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gretavangroupie · 4 months ago

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Bluebird Lane - Chapter Two

Pairing: Jake Kiszka x Female Reader

Word Count: 9.7k

Warnings: Cursing, Angst, Pining, Mentions of Death, Sexual Themes, Kissing.

A/N: Gigantic, massive thank you to @gretavanmoon and @builtbybrokenbells for endlessly encouraging me with this one and daydreaming with me. Thanks for reading!

JAKE POV

A trickle of sweat slips down the side of your neck as you lift your mattress onto the bed frame. It falls heavily, sending a burst of air up around it, the sound echoing through the mostly empty house. Your bed is definitely too large for the room, but sleep is one of the things you refuse to compromise on, and this mattress was the best of the best. There is truly nothing better than finally sleeping in your own bed after endless months of hotel beds and tour bus bunks. The wooden bed frame really only fit in the center of the room, leaving you enough space for your dresser and a nightstand or two. You briefly wonder if you made the right choice giving her the larger of the two rooms, knowing your furniture was better suited to more space, but quickly shake away the selfish thought.

You place your hands on your hips, catching your breath as you look at the baren mattress. The house is warm, a little warmer than you want, but you knew that the constant rush of outside air coming in through the front door was to blame. The ceiling fans are running at full speed, but it just feels like it's pushing around the warm air instead of cooling the place down. You look around the room for the box holding your sheets and bedding, knowing that is the next task on the list if you want a place to sleep tonight. You snatch up the navy blue sheets, tossing the folded stack onto the bed with a thump and a huff of air.

Your heart is racing, but not from the effort you just exerted. Instead because you know Y/N is going to be arriving at any minute. You glance down to your watch knowing an hour has passed since she texted you that she was on her way, and that her car would be pulling into the driveway in the next few minutes. You worked all day trying to get as much of your belongings unpacked as possible before she arrived. Josh and Sam even spared the time to help you with the bigger furniture this morning. You knew there was no way you were wrestling that couch through the front door all on your own.

Truth be told, you were secretly hopeful she would want to keep your couch when you offered it. It was a bigger splurge item as of recent, the slate gray L-shaped Cloud couch stealing several grand from your bank account just a few months prior, but after sitting on it in the Restoration Hardware showroom, you knew you were not leaving without one of your own. Of course, your previous living room was much larger and was more accommodating to a couch of this size, but it filled the room here, and in a way almost made it feel more cozy. You knew she would put her own feminine touch on the room, balancing out your ‘guy stuff’ or whatever she called it.

You pull your hair up off of your neck, tying it into a bun before working to pull the sheets onto your bed, letting the fitted sheet snap into place. You toss the pillows to the top of the mattress and throw your comforter onto the bed, pulling the edges down to try and make it look like you tried a little. You could already tell you were going to sleep hard tonight, and the clean smell of the sheets made your bed all the more alluring.

You hear a car door shut, pulling you from your daydream and you know she is here. You wipe your sweaty forehead against your forearm and smooth back the hair at your temples, rubbing your fingers over your mustache as you nervously make your way into the living room to meet her at the front door. You pull the front of your shirt to your nose, praying you don’t smell as bad as you feel, dropping it quickly as she steps up onto the porch and hoping that she didn’t see you do that.

“Welcome,” you smile, opening the door all the way to let her inside. You are secretly nervous that she won’t like how you have things arranged, but swallow down the fear as her eyes light up.

“Hey, wow, it looks so…good in here already!” she says, dropping a potted plant down onto the floor. She drops her purse and keys with it as she steps further into the house, taking in the sight of all of the furniture in its place. “Jake, how did you– you did all of this today?”

“My brothers came by earlier to help, no sweat,” you answer casually, standing with your hands on your hips as you watch her. She turns to you and tosses you a playful knowing smirk as she eyes your sweaty shirt.

“Okay, a little sweat,” you tease. She shakes her head and walks around in the kitchen taking notice of the boxes still scattered around. “Is your car unlocked? I can start grabbing things?”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that Jake, I can get it.”

Instead of arguing with her you smile and nod, heading out the front door towards her tiny silver car. It’s packed up to the brim with a small rental trailer attached. You take notice of the number of plants occupying her front seat and smile, hoping her green thumb will rub off on you. You grab a box from the backseat, carrying up the front porch steps and into the house, finding her in her bedroom opening the blinds to let some sunlight in.

“Jake! I can get it all, seriously. It’s packed in there like a clown car,” she giggles, “I shoved it all in, I can take it all out. I know you have your own stuff to do. Also, is this the mas– Why didn’t you take the bigger room? You were here first.”

You huff out a laugh, “What? What do you mean? Of course I gave you the bigger room. You’re going to be here a lot more than I am. It makes the most sense. It’s also closer to the bathroom and has way better natural light. And I just saw all those plants in your car…I think I made the right choice.”

“Are you sure? We didn’t even really talk about it,” she asks, pulling her bottom lip between her front teeth. You swallow harshly as you try to pull your eyes away from her lips.

“Absolutely. No question. Though, I will say, part of giving you the bigger room means I have to keep a guitar or two in the living room,” you pause, tilting your head towards her. “Now, where is the key for the trailer? Wanna get that thing unloaded while we still have some daylight.”

“Jake, really, you do not have to do all this…” she argues.

You stop and turn to her, raising a brow, “The key, sweetheart.”

Her cheeks color pink as she rushes past you out the door, bending over to grab the keys from the place on the floor. You do your damndest not to let your eyes linger on her ass as she bends over, but you fail. Miserably. Get it together, Jacob.

You follow her out to the trailer, unlocking the padlock and pulling up the metal door. Only a few small pieces of furniture occupy the space and you momentarily consider calling Sam to come back and help you just so that she doesn't have to, but before you can decide she is inside the trailer lifting the side of her dresser.

“Woah, woah, okay, take it easy. S’all this going in your bedroom?” you ask, stepping up into the trailer with her.

“I think so. You pretty much brought everything else,” she smiles, shoving the dresser forward.

“I can call my brother to come back over and help me get this in–”

“No, I can do it. How do you think I got all this in here?” she asks, a look of insult on her features.

“You did this alone?” you ask, feeling sick to your stomach.

“Are you surprised?” She smiles playfully, trying to lighten the mood.

“I mean, yeah. I am, honestly.” You pause, wondering how they hell she did it. “Okay, well shit, let’s do it then. You just tell me if you need to stop for a second.”

“I’m good, let’s do it.” she answers, lifting her side of the dresser, following your lead as you walk it out of the trailer and into the house.

The two of you continue this way until the trailer is empty, and the car is unpacked. She is now in a similar state as you are, sweaty and tired and in desperate need of a drink, however you both still have quite a bit to do before calling it a night.

You leave her to her unpacking as you rifle around in the kitchen looking for your toolbag. You know it's in here somewhere, using it just this morning on your own bed frame. You spot the bright red bag and snatch it from the box, making your way back into her room to find her packing her clothes away into the dresser. She looks at you, then to the tool bag in your hand as she raises her eyebrows.

“Your bed frame,” you answer, nodding towards the black metal frame leaning against the wall.

“Oh, I–”

“Can do it, yeah, I know, but so can I. Keep unpacking, let me do this,” you demand, dropping the bag to the floor. She doesn’t argue, instead turning back to her stack of t-shirts on the floor.

“Where do you want the bed to be?” you ask, looking around the room.

She glances around biting at her lips, “Right there in the middle,” she answers, pointing to the space beneath the windows. It’s probably where you would have picked, too.

You make quick work of the frame, finding it a lot easier to put together than your own. A few screws and bed slats later it’s ready for the mattress and box spring. You maneuver the box spring down onto the slats with a metallic clang, grabbing her attention from her place on the floor.

“You wanna help me get the mattress through the door?” you ask, pushing the hair off your face.

She nods quickly, pulling herself up with the edge of the dresser and following you out into the hallway where the mattress sat leaning against the wall. The two of you drag the mattress in through the doorway and into the room, ready to flip it and place it on the frame.

“You got it?” you ask, carrying the bulk of the weight.

“Yeah, drop it on three,” she pauses, “One, two, three!”

You drop the mattress onto the boxspring, both of you falling face first onto the bed from opposite sides. You both let out a relieved sigh, taking a second to catch your breath as you turn to your back to stare up at the old wooden ceiling fan spinning overhead.

“Your mattress is kinda hard,” you say, turning your head to face her with a smile.

“I like my firm mattress thank you very much,” she quips, giving you a playful smirk.

You suck your teeth as you answer, “You would hate my bed then.”

She rolls to her side to face you,“Why, is it really soft?”

“It’s the best mattress in the world, I have tried them all,” you tease, pushing up from the bed and grabbing your tool bag. You make your way to the door, stopping to look at her, still laid out on her bed. You swallow harshly as you push down the intrusive thoughts swimming through your mind. “I’ll leave you to it, just shout for me if you need me.”

—

You’ve almost got all of your clothes put away, not that you really had a ton to begin with, but nonetheless they are put away. Shirts hung, pants folded, coats hanging neatly in the back of the closet. You stack your books on your dresser and arrange your boots by the door, feeling pretty well accomplished for the day. The sun is set now, and the air in the house is finally starting to cool off. You can hear Y/N in her room, still working steadily as she unpacks her boxes and stacks them in the hallway. You push your last empty box into the hall, deciding to break down a few and take them out to the curb.

As you enter back into the house you spot the few boxes on the kitchen floor and the rumble of your stomach lets you know that unfortunately, emptying these boxes is a pressing task. You see a few of hers scattered with your own, hers marked ‘kitchen’ in purple marker. Hearing the sound of hangers sliding across the rod in her closet, you decide to unpack her kitchen boxes, mixing her things with yours. It's a plethora of coffee mugs and mismatched dishes, travel coffee mugs and reusable straws. You smile to yourself as you load them into the cabinets, stacking them neatly next to your own mugs, your souvenirs of places visited.

Your stomach rumbles again and you know that you need to deal with it before it gets out of hand and your mood starts to decline. It didn’t take much these days, but you were still trying to make a good impression on your new roommate. You pull your phone from your pocket and flip through delivery options, deciding that pizza is typically agreeable amongst everyone. You hesitate for a second, deciding that you should probably ask her just in case. You blow out a breath and head down the hallway, knocking on her door just enough that it swings open.

“Hey, I was uh– I was maybe gonna order a pizza? Are you…hungry? Do you like pizza?” you ask, feeling like an idiot for stumbling over such a basic question.

“Of course I like pizza,” she laughs, shaking her head in disbelief. “Who doesn’t like pizza?”

Your fingers fidget with the pendant of your necklace, rubbing against the face to try and calm your nerves, “Great question,” you laugh. “What kind of pizza do you like?”

She taps her fingers against her lips, and you can’t help but take notice how her fingers melt into the plush pink skin.

“I like everything, really. Just no olives,” she answers, rushing out the last bit and biting against her bottom lip.

A tiny laugh huffs from your chest, “No olives, okay. Got it,” you nod, pulling your phone from your pocket. “I’m gonna order it then jump in the shower.”

She swallows hard and nods as her cheeks turn pink, “Yeah, sounds good,” she answers, quickly averting her eyes from you as you lean into her door frame. You look at her for just a second, watching her place her perfume bottle on her dresser, fighting every urge you have to walk over and see what it smells like. Begrudgingly you pull yourself away and turn your attention to your phone, stepping into the bathroom and starting the water in the shower.

With the pizza ordered and on its way you strip out of your clothes, dropping the sweaty heap onto the bathroom floor. You pull back the shower curtain and step into the baby blue tub, letting the hot water fall around you, rinsing the dried sweat from your skin. It feels good, too good, and you find yourself staring off into space as your muscles start to relax. As you open your eyes you reach for your shampoo, seeing that the bottle is not alone on the shelf anymore, and is now joined by three others. A matching shampoo and conditioner has joined the lineup in two light pink bottles, sitting next to a bottle of green body wash that is said to smell like Cucumber, Seaweed, and Green Tea.

You wrack your brain trying to see if you can even think of what Green Tea or Seaweed even smells like, doing your absolute best to convince yourself not to smell her body wash. You shake away the thought, lathering up your hair, and refusing to let your eyes land on the pink bottles in front of you. You do not want to know what her shampoo smells like either. Not at all.

You rinse away the suds from your hair, reaching for your bar of soap, fresh from the box. You wet the yellow bar in your hands until it starts to produce bubbles, sliding it over your chest as the clean fragrance starts to fill the steamy air. You glide it over your arms and down your legs before depositing it back into the soap dish, using the soap left over to clean the rest of your body.

You slide your hands over yourself as your mind starts to wander again, eyes locked on that bottle of body wash, knowing that it holds the answer to the question plaguing your mind. Your hand wanders over your groin, spreading the soap over your length and gently tugging at it until it feels clean. You let your hand linger as the water pours over you, your eyes transfixed on the blue tile wall in front of you as your mind wanders with thoughts of the girl across the hall. Absent-mindedly your hand begins slow, languid strokes, the blood beginning to rush from elsewhere. It feels good, and you feel yourself starting to harden in your hand. But, as a thud sounds from the otherside of the wall, you’re quickly snapped from your transient thoughts, remembering exactly where you are and what you’re doing.

“Fuck,” you mutter, pulling your hand away and turning to rinse to soap from your body. You shouldn’t be having these thoughts, and you especially shouldn’t be acting on them. You turn the water off and slide the shower curtain open, pulling your towel from the countertop. The fog on the mirror is starting to dissipate as you run your towel through your dripping hair, still kicking yourself for letting yourself get caught up. You dry the rest of your body, wrapping the dark gray towel around your waist as you look at yourself in the mirror.

Again, your eyes catch sight of the bright green bottle on the shower shelf, still calling out to you to taste the forbidden fruit. Unable to stand it for a second longer you forcefully snatch it off of the shelf, popping open the lid and breathing in the scent. You feel your body relax as you breathe it in, the perfect blend of fresh and sweet, sending your head into a frenzy as you pick out each note of fragrance. You close it up, and place it back on the shelf as quietly as possible, pretending you didn’t just cave to your own rules. You knew as soon as you did it that you shouldn’t have done it, but you did, and you’d never tell a soul.

It’s always strange trying to acquaint yourself with new places. You feel like a stranger in your own home even though you’re surrounded by all of your own things. The sounds the house makes are different, the smells are different, even the energy will take some getting used to. You drop your towel to the floor and grab a pair of sweatpants from your dresser, pulling them over your legs as you scoop the towel up from the floor. You toss it over your shoulder as you make your way to your closet, pulling an old ratty t-shirt from its hanger. You run your towel through your hair one last time on your way back to the bathroom, hanging it on the hook behind the door and shutting off the light.

You felt better now that you’d showered, though the hunger was setting in full force. You knew the pizza would be here soon, and the thought alone had your stomach growling angrily. You step out into the living room, turning on the floor lamp now that the sun was set and the room was dark. You grab your acoustic and make your way to the couch, promptly sinking into its buttery soft cushions. Still worth every dime. You sit there for a minute, feeling the tiredness of your muscles really starting to set in as you let your body relax. Your head falls to the back of the couch as you prop your feet up onto the coffee table. An exhausted sigh leaves your chest as your guitar lays over your lap, and you suddenly wonder if you even had the desire to play it now that you’d sat down.

The sound of a door opening in the hallway grabs your attention, your head shooting up from the back of the couch to catch sight of Y/N walking across the hallway and into the bathroom. The door shuts and the light came on, the tiny yellow sliver of light beneath the door lighting the hallway. You hear the shower turn on and the sound of the shower curtain opening and you swallow back the nerves rising up in your chest. You refuse to let yourself think of her in there, coating herself in that fucking delicious body wash. No.

You push yourself up from the couch, walking your guitar back to the stand before making your way into the kitchen. You know you need to find some plates to eat on before the pizza arrives, so you start digging around in the boxes until you find what you’re looking for. It doesn’t take much digging to find them, loading them into a cabinet with a few bowls and small plates.

A knock on the door fills the air as you close the cabinet, your legs practically sprinting to the door to answer. You graciously accept the pizza, tipping the driver and sending him on his way. As you shut the front door you hear the shower turn off, and you know that it will be only a few minutes until she smells the pizza and finds her way into the kitchen.

You turn towards the fridge, opening it to find a bottle of champagne sitting inside, along with a small white envelope taped to the lid. It has your names written in a messy scrawl and you know that Ralph has left this as a gift for the two of you. You decide to close the fridge and wait for her before reading it, not wanting to seem like a jerk.

