#also straps are rough as part of the actual design. i tried to match them with patches of letters

[imerian]

[echo-of-sounds]

shy pt.4

-Fatgum x f!reader-

smut drabble with a shy/inexperienced reader that got longer than I expected and my god, I want this man so badly

You should have gone with the pink lace. A simple, wireless bra wasn’t the sexiest thing in the world, even if it had matching panties and little lace decorations. It also gave your breasts a more natural look. Hopefully, Taishiro would like the burgundy color. 

You couldn’t bring yourself to venture into the lingerie aisle. There were prettier colors and designs, but it was packed with people- people who could actually pull off dainty chemises and sexy bustiers. And the panties weren’t anything special.

But now that you stared in the mirror long enough, the underwear wasn’t even cute. You should just take it off. He wouldn’t like it and he’d be home any minute. You told him you’d stop by his place to drop off some leftovers. You should stick to that instead. 

Tai said your name. You whipped around, holding your chest. “Oh, you’re changing. Sorry.”

“Wait.” You gripped his sleeve to stop him from leaving. A blush showed when he turned. It flooded heat under your skin. Flutters tickled your stomach, shaking your hand and wavering your voice, “This was- is- I was thinking I- I wanted to… Do you like it?” You lowered your other arm, so he could see the set fully.

“I like the color. It’s like velvet. Can I?” He held up his hand to feel it. At your nod, the back of his finger traced the side of the cup, close to your nipple, which was easy to see under the thin material. “It’s really soft… and pretty.”

“Really?”

“Really,” he smiled wide. 

“You don’t- It’s not too… plain?”

“It’s beautiful. You look beautiful.”

Still holding his sleeve, you stood on your tippy-toes, inviting a kiss. His tongue lightly sipped your lips while his hands flowed up and down your sides. You squished to his stomach, sensing exactly how ready you were. “I think…” Correcting yourself, you sighed into him, “I am ready.”

He pulled away. Eyes lit up. The blush grew. “Let me take a shower, then I’ll give you all my attention, okay?”

You nodded, matching his smile, “Yeah.”

“Give me five minutes.” He pecked your forehead before hurrying to the bathroom. 

You waited on the bed, rubbing, crossing, and uncrossing your legs. The water turning off sent excitement down your spine. Rummaging through drawers jittered your thighs. The door opening made you jump up. 

Tai returned to the bedroom, a baby pink towel wrapped his waist. It did nothing to shroud his arousal. The cloth plumped around him. Dark blond hair peeked out from the top, ebbing into a barely noticeable light yellow shade. Purple stretch marks curved upwards past his belly button. 

The rousing sight made you realize you’ve never seen him naked. Or even without his shirt. “You are- You’re, um… you- you’re very handsome,” you whispered, looking at the wall painting.

He approached and kissed the top of your head, thanking you. Something was placed in your hand then you were lifted onto the bed. Large, rough hands glided up your waist. Lips lined the side of your face, pressing smiling kisses all over. “You gonna keep staring at the wall?”

“No.” You glanced down. A condom and lube were in your hand.

“Are you nervous?”

“A little.”

Fingers gently tilted your chin for a proper kiss. Pink brightened his cheeks, reaching his ears. “Me too but I’m also excited.”

“Me too.” You reconnected it, feeling the items taken from you and tossed to the bed. Your hands blindly surveyed his body. His stomach moved in steady breaths. Soft marks waved under your fingertips. Scars cushioned your palm. All of him felt excellent. 

Fingers returned to your bra, fondling, pinching and squeezing and testing. A heavy moan left your mouth, directly into his. You hugged his neck and pressed snug to him. His tongue slunk over yours. Another moan came at the laden thickness. Your hips responded, humping piteously. Saliva shed. Sounds shared. Sparks shuddered.

The touch of his cold fingers slipping into your panties made you gasp. They gently slicked along you, venturing a roll or two on your clit. “You got this wet waiting for me?”

“Yes,” you whined among the many kisses. One finger eased in, searching. You grabbed his arm, quite breathless after the make out.

“I need to stretch you first, baby. I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“Where should I?”

“Hold on one sec.” His fingers left you. He licked them plenty, humming and smirking. They moved to your back and unhooked the bra. Straps slowly graced down your arms. He complimented your breasts, leaning in to suck a nipple.

It was nice but you just wanted him. “Tai, please…”

“Alright. Lay down. Just like when I ate you out.”

You did, legs spread plenty. He kneeled. Fingers followed the lace trimming, plucking and snapping it a few times. “This is so sexy.” They trailed the leg openings next, tickling your thighs, smoothing and pressing over you.

You reached for his fingers. He grinned, “You’re that excited?”

“Yes.”

He kissed your tummy and slid the underwear off. They landed beside your head. “Make sure you save those for another time. I want to play with them more later.”

Embarrassment fluttered up but your wants and needs overpowered it, letting you watch him take the first lick. Golden eyes stared back as he tongued deep. “You taste so good,” he groaned, letting his lips and tongue rumble against you. 

“Fingers… put your fingers in me.”

“You’ve gotten more vocal. I love it,” he praised and granted you what you wanted. One finger eased in, grooming. Another followed, skimming your front wall, curling for a reaction. 

You moaned and held his wrist, “A little more.” They extended and folded. A third finger was added. It was more than the last time. And the single addition made a huge difference. You whined, snagging the sheets. 

His hand ran over your stomach to relax you. “You’re doing great. I’m almost done, baby girl.” 

The fingers pressed up over and over. Wetness wallowed. Heat sucked your clit. The pressure spilled over. You clenched his hand, moaning, applauding, tensing your back, twisting your hips before all your muscles slumped.

“Damn, you really are excited,” he teased the swift orgasm.

“Stop,” you giggled. “But keep going.”

Copying your amusement, Tai dropped the towel, revealing his entire body. Dark blond hair clustered above his base. A couple of light stretch marks lined the outside of his thighs.

Your gawking was blocked when he worked the condom on and covered himself in lube. It glossed his palm and dripped to the bed. He stroked his fingers along you a few more times, pampering the lube deep, making sure you were wet enough. It sprouted a new itch. You sighed at his gaze and heed. You asked for something bigger, grander, powerful.

Deeming you prepared, he lined himself, poking you ever so slightly. “Are you ready?”

“Yes.”

“Tell me if it’s uncomfortable at any point.”

You nodded and braced your hands against his stomach, feeling the invisible hairs. His head nudged in. It was his thickest part and it certainly felt like it. The stretch was fairly unpleasant. Nails pricked his skin.

His hand returned to your tummy, rubbing his thumb. “I’m almost in, baby girl. Does it hurt?”

“No, it’s just-” You gasped as his head popped in. “It’s just a little big.”

“You’re doing perfect.” He leaned down, kissing you. Groans and moans exchanged the farther he filled. Tongues and lips mindlessly explored. You scratched his sides at the overindulgence. Moans softened to whimpers.

“Are you okay?” he whispered between your fevered bodies. You confirmed with another long kiss, running your hands all over him. He was hot and thick and so, so heavy. You wriggled under him to get him to thrust. 

Saliva hung, connecting you when he straightened. It broke and dribbled to your breasts. Thumb moving to tenderly circle your clit, he commended, “You feel so warm, so tight.”

Fluster and flurry cut off your response. You could only pant and paw and hang on while he waited for your word. It eventually huffed out, “Keep… Start… please.”

“Of course.” He kissed your wrist and set it back on his stomach. He held your thighs as he slowly pulled out. The weight abandoned you, leaving you cold. But then he gently pushed in, bearing heat. He calmly repeated the action, sleeking in and out, gradually building his pace.

You moaned his name. It spurred a hard thrust. “Again.”

The clutch on your thighs tightened. The force tried to bump you up the bed, but his hold kept you to him.

“More.”

He came down for a kiss, talking messily with the saliva and breathlessness, “I really love hearing your voice. You’re such a good girl.”

Lust filled your next moan. His body, his care, his praise, his patience, his dick, all of it was just fucking perfect. “Please, Tai. I want you.”

He bottomed out. Thighs ground. You scratched his sides. His tongue swept into your mouth. “God, you taste so good, everywhere. You’re so good, baby.”

“Please, please… give me more,” you quietly begged.

He sat up. Your legs were straightened and laid on his stomach. Impassioned hands grabbed and lifted your ass, thrusting, rooting heavily. His head scuffed and stretched. His length tautened and bulged. You cried his name every sink, struggling to swallow your saliva with his body heaving against yours.

Legs and balls slapped louder the faster he went. He grunted, “Touch yourself.”

You didn’t have to. One rampant buck was plenty to send you over. Your head rolled back. Your mouth draped open. Air stuck in your throat as you silently, desperately humped with pleasured muscles and satisfied limbs.

Even when the bliss waned, Tai still held your waist, moving, handling, using you to find his end. His knee rose to the bed, lifting you more. He groaned and rumbled and dropped one last time. The weight shook a deep ache.

