•Tags: Jaafar Jackson × Popstar! Reader, Reader is implied female.
•Warnings: This might have some triggering topics such as child abuse. But please trust the process. Not proof read!!!!!
•A/N: 🥲 I cannot with them. More timeskip after the end of the engagement.
•Taglist: @jaafarsbaby
2027 Los Angeles
Week one: Memes stop
Week two: Texts become shorter
Week three: He leaves right after rehearsal.
Week four: You leave all the notes in the morning before he gets there.
Week five: You two have not had a proper conversation in weeks.
It was eating you alive. You two couldn’t even be in the same room without one of you walking out as soon as either of you came in. You sat down in the middle of your studio as you had your pen in between your teeth. Tony knocked as he walked in carrying bags. Chinese food. Your favorite. He smiles at you as he sees a lot of songs crossed out. “What’s wrong with those?” You look up at him as you raise an eyebrow “they are overdone?” He scoffs a bit “over done? By who? You?” You let out a small laugh as you throw him your pen. He shakes his head as he slowly walks over to you and hands you a plate “Here take a break and eat we’ve been here for about 4 hours and we haven’t figured out your set list.” You groan a bit taking the plate. As soon as you open it your stomach growls as your cheeks softly turn red. You don’t look up at Tony as he sits down next to you. You grab a fork as you start to dig in. Then you freeze. You place the fork and the food down as you grab your laptop. “Tony hear me out. It’s just a suggestion “What if I release the album early? Trust me it will sell. With the anticipation of the tour and with the possibility of people knowing I will be performing these songs it will generate more sales. I also want to re-record Forbidden Fruit. Plus it makes me eligible for the Grammys.” Tony looks at you. His eyes widen as you mention the song, then land on the food you abandoned on the side. He sighs as he places his food down “Look we can talk about this when you have a proper meal in you.” “But Tony just lis-“ he gives you a stern look. The look that a dad would give you if you aren’t listening and says I care about you but I’m worried. A look you didn’t receive from your own father. A look that only Tony can give you. You pick up your plate and start to eat. As soon as you are done you look up at him and he gives you a sweet smile “Alrighty then. I love that idea we just need to talk to everyone else. Because if we get too ahead of ourselves things might not go the way you want it.” You nod a bit “I’m more than ready though. I want this album to be out.” He nods and grabs his phone “Let me call the label and see what I can do for you okay?” You softly nod as you stand up as he does.
2015 Los Angeles
You sat down with Tony on your side as you fidgeted with your fingers. You had been under Tony’s Management for about 2 years already. He had actually found you this opportunity. A composer was looking for a female voice to take part in a project he was doing. Something about it being a duet. You bounced your knee a bit as Tony looks over and softly places his hand on it “Calm down kid. You are making me anxious.” Tony had a mindset of an older person. He decided it was a good idea to sign you at the age of 15 and him being 23 being his only client. He decided you needed the most attention possible because of your past. Now being 17 and 25 you two grew closer you trusted him with your life because no one else dared to listen to your story because to everyone else you were broken pieces they didn’t want to mend together. But to him? He wanted to keep you safe. He wanted to make sure you felt loved. As soon as the doors open your head snaps up as Tony stands up. He shakes hands with the composer as they talk. You softly chew on the inside of your cheek as Tony places a hand on your back. You stand up and smile at the person in front of you as you shake his hand. “Nice to meet you.” He looks at you and then glances at Tony “How old is she?” Tony freezes a bit before clearing her throat “She just turned 17. But trust me she doesn’t sound 17. Just give her a chance.” The composer smiles and extends his hand to show you the way. You smile at Tony and walk with him. “Alright this is the story of the song is basically wanting something you’re not supposed to want.” You softly nod as you listen “I’ll keep that up to your imagination though. I want to hear how you interpret this. Let me play you the demo and then we can record. The guy already recorded his vocals. I just need yours.” You softly nod as he hands you the headphones. He plays the demo as your fingers drum against your legs. You listen to the demo first and then with the guys vocals. “Can I listen to the demo again?” He nods and plays it again. You close your eyes softly and start to make something up in your head to make you deliver the way he wants you to. You take off the headphones and open your eyes “That was good.” You let out a small laugh “I think I’m ready.” You softly clear your throat as you place the headphones back on. Wanting something you’re not supposed to want. ‘A normal family.’ ‘A normal life.’ ‘Him being alive.’
As soon as the music starts you try to imagine all the what if situations on wanting something you’re not supposed to want. You glance at Tony and he smiles softly. You close your eyes and then open them to look at the lyrics in front of you. You can’t bring yourself to look at Tony. As soon as your verse starts it’s like someone took over your body. You don’t sound 17 but you still sound young. It works. You balance out the male singer.
‘On my lips I kissed the reaper.’
‘Is it worth losing my soul.’
‘No.’
You hold on to the headphones as both of your voices clash together beautifully. You try to make sure you understand what he is looking for. Then comes the part where you can take a moment to put an extra something you raise your volume as the ending comes closer
‘Desire,
You’re my forbidden fruit, Forbidden fruit.’
It’s over as quick as you started singing. Your chest is heaving slightly. You take off the headphones and look up at the window. Both men are looking at you as if you just broke their heart. “Was that okay? Do I need to do it again?” He clears his throat and shakes his head “No hun that was perfect thank you.” You smile and look over at Tony he looks pleased with himself. You walk out of the booth and shake hands with the composer. “I’ll send Tony the finished product when I’m done with it. I must say you have a talent on your hands Tony.” Tony laughs as he shakes his hand “I’m lucky I got to her first before someone else did.” That makes you laugh a bit before walking out with him “Be honest. Did you like it?” He looks at you and his face warms up a bit “Like it? I loved it. I don’t know where the hell that came from but god it was an out of body experience.” He softly nudged your shoulder “Okay now what about some ice cream hmm?” You nod as he opens the door to his car for you to get in.
2027 Los Angeles
You are sitting down in the studio as you bounce your knee softly. Tony immediately notices and laughs “Clam down kid, you are making me anxious.” You freeze and look up at him. You point at him and laugh “Did you just?” He walks over flicking your forehead and sits down next to you “Yes I did just do what you think it did.” You rest your head on his shoulder as you laugh a bit “Can you believe it’s been 10 years. 10 years re-recording a song that gave me my spotlight.” He softly rests his head on top of yours “You gave yourself your own spotlight. This just helped.” You sigh a bit taking in the quietness. As soon as the door opens you and Tony both look up. The composer and the male singer come inside as you stand up and smile at them “Thank you guys for coming.” He smiles “Thank you for having us.” You give them both a quick hug “So a re-record huh?” “Only of course if you are okay with it. I want it to be featured on my album if that okay with you?” His eyes crinkle as he smiles “Wow Tony she does your job good.” Tony laughs as he shakes his head “What can I say? I raised her right.” That gets a laugh from everyone the composer looks at you and grabs your hand “Hun anything you ask for you can have. That song became a hit because of how well both vocals mashed together. Now hearing your mature vocals I’m sure everyone will be as excited.”
Oh boy where they in for a ride. Sam came along too. He had re-recorded his vocals as well because it wouldn’t be fair to just do yours. You two never really talked the first time around but this time it felt like you’ve known each other since forever. You both were in the booth laughing about something Tony has said over the speaker. You wipes underneath your eyes to wipe out the tears that had came out from laughing so hard. “You know I think it’s a crime we weren’t fully introduced when we recorded the first version.” You looked at him and smiled “I think it had to do with the fact that you were 23 and I was 17. I don’t think Tony wanted that narrative that we weren’t something we weren’t if you know what I mean.” That brought out a laugh from Sam “Honestly? Yeah I agree. I feel like he would’ve killed me if we met.” As soon as the booth lights dim a bit and the composer looks at both of you guys “Are you two ready to create magic?” You glance over at Tony who gives you a tiny nod “Yeah.” You look over at Sam who pats your shoulder a bit and gets into character as soon as the music starts playing. You softly close your eyes as you listen to his vocals take over. That’s the thing about Sam he sounds the same but with more experience.
‘Every inch the fire gets closer
It's in my blood it's never over
Like a twisted tangled rope, can't let go
I feel my flesh, it's getting weaker
Every breath takes me deeper
It's not hard to lose control, no’
You softly look over at Sam who has his eyes closed as he sings.
‘I try to run but there's no hope
Temptation
I can't escape you, escape you
Desire
You're my forbidden fruit, forbidden fruit’
Your breath softly falters as you take a step towards to the mic. The lyrics that you know so well are on the small table in front of you. You softly close your eyes as you start to pour out your emotions as you sing.
‘I've had a taste, there's nothing sweeter
On my lips, I've kissed the reaper
Is it worth losing my soul? No
We dance inside a burning room
There's no way out, there's no way through
I've reached the end of every road’
In your mind all that is playing is Jaafar being so close to you as you teach him dances. You open your eyes immediately. Tony notices. He sits up and give you a concerned look. You softly shake your head to let him know ‘I’m okay.’ Sam takes your hand as your vocals blend together.
‘It's so much stronger than you know
Temptation
I can't escape you, escape you
Desire
You're my forbidden fruit, forbidden fruit’
Tony and the Composer immediately sit up as you both start singing together “holy shit.” Tony runs his hand through his face and shakes his head “Who gave them permission to do this to us?” That brings out a laugh from both of them. Then comes the part where your vocals slow down
‘Oh
You're my downfall
Downfall’
You glance at Sam and then out to Tony and the composer.
‘Ooooooh
Temptation
I can’t escape you, escape you
Desire
You’re my forbidden fruit forbidden fruit.’
Sam felt it so he let you take the reins to this section. Tony chokes on his water as you hit that note he looks over at the composer who was this smile on his face. Satisfied. As soon as the track end you and Sam are standing there breathless. He looks at you and laughs “Jesus you tryin to kill me?” You laugh as you move your hair to the side “Sorry I didn’t mean to.” You both look over at Tony and the composer. They are both looking at you horrified. Oh god. “Was that any good?” You look at them and the composer presses the button “What the fuck was that? You guys literally made Tony and I ascend. I forget you guys are older and not the same kids I met when recording this.” He laughs and looks at you. “And you. God kid you need to warn me before you do things like that. You almost took my soul away.” You laugh and you look at Tony who is looking at you with eyes you can’t quite figure out. You follow Sam out of the booth and Tony walk over to engulf you in a hug. “Tony?” He hugs you tighter “Shhh let me have this please.” You hug him back. He caresses your head because in there in that booth you looked 17 years old again, singing about things that shouldn’t even be in a 17 year olds head. But now he’s watched you grow up from that timid teenage girl to the woman you are today. Knowing exactly what wanting something you can’t have feels like. He looks at you and takes your face in his hands “That was breathtaking.” He laughs and looks away because if he looks at you longer he will cry. You look over at Sam who is in shock as well. You all laugh and bid your farewell. Tony walks with you and is silent the whole car ride. He parks outside an ice cream shop and you look over at him “Ice cream?” He smiles “yeah you deserve it.” You laugh and open the door to the car. As you both get your ice creams you sit down in one of the booths “You sang it about him huh?” You froze mid bite and glance over at him. You set your spoon down “Sang what about who?” “The song about Jaafar?” Your skin tingles as you hear his name “No.” You can’t look at Tony anymore. Because your fingers became the most interesting thing you’ve ever seen in a while “Kid you can hide many things but your facial expressions and the way you look at him those you can’t hide from me.” You let out a soft shaky breath as you continue to eat your ice cream. “You know I always thought I would find someone earlier. But now being tied to a movie about a person who meant a lot to me when I was younger. He is being played by his nephew who is becoming someone who means a lot to me now. Plus he isn’t talking to me anymore. So I don’t even know if I did something to upset him? I’ve been nothing but respectful though. To him and his fiancée. God I even stopped talking to him too.”
You look up at him finally. “That’s why I accepted the second leg. I know I told you I missed home and I was tired but I think I’m going to go insane if I stay next to him. I thought if I created distance everything would be fine. But then Antoine decided that it was an amazing idea to have him and miles shadow us? I don’t think I can do that Tony. I know it’s the professional thing to do but I don’t think my heart can take it.” He reaches out to grab your hand “You don’t have to endure it alone. I’ll have them with me. He won’t get next to you unless you want him to. I call all the shots because at the end of the day you have a show to perform he doesn’t.” You smile and give his hand a squeeze “What would I do without you Tony.” He laughs a bit “oh I don’t know maybe go insane.” The car ride back to your house was peaceful. You are sitting down on the passenger side as you softly hum a couple of notes “You know I was thinking.” Tony laughs “Dangerous.” You glance over at him and softly smack him “I think I’m going to announce the album today. For a release date on Friday? I don’t want them to wait too long. Plus the album has been done I just needed one song.” Tony hums in agreement. “I agree plus it’s been a while since you released one. So I think that will take everyone’s attention.” He parks and smiles “Alright arrived at your destination. Tip is required.” You laugh as you open your door “You’ll see it on your next paycheck trust!”
A couple of hours passed as you are looking at your computer. Post already written album covers already layered. You just needed to press post. You called Toni it was already 12 am. “H-Hello?” You winced. You woke him up “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.” He heard the hesitation in your voice “Is it the album?” You stayed silent “Yeah I thought so. Okay kid look. Any album you put out the internet will absolutely devour it. There will be certain people that will say it’s too much but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that the people you wrote this album for love it. Want me to stay with you on the line?” You take a deep breath “Please.” You put him on speaker phone. Your fingers slide against the track pad as you type. “Ready.” Tony laughs as he takes out his computer “Alright you just need to press post.” Your fingers move before you can over think it. Your post was successful. You immediately close your laptop and hide in the covers.
star!reader:
Star!reader: From Me to You, With Love.
15 songs.
A few years of my life.
A lot of feelings.
Thank you for growing with me.
I hope you find a piece of yourself somewhere in here.
Out Friday. 🤍
Tony’s voice hitches. As he watches your post get the attention you were scared it wasn’t going to get. You barely posted it and it was breaking the internet. For one specific song. Forbidden Fruit. The re-record. The fans were going insane. “Are they liking it?” Tony laughs as he clicks the comments “Liking it? Kid they are loving it. They are absolutely going feral over the title placement.” That softly makes you laugh and immediately fix yourself on your bed “Alright then Tony sleep tight. Gotta head over to help some of the girls with Michael choreography.” Tony laughs and goes “Okay kid make sure to please sleep and eat breakfast.” You both hang up. You decide to let your phone face upside down so the light of notifications wouldn’t distract you. But you couldn’t. You kept tossing and turning. You huffed softly and grab your phone as you sit up and scroll through the comments.
‘Bonus track?! What did we do to get a bonus track?!’
‘Okay not but the title? From Me to You, With Love. Oh she is letting us innnnn!’
That let a laugh fall from your lips your fans were something else but their energy made you feel like you can do anything in the world. But on the other side of LA Jaafar was scrolling through his phone as he put the remaining notes in his phone. Then he got a notification that you had posted for the first time in a while. He clicked on it. He saw the album, the name, the caption for your fans. He smiled to himself. God how he missed talking to you. He missed the way you would immediately text him for everything big going on with your life. He was sure that if he didn’t put this distance between you two he would’ve been the first one to know about the album release. His finger hovered over the heart button. He hesitated. He looked at the time. You’d probably be asleep by now. He thought about it. And without thinking twice he liked it. He set his phone on the counter and walked away. You in the other hand, you were dying at the comments until you saw on the notification banner.
JaafarJackson liked your post.
