#dude the build up to this date didn’t disappoint holy shit

[zeb-z]

demon girl tina who shaves her horns down, who tries to be everything a demon isn’t. never angry, never pressed, sweet and easygoing. perfect in every sense of the term. who’s traumatized from purgatory, who’s afraid of losing what she loves as much as she’s afraid of being shunned by who she loves for what she is. for all the imperfections that fracture her perfect image. who craves trust, a place to belong, the secret of who she is just bubbling under the surface, shaved down and hidden just underneath the cat ears she wears.

human girl bagi who embraces imperfection, who loves with loyalty and longevity. who would go to the ends of the earth for her loved ones, knowing their worst sins, their terrible crimes, and going I will love you anyway. I will be there for you anyway. who’s best friend is a demon, who she knows is a demon, who she met at his worst, and wouldn’t let him go through it alone. who understands the importance of secrets, which means she knows the value of honesty, and is ready to lay out all her truths once she cares about someone enough, trusts them enough.

tina getting flighty and nervous when she’s told that it’s love what bagi feels - not because she doesn’t feel the same, but because she does, and it’s all she’s ever wanted, and isn’t that just terrifying? because she doesn’t think she fully deserves it. not yet at least! and she doesn’t want to lose it. imperfect, clumsy, secretly a demon tina, still processing purgatory and everything that came before, so afraid because she believes she can’t measure up. once she’s worked on herself, once she’s perfect, she says. once she stops panicking at purgatory flashbacks, once she stops losing her temper, once she can provide stability, once she’s shaved her horns and they stop growing back - then she’ll be ready. as soon as she’s made herself into something easily lovable.

bagi listens to tina as she spills some of this to her, under the moonlight along the beach. not quite all her worries, but some, just like she had given not quite her whole heart, but a part of it, in that room that represents bagi’s mind. and bagi doesn’t press for more than what she’ll give, because she cherishes what has been given already, because she’s in no rush and has no where else to go, because above all else, she’s in love and willing to wait. and in the meantime, she’ll reassure tina that she doesn’t want perfection - she just wants tina the way she is.

[faegoddessog]

Woman in Red Ch 2/17

Chapter 2: "I really like you..." "But?"

Summary: She's a very successful woman who can't seem to find a partner that can keep up with her. He is just wanting to find someone who likes him for HIM, not his fame. Neither of them are prepared for what hits them when she walks into that coffee shop.

Chapter Warnings: kissing, age gap, drinking, mentions of sex,

A/N: Slow burn and character building in this one! Don't worry, the heat is definitely forthcoming!

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Here is the Woman in Red Masterlist

Here is the link to all my posted work: My Dirty Little, and not so little Stories.

@purejasmine @slowsweetlove @richardslady121 @austinbutlerslovers

Chapter 2: "I really like you..." "But?"

Back at her office, Aya is haphazardly working at her desk when her good friend, partner and work-wife knocks on the frame of the door.

“Hey, did you get my text to bring me a latte?” Dalia says.

“Um..” Aya looks at her phone, ”shit no! So sorry. I will have one delivered for you! I was distracted.”

“Oh and does this distraction have a name?” Dalia sits on the corner of her desk, she has been married to the same guy for years now and loves to live vicariously through Aya’s devil-may-care love life.

“Yes, Austin. He offered to buy my coffee before we even said a word to each other. He is picking me up here at six for dinner,” Aya giggles like a schoolgirl.

“Damn girl! You astound me at how fast you move. Is he handsome, who am I kidding, of course he’s handsome?” Dalia shakes her head.

“Oh it was all his idea, and he said he was shy, but he’s an actor so who knows, he could be faking it. Here’s a picture.” She holds up the contact picture.

“Wait, this is the guy?” Dalia grabs the phone and zooms in. “Holy shit girl, you don’t know who that is? How do you live in LA and now know this man?”

“What! I’ve fallen away from following Hollywood drama. I’ve been busy working and wearing out lesser men!” Aya smiles, “Who is he?”

“Well you are going to have to work really hard to wear this one out. Dude, that is Austin Butler.”

Aya’s eyebrows squish together, “Who?”

“He’s the guy who played Elvis, won a bunch of awards for it, was in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood? Did a bunch of Disney and Nickelodeon shows?” Dalia plugs in his name on her phone.

“NO! It can’t be! He doesn’t look like that guy. Butler has dark hair and didn’t have this amazing jawline… he was…” She stops short as Dalia turns her phone around. “Oh fuck…”

“Yeah Oh fuck…”

—--

Aya had touched up her make-up and hair and nervously checked her phone again. She rarely had her dates pick her up anymore, choosing to meet them out somewhere. It was ten ‘till six. Much to Dalia’s disappointment, Aya had made the decision to not go into a deep internet dive on her date tonight. She decided that she should draw her own conclusions about him this evening, instead of letting internet opinion color her ideas of him. She knew she already liked his vibe, and Dalia swore she would not fawn over him when he got here.

“Hello, I’m looking for Aya? ” she heard a deep voice in the lobby down the hall.

“Oh, is she expecting you?” The receptionist asks.

“Yes Ma’am,” she could hear the smile in his voice.

“One moment please,” the click-clack of heels echo louder and louder down the hall.

“Aya, there is a shockingly handsome and famous man asking after you,” she says softly, waggling her eyebrows, “Shall I show him in?”

“Yes, please,” her voice is nothing but professional, but her face says ‘play it cool!’

As Austin walks through the door and Aya looks up from her feigned ‘work’.

Austin had driven home in a flurry after coffee, had his project meeting via zoom and had cut it short in order to get ready. He had called his favorite little restaurant for reservations. The owner was known to be impeccably discrete when it came to celebrities. He got a table for 7pm.

He had been nervous driving to her office and missed a turn. Luckily he had left early enough he still had to wait in the parking lot for a few minutes. Her text had an address about 7 blocks from the coffee shop and the words ‘16th floor’. When he got into the elevator, he saw that 16 was the top floor, if you didn’t count the extra key’ed button.

Now he is standing in her office lobby. It is bright and clean and the young receptionist treated him like anyone else. The logo printed behind the desk said ‘AyDal Investments’.

He walks into her office behind the receptionist.

There are two overstuffed chairs off to her right set up around a low table in a conversational manner. She is behind a walnut desk in the center of the room with a little plaque that says ‘President’. The entirety of the wall behind her is glass with a view of downtown. To her left is a wall of built in bookcases with books, knick knacks, and what looks to be several awards. The low sun glints off the buildings in the distance. She looks up at him and smiles.

“Hey Austin, you found it!” Her breath catches as she looks him up and down. He stands there smiling, hands in the pockets of his dark blue slacks, the matching double breasted jacket is dressed down with a white ribbed t-shirt. His hair looks a little less unruly, like he had run a brush though it. He looked phenomenal. The idea of pushing his jacket off his shoulders and running her hands under the white shirt pops into her mind.

“I didn’t know you were a big wig,” he teases, nodding at the plaque.

“Yeah, my friend Dalia and I built the company from the ground up.”

“Hey Aya! I’m heading out,” Dalia’s voice floats down the hall.

“Speak of the devil,” Aya says quietly to Austin.

Dalia’s head pops around the corner.

“Hey Dal, this is Austin, Austin, Dalia, my work wife and partner in crime.”

Austin walks over and holds out a hand in greeting. Dalia shakes his hand and the second he turns his back she mouths ‘OH MY GOD’ to Aya.

“Oh!, AyDal, I get it!! Aya and Dalia… clever,” he points to them both, smiling.

Dalia swiftly smiles back at him, covering her excitement.

“Do you want me to lock up on the way out? Everyone else is gone,” Dalia asks waggling her eyebrows behind his back.

“No, I’ll take care of it.”

“Ok bye! I’ll see you on Monday then,” Dalia waves, “Nice to meet you Austin,” she says, giving him a wink.

“Nice to meet you too, Dalia,” he waves then turns to Aya, “We should probably get going too if we are going to make our reservation”

—---------------------------

Four and half hours later, Austin pulls his car into the same spot where he parked when he picked her up earlier. So far, the night had been amazing. The conversation flowed like the bottle of wine she chose from the sommelier’s list. The food was excellent. Aya had never even heard of this little niche restaurant. He was forever grateful that no one recognized him. They flirted back and forth the whole time.

Austin put his hand on his door handle, presumably to jump out and open her door.

“Would you like to come up for a night-cap?” her hand on his arm stops him.

“Sure,” he replies with a smile. He’s been invited into women’s hotel rooms, their flats and apartments for ‘night-caps’ but never an office before, this should be interesting. He opens her door and offers her a hand out of his car.

“What do you drink?,” she walks into her office, and to the right of her desk, behind the chairs. She pushes open a hidden panel, revealing a small, but well stocked bar. A soft automatic light illuminates her in the otherwise darkened room.

“I can make you an old fashioned, a martini, a negroni, a manhattan, a tom collins, whiskey sour, scotch on the rocks?” The light from the bar silhouetting her figure as she turns around to look at him.

“Oh, um… I’ll have whatever you are having,” he says, thinking it’ll taste better when they kiss if they drink the same thing. And he does plan on kissing her.

“Ok, I’m gonna do my favorite, whiskey sour with soda. Please make yourself comfortable.”

She sets to work pouring, peeling, mixes it in the shaker and pours it over ice, adding soda.

He tosses his jacket onto the overstuffed chair and leans against her heavy wooden desk. He watches her confidently pour and shake imagining lifting the hem of her dress to find no panties. Damn she is fine.

She hands him a lowball with bubbling light brown liquid in it, a twist of lemon garnishing the top. She sits, legs crossed, on her desk next to him, letting her shoes fall to the floor.

He sips, unable to stop the image of big black buttons slipping through wide button holes play in his mind.

She sips, mentally wishing his idea of getting comfortable entailed more than just removing his jacket.

They both look out the window at the lights of the city for a few heartbeats, drinking and wondering which of them was going to make the first move.

“Mmm. This is delicious,” his voice rumbles seductively next to her. She takes another pull on her lowball.

He stands and turns, positioning himself in front of her, the light from the bar slicing across his face from the side. She licks the moisture glistening on her upper lip, looking into his eyes. Then his lips are on hers. It’s a gentle kiss; lips slightly parted, the tip of his tongue playing lightly along her lips. She is taken by surprise, though, she thinks immediately, she shouldn’t have been. Her free hand goes to his chest as she inhales. He pulls away with a gentle smack, looking into her eyes.

“I’m sorry, I know we just met but… ,” he says looking down at her hand on his chest.

“Listen, Austin,” she says matter of factly, ”I really like you-”, she leaves the rest of the sentence hanging in the air as she takes a big breath.

Her tone sounds like he is about to be let down and pretty hard. He takes a long drink, not looking into her eyes, not wanting to show his disappointment.

“And I had… no, I AM having a great time tonight,” she says.

“But?” he says after swallowing, his eyes cast down.

She frowns a little, tilts his chin up to look at her.

“No. No ‘but’. I just have to say out loud, that I’ve been wanting to run my hands through your hair and over your naked skin since I first saw you today. I’ve been wanting to kiss you since the coffee shop and undress you since you picked me up. Truthfully, I want to fuck you mindless and only to have you beg and plead for more, Austin.”

“Oh…” his eyes soften to hear that she want him, then they flare at her shameless statement.

“And I feel that before I do all that, I just want to be transparent about a couple things. I don’t want you to think I’m misleading you.”

“Ok.” he says. She has more to be transparent about? It doesn’t matter what she says, he already knows his answer is a resounding yes.

“I know we’ve not really talked about it, but Dalia did tell me who you are, and I realized I had seen you before. But I decided not to google you, because I wanted to make up my own mind about you.”

“I appreciate that, media and the internet can be…. “ he shakes his head.

“I am well aware,” she nods. “The other thing is, I wasn’t joking when I told you I was at least ten years older than you, and I want to know if that’s gonna be an issue for you.”

“Well,” he begins, setting his empty glass down, “the fact that my fame isn’t why you are interested in me is a breath of fresh air, to say the least. I will be honest, up to now, all of the women I’ve dated have been my age or younger. But,” he runs his hands from her shoulders down her arms, “you are captivating in ways none of them could be.” He takes her mostly empty drink from her hand and sets it next to his on the desk, ”Frankly, your age doesn't matter to me because,” he hesitates just a little, not used to being so bold, “I’ve been wanting to get you out of that dress since you sat next to me in the coffee shop.” To his own surprise, he adds, “and we’ll see who begs for more.”

“Well then,” she fists her hand into his white shirt, uncrossing her legs to make room for him to get close, ”let’s try this again.”

She leans up, he leans down. His hand rises to her jaw, her hands slides around his tight little waist. There is no hesitation this time from either of them. The second their lips meet, sparks fly. After a moment the embers catch, lips part, heads tilt, tongues meet.

He was right, they both tasted of whiskey and soda. She was delicious.

His kiss was perfect, not too aggressive but hinting at what he could offer her. His lips were soft, his tongue just adventurous enough, and he tasted amazing, of course.

A sucker for the feel of skin, she slips her hands under the hem of his ribbed t-shirt. She expected warm skin, she did not expect the ridges of muscle under her fingers.

“Ohhhh” she breathes against his mouth. Maybe he is up the task.

His hands slip over her shoulders and down her back. When he feels her cool fingertips on his hot torso, he steps in close, pressing his hips between her legs. He’s never fucked a company president before, especially not on their own desk.

“C’mon Austin,” she pushes him back suddenly and hops down, “finish your drink so we can go.”

“Go where? For the record, I’m ok with here,” he taps the desktop.

“Right here?” she asks, covering his hand with her own. He nods. “Oh no, not on my desk, I’d never be able to get work done again, I’d be so distracted by the memory. No, I’ve a much better place.” She pushes his drink into his hand, “drink, you’ll see,” her coquettish look makes him curious.

He drains his glass as she does hers. He watches her as she puts them in the bar and closes it. She picks up his jacket, but oddly leaves her shoes on the floor. She grabs his hand and leads him to the bookshelf of all places. She reaches up and grabs one of the awards. As she tilts the glass trophy, she looks back at him to watch his reaction in the lights of the city. The shelf swings open. She giggles as his mouth falls open.

“Um… are we going to your secret sex dungeon?” he asks only half jokingly.

[justmeinadaze]

Playing the Game Part 2 (Steve X Plus Size Reader)

A/N: I need you to know that I dream about this story lol Joe Keery invaded my dreams and now I can't stop! I'm not complaining, I'm just saying. Seriously y'all, thank you for all the comments and reading <3. You're amazing and beautiful, each and everyone of you!

Warnings: Daddy/Dom Harrington and all that that implies ( I regret nothing). Reader does express some shaky past experiences but its fleeting. I may dive more into that later but no sey.

Word Count: 3382

When Steve showed up for his shift at Family Video, he was surprised to see Robin but not your car. He thought with her having it and you coming to get it, it would give him a chance to talk to you again. 

“Hey Robin. Where is Y/N car?”

“Why, hello Steve. It is good to see you on this beautiful morning as well.”

Steve squints his eyes in a sarcastic glare and responds with a wave in her direction making her laugh. “She came by and picked it up about an hour ago before her shift started.” He makes his way around and props himself up on the counter. 

“You know where she works?”

Robin turns and gives Steve a questioning look. “Why?”

“What? I’m just curious. Don’t look at me like that!” he says in a sassy tone as he points to her face. 

“Oh my god. You like her!” Steve playfully rolls his eyes. “No, no, no. That’s perfect. She needs a good dude in her life for once. Dating wise I mean. She spends a lot of time around Eddie but my understanding is they are just friends.”

“Wait, what do you mean ‘she spends a lot of time around Eddie’?” 

“You know that comic bookstore about 3 blocks up the way? She’s been the manager there for about 3 years now. Since Eddie graduated, he does the whole D & D thing there.”

Steve starred at her in disbelief. You had been so close this entire time and he had no idea. You hung out and were friends with at least 2 people he spent a good amount of time with. How had he never met you before?

“Yes.” Robin said suddenly breaking him out of his thoughtful haze. She looked over her shoulder at him and smiled at his confused face. “Yes, I will watch the store so you can go talk to her. You’d do the same for me.” Steve pulled Robin in for hug. “Yeah, yeah, yeah now go. BY THE WAY IF YOU HURT HER I WILL KILL YOU!” She shouted after him as he ran out the front door. 

