" honestly, i don't even care. " she deserves a reward for how much of a liar she is, the way she thrusts straw into the ice of her drink like a mountaineer to show how much she means it. " i mean, i do ... but, i don't wanna seem clingy, you know ? like, mega-clingy. " person is kind enough ( look up the definition of forced ) to listen to woman ramble on at the bar, having become a regular occurrence by now, until it was time to send her home by uber or phone call to a familiar. tonight was just another one of those nights. " i want him to know i like him without saying i like him, i wish he'd go ahead and say something. one of us has to say something. "
as if she can't be bothered to be the one to bring it up, words freezing up in her chords until all she can mutter is a sullied nothing when prompted. " i don't want him thinking i only want him for the hook-ups, or hanging out, or his smile ... or his ... really wide ... shoulders ... " sentence starts drifting off somewhere else when she realizes she's not getting a response, finger poking against their shoulder. " are you actually listening to me, or are you letting me talk ? i could really use your advice. "
gracie had been listening, even if her gaze had drifted somewhere beyond the bar for a moment. the gentle poke to her shoulder pulled her back, blinking once before a small smile found its way onto her face. " i'm listening, " she promised softly. " every word, actually. " fingers curled around her glass as she considered it for a moment, her expression thoughtful rather than teasing. " i don't think you sound clingy. i think you sound like someone who cares about somebody and is scared of getting it wrong. those are two very different things. " her head tilted slightly. " and honestly? i think it's sweet that you're worried about him thinking you only want the easy parts. if you're worried about that, it probably means your feelings are a lot deeper than you're giving yourself credit for. "
the smile on her face warmed a little, she was a lightweight who didn't frequent bars often, the alcohol already tinting her cheeks a nice shade of pink that compliment red locks. " i don't know him, but if he's worth your time, i don't think he's sitting there assuming you only like him because of his shoulders. " a brief pause. " even if they are apparently very impressive shoulders. " a quiet laugh escaped her before she continued, chewing on her bottom lip in consideration. " maybe he's waiting for you to say something. maybe he's nervous too. people are usually a lot worse at hiding their feelings than they think they are. " her gaze softened. " but i don't think you need some grand confession. sometimes it's enough to be honest in little ways. spend time with him. let him know you enjoy being around him. let him see that you care. feelings don't always have to arrive all at once. sometimes they grow slowly until they're impossible to miss. " she nudged her shoulder lightly in return. " and for what it's worth, i think anybody would be lucky to be liked this much by you. "
( open starter from riley king ! ) it was a beautiful night to hang out, the stars glimmering in the sky. nothing fancy, just a picnic blanket as they sat comfortably, with riley playing a song that he just learnt. he beamed once he was done, putting it aside. "y'know, maybe i should consider playing for weddings or parties. get some money from it or somethin'," he grinned, "any songs stuck in your head lately?"
it was weird. them hanging out so casually. if you could even call it that. they couldn't sit next to each other without the romantic and sexual undertones lingering beneath every glance and accidental brush of fingers. it felt far too reminiscent of the dates they used to go on. now they were supposed to be nothing more than buddies. somehow. though why riley didn't hate him and wish him dead, bash had no idea. " you playing weddings would be absolutely lethal. you'd have every bride and groom considering an early divorce. " he couldn't help it. the flirting came naturally. especially with riley. with a sigh, he fell back against the picnic blanket, raven curls spilling out beneath him as bright hues fixed on the sky above, the silence between them loud with all the things he couldn't bring himself to say. " you know what song is always stuck in my head. " that was all he offered. he didn't need to name it. bash knew it was unfair. knew he was toeing the line of something neither of them seemed capable of leaving alone, but he didn't know how else to be around riley. maybe this had been a mistake from the start. maybe the idea that they could be just friends was nothing more than a comforting lie they'd both been telling themselves.