You froze. Dear god. You immediately shook your head. Fuck. You throw your phone to the edge of the bed and turn around to fall asleep. You fall asleep an hour before your alarm rings you groan. As you sit up and walk over to the mirror “Fuck I look miserable.” You grab your closes for the day as you hop in the shower. Tony is calling you but since you didn’t even look at your phone after Jaafar liking the post yesterday you really don’t know what’s going on. You get out brush your teeth make yourself some coffee and grab your phone to just toss it in your bag. As you are driving to the rehearsal studio you slightly drum your fingers on the steering wheel. How did you make it to your destination? Who knows probably the adrenaline from last night. You grab your bag as soon as you park you softly groan stepping out. One of the dancers immediately spots you and goes “Oh my god!!! Congratulations on your announcement!!” You softly laugh “thank you! Have you called Tony? He has been waiting for you to call him.” You froze. You dug for your phone and tried to turn it in “Shit it’s dead.” You immediately walk in as everyone turns to look at you. All the dancers run over to you to congratulate you. You immediately make eye contact with Tony “Why do you have a phone if you aren’t going to answer?” You softly winced “sorry my phone died.” “Died? Did you not charge it?.” You walked over to him “I forgot.” He ruffles your hair and laughs “I’m kidding kid. But come here we need to talk.” He freezes a bit before looking over at the door. You follow his gaze and your eyes land on Jaafar. Who is walking in the door with a small bunch of flowers. He makes eye contact with you and gives you a small smile. ‘Shit.’ You look at Tony who is looking at him like if he can softly kill him. Tony looks down at you and sees that you look scared. He grabs your hand and immediately pulls you to the other door walking to the hallway. Flowers. He got you flowers. The dancers immediately go over to Jaafar to look at the flowers. Miles puts one and one together her glances over at you as you steal one last glance at Jaafar before fully disappearing behind the door. Little did you know your life would come crumbling down in seconds.
•Tags: Jaafar Jackson × Popstar! Reader, Reader is implied female.
•Warnings: This might have some triggering topics such as child abuse. But please trust the process. Not proof read!!!!!
•A/N: 🥲 I cannot with them. More timeskip after the end of the engagement.
•Taglist: @jaafarsbaby
2027 Los Angeles
Week one: Memes stop
Week two: Texts become shorter
Week three: He leaves right after rehearsal.
Week four: You leave all the notes in the morning before he gets there.
Week five: You two have not had a proper conversation in weeks.
It was eating you alive. You two couldn’t even be in the same room without one of you walking out as soon as either of you came in. You sat down in the middle of your studio as you had your pen in between your teeth. Tony knocked as he walked in carrying bags. Chinese food. Your favorite. He smiles at you as he sees a lot of songs crossed out. “What’s wrong with those?” You look up at him as you raise an eyebrow “they are overdone?” He scoffs a bit “over done? By who? You?” You let out a small laugh as you throw him your pen. He shakes his head as he slowly walks over to you and hands you a plate “Here take a break and eat we’ve been here for about 4 hours and we haven’t figured out your set list.” You groan a bit taking the plate. As soon as you open it your stomach growls as your cheeks softly turn red. You don’t look up at Tony as he sits down next to you. You grab a fork as you start to dig in. Then you freeze. You place the fork and the food down as you grab your laptop. “Tony hear me out. It’s just a suggestion “What if I release the album early? Trust me it will sell. With the anticipation of the tour and with the possibility of people knowing I will be performing these songs it will generate more sales. I also want to re-record Forbidden Fruit. Plus it makes me eligible for the Grammys.” Tony looks at you. His eyes widen as you mention the song, then land on the food you abandoned on the side. He sighs as he places his food down “Look we can talk about this when you have a proper meal in you.” “But Tony just lis-“ he gives you a stern look. The look that a dad would give you if you aren’t listening and says I care about you but I’m worried. A look you didn’t receive from your own father. A look that only Tony can give you. You pick up your plate and start to eat. As soon as you are done you look up at him and he gives you a sweet smile “Alrighty then. I love that idea we just need to talk to everyone else. Because if we get too ahead of ourselves things might not go the way you want it.” You nod a bit “I’m more than ready though. I want this album to be out.” He nods and grabs his phone “Let me call the label and see what I can do for you okay?” You softly nod as you stand up as he does.
2015 Los Angeles
You sat down with Tony on your side as you fidgeted with your fingers. You had been under Tony’s Management for about 2 years already. He had actually found you this opportunity. A composer was looking for a female voice to take part in a project he was doing. Something about it being a duet. You bounced your knee a bit as Tony looks over and softly places his hand on it “Calm down kid. You are making me anxious.” Tony had a mindset of an older person. He decided it was a good idea to sign you at the age of 15 and him being 23 being his only client. He decided you needed the most attention possible because of your past. Now being 17 and 25 you two grew closer you trusted him with your life because no one else dared to listen to your story because to everyone else you were broken pieces they didn’t want to mend together. But to him? He wanted to keep you safe. He wanted to make sure you felt loved. As soon as the doors open your head snaps up as Tony stands up. He shakes hands with the composer as they talk. You softly chew on the inside of your cheek as Tony places a hand on your back. You stand up and smile at the person in front of you as you shake his hand. “Nice to meet you.” He looks at you and then glances at Tony “How old is she?” Tony freezes a bit before clearing her throat “She just turned 17. But trust me she doesn’t sound 17. Just give her a chance.” The composer smiles and extends his hand to show you the way. You smile at Tony and walk with him. “Alright this is the story of the song is basically wanting something you’re not supposed to want.” You softly nod as you listen “I’ll keep that up to your imagination though. I want to hear how you interpret this. Let me play you the demo and then we can record. The guy already recorded his vocals. I just need yours.” You softly nod as he hands you the headphones. He plays the demo as your fingers drum against your legs. You listen to the demo first and then with the guys vocals. “Can I listen to the demo again?” He nods and plays it again. You close your eyes softly and start to make something up in your head to make you deliver the way he wants you to. You take off the headphones and open your eyes “That was good.” You let out a small laugh “I think I’m ready.” You softly clear your throat as you place the headphones back on. Wanting something you’re not supposed to want. ‘A normal family.’ ‘A normal life.’ ‘Him being alive.’
As soon as the music starts you try to imagine all the what if situations on wanting something you’re not supposed to want. You glance at Tony and he smiles softly. You close your eyes and then open them to look at the lyrics in front of you. You can’t bring yourself to look at Tony. As soon as your verse starts it’s like someone took over your body. You don’t sound 17 but you still sound young. It works. You balance out the male singer.
‘On my lips I kissed the reaper.’
‘Is it worth losing my soul.’
‘No.’
You hold on to the headphones as both of your voices clash together beautifully. You try to make sure you understand what he is looking for. Then comes the part where you can take a moment to put an extra something you raise your volume as the ending comes closer
‘Desire,
You’re my forbidden fruit, Forbidden fruit.’
It’s over as quick as you started singing. Your chest is heaving slightly. You take off the headphones and look up at the window. Both men are looking at you as if you just broke their heart. “Was that okay? Do I need to do it again?” He clears his throat and shakes his head “No hun that was perfect thank you.” You smile and look over at Tony he looks pleased with himself. You walk out of the booth and shake hands with the composer. “I’ll send Tony the finished product when I’m done with it. I must say you have a talent on your hands Tony.” Tony laughs as he shakes his hand “I’m lucky I got to her first before someone else did.” That makes you laugh a bit before walking out with him “Be honest. Did you like it?” He looks at you and his face warms up a bit “Like it? I loved it. I don’t know where the hell that came from but god it was an out of body experience.” He softly nudged your shoulder “Okay now what about some ice cream hmm?” You nod as he opens the door to his car for you to get in.
2027 Los Angeles
You are sitting down in the studio as you bounce your knee softly. Tony immediately notices and laughs “Clam down kid, you are making me anxious.” You freeze and look up at him. You point at him and laugh “Did you just?” He walks over flicking your forehead and sits down next to you “Yes I did just do what you think it did.” You rest your head on his shoulder as you laugh a bit “Can you believe it’s been 10 years. 10 years re-recording a song that gave me my spotlight.” He softly rests his head on top of yours “You gave yourself your own spotlight. This just helped.” You sigh a bit taking in the quietness. As soon as the door opens you and Tony both look up. The composer and the male singer come inside as you stand up and smile at them “Thank you guys for coming.” He smiles “Thank you for having us.” You give them both a quick hug “So a re-record huh?” “Only of course if you are okay with it. I want it to be featured on my album if that okay with you?” His eyes crinkle as he smiles “Wow Tony she does your job good.” Tony laughs as he shakes his head “What can I say? I raised her right.” That gets a laugh from everyone the composer looks at you and grabs your hand “Hun anything you ask for you can have. That song became a hit because of how well both vocals mashed together. Now hearing your mature vocals I’m sure everyone will be as excited.”
Oh boy where they in for a ride. Sam came along too. He had re-recorded his vocals as well because it wouldn’t be fair to just do yours. You two never really talked the first time around but this time it felt like you’ve known each other since forever. You both were in the booth laughing about something Tony has said over the speaker. You wipes underneath your eyes to wipe out the tears that had came out from laughing so hard. “You know I think it’s a crime we weren’t fully introduced when we recorded the first version.” You looked at him and smiled “I think it had to do with the fact that you were 23 and I was 17. I don’t think Tony wanted that narrative that we weren’t something we weren’t if you know what I mean.” That brought out a laugh from Sam “Honestly? Yeah I agree. I feel like he would’ve killed me if we met.” As soon as the booth lights dim a bit and the composer looks at both of you guys “Are you two ready to create magic?” You glance over at Tony who gives you a tiny nod “Yeah.” You look over at Sam who pats your shoulder a bit and gets into character as soon as the music starts playing. You softly close your eyes as you listen to his vocals take over. That’s the thing about Sam he sounds the same but with more experience.
‘Every inch the fire gets closer
It's in my blood it's never over
Like a twisted tangled rope, can't let go
I feel my flesh, it's getting weaker
Every breath takes me deeper
It's not hard to lose control, no’
You softly look over at Sam who has his eyes closed as he sings.
‘I try to run but there's no hope
Temptation
I can't escape you, escape you
Desire
You're my forbidden fruit, forbidden fruit’
Your breath softly falters as you take a step towards to the mic. The lyrics that you know so well are on the small table in front of you. You softly close your eyes as you start to pour out your emotions as you sing.
‘I've had a taste, there's nothing sweeter
On my lips, I've kissed the reaper
Is it worth losing my soul? No
We dance inside a burning room
There's no way out, there's no way through
I've reached the end of every road’
In your mind all that is playing is Jaafar being so close to you as you teach him dances. You open your eyes immediately. Tony notices. He sits up and give you a concerned look. You softly shake your head to let him know ‘I’m okay.’ Sam takes your hand as your vocals blend together.
‘It's so much stronger than you know
Temptation
I can't escape you, escape you
Desire
You're my forbidden fruit, forbidden fruit’
Tony and the Composer immediately sit up as you both start singing together “holy shit.” Tony runs his hand through his face and shakes his head “Who gave them permission to do this to us?” That brings out a laugh from both of them. Then comes the part where your vocals slow down
‘Oh
You're my downfall
Downfall’
You glance at Sam and then out to Tony and the composer.
‘Ooooooh
Temptation
I can’t escape you, escape you
Desire
You’re my forbidden fruit forbidden fruit.’
Sam felt it so he let you take the reins to this section. Tony chokes on his water as you hit that note he looks over at the composer who was this smile on his face. Satisfied. As soon as the track end you and Sam are standing there breathless. He looks at you and laughs “Jesus you tryin to kill me?” You laugh as you move your hair to the side “Sorry I didn’t mean to.” You both look over at Tony and the composer. They are both looking at you horrified. Oh god. “Was that any good?” You look at them and the composer presses the button “What the fuck was that? You guys literally made Tony and I ascend. I forget you guys are older and not the same kids I met when recording this.” He laughs and looks at you. “And you. God kid you need to warn me before you do things like that. You almost took my soul away.” You laugh and you look at Tony who is looking at you with eyes you can’t quite figure out. You follow Sam out of the booth and Tony walk over to engulf you in a hug. “Tony?” He hugs you tighter “Shhh let me have this please.” You hug him back. He caresses your head because in there in that booth you looked 17 years old again, singing about things that shouldn’t even be in a 17 year olds head. But now he’s watched you grow up from that timid teenage girl to the woman you are today. Knowing exactly what wanting something you can’t have feels like. He looks at you and takes your face in his hands “That was breathtaking.” He laughs and looks away because if he looks at you longer he will cry. You look over at Sam who is in shock as well. You all laugh and bid your farewell. Tony walks with you and is silent the whole car ride. He parks outside an ice cream shop and you look over at him “Ice cream?” He smiles “yeah you deserve it.” You laugh and open the door to the car. As you both get your ice creams you sit down in one of the booths “You sang it about him huh?” You froze mid bite and glance over at him. You set your spoon down “Sang what about who?” “The song about Jaafar?” Your skin tingles as you hear his name “No.” You can’t look at Tony anymore. Because your fingers became the most interesting thing you’ve ever seen in a while “Kid you can hide many things but your facial expressions and the way you look at him those you can’t hide from me.” You let out a soft shaky breath as you continue to eat your ice cream. “You know I always thought I would find someone earlier. But now being tied to a movie about a person who meant a lot to me when I was younger. He is being played by his nephew who is becoming someone who means a lot to me now. Plus he isn’t talking to me anymore. So I don’t even know if I did something to upset him? I’ve been nothing but respectful though. To him and his fiancée. God I even stopped talking to him too.”
You look up at him finally. “That’s why I accepted the second leg. I know I told you I missed home and I was tired but I think I’m going to go insane if I stay next to him. I thought if I created distance everything would be fine. But then Antoine decided that it was an amazing idea to have him and miles shadow us? I don’t think I can do that Tony. I know it’s the professional thing to do but I don’t think my heart can take it.” He reaches out to grab your hand “You don’t have to endure it alone. I’ll have them with me. He won’t get next to you unless you want him to. I call all the shots because at the end of the day you have a show to perform he doesn’t.” You smile and give his hand a squeeze “What would I do without you Tony.” He laughs a bit “oh I don’t know maybe go insane.” The car ride back to your house was peaceful. You are sitting down on the passenger side as you softly hum a couple of notes “You know I was thinking.” Tony laughs “Dangerous.” You glance over at him and softly smack him “I think I’m going to announce the album today. For a release date on Friday? I don’t want them to wait too long. Plus the album has been done I just needed one song.” Tony hums in agreement. “I agree plus it’s been a while since you released one. So I think that will take everyone’s attention.” He parks and smiles “Alright arrived at your destination. Tip is required.” You laugh as you open your door “You’ll see it on your next paycheck trust!”
A couple of hours passed as you are looking at your computer. Post already written album covers already layered. You just needed to press post. You called Toni it was already 12 am. “H-Hello?” You winced. You woke him up “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.” He heard the hesitation in your voice “Is it the album?” You stayed silent “Yeah I thought so. Okay kid look. Any album you put out the internet will absolutely devour it. There will be certain people that will say it’s too much but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that the people you wrote this album for love it. Want me to stay with you on the line?” You take a deep breath “Please.” You put him on speaker phone. Your fingers slide against the track pad as you type. “Ready.” Tony laughs as he takes out his computer “Alright you just need to press post.” Your fingers move before you can over think it. Your post was successful. You immediately close your laptop and hide in the covers.
star!reader:
Star!reader: From Me to You, With Love.
15 songs.
A few years of my life.
A lot of feelings.
Thank you for growing with me.
I hope you find a piece of yourself somewhere in here.
Out Friday. 🤍
Tony’s voice hitches. As he watches your post get the attention you were scared it wasn’t going to get. You barely posted it and it was breaking the internet. For one specific song. Forbidden Fruit. The re-record. The fans were going insane. “Are they liking it?” Tony laughs as he clicks the comments “Liking it? Kid they are loving it. They are absolutely going feral over the title placement.” That softly makes you laugh and immediately fix yourself on your bed “Alright then Tony sleep tight. Gotta head over to help some of the girls with Michael choreography.” Tony laughs and goes “Okay kid make sure to please sleep and eat breakfast.” You both hang up. You decide to let your phone face upside down so the light of notifications wouldn’t distract you. But you couldn’t. You kept tossing and turning. You huffed softly and grab your phone as you sit up and scroll through the comments.
