#because the lady didn’t read the driving record i handed her from minny

[altschmerzes]

popping bottles bc after six months of nightmarish trials involving the governments of two countries, hours on the phone, international mail, and the particular adhd hellcape of “this task is high stakes and has forty five steps but you have to do it over and over because there’s no clear information anywhere so you just gotta trial and error your way through,” the province of ontario has FINALLY SEEN FIT TO ISSUE CHABOY A DRIVERS LICENSE

[bbugyu]

how seokmin knew

a journey with yoon jeonghan, lee seokmin, and you.

from the second seokmin first saw you, he thought you were far too good to be true, and he hadn't even gotten to learn the best parts of you yet.

prelude | part one | part two | part three | epilogue

wc.8888 | fluff, smut, courtship, oh jeez where do i even begin, the beginning i guess, polyamory, fem reader, musician!seokmin sugar daddy!jeonghan escort!reader, threesome, fingering, oral (everyone receiving), creampie, cumpla (like gunpla but with cum), (sorry), (but seriously lots of cumplay), overstim, switch!seok dom!han switch!reader, phone sex, snuck in a babygirl, hell yeah fighting for dominance, let's talk BOUNDARIES, hi mingyu, sorry but seokmin being a special guest is hot as hell, the required listening for the last scene is the album "new edition (1984)" by new edition (which is a real lp i own and listened to while writing it)

hELLOO!! welcome to my poly seokhan au! i have been neck deep in this universe for weeks now and i am finally releasing it in three parts! i will be posting today (obvi), tomorrow, and friday at noon pst, plus a little bonus epilogue whenever i finish it! today is all about seokmin and how he fell in love. i really poured a lot of myself into this one, between the poly reader and the obsession with architecture and the record collection (three fun facts about me, but you get no more context), so if you like it, please let me know! i did my best to portray the relationship as realistic and as healthy as possible❣️ also this series lowkey became a “how many cameos can i naturally squeeze in” kinda piece so if you spot one u should absolutely let me know hehe. and i edited my masterlist to accommodate for serial aus, let me know what you think!

please read the prelude linked in the contents of this post! it gives important context for the beginning of this part, establishes relationships, and sets the general mood 😏

~

seokmin lived a fairly simple life. he held private piano and guitar lessons in the comfort of his apartment, vaulted ceilings and tall windows helping to bring a bright, airy, studio environment during the day that he felt suited musical lessons perfectly - not the mention the lovely acoustics the tall room provided when he sang, belting out improv musical theater riffs as he scrambled eggs for a sandwich. he genuinely found joy and pride in helping adults and children alike train their hands to achieve new heights. he also did some contract vocal lessons at an entertainment company, stopping by the studio two or three times a week to train young new hopefuls in the music industry. he wondered how different his life would have been if he had taken their path, but he enjoyed the quiet downtime in his line of work, and wouldn't trade it for anything

his simple life. he drank tea in the mornings as the sun rose over the skyline, rode the subway with his guitar bag over his shoulder and his groceries in two overstuffed ecobags, and enjoyed his days off by relaxing in his home, scribbling down lyrics and compositions on the legal pad that never left the music shelf of his upright piano. the less simple part of his life could be described simply as you.

the second time he had been summoned to accompany you, he had been at home, heating up leftover takeout and mindlessly watching some drama on a saturday evening after having gotten lunch and playfully wasting the afternoon with a friend, when he received a phone call. he answered it without giving too much thought, expecting an invite for drinks, as was usually the case when he heard from jeonghan. he put it on speaker and set his phone on his kitchen counter, leaning against it as he ate.

"hello?"

"minnie!" he had said, the smile obvious in his voice. seokmin responded with a short greeting before jeonghan continued. "are you busy tonight?"

"just watching tv," seokmin said, spoonful of fried rice in his mouth. "why? you feeling lonely?"

"something like that," jeonghan said. the architect must have been in the car, he thought briefly, hearing the static noise of wheels on pavement in the background every time he spoke. "listen, you remember y/n, yeah?"

he nearly choked. "uh, yeah. of course. did you think i would forget?"

"not really," he said matter of factly. "we're currently heading home after that exhibit opening and she's been asking about you all day. any chance you can get to my place in half an hour?"

seokmin blinked, staring at nothing as he processed. "tonight?"

a laugh. "yeah, tonight. she's been really sweet lately, i thought you could be her treat."

her treat. "right now?"

"yes," jeonghan laughed again. "right now. if it helps the decision making process, i've had my hand between her legs this whole time and she gets needier every time you talk."

seokmin swallowed harshly, imagining you squirming in the passenger seat of the car, huffing and desperate, begging for him with jeonghan's fingers curled into you. he adjusted against the counter, his pants suddenly feeling slightly tighter. "i'll get a cab."

then he heard you, your signature whiny moan as jeonghan no doubt worked you into a mess despite his even tone as he spoke. "y'hear that, sweetheart? he said yes. i'll pay for the cab when we get there. see you soon?"

"yeah," he said, eyes still unfocused. "yeah, see you soon."

after jeonghan asked you to be an angel and hang up for him, seokmin stood and looked around at his leftover fried rice and the drama that continued playing, remnants of his simple life that he found plenty enjoyable and fulfilling on its own, but fell to the shadows as you came into the light.

the cab ride felt too fast, and jeonghan's car pulled into the driveway of his luxurious home only minutes after seokmin arrived. he emerged from the door of the cab and stood in the late november air as the other car parked, the passenger door swinging open in a hurry.

"seokmin!" you squealed, heels clicking against the drive as you ran up to him in a shoulderless, long sleeved jewel toned dress that was not at all suited for the current temperature. your arms wrapped around his neck and he laughed into the hug. "i missed you."

"it's practically snowing," he chided, pulling away to wrap his coat around you, and you happily fell into his chest. he didn't stop you when you pulled his face to yours, kissing him briefly but deeply. you tasted familiar, memories of eating you out entering his mind as he thought about how jeonghan had likely made you clean his hand in the car, and despite your forwardness and his generally shy nature, it wasn't the winter air that sent chills up your spine when he muttered "i missed you, too," against your lips.

"okay, kids, get inside while i pay the nice driver," jeonghan said, holding out your coat to seokmin. he took it, draping it over your bare shoulders. you grinned at him, working your fingers between his and leading him towards a side entrance of the home.

he felt a flash of embarrassment, wondering what the cab driver must have thought about the interaction he was witnessing, but seokmin figured that he had probably seen much stranger and decided to not worry about it, especially when you were regaling the events of the evening.

"they were playing classical," you groaned, punching in the door code with the hand that wasn't fiddling with his fingers. "from a cd. at a modern art exhibit. what part of that makes sense?"

seokmin laughed. "is that why you were thinking about me?"

you smiled as he followed you through the doorway, revealing a grand kitchen with a large island countertop. he had been here before, but on halloween, when it was full of life and the counter was covered in food. "jeonghan may have let me watch some videos," you said, and seokmin felt heat rising on his neck as he thought of you asking to learn more about him in his absence. you stepped out of your heels and walked towards the large fridge as you spoke, retrieving a water bottle. "that jazz piano number you did, jeonghan said it was at a bar? that would have been so much better, especially considering the artist's vision. his stuff was so full of life, i'm honestly surprised he allowed them to do anything other than live jazz - classical was too stuffy."

"it was a commentary," jeonghan reminded you, closing the door behind him as you offered a bottle to seokmin. "juxtaposition of traditional museum atmosphere with outlandish architecture and colorful, emotional art pieces," he said, sounding rehearsed. "the music was supposed to feel stuffy compared to the visuals."

"you guys worked too hard to settle for that," you shot back. you may have held a little resentment for the fact that jeonghan hadn't even asked for your opinion on the matter, considering you were less than a year away from a degree in musical theory. "if i hear clair de lune at one of these unveilings one more time, i'm gonna tear my fucking hair out."

seokmin laughed, but jeonghan only gave you a tired chuckle, and only after you quirked an eyebrow at him. he should have known you were only acting impressed at the exhibit because you wanted seokmin around. jeonghan could be cruel, but not so cruel as to invite a friend over to make his lady's night, only to deny everyone the pleasure after he already arrived, and this was a fact about him you were completely aware of. now was your chance to act out with little to no sacrifice - the most he would do is punish you in bed, and that, you were willing to handle.

jeonghan tsked when he saw your laptop and schoolwork spread across the kitchen island. "didn't i ask you to not do this?"

you eyed the counter, noting the teasing tone he took. "not do what?"

"leave your shit in the kitchen. you have a whole room to do schoolwork in, make a mess in there," he scolded, clicking his tongue as he flipped a textbook shut.

"i work better in bright, open spaces," you said quickly. 

"i gave you a window to the sunroom."

"and i love it," you stated obviously. "and the desk you chose is nice, and the chair is super comfy, but it's still too dark in that room. it makes me want to fall asleep." you turned to the musician. "how have you been, seokmin? i haven't seen you in weeks, and jeonghan purposefully keeps secrets when you guys go out."

seokmin said close to nothing of substance as he said he was doing well and leaned against the kitchen island, focusing more on the way you shrugged the fuzzy coat off your shoulders and setting it in the counter to tuck your arms into his, wrapping them around his torso and resting your chin on his shoulder to give the man of the house a flirtatious look. jeonghan simply rolled his eyes at you with a faint smile on his face, taking off his own outer coat and going to hang it in a closet. you hummed as seokmin spoke about anything he could think of, smiling when you felt his gentle, hesitant fingers rubbing circles into the small of your back.

and that night, seokmin was perhaps too eager to secede control, allowing his friend to gently order the two of you to do whatever pleased him. currently, you were between his thighs as he laid out comfortably in jeonghan's bed, the architect fucking into you from behind as your voice went hoarse from sucking seokmin dry. his thick cock stretched your jaw to its breaking point, but your neediness for his cum on your tongue outweighed the soreness you knew you would feel the next day as you bobbed your head, your hands wrapped around what wouldn't fit. he choked, his fingers itching to reach out to you, but remembering jeonghan's firm words of no touching and gripping the sheets instead as he came into your mouth and you moaned around him. jeonghan had stopped you from swallowing completely, a hand around your throat as he pulled you against his chest, forcing your neck to crane around so he could share the treat. seokmin watched, hand involuntarily going to pump himself again despite the sensitivity, as his release dripped down both of your jaws between the feverish kisses. you whined, jeonghan continuing to thrust into you as he stole the gift seokmin gave you straight from your mouth, his fingers finding your clit, making your knees shake as he came in your pulsating cunt.

that was the first time in his life that seokmin had ever cum twice in one session, having been too turned on at the sight to even think about not having you ride his face, cum seeping out of your precious hole. too turned on by the way your fingers dug against his scalp and the way you tasted to even think about turning down jeonghan when he asked to touch him, groaning against your core as he slowly and teasingly jerked him off. too turned on by it all to even think about not cumming when he was told, fist clenching the now familiar sheets as you rolled off him, panting from the overstimulation. your face was wrecked, tearstained and flushed, as you collapsed into his side, wrapping your arms around his torso and burying your hot face in his neck, his own face not much better. jeonghan proudly announced he was off to take a shower, sucking a line of cum off his thumb before saying that you lovebirds were welcome to stay as long as you would like, fully expecting you two to continue without him as he walked to the bathroom. 

seokmin felt shy, for some reason, despite having just having taken a shower with you, and just before, having had sex with you both. you had asked him if he wanted sweats or a shirt to sleep in, saying jeonghan wouldn't mind if he borrowed some. he turned you down, but watched you tug a far too large shirt over your otherwise bare form, and let you lead him back to bed.

