#not me taking lyrics from my favorite christmas song | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

eulalielatibule · 4 months

Text

Pine-ing For You

Pairing: Soft!Roommate!Ransom x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 2.8k

Warnings: Fluff, Christmas, some swearing, fake dating, there was only one bed.

Summary: You bring your roommate, Ransom, to your family's Christmas celebration.

A/N: This is a repost from my old account, @/hevans-angel. It's probably my favorite Ransom fic I've written so I wanted to get it out for this holiday season! Merry Christmas everyone!

You had known Ransom Drysdale for many years, since you both were in diapers. It was safe to say you two were good friends, despite Ransom being… Well, Ransom. You practically knew everything about him.

Practically.

Since letting him move in with you after he was cut from Harlan’s inheritance, however, you discovered the biggest plot twist of all plot twists:

Hugh Ransom Drysdale loved Christmas.

Like, love loved.

As in, the man who gagged at those commercials of families getting together and being wholesome was also the person that put up the Christmas decorations at 12 am on November 1st.

You didn’t mind though, it was nice seeing him enjoy himself for a change; you had never seen him smile so much before, it was sweet. You almost told him he should smile more often but you didn’t want to run the risk of getting him all embarrassed so he’d stop.

Instead, you listened as he sang Christmas songs- his favorite was Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer, and he changed the lyrics so that Walt got run over- and helped him bake those little sugar cookies that had Christmas trees and snowmen on them.

You even put up with him whenever you just so happened to be standing underneath the mistletoe. He'd kissed your cheek and you’d kiss his, and when you'd pull back he'd be smirking.

One time when you both were drunkenly singing All I Want for Christmas is You, he pulled you over to the plant hanging from the ceiling and kissed you straight on the mouth. It was a chaste, puckered lips type of kiss and yet it still made your heart flutter from excitement. You both carried on as if nothing happened, never brought it up when you were sober.

You eventually decided the incident was merely drunken shenanigans and nothing more, although a part of you wanted to feel his plush lips against yours again.

When you asked him to join you at your family’s annual Christmas party, you weren’t surprised that he said yes. In fact, he seemed excited to go. He had told you that Harlan always threw these big holiday parties at his mansion, but they always ended in fights and Ransom running off to the nearest bar so he could drown his issues in the first woman he saw.

Not this year, though. This year you promised him it was going to be good. You had a small family, so really it was only going to be you, your mom, your dad, and your siblings. Maybe grandparents too if they could stop by.

“The only thing is,” you started, “I kinda need to lie and say we’re dating.” Ransom’s eyebrow quirked up, a shit eating grin on his face.

“Sweetheart, if you wanted to go out with me all you had to do was ask,” he quipped, causing you to scoff playfully and lightly shove his shoulder.

“No, it’s just that if my grandparents show up they’re going to bug me about how I’m ‘getting too old’ and I need to settle down. I'd rather not deal with it this year." Ransom dropped a heavy arm across your shoulder and squeezed in reassurance; you felt like a ragdoll compared to his strength.

"Don't worry, I'll help you out."

🎄

Christmas Eve came along, and you and Ransom drove to your parent’s house. He insisted on taking his Beamer, but of course he had to drive even though he didn’t know the directions. It was in the next town over in a nice gated community. You were the youngest of the family, so when you moved out to pursue your career they moved from one really big and fancy house to a different really big and fancy house.

The man at the gate let you in and Ransom drove by each neatly decorated house; some had only lights, some lawn decorations, a few had next to nothing. It was to be expected though, seeing that mostly elderly people lived in the neighborhood. You figured it was probably hard for them to decorate given their old ages.

When he got to the destination, you both got out of the warmth of the car and into the cold Boston air. Your parents- or perhaps someone they hired- made their house look like a fairytale; Hundreds of white lights covered every inch of the house, giant candy canes acted as a faux fence around the front lawn and two nutcrackers stood guard at the base of the porch. It looked even more magical with the light dusting of snow covering the ground.

“Wow, do they do this every year?” Ransom asked as he carefully climbed the stairs. He extended his hand to you, and when you didn’t take it he glanced over his shoulder. “C’mon, we're dating. Couples hold hands, sweetheart.” He smirked and you huffed a laugh, taking his gloved hand as he helped you up the stairs.

“Thank you. Yeah, they love decorating for the holidays. The inside is probably going to be even better.” After a knock to the door, you heard some busting from inside before your dad opened it with a big smile.

"Hey you two! Merry Christmas!" He hugged you and kissed your head before turning to Ransom. "How are you feeling being away from your family for Christmas?" Ransom shrugged, taking his sunglasses off.

"Honestly? Relieved. I don't have to deal with their bullshit. Thank you for letting me join you guys." Your family, parents in particular, loved Ransom. They found him charming and his comments on his family always made them laugh, because who could disagree? The Drysdales and the Thrombeys were horrible. Everyone that knew them would say that. Ransom had his moments, but since moving in with you he had improved a lot.

“Don’t mention it. Come on it,” your dad stepped aside and you and Ransom went into the house. Just as you expected, it was decorated beautifully. A giant Christmas tree stood in the corner next to the fireplace, said fireplace lit up and had stockings already hung up. There were dozens of presents underneath the tree, and sparkling multi-colored lights adorned the entire room.

“The turkey should be ready in an hour. You two get comfy.” Ransom went over to the fireplace and blinked in surprise.

“One of these has my name on it.”

“Well yeah. Seeing that we’re spending the night here, why wouldn’t they get you a stocking?” You stood beside him. Ransom’s was knitted with red yarn and on the white, fluffy cuff was embroidered “Hugh” in gold colored thread. They never liked calling him Ransom, your mom said the name “sounded too mean.” Yours was next to his, all white. The yarn had silver threads laced in it, and your name was embroidered in silver.

“Do they get stockings for anyone who comes over?” He didn’t mean to sound ungrateful, in fact he was the opposite of that. He just couldn’t believe someone would go through the trouble of doing that. As if you could sense that, you wrapped your arms around his torso from behind and hugged him.

“Face it, Ransom. We love you.” You grinned and he offered a small smile back.

“Finally admitting it, huh?” He turned around in your grasp. You felt your face heat up just a little as you shrugged nonchalantly.

“You know how I feel about you. You’re my best friend.” Ransom looked like he wanted to say something, but instead he kissed your forehead and sighed.

“You’re mine too.”

🎄

The party ended up going very well. Turns out pretending to be Ransom’s girlfriend wasn’t all that hard. You two pretty much acted normally, but there was extra hand holding, snuggling, and kissing. Lots more kissing. Whether it was on the cheek, forehead, even the back of your hand. He never kissed your lips, which in all honesty disappointed you. But you figured it was probably for the best, seeing that you were already so in your feelings about him.

Everyone in the family loved him, as usual. Your grandparents said they were happy you finally settled down with a nice boy. They even asked if you two would get married. You told them to quit it, but Ransom butted in.

“I can say with 100% certainty that I don’t see myself ever leaving her side.” Everyone at the table aww’d. You looked at Ransom, both confused but you also felt like your heart would burst from the sweetness of it. He winked and took another bite of turkey.

After dinner you all played games and watched a movie. It was tradition in your household to watch A Christmas Story every year on Christmas Eve. By bedtime, your parents told you that you and Ransom would be sharing the guest room.

Of course, there was only one bed.

“Don’t look at me like that,” you whined, laying down on the plush comforter beneath you. You had already changed into your pajamas, and Ransom was about to change into his.

“I’m not looking at you like anything.” He said, even though he was clearly smirking. You glared at him and he laughed.

“I’m sorry, I’m kidding. C’mon, this isn’t a big deal. We’ve fallen asleep on the couch together before.” He tried to reason with you.

“I know, but this is… Different.” You avoided his gaze and traced the stitching on a suddenly interesting throw blanket. Ransom sat on the bed in front of you and took your hand, making you look up at him.

“Do you want me to sleep on the ground?” He offered, but you shook your head.

“No, I don’t want you sleeping uncomfortably. You can sleep up here, but… No funny business.” You pointed a finger at him, and he nodded.

“You got it. No funny business.”

He went to the bathroom and changed into his pajamas, which was apparently sweatpants and no shirt. Lovely. You groaned and rolled over so you were facing away from him. You felt the bed shift as he laid down next to you.

“Good night, Y/N.”

“Good night, Ransom.”

🎄

Christmas morning, everyone gathered around the tree to open presents. You sat next to Ransom on the sofa, his arm resting on the cushions behind you. The position was all too familiar, and your face heated; see, when you had woken up, you found yourself snuggled up to Ransom. You were nuzzled in his side, his arm draped protectively around you. You had managed to wiggle out of his grip without him noticing.

Gifts were passed out, "thank yous" and hugs as well. You had gotten a lot this time around, and your family even got Ransom gifts as well. That made him tear up, and you teased him for being such a sap.

Your gifts to him were simple but you hoped it showed you cared. It was a few new sweaters- you knew he lived in them practically all year long- a cookbook so he finally had no excuse to help you in the kitchen, and a writing set.

You had found this beautiful leather-bound notebook and fountain pen set online and ordered it immediately. Ransom had been talking about wanting to get into writing, whether it was novels like his Grandad or something else. You also mentioned to him that journalling was a good way to get one's feelings out in a healthy and constructive way. He seemed keen about the idea.

"Y/N, thank you so much," he pulled you into a hug and kissed your head. "I love this. I'll write you little messages every day." He said it in a joking way, but the way his eyes lit up made you think differently.

He went over to the tree and brought back a candy cane striped gift bag, placing it in your lap.

"Open mine now."

You untied the string handles and took the multi-colored tissue paper out. Inside was a set of three glass self watering globes- the top was a sphere and it had a long stem extending from it that had a hole at the tip, which allowed water in and out; perfect for watering plants.

The best part? The globe part was decorated to look like a cat’s face. It even had little ears. You gasped and looked at Ransom, who was looking pretty proud of himself.

“These are so cute! I… Can’t believe you got me a genuinely nice gift?” He scoffed and looked offended, but you knew he was just teasing.

“Oh wow, thanks a lot. As if you don’t go around our house talking to your plants as if they were real-”

“They are real.”

“As if they could understand you,” he offered, to which you nodded and he continued. “Besides, ever since you made me take care of them-”

“I didn’t make you, you insisted on it. And it wasn’t all of them, it was one. And it was fake.”

“Would you stop interrupting me? Could you do that?” He poked your side, to which you squealed and wiggled away from him.

“Okay! Okay. Continue, please.” You raised your hands in surrender, making Ransom laugh.

“Thank you. As I was saying, I know this is a hobby you love and…" he shrugged as he trailed off. You grinned and hugged him.

"Thank you, it's amazing. Now, what else did you get me?" He chuckled and squeezed your shoulder affectionately.

"The rest is at our place. It's a surprise."

Once all the gifts were opened and breakfast (and about half the candy in your stocking) was eaten you all said your goodbyes and headed your separate ways. On the way home, you and Ransom stopped by a coffee shop. You got tea and he got hot chocolate.

As you got out of his Beamer you saw something sitting at the front door. As you got closer you noticed it was a little cactus that had reddish-pink flowers growing on it. The way the flowers were growing made it look like it had a flower crown on. Your mouth hung open and Ransom hummed.

“Looks like the delivery made it on time.”

“Oh my god! I love it,” you enthusiastically picked up the potted plant and held it in outstretched arms so you could admire it. Meanwhile, Ransom unlocked and opened the door, an eyebrow raised.

“Are you actually crying right now?”

“Shut up, it’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” you stuck your tongue out at him, running to the living room to add your newest baby to the collection. He rolled his eyes lightheartedly as he sat down in his recliner.

“I’m glad you like it, sweetheart. I would have gotten you something more but seeing that I’m running out of money that wasn’t an option.” You scoffed and shook your head, ridding yourself of your jacket and mittens.

“Are you kidding? This was perfect. /You were perfect. Thank you for being so great at the party. It really means a lot.”

“You know I’d do anything for you, babe,” he spoke so softly you almost missed it. You turned to him and reminisced on the past month, all the fun you two had. It was the most fun you had ever had with Ransom, the most fun you had ever even seen him have. Growing up he pretty much avoided anyone and everyone during the holidays, which is why you assumed he hated it. Now you realized he just didn’t have anyone that he could actually celebrate with in a meaningful way.

Now you realized that you didn’t want him to feel that way ever again.

“What are you thinking about?” You heard him ask, voice low and face soft. You broke out of your trance before gesturing for him to stand up. With a groan he did.

“Follow me.” You led him to the fireplace and stopped directly in front of it. Ransom’s forehead was wrinkled in confusion before he followed your eye line to the mistletoe hanging above you. He chuckled gently.

“I thought I was supposed to be the one to drag you over to the mistletoe,” he put his hands on your shoulders, gently letting them run down your arms and settle at your hips.

“Do you remember a few weeks ago, when we were drunk and you kissed me?” You felt him squeeze your hips lightly before nodding.

“That rings a bell.”

Your hands ventured up his chest, feeling all the defined muscles underneath the maroon sweater he was wearing. One hand rested on his shoulder, the other the back of his neck.

“I kind of want to do it again.”

“To get drunk or to kiss?” Ransom spoke softly. He licked his lips as his eyes roamed over your face.

You answered him by pulling his face towards your own and finally letting your two lips meet once more.

#ransom drysdale x reader #ransom drysdale x you #ransom drysdale x y/n #ransom drysdale x woc!reader #ransom drysdale fluff #my writing

162 notes · View notes

robocoplesb · 7 months

Text

YOU'RE THE GIRL THAT I WANT, nikki sixx. [ 03 ]

warnings: reader drinking, reader smoking, nicknames, female rivalry?, mention of using drugs, reader drunked.

author's note: i ask that you be patient with me when it comes to posting and requests. i'm going through a difficult time, but i'll try to stay active. good read, kisses<3

NIKKI SIXX (bassist): “we get closer after that, but no one knew that except us. only when vince and mick had already returned home, and tommy had gone out to buy something for us to drink or use, or even when he passed out drunk on the couch. those were the only moments i talked to her properly."

★

nikki sat next to you, the wave of cold coming from the floor of the porch step passing through his body. the wind that beat against you was light, but freezing. He looked at you in a mixture of surprise and confusion, staring at your shoulders covered only by the thin strap of your tank top and how his body didn't shiver even an inch from the cold.

"— looks like you're going to sleep here, kitten”

you quickly turned back to see your brother sprawled out on the couch, laughing at the thought that with a little push he could fall to the ground.

“— what did he take?" — you asked.

“— i don't know, but i think i want to take it too.”

you both laughed softly before silence fell over you. not that you minded, you just took another drag of your cigarette and continued looking at the empty street in front of nikki's porch. with him, it was different. not that he generally cared what people thought of him, but he wanted you to like him, not only as the bass player in your brother's garage band, so every time it was just the two of you, he approached and tried to get your attention. you two talked a lot about music, even if your favorite artists didn't look much alike, he discovered that you were an eclectic person, that was a little into the heavy and hard rock after spending nights discovering bands with your brother.

he would never admit that a lot of what you said in these conversations may have influenced just a little what he wanted to do with the band, but he thought that even if you were a girl, you knew what you were talking about. he also left some flirtations in the middle of conversations, which you laughed and ignored, taking as a joke.

but when nikki sees you like this, cigarette between your lips, green and yellow street lights illuminating your skin and no trace of you going to continue the conversation on your face, he feels pressured. pressured to do it himself. because, besides the fact that he simply wants some validation from you, he thinks he can't bear to keep staring at you like that, even though it's a pleasant sight.

“— so... it's a good name, right? ‘mötley crüe’..” — he started, trying to bring up a random topic. in this case, the name of the band, which had been decided today.

“— it's fucking good. i've never seen a name like that before. mick is definitely a being of light sent to guide you, because i swear i would never let my brother play in a band called christmas.” — you laughed, remembering the stupid name Nikki had considered earlier.

“— it wasn’t ‘christmas’. and it was a social critique, lee!” — he said defensively.

“— it's still pretty bad, cutie.” — you smiled when you saw him chuckling with the nickname. “— but seriously, it's original. no way of a band ‘mötley crüe’ not be successful. the syllables sound like fame. m-o-t-l-e-y-c-r-u-e. see it?”

he knew it was a joke, but he saw sense in what you said. he thought it was cute how you believed in the band. you went with them to look for vince, you watched all the rehearsals and sometimes nikki even let you take a look at the lyrics and give some suggestions for the songs. you were actually following them like a fifth member of the band, and he knew it was because of tommy. the first thing he noticed, you would do anything for your brother, but you would never admit it.

