#its about the no audition band and i want to do it but i swear i keep coming up with reasons NOT to do it

[the-lark-ascending69]

How would Stobin happen in the Scoops Ahoy Ronance AU?

Answering this after a million years 😭

I imagine this AU to be kind of a Steve-Nancy role swap AU in which Nancy is with the Scoops troop while Steve is... with Jonathan. Solving mysteries. Now, I haven't watched s3 in years so I don't remember much about Nancy and Jonathan's plotline, other than Nancy was the driving force through most of it, but in this AU the timeline shifts a bit so that she gets fired, alongside Jonathan, way before the events we see in S3, so that by its start she already got a new job at Scoops Ahoy (which is humilliating to her, but she needs the money). She already did some work and by the time Jonathan realizes she was right all along, he's alone because 1) Nancy is incredibly mad at him and 2) she's too busy cracking Russian codes. Dustin is the one to pull him to the side when he tries to explain everything to her (she would have dropped the code immediately to go back to help him if that were the case) and tell him that, if there's one thing he learned at summer camp, is that when a girl is angry at you, it's best not to push her. He pats his shoulder and tells him "you know what? I got just the right man for your quest". The man in question is Steve.

Jonathan would not accept to work with Steve unless it was absolutely necessary.

Again, I don't remember much about that storyline, so I couldn't tell you exactly what happens, but I imagine it would be pretty funny, with Steve coming up with more and more idiotic ideas each time and Jonathan being pissed about it but unable to send him away because he still needs help. I imagine they wouldn't become close friends, but they'd find a way to get along just fine.

That means Robin doesn't meet Steve after much later, through Dustin, in fact. Since they're not friends, he doesn't get a job at Family Video, and is instead wandering around looking for jobs, not being hired, not doing anything with his life and being constantly roasted over it by Dustin, who's become pretty close with Robin lately and he swears she's perfect for him, dude, he should totally date her. Steve isn't so convinced - Robin? Talks non-stop Robin? Band nerd Robin famous for passing out in the middle of a theater audition in school in front of everyone because she got just a little bit passionate about a scene? (Rebel Robin is canon to ME!). Robin is weird. Steve doesn't date weird girls ("You dated Nancy" / "Yeah, 'cos Nancy isn't weird" / "Dude, she literally dressed as an elf princess for one of our campaigns. She's a nerd" / "Wait, Nancy plays that shit?" / "You have a lot to learn about women still, my friend").

But then he needs to work with Nancy and Nancy had a new best friend, and she is - let's face it - insanely hot. Like Steve is kinda left breathless, staring like an idiot when he first sees her - Weird Robin was attractive all along?? All Dustin has to say is "I told you" ("...yeah," says Steve).

So Steve makes it his new mission to ask Robin out. Nancy makes it her mission to stop anyone from talking to her Robin.

A few important notes about Nancy and Robin's friendship so far:

They're each other's first female friend in years.

Nancy has no problem at all with Robin liking girls, but Robin still feels a bit awkward about it. If Nancy were a boy it would be different but Robin really, really doesn't want to make her uncomfortable. She wants to be One Of The Girls for once.

Robin has a big crush on Vickie, but she won't tell Nancy despite Nancy's repeated attempts to talk about girls (she's trying to make Robin feel normal. Most girls like talking about boys, and she knows Robin is secretly a repressed romantic at heart who's just scared of showing emotion. A little push will help, right?).

Robin tries to act as "normal" as possible with Nancy, never bringing up anything that might remind Nancy that her new best friend is a lesbian. Nancy has no such concerns and will often ask Robin about girls she think she might find attractive.

Robin is almost physically holding herself back from seeing Nancy in a romantic light. She is NOT going to ruin this friendship.

Nancy thinks Robin is the most beautiful girl she's ever seen.

Nancy is incredibly protective of Robin.

Nancy feels a bit weird about the idea of Robin getting a girlfriend some day. She tells herself that, at first, she was just getting used to the idea of a girl having a girlfriend, then, that she just wanted to enjoy a friendship with a girl again without the involvement of boys or any romantic interest that might come between them, as a return to a more innocent time. She does want Robin to be happy, though, and would try to help her with girls if Robin allowed her to.

Steve finds all of his attempts to speak to Robin frustrated by Nancy intentionally interrupting him.

"She's not interested in you," she says.

"Did she tell you she didn't like me?" Steve asks.

"A couple of times, in fact. She did call you a douchbag."

"Maybe that's because she doesn't know me."

"Steve, believe me. She's not interested."

Every time Steve tries to speak or flirt with her, Nancy intervenes by either pulling Robin along with her, as if she were her right hand man, always by her side in every mission, or she'll begin talking to Steve, forcing him to direct his attention somewhere else.

Steve falls low. He falls very, very low, because his next step is to ask Dustin for help, which must be just the most embarrassing thing he's ever done, but jeez, Robin just has that effect on you, and Nancy is like a very mean guard dog with her, so he needs a distraction. Dustin will pretend to be interested in journalism, or girl stuff, or whatever Nancy likes, doesn't matter. Or he can just go annoy her for a few minutes so Steve gets a chance to talk to Robin alone.

Robin is not impressed. She knows what he's trying to do, but she decides she'll take the chance to bully Steve a little, just for fun. She replies with "wow" and "really?" to everything he says until he realizes she's being sarcastic. She makes fun of him for a while before making things clear to him: she's not interested.

"Why?" Steve asks.

"Because I have my eye on someone else," she says. "Besides, you're not my type."

"Really? So what's your type?"

"Well, for starters, I am drawn to profound souls and intelligent minds."

"Hey, I can be smart. I helped save the world like, two or three times."

"Given our current situation, I don't think that makes you all that special, Stevie boy."

He tries to get her to admit who this boy she likes is. He tries to guess, naming every guy their age he knows. Robin is mildly entertained and amused so she lets him provide free white noise while they walk through the woods. It helps her not get bored with all these fucking trees around them.

And then maybe they get separated. Maybe they're in the woods at night while running from the search party and from Jason, who is hunting them. Nancy, Eddie and Dustin are on one end, with Robin, Steve, Lucas and Max in the other. They'll reunite as soon as possible, but they can't stop now.

And maybe Robin realizes Steve is not that much of an asshole when she sees him comfort a terrified Max, or put himself on the line to protect Lucas. He cares about the kids more than he cares about himself. He talks to them, gives them directions, makes sure everyone stays together and safe and who would have guessed? Seems like Steve the hair Harrington has a sensitive side.

And he gets to see Robin is more than a pretty face when they do come face to face with Jason.

He's looking for Eddie, Lucas, and everyone he knows associates with them. Steve and Max would be good enough targets for him. He is only tangentially aware that Robin is friends with Nancy, Mike's sister, but she quickly turns that possible weak spot into a strength.

She tells him she's so terrified - her friend's brother might be involved in that horrible cult. That's what motivated her to join the search party. She doesn't want anyone else getting hurt (Robin spins lies like a spider spins webs). In fact, she overheard Mike say something once - Eddie was planning to leave Hawkins soon, maybe on that very same night, he could be on the road as they speak, which is why Robin found it so imperative to be with the search party tonight, to find Eddie before he leaves. Jason and his team rushes out of the woods and in direction to the nearest road, thinking themselves smarter than Robin.

They make it somewhere safe. Robin and Steve stay up to keep watch - they insist the kids have some sleep. Lucas and Max cuddle adorably, and Robin just wants to pinch their cheeks because they're so damn cute together. Steve keeps an eye on them while Robin watches out for the search party. They talk to keep each other awake - Steve tells her about how he became a mother of six, and Robin tells him how she became best friends with Nancy Wheeler, which isn't an easy feat, mind you (though she excludes the most personal details). She tells him she speaks four languages and is learning a fifth. Steve tells her he gives great hair advice (he asks her if she uses conditioner. She asks him if he rents his head out to the council on weekends to use as a speed bump). Steve laughs. He tells her he'll leave her alone - it's fine if she doesn't like him. Plus, he's probably not ready for a relationship anyway. He should focus on things other than pretty girls, like college, someday, maybe. Max is definitely his focus right now, keeping her alive and safe (as he's been doing ever since that first fight with Billy), and nothing else should matter. Robin respects that a lot, actually (she'd never thought she'd put the words "Steve" and "respect" together before). He still thinks she's cool as heck, though, and he'd love to be friends. Robin doesn't feel terrified this time, like she did when Nancy said the same thing eight months ago. She doesn't feel the need to tell him her darkest secrets. She just likes having someone pure of heart and dumb of ass to poke fun at. She can't believe she's becoming friends with Steve the hair Harrington. She wants to be real, actual friends, thogh, not friends-as-a-shortcut-into-her-pants friends. Steve laughs. "Real, actual friends," he agrees.

Nancy sees them exchanging jokes and laughing when they reunite, and she's surprised - finds it amusing - but also frels a strange pang of jealousy in her gut. She knows Robin couldn't let a boy come between them if she tried, and she's happy she's making more friends - she is! - she doesn't know where she's going with this. All she does is to embrace Robin tightly when they're together again, happy to have her partner back by her side. Steve eyes Nancy curiously. He's not the smartest, but he seems to notice something Robin doesn't, something not even Nancy sees, though he can't quite put his finger on what the strange thing is.

#ronance #scoops ahoy ronance au #stobin #robin and steve are friends in this au but they're not BEST best friends #the title of Robin's best friend belongs to Nancy this time #though - spoilers - Steve is still the first person to know about Robin's feelings for Nancy... when she starts feeling that way #because this is a nancy fell first scenario baby! robin is oblivious and with her eye on vickie while nancy suffers silence #she also tells Steve she has a crush on Vickie before she tells Nancy #something Nancy feels sad about. she doesn't understand what she did to make Robin feel like she had to hide it from her #while Nancy is closer to Robin in this AU #there are things robin only shares with Steve for some time #my posts

[stcrsabcve]

(—) ★ spotted!! ESMERALDA STRYKER on the cover of this week’s most recent tabloid! many say that the 40 year old looks like JAMIE CHUNG, but i don’t really see it. while  the SINGER/RECORD LABEL OWNER is known for being UPBEAT my inside sources say that they have a tendency to be OBSESSIVE i swear, every time i think of them, i hear the song PERFECT BY SIMPLE PLAN  {she/they / demi-woman} 

TLDR version because oof its rambling below

is very much punk rocker turned officer work vibes

pansexual demi-woman who uses she/they pronouns

had a punk rock band (based on Paramore) from her last year in high school until 2013 when they split due to creative differences

they began their own label in late 2013 that is mainly dedicated to those who identify a LGBTQIA+ to help protect them from asshole producers and label owners. She is the only sound engineer signed to the label so everyone gets 1 on 1 time with her and she knows the only person who can fuck it up and be blamed is her.

Doesn't have a large interest in playing solo, considering herself retired from performing but might be convinced to do so.

Wanted Connections

Signed to her label 0/3: Musicians (or band) signed to her label! Best friends 0/?: What it says on the tin! Former band members 0/4: They were together for around 10 years before spliting How they feel about the split is UTP Former lovers 0/?: what it says on the tin

Rambling Paragraphs!

Esmeralda is the middle of three children. From a young age they showed incredible talent in music. Her older brother was a fantastic cello player and destined to join the most illustrious orchestras in the world. Her little brother was an budding concert pianist. Esmeralda on the other hand struggled to find something she was just as good. She had started piano before her younger brother, she worked hard at it right up until he started lessons. Losing complete interest her parents and tutors began gushing over her brother’s natural talent. Only in the last 10 years had she picked up playing once again.

She tried many instruments; violin, guitar, flute, even the saxophone but she wasn’t as good at them as her brothers were at their instruments so she gave up trying to be the best at them, years later she only plays them whenever the need strikes her.

She didn’t truly discover her voice until she was 16 years old, she knew she was good at singing but never considered it before. Her parents had expected all their children to learn instruments. She auditioned for the school musical, mainly to spite her cousin who had also auditioned for the same role. She got the part and loved it. Nothing gave her the same thrill as performing on stage and with all the attention straight on her. It was the first time she had the amount of attention she thought she deserved. 

She worked at her father’s record label at 17. Helping mix a few tracks here and there as well as backup vocals on a few tracks which caught the attention of one of the producers. Her first single was released not long after. It wasn’t great, the style of the song didn’t work for her. Her parents were incredibly disappointed that she "lacked talent in music" when they meant "lacked talent in music they like"

 Esmeralda formed a band with a few friends she had made at school and convinced one of her dad's sound engineers to record them on the side. They took the CD and shopped around until someone would pick them up.

The band broke up around 10 years ago after over 10 years of thundering success. Including multiple hit records and weeks at number one on the charts. They stopped wanting to make the same kind of music and eventually stopped wanting to play together at all. This was when Esmeralda began their own record label. They had very little interest going solo but wanted to continue to help others find their fame. Many wanted to sign but Esmeralda was very selective with her signees. She didn't want her label to become huge, just her stars. It is mainly dedicated to those who identify a LGBTQIA+ to help protect them from asshole producers and label owners.

#i lost my fancy graphic template send help :sob: #and this is trash AF but have this anyway #hillzintro

[temporalcomet]

202305 - It's been a long...

Hey it’s me, MJ!

I can’t hide the truth - I haven’t been lost in a black hole, I haven’t come unstuck in deep space, I didn’t lose my moonboots in Alpha Centuri and have to take a nightbus back there to retrieve them…

For all my space-themed gassing (is there gas in a vacuum? I’m guessing not, rather than googling it) there’s been so much going on. And that’s partially because it’s been 25 months since I checked in with you all via blog! In that time, approximately 6 stars have gone supernova and died out in our galaxy…

"The Milky Way produces stars weighing about 3 solar masses (equivalent to 3 Suns) per year. And, stars equivalent to 1 solar mass die evey year."  -- Quora

So, here’s a whistle-stop tour of the past 2 years in the half-life of Temporal Comet:

2021

As we took tentative steps out of lockdowns and away from exponential viral spread, Temporal Comet released its first single in 2 years. ‘Shine’ was well received, but we suffered from a lack of places to play, and so the song didn’t get out to as many people as we had hoped.

Our two main shows in 2021 turned out to be our last. Both were eventful… Firstly, we played in our back garden in Whitechapel E1 with friends ‘Dreampark’ one sunny evening... Our performance could apparently be heard 300 metres away at the Underground station.

In October, Temporal Comet hosted a Halloween Spooktactular in Shoreditch, supported by a few groups I came across on Instagram. The event went well, but technical problems dampened out the fun a little during the gig itself and added a few strains to the working relationship within the group.

Things then continued to take a strange turn. Before Christmas, COVID21 got into some already existing cracks in the band’s dynamic. It soon became clear that differences were irreconcilable, and drummer Hugo was asked to leave the band.

There were some musical differences too - I favoured a drier, more experimental approach to drumming, and it was clear that Hugo aimed to inject more of a ‘rock’ sensibility into the group. At this point I’m much happier with bleeps and bloops than with drum fills and stick-twiddling, but it has to be said, I’m very particular about the music I want to write and the sounds I want to hear. Being solo would give me that freedom, but first I needed a break.

2022

I saw Hugo a couple of times and we wrapped up the business accounts for Temporal Comet. I was solo again, and orbiting without a map. By the way, for astronavigation, I swear by this one:

Although some of the previous songs I recorded were still not released*, I really needed some breathing space, where I could find out again what I wanted to do with Temporal Comet.

And so, by June I had only posted about 3 things to social media, and some of you asked where I had gone. I needed to take a step back - 2021 had been difficult, even aside from the global pandemic-related issues which had taken such a toll on everyone (perhaps even the 1%…)

And then in July, my universe got turned upside down and shaken about a bit. When the dust settled, Jupiter was next to Mercury and Earth looked a little worse for wear.

Jumping back about 20 years, I was playing in a group called ‘The Astronauts’.

I had met Mark ‘Astronaut’ Wilkins in a record shop in my home town (Welwyn Garden City) and he had surreptitiously tried to sell me a Led Zeppelin bootleg. We exited the shop, and got chatting. It transpired that he was also looking for a bass player for an upcoming gig as The Astronauts at Bowes Lyon House in Stevenage. My first gig, at a venue where Jeff Buckley had played 15+ years earlier!

We supported Big Day Out and Jane Bom-Bane, and I passed the audition. I continued to play with The Astronauts for a few years, at punk hotspots such as Hobgoblin in Brighton and Chat’s Palace in London. When I left the group, it morphed into ‘The Otters’, and back again, into another version of The Astronauts.

Mark was always reinventing the band, and his music. Anyway, it was always so varied and diverse that it’s hard to imagine The Astronauts as anything more than a vehicle for the wit and creativity of Mark. I drifted away, but was left with a cosmic hang up for all my subsequent groups - I later formed To The Moon with Dennis White (one time Otters drummer) and later, when in Paris, continued the theme when helping to come up with the name Temporal Comet.

Once an Astronaut, always an Astronaut, I guess…

Spooling back to July 2022, and another lapsed friend and Astronaut, Dom, messaged me to say that Mark had lost his ongoing battle with a long-term illness.

I had lost one of my best, and longest, friendships. It felt like 2016 again, when we lost David Bowie. Mark (like Bowie) was someone who informed my teenage years and musical tastes - without him I would have a different, less compassionate social/ political view, and certainly wouldn’t have discovered half the bands I love today, from Kevin Ayers to Curved Air, from Zappa to Blur…

I have already had the opportunity to write (albeit to a word limit) about Mark, for the Other Lives series in the Guardian (UK) newspaper, but suffice it to mention that without Mark, I’d be on a different trajectory today, no doubt.

Mark’s death in July came just a few months after we’d been to see mutual favourites Van der Graaf Generator at the Palladium in London, and although it pained me to realise that my gig buddy and great friend was gone, there was at least a warm and fuzzy feeling produced when I realised that I had helped him close a loop; Mark’s first gig, which his parents took him to as a child, had been at the same venue, back in 1963!

And in a final action, Mark had nudged the trajectory of my life once again…

It had been years since I had seen most of the faces in our Welwyn music community. In the intervening years since I stopped playing bass in the Astronauts, I had moved first to London and then to Paris, France, and then back to London again. I had lost touch with so many friends (I’m notoriously bad at maintaining friendships because I have a slight self-esteem issue which gets in the way of my relationships.)

Mark’s funeral rolled around, and there, in a packed crematorium near Stevenage in Hertfordshire, were 200+ people that loved Mark and his music. Among them, the community I had lost.

As scared as I was about the prospect of catching up with my past, I wasn’t going to let the day go by without collecting a lot of contact details and promising to myself that I’d do better to stay in touch with all these amazing people, this time around.

2023 As true to my word as possible, 2023 has seen two major changes in my life…

1 - I have joined a band with one of those friends from 15 years ago. Short Rouge is comprised of Dan and Dudu (drums and bass) along with one of those lapsed friends, Lee, who was such an inspiration and great friend back in my youth. I’m playing guitar and we’re making some experimental music which sounds like a mash-up of The Residents, King Crimson, Blur, and This Heat. Not bad! Plus half of these artists are ones that Mark Astronaut introduced me to the in the first place (you see how important he was to my musical taste!)

2 - I have embarked on a project of recording some of Mark’s songs.

The Astronauts (i.e. Mark and whichever musicians he had around him at the time) must have recorded over 100 songs. Largely undiscovered, many of these tracks deserve to have a continuing (and increasing) audience. I know that other friends, such as Dom of the Otters/ Astonauts, and Wasp, vocalist and breath-taking front-person of Rites of Hadda are doing their bit, creating their own versions of Mark’s songs, and between us (and others, including groups ‘Blyth Power’ and ‘Pog’) we will make sure that Mark’s music isn’t allowed to disappear - it always deserved a larger audience than it ever got.

I have started work on 5 Astronauts’ songs, spanning Mark’s songwriting career from the late 70s to 2022. Meanwhile the remaining Astronauts are working to release the final Astronauts album, album 10, which will hopefully be ready by Mark’s birthday on 27 August this year.

I’ve got some stellar help, in the form of Lee Hague (amazing drummer from the Otters/Astronauts) as well as Wasp, and many others. I wouldn’t be able to do this project without Kostas Michaloudis for whom I’m grateful every day!

I don’t have a release date for my covers of Mark’s songs, but I’m also allergic to planning. So stay tuned!

It’s been an interesting few years, in which I’ve lost two friends but gained some great perspective - please tell me in the comments what you have missed out on, what you have enjoyed, what you’ve been most grateful for since the pandemic.

* those songs, ‘Two Sides’ and ‘Silencio’ remain unreleased. Furthermore, my distributor (company that uploads my songs to Spotify, Tidal, etc changed their business model, removing three Temporal Comet songs from streaming platforms in the process. We lost ‘Anticipation’, ‘Falling’ and ‘Rising’… but when I work out the best way to do it (without spending a lot of money and time), they will be back. If you have any recommendations for distribution, please let me know, I’ll be eternally grateful.

In the meantime, you can still play some of the songs on Bandcamp or Youtube. Thanks in advance for having a listen!

#Astronauts #Music #Live music #music industry #updates #gigs #recording #songs

[the-blue-phantom]

me: *sends an email inquiring about something i am interested in doing* 

me, immediately after: god why did i do that. now i have a commitment to make

#i know full well that i'm just ASKING about it but i'm always like #damn.......now i actually gotta do it #for at least a few minutes afterwards #its about the no audition band and i want to do it but i swear i keep coming up with reasons NOT to do it #no matter how flimsy they are #oh what if i hate the people in the band #a) you never have to interact with them bc the people you hate aren't in your section and b) they're probably in the bigger bands #oh what if its too easy #a) i haven't played a french horn in 2 years and playing the mellophone last year wasn't the hardest thing i have ever done #bc marching band music is completely different from concert music because concert music is BETTER #ALSO i ENJOY bands and i've been in it since i was 10 so why stop now??? #thank you for going on this journey with me #blue talks

[theonewiththefanfics]

Best Friends My Ass (one-shot)

Synopsis: Being in love with your best friend whom you’ve had since childhood can be tough. Being in love and being dumb can make it tougher. Meet the Reader and Harry. They’re the latter. And everyone’s fed up.

Pairing: Harry Styles x fem!Reader

Genre: fluff, maybe little bit of angst, tiny bit smutty, but not a lot

Warnings: swearing, two idiots pining for one another

Word count: 7524

Even when Harry was little, he’d known he’d have an odd path in life. Just because it was odd, didn’t mean it’d be bad, but it would make him absolutely stand out in the crowd.        When Y/N was young she didn’t see herself having any extraordinary adventures. Sure, she’d travel and explore the world with its secrets, but she didn’t have any plans to draw the attention of the masses. That was until Harry’d come into her life.        They were both young, still kids in that tender age where childhood crossed into teenage years, when they met. For Harry, it was like one of those scenes in the movies where the pretty girl walks into a room and a billion fans make her hair look like the wind is sweeping through it, and her eyes glisten like gemstones. Also known as the 'love at first sight' scene.        For Y/N, it was hard to keep her breakfast down as she walked inside the classroom, twenty pairs of scrutinous eyes on her, trying to figure out if the new girl was a predator or prey.        Luckily for Y/N, the biology teacher wasn’t a total witch and didn’t make her present herself to the class, and just pointed to the free seat next to a curly-haired boy. Luckily for Harry, that free seat was right next to him.        With a sigh, she dropped her heavy backpack beside the chair, giving the boy a shy glance, and was surprised to see a genuine and large grin right back at her. It wasn’t the kind people gave when they had bad thoughts. It was the kind people gave when they were truly excited and wanted to give a good impression. Y/N’s chest grew warm at the thought she might actually make a friend that day. And she did.        “I’m Harry.” He extended his hand for her to take, the grin never leaving his face.        She gave him a big, relieved smile. “I’m Y/N.”        Ever since then they were not only lab partners in classes they shared (which was biology, physics and math), but also in mischief. Together they managed to enrage Anne, annoy Gemma and absolutely horrify Y/M/N, and whenever one went down, the other made sure to go down as well.        So when a few years down the line, Harry had told Y/N about his idea to audition for X-factor she wasn’t surprised one bit.        “I mean, as long as you don’t trip and break your nose on stage, you’ll be fine.”        For that, she received a slap on her arm from him.        “I’m just saying!” Y/N defended herself. “You’re great at singing, Mrs Aberdeen certainly thinks so, you don’t have two complete left feet, and you’re alright to look at.”        That for the first time since the decision and application had been submitted, made Harry smile. He loved how easily Y/N was able to lighten the mood, to take his thoughts away from the bad, and just erase them with her wit and smile.