You rubbed his sides where you clawed and kissed his shoulder. His breath hushed. Lips smooched your cheek. You sighed as he pulled out and gulped as he lifted you onto his stomach, sticky and sore. 

Kisses flushed the top of your head. Hands knead your neck and back. “You alright?”

“I’m great,” you smiled, nuzzling into his chest. “You?”

He chuckled, “I’m great too.”

“Was it okay?”

“It was so much better, baby.” He kissed you. “So much better.”

[remmushound]

Lita's legacy, part 5!! @brightlotusmoon @scentedcandlecryptid

Mondo was heated with rage he had no idea how to express. Never before in his time as a human or a mutant had he felt any emotions near as intensely than he felt anger now. His skin felt hot, his stomach felt sick, and he felt like crying. But Lita was there still holding his hand and she was watching him intently, so he had to put on a smile while he got her to someplace safe and protected; as usual, it was on a rooftop.

“Lita, I need you to stay here while I go find a payphone or something.”

Lita frowned. “Why didn't you just use that other mutant's phone?”

Mondo blanked. Sure, he could say that he had been so mad that the thought hadn’t occurred to him, and he could admit his mistake and go back to ask to use an actual phone. Or he could find a payphone and pray to whatever higher beings there were for it to still work. He looked to the streets.

“He uh. Didn't have one. Stay here!”

Mondo gave Lita one last, comforting pat before jumping from the roof and landing with a painful crash in the dumpster below. “Ow.”

“Why didn't you use the ladder?” Lita called down, pointing to the fire escape.

“I have a technique!” Mondo grunted as he forced himself out of the dumpster and to his feet, risking a quick glance around both corners of the alley before falling to all fours and running across the street as fast as his starved body could carry him. He scrambled into the phone box, pulled a loose quarter from his pocket—he kept a bunch of change, just in case he could ever find anything worth buying— and pressed it into the slot. He hoped that was how it worked, like it did in the old movies he watched. He took Repo Mantis’ card from his pocket and, in quick glances between the card and the buttons, he dialed the number and held the phone up to his ear. He heard strange, beeping noises, and hoped that was a good thing.

“You are conversing with Donatello!” Came a confident, bold voice joined with the strange sound of clicking keys, “Are you friend, client, or evil brat come to ruin my day?”

“Suh dude! Uh.” Mondo Gecko cleared his throat and tried to sound professional. “Repo Mantis gave me this number.”

“I know a Repo Mantis.” Was the reply, and then a long pause.

“He… said you could help me?”

“Well, first, you can help me.” Donatello said, “What you need, kid? I got gadgets and gizmos aplenty and a brain that won’t let me sleep. Seriously. It’s been two days.”

Mondo stuttered. “Uh. That’s rough buddy. I… me and my friend tried to get a place in Repo Mantis’ junkyard.”

“Oo. Bad choice.” Donatello laughed, “Lot of crooks living in there, you know. That place is for the desperate and the destitute.”

“Um. I— guess I’m both.”

“Oh. Unfortunate.” He smacked his lips, “What can I do you for, mister desperate and destitute?”

“Repo wouldn’t let me and my friend stay in his junkyard because my friend, like, has this medical condition.”

“That doesn’t sound like Repo. He don’t discriminate by anything more than how much money you have in your pocket. What kind of condition does your friend have?”

“I’m uh… not like, entirely sure what it is, if I’m being completely honest.”

“Physical or mental?”

“Physical…”

“Any medicines she should be taking?”

“I— I don’t know…” Mondo hated not knowing the answers to the questions he was being asked, but what could he do? He had to answer honestly! He put in another quarter to give himself longer to talk.

“Mm. Current place of residence?”

“We… don’t really have one anymore.” Mondo admitted. “I told you— we were supposed to be going to Repo’s place.”

“Right, right. Name?”

“I am Mondo Tubular Gecko.” Mondo gave the sound of a strumming guitar out of habit before remembering what he was talking about. “And uh. My friend’s name is Lita.”

“No last name?”

“No.”

“Alright, Mondo Gecko.” Donatello cleared his throat, “Where are you currently?”

“Uh, lemme check!”

Mondo left the phone and ran out into the streets to check the nearby signs, then ran back and reported them to Donatello.

“Fan-freaking-tasking. You stay there with your friend, and I’ll be there in just a mo’ with a medic to give her a once-over and give the all-clear to our mantis friend. Don’t move.”

Mondo froze.

There was a pause before. “You can move away from the payphone, just don’t leave the area!”

“Oh, right on, right on. Wait. How’d you know I was on a payphone…?”

“I know and see everything. Tah tah!”

Mondo returned to the rooftop to wait with Lita. Only a few short minutes later, both of them were surrounded by three average-sized mutants and one giant, their muscles chiseled and defined by years of hard labor and faces that said they were in their early twenties, if that. Mondo Gecko tucked his tail between his legs and hugged it for support. He hadn’t been expecting so many to show up, but he couldn’t back out now.

“You the one who called?” Asked an unfamiliar voice from the brightest mutant in a blue bandana.

Mondo Gecko nodded slowly.

“Where uh. Where’s your friend?” The largest one gave what Mondo Gecko supposed was meant to be a comforting grin, but it came off as predatory and malicious.

“She’s right here. It’s okay Lita…” Mondo Gecko grabbed Lita by the arm and gently guided her out into the open.

“Aww.” The orange-spotted mutant cooed, “You’re so cute!”

Lita whined and pressed her carapace into the crook of Mondo Gecko’s arm for security. A purple-clad mutant split from the group and approached Lita, pulling goggles down over his eyes and scanning her with a red and blue light for a moment before he pulled the goggles up and his mouth fell open.

“Woah…” Just from the tone, Mondo immediately knew it was the one from the phone. He stood up, walking over to the blue-clad turtle and whispering something to him. Mondo strained to listen. “...major ectopia cordis, possible thoracic insufficiency. Pericardium is still intact. Also suffering from oculocutaneous albinism OCA1 and what appears to be second-degree burn scarring on her face and hands. Accompanied with her ectopia, it may allude to significant lung tissue damage.”

Lita looked down at the pink burns on her hands, and then back up as the purple and blue adorned turtles made their way over to her and Mondo with attempts at gentle, comforting smiles.

“Hey Lita…” The blue-dressed turtle kneeled and offered a hand to the albino turtle. “I’m Leonardo. Do you mind is I take a look at you…?”

Lita looked at Leonardo’s three fingered hands, then held out her own matching hands and looked down at them with a curious glint in her eyes. The new turtle was still smiling, his hand still outstretched. Lita accepted it and let herself be guided away from Mondo.

“I’m just gonna take a look at your heart and lungs, okay?” Leonardo asked, and when Lita nodded her consent, he took out a flashlight and shined it in the center of Lita’s chest, watching the beat of her heart with a soft curiosity. “Wow… okay, this might feel a little cold, but it’s going to help me hear your lungs, okay?”

Leonardo pulled out a device that Lita didn't recognize, letting her look it over for only a few seconds before bringing it to her chest to listen to her breathing. He kept the cold tool there for a moment before pulling away and walking back over to whisper to Donatello, who took quick notes of his brother's words. While they talked, Lita’s eyes couldn’t help but explore the sight of the other two mutant turtles that stood nearby. They were shoulder-to-shoulder with each other, staring at Lita and whispering softly in serious, curious voices. Lita felt unbelievably small compared to them.

“Lita.” Leonardo’s voice came again, “My brother here is going to take some measurements of his shell to see if he can’t get you fitted with something.”

Donatello stepped forward, standing unlike his kneeling brother, and addressed Lita like an equal. He pointed to the straps over his shoulder, “See this?” He turned around to show her his battle shell before turning back around to face her, “This is my battleshell— aka, my livelihood! Since there are no surgical options to help you with current technology, I am going to make you something just like this, except on your plastron instead of your carapace. It will cover your heart, so you aren’t just… hanging out there and give you additional protection against brunt force trauma.”

As Donatello continued to rant, he finally kneeled, but not to address her face to face; he started to measure the area of her plastron with careful, calculated measurements while metal arms coming from his battle shell scribbled down the notes he needed.

“I can design it to grow with you, but you will have to come back every two years to get a replacement fitting, so it doesn’t get too worn down and become structurally unsound.” He finished his measurements and stood back up, “We can arrange a meeting in two months to get you suited with your brand-new plastron. How’s that sound?”

“Good.” Lita squeaked softly.

“Do you guys have anywhere to go until then?” The biggest brother asked in the softest voice.

Mondo came back over and wrapped a thin, lanky arm around Lita and gave her a comforting squeeze. “Um… we can go back to the vent I guess.”

All four turtles immediately shook their head and voiced their disagreement.

“No.” The red brother insisted, “No— we ain’t letting you leave here until you have a safe, comfortable place to stay! Like our place!”

“Yeah!” The orange-spotted turtle chirped, “You guys can have my room!”

