#despite the fact I am the sweet and warm and fluffy girlie

[hexedrosel-arts]

I am once again drawing an au where people suffer and it will never very completed because I hate making people suffer

Also: Waiter Waiter for toxic Felix please!!!

I never posted these but they are unrelated to toxic Fozzy but I should have them out in the world before I forget

[definitelynotsuzumi]

Zapped to Another World [Chapter 4}

I can finally update now that its school break! Thank you all for your patience!

[Masterlist]

Aether wiped off a stray droplet of sweat, weaving the plant fibres into the shape of a lantern. It has only been 2 days into the festival and already, he was swamped with the task of creating more lanterns to take to people who were too far from the harbour.

“Aether, Aether look! Look at this! Doesn’t it look like Paimon?” His white-haired floating fairy chattered excitedly, waving around what looked like an amber on a stick.

“What’s that, Paimon?” Aether paused in his lantern making to give the stick a once-over.

It was artfully sculpted to look like the said fairy and it smelled incredibly sweet.

“The lady said it was Karamel! I got another for you too!” Paimon excitedly fished out a star-shaped one. Cautiously, Aether gave it a lick. It tasted warm and sweet. It reminded him of home. Lumine…

“You’ve been at that lantern for the past 2 hours. C’mon, take a small break.” While Paimon may have been wrong about several things before, Aether knew that she was right on this fact.

“Alright, let’s have a break then.”

After 3 days(and night) of walking and riding on the back of wagons, you had finally reached the gates of Liyue.

Liyue looked spectacular with the lanterns adorning every corner of the street. You were in awe. You thought it looked beautiful in the game, but in the flesh…It was more than you could ever dream of.

Each lantern had its own unique design. You could hear the drums and cymbals crashing as performers danced under a giant suit that looked like the Adepti of Liyue. The scent of grilling fish and sweets wafted through the thick hair of the harbour. It felt so homely, almost like one of the carnivals you had attended.

“Woah…Ow!” You bumped into a ginger-haired man. Tartaglia.

Cold reality slapped you across your face. The Fatui is everywhere.

“Oh! Sorry, are you alright?” Concern lit his handsome features. If you were not careful…You very much wanted to pull away your hand but you hesitantly let Tartaglia pull you up. You definitely did not want the man suspecting you about anything.

“Uhm, uh yeah sorry, I wasn’t looking. This is my first time seeing all of this…” You tried to gulp down your fear of the man.

“I feel you! Hahaha, are you new here? Well, you must be. I have not seen such a pretty lady like yourself around these parts before.”  Despite your fear of the Fatui, you felt your face flush in response to his flirting.

“Yeah, very much so, I’m afraid. I’m looking for a friend of mine. About yeh high and has a white floating fairy by his side.” You gestured a rough height.

“Oh! What a small world!” Tartaglia beamed at you. He seemed so innocent as he aimed a bright and friendly smile at you, but you knew better.

“Uh…Do you know him, by any chance?”

“Know him? Well of course! I dare say that he is one of my good friends! Come, come, I’ll take you to him!”

He gestured you to follow him, and reluctantly you did so.

Tartaglia had never seen someone so shy and scared before. Is it because I am part of the Fatui?

You looked so innocent when he bumped into you at the gates. The way you gaped and looked around Liyue like you’ve never seen it before… It almost reminded him of Teucer and his sisters in Shneznaya.

“Please don’t be afraid of me. While I admit, I am not that nice of a guy, I promise I won’t do anything bad to you.” Seeing you stiffen at his words, Tartaglia felt a particularly large drop of sweat dribbling down.

Did that just backfire?

“Childe?! What are you doing here?!” A familiar high pitched voice reached your ears. You could feel her disgust all the way from your place.

Yup, that was Paimon. By her side, was Aether, with his arms akimbo.

“Relax, I mean no harm. I bumped into this cute little girlie over here and thought I’d help her out in finding you.”

“Finding us? Wait what? Who are you?” Paimon frowned.

“Uh...Uhm I’m (Y/N)…Please let me follow you on your journey!” You bowed 90 degrees, hoping you could hide the flush on your cheeks. You’ve always dreamed of this moment but now that it is in your face, you felt your tongue being weighed down by iron ore.

