Stagelight AU

A modern music Lamplight adjacent AU. (Lamplight adjacent in that it uses the loose format of: guy who is powerful and can't talk + guy who will do anything for him). Thank you @liloinkoink @martynsimp69 @ilexdiapason @kingtheghast @honey-daisies and Bird for collective brainstorming this with me <3

Let's meet our guys in this AU!

Martyn is an aspiring musician, previously with the band EVO (though he left when the band signed with Watcher Records). Years later, he now works a pub called The King's Head, but attends the open mic nights hosted by The Burning Lantern down the road. He begins noticing a reoccurring audience member.

That reoccurring audience member is of course Ren Dog. An older man wearing sunglasses at every open mic night. He always sits through Martyn's performances, sometimes he leaves right after, sometimes he sticks around for a while, but he is always there when Martyn plays. Except that one time Martyn played an old rock song from Red King, the guy had left in the middle of that performance, odd.....

And that's where it starts.

Martyn, of course, immediately has his interest piqued. Originally, because there was a very attractive man staring at him intently, but afterwards because of the mystery. Who is this guy? Why does he only leave after hes had a chance to hear Martyn's sets? Why does he never come up and say something? Martyn is aware he's an attractive guy, and the musician look really does it for a lot of people, so he's no stranger to an audience member coming up for a chat after his set.

This guy never does though, so Martyn ends up taking the matter into his own hands. So he devises a little trap. If that man always waited for him to play, then how about using that to his advantage? Trading out his electric guitar for acoustic that night, Martyn delays his set until he is the last act of the night. The moment his last note finishes ringing out from the stage, he sprints down the steps to introduce himself.

Ren though does not react well to this situation at all, staring at Martyn in startled silence and before turning and walking away without a single word.

He eventually finds out Ren's name by asking the employees of the bar. Imagine his surprise to learn that his name is Ren, just like the Renthedog account that has been consistently liking his posts on AUstagram. Even after the disastrous introduction.

So the next time he reaches out to Ren, he tries to take it a bit slower. Making eye contact from the stage, a little wave. Next time he tries to talk to Ren, instead of offering to buy him a drink, he asks if he can get Ren's AUstagram, and with a laugh Ren hands it over.

A flood gate opens from there. For all that Martyn has never heard Ren speak, he sure has a lot to say when it's in writing. They hang out from there, quickly becoming friends. When Martyn finds out that Ren straight up cannot speak, and it wasn't just shyness holding his voice back, he tries to ask why. Ren just gives the vague answer of:

Stage fright, all the world's a stage

Which doesn't really explain anything.

They have a comfortable, distant, but a bit flirty, friendship. Which is something that changes when Martyn finds the photo.

He finds it when cleaning out an old box of stuff. In a box full of high school knick knacks, one of the photos stands out. It's of himself and BigB, they must be 17 or 18, and they're standing with their arms thrown around eachother at some sort of music festival or concert. That's not what gives Martyn pause on it though, it's the singer performing in the background. The face might be obscured by makeup, and time, and the noise of an old photo camera, but its Ren. Martyn is absolutely certain Ren is the one singing in that picture. It clicks what band that is, Red King, BigB’s favorite. Ren, Ren was the lead singer of Red King.

With some digging, he finds out what happened. Red King, a three man rock band, with Lead Singer/Guitarist Ren Dog, Drummer Skizz Leman, and Bassist/Harmony Singer Scar Goodtimes, was one of the bands of all time. Sold out shows, huge tours, the works. Until it suddenly broke up over a decade back because of a scandal involving the lead singer, involving Ren.

Their tour had stopped where Ren's childhood friend Lizzie lived, famous actress Lizzie Shadow, Lizzie. They had been out for dinner to catch up and Ren was driving her home when he took a corner just a little too fast, the car skids, hits a tree, Lizzie's taken to the hospital and suddenly Ren finds his life crumbling around him.

Lizzie had been fine when the paramedics had arrived, told him it wasn't a big deal and that he didn't need to worry about any bad press from this. Cause why would she want to hurt her friend?

