his fingers through your hair and pulled your head away from his manhood so his cock bounced against your face.

"Stand up." he commanded and you did so with a wobble. He pulled you over to where he was standing and bent you over the side of the ship, pulling your bikini bottoms down quickly and roughly. He spanked you again, earning a pretty little wail of surprise.

You felt him line his cock up against your soaking wet folds as his tummy pressed into your ass. He rubbed the tip against your entrance teasingly until you were crying out his name and begging him to fuck you.

When he finally pushed his length into you, you couldn't help but scream. You gasped, your fingers curling around the metal bars so hard your knuckles turned white as he set up a brutal and rough page. His movements were unforgiving as he fucked you so hard and fast, your poor legs felt like they were going to give way. But he had you pinned against the barrier, and the way he mumbled sweet nothings and appraisal into your ear only spurred you on more. He told you how much of a good girl you were for taking his cock so well. He warned that if you kept screaming, you'd alert the filming crew. He'd tease you, nibbling and biting gently at the skin as he nestled his head into the crook of your neck.

"Gonna cum," you warned, your moans becoming erratic as he kept pushing into that perfect sweet spot inside of you. Your walls clenched around his cock tighter than a vice as you came. But he didn't stop fucking you. Your body ached as he used your pussy to bring himself to his own climax.

"Ngh— fuck!" Max cried out as he doubled back, pulling out of you and pushing you back down onto your knees. He jerked himself rapidly and you noted the way his cock throbbed in his hands. "Gonna make a mess off your pretty face." he chuckled darkly. "Mouth. Open."

You did as you were told, parting your lips and sticking your tongue out as Max's salty load roped into your mouth. At least— most of it got into your mouth. His eyes slammed shut and his cum sprayed onto your face and dripped down your chin and onto your chest. You couldn't believe how pent up he was. He slowly opened his eyes and gave you a small nod. You closed your mouth and swallowed his load with a hum of approval, licking your lips and fluttering your eyelashes.

"Five minutes until shooting!" you heard the director call and you gasped. Max smirked, taking a mental image of how sexy you looked with his cum splayed all over you.

"You better clean yourself up." Max laughed, taking your hand and helping you to your feet.

You were at a complete loss for words. Your hair was sticking to your skin from the sweat and your whole body was slippery with the sunscreen Max had applied earlier. Max grabbed the towel that you were once lying on and threw it in your direction. You noticed he had already tucked himself back into his pants, and, other than the few strands of dark blonde hair that had fallen out of place, he looked ready to go.

You wondered how often he did this. How often he fucked his employees on set before he shot important commercials or infomercials. There was something about his energy that thrilled you and filled your body with desire. He left you wanting more. And, knowing you'd be spending the whole weekend with him on this yacht, part of you figured this wouldn't be the last time he'd touch you like this.

Taglist (let me know if you wish to be added!)~

Permanent: @supernaturalgirl @phoenixhalliwell @ah-callie @luvzoria @stardust-galaxies @wickedfrsgrl @goth-topic @nerdypinupcrystal @wonderfulfluffer @kiwi-the-first @pedroepascal @castiel-barnes @honeymandos @rocketqueen @ladycumberbatchofcamelot @dybalalover10 @girl-obsessed-with-things @elena-myth @moth-guillotine @pedro-pascal-love @hayley-the-comet @pinkninja190

#pedro pascal #pedro pascal x reader #maxwell lord #max lord #maxwell lord x reader #max lord x reader #pedro pascal smut #ww84

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nicknellie · 3 years

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Anonymous requested: Could I request willex fake dating au, maybe the boys are trying to get Alex a boyfriend and so he asks Willie to fake date him to get the boys off his back or something please!

Anon, I love fake dating AUs, I’m beyond glad that you suggested this. Plus with willex I think fake dating is very in character, especially for Alex. I had a lot of fun writing this one, thank you for your request! I’m sorry it took me so long to get round to writing it, but to make up for it I’ve made it longer than most of my other fics.

A Dream Come True

Alex had to hand it to them – when Luke and Reggie wanted something, they really pushed for it. Normally it would be one of the many things he loved about the two of them. Determination, perseverance, resilience, all good qualities. And when they put their minds towards something useful like booking Julie and the Phantoms a gig or dragging Willie out of the washing machine when he got stuck in it playing hide and seek, they were definitely useful to have around. So usually, Alex loved their pushiness.

He just didn’t like it when it was aimed at him. Even less so when they were trying (for the umpteenth time that month) to get him a boyfriend.

And the worst part was that this time Alex had run out of excuses.

For reasons Alex simply couldn’t fathom, Luke and Reggie had been obsessed with the idea of finding him a boyfriend for some weeks now. Reggie had downloaded several dating apps and entered all of Alex’s information, and every time Alex saw him the first thing Reggie would do was reel off a list of several candidates he’d deemed worthy. Luke, ever the technophobe (or rather just terrible with technology), had taken a more natural approach and spent countless hours wandering the streets of Hollywood for someone who was, in his words, ‘the sort of guy who would make Alex lose his goddamn mind’.

It wasn’t that Alex didn’t appreciate them trying to make him happy – he found it sweet, if a little weird – it was just that he knew nobody they found would ever be right. He knew what he was looking for, he knew what he wanted, and he didn’t think that Luke and Reggie could get it for him.

The first time they had tried to send him on a date Alex had faked a cold and pulled out at the last minute. The second time he had “accidentally” shown up to the wrong location and missed the entire thing. The third time he simply hadn’t gone – instead, he turned off all the lights in his house, locked all the doors and windows, and hid, so when he didn’t show up and Luke and Reggie came over looking for him they assumed he was out. The fourth time and most recent time he had pretended to fall asleep when they told him about it.

Alex wasn’t the most creative of people and he had pretty much exhausted all of his go-to date-dodging tactics. So the fifth time his friends tried to set him up, he completely panicked.

“So I was doing my usual lap of Sunset Boulevard this morning,” Luke said in lieu of a greeting the moment he walked into Julie’s garage. “And Alex, dude, bro, you will not believe the guy I saw.”

“Good morning to you to,” Alex said flatly.

Luke wrinkled his nose like the greeting confused him, but then saw Julie setting up her mic in the corner. A bright smile grew on his face as he was distracted and for a moment Alex thought he might have been lucky enough to get out of the conversation. But a moment later, Reggie entered the studio and also decided that greetings weren’t a necessity.

“Luke! Did you tell Alex about the guy yet?”

Julie snickered (she found the whole thing much funnier than Alex did and he most certainly did not appreciate it) and for a moment more Luke continued to just look at her, absolutely besotted, but then he came to his senses and all of a sudden his excited smile was directed at Alex.

“Right, that. So I ran into him outside the Orpheum, so he’s probably a music guy,” Luke gushed, winking in a way that Alex supposed was meant to be suggestive. “We had a little chat and he told me he’s training as a teacher and is also looking for someone to settle down with.”

“Sometimes I worry about you,” Alex said, laying a gentle hand on Luke’s arm. “You’re getting forgetful. I’m not looking to settle down with anyone.”

Rolling his eyes dramatically, Luke shrugged Alex’s arm off and instead planted his own hands firmly on Alex’s shoulders, shaking him a little. “Maybe not, but that might change when you meet this guy.”

“I doubt it. What’s his name?”

“Oscar. Maybe Oliver. Orville? I don’t know, but it definitely began with an ‘o’.”

“He sounds memorable,” Alex deadpanned. “I’m sure we’ll have a great time together.”

Reggie gasped excitedly. “So you’ll meet up with him then?”

“No,” Alex said firmly.

Julie giggled again (and once again Luke looked at her, dazzled). “Why not, Alex? You sounded so enthusiastic about him!”

“Very funny,” he returned. “I’m not meeting him.”

“Why not?” Luke whined, dragging the words out like a frustrated toddler. “You always do this! Reg and I try to set you up with people but you always say you don’t want to. Are we missing something?”

Alex could see the cogs whirring in Reggie’s mind before his face lit up and he triumphantly guessed, “Or are we missing someone?”

If anyone had asked, Alex wouldn’t have been able to give a reason for what he said next. It was completely untrue, a wild statement made under extreme pressure in the face of an emergency. Perhaps it was a bad decision, but he had run out of excuses to not meet people and he was getting desperate. He hadn’t had time to consider it.

Alex said, “Yes.”

Reggie’s jaw dropped, Julie dropped her microphone, and Luke dropped whatever respect he had left for Alex’s personal boundaries. He launched himself at Alex, tackling him to the floor in what he assumed was supposed to be a hug, and Alex was fairly certain that Luke was crying with happiness.

“Dude!” he shouted (though it was rather muffled since he had his face buried in Alex’s shirt). “That’s awesome news! Reggie and I can stop searching! I didn’t think you’d be able to find someone yourself, bro.”

“Thanks for having so much confidence in me,” Alex said flatly as he extricated himself from Luke’s vice grip and hoisted himself to his feet.

“You’re welcome,” Luke said as he wiped his eyes (yes, he was actually crying happy tears).

Julie had her arms crossed in front of her chest, looking half-puzzled and half-affronted. “You’re seeing someone? And you didn’t tell me? The only one of your friends who is even a little bit good at keeping a secret?”

“Hey,” Reggie interrupted, “I’m good at keeping secrets!”

“Reggie, honey, I love you but at Christmas you told everyone what you’d bought them as soon as you’d bought it.”

Reggie looked like he wanted to defend himself but couldn’t. “I was excited to see everyone’s reactions…”

Rolling her eyes fondly, Julie turned back to Alex. “Anyway – why didn’t you tell me?”

While he was a terrible liar, Alex just so happened to be a very good actor. In high school he’d got the lead role in the school play two years in a row, but whenever someone asked him if he was gay (before he had come out) he would often panic and pretend to faint to get out of the situation. Though he was technically telling a lie here, he decided it would be the prime opportunity to employ some of the improvisational skills he had worked on with Carrie back in their theatre club.

“It was all very new,” he explained, “we weren’t sure if it was going to go anywhere and we didn’t want to tell everyone until we were sure.”

It was only at this point that Alex realised he was digging a very deep hole for himself and it was most certainly too late to climb out of it now.

“When do we get to meet him?” Reggie asked excitedly.

“You already have,” Alex replied.

A little voice in the back of his mind was saying, shut up, you absolute idiot, what the hell are you playing at? Perhaps stupidly, he drowned that voice out.

Looking dumbfounded, Luke clutched Alex’s shoulders again. “We have? Who is it?”

The little voice got louder – don’t say it, Alex, I’m begging you not to say it, it’s like you’re actively trying to ruin your own life, you absolute–

“Willie.”

In eery synchrony, Luke, Julie, and Reggie all looked to each other with identical expressions of shock and bewilderment and then turned back to Alex with furrowed brows.

“Willie?” they all chorused.

Alex pursed his lips and rocked on the balls of his feet, suddenly regretting every decision he’d made that had brought him to this point in his life. “Yep.”

“I thought your thing with him finished like six months ago?” Julie said.

“Well, there wasn’t really much of a thing to finish,” Reggie reasoned, “just Alex’s pining from afar that had lasted for like four years–”

“Yes, thank you, Reginald,” Alex interrupted. It wasn’t that Reggie was wrong, Alex just didn’t like how right he was. “And yeah, it did… I guess. But then we were hanging out together a few months ago and it was really nice and we started doing it more often and eventually he asked me on a date.”

Alex was overly aware that every word he had just said was an utter lie. Firstly, he had never really got over Willie – Willie wasn’t the sort of person you could just forget or move on from, even though Alex had never actually dated him. Secondly, Alex and Willie hadn’t actually hung out together alone in quite a while. Willie had been busy with their blossoming art career, going to different presentations and awards shows, trying to make a name for himself; Alex, on the other hand, had been doing his best to avoid dating anyone. And thirdly, Willie had never once asked Alex on a date.

He knew he should have backtracked, told them the truth, but he was in far too deep.

“This has been going on for a few months?” Luke said incredulously. “How have you kept it from us that long? Dude, you just let Reggie and I spend literally all our free time trying to find you a boyfriend!”

“I never asked you to do that.”

“You could have told us to stop,” Reggie said.

“I did,” Alex returned. “Several times.”

Julie raised her hands placatingly. “Okay, okay. That’s not important right now. What’s important is that Alex and Willie are finally together. Are you sure they’ll be alright with you telling us while he’s not here?”

Alex shrugged, trying to act like he wasn’t too sure (which was easy because he’d never been less sure of anything at any time in his life). “Umm… well… we haven’t really talked about it much, but… you know, I’m sure he won’t mind too much. I’ll tell them tonight.”

Julie smiled warmly. “Well, I’m happy for you in any case. It’s nice that you’ve finally got what you wanted for so long.”

“Amen to that,” Luke said, finally picking up his guitar. Alex had all but forgotten they were supposed to be practising instead of talking about his very fake relationship with Willie which Willie didn’t even know about. “And Reg and I can finally stop looking for someone.”

“Could’ve stopped before you’d even started,” Alex said, sitting down behind his drumkit, “but alright.”

He knew that sooner or later he would have to tell Willie what he’d done and he was absolutely dreading it. Willie was a very chill person and Alex knew they’d probably find it funny more than anything, but it was still a daunting prospect. But for now, he focused himself on his drums, hammering out all of that excess anxiety, and forgetting the absolute nightmare he’d created for himself just for a little bit.

