Dp x dc

Dead on main

Au where jason and danny have been dating for almost 2 years but jason have never met danny's parents and the bats begin to thibk that he is cheating on jasonbor playing with him.

At the end, he is a king and is common that kings had lots of lovers in one year, and danny is the ghost king, inmortal, so one or two years must be nothing for him.

Meanwhile danny is trying to keep him and jason as far as is possible of his parents.

Crashed the wedding

"Come on man" Jason spoke slapping Sonny on the back whilst sitting down beside him on the plane. "We'll make it. Sonny Quinn is never late".

The whole mission Sonny had been distracted and not his usual self, which was weird for the guys to see. They all tried to pry the information from him about what was wrong, but nobody could manage. Except Clay. A few beers turned into Sonny pouring his heart out to his brother, about a girl back home who was due to get married to another man in 3 days. Luckily the mission finished that night, so they would have time to crash a wedding. Clay told the other guys, who made a plan to get Sonny to his girls wedding, even if it killed them.

"Tell me you packed a suit?" Clay asked.

"Well Cinderella, I didn't know i'd be crashing a wedding so no, I didn't"

"I've got a plan" Trent announced and moved away from the group to make a phone call. Trent's plans thus far had always been solid, so the guys weren't worried.

Sonny was on his 6th beer and not looking like he was going to stop anytime soon. He refused to admit he was nervous, because that just wasn't "manly".

"Bro, I get nervous all the time before we get spun up. We get flown into the unknown and left to fix messes, it's a normal feeling" Ray tried to be the voice of reason but Sonny wouldn't listen, still insisting he wasn't nervous although him chewing his lip screamed otherwise.

"If you don't stop pacing you're gonna fall through the floor" Jason said placing his arm around his shoulders and guiding him to a seat. "I'll go first" Jason announced and started telling the guys about his first ever girlfriend and then the other guys followed. It seemed to work because Sonny had stopped pacing and stopped drinking much to the guys delight.

The plane landed on the tarmac and they all grabbed their bags heading towards Jason's pick up. "Dump it in the back lads, we got a wedding to crash"

"I call shotgun" Clay laughed running towards the front seat. Normally Sonny would attempt to fight him over it, but he silently slid into the backseat, saying nothing.

The drive to the wedding venue took 20 mins, and the guys made it with 7 minutes to spare. As they pulled up Trent exited the vehicle and headed towards a man who was standing with suits in his hand. Trent came back and handed one to each of the guys, and they stripped then and there, not bothering to hide away from view.

"Ready?" Jason asked once again placing his arm around Sonny's shoulders. "Sorry, but the caps gotta go" and he flung it into the backseat of his pick up and started leading Sonny to the entrance of the building infront of them.

Clay opened the doors and everyone inside turned around to see who had caused the loud bang. Sonny looked up and clocked eyes with the girl who had taken over his thoughts for the last 2 years, and every bit of nervousness flew out the window. He knew that he wanted to do this.

Sonny and Y/N had been dating for 2 years before they both mutually decided that they couldn't stay together. Sonny's job and you not seeing each other often were the main factors in that decision, and at the time Sonny thought it was for the best. But since that day, he paid someone to keep tabs on you, find out if you were seeing anyone, or if you were going on dates. It broke Sonny's heart when he found out you were due to get married, because frankly the guy wasn't good enough for you, even though he'd never seen him.

The registrar seemed to ignore the commotion and continued. "if anyone can show just cause why this couple cannot lawfully be joined together in matrimony, let them speak now or forever hold their peace"

The room fell silent and you were still looking at Sonny. "Brother, you better say something or all this was for nothing" Clay said to Sonny, who didn't seem to hear him.

"I OBJECT!" Clay shouted and that seemed to give Sonny a kick up the ass.

"No, I object" Sonny finally said stepping away from the group and walking down towards you, ignoring the looks from every person in the room.

"Y/N" he started "I was a fool to let you go. I realise that now. Everytime I get spun up I get a feeling of dread in here" he pointed to his chest "because that might mean I never see you again if something happens. Seeing all the guys having their wives and children kissing them and waving them off, finally made me realize that I want you to be there. I want you. I need you. What do ya say Y/N? Will you leave here today with me?"

There was not a dry eye between the guys. Clay was standing at the back like a proud father, clapping, smiling, crying. Jason was very proud that Sonny grew some balls and showed a more vulnerable side of himself. Ray was standing in the middle also clapping and smiling. This was before you had even given your answer.

"Sonny Quinn" you breathed, still not quite believing that the man you have loved for the last few years, was standing in front of you. You loved Danny too, your husband to be, but the love you have for Sonny is one that would never be matched. You had grown as a person now, and you were willing to keep an open mind this time about Sonnys job, and try to work through it instead of leaving. "Yes. I'll leave with you".

Sonny held out his hand and you gladly accepted. You turned around and mouthed a 'sorry' to Danny who gave you a small smile and nod in return. He understood. He always knew there was someone else.

The sound of the guys hollering and shouting made you turn around and you beamed up at them.

"Nice to see you again boys"

"About time you came back. We couldn't deal with anymore sad boy Sonny" Jason smiled ruffling Sonny's hair.

@rebelwrites @mrsmarvelous1995 @lotsoflovefromlea @velvetcardiganbucky @bravo-four-seal-team @muggleborn12 @jayhalsteadfan-2417 @disasterfandoms @jasonbabymama @supervalcsi @talicat713 @phoenixhalliwell

Compromised [Part 2] (Dick Grayson x Reader)

hello everyone! This is Compromised Part 2! If you haven’t read Part 1, you can read it here (Hopefully this link works, if not please let me know!!) Well, I hope you enjoy! I apologize for this taking so long to be posted. I had a lot of shit going on in my life that wasn’t very good, but things are better now! I went on vacation and it really helped me relax and unwind so I could heal! Now that I’m back, I decided it was time to finish and finally post Compromised Part 2 haha! _____