You hear her soft padding of her footsteps as she makes her way down the hallway and towards the kitchen, and in some cruel twist of fate you can smell her before you ever lay eyes on her. She steps up to the kitchen counter, her cheeks pink from the hot shower as her hair hangs wet and wavy around her face. She has on a giant oversized t-shirt, with a faded and well worn image of Stevie Ray Vaughn on the front. You feel like you’ve been punched in the stomach as you realize she might have good taste in music, too. A sliver of red boxer shorts peek out from the hem of the t-shirt, her bare legs practically glowing in the dim light coming from the living room as a sleepy look crosses her face. Realizing you are definitely staring, you clear your throat and turn towards the pizza.

“Pizza is here,” you say, stating the obvious. A grin pulls across her lips as she eyes the box in front of you.

“I see that,” she teases, leaning her hip onto the side of the counter. “Just let me know how much and I’ll Venmo you.”

“Oh, no no. It’s fine, I’ve got this, don’t worry about that,” you say, not even registering that she would want to pay for part of it. You hand her a plate and motion for her to go ahead, watching her open the box to reveal the pizza.

“God, I’m starving,” she whines, grabbing a few slices.

“I figured you might be,” you smile, filling your own plate. “Do you wanna sit on the couch?” you ask, glancing over to the kitchen table piled high with boxes.

“Yeah, okay,” she nods, walking over to the couch and sinking down into the cushion. “I am so glad we decided on yours. Mine sucked.”

“I love this couch,” you admit, taking a seat at the opposite side of the L shaped sofa. You both start to eat fairly quickly, the room going silent as you both work to rid yourselves of the hunger in your stomachs.

“I’d ask if you wanted to watch a movie or something, but,” she teases, nodding towards the TV in the box on the floor.

“Yeah, that will be on my to-do list for tomorrow. That and internet, I feel like I’m in the stone age right now.” you pause, smiling at her. “Do you like to watch movies?” you ask, placing your empty plate on the coffee table.

“Yeah, I do. I like all kinds! What about you?” she asks, mimicking your actions. She folds her legs up underneath her on the couch, almost disappearing beneath her t-shirt.

“I like historical stuff, war movies, documentaries,” you answer, suddenly feeling pretty predictable. “But I don’t really have a ton of time to watch stuff like I want to.”

A side smile stretches across her lips and she nods, “So no Notebook for you, then?”

“Hey, give me credit. I do have a sister, and I have seen that at least twice.”

“Alright, fair enough I guess. I can get down with historical stuff, though,” she says, tilting her head to the side.

Really?

“Be careful,” you laugh, “Gonna get yourself into trouble saying that.”

“How’s that?” she asks, playing as if she doesn’t already know the answer.

“You’re gonna find yourself suffering through all of my favorites,” you answer with a smirk. “But that being said, what is your favorite movie?”

She giggles, “Just by looking at me, what do you think my favorite movie is?”

You look her up and down, suddenly feeling the overwhelming sense that it won’t be what you think. She knows that you want to answer and say some romantic comedy. She’s baiting you just to prove you wrong. “Okay, I’m gonna guess it’s something old school. You think I won’t guess… ”

“You’d be right. It is old,” she nods.

“Alright,” you continue, rubbing your fingers over your lips. “Can you give me a hint? Give me a genre at least.”

She sits up, repositioning herself on the couch. “It’s romantic, from the fifties.”

“Is it a movie I’ve heard of?” you ask.

“Yes. Everyone knows this movie. At least I hope they do…”

“Oh, um– The one with the cat– Ahh, what it called– shit, um, the tiffany's movie. Breakfast at Tiffanys?”

“So close, but no cigar. It’s Roman Holiday,” she answers, stretching her legs out to rest on the edge of the coffee table. Your eyes flick down to her legs, silky smooth from her shower and glowing in the lamp light, feeling a strange feeling stirring in your stomach. “Same actress, so I will give you points for that.”

“I don’t know if I’ve seen that one actually,” you admit, peeling your eyes away from her legs.

“What?! Oh, it’s the best. We will have to watch it.”

“You know, I was fully expecting you to say that it is some newer romantic comedy or something. I’m pleasantly surprised,” you confess. “I like the old stuff, too.”

“It’s kind of all we had. My mother was a hopeless romantic. We watched old films constantly. In fact one summer we watched one every night. We never had cable, or even real internet, honestly. We just had our old VHS tapes and each other.”

You feel your heart twist in your chest at her admission, suddenly feeling like the life you live is more fortunate than you’d previously thought. You suddenly feel stupid about your internet comment just minutes ago. You decide to change the subject, noticing that she is feeling a bit uneasy.

“So you mentioned gardening,” you pause, “How did you get into that?”

She smiles and nods, “My mother. She taught me everything I know. It’s therapeutic for me now, reminds me of her. Plus everything tastes better when you grow it yourself.”

“Sounds amazing,” you answer, “Seems like a nice hobby to have.”

“Wasn’t always a hobby. Sometimes it’s all we had. Was more of a necessity.” she answers, and again you can feel her uneasiness. You nod in understanding and change the subject again as your heart grows heavy.

“Did you get your stuff all put away?” you ask, standing up from the couch. You grab your empty plates and walk over towards the kitchen, listening as you walk.

“I did! Well, most of it at least. I still have a little bit to do tomorrow but I can at least sleep in my bed tonight.”

“Shower has good water pressure, I was happy about that,” you say, placing the plates into the sink. You glance at the fridge, remembering the champagne waiting inside.

“Oh yeah, Ralph left us something,” you say, opening the door and pulling out the cold bottle. You pluck the note from the lid and hold it up for her to see. “Left us a note too.”

“Oh, he is so sweet,” she whines, resting her head on her fist.

“Would you like some champagne?” you ask, holding up the bottle.

“Absolutely I do. I don’t think I have any glasses though,” she says, her face falling a bit.

“Don’t need fancy glasses to drink champagne,” you smile, grabbing two coffee mugs from the cabinet, feeling thankful you put them away earlier. You pop the cork on the bottle, pouring the bubbly liquid into the mugs and grabbing the note.

You walk back over, handing her a mug and the note, taking a spot a little closer to her this time.

“Barcelona, huh…” she smiles, reading the words on her mug.

You sip from yours, feeling the bubbles slide down your throat, “Mhmm, that one is newer. Got that a month or two ago.” You spin your own mug, reading out the city. “S’ones from London. Super old.”

“You really are gone a lot, huh?”

“More than I’d like but I wouldn’t change it for the world,” you answer, watching her take a sip from her mug.

She sets it down on the coffee table, opening the small white envelope and unfolding the lined paper. Her brows crinkle together as she reads the first few words, her eyes then shooting up to yours looking tearful.

“Shit, Jake…”

God that sounded sinful.

“What’s it say?” you ask, pretending the blood wasn’t rushing straight to your dick.

She clears her throat and begins to read. “Y/N and Jake, I hope this letter finds you both well and celebrating your new home. I figured a bottle of champagne would be enjoyed by the two of you as you ended your first day unpacking. PS- I hope it’s cold.” she giggles, moving her hands further down the paper.

“I thought that I would share with you a few of the memories my family made in this home, and hopefully inspire you to create your own. Every holiday was spent here, family traveling from all over to get a taste of Gail’s Thanksgiving turkey, and her Christmas cake. It was chocolate and was my favorite thing in the world. We always put the tree in the front right corner of the living room, just so we could see the lights through the window from outside. The neighbors on this street go all out for Christmas, lights and decorations and everything. It truly is a sight to see. We only got one white Christmas here, but maybe you two will get lucky.” You see her eyes starting to tear up as she reads, and you feel the lump growing in your own throat.

“I should tell you to watch out for that back porch step, the drop off is a little further than you’d expect. My son Johnny learned that the hard way. Broke his arm in the middle of the summer one year. Had to rush him to the hospital. Never did find a good solution for it. When it gets really cold out you’ll need to throw a blanket over the flower bushes out front so they don’t freeze. I left a few of Gail’s recipes taped in the kitchen cabinet, just didn’t have the heart to remove them after all this time. If you ever feel like making one of them, be sure to call me, I’d love to join you.”

You watch her swipe away a tear from her eye, your hand instinctively reaching for her arm to comfort her. You lay your hand on her forearm, rubbing it just slightly before pulling it away, feeling the pull to put it back more strongly than you thought possible. “You want me to finish reading it?” you ask softly.

She sniffles a bit and brushes her damp hair over her shoulders trying to regain her composure. She takes a long drink from her champagne, clearing her throat again to speak. “No, I'm almost done.”

“I hope that you two will love this house as much as we did. It houses a lot of very cherished memories and I have no doubt that it will house yours too. I’m so glad this will be home to such a wonderful couple. If you ever need anything please don’t hesitate to call me, love Ralph.”

HER POV

Your hands are shaky as you fold up the letter, placing it gently on the coffee table. You can feel Jake’s eyes on you, and you know you have to get your emotions in check before he notices. You clear your throat and take a sip from your mug, letting the alcohol warm your bones. You never had that life, the family memories, the special holidays, none of it. You were lucky if your mom could afford a Happy Meal on Thanksgiving. You never faulted her for it, though. She worked hard, throwing every penny she had at bills and keeping the two of you fed. Poorly, but that didn’t matter much then. There were no extravagant Christmases or big family dinners, no special vacations or birthday parties. You never knew those things existed, not really anyway. Not until you left.

Your eyes flick over to meet him, his head thrown back on the top of the couch cushion as he looks at you. His cheeks are pink from the champagne, his thread-bare Led Zeppelin t-shirt barely holding on for life as it hangs loosely over his shoulders. His hair is long and wavy as it dries on his shoulders, the ends curling up a little from the natural humidity in the air. He seems relaxed, his legs stretched out across the length of the couch, and his feet crossed at the ankle. He seems perfectly content to sit here and listen to anything you have to say, willing to talk about anything, not just respond, and for some reason it scares you a bit.

You decide to change the subject, not wanting him to ask about your sudden change in demeanor. “What’s your family like?” you ask, rotating your hips a little on the cushion to face him more.

A slight smile pulls at his lips, his head nodding just slightly as he tries to figure out how to give you the condensed version of his life.

“Well, there’s Josh and I, my sister Veronica, and Sam is the youngest. My parents still live up in Michigan so I don’t get to see them as often as I would like to, but when we do all get together, it’s always a chaotic multi-day party. Lots of drinking and laughing and cooking… I try to go up for holidays when I can, but sometimes with our touring schedule that isn’t always possible. Sometimes we fly ‘em out though, to wherever we are in the world. Incredibly supportive, good people. Wouldn’t trade them for the world.”

“And your brothers do the band with you,” you pause, “Does that ever get…” you trail off, trying to find the word you’re looking for.

“If you’re asking if we fight, the answer is yes. Every single day,” he laughs, “We are all way too passionate about our opinions and refuse to back down. But I think that because we’re all family, we have no choice but to work it out, and things always end up ten times better in the end. That and we usually have Daniel to mediate.”

You nod as you listen, feeling completely taken by the way he speaks about the things he loves. You can hear the conviction in his voice, and you can tell that his relationship with his family means everything to him.

“I bet your parents are very proud,” you grin.

“I like to think they are, of course, my dad would never say it to me directly,” he teases. “We are close, just in very different ways.”

“And your mom?” you ask, letting your eyes meet his.

“Karen,” he smiles, shaking his head in thought, “She is…Just like Josh. The light in every room. Our biggest supporter.”

“Do you talk to her often?” you continue.

“I do. We text mostly. I’m not a big phone call kind of guy, but occasionally. We talk at least once every day or two.” he pauses, “What about you? You close with your parents?”

“Oh, it was just my mom and I, and yes we were very close.” you answer quickly.

“Does she live close by? Where did you grow up?” he asks, and you start to panic, not wanting to reveal that part of your life.

“Um, not too far from here, about two hours away.” you answer. He furrows his brow trying to place where it could have been, but comes up blank. “We just…had very different lives. My mom passed recently and my dad isn’t in my life. He wasn’t a good person.”

“Oh, I’m really sorry to hear that,” he says, his face growing long as he realizes you don’t really have much family.

“It’s alright. I manage.”

He seems to understand that you don’t want to talk about it, quickly nodding his head and attempting to change the subject. He lifts his finger and motions to your shirt with a smile. “I like your shirt. Love SRV.”

You look down at the old t-shirt, the image so faded you can hardly make it out yourself. “Oh, yeah, my mom loved him. She had a huge vintage collection. I kinda inherited it all.” you smile.

Your eyes flick over to the note on the table and another wave of guilt rushes through you. “I still feel really bad that we are lying to Ralph. That note was so sweet, and if he ever finds out the truth he will be crushed.” you whine.

“Hey, hey, don’t worry about it. It’s fine, I promise. It will all work out. He will never know.” he urges, his eyes pleading for you to trust him.

It’s quiet between the two of you for a minute or two, only the sound of the refrigerator running and the cars passing out front. Your eyes scan over the room, seeing a few more boxes that need to be unpacked tomorrow. They are all labeled ‘Living Room’, and you briefly wonder where in the world you are going to store all of it.

“Hey,” you say, turning to look at Jake. His eyes meet yours as you continue. “We might not have cable, but I do have Scrabble.”

A grin pulls across his lips as he tries to bite them together to conceal it. “I am too good at Scrabble. I would hate to beat you on our first game night. That’s impolite.”

“No one has beat me at Scrabble in ten years, Jake. Hate to burst your bubble.” you smile, getting up and digging around in the boxes for the game. “I’ve been the champ my whole life.”

“You may have met your match,” he laughs. He works quickly to clear the coffee table, tossing a couch pillow to the floor for you to sit on. Your hand meets the tattered red box, pulling it out and walking back to the coffee table.

He watches you settle across from him on the pillow, setting the box on the table with a thud. His hand starts to reach for the box, but you stop him.

“Oh, I’ll set up, the board is really old and kinda flimsy,” you say, reaching for the box.

He grabs your hand and gives you a playful smile, “I will set it up. I’ll be gentle. You refill our mugs.”

You raise your eyebrow at him, feeling a swirl of butterflies in your stomach at his demanding tone. You quickly stand and return to the kitchen, grabbing the bottle of Champagne from the fridge and filling the two mugs to the top.

“That should do it,” you giggle.

He smirks as he sees the practically overflowing mugs, “Yeah, I’d say so.”

You can hardly pull your eyes away from him as he leans over the table and sips from the top of the mug to empty it enough to pick it up. His lips are gentle as they press to the lip of the mug, his throat moving just slightly as he swallows down the bubbles. A heat blooms in your chest as you shake your head of the thoughts swirling around. You focus on the wooden tiles in front of you, positioning them on the stand to see what you’re working with. It’s not an amazing set, but you have a few solid options for your first play.

Jake does the same, and you watch as his fingers gently move the wooden tiles around to form words.. His touch is so gentle, that his movements hardly make a sound as the tiles are rearranged. You aren’t sure if it’s the alcohol or what, but you can hardly pull your eyes away from him.

“Ladies first,” he says, looking up at you now that he is happy with his tiles.

“You sure?” you tease, “Don’t want to make this too difficult for you.”

“Try me, sweetheart.” he smirks, nodding for you to start.

You bite back a smile as you place your letters on the board, spelling out the word ‘Vector’.

“Vector, hmm…” he hums, rearranging a few letters on his stand as fingers swipe over his lips. You swallow harshly as you imagine how that must feel.

“Alright,” he breathes, placing his letters to spell out ‘Hunter’.

You both draw your letters from the bag arranging them for your next play, as Jake fiddles with his phone. A few seconds later music starts to play softly from the speakers, just enough to fill the silence.

“This okay?” he asks.

“Of course.” you answer, just as your next words presents itself to you.

You place your letters on the board to spell out ‘Tenor’ and Jake nods.

“Hmm, maybe you will give me a run for my money,” he teases.

“I told you I wasn’t playing around.” you answer, watching him place his letters without a second thought. His letters spell out the word ‘Ovate’ and you’re positive he just made that up.

“That’s not a word!” you tease.

“Sure is. Means oval shaped.” he says, raising an eyebrow in challenge.

“Hmmm, okay.” you growl, placing your next word down.

“Aeon,” he grins, “Nice one.”

“Thanks,” you flaunt, shaking four letters out of the bag and into your hand.

