alexander had never been one to step out of his comfort zone. he’d never really had the opportunity to risk it, with his involvement in his family’s crime’s and the heavy sense of duty that had always weighed on him more than the others. he’d gotten himself wrapped up too far in the family dealings this time, with a wedding to a woman he despised scheduled to happen two weeks from now. the only small solace he could find was the bachelor party his friends had decided to throw him. 

at first, when they’d suggested going to a non-krasnov owned club, he’d thought for sure they were insane. but as they walked through the dimly lit club, alex started to relax. it was almost nice to experience the new surroundings, with girls he hadn’t seen dance before and not having to be the boss for a night. he reluctantly let one of his rowdy groomsmen pull a satin scarf over his eyes as they directed him past the vip seating and into a private room, left alone after giddy promises of the mysterious woman who was apparently the best dancer the club had on it’s payroll performing for him ---- for however long as he wanted. 

“I’m probably in a storm of trouble,” she grumbled, just relieved he had answered her phone call. Already, her manager was trying to ring her again - as if it wasn’t already out, as if there was anything she could realistically do besides not respond to it that would actually help the situation now. “I figured you’d want to hear it from me instead of one of the team members.” 

Zelda Monroe in a sex tape was going to be top tier news for at least the next 24-36 hours. A former Disney star on her knees in a club, that was enough to get everyone raving and to have it be with Phil of all people - she already fielded questions day in and day out from her team, wondering why she was even friends with him ( admitting that he gave good head was definitely out of the question, no matter how many times she’d wanted to say it just to shut them up ) much less hooking up with him on a regular basis. 

“I haven’t talked to anyone yet - I’ve got about a billion texts and phone calls but there’s not a lot we can do now, besides make sure you and I are on the same page. And we are, still, right? If anyone asks?” 

Friends, with benefits. It was easy and fun and Phil made her laugh and showed her a side of life she wouldn’t have with everyone else. Everyone else, who still saw her as the Disney Princess she’d been for ten years as a teen, who still saw her as Little Miss Perfect, who spent her time donating money and time to kids and homeless shelters and foster programs. 

Phil always knew there was more to her than that. That she could take the darker, seedier side of things. That sometimes she liked it. It was why they were friends. With the occasional benefit. 

“They’re going to blow it out of proportion. Probably vilify you for devirginizing me like that didn’t happen on the Disney lots themselves. This is probably gonna get real bad before it gets good, babe. I don’t know how ready I am for this.”

He couldn’t help but let out a raspy chuckle at her words, imagining her PR team running around their offices like chickens with their heads cut off. “Thanks. I feel like there’s a lot less screaming at me if it’s done this way.” He could almost feel the red-hot hate her entire team had for him ---- they already despised him as a friend and bad influence. This just kicked it up a few notches, to say the least.

He’d never intended to be that way, it wasn’t his fault Zelda and he had such good chemistry. She had a bad side, and admittedly, having her naughty streak all to himself while the rest of the world kept on believing she was America’s sweetheart had been quite the turn on. It had grown more than that, though, and they had been playing a dangerous game. He knew it would catch up to them eventually, though he never really minded what the public opinion on him was. It changed like the tides, from love to hate back to love again, he’d stopped paying attention years ago.

“Always have been and always will be.” He let his head hit the pillow as he assured her, looking up at his dimly lit ceiling. Their arrangement had been more than beneficial for the both of them, with their busy schedules and intense scrutiny. Friends with benefits had been working out as a best case scenario ---- he had a feeling things were about to get a lot more complicated. At least they had each other.

“Hey ---- we’re in this together, okay? You already know I don’t give a shit about what they have to say about me. Let them say what they want. But I’ll be real with you, it’ll be insane for you whether you’re ready or not.” He sighed. Having been through similar situations most of his life, he hoped he could provide some comfort or support to Zelda. 

“What I really wanna know is if we look hot in the video.” Philip added as he tried to lighten the mood. Of course they were hot. There was a reason he kept coming back to her. 

hell. this yacht was pure hell. getting two or three celebrities and their friends together for a mykonos getaway was months in the making ---- and in those several months, philip had managed to let the one person he’d truly felt something for slip away. his pride and ego refused to let him back out of the trip, even when his friends had announced to him that they’d be bringing their new fling along. for two days philip had been drinking and pretending the new couple didn’t exist, but he could barely hold it anymore. he’d kept all remarks to himself, didn’t even comment when their significant other climbed into the private jet with ridiculous shoes on, or when they got too drunk last night and had puked all over the side of the yacht ---- the one HE was paying for. 

open to m / f / nb ; connection set within plot  who zelda monroe ( camila mendes ) , 23 year old actress and activist   connections / plot a mix of THIS and THIS ; zelda’s a former child actor turned activist, known throughout the world as ‘little miss goodie two shoes’. muse b is the ‘bad [ boy / girl / whatever ]’ on the entertainment scene, leaving behind broken hearts left and right. the two have a fwb situation, and while people are concerned / convinced that they’re legit dating, they insist to the public eye they’re Just Friends. until D Day: a video of the two of them leaks, and now everyone knows: little miss zelda is into being filmed, for fun and for pleasure.  potential triggers plot would be smut based, include use of drugs and alcohol 

“What the fuck,” she groaned, her phone screaming at her from her bedside table. It had been going off all morning, but she’d been doing her best to ignore it. This was supposed to be her week off - no need for publicity, no need for magazine interviews or photoshoots, nothing to work on before the next season of her show started, just time for her to relax, to enjoy her life, to fucking sleep. 