‘Bonus track?! What did we do to get a bonus track?!’
‘Okay not but the title? From Me to You, With Love. Oh she is letting us innnnn!’
That let a laugh fall from your lips your fans were something else but their energy made you feel like you can do anything in the world. But on the other side of LA Jaafar was scrolling through his phone as he put the remaining notes in his phone. Then he got a notification that you had posted for the first time in a while. He clicked on it. He saw the album, the name, the caption for your fans. He smiled to himself. God how he missed talking to you. He missed the way you would immediately text him for everything big going on with your life. He was sure that if he didn’t put this distance between you two he would’ve been the first one to know about the album release. His finger hovered over the heart button. He hesitated. He looked at the time. You’d probably be asleep by now. He thought about it. And without thinking twice he liked it. He set his phone on the counter and walked away. You in the other hand, you were dying at the comments until you saw on the notification banner.
JaafarJackson liked your post.
You froze. Dear god. You immediately shook your head. Fuck. You throw your phone to the edge of the bed and turn around to fall asleep. You fall asleep an hour before your alarm rings you groan. As you sit up and walk over to the mirror “Fuck I look miserable.” You grab your closes for the day as you hop in the shower. Tony is calling you but since you didn’t even look at your phone after Jaafar liking the post yesterday you really don’t know what’s going on. You get out brush your teeth make yourself some coffee and grab your phone to just toss it in your bag. As you are driving to the rehearsal studio you slightly drum your fingers on the steering wheel. How did you make it to your destination? Who knows probably the adrenaline from last night. You grab your bag as soon as you park you softly groan stepping out. One of the dancers immediately spots you and goes “Oh my god!!! Congratulations on your announcement!!” You softly laugh “thank you! Have you called Tony? He has been waiting for you to call him.” You froze. You dug for your phone and tried to turn it in “Shit it’s dead.” You immediately walk in as everyone turns to look at you. All the dancers run over to you to congratulate you. You immediately make eye contact with Tony “Why do you have a phone if you aren’t going to answer?” You softly winced “sorry my phone died.” “Died? Did you not charge it?.” You walked over to him “I forgot.” He ruffles your hair and laughs “I’m kidding kid. But come here we need to talk.” He freezes a bit before looking over at the door. You follow his gaze and your eyes land on Jaafar. Who is walking in the door with a small bunch of flowers. He makes eye contact with you and gives you a small smile. ‘Shit.’ You look at Tony who is looking at him like if he can softly kill him. Tony looks down at you and sees that you look scared. He grabs your hand and immediately pulls you to the other door walking to the hallway. Flowers. He got you flowers. The dancers immediately go over to Jaafar to look at the flowers. Miles puts one and one together her glances over at you as you steal one last glance at Jaafar before fully disappearing behind the door. Little did you know your life would come crumbling down in seconds.
I’m so sorry for taking so long to post the next chapter for The Rhythm Between us. I promise I’m working on it 😭 life has just been busy I’m probably like half way through writing it??? I’ve deleted it like twice because I thought I was rushing everything. But i promise it will be out soon!!!
•Tags: Jaafar Jackson × Popstar! Reader, Reader is implied female.
•Warnings: This might have some triggering topics such as child abuse and some gun violence. But please trust the process. Use of the word sexiness 🤷🏻♀️
•A/N: Alrighty sooo this is maybe a 3 month gap. They will probably both be more comfortable with each other!!! OMGGGGGG AHHHHH. I hope you guys like it!
•Tags: @jaafarsbaby
2027 Los Angeles
You were late for rehearsal. You had to call ahead of time to let them know that your meeting with the record label and your manager was going to run a couple minutes late. One of the dancers had messaged you personally
Lyla:
‘Help. I feel like the brothers are going to kill Jaafar.’
You:
‘It can’t possibly be that bad.’
Lyla:
‘Girl they made us do the same thing over and over like 7 times. Hurry.’
You:
‘Okay okay I’m going.’
You laughed as you got off your car grabbing your bag from the passenger seat. You decided to change in the bathroom really quickly to not let them wait anymore longer. It’s been three months since he took you to eat breakfast after making you cry. Everyone noticed how close you both got to each other. It’s normal for people to become really good friends so they never really thought more about it. Today they wanted to start with the Invincible music videos. To your surprise they wanted to start with You Rock my World. Jaafar still needed a lot of work with flirting with the dancers so you kinda understood why they had them practice the same thing over and over. You opened the door to the studio as the music filled your ears. You smiled softly and waved at the brothers “Sorry… meeting ran long. I do need to talk to you guys and Antoine later.” They nodded. You looked over at the dancers and at Jaafar. You smiled softly at all of them “Alright from the top people! Let’s see now that we have our eye we can figure out what the hell is going on today.” The eye. That’s what they called you. They started as Jaafar and the actor they casted for Chris started to talk to each other. The delivery was good but Jaafar was awkward. As the dancer walked over to him he went stiff. That made you hold back a laugh. You shook your head. The dancer was perfect but it needed connection and you can guess. The connection with Jaafar. You raised your hand for the music to but cut. “Sorry I think I know what the problem is. Can I?”
“PLEASE.” One of the brothers laughed as they went to go sit down. You walked over to Jaafar and stood in front of him. “Are you scared?” He looked at you confused “No?” You nodded softly “Then why are you acting like you are allergic to dance with a woman?” The dancers immediately looked away. They couldn’t risk laughing. Jaafar looks at you in disbelief “I’m not scared to dance with a woman. Where are you getting that?” You placed a hand on your hip. “Okay then. Show me.” His eyes went wide “W-What?” You looked over your shoulder as they started to play the music “It’s literally not even a lot of dancing it’s just a small body roll and just A LOT of eye contact.” He scoffs a bit “Easy for you to say.” You smack his shoulder softly before getting into character. The dancer has to make intense eye contact with Michael. So your smile immediately drops as you look at him. You can see as Jaafar swallows. As you two make your way to where the dancer touches his chest his breath hitches. EVERYONE is quiet and staring. During one of the body rolls he can’t really seem to focus. You huff as you signal for them to turn off the music “Are you serious right now? Jaafar I’m going to-“ you put your hands in the air and you grab imaginary him and shake your arms. “Ughh!” You look over at one of the males dancers and point “You come here.” The dancer is immediately at your side. Jaafar looks at him and you with shocked eyes. “Watch and learn Jackson.” The music starts again and the male dancer IMMEDIATELY GETS IT. The body roll is delivered the way you envisioned it. A little too much sexiness but it was done.
Jaafar looked at the way the male dancer put his hands on you. The way his hands caressed your body. The way you looked at the dancer. When exactly 5 minutes ago you were looking at him the same way. He clears his throat as the music is stopped and both you and the dancer are breathing hard. A small pink tint spreads on your cheeks as you laugh. “Okay that was amazing.” You look over at Jaafar “Now you need to deliver that. Your uncle was all about the chemistry with his dancers. I’m not asking you to imitate him. I’m asking you to feel it inside you to have fun and just be a little flirty.” He nods as he makes his way towards you. The dancer walks back as he “faints” on the girls. “Best day ever. Thanks boss!” The brothers laugh as you shake your head a bit. You glance up at Jaafar “Ready?” He nods as you turn around as soon as the music starts. When he extends his hand towards you so you can take it he looks at you the way wasn’t looking at you before. Shy Jaafar was gone. In his place was someone completely different. The way his hands lingered on your waist. When you reached out for his chest he got closer. That made you slightly stumble back. As both of you walked across the club set to finish with the body roll his hands lingered as they softly went up from your hip to your waist. OH GOD. WHAT DID YOU JUST CREATE. As soon as the music stopped you guys held that eye contact. One of the brothers clapped his hands and you two pulled away immediately. “WAS THAT HARD???” You softly laugh as you rub your neck. “That was good Jackson.” You nod and then look at the Female dancer doing your part “You two should be good now. If he doesn’t listen give him a good earful.” You wipe your hands on your pants and immediately walk off the main area. You sit down as you try to make your heart calm down.
As they finally get the take they wanted the brothers immediately hug you and thank you for your cooperation. You laugh and wave them off like it was nothing “Trust me he is going to need more help starting now if we are getting into to romance and intimacy in Michael’s life.” They laugh and glance at you “Antoine is here he is waiting in the office if you want to talk to us already.” You nod and follow them to the office. Jaafar looks over at you as you walk away following the brothers with your hands in your pockets. As you get there you close the door and give the a suspicious smile. Antoine looks up at you “You are leaving us.” That makes you look at him “I haven’t even said anything calm down.” You shake your head as you sit down “My label wanted to talk to me and Tony today. They want me to do another leg of my tour.” They all look at you in silence waiting to see how this affects the movie. “I can still help out. BUT there will be a couple days in a month that I won’t be here to help. But I can still help you guys over the phone. If you guys record him and send it to me I’ll be more than happy to help you guys out. I’m sorry I tried tell them that the movie is important but they wouldn’t budge.” They shook their head “Actually do you think he can shadow you for a week or two? That way he can learn the proper concert etiquette?” You blinked silently “You want him to shadow me? Antoine I don’t think that’s a good idea. I mean what is he going to do? Just follow me like a lost puppy?” They shake their head “It can help him realize how his uncle felt during his tours. You and Michael are similar that way. You have your sold out stadiums he had his. He can finish the important scenes and then we will send him to you for two weeks.”
You got out of the office and walk towards your bag. You take out your phone and start to call Tony. Jaafar looks over at you “Hey are you okay?” You nod and give him a small smile “Yeah give me a second.” The line rings a third time and Tony picks up “Are you okay?” You look at Jaafar and step away from him to go outside “Yeah um are you busy?” He goes outside as well and says “Alright now I’m ready. What’s going on.” You softly sigh and a nervous laugh escapes you “They want to send him on tour with me for two weeks. They say it’ll help him form that concert etiquette.” He laughs a bit “And how do you feel about that?” You can hear him laugh “Honestly? I felt like I was going to go insane having him near me but honestly I’m going to be so busy with rehearsals I’m not even going to mind him.” BOY ARE YOU SO WRONG. You end the phone call and walk back inside. You go over to your bag that’s in front of the mirrored walls and you slide to sit down. Jaafar walks over to you and joins you. “Hey you good?” You glance over at him “yeah I’m okay. I just told Antoine and the brothers that I have to go back on tour. They had the brilliant idea to have you join me for two weeks. You know concert etiquette and stuff.” He nodded “I heard. Everyone is practically begging them to let them all go. You are big you know?” You snapped your head over at him “Excuse me?” He puts his hands up “no no I didn’t mean it like that!” You let out a laugh “I’m messing with you. I know what you meant.” You nudge his shoulder softly. “It’s exciting you know? This whole concert vibe. It’s basically why I do it.”
As the brothers come out they call you over to view the sequence with them. You stand up and jog over there. They start it from the beginning on the dance number. You are pointing at some of the angles all while Jaafar is watching you. He watches you explain to the brothers the importance of the camera angles for the dance moves. “I suggest lowering this camera a bit lower so when they see this scene the audience can catch a glimpse of Michael. Just a small one before it’s fully revealed at the dance break.” They sit there looking at you before nodding. You are brilliant. Jaafar’s heart flipped in his chest as he stood up and grabbed his phone.
Maddie❤️:
‘We need to talk.’
Jaafar:
‘I go home in 30.’
Maddie❤️:
‘Okay.’
He looks over at you still looking at the sequences with the brothers. “Hey guys I’m going to head out. I’m apparently needed at home.” You all turn to look at him. You smile and wave at him before turning back. Home. Home with his beautiful fiancée. Why does it hurt you? You look away immediately as you fast forwards through the tape. Trying to get your mind off him leaving. As he leaves and the door close behind him you can finally exhale, you turn to the brothers and give him a smile “Do you guys mind if I use the studio? I want to rehearse early for the upcoming shows. It’s okay if you say no. I still need to figure out if I want to do the same songs.” They both look at each other “Of course. Can we stay?” She freezes “You want to stay? I mean yeah but wouldn’t you want to go home? I’m pretty you two are tired.” They laugh “yeah but we are too excited with how you helped us today so maybe we can help you.” Your heart softens. “Aww thanks guys.”
Jaafar’s home
As Jaafar gets home he softly sighs as he unlocks the door. Waiting in the living room was his fiancée waiting for him with suitcases. “Maddie?” She stands up and gives him a softly smile “Jaafar I think we have to end this. We have not been the same for a while and you know this. With your acting career skyrocketing and my modeling career we just don’t have time for each other anymore.” He looks at her suitcases and then back at her. She hands him the ring and holds his hand a while longer “Plus I don’t think it’s fair to me or to her for you to be holding on to an engagement that we both know wouldn’t work anymore. I just wish you would’ve talked to me when everything started happening.” He sighs a bit “Trust me is did want to tell you. I just didn’t know how you’d react to that situation.” She’d look at him and give him a kiss on the cheek “I hope you get everything you wish for.” OH MY GOD. The engagement was broken off. Is it too soon to call you? Yes. He needed to wait it out. He is going to give you space and time. He needed to figure out his own feelings for now. He looked down at his hand and looked at the ring. So many years. For what. He decided that he won’t be telling you until you ask him something. He doesn’t want to rush you. He is going to take his time with you so it won’t become like it did with Maddie. He walked over to the counter and placed the ring on top. Passing his finger through his hair he let out a sigh as he leaned against it. The house was very quiet. A house where they shared so many moments. Maybe he needs to get something smaller. Something just for him.
Studio
You are standing around walking as you hum thinking about a setlist. “Do you think I should call his mom and ask for permission to sing some of his songs?” The brothers look at you as you pace “I mean yeah go ahead and call her. But I’m pretty sure you have her blessing by now.” You stop and look at them “Okay. I will.” You run over to your phone and ask Tony to get in touch with Katherine. You pace around the outside of the studio as your phone rings “Hello?” The older woman clears her throat “Hi honey how are you?” You smile softly “I’m good Mrs. Jackson and you?” You practically feel her smiling through the phone “I’m good too. So your manager tells me you want to sing some of his song on your tour?” You clear your throat slightly “I do. Only with your permission of course I wouldn’t want to do it against your wishes.” She sniffles a bit as she lets out a small laugh “Oh honey. I think Michael would love to have you sing them. Of course you have my permission. Plus you remind me of him sometimes. When you came over to meet us I couldn’t help but feel like he was in the room with us.” That made you stop walking. You gripped the phone tighter as you tried to calm your breathing. You couldn’t cry to Jaafar’s grandma. “Mrs. Jackson that’s very kind of you to say but I feel like I’m very far from being compared to Michael.” She laughs slightly “Honey, nobody is Michael. That’s not what I meant. What I meant is that you remind me of him in the way you carry yourself. It’s like if you are hiding a whole big part of your life to satisfy someone else.” The tears immediately burn your eyes. Does she know something that should’ve been buried deep in the past? Did you let anything slip? Your head slowly starts to spiral but Katherine interrupts before it fully can. “I meant about both of you being in the toughest part of your career at your age. Nothing more nothing less.” BREATHE. You let out a shaky breath “Of course. Thank you Mrs. Jackson for everything.” As the call ends you look up at the sky and close them softly. Why does it feel like your past is about to get revealed everytime you talk to his family.
You walk back in and the brothers are just staring at you. You sit down and on the notebook next to you, you write down the set list you envisioned. With a smile on your face you toss the notebook towards the brothers. They catch it before looking at it and then at you “You got permission. But those work great with your concert.” You smile softly at them. The set list has about maybe Two Michael songs a night. But there are plenty of Michael songs to go around for another leg. You look up at the brothers “I need to send my ideas to my team.” You run up to hug them both “Thank you for your support in this. Just remember if you need anything call me.” You grab your things before heading out to your car. It’s chilly outside so you quickly get in your car. You close your eyes softly and promised yourself one thing. This upcoming leg is just for the music. You need to focus on your career and no one else’s. Just music and that’s all.
•Tags: Jaafar Jackson × Popstar! Reader, Reader is implied female.