He lays out the word ‘Young’, playing off of your letters and you feel yourself starting to get more competitive with every play. The two of you play back and forth for what seems like a hundred turns, Jake never faltering, and one upping every single one of your plays. He might actually beat you.

The words seem to be getting larger and larger and more complex with every turn, your body starting to ache from sitting on the floor crouched over the coffee table. Thankfully the alcohol in your system has you feeling a little more loose than usual. You decide to stretch out under the table, your legs resting dangerously close to his body. He looks down and notices but doesn’t say anything, instead playing his turn and spelling out the word ‘Nocturne’.

You silently look at your letters, trying to decide what word you can play off of his, when you feel a warm hand move to rest on the top of your ankle. You don’t dare look at Jake, knowing that if you do he might move it. Your heart starts to beat rapidly in your chest as you feel each one of his fingertips on your skin. Your insides feel like jell-o under the warmth of his hand, the small gentle gesture reducing your brain to mush.

With shaky breath you nervously look up at him as you place your letters on the board to spell out ‘Counters’. His hand doesn't move as he grins at you, silently commending you on your play. He taps your leg with his hand as he moves to play his word, using almost every single letter on his stand.

“Osculate?” you question, furrowing your brows. “That’s not a real word.”

He grins as he leans back onto the couch, his hand returning to rest on your leg. “It is, promise.”

You shake your head, “No, no way. I don’t believe you.”

“Look it up,” he nods, gesturing to your phone.

“No– What does it mean then? Use it in a sentence.” you urge.

He smiles and leans forward, repositioning himself to hover over the edge of the table. He grabs his phone and types in the word, seeming satisfied as he looks at the screen. He licks his lips before speaking, his eyes locked on yours.

“Well, it’s Latin for one, and it means lips,” he trails off. His voice lowers a bit and his tongue brushes his lips again, “Specifically the act of touching lips.”

You lean forward over the coffee table to look at his phone, needing to see it with your own eyes to believe it. Your face is only inches from his, and you can smell the Champagne on his breath and feel the warmth radiating from his skin.

You let your eyes meet his again, finally able to see the fleck of gold buried deep within the dark brown of his eyes. “I’ve never once heard that word,” you whisper.

He looks at you, letting his eyes flick down to your lips before moving back to your eyes. “Well I’m sure you’ve done it.” he smirks.

“Done what?” you ask, feeling the tension growing between the two of you. Your heart is hammering in your chest just from his proximity.

“Kiss,” he whispers, a devilish grin on his perfectly pink lips. His head moves slowly towards yours, tilting to the side before brushing his lips softly against yours. Chills fill your body as his lips meet yours, the taste of him shockingly present even if only for a moment. Your lips move against his instinctively, a soft whine sounding from you from the contact. Before you can even process what is happening he pulls away, your body already craving the feeling again.

“There, now we can be sure,” he grins, resettling himself against the back of the couch. It’s as if nothing ever happened as he plays his next turn, his hand returning to rest on your leg as your brain swirls with a thousand different thoughts.

You aren’t even sure what to say, or how to react to that. All you know is that you need him to do that again. You’re down to your last play, both of you teetering on the edge of a win and all it comes down to is this. With shaky hands you play the word ‘Twice’.

Jake tries his best to conceal his laugh, running his hand over his mouth as he lets out a knowing sigh.

“No way,” you breathe, “There’s no way,” you say, suddenly realizing that he knows he is about to win.

His eyes flick up to yours, half guilty and half victorious as he nods his head and bites his lips together. He places his final tiles to spell out ‘Wiz’ giving him the last fifteen points he needed to seal the deal.

You stare at him in shock, truly unable to recall the last time you lost at a game of Scrabble.

“You seem surprised,” he grins. “Told you I would win.”

“I–” you mutter, “I can’t believe it.”

“No one in my family will ever play me. Probably should have mentioned that.” he giggles, starting to clear the board.

You roll your eyes and shake your head, smiling at how beautiful his smile is. How pretty his laugh is. How alluring his eyes are in the dim living room light. You suddenly realize that it must be glaringly obvious how suddenly smitten you are with this man, feeling a rush of embarrassment overtake you.

“It’s fine, I need to go to bed anyway,” you mumble, pushing up from the coffee table. You’re unsteady on your feet, the champagne hitting you all at once. Jake quickly stands and catches you, steadying you before you topple over onto the floor.

“You okay, Y/N?” he asks, both of his hands resting on your arms. You can feel that warmth again, not only from his touch but also from his stare. The two of you look at each other for a few silent seconds, your eyes flicking down to his lips again, begging him to kiss you one more time.

You watch his Adam’s apple bob as he swallows heavily, taking a deep breath as he releases your arms. You nod and step backward, awkwardly looking around the room as you think of something to say.

“Thanks um– for playing with me,” you stammer.

“Of course, I will let you win next time.” he teases with a grin.

“Absolutely not. I want to win fair and square,” you laugh, grabbing your phone off of the coffee table.

“Fair enough. ‘M gonna lock up and put the pizza away, and I uh– I’ll see you in the morning, I guess?”

“Oh, I can do it,” you say, looking over towards the kitchen.

His arm reaches out and stops you, his touch soft and gentle, “I’ve got it.” he whispers.

You smile sheepishly and nod, “Okay…Um, goodnight Jake.”

He pinches his chin with his fingers as he smiles at the ground before looking back at you. “Goodnight, Y/N.”

You slip into your bedroom and close the door, your heart pounding in your chest as you can finally let your real emotions loose.

Holy shit.

You frantically change into your pajamas, swapping your t-shirt for a thin pointelle tank top with a tiny pink rose at the top. You pull on the tiny matching shorts and put your hair in a ponytail, staring at yourself in the mirror as your mind swirls with thoughts of Jake. You cannot believe you just kissed your roommate, on the first night no less. But he kissed you, right? And why did you like it?

You quietly open your bedroom door, walking across the dark hallway into the bathroom to brush your teeth, turning on the light and settling in front of the left sink you claimed as your own. You were thankful for the double vanity, giving each of you your own space in the small bathroom. You reach for your toothbrush and turn on the water, lifting the toothbrush to your teeth as Jake appears in the doorway.

You’re positive you felt your heart stop at the sight of him, standing there in just his low slung sweatpants, the Led Zeppelin t-shirt long gone. Your eyes focus on the stack of pendants hanging against his tanned chest, his hair no longer hanging freely around his face, but instead pulled back into a bun at his neck. You rip your eyes away from him, trying not to stare, but you can feel his eyes on you just the same.

You quickly realize you are in significantly less clothing than you were earlier, leaving very little to the imagination. You keep your eyes focused straight ahead as you watch yourself in the mirror. He steps up next to you at his sink, grabbing his own toothbrush and turning on the water. His hand reaches for his toothpaste sitting in the cup on the counter. His eyes meet yours as he squeezes the toothpaste onto his brush with a smirk. Your heart is beating rapidly as you brush your teeth, your eyes wandering to look at him through the mirror as he begins to brush. You catch each other's eyes a few times, a soft smile taking over your faces as you both brush for the full two minutes.

You lean over to spit, suddenly feeling nervous for him to watch you, but you do it anyway, secretly wondering if this would be a nightly occurrence. You hear a soft chuckle leave his lips as he watches you, finishing out his two minutes of brushing as you rinse with mouthwash. Feeling squeaky clean you lean against the counter with your arms folded across your chest, watching him just the same as he watched you. He feels no embarrassment spitting in front of you, making a scene as he gargles his mouth wash and flashes you his bright white smile.

He raises his eyebrows playfully as he takes in the sight of you one more time, letting out a deep breath before turning towards the door.

“Night,” he winks, slipping out of the bathroom and down the hall before you can respond.

You make your way back to your bedroom, noticing his bedroom door is still open. His sound machine is on, playing a constant stream of white noise as his room glows a deep red. You catch sight of him in his bed just briefly, slipping into your room and shutting the door as your heart pounds. You slide into your nice cold sheets and let your tired muscles relax into the mattress with a sigh. The mattress Jake was laying on just hours ago. Shit. Stop it Y/N. You cannot have a crush on your roommate.

Right?

JAKE POV

You settle your head against your pillows, letting out a sigh as the fan blows cold air onto you. You can hardly shake the image of her in that little sleep set from your mind, wanting nothing more than to reach out and feel its softness against your hands. Those two minutes in the bathroom felt like ten, controlling every single urge inside of you telling you to kiss her again.

You aren’t even sure what possessed you to do that. It wasn’t something you typically did, but for some reason, it felt right. She felt right. The two seconds your lips were on hers were the best two seconds you’ve had in months, and knowing she was sleeping just one door over was killing you.

You reach over to your nightstand for your phone, seeing a missed text from Sam.

Sam

10:12PM: What is your new roommates name again?

You

11:07PM: Y/N

Sam

11:09PM: Is she hot?

You decide to send him a photo of her, knowing you can’t admit to him that you do in fact think she is hot, because he will never let it go. You open her instagram and take a few screenshots, sending them over to him to let him decide for himself. Though you already knew what he would say.

Sam

11:15PM: Wait…I think I know her. I recognize her.

You feel your heart start to beat a little harder. Shit, how does he know her?

You

11:16PM: How?

Sam

11:17PM: Hold on, let me go look at her Instagram.

It feels like a year passes before he messages you again.

Sam

11:25PM: Oh shit! Yeah, she gave me a massage a few weeks ago. Danny recommended her to me. He sees her too.

You

11:26PM: What?

Sam

11:29PM: Yeah! She works magic. I wonder if she would remember me…Maybe I will make another appointment.

Goddamnit.

You

11:30PM: Watch it, Sam.

Sam

11:31PM: Yeah, yeah, I think I will. Gonna talk about you the whole time like I don’t know who she is…

You

11:32PM: Do it and see what happens, I’m warning you.

Sam

11:33PM: Oh relax Jake

You lock your phone and toss it to your nightstand, wishing you never even responded to him in the first place. How was it that she had her hands on both of them before ever touching you? It seemed wrong. The thought alone makes your skin crawl. You want her to touch you like that.

You suddenly feel a wave of guilt creeping over you that you kissed her tonight. Even though she kissed you back, and it was in the name of fun, you know you should have asked first. You should have never crossed that line. But god it felt so right.

You know you need to apologize in the morning. Apologize and make things right between you. Tell her you shouldn’t have, and that you respect her as a woman and as your roommate. Show her that she's safe here. That she’s safe with you. That she has nothing to worry about or be afraid of.

You will do that for her, pushing your mounting feelings to the side, even if it’s not what you really want. You don’t know exactly how long she’s been alone in this life, but you do know that she wouldn’t be anymore. You were going to make sure of it.

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bradshawsbitch · 2 years ago

Text

flightless bird | bradley bradshaw x reader

masterlist | ko-fi

hehe, happy valentine's day! surprise! it's a bradley-tastic holiday with lots of smut. this is part two to my fic songbird.

summary; after spending a week in a snowy cabin, rooster finds himself deployed over the holidays and well in to the new year. with the help of nat, maybe he can still make your valentines memorable?

warnings; 18+ explicit smut, afab!reader, she/her pronouns, no use of y/n, songbird universe, yearning, frantic, pussyjob, cockwarming, unprotected sex, creampies, dacryphilia, dom/sub dynamics, shower stuff, fingering, l-bombs, food mention, dd/lg(?), sleepy sex, pussy spanking, choking, hair pulling, cunnilingus, blowjob.

word count; 8.3K

tagging people who might like; @mak-32 @roosterforme @roleycoleyreccenter @theharddeck @lt-bradshaw @rhettabbotts @hangmanbrainrot @laracrofted @mothdruid @notroosterbradshaw

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The week spent in the snowy cabin with you before the holidays had been just what Bradley had needed. A week where he could curl up in front of the fire with you, stay in bed during cold mornings watching snow whirl outside the windows - nights spent hearing his name sighed from your lips as he loved your body.

It felt extra special seeing as Bradley had been called out on his first out of the country mission the day after Christmas. For once, he had requested to not get put on lengthier operations, and had asked to spend the holidays state-side. However, as it was, not all requests could be accommodated - and he knew that after the dagger squad was formed, many of their new found skills in the air were coveted.

Which meant that his contact with you had been minimal. He managed to snag a video call for New Years, his eyes raking over your dolled up form as you blew him kisses, a tear rolling down your eyes as you smiled and said you missed and loved him. But other than that his superiors were quite strict about contacting home.

It was now the beginning of February, and Bradley was starting to lose it just a little. He would spend hours in the gym, enjoying the distractions they could provide him, letting out the steam that his mind plagued him with. It felt like every time he closed his eyes, the image of your blissed out form on top of his abs softly mewling his name played again and again. His gruff groan resounded in the small gym as he lifted the weights with more force than before, needing to shake the image from his head before he lost it.

It felt weird, spending so much time in such a cramped space again. The body and mind quickly got accustomed to space and the luxuries of being on land - and his claustrophobic little bunk didn’t exactly give him peace of mind to… take care of his problems. Especially not when his bunk mate, Growler, most likely had freaking sleep apnea or something. Damn the man snored loud. So now, after six weeks of grueling night flights, paired with snoring bunkmates and the tantalizing thought of your voice, your face, your embrace and body - Bradley felt like he was on the brink of insanity. He needed to come home to you. He needed you.

Sighing heavily, he trudged through the narrow corridors of the ship he was on, making his way to the small space reserved for showering. He’d spent the whole night in the cockpit, navigating as the stars twinkled happily back at him. Some constellations reminded him of you, in the way they would form a particular shape that would remind him of one of the scars or spots he’d loved during your time in the cabin.

Bradley knew you’d strangle him with your bare hands if he ever confessed that he thought of you when he was supposed to be focusing on navigating his jet. The thought made a small smile quirk on the corner of his lips. He could almost hear your scolding voice, reprimanding him and saying something along the lines of ‘keep your eyes on the road, Bradshaw! or… well, the clouds or whatever it is you watch!’

Even imagining your voice sent a stitch of longing through his chest. Seeing as this was not a ‘long stint’ as one admiral had expressed (Bradley had grumbled below his breath at that), he hadn’t heard your voice since New Years, and that was the longest Bradley had gone without hearing your sweet voice saying his name since he met you. It felt like torture, and he had been working since mid January to make it possible for him to deliver a surprise to you.

Bradley was relieved that during the time that you’d been in a relationship, you and Phoenix had found a friend in one another - often spending nights gossiping and painting your nails or whatever girls did together when Nat was home. It made it easier for her to help him arrange this surprise for you.

Stepping under the spray of lukewarm water, Bradley groaned softly, letting his eyelids flutter shut as water ran across his face. He couldn’t wait to stand under the warm water at home with you. Sighing heavily, he finished up his shower quickly heading off to get some sleep. Soon, he would be putting his plan into action.

Natasha had been absolutely relentless all week. You had suggested that maybe the two of you could spend Valentine’s together, but she just shook her head, revealing that she had a date with a pretty girl she had met at a cute little coffee shop in downtown San Diego earlier this year. She had, however, spent the day before the fourteenth going to different lingerie shops with you - hinting at sets you could buy for when Rooster made it home. The notion just made you feel a sad, longing ache for your boyfriend. Shaking your head, you told her that maybe you’d get a set when the time for his homecoming was a bit closer.

“C’mon, doll” Nat had taken to calling you many of the terms of endearment Bradley did when he wasn’t around, knowing you missed hearing them when he wasn’t home. “Maybe Roos will be able to sneak in a little video call during the day? I would hope his superiors aren’t completely heartless?” Natashas raised brow and tilted head had you furrowing your brows slightly. She was right. What if Bradley managed to get a video call slot? The thought immediately brought a smile to your face, and giddy excitement filled your every pore.

“Nat! Wouldn’t that be amazing?” you didn’t want to get your hopes up, but if he did manage it, you sure as hell wanted to treat him with a mighty fine visual. You had honestly had such a hard time ever since Roos had left - your fingers and toys just couldn’t compare to him, and more often than not your tries would only end in frustrated tears and unsatisfied feelings.

Phoenix smirked softly at you as you dragged her along now, looking at different bras and sets of various intricacies. Licking your lips you looked at a fairly simple set - Bradley was a simple man, and you knew that more than anything, he just wanted to see your body. You weren’t too comfortable wearing too many garters or complicated get-ups with ribbons twisted all around your body. In the end, you chose a simple red bra and panty set that looked good against your skin, cute little red hearts dotting it.