"it's a custom mattress," you told him, giggling as you pulled him onto the oversized bed, kneeing yourself to the center and plopping down next to where jeonghan was wasting time on his phone. you planted a kiss on his cheek and he looked up to smile at you before you turned back to seokmin. he noticed the duvet changed, and he wondered if jeonghan had swapped it out after the mess they had made on it. you maneuvered yourself under the covers, gesturing for him to join you. "c'mon," you said. "we cuddle here."

seokmin had never even considered the idea of spending the night in bed with two other people, but found it surprisingly comfortable for it being his first time.

he did a lot of firsts with you, as it turned out.

you started to text him when you were alone and bored, which was something you and jeonghan had discussed with the strict understanding that you would have open and honest talks about it frequently, and that you would let him know any time you reached out to the musician. the first time he ever had phone sex, seokmin was busy at the company he did contract work for, and he had even told you so after the first suggestive text you sent him, but that didn't stop you from sending him increasingly dirty ideas and photos, making him silence his phone and shove it in his back pocket as he tried to focus on his students. when he finally slipped away to a private bathroom, he groaned at the way you looked, laid out on a plush couch and squeezing at your own breasts, with your back arching just so, and he quickly called you to ask if you were trying to get him fired.

"maybe if you get fired, you can come work with me," you whined, fingers already teasing your slick folds just at the low tone in seokmin's voice. his mind whirring as you gasped suddenly, revealing that you had already started. "jeonghan's been too busy for me this week, please don't tell me you are, too."

seokmin's eyes squeezed shut, back hitting the bathroom wall as he pulled himself out of his pants, trying not to drop his phone from his ear as he imagined how absolutely delightful you must look in that moment. "i'm never too busy for you, baby."

jeonghan took him out to dinner. it was normal, mostly, and not the first time since seokmin had seen his dick, but he noticed the older was acting slightly different as seokmin turned the meat on the grill.

"about y/n," he said finally, and seokmin fumbled with a chunk of pork before clearing his throat.

"yeah?"

jeonghan smiled. "she hasn't said it yet, but i think she really likes you."

that made seokmin freeze, suddenly thinking about how he was at dinner with his undefined sext buddy's long term partner. "really?" he squeaked out.

"listen, i want you to know," he said, picking off some cooked meat and chewing it casually. "whatever happens between you two, i'm okay with it. she promised to keep me in the loop, and i trust her."

seokmin nodded, putting down the tongs and grabbing his chopsticks, continuing to avoid eye contact. "okay."

jeonghan laughed. "stop acting like i'm her dad. you and i are in the same relationship with her at this point."

he swallowed, a smile creeping across his face. "well, she does call you daddy."

the next time he saw you, you came to him, appearing at his apartment one early tuesday evening as his last client was leaving. he greeted you casually, but still snuck a quick kiss on your lips as he let you in, his student packing up their guitar. he took your winter coat and told you to make yourself comfortable as they finished up, telling you where the restroom was if you needed it, but in a tone that made you think he was saying it more to announce to his student that you had never been there before than for your comfort, which pulled a quiet giggle from you as he quickly organized his loose leaf sheet music into their designated folders. you watched him from the piano bench as he made short conversation with his student, accepted a check, and bid the aspiring guitarist farewell, closing the door behind them. when you were finally alone, seokmin blushed at the realization that you had been smiling at him the entire time, thinking about how his client must have thought their teacher had gotten himself a cute girlfriend.

you were less forward this time. less needy. you flirted, but not in the outright ways you had every other time seokmin saw you. you stood and joined him by a bookshelf as he put away materials, asking him about his day (quite lovely, especially with this to look forward to), what he had eaten for lunch (he'd gotten ox tail soup delivered as a celebratory meal for a student that just had their first solo piano recital that weekend), and how he managed to command authority in all his students when he always looked so darn cute (he had pitched his eyebrows at you and went "yah," but was unable to keep a straight face long enough to argue with you). you smiled, taking a baseball off the bookshelf and turning it over in your hands, and asked why he invited you over. he cleared his throat, saying he thought it'd be nice to take you out on a proper date, but faltered when your shining eyes caught his.

"a proper date?" you asked, smiling slyly.

"i- uh, yeah, i mean-" he cleared his throat, hand finding the edge of a table as he tried to figure out what he was trying to say. "people generally treat you in exchange for your company, right?"

"generally," you agreed, focusing on his standup piano on the far wall as you thought. "i don't want you to, though."

“i didn’t mean-” he stretched his jaw - a nervous habit that you had begun to notice - as he readjusted his approach, not wanting to imply that he wanted your exchange to be purely transactional. "i just wanna take you out. for real."

you gave him a small smile, knowing what was the case despite your teasing. "okay. it's a date."

to change the subject from one that seokmin clearly didn't know how to continue - and besides, you weren't hungry enough for dinner yet - you returned the baseball to it's display and asked him how he taught his lessons. he laughed, not because your question was funny, but because he didn't know how to answer it in a way that didn't sound like a pitch to a potential client.

"then teach me like a client," you demanded playfully, skipping to sit at the piano bench and turning to grin at him.

seokmin took a moment to look at you, with a knit sweater tucked in the front of a pair of loose jeans - a far cry from the tight fitting, short dresses he normally saw you in - sat in his apartment as the last remnants of sunrays dipped behind the skyline. "you know how to play," he said finally, but walking over to join you anyways.

"teach me like i don't," you said as he sat beside you, scooting over slightly to accommodate. "i'm very good at acting incompetent."

he laughed again. "normally, people pay me for this kind of time, but i'll give you an intro. we'll start with hand placement," he said, gently putting his hands on the keys. "starting position is important, even though you'll be moving around the keys a lot when you actually play. your thumb," he said, wiggling his right thumb and smiling when you giggled. "it starts on c. that's your root."

"oh, right," you vocalised, placing your right hand similarly an octave up from his. "music has a bunch of letters, huh?"

"only the seven," he joked, pulling his hands off the keys as you comfortably set your fingers where they belonged, a motion you clearly made often. "wow, are you sure you're a beginner? you picked that up fast."

you knocked him with your shoulder, giggling. "quick, what do i do next?"

he smiled. "try pressing the keys in order. c to g, thumb to pinky. be firm, this isn't an electric keyboard. it can sense fear."

you sucked on your cheek, smiling at the way seokmin explained things as you played, but used your pinky to strike the black key instead of g, giggling at the flat note. "oh, that sounded wrong. this piano must be out of tune."

"stop," seokmin said teasingly. "beginners don't have that kind of pinky dexterity, by the way."

"maybe i'm a prodigy," you said, grabbing his sleeve with both hands excitedly. "you have to teach me, mr. lee! you're the only one that can help me hone my gift."

"stop it," he repeated, laughing, giving you a fake glare. he put his hands back on the keys. "lesson over."

you pouted, but it was short-lived as he began to play. you watched his hands effortlessly move over each other as you listened to the gentle flowing melody. despite being classically trained yourself, back when you were young and your parents felt you needed the discipline of regular lessons, you found yourself being impressed by his deft finger movements. your eyes shut, and you let your temple fall to his shoulder as you listened.

"yiruma," you said when he stopped playing despite the song not being over.

his arm went over your head, allowing you to lean into his chest as he planted his hand on the bench behind you, your eyes still shut. "you know your stuff."

"it's one of my favorites." you smiled, eyes fluttering open again. "you play well."

your breath stopped in your throat when you realized how close his face was to yours. "have to. people pay me to teach their kids."

"jeonghan pays me to be nice to him, doesn't mean i'm good at it."

seokmin couldn't help but laugh. "how did that even start, by the way? he would never tell me when i asked."

you sighed, straightening your posture. "i suppose you should know, considering this is becoming a regular thing."

"you don't have to if you don't want to," he assured quietly. you smiled at the thoughtfulness. "i'm just curious, is all."

"i don't mind," you said, shaking your head gently at him. you inhaled, organizing your thoughts - this wasn't a subject you explained very often. "i had a scholarship for the first two years of uni, but i would have to pay tuition afterwards, so i decided to become a paid escort to save for it." you paused to study seokmin's reaction, but for the first time from someone other than jeonghan, you found no creased brow, no vague frown. no judgement. "men would hire me through a broker to accompany them to dinner, go to parties, the general stuff. i even played golf a couple times - terribly, obviously, but rich men really enjoy teaching young pretty women how to play golf. i always got a cab ride home at the end of the night, though. never did anything more. jeonghan was one of my clients."

seokmin nodded. "how long did you do that for?"

despite how you would normally take that question, you knew he meant no shame in asking. "ten-ish months? jeonghan was only for the last month or so, though."

