featuring: arthurtv, george, james, arthur hill, willne + chrismd
notes/warnings: he forgets about your date, so you get back at him and show him what he’s missing (via instagram ofc), these border on sexting so minors DNI, they are all Little Miss Possessive, swearing, possibly toxic??, angsty bc no one has good communication skills, reader is a brat (but it’s justified) lmk if I missed anything!
i am working on the first part of the boyband au and hope it'll be done soon, this is a thank you for waiting patiently xx
taglist: @ghostwrittenbygrace @themdera @smzyyx comment if you want to be added
Jonathan Sims with synesthesia. Yes, you could argue that feeling tired after reading statements is close enough, but I'm disregarding that for now.
Jonathan Sims who can taste what he's reading. The taste of berries as he reads about the sky eating people. Burnt rubber as he reads about running from abandoned churches, and the feeling of gravel slicing his mouth.
The smell of sawdust and rain, stinging his nostrils as he forces himself to read aloud.
Words jumping out of the page at him in vivid colours, and visions of shapes dancing across the walls. Burning in his fingertips and the feeling of bugs across his skin, bruising grips on his wrist.
Sure, he always feels like he's being watched. The tingle on the back of his neck and the ache in his head. The exhaustion seeping into his bones.
But what if he felt more? What if he experienced everything in his life with more than one sense at a time.
✈: reaching out for someone [bonus points if they mumble! their! name!]
From MCAS hell Dream:
Dream gasped awake, for a few seconds entirely unsure where he lay. His hand stretched out automatically, grasping for any lifeline, and was met by a warm callused one. “Hob?” he rasped, tilting his head.
“Neighbour,” Hob said fondly, extending his other hand to brush a stray lock of hair off Dream’s forehead.
Dream shuddered as warmth spread from the area of contact, and pushed his head against Hob’s hand without quite meaning to. If he could have pressed his whole body against Hob’s hands he would have, a tiny noise escaping.
Hob, meanwhile, had frozen for a few seconds, before his fingers shifted, digging a bit into Dream’s scalp. “Is this all right?”
“Mmhmm,” Dream managed, his limbs slowly dissolving into gelatin.
(Left to right: Arthur H, Arthur F, Issac, George) photographed moments after their contract was signed as Friends From Work. Established 2009 via HotRodd Records, managed by Christopher Dixon.
"Let's set the scene, it's 2009: James Cameron's "Avatar" was just released, Susan Boyle tops the charts with "I Dreamed a Dream" and Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. What the world didn’t know yet was that somewhere in London, the next music sensations were being born.
Seeing a gap in the UK music market for a wholesome “boy next door” boyband, Chris Dixon (most known for managing Sidemen, and Becky James before she founded her own girl group, The Bambinos,) started the search for the next big boyband. With auditions held all over the country, talented hopefuls showed off their skills to Chris and CEO and producer of HotRodd Records, Will Lenney. From thousands, 4 stood out. George Clarke, 26, from Bristol, Arthur Fredrick, 30, from Jersey, Arthur Hill, 27, from Buckinghamshire and Isaac Smith (affectionately known as Bach, an inside joke this reporter is told) 25, from Crawley were chosen. The group not only showed impressive vocals on their own, but were able to find their harmony after a few sessions together. The chemistry they share is undeniable, with producer Will Lenney saying, “There was just magic when they were in a room together. They gravitated towards each other. I remember Chris and I shared a look of like, ‘yeah this is it’.”
Dixon and Lenney weren’t the only ones impressed, Sidemen members TBJZL (Tobi Brown), Vikkstarr (Vikram Barn), W2S (Harry Lewis) and Zerrka (Josh Bradley) saw similarities in their new label mates. “We’re similar ages with them, it’s so cool, like we’ve got little brothers to look out for, make sure they’re taken care of, you know?” explains Vikstarr, “We’re rooting for them all the way!” adds W2S.
August 2009 saw the group’s first EP “Heartbreak Hotline” debut at #3 on the UK Album charts, with its lead single of the same name peaking at #6. An incredible feat for such a new group. The foursome embarked on their first UK wide tour, which started in November 2009 and concluded in February 2010, just in time for their second EP, “The Space Between” to reach #2 on the charts, with the title track “Inside Out” to become the group’s first #1 single, holding onto that spot for 5 weeks! The success isn’t without controversy, with many of the group’s critics expressing their formation as ‘unnatural’ and ‘forced.’ However, the group takes this in their stride, settling on the name Friends From Work as a tongue-in-cheek response to the naysayers. “Yeah, we might’ve not all grown up together like Sidemen did, and that’s good for them, but we’re different. We’re not going to deny or fake our start together. Amongst all the other boys there, we found each other.” Friends From Work’s unofficial spokesman, George Clarke, shuts down any criticisms. “Like, it’s crazy, before we even released our first EP, people were saying we’re like colleagues who don’t get on outside of work. So, after endless hours of brainstorming for a name, Friends From Work came to us.” Arthur Fredrick goes on to explain further, “It took a while for Chris and Will to come round to it, but eventually they liked the sound of it and the meaning behind it.”