The rest of the day was spent plotting with Nat, giggling and speculating as to what would happen on her date tomorrow, and if Bradley would be able to call you. Going home and going to bed that night, you felt warm and happy for the first time in a while, the set sitting ready for you to wear tomorrow - not knowing what time Bradley might be able to get a call in, you figured you’d just wear it for the duration of the day.

As darkness fell, you sat by the kitchen table, a small pout on your lips. You knew you shouldn’t have gotten your hopes up, but Nat had been so convincing in her ideas about Bradley calling you. Stomach growling, you just sighed softly - you didn’t really feel like cooking today, perhaps you’d just have a sandwich and go to bed. Just as that thought entered your head, your doorbell went off. Furrowing your brows, you went to open the door. A man stood outside the door, a large bag of food in his hands.

“Delivery for you, ma’am,” he spoke, and you shook your head. “I think you have the wrong house, I haven’t ordered anything.” the man only smiled.

“Nope, got clear instructions from a Natasha Trace that this was the right house, and she said you might be a little confused,” that made you laugh softly, accepting the bags from yours and Bradley’s favorite restaurant. As the door closed again, you couldn’t help the tears that accumulated in your eyes - Nat was truly the best friend a girl could ask for. She knew you so well.

Unpacking the bag, your eyes widened at the sheer amount of food. Both yours and Bradley’s favorite dishes, along with a bottle of wine, and chocolate covered strawberries. Furrowing your brow, you reached for your phone, about to text ‘Nix and ask her why on earth she had ordered for a whole army, when you heard keys being inserted to the door that you’d just locked.

“Natasha? Aren’t you supposed to be on your date? If this is you coming over to confess your undying love for me, I’m sorry but–” your tone had been teasing, a smirk playing on your lips as you made your way towards your front door to greet her - seeing as she was the only one with the spare key to yours and Bradley’s home.

“Happy Valentine's Day, doll,” you stopped dead in your tracks, a gasp tumbling from your lips as your eyes widened in shock.

“Bradley?” your voice quivered, along with your lower lip as you took in the form of your boyfriend, standing in your hallway, his khaki uniform stretching deliciously over his upper body. It was not that tight when he left, and the thought of your boyfriend’s body getting even more toned had your insides buzzing with need.

“Hey, baby,” he smiled softly, it looked as if his whole body had relaxed as he heard his name rolling off of your lips. His arms had spread wide, inviting you into his embrace. You didn’t need any more convincing, and you surged forward jumping into his arms, soft happy noises leaving you without you being actively conscious you were making them - Bradley’s name falling from your lips over and over again as you kissed at his face. A low, rumbling groan resonated deep within Bradleys chest as he wrapped his strong arms around you, one hand cradling the back of your head as he squeezed you tighter.

“God, baby… I’ve missed you,” he groaned, burrowing his face into your neck and inhaling deeply.

“How are you here right now, Roos?” your legs were wrapped around his waist now, and Bradley’s hands had settled underneath your thighs to hold you in his embrace. Your hands had found his face, cradling it as your eyes roamed happily over his beautiful face, taking in all of his features greedily.

“I pulled some strings, contacted some people,” Bradley joked, smirking softly up at your elated face.

“Lieutenant Commander Bradshaw…” you spoke jokingly, almost reprimanding in your tone, and to your surprise Bradley groaned deeply, his eyes fluttering shut.

“Don’t say that to me right now, doll,” he growled, surging forward to attach his lips to your neck. A breathy moan rolled past your lips as your fingers moved to tug at the short hair at the nape of his neck.

“Bradley,” you spoke breathlessly as his lips left kisses and licks to your exposed throat “food, Nat—” Bradley broke away from your neck, smiling that lopsided smile you loved so much “I know baby, I had her help me make sure you were home,” blinking a couple of times in disbelief, laughter bubbling in your throat, and the way Bradley smiled at you like you hung the moon had your body heating up slightly.

“Rooster,” it seemed as if you couldn’t get enough of saying his name, almost wanting to make sure he was real - his name carried such emotion as you uttered it, tears gathering in your lashes, threatening to fall as you took in the adoration in Bradley’s amber eyes.

Slowly, he released the hold he had on your thighs, gently letting your body slide down his own until your feet were planted on the floor again. His large hand moved to cradle your cheek, his thumb slowly soothing the tear stained skin.

“I missed you,” you whimpered, and Bradley nodded, furrowing his brows as he leaned down, his other hand swiftly moving to your neck before his lips connected with yours in a searing kiss. Bradley inhaled sharply, a soft moan slipping out as he moved his lips against yours, his tongue eagerly licking at your lips - loving the way you yielded to him, his tongue stroking languidly against yours.

Your hands, that were planted on his chest, fisted the material of his uniform in your fingers - tugging slightly as Bradley pulled whimpers and moans from you as his tongue caressed yours, as he pulled your bottom lip into his mouth, as his teeth gently nipped and tugged at it.

“Fuck” he swore, voice raspy as one of his hands moved to grip tightly at your hip, the other reaching into your hair. A breathless gasp left you, knowing what was to come. Rooster pulled away from you slightly, smirking at your obvious reaction before his fingers slowly closed around your strands, enjoying the way your breathing instantly picked up in anticipation.

“My pretty baby,” Rooster cooed as he finally tugged softly at your strands, and the desperate cry that spilled from your parted lips made a drawn out groan rumble deep within his chest. “Bradley,” you whimpered, eyes filled with desperation as you looked up at him - you needed him, needed to feel his skin against yours, needed him to hold you, to make you feel safe.

“I know, baby,” he murmured softly, tilting your head back to let his lips attach themselves to the sensitive skin of your throat. “I know,” he mumbled again as you gasped at the sensation. “I haven’t been–” you struggled to get the words out, your whole body felt like it was on fire at your boyfriend's touch “You–” licking your lips, you tried to gather your scrambled thoughts.

“Shh, baby, it’s okay,” Bradley murmured, letting his thumb stroke along your jawline, up to your cheek and then settling on your chin, his large hand holding it gently, tilting your face up to gaze into your starry eyes. “What’re you trying to tell me, sweet baby?” his voice was like honey, dripping over your senses and making your mind hazy.

“I– they– my,” you whimpered, frustration filling you and tears rolling down your cheeks as you struggled to find the words to express how much you needed him “Aw, baby” Bradley cooed as his large form towered yours “Are you trying to tell me your small fingers haven’t been enough, hm?” your eyes widened at his words, nodding eagerly, a soft whine leaving your throat as you pawed at his chest, needing to get this stupid uniform off of him.

A soft chuckle made his chest move slightly, making you feel all the more how much more defined his pecs were. Your fingers moved to work at his buttons, and he smiled fondly down at you as you fumbled a little in your eagerness - finally managing to get it undone enough to tear it over his head, exposing his broad shoulders and large, muscular arms to you. Before you had a chance to let your hands roam over his warm skin, Bradley had once again scooped you up into his arms, walking towards your shared bedroom.

“As much as I would love to ravish you where we’re standing, I plan on taking my sweet time with you baby - I’ve missed you too much,” he grunted, kicking the door open more before entering with you cradled in his arms. That promise made a small smile appear on your lips, and you hummed in pleasure at the thought of being able to feel your boyfriend's warm body again.

The soft light from the bedside lamp had Bradley’s skin looking all the more warm and tan, the shadows accentuating the dips of his collarbones and his defined muscles. He had placed you gently in the middle of the bed, making quick work of his pants and undershirt, leaving him in his black boxers. Seeing his almost naked body had your breath hitching in your throat, your bottom lip tucked between your teeth as your eyes roamed over his defined abs.

“Like what you see, baby girl?” Bradley smirked, once again gently grabbing hold of your chin, his thumb resting against your lower lip. You nodded, eyes locked with his as the motion made his thumb drag your bottom lip down slightly.

He slowly swiped it back and forth across your plump skin, and you opened your mouth eagerly, brows coming together slightly as his hungry eyes took in your obedience. Slipping his thumb between your parted lips, it softly moved to press down against your tongue, and your eyes fluttered closed in relief as your lips closed around the digit, suckling softly at it, small mewls leaving you sporadically.

“Fuck, baby - I’ve missed your pretty little sounds so much…” Bradley groaned, letting his body cover yours, grinding his hips into your still clothed thigh, and the feeling of his rock hard cock against you had your eyes flying open and a muffled whimper coming out around Bradley’s thumb.

Releasing Bradley’s thumb, he leaned down, nudging your jawline with his nose before placing a kiss below it - alternating between licking and sucking marks into your skin. His hands trailed down over your collarbones, a soft groan leaving him as his large hands covered your breasts.

You had worn a white top, cut so that your decolletage was visible, your new bra pushing your tits together to create a nice visual of the swell of your breasts. Bradley moaned at the feeling of your soft flesh once again in his palms, kneading and massaging them carefully, letting his thumb stroke over your hardening nipples.

“Bradley, feels so good–” you moaned softly, letting your fingers tangle into his slightly curled strands, scratching your nails lightly against his scalp. He hummed softly, not wanting to leave the comfort your skin provided him.

Kissing down your chest, he soon reached your breast, his mouth tonguing at your hardened nipple over the white fabric, wetting it and sucking at it - drawing soft whimpers from your lips as your thighs clenched together. His other hand had slipped under your top, letting his fingers pinch slowly at your nipple over your bra.

As he drew back to take in his work, he raised his brows as the dampened white material gave way for red to shine through. “Baby… what do we have here?” you smiled bashfully, heat filling your body as Bradley removed your top, leaving you in the bra that you and Nat had picked out the day prior.

“Did Nat tell you I’d come home?” he seemed a little sad at that prospect and you shook your head, “She made me buy one because she said you might be able to video call me, and that it would be a nice treat for you,” your voice was small, your fingers now tracing over his exposed collarbones, over his shoulder and down his flexed bicep.

“Thank fucking god for Natasha fuckin’ Trace,” Bradley groaned, his forehead falling to rest in between your breasts as he kissed and laved his tongue all over your skin, one hand running down the length of your abdomen to undo your jeans. As his large hand splayed on your lower abdomen, he inhaled deeply, reigning himself in slightly to place a soft kiss on your lips.

“Hi, baby,” he spoke softly, making you smile softly as he gazed down at you “Hi,” you whispered back, stroking his cheek lovingly. “Would you stand up for me, love?” he continued, moving so that you could stand. As you shimmied out of your tight jeans, Bradley sat on the edge of the bed, legs spread, showing off his muscular thighs.

As you stood in front of him, in only the red set, he smiled softly at you. “Would you give me a twirl, doll?” he never wanted to take his eyes off of you, you were a vision in red, and the tiny hearts that scattered across the fabric honestly drove him a little insane in their cute sensuality.

“Look so beautiful… I’ve missed you so much,” Rooster confessed as you stepped in between his legs, his hands immediately coming to rest against your hips, slowly moving further back until he was kneading your ass cheeks, his face scattering kisses across your abdomen. Letting your head fall back, you gripped tightly at his hair, every move of Bradley’s making your knees grow weaker and weaker “Roos,” you moaned, about to warn him - but he already seemed aware, and gently guided you to sit on his lap.

“My pretty, pretty girl,” Bradley cooed, holding you close to his body, finally feeling your skin against his own. Sitting on his lap, you wriggled closer to him, nuzzling your face into his neck, letting your lips kiss and suck at the junction, moving further down to his muscular shoulder where you nibbled and suckled softly. Bradley moaned softly at the sensation, hands gripping your hips as you started to grind them down against his cock.

“Bradley,” you whined against his skin, his cock dragging deliciously against your clit, the sheer fabric of your panties only heightening to sensation. “I know, doll, I know,” he rasped, arms wound around your midsection as he rutted against your wet core, one hand splayed on your lower back to press you harder into his clothed cock.

“I need you,” you whined softly, followed by a harsh whimper, teeth biting down on his skin to keep you in the moment, to not slip away entirely.

“How do you need me, baby?” Rooster spoke gruffly, gripping your jaw firmly to make you look at him, the sting of your bite still felt in his shoulder. At his rough movement, your eyes rolled back slightly, craving this type of touch so badly. Breathing labored, you couldn’t get the words out until his fingers wrapped around your throat.

“Answer.” he commanded, and a soft mewl left your mouth before you began to beg “I need you in my mouth, please - please, want your cock in my mouth so bad, Roos,” Bradley hummed softly before releasing his hold on your throat, letting the back of his hand stroke along the side of your neck “Good girl,” he whispered, placing a kiss to your jaw.

“Get on your knees then, sweet girl” he murmured, stroking your cheek before spreading his legs further, so you could sink to your knees between them. Shuffling, he removed his boxers and tossed them aside before turning his attention to you. You looked like a dream, sitting back on your heels, waiting for him, putting your trust entirely in his hands as you gazed up at him with your hands folded in your lap.

“God, you’re such a good girl,” he praised, letting his palm cradle your cheek, loving the small smile that appeared on your face as you nuzzled into his palm. “What did I do to deserve you, huh?” he murmured mostly to himself, his other hand reaching down to stroke his cock languidly. He looked on as you blinked slowly, biting your lip as your eyes followed his every movement.

“Please?” you breathed out, glancing up at him. “Come, baby,” he motioned you closer, and without prompting you eagerly let your tongue run along the underside of his dick, moaning at the feeling of his soft skin. You took in every vein and ridge, kissing and licking along his length over and over again, relishing in hearing Bradley’s every soft moan and grunt. Licking at the tip, you felt yourself moan softly at the taste of his precum, letting your tongue swirl around the tip, your lips only ever so slightly wrapping around the very edge of him every now and then.

One hand held the base of his cock, squeezing slightly as the other rested against his thigh. Finally, you took him into your mouth, eyes fluttering closed as you felt his heavy cock rest against your tongue. Arousal flooded your entire body, feeling yourself get more wet by the sounds Bradley was making as you took him further into your mouth.

Soft whimpers were muffled by his cock, and you felt so deliciously dizzy at the feel of him stuffed deep into your throat. Your nose was almost down to his abdomen, his pubic hair tickling your nose as you inhaled his heady scent, another muffled moan leaving you as you felt him twitch against your tongue. Hollowing your cheeks, you managed to suck on him as you let up a little.

Bradley had been leaning back on his hands, his head tilted back at the sensation of you taking his cock so well into your mouth. Small gasps and moans leaving his parted lips as he felt your tongue swirl and suck at him.

You slowly dragged your tongue along the underside of his cock as you pulled away, licking at his tip before you inhaled deeply, one hand pumping his hard dick in the absence of your mouth. Looking up at him, you whimpered at the sight. Bradley’s broad chest was heaving slightly, his abs slightly tensed as he sat leaned back, fiery brown eyes gazing down at you - a thin sheen of sweat covering his upper body.

Breaking eye contact, you had to feel him heavy on your tongue again, and you moaned as he entered your mouth, letting it rest heavy in your mouth. Bradley’s large hand came to rest at the back of your head, looking down at you with a soft smile playing on his lips as he let you take what you needed from him.

His palm slowly stroked over your hair, and the feeling of your muffled whimper had his cock stirring against your tongue. With his hand on the back of your head, he gently rolled his hips, fucking into your eager mouth, cursing softly at the sounds you made as he slowly sank deeper into your throat.

“Look so pretty warming my cock baby, doing so well,” he murmured as his hands tangled into your strands. He knew what it would do to you if he tugged ever so slightly, but he had a feeling you wanted it as much as he did. How much you needed it. Your soft moan and the way your body shivered and twitched slightly let him know he was right.

Feeling Bradley slowly fuck his cock into your throat, you let your eyes flutter shut, eyes rolling back slightly at the feeling of his hand resting heavy on your head, letting saliva slip from the sides of your mouth down onto Bradley’s abdomen. Swallowing involuntarily around your boyfriend’s cock, you were rewarded with a throaty moan and the softest of pushes against the back of your head, paired with Bradley’s hips rolling ever so slightly, stuffing your mouth so full of him.

Tears rolled down your cheeks from feeling him so deep in your throat, and the lack of oxygen, but you loved it - loved how hard and silky he felt in your wet mouth, loved the way your lips were stretched to accommodate his sheer size.

“Fuck, baby,” Rooster growled, tugging at your hair to make you ease up. As much as he loved having your lips wrapped around his cock, he needed to be inside you - had waited so long to feel you and hear you fall apart on his cock for him. You took a shuddering breath as Bradley easily maneuvered your body so that it was splayed out for him on the bed.

He had you on your stomach, face pressed into the pillows as he kneaded at your ass cheeks again, “Such a fucking lovely ass,” Bradley groaned, gripping the globes of your ass hard, separating them and letting spit drip from his lips down to your holes, making you moan loudly at the sudden sensation.