His feet didn’t stop till he was just outside your store. He paused, checking his reflection in the window next door, giving his hair a quick run through before stepping inside. It was a big place, jam packed with wall-to-wall comics. Near the back, Steve noticed some costumes hanging on a rack as well and some figurines on a shelf. He could hear men shouting from somewhere in the building but other than that it was quiet. To be fair, the video store was quiet to with it being a Monday. 

“Holy shit, is that Harrington!?” Eddie Munson shouts at him from his spot near the glass counter to the side that he was leaning over. 

“Why, I think it is.” You were sitting in a chair near the register next to Eddie with a book in your lap. A small, excited sigh escaped his lips as you smiled at him. “Are you lost, Harrington?”

Steve casually saunters to the counter and gives Eddie one of those “dude nods”. Eddie reciprocates it but cackles slightly as he turns to you. “Yeah, he may need some help.”

You giggle, lighting pushing Eddie away from your area. 

“Leave him alone. Go finish your game or whatever you guys are doing over there. I have to do inventory later so I’ll be closing early today.”

Eddie responds with a faux salute before turning on his heels and heading back to the table he and his friends were sitting at. You roll your eyes before turning your attention back to Steve.

“I see Robin sold me out.”

“Disappointed?” He asks as he leans his elbows on to the counter allowing him to be a bit more level with you. 

“A little.” You grin at him as you place down your own elbows, leaning forward. Your face is a few inches away from his. You inhale the smell of his cologne and the scent of outside that clung to him from his walk over. 

Steve reaches over taking one of your small hands in his. He delicately slides up your sweater exposing your wrist. The feel of him gently caressing your skin with his thumb makes you let out a tiny whimper that only he can hear. His next words come out low and husky. “I just wanted to come and see how you were doing.”

You bite your bottom lip and smile, leaning a bit closer to him. “I think you just wanted to see if I really worked here since I’m only…what…a few blocks away from Family Video.” His eyes lifted to meet yours as you cocked your head to the side. “Oh yeah. I knew you worked there.” You lean past him so your cheek is on his as your whisper, “I really was invisible. Huh, Daddy?”

When you pull back, your sarcastic smirk is met with fire burning through his eyes. He didn’t like being called out. As you try to pull your hand away, you feel him tighten his grip. “I guess I should be grateful that ‘King Steve’ is showing me attention now.” You smirk turns into a thin line as you glare into his eyes.

Steve’s jaw tightens as he looks away in the void. He loosens his hold on you but he doesn’t let you go. Instead, he opens his other palm, silently asking you to trust him and to his slight surprise you do. When your other hand is in his, he meets your eyes again, except this time they reflect sincerity. 

“I know I wasn’t the best guy back in high school. I wanted people to like me. I wanted my dad to be proud of me. I wanted to be somebody I wasn’t. I’d like to think that I’m a better person now than I was then. Trust me, Y/N even if we had been friends, you wouldn’t have wanted anything to do with me.”

Your eyes are searching through his features as you listen to him. He releases one of your hands to hold your chin as he lightly, running his thumb over your bottom lip. “All I’m asking for is a chance for you to get to know this version of me.”

“Ay! Get a room you two!”, Eddie hollers from his seat. 

Without breaking eye contact from Steve, you shout back, “Nobody asked for you opinion, Munson!” Steve smiles as you both hear Eddie chuckle at your response. “What time do you get off, Harrington?”

“About 6.”

“I’m closing at 5 but I have to stay a couple of hours to do some inventory. Would you like to keep me company?” He nods as he let’s go of your hands. “Now you better get back before Robin has a panic attack.” You make a shooing motion with your hands as he winks at you. You watch him as he runs out the door and up the street.

#####################################################

At 6:15 you hear a light knock at the front of the door. You grin at Steve as you half jog over to him and unlock the door. “Hey, how was work?”

“Uh, good. Pretty slow especially with me checking the clock every 10 minutes.” He follows you as you both head towards a room in the back of the store.

“Aw, did Daddy miss me?” You tone playfully mocking him as you look down to shuffle through your keys. He didn’t respond but his cock definitely twitched in his pants. You didn’t know it but that was his kryptonite. Every time you said it something inside of him went almost feral. He’d learn your weakness soon enough. There hadto be something that just drove you insane in the best possible way.

You opened the door to some kind of storage closet and turned on the light. “Since we were slow, I was able run through the store pretty quickly especially without Eddie and Dustin distracting me.”

“Henderson comes here to?!”

“Oh yeah, Harrington. I’m actually surprised he didn’t tell you that. Kid, never shuts up about you.”

“I’m not really into his game so that’s more Munson’s territory.” He glances around the room taking in everything. You sit on a stool on the floor and cut open a box in front of you. 

“I just have this one container. We didn’t get a whole lot in this time around.”

Steve sits on the floor across from you and pulls a comic out to take a look. “Why is a that?”

“I think it has something to do with people still feeling like things like Dungeons and Dragons and comics are more for children. Hawkins isn’t exactly an open-minded town.” You smile at him as you watch him flip casually through the comic in hand with a bewildered, concentrated look on his face. “You’d like that one.”

He glances at you before looking back it. “What makes you say that?”

“It’s about a boy who spites his villain father by becoming a vigilante and hunts down his men.” Steve makes a huh sound as his fingers move slower through the pages. “You can take it if you want. You just have to bring it back and DON’T tell Eddie. Last time I let him borrow something it came back stained with God knows what so now he’s banned.” 

You both sit in a comfortable silence while he watches you look through the box of goodies and make markings on a clipboard you’re holding. You had taken off your sweater and tied around your waist. Your Batman logo t-shirt was pressed tightly against your breasts and thick tummy. Your blue jeans had a rip near the knee and there was some writing in black marker “Hellfire” with a crudely drawn devil underneath is scrawled across your outer thigh and a couple names Steve recognizes are displayed underneath. His fingers reach out and trace along them. 

“Yeah”, you adjust your leg so he can get a better look. “Eddie can never seem to sit still for too long so he did that one day. Then, of course, the other boys felt like they had add their input. I have another pair that say ‘Corroded Coffin’ on the calf.”

“So… its normal for guys to touch your legs?” Steve asks with that edge that made your head tilt and the brat start to slowly bubble forward. This was your favorite part of this game. Unfortunately, it never unfolded the way you wanted it to mostly because you ALWAYS won and even worse a lot of the men you tried to play with let you win thinking that’s what you wanted. You had yet to meet a worthy contender to really challenge you.

“People I’ve known and trusted since I was 15, yes.” You push the container in front of you to the side with your foot and slide off the stool you’re sitting on to the floor, place your legs out in front of you near his own. “Now anyone else? I prefer they leave markings on my legs in a different way.” Oh, the way that fire from earlier ignited in his eyes again at the thought of any man touching you like that reached through you straight to your core. You shifted up on your knees and glided closer to his side. In the most condescending voice you could muster you kept pushing him. “Uh oh. Is Stevie jealous?”

His hand shoots out and roughly grabs your throat making you gasp. He watched your face as your eyes closed and your lips trembled as you gulped in small pockets of air. After a few seconds, he loosened his grasp on your neck. You reached forward, placing your palm on the bulge between his legs and he growled in response. Steve pulled on your neck, moving you forward until you were hovering just inches from his face. 

“I don’t remember saying you could touch me.”

“I don’t remember asking.” You whispered against his lips as a slowly creeping grin spread across your face. “Feels like you don’t seem to mind either.” Your hand starts rubbing against him. He grabs your hand and an almost villainous laugh echoes through the room as he shoves you away from him and you fall back on your butt. Steve wastes no time climbing on top of you and pins your wrists down against the tile floor.

“I feel like you’re forgetting who’s in charge in this dynamic. You seem to think you can talk your way into getting me to do whatever you want.” You try and push at his hands as he talks over you but it’s no use. He’s too strong and as if to prove that point, he lifts your arms over your head, shifting your wrists so he can pin them down with one hand as the other comes to grab your face. “Now, let’s try again.”

He stares down at you waiting for you to speak. He watches as your jaw tightens into almost a toddler pout. “I can wait here all night. I have nowhere to be.”

You scoff at him. “Doesn’t surprise me.” He gives you an angry yet amused look. Steve rolls to the side of you, forcefully untying your sweater from your hips, and slides down your pants to your ankles. You let out moan when you feel his index finger slide between your folds. 

“For someone who talks back a lot you are extremely wet. Hmmm.” He looks down at you as his finger starts circling over your clit. “So, you want someone to be in charge but you can’t submit without a fight?” Suddenly, his strong hand comes down and smacks your pussy making you jump. “I can work with that.” Steve leans over you again with his lip hovering just above yours. “Let’s try again.”

You glare into his eyes but he can see you’re starting to slowly lose the battle. God, you were gorgeous like this. He smacks your pussy again grazing your clit and your whole body pushes against up against him. He smiles as he watches you squirm. You lean up trying to capture his lips in yours but he pulls away making you whine. 

“Please”, you whimper.

His hand comes down, slapping you a bit harder. “Please what?”

“Please, let me touch you.”

He slaps you so hard against your clit that your hips fly upwards and twist towards him. “Louder.”

“Please! I want to touch you. I want to feel your body, sir! Please!” 

The addition of “sir” was new and he didn’t mind it. Daddy or sir, he didn’t care which one you used as long as you understood that he was in charge in that moment. Steve released his grip on your wrists and took hold of your waist, lifting you up on to his lap. You reached down between you both and quickly undid his belt as he helped by raising his hips to shove down his pants and boxers. You inhaled slightly at the sight of his cock. He was bigger than you expected him to be. You felt his hands push your hair back out of your face as he leaned his forehead on yours. 

“Hey”, he whispers as his fingers come down to caress your cheeks. “You can take it. I know my good girl can handle a cock like mine. Go as slow as you need to. I have all night remember? There’s nowhere else I would rather be.”

You reach between your legs and gather some of the slick along your hand. Steve moans as your rub it up and down his length for lubrication. You lift yourself up and inch by inch descend on to him. He watches your face as it scrunches in pleasure; your mouth opening to form a silent O. You two sit like that for a while as Steve’s hands roam your beautifully chunky curves and soft skin. 

“Can I--?”, you exhale out, your eyes squeeze shut in concentration.

“Can you what, Baby? Look at me.”

Your eyes flutter open and Steve notices they are blown out with excitement. “Can I move, please?” His cock twitches inside of you as you ask for his permission. 

“Yes, baby girl. You can move. Thank you for asking.” He grabs the back of your neck lightly as he pulls you in for a kiss. Both of you moan into each other as you start grinding your hips against him. 

You lean your head against his shoulder as your arms wrap around his neck. “F-fuck, you feel so good inside of me. Going so deep, Daddy. Aagh!” You cry out as Steve thrusts up against you as you use the title he loves. You repeat it in his ear over and over followed with praises about how good he feels. The rough sound of skin slapping against skin rings in your ears. 

“Yes. Just like that, Steve. Can I cum? Please!”

His hands grip your waist as he holds you still to aggressively pound himself into you. He feels your pussy clench around his cock. “Yeah, baby. You can cum. I’m gonna cum with you. Should I pull—”

“No. Pill. On pill.”, is all you can manage to get out as you see the blinding white light clouds your vision as you cum hard shuddering against his chest. Steve does cum a few seconds after you, grunting in your ear as you feel him empty himself inside of you.

You carefully lift your body off of him and lay flat on your stomach against the tile floor. The cold contrast now feels good against your sweaty face. You hear the clinking of Steve’s belt as he shuffles around. His handsome face comes into your field of view as he lays down beside you, cheek pressed flat into the floor. He gently smiles as you, sliding his hand over to hold yours by your side. 

His eyes look dramatically around. “This floor is clean right?” Your body jiggles as you laugh at him and his smile grows. 

“Well, I do the cleaning so I guess it’s more of a question of do you trust me?”

You both quietly look at each other then. The question of trust hanging in the air. Steve slides himself a little closer to you. “I trust you… I’m not saying I’d eat off the floor but”, you giggle at him again as you watch him push himself up onto his elbows. His smile faulters slightly as he looks down at the ground. “Do you trust me?”

“How much as Robin told you about me, Steve?”

“Not much. She just said you worked here and that you deserved a nice guy. She also threatened my life if I hurt you.”

That makes you smile. “Sometimes I wish I was into girls. I would marry that woman in a heartbeat.” He chuckles as he lays his head on the back of his hands. You roll on to your side, facing him. “I’ve been hurt before Steve. Like really bad. But…” You reach out and run your hand through his hair and down to his back. “I don’t know what this is but I do trust you.” You lay flat on your back and use both hands to turn his head to face you. “Don’t make me regret it.”

Steve places a soft kiss on your lips that slow builds to something more passionate. “So”, he says when he finally manages to pull away. “Would you like to go get some food? It can be my thank you for you taking me home.” You press your lips together as you look up at him confused. “Yeah, I forgot to mention, I walked over here and Robin has my car.”

“Oh my god, Harrington. We need to find that girl a car.” You look at those hopeful brown eyes as he waits for your answer. “Ugh, fine! But I choose the restaurant.”

He nods his head as he reaches for you helping you both rise to your feet. Steve pulls you to his chest and kisses the top of your head. 

“Good girl.” ########################

@eddiethesexy @sammy-is-not-smiley Requested to be tagged :)

[sourbat]

A Missed Call

Because you can never have enough magtok, here’s an old one shot I wrote some time back for the holidays, but never got to releasing.

Summary: After a rough morning and bad rehearsal, Toki retreats and listens to an old, missed call saved on his dethphone.

Pair: Toki and Magnus

Rating: T

Read on Ao3 or click read more below!

Following a long night of painting a recently completed figurine, Toki woke up late on the morning of a planned recording session, one he had practiced for beforehand. Toki checked the time, panicked and hurriedly put on some clothes, skipped the shower, and rushed to the upper levels and kitchen to grab some fruit as a quick and easy breakfast. On his way to rehearsal, he got woozy and had to double back retrieve his insulin. When Toki finally arrived, everyone was already in a foul mood. Knubbler mentioned losing two saved recordings, and apparently Murderface raised a fit about it. No one entertained his tardiness, and Toki could tell that patience was wearing thin, but still insisted he get some recordings in to show his dedication to the band.

Since he left his guitar behind in his room, Skwisgaar tentatively offered one of his own, lips pursed and brows sinking while Toki readjusted the harness, tightened a string. It seemed every small action he performed while scrambling to the tinier recording room earned the ire of his lead guitarist, and when they settled, Toki sensed the increasing weight of the atmosphere, the building gravity and high expectations that few could reach.

He couldn’t concentrate. Not with Skwisgaar frowning at him, eyes stained with contempt,  arms crossed tightly to his chest and fingers rapidly tapping the correct rhythm across his rigid form.

Knubbler gave Toki permission to go, but his eyes couldn’t break from the imaginary strings rapidly coursing through Skwisgaar’s busy hands. He knew Skwisgaar was comparing their speed and overall performance. Toki saw the frown extend downwards, finding his attempt inadequate. Toki flubbed the first recording, and just four measures into his part. He messed up on the second and third try. He made it as far as the first rest, then messed up again.

Sixteen measures and another set of wrong notes later, Skwisgaar finally had had enough, and the passive remarks began. Toki couldn’t play over Skwisgaar loudly pointing out every wrong note he tried teaching. With the room filled with a never-ending tirade of “noes,” Knubbler had no choice but to stop recording. The moment he announced the news, Skwisgaar grabbed the guitar by the neck and loudly insisted through Toki’s headset that he would play the parts instead.

The news proved fatal to his esteem. Aghast, Toki pleaded with Skwisgaar to let him try one more time. He grabbed the older man by his top, but then sank and fell on his knees. Skwisgaar wouldn’t have it, nor would Knubbler who, after bringing a hand to cover the red light flaring in his optical devices, suggested an emergency fifteen-minute break.

Tensions were high as Skwisgaar exited the small room, hand clasping the guitar and swinging with a vigor that warned Pickles and Nathan to back off and keep their mouths shut. Murderface left the couch to grab some snacks, and when he returned, saw Toki inching his way to the nearest door.

“You alright, Toki?” he asked through loud chews and smacks.

Toki didn’t answer. His head sank, leaving just a nub of a neck and messy chestnut veil before he reached for the door.

Knubbler turned in his seat. “Tough luck, babe. Come back in fifteen, alright?”

“Or don’ts, nots like we’lls notice,” Skwisgaar said under his breath, earning a sharp jolt from Toki’s shoulder before he stomped out of the room.

