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cosmic-affinities · 3 years

Text

His Best Shot (Of Espresso)

Read it on AO3 Here

Summary: Taking the morning shift was the best decision Katsuki ever made, he could survive the early hours and bitchy customers if it meant Izuku went to him for his morning coffee. Now all he has to do is keep him coming back.

The obligatory coffee shop AU combined with the also obligatory college/university AU! A gift for the lovely QueenBoudicatheGreat ( @lesbian-deku) for the BKDK New Year’s Exchange!

Notes: I had so much fun writing this! It was my first venture into the coffee shop trope so I hope I did it justice! A big thanks to @ElleBakugou on Twitter for being my beta, along with @we_stanjirou (SapphicFlower on AO3!)

(Queen, I hope you don't mind that I waited so long to post! It's still technically the first for me and I was trying to make it perfect!)

It was a weird circumstance. Usually, the customer felt more out of place when getting coffee. But whoever this person was they definitely knew the place.

The man with the green hair walked in with a bright smile, much too happy for someone walking into a college coffee shop at seven am. He quickly waved at the two people making coffee as he made his way to the counter.

“Good morning!”

Katsuki had to force down an eye roll, he hadn’t even looked up yet and this customer was already way too excited.

“Yeah, what can I get started for you?”

As he finally looked up he momentarily paused. Wow whoever the fuck this was, they were cute.

“Hmm, what do you recommend?”

Usually, Katsuki hated that question, but coming from this stranger he couldn’t help what came out of his mouth next.

“This morning shitty hair back there made some almond peppermint iced coffee, I bet I can get him to make another.” He surprised himself, why was he telling a random customer that his idiot best friend makes random shit up and forces him to drink it?

The man, clearly amused, had tilted his head to the side for a moment before speaking up.

“Kirishima? He does seem like someone who would come up with that!”

“Yeah he’s always coming up with some gross ass shit and forces me and dunce face to drink it, today he got lucky.”

“You sure have some funny nicknames for Kirishima and Kaminari. Either way! If you think it won’t be a hassle to make it again, I’d love to try the almond peppermint iced coffee!”

“Pft, they’ve made much more complicated things for way more shitty people, don’t sweat it, nerd.”

The man laughed lightly.

“What makes you think I’m a nerd?”

“You just have that nerd vibe, plus who else willingly takes morning classes in the summer, other than nerds.”

The now deemed ‘nerd’ looked confused for a moment before he realized he had his school books sticking out of his bag.

“I guess that’s fair! At least the summer classes are almost over!”

“Yeah, and I bet you have morning classes in the fall too.” Katsuki countered, with an eyebrow raise.

The man blushed lightly, letting Katsuki know that he was in fact right.

“It’s only one class in the morning! It's 8 am on Friday! Really not that bad!”

Katsuki was going to counter but he realized he had a similar class, so he decided to keep his mouth shut.

“Either way you’re still a nerd but I can’t put that on a cup, so I need a name.”

“Oh! Izuku, Izuku Midoriya.”

“I’ll make sure shitty hair works fast, should be ready soon.”

“Wait! How much is it?”

“Don’t worry about it.” Katsuki shot the man, Izuku now, a wink and quickly turned, immediately regretting it. He never did that, he never winked or gave out drinks for free. Damn it this nerd was going to be the end of him.

Izuku was left blushing at the counter suddenly very grateful for the hell he went through this summer for his morning class.

“Oi! Shitty hair! Make another one of those iced coffees you made this morning for the nerd!”

Kirishima furrowed his brow for a moment before responding.

“Oh! Midoriya! You’re gonna love this!”

Katsuki was determined to redeem himself, he couldn’t leave it at a wink, he was better than that!

“Even your name is nerdy. The first half of it can be read as Deku!”

Izuku blushed at the nickname, why couldn’t the hot guy be an asshole! That would make it so much easier not to like him.

“Well if I’m Deku then you’re- Kacchan!” He looked triumphant, only making him even more adorable.

“What the fuck is a Kacchan?”

“You! You are Kacchan!”

“And you are a fucking nerd, Deku.”

“Don’t think I didn’t spot the All Might pin next to your name tag! You’re secretly a nerd too, Kacchan!”

Katsuki blushed at the call out, what can he say? All Might was the single greatest superhero to ever be written!

“Hey, Midoriya! Here’s that coffee! You gotta tell us if you like it, Kirishima swears it’s his best one yet!”

“For sure Kaminari! I’ll see you guys tomorrow! Bye Kacchan!” Izuku left after raising an eyebrow at Katsuki, almost daring him to counter.

Once the bell on top of the door dinged, signaling that Izuku had left, both Kaminari and Kirishima moved in like sharks on prey.

“So what was that all about, Kacchan?” Kaminari always seemed ready to provoke the beast.

“Don’t fucking call me that dunce face. I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

“Really? So you just give everyone free drinks and cutesy nicknames? I noticed a distinct lack of insult to Deku, no shitty, no dunce.” Kirishima was right there with him.

“Well maybe if you two shit heads would mind your own business you wouldn't have even heard Deku!”

Kirishima and Kaminari shared a look, even if he wouldn’t admit it Katsuki knew they were onto him.

“Wait, hold the fuck up. How do you guys know the cute nerd anyway? He knew your names and everything. I barely know your fucking names.” Katsuki was quick to change the subject.

“Oh he’s a cute nerd now, is he? That’s Midoriya, he comes in all the time. Almost every morning. He’s one of the only people who pay more than two seconds of attention to us so I guess Kami and I became friends with him.” Kaminari nodded along with Kirishima’s words.

“And why haven’t you mentioned him before? You both go around calling us best friends and yet you don’t tell me these things, that's why I call you my shit heads.”

“Uh, we have mentioned him. Midoriya was the one we were talking about like two weeks ago, he got a few extra tickets to Jirou’s show at that bar on main and gave them to us! He’s the one that introduced me to Shinsou, the drummer, at the concert? How do you not remember this?” Kaminari was sure Katsuki didn’t flat out ignore them every time they talked.

“That was him?! Why haven’t I met him? Ever since you two started getting lovey-dovey with Half and Half and the drummer you have been on my shit to get out there!”

“Hey! We aren’t lovey-dovey!” “Todoroki and I are just friends!” The pair spoke at the same time, trying to deny Katsuki’s accurate description.

“Yeah, just friends how I want to be Just Friends with Deku! Don’t try and argue with that lovey-dovey shit, I saw the heart you drew on his cup Dunce Face.” Katsuki leveled them with a challenging glare, daring them to contradict him.

“Okay fine! Maybe I drew a heart on his cup, and maybe Kirishima is lying to himself about Todoroki just a little, but what does that have to do with Midoriya?”

“It has everything to do with him! You know what screw it, I’m keeping the morning shift when the fall semester starts. If he comes in here all the time I am going to see him.”

The three abruptly ended their conversation as a customer walked in, letting their customer service personality take over for the rest of the day.

Izuku had to rush to his class, he really spent too much time at Heights Alliance this morning. He couldn’t help it! The hot blonde was super nice to him! He even got away with calling him Kacchan!

Professor Yamada called him out on his daydreaming after class ended, luckily he wasn’t behind in Lit Interpretation class. Less lucky was the comment about young love that followed.

The next morning Katsuki insisted on being at the register, an uncommon occurrence for the brash blonde, he tended to keep himself in the back if he could help it.

Kirishima and Kaminari simply shared a look and resigned themselves to a shift of trying not to burn themselves on steamed milk.

They swore Katsuki was going to break his neck with all of the quick turning he did as soon as the bell rang as a customer walked in. His reprieve finally bounced in, still much too excited for someone entering a coffee shop so early.

Katsuki quickly refocused his gaze on his computer, attempting to appear nonchalant. He felt his restraint breaking as Izuku moved closer to the counter. Finally, he met Izuku’s eyes.

“Back so soon? Miss me that much?” Katsuki had talked himself up all morning, he had to try harder to make this nerd his.

Izuku gained an even blush at the comment, he had in fact missed Katsuki but he knew he didn’t have a shot.

“Ha ha very funny, I'm here almost every day, what makes you think it's not for Kirishima and Kaminari?”

Katsuki arched a sculpted brow, “Because they’ve already been set up with your friends.”

“Hmm, you got me there!” Katsuki already knew that, he made sure to interrogate anyone he could about Izuku.

“Alright then, what will it be today? Shitty Hair made some nasty ass shit this morning so I don’t even have a suggestion.”

“Well then just get me whatever you normally get! You can really tell a lot about a person from the coffee they drink!”

“Well then, tell me what you get from a vanilla iced coffee with a shot of espresso?”

“Hmm an espresso shot, that tells me you’re likely a natural leader, vanilla softens up the bitterness of coffee that says you’re laid back but realistic, and it being iced, well that gives me confident and serious but you know when and how to have fun.”

Katsuki was shocked for a moment, how could he have gotten all of that from his coffee order?!

“I wrote a research paper on how coffee is linked to your personality, from there my addiction only spiraled!” Izuku laughed lightly, pulling Katsuki’s thoughts from the scarily accurate breakdown of his coffee to the quite gorgeous man in front of him.

“So, what's your ‘normal’ coffee order then? What does that say about you?”

Izuku watched as Kirishima came up with his drink, preparing to grab the cup.

“Now that would be telling, wouldn’t it, Kacchan?” Izuku slipped fifteen dollars into the tip jar, trying to make up for the previous day’s free coffee. With a slight wink, Izuku made his way out of Heights Alliance.

As soon as he rounded the corner out of sight of the coffee shop he covered his face with his hands and let out a deep sigh. What was he thinking! He never winked at people! He was no suave in any way! He could only hope that Katsuki didn’t think he was a gross jerk!

Katsuki stood frozen, trying desperately to commit the entire interaction to memory before he could no longer recall the exact color of Izuku’s eye as it winked closed.

“I would just like to say that Midoriya has never winked at me like that which I think means you should totally go for it!”

Katsuki turned towards Kirishima and nodded, still in a slight daze. Kirishima and Kaminari laughed at their best friend’s face, they had never seen him act this way over anyone before.

The next week followed the same, Izuku would come in, Katsuki would take his order (which always changed) and they would attempt to flirt with each other. Katsuki decided that he was going to try something new on Friday.

Izuku came in, evidently a bit more tired than normal, it was finally the end of his summer classes but the exams were not going easy on him. He asked Katsuki to give him the most caffeine in a cup possible.

Katsuki went along with it knowing that it was a one-time thing, noting that he looked like he could fall asleep standing.

Katsuki quickly wrote ‘Deku’ on a cup and paused. He was determined to go through with his plan, without another thought he messily scrawled his phone number directly underneath it.

Katsuki quickly prepared the abomination of espresso shots, strong enough to resuscitate an elephant, and made his way to hand it off to Izuku.

“Alright Deku, here is a large…. Espresso shot? I don’t really know what the fuck to call this other than ‘barely a step up from straight-up heroin’ I’d say be careful but honestly you could probably use it.”

Izuku laughed heartily, Katsuki could admit that he wasn’t all that funny but if the sleep deprivation allowed him to hear that laugh he would let it slide for the day.

Izuku quickly reached out for his coffee, making Katsuki’s nerves heighten, it wouldn’t be long before he noticed the phone number.

Alas, the moment never came, Izuku’s depth perception was ever so slightly off, just enough to make sure his coffee cup slipped right through his fingers. As the paper cup smacked into the floor the top popped off, making a huge mess of very strong coffee.

Izuku was startled from his sleep-addled state, he made quick work of trying to clean up, requesting paper towels and a floor cleaner so he could repair the mess he made, the first step in his clean up was tossing the now empty coffee cup into the garbage.

Katsuki deflated as he saw the tail end of his phone number displayed in the trash can, Izuku didn’t even spare the cup a glance.

“Don’t worry about it nerd. I’ll get it cleaned up and I can get Hair for Brains to make you another one. I know there is no way you have time to clean this all up.”

“No! I can’t just leave you with a big mess! It was my fault I can clean it up!”

“Deku, it’s the last day of summer classes. Go take your final in peace, if you are really worried about it come back tomorrow and let me choose your drink for the day.”

Izuku softened, why, why, WHY, did Katsuki have to be so far out of his league? This was the perfect man!

“Kacchan you are quite literally the best! What time does your shift end?”

“Uhhh three? Why?”

“Perfect, and don’t worry about it! You will see!” Izuku grabbed the new version of his coffee (sans Katsuki’s phone number) and quickly made his way to his final class of the summer.

Katsuki waited anxiously for the end of his shift to come, what the hell had Izuku meant?! If Kirishima and Kaminari were less understanding people, they would have smacked him after he asked for the time seven times within the span of about four minutes.

Luckily for everyone, the pair could relate to Katsuki, the whole ‘a watched pot never boils’ phenomenon at it’s finest.

Around two P.M. there was a big rush of customers, ranging from those on their lunch breaks to those who hadn’t slept in roughly thirty-six hours. Thankfully the closing staff had been clocked in since one. Before they knew it three o’clock rolled around.

As if on command, Izuku walked through the door with a small bag in hand.

“Kacchan! Can I borrow you for a few?”

“Pft, I’m off the clock Deku, you can borrow me for the rest of the day.” Katsuki regretted it immediately after it left his mouth, why the fuck would he say that out loud?

“Even better! C’mon, I have something for you!”

Katsuki followed Izuku out of the coffee shop to a small bench situated under a few trees, trying his hardest to figure out what was about to happen.

“Alright, as a bit of a thank you for this morning I wanted to get you a little something, you are the reason I didn’t fail my history exam! I walked in about thirty seconds before my professor locked the door!”

“For cleaning up some spilled coffee? Deku, that’s what my paycheck is for.”

Izuku leveled him with an unimpressed look, evidently not agreeing with his statement.

“You didn’t have to replace my coffee and clean up after me. I know that isn’t in your job description. Don’t argue with me! Just open the damn gift! Please?”

Katsuki knew it was really no use, he would do anything if it was prompted by those big green eyes pleading with him.

“Alright, fine hand it over.” Izuku became visibly excited as he placed the bag on Katsuki’s lap.

Katsuki quickly made his way to the bottom of the bag and pulled out a small figurine.

“You’re fucking with me, right? There is no way this is the rare bronze age All Might figurine that came out two summers ago in a limited run of 750?”

Izuku was all but bouncing as Katsuki finished his sentence.

“Yes, it is! That summer I bought one for myself immediately and as it turned out my mom bought me the same one to give to me for my birthday! I do not know a single other person that would have recognized it as his bronze age costume, let alone give the details of the release. I have two of them anyway, you seem like the perfect person to give it too! Plus what you did for me today was really nice.”

“I can’t take this from you! All I did was clean up some shitty coffee!”

“And get me a new one, and be nice to me all the time, and generally be a good person. So take the fucking gift before I have to get creative and find a way to make you take it.”

“Fine! I’ll take it! On one condition.”

“Oh, and what might that be?”

“You have to agree to go on a date with me.” Katsuki barely stopped himself from slapping a hand over his mouth. This was not the way he was supposed to ask Izuku out! There’s no way he’s going to say yes to this shitty-

“Okay! Tell me a time and place!”

“Wait really?!”

“Did you not just hear me go on and on about you? Why wouldn’t I say yes?” Izuku spoke as if he was explaining why basic addition made sense.

“You haven’t shown any interest in me! Why would I assume you would say yes?”

“Okay, have you not realized that I have been trying my hardest to flirt with you? I know I’m terrible at it but not this bad!”

Katsuki came to a sudden realization, “You know what. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you said yes! Alright, time and place…”

“Oh good! We’re finally on the same page! I’m fine with going anywhere just as long as we don’t go to Antonio’s, I spend enough of my life there during the dinner rush.”

“Got it no Antonio’s and no coffee, how about dinner at the sushi place up the road? I can pick you up tomorrow night at seven?”

“I’ll call and make a reservation for seven-thirty!”

Katsuki couldn’t help the genuine smile that graced his features, he was happy.

“You know, I tried putting my number on your coffee cup this morning. You just had to go and spill it though.”

“Really?! I’m sorry Kacchan! I would’ve called you if I knew about it!”

“Don’t sweat it, nerd, it all worked out in the end.”

The next night the pair went on their first date, although no one would’ve guessed it was only their first. Neither of them felt an ounce of awkward tension, enjoying the easy flow of conversation as the night progressed.

They learned that they grew up a mere three blocks away from each other, laughing at how they managed to meet long after just missing each other as kids.

They talked about their classes, finding out that they were set to be in a history class together every Friday at 8 A.M. (Izuku didn’t let the chance to call Katsuki a nerd pass.) They had been shocked, they both picked that professor because his ratings were only dampened by those who had no work ethic, knowing they would benefit from the strict regime that any class with Professor Aizawa promised.

The pair ended their night by walking the long way back to campus, hand in hand. Izuku departed with a quick but meaningful kiss, a promise of their future.

They would eventually credit Professors Yamada and Aizawa (or, more accurately Aizawa-Yamada as they came to find out) with their get-together and the strength of their relationship. If it wasn’t for the no sleep Izuku was running on for his class, they may have never gotten together. If their history class had them separated they would no doubt have slowly become too consumed with school and work to have time for one another.

They made sure the older pair knew this at their wedding roughly eight years later.

27 notes · View notes

wispandwhispers · 4 years

Text

moonboy

Notes: Writers block is a bitch, I’m sorry this took so long.

Pairings: Prinxiety, Logicality, qpr dukeceit

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Tw(s): Cursing, mental torture, one slight nsfw joke, death, crying

Words: 1884

"You've got your stuff?"

Some scuffling and overturning of a bag to double check that everything is in it.

"Yep.

"Do you really think that we are going to make it back for first bell."

"Naw."

"Call in the favour from Quill..."