His hands gripped your hips, pulling them back slightly so that you were rested on your knees and with your face still pressed into the mattress. “Mm, and this pretty fucking cunt,” he continued, letting his fingers slide between your soaked lips, gathering up your slick in his hand, loving the needy sounds you were making.

“Who’s pretty little pussy is this huh?” Rooster teased, letting his finger softly grace your clit, your moans only getting louder as you gripped the sheets. A harsh slap made a strangled cry leave your lips, eyes flying open in surprise at the fact that Bradley had slapped your puffy cunt with his fingers.

“Yours!” you cried out with a sob, squirming against the sensation of Bradley circling your sensitive clit again. Bradley hummed deep in his throat as he settled behind you, his breath hitting your clothed cunt before he harshly pulled them down to your thighs, not wasting any time before his mouth was all over your cunt, his skilled tongue laving over your clit, fucking into you, swirling around your wetness like a man starved.

Your cries of pleasure only seemed to make him more eager, and you soon found yourself grinding your hips back against his mouth as he gripped your ass in his hands, letting his thumb rest over your sensitive hole. That, along with the quick flicks of his tongue against your clit had you tumbling over the edge, crying his name over and over again.

Bradley wasted no time in flipping you over, slotting himself between your thighs, leaning down to kiss your swollen lips, letting you taste yourself on his lips, the scent of you lingering on his mustache. His cock, now aching from how hard it was, was leaking precum onto your swollen clit, and the sensation of his hard, silky cock so close to where you needed him had you mewling softly.

“You like that, baby?” you could only nod feverishly “Like feeling my cock against that wet cunt of yours?” you nodded again, whining slightly as he let his cock drag between your folds and up to your clit again. “Please!” you whined, canting your hips towards him, wanting him to slip into your warm heat.

“Please what?” Rooster murmured into your ear, repeating the action of letting his cock grind and slip just out of reach of your weeping hole, letting the tip tease at the entrance when he drew a particularly loud moan from you.

“Please, please– fuck me, oh god, fuck me,” you chanted, squirming underneath him, breath coming in short spurts, your whole body feeling like it was on fire. “I need you so bad, fuck, I need you, need you to fuck me, please, please” you sobbed, wanting him to understand that you needed him to fill you, needed to be one with him again. Bradley loved when you begged for him, it didn’t happen too often, as he would feel too bad to tease you for too long, but right now he couldn’t imagine anything more beautiful.

The red tip of his cock slowly circled your clit, and your panting increased, more whines and mewls falling from your lips as tears once again burned in the corners of your eyes “Please! Please!” your words were turning into cries, soft and drawn out, chest heaving slightly.

“What do you want, baby?” Bradley smirked, letting his tip sink slightly into your needy hole before withdrawing again, making you sob out right. “I need your cock, I need you to fuck me– please! Please! Please!”

At your words, Bradley let his cock sink deep into your cunt, the sensation so overwhelming he almost spurted his cum instantaneously into your core. You were moaning loudly, the sound almost echoing in the room as you babbled “thank you, oh god - feels so good, fuck, wanted to feel so full, missed you,” Bradley groaned, rutting into you slowly, relishing in your cries as his tip massaged at that sensitive spot within you. “Missed you too, pretty baby, feel so damn good around my cock”

Pulling down the cup of your bra, as he took one of your nipples into his mouth, Bradley started to thrust hard into you, needing his release so bad after being apart from you for so long. His other hand snuck down between your bodies, drawing tight circles on your clit. As you fell apart on him, he groaned deep in his throat, spilling all of himself into you.

“Fuck,” his voice was strangled as he collapsed on top of your body, chest heaving as he felt his cock pump the last of his seed into you, your soft moans gracing his ear as he kissed at your neck.

“You okay, baby?” he murmured, rising up on his elbows to look at you. Tears were streaming down your face, but a smile was on your lips as you sniffled “I missed you so much, Roos,” your voice was small and vulnerable, and Bradley’s heart clenched. “I know, I’m so sorry, baby, I’m sorry,” he let his arms wrap tight around you, cradling you in his arms as he laid down on his back, taking you with him to rest on his chest.

“I love you,” he continued, pressing kisses all over your face as more tears fell from your eyes. You nuzzled your face into his chest, kissing softly over his heart “I love you too, Bradley. I’m so happy you came home to me,”

He smiled down at you, his hand drawing soft circles on your back. “You have no idea how happy I am to have you in my arms again,” he murmured lovingly, letting his nose rub softly against yours.

“Want to take a shower with me, baby? I’m Navy gross,” Rooster joked, kissing your lips softly. You nodded happily, placing soft kisses against his jawline before moving to stand up. Bradley kept close to you as you padded into the bathroom, always having a hand lingering on your skin, or his arms wrapped around you as you waited for the shower to turn warm, his lips attached to your shoulder and neck, pulling soft sighs of content from you.

Warm water engulfed the two of you, and Bradley sighed deeply as he felt his muscles relax gradually under the steam, low moans rumbling in his chest. “Are you hurt?” he looked down at your concerned face, and he smiled reassuringly “No, sweets, not hurt - just been crammed into the cockpit a lot,” he mumbled against your lips, letting his lips linger against yours, letting you take the lead this time.

Your arms wound around his neck, stretching your body out against his. Your tongue gently prodded at the seam of his lips, and he let you softly caress your tongue against his. At one point, the tip of his tongue fell between your plump lips, and you were quick enough to give it a soft suckle before letting it go - that drew a low moan from him, cock stirring again at the sensation.

“God, I’ve missed my beautiful girl,” he sighed softly as you broke away, still leaning your naked, wet body onto his as your fingers played with the wet hair at the nape of his neck. His hands caressed your sides, gently grasping at your tits every now and then, earning soft mewls from you. You kissed him lazily, feeling your body react to his touch so easily - he’d made you cum less than five minutes ago, and you were already feeling your core slick with arousal again.

“Please, baby,” Bradley pleaded against your mouth “Can I make you cum again, pretty girl?” nodding, you kissed him again, as he pressed your back into the cold tiles of the wall. His hand left it’s perch at your breast, caressing one of your thighs softly before hitching it over his hip, letting his thigh help support you as he used his other hand to cup your sex.

“Wet for me again, baby?” he cooed, smiling softly as he planted an open mouthed kiss against your mouth “Yes, all for you,” you sighed, feeling your body relax as he let his index rub slowly against your sensitive cunt.

“Have you missed my fingers, doll?” he hummed, letting one of his large fingers sink into you “Yes,” you mewled, letting your head tilt back against the tiles “Haven’t been able to get myself off since you left, Roos,” you pouted “couldn’t work myself with my fingers like you can,” you whispered, and Bradley groaned “Baby,” he moaned “you haven’t cum since I left you?” you shook your head, still pouting as that reality settled in.

“My poor baby,” he murmured, kissing at your neck, letting his finger sink in and out of you, your soft moans like music to his ears. “I’m home now, baby - I’ll take such good care of you, okay?” he reassured you, kissing your forehead, looking into your eyes, that held so much love and trust for him. You nodded mutely, and he knew you were thankful he was home, not only for him to take care of you like this.

“Feels so good when you touch me, Bradley” you moaned breathlessly as he added a second finger, the heel of his palm giving your clit just enough stimulation so it wasn’t overwhelming. “I always want to touch you, sweet girl,” Rooster replied, placing another sweet kiss to your swollen lips. As his pace picked up, you wound your fingers around his neck again, keeping his forehead pressed tight against yours as you felt that familiar tightness in your stomach.

Needy whines and whimpers fell from your lips as your breath stuttered and you tensed under Bradleys fingers “Shh, baby - it’s okay, let go for me, I’m here - I’ve got you. Give it to me, pretty baby,” he whispered against your lips, and that’s all it took for you to reach that high that had been building and building until it now finally snapped.

A long, drawn out, relaxed moan echoed over the sound of rushing water as you came on Bradley’s fingers, who were still pumping them slowly through your orgasm. “God, you’re so beautiful when you cum for me baby,” Rooster smiled, pecking your lips. You smiled, a little dazed from the high he just gave you. Bradley only smiled, slowly pulling you under the stream of water again, washing your body and hair with the products he knew you liked.

He made quick work of washing himself before he stepped out of the shower, retrieving two towels, quickly patting himself off and slinging the towel around his hips, before he gently wrapped the fluffy towel around your form as you exited the shower after him. He gingerly dried you off, taking his time to peck your lips every so often.

“C’mon, honey - should we heat up some food?”

As night fell, you found yourself perched in Bradley’s lap, talking softly about your time spent apart, eating the food Natasha had made sure you got, slowly sipping wine and sharing soft kisses.

“I love you,” Bradley mumbled for the umpteenth time, and still, your heart fluttered helplessly in your chest “I love you, too,” you smiled, placing a lingering kiss on his lips. Your hand was resting on his neck, sporadically stroking the hair there, alternating between small tugs and soft caresses. Reaching for a strawberry, Bradley slowly held it up against your lips, a small smile on his face that told you to indulge him.

He traced the strawberry slowly across your lips, pushing it between them, letting you nip the top off, before he brought the rest to his own mouth, biting off the rest. Reaching up, his lips captured yours in a kiss after he swallowed, tasting the sweet juice that lingered there.

The two of you sat cuddled in each others embrace for a long while, not wanting to succumb to the exhaustion that trickled into your minds - wanting to stay with each other. But ultimately, after your fifth yawn, Bradley slowly steered you towards the bedroom.

Climbing into bed, you whined at the loss off contact as Bradley rid himself of the robe he’d put on earlier, he smiled as he too climbed under the covers, turning the lights off before he quickly made his way over to you, letting his arms drape over your form.

“Please, don’t leave me,” you murmured sleepily as you snuggled into his embrace, and Bradley felt his heart lurch “No, I’m home now, sweetheart - I’m not leaving,” he kissed the top of your head softly, settling into the embrace and letting himself drift off to sleep.

It was one of those nights where neither of you got much rest, waking every so often to share soft sleepy kisses and whispered words of love. Sometimes you’d wake and find you’d rolled over to your side of the bed, and you’d have to seek out Bradley’s arms again to settle down, and likewise Bradley would find himself waking up every once in a while a little cold, seeing you sprawled out of his arms.

As moonlight filtered in through the windows, Bradley woke up once again, now spooning you. He blinked slowly, inhaling the scent of your hair before gingerly brushing it to the side to place soft kisses along the column of your neck. Your soft noise of pleasure told him you were in between sleep and consciousness too, and he gently sucked at the warm skin beneath his lips. Your hips instinctively canted backwards, your ass pressing into Bradley’s crotch, where his cock was already half hard from feeling your soft forms under his hands.

“Bradley,” your sleep ridden, needy whine had him groaning with pleasure “Yeah, baby?” his sleepy rasp shot straight to your core, and you licked your lips as his hand sneaked up to squeeze your tit. “Need you,” you confessed breathlessly, once again grinding your hips into his erection.

“Fuck…” his fingers pinched at your hardening nipple, drawing soft mewls from you as you ground your soaking cunt into him. Bradley’s lips ghosted over the bare skin of your shoulder as his fingers reached down to your pussy, spreading her open with his fingers to gather the slick there with his middle finger, circling your clit slowly as you moaned for him.

As a finger sunk into your wet core, you whined in frustration, brows furrowed and a pout forming on your lips “What’s wrong, pretty baby?” Rooster murmured against your skin “You okay?” you whimpered, needing something else, needing more. You squirmed a little as his fingers stilled “Do you want me to stop?” he kissed at your shoulder.

“No,” you felt petulant, almost, but in your sleepy state it was hard to pinpoint what it was. “Okay, baby” Bradley mumbled patiently, letting his fingers continue dragging against your slick walls, his thumb lazily circling your clit as you gathered your thoughts. “So pretty for me like this,” he spoke softly against your ear, catching your lobe in between his teeth, licking gently - making you whine again. “My pretty, pretty baby,” he breathed out, his fingers working in and out of your weeping cunt.

“Daddy,” you whined hesitantly, reaching your hand up to his hair, rocking yourself against his fingers. A drawn out moan flowed from Bradley’s parted lips, his body relaxing even more against yours, burrowing his face into your neck as he grunted, pressing his cock harder into your backside. His chest felt like it was exploding, his feelings catching in his throat, overwhelming him.

“Yes, daddy’s here, pretty baby, daddy’s got you,” Bradley’s voice was raw, his grip on you tighter as his fingers sank into you again. A soft sob tore from your throat as you cried out for him again “Daddy!” tears flowed freely now, and you were desperate to turn around, to see him. “I’m here, baby, I’m here,” Bradley cooed “Daddy’ll take such good care of you,” you nodded, a soft noise of agreement leaving your throat.

Your mind felt fuzzy as you relaxed in his strong arms, mewling as he cradled you, one hand softly massaging your breast, and the other slowly fucking into your pussy. His hand slowly retracted from it’s spot between your legs, before he pulled you up with him, settling you between his spread legs as his back rested against the headboard, and your back against his chest. Large hands graced your inner thighs, spreading them and splaying them over his own, kneading lovingly as your head fell back against his shoulder.

His fingers sank into your core again, his other hand tweaking your nipples and groping at your breasts. “Daddy,” you whimpered softly, squirming in his embrace “Hmm?” he tilted your head up towards his face, his fingers resting against your jaw as you moaned softly into him. He captured your soft lips in a slow kiss, swallowing all of your soft noises.

“Tell me what you need, sweet girl,” he whispered against your lips, his fingers still leisurely pumping in and out of you.

“Need you,” you licked your lips, nudging his nose with yours, needing to be so much closer to him. “You have me,” he smiled, placing another kiss to your parted lips. “Need you to fill me again, daddy,” you whimpered, clenching around his fingers at the thought.

“Fuck, baby,” he groaned, letting his fingers slip out of your slick heat, your legs still spread over his own. He held them up against your lips, and you eagerly sucked at his two fingers, swirling your tongue around them.

“Good girl.” Rooster praised, low in his throat, and he relished in the soft moan it pulled from your lips. Gently, he pulled you off of his chest, lifting you so you were facing him instead, guiding your legs apart with his own so that you were straddling him.

“You want daddy’s cock, is that it?” you nodded eagerly, licking your lips. “Want daddy to fill you up so good you forget your own name?” you closed your eyes and whimpered at the thought “Yes, daddy, please” you sounded so sweet for him, and he groaned softly. Taking his hard cock in his hand, he pumped himself slowly before helping you position yourself over him.

“Go on, sweets, take it,” he encouraged you as he lined his cock up with your entrance. Your smaller hands settled on his broad shoulders, and slowly you sank down on his length, moaning at the stretching sensation.

As he bottomed out, you felt so stretched out, so filled to the brim by Bradley that you could barely think - your heart was pounding in your ears, breathing a little shallow as you took in the sensation of Bradley’s cock so deep in you, his pubic mound rubbing against your clit as you rutted your hips ever so slightly. The shooting pleasure made you shudder, and a small cry of ‘daddy’ left your lips again. You had slipped so quick, and it had been so long, you couldn’t quite grasp what to do to scratch the itch that you needed.

“C’mere, sweet girl, daddy’ll do the work,” Bradley rumbled, sitting up slightly, letting his arms circle your waist, hand splayed on your ribs as he slowly fucked into you. “That feel good, baby?” he murmured and you nodded “Uh-huh” biting your lip and squeezing at his shoulders.

“My little baby feeling so good stuffed full of daddy?” he was smiling, and it felt so good to see him smile at you, you were doing good. You nodded again, mewling softly and sighing in pleasure every time he bottomed out in you.

“Missed you, daddy,” you mumbled, letting your arms wind around his neck, his smile and his voice helping you out, your hips now moving in time with his thrusts. “Fuck, I missed all of you, fucking… beautiful girl, I love you,” Bradley moaned against your skin, overwhelmed by the emotion, overwhelmed that you gave your trust and love to him so quick, so freely after he’d been gone for so long.

“I’m not gonna last much longer,” he confessed softly, moaning as you pulled his face closer to your chest, letting him lick at your nipples as you rode him. “S’okay, daddy - I’m close too,” you murmured, tugging at his hair, the friction of his body against yours enough to have a slow heat flowing through you.