“What?!” The sheer shock on their faces would have been comical under other circumstances, but right now, it did not do favours for your nerves.

“If…You would let me join? I’m sorry, was that too forward of me? My dad always talks about you and I thought maybe, if I joined, he would-“

“That’s okay. Please, it would be great to celebrate the Lantern Rite with more friends.” Aether fixed you with a warm smile that felt genuine.

“How about me?” Tartaglia winked at Aether.

“No.”

Aether felt slightly apprehensive when he saw you with Tartaglia, but taking in your clothes and the lack of the Fatui insignia and signature mask on your person, he was certain that you were innocent.

“So, where are you from?” Paimon asked as your group leisurely walked through the bustling streets.

Seeing Tartaglia by your side, you decided to tell a white lie.

“Mondstadt! My dad’s an Adventurer at the guild so he’s told me all about what you did!” You definitely felt better when Aether fell in step with you, walking and talking by your side. You couldn’t help but feel bad as you realized the amount of lies you were telling was increasing.

“Wow, we’re famous!” Paimon grinned at Aether.

“Yeah! You were amazing in that battle with the Stormterror! I thought…Maybe I could grow stronger if I journeyed with you. Ah, but don’t worry, I can cook and clean-“

“You can cook?!” Paimon began to salivate.

You nodded. You were able to cook a few dishes, thanks to your Home Ec classes.

“Can we have a taste?!”

You bit your lip as you surveyed the ingredients you had. A handful of sunsettias, berries, flour, sugar, butter and half a bottle of milk. Looking at your group waiting expectantly outside of Wanmin Restaurant, you smiled.

‘Guess I’ll let them have a taste of Dorayaki.’

Xiangling had also let you borrow a little of their ingredients in case you did not have enough to feed your group. Of course, you had paid her a generous tip for lending you her ingredients.

Combining some eggs, sugar and honey that Xiangling had, you whisked it up the best you could with a fork. You carefully passed the flour through a noodle sieve into the mix. You could feel his stare piercing you from behind as you tried to focus on cooking.

Mixing it all together, you fashioned a mini ice box with your Cryo powers to rest your mix and turned to making the sweet filling. With a sharp knife, you chopped up the sunsettias and berries and sat them in a pot of sugar.

You heated the sugar and fruits together, humming a soft tune as you fished out a mandarin orange and squeezed its juices into the berry jam you had made. Sliding the jam into a clean jar, you sat it in the ice box you had made.

Taking your rested mix, you added and mixed in a tablespoon of water before readying a skillet, greasing it over with butter.

Slowly but surely, you created a stack of perfectly brown and fluffy pancakes. Taking your cool jar of sunsettia and berry jam, you spooned out equal amounts of it onto the pancakes before pressing another pancake on top.

It was done! You placed the still warm dorayaki onto 3 plates, serving it to Aether, Paimon and Tartaglia.

“Woah…It smells…Incredible!” Paimon dove into the dorayaki right away. Paimon made the dorayaki look delicious as she enthusiastically gobbled down her treat.

You noticed Xiangling’s eyes glitter as she stared down at the dorayaki. You looked down at your own share. You honestly wanted to dig in too, but seeing her doe eyes made you sigh and surrender your portion to the young female chef.

“R-Really?! I can have this?!” You nodded with a soft smile as Xiangling leapt for joy before biting down. You did not think it was possible, but the light in her eyes shone even brighter as she tasted your dish.

“Say, wanna join the Wanmin Restaurant instead?” Xiangling asked, her bright smile spreading wide across her lips and eyes.

“…I’ll have to decline, I wanna travel with Aether more!” You sheepishly turned down the offer. Aether and Tartaglia clearly enjoyed the treat as you noticed them both licking off the jam on their fingers.

“I don’t know about you, but I accept her into our travel group!” Paimon declared as Aether laughed, wiping off the last of the jam on her chin.

“Hey, how about me?” Tartaglia grinned hopefully.

“Nope.”

“Still, a no from me.”

Tartaglia then turned his attention to you, trying to use his puppy dog eyes on you.

“Hey, (Y/N), how about me?”

