#GUESS BRIAN'S FAVORITE PIZZA | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

apomaro-mellow · 3 months

Text

Hot for Teacher(s) 5

Part 4 / AO3 Link

"It's not even about what they say, I mean it is, it's more about how they say it", Eddie said over the phone. He was in the process of making himself dinner while Steve was on the line.

"Like what?", Steve asked, in the middle of making Shawn's lunch for the next day.

"Like, today Alex said 'barbecue is my favorite' and Brian was like 'your mom!' Like what? What does that even mean, Steve? I ask you, what does that mean?"

Steve laughed on the other end. "Well you know how memes work, right?"

"I'm offended you would ask that."

"I just mean it sounds like that. They're passing around a joke until it mutates and now just saying the phrase, regardless of context, is a joke."

"You're brilliant, you know that?"

"So I've been told~"

"Hey, you're making Shawn's lunch now, right? You know what would be funny?"

"Your sense of humor frightens me", Steve said.

"You tell me everything inside, and then I tell Shawn and act like I'm guessing. It'll blow his mind."

"You're ridiculous", Steve said with a shake of his head. But he ended up telling Eddie anyway.

When he went to bed that night, he dreamt of the day Shawn was born again. But this time it was less sights and smells and more sounds as an alpha rumbled close to his ear.

"You're doing great, beautiful."

"Bet your pup's gonna be the cutest..."

He woke up, feeling slightly disoriented as he remembered that he wasn't a new parent, that Shawn wasn't an infant, and that Billy wasn't sleeping beside him. He released a relieved sigh at that last part and got ready for the day.

Both he and Eddie got really busy as winter break began to near and Eddie wondered if it would be too forward to ask Steve out during the break. For all he knew, Steve might have plans to travel during it. But then again, that sounded like all the reason to ask him out before he went too long without seeing him again.

They talked just about every other night though. And try as they might, the conversation always veered to their students and the goings on of their work lives at school.

"Should you be telling me all of this? As a parent?", Steve asked one night. He was curled up on the couch, tv low in the background.

"As a parent, no", Eddie admitted. "But if you were my boyfriend.... then you'd have access to all the hot elementary gossip."

"....Did you just try and seduce me with student gossip?"

"Don't you wanna know which girl in my class has a crush on Shawn?", Eddie tempted.

Steve let out a long drawn out sigh. "You know I do. But I also think that we should have more dates under our belt before we start calling ourselves boyfriends."

"What have all these calls been?"

"Just talks?"

"Stevie, I call you more than anyone. I think in the past few weeks I've called you more than the rest of my phone contacts all year."

"...Are you busy tomorrow?"

"Nope."

Steve chewed his lip a little before going on. "Come over for dinner. Just you and me, I'll send Shawn over to Robin's."

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

Shawn was more than happy to go over to Robin's for the night. She let him put whatever he want on his pizza and let him watch pg-13 movies sometimes. Steve was aware of this, but always warned Robin that she couldn't come crying to him when he got an upset stomach or had nightmares.

Eddie came over just a few minutes after he saw Shawn off and together they put the finishing touches on the dinner Steve had started.

"So this is going to sound weird...", Steve began as they sat down to eat. "But, have we met before?"

Eddie swallowed his mouthful before grinning. "What a line. I'm already in your house, baby. You don't need to use cheesy pick up lines on me."

"I'm serious", Steve said with a roll of his eyes. "Do you think it might be possible?"

"I think I'd remember running into someone like you. Why do you ask?"

Steve picked at his food. "Sometimes you smell familiar. Like, I know I've said you smell safe, but it's like I've smelled it somewhere before."

Eddie swallowed. "...What did your ex smell like?", he ventured.

"Nothing like you", Steve replied quickly. "Even when he wasn't upset I...I just started associating his scent with bad things."

"Well, maybe you just had a very formative experience in a candle shop. They're getting really expressive with fragrances nowadays. Remember that one from a while back? The mountain lodge scent craze?"

"God, how could I forget?", Steve laughed as the conversation changed to candle scents, perfumes, and colognes, and how some brands seemed to be going a bit far trying to imitate certain smells.

After dinner, Eddie offered to help with the dishes so that Steve didn't have to worry about them later.

"You really didn't have to", he said as Eddie handed him a dish to dry.

"Can I be corny for a sec? I've kinda always imagined doing the dishes with someone special. Boring stuff like that."

Steve felt his heart stop and he grabbed Eddie's face to bring him in for a kiss. When they finished, Eddie started perusing the shelf in the living room and immediately found Shawn's baby book.

"Didn't realize you had such a soft spot for him", Steve teased.

"Oh I'm sure he was a cute baby. But I wanna see new parent Stevie", Eddie said, holding it up, asking permission.

Steve sat down on the couch, patting the space next to him. Eddie hopped on like an excited puppy and they started flipping through it. The first few pages showed the ultrasounds and Steve's growing belly.

"I think the weirdest craving I had was turkey sandwiches with crunchy peanut butter. But besides that, it was pretty normal."

"You can't say 'normal' after prefacing it with turkey and peanut butter sandwiches", Eddie said with a grimace.

Steve shrugged. "The only other thing I craved was broccoli for a whole month."

"That explains why Shawn shovels it down during lunch."

There were a couple of appearances by Billy, but Steve didn't talk about him much. It wasn't all bad of course. It rarely is. But when Billy got unpleasant it was really bad. Enough to sour most of the good memories they had made together. The only thing untainted by Billy was Shawn himself, innocent in it all.

Then they got to the day Shawn had been born and the first few were of his teeny wrinkled red face, swaddled up. But after turning the page, Eddie froze on the couch. In the center of the page was Steve lying on a hospital bed, Shawn in his arms. There was a person standing by the bed, arm under the newborn pup, helping Steve support him.

The photo cut off the person's upper body and head, but Eddie knew it was Billy standing there. Steve felt him stiffen up and looked at him confused.

"What's wrong?"

Eddie was gazing at him like he was seeing Steve for the first time. Steve's brow furrowed even more and he took a look at the picture again, wondering what it was. Sure his hair was a mess and his face was pretty red, sweaty, and swollen, but did he really look all that different?

Then he caught the arm helping to hold Shawn, caught the rings on the hand, most different but at least one that was undeniably the same. And if that wasn't enough, caught the tattoos that were visible on the arm.

The same arm that was wrapped around his shoulders right now.

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

"Billy", Steve breathed into the phone, trying to pace himself. "Billy, my water broke. Please call me back. I'll be at Hawkins General Hospital."

Steve hung up and looked to his overnight bag sitting by the door. Even if Billy got his message, Steve wasn't very confident in him getting here on time to drive him to the hospital. And he was pretty sure most rideshares wouldn't want an omega in labor in their backseat. Steve was literally debating whether he should clean up the spill from his water breaking now or just leave it for later.

He wanted to make Billy clean it, the fucking asshole but he also didn't want an argument the moment they returned from the hospital. Mind made up, he leaned over with great difficulty to get the bag and then grabbed his keys.

Steve was never more grateful than now that he lived in a small town and was able to get to the hospital in less than 10 minutes. But it was a very long ten minutes in which he imagined every sort of car accident imaginable.

When he parked, he called Billy again and got his voicemail again. Billy had left the apartment about two hours ago, to do god knows what. He called again after checking in while he was still lucid. As his contractions got closer, he could feel that he was losing himself and his instincts were taking over.

An omega giving birth could be dangerous nowadays. In earlier times, when babies were born in the home, this wasn't much of a problem. An omega would be surrounded by family and familiar scents. But in the sterile, nearly scentless environment of a hospital, they had a tendency to lash out at the hands of strangers trying to help deliver the baby.

If the omega's partner was present, or someone else close to them, this made things go a lot more smoothly. But Steve had arrived completely alone. No one to speak for but himself and the pup inside of him. When asked if anyone was coming, he admitted to calling his alpha several times but not getting a reply.

The nurse stroked his sweaty forehead, giving him a pitying look.

"You poor thing. But you're going to have to start pushing soon. Your pup's about ready to meet the world."

Steve shook his head. "Can't. I can't. It's not time yet."

The doctor gave him an appraising look. "I'm afraid to say that it is, alpha or no. This is what happens when you get pupped up without a bite."

And that was a sore spot for Steve, who had asked for Billy's bite more than once. Even more when he found out he was pregnant. His eyes glassed over with tears from both the pain and the oncoming sensation that he had feared.

"Doctor, watch what you say. I think he's succumbing to rejection sickness", the nurse said, nose catching a hint of it through her mask.

What was worse than Steve snapping at the hands trying to assist would be him feeling too weak to even do anything.

The doctor cursed under her breath. "Nurse, go find a volunteer alpha. No need to make this more difficult than it needs to be."

The nurse scurried out, Steve couldn't tell how long she'd been gone but was deep in a flurry of sensations. Billy didn't want him, he never wanted him, not seriously. Not even to officially mate him. He didn't want this pup either. His baby was coming into the world unloved and it was Steve's fault for being such a failure and-

"Found someone", the nurse rushed in.

"'Someone'?", the doctor raised a brow at the man she brought in.

"He's not official but all the other volunteers are busy."

"This is highly unprofessional, you understand that?"

"I think losing a pup and possibly a patient would be even worse. Do you know what to do, sweetie?"

"Yeah", a third voice said.

Steve rubbed at his eyes, trying to get them to clear but the tears kept coming and the pain was never ending. He felt a hand grab his and wanted to snap but the rumble of an alpha's voice got him to pause. It wasn't Billy, didn't smell like him at all, yet somehow that was better.

"You're doing great, beautiful." The alpha held his hand on one and stroked his hair with the other.

"The pup...", Steve whimpered as the doctor and nurse got to work between his legs.

"Doc's gonna help you out. Bet your pup's gonna be the cutest in the ward. But I think you gotta help push him out."

Steve was panting as he started to push. He had to do this. He owed it to his pup to try. He had been so excited from the moment the test showed positive. He couldn't give up now. He thought about the ten toes and ten fingers and their ruddy face and their wisps of hair and he couldn't wait anymore to see them for himself.

All through it, the alpha gave him words of encouragement, projected a comforting scent, and kept both hands on him, grounding him to the moment. With a big final push, tiny cries filled the room and Steve collapsed onto the bed.

He felt like he dizzy, to say the least and while his pup was cleaned up, he was given a heavy dose of painkillers. Finally, his baby was given to him, all swaddled up and there was that itty-bitty pink face. Steve immediately started to cry again, but this time in joy.

"Gorgeous baby, just like their dame."

"Thank you", Steve breathed out. He put his nose to his pup's forehead. He smelled just a bit of Steve but besides that was scentless. His inner omega longed for the scent of himself and his alpha to cover their babe, marking them as their own and protecting them. Unknowingly, he let out a cooing call and the alpha beside him answered it, reaching out to rub his wrist against the blanket.

"What are you gonna call him?"

"Shawn...", Steve had decided long ago. He let out a very long yawn, which his pup then mirrored.

The alpha stayed with them for at least an hour, covering them both in his scent, turning away respectfully when the nurse came to help Steve nurse for the first time. Steve had still been too out of it to appreciate it but had been grateful later. The alpha had to go soon after, and truly it was perfect timing.

Billy finally arrived about five minutes later, looking relieved at first to see Steve and the baby were fine, but then his nostrils flared when he smelled an unfamiliar alpha on what he deemed to be his omega and his pup. Steve had been tired to fight, just kept his eyes open so that Billy could said his piece before handing Shawn over and closing his eyes.

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

"....That alpha was you", Steve whispered.

"And that omega was you", Eddie replied.

Part 6

Tag Team

@anne-bennett-cosplayer @aol19 @lololol-1234 @hippieg1rl420 @gregre369 @attic-cat-blog

#apo writes #stranger things #steddie #omegaverse #a/b/o

145 notes · View notes

yourthemaster11-blog · 7 months

Text

And now announcing...F/ONovembuh!

Brian: Don't get those glasses, you read correctly folks! F/Ovember is here and it's looking to be the best one yet! Pomni: Isn't it the best one by..de-default? It IS your first one after all! Brian: True as that may be Pomni, EVERY year is the best one! I mean, when is F/Ovember NOT the best occasion in the history of history?! Sarah: Yeah Pomni, listen to Brian some more! For a clown, you can be pretty uptight! Kim: He DOES have both optimism AND pragmatism on his side! He's a bit of a mixer-upper like that! Vanessa: Isn't that the truth? It helps for spy missions, that's for sure! Pomni: sighs Okay, I guess you got me there. And you're not wrong, Brian DOES have the boundless enthusiasm you need for an event like this! Brian: That I do! And hopefully all of you do too, because you'll get to ask ANYTHING and I mean ANTYTHING!..Except whether or not pineapple pizza is good, that one will never change! Sarah: Oh my god, I totally agree! Whoever made it has tastebuds of barf! Kim: It's not my favorite, no. Vanessa: Who's is it? But yes, feel free to ask any question and we'll do our best to answer! Pomni: I guess that signals the start of… Everyone: Bri's Shipping Bonanza's F/OVember! confetti goes off Brian: Neat…I've never seen purple strings of confetti before…

#self ship #self shipping #f/o #self ship community #self shipper #romantic f/o #fictional other #f/ovember #criminally golden couple #international duo of mystery #clownin' around #the two not so prickly muffins

3 notes · View notes

nothingunrealistic · 2 years

Text

Moving on to more, like, tactical writing questions, somebody wanted to know what you do if you’ve realized that a character in your story, or realized when a character has been getting short shrift? Is there any specific process you use to re-center a character in the story?

I’m not sure I think of it exactly like that. I think… first it’s, does the piece just work? If it doesn’t work, why? And then… well, point of, you’re always thinking about point of view, so you’re thinking about the point of view of a scene, and then a series of scenes, then, like, a whole suite of scenes. And I will say, I guess one way to answer it is, a lot of the process of doing the writing is hard to articulate because it is less of an intellectual process where, where it’s highly rational. A lot of it has to do with an instinct. And the North Star for me is always just entertaining David, basically, and if I can entertain David and if the piece works and if he can entertain me, then we’ve learned it’s probably gonna entertain the rest of the people.

That’s so cute, ‘cause you guys are still, like, sixteen-year-olds in that sense of just trying — We are. Yeah. We are.

Speaking of you and Dave, and Billions, somebody asked, who picks the whisky for Billions? And why is it the only show that uses the right bottles in the right way and at the right time and the right level of luxury?