“I love you, daddy,” you moaned as Bradley rutted into you, his cock twitching as your core clenched around him “Fuck,” his voice sounded strangled as his hips stuttered, emptying himself into you for the second time that night. At the feeling of his hot seed coating your insides, feeling his cock so deep in your cunt, you came with a soft cry as Bradley held you in a tight embrace.

As you caught your breath, Bradley managed to scoot down so that he was lying, with you curled on top of him, fingers tracing sleepy patterns on his chest.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Bradley,” you sighed softly, kissing his sternum, and Bradley chuckled softly, humming slightly as he traced your spine with his fingers. “Should probably let you sleep,” he murmured and you nodded, already drifting off a little. “C’mon, should we clean you up?” he suggested but you shook your head. Morning would be here in only a little while. “Stay with me.” you said sleepily. “I am here, baby,”

“Sleep.” you mumbled “In me.” you pressed another kiss to his chest, laying your head down, letting your breathing even out. Bradley chuckled again, letting his hands rest on your back as he too closed his eyes.

“Whatever my pretty baby wants.”

#bradley rooster bradshaw x reader #bradley bradshaw x reader #bradley bradshaw x y/n #bradley rooster bradshaw x y/n #bradley bradshaw x you #bradley rooster bradshaw x you #rooster x reader #rooster x you #bradley bradshaw fanfic #bradley bradshaw smut #bradley rooster bradshaw smut #my writing #smut

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maxiscoolongg · 1 year ago

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"What! I cant do that!?"

💌; Chooch Bambalazi

Warnings: (Metion of; Drugs, Drinking, smoking,) yelling, y/n being trashmouthy

———

"Really! Drugs, drinking, and smoking!?" My dad yelled "Oh don't act like your all goody to shoes!" I yelled back at him "Your going around sleeping in other women's beds! And I'm worse then you!? You dickwad" I yelled grabbing my bag and walking to my cab that was taking me to military school. I have no clue why I'm going to boys school, it's stupid it's idiotic. I don't wanna be surrounded by men who smells like ass while I sleep! As I got there I instantly got stares but then a old guy started talking and I zoned out on all of it because I didn't give a shit at this point.

We had to shoot guns which was pretty fun. I saw two guys flip over and I chuckled. Then when we got our haircuts I saw I guy with a blad spot and me and this guy made eye contact then I turned around "nice haircut man" I said laughing then me and the guy who made eye contact ran away once it was our turns "What's your name?" I asked once we stopped running "you can call me ike. My full name is something else" he said as I shook his hand "y/n at your service." I said sarcastically

"Good to know y/n"

——

Then we got to our rooms. There was three boys infront of us following another guy who was leading us to our room "Where's the pool?" One asked "Yeah, smells like jock straps in here," the other said as I rolled my eye's placing my bag on a top bunk "What a dump" a guy with brown hair said "you mean there's no color TV?" One asked again "Can't believe I'm saying here for 7 months with you guys." I said rolling my eyes laying on the top bunk "Alright you barracks rats.. shape up and get your gear sorted, and he'll be in," the guy who leaded us said "May I asked who will be in mr" I asked confused "l-liceman" he said before walking away

"Whos liceman?" "Who cares" the brown haired guy said as I put my hand up "Me?" I asked as the guy scoffed "My names Oliver holt. I'm from Michigan" Olvier said as the brown haired boy said "That's not my fault" I chuckled then ike walked to Oliver "Eisenhower MacArthur" he said as I grinned "You were right that is a long name" I said in a mutter "Is that a history lesson or a name?" Oliver said shaking ikes hand and patting his shoulder, then ike walked over to a guy who talks fancy "Is your father in the army?" Mr.Fancy said "No he's a sadist, why do think he gave me this name? Just call me ike" Ike said to Mr.fancy "Hash" "No thanks maybe after dinner" ike said to him "No. My name is hash, it's easier to say then El Hashid Amier, Jr." Hash said as ike chuckled "its easy to smoke to" ike said jokingly as I chuckled

"Don't you think so?" Hash asked the browned haired guy who was sitting on the bottom bunk "I'm taking this top bunk. Anybody got objections?" The guy said as I made a confused face as he just ignored Hash "I didn't catch your name." "I didn't throw it" browned hair guy said. Hash chuckled sarcastically then dropping his smile "Hold on a second, don't you think since there's only three top bunks, why don't we draw straws, make it democratic" "Draw this" the brown haired guy said pointing the middle finger at Oliver. "Hey! Watch it no name" I said getting off my bunk and walking over to the brown haired guy staring up at him as we were inches apart hash put his arm inbeetwerm us "Hey, take it easy if we're going to be living together we got to try to get along" ike said

"Hey wait, let me tell you guys something we're not living together, see I'm by myself I don't wanna be here, I wanna do my work and get out." He said getting on the top bunk I rolled my eye's and went to my bunk and climbed on it as well "Here he comes!" The guy who leaded us to our room said as I sat up letting my feet dangling off the edge on the top bunk "Ten hut!" The guy who I assume lice man is said. They all got in a line expect for me liceman looked at me daggers "Get down from there girl." Liceman said as I rolled my eye's and got off standing beside Mr.no-name "Welcome gentleman and women, my name is Major Vaughn Liceman. And I'd like us to be friends. Weinberg can be very lonley place without friends, I know. I was 7 years old when i first came to the academy. I didn't have any friends, nobody liked me whose bunk is this?" Liceman said touching my bunk

"Mine" I said bitterly as he walked to me looking down at me "Don't you mean, 'Mine sir" I looked at him confused then looked at Mr.no-name and he shrugged as I rolled my eye's "Mine, sir?" I asked slightly confused "Say it again" "Mine sir." I said annoyed "Say it again!" "Mine sir!" I said even more annoyed he then started blabing about something that I don't care about, then he said something about not being friends which he walked out after talking about ripping hashs balls off. Ike walked to his bunk and I jumped on my top bunk, "He seemed nice right?" I said to them "Are you death or blind or just both" No name said to me "That guy did not want to be friends. "No shit." Me and Mr.no name said

#chooch bambalazi #daniel larusso x reader #johnny cade imagines #ralph macchio #uptheacademy

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ottpopfic · 8 months ago

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I don't know if y'all know but I work in early childhood education and used to work with a lot of preteens so there's CDS’ “The Program” aka what ‘What Otty Would Do Is She Got to Restructure CAMP Half Blood

Chb ‘the program’

Camper (just little dudes, you have a bunk till you're 18) -> Junior Counselor (13 or one quest, a cabin can have up to three) -> Head Counselor (15 or have done three quests) -> Staff Lead (min 18, a permanent staff position. One for each active cabin plus one for unclaimed ) -> Rest of Staff (staff member with a specific skill or training in an area to run. Ex. The forge, archery, the infirmary, the school teacher, etc) -> Chiron and Mr.D

Important that each staff member runs one (1) thing. Will is head of the Infirmary and only the Infirmary, Harley is Staff Lead of Cabin 9 but Nyssa runs The Forge. You can go to different adults for different training, Conner is Staff Lead for the Unclaimed but he will still teach you lock-picking etc. The only person who has two is Nico because he's head sword-fighting teacher but he also does funerals and underworld rights and education.

Lots of staff will also take shifts on other locations. If you have infirmary training you will have a shift there. Different people rotate through heading the climbing wall, or being lifeguard on duty. But your main responsibility does not change. Staff also have to do their continuing education hours, Chiron and Mr.D including.

They have a full time, trained, teacher now. He was a high school teacher and they poached him. If you are a year rounder you go to school, and if you finish you get your GED. If another staff person is skilled in something education wise you can apprentice with them, Ex. Alex Vlahos is apprenticing with Will in the healing arts and is getting credits to do it too. With a wider net of safe houses, temples, and adult demigods, when you age out instead of college you can go apprentice at one of those places as well. This isn't just for magic stuff either, you can get craft people certificates for things like plumbing and carpentry. Leo has trained a ton of welders.

There is housing for staff, visiting adult demigods, and kids who have aged out. Two brown stone L-shaped apartment buildings (three stories) angled around a courtyard. There are roommate situations for kids who still need CHB (orphans or ones who attract like crazy) with their own room and a shared common (four to an apartment. Think apartment style dorms.) There are a few ‘air bnb’ style two bedrooms for visitors, and then a mix of three to four bedrooms for long term staff. These are all mixed in, so when you are 19 and living on your own and hurt yourself there's a responsible adult with their two kids right next door to help.

A Head Counselor position hasn't changed much past not having to run other areas of camp. You still have to get your cabin to lunch, you are your cabin's main advocate, you still head things like capture the flag and take part in quest meetings. But you are not ‘the adult in charge’, you have a grown-ass adult to turn to and protect you. In turn a Junior Counselor is someone in training/in the running to be Head Counselor. They help with more day to day cabin wrangling, getting kids to bed etc. You have to be a Junior Counselor to be Head Counselor, this keeps it so no one is responsible for anyone too young or without knowing what they're doing, and establishes a line of succession. No more Wills no more Drews. Head Counselors work with their Staff Lead to appoint Junior Counselors

#cds #notes

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theauthorlives · 8 months ago

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The world seems to have shifted slightly...

Wally had a GREAT sleep. He vaguely recalled repeating his ‘I am sleeping’ mantra, and suddenly everything felt comfortable and light, as though he was outside. There was no pressure holding him down, just the warmth of a blanket and the security of a bed. The realm of the waking was miles away.

It was only the sound of something hitting a door and the shout of “YANCY. GET UP!” that reluctantly pulled him from the world of sleep. It was a shame too. Wally didn’t remember the last time he slept so well. He grabbed the pillow to hug as he turned to step out of the bed with bleary eyes.

The floor was not where it was supposed to be, and Wally was lying face-down on the concrete floor before he knew where he was.

“... Ah.” At least the pillow had softened the landing! “Why is the floor so low? Did I turn into a little bug like in one of Sally’s scary story?” One hand brushed his hair out of his face to look up at the bed.

…

That was not his bed.

Instead of his large single bed, he was sitting beside a plain, metal bunk bed. The bottom bunk had the blanket and pillow arranged to pad out one corner like a makeshift cozy corner. The top bunk, however, had part of the blanket falling over the edge. If he woke up on the top bunk, then the confusion on the distance between the bed and the floor made a lot of sense.

“Where am I…?” The room was smaller than his bedroom, and it lacked colour too. Everything was either grey or white, leaving Wally in his bold coloured, striped pyjamas sticking out like a sore thumb. The shape of the room was narrow and L-shaped. It would feel cramped if the occupant was taller than Wally. The window was small and positioned too high for Wally to even consider climbing up to, while the door behind him looked too heavy to move, and maybe was made of metal. Compared to his own bedroom, Wally couldn’t help but feel that it wasn’t a very welcoming place… Yet he had slept so soundly here. How strange.

Another series of bangs startled Wally from his thoughts.

“HEY. YANCY. MOVE IT.”

“Yancy…? But my name is Wally…” Even with the confusion, the weird voice was right. He couldn’t stay in this room all day. Who knows what time it was! He turned to the lower bunk while deciding what to do, and spotted a small bundle of neatly folded clothes with a pair of shoes waiting for him.

“These are the right size for me!” With how large everything else was, Wally was relieved to find clothes that would fit him, and dedicated the time to change. Like with everything else in the room, the outfit was simple and lacked proper colour. The white t-shirt was soft to the touch; and he only needed to roll the bottom of the black-and-white striped trousers once so he wouldn’t trip on them. Finally, the black shoes were simple, but easy to wear. He felt underdressed, but it would have to do for now.

Next, he climbed onto the flimsy chair to use the small mirror on the table to help fix his hair. To his surprise, there was a comb and hair gel. Whoever ‘Yancy’ was, it was someone who also took care of their hair. What luck!

At last, he was ready to go!

#event: this isn't the prisoner #I may have been writing little pieces to cover a day...

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brinefathomcaves · 10 months ago

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Jan 12: Brine Vulture Barracks

This L-shaped chamber is full of beds—mostly bunks, but some singles. The rank-and-file Brine Vultures' personal effects (clothes and trinkets) are stored in bags and under beds. Rag rugs cover much of the floor; there is a key to [AREA] hidden under one of them.

One human bandit and one goblin bandit are asleep here. They will raise the alarm is awoken, summoning 2d4 bandits who enter through the southern doors one round later.

There are spots of black ink on the ground around the door to [AREA], and more ink around the keyhole. The door is trapped with a spray trap: anyone attempting to pick the lock gets covered in ink.

#brinefathom caves #brinefathom caves level 1 #megadungeon #dungeon23 #dungeon24 #dungeons and dragons

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erigold13261 · 1 year ago

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You know, I was also thinking about the progression of musical instruments in NSR. Because obviously there's some music tech going on that allows for drums to be played with just drumsticks.

I've had this idea and wip around for months, hopefully I can finish now that school is done, but it was going to show the progression of musical instruments through the generations of rock.

So yeah, gonna use this as an excuse to talk about instrument lore in NSR because I find it really interesting to think about.

The Goolings had entirely "normal" instruments, from a full drum set to guitars that had cool shapes but did nothing more than play music like they were supposed to. Basically the same musical instruments that we have in our world, or at least what we had like about 40 years ago. By the time the Goolings disbanded I don't think a lot of musical tech advancements actually happened.

Ex-Jay was when musical tech started to advance. Guitars and other instruments were probably still the same, at least when they started, but the drums are where most of the progression too place and they were more like those drum hero games. Not a full set, but still physically real and probably needed some kind of power or something. It was easier to move and probably soon advanced to not even needing physical drums to be hit. Just need the drumsticks and the base that would hold a holographic drum.

Then would be Bunk Bed Junction. At their start is when a lot of instruments would start getting upgrades/better features. Guitars could now be customized to the max, allowing for all kinds of features and powers to go through them. Drums no longer even needed bases to work, just the sticks themselves (and probably some calibration like a Wii remote lol). Other instruments also got upgrades like pianos, strings, woodwinds, tech instruments. All of them got some kind of upgrade to make them easier for the user to transport or to better harness their magical capabilities. Also being more versatile for people with disabilities or are left handed.

Like this is when the strings on guitars are either STARTING to be holographic or there are no physical stings, just like an input on the neck of the guitar. You can turn off the holo strings and just turn the head of the guitar to make it left handed. Or if you have an uneven guitar body, then guitars are double sided and you just have a case over one side that seamlessly hides one side. If you want to change what hand is dominant then you just take the case off and put it on the other side (the tech makes the casing work, I can see how it works in my head but I doubt I'd be able to explain it fully). But this was all coming out around the time of the revolution, maybe a year or two beforehand. Which is why Mayday has a more traditional guitar for the time. The truly customizable, holographic guitars were way too expensive for her.

And finally, the generation of Yiruk's band, or like a year or two after the revolution. This is basically the age of holographic instruments. Guitars only need the stem/neck and can then create the head and body holographically. Piano/keyboards just need a set of bracelets to be worn and you have a keyboard that can appear at any point in front of you. Drums I don't think got any kind of upgrade as just having the drumsticks were already revolutionary to the musical industry. The only thing I can see is if they cut the drumstick in half and make it half holo. When not holo, the two sticks can be put together to make just one stick for easy carry (and probably a lot easier to lose too).

But yeah, a lot of instruments become easy to carry around, easy to customize, and easy to make accessible. The only thing not easy is the fact this tech is pretty new and so would be pretty expensive for the first few years. Thankfully, the B2J generation of instruments is also really versatile and have gotten really cheap by this point. Ex-Jay instruments are still kicking around but they are seen a lot more like hassles now.

The Gooling's generation of instruments are definitely still around, and probably making a retro comeback, especially with Yinu having an instrument from that time period and Mayday bringing back Kul Fyra's guitar. Though they are also really expensive to get since they are no longer made, or really expensive to having someone make because someone has to basically hand make instruments without all the tech as no mainstream instrument makers are making those kinds of instruments anymore. So yeah, they are instruments that are collected more than played.

I'm sure a lot of people don't like the holographic instruments and probably say they should have stopped making upgrades at B2J's generation (heck, some probably say the instruments from Ex-Jays gen should have been the end of the upgrades), but that's not how business runs. Some of the main critiques is running out of power and not being able to use an instrument at all, having to keep up with updates and software patches, and just losing the overall feel of what an instrument should be. Some musicians feel like they can't even connect with their instruments because it feels more like touching a screen half the time than playing an instrument. Not to mention people feel the sound is not the same coming out of an electric instrument than an acoustic one, but that's a fight that's been going on for decades.

