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anyway-i-love-vanderwood · 5 years

Note

Hey! So, in honor of the holiday (and my poor, poor throat), how would the gang deal with MC being sick of Valentine's Day? The specifics can be up to you, it is your writing, as long as we can see some sweet Vanderwood? lolol

✿I wanted to do something short and funny to get back into HCs so thank you for this!

Yoosung

Until he actually hears your voice, he’s terrified that this is an excuse and he did something terrible to upset you. Like - oh no!! I’m the worst boyfriend!! So bad that my partner is faking sick because they’re worried I’ll publicly embarrass them or something!

I have to cancel the mariachi band I hired to serenade us at lunch!

(It was Seven’s idea. Yoosung has got to stop listening to that man.)

Once he realizes just how genuinely clogged, snotty, and feverish you are, Mama Yoosung comes out in full force. He spends the day doing all of your chores, feeding you, and generally being supportive, sweet, and loving.

He Googles every single home remedy for colds under the sun, adds in a few more from his mom, and makes you take them all.

After the fifth dose of bitter paste, you tell him that you’d rather fall into the sweet, cold embrace of death, thanks.

NO YOOSUNG, YOU ARE NOT DRINKING LIZARD BROTH.

Zen

When he learns that you’re sick, he howls with such despair that the neighbors actually bang on his door to make sure he isn’t fatally wounded.

How can you be sick? On VALENTINES DAY? The most important holiday of the year??!? He was gonna show you off to everyone! He was going to make all the singles feel what he felt when couples were broadcasting their oo-ey gooey love on the February Fest of Romantic Bliss! HE WANTED TO FEED YOU CHOCOLATE FONDUE AND GIVE YOU FIVE MILLION FLOWERS.

“Five million?” You repeat dully, your voice ragged from sinus drainage.

“Five million!”

Obviously, he insists on at least coming over so you can see his beautiful face watch romcoms together and cuddle, but he’s also an irrepressible cuddlebug and can’t not pull you into his lap for snuggles.

And smooches.

Zen, you’re lucky you have a god-tier immune system despite your nutritional intake being piss-poor, because you’re just inviting it in at this point.

Jaehee

On the disappointment scale, Jaehee checks in at around a… two or so?

She’s honestly more worried about you while simultaneously being annoyed that the booming business of Valentines Day means she can’t take time off to fuss over your health. Not that she doesn’t try, but you won’t let her because she needs the income. Running a small business is tough!

At around noon, a ring at the doorbell reveals Zen, who - with a flourish - reveals a bouquet, a resupply of medicine, and a drink from Jaehee’s cafe made especially for you. Zen will act as the courier of his favorite couples *~love~*!

Thanks zen

Once Jaehee can close up, she rushes over to come see you, and you have a wonderful, low-key tea, movie, and heart-shaped cake (that she made!) date on your couch.

Even though you’re sick and icky, it’s a nice day overall. Jaehee is a modest, warm, and caring soul who makes your stress just melt away by sitting next to you.

Or giving you a nice massage.

Thank you Jaehee and your martial arts grip!

(The others are under the read-more!)

Jumin

Oh Jumin.

He starts off the day with a racket. How could you have gotten sick? Where have you gotten germs from? STAFF, DISINFECT EVERYTHING NOW!

Once you get him to shut up honey please you are only making the headache worse, he gets much easier to deal with. Because of Jumin Han being Jumin Han, you are never actually obligated to leave your home and you have everything your heart could ever desire in the medicine, food, and chocolate category… but you still want to do something for Valentines Day with him.

Especially since Jumin Han has never gotten the chance to, well… experience the holiday in a pure way. What it actually means beyond the giant stuffed bears, fancy champagne, and chocolate truffles with too many vowels in their names.

So, you make him go on a walk with you.

He’s resistant - won’t that make your condition worse? Your insistence that you actually would like some fresh air makes him relent, and you take a short stroll together to a local park.

It’s… honestly really nice, snuggling against him against a bench and enjoying a puff pastry from a local food truck as you search for warmth against the chilly air. You people-watch, you point out fun outfits and sweet couples, and Jumin is reminded once more just how much he likes spending time with you.

No matter the setbacks, no matter the weather, no matter your current antibody level… just being with you is wonderful for him.

707

When you open the door, a rain of red sparkly glitter and shimmering confetti hearts showers down upon you. Beyond the pink mist is Seven, grinning like a jaguar and carrying a bottle of champagne in one hand and NyQuil in the other.

“Honey, I got you a gift you’ll never forget!”

“What, permanent liver scarring from combining alcohol and acetaminophen or the glitter I’ll never get out of my carpet?”

“Both!”

(But seriously please do not drink and take Tylenol/DayQuil/etc it is a bad body choice)

Setting the champagne aside for later (like, when you’re feeling better later), Seven pulls out your real gift, which is an intricately detailed chocolate sculpture of the Mars Rover that he had commissioned for this special occasion.

Like, it’s so pretty that you can barely bring yourself to eat it.

How did you get this, Seven.

This is ridiculous.

Seven takes you being sick in perfect stride, almost like he’d planned for this happenstance, and you have a wonderful Valentines Day with him playing video games, watching movies, and talking about which spaceships were destined to fall in love with each other.

It is a ship war.

“Oh… oh no… I didn’t get you sick, did I?”

v stop blaming yourself for everything!

V has had a rough time on the dating scene, so it doesn’t matter if you’re sick and feel like shit YOU ARE TAKING THIS MAN OUT ON A DATE.

“But - “

“NO BUTS, V. TODAY IS A DAY FOR AGGRESSIVE COURTING.”

“okay”

Armed with a bag full of tissues, a thermos of tea, and the desire to show V how good you are at romance, you take him to an art gallery, a concert, and a FANCY RESTAURANT WITH CAKES SHAPED LIKE ROSES. ROSES.

“D-do you… need to step out?” V asks in a hushed whisper as you try to blow your nose as quietly as humanly possible during a violin solo.

“i ‘ m f i n e”

He thinks its sweet, though he really does wish you’d spent the day resting given that tomorrow you’re even sicker. He’ll do all the dishes and bring you some hot tea in thanks for your struggles.

Saeran/Unknown

BUT YOU AREN’T ALLOWED TO BE SICK ON VALETINES DAY, IT’S AGAINST THE RULES, HOW ARE YOU SUCH A BAD PARTNER WHO LETS THEMSELF GET SICK -

*cough cough* goes Saeran, and your eyebrows go up.

“Saeran, are those tissues in your pocket?”

“no”

“Saeran, is your… voice cracking?”

“nO”

“Saeran, is your nose red and running -?”

“NO AND STOP ASKING”

Anyway, long story short, the world’s favorite idiot dandelion is also sick on Valentines Day which is pretty typical considering he spends most of his time around you. Given the both of you are too mutually stuffy to go out and enjoy the day, you stay in and have tissue-basketball competitions and engage in your favorite pastimes: being annoying on the Internet, eating too much junk-food, and mutually refusing to admit that you’re both watching Twilight unironically.

Which is honestly what you might be doing if you weren’t sick, but let’s not critique either of your dating techniques here considering its a miracle you aren’t both dead in a ditch somewhere.

Vanderwood

So uh. Does the relationship code obligate them to hang out with you on Valentine’s Day?

Yes?

Shit.

Look, they don’t like being around sick people, okay? And you’re so runny and germy right now. But Vanderwood also supposes that if the most romantic thing they can do today is clean up your snot, then whatever. It’s not like they actually care about a soulless corporate consumer holiday like Valentine’s Day or had plans for it or anything -

(”Vanderwood, are those tickets for that super popular musical that’s been sold out for two months sticking out of your pocket?”)

(”NO.”)

Anyway, you’re a walking plague ward, so Vanderwood puts on their face mask, strong-arms their way into your apartment (despite you telling them at least fifteen times that it’s fine, really, you don’t actually mind, they’ll catch what you have!!) and makes you chicken noodle soup. Like - goes all out on this chicken noodle soup. They make the noodles by hand! They simmer shit! Look at all of those finely chopped carrots and bits of celery, it’s like an episode of Top Chef! Damn dude, is that fresh oregano? Like, from a plant? WHY DID YOU BRING AN OREGANO PLANT OVER VANDERWOOD.

Despite them telling you to stay in bed and rest, they’ll bring you tea and medicine and cold cloths for your head, you insist on helping them. The germs will boil away with the heat, right? That’s how science works!

Vanderwood isn’t sure if that’s how science works or not, but they break when you say you don’t really want to be left alone and miserable in your room, and there’s something really appealing about you standing next to them, slicing bits of dough into thin strips of noodle and leaning against their shoulder for support…

Happy Valentines day, Vanderwood. Welcome to domesticity.

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lovelyirony · 5 years

Note

If it's no trouble, can you write something cute and happy with hopescott? I need a smile right now.

no trouble at all!

Scott gets a voicemail from Hope, whose voice sounds very strained.

“Scott. Please get to the house as soon as possible.”

Thinking that there may be a medical emergency or maybe the end of the world (or worse: Cassie being a scary teenager), Scott runs three red lights and barely avoids a cop to get to the house, which is filled with boxes. He stops count at eight, but there are way more than that.

