Basically I Just Wanted An Excuse To Write

[masterofmidgets]

Without, you know, actually working on any of my WIP. I think I've done this one before, but oh well, doing it again.
The Rules
1. Open your music player (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, etc).
2. Put it on shuffle.
3. Press play.
4. For every ’scene,’ type the song that’s playing. When you go to a new question press the next button.

 

+ Tagline: Build God, Then We'll Talk - Panic! At The Disco

Normally I don't like hooker!fic (yes, yes, I know I've written it, I don't care), but I can run with this. From the tagline, Guy A (rentboy protagonist aka Jamie) is going to win the heart of one of his clients, but is cynical and jaded enough not to give up the trade without a lot of proof this is for real.

+ Opening Credits: Border Journey - Mercedes Lackey

This is a slow, ominous build-up song, with a lot of jingly bells. Jamie is a rent boy in an upper-class, Middle-Eastern harem type brothel, clearly. In the opening scene we have a slow pan over him in bed with another guy, maybe even a montage scene, that makes it clear what he does for a living. Lots of glowy lighting and sheer fabrics, maybe some belly-dancing.

+ Waking Up: Jolly Ploughboys - Kate Rusby

Since this a high-class establishment, the morning starts less with pimp-slapping and more with good-natured shoving as all the harem boys try to get breakfast. Very businesslike, and when the clients aren't there, much like any other place where young men congregate, ie loud, messy, and with accompanying bad smells and stupid jokes. I guess this scene shows the not-bad side of what Jamie does for a living? Not a very realistic movie, all told.

+ Working Song: I Will - Sowelu

*grins* But the truth comes out in the working song - for all they try to act like it's all fun and business, Jamie knows he's just a whore, and he's been hurt, badly, by what he has to do to get by. He hides his pain, but trust me, he's crying inside. Part of him still believes that he can get out of this life and be happy again, but he's too scared of getting hurt again to do anything about it.

+ Falling in Love: The Promise - Tracy Chapman

Enter the love interest! This song is clearly sung by Guy B (male client aka Stephen). He sleeps with Jamie one night, and it's just supposed to be a one-off thing. But they end up talking, and he falls for Jamie and hard. He can't stop thinking about him, and wanting to be with him again. He promises Jamie he'll come back again, and get him out of there, if Jamie will just believe in him and wait for him, but Jamie doesn't buy it.

+ Sex: Wind - Akeboshi

When they sleep together, Stephen tries to get Jamie to see that he is better than this, and that the way out is there if he would only go after it. He also tries to Jamie to have a little faith in himself, not wasting time in crying and listening to other people put him down. Stephen knows Jamie is his own worst enemy in this situation.

+ Lusting: Game Of All Fours - Kate Rusby

Stephen is completely baffled by how bowled over he is by this random young man he meets in a brothel. He thought he knew what he was getting into, but now it feels like he's in a card game with a dealer who knows the game way better than he does, and his head's reeling just trying to keep up. I'm pretty sure this song is supposed to be a metaphor for sex to begin with.

+ Cooking Dinner: I Will Go - Wicked Tinkers

Stephen, god knows what he was thinking, invites Jamie over to his house for the evening, and they cook for dinner together. Not only do they have tremendous fun, but Jamie realizes he could see himself living this life when he finally gets out of prostitution. He has a bad moment remembering how he first got into the trade, thinking he could just do it to get on his feet and leave again right off, without realizing how awful it would be, but this night withStephen has reminded him that there is a world outside.

+ Walk in the Park: There's A Good Reason These Tables Are Numbered, Honey, You Just Haven't Thought Of It Yet - Panic! At The Disco

Argh, reality intrudes again! Stephen, who is a prominent businessman or possibly a lawyer, takes Jamie out with him to a fancy dinner party, but someone there recognizes that Jamie is a rentboy and word spreads quickly. Jamie runs out and ending up walking the park late at night, knowing Stephen was ashamed that everyone thought his date was trash and wondering how he could have ever thought it would work out.

+ Working Out at the Gym: Scarborough Fair - unlisted artist

I have no idea what this has to do with the gym. It's actually a pretty bad workout song, quite slow and soft. Maybe Stephen is working out in preparation for a throw-down with one of the men who was bashing Jamie at the party, to defend his boyfriend's honor? And while there, he starts thinking about all the insurmountable obstables between them being together, and how Jamie is making it so hard for him even though he loves him. Yeah, that.

+ Fight Scene: Invincible - OK, Go

Well, as fight songs go, a song about laser-eyes works pretty well. Jamie comes back to visit Stepen the night after the party, and they end up in a huge fight. Jamie says they were both stupid to think this could be anything more than sex, and he knows Stephen will leave him for someone respectable and, you know, not a hooker, so he's breaking it up now. Stephen, in turn, is crushed that Jamie still doesn't trust him at all, and accuses him of senselessly destroying their relationship.