Dick Grayson didn’t like waking up to an empty bed. Normally, you would be there, warming up the other half of the bed with your body heat. But, today when he rolled over and woke up, the right side of the bed was cold. He frowned and got up, his joints popping as he stretched. He looked down at his phone on the nightstand and picked it up. Unlocking it, his thumb instantly went to your contact and hovered over the call button. - You were packing your bags, Jason accompanying you. The two of you sat in the living room as you picked out what you wanted/ needed to bring. Simultaneously, you had the file on Danilo Carrera pulled up on your hologlove. “What’s this Danny guy like anyway?” Jason asked as he folded his clothes. “He is a total creep. He kept touching me and flirting with me,” you reply in disgust. “I don’t regret punching him in the face one bit. I’m pretty sure I broke his nose.” “I’m proud of you (N/N),” Jason said with a grin. You roll your eyes and smile back. You were about to say something back when Dick’s contact came up on your screen, indicating that he was calling you. You pursed your lips and decided to answer the call. “Hello?” “(Y/N)! I, uh…hi.” He began awkwardly. “I woke up and you weren’t next to me…” “Yeah, I stayed at the Manor last night,” you reply. “I figured…” There was an uncomfortable silence before he broke it again. “I h-heard that you and Jason have a flight to an island near Santa Prisca.” You raised your eyebrow at the fact that he stuttered. Dick hadn’t sounded this nervous since he first asked you out back when you were teenagers. “Yes, we do.“ “If it’s okay with you, I was wondering if I could…come say goodbye before you go.” You chewed the inside of your cheek as you took in that sentence. “Sure.” “R-Really?! I’ll be over soon!” He said hurriedly and hung up. You sighed and ran your fingers through your (h/l) (h/c) locks. “Even with the way he acted yesterday, you still give him your entire heart. Just as you do every day.” Jason comments with a side smile. You turn and look at him, giving a soft one in return. “He’s the love of my life, even if he did act like a complete asshole.“ - Dick Grayson drove anxiously to the Manor, clutching the ring tightly in his right hand. He felt so nauseous right now, his palms were sweaty and the stress was building again. He wasn’t used to this feeling, not at all. Dick was accustomed to stress, but nothing like this. He took a deep breath once he pulled up and exhaled, slipping the ring in his pocket. Alfred opened the front door, greeted him, and then told him that you were upstairs in your room. Dick thanked the kind butler and headed directly to your said location. He took another shaky breath and knocked on your door. You had just finished double checking your room to make sure you hadn’t forgotten anything when there was a knock at the door. You opened it to see your boyfriend, a weak smile on his usual cheery face. You figured it was all the stress he was under. You know from personal experience that stress can throw patience, empathy, logic, and control right out the window to be forgotten. You allowed him in and shut the door with your foot, giving you two some privacy. As soon as the door shut, he instantly began spewing apologies from his mouth. ”I’m sorry,“ he croaked out pathetically. “I’m so so sorry. I ruined everything last night. The mission ended up in shambles because of me and now you and Jason have to risk your lives to go to Santa Prisca because of my mistake. I’m so sorry, please forgi-” You cut him off by wrapping your arms around his neck in a warm hug. Stunned by the sudden embrace, Dick wasn’t quite sure what to do at first. However, he quickly snapped out of his little trance and hugged you back, almost immediately sinking into your figure. Pulling away from him for a minute you look at his face and see the dark circles and pale features. You put a hand to his cheek and rub your thumb under his eye. “What’s up with you? You haven’t been yourself lately,“ you ask gently. All your annoyance and disappointment because of his actions, vanished as you saw his stressed state. “I’m just so…overwhelmed,” he mumbled. “Bludhaven is becoming more and more of a mess, that case is tied into that, I messed everything up, and…” his voice trails as he thinks of the circular object in his pocket. “And?” You question. He shakes his head. “It’s nothing. But, I’m just so…done (Y/N). So stressed out. It’s making me feel sick.” You ran your fingers through his hair and he closed his eyes in relief. He loved it when you did that. “You do look quite pale. Maybe you should take a little break, love.” “I can’t. I need to protect people, and be there.” “My dear, you already do so much.” You replied. “Bruce is right. You need to get yourself in check before going out into the field again. You’re emotions are all churned up. It isn’t healthy to keep going like this.” He pulled away from you, his eyebrows knitting together. “I knew you would side with him. I know, I compromised the mission. I fucked up. It won’t happen again.” You frowned and crossed your arms over your chest. “We can’t take the risk of that happening again. Not when Black Mask and now Bane are involved. It’s too unpredictable.“ “Whatever (Y/N)! It’s always been about the mission with you anyway,” he snapped. Your eyes widened and you gave him a look of hurt. “That’s a bit hypocritical, don’t you think?” You say, becoming somewhat agitated. “You are working yourself to the bone Dick, you are loosing control of your emotions left and right. This is not normal.” “Don’t tell me what I need to do and not do (Y/N)! It’s my body and my life! I’m an adult and can make my own decisions!” He growled. “Perhaps you should start acting like an adult instead of a rebellious teenager!” You yelled back. The two of you glared at each other, the stare being full of fire and anger. You take a deep breath and close your eyes. “Look, obviously you have some shit you need to deal with right now. So, it’s good that I’m going away on this mission. It’ll give you some space,” you say, calming down. He sighed and ran a hand through his dark locks. “I’m sorry (Y/N)…I just…you’re right. I do have a lot on my mind,” he mumbled. “Of course I’m right,” you tease with a wink and a grin. You took his hand and the two of you made your way to the Batcave where Jason was waiting for you along with Tim and Damian. Bruce was at work, and Alfred was upstairs making lunch. (He had wished you and Jason a safe mission while you came down.) “Well, boys,” you state. “We will see you in a few days. Hopefully.” You engulf Tim and Damian in smothering hugs, which ended up in them two arguing over who you loved to hug more (besides Dick). You chuckled at their bickering and shook your head. “Okay, well if you two dumbasses are done arguing, (Y/N) and I have to get going.” Jason cut in. “Plus we all know that she loves to hug me more!” “No way Todd! She definitely loves to hug me more than you and Drake. I am best after Grayson,” Damian said, puffing out his chest. “Pft! As if!” Tim said sarcastically. “Boys, boys. After Dick, I love you all equally!” You assure with a laugh. Looking down at your watch, you realize that your flight was going to leave soon! “Alright, I’ll see you guys soon!” You give Tim and Damian one last hug before you turned to Dick. He engulfs you in a tight squeeze, burying his face in your hair. “I love you,” he murmured. “I love you too.” The two of you parted and he pulled you in for a passionate kiss (which had Tim and Damian gagging.) Dick put a hand to your face and rubbed small circles onto your cheek. You could sense the worry in his blue hues, so you gave him a gentle smile to calm them. “Don’t worry Bird Boy, I’ll come back to you in one piece,” you state with a wink. He lets out a small, nervous, laugh. “I won’t let anything happen to her,” Jason piped up. Dick and his brother locked eyes and the eldest sent a nod his way. He wanted more than anything to go on this mission with you. It’s not that he didn’t trust his brother…he just wanted to be by your side. He always was by your side, and you his. That’s just what you guys did. You were Dick and (Y/N), Nightwing and (Y/H/N). You were a team. You gave him one last kiss before you and Jason made your way to the zeta tubes. “(Y/N)! Wait!” Dick called out just before you walked in. You turned around and looked at him. “Hm?” He had the ring clenched in his fist and he opened his mouth, but no words came out at first. “Dick? Are you okay?” “I…I have something important to ask you when you get back,” he finally spoke, internally kicking himself as soon as the words left his mouth. “Oh, alright,” you reply with a crooked grin. “I’ll see you soon! I love you!” With those words, you and Jason disappeared with your bags. Dick sighed and put the ring back in his pocket, running his fingers through his hair in a stressful manner. “Grayson, you are pathetic,” Damian stated flatly. Dick whirrled around and glared at the youngest sibling. “I have to admit, the Demon is right Dick. That was just sad. Why don’t you ask her already?” Tim stated. “I don’t know! It’s just been plaguing my mind lately, and especially with last night’s mission and all the other crazy shit…I just can’t do it. I know, it’s sad and pathetic. Believe me, I’m aware.” “You better ask her soon, she is gonna find out eventually, whether you tell her or not.” Damian commented. Dick sighed once more. “I know.” - The flight to the safe island near Santa Prisca didn’t take long. (The perks of Bruce having connections got you two a faster flight.) From there, you guys took a motor boat to Santa Prisca, and the mission began. You and Jason were dressed in your hero uniforms and had placed comms in your ears before splitting up. You swiftly made your way through the thick jungle terrain and to the warehouse that Bane and Danny would most likely be in. Batman had said they received a tip that Black Mask would be here and they would finally conduct their business. You made your way to the roof of the building and wriggled into the air vents. “Red, I’m entering through the ducts. What’s your 20?“ “Garage number 3 was open because of a recent exportation of drugs which was to be shipped to…” his voice trailed. “Bludhaven, Gotham, and Metropolis. This apparently is bigger than just the Bat’s territory. I’m downloading and transferring the delivery schedule to you.” “Copy that,” you reply, pulling up the computer that was built into your hologlove. The information was downloaded and your eyes skimmed over the delivery schedule before receiving other files from Jason. An update map of the facility was one of the files, which you were grateful for. You had a lock on Jason’s location and scanned the map for a save rendezvous point. “Down the hallway, to the left of this room is a storage room. It’s right below me and it appears to have not been open for quite some time. According to its contents…in there are old vials of venom. The former formula it appears. It’s going to be sent to be destroyed two days from now,” you state. “Meet me there.” “10-4, (Y/H/N).” You quickly and quietly made your way through the vents to the room. Slipping down into the said place, you landed quietly on your feet. Jason soon entered the room as well and walked over to you. “What’s the plan (N/N)?” He asked. You pulled up the map and information of the facility so the two of you can see. “Well, there is a storage room down at the other end of the hall that contains the new Venom formula. We need a few samples of that, so Bats or Red Robin can analyze and break down. Now, down at the opposite end of the hall I’m going to go out on an educated guess and assume that this room is where Black Mask is having a meeting with Bane,” you explain. “One of us needs to get the Venom and the other needs to get evidence of this meeting,” Jason stated. “Precisely.” “You’re definitely are lighter on your feet than I am. I’ll get the samples while you eavesdrop.” “I planned on being the eavesdropper anyway, especially with your habit of always causing a scene,” you tease. You could practically sense his eye roll as he punched you playfully in the shoulder. “Alright, I’ll catch up with you soon.” “Stay safe, Red.” He sent a nod your way as the two of you exited the room in silence, going your separate ways once more. You followed the map until you were outside the room in which the meeting between Bane and Black Mask was supposedly being held. You looked around and found an air vent and wormed your way into the ventilation systems like before. You pulled up the computer on your hologlove, quickly hacking and disabling the motion and heat sensors. You smirked and crawled to where a vent was in the back corner of the room. You could hear the voices of Bane and another man speaking in Spanish. “That girl really did a number on your face, eh, Danny?” Bane said in his native tongue. “That bitch will pay, next time I go to Gotham I’ll hunt her down,” the voice of Danilo Carrera replied, tone full of spite. You held back a chuckle as you remember how you broke his nose. “You don’t even know her name,” Bane continued. “I wish I did…she asked a lot of questions. She was beautiful though, too bad she has a husband. God, the things I would do to her.” You scowled at his words, your face crunching up in disgust. “Focus, Mask is supposed to be here any minute now.” You silently pried open the vent and placed a small camera in the corner of the wall. You closed the vent and linked your hologlove to the camera. On the screen came a clear view of the room. You snickered internally as you saw Danny’s nose all taped up. A few minutes passed before Black Mask finally entered the room, two of his assistants following, a female and a male. “Gentlemen, it’s nice to finally be able to discuss things in person. Our last meeting was unfortunately interrupted, I apologize,” Black Mask stated as he took a seat at the table across from Bane and Danny. “Some bitch and her husband caused a scene,” Danny said in an annoyed tone. “Yes, my men are working on trying to track them down.” “If you find the girl, I want to get my revenge,” Danny mumbled. “That isn’t the objective here,” Bane hissed in Spanish. He turned back to Mask. “Ignore him, we came here to talk about business. Not some girl who happened to get a good punch on him.” “I completely understand his desire for revenge. If we find her, she is all yours.” Danny’s lip curled up into a sinister grin. “Anyways, back to business like you stated. You have shipments of your new Venom formula ready for Bludhaven, Gotham and Metropolis, correct?