Which she couldn’t do if no one left her alone. 

The clock on her bedside table said it was only 7:23am, and the sunlight streaming through her window told her that it was going to be a bright, sunshiny day, but she didn’t feel it as she sat up, wiping sleep from her eyes to reach around for her glasses, shoving them on to open the phone just in time for the phone call to end. 

“Fine, then,” she mumbled, unlocking it with an all too familiar passcode - 0423, a date no one would know but her and one other. Her screen was littered with messages, calls, emails. Her manager. Her agent. Reporters. Her mother. 

“Oh, no,” she whispered, horror gripping through her as she realized what had happened. And there it was, sent to her by her best friend of all people - ‘wow, Z, maybe you should have kept it in your pants until you made it to the bathroom or something?’ - a link to a TMZ article. Of her, half naked, her head thrown back, a video she didn’t even know had been filmed from her last night out over the weekend, when they’d come to visit. 

‘Just Friends’ wasn’t going to fly this time. Because Just Friends didn’t have their face buried in her chest, their fingers twisting inside of her like they had been. 

Zelda was fucked. And not the way she had been in this video. 

Now it was her turn to start panic calling, pressing the contact information immediately, whispering to herself while she waited - it was only 4am in Los Angeles, but half the time they didn’t go to bed until the sun rose. “Pick up, pick up, pick up,” she whispered, holding the small charm around her throat as she did. “Pick up, pick up, pick up.” 

“Hello?” Groggy, clearly half asleep, but always answering her phone calls. Never had Zelda been so relieved. 

“We’re fucked,” she announced, her own voice gravely with sleep, “someone saw us. At the club the other night. They filmed it. And everyone’s seen it by now.”

Four in the morning. That was the time he’d heard the ringtone he’d set for Zelda the day he’d managed to get her number. The Ocarina of Time song rang through the dim room ---- it was cheesy, but he hadn’t been able to change it. Hers were the only phone calls he picked up on the first ring, even on nights like these where his head hit the pillow merely an hour ago.

It had been another usual night of drinking himself half to death tucked away in the VIP section of an LA nightclub full of snotty influencers talking to him for the photo opp and desperate partygoers trying to make an impression on him. Things just weren’t the same without Zelda in the same city, and he found himself finding it harder to enjoy his usual activities without her.

As he picked up the phone, head swimming with remnants of Grey Goose and sleep, he struggled to process her words. He sat up, silk sheets falling off his inked chest as he rubbed his temples. 

“Zelda.” He started, pulling the phone away from his ear to check the time quickly before coming back to her. “Are you sure?” For once in his life, Philip Krasnov was speechless. He’d turned off his google alerts and all of his management team were on a constant mute on his phone ---- he was always the last to know when he was involved in a scandal.

They’d managed to get away with the whole innocent friendship gig for some time now, which was convenient for the both of them. Philip had become an expert at fielding Zelda related questions, though apparently they’d become reckless over time.

At this point, he wasn’t even sure what the stranger had captured on video, and memories of times they’d been a little too risky started flooding, a reminiscent smile pulling at his lips. This wasn’t the end of the world for him ---- but he quickly remembered the other party involved.

“Are you okay?”

IT WAS A PITY REALLY. dane had such high hopes for the adventure into sugaring, but all it led her to was some sort of awkward heart break— or more so disappointment than anything. to much of her SURPRISE, he knew more about her than she initially thought, causing her to raise a brow as her slender fingers too the stem of the glass. “thank you.” she simply nodded, a low sigh escaping her lips at his question. “would you believe me if i said it was someone else entirely ??” apparently not too MANY men were looking for pretty young things to spoil anymore. there was just too much saturation of ladies. “so you’ve been watching me, i assume. so you know all about my ups && downs of dating. what happened to all the GOOD men ??” a hand gestured to see the seat across for her, inviting him to sit down.

jane hated feeling like she was being lied to or tricked, and that was the way he was making her feel right now. maybe she was being sensitive because she’d just been woken up and terrified, and if that were the case then she’d apologise in the morning. but jane’s instincts were rarely wrong and she trusted in them completely, so she decided to press on with her line of questioning.

the whole time simeon was speaking, her face didn’t change; she wore the same unimpressed blankness throughout his half-assed explanation. did simeon know that omission still counted as a lie? 

