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suchalonelysunflower · 3 years

Text

I’ll Be With You (c.h)

Pairing: Calum Hood x Reader

Summary: Songfic inspired by “Drive” by Ashton Irwin. One ride can change your life and Calum hopes he could mend his mistakes with you.

Warnings: ANGST. Language. Mentions of a character’s death (not explicit) Some grammatical errors (English is not my first language, I’m sorry)

Word count: 6K

Author’s note: This is an unofficial second part to You Said Forever, but you don’t need to read it in order to understand. Please remember that Reblogs, Comments, Feedback and Likes are very important! You don’t know how much it helps me 💕 Hope you like it and Happy Reading ✨🦋🌻

My materialist // wanna be part of my taglist?

Thank you Andy for the picture

“ I know that you’re hurting

I know you still care

I know his voicemails sound like a lullaby”

You’ve been staring at the wall for what it felt like hours, which was probably true. Your thoughts were made of nothing as your eyes clashed with your wallpaper. You wanted them to be made of nothing.

You wished you could allow yourself not to think. Just to shut down for the day and stop thinking. Thinking made you cry and your head hurts when you cry. He always hated to see you cry.

The house felt empty even though you were sitting right there in the living room. Yet, it almost seemed like you weren’t there like you were just a ghost who you once were before you lost two people in under six months.

How could anyone expect you to be the same? Yes, the losses have been different. But that doesn’t mean their absence didn’t hurt.

You wish it could stop hurting. But at the same time, you wish it could tear you apart. To feel pain is to feel something and you were so scared to stop feeling. It happened once before with the first loss and now, now you just want everything to be over with.

But you were still staring at the wall, nothing’s changed. They were gone and you were here. They left and now you are alone.

Maybe it was always meant to be this way. Maybe it was a sign for you to never love someone else and to not let anyone else love you. What’s the point if they are going to leave anyway?

The ticking of the clock became your only friend amid silence. You took comfort in its tick-tack, the melody of your desolation. You’ve heard it once before and since then you couldn’t stop hearing it, not since that night where you counted the seconds for him to respond. Now you counted the seconds again, still hoping everything would just stop.

A 10-second answer.

“I’m not ready for a relationship”

A 10-second call.

“We lost him”

Who would’ve known that 10 seconds could last forever?

You wondered if you should call; if he would answer. If he knew...But then you remembered you blocked his number to never call again. It’s not like he would’ve answered anyway, not as he would care.

Your relationship with Calum ended before it even began. You were never official but you carried yourselves as such. It was magical until it wasn’t; until he stopped answering and started developing feelings for another.

It wasn’t his fault, he couldn’t control what he felt. But he was the one who decided to end things without telling you, all because he was scared. You were too, not that he cared.

And now, you know you shouldn’t miss him. You moved on and started all over again, promising yourself that he won’t ever see you cry again. Your music career blew up and now you had an album coming up in a few months. The awards and recognitions you won from your first single, the one that was inspired by him, were hanging on your wall like trophies, proof that you could be happy without him and you were.

Until that 10 second call in the middle of the night.

And now you felt like a child. Seeking comfort in the arms of someone who is not coming back. Knowing that the only one who you wanted to be with at the moment was living his best life without you. Not knowing, not caring.

He threw you away like a doll he didn’t want to play with anymore. Or at least that’s how it felt like. He taught you what it meant to love and then backtracked once he realized he felt the same but was not ready to act on his feelings, letting you figure that out by ghosting you like it was nothing.

You felt stupid for wanting him back, he hurt you the most, and yet, you needed him to feel safe. He was your best friend before becoming something else.

It was almost like you weren’t in control of what you were feeling. It was too much and at the same time not enough. You wanted him, you needed him. You want him to love you again like he used to and make everything okay again. But you also wanted him gone and for him to stay that way. You didn’t want his pity or his love words again. You didn’t want to see him and make every little broken piece of your heart stain again just at the sight of him, at the sound of his voice calling your name again.

What's worse? What’s the cure and what’s the sickness? Would you rather forgive and forget? Or just forget that it ever happened?

Did it ever happen?

Loud bangs coming from the door pushed your thoughts away from your mind. You were spiraling again and you didn’t even notice.

The bangs came stronger, yet no one was calling your name. You wondered who could it be; who could be crazy enough to bang on your door in the middle of the night, hours after one of the worst days of your life?

You thought about ignoring it, pretending that you’re asleep when in reality you haven’t slept for days. But the stranger didn’t know that and they could easily go away once they believe you’re in bed, tucked away in dreams.

But whoever it was didn’t stop. You counted the seconds, 5 bangs in one second, one; two; three; four; five, and 5 bangs again. This person wouldn’t have let you sleep even if you wanted to.

After two more series of bangs, you got up from your spot on the sofa, leaving an indentation on the cushion due to the hours you spent looking at nothing. You smothered your black clothes and walked to the door.

The other person was in the middle of another series of bangs when you opened the door, leaving his fist mid-air as he noticed you standing in front of him.

What was he doing here?

If you were surprised you didn’t show it. Maybe you weren’t that surprised to see him standing there with his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. His hair was a mess and his eyes had some dark bags underneath it; you assumed you looked the same: tired and hopeless.

His eyes were still the same, shining with a gleam you haven’t seen in a while, hopeful for something greater than life. Yours, however, were hallowed and gloomy, no emotions whatsoever as you gazed into the eyes of the man who you wanted to call yours one day.

He looked so different from the Calum who was standing at the same spot all those months ago when he told you he needed time. And you were so different from the Y/N who stood in pain of just seeing him. Now the roles were reversed, cause at this moment you thought you'd never seen him so quiet, so inside himself. Maybe he was in pain too.

“C’mon. Let’s go” He said, nudging his head to make you follow him into the dark street.

He didn’t say hello. He didn’t need to, not with you at least. You don’t even remember saying goodbye after that night.

Calum stood there, waiting for you to answer. His brown eyes were pleading, but you knew he wouldn’t force you to do anything, he knows he didn’t deserve it and he wouldn’t blame you if you closed the door on his face. But you didn’t.

Instead, like a fool, you followed him.

He got into his car, the same color white with tinted windows and the indentation of that one time you accidentally hit a motorcycle that stopped abruptly before you on the street, and you climbed into the passenger seat, buckling up your seatbelt and pulling your legs to your chest.

Calum started the engine and didn’t turn on the radio, he just began driving into the night. You weren’t talking, but you didn’t need to; the silence needed to be heard.

It’s not the first time you did this. Before he went on tour you would call, or he would call just to spend some time together as you drove by the coast. Words were optional as you let time slip through your fingers, enjoying every second of it in the presence of each other.

“Just drive” You would say, and that was enough.

You saw the lights of the city pass by. The red lights covering you in its lights, creating an atmosphere of security within their red halo. You closed your eyes for a moment at the clicking sound of the turn signal and let you be swayed away by the left and right turns Calum would do to get to the PCA.

He had his eyes on the road and both hands on the wheel, one of his fingers lightly patting the plastic as he didn’t know what to do with it, this time he can’t just put his hand on your thigh like he used to.

You could tell he had some things to say, he always did, but he was keeping them in and you were thankful for that. You weren’t sure if you were ready to talk yet, or if you were ready to talk at all, right now you were enjoying the silence and the roaring sounds of the pavement and you would’ve liked it to keep it that way.

The destination was unknown, it always was. You would recognize the stores and the streets as you passed them by, but there was never a limit to where you could go. Many times you ended up driving as far as San Diego or San Francisco, sometimes you ended up somewhere in the desert where no one could hear you. But it didn’t matter where you’d end up as long as you came back, but how could you come back from this?

Calum must’ve been driving for a few minutes or hours, you wouldn’t know. The night sky stayed the same and you refused to look at him just yet. You knew why he was here, it was as obvious as the stars at night, and you found the strangest comfort in that even though you were still pretty mad about everything he did.

Calum, however, looked back and forwards between you and the road. He hasn’t seen you in such a long time and these are horrible circumstances to see each other again after he fucked up. Cause he will admit it: He fucked up, big time. But how could he fix it now when you won’t even look at him?

Who were you now? Were you the same Y/N he knew and loved? His Y/N never looked that small, that broken and bruised and tucked away in a world of hurt. He knew he had something to do with that, but right now that was the least of his problems. It was clear to him that right now all you needed was not to be alone and he was glad he could help.

A few minutes later, Calum spotted a gas station and parked the car for a few minutes.

“Gonna fill up the tank and get some coffee from the store,” He said as he unbuckled his seatbelt “Do you want anything?”

You were still looking at the window, the white dirty neon lights illuminated your profile as you shook your head. Not ready to give a verbal answer.

Calum sighed “Okay, you can go stretch your legs if you want. I’m not going to take long”

He jumped out of the car and you waited until he entered the store to jump out as well, letting the neon lights and buzzing bugs invade your feelings as you stood upright.

You cracked your neck and the bones of your back, letting out a sigh of relief once you feel yourself go back to normal. You walked around the car and back again, trying to clear your mind with some fresh air. You realized by the stars illuminating the sky that you must be on your way to a desert, not really caring which or where, but happy that you were far away from where you were supposed to be.

Calum came back a minute later holding a bag and two cups of coffee.

“Here,” He said, handing you the brown paper bag and the coffee cup. You looked at him questionably “I-I know that when you’re upset you don’t eat much and- I just wanted to make sure-”

The words ‘that you’re okay’ were stuck in his throat as he watched your eyes fill with tears that you weren’t ready to shed. He just nodded instead.

“The coffee is terrible, but the cookie might be good. I’m sorry, it’s all they had-“

“Thank you,” You said with the faintest voice. Calum felt his heart stop for a second, he hadn't heard your voice in so long and he wished he could hear it again as the night went on.

“You’re welcome,” He said with a tiny smile before turning around and walking up to the driver’s seat, chuckling to himself as he heard you cough the horrible tasting coffee after one sip.

A couple of hours pass and you are still on the road. You remained quiet as time went by, you knew Calum didn't mind but you also knew that he hoped for you to talk, not only about today but about everything as well. And what a beautiful irony that was. He was the quiet one ever since you met; shy and gentle towards the new artist who started working at the studio, it sparked up your curiosity towards him. Your friends said that you were trying too hard, but there was something about Calum that just begged you to know him. Little would you know that it would’ve become the best and worst decision of your life.

You were so in your mind that you missed the moment he started humming a melody you couldn’t recognize, but you didn’t care about that as you got lost in the sound of his low voice trapped willingly on his throat. You missed his singing the most. Every time he started singing you would just sit and listen intently, entranced by his voice like a pirate who fell in love with a mermaid. He always said you had the best voice out of the two of you and you would always disagree, he never understood how his voice comforted you to the point of almost being hypnotized by it and you never understood how much you needed to hear him until now.

You still felt that tingly sensation that begged of you to run away; make Calum take you back home and never see him again for your own good. But another part of you pleaded for you to stay, to treasure this moment and never let it go again, hoping that things will turn out just fine and you could start all over. You didn’t know which part of you talked with logic or with the heart, you didn’t know who to listen to. So you just listened to him hum.

“I never heard that song before,” You said once he’s done, or at least you thought he was.

Calum snapped his head towards you at the sound of your voice. This time you sounded clear, a bit hoarse, and still much quieter than what he was used to, but it was enough for him to smile a little.

“I don’t think you would’ve. It’s some kind of TikTok song” He said, eyes on you the entire time while you kept your head straight for the empty road. You chuckled and he felt like he could touch the sky with his hands, he always loved making you laugh and now he got to do that again.

“You’re on TikTok?” You asked, teasingly.

“Shh,” Calum shushed with a smile, pleased with the banter “Don’t tell the fans about my secret account”

You pressed your lips on a thin line “It’s not like you tell anyone much, anyway”

Calum’s smile flattered. “Y/N-” He whispered but you cut him down quickly.

“Eyes on the road, Hood” And you stayed quiet again.

Calum reluctantly took his eyes off you after shooting you a sorrowful look. He could swear he heard Ashton’s voice saying he fucked up over and over in his head.

You always hated secrets and his life was full of them. When he asked you to keep whatever you got on the down-low you agreed, not because you liked it, but because you respected his privacy. You thought you only had to keep it hidden from the media and the fans, however, you didn’t expect to have to hide it from everyone including his bandmates, who were also your friends. He promised you you would come clean after you make it official, yet that day never came.

He chose to run away from his feelings. He said he loved you, yet he kept you from the truth, hiding his secrets from you until the pictures where he kissed a girl on tour saw the light, simultaneously bringing his dirty laundry to face the consequences. He told you the truth once he came back; he was not ready for a real relationship but that he truly loved you and he meant every word. But, how can you trust the words of a liar?

Calum knew this, and ever since that day he’s been regretting letting you go. He needed time to figure his shit out, he needed to know if it was real or just a game, not only for him but for you as well. The night he broke your heart he realized it had already been broken when he stopped replying to your calls and messages. He foolishly thought that you would be okay, that you needed time as well, but once you were really gone did he understand.

He decided to come clean to the guys one night, he couldn’t keep it in his heart anymore, not after seeing your face drained of color and filled with tears. He could still hear the disappointment in everyone’s voices, especially Ashton’s who considered you like one of them “You didn’t just lose a love, you lost a friend” He said, and those words have been haunting him ever since.

Now you hate him, or at least he thinks you do. You haven’t said much to him and you won’t even look at him. He told himself time and again that he didn't mind, you were going through a lot at the moment and he just wants to be with you and that your company is more than enough. And he meant that, with all his heart and soul. Yet, his mind keeps railing him to do something, to help you lift your spirits somehow and hear you laugh again cause he knows that’s the only thing that could make him feel better. You make him better but you were so far away, even at an arm's length distance; you never felt so far.

A yawn passed his mouth, he tried to keep it hidden so you wouldn’t notice, but you did.

“Stop the car,” You said once this happened two more times.

“What?” Calum asked, alarm clear in his eyes and voice at your request.

You were on a road in the middle of the desert, there was not a soul who wandered over there and no sign of life either. It was just the two of you in the car.

“Pull over and stop the car,” You said, finally looking at him, but your eyes were everything but tender as the seriousness in your voice became palpable “You need a break, you are too tired to keep driving like this. So you are going to pull over at the side of the road and take a walk and wake the hell up”

Calum needn’t be told twice, not with that look in your eyes at least. His heart grew warm at the thought of you caring enough for him to let him take a break, but his hoped shattered at the words you spoke next:

“And then you take me home” It was a whisper, almost inaudible, but Calum heard it loud and clear.

He pulled over after a few meters and you were the first one to get out of the car. Calum watched as you stretched your legs and arms in the middle of the windless desert air. The moonlight shined over you and mistook you as one of her angels, at least that’s what Calum thought of seeing you standing there.

With a sigh, he unblocked his seatbelt and did the same things you did: he stretched and walked around the car a couple of times, trying to get enough energy to get back on the road again. Suddenly, his pacing came to a stop when he heard the faintest sniffle coming from where you were standing.

Your head was thrown back, eyes fixed on the sky as your arms wrapped around yourself. The clear night sky was in full view, letting even the rarest constellations come to life. You felt so small standing in front of the massive universe, hoping that maybe he could see you from where he is, no matter how small you were to him now.

Calum came to stand next to you, he didn’t say anything but you felt him staring right at you. This time you didn’t hide the silent tears that started rolling down your cheek.

“He loved the stars, you know?” You said, tears coating your voice as you stared into the night “He always talked about the Greek origin of the constellations and what they mean. I never really paid much attention to it and… now I wish I had”

Your father was a nerd, your mum always told you so, but he was the kind of nerd that loved studying and teaching and discovering that it never felt like a burden to him. He was always excited to show you some discovery he or other people made, to teach you the history of things and how everything is connected.

You were so scared to tell him that your dream didn’t belong in a university, that you wanted to see the world and make music that matters to people and you, and that it might be a long shot but that you believed you could do it. He was your number one supporter from the start, saying that you were his brightest star and that he couldn’t wait to see how you would leave your mark on this world.

The last time he called you was to tell you that he heard your song on the radio while he was shopping for groceries, he was so proud that he even told the cashier “That’s my baby singing” and you could hear the laugh in his voice when he told you he had to prove that you were actually his child and he was not just a creep in the supermarket.

That was the last time you said I love you and he said it back.

“He was a great man, Y/N,” Calum said, not looking at the stars that sparkled in the sky; no, he was looking at the star he met on Earth and that was standing next to him. He wondered if you will ever know how much you shine.

“The best I’ve ever known”

“I’m really sorry, Y/N,” He said, not knowing what to do, how to comfort you and it pained him seeing you like that.

“It’s okay,” You mumbled, wiping your tears with the back of your hands “You weren’t the one that gave him a heart attack”

A few days ago you got the call that would change your life forever. You don’t remember much of it, only your mum crying on the other line and sobbing through her words.

“We lost him, baby. He’s gone”

It was the second time that time had stopped for you.

“That’s not the only thing I’m sorry for,” Calum said with a sigh. His hands were hidden in the pockets of his hoodie, this time he averted his gaze towards the sky, searching for forgiveness he knew he mightn’t have asked for.

You pressed your lips in a thin line and gazed down, shaking your head. This wasn’t happening “No.” You said, still shaking your head and drawing a few steps back.

“Y/N-” He pleaded, following you.

“No, Calum!” You yelled, “I said no, you can’t do this to me right now!”

“Okay, fine!” He said, running towards you with begging eyes, softly grabbing your hand in his “We don’t have to do this right now, but we have to do it eventually, Y/N. We can’t keep running from it or avoid it forever. I know it angers you as much as it angers me and we can both agree that I’m the one to blame. So, please…”

You pulled your hand away from him, breaking his heart with that harsh movement. You were looking at him, eyes filled with tears he didn’t deserve and an unshared rage that came with it. You felt how your chest moved up and down with every breath you forced yourself to make to stop your heart from thundering from inside you.

Calum’s eyes met yours and you could see the regret in them. Those brown orbs stared at you with such hope that you had to look away in order not to cave. Not today, not for him.

“Why?” You spat, walking over to him and pushing him as you talked. He did not move an inch, which made you even angrier. “Why now all of a sudden? Why not a few months back on the day you broke my heart? Why not a couple of weeks ago when I ran into Luke and asked about you, knowing that he would tell on me? Why not a few days ago when I reached out to Ashton to break the news that my father had died? Why not then? Why not earlier today at the funeral? Why now and not when I needed you, Calum?” You pushed and punched him in the chest with every word, crying at the same time you let your anger take over.

Calum let you take it out on him, not feeling anything as you punched him, he knew you didn’t want to hurt him, you could never. He grabbed you by the shoulders as you cried, sobs shaking through your body as you asked the why of many things.

Why did he have to die?

Why did you leave me?

Why did you come back?

Why did you make me love you?

“I know, I KNOW,” Calum said, getting a little fed up with himself for not being able to give you the answers that you needed “I know I wasn’t there when I was supposed to. I know I’ve been a total jerk for what I did and that I had no right in doing what I’m doing but, for the love of god Y/N, I wanted to be there today!”

“Then why weren’t you?!”

“Cause I was on a fucking plane!” He yelled, matching your tone.

Your eyes opened like saucers at his words “What?” You breathed.

Calum sighed and let go of you, running his hand through his face and hair. He didn’t mean to yell, but he was tired of everything, tired of keeping it inside when you were right there, looking at him like the monster he felt inside. He didn’t know if he could make it better if the image you had in your head of him could ever change, and he was scared, so scared that you’d hate him more than before. But he had to try, he had to. He wouldn’t forgive himself if he took the coward’s way again.

“I was back in Australia. I left a few months after the last time I saw you, knowing that I made the biggest mistake of my life. Nothing made sense anymore and I knew you didn’t want to see me after every bullshit answer I gave you. I just couldn’t stay here knowing that I hurt you, so I bought a ticket and went home to get my shit together as I promised, thinking that maybe I could leave you behind and forget about those feelings that made me realize how scared I was of them, but that never happened and I doubt it ever will. Then Ashton called me after you called him, telling me everything but I didn’t listen to the whole thing. I just heard that you were in pain and next thing I know I booked the first plane back to LA, back to you, but it got delayed so many times that I couldn’t be there on time, so the first thing I did was jump out of that plane and drive straight to you”

You clenched your jaw as you listened to him, trying to drown the knot in your throat. Your mind and heart screaming at you to listen and run, not knowing which one was right. Calum, however, continued as he watched your hesitant eyes.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there, I tried my best to be because I knew you didn’t want to be alone, even when you say you do and I failed you, again” Calum’s eyes were honest, raw pain ran through them with every word he said “All I do is fail you, Y/N and I’m so tired of it. I failed to be honest with you, I failed to love you the way you deserve to be loved, I failed to be with you when you needed me most and I failed to keep my promise. I don’t want to fail you anymore, I wouldn’t be able to handle it.

These past few months without you, adding to the ones I spent on tour, were an absolute nightmare. So many times I wanted to call, to tell you that I loved you, that there was never somebody else but you, and that you are the only thing that’s felt real to me in so long. But I couldn't cope with the fear of you rejecting me, saying that you don’t want to see me again and with fair reasons.

I know I don’t deserve you, or any kind of forgiveness you could give, but I swear to you, Y/N, I want to be there for you. I will be there for you, always”

You cried, you wanted to believe him, you really did “This is so fucked” You said as you broke into sobs.

Calum walked over you and wrapped you in his arms, hiding your face in his chest as you let your tears fall “I know”

“How can I trust you, Calum?” You asked him “I feel like you are pulling me and pushing me to the ends of my rope and every time it’s getting shorter and shorter and-”

“Then we can tie more knots between us,” He said with a shaky voice “We can make it longer, and then I can meet you halfway. Or I’ll walk towards you at the end and we’ll jump together, hoping we’ll fall together as well. Y/N, I’m so tired of running from myself and I know you are as well”

“How do I know you are not lying to me?”

Calum took a deep breath, you couldn’t. Even he couldn’t know that, but he did know one thing:

“Every word that I said to you is true. I do love you, so much it hurt to the point of me being scared of it. It took me nothing to figure out that I could never love someone as much as I love you, but you’re right in not to trust me” He said and you let out a little gasp “I hurt you, and I can promise myself I won’t do it again but I can only promise you I will try. The future is unclear, my love, nobody knows when their last day on earth will be. It took me so long to understand that and it made me think that, if today was my last day, I would rather spend it with you. Always you. And I know that the world doesn’t spin around me or you or even us; but all I could do, all I want to do is spend my time with you, be with you and let it be just us for a while. For forever”

“Life is so much more than that”

“But we could hope”

And with the faintest whisper of your heart, you felt like that was enough for now. For you, it was enough.

You tighten your grip on Calum, holding each other closer as you let your tears dry on his hoodie. His hands softly caressing the back of your hand as he rejoiced in the feeling of having you close again. Just as long as you were there, Calum knew he had nothing to fear, not even himself. It was the peace you brought to each other, the one that never left, the comfort of your embrace, and the familiarity of your bodies; everything fit perfectly right where it was supposed to be. You were right where you’re supposed to be.

You stayed wrapped around each other for a while until your limbs felt numb and you knew it was time to get back. This time the road back home was silent, but not the deafening kind. Calum had his hand placed on your knee as he drove you back. Neither of you needed to say anything, it was already understood. Soon enough, you fell asleep at the sound of his humming.

To go back to where you left it was not going to be easy, you both knew that, but that’s the thing with trust and relationships: you build them as you go and it will take the time it needs. You both need to heal after the break, but as long as he’ll be in it for the long run, you will be as well.

You woke up when you felt a pair of arms wrapped around you as the smell of his cologne flooded your senses. You reached your house without noticing and now Calum was carrying you inside your home and into your bedroom as you cuddled closer to him, grabbing his hoodie with your fist.

“What time is it?” You asked in a sleepy voice.

“6 A.M,” He said and chuckled as you lifted your head to inspect your surroundings, not really believing it until you saw the faintest daylight covering your room, making you sigh.

Calum put you down in your bed and tucked you in, giving you a soft kiss on your forehead as he mumbled a goodbye. But before he could pull away, you tighten your grip on his hoodie, making him stop in his tracks and bringing him back down to you.

“What are you doing?” He asked with a chuckle, softly caressing the side of your face and silently promising to himself that he would do it right this time, not letting anything bad happen to you ever again.

“Hoping,” You said, pulling him again. This time he didn’t hesitate to pull the covers up and slide down next to you, wrapping you in his arms as you accommodated yourself in his chest. “You’ll be here when I wake up?” You asked softly.

