#i wrote this on my notes app at 2am he possesses all my thoughts

[lighteyed]

safe / steve harrington

summary: nowadays parties kind of freak steve out, but you’ll make him feel safe again, don’t worry.

word count: 1.6k

steve doesn’t really party anymore.

occasionally he’ll have a few drinks, but there was a certain time when he was considered the party king of hawkins and nowadays he feels completely and utterly disconnected from that era of his life, having grown older and (sort of, maybe?) wiser, concerned more with his job, you, his girlfriend, robin, his best friend, and the hoard of children he’d unwittingly taken to looking out for somewhere along the way. he didn’t really have a reason to party anymore, and when you went out, still a senior in high school, a year younger than him, he would reject your invitations to come. he’d pick you up after, make sure you were home in bed safe, stay the night if you wanted him to, but you never got too drunk regardless. a few drinks and that was your limit. steve doesn’t mind. he’s just not a partier anymore, he tells you, insists on it, really, that he’d rather stay home, he’s grown out of that lifestyle, he’s moved on.

(but mostly he stopped partying after nancy wheeler told him their whole relationship was bullshit when she was shitfaced at tina’s halloween bash and steve hasn’t really had the courage to drink or be around people who are drinking ever since. especially you.)

you’re about to graduate, though, and steve knows he can’t miss it, miss one of the biggest moments in your life, where all you want is him there having fun alongside you, the person you care about most in the world. he’d be a shitty boyfriend if he did that, and steve harrington was a lot of things, gorgeous and funny and loyal, to name a few off the top of your head, but he was not a shitty boyfriend. not to you, not ever. he would sacrifice himself for your happiness ten times over if it meant you’d smile at him. if he had to brave the party scene again, he would. even though it kind of terrified him.

yeah, seeing you this drunk definitely terrified him.

he’s been nursing the same drink, only his second, and he was barely halfway done with it, for almost forty minutes now, lingering in the background of the room, watching everyone else have a lot more fun than him. he’s still enjoying himself in spite of that. he likes watching you shine, and boy do you. he forgets that being out of high school a year now means he rarely has a chance to see you in your element, popular, everyone adoring you, wanting you in their polaroids, congratulating you on the awards you’d gotten during the graduation ceremony, loving all the same things steve loves about you (not as much, he asserts to himself, never as much).

he sees you down your fourth jell-o shot and shakes his head with immense fondness. you’re going harder than usual, maybe because he’s there with you and you feel safer and more carefree in his company. you look over at him, beam and wave, and he does it right back, taking a small sip of whatever is in his hand (he’s not 100%, but who really is at a high school party?).

“stevie!” you wrap your arms around him, your eyes big, your voice a little silly from all the drinks you’ve had. even in your drunken haze you still think he’s hung the moon. “have another drink, baby, we’re walking home tonight,” you gesture for someone to come bring you another one for him but he gently pushes your hand back down.

“don’t worry about me, it’s your night, i want you to have fun,” he kisses the top of your head. you smell vaguely like your jell-o shots, that artificial strawberry scent like stomach medicine, but not in a bad way. it’s sweet.

“i want you to have fun with me,” you say, a little pushy, a lot drunk. he shakes his head again, still smiling. you mean well.

“i’m having fun, i promise, just not used to this anymore.” he squeezes your side playfully. “maybe chill on the drinks for a minute though, yeah? i don’t want you to get sick.” he plants another kiss on you, this time firmly on your lips, smiling against you when you gasp at the song that’s come on.

“aw come on steve dance with me,” but you accidentally tug on his hand holding the drink and he would’ve danced with you he swears he would’ve if you hadn’t gotten his drink doused all over the front of your shirt. “fuck,” you mumble, suddenly that weird mix of sober and drunk, your head fuzzy staring at the stain and steve’s head fuzzy with bad memories that make his breath bitch and his heart constrict.