“ “Yes, the shipments should arrive by morning.” “Excellent. Once in Gotham my people can do a little experimenting with it with some of the drugs, chemicals and technology we have. If all goes smoothly, more supplies and things will be sent for you to make more, as long as I get fifty percent of the profit you make from this new formula.” “Fifty percent?!” “I think fifty percent is a sufficient cut for me, considering I’m now your number on supplier for things so you can make your Venom,” Mask said cunningly. Bane grit his teeth in annoyance, then took a deep breath. “You drive a hard bargain Señor,” Bane said, clearly annoyed. “You have a deal.” Mask smiled wickedly and the two shook hands. He opened his mouth to say something more when a huge rumble shook the building, almost knocking you over. Thankfully you didn’t, or you would’ve fallen through the loose vent. “What the hell was that?!” A man burst into the room and spoke in rapid Spanish, too fast for you to translate. Bane cursed as he heard whatever the man said. You pressed your finger to your comm. “Red, what’s your ETA to the storage room.” You question. “Busy. Can’t talk.” He grunted back, the sounds of fighting in the back ground. Shit. Jason must’ve caused that explosion and blew his cover. He really does enjoy causing a scene…although I was considering blowing up that shipment of Venom before it left for the States…perhaps he beat me to it. We need to get rid of the rest of it though. At least what they have already made would be destroyed until we need to analysis on it. You thought. You helplessly sat there, monitoring Jason’s location from your hologlove. Unable to do anything, for it would blow your cover as well, you tried thinking of ways to get out of here. You had gotten all the Intel you needed to confirm Mask’s and Danny’s relations with Bane, and you had gotten several files from them. You hoped, Jason got the samples. The door to the room slammed open and you saw through your camera, Jason being dragged in by three men, seven or eight others following. He was tied up with rope and was bleeding from several areas. He looked up at Bane from behind his red helmet and you could tell a sneer was on his face. “Ah. One of the Bats Birds, came to visit my island.” “Uh…sir…the shipment headed to leave tonight was destroyed..” one of the men said awkwardly. “What?!” Bane roared. The man when to repeat himself but Bane punched him in the gut, sending him to his knees. “You’ll pay for this Red Hood,” the Santa Priscan man snarled. Jason chuckled, wincing slightly. “Looks like your little drug plan got delayed. How unfortunate,” Jason said sarcastically. “Mr. Hood, you always seem to have a way of fucking things up!” Mask yelled slamming his hands on the table. Jason laughed again. “Oh, I know.” Mask walked over and kicked him in the head and stomach. He saw a large wound on his chest and knelt down, sticking his finger in it. Jason let out a small cry of pain. “These men can have a go at you, but once their done, my partner and I will make sure you aren’t here to fuck things up ever again.” Your eyes widened at this as your mind raced for a plan. Suddenly, an idea popped into your mind. You went to your hologlove and gained access to the systems again. You swiftly shut down the power in ths building and set it to come back on in about a minute. Lifting the vent silently, you began your plan as the lights went out. “What the hell?! What now?!” Mask said angrily. You grabbed your camera on the way down from your hiding place and ran over, starting to take down each of the men easily. Reminder to thank Bats for the teachings on the ‘Element of Surprise’ and the nightvision upgrades in my mask, you thought to yourself as you took out the last man. Bane and Mask stood in the dark, confused on what was going on. You had about twenty seconds before the lights came back on so you untied Jason and started to pull him along. “He is escaping!” Mask yelled. “Not off my island he isn’t!” You shoved Jason through the door and just as you were about to go, the lights flicked back on. You turned around and saw Bane with a small knife in his hand. Before you could process, he threw it and it stuck right in your shoulder. You let out a scream of pain, and Jason grabbed your hand, pulling you through the door way. The two of you ran, twisting and turning down hallways. “Are you okay?” You ask, panting because of the pain and adrenaline. “Just a scratch,” Jason replied, clearly lying. “You?” “Just a scratch,” you state with a smirk, gesturing to the knife in your shoulder as you reached over and yanked it out. “Looks like Bane is getting interested in toys that are a bit more lowkey,” you muttered as you put the small knife in your utility belt. “We need to get out of here.” “No shit Sherlock!” “No, we really need to get out here. Possibly within the next three minutes and…twenty five seconds.” Your eyes widen. “Did you do what I think you did?” “If what your thinking is ‘plant a bomb that destroys the rest of the new Venom except the ten vials I have in my utility belt,’ then yes.” You smirked again, letting out a laugh. “Funny, I was thinking of doing the same thing.” “Perfect. Batman isn’t gonna be happy when we get back, is he?” “Probably not. So much for strictly recon.” “We never listen to that rule anyway.” You looked behind Jason and yourself and saw men, and Bane running after you. More of them burst out of rooms, guns in hands and they started to shoot. “Things are getting hot in here (Y/H/N), any ideas on how the hell we are gonna get out of here?!” “Down this hall, make a left then a right. It was your entry point. From there we can run into the jungle and head to the motor boat,“ you state. “Slight problem. My entry point was destroyed.” “That’s our only option. Everywhere else we will for sure be cut off and put in the blast considering the rest of the Venom is near by where we need to exit.” You state as the two of you follow your directions. Garage number 3 was no longer there, just as he said. Flames were everywhere from the explosion and debris were mangled and jagged. You two continue to run, although slower because of your wounds and the fire. “We aren’t gonna make it past the blast zone in time (N/N)!” “Just keep running!” Fire and smoke swirled around you, bullets whizzing past your ears due to the terrible aim of Bane’s men (which you were thankful for.) You two made it to edge of the jungle before a searing hot force slammed you forward. Your body was flung and impacted the ground in a harsh manner. Rocks and sticks scraped you and your body screamed in pain. You looked around, everything was fuzzy and chaotic, your vision was blurry and you couldn’t find Jason. Screams of people could be heard behind you, though it was muffled due to the ringing in your ears. You stumbled and tried to get to your feet, but no avail. The blood loss was finally taking it’s toll and you collapsed on the ground. Looking up to the sky, the last thing you saw were the stars before darkness enveloped it’s blanket around you. - The last thing you expected to happen after this mission, was for you to wake up in a hospital bed in the Batcave. Although, you weren’t all that surpised, considering the events that took place. However, let’s just say, the light stung your eyes when you woke up and you were not happy about that. You cracked your eyes open and saw the white popcorn ceiling. You squinted and sat up, wincing slightly as you looked around. The heart monitor next you beeped and you looked down at your arm and saw an IV sticking out of it. Then it all came back to you. The mission. The explosion. The flames and the knife wound in your shoulder. Saw your uniform ripped and cut in certain places so you could be bandaged. You looked to your right and saw your beloved boyfriend asleep in a chair. Your eyes softened at his exhausted looking state. Behind him was a cloth curtain and you felt curiosity well up inside you. You bit your lip to prevent from wincing loudly as you slowly slipped out of the bed. Taking the IV with you, you looked at yourself in the mirror that was in the room. Your shoulder was bandaged up as well as your head. There was a bruise on your cheek and a few stitches under your right eye. That’s definitely gonna scar, you thought. You walked over to the curtain, peeked your head in, and saw Jason laying there. He was bandaged up as well, an IV in his arm too. He looked up from the book he was reading and his eyes filled with relief. “Thank God you’re awake. I was sure Golden Boy was gonna have a heart attack.” He said sitting up more. You took a seat on the chair beside his bed. “What the hell happened? How did we get here?” You questioned. “After the explosion, I, in my partially conscious state, was able to get the two of us to the motor boat and on to open water. I was able to send a distress signal to the Bat Computer and here we are,“ Jason explained. “Does this mean I owe you one?” You ask. “Maybe. But, I’m glad you’re alright. Dick almost had my head on a platter because the Alfred thought you might not make it…you were unconscious for four days.” “Damn…” You murmured. “Well, I’m okay. I’ll make sure he doesn’t try to kick your ass.“ The two of you exchange smiled before you walked back to your bed. You look at Dick, a soft smile going on your face as you brush a few stray hairs from his. You take the spare blanket from the foot of the bed and drape it over his shoulders. When Dick had gotten the call that you were seriously injured, he had been in your shared apartment in Bludhaven. The call made shivers run down his spine and he dashed into the bathroom to vomit. The thought of you possibly dying made him sick and all the stress and worry he had been feeling came crashing down on him. On the morning of the fifth day of your (lucky) recovery, he felt his heart jump into his throat when Alfred had came up to his room to tell him you were awake. The raven haired boy didn’t hesitate to make a run for the Batcave. And there you were, doing some basic yoga stretches as some light ‘training.’ Your shoulder hurt like a bitch, and your torso was all bruised and cut up, but you did what you could to get up and get your blood flowing. You never did like to sit around, even when not injured. He made his way down the stairs and you turned around, hearing his footsteps. Before you could open your mouth and say anything, he wrapped his arms around your frame and held you to his chest. His eyes filled with tears of relief, and he couldn’t help but let them fall. You felt him tremble as you hugged him back, his tears hit your neck and you felt pangs of guilt and empathy. You rubbed his back lovingly, and pulled back slightly, cupping his face in your hands. Wiping the tears from his cheeks, you gave him a warm smile. “I told you I would come back to you in one piece,” you stated. He let out a laugh and sob mixed together, his glossy blue eyes staring into your shimmering (e/c) orbs. “I love you,” he chokes out. “I love you too.” “I told you I had something to ask you once you came back.” “Yes, you did. What is it, my love?” You ask zealously. He took a deep breath, getting himself together. “I love you. I have loved you since I first laid eyes on you. You are the most beautiful girl, in the whole world and I…I want to spend the rest of my life with you.“ He gets down on one knee and holds the glimmering ring out to you. Tears instantly fill your eyes as his continue to do so. ”(Y/N) (L/N), will you marry me?“ A smile broke out on your face, one that was wider and brighter than the sun. “Yes! Always, yes!” ______ I apologize for the ending being so…eh. Ugh I’m sorry.