"before he asked you to quit?"

you laughed lightly. "actually, someone else asked me to quit. this guy that had been hiring me regularly for almost my entire career. he wanted me to date him properly. i think he wanted a trophy wife. he was young, like, only a few years older than me, and he was nice, y'know? a little awkward in the beginning, but paying someone to go out with you is always a little awkward, and we got comfortable with each other pretty fast. he wanted to take the next step with me, but he wanted the end goal to be marriage."

seokmin adjusted as he thought. "but you said no?"

"i said yes." his wide eyes made you laugh, but you understood his shock. "i was ready to quit anyways, i guess?" you shrugged, shaking your head. "i wanted to go on real dates instead of getting paid to eat with men my parents' age. yukwon felt realistic to me. someone i could see myself with." you sighed. "i went out with jeonghan during my last week of escorting. when i told him i was quitting, he asked me to choose him instead."

he watched you when you paused, pursing your lips. "and then you said no?"

you giggled, bumping against his chest as he laughed with you. "i tried! but jesus, when that guy gets an idea." you shook your head again. "he asked how much yukwon was paying me - which he wasn't, by the way. we were going to do it for real, even though he was still gonna support me financially and pay for my schooling. i was gonna sign a prenup and everything - but jeonghan kept saying he would double it. said i didn't have to marry him, and that he just wanted to keep spending time with me, and if i wanted to call it quits later, i could. no pressure, no sex, no commitment… he gave me a choice, and i realized i didn't love yukwon. i thought i could, but i didn't."

"so he saved you?"

"from a lifetime of settling? i guess so. he's funnier, too," you admitted sheepishly. "i always had the most fun on nights i was with jeonghan."

seokmin smiled. "he is good at lightening the mood."

"and," you said, eyes wide. "he didn't even want us to be exclusive, said i could keep escorting or go on dates with other guys if i wanted, as long as i promised to make time for him when he wanted me. it was kind of the perfect arrangement."

seokmin nodded again. "was, being the operative word?"

you laughed, remembering how well he knew jeonghan. "lasted less than a month. we spent too much time together, and i quickly realized that every time i went out with someone else, i wished i was with him. to be honest, when i met you, i thought this would be a one time thing, so i may have tried to make it seem a little less involved than it is." you sighed. "we never really defined what we were. i think we've both always known that he was more than a sugar daddy to me, but he does basically pay me so that i can keep my schedule open for him, so i guess it's easier to tell people that? instead of everyone assuming i'm some gold digger taking advantage of his money?" you shrugged. "i do love the guy. i'm about 94% sure he loves me, too."

that made him laugh. "how long have you been together?" he asked, trying to figure out the timeline in his head. he had known about jeonghan's relationship with you for quite some time, though not the exact nature of it, or that you were so fantastic, for the mass majority.

"about a year. right before halloween, actually," you said, smiling as you leaned into him. "you were technically an anniversary gift."

his lip quirked upwards, watching you. "was it a good gift?"

"the best," you whispered, placing a slow kiss on his lips. your hand went to his sharp jaw, and you sighed against him as the kiss deepened, suddenly feeling needier than you had previously.

"does he know you're here?" seokmin asked quietly, mind flashing back to when him and jeonghan had gotten dinner together. "like this, i mean."

you nodded slowly, a hand on the bench to steady you as you leaned into him further. "he's in japan this week, told me i could see you as often as i want. just asked that i call him when i can, we spoke this afternoon."

"promise?"

you giggled. "you act like i would risk it. i like you too much, and you know he would make us both regret it if i was seeing you behind his back."

he examined your face, a smile on his lips, knowing it wasn't the part of the statement that he was meant to focus on but unable to think of anything else. "i like you, too."

so he kissed you, sitting on the piano bench in his loft apartment, and despite it being nowhere near the first time, something about it felt special. new. different.

later, though much sooner than later would imply, when the two of you were unable to stop yourselves from undressing each other, he had you seated firmly in his lap on the couch in his living room. the way he filled you out made you incapable of doing much outside of digging your hands in his hair as he rolled his hips up into yours, rambling about how perfect you were. how well you took him. how he had never seen anything as breathtaking as the way your brows stitched together and your mouth hung open as he fucked you. you huffed, twisting your hips slightly, triggering a groan from you both.

"so beautiful," he muttered, hands on your bare hips, rubbing circles into the soft flesh above the bone. "fuck, you're incredible."

"shit, seokmin," you exhaled, forehead falling on his. you knew he wasn't even using all his length, but he was thrusting deep enough into you to make you see stars. "god, i'm close."

you watched his tongue dart out to wet his lips as he focused on you, pulling himself off the couch and sitting up straight as his hips steadily rolled into yours. "come on, babygirl. you know i love the way you feel."

you cursed, arms winding around his neck as you pressed your chest against his, desperately kissing him as you felt yourself falling over the sweet edge. he groaned when you squeezed at him, arms wrapped around your waist, fingers gripping any amount of you he could as he worked you through your bliss. he only slowed to gently put your back to the couch, your legs wrapped around his waist as he curled over you, arms under your body to pull you into his chest, and a hand at the base of your neck to hold you steady as he firmly fucked you into the cushion.

"fuck, baby, you're so good to me," he groaned, forehead pressed just under your jawline, his mouth latching onto your neck as soon as he managed the words. you were gasping for air, arms over his shoulders, wondering if seokmin always made love this deeply and genuinely, or if you were just special.

afterwards, he discarded the condom that he insisted on using (you asked what the point of you getting something shoved into your cervix was if you couldn't enjoy his particularly bountiful creampies with no consequence, but he said he was not getting cum on the couch his clients sit on), pulled his underwear back on, and returned to you quickly, kissing up your body after pulling your panties back over your hips. you ran your fingers through his messy hair, causing him to look up at you. he said sorry, a laugh on his lips, asking if you wanted to get food delivered instead of going out.

"that sounds perfect," you giggled. "don't apologize."

"i'll take you out for real this weekend, i promise," he said, sitting up and stretching out his shoulder. you watched, quietly admiring how gentle and soft he seemed, with surprisingly firm muscles hiding under his usual large sweaters and shirts. "and i'll pick you up so we don't get tempted. but for now, kimchi soup and bibimbap?"

you nodded excitedly, sitting up to wrap your arms around him and planting a kiss on his shoulder. "sounds delicious."

he tried not to get excited by your touch, thinking about how you had said this was becoming a regular thing, and therefore he didn't need to get as much of you as he could before you slipped through his fingers like he had the first few times you met. he couldn't help himself, though, when his eyes met yours and you smiled gently at him, and had no choice but to put an agonizingly slow kiss on your lips before he stood to announce he was changing into something comfortable if you were just going to stay in. you giggled and grabbed your sweater from where it got discarded, pulling it over your head as you told him there was no chance in hell you were putting jeans on again before the morning, and he smiled at the implication that you would be staying the night with him.

"i have lessons tomorrow," he reminded you softly as he gathered up his clothes and walked to the stairs. "if you'd like, you can stick around, but it'll be boring."

you hummed. "i don't have class, but i should do schoolwork," you mused, watching him walk up the steps to what you could assume was his lofted bedroom. "it's been lonely at the house, though."

"if you wanna bring your things here, you can," seokmin suggested, his voice projecting easily through the space. he pulled on a pair of shorts and a more casual shirt than the one he had been wearing for his work day. "it would give you something to do while i teach youths how to play chopsticks. do you stay at jeonghan's when he's not around, too?"

you laughed, thinking about your all but abandoned apartment as you meandered towards the stairs. "lately, yeah. i used to spend more nights at home than in his bed, but he gets really busy planning stuff in the winter and has less time to take me out." you stretched your back. "i think he likes knowing i'll be there when he gets home late. makes the day easier." 

seokmin nodded as he came back down, running a hand through his hair, thinking that he, too, would find his days easier if it meant going to bed with you every night. "that's very kind of you."

"it's selfish, i promise." he laughed. "if you saw how tiny my place is, you would choose jeonghan's too. besides, i get cold in bed alone."

he wrapped his arms around you, pulling you into his chest. "is that why you're here?"

you giggled. "no, i'm here because you invited me over. but that might be a factor in why i'm staying," you teased, hugging him tightly.

the next day, you were sprawled on his bed, writing an accompanying essay for your composition project as he taught lessons down below, only emerging to refill your water glass and use the restroom as infrequently as possible, trying to not disturb his lessons. parents often accompanied the children, usually reading a book and listening to their child practice. a college friend of his stopped by, as he tried to do at least once a month, accompanying his niece, and seokmin recalled that he was the one that had given jeonghan his number again over a year ago, feeling like he should thank him but not knowing how.

"seokmin," you called down softly when you heard him chatting casually with his friend. you padded down the steps with your empty water glass, spotting the young girl at the kitchen table with a marker and a sheet of paper, smiling when you remembered her slightly clumsy, but surprisingly advanced keystrokes, considering her age.

"what's up?" seokmin asked, pushing off of the counter he was leaning against, and he ignored the quick, questioning nudge mingyu pushed into his side.

"hi, sorry," you said, waving lightly when you noticed the tall man beside him. "i was wondering - if you have time - if you could listen to my composition piece and tell me if you think it leans more romantic or more post-great war?"

seokmin nodded. "absolutely. do you need me now, or can it wait ten minutes?"

"it can wait," you assured, eyes darting between the two men. you lifted the glass in your hand. "i needed a break."

he smiled, taking your glass and moving to pull open the fridge. "this is mingyu, by the way. mingyu, y/n. he's an architect, also."

"also?" mingyu asked, eyeing you. seokmin stared at you, realizing what he said.

your brows ruffled as you studied the tall man's face, not recognizing it. "we must not be in the same social group. i'm a friend of jeonghan's."

he gave you silent thanks for keeping the relationship ambiguous. mingyu, however, nearly yelled. "yoon jeonghan?" he laughed. "you know, i didn't even see that guy at his own halloween party. you still keep in touch, i assume, seokmin?"

he nodded, putting your filled water glass on the counter beside you, and you wondered how you never saw mingyu at the party, either. "yeah, we hang out fairly often."

"he introduced us," you interjected. mingyu smiled between you two. "thought we'd match well, i guess."

"well, you just asked a music teacher to review your composition, so," mingyu laughed. "he was right?"

seokmin studied you with a crooked smile on his lips. "have you ever known yoon jeonghan to be wrong?"

you stayed another, more innocent night, but when seokmin woke the next morning, his face was pressed against the side of you neck, and you were pushing your ass back against his morning wood.

