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obtusemedia · 4 years

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Ranking The 1975′s songs, from worst to best

The 1975 are unabashedly political, wildly eclectic in musical style, and masters of striking the perfect balance between strange and accessible. They’re also the most important, and arguably the best, band of the last five years or so.

However, despite their ability to pen generation-defining anthems and incredibly sticky pop hits, The 1975 have a fatal flaw: they overstuff their albums. All of their records, even their most consistent one (2018′s A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships) have at least a couple filler songs. Because of that, and because the Manchester band love to dabble in nearly every musical style on the planet (except hip-hop, which is probably for the best), a song-by-song evaluation is the best way to judge The 1975′s catalog. And with the recent release of their hit-and-miss fourth record, Notes On A Conditional Form, there’s not a better time to do just that.

But first, some ground rules:

1) To make the list, songs had to appear on one of The 1975′s four albums, or their four debut EPs (which I normally wouldn’t count, but they contain many of the band’s essential songs).

2) The 1975 love to include instrumental interludes on their records. I’m not ranking those — Matty Healy has to sing on the track for it to count.

3) The 1975 also begin every album with a self-titled song. Because three of them are variations on the same song, and the fourth is a spoken-word track with climate activist Greta Thunberg, these won’t be on the list either. (For the record, the best version of the song is their second attempt, although I respect the hell out of the Thunberg monologue.)

#69: “Is There Somebody Who Can Watch You” (The 1975, 2013)

The bottom of this list will be mostly comprised of the painfully boring, minimalist ballads that The 1975 used to end their albums with (thankfully, their last two album closers were phenomenal...we’ll get to them much later). One of the most appealing aspects of The 1975 is their bold, in-your-face style. A bland, hookless piano ballad like “Somebody” is the opposite of that. I already forgot how the tune goes.

#68: “Don’t Worry” (Notes On A Conditional Form, 2020)

The backstory behind “Don’t Worry” — lead singer/lyricist Matty Healy’s dad wrote it for his family ages ago, and now Healy’s recording his own version of it — is cute. The actual song, unfortunately, is a treacly mess that sounds like something from Barney & Friends. But if Barney aggressively, and unsuccessfully, tried to ripoff Bon Iver’s autotuned ballads.

#67: “She Lays Down” (I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it, 2016)

Postnatal depression is a real issue, and one that should be explored more in song. But The 1975 were clearly not the band to do it, judging by how boring and forgettable “She Lays Down” is.

#66: “Woman” (Facedown EP, 2012)

The band’s first boring closing track, way back on their debut EP! Considering how great Facedown’s other three songs are, this aimless ballad is a major disappointment.

#65: “Bagsy Not In Net” (Notes)

This overly reverb-y nothing of song is a prime example of something that should have been cut from the overlong Notes On A Conditional Form tracklist.

#64: “Playing On My Mind” (Notes)

Speaking of boring late-album songs from Notes that should’ve been left on the cutting room floor! At least this one has a halfway decent melody.

#63: “Surrounded By Heads and Bodies” (A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships, 2018)

The only interesting things about this shuffling ballad are A) the very metal song title that doesn’t match the actual tune at all, and B) Healy sings this song about a woman named Angela. Is this meant to be from the perspective of Dwight Schrute?

#62: “Head.Cars.Bending” (Music For Cars EP, 2013)

Later in their career, The 1975 would excel at off-kilter electronic jams. But “Head.Cars.Bending,” one of the band’s first attempts at that style, proves that it took a lot of practice to perfect that sound, because yikes — this is rough. That lurching beat makes me seasick.

#61: “Nana” (I like it...)

It’s not a track I ever return to, but I’ll admit that “Nana” has a nice melody and is an appropriately reverent and pretty tribute to Healy’s dead grandmother.

#60: “Inside Your Mind” (Brief Inquiry)

The 1975 attempted to blend shoegaze guitars with ‘80s cheeseball power ballads on “Inside Your Mind.” It was a noble attempt! The guitar lick sounds great! But the track sadly stays at one level throughout, so the song never achieves liftoff.

#59: “Talk!” (The 1975)

The 1975′s self-titled debut is an outlier in the band’s discography, as it came before the shameless (and fun!) genre-hopping of their next three records. In contrast, the debut has a very early-’10s, Urban Outfitters-core indie pop-rock sound throughout. On some songs, that sound works really well! But there’s also a glut of mediocre filler tracks that fit that sonic description. The stop-and-start, neck-jerking “Talk!” is one of those filler tracks.

#58: “Yeah I Know” (Notes)

One of the few musical styles that Notes returns to frequently during its runtime is a skittery, repetitive drum-and-bass sound. Although none of these songs are outright bad, they’re mostly not too interesting either. “Yeah I Know” is the worst of the bunch, with annoying chipmunk voice effects and a dreary vibe.

#57: “She Way Out” (The 1975)

"She Way Out,” despite having an opening lyric that calls back to one of The 1975′s very best songs (which we’ll get to much, much later), is just another one of the dime-a-dozen mediocre pop-rock nuggets that flood the tracklist of The 1975′s self-titled debut. The guitar lick is pretty tasty, I guess.

#56: “Pressure” (The 1975)

ƒAnd here’s another one of those pop-rock filler songs! At least this one has a nice shuffling groove. Still, I’ll stick with the charmingly bonkers Billy Joel song of the same name (and its gloriously awful, very early ‘80s music video).

#55: “The Birthday Party” (Notes)

This folksy ballad tries to jack the style of emo-country act Pinegrove, while Healy makes a half-hearted quip about the unclear acts of “sexual coercion” that the band’s lead singer admitted to. But “The Birthday Part” doesn’t have the concise songwriting or heart-wrenching emotions of “Old Friends.” Instead, it sort of just meanders around for a few minutes. The melody is nice — and I did enjoy Healy’s quip about not being able to poop in a shared hotel room, so he has to sneak to the hotel lobby — but most of the song just feels pointless.

#54: “Anobrain” (Music For Cars EP)

“Anobrain” reminds me a lot of a deep cut from one of my other favorite bands: U2′s “Promenade.” They’re both short, oblique slices of atmosphere and haze that are pretty, but don’t build into something greater. Think of “Anobrain” as a warmup for the superior nocturnal synthpop that The 1975 would pen in later records.

#53: “Undo” (Sex EP, 2012)

“Undo,” an otherwise standard early-era midtempo tune with lots of reverb, gets some bonus points for its smooth, swaying beat and a solid hook.

#52: “Mine” (Brief Inquiry)

When I imagined what “The 1975 does a jazz song” would sound like, I was hoping for something more frantic and bebop-y. “Mine” doesn’t sound like that at all — it’s a loungey slow-dance ballad that’s less Miles Davis and more Cole Porter. But regardless, it’s still an interesting detour. Who said quirky genre excursions were only limited to upbeat songs? Or that they had to be quirky?

#51: “The Ballad Of Me And My Brain” (I like it...)

I love the musical elements of “The Ballad” — the cascading drum fills, the thundering splashes of guitar, the twinkling keyboards, Healy’s delirious vocals. But the actual song itself doesn’t do much for me. Having a song about literally “losing your mind” and your brain is wandering in a grocery store, at a bar, etc. is a cute idea on paper, but it just sounds awkward in execution.

#50: “I Think There’s Something You Should Know” (Notes)

Here’s another of Notes’ repetitive drum-and-bass songs. But at least “I Think...” has a catchy tune and a bit more musical evolution throughout.

#49: “Haunt // Bed” (IV EP, 2013)

“Haunt // Bed” has one thing that distinguishes itself from other middling EP-era 1975 tracks: the pulsating loop that undulates beneath much of the song. It’s an interesting choice, and certainly helps the song stand out despite its forgettable melody.

#48: “Settle Down” (The 1975)

Probably the best of the debut album’s jangly pop-rock filler tracks, “Settle Down” still sounds like a weaker version of that record’s big singles. Which is interesting, as it was a single itself. But I’m certainly not going to kick it out of bed — the soaring chorus is legitimately great, and the funky guitar riff is nice.

#47: “Paris” (I like it...)

This mid-tempo, snarky character study about a drug-addicted party girl almost feels like 1975 on auto pilot. But just because Healy and co. could knock out a song like this in their sleep, that doesn’t mean “Paris” isn’t a pleasant, silky smooth comedown from the zanier cuts on I like it.

#46: “Then Because She Goes” (Notes)

The 1975 going full Slowdive and making a fuzzy, shoegaze-y jam? Sounds incredible! Unfortunately, “Then Because She Goes” doesn’t quite live up to that premise, mostly because it’s so brief. At just a notch over two minutes, the song doesn’t give itself anytime to expand or go anywhere interesting. It’s a case of wasted potential, but at least the sliver of a song we got is decent.

#45: “Be My Mistake” (Brief Inquiry)

There are a couple exceptions to the “The 1975 shouldn’t do acoustic guitar ballads” rule. “Be My Mistake” is one of them. It’s nothing spectacular, but the melody is quite pretty, and Healy’s troubadour act is sweet. Also, unlike some of the earlier acoustic ballads, there’s no studio gimmickry or weird vocal filters: it’s just a nice coffeeshop ballad.

#44: “M.O.N.E.Y.” (The 1975)

It’s a bit strange that The 1975 decided to slot this single so high in their debut album’s tracklist, ahead of much catchier, more obvious hits. But there’s something infectious to the winking lyrics and jittery production that sounds like clanging slot machines.

#43: “This Must Be My Dream” (I like it...)

If there’s been one constant to The 1975′s albums, it’s that there’ll be at least a couple big, cheesy ‘80s homages. And I’m a huge sucker for those songs. “This Must Be My Dream” is the worst of the bunch — it’s a bit uninspired — but big crashing synths and drum machines are still a weakness for me. Also, Healy’s vocals sound eerily like Phil Collins here...not sure if that’s a plus or minus.

#42: “Roadkill” (Notes)

The superior version of “The Birthday Party,” for two reasons. One: instead of the band half-heartedly dipping its toes into an alt-country sound, “Roadkill” has BIG honky-tonk energy with its twangy guitars and dusty groove. Two: Healy’s little anecdotes are much more interesting and strange here. It still doesn’t have much of a hook or anything, but “Roadkill” is alright by me.

#41: “Lostmyhead” (I like it...)

Putting “Lostmyhead,” a fan-favorite deep cut, in the bottom half of this ranking is a bit of a hot take. So let me make it clear: this is a good song! The issue is, I feel about “Lostmyhead” the way those who dislike The 1975 describe the band’s other genre excursions: it just doesn’t come close to the original. Here, they’re clearly trying to emulate M83′s cinematic post-rock. And it’s passable! But it’s certainly no “Outro” or “Moonchild.”

#40: “Nothing Revealed / Everything Denied” (Notes)

This quirky number feels like a grab bag of various styles The 1975 have tried on throughout the years: a gospel chorus! Sort-of rapped auto-tune verses! A Mark Knopfler-esque guitar solo that sounds like it was recorded two rooms away, for some reason! It doesn’t quite add up to a classic, but it’s certainly attention grabbing, particularly Healy’s self-critical lyrics.

#39: “I Couldn’t Be More In Love” (Brief Inquiry)

Melodramatic late-‘80s R&B isn’t my favorite musical style, so that dings “I Couldn’t Be More In Love” a few points for me. But Healy is absolutely SELLING this thing vocally, corny key changes and all. And drummer/producer George Daniel expertly captures that specific era with some charmingly chintzy keyboard tones.

#38: “What Should I Say” (Notes)

This detour into robotic dancehall doesn’t work quite as well for me as the other track on Notes with this sound, the Cutty Ranks-led “Shiny Collarbone” (which didn’t qualify for this list, as Healy doesn’t sing on it). But “What Should I Say” is solid in its own right, with some twisty keyboard licks and lots of gorgeous chopped-up vocal samples.

#37: “Tonight (I Wish I Was Your Boy)” (Notes)

It’s a cute old-school soul song at its core (with a prominent Temptations sample!), but I feel like the lurching synths and occasional chipmunk vocals don’t work well with the more traditionalist tune. It’s an interesting test of mixing new and old, but it’s not entirely successful here.

#36: “So Far (It’s Alright)” (IV EP)

This song describes itself pretty accurately: It’s alright! Okay, fine, it’s actually pretty great. The twinkling pianos and Healy’s ghostly vocals are an atypical backdrop for adolescent stories of debauchery and angst, but it somehow works. It’s a song built to naturally cool down a house party.

#35: “Girls” (The 1975)

We’re about halfway through the list, so it seems like a pretty good time to talk about “Girls” — a big early hit for The 1975, but with a sound the group has clearly evolved from. It’s basically a catchier, sharper improvement on their debut album’s jangly pop-rock filler tracks.

But although that chorus is quite sticky, and the groove is nice, it’s not as interesting or unique as The 1975′s later hits, or even other singles from that same album. Another mid-10s semi-indie band of pretty boys could’ve easily recorded it (but it would’ve been their best song).

#34: “Menswear” (The 1975)

This is the point of the countdown at which where each track left is unequivocally a classic. I feel a bit bad putting “Menswear” — a slinky synthpop deep cut with a killer synth riff — this low on the list. But it just shows how many other incredible songs The 1975 have.

#33: “Loving Someone” (I like it...)

I like it when you sleep... doesn’t have quite as much genre hopping as their next two records. Instead, much of it it crystalized the ideal “1975 sound” — of-kilter but sleek synth-heavy rock with some ‘80s influence and some out-there lyrics. “Loving Someone” is a great song in that vein, with Healy delivering some wonderfully pretentious lyrics (“I’m the Greek economy of cashing intellectual checks”) and George Daniel creating a gorgeous cacophony of whirring synths and vocal samples to back him up.

#32: “Facedown” (Facedown EP)

The world’s proper introduction to The 1975, the band’s first song on their debut EP is a perfect distillation of their EP-era sound. The dream-pop keyboards and the processed, nearly Daft Punk-esque vocals make “Facedown” an intriguing invitation into The 1975′s nocturnal world of drugs, women and depression. It might honestly be a better teasing leadoff than the iconic self-titled track that opens The 1975′s full-length albums.

#31: “Heart Out” (The 1975)

This otherwise just-decent synthpop number is elevated by one aspect: the synth bass is incredible. The constant pulsating throb throughout the track gives the song an early-MTV vibe, lending it a sense of drive.

#30: “How To Draw / Petrichor” (Brief Inquiry)

In multiple interviews, Healy described A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships into his attempt at making Radiohead’s OK Computer for a new generation. But with its glitchy, robotic aesthetic, “How To Draw / Petrichor” is much more Kid A.

But despite my distaste for Radiohead’s more experimental side, I really love The 1975′s pastiche of it! Probably because, like the best 1975 songs, it has a really strong melody. But unlike many of their other great tunes, “How To Draw” is a snaking, constantly evolving track that’s mostly instrumental. Instrumental tracks aren’t usually for me, so the fact that this holds my attention for nearly 6 minutes is a strong sign.

#29: “Me” (Music For Cars EP)

"Me” is The 1975 at arguably their most sad-sack. Healy’s vocals are leaden and filled with guilt. At point, he casually tosses aside, “I was thinking about killing myself, don’t you mind.”

The music is a perfect match — the rhythm is plodding and heavy in the best way, and the mournful sax solo in the bridge stays just on the right side of cheesy. It’s a genuinely affecting ballad.

#28: “Give Yourself A Try” (Brief Inquiry)

This was the first taste of A Brief Inquiry we heard. And I really disliked it at first — the clanging, messy guitars and motorik rhythm didn’t connect with me at first.

But — strangely for a lead single — "Give Yourself A Try” is a grower! Healy’s lyrics are in his sweet spot of being legitimately sincere, gloriously snarky and absolutely ridiculous at the same time. And the pounding groove burrows its way into your skull until you find it endearing. The band’s next attempt at a more RAWK single on their fourth album worked a bit better, but “Give Yourself A Try” is pretty damn great for a Joy Division ripoff.

#27: “Intro / Set3″ (Sex EP)

This was essentially The 1975′s warmup version of the multi-part electronic sweep of “How To Draw.” Yet, I like "Intro / Set3″ a tad more. It’s more direct and has a stronger hook.

#26: “If I Believe You” (I like it...)

“If I Believe You” joins the legacy of pasty British/Irish rock bands making unexpectedly strong gospel songs. Although it’s not quite on the same transcendent level as The Rolling Stones’ and U2′s attempts, it’s at least on Blur’s level.

I love how Healy took the religious genre and used it for a song that’s all about religious confusion. He vents to a god that he doesn’t really believe in, wondering if religion would solve his myriad problems. The song doesn’t arrive at a clean conclusion, but it’s still a fascinating track about doubts and why people turn to a higher power.

#25: “People” (Notes)

In a whole career of random left-turns, scream-y punk rock might be the most unexpected yet for The 1975. “People” — which directly follows an apocalyptic spoken word intro from climate activist Greta Thunberg on its album — is a piercing jolt of energy that’s impossible to ignore.

"People” is definitely a polarizing track, even for fans of the band. It’s extremely aggressive, angry, and might freak out your friend who just wanted to hear more songs like “Chocolate.” But even though I think the lyrics (although admirably ballsy!) are a bit of a mess, I love the no-holds-back rage of “People.” If you’re going to try an out-there genre experiment, dive in headfirst.

#24: “Frail State Of Mind” (Notes)

By far the best of Notes’ drum-and-bass tracks, “Frail State Of Mind” feels like an actual, fleshed-out song rather than just the band dinking around with some new rhythms.

The skittering percussion, mournful vocal samples and melancholy lyrics help to create a gorgeous, downbeat track. It’s the audio equivalent of sitting inside on a drizzly day, listening to the rain hit the roof: sad, but also content.

#23: “TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME” (Brief Inquiry)

Okay, so remember that hot minute in the mid-2010s when pop music pivoted hard into a gentrified, bland tropical house sound? Justin Bieber was the biggest offender? Well, The 1975 jumped on that bandwagon a few years later with “TOOTIME” ... yet it wound up sounding much better than any of the actual hit songs it was ripping off.

Why does The 1975′s tropical house banger actually work? First off, it embraces its non-tropical Britishness: with the chilly synths and auto-tuned vocals, it barely emulates the Caribbean outside of its rhythm. Furthermore, that rhythm is a tad faster than many of those mid-10s hits, making the song feel less like a drag and more like a traditional pop banger. But most importantly — it’s catchy as hell. Good luck getting that chorus out of your head.

#22: “Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America” feat. Phoebe Bridgers (Notes)

“Jesus Christ” is easily the biggest exception to my “The 1975 shouldn’t do acoustic ballads” rule. And that’s primarily because they brought alone one of the modern masters of that form: Phoebe Bridgers.

Healy’s quietly emotive vocals and knack for lilting melodies fit in perfectly with Bridgers’ whispered folksy musical world. And of course, it’s nice to hear another voice on a 1975 song, especially if it’s as evocative as Bridgers’. Both she and Healy sing short vignettes of tortured, non-reciprocated same-sex crushes, and it’s a prime example of the power of compact storytelling.

#21: “She’s American” (I like it...)

As I warned earlier, the top of this list is going to have a lot of The 1975′s trips into pure ‘80s synth cheese. So let’s dive right into that!

“She’s American” is just pure fun, from Healy’s cheeky lyrics poking fun at his American lover, to the swirling synths and shiny guitars. It’s like a long-lost Duran Duran banger.

#20: “You” (Sex EP)

For a rock band that loves bombast, it’s surprising that The 1975 don’t tap into the U2/Coldplay arena rock sound more often. But the couple times they tried it, they nailed the landing.

“You” is a stark departure from the nocturnal angst of much of The 1975′s other EP-era songs. It’s bright, major-key, and meant to be blasted to the cheap seats of an arena. The guitar riff is pure The Edge, and the song just keeps getting bigger and bigger, louder and louder. “You” sounds like pure euphoria by the time it reaches its climax.

#19: “UGH!” (I like it...)

We’ll file this in the “Healy vents about his drug addiction over a super-sleek pop song” folder. And like most of those songs, “UGH!” is a total winner.

The guitars and synths are so liquid and snappy that it’s hard to tell them apart (in a good way!). And Healy gloriously vamps over the ‘80s Bowie groove, pontificating about his coke habit is ruining his life. The attention to detail here is admirable — from the chic plastic production to Healy making an aside about how the song only lasts three minutes. Guess how long “UGH!” is, to the exact second?

#18: “The City” (Facedown and IV EPs, The 1975)

This song was clearly a favorite in the band’s early days: it was on two of their four EPs, and was the first non-intro track on their debut album. “The City” absolutely deserves all that love, though.

First, to be clear: the re-recorded version on the self-titled debut album is much better. The 1975 are not one of those bands that sounds better with a DIY, low-fi aesthetic — they need that studio sheen! And on the re-recorded version, the absolute best aspect of “The City” gets to shine: THOSE DRUMS. They slam against your eardrums with the force of a Mack truck, and help propel an otherwise-just-solid pop tune into a classic.

#17: “Sincerity Is Scary” (Brief Inquiry)

This is a song that probably shouldn’t work: jazzy horns, an off-kilter beat and a towering gospel choir in service of a song about how the internet has ruined the way we relate to people? It’s all a bit much. But luckily, “a bit much” is The 1975′s sweet spot.

Strangely enough, this shuffling single feels effortless and natural, despite having wordy lyrics and not sounding like any Top 40 song in recently memory. Also, it’s the band’s best music video. It’s creative and absolutely adorable.

#16: “Love Me” (I like it...)

If there’s one older band The 1975 is constantly compared to, it’s ‘80s Aussie legends INXS. It’s a bit of a strange comparison — The 1975 are shameless genre-hoppers. INXS had one (really great!) signature pop-rock sound that they stuck with for most of their big hits.

But I understand where that comparison comes from, because “Love Me” is the most dead-on INXS pastiche I’ve ever heard. It wouldn’t shock me to learn it’s a cover of a forgotten Kick B-side. The wiry guitars, bouncy rhythm, winking lyrics about fame and sex, hits of wiggly synths and horns — it’s all the elements that made a song like “New Sensation” so great. The music video even features Healy, with long curly hair, preening around shirtless like Michael Hutchence!

Look, if you’re going to shamelessly rip someone off, you might as well rip off a great band at its best moment. And The 1975 channelled peak-INXS better than anyone since 1988 (even the band itself!) with “Love Me.”

#15: “Antichrist” (Facedown EP)

“Antichrist” is probably The 1975′s most goth song. It opens with a stately organ, and Healy sings the first verse in the very lowest part of his vocal register. It’s a stark departure from any other song of theirs, which of course grabs your attention.

But the funeral dirge vibes, as cool as they are, aren’t the only factor that makes “Antichrist” a great song. The minimalist guitar solo semi-chorus is stunning, like something Interpol would’ve done. And when Healy cranks up his vocal stylings for the song’s second half, it injects a bit of energy. The punishing, near-shoegaze finale to the song is masterful as well.

Despite it being a fan favorite from their very-first EP, “Antichrist” has infamously never been played live. And honestly, I’m okay with that — this seems like a bolt of gloom-and-doom lightning that would be nearly impossible to re-create in some mid-sized arena in Des Moines.

#14: “If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)” (Notes)

It’s a bit of a bummer that easily the three best songs off of Notes On A Conditional Form all easily slide into The 1975′s pop-rock comfort zone. But even if that album’s experiments fell a bit flat, it’s nice to know the band can still hit its sweet spot over and over again without getting tiring.