And before you closed your eyes to sleep, you heard “I’ll never leave again”

“I'm here for you

When the world is falling down

I'll be with you

When your world is falling down”

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338 notes · View notes

prettyyyboyluke · 3 years

Note

makeup sex with Calum?🥺🥰

y/n and calum were currently not speaking to each other. they had a very big fight which leads to y/n staying with her friend, zoey, until she cools off enough to see him again. she didn’t like fighting with calum, not one bit, but sometimes he was just too stubborn to see things a different way. the first night at zoey’s, y/n was a mess. she would switch between crying and yelling, almost banging her head against the wall a few times, but she didn’t luckily. the next few days were fine, she fell of out her routine with calum, which she didn’t like either, but she had told herself that she was not going to be the one to reach out.

calum, well, he didn’t know what to do without y/n by his side. he was always used to having her by his side the second he met her. it wasn’t normal for them to fight, so for them to be separated for a little bit was driving calum mad. he wanted so bad for his phone to ring and to see y/n’s name shining bright, but it didn’t, not once. he contemplated calling her, then he decided that that would be a bad idea, then he wanted to go see her at zoey’s, but that would make everything worse, so, his decision was, well he didn’t exactly have one.

“do you think it’s been enough time zo? i mean, i haven't spoken to him in three days! we’ve never gone this long without talking, even when he was on tour! we always found a way to talk.” y/n sighs. she ran her fingers through her hair, resting her elbows on her knees while she thought some more about what to do.

“i don’t know, ashton hasn’t exactly been giving me details on how cal is doing. but, i don’t think calling him would hurt,” she said, unsure of what to say. y/n nods, grabs her phone, and walks into the guest room that she’s been staying in.

she pulls up calum’s contact, thumb hovering over the call button, and hesitantly she presses it. as the ringing is going through, she’s chewing on her fingernails, and her leg is bouncing like crazy. she has no idea what to say, but all she knows is that she needs to hear his voice.

“hello?” calum answers. her heart stops for a second, trying to muster out some words.

“hi, uhm, h-how are you?” she practically whispers.

she can tell how calum is sitting through the phone. laying down, with his hands rubbing his eyes, thinking of what to say next. “i’m alright. i’d be a lot better if you came home.”

y/n sighs into the phone, knowing that he’s right. “is it okay if i did?” she knows it’s dumb to ask, but she really doesn’t know what he’s feeling.

“of course, pretty girl.”

“okay, i’ll be there soon.”

after the 20 minute drive, y/n finally shows up at their home. she sits in the car for a little, taking some deep breaths before grabbing her bag and walking inside. calum was waiting right on the other side of the door. she walks a few more feet in, putting her keys into the bowl and then facing calum.

he walks over to her slowly, putting his hands on her waist, and pulling her into his chest. she wraps her arms around his neck and squeezes him tightly. “i’m sorry,” they both say. he shakes his head at her, “no, y/n, i’m sorry. i should’ve never raised my voice at you like that. i just know that i don’t like sleeping without you next to me.”

“i’m sorry too, i don’t think i should’ve reacted the way i did. i’ve never yelled like that before in my life,” she whispers. y/n was just happy to be back in calum’s arms. “can you forgive me?”

“of course i can, pretty girl. i love you too much to stay mad at you,” he says, kissing her on her forehead. she leans up and kisses his lips, standing on her tip toes so she can get more of him. he grabs her hips and wraps her legs around his waist. he walks them over to the couch, setting her down gently.

her settles above her, making sure to keep one of his knees between her legs and the other hanging off the couch for balance. y/n moves down a bit so she can rut her hips against calum’s thigh. calum can’t take his eyes off of y/n, he follows her every move against him. y/n wraps a hand around his neck, bringing him down to her. her breath is hot against his neck with small moans coming out of her mouth every now and then. calum begins to mimic her movements with his thigh, making sure to be just as rough against her and she was with him.

“i want you.” she whispers. y/n quickly removes her shorts, letting them pile next to the couch while calum does the same. he finally slid himself into her cuasing her to let a string of moans out of her puffy lips. calum laced their fingers together and brought them above y/n’s head. he ducked his head down to kiss her again. calum’s tongue slipped passed y/n’s lips, making him swallow all of her sounds. the room filled with lewd sounds and it was music to calum’s ears.

y/n could feel her orgasm approaching quickly, giving her less time to warn calum. “cal, i’m gonna-” she was cut off with her body shaking underneath his, pleasure running through her veins. calum couldn’t help but moan with her. he continued thrusting his hips up into hers until he felt his high approaching.

“oh fuck, you feel so good, pretty girl.” calum finally moaned, feeling his orgasm. he stilled inside her for a moment, letting himself release. they both lyed there, catching their breath until they could talk.

y/n kissed calum one more time. “i don’t wanna fight again, but i do wanna have sex like that again.”

#anonymous #let's gossip !!#calum hood smut #calum hood imagine #calum hood preference #calum hood #calum #ch

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wendystales · 3 years

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Memories - lrh (Chapter Thirteen)

Memories (also on Wattpad)

Chapter Twelve ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ Chapter Fourteen

I position myself in the center of the panel, making the 104th pose that morning. Brandon guides me from one shot to the next, making everything easier.

Six makeups. Six hairstyles. Six changes of clothes, even though the focus was on my face. Why did I get into this?

The photo shoot was for a cosmetics brand, for which I was the cover girl. It wasn't a 7-headed bug, as I had been thinking all night, which resulted in an irritating insomnia. And even though I arrived shy and lost, when I saw my look all produced, I felt like a great hottie, which gave me the confidence to go to that studio and rock.

I was having fun, as Leah advised me. I threw my hair, made faces and danced. I shifted my attention between Brandon's camera and my cell phone, where Nico, one of the helpers, was filming behind the scenes and stirring up my social medias.

It's fun, but after the fourth change of clothes, I was exhausted. After all, that spotlight doesn't leave me and the light gets too hot.

“For you.” Nico hands me a pink lilies bouquet. I open a smile, confused.

The team that was with me today, the agency, the brand and my parents had already sent me some bouquets earlier today, congratulating me and celebrating my return to the fashion world. So whose would it be?

I hunt for the card, opening it in a rush. Nico rested his head on my shoulder, wanting to read along with me. The handwriting didn't make me doubt, they were Luke's.

“To make your day more beautiful.

Congratulations on your return.

Love, Hemmo.”

I open a smile completely shaken by that. I burst out laughing when I see under his name “and the rest of 5sos” written in a different hand.

I ask Nico to take a picture of me with the flowers and send it to him, who quickly responds with a Petunia figure with heart eyes. I know I need to drop the bouquet and go back to the photos, but it feels so difficult.

Finally, I leave the flowers to the dressing room and I focus myself. Brandon praises my goofy smile and begs me to keep it up.

I knew everyone wanted to come today and watch the photo shoot, but I begged so hard not to. If without anyone I was already terrified of, seeing everyone there, staring at me, I wouldn't leave the dressing room.

[...]

Leah and Kiki were at my house, getting ready for Ashton's birthday, and of course, to gossip. They were both super curious to know how my first shoot was and how I was feeling.

besides telling about work, I comment about Luke's flowers and, finally, I tell about yesterday's dreams that still haven't left my head, taking root in my mind, blooming when I least expect it and leaving me out of breath.

“Oh, you naughty one!” Hastings tosses me the pillow. "Are you going to tell him?" she sits up in bed.

“No! How do I tell this?” I question, not understanding.

“Luke, I remembered when we were like two pervert rabbits and we were always having sex in the corners. Simple.” Kiki shrugs, going back to making up her eyes.

“Kiki!" I reprimand her. I hide my face, laughing embarrassed. "We weren't like that…I think…were we?" I look quickly at both of them.

Kiki looks at Leah, holding back her laughter. The brunette stares at me in disbelief. Oh my God, we were! It takes time to sink in, because with Stephen, I avoided sex at all costs. It was so cold and awkward, that most of the time I was bruised and, in all cases, unfulfilled.

I remember the touch of the dream and how it felt so soft and intense, and so good. However, I still find it hard for me to have been so turned on that I started having sex everywhere.

“Are you sure?” I ask suspiciously.

"Oh, honey! I will have to tell you about my dad's birthday, have I?" Leah hugs me, making Kiki laugh.

"What about your father's birthday?" the same way I was feared of Luke when he started telling me about the day I threw up at his feet, I get with Leah.

“Well, it was my dad's 50th birthday. A big, big party and of course I invited all of you. We had just got back from Milan, you were away from Luke for a couple of weeks, so you’re kinda getting crazy by missing him.

"Make it crazy." Kiki comments.

“The plan was for us to arrive in the morning, you'd have time to see each other, and then in the evening we would go to the party. But our flight was delayed and you didn't have that time. So you decided to open the bathroom.” Leah gives a fake smile.

I took a few seconds to understand, and then I widen my eyes, wanting to sink into the ground. I can't believe we did this.

“Calm down! She didn’t told the best part”. Kiki leaves the bathroom, joining us.

“Oh, that's cool, is there a better part?” I look at them both desperately.

"Of course, there is a best part. Leah escorting you guys out of the bathroom" Kiki throws herself on the bed, laughing. “Oh God! Your faces were the best.”

“Was after that our friendship beat all the limits and you know, we got really close.” Leah smiles to me.

What was my problem? Oh Lord, I never, ever, in my all life, thought I'd give one of those. If anyone asked me, who would be most likely to do this, I would definitely say Leah, Kiki, and even Bethany, but I would never say my name.

What did Luke do to me?!

I look at my friends, shocked. They both start laughing, amused by my reaction. A few seconds later, I give up, starting to laugh too.

"Is there any other similar situation that I should know about?" I inquire with fear.

"Yes, but we don't have time right now." Kiki gets up from the bed, slapping my foot, asking me to get ready.

We turned on the music and continued to get ready. Leah goes down to the kitchen, returning with three beers. The subject changes and we start to gossip.

After hours of producing us, I come down wearing my silver sequin jacket, finding Leah with another beer in her hand.

“Well? Good? Great?” I take a stroll, showing off the leather pants and black tank top that valued my tattoo.

"I definitely would ask for your number!" she replies, making me smile.

"Do you think people will like it? I mean, isn’t that much?” I stop in a few poses while she watches me.

“Rephrase the question.” she leans against the table. I stare at her without understanding. “What you want to know is whether Luke will like it." I open my mouth a few times.

“Perhaps.” I answer softly. Hastings snorts, hiding her face.

“You two should pay for my therapy. Because it's not easy to take it.” she takes a deep breath.

I give a guilty smile. I head to the bar, grabbing a shot of tequila and flipping it quickly. I would find Luke in a few minutes and I still don't know how to face him. I close my eyes, letting the alcohol burn my throat and warm my body, along with the memories. The flashes come back to my mind, clear as water. I can hear the girls' voices again, telling them about Mr. Hastings' 50th birthday.

“Let's go?” Kiki's scream brings me back. Standing near the door, they wait for me to down another shot of tequila before we go.

Along the way, we took several photos, already moving our social medias. At the door of the restaurant, the swarm of paparazzi was already in place and as soon as we got off the car, they surrounded us. Hands and arms linked, the three of us entered, being saved by the huge walls that didn't let them see anything that happened inside.

We went to the back of the restaurant, in a more reserved space, where a long table took up half the back wall. Right away I spot Luke, laughing as he chats with Jack and another guy I don't recognize. I analyze your look, social pants and a black t-shirt.

How can someone look so beautiful, so simple?

I swallow hard when he notices our approach and looks directly at me. I look away, unable to hold on; the images screamed in my mind.

Irwin approaches, already quite excited, trying to hug the three of us at the same time. When Leah and Kiki go to greet the other guests, I calmly hug my best friend, congratulating him once more.

“Make yourself comfortable and behave” he leaves a kiss on my forehead, going to welcome other guests who have just arrived.

I turn in time to see Hemmings approaching, one glass in his hand and the other in his pants pocket. How? I hold my breath, giving a terrified smile. He opens his smile even more.

“Hey!” he says excitedly, close enough for me to hear. Those lips… what have they done… I close my eyes quickly, shutting my mind.

“Hey!” I answer awkwardly.

“How are you doing?” he hugged me, pressing a kiss to the corner of my mouth. I close my eyes again, feeling it radiate with amazing speed throughout my body. I let out a breath in a sigh. I manage to catch his eyes as he walks away, hiding a more mischievous smile.

“Well!” my cheeks catch fire and the jacket starts to bother me. "Thanks for the flowers earlier today." I thank, while Luke leads me to the bar. His hand firmly on my waist reminds me of that hotel room. I bite my lip, holding back the urge to bang my head on the counter. "A shot of tequila." I ask desperately.

Luke raises his eyebrows in surprise but says nothing. I turn it over without a single thought, asking for another one, just in case. The heat that spreads through my body is the result of three doses ingested. I take off my jacket and, through the bar mirrors, I see Luke shamelessly sweep my body.

“It was nothing!” he says after clearing his throat. "I'm glad you liked it. So, how was your first shoot?” he leans his elbow on the counter, propping his head on his hand, visually interested.

The effect of the alcohol starts to kick in, and so I feel lighter in his presence, not bothering with the memories between the two of us, nor the fanciful situations that my mind starts to create. I tell about the rehearsal and how fun it really was to do it. In the middle of the answer, I get enthusiastic, telling everything in minute detail. Luke looks at me smiling and interested, without interrupting me.

“I’m sorry!” I cover my eyes, laughing. “I'm talking too much.”

A few more people had already arrived, but the two of us were still there, sitting at the bar. The most interesting thing was, everyone who arrived didn't dare come here and interrupt us.

“No! I love hearing you talk.” he smiles before taking another sip of gin. I lower my gaze, totally ashamed.

"I think we'd better go sit down." I comment, seeing everyone settling into their chairs.

“Let's go?” he offers his hand, helping me off the stool. I hold into his arm, walking to the table. "Should I keep an eye on you today?" he laughs. I repress the urge to say yes, but that's not the answer to his question.

“No! I won't drink that much.” I press my lips together in a thin line, embarrassed by Ash's party.

We sat next to each other, with Calum and Noah in front of us. Luke leans his arm on the back of my chair and I'm not shy about getting close to him, even with everyone in our group staring at us curiously. We embarked on a lively conversation with everyone around us.

Michael rushes in and apologizes for being late, taking his seat next to Hemmings.

"Was she with her?" I hear Luke ask, taking my full attention.

“Yep!” Mike gives a shy smile.

“Who she?” I almost walk through the body of the australian beside me, wanting to get close to Mike.

“Nobody special.” he shrugs.

“Yeah! Go for it.” Hemmo lets go, laughing. Michael slaps him on the head.

“It's nobody special. Just a friend. I swear!" he closes the matter, but he doesn't convince me.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me about it." I whisper, complaining to the blonde at my side.

“Sorry, there was no time. Also, I didn't even know it could lead to anything.” he shrugs. I stare Luke, waiting him to continue, but he is easily distracted by the napkin holder. I slap his head like Mike. “Ouch! What was it?” he looks at me shocked.

“Tell me!” Luke turns to face me, rolling his eyes.

“Her name is Sophie. They met at a Fortnite stream. She beat him and he went to congratulate her on the match, so they started talking and apparently it’s hitting something.” Luke shrugs, finishing the story.

“This is so cute. I hope it works!” I see Michael laughing over Luke's shoulder. “Is she pretty?” I question.

“This is a dangerous question.” I look back at him, confused. "Is there a chance you slap me?" I laugh.

"No." I don't get why I would hit him for finding someone pretty.

“She is pretty!" I hit him. “Hey! You said I wouldn't be hitten.” he accuses me.

“Sorry, it's just funny.” I defend myself by laughing. Luke turns forward, annoyed. I wrap my arm around his, which were on the table and come closer, placing a kiss on his cheek. "Are you going to be mad at me?" I question laughing.

"And I can do it?" he turns to me. His eyes drop to my lips and mine to yours. It would be a perfect time for a kiss, but I don't feel comfortable with all these looks on us.

Hemmo seems to understand my internal battle and just leaves a kiss on my forehead. I open a grateful smile and once again guide my attention to the conversation between Noah and Brian.

After a couple of hours of eating and drinking. We started to spread out through space, forming several conversation circles. I was having a blast with everyone. We sing, dance and record videos that we'll definitely regret later.

After starting to eat, I stopped drinking alcohol, after all, trauma still reigns inside me. So I wouldn't feel like the only sober one at the party, Hemmings decided to join me, stopping drinking too.

Relieved, of course, is the word to describe this night with him. I thought it would be hard to look at it with everything I remembered, but it was so light and fun, I admit I freaked out over nothing. As usual!

All through dinner, I try not to pay too much attention to everyone's eyes on us. We simply could not do anything that someone just needed to die of love. Luke was amused, while I just wanted to sink into the ground.

Yes, I may have had a clue as to how much I feel about Luke, but I still want to take it easy. I want to be sure, and for that, I need to stop being afraid. I know he's been realizing how I've changed and I'm letting him get closer and closer.

Our kisses, touches and smiles. Everything is falling into place and the fact that he doesn't put pressure on me helps me a lot. I already totally trust him, it just makes stronger.

Considering it was easy to stay close to him, without letting the shame take me, I didn't pull him away for a second, because most of the time he pulled me along and I liked that. I like being close to him.

“One round. Just one round.” Jack pleads, hands clasped under his chest.

“No! I've had too much today.” Luke denies it again, making his friend fake a dramatic cry.

"You drank when you arrived. A beer and a shot of gin. That's nothing.”

“I'll drive later and I'm keeping Marnie company.” he squeezes me tighter to his chest.

"Can't you drink?" Jack looks at me confused.

“Of course I can, I just don't want to, you know, make a scene. Or something like that.” I shrug. Jack rolls his eyes, turning back to Luke.

“One round.” he begs, making me laugh.

The boys were preparing a round of Answer or Drink with 10 different types of drink. So, they played and still got drunk.

“No!” Luke responds with a laugh.

For a few seconds, I leave the two of them arguing and go to the table to get my coat. With the lack of alcohol, I start to feel the cold of the air conditioning. On my way to the table, a voice stops me.

“Look what a wonderful surprise.” I turn quickly, feeling all the blood freeze through my body. "What a coincidence, isn't it?" I watch his smirk, knowing what his presence there would do.

“What are you doing here, Stephen?” I take a breath deep, controlling the urge to fly at him. Just like I did with Pam.

It's the first time we've seen each other since the diary report and I couldn't feel more disgust and loathing.

“It's a public place, Lizzie, and don't worry, I didn't come chasing you. I'm with friends.” he points to a table. “I just came to say hello.”

“Don't call me Lizzie, you know I hate it and why don't you take your fake education and stick it in your…”

“What are you doing here?” Luke walks past me, coming face to face with Stephen. "I already told you to stay away from her."

Soon, all the boys approach, ready to intervene. I grab his arm, trying to keep him close to me.

“Let him.” I beg, not wanting it to explode in the middle of the restaurant.

“Calm down, Hemmings.” the name comes out acid and full of poison. “I just came to say hello to Lizzie.” he laughs, hands in his pockets. "Don't worry, I'm not kissing her."

I close my eyes, feeling that hit both of us. That's low, very low. Luke steps forward, taking me with him. Noah and Jack are already starting to put their hands between them. Ash, Mike and Calum begin to put their hands on their friend's shoulders, pulling him along.

“Do not worry. I'm not going to spend my time punching him. But I'll just say one thing, Stephen.” he uses the same acid tone to say his name. "In case you're still dumb enough not to understand. It’s over! What you and Marnie had is over! So stop coming after her, because she doesn't want anything to do with you. She is with me.”

His tone of voice and body postureme impress. I've never seen Luke like this, so nervous, holding back so he doesn't explode, the veins in his neck bulging, proving how much he's controlling himself. I tighten your arm more tightly around my body. I bring my hand down until it's entwined with his, deceptively hoping that it will calm him down and bring him back to me.

“Funny. Cause from what I heard, you guys broke up, didn't you? What? You couldn’t stood the cheat?” he laughs, like he's made a great joke.

I don't know if he intended to hit Luke again, but without realizing it the words hit me. My blood boils and the words written in my diary take shape in my mind. Damn imagination.

I let go of my hand, putting myself in front of Stephen, who takes a step back. His gaze, full of curiosity and mockery, fixes on me.

“That’s enough, Stephen! I don't care about you. Pretend I never called you, just like I was before the accident and disappear from my life. I know you cheated on me and I don't want this torment in my life anymore. Go away.” I let go of everything contained, trying not to fly off his neck.

"Are you really going to believe their bullshit?" Stephen crosses his arms.

“Nobody had to tell me. I remembered." I see his eyes lose their mocking sparkle and he lose confidence. It's a lie, but he don't need to know. “There are at least twenty people here and they all want to hit you, including me, who wouldn't mind breaking my cast on your head. So if you don't want to get out of here on a stretcher, get out!”

I take a step back, feeling my heart pound and trying my best to keep myself from crying. Luke's agitated breath pulses against my spine. I lean against him, feeling his hand intertwine with mine, squeezing it delicately. Amazing how I feel safer, just with that touch.

Stephen passes his eyes around everyone and walks away without saying anything else. When his body pulls away, I release all the air I didn't even know I was holding. The boys start telling us to go back to the table.

I turn, pulling Luke, who is still standing there, facing my ex, who is sitting at the table with a group of friends. He turns around, pulling me easily into his arms. His hands tighten around my waist and I feel him exhale against my neck, giving me goose bumps. I stroke the back of his neck, trying to calm him down and show him that everything is fine.

We walked back to the table, striving for the mood from before. Ashton orders his birthday cake and we ourselves lull into the music, excited, mocking Irwin. While we devoured the cake, no one broaches the subject and I thanks for that. I know Hemmings and I will probably talk about it, but I don't want to involve the guys in this.

Gossip reigns at the table again. The entire group is engaged in conversation about the most disastrous trips ever made, minus the blonde and me. I watch him with his jaw still set and his gaze filled with rage, fixed directly on Stephen, who is across the room, staring at me.

It's a cycle: Luke stares at Stephen, who stares at me, while I stare at Luke.

I feel terrible for making him go through all of this. My amnesia, our breakup, my ex's return. Lucas doesn't deserve any of this. I need to reward him, but how?

“Hey!” I whisper, resting my chin on his bicep, but he doesn't hear me. "I want to leave, will you take me?" I question, hoping to gain any sign of him.

He looks at me nonchalantly, then blinks back to reality. Luke stares at the bleached on the other side, wanting to see if he's still trying something. I drop a small kiss on his shoulder, gaining his attention again.

“Of course! Let's go?” I nod, getting up.

Nobody is opposed to our leaving, I believe as much because of what happened as because it was the two of us. We walked across the room hand in hand, and with me clutching his arm, just to make sure he didn't fly into someone.

But I need to remember that Luke is just as classy as I am. Not just for the fame or the spectacle it would be, but because he was brought up that way. Educated not to go into violence, even if there was someone on the other side who deserved to be slapped.

I'm scared by the frantic flashes that start to pop when they notice the two of us. I cling closer to Luke, who makes room for his car. The delay for the questions to start is just for them to reason that it was the two of us there, together, after announcing our break up.

I keep my head down, focused on his thumb moving up and down, stroking my skin. Luke opens the car door and I settle in, still feeling the flashbulbs burst above us.

With great difficulty, we got out of that sea of people. We remained silent until we reached the intersection of the main lane that led to my house.

“Do you want to go home?” he asks, softly.

I can't identify any feelings in your voice. He is neutral, indifferent. Apart from the isolated fact, this night has been amazing and I don't want it to end, not in this mood.

“No!” I turn in the seat, facing him. "Isn't there anywhere I'd love to go? Or that we both went a lot?” for the first time, I see a glint run through his eyes.

“Yeah! In fact, there are two.” he cracks a smile, causing me to smile too.

Luke takes the other path, heading to some place I couldn't even imagine. The subject comes up between us and so the mood softens. As we talk, I list a number of places I've always liked in Los Angeles, wanting to guess where it would take me.

We turn onto Wilshire Boulevard and I guess where we're going. Hemmo parks his car near the Urban Light and I look forward to getting out of the car.

Before we exit the vehicle, he pulls two caps from the glove compartment, giving me a dark gray one. I look at that accessory, wondering if it was always mine, if we always wore it when we went out.

“Why am I not impressed that this would be the first place?” I question, holding his hand.

By the time, the sculpture was a little empty, with only a few couples taking pictures. Luke and I went unnoticed, walking between those huge poles.

We walked around, with me admiring those lighted poles. I've always liked this sculpture, I've always found it romantic because so many people are proposed here, and I love the lighting.

“Oh no!” I push Luke, finding your phone pointed at me.

"This one got blurry." he laments, pointing again.

“Luke!” I exclaim laughing. I try not to scream so as not to draw attention to both of us.

“Sorry about my behavior at the restaurant.” Hemmings says after a while, surprising me. I lean against a pole, watching him.