"fuck, good morning," seokmin groaned, hands gripping at your hips where they had already been aimlessly floating.

"oh, thank god you're awake," you panted out. you spun in his grasp, pushing his shoulder back on the bed and climbing atop him. "you must have been having a fantastic dream, because you would not stop touching me."

he couldn't help the whine in his throat, mostly from embarrassment. "i'm so sorry."

"don't be," you rushed out, peeling off your shirt. "i just need you now."

considering this was his third time seeing it, he didn't think he would be so awestruck still, but the snapshot of you, topless, seated on his lap with your hands on his chest was a view that seokmin would likely never get over, because it felt like he was the dorky, awkward protagonist and you were the long-shot love interest that was way too cool and way too hot for him in this cliché coming of age comedy.

you kissed him, and he pushed your hips down to grind against his lap, pulling a gasp from your lips. he took the opportunity to bring a hand to your neck, pulling you into open mouth kisses. you moaned without shame as you rolled your hips.

"you know what jeonghan told me?" you asked, pulling back to tug his underwear just far enough down to release the member you couldn't stop thinking about. 

you straddled his lap, hands on your thighs. seokmin pushed his bare cock against your core, the wet fabric sticking lightly to his length. "what, baby?"

"he told me he wanted you to plug me up," you breathed, biting your lip when seokmin used a thumb to pull aside your underwear and drag your wetness across his dick. you moaned. "he wanted you to fuck me senseless and tell him all about it."

seokmin groaned, neck stretching out. "i can do that."

"no, baby," you said, bringing his free hand to your face and putting a kiss in his palm before you lifted yourself up, his thumb still hooked on your panties as you rubbed the head of his cock through your folds. "i wanna fuck you."

you sunk down onto him, jaw dropping. he smiled lightly, running his hands down your thighs. "i'll let you if you can."

your toes clenched, and you tried to maintain face. "i can."

seokmin folded his arms under his head, trying to avoid the temptation of fucking up into your warmth. he sighed, breathing out a "go on, then."

you put your hands on his chest and bounced on him several times, biting at your lip at how wide he stretched you out, but taking too much pride in the way his eyes hung half lidded and his breathy groaning to stop. 

your hands went to his neck, leaning forward, lifting his head slightly off the pillow to kiss him, his hands falling from behind his head to hold yours, stopping you from pulling away. 

he moaned into your open mouth, and you backed up for only a second to blearily meet his eyes as he panted. "baby."

you nodded, stealing a few more messy kisses. "yes?"

he groaned again, your hips twisting over his. "you're like a dream."

you could feel the heat radiating off your neck and cheeks, but you just pushed on his chest to sit upright, hands landing on his thighs. you moaned again, unapologetically, as you rotated your hips over his, and he bucked into you at the angle change. "if this is the dream, please don't wake up."

seokmin had a sneaking suspicion that he was in love with you, or at the very least falling towards it. the confirmation of this fact threw itself in his face, not when you proved that you could fuck him, sitting deeply on him to push his cum further in, or when you squealed and giggled as he threw your back onto the bed so that he could pull your underwear off proper and bury his tongue in your heat, but afterwards, when he wandered into the kitchen after using the restroom and found you wearing one of his shirts, waiting as his electric kettle bubbled to life, his favorite blue mug on the counter beside a white one - the white one, he realized, with the finger heart design that he had chosen for your coffee the day prior. and he told you so, rushing to explain himself and assure you that you didn’t have to say it back, but you just hushed him and smiled, saying that you loved him too.

seokmin had to go to the entertainment company that afternoon. you walked with him to the station near his apartment and he sat you in a cab, a kiss on your lips, before he hurried down to catch his ride to work. he breathed heavily when he could finally lean against a wall in the train, having to run to catch it before the doors closed.

seokmin❣️: almost didn't make the train 🙃

you: but you did!!! proud of you 👍

seokmin❣️: thanks 🥴💕

you were both smiling after that.

he took you out to eat that weekend, as promised, and you had honestly forgotten what it was like to date people that weren't jeonghan. you liked riding the subway with him (you couldn't even remember the last time you took it), and you thought it was cute that he let you stand against a wall to keep easy balance as he stood in front of you. you were slightly impressed that he barely rocked with the movement, only grabbing an overhead loop when the train was pulling into a station.

"wait, you're especially pretty right now," he said suddenly, leaning forward to inspect your eyes.

your head hit the wall gently in reaction, flushing at his comment, wanting to bury your face in your scarf. "thank you."

he gave you his signature crooked smile. "of course."

it was cold out, but seokmin wrapped his hand over yours, shoving the whole ordeal into his coat pocket as he walked you down the street towards the restaurant he had picked. you giggled, squeezing his hand in his pocket, but he just continued telling you about which of the trainees he was working with seemed like they would debut.

"jiyoon composes, too! i'm really impressed with her actually," he said, trailing off when he saw the sign for the restaurant. "ah, here it is."

you thanked him when he held the door open for you, and you were immediately struck with the smell of tomato, cheese, and bread.

"i haven't had pizza in ages," you said excitedly, following him to a table.

"don't tell me," seokmin said, helping you take off your jacket and hanging it on a hook at the end of the booth. "you guys don't order pizza?"

you shook your head, sliding into the booth comfortably. "not often. jeonghan likes asian food."

seokmin froze as he was pulling off his jacket to stare at you. "what about you?"

"i like eating."

he laughed. "well, i like pizza."

after dinner, you insisted he come back to the house with you. he said he didn't know, thinking that you would probably need your energy for when jeonghan got home the next day. you pouted, knitting your fingers with his as the two of you stood on the sidewalk outside the pizza place.

"but i really wanna show you my record collection," you said, batting your eyelashes at him.

that was all it took.

you discovered that there was a bus stop near jeonghan's home, and while you would likely never take a bus without seokmin, you thought it was a good nugget of information to tuck away as you marched through the front door of the estate you practically called home.

"welcome to yoon manor," you joked, spinning to smile at seokmin.

he looked around, and despite having been here before, it felt grander coming through the main entrance and without the distraction of party guests. he had seen it empty briefly, from a different angle, when you were pulling him up to your bed a few weeks prior, but he realized he hadn't actually been able to see much when you were the focus of his attention.

"the kitchen's that way, there's a bathroom," you said, pointing at the opening past the stairs as you pulled off your scarf. you folded it over your arm as you walked further into the home, seokmin following you closely. you walked past a partial wall, pointing further down the hall that held the secondary living space that he originally met you in. "there's a bathroom to the left there, and if you go to the end of the hall there's an open sunroom."

seokmin looked around the room you stood in, recognizing it in bits and pieces, but it looking much different without a crowd and flashing lights.

"and this is the living room," you said, spreading your arms as you spun to him. "tv, couch, bar, and most importantly," you giggled, tugging him towards the far wall of the room, which was covered in deep toned shelving, speakers, and a record player. "my record collection."

you took off your jacket as seokmin looked around in awe, noticing you had select autographed records displayed alone on picture ledges with spotlights pointed at them. one picture ledge was empty, centered just above the player. you tossed your coat into the couch, pulling seokmin's off his shoulders as well, despite his distraction.

"these are all yours?" he asked, turning to look at you after you had discarded the coats.

you nodded, spinning the felt of the record player mindlessly as you looked around. "i actually had started a collection years ago, but i couldn't make an excuse to spend the money on it very often. jeonghan gave me a pretty good excuse. also, whenever he pissed me off, he knew he could take me to a record shop and i would forgive him."

seokmin laughed. "does that happen a lot?"

"not as often as you'd think, considering what an ass he is," you teased. you gestured to the collection. "this is my baby, though. the house is his, but this wall is mine."

"well, play me a record," seokmin requested plainly, making you smile into a laugh.

"okay," you said, scooting past him to pull out one of the many cube drawers amidst the shelving. you flipped through a few. "dancing music?"

seokmin watched your hands, humming. "slow dancing, but, like, in a nostalgic discoteque."

you thought for a second, then closed the drawer to move to a different one, quickly flipping through and finding the record you wanted. you pulled the lp out, putting the bright blue sleeve with five smiling men on the empty picture ledge.

seokmin wrapped his arms around you as you set the record, striking the play button and enjoying the whirring as the lp spun, the needle connecting and the speakers scratching to life. you spun in his grip, laying your arms over his shoulders as he pulled you away from the record stand, into a more open space to playfully dance to the soulful bass lines and pop melodies of new edition.

"this house is insane, right?" seokmin asked, squinting at you as you laughed and nodded.

"it really is. the craziest part is he's still working on it."

"really?" seokmin looked around. "what else could he wanna change?"

you let your eyes wander. "i think it's a work in progress for him. the sunroom was brand new when we met, and he added this record display last winter, when i told him i always wanted to collect. the bar is new," you pointed. "he finished that in october. the kitchen was a summer project."

he blinked heavily, trying to register. "does he do all the work himself?"

"his team helps him," you explained. "he has a few contractors he works with and they manage the construction projects, but every once in a while i wake up on a sunday and he's cutting wood in the garage because he got an idea. he drafts all the changes, usually participates in the build, and picks most of the furniture, but he has people to collect the options for him."

"and he also does all that for other people, too?" you nodded, giggling. "and has time to take you to events almost every weekend?"

"i know. i didn't understand how he found the time until i realized that he just gets paid to do his hobby."

seokmin nodded. "me too, i guess."

you grinned. "me three. you should stay with us more," you suggested, rocking with him gently. "he'll be late tomorrow, but he's working from home this week…"

"hush," seokmin chuckled. "i have to work. besides, i'm sure he wants you alone after letting me claim you while he’s been gone."

"about that," you said, pulling away slightly to give him a cheeky smile. "i haven't gotten him to admit it yet, but i think jeonghan has a crush on you."

seokmin choked out a laugh. "what? me?"

"seokmin," you started, giving him a look. "he wanted you to join us for sex. more than once."

"okay," he scoffed lightly. "people have sex just for the sex sometimes," he pointed out, but in a tone that had no chance at convincing anyone.

"sure," you giggled. "but think about it. he kept me to himself all this time, and suddenly he's encouraging us to see each other without him? asking me about everything we do together..."

he swallowed. "everything?"