It was nearing one o’clock in the morning and Alex was very much not ready to go to sleep. For one thing, he was still wearing his clothes instead of pyjamas, and for another he was pacing his room like a caged lion with anxiety and had been doing so for almost three hours. He was trying to build up the courage to call Willie and let him know what had gone on, but he was so nervous that he wasn’t sure he’d even be able to string a sentence together if Willie picked up the phone.

He knew he would just have to bite the bullet. He couldn’t put it off forever or it would end in disaster. For the thousandth time he reminded himself that Willie was the kindest, funniest, most good-natured person he knew and that he had nothing to be scared of when it came to telling them that he had made a massive, probably damning mistake. Willie would be fine with it, Alex knew.

Before he could dwell on it a second longer, Alex dialled Willie’s number and let it ring.

It only rang twice before Willie picked up. Even though it was late, Alex had known Willie would pick up (the guy hardly slept at all) and he fought the urge to tell him to go to bed.

“Morning,” Willie said chirpily.

Alex checked the time and blinked in surprise; he hadn’t realise how long he’d been pacing for.

“Yeah, I guess it is,” he said. “How come you’re still awake?”

“Mario Kart,” they replied. Alex could practically hear Willie’s smile – suddenly there were butterflies in his already anxious stomach and they certainly weren’t helping. “Why are you still awake? I thought your bedtime was half nine.”

“It hasn’t been in two years and you know that,” Alex said. Willie giggled brightly which teased a smile out of Alex. “I, uh… I actually need to talk to you about something that happened today.”

Just get on with it, he told himself, don’t drag it out.

“Oh?” Willie said. “What is it? You sound nervous – do you need me to come over?”

“No,” Alex told him, “it’s late – or maybe early. Either way, you don’t need to come all the way to my place just so I can tell you this.”

“It sounds serious.”

“It might be,” Alex admitted. “It depends on how you take it.”

There was a brief silence on the other end and for a moment Alex wondered if Willie had decided to end the conversation, but then they said, “Alright, let me just pause the game.”

Another short pause as Willie stopped mid-race. Alex took the opportunity to collect himself, shake out his nerves. It would be fine. Willie would be fine with it.

“Okay,” he said a moment later. “I’m back. What’s going on, hotdog?”

Alex scratched awkwardly at the back of his neck, suddenly unsure where to start.

“Okay,” he began uncertainly. “Well… Luke and Reg have been trying to set me up with someone for a while now and I’ve been trying to avoid it as much as I can. I’ve sort of run out of excuses and you know how difficult it is for me to say no to them.”

Willie hummed knowingly. “Like with the Great Cactus Robbery of 2019.”

Alex winced at the memory – he hadn’t realised cactus spikes hurt quite that much, but he’d gone through with a lot that night for Luke and Reggie’s sake.

“Don’t remind me,” he said witheringly. “Anyway, you know what I’m talking about then. They told me about another guy earlier today and I really needed another excuse to give them. I tried just point-blank telling them no, but then they started asking questions and…”

“And?” Willie prompted.

“I told them I was seeing someone,” Alex said. There was silence on the other end. “I told them I was seeing you.”

After a moment or two (that felt like an eternity) Willie burst out laughing. Alex sighed, affronted, but he supposed it was one of the better reactions he could have got. At least Willie wasn’t angry at him.

“Why?” Willie wheezed between laughs. “Was that seriously the first thing that came to your mind?”

“Yes,” Alex grumbled. “I was under a lot of pressure. You were the obvious choice.”

They giggled happily and Alex realised just how true those words had been – whether he liked it or not, Willie would always be the obvious choice for him.

“Well, I’m flattered,” they told him, blatantly trying to contain their giggles. “Thank you for thinking of me, hotdog.”

“You’re welcome,” Alex said. “But I’m sorry about it too. I’ve created an absolute mess and dragged you into it, so I understand if you’re angry at me.”

“Does it sound like I’m angry at you?”

“No?”

“That’s because I’m not,” Willie said kindly. “I get it, man, you just panicked. No big deal. Besides, we can ride this out easily.”

Alex blinked. “We can?”

“Sure, man, it’ll be fun. We’ll pretend to date for a few weeks, have a friendly breakup, and then everything can go back to normal.”

“You’re sure?” Alex checked. This hadn’t been what he was expecting – he’d thought Willie would say it didn’t matter but he needed to come clean. He hadn’t been expecting the offer of dating.

Fake dating, said that irritating little voice in his head. It’s not real. Don’t let yourself forget that.

“Of course I’m sure,” they said. “I mean, it’s totally cool if you don’t want to, but surely it’ll be easier than backtracking completely with the others. And it’ll get Reggie and Luke off your back for a little while longer.”

He considered it, weighing up the pros and cons. On one hand, he’d get to date Willie at last, something he’d wanted to do since he met him. It would give them more of a chance to hang out together, Luke and Reggie would stop pestering him, and it was always fun to harmlessly mess with his friends. On the other hand, he wasn’t sure his sentimental little heart could stand getting to date Willie and then having him taken away even if that was the arrangement from the very start.

But it was a sacrifice he was willing to make.

“Alright,” he said resolutely. “I’m in.”

“Cool,” Willie returned happily. “Shall we meet tomorrow to discuss, you know, like, boundaries and stuff like that?”

“Sounds great. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He heard Willie press play on his game, the unmistakable sound of an item box being broken on Mario Kart.

“See you tomorrow, Alex,” Willie said. “Or maybe now we’re dating I should be calling you ‘babe’ or something.”

If that made Alex’s heart flutter, he wouldn’t say anything about it. “We’ll go over pet names tomorrow. Goodnight, Willie.”

“Goodnight, babe.”

As Alex put his phone down and launched himself into bed (still fully clothed but suddenly far too tired to even consider getting changed) he thought to himself that there probably couldn’t have been a better outcome.

Alex had expected the meeting with Willie to feel awkward and weirdly formal, but it was completely the opposite. Both of them were in high spirits the whole time, jokingly holding hands and making heart eyes at each other, laughing every time one of them used a particularly ridiculous pet name for the other. (When Alex had called Willie ‘sugarpoops’ he had thought they might die from laughing.)

But the meeting was productive too. They set some effective boundaries – any touching was allowed, just not too intimate; kissing was fine, but only to prove a point; and just for the fun of it they agreed they had to act like the most sickeningly in-love couple the world had ever known. Alex didn’t really care if that would give the whole thing away, it seemed like a bit of fun and it would be useful when it came to reminding himself that none of this was actually real.

That bit, he had to admit, still stung.

He and Willie had arranged to meet Luke, Reggie, and Julie at the studio that afternoon, so spent the day together beforehand. Just to try and get into the swing of things, they treated their morning together as a mini date. Alex took Willie to minigolf, then they went to an ice cream parlour, and after that Willie tried to teach Alex how to skateboard for fifteen minutes before Alex got too nervous and gave up. It was fun and Alex tried not to think about the fact that this was the reality he was missing out on – if he imagined he was just hanging out with Willie as a friend, which in a way he was, then it was just about bearable.

They arrived outside the studio together and they could hear the other band members’ voices already inside. Alex’s stomach started squirming nervously which he thought was weird. He didn’t actually have anything to be nervous about – he and Willie weren’t really dating.

But still, he was starting to feel a little bit queasy and was seriously considering just running away.

Then he felt Willie’s hand slip into his and their fingers lace together. He looked down at them and saw that he had a kind, soft smile on his face, gently encouraging.

“Ready to be my boyfriend, sweetheart?” Willie asked teasingly.

The nerves didn’t disappear, but Alex found it a lot easier to ignore them after that.

“Always,” he said. “Let’s do this.”

Without another moment’s hesitation, Alex pushed open the studio door and led Willie inside. Julie, Luke, and Reggie all hushed immediately and looked at the couple like they’d been caught red-handed. If their guilty expressions were anything to go by, they had been talking about Alex and Willie before they had walked in. He could only guess as to what they had been saying, but at that point Alex hardly thought it mattered.

It was showtime.

“Hey guys,” he said, grinning broadly. “What are you talking about?”

The three all responded at the same time but with wildly different answers.

“That gig next week,” blurted Luke.

“I lost my favourite hairclip,” Julie explained.

“I’m thinking of buying a horse,” Reggie told them.

Alex and Willie looked at each other, trying to hide their amusement.

“Anyway,” Julie said, “doesn’t matter what we were talking about! Because you’re here now, both of you! And you’re dating!”

Without warning, Willie giggled brightly and attached himself to Alex like a koala to a tree. Alex laughed and threw his arms around Willie, holding them tightly, pressing a firm kiss to the top of their head.

“I feels so good to finally have it out in the open,” Willie gushed, gazing at Alex with pure adoration in his eyes. “Right, sugarplum?”

Alex gently rubbed the tip of his nose against Willie’s, fighting the urge to laugh. “Of course, my little cheesecake.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Alex could see his friends’ expressions – he had to close his eyes so he wouldn’t be able to see them, otherwise he definitely would have broken character and started laughing so hard he couldn’t breathe. Luke looked utterly horrified, like the display of affection was disgusting; Julie was staring at the two of them wide-eyed, her face flushed red, looking like she would rather be anywhere else; and Reggie just looked baffled.

After a while, Julie cleared her throat and the couple turned to look at her innocently.

“So,” she said, “we’ve heard Alex’s version of the story, but Willie – how did… all this happen?”

Willie linked his arm through Alex’s marched the two of them over to the couch and sat Alex down, then sat primly on his lap, laying their head against Alex’s shoulder. “I’m so glad you asked.”

“I’m not,” Luke muttered, “this is weird.”

Julie kicked his shin and he shut his mouth.

“I had been watching Alex from afar ever since we met, but I didn’t think a cool, handsome drummer could ever care about someone like me. I was convinced we would only ever be friends. But then we hung out together and I saw all these different sides to his personality – he’s so caring and soft, you know, and he means everything he says. Alex isn’t like anyone I’ve ever met. So I decided to just go for it, ask him out, admit how I feel.”

Alex stroked a hand through Willie’s hair, eyes fixed on him. “Since then we’ve never looked back. And we never will.”

“Oh, my darling!” Willie exclaimed, throwing themself at Alex and pressing a kiss to his lips.

It certainly wasn’t how Alex had envisioned his first kiss with Willie going (and he had envisioned a great many different versions of it) but in a strange way it felt just right. Sure, they weren’t dating, but they were hanging out together, having fun, being in each other’s company and loving every second of it. Maybe the circumstances weren’t exactly what Alex wanted, but the love they held for one another was still there, nothing could take that away.

So maybe it wasn’t the best decision he’d ever made, but Alex let himself get lost in the kiss. He didn’t know how many times he’d get to do this in his life, so he figured it was better to make the most of it. He blocked out the fact that his friends were right there (a sure sign that he wasn’t thinking straight – absently he knew that he would be very embarrassed by this when it was all over) and just focused on Willie.

And he was sure he wasn’t imagining the fact that Willie seemed to be enjoying it just as much.

When Julie eventually cleared her throat again, they separated. But Alex couldn’t take his eyes off Willie. He knew he wasn’t imagining what he’d felt in that kiss – like sparks had flown between them, forcing their dynamic into something much more than friendly banter and an inside joke. Willie’s eyes were glassy and he was breathing heavily, scanning Alex’s face for something, though Alex didn’t know what. All he knew was that the kiss had pushed the boundaries they had spent all morning setting and if he wasn’t more careful he would lose himself to this silly little charade.

The five of them spent the rest of the afternoon and evening just talking to each other. Willie stayed firmly planted in Alex’s lap and they both used the occasional cutesy nickname for each other, but it seemed as if both of them had silently made the decision to tone things down a little bit. Luke seemed relieved about it at least – for all the heart eyes he made at Julie he certainly seemed uncomfortable at the affection Alex and Willie had shown. It was probably because Alex hardly ever showed love like that in front of people.

But god, he wanted to do it all again.

Luckily, it didn’t seem like any of their friends suspected Alex and Willie of lying to them. By the time they were all on their way home – Alex and Willie walking away hand in hand – nobody had brought up the fact that it could all be fake.

“That went well,” Willie said as they walked along the seafront, heading back to his place. The cold night breeze lifted their hair and Alex couldn’t keep his eyes off them, not when they were looking so beautiful.

“Yeah,” he said, watching the way the amber glow of the streetlamps danced in Willie’s eyes. “It did.”

“Have you thought about how long we’re going to do this for?” Willie asked. Alex was sure he heard nervousness in Willie’s tone, maybe mingled with hope.

He shrugged. “A few weeks maybe. Unless you had something else in mind.”

“No, no, that’s fine, man.” They had arrived at Willie’s apartment building and stopped just outside of it. “I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

“Yeah,” Alex said, smiling smally. “See you tomorrow.”

He didn’t know what he was thinking – he had expected a goodnight kiss from Willie, but instead he was left alone in the cold as Willie let go of his hand and hurried into the building. Alex was suddenly reminded again that it was all fake, that he shouldn’t have expected kisses when they were alone.

It hurt though. He knew that kiss earlier had been more than just top-notch acting.

He fell asleep that night, still thinking about it, the memory replaying on a loop in his mind. In one way or another, Willie was going to drive him crazy.

The next two weeks flew by. Alex found himself hanging out just with Willie more and more often, playing Mario Kart together at Willie’s insistence, going on more dates that weren’t actually dates, or even just video-chatting each other while doing their own separate things to enjoy the company.

After that first day as a “couple”, Alex was sure Willie’s confidence had been knocked. For the next few days they withdrew himself from Alex and Alex didn’t know if he’d done something wrong or if it was just something on Willie’s mind. Still, he let Willie work through it, and a few days later he was back to normal, clinging to Alex like a barnacle to a ship, calling him every pet name under the sun.