“If You’re Too Shy” is a perfect ‘80s synthpop banger, complete with some very-1975 lyrics about a couple meeting online and immediately objectifying each other. But the lyrics are really not the selling point of the song — it’s the taut new-wave rhythm, the twinkling synths, the ROARING sax solo, and that insanely sticky chorus (maybe the catchiest the band’s had). It’s the kind of song that could’ve played during that absurd library dance scene from Breakfast Club. It’s a timeless jam of the highest order, and impossible to resist.

#13: “I Like America & America Likes Me” (A Brief Inquiry)

As much of a big deal I make about The 1975′s experimental, don’t-give-a-fuck nature, most of my favorite songs of theirs are their more conventional pop songs. Sorry, I’m lame!

But regardless, I adore “I Like America,” a truly strange electronic freakout that encapsulates all the anxieties and fears of the world’s young people. It’s electrifying and horrifying in equal measure.

Of course, a much more famous 1975 song coming on this list does this concept a little better lyrically, and has more of an actual hook to back it up. Still, there’s something poignant about “I Like America,” particularly Healy’s unhinged performance. He spends most of the song hysterically yelling out into the void lines like “I’M SCARED OF DYING, IT’S FINE” and “WOULD YOU PLEASE LISTEN.” And the chaotic, undulating wave of vocal samples, drum machines and synths seems to get stronger with every second.

#12: “Chocolate” (Music For Cars EP, The 1975)

Easily The 1975′s biggest hit in the U.S., “Chocolate” could’ve easily pinned the band into the bin of other just-decent Tumblr-friendly indie bands in the early ‘10s. They could’ve been the British version of The Neighbourhood (remember “Sweater Weather?”).

But just because The 1975 quickly moved away from the super-sugary pop rock of “Chocolate,” that doesn’t mean the tune is a simple trifle. I mean, okay, it is — but it’s a perfect trifle! The hook is basically the entire song, and for good reason: it’s freakishly catchy. “Chocolate” is one of those songs you’ll have stuck in your head for weeks afterward. And that bouncy groove is *chef’s kiss*.

“Chocolate” was bound to be noticed by the world: it was too pristine to be ignored.

#11: “The Sound” (I like it...)

Am I underrating this? Maybe.

When I first heard “The Sound,” it was the first 1975 song I truly loved. The bouncy house piano, thumping four-on-the-floor beat and simple sing-along chorus drew me in like a siren call. And it still sounds fantastic four years later!

Really, the only bad thing you could say about “The Sound” is that the band made a couple even better synthpop jams later. This was sort of a warm up, their first truly great ‘80s costume party. But even though it’s been surpassed, “The Sound” is still a delight today. At the very least, it has the band’s best-ever guitar solo.

#10: “I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)” (A Brief Inquiry)

Y’all know the classic Oasis power ballad “Champagne Supernova,” right? It’s incredibly epic, but the lyrics are infamously meaningless. What if a band wrote a similar Britpop power ballad, with an equally anthemic chorus, but actually injected a legitimate, moving theme?

That happened! The 1975 did it with “I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes),” maybe the most uplifting song about suicide ever written. Healy penned some of his most empathetic lyrics here, all about how, well, sometimes we all want to die. Always. His chorus is a moment of glorious angsty catharsis — the emo lyrics of My Chemical Romance set to the sweeping strings and towering guitars of a Coldplay single.

This song is 100% my sweet spot, as a person with depression who loves a corny U2 ballad. It’s a shame The 1975 don’t operate in this vein more often — they’re quite good at it.

#9: “Sex” (Sex EP, The 1975)

The 1975 are barely a “rock” band in the truest sense. Yeah, they have a guitar player and a drummer and whatnot, but most of their music leans more on the pop side of things.

But “Sex,” one of the band’s earliest hits, legitimately rocks. It’s a raging, almost pop-punk jam that proves The 1975 can make a fantastic headbanger anytime they like. The frenzied tune is pure adrenaline, which makes sense given it’s about the forbidden thrill of cheating.

During the band’s last major tour, when “Sex” was played during the encore, the massive screen simply read “ROCK AND ROLL IS DEAD” while Matty Healy violently smashed a guitar at the song’s conclusion. Ironically, he proved the opposite.

#8: “Guys” (Notes)

This one’s just too cute.

“Guys” has an incredibly clever — and admittedly quite cheesy — conceit: Healy wrote a love song, but instead of being about romance, it’s about his platonic adoration for his fellow band members. It’s funny how most of The 1975′s songs about dating tend to be bitter or depressed, while arguably their most head-over-heels tune is about how much the four titular guys love spending time and writing songs together.

Even though it was written before the COVID-19 pandemic, “Guys” still fits the moment eerily well. Healy’s vocals and the lilting melody have a bittersweet tone, and the opening refrain of “I was missing the guys” could easily be about quarantining.

“Guys” won’t be for everyone. Some might roll their eyes at its aggressive sincerity. But if it catches me in a certain mood, it really has an effect on me. It’s perhaps the greatest bromance song ever written.

#7: “Fallingforyou” (IV EP)

The best song from The 1975′s EP era, “Fallingforyou” is a gorgeous, minimalist ballad that could’ve only come from the band’s less pretentious early years.

Healy switches between a conversational mumble and an angelic falsetto on the nocturnal track, giving it an intimate feel. It’s almost like he’s right next to you in the backseat of some car at 2 a.m. The dreamy, rumbling background gives “Fallingforyou” almost a Beach House or Chromatics vibe, and it suits the band well.

The 1975 is far too extra nowadays to try another song as quiet, serene and gimmick-free as “Fallingforyou.” But at least we have the one.

#6: “Me & You Together Song” (Notes)

The 1975 already have so many songs that try to recreate the magic of mid ‘80s pop-rock. And although they could probably keep mining that sound forever, it would be nice to see them try homages to other golden eras of pop music. And “Me & You Together Song” does just that.

With this bouncy, propulsive power pop jam, The 1975 were clearly aiming for a Y2K-era adult alternative vibe. It wouldn’t be hard to see The Goo Goo Dolls or Third Eye Blind performing a song like this, with the chugging guitars, snarky-yet-romantic lyrics and endless energy.

Daniel and Healy wrote a groove and effortless melody for “Me & You” that could probably go on forever — and it almost does! The last 75 seconds or so of the single just repeat the refrain over and over, and although normally that kind of repetition drives me nuts, it feels natural for this tune.

#5: “A Change of Heart” (I like it...)

One of two all-time classic breakup songs off of The 1975′s second album, “A Change of Heart” is crushing in the most pedestrian way. It’s not anything melodramatic or exaggerated — it’s simply the story of a couple naturally drifting apart.

Healy’s lyrics are rich with details here, from pithy asides about not smoking cigarettes correctly and Instagramming salads to a rather blunt description of falling out of love: “You used to have a face straight out of a magazine/Now you just look like anyone.”

Interestingly, Daniel decided to accompany the unromantic lyrics with some of the band’s most dreamy production. It sounds like a prom scene from a John Hughes high school movie. But that dissonance works — it sets up a fantasy and then shatters it.

#4: “It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You)” (A Brief Inquiry)

You want to know why I left “The Sound” out of the top 10? Here’s why: “It’s Not Living” takes that same hyper-sleek ‘80s synthpop sound but improves upon it with a stickier hook, dark lyrics and a killer guitar riff.

Strangely for such a perky and bouncy song, “It’s Not Living” is about Healy’s struggles to get over a heroin addiction. It’s a smart lyrical trick, framing his difficulty with quitting smack as being similar to not getting over a rough breakup. And it’s downright genius to pair such a dark topic with such a fun instrumental, Passion Pit-style. “It’s Not Living” is the band’s finest pure pop song, and a success they’ll no doubt try to repeat for the rest of their career.

#3: “Robbers” (The 1975)

This is the pinnacle of The 1975′s early career young-and-dumb anthems. It turns literally robbing a bank into a sweeping, heartfelt power ballad.

Alright, alright, fine ... it’s not literally about robbing a bank; it’s a metaphor for a toxic, co-dependent relationship, according to the band. But that deeper meaning is pretty hard to pick up on when Healy’s singing about guns and screaming “NOW EVERYBODY’S DEAAAAAAD” on the bridge. Honestly, “Robbers” being a tragic Romeo and Juliet-style story sounds much more plausible.

But lyrics aside, the chugging guitars and soaring chorus hit you right in the gut. “Robbers” could be about shopping at Pottery Barn and it would still be an incredible tour-de-force of a song. But its brutal ending elevates it even further. That cruelly ironic final line, “Babe, you look so cool” — which Healy sounds like he’s singing through tears — lands like a sledgehammer every time.

#2: “Love It If We Made It” (A Brief Inquiry)

The words “generational anthem” tend to get thrown around a lot online about various tracks. But “Love It If We Made It” deserves that moniker.

I have yet to hear a song that better describes the acute stress and psychological horror of being a Millennial or Gen Zer while the world collapses around you. The ice caps are melting, police brutality is rampant, the refugee crisis is accelerating, and the world’s leaders are too corrupt and/or incompetent to do anything to fix these problems.

Unlike many political anthems, Healy doesn’t sound angry on “Love It If We Made It.” He sounds terrified. The title itself makes the song’s theme clear: we just want to survive this mess. And we’re pretty sure that we won’t.

With 2020 being an absolutely awful year so far (oh hi, COVID!), “Love It If We Made It” unfortunately sounds just as powerful today as it did a couple years ago. Hopefully, there comes a day when this song sounds less visceral and chilling and more like a relic of the past. But that day hasn’t come yet.

#1: “Somebody Else” (I like it...)

If there is a “The 1975 sound” — which is kind of ridiculous, seeing as the band changes up their sound so much, but still — “Somebody Else” is the perfect example of it. It’s both deeply indebted to ‘80s new wave, yet wholly modern-sounding. Healy’s lyrics are laughably pretentious yet cuttingly relatable. And it packages complicated emotions into an undeniable, melancholy pop nugget.

Healy’s exploration of tangled, better emotions on “Somebody Else” about his ex — who he mistakenly thought he was over —finding a new partner is sadly a place we’ve all been. “I don’t want your body/but I hate to think about you with somebody else” — who can’t relate?

Daniels’ nocturnal production is sleek, slippery and heartwrenching in its own right. The scattered, distorted vocal samples almost mock Healy’s emotions, and the shuffling beat adds a nice pulse to the proceedings. If you’re in the proper mood and setting, there are few better breakup songs to blast and mope around to.

"Somebody Else” one of the all-time great breakup anthems, as well as a top-tier song to drive around to at night when you’re sad. And it’s The 1975′s best-ever song.

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v-le · 5 years

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Kmusic: JTBC’s 슈퍼밴드(Superband) Review

Foreword: SUPERBAND WAS AMAZING AND IT WAS EVERYTHING I NEVER KNEW I NEEDED IN MY LIFE. yup

After binge-watching this entire program, I knew I had to write something about it. This show literally took my breath away, this show filled all my senses with overwhelming excitement, appreciation, and respect for every single participant, and the music, THE MUSIC, that came out of this show will forever be some of the most amazing songs I have ever heard in my life. But above all else, this show filled a void, an emptiness, a traumatizing, painful longing in my heart that has been needing some intense healing for a while now.

With all the things that have happened with my singer, Superband coming into my life and being the show it was, with all those amazing artists doing what they did, it was a literal blessing and I just……. I just cant believe they did THAT. They did it and it was AMAZING.

First off, whoever thought to make an audition program for MUSICIANS, SINGER-SONGWRITERS, ARTISTS, PRODUCERS, and just instrument-playing people AND VOCALISTS…….. you are a fucking genius and I am so glad that this idea never died in the shadows and was allowed to come to life on the screens.

What I found so poignant about this show from the get-go was how GOOD THESE AUDITIONS WERE… these people came in being REALLYYYYY good at (presumably) one thing like the guitar, or singing, or the violin. These people each had their specialty, they were exceptional music-making people. No one was quite mediocre or “rookie”, each person had some pretty credible expertise or experiences with music, and that in itself, the fact that we got to start off with these sorts of contestants, is something ive never seen before.

I don’t want to compare to other singing shows or the Produce series or whatever else countless audition programs Korea has been churning out over the past years, but since Superband began with this concept, it was already a show that I knew I would LOVE. For the 2 times ive watched Produce, I was always so perturbed by these prepubescent pretty boys frolicking around on stage, barely being able to even pull off a simple note. I just thought so many of them were so TALENTLESS…. But who am I to judge.

I think it really just comes down to preference, and even though I knew very well that idols and k-pop are not even things I enjoy anymore, I forced myself through programs like Produce. But now, with Superband, I felt so HAPPY and glad to be watching and discovering such talented musicians…THIS IS WHAT I WANTED ALL ALONG.

Even with the very first audition with Ha Hyunsang… OMFG UGHhHhh THAT BOI IS SO FLUFFY but so good at the same time… I feel like each time I see him, I ACTUALLY just want to give him a hug :’-(( the emotional depth in his singing is beyond describable and im SO PROUD TO HAVE WATCHED HIM GROW !!!!!!

That’s another thing I really really realllyyyyyyy loved from this show........ it was the process of watching these people develop, mature, change, grow with show. Some contestants went through some major growing pains, but it was so heartwarming to watch them improve, not that they were even bad to begin with. And the reversals!! Or the expansions?? The turnarounds?? The CONMEN!!!

AHHhhHHhhh okay im still very obsessed with the infinite amount of talent some dudes had, but before I get to that, let me continue on with those stellar auditions, aka the three genius guitarists, too ;_______; they. Are. So. Amazing. I love them a lot. I think I completely fell for them. And I hate myself. I hate to admit it a lot because I used to ALWAYS shit on dudes younger than me, I disliked basically every contestant on produce that was younger than ‘99, I thought they were all useless young children… but 김영소, 이강호, & 임형빈, were a completely different story. I LOVE THEM!!! I always had a bias toward a man that could play the guitar well… but these guys holy moly, they blew me away… they are so exceptional at what they do and the fact that theyre still so YOUNG… good lord…..my poor heart was so conflicted but ultimately so happy to have discovered them.

To watch these guys be thrown into that first 1:1 perf, and literally tearing up the stage and setting the bar VERY HIGH from the very beginning of the competition… phew… my goodness…. The talent with these kids… o my…. Okay yeah, nope im never gonna get over it. The ‘Adventure of a Lifetime’ stage will always be an iconic one from this program, and we all know it. Who knew a pure acoustic, musical performance, no vocals included stage would be so amazing…. I LOVE THEM!! Have I mentioned that yet?

Going back to the reversals/scamming thing... I guess this goes with watching some people grow……. I want to give a holy and blessed shoutout to probably my favorite contestant out of this entire show: 신광일….. he was such a dark horse. In fact, I don’t even remember his audition tbh because he was THAT not-memorable in the beginning LOL (or also.. I believe they never showed his audition to begin with)… but he quickly caught my eye as the eps went on because he came out of nowhere and whipped out all (or maybe not even all…) his skills like secret weapons, stage after stage.. he came in as a vocalist, picked up the bass for two the performances after that (all while still singing, too), although having never played the bass formally... and then once joining hands with Juhyeok and Yechan, he just miraculously becomes the drummer, because they ultimately decided that they needed percussion in their songs. So from thereon after, since ‘Hold Back The River’, Gwang-il, to me, was literally GOD(신) Gwang-il, as he played the drums and SANG TOO…..and may I add, hes not even that old?????? HES FRKING ONLY 2 YEARS OLDER THAN ME WTF;__; the boy got all these crazy blisters while perfecting the drums, but he didn’t let anything stop him and he was sucH A SOLID BAND MEMBER ALL THROUGHOUT, AHHHHHH MVP GOES TO SHIN GWANG-IL, YALL….(also I just found out that hes a trainee from Mystic Story, aka Yoon Jong shin’s agency aka the agency that I’ve been following for many many MANYYYY years now bc a lot of my favorite artists have come out of it…. Wow what is this fate)

And special recognition goes to Im Hyung-bin aka one of the 18 yr old genius guitarists bc he … oh my…. He frking became the pianist and singer by the end of the show…. Omfg… yall.. HE is also another infinitely talented soul. AND HES EXTRA FRKING YOUNG…

Besides these two though, there were many many many manyyyyy other people as well that took up multiple instruments throughout the show, or even began singing, or just did EVERYTHING….I was so mindblown by this, im still honestly not over it at all.

Because like, is this normal?? Isn’t that so unprofessional?? Its already so crazy that this show already starts us off with NON-amateur musicians and artists. But then some of these dudes have never done any other things formally before they got thrown into it; they came into this show “specializing” in something completely different, yet they jump onto the stage and do what they needed to, HELLA FRKING WELL…… so many of these dudes, you wouldn’t know that was his first time playing the bass, playing the drums, first time playing that piano, or first time being on the keyboard AND being a vocal, you wouldn’t know any of that unless they mentioned it, unless you watched the show and saw their story.

Because they all pulled it off THAT well.. these people that did these things for the first time ever while being on Superband, they executed their roles so well and showcased such wonderfully exhilarating talent…. IM SO BLESSED TO HAVE DISCOVERED SUCH AMAZING ARTISTS….

That was one of the biggest feats of Superband for me. The limitless talent that came out of it. I LOVE watching people like this. Their passion for music fuels such undeniable skill and fervor, and when they step onto that stage, they are literally unstoppable. They made music that stopped my time, stopped my heart, in the moment, but literally MOVED me...i applaud these people so much. I really do.

Thinking back to it now, the number of stages that came out of this show was like…. Countless…. Like… A LOT…. Since episode 1, each stage was very well-produced and I truly enjoyed watching each one from the start. This show was just so jampacked overall, although I admit that sometimes it was arduous due to the GRIND that these people were on, presenting stage after stage after stage, and then listening to LOTS of feedback from almost each judge over and over and over, but it was still nothing short of musical masterpieces out there. I really appreciate how STUFFED, how FILLED TO THE BRIM, this show was with dynamic, enjoyable, exceptional performances (and words of valuable opinions & evaluations, too)

I can re-watch many of them, every day, for days on end. I loved it. And can we just talk about how impressive these dudes are for pulling off something new, for taking on a brand-new challenge with a brand-new set of members, time and time again, stage after stage, week after week, until we came down to the 6 solid bands in the last 3 episodes? They constantly had to work with new people, match their music preferences, fill spaces in their music where they didn’t exactly have someone they may have needed. They had to compensate, compromise, and ultimately DELIVER, at the end of it all. Multiple times. I don’t even remember how many rounds they did… was it 4? I think they had 4 rounds of eliminations before they settled into their official bands. But still... its crazy impressive to think about how driven and flexible a lot of these artists were, to be creating, producing & then performing despite all the different teams they were getting put into week after week.

ANDDDDDD, despite all the odds up against them like the time crunch, the new collab of members each time, the potential lack of a missing instrument or sound, SO many of these teams still came out with self-written and self-produced songs!!!!!!! I mean, even for the cover songs alone, many were already re-arranging everything & basically turning them into new tracks. BUT WITH THOSE SELF COMPOSED SONGS??????????? Some teams literally started from scratch each time, but busted out some amazing tunes and lyrics and executed very very very impressive stages and IM JUST AKFJAKJFKJBSN how…. Are they….. so…. Talented…… I still ask myself each time.

By far, the combo that took my heart and kept it for good….. LUCY ;_______;. I never expected to like Juhyeok’s voice tbh, it was a little TOO weird for me in the beginning… but watching him perform with Yechan and Gwang-il and Wonsang really brought to life his vocal potential for me… that team is literally a combination made in heaven, they have all the right pieces to make ARTWORK… their signature sound was so prominent from the very beginning and i was SO HAPPY when I saw that they stuck to the same exact members once the finale came around.

Before the winner was announced, I told myself very honestly that I didn’t even care who won because the two teams left over, Hoppipolla & Lucy, were already my two all-time favorite combinations of artists from the entire show, and I was already MORE than satisfied with all the wonderful music and stages that everyone had delivered up until that point anyway. But even with that, I was still thoroughly shocked when they announced Hoppipolla as the winning band LOL I gasped aloud. I thought that Lucy at least had a chance. Or like I guess, in my heart, I assumed that Lucy actually won.. LOL but they didn’t.

And in terms of the finale in general, I really would also like to address how I purposely tried really hard to avoid any spoilers and rewatching of performances on youtube before actually finishing the entire series. I tried like reallyyyyy hard, because I wanted to watch the program as thoroughly as possible without spoilers. I HATE SPOILERS. But oh the irony. It was in all in vain anyway.

Once I finally DID finish all 14 episodes, when trying to look for more information/reactions/articles/videos (initially searching in English), I actually struggled SO HARD LMAOOOO bc there was like NOTHING OUT THERE……..i should have known better; this show was definitely NOT catered to the intl. audience (yet?), especially because its in its first season still. There were probably like 2 articles max in English about Superband & it was just about its upcoming premier. Nothing about winners nor results nor anything else i was wary of, anyway. LOLLL THE INTL COMMUNITY DOESN’T CARE; or at least the intl population that DOES care about Superband, is probably reallyyyyyy small……a reddit thread I found was the most substantial discussion I could find, comprised of a few comments max.

And so that brings me to how I always see a lot of comments begging for English subs and everything, but honestly…….. all I have to say to yall is: LEARN KOREAN IF YOU REALLY WANT TO WATCH THE SHOW THAT BADLY !!!

If after all these years, I could pick up Korean to an extent where I can watch things raw, im sure others can do the same as long as they put their mind to it. Ive been really appreciating how far my skills have taken me LOL not trying to be THAT person, but I just know that if I COULDN’T read or listen & comprehend or type in Korean like I can now, I would be missing out on a WORLD of amazing stuff. E.g. superband. And if anything, I would like to think that this show helped me practice my vocab skills a lot more. Listening to the judges’ evals after each stage was really enjoyable: I learned plenty of valuable words out of THEIR words.

This show was phenomenal in that all the contestants had total musical freedom. It was soOOOOO refreshing to watch. They got to choose all their music & their teammates in a fair manner (maybe not so much their competition), but seeing them take their passions & what THEY wanted to do with music and laying that all out onto the stage, was so compelling!!! This freedom allowed for countless, ICONIC AF transformations and growth journeys for soooo many of the artists too!!!! I really realllyyyyyyyy loved watching some of them stepping WAYYYY outside of their comfort zones / the image that they originally came in with (e.g. HONG ISAAC HAAAAHAHHA, Jisang, Hyunsang!!), and also watching alllllll those multitalented “scam characters”!!! HAHAHA, without this program being as open as it was, it would’ve been impossible to be able to see such a myriad of sides to so many different people. I appreciate, I really do.

And I really really realllyyyy enjoyed watching all the behind the scenes of each performance as well!! Of course, its normal to give viewers some background story before each stage, but in Superband, we got to see some very raw sides of music-making….. these dudes literally lived like hobos in the recording studios, all disheveled and sleep-deprived human beans, but ceaselessly making music because that’s what they love. I liked watching teams try out a lot of different songs & styles as they searched for THE right one. And then we got to see the final result on stage after the countless discussions and trials behind the scenes. And these processes repeated for months on end. All the contestants are so commendable in this right. The grind was real, and the show didn’t try to hide that. I enjoyed this very realistic approach !!

At this point, after drowning myself in this show for a few days straight… (those episodes are LONGGGGG, close to two hrs each) ive literally spent every night, and basically day, too, watching all the cuts that jtbc uploaded on youtube over and over and oVERRRRR….. ive also been watching some Superband concert clips, from when the entire final 6 bands went on a domestic tour and performed together for several concerts!!