“— really, you're pretty good. the only thing i would change is the vocalist whore girlfriend-”

nikki held back a hysterical laugh. he didn't totally hate vince's girlfriend. of course, she was petty and liked to spend her time putting the rest of the band down to highlight vince, but damn, she was hot. unlike you, who hated her with all your strength. you've lost count of how many times you've held yourself back from hitting her in the face, but you know it was a lot. usually, when vince brought her to watch rehearsals, you hid in the kitchen and drank while listening to the muffled music. well, you had a mutual hatred.

“— ah, she's not that bad-”

“— she literally tried to fuck tommy last week!”

“— wow, he's a lucky man.." — he laughed as your hand hit his shoulder, scolding him.

“— god, men are so desperate” — you sighed as you threw your cigarette on the floor before squeezing it under your shoe, putting it out.

“— you will really deny she's pretty?”

you blushed at the question. “— you are really saying you wanna fuck the daddy's girl who says you're not good enough for her boyfriend, who is literally on the same page as you?”

“— jealous, kitten?” — he asked you with a mischievous smile.

you rolled your eyes. “— for the guy who would even fuck a mannequin as long as it had a pair of legs?” — you said as you stood up and walked to the kitchen. nikki passed the room before following you, taking something from his backpack.

when he caught up with you in the kitchen, you were mixing vodka with liquor, two things he had no idea were in his fridge. you noticed he kept both hands suspiciously behind his back as he waited for you to finish your drink.

you drop the two bottles on the table and bring the glass to your lips, swallowing the bitter taste of alcohol with ease.

“— what you got there?”

he laughed and walked to the table, facing you. he leaves a small package on the table and looks at you smiling.

“— for you, gold dust woman.” — you rolled your eyes at the nickname (that you didn't understand, but he didn't interfere, because besides being a good song, you knew that asking him to stop would only lead nikki to call you that as if it were your name) and offered him the glass. he took a sip as he watched you unwrap the wrapping.

you ran your fingers over the plastic, automatically recognizing the cd titles just by the covers. you smiled, wondering why nikki sixx, of all people, would be giving this to you. you quickly realized that he was probably sticking to what you said in your conversations, or it was too much of a coincidence that he chose your two favorite albums. you looked at him with a smug smile on your face.

“— you bought this for me, bassist?”

yes, he did.

“— no.” — he answered quickly. “— my...huh...i went to a friend's house and he said he would donate some things. i brought these for you. it's your favorites, right?”

you thought it was cute how he bothered to lie even when the cds looked untouched for how new they were and had the store sticker on the back.

“— yes, they are.” — you smiled genuinely. It took you a while to consider nikki a nice guy. at first, you thought he was nothing but talented and desperate for a job. after a few early mornings like this, you liked him. not like tommy, who sometimes acted like he was a god, but definitely liked him.

you soon understood why you allowed yourself to get closer to him. he was the first person who seemed to care. you didn't loved music because your brother was into it, and he was the first one who noticed it. he was the first to hear you monologuing about records and artists and didn't take it as some passing interest.

★

you felt your back hit the soft mattress, automatically relaxing onto the bed . nikki, who carried you bridal style to the bed, dropped your gift on the side dresser and looked at you again.

“— comfortable, kitten? want another pillow?”

“— noo...ah, this bed feels like heaven.” — you moaned at the pleasure of your muscles relaxing as you stretched out on the bed, truly looking like a kitten.

your drunken voice was obvious. you drank that entire glass while babbling random things to nikki, hearing him agree with everything while laughing. he thought you had enough after you almost fell over while hugging him, thanking him for the gift for probably the fifth time that night

he nodded and turned, showing that he was going to leave the room. that's when he felt your hand grab his wrist, feeling your long nails gently scratching the spot. you pulled lightly, making him involuntarily take a step closer to the bed.

“— where are you going?” — you whined.

“— to sleep. i’ll stay on the couch with tommy.” — he smirked and tried to move away again, being stopped by an even stronger pull on his wrist, this time making him fall on the bed.

“— tommy is like, aaaaaall sprawled out on the couch, you'll never be able to squeeze in there with him.” — you said slurred, struggling to keep your eyes open.

“— is this your excuse for not saying you want me to sleep with you, princess?” — he said while stroking his own shoulder that had hit the bed too hard.

you laughed and blushed. i mean, nikki is pretty sure he saw you blush. his cheeks already had a pinker tone than normal because of the drink, but he's sure it got a little stronger.

he wished he had gotten closer. he could only faintly smell the drink. he wished he could smell you. he wished he had run his fingers through the curves in the length of your hair. he wanted to touch his lips to your face. he didn't understand why, but in that moment, the first time he felt comfortable with the silence between you, he wanted to touch you.

but he didn't.

he watched the way you slowly accepted the sleep. his eyes closing as he listened to your murmurs getting quieter and quieter. you were even more beautiful when you slept. he’s never seen you so relaxed before. is angelic, delicate, untouchable.

and when he thinks he's falling asleep, sad because he'll only be able to see you when he wakes up, it's you he dreams of.

“ i need an easy friend

i do, with an ear to lend

i do, think you fit this shoe

i do, but you have a clue.”

— about a girl, nirvana.

188 notes · View notes

welcomehomerandomness · 2 months

Text

Welcome Home Website Update Reaction Notes (3/9/2024) Part 2 (SPOILERS)

Here's Part 2 of my Welcome Home Website Update Reaction Notes (3/9/2024)! Hope you enjoy it!

Howdy caterpillar walking ASMR

“It was then that Howdy Pillar pulled out a luxurious looking scarf- If one were to take a guess, it was probably the perfect size for a large house! Wally’s eyes sparkled brightly as he looked at it, but Barnaby was not as impressed. Still, he remembered this was all for Wally.” Barnaby doesn’t like the scarf but at least he knows that Wally needs it to give it to Home…Barnaby’s a true bestie

“There, scaling the tallest of the Homewarming trees in all of the neighborhood, was Sally Starlet herself. She was wearing an outfit adorned in sparkles, glitter, tinsel, ornaments, and even strings of popcorn- She was, as she’s ever been, truly a sight to behold. Even now as she continued to climb up the tree, she was radiant.” Sally is a goddess and an icon

Sally’s nickname for Barnaby is “Barntholomew” lol

Poppy is best bird mom friend lol

Also I wonder what the sunflower-seed ham tastes like

Why does Wally’s voice sound distorted when he says “How can that be.”? Is he sad? Mad? Both?

Awww at least the story ends on a good n-WAIT WHERE’S EDDIE??? WHY ISN’T HE IN THIS STORY???

EDDIE???

I’m scared for Eddie now

Also I love how we get to hear more of Home in this storybook record even if I joke around on how I hate Home lol

Now let’s hear Wally’s Toyland…I think it’s a Christmas song lol

Well at least this one has music instead of Wally singing acapella

Wally’s singing is so beautiful...It brought tears in my eyes sniffles

Also is it just me or do the lyrics “Childhood's joy land…Mystic merry toyland…Once you pass its borders…You can ne'er return again” seem kinda sus?

Like I feel like Wally’s singing about the Neighborhood and how you can never return back home once you entered it? Hmmm…

Anyways let’s listen to Up from the Home-Top which is basically the Welcome Home version of Up from the House Top lol

Oh crap Barnaby’s dead/j

THERE’S EDDIE THERE HE IS HE’S SAFE (for now)

“You lost control!? Can’t you see we’re in the middle of preparing for my Homewarming play? Julie is my Santa Claus! And Home? Her trusted reindeer!” Sally, how does Home being a reindeer work??? Is it gonna drag itself on the stage as Julie rides on top of it or???

Oh crap Julie and Frank are dead/j

Also the song is so silly and wholesome I love it

Now it’s time for “Howdy's Holiday Hullabaloo” Record!!! I’m so excited to hear this!!!

LET’S GO KIDDOS IT’S TIME TO LEARN SOME PILLAR FAMILY LORE

“How, normally, I don’t close early for any ol’ thing! Not rain, not sleet, not snow - not even that time Julie launched herself clean through the wall over there!” Oh god I imagine that one scene from the Scott Pilgrim movie where Scott crashes through a window…But instead of a window it’s a FREAKING WALL

HIS MA AND POPS AWWW

Howdy’s brother kinda sounds like Frank lol

Poor Howdy’s dying inside

I think we all know who Howdy’s favorite sibling is lol

The brother-in-law sounds so nonchalant lol

The nephews are so adorable awww

I just realized that Howdy’s uncle is a snail which is why he’s French lol

I wonder if the uncle is a reference to the Swedish Chef from the Muppets but he’s French instead

Oh god the cousin is a stoner hippie lol

I love Howdy’s grandma

I love Barnaby’s reaction to seeing Howdy’s family at the end lol

Overall the song is pretty charming and I love it so much

Also Barnaby's Tobacco Pipe??? Honestly it’s funny but I don’t think this toy will go well if it was created today lol

Barnaby be teaching kids in the early 70s’ how to be like Snoop Dogg but instead of weed it’s bubbles

Oh god not the nephews

Now let’s listen to “Bug-a-Bye and Goodnight: An Ode to Hibernation” Record

Frank’s voice is so beautiful I love it

But Frank seems kinda sad…

I want to buy that set of homewarming greeting cards to give to my family and friends during Christmas lol

Also I want to try the Crispy Sweets frosted cereal so bad...I NEED IT!!!

And there’s a mini doodle on the side of the pictures too

OHHHHH SO THAT’S WHY THOSE SYMBOLS ARE EVERYWHERE THEY’RE PART OF A SECRET CODE

I solved the code at the back of the cereal box but I don’t have time to decipher the other code that was spread all over the website because I’m too lazy lol

I went back to the Merchandise section and found out that Eddie’s toy that Santa was about to introduce in the radio ad was an Eddie Dear Li’l Mailman Kit

I also want to buy all these toys so bad I don’t care if I’m a college student I want them all lol

“Although our Guestbook is and will remain closed for the foreseeable future, we wanted to properly recreate it for those newly joining in our efforts to explore Welcome Home! After all, it’s fun to look back and see how far we’ve come together as a community! We will be recreating all eight original pages in the near future, so check back in soon to see if you can find your message! Have fun!” I can’t wait to see the Guestbook in the future

ALSO I JUST REALIZED THAT THE CLICKABLE BUGS ARE GONE

Dang I’m gonna miss those bugs

I can’t believe I spent hours on this website lol

My hands are kinda tired from typing lol

Also let me know if I miss anything

#welcome home #welcome home arg #welcome home spoilers #wally darling #barnaby b beagle #julie joyful #frank frankly #eddie dear #howdy pillar #sally starlet #poppy partridge #welcome home home

67 notes · View notes

the-authoress-writes · 4 months

Text

Wherever You Go Chapter One

Tom “Iceman” Kazansky x Aviator!reader (Callsign: Thorn)

Moodboard by @bradshawsbaby

Written for @roosterforme’s Top Gun Rocktober Playlist Fic Challenge

Synopsis: Tom Kazansky made a mistake.

Or rather, a series of mistakes.

He chose to take the assignment as an instructor at TOPGUN.

He fell in love with one of his students.

He broke her heart.

He chose to leave TOPGUN, and redeploy.

Now, he was stuck onboard the USS Nimitz with the woman whose heart he broke, with no way out.

Unbelievably, that’s not the problem.

Problem is, he still loves her.

Series Warnings: Teacher/Student relationship (but you already knew that) with no real age gap, warnings will be updated as the series progresses.

Warnings: Here be cursing, because these are people in the Navy.

I don’t think there’s anything else, though.

Author’s Note: “It’s only going to be a oneshot.”

Yeah, freaking right.

This took forever (become a church musician, they said, it’ll be fun, they said, you’re in charge of the choir for the Advent season and Christmas while the choir director is on medical leave), but I’m fairly happy with how this turned out.

I think.

The impostor syndrome do be impostoring.

Thank you so, so very much to @roosterforme for hosting the Top Gun Rocktober Fic Challenge, and for allowing me to use one of my favorite 80s rock ballads, “The Flame” by Cheap Trick.

Lyrics from the song will be peppered in throughout this series, because it’s too good not to, and the song is the reason this story exists, as it is what birthed the plotline.

A huge thank you and shout out to @thatsrightice, who helped me so much with the hop maneuvers, by researching the F-14 and A-4 high and low for me.

Special thanks also to @valmare, the fact that I am writing Tom Kazansky x reader! fic is all your fault; but thank you so much for dragging me down with you, it’s been an absolute joy!

Previously on “Wherever You Go”…

And as he ate Carole’s heavenly consolation in a cookie, Tom reflected on just how he’d ended up in this position.

Two months ago…

“So, you looking forward to teaching the next generation of stick jocks like us, Ice?” Mav spoke, barely intelligible around the food he had in his mouth.

“I’m sorry, I don’t speak whatever language that was, because it definitely wasn’t English.” Tom deadpanned, looking up from his forkful of the fairly-decent facsimile of scrambled eggs from the famed Officer’s Mess Hall of NAS Miramar.

Mav rolled his eyes and hastily swallowed his own forkful of eggs. “I said, are you looking forward to teaching the next generation of pilots like us, Ice?”

“Like me?

Yes.

Like you?

No.”

With Slider’s approval, he had taken the instructor assignment after it was offered to him shortly after the Layton, he and Slider wanting a little stability for two or three years—maybe even four—the Layton mission having shaved off what felt like a whole decade from their lifespan.

The fact that he was going to be able to fly and show off—sorry—instruct, was a nice bonus.

And the fact that his wingman, the only other pilot who could hold a candle to him, was also an instructor, was another plus.

They’d kick the asses of the hotshots they were going to teach, no problem.

“Oh, come on, you know I’m the best,” Mav grinned, nearly maniacally.

Tom put his scrambled eggs in his mouth, and made a show of chewing and swallowing, before replying, “Second best,” gesturing with his fork.

“I’m the best and you know it,” Mav practically vibrated.

Tom squinted at his wingman. “How much sugar did you put in your coffee?”

The other pilot froze guiltily. “I’m sorry.”

He sighed—hyper Mav was even more of a chaotic gremlin than normal Mav.

The younger man had an incredibly high, almost unnatural, tolerance for sugar, but put enough of it in his system, and you got one Pete Mitchell who could fly without a jet.

Tom had personally seen the other man put what seemed like half a sugar bottle in one cup of coffee. “Why?”

Mav pouted, looking like a child, and not the twenty-four year-old naval aviator he was. “I just wanted to indulge myself a little, Ice, ‘cause, you know, we’re instructors—together—we’re gonna kick ass—it’s gonna be great!”

“I know we’re gonna kick ass, but you’re not going to be able to instruct if you’re vibrating so much they can’t even see you,” Tom chuckled, shaking his head, trying to figure out how he could burn off Mav’s extra energy before they, along with Viper and Jester, had to head to the classroom to greet their new students later that morning.

“I know—but I just wanted something a little sweet as a treat,” Mav murmured, green eyes cast down and glazed with shame, and he got a glimpse of the child his wingman must have been over fifteen years ago.

He softened on the younger pilot, and reached out to ruffle the raven hair with a soft smile. “‘m not mad at you, Mav, it’s okay.”

Mav pulled away with a grimace and a slap at Tom’s hand, before fussing with his dark hair, but the familiar light returned to the other man’s eyes, though with considerably less mania than two minutes ago.

They continued eating, but Tom’s devious side reared its head. “You do know what this means, though, right?”

“Wha’?”

Tom nearly laughed right there.

Mav had half a forkful of eggs balanced on his lower lip.

“You and I are going to go for a little run around the south hangars, to burn off that energy.”

An intense green stare fixed on him, clearly considering. “Okay, fine—I might… might have overdone it a little bit with the sugar packets.”

“A ‘little’, huh?

Good for you, bud, getting more self-aware.”

“Fuck you, Kazansky,” Mav smirked.

“No thanks, not in the mood,” Tom grinned. “Come on, finish up, so we can get a decent shower after our run.”

“You okay there, old man?” came the smug voice not far above his head.

“Two—two years, that’s all you have on me, Mav,” Tom muttered, massaging the ankle and knee of his right leg, stretched out on the bench of the instructor’s locker room, mentally cursing the old injuries he’d sustained there from a bad ejection he and Sli endured during one of their first deployments, on the Constellation, when the arresting gear failed because a new crewman didn’t check the weight on the valve of the wire.