+ Breaking Up: Hallelujah - Rufus Wainwright

*grins* this is pretty much a stereotypical break-up song. Very much a theme of whatever we had was in the past, with an extra helping of god love sucks so much. This scene is definitely a lot of cuts between Jamie walking back to the brothel in the rain and Stephen sitting in the floor of his apartment. Jamie ends up getting propositioned and blowing some guy in an alley - he's pretty much given up any hope he had of getting out now that everything's gone to hell with Stephen. And Stephen is just heart-broken and doesn't know what to do, so he probably does something incredibly stupid, like hook up with a guy in the bar or call one of his ex's.

+ Secret Love: Boulevard Of Broken Dreams - Green Day

This song works for both characters, but I'm leaning toward Jamie. He's back in the brothel, getting used to the life again after having had the possibility of leaving it, and he's finding it even harder then before to continue. He desperately wants someone to come along and save him, but he knows that someone already came along, and he blew his chance. Here there be streetwalking scenes - maybe the brothel owner is punishing him for trying to leave, may be he just needs to get outside some, but either way he spends a lot of time walking down dark streets feeling sorry for himself. It's secret love because...he's pining?

+ Life’s Okay: Our Retired Explorer - The Weakerthans

Um...I guess Stephen decided to take a vacation to try to get his mind off his failed rentboy love affair. He got to see the sights, and he's got a few new stories and a whole hell of a lot of pictures. But every vacation has to end, and now he has to face his problems again, poor boy.
 

+ Mental Breakdown: Breakable - Fisher

His Antarctica vacation gave him some time to think, and Stephen's realizing that Jamie's tough guy act is just that - an act - and that he wasn't completely innocent in their big blow-up. Jamie gets angry and defensive because he's terrified that if he lets anyone in they will just use him and leave him and he'll get hurt even worse than before, and because he ignored that and kept pushing, he pushed Jamie away. He's still mad, but at least he understands it was partly his fault. And that he made everything ten times worse for Jamie by giving him this chance and then letting him leave.
 

+ Partying: Vindicated - Dashboard Confessional

Trying to pick someone up in a club one night, Jamie sees Stephen out on the dance floor. Jamie knows he should stay away, that this can only end badly, but he's captivated by Stephen. He catches his eye, and they end up dancing together. Jamie can see from the way Stephen looks at him that they have the chance to redeem all this, and start something new. He wants to, he really does, but he's still so frightened by what Stephen wants and what he'll do that he's not sure if he can do that.

+ Long Night Alone: Birdcage - Gackt

After the night in the club, Jamie goes back to the brothel and spends the night alone, thinking about his chance with Stephen. As much as he wants to go for it, he believes that he's lost his opportunity to be happy with him. He just has too much baggage to bring to the relationship for it to ever work; he has too many sins to atone for, and he doesn't think what he's done can ever be forgiven. He'll miss Stephen every day, but they just can't be together no matter how much he wants it.
 

+ Final Battle: As I Roved Out - Kate Rusby

Not so much of a final battle, then, as a resolution-type scene. This would be set several months later, yes? And has Jamie and Stephen running into each other once again, only this time Stephen is in a relationship with someone new, maybe even engaged to the new guy. And when he sees Jamie, he's utterly polite, but Jamie feels betrayed to know he's moved on, and tells him he broke his promise to him. Stephen confesses that he would still be with Jamie if he could, but obviously Jamie wouldn't let that happen.
 

+ Death Scene: Everything - Lifehouse

So, for some reason Jamie is dying - possibly he gets sick, possibly he gets attacked by one of his clients, possibly this is just set years in the future and he's really really old. But out of the blue, Stephen gets a call from one of Jamie's friends/co-workers, saying that Jamie is asking for him, and he better come because they can't do anything for him. He goes, of course - how could he not? He's never stopped loving Jamie. And even after all this time, Jamie still does love Stephen with all his heart, and just his being there is enough to give Jamie peace. Finally, he isn't scared of saying how he feels, and he can tell Stephen that he loves him. Aaaaand...then he dies.

+ Funeral: Ophelia - L'Arc En Ciel

*blinks* That's surprisingly apt. Stephen arranges Jamie's funeral, and as he looks at the body, he is overtaken by the chance for love that they threw away - all the things they never got to do together, all the things they never said, all the mistakes they made. All he wants is for Jamie to wake up and hold him once more like he did when they were in love, but there is nothing he can do to get him back now, no matter how hard he tries.

+ Closing Credits: Persephone - Vixy and Tony

So I guess the moral of the story is don't fall in love with prositutes? I mean, this song is about Persephone and Hades, and how she loved him but he didn't really know her or love her back, which seems to suggest that Stephen didn't really love Jamie, unless Jamie is Hades, which is just...maybe this is intended to be a very ambiguous ending credits song? About doomed love.

Well that ended up much more depressing than I had originally intended! But I am kind of fond of the "sometimes love just isn't enough and you still can't be together" theme, so okay!