almost every time he makes plans to hang out with nix, scott considers ghosting last minute. delete his number, block him on everything – completely snip him out of his life. not for any fault of the other’s ( truthfully, scott enjoyed hanging out with nix quite a bit ). yet, somehow, being around him seemed like dragging himself through a couple hours of brutal self torture. a weird case of masochism. scott liked to blame his lack of friends and impulse control for finding himself contemplating whether or not texting the other at 2 am asking if he wanted to hang out that day was a good idea. he always ends up thinking about him when he knows he probably shouldn’t. scott knows this is the most they’ll ever be. a couple hours, maybe one or twice a week.. window shopping or getting high in his living room. whichever came first.
the store is feels claustrophobic. he wouldn’t call himself a neat freak but, having grown up without much, scott’s gotten pretty good at not hanging on to too much. this place had to be the opposite of his house. it’s cluttered, wall to wall, with shelves of crystals, candles, incense, and things the blonde had no interest in whatsoever. scott only went in because nix seemed excited to go look around. he kept his hands in his pockets, however, has they navigated through the store. shoulders too broad to squeeze through a few of the tighter corners, laughing over his own stupid jokes way too loud. he nods as if an expert of essential oils is educating him on the matter.“and– how do they know what the monster smells like? i imagine he doesn’t smell great.” he laughs, trying to keep his voice low. scott takes the little bottle, taking a quick sniff. he coughs, “yeah, that is no aphrodisiac. the flowery one was better.”
scott is never sure how to react after one of nix’s self deprecating jokes. had he been parker, his best friend, he would’ve laughed and agreed that he had a shit personality even though he obviously thinks the opposite. with nix, it’s hard to not just go quiet a moment. he didn’t like letting him think that way about himself – but scott didn’t want to appear too zealous over stopping those thoughts either. he musters a short chuckle, “…maybe there’s an oil to attract then?” he wished he hadn’t said anything at all.
scott is, of course, the only person in the entire world who would question the validity of an essential oil really smelling like the fictional monster from a book written in the early nineteenth century--especially considering the name ‘frankincense’ is in all likelihood not actually referring to frankenstein’s monster. not unless the essential oils company had hired a whole lot of millennials to run it. it’s sweet, somehow, although nix knows better than to tell scott that. he likes his strong and silent archetype. nix has never told him he knows that, either. but it is sweet, mostly because other people would have probably just rolled their eyes at him and chalked his ramblings up to being high. which--maybe it is, but he still likes the fact that scotty indulges him. “they’re only guessing, mate,” he answers him with what is supposed to be a tone of seriousness but falls about a mile short of the mark. “i mean, there’s not much room for speculation, is there? rotting body parts, mostly. and the citrus, like i mentioned.” he laughs a little too loudly when scott actually takes the thing and smells it, earning another glare from the shopkeeper.
it’s as he’s replacing the frankincense oil--which is maybe not supposed to smell like frankenstein’s monster but still smells really bad all the same--that he hears scotty’s new suggestion and grins. “a scent that attracts,” he hums, gaze moving over the essential oils and then shifting to a huge number of incense sticks nearby in boxes. he spots a familiar blue design and grabs a small case of them, holding it up for the other to see. “nag champa,” he says matter-of-factly. “smells like every head shop i ever went to back in manc as a kid. ‘but, nix,’ you might say, ‘does the smell of old english hippies and stale weed smoke really turn you on?’” he taps scotty’s chest with the box. “you better fucking believe it does. i’ll burn some when we get back, you won’t know what hit you.” meaning to buy it, he grabs a second and uses that one to point across the store at another display. “you need any healing crystals before we head out? how’s your chakra? how’s your aura? doin’ alright?”
