Adopt, Adapt, Improve

WARNING: The following is a work of erotic fan fiction, the events of which are completely made up and did not happen, and is no true reflection of the persons, places, events, etc depicted within. This material is unsuitable to be viewed by those under the legal age limit of viewing pornographic material in your current country of residence.

Featuring: Taylor Swift (singer)

Adopt, Adapt, Improve

A celebrity erotic story

* * *

Adopt, Adapt, and Improve.

Daniel Jacob did not have an easy life to say the least. Brought up in a strict, religious household that used faith as an excuse for hatred, he objected strongly to the beliefs of his parents and strongly refused to go along with their lifestyle or the idea he should continue the family ways of supporting and being a leader in the organization.

Despite having good grades at school and the potential to make something of himself, he'd shown potential in the school choir and shined during musical lessons, he was left with little alternative than to escape the toxic family life and run away from home with the little clothing and possessions he had. That led to years of sleeping rough, working crummy jobs, and drifting from town to city, from state to state with no direction or life goal other than to scratch together a couple of bucks for some food.

Now, as a twenty-five year old with unsurprisingly scruffy hair and a stubbly beard, he'd semi-found a way of "living" that he could get by with. At least, it'd worked out for the past couple of months so he might as well roll with it. He'd gotten into a squat of a homeless hostel, shared with a revolving door of fellow homeless men and women who'd come and go but it was a roof over his head and a space on a floor to sleep, better than a park bench or the open air. Some nights, he'd get to work a shift at a less than professional warehouse to move boxes, help with deliveries and arrivals but it was all zero hours, no guarantees of work. After all, no contracts here and not exactly health and safety standards meeting either, but cash in his hand at the end of the work was better than waiting weeks for a paycheck, especially with no bank account to his name.

Otherwise, Danny as he now called himself, found a way to get a couple of bucks or so during the day. Months back he'd done a job to move an assortment of collected items from a deceased hermit's home that was to be demolished. While picking up a decent pay from it, he was allowed to take whatever he could from the stuff that would mostly just get sent to a dump if it wasn't valuable. Spying a guitar and case, he claimed it thinking it might make money being sold to a pawn shop or something. Instead, he found himself rather naturally attempting to play, strumming chords and practicing singing, picking up tips from fellow hobo players on the way.

A piece of advise he'd picked up early on was to Adopt, Adapt and Improve to whatever life threw at him, as he never knew when the next decent meal or any food would be coming from, or how he'd ever scratch together enough cash to get by that day, let alone get a roof over his head of some form. All he could do was try his best to apply that to whatever situation he found himself in, and he was fortunate enough, smart enough, and occasionally just plain lucky enough to have gotten by using that way of thinking and living.

So here he was, on a street in New York City, his case at his feet and the busy crowds passing by as he strummed and played, going through the regular "set list" of exactly all the songs he knew, including all the ones he'd written and remembered himself. There were a few coppers and silvers in the case - he always made sure to scoop up any "donations" from people after each song - one of the first rules of busking especially in a city like this. He'd gotten enough for a half-decent meal for the night, but there was no reason not to keep on playing until some jobsworth cop came along to move him on.

"And it's still cold out there, so I gotta keep my head real warm..." Danny sang, playing the chords to compliment as he kept his eyes forward, occasional glances to the passing crowd and the moving traffic across, ready to give a smile to anyone who was stopping to pay attention. That usually got some extra change for him, especially if it was a lady.

"Keep those good old thoughts coming, stop my poor old heart from being torn..." Despite his homeless state, the handsome young man tried his best to remain presentable - his messy shoulder length hair finger-brushed back will a dark skull cap, a thick and dark jacket to fend off against the elements with a T-shirt underneath, and very worn and faded jeans with boots that had crusts of dried mud on the trim.

"I can't waste no time complaining, when I've still got to find my home..." He continued singing one of his own songs, closing his eyes for a moment as he continued to apply the pick to the strings.

"And when I finally get there, I hope there's someone to share it with me..." He finished, opening up his eyes as the chorus finished.

Who he saw was the start of his life changing forever.