       “Besides.” She nudged his shoulder with hers and then intertwined their fingers. “I, Gem and our Mums will be right there for you. Won’t even blink until the end of the performance.”        With how her insides trembled in excitement and fear for her best friend, it truly seemed to Y/N she hadn’t blinked at all on that fateful day. Her breath hitched when the judges were talking. She couldn’t even remember what they said, all of it turning into white noise.        And then he got through, and Y/N screamed so much she was sure she’d blown out Anne’s eardrums, and had hugged Harry so tightly she was afraid she’d broken a rib. But with his victory also came a fear, because, for the first time in Y/N’s life, she was terrified as to where she’d stand in Harry’s. Since day one it’d been secure, but now, with the newfound fame of X-factor and who knows what kind of an amazing future, she didn’t know if he’d throw her to the curb, simply forget about the mundane friend from high school or maybe use her for something.        But it wasn’t like that. Not one bit. After insane hours of rehearsals, Y/N was one of the three people he always called. It was her, his Mum and Gem. Always. And he loved to listen to her speaking of what was happening at school, how the lessons were, which teacher turned out to be hooking up with which. As much as Harry knew he was made for the extraordinary, he loved the ordinary Y/N brought in his life. She was his safe harbour. But what he never agreed with were her own thoughts she was meant for a simple life, so he took it upon himself to bring a little bit of eccentricity in hers, as he explained how he’d gotten united into a band with four other boys, now going by ‘One Direction’, and it was his mission to join his newfound friends with the most important friend he'd had.        “This is Y/N,” Harry introduced her to the guys after one of their late-night practices, one where they weren’t being filmed. “If you do anything that even mildly upsets her, I’ll kill you in your sleep.”        The slap against his arm made him let out an ‘Ow!’ while the rest of the boys laughed and welcomed her with open arms.        In a weird way, Y/N became part of the band. She didn’t sing or play any instruments, but she was always around, gave her input on songs and setlists. That kind of closeness made all of the fears and doubts about losing a place in Harry’s life disappear. She was his personal hype-man while at the same time knocked him down a few pegs whenever the fame started to get to his head.        She was there for his highs and lows, for the break-ups and break-off in the band, and watched as he ventured into a solo career as much as she could with school and all, but when summer break rolled around it was like Harry couldn't get rid of her even if he tried. Not that he wanted. Sharing the success and happiness with his best friend was one of the biggest rewards he could have.        And Y/N would never admit it because it’d boost Harry’s already elephant-like ego, at least that’s what she said, but she kind of liked the attention she received because of him, especially because most of it was pleasant.        Had she been terrified that being known as Harry Styles best friend would make people think she was just a gold-digger, seeking fame and leeching it off from him? Yes. And there were people like that. But ninety-five percent of what people said on her social media accounts was actually nice, some even said ‘thank you’ that there was a person like her in Harry’s life to keep things real, and most importantly – cared about him through it all.        Harry also saw those comments; he loved to read about how people saw just how much Y/N cared, and it kind of stirred something in him. He didn’t know when exactly, but it was around the age of twenty-four for him and twenty-three for Y/N when he started looking at his friend in a different light. And it bloody terrified him. He didn’t know if she felt the same, and the thought of putting his heart on the line like that only for the possibility of it being crushed was the scariest thing ever.        He did, however, have an inclination as to what incident had prompted them to surface. The feelings that were. It was a night after a party. Y/N was on winter break from her master’s at uni, which meant he used every opportunity to spend time with her.        The hangover was real, I mean it’s what you got by mixing vodka, tequila and beer into an empty Sprite bottle and chugging it. Harry stumbled over sleeping bodies on his way to the kitchen in search for some leftover pizza he was sure he and Y/N in their drunkenness had ordered, as well as to make two cups of black coffee. He knew she hated the taste, but cold junk food and bitter coffee always did the trick with her. That was when he’d found her.        Although he’d woken up in Y/N’s room, she hadn’t been next to him. Instead, as it turned out, she’d gone on a food search sometime before him and had passed out on the couch, a Cookie Monster onesie on her body, but most importantly his signature pearls around her neck. And one of her hands even rested against her collarbone, as if scared someone would take them away from her.        That’d been the first time his heart had flipped in his chest at the sight of her, but most definitely not the last.        He did however keep this change in his emotions to himself. He wasn’t really sure what it was, so it would be unfair to dump that on Y/N and have her figure it out for him because he didn’t know where she stood on her own, let alone do the work for him.        Luckily, despite the tornado of feelings, their friendship didn’t falter, and when his Vogue cover came out, he was incredibly nervous for people to see it, but especially for those who mattered the most to him, like his Mum, sister and Y/N. Especially Y/N, for her opinion had become the most important one outside his blood relatives. After all, all his thoughts went to – if we dated, would she be as proud of me as she was of me as a friend?        Her support meant the most because he was away in the middle of filming; he had no way of getting physical comfort, so all of the messages, calls, social media posts and FaceTimes was the world to him, especially when Y/N sent a picture of herself with three copies of the magazine, two beside her head as she laid on her bed and one clutched to her chest, which she also posted on Instagram with the caption ‘Can’t hug you for real right now, so this will have to do. When I do get to you @harrystyles, I’ll crush your ribs with my love. And that is a threat.’        Then the comments came in from the rest, and one stood out more than the others.        Bring Back Manly Men.        At first, he felt odd about it. It didn’t really bother him, but at the same time, it made him sad. He knew that he was seen as somewhat of a controversial figure, as he painted nails, wore frilly blouses and now full-on dresses, which were all typically categorized as feminine things, but he never understood why a nail colour or the shape of a shirt suddenly became exclusively for just one gender. Which is why he was so grateful to have Y/N in his life.        “I mean, anatomically speaking, men should be wearing dresses and women trousers. It’s you who have all the dangly bits,” she said through a bite of food. “The Scots have been onto it since the beginning.”        Harry threw his head back in a laugh, shifting an arm behind his head. “So I assume your favourite pic is the one in the kilt?”        “Well, it did remind me of that awful punk phase I had back in school with all those safety pins, only in a more tasteful way, but no. My favourite one is you in that brown, grey off-shoulder jacket thing.”        “Why?”        Y/N wiggled her brows at him. “Shows enough of your cleavage but leaves enough for imagination.”        “Of fucking course.” Harry snorted, shaking his head. “Objectifying much?”        “What? I’m not going to deny that my best friend is a sexy beast.”        He wouldn’t say it out loud, but when she called him her friend, it made his heart clench in a painful way. Harry had been trying to be a bit flirtier around her, but given his open nature as it was, Y/N hadn’t seemed to notice it, nor had she seemed to notice how he looked at her while she was frowning at her computer screen.        Harry’d had relationships with some women who could be considered the most beautiful in the world, but if he’d had to say, in his opinion, who’d receive that title, it’d be Y/N. The way she snorted when she laughed too hard, the way small crow lines had already appeared next to her eyes from how much she smiled and the way her forehead creased when she was concentrating. It enthralled him to no end. He could read her life’s story on her face, how she’d lived and thought and experienced, unlike so many people he met who couldn’t move a muscle.        Though the reason she was so concentrated in that moment was because thousands of people had tagged her in a tweet of a woman, she’d heard of for the first time in her life (because Harry had been trying to keep that one off her radar), and what she saw made all the blood boil in her body more than any other hate comment had.        Without hesitation, Y/N atted her and tweeted “Bring back manly men. Please! Millions of people would let him raw them WHILE WEARING THE DRESS. I mean you tried, so I’ll give you the gold star you so desperately want, but that was pathetic.”        At that same moment, a notification popped up on the screen of Harry’s phone. He only had notifications on for one person, and when he saw what was written, he gasped, looking at Y/N. “You did not just do that!”        “What?” Y/N shrugged biting down on the chocolate bar she’d been savouring for the last half hour of their conversation. “I just said what everyone was thinking. Besides what the fuck does ‘bring back manly men’ even mean? Go chop some wood? Fight a bear in the Siberian woods? Have your ‘friends’ stab you to death at a political meeting?”        “You’re a menace.”        Y/N winked popping the last bit of the chocolate in her mouth. “Only to those who dare go for the people I love.”        His heart fluttered at the last word, but all he could do was mask it with a large grin and shake of his head.        For another hour they spent talking, Y/N kept hyping Harry up, tried to get as many plot details of the movie he was filming, while he avoided as many spoilers as possible and attempted to steer the conversation somewhere else, but when that happened, Y/N jumped onto his music, which he had told her all about. In fact, there wasn’t a music video made without her approval, and neither would his next one be. “You’ll fly out to see me film for ‘Treat People With Kindness’, right?”        Y/N sighed, giving him a sad smile. She hated disappointing Harry. “I’d love to. But you know with everything going on, I don’t think I’ll be able to.”        “Phoebe Waller-Bridge will be in it.”        She gasped, in real excitement. “Well, why didn’t you say so from the start?!”        “So that’s what this friendship has come to. I’m just your gateway to celebrities?”        “Harry you’ve always been just my gateway to the people living in LaLa Land.” But she let out a small breath much like she’d done before. “I really do want to come, Harry. You know that; I miss you like crazy. But Phoebe or no Phoebe, I don’t think I can.”        Harry bit his lip nodding, but he still needed to try one more time. “Is there anything I can say or do to get you here?”        “Get me a private jet and a quarantine mansion?”        “Deal.”        “Woah! Wait!” Y/N pretty much jumped up from her position in bed. “That was a joke! Harry Edward Styles, I swear to God, if you try an –“        But with a giant grin, he just blew Y/N a kiss and ended the call.        She was quite terrified if she was being honest, that Harry would do what she’d asked. He already had once. It'd been around Christmas time while she was still in First Year at uni, and she’d seen a glistening necklace at a jewellery store display. She hadn’t said anything, hadn’t even uttered a word, but just seeing the sparkle in Y/N’s eyes, was enough for Harry to make the decision and gift it for her.        When the next day, around five AM her time, she got a call from Harry’s manager Jeff, she was ready to rip both of them a new one, an e-mail with a plane ticket popping up in her inbox.        “I swear I’ll poison your drinks when I see you,” she’d grumbled, but couldn’t hide the excitement as she threw everything she could in the suitcase. “And no one will find your bodies, mark my words, Azoff.”        He snorted. “Yeah, tell that to the FBI agent listening in on this call.”        “Fuck. Gave myself away,” she said softly, giggling right after.        “You know he’s stoked beyond belief.” Jeff piped up. “He literally jumped out of the bed this morning, and during the dance rehearsals he didn’t miss a step.”        That made Y/N’s heart warm. “Well, you can tell him to curb it a bit. Otherwise, I’ll just stay at the fucking mansion – which, by the way, it was a joke, Jeff! I’m pissed enough he’s spending money on me as it is, let alone such a chunk on the plane, you didn't have to get me an actual mansion.”        “You know, for you, he’d give away all of it.”        “Yes, well, he might need it for his funeral, if he keeps spending it on me and on shit like this.”        The man shook his head but didn’t say anything else. He wasn’t the only one trying to drop hints to Y/N that Harry felt something more, but he’d leave it to the man himself. He didn’t need to possibly ruin everything, and have her decide not to come. His client was nightmare enough without her around, because Harry was like day and night when Y/N finally arrived on set for ‘Treat People With Kindness’.        To say he enveloped her in a hug would be an understatement as he didn’t let go of her for ten solid minutes, having grabbed her by the underside of the thighs and sat down on the ground just so he could prolong the feeling of being with Y/N.        The fact that she’d actually gone for it and hadn’t scolded Harry too much for spending that insane amount of money, for having brought a small piece of home to LA with herself where they were filming, made him now fully acknowledge the true extent of his feelings, especially as she didn’t pull away from their embrace, rather hid her face in the crook of his neck.        I mean, in the end, he did have to let her go because everyone had to get back to shooting, but not before Y/N had stripped the meticulous jacket from him, and went to have a glance at herself in the large mirror, one of the costume designers playing along and adjusting the clothing on her body, as if she was going to be the one performing.        Harry felt someone slide up to him and he looked over to his left, a smiling Phoebe standing there. She nudged his shoulder with hers. “You’re in love with her, aren’t you?”        He nodded, looking back over to where Y/N was still looking at herself in the mirror, wearing the heavy jacket as if it was nothing like it was made for her. “I’m a cliché, I know. But I can’t help it.”        “Of course, you can.” She squeezed his side. “All you gotta do is tell her.”        But it wasn’t that easy. Comparatively, getting Y/N to appear in the video was easier than coming to terms with the fact, all they’d ever remain would be friends if he didn’t do anything.        Yet the shoot for the video ended as quickly as it had started, and Y/N needed to fly back to the UK to defend her PhD paper, and Harry had to go back to filming ‘Don’t Worry Darling’, thousands of miles stretching between them once more. And Harry was a romantic, he couldn’t confess over FaceTime. Besides, he wanted to make it a special evening for her, plan something out, rather than risk a shitty connection cutting him off mid-word.        He hated it though. It’d been almost four years since Harry had realised his feelings had developed from just friendly into romantic, and still, he hadn’t said anything. Even the people who’d never met Y/N in person like Florence Pugh saw what was going on.        But unlike the cast and crew of ‘Treat People With Kindness’ who had to deal with his pining for maybe a couple of weeks, it’d been almost half a year for her at that point. Did she just want to call Y/N and tell her how Harry felt? Sure. She’d had enough of him coming into her trailer only to fall down onto her pillow and whine. But it wasn’t her place. So instead, she was going to figure out a way to get Y/N to the set and make him tell her himself.        Getting Harry’s phone away from him should’ve been the inspiration to the next ‘Mission Impossible’ script though, because it took her literally a whole day to fish it out from his coat's pocket, and she only had about ten seconds to find Y/N’s number (which wasn’t that hard given how it was the number with literally hundreds of calls next to it) and put it in her own phone.        Once their filming was done for the day, Florence rebutted Harry’s invitation to a movie night, saying a massive headache was coming on, so he wished her a good night and with slumped shoulders went to sulk on his own. Which is why she practically sprinted to her own trailer to finally call Y/N        An unsure ‘hello?’ greeted her ears before she responded. “Hey, this is Florence… Pugh.”        That stunned Y/N into silence for a few seconds before she spluttered out a greeting and said ‘hi’ as well. “Not to be rude, but how did you get my number?”        “Stole it from Harry’s phone. Look, he’s miserable. Keeps moping around, and I can’t take it anymore. Last night I found him crying in his pillow with your shirt over it.”        “What? Why?”        “Because it didn’t smell like you anymore.”        Y/N’s heart broke. “Why didn’t he tell me anything? We just talked, and he said he was fine. God, that man is so dumb sometimes.”        “Is there any way you could find a way to get here?” Florence asked biting down her lip.        She heard Y/N sigh at the other end of the line. “I’ll – I’ll try and figure something out. Have to know what’s going on at work, I mean it has been like two months since the video, so maybe…” She was more so talking to herself, but then remembered about Florence. “Listen, can I give you a message when I find out if my boss will let me?”        “Of course!” The actress was excited about the possibility of Y/N getting here, as long as it got Harry out of his depressive mood.        “Oh, and I’ll need to know what kind of restrictions are on set. I’ll figure something out with flights and quarantine, but I have zero clue as to what’s it like where you’re filming.”        Florence waved her off, even though she couldn’t see the motion. “Leave that to me. Just get your ass over here before the guy cries himself dry.”        It was a struggle though on all three ends – Harry was still moping, because not only had Y/N’s shirt lost its smell of her, but homesickness was hitting full force, Florence was getting more and more desperate as she attempted to take his mind off of things, but nothing seemed to work, and Y/N was trying to get on any possible flight to Harry while arranging two tests and an AirBnB she could self-isolate in for two weeks while attempting to set up her work from afar at the same time.        Two days after Florence’s call, Y/N sent her a message ‘Flying in tomorrow at 4 AM. Don’t tell Harry. He’ll feel even shittier cause I have to stay alone in quarantine. First test came back negative.”        She sighed in relief at the message and immediately texted back ‘i’ve got you a set pass ready, just need a picture. selfie will do. also, masks are mandatory on the lot, so bring those.’        Immediately Y/N sent a thumbs up, and a picture of herself she didn’t absolutely despise to be used on the ID card. All that was left was to pack. And spend two weeks in an attempt of not going crazy with anticipation before seeing Harry.        Those two weeks turned out to be worse than the two months between the music video shoot and going to the filming lot. Because throughout then, Y/N knew her only access to him would be through FaceTime, but to be about twenty minutes away from the man without the ability to touch him was pure torture, but at least Harry seemed completely oblivious to the change in her surroundings.        As they still continued on with their calls, not once did he mention her background, or how the paintings suddenly had managed to switch positions or the fact that Y/N didn’t even own paintings. She was sure she could’ve been missing an arm, and he wouldn’t have mentioned it with how tired he looked.        “Have you even slept, Har?”        “Not really,” he groaned, getting more comfortable in his bed. “We’ve had a bunch of early shoots and then late nights, ‘cause we need to get the continuity for the scenes, and then the day’s full of Zoom calls, and well, I can’t not call you.”        Y/N scoffed, scolding him. “You know damn well I won’t be offended if we sacrifice a couple of calls for you to get some proper sleep.”        “I know, but I will.”        Y/N sighed, knowing in a way it was her fault. She could tell him she no longer was hours of time zones away, but rather watched the same sunset and sunrise as him, but she also knew Harry, and he would be unable to stay away from her until her quarantine was over.        She was quite happy she’d sat through the fourteen mandatory days, because when she got on set, even though Harry was usually good at keeping his composure during a scene, despite the mask, he’d recognise Y/N anywhere, and all of the lines flew out of his head.        “Jack?” Florence’s hand came to cup Harry’s cheek, trying to bring him back on track. “You alright?”        But he didn’t even care about improvising to get out of the flub as his lips were split apart by a grin, and he dashed away, a loud ‘CUT!’ ringing throughout the set, but Harry already had Y/N in his arms, spinning the girl around.        “Best friends my ass,” Florence murmured as she went to the two.        Harry was speechless, Y/N’s face in between his hands as he looked her up and down. “How are you here? What? Why?”        “Thank Florence.” Y/N gave an attempt at motioning to the actress with her head. She set the whole thing up.”        Harry’s head whipped to his scene partner. “You knew Y/N was here for two weeks and told me nothing?”        “Your brain short-circuited when you saw her! You wouldn’t be of no use on set at all if I had.”        Harry scoffed, throwing an arm over Y/N’s shoulder. “Come on, let’s get away from this meanie.” But as he walked away, he looked over his shoulder and mouthed a grateful ‘thank you’ to her.        All Florence could hope for was that he’d get it together and confess, but it didn’t seem like he was in any sort of a rush. Y/N was set to be there for three weeks, but the thought of the woman leaving without knowing how Harry felt, leaving him in a sea of his own heartache, made her miserable, especially after a night they’d all spent together.        Harry really wanted Y/N to get to know the people he worked with so he invited the ones closest to him for a movie night, during which he himself had been the first one to actually fall asleep, of course.        For most of it, as ‘Westworld’ ran on in the background, he spent curled up in Y/N’s lap, his head resting against her chest with her fingers weaving through the shortened locks. She had to get used to the length, motion automatically wanting to go on longer than it was possible to. Soon enough, the soothing motions lulled her to sleep as well, their bodies leaning into one another and perfectly fitting together.        As tired as Florence was of seeing Harry, a person who’d become her friend now pine for someone so hard, it was absolutely heart-melting to watch the two interact. Everyone could see Y/N had the same feelings as Harry did for her, only she hid them a bit better. A little, but not by a lot.        No friends acted the way those two did around one another. Sure, people could be touchy, but not like that, not with such intimacy behind the motions. She felt like she was being a little creepy as she pulled out her phone to take a picture, but it was too cute not to.        A loud noise from somewhere outside set made Y/N shoot up straight, and Florence held her breath as she clutched onto her phone, having swiped it accidentally into video mode and filming the whole thing.        “No,” Harry whined, a hand reaching up for Y/N and grabbing at her elbow. “Come back. ‘S too early.”        She just nodded, grumbling something unintelligible but possibly along the lines of ‘don’t make me throw hands’ before laying down and snuggling into Harry’s chest.        Florence let out a large sigh of relief and decided to get some sleep as well before their annoying four AM alarm woke them up for set.        This time it was the other way around, as Y/N whined for Harry to ‘come back and keep her warm’.        Florence watched as Harry slipped out of Y/N’s grasp, but not before pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead and a whispered a promise to ‘see her when the Sun’s up’. The second the trailer door was closed, she slapped his shoulder, and Harry gasped in shock. “What'dya do that for?”        “Stop that! Stop that stupid dance!” She stomped her foot on the ground. “I’m sick and tired of watching you watch her with that dumb longing expression on your face. I can’t take it anymore. Why do you think I went through all that trouble to get her here?”        “I told you I would!”        She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Look, I know it’s not my place or anything, but she does like you. A lot.”        Harry threw her an uncertain gaze. “And how do you know?”        “Because that woman spent two weeks in self-isolation just to see you! She’s gone through how many of those awful Covid tests just to go and visit you! She’s dropped everything for you, has supported you through so much, and never fails to boost you up.”        “That’s what friends do.”        “No.” Florence shook her head. “That kind of loyalty… that’s what people in love give. I haven’t talked to my best friend in like a month. What’s the longest you’ve gone without speaking to Y/N?”        And with that question, she left Harry to ponder not only his feelings but the girl’s he was in love with as well. Because if he had to be honest, the reason he’d been dragging everything out, the reason he’d stayed pining for Y/N for years on end was that he tried to write everything she did off as something a childhood best friend would do.        The truth was more terrifying than anything because once that came to light, it’d change everything, and Harry didn’t know if he was ready. He wanted it, desperately so if it meant Y/N becoming someone he could love freely and openly, but not if by the end of it, she'd disappear from his life, leaving a hole the size of his heart in his chest.        His thoughts were cut short as someone knocked on the ‘Hair&Make-up’ door, and an assistant let in a pouting Y/N. Well, he couldn’t’ see the pout behind the mask, but he definitely knew it was there, making a smile come on his own face.        She plopped down in an empty sofa and crossed her arms. “I was cold.”        Harry snorted, wanting to shake his head, but didn't as to not ruin the hair stylist’s work. “You’re always cold.”        “And you’re a living furnace.”        “ ‘S that why you like cuddling? Leeching off my warmth?”        The same assistant who’d let Y/N in handed her a cup of coffee, which she was ready to kiss the woman for, but opted for a ‘thank you’. “We’ve established I only use you to get to other celebs. What makes you think I wouldn’t use you for those sort of things.”        For a moment, the trailer settled into silence, as Y/N enjoyed her morning coffee while the crew kept doing their own work.        “It’s so weird,” Y/N piped up, eyes racking up and down Harry’s body. “Don’t even wanna really look at you like that.”        He let out a mock gasp of hurt. “What d’ya mean? Am I suddenly repulsive to you?”        “No!” she let out a laugh. “It’s just odd seeing you without the tattoos. They’re such a huge part of you, even the dumb ones. Can’t really imagine you any differently.”        “Would you love me any differently without them?” The question was bold, even though he knew she did love him, he had to start making moves.        “No,” Y/N shook her head. “I don’t think so. I believe I’d be a different person then as well, but I’d love you all the same. As long as you’d do the same with me.”        Harry nodded looking down at his hands then back up at her, catching her eyes through the reflection in the mirror. “Don’t think there’s a dimension out there where I don’t love you.”        “I mean that is a bold statement,” Y/N said, sipping on the remnants of her coffee. “What if I’m like a weird, cat-skinning psychopath in one dimension? Would you love me even then?”        “Jesus Christ, Y/L/N, do you just normally come up with those gruesome scenarios or is it a hobby?”        She wiggled her eyebrows, standing up and throwing away the paper cup. “There’s a reason I have a VPN and clean my search history. I’ll see you in your trailer?”        “Yeah.” Harry nodded and smiled. “I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”        The next half-hour he kept hyping himself up, about how he was actually going to do it, but Florence intercepted him right as he was turning down the way his trailer stood. “How are you gonna do it?”        “I – “ Harry huffed and placed his hands on his hips. “In the beginning, I had like a whole romantic outing planned, but… I’ve dragged this on long enough, so I think I’ll just tell her.”        “Okay, good.” Florence nodded and slapped his shoulder in approval. “And if I don’t hear that trailer rocking, I will throw you in a ditch.”        Harry’s eyes widened at the statement, fully knowing she meant her words, but she was already half-way down the track, blond hair swishing behind her back.        It was then or never.        Slowly he opened his own trailer door as if it was Y/N’s place not his, but by the looks of how she’d sprawled out on his bed, she had made herself right at home. Just like she’d done it on the first day of school, but just with his heart.        “Hey!” She smiled looking at him. “You ready to film?”        “Yeah, but umm… I kind of wanted to talk to you beforehand.”        Y/N’s brows furrowed at Harry’s serious tone, so she sat up, nodding. “Sure. Is everything alright?” “It’s nothing bad, at least I hope you won’t take it in a bad way... I’ve actually been wanting to tell you this since that winter’s break party you had while doing your masters...” He let out a small chuckle but seeing Y/N’s eyes widen in a panic he stopped. “Oh, God,” she moaned. “You have a kid! Oh my God.” “What? No!” Harry spluttered. “Why the hell is the first thing you assume that I have a kid?” “I don’t know!” She was now standing facing him completely. “We’ve never had secrets between us, especially for as long as you’ve apparently kept them, what am I supposed to think? Maybe one of the girls you hooked up with got pregnant, and you’ve been hiding the fact you’re a baby daddy because you know I wouldn’t be able to keep the fact I can be the cool drunk aunt to myself.” All of that came out as is she’d prepared it ages ago. “Well, no.” Harry shook his head stepping closer so he could be chest to chest with Y/N. “I’m not anyone’s baby daddy. At least I don’t think so, but umm... when that moment would come... when I have a kid...” He looked up at the ceiling and sighed before lifting a gentle hand to cup her cheek. I wouldn’t want you to be the drunk aunt. I um...” There goes nothing. “I’d kinda like if you were the mom.” “Of course, I’ll be the Godmother!” Both of them said at the same time, making the other’s brain stumble over the words said. “Wait, mom?” Y/N’s question was breathless. “Like donate my eggs or some shit?” “No like, I’ve been in love with you for close to four years, and I wanna try and build a future with you, where you’re more than just my best friend.”        “Oh.”        That was all that managed to escape her mouth as he fully opened his heart, and Harry couldn’t lie – it shattered. He didn’t know what he was expecting, but it was more than that. “That’s...” Y/N huffed sitting down on the bed. “That’s a lot to take in Harry. Like a lot.” “I know.” He sighed and sat down next to her. “Which is why I’ve been pushing this away for as long as I could, but... it was time. It wasn’t fair to you or me to keep on living like that. Look.” Harry took her palm in his. “Whatever you want us to be, we’ll be that. I - I mean I’ll be heartbroken if you say you don’t feel the same, but no matter what you tell me now, I won’t let you leave my life. I love you, and I’m in love with you. This is your choice which way you chose to go with.” Y/N shook her head, interlacing their fingers and finally looking up at him. “I don’t want you to be heartbroken. It’s the last thing, I’d ever want to see you like. And umm well, if it takes me using the pair of ovaries I have to admit I’ve been in love with you too to change that, I guess I’ll have to say it. I’m in love with you too.” Harry’s eyes glimmered with unshed tears of happiness, as he looked at Y/N like she’d hung the stars in the sky. Not that it mattered. He always looked at her like that. “You mean it?” “Yeah,” she chuckled, wiping away a few stray pearls from her own cheeks. “I guess I always thought I’d end up the drunk aunt in your life, so that’s why I thought you’d ask me to be whatever future child’s Godmother. But I love you, and I’m in love with you too.” “Can I – “ Fuck, Harry was too giddy for his own good. “Can I kiss you?” And when Y/N chuckled, nodding he swore he already was in heaven. “Yes, please.”        At first, the touch of his lips was gentle, almost afraid, but the second he pressed them to Y/N’s, and she gasped at the sensation, it became full of lust as passion, years of pent-up pining and angst and just plain old stupidity surfacing and morphing itself into a steamy make-out session.        In a split second, she was sprawled out on Harry’s bed, his toned body leaning over hers and teasing hands moving along her sides, making her squirm and ache for more of his touch, but she wasn’t the only one who wanted to explore a body with a new mindset of what was possible.        As Y/N moaned from Harry’s tongue invading her mouth, her hand couldn’t help itself as it slid down his chest, and her finger flicked against the button of his trousers.        “Can I touch you there?” Y/N whispered against his mouth, and Harry eagerly nodded.        “Please. Been dreaming about this for literally years.”        Smiling, she allowed him to continue and explore her mouth with his tongue, intoxicated on one another’s taste. In fact, Y/N was so far gone just from the kiss, she forgot how a fly worked and needed Harry’s help to open it.        “Get back here,” she grumbled as he chuckled, having leaned up a bit to make it easier for her to get the offensive piece of clothing off. “We’ll see how you fare with a bra.”        “Oh, I’m an expert.” His hands trailed to her shoulder where he snapped one of the straps against her skin, making her yelp.        “You do not want to do that when my hand is an inch away from your dick.”        But the threat had no merit to it, as she dipped her palm behind Harry’s boxers while his mouth went to soothe the sting and leave a little mark on her skin, which he’d get to admire later on.        The second, Y/N wrapped her hand around his cock an involuntary moan escaped into the air, as she gripped him. Fuck, she couldn’t wait until he was inside her, because, and it might sound a little cliché given how they were best friends who’d fallen in love with one another, but she was one hundred percent sure, he was made exactly for her.        But no matter how much she twisted her hand or how gently or roughly she rubbed the tip, he couldn’t get hard, and Harry was on the verge of tears, which Y/N saw and instantly pulled away, cupping his face.        “I’m sorry,” he choked out. “Fuck, I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”        “Hey!” Y/N cooed. “None of that. It’s alright. Shit happens.”        Harry nodded understanding that she was right, but he still felt shitty and well, he felt insecure about it. “I just. Fuck. Usually, when I think of you, I’m hard in like a second.”        And although all Y/N wanted to do was smirk and tease him about the fact that he thought of her while wanking himself off, that wasn’t the right moment.        “I promise, you turn me on, you do." He sniffled. "This had never happened before.” But Y/N wasn’t offended or sad, and her laugh wasn’t mocking or trying to hurt him.        “Harry you’re dead tired.” She cupped his cheek with one of her hands, and if he’d been ice cream he would’ve literally melted. “You had to wake up at four in the fucking morning and won’t go to sleep until two the next day. Let yourself rest a bit.”        “But,” he whined and then huffed. “But I wanna love on you. Wanna show you just how crazy I am about you.”        “And you will. You know I’ll always hold you to your word. But this won’t be fun for either of us if mid-fuck you suddenly collapse on me asleep. I don’t need to go to the A and E and explain the broken nose is because my boyfriend decided to take a nap while shagging. A nap on my face.”        But Harry hadn’t really heard anything she’d said after Y/N mentioned the b-word, a dopey smile on his face. “I’m your boyfriend? You really want me like that?”        “I mean I would prefer if you were Phoebe…”        Harry pinched her side, making her squeal before tackling her in a hug. “Shut up!”        And that’s how the two fell asleep (and were woken up twenty minutes later by an assistant in a panic given how Harry was supposed to be on set in five minutes)  – wrapped up in one another’s arms, smiles on their faces, and no longer best friends, but lovers.

Tags (crossed out wouldn’t take):

Everything tags: @lumelgy @palaiasaurus64​ @supernaturalbaesduh​ @breezy1415​ @crazy--me​ @thatawkwardlittlefangirl​ @sea040561​ @staryeyedgirl​ @deathbyarabbit​ @s-c-a-r-e-d-po-t-t-e-r @reblogger-not-a-blogger @m-a-t-91​ @dalilx​ @i-need-a-hero-i-need-a-loki @maladaptive-ninja-returns​ @averyrogers83​ @in-the-end-im-still-trash​ @gallifreyansass​ @dewy-biitch​ @avxgers​ @unlikelygalaxygiver​ @magicwithaknife @ollyoxenfrees​ @bnhvrdy​ @tvwhoresblog @celebsimagines @thatkindofgurl​ @sj-thefan​ @teenwolflover28 @lestersglitterglue​ @im-squished​

Harry Styles tags: @sarcasticallywitty15​ @breezykpop​ @girlboss99​ @harrystylesdoesntknowiexist​ @alliyjane​ @sirtommyholland​

A/N: I loved writing this so much :)

P.S. my tags are always open

P.S.S. I don’t take requests, sorry. Also, please don’t repost my story on other platforms (wattpad etc) without specific written permission. 

#Harry Styles #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles imagine #harry styles fanfic #harry styles imagines #harry styles x you #harry styles x y/n #harry styles x reader smut #harry styles x reader #harry styles x fem!reader #harry styles angst #harry styles and you #harry styles and y/n #harry styles and reader #harry styles fluff #harry styles smut #eroda #treat people with kindness #fine line #one direction #one direction imagine #1d fan fiction #1d #harry styles fandom #harry styles fan fiction

[yeoandmoon]

you are now listening to graceland too by phoebe bridgers! ( yeosang x f!reader )

fluff, burnout!yeosang, bassist!yeosang, writer!reader, childhood friends 2 lovers but also idiots 2 lovers, yeosang and reader run away, seongjoong are engaged, wooyoung + yeonjun have a band, there is only one bed, yeosang has a nose ring, it’s implied reader has a bad relationship with her mother, wc is 3.1k

NOTE: happy yeosang day! this was a doozy to write, but i hope you all enjoy it! its based off one of my favourite phoebe bridgers songs! :)

There’s a mural on the wall of the hotel lobby. It’s a warm toned painting of a forest, with a hint of a bright blue sky peeking out from the top of the trees. There’s a moose standing at the forefront of the mural, and a little fox sleeping on a rock towards the bottom, surrounded by colourful flowers and leaves.

The mural confused you, if you were being honest. The hotel you worked the night audit at was situated in the busy downtown centre of the city you lived in, and there were barely any forests for miles around the city - let alone any wildlife, like moose or foxes. Hongjoong said it was to make guests feel more ‘in touch with nature’ and to help people forget about the ‘problems of the real world’, while Yeosang claimed it was ‘just another scam in the tourist trap’.

You, on the other hand, was sure the mural was put there to torture you. You would spend nights having staring contests with the moose (which, to your surprise, you always lost), or you would spend hours on Google with Hongjoong trying to find out what species of fox the sleeping fox was (you were sure it was a cape fox, while Hongjoong swore up and down that it was a gray fox). The blue sky between the trees teased you; a reminder that most of your days were spent in the library at your university, or in this dimly lit lobby.

Sometimes, it felt like the only time you saw the sunshine was when you were with Yeosang.

Despite the occasional burnout and the lack of seeing sun most days, you didn’t mind the job. You were always more of a night person, and your classes were always later in the day so you did manage to pull in some sleep. Due to the late hours, you usually only dealt with customers in the first hour or two of your shift, and most of that was just directing confused Ubereats delivery people and pretty Tinder dates to hallways and rooms. It was the perfect job to work on your writing, and get your school work out of the way without listening to your mother cry about how you’re throwing your life away like your sister.

Plus, you could think of a hundred worse people to spend the night shift with than the nighttime valet, Hongjoong. Hongjoong often kept you occupied with his latest reforms and art projects, and stories about his fiancee, Seonghwa & their friend, Yunho (who he kept insisting you needed to go on a date with).

“Your emo boy is coming.”

Well, you could think of ninety-nine worse people to spend the night shift with than Hongjoong, who sat next to you at the check-in desk.

You scoff, “He’s not my emo boy.” You mumble, glancing at the street entrance to see Yeosang walk in with an ice coffee on hand.

Despite your words, Kang Yeosang was your person (you wouldn’t quite use the term ‘emo boy’, even if it did fit), and he had been since your family moved in next door to his family when you two were children. Although your friendship lately had been reduced to these late night meetings while you two were on break on your respective graveyard shifts (you at the hotel and Yeosang at the convenience store down the block, of course) and occasional meetings in the garden when you were both running errands for your families, you still considered Yeosang one of your dearest memories.

It was hard not too, you suppose. He had been there for many of your firsts, and was always cheering you on. Yeosang always made you feel powerful and important - like a powerful heroine, and not his bratty next door neighbor who cried on his doorstep after being dumped by her first year partner. He always made you feel wanted.

Yeosang grinned at you as he stepped into the lobby (if your heart fluttered in your chest, you ignored it). He had on a backwards dad cap, and he had recently changed his nose ring out for the gold hoop San had bought him for his birthday. You could just faintly see his birthmark peeking out from where his bleach blonde hair curled under the hat.

“Hello, Sunshine.” He greets you, setting the coffee down on your desk.

You set the pen you were holding down, “Hi Yeosang.”

Upon first glance at Yeosang, you can tell he’s buzzing about something. He’s leaning over the check-in counter and chewing on his lip while making small talk with Hongjoong about the tourist season.

You raise an eyebrow, sipping your coffee as Yeosang turns back to you, “Do you remember Wooyoung and Yeonjun?”

You nearly choke on your coffee at the mention of your other neighbor and ex-boyfriend. Wooyoung had moved onto your street a few years after you had, and quickly became apart of the little bond you and Yeosang had formed. He moved to the coast with Yeonjun, your ex, the first chance they had gotten, but Wooyoung’s family remained in the neighborhood.

“I babysat Woo’s brother the other day…” You watched your friend, “Did something happen? Mrs Jung didn’t say anything the other day.”

Yeosang grins, and it’s his scheming grin, “Their band got signed,” He tells you, “They need a new bassist, and Wooyoung showed them that video you took of me from that show last month. Their label wants me to come down; play a few shows with them, record a couple demos. See if we have chemistry, basically.”

Your eyes widen - both out of excitement and fear. You were happy and excited for Yeosang! This is the opportunity he had been wanting for years, but you were also terrified.