But somehow the press does find out, and the person who tipped them off implied that it wasn't a mutual understanding but instead a cover up.

Someone reports that he was drunk when they wrecked (even though he wasnt) and that gets picked up and run with. The constant pregnant rumors that follow Lizzie also get thrown in the mix and whispers of an affair (which again he wasn't, they weren't) get picked up as fact.

Ren figures out pretty quickly it was Scar who leaked the accident, the initial reports had too many details that he'd only told a couple of people. And when he goes to confront Scar about it? Well, Scar's always been able to put on a good performance, it's why Ren had brought him into the band in the first place. To have that acting turned against him though? Used to manipulate the flashing paparazzi cameras so that it looks like Ren is lashing out against his innocent band mate? It makes him wish he'd never met Scar.

The day after that fight with Scar is flooding across the tabloid, they still have to go onto the stage to performing their show.

Ren steps up on stage and sees a sight that will haunt him for the rest of his days. The giant venue, a sold out show, stands almost entirely empty. He tries to push on, tries to sing, but his words get absorbed into the empty silence. And on that silent stage is the last time Ren Dog speaks.

Lizzie speaks out and clears up the scandal after she's leaves the hospital, but its too late for Red King to recover. Skizz returns home to his family, Scar builds a solo career off the stinking corpse of Red King, and Ren fades into the obscurity of a normal, secluded life.

Martyn takes this knowledge and uses it to help Ren on his journey to gain back his voice. They are drawn together by music and fall in love. In the end, Martyn and Ren go on tour together, The King and The Hand, not to become famous, but to travel around and continue to find the joy in music together. Ren is back in the stagelight, but Martyn is the one in the spotlight, and Ren could not be happier for him.

PLEASE ASK ME ABOUT THIS AU IT MAKES ME INSANE AND I WANNA TALK ABOUT IT MORE!!! THERES SO MUCH MORE I COULDNT FIND A WAY TO FIT IN!!!

Where it started:

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burdigel

3 months ago

Really stupid au where when they were younger, Kakashi and Obito shared an accidental kiss a lot like Sasuke and Naruto. (Kakashi commits to his mask shortly after but will never not insist it's unrelated)

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Then, years later when Obito reveals himself on the battlefield, instead of going "woah, another Uchiha!?" when he hears his name, Naruto can't help but point and shout OH MY GOD UR THE GUY WHO KISSED SENSEI!!!!!!!!

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"Yeah a rivalry????"

"So I was only ever a way for u to get stronger,, figures u were using me,,,"

[Confused Obito car crash noises]

Sakura yells smthn ab him being a deadbeat and how Kakashi can do so much better and Naruto is instantly shouting in agreement as Sasuke stands there like "hn." Which is basically the same thing for him

Kakashi just starts straight up lying actually

"What about all those picnics we went on... watching the sun set over konoha..."

"Are you talking about when Minato said we weren't allowed to come back inside till we stopped arguing and ate on opposite ends of the roof bc we couldn't even look at eachother without yelling???"

"It was so romantic."

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(It was not.)

"You died in my arms..."

"I died under a rock"

"We literally got eye married" (not a thing, he just made this up 3 seconds ago)

"We got WHAT" (no one can prove him wrong tho bc no surviving Uchiha knows that much ab their clans marriage traditions)

"Oh my god sensei's husband is a deadbeat" - sakura, horrified (and maybe a little delighted)

"Figures." -Sasuke, who's been in proximity w Obito for some time now and absoloutley believes every word ab this topic Kakashi is saying

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3 months ago

Go crazy go psycho

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Role!Swap Crossover: A Wandering Fighter Meets A Familiar Traveler Also Known As The "Let's Make Traveler!Isabeau

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burdigel

5 months ago

some people on here don't need positivity asks. popular artists and writers for example. they get enough love, show love to smaller creators instead

Hello anon! You seem confused about how this blog works. Since it seems you are not aware, this is a submission-based blog! (✨0✨) Any person can submit anyone else, regardless of how "popular" that person is. The submission button is in fact the same button you hit to send me this unfortunate and rude ask!