THAT OPENING STAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BLESS THOSE PEOPLE THAT CAUGHT IT ON CAMERA BECAUSE IT IS LITERALLY SUCH A PIECE OF MUSICAL HEAVEN, omfg the energy on that stage IS SOMETHING ELSE… IF I WERE THERE IN PERSON I PROBABLY WOULDVE CRIED INSTANTLY……. lee juhyeok, kevin oh, chae bohoon, im hyeongbin, kim youngso, ha hyunsang, lee chansol, and kim woosung, all the guitarists/ vocalists lined up in the front… (hearing each vocalist sing a line each made my HEART HURT....I LOVE THEM SM) then the bassists, lee jonghoon, kim hyungwoo, kim hajin, jo wonsang, clustered up AND HAVIN A TIME all by themselves, and the three epic electric guitarists, yang jiwan, kim junhyeob, and Zairo, literally held SUCH stage presence… on the drums: kang kyungyoon all the way to the right, and red haired hwang minjae in the middle, and the super in-sync, traditional drum banging bois, choi youngjin, shin gwang-il, a-il, & jung gwanghyun, all 4 of them bouncing up and down in the back like intense oompa loompas LOL THEY LOOKED SO CUTE, and the string bois!!!!! Shin yechan & benji on the violin next to hong jinho on the cello; yechan and benji started off sitting down but as the song goes on they literally WENT AT IT HAHAHA as expected of two of the most high-energy musicians. On the piano, lee na-woo, the classic icon himself starting off the entire intro, and next to him hong isaac the transformation legend himself on the keyboard + his super distinctive voice!!!!!! And of course, d-pole with his much-expected little music break in the middle….. in fact many of them got ICONIC solo time: kang kyungyoon’s drumming part, kim hyungwoo’s super duper solid bass, minjae’s powerful beats, kim hajin’s LOUD ass bass, lee jonghoon’s legendary slap finger bass playing, jo wonsang’s super ting-y, classic bass section, and yang jiwan’s loud ASS ELEC GUITAR TOO, omg they were all so cute, pointing to each member & hyping them up as it was their few seconds to shine….AND THOSE COLLECTIVE VOICES???? HEARING ALL THE VOCALISTS SING TOGETHER ONE BY ONE… OH my gosh it was soooooo GOOOODDDDDDD.... just watching all those dudes literally have THE TIME OF THEIR LIFE on stage (literally an ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME), the energy was off the charts… I loveeeeee seeing them so happy, making eye contact with each other, jumping up & down, rocking out, laughing with each other, all while playing their instrument, so fervently, all 27 people on the stage, connected by one song…. Theres SO MUCH OVERFLOW of talent in one freaking place, that song sounded SO MASSIVE just thru the video I cant imagine….. if I were actually there omfg… that’s an actual BAND Like A HUGE FRKING BAND… AHHHHHHHHHH a really legendary stage.. the finest of finest……I can literally watch this opening on repeat without getting bored because I just loveeeee the concept of all of them being together like that :”)))

After watching member after member, team after team get eliminated, seeing them like this on one stage with such happy expressions and making a beautiful piece of music like that o MANNNNNN…. This show…… has really done something to me…

I appreciate every contestant SO MUCH and I wish I could watch everyone be together FOREVER….because knowing how artistically talented each person is on their own, to watch them join together is like the avengers times 72737446352 or something, its just talent & skill plus talent & skill stacked onto even more skill & talents and just an INFINITE amount of potential AND THAT…IS LITERALLY.. THE POWER…. OF A BAND………and of great ass music.

This show was GENIUS TO combine so many musicians from so many different backgrounds…but watching them work together to make pure art, that is so frking rewarding and heartwarming and I feel so blessed to have witnessed it all.

The genres and potential were literally limitless……I think this is what encompassed Superband for me, this is what made me enjoy it SO damn much…. I think ive finally run out of things to say… this piece of text is quite a mess, not very polished….. but I was hasty in recording my thoughts & emotions before they left me, so I tried my best.

My biggest regret with this show is that I didn’t watch it sooner. (what is really ironic is that it took me FOREVER to start the first ep, despite having tonssss of time on my hands... I had it open on one of my tabs for the longest time, but I lowkey grudgingly, eventually, forced myself to finally start it LOL..(thank god I rly did tho) I watched it 2 months after the finale, which is… kinda late? If I had watched it while it was airing, all while I was still in korea, I feel like I would’ve been EVEN MORE in love, even more fervent and passionate about everything. Digging thru old vids & watching things from contestants before they came out onto the show, seeing the artists they were, I could’ve easily gone and seen them myself probably… goddamnit I probably could’ve gone to the superband finale live show, if I had known.. I COULDVE VOTED IN REAL TIME... not that I could’ve brought myself to do it anyway, probably lol….. but basically, if I had known of this show WHILE I was there with them… I don’t know, I could’ve been a lot more active as a fan, I feel like..

Now im back to my original roots: crying in front of my laptop screen and tap-tapping away at my keyboard as a I rant to no one but myself. Being in korea made my appreciation for all kinds of artists, all my beloved ones, EVERYONE, a lot more tangible.. but being back in America… it all becomes hidden into the depths of my heart, once again…

PHEW……I think now is a good time to mention my favorite stages… as I mentioned before, the Lucy AND pre-Lucy lineup will always hold a really special place in my heart so basically all my faves include their stages LOL

‘Swim’ cover by LUCY(신예찬, 이주혁, 신광일, 조원상)

‘Hold Back The River’ cover by 신예찬, 이주혁, 신광일

‘Adventure of a Lifetime’ cover by 조원상, 김영소, 이강호, 임형빈

‘누구 없소’ cover by 케빈오, 박찬영, 신광일, 강경윤

‘선잠’ by LUCY

'Castle on the Hill’ cover by 아일, 하현상, 노마드, 홍진호

‘1000x’ cover by 아일, 하현상, 홍진호, 김형우

‘One More Light’ cover by HOPPIPOLLA(아일, 하현상, 홍진호, 김영소)

‘Cry Bird’ cover by LUCY

‘Viva La Vida’ cover by 하현상, 홍진호, 김영소

‘Flare’ by LUCY

‘Find You Again’ by People on the Bridge(이찬솔, 임형빈, 김준협, 강경윤, 김형우)

My favorite funny moments:

“이게 무슨 짓이야!!?” - mellow kitchen (the stealing of the 3 kiddo guitarists)

“okay let’s be honest, you can’t even hear the bass” - shin hyunbin 2k19

울보 팀

Hyunsang’s fam: 아일 the mom, 홍진호 the dad, 김형우 the hyung

“idk if im allowed to say this but it looked like zombie movie” - yoon jongshin, as they all gathered around the cello man

“I thought to myself, isn’t that cello expensive tho..” - yoon jongshin as youngso slapped & tapped jinho’s cello for percussion

Ah-il’s iconic castle on the hill pose

Zairo’s luck with member choosing lmao

HONG ISAK’S DANCING in ‘Time of My Life’ LOLLL IT GETS ME LAUGHING EACH TIMEEE (& all his nicknames, like eungalchi lmaooo)

Benji’s “YO-RO-BOON HAM-KAY HEY-YO” during ‘Woo-ing’

Gwanghyun’s “do-doom-tak”

Gwanghyun calling Gwang-il’s drum skills equivalent to that of a middle school band’s LOLLLL

**I watched Mone’s radio appearance on Arirang Radio where Benji is the host, and they were an absolute MESS LMAOOOOOO THEY WERE HONESTLY ALL REALLY FUNNY THOUGH.. they kept roasting the crap out of each other and laughing their asses off and man… it was gr8 time and it was really cute to discover that Hong Isaac is now a part of one of Benji’s radio shows too!

One important question I have for this show though: where tf did all the females go? Why was there no female presence at all in this show, I have no clue…… :/

At the end of the day, this show reminded me once again, how to feel happy and excited because of music. how to let great music fill my life with undeniable joy. Being able to look forward to listening to these songs every day, definitely had lifted a small part of me that has been down for all too long. I really appreciate, I am very grateful for, I just… im so thankful to have discovered this show & all its wonderful masterpieces & the beautifully, magically, PASSIONATE artists behind it all………. I needed this in my life at this point in time, I really did.

Thank you for coming to be, Superband.

#kmusic #jtbc #superband #super band #슈퍼밴드 #rant #;________;#a real ass rant #SUPER LOVE FOR SUPER BAND #anyone else that has watched this plz share ur thoughts

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rogermeddowstayl0r · 5 years

Text

does she make you feel as good as i do? | r.t.

a/n: just a quick one parter (part 2 here) that i wrote while avoiding other responsibilities. i was listening to she by pale waves when writing this and it’s kinda based on that so listen along. yeah idk where this came from, guess i was just in a sad mood. sorry in advance. also i feel like this writing style(?) is kinda weird so let me know what you think.

words: 1.8k

warnings: swearing, depression, angst, mentions of smut

i looked blankly at myself in the mirror. i looked like shit, eyes darkened with endless sleepless nights, hair disheveled from not showering or brushing it. a large hoodie drowned out my body. this was my current state of living or at least it has been for the past few weeks.

a loud ringing cut me out of my fixation on myself. my legs were weak as they carried me towards the phone.

“hello?” my voice was rough from not actually speaking for days.

a familiar voice was on the other side. “y/n? god are you okay?!” a concerned john was on the line.

“yeah i-“

“where have you been? i’ve not seen you in weeks!” he was becoming more concerned the more he thought about how long it had actually been since anyone had see me. john was my brother, older by about 2 years but we have always been close.

“i’ve just been busy with...stuff?” it sounded more like a question than i meant. i twirled the phone cord round my finger nervously.

he sighed loudly. he probably knew what was happening, he knew the tendencies i had of isolating myself for weeks on end. “i’m coming over.”

before i had time to protest the phone line went dead. i looked around my small apartment. it was an image of depression. the sofa was covered in blankets which i would cocoon myself in while watching endless hours of tv. glasses covered the small table in front of the sofa. dirty clothes were strayed across the floor from when i changed my clothes. i sighed, there was no point trying to hide this from john, and quite frankly i was too weak to try and clean it before he arrived. instead, i wrapped a blanket around my shoulders and slumped onto the sofa until the doorbell rang. i jumped slightly, mostly because the lack of sleep made me more jumpy than usual.

i pulled the heavy door open and instantly avoided eye contact. john on the other hand looked intently at my frail image. his hand reached out to touch my shoulder softly. “y/n?” his voice broke slightly as he spoke.

“come in.” was all i could say without bursting into tears. he walked inside the dark apartment and he fought back tears himself. when he looked at his sister she looked visible wrecked. something bad must have happened. he instantly pulled me into a hug, wrapping his arms around me and gently rubbing my back, i hugged him back. god, i had missed him.

“what happened?” he questioned as we sat on the sofa together, concern was written all across his face.

i had never told john about my... relations with his band mate roger. it’s not that i didn’t want to tell him it just all happened so quick.

it had been a friday night, i was in a bar on the corner of a street i don’t remember. i was alone, my friends were all bores and never went out, so i made the fateful decision to go out myself. a young girl in a bar alone was bound to get some male attention, whether wanted or not. i didn’t expect it to be from a familiar face though. roger had been wearing a white button up with the top buttons undone as usual. classic roger right?

“y/n?” his voice was surprised but obviously slurred from one too many drinks. i tucked my hair behind my ear nervously. like every other girl in the uk, i may have had a tiny crush on roger. despite what you may think, just because i was john’s sister didn’t mean i saw the band more. they weren’t really my friends, they were all a few years older and had left college while i was still there. i saw them occasionally if john rang me asking to bring him some papers he had left at home or if i was supporting john at their gigs or if i went round to johns and they all happened to be there. but me and roger had never really had a conversation that entailed more than just casual small talk.

“yeah?” i tried to be as confident as i could with the little amount of alcohol in my system.

“imagine meeting you here!” he took the barstool next to me.

“hmmm it’s a bar?” i had no clue where this conversation was heading, except a dead end.

“what are you doing here?!” he looked genuinely interested in such a mundane topic.

i raised my drink and smiled. “the same reason everyone else is. to get shitfaced!” i laughed lightly. he chuckled too.

“now that is something i am good at!”

i was confused as to why he was being so friendly to me. surely i was just deaky’s silly little sister to him and all the other boys. i’m just that girl who brings deaky’s papers to him with a coffee and a donut.

one thing lead to another that night, we kept drinking and chatting until the bartender kicked us out on the cold london streets at some ungodly hour in the morning. my apartment was on the outskirts of town and taxi runs had stopped hours ago. as if fate was trying to get us together my naive mind thought. ever the gentleman, roger offered for me to stay at his. “can’t leave deaky’s sister in the freezing streets at 4am, can i now?” he joked lighting a cigarette.

his apartment was a short walk away, he had offered me his jacket and it was draped over my shoulders to keep me warm. he continued his conversation about some new car he had bought and despite knowing nothing about cars, i was still somehow captivated.

entering his apartment made my throat tighten and my stomach instantly filled with butterflies. i slipped his jacket off and handed it to him meekly. i felt an intense awkwardness, as if he didn’t know how to act when bringing a girl home who he no intentions of shagging. should i kiss him? is that why he brought me here? questions flew around in my mind and i was trapped in my thoughts.

“y/n?” his voice was loud and it snapped me out my thoughts. he smiled at me. god he was fucking hot.

i tried to speak, i swear i did. maybe the alcohol had really gotten to my head. i don’t remember how it happened. i just remember his lips on mine, kissing me with such passion and desire. against the wall. he picked me up, taking me into the kitchen. i was on the table and his hands were all over my body like fire. kissing my neck, i swear i couldn’t think.

the memory was so vivid, i could still feel his hands on my body, everywhere.

i scratched the back on my head, snapping out off my inappropriate vision whilst being in the room with my brother. “i don’t know” i answered his question after the long time in my thoughts. my voice broke as i spoke. john just pulled me into a hug again as i cried quietly. i knew he would get mad as soon as i told him it was roger.

the next morning after staying at roger’s, i awoke in a panic, grabbing my things quickly and quietly, being sure not to wake him. i left. i regretted it instantly because i knew that i was just another shag to him.

but it wasn’t, he started coming round to my apartment. at first it was to apologise, it ended with him in my bed. the visits became more frequent, he would come up with random yet adorable excuses to see me. it evolved into a few dates and more sex.

but that came crashing down two weeks ago. queen were playing a gig at a bar as usual, i went along to support john firstly, of course, but now i was there for roger too. the thing between us had only been going on for about two months and we were nothing official, we never would be. they performed brilliantly as usual. i stayed at the table i was saving for everyone when they finished. their set ended, they bowed, i cheered louder than ever. i was met by john first, he ran up to the table and hugged me tightly, then brian and freddie came over, roger was missing.

“how were we love?” freddie’s voice was filled with happiness but my chest hurt and my mind began filling with thoughts of roger’s absence.

“brilliant as usual boys!” i faked happiness. “where’s roger?” i tried not to sound to desperate or obvious.

brian laughed slightly, “probably entertaining that blonde hanging around backstage. i’d give him 10 minutes love. you don’t want to see more of him than you should.” him and the other boys laughed in agreement. obviously they didn’t know that me and roger had something going on. my chest felt like someone punched right through it.

“i’m going to the toilet” i mumbled. i all but sprinted to the toilet, i pushed the door open. i could feel a panic attack started, the walls felt like they were closing in, i could hear my heart beat loudly in my ears and i was having trouble breathing. it felt like everything stopped when i saw him. standing in the middle of the bathroom between a blonde girls legs. my heart stopped, the shock on my face was very visible.

“y/n!” he called but i turned on my heels and ran.

since that night i hadn’t spoke to roger, i didn’t want to hear what he had to say. that we weren’t official so it wasnt cheating. i didn’t want to see him again. that was two weeks ago, since then ive locked myself away from everyone.

i tried to explain it to john, i left out certain details about sex but i got the point across. his softness and caring side fizzled away quickly and was replaced with anger.

“i’ll kill him” he muttered through clenched teeth.

“john, please. there’s no need for that. it’s best just to act like nothing happened.” i tried to stop the tears as i pleaded with him.

“he fucking hurt you and didn’t even check if you were okay.” johns voice was breaking again.

“it’ll be okay. john please, we’re both adults and we can deal with this ourselves.” i tried pleading with him again.

he sighed in defeat. “fine, but i’m not leaving you until you’ve showered and eaten. come on.”

john cared for me, making me feel a bit better. having told someone about all the emotions which had been trapped inside me for the past weeks made me feel the most emotionally relieved. i wasn’t hiding anything anymore but my chest still ached, for i knew that one day i’d have to look roger taylor in the eyes again.

tag list: @writingfortoomanyfandoms @xgoingdownx

#roger taylor x reader #roger taylor writing #roger taylor fanfic #roger taylor #john deacon x reader #john deacon #freddie mercury #brain may #queen #70s #80s #bohrap #ben hardy #bohemian rhapsody #becki writes

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feel199x · 5 years

Text

gang member!au, gang member! han jisung, florist! reader, underground band!au

chapters: I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X masterlist

song rec: dayfly by dean & half moon

warnings: angst, gun mention

”Miinho,” Jisung swung his legs off the bed, ignoring the shooting pain he felt, “What’s going on?”

“Someone’s coming, that dickhead from N/S.”

“How? He never did before.”

“I don’t know!”

“Then how do you know?”

“___ called.”

“What? Are they okay? I miss ___ so much, Minho please-”

“We don’t have time!”

Minho had no idea what state you were in, and if you were dead- how was he supposed to explain that to Jisung? That you had traded your life for theirs? Minho didn’t even understand, and he doubted that Jisung would either. Maybe it was wrong, but telling him wouldn’t be right either. God, how could he? When Minho heard him talking in his sleep, talking about you, dreaming about you, how could he? At least not now, he knew how Jisung was- emotional and impulsive. Everyone was down in their backup hideout, Chan and Woojin being smart enough to at least suspect that their location would be compromised. They had nearly forgotten about him and his condition after hearing the voicemail you had left. Minho was glad he had taken Jisung’s phone, and even more content that he was nosy. If he hadn’t checked the voicemail, who knows how this situation would end.

“Can you walk?”

“Yes.”

Minho watched as Jisung stumbled, hands gripping the nightstand. Minho pulled Jisung, and leaned, helping Jisung get on his back. It wasn’t the most graceful, but it worked.

“Fucking liar. Do you think now is the time to be macho?”

The cellar was deep underground, damp and dark- rotten. The wood of the stairs was wet, splinters sticking out like split-ends. Deep under the earth, hidden from all good and bad to sit in true neutrality. It smelled like wet earth too, but not the fresh smell- the kind where you knew there was something rotting underneath. It was under the house still, but a lot harder to find than one would expect. There was an unspoken hatred for the fact that they were all there, the mess they had found themselves into you and the heat of hatred was rising, boiling over.

“You could have gotten killed. You need to be smarter.”

Chan had his arms crossed, tapping his foot like a mother whose child was late for curfew

“He’s here, isn't he?”

“That’s not the problem, Minho- You had one job. You know they’re here for Jisung.”

Felix spoke up from the back of the room, a scowl on his face. It wasn’t personal Minho knew, but he still thickened the tension in the room.

“Shove that self-righteousness up your ass, Felix. Do you know how much he weighs?”

“Oh, suck-”

“Both of you shut the fuck up!”

Chan pushed both of the boys away from one another, knowing there was no way this could end well. The boys glared at one another, but backed off- it wasn’t worth it.

“I have an idea.”

“Finally putting those two brain cells to work, huh?”

The nine of them had never fought before, all these years together had run rather smoothly- some petty quarrels here and there, but never anything serious. But then again, they had never been in a situation like this before, and it was pushing their unity and friendship to the limits. They had to snap from frustration at some point.

“The fuck is your problem?”

“Everyone told you to be careful! Literally what kind of shit luck do we have that you had to fall in love with a gang member’s manic pixie dream girl?”

“His what?”

“His wet dream, you dumbass!”

“Are you seriously trying to blame me for this? Instead of, I don’t know, feeling bad for ____ since the guy is fucking nuts?”

Changbin wasn’t one to get particularly vocal about his anger, he had a temper- everyone knew, but for him to snap at a friend? That was something else. Whenever Changbin got angry, he would always opt to isolate until he cooled down- never, never had he snapped at any of them. Changbin was soft, and never wanted to hurt anyone, even if he did get angry fairly easily. But for both Jisung and Changbin to be at each other’s necks? Never.

“You should’ve left. It’s always been nine or none.”

“We are all they had!”

Changbin’s face softened at the realization and took a deep breath. Jisung was right, this wasn’t your fault- and there was no one to blame except the kingpin of N/S. It was an unfortunate situation they found themselves, one consequence piling on top of each other like dominoes until they piled up into the mess they currently found themselves in.

“I’m sorry. You’re right.”

“We’re all just stressed, Jisung.”

Chan would’ve cut in earlier, but if Changbin had something to say- then he would let them vent. Changbin would never get physical, he knew. But if he had, then they had all already lost. There would be no way that any of them could cooperate if they would get physical over a slip of words.

“I don’t care, none of this is their fault. I don’t want to hear one word of blame- none of you know what they’ve been through.”

The room was beginning to become hot, but the tension in the air was fading as everyone let go of irrational anger.

“What was your idea?”

“My idea? Made with my two humble brain cells?”

Jisung lightened the mood, and everyone began to close in together- wanting to listen to Jisung’s plan. Things weren’t normal, far from it in fact, but at least they were all together. At least they had each other, at least they had unity. That was something that no music producer, no fight, no gang leader could take away. That’s what love was for them, unity against all storms, like roots of a tree- strong winds only made them stronger.

“We need something, anything.”

They pulled at their shirts, both unaware and pained by the room’s growing heat. They didn’t realize it yet.

“Why don’t we just kidnap the guy?”

“That would make us just as bad as him, Jisung we-”

“I think it’s a good idea.”

Woojin always agreed with Chan, they shared opinions on most things- and it made for a good co-leadership. They worked well together, but most importantly, Woojin was never one for violence. Chan turned to Woojin in surprise, shooting him a questioning look and scanning the room for their response.

“We don’t have to hurt him-”

“Just use him.”

“Fuck, it’s hot.” Changbin pulled at his black t-shirt as it stuck to his skin with sweat.

“Wow, she’s-” Changbin shot Hyunjin a warning look and Hyunjn quieted, an amused look on his face despite the situation.

“Shut the fuck up, we need to get out.”

“You think he’s gone?”

“Look.”

“Oh shit. Shit!”

It was less than image and more of a smell, black smoke found it’s way from the cracks of the door, rising up and smogging up the air. The bar was hot as Chan forced it open, a sting lingering on his hand. The boys filed outside, stopping to look at the small house beginning to envelop itself in flames. The ancient wood was burning easily and quickly turning black as the fire reaching higher and higher, the crisp air fueling it. Jisung was clenching his jaw, eyebrows furrowed in anger and distaste. When did things go so wrong? He knew the flower-shop break in was the turning point, but how did he let it get like this? He wanted to cry, out of anger or sadness he didn’t know. Was it guilt or was it blame, did he wasn to carry a burden or point a finger? How could he know? All he wanted was to get back to you.

“Hyunjin, go with Felix and find the guys.” Chan wasn’t happy about sending them off to search, but it would be less likely that they would feel threatened if they thought only two boys were at home. “Alone, are fucking crazy?”

“You both have guns.” It was risky, Chan knew, but as much as he hated it- a risk had to be taken. They couldn’t all go guns blazing for a threat that they weren’t sure they still had to make a decision, and fast.