*****

Roman woke up.

From those dreams.

And the screaming thoughts came back.

Don't think about it Ţ̚Ḩ͡Ī̧͖̪͉͓͌̊̂͝N͕̾K̝̟͗͗,̦̂ ̒͢T̡̫̪̄̾͛HI̡̫̮͑̅͂N̢̨̖̯̳̆͆͗͘̚K̦͔͑͋,͍̱͔̬̓͛̑̐ ͙̦̯͚̅͂͋̽P̛͚̰̟̩̟̾̄̆͂L͎͍̥͔̭̎͒̉̃͘Ẻ̲͈̬͖̄̿̒A̜̓S̩͒̏͜Ḛ͉͒͝ ̣̯̲̜̄̊́̄͞ͅL̦̏Ȉ̡͕͌̚ͅS̭̦̀̕-

He sighed. It's ok when he dreams about about a cute boy but damn him if he wants to think about it.

He walked down the stairs, the mental warzone fading to background noise as he grabbed his bowl and made himself breakfast.

He didn't have the energy to make anything fancy (the pounding headache the thoughts gave him took all of it).

Sitting down at the kitchen table with the cereal, stiring the milk idly, he turned to his side to talk to his-

Wait.

"Dad!"

"Yes, Kiddo?"

"Where's Remus?"

"He left with Janus this morning."

I thought they would a least give me notice before they decided to overthrow the government or decide to do something equally stupid.

"Thanks, Dad."

*******

Wroammin: Jan, what are you doing with my brother?

SnekSnekSeverusSnekDUMBLE- :Why do you ask?

Wroammin: You came to my house to pick up Rem before I woke up

Wroammin: And the sun just came up

Wroammin: The fuck are you two plotting and do I need a Hazmat suit or not

SnekSnekSeverusSnekDUMBLE- : I'm going to exercise my right of free speech

SnekSnekSeverusSnekDUMBLE-: By not using it

SnekSnekSeverusSnekDUMBLE- has blocked Wroammin

Wroammin: Fuck You

******

"Vale?"

Silence filled 3Q.

"Not here!"

Miss Quill took a pen out of her hair a jotted down a note on a scrap piece of paper, seemed to whisper something under her breath and do a small smile to herself.

"Xia?"

"Which one?"

"The virgin."

How the fuck does she know?

The class erupted into a symphony of laughter and mockery except for Roman, Virgil and Nyx (But Nyx was snoring so Roman didn't know to count it as a win or not).

Virgil looked over at his arch-nemesis, almost deciding to so something or not. He seemed to choose the latter.

And those eyes seemed the flair but it was just for one second, but it would be gone as quick as it started.

Roman placed his head on the table in embarrassment waiting for the humiliation to stop.

"...Here, Miss.."

(Virgil tapped Roman's shoulder).

"Yilton?"

(Roman lifted his head and gave him a a sharp glare. "Why the fuck are you speaking to me?")

"You can hear my voice."

( "Jeez," He lifted his hands in surrender. "This fell out of your man bun" The emo passed a pencil to the other.)

" Zander?"

(Roman snatched the pencil -ignoring the fact that it seemed to be glowing slightly- stuffed it in his hair and proceeded to give Virgil double birds).

"Xey're sick."

(Lunaper mimicked the action).

Quill closed the register tab.

"Ok mortals, take out your plann-"

The constant ringing of a bell that went on a little to long to be a period change.

The students sighed.

"Drop your bags and line up in register order in silence." The class groaned even louder but followed the instructions given.

Except Roman.

"Miss, it's raining buckets outside and someone in the staff probably just burned their toast, do we really have-"

"Xia,I told you to line up in silence!"

Even the older twin knew that trying to argue with Quill when she raised her voice was suicide so he slowly backed away and joined the line as he didn't bring anything that could cover him. And he was sure that someone was fucking with him as the rest of the class had brought protection except the emo.

Why the hell are you noticing I̘̒Ṫ͍͙͎̅͌'̛̯͎̐S̭̱̠̣͎̽̽̈́̄͠ ̳̥͖͂̋̇B̹̂É̯͙͚͕͂͌̕C̹͝A̙̮̱̓͌̀U͓̺̣̎̑̇Ś̳̣̮̀͑́͟E̲̦̓̽ ̘̫͑͑Y̬̠̊̄O͓͠U͈̓ ̢̟͎̅̽͋C̪̲̦̉̉͒A̰͎̔͘R̢̜̱̬͌̾͆͊̄͟É͈ ̨̦̺̓̇͞F̫͑O̖̕R̗̫͗̓ ̗̹̺̏͑̊H̩̼̒̇-him?

The pounding headache was back, like two parts of his brain where bitching with each other for some damn reason. He rubbed his temple to try and relieve the pain.

"You know the drill, walk in absolute silence to the plaza and wait for me while I get the paper register."

******

The class filled back in annoyed and wet. Turns out that a teacher had taken a cigarette break and the back of the the cafeteria block and that's what set off the alarms.

By the time they had returned, it was already half way into first period. Mx Spring had said that they should just consider this a free period and return to their homerooms. To pass the time Roman took out a his spare spiral notebook and started to sketch in it.

If you asked Roman what he drew during this time, he would know but not understand how he did it. He just remembered taking out the pencil he'd previously stuffed in his hair , an overwhelming calm rushing over him and waking up to find a scarily intricate version of the boy from his dreams on the lined paper.

This is the same Roman who would spend two and a half hours struggling to get the other eye just right was suddenly able to draw actual whole person in thirty minutes.

As the second period bell rang, he eyed his masterpiece warily and closed his notepad.

*******

Xia drifted off to the droning voice of his geography teacher, every though he knew that this was a crucial-

"Roman Xia and Virgil Lunaper, please make your way your way to the front desk, I said Roman Xia please make your way to the front desk."

The two boys stood up and packed up their stuff slowly, shrugged their backpacks onto their shoulders and quickly said by to their teacher.

******

"Holy shit, you're ok!" Roman was trying to wrap his head around why his Pa who was very reserved had tears streaking down his face.

"Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?"

"Haven't you seen the news?"

"...What did I miss.."

Pa just passed Roman his phone and everything started to make sense.

******

There comes a time where a person would resort to mindless substance to try and escape the cold, unforgiving reality of life.

Well, Roman was clocking his fourth hour on twitter so you knew where he was emotionally.

He didn't want to get up. He didn't need to either. Both of his parents were going to out for a while anyway.

Putting down the phone (He gotten sick of staring at it) and deciding to move to the living room wh-

Are those stones?

"Princey!"

Roman walked up to the window and drew the blinds open. The emo was stood on his steps with his headphones, accompanied with a purple and black leather jacket.

Disgusting A̛̮̠̞̰̔̆̂D̙̺̓͛ORẴ̧̹̯͞B̖͓̐͟͠͠L̡̞̍̃E̡̯̮̿͘͞

"Why are you here Jack Smelligton?"

"Wow, you upgraded to insults that have four syllables, ten points to ravenclaw!"

The attacked emitted a sound that could only be described as offended princey noises.

"How I am-"

Virgil pressed his finger on Roman's lips.

"Ravenclaws are witty, competitive and creative. For the fact that you have an endless supply of nicknames for me and you always try to out do your last attempt to piss me off, you would meet the criteria."

If he doesn't H̨̻͖̣̥̐̂̒͂̎I̯͈͐̈́S̯̪̯̆̔̋ ̭̤͆͌͑͢Ș̭͑̊K͈̈Ì̬̖̙͈̅̍͡N̟̤͎͔̊̈͌͒ ̞̃I͇̪͊̑S̗̍ ̺̬̦̔̉̓Ś̩͍̄O̠̎ ͕̙̟̓̄̾S̥̊O̢̭̿͡F̨͕̭̔̈́̽-͖̲̭̩̂̅̾̆move his fingers off my mouth, I'm gonna break them.

Almost on cue with the thought, he removed it.

"I'm going to repeat my question, why are you here?"

Virgil took a step back and did a little chuckle to himself, with a shrug of shoulder that seemed custom fit.

God he's G̻͈̪̱̑̂̕͞O͈͐D̞̞̻̀͊̃ ͌͜Ț͖̱͐̀̏͢͡H̞̒Ȧ̺̳͞Ṱ̃'͈̦͕͌̔͌͊͟S̬̀ ̨̢̫̬̤́̄̓͗͛S̹̺͉̭̉̀̔͗̿ͅẸ̫͒͞X͎̟̥̹̀̾̓͒Y̧̢̫͙͌̒̾͞ - insufferable.

"Because even I, your sworn enemy and nemesis til death drags us part, don't think that you should grieve over someone who isn't even dead."

"You mean-"

"Trust me, Remy is very much alive."

******

"How did you even find my house?"

"That's the most pressing question on your mind right now?"

"It truly isn't but let me start with the small ones before the big ones emerge."

Virgil was lying on the couch with his sneakers touching the furniture. Roman had let him in after claiming that Remy still had a pulse. He was scrolling through his feed and according to Roman's peripheral vision, it seemed to be tumblr.

("He actually uses the Queue?")

("Did you say anything?"

("Nothing you need to know.")

("You sound like Janus.")

Roman glared at his feet.

"Take off your shoes if you are going to lay on the armrest."

"Fine!" He flinged his shoes at the other. It stained Roman's white tee.

"God, I hate you."

He pulled out both his earbuds and shots some finger guns at him.

"Right back at yah!"

Xia walked over and sat on the ottoman facing Lunaper.

"Let's get down to business-"

"TO DEFEAT THE HUNS!"

"Seriously, what do you mean 'Remy is very much alive', everyone with access to the internet saw what happened to him."

Virgil looked around, almost like he was scared of being seen or spotted or heard.

Did his eyes just change color?

"Look, I can't really tell you.."

"I'm getting sick of asking this, why are you here then?"

Virgil didn't respond.

"Why exactly are you here if you aren't going to try and explain-hmmmmm!"

Lunaper's was currently gagging his mouth with jacket.

" Stop speaking so loud."

Roman peered at the other.

"Whamt, ets not like whemre being watched."

"I'm just being- wait, give me a sec."

Virgil took the loose strand of Roman's hair and swiped it to the left.

I̛͇̜̺̦̎͐͠ ̘̂WA̹͍͘͡N̢̟͉̑̕͠T ͉̠̲̲̿̾͒̊T̥̮̍͞Ȏ̺̐͢ ̛̤̬̲̪̉́̏K̖̗̃̓I̧͕̫̩̼̔̎̃̀̇S̩̫̏̓S̙͛ ̧̫̞̒̇̕H͓̯́̋́ͅI͈̻͙̋͜͠͞͠M,͍͉͍̼͌̌̆͆ ͓̭̦̾͒̅I͓͇̹̩͚͂͐͑͡͡ ̥̑W̹̰̯͈͛͛̾͛A̞̲̩̎̍͞N̳̟̻͆̄̚T̢̛̖̏ ͓̋T͉̪͐̓O͇̤̝͛͂̿ Ć͉̯͛AṞ̳̠̈̄͘E̼͎̞͇͊͗͋́̕͟Ș̆Ṣ̈ ̡̨̡̗͕̊̂̂̓͠F͎̏Ặ̼̯̠̅͊́C̫̜̾̉E̢̟̣͎̱̿̾͒͌͒,̣̠́́ ̡͇̪͑̊̃͟͞Ì̼͕͙̥̤͑̆́̕ ͇͗W̧̫͉̘̉̃͘͡Ă̟̘͝N͉̊T̫̟͐̄ ̢͋T̞̃O ̨̡̀̆̄͑͜ͅĎ̢̦̖̤͑̂̕Ä̝̯̪́̒̚͜͠N̹͔̘͇̔̉̐̐C̥̔E̪̖̝͉̱͋̎̾̔̒ ̡̻̤̀͐̉̄͜WǏ̜̩̟́̀͒͜T̙̆H̥̆ ̟͍͔̈́̆̕H̪̣̽̐I̡̺̯͌̑́M̨̪̩̱̜͆̏̌̋̕ ̖͎̀̚'̯͉̅̀T͔̦͇̙̔̾̊͜͠͡I͎̤̞͔̥̎̿́̚͝L̜̥̅̑ ̛͔͖̰̌͌̚͢Ș̘̗̀̿̎U͔͗N͕͓͊̆̋ͅ ̪̪̟͌̒͒̂͜R̲̻̪̋͊̅̏͟Ì̪SḔ̙͟,̨̰̩͚͒̈͂̚ ̧̜̱̀̆́̊͜

"Fumck!"

The emo removed the make-shift gag.

"Are you ok?"

Xia moved his hands to his temple to try and relieve the pain.

,̨̰̩͚͒̈͂̚ ̧̜̱̀̆́̊͜Ỉ͈ ̳̣̙̗̊̒̓̚W͕̐A̱̙̣̙͛̎̎̀̓͜N̫̳̔͘T̰̜̝͌͛̀ ̲̃T̯̮̪͗̋̒Ỏ̗ ̩̞̝̊̎̋H̛̭̺̥͛̚OL̛͎̝̹͇̂̀̚D ̹̰̬̈̚͝H̤̫͙̅̔͝Ị̞̱̓̾̚Ḿ̞,̾͢ ̲̟̹̫͆͐͑̅I Ẃ̪̫͘Ã͢Ņ̹̋́Ț̛͍̒ ̰̭͕̏̇̔T̛̬̲͋O͈͒ ̬̂Ṭ̛̣̓̍͢O͕̩̟̎̄̐͌̕͟͟U̖͌̽͢C̰͕̈̽H ̲̝̦̱̄͂̚͡H͕̳͒̈́IM̡̱͖͗̎͆, ͔͞I͖̰̽͠-̢̘̜̹͚̄͗̑̑͡

"FUCK, EVERYTHING HURTS, IT HURTS TO THINK, IT HURTS TO SPEAK, I JUST WANT THE PAIN TO END!"

"PRINCEY!"

"MAKE IT STOP, WHY WON'T IT STOP?"

"PRINCEY!"

"IT HURTS, IT REALLY DOES!"

"ROMAN!"

And just for a second the voices stopped, they stopped stabbing and scratching and just stayed still.

Just for a second.

"FUUCCKK-"

"ROMAN," Virgil took his face into his hands. "Roman, please open your eyes, I need to check something."

Following the instructions ( He didn't remember even closing them) he was met with pools of space and stars and a galaxy of colors that were now the eyes of Virgil and not the chestnut brown he seen less than two minutes ago.

“You have a veil, you actually have a veil..”

“ The fuck does that mean, Surly Temple?”

“It means that someone has blocked something from your conscious thoughts.”

“What?”

“That’s not important, what is would be the fact that you’re going to want to bite onto something because this is going to hurt and I don’t want the neighbours getting any ideas.”

For the second time that day, Lunaper stuff his jacket into Roman’s mouth.

“I’m sorry..”

Even with the jacket the screech the Xia made would probably beat his Pa’s infamous falsehood.But with the pain gone and the veil dropped he could now see everything so much clearer.

So the moment when Virgil took the gag out of his mouth, he pulled him close and claimed his lips.

#logicality #prinxiety #dukeceit #qpr dukeceit #roman sanders #remy sanders #virgil sanders #moonboy au #wisp writes

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theartoftiinyideas · 5 years

Text

first meetings and near-death experiences

[kageyama tobio x fem! reader]

a/n: my first ever post here, hope you enjoy a flustered blueberry boy and the gigantic amount of headcanons i spat out for him on a whim of inspiration. stong language ahead!

word count: it’s so fucking long you don’t even wanna know but it’s good shit i promise

summary: a lot of interesting people roam the train station late at night. at one moment, they appear to be stealing your precious volleyball. the next, they save your precious life.

——————

it was a really late Friday night and you were walking to the train station after your practice, gym bag slung on your shoulder and volleyball in your hand

you play beach volleyball, so you were sticky with sand and sweat, pleasantly tired but wanting to just go home after a long day and do absolutely nothing on the weekend

when you got to the station you almost smacked the information board with your ball, groaning about the fact that your train was only due in 30 minutes

stupid Miyagi public transportation and their stupid schedules

there was literally no one around this late, just some guy sitting on the other side of the tracks, and you grew bored in exactly 0.6 seconds

you decided to play around with your ball to kill time, but you were deadass tired, and one wrong move sent the ball flying in a direction you did not intend it to go to, whooshing over the train tracks and landing on the other side of the station, bouncing away as if it were laughing at you

now this station had their deep-ass train tracks running in the middle, so you would've had to cross over by the railway bridge to get your ball back, but there was no way in hell you were doing that as it would require you to physically move

meanwhile Kageyama's sitting on a bench with his earphones in, listening to his rage playlist and cursing that dumbass Hinata in his mind because he made him stay for extra practice, which caused him to miss his train and now he has to wait and ugh, shut it Tobio, nobody's buying your crap we know you like practicing with Hinata

so Kags is kinda pissed and zoned out, but he sees something bouncing from the corner of his eyes and wait just a second is that a volleyball? how'd that get there?

you're intensely brainstorming about what you should do when you spot the guy you've seen earlier get up to retrieve your ball and you let out a sigh of relief, thinking the situation was handled

but instead of throwing it back to you, the guy just kinda... stares at it with heart eyes questioningly

okay, that’s fine, he probably didn’t see you, you just have to make him notice you somehow and- woah woah wOAH

the guy had the audacity to actually start examining your ball, testing it out in his hands and throwing it against the wall like he's checking the quality before planning to s t e a l i t

and you're getting pissed because uhh excuse me wtf that's clearly not yours pal so you start calling out to him but he either doesn't hear you or doesn't want to hear you that little thief

thinking it was right damn time to resort to drastic measures, you begin full-blown screaming and frantically waving your limbs around to try and get his attention

meanwhile Kageyama is still trying to figure out the mysterious appearance of the volleyball because this boy can be lil dumb sometimes, but hey, what's that sound disturbing his loud ass music

he takes out an earphone and almost topples over from surprise because who the hell is screaming but then he's turning around with his angry af Tobio expression activated because who the hell is screaming ffs?¿

“well fucking finally, you asshole, at least we know you're not completely deaf. now give me back my ball.”

and Kags is even more annoyed now, scowl deepening and imaginary fire erupting behind him because who does this random girl think she is your future gf tobio but sshhh

and really the only defense mechanism Kags knows for screaming is evEN MOrE scREaMInG

“how the hell do I know this is even your ball, dumbass?!