“i’m sorry, babe, shit, come on, i’ll get you cleaned up,” he tries to steady his breathing as he walks you, stumbling and blurry-eyes, to the bathroom, don’t panic don’t panic don’t panic, but he hears it in his head. he hears all of it.

it’s bullshit it’s all bullshit you’re bullshit like we’re in love-

he shuts the door behind the both of you and you turn the sink on, and the flashbacks pulse behind his eyelids, and he keeps reminding himself to breathe. “i don’t know if it’ll come out, i’m sorry,” he spins you toward him, slow so you don’t get dizzy, and he dabs at the liquid squelching in your shirt, trying to soak some of it up. “i’m sorry, i’m sorry, i’m sorry,” he mutters, almost feverish, staring at you, at the stain, at the mess he’s made, the mess he always makes, the mess he can’t stop making-

“what’re you sorry for?” you say softly, still slurred, and when he meets your gaze he doesn’t see the emptiness he’s imagining, the coldness he remembers from the night so similar, he sees daylight. he sees love. “i pulled you too hard, my fault, ruined your drink,” you pull at your wet shirt and your movements are sloppy.

“not your fault, don’t worry,” he pushes your hair back from your forehead, sweaty from the heat of the party. mascara is smudged under your eyes. dingy yellow bathroom lighting doesn’t do anyone any favors but you’re the most beautiful person he’s ever seen. smudged and sweaty and so pretty. “i don’t wanna ruin your night.” his hand comes to rest on the side of your face, his thumb stroking your cheek.

“you could never,” you balk at the insinuation. you take his face in your hands. he’s worried, searching your face for answers, for reassurance. “so pretty,” you smush his cheeks together. his face warms. “pretty steve.”

“alright, alright,” he laughs, uncharacteristically shy, swatting your hands away.

“i gotta tell you something. it’s really important.” you stare directly into his eyes. they’re so deep and brown you wanna kiss him before you tell him anything. but your brain wants you to say it. your brain insists you say it first. “it’s a secret, okay? so don’t tell anyone.”

the panicky feeling creeps in again, even though you’ve been sweet on him all night. his palms start to sweat. he nods. “a secret, huh? how secret we talking?” he plays with a strand of your hair, an attempt to appear nonchalant.

“biggest secret of my life,” you inform him, a look of seriousness on your face so intense he almost laughs again, and he would if he weren’t so nervous. the concentrated expression didn’t match the inebriated, slightly delirious voice coming out of your mouth, not for a second.

“okay, lay it on me,” he takes a deep breath. he hears the party continuing to rage on outside the little bubble he’s in. at least if it’s bad his escape will be quick and no one will notice.

you tilt his chin up toward you because he’s not making eye contact and you need him to see you when you say this. your mind is buzzing with it. it’s all you can think about. you lean forward and whisper, “i’m in love with steve harrington,” and then you lean back and laugh, giddy with the revelation. “did you know that? super in love. for real.” you lean in again. “don’t tell steve. if he’s not in love with me back i’ll be real embarrassed.”

he’s never felt such pure relief, flooding his entire being, lighter than he’s ever felt, happier than he knew he could be. “i won’t tell him, gorgeous, but you should know,” he leans in and whispers, playing along, smiling so broadly he can’t hide it for a second, “steve is in love with you, too, i heard it from him myself, so don’t worry your pretty little head about a thing, okay?” he pets your hair, his touches light and loving. he hugs you like that, his cheek atop your head. you’ve been dating awhile, almost a year, but you’d both been so hesitant to say it first, past experiences hindering either of you from being able to fully admit it to each other, not wanting to be hurt again, not wanting to be vulnerable. but here you were. it’s not like nancy. you believe in him and your love for each other and things are different now, things are safe.

“you’ll take me home now? so i can tell him?” it’s such a sweet gesture, he gets overwhelmed, his nose twitching with that feeling that he might cry. he feels lucky to be loved, and lucky to love you. lucky to maybe not loathe parties so much anymore.

“‘course, baby, c’mon.” he kisses your forehead, the tip of your nose, your lips. they’re soft and sticky and perfect.

he takes you by the hand and leads you out of the house after saying goodbye to your friends; he keeps your fingers interlocked the whole walk back to your house. when you’re cleaned up and in bed, a glass of water on your nightstand for when you wake up, you turn to him, reaching out.

“you’ll stay right?” he remembers a time where he never got asked to stay, never got to be in love properly. it feels far away now. he’s flushed with love from you now. he can put the past behind him.

he climbs in next to you, fresh from the bathroom. “can’t leave until i get to tell you i love you when you’re sober, now can i?” and your fogged up brain supposes he can’t.