•Warnings: This might have some triggering topics such as child abuse and some gun violence. But please trust the process.
•A/N: okay it’s getting good!!!!! Sorry for taking soooo long 😭 it’s been such a hectic time at work BUT ITS HEREEEEE
•Taglist: @jaafarsbaby
2027 Los Angeles
As Jaafar drives your car towards his favorite diner. You don’t know what to do with yourself. You are usually the one driving. Hell, when your friends ask to drive you say no it’s okay I like driving. You like having control over when you can leave and how fast you can drive. So why on earth did you give Jaafar your keys without thinking twice. You looked over at him from the passenger seat, one hand on the steering wheel and the other one drumming away on his thigh to the beat of whatever song was playing on the radio. The early morning Los Angeles sun spilled through the window in gold streaks, catching against the curls falling near his face. He looked comfortable driving your car. He looks over at you a small smile on his lips. “You okay? You’ve been staring at me for like two minutes.” Your head snapped to look over at your window “I literally have not. Eyes on the road, my car is precious.” You slightly extend your hand to turn his face so he can look straight. Your cheeks are slightly heating up from him catching you staring. He laughs “Oh come one you don’t trust me?” You shook your head “Nope. I didn’t even know why I gave you the keys in the first place. I never let anyone drive my car. My manager never drives it either.” He stays silent before letting out a laugh “I honestly do believe that. But we aren’t everyday friends. Plus i literally just watched you cry your heart out. That counts as something right?”
You slightly freeze as you hold on the side of the seat tightly “I guess? I mean no one in the right mind takes someone to breakfast after making them cry. They usually panic and leave. ” Jaafar turns into the parking lot of the diner before parking and looks at her “I panicked. Trust me I did. But I knew if I didn’t make it right then I wouldn’t live with myself knowing I made the queen of pop cry.” He gets off the car and you open the door following him. He waits for you at the end of the car and nudges you softly “Plus you showed me a vulnerable part of you and it would’ve been a dick move on my part to just leave after trusting me with something so fragile to you.” You slightly freeze as he opens the door. He walks through first but notices that you are not immediately walking in behind him. He stops walking still holding the door open for you. He doesn’t pressure you. You look up at him and a small smile forms on his lips “There she is. You coming?” You return the smile back and nod walking in. He walks towards a booth as he motions you to sit first. The waitress immediately smiles upon seeing him sit down “Ahh if it isn’t the young Jackson. Your usual?” Jaafar nods “Yes please and thank you.” She turns over to you and stares at you in shock “Oh hi! I’m Norma I’ve known Jaafar since he was a kid. I don’t think we’ve met.” You softly smile at her and take her hand “It’s nice meeting you Norma.” She looks over at Jaafar “Muy Bonita.” That makes Jaafar look down as a small smile as he rubs his neck. She looks at you “Alright mija what can I get started for you?”
You looked at the menu , slightly overwhelmed of all the choices you glance up at Jaafar and then look over at Norma “everything looks so good I can’t choose. How about you surprise me?” Norma smiles “Allergic to anything?” You shook your head “Spice level?” You smile “I love spice.” She claps her hands “Eso es todo! I’ll put it in and I’ll bring you two some coffee and water okay?” “Sounds good. Thank you, Norma.” You pass her the menus as she touches your shoulder softly “Thank you.” You softly give her a smile and glance over at Jaafar “Soo you come here often?” He glances up “yeah my uncle Michael started bringing me and my brothers here.” Your expression softened a bit as he spoke to you. “Well then I’ll treat this place with respect.” He smiles softly “Thank you.” His phone rang and you both looked over to it ‘Maddie ❤️’ your heart slightly flipped as you remembered he is engaged. Engaged to a beautiful woman in fact. Jaafar goes still beside you as his finger hovers. He glances up at you. You are already giving him a small smile “Go, I’ll survive a couple minutes by myself. You wouldn’t want your fiancée to wait.” He gives you a small apologetic smile before grabbing his phone and sliding out of the booth to answer “Hey mads-“ he steps outsides. You sit with yourself and softly sigh. You had forgotten he was engaged. How can you forget something as important as that.
2005 Children’s Hospital
You were excited. Basically jumping up and down as your dad helped you off the car. You had planned this with your dad for a few weeks already. He had the driver bring out the presents for the kids that you picked out. You skipped to the front desk as your father walked next to you “Hi how can we help you?” Your father clears his throat “Hi we are here for the children visitation.” She looks up at your father and the color drains from her face. She looks down at you and immediately smiles “So we meant to call you but I see they didn’t.” She clears her throat “Our booking manager accidentally booked double today and we had to cancel one. I truly apologize.” OH NO. You instinctively try to take your dad’s hand and he takes it away sharply. You look at the nurse and slightly cower before standing closer to the driver. “You cancelled on my daughter? Do you know who she is?” The nurse looks at you as you hold on to a stuffed animal tightly not looking up. He’s mad. He is mad and he is going to take it out on you, because somehow it’s always your fault.”
The nurse shakes her head “Look I’m sure she is amazing but we couldn’t say no.” Her father slams his hand on the desk “Couldn’t say no?! You already had booked her. You decided to just toss her to the side like nothing?! She has been waiting for this day forever.” You flinched as he slammed his hand on the desk “Dad it’s okay.” He freezes looks over at you “you don’t speak unless you are spoken to. The adults are talking. You couldn’t even keep a simple visit with children together.” OUCH. Tears burn immediately and you look down at your shoes. “I’m sorry.” He immediately turns back to face the nurse and he starts to yell at her, calling her names. You start to hum to yourself to calm your nerves down and to keep the tears from falling. It’s not working. Why isn’t it working. Your vision immediately burns as he raises his voice again. Then commotion starts as you hear a door softly open. The poor bunny under your hold is suffocating because of how hard you are hugging it to calm yourself down. Then you hear shoes walk up to you. The nurse immediately stops talking to your father and that gets him mad before he turns around to see why. “Hi honey. Are these loud adults making you anxious?” You still don’t look up at the fear of your father seeing your tears. Your eyes shift to the side a bit as you see shiny shoes on your left and someone crouching to your level. You try to clear your voice as it slightly breaks “I-I’m fine.”
He lets out a small sigh “You are probably fine, but that bunny sure looks like it needs air.” You softly let out a small laugh as your hold on the bunny softened “The bunny has no feelings. It doesn’t breathe.” You still don’t look up as you wipe away the tears that fell. He notices the way your small hands wipe your tears. The way you try to tell him a stuffed animal doesn’t have feelings. He shifts beside you as a sparkly gloved hand lands on the floor to steady himself “Alright then. Can you tell me what happened here? I would ask the adults but they seem scary and you seem nicer.” That makes you look up at him. Crouched in front of you was a man with dark curls falling around his face. Oversized glasses that hid his eyes. Porcelain skin that looked soft to the touch under the hospital lighting. He gave you a soft smile before taking off his glasses “Do I look nice?” Unfortunately your answer was cut short because your father immediately stepped in pushing you to the back. “Mr. Jackson it is so good to meet you-“ The man stands up and looks at your father. He then looks at you and gives you a sweet smile “I’m sorry sir but I wasn’t done talking to your daughter. Please forgive me I want to finish my conversation with her.” Your father steps aside as his face goes pale “Yes of course.”
The man walks over to you and crouches to your level “I’m sorry about that honey. Now can you tell me what happened?” You look up at him and your eyes go towards your dad. Michael follows your gaze softly “Nevermind your dad. I’ll talk to him after.” You glance down at your hands “There was a booking issue. They double book for today. I was supposed to be visiting kids today.” You said too quietly. He looks over at her dad and at the nurse. He turns back at you and smiles before ruffling your hair “Thank you sweets.” He stands up and walks over to your dad and the nurse “All of this commotion in front of a child just because of a double booking issue? You could’ve easily just asked me I would be happy to have her join my visit.” The nurse looks at him stunned. “I’m sorry Mr. Jackson it’s just-“ he shakes his head “Call me Michael. Mr. Jackson is my father.” The nurse looks and nods “Michael for security issues we cannot have two celebrity figures in the same room at the same time.” That makes him laugh “Security issues?” He glances back at you but you are entertained by Bill who is making you smile with the bunny. “She is a child. What security issues?” He shakes his head a bit “She is joining my visit.” He walks over to her and Bill before going “Honey come on let’s go make some kids happy. I’m Michael by the way.” He extends his hand over to you as you look at him and then at your dad. You take it . Your dad immediately starts to walk “H-Hold on wait for me.” Michael turns around as he is putting his glasses back on “Unfortunately I can only make accommodations for her. You are more than welcome to wait in the lobby. I’ll take good care of your daughter.”
You don’t turn to look at your dad. You continue to walk with Michael your hand in his. As your heart starts beating a bit faster. Is this what safety feels like? You look up as him as you walk and for once in your life you feel like you can be a child in front of an adult.
2027 Los Angeles
“Mija are you okay?” Norma gently touches your shoulder . You softly look at her and blink away the memories “Y-Yes. Yes I’m okay Norma I’m sorry. I got caught in my own head.” Jaafar comes back inside as he sits back down. He looks at you and notices a shift in your expression. He doesn’t say anything but smells the food “Oh my god Norma this smells absolutely delicious.” You notice how he shifts the conversation towards the food and away from you. Your heart starts to beat a bit faster. You only felt this once at your first hospital visit where you first met his uncle. You look at the food and your stomach rumbles loudly. Norma and Jaafar immediately look at you. So much for redirecting the attention away from you. Your ears go red and you cover your face “Oh god.” Norma laughs “I’ll leave you two so you can eat peacefully.” As you two eat and make small talk. As Norma brings the bill around you both instinctively reach out for it. Jaafar grabs it faster. You look at him “Jaafar—“ he shakes his head and he signs and places his card “You can get the next one.” NEXT TIME? You immediately freeze and look at him. “Right.” Norma smiles at you before saying “He thinks he is paying but he isn’t.” She snickers slightly. She pats your shoulder “it was really nice to meet you mija I hope you come back soon with or without Jaafar.” You smile up at her and stand up to embrace her “Thank you for making me feel welcome Norma. Good was delicious.” She smiles at you and goes “I like you. You remind me of his uncle.”
That took a while to get out of your head. You are about to reach for your keys but Jaafar grabs them first. “Jackson. Keys. Now.” He pretends he doesn’t hear you as he hugs and kisses Norma’s cheek. She softly smacks the back of his head as he lets out a small “ouch.” That makes you stop walking and burst out laughing. He turns around immediately to look at you. That laugh. God that laugh was like music to his ears. He wants to hear it every day. Norma looks at the way he looks at you before she pinches his side. He jumps and looks down at her she flicks his forehead and walks away. You wipe the tears building from laughter away as you look at him “Alright we need to get back we are 40 minutes late to rehearsal and John is pissed, and im telling him you forcefully kidnapped me after making me cry.” Jaafar’s tears at you for a while before letting out a laugh “It’s not kidnapping you if you voluntarily came.”
•Tags: Jaafar Jackson × Popstar! Reader, Reader is implied female.
•Warnings: This might have some triggering topics such as child abuse and some gun violence. But please trust the process.
•A/N: okay it’s getting good!!!!! Sorry for taking soooo long 😭 it’s been such a hectic time at work BUT ITS HEREEEEE
•Taglist: @jaafarsbaby
2027 Los Angeles
As Jaafar drives your car towards his favorite diner. You don’t know what to do with yourself. You are usually the one driving. Hell, when your friends ask to drive you say no it’s okay I like driving. You like having control over when you can leave and how fast you can drive. So why on earth did you give Jaafar your keys without thinking twice. You looked over at him from the passenger seat, one hand on the steering wheel and the other one drumming away on his thigh to the beat of whatever song was playing on the radio. The early morning Los Angeles sun spilled through the window in gold streaks, catching against the curls falling near his face. He looked comfortable driving your car. He looks over at you a small smile on his lips. “You okay? You’ve been staring at me for like two minutes.” Your head snapped to look over at your window “I literally have not. Eyes on the road, my car is precious.” You slightly extend your hand to turn his face so he can look straight. Your cheeks are slightly heating up from him catching you staring. He laughs “Oh come one you don’t trust me?” You shook your head “Nope. I didn’t even know why I gave you the keys in the first place. I never let anyone drive my car. My manager never drives it either.” He stays silent before letting out a laugh “I honestly do believe that. But we aren’t everyday friends. Plus i literally just watched you cry your heart out. That counts as something right?”
You slightly freeze as you hold on the side of the seat tightly “I guess? I mean no one in the right mind takes someone to breakfast after making them cry. They usually panic and leave. ” Jaafar turns into the parking lot of the diner before parking and looks at her “I panicked. Trust me I did. But I knew if I didn’t make it right then I wouldn’t live with myself knowing I made the queen of pop cry.” He gets off the car and you open the door following him. He waits for you at the end of the car and nudges you softly “Plus you showed me a vulnerable part of you and it would’ve been a dick move on my part to just leave after trusting me with something so fragile to you.” You slightly freeze as he opens the door. He walks through first but notices that you are not immediately walking in behind him. He stops walking still holding the door open for you. He doesn’t pressure you. You look up at him and a small smile forms on his lips “There she is. You coming?” You return the smile back and nod walking in. He walks towards a booth as he motions you to sit first. The waitress immediately smiles upon seeing him sit down “Ahh if it isn’t the young Jackson. Your usual?” Jaafar nods “Yes please and thank you.” She turns over to you and stares at you in shock “Oh hi! I’m Norma I’ve known Jaafar since he was a kid. I don’t think we’ve met.” You softly smile at her and take her hand “It’s nice meeting you Norma.” She looks over at Jaafar “Muy Bonita.” That makes Jaafar look down as a small smile as he rubs his neck. She looks at you “Alright mija what can I get started for you?”
You looked at the menu , slightly overwhelmed of all the choices you glance up at Jaafar and then look over at Norma “everything looks so good I can’t choose. How about you surprise me?” Norma smiles “Allergic to anything?” You shook your head “Spice level?” You smile “I love spice.” She claps her hands “Eso es todo! I’ll put it in and I’ll bring you two some coffee and water okay?” “Sounds good. Thank you, Norma.” You pass her the menus as she touches your shoulder softly “Thank you.” You softly give her a smile and glance over at Jaafar “Soo you come here often?” He glances up “yeah my uncle Michael started bringing me and my brothers here.” Your expression softened a bit as he spoke to you. “Well then I’ll treat this place with respect.” He smiles softly “Thank you.” His phone rang and you both looked over to it ‘Maddie ❤️’ your heart slightly flipped as you remembered he is engaged. Engaged to a beautiful woman in fact. Jaafar goes still beside you as his finger hovers. He glances up at you. You are already giving him a small smile “Go, I’ll survive a couple minutes by myself. You wouldn’t want your fiancée to wait.” He gives you a small apologetic smile before grabbing his phone and sliding out of the booth to answer “Hey mads-“ he steps outsides. You sit with yourself and softly sigh. You had forgotten he was engaged. How can you forget something as important as that.
2005 Children’s Hospital
You were excited. Basically jumping up and down as your dad helped you off the car. You had planned this with your dad for a few weeks already. He had the driver bring out the presents for the kids that you picked out. You skipped to the front desk as your father walked next to you “Hi how can we help you?” Your father clears his throat “Hi we are here for the children visitation.” She looks up at your father and the color drains from her face. She looks down at you and immediately smiles “So we meant to call you but I see they didn’t.” She clears her throat “Our booking manager accidentally booked double today and we had to cancel one. I truly apologize.” OH NO. You instinctively try to take your dad’s hand and he takes it away sharply. You look at the nurse and slightly cower before standing closer to the driver. “You cancelled on my daughter? Do you know who she is?” The nurse looks at you as you hold on to a stuffed animal tightly not looking up. He’s mad. He is mad and he is going to take it out on you, because somehow it’s always your fault.”