It was why he had to wear a wrap on his knee and ankle whenever he and Slider played volleyball.

Mav continued, “You know I was gonna kick your ass running even if I wasn’t amped up on sugar, right?

Tall people wear out faster—that’s what you get for being freakishly tall.”

Tom frowned. “If I’m freakishly tall, what’s Merlin?”

Long pause.

Smirk.

“No,” Mav accusingly pointed, “I refuse to fall for that—I will not speak ill of my RIO, even though I’m his teacher.”

Tom chuckled.

Merlin had been lucky to be selected for TOPGUN again, though it was with the caveat that he wouldn’t be able to win the trophy in his session, as his pilot was going to be an instructor.

Merls had taken it well in stride, glad to be at TOPGUN, even if it meant he’d only graduate, as a reserve RIO for his session.

“Hey, did you hear?

History’s being made this session—we’re teaching the first female naval aviator selected for TOPGUN,” Tom remarked, once he’d eased the ache in his knee and ankle.

“Yeah, I know—and I know her; hell of a pilot,” Mav nodded. “Hell of a woman too.”

“Oh?” a blond brow rose wryly.

“Yeah, I met her two or so years ago, when the Black Aces chopped in on the Big E.

Callsign’s Thorn.

And don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?”

Mav’s voice was slightly muffled as he dug through his locker for a stick of deodorant. “Like you think I know her… carnally.

Contrary to popular belief, I don’t flirt with any woman with a pulse.”

“Only most,” Tom nodded sagely, a smirk tugging his lips, even though his wingman couldn’t see it.

A finger was flipped in his direction over a shoulder. “Get in your khakis already, Icy-Hot-Man.”

He rolled his eyes, “Fuck you, Mav.”

“No thanks, not in the mood,” Mav threw back, and the shit-eating grin was audible in his voice, which made Tom secretly smile, to know his wingman and brother was happy.

After the two of them managed to get into their khakis in record time, they came up to the building with their classroom right with Jester and Viper, who spotted them and waved off their salutes. “Kazansky, Mitchell.

It’s good to see you both.

You ready.”

It was more statement than question, but despite the stoicism on the Vietnam veteran’s face, Tom could see the pride in his CO’s eyes, and the added glint of paternal pride, when he looked at Mav.

Though it made him sad to see that, reminding him of what he used to have, Tom was glad that the other aviator had a paternal influence in his adult life.

He’d had one before—Mav, on the other hand, hadn’t.

He really missed his Dedushka.

He pushed the thought away in time to see Viper gesture to follow him and Jester inside.

They all slipped their garrison caps off once they were under the fluorescent lights of the building, and the classroom door was in sight after a short walk.

“Alright,” Viper sighed, gaze running across all of them, a smile reminiscent of his callsign on his face, “time to school another batch of hotshots.

Let’s begin.”

The two wingmen exchanged a little grin, before squaring their shoulders and following Jester inside as Viper trailed behind.

“ATTENTION!!” Jester barked, striding to the front, Tom and Mav moving to the right side of the classroom, opposite the TV, following the order like everyone else in the room.

“At ease.”

At this, they all moved to parade rest, Tom and Mav having the luxury of clasping their hands before them, while Jester picked up a clipboard. “I will be calling out the driver and RIO teams.

After I call both your names, make yourselves known.

Lieutenant Solomon Bates, callsign “Warlock”, and Lieutenant Junior Grade Kenneth Han, callsign “Shogun”.”

“Present, sir!” an Asian man about Tom’s height, and a tall African-American man enthusiastically chorused.

“Lieutenant Stephen Ruth, callsign “Babe”, and Lieutenant Junior Grade Timothy Martin, callsign “Priest”.”

“Here, sir!”

“Lieutenant Edward Arellano, callsign “Belter”, and Lieutenant Junior Grade Gabriel Presleigh, callsign “Elvis”.”

“Yes, sir!”

Lieutenant Henry Baker, callsign “Snackbar”, and Lieutenant Junior Grade Matthias Novak, callsign “Links”.”

“Sir!”

“Lieutenant Julian Howell, callsign “Ash”, and Lieutenant Junior Grade Randall Simmons, callsign “Igor”.”

“Up and ready, sir!”

The pilot, Howell, it was plain to see, had an arrogant, smug look on his face, almost like he felt it was inevitable he’d be at TOPGUN, and Tom sent Mav a sideways glance, which the other man returned.

Any hop with that particular pair was going to be interesting, and it was clear from the look on his wingman’s face, that his immediate dislike of the pilot was shared by Mav.

Tom looked forward to him and Mav educating Howell as to who were the best pilots, in the final hops.

“And finally, Lieutenant __ __, callsign “Thorn”, and Lieutenant Junior Grade Emmett Kinford, callsign “Romeo.””

“Yes, sir!” came a resonant alto and an even, low baritone, the call jarring insofar as it was to hear a woman’s voice mixed with that of a man’s in this room, heretofore the demesne of men.

Both had even expressions on their faces, pilot and RIO gazing straight ahead, while the OCD part of Tom’s mind registered that their khakis were in better form than even his own, ribbons not the slightest bit out of place, with creases you could cut yourself on, and that was saying something.

Her hair was carefully pulled into the regulation tight bun, not a single strand out of place, and her RIO’s dark waves were also the picture of military perfection.

“You may be seated.” Jester said after a beat, casting his gaze shrewdly around the room. “I am Commander Rick Heatherly—callsign Jester.

I am the Executive Officer of Fighter Weapons School, known to all naval aviators as TOPGUN, and your Lead Opposing.

Each one of you have been selected for a very specific reason; to become the best of the best’s best.

Blinds.”

The room went dark as the blinds were shut, and the familiar video began playing, the familiar speech being recited.

Soon, Jester finished his speech, calling for the blinds to be opened.

Light flooded into the room, and Tom fought to look dignified, not squinty, even as the sun assaulted his eyes.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce you to your Junior Instructors, and this school’s Secondary Opposing; Lieutenant Tom Kazansky, callsign “Iceman”, and Lieutenant Pete Mitchell, callsign “Maverick”, last year’s Top Gun, and second place finisher respectively—”

Both he and Mav somehow straightened further, nodding professionally at their class.

“—and finally, our Commanding Officer here at TOPGUN, the very first man to win the Top Gun Trophy; and there is not a finer naval aviator in the world.

Captain Mike Metcalf—callsign “Viper”.”

Viper strode in and told the first class of ‘87 much the same things he did the flyboys of ‘86, and they all turned to get a good look at the Top Gun Trophy, whose newest brass plaque bore the engraving “LT T. Kazansky & LTJG R. Kerner — 1986”.

“You think your names are going to be up there?” Viper gazed speculatively at the class.

However, this time, no one filled the silence with an affirmative response—unlike Mav the year before—though Ash and Igor had hungry and yet self-assured looks in their eyes.

“Well, regardless of whose name ends up in brass at the end of these five weeks, at the end of the day, you—we—are all on the same team.

Gentlemen—and lady,” Viper nodded towards Thorn, “this school is about combat—there are no points for second place.

Dismissed.”

“Report to the quartermaster for your housing assignments, you’ll have today to get settled.” Jester called out to the room at large, “and remember, tomorrow’s first class starts at 0800.”

Most of the class quickly shuffled out of the room, but not before a few of them shot Thorn and Romeo, both of whom were still seated, skeptical—and in Ash and Igor’s case, outright dirty—looks, looks which she ignored, though one would have to be blind not to notice the protective menace emanating from her RIO despite the similar expression of indifference on his features.

But once her classmates had filed out, Thorn looked towards him and Mav, her indifference giving way to a radiant smile.

“Mav,” she exclaimed, striding over.

“Acey!” his wingman laughed, pulling her into a hug, briefly lifting her a slight distance off the floor.

“Fuck, it’s good to see you!”

“You too—it’s been too long.”

“Yeah—” here her expression sobered, “and I’m so sorry—I heard about Nick—Ro and I couldn’t believe it.”

“Nick was a great guy, it was such a shock—damn canopy of all things,” Romeo said, having walked over to give Mav a warm pat on the shoulder.

“Thanks,” Mav breathed evenly, a bit too evenly for Tom’s liking. “Oh, uh, Thorn, Romeo, this is my f-friend and wingman, Tom Kazansky.”

All too glad to take the spotlight to give Mav time to breathe, he stepped forward, extending his hand. “You can call me Ice, it’s good to meet you.

Mav’s told me about you, Thorn.”

“Oh?

Only good things, I hope,” she said, shaking his hand.

Her hand had the same callouses he and most fighter pilots had—which gave him a bit of cognitive dissonance, because he was used to only feeling those callouses on other men—with a strong grip, and a confident posture as she looked up at him.

“Practically praised you to the stars and back,” he smiled, letting go of her hand.

“Hello, I’m chopped liver,” Romeo wryly stated as he shook Tom’s hand. “Call me Ro.”

“You’re hardly chopped liver, Ro, you’re the sixth best RIO I know,” Mav interjected, his voice and breathing seeming more like baseline.

“Thank you, I guess?” Romeo frowned.

Thorn broke in, “I gotta admit, for a second, I was kind of worried that you’d suddenly become too good for the likes of me and Ro, Mr. TOPGUN-Instructor and Three-Confirmed-Kills, I swear, Mav, that was the stillest I’ve ever seen you.”

The aforementioned man shrugged. “That’s Ice’s influence.

Got to stand still so you hotshots have a chance to admire us.”

Thorn huffed a light-hearted laugh, but Mav continued, “And I only got those kills thanks to this guy.

I had to lead some of the MiGs away so that he could have one all to himself,” Mav beamed, waggling his eyebrows.

Thorn blinked, “Oh yeah, you’ve got one too.”

Before he could reply, Mav proudly cut in, “Yes, he does—and this guy held out against five MiGs.”

“Sli and I’d have burned in if you didn’t get there in time, Mav,” Tom said, determined that his wingman would get the praise he deserved.

Said wingman turned, eyes narrowed hopefully. “Is this you admitting I’m the better pilot?”

He scoffed lightly, “Any pilot would have trouble against five adversaries, the best or not.”

“I’ll get you to admit it one day,” the diminutive pilot muttered.

Tom clapped Mav on the shoulder. “Today is not that day, buddy.”

Another huffed laugh had the two wingmen remembering that their students were still in the room.

Romeo was shaking his head in the way of those who have fondly dealt with the inimitable Pete Mitchell, and Thorn had a small smile on her face, but it was no less bright than the one she had when she greeted Mav. “You look good, Mav.”

“Uhh… thanks?

But I always do.”

Thorn scoffed, and Romeo rolled his eyes so hard, Tom was surprised the RIO didn’t pull something.

She turned to him, a look in her eyes that spoke as if he had passed some test he didn’t know about, turning the tables on him, her instructor, and they weren’t even in the air yet. “You keep taking care of this Firebird for me, huh?”

Something about receiving her unsought approval shot a bolt of feeling through him, searing through his being, like standing in the middle of a lightning storm. “Of course.”

“Good,” she breathed, her small smile turning to a grin. “I guess—I guess Ro and I better go, because I’m sure our classmates got the good housing already.”

“We’ll accompany you to your housing, once you get your assignment—the uh—” he cleared his throat and sniffed, “the housing here is laid out pretty weird.”

Tom could feel Mav’s gaze snap to him at a practically supersonic speed, but he ignored it, in favor of shooting Thorn a charming, if not slightly awkward, smile.

Her head tilted at a slight angle, keen gaze analyzing him like he was some sort of problem she couldn’t quite solve. “If that’s what you want to do with your time, sure thing, sir.”

His brain shut down on him for a split second, for some odd reason, but he managed to evenly reply, “We’re the same rank.”

“That shiny Junior Instructor title of yours begs to differ, but whatever you say… sir.”

A nudge at his side snapped him out of whatever strange fugue his brain was trying to drag him into.

He’d have to get more sleep, he figured.

“What’d I tell you, Ice?

Sometimes I wonder if Acey here should have been the Firebird instead of me—because I’m well on my way to becoming an ace, as you all know,” Mav declared.

“Imagine being deployed with this for months,” Thorn sighed, but with a teasing glimmer in her eyes.

“Imagine agreeing to get stationed with him, and being his wingman,” Tom reparteed.

“Oh, I can,” she nodded knowingly. “I have stories, by the way.”

“Oh?

Do tell,” he grinned, playfully ignoring the groan from his wingman.

She blinked, her expression frozen for a split second, before she gestured to the aisle, “Mind if we walk and talk?”

“At your leave, Lieutenant.”

She shook her head slightly, but strode onwards, their strides matching in less than half a beat. “So there was this one incident with some shaving cream…”

When the four of them arrived at the quartermaster, as Thorn predicted, her and Romeo’s classmates were long gone.

“Hello, shitty housing,” she muttered, as she and Romeo approached the quartermaster, while he and Mav stood a ways behind.

“You’re being weird.”

“What?” Tom turned to see Mav staring at him like he was an F-14 requiring diagnostics and a shit-ton of maintenance.

“I said you’re being weird—”

“Yeah,” he slowly began, “I heard you the first time, Mav, what do you mean?”

“You—you’re being… nice,” was the other aviator’s perplexed reply, accompanied by an equally consterned gesture.

It was his turn to stare. “I am nice.”

“Uh-huh, but you’re not usually this—this, to people you don’t know.

Who are you, and what have you done to my wingman?”

If Tom were to be honest, he himself knew that he wasn’t exactly acting in character, but there was just something that tugged him to… be warmer towards Thorn and Romeo.

He put it down to wanting to repay the TOPGUN students for being kind to his brother, when not many others were.

“Any friend of yours is a friend of mine, Mav,” he said, sounding somewhat lame to even his own ears, truthful as it was.

“Okay, sure,” the other man nodded, in an extremely distrustful tone.

“Got it!” Thorn declared, she and Romeo marching up. “Let’s see what Government Issued shanty we’ll be put up in, shall we?

Looks like we’re at… 315 Vraciu.”

Tom spoke up. “That’s not bad, I think; a couple of our classmates last year were put up in that same housing—Charles Piper and Marcus Williams—and I don’t think they had any problems.”

Romeo clicked his tongue, “Well, that’s a first—less-than half-decent housing’s usually par for the course for me and Thorn.

This’ll be a refreshing change.”

Tom would never understand why good pilots were blamed for things they couldn’t change, Mav for his father’s “betrayal” and his own unconventional flying style, and Thorn for her gender, through relentless hazing and/or poor treatment.

If he ever rose high enough to change things, he swore he would.

The housing was a basic, cookie cutter home a little over a five minute drive from the main TOPGUN building, and on the way there, Thorn and Mav were seated in the back of Tom’s truck, catching up, while Romeo sat shotgun.

Glancing in the rearview mirror, Tom saw that both pilots were animatedly discussing things that had happened since the last time they saw each other, including the infamous inverted-over-a-MiG situation.

“Are they always like this?” he said in sotto voce to the RIO beside him.

Romeo flicked his dark gaze to the backseat, a soft smile on his face. “Yeah.

It’s nice to see her happy.

Not a lot of people think much of her, since she’s a woman, you know.

But Mav, he and Goose, they never saw that, they just saw a good pilot, and I’m grateful.

They were the only ones who wanted to fly with us.”

Tom frowned in disbelief. “You’re kidding.”

If Mav was singing her praises, she must be a phenomenon in the sky—who wouldn’t want to be part of that?

“Nope.

They were the only ones who volunteered, so they kind of got stuck with us that whole deployment.”

At this point, they arrived at 315 Vraciu, and they all hopped out, the two students carrying their seabags to the door.

Thorn unlocked the door, she and Romeo tossing their bags in the entrance. “Well, thanks for the ride,” she nodded, Romeo doing likewise behind her.

“No problem, my pleasure,” Tom replied, clasping his hands behind his back.

“I’ll see you both around, I guess.”

He imagined that her eyes lingered longer on him than they did on Mav, and… he didn’t exactly know how he felt about that.

Mav threw off a nonchalant salute while he sent a respectful nod, before they moved to go back to his truck.

They were halfway there when they heard, “Hey Mav!”

The two of them halted, turning to see the fire of challenge in Thorn’s brilliant eyes. “You gonna take it easy on me?”

Mav scoffed, “You think I’m an idiot?”

She carefully maintained a blank look, and Mav flipped her off with a grin.

Her expression sharpened, gaze landing on him, callsign all too accurate, as the edge of defiance in her voice rang through the air. “And how about you—are you going to take it easy on me?”