“And it would be better able to keep an eye on her condition.” Leonardo added, walking up behind the two of them and wrapping supportive arms around the two children. “Trust me, niño y niña! You’ll love it at our place!”

“Think dad’ll let them stay?” The orange turtle chirped.

“You kidding? Dad would never turn away a couple’a kids!” Leonardo declared, “You can stay with us until we get you decked out someplace nice! How’s that sound?”

Lita smiled softly. “It sounds amazing!”

~~~

Two hundred years passed since that day, but Lita remembered it so clearly. She was sure she would be able to find her way around the past city even without the aid of Donatello’s maps, but still he insisted on her having one. She didn't think it was important enough to argue— it was only a day trip. Just get the egg and get out. She didn't know why her friends were all acting so weird about it though; she had gone on tons of missions into the past with the time scepter, and this one would be no different.

When she arrived in the city, the first thing she did was take a long, deep breath of the clean city air. Clean, at least, compared to what she had grown used to. She couldn’t spend long enjoying it, though. Tokka needed to be brought back home. Though she was reluctant to admit it, Donatello’s map had indeed helped her just as he said it would. Squeezing herself into the sewer was harder than she would care to admit, but she made it work. Then she had to swim, which was of little concern seeing as she was built to be aquatic.

She emerged in a place that sparked an odd memory and made her heart give a strong pang. She knew this place— and she knew those two creatures staring back at her as they held her little Tokka.

“Holy shell…”

[chessiesystem]

StEx Appreciation Month, Day 31: Nitpicks

SO, I have a LOT of nitpicks about literally every aspect of the show, like I could go on and on, but then this post would be the embodiment of this gif:

So for today I’m just going to focus on costume nitpicks! Like with everything in the show I have an ideal version of everyone’s costume/wig/makeup, so today I’ll just go over my main nitpicks with the various costumes and post my favorite versions!

Obligatory JapanAus picture because those tours overall had the BEST costume aesthetics.

Let’s get started:

(Also just to go ahead and get this out of the way, this post is almost completely ignoring the 2018 redesigns, like. Those don’t live in my head. I’ll just be focusing on the Broadway/Bochum/tour designs.)

Rusty:

Okay so with Rusty my main nitpick is!!! That stupid empty black space that’s above his chest plate in SO many of the costumes!! Like WHY is that there?! Here’s a good picture of it:

It drives me absolutely insane aljsldf. Luckily Bochum eventually corrected this but that it was ever there drives me up a wall.

Another nitpick is his headband… I can tolerate it when it’s paired with the hat, but I can’t stand it on its own, it just looks ugly to me. And speaking of his hat, I love most versions of it, EXCEPT for the New Starlight Express one where it was styled after a baseball cap. That bothers me on a level I don’t even fully understand alsjflds.

Anyway, I think overall my favorite version of Rusty’s costume is the 2018 version… I think the silhouette looks strange, especially from the side, like kind of too baggy? But overall it’s really cute, I love the colors and the new chest plate design, and the HAT. Also really like the new makeup!! It was looking rough for a minute lmao.

This is Peak Performance (not the Pearl…definitely not the Pearl):

Pearl:

Being as I’m in love with most of Pearl’s costumes I actually don’t have a ton of nitpicks. I think my main one is that I’m not a fan of the salmon/gold tones that were sometimes used for the bodice. For example:

I think moreso than the costumes I’m critical of Pearl’s wigs. I HATE when she has straight wigs… the only exception to this rule is Stephanie Lawrence’s and Nikki Belsher’s because those wigs were also big and fluffy. But that lanky thing Bochum had in the early 2000s? Terrible. Pearl should have big, dramatic curls. Also, this should go without saying but her hair should be PINK. Blonde Pearl actually gives me acid reflux.

Also I don’t think much attention is given to her headpiece, but I really love when they’re big and princess-y. Like, this headpiece with these earrings? I love:

As far as a favorite Pearl costume, that’s really hard because I love so many of them, but I’ll say this one. I think it’s a nice balance of pink and white:

Greaseball:

I don’t have a ton of nitpicks about Greaseball’s costume… like, it fucks pretty hard? I moreso have beef with his makeup. NONE of these men know how to blend and it looks terrible. I get that it might be a stage makeup thing that looks better under stage lights but I still don’t even really buy that because every other character blends?? Also, I don’t like how the makeup is just contouring… I get that it’s to make the actors look more masculine, which does suit Greaseball’s character, but PLEASE give that diesel some character makeup!!

I really stan the Broadway makeup for this reason. Look at this Jareth-looking bitch, he looks amazing! And it’s just SO cool:

Idk even this London makeup is pretty okay imo… anything to make him more visually interesting 😭:

Dinah:

My main gripe with Dinah’s costume will forever and always be the apron lmao. I’m very, very picky about it because it’s SO easy to make look tacky as hell. The 2018 apron is the ugliest its ever been, I’m sorry:

LIKE WHY IS IT SO BIG AND LONG. Also the silver strap around her chest is WAY too high now. I swear they tried to make the 2018 coaches more modest in the ugliest ways possible. But anyway.

I prefer for the apron to only be beneath the belt, but if it also has to be above the belt I can tolerate it if its small, like the Broadway design or the earlier Bochum designs. I also prefer when her leggings are on the more silver/metallic side than just straight up blue. Broadway and Japan-Australia had the right idea with how metallic they made everyone look.

As far as Bochum goes, I feel like the costume’s peak was from like 1997 to 2007:

PERSONALLY, though, my ideal Dinah costume would be Debbie Wake’s from the Japan tours. The color, the leggings, the wig, it’s all so… Peak! I also really love how the top of her skirt is divided into sections?? It’s really cute. The only thing I’d change is I’d remove the part of the apron that reaches above the belt and adjust the color of her wig. But otherwise I love this one so much 🥺🥺🥺:

Electra:

I have a lot of very disjointed thoughts on Electra’s costume, but bottom line is I’m rarely content with it… but my MAIN nitpick is definitely the color scheme. I know that it’s intended to be blue/red/silver but instead it often looks blue/red/white to me and I just CANNOT dissociate that from the American flag/overzealous patriotism alsjdlf, it kind of gives me heartburn. I’ve seen some fan redesigns of the costume that incorporate a blue/red/gold color scheme instead and I think that could REALLY fuck, though I don’t know how it’d translate to the stage/irl. Or just?? Design his palette after the bi flag colors??

Another nitpick is how boxy and bulky his chest box often is. I feel like I can’t criticize this TOO harshly because, in my opinion, this musical should be FIRMLY 80s, and that’s probably what counted as “futuristic” in the 80s, but it’s just a personal preference of mine that I wish his chest piece was more slender and streamlined. I think it’d make the silhouette better and just?? Look better??

I also don’t like most of the mohawk wigs… they just look… VERY cheap and fake to me most of the time. I prefer the looser/wilder wigs because they look softer and more natural.

ANYWAY I’ve found that the costume that actually sates most of these complaints for me is the Japan-Australia costume. The palette actually looks blue, red, and SILVER to me, and the body suit is just?? Sooo shiny and metallic and sparkly?? It’s so pretty. The wig is a perfect balance of the looser/wilder London wigs and the early mohawk wigs, and the MAKEUP is so good, it’s the only time I’ve seen a silvery/metallic base on Electra work and NOT whitewash the fuck out of the actor. Not to mention the base in JapanAus matched the body suit REALLY well and aaaah idk I could wax poetic about this costume all night aljsfld it’s really good and I appreciate it for being the, like, one (1) Electra costume I vibe with 😭.

Again, I’d streamline the chest box if I could but overall? This is peak performance:

CB:

Off the bat I’ll say I hate how big his shoulder boxes have gotten over the years. Like they are just ridiculously massive, it looks kind of awkward when the actors can’t even rest their arms by their sides due to it. They look like little kids wearing arm floats. Also not a fan of how much lower the neckline has gotten, and how much smaller the bandana has gotten?? His chest and neck are SO exposed now when they use to be completely covered and it irks the hell out of me.

Funnily, this one picture pretty clearly displays all three of these nitpicks:

Compare this to back when the neckline was higher/the bandana larger, he’s completely covered. He also isn’t fucking DROWNING in his shoulder boxes:

Also not a fan of the hair piece Bochum has used in recent years. Like it was just so much cuter when the actors used their real hair :^//. And I just Do Not Vibe with how straight and neat the hair piece is, CB has wild, curly hair and I’ll die on that hill.

ALSO, and this is more specific to just one actor, but I kind of hate Dan Ellison’s makeup aljsldf. Like it’s well done but it just has far too much going on. All what CB needs done is his cheeks, his eyes, and his lips— all that extra that Dan does on his jawline and with the laugh lines around his mouth and eyes is just… too much. And it frustrates me so much because he would be SO much cuter if he went with a simpler makeup!! Ugh. But anyway.

This was 100% the makeup at its best, like. Absolutely peak, thank you Thierry Gondet:

And my favorite costume comes from the 1990 Japan tour. I ADORE how this chest box is fitted and designed, and it just looks so shiny and red? Like it was freshly washed and painted 😭. Not to mention the red contour on his temples is kind of a Look:

The only thing I’d adjust is I’d give him the suspenders present in most of his costumes, because they’re honestly adorable. And, of course, he needs his Chessie System sticker. But otherwise? This is Peak Performance.