Nathan sighed. “Skwisgaar.”  

“Dood, no need ta’ be a–”

The door shut, and at the sound of the lock clicking, Toki pressed his back into the adjoining wall. Cool stone tempered his rigid, hot spine. It pushed the heat forward,  through his chest, then spilled down his cheeks in a furious heat. Toki slid to the floor, legs retracting and arms coiled round to bring them up to his chest. He sighed and tried shutting his eyes, only to have to watch himself repeat the same mistake again, observe his clumsy fingers resting on top the wrong string, wrong fret, sloppily strumming and ending up with a nasty fuzz that only further infuriated Skwisgaar. A heaviness collected across his beet-reddened face before going limp. He buried his face between his shaking legs. He spent the next few moments in silence, head spinning and throat shut, refusing the smallest intake of air until Skwisgaar’s harsh words turned into blurry static.

The pain that swelled in his chest raged forth, climbing up his strained neck, reaching behind his eyes and sending a throb that warned Toki of an impending sob. He sucked a sharp breath, filling his chest and stomach until his belly hurt, then shuttered an uneven exhale. The anxiety whirled in his abdomen, a miniature storm that threatened to burst into a panicked state if he didn’t act quick.

Toki blinked, feeling the wet sting forming in his eyes. He released his shaking, numbing legs, letting one drop while keeping the other close for support. Head still lost in the dark fog, Toki reached for his pocket, and pulled out his phone. He wiped his face, dragged an arm across his nose and sniffed hard, sucking up the collecting moisture into his ailing throat, and went through his dethphone’s multiple applications.  

His thumb lingered over a message dating back nearly eight months. Toki sniveled over it, tongue lapping around his lips as he glanced at the time, the length of the message. Wide eyes darted to the ends of the hallway.  When he determined there were no oncoming gears, he pressed play on the screen.

The phone’s display went dark for a second, then vibrated with a rapture of noises. Toki’s bottom lips curled inward, teeth pressing on top the skin as he watched the screen come alive with shadows, the blur of a swaying phone failing to focus on a single image, and the colorful, out-of-focus city lights in the backdrop.

Then, humming. Toki instantly calmed when he heard the slow, off-tune notes, followed by the screen moving, raised up to reveal Magnus' curious face lazily staring into the screen.  “…why aren’t you answering your phone?”

The voice fuzzed as Magnus brought the screen closer, angle crooked as he leaned to one side, body lax and swaying with each step.

“Just as well. Shit.” Toki broke into a chuckle as Magnus stumbled forward. The camera toggled, pointed upwards at the sky. The first time it had happened, Toki yelped, panicked over Magnus potentially falling and breaking his neck. Now, he counted the seconds of Magnus’ extended groan, then smiled at the incoming giggle that sluggishly transitioned into a prolonged, nonsensical song.  “Dadadaaaa…”

Feeling a bit more at ease, Toki’ s second leg began to sink, and both hands fixed to the screen as he toggled the phone to its side. When he checked again, Magnus was back to a (crooked) stand, happy and quite pleased with himself not falling flat on his face. A car zoomed by in the background. The lights at the intersection turned green, and Magnus brought his tongue out to wet his drying lips.

“Leave it to the one time I figure how to use this dumb app, just my luck.” Magnus rolled his head back, messy hair whisking, flowing out of tandem with his uneven gait. He shut his eyes. “I know I said…I’m sorry I’m drunk, buddy. God, I miss you right now.”

Toki wiped his eyes, giving a short nod. “S’okay,” he whispered, letting a thumb come close to petting the drunk Magnus who’d broken his promise not to drink too much, at least now without Toki to look after him.  

Magnus stared back. Not at the light, nor the screen, but at Toki. “Hope you’re, uhh, having fun right now. Whatever you’re doing.”

Toki shook his head.

Magnus’ expression softened. “You know, I miss you,” he slurred to the phone’s receiver.  “A lot. Like, holy shit, dude. You gotta come back soon. Hit me up, even if it’s just to yell at me for breaking my promise.”

Toki sniffled as Magnus pulled away from the camera. His hand turned inward, almost as though he were trying to cradle the screen, reach and cup the face of the Toki who had failed to pick up the call several months ago. Even then, it had been hard to stay angry at him. Disappointed, sure, but Toki couldn’t stay mad at the man who went out of his way to learn how to use his Facebones-time app, call and speak from the heart.

Thinking of it, Toki glued himself to the screen, silently awaiting the next portion.

“I really miss you,” Magnus continued. He leaned against the wall of some unknown building, his sinking head still favoring a particular side. “I know you’re on tour and all, and I gotta be fucking patient but…this is going to sound so cheesy, but I miss seeing your smile.”

Just hearing the words lifted the ends of Toki’s mouth. On screen, Magnus’ expression softened, eyes blurred with sudden realization.

“I miss you telling me to stop scowling all the time, and I miss you telling me it’s ok…”

“If ams not readies to smiles yet,” Toki whispered to the screen.

“–if I don’t feel ready to smile yet.” Magnus made a face that, to this day, made Toki feel just a little anxious. What was going on in his head, he wondered. Did Magnus know what he was about to say?

He watched Magnus palm his hand over his bad eye. “Fuuuuck, what am I saying?”

“Everytinks you wants, Magnus,” Toki answered the recording. His heart picked up, anticipating the final portion of Magnus’ drunken rambling, the denouement of his accidental message, and that final push Toki needed to help him get through this miserable day.

The screen emitted hardly any sounds, producing only the subtle changes brought on by the late autumn winds, the occasional roll of a speeding car, and Magnus’ own relaxed breathing.

“You’ve probably already deleted this,” Magnus murmured to himself. Or to Toki? Hard to say. The smile he cracked was aimed at no one in particular, but each time he lifted his head, and Toki saw his long waves brush across face and reveal the longing in his eyes, he thought Magnus must have known, deep down, what he was going to say. “I’m drunk and I’m swearing and I miss you, and I love you, and the more I think about you being away for two more weeks–”

Just like that. The three words Toki had tried prying from Magnus for weeks, months, had slipped through the cracks and were uttered during a random night spent drinking alone.

“–It kills me. Shit, I shouldn’t have said that.”

Toki stroked the screen. “Ams fine, Magnus.”

“Well, that’s all. I just wanted to tell you I love you. And miss you. And as soon as you get back I want you to tell me how you got on stage and rocked the hell out of everyone’s soul. The same way you do mine whenever you… hehehehehe…ah,  shit .”

Caught between their shared laughter was Magnus stumbling forward, and like every past play through, Toki quieted down, paused the video once he remembered what Magnus had said, and rewound it just to hear it again. He obsessed over the second “I love you,” all casual and free. The “I love you” that was comfortably tucked between other facets, and said with no restraints, no second-guessing. It was a feeling he admitted to without any forethought, and spoken from the heart.

“Call me back, ok?”

Magnus’ hand covered the screen. It took him a while to accurately bring an end to the call, but while he muttered to himself, questioned and asked no one in particular how to shut off the app, Toki meandered in place, wiggling as he relived the words, Magnus voice setting free that momentous confession thought the form of a simple, missed call. It would be another two months before he whispered the words, so soft and faint, and yet somehow carrying the weight of the universe on top of it. That sober confession would be as impactful, and while Toki spent nights replaying how shy Magnus had been when he first shyly announced his love to him, nothing quite compared to the drunk Magnus who casually remarked his affections.

“Will calls you soons,” Toki said to the phone, then closed the app. He would, and he’d do everything within his power to reverse the tragic alignments set before him, and turn this shitty day into something decent and worth discussing. Skwisgaar could yell at him, but Toki would still try his best. He’d play his heart out like Magnus expected him to, and would have something to show for it once it was over.

Toki checked the time, and saw he had about five minutes left until his break ended, and another two hours before Magnus had to wake up to get ready for work.  His nerves still shook from the memory of his recent failure. Toki sighed. Eyes closed, he saw Magnus standing alone, city lights a messy blur, veiled under a heavy and tiresome drunken haze. If that man could figure out how to use his phone and video call him, cheer him on and tell him how much he cared about him, then Toki could finish a session and get his part in the demo.

He reentered the room a seconds later, warmed face hit with the thick atmosphere.

Pickles and Nathan stopped their discussion to check on him as he slowly approached. Nathan regarded Toki with a gentle nod. “You ok, Toki?”

“Ams fine, thanks for askins.” Toki waved shyly at the two. Thankfully, Skwisgaar was nowhere to be found. While it didn’t guarantee a permanent reprieve from the stress to come, it did allot Toki some additional time to prepare for the rest of his session. Remembering Magnus’ encouraging words, his drunken, cherry-red smile and airy laugh that always reached so high before cracking, Toki exhaled. He pushed out as much of his anxieties as he could, the panic that settled across his queasy belly, and he walked over to Skwisgaar’s guitar.

Pickles raised a brow, popped the gum he’d been chewing as Toki adjusted the strap, and then proceeded to the recording room.

“Hey, Toki.” Nathan interjected, still reclined comfortably in his seat, and not appearing slightly offended when Toki met his obtrusive glare with oblivious perplexity. “Where are you going?”

“To practice,” Toki answered. Charged by his response, Toki confidently turned for the smaller room. “Goinks to show Skwisgaar ams not a screws-up,” he said, voice carrying a surge of an impending storm, raw energy that filled his expanding chest with the assurance he needed to get him through the session.

As he opened the door, Magnus' voice entered his mind:

Rock the hell out of everyone’s soul.

[needs-to-stop-looking-at-yigas]

Oh shit that was some solid Mipha content my dude! *chef's kiss* Love that lil' red sweetie! You're probably getting tired of the boys but if ever you were in the mood to write something with Kohga and Mipha just having some bff time, maybe doing something badass together, hacking up some lizalfos who interrupted their tea time or whatevs .... that would ROCK

We could definitely do some bonding time! Let’s get some stuff going between these two red cuties over here.

“Mipha!! There you are! I was starting to think you bailed on me!”

Mipha chuckled as she joined Kohga. Mipha and Kohga had agreed to go shopping together, in a new store located right in Hyrule field. It was the biggest thing since baked apples, and they immediately wanted to make a date out of it. Kohga was already there, alongside with Sooga of course. She gave a light shake of her head.

“No, I’m sorry, swimming classes with the guppies were dragging on longer than I thought. But I’m here now, and I’m OH so ready to spend the day with you!”

She dove in for a hug, and the usual handshake for Sooga. They turned to the building, and holy SHIT was it something else. It was worthy to be on the same road as Hyrule castle. Three whole stories, and with the advancements of Sheikah technology, there are all new things to buy. They walked in, almost overwhelmed by all the hubbub. Tons of shops and shopkeepers, all kinds of new and shiny things. Mipha didn’t like to be greedy, didn’t like to splurge, but...well, could you blame her for being excited? Before they dashed off like children in a candy store, Sooga cleared his throat, demanding their attention.

“Remember what we agreed on, Master Kohga.”

Kohga groaned, before motioning to Sooga, while looking at Mipha.

“Right right. We agreed that he’d carry all of our stuff, long as I don’t smack his ass in public. So, you might have to pull me back here and there.”

“I...suppose I could try.”

She chuckled. Kohga was so odd, honestly, but she liked that about him. Then, they were off. Mipha followed Kohga as he looked at all types of treats and books, and he followed her as she looked at glass figures and little hand mirrors. Kohga caught Mipha standing by a jewelry stand, cearly looking at one particular ring. Kohga nudged the box of cookies towards her, using it as a means to interject.

“Huh, pretty little ring eh?”

“It’s VERY lovely.”

Sooga peered over them, clearly just as interested as these two were. It was a stunning sapphire ring, surrounded by little diamonds. Kohga chuckled, nudging her shoulder.

“Take it you want uh, Link to get that for you, eh?”

“That’s not at all what I was thinking of!”

She huffed at him, face turning just that adorable shade of pink. Kohga laughed, pulling out his slate to snap a pic of that ring.

“I’m sending this to Link, maybe he’ll take the hint.”

“No! Don’t! Don’t make him think he has to do that! Kohga!”

She tried to reach for the slate, but she was SO small next to him, he was refusing to relent. Sooga sighed, and as the only goddamn grownup in this group, he snatched the slate from his hand, somehow still holding the piles of crap Kohga made him hold.

“Will you two please behave? We are in public. Link will get it in his own time. Last I checked, you once said they were too young for this anyway.”

“Well yeah, but not when they BOTH clearly want to! They’ve been trying to get hitched for like, a year now? I’m just trying to help!”

Mipha felt bad for what she was going to do, but ultimately decided; this was worth it to teach Kohga a lesson. She leaned over the counter a bit, getting the woman’s attention.

“Excuse me, miss! Could you please help my friend here? We’re looking for engagement rings for these two!”

“Oh of course! Let me help you both!”

“Hey wait a minute, I don’t need help-”

Kohga had no effect on the lady as she grabbed his hand, getting a look at his frame.

“Oh, how about something in rose gold? I WAS thinking black, but rose gold goes with the vibe.”

Kohga was trying to figure out how to politely step away from this situation, but was finding it pretty difficult. He motioned for Sooga to help him, and he took the hint.

“We’re sorry, but we aren’t interested in-”

“Oh and you’re the other groom to be, I take it! Oh how cute! You two have the big day all planned out? My brother owns the shop right across from here- he can definitely help you get some nice tuxedos, or maybe even dresses, that’s all the rage nowadays! Here let me get him-BRO!!”

She yelled right across from them, which seemed to bring a man forward.

“Yes?”

“Help me figure out what these two grooms should wear with some of these rings, will you? I don’t even think these poor dears have gotten started planning yet!”

Kohga gestured wildly, though no one seemed to take heed.

“What the fuck is happening, Sooga-”

The man chuckled, patting Sooga on his shoulder.

“Oh I understand! I was lost during my own wedding plans as well! Don’t worry, we’ll help you the whole way! Oh, and you must be the maid of honor, so nice to meet you!”

He reached over to shake Mipha’s hand, and she nodded, as if there wasn’t a thing wrong with what he said.

“I am, actually! And we are in fact, rather lost. He JUST got to popping the question, didn’t plan that far ahead, I’m afraid!”

Sooga looked just as confused, and he was about to interject, when the lady looked at him, all smiles.

“Oh oh oh! I know JUST the place you should honeymoon too! How long have been waiting to get hitched you two?”

Sooga said nothing for a moment, before he cleared his throat.

“I’ve...been wanting that for as long as I could recall. It is an honor to be near him, let alone have the relationship we have now.”

The two seemed to aww, hands over their chests as they fawned over the two. Kohga stomped his foot, not liking the fact that no one was correcting these two idiots.

“Sooga you’re a fucking idiot, I will smack you in front of all of these people. We are NOT-”

“Oh honey, weddings are stressful, we get it! Tell you what, my cousin, the baker, we’ll talk to him about getting you two a good deal. Brother, go get him over here, I wanna see if we can get a color scheme going on.”

“Right! I’ll get some pictures of some dresses that we’ve been doing, and let me tell you the panties that come with it? Will knock your socks off.”

Sooga opened his mouth to interject, when he shrugged.

“I mean...we COULD try some stuff.”

“SOOGA MY FOOT IS GOING SO FAR UP YOUR TIGHT ASS.”

They both seemed to laugh his threat off, while Mipha just sat there, looking all smug.

“Oh do enjoy yourself Kohga. Afterall, I’m just trying to help.”

“Mipha, I love you, but you a BITCH-”

He didn’t get to say much else as the lady took his hand again, slipping a ring on his finger. He was about to tell her off again, when Sooga peered over his shoulder, nodding.

“I rather like it, actually, how much is it?”

“Depends on the size, but we can talk about payment plans!”

“HE makes the money, actually-”

“Oh, my bad! Here, give me your hand sweetie, let me see if it goes well with YOU.”

Sooga, carried away with the notion of a wedding, put his hand on the counter, allowing himself to try another ring. She scowled, trying the rose gold, but not seeming sure.

“I don’t know, I like it?”

“Sweetie, it’s just not your color. What are we thinkin’, hubby?”

Kohga threw his hands in the air, trying to figure out how to stop this crazy train.

“One, NOT hubby! Two, thank you, but we’re not fucking interested, and three, if you don’t get that bullshit off of your finger, I’m going to shove it up your ass, do you understand?”

Sooga clearly looked disappointed, and the woman frowned, leaning over to pat Sooga’s arm.

“Bridezillas. Honey, we get it, it’s the stress. We’ll help you make the day special, okay?”