"everything," you breathed, eyes trained on his lips. "he knows i'll always go back to him, and i think he's hoping i'll bring you with me."

he blinked at you, processing. "is that what you're doing? bringing me back to him?"

"only if that's something you're interested in," you stated, cocking your head.

"him, you mean?"

you thought a second. "yes?"

you watched him blink repeatedly, seemingly considering the concept. he thought back to all the nights that became early mornings, laughing and joking with the architect since before he had even an ounce of notoriety. he thought of how jeonghan had reached out to him again a few long years later, and the way he had insisted on paying every time they got food. he wondered if there had been something happening that he hadn't noticed, his oblivious nature getting the best of him again. he thought about when things changed, when they met less often and jeonghan seemed quieter around him. and months later, when he started mentioning you.

"maybe," he said finally, mind whirling. "i don't know, i've never thought about it."

you nodded, putting your arms over his shoulders and swaying lightly to the music. "take your time," you said, smiling when his forehead pressed against yours. "we'll wait for you."

[paniccord-ff]

20. Part 2

I am in shock still, I am shocked that I am blessed to have this. I am shocked that god has given me so much happiness ‘Vintage! Love you baby’ captioning the picture pressing send, I have so many messages to go through but I will just say thank you on a video while Rylee goes to pee. I have noticed that Royalty follows Rylee, she followed her to the toilet. Holding the camera up and flipping the camera to face me, pressing record and clearing my throat “just wanted to say thank you all so much for the birthday love, I am so blessed to have my fans and my loved ones. I can truly say I have had a meaningful birthday, thank you. Album coming soon y’all, it’s done so that will be coming up” seeing Rylee walking, I can slightly see her nipples. Frowning at the camera not saying a word. Looking behind me and then back at the camera “you not wearing a bra?” I spat, Rylee looked up at me and then saw the camera as I busted out laughing “get the fuck out of here!” pressing stop on the phone, turning around “you really not wearing one? Only I can see those” looking down at my phone “you best not post that Chris, seriously” I find that video hilarious, captioning it ‘Thank you for the love lol’ looking up at Rylee “please” she said, pressing send “oh damn, my finger slipped” she stormed towards but I moved back “hey, hey! Wait, I am the birthday boy, be nice” placing my hand up, she mean mugged me turning around “thank you baby” I chuckled to myself.

Stood outside waiting “who are we waiting for?” I asked, watching Royalty run with my birthday balloon “this” she pointed “you got a SUV?” I said smiling “yeah, I didn’t want to drive. I might as well tell you now, I am not sure how you feel but you know we are doing family things so we going Disneyland. I mean you are a grown adult but still” she looks all nervous “I rather spend my birthday and see smiles then spend it in a club with people staring at me to make the fun, I promise you that this is a beautiful gift. I know we about to have fun” placing my arm around Rylee “stop being nervous babe, honestly. I am a cool guy, I am not stuck up and demand expensive shit, just people assume that” she is so sweet “let’s go” hearing Joe, furrowing my eyebrows looking at Joe “what?” I said confused “I got in contact with Joe, we needed some bodyguards” look at Rylee doing work, she actually contacted Joe herself.

Sitting in the back with Royalty “you excited baby? We about to turn up with Mickey baby, all this fun for you” touching the top of her nose “I see princess dad” nodding my head “all the princesses in the world, all for you” holding her hand as I leaned over and pressed a kiss to her cheek, she let out yelp grabbing my chin hair with her free hand “what you doing girl? Hey!” she pulled my chin hair giggling “hey!” I screamed, Royalty is finding this funny but it hurts. This is why I like holding her hands when I kiss her, she must like to see me in pain. Biting her cheek lightly “you finna let me go now?” she shook her head, lifting her hand up that I have in my hand. Biting the tips of her fingers and she let go “oh no, Lee! Look!” she lifted her hand up screaming, she is legit snitching on me. Rylee turned around in front “what happened” Rylee touched her hand “I hurt” wow, Royalty snitched on me “why you not playing nice Chris?” moving Rylee’ hand away from Royalty’ “you a snitch, I hate snitches!” side eyeing Royalty, she smiled at me like she knew “play nice then” Rylee retorted “I will bite your fingers too” I said, Rylee put a finger up at me.

We barely entered Disney Adventure Park and Royalty fell asleep, I just keep staring at Rylee. I really wish she was Royalty’ mom, I wish she came into my life sooner because I wouldn’t be like this and wouldn’t be stuck with that bitch baby mother. I would be blessed and married by now, I know she thinks I am not having fun but I would take this any day “you want to go on the racers?” I pointed saying to Kyrie “can I?” he said, he didn’t even notice it “yeah for sure, we can fast track or something” Rylee stopped walking “I will stay with Royalty, you both go” walking closer to Rylee, pulling her snapback down before wrapping my arms around her “I love you so much, thank you” I don’t even want to leave her here, she will be far away from me “I love you too Chris, I am happy you love it” moving my arms “y’all sitting there then? Joe stay with her, I’ll be cool” Kyrie and I will be ok to wait, I just want my girls safe.

This queue is no joke at all, leaning back against the wall “do you like it?” Kyrie touched the watch, looking down at him “I love it, did she tell you?” I said, he nodded “I was with her, she told my mom too” this is useful, he can tell me more “really? What did your mom say?” I asked, biting on my bottom lip intrigued to know “she said something like that is wonderful and she said to my sister that treat Royalty as your own, and I did that for Blake” nodding my head “Royalty is funny, she always calls me poo poo head” rubbing my chin laughing “she gets that from me, I been call her that and now she calls it most of the people” moving off from the wall as the queue moved “I am glad you having fun though, you need anything you got me. But you know like we cool and all that, you think we can get you sister to not go to Vegas? You think that is doable?” Kyrie paused thinking “maybe, I can cry?” I chuckled at Kyrie “you funny kid” scratching my head.

Kyrie ran ahead of me, seeing Rylee sat with Royalty. She is awake, hearing my fans behind me and I want to run. Maybe I should just take pictures, just to get rid of them “he is so fine, oh my god” looking to the side of me, turning around and seeing the group of girls “please don’t follow me today, I will take a picture but honestly I just want to spend time with my family. It’s my birthday so y’all need to be nice” Joe stood at the side of me “we will, oh my god. I love you so much” my bodyguard doesn’t look happy “so who is taking the picture? Y’all together yeah?” they nodded and they all gave me their phones “Joe pick a phone and can we just gather around ladies, I am about to get in the middle aight?” walking closer to them, I don’t know whose arms are around me but it’s happening “alright smile” Joe shouted “you smell so nice, Jesus!” hearing one of the girl shout, I laughed out loud “all done” Joe walked back over “thank you ladies, appreciate the support. Love y’all” moving backwards slowly, I still had a girl holding me but I want to go.

Blowing out air “Chris you got so many girls!” Kyrie spat “I do, but I only want one” Rylee rolled her eyes smiling at me “they still behind you” Rylee said, I don’t even care. Leaning down and pressing a kiss to Rylee’ lips and then Royalty’ head “you awake now grumpy, come on” opening my arms, picking Royalty from Rylee’ arms “my baby girl, you ready to have fun yeah?” she is so quiet but it does look like she has just woke up “you ready to go to your next attraction?” the VIP tour guide came over to us “for sure, when do I get to meet Minnie though? I used to like her” Rylee snorted at the side of me “soon, shall we go on a ride little Royalty to go on?” the tour guide said waving at Royalty, she is not in the mood “let’s go then” walking off slowly behind the tour guide “I may have another little surprise, but it wasn’t on me. Lo text me” Rylee said, furrowing my eyebrows “Lo?” I said confused “yes, he text me. He wanted to turn up with you” I think Rylee should change her number “I don’t fuck with that nigga like that anymore Rylee” I don’t think I want to turn up with them at all.

Royalty didn’t like the ride at all, she hated it but I loved it “daddy is so mean for laughing” Rylee said to Royalty, she ain’t want me now because I did nothing but laugh while she clung to me. The ride barely moved but her reaction was funny “we are about to go and see Mickey and Minnie, how exciting” I said trying to make it up to Royalty but she ain’t want to know, walking inside this building. Usually they are outside but not this time, unless it’s some VIP thing. Looking behind me, they are so behind me, let me just go inside and see my niggas. The lady opened the door for me “after you” she said, walking into the room I see Mickey and Minnie. They both waved, turning around to my daughter to see her reaction. She ran into the room smiling giggling to herself before running back towards Rylee, she held onto Rylee’ leg. I just love the way she is with Rylee, god I need to marry her “come on baby, look” Rylee held Royalty’ hand walking towards them.

Staring down at the picture of us together with Mickey, I think we look like a bomb ass family and I love it “I think Minnie liked me, she touched my butt” I said as I sat down “boy please, you kept standing next to her. You were annoying her” Rylee said, shaking my head laughing. Posting the picture of us with Mickey, I mean I don’t know how the baby mother will feel about how Rylee is holding Royalty close. I think it’s beautiful anyways, captioning the picture ‘To see my baby girls happy, to be with my family. Today was a beautiful day, thank you Rylee. I love you, blessed’ I can’t help myself but tell the world, I love this woman so much “what shall we eat Royalty? It has to include chicken” looking up at Royalty and Rylee looking at menus “why is Royalty acting like she can read?” I chuckled pointing “oh baby your dad is hating again, he is just jealous we having more fun” pulling Rylee’ menu down “what is with the hate? Y’all can’t be ganging up on me, what about poor Chris?” Rylee shrugged “it’s girl power on this side, your got your boy over there” she pointed at Kyrie “you hear this Kyrie? Remember Royalty can’t say a full sentence so there, least Kyrie can” Rylee waved me off “you wouldn’t upset me now would you?” she is right, side eyeing her in annoyance because I can’t.

Chris is a damn freak, he keeps on touching my leg “you really shouldn’t wear skin tight body suits, you got a nigga going crazy here. In all white too” pulling up the door “stop it, we need to go to your party now” Chris groaned out as I got out of the car “Rylee, your booty. I want you, please. Let’s go home” closing the car door smiling, he will soon follow. I want to end his day on a party, we had a lovely day and Joyce was kind enough to look after my brother too. Today has been a good day, I just want to end it on a party. I found this outfit somewhere, I am glad I did actually. I knew Chris would get out of the car, he wouldn’t keep me waiting “take your time boss man” Joe said, Carlos has finally joined us with another man but I don’t know him “nigga, I want to bust a nut. I don’t even want to be here” holding Chris’ hand myself without him having to do it “thank you so much for today babe” he said, squeezing his hand smiling a little “don’t be” I am happy it was a success.