*crosses arms over chest* “well, is it yours?”

that question catches Kageyama off guard and he suddenly becomes a whole lot more nervous because you don't seem to be angry anymore, actually you're really chill standing there with your eyebrows raised at him and oh god what does he do now???

“uhm... no?”

yeah tobio, real smooth, you totally got this under control

“wooww, you’re killing it, sherlock. since you're such a genius, solve this: only the two of us here! to who else could that stupid ball belong to?''

“okay, okay, fine!”

Kags' ears are totally red from embarrassment, his lips angrily jutting out as he stalks toward the train tracks, gripping that damned ball between his fingers and praying to every god out there that his hair concealed most of his face

it didn’t, and Kageyama knows immediately from your amused grin that you're enjoying his suffering and now he's feeling even more awkward and salty

his usual comfort is volleyball ofc, so instead of acting like a normal person and throwing it back, he tosses the ball perfectly into your waiting hands almost on instinct

and you're just standing on the platform edge with your ball now in hand, gaping at this actually pretty handsome guy ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°), because damn, you may have screamed his head off seconds ago, but that was a scarily accurate toss

Kageyama would rather die than admit it, but he felt a sting of pride hAH, fricking take that annoying girl as he watched your amazed expression, taking note of how you were also wearing a post-practice sweatsuit, your hair an absolutely mess but looking good anyway and wait what oh shit why are you smiling was he staring for too long shit shit abort-

“gotta hand it to you, that was a great a toss! how long have you been playing?”

Kageyama's just so confused like how do females work istg you were ready to murder him and now you're being all friendly and cute and asking him questions about v o l l e y b a l l is this real?? have the angels answered his prayers??¿?

he somehow manages to reply without embarrassing himself any further, and even though it's just short answers and questions, you're actually having a conversation

at this point you're both just rolling with it cause this whole situation is surreal enough as it is

Kags' natural trademark scowl is ever present but inside he's kinda grinning because wow he's talking to a girl and it's not super awkward because it's about something he loves doing if only the team could see him now

“for almost 8 years now. this is my first year in a high school team.”

“hey, mine too! but i've only been playing for 3 years total. man, you must be pretty good then, huh?”

“yeah, i guess.”

you almost let out a little 'aaawwww' because this guy just scratched his neck shyly, his ears turning kinda red at your compliment and the sight way beyond adorable

“let me guess, you're a setter?”

“yeah, it's the best position.”

“hah, you whish.”

“it is the best... what- um, what position do you play?”

you cannot even begin to fathom the colossal amount of effort and bravery kageyama had to collect just to utter that one question. he was starting to understand the troubles of tanaka and noya; talking to girls was hard as fuck

“oh, well, how do i explain this? there are no fixed positions in beach volleyball.”

i’m terrible sorry kageyama.exe has stopped working

“what do you mean there are no positions??”

“exactly that. no positions.”

“but how? and.. and why??”

“hey, chill out, dude, there are only two people on a team, we kinda have to do everything.”

“...what kind of stupid volleyball is this??”

“hEY you takE THaT bACK!”

aaaand you're arguing again; Kageyama absolutely outraged that his precious setter position is non-existent on a court full of sand while you loyally defend your sport because beach volleyball is better in any kind of aspect anyway

“the two of us have to have the skill set of eight people on your court, so excuse me if we're better than you.”

“eight people?! there are six players in normal volleyball, dumbass!”

“whatever! like i would vonultarily waste my time trying to remember the rules of something so basic!

“oh, i’m sorry, basic? basic?! have you ever attempted to—just once—sync together with five totally different people?? i don’t fucking think so, so get outta here with your ‘we’re better than you’s!”

you would forever take this to the grave with you, but in the instant after that last jab, your treacherous tounge always ready with a witty insult has failed to back you up and you had nothing to throw at this jerks head. but were you going down without a fight?? fuck no

“well, i, uh... setters suck!”

“you suck!”

“spiking is cooler, anyway!”

*very offended gasp* “you did not just say that!”

fired up and fumming, Kageyama just goes off on this insane rant about how you're exactly like this one annoying guy he knows, and he's super serious and angry the whole time, gesturing with wild hand movements as he paces up and down, and it's so funny you can't find yourself to be offended so you just burst out laughing

irk marks explode on Kags’ head and he almost blows up again because this is of upmost importance, but then he sees your toothy grin, your eyes crinckling in amusement as your natural laughter fills the space and echoes of the station walls and oh no, Tobio, your ears are turning red again

you quiet down after a while and flash a smile at Kags who just stiffens because goddamnit that's attractive and you just go “you're insufferable, you know that?”

LOOK WHO THE FUCK IS TALKING PLS in that moment Kageyama is completely done with girls forever until you decide to open your mouth again and change his opinion in 0.034 seconds

“but, you're pretty cool, and you play volleyball, so i can't really stay mad at you. so with that said, wanna pass the ball around until our trains come to celebrate our truce?”

Kags gives you a tiny, microscopic smile and says “sure” all nonchalant and breezy but inside he is s h o o k. he is the equivalent of asdfghjkltiwnz because you find him pretty cool?!?! okay, he can certainly roll with that

so you pass the ball back and forth from different sides of the train station, taking care to be extra accurate with your aim so the ball won't drop into the deep gap between you two

this goes on for a while until it's Kageyama's turn to pass the ball back to you, but suddenly the loudspeakers come to life, screeching an announcement nobody cares about, and it startles our dear Tobio, making him give you a longer pass then he intended to

you move to reach the ball but you come short, and when your hands connect with the ball, it drops straight into the large gap where the trains move. the absolute worst place it could’ve have chosen to land honestly

man your ball sure is being a sneaky little shit today

Kags is just basically the embodiment of “oh shit”, feeling stupid for messing up, but it's kinda your fault too, because he wouldn't have been distracted if it weren't for that goddamn loudspeaker and the cute face you were making while concentrating buT THAT'S NOT IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW

your frustrated expression just makes him feel worse and both of you are thinking the unspoken question of how the hell are you going to get the ball back from there

“sorry. the pass was too long.”

“nah, it's fine. i should've been able to get that.”

and suddenly you're dropping your gym bag to the floor and walking to the platform edge to straight up hop down to the train tracks and Kageyama is internally losing his shit because what the actual fuck do you think you're doing

he has to inch closer to the platform to even see you cause the gap is so deep it swallowed your entire figure

“oi, dumbass, what the hell are you doing?”

“paying dora the explorer, what do you think? this is my only ball; i'm not going to just let it be squashed.”

“well, hurry up.”

“would you relax? i'm fine. besides, the train isn't going to be here anytime soon--”

*hhoooooonnnnkkkkk*

turns out you should have listened to that announcement because it said that the train will be arriving early and oh would you look at that it's here

you're frozen on the spot, terrified, staring at the two bright headlights that are approaching way too fast for your comfort

then Kageyama's shouting and cursing and it suddenly clicks that you will die if you don't start moving now

you throw the ball out of the gap, scrambling towards the side to climb out but the pavement looks far more out of reach then you'd imagined

you try jumping to get ahold of the edge so you could pull yourself up, but it's no use, and you begin to panic, desperately clawing at concrete because the train is not slowing down

then Kageyama's face pops up from above, the same panic shining in his eyes as he reaches down to you as far as he possibly can and he's screaming at you to jump and grab his hand

you hear another honk and feel the ground shaking underneath you as the train rapidly approaches, and with one last strain of energy you jump as high as you can, grabbing onto Kageyama's hands as they lock around yours in a death grip

you're being pulled up, up, up; your legs climbing the sides, and with a final yank you land on top of Kageyama, the train zooming past you seconds later without even bothering to stop

your breathing is heavy as you hold onto Kageyama tightly, his strong arms still around you, both of you being too shocked to care about the compromising position you're both in as the train clears out

you manage to roll off Kageyama several minutes later, laying beside him as you try to calm down and think of cute kittens and puppies because holy shit you just almost died

it's quiet for a while, both of you strictly looking at the ceiling as you try to figure out what to say to the other after a disaster like that, but before you could think it through your running mouth just comes and ruins it

“i’m like 80% sure that train was supposed to take me home.”

“... what. the. fu-”

Kageyama is visibly shaking (from rage, you persume), his face furious as he's wildly pointing at you, shouting and rambling so fast you can only make out the words idiot and dumbass, which are what most of his speech consists of anyway

you can't get him to stop, so you hug him, making him immediately shut up and go rigid as he stares dumbfounded in front of him until you pull away

your knees are almost touching while you two sit on the floor face to face, but neither of you could bring yourself to care too much about the sudden closeness. a lot of shit has happened tonight

you can't help but laugh then, if only to break the tention, but it's clearly strained, and Kageyama sucks in breath to calm himself because one more of your aggravating, doesn’t-make-any-sense-at-all reactions and he’s going strangle you—

“i'm sorry, you're right. i shouldn't have done that. i am a dumbass.”

well fuck he wasn’t expecting that

it’s clear you were still shaken up, but kageyama never had the words to comfort someone, so like any other time, he went with the first thing that came to his mind

“well... yeah.” so fucking smooth tobio i cant even

it got a giggle out of you, so it wasn’t a complete disaster, but soon you became serious again, your piercing eyes never leaving Kageyama's as he stared back, unable to look away

“you saved my life back there, so, like, thanks a bunch.”

Kags just nods, stretching out his hand and introducing himself, you doing the same as the tense atmosphere slowly evaporates

“so, uh.. you up for more tosses, Kageyama?”

utterly lame joke, Kags is not amused whatsoever and flat out says no to that question for probably the first time ever which is a huge deal, you should've recorded it feeling that today was filled with more than enough practice

instead you two opted to go find your ball, again, passing the time with small conversations and comfortable silences, Kageyama waiting with you for your train to arrive, even though it meant he had to miss another one of his

and when you waved goodbye to each other, Kageyama had another tiny, microscopic smile on his face

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

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minnochu · 6 years

Text

Wonderwall (pt 5)

Yoongi x Reader

Cursed | Pt 1 | Pt 2 | Pt 3 | Pt 4 | Pt 5 | Pt 6 | Pt 7

(A/n): Wow I actually don’t know how to write lol. Here’s a rushed chapter ‘cause I suck and dk how to write a proper story oof and left you guys hanging for 500 years.

Also since this is a thousands years later and new people might find this, go read Cursed first linked above (le first installment)

“Uh.. hi?”

The awkwardness is so thick, it makes you want to run out of the office and to safety. Definitely not the damned bathroom where you’d be surrounded by sinks and water. Hell no. Your feet stayed rooted to the ground and you curse your wimpy self for not being able to move when Yoongi is offering a kind upturn of his lips that is so subtle that you wouldn't have caught it if you weren’t already ogling his face and wondering how he’s so fucking handsome and he and your dream-coma-whatever-he-is boyfriend look so scarily alike.

Namjoon coughs and smiles at his coworker, “Have you two met already?”

You’re opening and closing your mouth like a goldfish, at a loss for words at this coincidence while Yoongi simply answers calmly on your part, “We met this morning when she was running errands.”

You inwardly smack yourself. Gosh you needed to wake up or something. This was not your coma world. What in the actual fuck were you doing checking out this man while your boyfriend is standing right there?

“What are you doing having a girl run errands for you and Jimin, huh?” He asks suspiciously, eyeing Hoseok with a teasing look in his eyes as his arms cross over his chest.

The other whistles nonchalantly, avoiding the glint in his hyung’s eye as you nudge him teasingly.

“Honestly it was the only job we could snag for her,” Namjoon answers for the poor man as he wraps an arm around your waist, “I was hoping I could finally introduce her to you but I guess you two both beat me to it… but (Y/n) this is Min Yoongi, one of my closest friends here, Yoongi, this is my girlfriend (Y/n).”

You’re not sure why you feel weird being introduced in such a way but Yoongi holds out a hand for you to shake and as you take it - he’s there. You see flashes of silver-haired Yoongi with a sly smile as you supposedly hold his hand. There’s mischief in his eyes, its almost seductive in the way they appear. Reality returns like cold water and you retreat, palm resonating with the blonde’s warmth.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you properly Mr. Min,” you bow politely, but he chuckles and shakes his head.

“Pleasures all mine but Yoongi is alright, no need for that kind of stuff, you make me sound like an old man,” he smiles gently, although he frowns as Hoseok bursts into thigh smacking laughter.

“But you are old hyung!” He chortles, dodging a swipe from the elder’s shaking fist.

The blonde turns to you with a calmer and more contemplative look as he sizes you up from head to toe. His scrutiny admittedly makes you slightly put off and uncomfortable but his eyes are anything but judging and negative.

“Here’s a thought…” He starts as his eyes dart from Hoseok to Namjoon, “Rather than being those dimwits’ maid, why don’t you be my secretary of sorts. You’ll be fetching me coffee, yes, but more than that, you can help me read over my lyrics or listen to the stuff I make - more of an assistant you can say.”

“Hey!” Hoseok protests, but pouts when Yoongi casts him a narrowed look, “Well it’s her choice, not mine I guess..”

“What do you think about it?” Namjoon asks you, you can tell the gears in his head are running high speed as he goes over how they’ll relay this to the boss and other complexities, but in the end it was also up to you if you wanted to be more than just a “water girl” kind of employee.

It was absolutely tempting no doubt about it, moreover you’d be getting the chance to watch Yoongi in the middle of writing lyrics and making jams, it seemed interesting. Moreover, you were most definitely interested in getting to know him - but wouldn’t it be more logical to stay away from him to avoid getting carried away? Ahh… only the first day on the job and they were already trying to promote you from an errand girl to a glorified one for Yoongi specifically though.

Would Namjoon think of it weird if you said yes? It wouldn’t be of any harm right? It was just a job.

“Um, I’ll think about it,” you finally decide to say, although you already knew you wanted to take it so badly, “I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”

Yoongi nodded thoughtfully, “I guess you’re right, sorry to push this kind of decision onto you just like that when we only just met and it’s your first day after all.”

His eyes turned up to bore into yours as he continued, “I look forward to your answer.”

Fuck. He didn’t have to go and overkill you like that, you thought bitterly when your heart betrayed your actual relationship and melted under the sly raspiness of the blonde’s voice. Managing a small smile, you nodded and promised an answer before the end of the week as he also promised to ask the company CEO in advance as well in case you really did accept the little upgrade.

For the rest of your work day, you’re tending to Seokjin as he films an upcoming web drama. It’s not too hard you thought at the very least, standing by the foldable black chair, designated with his name, holding a water bottle and a fan. You felt like one of those assistants someone would see tending to an idol in a behind the scenes video, but this was better than running back and forth between the speedy mart and the dance studio for Hoseok and the boys.

Your thoughts wander to what it would be like promoted to Yoongi’s assistant. You’d get listen in to tracks before they debut for the public. You’d read over and approve lyrics he’d come up with. It all sounded fun and inviting over running errands, though you still loved Hoseok, Jimin, and Jungkook nonetheless. However, you knew you were drawn towards Yoongi and it couldn’t be helped that you wanted to take the offer to work closely with him for five to eight hours a day.

Pulling you out of your messy thoughts, you figure Seokjin just finished filming a scene when he approaches with that radiant smile of his. You wondered how he was still single with his princely features. He ignored the water bottle you jutted out for him to take and opted instead for a side hug around her shoulders.

“Thanks again for doing this (Y/n),” He smiles softly as she beckons him to sit down and rest himself before his next shoot, “How you holding up?”

Puffing out your chest in exaggeration, you grinned widely, “What do you mean? I’m doing great! It’s thanks to all of you that I have an amazing opportunity to work with you all without any special talent in myself.”

“Don’t say that!” He frowns, ruffling the top of your head in a brotherly fashion, “Hold yourself high, you’ve got so many special things about you!”

Pouting, you’re about to retort in objection when your phone vibrates in your pocket. Seokjin notices and smiles, “That must be Namjoon, you should go home now, you’ve been here all day!”

“Alright, thank you!” You comply, hugging him one last time before shooting your boyfriend a confirmation message that you were off the hook now and would meet him outside where he previously mentioned he was. It has gotten quite darker, you observe as you reach the lobby and focus outside where the last of the sunset is disappearing for the night and the street lamps have lit up the entrance pathway. A tall figure is standing outside near one of the lamps, hair very noticeably a dusty brunette belonging to none other than your boyfriend’s.

As you approach the sliding glass doors, it becomes apparent that there’s another person with him. They look to be near the end of their conversation as eyes peer around Namjoon’s tall frame to lock on your approaching figure from the entrance.

When you come to reach the two, it’s apparent that the other is a woman. You don’t want to come off rude, but you can’t help sizing up her rather taller stature, slender legs exposed from the high cut of her high to low sun dress that accentuates the curviness of her S-line. And her face? She was pretty. Pretty fucking gorgeous. You felt small in her presence, she had to be some kind of supermodel or something.

What business did she have with Namjoon, you wondered. Oh no. Was she here to woo him? Namjoon was totally on a whole other appearance spectrum as you, it was blatantly obvious as he was smokin’ gorgeous, especially with those adorable dimples he always flashed with an even more dashing smile.