Country Music Has Found Its Weinstein Scandal. So Why Hasn’t There Been A Reckoning?

https://styleveryday.com/2018/02/10/country-music-has-found-its-weinstein-scandal-so-why-hasnt-there-been-a-reckoning/

Country Music Has Found Its Weinstein Scandal. So Why Hasn’t There Been A Reckoning?

It had been seven weeks since Austin Rick started telling his story, and he was angry. In October 2017, Rick posted on Facebook that in 2008 Kirt Webster, who represented some of country music’s biggest stars, repeatedly coerced him into sexual acts. Rick said this continued until one day the 21-year-old singer woke up naked in bed next to Webster with no memory of how he’d gotten there.

When Rick posted his story on Facebook Oct. 27, in the midst of #MeToo, he wanted to make sure the prominent publicist never abused anyone again. Although Webster, 43, claimed through a representative that his former client’s story was “untrue,” he stepped away from his firm almost instantly after it hit the local press. In the weeks that followed, more than 20 former employees came forward with stories of workplace sexual harassment and unwanted touching. Speaking with BuzzFeed News, three more described a hellish work life with a boss who constantly made crude jokes and talked about his employees’ bodies, pantomimed masturbation in the office, and bragged about trading access to his biggest client, Dolly Parton, for nude photos; one said Webster invited him and another man to a “sleepover.” The total number of people who have come forward with stories of Webster’s workplace sexual harassment is now well over two dozen.

Austin Rick (going by stage name Austin Cody) in 2006.

Courtesy of Austin Rick

Webster retreated from his firm, but his representative released a statement saying he had done so “to focus on combating the egregious and untrue allegations made against him.” He did not respond to multiple requests for comment on a detailed summary of this story, and has stayed out of the public eye since November.

As the number of voices swelled, Rick hoped that the national reckoning with sexual assault and harassment would hit country music too.

He’s still waiting. Rick said one thing distinguished Nashville’s sidestep from the eruptions in Hollywood, media, and government: A vast majority of country artists and executives have refused to even acknowledge anything is wrong.

Former employees said they wanted Webster roundly condemned, and what they got was a sprinkle of tepid disapproval. Many simply wanted Webster’s former clients to say “I believe you.” “Dolly Parton hopes that we’re all lying,” Rick said with a scoff, referring to the statement she put out following Rick’s allegations, that she was “hoping” the stories weren’t true. “Thanks, Dolly, that’s great.” Parton did not respond to requests for comment on this story.

Parton and Kid Rock, among others, dropped Webster as their representative. Kid Rock released a more sharply worded statement than Parton’s, but nonetheless said that he too hoped the allegations were false. Most people associated with Webster said nothing about the allegations, including his firm’s second-in-command, Jeremy Westby, who was announced as Webster’s successor before leaving to start an independent firm on Nov. 2. Westby is Webster’s long-term romantic partner, 12 former employees told BuzzFeed News; public records show the men living at the same address from 2013 through November 2017. Westby did not comment on the allegations against Webster or whether they were still a couple. “Kirt has not been and is not involved in my new company,” he said.

There was no pronounced support for the people who said Webster hurt them, and thus, unlike in other industries, there was no signal to other victims that now was the time to start naming names.

“I’m afraid it’s all gonna go away.”

Victims saw this hush as a sign that sexual misconduct was not taken seriously in Nashville, and that Webster might catch himself midfall. Some also said this sent a chilling message to other victims on Music Row: If they came forward, no one would take up their cause. In Hollywood, hundreds of women signed on to the Time’s Up initiative to combat sexual abuse, whereas country had a smattering of critical voices that never quite became a chorus. After a DJ sued Taylor Swift for saying he groped her, she won her countersuit and later donated to Time’s Up, and artists like Kacey Musgraves and Maren Morris have criticized harassment in the industry. But Rick and the former employees, for the most part, felt utterly alone.

And as Webster dropped out of headlines and local police determined that the allegations were too old to pursue a case, it was unclear what the actual consequences for the publicist would be. A former employee said, “I’m afraid it’s all gonna go away.” It’s a strain of unease that’s sinking in all across the country. The question of what happens after #MeToo haunts Rick and the dozen former employees who spoke to BuzzFeed News.

“Anyone who wants to see legitimate change, this is our window of opportunity right here,” Rick said. “If no one else will stand up and help me, then I will just keep at it.”

From left: Jeremy Westby, Kirt Webster, Dolly Parton and Danny Nozell in 2012.

Rick Diamond / Getty Images

Nearly all of the 23 artists, writers, and workers at publicity firms, a record company, and an agency interviewed for this story said country music remains a small, insulated industry where reputation is everything and there are more whistleblowers on the blacklist than predators. And while Webster may be gone, women and men in Nashville say a culture of silence remains. One former Webster PR employee said that her current boss approached her after the allegations against Webster broke and told her to stay out of it. “He kept repeating, ‘You have nothing to gain by coming forward,’” she said.

There’s ample evidence that sexual harassment in Nashville is not up for discussion. Reached this week, Danny Nozell, Parton’s manager and Webster’s longtime friend and associate, said he did not know about any sexual harassment allegations before they became public and declined to comment further on the allegations against his colleague. When BuzzFeed News asked 12 firms that previously worked with Webster or his clients whether they would work with him in the future, only two, Kicker Country Stampede and Reviver Entertainment Group, said they would not work with him again. “We have no plans to work with him again in the future, despite this matter, and certainly now wouldn’t consider working with him again because of this matter,” said Reviver’s president and CEO, David Ross.

“He kept repeating, ‘You have nothing to gain by coming forward.’”

Time Life and the Country Music Association answered indirectly, both saying they were not currently planning to work with him, while Big Machine Label Group, which worked with Webster through his clients, said, “It’s not the culture of the Big Machine Label Group to condone this type of behavior at any level from anyone we associate with.” The other seven entities — Sony, the Academy of Country Music, L3 Management, Vector Management, Outback Concerts, Neste Entertainment, and Country Thunder Music Festivals — did not respond at all or declined to comment.

On Feb. 5, Country Radio Seminar revoked press credentials for NewsChannel 5 reporter Jesse Knutson and asked him to leave the premises after he told the event’s public relations representative that he planned to ask questions about how CRS was addressing the sexual harassment and misconduct in radio recently documented by Rolling Stone. On Wednesday, after NewsChannel 5 reported on the debacle, CRS officials agreed to an interview with Knutson. CRS did not respond to BuzzFeed News’ multiple requests for comment.