“You don’t actually-”

“No.”

“It would be self-defense anyway.”

Minho wasn’t trying to be rude, but realistic- comforting in a weird way. He knew that the situation that they found themselves in, and he wasn’t trying to make it any words by getting in a petty brawl.

“Oh fuck off with the cynical bull-shit.”

Minho turned to Felix slightly surprised.

“Oh, I’m surprised you know that word! Good for you.”

“Can you guys shut the fuck up? The house is fucking burning.” Seungmin cut in distractedly, watching the house burn from the top down. Thank god for the voicemail. Everyone waited anxiously for the duo to return. Jeongin turned around the corner to see that there was only singular car there. The N/S kingpin clearly didn’t think it through, he had underestimated them before- how could he make the same mistake again? Jeongin called the rest of the boys over as he saw Felix and Hyunjin return with a trio of guys.

“We found them.”

“Chan, what do we do?”

The trio of guys kneeled down in front of Chan. Any worry that showed on Chan’s face slipped away as he gave a firm punch to the middle man’s face. Like Woojin, Chan wasn’t one for violence. But unlike Woojin, Chan was good at it.

“Are you going to tell us where your boss lives?”

It was a gruesome scene to see Chan twist the man’s broken nose as he muttered out a weak “Yes!” Chan let go, hand splattered with blood.

“Great, I’d really hate to hurt anyone anyway. I promise to not let the cops know.”

“We’re going to call the cops?”

“Is that a good idea?”

Chan turned to the boys, having enough of their petty quarreling and questioning, and if Chan lost it- it wasn’t going to be pretty for anyone.

“Who’s gonna tell them what we did? Not these guys, they’re ratting out a kingpin to save themselves.”

“Is that such a good idea though?”

Everyone watched as Seungmin pressed Chan’s buttons, and Changbin added: “Maybe it’s time we’ve paid for our sins.” It was an unspoken feeling in the group, a sense of guilt and manipulation that resided in them ever since they had started selling. They owed a lot of their success to the drugs they sold, and it seemed like they were less of artists because of it. “None of us are innocent.” Felix only muttered, but it was true to them. “I never wanted this-” Chan was beginning to break, his voice wavering and they stopped. They lead the trio of men back to the car, and quietly listened to their instructions. Driving away from the house going up in flames.

“We could leave this life behind, we have the funds, the fans-” It was sort of plea, a wish rather than a fact that came from Hyunjin’s mouth, and Jeongin finished his wishful thinking, becoming an escapist himself. “It could be over. It could finally all be over.”

The car ride was quiet. Everyone anxious about your state of being, they opted against calling the number back- it wasn’t safe after all. But there was no way to know how you were, and what he could’ve done.

“We’ve been in this car for too fucking long.”

“Are you complaining?”

“What? No! I’m not an asshole. I’m just saying it’s been a while.”

“He really went out of his way, huh?”

The car ride hadn’t been long, but long enough for Felix to get restless- he was just the most vocal about his discomfort. It was his way of making things seem more normal than they were, sugarcoating their bitter reality. And most of them were thankful, but as the GPS announced their distance shortening, Chan grew worried about Jisung. “Jisung?” He was staring out the window, his anger towards the kingpin simmering.“What?” His voice came out harsher than he expected, voice strained with anger- he had practically hissed at Chan. “You should stay calm. We don’t know what state they’ll be in…” Woojin nodded, prompting to add: “Or what he’s done-”

“We don’t know what he’s told them either.” Chan finished.

“I’m fine.”

“Okay, sure, but I’m just saying. Stay in control.”

“I said I’m fine. I know you guys mean well, but I’m good.”

The little flag appeared on the GPS’s screen and the robotic voice announced that they had arrived at their destination it was suddenly becoming real, too real. They were in the middle of nowhere, but the house was prestigious. It was big, too big. It was a complete juxtaposition to the surrounding greenery. It looked out of place. “We’re here, I think. We are here, right?” Chan parked the car and turned to face the men, and they nodded, the man in the middle covered his face. “I want to go in alone,” Jisung announced as he opened the door, nervously looking at the large house. “Fuck no.” Minho threw open the door from his side of the car. “Someone has to stay.”

“We can just lock the car. We already took their guns.”

“Oh.”

Chan locked the car they were all crammed in, and left the trio of men inside. The door took some time to open without force. But with a little coaxing, the door finally opened. Without a word, they took their guns out of the waistband of the pants or short. They split up, a group of three going in each direction of the large house. Jisung, Chan, and Woojin made their way up the stairs- finding blood spots going up the stairs, some of it pooling in some places. Jisung’s heart was in his throat, he thought he was going to throw up. He almost stumbled into the living room, and Chan pulled him back by the collar of his shirt behind the wall.

“You’re a little brat aren’t you? A little piece of shit. You ruin everything. I will burn this house down before I let you go.” You were on your knees before him, whimpering and shaking, crying as he dragged a pocket knife across your collarbone. You were already bleeding from the back of your head, streaming down your back again. You were getting dizzy from the blood loss, your vision fading. Jisung was wide awake adrenaline spilling into his veins. It wasn’t right seeing you like this. This is what you must’ve felt when you wanted to go back to your flower shop, knowing you could be risking your life, risking everything. It was something deep and primal, almost animalistic inside of him. He could feel himself choking back tears, a lump caught in his throat.

“Jisung, you have to wait.”

“Wait for him to fucking kill them?”

“We have to wait until he’s away from ___. Otherwise, he might, panic and actually kill them.”

Jiusng watched from behind the wall, hands in fists, fingers traveling to reach for his handgun. Maybe Chan had a point, they had to be calculating and rational.

“You’re going to have to make it up to me, and you know how don’t you? Be a good girl.” He dragged the knife up your neck and to the point of your chin.

“Oh, fuck this.”

Jisung pulled out his handgun from the waistband of his sweatpants. It replayed in his head, the night you got taken away. How helpless, how useless he felt as you were dragged out of the store. You could feel a shooting pain up his leg like high voltage electricity, but he walked still, doing his best to make his way towards you. Jisung heard Chan curse under his breath and pull his gun out too, his waistband snapping as he pulled it out harshly.

“The fuck are you doing?”

“Oh shit. Shit. Don’t fucking move. I swear to fuck I’ll kill them right here.” He pulled you by the hair, holding you head up by it as you toppled over, too weak to keep yourself up. Out of your spotty vision, you made out a figure as familiar as your flowers.

“Jisung...please.”

He could hear the pain in your voice, and it made him angrier. The gun pointing directly towards your captor’s head. “You’re outnumbered. You don’t actually think there’s a scenario where you win right?” Chan spoke out loudly, hands on his own gun.

“I don’t have to. I’ll take them down with me.”

“Chan, the police.” Woojin whispered as soon as he heard the faint sirens and the rest of the boys piled in. Realizing that there was no way to get out of this alive, he let the knife slip across your throat before plunging it into his stomach. There was barely anytime for anyone to react. You and the kingpin collapsed to the floor as he let go of you hair. You heard the gun clatter, Jisung holding your to torso, covering your neck as it sputtered blood.

“Oh fuck, fuck! Get a towel or something, please. Oh god, ____, c’mon stay with me. Please. Just to the hospital, you can make it until then, please.”

“You know….what flowers to put on... my grave, right, ‘sungie? It might... be selfish to say this... now but, I love you. I’m in... love with you... Han Jisung.”

The blood on his hands was warm, he was covered in a mess of it. It was all over the marble floor now, a maroon pool flooding the floor. Jisung wasn’t in control, he never had control over anything. It seemed so futile, like everything he had done in vain. Chan brought towels to cover the wound and clean up the floor, but the towels became tinted and heavier. Chan was desperately ripping fabric to try to stop the bleeding and Minho flew down the stairs to call the medics in. Woojin’s attention was on your captor, holding him back as he watched you. He was bleeding too, but not nearly at a fast of rate as you. Jeongin had your head in his lap, stroking your hair. He and Seungmin began singing you a song.

“You’re not gonna die. Oh fuck, fuck! Chan! You’re not- shut up, Jeongin! You can’t- your flowers come on, please. Just a few more minutes. I can hear the sirens- you can do it, oh fuck! There’s so much blood, Chan, what do we do? There has to be something, you can’t just- I love you so much. You’re so cold- why are you so cold? Please, it’s selfish, but just hold on. Chan, there’s so much blood- make it stop, oh god, fuck make it stop, please.”

You were the bird from the playground, plummeting towards the earth and there was nothing he could do. He tightened his fingers around yours, as cold as they were, trying to bring some heat to your body. He ignored the blood staining his shirt, and the medics pulled him away from you, prying his fingers off. The police came in and pulled your ex away, even as he screamed and thrashed, trying to make his way towards you. Jisung followed you down.

“Please, please, help- you have to, they’re so good- please, promise?”

Pinky promise? It echoed in his head.

They wouldn’t, they couldn’t.

a/n: haha gotcha there’s one chapter left (im sorry please dont be mad)

#stray kids #stray kids fanfic #stray kids imagines #stray kids han #skz imagines #skz fic #skz han jisung #skz fluff #skz angst #stray kids han jisung #han jisung #han jisung fanfic #han jisung imagine #han jisung imagines

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ownworldresident · 5 years

Text

Side by Side. Chapter 2: The Agreement

King Liam x Rayne (MC): With new additions to their family, Rayne and Liam re-evaluate their relationship dynamic.

Disclaimer: Most characters are the property of Pixelberry studios. I am just borrowing them and will return them when I am done.

MASTERLIST

Side by Side Masterlist

The Agreement

There was a knock on the door and Liam looked up to see Leo, Drake, Olivia, and Maxwell quietly enter the room. He smiled warmly at them and received the same expression as they took in the room. Rayne was still sleeping but the IV had been removed and she looked peaceful. There was one crib by the wall and one right beside him where he sat beside the bed. In his arms was his tiny newborn daughter, who did not yet have a name. In the crib beside him lay his son, who in the brief time he had been awake had displayed the same blue eyes as his sister. His friends observed the room and came towards him.

“Congratulations Liam” said Olivia quietly, as the four of them looked down to see his two children. His children, his and Raynes… it was so new and exciting, and it just felt right. She was the only one he wanted to have a family with. Leo put a hand on his shoulder.

“Congrats little brother” Liam looked up and saw Leo staring down at his nephew, such warmth and affection and pride in his eyes that he rarely showed.

“How’s Stevens?” asked Drake, looking at Rayne.

“Good, she hasn’t been awake yet, but the doctor said the operation went well. They want to keep her under observation for a few days, to make sure she doesn’t get an infection” Drake nodded.

“Little blossom has two little blossoms!” Maxwell said happily, looking between Liam’s children.

“They look just like her Liam. Are you sure they’re yours?” Olivia smirked at him and he chuckled quietly. Whether because of the reverberations of his chest as did so or by coincidence his daughter chose that moment to slowly open her bright blue eyes. All four of them broke into new smiles. Liam gently stroked her head and held her closer to his chest to place a soft kiss on her forehead.

“Definitely a Rhys” said Leo, chuckling, “so the new prince and princess eh?” Leo looked up at Drake who gave him a warning look.

“Leo…”

“I have to ask Drake! This is important” Drake shook his head and sighed, looking awkwardly at Liam and then at Rayne.

“What is it?” asked Liam, brow furrowed in confusion. Olivia rolled her eyes.

“He wants to know which one came first” she said. Liam stared at him, surprised.

“I guess that makes sense” he glanced at Rayne again and then at his son, “would you like to hold the Crown Prince of Cordonia big brother?” Leo smiled widely at him.

“I would love to. And you owe me fifty euros” Liam looked confused again, before he remembered that conversation and shook his head in amusement.

“I wonder if it will be the boy or the girl first” Leo poured another drink for himself. They had just found out the sexes of Liam and Raynes children. Rayne was asleep already, but he and his brother were celebrating with a drink.

“Does it really matter?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Of course! I need to know where to focus my uncle-ing skills”

“Seriously Leo? I think you should probably stay really far away from them” he smirked. Leo looked hurt.

“Alright, alright. I will uncle them both equally. But I will bet you that your son comes first”

“No. That’s a ridiculous bet”

“And yet I make it anyway” he grinned “fifty euros says our next monarch is also a king”

“Fine” he said, clinking glasses with his brother, “keep in mind he can abdicate if he wants to” Leo smirked.

“True, but the bet stands”

“I did agree” he said, “I ah… left pretty much everything at the palace. We’ll have to settle it later”

“Deal. can I still hold him?” Liam was surprised at his eagerness but nodded.

The four of them left Liam and Rayne and the newborns about an hour later. Drake was smiling as they made their way to the exit as a group. Though he had been terrified of dropping her he had had the opportunity to hold his best friend’s sleeping daughter for a while, and she was beautiful, much like her mother, if frighteningly fragile. If Liam and Rayne were still okay with him being the godfather, Drake would protect that girl with his life, just as he would her mother. Drake's hand went to the healed bullet wound in his shoulder, he would do it again for either of them, for any of them. Rayne was a mother now… and Liam was a father… the titles would take a while to sink in, they sounded like such a massive step forwards but really it hadn’t been that long since they had met the carefree, drifting waitress in New York. Love had brought and kept her here, love stronger than he had ever seen given what she had been through and was still dealing with. He was lost in thought as they walked through the waiting room towards the exit.

“Beer garden, everyone, now” they looked up, shocked, at Olivia’s recommendation, knowing she was not a huge fan of the place they usually went to. She shrugged, one eyebrow raised, “what? Relax I’m not going to poison you” Leo stretched and grinned.

“No complaints here Livvy, especially if you're buying. Celebratory drinks!”

“Great plan! Thanks Livvy!” Olivia scowled as Maxwell led the charge out to their respective vehicles.

Twenty minutes later they pulled up at the beer garden they had been to before the homecoming ball. To Rayne and Liam’s credit that had been a good night regardless of the circumstances. Leo had been on his motorbike and was waiting for them at a table towards the back. He lifted a glass at them and they made their way over. Before him was a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket, a bottle of whiskey and an open bottle of scotch and he winked at Drake, who shook his head and reached for the whiskey. The four of them sat down and poured themselves drinks and Leo raised his glass.

“To Rayne! Mad enough to deal with Rhys children and the bravest goddamn woman I know” Drake smirked at Olivia.

“Outside of Lythikos that is” she added, and Drake smiled and shook his head as they clinked glasses and drank.

“If you say so Livvy” said Maxwell, turning to Drake, “speaking of women Drake where's Cass?” Drake blushed slightly, unprepared for the question. Taking a drink to clear it he stared Maxwell in the eyes and ripped off the band aid.

“We broke up” out the corner of his eye he had seen Olivia look up a little too quickly but ignored it. He waited for a reply, challenging anyone to delve deeper. None of them seemed discouraged.

“What did you do?” asked Leo in the midst of pouring himself a new glass of scotch. When Drake scowled at him, he only received a smirk and a raised eyebrow in return.

“Nothing” he lied. Drake knew what had gone wrong. They had been going out for a few weeks, only hooked up a few times so far, until Cassandra had slammed on the brakes and given him an ultimatum. It was completely fair, and though he was pissed at himself for giving her up he also didn't regret his decision.

“Not likely Drake c’mon tell us your deepest darkest secrets” Maxwell grinned, strategically far away enough that Drake couldn't strike him.

“None of your business”

“Leave him be you two” said Olivia. The three of them turned to her, equally shocked, she smirked at them.

“Uh...thanks?” he couldn't figure out what her angle was, until she said it.

“Your welcome. If Walker doesn't want to admit he has issues getting it up, then guess what? No one cares” they were stunned for a second longer before Leo and Maxwell burst out laughing and Drake scowled even deeper.

“That's not it” he didn't even know why he wanted to defend it, it was Olivia trying to get under his skin and the other two trying to get answers.

“C’mon Drake no time for 20 questions, spill”

“No” he said firmly, reaching for the whiskey. Leo pulled it out of the way, grinning. They locked eyes for a moment, Drake frustrated, Leo amused, before he got up and walked to the bar. He got another bottle, thank fuck it was the same brand, and went back to reluctantly sit beside Olivia again. Opening the bottle he poured three fingers and sipped it, looking pointedly back at Leo as he did so.

“We'll get it out of you one day Drake” said Max. Suddenly he felt Olivia’s foot curl around his. For some awful reason he found it oddly comforting and despite his better judgement did not pull away. Olivia didn't even look at him, and neither did he, but saw the corner of her lip curling up into a smile as she took another sip of champagne and continued to speak to the others. Drake looked down at his glass.

The reason he had broken up with Cass was that in the last few weeks he had spent his time increasingly with Rayne. She had become much less mobile and he kept her company at the palace mostly when Liam was working. Not being Liam’s wife, Rayne did not have the power to convince the others to let him spend more time with her before their children were born. It was a shitty arrangement, but she genuinely seemed okay with it and he’d been happy to talk and play board or card games or watch movies when she wasn't sleeping, which she often was. He wouldn't be spending much time with her now. He moved his leg closer to Olivia.

“Liam?” Rayne’s voice was croaky as she slowly opened her eyes and registered her surroundings. Turning her head, she saw Liam sitting in a chair beside her bed and crooning softly to something in his arms. He looked up when he heard her voice and smiled warmly. She coughed but then grimaced at the shooting pain across her middle.

“Care love, you have stitches from the operation, are you okay?” Rayne frowned, “do you remember that?”

“I –” she recalled suddenly the incredible pain she had been in, for hours... then the concerned voices around her, the appearance of three more people and the IV... “they operated on me?” he nodded.

“Apparently there were some... issues” Liam winced at that, “you had a caesarean, and these two came out of it” he looked down at the bundle in his arms, such pure joy in his eyes that she felt tears in hers, and she broke into a wide smile when she realised he was holding a baby, their baby. Slowly she tried to sit up, to get a better look, but her abdomen felt tight and she winced again at the pain spreading through it, “Rayne? Are you okay? Try not to move too much” his voice was worried now. He stood up, holding her tiny baby with one arm and reaching out to hold her hand with the other.

“I feel a lot lighter” he chuckled, and she smiled, lying back down and looking from her nearly flat belly to the love of her life to the tiny life he held.

“I bet” he squeezed her hand and she did the same, “would you like to say hello to your daughter?” tears welled in her eyes and she nodded, trying to blink them away. Liam adjusted the bed so she was sitting up a bit, and laid her baby on her chest. Rayne brought her arms around her, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

“What's her name?” she asked, not taking her eyes off her daughter.

“She doesn't have one yet” Rayne looked up at him.

“Are you sure you're okay with me naming her?”

“Of course. She is your daughter too my love” Liam wiped away some of the tears on her cheeks. Leaning down he placed a tender kiss on Rayne’s forehead and when she tilted her face up, he placed one on her lips. It was gentle, and lingering. Rayne smiled at him and then back to her baby.

“Evelyn” she said. Looking up at Liam again she saw tears in his eyes.

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely” Rayne smiled. Evelyn had been Liam’s mother’s name, and someone he had desperately missed since she had died when he was only four. He choked out the words, not bothering to wipe back the tears that were falling.

“Thank you” squeezing her hand again he brought it to his lips and placed and a soft kiss there.

“Evelyn Genevieve Rhys… is - is that okay?”

“Of course it is love. If you are generous enough to name our daughter after my mother, it is fitting that your mother's name be there also”

“We will always remember them” reaching a hand up she cupped his cheek and he put a hand over it, turning his head slightly to kiss her palm. Rayne nodded.

“Can I see our son as well?” he smiled and turned away, leaning down and gently lifting another bundle from the crib. Carefully he placed their son on the other side of her chest and she held them both, bringing him close to kiss his beautiful face as well. She hardly noticed Liam pull out his phone and take a photo of the three of them. She smiled at him.

“He hasn't been given a name either” he whispered, looking at them with such love that Rayne felt fresh tears running down her cheeks.

“What would you like to name him?”

“I thought you could” he said, then thought about it for a moment, “I thought maybe… maybe Leo” Rayne raised an eyebrow at him.

“Your brother’s ego might explode” she grinned, then sobered. There was definitely another reason behind it.

“Leonardo was also my grandfather’s name. I've always liked it” Rayne nodded, turning back to her son.

“Leo Drake Rhys” she smiled at him, then questioningly back at Liam.

“Perfect”

“Drake will hate that” she could just imagine him trying desperately to avoid having his name associated with the prince.

“Perhaps at first” Liam sat in the chair beside them again, “he would come around” she nodded, but the fact that she had been the one to mention ‘prince’ was suddenly a painful reminder that her babies were not truly hers anymore. For nine months they had been hers, but they were royalty, and she was not. One of them would lead this country one day… and Rayne would be in the shadows, quickly forgotten.

“What is it love? Why are you upset?” Rayne turned her gaze to a worried Liam.

“It's just… I won't get much time with them… now that they're here. As soon as I am not needed to nurse them any longer… no one will need me”

“That's not true” Liam’s voice was both hurt and firm as she met his gaze again. His eyes were determined, “I will not let you be pushed aside. You will be there for them as will I. And… and I need you, as well” his eyes were sad now as he reached out to caress her shoulder, “Leo and Evelyn will need their mother, and you are so important, not just to our family but to our people and to the world and Rayne” he stood up to put a hand over her cheek, wiping away tears that kept coming, “I will never let anyone forget that. We all need you. I would be lost with you” Rayne nodded, but still cried. She hoped Liam was right, looking lovingly down at their two beautiful babies.

Not long after Rayne had woken up, Evelyn and Leo had as well. When they started crying Liam went to get a nurse who came in and helped Rayne nurse them properly. He watched her, it seemed completely natural to her and she held then confidently to her breast each in turn. They didn't require much and so after that fell back to sleep with a smile on her lips, soon followed by their mother whose eyelids had been heavy since she fed Leo. Softly kissing her forehead Liam reluctantly left. He needed to go back to the palace to take care of a few things, realising as he exited the hospital that it was dawn. He hated having to leave but had given instructions to call him when Rayne woke up again. Though she had not yet mentioned it he felt guilty at his not being there for the birth and needed to confront the woman responsible for that. She would definitely be awake already, he thought, and once inside the palace headed straight up to her quarters. He knocked.

“Come in” called her voice almost immediately.

Opening the door and stepping inside, Liam saw Madeline at her desk, poring over a document with pen in hand. She looked up when he entered and didn't seem at all fazed by his set jaw or angry tone.

“We need to talk” the corner of her lip curled into a wry smile and she stood up to face him.

“Go ahead then, husband” Liam took a deep breath to try and calm himself.

“What the hell do you think you were doing yesterday? How could you possibly think it was your place to tell the staff not to inform me that my children were being born??” Madeline raised an eyebrow at him.

“You were busy, and the birth of your bastards is not significant. Once they're here, then you can of course see them. They need to see who their father is. Otherwise your presence was superfluous” Liam scoffed.

“You are joking, right?” Madeline didn't joke, “this is one of the most significant events of my life and I NEEDED to be there so how dare you keep that from me.”

“Watch your tone King Liam, you are speaking to the Queen. This was our agreement, you can legitimise your mistress’s children, but you are loyal to the crown” Liam hated it when she referred to Rayne as his mistress. She was the woman he loved and so much more than that and Madeline knew it.

“No Madeline!” his voice was raised but he didn't care, his hands were shaking in anger, “Our agreement was that the crown recognises my children, they are my children! I have a right to be there if not as king then as a father and you know that. Rayne is a human being, not a machine, find some ounce of compassion!” as if she had any. When she spoke it was quietly and she feigned hurt.