Across the sidewalk, looking out from the open widow of a big, black people carrier vehicle was a stunning blonde woman with short hair, and thick red lipstick curled into a smile as she looked out, clearly enjoying the song she was hearing as the vehicle she was in was stopped among the traffic. Her fingers on the top of the glass of the pulled down window were tapping along to the chords he was playing, another clear sign of enjoyment. There seemed to be a man in the back seats with her, burly looking like a bodyguard or something but he was more focused on her than anything else.

'Damn she's a pretty gal!' Danny thought, giving her a smile back in appreciation, strumming again as he dished out the end of the song, another full round of the chorus, getting a smile back as she sang out for the audience of one despite the hustle of the crowd of many around. Maybe she'll offer out a note or two from the widow? A phone number isn't any use to him, he doesn't have a cell phone.

Sadly, it was a case of not too be as he'd no sooner finished playing the last chords than her vehicle started to move off, the woman motioning and talking to others in the car as she pointed back towards Danny as it moved away, like she was telling them to stop and go back. He could only smile, giving a little wave that she saw as she looked back, a look of regret for a moment before she cutely waved back before leaning back into the car as the window went up.

'Another lady to meet again in my dreams...' Jacob thought with a chuckle to himself, kneeling down to pick up a coin or two and stuffing it into his pocket, before he stood up straight and testing the tuning of the strings with a couple of strums. Then it was right into the next song, well practiced and sang and not just from the several times he's played it today.

The rest of the day left for him was the usual uneventful period of busking. The odd snide look from snooty businessmen and women, giggling from tourists, and the odd grateful spare change from the odd New Yorker. Later on in the afternoon, Danny had decided that it was getting on enough, his tattered wallet was filled enough, and it was time to head on off and maybe see if the warehouse had any work for him. He'd secured his guitar into his case, locked it up, and slung it over his shoulder and was about to head off.

He was stopped when that same burly man who had been in the car with that gorgeous lady stopped him right in his tracks.

"Woah! Hey man, I don't want no trouble..." Danny said, stepping back with his hands raised.

"It ain't trouble bud'. Taylor wants to meet you. Let's go." He said bluntly, pointing back behind him.

"Tay-who? Oh, wait... You're that guy who was with..." Jacob started to say, remembering seeing him before but before he could finish, the bodyguard cut him off.

"Time is money bud', let's not keep the young lady waiting." He again said in that less than friendly, business-like tone.

With only seconds to process this, Danny shrugged his shoulders in a carefree manner. "Sure, why not. Be rude to turn down a lady's request." He reasoned, soon having to move as the man took that as agreement and headed down the sidewalk.

"Smart choice kid..." Danny heard the guard mumble, making him wonder for a moment what this was all about as the went down the street, not causing any sort of attention grabbing or anything of the sort as the went through the hustle and bustle of the New York City street. A few minutes later, he found himself entering that same vehicle he'd seen the guard and that pretty blonde in a long while back, and was now getting driven in a car to... Hell, he still wasn't sure. Still, it was nice to finally be driving in a nice car for the first time in forever. Beats hitching a ride in the back of a lorry or delivery train.

"Don't talk to any of those paparazzi, don't look at them, just head right inside the building and we'll take you up to her." He'd been read a riot act of do's and don'ts on the journey, only confirming that whoever this lady was must be a big deal, maybe some celebrity or something. When you're busy trying to get by and survive day by day, you don't have too much time to spend on celeb gossip or money to waste on entertainment magazines. He was happy to just listen to a radio sometimes and hear some good music.

He didn't need to worry however as when they arrived at the destination, there was only groans of disappointment from the couple of photographers outside the apartment building, one commenting on this being a "stunt" to distract as Danny was lead inside, and soon up to the floor of presumably that same stunning woman who had enjoyed his song.

"Don't try anything stupid kid..." Was a last stern warning as Jacob was left in front of a fancy door, the guard taking his leave to leave the young homeless busker on his own, his guitar strapped to his back and still in his shabby clothes as he scratched the back of his head for a moment.