Shit-

“(Y/n)!” Namjoon turns around in the midst of your brooding, “Ready to go home?”

He turns briefly to catch the woman in the middle of her leave and they hug before she leaves.

“A friend?” You ask innocently, not wanting to sound too jealous, but you know it was probably tangible for even Namjoon to notice and he chuckled at your cuteness. Lacing his fingers with yours, he held the back of you hand to his plump lips, placing a chaste kiss against your skin. Warmth spreads from the spot as your cheeks flush and you look away with a pout.

“Stop looking like that,” he grins, pressing another kiss on your knuckles, “She’s someone I collaborated with in the past, and we became good friends. She’s been meaning to meet up and arrange for another collaboration for her company’s idol groups and whatnot after the success of our last production together.”

Your eyes narrowed playfully, his excuse plausible as you haughtily allow him this once.

“You’re too cute (Y/n),” he laughs as you both retire home, “I love you so much.”

“Love you too, Joon,” is your loving reply back.

That night however, you dream of Yoongi. It’s not blonde Yoongi from Namjoon’s company though. This Yoongi has grey hair and it’s apparent that it’s the Yoongi from your vivid coma dreams. In the dream, you relive endless kisses. They’re sensual, burning fire scorching against your lips, and eager to unravel you as this Yoongi whispers his nickname for you in that sexy low rasp of kitten. It’s all too real, kisses and touches resonating against where they touch as though they were actually really there, but your mind reminds yourself that he is only a figment of your inner desires and dreams.

The dream ends just as your dream lover has turned back into a cat and you wake with a gasp.

You wonder if maybe this attraction you felt for Yoongi, blonde Yoongi, was only due to his appearance. Sure he was drop-dead-gorgeous. However, you probably only were interested due to the fact that he looked like Min Yoongi, who had been cursed to be a cat. He wasn’t your Yoongi. He was his own persona, different or not and you were with Namjoon. It wouldn’t be fair to Namjoon that you suddenly wake up and are pining after a man you’d just met that so happens to be his co-worker and friend. You knew better than that!

And yet here you are, knocking on Yoongi’s studio door to accept his offer.

Inside, you’re not expecting a girl who looks exactly like Jinri to greet you with Yoongi, their hands connected loosely, very tell-tale of what kind of relationship they held.

“Oh hey (Y/n), ready to give me an answer?”

You bite your lip, as he casts you a half apologetic, half encouraging smile.

Why the fuck couldn’t you just stay in a coma?

#hi #im sorry #this sucked lol #wonderwall #bts scenarios #bts fanfics #kpop scenarios #kpop fanfic #reader insert #yoongi scenarios #min yoongi scenarios #yoongi x reader #yoongi fanfic #suga scenarios #suga x reader

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robertemeryofficial · 5 years

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Behind the scenes with Stewart Copeland: Why dumb shit makes me happy (#1) - TRANSCRIPT

"If the only reason humans pro-create is Vivaldi, we would all be fucked…" -- Stewart Copeland

In this inaugural episode of the new ‘Backstage with Robert Emery’ podcast, RDCE talks to Stewart Copeland, the founder and drummer of the British rock band 'The Police'. Stewart talks about why he attributes studying 'Mass Communication & Public Policy' to becoming one of the worlds most famous drummers, why one of his balls is called Ben Hur, and how he grew up not knowing his Father was a spy.

Stewart is an American musician and composer. Apart from his most famous role as a rockstar, over the years he has produced film and video game soundtracks, written music for ballets, operas and orchestras, and in 2003 was inducted into the 'Rock and Roll Hall of Fame'.

This whistle-stop tour of his life takes us through his nine years in The Police with Sting and Andy Summers, his solo projects as a composer, and his predictions of the status of orchestral and rock music in twenty years.

Listen Now

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, or on your favourite podcast platform.

Transcript

Hello, lovely people, and welcome to the inaugural episode of The Backstage Blog with me, Robert Emery.

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Hello, lovely people. Today I'm really excited to be having a chat with my friend, rock god and all-round crazy gentleman, Stewart Copeland. Stewart and I first met at a gig. He was hitting the drums as loud as he could to the soundtrack that he composed for Ben-Hur. Scarily, I was conducting the orchestra who were duelling with him. It was like a baked bean and a baked potato had forgotten which one was little and which one was large. From that moment I picked up the baton, I knew that not only is Stewart one of the world's greatest drummers, and not only does he compose like a modern-day maestro, but after 44 years in the music industry, he still has the passion and energy of an 18-year-old.

I'll be honest, it's my first time recording an interview with me being the one asking the questions, so please forgive me: like any good art, it’ll take a while to perfect. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy this worldwide whistle-stop tour of Stewart Copeland and his life.

Robert Emery: Okay, so welcome, welcome, welcome. I think the first thing I would like to talk to you about is your slightly crazy childhood because I'm pretty damn sure this has had an effect on what you've done in life later on. I've done a bit of reading and I know you were telling me–we're here somewhere in Europe doing Ben-Hur but we'll talk about that later. I know you were saying the other night about you had a very interesting childhood because, if I've got this right, you were born in the states, you grew up in Lebanon...

Stewart Copeland: You missed out a bit. Egypt.

Robert: Oh did I? Okay, Egypt. But then you went to boarding school in Somerset, then you're in a rock band, and then you ended up back in LA.

Stewart: A couple of steps missing there but fundamentally that’s the story, that's the arc.

Robert: It's a bit of a strange, unusual upbringing. What is the reason for that? How did that happen?

Stewart: My father was a diplomat, otherwise known as a spy. He was, during the war, in the OSS. His job was obviously the Nazis, but as the war was coming to a close, they realised that the Soviets were the real problem. And so even as they were finishing up winning the war together, the Soviets and the Americans, they were getting into the beginning of the Cold War. At that point, the energy from the Middle East was very important and so the CIA... As the OSS was morphing into this new thing called the CIA, my father was down in the Middle East and his job was to make sure that the oil came west to our factories rather than north to the evil empire.

To enact that mission, they imposed dictators upon the people such as when I was born, my daddy was away on business. I was born in Alexandria, Virginia, which is a suburb of the CIA. He was over in Cairo installing Gamal Abdel Nasser who ran Egypt actually pretty well for the Egyptian people. Across the Middle East, in Syria and the other countries, basically, their job was to keep a stable system. They were not interested in social engineering or in democracy; they were interested in stability. All the people of that generation, they were completely comfortable with the concept of dictators otherwise known as monarchs. The idea of absolute power. These people were... My father used to like to describe himself as amoral. He said he would never have anyone assassinated with whom he would mix socially, and I don't think he ever had anyone assassinated either but, you know, he was a storyteller. What did you ask me?

Robert: Just about your childhood. But did you know when you were growing up?

Stewart: That’s why I was there. No, I didn't know any of this growing up. In fact, it didn't seem exotic to me at all. In fact, it seemed to be lacking anything exotic because we didn't have TV and at the American school... I was in Egypt very young, but my memories really begin in Lebanon in Beirut and there was the American Community School. For a while, there was a rumour that in my generation, that's when the Saudis first started sending their young princes to get a Western education: the ACS in Beirut was the western school, the American School in Beirut. From my gen, it was the first time we started to see Arab kids, Gulf state kids, amongst the Westerners who were being educated there and Osama bin Laden was one of those.

Robert: Wow!

Stewart: Many years after me. Of course, if he'd been there when I was there, I would have kicked his ass. But we didn't have TV and the other American kids who had been home more recently would talk about this Xanadu, this fabled place called America. In fact, most people outside of America in my generation heard of America as the shining light on a hill where the streets are clean, and the people are, you know, everything works, and the systems are new and all this stuff, and... Then, gosh, there we were living in dusty old Beirut.

Of course, now looking back on it, I am so glad I grew up in dusty old Beirut. But then my father's best buddy, turned out to be a British double agent, name of Kim Philby, and his whole scene was kind of blown by that blow. My good buddy, Harry Philby, his dad disappeared one night. Two weeks later, he turns up in Moscow. True Blue English, he was recruited in Cambridge and was a mole and rose up in the Mi5 and there was three or four of them, I think. Anyway, my father had to ship his family out just like that. We were there for 10 years and then in a two-week period we are out of there.

I did one term in London, at the American School in London, but ended up in Somerset at Millfield. After that, I went to college in America and then came back to London where I met these other two guys.

Robert: So, it was after you went to the states and then you came back to London and that's where you met the other two guys as you call them. Okay, fine. But when did you start playing the drums?

Stewart: Hard to say. My father was a musician before the war. I’ve still got his trumpet; it's a 1942-con or something, I can't remember the year, I looked up the serial number. The fancy trumpet’s like the SG of its day. He only devotes two or three pages about his jazz life in his book but he played with both Dorsey brothers, Harry James, Glenn Miller–for him that's déclassé.

Robert: You grew up with music around you?

Stewart: When he started a family, he thrust musical instruments into all the kids and I'm the fourth child. By the time I came along, the house was full of abandoned instruments and I picked up all of them and I just was lost on all of them. My father spotted the tell-tale sign of a budding musician, which is “you can't get him to shut up.” Any kid that you have to say, “It's time for your piano practice,” don't waste your time or his time or her time. The tell-tale sign is that kind of autism... that you can't stop the kid, and I was on everything.

Trombone, I think, was the first lessons I had, but I couldn't get to the seventh position. But the buddy of mine had a catalogue, Slingerland drum catalogue, with pictures of drum sets which for me, I was like pictures of power, motors... Really, looking back now, as father of seven, I realise that the drum thing was partly because I was a very late bloomer. All the way through high school, even when I was 12-13, all my mates were growing faster. Their voices dropped, they started growing beards, they started turning into... and I was still that squeaky little kid.

The drums were power. Boom, bam, argh! Suddenly the squeaky little kid, now I'm a big silverback bastard motherfucker coming to eat your children. For a little 12-year-old who was this squeaky little 12-year-old, that was power. Looking back, adding up all the impressions and memories, I remember the first show–actually, the British Embassy Beach Club party at The St George Club. Janet McRoberts was there and I'm playing Don't let me be Misunderstood or an Animals’ or a Kink’s song or whatever, maybe House of the Rising Sun and there's Janet McRoberts on the dance floor with that look. And I thought, “Shit! Whatever this is, this is going to get me somewhere.”

Also, I remember at The American Beach Club, overhearing two of the 15- year-old girls talking. 15-year old girls are just like an impossible dream for a 12-year-old, you know, and they're talking about how Ian Copeland–who was the coolest kid in Beirut, by the way. He was the leader of the motorcycle gang, Ian Copeland was the coolest kid on campus. They’re talking, “Wow, I hear the Black Knights have got a new drummer. Oh, cool,” or hip or whatever. “Yeah, it’s Ian Copeland’s brother. Ian has a brother?” They’re talking about this mythical being, the new drummer in the Black Knights–is he cute? I’m standing there, I’m a little 12-year-old kid standing there with my ice-cream. These 15-year-olds are talking about Stewart Copeland as if it's somebody.

And so, these elemental, deep, crocodile-brain part of the drive, the emotional drive, are very powerful. My theory is that music is basically part of the procreative process of the human being. It's our mating dance. It's our mating ritual. As my mother the archaeologist would say, it's our plumage, and at that young age, particularly at adolescent age, music is so... With my kids, I see that music is so important to them. Here I do it for a living and I still wake up every day and can't wait to make more music but I can get through an hour without hearing music. My kids? It's the young mating dance. So that was a very powerful impulsion to playing drums.

Robert: So, you figured this is a very cool thing to do, you get lots of good attention for this and...

Stewart: Here’s is one more factor. My big brother Ian? Coolest kid on campus? Couldn't do it. Which was very unsettling because one of the American kids... What happened was the Black Knights’ drummer, his dad got shipped back to the states, the drums he was using which are borrowed or something like that were lying... And so they’re, “Well, let's get Ian. Let's get the coolest kid in the school to play the drums.” And he tried to do it and I could hear him in his room, the forbidden sanctuary. I could hear him trying to get it... then he’d roar off on his motorcycle and I’d sneak in on pain of death and I'd get on there, and I can do it. Wait a minute, that's not right, I must be doing it wrong for me to be able to do it what I heard him not able to do, my hero and older brother...

Robert: You didn’t have lessons?

Stewart: Immediately my father spotted, “Ah drums, great! Lessons!” And I had lessons at everything. The minute he spotted anything, “Lessons!” Yeah, right away.

Robert: Something definitely clicked with you with drums.

Stewart: Yeah and they stuck. The guitar kind of stuck, too. I played guitar all my life, never seriously, never took a lesson, never really developed anything beyond my favourite three chords. But those three chords? Ah, you can have a lot of fun on A, E and D. Throw a G in there, F sharp minor even.

Robert: Alright. The interesting thing for me though is that when I was growing up, I played the piano and I played the cello.

Stewart: Cello? Excellent instrument. A great blues instrument, by the way. You put that thing on your lap, play it like this, and it's a fantastic blues instrument.

Robert: But I couldn't do it. It didn't work for me. I just could not...

Stewart: The piano did, though, right?

Robert: The piano, I don't know why. I’d just sit there, play, it was easy, it just happened, you didn't have to think about it, I didn't really do any training to start with. It just happened. But cello, it did not happen. I could not get it to work. So did you try any instruments out when you were young?

Stewart: We’re going to have to work on a theory for that because pianotude you’ve got. That works for you. But two hands interacting to make one note seems to not work for you. I’m the other way around, see? Guitars, no problem. I can work on piano every day and I still can't play Mary Had a Little Lamb so you’ve got that gift.

Robert: Yeah. Yeah, but it's only piano. Piano conducting. But I tried many other things over the years, I tried clarinet for a while, couldn't do it, and it's just so concentrated what I can do with my music–what instruments. You sound like you're the sort of guy who can pick up anything, can give it a good damn go and have a bit...

Stewart: Whether I can or not, I will pick up anything and give it a damn good go.

Robert: And you have lots of instruments at home?

Stewart: I have the world’s largest collection of the cheapest instruments money can buy. I got trombone, I got bassoon. I got timpani. I got clarinet, I got viola, I got violin. I got cello. I got baby cello, I got bass guitar, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, banjo. I got all kinds of instruments.

Robert: And you’ve tried them all?

Stewart: Oh, yeah. Well, I get on eBay, then I haven't got a mellophone. So, I get on there and I look for mellophones or euphoniums; I love brass instruments above all. In fact, today I played an Alpine horn which is 15 feet long and guess what? A- Extremely light, made out of bamboo or something. B- really easy to play. Doesn't require a lot of breath at all, it's like playing on a trombone. Very impressed out there... [Makes a trumpeting sound] You know, not that hard.

Robert: Let’s just rewind back in time a little bit. You formed this band called The Police. How long was it from your starting point to all of a sudden something happened where you just went sky high?

Stewart: It was incremental, but every step headlining the marquee felt like a stellar, “That's it. We've made it. That's it, we're done. We're there now!” And then the next step happens and like climbing a mountain you think there's the shoulder there and we just get to there and that's going to be the top of the mountain–you get there and there's more mountain. It was very much like that. But we did star for a good two years, where we were playing the clubs and all of our gigs pretty much were cancellations by the genuine article punk bands of the day. We were a fake punk band. We were using the punk haircut as a flag of convenience because really, it's all about the hairdo. The stance.

Sting and I were both on the cusp, born in the early 50s. We were the tail end of the hippie generation where so by the time we got into our teens and wanted to rock out and be young adolescents or young adults, it was old and stale. Even though we were steeped in it–he was in jazz and I was playing in Curved Air, kind of an art rock band–we were still the tail end of the last generation. It was all stultified and everything, along comes Johnny Rotten and the Punk-O-Rama, and suddenly it’s just “burn it all down, bring it all down.” Musically, I had nothing in common with that except the fact that I like raw aggression in music. I like it. It's comedic actually.

I liked all that and they were like children and so Curved Air was running its course as an art rock band, so no problem. Cut the hair, peroxided blonde, turn my collar up, and let's go punk. And we did but the critics *[18:59] spotted us in a heartbeat as not the real thing. But fortunately, all the real thing, The Clash, The Damned, Eater, The Jam, all these bands, they didn't know how to hire a truck or a PA. They were managed by one of their mates who didn't have a clue, and so most of The Police's early dates were cancellations by other bands. I’d get a call on a Thursday afternoon saying, “Generation X can't make it.” I can. I got a Rolodex, I know three guys with a truck, I know three guys with a PA, I can get that together, I can get out to Islington, pick up that truck, the PA. “Fred, the PA, can you make the date? Sure.” I can pull it together and get that. And so all of our dates were like “not Gen X”...

Robert: I'm going to pressure you on this because I know you say it's incremental and I know you say it's like climbing a mountain, but I still believe that there must be one ... There must be a gem somewhere, a little story, a little something happened which put you on that clear direction.

Stewart: Many.

Robert: What is it? What's the one that comes to mind?

Stewart: If I had to pick out one, it's hard to say the one that was the payoff of all that which would be Shea Stadium where the Beatles played. And when you play at Shea Stadium, that's officially you have conquered America and you're in the footsteps of The Beatles. That was pretty darned exciting and it turned out to be the best show ever. We were a pretty hot band but some nights just really went to another level and we amazed ourselves. Actually, we were pretty full of ourselves most nights, but that was a particularly good night. Our first stadium, too. Then we got sick of stadiums.

Robert: So that was your first stadium, yeah?

Stewart: I think so. It felt like the first anyway but then we got to the top and then stayed there for a couple of albums before we were right at the top. There was no sign of the... The ascent was on a straight line when we threw in the towel because we had that folly of youth. Well, actually it turned out not to be folly. It turned out to be wisdom in a way of, “I don’t need these guys.” Usually when you hear band members say that, you try and advise them against it. But in our case it actually sort of turned out to be a good thing that we threw in when we did. We never saw the other side, the inevitable other side of the parabola. And so when we picked it up 20 years later, our thing was still pristine.