#i’m on a roll :D #i wrote this on my notes app at 2am he possesses all my thoughts #steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x you #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington one shot #steve harrington x y/n #steve harrington blurb #steve harrington fanfiction #steve harrington fanfic #stranger things #stranger things x reader

[tomiokai]

birthday gifts

haikyuu!!

navigation <- masterlist found here

[ sfw ] what the haikyuu!! boys would gift you if it were your birthday. gn!reader

t. oikawa / k. kenma / k. akaashi / t. kuroo / k. bokuto / t. yamaguchi / k. sakusa / t. kageyama

notes: i had too much fun making this one… i just thought that this would be the fluffiest thing to write and i couldn’t resist! ignore the spelling mistakes cause i can’t proof read for shit. HOLY SHIT, as i was writing this i left the app and EVERYTHING just disappeared. i straight up sobbed for an hour before attempting to rewrite everything. 1/10 would not recommend. so enjoy my tears ig… wrote this at 2am so it might be questionable- this fic is crazy long and i don’t even know why…

cw: none… maybe a shit ton of fluff and the slightest bit of suggestiveness if you squint super hard.

T. Oikawa

Okay, Oikawa would definitely take you on a private date somewhere without his fangirls.

He’s always busy with volleyball, he has fangirls chasing after him at all times and he just can’t seem to find alone time with you.

So when it was your birthday he decided he would take you to a quiet little cafe and spend some quality time with you.

You guys would sit across from each other while holding hands over the table located in the corner of the vacant cafe.

There would be a beautiful sunset outside the window as Oikawa fed you cheesecake.

He would softly nudge your feet whenever you said something that embarrassed him.

Lots of hand kisses….

There would be a lot of laughter and the both of you feel like you’re falling in love with each other all over again.

Boy is a simp.

He would also get you a necklace with his initials on it to make sure everyone knows you’re his s/o.

Possessive much?

The sunset was beautiful as it illuminated both you and Oikawa from the other side of the cafe window making both of you look like you’re glowing.

It was your birthday and Oikawa took a day off from volleyball and took you out on a birthday date to a vacant cafe. It was quiet and private, just what the two of you desperately wanted. The atmosphere was warm and homely with the smell of freshly baked pastries and freshly brewed coffee in the air. The cafe was lowly lit with fairly lights hanging around the room castings soft glow in its path. It was as romantic and lovely as it could get.

Oikawa was holding one of your hands across the table as the two of you shared a large slice of cheesecake to celebrate your special day. He smiles at you with a smile so genuine, you feel as if you’re floating because not many people receive them from him.

With a sudden smirk, Oikawa lifted up his spoon and brought a piece of cheesecake up to your lips and said “open up princess.”

Not wanting to hurt his feelings you took his offering and ate it. After swallowing, you let out a loud laugh quickly joined by Oikawa himself. “Never do that again,” you laughed covering your mouth with your free hand.

“You’re right, that was majorly embarrassing and sappy,” he responded lifting his spoon to your mouth again. With a soft nudge of his foot you grudgingly opened your mouth to eat the cheesecake. To outsiders you may have seemed annoyed but the shine in your eyes said otherwise.

The both of you adored each other.

K. Kenma

Kenma would definitely buy you a Nintendo Switch with Animal Crossing.

He would shut out the world and hog you in his room to teach you how to play animal crossing all day.

I can also see Kenma buying stickers and sparkles for you to decorate it.

You would force him to decorate his as well so yours doesn’t seem crazy.

The two of you would sit crisscross on his bed decorating your Nintendo’s.

After that he actually starts explaining how Anime Crossing works.

Kenma would get carried away explaining the game to you but you just let him because he is super excited to share something he loves with you.

You have a smile on your face the entire time because Kenma has all his attention on you and making today special for you.

Kenma would steal your resources when you’re not looking and run to his own island.

Sitting crisscrossed on Kenma’s fluffy bed you smiled to yourself and felt your heart beat quicken as Kenma went on about how fun Anime Crossing is. Even though you basically knew how to work the game you let Kenma continue because he’s speaking with such joy in his eyes.

You guys had just finished decorating your Nintendo’s with Kenma’s being a cat theme and yours being a bumble bee theme. At first Kenma was hesitant about decorating his but after a little coaxing he agreed.