You were terrified in a horrible, selfish way because you knew if Yeosang left to join Wooyoung and Yeonjun, he’d never come back to you.

“That’s… That’s great, Yeo!” You manage a grin whilst trying to shove the selfish thoughts away, “When do they want you there?”

Yeosang’s smile falters, just for a moment but you still catch it, “Monday.”

“F-Five days?”

He nods, “I’m leaving Saturday morning, so I can be there Sunday afternoon.”

You can see it in his eyes; he’s terrified too.

Before you can say anything else, Yeosang leans over the check-in counter and presses a chaste kiss to your forehead, “I have to get back to work, Sunshine.” He tells you, his voice quiet as if he’s giving you a secret, “I’ll see you later.”

He’s already halfway down the lobby when you swear and move out of your chair, you quickly call his name as you move out from behind the desk. You rush over to where he’s standing, and look up at him. He’s confused.

He opens his mouth to say something, but the words die in his throat when you pull him into a tight hug, “I’m proud of you, Yeo.”

Yeosang wraps his arms around you, pulling you closer to him. His chest is warm, and you’re sure you could spend hours here. He smiles, pressing another kiss to your head, “I know, Sunshine.” He pulls away, his hand on your arm, “I really do have to go, though. I’m already late for work.”

You nod, wrapping your arms around your torso as you watch him leave the hotel and turn down the street to go back to the convenience store. When you turn back around, Hongjoong is watching you with an amused look on his face.

You glare at him as you walk back to the desk, “Don’t you have a fiance to call, or something?”

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

You were tired.

Friday nights were always busy, but tonight was draining and loud and you could only take so much of Miss Liu’s incessant phone calls about mundane things at 3am. All you wanted to do was go home, and fall into your bed and sleep for hours.

Hongjoong didn’t help your mood either. It was an innocent question about Yeosang, asking if you’d seen him since he visited you on his break but it pushed your mood down to a low point. You had been so busy the past few days, and if you were being honest with yourself, you had been avoiding Yeosang.

You weren’t ready to see him leave. You knew it was selfish, but you figured avoiding Yeosang was easier than admitting you didn’t want him to leave you behind. You would just simply watch his life through Instagram and consider the ‘what-ifs’ in your life.

You shouldered your tote bag after clocking out before yelling a good-bye to Hongjoong. You could see the beginning rays of morning sun hitting the other buildings in the downtown core as you stepped out the employee doors, and then you were hit by the sight of Yeosang leaning against one of the pillars.

Your eyes widen, “Yeosan-”

“Come with me.”

You stop. Your words are left in your throat, “W-Wh… Go with you? To the coast?”

Yeosang nods, “Come with me,” He steps forward, taking your hands in his, “What do you have here? A degree you don’t care about? A job you hate?”

You frown, running over his words in your head, “I-I have my mom. And… I have Hongjoong!”

He raises an eyebrow, “Y/N, Sunshine… Your mom will barely notice you’re gone, and Hongjoong can visit us.” He cupped your cheek.

You’re so busy having an internal crisis you hardly notice the usage of ‘us’. You’re considering the logistics in your head. Yeosang was right; you didn’t care about your degree, and all it would take was an email saying you quit for them to find a new front desk person. Your mom would be upset for a few weeks. She’d probably make some passive aggressive Facebook posts about you before acting like your best friend again.

“Yeosang…” You look up at him, your hand coming up to circle around his wrist.

“Your sister is there, and you could write everyday.” Yeosang adds on, “I did the math, Y/N. Between the two of us, we’d have 6 months to figure it out. 6 months, and we’ll come back here if nothing works out.”

You stay silent for a moment.

“Sunshine, I promised I’d show you the stars, didn’t I?”

You gasp at the promise. It was a silly promise he had made when you were both kids; something you’d almost forgotten about.

It hits you quickly: there’s no one else you’d rather run away with. There’s no one else you’d trust to run away with.

You look up at Yeosang, “Yes.”

He grins, “Yes?”

You nod, “Yes, Yeo. I’ll go with you.”

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

An hour. An hour was how long it took for you to turn your life upside down for Kang Yeosang.

In an hour, you had emailed your program advisor and told them you wouldn’t be returning for the next semester, and you had called your manager and told them you wouldn’t be coming in for your next shift, or any shift after that (which was promptly followed by a phone call from Hongjoong, who seemed more excited about this than you were). You had packed up most of your clothes and important belongings, and they were loaded into the back of Yeosang’s shitty car. You left a note for your mother, and before you knew it, you were sitting in the passenger’s seat of Yeosang’s car.

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

You had fallen asleep barely an hour into the car ride. 

The rolling hills and fields outside your window made your eyes feel heavier, but you tried staying awake to keep Yeosang company.

“Go to sleep, Sunshine.” He tells you, “I’ll be here when you wake up.”

Yeosang’s promise was all it took for you to succumb to your exhaustion.

You don't usually remember your dreams. Though today, there are flashes of a beach, and a smile that takes your breath away. There are blue skies and if you try hard enough, you can just faintly smell sea salt.

You wake up hours later, smiling. True to his word, Yeosang is still there when you wake. He’s wearing a pair of sunglasses, and tapping his fingers to the beat of the song on the radio.

Yeosang smiles when he notices you’re awake, “I talked to your mother.”

Your eyes widen, “You talked to who?”

He laughs, “You didn’t answer your phone, so she called me.”

You frown, glancing at your phone in the free cup holder. You could imagine the amount of calls and texts that were in there.

“She wasn’t very happy.” Yeosang continues, “She wants you to call her when we get there.”

You nod, “Thank you, Yeo.” You say softly, looking over at him.

Yeosang throws you a smile, “Of course.”

“Not just for talking to my mom…” You watch him, “For not leaving me behind, too. Thank you.”

Yeosang reaches over, taking your hand, “I’d never leave you behind, Sunshine. You’d have to try really hard to get rid of me.”

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

The car ride was long, and full of Yeosang’s early 2000s emo playlist & fast food. You called your sister, who was ecstatic to hear about your plans and had immediately offered you and Yeosang her beach house. She made a comment about how ‘she always knew you two would end up together’, and it made your heart flutter when you glanced at Yeosang.

Yeosang told you about Wooyoung’s band, and how excited he was to play with Wooyoung. You smiled, listening to him fondly talk about your old friends and their music.

It was getting late though, and you could see it in Yeosang’s face that he was getting tired.

“We should stop for the night.” You tell him, “You’ve been driving since 6am, Yeo.”

He huffs, “We could drive through the night.” He proposes, “We’d make it to your sister’s place in a few hours.”

You frown, “Or... We could stop for the night, shower, and then leave first thing tomorrow morning. We'll get there by noon tomorrow.”

Yeosang glances at you, going to protest. He ends up yawning instead, his nose wrinkling slightly, “Fine.” He pouts.

You laugh, reaching for your phone to google the closest hotels. There's a comfortable silence in the car, filled with the occasional beat of Yeosang’s fingers on the steering wheel. You feel at ease, even if it's just for a moment.

“There’s a motel off the next exit.” You tell him, stifling a yawn of your own.

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

Sure enough, there had been a motel off the next exit. It was small and slightly rundown, but cheap and had an available room. You waited in the car while Yeosang went into the check-in office, promising to be back in a moment.

He came back dangling a key in his hand, and a slight frown on his face as he opened the car door to let you out.

“So... There’s only one bed.” He broke the news, a blush growing up his cheeks, “It’s all they had, unless we wanted to drive another hour down the highway.”

Your eyes widen, “O-Oh.” You glance at the key, and then back up at Yeosang, “I’ll sleep on the floor, or something.”

Yeosang frowns, shaking his head, “We can share for one night, Sunshine. I think it’ll be okay.”

Which leads you to here; lying almost nose to nose with Yeosang. Your hair was soaking wet from a shower in the tiny bathroom and the small motel bed wasn’t comfortable, but you didn’t seem to mind as you took in the man in front of you. You pushed the strands of bleach blonde hair out of his face, and your fingers softly lingered on the birthmark next to his eye.

His breath stuttered, “Y/N,” He says, his voice a mere whisper, “We’re free.”

You let your hand rest against his cheek. Your eyes lingered on his lips before you caught yourself, moving your gaze back up to his eyes.

Yeosang only smiled at you. He gently held your wrist as he tilted his head and placed a soft kiss on your palm, “I’m going to kiss you now, Sunshine.”

“Yes please.”

You felt every nerve in your body light up when Yeosang kissed you.

A small part of your brain told you that this is where you’re meant to be: in Yeosang’s arms.

You felt this way the first time Yeosang had kissed you too, all the way back on that roof in 11th grade. You two had been talking about the future; about your writing and Yeosang’s music. You looked up at the hazy night sky, and you asked Yeosang if you’d ever get to see the stars.

He smiled at you, telling you that he would show them to you one day before he kissed you so sweetly.

Yeosang still kissed you sweetly. He kissed you like you held the secrets of the universe in your hand for him to take.

You pulled away, “I think I love you.”

He smiles against your lips, rubbing soft circles into your wrist, “I think I love you too, baby.”

—————-

You had this assumption that the next morning would be awkward; that you would be stuck for the next 6 months with someone you could barely look in the eye because of a late night confession.

Instead, you awoke to Yeosang kissing your head and placing a bagel & ice coffee down for you. He had quickly ushered you into the shower, before you put on a change of clothes and were quickly led out to the car between bites of your bagel. This all happened over Yeosang telling you how you only had a few hours before you reached your sister’s beach house, and he wanted to try and make good time so you could enjoy the beach today.

You giggled at his antics before settling into the passenger’s seat for the last few hours of your journey.

You sipped your ice coffee as you watched out the window. The countryside on the highway zoomed by you, and the car was full of sunlight from Yeosang’s sunroof being open. There was a Fall Out Boy song on the radio, and you felt a sense of calm brush over you as Yeosang took your hand in his.

The sunshine had never felt so nice on your skin as Yeosang pressed a soft kiss to the back of your hand.

taglist: @vanishingboots @sunsethw4​ 

#ateez imagines #ateez fluff #ateez scenarios #ateez x reader #kang yeosang fluff #kang yeosang imagines #b.

[gifted-burnout-archive]

The Other Side of Hollywood

Part Eight: The Finale

Word Count: 8.6K+

Author’s Note: thank you for reading my nonsense. Tuly, thank you.

Warning: the usual.

If this is the first post you’ve seen, links to the rest of the story (+ masterlist and moodboard) are as follows:

- One - Two - Three - Four - Five - Six - Seven - Masterlist - Moodboard -

--

Los Angeles, California. 1995.

“Good morning City of Angels, this is Josh Fern at 106.7, bringing you your daily dose of pop tunes and the week’s biggest hits! We’ve got your sunshine while the clouds stay over our hometown, though they should be gone by the weekend. The time is 6.31, and this is our fan favourite of this week, Waterfalls by-”

The voice was cut out with a bang, a hand coming from under a mess of pillows and comforter to shut off the radio alarm clock. The nails were short, partially bitten away and partially trimmed, the fingers tips calloused and the black nail polish on them chipped away. The arm that followed had a collection of bracelets and wrist bands around it, a catalogue of the last year of events and gifts from friends. It disappeared back amongst the fluffy warm of the grey sheets, its owner hoping for another half hour of sleep.

A loud clatter sounded from just beyond the door, and the bed’s inhabitant sat right up, jumping out of bed, and slipping on a pair of fuzzy blue slippers before running to their door.

“Shit, shit…” A voice muttered outside, and the door was swung open to reveal their mom, trying to clean the fluff off the bacon and eggs she seemed to have dropped on the way to their room. Orange juice pooled on the breakfast tray, and their mom looked up quickly. “Oh! Honey! Y/N, baby. I’m sorry, I tripped over my shoes… This was supposed to be breakfast in bed for my birthday girl.”

“Oh, mom…” the pair embraced over the mess of spilled breakfast, sharing a smile as they began clearing it up together. “Well, why don’t I get dressed, we go to Ruth’s before the breakfast rush?” Y/N suggested, taking in her mom’s appearance. She was already in her scrubs, hair pinned back and her badge hanging from her pocket. “When’s your next shift start?” She asked, and her mom pressed a kiss to her forehead before picking up the tray.

“Cathy is covering me for the next two hours, and I should be back around 4.” Her mom said quickly, walking down the apartment’s hallway and quickly binning the dusty bacon and eggs, running the tray under the sink to stop it becoming sticky. “You get ready, Ruth’s sounds great.” She assured, and Y/N jumped back to her feet, rushing down the hallway after her mom and pressing a kiss to her cheek from behind while grabbing a damp rag and a bottle of carpet cleaner from below the sink.

“I’ll get the orange juice out the rug first.” She smiled, walking back to the stain of yellow on the cream carpet, dropping to her knees to quickly scrub it out of the flooring before it became permanent.

“Are you taking the cello to school today? I can drive you in if you are.” Her mom called the offer down the hall as Y/N brought the last of the OJ out of the carpet, walking back down the hall to store the cleaning products away.

“That would be great. Mr Johnson wants to restring it for me, I’ve been playing so much he’s worried they’ll snap any day now.” Y/N smiled at the thought, and her mom rested a hand on her cheek, rubbing her thumb on the rosy skin.

“You know, I’m so proud of you sweetie… I tell you, I never thought I would be lucky enough to have a daughter like you.” Their foreheads pressed together. “Just think, next year you’ll get me as your college roommate!”

“I still need to audition for USC mom. I’m not going to college yet.” Y/N reminded with a smile, glancing at the wall clock. “I’ll go get ready, could you take my cello down to the car?” She asked with her hands clasped, her mom laughing.

“Of course, birthday girl. Go, get ready. Leaving in 15.” Her mom called after her as Y/N ran and swung herself round the doorframe into the bathroom, quick to jump in the shower and wash herself, and even quicker to rush back to her bedroom and get herself dressed. By the time those 15 minutes had passed, Y/N was grabbing her backpack and Walkman, clipping the latter to the waistband of her tartan skirt as she rushed out the door, double checking she had everything she needed for school as she hurried out to her mom’s car.

“And I am right on time.” Y/N said with a heavy breath as she sat down in the passenger seat, her mom pulling out their parking spot, the car’s clock reading 6.59.

“I phoned ahead to Ruth’s; she’s got your pancakes already cooking.” Her mom replied, letting out a happy sigh as they turned onto the main road, turning on the radio as Y/N slipped on her headphones, quickly opening her Walkman to identify what CD she had on before closing it and pressing play, the pair enjoying each other’s silent company as they headed for their favourite diner.

They arrived a few songs later thanks to LA traffic, Y/N jumping out as her mom parked up to find Ruth, the diner owner, setting out her and her mom’s meals on the bar counter: pancakes with syrup and banana, and a strawberry and vanilla smoothie for each of them, plus a cup of black coffee by her mom’s usual seat.

“There she is: the birthday girl!” Ruth came round the counter, pulling Y/N into a tight hug that forced the breath out the girl. Ruth was an older woman, about an inch shorter than the teen, and stout, but stronger than three of Y/N combined, with her greying hair in curls and tucked under a soft blue hat that matched her waitress uniform. “Now I know we shouldn’t talk work, but can I ask you to come in Sunday morning?” Ruth asked Y/N as she ushered her to her seat, and Y/N’s mom came through the door.

“Of course. Mom, will you be working Sunday?” Y/N asked as they both took their seats, Ruth walking back round the counter. Y/N stopped for a moment, appreciating the ‘17’ that had been made with banana slices on top of her pancakes.

“Got a double at the hospital. Why? Ruth got you working overtime again?” Her mom raised an eyebrow at Ruth, who just cackled.

“Sami, sweetheart, that girl’s my best waitress.” Ruth scolded Y/N’s mom, who shook her head with a smile before starting on her breakfast, and Y/N did the same as Ruth walked further along the countertop to help another customer.

“So, what’s the schedule for today?” Sami asked her daughter, who looked up with half a pancake hanging out her mouth, causing them both to start laughing.

“Well…” Y/N started, swallowing down her food as her mom sipped on coffee. “School, then the pier with Rosalee and Evelyn. Then home, cake… And my bed?” She suggested, earning a roll of the eyes from her mom.

“It’s your seventeenth birthday, Y/N! You need to be out having fun, maybe finally decide to join Rosalee’s band?” He mom suggested with a wiggle of her eyebrows, earning an elbow in the side. “Hey! Girls in rock bands are the new super models. You’ll have all the rocker boys at your feet.” Her mom teased, and Y/N went bright red. “Speaking of which… Happy birthday.” Her mom reached into her hand bag, pulling out an envelope and sliding it along the counter.

“Mom, I thought we said no presents this year…” Y/N reprimanded her, but her smile was too bright to be angry.

“It’s a joint present. Rose and I, nothing too expensive, though that girl will have gotten you something else as well, no doubt.” Sami explained as Y/N licked her knife clean and slotted it under the envelope flap, slicing the paper open.

“No… No way…” Y/N muttered, shaking two concert tickets from the letter, covering her mouth as her eyes watered a little. “Mom…”

“You’ve been raving about those boys for the past year now, Y/N, and with Rose’s discount to Orpheum shows… They’re playing in a few months, we couldn’t resist.” Her mom said with a smile, and Y/N jumped from her seat, wrapping her arms around her mom, happy tears staining her mom’s scrubs. “Hey, hey, it’s alright.” Sami lifted her daughter’s face to wipe away the tears. “You’re my little superstar, Y/N, you deserve some time off.” She informed Y/N, who nodded. “You finish up, you can finish the milkshake in the car, and if you decide to cut school today, just make sure you’re not missing anything important… Knowing Rose, she’ll drag you out before you can get a word in edge wise.”

The pair were conscious of the time, finishing up quickly and bidding goodbye to Ruth as they hurried for the car. LA traffic always had to be accounted for, but they managed up the beach front and reached Los Feliz High with ten minutes to spare. Y/N quickly kissed her mom’s cheek, grabbing her bag and pulling her cello from the backseat, waving her mom off to work as an arm rested across her shoulders, another set coming around her waist.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” Evelyn and Rosalee shrieked into Y/N’s ears, causing the girl to jump and try and wriggle away as her cousin and best friend, respectively, pressed kisses to her cheeks and locked her in an embrace.

“Jesus! I swear you both want to kill me.” Y/N recovered quickly with a nervous laugh, her cousin taking her cello for her as Rosalee pulled her closer by the shoulders, Y/N’s hand coming around the taller girl’s waist. “But thank you. For the yelling and the tickets, Rosa.” She directed the second half to her friend, having to pause for a moment to blow her friend’s hair away from her face, the dark curls tickling her nose.

“Hermosa, it was the least I could do. You’ve been in love with them since last year’s homecoming. Lo juro, fue el regalo más fácil que he comprado.” Rose promised her friend, the pair walking after Evelyn into the school building, headed for the music department.

“So… I took the liberty of checking your class schedule.” Evelyn spoke up as they reached Mr Johnson’s classroom, Y/N’s cello, and piano, teacher. She rapped the door twice, turning back to her little cousin and Rose. “None of us have anything major to do today, we have friends and study partners in all our classes willing to share notes, and your cello is out of use all day.”

“Indeed it will be.” Mr Johnson spoke up, the girls glancing down the corridor at the older teacher. He was a cheery looking fellow, maybe about fifty years old, with a round belly and a love of suspenders. He was also the best teacher Y/N had ever had. “I need to restring and tune and break it in for use, you’ll get it back Monday. Now, I hope you girls aren’t planning on skipping school for Y/N’s birthday, as a teacher I could never condone such a thing…” He said as he unlocked his room, beckoning the three in, the trio following. “Of course, if you were to leave, you should be going through that fire escape at the far corner of my classroom, and heading to the bus park. No teachers patrolling there this time of day...” He winked, and Rose took it as a sign to run over to the door, Evelyn following quickly. Y/N waited behind for a second, taking a step towards Mr Johnson’s desk. “Y/N, you deserve a day off. Happy birthday.” He said with a kind smile, opening his desk and pulling out a small, thin box. “For my brightest student, and for a life of signing autographs. The past five years of teaching you have been my privilege.” He prefaced as she opened the box to find a white marble pen, her name engraved along the side.

“Thank you, Mr Johnson…” She smiled softly, closing the box over once more and putting the present into her backpack.

“Go, be safe, be stupid to the limit of safety… I don’t need my student breaking her wrist a month before her USC audition.” He warned, and Y/N nodded fast, turning on her toes and starting for the door Rosa and Evelyn had left through. She broke into a run as she headed for the bus park, quickly catching up to her friends and falling into step with them, headed for Sunset Boulevard.

The girls often found themselves on the strip, and on days like that one they could walk all the way to the coast line and back, window shopping as they went. While it was colder than usual for LA, the thick cloud layer blocking out most of the sunshine, the whole strip was alive that Friday.

However, it seemed like Rosalee and Evelyn had a plan for Y/N, each looping their arm with Y/N’s as they started on a march down the strip, headed to an undisclosed location. They didn’t stop to window shop as per the usual, didn’t stop for smoothies from the place Evelyn got discounts in because she flirted with the cashier, they didn’t even hesitate when passing the cineplex the three frequented at the weekends when they weren’t all working or studying.

Instead, Rosalee and Evelyn stopped on the other side of the road from Rose’s job, at the Orpheum.

“I thought that concert was a few months away, Rosalee.” Y/N said with a raised eyebrow, not sure what her friends were up to.

“Oh, no… That’s our second stop…” Rose turned Y/N’s head slightly, focusing on a building two down from the music venue. “We’re going there first.”

“Tattoos?” Y/N’s eyes widened, looking over at Evelyn to see if it was real, but by the smile on her cousin’s face, they were serious. “Ev, your mother will kill you. Auntie is far from… Tattoo-friendly.” Y/N reminded, and Evelyn shook her head.

“Oh, I know. But Aunt Sami? She’ll be thrilled you’re doing something stupid. I’m pretty sure you being the clever one in that house isn’t fair.” Evelyn said with a grin, and Rose leaned over.

“We cleared it with her, you’re all good to go… So, you’re getting a tattoo, Y/N…” She said, and with a glance to Evelyn, the pair locked their arms tight around Y/N’s and marched her across the road and for the tattoo parlour.

“Guys! Guys! This is ridiculous, you realise that?” Y/N asked with a nervous laugh, gulping as they pushed her through the door, Rosalee pulling a slip out of her leather jacket’s pocket.

“Hello there. We have an appointment booked for today at 10?” Rosa asked at the desk, Y/N looking back at Evelyn, who winked: the pair had planned this a while ago, she could tell.

“Parental consent is required?” The receptionist asked, Rosa handing over the slip of paper. The employee glanced over it, shrugging and nodding. “What’s your name kid?”

“Y/N.”

“Well, Y/N, we’ll get you set up in the chair. Do you have a design in mind?”

“Actually, we’ve picked something out for her.” Evelyn spoke up, pushing Y/N further into the shop and sitting her down on the tattoo chair. “I emailed it over last week, to Francis?” She asked, and the name caused shuffling from behind a curtain.

“Evelyn, right?” A beautiful woman, probably a few years older than the girls, came through the curtain. Her arms were covered in tattoos, shown off by the cut tank she had decided to wear, the band on it matching the one Y/N’s shirt repped. “Ah, so this is my rock child kin. Francis, you can call me Fran.” She introduced herself with a hug, first Evelyn, then Rosalee, and finally Y/N, each girl hugging back. “So, ladies, do we want the tattoo to be a surprise?” She asked, and Evelyn glanced at Rose then Y/N, both nodding.

“I mean, why not?” Y/N conceded, to the grins of her friends and tattoo artist, who took her dominant hand and flipped it over, rubbing down her wrist with sterilising solution. Y/N was nervous, sure, but the excitement was dulling the worry a little.

“Y/N, can I get your Walkman?” Rosa asked, quickly unclipping the device from her best friend’s waist before given an answer, and removing the CD. She walked over to the front desk, chatting with the guy who had greeted them as Fran set herself up, making sure her needle was inked and working well. Y/N gulped at the whir of the tattoo gun, the anxiety rising up…

When a familiar song came over the shop’s stereo, and she let out a laugh.

“Go on, you know you want to.” Evelyn encouraged, Y/N’s favourite band beginning to play and sing on the radio.

“It’ll help you relax… Go for it.” Fran said with a nod, slipping on a pair of gloves and her glasses, the tattoo gun whirring up again, and coming in contact with Y/N’s skin. The pain was sharp, and sudden, and she gasped, deciding to follow the advice.

“… ‘til we blast open the top. Face first, full charge, electric hammer to the heart.” Y/N called out, her eyes squeezing shut as she sang and laughed through the pinching on her wrist. “Clocks move forward but we don't get older, no. Kept on climbing till our stars collided. And all the times we fell behind were just the keys to paradise.” She began to sing properly, the pain seeming to dull when she focused on it, Rosalee and Evelyn watching on in awe. Her voice was so unique, so special, something Rose had been trying to convince Y/N to use for years. “Don’t look down, cause we’re still rising up right now. And even in we hit the ground, we’ll still fly. Keep dreaming like we’ll live forever, but living like it’s now or never!”

Y/N sang her way through the seven songs on the demo album twice through in that tattoo parlour, Rosa and Evelyn joining in on the catchy choruses: it made sense why Y/N liked the band, they only hoped she would like the tattoo.

“My masterpiece is finished.” Fran announced, prompting Rosa to run over and shut off the CD player, collecting Y/N’s disc and slipping it back into the girl’s Walkman. “Do you wanna look?” Fran asked her, removing her glasses and gloves with a smile, and Y/N sat up, looking down at the tattoo on her wrist.

“A sunset?” She whispered, glancing up at her friends with a smile.

“My idea, would you believe?” Evelyn said, Y/N getting off the chair and pulling her and Rose into a tight hug. They quickly bid goodbyes to Fran, heading back outside onto the strip, this time with the destination of the Orpheum.

“So, best birthday ever?” Rosalee asked Y/N, who nodded, still admiring the tattoo. It was a reference to her favourite band, her friends knew her well, and reflected their logo quite nicely. “Well, since we’ve been amazing to you… I’m going to ask again.” Rose said as they entered the Orpheum, and Y/N smiled ruefully.

This was their thing, her and Rosalee. Every week, Y/N would once again be asked to join her best friend and her cousin in their band, Rose and the Petal Pushers, and every time they asked she said no. She was a classically trained cellist and pianist, she was auditioning for the USC conservatory program in a month, and even if Rose had been the one to encourage her into playing again after the one time when Y/N was 10 and embarrassed herself at a concert so bad she refused to touch her cello for three weeks, Y/N couldn’t see why a girl rock band needed her in it. Evelyn, Rose and the girls were quite phenomenal without her.

“Why do you need me?” Y/N decided to ask this time, instead of just refusing, a bit more open to ideas since it was her birthday. Rosa and Evelyn shared a glanced, shocked, before pulling her through to the main concert space and jumping up onto the stage, dragging Y/N along with them.

“Have you ever heard a cello in a rock song?” Evelyn asked her, the three looking out at the space, standing in the places where legends had stood before them.

“Not really… No.” Y/N admitted, looking over and fixing one of the butterfly themed clips in Rosalee’s hair.

“That’s exactly why we need you, Y/N. Diversify the genre, bring classical technique to punk rock!” She pitched, taking her friend’s hand in hers. “Plus, you can sing, you can play piano… You have a gift that needs to be shared with the world, Y/N.” The words gave Y/N reason to pause, to consider. She had, after all, done crazier things before, she had done crazier things that day, the ink on her wrist catching her eye. “Go on… Sing something, see how it feels.” She urged, and Y/N sighed, entertaining her friends as her eyes closed.

“God!” Y/N let the note hang for a moment, and Rose grinned: it was something she had written, that Y/N had overheard her practicing at school the week before. “God only knows, what I’d do… If I, if I couldn’t love you…” She sang softly, her eyes opening to look out, to feel the rush of adrenaline hit her. She bit her lip as she smiled, understanding exactly what Rose meant. “If I do this…” She began, cut off and Rose and Evelyn hugged her tight, squealing in delight, jumping up and down with her.

“That’s a yes! You finally said yes!” Rose cheered, and Evelyn jumped down from the stage and rushed over to the bar, pulling out a small box she and Rose undoubtedly store there the night before, sat atop it a party hat.

“To celebrate your joining the band…” Evelyn opened the box, a frosted cupcake inside, and handed it to Y/N while fixing a party hat onto the girl’s head.

“Ah! Ewan!” Rose called as a kid around their age walked in, ready for a shift that night. He was a year older than the girls, had gone to school with them, and knew far too much about all of them thanks to Rose. “Can you get a photo? Y/N’s finally agreed.” She explained, pulling a disposable camera from her school bag and handing it over to him.

“You really agreed?” He asked Y/N, who was eating her way rather quickly through the cupcake: though to be fair, it was her favourite flavour. She nodded in response, earning laughs from her three companions, and she just shrugged as she swallowed.

“After… Two years of pestering, it seems only right that I final give in. Rosalee sure wasn’t going to be defeated.” Y/N laughed, taking one last bite of the cupcake before wiping her mouth, swallowing the food as Rose and Evelyn wrapped their arms around her.

“Say… Petal Pushers!” Ewan called, taking a photo as the girls laughed through the words, a smile on his own face as he handed back the camera. “You guys really ought to leave before the boss gets back.” He reminded, gesturing to the side door, and the three girls took a second before nodding, rushing out the side exit as the staff started filing in for the night’s events.

Y/N didn’t feel the eyes on the back of her head as she left the Orpheum, barely registering the whisper that passed by her ear, planting the first seed in her mind of something terrible.

--

That night, after cake with her mom at the apartment and plans made with Rosalee and Evelyn to meet the rest of the band that night for their first practice, Y/N began travelling towards the address Rosa had given her earlier that day, a hum on her lips as she stepped of the bus near the coast line, near her favourite place in the world, one her and her mom found years ago.

She had wrapped up warm, unusually cold air had set in that night, prompting her to borrow her mom’s thickest jacket as she left the apartment with calls of ‘I love you’ shared between a mother and daughter.

You’ve got nothing to lose…

The words floated in Y/N’s head for a moment, and she shrugged, deciding a five minute detour to the beach wouldn’t do her any real harm. It would be nice to have a few moments alone, to soak in the day so far, before she went on to that night and the upcoming festivities.

Her feet hit the sand, whisperings of a song floating through her head, a shadow of a man in formal wear further along the sandy shores…

Suddenly, morning, and Y/N was woken up at her favourite spot on the beach front by a scream. She shot up, rushing to see what had happened, no time to register her lost memory from the night before.

Only the scream wasn’t on the beach front. Y/N turned to find her mom and Rose holding one another, over a body, dressed just like Y/N.

“Mom…” She asked, looking down at the girl who lay on the rock, by her side.

Looking down a face so familiar to her, though she wasn’t sure why. The body was rigid, washed of colour, lips that should have been red a tinged purple blue.

And then, Y/N screamed…

--

Los Angeles, California. 2020.

They all came back at once, a barrage of information filling Y/N’s head, finishing its upload to her brain in an instant. Of a life she never got to live, of a mom who loved her so dearly, of a father who never appeared, of friends who loved her unconditionally and guardians who wanted nothing more than to see her thrive.