There have been advances in holo-tech that do allow for more tactile sensations with holo-instruments, but that is still being worked on for most instruments other than guitars and drums which have the most advancements out of all instruments. Well, I think piano is also up there with some pretty good advancements.

There are some experimental instruments being tested that would allow for little to seemingly no outside instrument base for holo-instruments. Meaning, instead of having a stick for drums, a neck for a guitar, or a base for a keyboard to be projected in front of you, a musician might only need a few rings on their fingers or like a bracelet.

Already pianos have been making this advancement where a player only needs a bracelet on each wrist to properly allow their hand to play a holo-piano, however, as of now they also need a necklace to make the height requirements and body direction consistent. Otherwise if you tried to play on one side of the piano without the necklace then you might just turn the piano entirely. This doesn't happen with a base on the floor because if you turn your body then the keyboard doesn't follow you.

There's also people trying out belts for keyboards to project from, but as of now it is too finicky as clothes can get in the way or depending on how a person stands, sits, or moves, the holo-keyboard can get messed up or be in a very awkward position.

It's really trying to find a way to calibrate height and direction of an instrument like the drumsticks can do. So far it is more difficult with instruments that aren't hit with the holo-projector (the drumsticks for drums). So percussion instruments are really easy to holo-fy, but guitars, pianos, string instruments are very difficult to without some kind of glove. Even the bracelets mess up sometimes because it is hard to tell what keys/strings the hand is trying to hit.

There just has to be a lot more advancements in holo-tech before holo instruments become a reliable experience for anyone. Like 1010 and other robots/people with cybernetic hands can easily use holo-instruments because they can just get some software to connect with their robotic limbs. The instrument will know exactly what key/string is being played and almost no problems occur other than the occasional glitch in the system. But humans/people without cybernetics have a tougher time getting consistent feedback out of holo-instruments.

I don't even know how far along woodwind and brass instruments are in musical tech. Those are probably still in the transitioning stage of where Ex-Jay and B2J generations were at. There are little to no holo-instruments that you have to blow in to. So far it was just too much work for companies to really be bothered with at the moment. But I do think some advancements are being made. Like there are definitely electric brass and woodwind instruments, but definitely no holo ones. If there are holo ones, then they belong to the elites like 1010 or other very famous musicians.

#nsr #rambling #eritalks #noart #instruments #this was a lot longer than i thought it would be #i was just gonna give a basic overview of each gen of instruments #but kinda turned it into a lot more world building #lol

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carbo-ships · 1 year ago

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Chapter XXII

Beginning: Chapter I Previous: Chapter XXI

Petrichor belongs to @limey-self-inserts ! :3

The double-decker tour buses were parked outside of the satanic monastery's main building. An excited buzz had filled the halls all week as people packed their belongings and went over checklists again and again. A man with a clipboard stood at the door and directed the church members to their assigned buses, while two others organized the loading of equipment into the trucks and trailers.

Ardis, Papa, the eight band ghouls, and a backstage ghoul named Petrichor were all assigned to the first bus in line. After putting their suitcases in the storage bay, Papa gave Ardis, Petrichor, and Sunshine a quick tour of the bus. Walking through the ground floor revealed couches on either side of the middle walkway. Past that was a small kitchenette on the left-hand side with basic necessities – a microwave, sink, toaster, and mini-fridge – along with a row of cabinets under the counter. On the right was a small dining table with four seats. At the very back were a small coffee bar and the door to the bathroom.

Papa led them up the stairs. The door to their left revealed a fairly large common space with an L-shaped couch taking up two of the walls and a sizable TV. The hallway to the right had five bunk beds – three on one side, two on the other. Each bed had a privacy curtain. Beyond a small coat rack with spaces to store the ghouls’ helmets was Papa’s private room at the end of the hallway. “And I have one last thing to show you, angel,” Papa said, ushering Ardis into his room. “Petrichor, be a lamb and give us a hand, won't you? And Sunshine, do me a favor and find Aether. He’ll want to see this."

Stepping off the tour bus, Sunshine spotted Aether outside helping load the trailer. He often got recruited for such tasks on account of his physique. She intercepted him before he could fetch another crate and explained that Papa wanted to see him.

“Huh?” He wiped a bit of sweat off his brow and rolled his stiff shoulders. “What for? Is everything alright?”

Sunshine shrugged. “He said he had something to show Ardis, and that you’d want to see it too. They’re on the bus in his room with Pet.”

Aether wasn’t sure what to expect, but he followed Sunshine back to the tour bus and headed upstairs. He gave a gentle knock on the door. “Papa? You wanted to see me?”

“Just a moment,” Papa’s muffled voice came through the door. Aether could hear Ardis and Petrichor giggling.

“Alright, I’ll be out here when you’re ready,” Aether said, smiling to himself at the laughter. Sunshine excused herself, saying she needed to help the other ghoulettes with their bags, and headed back downstairs to exit the bus. Aether waited patiently, doing his best to subtly eavesdrop on the excited chatter that made it through the door. He couldn't make out more than the occasional "now, let me just tighten this" or "Petrichor, could you– yes, perfect".

A minute or two later, Papa’s voice sounded again. “Are you ready, Mr. Ghoul?”

“I don’t even know what I’m supposed to be ready for!” he laughed. “But yes, let’s see what all this is about.”

The door opened to reveal Ardis, smiling from ear to ear and dressed in her very own Nameless Ghoul uniform. Aether’s heart skipped a beat, his eyes scanning her up and down.

"Oh, Aether, isn't it just perfect?" Ardis cooed, doing a twirl to show off her new costume. "I love it!"

Aether was speechless. Their uniforms typically made the wearer look a bit intimidating, given its militaristic inspiration and distressed edges, but that was not the case with his angel. She looked adorable. He could tell it had been made specifically for her – the vest and trousers hugged her curves and tiny waist in a way that made Aether's cheeks warm. He wasn't used to seeing her in anything other than her stiff work uniform or a pair of oversized pajamas. "I–" Words still escaped him as he gawked at her.

"How did you even know my measurements?" she asked Papa, still admiring her new uniform in awe.

"Oh, Petrichor and I have our ways," he chuckled, determined to keep his methods a secret. Pet looked very pleased with themself, their bat-like wings fluttering slightly as they grinned at her.

"What do you think, Aether?" Papa asked. "It suits her, no? I figured she ought to look the part if she'll be touring with us."

Instead of answering, the ghoul marched forward and pulled her into his arms to kiss her. It caught her by surprise – he usually wasn't the type to get too affectionate with her in front of an audience. When he pulled away after a brief moment, Ardis's cheeks were flushed. She knew Pet would tease her about it later on. "What was that for?" she asked him, in a bit of a daze.

Aether offered her an embarrassed grin. "Do you have any idea how good you look in that?"

She rolled her eyes, smiling even wider. "Oh, please."

The moment was interrupted when they heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Aether released her, suddenly aware of his audience again. Swiss's head poked around the corner. "Oh, hey, guys! I thought I heard someone up here. What's–" He gasped. "Does the angel have her own little uniform?"

Ardis nodded excitedly, repeating her twirl to show it off. "Do you like it?"

"Aren't you adorable!" He marched up to the group and threw his arms around both Ardis and Petrichor. "My favorite little groupies," he teased with a grin, pulling them both snug against his sides. Ardis giggled, nuzzling into him. "You excited to be on the big kid bus this year, Pet?" he asked. It had been at his and Rain's insistence that Petrichor be offered the spare bunk.

"I don't know how I'll get any sleep on this tour, with all your snoring," Petrichor teased back.

Swiss scoffed and feigned offense. "I do not snore! You of all people should know that, tesoro." Petrichor gave him a small punch in the chest when he winked at them, their cheeks flushing despite themself. "Alright, alright!" Swiss laughed, releasing them both. "The others are just about ready – they'll be boarding any minute now."

"Wonderful," Papa said with a nod, clapping his hands together. "Go ahead and pick out your beds before the others arrive, if you have a preference. The night owls tend to sleep closer to the lounge so they won't disturb the others when they finally go to bed, and those who actually enjoy a good night's sleep usually prefer my end of the bus."

"I usually sleep there," Aether said, pointing to the middle of the three bunks along the left wall, "on the bottom. You're welcome to sleep above me, if you'd like."

"Are you sure whoever normally sleeps there won't mind?" Ardis asked.

Aether waved away the notion. "I don't think Rain's attached to the spot. Everyone's going to have to shift around one way or another, anyway."

"Alright, sounds like a plan." She fetched her backpack and the clothes she'd previously been wearing from Papa's room and set them on her new bed to claim her spot. Swiss chose a spot closer to the lounge and similarly insisted that Pet take the bunk above him. Aether hid a grin. Something was going on there, but he'd decided long ago to stay out of it. Papa, Ardis, and the three ghouls then made their way to the lounge to clear the hallway in anticipation of the others' arrivals.

As Aether took his seat on the couch and extended a hand to Ardis, he took a moment to reflect on how strange his life had become. An angel was joining them on their tour because he'd fallen for her instead of corrupting her like he was supposed to do. "If you'd like," he whispered in her ear when she sat next to him, "you're more than welcome to snuggle up with me in my bunk for a bit before you go to sleep."

She gave him a bashful grin and a small nod. "Yes, please," she replied quietly.

He smiled and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. His life was a strange one, but he wouldn't have it any other way.

Next: Chapter XXIII

#carbo writes

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wisp-exe · 2 years ago

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another essay from my class lmao

I spent two whole days questioning what I should write about. None of the journals we did stick out to me enough to write a whole story based on it. I couldn’t just make things up seeing as it’s supposed to be an essay that says something about me. I finally decided to write about a story I’ve written almost every year.

I was five years old. My family was visiting my uncle’s house for the weekend because my brother's and youngest cousin’s birthdays are only a few days apart. My uncle’s family lived in an apartment above an office at the time. There were toys all over the floors, and most surfaces were covered in miscellaneous things. I was hanging out with one of the kids around my age when we decided to go to the bedroom she shared with her two older sisters and twin brother.

The room was just as messy as the rest of the house, with toys thrown about, and clothes in every corner. There were two bunk beds, they made the shape of an “L” in the corner of the room, with a small space between them. There wasn’t room for any other furniture, so the kids kept their clothes in bags, but there was a fan on the ceiling. I think they were only okay with all being in one tiny space because they spent most days with their mom, who was divorced from my uncle.

My cousin tried insisting we played atop one of the beds, but I refused at first.

“Roman please!” She begged, the end of the last word drawn out.

“No! What if one of us falls?” I replied.

She gave in eventually, and we played with barbies on the floor. We might have been playing house with them, or maybe a fantasy story. I don’t remember anymore because of other events that happened that day overshadowing it, and the loss of memories that come with time.

Inevitably my cousin quickly bored of this game. She started to get upset, and eventually quit. She forced me to put the barbies away, because if she didn’t want to play then I wouldn’t be able to play either. I contemplated leaving the room and doing something else, but she convinced me to stay.

She once again asked if we could play on the bunk beds, and I agreed.

I had no clue what she wanted us to do on them, but up we went. Once we both were on the bunk beds she told me the game she wanted to play.

“We should jump across the beds!” She spoke, with that childlike excitement you expect from a kid our age.

I looked towards the floor below me, before replying in a frightful voice, “What if we get hurt?”

“We won’t, I promise!”

I suppose you can guess the outcome of the story at this point. Really, I should have told her I didn’t want to do this, but what five-year-old is that smart?

She had us take turns jumping from bed to bed. For a while everything was fine. The room began to heat up quickly. Honestly, it was probably because we were two out-of-shape kids moving so much. Perhaps the adrenaline also had something to do with it. Whatever the cause was, my cousin decided the room was too hot. She leaned over the edge of the bunk bed and pulled the string that would start the fan.

I’ve always been a very anxious person. Even as a kid, I would shy away from anything remotely dangerous. I think the fact I was with my cousin reassured me that I would be fine, and so we continued to jump back and forth. Over and over.

My cousin had me jump to the bunk bed that the ceiling fan was closest to. I was at eye level with the blades of the fan, because of how low the ceiling was. She asked me to turn off the fan for her.

I would have to lean over the edge of the bed to reach the string, as I was a much smaller kid than she was. I did it anyways, of course, I didn’t want her to think I was scared. I began to reach for the string, my hand fully outstretched. I finally grabbed it and was about to turn the fan off, when I looked down. My heart began to race. I was leaning halfway off the bed, meaning I could fall at any moment if I weren’t careful. I struggled to get a breath in, and the panic set in. I hurriedly began to throw myself back to stop myself from falling.

As I sat up, I failed to notice how close I was to the fan above me. Suddenly my vision turned white. The world seemed to freeze for the brief moment it took for me to hear a scream. I don’t know if I was the one screaming, or my cousin, perhaps it was both of us. My vision returned, and as it did my world exploded in pain. I was definitely beginning to cry now if I hadn’t been already. My limbs felt frozen, so all I could do was sit there on that bunk bed, the world around me felt as if it had slowed. At this point, I had no clue what my cousin was doing, but presumably, she was just staring in shock. There was blood pouring from my forehead, the sticky substance staining my clothes, and the bedsheets. I couldn’t think about anything other than the pain.

I heard more then saw my father come running into the room. He began to panic when he saw me.

“Oh my god Roman!” He yelled in a panicked voice.

My mom heard his yell, and came running, “What happened?!”

I barely remember what happened between then and getting to the ER. I have faint memories of my mother holding me, with a towel covered in blood being held to my head. My uncle was driving us.

The doctor got my head to stop bleeding, then he laughed, “Well would you look at that, it’s just a tiny cut. Looks like you won't be needing stitches today, kid.”

My parents sighed in relief.

“Thank god for that,” My mom replied.

#roman writes shit

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nancypullen · 2 years ago

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Nine Days Later...

Good grief, I posted about the powder room makeover and then disappeared. We’ve been busy around here. I’ve been doing lots of yard work and that makes me happy. I have high hopes. I’ve been cleaning up the tree line, raking fertilizer and soil into flowers beds, scattering zinnia seeds and sunflower seeds (cross your fingers) and generally getting ready for the blooming season. It’s weird not having a plant nursery nearby. There are a couple of small greenhouses, but right now they have mostly veggies, hanging baskets, and ferns. I’m on the hunt for a flat of red vinca and maybe some speedwell. Last week we drove into Dover to visit Home Depot. It’s nearly an hour trip and it looks mostly like this.

Loads of farms and everything is looking green. Hello, spring! There’s a Lowe’s closer to us, but there’s no sales tax in Delaware. Does it make sense to use extra gas to avoid sales tax? I guess it depends on how large of a purchase you’re making. For us, it’s fencing. I just want a strip of pretty fence in the back yard between us and the woodsy area. If we can get it done soon I can create a pretty flower bed in front of it. I’ve done my part. The mister bought me this little beauty and I spent two days taking out small trees and all manner of scrubby, weedy, bushes.

I have a fabulous chainsaw (it’s PINK!) but this was perfect for the job at hand. It came with two batteries, so no gas or power cords are involved. It’s lightweight but packs a punch. It zipped through everything I needed to zip through and in no time at all I had piles of trunks and branches for the town to pick up. It was a hot mess back there, and now it looks much tidier. I look like I fought off a mountain lion, but it’s done! I’ll share pics when the fence is up. Well, maybe sooner - as soon as the piles of tree remains get picked up. One individual who is enjoying that tree line is Stanley. He lounges under the birdfeeder and plays in the birdbath. He also drinks from the bird bath, but he spends a lot of time making ripples and chasing leaves around in the water.

That was pre-cleanup. I snapped it through the kitchen window. I don’t know Stanley’s real name, I just know that I worried about him all winter and then a couple of weeks ago he showed up wearing a collar bearing a last name and an address just two houses down. I may be responsible for his pot belly. I was just trying to get him through the cold months. Oops. But back to the yard - my little Jane Magnolia bloomed like crazy, even though she’s barely a yard high. I planted a lilac bush and a beauty berry bush (for the birdies). I put some Morning Glory seeds in the ground near the corner of the porch, hoping that it twines along the porch railings and offers pretty blue blooms. Mickey hung a birdhouse in the Crape Myrtle tree for me, that’s also at the corner of the porch. The front porch is in an L shape and I’ve claimed that short side as my own. That’s where the tree is, that’s where I’ll hang a hummingbird feeder, that’s where the lilac is planted and where I hope the Morning Glory vines will bloom. Mickey put a little wicker loveseat there for me and I can sit in the shade and listen to bird song and smell the gardens. I’m finding my way home again. It takes a lot of hard work to carve out a patch of paradise, but we’re getting there. It’ll be years before most of what I’m planting matures, but by then I’ll be grateful. Heck, I’m grateful now. I’m also very grateful for my sister. She drove over last week and brought a car load of dolls and doll paraphernalia. Her daughter was into all of the American Girl stuff and she no longer wanted any of it. Two lovely dolls, beds, clothes, all manner of sports equipment (even a pup tent) , a salon chair for getting their hair done. There are even books! I took some time to empty the closet in the grandgirl’s room to make way for all of this wonderful treasure. While I was organizing the bounty a certain kitty claimed the bunk beds.