It was reported just last week that the disgraced country music DJ David Mueller — who a jury decided groped Taylor Swift — was hired at a radio station in Mississippi. And as a parade of men in film and TV were being outed as harassers and publicly castigated, one of the only people in the country music industry to speak openly about sexual misconduct found herself embroiled in a lawsuit. In October, singer Katie Armiger said she was groped by radio DJs multiple times throughout her career — and was blacklisted for openly complaining about it. Two weeks later, Armiger was sued by her former label, Cold River Records, for allegedly breaching her nondisclosure agreement.

Recording artist Katie Armiger attends the Dial Global Radio Remotes in 2013.

Jason Kempin / Getty Images

Armiger declined to comment directly on the ongoing lawsuit against her, but said that in country music, victims are still expected to keep quiet about sexual harassment. “If you’re a female artist and you speak out, that could limit your chances of being played [on the radio] when they’re already slim to none,” she told BuzzFeed News.

And if women are expected to endure objectification, the rules are even less clear for men who report abuse by other men.

“If you’re a female artist and you speak out, that could limit your chances of being played.”

Alex Caress, the lead singer of Little Bandit and one of the few out musicians in country, rattled off a list of queer artists that was so short he said it made him feel sad. Caress thinks the industry by and large refused to address the allegations against Webster because “in order to do that, you sort of have to acknowledge that gay people exist, and that doesn’t seem to be something that they’re interested in.”

And Music Row��s squeamishness was evidenced by the way Webster conducted his own life.

Former employees told BuzzFeed News that Webster lived with one foot still in the closet; several said that the publicist expressed surprise when people ascertained that he was gay. When he worked for especially conservative clients — one source remembered Mitt Romney, another remembered the Academy of Country Music Awards — Webster would actively conceal his sexuality, booking two hotel rooms for himself and his boyfriend, Westby, on a business trip instead of one.

When Rick was still trying to make it as a country music artist, fear that Webster could destroy his fledgling career kept him quiet. After he left the industry, he stayed quiet in part because of shame, enhanced by the stigma of being a male victim. “I felt like a disgusting excuse for life, and so I didn’t tell anybody,” he said.

“I felt like a disgusting excuse for life, and so I didn’t tell anybody.”

Shame kept Webster’s male staff feeling trapped too. One former Webster PR employee said he would only speak to BuzzFeed News on condition of anonymity, in large part because most of his family doesn’t know he’s gay, and he hasn’t told them that Webster pinched his nipples in the office and repeatedly showed him a dildo he kept in his desk and talked about another employee “sitting on it.”

That shame, mixed with fear of retaliation, has kept people who say they were harassed by Webster from identifying themselves even after his name has become synonymous with abuse allegations. And that, in turn, has made it easier for Nashville to follow its impulse to ignore a potential controversy until it goes away, without any serious reckoning.

Kirt Webster in 2015.

Rick Diamond / Getty Images

Webster himself relied on a system of explicit intimidation, sources told BuzzFeed News, counting on the small size of the industry — and his stature within it — to motivate people to stay in his good graces. Two former employees recalled an incident from around 2015 where a job posting appeared in an industry newsletter, Country Aircheck, without listing the firm; several days later, Webster informed his staff that he himself had written the ad, calling it a loyalty test. It made one woman who worked there think any job posting could be a trap.

“If no one else will stand up and help me, then I will just keep at it.”

And Rick said when he was still trying to make it as a country star, Webster would gesture in his office to the many photos of himself with powerful people and suggest that he could give Rick that kind of career. Rick believed him. He also believed that Webster could take that career away. In a small industry, those in Webster’s circle were convinced the word of one powerful man who felt wronged could derail your Nashville hopes. Now, watching people like Armiger publicly flail makes them think they were right.

But the mechanisms that keep people quiet don’t apply to Rick anymore: “The problem with Kirt is he picked on someone, he victimized someone … who has nothing to lose,” he said. He was determined, and strengthened by the supportive emails and messages he’s received from other victims — both men and women— in the industry. Rick continued, “If no one else will stand up and help me, then I will just keep at it. I will keep at it so that every time [Webster] shows his head, that he is going to be confronted about it. I represent a lot of people now.”

Because he said so many were still silent or nameless, Rick added the inverse of #MeToo: “It’s not just me.” ●

yellin’ at songs: june, week one

the songs that debuted on the 6.3.2017 and 6.2.2007 editions of the billboard hot 100 discussed herein with an appropriate enthusiasm

6.2.2007

33) "Do You Know? (The Ping Pong Song)/Dimelo," Enrique Iglesias

Maybe my earbuds just suck, but the ping-pong ball was disappointingly low in the mix. I needed that ping-pong ball to be the only instrumentation here. Like, the standard Enrique Iglesias drama, but instead of All The Producing, it's just a cascade of ping-pong balls, bouncing arrythmically as our boy has emotions. Like, if ypu're gonna be a bad song, don't play it safe with the novelty noises. Own that ping-pong shit. Throw in some ping-pong metaphors, give shout-outs to the best ping-pong players in the world. You can't just call your song "The Ping-Pong Song" and expect to get away with it, you gotta earn that shit.

91) "Bubbly," Colbie Callait

Comfort food is an important part of a balanced diet. You want to be healthy all the time, but part of being healthy, for me at least, involves keeping a thing of Ben & Jerry's in my freezer. I KNOW I'm gonna need that ice cream at some point, y'know? This weekend, when my computer stopped accessing the Internet, I said nuts to the world, I put some Mario streams on my phone, and when I got bored of those, my DVD player figured out a way to play Beauty & the Beast on a loop without me telling it to, so I could just turn my TV on. Critical thought is important, especially as we slide further into an authoritarian society, but sometimes, you gotta say 'fuck it' and accept a nice thing as a nice thing. "Bubbly" is that nice thing. It's barely anything, but it's nice what it barely is.

93) "I Need You," Tim McGraw & Faith Hill

This is "Whiskey Lullaby" for beginners (yes bob that is a sad country duet also) yes thank you I’m a good at critic-sizing, but can we take a moment to appreciate that TIm McGraw & Faith Hill have duets that charted in 1997, 2007, and 2017? Think of all the loves we've lost. Will Arnett and Amy Poehler. Rhea Pearlman and Danny DeVito. Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens. And all throughout, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill remain a constant. Like, it hurt when Rhea and Danny broke up because they were perfect, but if I'm being honest, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill is the couple I need to stay together forever. I honestly don't know if I could ever let myself fall in love if I knew Tim McGraw and Faith Hill ever fell out of love. I need them to make an "I Need You" every year for the rest of my life. I don't need to hear it? But I need them to make it.

96) "The Great Escape," Boys Like Girls

In 2007 we let pop bands with heteronomrative names make hit songs. Anyway, the song, it's bad. It's like a Yellowcard song by people whose sense of music history only goes as far back as Yellowcard. Honestly, this might be the worst song of 2007. There's been a lot of rap tracks trying to start dance crazes, by dancing is an inextricable part of hip-hop, the genre is nothing without the occasional "Chicken Noodle Soup," y'know? And KaraDioGuardi is trash, but she has noble aspirations: she is trying to infuse pop starlets with attitude, and while she fails horribly, there's at least noble aspirations. This song stands for nothing. It's riding the coattails of the mid-aughts emo wave, a trend we were making fun of AS IT WAS HAPPENING, nothing about it is original or spun in an interesting way or even delivered convincingly, it's just a shitty song with a chorus that would be rousing if any of these dudes had something like charisma behind which a crowd might rally, it's, it's nothing! It's less of a thing than Joe, and Joe was just a dude named Joe! I hate this song and I hate that I'm going to make myself listen to another Boys Like Girls song.