Of that man on the beach, of the songs she had sang for 25 years by his side…

A distinct memory of Caleb calling her death a recruitment, of him asking her to play for his house band once he found her, of him becoming furious at her upstaging him on her first night at the club... It all finally made sense to her:

She was dead because of Caleb. 

And she had lost music, family, everything, because Caleb took it from her.

Y/N’s eyes stung with tears as she pulled herself to her feet, the pain of the jolt still coursing through her and forcing her to lean against the wall as she made her way to the stage side. She watched as Alex, Reggie and Luke played for Caleb, who sang and scatted his way through their third song of the night. None of the guys looked happy, of course they didn’t… They were enslaved by a man who wanted their musical talent and nothing else, just like he had wanted Y/N’s 25 years ago.

As the song came to an end with a drum solo by Alex, Y/N managed to muster up the physical strength to walk onto the stage, steely-eyed as a plan began to form in her head.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please let me welcome Y/N Y/L/N to the stage!” Caleb was quick to notice her, sending a smile and the audience’s applause her way as she walked along the band stand, taking a seat at the piano without a word said, without another person looked at. Her fingers spread over the keys, the sheet music for one of Caleb’s songs in front of her, but instead her hand moved down and hit a different chord.

She let it sit in the air, holding it over the whole room, getting everyone’s attention, including Caleb, including the guys… Including Luke. She had to do something, anything, and her mind travelled back to that night at the party, when she had spent hours resting against Luke, flicking through his song writing journal as the room shared jokes, shared anecdotes… Her memory focused on one moment, when she had scanned over the chord progressions and lyrics to a song Luke had asterisked and labelled ‘ANTHEM-WORTHY’ in his near illegible handwriting.

The idea quickly formed, Y/N getting the gut feeling to hold off for one more moment before pressing down on the chord once more, and beginning to play the melody and bass line of the song she remembered on that page with as much emotion as she could.

“Don’t blink, no I don’t wanna miss it… One thing, and it’s back to the beginning.” Y/N singing wavered a little, her voice taking a moment to come into its own… But she remembered now, what she was good at, what she was capable of… What she was able to create with Luke wasn’t a fluke, it was real. It was the girl who wanted to study music, who wanted to join her best friend’s band, who got a tattoo and played cello and loved her mom with her whole heart.

For the first time in 25 years, Y/N knew who she was, and didn’t shy away from it.

“Cause everything is rushing in fast. Keep going on never look back.” She continued, the boys quickly realising what was happening, knocked out of the daze they had found themselves in. Alex was the first to join in, taking on his drum line with a smile to Y/N, a thank you, that warmed her heart. Then Reggie, getting used to the bass strings again, no longer feeling the urge to play what Caleb demanded.

“And it one, two, three, four times that’ll I’ll try for one more night.” Y/N went on the harmony line as another voice filled the room, startling the audience and performers with its power, its beauty. Some sort of connection had been made, just like when Y/N had played with Luke the day before, and Julie’s solo performance from the Orpheum was being broadcasted to the room as Y/N played, and Reggie and Alex played. As her hands left the piano, Julie’s own playing taking over, her eyes looked up at Luke, slowly coming to from his own trance. “Light a fire in my eyes, I’m going out of my mind.” She sang along, a smile on her face as Luke’s eyes cleared of the fog that had settled in them, and his hands began to play.

“Stop it! Stop them!” Caleb yelled as the crowd started to cheer, to dance along, Julie’s voice filling the room and drowning out any shouts Caleb tried to make as the chorus came into play.

“Whatever happens even if I’m the last in it I’ma stand tall, I’ma stand tall. Whatever happens even when everything’s down, I’ma stand tall, I’ma stand tall.” Julie sang, the boys playing along, all of them visualising the Orpheum, where they were supposed to be as waiters came up onto the stage and grabbed Y/N, pulling her away from the piano. “I gotta keep on dreaming, cause I gotta catch that feeling. Whatever happens even if I'm the last standing I'ma stand tall, I'ma stand tall.” The damage was already done, Alex and his drum set disappearing into thin air, leaving a gap in the stage. He could still be heard however, now playing with Julie from the Orpheum.

“Right now I'm loving every minute. Hands down can't let myself forget it, no. Cause everything is rushing in fast, keep holding on, never look back.” As Julie continued, Y/N wrenched herself from the waiters, Reggie disappearing as she made her way across the stage. “And it’s…”

“Y/N.” Luke called to her over the music, his eyes worried as he watched the staff grab her arms and pull her back again. He began to fade, starting to disappear and join the band where he was meant to be, at the Orpheum, but then having to leave Y/N behind as a result. She would be facing off Caleb, alone. And after she saved him, saved everything, how could he let it happen?

“See you on the other side, Luke.” She shouted back, a smile on her face as she was pulled away by the waiters, a nod of her head promising everything would be ok. He vanished, his eyes opening as he finally appeared in the Orpheum, smiling over to Julie as he finally materialised.

“I’m going out of my mind.” Luke sang, earning a cheer from the crowd. “Whatever happens even if I'm the last standing I'ma stand tall, I'ma stand tall.” He sang, a wave of relief flushing over him when he didn’t flicker again, Julie dancing alongside him.

“Whatever happens even when everything’s down, I’ma stand tall, I’ma stand tall.” Julie joined in, Luke switching to the harmony line. “I gotta keep on dreaming, cause I gotta catch that feeling. Whatever happens even if I'm the last standing I'ma stand tall, I'ma stand tall.” Julie beckoned Reggie over, the pair walking to the front of the stag, surrounded by the crowd as they went back to back. “Like I'm glowing in the dark. I keep on going when it's all falling apart. Yeah I know it with all my heart. Ooh, ooh.”

“Never look back!” Luke called out with a final strum, looking back at Alex as they were left with only Reggie on bass.

“Whatever happens even if I’m the last standing, I’ma stand tall, I’ma stand tall.” Alex stood up as he sang, earning screams and cheers.

“Whatever happens even when everything’s down, I’ma stand tall, I’ma stand tall.” Reggie continued, nodding to Julie, who harmonised with him.

“Stand tall.”

“Stand tall.” Luke and Alex joined in.

“Stand tall!” A final voice sang out, the familiar high and airy sounds of Y/N harmonising perfectly with the band, holding a high harmony line as they went into the last chorus.

“Whatever happens even if I’m the last in it I’ma stand tall, I’ma stand tall. Whatever happens even when everything’s down, I’ma stand tall, I’ma stand tall.” The five voices sang together for the final chorus, Julie leading Luke down to the front of the stage with her mic as the paired shared. “I gotta keep on dreaming, cause I gotta catch that feeling.” Reggie and Alex followed them down to the front of the stage, mics in hand as Luke played them out. “Whatever happens even if I'm the last standing I'ma stand tall, I'ma stand tall.”

For a moment, as they held that last note, Julie and the Phantoms could see Y/N amongst the crowd, before she disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving the band to take their final bow together.

--

It was only once Julie and the Phantoms had finished their last performance that the club went quiet, all eyes focused on a smiling Y/N, who had sung alongside the band in their closing lyrics. The arms that held Y/N back were replaced with a single hand on her shoulder, Y/N following the arm up to look at Caleb, who looked at the band and with a flick of his hand, had them playing again, performers dancing, waiters serving food like nothing had happened.

“You and I need a little chat.” He said softly, leading Y/N towards the bar, the pair sitting on bar stools, and the waiter placing down two glasses of champagne. He was silent for a moment, taking a sip of the cool beverage as Y/N watched on: she wasn’t able to wipe the smile off her face. She could hear them in her head, she could see them performing, she could see Flynn and Ray and Carlos watching Julie with love she held for her own family. “Was this your plan all along?”

“No.” Y/N responded honestly. “But after I fulfilled my side of the deal, once I got the boys to the club, I got my memories back. Willie was freed… And now you have nothing over me, but I know who you really are Caleb.” She took a sip of her own glass, the pair setting them down at the same time.

“Oh? And who am I, Y/N?”

“A collector… A narcissist… The person who killed me. Take your pick.” She said softly, and Caleb’s face fell. She finished her glass, passing the crystal back to the bartender before getting up, running a hand through her hair and shaking it out into waves.

“I don’t lose Y/N… You know that. I will destroy you.” He reminded, and she glanced back at him with a smile.

“I’ve been dead an awful long time, Mr Covington. I’m going to die knowing I saved my friends, knowing who I am… That’s all I need. I have my redemption.” She replied, thoughtful in her words before walking towards the exit.

“So be it.” Caleb smirked, another jolt running through Y/N’s body as she vanished, leaving the echo of pain in her wake.

When Y/N opened her eyes, she was back on her beach, on her boulder, the waves crashing around her and the night sky full of stars. She collapsed, a delayed reception of the jolt administered, only this time the pain didn’t fade like usual. Instead, it radiated through her, settling as a dull numbness through her body.

She pulled herself to her feet, trying to envision Julie’s house in her head, knowing she needed to find Willie, to explain the boys got to cross over, that they were safe: to tell him she was sorry. However, every time she tried, her head became heavy, foggy, and after a few attempts and another jolt coursing through her, Y/N saw no choice but to walk.

It was slow going, the girl having to stop every few minutes as another jolt hit, the pain building up with each blow she took. She decided at about the halfway mark to ditch the heels she had been wearing all night, and by the time she reached the Molina residence, she fell to the patio, the sound of Julie’s dad pulling in to the house welcoming to her ears.

“Y/N?” A voice asked from the shadows, Willie emerging from his hiding spot and rushing over at the sight of his friend curled up on the concrete, holding her stomach as another jolt hit her.

“Willie I…” Y/N coughed, groaning in pain and taking deep breaths. Before she could continue, Julie rounded the corner, having heard the voices from the front door, stopping in her tracks at the sight. “Julie.”

“Oh my God, Y/N…” Julie rushed over, her and Willie sharing a glance, a mixture of confusion and worry: there was the question as to why Julie was able to see the skater boy Alex had been falling for, when the night before she had watched Alex, Reggie and Luke discuss plans to air, but it wasn’t the time for it now.

“I’m so sorry. For everything, everything I did to you both…” She tried to pull herself up, Willie quickly helping her to her feet and holding her upright. “Willie, I didn’t have a choice, I swear and…” Y/N’s words turned to sobs, and Willie held her tight to him.

“Hey, hey… I know you did right by me…”

“And the boys too… They crossed over.” Julie added, Willie looking over at the lifer with an eyebrow raised.

“How?”

“Y/N.” Julie just answered. “She sent them to me… Now can I ask the question of what we do to save you?” She directed her question to the girl in green, who shook her head quickly. “My mom wouldn’t want you dying again.” Julie said, leaving Y/N confused until she pulled a photo from her jacket pocket, Y/N’s eyes widening at the memory.

“Rosalee…” She whispered, a tear rolling down your cheek. “Your mom… Oh my God…” She muttered, the realisation tinged with an overwhelming sense of grief: not only had they all lost the guys, but Y/N had only just remembered her best friend, and now had to discover she had passed on as well.

“What do we do, Y/N?” Willie asked, receiving a shake of the head from his best friend.

“I’m ok… Going like this. I just wanted to say goodbye… To see you one last time… To be somewhere happy.” She whispered, and Julie wiped her eyes.

“Then we’ll say goodbye together… All of us.” Julie decided, beckoning Willie to follow after her as she walked to the studio doors, walking into the space with Willie and Y/N coming to either side of her. “I…” She stopped, swallowing for a moment. “I know I already said this but, uh… Thank you guys.” She said softly, looking to Y/N, their hand reaching out and passing through one another as they looked on the dark space with Willie to their left, a final goodbye appropriate for sending them off properly.

“… You’re welcome…” Reggie’s voice came from nowhere, followed swiftly by a groan from Alex, and Julie rushed to turn the light on. With the flick of a switch, the three boys were revealed in a pile on the floor.

“Dude…” Luke groaned, blinking a few times to adjust to the brightness of the room as Alex got to his feet, Reggie sitting himself up. “Y/N…” Luke’s eyes focused on the girl, who had gone back to leaning on Willie for support.

“I… I. What are you doing here? I thought-” Julie started, cut off as a jolt ran through the boys and Y/N, her eyes welling up. “No… No! I thought you crossed over, why didn’t you cross over?”

“I guess playing the Orpheum wasn’t our unfinished business.” Alex muttered, looking up to see Willie, the worry etched on the happy boy’s face sending aches to his heart. With a nod from Y/N, who found herself a comfortable leaning position against one of the support beams, Willie made his way over to Alex, their hand linking as the blond found his footing.

“Point Caleb.” Y/N muttered with a painful laugh, waving her fingers over to Reggie, who smiled weakly and waved back.

“We wanted you to think that we crossed over, so we pretended to.” Luke explained. “We just… We had nowhere else to go.” He shrugged.

“We thought you’d go straight to bed.” Reggie added, leaning himself against a chair.

“Yeah, well,” Alex started, holding on tight to Willie for support. “I knew she was gonna come out here, but nobody listens to-” Another jolt ran through the four, earning a chorus of groans and whimpers.

“You have to save yourselves, all of you… Go to Caleb’s club, we can make this right, you can play with him… It’s better than not existing at all.” Julie pleaded, looking around the five ghosts, hoping her pleas might work. “Please, please just go! Poof out! Do something… Please, do it for me.”

“We’re not going back there.” Reggie shook his head, and the others knew why: compared to being free, a life at Caleb’s club felt like becoming a shell of yourself.

“Julie…” Y/N spoke up, smiling at the girl who had become her friend, whose mom had been like her sister. “No music is worth making, if the Phantoms aren’t making it with you.” She said softly, and Julie turned back to the room as Reggie and Luke got themselves up from the floor.

Julie couldn’t stand it, couldn’t imagine life without them, and in a moment of desperation, she threw her arms around Luke and Reggie hugging them close, a final goodbye. The boys held her tight, arms wrapping round her back, around one another, as they shared the moment.

“I love you guys.” Julie whispered softly to them, Alex holding on to Willie as they and Y/N watched the scene unfold.

And then it dawned on them all that Julie wasn’t meant to be able to touch them, and Julie pulled away to see Luke and Reggie both glowing.

“How can I feel you?” She asked softly, holding onto one of their hands each, so used to seeing her body pass through theirs. Neither of them could answer, but it gave Julie and idea. “Alex, Willie, Y/N… Come over.” She beckoned, Willie helping Alex over as Luke walked past Julie to hold out a hand to Y/N.

Y/N glanced at it for a moment, looking up at Luke to make sure he was certain: he had barely been within six feet of her since the party. Luke took her hand, helping her to her feet and leading Y/N back to the group formed in the room’s centre, the six joining together in a hug.

Suddenly, the glow that covered Luke and Reggie spread to the other three too, Julie’s grip on Y/N’s back beckoning firm, the dress fabric smooth and soft against her fingers.

“I feel stronger…” Luke muttered in disbelief, the group breaking the hug to look between one another. Suddenly, they all looked healthier, happier, brighter.

“I… I don’t feel as weak anymore.” Reggie agreed.

“Me neither.” Alex added, clearing his throat when he glanced at Willie by his side. “Not that, you know, I was ever that weak.” The six shared a laugh, Y/N lifting up her wrist as it began to tingle, the boys quickly feeling the same thing.

Just like what had happened at the club with Willie, the stamps lifted off their wrists, breaking apart in a small beam of light before vanishing completely.

“What does this mean?” Julie asked, looking up at the guys, who shared a smile.

“I this this means the band is back.” Luke said with a grin, the group pulling close again for another hug.

Aster a minute or so of jumping and tears of relief as they all held one another, Willie pulled Alex to the side, and in a split second decision, the pair locked lips, Willie’s hands holding Alex’s face as the blonde’s arms pulled the skater closer by the waist. It was quick, both coming out blushing as three faces smiled at them when they came back from their moment in heaven, the fourth set of eyes still focused on her wrist.

Y/N watched in awe as the final remnants of Caleb’s stamp dispersed from her wrist, 25 years of servitude broken with a single hug, and in place of the stamp a tattoo appeared: the tattoo she had gotten the day she died.

The five other eyes watched for a moment, hearts swelling to see the pure joy on Y/N’s face, their own quickly turning to disbelief when the tattoo came into full view.

“Y/N…” Luke said softly, the girl’s eyes darting up. “The reason you don’t like Trevor Wilson?”

“He…” She stopped, looking down at the tattoo the three boys had their eyes fixed on, and back up at Julie, who had a smile on her face. “He stole all his songs from my favourite band… Sunset Curve…” She explained, and Reggie let out a yell, throwing his arms in the air as Alex let out a laugh alongside Julie, leaving Y/N looking at Luke for answers.

“Maybe we should step outside, Y/N…” He suggested, holding out a hand to her and, after their fingers had interlocked, leading her out onto the patio, lit up by soft string lights and the stars above.

“Am I missing something here?” She asked with a worried voice, and Luke nodded quite seriously, closing over the studio doors for some privacy: though it didn’t stop Willie, Alex, Reggie and Julie from watching through the windows.

“This Sunset Curve… You never saw them perform live, did you?” Luke asked, running a hand through his hair, and Y/N nodded in agreement with his statement, trying not to focus on the guitarist’s flexing arms: for all of Caleb’s many faults, he had styled Luke perfectly, showing of his arms with a sleeveless tux.

“I had tickets for their show at the Orpheum, my friend… Julie’s mom, used to work there.” Y/N smiled at the memory captured by Julie’s photograph. “I died before I got to go. And when they had played the homecoming dance, I spent most of the night listening to the from the bathrooms because my cousin ate a bad hot dog… And then I got to the afterlife, and despised Trevor Wilson for no reason I… I figured it out when my memories came back: he stole my favourite band’s songs…” Luke let her ramble on, unable to contain the smile as she slowly found her way to a conclusion. “You know, he even stole a song called ‘My Name is Luke’, which was written by the band’s lead guitarist, in fact he wrote all their… music…” She slowed, and Luke took a step closer.

“Dreaming like we’ll live forever, but living like it’s now or never.” He sang softly to her, Y/N covering over her mouth in shock.

“You…” She began, laughing at her own stupidity. “You, and Reggie and Alex… You were Sunset Curve… How…” She took a few steps back and laughed again. “How is it possible that I accidentally like the same guy dead that I had a crush on alive?! How does that work? I swear this is Rosalee’s twisted way of finally getting me to that conce-”

“So you do like me, then?” Luke interrupted, Y/N falling silent, her cheeks tinted pink from the heat rising to them. “You know, I was kind of getting mixed signals with the whole working for the bad guy thing.” He took a step closer to her, and another, until their toes were inches apart.

“Was Crooked Teeth about Reggie?” She asked, giggling after hearing the bassist shout ‘hey!’ from the other side of the door, which cause Luke to chuckle and nod in response. “Sorry about the whole bad person thing… I haven’t been myself for… The past twenty five years?”

“You know… If you aren’t otherwise engaged.” Luke smiled. “I think the band could definitely use another Phantom.” He offered, their eyes travelling to the windows to see Julie and the guys vigorously nodding in agreement.

“Do you really want me around?” She asked, hearing ‘of course!’ being shouted from inside, and she grinned. “If I said yes…” She began, but she already heard Julie cheering, and knew the decision had been made for her, not that she minded. “Luke?” She asked, looking up into his eyes as he smiled down at her.

“Yes, Y/N?”

“Do you want me around?” She asked, this time referring to Luke instead of the band.

In response, Luke pulled her close by the waist and pressed his lips to hers gently, answering her question quite definitively. Her hands pulled him closer by his shirt, rising to her tiptoes to meet his lips. As they broke the kiss, breathing heavy for a second, Luke lifted her up in his arms, pressing his lips to hers again as she laughed, the pair spinning the warm glow of the patio string lights.

As Y/N and Luke were joined by their band mates and Willie under the stars, and as Julie hugged, really hugged, Y/N for the first time, everything felt right in the world again. They all knew this was only the first hurdle they’d face, all aware that danger lurked around every corner. The group’s trials were far from over, but that night, it didn’t matter.

Looking up at those stars, knowing somewhere Rose was watching down on all of them, they all knew that no matter what came their way, they would face it together rather than alone. As Alex pulled Willie close, as Julie and Reggie hugged each other, and as Luke’s hand laced itself with Y/N’s, it became clear that whatever was waiting for them next...

They would face it as a family.

--

Tags:  @im-a-writer-right @elioelioeli0 @jenjen889 @walkingonshunshine @parkeret @lolychu @leahstypewriter @j-mar-memester @sunsetcurve-h @musicconversedance @gracefulpenguin @shae-is-not-ok @talksoprettyjjx @smol-book-nerd @lord-of-the-fried @siennanoelle01 @deadpoolgirl23 @theatricalfangirl @deepsleepnat @hhyunj1n @lovesanimals @oswin05 @ifilwtmfc @crappy-unicorn @eries45 @noncannonships @tenaciousperfectionunknown @theorangestofjuices @oopsiedoopsie23 @elephants-bubbles-brachosauruses @aesthetic-lyss @voguesir @michellebarista @caitsymichelle13 @bellero @marinettepotterandplagg @delicatelukepatterson @avengersgirllorianna @cordeliascrown @wtfkie @aberette13 @xpolinax @kaylinfayezink​ @carleywhittaker​ @mightnight-dream​

#luke patterson #luke patterson x reader #luke patterson x y/n #jatp luke x reader #jatp luke #jatp #julie and the phantoms #fanfiction #fanfic #jatp au #reader insert #the other side of hollywood #luke patterson fluff #fluff #fantom

[storiesforallfandoms]

first show ~ aaron tveit

word count: 1756

request?: yes!

“I'll take anything Aaron Tveit. (There are not enough fics out there lol)”

description: after years of practice and studying, she gets casted in her first big broadway show, and finds herself falling for her leading man

pairing: aaron tveit x female!reader

warnings: swearing

masterlist (one, two)

I gasped as the costume person pulled out the beautiful black dress I was meant to wear for our run through of Come What May. I couldn’t get over how beautiful my costumes were. I almost felt like I was undeserving of them. I was fresh out of college and already cast in my first big Broadway musical. If this was a dream, I didn’t want to ever wake up.

“You don’t have long to get dressed,” the costume person reminded me. “The dress rehearsal for Come What May is in 10. Although I’d love to see you staring at all your costumes in amazement.”

“I’ll do that after dress rehearsal,” I joked.

I took the black dress and quickly changed into it, longing to look at myself in the mirror but knowing I had no time. With my hair and makeup already finished, I rushed to the stage. Luckily, I wasn’t the only one running a bit late as my co-star was yet to arrive once I took my place.

“There’s our Satine!” the director proclaimed as I stood on stage. “Welcome to the stage, dear. How do you feel?”

“Nervous,” I admitted. “But I look damn good for a nervous girl.”

The director chuckled. “Our Christian should be here soon.”

“He’s here!”

I tried not to seem as starstruck as I felt at the sound of my co-star’s voice. Aaron joined me on stage, dressed in his Christian costume. I had to try my best not to fangirl over him. He was basically Broadway royalty, and I was acting with him in my first show! I had to remind myself how to breathe.

I smiled slightly at him. “Nice to meet you. I’m (Y/N).”

“Nice to meet you, too, (Y/N). I’m Aaron.”

I had to stop myself from responded with I know as I shook his hand.

“While I’d love for you two to get to know one another, I’d like to run Come What May first,” the director told us. “It’s one of the biggest songs in the musical, and the one with the most chemistry. So, we need to nail this song before we can nail the entire musical.”

Aaron and I nodded and took our places for the song. The band started playing the song and I felt my nerves growing. I tried to focus just on Aaron, but that made me even more nervous.

“Never knew I could feel like this Like I’ve never seen the sky before Want to vanish inside your kiss Every day I love you more and more”

No shock that his voice sounded perfect. I already knew this, I had seen the show on its opening night years before. But it was different to hear the voice up close, too have him singing directly to me. It made my heart flutter and I almost forgot my cues.

“Come what may Come what may I will love you until my dying day”

For a moment I feared my voice wouldn’t work, but when I opened my mouth the words came out effortlessly.

“Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace”

I tried not to break character as pride swelled within me at the look on Aaron’s face. I could only describe it as a look of astonishment, as if my voice shocked him, and that made me so proud.

My heart spiked as Aaron took my hands and we sang together

“Storm clouds my gather And stars may collide But I love you (I love you) Until the end of time”

The music swelled as we reached the end of the song, our voices mixing together perfectly as we held the last line. I looked into Aaron’s perfectly blue eyes, glad that the song had ended because he had taken my breath away.

I had forgotten all about the small audience of crew members and our director until he spoke. “That was great! But can we take it from that last chorus and can you guys end the song with the kiss?”

“O-Oh,” I stuttered, still trying to recover from the song. “Y-You want to do the kiss now?”

“It’s better to get the first one out of the way now to get past any initial awkwardness.”

“Are you okay with that?” Aaron asked me, concern on his face.

I nodded. “Yeah. He has a point, we will be kissing almost every night. We should get used to it now.”

The director motioned to the band and they began playing from the last chorus again.

“Come what may Come what may I will love you until my dying day”

I looked into Aaron’s eyes, the only thing keeping me calm in that moment. One of his hands reached up to gently cup my face, bringing me closer to him. The distance between us was small, but it felt like I was waiting for his lips to touch mine forever.

When they finally did, it felt as though something had exploded inside of me. My whole body felt warm and fuzzy, and my stomach felt like it was full of butterflies. I couldn’t stop myself from putting a hand behind his neck, wanting to keep his lips on mine for a long time.

We were forced to pull away when the director began to clap, completely taking us out of the moment.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” he exclaimed. “That was brilliant! See? Now there’ll be no awkwardness when we run that scene from now on.”

I wouldn’t say that, I thought, glancing over at Aaron. I wondered if he had felt what I did, or if it was just another stage kiss for him. If he felt the latter, it would definitely be very awkward for me.

“Okay, you two take five and then (Y/N), I want you ready for your entrance medley.”

The crew continued on about their work while the director turned his attention to his assistant and began talking about the technical stuff having to do with the show. Aaron and I awkwardly stood on stage together for a moment, unsure of what to do next.

“I guess I should go get ready for my entrance rehearsal,” I said, trying my best to look at Aaron. How the hell did two actors who weren’t already in relationships kiss on stage and not fall in love?

“I’ll walk you to your dressing room,” Aaron offered. “We can get to know one another.”

I smiled at this and the two of us exited the stage together.

“So,” Aaron started, “there’s a rumor on the streets that this is your first ever show.”

I nodded. “Yeah, it is. I’m actually not long out of college. I graduated maybe a month ago? Top of my classes because I was always an overachiever, and most of my teacher’s favorites. Actually, it was one of my teachers that got me this audition. She knows the director and when it was announced that Karen Olivo was leaving the show, she urged me to audition.”

“Looks like it worked out in your favor.”

“Yeah, somehow,” I said with a slight laugh. “I’m sure there were dozens of better, more experienced girls who auditioned. My teacher must’ve slipped the director a bribe or something to get me this role.”

“Or, and hear me out on this one, you were actually that good and got the role on your own.”

I shook my head. “No way. That’s nearly impossible.”

“Nearly being the keyword. Newbies gotta start somehow or else Broadway shows would never have a cast.”

“Yeah, but most newbies start as a part of the ensemble or the company, then make their way to very minor character, then less than minor character, and then, if they’re lucky, they become main characters. It’s not as easy as auditioning fresh out of school and getting the role right away.”

Aaron shrugged. “I don’t know, I think it’s that easy for some people. You have a fantastic voice, definitely a voice worth of a Satine and not just an ensemble girl.”

I smiled up at Aaron. “I appreciate the compliment, and the confidence you have in me. I hope I don’t let any of you guys down.”

“I don’t think you will. I think you’re going to be amazing. You’ll probably steal the show from me.”

I laughed at this. There was absolutely no way that I, a newbie, could possibly steal the show from a Broadway vet like Aaron Tveit.

I was sad when we reached my dressing room, although I knew it wasn’t that far of a walk from the stage. I wanted to talk to Aaron for longer, to have more time alone with him. But we were trying to prepare a show, and that meant that eventually I had to give up my time with him in order to rehearse.

Both of us paused outside of my dressing room. It was almost like we were waiting for the other to leave first. I glanced at the clock in my dressing room and sighed upon seeing the time.

“I have about two more minutes to get into my costume for my entrance medley and to get back to the stage. So, I guess this is where we say goodbye.”

“Well, only for now. I’ll be in the audience watching you absolutely destroy that medley, and then we have basically the entire play together that we have to rehearse,” he told me. “But, if you’re not too tired after rehearsal, I’d love to maybe go out and grab a drink with you. If you’d be interested in doing that, that is.”

Now was when my voice stopped working. I could barley believe that this was actually happening. Too many amazing things going on the one time, I was sure I was dreaming. I had to slip my hands behind my back to pinch myself, and I had to suppress a yelp as I realized I was very much awake.

“Yeah,” I finally managed. “I’d love to.”

Aaron’s smile was as wide as a child on Christmas morning. “Okay! Well, I won’t distract you any longer. Break a leg out there.”

I watched after him as he went back in the direction of the stage before hurrying into my dressing room to prepare for my next scene. The entire time I had a smile on my face so wide that my cheeks were starting to hurt.

I guess dreams really do come true.

#aaron tveit #aaron tveit imagine #aaron tveit x reader #imagine #one shot #request #fanfiction #fanfic #fandom #broadway #moulin rogue #moulin rogue broadway

[dream-a-little-bigger-x]

Meant To Be Yours | Luke Patterson

A/N: this is for all the Heathers fans and Musical Theater lovers out there! I was listening to the soundtrack today and realized how incredibly good Luke would be at singing meant to be yours...  Nobody asked for this but... Here ya goooo! 

Pairing: Luke Patterson x Musical Theater Program!reader 

Warnings: angst, fluff, minor swearing 

Words: 5,470

Being a Musical Theater fan and in Los Feliz High’s Musical Theater program has never made Y/N very popular with her peers. Besides her friends at the Musical Theater program and Julie and Flynn, she never really had many people taking as much as a glance at her. None of that really improved when she and Luke started dating. No one believed she was dating the cute hologram band member from Julie and The Phantoms. Thank God they don’t know the truth. Dating a ghost would get her twice the bullying. 

The first time she saw them was when the boys performed ‘Bright’ with Julie at the spirit rally about three months ago. Julie had never told Y/N she played with a hologram band, and though Flynn was upset about it, Y/N just found it incredibly confusing. Julie would’ve told her and Flynn about a hologram band. There must be something else that she’s not telling her, she figured. Something just doesn’t add up about the whole story. And after an entire night of lying awake in bed, she heads to Julie’s garage before school the next day , finding the three hologram band boys there, hanging around together. 