“Hope, honey?” Scott asks. “What are...boxes? Doing here?”

Hope is leaning against the wall, eyes wide.

“Do you remember last Friday? What I did?”

“Was that the night that we ordered pizza and dropped it on the floor but still ate it and didn’t really clean the floor?”

“No, that was Thursday.”

“Oh. Then no, I don’t remember Friday.”

“I went to a Ladies’ Night with some of the team,” Hope says. “Helen’s really good at mixing drinks, so is Jane. They were very good. And I think someone gave me access to online shopping.”

“What’s in the boxes?”

“So far, nothing but--”

A box topples off a precarious pile, and out come different little shapes. Frogs, hearts, stars, clouds, and Scott thinks he sees a butterfly in there, but he can’t be sure--

“What are they?” Scott asks.

“It’s six hundred dollars worth of soap,” Hope says. “I bought six hundred dollars worth of soap.”

Scott nods slowly, looking at the boxes.

“You think any of them are shaped like ants?”

Hope looks at him for a moment before cracking a smile, then laughing out loud. Scott laughs too, and they start sorting the soap.

“At least we can give them as gifts if we don’t have anything left to give,” Scott says. “And we’re all good for like. The next twenty years. Forty if we ration them out.”

“Forty?”

“Eh, maybe thirty. We can send a couple of pounds to Cassie when she goes to college. Or we can mail some to Maggie!”

They spend the night sorting the soap into different piles. They also have certain scents depending on the shapes, and so they have a fun time trying to guess them all.

Cassie comes home from soccer practice at six, and just stares.

“Hope, what did you do?”

“How come you immediately think it’s me?” Hope asks.

“I put a lock on dad’s computer when he gets drunk so he can’t do this,” Cassie says. “He tried to order a custom jacket for five hundred dollars. Is this...is this soap?”

Hope nods.

“When you drink, Cassie, please never go above three cocktails.”

“...noted. Anyway, you’ll never guess what happened at school today. Oh my god I can’t believe it...”

Cassie’s gossip about Heather or Annie or Kelly or whoever it was passes easily throughout the room as she sits down, taking the takeout of noodles from her dad’s position as she easily sorts the soap as well.

Hope smiles at the family she has. Cassie is reminding Scott about her game on Friday night, and asks Hope to come.

“Of course,” Hope says. “Why would I not come?”

Cassie grins, tossing another turtle-shaped soap into one of the boxes.

“Okay, well I put off my math homework for too long. Also, dad, can I borrow the car after the game?”

“Why?” Scott asks.

“Me and Kamala are gonna go to her house and I want to drive myself back home since you’re doing that layout meeting with Luis.”

“Got it sweetheart,” Scott says, kissing her on the cheek. He winces as he gets up. “Ugh, my knees.”

“Old man,” Hope murmurs, gracefully getting up. “But we should stop sorting soap. We can do it tomorrow night too, lucky us.”

Hope remains on the couch for about an hour, going through the paperwork for X-Con Security. She had recently been taking more responsibility in the company, and Hope was the reason that they’d gotten some more high-profile candidates. (Although Tony loved the pun and more importantly, loved Scott’s friends and thought they were very funny and nice, so he sent some of his connections there.)

Scott is tinkering with another invention for security, or at least an update. When Hope rests a hand on his shoulder for a moment and brushes a kiss to the top of his head.

“Bedtime, babe.”

Scott gets up, smiling and kissing her on the cheek. They get to the bathroom. Hope has her own specific brand of toothpaste, and Scott has his. He gives her a look as he leaves. She has a skin routine that is probably about twelve steps long. Cassie admires the hell out of it, but Scott finds it confusing.

Hope crosses the room to Scott’s closet. He huffs as she grabs another of his shirts.

“I think at this point I’m going to have to go through your closet and figure out which shirts you’ve stolen. There are more than three there.”

“More like twelve,” Hope murmurs. “But enough for tonight. Tired.”

Scott sinks into the bed, Hope swinging her legs around getting under the covers.

“I love you,” Hope says, smiling. “Thank you for being in my life.”

“Thank you for allowing me to be in it,” Scott whispers back. “You’re the love of my life.”

They kiss goodnight.

At around two a.m., Scott has stolen all the covers and Hope scowls as she drags the comforter back to her side.

At five, Hope wakes up for her morning run. She gets back at five-fifty and starts to prepare breakfast for herself.

At six-thirty, she wakes Cassie up for school and starts to make Cassie’s lunch. Apparently, Hope knows “what teens like in lunches.” Scott will add his own embarrassing note later, probably with a drawing of a shitty rendering of one of the Avengers.

Cassie gets downstairs by seven, and Hope hands her a bowl of yogurt, granola, and berries.

“You want bacon?”

“Nah,” Cassie says. “I need to head a bit early. Meeting with some of the other band kids about a concert solo.”

“Good for you,” Hope says. Make sure your dad is up, okay?”

“On it.”

Scott is cajoled out of bed and nearly runs into the frog-soap-box, and then makes it to the kitchen. Hope serves him eggs and a bagel, topped with blueberry cream cheese.

(Scott will not eat plain cream cheese. Says it’s disgusting.)

Cassie gives Hope a hug and her dad a kiss on the cheek.

“Practice is cancelled for tonight, so I’ll be home for a bit after school just to get stuff. I’ll text you updates.”

“Thanks peanut,” Scott says. “Have a good day.”

“You too. Say hi to the uncles for me!”

Hope waves bye, as does Scott. Scott gets up from the table and makes his lunch.

“I’ll see you for lunch?”

“You got it.”

Scott leaves a bit before Hope, and she sighs as she looks out the window. She’s lucky to have this life, and she’ll fight like hell to keep it.

You can’t give up a love like this one.

#hopescott #hope van dyne #the wasp #ant-man #amatw #scott lang #cassie lang #ugh okay thank u for sending this in #i hope u feel better soon and i hope that u know ur an amazing person!#lovelyirony writes

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sea-side-scribbles · 4 years

Text

Fanfiction: Sympathy For A Downer

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22737214/chapters/56945809

Chapter 14:

Nick fled with Morrie behind the stage and let him lead the way, because he was way clearer in the head and more likely to be trusted than Nick himself. When they saw Virgil standing at a doorway and waving them over they didn’t hesitate to run in. When they slammed the door behind them, the band was complete. Nick, who was out of breath from the fight, the concert, and their flight, sank into a chair. He felt the gazes of the others on him and avoided it to look at anyone.

„Nick, what the hell was that?“, Chris blurted out.

„Where did this downer came from?“, Brad shouted.

„Was it planned? Because I think I saw you talking to him,“ Matthew wanted to know.

They all spoke at once and drilled Nick with questions, who was just as confused as them.

In fact, he was completely innocent of this whole incident and he could simply say so. But then again, he wasn’t as innocent as he should be, because he couldn’t hurt the downer. He probably fooled the fans, but he couldn’t fool his friends, who had seen everything from up close. They had seen him talk. They would ask questions he didn’t want them to ask. And apart from himself, also Arthur could get into trouble for this. What if they tried to seek him out?

„The downer wasn’t real“, Nick finally said. „He was only an actor I hired as a highlight for our show.“

„Seriously? Why didn’t you tell us anything?“, Matthew was not amused.

„Uh…it was a surprise…just a spontaneous idea I had…“ Nick stuttered, trying to not make it worse.

„Spontaneous idea?“, Morrie snapped. „You could’ve ruined the entire show with this!“

„Come on, Morrie, look on the bright side!“, Nick tried a smile. „We had great concerts by the hundred, but this one is special! It’s gonna be in the press! Everyone will talk about it!“

„That’s true, the fight was kinda cool,“ Chris admitted.

„And the bobby? Why did you attack him too?“ Morrie went on, causing Nick to sink down in his chair.

„Because he was interfering,“ he said as if he was pouting. „Blame him if anyone, he’s the reason why the stage is stormed right now.“

„It could’ve helped to tell him in advance!“

„So that he can cancel the show or tell everyone it’s fake? This could’ve ruined us too!“

„You should’ve told us at least!“, Matthew said again.

Nick felt more and more driven into a corner and send a pleading look to Virgil, who was still standing at the doorframe.

His manager made a few steps towards Nick. „I agree,“ he said. „I see that you’ve brought us attention, but it was a high risk and I would’ve liked to know in advance.“

Nick sighted. It was five against one right now.

„Hey, nothing bad happened. At least well be famous overnight,“ he pointed out the positive things.

„We? We didn’t get the chance for a cool showdown, it was only you. I would’ve liked to kick a downer’s ass!“, Brad countered.

„Believe me, I know, but I could’t bring five downers at the stage, all by coincidence! It had to look real.“

Nick glanced around and looked into their disappointed faces. He couldn’t blame them and he wished he could tell them the truth.

„I…guess you’re right…“, Nick said meekly. „I thought it’s fun. I swear, that was the last time I played a lone hand, okay? I’m sorry.“

They seemed to be okay with this, even though they remained somewhat sore. But the heat had died down and When the masses had left the area they left too, heading back to the hotel.

When the others spread out and went into their rooms Virgil stayed with Nick, who wasn’t up for a rant but knew he would make it worse if he ditched him now.