The nurse shakes her head “Look I’m sure she is amazing but we couldn’t say no.” Her father slams his hand on the desk “Couldn’t say no?! You already had booked her. You decided to just toss her to the side like nothing?! She has been waiting for this day forever.” You flinched as he slammed his hand on the desk “Dad it’s okay.” He freezes looks over at you “you don’t speak unless you are spoken to. The adults are talking. You couldn’t even keep a simple visit with children together.” OUCH. Tears burn immediately and you look down at your shoes. “I’m sorry.” He immediately turns back to face the nurse and he starts to yell at her, calling her names. You start to hum to yourself to calm your nerves down and to keep the tears from falling. It’s not working. Why isn’t it working. Your vision immediately burns as he raises his voice again. Then commotion starts as you hear a door softly open. The poor bunny under your hold is suffocating because of how hard you are hugging it to calm yourself down. Then you hear shoes walk up to you. The nurse immediately stops talking to your father and that gets him mad before he turns around to see why. “Hi honey. Are these loud adults making you anxious?” You still don’t look up at the fear of your father seeing your tears. Your eyes shift to the side a bit as you see shiny shoes on your left and someone crouching to your level. You try to clear your voice as it slightly breaks “I-I’m fine.”
He lets out a small sigh “You are probably fine, but that bunny sure looks like it needs air.” You softly let out a small laugh as your hold on the bunny softened “The bunny has no feelings. It doesn’t breathe.” You still don’t look up as you wipe away the tears that fell. He notices the way your small hands wipe your tears. The way you try to tell him a stuffed animal doesn’t have feelings. He shifts beside you as a sparkly gloved hand lands on the floor to steady himself “Alright then. Can you tell me what happened here? I would ask the adults but they seem scary and you seem nicer.” That makes you look up at him. Crouched in front of you was a man with dark curls falling around his face. Oversized glasses that hid his eyes. Porcelain skin that looked soft to the touch under the hospital lighting. He gave you a soft smile before taking off his glasses “Do I look nice?” Unfortunately your answer was cut short because your father immediately stepped in pushing you to the back. “Mr. Jackson it is so good to meet you-“ The man stands up and looks at your father. He then looks at you and gives you a sweet smile “I’m sorry sir but I wasn’t done talking to your daughter. Please forgive me I want to finish my conversation with her.” Your father steps aside as his face goes pale “Yes of course.”
The man walks over to you and crouches to your level “I’m sorry about that honey. Now can you tell me what happened?” You look up at him and your eyes go towards your dad. Michael follows your gaze softly “Nevermind your dad. I’ll talk to him after.” You glance down at your hands “There was a booking issue. They double book for today. I was supposed to be visiting kids today.” You said too quietly. He looks over at her dad and at the nurse. He turns back at you and smiles before ruffling your hair “Thank you sweets.” He stands up and walks over to your dad and the nurse “All of this commotion in front of a child just because of a double booking issue? You could’ve easily just asked me I would be happy to have her join my visit.” The nurse looks at him stunned. “I’m sorry Mr. Jackson it’s just-“ he shakes his head “Call me Michael. Mr. Jackson is my father.” The nurse looks and nods “Michael for security issues we cannot have two celebrity figures in the same room at the same time.” That makes him laugh “Security issues?” He glances back at you but you are entertained by Bill who is making you smile with the bunny. “She is a child. What security issues?” He shakes his head a bit “She is joining my visit.” He walks over to her and Bill before going “Honey come on let’s go make some kids happy. I’m Michael by the way.” He extends his hand over to you as you look at him and then at your dad. You take it . Your dad immediately starts to walk “H-Hold on wait for me.” Michael turns around as he is putting his glasses back on “Unfortunately I can only make accommodations for her. You are more than welcome to wait in the lobby. I’ll take good care of your daughter.”
You don’t turn to look at your dad. You continue to walk with Michael your hand in his. As your heart starts beating a bit faster. Is this what safety feels like? You look up as him as you walk and for once in your life you feel like you can be a child in front of an adult.
2027 Los Angeles
“Mija are you okay?” Norma gently touches your shoulder . You softly look at her and blink away the memories “Y-Yes. Yes I’m okay Norma I’m sorry. I got caught in my own head.” Jaafar comes back inside as he sits back down. He looks at you and notices a shift in your expression. He doesn’t say anything but smells the food “Oh my god Norma this smells absolutely delicious.” You notice how he shifts the conversation towards the food and away from you. Your heart starts to beat a bit faster. You only felt this once at your first hospital visit where you first met his uncle. You look at the food and your stomach rumbles loudly. Norma and Jaafar immediately look at you. So much for redirecting the attention away from you. Your ears go red and you cover your face “Oh god.” Norma laughs “I’ll leave you two so you can eat peacefully.” As you two eat and make small talk. As Norma brings the bill around you both instinctively reach out for it. Jaafar grabs it faster. You look at him “Jaafar—“ he shakes his head and he signs and places his card “You can get the next one.” NEXT TIME? You immediately freeze and look at him. “Right.” Norma smiles at you before saying “He thinks he is paying but he isn’t.” She snickers slightly. She pats your shoulder “it was really nice to meet you mija I hope you come back soon with or without Jaafar.” You smile up at her and stand up to embrace her “Thank you for making me feel welcome Norma. Good was delicious.” She smiles at you and goes “I like you. You remind me of his uncle.”
That took a while to get out of your head. You are about to reach for your keys but Jaafar grabs them first. “Jackson. Keys. Now.” He pretends he doesn’t hear you as he hugs and kisses Norma’s cheek. She softly smacks the back of his head as he lets out a small “ouch.” That makes you stop walking and burst out laughing. He turns around immediately to look at you. That laugh. God that laugh was like music to his ears. He wants to hear it every day. Norma looks at the way he looks at you before she pinches his side. He jumps and looks down at her she flicks his forehead and walks away. You wipe the tears building from laughter away as you look at him “Alright we need to get back we are 40 minutes late to rehearsal and John is pissed, and im telling him you forcefully kidnapped me after making me cry.” Jaafar’s tears at you for a while before letting out a laugh “It’s not kidnapping you if you voluntarily came.”
• Tags: Jaafar Jackson × Popstar! Reader, Reader is implied female.
• Warnings: This might have some triggering topics such as child abuse and some gun violence. But please trust the process.
•A/N: Couldn’t sleep. It’s currently 4 am and my ideas are skyrocketing.
2027 Los Angeles
As soon as you turn off your car you look at the empty parking lot. You decided to come in early so you can have a couple more minutes to yourself. You reach over to your bag and grab your headphones. Having almost finished your album with Tony earlier in the week. You decided you needed a dance session to take out all the emotions. So you came in early. A couple hours so that means no one should be here yet. Antoine had given you a key to the studio just in case you need Jaafar to come in to practice on a move. Walking towards the door you placed the key and turned. The music playing and you humming to yourself. You knew this album like the back of your hand already. To you it was going to be the most raw and emotional album you’ve ever released to the public. As you open the door you are greeted with the lights already turned on. You immediately freeze. You slightly move one headphone away from your ear and hear the small noses coming from the dance room. You look around the hallway but see no sign of anyone. Finally getting your legs to move you get to the door. You peer inside and you let out a shaky breath. Inside Jaafar is sitting in the middle of the studio with his head between his hands cursing to himself. Suddenly the studio didn’t feel haunted as Jaafar sat in the middle of the studio. You walked in and placed your bag near the mirror “Morning…” Jaafar immediately looked up startled. That alone made a smile tug on your lips “Sorry I didn’t mean to startle you.” He shakes his head and stands up “It’s okay.” His replies are short. You study him as he walks over to drink some water and notice that he is tense. “Are you okay?” He looks at you through the mirror “Would you believe me if I saw yeah?” A small smile settled on his lips. This makes you slightly frown “Alright come here.” You walk over to the middle of the studio as he is placing the water bottle on the floor before making his way towards you. “What’s going on?” He shakes his head softly “Nothing it’s stupid.” You look at him and look down before crossing your arms “Try me.” He looks at you and huffs “I just can’t get one of the turns correctly. And if I can’t get these turns correctly I don’t think I can do the movie. He used to do these turns all the time during this time of his life and I can’t seem to nail them.”
You step away from him immediately knowing what turns he is talking about. You motion to him to show you. He shakes his head “You are going to make fun of me.” That earns an eye roll on your part “Jaafar.. I don’t get why I’m here then if you aren’t going to let me help you. That’s what I’m here for. I’m here to make sure you feel comfortable. I’m not here tomorrow make the brother’s job easier. I’m here for you.” The silence between the two of you settled almost instantly. For the first time since you’ve seen him today he stopped looking frustrated. Instead he was looking at you like you just said something that no one has told him in a while. He walks to the middle and gets ready to do the turn. He executes it almost perfectly just a small stumble during at the end he looks at you waiting for you to say something. “You are over thinking it.” That made his eyebrows lift as he looked at you “That’s not very helpful.” You let out a small laugh “I’m being serious Jaafar. Look at your shoulders.” You walked over to him turning to look at him through the mirror. “You are holding up all the tension up here.” Your finger tips touch your shoulders “The second you go into the turn your whole body locks.” He rubs his neck as he sighs “Well yeah I’m trying not to eat shit.” You looked at him in shock because he was always so soft spoken. You stepped behind him before almost placing your hands on his shoulder but froze “Can I?” He was already looking at you through the mirror. He nodded softly. As soon as you placed your hands on his shoulders you immediately understood the problem “Jaafar… you are quite literally stiff as a board. You are dancing scared” he scoffs slightly “What does that even mean?” You looked at him to think a bit you made your way to be in front of him “It means that you are trying so hard to be perfect that you are not letting your body move naturally anymore.” You pointed at his feet “The turns aren’t just technical. They are momentum.” You took his hand “Come here.” You made sure he followed you “Stop focusing on the spin, focus on where you land.”
You guided him through the movements without the music first “One…..Two….Turn.” This time when he rotated your hand stayed against his forearm steadying him through the motion. “See you keep panicking halfway through.” Jaafar laughs breathlessly “You are making sound like I’m emotionally spiraling through a pirouette.” You poke his forehead immediately “You ARE.” That makes him laugh. It made the tension on his body loosen “That’s it.” He looked at you confused “What?” You stepped back before motioning toward him again “Again.” He looked over at himself before he does the spin again. This time it is much smoother. Cleaner. Not perfect but close. When he landed it perfectly his eyes go wide in surprise “Oh.” You laugh “There he is. See I knew you had it in you.” He felt the heat creep up on his neck as you praise him. He ducked his head slightly trying to unsuccessfully hide the smile threatening to break across his face. And somehow watching him relax felt more rewarding than landing the turns itself . He finally looks over at you “Wait.” He narrowed his eyes slightly “Why are you here so early? I mean I’m here because I was spiraling over a turn. What’s your excuse?” You let out a small laugh as you walked towards your bad near the mirror “I needed to dance.” He watched as you crouched down to unzip your bag “That serious huh?” You shrugged lightly but your fingers slowed down against the zipper. “My album is almost done.” You glance up at him “My head had been loud all week.”
Hearing this his expression softens. You turn around to lean against the mirrors as you look down at your water “Tony says I get weird whenever I’m close to finishing an album.” He steps closer to you “You get weird?” A smile forms “Shocking I know.” That earns a laugh on his end. You took a small sip from your water “I don’t know… finishing this one feels different.” He walks over and leans against the mirrors next to you “Different how?” For a second you think about brushing it off. Maybe by making a joke or changing the subject. But talking to him was easy “It’s personal…” the way you said it made the room go quiet. Jaafar noticed the way your shoulders tightened or how you started to pick on the label of the water bottle. Jaafar knew asking this was probably not ideal but he needed you to know that he is here for you the same way you are there for him “Can I hear one?” Your eyes immediately lifted towards him. That question felt way more dangerous than it should’ve. Jaafar noticed the hesitation flicker across your face because he immediately held his hands up “Hey, you don’t have to. I was just asking.” You looked away from him while your fingers tightened around your water bottle “No I know..” you sighed as you grabbed your laptop from your bag “One. You get one song that it.” You sat down crossed legged on the floor. He immediately mirrored you, you turned your laptop towards him showing him the unfinished track list “Pick one.” As his eyes scanned the track list you felt your stomach drop. His eyes locked in on one title. He glanced up at you “We don’t have to do this you know.” You let your upper body fall against the floor. You swallowed hard as you looked up at the ceiling. “No it’s okay. Just play it.” His fingers tapped the trackpad. Soft static played on the speakers before piano started to play. You immediately turned your face away from the ceiling looking away from him.
“Father I want to say thank you. Even if I’m still hurt.”
You felt your heart tighten on your chest as you closed your eyes
“Even if you started this whole war in me.”
Jaafar stayed silent as he looked at you. The music continued.
“You did your best or did you? Sometimes I think I hate you.
I'm sorry, dad, for feelin' this. I can't believe I'm sayin' it
I know you were a troubled man. I know you never got the chance
To be yourself, to be your best. I hope that Heaven's given you
A second chance.”
As soon as those lyrics came to light you squeezed your eyes shut.
God.
Hearing it with someone else in the room felt unbearable. The hardwood beneath you vibrated faintly from the hum of the speakers while the lyrics settled into every corner of the empty rehearsal room. You tried to hold back your tears that were threatening to spill. A shaky breath escaped you before you could stop it. Jaafar immediately looked at you. He immediately understood why you felt like you needed to protect this album. The final lyrics floated softly through the studio
“ I hope that heavens given you.
A second chance.”
As the song finally faded out silence over took the studio immediately. You stayed facing away from him. Unable to move. Unable to look at him. Because suddenly you felt stripped completely bare. It felt like a confession. For a while Jaafar said nothing. Then carefully he lowered his upper body on the hardwood floor next you. He shifted closer to you but not touching you. He was just there. Somehow that made you want to cry harder than the song itself.
2006 Santa Barbara CA.
“Again.”
Your tiny hands tightens around the microphone as you looked at your father sitting down next to the producer on the other side of the glass. “I did do it again.” Your voice sound small. Wrong answer. You saw as his face grew with irritation towards you. He sighed as his pinched the bridge of his nose “Then why do you still sound weak?” Those words hurt. You looked at your shoes. The oversized headphones nearly swallowed your little face while as your fingers twisted nervously into the sleeves of your sweater. Six almost seven years old and you already learned how to make yourself smaller when adults get angry. The producer looked at you before looking over at your father “She’s tired.. we’ve been here awhile-“ “She needs to get used to it.” Cold. You looked up as he said that. Your father was already looking at you. He lifted his hand and pointed at you “If you wanna do this, the act like it.” Your throat tightened because you did want this. You loved music, you loved singing. But lately music had started sounding more like fear. Your father pressed the button again “you’re not cut out for this if you cry everytime someone correct you.” That sentence immediately shattered you. Small tears immediately burned behind your eyes and you quickly ducked your head trying desperately not to let him see them because crying made him angrier. “Do you hear me?” You nodded quickly.
“Yes sir.”
2027 Los Angeles
You breathed trying to control the tears that were falling. As soon as you controlled your emotions you turned on your back and looked over at Jaafar. Bad idea. He was already looking at you. A weak laugh escaped you before you could stop it though it sounded closer to something breaking apart.
“I’m a mess huh?”
You sounded so defeated as that sentence came out. Like if you were asking for confirmation Jaafar’s eyes immediately widen “What? No.” You looked away from him immediately. “Yeah I am.” Your voice cracked “I mean normal people don’t write songs like that.” The words hung heavy around the room. You let out another shaky laugh “I literally turned my trauma into a tracklist.”Jaafar stayed silent as if he was thinking what he can possibly say to you. “You know what I think?” You stayed quiet “I think somebody spent a very long time making you feel hard to love.” Your breath caught instantly “And now you think every broken thing they left behind is your fault.” If the way he was looking at you didn’t do it the words that came out of his mouth did. Your face crumpled instantly as tears slipped despite how hard you tried to stop them. You covered your eyes with your arm, embarrassed by how hard your chest shook “I hate crying.” His expression softened “Have you ate breakfast yet?”