I can tell with the look on Chris’ face, he does not want to be here. He wants to go home, I am trying to stay behind them all because it’s too much being up in front. It’s not a thing I like to come too and also Bailey is here with Lo, she is partying up in front with my man. Not only that, I can smoke a blunt without being caught, I am not stupid. Blowing the smoke out from my lips, I haven’t done this in so long and it feels so good. The blunt got yanked out of my fingers, looking up frowning. My face softened seeing Chris, he took my damn blunt. He sat down next to me as he placed the blunt between his lips, here he goes again with my legs. There is so much tension between us, he pulled the blunt away from his lips. Blowing the smoke out in my face before kissing my lips “why you here for? I ain’t partying without you” Chris shouted over the music, I shrugged. Is it just me or Chris’ hand is getting higher up my thigh. Grabbing Chris’ wrist, his eyelids heavy and his face getting closer to mine, I bit my lower lip because of the look he gave me. He looked at my lips, Chris touched my lips softly with his thumb. He leaned towards me and pressed his lips gently against mine, placing my hand behind his head deepening the kiss until the realization on where we are hit us “Chris Breezy in the building” that soon made us stop but I couldn’t stop smiling.

Wiping his lips with my hand, he now has lipstick on his lips “I love you babe, come with me” he got up, he still took my blunt though and never gave me it back. He held his hand out for me to take, holding his hand as I followed him. The group of guys up front suddenly started to move for us, I felt all eyes on me as I walked by them. I now know why Chris hates it, all eyes are on you and people stare at you to do something with their phones in your face. I just want to hide right now but Chris won’t let me so I am stuck here, looking to where Lo is stood I see Bailey staring at me but I turned my head away. She tried to break us up and lied on us, I am not about that. Some guy passed Chris a mic, the club became quiet “thank you all for the birthday love” he said on the mic, looking down at the crowd. Now the camera lights have stopped blinding us I can see the crowd. It’s funny how guys are the worst to be pushing the women to get to the front, just to be near Chris. Smiling at the crowd but then a certain male caught my eye, I had to do a double take because that is not real. My smile soon faded, my ex stared at me and I can feel myself freaking out.

The music came back on but he kept his eyes on me and I couldn’t look away either, everything that happened between us came back to me and my heart fell. That man was crazy for me, so crazy that he rather make me feel worthless so no other man could see me. He could have killed me and yet he is here, here to look at me. To look into my soul, I need to get out of here. I don’t want to be dramatic but I can’t breathe and I need air, looking to the side of me as Chris laughed with his friend. Turning around and seeing more guys in my way, I am done and I need to go. Turning back around, Joe stood to the side of us in front. Placing my hand on his shoulder and jumped down “Woah, you good!?” Joe asked, he was about to grab my hand but I pushed my way through the crowd.

I am not looking back but I feel everyone stare at me and I am mentally going crazy, I can’t take this at all. People pointing and staring at me, there is so many people and no way out. Looking up trying to see the exit or the toilets or something, pushing my way through I finally see some security guards. I can find a way out, I just want to cry so much. Looking up seeing the toilets just around this corner, I can just go here. I am just so happy to see this saviour of a place, even if it is the toilets “Rylee” hearing his voice made my stomach turn, the touch of his hand on my skin made me feel instantly dirty. Turning around in shock, my back was already against the wall “Rylee, it’s been so long. I have been meaning to see you, you know it was your brothers that broke us up. I love you” he spoke these words to me “remember I told you, you was mine Rylee. Forever, you know that. You look so beautiful, you know we are meant to be” why is he walking close, clenching my fist together about ready to punch. If he takes one more step, why am I frozen like this why, oh my god please god why. I was about to punch him until a fist met the side of his head which sent him flying, my eyes widened in shock. Chris didn’t stop there as he kicked him, to me he looked unconscious already “come on” Joe picked Chris up, I feel like I am in the twilight zone seeing Chris raging because of me.

Stood in shock shaking, Carlos carefully placed his hand on my shoulder “come with me, it’s fine” the music stopped playing in the club, all you can hear is the chatter of people. I slowly started moving my feet, looking to the side of me where my ex is laid out. His leg moved which made me want to run, he will never die. I can hear Chris shouting from here, he is not calming down at all. Suddenly I felt my legs wanting to run to Chris, his voice made me want to hold him. I want him “he’s in here” some security guy pointed at this door “I got you Rylee, come” Carlos went ahead of me “let me go now Joe! She is out there, I am going to kill him” how did he even know, walking into the room. This is an office of some sort “she’s here��� Carlos moved to the side, seeing my baby being pinned to the wall “let him go” pulling at Joe’ arm, he moved his arm “I am going to kill him for you, Rylee. I got you!!” Chris shouted, shaking my head “please no, stop. I don’t want this, not this trouble ok?” placing my hands on the side of his cheeks “calm down for me, we need to go. We can talk, but we need to go. Calm down for me” I won’t have him getting in trouble.

Sat in his Lamborghini as Chris sped off, the ambulance is outside the club and all I can think of is the trouble it has caused. Placing my hand on Chris’ arm “you’re still so mad, calm down Chris. Please, I am in shock that you knocked him out with one punch” Chris looked at me in sadness “I saw him touch you, why didn’t you tell me? I am supposed to protect you, why walk away? Lo told me and I saw him touch you” he slapped his steering wheel “I didn’t want that, I didn’t want you doing that. Now you will be in trouble” moving my hand away from his arm “are you ok?” he asked, nodding my head “I freaked out, I saw him and wanted to leave. I didn’t want to tell you because I know you would have flipped out, he’s crazy. He said he loved me and I am his” I totally regret saying that, Chris angry is scary “Chris the police will want to question you, what if you go down for it” I can’t breathe “I won’t, nobody was watching. I had three bodyguards covering us, it was a corner. We good, he say that to you!? This is why you need protecting, fuck. I saw red, you mean too much to me Rylee. I’ll do anything for you” I am so worried about Chris now, I don’t want anything to go bad for him “I love you so much” I sobbed out “please don’t cry” Chris reached over with one hand and touched my cheek “I love you too Rylee” I can’t believe this happened out of all the days, I know my parents said I one day might see him but I wasn’t ready.

[aalbensonjr]

Charlotte, NC Voiceover Artist Lends Voice To New Preschool Series “Becca’s Bunch”

She tried for years to hide her voice. Then she made a career out of it. Lisa Biggs is a 36-year-old woman with an asymmetrical haircut; when she takes her shoes off, you can see the tattoos on her feet. But the voice that comes out of her mouth sounds like an 8-year-old girl: high-pitched and squeaky, with the vocal timbre of a grade-schooler asking for an extra carton of chocolate milk. Biggs spent years trying to disguise that voice, but these days it pays her rent: she makes her living as a professional voiceover artist.

Standing in bare feet in the Concentrix Music studio in the Cotswold area of Charlotte, wearing jeans and a gray V-neck sweater, Biggs is recording dialogue for the brand-new cartoon Becca’s Bunch, slated to debut on Nickelodeon USA this fall, followed by a roll out onto Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. channels internationally soon after. Biggs plays six of the seven children in a Rabbit family, plus the mom, Lola Bunny. A producer of the show is listening to her from Ireland via an Internet line, giving Biggs feedback and explaining where her dialogue fits into the plot.

Every time Biggs reads a line, she performs it three times, offering minor variations so the producers have options to choose from. “Where is that float?”: bubbly but confused. “Where is that float?”: even more enthusiastic. “Where is that float?”: slightly breathless. Then the producer asks Biggs to be “more projective,” so she does it three more times.

As she records a sustained peal of laughter that begins as giggles but builds to a crescendo of hysterical yelps, Biggs gestures with her left hand, like she’s the conductor of her own voice. Then she grins and asks her long-distance producer, “Do you need more? I’m in it to win it.”

Voiceover artist Lisa Biggshas done voices for many characters including a guest spot on the Simpsons; her newest work is voicing several bunnies for a Nickelodeon series. Photo: Diedra Laird

To play the Rabbit children, Biggs uses a minor variation on her usual high-pitched speaking voice, but for the older Lola Bunny, she shifts her timbre into something huskier. “I love this voice,” she declares between takes. “I’m going to talk like this for the rest of the day. Isn’t it soothing? I’ll come and read you some poetry later.”

So what separates a professional voice artist from a civilian who sounds mellifluous on the phone?

You may already have heard her

Biggs has been the voice of everything from fuzzy toys (many, including Hasbro’s Furreal Friends) to victims of videogame zombies (a trailer for the game The Dying Light). She’s played Charlie Brown in a Peanuts iPhone app and the Care Bear Wonderheart in American Greetings commercials. In recent years, she’s branched out to directing kids (most recently, a series of Toys R Us radio ads) and founding Voxy Ladies, a professional association for voiceover women (Biggs says she sold it last year so she could focus on her own career). She’s hoping to expand into the “radio imaging” business, where she gives radio stations their identity by recording their promo spots. Biggs says, “In the inner circle of working professional voice talent, you’ve got some guys that make five, six million dollars a year or more.” Members of that elite club include the top movie-trailer voices and the cast of The Simpsons.

Lisa Biggs is also the voice of BeatBelle, a Fisher-Price toy, and Harley, a little boy featured in promotions for the international tech company Hisense.

“And then you have people like me: I live in Charlotte, I drive a Volkswagen.”

Voice acting is like any other form of acting, Biggs told the Charlotte Observer: “There’s an ‘it’ factor. Some people are naturally good at it. I’m not saying that to dash anybody’s hopes – if you want it bad enough and yield to the training, everyone has the capacity to manufacture ‘it.’ ”

“It” didn’t seem like a blessing for Biggs when she was growing up in Lancaster, South Carolina, daughter of a fireman and a preschool teacher.