Well, we are always thinking about the iconography. We’re always thinking about, like, what the right, what would these people do? And yes, it’s David, that’s mostly David and me, and Beth Schacter makes the show with us, and — but also, like, April Taylor, who’s our line producer and an exec producer, and Mike Harrop, and our prop person, who’s incredible, Alexis Weiss, it’s a group of people. But a lot of that does flow from Dave and me. Look, uh, shoutout to Michter’s, who, in a great bit of synergy, we got approached officially about Michter’s early on, and then — through, like, regular channels. And then I realized, or I knew, that it was a company owned by the Magliocco family, Joe and Nino Magliocco, who are incredibly dear friends of ours. One of Sammy’s very best friends his entire life is Will Magliocco, Nino’s son, and so the idea of getting to work closely with Nino and Joe, who are among the, like, just most wonderful, smartest, interesting human beings I know, um, and to learn about Michter’s, has been fantastic. And then the other stuff, like if there’s a bottle of wine in the show, yeah, we’re all really thinking about, why this bottle of wine at this time? You know, if there’s pizza on the show, it’s like, well, Una Pizza Napoletana’s our favorite pizzeria in the world, can we put Anthony Mangieri in? And we’re like, because our characters have very rigorous, um, requirements, and taste level, and they’re gonna go chase down the very best of something. You know, each of those things is there for a very specific reason. And when our audience picks up on that, it is highly gratifying.

When you start, um, thinking of a character, or, yeah, coming up with a character, at what point do you begin to think about their iconography or what their drink would be and that sort of thing? Is that later in the process?

Well, sometimes right away, right? Sometimes you might meet a character and they’re engaged in, they’re at a restaurant or they’re engaged in something. And then sometimes… not. I mean, again, that’s one of those things that is, like, um… well, you understand how the characters dress right away, and that’s part of it. You know this guy wears a hoodie, this woman wears jeans, and this would be the kind of jeans, because it says something about the way she thinks about herself, or how she wants to present herself to the world. I don’t even — you know, it’s part of it, when you think of characters. Something comes into your head, and sometimes — this is what I mean when I say it’s not intellectual, obviously it’s a brain process, but not intellectual. Sometimes I’ll be writing, and suddenly I will just, not knowing exactly why, I will write a description, and that kind of opens up who that character is, and it might include things like what they’re carrying in their hand or wearing or listening to or looking at. And it’s, same with the reference palette that they use. It’s all ways that reveals who they are, and a lot of the time, that’s — some of the time, that’s super conscious, and some of the time, it’s, it’s not. It’s subconscious, you know, the way writing is.

#billions #brian koppelman #really wish he'd given some more specific examples but interesting discussion nonetheless

2 notes · View notes

moviemunchies · 10 months

Text

…the Plot of this movie is about criminals stealing VCRs.

That’s not a complaint, okay? It’s just that right now, The Fast & the Furious is a well-known, high-octane, globe-trotting action film series, and yet the original is about a cop going undercover with street racers to find out who is stealing VCRs.

It’s nuts.

Brian is an undercover officer on the street racing scene. He’s getting close to the Toretto family (especially Mia, who he has quite clearly fallen for), led by Dom, who himself heads a street-racing crew. Someone is stealing electronics from trucks on the highway using street-racing techniques. While Brian thinks that Dom and his crew is too smart and careful to try something like that (his superiors pointedly disagree), he thinks that someone Dom on the racing circuit is responsible and this connection could help him out. But as he gets to know these people, especially Dom, Brian’s loyalties become divided as he becomes an actual part of Dom’s crew. What will he do when it becomes obvious that Dom really is behind the recent thefts?

The first time I think I saw this movie was in a hotel or something? It was a family trip, my parents went out for dinner, and my brother and I had pizza, along with movies we’d gotten from Blockbuster to watch. I think I got a low-budget TV movie about dragons? My brother brought along this film.

Or maybe I’m misremembering and it was the sequel.

[I also think I read Sword & the Circle on this trip? I might be wrong.]

Even before that, I recall that I had a friend in school to whom this was his favorite movie. WEIRD for a fourth grader, but I think he really liked cars and racing, so I sort of get it. I also think I wouldn’t let a kid that age watch it if *I* were his parents, but whatevs.

Watching it now, in 2023, I’m kind of just confused? I want someone to write a paper on this. This is a fairly ordinary late 90’s/early 2000’s action film, with the only thing to make it stand out that it’s about street-racing. And yet! This movie survived! It spawned a series that’s still going over twenty years later. How? HOW? I suspect the series reinventing itself has something to do with it, but it boggles the mind. Boggles my mind, anyhow.

Anyhow this movie’s fine, I guess. It is pretty much exactly what it says on the title? It’s a crime thriller about street racing, and that’s what you get when you put the film on. The Race Wars segment is much shorter than I remembered it being, I guess, but there’s still a racing element throughout the film. It sets up one of the characters’ fates, but I don’t know if we needed that to go out into the desert for it to happen.

Hey, wait a minute, it takes over thirty minutes in this movie (less than an hour and fifty minutes) for the movie to actually reveal that Brian is an undercover cop? That’s a bit weird. I guess if it was being made now, the film might try to save this as a reveal in the last twenty minutes after wasting two hours. I’m not really upset, but it seems as if something that should have been more strongly hinted at earlier.

The movie’s fine. There are bits that haven’t aged so well; Vince’s homophobic insults, for one, though he’s supposed to be a massive jerk so today’s audience can easily let it slide.Overall though, while I don’t think it stands up to some of today’s greatest action movies, The Fast & the Furious is still a decent action movie to enjoy today.

#The Fast and the Furious #Movie Munchies #reviews

1 note · View note

lonelyreputation · 4 years

Text

Different (part two)

A/N: Surprise!! I’m posting earlier than I thought I would! And we’re back with the angst!! Straight angst! Like literally all of this is angst there’s nothing else. Also! I just started a tag list, so send me a message if you want to be added!!

Don’t we all just love some unrequited love?? 💞 💖

Also, your support has been so tremendous, thank you guys all so much, I love you to the moon and to Saturn 😉 💫 THANKS A MILLION! Reblogs are never expected, but always appreciated!! 🤗💞🌻

REQUEST/PROMPT: People talking a room away & Fighting the urge to cry & Unrequited Love

Part ONE | Let’s Chat!! | MASTERLIST

Warnings: Few swear words, some self-doubt, and ANGST!!!

Word Count: 5.7K

Shawn’s texts are bold and italicized & your texts are in italics

You promptly left the party, the broken glass left unattended on the floor, and silently cried the whole way back to your apartment with your arms hugging tight around your stomach.

Opening the door to your apartment wasn’t an easy task. Tears clouded your vision as you fumbled to find the right key to open the door. You had bit the inside of your cheek repeatedly on the walk home causing you to taste metallic every time you swallowed back a sob. Your chin wobbled, and just when you were about to give up and sit out in the hallway to cry, your roommate opened the door with a questioning look.

“How was the…party?”

She’s different––She’s just a friend––I don’t love her.

You brushed past her, “Fantastic.” You said as a few more tears fell from your eyes and your voice cracked.

She seemed to have caught the sarcasm behind your voice that alluded to the party being anything but fantastic. Your bloodshot eyes and wobbly chin also gave her a good indication that you left the party early.

There weren’t anymore words exchanged between the two of you as you quickly walked to your room to finally break down. You held a hand to your chest, clutching your necklace, a birthday present from Shawn, in a fist as you gasped out for air.

You’re different. You’re just a friend. He doesn’t love you.

You had a hand on the handle of your bathroom door as you harshly banged against it with your shoulder to open it wide. Once the door was closed, and you felt safe from the world around you, as you leaned up against the door and let out a cry of desperation. You were so sure that Shawn was the love of your life. You were positive that he had felt something––maybe not love––but some type of feelings for you that were stronger than friendship.

You slid down the door until you were sitting on the cold tiles, the only thing giving you a feeling other than absolute heartbreak. You tried your best to keep your cries quiet, clenching your teeth and hissing out a breath every now and then in order not to draw anymore attention from your roommate. You could physically feel your chest caving in on your heart.

The necklace that was still being held tightly in your hand burned your exposed skin. Hastily, you unclasped it from your neck, and heard the little dink of a sound as the soft metal material of the necklace collided against the tile.

You bent your knees and hugged your legs close to your chest, failing at sniffling back your sobs as you rested your forehead on top of your knees. You were second guessing every interaction you had with Shawn; the soft smiles from across a crowded room, him randomly sending you flowers when he knew you were stressed, how he touched you only a few hours ago.

Who said anything about love?

You tried to hold back something between a sob and a shout as you heard Brian’s question repeat over and over in your head. You felt hot all over your body, and most of all, you felt like a fool for listening to Olivia’s advice about confessing your true feelings to your best friend. The back of your head started to throb and the ache of your breaking heart was having a tortuous physical effect on the rest of your body.

Buzz. Buzz.

You lifted your head to see your phone vibrating against the tile, moving ever so slightly with every ring. A new wave of tears started to fall over as you saw Shawn’s contact picture; a picture you took of him asleep on the couch after the first time you watched 10 Things I Hate About You. You let the call go unanswered. Once you saw his picture disappear, you let out a shaky breath, but it didn’t last long because his picture showed up on your phone again.

You screened his call again.

Thankfully, he didn’t try calling you again, but your phone continued to buzz indicating that a few text messages were being received. You bit your lip as you brought your arm up to your nose to wipe away the excess of tears that mixed with your runny nose and read the text messages.

Where are you? I came back to the kitchen and didn’t see you?

Are you still here? Y/n?

Liv just told me you were feeling sick, do you need anything? I can come around tomorrow morning. Love you & hope you feel better xx

Just like your necklace, you slid your phone across the bathroom tile for it to be as far away from you.

Love you? The malicious part of your brain spoke up, ha. He even said it himself, he’s never loved you.

And again, the sane part of your mind didn’t have a rebuttal.

///

It had been five days since you eavesdropped on Shawn and Brian’s conversation. Five days since Shawn said he didn’t love you. Five dreadfully long days since your best friend broke your heart and you had to pretend like everything was fine.

Everything was not fine.

On the first day, you left his texts unanswered and told your roommate to turn him away if he showed up at your door. Day two, you respond to his texts saying you had a migraine and couldn’t look at any bright lights, your excuse for not responding to any of his messages. Day three, he came over to your apartment with pizza, two big fuzzy blankets, and your favorite Pixar movie because, you always watch Pixar when you’re feeling sick, I know you, he said.

I know you; but he didn’t know that you were purposefully avoiding him.

On day four, you were back over at Shawn’s apartment with Brian. Like you had done earlier when Shawn had just come home from tour, the three of you were out on his deck with the fire going. Brian was in the single chair again while you and Shawn were sharing the couch. Except this time, your head wasn’t nestled into his chest, you were sitting on the complete opposite end with your feet tucked under you.

Brian and Shawn both had alcoholic drinks of their choice while you had a glass of water.

“So, Shawn,” Brian quickly looked over at you for a brief moment before he looked at the boy in question, “Write any good songs?”

You wrapped the blanket tighter around your body, using it as a shield for whatever his answer would be, as you took a sip of your water. You stared at the CN Tower, pretending like you weren’t interested in their conversation.

You felt Shawn’s eyes glance at your figure for a second before he took a sip of his drink and nodded, “A few.”

“Oh c’mon,” Brian let out a little laugh as he looked at you until you gave him a roll of his eyes, “It’s just us––It’s not like we’re gonna leak them.”

“Y/n heard one of them.”

Brian raised his eyebrows, “Did she now?”

They both expected you to give your input, but you stayed silent, pretending to be enamored with the city lights.

When Brian noticed that his two best friends weren’t going to say anything, he cleared his throat, “And what did you think of it?”

With a question directed at you, you knew you couldn’t avoid contributing to any part of the conversation any longer. You shot Brian a glare, as you took a sip of water to stall some time, “It was nice.”

Brian threw his head back in laughter at your simple answer and Shawn stared at you with a questioning tilt of his head. You knew that he was thinking back to your taco night when he nervously played the song for you. Where you praised him for his songwriting abilities and said it was your favorite song he had ever written. But the more you thought back on that night, the more you noticed how distracted he was.

He didn’t want to mix the spices, and while you measured the different seasonings, you would glance up at him to see his thumbs rapidly moving across the screen of his phone. You remember asking him what was so important on his phone when you caught him smiling down at it. And he didn’t tell you any specific stories from when he was on tour, which were always a topic of discussion on taco night. He specifically brushed away your questions about Los Angeles.

“There would be a million girls out there who would die to listen to an unreleased Shawn Mendes song and all you say is that it’s nice?”

You shrugged your shoulders and took another sip of water, hoping it would ease the familiar scratchiness at the back of your throat, “Yeah.”

Just thinking about the song that was so clearly written for you made you want to cry like you did that night you found out Shawn didn’t love you. When you first heard the song, you wanted that sweet guitar melody ingrained in your mind forever. You wanted those lyrics tattooed somewhere on your body that was only visible to you. He had sung about having a different kind of love for you.

Different.

You finished your water and excused yourself to get a refill with a sniffle as you went into his kitchen, wiping away a few stubborn tears that fell.

But the fifth day…The fifth day was worse than the day you overheard Shawn say he didn’t love you.

You were out grocery shopping when you felt your phone buzz in your back pocket. Unlocking it, you saw a text from Shawn; Busy?

Out food shopping, you texted back, everything alright?

I’m bored.

You let out a small laugh at his response, pushing your cart out of the aisle you were in and stood off to the side, not wanting to disrupt anyone’s shopping habits.

Poor you, you texted back, I’m sure you’re really missing the tour life right now.

Nah, he texted back instantly, just missing you.

Your heart soared with happiness, but only for a split second. He didn’t see you in the same way you saw him. He didn’t look at you like you hung the stars in the sky. He didn’t think of you as being someone he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

With a frown, your thumbs moved quickly across the screen, Boo hoo.

Come over.

You weren’t expecting him to be so direct. You hadn’t hung out alone since taco night and you weren’t sure you were strong enough to keep your composure together.

And don’t say you’re busy.

You only go food shopping when you have absolutely nothing to do.

Your thumbs stopped typing out your response. Maybe, you thought to yourself, just maybe he does know you as well as you knew him.

Let me check out and drop the bags off at my place then I’ll head over.

You felt your stomach churn with anxiety as you stared at the lone smiley face. He usually texted with emojis, so you knew something was off when he was using simple keyboard emoticons. It only made you that much more nervous to be alone with him.

It didn’t take long to finish gathering what you needed and then headed to check out. You didn’t have too much stuff, so it was easy to carry your reusable bags from the store front to the car without your cart. Once your bags were placed in the back, and you were in the driver’s seat, you placed both hands on the steering wheel, gripping the leather material until your knuckles turned a few shades lighter than your skin tone, letting out a deep breath.