Robert: Crazy. So, you've done many, many things in your life and you've achieved an awful lot and I'll talk about composing in a minute. But first of all, do you have something that you have not yet achieved?

Stewart: Conducting. Watch your back, mate! I've been advised no matter how gifted I think I am, how easy I think it would be, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't. I'm already trying to establish myself as a real conductor.

Robert: Real conductor or...?

Stewart: A real composer. Throw in amateur conductor and the learning curve with that, and there's been a 30-year learning curve with writing for orchestra. I didn't pick this up overnight: I've been working at this and trying to figure this out for decades, and I'm sure conducting would be the same sort of journey. Which I would be really happy to make that journey. I'm in for the long haul on things. I'm good for the long mission. I conduct small-scale all the time–my singers, my soloist when I'm working in the studio, bringing the singers in, and I understand how to breathe for them and so that the indication... There's more than just there it's [breathing loudly] there. Those nuances and I understand the rhythm and I took a conducting seminar and I really enjoyed it. I did a movement of... What the hell was it? It was a big huge Bach movement or something. Not Bach... Anyway, it was fantastic.

Robert: How many players did you have?

Stewart: The musicians union sent about two or three chairs of violins, one of the brass. It was pretty skinny but all the different choirs were represented and it was really, really a lot of fun. The most fun part was that my reading’s much better now than it was then and putting the things in two, three, and... I just love that because the first lesson I’ve learned was the opposite of drumming where you groove and you are the groove and you feel the others... And there, you have to run ahead of the cart and you’re ahead. You’re not grooving with the band; you're pulling them. You're out in front.

Robert: I’ll do you a deal. The next time we do Ben-Hur, and we have time...

Stewart: Ben-Hur is hard.

Robert: Then I get you to conduct that, yeah?

Stewart: Let's do that. I will take you up on that with Tyrant’s Crush.

Robert: Okay.

Stewart: And you can play drums.

Robert: You don't want to see that. You absolutely don't want to see me play drums. I’ve tried before.

Stewart: You threw down the gauntlet.

Robert: Yeah, yeah, yeah, but you said you wanted to conduct. I never said I wanted to play drums. I’m happy playing...

Stewart: What's the quid pro quo here then?

Robert: That I get to laugh at you conduct.

Stewart: Done. Deal. I’d love it. I mean, who's got rehearsal time with 60 highly-paid musicians?

Robert: Okay, so you're a very busy guy and you've achieved a lot, you've conquered a lot, you've had very different aspects of your career, which means that you are a very driven person. You must be a guy who gets...

Stewart: It doesn’t feel like driven.

Robert: No, but you are. You must be.

Stewart: Compared... To me, other people they talk about this thing which is probably just as much as a mystery to you. The strange word, the strange concept called “procrastination.” Can you imagine? I mean, how's it possible to watch TV when you’ve got a mission to do? It's not a matter of being driven, it's just a matter of “there's a mission to do–let's go do that.” TV is for when you haven't got a mission or any... Eating food or sleep is for when you haven't got a mission. It doesn't feel driven or anything, it's just like...

Robert: What are the tips or the tricks or anything that you do to keep yourself energised, to keep yourself going, to get up in the morning to go and do what you need to do? Do you have like a ritual you have every morning for breakfast, or do you...?

Stewart: Well, yes. At my age, I have a ritual for everything because the running repairs on this battered old frame... You just figure out that if I go to bed this time and if I eat that and do this and don't do that, I guess my day is going to be better–and you have all these rituals. But I don't think any of these rituals are connected to motivation. I learned very early in life that daydreaming is a critical activity, that daydreaming isn't just wasting time. In fact watching TV– I'd rather stare out into space and imagine some great fantasy that I get to play my drum for the huge orchestra and I get to write all the music myself! And it goes [triumphant tune] and it's really fantastic. Just imagining this and imagining this...

If you have a daydream that really sticks and you keep going back to it, and you fill in the details of it and to make the daydream work better, you start filling in the details... It has to be realistic so the details that you add need to be substantiated by, “the way I got to being able to play with that big orchestra was that I met this guy. How did I meet a guy? Because I was...” Actually, what you're doing is concocting a scheme as the daydream. If it's a really powerful one that really draws you and you keep chewing on it and going back to it, you're actually working up a plan. Like we get the band with just three guys in it and one of them's got to sing. I have the guitar and the bass player’s... got to be a singer because my singing is terrible. And it'd be great... Before you know it, your daydream is a mission.

Robert: Do you think that has any connection whatsoever with the fact that you're a very talented musician and you've got an amazing gut feeling about music? Do you think the two are interlinked in any way, shape, or form?

Stewart: My oldest brother Miles, he is driven. He's driven, and he has excellent musical ears, but did not get the gift of creating art himself. He is a brilliant receiver of art. He understands the Zeitgeist and he's picked hits and he's had hits after hits after hits that he's had. My other brother Ian as an agent, same thing. Neither of them can play. Ian, the coolest kid in school, tried to play the bass and he can just about, but he did not get that gift. The driven thing...

Robert: So you believe you it is a gift?

Stewart: Yeah, absolutely. It is a gift. I don't know where it comes from, I'm so grateful for it, I'm humbled by the fact that I was granted this. I kiss the ground beneath my feet that I've been granted this gift. I do not feel that I earned it. I do feel an obligation in a way to service it and to... It is such a gift that I feel that it would be a crime for me to let it languish in a way. I don't know where that idea came from. Maybe my daddy taught me that or something.

Robert: Okay. So we’re doing here, in Basel, Ben-Hur...

Stewart: And you are the big orchestra and I get to write the music!

Robert: You’re such a crazy guy.

Stewart: That only took me 64 years to get that.

Robert: You went from being a drummer, a rock star, into a composer. It's a bit of a strange leap. I can't really think of anybody else who has done that...

Stewart: Once again, it wasn’t a leap. It wasn’t A and then a B. It was A– I guess the biggest leap was I got an incoming phone call from Francis Ford Coppola who says, could I come down to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he's prepping–rehearsing, shooting a movie–and would I come there and just kind of like hang out and talk music and concept and stuff? So I get down there and the cast at that time, they're all kids. Every single one of them has now won an Academy Award. Diane Lane, Matt Dillon, I’m so terrible with names... Laurence Fishburne, Mickey Rourke, all of them. Dennis Hopper, they've all... But they were just kids; that's a diversion.

Anyway, so he just wanted to talk music and I got in there. Okay, I'm a little bit obsessive, and I said great. We talked high concept and he had this idea that... the reason he called me is time ticking, I remember like high noon... I want this teleological, inexorable movement of time with rhythm concept. You know, I love concept. Daydream: the result, the produce, the fruit of daydreams.

Robert: So he called you because he realised that the rhythm was such an important part and...

Stewart: Because his 18-year-old son says, “Dad, you gotta call Stewart Copeland from the Police.”

Robert: Okay, and then...

Stewart: And he did and I got in there, we bonded and his deal is that he finds people that he just senses has something, and he gives them their voice. He doesn't direct them. Oliver Stone told me every single note, “What's that note mean?” But Francis, once he got a connection, you're on the wavelength, he just turns you loose which he did and I had to figure out myself how to score a movie. Which I played that one all myself and I played mallards and weird guitar parts and funny little sounds. For them, since I didn't know how you do it, I had to invent the wheel for myself which is another word for–others applied this term and I was happy to accept it–revolutionary. That's not how you're supposed to do it but it's still...wow, that worked.

But at one point he did turn around and say, “I need some emotion. I need strings,” and immediately alarm bells, he's going to get some schlock artist in here, who’s going to like string... Francis, I got that. Yeah, you're right. We need some strings.

Robert: And that was the first time you'd worked with an orchestra?

Stewart: Yes.

Robert: So, you threw yourself into it at the deep end?

Stewart: Oh no, I’ve played in the school band.

Robert: Okay, yeah, but I mean as a professional... You threw yourself into the deep end as a composer who...

Stewart: I had these chords that I had worked out and I can play them one at a time. Okay that chord, okay stop the tape. Okay, play that chord and when it comes to the next chord it's... Okay roll the tape... Bang! And I can do that kind of thing. So for strings, all I had was footballs. Holders [singing sound]. I didn’t know how to write anything else. So, the first question is I call up a contractor and he says okay how many strings would you like? I go, how many? I don’t know. Strings.

Robert: Just strings.

Stewart: Strings. How many is strings? He says, Well, two guys is strings but it’s going to sound like two guys. If you want like I guess what Francis wants is a big wash of emotion. I don’t know, I think we ended up with maybe a dozen-20 guys, something like that. Somebody else looked at the chords and put it on a chart properly and I'm going, Yeah, I remember that from school. I actually did learn in college–I was at the California School of Performing Arts where I learned figured bass harmony and the fundam...

Robert: Figured bass, the most boring thing in the world ever.

Stewart: That's as far as I got.

Robert: If anybody out there doesn't know what figured bass is, don't even bother trying to Google it.

Stewart: It's critical.

Robert: No, it's not. It used to be critical. It’s now very, very boring and confusing.

Stewart: No. But what it did tell me is to not just do a barre chord up and down the neck like that, like a guitarist would do, and it tells you that you can use inner voices, let everything move in a different direction, and so on and so forth.

I was in a music school with other kids who'd studied the piano since the age of seven and I was the runt of the litter. One day she said, “Okay everybody, here's your homework. Write 16 bars.” Well-voiced chords for 16 bar. I had a million tunes in my head so I figured out something that I already and figured out applying the rules that I’d learned in her class to something I already had and she goes to the class and she plays okay by Johnny and she plays Johnny’s piece. Yeah, very good. Okay, yeah, good. Okay, Stewart... You’ve got a parallel fifth there and you haven't really resolved that but it’s kind of interesting the way that doesn't resolve there and resolves here. Now, you're not supposed to do this here, but there's kind of that note there. This would be what I would teach next year.

Robert: I remember this from being a kid.

Stewart: Yeah, and she finally ends up with, “Stewart, this is an actual piece of music.” And that totally at the bottom of the class, everyone just... They can sight read, they've done their ear training... I was just trying to become... I was starting at college age to learn the fundamental building blocks of music where everyone else in class had started much younger. I might have started playing music very young, but understanding the building blocks, the DNA of it.

So, as long as I was there. When I went to University of California in Berkeley, I didn't get into the music school. They gave me the ear training test and they played eight bars of a tune and transcribe it. They play me an interval, identify it, all this stuff: fail, fail, fail, fail, fail, fail, fail, fail. I studied instead, mass communication and public policy.

Robert: Mass communication and public policy!

Stewart: That's how I conquered the world.

Robert: Holy crap. Okay.

Stewart: Much more useful. If I had actually gotten into that music department at UC Berkeley, I would now be the timpanist in the Ohio Symphony.

Robert: Okay, so I'm going to try and back you into a corner here for something because you told me you've got a kind of philosophy about something. I forget what the phrase is that you use but something to do with being dumb.

Stewart: The dumb shit.

Robert: There you go. It’s the dumb shit. Okay. Can you just explain that?

Stewart: Well, artists, for instance, have very bad taste in whatever their art form is because we're slobs. The popular music, I hear it and I can dance. I don't mind it, I like it I guess. But what I really seek out are the things that are a little challenging that put a gimp on it that are .... I don’t mind pop music, I love it like everybody else. But what I seek out is something a little beyond and so I'll miss a hit.

My brothers... That's a hit! They can identify it and so on. I'm a little bit further out there. So, when I'm writing music or working on something, my manager will come and say, Stewart, that’s great but what's that? That's the best part! You see...Then like, you call it the best part–sounds like a wrong note to me. Oh. And I have to reconsider–it's the dumb shit. Actually that’s dumb ass. Sorry.

Robert: Dumb ass and dumb shit.

Stewart: Totally different things. Sorry, sorry, forgive me. I’m going to finish dumb ass first. So, he comes in with dumb ass in comprehending, unsympathetic to how many hours I've put into that artistic revelation. I need a dumb ass every now and then to come and pop my bubble and say, “I'm sure it's really on some intellectual plane, I hear what you're saying.” You need your bubble popped every now and then. Every artist needs some dumb ass, usually provided by spouses.

Robert: Okay. Yes. My experience...

Stewart: You get some dumb ass at home? Careful, careful, careful. Who’s in the corner now, bitch?

Robert: Yeah, you got me. Yeah, fair enough. She’s going to kill me.

Stewart: Let's talk dumb shit.

Robert: Dumb shit.

Stewart: Let's get into some dumb shit. A good example of dumb shit. I played the Letterman Show, big national American TV show and it's drum solo week. So I go in to play a drum solo and I have a piece of music that I wrote for a ballet, I work up a chart for the Tonight Show band and they're cracking players, those guys. We work up a thing and play, and I play my drum solo and at the end it took a lot of music to build that thing. Format, the piece of music, the writing, there’s the education writing, the charts that I practice. Years, a life in music went into making that thing–serious application, a vocation. And at the end of it... throw the sticks up there [swishing sound].

Well, go on social media, how'd that go down? It's all about the [swishing sound] Did you see how he threw the drumsticks? Yeah, wow, the drumsticks... That Copeland man it’s like he plays with these... the drumsticks!

It’s the dumb shit. No matter how much vocation went into every other aspect of that performance, it was the dumb shit.

Robert: It is the dumb shit that the audience identified.

Stewart: It’s something that stands out. I mean, I’m sure they were very impressed by everything else, they wouldn't have been impressed by the thing unless they were impressed by all the rest of it subliminally, but the thing that caught their eye and that they're talking amongst themselves about is that odd little piece of nothing, that throwaway little something.

Robert: Okay, so here comes the corner. You like the dumb shit, the audience likes the dumb shit, but you don't write music which is dumb shit. You write music which is not always easily accessible. It can be but not always. It's very intelligent music.

Stewart: You're answering your own question.

Robert: No, I'm not because I don't get it. If you know an audience likes dumb shit, why don't you write dumb shit?

Stewart: Here's the two things going on. Remember how here's the main stream of where everyone else and I'm kind of running parallel and not quite bull's eye level? That's me here, see? All the dumb shit’s here, see? Up here, trying to connect with that thing, occasionally I throw in some dumb shit and that's the connection. And I understand that my music is a little astringent for some, perhaps. What I find to be a comfortable easy place in musical atmosphere might be not... Sort of disturbing or not... People gravitate towards feeling good and what makes me feel good sometimes it makes other people feel sad.

Robert: But why are you not...

Stewart: As a professional film composer, I got pretty good at identifying exactly what chord has... You know, this is happy, that’s sad, this is happy sad, and this is sad. There's a big difference, believe it or not. Now, as a technician, I understand perfectly how to go for this emotion or that emotion but my personal taste is you describe it as being slightly off centre and I'm flattered. I take that as a compliment.

But the dumb shit is to drop the barrier, to break the ice, to welcome aboard... I use it as a way to break the ice. Instead of being alienated... Oh, that was weird. Oh, ha-ha-ha, that's kind of funny at least, or whatever. So, I’d be careful that I have first of all, I do my thing, then I get a little dose of dumb ass... Telling me, dude, this is like a little out there, and then reminded by dumb ass, then I go and apply some dumb shit.

Robert: And then it makes everybody happy.

Stewart: Well, it makes me happy. It seems to work. I've played my... I’ve used it in front of really adverse audiences and seemed to get a result.

Robert: You're so good at answering questions, I genuinely can't tell whether I managed to back you into that corner successfully, or whether you wriggled out of it. But I don’t care. You’re very good at it.

Stewart: That's the briar patch. Please don't throw me into the briar patch. No, not the briar patch. Oh, you're throwing me into the briar patch! No, no, no. Okay.

Robert: Tell me. 20 years’ time, what's the business going to be like? What do you think is going to be happening with orchestras, with pop, rock music? 20 years’ time, what would be your prediction?

Stewart: I don't know how orchestras will survive but I would say that they will probably be branded and that because they have a champagne quality that applies sophistication to a product, that they will be useful as... and hopefully government institutions will recognise the value of here's an art form, here's a body of our culture that cannot sustain itself commercially. It cannot. An orchestra, 60 guys or 90 guys or 110 guys, they cannot sustain themselves as a commercial enterprise. They need either private donations or government donations. Where’s the world going to be in 20 years? I would suspect that orchestras will be, as they are now, be vehicles of what they can do, which is impart dignity upon a product.

Robert: Okay, and what about rock, pop?

Stewart: It will always be here. It always has been, always will be. For rhythm... Simple EAD chords, all the revolutions of music. It’s all about the haircut, change the haircut, change the style of music, first you grow it long and then you cut it short. I remember my mom saying, “Stewart, why can't you have long hair like all the other nice boys and girls?” Because mine was like [scraping sound] peroxide. Everything about my outward appearance said, “Fuck you, I'm going to eat your children.” That was the intent. Whereas I was a little soft little...

Robert: Oh, you were a timid soul inside. Bless you. All right, so that's your prediction. Just jumping back a bit.

Stewart: Well, here's the thing. There will always be rock music because if there isn't rock music, there will not be sex, and if there is not sex, there will not be anybody. It’s a part of our natural process.

Robert: It is now, but what...

Stewart: It always has been.

Robert: Well, you say that, but what about when Beethoven was around?

Stewart: When Beethoven was around was not early.

Robert: Beethoven was the kind of rock music of his day. I mean, he was so challenging when he wrote some of his music, and I'm sure that would have been the element of it.