The band have just announced their first full album, "Friends From Work", along with a tour of the UK and Europe. The expected release is May 2011, with the tour starting in June. The first opening act, James Marriott has already been announced, with the second act's identity being kept under wraps for now.
With so much buzz from fans (fanclub name TBC) and the industry, will their first album set them apart from their peers and labelmates, or could they fall as quickly as their rise to success? With a lot riding on this release, this reporter will be waiting with bated breath and be the first on the scene with all the gossip. To close out the interview, Arthur Hill had some words for their fans and supporters, “Just a massive massive thank you, this has been a rollercoaster so far, and we can’t wait to make so many more memories with you all.” Isaac chimes in, “We hope to make you all proud, this album is very special to us, we hope you love it as much as we do.” - report by Meadow Grace for Stars on Pop magazine, 2011
____
Full credits to @ghostwrittenbygrace for all covers/graphics made, and for encouraging me to write this. Click here to take the official Friends From Work dating quiz!
Left: Friends From Work debut album cover and tracklist
this is a ficlet that will be shoved into my "hiatus/backburnered" folder because I couldn't fit it into any existing WIPs and I want to finish some more before I start adding others...
---
Dream lies slack, robes torn and mudstained from where he got pulled from a thorn ring of the Fae, but someone's cleaned his pallid face.
"He won't wake up," Lucienne says.
Hob's heart seizes.
Dream is so still, lying on Hob's bed. Dream's frequently quiet and unfidgeting, but there's usually still a charged energy around him where he forces Waking reality to accept a form of fantasy and dreams. He's also usually not as translucent in places.
"I believe narrative work is at play," she adds.
"Narrative work?"
"The Fae work not just in glamours, but stories and narrative compulsion. Lord Morpheus is dreams, stories. They have forced narratives upon him."
"Fairy tales," Hob murmurs. "So."
"I thought true love's kiss might work."
"But - I'm not - we're not..."
She gives him a pitying look. "Don't lie to yourself. Not about this."
Hob looks down at Dream, who is comatose and almost - fading, and takes a breath. He leans down and kisses Dream's forehead, which is like ice.
Dream's body spasms, and he coughs, chokes on a sudden breath, and his eyes flood wide and black with stars. "Hob?"
"Welcome back," Hob says, daring to reach out and hold Dream's hand.
from the Fat Endless Dream fic (where Dream used to be fat before the dreamers started envisioning him as thin and Dream's lovers told him otherwise and other related incidents)
Hob seemed to enjoy feeding Dream. Well, more than he enjoyed feeding others.
He'd seen Hob cook for others, and even if he hadn't — having enough food frequently meant something different to a man who had been born a peasant.
But something was different about the way he fed Dream. About the 'you're too thin, love,' comments.
***
Dream was too thin, but Hob remembered what it was like to starve.
Dream had returned to the New Inn, haunted and pale and drawn, and apologised for missing their meeting. I was detained. Later, that morphed to I was captured. And several months later, when Hob finally coaxed Dream into eating, it went something like this:
"I am not human. I do not require sustenance, or air."
"But can you eat? Do you have anything you like to eat?"
Dream stared across the table at Hob, eyes flat, and a muscle in his jaw jumped. "No."
"Well, time to try everything, then!" Hob said brightly.
(Dream looked away. He had not lied: there had been foods, once, in the Dreaming, that he had enjoyed. Plums of every colour, ripe and bursting. Jeweled grapes, in delectable bunches, and wine, dry on the tongue to balance. Homey little dreams of bubbling stew and mugs of perfect tea. He no longer knew what it tasted like, after so long away, realm still rebuilding. He could not even conjure them.)
it's the chronically ill dream wingfic at long last!
sinking as the light wind lives or dies
Word Count: 7,853
Rating: M
Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence; See work tags for other warnings.
Dream has wings, but he can't fly, and after a scarring incident involving the loss of his friend Jessamy and the betrayal of his boyfriend Cory, he hides them. He meets Hob Gadling in a postsecondary literature programme, and they twine slowly closer as Dream's past continues to haunt him and threatens to destroy his future with Hob.
(or, what happens when you are trying to switch life genres from 'gothic romance' to 'literally anything else.')
MCAS hell Dream omegaverse snippet, because why not!
Dream did not like to leave his flat, overly much. The stairs grated every joint in his lower body, and lifts ran the risk of alphas without scent blockers, and in his flat he could control who came in and the various smells and triggers.
Of course, crushes made you stupid, which was why Dream tried to not have them, especially not on an alpha.
"Hiya, stranger," said the handsome neighbor in flat 689, heading to the lift.
His body had not received the memo on crushes and attraction. Dream's heart flipped so hard he thought he might pass out. His skin heated, flushing red that had nothing to do with his mast cells, for once. He tried to ignore the heat that pooled between his legs, gritting his teeth. "Salutations," he intoned.