Okay I was gonna do more but this thing is fuckoff long as it is, so I’ll just stick to the Big Six. If you made it this far you’re a trooper, thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings aljsldfs.

[rocksandrobots]

Of Rocks and Robots Ch. 1 - The Arrival

“Soon, Dad.”

The hoarse, raspy voice broke the eerie silence that permeated the dark chamber, and Varian startled to hear himself speak. It was the first time he had spoken out loud in days and his own voice sounded weird and unnatural to him, caked with emotion. 

The young boy glanced around the ruins of where he stood, shivering from more than just the morning chill as his eyes swept past broken timbers, rubble, and cobwebs. He could see through a hole in one wall out to the abandoned farmland and deserted huts that made up the village he had once called home, and no matter where he turned black pointy rocks of all sizes punctured the ground. A grim reminder of what had lead to such desolation. 

Finally his gaze settled back to the object that he had first spoken to. A towering stalagmite made from amber stood before him. Enclosed within the golden resin was the figure of a man; standing tall, right arm reaching upwards, clasping what looked to be a note, and his face frozen; eyes closed in, what Varian thought was, pain. He stretched out his own hand to touch that face, but as so many times before, it only came to rest on the cold, unyielding, translucent stone. 

Varian blinked back tears as he gazed up at his father, memories flooding his mind. Painful memories; the day of the accident, fighting his way through a snowstorm, the castle door slamming in his face, the endless weeks of isolation and failed experiments, the rage he felt while battling both his inner demons and the uncaring kingdom that abandoned him, the cold emptiness while lying on the dungeon floor, and most recently, the prison break that brought him back to where he began. 

For upon acquiring his freedom, and being appointed the new Royal Adviser by the leader of the Saporians, the architects of his escape, Varian hit upon the idea of raiding the castle’s innermost vault. The precious treasure that it once held was no longer there, having been stolen by Varian himself, but the room still stored vast amounts of books and scrolls containing knowledge of sages past. Most importantly the notes of the famed alchemist Demanitus. 

Varian had studied Demanitus work before, reverse engineering the ancient scientist’s deadly and near indestructible automatons for his own nefarious purposes. Those proved to be less than sufficient in the end and he hoped his newest discovery would be more successful.  

His reminiscing was broken by a second sound, a small chittering noise coming from his work desk in the corner of the room. Distracted, he looked towards the creature that made it. Sitting back on his hind-legs on top of the desk was a rotund raccoon who looked expectantly at him. Varian gave his pet a warm but weary smile.

“Hello, Ruddiger.” he said softly, his voice still sounding rough to his ears due to its lack of use. He walked over the tamed raccoon and gave it an affectionate scratch behind the ears who nuzzled his hand in response. He then turned his attention to the assemblage of wires, gears, and levers that he had cobbled together over the last three days. 

The machine stood on a tripod of metal legs next to the desk and vaguely looked like a drill. Only the “drill” part was a smooth metal cone with a glass orb attached to the tip and two antenna stuck out from either end at the back. Its intended use was to originally create portals to other worlds, according to the blueprints he had found amongst the old alchemist’s writings. Varian hoped that with his added adjustments he could configure the portal into a short range teleportation device. The amber that held his father was unbreakable. No amount of force could shatter the structure, but a portal could theoretically bypass the resin and allow his father out. 

Varian took a steadying breath and tried to push out any expectations he held in his mind. He’d known the sting of disappointment far too many times to get his hopes up now. All he could do was try and see what would happen. 

He gathered up his notebook, stuffed Demanitus’s papers and blueprints in between its pages, and having tied the cord around to hold it altogether, placed the journal inside his inner coat pocket. So should anything go wrong, like say a fire from an explosion, then the notes would already be on his person and kept safe so long that he was. He also scooped up his loyal companion and placed the raccoon upon his shoulders for similar reasons.

“Ready, Ruddiger?” he asked his pet, “‘Cause here we go.” He walked behind the machine, twisted some dials, and with the pull of a lever turned the device on.

                                                  ------------------------

“Nothing can stop me now! Bwahahaha!” 

Maniacal laughter emitted from the small man standing on top of the building. He was short in stature with light pink hair and was wearing a tacky purple suit. In his hand he held a simple remote and beside him stood a large metal ring held up by a framework of support beams attached to a steel platform. 

A young Hiro Hamada stared at the machine transfixed; unpleasant memories flashing through his mind; the heat of the fire, his brother’s funeral, the lonely days spent in the room they once shared, the blinding hate he felt when facing the masked attacker that murdered his brother, and the cold emptiness of the void enveloping him as he entered a machine not dissimilar from the one standing before him now. 

He was snapped out of his reprieve by a voice coming through the intercom in his helmet. 

“How did Mr. Sparkles get ahold of Keri’s portal tech? I thought it was all destroyed.” Hiro’s friend Wasabi asked.

“It must be an old prototype; one that was abandoned in favor of the actual portals we faced later on.” Hiro replied back through the intercom to the rest of his friends.

After his brother‘s, Tadashi’s, death, Hiro and his friends had formed a superhero team to stop his murderer, using technology that they developed along with a robot Tadashi had built himself called Baymax. Even after having defeated the villain called Yokai, and his dangerous portals, they continued on thwarting other evil schemes pursued by other bad guys. One such villain, the aforementioned Mr. Sparkles, had apparently stolen the older tech and had set up shop with it in the middle of downtown San Fansokyo. Though to what ends was anybody’s guess.

 “And if it was abandoned,” Hiro continued on, "then it’s probably even less stable than those were, so we have to make sure he doesn’t turn it on. Otherwise there’s no telling what it may do.” 

He signaled for the team to move in and surround the villain but it was too late. With a gleam in his eye Mr. Sparkles pressed the button on the remote and the portal roared to life.

                                                ------------------------

Varian was having difficulty holding onto the machine. The portal that had appeared before him hung in the air sucking everything into it. Like a flaming circle, it shifted and writhed with green energy licking the sides and a crackling static could barely be heard over the wind whipping past his ears. 

“Hold on, Ruddiger!” He yelled to the raccoon perched upon his shoulders. But no sooner did the words leave his mouth did the wind pickup speed and Varian found himself lifted from the ground and hurling towards the portal itself.

                                                 ------------------------

Something was clearly wrong. The portal that Mr. Sparkles had switched on was bathed in a glowing green energy, that eerily looked like lightning, and a staticky sound could be heard coming from it. 

“Look out it’s going to blow!” Yelled Fred, and “blow” it did. An explosion erupted from the machine knocking everyone back and sending rubble and debris down to the street below. 

Everyone lay prone on the ground surrounded by twisted metal, concrete, and smoke. A large chunk of the roof of the building over head was blown away and nothing remained of the portal except for scrap. 

Hiro recovered from the blast, hoisted himself up on his elbows, and scanned the destruction around him. He couldn’t see any sign of Mr. Sparkles but he did see his various friends also slowly sitting up. 

“Everyone OK? Sound off.” Hiro asked. 

“I’m Ok.” that was Gogo.

“I’m alright too” said Honey Lemon.

“Same here” replied Wasabi.

“I am also undamaged” came Baymax’s voice from behind him.

“That’s good… wait where’s Fred?” 

As if in response to this query Hiro heard a scream come from across the way and Fred came running towards them. 

“It’s an alien!” He yelled. He rushed over to grab Wasabi and began to excitingly describe the creature that he had seen. “Bugged eyed, dripping fangs, red claws, and it was missing a nose I think.”

“Fred, there is no such things as aliens.” Wasabi told him exasperatedly.

“Not unless it came through an inter-dimensional portal.” Fred retorted, "Gasp! There it is!” 

Through the smoke they could make out the shape of something. It looked humanoid, bipedal, and with comically large eyes if the silhouette was to be believed.

They heard a voice call out from the smoke. "Ruddiger? Ruddiger?!"

Fred broke away from the rest of the group and slowly walked to meet the thing. 

“We. Mean. You. No. Harm. We. Come. In. Peace.” He paused and held his hands up and out to signify he didn’t want to fight. “Do. You. Speak. English?” 

“I speak a lot of languages” Was the annoyed reply. 

The wind blew the smoke away getting a clear view of the “creature”. It was no alien but in fact a person. The bug eyes being a pair goggles, the red claws merely gloves, and the dripping fangs nothing more than a quirky design on a bandanna that obscured their face. 

The person stepped forward and removed the bandanna and goggles revealing a boy underneath. He couldn’t have been much older than Hiro himself. He had thick black hair, with a blue streak in his bangs and large piercing blue eyes to match. He was dressed oddly. In addition to the goggles and bandanna, he wore a pair of baggy pants, a waistcoat, and a frock coat over that. His gloves had dials on the wrists and his boots had buttons rather than shoelaces. Around his waist was strapped various belts and from them hung multi-colored orbs that didn’t look dissimilar to Honey Lemon’s chimballs. He was covered in dust and dirt from the explosion and a black sooty smear streaked across the bottom half of his face. 