That pulls a laugh out of you “God Jaafar you couldn’t ask that before you made me cry?” You wipe your tears as you watch him stand ups he extends his hand out towards you. You looked at him for a while before immediately taking it. “Uh my driver just left me so we are going to have to take your car.” He showed you his hand “I’ll drive. Give me the keys.” Your eyes narrowed slightly “You are a very confident for a man who was just fighting for his life against a pirouette a second ago.” He looked offended instantly “Not my fault. That turn had it out for me.” That pulled another laugh out of you before you tossed him your keys. He caught them easily before grinning slightly. “See? Trust exercises. We’re growing already.”
“Oh my god.” You muttered while following him out of the studio. “You’re insufferable.”
• Tags: Jaafar Jackson × Popstar! Reader, Reader is implied female.
• Warnings: This might have some triggering topics such as child abuse and some gun violence. But please trust the process.
•A/N: Couldn’t sleep. It’s currently 4 am and my ideas are skyrocketing.
2027 Los Angeles
As soon as you turn off your car you look at the empty parking lot. You decided to come in early so you can have a couple more minutes to yourself. You reach over to your bag and grab your headphones. Having almost finished your album with Tony earlier in the week. You decided you needed a dance session to take out all the emotions. So you came in early. A couple hours so that means no one should be here yet. Antoine had given you a key to the studio just in case you need Jaafar to come in to practice on a move. Walking towards the door you placed the key and turned. The music playing and you humming to yourself. You knew this album like the back of your hand already. To you it was going to be the most raw and emotional album you’ve ever released to the public. As you open the door you are greeted with the lights already turned on. You immediately freeze. You slightly move one headphone away from your ear and hear the small noses coming from the dance room. You look around the hallway but see no sign of anyone. Finally getting your legs to move you get to the door. You peer inside and you let out a shaky breath. Inside Jaafar is sitting in the middle of the studio with his head between his hands cursing to himself. Suddenly the studio didn’t feel haunted as Jaafar sat in the middle of the studio. You walked in and placed your bag near the mirror “Morning…” Jaafar immediately looked up startled. That alone made a smile tug on your lips “Sorry I didn’t mean to startle you.” He shakes his head and stands up “It’s okay.” His replies are short. You study him as he walks over to drink some water and notice that he is tense. “Are you okay?” He looks at you through the mirror “Would you believe me if I saw yeah?” A small smile settled on his lips. This makes you slightly frown “Alright come here.” You walk over to the middle of the studio as he is placing the water bottle on the floor before making his way towards you. “What’s going on?” He shakes his head softly “Nothing it’s stupid.” You look at him and look down before crossing your arms “Try me.” He looks at you and huffs “I just can’t get one of the turns correctly. And if I can’t get these turns correctly I don’t think I can do the movie. He used to do these turns all the time during this time of his life and I can’t seem to nail them.”
You step away from him immediately knowing what turns he is talking about. You motion to him to show you. He shakes his head “You are going to make fun of me.” That earns an eye roll on your part “Jaafar.. I don’t get why I’m here then if you aren’t going to let me help you. That’s what I’m here for. I’m here to make sure you feel comfortable. I’m not here tomorrow make the brother’s job easier. I’m here for you.” The silence between the two of you settled almost instantly. For the first time since you’ve seen him today he stopped looking frustrated. Instead he was looking at you like you just said something that no one has told him in a while. He walks to the middle and gets ready to do the turn. He executes it almost perfectly just a small stumble during at the end he looks at you waiting for you to say something. “You are over thinking it.” That made his eyebrows lift as he looked at you “That’s not very helpful.” You let out a small laugh “I’m being serious Jaafar. Look at your shoulders.” You walked over to him turning to look at him through the mirror. “You are holding up all the tension up here.” Your finger tips touch your shoulders “The second you go into the turn your whole body locks.” He rubs his neck as he sighs “Well yeah I’m trying not to eat shit.” You looked at him in shock because he was always so soft spoken. You stepped behind him before almost placing your hands on his shoulder but froze “Can I?” He was already looking at you through the mirror. He nodded softly. As soon as you placed your hands on his shoulders you immediately understood the problem “Jaafar… you are quite literally stiff as a board. You are dancing scared” he scoffs slightly “What does that even mean?” You looked at him to think a bit you made your way to be in front of him “It means that you are trying so hard to be perfect that you are not letting your body move naturally anymore.” You pointed at his feet “The turns aren’t just technical. They are momentum.” You took his hand “Come here.” You made sure he followed you “Stop focusing on the spin, focus on where you land.”
You guided him through the movements without the music first “One…..Two….Turn.” This time when he rotated your hand stayed against his forearm steadying him through the motion. “See you keep panicking halfway through.” Jaafar laughs breathlessly “You are making sound like I’m emotionally spiraling through a pirouette.” You poke his forehead immediately “You ARE.” That makes him laugh. It made the tension on his body loosen “That’s it.” He looked at you confused “What?” You stepped back before motioning toward him again “Again.” He looked over at himself before he does the spin again. This time it is much smoother. Cleaner. Not perfect but close. When he landed it perfectly his eyes go wide in surprise “Oh.” You laugh “There he is. See I knew you had it in you.” He felt the heat creep up on his neck as you praise him. He ducked his head slightly trying to unsuccessfully hide the smile threatening to break across his face. And somehow watching him relax felt more rewarding than landing the turns itself . He finally looks over at you “Wait.” He narrowed his eyes slightly “Why are you here so early? I mean I’m here because I was spiraling over a turn. What’s your excuse?” You let out a small laugh as you walked towards your bad near the mirror “I needed to dance.” He watched as you crouched down to unzip your bag “That serious huh?” You shrugged lightly but your fingers slowed down against the zipper. “My album is almost done.” You glance up at him “My head had been loud all week.”
Hearing this his expression softens. You turn around to lean against the mirrors as you look down at your water “Tony says I get weird whenever I’m close to finishing an album.” He steps closer to you “You get weird?” A smile forms “Shocking I know.” That earns a laugh on his end. You took a small sip from your water “I don’t know… finishing this one feels different.” He walks over and leans against the mirrors next to you “Different how?” For a second you think about brushing it off. Maybe by making a joke or changing the subject. But talking to him was easy “It’s personal…” the way you said it made the room go quiet. Jaafar noticed the way your shoulders tightened or how you started to pick on the label of the water bottle. Jaafar knew asking this was probably not ideal but he needed you to know that he is here for you the same way you are there for him “Can I hear one?” Your eyes immediately lifted towards him. That question felt way more dangerous than it should’ve. Jaafar noticed the hesitation flicker across your face because he immediately held his hands up “Hey, you don’t have to. I was just asking.” You looked away from him while your fingers tightened around your water bottle “No I know..” you sighed as you grabbed your laptop from your bag “One. You get one song that it.” You sat down crossed legged on the floor. He immediately mirrored you, you turned your laptop towards him showing him the unfinished track list “Pick one.” As his eyes scanned the track list you felt your stomach drop. His eyes locked in on one title. He glanced up at you “We don’t have to do this you know.” You let your upper body fall against the floor. You swallowed hard as you looked up at the ceiling. “No it’s okay. Just play it.” His fingers tapped the trackpad. Soft static played on the speakers before piano started to play. You immediately turned your face away from the ceiling looking away from him.
“Father I want to say thank you. Even if I’m still hurt.”
You felt your heart tighten on your chest as you closed your eyes
“Even if you started this whole war in me.”
Jaafar stayed silent as he looked at you. The music continued.
“You did your best or did you? Sometimes I think I hate you.
I'm sorry, dad, for feelin' this. I can't believe I'm sayin' it
I know you were a troubled man. I know you never got the chance
To be yourself, to be your best. I hope that Heaven's given you
A second chance.”
As soon as those lyrics came to light you squeezed your eyes shut.
God.
Hearing it with someone else in the room felt unbearable. The hardwood beneath you vibrated faintly from the hum of the speakers while the lyrics settled into every corner of the empty rehearsal room. You tried to hold back your tears that were threatening to spill. A shaky breath escaped you before you could stop it. Jaafar immediately looked at you. He immediately understood why you felt like you needed to protect this album. The final lyrics floated softly through the studio
“ I hope that heavens given you.
A second chance.”
As the song finally faded out silence over took the studio immediately. You stayed facing away from him. Unable to move. Unable to look at him. Because suddenly you felt stripped completely bare. It felt like a confession. For a while Jaafar said nothing. Then carefully he lowered his upper body on the hardwood floor next you. He shifted closer to you but not touching you. He was just there. Somehow that made you want to cry harder than the song itself.
2006 Santa Barbara CA.
“Again.”
Your tiny hands tightens around the microphone as you looked at your father sitting down next to the producer on the other side of the glass. “I did do it again.” Your voice sound small. Wrong answer. You saw as his face grew with irritation towards you. He sighed as his pinched the bridge of his nose “Then why do you still sound weak?” Those words hurt. You looked at your shoes. The oversized headphones nearly swallowed your little face while as your fingers twisted nervously into the sleeves of your sweater. Six almost seven years old and you already learned how to make yourself smaller when adults get angry. The producer looked at you before looking over at your father “She’s tired.. we’ve been here awhile-“ “She needs to get used to it.” Cold. You looked up as he said that. Your father was already looking at you. He lifted his hand and pointed at you “If you wanna do this, the act like it.” Your throat tightened because you did want this. You loved music, you loved singing. But lately music had started sounding more like fear. Your father pressed the button again “you’re not cut out for this if you cry everytime someone correct you.” That sentence immediately shattered you. Small tears immediately burned behind your eyes and you quickly ducked your head trying desperately not to let him see them because crying made him angrier. “Do you hear me?” You nodded quickly.
“Yes sir.”
2027 Los Angeles
You breathed trying to control the tears that were falling. As soon as you controlled your emotions you turned on your back and looked over at Jaafar. Bad idea. He was already looking at you. A weak laugh escaped you before you could stop it though it sounded closer to something breaking apart.
“I’m a mess huh?”
You sounded so defeated as that sentence came out. Like if you were asking for confirmation Jaafar’s eyes immediately widen “What? No.” You looked away from him immediately. “Yeah I am.” Your voice cracked “I mean normal people don’t write songs like that.” The words hung heavy around the room. You let out another shaky laugh “I literally turned my trauma into a tracklist.”Jaafar stayed silent as if he was thinking what he can possibly say to you. “You know what I think?” You stayed quiet “I think somebody spent a very long time making you feel hard to love.” Your breath caught instantly “And now you think every broken thing they left behind is your fault.” If the way he was looking at you didn’t do it the words that came out of his mouth did. Your face crumpled instantly as tears slipped despite how hard you tried to stop them. You covered your eyes with your arm, embarrassed by how hard your chest shook “I hate crying.” His expression softened “Have you ate breakfast yet?”
That pulls a laugh out of you “God Jaafar you couldn’t ask that before you made me cry?” You wipe your tears as you watch him stand ups he extends his hand out towards you. You looked at him for a while before immediately taking it. “Uh my driver just left me so we are going to have to take your car.” He showed you his hand “I’ll drive. Give me the keys.” Your eyes narrowed slightly “You are a very confident for a man who was just fighting for his life against a pirouette a second ago.” He looked offended instantly “Not my fault. That turn had it out for me.” That pulled another laugh out of you before you tossed him your keys. He caught them easily before grinning slightly. “See? Trust exercises. We’re growing already.”
“Oh my god.” You muttered while following him out of the studio. “You’re insufferable.”
Is it bad that I’m obsessing over this series already? Like I can’t even go about my day without taking out my phone to write on my notes about the third chapter or future chapters. I’ve already started typing it out sooooo it might be out tonight 🙊👀
•Tags: Jaafar Jackson × Popstar! Reader, Reader is implied female.
• Warnings: This might have some triggering topics such as child abuse and some gun violence. But please trust the process.
•A/N: OMG IM GLAD YOU GUYS ARE ENJOYING THIS AS MUCH AS I ENJOY WRITING IT. I am planning to maybe do updates every three days? If not twice a week just because I have the time. If anything changes I’ll make sure to let you all know!!
2027 Los Angeles
During the car ride you feel anxious. Not about that fact that you will be spending time with the Jacksons but because you are wondering if they’ll remember you. Surely not, the last time they saw you, you were 10 years old. Jaafar notices and immediately turns to look at you “Are you nervous? It’s okay, they aren’t an easy family to meet.” Oh boy. You knew. This isn’t your first rodeo with the Jacksons. You gave him a smile “Yeah.. I mean what do I even say? It’s not like I can say that I’m such a huge fan.” He looks at you amused and shakes his head “It’s okay if you want I’ll do the talking. I’m good at that.” You smile at him before looking out the window. You slightly start to pick at your fingers. An anxiety trait of yours that you’ve had since you were small. You had small scars from the amount of times you’ve made yourself bleed accidentally. You immediately stop as the car stops moving. You turn to look at Jaafar “Alright this is it. Are you ready?” You nod “Here goes nothing I guess.” The driver opens the door for you as Jaafar opens his own door. “Thank you.”
As you walk up the steps with Jaafar you can feel that your palms are sweaty. You wipe them on the side of your jeans as he opens the door. “I’m home!” He holds the door open for you as you walk in. “Oh wow. It’s really nice in here.” He laughs “My grandma will absolutely agree with you.” You hear footsteps. Multiple footsteps. You turn to look at the staircase. His grandmother appears first “Oh Jaafar welcome hom- oh you brought a guest!” She grins at you and holds your hands “Oh sweetheart it’s so nice to meet you. Jaafar doesn’t stop talking about the big popstar that trains him.” That makes you blush. You look over at Jaafar how has a hand over his face as if his grandmother just told you his darkest secret. He laughs and hugs her “Alright alright I’m sure she is hungry why don’t we go eat.” His grandma laughs as she takes your arm in hers “Okay tell me all about you. What genre do you sing?” You walk with her making sure you aren’t walking too fast “I’m very versatile. I honestly think my music is all over the place really.” She pats your hand “Just like my Michael. He was very versatile too. Like if he could do anything he put his mind to.” That warms your heart as you step inside the kitchen. That’s when you slightly freeze. All of his siblings are there. All their attention is on Jaafar to even notice you until their mother clears her throat. They all turn to look at you. You give them all a small smile and a wave “Hi it’s nice meeting you all.” They all look at you like if you are familiar to them. La Toya steps closer to you “You look familiar do I know you?” You freeze a bit before relaxing “I don’t think so. A lot of people say I have one of those faces.” She continues to look at you and then agrees “Yeah it’s probably that.”
You smile at all of them “Can I help you guys? I wouldn’t want to just intrude in your family dinner and not help.” They all stop. “Sweetie no you are Jaafar’s guest. We don’t make guests do house work.” You look at his grandmother and shake your head you roll your sleeves up and put your hair up before walking over to the sink to wash your hands “That is nonsense Mrs. Jackson. My grandma would kill me if she found out I didn’t help. Now for my safety how can I help.” The Jacksons look at you and they all smile. “Alright then why don’t you help La Toya with the enchiladas.” You perk up and immediately nod “Okay.” They all turn to look at Jaafar who turns red at the attention. His grandma takes his hand “She’s a good friend that one. Keep her close.” He smiles down at her and then looks over at you laughing with his aunt. “I will.” One of his uncles asks you a question “So hun how long have you been in the industry?” You look up at him as you are placing an enchilada on the tray “Since I was 15. Nothing compared to you guys though.” His uncle lets out a laugh “Hey it’s still something! How old are you? Are you the same age as Jaafar?” You shake your head “I’m two years younger actually. He is what 29?” You turn to look at Jaafar and he nods “I’m 27.” You say. His uncle nods “That’s 13 years. That is still a lot hey props to you kid.” You smile at him. La Toya claps her hands “Alright all the Jacksons and Miss popstar to the dinner table! It’s time to eat!”