She glances from the cute guy behind the drums, to the other with the flannel, to finally land on the -- in her opinion -- cutest of the three with the orange beanie covering most of his dark hair, trying to connect the dots. “Oh, hey, Y/N,” Julie greets when she enters the garage, making Y/N snap out of her thoughts. “Dad told me he saw you walk into the studio.” She glances at the boys, trying her hardest to pretend they’re not even there. “So… Are you going to tell me why your hologram band is in your garage?” Julie’s eyes widen at this question, then dart to each of the boys, who look about as confused as her. “Y-you can see them?” Julie stutters, trying to figure out what’s happening. “Yes? Am I not supposed to?” Y/N’s eyes dart over to the boys again as they gather closer towards the two girls. “Why are you all looking at me like that?” She’s growing more and more nervous. Maybe she has something on her face. “You better sit down for this one,” Julie gently pushes her down on the armchair before standing in front of her with the boys behind her. “They’re ghosts… They died in 1995 when they ate some bad hot dogs and I’m pretty much the only one that can see them… Except for you, apparently.” Y/N tries her hardest to understand what’s happening right now. Those three boys are ghosts. And she can see them. She can see three ghosts. “I knew the hologram story was bullshit,” she finally manages to bring out after a couple of seconds of silence. “Why didn’t you tell me?” “I didn’t want you to think I’d gone completely crazy…” Y/N lets a small smile shine out. She’d been there for Julie when she’d lost her mother and Julie  had been there after Y/N’s grandmother had passed away too. “You know my grandmother used to be in this voodoo crap when she was alive, I would’ve believed you if you’d just told me.” The two girls chuckle at this, remembering the times Y/N’s grandmother used to babysit the two after school and she’d tell them these stories about ghosts and witches and voodoo. Back then, the girls used to giggle at them and mimic Grammy Dottie on their sleepovers. “I know, I’m sorry. I should’ve told you…” Julie takes Y/N’s hands in hers, pulling her up on her feet again. “Will you forgive me?” Y/N pretends to think about it before nodding, the two of them giggling as they embrace. Y/N’s eyes then land on the boys behind her. “You might wanna introduce me to your band though,” she whispers in her best friend’s ear. “Right,” Julie lets go of Y/N and turns to face the boys. “Boys, this is Y/N Y/L/N. My best friend since diapers, pretty much. Y/N, this is my band.” “I’m Reggie!” the boy in the flannel raises his finger, “Hi!” He gives her the most excited smile, followed by a little wave. Y/N returns the favor. “I’m Alex,” the blonde guy she’d seen behind the drums earlier, takes his turn to introduce himself. Y/N let out a soft ‘hi’ before looking over at the last member. The one in the orange beanie. The one with the gorgeous, tender  hazel eyes and the soft smile plastered on his face.  He doesn’t introduce himself at first, it takes Reggie nudging him with his elbow before he flinches back to earth. “I-I’m Luke….” A faint blush creeps onto his cheeks. “It’s very nice to meet you, boys,” she says to all of them, but keeps her eyes on Luke. There’s something about him that attracts her eyes to him. Maybe it’s the smile or the eyes. Or the arms. But just maybe there’s something about this vibe he’s giving off. This kind-hearted, passionate, excited vibe that makes him so much more attractive. Just something about the way he carried himself with so much humbled confidence. There was just something about Luke. 

Though Y/N found it weird at first, having a crush on a ghost, she couldn’t stop her brain from thinking about him or her heart from beating faster every time he was near. Julie and Flynn even noticed her drawing hearts in her notes from class, and humming love songs in the hallways. They couldn’t keep themselves from teasing you about it either. “Back on Cloud Luke, Y/N?” Flynn makes her snap  out of her thoughts when Julie and her join Y/N at the lunch table. A scarlet tint crawls onto her cheeks as she subtly hides the ‘LP’ doodles she’d drawn in her musical script. “What?! No!” she yelps out a little too defensively. “I don’t have a crush on Luke, you guys. I don’t know where you get your information…” she chuckles nervously before sipping from her drink. Flynn and Julie exchange glances. “Exhibit A,” Julie starts and tugs the script from underneath Y/N’s arm. “Your billions of doodles of hearts and his initials in your script and notes.” Flynn whips out her phone, opening Twitter on Y/N profile. “Exhibit B,” she stars, and shows her friend the last few tweets, “You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams,” She dramatically reads out the most recent one. “And I'd give up forever to touch you, 'cause I know that you feel me somehow. You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be and I don't wanna go home right now.” “That last one is a great song,” Y/N points out. “Sure, but you never Tweet any quotes or song lyrics unless you’re truly feeling it,” Julie reasons. Y/N knows her friends are right. She does have a crush on Luke but she doesn’t want to admit she’s crushing on a ghost. A ghost. Made of air. “You can’t deny there’s chemistry between the two of  you, Y/N. You’ve been inseparable since day one. Plus, he’s hella cute,” Flynn states. Y/N’s lips curl up into a smile at this. “Just remember he’s made out of air,” Julie adds, making all three of them chuckle. “Cute air,” Y/N retorts with a shrug. Flynn places a hand on hers, making her look up at her friend. “Just don’t get hurt, okay? It’s clear the two of you are mad for each other.” Y/N’s eyebrows furrow at this in confusion. “Luke doesn’t feel the same for me. Who would ever fall in love with the Musical Theater Nerd?” Her voice lowers, as does her head as she stares at her fidgeting hands on the table. “Uh, have you taken a look at yourself in the mirror? Ever?” Julie exclaims, almost angrily. “You are so gorgeous, Y/N,” Flynn chimes in with affirmation. “You have a killer body,” Julie continues. “A killer voice,” Flynn goes on. “And  you are so hilarious. Luke would be really stupid if he didn’t see that!” Y/N can’t help but smile at these compliments. Julie and Flynn always know how to cheer the girl up. “Just talk to him tonight after rehearsals.” Y/N nods her head, inhaling slowly. That night, Julie, Reggie and Alex quickly left after rehearsals, each with another excuse just so the two love birds could be alone. Y/N rolled her eyes at that, turning back to her script. Luke places his guitar in its stand before joining the girl on the couch, swatting away the script from her lap, and lying down with his head in her lap instead. She doesn’t say anything, but just lets him do whatever he feels comfortable doing. She’s now holding her script in one hand, resting it on his chest, while her other goes to his hair. It’s become an automatism for her to do that. Whether he was lying in her lap or they were just sitting next to each other, she always found her fingers tangling up in his hair. Ever since figuring out she could touch the guys, Luke has been very clingy towards her, asking for cuddles or grabbing her hand and playing around with the rings around her fingers or the bracelets around her wrists. “What are you doing?” he asks, looking at the script. “Preparing for the audition for the new musical next week,” she replies without taking her eyes off the script. The boys knew the girl could sing, and they often let her talk about her favorite musicals even though they had no clue about any of them since they’d come out after they died. “Which one is it?” he asks, his fingers running up and down her arm that’s resting on his chest. “Heathers,” she replies, “It’s based on the movie from the 80’s, do you know that one?” “Yeah, I think I watched it with Alex and his sister,” he replies, “They made a musical from that?” Y/N nods her head, her eyes glancing at his. He’s on his back, looking up at her. “Please, tell me you’re not going for one of the Heathers, though?” She shakes her head with a giggle. “Good, because I didn’t really like either of them in the movie.” “None of their parts are really in my range. I’m going to audition for Veronica.” He nods his head slowly, trying to remember which character that was. “The part Winona Ryder played in the movie.” He let out a whispered ‘aaaaaah’. “It’s a pretty big role, so I doubt I’ll actually get it.” Luke frowns at this, and sits up to face her with a disapproving scowl on his face. “You’re insanely talented, Y/N! If they don’t cast you as Veronica, they’re just crazy!” She smiles at his compliment. “Thanks, Luke…” she trails off a little, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “There are just so many talented people in the Musical Theater Program that I doubt they’ll pick me instead of them.” She chuckles at her own pathetic behavior. “It’s lame, I know…” He reaches for her hand when these words roll out of her mouth, capturing her attention again. “It’s not lame, Y/N. I get insecure sometimes too! Sometimes, I get these bouts of anxiety where I think our band will never be good enough for the music industry or for any manager to ever take us on. I sometimes think our songs aren’t good enough, or I’m not good enough. It’s normal, I think.” His words do make her feel a little better. “You just need someone to tell you otherwise and get those ugly thoughts out of your pretty head,” he taps her temple softly twice, making her giggle. “That’s really comforting, Luke, thank you…” She offers him a thankful smile whilst ignoring this gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach. She wants to kiss him so badly, and judging from his eyes darting from her eyes to her lips and back, he’s thinking the exact same thing. She leans in a little, her head tilting and eyes fluttering. Butterflies erupt in her stomach as she catches Luke to do the same. They’re inches away when Carlos abruptly opens the garage doors, making the two of them jump away. The little boy’s eyes widen when he finds his sister’s best friend on the couch, cheeks reddening. “Oh, hey, Y/N. I didn’t know you were still here,” he chuckles awkwardly. Y/N knows why he’s here though. He likes to use the bathroom in the back, especially for all his number two’s. “Yeah, I was uh… Rehearsing for my audition next week,” she holds her script up in the air as proof. “You need the garage, don’t you?” He shoots her an awkward, toothy smile, which is enough for Y/N to know that he needs it for the exact reason he always needs it. “All right, I’m gone…” She glances at Luke whilst reaching past him for her backpack. “Meet me outside,” he tells you before poofing out. You do as told after saying goodbye to Carlos and leaving the garage where you find Luke sitting on the rock near the stairs to the house. She walks up a few of the stairs, so she’s on his eye-level. “I have an idea. If you want, I could help you rehearse some songs and dialogue? I could even ask the boys to help out?” She can’t withhold a smile at this suggestion of his. “You don’t know any of the music, though?” she fairly points out. “We’ll do our homework,” he replies with a grin. “Trust me, Y/N. We’ll be able to help you prepare for this audition, I promise!” Without thinking twice about it, she reaches up and kisses him on the cheek and whispers a thank you in his ear before turning on her heel and leaving the boy flustered on the rock. You didn’t talk to him like you’d promised Julie and Flynn. But at least now you know he kind of feels the same. 

The first kiss happened during the first rehearsal they planned in preparation for the audition. It’s after the Julie and The Phantoms rehearsal. Y/N’s on the couch, waiting for them to finish while going over some lines and lyrics, though her eyes often diververt to Luke. He watches her too, a soft smile tugging at the corners of his lips. He can’t wait to start rehearsing with her. When he told the boys about helping Y/N out with her audition, the boys had given him knowing glances. They told him he had to do something about this obvious crush he had on her. They often teased him about kissing her, even during their rehearsals when they caught the two looking at each other with desire in their eyes. “Are you ready, Y/N?” Reggie asks when the rehearsal with Julie finishes. His voice makes her avert her eyes from Luke’s, clearly far away on Cloud Luke. “Mmh?” she hums, not having registered his question until she repeats it in her mind, “Oh, yeah!” She gets up from the couch to join the boys at their instruments whilst Julie sits down on the couch instead. She offers Y/N an encouraging grin, excited to hear her sing again. Julie and Flynn were always the ones on the front row during any of the musicals the Theatre Program put on. They were there when Y/N played Chris in Carrie, and when she played Janice in Mean Girls. That last one was Julie’s favorite role she’d ever seen Y/N in. “We listened to the entire soundtrack last night, Julie showed us,” Alex informs his friend excitedly, proud he’s so informed on the musicals from the last decade. “We listened to the Broadway version and the West End version, so just tell us what you wanna do.” “I’m kind of stuck between these two songs to do for my audition. I wanna do I Say No, from the West End version because it showcases my range really well. But I also wanna do Seventeen because it’s my favorite, though I’m gonna need a person to duet with.” She can’t hide the fact that she wanted to duet the song with Luke, even though he can’t join her on the audition. Because one, you can only audition with someone from the program, and two… Luke is dead. “Let’s try the first one first?” Reggie suggests, looking over at Y/N. “Sure, you guys know the chords?” she asks the two with the guitars. They both nod before starting to play, Alex joining in with the drums too. Y/N grabs Julie’s white microphone after silently asking for her permission, which she granted by nodding her head. “You are a drug You are a poison pill I've got to kick this habit now Or else I never will I loved the rush When you would hold me close But you will not be satisfied Until I overdose” Julie has always admired how she can switch off from the world around her and get into character so quickly. The passion in her eyes and facial expressions are convincing, to say the least. “This is it Hit the brake I am finally awake Let me be Let me go You need help I can't provide I am not qualified This troubled teen is getting clean I say no” “Veronica, who else is gonna be-” Y/N’s eyes widen for a second when Luke chimes in with JD’s line in the song. But recomposes herself and turns to him completely, singing the next part to him. “No, no, no, no! Don't say a word You speak and I cave in You'll twist the truth again And drill deep down beneath my skin You said you'd change And I believed in you But you're still using me to justify the harm you do” She turns to Julie again, as if speaking to the audience like she would in the play. This leaves Luke a bit disappointed. He keeps his eyes on her, a smile tugging at his lips as he admires her. “This is it Hit the brake Call it all my mistake Long as you let me go You need help I can't provide I'm not Bonnie You're not Clyde It's not too late I'm getting straight I say no” Julie gets up from the couch and moves to the keyboard to back up with some softer tones for the bridge as the boys stop playing their instruments, whilst Y/N turns to Luke again. Imagining him as Jason Dean would be a terrible idea, but she’s going with it. “Blame your childhood, blame your dad Blame the life you never had But hurting people? That's your choice, my friend” The boys join in with their instruments again, building up the rest of the bridge. “'Cause I believe that love will win And hate will earn you nothing in the end This is the end” Luke looks at her in admiration and so much love, and decides to say JD’s line, though with a softer touch. “But I love you!” Y/N almost believes it, but recomposes herself, remembering the role she’s supposed to play and withhold during an entire musical. “Dude” She steps away from him while the boys sing the chorus along with her. “This is it I won't cry Starting now, I will try To pay back All the karma I owe Start again Somewhere new Far from cold guys like you So goodbye 'Cause now I I say no Just in time I say no Somehow I'm saying no Just say no I say no No!” The boys stop playing as Y/N lowers her microphone, panting from the last high notes she had to hit, and hit flawlessly. Reggie and Alex exchange glances with Julie while Luke simply stares at Y/N, a content sigh leaving his body. “That was so good!” Reggie makes Y/N snap out her thoughts -- like why Luke’s ‘I love you’ sounded so real. “I got ghost bumps!” He shows his arm even though it’s covered by his leather jacket. Y/N chuckles, biting down her lip nervously. “Let’s do the other one,” Alex then suggests, “Which was that? The duet, right?” Y/N nods her head slowly as nerves course through her body. She knows Luke’s going to want to play JD, like he’s done in the previous song too. “Luke, are you up for it?” The words roll off her lips before she allows them to. He nods his head eagerly, making the others chuckle, knowing why. They’d talked about this song last night, the boys teasing Luke by telling him he should probably learn this by heart if he wants to conquer Y/N’s heart. Y/N nods at Alex, who counts them in before hitting his drums, Julie and Reggie joining in with their instruments when needed. Y/N turns to face Luke, getting into the character of Veronica Sawyer again. “Fine! We're "damaged" Really "damaged" But that does not make us "wise" We're not "special", we're not "different" We don't choose who lives or dies Let's be normal, see bad movies Sneak a beer and watch TV We'll bake brownies or go bowling Don't you want a life with me? Can't we be seventeen? That's all I want to do If you could let me in I could be good with you” Her soft melodic and angelic voice makes Luke all mushy inside. “People hurt us” “Or they vanish” He sounds as vulnerable as JD does in this moment. “And you’re right, that really blows But we let go” “Take a deep breath” “And go buy some summer clothes We’ll go camping” “Play some poker” Y/N chuckles a little as her eyes tear up slightly at the tenderness of his voice. “And we’ll eat some chili fries Maybe Prom night” “Maybe dancing” “Don’t stop looking in my eyes” The power behind her voice surprises Luke that he has no other choice but to look in her eyes. All while the others join in with their instruments at full force. “Your eyes” “Can't we be seventeen Is that so hard to do? If you could let me in I could be good with you” The music gets more powerful, as do their voices. “Let us be seventeen If we've still got the right” “So what's it gonna be? I wanna be with you” “Wanna be with you” “Tonight” The electricity between the two of them and the desire that had been there all along now takes the better of her. In the heat of it all, she launches herself in Luke’s arms, pressing her lips to his in a fiery, passionate kiss. The others don’t stop playing, but they do exchange surprised and relieved glances. She breaks the kiss, but presses her forehead against his as she continues singing the song like the true professional she is. “Yeah, we’re damaged” “Badly damaged” “But your love’s too good to lose” “Hold me tighter” “Even closer” “I’ll stay if I’m what you choose” “Can we be seventeen?” “If I am what you choose” “If we’ve still got the right” “‘Cause you’re the one I choose” “You’re the one I choose” “You’re the one I choose” Suddenly, the lyrics have gotten an entirely different meaning. Especially the way they’re singing it, makes it seem like they’re actually singing it to each other. Like Y/N is singing to Luke and Luke to Y/N. Not Veronica and Jason Dean. Y/N coughs awkwardly as she steps away from Luke, glancing at the others who have their teasing grins at the ready. “That’s in the script…” she tries, but the laughter that erupts from their friends tells her she can’t lie to them. Luke and Y/N stare at each other, a shy smile on their faces as they let them laugh it out. It takes a little while before they actually die down. “Sure, Y/N, that looked very scripted,” Julie says, patting her best friend’s shoulder. There’s nothing left to hide now. You and Luke are very much in love with one another. Though it still feels weird to be in love with a ghost who, quite frankly, would be about twenty years older if he hadn’t died, Y/N couldn’t hide the feelings she had for this boy. There was no hiding it after that outburst they had just now. But maybe that’s for the better. 

Thanks to the help of the boys and Julie, Y/N landed the role of Veronica Sawyer in Los Feliz High’s rendition of Heathers the Musical. Not only that, Luke and Y/N have now been dating for a month now. He’s been incredibly supportive over the course of the rehearsals of the musical, and she has been supportive of the band. It’s been fun and games, so far. Making out in the loft after band rehearsals or backstage in the auditorium, singing songs together at the top of their lungs whilst dancing around her room (though her parents complained about that), and cuddling on the couch whilst going over Y/N’s lines together. Nothing ever happened to cause an argument until Luke sat in a rehearsal for the musical when they were going over the Dead Girl Walking scene. Watching his very alive girlfriend kiss another very alive boy isn’t quite the confidence boost. He lasts until halfway through the song when the guy playing JD rips Y/N’s shirt open. That’s when he just had to get out of there. Y/N couldn’t tell anyone they were dating, and if she did, no one believed her she was dating the hologram boy from Julie’s band. Which also meant boys hitting on her when she was in her Veronica costume, mostly the boy who played Jason Dean. “Having a girl on top of you makes you realize things,” he had said. Y/N told him she wasn’t interested, but that didn’t stop the boy from trying. She had told Luke that. Her first mistake. Because ever since then, he has never missed a rehearsal. Y/N knew this scene was coming up, and she had tried to tell Luke he shouldn’t come, but of course he didn’t listen. And now he’s upset with her because she had told him about her minor crush on Christian Slater -- the original JD from the movie -- and about the JD song she loved so much. He knew how sexy she thought that song was, especially when the actor sings it as raw as Jamie Muscato or Ryan McCartan did in the West End and off-Broadway version. She’s not surprised to find Luke and the boys in the studio when she gets back, their instruments in hand, but no Julie to be seen. Only the very familiar riff of a Heathers song sounding through the amps. She halts in the doorway, crossing her arms as she watches the boys. None of them has seen her yet, which gives her the rawest and most honest version of this song. “You chucked me out like I was trash, For that you should be dead— But! But! But! Then it hit me like a flash, What if high school went away instead Those assholes are the key! They're keeping you away from me! They made you blind, messed up your mind But I can set you free!” Reggie jumps around whilst playing the bass, letting himself go on the beat. Even Alex is so lost in his drumming, he doesn’t even notice the girl in the doorway. And Luke has his scowl set on the void, possibly imagining the boy’s face and wanting to punch him in the face. “You left me and I fell apart, I punched the wall and cried— Bam! Bam! Bam!” Y/N flinches at the sudden loudness of his voice. “Then I found you changed my heart and set loose all that truthful shit inside! And so I built a bomb Tonight our school is Vietnam! Let's guarantee they'll never see their senior prom!” His voice grows a little softer at the chorus, showing his more delicate side, the side Y/N has come to love so much. “I was meant to be yours! We were meant to be one! Don't give up on me now! Finish what we've begun! I was meant to be yours!” He sounds angry and frustrated during the next verse, a hint of menace laced in his voice. To his girlfriend, it sounds incredibly sexy. He suddenly seems twice as attractive. “So when the high school gym goes boom with everyone inside— Pchw! Pchw! Pchw! In the rubble of their tomb We'll plant this note explaining why they died!” She sees this as her chance to announce her presence. She quickly runs over to Julie’s microphone and starts singing along on the bridge where the ensemble would join in. Luke’s head snaps up at her, bewilderment and surprise in his eyes, along with some embarrassment. “We, the students of Westerburg High Will die. Our burnt bodies may finally get through To you. Your society churns out slaves and blanks No thanks. Signed the Students of Westerburg High 'Goodbye.'” Y/N gives him a nod of encouragement, telling him to continue. He does as he’s told with even more power behind his voice and even some amusement as a smile plays at his lips. She grabs the microphone from the stand and dances up to him. “We'll watch the smoke poor out the doors. Bring marshmallows, We'll make s'mores! We can smile and cuddle while the fire roars!” Along with Reggie and Alex, Y/N takes care of the backing vocals whilst Luke lets himself go in the song. His voice becomes more and more raspy with the second, sending shivers down his girlfriend’s spine. “I was meant to be yours! We were meant to be one! I can't make this alone! Finish what we've begun! You were meant to be mine! I am all that you need! You carved open my heart! Can't just leave me to bleed!” He turns to her as she offers him her microphone for the next bit. The fact he’s looking into her eyes doesn’t help her subdue her feelings. At all. In fact, it just increases those butterflies and shivers and curling of the toes. “Veronica, open the—open the door, please' Veronica, open the door. Veronica, can we not fight anymore' Please, can we not fight anymore' Veronica, sure, you're scared, I've been there. I can set you free! Veronica, don't make me come in there! I'm gonna count to three! One! Two! Fuck it!” She can’t detain her feelings anymore and crashes her lips onto his again, exactly like that time they rehearsed Seventeen together and they had their first kiss. Reggie and Alex exchange glances, though this time it’s with an eyeroll. Luke pulls away when he has to sing the very last bit of the song, keeping his forehead pressed to hers. His voice is back to its vulnerable side as he stares into his girlfriend’s eyes with so much regret for ever feeling so jealous of any lifer guy she’d ever interacted with. “Please don't leave me alone You were all I could trust I can't do this alone” He steps back from her to hit the last high note whilst Alex goes off on the drums one last time. “Still I will if I must!” Y/N watches her boyfriend for a moment, a tender, proud smile on her face and admiration in her eyes. Luke’s confidence when he plays his music, or any music for that matter, is so hot and attractive to Y/N. Though she loves his more vulnerable and adorable side he mostly pulls up whenever he’s with her, that rockstar side of his really is a close second. “Are you guys really gonna make out every time you sing together or…?” Reggie asks, capturing the couple’s attention. Y/N takes Luke’s hand in hers, intertwining their fingers together whilst her other hand rests on his bicep. “You would too if your boyfriend was so hot,” she answers, and presses a kiss to his bare shoulder. Luke smiles down at her before returning a kiss on her hair. “Now, if you guys don’t have anymore rehearsing to do, I’d like to take Luke to go and rehearse another scene together…” she trails off. As she looks up at her boyfriend and his eyes meet her suggestive glance, he already knows what’s up. “No, we’re done here, I think,” he says quickly, “Right, guys? Yes, yes, we are!” He rushes his girlfriend out the garage and to the house next door to the Molina’s where he helps you ‘rehearse’ the Dead Girl Walking scene.

 Taglist: @hannahhistorian92​ @marinettepotterandplagg​ @thequirkybookaholic​ @bookdealer5​ @tenaciousperfectionunknown​ @hemmingsness​ @iainttakingshitfromnobody​ @ifilwtmfc​ @angryknightstatesmantrash​ @kiss-themoongoodbye​ @parkeret​​ @lukeys-giggle​ @gingerxarmy​ @lovesanimals​ @lolychu​ @perfectlywrongformend3s​ @luckylouiebug​ @kiss-themoongoodbye​ @camiladelrio98​ @myfriendscallmebeans​

#julie and the phantoms #julie and the himbos #jatp #luke patterson #luke patterson au #luke patterson imagine #luke patterson fic #charlie gillespie #reggie jatp #jeremy sahda #Alex jatp #owen patrick joyner #owen joyner #julie molina #madison reyes #flynn jatp #jadah marie #jatp fandom #jatp fiction #jatp fic #fantoms #heathers

[kissinginkitchens]

You Bring Me Home—Chapter Two: Where the Heart Is

a/n: Thank you so much for all of the love you have shown to part one! I’m so glad to see that you’re enjoying YBMH so far, the story is just getting started. I hope you’ll stick around for the full thing, so without further ado, here’s chapter two! As always, my inbox is open so feel free to come chat with me when you have finished this part :) Much love, Mel <3

Pairing: Hawai'i!Harry x Original Character

Warnings: swearing, mentions of drug use

Word Count: 5.1k

read part one here

The phone screen flickers to life at the touch of Harry’s finger, flashing the exact same time that it had the last time he checked, though it feels like hours have passed since then. He sighs at the disappointing revelation and turns his phone over so that the screen meets the aged wood of the piano where it rests. In all honesty, Harry has no idea why he agreed to the interview in the first place. He had skillfully dodged the hundreds of requests for an exclusive tell-all following the untimely split of One Direction and successfully avoided the prying eyes of the general public for several months. So why had he indulged the first request from a girl he hardly knew without so much as a blink? The answer seemed a frustrating mystery to him, but to anyone else, the fluttering in his stomach when he caught a glimpse of her yellow Ford Bronco pulling up to the studio and the way he instinctively raked a hand through his hair gave the answer away.

“I know I’m late, I’m sorry!” Alani apologizes, emerging from the car with a notebook nestled under her arm and a smoothie in each hand. She closes the door with her hip before making a beeline to the studio entrance where Harry stands, his right shoulder leaning against the doorframe with the same stoic expression Alani recognizes as his signature look.

“I had to get my sister to cover for me at the café and then I got lost because Google sent me to a Napua restaurant instead of the recording studio,” she rambles in an attempted continuation of her apology. “But anyway, this is for you. A peace offering and a thank you for doing this.”

Harry gingerly takes the green smoothie from her outstretched hand and offers a curt nod in response before ushering her inside.Alani pushes her sunglasses up and settles them into her windswept waves, trailing behind Harry and taking in the space. In one corner across the room, she notices a couple of brightly colored tapestries thumbtacked to the wall with a microphone stand perched in the center, all encased behind a screen of plexiglass. The adjacent wall is lined with guitars all standing at attention and glimmering, despite the dim lighting. Harry stops at the doorway of another room with a couch and a coffee table, the floor littered with wires and pieces of crumpled paper. He motions Alani to step inside and then clears his throat, which catches the attention of two other long-haired men chatting with amused expressions on their faces.

“Sorry lads,” Harry crosses his arms with eyes glued to the floor to avoid their questioning stares. “‘Fraid I have to intrude. Can we have this room?” 

One of the men grins behind a full beard,  popping a peanut M&M into his mouth before standing. “Sure thing, boss man. Let’s bounce, Rowland.”

The other man, also bearded but smaller in stature with a thin, pointed nose nods silently. He continues twirling two drumsticks between his fingers and points one of them at Harry in passing. Alani offers polite smiles at the both of them, and a quiet “thank you” falls from her lips as they exit without another word. Harry closes the door behind them and gestures to the couch, which she takes as her cue to sit.

“I like the uniform,” Alani smiles, gesturing to her hair as a comment on the fact that the three men all share similar lengths and styles.

“Thanks,” is all Harry says, taking a seat across from hers and clearly dismissing her attempt at humor.

To pacify the urge to fill the uncomfortable silence, Alani sips her strawberry smoothie and steals a glance through her eyelashes at Harry who is doing the same. She clears her throat after a minute and sets the drink on the table in front of her; a notebook takes its place on her lap.

“Thank you again for doing this, I really appreciate it,” Alani offers while digging through her bag for her phone. “I’m gonna record this on voice notes, just for the sake of quoting you accurately.”

“Sure,” Harry replies, occupying his gaze with the condensation trickling from the cup onto his fading black jeans. 

Dry retorts from everyone else, especially customers, have little effect on the way Alani conducts herself.  But every short comment from Harry, or lack thereof, makes her feel like a bug under a microscope. She settles her phone onto the coffee table and takes a deep breath to calm the trembling that spreads from her chest into her fingers and toes.

“So first, I wanted to ask about your time in Hawai’i. Are you enjoying it so far?” Alani poses the question lightly, hoping to open him up just enough to extract the story that she’s really looking for.

“It’s nice,” Harry nods, finally meeting her expectant stare. When she doesn’t respond for a beat, he clears his throat and adds on to the statement. “Weather’s good,”

Alani musters a half-hearted smile and glances down at the questions on her page. This is going to take for-fucking-ever, she sighs.

“Is that what drew you here—vacation? Getting away?” 

“Yeah, pretty much,”

The row of guitars behind the singer catches her attention suddenly and guides the next question.

“And to write or.. record?”

Harry shifts in his seat, calculating his response carefully. “Both,”

“Solo stuff?”

Alani watches as he takes a slow sip of his smoothie and crosses his legs, an action which tells her that she’s struck a dead end. Or, at the very least, a door that she hasn’t gained his trust to open yet.

“You were with One Direction for half a decade,” She recovers. “Constantly releasing new music and touring. But now you’re here, doing neither, and haven’t done so for almost a year. What is that transition like?” Alani isn’t sure if Harry will answer when she poses the question, but to her surprise he meets her gaze and nods, as if to say that he accepts the inquiry.

“It’s different than anything I’ve ever done, for sure,” he starts slowly. It’d be a lie to say that he hasn’t given the breakup and, subsequently, his future outside of the band much thought. He thinks about it every day, especially his bandmates and their supportive fans. That much he has been able to unpack privately, but the rest of it—the sudden need to escape and write new music— is still something he can’t quite put into words, so he leans into the nostalgia and hopes it’ll suffice.

“Like you said, it’s been non-stop for the past five years, so I guess it is a bit jarring to come to a sudden halt after so much momentum. Obviously, it’s nice to have the time off, but I love putting out music and touring it. I wouldn’t trade that for anything,”

Alani is grateful to have more than a couple of words of material, despite the fact that it doesn’t really answer the question or tell her anything new about the man sitting crossed legged and closed off in front of her. Looking through her notes, Alani selects another question and embarks on a new angle.

“You were really young when all of that began,” she starts, thinking about how she could never have left her family and home at just 16. Hell, she was 22 and still figuring it out. Hopefully, if all things went well with this interview and Rolling Stone, she would finally find the opportunity to do it. “Do you ever think about where you would be if you hadn’t auditioned for X-Factor?”

Harry knows that she’s playing it safe, trying to feel him out and test the buttons she can push. He also knows that he’s being difficult, much more so than usual due to his nerves. So with an unfamiliar pang in his chest, he decides to relent the tiniest bit.

“Well, I’m starting to think maybe I could’ve been a professional surfer,” he offers matter-of-factly which makes Alani flash an amused grin. Harry’s sudden humor makes the room a bit less suffocating for the both of them and she’s grateful for it.