97) "Bleed it Out," Linkin Park 99) "Given Up," Linkin Park

These were almost good songs! Linkin Park is much better at being a rock band than they are emotional balladeers, and they have something going with both of these songs, like those hand-claps really make you feel like Linkin Park is about to hit you with some hot rock sing-a-long action, and then... dude just kinda screams about how much pain he feels? OK, that's not fair to "Bleed it Out," "Bleed it Out" is legit hot, that's one of the rare times that the rapper in Linkin Park is absolutely on his game. He's not a great rapper, but dude knows how to blend in with a great song. And Screams McGee (his name is Chester Bennington, you know I know who he is) can be a compelling vocalist! He does a few subtle things in "Given Up" that make him sound legitimately damaged and frustrated before the song devolves into him screaming "put me out of my misery!" Maybe I just needed this to be good just so I wasn't too bummed out after enduring "The Great Escape," but y'know what, Linkin Park? Not that shitty. Still pretty shitty, but there's enough here that I like that I’m not gonna call it an utter angstfest.

should i still publish top 20s if there are no changes. is there any instructive value to the top 20 even if things did change. 20) "Movin' On," by Elliott Yamin (3.17.2007) 19) "U + Ur Hand," by P!nk (1.13.2007) 18) "Doe Boy Fresh," by Three 6 Mafia ft./Chamillionaire (1.20.2007) 17) "Get Me Bodied," by Beyonce (5.26.2007) 16) "I Don't Wanna Stop," by Ozzy Osbourne (5.26.2007) 15) "Stolen," by Dashboard Confessional (4.21.2007) 14) "Beautiful Liar," by Beyonce & Shakira (3.31.2007) 13) "Cupid's Chokehold," by Gym Class Heroes ft./Patrick Stump (1.13.2007) 12) "The River," by Good Charlotte ft./M. Shadows & Synyster Gates (2.10.2007) 11) "Say OK," by Vanessa Hudgens (2.17.2007) 10) "Alyssa Lies," by Jason Michael Carroll (1.13.2007) 9) "Never Again," by Kelly Clarkson (5.12.2007) 8) "Get Buck," by Young Buck (4.14.2007) 7) "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going," by Jennifer Hudson (1.13.2007) 6) "Thnks fr th Mmrs," by Fall Out Boy (4.28.2007) 5) "Candyman," by Christina Aguilera (1.13.2007) 4) "Because of You," by Ne-Yo (3.17.2007) 3) "Umbrella," by Rihanna ft./Jay-Z (4.28.2007) 2) "Dashboard," by Modest Mouse (2.17.2007) 1) "The Story," by Brandi Carlile (4.28.2007) alright, 2017. the bar has been set. can you produce one song better than “bubbly?” i see you’re giving me another imagine dragons banger. i’m not confident in your ability to get this w.

6.3.2017

62) "Rollin," by Calvin Harris ft./Future & Khalid

I appreciate the work Calvin Harris has done this spring to get our most morose pop artists to get funky. I don't really remember Khalid, but I do remember not feeling "Location," and he was much better with a song that felt like something, and I don't think I can name a Future verse delivered with higher energy than this. (There's so many, though. I might well be forgetting like seven Future songs.) I'm not here to call it great, it might end up fading from memory completely like "Heatstroke" did (I liked it, right? It's #20 before I dip into the rest of the debuts, but I recall liking it), but, y'know, funky. Calvin Harris is like the only pop megastar insisting that we boogie, and however disposable his music ends up being, his mission is one I can get behind.

80) "Bad Liar," by Selena Gomez

"This is a pretty dope baseline!" Bob thought on his way to Wikipedia, where he was informed this is a Julia Michaels joint sampling Talking Heads. This is great. Like, David Byrne had to think this was good in order for it to be made, I am not quite sure what I come to this space to do, but I know it's not to disagree with David Byrne.

92) "Whatever it Takes," by Imagine Dragons

this is the same song as "thunder" was the same song as "believer." like they made three songs about how awesome it is to be famous, except this song is about how imagine dragons will be imagining dragons so hard to maintain the level of fame which they have attained, because: being famous: is good. no entity has wasted more of my time this year than imagine dragons. and i had to listen to an entire drake album! i mean this! how many more of these songs do i have to listen to? how many of these songs do they have LEFT?

93) "Felices Los 4," by Maluma

If the rousing success of "Despacito" means we're getting more Latin pop on the charts, I am absolutely down. And if a new Latin pop explosion means we get more songs about polyamory, as the basic English translation I have found leads me to believe this is, I am SO DOWN. This is a chipper and fun song about saying "The more the merrier!" when your girl finds a new boy. It's the epitome of a chilled-out groove. "It doesn't matter what they'll say, we like it like this." DAMN SKIPPY. Maluma will not be kink-shamed. I like what I'm 90% sure this song is. Give me more songs about people on different areas on the ever-expanding spectrum of human sexuality. I expect an asexuality anthem by the time we're through, 2017.

95) "No Promises," by Cheat Codes ft./Demi Lovato

Who are Cheat Codes? Like, legit, if I'm gonna complain about the slop of dudes churned out by Nashville, I should also call out the endless parade of dudes at soundboards constructing their tool-assisted pop songs. Does Cheat Codes have any artistic identity? Am I supposed to have left this song having learned something new about the world, or at least heard familiar noises used in a new and fun way? Like, "Bad Liar" wasn't an earth-shatteringly epic statement of purpose, but it used the "Psycho Killer" bassline in modern setting, and that made me want to see who made it. I can't tell you who Cheat Codes are from their music. I don't get the feeling they got into music as an avenue of self-expression, I think the goal is to make formless, unidentifiable dance noises, and that's intensely disappointing. (Demi Lovato's here, too. It's not her fault this song is bad. She tries her darndest.) I can't say what Cheat Codes bring to the table to justify listening to Cheat Codes instead of anything else that's ever existed.

98) "Ghost in This House," as performed by Lauren Duski

So next week is a big week for American Idol, five Idol songs on the chart, and I'm sure the The Voice finale is gonna put more than one song on the chart, so that’ll be a fun comparison. Big couple weeks coming up for reality singing competitions! This is a nice performance of a country song with which I'm unfamiliar, being sung by an attractive blonde with something like a unique voice. It's nothing I'd ever vote for, but I completely get how it ended up in my list of things to do today. Finally: a white country singer is going to win a reality singing competition. Been, what, three months since the last time? TOO LONG.

100) "Me Enamore," by Shakira

It would have been so easy for this to feel like seven dudes in suits screaming FUCK LATIN POP'S BACK WE HAVE FIVE MINUTES TO WRITE A TRACK FOR SHAKIRA, but man, Shakira's just too reliable a pop music entity to let it go down like that. It's basic, simple stuff, "me en-na-na-more" is nowhere near the thundering statement of purpose that is "des... pa... ci-to," but y'all need something basic done right, you call in a pro, and Shakira's a consummate professional. It's hard to tell if I'm reacting to the actual performance or to the band name, but as far as I can sort out, Shakira brings a joy and personality to a song that might've been listless in less capable hands.

Hey! New blood in this Top 20! 20) "You Look Good," by Lady Antebellum (4.22) 19) "The Heart Part 4," by Kendrick Lamar (4.15) 18) "Selfish," by Future ft./Rihanna (3.18) 17) "Slide," by Calvin Harris ft./Frank Ocean & Migos (3.18) 16) "Felices los 4," by Maluma (6.3) 15) "Now & Later," by Sage the Gemini (2.25) 14) "Bad Liar," by Selena Gomez (6.3) 13) "DNA." by Kendrick Lamar (5.6) 12) "It Ain't Me," by Kygo x Selena Gomez (3.4) 11) "Craving You," by Thomas Rhett ft./Maren Morris (4.22) 10) "That's What I Like," by Bruno Mars (3.4) 9) "Chanel," by Frank Ocean ft./A$AP Rocky (4.1) 8) "Either Way," by Chris Stapleton (5.27) 7) "Run Up," by Major Lazer ft./PARTYNEXTDOOR & Nicki Minaj (2.18) 6) "Green Light," by Lorde (3.18) 5) "ELEMENT." by Kendrick Lamar (5.6) 4) "Despacito," by Luis Fonsi ft./Daddy Yankee (2.4) 3) "Issues," by Julia Michaels (2.11) 2) "iSpy," by KYLE ft./Lil Yachty (1.14) 1) "Hard Times," by Paramore (5.13) I underestimated you, 2017!

Who won the week?

2017! I don’t know what I’m supposed to say in this section so I’ma just bounce, great work today some of you, next week we’re gonna revist “Lip Gloss.”

2017: 6 2007: 4

"Shauny's very sad...": A momentary glance into the life of Shaun Hathaway.

About a year ago, I had found myself stumbling upon what would be my partner label, Cavern Brew Records. Of the many oddities that was the label's discography, few truly stood out to me more than Shaun Hathaway. With bassy, underlying drones, harrowing, dark sampling, and loose, yet oddly intricate orchestration, Shaun is one small dark ambient artist, bound to make big leaps in the near future. The following is an interview between the two of us.

What made you want to become a musician, and make ambient music? Have you considered experimenting in other genres?