„What a sleeky bastard you are,“ Virgil started and Nick was surprised that he sounded rather amused.

„You can fool the others but I know what happened.“

Nick stared at him.

„You…you know?“, he stammered in disbelief.

Virgil nodded and smiled slightly.

„I know the way you’re thinking. You saw how much fame you brought Birdie with your little tantrum and you wanted to correct that.“

„I know it was a bad idea,“ Nick answered quickly, trying to fob him off.

„Nonsense, it wasn’t bad. The realization was a bit clumsy, but dramatic enough to gain us headlines, maybe even the front page. I bet someone took a photo of your fight.“

Nick had to admit that he liked that. And wouldn’t it be funny to have Arthur on the front page?

„So…you liked it?“

„Yes. But I still wonder why you didn’t tell me anything. Is it because of Birdie? Are you afraid I’ll rat you out?“

„You could do that,“ Nick said, even though he trusted Virgil. „I’m not naive, you know?“

„Nick, I won’t play you off against each other. If you want a spectacular show, I won’t ruin it for you. I’m actually glad that you have plans again. I was worried about you and I missed the old Nick.“

„Thanks, Virgil, I’m so glad to have you,“ Nick sighted and Virgil gave him a pat on his back.

„Sleep tight, Nickie. And keep your head clear, I need you in a good shape tomorrow.“

„Of course. Good night, Virgil.“

Nick walked along the corridor to Morrie’s room, relieved that he got off so cheaply, and knocked on the door.

„Morrie? It’s me. Are you awake?“

When Morrie came out he gave Nick a gloomy look.

„What?…“ Nick began, but then fell silent.

„That was…really fucked up, sorry for swearing. I thought you understood that we’re a team now…“ Morrie was still very sore.

„I’m sorry…I relapsed…“ Nick stuttered and looked at Morrie with pleading eyes.

„Right now, it was the dumbest idea you could have. Don’t you know your reputation is at stake?“, the other man snapped.

„Of course I know,“ Nick was offended. „Why do you think did I wanted a special show?“

„I’m not talking about your fame, I mean…“, he paused, searching for words.

„What?“, Nick urged him.

„The murders, Nick,“ Morrie whispered. „You know they happened, right?“

„Murders again? Would you please tell me what they got to do with me?“, Nick hissed in frustration and Morrie sighted and shook his head.

„Alright, the bloke from the O’Courant who trashed your last record was found dead in the park. Bobbies told us it was an accident but they also swarmed the place and fenced it off for days. A bit elaborate for a simple accident, don’t you think?

The next is only two days ago: Bates, the owner of the music shop, who hated you in general and refused to sell you anything, was found dead in the shop. Rumors say he was sliced open, with the guts hanging out. His wife found him like that.“

„Bates…he’s dead?“, Nick stuttered, having a hard time to follow. „I didn’t know this…“

„You see the problem now? It looks like there’s someone slaughtering your enemies, and then you’re playing the butcher on stage.“

„But…it was only a downer!“, Nick said meekly.

„And the bobby? You looked like you’re about to kill him. If I didn’t stop you….“. Morrie paused and gave him a really concerned look.

„I just…didn’t want him to hurt my actor,“ Nick defended himself. „The rest was only jokes. I guess I went a bit off the rails with my own acting.“

Nick tried a smile again but Morrie only furrowed his brows.

„I’m not a killer,“ Nick pleaded. „Morrie, you know me!“

„I know,“ Morrie sighted. „You can be cruel, but not like this…Just…be careful for fuck’s sake! And let’s hope no one draws a conclusion from the show to the actual crimes.“

„It was really stupid, right?…I don’t know what’s gotten into me.“ Nick hung his head.

„Well, you have enough time to think about it now …“

„Does that mean…you wanna be alone tonight?“, Nick asked with a pleading look in his eyes.

Morrie answered with a stern gaze.

„You can’t imagine how disappointed I am,“ he hissed, „If you care at all, you’ll stay alone too, and make up your mind.“

With that, Morrie dismissed him and Nick was left to feel miserable. He didn’t want to be alone. Not with all these unpleasant things Morrie had brought up.

So there was a killer on the loose who probably went for his enemies. Just like that. Nick was shocked that this could even happen in Wellington Wells, especially with all the bobbies patrolling around. He could believe in Foggy Jack, who supposedly stayed in the large Garden District, where the fog was spreading and thicker and no one could track him down. But this new one?

Nick was also shocked to hear that Bates was dead, killed in such a cruel way. He hadn’t been a very pleasant guy, but he didn’t deserve that. It bothered Nick even more, that he had been with Kitty the same night before, without knowing how he got there. Had the killer been in the house that night? Sure, she found Bates in the shop, not in the house, so he was probably safe, but still he could slap himself for even being there then, of all possible days. If somebody found out…They suspected him anyway.

What burned in his guts was the nightmare he had experienced on stage, while standing above the bobby. Then suddenly he had felt like someone was about to die and he didn’t know what gave him that idea. It was as if he had seen the murder happen, maybe when he was with Kitty. So he only had to remember and everything would be alright again? But if that was true, why had he felt like he held a weapon in his hand? If it had been one, if his memories were trustworthy enough. Perhaps his tired brain played a trick on him and the only thing that was real was that Morrie was mad at him again.

Even though he was completely innocent, Nick thought as he walked along the corridor to his own suite.

He didn’t understand Arthur. He hadn’t reckoned to see him again so soon. It could have been a coincidence though, Arthur could’ve been there just for the music, or because everyone was there, just trying to have a good time, until he got busted. If he had kept his cover, Nick wouldn’t have noticed him at all. It made sense. So it was a coincidence. And now they wouldn’t see each other again for real, Nick thought and he felt a sting in his heart.

He hoped that Arthur made it to the exit in time. He would even visit him if he wasn’t worried that Morrie noticed he went away. And how could he explain this?

What did he even want from Arthur?

Frustrated, he slapped his forehead.

Damnit, he had to leave him alone for once, he had been obviously not interested in him. Showing up at the concert didn’t change that. If anything, they were even now. Arthur had saved his life, and now Nick had saved his. It created actually a good conclusion and they could part ways now.

Nick had to admit that he had to stop this hopeless swooning. He had had a crush on this beautiful stranger and it failed. It was before he had met Morrie again and he loved Morrie. Now, he had to prove him that he was worth a second try.

Arthur, driven by panic, was running the entire way to the exit, until he was finally out and hiding in the dark empty streets. He didn’t even need Joy to break into hysterical giggling. His sense blamed it on the shock, but his heart said that he had just witnessed real fun, something that dozens of Joy pills couldn’t give him. Of course he was glad that Nick didn’t give him a real beating for stealing his show. Instead they had just played a crazy game, that only Nick could’ve made up.

Arthur had to slump on the ground in an uncivilized way to catch his breath, thinking about how close he had come to Nick and how stunning Nick had looked on stage. How his hair had shined in the spotlight. Like caramel, Arthur thought and chuckled sillily. And Nick’s fluent movements…he had seen a lot of Wellies fight by now, and Nick’s style was definitely looking better. If only he could hit a little harder, it would be safe to have a walk with him in the Garden District…

Arthur took a deep breath when his laughing fit was fading and he couldn’t tear away from this vision.

„Just put out your little hand, my darling, one, and I’ll give you mine.“

Arthur leaned back, staring at the cloudy sky above him, wondering what he could do. Where was Nick now? He never knew where he went, when he left the tunnels. Arthur guessed his house fell flat. But someone must know where he liked to hang out, some fan or paparazzi. He had to get his hands on a newspaper tomorrow. Tonight, his only option was getting home without getting caught, so he picked himself up and sneaked along the streets.

When he rounded the corner he saw someone sitting on the ground. He flinched at first but then he found the person was harmless, probably sleeping or being a downer or both. They didn’t even move.

Walking closer, he saw it was a woman, her shoulders were shaking, and soon he heard her quiet sobs. She noticed him and gave him a frightened look. She probably believed he would attack her for crying.

„It’s okay…I’m just passing through…I haven’t seen a thing…“, he whispered to her and held up his hands to show they were empty.

She sobbed louder.

„Did you see the show?“, she asked and stared at him with wide eyes. „Did you see Nick?“

„Uh…y..yes, I saw him…“, Arthur stammered.

„How was he?“, she whimpered.

„Uhm…w…wonderful, just wonderful. I mean smashing.“

She was shaken by another crying fit, before she went on.

„I…missed him…I wish I saw him too, I’m his biggest fan you know, but…I had too much Joy…that happens to me sometimes….I wake up with a headache and a disgusting taste in my mouth and I just double the dose to feel good again…“

„That’s…nothing to worry about…people have headaches sometimes….there’s nothing wrong with you,“ Arthur tried to comfort her. Did he feel bad sometimes, while taking Joy? He didn’t remember.

„But now I missed Nickie!“, she cried, rubbing her reddened eyes.

„I believe Nick won’t hold that against you…You can still got to another concert.“

The woman shook her head.

„I don’t want to wait that long. I want to see him now and say I’m sorry.“

Arthur crossed his arms. „If only there was a way to get to him,“ he whispered more to himself than to her. „I wonder where he is now.“

„Oh, that’s an easy one, I bet he’s still in the Avalon Hotel,“ the woman said as if it was the most obvious thing and Arthur couldn’t help but stare at her.