“Why are you apologizing?” I frown. Luke leans against the same post, shrugging.

"I didn't mean to spoil your night." he answers.

“You didn't! If there is one responsible, it is him! Stephen knows he shouldn't have shown up there.” I comfort him.

His blue eyes meet mine. I take a step toward him, standing on tiptoe, reaching for his lips, leaving a simple kiss there. Without pulling away completely, I see a goofy smile appear on his face, which also appears on mine.

"What's our second place?" I whisper, next to him.

“My bed.” he lets go.

“Lucas!” I push him away, laughing again. His laugh is contagious. If he knew about the memories…

“Just kidding." Uh-hm… "Ready to get full of sand?" he asks, holding out his hand.

“Always!” I grabbed, leaning my head on his arm as we made our way to the car.

Follow me on Twitter: aquela_wendy

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geekygoddesss · 4 years

Text

The Boyfriend Tag [Calum Hood Edition]

Summary: an unfiltered interview featuring Calum Hood and his girlfriend.

Words: 4.7k

“Hello! I’m Calum Hood, from 5 seconds of summer” He greets to the camera.

“My name is (Y/n) and I am dating this guy. Today! we are going to be answering this tag thing” I answer in a more excited tone, as I point at the camera.

“The whole band has done it, it’s only fair I do it as well” He mentions “We’re currently at home, where we all should be” He says, looking at the surroundings of our sweet home “...so we have more than enough time to get to this”

I smile “And here it is”

�� _______

How did we first meet?

“Through friends” Calum explains shortly “it was nothing super special, sadly, she just happened to be friends with one of my friends and that’s how it happened” he shrugged.

There was really not much to tell, Our story simply happened in a very natural way.

“My friend invited me to LA and I met him in...If I’m not mistaken it was at a brunch party?” I explain.

“You’d be right” he nods “then a series of things happened and she ended up joining our team”

I smile to the camera “In case you didn’t know. I’m a music editor, I like producing and tweaking, so you could say we would see each other a lot” I shrug.

“And things happened, went on a couple of dates, did my magic…” he added, moved his fingers in front of the camera in a funky way and finished with a “...and here we are”.

Where was our first date?

“We went to a concert” I exclaimed, growing really excited at the memory “it was crazy, we literally started with a bang”

“Yep and it wasn’t planned at all” he laughs, rubbing his jaw with his hand as he spoke “I originally had the plan to go with Ashton to this Chainsmokers show, we wanted to take advantage of that to talk with Drew and Alex after, but Ashton got really sick and since I had the ticket and couldn’t just let it go to waste, I asked this beauty to go with me” he said, reaching over to squish my cheek.

I move away as an instinct, but I love it.

“It was awesome, those guys really put up a good show” I add, smiling as I spoke “I got really drunk that night”

Fun fact. I don’t know what came over to me the night of our first date, but for some reason, alcohol played a big part that night, it was embarrassing, but it was worth it. After all, we made a great memory out of it.

“Tell me about it” Calum said, rolling his eyes.

I blushed, but before he could say anything else, I swang over to him and covered his mouth “Shhh” I giggle, scotting over to his side “He kind of babysat me, sorry babe” I said, uncovering his mouth.

“Kind of?” he asked with a sarcastic tone “Geez, I can’t even answer to that. Next question, I don’t want to tell this story” he said, shaking his head.

I roll my eyes “Drama queen” I shrug “I got drunk and he had to take care of the rest, it was both fun and weird”.

“Next” he states, passing on to the next question.

What was your first impression of me?

I have to take a moment to answer this question, not because I don’t know what I like, but because I struggle remembering what exactly was that caught my attention. It only took me a few seconds to answer.

“My first impression of you was that you were really quite but still very present in the room” I speak first “it’s hard to explain, because we literally met in the middle of a conversation but basically” I try to explain, shifting a little in my place “I remember standing in one place and hearing stories from other people, I was completely not familiar with anything, I didn’t know any of them so everything they said was pretty much new, but you always had a fun insert to add, even though you barely spoken that was something that stood out for me a lot” I say, nodding towards him.

“Mine was more or less the same, actually” he says, acting surprised about my answer “because you’re always very quiet when being on a crowd and that stuff, you always stand back from having too much attention” he explain. “it’s funny because, the first day I met you I remember, I greeted you and all, we didn’t really talked to each other and I didn’t hear you talk either, however, when our food delivery came in the first thing I heard you say was ‘yo, I bet you can’t sniff of this paprika’” he says, a smile growing on his face, until full giggles starting coming out of his lips.

“Did you really had to say that on camera?” I sigh, acting annoyed, but I really wasn’t.

“It was hilarious” he says, still laughing.

I know this is a fact that kind of embarrass me, but watching laugh it off was completely priceless.

When did you meet my family?

“I met your family on the day you launched your third album” I start answering the question, as soon as he finishes reading. “it was such a big moment and you flew everyone in, it was the first time I ever got to interact with your mother and -well- everyone, as your girlfriend and not just a friend” I explain “also it was the first time I stayed over at your place for more than two nights”

“It was a extended pijama party” he mention, nodding at the camera with a serious look “no, uh, there’s a reason behind all that. When it came to this situations, I very much preferred for her to stay at mines while my family was in there than to have her alone at her apartment, so I took the chance” He shrugged, reaching over to pat my tight. “It was fun!”

“It was very fun” I nod agreeing “I love how your mom takes the lead in the kitchen and no matter what you say, she is the one in charge” I laugh, remembering all those discussion for who was the first cooking dinner at the house.

“Mom doesn’t love my cooking” Calum admits with a sigh.

I nod “I don’t know why, if I’m honest” I add“She makes some exceptional fish and chips though, it’s just...”

I have to close my eyes to add some drama into all these. I loved food, and that was definitely one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time. I knew Cal’s mom loved to cook, and it was an honour for me to try her meals, they were heaven on earth.

“Yeah I know” he chuckles “How did I meet yours?” he asks to himself and sighs “I didn’t”

My jaw tenses a little, I don’t know how I didn’t see this coming but I didn’t care at all.

“I’m an orphan, don’t cry for me, I’m fine, I don’t need to talk about it” I state, moving over to his side and hugging him “you are my family”

He smiles softly at me. “Yes I am, baby” he says kissing my forehead. “Next”

Who said “I love you” first?

“Eh...I did” I admit, with a shy smile on my face “guilty” I add, raising my hand.

“She did” he seconds, pointing at him. “it was adorable”

That phrase made me cringe for some reason. Not that I denied it wasn’t adorable, it was just some awkward moment that I came out of me and I still feel unsure of. I am not often the one who speaks up, so doing this was pretty ballsy.

“Was it?” I ask, unsure “It was too soon, I dont know...”

“It was alright, really” he says, shaking his head and going over to rub on my arm a little “we were having one of our famous, drink and watch, where we watch movies and every time something specific happens, we drink a shot” he starts telling the story, also making the fun add on of our usual date nights.

“And I was like, woooh woooh” I say, trying to imitate that very moment. I lean over him, and leaning my head too close to his, I press my head on his cheek and whisper “I loaf you, Cayum” making it coming out as a loud muffled sound.

“God dammit” he giggles moving away just a little “I mean, it did sound like that, but it was cute and I said it back” he says, rounding his arm around my shoulders and pulling me closer.

“At first I felt weird because I thought I shouldn’t have said it right there at that moment, but if I’m honest” I add “I was fine”

“We were fine” he continues, leaning in to kiss my temple “more than fine”

What dressing do I always wear?

I look at him up and down. It’s kind of funny, because with this whole situation, we both happen to be in our pajamas, so our dressing code has been turned around for the moment. My vision of what he could be wearing on the daily has been distorted.

“Pfff” I sigh “I don’t know, I really don’t” I confess. “You are very weird with fashion, I must say, I don’t think you often wear the same thing” I say, looking over at him.

“I sure do, I can think of a couple things” He says, smiling at me with a teasing smile, silently encouraging me to think.

“Well, you do wear hoodies often, at home mostly” I say, being the first thing I can think of

“Like this one, actually, it’s like your morning hoodie” I giggle, reaching over to tug on the hood.

He was wearing that very soft white hoodie he would reach over to every morning, if there was a little bit of a breeze out there. She loved it, it was a nice piece of clothing to hug him in.

“There you go, see?” He chuckles, shaking his head “Mine is easy because every day of your life you wear socks that reach your ankles and beyond” He smiles, looking down at my feet and staring at my socks.

“Ding ding ding!” I celebrate, smiling at him “You are so right!” I laugh.

He nods, he knows he was right.

“Show the public, please” he suggests, giving me the honours.

“I have pineapples today” I say, lifting my foot as much as I can and holding it up to the camera. “Yesterday I had dogs and I have all kind of patterns, I love collecting socks” I smile, looking down at the pretty pattern and admiring it.

“It’s a fun thing to collect, I like it a lot actually” He admits, staring at it too “Do you have your 5SOS socks already?” he asks, as I lower my leg to its previous position.

I roll my eyes “Oh, shut it” I groan, he breaks to laugh and he knows why. “you didn’t let me design socks for your merch, now I don’t want anything” I say, scooting away from him

“Right” he laughs, shaking his head and laughing “Next question”.

Weird habit of each other?

“I know one of yours” he says before I can even answer. He turns to me, looking at me with a mysterious smile. “I’m going to leave it at your choice, should I tell or should I not?”

I look at him with the same look he gives to me, trying to see in him what he had in mind. I might have some weird habits, I was just hoping he wouldn’t pull out the worst.

“Shoot” I say, glaring at him.

“Everything you do, you find a way to relate it to a meme” he says, looking straight at me and laughing as he speaks “I don’t even know how you do it, you just do”

“Oh man! that’s not that bad, but I wasn’t expecting that at all” I laugh as well, finding it kind of funny that we went in with this one “I don’t think you have a bad habit, but, if I must say one, I would say your silence” I say slowly, not really sure if that even count. “you are one quite soul, Cal” I add, bumping our shoulders together

“Am I?” He says, raising an eyebrow up as he spoke.

I nod “It’s like, sometimes I ask you something and you just do this” I explain, resting my head over my chin and looking straight at him, saying nothing but still saying much. “I’m not a mind reader, pal” I mumble, still looking at him.

He leans over and touches my forehead with his, looking at me straight in the eyes and mumbling. “You should know what it means”

I roll my eyes. “Uh huh”

He would never admit his silence was weird, but that’s okay, it was something of him that I really liked.

How long have we been together?

“Almost two years” Calum says, his voice sounding sort of surprised as he spoke.

“It doesn’t feel like two years, how scary” I add, leaning my head on his shoulder “I feel like time really flies lately, these past two years between working with you, having all these changes and moving to this city, I felt like it’s only been a couple months” I mention, reflecting about all of the little things that have led us to this moment.

“That happens when you’re having fun baby”

I smile, bumping my shoulder to his “It’s been the best two years, I hope you know that”

What was our first road trip?

“Here’s the thing” he says, taking the lead “We often do small road trips to little parts of the city, so I would dare to say our first road trip together was... Mexico?” he says, looking at me in doubt.

“I think so, I’m not sure” I say, thinking about it as well. “but I think our most special trip was not even a road trip, it was a full on trip, remember?”

He frowns a little, turning to look at me looking for more clues. I didn’t gave more information away, if he knows, he knows.

“Which one?” He asks, still thinking about it.

“The first trip we did together, we were around 8 months, I would say” I say, still maintaining the mystery, until I decided to drop it. “We went to Australia, made a stop for three days and then New Zealand” I explain.

“Oh that’s right! yeah, you are right” he nods energetically at my answer. “We went visiting my family and exploring, it was a whole deal” he explain, now with a smile on his face.

“I think that even counts as a road trip, we used your uncle’s jeep, visited some awesome places” I say, smiling as well “I loved it, I always wanted to go to Auckland and having the chance of exploring the city was the best thing ever”

He nods, agreeing with me. That particular trip was the first trip we ever did together as a couple and it was worth every second.

“I had fun too, it was a very special time” He agrees. “Fun fact, a song came out of that trip, and you would never guess which one, but if you do, let me know and I might tell a story” He states, pointing at the camera, and looking at it with a completely serious look.

“Please do, guess” I chuckle at that statement “That story is going to fuck me up”

First thing you noticed about me?

“Now this is a question I like a lot” Calum states, sitting up straight and getting excited about his answer “Here’s the thing, the first time I met you was on this brunch thing and it was... a private event” he starts “it was interesting because in this event they had like a whole dancing thing, musicians, a DJ... the thing is, there was a particular moment of the event where they were playing jazz and the way she lost it while listening to that... that was priceless” he noticed, smiling at me “the way you lose yourself with music it’s something I won’t ever get tired of” he said in honest words.

That statement made my heart warm up. Those were one of the most adorable things he had ever said to me.

“Thank you” I said, with a hand on my chest. “The first thing I noticed about you is how good you are with words” I said, as part of my answer “I think some people, especially guys, sometimes come out as assholes when they want to cause a good impression, but surprisingly, he was the first guy who when he first came up to me, I felt comfortable” I shrug, looking at the camera and smiling softly.

There was really not much to say, I felt like my answer said a lot.

Calum smiled softly at me and reached my place, and while he caught me in his arms he mumbled “Come here”.

And then we fall onto the floor, as we washes me in kisses.

Tell us a fun fact about you

We both stare blankly at different points as we think of an answer. It should be easier than this, but for some reason, it is being more difficult than we thought to come up with a good answer to fill in this question. We could say so many things, but none of them would be the most appropriate one for this.

“Fun fact” I start, after our moment of silence “the first time we kissed, very first time, I was really drunk, but I would say, it wasn’t that noticeable or at least that’s what I thought”

I see Calum notices what I am saying right away, because once I start my story, his face goes from a frown to a surprised expression very quickly. Suddenly everything taking a bit of sense for him.

“I know where you’re going” he says, shaking his head.

“He asked me how it felt, like the kiss, how I felt about it” I continue “and I said ‘Ew’”

I wish I could help it, but everytime I tell a story like this, I can’t help but breaking to laugh, without having enough control over myself. I almost have to lay back, because I am laughing so much I can hardly sit still, but I don’t do that, I just hold on to my boyfriend and do my thing. I was such a fun story, the embarrassing part of it worn off completely by how funny it was.

“That was the most discouraging moment of my life” He explains, joining as well into my little laughing fit and shaking his head.

“I know, I’m sorry” I said, cleaning a small tear off my eye “I didn’t mean it! I was drunk, plus, I think I say ew and ouch out of its context more times that I could count” I mention.

“Now, that is very true” he says, laughing as well as he turns his look back at the camera and mumbles “Next question”

Tell us a secret

“No” Calum says.

So we move on to the next question.

What am I good at?

“She’s excellent at cooking the best things in the worst times” Calum explains as soon as he’s given the chance “and what I mean by this is that, most of the time when there’s a storm or, just like a month ago, we were confined and she would do deserts like everyday, It was so good I would forget for a second about what was surrounding me” He admitted, looking at me for a second before going back at the camera.

“I’m glad you like it” I smile, suddenly feeling very excited. “I do instagram lives every time I cook, It’s a lot of fun” I add.

He nods “You see me in the back, like, ‘what’s that white spongy thing?’” he mentions, making a weird voice just for laughs.

I giggle. “What’s that white dust on the table?” I follow, completely being aware of the double-sense.

“Is that mint? Or cilantro?” He adds.

“Oh geez” I laugh, at that last one. “People roast me in the comments all the time, because I make stuff like, burritos, or maybe chicken teriyaki, and then you come over and can’t eat anything” I roll my eyes, shaking my head at the camera.

He presses his lips together at my mention and nods.

“I don’t eat meat” he mentions, shrugging “but I don’t mind at all, I don’t care if you eat meat”

I nod “I always prepare like one ratio and leave some for if you wanna try, but…” I shrug “I wouldn’t tease you into it”

“I know babe” He says, going to reach my cheek and pinch it.

I move away from his touch as I say “I’m not even going to answer this so… next!”

Favorite feature about each other?

“His face is the stretchiest ever” I say with excitement in my voice.

Without a doubt, I get up and walk right behind him, because I just need to do something. It's a necessity, this is something I do on the daily, showing the public was something I wanted to do so badly.

“Look at this” I said, placing my hands on his cheeks and squishing them…stretching… squishing… stretching… squishing… I had so much fun.

“I have so much fun doing this, it’s like playdough in my hands” I say, caressing my boyfriends face.

“Okay, alright” he laughs, taking my hands away from his face. “My favourite thing is this” he says, still holding onto my hands and suddenly tugging on them hard.

Before I even noticed, he was grabbing both of my arms together, and with great skill, he pulled my whole body over his shoulders, and as he got up from his seat and walked back.

“What?!” I yelled loudly “Put me down!”

He does as I said, and as he walked to the back of the room, he let me down right beside him.

“She’s so tiny” he laughed, ruffling my hair playfully “I can carry her in my bag”

I rolled my eyes “No, I’m not” I whined “Stop”

He laughed again, and as he lifted his arm, and rested his elbow on my head. “See this (Y/n) to Calum ratio” he mocks “I’m half a person”

“Perfect size” I giggle, pushing him aside playfully. “Now that you’ve exposed my height, can we keep going please?” I say, almost begging.

If we kept going with this, I could easily turn from funny to not so funny anymore.

What do we argue about the most?

Once again, we stay quiet for a good second, but not because we don’t know, it’s because there was really not an specific answer we could give. I don’t we even knew what to say.

“I would say, the majority of times, we argue for the most dumb things you could imagine” I say, answering for the both of us “But about serious things, it’s something very rare” I shrug.

“I think our trending topic when discussing about something, it’s about me misspelling words when writing, and her losing it” he says, pointing at us and totally throwing me a look.

“Dude” I sigh “Because then people will read and take it the wrong way, not cool” I argue.

“It doesn’t matter, you just explain” he shrugs, completely not caring.

“You need to listen, that’s what you need to do” I roll my eyes “Read a book, punk” I let out.

His eyes widen at my answer. “Oh is that it?” He says looking at me directly.

I crack a smile, going to hug him, before he thought I was serious about this. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding” I let him know.

I would never tell him something like that on purpose.

Nicknames for each other?

I sigh. “Sadly, I don’t have anything other than Cal, and all the regular sappy nicknames” I shrug “I know I’m terrible, sue me, I don’t care”

I speak honestly, all super creative nicknames were over thought and they could be weird sometimes. I was too classy to use anything overly new.

“That’s mean, because I do have a couple of names for you” he mentions “Sweetie pie, Baby… The others I can’t reveal” he says slowly, patting my thigh with his hand.

my nose scrunches “Why?” I ask.

“They’re very confidential, you should know that” he says, shaking his head.

I shrug. “If I’m honest, I don’t know” I giggle “But I’ll keep the secret if that’s what you want”

He smiles, and leaving kiss on my cheek, we move on to the next question.

Complete this sentence “You’re my……..”?

“Oh, this is the famous question” he says after reading the question out loud. A smile cracking on his face as he looked at me.

“Was there a famous question?” I asked, raising my eyebrow.

“All the guys were talking about this one, I’m sure you guys are enjoying this” he smiled at the camera and pointing at It. “Luke’s girl cried” he mentioned to me.

My eyes widen “Did she?” I say, my mouth forming a pout “Oh man, I haven’t seen that” I sigh “You first”

He nods, already knowing that he would be the one taking the lead first.

“You are my saviour” he says, going to grab my hand. “I know it might sound sappy and you hate it, but it’s the truth. Before you I was a lonely guy, even when I had friends, I still felt pretty lonely, and I really appreciate the fact that I found someone who I can talk to, share moments… someone who I can lean on, It’s something that really gets me thinking… If it wasn’t for you, I would be sad” he says, pressing his lips together as he looked at me.

“Really?” I asked in a whisper. He nods. “Cal…”

I wish I could keep it together, but hearing him say something like this… I’m front of a camera. It doesn’t seem like a big deal, we’ve been in these kinds of situations before, but right now, it felt different, and it felt special.

“No, baby, don’t” he chuckles when sees my eyes starting to Glow. “See?” He tells the camera with a smile.

“I don’t even know what to say…” I sigh, shaking my head “You’re my partner” I say smiling. “Probably sounds weird, because it’s obvious, but I mean it, you’re my best friend, I love spending time with you, I always look forward to be with you and have you by my side, I can tell you everything and I trust you more than anyone, I think being with you is without a doubt, the best decision I have ever taken in my life” I admit.

The grin on his face is a real one, and once I finish with my words, he gives a squeeze to my hands, and leaves a kiss in both of them.

“Come here, baby” he whispers, pulling my into his arms. “I love you, I love you, I love you” he says, kissing my cheek a lot.

“You’re squishing me” I laugh “I love you so much, a million times, more than you do”

And more than he could imagine…

_____

“So, this was our version of the girlfriend and boyfriend tag, I hope you enjoyed” I say first, as I smiled to the camera.

“We also hope this brought you enough entertainment during this time, we for sure had a good time doing it” He continues for me, waving at the camera. “Until the next time, and remember to stay safe, bye!”

With this, we both lift our hands, and wave energetically at the camera, we turn of the camera, and our version of this tag was completed.

It was a wrap!.

#calum hood imagines #calum hood blurb #calum hood blurbs #calum hood x reader #luke hemmings imagines #michael clifford imagines #ashton irwin imagines #luke hemmings blurbs #ashton irwin blurbs #michael clifford blurbs #5sos fanfic #5sos blurb #5sos blurbs

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thecurlsofgod · 4 years

Text

Friendship Test || Tom Holland

Fandom: Tom Holland (feat. other ones, partially)

Pairing: Tom Holland x actor!reader (PLATONIC)

Word Count: 1112

Warnings: Swearing; Tiny sexual innuendos; Mentions of other celebrities (Ashton Irwin, Joshua Bassett, Will Smith); Mostly dialogue (I’m not kidding, this is literally almost all talking. To keep you guessing ;); MORE VERY VERY BAD WRITING (read at your own risk)

Okay! Two fics in two days, go me!

I was thinking I could make a spin-off of blurbs/one-shots with the celebrities mentioned in this (not so much Will). I don’t know, it’s still in the thought process.

Also, sorry the reader and Tom aren’t together in this. If I do make spin-offs (which I probably will), you’ll have, like pre-made relationships, so you can request your own situations with them.

I took most of this from the friendship test Glamour did with Niall Horan and Lewis Capaldi.

Hehe another thing, I don’t usually blur out cursing, but since it’s an interview, I did. !!! More Author’s note at the end !!!

____

BOLD = Interview

Italics = Tom

Normal = Reader/Y/N

"Hi, I'm Y/N Y/L/N."

"And I'm Tom Holland."

"And we're taking the Glamour friendship test." You both say at the same time, causing you both to laugh.

"In case you don't know, I play Marcy in Spies In Disguise-" You start, only to be interrupted by Tom.

"And I play Walter. Our characters have no relationship between each other whatsoever, but Y/N and I have been friends for years, so when Glamour asked us if we wanted to do a friendship test we were like, 'Hell yeah!'"

"So now here we are... taking a friendship test. This test right here determines whether we are true friends or not. It's kinda scary if you think about it."

"My palms are sweaty." Tom wipes his hands on his pants.

***

Y/N [FRIENDS WITH TOM]

TOM [FRIENDS WITH Y/N]

"I'm going to ask you a bit about your friendship with Tom."

"Mmmkay. We met when I was living in London. I had to play his love interest in a film. It was honestly my least favorite film I've ever been in. The plot was great, the script was great, my character was great, but the fact that my love interest was being played by Tom... hated that. Absolutely hated that."

"Okay, wow. That was fucking rude."

"Oh my god, Tom. You can't just cuss on here."

"What's one of your fondest memories of each other?"

"Mine is a time we got drunk together. Now, I'm an emotional drunk. That's fine, you know? Everyone has their baggage, but Y/N here-"

"Tom noooooooo..."

"-but Y/N here is a very... crazy drunk?"

"I hate you so much. So, so, so, so much."

"It was honestly scary. Y/N's boyfriend was there. His name is Ashton. Ashton Irwin of 5 Seconds of Summer, their new album CALM is out, stream it, sorry I'm getting distracted, but anyways Ashton was there and... and, uh, If Walls Could Talk came on and Y/N here got a little too excited."

"Now, I know that this really shouldn't be said on the Internet, but Y/N doesn't care- Y/N, you don't care, right?'

"Yes, I care very m-"

"See, she doesn’t care. As I was saying, If Walls Could Talk came on, right? Y/N here decided to take her shirt off. Listen, I'm a man, I am a male, I enjoy a little strip show now and then, but to see it with your best friend who is in a committed relationship is kinda horrifying."

