With two iced coffees in her hands, August walked up to the large double doors and rang the doorbell with her elbow. With the sun hitting her face with a harsh glare, she felt her nose starting to become irritated. She was gonna sneeze soon and with her mask on, it wasn't going to be pretty at all.

Come on...

Just as she heard the lock turning and the doors slowly opening, August sneezed loudly, the inside of her face mask becoming snotty in the worst possible way.

"Oh, god, you're not sick, are you?"

August looked up, her eyebrows shooting up in surprise when her gaze met a red-headed woman's she had never seen before.

"Uh... no, I just sneeze in direct sunlight," August explained, hoping that didn't sound as dumb as she thought. She cleared her throat, lifting her shoulder to rub the side of her face. "It's a— it's a real thing," she mumbled, which it really was! She had done her research. It was even called ACHOO syndrome!

"Huh, interesting," the woman replied, chuckling softly. "You're... August, right?"

August smiled, still feeling the snot inside her mask. Could she just let her inside so she could clean up? God...

"Yeah! August James," she cleared her throat, hoping her smile reached her eyes. "Uh, Taylor wasn't exactly expecting me but, I mean, I got coffee—"

The woman interrupted her with a little laugh, watching her in amusement. "Yeah, it's all good. She's a little busy right now, finishing something up, but you can come in! Oh, I'm Tree, by the way. Taylor's publicist."

"It's nice to meet you," August told the woman as she stepped aside to let her in.

She spotted Meredith rolling on her back by the kitchen door and August chuckled, slipping out of her Vans. She stepped over to the cat, putting the coffee cups on the floor for a moment to rub her belly.

August could hear Taylor's voice from upstairs as she belted out a song which sounded vaguely familiar.

"Look at how my tears ricochet," August hummed along, smiling to herself as Meredith started purring.

"So, you know about the album?" Tree asked, chuckling to herself while closing the door.

"Mhm," August hummed in agreement. "Kind of. She kinda played this one for me like weeks ago."

There was an unreadable look in Tree's expression, her eyebrows slightly furrowed and her lips puckered just a tiny bit as she regarded August in interest but then she finally dropped her arms to her sides and sent August a smile.

"You can go up and give her the coffee if you like," Tree told her, making her way toward the living room where they had watched the movies that one time. "I'm sure she'd appreciate it."

"Thanks," August responded as Tree disappeared into the other room and got up, grabbing the two cups of iced coffee along the way.

She passed by the guest bathroom in the hallway first, discarding her snotty mask first and washing up quickly before finally heading upstairs.

She waited outside the door, left slightly ajar, for a moment, listening to Taylor singing and not wanting to interrupt her. It sounded like a pretty good take.

When the singer had finally stopped and mumbled something quietly to another person, presumably her producer, August finally knocked on the door and waited until she heard a soft, "come in."

August managed to push the door open with her foot and she grinned widely when she spotted Taylor, holding out the two coffees in the air.

"Oh my god! I love you!" Taylor cried out, getting out of her chair so fast and running over toward August. "I've been craving caffeine for the past hour or so! Literally my life saver!"

Taylor's long arms wrapped tightly around August's smaller frame and with a little laugh, August hugged her back awkwardly as she was still holding the two coffees.

"How did you read my mind?"

August grinned cheekily, shrugging her shoulders and looking at the blonde coyly. "I'm just awesome, like that."

Taylor laughed, grabbing one of the two iced lattes from August. "That, you are, babe." She took a sip from the cold drink and immediately closed her eyes, holding out her free hand with her index and thumb pinched together in a tiny circle. "Good stuff."

August smiled at Taylor, taking a quick sip from her own drink which was already almost completely empty. She had indulged herself on the way over. "I'm sorry I just showed up out of nowhere... and I only got you a coffee. Didn't expect you to be working. I wasn't really thinking. I hope I'm not interrupting anything. You sounded great though!"

"Oh, nonsense!" Taylor brushed her off, padding over to the other side of the room. "August, this is Laura. She's helping out with the whole audio recording, home studio side of things!"