“Surfing, huh? This I have to see.” she  quips back, suddenly trying to picture him ditching the black skinny jeans for a wetsuit.

He nods with a faint smirk. “Maybe you will.” 

Alani meets his gaze with a shy smile of her own and her eyes fall to his lips for a brief second. The almost imperceptible action sends another foreign jolt through Harry’s chest. She opens her mouth to resume questioning when a loud bang startles them both and causes Harry to spin in his seat, looking through the glass window of the sound booth.

“Sorry!” A man with short, blonde hair and a fading tie dye shirt laughs while lifting the tipped over drum cymbals. “Don’t mind us!”

The two men from earlier straggle in behind and poorly conceal their own fits of laughter. Harry flashes his middle finger briefly, mouthing something that Alani can’t see but knows is undoubtedly rude. She suppresses a giggle and sneaks a glance at her phone, which indicates only a few minutes worth of dialogue. When she lifts her head, the door opens and the blonde man peeks his head in.

“Hello,” he greets with an extended hand before entering and taking a seat next to Alani on the couch. “Tom Hull, or Kid Harpoon...or just Tom, whatever you like best,” 

 She accepts his hand eagerly, not missing the way Harry pinches the bridge of his nose in her peripheral vision. “Mahealani Hale, or just Alani. Nice to meet you,”

“Wow, beautiful name,” Tom compliments. “Sorry to interrupt, I didn’t realize you had company, H,”

“She was just—”

“I’m writing about-” The two speak at the same time, making brief eye contact before Harry turns his attention back to Tom.

“Did you need something?” He asks. Tom’s eyes dart between Harry and Alani before he clears his throat and reclines in his seat.

“Just dropping by to see if you wanted to go for lunch...” he trails off, which Alani takes as a cue to start gathering her belongings.

“Kind of busy here,” Harry offers with a glance back at the girl seated awkwardly across from him. “Another time,”

At this, Tom turns to Alani and ignores his friend’s protests. “Alani, do you eat lunch?”

Before responding, she casts an apprehensive glimpse at Harry who has suddenly become very intrigued by the drink in his lap, purposefully avoiding her eyes.

“Uh.. well yeah, but I don’t-”

“Great! Have lunch with us,”

“Mate—” Harry speaks up.

Tom grins, shrugging. “What? You plan on starving the poor girl?”

“I really can’t, but thank you for the offer,” Alani explains with a sheepish smile, standing and slinging her bag over her shoulder. “It was really nice to meet you Tom. And thank you again, Harry, I’ll see you around.”

The musician watches her shuffle out of the sound booth quietly and turns his attention back at Tom, who sits with an incredulous look on his face.

“What the hell’s wrong with you?” He asks, standing. “Go after her, dickhead!”

“It’s not like that she’s-”

“I really don’t give a fuck about your excuses, go!”

Harry scoffs and rolls his eyes, looking out the window as Alani slips through the front door.

She fishes her keys out of her bag and sighs when a familiar voice says her name.

“Alani!” Harry calls from the doorway, shielding his eyes from the afternoon sun. He makes his way down the steps and over to the driver’s side where she  ghosts the key over the ignition. 

“Come have lunch...please?” 

“It’s okay,” she purses her lips together politely. “I don’t wanna get in the way,”

Harry catches his lower lip between his teeth and runs a hand through his hair, choosing his next words thoughtfully. 

“No, you’re not—you won’t,” he starts. “I would really like it if you joined us for lunch, especially since our time got interrupted. Please, let me make it up to you.”

Alani can’t help the way her stomach flips at the words “our time” that fall from his lips and she finds herself nodding in agreement before her mind has had a chance to intervene. 

She makes her way to the passenger seat of the Range Rover parked behind the studio, which she learns is where all of Harry’s entourage keeps their vehicles. A variety of brightly colored vintage cars are neatly parked, and it amuses her that Harry skips all of them, instead going straight for the black SUV with darkly tinted windows. At least he’s consistent,  she smirks. As Alani climbs into the car, she is met by the warmth of Harry’s scent—something woodsy and vanilla— and the fact that she recognizes it makes her heart pound.

“You can connect your phone,” Harry nods to the stereo as he buckles his seatbelt. “To the Bluetooth, I mean, if you’d like.”

 “Really?” she asks, brow raised in mild disbelief.

“Only if you play something good,” he teases with a stony expression, adjusting the sunglasses on the bridge of his nose. Alani takes that as a challenge, scrolling through various playlists as Harry peels away onto the main road. Over the speakers, the beginning of “Don’t Worry Baby” by The Beach Boys surrounds the two of them. 

“Is this to your liking, my liege?” Alani poses in an exaggerated British accent that makes Harry cringe, though the small grin on his face gives away his endearment.

“Yes, but please don’t do that accent ever again,” 

“So you admit it, you’re the one with the accent,” she wiggles her brows, eyes peeling away  from the view out her window to Harry in the driver’s seat.

“If it’ll get you to never do that one again, sure,” “Dunno, love,” she continues, watching the coast shimmer under the afternoon sun. “Think  it kinda suits me,”

Harry shakes his head and checks the rearview mirror to make sure that he hasn’t lost Tom, Mitch, and Jeff in the car trailing behind.

“What’s it like?” Alani questions, studying the perfect slope of his pointed nose and strawberry pout.

“What’s what like?”

“England,”

Harry thinks for a second, recalling his London flat, lunches with his mum and sister, the streets of Trafalgar Square, and Abbey Road. 

“Rainy,” is all he says.

Alani scoffs, which draws  his attention over to where she lounges in his passenger seat, sitting comfortably as if it was exactly where she belonged. “That’s all?”

“What?” He questions, though he knows exactly what she means and is perfectly aware of his own stubbornness.

“Just seems like... I don’t know, such a generic description for a place you consider home,”

Harry mulls her response over, the word “home” especially catching his interest. It’s a strange concept in his mind because while, yes, England is where he has spent the majority of his life and where the people he loves most reside, he has never truly felt connected to just one place. And after spending his formative years traveling the world, who could blame him?

“It’s... safe,” he tries again, attempting to verbalize what he’s feeling. “When I’m there, I mean, I feel safe. Like I don’t have to be anyone or do anything specific, I can just... be. No expectations,”

Alani lets Harry’s words sit between them for a moment, sensing that there is still more he wants to say. When she doesn’t respond after a minute,  he continues in an effort to clarify and fill the lull in the conversation.

“I used to think that London was just a starting point and that if I could make it to LA, it would mean that I had really made it, and I would feel more at home there,” he continues, slow and calculated. “But I dunno... when I’m there it still feels like an extended holiday,  like I’m just buying time until I leave for the next place. London doesn’t feel like that, feels much more constant... so yeah, I guess it is home,” 

As if she had read his mind earlier, Alani adds on. “Not to mention that’s where your family is, I’m assuming,” 

Harry nods, once again thinking of his mum and sister. The image of their beaming faces  brings the shadow of a dimple to his cheek.  “Yeah,”

“What’s your family like?” She continues, truly interested and forgetting for a moment about the article she still has to write.

“Kind of small, I guess. S’really just my sister and my mum, but they’re,” Harry pauses, searching for the right words, “They’re the best. My mum’s probably the kindest woman I’ve ever met. Feel pretty lucky with that one, considering what a pest I was as a child,” he chuckles lightly and it’s a sound that Alani hadn’t heard up to this point, but one she knows she’ll replay in her mind over and over again.

“Gem’s pretty patient too—and brilliant, always the studious one,” he adds finally, a dreamy look on his face that Alani much prefers to the stoic one he always dons. .

“Ah yes, there’s always one,” she nods, catching the quirked brow he offers in response.

“Oh yeah? Are you the one in your family?” 

“I guess so. School just seemed to come easily to me,”

“And what made you want to study journalism?” He questions, stopping to let a woman and her toddler cross.

Alani thinks about it for a moment while twirling a strand of fabric from the hem of her ripped shorts around her finger. 

“I’ve always loved to write, ever since I was really little— like short stories and stuff. And I don’t know, I guess I like the idea of traveling and seeking out a story, too.”

Harry nods understandingly, pulling up to a curb across the street from a restaurant that Alani has frequented. It’s relatively empty at Pineapples for a summer afternoon, though most tourists don’t stray too far from the beaches, so Hilo maintains a healthy local population at all times. The pair climb out of the car and Alani makes her way to the rear where the rest of the group has parked. One of the men from earlier greets her with an outstretched hand while Harry chats with the other two that emerge.

“Hi I’m Jeff, it’s nice to meet you.” He smiles warmly,  pushing his sunglasses into his hair. 

“Alani. It’s nice to meet you, Jeff,”

“Sorry about earlier. I didn’t mean to be rude by not saying hi it’s just-”

Alani dismisses his concern with a wave of her hand. “Oh don’t worry about it! I was kind of nervous then, too. I don’t know if he told you, but I’m interviewing Harry,”

“Oh, right! Yeah, he did mention that I think,” Jeff recalls, “Which magazine are you with?”

“None.” Yet, Alani thinks, her mind wandering to the Rolling Stone rejection letter. “It’s for a class, I’m a journalism major. Harry was just being nice and agreed to let me write about his music,”

Jeff nods. “Got it. You know, he’s not normally this serious. Just got a lot on his mind but he’ll loosen up,” he explains quietly just as Alani and Harry’s eyes meet. She quickly averts her gaze back to the kind, bearded man standing before her.

“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.” she smiles appreciatively.

“Where’s Jeffrey?” Harry speaks up, catching her attention. She looks back to Jeff, confused, before he shakes his head.

“Other Jeff, his manager.” He explains.

“Probably already inside, he said he’d meet us here.” Mitch pipes up.

With that, the rest of the crew head into the restaurant while Alani stays a few steps behind to follow their lead.

“Y’okay?” Harry asks, shuffling along beside her.

Alani startles slightly at his unexpected presence, but relaxes as their strides fall into sync.

“Yeah, thanks. And thank you for the invite, too.” She offers, the corners of her mouth upturned softly.  Harry responds with a tight-lipped smile of his own and clears his throat before holding the door open for her.

In the far corner of the restaurant near the open balcony, Harry’s manager Jeff waves the group over to the table he saved. Everyone exchanges greetings and settles into their seats, the two at the end facing each other remain open for Alani and Harry.

“Jeff, this is..Mahealani, did I get that right?” Tom gestures to Alani for approval.

She nods and waves. “Yes, but you can just call me Alani,”

“Nice to meet you,” Jeff calls from the other end of the table, glancing over to Harry in search of  an explanation for her presence.

“I’m writing a piece about Harry and his music,” Alani offers. “But I’d love to talk to all of you, if you have a chance.”

Jeff nods, still shooting Harry a knowing look. “Yeah, sure thing.” 

The two Jeffs, Tom, and Mitch engage in their own conversations, mostly inside jokes that go over Alani’s head. Harry watches, silent for most of the interaction and barely engaging the girl seated across from him, though he is overwhelmingly aware of her presence. When the server comes to take their order, warmth floods to Alani’s cheeks.

“Alani, hey!” the tall server greets, flashing a handsome, pearly-white smile. “Long time, no see. You’re looking good as always,”

“Mahalo, David. You look good, as well,” She smiles politely, catching onto the way that Harry sits a little straighter in her peripheral vision. David still pays no regard to the rest of the table, but his gaze momentarily flickers over Harry and sizes him up before returning to Alani.

“Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t realize you were on a date,” he apologizes, which makes Alani’s eyes bulge  and Mitch snicker beside her. 

“Oh no, we’re not—“

“He’s just—” Alani and Harry speak at the same time, eyes darting to one another before she explains.

“I’m... working on something—an article,” she says, and David nods understandingly.

“Oh...right. Big-shot reporter, I almost forgot,” David teases in a snide way that makes Harry’s blood boil with annoyance. “Anyways, what can I get you all? The usual for you, right Alani?”

She nods curtly while the rest of the group take turns ordering. After the server has gone,  Harry notices a shift in her easy-going demeanor and decides that it’s his turn to break the ice.

“Come here often then?” He poses gently, taking a sip of his lemonade.

Her lips press into a tight line as her eyes wander to the other patrons. “Yeah, kinda,”

“Asshole ex-boyfriend ruined that, I’m guessing?”

Alani lets out an amused breath and shakes her head.

“He’s not my ex. I mean we went out, like, once in high school... and maybe a handful of times in college but that’s it, really,” 

Harry studies the uneasiness in her expression trying, and failing, to understand what she’s holding back.

“Seems like you dodged a bullet,” he confides, leaning in. Alani’s eyes meet his and her pursed lips ease into a small grin, which Harry mirrors with a simper of his own. As he rests his smooth chin in his palm, she notices a large, healing scab along the underside of his forearm, and her brows furrow.

“How’d that happen?” Alani asks.

“He jumped out a window,” Mitch intervenes. “Though to be fair, he was high,”

Harry shoots a deathly glare at Mitch and turns back to Alani. “It was a one-time thing.”

“It was shrooms,” Mitch replies with an amused smirk.

“Hardcore,” Alani giggles lightly. 

Mitch swirls the straw in his mimosa with his index finger while extending a pinky at Alani. “You do drugs?”

She shrugs, taking a sip of her Mai Tai. “Smoked weed a few times, though not enough to consider myself a pothead, I guess,”

Mitch snorts and steals a glance at Harry. “Pot makes our boy sleepy, and hungry. Alcohol makes him giggly. Shrooms get him buzzed just right,”

Harry’s cheeks flush and he averts his gaze past Alani where families and visitors roam the streets outside. 

“Jumping out a window’s  ‘just right’? I’d hate to see what going overboard looks like.” she teases, watching the blush of embarrassment creep across the bridge of Harry’s nose and cheeks.

“Keeps things interesting.” Mitch shrugs, turning back to Jeff to join his previous conversation.

 Alani feels a strange sense of endearment wash over her at the thought of a giggly Harry, dimples replacing a deeply furrowed brow. In the short time she’d known and served him at the café, she’d only ever seen him reserved—polite, at best. Alani had hoped that interviewing Harry would provide some insight into his mysterious background, but she didn’t imagine that she would want to know more than what could be penned in her article. In the few minutes spent mingling with him and his friends, she began to think that maybe there was something worth getting to know, not just professionally, but before she can give it a second thought, David returns with their food.

“Thanks, Derek.” Harry says, flashing a facetious grin at David who stands confused for a second before sauntering back to the kitchen. Alani laughs, quickly clasping a hand over her mouth, and Harry’s stomach flips at the sound. He immediately wishes he knew what else he could do to hear it again.

Alani scrapes the last bits of potato off her plate and leans back in her seat, patting her growing food baby. 

“I’m thinking of naming mine Oliver, you?” She sighs contentedly. 

“Anne, after my mum,” he quips back, pulling out his wallet.

Alani reaches into her bag for her own, but Harry shakes his head and speaks up. “Don’t worry about it, ‘s on me,”

“Oh, no Harry you really don’t have to—”

“I don’t mind,” he shrugs, slipping his card onto the small clipboard attached to their receipts.

“Thank you,” Alani smiles, feeling warmth spread through her limbs, but she assumes that it’s mostly due to the rum in her system.

Harry pushes a lock of hair behind his ear and returns the wallet to his back pocket without another word. While there is no alcohol coursing through his blood, he refuses to believe that the burning in his cheeks has anything to do with the girl seated before him.

Alani climbs back into the passenger’s seat of the SUV while Harry settles behind the wheel. He braces his right hand behind the headrest of her seat and skillfully reverses, only becoming aware of their proximity when he turns back to switch gears. Alani peels her eyes from his and focuses on finding a playlist for their journey back to the studio, her mind racing as she clicks shuffle. Harry’s arm retreats, much to Alani’s disappointment, and his ears perk up when he hears the familiar chimes at the beginning of Fleetwood Mac’s “Everywhere”.

“‘S a good one,” Harry breaks the silence, tapping on the steering wheel. “Christine always says it’s her favorite,”

“Christine...McVie?” Alani questions with an eyebrow quirked. “You know Christine McVie?”

“Kind of,” he shrugs, the corners of his lips twitching into a smirk.

“Do you know Stevie Nicks?”

“Yeah. She lives in London,”

“Holy shit!” Alani marvels, covering her mouth in excitement.

Harry chuckles lightly, stealing a glance over at Alani still processing the news. “Big fan?” 

She whips her head away from the window and scoffs. “Massive. Named my car Stevie, actually,”

“Hardcore,” Harry teases, echoing her own comment about his psychedelic escapades.

“Yes, Mr. Spider-Man. In my own right, I suppose it is hardcore,” Alani retorts.

“I thought  Spider-Man climbed buildings. Don’t think he jumped out of them.”

“I’m sure he’s done his fair share of both.”

The two drive down the coast for a while without a word, Harry drumming against the steering wheel as the song dies out while Alani soaks in the view outside her window. Suddenly, she reaches over and taps him on the arm, drawing him out of his reverie. 

“Turn right up there!”

“Why?” Harry asks, already putting his blinker on. 

Alani doesn’t say anything, but she doesn’t need to. Harry saw it just seconds after turning into the lookout and it left him breathless. The car comes to a stop and Alani wastes no time unbuckling her seatbelt and stepping into the humid air, Harry close behind. Before them, the biggest rainbow either of them had ever seen shimmers in the high afternoon sun like a wall of unbelievable vibrant hues. Harry had never seen one this close, he felt as though he could reach out and feel each color slip through his fingers. 

“Are you making a wish?” Alani asks reverently, as if raising her voice too loud will spook it away. 

“I thought that was for shooting stars,”

“We’re literally staring face to face with a rainbow and you’re gonna argue with me about the logistics of a wish?”

“Okay, okay,” he relents, grinning to himself as his eyes flutter close. 

Harry takes a deep breath and searches his brain for something, anything, but there is only one word pounding in his mind. He doesn’t know why it stood out to him when Alani first said it, but it struck a chord within him that hasn’t stopped reverberating, so it must mean something. Harry swallows the lump forming at the back of his throat and releases the breath he didn’t realize he had been holding. When his eyes flutter open again, he steals a peek through the corner of his eye at the girl beside him and then fixes his gaze back on the rainbow. 

“S’quite big, innit?” He remarks, breaking the reverent silence. 

Alani snorts and shakes her head, turning on her heel back to the car. 

“You’re so eloquent. Can’t wait to hear what lyrical gems are hiding in your new album,”

“Heyyy,” Harry pouts, climbing behind the wheel. “Who said anything about an album?” 

As they peel away from the lookout, Harry can sense something has shifted in the atmosphere, though he can’t quite put his finger on it. He opts to ignore it and poses a lighthearted question instead. 

“What’d you wish for?”

Alani narrows her eyes playfully. “You’re not supposed to tell. It won’t come true.”

Harry hums, trying to imagine what she could possibly wish for that would require such secrecy, but his thoughts wander back to the singular word that has haunted his mind since it left her lips. 

Home.

Next Chapter

#harry styles #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles fluff #harry styles x oc #harry styles writing #harry fic #ybmh

[batarella]

All That Jazz (Jason Todd x Theater Star!Reader)

-Requested by: @inconspicuousasparagus​  

(Sorry I didn’t include the Batfam, girl! I hope you still do like this though!)

The last three smut fics had public sex in it. I swear I’m not a felon.

WORDS: 2431 WARNINGS: MASTURBATION IN A CAR. BLOWJOB IN A CAR. IN PUBLIC. LOTS OF DIRTY TALK. AND GETTING A BONER AT THE WORST TIME

Masterlist

Slick your hair

And wear your buckle shoes

And all that Jazz

This song. This fucking song. This fucking song that never seemed to end. He knew this scene was going to bite him in the ass, but there wasn’t any worse possible time for him to get a fucking huge boner. Jason shifted around his seat with as little movement as possible.

He placed his hand on his crotch. Fuck. The friction just made it worse.

He tried with the arm rests, but the two people beside him had them occupied.

He bit on his hand. Focus on the pain. Look anywhere else on stage. Just not at you. Jason shouldn’t have bought a seat so fucking close. He could see the lace of your stockings, the ties on the corset, the bright red on your lips that he desperately wanted against his dick. Fuck. It was getting bigger.

It's just a noisy hall

Where there's a nightly brawl

And all that jazz

Velma Kelly. It was your first night as Velma Kelly during your run as an understudy, and you only had a few performances. You were so happy when you heard the news, and Jason was even more pumped. He watched other performances of Velma with you and he couldn’t wait to see you on stage as one of the sexiest characters in any musical. You had a fantastic voice, and tonight, it resonated into him and went straight down to his fucking crotch.

He didn’t know he had a thing for 1920s vaudeville girls in fishnets and bob wigs. Fuck, how was he supposed to know that? Maybe it was because it was you. It was probably that. Or not, because he wasn’t going to look at tiny black dresses the same way again.

Your legs were up in the air, your arms were around another man. But instead of feeling the slightest pang of jealousy like he usually does; it only gave him a more accurate image of how you’d run your hands all over his chest if you were in character.

Motherfucker. He was going to draw blood eventually from chewing at his gums so much.

The scene did eventually end. And it was only the overture.

He prayed he’ll get through the night.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jason was already outside waiting for you, and immediately he pulled you into the tightest hug, never mind the bulk of your coat and his. It was the final touch of the victorious sense of pride you needed after your first successful performance.

“You. Were. Amazing.”

“Thank you!” You grabbed his face and kissed him hard even as the other cast members had walked out the door and gave you knowing glances you couldn’t care less about. Jason wasn’t going out for patrol tonight. Even after the performance. It was your night. He was going to dedicate the whole of his to you.

“I thought I messed up my lines back there,” you squealed. “Hopefully no one noticed!”

“You were perfect. In every way. I’m so proud of you.” He hugged you again and kissed the top of your head. You couldn’t stop smiling, inhaling into his neck and enjoying that lighthearted, blissful rush through your whole body.

“I have more good news!” You handed him your phone with a screenshot of an email you got while you were performing.

“They loved my audition! I’m officially Anne Boleyn in the Original Gotham Cast of SIX!”

“HOLY SHIT, WOMAN.” Jason snatched your phone and read through the contents. You couldn’t stop squealing and hugging him, jumping around even with his large chest in your arms. He kept kissing your face, neck, anywhere that wasn’t covered to hide from the cold. He kept saying ‘I’m so proud of you’ ‘God, you’re amazing’ ‘I’m so lucky to have you’ over and over like it was the only set of words he knew at the moment.

“Jason, you can totally go on patrol tonight if you want to-“

“Oh, no.” he pulled you into his arm and walked you out of the alley back to the car. “I’m not letting you out of my sight. Not after that performance.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you have your costume with you?”

He opened the car door for you and you stopped to look at him skeptically. “No, but I’m wearing a black dress underneath my coa-“

“Good enough. Get in the car.”

You laughed when he walked over to the driver’s seat a bit too eagerly. Like he was skipping like a little boy. You drove out of the theater and turned the heater on.

Jason turned to you, and everytime you stopped at an intersection, he’d put his hand on your knee and squeeze it. The car was getting too hot, so you took off your large coat.

His mouth instinctively began to water. The black dress wasn’t the same. It had long sleeves that covered most of your arms, but your had boots on so you only had thin leggings underneath you still looked so hot. And the lipstick you had on hadn’t faded. Jason drove his hand further up your leg, then pulled away when the light turned green.

“Jason, you are horny as fuck.”

“You can’t fucking blame me when you were up there in fishnets, Y/N.”

You couldn’t stop laughing after that. “Were you hard for the last two hours?”

“Three. I had a boner since the overture.”

“Oh. My God.”

Another traffic light. And it didn’t look like he was going to get past this after the next one. The traffic was a fucking ass and it wasn’t going to be until another thirty minutes until he reaches the apartment at this rate.

“You looked so fucking hot. As much as I loved the show I couldn’t wait to get home and fuck the living daylights out of you.”

“Mmm,” you hummed and leaned in against his ear. “Would you like me to sing while you’re at it?”

“You’ll be screaming the highest fucking notes you never thought you’d reach.”

Jason’s hand went to your leg again, this time playing with the thin fabric going all the way up to your upper thigh.

“I swear I’ve never had a boner like that in public in my life. I had to go to the bathroom twice in the intermission. I almost wanted to jack off while I was at it if not for the line. Fuck, I couldn’t take it. You’re so fucking hot. Your performance was one thing but the costumes you wore. Shit¸ I couldn’t stop staring at your ass.”

He squeezed your leg. You could feel your juices seeping through your underwear.

“Jay,” you breathed too heavily. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, kitten.”

You looked at him with the hottest smirk and made sure the red of your lips were what his eyes were on when you licked them intensely. Further up, his hand reached the waist band of your tights, just as the cars began to move. “Fuck.”

He turned the car to the right. Whichever was the quickest way to the apartment. But there was traffic no matter where he went. He stopped again at a red light, and his hand went back to your hip, under your tights and underwear so he could have at it with your cunt.

“Fuck,” you moaned. It was the same sounds you made on stage when you sang. You threw your head back and reclined your seat.

“These windows are tinted right?”

“This used to be Bruce’s. Of course, it’s tinted. It’s practically a mirror.”

“Good,” you laid back and kicked off your boots. You were getting so wet. Your hand was gripping your hair just as he started circling your clit, gathering your wetness and stimulated it with more pressure than he usually gives you. He was rougher tonight, and you gasped when he pressed on it a bit too hard.

“That’s it. Lay down. Lick those red lips for me.”

You did just that, and his fingers violated your clit even faster. Your moans were getting louder, and you could only hope this car was sound proof. You bit the back of your hand but Jason pulled it away from you.

He heard a car honk its horn and it turns out the light had been green for a while. Jason cursed beneath his breath and you took it as a chance to relax. “Play with yourself, kitten. I’ll watch you.”

You couldn’t argue. Your hand continued Jason’s job and you spread your legs even wider, never taking your eyes off him while you played with your folds the way he’d do it. You circled your clit, inserted a finger or two into your hole, or teased yourself with neither of those sweet spots just to drag it out. He’d watch you when he had the chance, and his breaths were short, his chest heaving, and the sounds of your long, needy moans, his cock was painfully asking for some action in his pants.

“Lick your fingers and squeeze those tits.”

You kept at it. There were the beginning flashes of an orgasm, shocking you to your core and making you tremble and twitch, but you slowed down just as those flashes happened, then went faster again once the shocks simmered down. Your other hand that had been squeezing your breast under your shirt was now around your neck. You brought your fingers to your mouth, dragging them long and hard with your lips wrapped around them, so harshly that your lipstick stained.

You took your tights off, and your pussy clenched at the exposure of the colder air. You raised your legs up, and he had a perfect view of your cunt. You inserted your middle and ring finger inside you and slowly pumped them in and out, filling the air of the sounds of your lapping juices and your animalistic moans.

You looked at Jason, then watched your own fingers with your mouth locked open. You craned your head over, watching you fuck yourself, watching it happen as the wonderful sensations buzzing through you as a result from your own doing, then you went faster and threw your head back against the seat. Your other leg snaked around Jason’s thighs, causing enough friction against his pants to drive him insane. A sharp turn around and you were met with a dark, lightless alley where he parked.

“Jay, why are we h-here?” you asked even with your fingers inside you.

Jason didn’t answer and instead, removed your hand so he could replace it back with his, with his other hand this time.  He leaned over you, lips on yours while he violently fucked you with his fingers. The slow buzzing through your limbs were now a fast, overwhelming current that sent you screaming in an instant. The sound of your wetness, and how his fingers sent you thrashing uncontrollably in your seat. You grabbed the hand holder by your seat and gripped tightly just to contain it, but he only went faster, curling his fingers at just the right angle.

His hand was on your hair, gripping it tightly when he felt you come hard. You were violently shaking, holding onto his arms this time. It was so wonderful, and you bit his shoulder to stop yourself from screaming too loud. The heavenly highs that sent your limbs almost to the point of dysfunction. It was so fucking good. You panted as the high subsided.

He pulled his fingers out, bringing it up to your lips for you to lick. Jason kissed you again and sat right back against his seat.

His dick was practically poking out of his pants. The clock in your car told you had about thirty minutes past midnight. You still wanted more. One round was never good enough. Jason ran a hand through your hair and you went with it, leaning over his cock.

“Fuck, you’re gonna be the end of me.”

“Your cock obviously can’t wait any longer.”

You unzipped his pants, and your legs went up to the seat so you could fold them under you while you worked. Jason could see your pussy still throbbing through the reflection in the window, so he brought his hand back onto your cunt just to wet his own fingers.

A sharp slap to your ass cheek, just before he smoothed it over with his palm. You freed his cock and it was already leaking so much, it looked like he was cumming in his pants. You took no time to wait and took him into your mouth, bobbing your head up and down and widening your mouth as much as you could.

He turned the music up. All That Jazz. The one from the movie. It was playing from his phone. You giggled at that took him whole, pumping the bottom half with your hand. He held onto your hair and guided your head to his own liking.

He wasn’t going to last long. Jason wanted it fast, too. The rush of being in an alley. So dark, yet you could unmistakably look at every detail of you like you were perfectly lit up. He threw his head back, moaning your name. You felt his palm over your ass and went faster when you felt him squeeze.

You choked with him in your throat and gagged, swallowing around him which made him twitch. Another sharp slap against your ass, and you bobbed your head violently and hollowed your cheeks, sticking your tongue out with the amount of drool wet enough to drench his underwear.

He busted so much of his load into you, and you kept swallowing around him, over and over to let him ride out his high. His hand on your ass was tight enough to leave a mark, and you swirled your tongue around the tip just as the last of his cum blew into you.

A bit of his cum was on your mouth. Your lipstick was almost entirely faded by now, so you licked the last of it, including the cum.

Jason kissed you immediately, and held your face.

“Are we gonna reach home soon enough or are we gonna do it right here?”

He looked back. There was still no one around. No one usually came here even at this hour. Not even criminals liked hanging out at this corner.

“I think we’re fine here.”

Jason held your chin and slowly slid on top of you, spreading your legs and reclining your seat even further.

Taglist: everyartistwas-firstanamateur  @sarcasmismyfirstlove @damned-queen-of-gotham @idkmanicantenglish @wunderstell @birdy-bat-riya @get-loki@everyday-imfangirling @comic-nerd-dc @multifandoms916 @icequeen208@offendedfishnoises @egdolan @xemiefx @arkhamtoddler @elsenthal@mythicbitchx @supremehaunter @ burning-alive  @lucy-roo  roseangel013bf

#Jason todd x reader #Reader insert #Jason todd smut #Jason todd fluff #jason todd x reader smut #red hood #red hood smut #jason todd #red hood fluff #DC Comics #Dc fanfiction #batarella #batarella smut #batarella smut one shots

[sleepyboisinc]

soo,,, the secret au huh?

its a band au. its a fucking band au. im posting this super impulsively, and it has no editing i think so if there are any mistakes,,,, fuck it idc

also this ends in a sort of cliffhanger i was gonan write more but i got tired of writing and never got the motivation to again im sorry lul

this au isnt just by me, theres other ppl involved in it too!! mainly bad timezone gang in technohive but others also helped :)

anywaysyysyshdhsh yea read if u want to ig

wilbur soot was discovered by a record label when he was 15 after he wrote the squid song. they didn't care that the lyrics were objectively bad, it was wilbur’s voice that grabbed their attention. they interviewed him and decided that they were gonna give him a chance. wilbur, who had always dreamed of being a singer, jumped at the opportunity. the interview went very well. they even asked him to sing a few songs and he nailed it. however, he wasn’t perfect. he still needed some vocal training. they spent an entire day discussing and signing paperwork. the label ended up arranging for wilbur to attend music classes to enhance his voice and get better at the guitar.

time-skip about 3 years. wilbur is 18 and is phenomenal at singing and the guitar. he starts going to uni and meets his roommate, an american student named technoblade who plays the violin. wilbur and techno quickly become friends, bonding over music and other mutual interests like video games. techno plays mini gigs on the street and at bars close to campus to make some money for himself. particularly at a little bar called “the harpy’s nest”

one day, wilbur gets bored sitting at home alone, so he goes to watch techno’s gig. he arrives halfway through the set and watches for about 5 minutes. after the gig is over, he watches as techno interacts with the bartender, a young man only slightly older looking than the two of them. techno notices wilbur and calls him over, introducing him to the bartender, philza. the two immediately hit it off and by the end of the night, they’ve exchanged numbers and a promise to meet up phil’s next shift.