Stewart: I suspect that Beethoven was not the rock music of his day. I suspect that Beethoven was the pampered servant of rich people and their sophisticated sublimated carnal desires. But out there on the streets of his town, the people were dancing into the streets, not to Bach music. That's my suspicion, I just made that up. That’s going to be a guess. Your readers or your listeners will write in and say, No, no, no, not sex. But I'm sure popular music of his day would have been rhythmic and would have been dancing and would have given the male of the species and the female of the species an opportunity, an impulsion and an audio permission to thrust their pure dander at each other, and to display their genetic superiority through body motion inspired by music. That's what music is.

Mozart? Bach? Those are sophistications like many other of our crocodile- brain behaviours. Are sophisticated and turned into a high form; humans do this. We take fire and we turn it into a jet or the internal combustion engine. That's what we do to fundamental building blocks of physics, that's what we do. And the fundamental building blocks of our music, which is part of our libido, which is part of our mating dance, you can develop that and it turns out the combination of physics, the human mind and sex produces high forms of art. But that's not what's really going on. Those are like the caveman drew on the painting because he had... High art painting is not necessarily where it came from, but that throb, rock ‘n’ roll, Bach was not that. Bach was not rock 'n' roll. He's like the rock star of his time. That's his position in society but that's not the function of his music.

Robert: Yeah, but for instance, Paganini who of course...

Stewart: He was popular.

Robert: Yes, he was like the rock star of his time and he went bankrupt...

Stewart: And Mozart too, by the way, was in the streets and inspired by music the people were actually dancing to.

Robert: And Vivaldi Four Seasons, it's incredible music but...

Stewart: I'm surprised that they have any population in Europe at all. I'm surprised that they’re here... In fact, my whole theory, I'm just here begging to throw it all because I just made it up anyway as I was talking. Out the window. You see, Europe would be depopulated now if they were trying to procreate to the sound of Vivaldi. If that's the only reason humans procreate, is Vivaldi, we would have been fucked.

Robert: That's a brilliant quote. That's going to be the headline quote on this podcast. Great, okay, fine... Who knows, who knows? It’s a prediction about what’s happening in 20 years’ time...

Stewart: Get this. Who would have ever (thought) that the most effective music that gets right to the deepest part and releases all social training and everything and gives young males and young females of our species utter permission is a mechanised rhythm that comes from a machine. [EDM sounds] To the extent that it’s human is to the extent that it's less effective in releasing the libido and permitting these behaviours that would be utterly unacceptable without the presence of a strong beat.

In fact, people standing in a room, they’re not interested in procreating. There's music going but they're not even thinking about it. Their body’s moving to it. There's more to it than meets the eye. There's something deeply physiological, something evolved very deeply in our human behaviour.

Robert: Okay. And you yourself, you live quite a simple life, you don’t have a big empire with 100 orchestrators and...

Stewart: No. I don't have an engineer. I used to. All the people of my generation, their work day begins when the engineer shows up and when the engineer “got to go home to see my family,” then the artist, that's the end of his working day.

Robert: And this is kind of a bit of an ethos of yours, is keep it small, keep it to yourself.

Stewart: Absolutely. The Police was three guys and it was designed that way. I wanted this... Let it be three guys. And I have my own record company that I did my gosh darned self... What's the cheapest studio in London? Pathway, an eight-track studio. Well, let's go there, and I call the guy and I chisel him down. Yes, strip it back and strip it back so that you've got manoeuvrability is the main thing.

Robert: But do you not think though, if you have more people working with you, collaborating, working for you, that you can achieve more in life because more people are doing the stuff that you don't necessarily need to do?

Stewart: Actually, that has been someplace that I'm getting to. I am in the process of arriving at that happy place where I can give it up. All during my young Pac Man years and adulthood, I've always been very greedy of artistic “boss hood.” I want to play every instrument myself, and I want to record everything myself, and I want to mix it myself, and I don't want anything to happen with me out of... I got to be in it, I want to be into everything. The video-I want to make the video, and the video should be like this and it should be... Just like the idea of not owning every aspect of it is kind of alien.

But now with the passage of time, I've discovered that like a producer is really cool because all I have to do is do this and then he has to clean up the tapes and figure it out and do all this stuff. I've learned to give it up, to let other people play with the ball, and the results can be really good. In a band, you collaborate. I'm not talking about a band collaboration because there, it's a corporate identity and I feel that I don't have to do everything in the band, but the band has to do everything. The band has to decide on the album cover, the band has to decide what the video is going to be about. We're not going to have anybody tell us what to... And so in a band, it's a corporate identity. The band is me, it's my band, even though there's two other guys who call it their band. For each of us, it's my thing.

The thing that I will never have, even as much as I'm prepared to give it up artistically, I will never acquire an empire. I have no need and no desire for an empire. I look at fellow composers who have built empires, some very effectively. One of my erstwhile competitors, Hans Zimmer who’s a big film composer and he does incredible work...

Robert: He’s Swiss, of course. Swiss.

Stewart: Is he?

Robert: Yes.

Stewart: Of course, is he? I always thought he was German or Austrian but okay, Swiss. He has an empire. He has 10 guys. He learned to give it up. I don't have to write every bar. Or he writes the theme and I don't have to apply it to this unit, apply that theme to... I can have somebody do it for me, then check it. Then when he's done all the donkey work–of here's the start time, there's the art time, this is the BPM that lands on the chord and does all the... The craftsmanship part of it. He’s written a tune and that’s the art. Then the craftsman applies it to the scene and then the artist comes by and says, okay that works but you know what I'm going to do... And so he gets all the fun part.

But he has to give it up and let other people do it. He has to hire those guys and to hire those guys, he needs an empire, and to feed an empire, he doesn't actually go and get to be an artist as much as I would need to be. He has to take a lot of meetings, he has to get every action picture that's being made, he needs to get that work to sustain his empire. He can't like take a job every now and then like an independent... Like when I was doing that, I was independent. A job every two months would feed my family. He needs every movie being made, he needs to have like three or four Triple A action pictures in his studio being made at all times, or else having that Empire...

Robert: And that doesn’t interest you.

Stewart: In one sense, you can turn things over and like that. On the other sense, running the empire. There's a difference between having an empire and having a collaboration, and letting the creative ball, letting other people play with the ball sometimes.

Robert: Okay and one of your balls, of course, is Ben-Hur, the reason why we’re here. You wrote the music for the live performance that happened and launched at The O2 Arena a few years ago and now you've set it to play and run with the edit you did for the 1925 film. Do you have any other projects and films that you would like to do that? Have you ever seen another silent movie and you’ve thought, I'd love to score a film and... Or is Ben-Hur such a special thing for you that that's the one that's...

Stewart: Well, Ben-Hur came and got me. It was an incoming call to score as a hired gun composer, to score a stage production of Ben-Hur. I did that, the show ran its course. A huge, huge behemoth of a show. Started in The O2 Arena in London and it ran its course. And then I wanted to do the concert and so I found the 1925 film and that became a different journey. It's sort of like it came for me. I didn't select that film.

But other films, I've looked at some other films by Fred Nibler the director, but there’s just such a... It's such a huge... It took three years and it was kind of fun and I could easily do another one. Not right away, because I'm having too much fun with Ben-Hur. I mean, I haven't finished playing Ben-Hur yet. I also write opera, in year three of an opera that I'm writing for Chicago in Long Beach. I'll get around to do another film one day, I suppose.

Robert: Okay. All right. So, last thing. I’m 32-33 actually. I can’t even remember my own age now.

Stewart: You're bit young to be lying about your age, pretending you don't know how old you are.

Robert: What advice would you give somebody like me who is hungry, relatively young, passionate about what I do, and I want to make sure that when I'm a little bit older that I'm still hungry, passionate about what I do? What general sage advice would you give me, because I know you’re like a grand papa...

Stewart: Stu-daddy!

Robert: Stu-daddy! Do you have anything that you look at me, you’ve worked with me now for the past week...

Stewart: Well, I would say having worked over the last week, I would say that you have a couple of gifts that will take you where you want to go. You also have a surfeit of energy which takes you into empire building, we have discussed this. For your viewers, there's a backstory here: I've been lecturing this young man about casting aside the empire and getting on with the music because you don't want to end up like a man who I respect deeply but do not want to be like Hans Zimmer. Where he spends all his time in meetings, having to do the “not music” part of the enterprise.

I would say that at your age, you've got energy to burn, so go ahead build an empire. But I suspect that one day you will start getting that empire out of your life. There’s been a couple of times we've been on the streets, we were on the Swiss Riviera the other day and you're walking around the streets and you're on the phone dealing with something. I don't know what you were dealing with, but it looked important. Without an empire, I don’t have anything to deal with. I'm enjoying the day. [He whistles]

Robert: Very chilled.

Stewart: There you are, young man, young Pac Man.

Robert: Can that be my nickname from now on for you? You just call me Pac Man.

Stewart: Yeah

Robert: I like that. That’s very retro.

Stewart: Well, I have sons, several who are older than you.

Robert: You have seven children.

Stewart: I have seven children.

Robert: Boy.

Stewart: Yeah. Four boys and then three girls, and I'm proud to say that some of my sons are also Pac Men.

Robert: Yeah. So you like Pac Man?

Stewart: Well, that's what I try to raise them to be. At this age, from 25 to 35, that's your chance. Take no prisoners, just remorseless, just bite off as much as you can get and do it while you've got no baggage and just you know... Fight, scramble and then there will come a point where you want to put down roots and take it a bit easier, and that's called midlife crisis.

What the crisis is all about is you realise that that's the peak. That's where your youthful vigour got you and the rest of your life is the result of that 10 years span. That 10 years is setting up what the rest of your life will be. I would say, you asked for a piece of advice, focus your attention on the things that you know you'll still want to be doing–which apply to your gift, not to your acumen.

Robert: Okay. Well, I'll see you tonight on the stage.

Stewart: Absolutely.

Robert: Thanks, mate.

Stewart: We’re going to rock the house.

Robert: Thank you very much.

Stewart: In your bare feet.

Robert: Yeah.

Robert: Hey, it's me again. Sorry to bug you but as this is a new podcast, I need your help.

If you enjoyed listening to the fun I had with Stewart and you'd like more, then please head over to thebackstageblog.com, sign up and receive the next podcast directly to your inbox. It's also crucial that you get as many friends on and off social media to take a listen by sending them a link to the show.

Now, remember, this episode is brought to you with the help of Lat_56, the smart, sharp and efficient baggage company. So, until the next time, appreciate the music and the musicians will appreciate you.

Show notes

Stewart's Father, Miles Copeland Jr., is a spy [03.51]

Key points from Stewart’s childhood [04:45]

His father’s best buddy was Kim Philby, a double-agent. [07:20]

Stewart took up drums partly because he was a late bloomer. [10:03]

Why he believes that music is part of the procreative process of the human being. [12:07]

When his father spotted his talent, Stewart was signed up for drum lessons. [14:00]

The Police was modelled as a punk band and enjoyed huge success after Shea Stadium. [17:02]

A grand aspiration: Stewart would love to conduct a large orchestra. [22:00]

Stewart and Robert strike a deal for the next Tyrant’s Crush performance. [24:04]

The biggest leap from drummer to composer happened when Stewart got a phone call from Francis Ford Coppola. [29:15]

How he failed to get into the music school at University of California, Berkeley. [35:19]

A lesson in Stewart’s philosophy of the dumb shit and the dumb ass. [36:10]

Stewart’s prediction for the music industry in 20 years’ time. [42:16]

Another theory: without rock music, there will not be sex. [44:06]

If the only reason humans pro-create is Vivaldi, we would all be fucked. [47:03]

Stewart has no desire for an empire. [51:10]

Selected links from the episode

thebackstageblog.com

Miles Copeland Jr.

Kim Philby

The Police

The Black Knights

Ben-Hur

Francis Ford Coppola

Shea Stadium

Tyrant’s Crush

Hans Zimmer

Lat_56

Books, Music and Videos that feature Stewart Copeland

Strange Things Happen: A life with The Police, polo and pygmies - an autobiography from Stewart covering everything you need to know

Dare to Drum - a story of the rock star composer teaming up with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra

Ben Hur live by Stewart Copeland - a CD performed by the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra

Orchestralli (+ bonus) - a 2 disk set of Copeland performing in concert with a select group of classical musicians on tour in Italy

Gizmodrome - a record of Copeland’s latest band, featuring Mark King (Level 42), Adrian Belew (ex King Crimson, David Bowie, Frank Zappa, Talking Heads) and Vittorio Cosma (PFM and Elio e le Storie Tese).

The Police: Everyone Stares - The Police Inside Out - DVD filmed on Super-8 giving an insider’s view of the band’s rise to fame and eventual split.

Related & Recommended Posts

#Stewart Copeland #The Police #Behind the scenes

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darlingpetao3 · 7 years

Text

The Assignment (H.R. x Reader, Chapter 3/4)

Part 1 Part 2

H.R. sleeps well into late morning. Until lunchtime, actually. You nudge him and he snorts a little as he wakes up.

“What time is it?” he asks, squinting at the sun.

“It’s time to go,” you tell him with an accidental sigh. There’s a jingling sound coming from down the path. It’s a hot-dog cart. H.R. spots it too and starts to make loud foodgasm noises. You heave yet another sigh and say, “H.R., do you want some lunch first?”

“Do I?!”

You lead the way and order a hot-dog and fries combination for each of you. H.R. tries to squirt the bottle of mustard over his food, but he’s clearly having trouble with the handcuffs still on.

“If I take those off so you can eat, you won’t run away?”

“No. I’ve accepted my fate.” You can tell he’s not lying – a trick of the Collector trade. He makes a relieved sound the moment his binds are removed and proceeds to smother his hot-dog and fries in mustard.

“Leave some for me, why don’t you?!” you gasp and steal the bottle from him and use the same generous amount of the condiment.

“Ah, finally, a fellow mustard lover. You know Team Flash is just brimming with weird ketchup people. What’s up with that?”

“So weird. Like, who puts ketchup on their fries?” The pair of you walk side-by-side, talking and eating, needing to stretch your legs after sitting on the cold, hard ground for so long. H.R. continues to bring up every topic on Earth, but this time, it’s you who feels a little more chatty.

“I don’t think the literary critics on our Earth would know a real Sci-Fi/Romance Bestseller if it bit them on the ass,” he says.

“I’ve never even read your work and I’ve found the same thing,” you find yourself saying. “And it’s not just your genre. It’s every genre. There’s some real crap on these Bestseller lists and the critics praise them all!”

“Did we just agree on something again?” he asks with a funny smile.

“I think we did.”

“I- mmm-” H.R. stops mid-sentence.

“What?” you ask.

He shakes his head. “Never mind.”

“No, you’re going to tell me.”

“I’m glad it wasn’t Gypsy after me.” You blink as a reply and stop in your tracks.

“Why? Because I’m not a total legend like she is? Well let me tell you, mister, I’m just as badass-”

“No! It’s not that,” he interrupts your tirade. “Okay, maybe a little. She’s kind of intimidating, let’s be honest.”

I mean, he does have a point. She kind of is.

Are you agreeing with the fugitive again?

“Maybe I should rephrase that,” he tries. “I’m glad it was you.” You have absolutely no idea what to say in response. What can you say? You turn to face him with a tiny apologetic smile.

“Oh. Um. I- right.” Wow. Very articulate. Maybe the fugitive- no. Maybe H.R. wasn’t so bad…

H.R. returns your smile for a second, then looks like he wants to say something. He leans in quickly, but pulls away, then back again. His eyes flick to your lips, to your eyes, and to your lips once more.

“You… mustard.” H.R. hesitates with his hand, but in the end, he wipes a thumb over the corner of your mouth.

“Oh,” you utter quietly and tuck a piece of your hair behind your ear. “Thanks.”

A silence hangs in the crisp air. There’s a short moment of awkward shuffling and glances. Dead ahead of you on the path, a swirling breach opens, and out of it jumps a familiar pissed off face.

Gypsy.

You hadn’t realized how close you were to H.R. until you automatically step away from him at seeing your colleague.

“G! What are doing here?”

“Me?” she practically yells. “What are you doing here? Why is he not in a holding cell?” You hold your hands out in front of you as if to try to calm her temper.

“Hey, relax, okay? My powers gave out again,” you try to explain. “We were only going to stay here until they came back.” A wonky-looking portal is the product of your efforts to show her. Gypsy viciously rolls her eyes.

“You are going to be in so much shit if you don’t get your ass back to headquarters with him.”

“I will!” This comes out high-pitched and choked, much to your dismay.

“You’re damn right because you’re both coming with me right now!” Gypsy, in all her feminine ferocity, grabs you and H.R. by your collars and shoves you into her perfectly working breach, making you feel a wave of inferiority. You stumble back into your home, Earth-19, where you are met by five towering figures. The Master Collectors.

“(Y/N),” says a scarily cold voice belonging to one of your superiors. “You’re late-”

“I know and I’m so sorry-”

“-But you have brought the criminal this time, therefore you are fortunate.” You share a quick glance with H.R., who had fallen to his knees. His eyes are full of fear, instead of the wonderful brightness you had witnessed earlier. “Take him away.”

Two armed guards lift H.R. up roughly and take him until he’s out of your sight. You know they’re taking him to the cell block, where he’ll be held until his execution. The Master Collectors say nothing more to you as they leave. This is a small relief, until, that is, they confer with each other as they walk.

“Be sure to make the executioner aware that he’ll be needed tomorrow morning.”

Your heart sinks.

It sinks lower when you walk into your peaceful apartment.

Then even lower as you crawl into your comfortable bed.

And when you didn’t think it could sink anymore while you try to force yourself to sleep, that’s when it breaks.

Is this the toll a must Collector must take? Then screw it! Screw everything about this stupid job. How it makes you feel like shit. How it condemns the sweetest, most kind hearted man you’ve come across in your life to death. You kick off your suddenly confining blankets and prepare yourself. You knew what you needed to do.