He had to admire her for that already.

“If you’re as good as Mav says, that’d be a damn injustice.”

Her answering smile was dagger-keen. “Looking forward to seeing you up there, then.”

Something in him thrilled to the thought of having another worthy opponent in the sky. “It’ll be a highlight of my day, I’m sure.”

“We’ll see.”

Though not unkindly, the door shut in their faces soon after.

Tom stared at the door a moment longer, before again turning to see Mav frowning.

“You’re really being weird.”

“…Shut up, Mav.”

“Alright boys—just to remind you, we have the classes in the morning, and we’re going up in the afternoon.

For the first hop, it’s going to be Jester against Thorn and Romeo, Mitchell against Warlock and Shogun, then Ash and Igor.”

An unexpected wave of disappointment washed over Tom as he realized Viper’s hop arrangement meant he wouldn’t get to fly against Thorn the first day, but he managed to keep most of the expression off his face, especially with Mav treating him like a problem to solve the whole rest of last night.

Indeed, the shorter man was and had been surreptitiously studying him.

“Which leaves me with Belter and Elvis, and you, Kazansky, with Snackbar and Links, then Babe and Priest, for the second hop.”

Just a banner day for Thomas Kazansky, wasn’t it?

Couldn’t fly against Thorn, and didn’t even get to school Ash and Igor.

“Everyone understand?”

A chorus of “Yes, sir!”s rang through the room, and Viper nodded, pleased.

“Dismissed, then.

To your classes, gentlemen.”

Viper knocked a fist against the table twice before he and Jester departed the briefing room.

Tom gathered his folders and looked at his wingman, who was neatening a very short stack of papers. “I was hoping to have first crack at Ash and Igor,” he muttered.

“I know,” Mav smirked.

Resigned, he sighed, “Well, kick their ass extra hard for me, will ya?”

The smaller man’s smirk took on a devilish quality. “I’ll draw first blood, then you wipe the floor with them, and us together, it’ll be game over,” he stated, as he extended a fist.

“Sounds like a plan,” Tom nodded, sealing the agreement with a fist bump.

As he bent to pick up his attaché case, Tom’s eyes were again drawn to the minuscule stack of papers the other man had. “You got the material for your class today, right?”

“Uhhh, yeah, sort of,” Mav shrugged.

“‘Sort of’.

What exactly do ‘sort of’ class materials look like?”

Mav spread his hands, and he knew. “In all honesty, I was gonna just kind of wing it.”

Tom honestly should have seen it coming—but Maverick mavericking was what made Maverick, Maverick.

“Okay,” he replied, trying to hide his grin. “Sounds good.

Good—good, good.”

He managed to hold his laughter in until he reached the hall, but even then, an “Up yours, Ice!” followed him around the corner.

Tom’s class went smoothly, and after a lunch that he eagerly finished, he eventually found himself in his flight gear, fidgeting in the instructor’s ready room.

Having completed his preflight, he decided to chalk his restlessness down to the novelty of flying an A-4, a single-seater, with no Slider in his ear or backseat, as he listened intently to the comms for the first hop, Viper doing the same across the room.

Mav and Jester engaged Warlock and Shogun, and Thorn and Romeo, respectively, once the Commander called “Fight’s on!”, and Mav made short work of Warlock and Shogun, getting tone on the other pilot and RIO in a little over two minutes.

Commendable, in his opinion, for their students.

Mav called for them to knock it off and return to base, before moving on to Ash and Igor.

It was then that he realized that Jester was still engaged with Thorn and Romeo.

Romeo was evenly calling out altitudes, positions, and break directions, while Thorn composedly called maneuvers out, interrupted only by the sound of the two aviators g-straining, the F-14’s engines in the background.

He briefly turned his attention to Mav, who had engaged Ash and Igor; the two were, as he predicted, scrambling wildly for their “lives” (and based on what he was hearing, would get tone locked in a matter of seconds), in radical contrast to Thorn, who was calmly holding her own.

In his head, he could see a vague picture of what was going on up there with Jester, Thorn, and Romeo, and Tom realized that he wasn’t sure how it was going to end, the sound of Mav getting tone on Ash and Igor fading into the background.

Tom could hear the strain in Thorn and Romeo’s voices as they fought more g-forces while calling movement and other things out—they had to be at or near corner speed to make them sound like that.

Tom could hear the faint, steady beeping which warned of imminent tone lock, and he hoped she would win this, if only to prove his wingman’s faith in her skill correct.

Just as the beeping grew faster, Thorn muttered, “Just a little… come on, come on…”

He leaned forward in his seat, and realized he was holding his breath, but he couldn’t bring himself to inhale.

Then suddenly, the blare of confirmed tone.

Disappointment for her sake sank in his stomach, but only for the briefest moment, because the voice which triumphantly called out “Good lock!” was distinctly female. “That’s a kill, Commander!”

And Tom could breathe again.

Holy shit, Mav was right—she was a hell of a pilot.

Thorn managed to keep too much of the gloating out of her tone, but it was a fairly narrow thing, and in his opinion, it was justified.

A faint sound caught his attention—if he didn’t know any better, Tom could have sworn that that was a… fond chuckle that came from Jester.

“Copy kill.

Well, knock it off, Lieutenant, and RTB.”

“Yes, sir!”

Without really thinking about it, he went to the flight line, in time to see the three F-14s and two A-4s land.

His eyes were drawn to her jet as she pulled in to the flight line, and he was faintly aware of Mav’s A-4 pulling up beside his.

She’d done the impossible; Thorn, a female naval aviator, got chosen for TOPGUN, and got tone on her instructor the first day.

Technically, that wasn’t anything new—Mav had done similar—but in a sense, it was.

Women were just starting to be seen as capable of being in the military, in combat roles, to be exact, and to see a woman do something that had been the domain of men for decades, centuries, and do it just as well as a man—better even; as evidenced by the fact that in her hop, she was the only one to get tone on her instructor…

He really had to admire that—admire her.

“That good enough of an ass kicking for ya, Ice?”

Tom was snapped out of his introspection from the sudden appearance of his wingman at his side, running a hand through his hair, helmet under his arm.

“What?”

Mav grinned, “I got tone on Ash and Igor in roughly a minute or so.

How the fuck those two got picked for TOPGUN eludes me.”

Tom scoffed and shook his head in agreement. “Bet I can get tone on them faster, though.”

Mav slapped him on the shoulder, “We’ll see, Ice.��

A sudden whoop of jubilant laughter drew his gaze, and he could see Thorn about thirty paces away, coming ever closer, and his breath caught in his throat—her mouth was split in a beaming smile, wild and passionate, illuminating her from within with effervescent joy, her shining eyes endlessly reflecting her exhilaration.

Her bun was coming slightly loose, tendrils of hair framing her face and swaying in the breeze, while her flight suit clung to her figure, helmet dangling insouciantly from her fingers; it was decorated with a briar all over, red roses among thorns made of black aces, and it had her callsign across its brow.

Her eyes landed on him, and her smile took on a mischievous quality. “We got Jester, nailed him on the first day.

You gonna be ready for us?” Then, as if she only noticed Mav next to him at that moment, she amended, “Both of you?”

He grinned, just shy of showing too many teeth, nonchalantly stepping closer, shifting his weight to lean towards her, hip slightly cocked to keep his balance, barely paying any mind to the tension in Romeo’s stance behind his pilot. “We’ll see who gets tone on whom first.”

Thorn smirked as she looked him up and down, teeth tugging her bottom lip for the briefest moment before she clicked her tongue, “Good thing I’ve got front row seats for that show, then.” She pivoted on her heel, walking backwards as she sent him a casual salute, before turning to stride back to the locker room, Romeo following her with a minutely narrowed glance over his shoulder at him.

“Huh.”

He turned from watching the pilot and RIO, to see Mav again at his side, glancing back and forth between him and Thorn and Romeo.

Tom frowned, “What ‘huh’?”

“Nothing, nothing,” came the too-quick answer. “Just huh.”

“…Now who’s being weird?”

Tom’s hop with Viper was not quite as interesting as Mav with Jester’s, though he did have to commend all three pilots for holding out for a few minutes, which was more than Ash and Igor could say.

The debrief was a thing of beauty—going in reverse order from lowest to highest hop score, meant that he got to witness Mav positively eviscerate Ash and Igor as the first order of business, and the sheer stupidity that Ash displayed in the air, made Tom wonder what guardian angel or deity sent this idiot to TOPGUN.

He mentally saw a dozen different maneuvers that Ash could have done, that, while they might not have gotten him tone on Mav, they would have helped him last longer against the other pilot.

The debrief drew on, Tom stepping forward when it was his turn, not sparing the other pilots their vivisections, though theirs were not quite as harsh, by sheer dint of them not being as idiotic as Ash and Igor, and finally, it was the debrief he was waiting for; Thorn and Romeo’s.

He had an idea of what happened in the air, but he wanted to know what exactly she had done.

It was textbook and yet genius.

He was right; once they hit the merge, flying at corner speed through a series of turns, Thorn had maneuvered to force Jester to increase his turn rate, bleeding his airspeed, playing the Skyhawk’s weakness against it, before before placing him in her sights.

“…all in all, great work, Lieutenant,” Jester complimented, writing her hop score of 5 on the board, the highest number of all the teams that day, sending her a nod.

Her face was impassive as she replied, “Thank you, sir,” but Tom could see the vindication in her eyes.

“Well, I’m sure you’ve all learned something from your classes and most especially, your hops today,” Viper declared, pacing the front of the classroom. “This is only the first day, and to borrow a saying from our SEAL cousins, ‘The only easy day was yesterday’.”

The Captain stared the students down, pair by pair, searching for something in each of them.

Finally, he stated, “You’re all dismissed.”

After Jester and Viper left, leaving him and Mav, as the junior instructors, to neaten things, Ash and Igor were predictably the first out the door—just shy of storming out, while most of the others looked at Thorn with less suspicion than the day before, a few actually lingering.

While he was fixing the markers, out of the corner of his eye, Tom saw Warlock step forward first, a light smile on his face. “Hey, uh, that was great, what you pulled today—I’m Solomon, but you can call me Sol or Warlock, whichever you prefer.

This is my RIO, Ken, but he prefers Shogun.”

The Asian man genially lifted a hand in greeting, “Really wish I could have seen that.”

Babe chuckled, “Yeah, that was good, wish I’d have thought of what you did, maybe I’d have had a chance against Kazansky—I’m Stephen.”

Priest, his RIO, cooed, “Aw, you embarrassed by your callsign, Babe?”

“Shut up, Tim,” Babe glared.

Priest raised both hands in surrender. “Not my fault your last name’s Ruth—I’m this stick in the mud’s RIO, Tim—call me Priest, that there’s Belter and Elvis.”

Tom almost laughed at the expression Thorn made; the momentary shock on her face was palpable, but it was swiftly concealed—the only reason it registered for him was because he was so used to reading Mav’s microexpressions.

“Thanks—nice to meet you all.

I’m Thorn, this’ Romeo, my RIO.”

Romeo shook hands with them all, a pleasant, but guarded expression on his face.

“You weren’t too bad up there yourselves, from what I heard,” she continued.

“Yeahhh, but who got tone on their instructor first day?

Not this guy,” Priest waggled his eyebrows, jerking both thumbs at his pilot, “and not any of these guys,” making the others groan or laugh.

Tom ducked his head, hiding his smile; he was glad that the others seemed to be warming up to her, he wanted her to have the same experience as he did at TOPGUN—establishing a brotherhood with his classmates.

“—Tom!”

He pivoted to see Mav snapping his fingers close to his face, and he reflexively flinched back from his wingman’s hand in his face. “What?”

He belatedly realized that he’d been saying that a little too much recently.

As if he were speaking to a particularly dull child, Mav spoke slowly. “Do you think I can erase the board now?”

“Yeah, uh, but not the scores.”

“Of course not.

You okay, Ice?”

“Yeah—fine, it’s just a… long day.”

The suspicion in Mav’s eyes didn’t fade as he sighed and nodded. “Feel up to The O Club tonight?

Maybe decompress a bit, have a drink?”

“That sounds great, actually.” Maybe a drink was what he needed, his mind seemed to be all over the place.

“‘Kay—meet you there?”

“Yeah.”

Once he finished with the room, he followed Mav out, sending a look to where Thorn was still talking with her classmates, to see that her gaze was already on him.

Her eyes immediately went back to her classmates, but nevertheless, he felt branded by her stare, like it was a tangible thing, searing through his veins, sending a paradoxical shiver down his spine.

Deep in the recesses of his mind, he could admit it; he didn’t know what it was, but he felt drawn to her.

To what end… he didn’t know.

And that…

That scared him.

Tom eased his precious Chevelle into a parking spot near the door of The O Club; a rarity, but one very welcomed, given how busy the bar seemed.

(The fact that it was within sight of Mav’s highly recognizable Ninja was a perk—he and Slider had stopped one too many parking lot beatdowns.)

He reached for his Shooters, narrowly stopping himself from putting them on (Mav hated it when he did that at night; “It makes you look like a dick”, according to his wingman), instead tucking them into the pocket of his whites, carefully opening the driver’s door, squeezing himself out of the narrow gap he afforded himself.

The black metal flake paint was pristine, and he intended to keep it that way, it didn’t matter how ridiculous he may look.

The O Club was, as the parking lot showed, busy, full of people in service whites, throwing him back to last year, that first night for the flyboys of ‘86.

He cast his gaze around the bar, peering through the haze of cigarette smoke and the people, searching for his wingman’s squirrelly figure, before a call of “Ice; over here!” pierced through the sound of numerous conversations and the jukebox, before a hand flailed wildly, becoming visible over the heads of the crowd.

Mav had claimed seats at the bar; prime real estate with the place this hectic—he didn’t want to know how the other man had kept the seat next to him free when every Tom (hah), Dick, and Harry were clamoring for a seat at the bar.

He made his way through the crowd, gratefully settling onto the barstool next to Mav, also dressed in his service whites. “Hey Mav,” he greeted.

“Hey; I ordered already, I assumed you’d want your usual vodka on the rocks.”

“Thanks; you know me too well.”

“Kind of hard to miss when it’s literally what you order every single time,” Mav smirked.

Tom rolled his eyes—he was a creature of habit, sue him.

(And if vodka on the rocks reminded him of his Dedushka, what was wrong with that?)

“Seems like all of Fightertown is here tonight,” he muttered to Mav.

“You’re not too far off on that, I saw basically all of our students here,” the other man replied, taking a sip of his beer. “Only ones I haven’t seen are Thorn and Romeo, actually,” he finished casually.

Rather against Tom’s will, something in him lurched forward, his thought process halting, making him feel like he’d just snagged the third wire on the carrier deck.

Despite that, he managed a calm—at least in his opinion—“Oh.”

“Mmm.” Another calm sip of beer from his wingman—too calm.

He narrowed his eyes and sighed at Mav. “What the fuck is that ‘Mmm’ for?”

The dark-haired aviator pulled an expression like he just sucked on a lemon. “What, can’t a guy just ‘Mmm’ anymore?”

“Not when you’ve been fucking weird for the past two days,” he replied, sending the harried bartender a grateful nod as they slid his vodka on the rocks over to him.

“I’m not weird, you’re weird,” was Mav’s reply, and he narrowed his eyes at the muted shimmer of something in the other pilot’s eyes.

He was about to retort when his eyes were drawn to the door, and the bulk of Romeo walked in, his head and whites-clad shoulders peeking above quite a few people’s.

It was mere curiosity, he told himself, that led him to lean to see if his pilot was also with him.

It took a beat, but then, several people in the crowd moved, and he saw her—her hair cascaded down her shoulders, as sharp eyes surveyed The O like it was the skies, dressed, unlike everyone else in the Navy who occupied this space, in civvies; a loose, white blouse tucked into jeans, cinched with a thick brown leather belt at her waist.

And everything seemed to fade into the background, the sight of her drowning out the sound of the bar, and Mav’s howling laughter.

To be continued…

Previous Part Next Part

Faceclaims

Russian glossary

Disclaimer: translations are from the interwebs.

Please don’t kill me.

Dedushka: Grandfather

Two years is the real-life age gap between Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer.

The story behind Ice and Slider’s bad ejection actually did happen to a pilot-RIO pair, then-Commander William Switzer and then-Lieutenant (junior grade) David “Bio” Baranek on December 19, 1981, aboard the very same aircraft carrier that I mentioned.