And still their friends were none the wiser.

The end of their time as a couple came all too quickly. Alex walked Willie back to his apartment again, a heaviness in his heart. He didn’t know how an actual breakup felt, but he was willing to bet that a breakup would be less painful than whatever this was. No part of him wanted to give this up, whatever silly little thing was going on between him and Willie – it was fun, it was freeing, it gave Alex a light feeling in his chest and made him so happy he thought he might burst at any moment. He didn’t want to give any of it up.

But still he walked Willie to his door.

They stood facing each other, hands interlinked between them, sad smiles on each of their faces. Alex tried to memorise every detail on Willie’s face as if it was the last time he would see them.

“This has been fun,” he said eventually, his voice low, quiet in the night air.

“You can say that again,” Willie agreed. “I loved being your boyfriend.”

“I loved being your boyfriend.”

Something flickered in Willie’s eyes, an expression gone too quickly for Alex to name, but it was quickly forgotten because a moment later Willie stood up on his tiptoes and kissed Alex.

It wasn’t like any of the other kisses they had shared in the past few weeks. There was nothing over-the-top and exaggerated about it, it wasn’t just a stunt they pulled to fool their friends. It was slow and soft and Alex felt the rest of his body go fuzzy and numb as all he could concentrate on was Willie’s lips on his.

An eternity later, Willie pulled away, his eyes scanning Alex’s face.

Alex swallowed heavily and said, “I thought we could only kiss each other to prove a point.”

Willie nodded. “Did I not get my point across very well? Do I need to kiss you again?”

Alex almost laughed but something stopped him. “Just… just explain it to me first. So I don’t get the wrong idea.”

“I loved being your boyfriend,” Willie said. “You enjoyed being my boyfriend. So… why should we stop?”

Alex felt his head spin. Somehow the nightmare he’d created for himself all those weeks ago was turning into a dream come true.

“You mean that?” he asked. “Tell me you mean that, Willie, please.”

“I mean it,” Willie said resolutely. “I’ve felt this way about you for too long just to let it go. If you want me then I want you. I want to date you, Alex. For real.”

Alex kissed him again, short but sweet.

“Is that a yes?” Willie asked, giggling.

“There’s no other answer I could have ever given.”

Even though they remained boyfriends (real ones this time), Alex and Willie decided to drop the over-the-top, lovey-dovey stuff. It was fun, but it wasn’t them. Instead, they chose to fill every second together with quiet declarations of love, casual dates, soft kisses, nothing that wasn’t real.

But they never did tell Luke, Reggie, and Julie how much of it had been fake.

Taglist (if you want to be added or removed just let me know): @ace-bookworm @williexmercer @boggie-brainrot @itstiger720 @the-reckless-and-the-brave @that-one-newsie @bluedarkness @lookingthroughmirrors @tmp-jatp @salty-star @julieandthequeers @lmaohuh @sunnysbright @sylphrenas @callmeontheleyline

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hyperion-moonbabe-art3mis · 3 years

Text

Big Break

Request: Can I request a Luke x reader with like 1995 Luke and Y/N where reader has a concert and invites her friends and boyfriend (not Luke as BF yet 😪😂) and she’s really nervous and looks for her boyfriend before hand but doesn’t see him and learns he didn’t want to come so Luke (who is her BFF and completely in love with her and her him) supports her and calms her down and after the concert she breaks up with her boy and dates Luke ~ @im-a-writer-right

Word Count: 3.5k

P.S. Sorry for the fic spam today. My TVD and 100 fics were scheduled for today. and I just really wanted to get this one out.

Tonight is the biggest night of your life. You booked a gig that could give you your big break. You were opening up for one of your friend’s band, Twisted Island, who has a contract with one of the biggest record labels, Sub Pop Records. You were so nervous you practically didn’t sleep the night before. Luckily, one of your friends gave you some melatonin to make you practically pass out.

You look to your computer to find a message on AOL from your boyfriend, Tyler.

Tyler: Morning

You: Morning

Tyler: Meet @ Moonshine Cafe in1 hr. I want to spend time with you before work

You: Ok, love. See you soon

Tyler: See you soon <3

Your boyfriend wasn’t only one of your oldest friends from LA but also an emerging music artist. He was the one who helped you land the gig, on top of your friends who you were opening for. He knew some other big record labels and invited them to your show. In case you didn’t land a deal with Sub Pop Records you had the other labels you could possibly sign with.

You get up to shower and get ready to meet your boyfriend. You hop in your car and head to the cafe. Not long after your boyfriend arrived. You gave him a big kiss and head to get seated. Of course, Tyler pulled some strings so you two could be seated at their private table.

“These are for you, for good luck,” Tyler says and hands you some flowers.

“Awe, thank you,” You smile.

“I’m sorry I can’t help you prep more for tonight. I just can’t miss out on this collaboration with Madonna,” Tyler says.

“It’s ok. It’s an amazing opportunity, I’m excited for you. But you can make it for soundcheck right? It’s at five and I got you a backstage pass,” You say pulling out a lanyard.

“Yes. We should be done between 3:30-4,” Tyler says taking the pass from your hands.

“So how many songs are you gonna record with Madonna?” You ask.

“Not sure. Today we’re just writing some. I’m hoping for at least two or three,” Tyler says.

“Well, no matter how many you write together. I bet they’re going to be amazing. I can’t wait to hear them,” You say as your food arrives. The two of you spend the rest of the time talking about his collab and your gig before you receive a call.

Luke: Y/N I just woke up. The guys and I are gonna meet at the garage soon.

You: I’ll meet you guys there in 30.

“Who was that?” Tyler asks

“My friend in Sunset Curve, Luke. The guys told me they’d help me prep for tonight so I gotta go soon,” You tell Tyler.

“Those guys are great. I have to go soon too anyways. I need to be at the studio in like an hour. But I wanted to get there a bit early,” Tyler says.

“You always like to please people,” You laugh.

“You know me too well,” Tyler laughs as a waiter brings boxes over. You pack your leftovers in the box as Tyler pays.

“Thanks again for breakfast,” You say.

“You’re welcome. The best way to start off the day. I’ll see you later tonight,” Tyler says.

“See you tonight. 5 O’clock at The Los Angeles Theatre, don’t forget,” You say.

“I promise, I won’t,” Tyler says and kisses you goodbye.

You get into your car and head to the Sunset Curve garage. Once you made your way into the garage you find that only Alex and Reggie were there.

“Hey guys,” You say.

“Hey,” The boys say in almost unison.

“Where’s Luke and Bobby?” You question.

“Bobby is supposed to pick Luke up. He probably slept in,” Alex says.

“I thought Bobby was the punctual and responsible one?” You ask.

“Who says we’re not responsible?” Reggie asks, clearly feeling hurt.

“Me, but you guys did have that gig last night right? How’d that go?” You ask.

“It was great. Reggie even--” Alex starts before he gets slapped in the chest by Reggie.

You raise your eyebrow, “Reggie even what?” You question.

“Dude, just tell her. She’s not gonna give up, you know that,” Alex says.

“I may have had a special night with this girl,” Reggie says quietly.

“Oh yeah? Is this someone you’re gonna see again? Or more like a one-time thing?” You ask.

“I-I don’t know,” Regie says.

“Either way I’m happy for you,” You say. You then hear the doors open and turn to find Luke and Bobby walk in.

“There’s our big shot!” Luke yells before tackling you with a hug.

“Not quite yet. I still gotta play tonight,” You say pulling away.

“Either way. My best friend is getting her big break AKA our big shot,” Luke says.

“What about us?” Reggie asks furrowing his eyebrows.

“We’ll get our shot, but today is about Y/N,” Luke says.

“Aw shucks,” You chuckle. “So I’m playing like five songs and if I’m being completely honest...I haven’t picked them out yet,” You say.

“Well I know ‘Rose’ and ‘Shadows’ are two of my favs,” Luke says.

“‘Constellations’ is also a great one,” Alex adds.

“Those three are at the top of my list,” You say and pull out your music journal.

“What about the song you and Luke wrote together?” Bobby asks.

“‘Red Hearts’? That’s a duet song. I can’t really play that one,” You say.

“Y/N’s right. It’s meant to be sung by two people,” Luke smiles at you.

“I think ‘Bracing for impact’ and ‘Devil’, will fit in with the others then,” Bobby suggests.

“Yeh, but I haven’t played ‘Devil’ more than twice and one of those times was in front of you guys,” You say.

“You are an amazing artist, Y/N,” Luke grasps your arms. “You barely need any practice. Remember when I threw you on stage with us to sing one of our songs?” Luke says.

“That doesn’t count, Luke. I watch you guys practice all the time,” You point out.

“But you memorized the lyrics,” Alex says.

“Ok...I guess that was impressive. Fine, I’ll do these five. Thanks, guys,” You say.

“Great! I can’t wait to hear them,” Luke says as the other nod in agreement.

“Oh! Also, I pulled some strings and got you all backstage and sound check passes,” You say pulling four lanyards out.

“Backstage passes to the Los Angeles Theatre?!?” Reggie exclaims taking all four passes from your hand.

“You know the three other passes are for your bandmates right?” You ask.

“Oh. Yeah. I just can’t believe we get to go backstage at the Los Angeles Theatre,” Reggie says handing his bandmates the remaining passes.

“Soundcheck is at five,” You say.

“You know we’ll be there,” Luke says and smiles at you. You and the boys hang out as they practice.

“Y/N, who are you opening up for again?” Bobby asks.

“Really? My friend whose in Twisted Island. They’re signed with Sub Pop,” You respond.

“Seriously? How did you get this gig exactly,” Alex asks.

“Well, my friend. But Tyler also invited a couple of other labels to see my show,” You say.

“Don’t forget us when you get big,” Luke says.

“How could I? You guys are the ones who told me I should play gigs in the first place,” You say.

“You and Luke have known each other for however long. Why didn’t we invite her to sing with us again?” Reggie asks as everyone in the room gives him blank looks. “What?” He asks.

“Reggie...do you really think that an amazing singer like Y/N would ever want to join Sunset Curve?” Luke says putting his hand on Reggie’s shoulder.

“In my defense, none of you asked me,” You respond.

“So is that a yes?” Reggie asks.

“I didn’t know that was an invite,” You say.

“Ok. Hypothetically if we offered...would you like to join?” Reggie asks.

“Uhh...we didn’t have a band meeting about this,” Bobby adds.

“It’s a hypothetical question, but I know I wouldn’t mind,” Luke says.

“I mean she’d be a great addition,” Alex says.

“And she can play a mean guitar. But she might steal your lead singer role, Luke,” Bobby says.

“Why do I feel like I’m being interrogated?” You ask.

“Just answer the question,” Reggie says.

“Ok, ok. Let’s say you offered me today. My answer is, let’s see how tonight goes,” You respond as the boys seem pleased with your answer. “Speaking of tonight, it’s like 3. I need to get ready and then head to the theatre,” You say and get up.

“Alright we’ll see you there,” Luke says as you hug each of the boys.

“5 O’clock. Don’t be late,” You say walking out of the garage.

“We won’t!” Reggie yells.

You head back to your apartment and get ready to head to the Los Angeles theatre. You grabbed your guitar and your accessories and head to the theatre. Once you got there you already heard Twisted Island doing their soundcheck.

“There she is,” Adam, your friend, says as you walk in.

“Hey,” You say setting your stuff down.

“Ready for tonight?” He asks.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever be, but I don’t have any choice,” You respond hugging him.

“You’ll do great. You remember Jessie, Shawn, and my brother Mike,” Adam says pointing to the respective band members.

“Yeh, I’m Y/N Y/L/N,” You awkwardly say.

“We’re almost done with our soundcheck. Miles, there, will show you to your dressing room,” Adam says pointing to the man with a headset on.

“Thanks,” You smile as you’re lead to your room. You make your way in and set your stuff down. You first make a call to Tyler, but no answer. A few minutes later you hear a knock at your door.

“You’re up for soundcheck,” Miles says. You grab your guitar and other things and head to the stage. As you were setting up you see the Sunset Curve boys walk in. You stop and go to greet them.

“Hey, guys. I was just setting up,” You say as you hug them.

“This is amazing!” Reggie says excitedly as the others look around in awe.

“This is Adam the lead singer and guitarist in Twisted Island,” You say noticing him and his bandmates walk up. They introduce each other.

“Hey, where’s Tyler?” Luke asks.

“I don’t know. I told him to be here at 5 for soundcheck. I called him but he didn’t pick up. I’m sure his meeting with Madonna is going late,” You say before heading to finish setting up. You play the five songs out while the two band watch. Tyler still hadn’t shown up.

As you finish your soundcheck, you set your stuff down and go to your dressing room to try and call Tyler again. He didn’t pick up so you decided to leave a voicemail, “ Hey, Ty. I just finished soundcheck. The show starts in 30, hope you’ll be here before I go on,” You say before hanging up.

You hear a knock at your door, “Yes?” You say. The door opens to the four Sunset Curve boys walking in.

“That was amazing,” Luke says.

“And Twisted Island is a cool band,” Reggie adds.

“Not as cool as you,” You say half excitedly.

“You good Y/N?” Luke asks as you look at your phone.

“Yeah. Just uh, waiting for Tyler to get here and a little pre-show jitters. You know, the usual,” You say. Luke notices the sadness in your voice and looks at you with sad eyes, but you don’t notice.

“If your soundcheck sounded that good. Then your show is gonna sound twice as good,” Alex says.