all things considered, avoiding jinx since their breakup a whole ass year ago hasn’t been difficult. first it was because nix was hardly going out in overly-public places anyway, lost as he was in his endless and all-encompassing world of drugs; then it was because he was in rehab, all the way across the country at the betty ford center in rancho mirage; and then, for the past five or six months, it’s been luck. he’s always supposed he doesn’t really need that much luck to avoid someone in a city as big as miami, and really, his chances of running into her can’t be any higher than that of a fan desperately hoping for that to happen. it’ll happen eventually--he knows that--and he’s pretty much readied himself for it finally happening one day because of the connection through margo. and of course because he’s been trying to prepare himself for it happening that way, it doesn’t.
it happens at a fucking ice cream shop, and not even one of the more popular ones (which is maybe the point for both of them). high as usual and with time to spare before he’s supposed to meet with the rest of his band to show them some new stuff he’s written, nothing could have seemed more innocent than getting a mint chocolate chip cone to bring with him. but that’s how the world works, isn’t it? at least for phoenix campbell it is. he sees her walk in and feels a helpless resignation come over him as he takes in her appearance. she’s as beautiful as she’s always been, and not for the first time it occurs to him that here’s a woman who was made for the spotlight. it seems almost impossible to believe that once--back in another lifetime--they might have come here together as a couple. until he’d chosen drugs over her, of course--that had put a quick end to it. one day, he thinks, he’ll find the courage to apologize to her like she deserves, but that day isn’t today. instead, the best he can manage is a weak “hey, jinx,” even as he avoids the eye of a gaggle of teenagers who seem to have recognized her. he’s almost certain they’d know his band’s name and probably a few songs, too boot, but as far as in-person recognition goes, he can still get ice cream at small ice cream shops without running into too many fans. “been a minute, hasn’t it?” he cringes inwardly, and then digs his hole deeper by adding, “how’re you?” ( @ofajinx )
it’s a rare occasion indeed that nix isn’t high. he hasn’t touched anything harder than weed in more than a year, of course, but the sentiment remains: he’s always high. casey’s a different story. casey’s only high when they’re alone together and there’s no chance of absolutely anyone witnessing it other than the two of them, because in casey’s world, there is and always has been a very firm divide between what nix is allowed to see and what other people are allowed to see. it’s a boundary that nix has always gotten a kick out of testing but never actually crossing--sure, casey makes himself way too easy to poke fun at, and watching him go beet red in public is the height of comedy, but he respects him too much to go any further than that. and anyway, in spite of his teasing, it means a lot to him to know casey trusts him as much as he does. it’s just that it really is a shame, because he doesn’t think he knows anyone funnier than casey when he’s high.
case in point, he’s only just managed to get his breath back after having collapsed into a fit of laughter, ab muscles screaming with pain but in the very best way. although to be fair, it wasn’t this casey that had sent him into hysterics--it had been the casey on nix’s laptop screen, the one immortalized on youtube playing what nix believes to be the world’s funniest take on the girlfriend tag. this isn’t the first time they’ve been high and nix has forced casey to rewatch it with him, and it won’t be the last. “how many times--” he starts, falls back into laughter, and tries again, “how many times can you say the same thing? margo’s out here trying to play the fucking game and all you can say is, ‘no, that’s you!’” again he descends into peals of laughter, going so far as to rapidly kick casey out of nothing more than a need to physically express how badly this is getting to him. “the raw clown energy, case, it’s shocking.” ( @ofccasey )
it’s difficult not to think of scout whenever he hangs out with scotty, and phoenix has managed, quite impressively, to find a way to resent himself for that fact. because it isn’t as though he doesn’t like hanging out with scotty--he obviously does. he’d known him before he’d known her, and there’s something about scotty that’s just...different than most people. in a good if strangely indefinable way. so yeah, it feels shitty--to put it bluntly--that he can’t stop himself thinking about scout whenever scotty’s around, but there’s also not much he can do about it other than force the thoughts away every time they creep up. and anyway, he knows with absolute certainty that scout doesn’t feel the same way, which makes it pathetic as well as annoying.