“...That’s very nice, thank you.”

Kohga was about to let him have it, when suddenly the cake guy walked in, a tray of cakes in his hands.

“Hey hey! Heard there were two little wedding bucks around here! Here, try some of these, tell me what you think! We have red velvet, chocolate and champagne, a nice marble, a carrot cake, a lemon, which is my personal favorite-”

Kohga let his head thunk against the counter, and gave a muffled scream. The three workers looked at each other, and clicked their tongues.

“Wedding jitters.”

[davidmann95]

This week's comics?

Anonymous said: Comics this week (02/16/2021)?

pretenderoftheeast said: Comics this week (2/17/2021)?

Anonymous said: Comics of the week?

o-w-quinlan said: Thoughts on comics this week? Personally loved Superman Worlds of War and the Nubia back-up of Immortal Wonder Woman.

Anonymous said: Thoughts on this week's comics?

Lots of demand for this week! I suppose it’s not too surprising though, by volume alone this was a big one.

Guardians of the Galaxy #11: The worst I can say about this one is it didn’t actively make me fear Ewing’s slipping the chains of his ever-growing power like the last couple.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #23: A couple good moments, but I’m on the verge of dropping it tbh.

M.O.D.O.K.: Head Games #3: Purchased on my dad’s behalf but very much enjoyed by me as well - I’ve learned recently the creators referred to it as “Morrison’s Batman but for M.O.D.O.K.”, and if that’s not the ideal endorsement for a comic book for you I don’t understand why you visit my blog.

Iron Man #6: Feels like if not the vibe the concerns of contemporary Iron Man are really seeping in to this current off-the-wall run starting with this issue, and I’m here for it. Don’t think enough people are paying attention to this one.

Black Widow #5: Okay, I’m definitely onboard to see what the new direction is going to be coming out of this.

Batman/Catwoman #3: Mostly continues to be good but oh my goodness is that Batwoman suit every bit as bad as you heard and then some. In the abstract you could almost claim it’s a fusion of sorts between the aesthetics of both her parents, but then you see it in action and whoops nope you know exactly why this is the way it is.

Future State: Catwoman #2: Didn’t hit me as hard as the first one and I’m very ready to get back to V’s regular book with Blanco, but a decent time nonetheless.

Future State: The Next Batman #4: A solid story but I’m officially peeved that this whole thing was just one big teaser. The Batgirls backup was fine (and am I reading that one bit on the second-to-last-page right?), the Gotham City Sirens backup was so bad it’s the first comic I’ve put money down on in I don’t know how long that I gave up on and flipped through.

Future State: Nightwing #2: If future stuff with Jace doesn’t capitalize on his instant dynamic with Dick, mistakes will have been made.

Future State: Superman: Worlds of War #2: Complicated feelings! It’s a very well-done comic on a basic craft level, it largely makes me feel the things it makes me want to feel, and it gets on a fundamental level both how Superman is inspired by us and uses him in turn to dramatize human struggles on a mythological scale. On the other hand it draws a direct parallel between a black man’s struggle for his own civil rights and Superman fighting to free a space planet of alien slaves, and...uh. It’s not the agonizing inspiration porn bullshit I feared it could be from the preview, but it is a white dude meaning well and ending up with something that strikes me as pretty tonedeaf. Still, we got wild highs in the first issue, and tackling a concept that could have probably gone way worse this landed at “well-done in notable ways but really should’ve been thought through some more”, so I’d say PKJ’s run proper even if it stumbles shouldn’t outright fall on its face when it deviates from said highs. As for the backups, Mister Miracle and Midnighter were both fine (the latter did improve from the previous issue, if still not anywhere near where I’d want it to be), Black Racer was trash.

Future State: Immortal Wonder Woman #2: Not as crushing a disappointment as the previous issue, but still a gorgeous nothingburger that even squanders what felt like an obvious building reveal to wring at least some emotion out of what should have been a no-brainer easy win. Unless I hear amazing things skipping the run spinning out of this, which sucks when I was initially so excited. The Nubia backup is better but overloaded with exposition.

Once & Future #16: Bit of a transitionary issue, but I’m still continuing to vibe with it more as it goes along.

The Picture Of Everything Else #2: Loved it, and I think I’ll go ahead and reread The Picture Of Dorian Gray soon so I can appreciate this properly.

Abbott 1973 #2: Really starting to get concerned Ahmed has lost his touch.

Stillwater #6: Odd note to end the arc on, but I’m no less in now than I was at the close of the first issue.

Second Coming: Only Begotten Son #2: Feels like it’s rehashing a few familiar notes, but in some ways Mark Russell is always playing a familiar tune at this point and I’m content to hum along.

Penultiman #5: Hahahahaha holy shit

Haha #2: Certainly a different flavor from Ice Cream Man in a way the first issue wasn’t quite, but I’m still waiting for this book to really do something that feels completely different from Prince’s oeuvre up to this point.

We Live #5: This book has been defined for me since the debut issue as ‘what a pleasant surprise that shouldn’t work as well as it does’, and the ending here is the DEFINITION of ‘surprise that shouldn’t work as well as it does’. I don’t want to spoil anything more than that, but please by all means get this in trade or buy the existing issues if you haven’t checked it out to date.

[noona-la-la-la]

Conditioned (Part 7)

Tae knows that if things are ever going to move forward between the two of you, he is going to have to take some initiative.  But he promises, he’s not trying to be your boyfriend.

Warnings: 14500 words.  Sex stuff - but you’ll have to read to find out what kind.  Nothing that sensitive folks need to worry too much about.  Also, snobby people being snobby. 

It’s long - so if you can’t get it to load on the app, please try reading it using a web browser.  

Chapter 1  2  3  4  5  6  7

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“Where is Jimin tonight, anyways?”  Jin grabbed a fistfull of peanuts from the bowl sitting on the bar.  “Wasn’t it his idea to meet for afterwork drinks?  How come he isn’t here?”

Tae shrugged.  “He said he had a date with one of his ‘friends-with-benefits’ that came up unexpectedly.”

“That’s just so wrong.  Since when does Jimin ditch his boys to chase some tail?”  Jin rolled his eyes.

“Go easy on him.  He’s going through a mid-life crisis or something right now.  He’s on some kick about sexual liberation or whatever.  I think he got dumped one too many times and now he’s trying to build a sex harem or something like that.”

“Jimin?  Mr. Love-At-First-Sight, Park Jimin?  Hmmm… we’ll see how long this lasts, I guess.”   Jin motioned to the bartender to bring him another beer before continuing, “At least Jimin is trying to do something with his love life, unlike some people I know.”

“Is that supposed to be directed at me?  What’s wrong with my love life?”

“When was the last time you had a girlfriend?”

“So?  I know it’s been a while, but I’m just holding out for the right girl.  Besides, it’s not like I never go out.  I’ve got… you know… people of interest… or whatever.”  Tae took a big swig of his beer, unsure of what he was even saying.  

“Ah!  Right!  That date who sent you home early and alone the other week!  How’s that going?” Jin teased.

Tae didn’t appreciate the sarcastic tone.  “If you must know, we had a second date a few days ago.  At her place, no less.”

“Did you have sex?”

“Excuse me?  What does that matter?”  Tae feigned insult, but instantly started remembering the taste of you on his tongue, your mouth pressed against his most private areas, your fingers exploring parts of him he’d never even considered letting anyone explore before.  

“Dude!  Are your ears turning red?  What exactly went on during this date?!”  Jin swiveled on his bar stool to fully face Tae.

“It’s nothing.  We fooled around a bit after dinner. That’s all.”

“Bullshit.  You’ve ‘fooled around’ with plenty of women and I’ve never once seen you blush when talking about it.  Holy shit!  You like this woman, don’t you?!”

“Of course I like her.  I wouldn’t be spending time with her if I didn’t enjoy her company, you know.”  Tae went to take another swig of his beer only to find the bottle empty.

“You know what I meant.  You LIKE like her.  Maybe you even loooooove her,” Jin teased Tae, punctuating the word love with a sing-song voice and exaggerated kissing noises.  “So who is she?  Didn’t you say she was someone you used to know from the past or something?  How do you know her?  What’s her name?”

Tae immediately regretted his decision to mention you at all.  “Where is the bartender?  I need another beer.”  Tae turned away from Jin, looking down the length of the bar for the missing bartender.  “They always do this when happy hour prices are about to expire.  I bet you anything that guy will reappear one minute after the half price beer special is over.”

“Don’t change the subject.”

“I’m not.”   Except, he was trying to change the subject.  Any mention to Jin that Tae was seeing you would immediately get relayed back to Jin’s girlfriend, Youngsook.  And once Youngsook knew, there was no telling what she would say or do next, but it most certainly wouldn’t work out in Tae’s favor.  “Look, everything is still very much in the early stages.  I don’t even know if this girl likes me that much yet, so I don’t want to jinx things by talking about it right now.  Okay?”

“Since when were you superstitious?  Jinxing?  C’mon!”  Jin was dismissive.

Tae turned back to Jin, lips tight and brow furrowed.  “I’m serious.”

Shrugging his shoulders, Jin gave up and changed the subject.  “Speaking of superstitious people, Youngsookie went to see a fortune teller who told her that the reason she isn’t married yet is because her name is unlucky and she needs to change it to something more youthful and attractive to marrying age men. Can you believe that bullshit?”

“Well, Youngsook is kinda an old fashioned name…”

“Don’t encourage this behavior.  This fortune teller is full of shit and Youngsook knows it.  She is doing this to try to pressure me into proposing.”

“And you don’t want to marry Youngsook?”

“Of course I want to marry her. Why wouldn’t I want to marry her.  We’re in love and I plan on spending the rest of my life with her.  I just don’t like being pressured into things.  She’s playing games with this fortune teller thing.”

“It sounds like you are both playing games,” Tae advised.

“Psssh.  I’m not taking love advice from a guy with a secret girlfriend.”

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When happy hour was over, Jin abandoned Tae to go visit Youngsook, leaving Tae to take a taxi home by himself.  The driver hummed along to the songs playing on the radio while Tae settled back in his seat and watched the city go by.  While stopped at a light, he focused on a young couple holding hands as they crossed the street.  It had been a while since he had felt that type of casual intimacy with someone.

The back seat of the taxi was warm and comfortable; for some reason it reminded him of the sofa in your apartment.  Tae closed his eyes and remembered sitting in your living room a few nights ago, the apartment dark except for the flickering lights from your television, his arm outstretched across the back of the sofa, your head lying heavily against his chest, the sound of your breathing soft and steady.  He could vividly remember every detail of that moment.  

He could also remember the crushing disappointment when you finally awoke and apologized for falling asleep and escorted him to your door with a promise that the two of you would meet again soon.  But when would soon be?

“This is ridiculous,” Tae muttered to himself.  “If you want to see her, then you’ve got to be the one to make this happen.”

He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed…

“Hi Tae.  What’s up?”  Your voice was breathy and you sounded tired.

“Hi.  I was just on my way home and was thinking about you.  Wondered what you’re up to and how you’re doing.”

“I’m fine.  It was a long day today and I’m feeling exhausted.  Thinking about turning in early to sleep.  I signed up for this fitness boot camp and today was the first session at 5:30 a.m.  It’s only 4 weeks long, but I’m not sure I’ll survive it.  I’m just looking forward to crawling into bed.”

“Ah.  Well, I won’t keep you then.  I was just wondering if you might be interested in getting together and doing something Friday night.  You’re not working the late shift that night are you?”  

“I actually have plans Friday night.”

“Oh.”  Tae had drunk just enough beers at the bar to give him the confidence to call you and ask you out, but not quite enough to know what to do with rejection.  After an awkward silence, he continued, “What are you going to be doing?”  

“Um… I’m going to a party.”

“Oh?  That’s nice.  Who’s throwing the party?  Is it like a birthday or something?”

“Maybe party isn’t exactly the right thing to call it.  It’s more like I have been invited to a gathering of like minded people.”

“Like minded?”

“Yeah.  I met a guy who belongs to a… um… social group that he thought I might enjoy belonging to.  We have similar interests.”

“What kind of interests?”

You ignored the question.  “What was it that you wanted us to do on Friday?  Maybe we can do it on another day.”

Tae took the hint.   “Honestly, I hadn’t thought that far ahead.  Friday just seemed like a good day to do… something.  I was just looking forward to seeing you sometime soon.  No expectations or anything… you know… just… I enjoy spending time with you.”  God - he sounded like a kid when he said things like that.

“Unfortunately, I work to store closing on Saturday and opening on Sunday, so the rest of my weekend is kinda shot.  However, there is this thing happening next Friday night that I was thinking about calling you for.”

“Oh?”  Tae sat upright. 

You cleared your throat and sighed.  “This is a bit embarrassing, so please don’t laugh at me.  I can’t believe I got myself into this predicament and it’s totally not like me.”

“Now I’m really curious.  What’s going on?”

“I’ve been taking painting classes at this art center.  It’s actually not that far from where you live.  They have guest artists come in and show different techniques and it’s run by this guy who is a professor of art at Seoul University and I’ve always been kinda weak with water colors, so I thought it would be a good way to get back into art, build up my skills, maybe meet other people interested in painting, and stuff like that.”

“I think it’s great that you are getting more into your painting.  You’ve got real talent.”

“That’s sweet of you to say that -- but there’s more to this story.  So, all the other people in this class… I can’t stand them.  The class is fine.  The professor is very skilled.  But the other students?  My god!  It’s all wealthy wives and daughters of the Seoul elite.  I don’t think a single one of them actually cares about art.  Not really.  They are just there to figure out how to paint something in colors that will match their sofa cushions.  And you should hear the conversations between them, it’s all so vapid and dull.  It’s all about where their husbands are taking the family on vacation or what their boyfriends bought for them.  Or worse!  They gossip about all the women they know whose marriages aren’t successful or they tut about some poor girl who can’t keep a boyfriend.  Their self righteous pitying of others really gets to me.”  You were getting breathless recalling them.

“That sounds really annoying.  I can’t imagine women like that knew what to do with someone like you.  So what does this all have to do with next Friday?”

You took a deep breath before rushing through your explanation.  “The classes are over, but the art center does this pseudo art gallery opening type thing where they hang all the students artwork, and their family or whoever can come and see, and it’s like a reception and there are apparently prizes for the best pieces or something, and I think they serve food and drink, and I was thinking about not going because I don’t have any family, but it seems a shame to not see this thing through to the end, and I thought maybe you would be willing to come so I didn’t look entirely friendless.”  

“Of course I’ll come.  It sounds fun.”  Tae was certain he could feel his heart starting to swell at the thought that you wanted him to come to something so personal to you.

“You really don’t have to do this if you don’t want to or you are busy.  It’s just a student show.  Most of the stuff there is going to be crap.”

“No, really.  I want to.  I’m interested to see what you’ve created.”

“You might want to withhold your agreement to come until you’ve heard the rest.”

“There’s more?”

“Yeah.  I didn’t even get to the embarrassing part yet.”

“What’s the embarrassing part?”  Tae couldn’t even imagine what someone like you might find embarrassing.  You seemed impervious to the opinions of others.

“I just didn’t want drama or pity or really to even deal with those women in my class, so I may not have been completely honest with them.  I might have told them a little lie.”

“What kind of lie?”

“That I had a boyfriend.”

“Oh.”  

“And that my boyfriend’s name is Tae.”

“Oh?”  For a brief moment Tae wondered if he heard you wrong.

“I know.  I know!  What was I thinking?  I almost never give a fuck what anyone thinks of me, but something about these women just really got to me.  They remind me of my mother and sister, to tell you the truth.  I think I just automatically went into survival mode and… ugh.  I’m not this kind of person.  Really.  It’s just that if you show up, they are going to assume you are my boyfriend and I don’t want to put you on the spot like that.”

Stunned into silence, Tae’s mind started to spin.  It was hard enough to imagine someone like you, who was so fiercely independent and indifferent to the opinions of others, had somehow been cowed into pretending to be someone you weren’t just to impress people you barely knew.  But the fact that you had chosen his name for your make-believe boyfriend must mean something?  Didn’t it?  At least he hoped it meant something.

The lingering silence on the phone prompted you to continue talking.  “You know what?  Forget it.  I’m sorry I even mentioned it.  I’m not going to this stupid thing.  I was being silly and…”

“But I want to go!”  Tae interjected.

“No.  It’s not right to do this to you.  We’re friends and asking you to pretend to be my boyfriend just to keep up some stupid lie I told is too much.  I’m embarrassed I even asked you.”