You told yourself you didn’t have a reason to be nervous. Deep breath in. You were the one who had the problem with Shawn, not the other way around, he didn't know you were in love with him. Deep breath out.

Turning the key in your car took a little more effort than normal because you could feel your stomach tell you not to go over to Shawn’s place. Your gut had a feeling that something wasn’t right. But he was still your best friend, you still loved him, and you would do anything to have him in your life.

You drove home, quickly placing your groceries away, and then walked over to Shawn’s apartment. Sure, it would’ve been easier to drive, but you couldn’t pass up the sweet summer air that whisked down the streets of Toronto.

Are you still coming?

A smile crept onto your face as you sent him an eye roll emoji, At the corner waiting to cross the street. Be there in five.

Instead of your stomach flipping with summersaults, it flipped with anxiety. You shook your hands to free yourself of the nerves you felt inside, and smiled at the doorman who greeted you by name. You made your way to the elevator, pressing the button to Shawn’s floor.

You were always bouncing with excitement riding the elevator up to Shawn’s place because it meant that you were going to see him. But now your leg bounced with anxiety and the ride up seemed to take hours.

Once on the floor, you made the journey to Shawn’s door, and before you could knock, Shawn swung open the door with a smile on his face. You couldn’t even get a greeting out as he wrapped his arms tightly around you, leaning his cheek on top of your head.

You felt the familiar feeling of warmth that you associated with him as you felt his heartbeat. Out of instinct, you brought your arms around his torso and hugged him back just as tightly, breathing in his scent.

“C’mon,” Shawn squeezed you tight one last time before unraveling his arms from around you, letting his hand graze your down your arm to your hand where he intertwined your fingers, “Brian will be here in like an hour and I want you to myself for a bit.”

With your hand in his, he pulled you inside his apartment and you looked at the back of his head like he was leading you to an eternity of happiness. As he pulled you past the kitchen and into the living room, he peered over his shoulder and offered you a shy smile.

Oh yes, you thought to yourself, you were still hopelessly in love with him; ready to bend yourself however which way just to see him smile.

He flopped onto the couch, with you standing above him, but with a gentle tug of your hand, you were falling into his chest with a laugh. You placed a hand on his chest, feeling the familiar warmth of his skin through his cotton t-shirt seep into you. You looked up at him through your eyelashes, his chest still vibrating with laughter, and you thought that even though he might like someone else, he may just love you.

“Wanna watch La La Land?”

His question brought you out of your daydream, “I thought you didn’t like the ending?”

Shawn shrugged his shoulders as he reached for the remote, the movie already queued up, “Haven’t seen it in a while.”

You slowly nodded your head, using your hand that was on his chest to push yourself off him. But he caught your wrist in his hand, “Stay.”

With a smile slowly tugging at the corners of your lips, you nodded and laid your head on his chest, sliding your legs between his, as you felt his heartbeat accelerate. Around thirty minutes into the film, you felt Shawn bring one of his hands up to your head, softly running the tips of his fingers over your hair.

It was the little gestures that made you fall in love with your best friend. How he always managed to relax you with a hand on your shoulder. How he would listen intently over the phone when he was hundreds of miles away. And how when you would be out on a date, he would call you after texting him your codeword for an excuse to leave. But even if the date was going well, you would still text him to call, because he wasn’t the one sitting across from you.

As if you had plunged head first into the ocean, thoughts were swimming around in your mind; his touches were comforting––you felt a spark tingle its way through your veins every time he touched you––you were never afraid to be yourself around him.

But soon the thoughts that made you feel like you were floating above the surface, suddenly swallowed you whole, and the thoughts only got worse, feeling as if you were thrashing around the water, reaching your hands up to break through to the surface; this is all you’ll ever be to him––You won’t ever have the joy of graduating to something more––Soon his gentle touches and soft eyes will be reserved for someone else––Someone he’s capable of loving––He’ll never want you in the way you want him.

As he repeated his movements of touching your hair, as if he didn’t give it a second thought, it was the only thing you were capable of giving your full attention to. The warmth you usually felt now felt like a burning sensation as it spread like a wildfire throughout your body.

You lifted your head from his chest abruptly before his hand could caress your hair once more. Shawn was startled by your sudden movement and looked up at you with a raised eyebrow.

“I––Sorry, I––” you felt your chin wobble and you knew that you had to get away from him, “I have––I’m gonna go to the bathroom.”

You untangled your legs from his as you stumbled to get up, bringing your hand up to cover your mouth when your back was to him. You could hear his distant voice asking if you wanted him to pause the film as you skidded across his floor to the bathroom. You didn’t bother replying to him, already knowing how the film played out.

You tried to even out your breathing, soft gasps emitting from your lips as to not alert Shawn that you were having a breakdown in his bathroom. You thought you could be friends with him, you were trying everything to keep him in your life, but it was taking too much of a toll on your feelings.

He loves you like a best friend, the rational part of your brain tried to make sense of your heartbreak.

But that’s not enough, the irrational part of your mind yelled over its counterpart, you’ll never be enough.

Your hands gripped the granite countertop so tight that your knuckles turned a few shades lighter than your original skin tone. The coolness of the granite didn’t do anything to soothe the leftover burning you felt course through your veins from Shawn’s touches. You lifted your head to look in the mirror and noticed that the reflection of the girl looking back at you was a heartbroken stranger.

Turning the sink on, you ran your hands under the cold water, cupping your hands under the faucet and splashing your face with water to cover up the redness of your eyes. You grabbed a towel from the rack hanging on the wall after you had shut the water off and dried your hands. You didn’t think you could last through the rest of the movie without breaking down, so you turned on your heel and opened the door, prepared to tell Shawn you had a headache and wanted to go home.

But when you opened the door, you were met with Shawn leaning against the wall across the hallway, arms crossed over his chest, with a concerned, yet irked, look in his eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

HIs question was direct, and you had the truth banging from the inside of your skull, begging to be released; I love you––I want to be more than best friends––It’s killing me to not tell you how I feel––But I know you don’t love me.

“Nothing,” you tried to squash your thoughts, but it only made your headache hurt more, “Listen, I––”

“Why aren’t you wearing your necklace?”

Another direct question that left you speechless. You slowly brought your hand up to your chest, fingers resting just beneath your collarbone, where your necklace had taken up a home everyday since Shawn gave it to you four years ago.

“I forgot––I forgot to put it on this morning.”

“I know you sleep with it on,” Shawn’s voice was monotone as he deflected your excuses and shot you another direct question, “Why’d you take it off?”

A flashback of you ripping the necklace off your skin and throwing it across your bathroom as tears heavily flowed down your face flashed through your mind. The sound it made as it hit the tile floor echoing in your thoughts.

You bit the inside of your cheek, trying to suppress the heartbreak you felt on that night down, “You’re delusional, if you’re so sure I sleep with it on––”

“Y/n,” his voice was dangerously low, “Why did you take the necklace off.”

His jaw was clenched to hold back his rage of anger. And your jaw was clenched to hold back your waterfall of tears.

“Because I did,” you scoffed at Shawn, sending him a glare, as you walked past him, “It’s just a necklace.”

It’s more than a necklace, the rational part of your mind whispered, both of you know that it’s so much more than just a necklace.

The irrational part of your brain stayed mute.

Before you could successfully make it down the hallway, Shawn circled a hand around your wrist, “Don’t feed me that bull––”

You were fed up with him. You were fed up with his teasing touches, fed up with the caring words he whispered to you in secret, fed up with how he thought he knew you better than anyone else. Because if he really knew you––knew how your heart beat faster just for him––then you wouldn’t be in this position.

You ripped your wrist out of his hold and spun around, “Shawn, I love you!”

Your tone was scathing, but at the same time it was a cry for help. And the only person who would be able to offer you assistance was frozen to the ground, lips slightly parted, but his eyes stayed the same. You expected his eyes to be wide in shock, you expected him to be thrown off by your statement, but he didn’t seem fazed.

“I––I’ve loved you for so long and I can’t––Everything just hurts,” your voice cracked at the end of your sentence, as your eyes maintained contact with the boy who you would give everything up for, “You act like you know me, but if you really did, then you’d know how much my heart is breaking whenever I’m around you.”

You already knew that he didn’t love back, you had already gone through this heartbreak, but seeing him trying to figure out the words that would no doubt ruin your friendship, it was as if your first heartbreak felt like a little scrape on the knee.

He brought both hands up to rub his face, taking in a deep breath, as he looked up toward the ceiling, “Y/n,” his voice was strained, but not in the way you felt your throat closing up from the threat of tears, he was holding back resentment, “That––Can’t––You don’t love me––Not––Not like…That.”

Without any remorse, it was as if he had ripped your heart apart like you were just a piece of scrap paper with lyrics he didn’t think were good enough. Not good enough, your mind echoed, you’re not good enough for him.

He had already witnessed you confiding your deepest secret to him. And you didn’t think he deserved to witness the aftermath of your world crumbling.

You understood what the collapse of the Roman Empire must’ve felt like.

Tears were already falling fast down your cheeks, and you spun around, not bothering to say anything else to him because he didn’t warrant any more of your words after he so carelessly threw away your confession.

You made it to his kitchen when you heard his pleading voice, “Wait––” And when you felt the fire of his skin on your skin, it was a pain you never wanted to experience again.

Before he could enclose his hand around your wrist for a third time today, you snatched your arm away, cradling your wrist into your chest like you were trying to heal a wound. You had an internal wound that you didn’t think would go away any time soon.

“If you can’t––If you don’t want to be with me,” You choked out a sob as you stared into his brown eyes; it was the first time you saw genuine heartbreak in his eyes. And part of you was glad that he was experiencing a fraction of the pain he put you through over the past five days, “I can’t…we can’t be friends.”

His exasperated exterior fell just as fast as his face, “Don’t say that,” he took a few steps forward and reached out a hand, but stopped it mid-way and left it hanging in the air, knowing you would push him away again, “You don’t mean that––”

“I––Shawn, I can’t––” your voice was high-pitched as your bottom lip quivered, the reality of the situation becoming all too real for the both of you, “It’s been so hard these past few years––”

“Years?”

You ignored his question as another one of your secrets slipped past your trembling lips, “It’s just too––too hard right now,” you hiccuped, “I need–sp––space.”

“But I––I just got you back––You’re my best friend. I don’t want space from you.”

You did your best to ignore the tears welling up in the corner of his eyes as you tasted your own salty tears as you spoke, “You have Brian––”

“Don’t,” his voice was rigid as the first of his tears fell from his eyes. He harshly brushed the top of his palm across his cheek to rid himself of his falling tears. But the more he kept wiping away his tears, more fell from his eyes, “You know that our friendship is different than what we have with anyone else.”

“Exactly!” You threw your hands up in the air, letting out a humorless laugh, “It’s different because we’re different! We’re different around each other because there’s something more between us––”

“We’re just friends!” Shawn raised his voice over yours.

It was silent after that as you tried to keep your sniffles to a minimum, gulping your emotions down your cracked throat. You had made your feelings about him clear. And he had made his feelings about you clear; friends. Just friends.

“What,” he smacked his lips together, his next question coming out in a whisper, “What did I do wrong to make you think of me––of us––to be more than friends?”

What did he not do? That was the real question that had been floating around your head for years. How could you not fall in love with the cadence of his voice? How could you resist the invisible pull you felt toward him that only grew stronger since the first time you said hello? How could you refuse to let yourself fall in love for someone you were so sure was made for you?

You offered him the best smile you could through your tears, “You did…Nothing wrong,” you let out a whisper of a laugh as you stared into his eyes that were once so comforting. His eyes used to bring you so much joy, but now they held with just as much heartbreak as yours, “You were just…Yourself.”

“But you––Why tell me this––Why are you destroying our friendship when you already knew I didn’t love you back?”

“I didn’t want to tell you––Wait,” you had felt your heart stop for the boy in front of you a million times. Your heart had stopped for him when he gave you your star sign constellation as a necklace for a present. Your heart had stopped for him when he pointed at you when he was performing on stage.

But never had it stopped for this long as you awaited his answer, “How did you know that I knew?”

Shawn’s red eyes grew wide, not expecting for his little secret to slip out. He tried stammering out an excuse through his tears, but just like he had deflected your excuses about not wearing your necklace, you weren’t putting up with him. You had an inclination as to how he knew that you knew he didn’t feel the same way about you. But you were praying that you were wrong.

God, you hoped you were wrong.

“Shawn,” your voice cracked as you looked at him, he was shaking his head as if begging you not to ask your next question, “How did you know?”

“Y/n––”

“How.”

Shawn let out a breath so shaky that you felt yourself lose balance, “At the party, five days ago…” his eyes were begging you to have him stop his explanation, but you shook your head, wanting him to twist the knife he had already plunged so deep into your heart.

“The bathroom door was open and––and I saw you form the corner of my eye and when Brian asked me about you––I thought if you heard I didn’t love you, instead of me saying it to you, that we could go back to being normal.”

He knew you were listening. He knew you weren’t okay when he asked you so delicately, so full of obliviousness, as you cut yourself with shards of broken glass. And he knowingly left you in the kitchen after he knew he had broken your heart.

Turns out, he did know you just as well as you thought.

“You…You knew I was listening?”

The nod of his head was the final hit. It felt as if a hawk had swooped into your heart, talons digging in deep, thrashing until they successfully picked your heart apart piece by piece, savoring every moment of your destruction.

You didn’t think it was possible to feel even more hurt than you did that night when you listened to him in the bathroom say so confidently that he didn’t love you. He said it with so much conviction––I don’t love her––knowing that you were just a few feet away from him, clearly able to hear him break your heart.

His presence, one that you yearned for during every second of the day you weren’t with him, was now something that repulsed you.

How did your supposed best friend have so little respect for you?

Without a second thought other than to get the hell out of his apartment, you dashed behind him to the living room to pick your phone up from the coffee table, haphazardly slid your sneakers on, and tucked the laces under the tongue of the shoe. Your hands were shaking as you rushed past his standstill figure in the kitchen.

Your hand was on the doorknob, about to turn it, but his voice cut you off.

“Don’t––Y/n, I’m sorry––”

The tips of his fingers grazed your elbow, just as gently as they caressed your hair earlier, but you opened the door, jumping out into the hallway to put as much distance between the two of you as possible.

“Fucking––Stay away from me.”