The decorating process included a bunch of sparkle throwing and laughter. You got into a glitter fight because Kenma wouldn’t share the light blue bottle of glitter. So naturally you threw brown glitter at him. It was a mess because as soon as that glitter hit Kenma, he dumped the blue glitter into you and said “here’s the sparkles you wanted kitten.”

You practically died when he called you “kitten”.

K. Akaashi

He would take you to a big bookstore and hand you his credit card with a wink, lean down and whisper into your ear, “go crazy, my love.”

He would watch you run down the aisles stuffing your arms full of books.

He would offer to hold them while you browsed books.

Sugar daddy vibes. Big dick energy.

He’d watch you for hours studying books and he would even add a few that he thought you might like into your arms

Akaashi isn’t one to smile too often but today, in the privacy of the shelves he was full of sweet smiles. He adored you and how your eyes glowed with excitement.

Akaashi would’ve asked you what your favourite book was a month ago. You thought it was a normal question since the two of you often swapped book recommendations.

But you soon find out he annotated your favourite book with his comments and thoughts and snook it into your bag for you to find.

At the end of the day as you guys are cuddling he would read you a book.

Akaashi had a soft smile on his face as he watched you browse through the rows of shelves filled with books. The atmosphere was quiet and smelled of books and pumpkin spice and the warm colours really set the mood for the afternoon.

One of his arms were occupied by books you have picked out earlier and in the other hand he carried an ice coffee that he frequently drank from. He was a sight for sore eyes. His hair was messily tossed and he wore a baby blue sweatshirt with a tiny white heart in the centre. The sweatshirt was matching yours, a white sweatshirt with a small blue heart in the centre. You had went through a whole lot of struggle to convince him to match with you but in the end you had won the fight obviously. He secretly enjoyed matching with you but he wouldn’t ever admit to it.

Whenever you placed a new book into his arms you’d plaster him with kisses and thank him profusely. He had spoiled you and you knew it. He truly loved you and you were very thankful.

Akaashi had also planned to read to you will cuddling tonight. He would sit you down between his legs while in your bed and start reading for the next few hours. His soothing voice would eventually put you to sleep.

The glock glock 3000 is also in place tonight if you know what I mean. 😩

T. Kuroo

This man is a literal dork and you can’t convince me otherwise.

Stationary. He would get you the cutest stationary ever. Kuroo would gift you the stationary in a decorative box with a red bow. (#school pride)

Along with the stationary, he would gift you a customized phone case with a picture of the two of you that was taken on a previous date.

Hidden at the bottom of the gift box Kuroo would hide another custom phone case but this time with a pretty yk... hot picture of himself. If you know, you know.

BUT that’s not all, Kuroo would then proceed to take you on a road trip across Tokyo. 

With what car? I don’t know, just don’t think about it too much about it...

On the road the two of your would sing your hearts out to your favourite songs.

A shit loud of laughing.

Kuroo has his hands of your thigh the whole time....

You guys would stop by at ice cream shops, gift shops and whatnot and just have a really good time.

You sang your heart out as you and Kuroo drove around the outskirts of Tokyo. The windows down, the wind blowing your hair, and the fresh air engulfing the two of you. You both wore your sunglasses and had big smiles on your faces. It was peaceful and relaxing, just what you had wanted for your birthday after Kuroo gave you that very suggestive gift.

Who knew just driving around was so fun. You and Kuroo were alone in his car, his hand on your thigh and the other on the wheel. It was a look that could kill. You felt as if you were dreaming. Everything was just so perfect.

Taking a short detour from your road trip the both of you went into a small ice cream parlour to buy some ice cream. With ice creams secured, the two of you sat on some beaches outside the parlour and enjoyed your ice cream.

That was until Kuroo suddenly lunges for your ice cream, taking a gigantic bite out of it. You yelled and pulled the ice cream away from him and glared.

“KUROO! THAT WAS MY ICE CREAM!” You yelled jokingly at him while narrowing your eyes.

Kuroo only smirked and resumed eating his own ice cream not even apologizing to you. You were offended greatly.

“Bitch,” you mumbled under your breathe.

“What was that, sweetheart?” Kuroo asked innocently turning to face you again.

“Nothing…” you replied innocently with a smile on your face. An idea had struck your head.

Before Kuroo could go back to eating his ice cream you quickly leaned over and took a large bite out of his as well. Right as he was about to scold you, you ran away towards the car, ready to lock yourself in until Kuroo got over his ice cream.