“Thanks,” You say when you get another knock on your door. You open it to find Adam there.

“Hey, sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to let you know the theatre is filling and you’re going on in 15,” Adam says.

“Thanks,” You say. “Hey, guys, I’ll be right back,” You tell the boys. You follow Adam to the stage, hoping to see Tyler in the audience.

“Hey, I know you’re gonna do great, and our agent is gonna be impressed. You’ll get some offers tonight,” Adam says.

“Thanks again for this gig. It really means a lot to me,” You say while hugging Adam.

“You’re welcome. Anything for one of my oldest friends. See you in 15,” Adam says and walks away. You make your way to the edge of the wings and look out to see if you can see Tyler. Yet the reserved seat you had Adam set out was empty.

You made your way back to the dressing room and check your phone. You find a missed call from Tyler along with a voicemail. You head out of the dressing room to listen since the boys were being quite loud. “Hey, Y/N. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for soundcheck. Madonna and I just went a bit over with the writing. And then she invited me to a party. I can’t miss out on this opportunity, but I know you’ll do great tonight. Love,” The message said.

This wasn’t the first time Tyler had missed one of your gigs due to an opportunity he had himself, but this was the first time that it was just for a party. He had always supported you when you needed it, but on a big night like this, where lots of labels were looking at you, was not the night to ditch you. Especially since he personally invited a few himself, they were here but he wasn’t.

You took a few moments to take a hold of yourself before walking back into the dressing room, but as soon as you walked in you felt the mood change as all of the boy’s eyes landed on you. “You alright?” Luke asks again.

“Yeh, yeh,” You say looking at your phone.

“Hey, guys. Can I talk with Y/N alone?” Luke asks the boys and they quickly made their way out of the room.

Luke walked up to you and took your hands in his, “It’s just us now. Tell me, are you ok?” Luke asks once more.

You take a moment before responding, wishing you could lie but you knew he’d catch it, “N--no. Tyler promised he’d be here. And I was calling him to make sure he’d be here on time. But I just listened to a voicemail saying that he’s going to a party with Madonna instead,” You explain.

“You know I always thought he was a jerk right?” Luke says.

“Luke…” You sigh.

“Seriously. I don’t care what connections he has or if he really got labels to see you play tonight. He never supported you like I have, like the guys have,” Luke says.

“He has though. He’s come to my gigs before,” You say.

“Can you count the number of your gigs he’s attended on both hands? I know you’ve been to way more of his. Look, Y/N. Forget him, he never really cared for your dreams and career. If he really loves you he’d be here tonight instead of going off with Madonna,” Luke says.

“Yo--you’re right. He’s only been to three of my gigs and I’ve been the millions of his. It just makes me nervous with all these big people looking at me,” You say.

“Here,” Luke says letting go of your hands. “I’m gonna give you my bracelet. It’s my lucky bracelet. All your nerves will go away and you’ll kill it tonight. I know it,” Luke says slipping his bead bracelet on your wrist.

“You’re on in 2,” You hear someone outside of the door say. Luke kisses your forehead. You take a big sigh and head to the stage.

You wait for your cue as you see all of the people in the audience chatting away and the people from the labels scattered through the crowd. Not a moment later you’re told to make your way on stage. You walk on stage and pick up your guitar, you take a big sigh and rub your fingers across the beads on Luke’s bracelet. Once you felt calm enough and your heart started to beat a bit slower you start to strum the chords to your song “Shadows”.

Claps filled the air as you finished,” Thank you. My name is Y/N Y/L/N. That song was called Shadows, it was about me fighting my demons and getting over my stage freight. This next one is called Rose,” You say and start to play your guitar again. You play the last four songs in your set while cheers and claps filled the air.

“Thank you! My name is Y/N Y/L/N. Here is Twisted Island!” You say after you finish your set. The band members made their way onto the stage.

“Give it up for my good friend Y/N,” Adam says before you head off stage. You watched their show from backstage cheering and clapping with the audience.

As soon as the show ended you see Twisted Island’s agent walk up to you, “My name is Ashley. That was some great music. I’m glad Adam had you open for them tonight. We’ll be in touch,” She says before walking off. A few more agents had talked to you and offered you some deals or told you they’d also be in contact.

“You killed it!” Luke yells as he and the boys run up to you.

“Thanks guys,” You say with a big smile.

“Honestly I think you played better than Twisted Island,” Reggie whispers to you.

“You’re only saying that because you’re my friend,” You say.

“It’s true!” Reggie says as you head to the dressing room.

You and the boys make your way into the dressing room and you find some flowers on the table. You pick up the card and read “Heard you did a great job. Congrats -Tyler” You quickly pick the flowers out and throw them in the trash, right as the boy walked in, they all looked at you confused.

“They’re from Tyler,” You say nonchalantly. Everyone but Luke looked at you confused. The rest of the boys left, but Luke stayed behind to help you pack up.

“Thanks for the bracelet. It really helped,” You say starting to take it off.

“Keep it,” Luke says stopping you from pulling it off completely. He then goes to puck your guitar case up and the two of you head to your car. You pack your car up, drop Luke off, and head to your apartment.

~The next morning~

You wake up to hear a knock at your door. You get up and look in the peephole to find Tyler standing there.

“Hey sweetheart,” Tyler says. “What?” He asks noticing the pissed look you had plastered on your face.

“You missed the biggest night of my life. You’re lucky that a lot of labels are interested in me,” You say monotone.

“Sorry, I just couldn’t--” He starts.

“No. I sick and tired you not supporting me,” You say.

“I’ve been to your gigs,” He says.

“You’ve been to three of the 10 of my gigs. I’ve been to all of yours,” You protest.

“Ok. I’m sorry, how can I make it up to you,” Tyler says trying to step into your apartment, but you stop him.

“I think you’re letting your fame get to your head. And if you can’t support me and be there for me while dealing with your growing fame at the same time. I don’t want to be with you,” You say sternly.

“Babe,” Tyler says.

“Look. I just landed some of the best offers I could get in life and I can’t have your lack of presence distracting me. So, I’m not really sorry. But we’re done,” You say before shutting the door in Tyler’s face. You didn’t know what to do with yourself after that but you did feel like a big weight lifted from your chest.

A few minutes later someone knocked on your door, “Tyler I told---Oh. Luke,” You say realizing it was someone completely different.

“Hey,” Luke says.

“Hey,” You say quietly while letting him inside.

“You look like you had an eventful morning,” Luke points out.

“You could say that. I...uh, just broke up with Tyler,” You say.

“Really?” Luke questions as you notice his eyes light up and you nod.

The next thing you know you feel Luke’s hands cup your face and his lips against your own. He quickly pulls away, “ Sorry….I shouldn’t have done that,” Luke says quietly.

“It’s ok. Can I be honest for a second?” You ask.

“Always,” He says.

“I’ve always known you liked me. Don’t rat him out but Alex told me like a year ago,” You say.

“And I’m guessin…” Luke says rubbing the back of his head.

“That you are my best friend and I couldn’t ask for a better guy in my life,” You say before kissing him again.

“So I take it the break up really wasn’t that bad,” Luke says after pulling away.

“Better now that you’re here,” You chuckle. Luke gives you a big smile as you return the same.

A/N: I’m sorry if there are any 1995 inaccuracies. I did my research and tried my best, please don’t hurt me haha. Anyways, I loved writing this and had ideas coursing through my brain the last 2 days. Please let me know what you think and if you would maybe like a part 2, maybe? Thanks again to Ria for requesting and thanks for reading.

#julie and the phantoms #julie and the phantoms imagine #julie and the phantoms fic #jatp #jatp imagine #reggie peters #alex mercer #sunset curve #luke patterson #luke patterson imagine #luke patterson x reader #luke patterson fanfiction

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noona-clock · 3 years

Text

What’s Your Sign?: Sagittarius

Genre: Celebrity!AU

Pairing: Choi Minho x You (Female!Reader)

Warnings: None

Words: 5,534

Author’s Note: Since I’m so fascinated by astrology, I decided to do a Zodiac series! I will be writing a one-shot fic for each sign featuring different members from different groups (and even an actor!). Each story will be posted on the 5th of the month during that sign’s season. Please reblog, comment, or send in an ask with your feedback! Thank you for your support 💜

Ever since you’d seen him in his first ever role on a television series about five years ago, you’d fallen in love with Minho.

Choi Minho, probably the most attractive man you’d ever seen. Through a screen, at least. You hadn’t yet been lucky enough to see him in person.

And since you’d fallen in love with him after watching his very first episode of that television series, you’d done nothing but support him for the last several years.

You saw every one of his movies the day it released in theatres. You watched every single episode of every single television show he appeared in -- even if he was just a guest star.

His popularity from his first role had soared pretty quickly, which was really a win/win scenario. Minho, who presumably had been a struggling actor previously, was now flush with offers from directors. And you, an immediate superfan, got to spend a lot of virtual time with your new favorite actor -- because, not only did he act in a very large handful of projects every year, he was also interviewed on talk shows, featured in magazines, walking the red carpet of premieres and award shows. He didn’t have a social media presence for some extremely odd reason, but you still felt like you knew him.

From everything you’d seen and read about him, Minho was outgoing, friendly, and charismatic. He was confident, straight-forward, and optimistic. He basically always had some version of a smile on his lips, and based on many posts in the Choi Minho subreddit, he never turned down an opportunity to meet a fan out in public.

He... was basically perfect.

And you couldn’t stop yourself from daydreaming about one day meeting him, falling in love, getting married, and having about ten children together in the most beautiful house in the universe.

But, to be fair, your daydream wasn’t entirely impossible!

You were a bit of a celebrity, yourself!

Kind of.

On the Internet.

You had started a YouTube Channel six years ago, and at first, you hadn’t really had a clear vision for your videos. An absolutely rookie mistake, of course, but there’s nothing you could do about it now.

You’d started off with makeup tutorials because that had been the hottest YouTube trend at the time. But... you quickly discovered you weren’t as good at makeup as one should be to post a tutorial online in good conscience. You also weren’t quite good enough at doing your nails, cooking, or sewing to do videos about those.

For at least a few months, you’d been stumped. You knew you wanted your own YouTube channel -- you had a pretty fitting personality for it -- you just didn’t have any one marketable skill.

Until, one day, you stumbled upon a video of a guy watching a K-Pop music video for the first time and reacting to it. That was literally it. The whole video had been just him watching and talking about it.

And you were very good at that. You loved watching things on a screen -- YouTube videos, television shows, movies, you name it! And you always had thoughts running through your head while you watched something. In fact, you frequently wished one of your friends had exactly the same taste in music, shows, and movies as you so you could voice those thoughts aloud to someone who actually wanted to listen.

So, how had you never thought of doing that on your YouTube channel?! There was obviously a market for it -- the guy you’d watched had a few hundred thousand subscribers, and since it was something you genuinely enjoyed doing, you weren’t afraid of running out of content inspiration or motivation any time soon.

It was literally the perfect idea.

The next day, you had set up your camera, pulled up the first episode of your favorite television show of all time, and got to work. When you posted the video a few hours later (Re-watching my FAVORITE show of all time), something about it just felt right. Like the stars had aligned. No matter if you got five views or five thousand, you knew you were on the right path -- when it came to YouTube, at least.

Every day after that, you chose something else to watch -- a nostalgic movie, a viral YouTube video, the really cheesy musical episode of a television show. You tried to pick things from all along the spectrum, and you also tried to wait a few days in-between continuing on with your re-watch of your favorite show, simply for variety’s sake.

Little by little, your channel began to grow. After work, you would film, edit, and post -- every single day. On the weekends, you would film two different videos in case you ever needed to take a day off. Or in case you just felt like posting two videos!

Your first sponsorship offer email had come about six months after you’d posted your first video, and your eyes had nearly fell out of your head when you’d seen how much they’d offered you. (Looking back, your first paying YouTube gig really hadn’t been that much money -- compared to what you could make now, at least -- but it had still been incredibly thrilling.) And, really, that had been the catalyst of your YouTube career and popularity. It seemed just the one sponsorship had been all you’d needed to catch the attention of other brands who wanted to work with you, and when you got to the point where you could actually afford to quit your job and turn down sponsorship offers you weren’t wild about? That’s when you knew you’d made it.

Okay, but really, you knew you’d made it when one of your videos hit one million views for the first time (a video of you watching a particularly cringe-worthy teen movie from about ten years ago).

And now, six years later, you had almost four million subscribers, and your most viewed video had almost twenty million views. Sometimes, you still couldn’t believe it!

The highlight of your time on YouTube so far -- at least, in your eyes -- had been when you’d seen Choi Minho for the first time about a year after starting your channel. You’d still had less then one-hundred thousand subscribers back then, so if anyone ever left on a comment on a video mentioning how long you’d been a Minho fangirl or remembering when you first discovered him, you knew they were an OG subscriber. But ever since that video, you did absolutely nothing to hide your affinity for him, both as an actor and as a person. You watched and reacted to every single one of his movies and every single television show episode -- you even sometimes reacted to interviews or videos other fans had made about him.

Even when your channel hit some pretty big milestones -- five-hundred thousand subscribers, one million, two million, three million subscribers -- you never played it cool when it came to Choi Minho. You switched up your content and your editing style here and there, but one constant on your YouTube channel was the fact you let your inner fangirl shine for all the world to see.

In fact, just last month, the trailer for his new movie dropped, and you were able to upload your reaction to it within two hours. Since then, you’d read and watched every interview you could find, favorited every tweet about the upcoming film, and liked every post on the #ChoiMinho hashtag on Instagram. Since he had no social media, you had to be satisfied with other people’s content rather than his own.