You slammed the door on his tearstained face and ran down the hallway. You ran to the very end, skipping the elevator as you yanked the door to the stairs open. Your palms were sweating, heart beating out of control, as you raced down the stairs out of breath. Shawn had made you feel all those things before, but never had you felt them in such a turmoil of pain, you had previously only felt them out of the nervousness of love for him.

You made it to the lobby, praying that Shawn hadn’t taken the elevator down to stop you from leaving. When you saw that the coast was clear, you avoided eye contact with the doorman, as you quickly walked past him.

“Y/n?”

You whipped your head around, eyes wide, as you saw Brian stood a few feet away from you with a concerned look on his face.

His eyes started at your face, taking in your splotchy appearance, then his eyes darted to your shaky hands, and then back up to your red eyes, where tears were still falling.

He looked at you with a regretful smile, “You told him?”

You sniffed back the tears and brought your forearm to wipe under your nose, “I don’t––Told him what?”

He gave you a pointed stare, you had never confided in Brian about your feelings for Shawn, but you always had a feeling that he knew something.

“Did he tell you?”

You screwed your eyes tight wanting to erase everything you had heard in the last hour.

When you opened your eyes, Brian’s mournful stare was still on you, “He told me a lot of things.” He perked up at that piece of information. There was a glint of glee in his eyes, but it was soon replaced with confusion as you said your next sentence, “Keep him from coming after me.”

“What do you––”

The ding of the elevator and a desperate shout of a voice that had just destroyed your heart called out your name, cut him off, “Y/n!”

Your body went into fight or flight mode, and you chose flight as your petrified body sprinted out the glass door of his building.

And just like the night after the party, you walked home from Shawn’s place to your apartment, arms hugging your stomach for some sort of comfort, tears clouding your vision. You miserably failed to keep your cries at bay as you publicly showcased your heartbreak as gray clouds rolled in and thunder boomed from the distance.

-----

TAG LIST

@fallinallincurls @adelaidestreets @alina--jpeg @5-seconds-of-mendes @particularnarry @now-that-i-saw-u

170 notes · View notes

sh1tbird-shantytown · 3 years

Note

Tommy doesn’t know who Queen is and Steve goes on a quest to get Tommy to listen to all different types of music. Billy gets dragged into the shenanigans. The three of them start hanging out together when Steve falls asleep, but he has a super bad nightmare. (I think they were probably drinking or smoking weed or both before. Which made the nightmare worse.) Then comes cuddling with Tommy choosing the music and light teasing.

i love this so much. they’re all musically ignorant in one way or another anyway. lemme just sprint with this now :)

---

He was just trying to get his history books, it wasn't his fault that their lockers were right next to each other. Or that Tommy was apparently living under a heavy rock.

“I’ve never heard of Queen, unless you’re talking about the Queen of England or some shit. Other than that, I’m at a loss.” Tommy was yapping to one of Carol’s friends. Sarah? Betty? They all looked the same honestly.

“What do you mean you’ve never heard of Queen?” Steve hadn’t actually really meant to just start abruptly start speaking to Tommy again, but here they were. In the hallway. Around nosey onlookers. And Sarah-Betty who was definitely staring and definitely not happy for the intrusion.

Tommy grinned boyishly, “Talkin’ to me again, Harrington?”

Steve didn’t let up, “You haven’t heard of Queen? Freddie Mercury? Brian May? They’ve been all over the radio for years, man.” Tommy died down a little with the snarky attitude, but the flare was still there through the dilution.

“I don’t know, Harrington. Guess I have too many people around to pay attention to the radio much anymore.” Tommy crossed his arms and Steve almost gave up as the bilious emotions started up towards the boy again.

Steve shook his head, “Meet me at my house tonight at 6. I’ll order in and I’ll show you myself what Queen is. ‘Kay, Tom?” Now that really took the other aback.

“It’s been, what, a year?” Hands on his hips just as Steve was doing, “All of a sudden you’re interested again?”

Steve looked him in the eye and nodded, “Six o’clock on the dot, Tommy. Be there!” he pivoted on his heel and blended in the crowd.

He had the pizza box and the stereo up and ready to jam long before the bell rung. Only three minutes late. It was honestly a record for Tommy, Steve knew for a fact that Tommy had the worst time management skills. Which also made Steve a little on edge as he opened the door. He wasn’t actually that surprised to find Billy Hargrove right there beside Tommy. Both grinning in their own devilish manners.

Steve vamped them with the most unimpressed look he could produce and traveled back inside, “Well, come on!” he ordered impatiently.

Billy spoke up first as they entered the living area, “Nice place, very...” he seemed to contemplate a moment as he examined the vacant side tables and mantle, “Modern.”

“Tell me about it,” he rolled his eyes, “I’ll go get beer,” he started making his way towards the kitchen. “Pizza’s on the coffee table, don’t make a mess.”

When he returned there wasn’t any mess on the floors or furniture, but Tommy had enough sauce on the corners of his mouth and cheeks to slather a whole slice itself.

“Oh, Tommy,” he sighed and grabbed a napkin to clean the sauce before it dried. Billy and Tommy stared like owls but Steve ignored them and instead focused on putting the first cassette in. “Now listen, no one gets to speak.” He pointed to the table, “You have free food and drinks, so indulge me,” he took his own seat on the floor between them. A Night at the Opera.

“Well this is eerie,” Tommy griminced and bit into another slice. His face lifted a moment later as the song changed gears, “Oh wait, no I change my mind, this is cool.”

“Have you found a new toy to replace me? Can you face me? But now you can kiss my ass goodbye Feel good, are you satisfied?”

Steve looked at Tommy and found him already looking back.

Billy coughed, “Next, Pretty Boy?”

“Bicycling on every Wednesday evening Thursday, I go waltzing to the zoo”

Tommy swayed with the steady smoothness, “I like this one, I like it a lot.” Billy’s thigh brushed and planted against Steve’s shoulder as they watched Tommy tap along. The touch sizzled excitingly.

“I'm in love with my car Got a feel for my automobile Get a grip on my boy-racer rollbar Such a thrill when your radials squeal“

Tommy’s face pinched just a little, nose wrinkled cutely, ”I don’t know about this one. Sounds like a song Billy might appreciate a bit more. WIth Margo and all that.”

Tommy smiled at Billy and Steve felt something churn in is tummy, “Margo?” he tilted his head back so it rested on Billy’s knee in order to look at him.

Billy sighed and tilted his own head back to take a sip of the beer can he'd been working on, “It’s my car’s name, after my dog when I was a kid.” Steve shifted back so he was facing the stereo again after nodding once.

“Oh, you're the first one when things turn out bad You know I'll never be lonely You're my only one And I love the things I really love the things that you do“

Tommy immediately smiled at the opening and his foot made its way from nudging him happily to resting in Steve’s lap, “This one is my favorite.”

“Really?” Steve and Billy asked simultaneously. Steve turned his head painfully fast and they stared in mutual shock. They were quick to get over it though and both went back to waiting for Tommy’s decisive nod. His eyes were closed and calm in enjoyment. So, Steve forcefully settled whatever Billy had stirred and did the same, back rested against both boy’s shins comfortably.

“My sweet lady Though it seems like we wait forever Stay sweet, baby Believe and we've got everything we need“

“That one was...interesting,” Tommy commented.

Billy snorted as Steve smiled, “I’d say.”

“I feel like dancing in the rain Can I have a volunteer? Just keep right on dancing What a damn jolly good idea“

Tommy smiled sweetly through the that one, Steve felt as though he didn’t need to ask why.

“I dreamed I saw on a moonlit stair Spreading his hands on the multitude there A man who cried for a love gone stale And ice cold hearts of charity bare“

“How come they are so short and so long at random? It’s weird,” Tommy leaned forward and grabbed another beer, condensation dripping onto Steve’s bare knee.

“Sometimes things are more difficult to interpret,” Billy answered. Steve leaned a little more into them as he felt his hips settle.

“Oh, back, hurry back Please bring it back home to me Because you don't know what it means to me Love of my life“

“That was kinda sad,” Billy was the one to say something between the track then.

Steve agreed, “Yeah, a little.” He felt eyes on his head but gazed instead on the slight glow to the stereo.

“Take good care of what you've got My father said to me As he puffed his pipe and baby B. He dandled on his knee Don't fool with fools who'll turn away Keep all good company“

Steve felt a leg press firmer into his shoulder and he laid his head on it, above him Billy sighed just above being silent, “How was that one, Tom?”

Tommy didn’t answer for a moment, “I’m not sure. It sounded good.” The feet in Steve’s lap crossed themselves jitteringly.

“Open your eyes, Look up to the skies and see, I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy, Because I'm easy come, easy go, Little high, little low“

“That one was freaky,” Tommy sat forward in awe, “But it was also awesome.” Eventually the last cord divvied out, all of them lazy with alcohol and sleepy with muddled calm that none of them had felt in a while. Although, Steve already was sleep on Billy’s knee. He didn’t get the chance to regret the beer he’d consumed before he was overrun with horrific, viney tunnels and humongous monsters. Screams of people he knew and cared for. Dustin, Nancy, his parents, Johnathon, El, Lucas. But what had him waking up in a bolt, yelping and screaming, was the one’s from Billy and Tommy. The pain those ones harbored, the ones that made Steve tremble too much to bare.

Heavy hands grasped his shoulders and softer ones held his face when he came to. He closed his mouth and the wailing stopped just as it had reached his ears.

“Steve! Steve- sh, it’s alright, Stevie,” Tommy’s voice filtered in subtly and he thought he heard a breeze from behind.

“We should get him to bed,” Billy said and the warmth from behind Steve was suddenly gone. He didn’t know what he must of done, was too out of it, but suddenly he was in someone's arms and being coddled.

“It’s okay, Pretty Boy, we’re still here.”

And then they were in a bed, and his room by the looks of the plaid and blue walls. He had two bodies on either side, and while the comfort he felt was something he couldn’t recognize. It was something new and he felt he should feel overwhelmed by all the sudden figures beside him. But instead he felt relieved and willingly open to allow these two boys in with limited hesitation. What a change in events. Truly.

“Talk to us, Stevie,” Tommy whispered in his ear.

“Have you heard of Blondie?” he whispered a bit hoarsely.

“No. Unless that’s Billy.”

“Add that to the list of things Tommy needs to learn about.” He got a slight tickle above his ribs in response from Billy. Steve held in his laugh as best he could but Billy didn’t stop the movement until he finally coughed out a yelp in protest. He tried his best to portray a steady glare in return but it didn’t quite work. “What about The Smiths?”

“Nadda.”

“Tears for Fears?”

“Mmm,” Tommy finally came into clear vision for Steve to see, even in the dark, “Maybe, maybe not.” He was grinning like the dumbass Steve knew he was. And then he was gone.

“Wah-?” he almost whined. Almost.

“Don’t worry, Stevie,” there was a clicking sound, “I’m just trying to culture you up a bit. Gotta keep you calm so we can actually get so sleep.” He laughed loudly when he seemingly found something. Tree branch arms coiled around Steve’s waist and he couldn’t be bothered to tell Billy off as the warmth radiated into his skin and heart.

Tommy came back while the Eurythmics, of all people, made some sort of soft noise through the room. And Tommy’s own hands somehow managed to sneak their way past Billy’s and just barely grazed his ass. The blanket bundled them all together and Steve felt as though he finally had the loves of his life in sight. That definite path made for him. Finally and just maybe.

send me headcannons!<3

#stranger things #asks #kegboys #steve harrington #billy hargrove #tommy h #tommy hagan #this sucks #but i’m tired so that’s like a partial excuse #thank you for the ask!#sorry it’s not the best

19 notes · View notes

broadstbroskis · 4 years

Text

surprises- pt 1 | mat barzal

welp, here we go with barzy baby fic! how long’s it going to be? your guess is as good as mine! but i’m excited to start sharing with you guys and i’d love to hear what you think!

warnings: mention of the pandemic/quarantine

-----

The timing was pretty poor, you could acknowledge that.

Stuck in your apartment as a result of social distancing, you’d grown bored quickly. Working from home was only so exciting and your company’s slack channel was often getting more and more ridiculous as you and your coworkers searched for things to talk about (debates had thus far included best and worst Taylor Swift song, best and worst Harry Potter book, and ranking coworkers' new baby names).

Your roommate had left you on your own, in favor of quarantining herself with her relatively new boyfriend (ignoring your cries of betrayal as she left) so when your neighbor and friend from across the hall had come knocking, you welcomed him with open arms. “I’m bored out of my mind.” Your eyes are wide as you pull him inside.

“How do you think I feel?” You didn’t even notice the bottles of wine in Mat’s hands but you’re grateful for them as he settles them on the counter. “The only thing I can do is workout right now.”

You give him a look. “Yeah, because that’s what you need to be doing.”

“I’m going to lose my washboard abs.” He whines overdramatically, and that’s what sets you off.

Technically you’re still supposed to be working, but you know for a fact you’re not the only one who’s started drinking already and as long as you stay logged in for the next hour, no one will care. You and Mat quickly work your way through the first bottle and he’s popping the second one, while you log off your work account and place the take out order for pizza.

The second bottle goes almost as quickly, but then the two of you slow down once the food arrives. Mat pops the third bottle in your apartment after dinner, when the two of you settle in together, very closely, much closer than usual, for some Netflix.

You’re not really sure who makes the first move; you know you’re leaning against him and that his arm is around you, brushing against your shoulder, but the next thing you remember, you’re in his lap and his hands are eagerly tracing every bit of skin they can find.

That you end up in bed after that isn’t surprising. That it keeps happening is a little surprising. But, well, there’s not really a lot else to keep you occupied.

And it’s lot more fun to spend your days fucking Mat than doing almost anything else. There’s apparently a lot you two have been missing out on that you could have been doing.

Eventually, things go back to normal- or as normal as they could be after the pandemic that occurred-and despite the fun the two of you had during your quarantine, you fall easily back into friends and neighbors. Mat gets back to real training, a modified game schedule, and then into playoffs, where after crashing and burning in the first “round” (if you’d like to call it that), he heads back home to Western Canada for a shortened summer to catch up with family and friends.

You’re back at work, excited to be with people again. You and your coworkers institute happy hour Friday’s, where you all start ducking out of work two hours early-summer hours, your boss is calling them, completely ignoring the fact that no one else in your company is having them-to go to the bar, hang out, and just catch up after spending the long weeks apart. They usually end up turning into more of a shit show, with the office group chat often blowing up the next morning with complaints about how hungover people are.

It’s after one such happy hour that you first notice your issue. You wake up Saturday morning, roll over, and then immediately rush into the bathroom to throw up. Within the next hour, that happens four more times.

