....

Taylor was literally sitting in her bathtub, just wasting time and trying to unwind when she was suddenly hit with some creativity.

She was scrolling through her social media apps during that time, starting with twitter for some news which had quickly turned boring, and moving on to instagram. But really, there wasn't much to learn about besides how poorly the world was doing at trying to contain this virus. She needed to take her mind off things and have a mindless laugh, so she finally switched to TikTok.

She wasn't surprised when the first video that appeared on her screen was of August. She was sitting in her bedroom, playing the guitar.

The tune started off with a few jazz chords Taylor couldn't even recall the name of if she tried. Then, August started singing, her voice smooth, deep, and powerful. And then, to her surprise, August had stopped singing and asked the viewers to write something to the tune, claiming she was all out of ideas.

But Taylor wasn't. In fact, sitting right there in that tub, she could already feel the wheels turning in her brain and she started humming along to the tune until the humming turned into singing and she had found that she'd written an entire second verse.

She quickly typed the lyrics in her notes before getting out of the bathtub and wrapping a towel around her frame. She made her way to her bedroom pretty fast, putting on the first shirt she found in her cupboard and a pair of comfortable pyjama pants and went to record herself singing along.

Until she realised she looked like a wet rat right after her bath.

With a little ridiculous laugh at herself, she spent the next twenty minutes or so drying her hair and applying just a tad bit of make-up. It felt great, honestly, having spent the last month changing from one pair of pyjamas to the next without bothering to glam up in any way possible. Frankly, it was too depressing, and dabbing some blush on her cheeks and a light layer of eyeliner felt refreshing.

It took her another couple of takes before she was satisfied with the recording and then sat down on her couch and typed out the lyrics she had just written. Leaving a quick caption, she finally hit the post button and went on scrolling on her phone for another ten minutes, but she couldn't really focus on any of the videos she was watching.

With a little frustrated huff and a click of her tongue, she pushed herself off the sofa and marched to her music room. She dropped her phone face-down over the top of the piano and sat down on the brown, leather stool, pulling the cover up to reveal the keys.

Taylor stretched her fingers, wiggled them over the keys, and took a deep breath before pressing down gently. She attempted first to replay the chord progression that August had come up with in that video. It wasn't easy. Some of these chords, she was sure, had pretty complicated names she had never bothered to learn.

Was that a C#add13 ?

She had no clue, but she was vaguely aware of the fact that it had a pretty jazzy sound. And it sounded fucking awesome.

She spent probably hours cooped up in that room until she had figured out the entire chord progression and managed to develop it, adding some melodies on top. She even added a small chorus of her own and a little bridge.

Feeling elated to have finally written something of substance after so long, Taylor treated herself to a nice glass of wine before returning to the instrument.

She checked her phone, noticing that the video she'd posted had done really well and had very supportive comments, including fans who demanded a full version of the song, and even celebrities such as Charlie Puth and Ed Sheeran letting Taylor and August know just how much they liked the work.

But Taylor didn't feel like she could take any of the credit. Really, if it weren't for August's fresh sounds, she wouldn't have been so inspired to write in the first place.

She did notice a few messages from her friends, who had noticed the video and asking if she was working on anything new. And there was one message in particular from August herself.

All it said was:

LAJSJSJSNSJSSKSJSJSJSMSMSMSMSMMSSMSMSMAMSMSMSMSMSMSMSMSKAKKSSS

Taylor let out a laugh and opened her DMs to like the message and respond.

✔️

Are you okay???

August responded just a second later with more jargon which made Taylor beam but then she sent in another message, this one with actual words. Well, several messages. Really, August spammed her.

TAYLOR FUCKING SWIFT

YOU ARE A POET

A LYRICAL GENIUS

A MUSICAL CONNOISSEUR IF YOU WILL

THE VERSE YOU ADDED WAS AMAZING

AND OMG DID U SEE ED SHEERAN COMMENTED???

TAYLOR SMDNSAMSKSN THIS IS SO FUCKING AWESOME

IM SORRY IM JUST REALLY EXCITED RIGHT NOW

It took Taylor a few moments to get herself together. She was laughing quite hard, thinking of how adorable August truly was.

✔️

You're the genius who wrote that base! I was simply inspired by it!!

✔️

I have to thank you actually. I've been playing music all day and I've never felt better! I think I've been sitting at this piano for nearly four hours and I'm not getting up any time soon

you're so

amazing

seriously. thank you

✔️

No need to thank me!!

With a little smile on her face, Taylor put her phone away and turned back to her piano.

The next chord she played led to an entire melody. She could feel herself writing her next big hit.

———

👀