You silently turned away from his gaze.

“Why are you three so cruel?”

[angrylizardjacket]

Run to Paradise {Nikki Sixx} Part 13

13. watch me take a good thing and fuck it all up in one night

Chapter Summary: enter; Tom Zutaut. the prospect of a meeting has them all excited, but then an asshole takes Lola for granted, Tommy falls off the bar, and making sure the drummer doesn’t get injured on the way home leads to a moment.......... or several

Warnings: LONG CHAPTER (4k) drinking, nsfw mention, assault (nothing graphic, it doesn’t go past lightly verbal) and a fight, a very highkey Tommy/Lola chapter (FINALLY), but not a lot of vince, and it gets v fluffy towards the end. i listened to I Think I’m OKAY on repeat while writing this and i LOVE

ragtag bunch of misfits: @starlalove @obsessivesky @lovehelpmewrite @colsons-crue @marvelismylifffe @lilytalebi @glitterdreamsz @freddiessmallnipples @crazysaladchopshop @inthebackofmycarlaytheirbodies @dramatique-moi @missqueeniewrites @calspixie @aryssav @catsoo12 @sweetshutter @silvertonguedserpent @shamelessobsessions @lavenderbones22 @keepcalm-and-beyou @scarecrowmax @nicholeh7

{masterlist}

Lola's the first one to meet Tom Zutaut; he's looking sweet, a little lost in his polo shirt, pushing his way through the mosh at the Troubadour. She doesn't know who he is at the time, but he's noteworthy enough that she remembers him. He likes the music, doesn't look like he'd be the type, but he's gently headbanging in the front row - is he holding a sandwich? What a dork! - and Lola has to hold in her laughter from where she's sitting at the side of the room.

"Hi, hey," as the set comes to an end, Lola tries not to look as amused as she's definitely feeling when she approaches him, hand gentle on his arm where she's trying to get his attention, but her amusement is fading fast with him sniffing around the stage, looking like he wants something but he's not quite sure what, "you lost?" He seems shocked to see her, to hear her voice, his eyes widen when he takes in her whole visage, and he's stumbling over his words. "You need something?" Her smile is fading now, eyebrow raised.

"I'm- who are you?" He asks, his hands held to his chest, stepping out of her space, the back of his legs hitting the stage.

"Lola. I work with the band; why are you sniffing around the stage? What do you want?" Her expression is souring by the moment, but he doesn't seem deterred, if anything, his own face brightens.

"Oh, oh, I know you- hey, are you- so you're working with them- with Motley Crue?" He asks with a renewed, energy, stepping forward again. Tentatively, Lola confirms once more, and suddenly the man's reaching into his pocket, "great, awesome, excellent!" He rattles off, distracted, "I'm Tom, Tom Zutaut," and he reaches out his free hand, awkwardly shaking Lola's before he pulls out a card, "I'm with Elektra Records, I wanna talk to the band."

Now she's looking at him with starry eyes, shaking his hand with more gusto than was probably necessarily, clasping his hand with both of her own.

"Oh, oh hi, awesome, yes!" Lola's enthusing, before looking around the bar, trying to spot any of the band members though they seem to all be in various drunken, high states of debauchery. "They're currently indisposed, but I can get them to call you!" She takes the card, looking at it very closely, "is your name on it? Tom, right?"

"Yeah, it's Tom," and he actually seems overjoyed at the prospect, "honestly I can't believe- you're Lola Gone, right?" Of course she is, she's looks exactly as described, that being 'leather and spikes and hot but also she'll probably tell you to fuck off if you walk up to her, Tom' as one of his coworkers had said, despite the fact that neither of them had actually met the girl. But Tom was the one new to LA, so he took it in stride. "I was just told that you're the one to go to about bands around here, around the Strip," he gestures around, laughing a little self conscious, and Lola finally stops shaking his hand, tucking the business card into her bra for safe keeping. She winces internally as Tom shakes his hand a little when it's finally free of her probably too strong grip.

"Well then it must be fate," Lola laughs a little, elated, much less frightening or unapproachable than Tom had been expecting, and she looks over her shoulder, "actually, I'm sure the band would love to-" but her excitement is cut off by Tommy lobbing a mostly empty bottle at the wall, and it shattering into a thousand pieces with a loud crash.