“I said I want to go!  I was looking forward to spending some time with you anyways, I’m very interested in seeing your artwork, I’m kinda curious to see these women who got you flustered enough to lie like this, and I… um… you know… stuff like that.”  He swallowed  back the urge to also say he would like nothing more than to have you as his girlfriend for an evening, even if it was only pretend.

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Friday finally came.

Tae had spent the previous week getting a haircut, a manicure, and buying a fancy designer suit.  He had spent more money on this suit than he had on any piece of clothing in his life, but he recalled how you said that your classmates were all members of Seoul’s elite class and he wanted to look like he fit in.  Even if he was only going to be a fake boyfriend, he wanted to make sure you weren’t embarrassed to be seen with him.

The art center was only a couple subway stops away from his apartment, in a nondescript office building.  Tae had walked past this building many times before, giving no thought to what might be housed behind the beige concrete walls.

Taking the elevator to the top floor, Tae tried to calm his nerves.  He was always a little nervous to see you, never knowing what the night would have in store.  He had texted you a couple times earlier in the week to make sure you didn’t want him escorting you to the venue - but you had refused, saying that the students were all meant to arrive early and make sure their works were displayed properly.   

The blandness of the building’s exterior did not prepare him for the luxuriousness of the top floor gallery space.  Stepping off the elevator he was greeted by white marble floors and gold leafed ceilings.  Blue velvet sofas flanked the lobby with an art nouveau style wooden bar and an intricately etched mirror sitting along the eastern wall of the lobby area. The bartender poured bottles of Dom Perignon into flutes which tuxedoed servers passed around on trays.  Drinking the champagne were patrons dressed conspicuously in high end designer fashion, making sure their Chanel or Balmain logos were easily visible to anyone passing by.  Elderly women with perfectly manicured nails spoke with their hands, fingers laden with diamond rings large enough to be seen across the room.

The display of wealth was disconcertingly ostentatious.  

Large glass doors marked the entrance to the actual gallery space, with it’s traditionally plain white walls to best display the art.  The room was divided up by the different classes, students with yellow ribbons bearing their names pinned to their chests.  Tae passed through a display of pottery meant to mimic the celadon bowls of ancient Korea.  Following was a myriad of large black and white photos, each one looking much like the next.  Busy city streets at night, a parade of ducks floating on ponds, and photo after photo of trees. Oil paintings came next, each one more mediocre than the one before.  Slightly wonky portraits of family pets hung next to mountain landscapes that seemed unnaturally lit.  He paused for a moment to look around and wonder at how much everything seemed to be the same, completely predictable and monotonous -- until his eyes came to rest on a single small painting of an apple, worm riddled and rotting.  The painter appeared to be a young woman, who could not have been much older than 20, dressed head to toe in black, standing tight-lipped and eyes rolling her parents entertained a bevy of old ladies dripping in pearls.

He finally found the water color section along the back wall, the space seemed excessively crowded as artists showed off their works to an endless stream of family and friends.  For a moment, Tae wondered if he would be able to find you in this crowd - until he saw your neon yellow dress, which was so bright there was no way everyone in that hall had not seen you. Long sleeved and long hemmed, it clung tightly to your hips and the high neckline draped to one side, leaving the slightest bit of shoulder exposed, reminding Tae that no matter what you wore, your sex appeal was always apparent.

You stood all alone, one hand holding a glass of champagne to your lips, the other hand resting defiantly on your hip.  Your face was drawn and sullen, until you noticed Tae walking towards you and he swore he could see your face relax and a hint of a smile cross your lips.

“I’m so glad you made it!”  You seemed genuinely pleased.

Tae couldn’t help but wonder at how lonely you must feel so far away from home, with no family and few friends to invite to the events in your life.  “I wouldn’t have missed this for the world.”

“I wouldn’t have blamed you if you didn’t come.  I kind of wish I wasn’t here right now.”

“Why?  This isn’t so bad.  You are surrounded by art and they are serving very fancy champagne.”

“The champagne is great but the art… did you get a chance to look around at all?”

“Yeah, I took a look as I wandered through.”

“And what did you think?”

“I’m not an art critic or anything.  It’s not fair for me to judge.”

“You are being too nice, as usual.  You stretched your hand out and gestured vaguely to the other artists’ works.  “Did you really see anything that made you think - ‘ah, that’s interesting’?”

“There was one painting of an apple…”  he recalled.

You held up one finger as if suddenly realizing something.  “Her!  Yes!  I saw that rotting apple and did feel a little relieved that there was someone here that had something of substance to say.  Although, I introduced myself to her earlier in the evening and I think her artistic vision is I’m-a-teenager-and-my-parents-made-me-come-here-against-my-will-so-I’m-only-going-to-paint-dead-things kind of thing.  Not really profound, but I still appreciate the rebellious spirit in a place like this.”

“Was it really so bad here?”

You paused to think before speaking.  “Honestly, the guy who taught the class was very good.  I picked this studio for classes specifically because it has a reputation of having well known artists and renowned art professors come to teach courses or seminars.  But I should have known when I saw how insanely expensive the class was that this was the kind of place not intended for artistry but instead was exclusively for the amusement of the rich and snooty.  They can attract big names because of big money.  I’ve been in these kinds of environments way too many times in my life and it’s one thing that I absolutely do not miss about life back in the US.”

Tae nodded and sipped his champagne.  He often forgot that you came from a wealthy family who were still paying your way and wondered what your life back home with your parents was really like.  You made it sound like you had lived in a gilded cage.

“So, are you going to show me your paintings or what?  Show me what a true artist is capable of.”

“Oh god.”  You wrinkled your nose.  “I’ve been acting like an art snob and now I’m going to embarrass myself with my completely average abilities.  Please remember, I’m a student for a reason and calling me an artist seems like an overreach.”

You stepped to the side so Tae could get closer to where your paintings hung along the wall.  There were a small handful of sketches and three fully completed paintings hanging neatly in simple black metal frames.

“There were three assignments in the class.  Do a still life, a landscape and a self portrait,” you informed him.

A smile spread across Tae’s face at the sight of your still life.  An artistic rendering of a bowl of popcorn, a crumpled and half eaten bag of potato chips and an almost empty glass of wine with lipstick marks at the rim.  “Aren’t most still life’s supposed to be bowls of fruit or something like that?”

“Everybody does fruit.  Besides, I eat out so often, I rarely have fresh fruit at home and I thought this was a more accurate depiction of what I actually keep in my kitchen.  My only regret is that I didn’t pick something with more color.  Although trying to make all that yellow, white and brown look interesting was its own challenge.”

“I like it.”  Tae was instantly reminded of the few evenings spent at your place, watching movies, snacking on chips, drinking wine… and everything else that came with it.  “It reminds me of you.”

The second painting was the landscape.  A wide green lawn, a forest of trees in the background, and a serene looking pond, surrounded by tall grasses and pussy willows.  

“That’s very pretty,” Tae commented.  Your skill was evident compared to the other students.  The precision with which you painted, the naturalness of the image, the way the light hit the surface of the pond was impressive, even if the subject itself wasn’t much different from what the other students painted.  “Is this a real place?”

“It’s the backyard at my parents.”

Tae looked again at the wide lawn.  “That’s a big backyard!  And you guys have a whole pond?”

“It’s a man made pond.  Smaller in real life than it looks here.  But yeah -- it’s a pretty big yard for the neighborhood.  My parents always had to have the biggest of everything.  Biggest house, biggest yard, fanciest cars, et cetera.  They are into showing off.”

You watched Tae’s face intently as he looked at the painting.  “Do you see it?” you asked.  “There’s something else in the painting. It’s a bit more muddled than I would have liked, but that’s my challenge working in this medium.”

Tae leaned in more closely.  “Where am I supposed to be looking?”

“The pond.”

He studied the painting closely.  There were no animals in the painting, nothing indicated wind blowing or rain falling, but to one side, there was a small ripple on the surface of the water.  Looking more closely, what he originally thought was just a shadow, he realized was actually something floating under the surface.  Tae squinted to make it out more clearly -- what looked like a head, hair floating freely, obscuring the figure, and what looked like a hand stretching upwards, reaching for the surface but not quite making it.  “Good lord.  Is she drowning?”

“Yeah.  Something like that.”

“That’s… morbid,”  was all Tae could muster.

“That’s life at my parent’s house.”

The final painting was the self portrait.  Tae held in a gasp when he saw it.  

It was more stylized than the first two paintings, your image rendered mostly in shades of red against a dark background - looking as though the red light emanated from your body and lit the darkness behind you.  The features of your face were blurry and indistinct, but the image became crystal clear as it moved lower to your body.  You were draped in a large shirt, like the dress shirt of a man much larger than yourself, unbuttoned and falling off your shoulders and exposing your perfectly illustrated breasts.  The attention to detail you put into the presentation of your body was remarkable.  Your legs were spread wide, your knees looking dark and bruised, and your most intimate place just barely covered by the shirt tails pooling between your legs.

He didn’t know what to say and could only stand there staring.

“It would have been better if I did it in oils.  Getting the balance of dark and light using watercolors was a lot more effort than I anticipated.  I almost gave up and did it on a light background, but I’m glad I stuck with my original vision.”

“It’s… amazing.”

“But?” you asked. “I feel like there is a hesitation there.”

“No.  It’s really good. I like it a lot.  Although I’m surprised you chose to do a nude given what you said about the environment here.  What did your classmates think?  What did the professor think?”

“My classmates were shocked and appalled until the professor praised me in front of everyone for being so bold.  Now they are pretending to be okay with it, but I know they hate it.  And that kind of makes me love it even more.”

“Still, I’m surprised you went there.  By the way, why did you choose to blur your face?”

“The face?  I don’t know.”  You chewed on your bottom lip while you contemplated.  “My first thought when doing a self portrait was to just do a giant painting of my vulva.”

Tae stared at you wide eyed.

“I’m serious,” you retorted against his unspoken question.  “I’ve got a dozen sketches of my pussy back at the apartment.  But I thought that might be a bit much for this environment.  I’m not looking to make trouble for trouble’s sake.  Still, I thought a self portrait, for me, would make more sense to display my sex or sexuality more than my face.  The face isn’t what matters - it’s a distraction.”

“Is this the boyfriend?!”  A shrill voice cut across the room.  Tae turned to see a middle aged woman barreling towards him.  

You leaned over and whispered in Tae’s ear, “If you run away now, I won’t hold it against you.”

“It’s so nice to finally meet you.”  The woman stood in directly in front of Tae, her face a testament to Korea’s plastic surgery industry, skin pulled so tight it was a wonder she was even able to speak.  “To tell you the truth, we were starting to wonder if you were actually real.  This one,” she said motioning in your direction, “doesn’t even have a photo of you on her phone.  What kind of girlfriend doesn’t keep photos of her boyfriend on her phone?  I told the other girls that maybe you were deformed or something.  But here you are, looking completely fit and healthy.  It makes me wonder why she kept you hidden.”

Tae struggled to read the woman’s name tag, pinned to her ample bosom.  “Mrs… um… Choi, is it?  It’s nice to meet you.”  The woman was standing so close to him that Tae had to take a couple steps backwards in order to properly bow in greeting.  “I guess we just aren’t sentimental types.  I don’t have a photo on my phone either.”

“That makes no sense.”  A voice from behind Tae spoke, he turned again to see three more women standing behind him.  

“Excuse me?”  Tae was starting to feel surrounded.

“I’m Mrs. Kim Mi Kyung.  That is Mrs. Park Young Ja and her daughter Miss Yi Hyo Joo.”  Mrs. Kim was another one who stood a little to close, the heavy scent of her generously applied perfume made Tae’s eyes almost start to water.  “I was saying it makes no sense for a man to not keep photos of his girlfriend on his phone.  She’s pretty and she comes from such a distinguished family.  Some other man who is more attentive is likely to come by and snatch her away from you if you aren’t careful.  If she ever gets those cheekbones shaved down, like I’ve been telling her to do, she could get just about any man she wants.”

“I’m perfectly happy with my cheekbones the way they are, Mrs. Kim,” you sighed in exasperation.

“Of course you are dear.  Those foreigners in America are very forgiving of facial flaws.  But your father is a plastic surgeon and I don’t understand why you wouldn’t take advantage of that fact and just get a little tune up.  You could be so much prettier.”

 “I actually think her face is beautiful right now.  I wouldn’t want her to change a thing,” Tae declared.

“And just how exactly was it that the two of you met?”  Mrs. Park asked from behind Mrs. Kim.

Tae hesitated and looked at you, wondering if you had made up some story and told them previously.  You just shrugged and told him to “Go ahead and tell them how we met… sweetie.”

“It was a blind date.  She is the friend of a friend.”  Tae couldn’t help but think back to the day he saw you sitting across from him at the bar.  He had no idea what he was getting himself into.

“She said you guys were childhood friends,” Hyo Joo stepped forward and looked down her nose at Tae’s shoes and he suddenly became acutely aware of the fact that although he had spent considerable money on a new suit, he was wearing the same pair of dress shoes that he had owned for the last several years.

“We were schoolmates when we were kids and lost track of each other when she moved back to America.  We met again later on a blind date, by coincidence.”

“But she made it sound like it wasn’t so much an organized blind date, but rather a friend dragged her to a bar and you were there trying to pick her up,” Hyo Joo pushed back.

Mrs. Park elbowed her daughter in the ribs.  “Will you please just behave, Hyo Joo.  He’s obviously trying to be polite and make their meeting sound less tacky.”  Mrs. Park plastered on her best fake smile and turned back towards Tae, “I apologize for my daughter.  She has a tendency to be excessively honest.  She hasn’t quite grasped the concept of being discrete as you have.”

“What exactly is it that you do for a living?” Mrs. Choi suddenly asked.  “She said you were in business, but wouldn’t say where exactly.”  

Tae informed her of the name of the company.

“I’m familiar with the family that owns the business,” Mrs. Park commented.   “The grandmother is one of the founding members of this art center.  The youngest son is classmates with your son, isn’t that right Mrs. Choi?”

“That’s right.”  Mrs. Choi cocked her head to the right as if she was trying to figure something out.  “I believe the business is 100% family owned.  What exactly is it that you do there?”

Tae could feel the back of his neck getting hot as he grew frustrated with the direction of this conversation.  “I work in project management.”

“So your title is Project Manager?” asked Hyo Joo.

“Assistant Project Manager.”  Tae had never been ashamed of his job.  He worked hard and felt the company treated him fairly.  He was even up for a promotion next month and his boss made it sound like he was a shoo in.  But it was a family owned firm and Tae’s ability to advance would always be limited by the fact that he wasn’t part of the family.  Tae didn’t mind that - he had only ever really aspired to make a nice stable middle class lifestyle for himself, but that would never be acceptable for women like these.

Hyo Joo stifled a laugh.  “Assistant Project Manager?”  She took another look at Tae’s shoes and simply stated, “Well, that seems about right.”

Mrs. Park pinched her daughters arm in warning to be more polite.  “I’m sure you are a very diligent worker,” she said with a smile but the condescension was barely contained.

Mrs. Choi ignored Tae entirely and turned to you, “Are your parents aware that you two are dating?”

Mrs. Kim could barely hold back the grin from her smug face.  She turned away from Tae to address you directly, taking hold of your hand and patting it as if concerned. “You aren’t getting any younger, my dear.  Painting dirty pictures and dating whomever you please is all fun and games when you are young, but you should start thinking about your future.  Consider your parents; I’m sure they would want you to make sensible choices.”

Tae watched you as your face went pale and your eyes hardened.  You slowly extracted your hand from Mrs. Kim’s grip and you addressed her coldly, “I appreciate your well intentioned advice, Mrs. Kim.  I’m sure you feel quite a kinship with my parents, seeing as how you seem to be such a wonderful customer of their products.  However, I assure you that my parents are fully capable of expressing their thoughts on my lifestyle and who I choose to spend my time with on their own, without your intervention.  Now, I hope you will excuse me as I take my friend to get a drink, as I am feeling rather parched.”

You grabbed Tae’s hand, gripping him so tightly that he couldn’t have pulled free if he tried.  You marched through the crowd, dragging him along side you.  You gave no mind to the people in front of you, most of whom had to jump out of your way to avoid being mowed over.  You nicked one fur clad woman in the shoulder, knocking her glass of champagne from her hand, but you never paused or looked back.  

Finally, you stopped in front of the coat check in the lobby to gather your bag and coat. 