You were scrolling through his hashtag on Instagram right now, actually, as you procrastinated getting out of bed to go set up for another day of filming.

Now that you had almost four million subscribers and were approached by more than several companies for sponsorships every single day, you were able to focus on your channel full-time. You definitely got cabin fever from time to time, but it was worlds better than filming after work and on weekends. Now, you could actually take a day off whenever you wanted! It was glorious!

But you still procrastinated working. You were still human, after all.

After you caught up on his hashtag and liked just about every picture you could, you navigated to your inbox to look through your DMs. Over the years, it had gotten pretty easy to skip past the spam and sugar daddy requests (which were plentiful, unfortunately), so you no longer dreaded checking the unread messages. You could usually tell which ones to delete straight away from the profile picture and first few words alone.

To be quite honest, you really only opened ones where you either could tell someone was genuinely reaching out to say hi or thank you for posting your videos or... messages with Minho’s name visible in the preview. Shameless, but oh well!

After deleting a few messages at the top which were clearly spam, the next one you came to was actually one of those messages -- you saw ‘Minho’ in the preview. It was the very first word, even! And in all caps.

You pressed on it as quickly as you could.

And when your eyes took in the rest of the message... your heart stopped.

MINHO WATCHED ONE OF YOUR VIDEOS!

...This had to be a prank, right?

But right after the message in all capital letters was a link to a YouTube video, and the preview for the video was right below the message.

It was one of those videos put out by a big fashion magazine where celebrities watch videos about them and react to it. Usually, musicians and singers would react to covers of their songs by fans, but every once in a while, actors would read tweets or watch fanmade videos about them.

And when you clicked on the link this person had sent, the video opened in your YouTube app to show the title “Choi Minho Watches Fan Videos on YouTube,” and your eyes widened.

If what the Instagram message said was true... Minho had watched not only a fan video... but your fan video. And since his movie was premiering in just a couple of days, he had most likely watched your reaction to the trailer.

Oh my god.

Since the video had started automatically after clicking the link, you took a deep breath and concentrated all of your focus on your phone screen. You were not going to miss the part where he watched your video.

But, of course, after not even thirty seconds, you found you had already gotten distracted by how handsome he looked.

You quickly shook your head a bit, widening your eyes briefly before narrowing them to focus on your screen again. “Come on, Y/N,” you muttered to yourself. “You can watch it again right after this to admire him.”

It was only a fifteen-minute video, so it’s not like you had to wait forever to get to the part where he watched you!

Still, though, as the minutes ticked by, you felt your heart begin to race in anticipation.

What would he say about you? Would he find your obsession with him creepy? I mean, it had to be a little creepy watching someone squeal and profess their love for you -- someone you’d never met!

But, then... when you got really mushy comments... most of the time, it didn’t feel creepy. It just felt sweet, and you were incredibly grateful that a lot of your subscribers and viewers were so supportive.

Ugh! You were getting off track again!

You shook your head once more and set your gaze back onto your phone screen.

Finally, when the clip of Minho watching a fanmade music video transitioned into the clip of him watching your video, your breath caught in your throat.

Were you going to survive this?

Outcome is unclear.

“Oh, yeah, I know her,” Minho said as your trailer reaction video began to play in the corner. “She’s the reaction girl, right?”

Your jaw dropped.

................Excuse me?!

Minho knew you?!

As you watched Minho watching you with the most adorable soft grin on his lips, your hand slowly crept up to cover your mouth in shock.

And, then, when you in the video paused the trailer to bring up another one of his movies that this trailer had reminded you of, his grin widened and he looked very pleased. “She knows her stuff, huh?”

You heard someone behind the camera murmuring something, and subtitles appeared on the screen. “She’s a known superfan, actually.”

Minho’s brow furrowed and he leaned toward the camera. “She’s what?”

“A superfan,” the person repeated, a little bit louder. “She’s known to her viewers for watching all of your movies and shows. There are always comments about you on all of her videos.”

Minho’s eyes widened a little in surprise. “Really? All of them? Comments about me?” He leaned back and nodded slowly after, apparently, receiving a positive answer. “I had no idea. I’ve just seen her videos about, like, the cheesy teen movies we watched as kids.”

You truly almost dropped your phone.

So... he knew who you were, but he hadn’t known that you fangirled over him on a regular basis?

First of all, how was that possible?

Second of all, did it really matter?! He knew who you were!

He knew who you were!

You didn’t expect that he regularly watched your videos, but still.

HE KNEW WHO YOU WERE!

Your heart was practically beating out of your chest as you watched him finish up watching your reaction video. The look on his face was one of delight, and even though you knew he was a good actor, it sure didn’t seem like he was simply pretending not to be creeped out.

“She’s so fun,” he smiled as your video ended, his gaze shifting back to the person he had spoken with earlier. “She has more? Like, for my movies?”

The person mumbled something back, and this time, there were no subtitles on the bottom of the video. But Minho’s eyebrows shot up immediately.

“All of my movies?” he asked. And then he let out a joyous chuckle and added, “No way.”

He quickly turned to the computer and clicked on your channel name.

But the video transitioned into another clip of someone else’s video, so you didn’t get to see if he actually watched any other ones.

Even if he hadn’t, you were still overjoyed -- to say the least -- that he had watched just one!

He knew who you were! He had actually known who you were before this which was probably the most surprising thing you’d ever heard in your entire life. (Besides the fact that Minho was currently single. That was definitely more surprising than anything.)

After sitting in your bed for a few minutes, staring blankly at your screen as the video finished up, your gaze unfocused and blurry, you finally came to when you realized the video had ended.

And then you proceeded to freak out.

You squealed and shrieked and kicked your legs and rolled around and scrambled to your feet to jump up and down on your bed with glee.

Was this the best day of your life?

Quite possibly!

Once you’d calmed down just a tad, you plopped back into a sitting position, crossing your legs into a pretzel as you navigated back to Instagram.

You sent a reply to the person who’d sent you the video (”OH MY GOD THANK YOU HE KNOWS ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”) and then refreshed your inbox.

As expected, a whole new slew of messages came through and literally every single one seemed to be about the video.

Your lips split into a huge grin, and just before you clicked on a random one to read and reply to it... you noticed that one message had a blue check by the sender.

Pausing, you shifted your gaze to that message.

And your heart jumped up into your throat when you recognized the name of the account.

Obviously, it wasn’t Minho himself because he didn’t have one.

But it was the next best thing.

His management company.

You followed them, of course, and liked every single picture about him or with him. Of course!

But you had never gathered up the courage to message them. You’d had no reason to! What would you have said?

And now they were messaging you.

The several days following the video of Minho watching your video had been... a blur. To say the least.

You still weren’t even really sure how you’d gotten here.

I mean, you knew you were here because Minho’s management company had direct messaged you on Instagram inviting you to the premiere of his movie and you had accepted without one millisecond of hesitation and then you’d gotten on a plane a couple of days later and then checked into a super nice hotel and had a stylist and makeup artist sent to your room and after many hours you now looked better than you ever had in your entire life.

That’s how you got here.

But you still weren’t even really sure how you’d gotten here.

A rather large stroke of luck?

Good karma?

Hard work to grow your YouTube channel into something that would make you more easily recognizable by actual celebrities and their management companies?

Or a combination of the three?

Either way, you were overwhelmed with gratitude, and you knew you would never be able to forget this experience -- even if you, for some odd reason, wanted to.

I mean, you were currently in a really nice car, and the driver (yes, you had a driver!) was taking you to the red carpet.

The red carpet!

An actual movie premiere! With an actual red carpet!

And the movie was Minho’s movie.

You were at the premiere of Minho’s movie.

Oh my god, what if you saw him?!

As the car rolled to a stop in front of a crowded theatre, your heart and stomach dropped down to your very expensive and gorgeous shoes.

You’d gone to somewhat fancy events before -- it came with the job of being a YouTuber -- but never anything like this. Never an actual movie premiere. Never the chance of seeing your favorite actor in the history of time. And, obviously, never walking a red carpet.

Your door magically opened just as the car stopped moving, and a hand popped out of nowhere to assist you in exiting the vehicle. As gracefully as you could, you slipped your fingers into the mysterious palm, allowing it to gently pull you up and out of your seat and onto the sidewalk.

Almost immediately, camera clicks, light bulb flashes, and inquiring voices filled the air.

Cameras and lights in your face, you were used to. It was your everyday life, in fact!

But... all these people? Looking at you? Watching you? Taking pictures of you?

I mean, yeah, a few million people watched your videos. But it was absolutely not the same as a hundred or so reporters and photographers standing right in front of you.

Thankfully, some short but very powerful woman guided you onto the red carpet, muttering to you that all you had to do was stand in front of the backdrop, pose and smile for the cameras, and then move on to the next mark. Some reporters from news and entertainment channels would be waiting along the way to interview you (which didn’t scare you quite so much as you’d been interviewed a few times before), and all in all, it would take about an hour.

But it took you way less than an hour to discover that walking a red carpet is not as glamorous as it looks on television.

Walking like your shoes were covered in almost-frozen molasses so every photo taken was a good one. Switching back and forth between facial expressions so every photo taken wasn’t the same one. And do you know how many good places there are to put your hands when posing for a picture? Exactly two. One was on your hip and the other at your side. That was it. Definitely not clasped in front of or behind you, and definitely not tucking your hair behind your ear.

And just when you were sort of getting used to the constant posing for pictures, another short but powerful woman gently grabbed your arms and led you to a reporter from the most-watched entertainment news channel in the country.

“Hello, hello!” the perky reporter chirped as you approached her. “Come on over here!”

“Hi,” you greeted awkwardly as you made your way to the small mark on the ground next to her, holding up your skirt with one hand so you wouldn’t trip.

“Y/N! Good evening, good evening, how are you doing?” she asked before sticking the microphone in your face.

You had to quickly get over the shock of her knowing your name since you didn’t want to look like a fool on live television, so you forced a grin on your lips and answered, “I’m pretty overwhelmed, actually!” you chuckled.

“Is this your first time at a red carpet?”

“It is, yes,” you confirmed with a slight nod. “And I’m so used to being alone in my house, talking to myself in front of a camera, so this is all new territory for me.”

The reporter laughed with delight before asking which designer you were wearing. You answered her with ease since your stylist had drilled it into your brain before you’d left the hotel.

Then, after she asked you to tell the folks at home what you’re known for, she said, “It’s a pretty fun story of how you got here, isn’t it?”

“Oh, it is,” you answered, your lips pulling into a shy but excited grin. “I woke up one morning to a message on Instagram, and someone had sent me --”

The reporter interrupted you then, and you noticed her gaze was directed over your shoulder. You turned to look, and --

Well, the next few moments happened so quickly, you really had no idea how you reacted.

“Y/N!” Minho called out, smiling widely and waving before reaching out and sliding his hands over your shoulders. He stood next to you, squeezing you once before letting his arms drop down to his side. “I’m so sorry for interrupting --”

“No, we were just talking about why she’s here at your premiere!”

Minho’s smile brightened even more, and he continued on with the story you’d been telling.

Meanwhile, you were standing there. Mute. Staring at him.

Because oh my god.

How was it actually possible that Minho was more handsome in real life?

But also, how was it actually possible that Minho was standing next to you in real life?

But also also, how was it actually possible that Minho was real?

That’s the real question, isn’t it?

You came to when you heard him say, “Yes, this is our first time meeting,” before turning to you and holding out his hand for a handshake. “It’s so nice to finally meet you!”

You took his hand, shaking it weakly, and said the first thing that came to your mind: “Oh my god, hi.”

The reporter giggled, but Minho, instead of acting embarrassed for you, simply let go of your hand and moved to pull you into a hug.

Holy cannoli, Minho was hugging you.

Choi Minho. Was hugging. You.

Hugging!

You!

“It’s so nice to finally meet you!” he repeated with a grin after pulling away, though he was still incredibly close to you and gazing at you with those sparkling, dreamy eyes of his.

“You, too,” you managed to reply shakily.

The reporter then went on to interview Minho, asking him who had designed his suit, what his character in this new movie was like, and if he was working on any new projects.

“I’m in the early stages of something, yes,” he answered. “I don’t think I can say too much more, but in the meantime, I think I’d really like to film some videos with Y/N, branch out onto social media.”

Your heart stopped, and you knew your facial expression was doing nothing to hide your surprise.

Minho then turned to you with an adorably guilty look on his face. “I mean, if it’s alright with you, of course.”

“Yes, absolutely!” you burst out immediately, and the reporter giggled once again.

“Well, there you have it, guys,” she said after turning to face the camera. “You heard it here first -- a brand new collaboration in the works, so keep an eye out.”

She turned to you then and asked you to remind the viewers of the name of your YouTube channel. You leaned into the microphone and silently praised the lord you were able to remember it.

“Thanks so much, you two,” the reporter said with a very peppy grin. “Have a wonderful evening!”

“You, as well,” Minho answered before putting a hand in-between your shoulder blades and guiding you back to the red carpet.

Wait, he was guiding you back to the red carpet? He wasn’t... leaving?

“I’m so sorry,” he murmured in your ear, his breath causing the most delicious tingle down your spine. “I swear I wasn’t trying to be rude, I just wanted to meet you --”

“No,” you shook your head slightly. “It’s -- it’s totally fine. It wasn’t rude at all. I’m -- I just -- I’m a little overwhelmed. In a good way!”

“Totally understand. I remember my first movie premiere like it was yesterday, I know exactly how you’re feeling.”