-

over the next few months, the trio became best friends. wilbur learns that phil plays the drums and has several eps. one ep in particular, “hardcore2” blew up a bit in their general area and phil gained a bit of traction as a musician. the three boys spend most of their time hanging out at wilbur and techno’s dorm, or at phil’s bar. they stay up till ungodly hours playing video games and talking. their other friends dub them the sleepy boys, because of how tired they all are the next day. 

however, as the months fly by, the date wilbur is supposed to finish training and write his first songs draws closer. he worries he’s bitten more than he can chew and he wonders if he’s even ready for fame. a month later he is assigned a manager, pete. pete says that his training contract has expired, meaning that he's ready to start writing his album. wilbur says that he needs to think a bit before he starts. pete was about to tell him he can’t have extra time to think because he signed a contract, but seeing the look of stress on wilbur’s face, he allows him 2 days before he starts. wilbur goes on a walk to think. he curses himself for second-guessing himself now. he realizes he doesn’t wanna do this alone. then he thinks of techno and phil. 

what if they formed a band? that way he wouldn’t have to do this alone. he’s sure that they'd love to make a band together as well. he goes to them and… they agree. he goes to pete and asks him if they can be a three-piece band. pete says he needs to ask his higher-ups first. wilbur doesn’t hear from pete for 4 days and starts to worry. what if they won’t allow it? it wasn't part of the agreement so they have every right to turn him down. at the end of the fourth day, pete calls him and says that the higher-ups have agreed. they had to choose a group name by the end of 2 days. the trio was over the moon.

this was the start of sleepy bois inc.

-

their record label wasn’t massive, so the boys took to playing on the streets and in bars to gain some traction. they slowly started gaining recognition and grew faster when they made a youtube channel. they released several eps and a few albums, and gained a following over the next few years.

their first big break came 3 years after the band was formed. they had a decent following, about 50k subs on youtube and slightly less on other platforms. one day, jschlatt from lunch club, a massive boy band, got their music recommended to him on youtube. he’s intrigued and listened to it, and was surprised at how much he liked it. he liked it so much, that he decided to shout them out on twitter. 

sleepybois inc’s popularity skyrocketed, and the members of both bands grew close. when lunch club announced their next tour, they revealed that sleepybois inc would open for them. the fans freak out, and many iconic moments and inside jokes form from this tour. 

-

tommy innit was 19 years old and was preparing to become a musician. he was almost done with the 4 years of vocal and keyboard training provided by a record label and had to make a decision: be a solo artist, or join a band. if he chose the band, he has another 2 options: be assigned into a band that already exists under this label or make a new one with people that he knows. 

tommy is also a massive fan of lunch club, and sees that jschlatt shouted out a band called sleepybois inc. he likes them a lot and becomes a fan of their stuff too. what tommy didn’t know is that they were at the same label he was training at and were open for a 4th member. 

back on the music, tommy ended up going with band. he debated between making a band or being assigned one. after a while, he ended up going with being assigned. he was nervous about this because he'd have to integrate himself into their dynamic and feared that fans won’t like him, but he figured it’d be easier than making his friends all learn instruments.

being assigned a band is a process, so tommy had a couple of months free. during this time, lunch club was on tour with sleepybois inc and tommy got vip tickets to a show. so he went to the meet and greet and gave his number to sleepybois inc saying ”hmu if u need a keyboardist lul” as a joke (this is a very important detail i will include it f u)

so come around the day of tommy getting assigned. he has to do auditions for the bands that the record label selected for him to join. management has narrowed it down to the youngest 2 bands at their label who are open for a member: one of which is sleepybois inc. 

-

it had been a month since tommy interviewed for sleepybois inc. he did pretty well at it, and had been talking to the boys a lot since then. he still hadn’t had news on whether he joined though. 

it was 3 am. tommy had been working on school work for hours and had only just managed to finish up for the night. he settled into bed and was about to fall asleep when his phone rang. not bothering to look at who was calling, tommy picked it up

“who the fuck is calling me at 3 in the morning i swear to god-” tommy whispered angrily. 

“tommy?” wilbur’s voice rang out “wait shit- this is probably a really bad time im sorry. but we have something important to tell you.”

tommy’s eyes widened. 

“we’ve decided that you can join the band”

-

the band and their label spent a few weeks discussing how they would go about this. they boys decided they would need a name change too, and ended up settling on the name ‘purple pandas’. however, a new member and a name change would practically transform the band completely, so they had to go about announcing this the right way.

they ended up settling on posting a youtube video titled ‘making some changes’. seeing the announcement for this sent fans into a frenzy, frantically tweeting about what it could be. many rumours spread fast and it even got into a few news articles. conspiracies started floating around about what changes could possibly be taking place.

-

i cant write this shit no more bye

#aooaowowoaowodo #yeah #ion know what to say #yeahhh uhh #we have a lot of random shit in this au #feel fuckin free to ask about it #im willing to answer :) #anywyaysyywyays #au tag #band au #wilbur soot #technoblade #philza #ph1lza #sleepybois inc #tommyinnit #who else do i tag lol- #lucnh club #i guess #i dont know #its 1 am bear with me

[terreisa]

Love Down the Line: Chapter 2

The last thing Indie musician Emma Swan needs is a gigantic wrench thrown in the workings of her biggest tour to date weeks before its launch.  When her backing guitarist that caused the problem says she has the perfect solution Emma is skeptical but left with little choice but to accept.  Unfortunately she isn't really prepared for said solution to be former Rock Star and leading man of Emma's teenage fantasies, Killian Jones.  With no other options and a month of performing across the country ahead of her Emma just hopes she doesn't come to regret letting Killian onto her stage and into her life. 

Ch 1, AO3

~*CS*~

Portland, Maine- April 10th

Emma hadn’t intended to be late to rehearsal.  In fact, she wanted to be early to get a step up on Jones.  She figured just because she was doing Ruby a favor didn’t mean she couldn’t exert a little pressure on the guy at the same time.  By the end of a tour she was usually ready to kick everyone off the bus and finish the damn shows herself and she was good friends with Ruby and the others in the backing band.  Jones had to more than prove himself to her during the rehearsal turned audition.  He had to blow it out of the water.

Of course, that had been before she was the one showing up almost forty minutes late.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit,” she huffed under her breath as she ran across the parking lot, the guitar strapped across her back knocking her in the ass with every step.

“You’re late Miss Swan.”

Emma grimaced at the sound of her manager, Regina Mills’, voice.  The woman was scary on a normal day with her custom designer suits, red soled stilettos, and three hundred dollar haircuts that made sure not a single dark hair was out of place, or grey.  She was holding open the door for her with a look of extreme annoyance or impatience or disappointment.  It could have been all three but Emma blew past her into the building and down the familiar hallways towards the space she and the others had been rehearsing in for years.

“I know, I know.  Sorry-” she shrugged in apology and nearly dropped the three notebooks and handful of loose papers in her arms.  Hugging them tighter into her chest she kept moving, “The bug wouldn’t start and I had to call Mary Margaret to borrow her car and then there was an accident on the highway.”

“And why couldn’t you have carpooled with Ruby?” Regina asked cooly as she followed, clearly unmoved by her tales of woe.

Emma stopped dead in the middle of the hallway and spun to face Regina, “Ruby can’t be here.  She’s not supposed to drive with the pills she was given.”

“She is and she didn’t,” Regina said with a roll of her eyes, pushing at Emma’s elbow to get her moving again. “Some other woman who has the manners of a barn animal is here with her.  If you keep inviting people to rehearsals I’m going to start charging for the privilege, maybe even turn it into a VIP package.”

“It must be Dorothy,” Emma smiled, her first real one since Ruby’s practically world ending phone call. “Good for her.  And the only other person who should be here is that Jones guy Ruby swears is worthy of replacing her.  She said he’s a session guitarist, do you not know him either?”

She’d opened the door that led to the rehearsal space, looking over her shoulder as she asked.  Regina raised an impeccably plucked brow and settled her gaze behind her.  Turning towards the room she immediately saw who the stranger was and promptly dropped everything in her arms in shock.

“Careful there, Swan, if you’re anything like every other songwriter I know those things are worth more than their weight in gold.”

Emma could do nothing more than stare as Killian Jones set his guitar aside and crossed the room to pick up the papers and notebooks at her feet.  He gathered them all and tried to straighten them before handing them up to her, a crooked grin on his face.  It faltered a little as she continued to stare at him before he chuckled and scratched behind his ear.

Killian Jones was definitely not the random guy off the street Emma had been imagining, he wasn’t even a vaguely familiar face she’d seen in the halls of their rehearsal space.  He had been the lead guitarist and second vocalist for one of the biggest rock bands in the world almost fifteen years earlier.  His band, Realm of Jewels' second album had gone multi platinum, they’d played arenas and headlined festivals across the globe.  Rumor had it that their third album was supposed to be even bigger.  Then there had been a terrible accident and half the band was gone in an instant.  Killian Jones had survived but emerged from the wreck with one hell of a dragon, in the form of alcohol and pills, on his back.

As far as she’d known he was just another rock star that had gotten lost in the world because of his addictions.  Apparently the story hadn’t ended there.  No, it had seemingly kept going with him ending up in her goddamn rehearsal space looking bashful and hot as fuck.

“You’re Killian Jones.”

He blushed and it almost killed her, “Last time I checked.”

“Realm of Jewels,” she challenged, wondering if he’d shy away from his past.

“Once upon a time,” he shot back, a glint of humor in his eyes as his blush faded.

She hummed, “Rolling Stone called you a ‘not so hidden gem in the rock world, poised to be among the pantheon of rock gods’ if I’m remembering correctly.”

“Good memory,” he grinned, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “And that same illustrious publication said you were on the road to being the Stevie Nicks of your generation.  A bit belittling but not far off the mark.”

“Belittling?” She asked sharply, her hackles rising.

He held up his hands in defense, “Not in the way you think, Swan.  If I had written the article I would have perhaps said that you were a talent beyond compare.”

“Oh,” she said, deflating a bit but still on edge due to him being there at all, “um, okay.”

She glanced around the room, trying to find a way out of the suddenly awkward silence that had settled between them.  Tink Greene and Will Scarlet, the other members of her backing band, were huddled by the drumset, watching them with barely hidden awe, clearly star struck at being in the same room with the Killian Jones.  Ruby was sitting on the couch, whispering to the woman sitting next to her, who could only be Dorothy.  Emma caught Ruby’s eye and not so subtly jerked her head back towards the hallway she’d just come from.

“Emma-” Regina snarled as she started backing out of the room.

“I’d like a minute with my guitarist if you don’t mind,” Emma said through gritted teeth, giving Jones an insincere smile that had his own widening in glee.

“Oh, do let them go, Your Majesty,” Jones said with a laugh. “I believe we still need to discuss certain terms and conditions of this little arrangement.”

Emma opened her mouth to argue that nothing was decided when Ruby pushed her fully into the hallway with surprising strength in her uninjured arm.

“Are you fucking kidding me Ruby?” She hissed as soon as the doors closed behind them. “Killian Jones?!”

“So you obviously know there’s no need for him to audition,” Ruby said with a sly smile. “I mean you have seen him in concert four, no fi-”

She covered Ruby’s mouth with her hand, shushing her as she pushed her further down the hallway.  They only made it three steps before Ruby licked her palm, cackling with glee when she yanked her hand back, disgusted.

“It’s not gonna happen.”

“Come on.  He can play, he’s available and he knows the songs.  This is the best you’re going to get and you know it,” Ruby stated proudly, her grin smug.

“The best,” Emma muttered, shaking her head and trying to keep hold of her temper. “The best?  Jesus Christ, Ruby, the second he steps out on stage it’s not my show anymore, it’s his.  I have worked too fucking long and hard for that asshole to come in and take it all from me in some bid to reclaim his glory.”

“Oh, oh no, Emma, that’s totally not at all what this is,” Ruby whispered, her face pale and looking stricken. “He owed me, big time, and I obviously didn’t think about any of that when I called it in.  Look, don’t repeat this to anyone.  Like, anyone.  But Killian hasn’t played in public since he got out of rehab.  That he even agreed to do this is I think big enough for him.  He’s not looking to steal the spotlight.”

“Then why is he here?” Emma asked, slightly mollified but still seething.

“He misses playing for an audience but I think he has a kind of block or something about going for it on his own,” Ruby said softly.  She gave a half-hearted shrug, “I’m just trying to help out two friends in one go.”

The last of her anger drained away at the sincerity in Ruby’s voice.  It wasn’t often that Ruby was the serious one in their friendship but when she was Emma always paid attention.  If she hadn’t she’d have still been waiting tables at Granny’s Diner and only playing her guitar at barbeques and bonfires for their small group of friends at home.  She also wouldn’t have been able to call Storybrooke home for that matter.

No longer angry but still infinitely annoyed she tipped her head back and let out a sigh, “Fine I’ll give him a chance on two conditions.”

“Excellent!” Ruby crowed.  Emma dropped her gaze back down and raised a brow at her, “Whatever the conditions he’ll totally do it.  He wants this, just doesn’t know how badly he does until you start making him jump through hoops to prove it to you.”

“Oh, only one of the conditions is for him,” Emma said with a smirk.

Ruby’s eyes widened, “What?  Why do I have to prove myself?”

“You don’t.  I just want to know how you can call Killian Jones, one of the most famous guitarists-”

“Who you had a poster of on your wall,” Ruby broke in with wiggling eyebrows and a giddy grin, “and a laminated photo in your-”

“Who had a very public and very destructive drug and alcohol problem, your friend,” Emma continued pointedly.

Ruby’s grin faded, “He was in the same rehab facility as my mom.  Well, one of them.  On one of her bad days I went for a walk around the gardens to cool my head a little and recognized him.  Had a bit of a fangirl moment, if I’m being honest.  Not exactly my finest moment since he was there to get his life back together and I go gushing about how great I thought he was before it all went to shit.  I could tell he was humoring me until I started talking about gigs and asking him how to improve my playing, then his eyes kinda lit up and he started offering me advice and some tricks for the road.  So whenever I went to visit my mom I would also stop by to talk to him about music.

“After my mom decided she was done being sober, again, I still went by to see him.  He needed a friend and I guess I needed to believe that someone could actually follow through with getting clean.  When he got out we stayed in touch.  Just a ‘hi, how’re you doing’ text every so often.  Until, of course, the arm thing happened.”

“And you never mentioned it because…?”

“I wanted to but it seemed-” Ruby shrugged, “like an invasion of privacy, somehow?”

Emma nodded, getting what Ruby meant but still a little hurt that she’d kept it from her.  She’d only admit it on threat of death having met him but Jones had been her number one celebrity crush since she’d discovered Realm of Jewels in her senior year of high school.  Ruby was a witness to it then and clearly still remembered that embarrassing fact.  Then it occurred to her that there were dark parts of her life that she wouldn’t want shared with a fan no matter how close of a friend Ruby was with them.  She nodded again, fully accepting the truth of what Ruby had told her.

“I’m not going to go easy on him,” she warned, spinning on her heel and walking back to the rehearsal room.

Ruby laughed, “I would have been suspicious if you did.  So what are you going to make him do?”

“You’ll see,” she said cryptically with a grin before opening the door.

“Finally,” Regina muttered as they walked back in.  She pointed a perfectly manicured finger at Emma, “You may be a favorite of the owners here but we’re still paying for every minute this room has people in it.  So start playing or find somewhere else to work out your little grievances.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Emma apologized again, knowing that if there was something that pissed Regina off more than wasted time it was wasted money.

She felt Killian’s eyes on her as she greeted Tink and Will before moving to the piano.  It was like a phantom pressure between her shoulder blades that she was trying her best to ignore.  If he was trying to unsettle her she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction and if he was trying to figure her out she wasn’t going to make it easy for him.  When she finally had all her things set up how she wanted and ignoring him was no longer an option she turned to face him, valiantly trying to hide that she was still slightly shocked and unnerved that he was there.

“Ruby said that you’re a session guitarist now,” she began without preamble, hoping to gain whatever upper hand she could.

“I may not be hurting for cash, love, but a man does like to keep busy,” his voice dipped low at the end of his statement.  Paired with a raised brow and feral grin she had to hold back a snort of amusement at his innuendo.

“Not your love,” she shot back dismissively, “She also said that you’ve played on my albums?”

His grin faltered, “Aye.”

“And would you say you enjoyed the songs you recorded or were they just a forgettable few in a long set of recordings to… keep you busy?”

There was the sound of a violent snort and then a deep spluttering a cough that belonged to Will from behind her.  Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ruby rolling her eyes at her and Regina throwing up her hands in exasperation.  She kept her face impassive and gaze on Killian, pleased to see him fidget and scratch behind his ear in what had to be nervousness.

“Erm, well when I first recorded one of your songs I’ll admit I had no clue who you were and no interest in discovering more,” Killian admitted but instead of dropping his eyes he held her gaze. “Then I had the fortune of recording another one and found myself intrigued.  I’ve listened to everything you’ve released up ‘til now and I’ve enjoyed all of it, not just what I was hired to play.”

“Okay then,” she said as cooly as she could, despite the giddiness and disbelief running through her knowing that he liked her music. “Now I hope you don’t mind but I’d like to hear you play something.”

“Play something?” He repeated, flabbergasted.

“Just a few different songs,” she said innocently, “so I know you’ll be a good fit.”

His mouth opened and closed several times before he shot an incredulous look at Ruby.  Emma could barely hold in her laughter as Ruby shrugged and said nothing.

“Problem, Jones?”

He turned back to her, looking incredulous, “Let me get this straight, Swan, you can quote an article from Rolling Stone that was released well over a decade ago about my playing and you want me to audition?”

“Only if you want the gig,” she said with a shrug.

She could see the muscle in Killian’s jaw jumping, though she wasn’t sure if it was from annoyance or contemplation.  Either way it gave her a little inspiration.  While he continued to stew she pulled out her phone and did a quick internet search for what she needed.

“Fine, love,” he said, drawing her attention back to him.  He picked up his guitar and slid the strap over his head. “What would you like to hear?”

“Can you read music?” She asked with honest curiosity.

“I can,” he said warily.

“Good-” she turned to Ruby, “I need your Ipad.”

Ruby gave her a calculating look before slowly extracting the tablet out of her purse and handing it over.  Emma gave her what she hoped was a look of innocence before pulling up what she needed and handing it over to Killian. 

“Layla?  A classic-” he smirked and handed her back the Ipad, “and one I already know by heart.”

With that he started playing, amazingly, and Emma almost didn’t have the heart to stop him.  Almost.

“Whoa there, Jones,” she said loudly, waving her hands for him to stop.  He did with a discordant note and stared at her in confusion.  She handed back the Ipad, “I wanted you to play this.”

He looked at it and then back at her, his brow furrowing even more, “But I was.”

“No, you didn’t read the music-” she wiggled the Ipad at him, “You were playing the lead.  I want to hear you play the rhythm.”

“Ah,” he breathed, a look of bemusement and something that was too much like awe replacing his confusion, “I see.”

From there he played every unflashy guitar part she could throw at him.  He didn’t complain and his annoyance didn’t make a reappearance.  The others listened happily and even offered suggestions, though Regina had left with a disgusted huff after the fourth song.  They passed the tablet back and forth several times before she decided to end the teasing with one of her favorites.

Killian snorted when he saw her choice, “You do know that two great guitarists play on this one right?  Even playing rhythm on this one is an honor.  Although, the same should have been said for Layla, but I have enjoyed this little challenge.”

“Good to know,” she said, smiling. “I don’t want you to play rhythm on this one though.  If you don’t mind.”

“It would be my honor,” he hummed, handing her back the Ipad.

The chatter in the room fell silent as the familiar chords of While My Guitar Gently Weeps swept through the room.  Emma closed her eyes and let the music wash over her.  There was only one constant in her life and it was music, first listening, then playing, and finally creating.  It had never sent her back, never sent her to prison, and never forced her to send her child away.  As Killian played the last notes she felt the familiar pang of melancholy the song invoked in her but made sure the smile she gave him when she opened her eyes was genuine.

“Thanks.”

“Shouldn’t I be thanking you for giving me the opportunity?  I’ve never had to audition before-”

“Lucky git,” Will grumbled as he ambled by them, heading toward the snack table on one side of the room.

“Will Scarlet, drums, constant pain in the ass but our pain in the ass,” Emma commented lightly, batting away the Red Vine Will had tossed at her.  She hitched her thumb over her shoulder to where she’d last noticed Tink, “That’s Tink Greene, bassist, she’s small but she’ll knock you out if you mess with the current rotation of romance novels she’ll be bringing on the bus.”

Killian raised a brow at her, “I can’t quite tell by your tone but am I to believe I got the gig?”

“You had the gig as soon as she saw your pretty face and hot ass,” Ruby called out from her spot on the couch, causing Emma’s cheeks to heat up and Killian’s lip to curl.

“Yeah, well-” she cleared her throat, “We’ve, uh, already used up our reserved time for today and Regina won’t be happy if we stay late, even if we actually rehearse.  We’ve got a couple more weeks of rehearsals on Mondays and Fridays and then it’ll be almost every day until the tour starts.  If you need somewhere to stay just let Regina know and she’ll book the hotel room or whatever.”

“So I got the gig?” Killian pressed, his blue eyes glittering in mirth.

“You got the gig,” she sighed, rolling her eyes at his toothy grin. Then she let her features settle into what she hoped was a menacing look, “There’s some conditions.”

“Of course,” he said, nodding sagely.

“Your name isn’t going to be in any of the advertising, or brought up in interviews, and absolutely not on any of the damn marquees.  You’re being hired as a guitarist in my backing band, not as the feature player.”

He nodded again but with understanding, “Of course, I have no desire to upstage you or hijack the tour for my own needs.”

“Good,” she said, slightly surprised he agreed so easily. “This is also temporary.  Once Ruby gets the all clear from her doctor she’s back and you’re out.”

“As I wouldn’t want to keep a fellow musician, or friend, out of work I will happily step aside-” he gave a little bow that she refused to see as charming.

“And last, no groupies on the bus,” she added, fighting to keep her face impassive and the blush that threatened from pinkening her cheeks.

It had never been a set rule, in fact it was one they’d each bent a little one time or another, but a weird pressure built in the back of her neck at the thought of having to see and listen to Killian with some doe eyed fan.  Not that she cared.  She just didn’t want to get to know him that intimately, even if it was by proxy, when she barely knew him as anyone other than the rock star she’d had a crush in high school.

His jaw clenched almost imperceptibly before he laughed.  It didn’t sound forced or off but somehow Emma knew it was fake all the same.

“Understood, love.”

“Still not your love-” she held out her hand and his hand was calloused and warm when he grasped it, “Welcome to the band.”

#captain swan #cs ff #captain swan ff #captain swan fanfiction #ouat ff #my writing

[yourcoffindoor]

Bulletproof Heart Pt.2

Pairing: Gerard Way x Reader

Prompt: Request from Anon- “ could you write one where the reader is a rock singer and they and mcr are on warped tour together, and they both lowkey like each other but think they’re both out of each other’s league, and find out that they’re both secretly into nerdy stuff + maybe getting together?

TW: Mentions of an abusive relationship.

AN: The plot thickens. Sorry for the delay in uploading <3

Enjoyyyy <3

That night after everyone had stumbled back to the bus in a tipsy stupor, you couldn't shake the thought of your encounter with Gerard from your brain. And what's more, you hated yourself for it. For awhile you tossed and turned, hoping the unwelcome feelings you had would fade to nothing so that you could fall asleep at last.

But your curiosity got the better of you, and there was only would person who could give you the answers you were looking for.

"Hey Gavin, are you still conscious?" you whispered from your bunk. You heard the rustle of sheets moving in response.

"Hmmm?" a low and sleepy sound of acknowledgement answered.

"I'm just wondering...what do you know about Gerard Way?"

As soon as the words left your lips, Gavin's curtains swung open with superhuman force.

"Y/N are you in love with Gerard Way?!" Gavin's voice was no longer tired, having morphed into a sharp and excited whisper. In addition to being the band's social butterfly, he always knew the gossip about everyone within a 20 mile radius.

"Christ, really Gavin? We only spoke for like fifteen minutes."

"So it was like a love at first sight situation?"

"You are so annoying, I swear to god."

"Do you want info or not?" he threatened.

You sighed. "Fine, yes I do."

Gavin cleared his throat as if preparing for a presentation. "OK, so everyone has something good to say about him, seems like a really genuine guy. I've heard he was in a long term relationship for ages, but its been broken off for awhile now. "

"Hmm," you murmured, trying to sound indifferent, "yeah he seems like a sweet guy."

"Yeah and every girl with a pulse seems to be after him. You got some competition out there." he teased. "But seriously, if you're interested you should go for it. You deserve to be happy, Y/N. It's been three years since...you know who."

Gavin didn't say his name, but he had said enough to bring on a wave of sad memories. "Thanks. I'm uh, feeling pretty tired, so... I'm just gonna get some sleep."

"G'night." Gavin said softly, as if aware he had brought out long buried and very unwelcome feelings.

You rolled over in your bunk, pulling your blankets up over your head, unwilling to dwell on the memories that had been drudged up by only a few words. Three years ago. That's when you finally had the strength to break it off with Alex.

You were a different person when you met him. It was your first relationship, and you were naive and forgiving, unable to see the dozens of red flags that should have made you run away from it all.

You had answered an ad that he had posted asking for potential band members for a punk band he was forming. It had been your dream to pursue music, and you responded right away, hoping you'd hit it off. You weren't expecting Alex to be so damn attractive, and when your audition was successful, it was only a matter of time before a relationship began to develop between you.

He was older than you, more experienced, and eager to take you under his wing where he could have the most control. You mistook his over-protectiveness as a sign of love, and he slowly cut you off from people outside of the band, leaving you isolated and dependent on him.

Eventually he would get angry if he saw you speak to any other man. He took your phone regularly so that he could look through it, questioning you about anything he didn't like. The fights you had were loud and ugly, your voices rising and crashing like cantankerous bursts of thunder. Eventually, they became violent.

You were stuck in a cycle of affection and fear, held there as if caught in a tide that would never bring you back to shores of sanity. But you did eventually find the strength to get out when your friend reached out to you, offering you a place to stay. You packed your bags that night and didn't look back.

Your band was not just a career for you, it was a symbol of healing, proof that you were able to overcome it all and strike out on your own. You rolled over in your bunk, and pushed the unwanted memories aside, reminding yourself of the promise you had made to be the best damn band on Warped tour. Nothing was going to change that now.

x x x 

Your first performance went by in a haze of adrenaline and sweat. The crowd was young and eager to see what you had to offer, and you were all to happy to give them something they'd remember for a long long time.

There were several people in the crowd who were fans already, proudly wearing your band's shirts and mouthing along to all of the lyrics. Others were slowly converted, headbanging enthusiastically by the end of your set. When the band's final song was met with deafening hoots and cheers, you'd felt like you'd accomplished your mission.

"We fucking killed it!" Gavin declared as he slumped in the nearest chair, exhausted.

"The crowd was good, huh?" you beamed as you wiped the sweat from your face, still breathless from your onstage antics. "Let's hope they're all like this."

"Can't get any worse than our first show ever, remember?" Liz laughed as she recalled the groups early days. "Never had so much beer pelted at me in my life."

People milled about as you and your band mates caught your breath. A few musicians from other bands popped in to say hi and let you know that they enjoyed your performance.

"Hey you actually made it!" Gavin jumped up from his chair as he noticed a new face entering the backstage area. "Guys did you meet Frank last night? From My Chemical Romance?" A man with wide hazel eyes gave a quick wave from the the entryway.

"This guy was goin on and on about how you guys were the best new band on warped tour. Had to see if he was just full of shit."

"He always starts bragging when he's drunk." you rolled your eyes.

"Well, I'm glad he did. You guys put on a pretty kick-ass show. Plus Gerard really wanted to check it out."

Your heartbeat, which had only just settled from jumping around on stage, began to speed up again.

"Gerard?"you asked softly, caught off guard by the mention of his name.  You didn't see the familiar black haired boy near frank. You only saw Gavin attempting to give you a discreet wink, which you returned with a harsh glare.

"Yeah actually we were all there. Mikey and Ray had to run to another show. Don't know where Gee disappeared to though," Frank craned his head, looking around at the hustle and bustle that was happening permanently everywhere on Warped tour. "Ah, there he is. Gerard!"

You saw Gerard, surrounded by a small circle of fans, each holding something they wanted him to sign. You felt a strange pang when you noticed they were all pretty girls, and Gavin's words from last night came back to haunt you. You got some competition out there. You struggled to identify just what emotion was suddenly eating away at you--were you really jealous? Or was it the realization that even if you decided to make a move, it was probably hopeless?

Gerard nodded at Frank. "Be there in a sec!" he shouted, continuing to sign autographs until he had gotten through everyone.

Frank spoke with your band mates, but you were too distracted by the knowledge that Gerard had watched you perform to be sociable. You were anxious as to what his opinion would be, but tried to push it out of your thoughts.

You watched nervously as Gerard spoke to Frank and Gavin, noticing that he would glance over at you every so often. When your eyes finally met he gave you a nod and a warm smile. You gave yourself an internal pep talk to try and stay calm. You can just be friends, you don't need to do anything except be friendly. For the love of god, act normal.

Eventually he made his way over to you,offering another soft and lopsided smile,but his time it almost seemed as if he was shy. "Great show. From one lead singer to another, your band has a fucking killer sound."

You thanked him, grinning like an idiot while cautionary alarm bells went off in your head.

"I might be a bit biased though, because of the shirt your wearing."

You looked down, having forgotten what you threw on that morning. It was one of your favorite shirts,  a short sleeved tee with the X-Men symbol emblazoned on the front. You'd had it for years, as evidenced by the smattering of small holes peeking through the bottom edge. Oh no, you thought, he likes comics too?

"You're a fan?" you asked coolly, a stark contrast to the giddy panic that was building up inside you.

"Yes! I actually wanted to make comics before My Chem was a thing." He spoke animatedly, his round hazel eyes widening even further. "But life had other plans. Not that I'm complaining."