H.R. Wells is too good for this world – so you were going to see him safely to another.

Part 4

#reader insert #hr wells x reader #hr wells imagine #earth-19 Harrison Wells x reader #earth-19 harrison wells imagine #the flash imagine #the flash fanfiction

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cosplayingfiend · 7 years

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Not Now

Who would have that that this is the way he would go? It was a mission they could handle. They had been assured that many a time. So, why had it all gone so wrong? - Lance and Keith had been tasked in going on ahead to scope out the ship, and make sure that it was truly empty as they had assumed it to be. But maybe that was their first mistake. - The two Paladins had realized things were too quiet when they had found there to be no traps whatsoever. There had to be at least some traps in all of this. "Keith, i-it's too quiet here. Something's wrong here." Lance whispered, body taught as he looked everywhere he could. Not having anything happen was worse than having something happen. "Yea, I agree. Maybe we should - " Keith would have continued, but a soft 'woosh' through the air next to his head alerted him. "Shit - !" He wheezed, turning his head to follow the arrow-like object, only to see, in a sort of slow motion, the object make its way straight toward his partner. - The Blue Paladin had turned to see what had caught Keith's attention, but felt the air rush out of him quickly. He fell backwards, not quite able to tell what had happened. All he knew right now was that something hurt like the hottest flames of hell in his chest. - The Red Paladin ran for his fallen friend, sliding on his knees next to him. He picked him partially up gently, laying his torso in his lap as his eyes glanced from spot to spot over him. "Lance, holy shit, are you okay?!" He breathed before his eyes came to rest on the arrow lodged deep into Lance's chest. It had just barely missed its target - just slightly below his heart. - The edges of his vision were beginning to get hazy. He knew where he was - kinda - but thought it strange that it was warm. Wait. Floors are cold. So . . . Ah. He was in Keith's lap. Well then. At least he was warm now. Screw cold floors, he liked this much better. He heard mumbles. A voice? Oh, Keith. Right. Dazed, Lance looked up at Keith, blinking before his vision cleared a little bit. He looked - scared? Were those tears?? - Said Keith was in fact beginning to cry as he held Lance. The arrow was too far in to try and get out without causing major bleeding. And he was afraid that if he tried to get Lance back to the castle to a healing pod, that it would take too much time. But he had to do something. He couldn't just let him die. Not now. Not in his arms. - The Blue Paladin could tell he was fading. His insides hurt way too much for there not to be something wrong. "Keith?" He asked, his usually loud and boisterous voice now scarily quiet. "Keith . . . am I - am I dying?" - "No. You're not gonna die. I'm gonna get you out of here, safe, and very much alive." Keith rattled off, glancing around to see what he could use to possibly help them. And to his great luck, there was fucking nothing. - "Keith . . ." Lance whispered, even quieter now. The rest of his thoughts were interrupted by his own coughing, which led to blood coming up. It splattered over his armor, the deep red a stark contrast to the slightly dirty and offset white it normal was. The blue of his symbol was tainted with the blood. "K-Keith . . . I-I'm not gonna make it, am I?" He sighed, sagging a little as he began to accept his fate. He was going to die here. In Keith's arms. On a supossedly abandoned Galra ship. What a boring way to go. - Keith felt his blood boil. "Don't you *dare* give up on me, McClain. I am going to get your sorry ass out of here, whether you believe it or not." He spat, coming to the conclusion that it may have to be their best bet to just bring Lance back to the castle. "Everything's gonna be fine, okay? You're gonna live, a-and, you'll get to see your family again. Cuba, right? Veradero Beach?" Keith tried, hoping to instill some motivation into the fading Blue Paladin. - Wow, Keith was really pretty, wasn't he? "Keith, you have r-really pretty eyes, ya know that?" He pondered, voice barely there now. His eyelashes were fluttering as he fought to keep his eyes open. But he just wanted to sleep. Sleep sounded nice right now. Maybe he could just take a little nap . . . - A blush filtered to Keith's cheeks. "Wh-What? What're you saying right now?" He rushed out. He was getting worse. Oh god he was closing his eyes. "Lance. Lance, stay with me buddy. Stay awake for me, okay? Please." He pleaded, gently tapping Lance's cheek to try and wake him up. - Man, Keith was really warm. His hand too. Oh, that was nice. He leaned into the touch, smiling softly as his eyes closed once more. "Y're s' w'rm, Keith~" He hummed, voice unbelievably soft. He felt comfy, and safe. He was always safe with Keith. Always. - Keith could feel himself losing it. He was scrambling to keep Lance awake, but he knew it was a losing battle at this point. "L-Lance, no. Come on . . ." He muttered, eyes wide as they began to tear up again. He couldn't lose someone else. Not now. But it might be the sad truth at this point. - Lance's vision was darkening. It had been, but now he could really tell. It felt like the lights had been turned out. "Keith?" He asked, one last time, slowly curling into the warm chest plate of said Paladin. He winced at the pain in his chest deepening. "Keith . . . tell my family I love them, 'kay? A-And the others. I -" More blood spit up, but more came with the hacks this time. His vision went darker. "I love you, too." He whispered, opening his eyes as much as he could to get one last good look at Keith. The sleek black hair hidden under a helmet looked like the night sky. The violet eyes reminded him of a sunset on the ocean. He reached a hand up, and cupped Keith's face ever so gently. "I love you." - No. No no no no. No. He refused. He refused to have Lance die in his arms. His breath hitched at the confession. God damn it. This idiot had the worst possibly timing. "Lance - I . . . I love you too." He choked out, tears coming full force now as he cradled Lance in his arms. The tears stung badly, and he leaned into the gently touch, laying his own hand overtop Lance's. "Don't leave me. P-Please." He sobbed, tears now falling onto Lance's visor and face as he wept. - Keith was so pretty. Even when he cried. "I'll see ya later, Keith. And then . . . th-then we can be together, yea?" He sighed out, his breaths more raspy and of less oxygen now. He could feel himself going. It was . . . peaceful. - "S-See ya 'round, K-Keith . . ." were Lance's last words before his body finally sagged, now lifeless. Keith would never see those beautiful blue eyes sparkle as he talked about Earth. He would never see that stunning smile take over when he looked at him. He would never be able to kiss those plump cinnamon lips, and would never hear them utter those three words again. - No one spoke that night as Keith came back, carrying the fallen Paladin in his arms. No one spoke of the tears running down Keith's face. No one spoke of the heartbreak they all felt. No one spoke of how Keith cried himself to sleep, gripping an olive green jacket to his curled up form.

#one more suffering #major character death.#lance mcclain #voltron lance #voltron keith #klance #klangst #klance angst #voltron legendary defender #my writing

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jeffrmayhugh · 4 years

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HOLY COW!!! BITCOIN GOLDEN CROSS & 100% ACCURATE SIGNAL SAY BULL RUN IS HERE

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Today in Krypto, we have got a golden cross for Bitcoin, which is a very bullish sign and a rare indicator has just flashed, which has accurately signalled the start of a new bull cycle. Every single time, Block FDI has had a data breach. Greyscale bought one-third of all of Bitcoin in 2020. Bitcoin mining is becoming dangerously centralized and investment fund, a 16 said, talks about the fourth major crypto cycle, which is humming the crypto lurk. This is where you subscribe for all of the oddest and all of the latest happenings out here in the wild, wildland of crypto. Also, if you want to learn how to trade Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, but you aren’t really sure how to get started. Then check out my course. Crypto trading. Explain it will walk you through all the basics, like how to properly manage our risk, how to set a good Stop-Loss, key indicators, key trends and much, much more. There is a link down below where you can learn more. So let’s go ahead and jump straight in the charts to get started off with. We can see here that Bitcoin has been in a very tight range over the last week, moving up and down through that nine thousand dollar range. But you can see now that we have the price action really starting to coil up and that we are forming an ascending triangle on the four-hour charts for Bitcoin. Now, this is a continuation pattern that has a 75 percent chance of moving in our favour and thus driving the price of Bitcoin upwards. We could, of course, see a few more days of that price coiling in before we actually do get a breakout. The implied target from such a move would be eleven thousand dollars. But there is one thing working against this triangle, the ten thousand dollar line of resistance that has been a very, very sticky price point for Bitcoin recently. So we really need to crush that to really feel like this has been a confirmed ascending triangle breakout. But one thing that we may have working in our favour is the Golden Cross, which has just played out over on the daily. This key moving average crossover could be heralding in the start of a new bull market. Certainly, it is a signal that is likely to entice a fair amount of traders to hop into the market, since so many major signals have now confirmed that the market is in a good uptrend in that price, continuation is likely to continue maturing. Always a chance this could be a fake-out. We have seen that before with golden triangles, but this time we really do have a wild amount of super bullish data and market indicators all lining up at the same time. So I remain bullish. Anyway, here are some other interesting data for you. See any Bitcoin futures? Open interest is at an all-time high since its launch. This means that the institutional players, they are piling in big-time to those Bitcoin futures contracts, possibly, of course, on the back of the announcement from Paul Tudor Jones that he’s getting into the Bitcoin futures game. Also, the Puel multiple is beginning to flash a bull signal. The pull is calculated by dividing the daily issuance value of bitcoins into U.S. dollar terms by the 365 days moving average of the daily issuance value. So when we see reading on this chart below zero points five, this indicates that the value of the daily new issued coins is low compared to historical precedents. The very cool thing to note here is that the historical data shows us that bear markets tend to end when we see this indicator drop below that zero points five lines. It has been a very reliable bottom indicator multiple times before and a drop below zero points five. Now could be heralding in the start of a new big bull cycle, just like you see here, that it has done before. Very, very exciting to see how that is playing out. Now, this does not mean supermoon instantaneously overnight. That’s not how the market works. It means a slow and steady grind up to new highs over potentially the next two years or so. There might be 30 to 40 percent pulldowns within that timeframe. So just keep that in mind. Obviously, we still actually to break and hold above ten thousand five hundred dollars to really get that bull fuel just pumped into the market. We could dump before that happens, but I truly feel like the timeframe were to stack Cito, she’s at these cheaper levels. That window’s closing, that window is closing. We’ll look back in a few years and go, man. Wish I’d stack more sets. A big thank you to Fem X for sponsoring today’s episode. So the big news from Femme X is that they have just launched fearless spot market trading. So for nine ninety-nine a month or sixty-nine ninety-nine a year, you can do unlimited trading of the top coins like bitcoin in a theorem as well as altcoins like a chain link. So if you are a trader and you find yourself spending a lot of money every month on fees, then this is definitely something that you should look into as it can really save on that bottom line. Over time, FedEx is currently offering a free seven day, no-obligation trial of their fearless trading service. Go ahead and check that out. Now, this new offering, of course, is in addition to their popular futures markets, which feature Bitcoin and top AWALT coins like Tasos and a theorem as well as gold. Now, FedEx is definitely a more advanced platform, and it is definitely only for experienced traders. Now, as an added bonus, if you sign up using the link Downbelow, then you can be eligible for up to one hundred and twelve dollars in trading bonuses on their futures platform. OK, so let’s go ahead and get into the news. So a bug has forced the shutdown of teh BTC, which was a project that is Tolkan using bitcoin on a theorem. So essentially wrapped Bitcoin on top of theory and now no funds were lost. It seems that the first security audit missed this particular bug. T BTC will be relaunching soon, but only after another round of security audits, hopefully, to fix everything this time. So kind of a failed launch for them. But this is at the end of the day, software and software, it will have bugs. I bring this story up as a reminder that things can and will go wrong in the early days of DFI. So if you are using many of these new decentralized finance solutions out there, then you are a pioneer. And like all pioneers, you run the risk of dying of dysentery or being eaten by a bear and never reaching Oregon. That game, then a game anyway. Next up, Block Fei has sadly suffered a data breach. So hackers gained backdoor access via a SIM swap attack on an employee. Now the hacker was able to access confidential data such as names, dates of birth, postal addresses and activity histories for some clients on the platform. Other sensitive account information, including bank account details, Social Security and tax ID edification numbers, as well as really, really sensitive data like passport, driver’s licenses, photo scans, all that stuff that was not affected in this data breach. So a few personal details were affected, but not everything so can keep that in mind. Now, first. First off, just got to say, the fuck is up with all the SIM swap attacks in America, man. Like, how is this not been fixed yet? What a total mess. Second, all the funds are safe. Nobody’s money was taken. Remember, block five does their custody with Jemini and they manually process all withdrawals. So in this instance, the system actually worked just as designed and protected user funds because is custody with Jemini, which is fully insured. Now, if you’re using block fi, though, just make sure you do have to factor authentication using Google authenticator, not SIM authentication, please. So make sure you have that. And for that matter, make sure using two-factor authentication literally everywhere, any service they use. So anyway. I can’t see. I’m very excited about potentially having some of my data leaked, so that’s not cool. Certainly wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened to me, though, and probably won’t be the last time that it happens to me. And obviously this is not a good thing. But on the flip side, at least, that is good. The block by did stop it so quickly and is being transparent about what happens that I’m trying to hide away from what happened. Cybersecurity remains such a massive, massive issue, especially for companies working with cryptocurrencies. They remain a big target of these individuals. But it does at least give me a lot of confidence that the security protocols that block has in place actually worked exactly as intended. So because the custody is done with Jemini, they weren’t able to access any user funds. So anyway, me personally, I am keeping the funds that I currently have in Block Fye in Block five, even though I’m not very happy about having some of my data potentially leaked again. It wasn’t everyone NSA. Scarily. But, man, this damn KYC thing interest remains a thorn in the side of the crypto industry. And it is only getting more and more strict as time goes on platforms that don’t have strict KYC yet. It’s going to becoming. The travel rule is increasingly being enforced. So all the platforms that haven’t caught up yet, they’re going to have to next upgrade scale investments has bought up to 33 percent of all newly minted Bitcoin over the last three months. Damn greyscale. That’s a lot of Bitcoin man. Remember, they also bought half of the A theorem that has been mined this year. The asset manager, they are just their stockpile. A major cryptocurrency is just a crazy pace. This is nuts. In total, Grace Scales, Bitcoin Trust Fund now has a total of three hundred and forty-three thousand nine hundred fifty-four bitcoin under management. Wow, that is crazy. My guess is that Greyscale will hold one million bitcoin within five years. The effect of players like this sucking bitcoin off of the open market, it is massive and it’s not highly desirable either. I don’t really like the greyscale is going to be having percentage points worth of the total bitcoin supply. Nevertheless, it does mean that as they continue to vacuum up all this bitcoin off the market, they’re locking up the coins and all thus become increasingly rare on spot exchanges to be able to get Bitcoin. So they’re really taking a lot of supply out of the open markets. OK, next up, there is some new data regarding the source of bitcoins. Hash rate, which is showing that Bitcoin mining is largely becoming centralized between two major mining pools. So the combined hash rate of BTC dot com and ampoule, which are both bits main affiliated entities, are going to classify those like the one here and F two pool together. They crossed over a fifty two percent of the hash rate the other day. Now, since the time of breaking this news story, the hash rate has actually been moved around and the combined rate of these pools is back under 50 percent. But, you know, the reality remains Bitcoin mining pools and the power backing them. It is getting increasingly centralized into very, very few hands. The having it only made this situation worse as more miners and more power went to the big mining pools. What is needed right now is robust competition, perhaps that U.S. based company, Layer One, they can actually make a big splash and actually capture a large percentage of the hash rate. We also see the rise of exchange based mining pools from who will be buying ads and okay acts. But honestly, this really doesn’t make things better either, as it just gives even more power to the already uber-powerful exchanges. But in terms of network stuff, I’m really not worried because it’s not that this is bad for Bitcoin necessarily. Any mining pool acting maliciously would essentially be committing financial suicide and would only be just a blip in the radar momentarily. But it just underlines how much power is being consolidated right now in the Bitcoin mining game. What a big-money game it’s becoming. And finally, say, a recent post from famous crypto fund Andreassen Horowitz has outlined the price innovation cycle of crypto and the data is suggesting that we are on the edge of cycle number four. You can see from the charts here that Bitcoin has gone through three big price cycles in terms of what has happened innovation wise. And every single cycle began the same. There was a massive run-up in price, which was followed by an explosion of new developer activity, new startup activity and social media activity, which, of course, we can loosely classify as new users coming into the market. Every one of these cycles has resulted in new products that were a net positive for the industry as a whole, even if it also resulted in a lot of failed concepts and a lot of scamming all that other stuff. The end result does give us a few diamonds amongst all the mud. Now, a key feature of the crypto cycles is that each one of these really just plants a seed which later grows and then drives the next market cycle. The firm suggests that many of the projects from really a range of verticals like finance and gaming and payments and of course, infrastructure for the crypto economy, they are now going to be the key drivers of the fourth major cycle for crypto. You know what this says to me? It says that the old coins that launched back in 2017 or 2018, the ones that actually built and not just survived, but actually thrived. We’ll be seeing massive gains in the coming market. The gaming crypto. It might soon be moving into a major alt coin cycle. Not to say Bitcoin won’t do well, but AWALT coins could start before outperforming Bitcoin in a major way. So something to keep in mind for you anyway. Those are just my two. She’s your question for today. Which cryptocurrency launched back in 2017 or 2018, and that’s survived the winter and the bear season. Do you think is really ready to make a massive impact on the crypto economy in which of them is likely to also have massive gains moving into the next cycle? Daily reminder, of course. You’re freaking awesome. So thank you so, so much for tuning in and listening to this dude right here on the Internet talking about crypto currencies. Long live the block, Jane. Yeah, and peace out till next time.

source https://www.cryptosharks.net/bitcoin-golden-cross-accurate-signal/ source https://cryptosharks1.tumblr.com/post/618822304125812736

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cryptosharks1 · 4 years

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HOLY COW!!! BITCOIN GOLDEN CROSS & 100% ACCURATE SIGNAL SAY BULL RUN IS HERE

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

source https://www.cryptosharks.net/bitcoin-golden-cross-accurate-signal/

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scottmapess · 4 years

Text

HOLY COW!!! BITCOIN GOLDEN CROSS & 100% ACCURATE SIGNAL SAY BULL RUN IS HERE

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

source https://www.cryptosharks.net/bitcoin-golden-cross-accurate-signal/ source https://cryptosharks1.blogspot.com/2020/05/holy-cow-bitcoin-golden-cross-100.html

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heatherrdavis1 · 4 years

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HOLY COW!!! BITCOIN GOLDEN CROSS & 100% ACCURATE SIGNAL SAY BULL RUN IS HERE

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Via https://www.cryptosharks.net/bitcoin-golden-cross-accurate-signal/

source https://cryptosharks.weebly.com/blog/holy-cow-bitcoin-golden-cross-100-accurate-signal-say-bull-run-is-here

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junker-town · 7 years

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2021 NBA player rankings, Nos. 20-11: Lonzo Ball a top 20 player? What about Ben Simmons?