"Ashton had to drag her out of the house- and I swear that Y/N was, like, shitface drunk. It was like she didn't even realize she was in a room full of people when she did it. Great memory."

"Haha, super fucking funny."

"Who's cussing now?"

"Shut up. Anyways, my favorite memory would have to be when we did this homemade music video thing? My other friend, Joshua- Joshua Bassett, did this with his cast on High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. They did, like a music video to Bang Bang by Jessie J and when I saw it I was like, 'Tom we should totally do this!'"

"So, we did. But instead of Bang Bang, it was... Telephone by Lady Gaga featuring Beyoncé. And it was honestly just a really fun thing to make, and... yeah."

"That is a nice memory."

"Yeah. Notice how I didn't pick one just to embarrass you?"

"Hey, I can't choose what my favorite memory is."

"Fuck you. I should have done this with Will instead."

"Oh, like Will would ever take a friendship test with you!"

"You'd be surprised."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

***

EXERCISE ONE | GIVE EACH OTHER COMPLIMENTS

"This is gonna be hard."

"I hate you so much, you don't even understand."

"Trust me, I know."

"Ummm... You have a great style. Like, your style is way better than mine-"

"Everybody's style is better than yours."

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Go on."

"That's actually all I have for you."

"Oh really?" "Yeah."

"Okay, Tom.. you have a nice accent. It's really, you know, British?"

"You got a thing for guys with accents then?"

"Don't fucking talk to me after this ever again."

"Gladly."

"That compliment was a lie by the way. I just wanted you to know."

***

EXERCISE TWO | HUG FOR ONE MINUTE

"You guys are trying to kill me aren't you?"

"Did you guys talk to Ashton about this? Did my boyfriend agree to this?"

"You act like we haven't hugged for longer than a minute."

Tom steps closer to you and wraps his arms around your somehow smaller frame.

"The worst part is that he gives good hugs."

"You know how many people would kill to be in your position?"

"None"

***

EXERCISE THREE | MIRROR EACH OTHER'S DANCE MOVES

"Nah. Fuck this."

"This is gonna be good."

You watch Tom do a backflip. In return, you get on your knees (luckily you were wearing pants for this promo day) and do a summersault.

"That's the best you're gonna get."

***

EXERCISE FOUR (THE FINAL EXERCISE) | TRUST FALLS

"I don't like this." You say as Tom steps behind you.

"Just do it. Just close your eyes... and fall."

"I don't what the fuck you just said to me, but never say it to me again."

"Can't you tell that we're best friends?" Tom says to the camera.

"I hope they can't. I hope they can see how much I hate you."

"Oh my god, just fall already."

You close your eyes and cross your hands over your chest for dramatics.

"Catch me or die."

"R.I.P to me then."

You're hoping that he's joking because as soon as you say that you're falling, and then you're caught. You get up with Tom's help and fix your shirt.

"Good move. Your turn."

Tom watches as you move behind him.

"Same goes for you. If you drop me, I'll hurt you."

"Good thing I like pain."

And then Tom is falling. You're standing at the perfect angle behind him to catch him, but you don't feel anything. You're confused for a nanosecond until you hear a heavy thump.

"What the fuck, Y/N?"

"Why would you fall forwards? Who the fuck falls forwards?"

"I fucking do! Where the hell were you?"

"Well, I was standing behind you. Ready to catch you, and then you fell forwards like a fucking idiot on America's Funniest Home Videos."

***

"Thank you guys for watching."

"Yes, thank you! Although it looks like we hate each other, we promise you we are best friends."

"Please watch Spies In Disguise, in theaters now and subscribe to Glamour's youtube channel."

***

Anyways, as I was saying before... you can send me situations with the characters in this (Tom, Joshua, and Ashton) or even throw in some new celebrities and I can make spin-off oneshots from this universe. I hope that makes sense because it didn’t to me.

#tom holland #tom holland imagine #tom holland fluff #tom holland x actress!reader #ashton irwin #ashton irwin imagine #joshua bassett #joshua bassett imagine #i write sometimes #i write for tom sometimes

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junglxqueen · 3 years

Text

Just Friends

Word count: 1516 Chapter 1 ¨Ugh.¨ I complain as I flop onto the couch and cover my eyes with my arm. I am dead tired, fed up with life, and with a terrible headache. We just got back from a magazine interview and I swear, the girl asking the questions was irreverent. Apart from the fact that she kept asking about our personal lives, she made a lot of out-of-place insinuations that made me want to break her operated nose with a punch (I clarify that I wasn´t going to do it, just wanted to.) Isn´t our work interesting enough? Ashton enters the room banging on the door frame, and then absolutely everything he sees, playing drums. For some reason unknown to me, he is bursting with energy. Calum follows, relaxed and with a bottle of water in hand. ¨Ash .. please be quiet.¨ My words have no effect on him, so he proceeds to drum my forehead, to which I respond with a groan and try to hit his hands. ¨Ashton stop, she's about to bite you. Besides, Luke is coming.¨ As if he was called, Luke and Michael appear at the door. ¨Don't do what because I am coming?¨ He asks as he walks up to me and leans down slightly to put a kiss on my forehead, to which I smile slightly and remove my arm from my eyes to see him. "Paugh," Calum says jokingly, pretending to be disgusted. ¨I told Ashton not to bother your girlfriend because you come and beat him up.¨ Luke raises an eyebrow at Ashton but he quickly raises his hand as if saying ¨I didn´t do anything¨ and sits on the sofa in front of me. ¨We are not in a relationship.¨ We say at the same. Since I've been in the band (which was practically two or three months after it was created) they don't stop annoying us with it, in fact, I think it's their only source of fun. Calum raises his eyebrows, looking at us and making a "yes, sure" gesture. ¨What's wrong with you anyways?¨ Michael asks, lifting my legs to sit on the seat I lie on. Everyone´s eyes land on me. ¨I have a headache, I want to sleep, I'm hungry and I want to punch that journalist.¨ I grumble under my breath and Ashton snorts. ¨She was so annoying, don't even remind me.¨ Says him. I see Luke walking to his backpack and looking for something in it. ¨Right?!¨ I exclaim. Bad idea, I feel a stitch in my head, so I groan again and cover my eyes. ¨And every single thing she implied, I think she even gave Luke her number.¨ When I hear that, I can´t avoid to raise my arm curious, Calum sees the gesture and laughs. ¨Don't worry.¨ He shows me a folded piece of paper from his pocket. ¨I have it, he gave it to me as soon as we got out of the place.¨ I smile at him in appreciation for the information and Luke comes back with a pill in hand. ¨Here, for the head.¨ He looks at Calum and gestures to his water, to which he nods and hands it to him. Luke passes it to me. ¨Thanks.¨ I smile at him as I sit up, grabbing what he gave me, I swallow the pill with some water and I give it back to Calum, murmuring a thank you and lying on the sofa again. ¨There was a point where I wanted to stand up and leave.¨ Mike says to which Ashton seconded. ¨Why did not you do it? I swear to you, I would´ve got up and left with you.¨ Luke answers, sitting on the armrest of the sofa and gently stroking my hair. ¨Because it was going to look bad, apart from the fact that we were live and I didn't even want to hear Kevin's complaints later.¨ Kevin, our Manager. I nod remembering it, I swear they are infinite, and I would of know. I think I'm the one that he yells at the most. And speaking of the King of Rome, Kevin Baker himself enters the door, speaking on the phone. Seeing us all there, he frowns and tells the person he's talking to, to wait a second. ¨People, it's 4:40 p.m., may I know what you're still doing here? At 6:00 we have to be at the stadium, and the stadium is about an hour and a half from here. I thought you guys left a long time ago.¨ I decide to get out of this and stay quiet, my head still hurts as if it is being hammered, although Luke's caresses help a little, they are not enough, and I think the pill didn´t kick in yet. ¨Sorry Kev, we

finished the interview a little later than planned and Ann's head bursts, so we thought it was okay to rest for a second. '' Kevin looks down from Luke to me, worried. ¨Does it hurt a lot?¨ I make a gesture with my head ¨more or less¨ ¨And have you already had something?¨ I nod. ¨Great, then you'll be good as new in thirty minutes. Let me know if you don't, we'll see what to do next. Meanwhile, you two.¨ He turns to Michael and Ashton. ¨Your car is leaving at any second now, I want you both inside.¨ They nod and Michael lifts my legs so he can stand up and carefully puts them back in place. ¨See you.¨ Ashton says, patting Luke on the shoulder as he walks past, and Michael pats me on the leg and gives me a "Good luck" before leaving the room. ¨Great, now Calum, can you take these boxes to his car?¨ He points at some boxes behind him that we used for the photo session before the interview. Cal nods, puts his bottle aside and takes the boxes carefully, exits without another word. ¨Great, now, Luke the bags ...¨ ¨Yes, in a few minutes we will go and I´ll take the bags.¨ Luke cuts him off, earning a frustrated look from Kevin. ¨Luke, we're late, I need you to take those bags to the car, so we can leave now.¨ To which he simply nods and repeats that we would be there in a few minutes. Kevin stares between the two of us and lets out a resigned sigh. If he has learned anything in all these years, it's that when it comes to me, it's impossible to reason with Luke (or vice versa). ¨Okay, but hurry up.. no more than five minutes.¨ He says with a warning look, to which Luke smirks and nods. Kevin just shakes his head and taking one of the bags, leaves the room, back on the call. ¨You heard it little one.¨ He murmurs, lifting my head to sit there and place it on his lap, he leaves caresses in my hair again. ¨A few more minutes, I just want peace, before all the screaming and the rush to get ready.¨I murmur with the same tone of voice, looking into his eyes. He nods, agreeing with me. ¨Okay, a few more minutes.¨ He remains silent, leaning his head against the back of the sofa and releasing a sigh. He was tired too. I understand, so I take the hand resting on my stomach and I start to play with his fingers. After a minute of silence, I can't help the question that escapes my lips. ¨So she gave you her number, huh?¨ He automatically lowers his head and looks at me amused. ¨Jealous?¨ He asks raising his eyebrow, to which I immediately shake my head. ¨Never, I just wanted to know. Why did you give Calum the number? She looked pretty." Sure, pretty, even though she was a tremendous pain in the butt. He smiles and shakes his head. ¨Nah, I wasn't interested, her attitude left a lot to be desired. Besides, having such a pretty person next to me, how can I look at someone else¨ ¨Who? Mike? Look at you, I didn't know about those interests.¨ I joke as he rolls his eyes and playfully tugs on my hair. ¨You know who I mean, silly. The only pretty girl there was you.¨ I just laugh and roll my eyes, a little flushed. ¨Shut up, or I´ll believe it.¨I murmur and hear a voice from outside that yells "GUYS! IT´S TIME!¨ I let out a sigh and sit up. ¨There goes our peace.¨Luke murmurs, getting up too and holding out his hand. "Let´s go?" ¨Let´s Go.¨ I answer, taking his hand and going out. Sometimes it is nice to have these moments of tranquility between the tours´ madness and hustle and bustle. They are really small, but I enjoy them so much that I treasure them in my heart. By the way, Luke forgot about the bags, after twenty minutes on the road we remembered and had to come back for them again, listening to Kevin's scolding. We were late, and we almost drove the stylists crazy, but we made it and that's what matters.

#luke #hemmings #luke hemmings #calum #hood #calum hood #ashton #irwin #ashton irwin #luke fanfic #luke hemmings fanfic #fanfic #5sos fandom #luke 5sos #calum thomas hood

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mulletcal · 4 years

Text

words with friends - ashton irwin blurb.

a/n: okay so i got this dumb idea when i saw lau ( @sexgodashton )’s tags on this post pls forgive me

word count: ~1.8k

warnings: none

****

At first, Ashton thought that the lockdown with his 14-year-old niece wouldn’t be so bad - he’d have someone to talk to, crack jokes with, and binge Netflix with. But about a week into them being told they couldn’t leave the house at all is when things started to get a little rocky.

“Uncle Ash, your WiFi is the absolute worst. This is the 10th time it’s buffered for this episode of Peaky Blinders. It’s too much,” she sighed, pausing the TV so that she could turn to him, “You need to look into getting a better service provider.”

Ashton frowned, glancing up from the game he had just lost on his phone, “Is that why I just lost this game of Words with Friends against Calum?”

“Probably! You both have terrible WiFi - so it was one of you,” On her screen, Ashton could see her looking up potential service providers that could be newly set up without them having to enter your home.

“I think it’s his, I’d put my money on it. My internet’s been fine all this time,” Ashton typed up a message to Calum that said ‘bro your wifi is shit get it fixed’.

“Fine, or were you just never home long enough for it to become a problem?”

“Wow, hard hitting facts for a 14 year old.” Ashton’s phone pinged, a simple middle finger emoji as a response from Calum.

“Look, I found one that has contactless set up, and their reviews are great. Just think about it - you don’t know how long this is going to last, and you don’t want to be in the middle of kicking Calum’s ass--”

“Language!” He laughed, placing a hand to his forehead, “Alright, alright. I hear you. Send me the number so I can contact them about it.”

Within a few hours, everything had been arranged - Ashton realized he had a weird sense of attachment to his internet service provider, feeling guilty that he was cancelling on them, especially during a hard time like this. Some reassurance from his niece helped though, and he accepted that his life would likely be better if when he was home he could watch a movie straight through without needing to pause it, go make a snack or two, and come back to see if it had loaded enough.

The next day, the new router arrived on his doorstep, and the man who delivered it was outside in his van, phone at the ready so he could walk Ashton through the setup. Overall it was easier than expected, everything ready to go in less than an hour - he had expected some type of all day event; but much to his delight he was back settled into his couch, underneath a cozy blanket as he opened Words with Friends once again.

He was eager to be able to call his friend out on his poor WiFi, now knowing (hoping) that it would go rather seamlessly. Unfortunately though, Calum was busy at the moment, so Ashton was left to select playing against a stranger the game suggested was his match of the day. It wasn’t often he did that, trying to keep it to just the people he knew - but just this once couldn’t hurt. What did hurt was the fact that this person was absolutely kicking his ass, making his jaw drop with every word they made.

At the end of their game, Ashton frowned when he realized he lost by almost 100 points - how was that even possible? His phone notified that this person wanted to go again, and he wondered for a moment if they wanted to face him again because he seemed like an easy person to win against. His competitive side came out tenfold for this round though, trying his best to think of words that would give him the most bang for his buck, as it were. He almost had them, a few points ahead - but then they put down a word that completely obliterated him.

Ashton almost threw his phone, he did, not used to losing so easily against someone. He liked to think of himself as a wordsmith, he was a songwriter after all, he should be able to be better at this. Tapping the ‘chat’ option, his fingers hesitated over the keys before typing out ‘HOW?’. Aggressive? Maybe, but he needed to know what their secret was.

Their reply was quick, a casual ‘😇’ and somehow that frustrated Ashton more. Maybe he needed to go for a walk. There was no reason why he should be such a sore loser about a game, maybe being on lockdown was driving him slowly stir crazy. His phone buzzes with another notification and the person asked ‘Another round, or are you too scared to lose again?’. Oh, now it was on.

A couple hours, and many rounds later with some occasional banter back and forth between the two of them, Ashton finally needed to stop - his eyes felt like they had gone dry from staring at his phone for hours on end. His niece came into the living room, her head cocking to the side.

“You’re in the same position that you were when I last came down here - have you finally turned into a couch potato? Should I call mom that I’m gonna have to start using you as our produce?” she asked, a grin on her lips. His niece was a mirror image of his sister, and it made him frown - missing her more and more every day. “Why is your face so red? You feeling okay?”

Ashton hadn’t even realized that his face was warm - was he getting sick? Or was it the witty banter back and forth with the person from the game that had gotten to him? He hoped it was the latter, he’d feel incredibly guilty if his niece was stuck in his house with him while he was fighting what was likely the common cold, but the times were uncertain.

“D’know, doesn’t matter. What do you want for dinner?” He asked, brushing off her questions as he followed her into the kitchen.

***

Days later, Ashton had kept up the banter with this stranger. Their conversations were more frequent, and their games less so. It was kind of nice to talk to someone new, someone who didn’t already know what to expect from him, or things to say. His stranger friend seemed off today, and it made him frown slightly, thinking that maybe they were growing tired of talking to him.

‘Your wittiness is off today, friend, you doing alright?’ He typed out, pausing for a second before he pressed send - was it weird to ask that of someone?

It wasn’t long before his phone lit up with a response, ‘Sorry, just tired. My neighbour likes to stay up until ungodly hours playing music, or drums. Sometimes both at the same time.’

Ashton was mid-yawn as he read the words, a small laugh falling from his lips as he recalled his night; staying up until 3 am in his studio playing drums. ‘Wow. Sounds like me and your neighbour could be buds, you should put in a good word for me.’

‘Would if I knew them, I moved in not long before all of this started. Didn’t get a chance to be the weird neighbour that pops by with cookies.’

Ashton bit his tongue at that, a grin tugging at the corners of his lips, ‘Do it anyways, be even weirder and leave them on the doorstep, give em a scare and a treat.’

‘Should I leave a nice note saying ‘please keep any and all banging prior to midnight’?’

‘I’d leave out the banging part, but that sounds like an amusing idea.’

Ashton left their conversation at that, figuring he could continue with his day. Not that his day would consist of much, just attempting to write songs, and test out new recipes with his niece that she always ultimately hated, but it was worth a try. She decided they should go for a walk around their neighbourhood in the afternoon, and after some contemplation he agreed. He never ended up going for a walk the other day like he had meant to.

The sun was warm on their skin as they walked, and his nose picked up the faint smell of apples, making him smile. He thought of his Words with Friends friend, hoping their baking was going well too if they had decided to bake a treat for their new neighbour.

Ashton hadn’t realized how long he and his niece had been gone until his phone buzzed with a new notification from his RING app, alerting of someone at the door as well as making him aware of the time. Wasn’t uncommon, he was waiting on a couple packages - but when he opened the app, he saw someone set something down on his doorstep before walking away. They didn’t appear to be dressed in any type of mail carrier uniform, and Ashton grew a bit distressed by the idea of a foreign item being left on his doorstep.

In an attempt not to worry his niece, he didn’t voice his concerns, instead voicing they should head back. It wasn’t much of a ways away, them already on their way back - but when they arrived Ashton saw a small red tupperware container sitting there with a note on top.

“What’s that?” His niece asked, leaning down to pick up the note - a smirk spread across her lips, eyes flickering towards Ashton, “Seems like your neighbour doesn’t appreciate your late night drum covers,” she spoke, handing him the note.

Reading over the note, Ashton made the connection almost instantly, his heart racing.

“What’s wrong? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.”

“That person that’s been annihilating me in Words with Friends, apparently they are our neighbour. We were talking earlier and they mentioned making cookies for their neighbour since they’d just moved to the area.”

His niece nodded, a knowing smile on her lips, “Seems like you guys talk about more than just what is basically Scrabble.”

Swatting at her arm gently, he shooed her inside, picking up the container and opening it - he realized then that the smell of apples that had invaded his senses earlier was them, and it made his heart warm at the thought they were so close.

Taking out his phone, he snapped a quick picture of the container to send to them, simply adding a ‘Thanks for the cookies, I’ll try and keep it down.’ Below it before tucking his phone into his pocket to enjoy one of the cookies they had made.

That’s one way to socially distance meet new people, he supposed.

tag list: @haikucal @talkfastromance4 @softbabiestan @boyfriend-cal @calum-uncrowned @wildflowerirwin @irwindoll @gosh-im-short @atlcalm @thesubtweeter @heavenisapeach @ridingcthood @loveroflrh @wokeupinjapanisabop @mantlereid @inlovehoodx

#ashton irwin #ashton irwin blurb #ashton irwin fanfiction #5sos fanfiction

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i-like-5sos · 4 years

Note

Awesome Can you make one where Ashton has a 16 year old sister and her boyfriend has sex with her without consent and has a baby and her boyfriend leaves her and Ashton and the boys help her get ready for the baby,the day the baby is born she has a boy and she names it fletcher after Ashton who she looks up to and adores!!

Hi there ! Thank you so much for the request :) <3

Anything For You

POV: Ashton Irwin

Word Count: 1991 (short and sweet)

Warnings: Swearing, one reference to the cause of pregnancy (nothing detailed at all).

Summary: Ashton’s younger sister finds herself pregnant and he supports her throughout her pregnancy with the help of Calum, Luke, and Michael.

A/N: So just so everyone reading knows, I have taken it upon myself to not include anything that has happened before the 5th month of this character’s pregnancy as I believe it could be triggering to readers. I did however, include everything else you’ve requested :) I hope you all enjoy!

5 Months In - Gender Reveal Ultrasound

As I sit in the waiting room, tapping my fingers on the hard plastic armrest of the uncomfortable chair I find myself in, I begin to notice the pattern my eyes have made darting between the clock, the door she left through, and the model uterus that sat on the table across the room. It’s been about 25 minutes since she went to find out the gender of her baby, and I feel like I might actually be going insane in this room. I sigh deeply and pull out my phone for the fifth time to try to distract myself again. I notice a text from Calum asking if we know the gender yet, and I quickly send a reply letting him know that there’s been no updates and that they wouldn’t let me in the room with her.

15 minutes pass and finally I hear the door open and watch as my sister enters the room and smiles wildly at me. Is it too soon to say she’s glowing? Maybe. But I swear to god she is.

“So? What are you having?” I say too loudly, drawing the attention of the very pregnant woman sitting next to the uterus.

“Calm down Ash,” She laughs softly, “I’ll tell you in the car to save these poor people the damage to their ear drums.”

…

I practically run to the car and unlock it quickly before sitting down in the driver’s seat and wait for her to join me. She takes her time walking over, smiling to herself at the obvious torture she’s putting me through at this moment.

What feels like an eternity later, she joins me in the car, sitting in the passenger’s seat. Before she even has the door shut, I’m asking her again about the results of the ultrasound. She chuckles and looks towards me before covering her ears.

“It’s a boy!”

“Ohmygod!” I shout out and crash into her hard, hugging her as best as I could manage around the center console of the car.

As I pull back, I remember the surprise I have waiting for her in the backseat.

“Wait here.” I say as I hold up a finger and quickly dash out of the car to the trunk to grab her the gift.

I return with the small piece of folded-up fabric.

“You said you weren’t going to be crazy about this” She said shaking her head.

“That doesn’t sound like me at all. I was clearly lying.” I chuckle as she shakes her head. “Just humor me.” I pass her the small white fabric piece.

I watch with joy as she unfolds the infant-sized shirt. Her eyes water slightly as she reads the writing on printed on the front – ‘mama’s boy’. She smiles softly as she looks back to me.

“Ashton this is too cute. I can’t wait to see him in it…. How did you know it would be a boy though?”

“As much as I would love to admit that I have the ability to predict the future… I didn’t know. I actually have another in the trunk that says, ‘mama’s girl’ as well.” I say and shrug.

She laughs and looks down at the shirt once more before putting it close to her chest and smiling softly again.

“I love it, thank you so much.”

“Anything for you”

8 Months In – Baby Shower

“Luke just texted saying they’re here. Get over here Mike!” I say loudly to Michael, who’s been eating the majority of the blue cupcakes at the small snack table we’ve set up.

He quickly joins Calum and I under the archway made of blue balloons near the gate, and we wait for the sound of Luke’s car doors shutting. I chuckle softly as her voice becomes more and more clear as they approach the back gate.

“Luke, can you please just take off my blindfold. I promise I won’t tell Ashton... Call me crazy but I think there’s a rule that says pregnant people can’t walk around blindfolded.”

“No way. The blindfold was my idea. And I don’t see any pregnancy rule books here so I’ll be the one making the rules.” Luke replies as he opens the gate and then guides my younger sister towards the three of us. “Okay we’re here… now don’t move. You can take it off in three… two…” He lets go of her arm and quickly runs over to stand with us. “one!”

She pulls of blindfold off and her face immediately lights up as she takes in the baby shower wonderland that once was Calum’s backyard. The large balloon archway, the table overflowing with gifts from the four of us, the diaper cake, the actual cake covered in baby blue icing surrounded by different blue themed snacks, the blue streamers and balloons covering the entire backyard and, of course, the table containing all kinds of baby shower games the four of us were able to find online.

“Guys! You shouldn’t have! I had my baby shower last week! You know this… You were there!”

“Yeah but… it sucked. There were no balloons and the only snack you had were pretzels… who even likes pretzels?” Michael says shrugging. “And besides, we’ve had this planned from the moment you and Ashton face timed us revealing little Michael Junior’s gender.”

“Michael, how many times does she have to tell you that she’s not naming him Michael Junior? We all know the little guy’s name is going to be Calum Junior.” Calum interjects and gets a swift shove from Michael.