“So, are we not getting a drink from the bar?” Tae asked naively.

“We’re leaving.  I should never have asked you to come here.  I can’t believe how rude those women were to you.  And it’s all my fault for putting you through it.  I should have known that they would act that way.”

“So…” Tae demurred, “Where exactly are we going, then?”

=============================================================

Tae watched you combing through the aisles of the convenience store when he asked you again,  “Are you sure you don’t want to go someplace decent to eat?  We’re all dressed up and it seems a shame to waste it on… this.”

“Nope. This is perfect.”  The small handbasket you carried was filled with instant ramyeon, kimbap, corn chips, dried squid, and beer.  “I think we should pick out something for dessert.”  

Leaning over to get a closer look at the array of cookies and snack cakes, your dress slipped a little, making the tag at your neckline visible.  Tae stared at the name on the label, “Versace”, and couldn’t help but wonder.  How rich is your family?  Those women at the art show seemed very aware of who your parents are.  Would your family really look down on him and his very average lifestyle?  You didn’t seem to be the kind of person to care much about those kinds of things, but then again, you were here in the 7-11 wearing a dress that must have cost at least 1 million won.  It had been your idea to eat convenience store food in the first place.  Was it because you worried that he couldn’t afford a real meal?

Lost in thought, Tae almost didn’t see you standing at the counter getting ready to pay for your basket full of food.  He rushed forward, pulling his wallet out of his pocket and getting to the counter just in time to hand his credit card to the cashier while you were still digging in your purse.

“Tae, I’m the one who insisted on getting all this food.  You don’t have to pay.”

“Yes, I do,” Tae insisted.  “I really, really do.”  He prepared his argument for when you objected like you always did, but instead you just nodded your head and zipped your purse closed.  He wasn’t sure if this was some small victory or an act of pity.

“The machines to make the ramyeon are over there,” Tae pointed towards the wall.

“Doesn’t it seem too crowded to eat here?”

Tae followed your eyes towards a group of giggling teenage girls lined up against the window counter.  “There are a couple tables out in front, it’s a nice evening and we could sit…”

“You don’t live far from here, right?” you interrupted.

“My place?” 

“Yeah, these shoes are too tight and I just want to be someplace comfortable.”

“And my apartment is comfortable?”

“If you don’t want me there, Tae, that’s fine.  You just have to say so.  We can sit out in front of the store instead.”

Tae didn’t hesitate.  “I’ll hail a taxi, we should be there in less than 10 minutes.”

=============================================================

Holding the door open for you, Tae let you enter his studio apartment first.  It was small, but it had a low counter that separated the kitchen from the rest of the living area, making it feel like two rooms.  He had been proud of his home when he moved in and taken great pleasure in his trips to Ikea to furnish it.  For the first time, though, he started to compare his living arrangements to yours.

You lived alone, but you still had a large two bedroom place, although he wasn’t quite sure what you used the second bedroom for.  You had separate living and dining areas and a bathroom tiled floor to ceiling in marble. Your furnishings seemed to be very high quality and the balcony across the front looked out onto a large park.

He knew your parents were paying the rent on the place… but if that was the kind of apartment they set up for the daughter they sent away as punishment, he couldn’t imagine how luxurious your home was growing up.

“Where do you keep your pots?”  You were already in the kitchen, opening up cabinets in search of what you needed.

“Behind you.”  Tae reached around you to open the door to the only cabinet you had not yet explored.  He could smell your perfume when he stood that close and, even after all your time together, his heart raced a little just from his proximity to you.

You filled the pot with water, placed it on the stove burner, and dumped in the contents of the ramyeon packets into the pot.  It was a simple, domestic scene but it felt a bit off with you standing barefoot in his shabby kitchen making pot ramyeon while wearing pricey Italian couture. 

“Can I ask you something?”  Tae inquired while he pulled a small container of kimchi from the refrigerator and set about preparing the other contents of your convenience store haul.

“Of course you can.  Anything you want to know, ask away.  I’ve got no secrets.”

Tae wanted to roll his eyes at the demonstrable lie.  You were clearly full of secrets.  “Why do you work at the store?  I mean, you don’t really need the money.”

“I wouldn’t say I don’t need the money.  If I’m not working, then I am completely dependent on what my mother is willing to give me.  And anything she is willing to give me always comes with a set of conditions.  If I want to have any freedom, then I need to have access to my own funds.”  You pulled the pot from the stovetop and set it on a folded up towel on the low counter. 

The rest of the food surrounded the ramyeon and you and Tae sat at the counter to enjoy your makeshift feast.

“But why the store?” Tae asked.  “Retail schedules are erratic, and you have to work weekends and holidays most of the time, plus you have to always been polite and smile to everyone, no matter how annoying the customers are…”

“Excuse me?” you feigned insult.  “Are you saying that I might be challenged by having to be fake polite to strangers all day, every day?”  The grin on your face assured Tae that you weren’t exactly bothered by the implication.  

“You just don’t seem like the kind of person who would find customer service to be… um… invigorating.”

Slurping your ramen and reaching across the counter to pick up a kimbap, you replied, “Actually, I’ve spent a lifetime being fake nice on my family’s behalf.  Pretending to be someone I’m not isn’t exactly something I enjoy, but it’s a talent I’ve developed over time.  That and getting naked in front of strangers are the only things I’m really good at.”

“Those aren’t the only talents you have.  What about your art?“

“What about it?  Art doesn’t exactly pay the bills.”

“But there are lots of professional artists.  And you are incredibly talented.  Seriously.”

You scoffed at him.  “For every artist who makes a living at their craft, there are probably 1000 who can’t earn enough to cover the cost of their materials.  It takes an enormous amount of effort to promote yourself and it still comes down to luck and connections.  My family is completely opposed to my artistic endeavors so I can’t use them for their many connections.  Which means I’m left to my own devices and frankly, the art world can be pretty cruel.”

Tae was confused.  “I’m sure your parents weren’t supportive of your stripping career and that has to be a cruel world too.  But you did it anyway.  Why were you willing to put in the effort for stripping but not for your art?”

Sternly, you turned to Tae.  “The reality is that the average man values my pussy more than my art.  It takes a lot less effort for me to pull down my panties and spread my legs for some random guy to shower me with money than to spend days or even weeks pouring my feelings onto a canvas only to be ignored.  Besides, so many of the men I’ve met in the art world who praise my work are only doing it so they can get in my pants.  Even that professor at the art thing tonight, he would praise me in front of the class and then proposition me afterwards.  It’s always like that.  So I managed to get the best of both worlds.  I paint for my own satisfaction and I fuck for my own satisfaction.  There is no need to mix the two.”

“Still… you really are a talented artist.  I was super impressed with your paintings.” It bothered Tae that you thought people valued you more for your sexuality than for your other capabilities.  “And I’m not just saying that because I want something from you.  I really mean it.”

“But you do want something more from me too, don’t you Tae?”  You swiveled on the stool, angling your body to show off your curves, your skirt riding above your knees and threatening to creep higher.  “Your motives aren’t exactly pure, are they?”

This felt like a trick question.  Of course he wanted more from you; this wasn’t a secret.  You had spent plenty of time taking advantage of his lust for you, teasing and torturing him.   But Tae was fairly certain you had no idea how much he admired you as a person, regardless of his sexual fantasies.  You were bold and unabashed when you spoke, a characteristic Tae wish he had but didn’t have the courage for it.  You were resilient in adversity; Tae wasn’t sure he’d be able to make a life for himself in a different country the way you had.  Your artistic abilities were remarkable; Tae wished he had some special talent or passion for anything -- but instead he possessed no special skills and didn’t really aspire to any.  You were amazing while he was utterly average; it made him wonder why you spent any time with him at all.

“Hey, Tae? Are you avoiding the question?”  You prodded for a response.  

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to say.”  Tae fretted over the right words.  “You know I’m attracted to you.  You know that already.  But I don’t think you really understand how much I just like you as a person too. I just… I… I think you’re really cool.  I enjoy your company and I’d like to spend time with you more often”  

Tae could feel himself starting to blush like a school boy who just confessed to the girl he likes.  Acting nonchalant, he turned away from you to grab the bag of chips.  Maybe if he stuffed his mouth full he wouldn’t say anything more to embarrass himself.

“I think you’re cool too, Tae, and I also enjoy your company.  That’s why we are friends.”

“But?” Tae asked, almost under his breath, barely audible.

“But what?” you inquired.  “I like you.  The end.”

“Are you sure that is ‘the end’?” Tae focused on brushing the crumbs from his shirt to avoid looking at you directly.  “There always seems to be some sort of condition to our interactions.”

“Ok, fine.  But… you know I’m not a monogamous kind of girl.  I’m good at friendships and bad at dating.  I’m not the girlfriend type.”

“Did I ask you to be my girlfriend?” Tae huffed.  “You’re always saying things like that.  I’m not trying to tie you down.  I’m not asking you to change your ways.  You’re the one out there telling people I’m your boyfriend.” 

Tae stuffed another handful of chips into his mouth to prevent himself from speaking further.  He didn’t mean to mention the boyfriend comment.  He really didn’t.  It just slipped out.  He waited for you to speak, but there was nothing.  When he finally got the courage to look at you again, you were looking straight back at him.  

“I’m sorry for being so presumptuous,” you told him.  “I’m embarrassed about lying to those women and it was wrong for me to ask you to go along with my lie.  They were rude to you and you don’t deserve that.  I never should have put you in such an uncomfortable situation.”  

“It wasn’t that uncomfortable,” Tae replied sheepishly.  “Anytime you need a make-believe boyfriend, feel free to call me.  I’m happy to help.”

“I appreciate the offer, but I promise that won’t happen again.  I spent many years pretending to be someone I’m not in front of women just like the ones you met this evening.  I thought I had outgrown that stage of my life, but…” your thoughts trailed off incomplete.  “Anyways, I pride myself on being honest, so next time someone asks if I am dating anyone, I’ll simply tell them I avoid having a boyfriend because it interferes with my sex life.”  

Tae furrowed his brow and asked, “Does it really have to be that way?  Aren’t there people who do the whole ‘open relationship’ thing?”

“Sure, there are people like that.  I had sex with a married man last week while his wife sat there and watched.  They seemed happy, I guess.  But you never really know what goes on in other people’s relationships.”  You took another mouthful of ramyeon, slurping up the noodles, a drop of broth trickled down your chin before you dabbed it away.

Tae wondered at how casually you just mentioned that you had sex with a married couple several days ago.  He should be used to this by now, he thought, but it still managed to surprise him a little.  “So have you tried having an open relationship before?”

“I’ve already told you I’m bad at relationships.  My parents were terrible role models, my sister’s marriage is a joke… I’ve tried having boyfriends before when I was younger but it always just blows up and it seems so unnecessary.  What am I going to get from being in a relationship that I can’t get from my life the way it is now?”

Reliability, consistency, comfort, safety, Tae thought to himself.  His own relationships had all failed one way or the other, so who was he to challenge you on the value of being in one.  He looked at his parents’ relationship and wished he could feel a love like that, but maybe it just wasn’t meant to be.  Maybe your way wasn’t such a bad idea.

“Do you want to fuck me, Tae?”  You took a swig of beer and stared straight at him, waiting for a response.

The question seemed to come out of the blue, and Tae struggled to maintain his composure.  “Are you asking for general knowledge or are you are suggesting we have sex right now?”  Tae could feel his heart beating faster and his groin start to ache at the mere suggestion of sex with you, but he knew better than to assume that anything was going to happen.  “Because you know I want to.”

“I want to fuck you too, Tae.  I really do.  But it’s not going to happen right now.”  You set your beer on the counter and pushed your bowl of ramyeon to the side, indicating meal time was over.  “What I really want to know is, if I were to start fucking you, could you handle it?”

“What makes you think that I couldn’t.”  He tried to mask his bruised ego at the suggestion that he wouldn’t be man enough to handle being with someone like you, although deep down he had his own doubts.  “You’re acting like I’m an inexperienced child.  It’s not like I’ve never had sex before.”

“I know.  But could you handle fucking me if you knew that some other guy’s cock had been inside me the day before and a different guy would probably be inside me the day after.”  You watched his face intently, looking for any betrayal of his true feelings.

“I’d be fine.  I’m sure.”  But he wasn’t actually sure at all.  He knew you had sex with other people now, and it did bother him a little that these guys got to do what they wanted with you while he got whatever crumbs you were willing to toss his way.  But you always referred to them as disposable while you told Tae he was special.  That made things easier in his mind -- although there were moments when he wondered if you were toying with him.  

“Last Friday, the party I went to?  It was actually a private sex club that one of my previous dates told me about and he got me an invitation.  It was a full blown orgy.  One big room full of naked people getting busy with each other.  That couple that I mentioned, the one in the open relationship?  That’s where I had sex with the husband.”

“Oh?”  Tae tried his best to look unsurprised.  “Did you enjoy yourself?”  He grabbed his beer and started drinking to help conceal his face and keep his expression neutral.  Deep down he wasn’t actually that shocked to hear that was how you spent your time, but he was also sure that you were telling him now just to see how he would react.  

You paused before answering, watching his adam’s apple bob up and down in his throat as he swallowed his drink.  In his effort to look unphased, Tae was now guzzling back the beer, drinking much too fast for a man who was trying to look calm and collected.  Your smirk returned.  “I did enjoy myself.  I enjoyed myself very much indeed.”

“That’s… um… that’s nice.  So… uh… this guy who got you the invitation… was this like a thing where the two of you went together and then… um… like… you went and did things… stuff… like sex with other people or were you… like… together the whole time?”  Tae couldn’t even look at you, knowing what an idiot he sounded like right now, but he also couldn’t stop himself from asking the question.  The idea that this might be the person who you also referred to as your “friend” would nag at him.

You laughed aloud.  So much for trying to look cool, he thought.

“Tae, I went there alone.  I don’t even think that guy was there the night I went.  He was just kind enough to be an intermediary to get me an invitation, and I’m grateful for that.  But I don’t think I’ll ever have sex with him again.  He was a little too selfish and arrogant for my preference.”

Exhaling, Tae let his shoulders relax.  “Ah.  I see.  So were people there, uh, friendly.”

“Friendly?  I guess.  The mood there was more about total debauchery and sex with strangers than actually getting to know each other.  But it was my first time.  I’m sure I’ll get to know people better over time.”

“So you plan to go back?”

“They gave me an application for regular membership and I’m considering it.  They act a little snooty and talk a lot about being very selective of their members, which was a touch off-putting.  But I have to admit, they had a very attractive group there.  Plus, the whole thing about having everyone in one room together really appeals to my exhibitionist side.  I do really enjoy being watched.  Do you think you could ever do that, Tae?”

“Do what?  Let other people watch me have sex?”

“I was thinking more along the lines of whether you would want to watch me have sex with other people.” 

Tae stared at you for a moment, once again unsure of how to answer.  “Is that what you want from me?” He could feel his chest tighten a little at the idea of it.  It was one thing to know you had sex with other people, but to sit idly by and watch while some other man get to have his way with you seemed to be too much.  “I don’t know.  I mean… is that really what you want?”

“It’s okay.  I was just thinking if you had any interest, I could show you one of the pornos I did a few years back…”

“What?  You did porn?!”  Tae interrupted you with his astonished outburst.  “You mean there are movies out there of you having sex with people?!  Why didn’t you mention this before?”

“Are you really that surprised, Tae?  I only did a few films - like maybe five or six total.  I went out to Los Angeles with a stripper friend during the summer break after my second year at university.  She wanted to try out the porn scene and convinced me that it would be a great way to make money while having fun.  I was just kind of clueless about what I wanted from my life at that point, so I followed her.  In the end, I decided it just wasn’t for me so I bailed.”

“You didn’t like it?”

“Eh, it was a combination of things.  Sex on camera is still a job and it’s more work than it looks like.  And frankly, I prefer to have more control over my sex partners and the sex acts I choose to do, but a fresh piece of meat, like I was, doesn’t get to make those kinds of decisions.  But the biggest reason I quit was because I started thinking about how someone who knows my family could end up seeing one of these movies and tell them about it and it freaked me out.  So I stopped.”

“So did you ever get caught?”

“Not yet.  At least, not as far as I know.  It still makes me nervous, but I’ve already been caught doing worse, so maybe it wouldn’t be that big of a deal.”  

“Worse?” Tae asked.  “Being caught stripping doesn’t seem like it would be worse than being caught doing porn.”