„You mean, everyone can visit him there?“

„No silly, not everyone. Not anymore. Now that he’s famous again, he’ll pick only his biggest fans. And there was something we had to do to prove it….wait…“

Her features lightened up, as if she remembered something and then she smiled for the fist time.

„What?“, Arthur said louder than he had intended to.

„Yeah, I remember now! The offerings!“, she shouted in excitement and Arthur could only gape cluelessly. He was sure he had heard the word before but he didn’t know what it was about.

„How did that work again?“, Arthur asked, hoping that he was considered as one of his biggest fans and she would share the secret with him.

„I have to give him a present, something really precious, to show my true love. Or else he won’t shag me. This is how I’ll get him!“ She told him and then suddenly bobbed up.

„Uh…good luck then?“, Arthur said and she giggled.

„Thank you, dearie.“ She blew him a kiss. „Bye!“

Then she scooted away and left a confused Arthur, who just got everything he needed to see Nick again.

#wehappyfew #whf #we happy few #whf arthur #nick lightbearer

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moremousewrites · 5 years

Text

Live Wire

Pairing: The Dirt!Mick Mars/Reader

Summary: You have to go to a "glam rock" concert for work and it's not something you wanna waste your Friday night on. You get harassed by some dirtbag and Mick Mars, the guitarist for the most infamous rock band ever catches you fighting him off

Rating: Fluff

Mick Mars loved women. He loved them a lot, but the women who were around him so often weren’t looking for love, they were looking for sex. Of course there was nothing wrong with sex, Mick loved that, too. But he knew those girls were temporary. It frustrated Mick to watch his band mates hurting the women they said they loved by cheating on them. They were kids, though and they had time to figure out what they really wanted; Mick didn’t think he did. His body ached in ways that couldn’t be translated into language and he wanted someone to be there with him, making the pain ease.

You loved being alone. You loved your personal space and your freedom that no relationship could grant you. After being in a few too many controlling relationships, you cancelled the concept as a whole. You would wear a fake wedding ring to bars and tell men you were taken. You hated that phrase, ‘taken’. You can’t take a person, they aren’t property. Living alone was incredibly easy for you, too because you didn’t get much of a choice. People always thought you were just a little… off. Something was different about you and it made interaction just a bit too stressful to be worth much to you. That’s why you were less than ecstatic when your boss bought you tickets to see some gaudy rock show for a band you never listened to. You worked in a small, private radio station and you reviewed popular music. You had to visit concerts from time to time but you usually got seats. This time, you had general admission. You were going to have to suck it up if you wanted to keep your job, though.

The concert started at ten in the evening which was a stupidly late show in your opinion. The entire crowd was inebriated and manic which meant they would be awful once the band actually plays. The opening band wasn’t half bad but you could tell they were going nowhere. Still, you took as many notes as you could in the poorly lit hall. Finally, the band came on the stage and you had to physically restrain yourself from walking out.The band members were twice as wasted as the crowd and wore heinous costumes. What was more shocking than the costumes was how transfixed the girls at the front of the crowd were. The lifted their tops and grabbed at the band’s feet like they were Gods. What could those girls possibly be seeing? The music was even worse than the environment. The lead singer’s pitchy vocals and the obnoxious instrumentals made you wish you brought earplugs. At least the band’s name was interesting; Motley Crue. You tried taking more notes but the crowd behind you moved closer and you were pushed forward, packed so tightly that you couldn’t move your arms. You had a hard time breathing and you began to feel very nervous.

A man behind you grabbed your waist and pulled you onto his groin. He made a grinding movement onto your ass and you elbowed him in the chest to push him off but he wouldn’t budge. When he sucked your neck, slobbering down your shoulder, you decided you had enough. Enough of this man, this concert, this night. You turned around to confront him but he greeted your expression of fury with one of pride. Without thinking, you punched him in his proud mouth. The man fell backwards into the crowd. “FUCK, WHY DID-” was all you heard him say before he was trampled by the masses behind you. You tried to squeeze your way out of the hall but you just managed to get closer to the stage.

This concert began rather ordinarily for Mick Mars. A bunch of brain dead groupies gathered in front of the stage, junkies were sniffing the corners of the hall for a generous stranger’s kindness, and Mick was tired before he even started. It wasn’t even ten minutes into the show before a fight broke out in the crowd. But hold on, this wasn’t a real fight, Mick watched as a girl decked a man twice her size right in the teeth. His mouth was bleeding, immediately and he yelled something that was drowned out by the music. And the girl, she didn’t give that loser a second thought as she moved toward the front of the stage. As she approached the stage for air, Mick could see her hand was bleeding and in need of attention. She held it close to her body as the crowd pushed her closer to the platform he was on.

You were completely out of breath and you were positive your hand was broken. Feeling vulnerable and wounded, you tried looking anywhere but behind you. When you looked up, you saw a pair of bright eyes outlined in black staring back at you. This was the lead guitarist making eye contact with you. What were you supposed to do, wave? This wasn’t a situation you had ever been in before. You never actually met the bands you saw, you were just a critic for a really small station. Following your gut, you waved at him with your injured hand which he stared and grimaced at. Did you just make a rockstar cringe? You would have thought he was used to some gore by now.

Wow your hand was broken, was all Mick could think when he saw your hand. But you waved at him which was so bizarre in this environment as he was more used to being flashed than being waved at. You were definitely catching his attention but first, you needed medical attention. Once the song ended, Mick spoke over Vince. “Can someone get that girl backstage to a fucking doctor?” He asked, pointing to you.

Wait, did you hear that correctly? Was the lead guitarist of this famous band pointing to you? You looked behind you and noticed you were being watched by everyone surrounding you. Yup, he was pointing at you. A man walked up to you and walked you out of the crowd, pulling on your arm gently. The guitarist watched as you walked away and you waved ‘goodbye’ to him. A woman from the crowd also followed, explaining she was a nurse.

“I always bring a first aid kit to these things” She said as she set your hand in a makeshift splint. “Everyone is always getting into fights. It’s like war out there” She sighed to herself.

You admired her crafting and drank some water to calm yourself. She told you that you wouldn’t be needing any stitches but you should see your professional after this. The nurse left and the man who escorted you out introduced himself as “Doc”.

“You’re a doctor too?” You asked, confused.

“No, I just try to keep those idiots alive” He said, bitterly. You realized he had a more managerial relationship with the band. “Would you care to explain how your hand got that way?” He asked you.

Not trying to justify your actions to this stranger, you shrugged, “What hand?” You asked, getting up to leave. Just as you reached the door, it was opened from the other side and hit you on your shoulder “Ow” You said, dully. This was becoming a painful concert.

The person who swung the door revealed himself as the same man who called for your rescue. “Shit, sorry” He apologized, giving you some space. He was an odd-looking guy. You hadn’t seen many people with his style before, all leather and metal, and his face covered in makeup. He was incredibly tall in his platform boots as well, leaving you feeling short in your flats. He introduced himself as Mick Mars which had to be a stage name. “How is it?” He asked you.

You felt your shoulder. “It might bruise but I’ll be fine” You answered, realizing too late he meant your hand. Mick rolled his eyes. “Oh it’s shattered. I need to see a doctor tomorrow”

Mick lifted your arm to examine your hand which was covered in bloody gauze. “Sit down” He ordered, and you did. “Pour her a drink” He told the Doc, so he did. Mick sat down beside you on the couch and pulled his boots off. Once he wiped his makeup off with a rag, he looked human. You didn’t know what you expected under the makeup, but it wasn’t the average person in front of you. “What happened?” He asked.

Again, you shrugged. “It slipped” You lied. Both Mick and the Doc gave you a stern look which made you shrink. “A guy just wasn’t taking a hint so gave him a bigger one” You waved your hand a bit. “Is the show over already? I was supposed to write this review but I got kinda… sidetracked” You asked, taking the drink Doc handed you. It tasted disgusting so you chugged it, shivering from the alcohol.

“Yeah, it wasn’t gonna be a full set tonight, anyway. The guys wanted to fit some partying in” Mick explained. “What were you gonna put in your review?” He asked. You took out your notepad and showed him your notes. “Brutal” Mick sighed at your harsh criticism.

“It’s not my kinda scene. My boss probably sent me here knowing I’d trash this concert. We get better ratings when I do” You explained, not wanting this complete stranger to be upset with you. He had helped you, afterall. He didn’t say anything in response but nodded in understanding.

The door to the room opened and the three other band members walked in, one jumping over the back of the couch, planting himself next to you. The other two went straight for the bar. “Hi there” He wrapped his long, leather-clad arm around your shoulders and pulled you close. “Does Mick have dibs on you yet?” He asked, pissing you off.

“Fuck off, Tommy. She broke a guy’s face for less” Mick was already feeling protective over you, and a bit jealous. Tommy was his brother, but he could have anyone else on the tour, not you. Tommy heeded his warning and let you go.

A skinny, blonde man, the lead singer if you remembered correctly, pointed at you with a drink in his hand, “Oh yeah, you had that fucked up hand. Did you deck a guy or something?” He handed you a drink of whatever and you nodded before gulping it down, too. “That’s heavy metal” He noted. “What’s your name, killer?” He asked.