they’d wandered into some head shop with an obscure name nix had forgotten the moment he’d stopped looking at the sign and stepped inside. there’s a pungent aroma created by the warring fumes of innumerable incense sticks that he can see burning on any number of free surfaces, few as there are. he likes that, though; most people find clutter infinitely offensive--nix does not. his room at home is a testament to that fact. after having been reprimanded by the man behind the counter--who either doesn’t know who they are or couldn’t possibly care less--for being too loud, it’s with a softer tone of voice that nix holds up a sample container of essential oil for scotty to see, barely suppressing laughter. “frankincense,” he says, quoting the name written in bold on its side. “smells exactly like frankenstein’s monster with just a hint of citrus. excellent for clearing sinuses. even more excellent for repelling any potential mates! thankfully i can do that with my personality alone.” ( @ofcscottys )
✧ · ˚ . reece king? nah, that’s just phoenix “nix” campbell. you know, they’re the twenty-five year-old musician from manchester… still doesn’t ring a bell ? come on, dude ! they’re all over ME.MIAMI’S homepage. it’s impossible for them to stay off of it because of the fact that they’re super pretentious & spacey. they’re not all bad though, ‘cause they can be intelligent & personable too ! you can totally tell they’re a libra… it’s almost scary. look, if you want to remember them, just think of clothes that always smell like weed and cigarettes, organized chaos in a bedroom, and a 3am drive with the music turned up , and you’ll be golden. ( he/him, cismale. )
hello babies !! it me lainie back from the dead now that the semester is over n i’m so excited to bring u my brand new bby boy. the intro got kind of long so at the bottom (before the connection ideas) u can find a tl;dr :’)
tws for drug use/abuse and mental illness
background
nix grew up in hardcore suburbia in manchester, england. his parents were just sort of……….basic parents? attentive and loving but with issues of their own. he inherited anxiety and depressive disorders from both of them so his childhood was rough not because his parents didn’t try to be there for him (he had a lot of issues with his dad though) but bc his mental illnesses just made it hard to be a teenager (harder than usual fdhgsjsj). it led to a lot of drug abuse when he was in high school, and he was one of those kids where he was like really smart and did exceptionally well when he went to class so his teachers and his parents got on his case about it but he just wasn’t in the state of mind for giving a shit about school.
he and his friends got up to a lot of shit even when he was not in one of his depressive episodes just bc like it was boring suburbia and they had nothing better to do than drive around smoking weed and drinking beer. on the side nix was starting to get into pills and his friends were like *eyes emoji* but they were 16/17 so they didn’t rly know what to do about it ydgfuhjsa
he spent some time in an adolescent psychiatric ward of a hospital while he was in high school bc his parents were like okay something needs to be done !! and it didn’t really help. he did graduate high school, but it literally just took getting older and learning to deal with his mental shit to stop abusing drugs eventually. which did not happen fast
at 18 he went to New York by himself to attend NYU for music but dropped out in his second year when the band he and one of his friends had gotten together started getting actual attention on two eps they’d put out. his parents weren’t THRILLED bc they wanted him to have a degree (and they’d literally helped him pay for going to another country specifically for school purposes) but they were like really excited about the success so in that regard they were Cool with it. what they weren’t Cool with was how the shows and the lifestyle were conducive to his drug habits, of which they were very much aware (from all the way back in manchester) despite his trying to hide it and lie about.
so when he was 20 the band finally dropped their debut album and it was wildly successful and nix rly grew to have a toxic relationship with the career itself and the fame that came with it. the depression and anxiety were always still there and those random episodes he’d have on top of the pressure of doing shows and wanting to connect with his fanbase was what ultimately led him to doing harder drugs than pills, and it turned into a full on addiction. they almost broke up as a band a few times, his friend he started it with threatened to kick him out once, and there were multiple instances of him tweeting or saying insane shit while he was fucked up and then having to delete it later and pretend it never happened yguhkjksa
it was when they were in the middle of writing their second album (when he was 21) that nix finally hit rock bottom and checked himself into rehab (with the help of casey). he was there for three months, got sober, and for the first time he actually stayed that way a while.