The boy squinted his eyes in distrust and moved to unclip one of the balls hanging from his belt. He held it out in front of him and readjusted his stance to a defensive one. 

“Where am I and who are you?” He asked. There was an edge to his voice and his eyes darted back and forth between the group and the cityscape behind them. It was clear he was lost and scared and putting up a brave front to try and hide it. 

Hiro stepped forward to try and deescalate the situation, but no sooner did he move then sirens were heard in the distance. Cop cars came barreling down the road towards them, lights flashing. They quickly pulled to a stop in front of the heroes. The boy, startled by this new development, turned to face the noise. He threw the ball in his hand to the ground and from it poured a purple fog of smoke. 

Using the fog as a cover Hiro signaled to his team to disperse. He hopped onto Baymax’s back and the robot turned on his jet pack. Still floating in the air, the robot then picked up Wasabi while Honey Lemon and Gogo skated away. Hiro nodded to Fred to grab the boy. He saluted his acknowledgement to Hiro and scooped the stranger up in his arms, bounding away before the smoke could clear.

                                                  ------------------------

Chief Officer Cruz peered out through the purple fog to the debris filled street but no sign of anyone, hero nor villain alike, could be seen. He ordered his men to shine a light onto the scene of the crime and to search the area for the offending miscreants who caused the destruction. All that was found was a single raccoon. It picked up a piece of the debris in its mouth and then scampered away into a back alley. Cruz sighed in frustration and told his officers to pack it up for the night after sectioning off the road.

                                                  ------------------------

 “Oh, now that’s….that’s high up.” Varian gulped as he looked down from the dizzying height at the top of the building where the “monster” had deposited him. He had never considered himself afraid of heights before but the building was as tall as a small mountain and the days events, including the stomach lurching ride to the top, was getting to him. 

“Oh don’t I know it. Just don’t look down. It makes things easier.” A not unkind voice told him. He turned to see who was addressing him and was faced with six armored figures standing before him. They were various heights and builds and each wore a set of armor that was uniquely modeled and highlighted with its own different color. One such suit was even crafted to look like a three eyed monster and Varian recognized it as the creature that he had first met; the one that had carted him away to way up here when the strange vehicles with flashing lights had arrived. They vaguely reminded Varian of the knights from storybooks he use to read as a kid. All decked out in shining metal and off to battle dragons and rescue damsels in distress. But life wasn’t like a storybook and Varian didn’t trust easily. 

“Who are you?” He asked suspiciously.

The one dressed as a monster stood tall, flexed his arms, and proudly proclaimed “We’re Big Hero Six!” 

He then paused for dramatic effect, clearly waiting for Varian to respond with either praise or recognition. But Varian could only stare blankly at him, confused as ever. Most of the other knights shook their heads in exasperation, and after a moment or two of awkward silence, the smallest knight stepped forward, patted the “monster” on the back encouragingly, and then removed his helmet. It was a small boy not much younger than Varian himself. He had a shock of messy black hair and large almond brown eyes. He smiled kindly at Varian and then introduced himself. 

“I’m Hiro and these are my friends” He turned to gesture at each knight as he rattled off their names. “This is Baymax” 

“Hello” The tallest and largest of the knights said in a lilted voice. He brought his hand up and proceeded to stiffly move it in a small circular motion. Varian repeated the wave, assuming it was a customary form of greeting.

“Gogo” 

Gogo, as she was called, responded by chewing on some pink candy, that looked to be like taffy, blew it into a bubble form, popped the bubble with her mouth before saying, “Hi”, and then proceeded to chew on the confectionery once more. She was the second shortest of the knights and stood on large yellow disks while having two more of those same disks attached to her wrists. 

“You’ve met Fred”

Fred was the aforementioned monster suited knight. He flipped back the helmet of his armor revealing a blonde haired young man probably only a year or two older than Varian himself. “Hey!” he enthusiastically said before returning the helmet back to its proper position.

“This is Honey Lemon” 

Honey Lemon was a tall woman dressed in pink armor and she carried a pink purse that had attached to its strap small multi-colored balls that reminded Varian of the alchemy balls he wore currently around his own waist. She was all smiles and had long red hair that peaked out from underneath her pink helmet and visor. 

“Please to meet you” she said in a light and airy voice.

“And Wasabi” 

“How ya doing?” asked last of the knights and Varian recognized his voice as the one that had given him the advice about not looking down. He was decked out in green armor and had broad shoulders. While not as large as the knight called Baymax, who was like a small giant, Wasabi was clearly a tall buff guy who looked to be able to hold his own in a brawl.  

Varian just stood for a few moments looking at the band of warriors, processing everything. They in turn stared expectantly at him and that is when he remembered his manners. 

“I’m Varian.” He said and with introductions seemingly out of the way continued on with his line of questioning. “So where am I?”

“You’re in San Fransokyo” The smallest knight said, Hiro, wasn’t it?

“Where’s that?” 

The younger boy seemed to be surprised by that question. “In .. America?” he hesitantly offered up. 

“The Americas!?” Varian exploded back. “No! noooo, no, no, no, no. I overshot! How am I supposed to get back to my dad now?” He began to pace back and forth agitated. Unbeknownst to him, as he ranted, the knights shared a couple of confused looks among themselves. 

“Overshot?” asked the green knight.

“Yes, I was working on a short range teleportation device when it must have malfunctioned and deposited me here on the other side of the ocean.” Varian explained irritated.

“Well, maybe we can help?” Hiro continued, “Where are you from?” 

“Corona” 

More confused stares. 

“And where’s that?” 

“Europe” Varian said less assuredly. 

“I have researched my databases for, Corona, and have not found any matches” the tallest knight said. His voice was clipped and unnatural sounding to Varian’s ears and he was growing ever increasingly more uneasy with the weird situation he found himself in.

The boy, Hiro, cradled his chin in thought for a moment and then responded. 

“I think you may be a little farther from home then just across the ocean.” He said slowly, carefully, trying not to upset the alchemist. “I think you may have crossed a dimensional barrier.”  

Varian turned away from them upon hearing this and looked out across the cityscape displayed before him as the enormity of what the other boy said begin to weigh upon Varian’s mind. As far as the eye could see there were tall spires and metal towers, all taller than the tallest castle rooftop and flashing with a multitude of lights. Large decorative balloons that looked like giant lanterns hung in place over the rooftops and off in the distance there looked to be large bridge, also lit up against the starless night sky. Strange sounds filtered up from the streets below and into Varian’s ears reminding him just how far from home he was. 

“What am I going to do?” He heart-brokenly whispered. Varian had known despair before, but looking out upon that sea of metal and glass he had never felt more lost and defeated. 

“Well,” the young knight continued, "we were stopping a thief from getting away with a prototype portal device. He turned it on and it must have connected with your teleportation device, bringing you here. Unfortunately it overloaded, there’s nothing left. But if you’re capable of rebuilding your first device, then we might can get you the supplies to do so, and I could talk to the owner of the original portal to see if he has any plans or blueprints left that you could work off of.”   

Varian thought this plan over and against his better judgment began to have a sliver of hope again. He still had Demantius’s plans and his own personal notes tucked away inside his breast pocket and this world seemed to be highly advanced. Surely there was something, some technological wonder, that might help. At the very least it couldn’t hurt to try.

“Alright” Varian agreed.

“Great! Now the best way to get you some supplies would be from our school, SFIT, but Professor Granville won’t be back from spring break until Monday. So we gotta find a place for you to stay until then.”

“What about our headquarters?”

“Naw, Roddy is redoing the plumbing remember? It won’t be ready for a week. Which means no cool superhero hangout for a whole week!”

“Well don’t look at us. Honey Lemon and I are cramped up in our studio apartment as is.” 

“Well I can’t take him home. What would Aunt Cass say if she caught me sneaking a stranger into the house at two in the morning? Wasabi, didn’t your roommate graduate this semester?”

“Yeah, and he took his bed with him when he moved out of the dorm. What about you Mr. I-live-in-a-literal-mansion?” 

“I told you, my parents require a three-year background check for overnight guests. He’s from another world. He has no records.” 

Varian listened in on this exchange, lost as to what everyone talking about. Headquarters, schools, mansions, roommates; he had no frame of reference for anything all he knew was that they were struggling to find him a place to stay.  

“It’s ok. I can sleep outside,” Varian interjected helpfully, not wanting to be a burden and not wanting to cause any arguments. 

“What? No!” They all said at once, horrified, their debate coming to an abrupt end. Varian was taken aback by the ferocity with which they had turned his idea down and began to wonder what he could have possibly said that so offended them. 

“Dude, we’re not letting you sleep outside!” the green knight, Wasabi said, aghast that he would ever suggest such a thing. Varian just stared blankly at him, confused as to why that seemed so awful. Wasabi sighed in exasperation and then took a deep breath as if coming to a decision and then continued. “Look you are more than welcome to stay the night at my place, as long as you don’t mind sleeping on the sofa that is.”    