You guys walk into the studio. As soon as you enter you stop in the middle. Michael’s studio. You look over at Jaafar who is looking at you. He motions you to explore. You smile and immediately start to look at the pictures on the wall. You see pictures of Michael with his brothers, him with his nephews. You walk around the studio until you get to his writing desk. A picture catches your eye. You pick up the frame. It’s a picture of Michael hugging a little girl. Jaafar comes behind you and looks at the frame in your hand. “Ah yeah we don’t know where that girl from the picture is. My uncles said it was someone important to him. My guess is that she is one of the kids he brought to neverland. He was attached to those kids.” You continue to look at it. Your hand starts to slightly shake. You immediately put the picture down. Clearing your throat you turn to look at Jaafar “Thank you for letting me see this.” He notices the redness in your eyes. “Hey? Are you okay?” He walks up to you “I’m okay. I think I’m just emotional after all this. I really wasn’t expecting this.” You wipe your eyes a bit as you breathe in and look at him. “Alright since we are in a studio how about I show you vocal tricks?”
After a small vocal session you bid your farewell to the Jacksons. They all tell you to come back soon. Jaafar is talking to his driver “just be careful please. You have precious cargo.” You look at him in shock and then at his driver who is laughing. “Wooow so now I’m cargo? Not even friend.” He lets out a laugh and shakes his head “I’ll see you monday popstar.” You laugh “See you Monday Jackson.” Popstar. His little funny nickname for you. Him and John decided that was your nickname from now on. You sat in the back of the car as the driver took you to your apartment. Looking as the lights sped by like shooting stars. On your lap you had a Tupperware container with the famous Enchiladas they fed you. As soon as the driver parked in front of your building he opened the door for you. “Thank you so much.” “Of course ma’am.”
As soon as you got inside your apartment you shrugged your sweater off. You look at your apartment the instruments on your bed “Right. The album.” You put the enchiladas inside the fridge. You kicked off your shoes and went over to your bed. You had the piano in front of you with your lyric book opened to a a song you had no idea what it was about. You sighed as you ripped the page in front of you. You tossed it to the bin next to you. Today opened so many feelings inside you. The picture. The way you felt Michael all over that studio. The way his family welcomed you with open arms. Your life was good. You had no reason to go back to the sad depressing songs. But most of those were your favorite. So it wouldn’t hurt revisiting your past. Your fingers hovered above the keys slightly before they pressed some of the keys.
“This is a story that I have never told
I gotta get this off my chest to let it go
I need to take back the light inside you stole
You're a criminal
And you steal like you're a pro”
Your breath was shaky. You took your pencil as you wrote the lyrics. Your hands slightly shook but you managed to calm them down.
“I'm stronger than I've ever been
And my armor, is made of steel, you can't get in
I'm a warrior.
And you can never hurt me again.’
You had to stop for a bit. You stood up and walked over to your windows and opened them. Feeling the air against your skin as you felt goosebumps spread all over. You closed your eyes softly.
2007 Santa Bárbara, CA.
“Hey firefly.” You turned to look at the man in front of you. You smiled widely at him. “Hi applehead!” He laughs at the nickname all the kids call him. He crouched in from of you as he placed a small flower in your hair. You were 8 at the time. You looked up at him in awe. “Do you know why I call you firefly?” You shook your head at him as you slightly play with hair. He places a hand on your head “Because of people like us.” He said to you softly “We spend our entire life around artificial lights. Cameras, Spotlights, flashbulbs.” He gave your cheek a small pinch “But you my little firefly you glow naturally.”
2027 Los Angeles
You open your eyes as you feel the cold air against your wet cheeks. You turn around to sit back on your bed. You look at the lyrics on the book and then the keys. You reach over to write some lyrics as you play around with the piano. Finding the write words and notes you finally got it.
“There's a part of me I can't get back
A little girl grew up too fast
All it took was once, I'll never be the same
Now I'm taking back my life today
Nothing left that you can say
'Cause you are never gonna take the blame anyway”
There it was. The spark you had when singing about your past. You hated using it in songs but it’s what made you who you are today you continued to sing as you played the piano
‘You can never hurt me again.’
You closed your book took the piano off your bed. You stood up to brush your teeth. Grabbing your phone you texted your manager.
You:
‘I need to see you tomorrow’
You:
[File Attached]
You sent him the link of the recording. The three dots immediately appeared.
Tony:
‘Are you okay?’
You:
‘I’m okay. I need to fully record this song please.’
Tony:
‘You know you are in no rush to submit the album right?’
You:
‘Tony I need this. I’ll explain everything tomorrow.’
You put your phone to charge. As you got under the the covers you turned off the lamp at your bedside table and just watched the curtains flow with the air as your drifted to sleep.
•Tags: Jaafar Jackson × Popstar! Reader, Reader is implied female.
• Warnings: This might have some triggering topics such as child abuse and some gun violence. But please trust the process.
•A/N: OMG IM GLAD YOU GUYS ARE ENJOYING THIS AS MUCH AS I ENJOY WRITING IT. I am planning to maybe do updates every three days? If not twice a week just because I have the time. If anything changes I’ll make sure to let you all know!!
2027 Los Angeles
During the car ride you feel anxious. Not about that fact that you will be spending time with the Jacksons but because you are wondering if they’ll remember you. Surely not, the last time they saw you, you were 10 years old. Jaafar notices and immediately turns to look at you “Are you nervous? It’s okay, they aren’t an easy family to meet.” Oh boy. You knew. This isn’t your first rodeo with the Jacksons. You gave him a smile “Yeah.. I mean what do I even say? It’s not like I can say that I’m such a huge fan.” He looks at you amused and shakes his head “It’s okay if you want I’ll do the talking. I’m good at that.” You smile at him before looking out the window. You slightly start to pick at your fingers. An anxiety trait of yours that you’ve had since you were small. You had small scars from the amount of times you’ve made yourself bleed accidentally. You immediately stop as the car stops moving. You turn to look at Jaafar “Alright this is it. Are you ready?” You nod “Here goes nothing I guess.” The driver opens the door for you as Jaafar opens his own door. “Thank you.”
As you walk up the steps with Jaafar you can feel that your palms are sweaty. You wipe them on the side of your jeans as he opens the door. “I’m home!” He holds the door open for you as you walk in. “Oh wow. It’s really nice in here.” He laughs “My grandma will absolutely agree with you.” You hear footsteps. Multiple footsteps. You turn to look at the staircase. His grandmother appears first “Oh Jaafar welcome hom- oh you brought a guest!” She grins at you and holds your hands “Oh sweetheart it’s so nice to meet you. Jaafar doesn’t stop talking about the big popstar that trains him.” That makes you blush. You look over at Jaafar how has a hand over his face as if his grandmother just told you his darkest secret. He laughs and hugs her “Alright alright I’m sure she is hungry why don’t we go eat.” His grandma laughs as she takes your arm in hers “Okay tell me all about you. What genre do you sing?” You walk with her making sure you aren’t walking too fast “I’m very versatile. I honestly think my music is all over the place really.” She pats your hand “Just like my Michael. He was very versatile too. Like if he could do anything he put his mind to.” That warms your heart as you step inside the kitchen. That’s when you slightly freeze. All of his siblings are there. All their attention is on Jaafar to even notice you until their mother clears her throat. They all turn to look at you. You give them all a small smile and a wave “Hi it’s nice meeting you all.” They all look at you like if you are familiar to them. La Toya steps closer to you “You look familiar do I know you?” You freeze a bit before relaxing “I don’t think so. A lot of people say I have one of those faces.” She continues to look at you and then agrees “Yeah it’s probably that.”
You smile at all of them “Can I help you guys? I wouldn’t want to just intrude in your family dinner and not help.” They all stop. “Sweetie no you are Jaafar’s guest. We don’t make guests do house work.” You look at his grandmother and shake your head you roll your sleeves up and put your hair up before walking over to the sink to wash your hands “That is nonsense Mrs. Jackson. My grandma would kill me if she found out I didn’t help. Now for my safety how can I help.” The Jacksons look at you and they all smile. “Alright then why don’t you help La Toya with the enchiladas.” You perk up and immediately nod “Okay.” They all turn to look at Jaafar who turns red at the attention. His grandma takes his hand “She’s a good friend that one. Keep her close.” He smiles down at her and then looks over at you laughing with his aunt. “I will.” One of his uncles asks you a question “So hun how long have you been in the industry?” You look up at him as you are placing an enchilada on the tray “Since I was 15. Nothing compared to you guys though.” His uncle lets out a laugh “Hey it’s still something! How old are you? Are you the same age as Jaafar?” You shake your head “I’m two years younger actually. He is what 29?” You turn to look at Jaafar and he nods “I’m 27.” You say. His uncle nods “That’s 13 years. That is still a lot hey props to you kid.” You smile at him. La Toya claps her hands “Alright all the Jacksons and Miss popstar to the dinner table! It’s time to eat!”
You guys walk into the studio. As soon as you enter you stop in the middle. Michael’s studio. You look over at Jaafar who is looking at you. He motions you to explore. You smile and immediately start to look at the pictures on the wall. You see pictures of Michael with his brothers, him with his nephews. You walk around the studio until you get to his writing desk. A picture catches your eye. You pick up the frame. It’s a picture of Michael hugging a little girl. Jaafar comes behind you and looks at the frame in your hand. “Ah yeah we don’t know where that girl from the picture is. My uncles said it was someone important to him. My guess is that she is one of the kids he brought to neverland. He was attached to those kids.” You continue to look at it. Your hand starts to slightly shake. You immediately put the picture down. Clearing your throat you turn to look at Jaafar “Thank you for letting me see this.” He notices the redness in your eyes. “Hey? Are you okay?” He walks up to you “I’m okay. I think I’m just emotional after all this. I really wasn’t expecting this.” You wipe your eyes a bit as you breathe in and look at him. “Alright since we are in a studio how about I show you vocal tricks?”
After a small vocal session you bid your farewell to the Jacksons. They all tell you to come back soon. Jaafar is talking to his driver “just be careful please. You have precious cargo.” You look at him in shock and then at his driver who is laughing. “Wooow so now I’m cargo? Not even friend.” He lets out a laugh and shakes his head “I’ll see you monday popstar.” You laugh “See you Monday Jackson.” Popstar. His little funny nickname for you. Him and John decided that was your nickname from now on. You sat in the back of the car as the driver took you to your apartment. Looking as the lights sped by like shooting stars. On your lap you had a Tupperware container with the famous Enchiladas they fed you. As soon as the driver parked in front of your building he opened the door for you. “Thank you so much.” “Of course ma’am.”
As soon as you got inside your apartment you shrugged your sweater off. You look at your apartment the instruments on your bed “Right. The album.” You put the enchiladas inside the fridge. You kicked off your shoes and went over to your bed. You had the piano in front of you with your lyric book opened to a a song you had no idea what it was about. You sighed as you ripped the page in front of you. You tossed it to the bin next to you. Today opened so many feelings inside you. The picture. The way you felt Michael all over that studio. The way his family welcomed you with open arms. Your life was good. You had no reason to go back to the sad depressing songs. But most of those were your favorite. So it wouldn’t hurt revisiting your past. Your fingers hovered above the keys slightly before they pressed some of the keys.
“This is a story that I have never told
I gotta get this off my chest to let it go
I need to take back the light inside you stole
You're a criminal
And you steal like you're a pro”
Your breath was shaky. You took your pencil as you wrote the lyrics. Your hands slightly shook but you managed to calm them down.
“I'm stronger than I've ever been
And my armor, is made of steel, you can't get in
I'm a warrior.
And you can never hurt me again.’
You had to stop for a bit. You stood up and walked over to your windows and opened them. Feeling the air against your skin as you felt goosebumps spread all over. You closed your eyes softly.
2007 Santa Bárbara, CA.
“Hey firefly.” You turned to look at the man in front of you. You smiled widely at him. “Hi applehead!” He laughs at the nickname all the kids call him. He crouched in from of you as he placed a small flower in your hair. You were 8 at the time. You looked up at him in awe. “Do you know why I call you firefly?” You shook your head at him as you slightly play with hair. He places a hand on your head “Because of people like us.” He said to you softly “We spend our entire life around artificial lights. Cameras, Spotlights, flashbulbs.” He gave your cheek a small pinch “But you my little firefly you glow naturally.”
2027 Los Angeles
You open your eyes as you feel the cold air against your wet cheeks. You turn around to sit back on your bed. You look at the lyrics on the book and then the keys. You reach over to write some lyrics as you play around with the piano. Finding the write words and notes you finally got it.
“There's a part of me I can't get back
A little girl grew up too fast
All it took was once, I'll never be the same
Now I'm taking back my life today
Nothing left that you can say
'Cause you are never gonna take the blame anyway”
There it was. The spark you had when singing about your past. You hated using it in songs but it’s what made you who you are today you continued to sing as you played the piano
‘You can never hurt me again.’
You closed your book took the piano off your bed. You stood up to brush your teeth. Grabbing your phone you texted your manager.
You:
‘I need to see you tomorrow’
You:
[File Attached]
You sent him the link of the recording. The three dots immediately appeared.
Tony:
‘Are you okay?’
You:
‘I’m okay. I need to fully record this song please.’
Tony:
‘You know you are in no rush to submit the album right?’
You:
‘Tony I need this. I’ll explain everything tomorrow.’
You put your phone to charge. As you got under the the covers you turned off the lamp at your bedside table and just watched the curtains flow with the air as your drifted to sleep.
•Tags: Jaafar Jackson x Popstar! Reader, Reader is implied female.
•Warnings: UM SOOOO ITS MY FIRST FIC BE NICE! Let me know if I’m doing something wrong 😭🤚🏻. Okay sooo how this is going to go I have mostly everything mapped out. I know where I want this to go. Hopefully I can execute this as I want it to. This might have some triggering topics such as child abuse and some gun violence. But please trust the process.
2027: Culver City, California.
Jaafar was standing in the middle of the room silent. He was anxious. You could practically feel it a mile away as soon as he entered the set. Your eyes slightly moved towards him as you sat down on your chair waiting for the moment they needed you. You joined the Michael team a little over a month ago. You were there to help Jaafar with any singing tricks or dancing tricks but mainly to help him how to handle himself in the concert scenes. You sat next to the Talauega Brothers, they weren’t very welcoming the first time they met you but John managed to sway them a bit. “That curl is pointing the wrong way! Can we get the hair crew back in here please!” You slightly jumped from your seat as Antoine yells from behind you. Having had enough you slightly curse under your breath “Christ..” and stand up to walk over to Jaafar. The hair team is trying to fix the said curl as Jaafar looks over at you. “Hey.. how are you holding up?” He gives you a soft smile before licking his bottom lip slightly “It’s not bad. I’ve done worse.” That gets a small laugh out of you. “Of course you have. I’m talking to a Jackson after all.” You slightly shift back as you take a good look at him. He has on a white suit with thin lines going down. A blue button down and the Iconic white felt fedora with a black hatband.
“If it makes you feel any better this is one of my favorite looks on you.” He looks up at you as the hair team finally gets the curl right. He puts a hand up to his heart “Woow so the other looks weren’t up to your standards?” You let out a small giggle and shake your head “Your words not mine.” He slightly shakes his head as he rubs him neck “Thanks for coming on short notice. I know this isn’t what we agreed on. But I feel like I can breathe around here when you are around. It’s like all my problems leave my head.” You smile softly at him “Hey you know I’m literally just a call away. I’m here whenever you need me even if they don’t really need my help on set. I can still make myself useful. You need a coffee? I’m your girl. You need me to take a picture for you? Done. You just need to ask.” Your conversation is cut short as John walks towards you two. “Alright are we ready to recreat this? Okay son I believe that you have this it’s exactly just like how you rehearsed it okay? Not I’m going to step away before Antoine kills me okay?” Jaafar nods and smiles. You give him a small thumbs up and follow John to the side.