“(Y/N)” You answered. Mick realized this was the first time he had heard your name and he liked it a lot. “I work at a nearby radio station and I was supposed to review you guys but I didn’t really get a chance to hear you” You groaned, thinking about what your boss was going to say. You could always make up some bullshit but you liked having some journalistic integrity.

Mick Mars, who could see you were pretty upset with how the night’s events unfolded, made a suggestion. “Or we could just go on this radio show ourselves and tell everyone how it went” He offered. You were shocked. The rest of the band was even more surprised.

You stared at him, jaw locked open. “I’m down, you earned it after going into battle” Vince said, looking up from the table he was snorting a bump off of. Vince pointed to your braced hand and was clearly impressed. Tommy and Nikki both agreed to do the interview as well.

“Holy shit, thank you. I’ll get you guys my info” You said, writing your work number and fax on a scrap of notebook paper, handing it to Mick who touched your hand lightly as he took it. The other members of the Crue said it was no problem and that it was nice meeting you but they had a party to throw. They all left the room except for Mick who still sat across from you. “I really can’t thank you enough for this and for getting me some help” You played at the blood drying on your nails. You hoped it was yours. You offered your good hand for Mick to shake.

He took your hand in his. “You should come to this party” Mick suggested. Yet again, he caught you off guard. "It probably won't be your scene and you might punch someone, but you should come along"

You thought about it for a moment. You just met this guy and you would most likely be making a mistake trusting him, but you couldn't live with yourself wondering 'what if'. "Okay, I'll go" you agreed, finally letting go of Mick's hand after realizing you had been holding it for a while.

#mick mars #the dirt!mickmars #the dirt #iwan rheon mick mars #the dirt fanfiction

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aboysbestfriendishismum · 6 years

Text

Chapter 49 - The surfer, the nice guy and James’ brother

In the previous chapter: Eddie's in San Diego and his friend Craig visits him. He also teases Eddie about Angie and asks to show him a picture, since he's sure he's got at least one. Of course he's right. Grace goes to the beauty salon Meg works at to have her hair cut, they talk about her relationship with Stone. Grace thinks they're at the very beginning and she's not in a hurry to take things to the next level. Angie flew to San Diego for the Mookie's show, but she finds out the concert will be the following day and that Alice in Chains' backup band for that night is someone called Pearl Jam that she doesn't know.

“Angie, wait, calm down! Could you talk a little slower, please? I didn't understand shit. I've never heard so many words coming out from your lips all at ones. I mean, I probably never heard you say so many words in general since I first met you” Meg stops me as I'm trying to summarize all the disasters occured to me during the few hours passed since we said bye this morning. Anyway, wasn't that joke mine? We've been living together for less than a year and she's already started talking like me.

“I'd love to if I had an unlimited stash of quarters, but that's not the case” I say right as I put some more coins into the payphone.

“Ok but you sound like a 33 record pitched up to 45, you're scaring me. What do you mean the show was canceled? Where are you now? And what's this music?”

“Livingston Taylor, I'm in a café. I don't know if it was canceled of Eddie simply mixed up the dates. The fact is the concert is tomorrow, at least for the Alice guys. No trace of Mookie, neither today or tomorrow, they're nowhere to be seen...” I explain answering her questions in reverse order.

“From what I can hear, a bar for suicide candidates” she asks, showing she understood only the first part of my answer.

“Can we talk about the music selection of this place another time?”

“And who the hell is Livingston Taylor??”

“I guess the answer is no. It's James' brother”

“Does he sing too? How do you know him?”

“I'll try again: can we go back to my problem?”

“Are you sure Mookie's are not there? Take a better look”

“I'm sure Meg, I checked. There's someone called Pearl Jam... never heard of her, she sounds like a country singer. Or maybe it's a band. Or a bunch of bands getting together for a jam, I don't know”

“Country? What the fuck does country music have to do with Alice? And are there jam sessions in country music?”

“I have no idea, I only know the guys are not there”

“They must be there, maybe the bill is not updated!”

“The fact is I'm fucked anyway, because if you're right, then they're playing tomorrow night and not tonight. And I already have a flight booked for tomorrow”

“That's not a big deal, you can change the date. Didn't you take two more days off to go visit your parents?”

“Well, yeah...” I wrap the phone cord around my finger a little tighter.

“Ok, so you'll go back to Idaho another time and now you'll spend a few days in California, I can't see the problem” here's surely a better place than the one I was planning to go, anywhere is better.

“With what money? And where will I sleep? I don't even have clothes with me, I brought almost nothing with me” I have another pair of jeans and a couple of t-shirts and I think I'm gonna put on one of the t-shirts right now because I'm starting to sweat with this jumper. I already need to go to the bathroom anyway.

“I bet it's hot down there though, you don't even need clothes” she chuckles, knowing that she's just making me more nervous.

“If you're trying to be funny, you know, you're failing miserably”

“And I doubt Eddie will complain about your lack of clothes... I mean”

“MEG!”

“He'd be happy about it I think”

“What about we just cut the crap and focus on my problem once and for all?”

“This problem again! What's the problem? Just go see the guys and they'll find a solution”

“Thank you, no, thank you very much, Meg. Without you, I would have never thought about it! Where the fuck to I go?! I don't know where they are”

“Ok, call Eddie?”

“If I could call Eddie, do you think I'd be on the phone with you? I don't have the number...”

“What do you mean you don't have it?? You talk on the phone every day”

“We don't talk every day!” I answer maybe a little too loudly because the two guys sitting at the closest booth turn around at the same time and glance at me “Anyway, I don't have the number of the hotel, I don't know where it is, he's always the one who calls and... Wait, Grace! Give me Grace's number, she must have it” I go on in a lower voice, holding back my enthusiasm for the sudden brilliant idea.

“Mmm I doubt it, as far as I know he's the one who always calls too. But we can try. Wait, isn't she working today? Wait, I'll check” I can hear Meg moving around in the apartment, she's probably looking at the front of the mini market through the window to see if our friend's at work.

“I don't think so, Ian should be there. Try and come up with another idea, better before the next ten seconds, I'm almost out of quarters”

“Kelly, just call him! He must know where they are staying. Wait, I'm gonna get the number, I have it, I'm sure” this time I clearly hear hem run, surely towards the phone table and I can also hear her open the first drawer, that always gets stuck and is hard to open, as she's looking for that fucking business card that's been there for ages and we never needed before. And we won't even need it now actually.

“Curtis is here in San Diego with them, he's not in Seattle, where the fuck do I find him?”

“Shit... well... but Susan is here, she didn't leave with the band!” she adds, finally catching my attention with something interesting.

“How do you know?”

“She had told me she wouldn't have followed them. I met her and Chris at the Lemonheads concert, the one you didn't came to because you had to be asocial” she points out as I keep on hearing her rummage into the drawer.

“That is studying for the exams. Come on, give me that number” I encourage her with new found hope.

“Uhm... what should you say first?” she laughs and I figure out she's now finally holding the Curtis and Silver management card in her hands.

“Oh Jesus, I should say don't get on my fucking nerves and give me that fucking number. Please” I joke as I retrieve a pen from my backpack.

“Sweet little darling, if you ask me like this, how can I say no?”

I hang up with the promise to keep her updated about where will I and up and immediately make a new phone call, putting the coins that the payphone has just spat back into the machine and dialing the number that I scribbled down on the soda receipt.

“Curtis and Silver, good afternoon” I recognise the voice of Kelly's wife, what's her name? It's on the tip of my tongue...

“Good afternoon!” I answer, my anxiety disguised as absolutely unjustified enthusiasm “Can I speak to Su... ehm, with Miss Silver?”

“I think she's already gone to lunch, who is it?”

“Fu... well, I'm Angie, Angela, Angela Pacifico. I needed to tell her something, it's pretty important” I hope I managed to cut the word fuck before she could hear it.

“Ha you're the guys' friend! Wait, I'll try and put you through her office, if she's still there she will answer for sure” Peggy, that's her name, recognises me and immediately switch the call to Susan's room.

As the phone rings I'm on edge the whole time and not because I'm afraid I won't finde her. I mean, I have the number now, if I don't find her right now, I can still talk to her later after lunch and even if she didn't come back to work, I could as well contact her through Chris or calling her on that mobile phone she always carries with her. The reason is I'm embarrassed, I don't wanna seem the typical clueless naive young kid that just leaves like that on a plane without getting actual detailed information first and then gets in trouble and can't find her way out of a paper bag. I'm also pondering on what to tell actually: what can I do, ask her for the hotel address and take another cab? That'd mean spending more money. Do I ask her for the number and call them asking to come and take me? That'd mean ruining the surprise. Unless I...

“Silver” Susan answers surprising me when I was about to hang up.

“Susan! Hi, sorry if I'm bothering you, I'm Angie, Meg's friend”

“Hey! Hi kiddo, I recognised your voice, you know?”

“Oh really? Great! What... what's up?”

“I'm fine, I was about to leave actually, you were lucky to find me. What about you? Can I help you?” she asks me, kind of puzzled, since I never called her before. I'd better just tell things straight without beating around the bush.