You can read the detailed description of the incident here, retold by Commander Baranek, for the Ejection Tie Club of the Martin-Baker company, who specialize in making ejection seats—including those of the F-14 Tomcat—for pilots and backseaters who have ejected using a Martin-Baker ejection seat.

VFA-41, the “Black Aces”, based out of NAS Lemoore, were featured in Top Gun: Maverick as the squadron of Natasha “Phoenix” Trace, and I thought that would be nice to include that, in this universe at least, Phoenix is a member of the squadron with the first female naval aviator selected for TOPGUN.

Icy-Hot is a liniment that has been on the market since before 1931.

The name of LTJG Kenneth “Shogun” Han is a reference to this scene in the now-ABC hit series, 9-1-1, where paramedic/firefighter Howard “Chimney” Han, played by actor Kenneth Choi, replies that if he weren’t a paramedic/firefigher, he’d have liked to be a Navy TOPGUN graduate, with the callsign “Shogun”.

The names of Henry “Snackbar” Baker, Stephen “Babe” Ruth, and Timothy “Priest” Martin are a reference to both the original name of Leonard “Wolfman” Wolfe—Henry Ruth—and the Martin-Baker company.

The speeches that Jester and Viper give are nearly word for word the same as the speeches that they gave in TG86, with some authorly variation because I didn’t want to rehash the same speeches that we heard in the movie word for word.

Again, VF-1, a now inactive squadron based out of NAS Miramar, is the squadron that Mav and Goose belonged to before they went to TOPGUN, although it must be noted that, like most of the squadron patch designs in Top Gun, the patch design as seen on Mav and Goose’s flight suits, is incorrect and not matching the squadron designation, instead bearing the insignia of VAW-110, the “Firebirds”, who flew the E-2 Hawkeye, which was shown as Comanche in TG:M.

Alexander Vraciu was a WWII Navy ace who downed 12 Japanese aircraft and sank a Japanese merchant ship with a direct hit to her stern.

The merge is a concept used in air combat, where aerial warfighters engage with enemy aircraft by steering their plane toward the adversary—this maneuver is referred to as “going to the merge.”

Corner Speed

Did anyone catch the TG:M line reference?

Special thanks to @valmare for the Ice has a Chevelle headcanon!

Service Whites

Taglist

@valmare

@callsign-skydancer

@permanentlyexhaustedpigeon88

@tadomikiku

@malindacath

@aviatorobsessed

@lynnevanss

@djs8891

If you’d like to join my taglist, just send me an ask!

#top gun rocktober #top gun #top gun fanfiction #top gun fanfic #tom iceman kazansky x reader #tom kazansky x reader #tom iceman kazansky #tom kazansky #val kilmer

58 notes · View notes

spinningwebsandtales · 5 months

Text

Imagine Steven Grant Decorating The Christmas Tree With Your Daughter

Steven Grant X FemReader

Rating: G

Warnings: None it's all Christmas fluff

Word Count: 718

Requested by @the-marshals-wife

(A/N:) I still owe my friend some requests for all the amazing work she does for me. And while she didn't request this character I know he is one of her faves and I came up with the idea at work. She seemed more than happy with the results from my brain. It also helps that it's the season! So Merry Christmas everyone and enjoy this fluffy goodness! Until next time happy reading! ~Countess

The Christmas season had finally come and it was your favorite time of the year. The house always seemed cozy with the glittering lights and heater going. It made leaving into the nippy mornings even harder than usual. But your favorite part was the giggles of your little girl and the boisterous singing of your husband who thoroughly loved Christmas carols. You were busy decorating the fireplace with garland and stockings while Steven and your daughter took care of the tree. They had just finish shaping the artificial branches that had been smooshed together from it's time in storage and started untangling the lights. You hummed gently to yourself while taking quick glimpses of your two loves. Steven had just finished singing the exhausting carol of 12 Days of Christmas, his daughter clapping and singing while her dad ran out of breath, due to him holding the last note for an absurd amount of time. Steven quickly recovered and went straight into Deck the Halls.

You shook your head, focusing back on your single task. Before too long Steven got tired of not having the music playing and forgetting certain lyrics of the carols his little girl was requesting, so he switched on the radio, tuning it the local station who had begun playing Christmas music before Thanksgiving. You joined in and now there was an impromptu trio filling the house with song. Steven hummed along to Silent Night while he wrapped the tree in sparkling Christmas lights. Around and around he went, it was making you dizzy just watching him. Of course he had to act all dramatic and cause little squeals coming from their side of the living room. Steven was laughing until he got too dizzy from his rocking around the Christmas tree and fell down almost taking the whole tree with him. This time you laughed loudly and swooped in to save your husband.

"Only you would get dizzy putting lights on the tree," you teased while helping him to the couch.

Clamoring up on her father's lap, you patted your daughter's head while Steven kissed her rosy cheek. While Steven recovered you finished up the fireplace mantel and finished up the lights on the tree. By then Steven was ready to get back into the game. Walking hand in hand towards you it was time for ornaments. You remembered the years fondly of your daughter being so small that majority of the ornaments wound up on one side of the tree at the bottom. The radio had become background noise for a little bit while you and Steven walked down memory lane. You remember your first Christmas fondly with your then new husband and then you remembered that first Christmas with your baby girl. Now here she was the spitting image of her father and your fierce attitude.

Steven jolted, cocking his head to the radio he grinned broadly down at his little girl. She started jumping up and down excitedly as her dad ran to the radio and turned up the song playing. You laughed, shaking your head as their favorite Christmas song of all time begun to play.

I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas flooding the house as both Steven and his mini me sung at the top of their lungs. Their silliness was contagious as you joined them in their singing and even the little dance they choregraphed on the fly. Though a short song all three of you wound up in a breathless pile on the floor. Like Steven before, you were a little dizzy from all the joyous spinning.

"I vote for no spinning next time," you panted.

"I second that vote," Steven agreed.

"Extra spinning," your little girl crowed.

It took a little long for you and Steven to recover as you both were content laying on the soft carpet until the room quit spinning. Steven slipped his hand into yours, giving it a gentle squeeze he shuffled closer to you. Your daughter had taken to spinning more around and around before she went back to placing ornaments on the tree. Steven kissed our cheek before he nuzzled into your hair.

"I love you," he mumbled.

You gave him a quick kiss on his chin, relishing in the scratch of his facial hair, "I love you too."

#Steven Grant X Reader #Steven Grant / Reader #Moon Knight #Steven Grant #Moon Knight Imagine #Steven Grant Imagine #Imagine #Marvel #Not My Gif #My Writing

58 notes · View notes

whisperofsong · 1 year

Text

Pairing: Bob Floyd x Female Reader

Summary: Bob fulfills a promise he made to a special someone years ago.

Word Count: Approx. 2K

Warning: One mildly suggestive line

Note: This fic corresponds with @notroosterbradshaw ‘s #hello december playlist challenge. After discovering this challenge, I immediately thought of the included song and how it suits our precious Bob Floyd. I hope this piece gets you in the Christmas spirit💛

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

Ever since Bob was a kid, he considered snow to be special. He loves the stillness it brings. He reveres its ability to transform one’s surroundings, giving the outside world a brilliant glow. However, his appreciation for this side of Mother Nature was not inherent; rather, it sprung from his paternal grandfather’s Christmas record.

Although Bob’s older brothers often spent their time playing football and roughhousing in the backyard while visiting their grandparents, these activities didn’t hold the same allure for their younger brother. Instead, Bob frequently found himself reading alongside his grandfather, Theodore Floyd, in the spacious living room. His grandfather sought comfort in his worn, yet loved, brown leather recliner while Bob sat cross-legged on the edge of the couch with a favorite book. He enjoyed the shared solitude, something that was foreign in his own home.

Bob recalls the Christmas he and his family spent with his paternal grandparents when he was eight years old. His grandmother was doting on two of his brothers in the kitchen while his other brother was engrossed in conversation with his father about something in which he had no interest. As a result, Bob decided to join his grandfather in the living room where he found him setting up a record to play. The album jacket read Christmas Classics and was somewhat tattered.

“Thought we could use some additional Christmas cheer. Whaddya say, Bobby?”

Bob nodded enthusiastically in response. Within seconds, a familiar Christmas song softly filled the space and his grandfather returned to his beloved spot, ensconced in the coziness of it all.

For a while, Bob and his grandfather only listened to the music, no words exchanged between them, until the fifth song began, its melody producing a grand smile on Theodore Floyd’s face. “Ah, this is one of my favorites,” he recalled with understated glee.

“What is it?” Bob asked curiously.

‘A Marshmallow World’ by Dean Martin,” revealed his grandfather. “The lyrics paint quite a picture, Bobby.”

Bob’s attention returned to the music and he focused intently on the lyrics as the singer crooned on the record player.

Those are marshmallow clouds being friendly

In the arms of the evergreen trees

And the sun is red, like a pumpkin head

It’s shining so your nose won’t freeze

The vision that the lyrics evoked made Bob smile, too, and his grandfather took notice of Bob’s approval. “This next part is my favorite,” he announced and Bob leaned forward, eagerly anticipating the upcoming words.

Oh, it’s a yum-yummy world made for sweethearts

Take a walk with your favorite girl

It’s a sugar date, what if spring is late

In winter it’s a marshmallow world

“You know, Bobby. Lemoore doesn’t make it easy for such a thing to happen. Sure, we get a dusting here and there, but not enough snow to make it a marshmallow world.” His grandfather briefly paused as he gazed out the window, lost in thought. “I’ve always wanted to share in an experience like that with your grandmother, but at my age now, I doubt it’ll ever happen.”

Despite the disappointment laced within Theodore Floyd’s words, he didn’t appear to be melancholy. Instead, there was a twinkle in his eye that Bob couldn’t pinpoint.

“Promise me something, Bobby.” His grandfather held his finger in an authoritative manner as his eyes locked with his grandson’s. “When you meet a girl, the right girl, you’ll find a way to have an experience like that.”

“I will, Grandpa,” Bob asserted as much as a gangly eight-year-old boy possibly could in such a situation.

Every Christmas after this, Bob and his grandfather would steal a few minutes away from the rest of the family and escape to a place that was only made possible by Dean Martin. This became a beloved holiday tradition, one that Bob was proud to have reserved for just the two of them.

Twenty years following that memorable Christmas, Bob is putting away the last of his items in the dresser in the guest bedroom at his aunt’s house. You recently hit your eight-month anniversary and Bob timidly suggested you spend Christmas with him and his family at his aunt’s house in Colorado. Although he prepared himself for rejection, you instantly accepted his invitation and the happiness that flowed throughout his body hasn’t ceased since you agreed to accompany him.

When he turns around, he finds you sitting on the bed, staring at him lovingly.

“What is it?” he asks with a faint smile crossing his face.

“I’m just happy to be here with you. Thank you for inviting me.”

He walks towards you and joins you on the bed, reaching for your hand and bringing it to his lap. “I’m happy, too, Y/N. I, uh, wasn’t sure if you would even want to come with me. I mean, I know you have your own family traditions and would never want you to-“

You delicately brush your fingertips against Bob’s cheek. Bob’s rambling comes to an abrupt halt and his eyelids flutter closed, breathing in sharply. He ever so slightly leans farther into your touch, savoring the contact.

“I’m always certain with you, Bob,” you admit and his eyes open once more, struck by the weight of your statement. He recognizes what a privilege it is to love and be loved by you.

“I love you, Y/N,” he declares before gently grasping the side of your face and bringing you forwards so he can kiss you. The kiss is tender and far too brief for your liking, but it solidifies that what you two have is not finite; it’s forever.

“We should probably head downstairs. Otherwise we’ll be met with incessant teasing from my brothers about what kept us up here…” Bob gives you a sheepish look and you caress his chin affectionately before taking his hand as he leads the way.

The Next Morning

Bob can’t recall the last time he slept this restfully, but when he peers down, still somewhat groggy from slumber, he’s reminded why he slept so well: you. Throughout the night, he hadn’t tossed or turned and it was apparent you hadn’t budged either as he observed your intertwined hands, something you two had done before drifting to sleep. He smiles to himself and strokes his thumb over your smooth skin, grateful to belong to someone as angelic as you.

He slowly sits up and gingerly removes his hand from your grasp. He reaches for his glasses on the nightstand, but when he peeks out the window, he blinks rapidly several times to ensure his eyes aren’t deceiving him. The outside is covered in snow. Not merely a coating or sprinkling, but several feet of authentic, fluffy, glorious snow.

Bob launches himself out of bed and begins changing into all the winter gear he brought with him, wanting to be prepared for the day.

A half hour later, your eyes flutter open, slowly adjusting to the unfamiliar surroundings. What you weren’t expecting is to see your boyfriend wearing his puffer jacket, wool hat, thick scarf, gloves, and snow boots while lying beside you in bed.

“Bob…what are you doing?”

“It snowed last night.”

“Uh huh…” You’re hoping he’ll provide you with more because you aren’t making the connection.

“Real snow, Y/N. This is a big deal for a guy from Lemoore,” he admits with a boyish grin. “I wanna take you outside with me,” he says excitedly.

“I’m not really a fan of the snow, baby,” you tell him, hoping this won’t result in too much disappointment.

Bob’s heart plummets. “Oh. Oh, well…in that case, we can just forget about it. It’s uh, it’s fine.” He gives you a small smile, but he looks deflated. He begins to take off his hat with his back to you and you can tell this means something to him, although you’re not entirely sure why.

You sit up on your knees and wrap your arms around his shoulders. “I can make an exception for today,” you whisper in his ear and he whips his head around.

“You’re sure?” he asks.

“I’m sure.”

Bob grins from ear to ear and squeezes your hand in gratitude before leaving the room so you can get ready.

Once you’re finally dressed from head to toe in the proper apparel, you find Bob waiting outside. He turns around at the sound of the front door opening and extends his hand, which you take instantly.

“I thought we could take a walk,” he shares, his cheeks already pink from the frigid temperature. You didn’t think it was possible for him to look any cuter than he already did, but you were proven wrong.

“Can I tell you something?” Bob asks in a voice that suggests he’s on the precipice of sharing something significant, something deserving of your full attention.

“Anything, Bob.” You squeeze his hand in a reassuring way, prompting him to continue.

“When I was younger, we would spend Christmas with my dad’s parents and I especially enjoyed being with my grandfather. He was quieter like me and more of an observer. One Christmas, he introduced me to a song that’s stuck with me ever since.”

“What song is that?” you question softly.

‘A Marshmallow World’ by Dean Martin. He was fond of it and after he showed it to me, I developed fondness for it, too. His favorite part of the song was, well, it’s kind of sill to say aloud…” Bob fiddles with the nape of his neck, indicating he’s somewhat nervous.

“I still wanna know. I wanna know everything about you, Bob.” Your honesty dispels Bob’s uneasiness, causing him to take a deep breath before sharing the following lyrics:

Oh, it’s a yum-yummy world made for sweethearts

Take a walk with your favorite girl\

“He made me promise that someday, I would fulfill that part of the song with the right girl. At the time, I promised him that I would. But as the years went by, I began to doubt whether I’d ever meet someone special enough who I’d want to experience it with. But…” Bob sighs and stops walking, looking down at his snow boots.

“But what?” you ask, ducking your head to attempt to meet his gaze.

“But now that you’re in my life, I realize you’re not just special enough. You’re the most special woman I’ve ever known, Y/N.”

Your breath hitches in your throat at your boyfriend’s romantic proclamation, your heart swelling with pure love for the man who gives so much of himself to you that you no longer want a life that doesn’t involve Bob Floyd.

Bob glances around and the endearing smile you’ve quickly grown to adore spreads across his handsome face. “I’m finally living in a marshmallow world, Y/N, and it’s even better than I imagined it would be all those years ago in my grandfather’s living room because you’re living in it with me.”

Your eyes well with tears and without a second thought, you tackle him to the ground, causing Bob to grunt as you two land in the plush snow. You cup his cheeks with your mittens and kiss him passionately, letting him know the effect his words had on you. When you finally pull away, your lips land upon his forehead, cheeks, and nose.

“I love you, Bob Floyd.”

“I love you, Y/N Y/L/N.” His lips seek yours again, but you recoil.

“I don’t think so, Bob. You’ve got to finish what you started first.”

He furrows his eyebrows and an amused grin appears while peering up at you. “And what would that be?”

“A walk with your favorite girl.” You wink before resuming an upright position and guiding your boyfriend to his feet.