August finally spotted the other woman behind the curtain, adjusting some settings on the computer. The screen was open to a music production program, one August was familiar with. She did have to rely on herself to get her music saved somewhere besides her head with good quality.

"Hey, it's lovely to meet you!" August said. "It sounded amazing from out there."

"Thanks," Laura smiled back, before returning to the interface. "It's all Taylor, though. I just press a few buttons."

"And built the entire Kitty Committee Studio. You're being too modest," Taylor rolled her eyes, shoving her friend's shoulder playfully. "We're recording the backing vocals next, if you wanna stay or wait around. But that's pretty much it."

"Oh, okay! I don't wanna distract you, so, I'll just take advantage of your lovely music room and play your most expensive instruments," August joked but really, she would have loved to play that 1960s Gibson-ES which she guessed probably cost somewhere between 5,000 and 30,000 dollars.

"Sure, make yourself at home. Go crazy!" Taylor laughed, returning to her homemade recording booth. August rolled her eyes amusedly while making her way back down the stairs.

She found the way to the music room quite easily, having been there a few times already. She did have to rummage around until she found a plug for the amplifier and where the cables were neatly organised. She plugged in the guitar in question, sat down on the small armchair in the room, and let herself go, as Taylor had said, crazy.

She kept the volume down, and didn't add any effects to the sound but the guitar didn't need any. It sounded beautiful and August smiled to herself as the notes practically played themselves.

And soon enough, she found that she had written a beautiful chord progression. She even added a major ninth just to spice up the melody.

She pulled out the notes app from her phone and writing down the ideas she had as they came to her, going back and forth between plucking strings and typing said notes onto her phone. At one point, she even added a few lines that might have sounded good for a verse, though she wasn't sure about that yet.

August had messed up a note, breathed out a swear word, and sighed deeply, looking up in exasperation as she had been trying to get that specific part right for the past ten minutes, when her eyes fell on Taylor's figure standing in the doorway. She jumped in surprise, dropping her pick onto the carpet.

"Fuck," she exclaimed, placing her hand over her heart and letting out a laugh. "How long have you been standing there?"

Taylor grinned teasingly and finally stepped into the room. "Not that long. That sounds beautiful, by the way."

"Thanks," August chuckled, setting the guitar aside and getting up to search for the pick which conveniently was a red one, and of course, the carpet in the room just had to be mostly red. Well, that pick was gone forever...

"Can I hear some more of it?" Taylor asked, sitting down on the piano bench.

August shrug and sat back down in the armchair. "You just heard everything I've got so far," she explained, grabbing the guitar again and holding it in her lap.

"Hm, well, you should definitely work on it. It's got potential!"

"I guess so," August offered. She fiddled with the pickup switch, moving to the bridge pickup which usually sounded much thicker and sharper for rhythmic playing. "I actually came here to show you something."

"You usually just send me the audio files," Taylor wondered, raising a surprised eyebrow. "New song?"

August nodded, turning the knobs on the amp to make the tone brighter. "I had this idea last night. Actually, it was at around 5 am, and I had to stay up until I had finished it. But my sleep deprived mind couldn't even remember to record it, so it's still all in here—" she pointed at her head. "Anyway. No sleep, hence the coffee. Lots of coffee. I've had about four cups already. Anyway, so I thought I'd like for you to hear the song and—"

She was rambling. she knew she was rambling in a way she would have normally been completely embarrassed if she hadn't been running on no sleep and lots of caffeine already but Taylor only listened to her and nodded, letting her talk.

August set the guitar down and walked over to the piano. Taylor automatically made some space, moving to the edge of the bench and August slipped in to her right. She looked down at the keys for a moment, hummed quietly under her breath and then played the first few notes softly.

"Hm," she frowned a little, then moved from an E to a D. "Ah... that's nicer I think. I'm gonna need you to play this progression. So, it goes, D major, then it's an E minor seven, then it goes back to a D— actually, a D major seventh, and then back to the E."