You ignored Tae’s musings.  “Do you want to see one of them or not?”

“Yes!” Tae responded without thinking.  “Wait.  Are we watching it together?”

“Of course.  I already told you I’m an exhibitionist.  Why would I want to miss out on all the fun of watching you watch me?”  You got up from your seat and walked across the room to pick up Tae’s laptop from the coffee table where it rested.  “What’s your password?”

Grabbing the laptop from your hands, Tae quickly typed in the password and handed the machine back to you.  He took his place next to you on the sofa and waited with anticipation.  “So you would have been how old?  20?”

“Correct.”  Your attention was focused on bringing up a foreign website while Tae looked over your shoulder, straining to read the English words written on the page.  “Although on the website it says I was 18 since the pervy bastards love the idea of defiling a teenager.  

Are you sure you are ready for this?” you asked, turning to face Tae.  “You are about to watch me getting absolutely drilled by another guy, with closeups of all the action.  Are you okay with this?”

“Of course,” he answered, unthinkingly.  The mixture of curiosity and lust drowned out any reservations he might have about watching you have sex with someone else.

“Before we get started, we should discuss the rules,” you advised him.

Tae audibly groaned.  “Aren’t we just watching a movie?  Why do we need rules for everything?”

“Agreeing to the rules ahead of time is how we make sure we both enjoy ourselves without there being any hurt feelings or misunderstood expectations.  Besides, I have some special requests.”

“Like what?”

You pointed to Tae’s crotch.  “First rule I’m recommending is that your cock be exposed and visible to me at all times during the viewing of this film. You can tuck yourself back in when it’s over.”

Your requests that he expose himself to you had happened so many times now that it didn’t even phase Tae anymore.  He quickly agreed to the first rule.

“The second rule is that you are not permitted to cum before sunrise tomorrow.”

It wasn’t uncommon for you to disallow Tae from touching himself when you were together at your house, but it seemed like you were starting to want to control when he touched himself even when the two of you were apart.  “So you want to get me all worked up watching you and then not allow me to get any relief, is that what this is?”

“Look, you and I both know that I won’t have any idea what you do once I go home.  But I’d like you to make the effort.  Think of it as prolonging the time you are aroused rather than denying yourself gratification.”

Tae nodded his head.  He knew that if he agreed to your rules he wouldn’t dare violate them out of fear that you would somehow figure out that he had been dishonest and end up disappointed in him.  Disappointing you was the last thing he wanted.

“And rule number 3… if you decide that this is too much or you don’t want to watch anymore, you can just say stop or close the laptop. Got it?”

Tae nodded in agreement.

You scrolled through the website until you found what you were looking for, tapped the play button and the opening credits started to roll until you suddenly paused the movie and pointed at Tae’s crotch.  “What was rule number one?”

Wordlessly, Tae undid his pants and pulled his penis out where you could see it.  He was still flaccid but knew that wouldn’t last for too long.  Just knowing that you wanted to see him exposed was starting to have an effect on him.

Restarting the movie, you settled next to Tae on the sofa, your shoulder brushing against his as you adjusted yourself on the seat. Although you had been sitting next to Tae all through dinner, he suddenly became hyper-aware of how close you were and he could feel his hands start to ache from the desire to touch you.  Instead, he just crossed his arms and tried to act as normal as one could when sitting on a sofa, genitals exposed, about to watch to watch a porno starring the object of his desire while she sat next to him.  Tae caught himself smiling at the absurdity of it all.

You appeared on screen, lounging by a swimming pool, wearing the tiniest red bikini he had ever seen, your face obscured by giant sunglasses.  The camera panned up your body in close up, your legs, your hips, your belly, your breasts with nipples barely contained by the tiny strips of red fabric and finally your face.  You took off your glasses and smiled.  Your makeup was unusually heavy in that American porn star fashion, but Tae almost gasped aloud to see your face.  This was only 4 years after he first met you and the younger version of you on the screen reminded him of what you looked like at 16 when he was still a horny teen obsessed by your every move.  Tae mused that his feelings had not changed much since then.

A man appeared from the pool, his arms and legs were muscular and tanned, but he was clearly much older than you as proven by his receding hairline and slight paunch.  Tae felt some slight relief that your costar was not the image of youthful sexuality but instead was a guy that Tae could easily compete with in the attractiveness department.  Not that this was a competition, he reminded himself, but still, it was comforting.

English words poured from the man and your mouths.  Tae strained to understand, but you spoke too quickly, and he could only understand the odd word here and there.  You must have asked him to put suntan lotion on you because now you were lying on your stomach while the man rubbed lotion across your back and then your legs and finally his hands slipped under your bikini, letting the fabric ride up and exposing your buttocks while the man kneaded them under the guise of applying lotion.  The camera zoomed in tightly, showing the expanse of skin on your backside, the man’s hands squeezing your ass and the crotch of your bikini bottoms starting to slip to the side, just barely exposing a sliver of skin and hinting at more to come.

This isn’t so bad.  I can handle watching this, Tae thought.

Then you, on the screen, turned over and sat up, pulling the man close to you and kissing him passionately.  Your faces filled the screen while your tongues tangled.  The sloppy wet kissing noises filled Tae’s ears and he could feel his brow furrow and his lips turn downward in disgust.  Never in his life had he been bothered by watching two people kiss before, but this bothered him.  Tae wanted nothing worse than to kiss you at will, but to see this ugly, paunchy, cheap porn guy sucking your face like it was no big deal was a bit much.

“He was a chain smoker.  His mouth tasted like an ashtray.”  

Tae turned to look at you and noticed you were fully facing him.  Had you just been watching him watching you on the screen this whole time?  You must have noticed the change in Tae’s expression during the kissing scene.  “He doesn’t look too appetizing,” was Tae’s reply.

The man on the computer was now undoing your bikini top, mauling your breasts with his hands while he kissed you.  Until eventually he let his mouth travel down your neck to your nipples, sucking and biting at them while you threw back your head and sighed.  The camera pulled in so closely that all that was left on the screen was a mouth - lips and tongue - sucking and licking the protruding bud.  

Tae had to admit, he kinda liked this better, seeing disembodied body parts on the screen - he could imagine it was him doing this to you and not this other guy.  

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see you looking at him and then glancing down to his exposed manhood.

“Would you mind if I touch you from time to time while you watch?” you asked.

Tae gulped.  He wasn’t expecting that question.  “Of course not.  I never mind when you want to touch me.”

You trailed a finger along the length of his penis, just one single stroke and immediately waking his dormant flesh - causing it to twitch ever so slightly.  It was only one stroke, but it lit a fire in Tae’s groin and he could feel the ache between his legs growing steadily.

Real-life-you turned back to watch the movie.  You on the screen were now laying on the ground, legs spread wide, while the man pulled your bikini bottoms to the side, exposing your bare pussy to the camera.  Tae bit his bottom lip and inhaled deeply while the man pulled your pussy lips apart and lowered his mouth to taste the wetness between your legs.  

Tae had been in that position before, and the taste and smell of you flooded his memory while he watched some total stranger now licking your slit and poking his fingers into you.  This was feeling more real now.  The camera panned up to your face, your eyes half closed, lids fluttering, while your moaned aloud.  You seemed to like what he was doing to you.

“Did you like being with him?” Tae inquired.

“Just watch the movie.  We can talk after if you want,” you replied.  Your hand reached out to grasp Tae’s rapidly growing bulge.  You held it in your hand as if checking him for girth and weight and then let him go.

It took all of Tae’s strength to not groan in frustration.  Was this how it was going to be?  You just checking to make sure he’s hard and then going on about your business?  Why would he have expected any different?  Of course this is what was happening.

The man on the screen stood up and undressed, pulling his swim trunks down to the ground and stepping out of them.  Tae’s eyes went wide with surprise.  Any questions he might have had regarding why this particular guy was chosen to do a porn shoot were answered the minute Tae saw the man’s dick standing proudly erect.  He was enormous.  The size of his member made Tae a little anxious.  Were you going to be able to fit all of that inside you?  Is that what you were used to?  How could a woman like you, who had so much experience with other men ever be satisfied by someone completely average.  Someone, Tae thought, like himself.

Tae started to wonder if maybe watching this wasn’t the best idea.  He could already feel pangs of jealousy starting, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the computer when you reached over and grabbed the man by his dick and brought swollen tip to your mouth and took him inside.  You were right there, on the screen, sucking off some random guy.  Some random guy with a monster sized cock -- you must have unhinged your jaw to fit him in.  

It was a sloppy, slobbering, messy blowjob.  Is this how you normally did it?  Is this how you liked it, he wondered.  Is this what it was like when you made him listen on the phone that time you had sex with the man from the restaurant?  Is this what it was like that one time you were with Jimin?  The only time Tae had been inside your mouth like that, he had cum immediately - so you couldn’t call it a blow job at all.  He wondered if you were disappointed that he didn’t last longer.  

Even though he couldn’t really understand what was being said, Tae could see the man was bossy and demanding.  The man picked you up and repositioned you so your head was hanging off the lounge chair and he straddled your face, thrusting his cock into your open mouth and down your throat until you gagged.  From there he continued to face fuck you slowly as your eyes watered and your lipstick smeared.  

No, Tae thought, this can’t be you.  He couldn’t imagine you allowing anyone to take control of you this way.

As if you read his mind, you leaned over and whispered in Tae’s ear, “For some reason, these porn directors love to hear a girl gagging on someone’s cock.  But I’ve gotten much better at my deep throat skills over the years and that would never happen these days.  I could be a sword swallower if I wanted.”

You dragged your fingernails against the expanse of skin just above his penis.  Tae had shaved himself clean of any pubic hair this morning, remembering the last time the two of you were together and the request you made that he be hair free.  Not that he was exactly expecting anything to happen, but he wanted to make sure you weren’t disappointed in his appearance just in case.

The scratching of your nails was replaced by the gentle glide of your fingertips against his skin and sliding downward to his now mostly erect cock.  Your touch was soft and Tae looked down to make sure that it was really you touching him and not some figment of his imagination.

“Eyes on the screen, Tae.  I don’t want you to miss any of the good stuff.”

He snapped his head back up and fixed his eyes back to where your lips were swallowing the man’s monster sized dick just as the man started to pull out of you.  He grabbed you again and threw you back onto the lounger, grabbed onto your red bikini bottoms and pulled them off in one smooth motion.  Oh god, Tae thought to himself, this is it, isn’t it?

In real life, you now had your hand wrapped firmly around Tae’s member.  You stroked him; one...two...three...four...five… Five strokes with your hand and then stopped.  Tae couldn’t hold back and groaned out loud.  He was getting so hard now it was difficult to focus.

On the screen the man had pushed your knees up so high that they were nearly to your ears.  This had the effect of raising your hips and spreading your pussy open for the camera.  You went the extra step of pulling your pussy lips further apart and rolling your finger over your clit.  The camera zoomed in so closely that it was nothing but wet, slick folds of pussy flesh enveloping the entire screen.  You clit poked out from its hood.  Your vagina looked tight and small, like it would never accommodate the man’s enormous cock.  But he would see for sure in a moment.

The man on the screen held his dick in his hand, stroking himself a couple times and spitting on spread pussy to help lubricate it.  He took the head of his cock and slapped it against your clit several times and then lined himself up against your hole, flashed you a sinister smile and then… nothing.  The screen froze with the image of his dick just at the opening of your vagina.  “Fuck!”  Tae exclaimed in frustration.

It took Tae a moment to realize that it was you how had paused the movie at this exact moment.  Why would you do such a thing?  Wasn’t it your idea to have him watch you?  Isn’t that what you wanted?  Tae had been slightly skeptical of this whole thing, but now he had to admit, he was eager to see what happened next.  It made his brain hurt to think that he was about to watch you with your pussy stuffed full of another man’s cock -- but right now, in this moment, there was nothing more that he wanted to see.

“Why did you stop the movie?” he asked you.

“Are you still okay with our agreement?”

“Huh?  Yeah, of course.  Why would you think I wouldn’t be.”

“Tell me what we agreed to tonight,” you demanded.

“Uh… that I’m exposed to you.  And I don’t touch myself.”

“No.  Not that you don’t touch yourself, we agreed that you don’t get to cum until tomorrow sunrise.  The agreement is that you are exposed to me while the movie plays, that you don’t cum until sunrise tomorrow and we added another one that you are allowing me to touch you.  Also, that you have the right to say stop anytime you need to stop. Are you still okay with this agreement?”

“Yeah.  Of course.”  He was confused why you were bringing this up again.

“Is there any way you do not want me to touch you?”

What was this, he wondered. “Um, just don’t hurt me.”

“Got it.  So, as long as I don’t hurt you, I can touch you using any means I want and you agree not to cum.  Is that right?”

He was starting to get a little anxious.  You had something planned and he couldn’t quite fathom what it was, but history had taught him it was best just to agree and see where things lead.  “Yeah, that’s right.”

“One last rule,” you interjected, “eyes on the screen.”

You hit the space bar and immediately the movie started playing.  The man was very slowly entering you, pushing his gargantuan sex into yours and then pulling it back out again.  For a brief second, your hole gaped open and then quickly closed back up.  

Tae’s eyes glazed over a bit at the sight.  He shouldn’t be enjoying this as much as he was, but by god he was really enjoying it.  

The man plunged himself back into you, gripping tightly onto your thighs, pounding against you and causing your whole body to shake with each thrust.  You were moaning loudly -- Tae was certain this was just acting.  You weren’t a moaner.  At least he didn’t think you were.  But it didn’t matter, because the sound of your voice reached some primal place deep inside him.  There was you, fucking some guy on this computer screen, and it felt like every cell in his body was on fire with lust.

Grabbing you by the waist, the man lifted you up and flipped you over on top of him.  He was the one laying down on the lounger now and you straddled him facing out towards the camera.  Your hand looked tiny wrapped around the man’s giant dick as you held him in place and slowly lowered yourself onto him. 

Tae watched you ride the man reverse cowgirl and could feel his heart beating out of his chest with excitement.  This was the perfect angle, Tae thought.  The man was mostly obscured, his face nearly invisible to the camera.  Instead, you were the one front and center; your chest jutting outward as you leaned back and tried to balance yourself, your tits bouncing as you raised and lowered yourself on this stranger’s cock, your legs spread wide, exposing your sex entirely and making you look incredibly available.  The best part was that you were looking directly into the camera as if inviting the viewer, inviting Tae, to participate in this wanton act of depravity.  God he wished that he was the one there with you.

Tae was so affixed to watching you on the screen, that he almost didn’t notice that you had switched positions on the sofa.  You were lying flat on your stomach, inching your head towards his lap.

He felt your hair first as it tickled a bit when it brushed against his exposed sex.  Instinctively he looked down, but you had carefully positioned yourself with your head blocking his view from seeing exactly what you were doing.  Your hair was spread out like a curtain to prevent any peeking.  But he could feel it clearly when your tongue, wet and warm, licked up and down the sides.  Was this what you meant when you said you could touch him using any means you wanted?

He watched your head shift slightly under than mess of hair splayed across his lap.  Your lips were at the tip of his cock, lightly sucking at the head, your tongue gently swirling around and around.  “Ffffffuuuuuck!” was all Tae could say.

He threw his head back and closed his eyes, desperately trying to concentrate on the feeling of our mouth against his manhood.  But then he recalled your command that he “keep his eyes on the screen.”  You wouldn’t know, he thought.  You were face down between his legs and couldn’t possibly see whether or not he was watching the screen.  But Tae’s desire to not disappoint you overtook his desire to just enjoy the unexpected feeling of you suckling his cock.    He returned to watching the computer, his brain now clearly divided between the two activities.

The man on the screen had changed positions and he was fucking you doggie style now.  Your tits hung freely, nipples distended, as they swung to and fro from the motion of the man crashing his body into yours.  The camera zoomed in again on the place where your sexes joined.  Every time the man pulled out a bit, Tae couldn’t help but notice how slick and shiny the man’s cock was with your pussy juices and he compared it to how his own cock was now slick with your saliva.

In real life, you switched from suckling at the tip of Tae’s cock to sucking him entirely down your throat.  Tae inhaled sharply at the new sensation and his eyes rolled back in his head while he gripped the sofa cushion tightly.  He swore he could feel you swallowing him while your lips closed tightly and your tongue snaked down nearly to his balls.  He wanted so badly to brush your hair aside so he could see you sucking his dick for himself.  You hadn’t specifically told him that he couldn’t do that… but then again, he was reminded, “eyes on the screen.”