“You’re right. I can’t let Grandpa Floyd or my favorite girl down,” Bob states before reaching for your hand again and pulling you close to plant a prolonged kiss on your cheek as you two decorate the snow with your footprints.

@bradshawsbaby @luminousnotmatter @bobfloydsbabe @demxters @roosterforme @notyoursbutlewis @sebsxphia @joaquinwhorres @notroosterbradshaw @theforgottenmcrmy @mothdruid

#hello december playlist challenge #robert bob floyd #bob floyd #bob floyd x reader #top gun maverick #top gun maverick fanfiction

347 notes · View notes

thezombieprostitute · 5 months

Text

Music in the Air

A/N: Written for Vee's Holly Jolly Challenge (@sstan-hoe). Reader is implied fem, "girls like me". No physical descriptors used.

Prompts: Bucky Barnes - My house, my rules. The Christmas music stays on.

Summary: You and Bucky discuss poinsettias.

Bucky's arm was having problems. Again. In all the years he had the arm he never really got to understand how it worked. He could figure out how to fix a lot of things, but his arm wasn't one of them. That's why he was glad he had you to turn to. You had quickly become his go-to engineer in the Avengers Tower. You were a rare and delightful combination of "not afraid of him" and "not overly friendly". You would smile, but let him initiate the conversation when he wanted.

At least, normally you were his favorite. Ever since December started you only every played Christmas music in your lab. He was still trying to get used to how much the holiday had changed and the music was, well, a lot. Especially when you were always listening to some kind of heavy metal Christmas music and he had only ever heard Christmas music sung a capella or maybe a church organ.

"Do you really need to listen to that music all the time?"

You smiled while working, "I did the respectful thing and waited until December before I started listening."

"Yeah, but it's just so..." he struggled to find the words.

"Non-traditional?"

"Jarring."

"Well, Sergeant Barnes," you reply, setting your tools down, "My house, my rules. The Christmas music stays on. However, I am willing to switch it for something that's maybe a little more your speed."

You walk over to your laptop and open up your playlist. It takes you a minute, but you finally find the song you're looking for and press the play button. As the speakers sing a lighter, slower tune, you turn back to Bucky, "you should be grateful. I don't turn off Trans Siberian Orchestra for just anyone."

Bucky blushed as he smiled, listening to the song. It was very different from what you had been listening to. For a start, there were lyrics. They told the story of a poinsettia named Percy and how had been overlooked and abandoned but grew and shone when given love. He almost smacked himself for having empathy for an imaginary plant.

To distract himself he said, "I'm surprised you like this song. It's so different from what you were listening to before."

You smile and respond, "it's a childhood favorite. This song just really hit my heart in a way no other Christmas song did. It stuck with me so much that, even in college if I saw my flowers for sale that were wilting or on their last legs, I'd buy them. Just to make sure they had love before they fully wilted."

Bucky looked at you with a softness in his eyes before you shook your head, "I know, it's stupid. I was an adult, I should've known better but some things just stick with you, you know?"

"Yeah," he whispered. "I know. Did you stop buying flowers because you kept getting them from dates or something?"

You chuckle, "I stopped because I had to prioritize my budget. I can't remember the last time I had flowers in my apartment. But thank you for the compliment."

"What do you mean? The guys you date don't give you flowers?"

"Girls like me don't get dates, Sergeant. I'm not whatever enough for guys to ask me out. Whether it's my size, my intelligence, my hobbies, there's just always something that keeps guys from asking me out, let alone bringing me flowers. But, again, thank you for the compliment."

You set down your tools and start putting them away, "your arm is all patched up. Hope this fix lasts you at least through the end of the year. I've got a lot of projects to finish up before the end of the year so I might not have the time to take care of you."

"You're not staying here for Christmas, are you?"

"I am," you nod. "My family celebrates holidays on days that aren't the day of so that we can avoid traffic and last-minute shoppers. So I set up an office lunch for the people who either don't celebrate, have nowhere to go, or whatever other reasons. Mr. Stark has been very generous with the budget for that."

"I'm glad you won't be alone on Christmas," he gives you a gentle smile.

"How about you," you ask. "You're welcome to join us if you'd like."

"Sam is insisting on taking me to Louisiana," he replies.

"Good," you assert. "I'm very glad you also won't be alone on Christmas."

You really shouldn't have been surprised to see the poinsettia on your desk the next day. There was no note, but you suspected. It wasn't very big and it had started wilting, but you loved it nonetheless. You gently hugged the plant and promised to give it the best of care for as long as it needed. After a week it was like a brand new plant, bright and strong. Doesn't hurt that you asked the biolab techs for help and resources.

It made Bucky's year to see how big your smile was, watching your poinsettia grow and how much you clearly loved it. It took him a while after to gather his courage and ask you on a date but your quick "yes" reassured him. Neither of you would ever be alone on Christmas.

#vee's holly jolly challenge #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fluff #bucky barnes christmas #percy the puny poinsettia

39 notes · View notes

yankstrash · 4 months

Text

after 2 weeks of gabe being in sweden and a month of the couple being apart for winter break, they're finally back together in boston

finally.

"i had every single game on the tv and my parents watched them all with me, especially my dad. he didn't even want to get up to use the bathroom because he was scared he would miss something. OH and when we were in rhode island visiting my grandparents, they even told me to turn the games on! not like i wouldn't anyways.. i watched every single one in its entirety."

amelia was rambling as she straddled gabes waist comfortably, her hands holding his shoulders as he stared up at her with the biggest grin on his face the entire time she spoke

he couldn't get enough of her and he was so happy they were back together.

"i'm so glad you got to watch all the games, baby. i appreciate that a lot you know"

she smiles at his words

"i wouldn't miss one for the world."

gabe smiles as he lifts himself so he's sitting up, amelia still wrapped around his waist

he leans forward and gives her lips a gentle kiss

"i think it's time i give you your christmas present" he says against her lips

she smirks back, "you got me something?"

"of course i did." he taps her sides, indicating that he has to get up

gabe gets up to retrieve her gift, but turns to look at his girlfriend first

"close your eyes." he says

she quirks her eyebrow at him, but obliges.

she sits on the bed with her eyes closed as he goes and grabs her gift

once in his hand, he goes back behind her on the bed

he looks down at the gift in his hand and smiles

unclasping it, he gently puts it around amelias neck

"keep your eyes closed till i say, okay?" he says softly, and she nods in response

once securely clasped, he smiles to himself

"you can open now." he says

she looks down at the new necklace that has been placed around her neck before picking up the charm in her fingers

she lets out a low gasp before turning and looking at gabe, a huge smile on her lips

"your initial.. and your jersey number" she says

gabe smiles and nods hesitantly, "i really hope it's not too much, but.."

amelia shakes her head and wraps her arms around gabes neck, hugging him tightly

"i love it. love it." she says, running a hand through his curls

"you do?"

"yes. so, so much." she says, pulling back from the hug and putting a hand on his cheek softly "thank you baby. i absolutely love it."

gabe lets out a sigh of relief

"good. i was worried you would think it's too much too soon, or not want to wear it, or-"

"gabe." amelia shushes him by placing her lips on his "i am never taking it off." she says softly

that puts a smile on gabe lips

"really?"

she nods, "really. it's beautiful and i love it. i can't wait to wear it all the time. thank you so much."

he smiles, "anything for you."

she leans in and kisses his lips again, smiling against them

"oh, one more thing. here's the box, if you wanna keep it." he shrugs "the inside of it is pretty cool, i don't know.."

amelia scrunches her eyebrows as she takes the box from gabes hand, opening it

her mouth falls open as she does

inside of it is a taylor swift lyric

one of her favorite taylor swift lyrics

from the first taylor swift song she ever played for gabe.

"i want to wear his initial on a chain 'round my neck, chain 'round my neck not because he owns me, but 'cause he really knows me.."

she picks the small paper up and looks at it, in awe that he put this in there

she turns it over and there's something written on the back

"for you, my pretty meels. because i really know you <3"

she turns to look at gabe, "you remembered?" she asks softly

he smiles and nods, "of course i did. it's the first taylor song we ever listened to together, october 19th after our late night milkshake run."

amelia feels so many emotions run through her at his words

he remembers every little thing.

"i didn't know if you were actually listening to the song or not.." she admits

"oh i was. every single word. and when i heard these lyrics, i knew i would get this for you some day."

he is perfect.

overwhelmed by her emotions, amelia leans forward and kisses gabe softly, holding his face gently in her hands

"you are perfect." she whispers against his lips, rubbing her thumb on his cheek

he smiles, giving her lips another peck

"you are perfect. my beautiful, pretty, perfect meels."

the first time they listened to call it what you want

#princess!gf x gabe perreault #g + m imagines !

53 notes · View notes

look-at-the-soul · 1 year

Text

New traditions

Modern Tommy Shelby x Reader

🎄 I wrote this one shot to celebrate @runnning-outof-time almost 2.5K, K congratulations 🎉 you’ve made a few celebrations before but timing wasn’t on my side and I couldn’t finish the story on time, now your Bingo celebration came just in time as I had this Christmas idea ♥️ so it couldn’t be more fitting, I hope you continue to do more celebrations and posting more incredible stories -one day I will catch up ☺️-

Summary: Setting up the Christmas tree together, becomes a new tradition for Tommy, Y/N and Charlie, let the beautiful the season do its own magic and make your wish, you might find your favorite Shelby doing something he wouldn’t normally do. 😉

Special thanks to @lyarr24 for the food recommendations 🥰

After taking a shower, Tommy got ready. The second floor was oddly silent, Y/N was nowhere to be seen and Charlie wasn’t in his room. But as he reached the first floor, he heard a low conversation and giggles and small chorus of a song.

“Go around the tree, and keep the ribbon with the little loop like this,” Tommy saw Y/N pointing at a piece of ribbon perfectly placed.

“Like this?”

A hand on her hip, her jeans hugging her legs, her ass was hidden by an oversized sweater Tommy swore belonged to him. “Beautiful, see? It wasn’t so hard.” Y/N nodded at the kid as she walked to the fire place, there was a garland decorating the top of it. As Charlie kept singing and messing up with the lyrics, Y/N took something out from a shopping bag.

Tommy’s heart caught up in his throat as he saw three Christmas socks in her hands.

One for him, one for her and one for his son, with Charlie’s name embroidered.

“Y/N look! Dad can help us with the star, we don’t need the ladder anymore.” Charlie pointed at him, still frozen in spot.

“We didn’t want to wake you up, so I asked Charlie to help me set up the Christmas tree.” Y/N explained as she walked towards him, giving Tommy a small peck on the lips, she tasted like hot chocolate and cookies.

“Will you help us Dad?” Charlie asked showing off his smile. Charming just like his father.

He had a busy morning ahead, but as Charlie ran to Y/N and they both pleaded with puppy eyes, he couldn’t say no.

“Alright.” He cleared his throat, pushing away the emotions, or at least trying to. “What can I help you with?

“Mr. Shelby I brought some coffee for you.” Frances announced placing the tray on the table, after asking if he wanted something for breakfast and Tommy answered that he didn’t, she left the drawing room.

“Charlie I think we can turn up the volume of the music now.” Y/N winked at Tommy, brushing his lips one more time as his son went to choose the playlist . “I have a surprise for you, later.”

Tommy raised his eyebrows in surprise, “are you going to dress up as Mrs Claus?” he licked his lips suggestively.

Hitting him in the chest with the Christmas sock, Y/N looked over at Charlie, lost in the gifts she had wrapped already, trying to find out the content of the package with his name on the tag.

“No what I had in mind, but that sounds like something you’d like.” Y/N answered while a soft blush covered her cheeks.

“Gloves, red lipstick, high boots, singing Jingle bells...” Tommy pressed his lower lip between his teeth and his eyes rolled to the back of his head.

Y/N couldn’t stop the laugh, as his hands squeezed her waist.

“You left me alone this morning.”

Feeling his arms locked, she was pressed dangerously close to his toned body. His lotion was addictive.

“Thought you were tired from last night activities.” She whispered opening the top button of his blue shirt. “Charlie almost caught me this morning.”

“Oh you wore me out, but I could always go for one more.” As Tommy smiled, small lines formed around his eyes. Lines of happiness as Y/N liked to call them.

“Dad do you know what Y/N got me? She says it’s heavy and its got thirteen letters.” Charlie complained interrupting their conversation looking up at his father.

Breaking the embrace, Y/N smiled at the mini-Tommy, he was just as curious as his dad, trying to get hints and clues since they started decorating early that morning.

“Nope, she went alone to shop in peace, says I don’t have patience.”

“You don’t.” Y/N interjected adding some crystal render to the decoration on top of the fireplace.

“So you don’t know?”

Pouting, Tommy shook his head.

Truth is he did know what present Y/N got his son, it was a beautiful horse collection that included three books and a set of horses figures, he knew Charlie would love it. But he wouldn’t ruin her surprise.

Tommy saw Y/N smiling at Charlie’s complain. He had asked Frances already.

“If its any consolation, she doesn’t want to tell me what she got for me.”

“That’s because is a surprise!”

After fixing some of the lights that didn’t work, he got up from the floor with a groan.

“Right, I hope you clean up everything after you finish, I gotta go.”

“What? Where?” Y/N popped her head from behind the tree with a look of a disappointment in her eyes, Christmas ornaments hanging from each finger. “I thought we’d spend the day together decorating.” She was hoping they could make it a beautiful new tradition.

With a loud huff, Cyril joined them only to keep sleeping peacefully next to the fire.

“I won’t be long, I just have to do something.”

“Daaaad.”

Guilt shot through his system, two pair of eyes looking at him accusingly.

“You promised to watch the Grinch with us.”

Part of Y/N’s Christmas ritual consisted of decorating the tree, bake cookies and watch a Christmas movies marathon.

“And Home alone too.” Charlie added.

And suddenly he felt like the worst person in the world.

“Fine, I’ll do it on Monday.” He gave in after a few seconds, there was no way to escape the Christmas decoration.

Y/N’s eyes sparkled, it was their first Christmas together and she was looking forward to the whole process.

“Really? Are you staying?” Y/N placed the tree ornaments back in the box and walked to were he was standing. She still wasn’t used to him working during the weekends. Lifting on her tip toes, she brushed her lips against Tommy’s. As he nodded, a beautiful smile appeared, and she pulled him by the neck to kiss him one more time. “You make me so happy.”

That’s all he wanted to hear. He would do anything just to see Y/N smile.

“I’m hungry.” Charlie complained.

“See I could go leave the papers and buy some food.” Tommy offered.

Y/N made a sound with her tongue and tilted her head. “I know that trick... we can order lunch in the app and get it delivered here.”

“What do you want?” He wrapped his arm around her waist, as Y/N leaned her head against his chest.

“Fish and chips!” Charlie demanded excitedly, running around.

“Where did he get all that energy?” Tommy asked looking at the ceiling.

Y/N laughed and inhaled his scent. “He’s your son, what did you expect?” Walking to her phone, she started placing the order, while with her free hand, she gave Tommy some ornaments. He made sure to get her approval before hanging each piece.

“Can you add extra ketchup for me Y/N? Please.”

Her heart skipped a beat as she saw Charlie placing the teddy bears with matching scarves under the tree, he was so polite.

“Of course sweetheart.” And as she said that, an arm sneaked around from behind.

“Where are you buying lunch from?”

“From Harry Ramsdens’, is that alright?”

“Yeah, love that.” Tommy kissed her neck and then the spot behind her ear that made her toes curl. Taking his wallet, he gave her his credit card.

“I think the tree is ready.”

Almost, Y/N thought walking to one of the boxes.

“Do you like this star, Cyril?” The dog sniffed the item, and Y/N moved it back just in time before he could lick it. “I think that’s a yes.”

Touching Tommy’s arm, she moved her eyes to Charlie, who was touching the crystal angel ornament he chose to remember and honour his mother.

“The tree needs the final touch son, do you want to put the star?”

“But it’s so high, I can’t reach the tip.”

Without further explanation, Tommy gave Charlie the star and took him in his arms. Lifting him above his head, the kid was able to set the star in the highest part of the tree. Struggling a bit when he started to laugh as his father’s fingers tickled his ribs.

“Are we ready now?”

“l’ll do it!” Charlie smiled running to take the remote to lit the tree.

“3, 2... 1!”

Turning on the lights, the three of them remained quiet for a moment, admiring their work.