“Yeah, actually you can. I'll be very fast and sorry again fot bothering you but, you know, you're like the only one who can help me right now”

“What the hell did you do?”

I briefly explain the situation and the fact her reply consists in a big laugh makes me feel both calmer and extremely stupid at the same time.

“Haha so you're telling me you don't know Pearl Jam?”

“Well, no. Is it a band?” I say and I really appreciate Susan's passion for music, but I wish she'd focus on my problem now.

“Pearl Jam are Mookie Blaylock, it's the new name of the band, didn't they tell you?”

“WHAT?!” I yell through the receiver and the Nets cap of guy nr 1 lifts up towards me “No, nobody told me”

“But you know they had to change the name, right?”

“Mookie sued them?”

“Hehe no, at least, not yet. Anyway it could get them in some legal trouble, so they had to change the name at some point, possibly before the album release. And before people started to remember them by a name that was destined not to last. So they changed it now”

“And why Pearl Jam? Where does it come from? What does it mean?” I ask curious, forgetting for a moment I am in a café in San Diego, a city I don't know, right in front of a club where my friends won't show up until tomorrow night.

“Hehe you should ask them! Anyway, back to you, you should have called me from the airport, you're basically on the other side of town.

“I knew that, I'm always so lucky... Ok, give me the address” I sigh as I turn the receipt the other way round and point the pen at the still blank corner.

“Don't worry, I'm gonna give the guys a call and have someone come pick you up”

“Oh no, Susan, you don't need to, really, I can get there myself!”

“No way, I'll feel definitely more reassured if I know you're with Jeff or Stone”

“Ok, but... do you have to call Stone or Jeff?”

“Why? What's the problem?” she ask perplexed.

“No, it's just... well, the reason I got caught up in this mess is that I wanted to surprise them and now if you tell them, it woud all have been useless, you know”

“Ok, I can call someone else... I can call Eddie?”

“Eddie's always part of Mookie, I mean, of Pearl Jam. The surprise was-”

“What if I send you Sean? Or Layne? I'm gonna call one of them, the first one I find, ok? So we're ruining the surprise for just one band instead of them both, what do you think?”

“A-alright, it's ok for me!”

“Right, I'm gonna call right now then! Sorry kid, I gotta leave you now, I'm already late”

“Oh no, no problem! I mean, thank you for saving me and everything”

“You're welcome, I'm calling them now. Bye babe!”

“Bye. Oh wait! Could you now-” I try and add something, the last condition, but Susan has already hung up. Is she already calling my saviour? She won't call him, right? I'm not so unlucky. Or am I?

*******************************************************************************************************************************

“And now? What's wrong with you?” the radio station I'm listening to starts to fuss as I turn into el Cajon Boulevard. Fuck, right when Queensrÿche were on. I fiddle with the car radio for a while, then turn it off irritated. I'm nervous, I admit it. It's not been that long since I last saw her, but it seems ages. Even further in my memory is the last time we talked. When? At the Music Bank maybe, when she told me of chlamydia. I saw her again later but I kept my distance. That was our last conversation. And now that I think about it, it wasn't that bad, I mean, we even said goodbye in the end. At some point I got a memorable slap, ok, but after all we had a normal, peaceful conversation. I remember she even laughed once or twice, who knows why. I hope I can find something to make her smile this time too. Will she expect I'll be there? Well, she knows I'm here too, I mean, she came here to Seattle to see us, she knew she'd have found me as well, didn't she? And what if... No, Jerry, hold on, don't even think about it. Do you really think she came here for you? Why? To tell you what? If that was the case, but it isn't, she'd have come here to tell you, I don't know, that she got over you and totally forgot you. But she's not here for you, she's in San Diego to see Stone and the others and maybe, yes, to see us too, and nothing else. She didn't come here for you, but despite you.

I pass the club we're playing tomorrow, but Angie's nowhere to be seen. I drive for a few hundred yards further until I find a hole to park the van and walk back to the place; as I get closer to the venue I see our name on the outside getting bigger, but I still can't see Angie. I'm right in front of the entrance and take a look around, two girls marching arm in arm pass before me and one of them looks and smile at me, while her friend talks to her excitedly. She turns around twice more once she passes me by. I smile back until I remember why I'm here. Even though she's not here for me, I don't think it's a good idea to have her catch me flirting with other girls as I wait for her. I take my eyes off the girl's ass and notice another girl sitting on the sidewalk outside the café on the other side of the road. She's got purple hair. No, blue. No, a little bit of both. She's wearing mirrored shades and a Misfits t-shirt and I got the feeling there's a nice pair of boobs under that skull. I watch her as she lights up a cigarette and she notices me right when she's putting the lighter back in her pocket. At least, that's what I think, I can't really tell because of those sunglasses, I can just assume where she's looking at. And I think she's looking at me. Actually, I think she's staring. Can't I just stop it?! The girls stands up straight away, throws a dark backpack on her shoulder and looks left and right before crossing the road. She gets closer and smiles and I look around hoping that Angie won't show up right now and see me approaching a girl. Even though now it's the girl who's approaching me. Why do I have to get girls even when I don't want to?

“I should have known that, among everybody, Susan would have called you” the unknown girl complains and she's not unknown anymore.

“ANGIE?!” to say that I'm surprised would be an understatement. I didn't get any girls and I'm an asshole.

“Were you waiting for someone else?” she takes off her big shades, revealing her frowny expression I'm crazy for and I'm instantly brought back to the time when we were together.

“What... what the fuck did you do to your hair?” it's the first thing that comes up to my mind to tell her. Good job, Jerry, you're great at handling conversations with ex girlfriends.

“I wanted to change a little” she shrugs.

“And you call this a little! You cut it all!” I grab her arm unceremoniously and have her turn around to examine the length of her hair, thinking that maybe she just cut it on the front. No. She had at least half of her mane cut.

“It's not like I'm bald”

“I can't believe it, your beautiful hair...” I whine inconsolably as I hold one lock of hair and look at it miserably.

“Don't exceed with compliments, huh? Or I'm gonna end up building castles in the air, you know” she says ironically. But is she really ironic? What does she mean with castles in the air? That she'll end up thinking I still like her? Because I do. I like her a lot, even with a bad haircut.

“You look fine, Angie. It's just I don't really like this hair style, I can't lie”

“Really? Since when?” she gives me a sneering grin and I feel it's only the first of many direct shots I'm gonna get from her for this couple of days. I must say I'm glad to let her shoot me if this means I'm gonna spend some time with her again.

“I should have seen this one coming”

“You don't even like the color?” why is she asking me if I like it? Why should she be interested?

“I like blue, whereas purple... meh... Anyway, the length is the main problem” I'm such a jerk.

“It's more practical this way,” she explains gathering up her hair with her hands and tying them back with a scrunchie “especially when it's hot”

“It's not even that hot, it's just that we're used to Seattle, wet cold simply penetrated our bones” I'd have never imagined to find myself here in San Diego with Angie, talking about the weather, but I'm so happy right now that it seems I have been wanting this for ever.

“Yeah, there's a big temperature difference. I'm gonna get ill as soon as I'm back in Seattle, I know, but it doesn't matter”

“It was worth it, wasn't it?” I point at the van and gestures for her to follow me.

“Hehe yeah, that's for sure” she chuckles. She's laughing. And I didn't even have to make an effort for her to do it. I hope I won't be the one building castles in the air. Maybe it's too late though.

“Anyway, she called Layne” I tell her after a long silence break I didn't mind, also because I filled it by turning the radio on immediately.

“What?”

“Susan. She called Layne's room, I was there by pure chance and picked up the phone”

“Lucky me” she sarcastically remarks looking outside the window.

“Fate likes to play from time to time” just like this moment, when they announce It's love by King's X on the radio.

“Who are you sharing your room with then?”

“Uhm?” such an underrated band.

“I thought you were staying with Layne. You're with Sean, right? You wouldn't stand Mike for too long”

“Don't underestimate me, I've known Mike for ages and I can stand him easily. And when I can't bear him anymore, I know how to make him shut up”

“You're with him then” why is she so interested in my accommodation?

“No”

“Kinney? I told you”

“Actually, no”

“So you've got your own room like real rockstars?” she looks at me and giggles and I can't believe it because the last times our eyes met before today she looked like she was going to puke at best.

“No, I... I'm not staying here with the guys. Well, I haven't been here in the last few days”

“And where were you?”

“In L.A.”

“By yourself? With friends? Wait, with a female friend, right?” her smile is replaced to her well known nauseated grimace.

“Well, yeah, you guessed it right”

“Knowing you, it wasn't that difficult” she shakes her head and I figure out that if I don't explain myself I'll fuck up our conversation, which has been going pretty well up to now.

“It's not what you think though...”

“I don't think anything” she bitterly snaps back and she looks like she's thinking a lot of things, very bad things of course.

“She's a friend in need”

“It's none of my business, Jerry”

“It's Xana”

“Xana... isn't that the name of-”

“Andy's girlfriend”

“Oh. Is she in Los Angeles now?”

“Yep. And... she's not doing very well” I use an euphemism. It's almost been a year and things only get worse. She can't find peace in herself, honestly I think she's not even looking for peace. It's like she didn't think it could be possible for her, like she wanted to suffer, even though she always shows her tough side and hides her weakness. I don't like the direction her life has taken.