Antoine is sitting behind a monitor as he yells out “Alright people! We are starting! It’s the year 1987 and we are in Culver California. We are on the set of the Smooth Criminal music video. Everyone in their places! Action!” The music starts and Jaafar starts doing his magic. John turns towards you “Thanks for coming kid. He probably wouldn’t have done this without you here. He has gotten used to having you around.” You softly nudge John “Aww don’t go all soft on me John, you know I’m happy to help after everything that you did to help me in my situation with my parents, I technically owe my life to you.” He smiles softly and goes back to watching Jaafar.
November 2026
You were out of breath as you walked around the studio. Your tour dancers had invited you to dance the whole show just for yourselves, just for fun they said. You walked over to your water and took a big drink from it. “Thank you guys for inviting me. This was fun. Honestly I’m going to miss this.” You held your side a bit as they all looked at you with smiles. You all had a blast going on tour. You loved every second of it. You grabbed your phone and put your music on shuffle. You start to stretch slightly as ‘Love never felt so good’ started playing. It was one of the songs that made you just forget about everything. Your dancers squealed as the song started playing. They all stood up and just let their body be free. Like if there was no care in the world. You loved moments like this you grabbed your hair brush from your bag and started to ‘sing’ your heart out. They started to dance around you like if you were Michael himself. Your hair was down and swinging as you danced with them. There were sweat beads on your forehead but you cared less about your appearance since you weren’t waiting for anyone.
Unaware of the three people watching from the top of the studio as you had fun dancing with your dancers and singing your heart out as Michael’s and Justin’s vocals bounced off the walls of the studio. “Baby! Love never felt so good!” You held on to one of your dancers as you sang to them as if you were Michael himself. They jokingly fan themselves as they “faint” in your arms. That makes you laugh. The group at the top is just watching your performance in awe. They are seeing how close you are with your dancers. Then the dance break starts they all take a chance to dance in the middle until it’s your turn. You turn red as you shake your head. They all push you to the middle as you try to execute the iconic Michael moonwalk but fail. That makes Jaafar hold back a laugh. As the song starts to come to an end you are still dancing with them. The group makes their way down the stairs that are just by the door of the entrance. Just as soon as you said the last words your dancers immediately stop dancing and look shocked. You immediately turn around and your face turns pale. You hurry to grab your phone as you immediately turn off the music.
In front of you stood the three men. John Branca, Antoine Fuqua, and Jaafar Jackson. You make eye contact with John and clear your throat immediately “J-John! What a surprise!” You wipe your hands on your leggings as you extend your hand. You put on a small smile. “I didn’t know you were coming.” You shook his hand and then Antoine and lastly Jaafar. He had an amused look on his face and that makes you slightly shudder. John slightly laughs “I called your manager. He said you were here. I assumed he let you know?” You slightly cursed under your breath as you hear steps running towards the door. Your manager stops as he doubles over to catch his breath “Hey! Oh! You guys are here already!” You lock eyes with him and slightly narrow your eyes “Hey I called you didn’t answer. Not my fault if they saw something embarrassing.” Embarrassing indeed. John laughs a bit “Nonsense it was fun!” Jaafar slightly shifts “Yeah it was pretty fun to watch.” You turned so red. You closed your eyes in embarrassment ‘God kill me know.’ You thought you yourself “John is there anything I can help you with?” He looks at you and nods and motions you outside. You grab your things and look at your dancers “I’ll see you soon guys! Get home safe.” You wave as you walk with the four men waiting for you. As you are walking your manager takes your bag and hands you a jacket.
“So listen. As you know the Micheal movie was a success. And we are planning to start filming early next year.” You silently listen to John talk your eyes slightly shift towards Jaafar who is looking at his shoes as John talks to you. He did good as his uncle. Did you go watch the movie? Not really, just clips here and there or whatever you heard from your dancers. You turn back to John “This half it’s more of Michael by himself, and Jaafar really needs help with how to nail the concert etiquette. There is only so much our choreographers can do and I suggested to have someone who knew the industry. So I suggested you, I mean who better than the queen of pop herself.” You choked on your water as he said those last words “I’m sorry-“ You turned to your manager as you turned away to clear your throat “Sorry. Um I don’t know if I have time John? I mean with everything I want to do-“ “we cleared everything with your manager.” OH WELL THEN BY ALL MEANS. You turned to look at your manager and he gave you a guilty smile. You sighed a bit before looking over at Jaafar. He also gave you a weak smile “Fuck…” you said under your breath “Fine. Yeah whatever I’ll do it.” John claps his hands “Perfect! Thank you!” He brings you into a hug which takes you by surprise “you are welcome?” You let out a small laugh as you fix your shirt a bit “I have your information already. I’ll let you know whenever we start. Uhh right this is Jaafar. He is-“ “John I know who he is. The whole world knows who he is. But it’s finally nice to meet you Jaafar.” He takes your hand and shakes it “I can say the same thing to you.” His hands are warm. You look up at him and step back. “Well then I guess I’ll see you soon?” He nods “yeah.. I can’t wait.”
As the men left you were left with your manager “Troy..” he immediately turns and shakes his head “I know.. I’m so sorry but it can get you more out there.” That hit you like a truck “More out there? Tony I don’t need to be more out there. I already am. But I get where you are coming from really. But please don’t ever make a decision like this without me. Tell them to give you a day to contact me.” He laughs and nods “No yeah lesson learned. Why were you so comfortable with John though? Didn’t take you for the type to know him like that.” You looked at him and let out a small laugh “I’ve known John for a while. You remember when I told you about my parents? Well he helped me get out of that.” He looked like he regretted asking but nodded instead “Shit didn’t mean to bring it up.” You shake your head “Tony you are fine. I can’t believe I haven’t told you.” After all that he dropped you off home and your phone rang.
Unknown Number:
‘It’s John. I talked to everyone and we might start in February. Does that work for you?’
You:
‘Yeah that works perfect. Thank you.’
John:
‘No, thank you for agreeing. I don’t know what I would’ve done.’
2027 Culver City, California
You jolt out of your memories as Jaafar puts a hand on your shoulder “Hey you good?” He makes eye contact with him and nod “Oh god. Yes how long was I out?” He laughs softly that perfect smile of his showing “I while actually. Antoine called on you multiple times and nothing.” You slightly turn read and look over for Antoine, he is no where to be seen. “I’m just joking with you. John did look concerned though. You were practically burning holes into me though.” You laugh and push his shoulder away from you. He shakes his head as he is laughing “Come on. I’m going to go have some lunch with my grandma. They want to meet you.” You look up in shock “Meet me? Wait you said grandma and then they who is they?” He starts walking away “My whole family.” You knew he wasn’t going to let you get away. So you decided to follow him. I mean how bad can it possibly be right?
•Tags: Jaafar Jackson x Popstar! Reader, Reader is implied female.
•Warnings: UM SOOOO ITS MY FIRST FIC BE NICE! Let me know if I’m doing something wrong 😭🤚🏻. Okay sooo how this is going to go I have mostly everything mapped out. I know where I want this to go. Hopefully I can execute this as I want it to. This might have some triggering topics such as child abuse and some gun violence. But please trust the process.
2027: Culver City, California.
Jaafar was standing in the middle of the room silent. He was anxious. You could practically feel it a mile away as soon as he entered the set. Your eyes slightly moved towards him as you sat down on your chair waiting for the moment they needed you. You joined the Michael team a little over a month ago. You were there to help Jaafar with any singing tricks or dancing tricks but mainly to help him how to handle himself in the concert scenes. You sat next to the Talauega Brothers, they weren’t very welcoming the first time they met you but John managed to sway them a bit. “That curl is pointing the wrong way! Can we get the hair crew back in here please!” You slightly jumped from your seat as Antoine yells from behind you. Having had enough you slightly curse under your breath “Christ..” and stand up to walk over to Jaafar. The hair team is trying to fix the said curl as Jaafar looks over at you. “Hey.. how are you holding up?” He gives you a soft smile before licking his bottom lip slightly “It’s not bad. I’ve done worse.” That gets a small laugh out of you. “Of course you have. I’m talking to a Jackson after all.” You slightly shift back as you take a good look at him. He has on a white suit with thin lines going down. A blue button down and the Iconic white felt fedora with a black hatband.
“If it makes you feel any better this is one of my favorite looks on you.” He looks up at you as the hair team finally gets the curl right. He puts a hand up to his heart “Woow so the other looks weren’t up to your standards?” You let out a small giggle and shake your head “Your words not mine.” He slightly shakes his head as he rubs him neck “Thanks for coming on short notice. I know this isn’t what we agreed on. But I feel like I can breathe around here when you are around. It’s like all my problems leave my head.” You smile softly at him “Hey you know I’m literally just a call away. I’m here whenever you need me even if they don’t really need my help on set. I can still make myself useful. You need a coffee? I’m your girl. You need me to take a picture for you? Done. You just need to ask.” Your conversation is cut short as John walks towards you two. “Alright are we ready to recreat this? Okay son I believe that you have this it’s exactly just like how you rehearsed it okay? Not I’m going to step away before Antoine kills me okay?” Jaafar nods and smiles. You give him a small thumbs up and follow John to the side.
Antoine is sitting behind a monitor as he yells out “Alright people! We are starting! It’s the year 1987 and we are in Culver California. We are on the set of the Smooth Criminal music video. Everyone in their places! Action!” The music starts and Jaafar starts doing his magic. John turns towards you “Thanks for coming kid. He probably wouldn’t have done this without you here. He has gotten used to having you around.” You softly nudge John “Aww don’t go all soft on me John, you know I’m happy to help after everything that you did to help me in my situation with my parents, I technically owe my life to you.” He smiles softly and goes back to watching Jaafar.
November 2026
You were out of breath as you walked around the studio. Your tour dancers had invited you to dance the whole show just for yourselves, just for fun they said. You walked over to your water and took a big drink from it. “Thank you guys for inviting me. This was fun. Honestly I’m going to miss this.” You held your side a bit as they all looked at you with smiles. You all had a blast going on tour. You loved every second of it. You grabbed your phone and put your music on shuffle. You start to stretch slightly as ‘Love never felt so good’ started playing. It was one of the songs that made you just forget about everything. Your dancers squealed as the song started playing. They all stood up and just let their body be free. Like if there was no care in the world. You loved moments like this you grabbed your hair brush from your bag and started to ‘sing’ your heart out. They started to dance around you like if you were Michael himself. Your hair was down and swinging as you danced with them. There were sweat beads on your forehead but you cared less about your appearance since you weren’t waiting for anyone.
Unaware of the three people watching from the top of the studio as you had fun dancing with your dancers and singing your heart out as Michael’s and Justin’s vocals bounced off the walls of the studio. “Baby! Love never felt so good!” You held on to one of your dancers as you sang to them as if you were Michael himself. They jokingly fan themselves as they “faint” in your arms. That makes you laugh. The group at the top is just watching your performance in awe. They are seeing how close you are with your dancers. Then the dance break starts they all take a chance to dance in the middle until it’s your turn. You turn red as you shake your head. They all push you to the middle as you try to execute the iconic Michael moonwalk but fail. That makes Jaafar hold back a laugh. As the song starts to come to an end you are still dancing with them. The group makes their way down the stairs that are just by the door of the entrance. Just as soon as you said the last words your dancers immediately stop dancing and look shocked. You immediately turn around and your face turns pale. You hurry to grab your phone as you immediately turn off the music.
In front of you stood the three men. John Branca, Antoine Fuqua, and Jaafar Jackson. You make eye contact with John and clear your throat immediately “J-John! What a surprise!” You wipe your hands on your leggings as you extend your hand. You put on a small smile. “I didn’t know you were coming.” You shook his hand and then Antoine and lastly Jaafar. He had an amused look on his face and that makes you slightly shudder. John slightly laughs “I called your manager. He said you were here. I assumed he let you know?” You slightly cursed under your breath as you hear steps running towards the door. Your manager stops as he doubles over to catch his breath “Hey! Oh! You guys are here already!” You lock eyes with him and slightly narrow your eyes “Hey I called you didn’t answer. Not my fault if they saw something embarrassing.” Embarrassing indeed. John laughs a bit “Nonsense it was fun!” Jaafar slightly shifts “Yeah it was pretty fun to watch.” You turned so red. You closed your eyes in embarrassment ‘God kill me know.’ You thought you yourself “John is there anything I can help you with?” He looks at you and nods and motions you outside. You grab your things and look at your dancers “I’ll see you soon guys! Get home safe.” You wave as you walk with the four men waiting for you. As you are walking your manager takes your bag and hands you a jacket.
“So listen. As you know the Micheal movie was a success. And we are planning to start filming early next year.” You silently listen to John talk your eyes slightly shift towards Jaafar who is looking at his shoes as John talks to you. He did good as his uncle. Did you go watch the movie? Not really, just clips here and there or whatever you heard from your dancers. You turn back to John “This half it’s more of Michael by himself, and Jaafar really needs help with how to nail the concert etiquette. There is only so much our choreographers can do and I suggested to have someone who knew the industry. So I suggested you, I mean who better than the queen of pop herself.” You choked on your water as he said those last words “I’m sorry-“ You turned to your manager as you turned away to clear your throat “Sorry. Um I don’t know if I have time John? I mean with everything I want to do-“ “we cleared everything with your manager.” OH WELL THEN BY ALL MEANS. You turned to look at your manager and he gave you a guilty smile. You sighed a bit before looking over at Jaafar. He also gave you a weak smile “Fuck…” you said under your breath “Fine. Yeah whatever I’ll do it.” John claps his hands “Perfect! Thank you!” He brings you into a hug which takes you by surprise “you are welcome?” You let out a small laugh as you fix your shirt a bit “I have your information already. I’ll let you know whenever we start. Uhh right this is Jaafar. He is-“ “John I know who he is. The whole world knows who he is. But it’s finally nice to meet you Jaafar.” He takes your hand and shakes it “I can say the same thing to you.” His hands are warm. You look up at him and step back. “Well then I guess I’ll see you soon?” He nods “yeah.. I can’t wait.”
As the men left you were left with your manager “Troy..” he immediately turns and shakes his head “I know.. I’m so sorry but it can get you more out there.” That hit you like a truck “More out there? Tony I don’t need to be more out there. I already am. But I get where you are coming from really. But please don’t ever make a decision like this without me. Tell them to give you a day to contact me.” He laughs and nods “No yeah lesson learned. Why were you so comfortable with John though? Didn’t take you for the type to know him like that.” You looked at him and let out a small laugh “I’ve known John for a while. You remember when I told you about my parents? Well he helped me get out of that.” He looked like he regretted asking but nodded instead “Shit didn’t mean to bring it up.” You shake your head “Tony you are fine. I can’t believe I haven’t told you.” After all that he dropped you off home and your phone rang.
Unknown Number:
‘It’s John. I talked to everyone and we might start in February. Does that work for you?’
You:
‘Yeah that works perfect. Thank you.’
John:
‘No, thank you for agreeing. I don’t know what I would’ve done.’
2027 Culver City, California
You jolt out of your memories as Jaafar puts a hand on your shoulder “Hey you good?” He makes eye contact with him and nod “Oh god. Yes how long was I out?” He laughs softly that perfect smile of his showing “I while actually. Antoine called on you multiple times and nothing.” You slightly turn read and look over for Antoine, he is no where to be seen. “I’m just joking with you. John did look concerned though. You were practically burning holes into me though.” You laugh and push his shoulder away from you. He shakes his head as he is laughing “Come on. I’m going to go have some lunch with my grandma. They want to meet you.” You look up in shock “Meet me? Wait you said grandma and then they who is they?” He starts walking away “My whole family.” You knew he wasn’t going to let you get away. So you decided to follow him. I mean how bad can it possibly be right?
Hello everyone!! I’m new here! But I have a really interesting idea. I recently watched the Michael movie and I’m OBSESSED. I’ve been wanting to read a Jaafar Angst fic for the past week. My idea is a Jaafar Jackson x popstar reader in where reader gets recruited for the second part in helping him manage everything for tours and music. Basically getting him out of his shell. I NEED IT SO BAD! Let me know if there is actually people here that would read this.
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