'Adopt, adapt, improve...' Danny thought to himself, remembering a motto of sorts he'd picked up early in his hobo lift. Meaning you had to adopt a lifestyle when it suited and was needed, adapt to whatever situation or problem you find yourself in, and improve yourself with everything you come across and learn to get by. This drastic change of being in a high-end place would certainly need all three of those, having no idea what to expect beyond the door but he'd agreed to come here, so might as well face it. Drawing in breath, he gave a knock on the door and waiting to see exactly what fate was on the other side.

Moments later, Taylor Swift was the answer.

"Hey!" Taylor said, a big smile on her pretty face as she held the door open. The stunning singer had on a pair of heels and black, high waist shorts, with a simple white sleeveless top and still having the bright red lipstick covering her lips. "Come on in!" She offered with a motion of the arm.

"Uh... Thanks. I mean, yeah, sure..." Danny said with a stumble, still taken aback by these events as he stepped into the apartment, eyes wide at the most luxurious place he'd ever seen before, making the digs he'd been in the past few months look like from a completely different era of time. All the modern day utilities, books, entertainment systems, you name it. Warm, with heating as well. A very, very nice change he was not used to.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't stop by and talk to you before!" Swift said, closing the door to let the lock click on as she came up beside him, making him turn to face her. "They said I couldn't go back because of traffic, I could get in trouble, we had places to go..." She listed off the excuses in a playful, mocking sing-song voice before breaking off with a laugh. "Otherwise we could have talked there and then. I know this is kind of... Even for me, a little odd but I kind of felt..." She paused, pressing her lips together as he held the gaze of the disheveled man for a moment. "That song of yours I heard. It just... It spoke to me. I loved it!" Taylor smiled honestly and brightly.

"That's... That's cool. I mean, yeah, really cool." Danny stuttered out. This was odd, to say the least but it wasn't exactly bad. Nothing with as pretty of a lady in front of him as currently was. "I call it "Find my Home". I like it. I mean, I wouldn't be singing it and playing it unless I liked it."

"Totally." Taylor nodded, a slight tilt of the head as she saw the guitar case. "And you brought your guitar, right?"

"Well yeah, that uh... Bodyguard of yours sort of pounced on me as I was just finishing packing up for the day."

"He wasn't rough on you, was he?" She questioned, looking serious for a moment.

"Naw, just... Strict I guess is the word?" He chuckled nervously.

"Yeah, strict... That sounds like him. I'll give him a telling off for you next shift he's on with me." Swift smiled, stepping back as she turned and walked on into her apartment. "What can I get you? Want a beer or something? Water?"

"Beer?" That perked his interest, causing her to giggle in response as she raised an eyebrow at him as she approached the kitchen. "I mean, if you're offering then yes please!" Jacob said as he followed her.

"Well I am offering, and since you asked so nicely you can have one." Taylor slightly teased. "You're my guest after all! I'd be one rude hostess if I didn't treat you nicely."

"You're already being Hell of a nice gal just by letting me in here. I've never seen such a nice a place in like, ever!" He admitted.

"Then make yourself at home. My treat." She said without any hesitation, motioning down to a coat-hanger outside the kitchen area by a wall. "Hang your stuff up, get settled in, whatever you want to do." She added, turning as she moved over to the refrigerator to open it up, a slight bend as she leaned in to browse the contents.

"Uhhhh... Are you sure? This isn't... I mean, this is a real nice place you've got here..." Danny said, feeling a little uncomfortable as he glanced around, not even for once checking out Swift's nicely rounded ass in those sexy shorts. "All clean and expensive looking... I don't exactly fit in around here."

Picking up a couple of bottles, she looked back and saw he wasn't looking her way, and seeing how concerned he was made her bite down on her bottom lip at his reaction. She closed the door, moving back in and setting the bottle on a counter before moving across to him, getting his full attention as she stood in front of him.

"And yet I invited you up here. You know why?" Taylor asked as she again held his gaze.

"You... You liked my song?" Danny offered.

"More than that. I could tell you are a good person." She explained, the honesty in her voice clear as she explained herself. "The way you smiled, the way you sang and played that guitar... I could tell you meant it. You can't fake that. I saw it and heard it when you played, and that smile you gave me when you looked over to me... There was something about you that I had to meet you. Talk to you, get to know you. What does it matter that we just happen to be in my apartment to do it?"