“I would perhaps for my own children Liam. so you can go ahead and quiet any accusation that I'm some heartless narcissist”

“No, you don't get to play that card” Liam said it before his own compassion took hold, which was her clear intention, “if you wanted me to feel sorry for you then you should have told me before we were married, like a decent human being” he turned towards the door and looked back as he reached it, “I will be the best father that I can be for my children, I will be there for them and for Rayne whenever they need or want me. If you were capable of love perhaps you would understand that, at the very least you could understand it as a duty to my family”

“Their mother is not your family” she said coldly, “you owe her nothing” he stared at her.

“I owe her everything and you know that. Stay away from them all” he left.

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flwrpotts · 6 years

Note

1, 4 and 18 for bughead. (I love angst okay, also feel free to just pick one or two or whatever, I’ll take anything from you 😍)

omg im so sorry about the wait on this!!! thank you so, so much for these asks and I hope you enjoy!!!

1. “Do you want me to leave?”

4. “You can’t keep doing this.”

18. “I shouldn’t be in love with you.”

i. “God, could she be any more artificial?” asks Toni, disdain soaked all the way through her voice, like a sheet of paper drenched in gasoline.

Jughead looks up from his whiskey soda and sees Elizabeth Cooper, swamped by admirers at the front of the room. He shouldn’t be surprised to be at the same opening party as her- they’re on the same label, after all. And yet, there’s something shocking about seeing her in real life, not transmitted by the blurred out waves of a television screen.

Like always, she’s in shades of pastel and bubblegum, hair curled in ringlets around her shoulders and lips coated in a sticky, nearly reflective gloss. She blinks, and her unnaturally long, glittery eyelashes brush her brow bone.

She looks like plastic. Smooth, unblemished, and yet, somehow flimsy. Like you could stick a pin through her, and she wouldn’t even feel it. Jughead is suddenly and insistently reminded of an article he read about her once, just as she was first hitting it big. She’s the sort of girl who never laughs, only smiles.

“All those pop girls are like that,” he says dismissively, and Toni laughs meanly, but he cannot help but watch her for a beat too long. Discomfited, he swallows his drink and wades through the crowd of ghost thin models (heroin chic, they’re calling it now) for a refill.

ii. He was labelled a sell out before he even sold, product of being the kid of an almost-famous rock star, one of those burnt out near-supernovas.

The critics never tire of talking about it; rewind the clock a decade or two, and F.P Jones and Freddy Andrews were the hottest things on the scene, smashed bottles to smash hits, with the sort of chemistry between them that crackled through the live shows like a bolt of lightning.

Jughead knows the players, if not the story.

His father- the charismatic, volatile addict, with magic in his hands and whiskey in his veins, too unstable to ever hold onto anything for very long. Fred Andrews- sweet and talented and the only person F.P was ever truly scared to lose.

They only released one critically-acclaimed album before falling apart, a whole slew of cheating scandals and rehab rumors and and F.P’s drunken Vegas wedding to a young poet, whose journals he later riffed through for “inspiration,” a little more Bukowski than Fitzgerald.

Jughead’s parents had divorced when he was fifteen, and he hasn’t seen his father since. But it’s an undeniable truth that F.P passed his raw, unchanneled talent on to his only child.

Jughead never quite forgives him for it.

iii. The band is just him and Toni, and is barely even a real band, if he’s being perfectly honest with himself.

Him and Toni met as teenagers, two pretentious, angsty fifteen year olds stuck in the middle of Ohio, spending too much in the library and bonding over their shared taste in music. They had bought cheap, falling apart instruments at a local thrift store, and the rest was history.

They still aren’t technically called anything, ever since their first bar show where he had mumbled “Um, I’m Jughead. We don’t really have a name” into the mic and started playing.

It’s a childish sort of rebellion against the trappings of success, him refusing to give a proper title to the notoriety that’s fallen into his lap.

He used to think that making it for real would rid him of his father’s ghost once and for all. But one album in, and he’s learned that it’s all business, all show, the music an afterthought to the whole production.

Management wants him to get into fights, to play shows with his shirt unbuttoned all the way down, to have a breakout album or maybe just a breakdown. Something salacious, something to sell, a high profile affair, maybe.

He can’t complain about it, really- some people waste their entire youth away waiting for a big break, after all. He and Toni had only played three shows when the agent in the back of a grimy bar had caught his surname and gotten them a flight to L.A the next day. He should be grateful, for the platinum albums and the expensive bottles of champagne and the teenage girls in the audience that scream along to the lyrics.

But he can’t help but notice the darker underside to all that glitter and gloss, the seedy underbelly that people prefer not to notice. Jughead’s got addiction in his blood, and knows a lot of addicts coming from where he did, but it feels futile in the wake of all these pretty boys and girls being handed pills by their managers like candy. His father got caught in that riptide and was dragged all the way down under the water, never to resurface again, not totally.

Jughead can’t play their games. Not can’t as in won’t, can’t as in am not capable. The only thing he’s good for is popping open a vein and bleeding onstage. Somehow, it’s enough.

iv. Betty Cooper’s brand is good girl, and she does it well, all tulle dresses and blonde hair and sticky-sweet love ballads that always sound happy, even the sad ones.

They bill her and Veronica Lodge as rivals, tabloids conveniently forgetting that the two used to be best friends as children, hauled around by their respective mothers-turned-agents to auditions for commercials and music videos. They were on the Mickey Mouse Club together, too, back when they were still too young to understand what words like show business meant.

Articles run constantly about the both of them, about Veronica’s constant partying and the half-assed coverups of her hospital stays, or about their supposed spats- showing up to events in the same dress, fighting over boys, the works. The sort of high school stuff that people never get sick of.

Jughead has no idea how deep their feud never runs, but at the very least, it’s profitable.

Betty performs at the VMAs, and she’s good, but Veronica blows her out of the water, writhing around on stage with a snake and doused in glitter. The whole thing is a joke: Veronica’s lip syncing is bad enough that he doesn’t even know if she’s singing the right song, and she’s obviously on something or another, but her hair is still shiny and her smile is still gleaming and she still has some indefinable star power that means the people in the audience don’t care if she’s stumbling on stage.

The cameras all pan on Betty’s polite, pleased smile after she loses four nominations in a row, and Jughead cannot help but admire the way that her mask doesn’t crack, not even for a minute.

v. As it turns out, they’re recording albums at the same time, in rooms next to one another in the studio, and Toni spends hours crafting finely point barbs for Strawberry Shortcake, as the more vicious tabloids like to call her. She hates her on principle, and Jughead doesn’t begrudge her that.

But Betty mostly keeps to herself, curling up on the couch in the studio with oversized headphones and a book. Her manager, a vicious redhead that’s related to her in some complicated technicality he doesn’t care to keep track of, is fiercely protective of her, and sweeps away the press that lingers outside with a ruthless sort of efficiency. She doesn’t seem to have many friends, either, despite the gaggles of girls dressed identically to her that she’s always being photographed with.

He and Toni get into a sweeping fight one day about the bridge of their latest song, and he storms off, yanking at his beanie and looking for a place where he doesn’t have to play nice with anyone.

He somehow finds his way onto the roof, and much to his surprise, Betty is already up there, looking surprised at the interruption.

She’s the most dressed down he’s ever seen her, in a baggy pair of overalls and her styled hair coming undone from the wind. There’s a book in her lap, and Jughead is both surprised and a little thrilled to see it’s The Picture of Dorian Gray.

“Little dangerous up here, don’t you think?” he asks, taking in the complete and total lack of safety parameters around the roof, and the lock that looks like it was prised open with a hairpin.

Betty glances down at the pack of cigarettes in his right hand and arches an eyebrow. “We all have our vices.”

“Do you want me to leave?” he asks instead of arguing her point, only a little awkward.

“You don’t have to,” she says, and so he flops down beside her and teases her about classical literature, instead.

vi. Betty is engaged, to the lead singer from some truly terrible boy band, The Archies. Their music is mainstream, all generic pop and meaningless declarations of love, but his jawline is sharper than glass, and they look good together, objectively.

“It’s all for show,” Betty tells him, corner of her mouth pulled up in a wry smile.

They’re on the old studio couch, Betty with a biography in her lap (Marilyn: Norma Jean, by Gloria Steinem) and her feet propped up on his knee, her toenails painted a sparkly, pastel blue.

Jughead, for his part, is scribbling in an old, leather notebook, tooling around with lyrics. I’m lonely so I do lonely things he writes, and then immediately crosses out.

“So what’s the point? You’re engaged to someone you don’t even have an interest in.” he asks.

She shrugs, a little defensive. “We’re friends. The engagement is helping album sales for both of us. And besides, Archie is completely in love with Veronica, but his label doesn’t want him to be seen publicly with her, because of her, you know–” she waves, a gesture he presumes to mean out of control partying.

He gnaws on the end of his pen, processing.

“What’s the endgame?” he asks slowly. “You can’t keep doing this- you’ve already been engaged a year and a half. Are you just going to marry him? ”

This time it’s Betty’s turn to look pensive. She twists the obnoxiously huge heart shaped diamond around her ring finger.

“It seems like a contradiction, but marrying him would give me a sort of freedom. Less attention from the press. I would be able to do more of what I want.”

“You’re selling away your future. I don’t see how that’s freedom.”

The smile Betty gives him is a little pitying. “Jug, I signed away my future the minute I released my first album. So did you. This is just- making the best of the circumstances”

He nods once, and his heart beats unsteadily when she links his fingers through hers.

vii. She does a set for MTV Unplugged a few weeks later, and he stops pretending that he isn’t going to watch about twenty minutes after it begins.

She lights up on the tiny television screen, and she’s a six hour plane ride away but his breath still catches in his chest.

Her makeup is a frosty shade of lavender that makes her look a little sickly, almost alien, and her voice is pretty and well-trained as she works her way through the set, song by song. She’s good, but it’s obvious that she had to work for it, that her pitch, while excellent, is not the product of natural talent.

But I swore I would never fall in love with a boy in a rock and roll band she sings at one point, tucking a lock of uncharacteristically loose hair behind her shoulder, and Jughead can’t quite work out whether he’s in on the joke or not.

You’re an enigma, Coop, he thinks to himself.

“Jesus,” sighs Toni from across the room. “You’re in love with Princess Peach, aren’t you?”

viii. Jughead and Toni stubbornly refuse to upgrade out of their shitty apartment, even though they can more than afford to move somewhere nicer now, but as a consequence he spends more nights than what is probably necessary at Betty’s place, a lovely, sharply modern loft full of a loneliness that seems to echo around the corners.

She’s got stacks and stacks of records, and even more books, and it only hurts a little bit when he spots his father’s album among the meticulously ordered piles. He puts on The Cardigans to distract himself, and laughs when Betty sings along a little bit, batting her eyelashes in perfect pop star imitation.

I don’t care about anything else but you she breathes, and he kisses her, pressing her into the marble counter while her arms come up to lace around his neck.

After they sprawl out on Betty’s comically oversized bed, Casablanca burbling away in the background with no audience to watch it.

Betty looks both younger and older with no makeup on, and Jughead studies the planes of her face in the dim room, the way her eyelashes curve when they aren’t laden down with extensions and her chapped, unglossed lips.

“You’re beautiful,” he says, because it’s true.

“It doesn’t matter,” she replies, twisting to face him in bed. “It used to, when I was younger, and more insecure. But there’s no accomplishment to being pretty. It’s a product. People think I’m beautiful because the makeup artist, and the photographer, and everyone else made me that way.”

She looks at him intently, like she wants him to understand, and somehow there’s a part of him that does. He wants to protest, to tell her that she is the loveliest thing that he has ever seen, but stops himself at the last minute.

“So what matters, then?” he asks instead.

She smoothes her unstyled hair behind her ear with the back of her hand, eyes faraway and dreamy, a murky shade of bottle green in the darkened room.

“I think I’d marry the person who told me I had an exquisite, wild soul.”

“You have an exquisite, wild soul,” he deadpans, and kisses away the sound of her laughter.

ix. F.P dies on a Thursday.

Body found in a motel room, alone, reads the article, and Jughead calmly puts down his newspaper, gets sick in the bathroom, and pours himself a double of scotch.

Toni is across the country, shooting the cover for some magazine called Sassy, or something, and so it’s Betty that comes to their apartment, trepidation scrawled across her face.

He’s already drunk, and sprawled out on the couch, all the blinds in the apartment pulled shut. He blocks one hand over his face at the slit of light that shines through the opened doorway. In the background, the T.V drones about the recent updates in the O.J Simpson trial, and really, it’s the purest form of misery that he’s ever experienced.

Betty sits down next to him on the couch, and he expects her to ask all the usual, obligatory questions, are you okay? or is there anything I can do?

Instead she says “I broke off my engagement with Archie.”

“Well, that’s just swell, sweetheart,” Jughead replies, injecting as much soft malice as he can into the words. “What, do you think this is fucking happily ever after? You should’ve stayed with Archie. I’m a- a god damned dead end road.”

Betty doesn’t react, just stares at him with those green, green eyes, as wavering and fathomless as the ocean.

“Juggie,” she says quietly. “Are you okay?”

He balls his hands into fists and presses them into his face, until he sees stars.

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” he admits quietly, into the stillness. “He was an asshole. I shouldn’t- this shouldn’t be the fucking apocalypse. God, and I’m just gonna stumble right on after him. I shouldn’t be making music. I shouldn’t be in love with you, Betty. I ruin everything I touch. Like father, like son.”

“Oh, Juggie,” Betty says, pressing a cool, small hand to his cheek, and he’s in tears before he even knows what he’s crying about, whether it’s what F.P was or what he wasn’t, what he lost or what he never had in the first place.

He presses his face into the fuzzy material of her mohair sweater, inhaling the familiar smell of her, and she cards a comforting hand through his hair, cooing nonsense reassurances.

“It’ll be okay,” she tells him, her voice steadying enough to dull the world spinning effects of the alcohol. “You’re gonna be okay.”

x. Things get better, slowly.

He attends the funeral, the entire thing sick and surreal, and pretends not to notice that his mother decided not to attend. Fred Andrews is there, though, red eyed and overdressed in a suit, and Jughead swallows bile when he sees the man tuck a pack of Marlboro Reds into an open casket.

Betty is there, too, and the press blows up when a reporter snaps a picture of them holding hands as they walk out of the chapel. He no longer finds it in himself to care what his publicist deems important.

He does start writing more though, filling up notebooks with his messy, slanted handwriting, and stops being so afraid that what he writes will be too similar to what his father wrote.

Him and Toni still argue constantly about the music, occasionally storming out of the studio in the force of their fury, but the album finally begins to come together, to feel like something real.

It’s a departure from their first, a little less angry, less punk, but somehow realer, too. There’s only two covers on this one, I’m on Fire, because singing it makes something in his chest feel jagged and shivering and fragile, and Highwayman, because even though he can’t find it in himself to cover one of his father’s original songs, he can cover one of the ones F.P had been fond of, back in the day.

Betty, for her part, quits her label after finishing up her five album contract, to her own delight and the media’s dismay.

“I always hated the posturing,” she tells him at a celebratory dinner, smile bright and sharp and free. “And besides, the technical aspect behind the scenes was always my favorite part. Singing was just a means to an end, and the cost wasn’t quite worth it.”

Rolling Stone hires her as a critic, and she writes keen, insightful album reviews, using her years in the business to shape the narrative around other people’s work.

The tabloids don’t know about them, quite yet, if only because they don’t hop clubs the way her and Archie used to get paid to do, though the redhead still often comes over to their apartment, bringing Veronica with him.

Ironically enough, it’s Betty that gets assigned to interview him and Toni, just at the beginning of the press junket, and he’s hit by a wave of fondness as she uncaps her pen, the picture of professionality.

“So, Jughead, this album has a distinctive departure in the lyrics from that of the previous album, though the sound is still quite distinctive. Is there a reason behind this evolution?”

Jughead looks at her, at Betty, with her blonde hair and her big eyes and her ability to look at him and see the mess inside his head and understand it, and there’s only one answer.

“Yeah,” he says. “I guess I fell in love.”

#hello this was probably in the top three most DIFFICULT things I have ever written #but like!#it's done thank god #also if anyone was wondering this is set in 1995 #bughead #betty cooper x jughead jones #mine #prompt fill

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black-roses-are-gorgeous · 5 years

Text

How to read you like an open book

Title: How to read you like an open book

Pairing: Kazuki (ex.SCREW) x OC

Warnings: wrong spelling and grammar certainly happened

Rating: R? (maybe I should use AO3's ratings, in that case: T)

Synopsis: You never showed your weakness but the truth is I'm your weakness and my weakness is ... me too

Author's note: Some excerpts are better than others, not in a complete chronicle order. I felt like I had to write this to remind myself that Kazuki isn't perfect in a perfect sense. He's beautiful, yes, on the out- and inside but he tells himself he isn't perfect. Of course I want to shout into his face that he's wrong but I can't and won't. Instead I hope he's doing better now even though there are rarely any life signs from him on twitter and his Instagram seems abandoned and forgotten. However, he is a busy man with his bar so I don't complain. Still, I had to remind myself that I shouldn't make him a person he isn't.

Dear Kazuki,

I hope you still remember me. It's me, Reina. You know, I miss you, so maybe we could meet? Do you know a nice cafe? I'd be glad to see you again after so many years.

Love

Reina

Reina's mail caught Kazuki off guard. Of course he hadn't forget her. It was simply impossible to forget a personality like Reina. All these years ago she stepped into his life just to vanish again because it wasn't right.

Sure, she had looked like a teenager but her words and actions seemed so mature he believed she was gifted with a youthful face. Sadly, she had been indeed a 16-year-old girl and he already 21. Even when the age of consent was officially 13 years, there were extra laws. Some prefectures were okay with a 16 and an 18-year-old, other wanted both parties to be at least 20. But one thing applied for sure: an over 20 year old person wasn't allowed to date someone under 18—at least.

So they bid goodbye—maybe just for then—because everything else would hurt more.

How much did Reina change? Kazuki changed a lot. The hyper young adult was mostly gone. His band was going to disband after a little bit more than 10 years. He lost two band members so that their anniversaries didn't feel quite right. He blamed himself for everything that had happened. Kazuki was the leader and nowadays a worrier too. Yeah, he changed a lot.

At first he didn't know how to reply to Reina. Back then, there was one thing about her that fascinated and frightened him simultaneous. Reina could read him like an open book. When she was still able to do that she would realize what a pathetic man Kazuki became. But Reina was a precious memory and he didn't want her happy smiley face exchanged with a disgusted look.

III

"It's been a long time," a soft voice called out. Without looking up Kazuki immediately knew it was her. He raised his head to flash her a smile but everything stopped around him. Did he travel back in time? He glanced to his finger. No, Aoi's ring was still there—and Kazuki realized he was the only one who changed.

Reina looked no day older. Her face was still one of a 16-year-old despite being 25 by now. She still dressed herself in her white clothes, her now light brown hair in a low messy bun, covering her ears completely. Even her tender smile was the same.

It was like they never parted.

Her smile got even wider. "I'm so happy to see you again," she declared and occupied the free chair opposite of him. "How are you, Kazuki?"

Before he could answer a steaming cup of chocolate cappuccino was put in front of her from the waitress. He didn't know how to answer. Reina didn't change so her ability to read him was probably still there. He couldn't lie to her and didn't want to when he was honest with himself. But what to say? That he was good? He wasn't good. That he was doing fine? Nothing was fine. The band he worked for and with stood at its end. "I'm still with SCREW," he heard himself say. That wasn't particularly a lie.

Reina still smiled. Good. "I'm glad to hear that. That's a nice ring. You seem to treasure it."

"It's from Aoi-niisan," Kazuki answered proudly. He got a ring from his idol. For what else could he wish for?

Reina took a sip from her drink. "Oh, you got really close to your idol. Impressing."

"Yeah, I did. But what about you Reina? What are you doing now?" They shouldn't talk about him only. Like this she would find out how pathetic he became.

"Ah, I work at a bridal shop," she told him with a bright, enthusiastic smile. Kazuki wouldn't have guessed that but to be honest he wasn't sure what to expect from her at all. Probably he wouldn't even be surprised when she said she was a muse for an artist. She was an inspiring person. "And sometimes I try on the dresses for the next season. My boss has to know which dresses she can buy so that they won't be laying around in the shop without being sold."

A little laugh came from Kazuki. Reina with her white clothing in a shop where mostly white dresses were sold. "I imagine you sometimes just vanish between the aisles."

"Yeah and sometimes women ask me if I wear an actual short summer wedding dress and I'm just like 'No, I always wear white'," she giggled and took another sip from her drink. Then her hand reached over the table to grasp his own. Her smile faded a little bit so that she looked more serious. "I'm happy to hear you laugh. You seemed so down all the time. That makes me sad as well."

Of course she knew it.

The city lights of Tokyo painted Reina's face while she sat next to Kazuki in the passenger seat of his car. Now she seemed down. None of them said anything and Kazuki waited for her to say something. He wasn't sure what he did wrong. He only mentioned her 26th birthday was near—on the 31st of October, one day before his last live. There was nothing wrong with it.

Suddenly she let out a shaky sigh. "I can't stand it when you're sad," she murmured in the quietness of the car. The noise from outside was far away in this moment. "Then I'm sad as well. And I want you to be happy."

"What are you talking about, Reina?" Kazuki couldn't grasp the context. What had her birthday to do with that?

Another shaky sigh. Longer this time. "Do you really think I haven't followed your career? I know what will happen on the 1st of November. I own every single and album and live DVD you ever published. Watched all shows of you, read all blog entries of you. You were always an honest person and I love you for that. But it broke my heart every single time you wrote about struggling and being a useless leader. And I hated the fans who left you because of the Yuuto/Rui thing. They were against Rui and with that they basically cut off their trust in you. 'You' in you, Kazuki. Rui-san was your friend long before SCREW was founded. You were so fond of him and your so called fans stomped on your opinion like dirt."

"Reina." Kazuki wanted to calm her. How could he believe she knew nothing? She always liked his way of playing. Could listen to him without saying anything while he thought about new music to write. Sometimes he even thought he actually saw Reina between the fans. Of course not in white. Reina only wore white during the day. When she went out she preferred black and open hair. At night you could see her always hidden ears with her stretched lobs she had back then.

"No!" she cried out. Kazuki wanted to hug her, to embrace her but he couldn't. He was driving a car. "Can't you understand it always hurt me? You changed so much and the you I know slipped away so much and still you are you Kazuki. You always put the failures on your side and then you were so down. You lost two members and had four line-up changes. I understand that's hard but you never lost your specific presence. You survived ten years. Ten. That's a lot. And in a few weeks everything will be gone. But I won't. I will still listen to your music and watch your lives. Laugh when you stumble during your solo in Nanairo at your 5th anniversary or scream with the fans when you really threw your shirt away at your 7th anniversary and cry in the middle of your solo of Nanairo at your 8th anniversary. How you communicate with the fans; that you really love what you do, warms my heart. Then I'm happy too. Don't you want the person you love to be happy?"

For the first time Kazuki saw Reina's weak side. He was her weak side. She cried and he couldn't hold her. Her tears danced in the city lights on her cheeks. Reina let them be. His left hand left the stirring wheel to lay down on her thigh. Rubbing it slightly, reassuringly. And then her last sentence sank into his mind. "You love me?"

"It's so you to only hear that," Reina sniffed and Kazuki wanted to say 'No, I heard everything; it's just so surprising' but she wasn't finished yet. "Of course I do. How can I not? You're such a great person. I already did back then and still do. I've never stopped loving you. It's impossible Kazuki. You always were more than a precious memory."