"I should probably be going," Tom chuckles a little uncertainly, "but please, Lola, I love their sound, I really think I could help them," he takes her by the shoulders, looks into her eyes, much less skittish than he'd been moments ago, to which she's thankful, it means she'll remember that much clearer the following morning.

And then he's gone, awkwardly squeezing through the crowd, and Lola pats where she's got his business card stored securely, before pushing through the crowd towards the rowdy drummer, who was standing on the bar, a new bottle in hand, absolutely incoherent where he was trying to yell something at the crowd. When she gets to him, she doesn't even berate him, just bites at his shin through his leather pants and tries to find Nikki.

He's on a bar stool at the end of the bar with a pretty girl on her knees in front of him, his head thrown back, bottle of Jack in his hand where he's leaning heavily against the counter.

"I'm busy," he huffs out when Lola tries to get his attention.

"You can multitask," she smirked, pulling the business card from her bra, and Nikki gave her an exasperated look before his gaze flicked to the little piece of cardboard between her fingers, his expression turning curious, "so I just spoke to a rep from Elektra," she tells him just as the girl with her mouth on his cock apparently does something great, because his grip on the bottle visibly tightens and his free hand finds the girl's head, holding her steady for a moment. Lola has to turn away and laugh. "I can come back." She snickers.

"No, shut up, what?" Nikki huffs in rapid succession, breathing rough, and Lola leans in close beside him, brandishing the business card.

"He loves your sound, thinks he could really help you guys," she purrs, "he wants to organise a meeting later this week; do you think you can manage that?" Her smile turns sharp; he's flushes, pupils wide and shiny from any number of things, but he's looking at her with something akin to awe in his eyes. But like he'd said, he's busy, and Lola pulls back, hoping the momentary disappointment hadn't shown on her face.

"You're not fucking with me, you fucking better not be-" Nikki warned, but Lola laughed, tucking the card back into her bra, shaking her head.

"No, it's one-hundred-percent real," she assured, "I'll keep the card until you're coherent, don't worry," she presses a kiss to the corner of his mouth, quick and far more sincere than she'd usually allow herself, but this is a big fucking deal. The moment she steps back, Nikki's head drops back and his eyes fall closed as he swears quietly, and Lola feels like she really doesn't want to stay here much longer.

Making her way back to the stage to start packing up, she feels a pair of hands on her hips, hears a warm greeting in her ear from a voice whose name she can't place, but she smiles obligingly, turning.

"Find me at the afterparty, babe, I don't mix business with pleasure," she winks, but he's drunk and insistent.

"Please, Lola baby, we've fucked here before, please," and he presses a kiss to her neck, his grip on her hips firm and insistent. She actually steps back, good mood rapidly disappearing.

"I only fuck band members in pubs anymore," she answers, peeling him away from her, voice venomous, and the man just pouts, still trying to cop a feel. Pathetic. "Piss off, dude."

"You don't even remember my name? That hurts, how many guys do you have to sleep with to forget me?"

"Probably not a lot," she says through her teeth, actually shoving him away, "leave me alone." She shoves him away again as he makes another move towards her, and he stumbles back this time. The people around them have grown quiet.

"You used to be fun," he whined, "I just wanted some fucking fun, I don't know why you're being such a bitch," and it was like a switched was flipped; there was a red tint to the edge of Lola's vision. Threading her fingers through his overly hair-sprayed hair, she grips tight enough that he squeals like a distressed pig as she brings his head down to meet where she's jerked her knee up. There's a crack that the resonates around most of the rest of the club, which has grown silent at the violent outburst, and the man stumbles back, clutching his nose.

"What the fuc-"

Before he can even finish his sentence, she's punched him in the throat, and he's knocked flat on his ass.

"I'm being a bitch because I am a bitch; now piss off." She snarled, and he's scrambling from the club, hissing curses at her as he bleeds a trail to the door from his nose. Quietly, Lola's very glad Tom left when he did. It's now that she looks around, sees the shocked faces of patrons all around, and she's about to apologise, but then someone's clapping, and like that, everyone goes back to their chatter. There's a crash from near the bar that she ignores.