"But... Listen, we don't know each other though. I don't know you, and you don't know me! You only just saw me across a sidewalk maybe a few hours ago! That doesn't mean that..."

"You don't know me?" Taylor cut him off, looking a little surprised by his comment. "You... You mean that?"

"...Should I?" Was the first words he said, but he quickly spoke again when he realised what he said. "I mean, I'm not exactly clued in... I mean... I don't have any way to... Uhhhhhh..."

There was an awkward silence between the two, the words of the other making this now very uncomfortable as both found the sight of their feet and the floor quite interesting, along with brief glances at the very contrasting footwear of the other. This was not going well, both of them thought.

Adopt, adapt, improve. Danny remembered the motto. This stunning young lady went out of her way to invite him to her place, offer a drink and place to stay for presumably a while, and he's throwing it back in her face? About time he started being not just a man about this, but being damn grateful to her for this.

"I'm sorry." He said to her as he looked up, and when she looked back to him he repeated it. "I'm sorry. I appreciate you doing this for me, and I'd be more than happy to... To talk, to get to know you, whatever you want to do. I'm just not, not used to this at all." He paused, first brushing his hands together to try and make them clean, or at least as clean as it gets for him, before he offered a hand out to her. "I'm Danny. Danny Jacob. I was called Daniel, but now it's just..."

"Danny." Taylor smiled broadly, eagerly accepting the handshake as the tension vanished between them, replaced with warm smiles. "I'm Taylor. Taylor Swift."

He blinked, giving her a curiously look and she smiled a little more, telling that there were cogs turning in his head at hearing that name. "I've... I've heard that name somewhere..."

"Yeah?" She kept smiling, stepping forward a little expectation.

A brief paused, his lips moving as he mouthed a couple of words of a song before properly speaking. "Shake It Off?"

"You have heard of me!" She laughed, breaking the handshake to turn to the table, scooping up a bottle of beer and moving across to a bottle opener attached to the wall.

"Yeah... A couple times on the radio... You make some real nice songs. Great voice as well." Jacob said as moved in, feeling a lot more comfortable now with the clearly down-to-Earth celebrity. "I don't exactly get any access to TV or the Internet in my, you know, position, but from what I've heard of you, you sound real good."

"Thanks Danny." She smiled, turning and offering him the opened bottle that he took, and in response handed her the unopened one. "I can say the exact same thing about you."

"Except I'm not a famous singer on the radio." He chuckled.

"I'm not the famous celebrity Taylor Swift right now though, am I?" She smirked, opening up her bottle. "I'm the Taylor Swift who wants to get to know you, maybe hear and song or two of yours along the way." She said, moving up and with a bright smile, clinking bottles with the handsome, homeless man she's got in her own apartment.

"Is that so?" He smiled back. "Well, what does Taylor want to know about me?"

"Everything."

* * *

As it turned out, everything covered quite a lot of ground and more than Swift had been expecting. But she listened intently to his story, at several points hanging off of every word as he told of a life far removed from her lifestyle of being able to within reason get what she wanted and do whatever she wanted, compared to his of scratching and clawing his way to make not a living, but to stay alive. Running away from home, sleeping rough, fights and brawls, and a list of some of the less than savory jobs he had to undertake just to get by for a while or even a day.

As the story went on, broken up by the ordering of some take-out food that was gratefully and gleefully eaten down like it was the first meal he'd had in days, and he talked about how he'd gotten his guitar, began playing and writing his own songs, Swift became more and more enraptured by the scruffy but handsome man, as her own singing and song writing side related to his, to a point of course. But there was something more to this than that, more than just her being friendly and nice by inviting the homeless guy to her place, giving him a beer or two and letting him relax. She had meant it before when she said there was something about his smile, the way he sang that spoke to her.

Even know, the stunning blonde pop (and former fully country) singer was leaning on her side on the couch, a hand slightly playing with strands of her hair as she listened to him singing that same song from when they'd first locked eyes hours ago. She was listening and loving the song, her head bobbing slightly in time with the strums of the strings he was playing but her eyes were seemingly focused on something else indeed.