You too, Reina.

"Excuse me?"

Kazuki looked up. When did the cafe get so crowded? A young girl in a white jacket stood at his table and had a curious look on her face. Water droplets from her wet messy hair dripped slowly onto the hard wood of said table. "Yes?"

"Is this seat free? It's already so crowded because of the rain and my foot hurts a little," the girl explained and nodded to the big cafe windows where you could see running people with umbrellas or something else to save themselves from the cold water. Kazuki nodded. He couldn't let the girl standing around while having pain in her foot. With a sigh she sat down immediately. "Thank you very much. The rain came without any warning and while trying to enter the cafe I stumbled."

A waitress came to his, now their table. "Do you want something to drink, miss? And a new coffee for you maybe?"

The girl who was just trying to get out of her jacket—revealing even more white clothes—made an approving sound. Finally she was out of her jacket and took the menu from the table. "A hot chocolate please, without cream," she answered calmly.

"Another coffee sounds great," Kazuki added. With that the waitress left them alone.

The girl laughed suddenly, quietly. "Why do I even look at the menu? I always take the same," she mumbled to herself. Meanwhile she pulled her rubber band out of her hair while trying to fix her eyebrow-long bangs with the other hand. With a rather content expression she made a new still rather messy bun, pulling at strands to cover her ears completely. "I hope you don't mind me doing my hair," she said apologetic after she finished.

Kazuki shook his head and tried to concentrate on his music sheets again. He was good at blending out his surroundings so composing music in a cafe was no problem for him. But somehow the presence of the girl distracted him. Maybe because of her calm way of talking or simply because she was a really beautiful girl. Even though it was strange that she clothed herself completely in white. Together with her blond hair she looked like the pure, innocent girl some men fantasized about.

"No, it's alright." Their orders were brought.

"Ah, I'm glad. My roommate hated it. Especially when people do each other's hair. She flipped out like there's no tomorrow." She took a big sip out of her mug. Kazuki noticed the long black finger nails which didn't fit her appearance. After setting down the cup again she looked in front of him. "Oh. Are these music sheets? Sorry, I didn't want to interrupt you."

"You didn't, don't worry. I missed out ideas before you asked for the seat, anyway," he replied quickly to ease down her upcoming worries.

"That's stupid. So you are a musician? Cool. I can't even play an instrument." She opened her eyes a little bit more and seemed like a little doe with her dark brown orbs. Her body leaned in a little bit more. She was clearly interested. "No muse? Not even something to inspire you?"

"Sadly not. Interested?" With a laugh he wiggled his pierced eyebrow and she too answered with a soft giggle. "I play the guitar."

"Oh my god, even the flute was too complicated for me," she admitted her obviously nonexistent musical talent. "Your strange haircut in blond tells me VK maybe? So you probably play rock music?"

Was his haircut really that strange when his hair wasn't styled? Probably every haircut that wasn't perfect in an even messy way seemed strange to her. "You know VK?" She didn't look like it at all. Of course Kazuki knew not all girls who came to their lives dressed in black and wore heavy make up but one like her wasn't in the crowd as well.

"Yeah but I haven't found a favorite band yet. What's your band name? I'm interested." She smiled widely and clapped her hands one time.

Surprise took over Kazuki's expression. "Um, SCREW. We are SCREW," he answered and added, "and I'm Kazuki by the way."

"Okay, I'll look out for SCREW. Perhaps you see me at a live. My name's Reina."

Kazuki loved the stage. Up there he could play the guitar as much as he wanted to. Their fans seemed happy and rocked out together with them. Of course most of them came because of Byou and Yuuto but someday they would know his (and Jin's) name as well. And then they would come for SCREW and SCREW alone. They only played a few songs before another band took their place on the stage. Even though it was tiring playing in the hot lights it was way too short. He wanted to play forever and show SCREW to all of the world.

At the end before they had to leave the stage he threw his pick into the crowd and for a short amount of time he thought he saw the girl from the cafe, Reina. But there was no girl in white with a blond messy bun. Maybe SCREW wasn't the band she was looking for either. Kazuki had hoped otherwise. She was such a nice person and which musician didn't want a nice, not crazy fan?

While the next band played they went to the lobby of the live house to sell their CD's and trying to get new fans. More girls than imagined even wanted his autograph. That made Kazuki happy. They knew who he was except for 'the blond guitarist'.

"I'd like to buy every CD once please," a calm girl's voice said and Kazuki stopped looking after the last girl who wanted his autograph. Wasn't that Reina's voice? Was she really here? His gaze flickered to the person in front of him. The white clothes were gone for black ones and the bun made of all hair was exchanged for a smaller one at the upper back of her head. A little bit silver shimmered on her ears under the thin layer of hair which wasn't part of the bun. Most of the Reina he met was gone, only the long bangs, doe eyes and soft voice were left.

"Reina?" he asked rather dumbly.

"I promised to come, didn't I?" She smiled and put her hair behind her ear. That's why she hid her ears. Obviously she loved piercing her ears like Kazuki himself and they didn't really fit with her other appearance. Three lobes, one stretched with a dangling earring as accessory and an industrial. Not much but too much in the Japanese culture. "Surprised?"

"Yeah, thank you for coming. Did you like it?"

"If not, would I buy all your CD's at once?" she asked back. "I really like your way of playing the guitar and your stage presence is awesome. You loved being up there." No question, a clear statement. "You live for the music and your band."

"I do," was all he could answer. Was it really that obvious or did she read him like an open book. Who was this girl? In this moment he wished she just had a youthful face and wasn't a teen anymore. He wanted to know her more.

VII

Reina's hand laid in his all the way to his home. She was still as small as back then. Once his front door was locked from the inside his lips found their way to hers. He had only kissed her once. All the years ago. Her lips didn't taste the same anymore, they tasted way better. He let go of her hand to pull her close to him on her hips. Hers found their way into his hair. They made their way to his bedroom and nearly tripped over Shishimaru who immediately sniffed at Reina's leg. Checking if the unknown woman did no harm to his owner.

Reina stooped their kiss to reach down and pet Shishimaru's head. Showing him she was nothing dangerous. "What a cute little boy," she purred and her attention went back to Kazuki. "Sorry. You know I love cats. So, where were we?" Her smile turned into a mischievous one. Kazuki wasted no second to pull her back. He wanted her since their live back then and now no law stood between them.

His legs hit the end of his bed. With a little push he sat down and Reina made herself comfortable on his lap. Their lips found each other again, parting in the process. Their first and back then only kiss was an important memory but this kiss was full of desire. His hands embraced her body again, fingertips feeling the zipper on the back of her dress. Certainly it was hard for her to open it herself. Smirking into the kiss he helped her without asking. Her response was her hands sliding under his shirt, brushing his nipples. He gasped and now she smirked.

Again she stopped their kiss and smiled softly. Her hands slid back, taking his shirt into her hands and pulled it over his head. And then, she left his lap, standing right in front of him; with a little frown on her lips.

"What's wrong?" Kazuki asked confused. He was an open book, she was one with seven seals.

"Ah, I know you hadn't it around 2008 anymore but I miss your navel piercing. I bet you were really sensitive around your navel." Her fingertip grazed from his collarbone down to said navel.

"I didn't like it anymore."

"But I did," Reina pouted. "Oh well, I can't change it. So I stop now, okay?" She turned around. Wait, she wanted to stop everything? Kazuki wanted to hold her back but she only took the two rubber bands out of her hair, freeing it. It fell down immediately because long thick hair like hers was heavy. It looked silky and wavy. Some locks more curled than others hence being wrapped around each other all day. Her hair seemed to be healthy. Perfectly cut at the middle of her thighs, losing no bit of their volume. Her back was completely covered, leaving everything to Kazuki's imagination.

Reina slipped the fabric of her dress off her shoulders, leaving white cloth and lace on the ground. She was so pale, even more pale than Manabu who always claimed being too pale. Her head turned into his direction allowing a perfect view of her profile. Her pout was exchanged with a smile again. And she turned back to him. When Kazuki would have been still as young as back then his mouth would have flipped open but he was over thirty and had seen several women in their underwear. One thing was different though.

"I feel like we have just married and left our own party for the wedding night," he remarked. It was because of the white dress laying on the ground and her of course also white underwear.

Reina laughed out loud and sat back on his lap, her skin milky white against his own. "For that the marriage plus party has to be perfectly planned otherwise you're way too tired."

"How- Ah, right, bridal shop," he remembered. Of course she chattered with the future wives about their partner and marriage—and underwear.

"Yeah but believe me. My bralette is way healthier than any wedding bra our shop sells. I wouldn't dare to wear a bra on my marriage or anytime else. Do you know how uncomfortable they actually are?" she asked without expecting an answer. Of course Kazuki didn't know that but Reina was the first woman he heard complaining about bras. Her hand found his shoulder, pressing him down. "I think we should stop stopping all the time. How does that sound?"

"Perfect idea."

VIII

Her lips had tasted like cherries. He wanted to kiss her again, seeing her cheeks blush. Blush because of him. But a question popped up in his head he always forgot to ask. "How old are you again?" Please say eighteen or older, please.

With her red-kissed lips she looked at him. "Sixteen. Why do you ask?"

No. That couldn't be true. Why was she really that young? He couldn't date her. Not even kiss her. She was a minor, he was an adult.

"Fuck."

"What's wrong?" For the first time he confused her, not the other way around. "Kazuki? Please tell me your problem. Why are you so closed off so suddenly? Did I do something wrong?"

Kazuki hid his face between his hands. "You don't act like a teen. I hoped you are older."

Reina raised her left eyebrow, taking his hand. "You moved out with fifteen as well. Was this a teenage behavior as well? What's so bad about being sixteen?"

"I know, I know but me moving out is another matter. Reina, I'm 21. I can't date a minor. At least no minor under eighteen."

A blank expression covered her face, hand slipping away. She lowered her head, playing with her fingers. "You sound like an adult all off the sudden," she mumbled, not looking at him. "I don't like it at all."

Now, both of them were disappointed. "It's the law," Kazuki tried to save everything from going down even more.

"Forget the law. I like you and you like me, right? Nobody has to know. I'm an orphan anyway-" She stopped suddenly, looking back at him. For a long time Reina didn't say anything. "I sound like a bratty teen I never wanted to be, sorry. Maybe, it's the right decision. We can't help it." She stood up, a sad smile on her face.

"Reina ..."

Her finger stopped him from talking further. "I'll go now, Kazuki. We will date other people and someday we meet again. Farewell." She sounded like she wanted to cry but no tears fell.

Kazuki knew since back then that right decisions can hurt the most.

Though Reina worked in a bridal shop and always looked like a summer bride she never wanted to get married. "I feel like I'll be stripped down of my freedom if I say yes to anyone," she confided to Kazuki later at night, being embraced by him. "I mean hen and stag parties are about that, right? About losing basically freedom and hence you have to party, get drunk and go to strip clubs. I hate that. Traditions are simply peer pressure from the dead."

Kazuki hugged her tighter, feeling her smooth skin next his own, lips pressing down tender kisses on her neck. As a man who wanted a big, big family—especially after his grandfather died this year and never had a good relationship with his oldest brother—that wasn't something nice to hear. Children were rare nowadays and no unmarried woman wanted kids when she was happy with being unmarried. Women wanted to make careers as well. In Japan, a woman with children was unable to do so. "What about me?" He was curious.

"Hmm, you?" She yawned a little bit, drawing circles into the bed sheets. "You would've two stag parties and both would be a blast you won't remember probably. One with your friends of course and another with your beloved Aoi-san because he's that special. Maybe you wouldn't forget about the latter." Again, her soft giggle escaped her lips.

It was an interesting opinion, really. "No, I meant if you would marry me."

Silence. He could hear his wrist watch ticking. Or a pin needle dropping to the ground. "Did you just propose to me?" she asked, eyes closed. "Or do mean if I would feel like in a cage when married to you instead?"

His first thought was 'the latter' but he wasn't so sure about that anymore. He could imagine Reina being the mom of his future kids, maybe even waiting for him every evening to come back home. But that was it. Reina wouldn't be the housewife many men wanted, she wanted to work and her freedom. Her husband wouldn't be allowed to slack off or just be the great weekend-dad. To be honest, Kazuki would do nearly everything Reina demanded in a marriage if it made her happy. "Both ... I guess."

"That's honest, Kazuki. I wouldn't mind but we have just met after ten years. Isn't it too much?"

Kazuki didn't answer, just pressed his face between her shoulder blades, shaking his head. They were both hopeless.

Kazuki wanted that his parents saw him at his last live and tell them also about Reina and their plans. His father wasn't able to anymore. A month before SCREW's end Kazuki had called his home only to learn that his father had disappeared. The day after that his brother told him they found him—dead. He didn't know what to do anymore. He loved his father dearly and came after him. They never talked much but that wasn't the matter. They understood each other without words.

Reina came to visit later in the evening. After seeing Kazuki's face as he opened his door she already knew something happened. In an instant he fell into her arms, hugging her desperately and began to cry before his door was even closed. There were two ways of crying. One where you actually looked good and the other one being ugly. This was the latter and made even more clear that Kazuki wasn't okay. But Reina felt a little bit at peace because Kazuki was willing to show her his dark, ugly hours and letting her be a part of it.

With her foot she kicked the door shut and let them sink together to the ground. Instead of asking she just hugged him back, fondling slightly Kazukis neck and hair. Nothing mattered while they were sitting there, hugging each other. Reina wanted to know what exactly had happened. She knew that most of the hyper Kazuki was gone and left a weak man behind but he cried rarely. Back then when SCREW was going major his eyes had been a little wet at the concert. But that was it.

"My father died," he finally sobbed and was hit directly with the knowledge that his was father was indeed dead. That he hadn't dreamt about the call from his brother and hearing his mothers cries in the background. "He'll never come back. He won't see our last live. Mom's all alone now. Why are all people dear to me dying so fast? My grandma, granddad and now my father. Hell, I'm even missing Milk again. Please don't leave me too, Reina."

"I won't. I promise."She felt his tears dripping down her neck. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" she mumbled softly, drawing eights into his back to ease his pain. "For crying? For being sad about the loss of your father? For showing your emotions? For being weak? Kazuki, you don't have to be strong all the time. You'll suffer even more than already do. Be honest with yourself and be honest with me; that's all that matters at the moment." Her voice was like magic, soothing and caressing. Her words hit him deeper than this tragedy. "I never lost anyone. I don't even know why I grew up in the orphanage in the first place. I never had a family so I don't know how it's like to lose a part of it. But Kazuki, I consider you as my family. You proposed to me, right? I don't want to lose you."

And now, both of them cried. Nobody wanted to let go of each other. They needed each other. Needed them to reassure they were there and wouldn't vanish into the depths of nothingness. Their actions clearly said 'I'm there. Don't worry. We will go through it together. You are not alone.’

Though Reina said at their parting that they would date other people before they'll meet again, she never did. She didn't lie about loving Kazuki ever since they met each other. One may think now she wasn't able to tell apart love and sex. That's not it. As simple as it was, she never met a man who caught her interest like Kazuki did. No one was worthy enough to even kiss her. And, she didn't care about being a virgin. First of all, for a japanese woman (or man to be exact) that was nothing new anymore. Second, when she didn't care, it was her decision and the man shouldn't care as well.

Only problem—she was an honest person so she had to tell Kazuki at least afterwards. Of course, he reacted not in the way Reina herself would've reacted. "But why didn't you tell me? I would've-"

"It was good, Kazuki. I felt no pain or what so ever. Do you really think I would keep my mouth shut? I don't fuss over virginity like others do. I wanted it, okay? Do you remember you once openly admitted in an interview that you like sex? Laugh at me but you radiate an aura of experience and most experienced people don't want a virgin because they are scared and harder to handle." With this she rolled them around so she could stare into his eyes from above.

A tint of a rosy blush crept up to his cheeks. Reina let out a soft laugh at this sight. "I wouldn't have guessed it at all. In all your actions you felt experienced."

And now she laughed even more. "That's who I am—an experienced virgin. Isn't it like that normally when you don't fuss over things? That you are more at ease with it? Everything's okay, really. I felt good and loved. Isn't that enough? And it will get even better with time and practice, right?"

"How about now?"

"How about yes?"

XII

Kazuki was the only of his brothers who cried, standing next to his mother and lent her his shoulder. Everybody was clad in black. A lot of the locals came as well to wish his father farewell. His family lived in a small, rural area near the mountains of Tottori so the news about the accidental death spread immediately. Of course, most of the local actually in searching the missing man. Besides that, Kazuki's father was well known master chef in their town.

Reina stood a little bit away hence she didn't knew Kazuki's father personally. Also, she wanted to give the family time for them alone. To grief and say farewell. It was the first time in more than ten years that she didn't wore white during the daytime. Meeting Kazuki's family under these circumstances was cruel. Reina wanted to pay respect as well.

After a long time only Kazuki and his mother stood together, everyone else went home, giving them time as well. Kazuki's gaze stopped on Reina, standing there all by herself, looking to them as well. He gestured to her to come closer. "Mom, I originally wanted to tell you two that after our live as a surprise but since nothing went the way I wanted to—that's Reina."

Reina bowed deeply. "I'm so sorry. Nobody deserved this end." In an instant she knew that Kazuki's looks came from his mother who looked good despite the teary face.

"Thank you, Reina-san. You seem like a good woman for my little boy. Kazuki, is she good to you?" The woman smiled faintly, happy to hear there was at least something good in all this tragic, ugly mess.

"She was the one who told me it's okay to cry. Was there for me ever since all this shit happened. Mom, I want to marry her. Maybe not now or next year but I will," Kazuki answered firm. "Do you think dad would've liked her too?"

"Of course, Kazuki. He is now looking down on us, giving his blessing to both you. I'm sure of it." And just in this moment the sun found its way through the cloudy sky. His mother smiled knowingly. "And I'll get a second daughter. You know, I love you three dearly but I always missed a little girl running around in our house. If you are okay with it, Reina-san."

"Of course I am. And you will be the mother I never had." They were even.

XIII

Many tears were during and after the live on 1st November. That was it; RIP SCREW. Despite the changed circumstances his mother still visited Tokyo. She stood next to Reina, both with backstage passes from Kazuki, when the band noticed them. Part of Byou's family was there as well but everybody knew Kazuki had no younger sister and his sister-in-law was a classic japanese beauty, so of course they stared with still teary eyes at her.

For the first time Reina didn't know what to say. Good job? Farewell? Thank you? All of it? None of them? Instead "Ah! This hat!" left her mouth while pointing at Kazuki's hat. It looked weird and one second later she grasped that thing between her long black finger nails.

"Did you just stole my hat?"

"No. I freed you from it," she retorted, completely forgetting the more or less gloomy atmosphere.

Byou and Jin still stared at her, thinking really hard. "You are," they began at the same time, looking weirdly at each other. "You were the girl Kazuki was so excited about after a concert," Byou finished, proud about himself and his memory. Jin nodded eagerly.

"Um?" Manabu mumbled confused, "Which concert?"

Before answering Reina bowed at him. "Back then in 2006, you weren't a part of the band yet, Manabu-san. That's the first time since then that I haven't left the venue right after the concert." So Kazuki was right about seeing her in the audience throughout the years.

His mother patted her shoulder. "Kazuki, you know her for ten years already and I only met her last month?"

"We met again a few months ago and didn't stay in contact before that," Reina explained. "We broke up because I was only 16 and Kazuki didn't want to break the law because of dating a minor."

"And all this time you had no contact at all and now you want to marry?" Kazuki's mother was stunned and everyone else around too. His mother just dropped the bomb. "I'm impressed. You really love her. I'm so proud of having a son like you, Kazuki."

"Mom, stop it. That's embarrassing."

XIV

While their last live ended better thanks to Reina and his mother, Reina's birthday one day prior had been a mess. He woke up first—Reina was at his place nearly every day now—and thought when she didn't change, her favorite breakfast was still pancakes with chocolate drops. When he woke her up, the tray with pancakes, chocolate cappuccino and coffee on his night table, she began to cry after congratulating her.

Her birthday reminded her now that tomorrow everything would end. Her favorite band would disband after ten years eating too much shit and not getting enough attention. Sighing, he put Reina into a sitting position between his legs, her back to his chest, putting the tray on her legs. Pressing soft kisses onto her messy hair he cut the pancakes, almost blind because he could just stare at Reina's trembling figure.

After he was able to put a few parts into her mouth, she put the tray away again, turning around and hugging—no clinging to him. "You won't leave me, right? You won't disappear after tomorrow, right? You'll be still there, right? I feel like I will lose you when I'm not looking," she sobbed, hard.

Had he been like this last month as well? Had Reina been scared because she didn't knew what to do? Probably not. She wasn't like him. Times like this were her only weak times. But he was scared and utterly useless. But he wasn't, right? Just like she did for him, Kazuki had to reassure her as well. That he was right here and wouldn't vanish—not even in the depths of his worries.

Instead of saying something he let her drench his shirt with tears first, waiting for the moment she could hear him again. Outside of his window, the sun disappeared and rain clashed against the glass. Was mother nature feeling pity for Reina or was it a mere coincidence?

"Reina? Can you hear me?" he asked, quiet and a little bit wavering. Was he doing good? "I'm here, okay? A part of me will leave with SCREW, yes, but I'm here. And I will be tomorrow. And the day after. I promised to marry you, how can I leave you then? Things will change from now on but we have each other."

He felt her nodding on his shoulder, their piercings making weird metal sounds as their ears rubbed against each other in the process. "I feel like I can understand you better now. I'm always acting like I know everything about you. It's hard to face your own weaknesses. You feel lost and vulnerable and like the world is against you. It's frightening. I'm sorry for always acting so mighty."

Rubbing the small of her back, Kazuki just thought Don't be. You did nothing wrong. The only problem had been her being too young but he couldn't blame her for that.

"Why ten years?" Kazuki asked in the middle of a movie. Since this movie actually interested Reina, she was completely confused when he suddenly said something. Caught off-guard like him as he received her letter.

"I ... when I finally turned 18 you seemed okay. Yeah, you had trouble with Yuuto leaving but you got better when Rui became one of you. Though you had already changed it got worse when Rui left. I could see it in your blog posts and I read reports from others, being concerned about you. And then you announced SCREW's disbandment and I couldn't wait anymore. I thought you needed someone. I thought you needed-" me was what she wanted to say. "Am I being selfish?"

"No—no, you aren't. You know, I was afraid of meeting you again. You always read me so well. I was sure you could tell immediately that I've become some pathetic man. When you're selfish then I'm selfish too because I need you to forget that I'm pathetic."

Reina's fingernails scratched his thigh above his pants, brows a little bit furrowed. "You aren't. Do you know what that's called? Being human. It's normal. You're truly strong when you can admit your weaknesses."

Kazuki always believed Reina had no weaknesses but the truth is, he was always her weakness and his own.

fin.

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spartanguard · 7 years

Text

i love you (and i like you)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, @ive-always-been-a-pirate!!! I hope you have an absolutely fantastic, amazing day, because you are one of the sweetest peeps out there and deserve it. Here’s a quick little Parks & Rec AU to celebrate!! (because the only thing possibly more perfect than CS is Ben & Leslie) HAVE A BEAUTIFUL DAY!

Nothing infuriated Emma Swan more than Killian Jones.