You’re lying as still as possible on the couch in the living room when your roommate comes out of her room and straight up laughs at your misery. “It’s not funny.” You whine at her, even though it makes you kind of nauseous to even talk.

“Yes it is.” Molly snickers. “You were home by like 8. For a lightweight like me to get to sit here and watch you be hungover as fuck when you didn’t even have this crazy night, this is my Christmas. Welcome to the club, bitch!” She cackles, not unkindly, but definitely remembering all the times that you and your friends had laughed at her when she’d been in your position.

You barely even hear her, as the first part of her sentence registers, and you bolt upright, immediately regretting it as you do so. You were home by 8. You hadn’t even had that much to drink, begging off a third drink after a headache had started. There’s absolutely no reason for you to be feeling this way.

“You’re right!” You’ve learned from your mistakes and you slowly lower yourself back down to the couch. “I must have eaten something funny.” You’re already starting to feel a little better, you think; it wasn’t nearly as nauseating to lower to the couch. You’re actually almost feeling like you could stomach some food.

“Ugh.” Molly scoffs in disgust. “Couldn’t you just let me have this?”

“Want to watch some Netflix and order breakfast?”

“Fine.”

And as the day goes on, you feel a ton better, even feeling well enough to join Molly and her boyfriend for dinner at one of your new favorite places. It’s another early night and you hold off on booze, just because your stomach’s still feeling kinda queasy from the morning.

And it’s full on rolling again the next morning. You’re back in the bathroom again first thing, which is where Molly finds you, a look of concern on her face. “So, what’s going on?”

You close your eyes, a little more sure that the nagging thought from yesterday morning might be true. “I think we need to take a walk.”

She gives you a look. “To where?”

“Drug store.”

She inhales a sharp breath. “To buy?”

“I think you know what.”

“Yeah, but it wouldn’t be real to me until you said it.”

You stand up shakily, reaching for your toothbrush. No use in putting this off longer than you need to. “Yeah, me either.

Molly squeezes the arm that’s reaching out for your toothpaste comfortingly and then turns to leave and get ready herself.

-----

Once you’ve got far more pregnancy tests in your basket than you’ll hope to ever need in your life, Molly looks at you. “Did you want to take them all home or?”

“Or what? Take them here in CVS? This isn’t fucking Juno, Molly! We have an apartment!”

She shrugs as the two of you start walking up toward checkout. “Maybe you just didn’t want to taint your bathroom with those memories.”

That’s a good point. “I’ll just use yours.” You crack and the two of you burst into laughter, for the first time all day.

It feels so good to laugh that you don’t even notice someone calling out for your roommate. “Moll!” You both look around for the familiar voice, searching for Molly’s boyfriend, but you’d been so distracted by your laughter that you don’t realize how close he is until he speaks again. “Holy shit! Is there uh-something you need to tell me?”

Brian’s actually right there-like standing next to you, in line. Molly’s eyes are wide, looking between you and Brian in a panic as she’s unsure how to answer, so you step up. “They’re not for her; they’re for me.”

“Oh.” Brian says. Molly breathes out a sigh of relief. He looks over at you. “Uhh. Do I need to kick somebody’s ass?”

You burst into laughter and Molly slugs him on the arm. “Bri!”

“What?” He protests. “I’m just trying to be supportive.”

You’re still laughing. “Not yet.” You tell him. “I’ll keep you posted.” Brian’s great; the more time you spend with him, the more you grow to love him and the more convinced you become that he’s absolutely perfect for Molly. But there’s a zero percent chance he’s going to be able to beat up Mat, who’s probably got a good 3-4 inches and at least 30lbs. on him.

Brian grins. “Done deal. Should I go grab some-” He pauses. “Well I was going to ask if I should grab some booze to get this party on the road but that doesn’t seem appropriate. Sparkling cider? Orange juice?”

“There’s no point in having orange juice if there’s not champagne in it.” You tell him.

“Ohh, go hit that juice bar we were at last week!” Molly requests.

“See you in a few!” Brian salutes.

“I love him.” You tell her, as he exits the door.

“You can have him as a baby daddy.” She offers.

“I might take you up on that.” You pay for the absurd number of pregnancy tests and begin walking with her back home.

She scoffs. “Yeah, like you’re gonna need a stand in.”

You’re actually pretty nervous of that fact.

-----

A few hours later, you’ve got a string of positive pregnancy tests sitting in a row on the living room table. Not even one negative giving you a sliver of hope. Brian and Molly are drinking for you, for all three of you, and you’re sitting in your corner of the couch numbly staring at them.

Suddenly, you can’t take it anymore. You reach for your phone and press the contact for the one voice you need to hear now.

Mat answers almost immediately, laughing, sounding like he’s having a great time, doing...whatever he’s doing back at home. Sounding young and carefree, like the 23 year old he is. Like the 23 year old you usually sound like.

“Hey!” You can practically hear him grinning through the phone.

“Hey.” You are...decidedly not grinning, but you do your best to stay upbeat and positive.

“What’s wrong?” He asks, immediately, so you must not have done too good a job.

“Nothing.” You tell him. Despite what all the tests are saying, you don’t want to say anything until you call your doctor first thing in the morning. And this certainly isn’t a conversation you want to have with him over the phone if you can help it. “Just-a little bit of a crazy weekend.” Not necessarily in the sense you’d usually be referring, but not a lie, all the same.

“Big parties?” Mat teases.

You close your eyes, taking a deep breath and trying not to cry. “Something like that.”

You can practically hear him frown. “Are you sure you’re okay, YN?”

“Yeah.” You tell him. “Just wondering when you’re coming back so I don’t have to water your plants anymore.”

“Do I still even have plants?” He asks skeptically. “I know what your black thumb is like.”

“I guess you’ll see when you come back!” The answer is no. There were no plants. You and Molly kept swearing you’d go out and replace them with new ones before he came back, but you were sure he’d be able to tell. He always could.

Mat laughs. “I know what that means.” In the background, you hear someone call for him and he shouts for them to fuck off.

“You got to go?”

“We’re about to go finish our hike.” Mat says, apologetically. “Have to get down the mountain now.”

“Ugh.” You scrunch your nose.

“Alright, city girl.” He teases. “I’m sure I’ll talk to you soon!”

“Excuse you, I am from Larchmont!”

He laughs again. “I think that’s probably worse.”

“Don’t fall down the mountain.” You tell him dryly.

“Is Molly there? I want to make sure you aren’t holding a voodoo doll right now.”

You laugh. “Bye Mat.” He bids you the same and you hang up, feeling much better than when you called.

Still anxious as shit, but at least Mat is still the same Mat.

You wonder for how long that will last after you tell him.

#mat barzal imagine #mat barzal fan fic #hockey imagines #hockey fanfiction #nhl imagines #nhl fanfiction #my hockey fics #surprises series

327 notes · View notes

adultswim2021 · 3 years

Text

Aqua Teen Hunger Force #42: “The Last One” | December 31, 2003 - 11:18 PM | S03E24

Also known as “The Last Fucking One For 2003″, and boy, is it a special one. It also sorta felt like a series finale at the time, which I think sorta began a running joke about Aqua Teen Hunger Force’s constant imminent cancellation on-air. I feel like every season Adult Swim would casually mention that it was the last season ever when it actually wasn’t. I was under the false impression that this was in fact intended to be a series finale, but I can’t find anything actually supporting this. I guess I just took the title very literally.

In this episode Aqua Teen’s entire rogues gallery (with a few exceptions) shows up to the Moon at the behest of the Mooninites in order to discuss a dastardly plan to finally end the Aqua Teens’ reign of terror once and for all. Dr. Weird and Steve aren’t in this one; their absence is actually explained in the previous episode’s cold open. I’d normally link to the relevant blog post, but I completely failed to mention it. They were invited but couldn’t make it. While we’re on the subject we’re also missing Wayne "The Brain" McClain, Love Mummy, www.yzzerdd.com, Willie Nelson, and Universal Remonster. I just copied and pasted that from an Aqua Teen Wiki. I removed “real wisdom cube” (the Brian Posehn one) cuz the other wisdom cube is still here, kinda representing the both of them.

Their plan is inane and makes very little sense. Still, they attempt to go through with it. The proceedings cause multiple characters to drop off. The Frat Aliens get eaten by an alien babe, the Brownie Monsters get executed via firing squad, etc. The final confrontation finally does happen. I’m happy to report that the Aqua Teens come out on top. Thank god.

The whole episode was pulled off due to Jay Edwards’ organizational skills: in the commentary he describes that despite the intricate and tedious work that had to go into this episode that it still came together relatively quick thanks to them keeping an extensive animation library. The ability to recycle all those characters easily meant that this episode could actually happen. Also mentioned is that it took about a month to record this one, seeing as how it involved calling back a lot of guest voices. It’s amazing how stacked this one is. I always assumed that maybe they wrote all of these in advance of recording them so they were able to just record this episode piecemeal.

This one is real funny, and not only crammed with references to previous episodes, but there’s one very notable reference to the Adult Swim message board where Mooninite 1 (NOTE: I despite having to look up his name to spell it correctly that I’m now just adopting his designated title in the Schooly D Mooninites song instead) revels in his non-invite to the Plutonians, claiming “Plutonians are teh suck”. That’s a reference to a post on the adult swim message board where somebody wrote “anime is teh s uck” (a space between the s & u in “suck” because that was the only way to circumvent the swear filter on said message board). This phrase was merchandised onto t-shirts. More about this during EPHEMERA WEEK, which is nipping at our heels. Yikes!

MAIL BAG

I will give you the Master Shake plush for free but you have to promise me is not going to end up in some antifa shithole lol.

I can’t promise that :(

The creepy things Shake says when they first turn on the evil TV are directly from Robert Blakes very spooky character from "Lost Highway".

I didn’t know this! My Lost Highway blindspot has fucked me yet again. I’m simply fucked.

Do you think David Lynch the king of all things weird could make something for Adult Swim that is weirder than Tim and Eric' Bedtime Stories? Also which one of those is your favorite. If you are going to say "Angel Boy" don't bother!

I got this one earlier than the other David Lynch message so please don’t be FUCKING cute mischaracterizing this as a coincidence. Allright? Anyway, I think “Roommates” is amazing, and I love the part where you see Tim’s narcissistic one-man show. That scene is so good and I think of it a lot when I attend open mics. Thanks.

Life's no fun if you are eating pizza on a bun...

Yeah man

Hey there kid, it's me John Lennon of the original Beatles. God has granted me an opportunity to contact one person on Earth from my heavenly perch and I just wanted to say that I think your blog is pretty cheeky and good. We all love to read it up here so keep up the good job. Cheers.✌️

Wow, thanks! I’m sorry that when I was 13 I made a gun finger at your portrait on the wall of the Redding Red Robin and said “BANG BANG!” in a goofy voice. I guess it all simply came out in the wash. From now on, I’ll imagine there IS a heaven thanks to you. Dogs cats and crackerjacks as they say in the UK!

#adult swim #aqua teen hunger force #adultswim2021

3 notes · View notes

mon-dayragingslut4monstaxday6 · 4 years

Text

Although I have a dislocated wrist, I wrote most of this (one handed) while waiting for the doctor

***yes, most of the biases are from the same group, but bias means something different to me. Also, I made the blurb as a scenario of me getting hurt after a car accident because I’m not over it yet*** ***it’s going to get fluffy, I got choked up writing this. Might expand this further when I’m better***

Jooheon, my first love

He is so scared to touch me since my accident, he knows how much pain I’m in. We both want cuddles but for the time being, laying next to me is the only physical contact we can make. He gives me light back scratches as I lay naked from taking an excruciatingly painful shower just minutes before. I lay there crying, wanting a hug to comfort the fear of the unknown future. We don’t have to say anything and we completely understand each other. He gives the lightest kisses on my hand and whispers “you will be ok” to soothe the pain.

Brian/Young K, the one who swept me off my feet

Telling Brian no to any physical intimacy was hard. His face was like smacking candy out of a baby’s hand, but he understands why. “No worries”, he alerted me. He has other plans? He lights some candles and opens the curtains so we can get a nice glimpse of the sprinkling stars. What does his boy have in his devious little mind? “If I can’t physically give you my love, I will just show you in a different way”, he grins before grabbing his acoustic guitar from the living room. He serenades me to More Than Words by Extreme. Tears flood my eyes, it is more than words.

Changkyun, the one who surprised me

Sweet boy won’t let me get out of bed. He’s too afraid I’ll crumble like a cookie. Being attentive as he is, it’s surprising that he’s managing to be a step ahead. I guess we’ve been together long enough that he noticed my quips. He knows when I’m craving salty snacks versus sweet and which snacks I prefer to satisfy either. He knows my favorite sitting positions so he makes sure I’m extra comfortable. I asked him how he knew all of this and he simply told me “I just pay attention”.

Jae, the best friend I always wanted

We always know how to make each other laugh or smile. Picking me up at the hospital, naturally he asks me how I’m feeling and I tell him “is it wrong to say it feels like I got hit by a truck”. Wiping away tears of laughter, he awards me with a treat of our favorite pizza place. Since I’m not in the best shape, he puts my hair in a bun so I can eat without hair getting into my mouth. He even feeds me a slice when I jokingly open my mouth like a baby. Of course, he makes the pizza into a train to extend the joke.

Jen, the newbie

He wanted the world to burn for hurting his precious darling. How could anyone be so reckless, he thought. He doesn’t like being powerless in a situation like this, I can understand that. If I didn’t know any better, he would’ve kicked the guys ass for crashing into me. The adrenaline hit him worse than it hit me and I was the one in the car! Although there was wrath in his eyes, seeing me without any broken bones or cuts, the world didn’t seem so evil.

#sweet anons #monsta x #monsta x fluff #monsta x imagines #monsta x scenarios #day6 #day6 fluff #day6 imagines #day6 scenarios #unvs #unvs fluff #unvs imagines #unvs scenarios #monsta x jooheon #monsta x changkyun #day6 jae #day6 young k #unvs jen

15 notes · View notes

pandjseetheworld · 3 years

Text

Rafting the Rogue River

Two days ago we finally crossed over into our second state Oregon. We didn’t go but 30 minutes above the boarder before finding our new campsite at Indian Mary Campground along the Rogue River. The main reason we chose this location is because Pearce’s work has an office in Grants Pass and his coworker said he’d take us for a float if we visited! So we’re here!! The main thing to do in Grants Pass is raft or float the River. If you aren’t a river person this place is not for you!

Our campground is 20 minutes outside of town and is super cute. It’s got easy water access if you want to float or chill, a frisbee golf course, basketball courts, a volleyball court, and lots of shaded picnic area. There are also some cool hikes not too far!