“If she’s naming the baby after anyone it’s going to be named after me” Luke says proudly. “I’m the one that brought her safely to the best baby shower anyone’s ever seen!”

She laughs loudly and shakes her head “You guys are too much.”

…

Once all the gifts have been opened, the guys are trying to see how many balloons they can fit into Calum’s pool as we eat our cake and watch them.

“Thank you again for this amazing baby shower.”

“It was worth it to see you smile. You deserve to be happy.”

She sits there quietly for a moment before responding. “You’ve done so much for me over these last 8 months and I just want you to know how thankful I am to you and to the other guys too… I don’t know what I would do without you four.” She says with a layer of sadness to her voice and looks down at her cake.

“Hey now, you’re okay, you’re safe, you’re loved… You both are. We are here for you no matter what. Never forget that.” I say, taking her hand and giving it a squeeze.

Our attention is pulled away from the moment as we hear a loud crash of someone – Luke – falling into the pool, followed by the booming laughter of Calum and Michael.

9.5 Months In – The Night of The Birth

Everything is black as my eyes fly open in response to the sound of my little sister yelling out my name from the hallway as she bangs on my bedroom door. I shoot out of the bed as quickly as I can once I realize what was happening. I open the door to see her standing there in her pajamas in a pool of liquid on the floor.

“Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Okay. We can do this.” I mumble and rush past her to grab the hospital bag in the hallway and begin down the stairs to get the car keys.

“Ashton.” She calls out to me from the top of the stairs.

I turn back to see her staring at me with fear and impatience on her face. Oh right. I run back up the stairs to help her walk down them and continue my mission to the front door. I throw my shoes on, grab the keys, and unlock the door. I begin mentally planning our route to the hospital while trying to decide whether to call or to text the boys once we were on our way, and I pause to take a moment to try and figure out what time it was in Australia to determine whether or not we’d wake up mom with our call... What time is it here?

“Ashton!” She says loudly, snapping me out on my haze.

“What? What did we forget? We have the bag and the keys, and you…” I mentally go over the checklist we had mad a few weeks ago for this exact moment.

“Your shirt maybe?” She says, gesturing to my bare chest.

“Fuck. Okay yeah maybe I need that.” I pat the pockets of my pajama pants and realize my phone is still charging in my room. “Might need my phone too… I’ll be right back.”

I dash back up the stairs, taking two at a time. As I get to my room, I grab the first shirt I see and quickly unplug my phone before running back down to join my sister at the front door.

“Okay, fully clothed. Now let’s go.”

9.5 Months In – After the Birth

As I stare at this beautiful child in my little sister’s arms, I can’t help but smile softly at the site before me. I’m an uncle! The sound of the boys entering the room pulls my eyes from the ball of sweetness before me.

“Oh my god… He’s so small!” Luke says, darting to the newborn.

“Look at him! So precious! How are you after… you know… birth and whatnot?” Calum asks, sitting down on the edge of the hospital bed.

“Tired” She replies, stretching her back and then smiling back down at her baby.

As we all take turns holding the newborn, we all fall in love with him instantly. How could we not? Michael promises to teach him how to shred on guitar, Calum somehow was able to find a bucket hat for a newborn and has the little guy wearing it, and Luke introduced himself and pretended to shake the baby’s hand.

“Okay… we’ve waited long enough. What’s his name?!” Michael asks excitedly as Luke hands the newborn back to his mother.

“I gave it a lot of thought and I finally decided on a name that I can only hope he will live up to… Fletcher.” She smiles softly as she looks over to me.

I’m speechless as I stare at the young woman I’ve known for the entirety of her life and have loved for every second of it. She has chosen to name her child after me. Me. I am truly honored as a tear slips out of the corner of my eye. I wrap my arms around her and Fletcher and hold the two of them, stunned.

As I let go and sit down in the chair beside the bed, I look back at the two of them.

“I don’t have the words to tell you how I feel right now. I am truly honored.” I finally manage to say.

“You have helped me through the worst days of my life… and you’re still here with me on the best day of my life. Ashton, you helped me more than I could ever say. I wanted my son to be proud of his name, and I know that the more he knows you, the prouder he will be. You’re my role model and I would be proud to have a son that grown up to be half the man you are.” She smiles at Fletcher, and then at me.

I get up to hug them both again and kiss my sister on the forehead. “Thank you so much” I whisper softly.

“I guess Fletcher’s a nice name… I still like Michael Junior though.” Michael jokes.

We all laugh together as we sit in the hospital room and continue to fall in love with Fletcher.

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talkfastromance4 · 4 years

Text

Ghost of Me-- Luke&Lily oneshot

Yeah, um. Lie to me and Ghost of You came on while I was driving and this is....what happened. I’m sorry.

Word count: 2705

donate to my ko-fi here :)

Masterlist

Luke&Lily masterlist

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

• • • •

Luke enters his house solemnly, his shoulders are hunched over as he tosses his bags at the end of the couch. He examines the room and a year and a half ago, it would be like nothing’s changed. But a lot can change in three months.

Three months he’s been gone on a short leg of tour and while he’s left before, this one hit him harder. He greets Petunia half-heartedly as he walks down the hall, and he peeks inside her room and his heart stops.

Lily’s toys are gone. Her bed is stripped. The whole room is empty.

Like a wave, the fight you and him had crashed into him. He shut the door and went to fall onto his bed, subconsciously he fell on your side and he could still smell the faint scent of your lotion. Your words and his words swarm in his head.

He remembers thinking that he got this right, leaving you and Lily but then coming right back picking up where you left off. But the more frequent it was that he left, the harder it became. He began to distance himself from you right before this mini three month tour began.

You fought so hard for all three of you and all Luke did was give you and Lily a kiss as he left for the airport. No I love you, no promise of calling.

No calls. No texts. No photos or videos were exchanged within those three months. It was radio silence as Luke went through the motions of performing and doing interviews. He was a ghost of himself and the guys tried to help and talk with him but he isolated himself. He’s good at that.

So he shouldn’t really be all that surprised that you and Lily weren’t here waiting for him with open arms as if all is forgiven. It cuts through him like a branded serrated knife.

It’s three a.m and the moonlight’s testing him as he sits at his piano. The ivory’s shine from the glow of the moon and memories of him playing Lily’s Lullaby while you held her in her arms swim in his head. Sometimes Lily gets so tired she fights sleep, and even though you’re usually good at getting her to sleep, it still renders difficulty.

Combined with your calming rocking and Luke’s voice singing to her, she’d fall asleep within seconds, bunny clutched under her chin.

To drown out the memories, he takes a shot of tequila he has on the piano ledge and fills it up once more from the bottle. His phone buzzes and he’s reminded yet again of what he’s lost.

You and Lily’s smiling faces smile back at him and he scrolls through the album he’s created of his girls. Well, not his girls anymore.

Lily’s shouts for you wake you from an already restful slumber. You haven’t been sleeping all that well since Luke left for the tour. It pained your heart but his hesitancy before he went away was answer enough that the relationship couldn’t continue.

It took three days without contact for you to finally gather the courage to gather all of yours and Lily’s things and bring them back to your townhouse. It was still yours even though you’d moved in with Luke and you’re thankful the mortgage was already paid off on it because you had somewhere to run back to.

“Hey, shh, it’s okay honey,” you hush to Lily lifting her from her crib. She’s crying slightly as she squeezes your neck in a vice grip. “Did you have a bad dream?”

“Lu,” she cries and your breath catches.

Even though she wakes like this every night, it still puts you in shock at just how much she misses him too. It breaks your heart but he made his choice. You hadn’t expected him to suddenly be a blue suit guy who works a 9-5 job and become a family man, but you also hadn’t expected him to get cold feet a year and a half in the relationship. You also hadn’t expected him to ghost you.

“I know baby, I miss Lu, too,” you sniff patting her back.

“Lu sing,” she sniffs.

Another pained twist to your heart. You gathered her snuffy and shuffled back to your bedroom. You connected your phone to the speaker and selected her song from the album Luke made for her.

While his voice crooned her to sleep and her breathing slowed, you cried silently into your pillow as you listened to his voice.

You ached for Luke, and each night having to play this for Lily made it even worse.

****

It’s day three of being home alone and Luke’s been avoiding the living room like the plague. It’s where Lily would always dance along to the Disney movie she’d be watching and more often than not, Luke would dance with her.

When she’d be tucked in bed he’d pull you against his chest and dance with you while he sang softly in your ear.

Dancing through our house with the ghost of you never rang more true.

Luke has taken a shower twice a day since he’s been home. The water is scalding as if he thinks it will rub away his sadness and this continued ache for you and Lily. He stands below the water, letting it trickle over him but he finds no relief.

Lily’s giggles and squeals echo in his mind wherever he goes in his house. Her sitting in her high chair feeding Petunia. How she’d climb onto his piano bench and press her tiny fingers to the keys thinking she was playing music. How she’d try to climb up into his bed to cuddle with you and him.

The memories were eating away at him, tormenting him more and more by the second.

All he had to do was call. Find your name (that still had the two pink hearts next to it) and press it.

But would you really pick up? He was an ass, he knows he was, so how can he fix this?

Ashton has tried calling, and so have Calum and Michael but Luke chooses to wallow in his own pity that he created. He dug this hole, now he’s got to be buried in it.

On Thursday evening he’s got some movie on just for background noise and he stares blankly at the screen. He recognizes Adam Sandler but he doesn’t know what the plot is when there’s a knock and a ring at his door.

Jumping to his feet thinking it’s you and Lily, he races to it and has to push piggy away. He’s shocked when he sees Cory standing there, hands in his pockets.

“Hey man, can I come in?”

Luke stares for another moment before he’s nodding and steps aside. What’s he doing here?

“Um, can I get you a drink?” Luke asks a bit awkwardly. It’s not that he and Cory don’t get along, they do pretty well. Cory’s come to some of the Friends of Friends shows and to some of the cookouts Ashton or Calum have.

“Nah, I’m good. Uh,” Cory turns around rubbing the back of his neck. “How are you doing since they left?”

“I haven’t left, if that answers your question,” Luke sighs.

“Look, I sort of know what happened. Y/N told me after she and Lily moved back to the townhouse but take it from me, don’t let them go. I let them go once and I’m so thankful Y/N let me in Lily’s life. Don’t make the same mistake I did.”

“Has she . . . said anything else? About me?”

“They miss you like crazy. Lily asks for you all the time, she never goes anywhere without her bunny. I mean, she didn’t before, but if it’s out of her hands for half a second she throws a fit. Y/N says she wakes up every night crying for you,” Cory tells him quietly.

Luke’s eyes sting with tears and he covers his escaped sob by a cough. That little known fact cuts deep. He clears his throat before he looks back up at Cory expecting to see pity but he sees understanding in his eyes. Lily’s eyes. Luke’s never noticed that before.

“Why are you telling me this? I know how you still feel about Y/N--”

“Because I know how much she loves and misses you, too. I’ll always love Y/N, we have a history and a good friendship but she’s in love with you, Luke. And I’m okay with that because I still have her and Lily in my life. I like you too,” Cory laughs, “and how you look right now is what I looked like for over a year before I saw them again. Lily’s only been coming by me on Friday’s for the last couple months. Y/N will be home alone tomorrow.”

Luke’s nodding to everything he says.

“Do you think she’ll take me back?”

“I don’t think . . . I know she will.”

Cory walks to the front door and Luke follows behind.

“Hey Cory,” Luke says and Cory turns. He holds out his hand. “Thanks for coming by.”

“No problem,” Cory smiles, shaking his hand and opens the door. “I expect to see the both of you at my place picking up Lily.”

****

It’s a light drizzle as Luke drives to your house, he’s tapping the steering wheel nervously. He hopes Cory is right and that you’re home. He hopes you’ll let him in and accept his forgiveness. When he pulls to the curb he sits for a couple moments trying to gather his breathing and relax his heart. When neither works, he gets out and that’s when it starts pouring.

He hopes this isn’t a sign of what’s to come.

He runs up the walkway to your door, cold rain pelting him as he bangs on the door and presses the doorbell frantically. The light above the door flickers on and he sees you through the curtains of the small window on the door.

For a moment you just stare at each other, your eyes wide in shock before you wrench it open.

“Luke.”

When you say his name he doesn’t even think before he’s colliding his lips to yours, bodies crashing together. You react all too willingly, pulling him inside by the lapel of his leather jacket. He kicks the door shut behind him, locking it in his wake and you take that opportunity to peel his jacket off him.

It’s tossed to the floor in a wet heap and Luke’s hands are on your waist bunching up your shirt. Lips moving furiously together, he pushes you against the wall spreading your legs open with his thigh. You moan quietly and Luke breaks the kiss only to lift your shirt up and off.

His piercing blue eyes stare into yours as his thumb traces your lips prying them open so he can slip his tongue inside. You close your eyes and moan at the all too familiar feeling, your fingers working on the button of his jeans.

Luke pulls you away from the wall so he can make his way to your bedroom. You bang against the hallway walls like a pinball, clothes getting discarded along the way. Lips never leaving lips.

When you’re finally on your bed, Luke hovers over you, his necklaces dangling in front of your face. You comb his wet curls away from his face staring up at him and he stares back, your breathing is heavy. You’ve missed him so much and he’s finally here.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers bending his neck down to give you a soft kiss.

“I know,” you murmur curling his hair behind his ears. You stroke your finger down his nose, trace his cupid’s bow and caress his cheek. “I’m sorry I left.”

He collides his lips with yours again and you both scramble to get the blanket over his body, the rain was cold and he’s wet so you didn’t want him to catch a cold. Luke pushes himself into you, you both groan at the stretch of him attempting going in dry.

But you’re both so desperate for each other, you couldn’t wait for foreplay. Luke held his cock at the base, head down as he concentrated on sliding into you. He rubbed his tip against your folds, hitting your clit and it caused you to moan which aroused you.

“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon lovie,” he pants with each attempted thrust until he finally slides all the way in. Both of you moan at being joined together once again, your nails dig into his shoulders as he pulls out and enters you again.

“Oh yes, Luke,” you sigh, closing your eyes at each pull.

He finds a steady rhythm, gliding and pulling with ease. His left hand is near your head while his right holds onto your stomach as he fucks into you. You’re both moaning and sighing as he accelerates, you open your legs wider so you can cross your ankles on his lower back. You aid him to go faster by pushing on his back and thrusting your hips up into his.

Luke sucks on your neck and kisses the base of your throat until you’re gasping out your first orgasm. He hums along with you.

“Fuck, Y/N, always feels so good,” he breathes and attempts to kiss you.

Your bodies rock and jolt so it makes kissing difficult but you can feel the love there. Luke rotates his hips and somehow speeds up even more until he groans and pulsates inside you. You feel his warmth seep into you and you gasp at the feeling, tugging on his hair to bring his lips back up to yours.

After you both catch your breath and disentangle your sweaty, sticky bodies, he cleans up his mess and is quick to join you in bed. He peppers kisses along your forehead and your chest, anywhere he can mumbling ‘I love you.’

And because you both know each other so well, you don’t have to discuss what happened. It just did, it was a small bump in the road but you’re okay now. You will continue to be okay but when Luke told you “I want you and Lily in my life forever” you couldn’t deny the elation you felt from the finality of his statement.

****

You stayed up most of the night talking, kissing and touching. You were getting familiar with each other again and after you spent the first half of the day in bed making love, it was time to get Lily.

Luke is just as nervous as he was the first time he was going to meet Lily. His knee was bouncing in the seat as you drove to Cory’s house and you reached over to still it.

“She’s going to be ecstatic, baby, trust me,” you smile at him.

As you pull into the driveway, the door is already open and Cory smiles when he sees Luke in the car. Lily is in his arms and Cory points just as you and Luke get out of the car.

“LU!” Lily exclaims and wriggles from Cory’s grip.

She runs as fast as she can, giggling and squealing as she does and Luke runs to her as well. He scoops her up in his arms, cradling her head as she hugs him tightly and he does the same.

“Oh my sweet, I’ve missed you . . . hi my sweet girl,” he sighs, closing his eyes, finally feeling like his heart is whole again by having this little girl in his arms again.

“Dada, dada, dada!” she rambles and Luke opens his eyes in alarm.

Cory nods at Luke as if to say it’s okay and he moves to console you, you’re crying at the reunion.

“I love you so much, Lily,” Luke says and kisses her head multiple times. She pulls back and he wipes away the wetness on her chubby cheeks.

“Dada stay?”

“Yeah, dada’s staying,” he smiles and kisses her nose. She hugs him tightly again and you join in on the hug. You’re all put back together again.

• • • •

Copyright talkfastromance4 © All works is intellectual property of the author. All rights reserved. Any redistribution or reproduction or any part or all contents in any form is prohibited. You may not, without written expression and consent from the author, distribute works amongst other social media platforms

Taglist: @galcalirwin @cashtonasff5sos @wokeupinjapanisabop @myloverboyash @rotten-kandy @tea4sykes @jannimoeller3 @loveroflrh @iovehemmings @cxddlyash @princesslrh @here-for-the-uproars @katiaw2 @g-l-pierce @fairyintheglass @gosh-im-short @banditocth @dezzym17 @wildflowerxcth @lukeisbaby @spicycal (sarah i tagged you cause you’re the only one i told about this lol i hope that’s okay)

#luke&lily #luke&lily oneshot #luke hemmings angst #luke hemmings smut #luke hemmings fluff #luke x reader #luke x single!mom reader #luke x single mom!reader #luke 5sos #luke writing #luke hemmings writing

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buckyscrystalqueen · 4 years

Text

Too Smart for Your Own Good: Part 1

Pairings: Machine Gun Kelly x Reader, (Past and Future) Henry Cavill x Reader

Warnings: Swearing, one night stand, unprotected sex

Word Count: 2,551

A/N: Doesn’t have a completed end yet, but just giving you more content to try to get myself out of a writing funk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So there’s something you need to know about my cousin.” Ashleigh sighed as she took her ID back from the guard at the gate of your very exclusive Malibu community. Colson looked over at his best friend and manager as she ran her fingers through her hair and looked out the front window for a moment. With a small shake of her head, she looked over at him with a small sigh. “She’s weird, OK? And like… stupid rich.”

“Stupid rich.” He confirmed with a huff as the guard got off the phone with you and let your guests into the beach side development. “What, you got a fucking actor in your family I don’t know about, Ash?” Your cousin sighed again, trying to figure out just how to explain the one branch of her blood line no one really ever talked to or about.

“She discovered a new branch of stars and like micro planets and shit in the Milky Way that no one knew existed… when she was eleven.” Kels felt his jaw actually drop as his friend continued past the extravagant houses to the only gate guarded house at the very end of the road. “So her grandmother, Ann was the woman that invented the baby carrier in the 60’s for her son, my Uncle Negan, who is now the president of a motorcycle gang in LA- the Sanctuary? You heard of them?”

“Heard of ‘em.” He confirmed with a nod as he looked up at what he could see of the massive house through the slow moving bars of your personal gate.

“He married my mom’s sister, Lucille, and they had (Y/N). Aunt Lucille died in child birth, and Negan and my family got in a huge fight over who was a better fit to raise my cousin. With all the money that she was lined up to get, it was almost a sickening free for all for my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. But in the midst of the arguing, it turned out she was genius level smart. Like Sheldon Cooper from Big Bang Theory was literally loosely based off her and she gets royalties off that shit. And after seeing all of the fighting going on over her for no reason, she convinced her dad to write us all off as a toddler. Which he happily did because he does anything his little girl asks him to do. She doesn’t talk to any of the older generations of my family but she talked to must of the cousins occasionally as long as they weren’t asking for money. Which, in the end, basically left me because I just see her as my cousin and not for her money.” Kels nodded his head slowly as Ashleigh parked her car and turned off the ignition.

“She’s an amazing person that has had one hell of a life because of her circumstances. Picked on for being rich, for being smart… for actually remembering her mother’s death. And it doesn’t help that her dad is in a gang or that he’s in prison for manslaughter or something like that.” Ashleigh shook her head again and grabbed her purse off the back seat to go inside. “She never had a chance. But I love coming up here when I come to town…”

“You better have my love child with you!” You shouted as you headed up the stairs on the side of your house that ran along the edge of the cliff which acted like a giant privacy wall for the left side your property. “Hi, I’m all sandy but still.”

“He’s with me.” Ash giggled as you wiped your hands off on your short jean shorts and stopped for only half a second to kiss her cheek. “I need a favor.”

“This is not favor town, Ash.” You said as you pulled open the back door to coo at your second cousin, Ashton. “This is Auntie love time! Hi munchkin!”

“(Y/N), this is Colson Baker, AKA Kels, or Machine Gun Kelly.”

“Kels is fine.” Colson said as you tossed Ashton up in the air a few inches to make him laugh.

“Mr. Baker works just as well.” You cooed to your cousin as you put him on your hip and turned to head inside. “Because I’m going to assume that the favor the pair of you need involves him, which leads me to deduce that this is a business transaction of some kind. You may either follow, or stand in my driveway all day, either option is acceptable in the world today. Freedoms and whatnot. Unless you are waiting for a formal invitation in which case, I’d be more than happy to write one up for you.”

“Her social skills with new people aren’t the best either.” Ashleigh whispered as low as she physically possibly could as she slung her bag over her shoulder and followed you toward the wrought iron gate at the entrance of your atrium. “But it’s better when you get to know her…”

“I can hear you talking shit, bitch.” You said evenly as you stopped and held the gate open for your guests. You gave the stranger to you a once over with your eyebrow raised as he passed by you and gave him a slight half nod. “I don’t see the purpose of small talk and sarcasm is the best defense in the world.”

“Small talk is over-rated.” Kels agreed as he, too, checked you out as shamelessly as you had. “Nice ink.”

“Save it.” You huffed with a smirk as you walked through the guest atrium and pushed open your ten foot tall, solid wood, pivot hinge front door to reveal the breathtaking view of the Pacific Ocean you had. “What do you need? Yes, I’m putting you down.” You giggled as you set Ashton down on the floor and reached down for his hand to lead him over so he could push the window button, which made the glass panels slide open like doors into the walls so he could play out in the little private yard you had.

“Well… OK, so every year…” Ashleigh started as you helped Ashton into his favorite swing. “…we put on this concert for Christmas called XXmas. It’s fuckin’ crazy and it’s been sold out the last few years easy. It’s a two hour long set and they do some local Cleveland rappers for openers. (Y/N), you gotta see it some time. I mean, the following that Kels has managed to create…”

“The concert is in two days.” Colson interrupted when he noticed the slight hint of annoyance on your face. “And my guitarist broke his arm in a car accident last night. Now, Ash says you’re some kinda musical genius or some shit and you’d be able to help…?”

“I have plans.” You stated evenly as you kept your eyes locked on the toddler in front of you.

“It’s one night.” Ashleigh breathed, pleadingly as she took a step closer to you so you’d almost be forced to look up at her. “One night and I can make sure you are on a plane back that night or early the next morning. I’ll even pay for a private jet out of my own pocket to get you back on time to see your dad for Christmas if I have to.” With an audible sigh, you looked up at your cousin with a small shake of your head.

“Fuck you.”

“I love you, too.” She beamed, knowing that you were never going to say no to helping her out. You rolled your eyes and growled as you continued to push your cousin.

“Alright, play your songs. Which ever ones you want me to know, start playing them before I change my mind.” Colson looked a little stunned and glanced over at Ashleigh, who quickly pulled out her phone and nodded.

“She has an eidetic memory. All she needs to do is hear it once and she can memorize it.”

“Changing my mind over here.” You joked, flatly as you shot her an annoyed glare. “And it’s too close to Christmas to fight with flights so I’ll hire a jet. Hope your tickets are refundable.”

——

You choose to spend the four and a half hour flight sitting in the back of the private jet, with three different head phones in, listening to the full set list on repeat in your right ear, a narrated dissertation of someones research on further exploration of one of your original dissertations about the Milky Way’s cannibalism of surrounding stars in your left, and the feed back from your electric guitar in the head set you had over both ear buds. Your dad always told you you were crazy when you ‘nerded out’ like this, not being able to understand how you were able to have three different forms of audio stimulus going at the same time, nor how you could differentiate and focus on all three simultaneously. Even though you had your eyes closed, you could see the shift in the sun light in front of you and no matter how much you tried to ignore the feeling of eyes boring into your face, you couldn’t.

“This better be good.” You sighed as you pulled off your head set and pulled out both ear buds in an attempt to look civil.

“Three head phones?” Colson asked as you dropped the hardware in your lap and paused the two recordings on your phone.

“Keeping up with a dissertation from a colleague, listening to the set list, and messing around with it on my guitar.” You told him as you pointed to the corresponding head sets.

“Messing around with the set?” He asked as he scooted forward a bit in his chair and looked at the classic honey burst Les Paul on your lap. “Gunna share with the class?”