Well, when I was a kid I used to draw a lot and write stories/small books, then when I was beginning to become a pre-teen I used to act in plays and write scripts for plays and even came in second place in a playwriting contest in 6th grade, then when I was a teenager (high school age) I used to make short films and sketches with my friend at the time, and then after I was about to turn 17 I was starting to write, near-feverishly, lyrics down into various notebooks and I probably have about 4 or so notebooks filled with bars I wrote. My ex-girlfriend actually gave me my first "official" notebook that I used to write rhymes in because I was so convinced that I was going to rap and she was the only person at the time that actually believed in me, so I wanted to make her proud. Soon after I dropped out of high school and we broke up, I recorded a few songs with my close friend and I kind of sort of really cringe looking back at it because it could be a lot better. Don't bother looking for them, though, because I made sure they were taken off of soundcloud. Anyways, the continuation in the storyline I am trying to create is that I was fascinated by how my friend could produce his beats so fast while still being funky as hell. So, he used to try to show me how to use FL Studio and every time I would try to create something, I ended up accidentally creating something hellish so I eventually decided that there was clearly something to it. I think it was a culmination of all of the noise music I was listening to and my generally manic state I was constantly in at that time period, but I very specifically remember hunching over my laptop and making my very first full-length song "Adjustment" in a non-stop 6 to 9 hour production "marathon" and immediately uploaded it to SoundCloud. After I made that song, I was incredibly proud of myself for what I had created and decided to continue making more and more of it and eventually released my first EP "Shaun's Dark Place EP" and was almost immediately contacted by the founder of what became Cavern Brew Records who asked me to release stuff on his new net-label and I said yes. As for the second part of the question, yes, I have considered and have already experimented in hip-hop primarily. I very much plan on creating more and more hip-hop frequently and my end goal to my musical career would be to create experimental R&B and hip-hop, along the lines of artists like FLANCH, JPEGMAFIA, and basically everything Arca has had a hand in producing.

Who are your influences? Or people who you frequently listen to?

My influences for my dark ambient and noise music would definitely be Kylie Minoise first, he has probably had the most direct and notable influence on my harsh noise releases, and others would be Jason Crumer (mainly just Ottoman Black), The Gerogerigegege, and Sissy Spacek, so decently entry level stuff, however I should give a salute/shout out to PURGIST. The people I frequently listen to would most notably be LIL UGLY MANE who is my ultimate production and generally musical idol, Death Grips, Clipping., JPEGMAFIA, Danny Brown, Arca, SOPHIE, another huge production idol of mine, Ratking (and Wiki's solo career too), Machine Girl (mainly just WLFGRL, not gonna lie), ANTWON, Watkin Tudor Jones and his various projects, I know they only have one album, but I fucking love FLANCH so far, Memphis Hip-Hop as a whole has been a huge musical awakening/love for me, especially albums like The World Of A Psycho by Maniac and Demons Takin' Over Me by Nigga Creep, and the whole DJ Sound and Frayser Clique sound, not to downplay Three Six Mafia at all, Giles Corey, and fucking fight me, but I love Spooky Black/Lil Spook/Corbin. I've also really been getting into Xiu Xiu lately.

What are you listening to right now? What would you personally recommend?

I personally try not to listen to music while doing most things except driving and, well obviously, listening to new music because I feel like I'm not giving it my fullest attention and that it deserves better than that. However, I will admit that I will play the albums BBNG by BADBADNOTGOOD, ABSENCE OF SHITPERSON by LIL UGLY MANE, Swing Rocket by Swing Rocket (good friends of mine), and Fashion Week by Death Grips while I am driving in the car with new people or just people I am musically incompatible with, like my mother, most of my friends, or my 7 year old niece. People I HIGHLY recommend would be literally any of the artists I mentioned for the last question, but severely underrated people or projects I would really like to double down my love for would be FLANCH, ANTWON, and JPEGMAFIA. FLANCH for the reasons being that they managed to essentially bring to life a lot of hazy-ish/ballparked ideas I have had in my head for things I would love to both create and hear in a very clear, but by all means strange vision and it is absolutely phenomenal. FLANCH is easily one of my favorite albums of the year. ANTWON being another huge recommendation because of his always incredibly entertaining lyrics, energy, voice, flow, ability to do his thing on just about any beat he is handed, no matter how strange, and his very clear love for punk and black metal which heavily translates into both his aesthetic and lyricism on darker songs. Him and Wiki also put on a 10/10 concert when I saw them both live. And finally, JPEGMAFIA is everything that both music and politics need at this time. He is the best provocateur, both musically and personality wise, of 2016. He has openly admitted to being contrarian for the sake of being contrarian because he believes people should be pushed in the way he pushes him. His albums BLACK BEN CARSON and his collaborative EP The 2nd Amendment with artist Freaky should both be immediate listens for anybody reading this. He is a genuinely amazing glitch-hop, industrial-hop, and just generalized experimental hip-hop artist. Easily one of my favorite newer artists by far.

You chose your real name as a moniker, and many of your albums give a slight description of your personal life in of itself. Do you feel this transparency is a key factor to what makes your music interesting?

I absolutely believe transparency is very key for my releases under my real name, however I would very much like to believe that people would find the music itself entertaining or interesting regardless of personal backstories connected to the albums.

And what possesses you to put out your own personal life? Contextual reasons or catharsis or?

I think it just has to go hand in hand with the transparency I offer by using my real name. I have multiple songs under probably around 20 different aliases out that have no real need for my name to be attached to them, so I leave them segregated from the message, sound, emotion, or point across I am trying to make to people, unlike with my "main" musical releases. But yes, catharsis is very much a great deal to do with it. Like how I used a text message my ex sent me as I was boarding a bus in Boston after we broke up as one of the cassette covers for the album Suicidal Ideation. I am also using the same text message picture to press onto some shirts that should be going on sale relatively soon/before the year is over. My good friend MC 469 and I both are currently the only owners of said shirts. It just works as a grieving method where if I include my personal life into my artistic ventures I just look at it as a part of my art now. Like that text message picture, I barely even look at it and want to cry anymore, I usually just immediately connect it to the aesthetic that I have been trying to hone since I started releasing my dark ambient music rather than the incredibly upsetting amount of personal turmoil it would usually stir up.

Say I’m a new listener. I want to know a short summary of the context that leads you to create these albums. What would you say?

Shaun's Dark Place / thesunshinedieswithoutme: At the time I had just been released after spending a 10 day stay at a mental hospital in Brattleboro, Vermont after being placed in a psychiatric ward for 6 days because I was put on suicide watch for the second time that year (2015), and I had a lot of emotions, feelings, and anxiety to release somehow and the medicine I was on made me feel slightly numb and I was scared of becoming, I guess, normal, so I discovered during that 6 to 9 hour production marathon of the song "Adjustment" was that what I was doing was incredibly therapeutic and I had just discovered a new way to voice my anxieties. Return to Shaun (split album with artist Return to Sender): I had discovered that as helpful as it was to express very morose emotions, it also gave me a pathway to be able to create "fun" harsh noise and just to enjoy myself while still giving my small fanbase what they asked for. Suicidal Ideation: This album began production a little after the previous two projects and I was experimenting in doing much longer, dronier, and more entrancing soundscapes when everything took a really sharp turn for the worst at that time in my life. To sum it all up, I broke up with my current girlfriend at the time because of the multiple unresolved problems and emotions I never settled with my ex, so I went into a full-blown mental breakdown which lasted for about 4 days until my ex, the one I was missing very much at the time, called the police and told them that I was probably going to kill myself that night, which I guess I never thought I would admit it publicly, but I was. I was planning on pulling over somewhere isolated after talking to my ex one last time and just letting the car exhaust fumes kill me. So, the police apparently showed up at my mom's door, while I wasn't home, basically saying "Where is your son?" "He's a danger to himself" "He might have killed himself" and horrible shit like that so I had to stop at the local police station to tell them to stop harassing my mom until they eventually led me under false pretenses and put me on suicide watch for the third fucking time that year where I was held against my will in a psychiatric ward for about 36 hours. In a manic state, I tried to call my ex who called the cops on me and the last words she said to me were "You belong in a mental hospital" and I still haven't been able to contact her since considering she blocked me from her entire life after that, but do not get me wrong, she was entirely within the right to do what she did, I just kind of wish it was perhaps done a little less harshly, but I cannot pinpoint her as "the bad guy". One last "fun fact" about that album was that the song September 22nd was actually made for my mom for her birthday because at the time I couldn't afford to buy her one, so I thought I would try to "make something happy for once" as she would always try to tell me. Cold (single for Stocking Stuffer): I wanted to create an ambient piece that gave the listener a very unsettled and distant feeling of an icy and strangely familiar, but foreign state of mind and or mood. they found him in the forest: I accidentally stumbled upon footage of my father walking through various job sites (he was a forester/logger) and I thought to myself how heartbreaking this was that all the video and audio recordings I had left of my dead father were some 5 to 30 second snippets of him walking through leaves and occasionally mumbling under his breath. October: It's a very self-explanatory project once fully listened to and is easily my most directly personal, and possibly horrifying, album/project to date. It's kind of a hard listen because of the subject matter itself, but I would like to think that it is a very essential listen for any fans of mine who are interested in learning more about my own "backstory". Halloween Split Series 16.2 (Shaun Hathaway x Subversive Intentions): I like to describe my side of the split as a Halloween sound effects/scary stories CD or cassette found in a Goodwill or a similar thrift store, with something incredibly sinister lurking beneath the surface of it all. I'm very proud of this split because it was born out of the most absolute passion and love for my favorite holiday and the collection of old Halloween story and sound effects cassettes and CDs I "used to" listen to in abundance for almost the entire month of October.