It was probably one of the simplest thing he had ever done, but it meant so much. Sharing a moment with his son and girlfriend, listening to his happy voice singing and laughing with Y/N, telling her what he wanted to ask Santa, Tommy thought that this would be a happy holiday for him, not like the previous or when he was about his son’s age.

Swallowing his emotions, he was grateful for the doorbell ring interruption. Cyril stormed out barking.

“I’ll get it. Charles, help Y/N with the plates.” He instructed walking to the door.

After finishing their lunch, Y/N walked to get one of the presents and then back to the dining room.

“I was going to wait until Christmas Eve to give you this, but I guess we can open one present early.” She still had another present for him wrapped, it was a beautiful leather cover for his new iPad with a matching briefcase.

Tommy looked at her surprised, he wasn’t expecting the big box was for him.

“Go on, open it.” Y/N encouraged him with a smile.

Tommy left his cigarette on the tray. His heart fluttered with joy as he found what was under the shiny paper.

“Wow it’s so cool Dad.” Charlie spoke for him.

“When did you get this?” He asked in shock, looking at his girlfriend.

Y/N knew she scored when her eyes found Tommy’s. “Yesterday, I couldn’t resist it.”

“Can we assemble it?” Charlie’s eyes were fixed on the train set.

“Why don’t you open the box? We’ll be there in a minute.” Y/N offered to give Tommy a moment, he was suddenly quiet. Turning to look at him, she was now worried. “If you don’t like it I can ask for a refund.”

Before she could finish, Tommy was shaking his head.

“Thank you.” Sometimes, if she looked closely and he was caught off guard, she could see his emotions right in his eyes. This was one of those rare moments. “This is the best present you could give me, love.”

She didn’t know, but she was healing old open wounds, she was giving his inner child the love he sometimes couldn’t find.

“You’re welcome babe, I’m sorry it took you a few years to get the train around the Christmas tree you wanted, but it’s better late than ever.” Her hand came to rest on his cheek in a caressing motion.

Tommy closed his eyes the moment when his forehead touched hers. “Can’t believe you remember it.”

When they talked about how they would spend the holidays, somehow Y/N managed to get inside the deepest parts of his soul, where no one else was allowed to, and he ended up sharing a memory of his childhood and how he always loved to see the stores full of Christmas decorations and one store particularly placed the tree next to the window with a train going around the base.

“Are you going to help me or what?” Charlie shouted from the drawing room.

Burying his fingers in her hair, Y/N felt him smiling against her lips.

“He sounds just like you.” She chuckled intertwining her hand with his to walk to the other room.

“It has the track sections, the caboose and the little cabin with the driver!” Charlie exclaimed happily, he already had the pieces ready on the floor.

In silence, Y/N snapped a photo of Tommy and Charlie from behind, without them knowing, without a pose as they were setting the track, her boyfriend had a beaming smile, genuine, the kind that hurts your jaw after smiling so much.

“Put the batteries there, no turn that one.” Tommy instructed his son after stepping back.

The train started to move around the tree and Cyril inspected it, barking a couple of times, while Tommy struggled to find the right words to say. How could something so small mean so much?

He couldn’t stop the thoughts of those times when there wasn’t enough money for dinner, decorations or presents.

“I have something for you as well.” Tommy announced, then turning to Charlie, he whispered something in his ear and the kid ran upstairs.

“What is it?”

“You’ll see in a minute.” The smirk Y/N saw didn’t help, but he insisted on covering her eyes. “Charlie can you take it out from the bag please? Be careful, it can bite you.” He joked winking at his son as Y/N tried to hide herhands.

“Tommy!”

“Y/N!” He imitated her voice.

Seconds later, his hands moved away from her eyes and she found Charlie holding a music box with a small village inside.

“How...H-how did you know?”

“I asked Isaiah to be my eyes while you were shopping, he mentioned you kept coming back to watch it, after he drove you back home, I asked him to go back to the store to get it.” By the surprise in her eyes, it seemed like he got the right present.

“It needs a key to work.” Y/N stated, taking the box from Charlie’s hands.

“Right, about that...” Tommy offered her his hand and she pressed her palm against his, he turned it around, placing a key chain with two keys. “We’ve talked about taking the next step in our relationship.” His thumb was moving in slow circles in the back of her hand. “You’re so important in my life, my son loves you as much as I do. And we spend most of our time together... here. So I want to ask you if you would like to move in with me?” Charlie cleared his throat. “With us, I mean.”

One was the key to musical box and the other one of his house.

“Tommy yes! I want to move in with the three of you.” She pointed at Cyril, who only moved his head to get comfortable.

Placing his hands on her cheeks, Tommy pulled her for a kiss.

“It’s going to be so fun Y/N!” Charlie hugged her after they broke apart. “Will you stay tonight?”

Y/N blushed, she usually sneaked out before the sunrise, but that morning Charlie caught her walking from Tommy’s room.

“Will you stay forever?” Asked Tommy with a smile that reached his eyes.

“If you want me to.”

“Now we can watch a movie!”

“You can pick the movie, I will get the popcorn.” Y/N told Charlie who was already running to the other room.

But before she could walk to the kitchen, Tommy grabbed her by the arm and pulled Y/N back for a deeper kiss now that his son wasn’t looking.

“Are you really living with us?”

“It looks like that.” Y/N ran her fingers through the shaved sides of his head.

“That means I get to have you in my bed every night?” His lips went to assault her neck, nibbling gently.

“Starting tonight.”

“I’ll make sure you get a drawer or two.” He joked.

“That’s very generous from you.” And she pulled him before Charlie could start shouting that the movie was about to start.

An hour later, they were cuddling in the big sofa, Tommy placed his free hand wrapped around Y/N’s back. She was caressing Charlie’s hair, he fell asleep on her lap in the middle of the movie, in her other hand she was holding a glass of wine. After the movie finished Y/N took the book she bought for Christmas, another new tradition she wanted to do, buy books for her loved ones and read every night until Christmas Eve.

She knew there’s was something magical about the season, Tommy even agreed to wear the matching socks she bought for them, maybe next year she could convince him to wear matching pajamas.

Tommy looked at them; Y/N snapped a photograph of their legs tangled, with the fireplace in the background, Cyril could be seen there as well.

“Are you posting that to your Instasnap?

Y/N had to suppress a laugh to not wake up Charlie.

“Instagram baby.”

Rolling his eyes he added. “Whatever. Same shit.”

Unlike the movie, he wasn’t home alone. He had exactly what he needed to be happy.

***

A/N: Do you have any special traditions? You know it’s just a bit crazy because I decided to open my blog on Christmas Eve last year and my very first post was a Tommy/Charlie photo, so this just seemed to be the perfect match for the holidays. I hope you like this story, if you do, your thoughts and comments are the best gift you could give me 💝

Master list

This is the combination I chose from the Bingo:

Tag list:

@lyarr24 @datewithgianni @runnning-outof-time @gretelshelby @cloudofdisney @cillmequick @zablife @moral-terpitude @cutecurly-hair @prettylittlehoneyeyesxoxo @lespendy @gypsy-girl-08 @onlydeadcells @peaky-cillian @shelbydelrey @forgottenpeakywriter @esposadomd @stevie75 @strayrockette @the-forest-witchh @elenavampire21 @peakyscillian

If you want to be added to my tag list, let me know :)

#That’s what Cill said #tommy shelby #tommy shelby x fem!reader #tommy shelby x reader #thomas shelby x reader #tommy shelby x you #modern tommy shelby #tommy shelby imagine #peaky blinders imagine #modern peaky blinders #k’s 2.5k holiday bingo challenge

387 notes · View notes

the-amber-fox · 4 months

Text

AO3 Wrapped

How many words have you written this year? 143.349 published on AO3. Quite a lot unpublished. Quite a lot for other things.

How many works did you publish this year? 10

What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)? I think it’s One, two, three, four, five, sex on my mind aka sex shop au. This was such a ridiculous idea and we executed it with a passion and fun level that just made it irresistibly fun.

What work of yours has the most hits?

As this was the year of the red white and royal blue movie astoundingly the one fic I wrote for the fandom, Midnight Icecream, won by nearly double the hits than my others.

What work of yours got more feedback than you expected? Sex shop au. Normally people comment less on E-rated fics.

Favorite title you used? Nothing here to fear.

If you use song lyrics, which artist’s songs did you pull from the most? Nothing here to fear is from a Tori Amos song called Wednesday Also Take Me on is naturally from A-Has Take on Me. The Prince and the Popstar had a lot of lyrics and artists too. Check out the playlist for this one.

Pairing you wrote the most for this year?/ Favorite pairing you wrote for this year? Wilmon

What work was the quickest to write? I think You’re the cutest Jailbird I have ever seen was extremely fast.

What work took you the longest to write? The Prince and the Popstar, because me and the lovely @pagegirlintraining were just insanely busy.

How many WIPs do you have in your docs for next year? Wednesday AU and half an idea about Burlesque style barkeeper Wille.

What’s your longest work of the year? The Prince and the Popstar

What’s your shortest work of the year? Take me on

What WIP are you taking into next year with you? Wednesday AU. I promise I am going to finish it one day.

What’s your most common “Additional Tags” tag? Alternative Universe

Your favorite character to write this year? Simon as Wednesday probably.

What’s one pairing you want to explore next year? Wilmon all the way to the end baby. Let’s see if we need fix-it’s after season 3.

Which work of yours have you reread the most? I do not reread my own work in general. But I reread comfort pics like Oh Christmas Tree by @ishotforthestars.

How many kudos in total did you get this year? 2.983

Which work has the most comments? This year The Prince and the Popstar.

Did you do any collaborative works this year? I wrote four amazing fics with @pagegirlintraining and one lovely fever dream of a collab with @ishotforthestars.

Did you write any gifts this year? Yes, I wrote five: One, two, three, four, five, sex on my mind for @ishotforthestars Love is everything, stupid for @girls-are-weird Midnight icecream (Red, white and royal blue) for @rmd-writes Take me on for @pagegirlintraining Slipping’ into Christmas for @piebingo

Did you receive any gifts this year? Yes three lovely ones: Christmas Basket by @tuiiii En-Garde by @girls-are-weird Killing me softly (WIP) by @pagegirlintraining and @ishotforthestars

What’s your most common category? m/m

What do you listen to while writing? This might sound weird but it totally depends on my mood and what I am writing: sometimes I do listen to music, sometimes I even have dedicated playlists. But sometimes I listen to a movie from the genre I am writing or to old John Oliver episodes…

Favourite work you wrote this year? I have to name two, I can’t chose. It’s either The Prince and the Popstar or Sex Shop AU.

Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

“Simon, we are an inclusive group. It’s an adult queer romance book club, I doubt that anything you are wearing could–” Wille trails off with a splutter and stares at him as Simon opens his coat and shrugs out of it. Simon doesn’t know if he should feel self-conscious or proud that he made an obvious man of words lose them with cutout tights and a glittery mesh top under his big, violet fleece scarf. It really does leave very little to the imagination, he thinks to himself as he unwraps the fleece. Wille clears his throat, squeezes out “I’ll get you a hoodie,” and turns on his heel to speed walk to the other direction of the shop.

29. Biggest surprise while writing this year? How well all four coops with @pagegirlinwriting went and how much better of a writer it made me. It challenges you if you have to keep up to another excellent writer.

#ao3 wrapped #ao3 fanfic #ao3 writer #fanfic writing #young royals #wille x simon #wilmon #rwrb #yr fanfic #firstprince #rwrb fic #fanfiction #ao3fic #fanfic #ao3 author #simon x wille

20 notes · View notes

ninevoltheartmusic · 4 months

Text

Bandictionary archives: Travie McCoy interview

This interview with Travie McCoy of Gym Class Heroes is from July 11th, 2006 at the Vans Warped Tour. Describe the band's songwriting process. It's pretty democratic, I mean, we all add our two cents in. We start a song with either lyrics I wrote or a riff that Disashi wrote or a beat that Matt wrote and we'll all work them in so they sound amazing. What do you hope to achieve for the next album? World domination. I want to make people sick of my face. And hopefully marry that woman who just walked by. That's all I want to achieve. Do you try to make your shows different every day? Yeah. For some of the songs, the dialogue stays the same because there's a point that I want to make with a certain song. But for the most part, I change every day, so I think the shows change with how we're feeling that day. Usually it's a good thing, but, we try to keep it fresh because we realize that there's people coming to these shows that might have been at the last show, so we want to keep it special for everyone.

What do you think makes your band unique? Are you kidding me? Well, I think the fact that we try not to fit into any category. I mean we don't try hard; it's pretty easy. But for the most part, it's the fact that we can tour with these bands and then tour with hip-hop groups and then tour with reggae bands. That means the world to me. I want to stay in that position. I think that's what makes us unique. What are some of the band's goals for the future? We just want to keep producing music that we enjoy. The thing is, we've never really catered to any scene, we just like made the music that makes us smile. I think with any album, we take it to a new level and we always will continue to innovate. Are you superstitious at all? I am, actually. It's funny you say that. We just got into a really bad van accident a couple weeks before Warped started and the day before we got into the accident, I bought this bracelet. I don't usually wear jewelry, but I thought it was cute, so I bought it and we lived, so I've been wearing it ever since. So I feel like this is my good luck charm. How did you feel when you first heard yourself on the radio or saw yourself on TV? The first time I heard myself on the radio, I definitely tinkled in my pants a little bit. It was like one of those things. Like, you know, on Christmas morning, when you unwrap that present you really wanted, you know that feeling you get? Like, woah! You know? That's how I felt. It was like Christmas. Are your shows in your hometown different from all your other shows? Oh, of course! Hometown shows, I think, for any band are a little bit special because family is there, your close friends are there and I'm actually really looking forward to getting back to Buffalo on this tour because it's gonna be incredible. What can people expect when they come to see you live? Their faces to get melted off. Is it intimidating knowing that there are a lot of kids out there who look up to you? Yes, it is. And I think that goes for anybody who's making music and is in a position where kids are looking up to them because I'm far from perfect. I wouldn't say that I'm a model citizen, I'm just a big kid and I make mistakes. I would never want anybody to try to follow anything that I do. But in the same respect, it's kind of naïve for me to think that it wouldn't happen. For the most part, I try to be as positive as possible, but also party my ass off and be that inner demon I am. Describe your latest album (2006's As Cruel as School Children) in one word. Sexy. What was the last show you went to that wasn't your own? He is Legend was the last band I got to see at the Chain Reaction. He is Legend is one of my favorite bands. What was one album that really changed your life? Probably Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by the Smashing Pumpkins. It was one of the first CDs that I actually purchased myself. It was so dynamic that I was like, I want to make music like this. I want every song that we make to have its own personality. What effect do you think your band will have on the entire music scene? Hopefully to show people that they don't have to stick to one thing and that once they make an album, they're not doomed to sound like that forever.

#travie mccoy #gym class heroes #interview #bandictionary archives

10 notes · View notes

taylorswiftandx · 10 days

Text

Taylor Swift and Electronic Devices

Note: huge thank you to @meandmypagancrew who assembled the lyrics for this post! I have included here just nouns denoting electronic devices themselves, but you may also be interested in actions/media requiring these types of devices found on TS and Calling, Watching, Pictures, Films/Movies, Planes, Cars, the Internet, Tweeting, and Electricity.

'Taylor Swift'

Tim McGraw: The moon like a spotlight on the lake

Teardrops On My Guitar: As I turn out the light I’ll put his picture down and maybe get some sleep tonight

A Place In This World: Got the radio on, my old blue jeans

Stay Beautiful: He smiles, it’s like the radio

Our Song: I look around, turn the radio down

Our Song: When we’re on the phone and you talk real slow cause it’s late and your mama don’t know

Our Song: I’ve heard every album, listened to the radio

Our Song: When we’re on the phone and he talks real slow, 'cause it’s late and his mama don’t know

'Fearless (Taylor's Version)'

Hey, Stephen: They’re dimming the street lights

You Belong With Me: You’re on the phone with your girlfriend, she’s upset

Forever & Always: And I stare at the phone, he still hasn’t called

Jump Then Fall: We’re on the phone and without a warning, I realize your laugh is the best sound I have ever heard

SuperStar: So dim that spotlight, tell me things like I can’t take my eyes off of you

SuperStar: You sing me to sleep every night from the radio

The Other Side Of The Door: Going through the photographs, staring at the phone

That’s When: Then through the phone came all your tears

'Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)'

Mine: Do you remember all the city lights on the water?

