All Things Illuminate [bwwm] ; ON HIATUS

VI

"...Hey... Nicki... I- I didn't think you'd be here so quickly- I..." Shawn manages to get out from his surprise. Nicki smiles and shrugs slightly.

"Well here I am babe, hehe." She gives him a reassuring wink. "Where should I put my stuff?"

"Anywhere you want! You can sit over here." He points to a chair next to his. "So before we officially start recording, I wanted you to hear some of the other songs for this album, just so you can really get the vibes I'm going for." Shawn explained.

"Oh yeah definitely, anything to make this song more perfect. I always wanna really listen to an artist I'm going to work with."

For about twenty minutes, they listen to a song, and then talk about it and react to it. Nicki really notices the amount of hard work and effort he puts into these songs. In fact, it makes her more and more attracted to him. So much, as the songs go by and they have quick discussions, she pays less and less attention to what he's actually saying, and more toward him. The way his lips move, the way he moves, his rose-red cheeks, his jawline, his eyes... all while Shawn remains completely clueless about Nicki's intentions. The next song they listen to is 'Roses'.

"...Wow..." Nicki immediately says once the song ends. She scoots her chair closer to Shawn and subtly inches her face closer to his.

"You know, there's something about some of these songs, especially 'Roses' in particular, which are reminiscent of my album, The Pinkprint. I can't really put my finger on it but-"

Before she could finish her thought, the front door suddenly opens. It's the guys. Shawn suddenly jumps up from his seat and hurries toward them.

"Hey guys! Where did you guys go?" Shawn quickly asks. He already knows where they went, but it's the only thing he could think of to say.

"Uhh, to the diner like we said? And you decided to stay here, silly." Mike said. Shawn laughs nervously. But before he can respond, another one of Shawn's team notices the woman in the room.

"Hey Shawn, who's.... wait." Chris gasps. "Is that... are you-?" Nicki, somewhat reluctantly, smiles and waves.

"Uh, yeah haha. This is Nicki Minaj. We're working on a collaboration that can hopefully be on Illuminate!"

Nicki stands up to greet and shake hands with each of them.

"Wow, that's.... really cool. That's pretty dope actually." Chris turns to Nicki "How much are you going to charge though? I've hear working with you can be pretty expensive."

"Actually, I'll do it for free. There's something special about him, he's gonna make it real big. I definitely see it. I like him." Nicki said with a glimmer.

"Ayyyy, way-to-go Shawn!" Flutter slaps him on the back. Shawn can't help but feel just a little embarrassed. He rolls his eyes and smiles.

"What song are you guys working on?" Danny asks.

"I'm gonna put in a verse and maybe some vocals for No Promises." Nicki replies.

"Really? That's awesome. Yeah let's put on the song right now, maybe we can add to it! Enhance the drums or bass or something." Mike says.

"Do you guys want me to head into the booth?" Nicki asks.

"Yeah whatever you want!"

Mike started playing the instrumental to the last chorus of the song. He added those extra, subtle, almost ethereal backing vocals that blend into the music. He then added extra bass to the drum and increased the dB by several intervals.

"Alright can you sing the chorus now?" R asked as he reloaded the track.

Nicki closed her eyes and let herself move to the music.

Baby pleeeease, no promises

I won't make no promises

Cause we won't keeeeeep our promises

Baby I can't even trust myself

And I knooow the consequences

I have too much consciousness

Baby pleeeeeease

Baby I know

Baby please, no promises

I won't make no promises

Everyone in the cabin was stunned. They couldn't believe how much passion she put into her voice. It was mesmerising.

"........Wow..... that was..... amazing." Mike put the vocals on the main song and played it back. He notices Nicki's reaction. She liked it, but she wasn't complete sure of it either.

"...I don't know... I just feel like if Shawn and I were in the booth together and recorded it together, it would be that much more perfect." She confessed.

"Yeah I can come in" Shawn offered.

Nicki wanted to be with him so bad, but there wasn't anything she could do with all of his personnel watching.

Shawn's crew once again started the instrumental.

Nicki watched the way Shawn moved to the music as they anticipated the chorus. She noticed every minute detail about him. The way he nodded his head, the slightest shift in his hips, the way he closed his eyes as he began to sing. As they sang together, she slowly turned to face him. She couldn't help herself but reach out to him. But as soon as she let out her hand, she quickly brought it back to herself. Shawn was still completely oblivious to Nicki's demeanour. Shawn's crew was clueless, but they clearly saw the chemistry she was getting with Shawn. It almost didn't make any sense to them, and yet it made all the sense in the world. As they finish the chorus, Shawn opens his eyes and smiles. He loves the way the song things are quickly turning out. Both he and Nicki have goose bumps.

"Woah, your vocals were incredible, these are some really intense vibes haha" Shawn says warmly.

Nicki is speechless, the whole experience to her is surreal. For about 20 more minutes, they continue recording Nicki's additions to the song, including her rap verse. At this point, it's almost 2am. All the personnel either leave the cabin or head to their rooms and crash. Shawn and Nicki stay in the main room and keep talking about the music. Soon, they're the only two that's still awake. Nicki knew that now it was time to make her move.

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Author's Note: First off, thank you so much for reading all the way to this point, it means so much to me. This is it for now, the rest should hopefully be published within the next couple of weeks. If you really liked this story, make sure to add it to your favourites, comment, and share it. :)