open starter: the hideaway, closing time sunday night
closing the bar was honestly nadia’s favorite shift. she could play her favorite song on repeat for hours without someone trying to change it or tell her their wrong opinions about it. the song was blasting and she sat on the bar top counting her tips for the night. just enough to make rent but not pay for utilizes or food which she knows means that she was going to have to do more posting when she got home. she was in her own mind set that she almost didn’t hear the bell above the door indicating someone was coming in. she swore she locked it an hour ago but maybe not. she turned to look at the person walking in. “i am so sorry. we are closed and i must have been the idiot that forgot to lock the door. we should be back open tomorrow morning and if you tell the morning bartender what happened, we’ll get you a free drink on the house. does that sound reasonable?”
it was dark, his identity veiled until he stepped further into the bar and the dim lights finally cast across his features. faux concern settled onto his face, brows furrowing ever so slightly. " wow. rude. kicking your best friend to the curb like he's nothing more than hot garbage? " his tongue clicked against the back of his teeth as he made a soft tsk, tsk, tsk sound before hopping up onto the freshly mopped bar. " i came to keep you company while you close up. and then i thought maybe we could go grab a drink elsewhere or something. but if you'd much rather be utterly bored out of your mind and LONELY . . . " bash playfully nudged his shoulder against hers. " well so be it, love. "
⋆ ⭒˚｡ [ josh heuston, cis man, he/him. ] was that SEBASTIAN ‘BASH’ KNOX i just saw over at THE HIDEAWAY ? you know, the TWENTY EIGHT year old ROCKSTAR that’s been around willow glen for FIVE YEARS. people around town say they can somehow both be CHARISMATIC and SELF-DESTRUCTIVE, but if you were to ask them, they’d probably say they’re more like WHISKEY BREATH AT 2PM, EXPENSIVE RINGS HIDING SCARRED HANDS, SCREAMING INTO MICROPHONES HARD ENOUGH TO SPLIT LIPS, PAPARAZZI FLASHBACKS AND PANIC ATTACKS, SOUTHERN SUMMER HEAT STICKING TO TATTOOED SKIN. the town sure has been rumbling about them lately, apparently they HAVE BEEN BLACKLISTED BY HIS RECORD LABEL … but who knows if that’s true, i guess i’ll just have to stop by WILLOW HEIGHTS and find out !
name: sebastian 'bash' knox
faceclaim: josh heuston
age: 28
pronouns: he/him (cis-man)
sexuality: homosexual
occupation: rockstar
hometown: los angeles
vibe: cigarette smoke clinging to leather jackets, expensive sunglasses hiding bloodshot eyes, a man who never learned the difference between being loved and being used
aesthetic: whiskey bottles left on porch railings, tabloid scandals stuffed into drawers, southern thunderstorms rolling over open fields, scarred knuckles wrapped around guitar necks, motel signs glowing at 2am, fame rotting from the inside out
alignment: chaotic good
theme song: “saturn” by sleeping at last
love language: fixing things without being asked, showing up when it matters, drunk 2am confessions he pretends never happened
mbti: magnetic, impulsive, emotionally reckless, perpetually one bad decision away from changing his entire life
strengths:
effortlessly charming and able to make almost anyone feel
comfortable fiercely loyal to the people he considers family
optimistic even when life gives him every reason not to be
adventurous and always willing to dive headfirst into something new
generous to a fault, especially with his time and money emotionally
open and affectionate compared to most men
quick to forgive and rarely holds grudges brings energy and laughter wherever he goes
weaknesses:
drinks far more than he should
self-destructive when under emotional stress
struggles to trust people who want something from him
avoids vulnerability through humor, sex, and distractions
impulsive and prone to making reckless decisions
carries unresolved anger toward his father
constantly sabotages opportunities when things get too real
terrified of becoming the person who raised him
appearance:
dark curls usually falling into his eyes
tattooed arms and old scars he rarely explains
expensive jewelry mixed with worn-in boots and faded t-shirts
smells faintly of cigarettes, cologne, and whiskey
somehow manages to look both polished and completely exhausted at the same time
habits:
spins rings around his fingers when anxious
disappears on long drives when life feels overwhelming
sleeps anywhere except his own bed
picks at old scars without realizing it
leaves half-finished drinks scattered around the house
calls almost everyone "love"
constantly checks his phone but rarely answers messages
backstory: abuse tw, cancer tw
bash knox was born in los angeles to a father who wanted control and a mother who never really got the chance to keep him. his mother was a young woman from a small town in georgia who found herself pregnant after a brief relationship with victor knox, one of the most successful music producers in the country. what happened after that depends on who's telling the story. bash knows lawyers got involved. he knows money changed hands. he knows his father insists she never wanted him and walked away willingly. he's never fully believed that. what he does know is that he grew up without her.