Taylor nodded as she listened carefully and then set her fingers lightly over the keys, following August's fingers.

"And then, in the pre-chorus," August continued. "It's gonna be sort of a walk-down from the D to a G, so that's D, then it's an A with a C sharp root, a B minor, back to the A and then the G, twice, and then we go to the chorus— am I going too fast?"

August looked up to find Taylor watching her with her eyes dancing amusedly. She had a small smile playing on her pink lips and her eyes were bright blue and absolutely delighted. August felt blood rush to her cheeks.

"I'm good. I can keep up," Taylor replied softly and then played the progression for August. It sounded pretty good. "What about the chorus?"

"Right," August laughed softly and then proceeded to show Taylor exactly how it went.

After she made sure Taylor had everything down, August grabbed the nearest acoustic guitar she could find which happened to be a small Taylor acoustic with a blond finish.

August looked at another acoustic guitar hanging on the wall behind them, another all black Taylor with a matte finish. She smirked.

"Do you just buy Taylor guitars for the ego of it all?"

Taylor (the human, not the guitar brand, obviously) rolled her eyes. "Maybe when I bought my own first guitar... but then they made me my own signature baby acoustic guitar and now I just have a bunch of Taylor guitars," she explained and August laughed amusedly. That was cute.

August made sure the guitar was in tune and asked Taylor to started playing the song on the piano. When she did, August immediately joined in, plucking the strings and moving her left hand around expertly, following the progression with ease. She had been playing it over and over again all day long before she had come over.

And then, she started singing. It threw off Taylor at first, but she quickly recovered and continued playing the piano.

"Out, on our own, Dreaming in a world that we both know/ Is out of our control, But if shit hits the fan, we're not alone,"

August looked up at Taylor and nodded, signalling for her to move to the pre-chorus.

"'Cause you've got me and you know, that I've got you and I know...

If the tide takes California, / I'm so glad I got to hold ya / And if the sky falls from heaven above /Oh, I know I had the best time falling into love

"We've been living on a fault line / And for a while, you were all mine / I've spent a lifetime giving you my heart / I swear that I'll be yours forever

'Til forever falls apart..."

August looked up for a second when her hand paused over the strings, muting them effectively for musical dramatic effect, and she found that Taylor had already been watching her closely, even as her fingers kept playing the notes ever so gently.

Taking in a shaky breath, August repeated the last line of the chorus, her eyes never leaving those blue ones, so easy to get lost inside. "Til forever falls apart..."

"August," Taylor whispered, her face only inches away from August's and that was when she finally realised she had forgotten the other electric guitar plugged into the amplifier and just leaning against the armchair.

August smiled at Taylor as she got up and walked over to the other side of the room again. Her heart was hammering in her chest unbelievably fast, and she was pretty sure it had nothing to do with the coffee she had drunk a moment ago.

"So, I was thinking it would be a pretty cool duet, I have it written down on my phone," she hung the acoustic guitar back up and grabbed her phone, opening it to the note that was titled

She placed her phone unlocked on the music rack and scrolled down to the second verse's lyrics.

"That's the whole song, actually," she mumbled and went back to the chair, avoiding Taylor's gaze that seemed to follow her around the room.

"Do you want me to sing it?"

August nodded, biting down on her bottom lip. "I just kinda... I thought it would sound great, you know. With our voices together. And with you on the piano. And I'm playing the guitar..."

"Yeah, I think you might be right," Taylor smiled, turning back to read the lyrics.

If she had felt the same tension that August had just moments earlier, Taylor didn't let on or covered it up pretty well.

Taylor attempted to mumble the lyrics as a first try to get the hang of the rhythm before singing with the soft rasp of her deep voice. Like swirling a spoonful of honey in your hot tea.

"So this is it, that's how it ends / I guess there's nothing more romantic than dying with your friends / And I'm not sorry for myself / I wouldn't wanna spend a minute loving anybody else..."