"Go home, girlie," Mick's voice is by her shoulder moments later, as Lola's wiping the jerk's blood from her knuckles onto her jeans.

"No, I'm fine-" she tries to insist, but then he's resting a gentle hand on her shoulder, keeping her from heading to the equipment.

"Kid, if you get blood on the equipment-"

"Nikki would just think it's cool, besides," Lola flexed the fingers of her mostly clean hand, "it's not my blood." And she grins, triumphant, bright and shiny, but there's nothing behind her eyes. Mick sighs deeply, shaking his head.

"I've got someone who can help me pack up, but more impo-"

"No." Lola's voice is firm. "I don't need pity, that- it was nothing. People are the worst; let me do my job." A pause came after her words, and Mick's exasperation only seemed to deepen as he looked past her.

"It's not pity; Tommy fell off the bar and I need you to get him out of here."

Lola sighs.

Tommy can't walk in a straight line. It's closer to an unsteady wave as they walk down The Strip towards the Whiskey, and Lola's apartment, and she watches bemused as he talks to people spilling from bars at intervals down the road. People recognise him, cheer for him, and he's all bright smiles as answer. That is, when he's not on his knees throwing up into the gutter. She'd taken his drumsticks before they'd even gotten out the door, making sure they wouldn't accidentally stab him in moments exactly like this, and now they were safely tucked away in her back pocket.

The stars are bright overhead despite the light pollution, and Lola's happy to trail a few steps behind, watching with amusement, her hands in her pockets, or petting the poor kid on the back when he needs the support. She's seen him legless, but never this early, never this badly.

"Hey, sorry you," he pauses to hiccup and wipe his mouth with the back of his hand, getting to his feet only a block from her house, "sorry you got stuck with babysitting duty," Tommy half laughs, a little self conscious.

"Making sure you don't brain yourself on the sidewalk, or impale yourself on your sticks isn't babysitting," Lola tells him, easily sliding into step beside him. He's humming a half remembered melody, mirroring Lola with his thumbs hooked into his belt loops. A silence falls between them, comfortable and easy, Tommy occasionally drifting to the side, but he seems to be able to catch himself, and it's only when they're at the foot of the stair to the apartment that Lola remembers what happened earlier that night.

"There was a rep from Elektra at the show tonight."

Tommy stops dead in his tracks, and Lola's a few steps ahead before she turns back to him. His eyes are wide, disbelieving, his grip white knuckled on the railing as he gazes at her, agape. Then he's laughing, bright and wide, excited and whooping, still drunk off his ass, elated at the prospect of a rep even seeing them, and when Lola tells him that Zutaut loved their sound, Tommy almost chokes on his breath.

He's bright and ecstatic and Lola can't help but marvel at his energy, but there it is again, that moment of disappointment that washes through her as she knows she needs to hold herself back. She's happy for him, for all of them, but something about his excitement draws her to him; she can't help but think of Nikki's words, about how every time Tommy pays her half a compliment-

"Dude are you coming? You're the one with keys, right?" Tommy's grinning at the top of the stairs, and Lola follows quickly. "They'll all be here soon, but-" he smells his own breath as she lets them into the apartment and he actually gags, "yeah I should get water... something."

"Is that going to be enough?" Lola joked, and Tommy actually stuck his tongue out at her.

"You didn't need to come with me, Lols," Tommy yells from their bathroom, and Lola laughs lightly from the kitchen, searching for the pills she knew she had in one of cupboards. "Seriously, you could have left me, packed up or whatever, you didn't need to-" And then he's leaning on the kitchen counter behind her, moving to sit on it, taller than he had any right to be, and Lola's turning on her heel.

Something Lola had noted not long after they'd met, is that no matter how fucked up he got, Tommy was a surprisingly coherent drunk, and could keep conversation much better than he should rightly be able to. Whether or not he remembers the conversation is another matter altogether.

"I do what I want, babes," she tells him, matter-of-factly, and he's too drunk to refrain from commenting.