You simply let out a nervous chuckle, but then Minho did something to make you even more nervous (which you hadn’t even been sure was possible).

He bent his arm and held out the crook of his elbow toward you.

“Shall we?”

Okay, you were now convinced this was a dream. This was all a wonderful, perfect, heavenly dream.

There was just no way that any of this could happen in real life! Being invited to Minho’s movie premiere was one thing, but him interrupting your interview on the red carpet and mentioning he wanted to film a YouTube video with you? Him offering to actually walk the red carpet with you on his arm?!

Nope. Definitely not real.

So, since this was absolutely a dream, you figured you’d just go with it!

“We shall,” you replied as a soft smile tugged at the corners of your lips.

You slid your hand into the crook of Minho’s elbow, and the two of you slowly made your way down the red carpet. Together.

It didn’t take long for you to be awed by his professionalism. When the cameras began to flash, he posed like a natural. It seemed so easy for him, but you figured it probably was easy after going through this so many times.

He murmured helpful hints and reassuring words to you as you struggled through, and he even insisted on doing his interviews with you by his side.

(Of course, before the two of you approached each reporter, he asked you quietly if you would rather have the spotlight all to yourself. He didn’t want to usurp your first experience on the red carpet and would gladly step away so you could finish the process on your own. You declined every single time.)

When you finally reached the entrance to the theatre about an hour later, you figured Minho would say it had been nice to meet you and be on his way.

But you should’ve remembered that this was a dream!

“Do you want to come inside? We can sit together during the movie if you want. I mean, you’re pretty much my unofficial date already, but you can absolutely say ‘no’ if you don’t --”

“I would love to,” you interrupted, your voice more sure and firm than it had been all evening.

But hearing your favorite actor and biggest crush of all time declare that you were his date for the night would do that to you. Plus, Minho literally exuded confidence and warmth -- you’d always thought so while watching him on a screen, and it was both relieving and exciting to learn he was exactly the same in real life.

Minho smiled at you and then led you into the theatre, your heart now basically in a constant state of flips and somersaults.

Once the two of you took your seats in front of the screen, Minho turned slightly toward you.

“I have to admit, I’ve been watching your videos a lot since I filmed the reaction for the magazine,” he said with the most attractive half-smile you’d ever seen in your life. “Seriously, thank you so much for being so supportive.”

“Oh my god, no, thank you,” you replied breathlessly. “I can’t believe you watched my videos.”

“They’re kind of addicting,” he chuckled. “I don’t know what it is, but I definitely understand why you have so many subscribers. I actually created my own YouTube account just so I could subscribe to you.”

Your eyes widened, and your heart actually stopped somersaulting because it stopped beating altogether.

“Are you serious?” you asked.

“You’re so entertaining! It feels like watching those movies and shows with a friend. And I like how you’re really honest but still nice about it. You don’t seem to have a cruel bone in your body.”

“Uh, no, I think you’re getting me mixed up with yourself,” you replied with a somewhat awkward laugh.

Minho simply grinned at you, and the somersaults started back up inside your chest.

“I was serious about wanting to film with you, though,” he said, eyebrows raised earnestly. “I would love to collab --”

“Yes, absolutely,” you reassured him as fervently as you could. “Literally whenever. Please. Yes.”

“Okay, good,” Minho chuckled before reaching into his pocket and sliding out his phone. “Here, give me your number so I can let you know when I’m free next.”

You hesitated before accepting his phone because...

What?!

Minho was giving you his phone. His actual phone. So you could put in your number? Your number?

This night just kept getting more and more unbelievable.

But you were never in a million years going to pass up the opportunity to give Choi Minho your phone number, so you took his phone and quickly added yourself as a contact.

“Perfect,” Minho murmured, almost to himself, when you handed his phone back to him. He looked at the screen for a few moments, and you noticed a soft grin pulling at his lips. And then he shifted his gaze over to you and said, “I can’t wait.”

And... as your eyes locked on his...

You had a moment.

A moment.

One of those moments you will never, ever forget as long as you lived.

One of those moments where your future basically flashed before your eyes.

Minho arriving at your house to film a video with you, a friendship forming, late night texts and phone conversations, going out to restaurants whenever he was in town... a more than friendship forming.

And you truly could’ve sworn this was not just your heart wishing, but... you honestly felt like you were going to marry this man.

“I can’t either,” you replied softly just before the lights went down.

The first thing you did when you got home was set up your camera and film a video relaying everything about your experience at Minho’s movie premiere.

Of course, you didn’t mention The Moment -- y’know, the moment you had when you realized you were most probably going to marry him? And you could just feel that it wasn’t wishful thinking? You figured it was probably best to keep that to yourself for now.

But everything else you shared with your subscribers, and you did nothing to hide how wonderful and magical it had all been -- and it had really been Minho which had made it so perfect.

“And you guys, he is truly exactly the same in person as he seems in, like, interviews and stuff. He’s so nice and so friendly and so warm and so gracious and --”

But you were interrupted by a text message.

Most of the time, you left your phone on silent as you filmed, but you’d been too excited to get all of your thoughts out that you’d forgotten to switch the sound off before turning the camera on.

“Whoops,” you murmured as you reached for your phone on your desk in front of you.

Instead of simply turning your phone on silent, though, the actual text message you’d received caught your eye and was too intriguing to ignore.

It was from a number you didn’t have saved, but your instinct to read the first few words of a message from an unknown sender took over... and you were incredibly glad it did.

Because the message was:

Hey, it’s Minho 😁 Are you free next week?

OTHER SIGNS: ARIES, TAURUS, GEMINI, CANCER, LEO, VIRGO, LIBRA, SCORPIO, CAPRICORN, AQUARIUS, PISCES

#kwritersworldnet #minho scenarios #minho imagines #minho au #minho fluff #minho fanfic #shinee scenarios #shinee imagines #shinee au #shinee fluff #shinee fanfic #kpop scenarios #kpop imagines #kpop au #kpop fluff #kpop fanfic #choi minho #shinee

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vanillann · 3 years

Text

the 1994 battle of the performers (luke patterson x f.reader)

i might make this a series if yall are interested!! i would write the rest in the readers p.o.v. this would just be a prologue, lmk!!

word count: 2.9k

the 1994 battle of the performers masterlist

Prologue

“Look what I found on the bulletin board!”

Alex looked around his locker, Luke's smiling face next to a piece of paper held tightly in his grip. He closed his locker and pulled the paper out of Luke’s hands, reading over the word.

Battle of the Performers

December 12th, 1994

The Charles Theatre

“What’s this?”

“This, my friend, is our first live gig,” Luke tapped the top of the page.

“A gig?”

Alex and Luke looked up once they heard Reggie’s voice sound from beside them.

“Yep, it's local but it’s something.”

Luke was over the moon about the plan, I mean come on a gig, that’s all that matters, to say the least.

“Perfect timing, my vintage leather jacket just came in,” Reggie nodded his head, just as happy about the news of the gig.

“Hey,” Bobby came up behind Alex, giving him a small pat on the shoulder and waving at the other guys. He looked over Alex's shoulder, reading over the words just as Alex did seconds ago.

“Are we gonna enter?”

“Yes,” Luke was fast to answer, bouncing on his toes at the idea of finally sharing their music with the world. Alex was about to open his mouth to say something about the paper but the sound of the hall going quite caught his attention.

(Y/N) (L/N) held her bag close to her shoulder, smiling at a few people that passed. The once confident girl seemed out of her element as she made her way to her locker.

“I didn’t know she was out of physical therapy yet?” Bobby muttered quietly to the rest of the group. Their eyes trained on the girl as she smiled when others did and accept the sad apologies.

“Did you hear they kicked her from the dance team?” Reggie spoke, overhearing the conversation from his history class yesterday.

Each boy in Sunset Curve felt horrible for the dancer, after the incident with her ACL and her long recovery. They all had just as much of a dream as she did and they’d be wrecked if they lost it all.

As the girl made it closer to the group Luke adjusted himself in front of her, giving a sympathetic smile.

“Hey (Y/N),” his voice was soft, looking around the halls at all the people that watched the two. A quick glare and half the heads in the hall were back to their original conversation.

“Patterson?”

“Just wanted to apologize, you know-”

“It’s fine, wasn’t anyone's fault,” his heart was ripping out as the girl passed him and moved around him. Her head hung low and broken and she opened her locker and rummaged through it. Luke said nothing, moving back with his little group as his eyes watched her a little longer before turning back.

“So the gig?”

“We can’t enter,” Alex closed his own locker, moving the paper for Luke’s eyes. He pointed to the requirements that were printed at the bottom of the page.

MUST HAVE A DANCE NUMBER WITH LIVE PERFORMANCE

“What,” Luke ripped the paper, holding it between his fingers as he read over the words while Bobby helped guide him throughout the halls.

“They can’t do this!”

“They can, it’s their battle,” Alex commented, giving his friend a sympathetic smile. He could tell how excited he was about the idea of a gig, just for it to be ruined by their underprepared band.

Luke sighed, waving Reggie and Bobby bye and they made their way to English and Luke and Alex had Gym.

“This is trash,” Luke pouted as he made his way into the locker room, Alex luckily paying attention to the both of them and held Luke’s gym bag in his hand.

“We’ll find a different gig,” Alex clapped his friends on the shoulder, finding a stall and quickly dipping in before someone else found it. Luke didn’t care enough in the moment to find his own, easily taking off his “school approved” shirt his mother made him wear into his muscle tee.

“Yeah, but this one would’ve shown all of our parents, mine and yours, maybe even Reggie’s,” Luke’s shoulders dropped at that fact. He just wanted Reggie's parents to stop fighting all the time, Alex’s parents get over their old age ways, and his own parents to just understand it’s going to work.

Alex frowned at the thought, knowing everyone had their own reason past the love for music and why they needed a gig.

“She’ll never make it back on the dance team, they’ll have to have try-outs,” a group of “shit-heads” as Bobby would call them came into the locker room. Alex and Luke knew they were talking about (Y/N), which pissed them off and how funny they found the poor girl's pain.

But something else was rattling in Luke’s brain.

Try-outs.

“Alex,” Luke’s infectious smile was back as he grabbed the top of the stall Alex was in, pushing himself up and holding himself there as he watched his friend with a goofy laugh.Alex fell backwards, looking up at Luke with his gym shorts barely on all the way.

“We hold try-outs for the dancers, get our own dance team.”

Alex shook his head, standing back up and pulling the pants up all the way while looking up at his friend.

“We don’t know anything about dance, plus who would try-out for our band,” Alex opened the door of the stall, Luke still keeping his grip and the door swung back.

“The dance team is super picky, anyone not on it will take any opportunity they can get,” Luke jumped down, finally moving to his bag to change into his own gym shorts.

“I don’t know Luke.”

It wasn’t the wrose plan, Alex could agree on that but realistically it would be hard and while they did have time with it being September and all it wasn’t going to be easy to make the whole thing come to life.

Sunset Curve’s music at the moment was good for head bumping but a serious dance routine would take some work from everyone.

“Let’s ask Reggie and Bobby before we decide?”

Alex watched Luke bite his lip and give his best puppy dog eyes.

“I can work with that.”

“I dig it,” Reggie gave a goofy smile and bit into the apple that he was just attempting to juggle seconds ago. Luke jumped in his seat, smiling widely as 1/2 of the group had said they liked the idea.

“What inspired this idea?” Bobby asked, shrugging as he stole a chip from Alex bag, which caused Alex to roll his eyes.

Luke simply turned around, doing his best to hide the fact he was watching (Y/N) as she looked to be in a heated discussion with the dance team captain, Megan Ray, who looked broken about the discussion but standing her ground.

“Someone mentioned they’d have to replace her with try-outs in the locker room,” Luke muttered, watching as the girl jabbed her finger into the table. most likely trying to make her way back on the team.

“I feel so bad for her,” Bobby muttered, trying to imagine a world where he couldn’t rock out with his friends because of a freak accident.

“Me too, she’s really smart too. Basically saved me in Chemistry last year,” Reggie looked away from the girl, someone he’d considered a good person hurting so bad for something no one could fix.

Once the girl stood up from the chair, trying her best not to draw too many eyes, was when Luke went back to the plan.

“It’ll work like a dream,” Luke muttered, already pulling a piece of paper out with his chick scratch and a sad worked out calendar.

“How do you read that?”

Luke stood up and smacked Alex with the paper, easily going back to the plan.

“I talked to Coach Edison and he said the Gym is free this Friday, plenty of time to get the word out,” Luke smiled at the easily done, but still done, the research he had done.

“What will we make them dance to?”

“Now or Never,” Luke spoke with a shrug.

“Sounds well thought out,” Reggie spoke absentmindedly, trying to remember a thought he just had but lost.

“Come on, we gotta show everyone who doubts us we mean something.”

Luke didn’t know if it was that sentence that struck a chord with them but they all seemed to slowly feed into Luke’s words more after that.

“Peter?”

Reggie turned at the call of his last name, smiling once he saw (Y/N) standing behind him at the table.

“(Y/N)!”

Reggie's smile was contagious as he smiled up at the girl, doing his best to avoid talking about the leg injury, he knew if something happened to his finger and he couldn’t play bass again he wouldn’t want to talk about it.

“Do you have the notes of Henderson’s class? He’s making me take all the quizzes I missed this Friday after school,” she muttered, nodding her head to the other boys as they watched her.

“That sucks, I can give them to you last period.” She gave a quick smile as a thank you, smiling to the other boys before heading back to the table she sat at before with a few other girls they had seen her around the halls with.