She tried to hide it

Other kids called her names – “Squeaky, Smurfette, Beaker, Minnie Mouse” – and accused her of speaking in a high-pitched voice just for attention. She stopped speaking in class: “I made OK grades, but I bet if I actually participated I would have had a better GPA,” she says. When she had to give an oral presentation in a high-school biology class, she thought she could disguise her voice by adopting a strong Southern accent – a huge mistake, since she not only didn’t fool anybody, she confirmed the suspicions of classmates who thought she was faking.

“I tried to mimic other people and the way that they talked, mostly their cadence. I had to think about tempo and volume and pitch,” Biggs remembers. She wanted to be a marine biologist, but unwittingly, she was training for a voiceover career.

When Biggs was an undergraduate at Lee University, people would occasionally tell her that she should look into voiceover work, which she resisted, thinking it as likely a career choice as becoming an astronaut. But when she saw a brochure for an acting school in New York that included a class on voice work, she enrolled for the summer session. She learned a lot, but she also found that even in acting school, her voice provoked hostility. One teacher told her: “You need to quit this little-girl-voice act before you’re 30. Nobody buys it.” Another informed her that she spoke like that because of childhood trauma and her voice had frozen at that age.

Nevertheless, after college graduation she headed to Los Angeles to try her luck at voice acting.

Then she found the ‘dude’

She got her SAG card and some tattoos – “because that’s what you do,” she jokes – and even had a supporting role on one episode of The Simpsons (playing a boy Lisa Simpson had a crush on). But she wasn’t making a living from her voice. And when she tried networking with an older voiceover actor at a convention, she says, he just leered at her and said derogatory remarks.

Biggs returned to Charlotte in 2006, planning to go to graduate school or enter a youth ministry. But her return coincided with a shift in the voiceover world: The industry had decentralized, and the Internet had made it possible to do sessions in cities other than L.A. Biggs hired a manager and gradually built up her career.

Biggs developed a range of voices, from a teenage girl to a sassy old lady. Her second-most popular voice is a little girl, but the voice she gets hired to do most often is a young boy. She started off trying to do a gravelly boy voice, like Milhouse on The Simpsons, but quickly found that it hurt her throat too much. Instead, she tapped into a character she calls “Liam”: a swaggering skateboard kid in the mode of 1990s preteen idol Jonathan Taylor Thomas.

“It starts with posture and body language,” Biggs explains. “When I’m in the booth and I’m Liam, I’m doing what I see my nephew do at his wrestling matches. He cannot stand still because he’s got all this energy. If you look at the sound waves, the boy voice is louder: I’m pushing more air out.”

The line that helps Biggs get into the headspace of Liam: “See ya later, dude.” She says that mantra and snaps into character: “Cool, game on, what do you need?” Producers know that if Biggs is slipping out of Liam mode – maybe after an audiobook session has gone on for hours and she’s exhausted – all they need to say to snap her back into it is “See ya later, dude.”

“The question of the distinct voice versus the character actor is really interesting,” says Phil LaMarr, a top-tier voice actor whose credits include Baxter Stockman in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Hermes on Futurama, the title role in Samurai Jack, and a live-action cameo on Big Time Rush. “Ultimately, acting is the key, not the voice. From what I’ve seen of Lisa, she’s got that ability to modulate—you hear that distinction between her boy voice and her girl voice, even though it’s her. To me, that’s talent.”

This is the cast of characters from “Badanamu,” a show Biggs cast, voice-directs and stars in. (She’s the voice of both Jess and Curly – the pink and purple guys on the right – as well as all three of The Three Kittens, and “a slew of additional characters.”) It’s scheduled to air in France, Spain, Australia and China, she says.

Biggs had a pleasant surprise at the Concentrix Music studio: The Becca’s Bunch producers wanted Lola Bunny to rap a song. “This is the closest I’ll ever come to being a pop star,” she squealed. “I’ll just savor the moment.” Told that the track sounded like J.J. Fad’s Supersonic, Biggs rapped the 1988 single from memory.

Before she laid down her vocals, Biggs said she needed to take care of one thing: To get in the right frame of mind, she needed a cool rapper name. Her producer suggested “Biggie Smalls,” but she rejected that handle as property of the Notorious B.I.G. Then her face lit up and she shouted out two words that summed up her career: “Squeaky Tones!”

Read full post at: http://www.albensonjr.com/2018/03/21/charlotte-nc-voiceover-artist-lends-voice-to-new-preschool-series-beccas-bunch/

[aalbensonjr]

Charlotte, NC Voiceover Artist Lends Voice To New Preschool Series “Becca’s Bunch”

She tried for years to hide her voice. Then she made a career out of it. Lisa Biggs is a 36-year-old woman with an asymmetrical haircut; when she takes her shoes off, you can see the tattoos on her feet. But the voice that comes out of her mouth sounds like an 8-year-old girl: high-pitched and squeaky, with the vocal timbre of a grade-schooler asking for an extra carton of chocolate milk. Biggs spent years trying to disguise that voice, but these days it pays her rent: she makes her living as a professional voiceover artist.

Standing in bare feet in the Concentrix Music studio in the Cotswold area of Charlotte, wearing jeans and a gray V-neck sweater, Biggs is recording dialogue for the brand-new cartoon Becca’s Bunch, slated to debut on Nickelodeon USA this fall, followed by a roll out onto Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. channels internationally soon after. Biggs plays six of the seven children in a Rabbit family, plus the mom, Lola Bunny. A producer of the show is listening to her from Ireland via an Internet line, giving Biggs feedback and explaining where her dialogue fits into the plot.

Every time Biggs reads a line, she performs it three times, offering minor variations so the producers have options to choose from. “Where is that float?”: bubbly but confused. “Where is that float?”: even more enthusiastic. “Where is that float?”: slightly breathless. Then the producer asks Biggs to be “more projective,” so she does it three more times.

As she records a sustained peal of laughter that begins as giggles but builds to a crescendo of hysterical yelps, Biggs gestures with her left hand, like she’s the conductor of her own voice. Then she grins and asks her long-distance producer, “Do you need more? I’m in it to win it.”

Voiceover artist Lisa Biggshas done voices for many characters including a guest spot on the Simpsons; her newest work is voicing several bunnies for a Nickelodeon series. Photo: Diedra Laird

To play the Rabbit children, Biggs uses a minor variation on her usual high-pitched speaking voice, but for the older Lola Bunny, she shifts her timbre into something huskier. “I love this voice,” she declares between takes. “I’m going to talk like this for the rest of the day. Isn’t it soothing? I’ll come and read you some poetry later.”

So what separates a professional voice artist from a civilian who sounds mellifluous on the phone?

You may already have heard her

Biggs has been the voice of everything from fuzzy toys (many, including Hasbro’s Furreal Friends) to victims of videogame zombies (a trailer for the game The Dying Light). She’s played Charlie Brown in a Peanuts iPhone app and the Care Bear Wonderheart in American Greetings commercials. In recent years, she’s branched out to directing kids (most recently, a series of Toys R Us radio ads) and founding Voxy Ladies, a professional association for voiceover women (Biggs says she sold it last year so she could focus on her own career). She’s hoping to expand into the “radio imaging” business, where she gives radio stations their identity by recording their promo spots. Biggs says, “In the inner circle of working professional voice talent, you’ve got some guys that make five, six million dollars a year or more.” Members of that elite club include the top movie-trailer voices and the cast of The Simpsons.

Lisa Biggs is also the voice of BeatBelle, a Fisher-Price toy, and Harley, a little boy featured in promotions for the international tech company Hisense.

“And then you have people like me: I live in Charlotte, I drive a Volkswagen.”

Voice acting is like any other form of acting, Biggs told the Charlotte Observer: “There’s an ‘it’ factor. Some people are naturally good at it. I’m not saying that to dash anybody’s hopes – if you want it bad enough and yield to the training, everyone has the capacity to manufacture ‘it.’ ”

“It” didn’t seem like a blessing for Biggs when she was growing up in Lancaster, South Carolina, daughter of a fireman and a preschool teacher.

She tried to hide it

Other kids called her names – “Squeaky, Smurfette, Beaker, Minnie Mouse” – and accused her of speaking in a high-pitched voice just for attention. She stopped speaking in class: “I made OK grades, but I bet if I actually participated I would have had a better GPA,” she says. When she had to give an oral presentation in a high-school biology class, she thought she could disguise her voice by adopting a strong Southern accent – a huge mistake, since she not only didn’t fool anybody, she confirmed the suspicions of classmates who thought she was faking.

“I tried to mimic other people and the way that they talked, mostly their cadence. I had to think about tempo and volume and pitch,” Biggs remembers. She wanted to be a marine biologist, but unwittingly, she was training for a voiceover career.

When Biggs was an undergraduate at Lee University, people would occasionally tell her that she should look into voiceover work, which she resisted, thinking it as likely a career choice as becoming an astronaut. But when she saw a brochure for an acting school in New York that included a class on voice work, she enrolled for the summer session. She learned a lot, but she also found that even in acting school, her voice provoked hostility. One teacher told her: “You need to quit this little-girl-voice act before you’re 30. Nobody buys it.” Another informed her that she spoke like that because of childhood trauma and her voice had frozen at that age.

Nevertheless, after college graduation she headed to Los Angeles to try her luck at voice acting.

Then she found the ‘dude’

She got her SAG card and some tattoos – “because that’s what you do,” she jokes – and even had a supporting role on one episode of The Simpsons (playing a boy Lisa Simpson had a crush on). But she wasn’t making a living from her voice. And when she tried networking with an older voiceover actor at a convention, she says, he just leered at her and said derogatory remarks.

Biggs returned to Charlotte in 2006, planning to go to graduate school or enter a youth ministry. But her return coincided with a shift in the voiceover world: The industry had decentralized, and the Internet had made it possible to do sessions in cities other than L.A. Biggs hired a manager and gradually built up her career.

Biggs developed a range of voices, from a teenage girl to a sassy old lady. Her second-most popular voice is a little girl, but the voice she gets hired to do most often is a young boy. She started off trying to do a gravelly boy voice, like Milhouse on The Simpsons, but quickly found that it hurt her throat too much. Instead, she tapped into a character she calls “Liam”: a swaggering skateboard kid in the mode of 1990s preteen idol Jonathan Taylor Thomas.