"I know," he snickers, and Lola steps up to him rests her hands on his thighs where his heels are absentmindedly kicking the counter, "no-one tells you what to do," Tommy grins, clearly ignorant to Lola's angry apprehension, "they try and you just-" he punches her shoulder lightly, clearly still drunk, and already her anger's melting, "like that asshole earlier; fuckin' awesome."

Sometimes he says stupid stuff without thinking, but in moments like this, even without realising, he covers easily. God, Nikki's right; her heart's softening again- the barest compliment- Her nails dig into his thighs just a little and that gets his attention, looking back at her with a sharp smile.

"You're pretty awesome yourself," Lola hears herself saying, and Tommy hops down from the counter, into Lola's space. His smile is amused as he takes her face in his hands, squeezing her cheeks enough that she's making a face and he's snorting with laughter.

And maybe it's that she's sick of people taking her for granted, of hearing they only wanting her around because they want to fuck her, and that hearing someone grateful to have her around makes her heart flutter just a little, but in this moment, Tommy's drunken laughter is the best thing she's ever heard, and she's fucking tired of pretending like she doesn't want him.

"You do this a lot," his laughter is dying down, and now he's just looking at her, at her face in his hands, and she knows he's talking about her habit of holding his face for a few moments before moving on.

"What can I say, I can't help myself," Lola murmurs, heart in her throat. There's a moment, her expression softens, just a little, letting herself smile a little at him.

Tommy scrunches up his face very deliberately after a moment, letting go of her to shove gently at her shoulders. She moves back without hesitation, had seen the way he'd hesitated before moving, seen his gaze flick to her lips, but all that she could feel was confusion as he rubbed a hand over his face, laughing though there was no humour in it.

"You keep doing that- fuck, you keep doing that, keep saying stuff like that - do you want me to get my ass kicked?" He asks, actually seems a little put out as he opens the fridge and gets himself a beer, "it feels like some sort of sick fuckin' game, like the moment I slip up I'm out of the band, right? It's a test."

For a moment, she feels like she's been winded. There's the sound of a crowd making their way down the street, a well known sound, but it's like the ticking of a clock. Tommy cracks open his beer.

In this moment, she knows she could do anything, be anything, say anything and convince him, be confident and dismissive of the claim, be flirty, convince him he's being paranoid, but Tommy's too honest, and far too drunk for her to manipulate him so dishonestly like that, and more importantly, she doesn't want to. In a moment of rare honesty on her own part, she drops her gaze frowning.

"Nikki's just worried about the band, and he knows- he and I know that I have a habit of," tipping her head to the side, she moves around the kitchen getting herself a drink and downing the pills, after swallowing, she takes a seat on the counter where Tommy had been sitting; he's watching her, following her every word; she restarts her thought, finally meeting his gaze, "Tommy, I'm really good at ruining good things, and this band is a very good thing." After a beat, she ducks her gaze, voice growing quieter. "You're a good thing." She mumbles, a blush rising on her cheeks.

The noise outside is louder now; they're probably at the Whiskey. If Lola or Tommy notice, neither seems to care.

"So it's not a test? No-one's gonna kick my ass?" Tommy stepped forwards, still nursing his beer, "you're not gonna kick my ass if I try anything? No -?" and he steps into her space, punching her shoulder playfully, adding his own sound effects as he does so, and Lola can't help but laugh.

"I like you too much to kick your ass," Lola admits, finally looking up at him, her smile affectionate and genuine, and he's grinning, a eyes shining with amusement.

"There you go again, sayin' that sweet shit; how did I ever think you were a stone cold badass?"

"Because I am a stone cold badass, dude, you just know me better now," her smile mirrors his, and she makes room for him to stand between her legs. It's strange to consider that he does actually know her, that they've been friends for months by now, working together and partying together, both so worried about what it would mean to reach out, and yet they still ended up here. She reaches up, taking his face in her hands, and she watches him snicker, remembering the moment they'd been sharing only a few minutes earlier, "and, well, somethin' 'bout you just makes me..." she trails off, the thought too sappy to even voice, but the gentleness in her smile, in her eyes, conveys everything she can't bring herself to say.