K. Bokuto

Poor baby would struggle to think of something for your birthday.

He would get all sad the month of your birthday but he just wouldn't tell you why.

He would ask Akaashi for his help but Bokuto would say “but that’s your idea and it didn’t come from my heart.”

“You were the one who asked for my help...” Akaashi would mumble while walking away to do serving drills.

Maybe this was the middle of the night but then Bokuto gets the sudden idea of painting rocks for you. Just go along with it.

So the next day Bokuto went incognito on you. 

He has the whole black hoodie, hood up, glasses ordeal.

And that’s exactly how Bokuto went into the store to buy paint supplies.

For the next few days leading up to your birthday Bokuto locked himself into his room to paint.

He wouldn’t tell anybody about it. Not even you or Akaashi. 

When it was time to assemble the gift he also bought you a shit ton of your favourite snacks. 

So when it came down to it, everyone was dumbfounded when you opened your gift. 

Akaashi made a chocking sound while trying to conceal his laughter.

You loved it regardless of what other people thought because you knew Bokuto put his heart and soul into painting the two of you as rock people in marriage outfits. He also painted many of your guys friends.

Period.

“Bo! Open up, I miss you!” you yelled through the door to his room. Bokuto, aka your boyfriend has locked himself in his room for the past 2 days. He refused to come out and wouldn’t budge at all.

“Go away y/n! I love you but I am REALLY busy at the moment, babe!” he yelled back through the door.

You let out a small sigh and tried again, “Bo, when will you come out then?” you asked using your sweetest voice in hopes of luring him out.

“Maybe in a couple hours,” He responded, not even phased by your voice.

“Well have fun Bo but I’m telling you now, our friends are coming in a few hours for my birthday party… You’ll have to come out then or I’ll get Akashi to kick this door down and drag you outside,” you half jokingly said to the door.

“Keiji-chan wouldn’t bother kicking down the door, let alone drag me out, Y/N,” Bokuto responded, still unbothered.

At least you’re self aware… you thought to yourself before giving up yet again. “Fine,” you pouted through the door.

“That won’t work on me today, y/n! I know what you’re trying to do. You’re making that pouty face!” Bokuto yelled.

It was definitely working. But he still didn’t come out. Who knew Bokuto could resist your pout.

T. Yamaguchi

This cutie would cook a homemade meal for you.

Purest fucking shit ever.

Throughout the month he would listen closely to you whenever food was the topic being discussed.

He kept tabs on all your favourite food.

The day of your birthday Yamaguchi would get the team to spend the day with you. 

You wondered why Yamaguchi wasn’t spending time with you but you got a text saying that “he didn’t feel well”.

You let it slide because you trusted him and you woudn’t want to make him feel worse. 

So as you hung out with the team, Yamaguchi spent the whole day cooking all the your favourite foods. 

From baked treats, to delicious savoury food to even homemade ice cream.

At the end of the day, Yamaguchi would text you to come visit him and of course you said yes. 

When Yamaguchi opened the door you were immediately met with the mind blowing smells of delecious food.

“Tadashi! You didn’t have to do all this,” you whispered looking at all the food on the kitchen table. There were tears in your eyes because your heart just couldn’t take how sweet he was. He had spent the entire day inside, away from you just so he can surprise you with the best present you have ever received.

Everything Yamaguchi had made came from his heart and you knew it. You tuned around and gave Yamaguchi the biggest hug ever. Thanking him nonstop for all of his hard work and effort.

“Anything to make you the happiest, Y/N!” he responded with a big and sweet smile while hugging you very tightly.

The two of you sat down after the exchange of hugs and dug into the food.

“Sorry Y/N, I’m not the best cook but I know you love homemade meals so I tried my best,” Yamaguchi said scratching his neck as you took a bite out of a crepe.

“NO, NO! THIS IS GREAT,” you tried yelling as your mouth was full, your arms swinging willingly around indicating you loved it.

Yamaguchi broke into an even bigger smile and felt so proud of himself. (As he should, no back talk.)

After eating for almost half an hour, the two of you were stuffed to the brim. Yet there was still so much food on the table. “Ugh, Tadashi, I think you made too much food. There’s so much left there is enough to feed a whole volleyball team who just finished an intense game actually,” you slowly said, barley feeling anything as you felt so very stuffed.