As I mentioned before, Pearce’s coworker said he’d take us for a float down some class 1’s and 2’s. Now Pearce and I have both white water rafted before so we thought “meeehhhh 1’s and 2’s, no biggie!” Well, it turns out white water kayaking is a completely different experience than white water rafting and 1’s and 2’s were perfect and got our adrenaline pumping!

We launched at Hog Creek and floated 7miles down stream to Galice boat ramp. We started around 6pm so it wasn’t blazzzing hot! I guess I forgot to mentioned the Pacific NW is going through it’s hottest heat wave to date! We’re talking triple digits most days so being in the water or shade is essential, especially for Loki. Anyways, we began after work around 6 and it was gorgeous! The first section was my personal favorite, it was called Hellsgate Canyon and had high canyon walls on either side and some gentle rapids. Then we passed under a bridge, past our campsite, through some other rapids.

Brian, our guide and Pearce’s coworker, had been telling us all about the river as we floated. He grew up in the area and knows how to read the water and made us feel really safe. Ever since we had started he had been prepping us for the last two rapids because they’re the largest. Being on a kayak you are sitting at the surface of the water and it’s much easier to flip out, so I was listening to Brian intently. As we continued down the river getting closer to the biggest rapid he kept hyping it and I was getting more and more anxious. Next thing I know, there is a lady who lives off the river hollering at us about an emergency on upper Galice and that the rescue team had been alerted. That’s when I started to get really nervous! That rescue was happening down the rapid that we needed to get through and that’s when I realized how serious Brian was! We had to pull off to the bank so Brian could access if we could get around the stuck rafters without interfering with the rescue. After his assessment he gave us strict instructions and said to follow his line exactly. It was just Pearce and I, so we said our “I love you’s!” and Pearce shoved us into the water and we went for it! Making sure we did exactly as Brian said, kept our kayak as straight as possible and continued to paddle we thankfully came out unscathed! But booooyyyyyy oh boy, the river can be a wild ride!!

SideNote: The people who were stuck and being rescued ended up being okay and finished 10-15 minutes after us!

We were very grateful that Brian took the time to take us out and even more grateful for his superb kayaking skills and knowledge. When we finished we went back to Brian’s place to see Loki and eat pizza! It was a perfect trip!!!

1 note · View note

daggerzine · 3 years

Text

Stephen Smith of The Morning Line opens up.

I believe that Bay Area musician Stephen Smith began sending me stuff to listen to/review with his band The Morning Line a few years ago. I really like the band’s brand of melodic rock/pop and was curious to know more. I then realized it was the same Stephen Smith who had been in Boston faves Salem 66 many years before. I then wondered what other bands he had been in that I had maybe checked out (or own records by) so I tossed him some questions that he was more than happy to answer. Read on and give the band a listen, they really deserve your time.

RAWK

Where did you grow up? Was it the Boston area?

North Shore of Chicago until about 14, then high school in the Boston suburbs. I stayed in and around Boston, with stints in New York, L.A., and North Carolina, until I was 25. I was into music as a kid in Chicago, but too young to really be going to shows or anything. Boston was where I really had my musical coming of age. There was a surprising amount of stuff happening in the Suburbs. I saw Husker Du in Concord. The Dead Kennedys in Waltham. And Boston was only about 45 minutes away by train. I remember going into the city and buying records at Newbury Comics, with Aimee Mann behind the register.

What was the first instrument you picked up?

Why I started playing french horn at 11 or 12, I don’t know. It didn’t last. I started playing guitar pretty quickly after that. My first electric was a Stratocaster. I was probably 12 years old. 1979? It was used, so I’m guessing it was an early 70’s one. Got stolen at CBGB while I was loading in in the mid-80’s. Thieves work fast! Let me know if you’ve seen it.

What was the first record you remember buying? As a kid nay band knock your socks off?

My memory is embarrassing, but I recall three early purchases. Singles of ELO’s “Turn to Stone,” and Gary Numan’s “Cars,” and a Beatles comp called “Rock ‘n’ Roll Music.”

The most recent album from 2019.

What bands were you introduction to punk/new wave/alternative music?

I remember very distinctly tuning into WLYN (later WFNX) and hearing Gun Club’s “Sex Beat”, and Bush Tetras’ “Cowboys in Africa,” and being amazed. I’ll tell you what, though, high school girlfriends were absolutely key to my musical education. Gang of Four? X? Learned about them through my first girlfriend. The Replacements? Through my second. I’m the great beneficiary of other people being better informed than me. Through these same people, I became aware of what was going on locally, and was turned on pretty early to stuff like Christmas, Volcano Suns, the Proletariat.

Was Expando Brain your first band? If not what?

As a fifteen-year-old, I had a couple bands with friends playing covers (I remember Gang of Four’s “Essence Rare,” X’s “Riding with Mary,” “Brand New Cadillac”). But Expando Brain was the first “real” band. I think I was 16 when we started that. Being that age and getting to play shows (like that CBGB one where I lost the guitar), make a record, and be ever-so-slightly enjoyed by some people, was a thrill. I suppose obviously.

Tell me about your time in Salem 66? Howe did you initially meet those ladies?

I don’t remember how we got together! I’m going to guess it was David Savoy’s doing. David managed Expando Brain for a while. He later managed Husker Du, before passing in early 1987. I think he got me together with them. I was 18-19 at the time. They were all 5-10 years older, so we wouldn’t have been traveling in the same circles.

It was absolutely thrilling for me. They were a great, interesting, band. They had “made it,” in my youthful eyes. Signed to Homestead Records? Come on. Gerard had rejected Expando Brain. So I was gonna be on my favorite label (well, maybe SST aside)! I was only in the band for nine months (I think I was a pretty relentless pain in the ass), but so much happened in that time. I think it was all in 1986. We did a tour through the south, so I saw places I’d never seen. We did another tour as a part of our travel to make “Frequency & Urgency,” so I got to see California, an unknown place that loomed so large in my imagination. We stopped in Needles, on the CA/AZ border, and I skated the pool of the motel we stayed at (very poorly). We made the record with Ethan James, who had recorded one of my favorite records of all time (“Double Nickels on the Dime”). I got my first tattoo while we were in L.A. making the record. It was just a dream for a 19-year-old who wanted to be a musician. In some minor way, I *was*.

Waiting for the pizza delivery.

Was God’s Eye next? If so how did that band begin (and end)?

Yes and no. After getting booted from Salem 66, I went to school. Spent a year at Vassar College. There, I started the first version of God’s Eye with my brother, Tim, who would drive out to Poughkeepsie from Boston now and then to rehearse, and with Ivor Hanson, another Vassar student, who had earlier been in Faith and Embrace (and has gone on to lots of other things, musical and otherwise). I was just writing riffs then, nothing very substantial, and that came to an end at the end of the school year. At the same time, I answered an ad in the Village Voice. A band in North Carolina, apparently signed to a major, was looking for a guitar player. I noodled some notes onto a tape, took a picture, and sent it. I got an audition, then the gig. The band was called the Right Profile and, at the time, they were signed to Arista. ….but no record ever came out. Sort of a roots/American thing before that was a thing. Maybe Petty-ish? I hate to pigeonhole. So I moved to North Carolina. The band was led by a guy named Jeffrey Dean Foster, who is still making great music today. The drummer was Jon Wurster, a name I’m sure you know. For about nine months – again - I played with them. I was the wrong guy for the job though. I didn’t really have the kind of sideman chops they needed. Can’t remember if I jumped or was pushed. Maybe some combination. As an old man, it’s been nice reconnecting with them through the miracle of social media. A year or two after that, I restarted God’s Eye with my brother. In candor, it wasn’t very good. I had decided I needed to sing in a lower register, and it was really just bellowing. Despite that, we had remarkable success. We were managed by Boston dynamo Joyce Linehan, who would later go on to work at Sub Pop, work with Joe Pernice, and work as chief of staff to the Mayor of Boston. She got us much further than we (I) deserved. We made an album, an ep, and a single for Domino in England. The album also came out on Rough Trade in Germany. We got to play some dates in London. Nothing ever came out in the U.S. We had some interest, but it never materialized.

Anything in between that band and your move to the west coast?

Near the end of God’s Eye, I also played a bit with Green Magnet School. They needed a bassist, and I pitched in. Chris Pearson, one of the guitar players in the band, returned the favor, adding a second guitar for God’s Eye. I was lucky to be able to record a single with GMS, the Sub Pop double-single with Six Finger Satellite.

When did you make your movie to the Bay Area and what prompted that?

Frustration with music prompted it. I remember having breakfast with an exec from Stone Roses’ label. Silvertone, if I recall correctly. He sounded so into it! He was gonna put out the God’s Eye record in the U.S.! But it didn’t happen. I decided I needed to have more control over my life, so I bore down, finished college, and moved across the country to San Francisco, sight unseen, to go to law school.

The latest single from earlier this year.

Were you in any bands before the Morning Line in San Francisco?

In law school I met a fellow student, Jason Hammon, who was in the midst of a pretty successful rock career. He was in Dance Hall Crashers. We stayed friends and, in 2000 or so, we started a band called My Fellow Astronauts, with his brother Gavin (another DHCrasher) and my friend Scout (Scout Shannon & the Willing Deceivers). We played some shows, recorded some demos, but nothing ever came of it.

Tell us about the beginnings of The Morning Line?

It’s 2004 or so. My friend Marco Baroz (Lucy & the Long Haul) played bass, David Knupp played guitar, and somehow we found David Shollenbarger. Maybe craigslist or something? David had played for awhile with Agent Orange. We were in our late 30’s, and knew not to take it too seriously. But we made some demos, and an album in 2007 (“Stay My Satellite”). We were and are very fortunate to have a friend named Peter Craft, who has a great studio called Boxer Lodge, and great skills. We got to spend a year working on the album, and get it just the way we wanted. We self-released, but got a few reviews and a few fan letters, and that’s all I could hope for. Eventually, the lack of success that comes with being in a band of forty-somethings took its toll, and the band was pretty much dissolved in 2008. But Peter (also a terrific drummer) and I kept making demos. I wrote some stuff I liked in about 2015, so we started recording again using The Morning Line name. “Stephen Smith” is too generic to get the job done.

“Smoke,” from 2017, is a collection of things we did over a few years. “North,” from 2019, was a focused, intentional album project, all recorded with Peter, David Knupp, and Brian Mello (the Bellyachers). That’s the band today. I write the songs and sing, but it really wouldn’t sound like it does without them, especially Brian (I don’t think Peter or David will be offended by that).

I know you just released a Morning Line single. What’s next for the band?

Not sure! I’m still riding the high of getting a couple songs done with all of us in quarantine! We’re talking about putting out a collection of odds and ends: demos, the songs from this new single, some remixes. But I’m not sure. We’ll be putting out a couple of those old outtakes as a Big Stir digital single in June. An album of all new material is probably in the future, but I’d guess at least 18 months out. We’re . . . deliberate.

Prior to COVD was the band actively playing locals shows and or doing any touring?

Not really. We play from time to time, but it’s mostly a recording project at this point. You’d be surprised how little interest there is in watching an obscure group of fifty-somethings peddle their wares.

A man, his dog and a weird-ass mountain (ok, hill).

Who are some of your favorite current bands, local or otherwise?

I’ve been oddly incurious about new music the past few years. I just looked at the Outside Lands schedule and was like, “scarypoolparty? What?” I know that’s inconceivable to you. I tend to get excited by friends’ new products. People I’ve mentioned here, like Brian Mello and Scout Shannon, have had things out over the past year or two. My friend Russell Tillitt has something coming out. Jeff Shelton’s Well Wishers. Just off the top of my head. Bigger name stuff? I like the new Besnard Lakes record. The most recent Sleaford Mods. I’d be happy to hear the new Wrens record, which I suspect may never come.

What are your top 10 desert island discs?

You know how hard this is. Every day a different answer, right? Here goes:

Neil Young – Live Rust The Clash – London Calling Wrens – Meadowlands X – Los Angeles Gang of Four – Entertainment Replacements – Let it Be Jesus Lizard – Goat Jam – Sound Affects Teenage Fanclub – Catholic Education Wipers – Over The Edge

Those and a hundred others.

Final words? Closing comments? Words of wisdom?

Thanks for giving me the chance to think about this stuff. It’s fun to do a little reminiscing. As you know, there’s a deep bench of older indie-rock folks out there, still at it, and doing it pretty well. Thanks for giving us some attention.

BONUS QUESTION: Red Sox or Giants?

60/40 Giants. It's nice to have a team in each league.

https://themorningline.bandcamp.com/

2 notes · View notes

utilitycaster · 4 years

Note

what are the best multiclasses for wizard in your opinion? I feel like I see fewer multiclass wizards compared to other spellcasters

I think there’s probably a reason for that to be honest; I think the appeal in being a wizard is the singlemindedness - you have access to a massive spell list, you have tons of versatility with your spells, and like, why would delay your chance to take some of the most iconic high-level spells in the game by wandering off and fucking around with other classes? I mean speaking as a person who has done a round or two of grad school it’s not exactly the best time to become an expert in say, the greatsword, unless you get course credit or free pizza out of the experience.

Mechanically, also, a wizard build is going to have high intelligence and then often the second-highest score is going to be constitution. You could go either the con or dex route, as illustrated in that Handbooker Helper video in which Brian W. Foster rides a black chair like he’s the cool teacher, but like, mage armor lasts 8 hours and even if you managed to max out on dex that means your AC is a fun and flirty 18 when assisted by spells (23 for a single round with shield) and you probably have like 35 hit points at level 8. So constitution it is. Great. You’re very smart and you can hold your breath for 3 minutes and can capably house some whiskey if needed (shit, you really are a grad student), but turns out you need more than that to multiclass. Meanwhile the other casters already have a head start on the mental stats for monk or ranger (druid, cleric) or paladin (bard, sorcerer, warlock), or for a different caster class, and since they can wear armor and get a better hit die, or in the case of a sorcerer they can call their mom who is a fucking ancient dragon if shit goes down (and/or take a level in paladin) their physical stats might not be a total embarrassment.

That said here are a few ways to multiclass if you are so inclined that I think could work out in a fun and interesting way. I suspect that unless someone who has a wizard is multiclassing for highly specific story reasons in which case they have something in mind, or unless they tried a wizard and were like “actually fuck this” but don’t want to switch characters, they’re probably still not going to want to dip too far into another class since, you know, spells.