I assume you are not aware of this, as this ask is the only ask you sent me. No other asks, on or off anon, came in alongside this ask. Especially not any asks sending in positivity for small creators, who you claim to be concerned about. But that cannot be right, because if that were true, I would have to conclude you do not actually care about small creators at all, and only want to complain about popular creators getting positivity, which would be not very nice!

Oh, and another thing. One of this blog's only rules is to not put down one member of this fandom in order to uplift another. I assume you did not read the rules in my description, since you did not know I am submission based, so I thought I would let you know!

Ah, but actually though.

"Popular" writers and artists are in fact also people who work hard and provide the fandom with amazing works. There are a lot of popular artists and writers whose work I genuinely admire, and I am happy to use this space to express this admiration. They deserve appreciation for what they do, and as long as people are willing to submit them, I am going to post them.

(Additionally, on an entirely practical level, who am I to decide when someone is "too popular" to be posted? I cannot see anyone's follower counts. This is in fact a main feature of tumblr. Would I just be going by guess? This seems an inefficient system.) (Not that I think you care about this. I assume you have a specific list of users in your head that you, personally, subjectively, do not like, and you want me to adhere to it for your petty grudge.)

One of the many, many reasons I started this blog was in response to confessions blogs, where I saw space for people to post anons about how they disliked popular artists and writers, such as how they hated a certain person's art or writing style, often specifying those people by name on anon to a blog with many many followers, where that person will unfortunately see it.

Another of the many, many reasons I started this blog is for my friends who are on the more popular end of the fandom, and how people treat them directly. What they have shown me of their inboxes is nightmarish, with people being rude, entitled, or cruel, simply because they assume that people's humanity does not count after a certain amount of followers. And, in the interest of full disclosure, though I am not extraordinarily popular on my main account, I have gotten my own share of nightmare anons as well.

A third of the many, many reasons I started this blog is because I have seen tumblr users post about other tumblr users by name and how they do not like their art/writing/creations, do not think they deserve their success or support, or simply do not like them without ever even meeting them. They will then post those uncaring words in those user's tumblr tags, again where those people will see them.

All of this made me very sad, because it seemed like somewhere along the way, people seemed to forget those artists and writers are people. Being popular (or perceived as popular) in fandom comes with many benefits, this is true, but it also emboldens the absolute worst members of fandom to be cruel to people they think are an acceptable target.

None of this sort of attitude makes fandom a fun place to be. Fandom is meant to be a community, based in mutual love for the same story. It is meant for making art, or writing, or cosplay, or songs, or other creations. It is made for sharing those creations with strangers who love the same thing you do, and sharing excitement and passion with other fans. It is meant for making friends. It is made out of, and meant for, love. Fandom is not only made worthwhile, but kept alive, through our support for one another.

You may think me a popular artist/writer dick-rider for acknowledging the humanity and fandom contributions of popular creators. I do not mind. I am sorry for you that simply believing people should be kind to one another, or that artists and writers should be recognized for their hard work, is so skewed in your head. I will not apologize for being kind to people, or for providing a space for kindness.

Do not mistake my existence as a positivity blog for me being a pushover. I will absolutely not tolerate any of this sort of attitude on this blog. This is a blog based in kindness, and I will shut down any asks which aim to sow any sort of rudeness.

If you actually care about small creators, be the change you want to see. Submit small creators. I am literally constantly begging for submissions, and I would love for people to submit any and all creators, big or small. I myself have submitted plenty of anons about small creators to my own blog. One of the best parts of this blog is learning about lots of creators I would not have known about before because you all submit small folks. Our support for each other is not just fandom at its best. It is what fandom is for.

All this said. Do not be hateful slime in my inbox again. I do not want to block you, because I think you, too, deserve positivity, if you receive it. But I will block you if you persist. Thank you.

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burdigel

3 months ago