from the outside, his childhood looked perfect. expensive schools, massive houses, famous people constantly moving through the front door. the reality was very different. victor knox ruled every room he entered, and bash learned early that life was easier when his father was happy. victor was demanding when bash succeeded and cruel when he didn't. the kind of man who could make you feel ten feet tall one day and worthless the next. bash spent most of his childhood trying to stay out of his father's line of fire, learning to read moods before words were spoken. over time, he became whatever version of himself people wanted most.
people always talk about how naturally charismatic he is. what they don't realize is that it started as survival. making people laugh made them less angry. making people like him made them easier to predict. before long, charm became second nature. music was the one thing that genuinely belonged to him. unfortunately, it was also the thing that made him most valuable to his father. what started as something he loved quickly became a career. by the time he was old enough to drive, his future had already been mapped out for him.
fame arrived fast. sold out shows, interviews, magazine covers. people loved him everywhere he went. bash became the kind of person who could walk into a room and leave with new friends. keeping them around was harder. the older he got, the more he realized that most relationships in his life came with strings attached. people wanted access to him, his money, or his name. somewhere along the way, he stopped believing people stayed forever and started leaving before they had the chance to leave him.
for years, the one thing he couldn't stop wondering about was his mother. then one afternoon he got a phone call from a woman he didn't know. she introduced herself as one of his mother's coworkers at a diner in willow glen, georgia. at first, he thought it was some kind of prank. then she told him his mother was dying. the cancer had spread. she'd been in and out of hospitals for weeks, and according to her coworker, she spent most of that time talking about the son she hadn't seen since he was a baby. bash was on a plane the next day.
he'd spent years imagining who his mother might be. what he found instead was a woman sitting in a hospital room who looked at him like she'd been waiting her whole life for him to walk through the door. there wasn't some magical moment where everything was fixed, but talking to her felt easy in a way very few things ever had. she wasn't interested in the celebrity everyone else seemed to know. she wanted to know whether he was happy. the doctors thought she only had a few months left. somehow, months became years.
the cancer never disappeared, but treatment worked better than anyone expected. what was supposed to be a final goodbye slowly became a relationship. bash never really left after that. somewhere between hospital appointments, afternoons at the diner, and evenings spent on the porch listening to cicadas, willow glen stopped feeling like somewhere he was staying and started feeling like home. his mother became something he didn't realize he'd been searching for. all his life, bash had been terrified that he was more like his father than he'd ever admit. she reminded him there was another side of him too. after spending most of his life wondering what was wrong with him, she made him believe there might be something good in him after all.
PERSONALITY
bash is the kind of person who collects people everywhere he goes. bartenders know his drink before he orders it, strangers somehow end up telling him their life stories, and half the town has probably been talked into doing something ridiculous because he flashed them a grin and said, "c'mon, it'll be fun." he's warm, affectionate, and impossible not to like. the problem is that while bash is great at getting people to love him, he's terrible at keeping them. somewhere along the way he became convinced that everyone eventually leaves, so he tends to leave first. he falls hard, gets attached fast, and then panics the second things start becoming real. beneath the charm and reckless confidence is someone carrying more hurt than he lets on, but bash doesn't like sitting still long enough to examine it. he'd rather crack a joke, buy the next round, or drag someone on a spontaneous road trip. life is short, after all. he's learned that better than most. despite his flaws, his heart is enormous. he loves loudly, forgives easily, and would do just about anything for the people he cares about. he's impulsive, messy, and occasionally a complete disaster, but his intentions are almost always good. bash isn't trying to be a hero. he just wants everyone around him to have a good time and maybe, if he's lucky, convince himself he's having one too.