“Didn’t plan on it.” You responded as you tucked your legs up on the chair and held out one of the headphones. “But I’ll indulge all the same.” He nodded his head and put only one side over his ear while you handed him the other music headphone, put the original one in your ear, and pulled up the next track on the list. Your eyes closed again as the opening cords for ‘Rehab’ started playing, and you jumped right in with the riff that you had wrote in your head more to play for your father when you went to see him for Christmas.

“You wrote that?” Colson asked when you had finished. “You write music, too?!”

“No. No, I don’t.” You said quickly as you took back your headphones from him and put the extra ear bud away. “I… well, I remix songs. For my dad, mostly. When I go and visit… well I have a guitar there, and on nicer days, we sit outside and play name that tune. And I get my competitive side from him so I’ve gotten really good at recreating songs so that he can’t guess them but so they still sound like the original track.”

“So what’s he in for?” He asked innocently, which made you instantly stiffen and throw a wall up.

“Does it matter?” You retorted a little sharply. “He’s in prison.”

“Yo, my bad.” He said quickly as he held his hands up in surrender. “Didn’t know it was a touchy subject.” You nodded your head and glanced down at your lap as you started putting your headphones back in.

“Look, I’m not here to make friends, Mr. Baker. I’m here to help out some family, then I’m going home. That’s all. I don’t need friends…”

“Yea, you fucking got it.” He barked back as he got up from his chair to go back to his friends. With a shake of your head, you started your music and your paper back up, and slipped back into your anti-social bubble for a little bit longer.

——

You had never been an adrenaline junkie in your life, having had enough experiences with the club, but as you stood on the stage, playing through the set, you actually started craving the feeling. The high that the crowd was creating, feeding your soul and the music pouring out of the speakers behind you. You felt like a total rock star and you were glad that this feeling was something that you would remember forever.

It hadn’t taken you long into the set for you to notice Kels either, and not just notice, but really notice him. How sexy he looked in his low slung red pants with his ethika boxers peeking out. You hated that you were turned on by this stupid punk… but fuck if you couldn’t help but want to fuck his brains out. Even if his kid was only a hundred feet away from you, even if you never planned on seeing or speaking to him ever again. You almost needed to be under his sweat drenched body as fast as you could or your head was going to explode.

“She smiles.” Colson teased when the last cords of the last song faded away in the auditorium. You smirked and pulled out your ear phones as you handed off Ace’s guitar to the stage hand.

“Occasionally. Only when I’m having a really good time.” He nodded his head and looked around for a moment before grabbing your arm and turning you toward a side stage door. “Colson…?”

“You… are driving me fucking crazy.” He growled as he locked the door behind him with a shake of his head. “And I want to be pissed off at you for being a bitch for no fucking reason… but fuck I wanna fuck you way to Goddamn bad.”

“Oh, fuck…” You moaned as he pushed you back against a shelving unit and quickly started ripping at your jean shorts button. “Kels… the crew… your daughter…”

“Guess I’ll just have to be quick then.” You whined at him as he shoved your bottoms off, and lifted you up off the floor by the backs of your thighs. He pushed his boxers and pants down only as far as he needed, and slid into you. Your eyes rolled back and you grabbed on to his shoulder and the shelving unit you were pressed up against. It was short, quick, and dirty, and you both got off within a couple minutes, but it was absolutely worth it… until it wasn’t.

“Thanks for helping out… and not just on stage…” Colson said, almost dismissively as you both pulled up your bottoms. You let out a huff and ran your fingers through your hair.

“Do me a favor and don’t even so much as think my fucking name ever again.” You snapped as you pushed past him and threw the door to the closet open. You walked quickly to the green room, grabbed your bag and your guitar case off the floor and pulled out your phone to call a cab as Ashleigh called out your name from across the room. As a lone tear fell down your cheek, you simply walked away from her, back through the stadium halls, and out the back door, leaving your brief lapse of judgement in the janitors closet behind you.

Part 2

#machine gun kelly x reader #mgk x reader #colson baker x reader #Henry Cavill x Reader #Too Smart for Your Own Good

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sarcastically-defensive17 · 4 years

Text

The Best Years - L. Hemmings

Best Years - 5 Seconds of Summer songfic

Female reader

Original story by Sarcastically-defensive17

He still remembers the day he met you.

You had transferred schools half way through year 9, and he was smitten the minute he laid eyes on you. You transferred to the same school as your cousin, Michael.

One could easily tell the two of you were related. You seemed to synchronize the colour of your hair every time.

You instantly declared the lanky boy as your best friend, and the following years were spent supporting the guys through their music career. You were there to direct their old YouTube videos, when Michael contacted Ashton, and when they asked you to become their band photographer.

You couldn’t be happier, but you also harbored a lot of concern for your friend.

You got a million reasons to hesitate,

But darling, the future's better than yesterday.

A loud banging on your door had stolen your attention away from the television, and you cursed whoever was interrupting Mean Girls but you’re scowl deepened at the sight of a very familiar large man on your doorstep.

“Y/N!” He slurred, wrapping his large frame around yours and shuffling into your house.

You loved Luke. There were few moments you didn’t, but one of those is when he is blind-rotten drunk after a breakup.

He always seemed to go for girls who were only after one of two things; money or sex. Many times Michael and Ashton teased you about the physical similarities between yourself and Luke’s conquests, but it was brushed off.

It was no secret you had feelings for the boy, anybody but Luke could tell. But you knew he didn’t feel the same. He was amazing as a best friend, but lately his activities have been less than amazing, and your patience was wearing thin.

Wasted so much time on people that reminded me of you.

Gave you a million reasons to walk away.

Luke had been drinking more often than not, and nobody could tell you why. Whenever you would ask him, he would brush it off with a quick “I’m fine, bug.”

The guys were no help. They were as clueless as you were.

You tugged the large man into the guest bedroom and sat him on the bed before pulling his boots and leather jacket off. Luke is the only man who could pull off his particular style, you thought. Even Michael looked ridiculous when he dressed as Luke for Halloween.

He relaxed against the pillows almost instantly, and you thank the heavens that he has no more drunken words for you tonight. His escapades have caused you much stress, and it was hard to hide the worry on night like this.

It was harder to hide the exhausted tears as you made sure Luke was okay.

He had spent a couple of weeks comforting you after your ex had cheated on you, and a few weeks later his girlfriend left him. He hadn’t said why.

I'll make up for all of your tears.

I’ll give you the best years.

Your luck seemed to run out as you neared the bedroom door.

A quiet whisper echoed through the dark room that made your heart stop, “I think I’m in love with you.”

He looked to be asleep, so you ignored the words. As much as you would love to return the three words, you know he didn’t mean it.

I promise, darling, you won’t regret,

The best years.

You had a routine for night like this. Stay up for hours making sure Luke is okay, use various skin care products to reduce the puffiness in your eyes from tears and lack of sleep, then wake up from a few hours of sleep to make Luke breakfast and give him painkillers.

This had been happening for at least 3 nights a week lately.

You can’t count the number of times you had picked him up from a bar or a club, or helped him into bed when he was too drunk to walk.

You would do anything for him, even if you knew you shouldn’t.

Soft footsteps sounded over the sizzle of the pan, and you turned with a small smile on your face. Luke could see that the gesture did not reach your eyes.

“Y/N,” his voice is soft, sad almost, “I am so sorry. I know I promised I wouldn’t do that again-“

“It’s fine, Luke. What are friends for?” The smile on your face turned sad, and you turned to see an unrecognizable look on the blond’s face.

“Right.”

I wanna hold your hand when you drink too much,

And carry you home when you can not stand up.

You did all these things for me when I was never meant for you.

I wanna hold your hand while we're growing up.

You set two plates down on the table, handing Luke painkillers and a glass of juice.

“So, are you finally going to tell me why you’re turning into a low-functioning alcoholic? Or should I just assume it’s because things didn’t work out with Stephanie?” You ask, not hiding the disapproval in your tone.

His eyes drop to his plate and you feel guilt wash over you. You hate prying, and you especially hate hurting Luke, but his lifestyle is getting out of hand.

“I, uh, I’m not sure,” he mumbles, eyes not meeting yours.

You know him well enough to tell when he’s lying. You know that when he hangs his head so that his long hair covers his face, it’s his way of disguising his features that show all of his emotions.

You lean across the table, placing a hand on his forearm softly. You have always been very comforting for the guys, hence why they always say you and Ashton are the parents of the band, even if you’re not exclusively part of it.

“Luke, honey, please.” He raises his eyes finally. You can clearly see the emotion hiding in them, “You can tell me anything. I love you, and you know that.”

He lifts his hand to push a piece of hair behind his ear, and you can’t help but watch the gesture knowing that he is considering opening up.

“I know, I’ve been horrible the past few weeks. I can’t apologize enough for that, bug.” You smile slightly at the nickname. He insisted on calling you “love-bug” in year 11 when you organized a Valentine’s Day stall for your high School.

It kinda stuck from there.

“Yeah, you haven’t been the best,” you laugh softly, not noticing how his eyes lock onto your smile.

He smiles in return, but it drops after a few seconds as he takes in a breath, “When Steph broke up with me, it really made me think. She told me she didn’t want to hold me back from who I really wanted,” his eyes drop again, his other hand moving to cover yours on his arm. “I didn’t realize until she told me.”

“What do you mean-“

“I’m in love with you.”

Your breath hitches in your throat and you think back to the night before.

You go to speak, but his mouth opens before you can.

“I know, I don’t deserve you. I really don’t. I’ve had feelings for you for so many years but I didn’t want to ruin anything,” his voice is soft and full of so much emotion. “But everybody can see it, everybody told me I was crazy for hiding it because I know you don’t feel the same. I just want to give you the best years. I want to grow old with you and spend my life with you. I just didn’t know how to handle it, so I’d just get drunk and forget about it all. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be saying this but I can’t keep it hidden-“

You stand from your seat before moving closer to him. Your arms wrap round his neck like his did to yours the night before.

But I built a house out of the mess and all the broken pieces.

I'll make up for all of your tears.

“God, I’ve been wanting to hear that since you gave me that stupid nickname,” you laugh, his hands wrapping around your waist.

“Wait, does that mean-“

“I love you, you idiot,” his warm laugh fills the room, and you feel him smile against your cheek.

“I love you love-bug. I’ll promise, I’ll give you the best years of your life.”

I'll give you the best years,

Past love, burned out like a cigarette.

“You won’t regret this,” he whispers, “I promise.”

I promise, darling, you won’t regret

The best years.

“So how do you think Mike will react?” His smile covers his face, and you can’t help but mirror the sight.

#luke hemmings x reader #luke hemmings #5sos #michael clifford #ashton irwin #calum hood #5 seconds of summer #oneshot

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calumsclifford · 4 years

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it’s bella’s birthday and she deserves the absolute world, so i wrote this little fangirl au drabble! bella is the absolute champion of this au, she loves it more than anyone else, and just supports me relentless and i don’t know what i’ve done to deserve her in my life, but i’m so happy i know her! she is genuinely one of the most talented writers ever, is so kind and sweet and smart and creative and is just a beacon of light in this community. if you haven’t already, go wish her a happy birthday @clumsyclifford and check out her newest fic here, or this fic which is my favourite lashton fic ever, or her brazil fic which is a masterpiece and criminally underrated! happy birthday bella, i hope you have a wonderful day! ❤️

Luke only finds out that it’s Michael’s birthday when he comes back after class to about three feet of “Happy Birthday” balloons.

“Um,” Luke says, as if the balloons will somehow explain.

“Luke!”

Luke freezes, and then Ashton’s head is appearing from the approximate location of the floor in front of Michael’s bed.

“Um,” Luke says again.

“Perfect timing! Michael’s shift is done in an hour, and I still have two whole bags to go.”

Luke knocks his way to his bed, careful not to pop any of the balloons. Once he gets there, Ashton is tossing him a bag of uninflated balloons. Apparently, by living here, Luke has volunteered himself to help.

“So,” Luke says, tearing the bag open. “It’s Michael’s birthday?”

“He didn’t tell you?”

Luke shakes his head, stretches out a balloon then starts to inflate it.

“Has he even asked about your birthday? When’s your birthday?”

Luke ties off his inflated balloon and releases it into the room. “July 16th.”

“Mine is July 7th! Summer birthdays are the worst, right?”

“Yeah,” Luke says. He starts to inflate another balloon because he expects this to be a topic to which he cannot contribute a whole lot.

“As a kid especially! Everyone is on vacation or at the cabin or whatever, so no one really comes to summer birthday parties.”

Luke does not say anything, because he doesn’t want to tell Ashton that he doubts anyone would have come to his birthday parties, anyways.

“It’s not so bad now, though, because I get to see my family. Michael is stuck with just me,” Ashton says.

Luke releases another balloon to the room. “Seems like that’s a pretty good deal, for him.”

Ashton laughs. “I don’t think he’d agree with you.”

“Oh,” Luke says. He wonders how Michael could possibly disagree. No one has ever blown up balloons for Luke.

“If Michael had it his way, he’d probably spend his birthday at home, in his basement, playing video games alone for 24 hours straight.”

“Sounds tiring,” Luke says. He can only stare at a screen for 12 hours straight before his eyes start to burn, usually.

“To you and me, both,” Ashton laughs, open and exposed, a laugh to share. “If I could do anything for my birthday, I’d want to be at a concert with all of my friends, I think. There’s nothing like live music, you know?”

Luke nods, even though he’s been to two concerts in his life, and he had to leave one early because it was too crowded and he got jittery.

“What would you do? What would be your ideal birthday?”

The realistic answer would probably be writing, posting a celebratory one-shot, and then going out to a mid-range Italian restaurant with his family, maybe. Luke inexplicably wants Ashton to think that he’s interesting, though, so he makes something up on the spot.

“I’d want to go to New York or Chicago or something so that I could meet up with all of my friends from out of state,” Luke says, and he finds that it’s not actually untrue.

“That sounds like a great birthday,” Ashton grins. “It’s cool that you have friends from out of state! How did you meet them?”

“Different ways,” Luke says. “We’re not going to blow these balloons up in time,” he adds quickly, to change the subject.

“You’re right,” Ashton says. He fumbles around on Michael’s desk and gets music playing out of his portable speaker that Luke has never seen him use. It’s folky and calming, and Luke doesn’t mind it. “Let’s power through!”

Ashton convinces Luke to hide himself under the balloons before Michael gets back, and when they hear the door open, they jump up and yell “Happy birthday!”

Or rather, Ashton yells it, Luke says it. Michael is entirely unsurprised and unimpressed.

“You were in on this?” Michael says to Luke. Luke opens his mouth to explain, but Michael stops him. “You two are cleaning this up.”

“We can handle that,” Ashton says, brightly. He produces a cake from somewhere on the floor by Michael’s desk, and when he stands, the balloons are up to his stomach.

“You didn’t make that yourself, did you?” Michael asks, distrustful.

“Alex helped,” Ashton says, willfully oblivious to Michael’s even less enthused expression. “I didn’t get candles because they’re not allowed in the dorms, but I’m still going to sing.”

“Please don’t,” Michael says, but Ashton is already starting. It’s purposefully shrill and off key, and Luke has to hide his laugh in his hand because Michael keeps shooting him glares.

“Did you even bring plates?” Michael asks when Ashton is finally done.

“Even better,” Ashton says, and pulls three forks out of nowhere. “Who needs plates?”

“Luke thinks you’re barbaric,” Michael says. Luke pretends to get a text so that he can look away.

“If Luke wants a plate, I can find Luke a plate.”

“I don’t want a plate,” Luke says. He doesn’t even really want cake. He doesn’t want Michael’s cake, he doesn’t want to impose himself any further upon Michael’s life.

“See?” Ashton says to Michael, too enthusiastic to come off smug. “I told you. He’s cool.”

Michael snorts, but at least he tries to cover it up with a cough. Luke doesn’t take it badly, though. Michael is right. The idea that Luke is cool is, frankly, laughable.

Ashton hands out the forks and they eat, and the cake is actually pretty good. Luke doesn’t say anything though, because he can’t tell if Michael likes it.

Luke stops after eating the rough equivalent of half of a slice, and Michael and Ashton stop shortly after. They start to kick through the balloons, getting ready to go out.

“It’s just dinner,” Ashton says. “You should come. We promise there will be no crazy drunks.”

“He’s right,” Michael says. “You’ve got to be getting sick of the dining hall food by now.”

“I like some of it,” Luke says, defensively.

“It’s not as good as Pear’s, though,” Ashton says.

“I have a lot to do,” Luke says, which is true. He’s going home for Thanksgiving over the weekend and needs to get ahead in some schoolwork.

“If you’re sure,” Michael says. Ashton starts to say something, but Michael shoots him a look. Luke can’t see it from where he is, but Ashton drops it, thankfully.

After they’re gone, Luke deliberates for half an hour before finally giving up and going to see his RA.

He knocks on Rian’s door tentatively – he’s never sought him out, has only ever spoken to him when directly spoken to, and only ever very few words at that.

Rian opens the door, smiles wide. “Luke! What can I do for you?”

“Uh – my roommate’s – his uh, his boyfriend filled our room with balloons? I don’t know what to do with them.”

“Right, it’s Michael’s birthday! I’ll have to remember to say something later,” Rian says. He steps out of his room and closes the door but doesn’t lock it. He leads Luke back to his room but waits for Luke to open the door for him. “Wow, Michael’s boyfriend went a little crazy, huh?”

Luke shrugs, overwhelmed.

“We can get this sorted out, no problem. Do you have any pens? Mechanical pencils will also work.”

Luke produces a handful from his desk and Rian picks two, so Luke does so as well. “I’m happy you came to get me, this will be fun,” Rian says, and then he’s stabbing blindly at the balloons, popping 4 in quick succession. Luke figures that this idea is as good as any, so he starts stabbing as well.

The balloons are too loud to really enable any conversation, which is a blessing. Luke finds that he’s not uncomfortable, though. Rian is a calming presence, practiced in his confidence.

They’ve gone through all of the balloons within twenty minutes, and then Rian stays to help collect all of the balloon carcases. They don’t talk, they keep up a comfortable silence as they work. Maybe Luke isn’t so socially incompetent, after all.

Luke does not expect Michael to come back to their room that night, but he does. Luke is still up, working on a sociology assignment when Michael slams the door open, clearly expecting the room to still be a mess.

“This is the best birthday present I’ve ever fucking gotten,” Michael says, relieved.

“Rian helped,” Luke says.

“How did he know to help?”

“I asked him.”

“You? Approached Rian? On your own?” Michael asks. The worst part is that it’s not even mocking, Michael is genuinely surprised.

“I’m not completely useless,” Luke says.

“This is the first proof I’ve seen of that,” Michael says, which is mocking, thankfully. Luke is much more comfortable with Michael when he’s not being sincere.

“Well, don’t expect any more,” Luke says.

“Wasn’t planning on it.”

Luke focuses his attention back to his computer as Michael bangs around the room, getting ready for bed. He’s managed to write a few more sentences when he notices that Michael’s looking at him.

“You should have come,” Michael says.

“I got a lot done.”

“Did you go to the dining hall?”

“No,” Luke says, guiltily.

“Want to go now?”

“The cake was filling,” Luke says. Michael rolls his eyes, but doesn’t push.

“Good, because we’re eating cake for breakfast, tomorrow.”

Luke looks back down at his computer and supresses a smile.

#bella i know you're asleep rn but i wanted this posted early #you're just one of the best people i know and i am so happy to know you #i love you and i hope you have a good birthday #my fic #fangirl au #also disclaimer: i dont know anything about atl #dont come for me

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bxcketbarnes · 5 years

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Teeth

gif made by @tothemoonmikey

Pairing: Ashton Irwin x Reader

Words: 1200+

Author’s Note: This fucking music video and song is so fucking fire. It has inspired me to write this and I like this. This is cute. I hope you like it too! xox

My phone ringing and vibrating against the wooden nightstand is what woke me from my slumber. I groan a bit, squinting my eyes open as the sun shines through the blinds. I reach my hand out to where Ashton usually sleeps, finding the space empty and cold as I perk my head up a bit more.

"Ash?" I call out loudly while sitting up in bed, glancing towards the ringing phone. Ashton's picture is front and center as he was calling, meaning he's not at home. "Hey, baby," I say after answering the phone and run a hand through my hair.

"Hi, lovely. Sorry, I'm not there but the guys wanted to meet up for the release of Teeth," he mentions and I smile, shaking my head even though he can't see it.

"It's okay. I guess our morning cuddles will have to become evening cuddles," I tease and bite my lip.

Ashton lets out a chuckle and my heart melts at the sound. His laugh is one of my favorite things about him, among many other things. "I'm totally okay with that. We're gonna go to dinner tonight and the guys are wondering if you wanted to join us," he asks.

"Are they sure? It's more of a band thing and I don't want to intrude," I mumble while leaning back onto his pillows, inhaling the scent of him that was left behind.

"Yeah, of course! You've been by our side for years so this accomplishment is yours along with ours. Plus, I want you to come, of course."

A laugh leaves my lips, "of course you do. Alright, as long as you four are okay with it I'll go." I tell him with a smile.

"Of course it is! I'm gonna come home before the reservation so you can ride with me in Frankie," he lets me know and I nod my head, muttering an okie dokie before my phone beeps.

I pull it away from my ear, seeing Ashton trying to FaceTime me. "Ash! I look like garbage," I shriek after answering it, burying my head into his pillow.

"Now, that's impossible. I actually like how you look when you first wake up," he smiles and I scoff a bit and take a peek at the red-haired beauty that's on screen.

"Are you crazy?" I question him with an eyebrow raised.

"Crazy for you," Ashton winks and I let out a loud cackle, shaking my head.

"You're so fucking cheesy," I tell him and he shrugs his shoulders. "I love you."

He grins and blows me a kiss. "I love you so fucking much, baby girl. I'll see you later, okay?" I nod my head and hums an mhm while giving him a shit-eating grin. "Don't forget to watch our new video in fifteen minutes!"

"I will, I will!" I wave him off and he blows me another kiss before saying goodbye. My lips make a kissy noise and Ashton hangs up afterward.

I set my phone down on the bed, letting out a yawn as I hug the pillow I'm laying on. I end up falling back to sleep since it was still pretty early.

"Y/N, babe!?" Ashton's voice yells and I moan, shifting a little bit as I open my eyes slowly. Our bedroom door cracks open and his red hair is the first thing that comes through. "Baby? You okay?"

I nod my head, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. "What time is it?" I ask groggily as he sits down on his side of the bed where I'm currently laying.

"About 2:30," he mentions and combs his fingers through my snarly hair. "Did you sleep well last night?" Ash inquires and I shrug my shoulders.

"Kinda. I did toss and turn a lot, but these past few days at work have been exhausting, so maybe it's just catching up to me," I point out and he hums.

My hand reaches out towards him, fingers grazing his arm gently as Ashton smiles softly at me. He scoots closer to me, dipping his head down to press a gentle kiss to my lips. A giggle leaves my lips after he pulls away and my eyes widen as I realize I haven't seen the new music video yet.

"Shit, babe," I curse and sit up quickly before leaping out of bed to grab my computer. He looks at me with a confused expression and I continue, "I fell asleep before your video came out, so I haven't seen it yet."

A laugh leaves his lips and he shakes his head, moving to sit beside me as we rest our backs against the headboard. Ashton rests his large hand on my bare thigh as I bring up YouTube, seeing it's one of the first videos listed on my home page.

As the video starts and the opening begins to play I notice how fucking incredible Ashton looks in it. I bob my head to the music, quickly learning to the lyrics of it. The part where they're "playing" it live begins and I can't help but bite my lip as I watch the bits of Ashton slamming on the drums, his red hair going everywhere with his signature drumming look on his face.

Wow… That's… hot.

I had my bottom lip between my teeth until it ended and the recommended videos pop up. I close out of Google Chrome, shutting my laptop and moving it to the side as I can feel Ash's hazel eyes staring into the side of my face.

"So?" He questions and I look towards him, feeling my heart pound a bit faster in my chest.

"I, uh, I have no words. It was amazing. The song? Incredible, babe. Catchy as fuck. Love the lyrics and the video? Fucking amazing, literally. You looked… so hot," I blurt out all at once as Ashton's lips form into a smirk.

"You thought I looked hot?" He asks and I nod my head, licking my lips.

"God, yes. The way your hair looked and how handsome you looked in the suit. And the way you banged on those drums? Fuck," I confess as I'm suddenly turned on.

He bites his lip a bit before his hands land on the back of my thighs, ushering me to move onto his lap. I straddle his hips and wrap my arms around his neck while my fingers dig into his hair.