- Rogue. You get light armor, some weapons, an extra skill and expertise, and sneak attack (and thieves’ cant although not sure how helpful that will be) with a single level investment, and cunning action with two which will help you get out of melee if you somehow ended up there. You’re already inclined to probably be decent at investigation so throw that skill point and one expertise into stealth and congrats you’re a pretty okay rogue. When it comes to multiclassing into rogue for 3 or more levels, especially if you play someone who can do damage at a distance, assassin seems like the obvious choice since you can crit on your spells and sneak attack. Arcane trickster is very cool as a main character build but if you’re already a wizard there’s not much point. (tl;dr take 1-2 levels of rogue for improved AC, a little extra damage, a few extra skills, and the ability to disengage/dash/hide as a bonus action which saves you the need to use misty step all the time)

- Fighter. Most of the armor and all of the weapons are now available to you, as is a fighting style (defense is an obvious choice here) and second wind (1d10? for a wizard? holy shit). Another level will give you the greatest ability, action surge, aka “I cast fireball and then I cast fireball again, yes it is still my turn, yes fuck you”. Beyond that, honestly I’d go battle master unless you decided to really lean into the magic weapon thing of eldritch knight; much like arcane trickster the appeal diminishes when you already have the entire wizard spell list at your disposal. (tl;dr take 2 levels of fighter for significantly improved AC, a way to heal yourself, and a way to cast two spells on one turn, and weapons I guess if you even want them when you can cast two spells on one turn once per rest)

- the other battling classes can be ignored unless you rolled wicked good on your stats and can dip into paladin because divine smites are fucking broken (I get why they cap out at 5 or 6 d8 otherwise every high level charisma caster would take the Paladin Trial Period Levels and then dip before they had to take an oath and like, “be a good person”). Monk and ranger don’t give the same ROI as fighter or rogue, and you can’t cast when you’re raging so like, fuck that.

-the other casting classes can be good. Unless you take warlock your spell slots will continue to accrue normally so at least you can do spells that scale up, and unless you take sorcerer you get some armor proficiencies and a d8 instead of a d6 for hit dice. I’d recommend against sorcerer (sorcerer dipping into wizard isn’t a bad idea but wizard base with sorcerer, while a hilarious and frustrating story, doesn’t expand your spell list much, you get like 2 sorcery points total, just not worth it. Better to be a high level sorcerer who also has some wizard spells and arcane recovery). I’d also recommend against warlock unless, again, story reasons or the easily recharging low level spell slots are what you’re after. And finally you can’t cast in wildshape and again, you are a wizard and if you didn’t want to cast all the time...why did you choose the casting caster who casts as you class. So druid’s out if you’re just focusing on build and not story.

This leaves bard and cleric, two of my favorite classes, and they are both good choices. Both will give you at least light armor proficiency, and cleric will give you medium armor and shields as well. If you’re charismatic, one level in bard gives you something productive to do with your bonus actions other than misty step and access to the core healing spells; two levels gives you song of rest aka 1 free wizard hit die plus expertise. If you’re wise, one level in cleric also gives you a pretty great set of first level spells that has very little overlap with your existing spell list; two levels gives you the ability to tell zombies to get the fuck out. For clerics, you do need to have a deity in mind for the start (Silly multiclasser, trial periods are for paladins) but that does give you a bonus; at this point it depends on story but life domain is good if you’re taking cleric levels for the healing; light, grave, trickery, or tempest is good if you’re doing it for the combat (but also you can heal now), and knowledge or forge just makes sense for a wizard even if they’re not the showiest domains necessarily. Nature is a weird domain honestly and you can ignore it.

Unless again you have good story reasons I’d only dip 1-2 levels in another casting class so that you still progress reasonably well into high level spells, but you already had to pick a cleric subclass anyway. For bard lore is the obvious choice and again if you have story reasons you already stopped reading. I mean, a lot of other people did too, but you definitely did.

(tl;dr your best bet mechanically for casters are 1-2 levels in bard or cleric)

final note: I don’t have whatever book the official artificer build is in but that might be an option if you’re leaning in that direction; at the very least you get like 50 attuned items out of it. Mystic, while intelligence-based, is a bad class and it should feel bad.

#d&d #dungeon & dragons #wizards #Anonymous

14 notes · View notes

lumiereandcogsworth · 4 years

Text

tagged by @brian-zeller yayyy thanks bro

relationships: only been in one and it vaguely lasted like. a month and a half?

break ups: yeah i went to college and i didn’t want to do long distance after such a short time dating. it was kinda awk cuz we were talking over text and we inadvertently broke up that way but we had one last date to talk it out it was all good.

kids: i definitely want kids! i don’t always know what to do with them depending on the age but they always seem to be chill with me lmao.

brothers and sisters: one big brother! and he’s married so i have a sister now too haha

pets: my brother and his wife have a shiba inu and frankly i would die for him. (they live with us currently that’s why i’m counting it).

surgeries: just my wisdom teeth when i was 16!

tattoos: nah, don’t really want one

countries you’ve been to: canada. and... america.. where i live.

been in an airplane: yes indeed

been in an ambulance: nope

sing karaoke: yes i Love to. we have a lil karaoke machine at home and i always wanna do it, but we don’t that often cuz no one else does haha

ice skating: love it! i’m not that good at it but it’s fun and you get to hold hands with whoever you’re with even if you’re just friends because Gotta Stay Balanced

been on a cruise: just one and i was like six and i barely remember anything from it

driven a motorcycle: LMAO no i don’t think i ever will either

ridden a horse: YES but last time i was 12 and i MISS ITTTT. i was gonna ride a horse at the end of the school year in april but.. we all know why i couldn’t :(

stayed in a hospital: nope

favorite fruit or berries: i would eat watermelon for breakfast lunch and dinner if that were possible

favorite colors: blue and yellow. also purple.

last text: “that’s fabulous jo good job” - my friend joseph memorized all the lyrics to a song and i’m proud of him

coffee or tea: neither :/ but i guess tea but also i don’t ever seek out either of those drinks

favorite pie: marionberry aaaaahhhhhh

favorite pizza: cheese or sausage or spinach or ALL THREE OF THOSE COMBINED

cat or dog: both babey both give them all to me i love them and they’re perfect and good

favorite time of the year: honestly probably christmas time. or like. november-early january. my birthday,, thanksgiving (break),,, WINTER BREAK,,, CHRISTMASSS,, new years,, seeing my best friend....... Yeah.

met a star: no one ultra famous but i met my all time favorite singer jordan feliz!!! also my all time favorite author fredrik backman!!!!!!! iconic days for lydia

flown a helicopter: no??? what kinda—

been on tv: the only chance i could have been was when i was at a baseball game and me and my big sign got on the big screen at the game. sometimes they broadcast that sometimes they don’t so i have no idea but that was my one moment of fame regardless

broken my leg: nope! haven’t broken a bone, babey!! (me 🤝 shane and ryan)

seen a ghost: no :// (me 🤝 shane)

been sick in a taxi: no i think i’ve only been in a taxi like once in my entire life

seen someone die: no, i’ve heard all the stories of my grandparents from my own parents seeing it, but not personally.

tagging! @ilikebigassbuttsandicannotlie @enchanted-keys @queenamidalas @hiddenblood @joenicky @ceasarslegion @lumiereswig @stillood + anyone else who wants to can say i tagged em!

#i love answering questions #tagged

9 notes · View notes

why-its-kai · 3 years

Text

2 tags

1st from @everysinglepheel

rules: answer 30 questions and tag however many blogs you want!

name: Kai

gender: guy

star sign: taurus

height: 5′1″

time: 2:48 PM

birthday: april 21

favorite bands: They Might Be Giants!!! Gorillaz, Wilco, Red Vox, Jellyfish

favorite solo artists: Weird Al (surprising lack of solo artists in my music tastes?)

last movie: raggedy ann & andy a musical adventure (came up in my youtube recs today it was very weird and probably would have terrified me as a kid but i enjoyed it lol)

last show: been rewatching gungrave

when did i create this blog: april 28 2012

what i post: whatever i want

last thing i googled: “raggedy an musical adventure”

other blogs: i’ve got a bunch of sides created over the years but the only ones i’m really actively using now are @tuxedo-floracat (flight rising) and @kaibots (furby/toys)

do i get asks: very rarely

why i chose my url: play on my previous username (which contained deadname). the “why” comes from my last name initial being “y” which my parents came up with many many years ago (used (name)why as their email addresses). my initial url here was “(deadname)why” and idk why i remixed it a little when i changed my name but it stuck? idk

following: 971

followers: 1186

instruments: played alto sax from 5th grade thru graduating high school. stopped playing due to being unable to find a place to play where i fit in (energy of high school band is very different then community band composed mostly of older people)

what i am wearing: pjs (old t shirt from ahl team that doesn’t exist any more&pokemon pj pants)

dream job(s): want to go back to the library. being an artist would be cool but i’m not capable of doing anything substantial for a career so h

dream trip: at this point i just want to go to the jersey shore again like i did when i was a kid

favorite foods: pizza i guess, sweet things? more things but i can’t think of any thing coherent and also i am hungry now and i don’t know what i want please send help

nationality: american (unfortunately)

favorite song: a lot of them? i remember doing some tmbg favorite song ranker and “hey mr dj i thought you said we had a deal” came out on top so uh i’ll just go with that

last book i read: last one i actually finished was beastars volume 9. as for books that are actually just words and not comics i literally do not remember since i lost the ability to focus on reading lmao

top 3 fictional universes i’d like to live in: pokemon, animal crossing, homestar runner

tagging: uh

2nd from @severalspoons (some overlap in questions so be prepared for duplicates)

nickname: Kai

zodiac: taurus

height: 5′1″

hogwarts house: hufflepuff

last thing i googled: “raggedy an musical adventure”

song stuck in my head: well i am listening to music right this moment so idk what is stuck in my head now?

number of followers: 1186

amount of sleep: 8 hours i guess idk i just sleep at night and wake up in the morning and i can’t take naps during the day any more (like i just cannot fall asleep during the day. doesn’t happen) and i guess its enough but i want to be asleep more bc it is easier to exist that way some times

lucky number: 42

dream job: see above

wearing: see above

favorite song: see above

favorite instrument: accordion (unironically. someday i want to learn how to play)

aesthetic: dead malls, halloween, camp/kitsch/tacky shit, cursed things, rainbows

favorite author: brian jacques (rest in peace)

favorite animal noise: cat “brrr” when they shake their head

random: im so tired

tagging: (this space intentionally left blank)

anyways thanks both of u for tagging me

1 note · View note

queenmendes · 5 years

Text

new life chapter || pt. 3 ||

Summary: Y/N is a young actress; already one of the most known in the industry, She started out on Marvel, playing Feuer (Foi yer) Stark, the adopted daughter of Tony Stark; now with that coming to an end, she is ready to start a new chapter in her life. Who knew it would all begin with a livestream?

Word Count: 3,840

Masterlist

A/N: Sooo, I have no idea what the hell “camp” means for the Met Gala so I am stealing the Zac Posen dress (big one that lit up) from the 2016 one as Y/N and we are just going to act like Zendaya isn't there so they don't clash (love her to death tho, she’s queen) and I wanted to do a Social Media part for this chapter so please go with it ;) thanksssss, enjoy xxxx

“Whatcha mean you have never had Joe’s Pizza?” Your eyes wide as you stare at the tall Canadian in front of you. “You’ve been to Manhattan how many times? This is unacceptable.” Shawn laughed but let you drag him into the pizza joint. Shawn had just arrived in New York last night; he called earlier today to take you up on your offer of showing him New York. With him, was his best friend Brain and a few of his other team members, including Cez and Josiah. You also decided that your team deserved a day out and they joined as well.

The day was spent running around the city like wild teenagers. Going to all the basic places, like Time Square and the Empire State Building. You also stopped by the World Trade Center memorial, as no one has seen the masterpiece created. You showed them the small, hole-in-a-wall shops that you loved as well as the hidden park that barely anyone knew about. The group even walked along the Brooklyn Bridge, but that was photo aesthetic purposes mainly. However, it was almost 10 o’clock and everyone was hungry, so it was time to hit up your favorite pizza place.

“This better be the best pizza of my life.” Shawn said as the group filed into the small restaurant. You scoffed.

“Trust me. It’s amazing. Classic pizza.” You replied as you waited in line. Shawn stood behind you, his chest lightly brushing against your back. Each of you have been a bit touchier; the reuniting hug lasting long and random ones throughout the day also, with hands brushing against each other’s constantly.

“Oh my! Y/N!” Joe, the owner, exclaimed as you came into his sight. He rushed around the counter and gave you a friendly hug. You smiled at the middle-aged Italian man.

“Joe! You are a sight for sore eyes.” You said as you pulled away from the man. He rolled his eyes at your compliments but still smiled. He turned his attention to Shawn, who stepped to the side to give you some space.

“And who are these lovely people?” Joe asked, his thick accent more noticeable, as he scanned the small group.

“This is Shawn.” You introduced before continuing for the rest of the group. “They are also here for the Met.” You explained. Joe shook hands and introduced him. Joe returned behind the counter, placing an apron around his waist. Everyone placed their orders and went at sat more towards the back as you waited.

“I take it you come here a lot?” Brian asked, referring to the reunion that seemed like two old friends reuniting after years apart. Chris laughed, almost mockingly.

“Oh, you have no idea. Anytime we are in the city. And I mean, every. single. time.” Chris explained dramatically.

“Hey, is not that bad.” You defended yourself and all of your team stopped to give you a deadpanned look. You pouted but nodded your head. This was an addiction for you. You thought. The next few minutes was filled with random chatter across the group. Everyone having their own small conversations.

“So, Mendes.” You started and he turned to you, a look of amusement in his eyes at the use of his last name. “Any new music coming?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” He teased.

“There is then! No one is suspicious unless something is happening.” You observed. Shawn laughed.

“How many investigating shows do you watch?” He mocked.

“Many.” You proudly smiled. The two of you laughed as pizza was set in front of each person at the table. You rubbed your hands together, grabbing the slice and biting into it. The taste of heaven filled your taste buds. You looked at Shawn as he bit into his own slice, waiting for his reaction. He looked at you from the corner of his eyes and chewed slowly to mock you.

“Alright, that’s pretty amazing.” He said finally, and the rest of the group nodded in agreement as everyone chowed down.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Everyone decided to come back to the penthouse your team was staying at. The small group was formed around the living room, deciding on what movie to watch. Since you were picky about what movie is picked, you were in the kitchen making popcorn for everyone and gathering other snacks.

“Need any help?” Shawn asked from behind you.