“I see”

“And to me she's like a sister, nothing else”

“You don't have to justify yourself, really”

“Ok, but I wanted to explain all the same”

“You don't need to explain to me that you're a nice guy, Jerry, I already know that”

“Do you?” is she really telling me a nice thing?

“I do, you're the one who tends to forget it, a little too often”

“Ah. Well, yeah, it can be...” it's not really happening “I'm not an asshole then?”

“Sure as hell you are, but it's just masking”

“Like undercover policemen?”

“Exactly, you're one of those who've just commited too much to the role”

We get to Point Loma area in half an hour, probably the faster thirty minutes of my life. I wish it lasted much longer.

“We're almost there”

“Thank god! It's too hot in this van” she remarks leaning her head a little more out of the open window.

“As soon as we become rich and famous, we'll buy one with air conditioning, I promise”

“Once you become rich and famous, you won't even remember what my name is” she jokes without turning to me and keeps on looking at the sea. Are you afraid I'll forget you? Only yesterday I thought you'd have willingly cut out the portion of her brain occupied by the memories about me with a box cutter if only it was possible, but now...

“I don't think so”

“SUNSET CLIFFS. They do surf in here I guess” Angie reads aloud the sign on the road that indicates the national park area.

“Yeah, Eddie often goes to a beach that's right next to the hotel. He's always subjecting us to psychological pressure and convinces us to follow him. Wanna bet we'll catch him there?”

Five minutes later we're on the road that leads to Rodeway Inn and I slow down so my passenger can inspect the coast and the waves as I drive.

“I can't really tell the figures in the middle of the water. He's not on the beach anyway”

“He must be in the water” I shrug as I park the van, then get out and jog to the other side to open her door while she's still looking outside the window.

“Thank you. Does Layne know I'm here? He didn't say anything to the others, did he?”

“Nah, he knows, but he also knows he must keep his mouth shut. I told him to gather everybody in the breakfast room with an excuse”

“Breakfast room?” sha asks taking her camera out of her backpack and hanging it around her neck.

“Yeah, well, a small room with four tables where it's impossible to sit down and you gotta eat while you're standing up” I explain as we walk close to each other and if on one hand it seems unbelievable, on the other hand it seems the most natural thing to me, as if we never stopped being like this and talk and relate to each other this way.

“It's normal for musicians to get up late and have breakfast at 3:00 in the afternoon anyway, nobody would suspect anything”

“Hi guys!” I enter the room and see my bandmates plus Stone and Jeff engaging in a game, whose rules I immediately understand: if you throw the paper ball right into the bread basket in the centre of one of the tables, the other guy drinks a shot of Jameson. I guess the true point of the game is not to be thrown out of the hotel.

“Hey Jer, did you know Mike has bad aim?” Stone, who's perfectly sober like all the others minus one, makes fun of my bass player, who's clearly putting on a show.

“That ball is rigged I think, it takes weird turns” Starr mumbles.

“I think it's your brain cells that are taking alternative ways and now they're lost” Sean laughs and nudges him so hard he almost makes him fall off the chair.

“Aw come on, do you have to embarrass me right now that I've brought a girl with me” I try and play my part, but Mike's trying hard to make me give myself away and fuck this whole surprise up.

“She's right outside, she'll be here in a minute”

“Anyway, if she's dating you, she's already expecting the worse anyway, she won't get shocked” Stone goes on and I foretaste his reaction when Angie's gonna get into the scene and he'll think I was playing an act, not knowing that she dated me for real.

“Well, let her decide though” I say the words we agreed before, the signal for her to get into the scene.

“OH. MY. GOD!” the first to start screaming is Jeff, I don't know if it's for the surprise to see her here of for her hair, or both. Stone, although he's already used at Jeff's behaviour, finds his reaction to an average girl I hit on a little too much, so he gets closer and tries to understand who's the mysteroius girl now imprisoned into the bassist's bear hug. All this enthusiasm starts looking exaggerated to me too now.

“Hi Angie. California has strange effects on you, am I wrong?” Gossard finally recognises her as soon as Jeff lets her go and seems really calm, although I know he's screaming internally, mostly because he's just won the bet.

“Really? I can't explain, I was normal when I left, as soon as I landed in San Diego my hair turned shorter and colored by itself. Do you think I should be worried about it?” Angie jokingly wraps a lock of hair around her finger.

“Nah, it's totally normal, I found myself with dreadlocks as soon as I got here” Layne says when it's his turn to say hello to her.

“Hey Angie! You look good anyway, you look... you look older” Sean is about to stretch his hand, then notices he still holds the game ball in it. He puts it in his pocket then shakes Angie's hand.

“Angie! Heeeeeeeey!” Mike has a stupid smile I don't really like plastered on his face and hardly keeps his eyes open, but it looks like he saw Angie pretty well.

“Is this supposed to be the effect of California on him?” Angie gives him a pitiful look as he tries to stand up from his chair.

“No, this is the effect of games he suggests himself” I answer and I'm sure I'm not wrong.

“Did you come here all alone?” the bass player asks searching with his eye for someone else behind Angie.

“Well, yeah, the delegation of fans from Seattle has only one member due to circumstances beyond our control” she explains kind of embarrassed.

“That's so much better! It's a perfect chance to get to know each other a little more” Starr puts his arm around her neck and I'm about to do the same to him, only clenching much tighter. What is this jerk trying to do?

“It's rather a chance to have you get to know some of us...err... in a different light” Jeff speaks before me and lifts up Mike's arm letting her free from the drunktard's grip.

“A... vintage light!” Stone adds and reminds me about the bet itself. I have to choose between cop and cowboy.

“What do you mean?” Angie looks at us one by one, but we know better than tell her anything, even Mike keeps his mouth shut.

“No, darling. You surprised us, now it's your turn. Wait and see” Layne somehow grabs our bass player on his shoulders and makes him sit back down in his place.

“Talking about surprises... I've already had one, but I can't see the responsible” Angie looks around as she places her backpack on one of the tables and opens it, searching for something.

“Eddie's on the beach. Responsible for what?” Jeff asks confused, immediately guessing who Angie was referring to, while she takes a sip of water from the bottle she took from her bag.

“Hehe he got me in trouble”

“WHAT?!” Starr yelps out of the blue making all of us jump, but he doesn't have the chance to say anyhing else, since Angie explains the misunderstanding with Vedder about the concert date.

“So I'll have to change my initial plans a little” she states, gesticulating with the water bottle still in her hand.

“Don't worry, we're gonna find a solution” Layne tries to reassure her with a pat on her back.

“Anyway Eddie's at Ocean Beach with his friend Craig” Ament explains pointing at an indefinite space outside the balcony door.

“Is it far from here?” she asks putting the backpack back over her shoulder.

“Nah, a five minute walk, I can take you if you want” I suggest jokingly stealing the water bottle from her hands. Maybe I'm pushing too far, right?

“Thanks, I'm gonna go and tell him off. See you, guys”

“Oh yeah, tell him, just... tell him everything, ok?” Stone says bye with his usual stupid grin. What did he mean? Oh well, 80% of Stone's jokes makes no sense, the other 20% is simply not funny, so why should I make an effort to understand?

We leave and walk from the hotel straight to the waterfront, in silence, alone again, finally.

“No wetsuits though” she says after a while.

“What? Who?”

“I mean, some people have them, but not everybody. The water must be warm” she goes on, watching surfers riding waves.

“Or maybe they're just crazy”

“Did you try?”

“Yes, I told you Eddie can be very convincing”

“Hehe I know”

We get to the point where you gotta descend, we turn left into the narrow lane that leads to the staircase to the beach. I let Angie walk ahead and she goes quickly down the stairs, looking back from time to time to check if I'm still following her. She keeps on smiling at me and I'm starting to think that maybe she's on drugs, that California has a strange effect on her and not just on her hair, that the hair dye intoxicated her or that maybe it's not Angie, but some lookalike, a robot that took her place and now smiles at me. Halfway through the stairs she stops, she leans against the railing and just stays there apparently enjoying the view, than takes a picture of it with her camera. I see her snapping shot after shot, as I take this mental picture of her, so happy as I haven't seen her in a while. At a certain point, I see a big smile widening behind her camera, which she promptly puts down.

“I think I found the surfer” she explains resuming the quick walk down the stairs.

“Did you see him?”

“Yep, he's with another guy. Does Craig have blonde hair and a soul patch?” she asks without turning back.

“Yeah, that's him” I answer, but Angie's already on the beach and probably doesn't even hear me. Yeah, that's him I repeat to myself as I focus on the two guys walking towards us dragging surboards. When I set foot on the sand, Eddie's already left his friend and his board behind and he's quickly walking to meet Angie. No, actually he's running.

“I can't believe it!” I hear it exclaim and this is when I finally see it. I see what I hadn't seen untile now, because it wasn't there or because I didn't notice it, because I was looking for it in the wrong place, I looked everywhere but there, with him... or maybe because deep inside I knew it was right there and didn't want to see it. I see the way they run at each other, the way they look at each other, how they move, how they play and joke. Eddie shakes his wet hair splashing Angie, who laughs and tries to protect herself. I'm a few steps away now, but it's like I'm far light years from them. Eddie nods at me and Craig waves at me, I don't know if they also said something, I can't hear anything, it's like I'm not here, maybe it's because I shouldn't be here, with them.