Two rookies who have yet to log an NBA minute begin this section of our countdown, which also features a number of established stars.

Now, we’re getting into All-NBA territory on our Top 101 NBA players of 2021 countdown. Which players will be competitive for those elusive 15 spots in four years? How old will those players be?

That’s how you get a mixture of completely unproven NBA players and veterans that may or may not fall off. We begin with two players who have yet to log a single NBA minute and end with a two-time MVP and a two-time runner up who probably both got disrespected.

20. Ben Simmons

Age in 2021: 24 (5 seasons including injury)

CHRIS GREENBERG: Sure, Joel Embiid is great on Twitter. And, yes, Markelle Fultz may already be leading the league in getting overshadowed by Lonzo Ball at rookie photo shoots. But Ben Simmons is the versatile, matchup nightmare who will turn the entertaining #Process into the contending #Progress.

The rangy 6’ 10 playmaker who was compared to LeBron James coming out of LSU hasn’t played a minute since being the No. 1 pick in 2016 draft due to a foot injury, but his confidence seems higher than ever. He declared himself the 76ers’ starting point guard even after the team drafted a player at that position a year later with the No. 1 pick.

He’s also been practicing with James. That’s never a bad idea for a passing wunderkind with a 7’ wingspan.

Have a Shirley Temple for me when this pick is validated.

Happy Bday to my lil bro @BenSimmons25!!! That boi 21 now. Uh-Oh!! Let's go have a Shirley temple with a twist. ‍♂️ ‍♂️

— LeBron James (@KingJames) July 20, 2017

Everyone else’s reactions

TIM CATO: Forget his passing skills, which is the only positive we ever seem to talk about with Simmons. He’s probably the best ball handler over 6’9, and he’s built. The jump shot quandry with him is enormous, of course, but get Simmons going to the rim and I’m not sure what defenses do.

MATT ELLENTUCK: Brandon Ingram will be better.

ZITO MADU: I agree. Ingram will be better.

KRISTIAN WINFIELD: He’s supposed to be baby LeBron, right? If that actually happens, he’ll be higher on this list than we have him.

TOM ZILLER: This could go really well or really badly. Little in-between.

More reading material

19. Lonzo Ball

KRISTIAN WINFIELD: The Lakers have 23 games on national TV this season without a single all-star on the roster. That’s all Lonzo Ball’s doing. Ball is a once-in-a-generation type of point guard the likes of which the NBA has never seen. I’m surprised he fell to 19.

Everyone else’s reactions

RICKY O’DONNELL: I’m all in on Ball. He might never put up huge numbers, but he just helps you win. Basically all the stud point guards today are score-first. Ball is pass first, pass second, and pass third. I can’t wait to watch him in the league.

ZITO MADU: In 2021, Ball will be the best player in the league and I will be on every NBA video with a Big Baller Brand leather snapback. Mark my words.

WHITNEY MEDWORTH: Can’t wait to see Ball and Kyle Kuzma tearing it up in 2021.

DREW GARRISON, SILVER SCREEN AND ROLL: That Lonzo is the highest-ranked Laker is no surprise — if he does turn out to be a top-20 player by 2021, the purple and gold should be thrilled. Just don't let LaVar know he's not No. 1.

MIKE PRADA: We spent all year saying Markelle Fultz (No. 21) was a better NBA prospect than Ball. NBA teams clearly preferred Fultz to Ball without much questioning. They’re the same age and play the same position.

Now Fultz gets a minor injury, Ball has a couple nice Summer League games, and we’re changing our minds?

TOM ZILLER: If by “we” you mean “Kristian.” This is a ludicrous pick. And I like Ball!

TIM CATO: You’ll never be a Big Baller if you keep talking like that, Ziller.

KYLE NEUBECK, LIBERTY BALLERS: Ball going over Markelle Fultz isn't super crazy simply because the latter will likely be the third-best player on his team in a best-case scenario.

Where I have an issue is Ball over Simmons, who I think is going to remind a lot of people how talented a basketball player he is during his rookie season. He is an elite prospect who has the perfect players around him to succeed, and he won't have to worry about answering questions about his dad after every shootaround.

CHRIS GREENBERG: I’m with Ziller. I love Ball’s court vision, but this pick makes a lot more sense if we’re ranking hype rather impact.

KRISTIAN WINFIELD: Bottom line: I’d take Fultz, too ... if I knew Ball would never play for my organization. I saw what I needed to see with Ball. He makes his teammates better. That won’t go out of style any time soon.

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18. Paul George

Age in 2021: 31 (11 seasons)

WHITNEY MEDWORTH: I am a Pacers fan. Fool me once, shame on you, Paul George. Fool me twice, shame on me.

George has been freed from mediocrity after being traded out of Indiana. If he can accept that he is the best version of a No. 2 star on a really good team, he will be fantastic. When you get PG in a catch-and-shoot situation, he’s nearly automatic, and that will only get better with time. He will be 31 in four years, but will still be one of the league’s best defenders.

The only question is which star will have him as their sidekick? LeBron James? Russell Westbrook? Don’t let me down again, PG. Accept your role in the league and ride the wave to 2021.

Everyone else’s reactions

ZITO MADU: #LakeShow

TIM CATO: I’m a little surprised there were 12 picks between George and Jimmy Butler (No. 30).

TOM ZILLER: Not only that, but the order in which they went. That said, only one of them has Tom Thibodeau squeezing every watt of energy out of them.

TIM CATO: George’s game might age slightly better, though, just because he’s a better shooter who does more work off screens, percentage wise, than any other offensive star currently in the league.

JOSHUA BROOM, WELCOME TO LOUD CITY: George is only 27 now. If his knees remain stable, the four-time All-Star may rank slightly higher on this list in '21.

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17. John Wall

Age in 2021: 30 (11 seasons)

TIM CATO: Wall’s underrated now and he’ll be underrated in 2021. It’s good to know some things never change.

Regardless, I’m still betting on the dude who just averaged 23 points and 11 assists for an entire damn season. He’s only 26 now, so maybe he gets even better between now and then.

Everyone else’s reactions

JAKE WHITACRE, BULLETS FOREVER: If John Wall is still a top-20 player in four years at age 31, that's a great sign for the Wizards and it means they're getting good value out of his supermax extension.

TOM ZILLER: I can’t believe a couple of the dudes that went above Wall, a trifecta guard — scoring, passing, and defense — who will be in his prime.

TIM CATO: To be fair, that defense comes and goes. Fun fact! Wall’s average speed, per the NBA’s tracking data, was 3.42 miles per hour on the defensive end. That’s eighth worst in the league and only 0.04 better than the stone-legged Dirk Nowitzki. But the simple fact that he can play above-average defense immediately jolts him past some of his peers, and I’d imagine he’ll find a much better balance of the two sides in the coming years.

MIKE PRADA: Wall is too low, and I already feel dumb about the pick I made ahead of him. But I do have a slight worry that he may not hold up health-wise, given his history of knee issues. He was fine last year, but that looms scarily in the background. He’s incredibly smart, but he also depends on his speed and athleticism to activate that great basketball IQ. If that starts to fade, I’ll be curious to see how his game responds.

Wow, we’re dumb.

TIM CATO: For the record, I didn’t even realize I picked the Washington backcourt consecutively until we finished this exercise. I’m putting Wizards fan Prada to shame.

KOFIE YEBOAH: Wall, I apologize for not picking you. I love you. Raleigh be the city.

KRISTIAN WINFIELD: Only if this is Gang Sign John Wall.

KOFIE YEBOAH: Gang Sign John Wall would have gone No. 1 at the lowest.

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16. Devin Booker

Age in 2021: 24 (6 seasons)

KOFIE YEBOAH: Devin Booker has shown flashes of brilliance, though he has some things to improve of course. I picked him so high because the craziest part about Booker is that he’s only 20 years old now. He has time to improve and get even better. The potential is scary.

Everyone else’s reactions

RICKY O’DONNELL: I still can’t believe John Calipari played the Harrison twins over him when it counted at Kentucky.

DAVE KING, BRIGHT SIDE OF THE SUN: We believe that the 24-year old Booker will be an All-Star by 2021, maybe even multiple-times, so a No. 16 overall ranking makes sense. If Booker can lead the Suns to the playoffs by then, he might even rank higher at his NBA peak.

TOM ZILLER: This is a good pick. There may not be a better pure scorer under the age of 25 right now. (Dion Waiters is 25, for the record.)

MATT ELLENTUCK: I love Booker, but he’s going to need to add to his game to be in top-16 consideration. Can he become a playmaker? A solid defender? Right now we only know he can do one thing with consistency: shoot the damn ball to perfection.

KRISTIAN WINFIELD: I side with Matt on this one. Booker can fill it up, but he’s gotta step the other facets of his game up to be a top-20 guy.

CHRIS GREENBERG: Dig the pick. Agree that Booker must continue to develop non-scoring aspects of his game, but believe he will.

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15. Marvin Bagley

Age in 2021: 22 (3 seasons)

MIKE PRADA: It’s time for my customary foolish gamble on a high schooler in the teens! In 2011, I picked Austin Rivers. Welp. Last time, I went with Julius Randle. A little better, but not great either.

Thing is, there is always at least one high schooler who grows into a top-15 player in four years. Karl-Anthony Towns and Giannis Antetokounmpo weren’t in the NBA in 2013, but belong in the top-15 discussion now. Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, and Kawhi Leonard weren’t in the NBA when we did this exercise in 2011, but all were potential top-15 players in 2015. (OK, maybe not Leonard by then, but you get my point).

We know someone who is not currently in the league will be a top-15 player in 2021. I just suck at predicting that player.

So why Bagley? I watched a highlight video, read Ricky O’Donnell’s terrific feature on him, picked his brain for further advice, and got hooked. That’s pretty much it. This is very scientific.

Third time’s the charm! (Or, sell your stock on Bagley’s pro career post haste).

Everyone else’s reactions

KOFIE YEBOAH: /Watches Ballislife mixtape.

youtube

Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesh. I’m with it.

RICKY O’DONNELL: I watched Bagley play point guard for his grassroots team this spring and was immediately sold. I can see him really developing his ball skills as he goes on in his career and gets some real coaching. I’ve mostly heard him compared to two players: Anthony Davis and Lamar Odom. That’s a hell of a combination.

MIKE PRADA: See! Ricky believes me!

KRISTIAN WINFIELD: This is a slap in the face of the Dion Waiters of the world.

ZITO MADU: I was confused how this could be a Prada pick and not Ricky’s, but it looks like you two conspired to get Bagley this high. There’s a bit of corruption going on with this, I see.

TOM ZILLER: Dammit, Prada just ruined Marvin Bagley’s career.

CHRIS GREENBERG: Wait, didn’t Bol Bol’s team top Bagley’s squad at Nike EYBL in April?

MIKE PRADA: Ricky’s story illuminates why that happened.

14. Nikola Jokic

Age in 2021: 26 (6 seasons)

MATT ELLENTUCK: Letting the Joker slip this deep is a crime. The quietest rising star of the 2016-17 season is years ahead of schedule already. He’s an offensive magician whose incredibly efficient shooting pales in comparison to his savvy passing and guard-like skills. Every shooter is better with Jokic on the floor. By 2021, I’m willing to bet a good team is built around him.

Everyone else’s reactions

TIM CATO: I think this is a perfect spot for Jokic, honestly. At his peak, he’s the uniquely gifted lead player on an above-average offense who plays good defense. That’s probably never going to be more than a top-15 player, but I’m all in on his potential.

TOM ZILLER: No one knew who Jokic was a year ago, and letting him slip to third-team All-NBA in a Future Rankings is a crime? I love Jokic but let’s not act like his future dominance is anything like assured.

MIKE PRADA: What if I told you that Jokic will make an All-NBA team next year? Because I think he will.

ADAM MARES, DENVER STIFFS: The year is 2029. Nikola Jokic drops 40-10-7 on Kristaps Porzingis and the New York Knicks. The media is impressed, but still certain that Porzingis has more upside.

KRISTIAN WINFIELD: I just want Jokic to stay healthy.

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13. Stephen Curry

Age in 2021: 33 (12 seasons)

RICKY O’DONNELL: Curry has never won with his athleticism. Even at age 33, he’ll still be the best shooter in the world and one of the NBA’s most electric players with the ball in his hands. I don’t see any way how Damian Lillard, Kyrie Irving, or even Russell Westbrook is going to pass him up over the next four years.

Everyone else’s reactions

CHARLIE STANTON, GOLDEN STATE OF MIND: For the life of me, I can’t think of 12 players now or in the next four years who will be better than a 33-year-old Steph. Malik Monk? Michael Porter? Bol Bol? Wait, I got it — Grayson Allen. There it is.

Editor’s Note: It was none of those players.

Curry is a top-five player in the league, and I have no reason to expect him to drop a full eight spots. He stays in the top seven.

TIM CATO: Curry should’ve been top-10, at least.

MIKE PRADA: Definitely would have taken him over a handful of folks ahead of him on this list.

BRADY KLOPFER, GOLDEN STATE OF MIND: I also don’t think Steph will fall this far. Shooting — especially given his quick release — isn’t really a trait that diminishes with age. His crossover and finishing ability may take a slight step backwards, but they’re certainly not skills that rely on his athleticism (or lack thereof).

KRISTIAN WINFIELD: I didn’t take anyone 30 or over in this draft, and I ain’t bending that rule for Curry.

CHRIS GREENBERG: Spoken like someone in his 20s who can’t fathom that noted olds Magic, Hakeem, MJ, Nash, Russell, Wilt, Dr. J, Kareem, and the Mailman won MVP Awards in their age 30 seasons or later.

TOM ZILLER: Or that LeBron James, 32, is arguably still the best player in the world.

KOFIE YEBOAH: I tried to have the same age mentality as Kristian in this draft. Also are we sure that James isn’t immortal?

ZITO MADU: Curry feels too low? I can already see the snarky tweets from Warriors Twitter. Of course, I’m partially responsible for it.

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12. Damian Lillard

Age in 2021: 30 (9 seasons)

ZITO MADU: Lillard had his best year individually last season, averaging 27 points, six assists. and five rebounds, all while shooting a career high 44 percent from the field and 89.5 percent from the free-throw line. By 2021, Lillard should be better, and if he’s not better, some website will mention it and he’ll use the slight as motivation to burn the league down.

Everyone else’s reactions

DAVE DECKARD, BLAZERS EDGE: Unless he picks up some defense, we may be seeing peak Lillard already, but that's plenty good and should last. You can hardly slip a piece of notebook paper between him and the elite guards of his generation.

WHITNEY MEDWORTH: Lillard won’t be this good in 2021, but we’ll all talk about how he should be.

CHRIS GREENBERG: Want Zito to be right because Lillard is fun as anyone to watch when he’s cooking. But think Whitney is probably closer to the truth.

MIKE PRADA: Zito must be worried about suffering the wrath of a scorned Lillard. It’s hard for me to see him being better than Steph in four years, even with the age difference.

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11. James Harden

Age in 2021: 31 (12 seasons)

TOM ZILLER: Five straight all-star appearances, a guy who twice been an NBA MVP runner-up, a player who misses an average of three games per season over his career. He turns 28 this summer. Harden is going to be around in the upper levels of the league for a long, long time.

Everyone else’s reactions

MAX CROES, THE DREAM SHAKE: My immediate seething outrage at seeing James Harden No. 11 is quelled only by the rules of this draft. At this point, we're experiencing the Beard's ninth All-Star game, more than Pau Gasol, Scottie Pippen, Tracy McGrady, Grant Hill, Steve Nash, Dwight Howard... you get the idea.

MIKE PRADA: Should’ve gone higher, though I’m a little worried that Harden hasn’t always kept himself in peak physical condition, which manifests itself in the numerous defensive blooper reels floating around YouTube and the occasional ISO-ball stagnation. That might come back to bite him as he ages.

TIM CATO: I promise you he’s in shape right now, at least.

KRISTIAN WINFIELD: That boy cut up. I need to be in the gym with him.

TIM CATO: Don’t we roast you enough at work already? We don’t need Harden doing it, too.

KRISTIAN WINFIELD: I’ll see you whenever you get back to NYC, Tim. Hands on sight.

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INTRO | FULL LIST | TOP 100 OF 2017 | HOW WE DID IN 2013 | SNUBS | 101-91 | 90-81 | 80-71 | 70-61 | 60-51 | 50-41 | 40-31 | 30-21 | 20-11 | 10-1 | THE CASES FOR NO. 1

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