“You can get some drinks.” You laugh as he salutes before making his way to the fridge. He grabs a variety of drinks and places them on the counter.

“Thank you for today.” Shawn said after a moment of silence. “It meant a lot that you let my team come with us.”

“Of course. They work their ass off for you, I know mine does. They deserve fun, random days in the city.” You waved you hand in dismissal. “Besides, you friends are awesome. I had a lot of fun with them today too.”

“Just them?” He asked, stepping closer to you until he was inches away.

“Well, I guess you played a part in it too.” You whispered. A small, soft smile appeared on his face. The two of you just stood there, chest to chest now, in your own little bubble. His eyes going back and forth between your lips and eyes. One of his hands gently grabbed your hip, pulling you as close as possible while the other made its way to cup your cheek. His thumb gently brushing it. Finally, Shawn begins to lean into you.

“What is taking so long?” Chris yelled from the living room, causing the peaceful bubble to burst. You sighed in annoyance.

“Coming.” You softly yelled back. Shawn’s hand dropped from your cheek, but before he stepped away, you kissed his cheek. “Soon, Rockstar.” You promised before stepping away and gathering the popcorn and other snacks, making your way into the living room. Shawn stood there in a daze for a moment, before smiling big. Soon.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The next afternoon could be described as one thing and one thing only. Hell. Everyone was in a frantic frenzy, running all over the penthouse. It didn’t help that you were exhausted from the all-day outing yesterday and late-night movie marathon that took place after. Apparently, you could not just watch one Harry Potter movie. Nope, it had to be three.

Now here you were, sitting on the couch, slowly drinking your second cup of coffee. Already knowing you would be needing another one. Everyone else in the background, setting up everything needed to make you pretty. And judging by the reflection you saw in the mirror; it was going to be a challenge. There was even a camera from Vogue here filming the entire process.

“Uh, what are you doing?” Stacy all but screamed. She didn’t even let you breathe before continuing. “We have 5 hours until you have to be walking across that carpet, and it is going to take an hour to get you in the dress and out the door and you are just sitting there, drinking coffee? Ass, shower, now”

“She took my coffee.” You whispered to Angie. Angie patted your shoulder.

“I’ll make you another. Go shower before she comes back.” You did what you were told because no one wants to face Stacy’s rage. Once you were out of the shower and into a robe, Chris led you to the makeup chair. It was like a swarm of people immediately getting to work. Simultaneously, Chris started drying your hair, Stacy start doing a skin mask to prep your face and your hands was pulled as your nails started getting painted.

“Do not touch your face.” Stacy instructed as she finished applying the mask. You nodded and began scrolling through social media to pass the time. A minute later, however, you phone started ringing.

Curly-Haired God is requesting to face time. Those words sent you into a slight panic since the two of you almost kissed last night; since you promised him it would happen soon enough. Oh, and your face looked like a monkey splatter mud all over it.

“Hey.” You finally answered. Shawn paused, trying not to laugh. “Don’t laugh at me. Stacy pretty much threatened me to do what she says.”

“I’m not laughing at you.” Shawn said, but you see his mouth twitching. However, he didn’t even try to hold it in, and his laughs filled your ears. You rolled your eyes but smiled. He had such a cute laugh.

“Was there are reason you called, Mendes?” He finally stopped laughing but his smile was still there.

“Yeah, did you know we are sitting at the same table?” You got excited.

“Wait, really? Oh my god, sweet! Who else is sitting with us?” You asked.

“I only know Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth.”

“We are going to have a dope ass table.” You concluded. Shawn nods in agreement. However, the moment was ruined by non-other than Stacy.

“Say goodbye.” Stacy said. You looked at her and pouted. “No, no, no. Put those eyes away and say goodbye, we have to get you ready.” You nodded.

“I’ll see you later?” You asked.

“How will I find you?” Shawn teased.

“Oh, trust me, you won’t be able to miss my dress.” You smirked before waving goodbye and hanging up. Stacy began taking off the mask as Crystal got all the makeup ready. You other hand started to get painted as well. Now, you simply leaned back and let yourself get pampered.

++++++++++++++

“Is it too late to eat something?” You were ignored by every single person as the small army was getting you into the dress. It was truly beautiful. It was a Zac Posen design; it was a light, sky blue gown that flared out passed the waistline. It was your own Cinderella dress. The best part was that it completely lit up, but it also made it a struggle to get in, so nothing shifted.

Your makeup was done amazing perfectly. Y/E/C standing out at the dark, navy blue eyeshadow that surrounded it. “I want to be a Targaryen” was all you told Chris about your hair and he did not fail. It was loosely curled into waves and had a complex braid wrapped the back. Stacy came over with the famous baby blue jewelry boxes.

“These are beautiful.” You gasped as Stacy started placed the three-layered choker around your neck before placed another one, that was thicker and almost looked braided, right above the other. A series of diamond, ring bands were wrapped around your fingers; all random widths. You decided to do simple, small studs for earrings. The last piece was a bracelet that resembled the three-layered necklace. All the pieces were very elegant but simple, so the attention isn’t away from the dress. Angie held onto you as the see-through high heels were placed on your feet.

“Are you nervous?” The Hailey, from Vogue asked from the side.

“A little. These kinds of things are a really big deal. I’m always more nervous for the publics comments because I don’t ever want to be like out of theme or anything. The critics and even just general people are really judgement if you don’t fit the theme.” You explained “But I completely trust Zac and I am in love with this dress.”

“Who are you most excited to see tonight?” Hailey asked.

“Kim Kardashian West. I love her and she is a really good friend of mine. She actually called me like a week ago because she found out that Zac was my designer, so she was really excited to see what I was wearing. I’m excited to see her because she is the cover girl and she’s wearing Mugler, who is amazing.” You answered as you gather some things you would need for the night.

“Alright, we need to be out the door now people.” Angie said.

“Let’s go to the Met.” You smiled at the camera before carefully walking out the door.

+++++++++++

The flashes were constant. Shouting was coming from every direction as you made you way down the pink carpet. You’ve been on the pink carpet for about ten minutes now and so far, everything was going great. You weren’t going to light the dress up until you got closer to the end of the carpet. Thankfully, the photo portion doesn’t last long.

“Y/N! Oh my god. Hi” Liza waved from her spot mid-way up the stairs.

“Hi.” You greeted once you were in front of her

“Wow. Okay, look at you. So, tell me about what you are wearing.” She said after a moment of fangirling.

“It by Zac Posen. It really is just incredible. I told him, jokingly, that I wanted to feel like a princess, but he made that his inspiration and added his own twist to it. Look.” You said, before pressing the small button on the side of your waist. The entire dress lit up softly from the blue lights embedded inside it. The crowd from behind instantly gasped in shock at the new feature of the dress. More people trying to get more pictures.

“WOW.” Liza gasped. “Now, Endgame has premiered, we won’t spoil anything, but what is next in your career?”

“I really don’t know.” You honestly answered. “I’ve been acting since I was 10 years old and I am forever grateful for everything that has happened to me and how amazing the whole MCU has been and what we created. I am looking forward to a break where I get to just travel where I want and be with my family and friends; if I find a project along the way, then that’s great.” Liza nodded.

“Well that sounds like a great plan. You really have made a great name for yourself and anyone would be lucky to have in their movie or show.”

“Thank you so much.” Her attention went behind you and before you could turn to see what she was looking at, a hand gently laid on your back.

“You weren’t wrong when you said I couldn’t miss your dress.” Shawn said as he came into your line of vision. You smiled as you looked him over. Damn, he looked good. Like really good.

“You look great. Your hair! Let me see.” You said, grabbing his head to turn his head to the side so you could see it better. “I love it.”

“Thanks.” He blushed. “You are absolutely stunning.” The two of you completely forgot about Liza and the camera, simply staring at each other with soft smiles.

“It’s great to see you again, Shawn.” Liza said, breaking the silence. You stepped away slightly.

“Sorry I should keep moving, it was nice talking to you Liza.” You bided goodbye to her before turning to Shawn. “I’ll see you inside.” With that, you walked away, heart beating uncontrollably. Unknown to you, Shawn’s eyes didn’t leave your retreating figure until it was out of sight. Damn, she looked breathtaking.

Inside was even crazier than the carpet. Everyone’s attention turned to you as you walked in. It was quite nerve-racking but what else would you expect when you were literally glowing. As you made the way to your table, you stopped and mingled. About every 30 seconds, someone approached you, designer and celebrity.

“This is fabulous.” Kim said as she approached you. You smiled as you looked over her outfit. It was gorgeous. The silicon dress fitting her like a glove, the jewels representing water droplets.

“Me? Look at you.” You gestured. “This is amazing. How can you even breathe?”

“Oh, I can’t. And I am praying that I don’t have to pee because this corset isn’t coming off for a while.” She laughed and you with her. “I can’t help but wonder, what is going on with you and Shawn Mendes?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” She just gave you a look. “Ugh, I don’t know. He’s so sweet and funny, and god, have you seen him? Don’t get me started and when he performs?”

“What are you waiting for then?”

“The right moment, I guess.” You shrugged. Kim smiled.

“Trust me, the right moment doesn’t happen unless you make it.” You were silent for a moment. She was right.

“When the fuck did you get so wise?” You laugh.

“Law school changes you.” She joked. The two of you got some photos taken by one of the photographers before parting ways. Finally, you made you way to the table you were assigned too. Miley and Liam were already standing near it.

“Thank god, I haven’t sat down in like 2 hours.” You said after greeting them. The three of you sat down and began talking about random things as you waited for everyone to settle and the event to get started. A few more people joined the table, most your recognized. Shawn took his seat next to you, his hand brushing against your back once again. He greets everyone at the table before turning slightly to face you.

“You really do look stunning.” He whispered as the event started on the stage. You blushed.

“Thank you.”

The night continued on. Dinner was served and conversation were held. Cher did an iconic performance that sent everyone into a buzz. Now, you were slowly going through the museum gallery, looking at all the pieces. Hailee Steinfeld was walking next to you, taking about random things or what you liked in the gallery.

“A certain tall, Canadian hasn’t stopped looking at you.” She commented.

“You are the second person tonight to mention him.” You comment back. She grinned.

“Well, I’m not one to believe social media but you two look like you’ve got some chemistry going on.” Hailee explained. You didn’t say anything back, just smiling as you continued to walk the gallery.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

If you thought earlier was hell getting ready, then you were wrong. Everyone rushed around you once again to get you ready for the afterparty. Finally, though, the dress was off, and you could breathe; mostly in relief that you didn’t ruin the dress. As everyone got what they needed, you went into your room to have a minute alone. It didn’t last long before you phone rang though. You answered without looking to see who it was.

“Hello?” You answered as you laid back.

“Hey.” Shawn’s voice softly came through. Immediately, you could tell something was wrong by his tone.

“Are you okay?” You asked softly. Shawn let out a shaky breath.

“Actually, I know it’s a lot to ask but is there any way you wouldn’t want to go to the afterparty and maybe just hang out? It’s just my anxiety is kind of getting to me and-“

“Shawn, of course we can just hang out.” You interrupted. “It’s not at all a lot to ask.”

“Thanks. I’m really happy you said that because I’m in the lobby” He shyly said. You laugh.

“Come on up. I’ll tell everyone.” You make you way back into the living room after throwing on leggings and a big hoodie. “Hey, I’m not going to the afterparty.” You said loudly, making everyone freeze.

“Uh, what?” Angie asked.

“I’m not going to the afterparty. Shawn is coming over to hang out.” You said as a knock sounded through the room. You quickly answered it, seeing Shawn standing there in a hoodie and sweats. You opened the door wider, gesturing for him to come in.

“Thank you, again.” Shawn whispered. You grab his hand, hoping to give some comfort.

“You don’t have to thank me Shawn.” You led him towards the living room. Everyone was still standing where you left them.

“You’re really serious?” Chris asked. You nodded. “Okay, less work for us.” Chris shrugged before placing the comb down and threw himself on the couch. You laughed before leading Shawn down the hall, into your room. He sat on the bed as you stood in front of him, still holding his hand. Despite the size, it fit nicely around your own.

“Are you okay?” You asked. He nodded.

“Just a lot of people at the Gala, lots of questions.” He explained. You stayed quiet. “Actually, there was a lot of questions about you.” He confessed. Your eyes widen.

“You too, huh?” You laughed lightly. “This can wait. How about we order some food and maybe finish that Harry Potter marathon?” You suggest. Shawn smiles and nods. You call in the food as Shawn gets the movie started. While he was distracted, you rush and grab all the blankets you can find.

“Let’s get the movie night started.” You throw the blankets on top of the soft giant that laid across the bed. You lay down next to him and pressing play on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Grabbing the blankets, you lay them all across the bed, snuggle under them. No words were said, both entranced by the movie you’ve seen many times but it’s a work of art.

“Here’s the food.” Chris quietly said, placing the two pizza boxes, an order of wings, and a cookie down on the bed. He even brought plates and water for you. You smile in thanks before he walks out. Shawn laughs when sees pizza.

“You really are always down for pizza, huh?” Shawn asked, as he sits up and grabs one of the boxes.

“Always.” You reply before grabbing a slice of your own and a few wings. The two of you ate and watched the movie. There was no pressure to talk; you were just enjoying each other’s presence.

You lay back down after eating as much of the food as you both could handle. This time, closers than before. The next movie began playing when Shawn shifted closer to you. You smile lightly before making a bold move and placing your head on his chest, snuggling into his side. Shawn sighed in content.

“What did you mean when you said, “You too” early?” Shawn asked. You tilted your head to look up at him.

“A few people asked me what was going on between us.” You explain, shrugging.

“And what is going on between us?” Shawn asked, looking down at you.

“All I know is, that I like you too much for it to be a friendship.” You confess. His eyes widen in shock but light up.

“What is I told you it was mutual?” He asked, smiling. You sit up and turn so you are facing him. His had grips your hip slightly, just like the previous night. Unlike last night, no one interrupted you. Your lips met his. Your hands cup his face as both of his move to wrap around your waist. This kiss was soft and sweet, nothing rushing either of you. Only pulling away when you needed to breath. He rested his forehead against yours, softly panting.

“Can I do that again?” He sweetly asked.

“I’d be upset if you didn’t.” He did and it was better than the first.

Tag List: @yourwonderbelle , @neralondon ,@bensbuttercup , @andibecamethestars , @feliciaceciliamariajacobsson , @winterin127

#shawn mendes #Shawn Mendes Imagine #shawn mendes blurb #shawn mendes x reader #shawn mendes fanfiction #shawn mendes au #shawn mendes fluff #shawn mendes x y/n

197 notes · View notes