“Can’t believe Henderson would be that harsh,” Bobby shivered as if scared at the thought of taking that many quizzes in one sitting.

“He hates anyone who doesn’t do classic field, probably blames her for the fall,” Reggie muttered, finally making it to the core of his apple.

“What! It wasn’t her fault,” Luke jumped in, trying his best to keep his voice down.

“We don’t think that, now chill,” Alex waved at the few girls that had looked their way at the outburst.

Once everything died down, Alex and Bobby both nodded to one another, then looking at Luke.

“This Friday it is.”

“This is going horrible,” Reggie whispered to Luke at the girl before they tried to dramatically do a split but ending up awkwardly crawling on the floor.

“Thank you Sara, we’ll get back with you,” Luke spoke as soon as the music stopped, reaching over to press stop on the crappy camera they found deep in Bobby’s studios yesterday.

Luke’s finger slipped and he was too worked up to try and find the button so he simply left the camera one, waving as Sara skipped out from the gym.

“We’ll at least she didn’t puke,” Bobby muttered, still in shock and how easily the one boy had his entire lunch on the gym floor.

“That was a nice touch.”

Luke stood up, slowly walking around the table to stand in front of his other friends.

“This is going horribly! Where are the dancers in this place?”

“Probably on the dance team,” Alex spoke up, smiling sarcastically at Luke.

“How about we go to the vending machine,” Reggie jumped up, easily diffusing the tension from the room as the rest agreed a snack would be nice.

They all made their way from the room, all talking about the different dancers and who they thought might be best.

“Maddie was good, but she couldn’t choreograph an entire team,” Bobby waited as Reggie looked over the different options in the machine.

“I didn’t even think about that,” Luke sighed, slowly becoming more and more annoyed with this whole idea.

“Look-”

Alex was cut off when he heard the faint sound of guitar and drums echoing the halls of the old sad school.

“Does anyone else hear that?”

“What? Reggie’s head turning as he chose between M&M or Hershey's,” Luke felt back, laying on one of the tables in the cafeteria.

“Hey!”

Alex rolled his eyes, following the sound of the music, hearing his own beat and Luke’s voice sing from the gymnasium. He walked slowly, stopping at the double door, looking through the tempered glass at the figure in the room. He heard his friends run from the gym, meeting his side as they all looked in the gym at the same sight.

(Y/N) glided across the floor, her hands held on both sides of her head as she easily slid across the floor in her sweat pants. She moved from that to a split, easily jumping up from that and doing small little kicks to the beat of the music.

“Wow,” Luke watched as the girl threw her head back, eyes closed as she took in the music that the boys knew by heart at this point.

She clapped along with the music, looking as alive with the music as the boys did when they played. Once the beat dropped the girl attempted to spin out, catching her leg the wrong way sending her to the floor.

“Oh no,” Reggie and Alex didn’t waste any time before pushing the double doors open and running to the groaning girls side. Luke and Bobby were hot on their trail, sliding as they all huddled around her.

“Are- are you okay?”

She sat up slightly, holding her knee to her chest with her face showing obviously pain.

“I’m fine- Uhm, does anyone have water?”

Luke didn’t waste time reaching to the “judge” table and taking his own water from the table. He turned back and handed it to her, looking at her with panic in his eye.

“Thank you,” she let out a shaky breath, letting herself calm down while twisting the cap open.

“You really are an amazing dancer,” Bobby commented, thinking now the panic was gone would be a nice time to mention it.

“I was,” she spoke as she looked to her feet, watching her beat up tennis shoes with a clenched jaw.

“Uhm actually he means present tense,” Luke laughed, like the situation was funny. I mean he just watched her glide and smile all with her eyes closed.

She wasn’t even scared of being bad, she knew she was that good.

“Did you miss the fall?”

He knew the attitude wasn’t at him, he knew she had a right to be angry about her whole world changing.

“You were great before the fall,” Reggie spoke in a soft voice, hurt about watching her without permission.

“No, I was better before.” She looked up, taking in the room when her eyes stopped on the video camera that was flashing red light.

“Is that recording?”

Luke looked at the camera, jumping up and stopping the recording. He un- screwed in from the tripod and made his way over to her.

“Watch it,” he held out the video to her but she simply pushed it away.

“No thanks, just delete it,” Luke was shocked, to say the least. She could still dance, like really dance, and she was throwing it away.

“You’re just scared,” he challenged the girl, earning a harsh “Luke” from Alex, warning him not to touch that topic with a ten-foot pole.

“You’d be scared if you went through what I went through,” she spoke hurtfully, righting to say.

Luke thought everything over, he didn’t know much about the injury but that it was a torn muscle in the knee and that was the end of it. But something that tears can technically heal, he just didn’t know how that worked exactly, he hated science class.

“She has a point,” Bobby smiled at the girl, doing his best not to say the wrong thing.

“Well, face your fear!”

“Look what happened when I did,” she motioned for someone to help her up, Reggie giving his shoulder and helping her stand slightly. Her body was obviously still in shock and she was slowly taking his arm.

“We can help you! Join us on the Battle of the Performers,” Luke knew it might come off selfish, but he really wanted to help her fight her fears face first. It must suck not doing what you love, but she had a chance so why not take it?

“Do you know how hard that is to win?” She thought it was funny to say the least. The band was good, she wouldn’t be shocked if she heard them on the radio in a few years with some famous award, but people just as new and good to the scene would come from far and wide for a chance at this competition.

Plus, if they really wanted to win they’d find a dancer who wasn’t broken.

“You’ll find someone better,” she nodded to Reggie and let her leg finally work properly again, thankful she would add.

“Nobody we’ve seen is like you!” He was so close to her face, giving his puppy dog eyes like he would with the others, always getting what he wanted then.

“I’m sorry, but no. Have fun with the scouting.”

She nodded at each boy, slowly making herself excused from the now tender room as Luke felt his dreams walk away.

“She has a right to be scared,” Alex spoke, trying his best to see both sides.

“Yeah, but she needed to punch fear like she wanted to punch the dance team captain,” Luke pouted, looking at the girl who left without another look. He was hoping she’d come back like in those horrible 80′s rom-coms Alex watched so much, but she never came back.

He held the camera in his hand, looking at the tape that sat paused. Her face looked almost scared as she stepped in the gym.

“We’ll find someone Luke,” Bobby set a gentle hand on his friend's shoulder.

“Yeah, but we could have had her.”

so, should i make this a series??

#luke patterson x y/n #luke patterson x reader #luke patterson #reggie peters #alex mercer #julie monlina #julie and the phantoms #jatp x reader

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simp4reggie · 4 years

Text

Found Family

Reggie x Alive!Reader

Word Count: 2,457 Words

A/N: Thank you so much to @shellbeerocks and @dr-rigatoni for looking this over and proofreading. Every comment was appreciated and I hope you enjoy the final product! <3

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Julie is sitting in her chair getting ready for her performance at the Orpheum. The world (well the audience in Los Angeles) was about to get blown away by Julie and the Phantoms. While she seems calm, I definitely am not. See, Alex, Reggie, and Luke made a bad decision the night they were supposed to have a gig at the school dance. They ended up going to this ghost club and meeting a ghost, Caleb Covington, who, looking back at it now, was not a great dude. Now, a couple weeks later, they have three options. They can either perform at the Orpheum and hope they cross over, stay at the ghost club and be the house band for eternity, or get destroyed by these jolts that Caleb gave them to force them back to the club and that's the last thing they want. So, here we are. After some ghostly tricks, Julie was called to open for Panic! At the Disco. However, Julie has to go on in like 10 minutes and the boys are still not here yet.

“Where are they? They wouldn’t do this to you again,” I say, walking back and forth.

“It’s fine. Stop pacing you're gonna make me more nervous than I already am,” Julie replies.

“Sorry,” I said sitting down on the couch. “It’s just their jolts were pretty bad when we left. I know that they’re going to be gone after the show but it’s different knowing they won’t be in pain.”, I sigh. We never got to actually say goodbye to them. Sure, they had a band meeting and I had wished them good luck, but it wasn’t enough. Especially when I’ve fallen for a certain bass player. Reggie and I have gotten really close over the time they’ve spent in the garage. I’m not in high school so I was able to spend a lot of time in the garage hanging with guys. My days consisted of making sure they didn't get into any ‘trouble’. Our younger brother, Carlos, was suspicious enough after dad found three orbs in his picture of the garage.

Anyway, being there all the time, I was able to get to know the boys and become close with each of them in different ways. Luke and I bonded over song writing and some guitar playing. Alex and I would go on little adventures whenever he needed to get away from the other two dorks. Reggie and I bonded the most, about movies and video games and...pizza.

Now, you can understand why I am freaking out a little. Julie turned around in her chair to look at me.

“Okay first calm down. Sit.” I sit. “Now, breathe.”

“I should be saying this to you. You’re the one about to go on stage.”

“Like you said, the boys wouldn’t let me down again. We have to trust them.”

A knock on the door interrupts us. “Julie, I got your roadie,” Rob, the Stage Manager says. Julie goes to open the door and Flynn walks in. Rob then says he’ll be back when it’s time to go on stage. Flynn doesn’t say anything until the door is shut.

“You see this backstage pass?! I had sushi with Brendon Urie.”

“Good for you. I threw up in the car on the way over here,” Julie says, reminding me of that disgusting moment.

“And you still look amazing. I made friends with the tech crew. You’re gonna love what we have planned.” Flynn looks around. “The guys are here right?”

“No. They're not,” I say, upset

Flynn looks surprised. “Wait. You don't think they changed their mind and took Caleb’s over, do you?”

“No. That's the last thing that they wanted.” Julie looks at both of us sorrowfully like she’s trying to convince herself that too.

Flynn stands next to Julie facing the mirror, “You’re gonna kill it,” she says. I stand up from the couch and stand on the other side of Julie. We all hug each other and go back over the couches to have a few snacks. Little did we know, shit that was going down on the other side of Hollywood.

After about 10 minutes, a knock disturbs us, bringing us back to the reality of the situation. Julie and I look at eachother.

“Hey Julie. It’s time,” We hear Rob say.

“Just a second!”

“What are you going to do? They’re still not here yet. I knew something was wrong. They wouldn't do this,” I say, starting to freak out. I start to panic, thinking about how much pain the boys must be in. What if they're just sitting somewhere alone with those jolts, hurting. No one to call for help. No one to be there with them at the end. We should be there. What if they’re already gone? No. They can't be. Stop thinking like that (Y/N).

“(Y/N) stop you’re not helping anything,” Flynn looks at me sternly, nodding to Julie, who looks like she’s going to cry.

“No. She’s right. The jolts were getting bad when we left and they wouldn’t leave me alone again. They must be gone.”

The idea of never seeing Reggie again set in and I broke down crying. I’ve never had a relationship with a guy like I've had with him. As much as I would love to hug him and kiss him, it was nice to meet a guy and just be able to talk to. He listened to me and I listened back. He told me all about his parents and their fights. I’ll never be able to hear him play his bass again, watch him go on stage doing the one thing he was born to do. I miss him so much already. I miss all of them. “Why did this have to happen? We didn’t even get to say goodbye.”

Flynn walks over to give me a hug.

“Hey, Julie. You’re on,” Julie then runs out of the room. Flynn lets go of me to run after her.

I get up knowing I have to be there for my sister. As much as I want to sit here and cry over what I lost, she lost something too. These boys helped her through so much. I didn’t think I would ever see my sister sing and play piano again. I leave the room and see the stage manager facing the stage door. I go outside and see Julie looking up at the sky, crying and talking.

“...supposed to help the guys, we didn't. They’re gone and I’m so sorry. They were my friends, my band, my family. Why can't you just come pick me up and hold me in your arms and tell me everything's gonna be okay. That even though they're not here with me, they're still up there with you. I just wish you were here.”

I go over to her and wrap her in the biggest hug ever. For what felt like a minute, we were just there outside the theatre, hugging and crying together over everything we’ve lost. First, our mom, now, this found family we had. A woman walks by and hands us each a dahlia flower. We look at the woman then each other. I grab Julie’s hand and smile with her. She’s definitely listening and looking down on her girls. Julie squeezes my hand and then runs back inside. I try to keep up with her.

We see Flynn and Rob standing near the stage. Rob starts to tell someone over his headset to tell Panic! to go on now. Julie goes up to Flynn, shows her the dahlia, says “Signs.” then marches right up on to that stage.

“YES JULIE!” I screamed! Flynn and I walked closer to the stage, so we’re standing in the wings.

“Hi I’m Julie. I would like to dedicate this song to my mom, who’s been with me every time I played and for not giving up on me. I would also like to dedicate tonight’s performance to three special friends,” Here come the waterworks, “who have changed my life completely, who have brought music back to me. It was their dream to play here; this is for them. This song is for anyone who’s lost their way. Step into your greatness. Don’t give up. Stand tall. Thank you,” By the end her speech I was full on crying. Flynn and I were holding on to each other for dear life.

Then Julie started singing.

Don’t blink

No, I don’t want to miss it

One thing, and it’s back to the beginning

Cause everything is rushing in fast

Keep going on never look back

And it’s one, two, three, four times

That I’ll try for one more night

Light a fire in my eyes

I’m going out of my mind

Whatever happens

Even if i’m the last standing

Ima stand tall

Whatever happens

Even when everythings down

Ima stand tall

I gotta keep on dreaming

Cause I gotta catch that feeling

Whatever happens

Even if i’m the last standing

Ima stand tall

I’ve heard them rehearse this song so many times I knew when everyone was supposed to come in, so when I heard the drums I thought I was going crazy. Then I looked up to see Alex smiling at Julie. After a couple more lines I see Reggie pop up. He looks at Julie and then looks over at me. We stare at each other for what feels like a century. He’s really here. My heart swells at just the sight of him standing in front of me. After I compose myself I wave at him. He winks back at me. If he wasn’t in the middle of performing and I wouldn’t fall through him, I would run up to him and give him the biggest hug.