She fell into a deep sleep, so I saved the beds for last. I should have poked her, gotten in her face, sat on her chest, and cried. That’s what she does to me in the morning. Anyway, I’m grateful for my very generous sister. Our little miss will have a ball with all of this.

Did I mention how much fun the grandgirl had with the Egg-mazing?

You just pop a hard boiled egg into that egg-shaped spot and turn on the motor. It spins the egg while you apply color. These eggs were created by a 5 year old!

Prettiest eggs in town! Easter already feels like a month ago. We’ve got a lot to look forward to - blooming season, grilling season, beach season, and more! MY two sweet sons have planned a trip for July and will be flying off to Berlin and then to Prague. I know they’ll have a blast. They’ll probably visit plenty of spy museums and WWII sites. I want them to go to the Lennon Wall in Prague and write, “My mom said to be nice.” Sorry for the boring post but I’ve been spending my days cutting down trees and digging in the dirt. If it kills me I’m going to make every corner of this place beautiful. Then I’ll sit on my little loveseat on the porch, under the shade of a tree full of singing birds, and enjoy the heck out of it. Come sit with me! I’ll make lemonade and finger sandwiches and we’ll talk about nothing and everything. Doesn’t that sound nice? Alright, I’m calling it a night. I’ve got some crafty stuff in the works and I’ll share that with you tomorrow. For now I’m off to a bubble bath and then I’m getting under the covers with a cat and a book. Livin’ on the edge. I hope that spring is filling your world with delight right now, wherever you are. I know some areas are getting winter’s last blast, but I’ll bet that daffodils are right behind it. Keep the faith! Stay safe, stay well, take good care.

XOXO, Nancy

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morgbin · 2 months ago

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Thursday 9/26 (Day 11)

Well! it is Thursday. My second Thursday here. Yesterday was our first day off since the rain. I had such a big plans. I was going to party on Tuesday night with everybody at the bar, then wake up on Wednesday morning and do stick n pokes, then drive out to the Walmart in Fernley and pick up some miscellanee. but my body had different plans for me! around 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday night I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. I was coughing up phlegm, sneezing, definitely sick with a cold. I turned off my morning alarm, and my body decided I was going to sleep until 6:30pm on Wednesday. I walked to the dining hall for dinner, then right back into bed. today ( Thursday ) was almost exactly the same. when my 7am alarm went off, I turned it off and decided today was another sleep all day situation. it was definitely the right call - I woke up at 1:30 p.m. feeling much much better. I had an email from the volunteer coordinator asking if I was okay since I wasn't at roll call this morning. I replied to that, plus messages from my family and girlfriends who hadn't heard from me in 2 days. I folded my laundry which had been sitting on my bed in a pile since Monday night, drank a bunch of water, and around 3pm decided I felt about normal and headed out to Fernley for that Walmart run. I don't remember what it was I wanted, but I'm sure I'll figure it out in the hour and a half it takes to drive out there.

this landscape is so gorgeous. Miles and miles of rolling hills of golden scrub brush, surrounded on all sides by weather worn mountains. occasional small herds of donkeys - I just saw one mounting another lol.

I'm going to try to catch up on the several days of notes that I've taken about this whole experience since I've got the afternoon free.

All right, first off, let's orient y'all to the various locations I'll be mentioning. there's two places where people are living while they're out here. I live in the city of Gerlach, and the other place people are living is "The Ranch." this is not fly ranch, it's a different place. I haven't been out there yet, so I don't exactly know what it's like, but that's where you're sent if you have your own RV. in Gerlach, there's a couple of people who own or rent property, but the majority of us are staying either in The Estates ( basically a trailer yard with mobile homes that bunk about eight people each, but they're only half full right now ) or in the Copper Pit ( a bunkhouse with 10 bunk beds, i.e. 20 places to sleep, that is also only about half full right now). The Copper Pit has four bathrooms with modern new-construction type fixtures. A shower, a sink, a toilet. there's a kitchen, with three modern high efficiency washer dryer combos, a sink, a stove/oven, and lots of counter and cabinet space. There's also a little hangout space with an L-shaped couch, a broken TV on the floor, and a piece of plywood on top of some 5gal buckets to serve as a table. I've been told this is quite the step up from last year. Each of the trailers in the estates has its own kitchen and bathroom, and some of them have laundry machines as well.

here's a list of all of the buildings I've observed in the town of Gerlach that aren't private residences:

the post office, open from 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

Joe's bar.

The Miner's Club - they sell coffee and smoothies and pastries as well as sunglasses, vapes, books, truck stop ephemera. there's also a thrift store / junk store in the back that I haven't been in yet.

The sheriff's office, which looks just like somebody's house with a hand-painted sign out front that says the sheriff's office.

The saloon, which I'll get more into later.

Bruno's motel.

Bruno's country club. Bruno's country club is a restaurant and bar. if you go around back, there's a hall in the back of Bruno's that serves as the commissary for burning Man people. it's open from 6am - 8am for breakfast and 6pm - 8pm for dinner. when you walk in, Auntie No No greets you by name and adds a tally for your meal in her little notebook. it looks like it's divided out by NVO vs DPW, so I guess theres some amount of internal department chargebacks that happen. sometimes it's Frog instead of Auntie No No. and sometimes breakfast is 10:00 to noon instead (as it was yesterday, since Resto had their day off). Lacey is a local who works in the kitchen at Bruno's as well as at the Miner's Club sometimes.

The Saloon

the saloon is the heart of the social scene for burning Man in Gerlach. you walk in and see the bar. to your left is a booth and on the wall behind the booth is electric candles and photos of former DPW who have passed away. to your right is a refrigerator with a wild assortment of drinks. water bottles and bubbly water, some beers, and whatever miscellaneous alcoholic canned beverages were left at the gate by participants during "collexadus". just beyond the fridge there's a aluminum can crusher mounted to the wall, and beneath it is a bucket full of crushed aluminum cans. a little farther back is a full bar. The bartop is carved with names of people who've sat there, and it's also covered in stickers. on the back wall is a giant assortment of various liquors, with all sorts of novelty signs and artworks up top. there's usually one or two bartenders each night. out in front of you is a pool table. there's a chalkboard on the wall next the pool cues where you can write your name to sign up to play the next game. there's another booth in the back that some people sit at.

If you make a hard left just past the DPW booth and pass through a curtain, you enter the computer lab. there's some couches, some bookshelves full of everything from modern fiction, local history, self-help sobriety, '80s national geographics, weird ass burner fiction... there's four computers that are set up so anyone can use them to check their email (or in my case, do research for their tabletop RPG).

if you go back into the bar and then straight through towards the back, you pass through another curtain and enter a multi-purpose room. there's four long wooden tables with long wooden benches that get rearranged into various configurations. to the left, there's two plastic tables set up covered in art supplies. there's some paintings in progress, and many finished ones leaning up against the walls. there's also a board game library which doesn't seem to get much use. in the back right corner is a stage. on my first night there, we had a Seattle-based country punk band that was touring and gave us a heck of a show. this is also where the INFAMOUS talent show takes place. in the back left corner is the swap station. there's some clothing racks full of burner type clothes, and a table of toiletries and sunscreen etc that are all free for the taking. this is a combination of things that were collected during Collexedus, things that were picked up during Trash Train, and things that folks working Early Resto had dropped off on their last couple of days before leaving. All the way in the way back are two bathrooms. they clearly used to say men's and women's, but those signs have been covered up with "urinal" "all gender" "toilet" "just pick one" "use whatever you want, just KNOCK first" and all sorts of stickers and graffiti condemning transphobia. there's also a couple of posters about harm reduction, safe drug use, narcan use, etc.

in between the art space and the swag swap station is another hallway. to the left is a pantry full of canned goods and dry pasta and all sorts of stuff that nobody really wants anymore, but was given to us during Collexadus. I found a bag of dry tortellini which I have been snacking on. I keep offering it to other people but nobody seems to want any, don't know why, it's truly excellent. straight forward is another room, with a big comfy couch and a large TV. someone's always watching something - I've seen JoJo's bizarre adventure, fifth element, mad Max, and many different anime that I did not recognize. if you go straight out from here, there's an exit to the outdoor parking lot. if you turn to the right, there's two kitchens that are free for the using. to be honest I haven't spent any time there because why would I cook when there's a commissary. but there are some people who like to make things in the evening and share with folks at the bar.

That's the saloon. excuse me if I do not edit this portion, I've been speech to texting it as I'm driving and I think I went into too much detail and I will bore myself to death if I have to read it again. as always though, if you have any questions, let me know and I'm happy to elucidate.

now that I've given the lay of the land, let me explain what a day on the lines looks like.

at 6:30 a.m. I start hearing other people's phone alarms go off. 7:40 and I'm one of the last ones leaving the copper pit. I grab my backpack and moop bucket and walk down to Bruno's for breakfast. Auntie No No asks if I'll be packing a lunch that day, I say yes, and she marks down two tallies for me. I hit the breakfast line, making sure to grab a couple extra pieces of bacon. there's usually a tray of something in sandwich-form which I'll take if I'm running later than usual. There's also always a vegan option.

Next up is sandwich-making. There's an array of breads, including a gluten-free loaf. Lotsa squeeze bottles of mayo and mustard, lunch meats, lettuce, tomatoes, and onions. Then some fold-top baggies to put the sandwich in, followed by a couple boxes of various chips and other bagged snacks. You can grab a paper bag to put it all in, or do like I do and put it in your own Tupperware.

Then the dining hall clear out real fast as everyone makes their way over to the saloon parking lot where there are two school busses idling. A contingent of folks finishes up their morning cigarette and/or blunt and we all get on the busses. There's just about enough seats for everyone to have their own but a couple of us have to put our bags in our laps and share seats.

The first couple of days, this was a silent ride. But by now, it is rowdy and spirited. If Woody is on the bus, he's playing that meme song "do I look like I know what a JPEG is? I just want a picture of a goddang hot dog" on repeat. and if Tomas is on, it's "Fake ID". if somehow, they're both on the other bus, then someone might start a sing-along of "99 chili dogs on the bus" or similar. No matter what it is, someone's havin the time of their lives, and someone else is yellin at them to stop.

20 or so minutes later, the bus pulls off of the highway onto the 12 mile access road. The buses drive on the playa to Shoreline. we all get off the bus and sit around putting on sunscreen and the like while everybody gets organized. there's one gal who walks around with four miniature teacups on a plate and offers tea to folks. this is the time when you can also go up to any of the special team leads (highway cleanup, test team, special forces) and express interest in joining their team for the day. a couple minutes later, King Louie yells at all of us to tighten up and starts calling out roll call. at first, this seems to me like a ridiculous waste of time. each individual name of the 150 or so is called out one by one and either says "here", "present", or something snarky. but now I really like it. it's all done by Playa names, not government names. and they're always in alphabetical order, so that lets you have some pretty good setups for snark. there are the people who always answer with a bit of propaganda that they want everyone else to know, like the lady who always responds "harm reduction saves lives", or me, I've taken to saying what the UV index is that day. but the best ones are the ones that play off of the name that comes after them.

King Louie: Howdy?

Howdy: how nice, how rad

King Louie: How cool?

King Louie: Rain?

Rain: somewhere over the

King Louie: Rainbow?

once roll call is done, those of us who are getting paid are officially on the clock. King Louie tells us to turn around, and behind us is Dark Angel, with two assistants holding up a giant print out of the event map. on the first day, it was just black and white. but now, every area that we've walked over has got some little red dots on it representing places we found lag bolts, rebar, or particularly big moop, along with other places shaded yellow for areas that had a lot of little bits we had to pick up.

DA gives us a rundown of how the day is going to look. we can usually do about 1/2 of a revolution around the city per day, give or take. we started on the first day walking clockwise the blocks from G to K starting at 2:00. halfway through day three, we moved on to Esplanade to C (Esplanade to A was split into two blocks). since I was out sick today and was on special forces on Tuesday, I'm not sure where we are now.

after DA talks, there's a couple announcements (sign up for the talent show, starchild usually tells us we're bad at picking up moop, reminder of the boil advisory from 9/26 to 9/29) and then after the call and response of "leave no trace" three times we get on the buses.

this is the point at which you figure out who's line you're going to be on that day. The bus drivers stay consistent day over day assigned to each of the four line bosses. each line boss has their own vibe. they have their fluffer truck driver, their own oscillator, and their own scribe. The oscillator has a speaker ratchet strapped to the roof of their car, pointing at the line. The fluffer truck is the one playing music during breaks though. after a couple of days, the people on each line starts to be consistent as well. so each of these four lines develops their own distinct culture, in jokes, and vibe. this is honestly a genius little addition to the whole experience of doing resto. developing a group identity helps people feel included, and the fact that the four lines have such different vibes means you almost certainly find a place you fit in. also, the lines are arranged on a spectrum from clean-cut to white-guy-dreads, and alternating silly serious silly serious. that means if you want to be on one of the fun lines, but you're off the bus slower than everybody else, you end up at the border between the fun line and the serious line, and if the fun line is too big that day, you get pushed over into the serious line. I'm going to explain my interpretation of the line differences. I'm curious to hear from other folks out here if they agree, and also I'm curious if my own interpretation changes over the next 10 days then I'm out here.

on one end, you have Starchild. Starchild's line is always the first one to line up after they get off the bus or finish their brakes or finish lunch. while Starchild is waiting for the other lines to line up properly, he's doing push-ups and air squats. he yells at his own line to " watch your spacing ", but doesn't call specific names or specific directions. Starchild has the best fluffer of them all. four separate Gatorade containers with different beverages in them. The best snacks. White cheddar Cheez-Its. and a bucket full of candy. I think she might even buy her own snacks fresh, not relying on just what we have from colexadus. I don't remember the music that the oscillator was playing - I was only on his line my first day.

next to starchild is Knots, short for Good with Knots. she is a trans woman with a she/they patch on her hat who uses her full chest resonance to project a deep booming voice. She's notorious for making new folks think she's angry with them. her oscillator usually starts the day off with a full album of something good - Charlie XCX, Chappel Roan, something like that. then it devolves into hyper pop remixes off of SoundCloud which are, I have to say, incredible. this line is where all of the queer people gravitate to. if you have been to Burning Man, you can imagine the demographics of this line. it's about 25% trans women, 50% non-binary weirdos, 25% cis(?) men(?) and me, the one trans guy.

Next to Knots' line is Piranha's, my true love. She carries a mug full of coffee and points at us in her flowing kimono, calls everyone by name and tells us to go right or left until the line is perfectly spaced. Her oscillator plays excellent rock and country, and never plays meltdown songs. The people who gravitate here seem to be the ones who are fairly serious about the job we're here to do, but...in a chill way.

The last line is Cool Whip's. This line is the one where every dead head with dreadlocks goes. it's the line where you go if you think being an asshole to eachother is funny. The oscillator plays shit just to be obnoxious. The best scribe is there - JR (Jupiter Rising) - and Cool Whip is great, but those are the only redeeming qualities. I'm glad there's a line for these people because while it's definitely not my line, they seem to enjoy it.

OKAY. So you've chosen your line, gotten on the bus, and the bus is driving you out to the place you're gonna start your day. it's around 9am or so. The bus stops. You leave your lunch on the bus and you all get out, and we spend about 10 minutes herding cats till we are all lined up with approximately equal numbers on each line, equally spaced out. If you're one of the last people to get off of cool whip's bus, you get sent down to the end bordering Piranha's line. You see the line bosses counting numbers and talking on the radio, and sometimes they point and say something like "everyone to the right of Retox, you're on Piranha's line today"

Once the line bosses have decided that everyone's equally spaced out and everything, they yell something (Cool Whip yells "blowjob", Knots yells "Death March), and we start walking forward slowly.

In the interest of getting to sleep and also getting a post out, I'm gonna stop here for now, but ....

TO BE CONTINUED.

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