She hated him the minute he waltzed into her department, announcing that Storybrooke was basically bankrupt and that he and his friend were there to make sure that didn’t happen. Which, in hindsight, sounds like a good thing, but not when doing so meant slashing half of the parks department’s budget. As Director of said department, how could she be okay with that?

“It’s not just us, Emma, it’s everyone,” her deputy, David, reminded her.

She groaned in response.

“Would you rather the city went broke?”

“Yes.”

She hated that sinful British accent of his, and the way his dark hair sometimes fell in his blue eyes, and how that scruff-covered jaw was just begging for someone to run a thumb across it. Those were the things she noticed when he took her out for a drink in an attempt to assuage her regarding the coming changes.

And that he was annoyingly charming, and funny, and flirtatious, and unfortunately, he too wanted to do the most good for the most people.

“Why is it you went into parks, Swan? Someone as fierce as you seems more fit for politics.”

She snorted, then shrugged. “I mean, I’ve thought about it. Running for office. I’d love to. But then I had my son, and I really wanted to make sure that he always had a safe place to play and have adventures. So this was kind of logical.”

He took a sip of his rum, swallowed, then looked up at her. “No, that’s not all, is it?”

“Beg your pardon?”

(This was when she learned she hated how well he could read her.)

Those too-blue eyes bored into hers. “You’re trying to give him something you never had, aren’t you?”

Her gaze narrowed; how could he know that?

“You’re something of an open book, love,” he said, apparently reading her mind. “You’ve got that look in your eyes—the one you get when you’ve been left alone.”

Damn, he was good. She didn’t tell many people about her life before Henry and then this guy just figures it out on his own. To her own surprise, she found herself filling in the blanks to this relative stranger. Reluctantly nodding, she explained, “I was a foster kid, and for a long time, I didn’t really have a place that was mine. But no matter where I went, there was always a park, and I could always find some quiet space there, even as a troubled teenager. So at some point, I got it into my head that that was what I wanted to do: make sure that there were always clean, nice parks for everyone to enjoy—and yes, most of all my son.”

His stare softened at her admission, and something seemed to shift between them ever so slightly. Then he smirked and replied, “Guess we have a few things in common.”

“What, were you a troubled teenager, too?”

“You could say that.”

She scoffed. No way this straight-laced, albeit somewhat lascivious, stud was anything but a goody-two-shoes in high school or primary school or whatever they call it in England. “I find that hard to believe.”

He looked down to study the wood of the bar. “Have you ever heard of Captain Jones, Teenage Pirate?”

Her jaw dropped. Of course she had—how could she not? Right around the time of her own rebellious teenage years, she’d heard the story of a kid not much older than her who’d taken to the high seas of England, terrorizing any ship he could, though doing not much more than being an annoyance to the Navy and convincing some wealthy minor royals to part ways with some jewels. She remembered the one picture she’d seen: a scrawny young man, wind whipping his long dark hair and reddening his babyish face. But his eyes…

“Holy shit, that was you?”

He was blushing—the nerd was actually blushing. “At your service.”

She couldn’t reconcile those two images in her head. “Just…how? How do you go from that to…this?” she demanded, gesturing to him.

“I was protesting what I thought was an unjust action by the Royal Navy that put my brother in unnecessary danger. He survived, but he’s my only family and I was just angry enough at the world to go rogue. When they finally caught me, I went to jail for a short while but then was released to him, and he made me realize just how foolish I’d been. So I straightened up, went to university, and eventually found myself over here, working to right wrongs in government as a way to atone for my youthful follies in a more productive manner.”

She was speechless. Yeah, it was an incredible tale, but, damn…they really did have something in common.

She hated the way he seemed to have no remorse in shutting down the government, despite their conversation—despite all that he and Robin had seen in Storybrooke. She hated that she had started to let another guy in only for him to betray her again.

“These are people’s jobs, Killian! Their livelihoods! And not just them—this is going to affect all of Storybrooke!”

“You think I don’t know that? I’m trying to save the town, Emma. Sometimes you have to pick your battles.”

“And what am I supposed to tell all these people who were looking forward to that concert?”

“It’s a concert, Swan; there will be others. You think these people can’t handle it?”

“Here? No.”

They glared at each other for another moment, tensions high, and while most of her was raging, a small but significant part of her just wanted to kiss him.

“There’s more to this, isn’t there?” he asked, voice low.

Damn him. Of course there was, and of course he knew it. She could give him some drivel about how Henry was looking forward to it, or that it was a tradition, but those would be lies. It just…stung.

“No, there isn’t.” She turned away. “Call me when you’ve figured this shit out.”

She absolutely hated that, when she had found a way to nearly save the community concert, it was Killian that actually did, by rehiring the band out of his own pocket. She hated it so much she cried happy tears in the privacy of her own car (which freaked out Henry a bit, so he hugged her tight).

And she really hated it when she overheard the conversation between he and Robin about staying in Storybrooke, even after fixing the budget. Worse yet, they’d be working with her in city hall, both in the city manager’s office.

How awful it had been to see him every day, especially once she got the idea to revive the Miner’s Festival, and Killian was totally on board. He helped her every step of the way, even when she was delirious with the flu and drunk off her ass.

“You really think we can pull this off?” she wondered aloud, hopelessness seeping in after a sponsor pulled out.

“I do, Swan,” he assured her, completely sincerely. “I’ve yet to see you fail.”

She kind of hated that he was right, though she was mostly relieved. Everything had gone off without a hitch; everyone was having fun; and Mayor Mills had managed to find the town’s mascot dog, Wilby, before he’d ran off too far. It was pretty much perfect.

“Told you. I knew you could do it, Swan. You’re a bloody hero.”

She blushed, uncomfortable with the praise. “So are you. I wanted to thank you, Killian, for all your help—for staying in Storybrooke in the first place. We couldn’t have done it without all your help.”

“It was the right thing to do.”

There was something that had been bugging her the more they had worked together—and gotten closer—over the past few months. “I’ve gotta ask: why did you?”

“Why did I what?”

“Stay. You told me about how you’ve been all over the place, never staying in one town for long. But you’re here, in this crazy little town. Why?”

He took a step closer, somewhat nervous. “Don’t you know, Emma?” She tilted her head, confused. “It’s you.”

She prayed Henry was nowhere nearby, because after so many close encounters, awkward hugs, and exchanged wanting glances over the past few months, she was tired of holding back. She didn’t even care about Robin’s no-dating rule that she’d been using to justify not acting on her growing feelings. She just stepped right into his space, grabbed the lapels of that silly leather jacket he was always wearing, and hauled his lips to hers. He didn’t hesitate to reciprocate, pulling her tight, and she quickly got lost in their kiss.

She hated how perfectly they fit together, how easy it was to have him in her life. She hated how well he got along with Henry. She hated how sweet and caring he was, always supporting her fully and so in tune with what she needed. She really hated sneaking around, but there was a certain thrill in having to hide their relationship work.

That is, until David caught them. And until someone approached Emma with running for a position on City Council. And Killian was just too damn perceptive for his own good.

So what she really hated was how he put her dreams and wants above his.

They sat down at the table and she took a deep breath, building up courage for the conversation she’d been avoiding for weeks.

“I know I’ve been really weird lately. I…like you a lot, even though that contradicts what I’m about to say—”

“I know,” he cut her off, understanding as ever, and sliding toward her the small box he’d been trying to force on her all day, ever since lunch at Granny’s. “Open the box.”

“Killian, would you stop it with the box?” she complained, exasperated that he was trying to give her a gift when she was trying her damnedest to keep it together despite what was coming.

“Okay, then, I’ll open the box.” He calmly tugged the box back, flipped the lid, and put it back in front of her. And she was speechless.

Inside was an oversized campaign badge. In white text on a red background was written SWAN 2017.

“Wow,” she breathed. “You knew.”

“Aye,” he nodded, looking down. “I know I should have told you sooner, but…I wanted this to last as long as possible.” He looked up at her through his lashes. “We have to break up, love.”

Knowing it and hearing it were two different things; a stone dropped in her stomach. “Why? Why do we have to break up?”

“Emma, you’ve worked so hard for this—you’ve earned this. And I don’t want anyone to think you’ve gotten here by sleeping with your boss, as devilishly handsome as he may be.”

“But I like sleeping with my boss.”

He teasingly offered every bad breakup line in the book— “It’s not you; it’s me”; “you disgust me”—but it didn’t reach his eyes and she could always spot a lie.

She really, really hated seeing him with another girl on his arm.

It had been six weeks since their reluctant breakup and while things were progressing in her campaign—and she was getting ever closer to achieving one of her dreams—she wasn’t sure if the success was worth the aching loneliness she felt every night, lying alone in her bed. Henry, bless his little heart, had tried to cheer her up, and she appreciated it, but it only partly filled the void.

She still saw Killian every day, which was probably the worst part—being close to him but not being able to be with him was a whole different kind of torture. She’d been through her share of heartbreak, but this was on a whole other level.

And then he started to pull away from her, and she had no idea why. She’d even selfishly tried to drag out a low-level parks project—installing the smallest park in Maine in the center of town—because it was the last one they’d do together.

But it went through faster than she thought, and here they were, celebrating their victory with a little shindig at David’s house. And there he was, with that pixie-like blonde journalist at his side.

“Oh, so just because I can’t go out with him, someone else can?” she complained to Mary Margaret, David’s wife and her best friend.

“Yes,” was the matter-of-fact response. “That’s actually the first time I’ve seen him smile in a while.”

No, that—that was the worst of all.

“Really?” Emma asked voice small.

“Really,” she answered in a knowing voice. And Mary Margaret would know—Killian had been renting their spare bedroom ever since he decided to stay in town.

If Killian had been just as torn up over their break as her, and it took this new woman for him to move on, then no wonder he was pulling away.

She hated that the most.

She couldn’t stay there any longer. Quickly, she made sure Henry was okay to stay there for a bit and headed out, walking around their small town to clear her head, or her heart, or something.

It shouldn’t have been any surprise that she ended up at their tiny park. It was just a lamppost and a bench with a few flower pots, but it was their brainchild and it was perfect. She took a seat on the bench and stared into the night.

“Thought I might find you here.” She jumped at Killian’s voice, turning toward it as he stepped into the light.

“Shouldn’t you be with Tink?” she threw back, more bitter than she’d intended.

“Maybe.” His tone was non-committal but he sat down next to her.

They sat in silence for a few minutes—not an awkward one, but they both seemed to want to say something. So she did.

“Why are you here?” His only reaction was to turn to look at her, so she continued. “If you don’t want to talk to me anymore, I understand.”

“Believe me, Swan—I don’t want that,” he was quick to reply, to her relief. “I just…” he trailed off, scratching nervously behind his ear. “I think it’s for the best,” he concluded sadly.

She sighed; he was probably right. “Okay.” His face fell a bit, but he nodded and stood, and started to walk away.

And in that moment, she was reminded of everyone else who had walked away: foster parents, Henry’s father, a string of exes who never seemed to want her for her. But Killian—he never had done that. Even dumping her was putting her first. She couldn’t let that go.

“Or we just say ‘screw it’,” she called after him. “And do this for real.”

He stopped and turned back to look at her. “What?”

“Everyone I’ve been with has left me, except you. I can’t lose you, too, Killian. And I miss you like crazy, so let’s do this.”

His head was down as he stepped back toward her, making it hard to read his expression. “We’d have to tell Robin.”

“Yeah.”

“It could cause a scandal.”

“I know.”

“It could hurt your campaign.”

“I know, but I know how I feel, and I want to be with you.” She swallowed; she couldn’t remember a time in her life when she’d been more nervous or when so much had hung on one question. “That’s how I feel. How do you feel?”

He looked up and a smile was teasing at the corner of his mouth and eyes; the weight that had been sitting within her since they’d first broken up started to lift.

And then he was in front of her in two strides, hands cupping her face and his mouth on hers. Their first kiss had been one of pent-up passion, but this? This was like coming home. And she kind of never wanted to leave.

They were making out for what felt like ages, but let Granny, or Tink, or this town’s crazy raccoons watch. When they finally broke apart, she only had one thought.

“I love you and I like you.”

“I love you and I like you, too, Swan.”

thanks to @shipsxahoy for looking this over! Tagging a few others who might like this: @kat2609 @mryddinwilt @thesschesthair @fergus80 @optomisticgirl @captainswanismyendgame @fairytalesandtimetravel @cocohook38 @annytecture @wingedlioness @disastergirl @laschatzi @jscoutfinch @nfbagelperson @stubble-sandwich @athenascarlet @kmomof4 @ilovemesomekillianjones

#cs ff #cs ff au #ouat x parks #happy birthday #ive always been a pirate #my ff

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injectionmoldchina · 6 years

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New Post has been published on http://www.injectionmouldchina.com/cool-fitting-mould-maker-images/

Cool Fitting Mould Maker images

A few nice fitting mould maker images I found:

memories of 1976

Image by brizzle born and bred It saw the birth of punk and the death of Chairman Mao, it was a time when Britain was at its financial peak, even though the country was bailed out by the International Monetary Fund. THE SIZZLER OF ’76 – one of the hottest summers on record

1976 Inflation continues to be a problem around the world. Concorde enters service and cuts transatlantic flying time to 3 1/2 hours. One year after Microsoft is formed Apple is formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Nadia Comaneci scores the first ever perfect score in Gymnastics. In South Africa Riots in Soweto on June 16th mark the beginning of the end of apartheid. In music the first of the Punk Bands appear The Damned release New Rose classified as Punk Rock Music.

It was the year in which Harold Wilson resigned and Jimmy Carter became US President, a space probe landed on Mars. These were simpler times – fear of crime was low, people were less suspicious of others, and "traffic flowed freely and, by and large, British Rail was just wonderful".

There were fewer lager louts and it was safe to go out clubbing on a Saturday night. There was less pressure for children and teenagers to live up to their peers -‘keeping up with the Jones’. Children played in the parks and streets instead of becoming couch potatoes or computer geeks.

The economy was in desperate straits. The reservoirs were empty. The government was in danger of falling apart.

Youth unemployment was rising. And British sports people were preparing for an Olympic Games. There was a national water shortage, inflation reached 27 per cent, there were widespread strikes and the West Indies cricket team left us grovelling for mercy. Amid many strikes in public sectors, there was also raging inflation. Britain was forced into the humiliating position of asking international bankers to lend it billions of pounds, revealing the full scale of the economic failure the country was facing.

It was a turbulent time for Britain, we agreed to keep trawlers out of Icelandic waters after a third “Cod War”. In the heat of the summer, riots broke out at the Notting Hill carnival. 100 police officers were taken to hospital after they tried to break up rioters armed only with dustbin lids and milk crates. It was a good year for technology, for 1976 saw the first commercial Concorde flight, the unveiling of the first space shuttle, Enterprise, and the start-up of a new business, the Apple Computer Company, by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. And Matsushita introduced the VHS home video cassette recorder to compete with Sony’s Betamax system.

Cost of Living

Strikes in public services were just something people had to deal with. The standard rate of tax stood at 35 pence in the pound. Inflation raged at around 17%. The industrial unrest and economic crisis led within a few years to the winter of discontent and then the Thatcher revolution. In terms of individual wealth, we were certainly poorer. The average wage was around £72 a week. Only half of us had phones – landlines, that is. No-one had a computer. Far fewer of us owned our own homes and it was much more difficult to get a mortgage. There was less crime and lower energy consumption because there were fewer cars and centrally-heated houses.

In terms of quality of life, only half the country had a telephone, no one had a computer and just over half of homes were owner-occupied compared with seven in 10 today. Our quality of life was improved by an affordable cost of living – petrol was 77p a gallon, a pint 32p and a loaf 19p – low crime levels and fewer cars on the road.

There was also a large investment in the public sector and a narrowing in the wage gap between the sexes. For the really wealthy there was a chance to travel on Concorde, which started flying from Heathrow to Bahrain that January. And for the rest of us we could book a seat on the first InterCity 125 trains or save up for one of the new Ford Fiestas or Mark IV Cortinas, costing £1,950. It was also the year of the Ford Fiesta, Rover SD1, Ford IV Cortina and the Hyundai Pony.

There was less traffic on British roads in 1976, but far more people were killed on them – more than 6,000 deaths compared to fewer than 2,500 annually now. Cars now have better brakes, airbags, side-impact bars and drivers are less likely to be drunk and it is now illegal not to wear seatbelts, even in the back. It was actually far more risky to be a child cycling round 1970s Britain than it is today and greatly more dangerous to be a child passenger in a car.

In 1976 we earned less money and we paid more tax (the basic rate then was 35 per cent rising to a pip-squeaking 83 per cent on earnings over £20,000 (about £110,000 today) and things largely cost far more than they do now. Travel abroad was still something of a luxury (currency restrictions were still in place meaning it was hard even if you had the cash) and largely restricted to the middle classes and above, although the era of the cheap package to Spain and elsewhere was beginning. Things that we think of as essentials – televisions, stereos, kitchen white goods and so forth were hugely expensive. In the mid-1970s a colour television cost two months’ salary; today, like all electronic goods prices have dropped in real terms by 80 per cent or more.

Far fewer of us owned our own homes and it was much more difficult to get a mortgage. Interest rates hit a whopping 15 per cent in October. Yet despite all this the new study, the first-ever global snapshot of quality of life over time, reckons 1976 was a golden year for Britain.

Clothes, travel and eating out were all significantly dearer back then, but university education (free, and you got a maintenance grant as well), public transport and some basic foodstuffs were cheaper. Petrol was cheaper too, although not by as much as we usually think. Adjusting for inflation, a litre of four-star in 1976 cost about 89p (£4 a gallon) but adjusting, again, for earning power (how much people actually had to spend on things like petrol) the real cost of motoring has fallen quite dramatically in the last four decades. As to the price of cars themselves, in 1976 a new, mid-range Ford Cortina cost around £18,000 in today’s money compared to about £16,500 for a Ford Focus in 2012).

The major dent in our finances today is not the cost of petrol but the ludicrous price of housing, especially in South-East England. In 1976 even the wealthiest parts of London contained a number of lower-income householders; there were bits of Chelsea and Kensington that were actually quite shabby. Now, the most desirable parts of the Capital (some wards now have average house prices over the £2m mark) have become effectively sterilised by money, with housing so expensive that only offshore trusts, crooks and oligarchs can afford to buy it. But this is a local phenomenon; across much of England, Wales and Scotland housing is still relatively affordable.

In most measurable ways things were no better in 1976, and in many ways worse, than they are now. We were poorer, paid more tax and most things cost more. We died sooner, smoked more and suffered more illness. We were less likely to be burgled, take drugs or have our car broken into but no less likely to be murdered, raped or robbed. And we mustn’t forget that in 1976 large sections of the population really were dramatically worse off than they are now. This was an era of casual racism and sexism, where women, gays, blacks and Asians could be openly discriminated against, where snobbery was still rife and where police corruption was so serious and widespread that 400 Metropolitan Police officers had to be quietly sacked.

But what we are REALLY nostalgic for, of course, is not the weather, the clothes or the alleged freedom but our youth. And that we can never get back.

Sport

And in sport, it was hardly a year of triumph to be cherished as a golden era. On the cricket field England were walloped by Australia and the West Indies. Our much vaunted athletics team at the Montreal Olympics came back with just one bronze medal between them.

Only dashing racing driver James Hunt saved the day somewhat by winning the Formula One championship. Lawrie McMenemy’s second division underdogs Southampton beat Manchester United 1-0 to win the FA Cup. This was one of the biggest upsets in cup history.

Highlights included one of the hottest summers on record, the Montreal summer Olympics, and John Curry winning a gold medal for ice-skating in the winter Games. Southampton won the FA Cup. Other sporting triumphs in 76 came from British figure skater John Curry, who won Olympic gold in Innsbruck, and on the cricket field England we were walloped 3-0 by the West Indies and our much-vaunted athletics team at the Montreal Olympics came back with a single bronze, won in the 10,000 metres by Brendan Foster.

Music

It was also the year that, for many, the music died, with Abba and Elton John being elbowed aside by the rude young men of pop, including the Sex Pistols and the Clash. Fears of a younger generation with a safety pin through its nose stalked society; what punk might do to the country was a serious concern for many – not least the punks themselves. Punk rock group The Ramones released their first album, U2 got together and the Brotherhood of Man won the Eurovision Song Contest with Save Your Kisses for Me.

Top selling singles of the year were ABBA with Dancing Queen, Queen with Bohemian Rhapsody – whose video more or less changed the face of pop music – and Chicago with If You Leave Me Now. Many outdoor festivals and shows were held in the U.S. as it celebrated its bicentennial – Elton John, The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top all drew huge crowds. Music fans bought Dancing Queen by Abba or Forever and Ever by Demis Roussos.

Meanwhile the Stones were in full flow, with a 33-year-old Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, both now 69, playing in front of a reported 200,000 at Knebworth Fair. The band are still on the road, packing out Hyde Park and Glastonbury 37 years on. In the charts Brotherhood of Man’s Eurovision winner Save All Your Kisses For Me and The Wurzels’ Combine Harvester were firm favourites.

Classic albums Hotel California by the Eagles and Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life were released in 76 but there were signs of a shift in musical tastes.

A shocked nation saw the Sex Pistols’ foul-mouthed TV interview with Bill Grundy and The Damned released New Rose, widely regarded as the first punk single. Some saw punk as the death of pop but to others it was bringing music back to life while raising two fingers to the establishment.

Sex Pistols swear on live TV 1976

Punk rock band the Sex Pistols achieve public notoriety as they unleash several swearwords live on Bill Grundy’s TV show, following the release of their debut single Anarchy in the U.K. on 26 November.

Punk group The Sex Pistols cause a storm of controversy and outrage in the UK by swearing well before the watershed on the regional Thames Television news programme Today, hosted by Bill Grundy. Grundy, who has goaded them into doing so, is temporarily sacked. Today is replaced by Thames at Six a year later.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0IAYFh0CaI

Film & Television

Filming began on George Lucas’ first Star Wars film. Among the films released that year were Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky, the original Freaky Friday, starring Jodie Foster, and John Wayne’s final film, The Shootist.

On television, we were watching The Muppets, Starsky And Hutch and The Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, The Muppet Show, Starsky and Hutch. At the cinema, Sylvester Stallone captured everyone’s heart as gutsy boxer Rocky and the film clinched the best picture Oscar. But perhaps the most chilling performance of the year came Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle in Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. On TV wheeler dealer Mike Baldwin, played by Johnny Briggs, started his 30-year stint on Coronation Street.

THE SIZZLER OF ’76 – one of the hottest summers on record

Many people fondly remember the year when the mercury topped 28C (82F) for a record-breaking 22 days… and for once the nostalgia is not misplaced.

It was the driest summer since 1772 so hours of sunny outdoor fun made 1976 a favourite. It’s the weather that stands out in most people’s memories. Day after day of temperatures in the 90s, as people rolled up their flared trousers to sunbathe in the park. That had its downside, of course, with a drought leading to scorched earth and hundreds of thousands of people dependent on standpipes for their water supply. There was even a Minister of Drought, Denis Howell, who within days of his appointment became Minister of Floods, as the heavens opened.

Henry Kelly, who was on the radio even then, recalls the heatwave: "As a radio reporter I covered the old chestnut of a man frying eggs on the pavement near Oxford Circus."

With the sunny weather here at last, We turn back the clock to the now legendary summer of 1976 – a year when the heat was really on Rationed: With water supplies running dry, many families had to rely on standpipes Heatwave: During the long, dry summer of 1976, even the mighty Chew Valley Reservoir virtually dried up AFTER basking in the sun for the last couple of weeks, let’s hope we can look forward, with the help of a little global warming, to some long, hot summer days.