“I think I'll head back to the hotel” I hear myself say at some point, the sentence must have come out automatically.

“Hey, tell the guys the bet will be paid tonight, ok?” Eddie says, as if I cared at this point.

“Hahaha I can't wait!” I blatantly lie to hide my disappointment.

“Can you please tell me what is this bet about?” she huffs.

“You'll know when the moment comes” Eddie retorts getting his surf board back from his friend's hands.

“Ok I'm gonna go then” I say again, I don't wanna stay here with these two lovebirds another minute.

“Bye Jerry, and thank you” Angie smiles at me again and I finally figure out why she can do it now: the truth is she just doesn't care anymore.

*******************************************************************************************************************************

“Big Audio Dynamite are not bad, I like them” Eddie says coming out of the water.

“They're too experimental for my taste” I grab my board and follow Eddie along the water's edge.

“Experimenting is good”

“You know I prefer rougher sounds”

“Angie?” that name comes out from nowher, I look in the same direction as Eddie's eyes.

“Your girlfriend? Where?”

“No, I thought I just... no, nothing” Eddie shakes his head and keeps walking.

“We've been under the sun for too long if you start hallucinating”

“Shut up, Craig”

“Or maybe you're just so much into this Angie girl you see her everywhere”

“They're about to release a new album anyway”

“It could be a close race in the charts for your band and them then”

“Yeah, sure”

“When is your album coming out anyway? In June?”

“August, if everything...”

“If everything what? Goes well?” I ask him but when I turn around to talk to him I notice he's not next to me anymore, he's a few steps behind me.

“I can't believe it” he mumbles to himself.

“I know what you mean, this project is surely more ambitious than Bad Radio. And from what I heard it's not bad at all and-” I walk back towards him, but my friend leaves his trusted board on the sand, dribbles me and walks away, slowly at first, then very quickly. It takes me a while to notice the other figure, a female one, walking as quickly in the opposite direction, running right towards him. A short girl with colorful hair, a Misfits t-shirt, jeans, backpack and some serious professional camera hanging around her neck. What if...

“I can't believe it!” he repeats aloud then his running ends up right in mystery girl's arms. Well, maybe she's not that mysterious after all.

“Eddie!” the girl protests as he picks her up.

“I love your hair, it looks so good on you!” he remarks putting her back down, but still holding on to her hips, and now I can only pick Romeo's board up from the sand and drag it together with mine as I join the new found lovers.

“Thank you”

“I can't believe you really came”

“You annoyed me so much about this that I had to”

“That was my exact purpose.” Eddie takes her hands and laces his fingers with hers “You're beautiful”

“How long have you been under the sun, Eddie?” she lets go of one hand and place hers on his forehead.

“I told him it's about fucking time to rest in the shade a little. Anyway, nice to meet you, I'm Craig” I let the boards fall on the sand and shakes the girl's hand so that she's forced to let go of Eddie's one.

“Hi I'm Angie”

“I supposed so”

“I can't believe it, you're actually here, for real” Eddie repeats like a broken record and hugs her again.

“I swear until a minute ago he could say other words too, you know. I don't know what's got into him, I have suspects though”

“Hehe, come on, Eddie, stop it! You're getting me all wet!” Angie complains and it takes all my strength and self control not to say anything, no jokes, no double entendre, nothing.

“Oops sorry” Eddie abruptly lets her go, then starts vigorously shaking his head left and right just like dogs do as they get out of the water, spreading droplets of sea water everywhere.

“Hahaha you're an idiot, stop it!” Angie covers herself with her hands, then uses her backpack as a shield.

“When did you get here? And how?”

“A couple of hours ago, by plane, then I got a ride here” Angie turns around and points at Jerry, that I only see now, standing a little further on the beach, and who says hi nodding his head.

“So you're the famous Angie, I finally get to know you” I chime into the little comfortable silence between the two of them where I felt like I was in the way.

“Famous? What do you mean?” Angie frowns a little.

“Well because Eddie often told me about you, I mean sometimes, you know, he mentioned a couple of interesting things and I was curious to meet you in the flesh” as I go on I try and reduce the amount of times Eddie talked about Angie, also because my friend is giving me bad looks.

“Interesting?”

“And then, let me tell you, pictures just don't do you justice, you're much cuter in person” Eddie clearly needs to wake up a little. He clearly doesn't do anything to hide his interest towards Angie, but at the same time he's as blatantly not able to act practically and do something. So there's only two things a friend like me can do to help him: A) just bitching him out in front of Angie about how he's so into her and everything and basically throwing him into her arms; B) jokingly flirting with Angie a little to make him jealous. I think I'm gonna test both techniques at the same time for the moment, let's see what works better.

“PICTURES? WHAT PICTURES?!” she asks alarmed and when Eddie gives me a nasty look I know I hit the nail right on the head.

“What pictures? Uh yeah, maybe I had a couple of polaroids from the show at the Moore with me, I took a lot of pictures, you know, to try the new camera”

“I think I'll head back to the hotel” Jerry interrupts Eddie's clutching at straws for a moment.

“Hey, tell the guys the bet will be paid tonight, ok?” Eddie told me about this bet that, if I remember well, was right about Angie. But I think he's only suddenly interested in the bet 'cause he wants to drop the subject and not 'cause he can't wait to spend the night dancing 70s disco music.

“Hahaha I can't wait!” remarks Jerry, who must be part of the losing team.

“Can you please tell me what is this bet about?” she asks rolling her eyes and puffing.

“You'll know when the moment comes” Eddie doesn't give in, he points at his surf board at my feet and I give it back to him.

Jerry goes away and now I'm officially the only one left third-wheeling for them.

“Anyway, I should punch you” she threatens him suddenly.

“Don't get sore over a little thing like that, you'll find out tonight”

“Not for that.” Angie gets closer to Eddie, and to me as a consequence, and slaps my friend on his shoulder. Are those eyelids so naturally long? Is it mascara?

“Ouch!” Eddie complains, but he doesn't look unhappy to me.

“This is for the light bulb”

“What light bulb?” I ask perplexed.

“It's a long story” Eddie cuts it short. What the hell are these two doing?

“And this is for making me mess up today” she adds with another slap on Eddie's hand.

“Mess up? What do you mean?”

Angie explains the misunderstanding about the date and Eddie suddenly feels the urge to try sand baths and bury himself.

“Fuck, Angie, I'm sorry! I'm an asshole”

“Ok, it doesn't matter, it means I'll stay here one more day”

“I'm sorry. I mean, I'm not sorry you'll stay longer, I mean, I'm glad you're with me, with us, I'm sorry because I caused you trouble, in general” Eddie suddenly forgets how to talk.

“Well, since it's all your fault, now you have to help her, that goes without saying” I come in with the best assist Eddie could wish for.

“Sure! I'm gonna take you to the airport first so you can solve the tickets problem”

“I can go by myself Eddie, you don't need to”

“The fuck you're going by yourself! And then you'll obviously be my guest, you can stay with me these days”

“With you? Do you think the hotel will add one more bed? How much is a room instead? Anyway, I'll need to pay and I didn't bring much money with me, I could give it back to Kelly as soon as you get back to Seattle, that's if he accepts to lend me some. If he doesn't I should have s-”

“Angie, stop. You don't need to borrow anything, Eddie's not staying at the hotel, he's got his place here” I point out way before Eddie opens his mouth.

“Your place?”

“Yeah, it's not far from here. It's small but there's a lot of room” Eddie finally says something after he let me do all the work.

“And surely there's room for Angie, right Eddie?” I elbow my friend, who must be hating me right now.

“Of course there is... Only if you want, of course”

“Well, considering my situation, you've just made me an offer I can't refuse” Angie accepts and I wasn't expecting anything different.

“Great! So here's the plan: we go take the car, take Craig home, then go to my place, I'll have a shower, you can rest a little, put away your stuff, freshen up, have a shower too, get a bite to eat, whatever you want, then we'll head to the airport and solve the problem I created, ok?” Eddie's just become a chatterbox and I'm quite impressed by the number of words he's just pronounced.

“Mmm I can walk home anyway, I live just a stone's throw away from here” I count myself out immediately, he hasn't seen the girl for weeks and I think it's better to leave them alone as soon as possible.

“Are you sure?” Eddie politely asks, but his eyes are already silently thanking me and kicking me away.

“Yeah, don't worry. Bye Angie, it was a pleasure.” I take her hand and kiss her palm and at this point I expect Eddie to kick me for real “See you tonight, for the bet”

“Ah you're in this too?” she questions as I let go of her hand.

“I wouldn't miss it for the world. See ya tonight guys!” I walk away, then stop a few steps ahead, torn between climbing up the stairs or following the path further on. I choose the stairs, turn around for a second and there's already no trace of Angie or Eddie anymore. Eh my friend, both Angie and I laid perfect cards for you on the table, I hope you'll play them right.

#grunge fanfiction #pearl jam #susan silver #jerry cantrell #alice in chains #layne staley #sean kinney #mike starr #stone gossard #jeff ament #eddie vedder #pearl jam fanfiction

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