so they finished the second album, it was just as successful, and by the time he was 23 they had a rly solid fan base and some international recognition and nix was still sober and things were relatively Good. he moved to miami when casey did bc he was like ok why tf not lmao and the whole ass band came to miami to start working on their third album. i imagine he dated a bit in this time, probably had one really healthy relationship for a while, and it was probably that relationship that got destroyed when he finally relapsed at 24 during an especially bad depressive episode that coincided with a big show for a festival. it was rly obvious he was high but it didn’t cause a scene or anything, people were just like hell yeah we’re all high it’s a festival lmao yeruhw but his friends and gf afterwards were like ??? hello !!! really ???!! so that was a thing again for a good 5 or 6 months until, once again, he hit a rly scary rock bottom and had to go to rehab.
and he got clean. again. and it stuck, again. he’s currently still clean and he and his band are working on their third album again yeet
personality
so nix is like…..a sensitive soul eryguhsja like yes he’s rly sarcastic and dry and can unintentionally come off as pretentious but he’s very personable and outgoing and just rly enjoys talking to people and like?? engaging in human interaction. when his anxiety gets really bad he’ll withdraw a lot and it’ll be really obvious and the same goes for the depression. when he’s having episodes, it’s like rly clear bc he’ll be moody and irritable and start reverting to bad habits
his favorite thing in the world is writing music bc he loves expressing his emotions and he feels like he does it best that way. so it’s also like rly meaningful to him when people like his music bc it’s like validation of himself and who he is yk
pansexual king
used to sleep around a lot and had an unhealthy relationship with that too especially when he was on drugs. now he like still enjoys it but doesn’t go out looking for it usually and would in general prefer a relationship probably ?? we’ll see
his aesthetic is p much thrifty clothes, big shirts, band tees, jeans and converse, the no sleep bags under his eyes a little too skinny for comfort look, small heavy metal boy even tho his music is lowkey soft, smelling like cigarettes and weed all the time
he’s so obsessed with the idea of love and human connection and shit like that. he’s always analyzing people and relationships (even ones that aren’t his own) and the world and being pretentious xisbdjskdb but like genuinely he just has a really oddly optimistic romanticized view of humanity and the world for someone who’s dealt w so much shit
also like he can come off like i don’t give a shit what anyone thinks!!!! but he actually cares so so much about what everyone thinks and even he will admit that djsbdkwndj
tl;dr born in manchester, england, moved to the states to go to nyu for music, dropped out when his band (the dead lights) started making it big, has had drug problems most of his life, been in and out of rehab, currently clean and working on the band’s third album. pretentious and can come off as a smartass but is actually v personable and kind and is obsessed with the idea of love and tends to romanticize absolutely everything from relationships to the world to literally other people’s relationships
connection ideas
if there’s a 1975 song that fits ur muse or one of ur muse’s relationships??? lmk bc nix will write it about them/their relationship !! a lot of his songs are stories abt other people he finds interesting
his band thank u !!! guitar, keyboard, drums, backing vocals, the works. one of them would be the one who started the band w him while he was at nyu and they’d be rly close and maybe live together
the girl he was dating when he relapsed the second time in miami !! up to plotting how it ended tbh
ok like bad influences who were maybe people he was friends with when he was doing drugs?? who like lowkey try to get him back into it??
and good influences ofc of all kinds!
smoking buddies/a weed dealer
unrequited things on both ends please please please i REALLY want him to have a thing for someone in a relationship who he can’t have but wants so badly
enemies ofc bc I’m angsty!!! Maybe people who think he’s a pretentious wannabe poser try-hard
also ex friends possibly either bc they couldn’t handle him at his worst OR bc he cut them off bc like nix will do that if he doesn’t like someone’s vibe
I don’t think he does many collabs on his own albums (possibly some random singles tho???) but gimme things where he featured on other people’s music
yousharknotpass
izzy806
turnnoffyourmind
baratheonpilled
prguitarman
dailybridgerton
dededos
romaincrisis