“Yah, I’ve realized,” Yamaguchi replied as slowly as you had relied. He too was stuffed.

“Maybe we could call the team over?” you suggested?

“You know what, that’s a good idea. I’ll go call them right now!” He piped up. He then proceeded to waddle down the hall towards the phone. God he was so adorable.

K. Sakusa

Y'all are gonna kill me for this one...

Sakusa would probably get you scented hand sanitizer, but hear me out! At the very beginning of your relationship he has always been very observant to everything about you.

So naturally he has picked up on your favourite colours, habits, quirks and etc.

But most importantly the scents that you like.

So, Sakusa went out of his way and went into public to buy you a haul of hand sanitizers that are your favourite scents.

He may or may not have bought you enough to last for a long while…

But contrary to popular belief, Sakusa is an extra ass bitch when it comes to you so he decided to get you a few other things as well.

And well… he also gets you personalized masks that would match with his.

Like imagine how cute it would be if you guys were to go somewhere and the two of you were wearing matching masks…

HELL YES.

Just imagine right before his match and he’s showing off his s/o without actually showing off his s/o. Now, that’s a flex.

Sakusa wasn’t usually one for big gestures or pda, but when it’s just you and him in the safety of his room, he loved cuddling. The boy was practically touch starved.

Today was your birthday and the two of you had spent all day together in his room doing gods know what. When you’re dating Sakusa, nothing is boring. Especially when the two of you would make everything into a competition. And ladies and gentlemen that’s how the two of you survived in his room without getting bored.

So as you cuddled him after a long day of friendly competition, you were surprised when Sakusa pulled out a small bag containing your gift.

“So, I wanted to get you a little something as a thank you and birthday gift, Y/N. You make my life so much more entertaining and I feel alive when I am with you,” he said to you with a glow in his eyes that you have never seen before.

You were dumbfounded but that quickly lead to tears. “You didn’t have to get me a gift, but I appreciate so much,” you whispered crawling into his lap and laying your head on top of his shoulder.

“You deserve it,” he calmly said turning his head a little to kiss your cheek.

T. Kageyama

Baby boy would gift you a spa night together.

We all know how well Kageyama takes care of his hands so it is only natural to assume he does secret spa nights. You can’t tell me otherwise.

SO for your birthday he let you in on his secret.

He took the liberty of taking the day off just to spend the whole day with you.

You guys would spend the whole day together cruising around town and fooling around but eventually when you get back to Kageyama’s house he presents you with your birthday gift.

Face masks, relaxing music, pedicures, manicures, smoothie bowls, candles and message guns. Everything, you just name it.

He would let you choose whatever you wanted to do first and this would go on until the very late hours of the night.

Eventually the two would snuggle up on his bed and watch Disney movies while eating caramel popcorn.

The two of you were snuggled nice and comfy on Kageyama’s bed as a movie played in the background. You had just spent most of your evening with Kageyama and participating in your spa day gift.

Both you and Kageyama have face masks on and fluffy bunny ear headbands keeping your guys hair out of the way. Kageyama chose the headbands. The two of you had done your nails together earlier in the night as well. Matching sets, although the painting process was a little messy.

“Kags?” You whispered.

“Yes Y/N?” He responded immediately.

“How did you even come up with this birthday idea? Don’t get me wrong I love it very much but I am curious,” you asked, genuinely curious.

“I kind of heard you talking to Yachi once about never experiencing a spa day. So I decided I wanted you to experience it with me. I also love this kind of stuff so I thought you might like it aswell,” he explained calmly.

“Stalker,” you playfully mumbled.

“HEY! I HEARD THAT! AND IM NOT STALKING YOU! YOU’RE JUST VERY LOUD.” Kageyama quietly yelled, getting defensive very fast.

Sometimes you wonder if Kageyama can understand sarcasm or not.

#headcanon #haikyuu!! #haikyuu headcanons #kozume kenma #akaashi keiji #oikawa torū #tadashi yamaguchi #sakusa kiyoomi #bokuto #kageyama #haikyuu fluff #fluff

[zenzaaaaaaaaaaaa]

What's your creative process zenza? How do you come up with these songs?

I don’t have a creative process as much as these songs come into my home and demand I make them. Time to go step by step for how I made all of them.