"You want me to bang you like that?" He teases, his lips grazing mine. I nod my head beggingly, grinding myself on him as his fingers dig into my thighs and a groan leaves his lips.

Ashton moves, holding me against his body as he gets up and moves us to the en suite. "Shower sex?" I ask with a raised brow and he nods, smirking.

"Yeah. We have to shower for dinner anyway, so why not kill two birds with one stone?" He mentions and I chuckle.

I press a rough kiss to his lips as he sets me on the sink, both of us getting rid of the clothes we were wearing. "What a great idea, Mr. Irwin," I wink and he hums, leaning up to bite my bottom lip.

"You know it. Now, are you gonna be a good girl for me?"

I nod my head, biting my lip after he pulls away to turn the water on. Ashton walks back towards me, lifting me in his arms before bringing us into the shower, pressing my back against the cold wall.

"Please, Ash," I breathlessly moan as his lips attack my collarbones and breasts, "please take me."

Taglist: @h0tsos @thebookamongmen @ashtonsunshine @bumblebet-20 @asht0ns-world @singt0mecalum @maddz-world @gotta-try-something-new @twilightparker @ashs-cheergirl @therainydays4 @thatcheekychic @dashlilymark @shower-me-with-roses @aftermidnightclifford @lukeskisses @fayesfairylights @morningfears

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stereogeekspodcast · 3 years

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[Transcript] Season 2, Episode 4. Acting, Direction, Editing, Screenplay Nominations - Academy Awards 2021

The Academy Awards 2021 are here! Who's up for Best Acting, Best Supporting Actor, Direction, Film Editing, and Screenplay? Who do the Stereo Geeks think should win? We have so many thoughts about this year's Oscars, we can't even pick our favourites. Who do you think should win these categories?

(L-r) DANIEL KALUUYA as Chairman Fred Hampton, ASHTON SANDERS as Jimmy Palmer, ALGEE SMITH as Jake Winters, DOMINIQUE THORNE as Judy Harmon and LAKEITH STANFIELD as Bill O’Neal in Warner Bros. Pictures’ “JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release.

[Continuum by Audionautix plays]

Ron: Welcome to a new Stereo Geeks Special where we continue our coverage of the Oscars 2021. I'm Ron. Mon: And I'm Mon. Ron: Let's talk about the acting categories. Lead role (Male). We have Riz Ahmed for Sound of Metal. Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Anthony Hopkins for The Father. Gary Oldman, Mank. And Steven Yeun, Minari. Your pick?

Mon: Chadwick.

Ron: My pick, as well. I think this is the year for Chadwick.

Mon: Chadwick’s performance in the Ma Rainey film was compelling, outstanding. It's a real shame that he has not been here to bask in the recognition that he's got. He has swept most of the awards in this category. I'm really hoping that the Oscars don't let down his family. He deserves it.

Ron: Chadwick’s performance is a really strong point for the film. It's full of nuance, and really powerful storytelling. And I think the performance Chadwick put in was, in hindsight, made more powerful because of what we know he was actually going through. If you just look at the performance, it does really stand out. There are so many layers to his character, and that can only come out through a powerful acting performance. I feel like Chadwick could have won this category even if it wasn't a posthumous award.

Mon: I think so too. There's a lot of layers to this character, and he really gave it his all. It would have been outstanding irrespective of the year that this film came out, irrespective of the year that this performance was recognized.

Ron: I feel like it's also high time that Chadwick was recognized for his acting.

Mon: I mean, he's been good in everything that he's performed in. The fact that it has to be Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, it has to be a posthumous recognition, that's kinda sad. But he was always good. The legacy of his acting is gonna continue for a long time.

Ron: Absolutely. Talking about the other performances in this category, there are some hits and misses.

Mon: Yeah. I feel like with Gary Oldman in Mank, it’s probably one that we all expected. It's probably also the least exciting.

Ron: I felt like when I was watching Mank, I was watching Gary Oldman play a different version of his Winston Churchill.

Mon: Right? I felt the same way!

Ron: Okay, so it wasn't just me.

Mon: No, it wasn't, man. That was surprising to me because I feel like Gary Oldman is the kind of person who, when he plays a character, he really adds in so many different layers to it, gives each one a unique take, and this one just felt like, copy-paste.

Ron: Yeah, totally.

Mon: I don't think it helps that Mank, in general, is an underwhelming experience. And with the role, as well, I feel like we’ve seen, not only Gary Oldman do it before, but we've seen this kind of role before. The only thing I'll say is that it's not very obviously Oscar-baity, but it's exactly the kind that the Academy likes.

Ron: I actually think this is very obviously Oscar-baity.

Mon: Oh okay.

Ron: Yeah, totally. This is the exact kind of role that the Oscars love. This difficult man who is larger than life, who inspires and cuts down at the same time, that's exactly what the Oscars love. And that's why I actually hated Mank.

Mon: Yeah.

Ron: Because we have seen this character for aeons, there's nothing new here.

Mon: Yeah, absolutely, it's just change the setting, change the saturation point.

Ron: Absolutely. I would happily have swapped out Gary Oldman for Kingsley Ben-Adir in One Night in Miami.

Mon: That one still hurts me.

Ron: I just don't understand how he’s not in this list.

Mon: He's not in this list at all! That's what annoys me.

Ron: One Night in Miami has not got the noms that it deserves. And it's just driving me crazy.

Mon: The other performance which is definitely Oscar-baity is Anthony Hopkins in The Father.

Ron: Same problem that I had with Gary Oldman. Even in the huge, long career that Anthony Hopkins has had, this is not a good performance!

Mon: Right. There was only one scene where I felt like he'd kind of gone outside his comfort zone. There's this scene where he's meeting his caretaker for the first time, and he's sort of trying to impress her, and there's this natural vivacity that he brings, which I don't think I've seen in Anthony Hopkins, ever. And I love that.

Ron: Yes. Mon: And then it's completely ruined by that last scene. The acting in the last scene is so Oscar-baity. It is so ‘I am doing this so that I can definitely take home the little gold statue’. And it was the one scene that I hated so much because it was so put-on, it was so artificial.

Ron: But I felt like that about the whole movie. I felt, when I was watching this movie, that I was watching Anthony Hopkins.

Mon: Yeah, no, I agree with you on that. I agree with you, completely. And that's a problem because it didn't feel like a performance because it felt like he wasn't doing anything different. And I'm really disappointed because we know this guy can be better.

Ron: This is Anthony Hopkins.

Mon: I know! He puts in his all in a Marvel film. That's how good this guy is, and this film just feels like it's trying too hard and not reaching.

Ron: The play that The Father is based on, the performance was done by Frank Langella. And when I watched this, I was like, oh my god, Frank Langella would have been amazing in this.

Mon: That is so funny considering which role Frank Langella actually did play in the movies that have been nominated in this Academy Awards. Honestly, you could have put in a lot of veteran, white, old actors from Hollywood, they would have played that role the exact same way. Which is why I don't think it deserves a nomination or an award.

Ron: Yeah, agreed. Steven Yeun, Minari.

Mon: I think this was a surprise because a lot of people hadn't seen this film, And he's really known for being in The Walking Dead. You don't expect him to be nominated for the Oscars, but here he is.

Ron: It's such an understated performance. Like throughout the movie I could see myself in him. Which is why I'm really glad that he's got nominated because his Jacob is us.

Mon: Yeah, he's this foolhardy, obstinate kind of guy, but he's just so wistful, and I think I really like that because he's trying so hard, and he really believes in himself and in his dream. And you get all of that in Steven Yeun, just the way he carries himself, just the small little expressions that he makes. He doesn't even have to talk much, it's just him.

Ron: What I really loved about Steven Yeun’s performance was the scene where he is being a ‘dad’. And you know dads, they will be themselves, and then suddenly they will go into dad-mode. Where they’re like, you know what, something has happened and I need to be a ‘dad’ right now. And he is so, so good in that scene. And I was like, oh my god, stop being such a ‘dad’!

Mon: Exactly! Because the dad is putting on the performance of being a ‘dad’, and Steven Yeun is doing an excellent job of being that dad who's trying to be a ‘dad’. It's too good.

Ron: And that's why I'm really happy that he's been nominated because this is what acting is supposed to be.

Mon: It's supposed to be understated but also feel real.

Ron: In any other year, he would have been the top favorite in this category.

Mon: Yeah, I think so too.

Ron: It's just a really good performance.

Mon: Right. And to round it all off is Riz Ahmed from Sound of Metal. This is another very understated performance. There's nothing huge and flashy. It’s really just somebody who is coping with the circumstance that he cannot envisage. And he's really struggling, because his whole life, literally, his whole life, is going to change. It's really hard to rate this performance because it's so natural. It's so effortless. If you haven't seen Riz Ahmed in other stuff, you would think this is just him being him, but there are, of course, like differences to who he probably is as a person.

But I think the recognition of this award really goes to the fact that he put in so much work to make this role look as effortless as it does. He learned how to play the drums, he learned ASL, and both of those, he just does it so naturally in the film. And the performance would have been completely derailed had he not put in that effort of all those months, it would not have been a good performance.

Like when he’s drumming, like the first scene is him drumming, and you can see that it's him. It's not like in the shadows, it's not from the back, it's not like a stunt double. Nope, it's him. And you wouldn't connect with this character if you didn't see him front and center, with those drumsticks, banging on the drums, really like, into that music.

And even with the ASL. It's his language, and that's how you're supposed to feel because that is how the character is going to communicate. And I feel like it's such an important aspect that not only did he learn it, but now he's very keen on people learning how to sign because it is such a valuable language to learn. It was so good. It was so understated. It's hard for me to even say that he actually acted but, I mean we know he did. But’s it’s just so good, so natural.

Ron: I would compare Riz Ahmed’s acting in Sound of Metal to Natalie Portman in Black Swan. That ballet performance and how it made Nina was only possible because she'd done the work of learning ballet. That's the same thing here. The only reason why we believe everything that this character is doing and going through and evolving into is because Riz Ahmed put in all that effort. It comes across as so natural that you don't think you're actually watching an actor; you're watching a person. That's what great acting is.

Again, along with Steven Yeun, any other year, Riz Ahmed definitely would have won this category. But this year, it belongs to Chadwick Boseman. He should 100% get it. What a performance to leave as his legacy.

So, moving on to the ladies. We have Viola Davis from Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Andra Day from The United States vs Billie Holiday. Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman. Frances McDormand from Nomadland. And Carey Mulligan for Promising Young Woman.

This is a slightly harder category I would say. From the other award shows, it seems that Andra Day might be the front runner here. Unfortunately, we couldn't get to see this movie. Apparently The United States vs Billie Holiday is not a good movie. I read some reviews and it seems to be very exploitative, rather than anything else? And it's literally coasting on Andra Day’s performance.

Mon: Apparently, she sang some of the songs in it?

Ron: Yes.

Mon: I'm excited for any newbie to get awards. And when I say newbie, I mean somebody who's getting recognition for the first time at a big award show like this. I would love to have seen her performance just to rate it against these other very powerful performances. Let's see how that turns out.

My personal favorite, of course, is Viola Davis. She has my whole heart. How performance as Ma Rainey was stunning.

Ron: From that opening scene in the tent, you forget that you're watching Viola Davis. Ma Rainey was such a personality, and the way Viola Davis just embodies that. This is a woman who, when she walks into a room, everybody stands aside so she can walk through.

Mon: Yeah. One of the things that I really like about films being on Netflix is that we do have the after-film show or the after-film interviews. And for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, they talked about bringing this film to life. It's a play and now it's film, and the research that they did, and they learned about this personality who we hadn’t heard about. And how Viola Davis and the makeup artists and the costume artists, they really tried to embody the way she looked in real life. Because with Ma Rainey, you know she's singing for a long time, it’s sweltering heat, that why she looks very greasy. Her makeup is running, but she's got this power and she doesn't care about the glamour, you know, she's got a voice, she is using that, and that's what's entertaining, and that's what's grasping the entire crowd. Viola Davis and her entire team, they really wanted to capture that, which is what they do. They do such a great job. Ma Rainey doesn't have to look like the quintessential, glamorous, polished artist that we’re so used to seeing, because she's working hard. She's got a job to do. You don't have time for all this stuff, so I really love that. And I'm pointing this out mostly because there was a little bit of backlash because of how Ma Rainey looks in the movie. Ron: Oh really.

Mon: Yeah, there were some people saying, oh, why does she have to look so tired and sweaty. Well, that was kind of the point, so that's why I'm pointing it out. It was a deliberate, intentional effort made by the creators for this film. And Viola Davis does an excellent job of encapsulating that presence and that feeling. I really love how you have this character, based on a real person, of course, but you have this character in an era where Black people really struggled to make their voices heard, get anything that they deserved. She's like the exact opposite. And I love how this film turns the tables on that. And it’s only possible because you have somebody with that presence of Viola Davis. I would love her to win this. I don't know if she will. Maybe somebody newer, like Andra Day, deserves it more. But yeah, I've got my heart set.

Ron: You haven't seen Pieces of a Woman, but I did. I think Vanessa Kirby does the job that she has to in this film. I just think that compared to everybody else on this list, I don't get it. We were talking about how Steven Yeun’s acting in Minari was very understated. Vanessa Kirby does the same thing and Pieces of a Woman but her understatedness is so understated that there is no emotion. And I don't think it's her fault. I think it's because of the direction that she was given as an actor.

Pieces of a Woman was not as good a film as I heard that it was, which was surprising to me. I don't expect histrionics all the time, but most of the time, I was like nothing is happening on the screen, and that just did not make sense to me because the writer of the film based this story on what happened to her. And her husband was actually the director of this film. I feel like they weren't on the same page, or something got lost in translation between screenplay and direction.

I think Kirby did a really good job maybe in the first like 30-35 minutes, and then after that, she was probably told just, you know, hold it back, hold it back, hold the emotion back, and she ended up doing that really well, but the final product ended up being bland. And that might also be because they tried to stuff in other bits into a story that didn't need it. What ended up happening was that her performance was overridden by other elements.

We both feel that Yeri Han from Minari should definitely have been nominated.

Mon: Yeri Han plays the wife character in Minari; she plays Monica. She could have easily been a flat character, the long-suffering wife who just does what her husband wants, who somehow survives for her kids, but she is so much more. You can see this person trying desperately to be the supportive glue of this family. You can see this person trying to strive for her own dreams, for her own ambitions, and keep it together. And it's all because of how well Yeri Han, again in an understated fashion, just carries this character. And it is a shame, a complete and utter shame, that she did not get picked as one of the nominations.

Ron: I found myself comparing Yeri Han and Vanessa Kirby so much when I was watching these two movies, and it really made me wonder what the criteria is for the Oscars to nominate people. Both of these are very understated roles, but Yeri Han the way she emotes an entire dialogue without saying a word. That's what I wanted from Vanessa Kirby. I did not get that. And there were these moments in Minari where I was like, this is how I would react. And that's exactly how she reacted. And I was like, oh man, that's the first time that's ever happened! How does that performance not get nominated. Mon: Yeah, I'm really disappointed.

Ron: I think the problem is that we are very used to the ‘wife’ in films. Yeri Han took that and turned it into a role. And I think part of the reason why Steven Yeun has been nominated, not just on the strength of his own performance, but on the strength of Yeri Han’s. Because had she been terrible, nobody would have noticed what was happening with Steven Yeun. It's the same thing that I see with Killing Eve. The only reason why we keep focusing on how good Jodie Comer is, is because Sandra Oh is brilliant. But she never gets nominated, it's always Jodie Comer. I really, really wanted to love Vanessa Kirby's performance. I read so much about how much work she did. It just didn't come across to me.

So, moving on. Frances McDormand, Nomadland. Understated, but the right kind of understated.

Mon: The thing with Frances McDormand is that she's so effortless and natural in her roles that sometimes you think that's exactly who she is as a person. But no, she's acting, and I love that about these roles that she takes. And especially the one that she plays in Nomadland, I think, had she gone melodramatic or larger than life or the other opposite like super-emotional or something, we would not have believed this character and we would not have enjoyed the journey that we were on with her. It's the fact that she's very put-together, but she's also trying very hard to hold it together, and that comes across throughout in every scene. That's what makes it so powerful. That's what makes it so natural and immersive to watch, and it's no wonder that she's been nominated.

Ron: Yeah, I think if Frances McDormand hadn’t been nominated for Nomadland, that would have been a travesty. Again, talking about Pieces of a Woman, you can see how important direction can be for an actor. Because Frances McDormand’s understatedness could have become super-bland, had she not had the director paving her path. And that's why we get a really, really powerful performance in this film. I mean, she pretty much carries the whole thing. She could have a really good chance of winning this. Mon: Yeah, I think so too. Ron: So on the opposite end of the spectrum, we have Carey Mulligan’s Promising Young Woman. This is a very different kind of performance, just in this category. She feels like this person that you don't want to hang out with for a multitude of reasons. I think we’ve seen Carey Mulligan in quite a few films, so this performance does stand out because it's very different from what she usually does. She's kind of like preppy, and peppy. That's not what you expect. She does a really good job, but there's also like so much tension in this one, which she manages to carry very, very well.

Mon: What I like about this film is that it throws you into the middle of this story. There's no preface, and it's important because the story structure is quite a novelty, and I like that. And because we're thrown into the middle of it, we learn more about her character throughout the film, which makes her performance even more captivating. Why is this person who is young and desirable, and honestly, should have the world at her feet, going around with such a sad frame of mind? Why is she carrying herself in this terribly dejected fashion? Well, we find out.

I would say that this performance isn't as understated as some of the others in both these categories. It definitely has its moment where somebody could have gone completely over the top, but it never does. Because a) the writing doesn't allow for it and, b) the role wouldn't work if we were on either spectrum of super-gleeful or super-emotional. It's really somebody who is carrying a hurt inside her that she cannot fix, and you really feel that.

The funny thing about this film is that you’re left feeling so sad by the end of it, because you really understand this kind of, almost this kind of depression, that this character is facing, and you really feel it through her performance. It's a surprisingly captivating performance despite not being the quintessential Oscar-baity kind of thing. I'm not sure she's gonna win though.

Ron: I wonder whether the Oscars will do something completely different and be like, in light of #MeToo, we're just going to give it to this film.

Mon: I didn’t think of that. It could be.

Ron: Like, it says a lot about why #MeToo even exists. So, who knows? I think this is a very tough category. Let's see what happens.

Mon: Yeah.

Ron: So, moving on to the supporting roles. For the men, we have Sacha Baron Cohen for The Trial of the Chicago Seven. Daniel Kaluuya for Judas and the Black Messiah. Leslie Odom Jr for One Night in Miami. Paul Raci from Sound of Metal. And bizarrely, LaKeith Stanfield for Judas and the Black Messiah, even though he's the lead role.

Mon: Yeah, I'm a bit surprised, as well.

Ron: Apparently, they did put his name forward for the lead role and for some reason the Oscars put him and Daniel Kaluuya in the same category.

Mon: Listen, people who have limited screen time have sometimes been in the lead role category, other people, who are pretty much carrying a film have ended up in the supporting category. I've never understood the Oscars and what the criteria for these things are. It's literally like Tic Tac Toe sometimes. I'm actually really disappointed that both Daniel and LaKeith are in the same category, because they are so, so strong. They really deserve to have been not competing against each other, and definitely should have been frontrunners in their own categories. I mean Kaluuya is brilliant, he's always brilliant.

Ron: He is particularly good as Fred Hampton. I was just like, wow this is insane.

Mon: Like, you feel the emotional core of the burden that he's carrying, but you're also like a little bit inspired, maybe even a little bit scared, by the power of his performance and the power of his stage presence. I feel like he was really passionate about this role, but he doesn't go over the top with it. I'm sure he did a lot of research on Fred Hampton and how he carried himself. But it doesn't come across as this very manufactured or artificial kind of performance. And it definitely doesn't feel like some kind of weird, reverential take on this character. Because sometimes, that's also a problem, especially when you're embodying somebody who was a real personality and a very important personality. Sometimes you feel like you should only look at the good things. No one was perfect. And so, you should always approach those people as human beings first, but also respect the legacy that they've left. And I think he does a good job with that.

Ron: Well the thing is that Daniel Kaluuya actually spent time with Fred Hampton’s wife to find out what his personality was from her perspective. Of course, there were tapes and things that he watched so that he could actually get the physicality of the character, and that's why I think that he is a frontrunner in this category. Because we've seen Daniel Kaluuya in a lot of things and the way he plays this person, you forget that it is Daniel Kaluuya. Like, he's done the kind of research that allows him to become a person without actually showing us that he's acting it.

Mon: Listen, I'm never going to forgive the Academy for ignoring his excellent performance in Widows. He was so good in that film. I don't know why this role made me think of him in Widows, but I think it's that intensity? He's brought a very similar kind of intensity and I'm glad this one has been recognized at least. I really hope it does walk off with the award because, yeah, this is too good.

Ron: Absolutely, I agree with that. LaKeith is the lead in this film. I still can’t understand what the Academy is thinking. He is so good in this performance. He is this tortured young man who is just taking it one day at a time because he has no clue what to do. He gets into one scrape after the other. He thinks he has an out, and it's not.

Mon: His character is between a rock and a hard place, and LaKeith plays that to the tee. Like you can really feel it, his desperation to be normal, his desperation to fit in, his desperation to get out, and you just really feel it.

Ron: The thing is that it's very difficult to play a role like this because a lot of people just think of him as the bad guy. But there are so many layers to even bad guys. And LaKeith does it really well. Like there are times when there are emotions on his face, and I'm just like, he's just told us so much. If he was nominated for this role any other year, he would have won this. But I really feel like it's going to be done Daniel Kaluuya’s year.

Mon: Yeah. I hope so, as compared to most of the others.

Ron: Let’s talk about Paul Raci in Sound of Metal.

Mon: This was a surprise, yeah?

Ron: It was. He has a very understated role. He kind of plays like a mentor, and it's almost easy for you to forget that this is a person acting a role in a film. But then there’s this one scene, which was so quietly done. I can imagine that same scene in movies being full of histrionics, and gestures, loud voices…

Mon: Standing up and waving!

Ron: And banging tables, right?

Mon: Right.

Ron: And Paul Raci just keeps the same tone, and it's like a dagger in your heart. I feel like the power of that scene, coupled with the fact that, up until that point we had seen the kind of person he was, that's the reason why he's in this category. Because the only reason why that scene works is because we spent all this time with him. We've heard his tone of voice, we know how he feels about the main character, about their community, and you know where he's coming from. So yeah, this is a surprise, but now when I think about it, it makes sense.

Mon: Agreed.

Ron: Sacha Baron Cohen in The Trial of the Chicago Seven.

Mon: I know that he did a lot of research on the person that he was playing.

Ron: Okay.

Mon: He was concerned about this character, because we’re talking about somebody who was a real-life personality and when we say personality, we mean a personality. I can see he’s trying. The problem is, I could not see anybody but Sasha Baron Cohen when I was watching the movie. It was Cohen with big hair. And that's all I could see. I could not see him being anybody else. Is it a direction problem, is it just the role? He was not the best thing that film had in it.

Compared to the other roles that we've seen, just in this category, it doesn't even reach like halfway there. And it's not for lack of trying. As I said, there's a lot of effort put into it. I've read that he did a lot of research, he watched the tapes, blah blah blah. He was concerned about it. His concerns were warranted.

Ron: I think that was my problem with this entire film. Everybody felt like they were acting. They were acting, very well, but they were acting. Just as you said, I couldn't get past the fact that I was watching Sacha Baron Cohen.

Mon: And especially when he's doing the stand up. It looks like it's Sacha Baron Cohen doing the stand-up and not Abbie Hoffman. And it's just such a problem.

Ron: It would be an unpleasant shock if he were to win.

Mon: I don't want him to win.

Ron: No.

Rounding off the category is Leslie Odom Jr. in One Night in Miami. Leslie Odom Jr plays Sam Cooke. I really liked his performance. I liked everybody’s performances in this movie. Everybody should have been nominated. This movie he should have been nominated. I’m angry that it wasn't but let's talk about Leslie Odom Jr.

Mon: That voice!

Ron: I know!

Mon: How can you argue when you have a voice like that?

Ron: Oh my gosh. He has such an amazing singing voice. And he uses it so well in this film.

Mon: That scene when he sings that song. We know this song, but still.

Ron: Oh my god.

Mon: And again, credit to the way the film is directed that it hits you so hard when he sings that song.

Ron: The Sam Cooke character that we get in this film, he's kind of bombarded with negativity. He's trying to do things a certain way, his friends don't quite agree with that, and you can understand where they're coming from, but you can also understand where he's coming from. We could have had the table-thumping, the standing up and making a statement. But what you get is the finger-pointing.