When I had a previous had a discussion with you, you stated you would most likely have difficulty having a call as you are “in the middle of nowhere”. Do you think such adds to that isolated feel of your music?

Absolutely. Isolation and alienation are very far from foreign feelings living in New Hampshire, which, in turn, translates heavily into my music. I always had a "joke" that the only ways to die in New Hampshire are suicide, overdose or car accident. Unfortunately the "joke" becomes much more morbid when you start to live here longer and people you used to know start to die faster and younger every year.

If I wanted to show people an accurate depiction of depression through music, you would probably be the first. You do such in a primal and blunt way, something that’s often difficult for your average joe to comprehend. It’s quite an amazing thing to accomplish. I give you praise for such.

Thank you very much! I appreciate the compliment very much! I always think it's amazing when a fan or new listener sends me an email and says almost exactly that, that my music is an accurate translation of depression into music and I take the compliment very to heart because that was exactly the goal I tried to achieve the entire time. It's also kind of a sad awakening in one regard, however. I find it amazing that somebody else out there can empathize and connect with my music the same way I did while creating it, but at the same time it depresses me a lot to know somebody actually has the same feelings as I did while creating it. Nobody should ever have to feel the ways I feel and have felt in the past and it's sad, but on an upturn of it all, I hope it will at least help some people realize they aren't alone as they think they are, as cliche as that may sound.

Do you have a certain thought process to your music? Some of your own songs hit the thirty-minute mark, and it makes me wonder do you have a certain method as to how you develop your drones?

For most of my discography my thought process just consisted of trying to capture the exact feelings I was having right then and there in the most accurate way possible and which samples could really amplify which emotion and etc. However, for a fair chunk of my other stuff, especially on my new album I'm working on (which is easily becoming my favorite album yet. No I don't have a specific release date for it. Probably 2017, though.), I find a main, usually spoken word/vocal sample, that I absolutely fall in love with and I build an entire soundscape and environment around the sample to amplify it. For the second part of your question, yes, I do have some semblance of a method to my madness. As stated a few questions back, when I started working on Suicidal Ideation, I wanted to focus a lot more on the entrancing factor of drone music and in doing so I would develop main, monolithic in size usually, and try to let it seep in and then start tacking on other large and thick layers of loops and generalized ambient sounds. Another must have for me with a lot of my music if you haven't noticed, is thunderous bass lines which, in my opinion, both enhance and add a very unsettling and overpowering feeling to each track it appears on, or at least that is certainly the goal of mine.

Any specific instruments that are key/essential to you?

If vocals count, then absolutely, yes. If not, then not really. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I realize that there is barely any actual instruments, sampled or otherwise, that are in my discography. The only real examples I can think of would be the highly manipulated samples of me playing with my keyboard that appear throughout Suicidal Ideation. However, I will reveal this much, the afformentioned possibly upcoming in 2017 album is going to change that. That is all I can really reveal about it.

I notice you like to use religious songs in your sampling. Some instances, it even sounds like they’re crying or something is bothering them as they sing. Are these personal recordings, or samples you happened to stumble upon?

Oh god, I know exactly which song you're talking about too, 'finalities' off of Suicidal Ideation. That was easily one of the most horrifying samples, in my opinion, that I have ever used. The whole song, especially that intro, was to basically replicate a panic attack I was having while making that song. Almost all of my religious samples actually all come from one place, which I refuse to identify because of how much long it took to stumble upon it and in the vain of not giving away one of my most treasured secrets. But no, none of the religious samples are of my creation, "unfortunately".

Are you yourself religious? And what kind of “weight” does this add to your song, at least in your opinion?

My father was semi-catholic, but his whole side of the family seemed to be relatively devout catholics and my mother and her side of the family all seemed to identify as "spiritual" so I mainly seemed to empathize with my father's religious side for a while when I was a kid. Eventually I just began to lose interest and faith in religion and ever since I was 11 I have been stuck with a strange feeling of loss that I have never been able to fully recover from. I feel like the "weight" that it adds to my music and art as a whole would be that it really envokes a feeling within every once-religious person that can't be fully realized or explained, but is merely a phenomenon that really seems to pique my emotions.  Essentially, the samples, themes, etc. are all just attempts to reconnect with a part of my life that has been forever lost. It's basically my equivalent of nostalgiacally looking through old scrapbooks and photos of a dead loved one where the memories you shared with them are both very vivid but also slightly hazy, but the overwhelming feelings of sadness and nostalgia are very clear and direct.

What would you say distinguishes you from other ambient/dark ambient artists?

I would probably have to say my emotional vulnerability. I feel like a lot of (specifically dark) ambient and noise artists are completely obsessed with becoming as anonymous and enigmatic as possible for their whole gimmick, which I completely can understand and respect as a fellow artist and musician, but I feel like the farther they stray from their own identities, the further they distance themselves from their emotions and humanity. In my opinion, a majority of music is created and intended to be an artform in which artists can express their emotions in a very abstract or direct way and when people try to make themselves as unrelatable as possible, it becomes more apparent that the mask they wear they feel is more interesting than themselves which I feel is just being unfair to one's self. Another thing that sort of frustrates me about it is the fact that very rarely do those types of ambient and noise producers ever have fun with it. It's the reason why artists like Death Grips and LIL UGLY MANE will always stay entertaining to me, they play heavily with the elusive act that their fanbases has essentially labeled them as and they seem to enjoy themselves very much doing so. Another thing that would probably be a distinguishable feature of my certain style of ambient/dark ambient is the lack of instrumentation, pedals, etc. and is almost entirely plunderphonics based. I know a lot of ambient artists seem to rely heavily on (albeit distorted and manipulated) synths keyboards, etc. but almost all of my music is 100% sample based. I mean some of it is definitely recorded by me, but more often than not without specific intentions for specific songs and more just recorded for the sake of possible digital mutilations. All of my stuff is just made entirely on my laptop. However, things are going to be slightly changing with that possibly 2017 album I'm working on, but don't worry, it will still be 100% Shaun.

What is the order you recommend your new listeners check out your discography?

Honestly, I don't mean to sound like "that guy", but honestly, I think that chronologically is probably the best bet, except maybe postponing the monolithic Suicidal Ideation until you've listened to everything else, but for certain, you should really start out at Shaun's Dark Place EP or Shaun's Dark Place / thesunshinedieswithoutme.

What albums do you especially recommend, or not recommend, people listen to from you?

Definitely Shaun's Dark Place / thesunshinedieswithoutme, Suicidal Ideation, and October. If listened to in that order, you will probably get a very firm understanding on what it is that I create and who I am. Especially if listened to in that order. The rest of my discography are mainly just considered side projects and experimentations to me. That doesn't mean they should be swept under the rug at all, but they definitely were made more for me to try something new or were for a split or single. However, a huge bonus one for me would be to listen to my split album with Subversive Intentions Halloween Split Series 16.2 (Shaun Hathaway x Subversive Intentions) on Halloween day or Eve or both because that was definitely a passion project that was made entirely out of love, respect, admiration, and general adoration of Halloween sound effects/stories CDs and cassettes I grew up listening to over and over again as a child well before, well after and certainly during Halloween. I was just absolutely obsessed with them and still am.

Have you considered live performances?

Absolutely. Karma Bus and I have been in on and off again serious talks with the idea of a mini CBR/Cavern Brew Records concert with as many local artists signed and or associated with the label to come down and perform at whatever local venue they allow us to book. Another possibility we have talked about is just a dual performance with just ourselves that would possibly feature performance arts and there's even been talks about "distorted reality happenings", as I would like to refer to the ideas as, occuring throughout performances. Nothing set in stone yet, though. It's also very hard to plan concerts for my sort of music because it's not exactly something you can really dance to or even really enjoy in a traditional sense.

What do you think is in store for you in the future?

Well, I am making a lot more hip-hop beats as of lately and have been trying to polish off my skills as a hip-hop producer in order for me to be able to sell my beats or even just give out a few beats for exposure's sake to my favorite active rappers or just ones that I highly enjoy. I feel like I have to be more realistic about being able to make a living off of my music and my art in general and I feel like for me, hip-hop is going to be my way in to a livable career off of my music. I am confident that I have the ability to continue to polish off and work harder on my beats to hopefully make my way into a dream of mine and hopefully meet my idols while doing it. This doesn't mean by any stretch of the imagination that I even plan on retiring from my dark ambient or heavily experimental music as a whole, but if I succeed, it would basically just give me more means to create it.

What is an odd quirky fact about you?

The very first album I ever bought for myself was Jackpot by Chingy when I was about 6 or 7 years old. I would probably cry out of joy if I found my copy of it.