Divine/Wretched: I think it was 2am and I absentmindedly sang the opening lines and I thought they were cool. I pulled out a uke, found some chords that worked, then just pulled up a google doc and make the lyrics. I do not know how. I was very tired, it was very late, and I was very possessed.

What The Water Said: My bathroom has fine acoustics and I sometimes absentmindedly sing while I’m there. I, again, absentmindedly sang the first line, thought it was cool, and came up with the chorus. I returned to my laptop at hyperspeed to add more to it and had to keep reminding myself to keep a color theme through the whole song, and just slapped it down in a couple hours. I changed a couple things around so they made more rhythmic sense and had better alliteration, but it mostly remained the same. It was a narrative concept I wish we got to see more of in canon, and I thought it might be cool as just an extra thing. Then I thought I’d have Sokka sing it, maybe. Then I realized it worked better if this was a “hey everyone, genocide is bad!” education from a very tired Zuko. then I realized I should probably make a fire nation counterpart to the song.

What Remains: I did the above realization. I worked out the chords. I realized I wanted a dance break. I plotted out a little dance break section. I wrote the lyrics down, wasn’t overly enthused about them, but thought they were decent. Lost the plot a couple of times and had to work some things around so that it wasn’t too actively disparaging of the Fire Nation. Kept a lot of the treason in, still. Figured that, since no one really cared about Divine/Wretched too much, even if I wasn’t completley satisfied with how the song went, it wouldn’t really matter. Than all of you guys loved the songs and suddenly, I didn’t just have possession: I had SUPPORT.

Hunt: I didn’t want to explain Zuko’s whole situation constantly so y’all wouldn’t either hate him or Aang too much. I also wanted to let the public know generally what was happening so I could do fun things with background characters. If I just put it down in text, it might go unnoticed and I’d have to answer a lot of question comments about the motivation of people. It was 12am, I dug out my phone, I typed out the lyrics into my notes app while I was in bed, conked out, and wrote the last verse when I actually had a ukulele and could see if anything I just wrote actually worked. I then decided, to my own detriment, to do that one while strumming VERY fast. That was largely due to the fact that I wanted to make the song distinct from the last two, which both involved a lot of plucking, and that the only other way I could strum it was very slow. I don’t quite regret making that choice, but my hand definitely did.

War Dogs: I got to thinking about Azula. I got to thinking about tragic love stories and the mindset of Fire Nation soldiers. I didn’t really care which one I made a song for, but I wanted to make another song because everyone was so supportive. I sang the first opening line again, experimentally, and tried to make it work for Azula. That didn’t work, so I went for option two and instead discussed the ways a hundred years of war have changed the ways people let themselves love and the ways they view their own deaths.

Long Night Lullaby: Someone asked on tumblr. I immediately pulled up the chords to all of the lullabies I could think of, made my own cheerful little clone of their pattern, and decided I’d go for a song about my man Koh, who has to be an excellent monster under the bed to use against any child. Lullabies are creepy as hell! He fit very nicely. That one took me 1-2 hours I think, and that was mostly because I was trying to do something fancy with the chords before I wholesale gave up and just did some strumming.

Birdcage: Someone on the discord server asked if I’d consider doing an Azula song. I technically already had one, but I figured I might be able to work out something more until that one becomes relevant. I tried something out the next morning, some of it worked, I kept going. I wound up deleting a bridge section I had originally and changing around some of the chords, but I had the lyrics in a day or two and just had to practice and refine them a lil.

My creative process tends to be: I locate a vibe, I locate a rhythm, I locate what I am attempting to talk about, and I then get my grubby little hands over all of the symbolism that I have already. I have a google doc called improv song refinery, because I have this nasty habit of making really cool songs off of the top of my head and I’ve gotten into the practice of recording myself so I can refine what I make that is cool. I have no short term memory. I toss my lyrics into that doc, verse by verse, and I pause to make sure it works every stanza or so on the uke, and I keep going. I don’t question what my brain wants to say initially, I just put it down with the understanding that I can change that later. My brain makes alliteration and rhyme fairly natural, but if I get stuck, I head over to rhymezone.com and see what I can do. I give myself permission to create, even if it’s not the best it could be, and I work with that until I’m happy with what I have. Possession also doesn’t hurt. Nor does large quantities of caffeine.

#no grave (hold my body) #talking to the void #averageace