‘ y’can be honest, or y’can get out right now, ’  she said finally, turning from him. if they were going to be up half the night having a conversation about whatever he was really involved in, then she was going to need a coffee to get through it. still shaken by the knock, she gave a glance through the spyhole as she passed the front door on the way to the kitchen. ‘ i don’t think i’m being unfair, ’ she said, switching her coffee machine into life six hours earlier than usual. ‘ i just wanna know what you’re getting me involved in. i need to know i’m safe, baby. i’m not– i really don’t think i’m being unfair. ’

her words were blunt, but justified. empathy was never his strong suit, but even he had to admit his sudden arrival and shit excuses weren’t quite good enough to get simeon out of this situation. 

he sighed as jane gave him the ultimatum, ringed fingers pushing back the locks that brushed against his face. “this isn’t a good idea, jane.” he was trying to warn her, he really was. but he knew at this point there was no turning back. he’d involved her the minute he walked through that door. she’d become one more person on the list he was obliged to put his life on the line for, but he would do that for jane either way. 

    there was something off about him that jane couldn’t place. nervous about something, she figured, but she couldn’t tell what. or was she misreading scared as nervous? unless he started talking, she had no way to know. exhausted and still on edge, she did nothing but watch him for a while, waiting for the explanation she could sense already he was going to bullshit his way through.

  ’ lay low? ’ jane repeated, rubbing her eyes in an attempt to wake herself a little more. it felt like she’d wandered into a strange dream; one of the vivid ones that leaves you asking did that really happen? when you wake up. she couldn’t for the life of her think why he’d need to be off the grid unless he’d done something stupid, and if it was trouble with the law… he could stay here, but she’d have to find somewhere else to be.

‘ hey! my… the bat makes me feel safe. and that’s really not the point right now, anyway. ’ tiredness was making her irritable, and she just wanted a straight answer. folding her arms, jane gave simeon a hard stare. ‘ what have you done? ’

adrenaline was still pumping through his veins, the fight or flight reflex seemingly fraying his nerves. he was always the cool and collected one. it’s why his father had made him head of security for the family. but he just couldn’t seem to keep it together tonight. “uh... yeah.” he hesitated on the answer ---- mostly because he knew how shady it sounded. 

at first, jane thought she’d dreamed the knock. it felt like one of those horrible, gut-wrenching moments in a nightmare that accidentally wakes you. she sat bolt upright, knuckles white in their grip on the blankets – and then that damned knock came again.

it took her a while to even come to the door; there was a checklist, first, of things she needed to do: tie her hair back, pre-dial 911, grab the baseball bat she’d not yet used, but was more than prepared to. jane took two breaths to calm her nerves, feeling more a child than ever, and then she looked through the spyhole – once, twice – double checking that she in fact knew the man behind the door. 

her anxiety stayed sky-high, but despite herself, jane opened the door to let simeon in. ‘ what, you suddenly can’t– fuck. you suddenly can’t call ahead? ’ she says as he enters, watching him as he shuts her home off from the world. socked feet padded through the hallway after him, and there was a soft thunk! on the floor as she returned her bat to its place by the living room door.  ‘ you scared the shit out of me. do you know what time it is? ’

thoughts of what happened and what could still happen were racing through his head ---- why the hell did he think it would be a good idea to come here of all places? he’d involved jane. he never meant to, but he broke his golden rule because he’d been too dumb to plan his own escape route. 

simeon could hear it in her voice ---- he’d scared her, maybe even terrified her. he would have felt terrible about it, if his survival instinct let his protective side surface for at least a minute. once he was sure no one could see in to the apartment, he finally turned, ready to string out some half-assed apology while he worked on figuring out what his excuse was going to be. that is, until he took note of the bat resting near her feet. he raised an eyebrow, in any other circumstance he’d have found this amusing, although there was no room for that now. 

━ ღ PREMISE: dane has been seeking arrangements for god knows how long meeting a lot of salt daddies instead of sugar daddies. your muse is a rich man that isn’t exactly looking for one but he sees her often at the same bar often in bad meetings or getting stood up. finally he offers her a drink.

 “OH, YOU DON’T HAVE TO.” dane wasn’t sure who the stranger was, but she swore he had a familiar face before, but she couldn’t quite place her finger on it. hopefully he wasn’t someone that had come across her sa profile before. a SOFT, yet confident smile played along her lips. eyes darting down to the lemon drop that she often ordered in his hands. had he been playing attention to her ?? “i’m actually meeting someone here. he’s just running a few minutes late.” an hour && a half to be exact, nor was he answering any of her messages either. it APPEARED she had been fooled once again. another hit to her bank account having to pay for the upscale drinks she had ordered to ease her nerves. “you really don’t have. i mean that’s sweet, but i’m sure your wife wouldn’t like that.”

simeon wasn’t one to disregard danger ---- in fact, the whole point of his job was to keep his family and their business safe. it almost didn’t occur to him that when his father pissed off some gang in california, they’d try to take it out on him. he’d barely had time to grab his getaway duffel bag and stuff it in the shitty car he’d jacked minutes prior before realizing he’d finalized every one of his family’s getaway plans. except his own. without thinking, he went straight to their house.

he’d never put an innocent person in danger, especially not someone who though simeon was nothing more than a semi-pro boxer. it’s not like he wanted to expose them to that side of him, or the dangerous implications of simply knowing it, but at this point it was the only safe space he could think of.