Her hands drop from his face, trailing down his shoulders until she's taking his hands where they're resting on the counter either side of her. People are making their way inside, but they seem to have the good sense to avoid Lola and Tommy, who are ignoring them all.

"I feel like we were having a moment earlier," Tommy muses with a smirk, and Lola tips her head to the side, confused and amused.

"We're having a moment now, dumbass."

"Yeah, but do you think I can apologise for ruining that moment without ruining this one?" He asks, leaning in.

"Depends; will you remember any of this tomorrow?" Lola asks, looking from his lips to his eyes, watching his eyebrows rise.

"Will you be there to remind me?"

And it's so sweet, equal parts genuine and flirty, and Lola can feel her heart in her throat, eyes widening at the request, giving his hands an involuntary squeeze.

Something about this, about her like this, it has affection stirring in Tommy's chest, he's never seen her like this around anyone else, neither Tommy nor Vince, nor any person she's been interested in, and for a moment there's doubt in his mind, that this is another mask, one she's crafted specifically for him, but she's been too honest, too vulnerable -

She licks her lips, gives an actual, hopeful and sweet smile.

"I'll be there."

She lets him make the first move, still half convinced he might bolt now that they're surrounded by people, but he doesn't; doesn't hesitate, doesn't wait, just winds his arms around her, his lips on hers, warm and gentle, mouth fitting so well against hers, and he tastes like beer and she tastes like spirits, and together they definitely taste like some sort of terrible decision. But he's smiling against her, pulling her closer, and Lola can't help but break away, a giggle escaping her, so overjoyed and overwhelmed in equal measure after everything that's gone down.

So much has happened tonight, and she can still feel Zutaut's business card poking her where it was still stuffed in her bra, and she can feel a swell of pride in her chest every time she thinks about it.

"Dude, stop fucking girls in the kitchen," they both hear the very familiar voice of Nikki Sixx over the general hubbub, and Tommy freezes. When Lola leans back, turns to look over her shoulder and give Nikki a smile that's all teeth, the drummer can't help the worry that he inflicts upon himself, pressing his forehead to her collar.

"What if the girl lives here and says it's okay?"

Tommy snickers, and raises his head to finally look at Nikki, who's looking back and forth between the two of them. The bass player's gaze finally locks with Lola's, and it's like a whole conversation plays out between them across the room, without a word being spoken.

Nikki's frowning a little, but then Lola makes a very pointed jerking off motion, giving a look to a girl a few feet away from Nikki, who Tommy thinks he recognises from the bar, and Nikki's jaw clenches as he turns pink. After a beat, Lola gives a smile placating smile and pulls Zutaut's business card from her bra and waves it enticingly before putting it in their empty fruit bowl beside herself, and that seems to calm Nikki down enough; he looks between Tommy and Lola again, before he actually smiles a little, and shakes his head with exasperation, but not disapproval. He moves on, steps up to the girl from the pub; Tommy looks back to Lola, who seems a little smug.

"See, no worry, no stress," Lola's voice is low, surprisingly calming, and Tommy realises the latent panic at the idea of 'being with Nikki's girlfriend' must show on his face. Lola takes his chin between her thumb and forefinger, watching as his expression shifts to faint embarrassment, "he's got no moral leg to stand on anyways; you get your dick out at the bar of the Troubadour and you're no longer allowed to judge anyone else," she laughs, dropping her hand to the counter, leaning back a little.

"Fuck, I love you," Tommy breathes, and Lola's eyes widen.

"I'm not fucking you in the kitchen, that was a joke," she blurts out, and then Tommy's laughing, his forehead against her shoulder, and she's suddenly self conscious, just a little, "I mean, I- dude you're fucked, and I don't want to take advantage of you, 'specially not in such a crowded- I mean, honestly any other night-"

"Dude, babe, that's whatever, I just- fuck, I'm a dumbass sometimes, don't worry."

And so Lola, who had too many feelings and couldn't even begin to articulate them, followed the advise of Tommy, who also had too many feelings and was willing to articulate them at the drop of a hat, and didn't worry about it. Mostly. For a moment, she actually enjoyed it; whether or not he meant it the way he said it, it didn't matter. Threading her fingers through his hair, she pulled him in for another kiss.