We’re certainly due them after a dismal winter and cold spring. But how many readers, I wonder, recall the record-breaking long, hot summer of 1976, now an unbelievable 30 years ago? If you do, you’ll have memories of what a summer should really be like, with day after day of unbroken sunshine and temperatures in the 80s and 90s. Weathermen said that it was the hottest year overall since 1826, though it was just a little cooler in the West. But Bristol certainly had the hottest June on record. Readers of the Post were asked to ‘cool it’ as ice cream was rationed, kids stripped off and jumped into the pool in front of the Council House and tempers became frayed. The outdoor swimming pools, like Portishead and the old Clifton Lido, came into their own and shops reported shortages of suntan oil and sunglasses.

Wildlife had a field day, with a plague of ladybirds descending on the seafronts at Clevedon and Weston-super-Mare. The local authorities started spreading sand on the roads to stop the tar from melting (which didn’t work) and the water authorities became so stretched that they considered bringing in extra supplies to Avonmouth from Norway. Pupils at Winterbourne school were forced to attend lessons as the temperature topped 37.8 degrees in the classroom. But in more sensible Somerset, some children started school at 8am and finished at 1pm – missing at least some of the heat of the day. Despite constant warnings, youngsters just couldn’t be stopped from diving into the area’s many rivers and watercourses to cool off. More dangerously, many Bristol people started jumping into the icy, deep waters of the docks.

By the end of June it was official – Bristol was England’s hottest spot, with a temperature of 91F (33C). By this time many people had had enough of the heat – but amazingly it just went on and on, right throughout July and August. With temperatures at night remaining very high (63 degrees) people found that they couldn’t sleep. In fact, you could still feel the heat wafting off the pavements at midnight. The weathermen tell us that it did rain, but amounts were very small, and soon drought conditions set in.

Then, after over a month without rain, the brewery draymen went on strike – so we soon had beer rationing as well as water rationing to add to our misery. A hosepipe ban was implemented and the washing of cars was outlawed. There was much goverment advice on water-use, including the suggestion that only five inches of water was to be used in a bath, and that baths, it was daringly suggested, should be shared). A minister for drought, Denis Howell, was appointed. Just to prove he meant business a hastily conceived Drought Bill, implemented on July 14, allowed for fines of up to £400 for water misuse.

On June 28, the record for the hottest June day was broken when 32.8C (91F) was recorded. August was a record month with an amazing 264 hours of sunshine – more than eight hours a day. But not everyone lapped up the sun. There were casualties. In July, a local woman died from hyperpyrexia – caused by not drinking enough water or having enough salt in hot weather. It was something usually restricted to countries with very hot climates. Wildlife suffered, too. Thousands of salmon and trout died in the region’s rivers as the water became starved of oxygen. Many trees, especially those which had just started to recover from Dutch elm disease – started to wilt and die. Dust clouds covered the land as firemen strugled to cope with up to 20 grass-fires a day. In the Cotswolds, so-called dust-devils were reported.

These were small whirlwinds which only occur on fine, hot days. Brooks and springs which had never been known to dry up, even in the hottest weather, did just that and bowling greens and golf courses closed their doors to members as their ‘greens’ turned to ‘browns’. Water was being lost by evaporation from the Mendip reservoirs at an alarming rate – nearly six million litres a day throughout August. The level in the vast Chew Valley reservoir fell so low that visitors could actually walk on the exposed baked earth and make out the old road bridges and skeletal remains of long-since drowned farms.

As temperatures stayed in the 90s, many country areas came to rely on standpipes and buckets of water. Some, with very limited supply, or even none at all, had water delivered by tanker. Finally, on August 28, the worst drought since 1921 came to an end with violent storms and flooding. Strangely, many people stood at their back doors and welcomed the rain back with open arms.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRk_Oc_PjAI

1976 The Murders of the Yorkshire Ripper

20 January – 42-year-old married woman Emily Jackson is stabbed to death in Leeds; it is revealed that she was a part-time prostitute. Police believe she may have been killed by the same man who murdered Wilma McCann in the city three months ago.

Sutcliffe’s assaults on Rogulsky, Smelt and Tracey Browne were puzzling random attacks on women but not regarded in the same mould as the murder of Wilma McCann in Leeds or indeed of Joan Harrison in Preston. Wilma’s killing was the first linked Ripper murder and was probably motivated by Tracey’s desire to rob her, a prostitute nearly at home after a night on the town, with extreme violence, rather than a planned commencement of a series of ritual murders. Harrison was also robbed.

‘The well-described stocky bearded Irishman seen with Emily Jackson was never traced. Mrs Jackson was never seen alive again and her van lay parked in the Gaiety car park to which she never returned. This man was always believed to be her killer by the police and his description is quite different to Peter Sutcliffe. This man or a similarly described man was observed at the scene of two subsequent Ripper murders. These fact along with many others shows that Peter Sutcliffe didn’t commit the murder of Emily Jackson.’

9 May – 20-year-old Leeds prostitute Marcella Claxton is badly injured in a hammer attack.

Marcella Claxton, aged 20, and a prostitute, was attacked in Leeds in the early hours of Sunday, May 9 1976. The police did not link the attack to the Yorkshire Ripper series, though they did re-examine the file after the next murder in February 1977.

1976 Timeline

January – Korean cars are officially imported to the United Kingdom for the first time, as Hyundai launches its Pony family saloon on the British market.

2 January – Hurricane-force winds of up to 105 mph kill 22 people across Britain and cause millions of pounds worth of damage to buildings and vehicles.

5 January – Ten Protestant men are killed in the Kingsmill massacre at South Armagh, Northern Ireland, by members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, using the cover name "South Armagh Republican Action Force".

7 January – Cod War: British and Icelandic ships clash at sea.

18 January – The Scottish Labour Party is formed.

21 January – The first commercial Concorde flight takes off.

29 January – Twelve Provisional Irish Republican Army bombs explode in London’s West End.

2 February – The Queen opens the new National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, situated near the city’s airport.

4–15 February – Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, and win one gold medal.

11 February – John Curry becomes Britain’s first gold medalist in skating at the Winter Olympics.

19 February – Iceland breaks off diplomatic relations with Britain over the Cod War.

March – Production of the Hillman Imp ends after 13 years. It is due to be replaced next year by a three-door hatchback based on a shortened Avenger floorpan.

1 March – Merlyn Rees ends Special Category Status for those sentenced for crimes relating to the civil violence in Northern Ireland.

4 March – The Maguire Seven are found guilty of the offence of possessing explosives and subsequently jailed for 14 years.

6 March – EMI Records reissues all 22 previously released British Beatles singles, plus a new single of the classic "Yesterday". All 23 singles hit the UK charts at the same time.

7 March – A wax likeness of Elton John is put on display in London’s Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum.

The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention is formally dissolved in Northern Ireland resulting in direct rule of Northern Ireland from London via the British parliament.

9 March – The Who’s Keith Moon collapses on stage ten minutes into a performance at the Boston Garden.

16 March – Harold Wilson announces his resignation as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, to take effect on 5 April.

19 March – Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon announce that they are to separate after 16 years of marriage.

26 March – Anita Roddick opens the first branch of The Body Shop in Brighton.

3 April – The United Kingdom wins the Eurovision Song Contest for the third time with the song "Save Your Kisses for Me", sung by Brotherhood of Man. It remains one of the biggest-selling Eurovision songs ever.

5 April – James Callaghan becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom upon the retirement of Harold Wilson, defeating Roy Jenkins and Michael Foot in the leadership contest. Callaghan, 64, was previously Foreign Secretary and had served as a chancellor and later Home Secretary under Wilson in government from 1964 until 1970.

7 April – Cabinet minister John Stonehouse resigns from the Labour Party leaving the Government without a majority in the House of Commons.

9 April – Young Liberals president Peter Hain is cleared of stealing £490 from a branch of Barclays Bank.

26 April – Comedy actor and Carry On star Sid James dies on stage at the Sunderland Empire Theatre having suffered a fatal heart attack.

1 May – Southampton F.C. win the first major trophy of their 91-year history when a goal from Bobby Stokes gives the Football League Second Division club a surprise 1-0 win over Manchester United in the FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium.

3 May – Paul McCartney and Wings start their Wings over America Tour in Fort Worth, Texas. This is the first time McCartney has performed in the US since The Beatles’ last concert in 1966 at Candlestick Park.

4 May – Liverpool F.C. clinch their ninth Football League title with a 3-1 away win over relegated Wolverhampton Wanderers, fighting off a close challenge from underdogs Queen’s Park Rangers.

6 May – Local council elections produce disappointing results for the Labour Party, who won just 15 seats and lost 829 that they had held, compared to the Conservatives who won 1,044 new seats and lost a mere 22. This setback came despite the party enjoying a narrow lead in the opinion polls under new leader James Callaghan.

9 May – 20-year-old Leeds prostitute Marcella Claxton is badly injured in a hammer attack.

10 May – Jeremy Thorpe resigns as leader of the Liberal party.

19 May – Liverpool win the UEFA Cup for the second time by completing a 4-3 aggregate victory over the Belgian side Club Brugge K.V.

20 May – Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards is involved in a car accident. Cocaine is found in his wrecked car. Richards is given a court date of 12 January 1977.

27 May – Harold Wilson’s Resignation Honours List is published. It controversially awards honours to many wealthy businessmen, and comes to be known satirically as the "Lavender List".

June – British Leyland launches its innovative new Rover SD1, a large five-door hatchback that replaces the ageing P6 series.

1 June – UK and Iceland end the Cod War.

14 June – The trial for murder of Donald Neilson, known as the "Black Panther", begins at Oxford Crown Court.

22 June–16 July – Heat wave reaches its peak with the temperature attaining 26.7°C (80°F) every day of this period. For 15 consecutive days, 23 June–7 July inclusive, it reaches 32.2°C (90°F) somewhere in England; and five days – the first being 26 June – see the temperature exceed 35°C (95°F). This is contributing to the worst drought in the United Kingdom since the 1720s.

28 June – In the heat wave, the temperature reaches 35.6°C (96.1°F) in Southampton, the highest recorded for June in the UK.

29 June – The Seychelles become independent of the UK.

2 July – Benjamin Britten is created Baron Britten of Aldeburgh in the County of Suffolk, less than six months before his death.

3 July – Heat wave peaks with temperatures reaching 35.9°C (96.6°F) in Cheltenham.

7 July – David Steel is elected as new leader of the Liberal Party.

10 July – Three British and one American mercenaries are shot by firing squad in Angola.

14 July – Ford launches a new small three-door hatchback, the Fiesta – its first front-wheel drive transverse engined production model – which is similar in concept to the Vauxhall Chevette and German car maker Volkswagen’s new Polo. It will be built in several factories across Europe, including the Dagenham plant in Essex (where 3,000 jobs will be created), and continental sales begin later this year, although it will not go on sale in Britain until January 1977.

17 July–1 August – Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the Olympics in Montreal, Canada, and win 3 gold, 5 silver and 5 bronze medals.

21 July – Christopher Ewart-Biggs, the UK ambassador to Ireland, and a civil servant, Judith Cooke, are killed by a landmine at Sandyford, Co. Dublin.

22 July – Dangerous Wild Animals Act requires licences for the keeping of certain animals in captivity.

27 July – United Kingdom breaks diplomatic relations with Uganda.

29 July – A fire destroys the pier head at Southend Pier. August – Drought at its most severe. Parts of South West England go for 45 days with no rain in July and August.

Government and Trades Union Congress agree a more severe Stage II one-year limit on pay rises.

5 August – The Great Clock of Westminster (or Big Ben) suffers internal damage and stops running for over nine months.

6 August – The last Postmaster General, John Stonehouse, is sentenced to seven years in jail for fraud.

14 August – 10,000 Protestant and Catholic women demonstrate for peace in Northern Ireland.

30 August – 100 police officers and 60 carnival-goers are injured during riots at the Notting Hill Carnival.

September – Chrysler Europe abandons the 69-year-old Hillman marque for its British-built cars and adopts the Chrysler name for the entire range.

1 September – Drought measures introduced in Yorkshire.

3 September – Riot at Hull Prison ends.

4 September – Peace March in Derry attracts 25,000 people in a call to end violence in Northern Ireland.

9 September – The Royal Shakespeare Company opens a memorable production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth at The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon, with Ian McKellen and Judi Dench in the lead roles, directed by Trevor Nunn.

12 September – Portsmouth football club, who were FA Cup winners in 1939 and league champions in 1949 and 1950 but are now in the Football League Third Division, are reported to be on the brink of bankruptcy with huge debts.

20 September & 21 September – 100 Club Punk Festival, the first international punk festival is held in London. Siouxsie and the Banshees play their first concert.

23 September – A fire on the destroyer HMS Glasgow while being fitted out at Swan Hunter’ yard at Wallsend on Tyne kills eight men.

29 September – The Ford Cortina Mark IV is launched.

4 October – InterCity 125 trains are introduced on British Rail between London and Bristol.

8 October – The Sex Pistols sign a contract with EMI Records.

15 October – Two members of the Ulster Defence Regiment jailed for 35 years for murder of the members of the Republic of Ireland cabaret performers Miami Showband.

22 October – The Damned release New Rose, the first ever single marketed as "punk rock".

24 October – Racing driver James Hunt becomes Formula One world champion.

25 October – Opening of the Royal National Theatre on the South Bank in London, in premises designed by Sir Denys Lasdun.

29 October – Opening of Selby Coalfield.

16 November – The seven perpetrators of an £8 million van robbery at the Bank of America in Mayfair are sentenced to a total of 100 years in jail.

1 December – Punk rock band the Sex Pistols achieve public notoriety as they unleash several swearwords live on Bill Grundy’s TV show, following the release of their debut single Anarchy in the U.K. on 26 November.

10 December – Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan win the Nobel Peace Prize.

15 December – Denis Healey announces to Parliament that he has successfully negotiated a £2.3 billion loan for Britain from the International Monetary Fund on condition that £2.5 billion is cut from public expenditure: the NHS, education and social benefit sectors are not affected by these cuts.

Inflation stands at 16.5% – lower than last year’s level, but still one of the highest since records began in 1750. However, at one stage during this year inflation exceeded 24%.

Opening of Rutland Water, the largest reservoir in England by surface area (1,212 hectares (2,995 acres)).

First purpose-built (Thai style) Buddhist temple built in Britain, the Wat Buddhapadipa in Wimbledon, London.

Television

3 April – The 21st Eurovision Song Contest is won by Brotherhood of Man, representing the United Kingdom, with their song "Save Your Kisses for Me".

5 April – Patricia Phoenix returns to the role of Elsie Tanner on Coronation Street after an absence of three years.

7 April – Margot Bryant makes her last appearance as Minnie Caldwell on Coronation Street.

1 July – US Sci-Fi series The Bionic Woman makes its debut at No.1 in the ratings – an almost unheard of event for a Sci-Fi series.

1 December – Punk group The Sex Pistols cause a storm of controversy and outrage in the UK by swearing well before the watershed on the regional Thames Television news programme Today, hosted by Bill Grundy. Grundy, who has goaded them into doing so, is temporarily sacked. Today is replaced by Thames at Six a year later.

Dennis Potter’s Play for Today Brimstone and Treacle is pulled from transmission on BBC1 due to controversy over its content, including the rape of a woman by the devil. It is eventually screened on BBC2 in 1987, after having been made into a film starring Sting in 1982.

BBC1

6 January – Rentaghost (1976–1984) 8 January – When the Boat Comes In (1976–1981) 8 September – The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976–1979) 2 October – Multi-Coloured Swap Shop (1976–1982)

BBC2

17 February – One Man and His Dog (1976–present) 20 February – Open All Hours (BBC2 1976, BBC1 1981–1982, 1985, 2013)

ITV

1 July – The Bionic Woman (1976–1978, 2007) 1 September – Star Maidens (1976) 6 September – George and Mildred (1976–1979) 27 September – The Muppet Show (1976–1981) Chorlton and the Wheelies (1976–1979) 19 October – The New Avengers (1976–1977)

Music

This year saw the emergence of disco as a force to be reckoned with, a trend which would hold for the rest of the decade and peak in the last two years. This was also the year which truly established ABBA as the top selling act of the decade with them achieving their second, third and fourth number ones (as well as releasing the biggest-selling album of the year).

The ABBA formula was also replicated in the biggest-selling song of the year – the Eurovision-winning "Save Your Kisses for Me" by Brotherhood of Man, who began a three-year run in the UK charts from 1976. Other acts to achieve notable firsts were Elton John, who scored his first UK number one single this year (albeit as a duet with Kiki Dee), Showaddywaddy had their first and only number one and long-standing hit-maker Johnny Mathis also scored his biggest hit this year.

The album charts saw TV advertising become a major factor in changing the landscape of big sellers with non-regular singles artists achieving high sales with compilations. Among these were Slim Whitman, Bert Weedon, Glen Campbell and The Beach Boys, who remained at number one for ten consecutive weeks.

Also emerging this year was a new trend, which became known as punk rock. This was little evident on the charts as yet, and was more a lifestyle choice, but would become much more significant the following year, as many new acts who typified the trend came onto the scene.

Overall, 1976 is not considered a vintage year by music critics, with its overwhelming dominance by pop and MOR acts. Certainly, many consider 1976 to be the nadir of British music and hold the year’s charts up to be the very reason why Punk and New Wave music emerged with such force the following year.

Britain’s foremost classical composers of the late 20th century, including Sir William Walton, Benjamin Britten and Sir Michael Tippett, were still active. Sir Charles Groves conducted the Last Night of the Proms, and the soloist for "Rule Britannia" was contralto Anne Collins; the programme included Walton’s Portsmouth Point overture.

Number One singles

"Bohemian Rhapsody" – Queen "Mamma Mia" – ABBA "Forever and Ever" – Slik "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" – The Four Seasons "I Love to Love (But My Baby Loves to Dance)" – Tina Charles "Save Your Kisses for Me" – Brotherhood of Man "Fernando" – ABBA "No Charge" – J.J. Barrie "The Combine Harvester (Brand New Key)" – The Wurzels "You to Me Are Everything" – Real Thing "The Roussos Phenomenon EP" – Demis Roussos "Don’t Go Breaking My Heart" – Elton John and Kiki Dee "Dancing Queen" – ABBA "Mississippi" – Pussycat "If You Leave Me Now" – Chicago "Under the Moon of Love" – Showaddywaddy "When a Child Is Born" – Johnny Mathis

The side of William Powell & Sons, Carrs Lane – clear wall – “J C & J Pool” (Travelodge Carrs Lane site)

Image by ell brown Almost didn’t get this update, but when I noticed that the steel girders had been removed, I knew that i had to get new shots. I even dropped my camera case on the ground (lucky that it is padded and the camera is ok).

Saw a drill in the middle of the site next to the former William Powell & Sons.

Wonder if a new building will go up here?

Now the steel frame has gone you can read the lettering "J C & J Pool".

Powell’s Gun Shop is a Grade II listed building.

Gun shop, workshops and living accomodation [now offices] of 1861, designed by Charles Edge [f.1827-1867].

MATERIALS: Red brick with diapered patterns in black brick and painted stone dressings. PLAN: The street frontage is three storeys with attic and the rear, L-shaped workshop range has five floors.

EXTERIOR: The street front is rendered to the ground floor and first floor levels. The ground floor has three doorways at centre, right and left and between them are set shop windows. All of the openings have four-centred arches with deeply-incised hood moulds and label stops. The lower part of the shop windows are of C20 plate glass with modern fascia boards above, but the upper portions of the windows retain their two-light tracery and the surrounds are untouched. The left doorway has been converted to form a shop window and that to right leads to the staircase of the office chambers on the upper floors above the shops. The five first floor windows alternate between single and double-lights and have moulded surrounds and arched tympana beneath the black and red brick voussoirs. The piers between the windows have been encased in wooden panels. The four second floor windows are paired and have projecting figureheads to their tympana. Those to the third floor are sashes. A heavy cornice supports two gabled dormers with crow-stepped profile and polychromatic voussoirs to the relieving arches. The rear L-shaped workshop wing is of diapered brickwork with large windows above the work benches.

INTERIOR: The former central corridor which led to the rear courtyard has been incorporated and now forms a central arcaded colonnade, entered by the central door, to either side of which the shop interior can be reached. This has been largely re-fitted with replacement panelling to the walls and a suspended ceiling to the rear room at right. The offices are approached by an open-well staircase with stick balusters and shaped tread-ends. These upper floors retain their plan form relatively unaltered with two principal front rooms to each, although fireplaces have been removed. The architects drawings show these marked as drawing room etc. to first floor with bedrooms to the upper floors. The workshop wing at the back has ranges of large windows facing east and south and below these are work benches. There is a small forge to one room at first floor level.

HISTORY: The gun making industry in Birmingham was started in the C17 and expanded steadily through to the start of the C20. Firearms for the East India company and for slave traders were made in large numbers and guns for the army were a staple of the industry and led to the founding of the Government Viewing Room in 1798 and one of the two Proof Houses in the country for authorising guns. Powell’s trace their history to the partnership between William Powell and Joseph Simmons established in 1802 and were amongst the most prominent of the C19 gun makers. William Powell was elected Chairman of the Guardians of the Proof House where he also engaged Charles Edge to design the Proof Hole [proofing shed]. The firm made guns for the Napoleonic wars and for the American Civil War. They patented a number of inventions, including, in 1864, the Powell Snap Action and in 1866 a half-cocking mechanism.From 1861 William Powell gave his address as Carrs Lane, which implies that the acomodation was for his use. Gun-makers" did not usually manufacture the individual parts of their guns. Pieces were made by independent specialist sub-contractors. Some of these worked within the gun quarter and Showell’s Dictionary lists some fifty specialists. Assembly was done by "fabricators" or "setters-up" and the finished product was then sold by the "maker". It seems from the juxtaposition of shop and workshop at Carrs Lane that Powell’s assembled the guns themselves and then sold them through the shop, enabling them to better monitor the quality of the finished product.

SOURCES: Thomas T. Harman and Walter Showell, Showell’s Dictionary of Birmingham (1885); Andy Foster, Birmingham, Pevsner Architectural Guides (2005).

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: This building was designed in 1860 by the noted Birmingham architect, Charles Edge, whose other listed buildings include the extension to Birmingham Town Hall [Grade I]. It houses a gun shop and associated workshops as well as accomodation [now office chambers] on the upper floors. The building has a good street front in a continental Gothic style which is little-altered, and a shop interior and accomodation which retain the essentials of their plan form. The juxtaposition of gun shop and associated workshops, where the parts made elsewhere were assembled, or "set-up" is rare and the degree of intactness in the workshop wing, with work benches and hearth still in situ, is remarkable. The building provides telling evidence of the specialist gun trade which was once such a vital part of Birmingham’s industry in the C19.

Powell’s Gun Shop – Heritage Gateway

Powell’s Gun Shop dates from 1860 – 61, a late work of Charles Edge in Italian Gothic. Four storeys and dormers, rendered below red brick with blue brick patterns above, stone dressings. The ground floor originally two shops with a central rear access, has four-centred arches. Above the window arrangement narrows on each suceeding floor, creating upward movement. Many sculpted heads. The first floor projections are recent. At the rear a narrow five-storey contemporary workshop wing.

From "Pevsner Architectural Guides: Birmingham" by Andy Foster

Another Travelodge hotel will be built here next door to the old Powell’s Gun Shop.

#Cool #Fitting #images #Maker #Mould #Injection Mould

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