That familiar heat rose in your cheeks. This conversation was dangerous, and you were trying desperately to fight the feeling that this man was something close to perfect.

The world around the two of you became an insignificant blur as you both discussed comics at length, and you hung on every word, taking turns revealing how you first discovered them and sharing your favorites. He even recommended a few titles that you had never heard of. His demeanor was passionate and lively, entirely different from the sullen boy you met the night before.

"I uh, I'm actually working on a comic at the moment," he began, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear, suddenly bashful, "If you're interested you should stop by the bus sometime--"

Gerard's eyes focused on something just behind you, and you felt a sudden tap on your shoulder. You turned and felt your stomach drop to a sickening low. There, standing next to the drunk who was hitting on you last night, was your ex-boyfriend Alex.

"What are the odds!" he smiled at you, blank looking smug beside him. You found yourself at a loss for words.

"What...what are you doing here?"

He scoffed. "Ouch Y/N, is that anyway to say hello? I'm here for the same reason you are." He turned his attention to Gerard. "I'm Alex. Y/N and I used to have a band together back in the day. Well, a bit more than that actually." He smirked at you, instantly transforming any butterflies you had felt while talking to Gerard into pure revulsion.

This was your worst case scenario, and it was one you had never even considered to be possible. Seeing his face again made you freeze up, and you were at a loss for words. You looked up at Gerard through your eyelashes, wondering if the dark and overwhelming swirl of emotion inside you was showing on your face. His brows were furrowed ever so slightly as if he could sense that something wasn't quite right.

"Nice to meet you," he replied curtly before turning his attention back to you. I'll uh, let you catch up. I'll just be over there with Frank...if you need anything."

You merely nodded, too caught up in your feelings to respond properly. "I'll catch you later then."

Alex saw this opportunity as a chance to reach for an embrace, but you stepped back and out of reach.

"Just what the hell are you doing?"

"What are you implying? I'm just dropping in to say hello before Midnite Heist performs later. I'm their new drummer after all. I can't even do that?"

"No," you said, struggling to maintain a low voice, "You can't. I told you I never wanted to see you again. We may be on the same tour, but that doesn't mean you can approach me. Don't try it again."

He laughed, clearly embarrassed to be spoken too like that in front of his band mate. "If you're trying to get with that Way guy, don't bother. You're punching way above your weight with that one."

You took a moment to steel yourself, and decided to walk away rather than let thing turn into a scene. Before you turned to leave, you offered one final warning.

"I haven't forgotten what you did to me. Speak to me again and you'll regret it."

You walked off, hearing mocking 'Ooooh's from Alex and Brent as you left. You saw heads turning in your direction as you stormed away towards the bus, including Gerard's, but you couldn't be bothered by that now- not when you were struggling to keep it together.

Fuck Fuck Fuck your internal monologue looped on a bitter repeat. This was going to be the longest tour of your life.

#gerard way fanfic #gerard way x reader #gerard way imagine #mcr fanfiction

[missjanjie]

Hold Me Tighter (Even Closer) | (3/?)

Title: Hold Me Tighter (Even Closer) Summary: A sequel to Hold Me Closer, Tiny Dancer. Brooke Lynn and Vanessa are back at NYU, but with new and improved positions. Brooke’s ready to start her career as a professor when, as fate would have it, she realizes her TA, Jackie, might have the hots for a student named Jan. The couple just might see it as a sign to give two new girls the love story they found in the same place. Word Count: ~2.9k (this chapter) / ~9k (total) Relationship(s): Branjie (Brooke Lynn Hytes/Vanessa Vanjie Mateo), Jankie (Jan Sport/Jackie Cox) Rating: E

read on ao3

Brooke Lynn furrowed her brows and strummed her fingers against the table. “So, let me see if I’ve got this right – you invited Jan over to practice for her audition, got wine drunk, then dry-humped until she got off?”

Jackie nodded in confirmation, her eyes fixated more on her coffee cup than Brooke – she had to build back up to being able to make eye-contact. “Then in the morning she was gone and she left me a note,” she finished, holding the piece of paper up. “I really fucked up, didn’t I?”

“It wasn’t your smartest move,” she told her, trying not to laugh at the sheer absurdity of it all. “But if she just left like that, she’s probably just as scared as you are. Listen, the first day I met Vanessa was a mess. I walked her home from work that night, kissed her, and then literally ran away. She still makes fun of me for it.”

The story made Jackie laugh, but it caught her by surprise as well. She had always seen Brooke as someone so unshakably confident. “I guess if things worked out for you guys, all hope isn’t totally lost…” She took another sip from her drink and sighed. “I still don’t know how I’m going to face her in class on Monday,” she admitted.

Brooke reached across the table and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Just focus on your work. I promise I’ll find something to keep you busy, okay?” As much as she wanted to continue her matchmaking game, she could see that the tension needed to diffuse before she tried to push them closer. Just because Katya lucked out didn’t mean lightning would strike twice.

Jackie’s entire body relaxed in relief. She was still anxious about seeing Jan again, but it meant a lot to know that Brooke was looking out for her. “Okay. Yes, thank you. I can work with that.” She nodded, then checked her phone. “I have to get going, though. I’ll talk to you later,” she said as she gathered her things, including the note that she tucked into her pocket.

Brooke smiled and waved her off. She stayed put, though. She was expecting Vanessa any minute now. They liked meeting here when they could, after all, it was the café A’keria recently became the owner of, the same one she’d started working in after the Starbucks fiasco all those years ago. It was sentimental to them now.

“Hey boo,” Vanessa greeted as she walked in, leaning over and giving her wife a kiss before sitting down. “Must’ve just missed Jackie, how’s she doing?”

“The poor girl is going through it,” Brooke shook her head sympathetically. “She and Jan got drunk and fooled around, and Jan left before she woke up. She left a Post-It or something.”

Vanessa frowned and shook her head. “Mh-mm, I hate Post-Its. If you’re gonna dip, send a text like a normal person,” she mused.

“Maybe she thought a handwritten note would be more meaningful,” she reasoned. “Regardless, she’s just gonna need some time to recover before we continue with any matchmaking shenanigans.”

Vanessa gave a firm nod of agreement. “Understood.” She sat quietly for a moment, strumming her fingernails against the table. “I wanna talk about the baby thing.”

Brooke blinked in surprise at the abrupt subject change but leaned in to listen attentively nonetheless. “Of course, what’s on your mind?”

“Listen… I know we got good genes and all, but I don’t wanna create a baby in a lab when there are so many kids that need a family. I had friends in foster care when I was little, you know? That shit must’ve really sucked for them. And I just think… You and me are in a position to really help a kid out,” she told her, then held her breath as she waited for her wife’s response.

Brooke reached across the table and held Vanessa’s hands. “Baby girl, if that’s what you want, I am a hundred percent on board. I think that’s a wonderful motivation to adopt. We can start looking at agencies as soon or as late as you want. I’m in this with you all the way,” her thumb stroked over Vanessa’s wedding band. “That’s what I promised you. That’s the promise I make to you every day as your wife.”

Vanessa blinked and looked down. “Shit, you gonna make me cry,” she mumbled, giving Brooke’s hand a light squeeze to reassure her she was okay. “Guess we gotta think about redecorating the guest room then, huh?”

“You know my weakness for interior design,” she cooed, pressing a kiss to the back of Vanessa’s hand.

—

By the time Monday rolled around, Jackie had talked herself out of most of her anxiety. When the time was right, she thought, she could talk things out with Jan. But until then, she had a job to do, a job that she did like.

Jackie’s main task was to write a lot of information on the chalkboard. It was perfect as far as she was concerned – having her back to the class meant she didn’t have to worry about making awkward eye contact with Jan. She had to admit, it was kind of a genius move on Brooke’s part.

Jan, however, was left with a predicament of her own. She and Gigi had sat in the front because even with contacts or glasses, they were both nearsighted as all hell. However, this put Jackie right in her line of sight, and she immediately began regretting her decision.

While the dress Jackie wore came down to her knees, the fabric clung to her body in a way that accentuated some of her best physical features.

And Jan hadn’t meant to stare – staring was rude and her mother taught her better. But she would be damned if Jackie’s ass wasn’t hypnotizing her. She couldn’t help but wonder how she hadn’t noticed before.

“You’re gonna snap your pen in half with the way you’re biting it,” Gigi poked Jan’s shoulder, snapping her friend out of her trance. “Also, some subtlety really wouldn’t hurt you right now.”

Jan blushed, looking down at her notes, which were nowhere near as detailed as usual. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Gigi chuckled. “Please, your eyes were about to burn a hole into her butt.”

“They were not, I was just reading the board,” she insisted, but now that she had to actively avoid staring, her body seemed all the more compelled to continue. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, trying to get her mind and body on the same page.

“Hey, you have good taste, I’m just saying be less obvious about it.”

Jan just buried her face in her notes, hoping that if she focused on getting work done, her mind would stop conjuring images of Jackie in various states of undress.

“...And that’ll just about do it,” Brooke Lynn was saying. “You guys are free to go, see you Wednesday.” She closed her book, punctuating the dismissal. Her eyes followed the students out of the room, waiting until they were alone before speaking to Jackie. “How are you feeling?”

Jackie exhaled deeply, dropping herself down onto the desk closest to Brooke’s as if she were dead weight. “I feel okay. I think not having to look at her made it easy. Have you seen her eyes? They’re so warm and brown and–”

“–And couldn’t stay off of you,” Brooke finished with a smirk. “Jackie, she is hot for you, you should’ve seen how she was staring at you. I already knew you have a great ass, but damn, it had a magnetic pull on that poor girl.”

Jackie turned a shade of red deeper and brighter than it had ever been. She suddenly became hyper-aware of her body, not necessarily in a self-conscious way – in fact, part of her was flattered – but it was overwhelming to process at first. “I guess she might not regret the other night that much then,” she managed with a strangled laugh.

“Honey, it’s pretty clear she wants a repeat performance. I wasn’t even paying all that much attention to her, but I swear I almost offered her a towel,” she chuckled.

Even though Jan was long gone, Jackie looked out of the classroom and into the hall, as if she could still catch sight of her. “I never thought I’d be relieved to be objectified,” she mused.

Brooke let out a light laugh at that. “So you’ll go talk to her?”

She shook her head as her gaze drifted back to the desk. “Not yet. Soon… Hopefully soon. I think I’ll know when I’m ready.”

—

“Well, other than you ogling the TA you fooled around with, I think today went well,” Gigi said as they walked back to the residence hall. “You ready for your audition later?”

“I wasn’t ogling her.” Jan chewed on her lip. “Don’t laugh, but…” She shifted awkwardly as she looked anywhere but directly at her friend. “I’m worried I might be too… distracted to nail it.”

Gigi looked at her friend with an arched brow. “First of all, yes you were. We established this. Second, you think you’ll be too horny to focus on singing?” She really did try her best not to laugh, but a small giggle slipped through. “Babe, just masturbate like a normal person before you go.”

She huffed. “Don’t you think I’ve thought of that? Lem’s probably gonna be in there, what am I supposed to do, tell her to leave so I can jerk off? We’re close, Geege, but I think there’s a line.”

“Then go in the shower. Jesus, do I have to spell it out for you?” Gigi rolled her eyes.

“You don’t think it’s weird to get off thinking about someone you’re not dating?” Jan asked quietly.

Her friend pinched the bridge of her nose. “At this point I just think you need to do it so you stop sounding so neurotic and paranoid. Hell, if I wasn’t in a committed relationship, I’d offer to help you out myself.”

Jan cocked her head to the side. “Thanks, I think.”

When Jan did get back to the dorm, she saw Lemon on her bed with her AirPods in, just as she’d anticipated. She waved at her to get her attention, waiting for her to take one of them out. “Hey sweetie, I’m just gonna shower before my audition. You know, get nice and calm,” she told her.

Lemon smiled and nodded. “Oh shit, I forgot that was today. Break a leg! But like, not in the shower. That would be bad.”

Jan chuckled as she grabbed what she needed to bring into the bathroom. “I don’t know where I’d be without your wisdom, doll,” she winked playfully before leaving.

The first thing Jan did once she got in the shower was put music on – this wasn’t her first rodeo, so to speak. Even with earbuds in, she knew she ran the risk of Lemon hearing her moan if she didn’t drown it out. With the music playing and water running, Jan undressed and stepped into the shower, letting out a sigh of relief the second the hot water hit her body.

After she washed her hair, Jan leaned against the shower wall, resting her head against the cool tile. She let her hand travel down her body. There was a moment of hesitation when her fingers grazed over her pussy, but after a deep breath, she began rubbing her clit with two fingers. Her eyes fluttered shut as soft, breathy moans slipped out.

“Fuck…” Jan wasn’t thinking about anything at first, but without even trying, her thoughts drifted to Jackie, to what happened the other night, to that day in class. And once she got started, there was no chance of stopping. “Oh, Jackie…” she moaned, rocking against her fingers. Her free hand went to her breast, groping it, and tweaking her nipple.

By the time her orgasm hit, Jan needed to rest her entire weight against the wall to keep herself up. Her legs were shaking and she was whimpering, taking deep breaths as she finally felt sturdy enough to stand back upright. After that, she just did a quick wash off her face and body before getting out and drying off, going back into the bedroom wrapped up in her robe shortly after.

“Hey, feeling any better?” Lemon asked casually. It was clear she hadn’t moved an inch this whole time, nor was she aware of what Jan had gotten up to.

“Much better, actually,” Jan nodded, taking the towel wrap off of her head and combing her hair out. “What’s your plan for the rest of the day?” she asked as she continued getting ready.

Lemon paused her music and took out her earbuds, she had been waiting for an opportunity to talk about herself. “Actually, I’m meeting up with a girl later.” She didn’t wait for Jan to ask before she continued. “Okay, so, like, I had just lit a joint and I see this really pretty girl – tall, you know how I like ‘em – and she seems hella stressed, so I offer her a hit. So, we’re smoking and chatting and long story short, we have a date tonight.”

“That was the short version?” Jan teased as she got dressed. “I’m guessing it'll be more of the same?”

She scoffed. “No… We’ll probably fuck too.”

Jan laughed softly as she straightened her hair, then pulled it up into a high ponytail. “Well, it’s always nice to have an itinerary,” she hummed. “I’ll see you later.”

—

“Next!”

Jan stepped onto the stage and held herself with confidence. She introduced herself, handed the sheet music to the pianist, and then she simply did what she did best; she sang. She gave it her all, emoting all the right words, belting all the right notes. There was a lingering rush of adrenaline when she finished. “Thank you,” she smiled politely and made her way off stage.

“Great job up there,” a distinct voice out of seemingly nowhere caused Jan to jump, startled.

“Oh, thanks Vanjie,” Jan smiled, running her fingers through her ponytail. “I didn’t realize anyone other than the directors were watching.”

Vanessa shrugged. “People gave up tryna tell me what to do a long time ago. Except for Brooke, but there’s always an exception for the wife. But anyway… you feelin’ okay? I don’t know all the details, but I know you had a rough weekend.”

Of course, Jan figured Vanessa knew more than she let on – she could safely assume Jackie told Brooke, and Brooke told Vanessa. But she hoped some details had gotten lost in translation. “Oh, yeah, I guess,” she bounced awkwardly on the balls of her feet. “Things are a little weird, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“Listen, I’ve been in your shoes. The worst thing you can do is overthink it. Brooke did it, Jackie does it, and I get the vibe you do too. Not everything’s as deep as y’all make it out to be, you know?”

Jan chewed her lip and nodded. Sure, she knew Vanessa was right, but it was easier said than done. It wasn’t something she could simply stop doing, something she could just turn on and off at will. “The situation’s just… It’s complicated. But I get what you’re saying, I do,” she assured. “All I wanna focus on now is being able to sleep tonight so I can be ready to see if I got a callback tomorrow.”

Vanessa gave Jan’s arm a gentle, reassuring squeeze. “You got this. Ain’t no one around you doubting that.”

And Jan tried her best to take that to heart, she tried to stay positive the rest of the night, to turn her brain off when it was finally time to sleep. She was pretty sure she passed out at nearly three in the morning, but as soon as her alarm went off, she shot right out of bed.

Lemon rolled onto her side, watching Jan scramble to get ready with energy from god knows where. “How the fuck do you do that?” she mumbled groggily.

Jan shrugged as she brushed her hair. “It’s a blessing and a curse, Lem.” She checked her phone. “The callback list should be up by the time I get there,” she murmured, offering a quick goodbye to her roommate before she was out the door.

By the time she got to the auditorium, there was already a small group of hopeful actors forming outside the doors. And as soon as the list went up, they all crowded around it.

Too impatient to wait, Jan made her way to the front, offering haphazard apologies to everyone she bumped out of the way. It was worth it for the happiness and relief she felt when she saw that she was on the callback list for Veronica.

The first thing she did was call Gigi and did her best to not scream into the phone. “I got a callback! And there were only two other girls listed for Veronica, Geege, I’m this close to getting it. I can taste it.”

“That’s my girl, I knew you’d crush it,” Gigi replied. “You’re gonna nail the callback too, and don’t be afraid to take my advice again if you need it.”

Jan furrowed her brows. “How did you know I followed your advice?”

Gigi had a smug grin that Jan swore she could feel through the phone. “I didn’t.”

#jankie #branjie #rpdr fanfiction #rpdr fanfic #rpdr rpf

[artificialqueens]

Hold Me Tighter (Even Closer), Chapter 3 (Branjie, Jankie) - Joley

ao3 link

Tumblr link

Brooke Lynn furrowed her brows and strummed her fingers against the table. “So, let me see if I’ve got this right – you invited Jan over to practice for her audition, got wine drunk, then dry-humped until she got off?”

Jackie nodded in confirmation, her eyes fixated more on her coffee cup than Brooke – she had to build back up to being able to make eye-contact. “Then in the morning she was gone and she left me a note,” she finished, holding the piece of paper up. “I really fucked up, didn’t I?”

“It wasn’t your smartest move,” she told her, trying not to laugh at the sheer absurdity of it all. “But if she just left like that, she’s probably just as scared as you are. Listen, the first day I met Vanessa was a mess. I walked her home from work that night, kissed her, and then literally ran away. She still makes fun of me for it.”

The story made Jackie laugh, but it caught her by surprise as well. She had always seen Brooke as someone so unshakably confident. “I guess if things worked out for you guys, all hope isn’t totally lost…” She took another sip from her drink and sighed. “I still don’t know how I’m going to face her in class on Monday,” she admitted.

Brooke reached across the table and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Just focus on your work. I promise I’ll find something to keep you busy, okay?” As much as she wanted to continue her matchmaking game, she could see that the tension needed to diffuse before she tried to push them closer. Just because Katya lucked out didn’t mean lightning would strike twice.

Jackie’s entire body relaxed in relief. She was still anxious about seeing Jan again, but it meant a lot to know that Brooke was looking out for her. “Okay. Yes, thank you. I can work with that.” She nodded, then checked her phone. “I have to get going, though. I’ll talk to you later,” she said as she gathered her things, including the note that she tucked into her pocket.

Brooke smiled and waved her off. She stayed put, though. She was expecting Vanessa any minute now. They liked meeting here when they could, after all, it was the café A’keria recently became the owner of, the same one she’d started working in after the Starbucks fiasco all those years ago. It was sentimental to them now.

“Hey boo,” Vanessa greeted as she walked in, leaning over and giving her wife a kiss before sitting down. “Must’ve just missed Jackie, how’s she doing?”

“The poor girl is going through it,” Brooke shook her head sympathetically. “She and Jan got drunk and fooled around, and Jan left before she woke up. She left a Post-It or something.”

Vanessa frowned and shook her head. “Mh-mm, I hate Post-Its. If you’re gonna dip, send a text like a normal person,” she mused.

“Maybe she thought a handwritten note would be more meaningful,” she reasoned. “Regardless, she’s just gonna need some time to recover before we continue with any matchmaking shenanigans.”

Vanessa gave a firm nod of agreement. “Understood.” She sat quietly for a moment, strumming her fingernails against the table. “I wanna talk about the baby thing.”

Brooke blinked in surprise at the abrupt subject change but leaned in to listen attentively nonetheless. “Of course, what’s on your mind?”

“Listen… I know we got good genes and all, but I don’t wanna create a baby in a lab when there are so many kids that need a family. I had friends in foster care when I was little, you know? That shit must’ve really sucked for them. And I just think… You and me are in a position to really help a kid out,” she told her, then held her breath as she waited for her wife’s response.

Brooke reached across the table and held Vanessa’s hands. “Baby girl, if that’s what you want, I am a hundred percent on board. I think that’s a wonderful motivation to adopt. We can start looking at agencies as soon or as late as you want. I’m in this with you all the way,” her thumb stroked over Vanessa’s wedding band. “That’s what I promised you. That’s the promise I make to you every day as your wife.”

Vanessa blinked and looked down. “Shit, you gonna make me cry,” she mumbled, giving Brooke’s hand a light squeeze to reassure her she was okay. “Guess we gotta think about redecorating the guest room then, huh?”

“You know my weakness for interior design,” she cooed, pressing a kiss to the back of Vanessa’s hand.

—

By the time Monday rolled around, Jackie had talked herself out of most of her anxiety. When the time was right, she thought, she could talk things out with Jan. But until then, she had a job to do, a job that she did like.

Jackie’s main task was to write a lot of information on the chalkboard. It was perfect as far as she was concerned – having her back to the class meant she didn’t have to worry about making awkward eye contact with Jan. She had to admit, it was kind of a genius move on Brooke’s part.

Jan, however, was left with a predicament of her own. She and Gigi had sat in the front because even with contacts or glasses, they were both nearsighted as all hell. However, this put Jackie right in her line of sight, and she immediately began regretting her decision.

While the dress Jackie wore came down to her knees, the fabric clung to her body in a way that accentuated some of her best physical features.

And Jan hadn’t meant to stare – staring was rude and her mother taught her better. But she would be damned if Jackie’s ass wasn’t hypnotizing her. She couldn’t help but wonder how she hadn’t noticed before.

“You’re gonna snap your pen in half with the way you’re biting it,” Gigi poked Jan’s shoulder, snapping her friend out of her trance. “Also, some subtlety really wouldn’t hurt you right now.”

Jan blushed, looking down at her notes, which were nowhere near as detailed as usual. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Gigi chuckled. “Please, your eyes were about to burn a hole into her butt.”

“They were not, I was just reading the board,” she insisted, but now that she had to actively avoid staring, her body seemed all the more compelled to continue. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, trying to get her mind and body on the same page.

“Hey, you have good taste, I’m just saying be less obvious about it.”

Jan just buried her face in her notes, hoping that if she focused on getting work done, her mind would stop conjuring images of Jackie in various states of undress.

“…And that’ll just about do it,” Brooke Lynn was saying. “You guys are free to go, see you Wednesday.” She closed her book, punctuating the dismissal. Her eyes followed the students out of the room, waiting until they were alone before speaking to Jackie. “How are you feeling?”

Jackie exhaled deeply, dropping herself down onto the desk closest to Brooke’s as if she were dead weight. “I feel okay. I think not having to look at her made it easy. Have you seen her eyes? They’re so warm and brown and–”

“–And couldn’t stay off of you,” Brooke finished with a smirk. “Jackie, she is hot for you, you should’ve seen how she was staring at you. I already knew you have a great ass, but damn, it had a magnetic pull on that poor girl.”

Jackie turned a shade of red deeper and brighter than it had ever been. She suddenly became hyper-aware of her body, not necessarily in a self-conscious way – in fact, part of her was flattered – but it was overwhelming to process at first. “I guess she might not regret the other night that much then,” she managed with a strangled laugh.

“Honey, it’s pretty clear she wants a repeat performance. I wasn’t even paying all that much attention to her, but I swear I almost offered her a towel,” she chuckled.

Even though Jan was long gone, Jackie looked out of the classroom and into the hall, as if she could still catch sight of her. “I never thought I’d be relieved to be objectified,” she mused.

Brooke let out a light laugh at that. “So you’ll go talk to her?”

She shook her head as her gaze drifted back to the desk. “Not yet. Soon… Hopefully soon. I think I’ll know when I’m ready.”

—

“Well, other than you ogling the TA you fooled around with, I think today went well,” Gigi said as they walked back to the residence hall. “You ready for your audition later?”

“I wasn’t ogling her.” Jan chewed on her lip. “Don’t laugh, but…” She shifted awkwardly as she looked anywhere but directly at her friend. “I’m worried I might be too… distracted to nail it.”

Gigi looked at her friend with an arched brow. “First of all, yes you were. We established this. Second, you think you’ll be too horny to focus on singing?” She really did try her best not to laugh, but a small giggle slipped through. “Babe, just masturbate like a normal person before you go.”

She huffed. “Don’t you think I’ve thought of that? Lem’s probably gonna be in there, what am I supposed to do, tell her to leave so I can jerk off? We’re close, Geege, but I think there’s a line.”

“Then go in the shower. Jesus, do I have to spell it out for you?” Gigi rolled her eyes.

“You don’t think it’s weird to get off thinking about someone you’re not dating?” Jan asked quietly.

Her friend pinched the bridge of her nose. “At this point I just think you need to do it so you stop sounding so neurotic and paranoid. Hell, if I wasn’t in a committed relationship, I’d offer to help you out myself.”

Jan cocked her head to the side. “Thanks, I think.”

When Jan did get back to the dorm, she saw Lemon on her bed with her AirPods in, just as she’d anticipated. She waved at her to get her attention, waiting for her to take one of them out. “Hey sweetie, I’m just gonna shower before my audition. You know, get nice and calm,” she told her.

Lemon smiled and nodded. “Oh shit, I forgot that was today. Break a leg! But like, not in the shower. That would be bad.”

Jan chuckled as she grabbed what she needed to bring into the bathroom. “I don’t know where I’d be without your wisdom, doll,” she winked playfully before leaving.

The first thing Jan did once she got in the shower was put music on – this wasn’t her first rodeo, so to speak. Even with earbuds in, she knew she ran the risk of Lemon hearing her moan if she didn’t drown it out. With the music playing and water running, Jan undressed and stepped into the shower, letting out a sigh of relief the second the hot water hit her body.

After she washed her hair, Jan leaned against the shower wall, resting her head against the cool tile. She let her hand travel down her body. There was a moment of hesitation when her fingers grazed over her pussy, but after a deep breath, she began rubbing her clit with two fingers. Her eyes fluttered shut as soft, breathy moans slipped out.

“Fuck…” Jan wasn’t thinking about anything at first, but without even trying, her thoughts drifted to Jackie, to what happened the other night, to that day in class. And once she got started, there was no chance of stopping. “Oh, Jackie…” she moaned, rocking against her fingers. Her free hand went to her breast, groping it, and tweaking her nipple.

By the time her orgasm hit, Jan needed to rest her entire weight against the wall to keep herself up. Her legs were shaking and she was whimpering, taking deep breaths as she finally felt sturdy enough to stand back upright. After that, she just did a quick wash off her face and body before getting out and drying off, going back into the bedroom wrapped up in her robe shortly after.

“Hey, feeling any better?” Lemon asked casually. It was clear she hadn’t moved an inch this whole time, nor was she aware of what Jan had gotten up to.

“Much better, actually,” Jan nodded, taking the towel wrap off of her head and combing her hair out. “What’s your plan for the rest of the day?” she asked as she continued getting ready.

Lemon paused her music and took out her earbuds, she had been waiting for an opportunity to talk about herself. “Actually, I’m meeting up with a girl later.” She didn’t wait for Jan to ask before she continued. “Okay, so, like, I had just lit a joint and I see this really pretty girl – tall, you know how I like ‘em – and she seems hella stressed, so I offer her a hit. So, we’re smoking and chatting and long story short, we have a date tonight.”

“That was the short version?” Jan teased as she got dressed. “I’m guessing it’ll be more of the same?”

She scoffed. “No… We’ll probably fuck too.”

Jan laughed softly as she straightened her hair, then pulled it up into a high ponytail. “Well, it’s always nice to have an itinerary,” she hummed. “I’ll see you later.”

—

“Next!”

Jan stepped onto the stage and held herself with confidence. She introduced herself, handed the sheet music to the pianist, and then she simply did what she did best; she sang. She gave it her all, emoting all the right words, belting all the right notes. There was a lingering rush of adrenaline when she finished. “Thank you,” she smiled politely and made her way off stage.

“Great job up there,” a distinct voice out of seemingly nowhere caused Jan to jump, startled.

“Oh, thanks Vanjie,” Jan smiled, running her fingers through her ponytail. “I didn’t realize anyone other than the directors were watching.”

Vanessa shrugged. “People gave up tryna tell me what to do a long time ago. Except for Brooke, but there’s always an exception for the wife. But anyway… you feelin’ okay? I don’t know all the details, but I know you had a rough weekend.”

Of course, Jan figured Vanessa knew more than she let on – she could safely assume Jackie told Brooke, and Brooke told Vanessa. But she hoped some details had gotten lost in translation. “Oh, yeah, I guess,” she bounced awkwardly on the balls of her feet. “Things are a little weird, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“Listen, I’ve been in your shoes. The worst thing you can do is overthink it. Brooke did it, Jackie does it, and I get the vibe you do too. Not everything’s as deep as y’all make it out to be, you know?”

Jan chewed her lip and nodded. Sure, she knew Vanessa was right, but it was easier said than done. It wasn’t something she could simply stop doing, something she could just turn on and off at will. “The situation’s just… It’s complicated. But I get what you’re saying, I do,” she assured. “All I wanna focus on now is being able to sleep tonight so I can be ready to see if I got a callback tomorrow.”

Vanessa gave Jan’s arm a gentle, reassuring squeeze. “You got this. Ain’t no one around you doubting that.”

And Jan tried her best to take that to heart, she tried to stay positive the rest of the night, to turn her brain off when it was finally time to sleep. She was pretty sure she passed out at nearly three in the morning, but as soon as her alarm went off, she shot right out of bed.

Lemon rolled onto her side, watching Jan scramble to get ready with energy from god knows where. “How the fuck do you do that?” she mumbled groggily.

Jan shrugged as she brushed her hair. “It’s a blessing and a curse, Lem.” She checked her phone. “The callback list should be up by the time I get there,” she murmured, offering a quick goodbye to her roommate before she was out the door.

By the time she got to the auditorium, there was already a small group of hopeful actors forming outside the doors. And as soon as the list went up, they all crowded around it.

Too impatient to wait, Jan made her way to the front, offering haphazard apologies to everyone she bumped out of the way. It was worth it for the happiness and relief she felt when she saw that she was on the callback list for Veronica.

The first thing she did was call Gigi and did her best to not scream into the phone. “I got a callback! And there were only two other girls listed for Veronica, Geege, I’m this close to getting it. I can taste it.”

“That’s my girl, I knew you’d crush it,” Gigi replied. “You’re gonna nail the callback too, and don’t be afraid to take my advice again if you need it.”

Jan furrowed her brows. “How did you know I followed your advice?”

Gigi had a smug grin that Jan swore she could feel through the phone. “I didn’t.”

#rpdr fanfiction #brooke lynn hytes #vanessa vanjie mateo #jan sport #jackie cox #branjie #jankie #lesbian au #university au #college au #smut #hold me tighter even closer #joley