Varian didn’t mind at all. In fact a sofa sounded quite comfortable compared to the cold hard ground or the wooden cot of the jail cell that he had been used to for the past year or so. Though he left this last part unsaid.

“Great, so now that’s settled …,” the boy Hiro started to walk up to the tall knight called Baymax. He hopped up on the others back and the two wings on the side of his amour ignited with flame and propelled both of them upwards. “We can meet up for breakfast at the Lucky Cat tomorrow and in the meantime I’ll gather up everything I can on the portals.” 

“Whoa!” Varian stared up at the flying armored figures in breathless awe as they soared away. His attention was diverted when the pink knight, Honey Lemon, walked forward. She pressed some buttons on the side of her purse and out popped a purple ball into the palm of her hand. It looked just like the one Varian had held earlier, only he assumed it did something different. She stopped beside him next to the edge of the rooftop, turned to give him a big smile, and then threw the ball down to the ground below. From the ball sprung a crystallized substance that created what looked like a blue slide from the top of rooftop to the ground below. 

“Acetic acid?” Varian questioned, happy to show off his knowledge. Honey Lemon nodded enthusiastically as a way of an answer and then jumped on to the slide and surfed down to the ground, whooping loudly with joy as she went. The yellow knight, Gogo, followed after her and the monster suited knight, Fred, began to bound away, leaping across the buildings in large jumps. 

Varian moved to the slide himself and hopped on the same as the other two girls had done. He turned around when he noticed that the green knight, Wasabi, was still standing around. He looked questioningly at him, wondering what fantastical way he may depart. 

“I’ll take the elevator, thanks.” Wasabi replied. 

Varian didn’t know what an elevator was, but he didn’t want to pursue the question and be made to look the fool, so he just shrugged his shoulders and then taking a steadying breath slid down the slide himself, also whooping in nervous exhilaration as he went.

                                                 ------------------------

From another rooftop across the way, Mr. Sparkles, sat watching the heroes depart. He had his hands around his eyes in mock binoculars in order to focus his attention on the newcomer that had joined them. As the boy slid down the makeshift slide and out of sight, the villain removed his hands from his face and pulled out a cellphone from his pocket. He quickly dialed a number and waited for the person on the other end to pick up. 

“Hey boss, bad news about the portal you had me swipe, but before you get mad, there’s been some, shall we say, new developments that I think you might be interested in.” He chuckled in his throat after saying this. The stranger that had just arrived was going to change the game and it was bound to be an entertaining show if nothing else.

[dreams-madeof-strawberrylemonade]

Guitar Strap

Request:  Could you write a fic about a girl whose in a band and her band is touring with Greta. Maybe have Jake as the love interest? Warnings: none Word count: 2K A/N: Uploading it again since I love it and last time it got flagged. Hope this time it won’t, or I will be devastated. While writing this, I watched a lot of Jake interviews and compilations and let me tell you, I changed lanes haha. Hope you enjoy. Sorry for any possible typos. Feedback is welcomed!! For being added to the taglist, DM me or send in an ask. Jake Kiszka x Reader

You and your best friends, Tina, Lucy and Cathy were sat in the band practice room, still in shock from the call you got earlier that day. The four of you just graduated from high school two months ago, at the end of May. You had a rock band together, you called yourselves Red Velvet and across the past two years you’ve been playing, you got to play locals in your region and only recently you had festival sets.

The whole conversation you had earlier with your manager still echoed through your mind.

“So, girls, I have good news for you,” Manuela, your manager stated. Even if she was on the phone, put through the speaker and not in the room with you, you could see her smiling proudly as she did every time you managed to move your career upwards.

The tension in the room began to thicken, all of you waiting for the news.

“I just got a call from Greta Van Fleet’s manager,” only these words made you suck in a sharp breath. “As you know, they will be touring the States for the next two months. Long story short, they boys heard your new single and they want YOU and only you to go on this tour with them. To quote his quote straight from the boys <<These girls are so badass and we need to tour with them. They need to be heard by everybody.>>”

You and your friends looked at each other processing the information and once you realized that you were going on tour with Greta Van Fleet, the band you have been looking up to, you all squealed.

“Now, calm down girls. The downside is that tour starts in just two weeks, so sorry for the short notice, I just got off the phone with their manager.”

None of you complained, actually you were all so damn happy, you couldn’t care less about the short notice.

Fast forwarding, two weeks later you were waiting in the bus parking lot. These guys had a tour bus and they insisted you go with them. So there you were, stood outside in the chilly wind, with bags around you- filled either with clothes and shoes, either with instruments. You were the band’s drummer, so the biggest part of the instruments’ bags belonged to you.

Finally, a big bus pulled into the empty parking lot. Your heart drummed against your chest as if trying to escape the ribcage that restrained it there. The bus pulled to a stop and shortly, a man helped you get all your bags, one by one into the designated compartment.

You then stepped up the stairs as tension started to settle in your heart. The inside of the bus was even better than you imagined it. There was so much space, so much place to walk, comfy couches by the window and somewhere in the back of the bus you could see a room in the darkness which had to be the one with the sleeping bunks.

From the black couches sat up the four boys, all smiles. Once you introduced yourselves, the boys took you on a short tour of the bus. Not long after that, the bus left, leaving you to get to know each other.

This was the beginning of something marvelous.

~

It was already halfway through the North American tour. You couldn’t believe all the love you got from all the fans that came to the shows, and you couldn’t believe how down to Earth were those boys. From day one, you all clicked. They shared with you and your bandmates tips for playing to bigger audiences, and shared your opinions on different brands and models of speakers, guitars, drums and keyboards.

Slowly, your conversations went from only music-related to literally anything. You got closest to Jake, the younger of the twins, the middle child as Joshua called him. It made you laugh every time he called Jake like that.

The atmosphere on the road was so great. It was fun all day long, except for the parts when any of you was hungover from the night before. Sometimes you would watch movies until you got from a city to another, other times you would just jam with the boys. Josh seemed to like to be really extra when it came to his singing- he would just stand up on the couch and sing to literally any music, or no music at all sometimes.

To kill time on the bus that you didn’t spend sleeping, you decided to start practicing guitar, since Jake always had a spare acoustic on the bus. Even though you played drums in your band, when you were younger you learned how to play the guitar. You never got further than the acoustic, and after so many years of not practicing, your skills were rusty, to say the least.

That particular morning, you woke up really early. You were so excited about the show that night, in Los Angeles and you were grateful for this opportunity. You picked up Jake’s guitar, knowing that he wouldn’t mind that. You looked up online the chords to Flower Power and tried to play it.

Even though you were certain you played the right chords, you couldn’t get the sound you wanted.

“The intro, it’s a D chord, not G,” you heard a voice next to you. You snapped out of your concentration trance and saw Jake leaning against the door leading to the sleeping room. He just woke up, deducing from his raspy morning voice and his messy bun from which numerous strands of hair fell out of.

“Here, let me show you how it goes,” he continued after a couple of seconds and sat next to you on the black leather couch. His left arm went across your body and laid his fingers on top of yours, on the guitar’s neck, while the fingers of his right hand were close to the bridge.

You could feel his rough fingertips against your skin, obviously the fingers of a guitarist.

“Here, you start off with the A,” he began instructing, softly moving your fingers in the right place, while he strummed slowly for you. “Then you move to the D,” he continued, getting closer to you, placing his head on your shoulder, once he explained the whole lifting-finger thing for the A chord.

Your fingers formed the D Major chord, or at least you what thought you thought that was a D Major. Jake softly chuckled and moved your fingers in the correct position once again.

The whole process continued for at one more hour, but you soon got the idea of it and managed to get the song to sound right.

“Now, play it for me,” Jake spoke and stood up, in front of you. You started to softly strum to the rhythm in your mind and Jake joined with the vocals starting from the chorus. You never heard him sing vocally beside the occasional backing vocals in concert.

As the days pass by my mind Are the wrong, the right, you are my sunshine And as the night begins to die We are the morning birds that sing against the sky.

His voice sounded so good singing these lyrics. You stopped your strumming just to look at him and the way a smile creeped on his lips.

“Morning, lovebirds,” Josh said as he stepped into the room. We turned our heads to see him standing in the door frame, his eyes fixing his twin brother and shooting him looks.

You chuckled at their exchange of looks and went ahead to wake up your friends, but your mind was still thinking about Jake. You were kind of sure you started liking him over the past month, but you didn’t want to try any move on him, too afraid of messing things up.