Mon: [laughs] And understated finger-pointing. Nobody raises their voices. And that's what I really liked about the performances in general. And, of course, it comes down to the direction, doesn't it? We could have had somebody who, because they're so passionate about their points of view, that they could have raised their voices, they could have been punching each other, hitting each other. There are a few moments like that, but they're also being civil because they are friends. And I think when you have that underlying foundation of the characters, then it changes how you come to that performance. And it really comes across in Odom Jr.

Ron: The other aspect of this film is that these people were not only real but they were pillars of the community. They changed the way America lived and breathed. That can get to your head. The fact that none of the performances were affected by that is testament to the actors. I think any of the actors could have easily been nominated. I'm happy that Leslie Odom Jr did get nominated because his performance relies so heavily on reacting to things around him, and it could have gone terribly wrong in another actor's hands. He manages to keep it together, and it ends up being so memorable. But I still think this category belongs to Daniel Kaluuya. Let's see what happens on the day, but that's what I think.

Mon: Agreed.

Ron: So, let's move on to Supporting Role (Female). We have Maria Bakalova from the sequel for Borat. Glenn Close in Hillbilly Elegy. Olivia Coleman in The Father. Amanda Seyfried in Mank. And Yuh-Jung Youn in Minari. I haven't seen two of the performances in this category so that's not going to help.

Mon: There's been a lot of love for Maria Bakalova. This is a comedic performance. The Oscars aren't huge on comedy, so that would be a surprise. Now with Glenn Close in Hillbilly Elegy, I have not seen this film, I have seen stills. She uglies it up, which means she's gonna win.

Ron: Really, you think so?

Mon: Yeah, absolutely. First of all, she's a veteran actor, she's already been nominated several times, she's a favorite among the Academy-goers. So, I'm just like this category is definitely gone.

Ron: I know the Academy really loves it when ladies ugly-up.

Mon: Yeah, because they don't give actual ugly ladies any roles. [laughs]

Ron: [laughs] Oh god, why is that so true?

Mon: Listen. This category is a tough one. You know why? Because I'm not convinced by most of these.

Ron: Yeah, this is true.

Mon: Olivia Colman? I mean come on, she just won for The Favorite, right? Okay, she's hamming it up. She's acting but it's really. Here, she's not doing much.

Ron: You see, this is my problem with everything to do with The Father. I did not feel like I was watching a person; I was watching Anthony Hopkins. I did not feel like I was watching his daughter; I felt like I was watching Olivia Coleman. How does that get nominated?

Mon: I don't have an answer to that. It's unconvincing.

Ron: And the same thing with Amanda Seyfried. Mank, anyway as a film, we had a lot of issues with it. I think Amanda Seyfried tried to do what she could with the role, but the entire time I was like, I'm watching Amanda Seyfried.

Mon: And also, it’s not something new, this kind of role, this kind of character. It's not something new. I think we just want something refreshing which, for the most part, the other categories have really captured. Seyfried in Mank is just…

Ron: Seyfried in Mank.

Mon: Yeah. I mean, I guess the only performance we’re really rooting for is Yuh-Jung Youn in Minari. Because she's so fun!

Ron: She is so great. I think it helps that the role is quite different. Like, you think of grandmothers in a particular kind of way, and she totally is not.

Mon: And that's the whole point. And that's what I really like because she sort of doubles down on being this unconventional grandmom, because ‘grandmom’ is not a category of humanity. She's a person.

Ron: I love how, when her grandchildren are like, what kind of grandmum are you, you can’t bake, you don't do this, you can’t do that and she's like, why does that make me not a grandmom? She just decides that she's going to be her version of a grandmum and if that means sitting down in front of the television and watching it, that's fine! But everybody just has to deal with it. I loved it! It was just such a natural and fun performance.

So, when things kinda go bad, you're so angry at the world, you're just like, please no, no, no, don't let this happen. She's such a wonderful person! And that's why I think she deserves to win because she got all my emotions going so much. As I said earlier, I am a sucker for a grandmum character, and she's so good. She put in an amazing performance that didn’t feel like a performance. I was like, this is my grandmum.

Mon: You’re right. Absolutely. Because how the grandmum is in the second half of the film as compared to the first half of the film, they're the same person, but you would not feel the impact of the second half, if you hadn't met her and gotten to know her in the first half. And again, that's down to the fact that we had this really powerful, but very natural, performance. It feels authentic, and that's the whole point of these awards, isn't it?

Ron: Yes.

Mon: It's to give it to the best people. Yuh-Jung Youn might just be the person.

Ron: She's our pick, for sure. I feel like Maria Bakalova just might win this.

Mon: Oh wow.

Ron: I think the Academy is trying to do things differently. They want to show that they're not, you know, staid, fuddy-duddies who only give serious films all the awards. So, they might be like, it's a comedy, let's give it to her. And also, there was all that stuff about Rudy Giuliani and stuff like that, which I think might just be a reason for them handing the award over to her.

Mon: Okay, that'd be really interesting to see.

Ron: Yeah. The two acting categories for ladies is really hard this time. I think the male categories are very obvious who the winner is. The ladies, no idea.

Mon: Don't prove us wrong.

Ron: Okay, so we just want to touch on directing and film editing. There is some overlap with the Best Picture category. I'm interested to hear your thoughts.

Mon: Honestly, I am so torn between Emerald Fennell and Chloe Zhao. This is the first year the Academy has given to women nominations for the directing category. Let's just remind you guys that this is the 93rd Academy Award. I think both those films are so accomplished, so different…

Ron: So necessary. Either one of them could win.

Mon: Yeah.

Ron: My concern is that because there are two ladies, they're going to be like, they're in a separate category, and the rest of the guys are in the category of their own.

Mon: And that's the default category, so we're actually going to only choose between the three of them. Yeah, I hope not. Because I feel like Chloe Zhao should get it simply because Nomadland actually deals with a topic that is very popular with American film goers, and she's given it a completely new veneer, which I like. So, maybe she is front runner for it.

Ron: I also feel like Nomadland is definitely very well accomplished. I say this because it's not a very easy film to make. They’re on the move; they’re showing these very different kinds of landscapes. We're also going into these very tight interiors. She managed to balance that out very well, while also giving the performances so much room to breathe.

For me my pick would actually be Nomadland.

Mon: Interesting.

Ron: Because Promising Young Woman, another very accomplished film. I think it has a very familiar narrative structure. There are some shots which, when I thought about later on, I was like, ‘it's interesting that she used that angle’, but Nomadland just feels very different.

Mon: The thing about Promising Young Woman, as excited as I am that it's been nominated for so many categories, especially in the directing category, it feels very commercial

Ron: Yes

Mon: And mainstream. Most of these Academy Award nominations are very artsy very indie, or at least they feel like that. So Promising Young Woman with the peppy vibe and the colors and stuff, I think might be too different for what the Academy really likes to think of as cinematic excellence.

Ron: That's a good point, and that might be a reason why it wins.

Mon: Oh, I hope so.

Ron: Yeah.

Mon: You know who I’m surprised is not on here—even though we're not the biggest fans of the film—The Father, directed by Florian Zeller. I am surprised Florian isn't here, you know why? Because, as I mentioned, cinematically, it has such brilliant technique that I'm surprised the Academy didn't recognize it. I mean one of the problems that we had with it was that it's so slick, which should have shoehorned it into this category, but it didn't.

Ron: But I think that's exactly what would have happened, it would have been shoehorned into this category. Because The Father didn't do anything that we haven't already seen a billion times before. I'm sorry, that's not a unique film at all. I'm glad it didn't get nominated.

Mon: I'm surprised that Minari has been nominated. Like Lee Isaac Chung, I would not have thought that he'd be here.

Ron: Why not? Mon: Well, it’s such a personal narrative. It's just so small.

Ron: Yeah.

Mon: The Academy just love something that is larger than life, even when it's something to do with farming, you know. There's no KKK running after these people, so, like, how did this film even get noticed by the Academy. I'm surprised. I'm surprised it's in any category, but the direction I'm really surprised.

Ron: I'm trying to give the Academy the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they're realizing that they've been kind of in one direction this whole time. So we're getting to see people like Emerald Fennell and Chloe Zhao and Lee Isaac Chung actually get nominated for these amazing accomplishments.

Mon: And these varied films.

Ron: Exactly. I think that Minari actually works so well because the direction is really good. He keeps it small. He doesn't aim for something too huge. We just follow this family. And that's why the final product is so good.

One thing I've never understood about the Academy, ever since their changed the Best Picture nomination number to 10, I don't know why the director category hasn't followed suit. It doesn't make any sense to me. Having said that, I am so glad that it's Minari, Nomadland and Promising Young Woman that ended up in this category. They deserve it. As far as I'm concerned, this category is between these three. These are the most innovative films in this category.

Mon: Which is exactly why David Fincher for Mank will win.

Ron: Don’t say that.

Mon: I’m sorry but we know that Hollywood loves films about Hollywood; the Academy loves to recognize films about Hollywood. This is a passion project, it's about a very controversial, personal story that many Academy Award board members are going to feel like it resonates with them...

Ron: Because they were there at the same time.

Mon: You're probably not wrong. I don't actually have any hope for anybody else in this category, I'm sorry, it's true.

Ron: But even amongst David Fincher’s work, this is not a good film.

Mon: Yeah, but tell the Academy that.

Ron: It’s so… blah. The shots are so blah. Everything we see in Mank you've seen a million times before.

Mon: I agree with you. It feels like it’s trying to be of the time that it is portraying, but at the same time, it never looks like it. Just putting a black and white filter on your film, and using the same shots that Orson Welles would have used does not make your film innovative and new.

But we just have to resign ourselves to the truth. Fincher is considered an auteur. So, he's likely to win.

Ron: As far as I'm concerned, auteurs are basically people who do the same thing over and over again. And that's what Mank feels like. You know who I would have really loved to see in this category? Regina King. I was watching One Night in Miami and the entire time I was like, “why didn't this get nominated?” It's not just the shots. It's the way she portrayed the story to us. And this is her first time directing a feature film, it doesn't feel like it. Honestly, I feel like this was the year that you should have been nominating all these people. Why is David Fincher here? I just don't think even in David Fincher’s oeuvre, Mank is not his best work.

Mon: Yeah, the only thing is with One Night in Miami, it's technically very brilliant, especially for a first-time director, but it does feel like a first-time director’s work. There is a safety in how it is created.

That being said, at least it doesn't feel like a play, which is what it's based on. But compared to the others which are nominated, I can see why Regina King was overlooked. Though the film really should have made it to the Best Pictures noms, at least.

Ron: So, Another Round by Thomas Vinterberg. See, this is the thing; how has he been nominated for directing, but his movie was not deemed good enough to be nominated for Best Picture? What is the criteria? Honestly, I just don't understand what is happening!

Because when I watch this film, it's actually very uncomfortable to watch because there's so much shakey cam.

Mon: Oh!

Ron: And I was just like, I know you're trying to set the mood that there's a lot of drinking happening here, but it's just making me feel disoriented, so I'm not enjoying this experience. I don't think he was doing anything that different. In my opinion, it is between Minari, Nomadland and Promising Young Woman because those three are the ones that really stand out in this category. And as far as I'm concerned Minari and Nomadland actually do something completely different. They are the innovators. I'm hoping for Chloe Zhao to win because Nomadland really stood out to me.

Mon: Let's quickly go over editing. This is a tough category to really understand from a lay person's point of view.

Ron: Yeah.

Mon: Because when editing is done well, you will not notice it.

Ron: Which is making me question so many entries in this editing category. Because The Father has editing that is so obvious.

Mon: I agree with you on that.

Ron: I was like, oh look, here's a cut. Oh look, here's a camera change. How is this nominated for film editing? That way, again, Nomadland, edited by Chloe Zhao—who did pretty much everything in this film, oh my gosh, how did she do it—has such good editing, because you don't notice it.

Mon: Yeah, you are on this journey with this character. You feel the land that she is traversing, you get to know the characters that she is meeting.

Ron: You feel that claustrophobia in her trailer, and how it differs from everything that’s happening around her. It's just such good editing because you don't notice anything. It's just an experience.

Mon: Yeah, there's like this moment where Frances McDormand’s character is like a few yards away from her nearest neighbor, who's also in a van, and she sees her neighbor put up a flag. And we don't really understand the significance of that flag till a few scenes later when Frances McDormand needs help and she’s knocking on this person’s door, and her neighbor goes, “didn’t you see the sign?”. You you realize the flag is basically supposed to say do not disturb. And I think that's where editing and direction comes in, because anywhere else you would be told, it would be signposted that yes, this flag is going up because she does not want to be disturbed, go away now. But here it’s backwards, and it's important for us to feel that way because the character may not have known what the flag is about. And we're in her shoes. That's the whole point. And that again addresses why this film has got as many nominations as it has. And why probably it should win.

Ron: Absolutely.

We also have Promising Young Woman here. I think the editing here is pretty commercial, it's not very different. It serves the purpose of narrating the story. So, in that sense, it's pretty technically sound.

Mon: Well, I think there's one scene which has won it the film editing nomination. We can't talk about it but in the hands of any other director, especially a male director, we would have seen that scene in a completely different way.

Ron: I actually think there are two things that have made it, editing-wise, so powerful. And the reason why it's been nominated. And in that scene, I think a lot of directors would have chosen to maybe cut. But here, the director gave her actors so much leeway to play out the scene that the editing, you don't notice it.

Mon: On the basis of just that scene that you just mentioned, I feel like this film should definitely sweep this award. Honestly, the power of that scene really comes across in the use of camera cuts, or the lack thereof.

Ron: Exactly. And that is actually one of the reasons why Promising Young Woman really works, because it knows when not to cut.

Sound of Metal.

Mon: I am truly surprised that it's in the film editing category. Are you?

Ron: I'm glad that it is, I think sound editing, it did a really great job, but I think it's really easy to focus on that aspect of the film, and forget that the actual film editing also makes the story and the sound more important. I'm going to compare it to Another Round where the editing is so jarring. And so obviously edited. I'm glad it's not in this category, but Sound of Metal doesn't do that. It moves the camera away and it cuts at certain points where the audience needs that extra information. I think the way it's edited works for this film, I don't think it's the kind of style that would work for everything else, but because it fits so well with this narrative, I think that's why it's been nominated.

Mon: Yeah, because I think with the film editing, as well as the sound editing, both of them combined, it helps you walk in the shoes of this character, which as you say, is only possible when it's a very personal, individual story like it is with Sound of Metal. I'm kind of glad it's got some technical noms. If nothing else, because we know it's a real long shot for the Best Picture award winner. It could get the technical awards.

What is the Trial of the Chicago 7 doing here?

Ron: I don't know.

Mon: I spent most of that film wondering where the sightlines were.

Ron: Yes.

Mon: Right?

Ron: Yeah.

Mon: There’s this scene where somebody is walking up a flag and the character is looking to the left, but the flag is in the center, and I'm like, “where are you standing?”

Ron: The sightlines weren’t the only problem. We have a chunk of this film taking place in a courtroom, and it felt like I was watching Law and Order. So what is the innovation here? Why has it been nominated?

You know what should have been nominated in both the directing and editing categories? Birds of Prey. Okay, look, we love this movie so we are a bit biased. But Cathy Yan did an amazing job. She should definitely have been in the directing category, and the editing the scene in Gotham PD, come on.

Mon: Well, there are two major reasons why Birds of Prey didn't get any nominations, though, I really feel like it should have. First of all, it's a very comic book-y film, and also structurally, the story is very nonlinear.

Ron: Let us put it out there that Suicide Squad won an Oscar.

Mon: I am currently speechless.

Ron: So, who do you think is going to win this? Honestly, I want Chloe Zhao to get everything.

Mon: Yeah, but I think The Father is going to win.

Ron: I think that would be a mistake.

Mon: It's going to happen.

Ron: So we're going to round off with the screenplay categories. In the adapted section we have the Borat sequel—please don’t make me say the whole name—The Father, Nomadland, One Night in Miami and The The White Tiger.

Mon: We haven't seen the Borat film so we cannot attest to its merits. This is a tough category.

Ron: Ok, so we have two films that are based on plays, The Father and One Night in Miami. I think that we’re both of the same mind that One Night in Miami is definitely superior as an adaptation of a play. The Father feels like a play on film. One Night in Miami feels like a film. So, if it's between those two, it should be One Night in Miami.

Mon: You're going to root for Nomadland, aren't you?

Ron: I am but I have to say, The The White Tiger was a really good adaptation. I thought that was a solid, solid screenplay. I'm actually really annoyed that it didn't get nominated in anything else. As far as I'm concerned, it should have been up for directing, it should have been up for Best Picture, it should have been up for Best Actor. How do these things not happen? I don't understand what the Academy does, really. Like, what is everybody sitting there doing?

Mon: Dude, the fact that a film based in India with Indian actors even got nominated for anything, is like a surprise—in a good way, I guess. It's a film that looks at the poverty and the caste system in India, without actually sensationalizing it or making it completely the norm. There are different kinds of Indians that you will meet in India, as we see in this film. And I'm just surprised that the Academy noticed that.

Ron: You know what irritates me? Slumdog Millionaire won everything, when it was a bad film. And it portrayed India in a really condescending light.

Mon: And considering it was based on a book which was hard-hitting, spoke about the issues that we face in India all the time, but had this sort of fun vibe to it, and Slumdog Millionaire was just an atrocity, as far as I'm concerned.

With The White Tiger, I was very resistant to watching it.

Ron: Me too.

Mon: But yes, while it does portray the abject poverty of sections of society—and it is a little bit scary how people on both sides can treat each other—it also has this updated 21st century mentality that we haven't seen in portrayals of India in Hollywood for a while.

Ron: This was a really good film. I am really irritated that it hasn't got the recognition that it has. I mean, Ava DuVernay was a producer on this, so… But what I loved about The White Tiger was that it didn't coast on the name Ava DuVernay. Everybody else put a lot of work into it.

Mon: And it also didn’t gratuitously show us, you know, the disgusting aspects of India. It also shows you the grandeur that is Delhi and Bangalore, while telling you that yes, there are people living in villages in absolute squalor.

Ron: But what I liked is that doesn't keep throwing that squalor in your face, because people live there. For heaven's sake, you can't just keep saying, “oh my god it's so disgusting”. No, no, this is how people live.

Mon: Respect that.

Ron: Exactly. So I'm irritated, but I really hope that it wins this category.

Mon: Yeah that would be nice, right?

Ron: Yes, I am rooting for Nomadland.

Mon: Why am I not surprised?

Ron: But I would happily let Ramin Bahrani win this for The White Tiger.

So, original screenplay. We have Judas and the Black Messiah, Minari, Promising Young Woman, Sound of Metal and Trial of the Chicago 7. One of these things is not like the others.

Mon: [Laughs]

Ron: I'm sorry, the fact that Aaron Sorkin continues to get recognized and nominated for his writing when he is a bad writer, just drives me up the wall.

Mon: It's sometimes hard to differentiate between entertaining writing, and good writing.

Ron: But is he even entertaining?

Mon: Some people find that banter entertaining.

Is this the subject matter that deserves this kind of banter, this kind of writing? No it doesn't. It requires a deft hand, it requires a respectful hand and we have mentioned this several times and we've talked about this, which is that it does not respect the horrible situation that the people in it were facing.

Ron: It should definitely not win this category.

Mon: It will win this category.

Ron: Oh gosh, your cynicism. I believe that the Academy is going to do things differently.

Mon: I'm a pragmatist and I don't believe that.

Ron: Parasite won last year. Parasite was the best film among all the nominees. There were a lot of other films that should have been nominated, we always are going to be angry about that, but Academy actually recognized how good Parasite was, and it gave it the awards that it deserved. Maybe, maybe, this is the change that we are seeing. And Trial of the Chicago 7, even though it's been nominated to make a certain group of people happy, it won't actually win.

Mon: Well, we will find out.

I think Judas and the Black Messiah has a really good chance here. I think partly because of Daniel Kaluuya’s performance and the fact that Best Picture should kind of belong to it. It just has a really strong story.

Mon: Yeah.

Ron: I know you had issues with the second act; I didn't have that. I feel like it managed to balance these really big, larger than life characters with a story that had you guessing. It was packed full of characters, like, it's very much the opposite of Sound of Metal and Minari which has very small pockets of characters. But Judas and the Black Messiah is much more sweeping, so many people and every single person matters, every single story within the story matters. And cohesively as a whole, the film works because the writing is so strong as well.

Mon: I 100% agree with you on that. I will say that when you Algee Smith men in a role, you give me more of him on screen.

Ron: [Laughing] Ok.

So, Minari.

Mon: I want this one to win.

Ron: Me too.

Mon: Because it's a very simple story. We discussed this when we talked about the film in the Best Picture category, there is a universality to the events of this film that reflects many of our journeys. And I think that's the power of this writing; you can kind of see yourself in different ways. You can see yourself in different characters from the kid to the grandma, right?

And I feel like sometimes the Academy does like these personal stories about the American Dream, which honestly Minari is doing in spades.

Ron: I also feel like the reason why Minari you could win this category is because, you know what I was saying about Pieces of a Woman and how it adds things to make it bigger than it really is. Minari never does that, it’s contained to this one family because even little things can seem big when it's your life and it's people who you love, and that's what a great story, that's what a great writer, does. So yeah, I think it might just win this category as well.

Mon: Well, I think it's funny that you mentioned that things are huge and important when it's somebody that you love, because that ties into Promising Young Woman.

Ron: I mean that entire film is about doing something for somebody that you love, and everything that they felt is amplified because of how you feel about them. But nobody else around you can even imagine it because it doesn't bother them. That person has nothing to do with them.

And I think that's why the writing in this film is quite strong, because it's through the lens of this one character. Of course, the performance that Carey Mulligan puts in does amplify just how terrible she is feeling, just how strong this loss is for her in comparison to how everybody else is actually reacting to it.

And it’s a really strong story because that tension, it’s not just well conveyed on the screen, it had to be there on the page.

It does help that the writing and directing is done by the same person. I think this year we've seen that quite a lot, even with Chloe Zhao, she did the producing, writing, editing, and directing for her film, Nomadland which is a really really accomplished, really powerful, cohesive and memorable product.

Nomadland is not the kind of movie that you and I would watch, and maybe not even enjoy it but this one, my god. And the same thing with Promising Young Woman, she wrote it, directed it, produced it, and you can see the final product.

Mon: It's the ability to translate exactly how you feel on the page to the screen. And I think so often you see that divide because the person who directs a movie, sometimes isn't in sync with the person who wrote it, and that really undercuts important subject matters.

Ron: This is my problem with Pieces of a Woman, and that's why Vanessa Kirby's performance, it's not that good. It just doesn't work because the people around her weren't working together, though I don't know why.

Mon: I'm partial to Promising Young Woman winning as well, because it's a topical issue, and it's well written, it's entertaining in a very scary fashion.

Ron: Exactly. I mean this is a suspense thriller about a topic that a lot of people have had to deal with, but it comes across as a film that is also entertaining, so it's actually a good one for this category.

So finally Sound of Metal.

Mon: This one surprised me.

Rob: The writing for Sound of Metal feels just like a person's story like they're going day by day. That can actually be really hard to write. Again like Minari, this doesn't try too hard, it doesn't go too far, it knows what its aim is, and it stays within that scope. I think the problem with things like The Trial of the Chicago Seven is that the scope was so huge that the final product is, well, it's just not very good, and it doesn't do justice to the characters, or the narrative.

Sound of Metal is exactly the opposite. It takes this one person, his journey, and it just runs with it. And the other thing is that, a lot of films feel like, you know, we shouldn’t be linear because that's cliched or it's been done. But Sound of Metal works so well because of its linear narrative; it doesn't keep going back and forth. You are taking this journey with this person. So yeah, I think it has a pretty good chance as well.

So, I think we want four of these films to win. [laughs] And we don’t care about Aaron Sorkin. I would say the Academy is trying. We have unexpected entries this year in the major categories, which is exciting. The diversity is there. There's room for so much more. But I think one of the biggest problems that the Academy has had this year is by trying to play it safe with certain choices. My hope is that the Academy voters will see the innovation of films like Judas and the Black Messiah, Minari, Promising Young Woman, Nomadland. Sound of Metal and really begin to usher in a whole different way of filmmaking, because we can't be something if we can't see it. We've seen it with Parasite, are we going to see it this year?

Who do you think should win these categories at the Academy Awards 2021? We'd love to hear from you.

You can find us on Twitter @Stereo_Geeks. Or send us an email [email protected]. We hope you enjoyed this episode. And see you next week!

Mon: The Stereo Geeks logo was created using Canva. The music for our podcast comes courtesy Audionautix.

[Continuum by Audionautix plays]

Transcription by Otter.ai, Ron, and Mon.

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