“It starts with posture and body language,” Biggs explains. “When I’m in the booth and I’m Liam, I’m doing what I see my nephew do at his wrestling matches. He cannot stand still because he’s got all this energy. If you look at the sound waves, the boy voice is louder: I’m pushing more air out.”

The line that helps Biggs get into the headspace of Liam: “See ya later, dude.” She says that mantra and snaps into character: “Cool, game on, what do you need?” Producers know that if Biggs is slipping out of Liam mode – maybe after an audiobook session has gone on for hours and she’s exhausted – all they need to say to snap her back into it is “See ya later, dude.”

“The question of the distinct voice versus the character actor is really interesting,” says Phil LaMarr, a top-tier voice actor whose credits include Baxter Stockman in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Hermes on Futurama, the title role in Samurai Jack, and a live-action cameo on Big Time Rush. “Ultimately, acting is the key, not the voice. From what I’ve seen of Lisa, she’s got that ability to modulate—you hear that distinction between her boy voice and her girl voice, even though it’s her. To me, that’s talent.”

This is the cast of characters from “Badanamu,” a show Biggs cast, voice-directs and stars in. (She’s the voice of both Jess and Curly – the pink and purple guys on the right – as well as all three of The Three Kittens, and “a slew of additional characters.”) It’s scheduled to air in France, Spain, Australia and China, she says.

Biggs had a pleasant surprise at the Concentrix Music studio: The Becca’s Bunch producers wanted Lola Bunny to rap a song. “This is the closest I’ll ever come to being a pop star,” she squealed. “I’ll just savor the moment.” Told that the track sounded like J.J. Fad’s Supersonic, Biggs rapped the 1988 single from memory.

Before she laid down her vocals, Biggs said she needed to take care of one thing: To get in the right frame of mind, she needed a cool rapper name. Her producer suggested “Biggie Smalls,” but she rejected that handle as property of the Notorious B.I.G. Then her face lit up and she shouted out two words that summed up her career: “Squeaky Tones!”

Follow NickALive! on Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, via RSS, on Instagram, and/or Facebook for the latest Nickelodeon and Becca’s Bunch News and Highlights!

The post Charlotte, NC Voiceover Artist Lends Voice To New Preschool Series “Becca’s Bunch” appeared first on Albensonjr.

Read full post at: http://www.albensonjr.com/charlotte-nc-voiceover-artist-lends-voice-to-new-preschool-series-beccas-bunch/

[aalbensonjr]

Charlotte, NC Voiceover Artist Lends Voice To New Preschool Series “Becca’s Bunch”

She tried for years to hide her voice. Then she made a career out of it. Lisa Biggs is a 36-year-old woman with an asymmetrical haircut; when she takes her shoes off, you can see the tattoos on her feet. But the voice that comes out of her mouth sounds like an 8-year-old girl: high-pitched and squeaky, with the vocal timbre of a grade-schooler asking for an extra carton of chocolate milk. Biggs spent years trying to disguise that voice, but these days it pays her rent: she makes her living as a professional voiceover artist.

Standing in bare feet in the Concentrix Music studio in the Cotswold area of Charlotte, wearing jeans and a gray V-neck sweater, Biggs is recording dialogue for the brand-new cartoon Becca’s Bunch, slated to debut on Nickelodeon USA this fall, followed by a roll out onto Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. channels internationally soon after. Biggs plays six of the seven children in a Rabbit family, plus the mom, Lola Bunny. A producer of the show is listening to her from Ireland via an Internet line, giving Biggs feedback and explaining where her dialogue fits into the plot.

Every time Biggs reads a line, she performs it three times, offering minor variations so the producers have options to choose from. “Where is that float?”: bubbly but confused. “Where is that float?”: even more enthusiastic. “Where is that float?”: slightly breathless. Then the producer asks Biggs to be “more projective,” so she does it three more times.

As she records a sustained peal of laughter that begins as giggles but builds to a crescendo of hysterical yelps, Biggs gestures with her left hand, like she’s the conductor of her own voice. Then she grins and asks her long-distance producer, “Do you need more? I’m in it to win it.”

Voiceover artist Lisa Biggshas done voices for many characters including a guest spot on the Simpsons; her newest work is voicing several bunnies for a Nickelodeon series. Photo: Diedra Laird

To play the Rabbit children, Biggs uses a minor variation on her usual high-pitched speaking voice, but for the older Lola Bunny, she shifts her timbre into something huskier. “I love this voice,” she declares between takes. “I’m going to talk like this for the rest of the day. Isn’t it soothing? I’ll come and read you some poetry later.”

So what separates a professional voice artist from a civilian who sounds mellifluous on the phone?

You may already have heard her

Biggs has been the voice of everything from fuzzy toys (many, including Hasbro’s Furreal Friends) to victims of videogame zombies (a trailer for the game The Dying Light). She’s played Charlie Brown in a Peanuts iPhone app and the Care Bear Wonderheart in American Greetings commercials. In recent years, she’s branched out to directing kids (most recently, a series of Toys R Us radio ads) and founding Voxy Ladies, a professional association for voiceover women (Biggs says she sold it last year so she could focus on her own career). She’s hoping to expand into the “radio imaging” business, where she gives radio stations their identity by recording their promo spots. Biggs says, “In the inner circle of working professional voice talent, you’ve got some guys that make five, six million dollars a year or more.” Members of that elite club include the top movie-trailer voices and the cast of The Simpsons.

Lisa Biggs is also the voice of BeatBelle, a Fisher-Price toy, and Harley, a little boy featured in promotions for the international tech company Hisense.

“And then you have people like me: I live in Charlotte, I drive a Volkswagen.”

Voice acting is like any other form of acting, Biggs told the Charlotte Observer: “There’s an ‘it’ factor. Some people are naturally good at it. I’m not saying that to dash anybody’s hopes – if you want it bad enough and yield to the training, everyone has the capacity to manufacture ‘it.’ ”

“It” didn’t seem like a blessing for Biggs when she was growing up in Lancaster, South Carolina, daughter of a fireman and a preschool teacher.

She tried to hide it

Other kids called her names – “Squeaky, Smurfette, Beaker, Minnie Mouse” – and accused her of speaking in a high-pitched voice just for attention. She stopped speaking in class: “I made OK grades, but I bet if I actually participated I would have had a better GPA,” she says. When she had to give an oral presentation in a high-school biology class, she thought she could disguise her voice by adopting a strong Southern accent – a huge mistake, since she not only didn’t fool anybody, she confirmed the suspicions of classmates who thought she was faking.

“I tried to mimic other people and the way that they talked, mostly their cadence. I had to think about tempo and volume and pitch,” Biggs remembers. She wanted to be a marine biologist, but unwittingly, she was training for a voiceover career.

When Biggs was an undergraduate at Lee University, people would occasionally tell her that she should look into voiceover work, which she resisted, thinking it as likely a career choice as becoming an astronaut. But when she saw a brochure for an acting school in New York that included a class on voice work, she enrolled for the summer session. She learned a lot, but she also found that even in acting school, her voice provoked hostility. One teacher told her: “You need to quit this little-girl-voice act before you’re 30. Nobody buys it.” Another informed her that she spoke like that because of childhood trauma and her voice had frozen at that age.

Nevertheless, after college graduation she headed to Los Angeles to try her luck at voice acting.

Then she found the ‘dude’

She got her SAG card and some tattoos – “because that’s what you do,” she jokes – and even had a supporting role on one episode of The Simpsons (playing a boy Lisa Simpson had a crush on). But she wasn’t making a living from her voice. And when she tried networking with an older voiceover actor at a convention, she says, he just leered at her and said derogatory remarks.

Biggs returned to Charlotte in 2006, planning to go to graduate school or enter a youth ministry. But her return coincided with a shift in the voiceover world: The industry had decentralized, and the Internet had made it possible to do sessions in cities other than L.A. Biggs hired a manager and gradually built up her career.

Biggs developed a range of voices, from a teenage girl to a sassy old lady. Her second-most popular voice is a little girl, but the voice she gets hired to do most often is a young boy. She started off trying to do a gravelly boy voice, like Milhouse on The Simpsons, but quickly found that it hurt her throat too much. Instead, she tapped into a character she calls “Liam”: a swaggering skateboard kid in the mode of 1990s preteen idol Jonathan Taylor Thomas.

“It starts with posture and body language,” Biggs explains. “When I’m in the booth and I’m Liam, I’m doing what I see my nephew do at his wrestling matches. He cannot stand still because he’s got all this energy. If you look at the sound waves, the boy voice is louder: I’m pushing more air out.”

The line that helps Biggs get into the headspace of Liam: “See ya later, dude.” She says that mantra and snaps into character: “Cool, game on, what do you need?” Producers know that if Biggs is slipping out of Liam mode – maybe after an audiobook session has gone on for hours and she’s exhausted – all they need to say to snap her back into it is “See ya later, dude.”

“The question of the distinct voice versus the character actor is really interesting,” says Phil LaMarr, a top-tier voice actor whose credits include Baxter Stockman in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Hermes on Futurama, the title role in Samurai Jack, and a live-action cameo on Big Time Rush. “Ultimately, acting is the key, not the voice. From what I’ve seen of Lisa, she’s got that ability to modulate—you hear that distinction between her boy voice and her girl voice, even though it’s her. To me, that’s talent.”

This is the cast of characters from “Badanamu,” a show Biggs cast, voice-directs and stars in. (She’s the voice of both Jess and Curly – the pink and purple guys on the right – as well as all three of The Three Kittens, and “a slew of additional characters.”) It’s scheduled to air in France, Spain, Australia and China, she says.

Biggs had a pleasant surprise at the Concentrix Music studio: The Becca’s Bunch producers wanted Lola Bunny to rap a song. “This is the closest I’ll ever come to being a pop star,” she squealed. “I’ll just savor the moment.” Told that the track sounded like J.J. Fad’s Supersonic, Biggs rapped the 1988 single from memory.

Before she laid down her vocals, Biggs said she needed to take care of one thing: To get in the right frame of mind, she needed a cool rapper name. Her producer suggested “Biggie Smalls,” but she rejected that handle as property of the Notorious B.I.G. Then her face lit up and she shouted out two words that summed up her career: “Squeaky Tones!”

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