Then there was one. One more to complete the band. Then Luke starts to flicker, but he’s not staying. “C’mon Luke. C’mon Luke,” Then just when his line comes up. He’s there.

I’m going out of mind.

The crowd goes nuts. They're electric out there and they know it. Luke and Julie are feeding off of eachother like it’s the last time they will ever sing to each other. Which it might be. I couldn’t stop looking at Reggie. I went from thinking they were gone to them singing in front of me. I need to burn this memory into my brain forever, knowing they will cross over after this.

When it gets to Reggie’s solo, we lock eyes and don’t let go.

Whatever happens

Even if i’m the last standing

Ima stand tall

He starts walking over to me still on stage. I take this as an opportunity to yell “I love you Reggie!!”. He winks and mouths “I love you too.”

At the end of the song, they walk to the front of the stage to take their final bow. Then in a flash, they’re gone. Julie looks around, thanks the audience, bows again, and walks off the stage. We immediately hug, our boys are gone.

When we get back home, Dad, Carlos, Julie, and I are in a conga line singing Stand Tall. Julie and I say goodnight to dad then head out to the garage. We walk in tears already coming to our eyes.

“I know I already said this, but thank you guys,” Julie started.

“You really changed our lives,” I finished.

“You’re welcome,” We heard in the dark room.

Julie runs to turn on the lights, and we see the boys lying on the floor, groaning and in visible pain. I run over to Reggie to grab his hand but remember that I can’t touch him.

“I thought that you guys crossed over. That your unfinished business was done,” I cry.

“Well obviously playing the Orpheum wasn't it. We wanted you to think that we crossed over, so we pretended to. We just...we had nowhere else to go,” Luke says with red rimmed eyes.

“We thought you would go straight to bed,” Reggie adds.

“Yeah well, I knew they would come out here but nobody ever listens to me,” Alex groans.

Julie and I try to convince the guys to go back to Caleb’s club. It’s better than not existing at all.

“Please, go. You’re just hurting yourself,” I say to Reggie.

“No. We’re not leaving. I’m not leaving you.”

I look over and see Luke and Julie by door and hear Luke say, “Music is not worth making Julie if we’re not making it with you.” I looked back at Reggie and he nodded. I went to grab him knowing that it wouldn’t work but I yearned for his touch. To my surprise I felt his hand. He looks down with wide eyes and doesn’t let go. A ring of light starts to glow around him and he stands up. He looked up at me and gave me the award winning smile I fell in love with. After a moment I saw him look behind me I turned around to see Julie and Luke hugging. I wrap my arms around Reggie and hold him as close as possible. He pulls away and puts his hands on my face. We lean in until his lips are on mine and it makes me think about what I almost lost. I almost didn't have this.

“Aw, look at the lovebirds.” I hear behind me. I pull away from Reg and see Alex behind me, smiling. I walk over to Julie and Luke. “Alex, Reggie, get over here.” We form one big group hug and see the purple signs on their wrists lift off and disintegrate in the air. We hug one more time and jump around for a couple seconds.

We stand in a circle and I look at each of them. I think of all the moments that we had and how one fateful night changed all of our lives. Who knows if Julie would ever have played piano and sang again? I think about the two new best friends I’ve made and how my life will never be the same without them.

Finally, I think of Reggie and how even though he might be a ghost, some higher power beyond my imagination knows we should be together. Something caused us to be able to touch. I look up at him to see he’s already looking at me. I grab his hand and put my head on his shoulder. I never want this moment to end. I look at everyone again and feel the biggest grin appear on my face.

Our little family is here to stay.

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Thanks for reading! If you have any suggestions/requests please feel free to send me a message!

- Maddie xoxo

#julie and the phantoms #julie and the himbos #jatp reggie x reader #jeremy shada #jatp x reader

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meta-squash · 3 years

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I did a long thread on twitter analyzing/interpreting You’re My Waterloo for the fun of it, but it was mostly for the amusement/interest of myself and like one other friend on there that likes The Libertines. So I figured I’d transcribe it over here where people might get more out of it? Since it was a twitter thread, the sentences might be a bit weird and stilted, by the way. So:

I'm glad they waited to record Waterloo until 2015. I feel like any other time would have been wrong. I know Peter was playing the slow version back in at least 2007 but I think it would have been sad in a different way if they had recorded it before 2015. Like, in 2015 it's just a straight up love song that's slightly sad because, well, it's Peter. If they had recorded it before I feel like it'd have been a love song with resentment wound through it. There's just a lot of emotion in that song and if there's one thing Peter is really really good at doing, it's Emoting Intensely. But it's not just Peter, the piano is so beautiful and the strings are beautiful and Carl's guitar solo is Intense. It's all A Lot. Like, of all the songs that Peter has written about Carl, about their relationship and career and experiences together, THIS is the one where you can feel most strongly the near-obsessive type adoration. So I’m glad they waited to record it properly when they were friends again (also I’m mildly surprised that it was Carl’s suggestion to rerecord it). Anyway.

Fuck the first verse of this song is a lot. This whole song is a lot. I mean it starts off with such a sad sentiment, it's almost a warning? "You'll never fumigate the demons / No matter how much you smoke." You can't smoke away sadness no matter how much you want to. Bitterly ironic, considering the sorts of things Peter ended up smoking etc to chase away demons, the types of extremes they both went to above and beyond just trying to fumigate. But anyway. "Just say you love me for three good reasons / And I'll throw you the rope." It's just so fucking codependent. So intensely obsessive and codependent. There was a quote, I think maybe from Roger Sargent?, about Peter crying outside a venue in like 2002 because even then he was scared about losing his friendship with Carl to the Something Bigger of fame. This feels like a desperate bid to hang on to that love. But also like Peter is so intense. Every video of interviews where he's sitting next to Carl or gigs when they're friends or reunions or whatever, he just wants to be in Carl's space and have Carl's gaze and his attention and stuff. Like a cat that sits on your work.

Again, a digression. Oops. I said I was in a mood. It's so interesting that while it's definitely a love song To Carl, the only direct mention of Love is asking for love From Carl. It's like he's working on the assumption that his feelings are obvious (they are) and desperately wants reassurance or reciprocation.

"You don't need it / Because you are the survivor / Of more than one life" We know the origin of this is apparently Carl's dead twin brother. But also the offering of a rope only to reassure that no, you don't need it is just so...I don't know...sweet? Especially because while "throw you the rope" is obviously a symbol of rescue it could just as easily be a noose. Except that it's neither. Because he doesn't need it. Because he can survive fucking anything, because they love each other--he hopes. It’s like, if you love me as much as I love you, I’ll try to help you, even though I know you don’t need me because you just need to realize you can do it on your own. "And you're the only lover I had / Who ever slept with a knife" The interview where they talk about this line is so funny. "No it's not about us. But Carl did sleep with a knife and the line about being a survivor is about Carl having a dead twin and Peter saying he was the twin reincarnated. But it’s totally not about us." Anyway. Ugh just so much of this song seems to be about Peter being Super Obvious and open about his love for Carl and Carl being more closed off. Carl being the only lover who slept with a knife; he'll accept the love but he's wary of it and wary giving it.

(By the way by love I don't necessarily mean Romantic or Sexual love. They clearly adore each other one way or another, that's obvious enough. But Best Friendship love is 100% a thing.) (However, the Judy Garland line is so funny to me because "Friend of Dorothy" was a secret code for gay men for a while. And considering the amount of queer literature etc Peter references in everything, there's no way he didn't know this.)

I can't really go in depth into the Tony Hancock line since I really don't know much about Hancock and I know that it was a real touchstone for Peter and Carl. But it plus the Judy Garland line feels like a "neither of us have ever really had a home, but we found one in each other" thing. Which is. A lot. Especially with the "until the dawn" bit, because a main component of so many stories about them from other people is the two of them staying up for days together writing and adventuring and just doing stuff and no one else being able to get in their little bubble.

I love the "ahh" after "Stone the crows" and the way the music starts to swell. It's obvious that the next verse is the Important One. And it is. There's the story about Peter crashing an event at the Old Vic while Carl was ushering to tell him they should be writing together and everyone who's there are dicks. But it's also like...so many layers of what is success and what is appreciation and how do you express love. I assume the flowers are not from his show, that he's collected them from the stage after someone else's show. But it's reusing tokens of mostly empty/superficial/performative appreciation--the tradition of tossing flowers on the stage--as a token of genuine love. Sitting through an entire performance, watching someone else's success and dreaming of being there and then using the token of appreciation for that person to instead give it to the person you yourself appreciate and love and want to succeed with. It's like a promise, a "we'll get there." But also another act of desperation because he's been sitting there for hours. Carl wasn't there to receive the gift and wasn't there to write with him. But he's been chasing words around on the page--the love-words to this song or the words to another one?--and he needs Carl there to really complete it, needs Carl there to hear it. It's very much in line with Peter yelling that they should be writing. This intense "Please be with me please accept the way I express myself please complete my incomplete bits please like me as much as I like you" etc.

And then the chorus which is so interesting. I desperately wish I understood the Gypsy Lane and Stanley Park references. I think Stanley Park is a footie reference but I’m not sure? I'm trying to do all of the interpretation off my own brain and not use the notes on the Genius website or anywhere else but I wanted to see if those two references here had been crowdsourced. Apparently both Gypsy Lane and Stanley Park are places he spent time in his childhood (and I called it on the football reference, yes!). Which is. Wow. Okay. And then there's Waterloo which is a whole thing in itself. It's Waterloo as Waterloo but also Waterloo Station. So Carl is able to be Peter's Ultimate Defeat, the thing that has the ability to ruin him. But also Waterloo Station is near the Old Vic where Carl worked & would go to theatre bars, so it's also a place of familiarity. Since I don't know anything else about the Gypsy Lane reference, I can only assume it's also a place of comfort and familiarity. So Peter's admitting to Carl's power over him, ability to hurt him, but offering to comfort him in return. (Important for later.)

"I'm so glad we know just what to do / And exactly who's to blame" I love this line because it knows it's wrong. Especially in 2015 but maybe even in the early days. They bounced blame back and forth between them for YEARS. Not to mention all the outside bullshit. And obviously they didn't know what to do. The Waterloo/Stanley Park is another reference to a familiar place and a power to hurt/offer to comfort moment. I wish I knew if there was some sort of proper football reference here (aka a QPR reference since that's Peter's team) but I know absolutely nothing about sport so idk.

"Well I'm so glad we know just what to do / And no one's left / Stumbling around / Tumbling around / Fumbling around / In the dark" The way Peter sings this sounds so hopeful and sad at the same time. It's interesting to know this line was written way, way back. Like, this song was apparently one of the first ever songs they demoed. The demo is a lot more frantic and less romantic but jesus christ. The way Peter sings it now it's like he knows that was just an unconscious self-fulfilling prophecy. Like, no, they absolutely were left in the dark, hurting each other over and over and not being able/willing to place blame or to communicate. Except now, in 2015, they're not anymore. (and especially not now in 2021). But it's also another desire for comfort. Like, Peter's offering the comfort here. But he's also just confessed the power to hurt that Carl has. So this is also a "are you going to offer me comfort the way I've offered it to you?" sort of question.

And then there's the solo which. Woof. It feels like a response to Peter's words. Like reaching out with sound. Like a shoulder-squeeze or a hug in response, something nonverbal that’s really trying to catch up and match up to the intense emotions in the words. The music crescendos and the solo is literally waves of notes that roll up and down and up and then it crashes down but lands so softly at the feet of the chorus.

And then we have equal footing, sort of (and Carl as Jesus again). Carl is still Peter's Waterloo, his ultimate defeat (or his place of comfort). But now Peter is Carl's Calvary. Which is the place where Jesus was crucified. Peter’s been offering comfort to Carl, but suddenly Peter has power over Carl. It's like...veneration and threat at once. Carl's Jesus, the savior, but also if he doesn't love Peter, Peter has the power to crucify him (or at least threatens to have that power). Or it's another portent: Carl could be Peter's savior, except that everything falls apart and Carl ends up hurt instead. They both end up hurt instead. So then they're on equal footing.

Which brings them to the "Well I'm so glad we know just what to do," which feels a little sadder but also a little more confident than the other two. The answer is in the "Everyone's gonna be happy / But of course." They need to work to figure out how to make each other happy, how to be comfort rather than hurt. It's not that simple. It never is. The "But of course" is a sarcy acknowledgement of how difficult that actually is. But it's also that sort of quiet hopefulness that yeah, maybe soon we'll figure it out and everyone will be happy and will get to say "of course I'm happy" about it.

#i also did one for the Heart Of The Matter video if people are interested #the libertines #peter doherty #carl barat #apologies to the people who have been in this fandom for ages i apparently like diving straight into the deep end #when i get to a subject I like to learn EVERYTHING about it and totally immerse myself very quickly #i've known the basics of the libs story for a while now just from being into mildly related bands #and liking Peter's lyrics enough to research them a bit #but when i get into something new i do all the research on it as quickly and intensely as i can #also i'm just having fun #analyzing literature/lyrics/etc is what i like doing for fun #(PS I do most of my Libertines blogging on my other blog jesuisgourde)

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