~

After playing your set that evening in LA, which was a complete success, backstage was waiting for you a man. Cathy, your band’s lead singer, took the initiative and started talking to him. He was offering you a record deal. Of course you all accepted it, the only thing left was for the man to talk to your manager once the tour was over and just sign the contract.

You didn’t get the time to tell the boys the good news, because they already went up on stage. You could feel butterflies in your stomach from the excitement. While your friends have already started the celebrations, you went to the side of the stage to observe the concert.

The twins were wearing matching blue outfits. Jake looks great in that blue jacket you thought as he stepped forward for the mid-show solo during Brave New World. You were more than thankful for the boys taking you on this tour. If it wasn’t for them, God only knows when or if you would’ve experienced such amazing things as you had on this tour.

Jake put the guitar over his head and continued. As you watched him progress through the solo, you noticed that the guitar strap got stuck in his hair and he couldn’t put the guitar back down.

Josh and Sam exchanged a set of worried looks and looked around for any of the boys that helped them set up their instruments, but none of them were nearby. It was only you.

You made your way on the stage, trying to remain as unseen as possible, but people noticed you. It didn’t matter now.

“Get it out,” Jake growled as he looked at you desperately. He continued his solo, while your fingers tried to unknot as quickly as possible his hair from the strap. Eventually, you succeeded and stepped back. Jake thanked you with just one look and you ran on the side of the stage again.

Once the concert was over, the first person to talk to you was Jake. “Hey, thanks for the help back there. And I want to tell you something…”

You just made a gesture, as if to say that it wasn’t a big deal. “I also want to tell you something, but you go first!” you said excited, as you remembered about the record deal you just got.

“No, ladies first,” he smiled as pushed a couple of rebel strands of hair that were on his face.

“Okay. So, we got a record deal!” you announced.

A smile spread across Jake’s face and hugged you tightly. “Congratulations, Y/N! I am so happy for you, you deserve this!”

Jake pulled away from the hug and in an instant pressed his lips against yours. You did not expect this at all. Your eyes fluttered open once he pulled away.

“And this is what I wanted to tell you,” he let out a strained chuckle, as his cheeks got a pink-ish color. You never would’ve imagined that Jake Kiszka could get flustered, especially from something like this.

You looked downwards and softly took his hand in yours as you looked up at him again and smiled. He understood your message and the pink tint of his cheeks went all away as he put his arm around your waist and pulled you close for another kiss.

You were both barely breathing from the happiness that this unexpected turn of events got you. But your smiled faded at the thought that there was only one more month of touring, and then all of you would go back to your homes, states away from each other.

“Hey, what’s up Y/N, darling?” he asked as his forehead touched yours and cupped your cheek with his right hand.

“Jake, will this be only for the remaining touring time?” you asked.

“No way!” he protested. “You are a one of a kind girl, so sweet, so talented and so beautiful. I don’t want to ever let you go,” he continued.

You looked up at him and pressed your lips together once again, softly, way too soft.

“I promise you, we will find a way to make it work after the tour is over. I can visit you, I will visit you!” he smiled and kissed you again. Between kisses that went progressively from soft to slightly rough, Jake whispered to you “But how about we enjoy the moment now and leave the problems for later, what do you say?”

Tags: @myownparadise96, @jeordinevankiszka, @littlegeekwonder, @songbirdkisses, @freeeshavacadoo, @gretavanyeeeeet, @umbriellethenightfall

[adriennescomingbacktolife]

Stepping off the Pedestal

Written with Amp and Zen!!

While he knew, eventually, the listlessness and hollow feeling in him would pass with time, Silvio couldn’t help but feel Kohaku’s absence. He’d see something and want to share it or think of some new joke to laugh about, but when he went to look for his partner, there was no one there. It reminded Silvio of the feeling you got when you thought there was one more step on a staircase than there actually was, or reaching for something but finding it just beyond your grasp. Sitting behind his front desk, he sketched an abstract design made with brilliant shades of vermillion; that special color momiji turned in the Fall. The color of the Kyoto he longed for.    He was glad of Adrienne and Axton coming over. Even though he was certain difficult topics were going to be broached, it was better than being alone right now.    The bell over the door gave a ring as Axton shouldered his way inside; he was dressed down and plain in a t-shirt, jeans and loose flannel top left unbuttoned, the sleeves cuffed to his elbows. He shot Silvio a thin smile as he approached the desk, hands in his pockets. He seemed a lot more subdued than usual.    “Hey… How’s it goin’, Sil? Ms. Levi’s not here yet, I take it?”    Silvio looked up at the sound of the bell chiming and smiled at his visitor.    “Hey, Ax. I’m...hanging in there, I guess. I take it you saw the video segment I did for Chaos?”    “Yeah.”    Axton leaned on the desk, folding his arms underneath him and allowing his shoulders to lift toward his ears. It was hard to maintain the smile, so he stopped bothering.    “I didn’t mean to mess things up when I came up here. I just wanted to be part of it. Guess I got my wish in some monkey’s paw shitty way.”    “It was the confluence of a lot of things,” Silvio assured him. “But...I think it’s for the best right now; for all of us.” He gave a wan smile. “Medicine can be bitter, I guess. But it’s not forever, at least.”    “Like I said. Monkey’s paw shit.”    Sighing, Axton turned himself around, resting his elbows on the desk so he was facing the door. He watched the cars roll by past Silvio’s window displays. Everything about this place radiated his personality; it had been easy to find, when he’d been searching blind for it.    “Sil… I’m not… feeling great about all of this. I’m sure you figured that out. I came up here to play a game, for shits and giggles, you know? And it looks like I accidentally kicked a wasp nest on my way in. Now everybody’s stung and screaming and I’m just standing here like the dude with the pizzas in that one scene from Community… everybody yellin’ at me for kicking the nest I didn’t see.”    “I know,” Silvio said, getting to his feet. “And I’m sorry for everything I did...or didn’t do... that contributed to that.” He hesitated before reaching out and touching the tense line of Axton’s shoulder. “But I think talking with Adrienne will help set the record straight.” There was a little snort and he shook his head. “You all had a helluva match, by the way. Congrats on your first win; that fight wasn’t easy.”    “Thanks.”    Axton glanced over said tense shoulder to look at him, forcing another thin smile. “I tried to play it clean… tried to prove something, I guess. But it doesn’t matter. Some people don’t wanna change their minds about you, or believe you no matter what you say. I just decided to lean into it. Let people think what they wanna think. I tried to get away from that kinda thing in LA but I guess it just followed me here.”    He sighed and shook his head, loosely crossing his arms.    “Anyway, sorry for bitching. Thanks for hosting this thing. I don’t want Ms. Levi to think I’m that kind of person. Most people I don’t care if they wanna make me their bad guy, but she’s different.”    “She admires you,” Silvio said. “And I do, too. I never got to see this side of your passions.” He started around the counter to come to Axton’s side. “It suits you.”    He wasn’t exaggerating about that, either. Axton took to all of this naturally. Some people were just like that, though. The light inside of them just couldn’t help but spill over no matter what they did. Silvio knew Axton was catching heat now, but he also knew time would change things. You couldn’t ignore the way Ax shone, and people would take him lightly at their own peril.    Axton’s shoulders softened a bit, looking at Silvio sidelong. The tattoo artist had always had a way of talking to him that just made him want to fall apart in the best way. Tell him anything. Do anything to hear him say those sweet things… that much hadn’t changed.    “It’s fun. Really, it’s fun. I love this sport, I have since high school. I guess I just don’t… I don’t take it as seriously as some people. But I don’t take anything that seriously, y’know?”    Grinning, Silvio gave him a little nudge with his elbow. “Oh, I know, Mr. Cool Patrol,” he teased. “And I don’t think that’s a bad thing, necessarily. I just get the feeling not everyone will get the joke sometimes. Still, I really mean it. You look good out there. It won’t take long for people to respond to it. But that’s the way you are; you make things fall into your orbit without even trying.”    The bell over the front door sounded once more. To anyone that knew her, it was just Ade. But with her knock off Jackie O sunglasses, her grey and purple Baltimore Ravens hoodie drawn over her head, black leggings, and sneakers - she looked far from anonymous. Adrienne remembered when Axton had asked for the address of Sil’s shop. She didn’t know and after a cursory glance, she wished she had visited earlier. Tucking her phone back into the oversized pocket of her sweater, she looked forward and saw that like aways, she was late. Alas, the perks of public transportations. Axton and Silvio were already there conversing amongst themselves.    “Hi,” she said quietly. “Sorry for interrupting.”    Mouth still open about to reply to Silvio, Axton’s attention shifted forward, and he immediately felt his gut twist uncomfortably. He wasn’t looking forward to this--it was too open, too personal, too raw. He’d never been good at this sort of thing… but he knew a good person when he met them, and the last thing he wanted to do was give Adrienne the impression he didn’t deserve all the time and energy she’d already given him. Even if it was… parasocial time and energy.    “Hey.” Once again he attempted a smile, shoving both hands into his pockets to shrink his presence in the room. “You’re not, don’t worry about it. I was prob’ly about to say something dumb anyhow.”    Silvio smiled at Adrienne, gesturing her in. “I’m glad you could make it. Did you want a soda or anything? I’m kind of a sugar fiend, but you’re welcome to any snacks I got, too.”    “Water’s fine.” she said with a curt smile. Adrienne stepped into the room. The shades came off and she did her best to conceal that she hadn’t slept well in the last few days. With no one to talk to lately in that apartment, she’d unintentionally invited over less savory elements. She turned to Axton, doing her best to keep her fandom in check, “So I know this is weird considering this actually is not the first time we’ve met - but I’m Adrienne.”    It took Axton a second to shut off the part of his mind that was busy dwelling on what he already knew--that she was a fan, her name, that they’d squared off in the ring before, even. That exchanges had been made that had upset them both. This was supposed to be about clearing the air… making a fresh start. Swallowing the tight feeling in his throat, he extended a hand, tattoo peeking out from under a leather strap bracelet, his palms still a bit rough from the ring ropes.    “Axton,” he said, clearing his throat. “Just ‘Ax’ is fine, everybody calls me that... You gave Sebastian and I a hell of a fight.”    Adrienne nodded politely. She had already given her thoughts on her efforts. They were unsatisfactory to her standards. Sometimes it felt as if she was on the outside looking in as The Dragon Lady battled it out with her latest grudges. With that compounded with Kohaku’s decision and other incidents, her reaction could be considered insincere.    “Thanks, Ax.”    There wasn’t much else to say about that. This wasn’t a conversation to talk shop. Or as much as she wanted to, how much Axton’s music meant to her. Those sort of things could be done over Twitter.    “Is there somewhere where we can all sit down?” she asked Silvio with a bit of hesitation.    Silvio nodded as he rounded the corner of his front counter, striding over to a mini fridge in a little alcove behind the work area, and getting out a bottle of water for Adrienne. “We can do this in the waiting area, but I also have my, uh...work table,” he said, nodding toward the part of the studio where he typically filmed his tarot readings.    “I’ll take a root beer if you got any.”    As curious as he was to see the space where Silvio shot his legendarily creepy-accurate promos, the couch in the waiting area looked a lot more comfortable. The young musician made his way over to it, pulling his jacket off over his head and slumping into a seat with a sigh that belonged to a man a couple decades his senior.    Honestly, he was sort of relieved Adrienne didn’t seem to want to talk about the match. He didn’t really want to think about it.    “I’m supposed to be watching my sugar intake but fuck it.”    Adrienne took the bottle of water and thanked Silvio, “Here’s fine.” And she sat down on the end of the couch closest to the door. Taking a deep breath, she concluded that since she wanted this meeting, that she should just come out and say what needed to be said.    “I guess it would be safe to say that none of us have had a good time recently. I’m sorry if I made you two mad.”    “Mad?” Silvio echoed in surprise, offering a root beer to Axton. “Adrienne, I’m not mad; I never was. But I get how all of this has been...confusing. Frustrating, probably.” He glanced between Axton and Adrienne before sinking into a seat across from her. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you had some questions.”    “Yeah…” Axton was rubbing his face with one hand, palm pressing into his eye as he scratched at his hairline. He lowered it to open the root beer with a pop and hiss. “Not mad about anything. I was pretty offended when you sort of implied I would, you know, ever hit one of my partners with a serious... intent, I guess. I figured that even peripherally you knew me better than that, or would have a bit more faith in me.” He sighed, looking down at his knees. “But after what you said on Twits about your history in the ring, I get it. You’ve been through some stuff and that kind of experience sort of overshadows everything, especially since you aren’t exactly used to my bullshit the way Sil is.”    Adrienne listened to them both, squeezing the water bottle reflexively. She didn’t want to get into rehashing the event. She had it done enough and she figured that they had, too. Looking forward at nothing in particular, she spoke just audibly enough for them to hear. “I didn’t want all of that to matter anymore. Wanted to be above it all but I just can’t seem to shake it.”    She knew how that could possibly sound naive. She knew little what these two had been through. Silvio seemed to possess some skills that implied that he’d had it tough, too. And Axton’s art seemed so raw and personal that Adrienne thought that she knew him. Struggling with her own troubles, all she could see were mirrors into her past everywhere she went. Like no one else existed. Sometimes she felt selfish.    “I try my best to smile through all of this. Scared of what happens when I don’t.”    “Adrienne,” Silvio murmured, “you don’t have to be on anybody’s schedule but your own. Nobody gets to dictate how long something impacts them or anyone else. You’re not weak or pathetic if something that wounded you in the past still hurts or isn’t completely healed. And if you don’t feel like smiling, then don’t. You don’t owe the world a more palatable lie because it doesn’t like the taste of the truth.”    With his hands folded over his mouth, the drink set down on the low table, Axton nodded. He looked a lot more serious and sombre than he usually did. Meadowgreen eyes flickered upward to Adrienne and his tone was soft when he spoke.    “Second that… I know it sucks to think about but, that stuff doesn’t just go away, and nobody expects it to. Anyone who does is a dick with no empathy who doesn’t deserve you and who’s never been there.”    He hesitated, drawing a breath; he let it out on a tremulous laugh.    “You don’t have to smile through it. Shit, you can even write three albums about it, and nobody ever has to know all the rage and melancholy and loneliness is coming from a real place. You just have to get it out somehow. You’ll find people who are willing to stick by you even when these things make you hard to be around sometimes.”    The musician shot a sidelong look at Silvio, the corner of his mouth pulling up a bit.    “And maybe you’ll fly across the country to be near those people… or maybe you’ll just move from Clearwater to Baltimore.”    Uncapping the water finally, she took a swig. She smiled back nervously at Axton. “Yeah. There was nothing left for me back there.” It clicked for Adrienne there. Most of if not all of that ugly first impression washed away. She didn’t want to lecture. She didn’t want to implicate anyone. Pausing, she considered her words here. “I can’t speak for anyone else. But, I’d like to start over. I know you aren’t too fond of Baltimore. I kind of miss the beaches myself. But there’s a lot of special people here.”    Silvio smiled at them. “I’d like nothing better. I think we’d all be a lot happier if we give this another try now.” He’d hated how all of this had overshadowed the person Axton was. All they’d seen was him planting Silvio’s face into the mat. They hadn’t understood everything that had come before it or why Axton had chosen to try and resolve things the way he did. “If you’re okay with that, too, Ax.”    “I can’t promise I won’t stop dunking on Baltimore. That’s part of my brand now, basically,” Axton noted, drumming his fingers on the can that had found its way back into his hands. He cocked his head, looking between them. Truth was, they’d both given him a lot, in different ways--different kinds of support and trust at different times when he needed it. He’d never done well alone.    “But you’re right, there’s some special people here… the kind who are willing to give a dumbass punk a second chance. I know I can be a lot sometimes, but… it’d be cool to be part of all this. It’d be cool to get away from LA, just be a dude for a year, you know? Just a guy, throwin’ another guy for the glory, or maybe getting suplexed by a guy, then hanging out with a girl and a guy and maybe some other guys… I’m doing the thing again, huh.”    “It’s okay, I like it.” She replied. This was the sort of personality she had seen in public. She felt better that it was really how he seemed when in better spirits. Her gaze wandered to Silvio’s fantastic shop, all of the splendid displays of art on showcase. “I’m sorry I didn’t visit earlier. I’m still learning the city and it's either buses or Uber for me.”    “Ah, that’s alright!” Silvio said with a smile. “Visiting a tattoo parlor when you’re not going to get a tattoo isn’t the most exciting thing in the world. I’m glad you swung by, though. My apartment’s actually just upstairs.”    And currently houses one gigantic man who escaped from horrific experimentation that left his mind splintered and body broken and yeah he also stepped on your neck at one point and--    “It’s a total mess right now, but maybe you can come up sometime later. I got tea, books, and sweets for days.”    “I bet it looks exactly the same as your place in LA,” Axton teased.    Silvio took a moment to look affronted, batting his eyelashes and placing a hand on his chest. “Excuse me, is that a slight about my interior design sensibilities, Mr. Gunn?”    “Bitch it might be.”    “Slings and arrows! You wound me,” Silvio gasped as he wilted over his chair.    Watching the two banter, Adrienne felt immensely better. Still a little exhausted from that previous endeavor. With people, she didn’t think about that much. About him.    “I’ve got a few other commitments today.” She said. Standing up, she took back out her shades and put them on. “But I wanted to talk to you guys first. I’ll be the first to admit, Ax. I still don’t get why things happened the way they did.” Looking at him directly, she continued, “But it’s okay. I get it enough to understand where you’re coming from. I don’t like being alone either. Maybe while you’re here, we can all make sure it won’t be a thing anymore.”    “That'd be cool,” Ax replied, his shoulders relaxing. He managed a bit of a smile without straining. “Thanks for hearing me out… it's more than I could've asked. Also, forgot to say so earlier--the shades are dope.”