Dear John: Wondering which version of you I might get on the phone tonight

Never Grow Up: I tuck you in, turn on your favorite night light

Never Grow Up: I tuck myself in and turn my night light on

Innocent: Your string of lights is still bright to me, oh

Ours: Elevator buttons and morning air

Electric Touch: Got a feeling your electric touch could fill this ghost town up with life

Electric Touch: In the heat of your electric touch

Electric Touch: I’ve gotten used to no one calling my phone

'Red (Taylor's Version)'

State of Grace: I’m walking fast through the traffic lights

Treacherous: Two headlights shine through the sleepless night

All Too Well: We’re dancing around the kitchen in the refrigerator light

Stay Stay Stay: I threw my phone across the room at you

Holy Ground: Took off faster than a green light, go

The Lucky Ones: And the camera flashes make it look like a dream

The Lucky Ones: Another name goes up in lights

The Lucky Ones: ‘Cause now my name is up in lights

Begin Again: Turn the lock and put my headphones on

The Moment I Knew: Christmas lights glisten, I’ve got my eye on the door

Girl At Home: I see you turn off your phone

Girl At Home: I wanna see you pick up your phone and tell her you’re coming home

'1989 (Taylor’s Version)'

Welcome To New York: The lights are so bright but they never blind me

Wonderland: Flashing lights and we took a wrong turn

New Romantics: We’re all here, the lights and noise are blinding

Is It Over Now?: Did you think I didn't see you, there were flashing lights

'reputation'

Delicate: Phone lights up my nightstand in the black

Getaway Car: There were sirens in the beat of your heart

Dancing With Our Hands Tied: I’d kiss you as the lights went out

'Lover'

Cruel Summer: Hang your head low in the glow of the vending machine

Cruel Summer: So cut the headlights, summer’s a knife

Lover: We could leave the Christmas lights up ‘til January

Miss Americana And The Heartbreak Prince: Waving homecoming queen, marching band playing, I’m lost in the lights

Miss Americana And The Heartbreak Prince: Running through rose thorns, I saw the scoreboard and ran for my life

Miss Americana And The Heartbreak Prince: No cameras catch my pageant smile

Miss Americana And The Heartbreak Prince: No cameras catch my muffled cries

Cornelia Street: As if the streetlights pointed in an arrowhead leading us home

Death By A Thousand Cuts: Chandelier’s still flickering here 'cause I can’t pretend it’s okay when it’s not

Death By A Thousand Cuts: I ask the traffic lights if it’ll be all right, they say, “I don’t know”

Soon You’ll Get Better: In doctor’s office lighting, I didn’t tell you I was scared

ME!: I know that I went psycho on the phone

It’s Nice To Have A Friend: Video games, you pass me a note

'folklore'

Cardigan: Vintage tee, brand new phone

Cardigan: Dancing in your Levi��s, drunk under a streetlight

Cardigan: I knew you’d miss me once the thrill expired and you’d be standing in my front porch light

Betty: Stopped at a streetlight, you know I miss you

The Lakes: These hunters with cell phones

'evermore'

Dorothea: A tiny screen’s the only place I see you now

Cowboy Like You: Now I’m waiting by the phone

Evermore: Motion capture put me in a bad light

Evermore: I rewind the tape but all it does is pause on the very moment all was lost

'Midnights'

Maroon: The rust that grew between telephones

Snow On The Beach: This scene feels like what I once saw on a screen

You’re On Your Own, Kid: I touch my phone as if it’s your face

Midnight Rain: And he never thinks of me except for when I’m on TV

Paris: Let the only flashing lights be the tower at midnight in my mind

Other Songs written by Taylor

All Of The Girls You Loved Before: When you think of all the late nights, lame fights over the phone

Christmas Tree Farm: In my heart is a Christmas tree farm where the people would come to dance under sparkling lights

Christmases When You Were Mine: When you were putting up the lights this year did you notice one less pair of hands?

Only The Young: You brace for the sound you’ve only heard on TV

Official Alternate Releases

(no electronics)

#taylor swift #lyrics #taylorswiftandx #lyric parallels #electronics #electronic devices

9 notes · View notes

doyourememberrocknrollradio · 4 months

Text

Five Songs to Get to Know Me:

The Johnny (aka @omarandjohnny) edition!

Since we're all gathered in this little corner of the site due to our love of music, what better way to introduce ourselves than to share a few songs that we just aren't ourselves without!

Enjoy the Silence/Depeche Mode

My number one of all time, the one that's embedded in my DNA, will always be Enjoy the Silence. (you don't spend eight plus hours in a tattooist's chair getting a design for a song you only sorta like 😉)

I'll go with my favorite version of it as well-

youtube

While the rest are in no particular order, they're all just as important:

Everything She Wants/Wham!

Now, this one is not so much about the lyrics, but more the fact that it always brings me back to a specific childhood memory- some time in the late '80s, sitting in the car (waiting on mom) as it's pouring outside, fussy little brother in the backseat, and this pops on the radio. Turns out, the chorus worked great as a simple call-and-response song to keep little brother engaged and entertained. Just a sliver of time, kept forever in a song. What a gift 💜

youtube

Nemesis/Shriekback

I want to say it's been at least twenty years now since I was first recommended this song (in the wayback times of Livejournal). Person who rec'd it was a friend of mine who said I personally needed to KNOW this song. After one listen, I understood what they meant. It's been a staple favorite ever since.

youtube

Blue Velvet/Bobby Vinton

Another song as time capsule- This one takes me back to Christmas '89, on our way home from Indy- the Christmas lights peeking through the snow every other mile or so from the farmhouses we passed, Mom and little brother sound asleep, Dad turning the radio up just enough for me to hear as we drove back in the dark. About halfway home, this song came on, and Bobby's voice just seemed to glide over the snow with us.

youtube

Don't Fear the Reaper/Blue Oyster Cult

Can't have a song list without a favorite concert experience, right?

I was extremely fortunate to get the chance to see them perform in 2004 (my brother took me as a late birthday/early Christmas gift), and it still is my favorite concert-to-date! They played all the goodens, and of course, closed with Don't Fear the Reaper. I cried my eyes out, it was just so magical.

youtube

---

And now that I've shared my five, I welcome our followers and friends to join in with yours!

You can submit your list, or tag us on your personal blog post(s) so we can reblog it here, but we'd love to see it either way!

16 notes · View notes

pocima · 2 months

Text

My seasonal music highlights: winter 2024 🧣

Welcome to a new series of my silly music-blogging. Starting it because I want to regularly properly write about and describe the songs I enjoy, and to present my own candidates for the unofficial “song of the season” awards. I already started an annual fav list for albums/EPs and wanted something less major and more presentable as a little playlist, not really in particular order. Enjoy! Note that I kept the list one song per artist, most have incredible new releases outside of the ones focused on, these are just my picks for the season or my most played. And let me tell you, countless artists are dropping new music and projects left and right and I’m getting FED. This list alone is extremely abundant and we’re barely 2 full months into the year. The competition for this year’s personal favorite album spots and the highlights for the next seasons is about to be real tough. Can’t wait. (GIF source: MV for Cyberia by Meth Math.)

❅ winter again - 4s4ki

What better way to start a songs of the winter list than with THE anthem of this winter season? With her ability to not only pull off but absolutely excel at the different genres she incorporates into her music, 4s4ki simply never disappoints. She went into the studio with a mission to give the famous Last Christmas by Wham! a true successor and the mission was wonderfully accomplished. In this mellow 80s pop influenced track, she channels her inner Cocteau Twins (word to that one YouTube comment in the lyric video) while longing for a loved one that didn’t seem to stay by her side not even to have some canned coffee and bento this holiday season. Now I’m gonna channel my inner platonic delulu and say that it was released just on time, when I was discovering and especially feeling Boy Harsher’s alternative 80s inspired music (collab when?). Ironic how a self-described reverse Christmas song ended up doubling my winter spirits. She never fails to give me exactly what I need. I love this woman. (Big ups to Magic sword but as I mentioned I’m keeping the list one song per artist.)

youtube

❅ 4eva - Shygirl feat. Empress Of

You know from my username that I’ve been loving what Shygirl has had to offer for quite a while now, and 4eva was my personal post-Nymph jam ever since I heard a snippet of it back in last September and neither the full studio version nor my intuition let me down. Shygirl’s rapping and Empress Of’s verse over the Kingdom-produced delicious wobbly synths indeed stay playing on my mind. Empress Of’s feature came as a tracklist surprise and I’m more grateful for it than I had expected. The jungle drums in the chorus, and honestly the structure of the song in general were unexpected to me as well, but nevertheless they took part in forming possibly my favorite dance track of 2024. Both the Club Shy EP and 4eva have secured firm spots in my favorites of the year.

❅ Deer Teeth - Sega Bodega

Father of music, first ever man in the music industry, smash hit sorcerer, my favorite producer of all time… However you may refer to Sega Bodega, you can always rely on him to create an entire universe in one record and take you there and back. With Deer Teeth, he tells a story of a sighting of a late mother laid to rest with her child in a swan’s wings along with 200 deer teeth (hence the song title), which brings with itself a tale of hope, sacrifice and eternity. With reversed and distorted vocals, the addition of Mayah Alkhateri’s siren-like voice and obviously Sega’s otherworldly production style, the tale transforms into a cinematic masterpiece in sound form. Extra note: perfect to fall asleep to in a road trip, tried and tested. Both Deer Teeth and his newer single Set Me Free, I’m an Animal are stunning masterpieces, and I know this will make my year-end album list real predictable but SB3 is the most solid candidate for the top spot as of right now. Save me Sega Bodega, save me…

youtube

❅ Ex-Girlfriend - Erika de Casier feat. Shygirl

New slow R&B earworms drawing on different nostalgic genres couldn’t be more perfect for the chilly season, especially when they’re delivered by the one and only Erika de Casier. She has this ability to mix the best musical aspects of the near past (namely the 90s/00s) with her very own sensuality, freshness and uniqueness. Her soft vocals over a down-tempo R&B beat to match come after an orchestral, arguably dramatic intro and the melancholic, yearning yet cocky-ish tone is set. Shygirl’s deep, almost raspy voice always shines with slow, gloomy instrumentals (also seen in Lapdance from Asia by Cosha) and this track was no exception, matter of fact it’s now certainly one of my favorite features of hers. I will be returning to this song not only on the colder days of March, but the whole year, or rather until it’s wiped off existence completely.

youtube

❅ Cyberia - Meth Math

Before the quirky experimental trio’s slightly overdue, highly anticipated debut album Chupetones (go give the best b-side Pócima a listen too), they released 4 singles and I was not at all aware beforehand of the release of the third one. Pressed play, was impressed, pressed the loop button and the rest (at least 80 plays within the first week) was history. The intro immediately catches your attention, and the descriptions of a sad-looking happily-dancing angel over toot sounds, ripping synths and bonking bass transition into happy hardcore perfection. The 3-second bit before the second chorus gets me the most, it’s like a minuscule break to slow down and reflect on the all the absurdity before resuming the alien dancefloor madness. This banger completes my Meth Math song holy trinity, which is now Tambaleo-Fantasía Final-Cyberia. Add Pócima into the mix if you wanna form the four horsemen. Whatever your personal favorite may be, we can all agree that Meth Math always come at us with excellence.

❅ dOpamine - OnlyOneOf

Hallelujah. We have finally reached an era where all lyOns can live in harmony and sleep in peace instead of fighting over title tracks and new lows for the group’s flaming hot garbage record label. Even their biggest haters (so-called “fans” with a strange superiority complex) were finally praising an OnlyOneOf title track, and with how good it really is I’d be admiring their dedication to hating their own faves if they didn’t. Anyway, dOpamine is one of their best, it really is. I’ve been hoping for them to get on the drum & bass train for quite a while now, and they did it with a bright, twinkling, breakbeat-incorporating twist. They don’t lazily dip their toes into dnb and breakcore and leave it at that though, the buildups and structure of the track stay fascinating and the bridge drifts (should I intend the pun?) into their gritty industrial side before the outro closing out the song on a vocally strong, passionate but never over-the-top note. While the whole mini is exquisite, the lead single ended up being my favorite. Simply put, OnlyOneOf never fail to deliver quality K-pop against all odds.

youtube

❅ Sorbet - Kelela (LSDXOXO Remix)

The pre-release singles off of the RAVE:N remix album were all incredible just like its album tracks, however this gem is particularly lingering on me and my February mood. This spin on Sorbet encapsulates the AM club aspect of the project in one re-envisioned tune. Kelela and LSDXOXO, who produced and remixed numerous of her songs, reunite as a power duo to turn the dulcet, sedate Sorbet into a Eurodance-coded amped-up slapper that will get anyone moving. You can tell the song is DJ set opener material from when the first beat kick. The chorus melody sticks to your mind and the late night-like sonic experience becomes unforgettable. The special encounter requiring dim lighting is now set in a flashy rave scene. Completely flipped scenario yet everything makes perfect sense. All in all, Kelela’s vision for her dance records is 20/20 and LSDXOXO’s execution never leaves you hanging either.

❅ Fuetazo - Isabella Lovestory feat. Villano Antillano

Born to embody camp, forced… no, also born to be a hit maker. Isabella is undebatably one of the freshest, most outstanding figures of neoperreo and neoreggaeton, and her eccentric flare still comes through in a single as a (hopefully) pre-album snack. Fuetazo was released early into the season and closed out Isabella’s activities for the year. While the playful chorus introduces a whip that comes and goes, Villano Antillano mentions vacations and 42-inch weaves with her tone that meshes with the cheekiness of the track, and their chopped up vocal bits go back-and-forth in the outro. With the Chicken, Kamixlo and Dinamarca producer trio, the instrumentals can’t go wrong. The hard-hitting dembow drums and the lighter synths and other aspects of the song create a contrast that feels like a breeze, maybe more of a summer one even but a confidence booster gots to stay on rotation regardless of weather or temperature.

youtube

❅ Messy Room - The Deep (+ mini EP review)

Had I postponed the release of my 2023 fave project list just a little, the Messy Room EP would have at least scored an honorable mention. For those who need a quick debrief: The Deep is an independent K-alternative artist whose discography radiates coziness and sweetness. Mayhaps I should say sugar, spice and everything nice. Taking part in the production of her music, creative direction and visual curation, she ticks all the boxes for the bedroom pop star that should’ve reached her target audience ages ago. While she’s taken inspiration from R&B and indie and still does, “resurfaced” genres such as UK garage, dnb and Jersey club are fairly newer additions to her range. I love all of these genres as you could tell and I adore the songs in which she uses them (got into her through the UKG bop Muah!), but surprisingly the track that glanced at her “roots” hooked me in the most. Maybe it’s because it contains the core “messy room” atmosphere of the EP, maybe it’s her soft vocals shining brightly, maybe it’s because she has the recipe to making a tune to unwind to. I hope this praise doesn’t sound like a jab at the rest of the EP because not a single skip is detected over there. In Brand New House and BAPPI, The Deep talks about deserving the luxuries and getting to the bag over garage and house beats. bow wow is about confidence despite troubles and annoyances, while 20’s is a self-reflection on the constant search for perfection and attempts to heal. The project is most definitely worth checking out if you want a bit of calm, refreshing new music, or if you’re looking for a multi-skilled artist to support.

youtube

One line section (music I loved but honestly don’t have as much to say about, so I fit my thoughts into one line/sentence)

❆ Gold On Me: Mother ABRA is back and I’m definitely checking out Groupthink after this, now it’s time for the album innit 🍽️ (should’ve definitely written about this in more detail but maybe another time soz)

youtube

❆ 4 noviosS: While everyone came to Club Shy to play, she entered with pen and paper and a goal.

youtube

❆ Perdió Este Culo: I have to give flowers where they’re due, I wish the La Joia album had more quality of this level though. (However shoutout to Sexy, La Que No Se Mueva and Sin Carné.)

youtube

❆ TYOSTAR: Can’t tell if their music is aimed at dudebros (disgustingly irritating audience) or hyperpop girlies (slightly less irritating audience) but they scored a night ride hit either way, definitely one of Starkids’ finest to date.

Thankies for getting here, and shoutout to @chuuuvi for pretty much directly fueling my writing process and inspo and @a-moth-to-the-light for inspo as well 😁

#keyboard.com #finally writing again yippee #bro spring’s highlight list already has 3 definite entries. it’s the first day of March. the food is too good #4s4ki #shygirl #empress of #sega bodega #erika de casier #meth math #onlyoneof #kelela #lsdxoxo #isabella lovestory #villano antillano #the deep #me when 2024

9 notes · View notes