Taylor was smiling to herself as she moved to the pre-chorus again, adding a pep to her playing. This time, they sang it together with Taylor adding a lower harmony, their voices meshing together perfectly as they moved into the chorus.

"How do you feel about high notes?" August asked, knowing Taylor could hit them with ease.

Taylor saw it as a challenge, raising an eyebrow and smirking at August from behind the piano. "I can make it work."

And when they played the chorus one last time, Taylor harmonised once again, belting out the notes a whole octave higher and August was absolutely elated, hearing her idea finally come to life.

"I swear that I'll be yours forever

'Til forever falls apart," August finished in almost a whisper and let the strings of the guitar resonate until the notes died out naturally.

Someone had started clapping and Taylor and August both turned to the doorway to see Tree watching them with that same weird expression she had given August earlier in the entryway when she had arrived.

"That might have just been one of the most heartfelt performances I've ever seen," Tree said, her eyes meeting Taylor's. "I'm on the phone with Jack, by the way. He's got great news. But he also just heard this song, and he really wants to know who wrote it."

August furrowed her eyebrows, turning the amplifier and putting the guitar away. "Who's Jack?" She asked as Taylor was softly laughing and signalling for Tree to come inside.

"Is he still on the phone?" She asked and Tree nodded, handing it over.

August watched, still confused as all heck as Taylor spoke on the phone.

"Wait, you're kidding! Justin's on board? You're not fucking around right now, are you? And Aaron's a hundred percent sure?"

And then, to August's surprise, Taylor let out an actual squeal, stomping her feet excitedly against the carpet. "Fuck, that's the best news ever!"

Taylor looked over the piano until her eyes met August's again and she smiled softly, a glint in her eyes, telling August that she was definitely involved in this conversation in some way.

"Thank you, holy shit. Seriously. It's going to be amazing. Yeah, Tree will set everything up. Great... oh! Yeah, I don't know. No, it wasn't me. Sure, yeah."

Taylor was laughing ecstatically as she put the phone down on the piano top and put it on speaker.

"Hey, August! It's Jack Antonoff—"

"Jack Antonoff from Bleachers?" August interrupted, instantly up on her feet.

"Yeah, that's me," the man on the phone chuckled softly.

Meanwhile, Taylor looked like she was having the time of her life, covering her mouth with her hand as she bit back a laugh. How did she even manage to look so adorable while making fun of August's fangirling moment?

"Oh my gosh, I'm a huge fan, dude!" August still exclaimed. The man had to know how much she appreciated his music.

"Aw, thanks! That means a lot. And by the sound of it... I love your music too. You wrote that duet?"

August hesitated for a moment, not really sure where this was going. "Yeah... it was just a small idea I had—"

"It's a fricken magnum opus, August," Taylor interrupted with a roll of her eyes. She was clearly tired of August undervaluing herself. It made her blush.

"How do you feel about putting it out?"

"What...?" August was speechless.

"It's a great song with lots of potential. If you can send me an audio track, a rough demo, we can work something out, produce it, and make it a hit single. Hell, if you have more songs, we can release a whole EP or something."

August looked up to see Taylor with her eyes wide and her grin even bigger. She was nodding her head enthusiastically, giving August two thumbs up.

"I'm— I mean, I don't know if I have enough material for even an EP but—"

"The duet is more than enough, if you ask me. At least for a first single."

"I agree," Taylor butted in, still giggling softly to herself. It warmed August's heart.

"Taylor, you want to sing along on that duet?"

"That's up to August. It's her song," Taylor answered, looking at August with such a big and proud smile that August couldn't even think about the idea of having anyone else sing the song with her.

"I wrote it for us, anyway," August admitted.

"Great. I think we can do something really awesome here. I'll get back to you guys later. But it was lovely talking to you August, and Taylor, we'll talk tomorrow. First thing. See you guys. August, I hope we can meet sometime."

And with that, Jack hung up the phone and August was left completely speechless in her spot.

"Holy fucking shit... that was Jack Antonoff."

Taylor grinned cheekily and nodded. "Yeah, he's producing it with Aaron Dessner—"