He looked back up at the screen just in time to see the man flip you over again.  One of your legs was thrown over his shoulder, the other he pushed up with his hand.  The man was on top of you, fucking you in a variation of missionary style.  It was more difficult to see the more lurid details of your sexual encounter from this angle, although the camera made its best efforts to show as much of the fleshy mound between your legs as it could capture.  

At this point the man in the movie was clearly too far gone to pay attention to camera angles and good cinematography.  He was grunting and sweating, and then the man leaned over you, nipped at your breast before leaning even further in to kiss you on the mouth while pumping his cock into you as fast as humanly possible.

This image did something to Tae -- he was immediately transported back to his teenage bedroom, watching you through his window while the bar owner’s son laid on top of your naked body, writhing around in the dim light of your bedside lamp.  When Tae was younger, he was desperate to see more of you and your sexual encounters with the college boys you seduced.  But he was always too far away, the image too faint to see what he wanted.  Although that never stopped him from replaying what he had seen as a masturbatory fantasy for years following.

But here, now, on his computer screen was the high def version of those activities.  Every drop of sweat visible, ever slap of skin on skin audible… he could practically feel it himself.  Of course what he was actually feeling was your tongue, your mouth, your lips, and your throat standing in for your pussy.  

His brain couldn’t distinguish the difference between what he was seeing and what he was feeling anymore.  He could feel the heat inside his body growing, like an animal inside him was clawing away at his belly trying to escape.  This was the kind of lustful fervor he found himself in constantly as a teenage boy -- so aroused that he felt like he might just split in two at any moment.  He had long outgrown that state of uncontrolled teenage lust into a more sensible and mature enjoyment of erotic activities… except where you were concerned.  With you, Tae was always at the mercy of his hormones.

The man on the computer started to grunt more loudly as he approached his orgasm.  Tae could sympathize, he was getting dangerously close to cumming also.  

Tae clenched his buttocks and tightened his abdomen in an effort to hold back the desire to cum.  He wanted the feeling of your mouth sucking him, toying with him, to last a while longer.  He would have given anything to be allowed to just let go and enjoy this moment to the end, but he had made an agreement and, as always, he did not want to disappoint.

“I’m going to cum.  Ahhhhhh!  I’m going to cum if you keep doing that!”  Tae let out a long low moan; he was so close now but you would not let up.  If he let you keep going for even a few seconds longer, he knew he would explode.  “Stop. Stop!”

With Tae’s cries to stop, you immediately raised your head and leaned away from him, smoothing your hair back into place.  His cock was hard as steel, standing straight up from his body, swollen, red, and leaking profuse amounts of precum.  His whole body was vibrating.  If you so much as breathed on his cock right now, he was sure that he would erupt into an orgasm so intense it would blast through the ceiling.  

On the computer, the man had finally had as much as he could take and pulled out of you, demanding that you kneel before him with you mouth open while he palmed his bursting cock and directed his cum onto your waiting tongue.  Tae turned his head away from the computer; watching another man reach an orgasm right now was a bit more than he could take.

“You know, you taste much better than he did,” you advised Tae.

Tae closed his eyes and whimpered.  He could feel his dick jerk uncontrollably at the unexpected compliment.  Tomorrow he would smile at the memory of being compared favorably to a porn star, but right now, it was taking all of Tae’s strength to not just spontaneously combust, so he just sat in silence.

After a few moments, Tae could hear you rustling around in the kitchen.  He looked over his shoulder to see you gathering up the remnants of your junk food dinner and cleaning up the kitchen.  “You don’t have to do that.  I can clean-up in a little bit.  I just need a few minutes to, um, take care of my situation here.”

You laughed aloud at Tae’s politeness.  “Would you like me to make you an ice pack to help with your ‘situation’”, you replied.

“No, I’ll be okay in a few.”  Tae concentrated on his breathing.  This wasn’t the first case of blue balls he’d had in his life, but normally he had the option to run off to a private space and jerk off for relief.  

“Well, cleaning up is the least I can do before I go.”

“Are you really going?  Can’t you stay a little while longer?”  Tae sat up and tried to tuck his still uncomfortably erect penis into his pants.

“And what would we do if I stayed longer, Tae?” You walked over to the sofa and stood leaned over him.  

“I don’t know, we could just talk.”

Smiling, you shook your head.  “You still have your ‘situation’ to attend to.”  You wagged a finger in the general direction of Tae’s bulge.  “I don’t think keeping me around talking tonight is likely to help with that.  And to be honest, I’ve got to get up at the crack of dawn to go to my fitness boot camp thing.  I hate going, but it’s already doing wonders for my ass.”  You turned around and waggled your butt at Tae to emphasize your point - although he didn’t need any convincing that your ass was already excellent.

Tae couldn’t help but frown with disappointment.  “I understand.”  He fussed with his shirt buttons to avoid looking at you directly.  “It’s just that I don’t know when I’ll see you again.  So… when will I see you again?”

“Listen, Tae, I’ve told you that I’m not good with…”

Holding up one hand to silence you, Tae continued.  “I don’t want to hear anything about not being good with relationships.  You’ve said that you are good at being a friend, right?  And you’ve said that I’m your friend, right?  Or did you not mean any of that?”

You looked a little concerned and answered hesitatingly.  “Of course, I meant it.  We are friends.”

“Well, friends should be able to make plans and talk to each other more than once every couple of weeks.  I’m not asking for anything crazy here.”  He paused deliberately before repeating himself, “So when will I see you again?”  Tae was starting to feel more assured as he spoke, hopeful that would would agree with his logic.

You narrowed your eyes as if scrutinizing this new version of Tae who had enough courage to insist that you not leave before making future plans.  “I’m working the late shift at the store tomorrow.  I usually go out to eat at a restaurant near the mall around noon before my shift starts at 1:30.  If you are interested, you could join me.”

Tae tried to not look overly excited but couldn’t help but smile at the fact that you were agreeing to see him two days in a row.  “I would love to join you for lunch tomorrow.  Text me the name of the restaurant and I’ll meet you there.”

[esperwatchesfilms]

New Year’s Evil

I got the idea to start this challenge while stoned in the middle of the night and desperate for a goal. Something to put myself into. And I thought, “COVID has made me a shut-in who only watches films and talks to people. What better way to spend that time than to actually attempt to beat that world record I set out to beat so long ago. Unfortunately, I’m doing it very unofficially so only the people I talk to on a regular basis are likely to pay it any attention. I’ve got to point out here and now that my scoring system for films is arbitrary and is not a true reflection of how much I enjoyed watching a film. My scores are based on silly things that I give and deduce points for as I see fit. The Esper Scale of Entertainment (or the ESE) is understood by no one, but I will give a clear indication of why points were given and taken away at the end of each post. With those two things out of the way, I’ve got to admit I really enjoyed New Year’s Evil despite its 35/100 ESE rating. It starts off with a disappointing horror movie rule-breaking trope. There’s a woman of color in the first scene. Clearly, this means the killer is going to kill her. She committed one of the ultimate horror movie sins by being a woman of color, and thus, the movie gods decided she had to die, which was made even worse by her cliché killer-pops-out-from-behind-a-shower-curtain death. Then we get the opening titles. About eight 80s punk-rockers are packed into a convertible and blasting “New Year’s Evil” by Shadow, the video I attached to this post. So, from the word go, I have no idea what I’m watching, but I’m here for it. The song slaps, so I’m immediately all in. Earlier we saw the Yvonne (the woman of color) talking to a friend over the phone saying, “I’m on my way” before her horror-movie-trope demise, and once the credits end, we are more properly introduced to Diane, aka Blaze, a TV/radio personality who is hosting a party she calls New Year’s Evil, which appears to be a punk show where all the opening title convertible punks were headed. Before going out on stage and starting the show, Diane/Blaze’s son rocks up in fancy coat tails with blue jeans and a crumpled tie. He’s handsome as hell, but holy hell, I can’t deal with this look. I should have probably taken more than five points off for this look alone, but it’s too late now. Anyway, Blaze and Derek (Coat Tails) have a weird mother-son exchange, and their interactions are cringey at best, but incestual-feeling at worst. Anyway, the show Blaze is hosting is a punk rock show where there are some unexplained people on a stage answering telephones (is it a telethon? We don’t know. No one seems to be pledging anything. Are they making requests? It is not explained). So, Blaze is the host and decides to get in on the answering-the-phone action. When she does, a modified voice says to call him “Ee-vil!” He pronounces it exactly the way Mermaid Man does in Spongebob Squarepants, and I could only see the ridiculous face of Mermaid Man in my head any time he said it (because, oh, yes, friends. He can’t only say it once! Anyhow, the man says he’ll be killing one person on the hour every hour from 9 pm to 12 pm. (East Coast’s New Year to West Coast’s New Year) So, naturally, Blaze informs her agent that he needs to get ALL the police there to protect everyone. Meanwhile, there’s a mosh pit happening in a sanitarium, where they are watching the New Year’s Evil show live on television. While we are at the sanitarium, an orderly (I think?) and a nurse sneak off to have some fun. The orderly has a small radio capable of recording external sound (like an oversized Talkboy) as well as the sound being emitted from the radio. The nurse makes some mention of it, to which he responds, “I always come well-equipped.” She giggles, bites her lip and says, “I bet you do!” Which tells us, as the audience, that not only are they about to do the do... but this dude’s definitely the murderer. Because we’ve already seen one horror movie rules death. So, of course, we need to see another. Nurse lady has sex? Nurse lady has to die. From here on out, there are more killings as the police rock up and try to sort out what’s happening. They’re portrayed as very useless, very authoritarian/demanding, and very judgmental -- soooooo, accurately, I suppose, is the word I’d use. They’re portrayed accurately. We see the killer in the car with two women, one of which is a ditzy blonde who just cannot shut up. She talks about all the different types of meditation she’s tried. She tells the killer her friend tried one of the types, too, for her “nervous diarrhea”. You know, just the thing you tell a stranger you’re thinking about sleeping with... that your friend gets nervous poops. The ditzy blonde girl is our next horror movie trope. “The Fool”. Done in by her own stupidity. They stop somewhere for snacks or some such (I honestly don’t remember), and the friend goes in leaving the killer alone with the ditz, whom he strangles with a plastic baggie that is also full of weed. When the friend comes back, the car is gone and in its place is her friend’s shoe. She sees a nearby dumpster with a piece of fabric matching her friend’s dress poking out. She walks over while some generic horror music mixed with some Walmart Brand Jason Voorhees breathing plays, and she opens the dumpster, and the killer is inside with a lighter which he flicks on and grins menacingly at the woman, who is yanked into the dumpster, where we can assume she, too, was murdered.

I should note that somewhere before being murdered, the ditz says, “When a girl doesn’t have a date on New Year’s Eve, she’s in Shit City.” And ditzy girl? I hear ya. From here on out, there are some necessity injuries. He is being hunted down by bikers for what seems like no reason at one point, so he hides at a drive-in movie, where he sort of kidnaps a girl who was getting felt up by her boyfriend. He yanks the dude out of the car and throws him aside after stabbing one of the bikers who was chasing him. We don’t see him die, so I’m going to assume it’s an injury since he seems to only be interested in killing women. He then, later, knocks out a security guard trying to get into the punk party because the police have now determined that Blaze is probably the final target. The police and Blaze are about to check on Blaze's hotel room (the party is being held in the hotel in a ballroom or something, I’m assuming. Convention center? I don’t know. The place is connected to the hotel), where her son is, and they pull a gun on him. She yells that it’s her son, and they apologize and leave, and she apologizes to Derek saying she forgot he was there, and he storms out, “YOU ALWAYS FORGET ME WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH”. The police leave, and when another officer comes back, THE KILLER ANSWERS HER DOOR. PLOT TWIST -- THE KILLER IS DIANE/BLAZE’S HUSBAND!!!! He called earlier to say he would be late, and when he shows up? HE’S THE KILLER!!!! I have to admit, I didn’t see this coming. The husband was mentioned briefly, but my brain didn’t connect it, so it was a pleasant surprise that this 80s film done duped me. Good job, New Year’s Evil!!

Anyway, Blaze is seen in the elevator moments later flirting with the officer, who’s married and has two sets of twins, information to which Blaze comments, “What’s the matter? No TV?” Suggest, Blaze. Very suggestive! It sucks that your creepy murder-husband rigged the camera in the elevator, so he knows about your weird suggestive conversations with randos, something it seems his son has also alerted him to, because when he reveals he’s the killer to her, he mentions that ladies are evil in general. Okay. So, it wasn’t just me. It wasn’t speculative. Dudeski really does just hate women. The whole film is just, “Guy hates women. Guy’s New Year Resolutions include killing all the nasty womens.” He tortures her a while by handcuffing her to some chains underneath the elevator, and then making the elevator go up and down with some fuse box of some kind that happens to just be easily accessible and next to where the elevator is. At least I haven’t seen this form of torture in film before, so that’s fun. The end is relatively boring. The police sort out that the husband used to be in the sanitarium we saw earlier where the nurse died. They find him torturing his wife, and they chase him to the roof, where he runs to the edge of the building, quotes Hamlet, and immediately plummets to his death wearing a goofy mask that he’s only worn twice in the film, both for short periods of time. He dies on impact, and everyone goes to investigate the body. The son picks up his mask and ominously stares into the distance, telling us before he’s actually told us that he’s totally going to take up his father’s quest to murder the womens.

Blaze is put in an ambulance, and when it pans to the driver, it’s the son, wearing his father’s mask. The film ends, the credits roll, and I move on to the next one.

Overall, I laughed throughout. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this film, but if you’re bored on New Year’s Eve and feel like a “horror” film, this one isn’t the *worst* one you could watch. Below, you’ll find a breakdown of the ESE rating I gave it.

Quick ESE explanation: every film starts with 50 points for being a film. From there, I add or deduct points based on... my whim.

35/100

50 +4 for packed punk convertible +2 for New Year’s Evil 80s metal theme song +1 for switchblade comb -5 for coat tails with blue jeans -5 for creepy incestuous mother-son duo -2 for Mermaid Man pronunciation of “Ee-vil!” +10 for “I always come well-equipped.” “I bet you do” -5 for punks moshing to some funky blues -5 for predictable horror movie trope deaths +2 for maniacal punk laugh +3 for the “Oops” because he pissed off the bikers +5 for punks booing the police at the New Year’s Evil party -7 for the creepy incestual feeling of the interactions between Blaze and Derek +10 for PLOT TWIST!!!! -25 for the woman-hating killer +5 for creative elevator thing +2 for Hamlet quote -5 for highly predictable ending

[naturallytom]

To The Stars and Back (Tom Holland x reader)

a/n: although this takes place when ffh was being filmed, there’s no ffh spoilers at all whatsoever (i think i mentioned it once lmao)!! other than that this is just a scenario i kinda thought up before i went to sleep some nights and thought mayhaps i should write it so here we are !! 

warnings: tom’s actions in the beginning are a bit dickish, angst, language, fluff, shitty writing sfjskfs

_______________________________________________________________________

Day one: St. Mark’s basilica. Day two: Tom was filming during the day, but the two of you had dinner reservations after he was finished. Day three: Walk around St. Mark’s Square with the rest of the cast when they weren’t filming. Day four: Gallerie dell’Accademia and dinner. Day five: Gondola tour and dinner afterwards. Day six: go home :(

“Sorry, love. Something came up and we gotta re-shoot some scenes during our tour of the basilica tomorrow. D’you want to see if we can change it? We should be ready by 2 or so.” Tom told you over the phone. 

“Yeah, of course. Don’t worry about it, Tommy I understand.” You replied, looking at the signs outside the basilica. “There’s one for 3, wanna do that?” 

“Sure, love! I’ll be there! Love you!” 

“Love you too.” You smiled, hanging up the phone and glancing at the time. You had a couple hours to spare- why not grab some food while you wait?

The time went by quickly while you were enjoying tasting the food of Italy and before you knew it, 3pm was arriving. Dialing Tom’s number, you feared he forgot about it with all the filming which was confirmed when you got his voicemail. 

“Hey, Tom. I’m, uh, at St. Mark’s Basilica and I just wanted to know when you would get here for our tour? Um, just call me back. Love you.” You spoke, hanging up the phone. 

You sighed sadly when it didn’t look like he’d show up, but you were already there so you figured to just go in by yourself. 

By the time you got back, it was almost time for dinner. Entering the hotel room to put your stuff down, you noticed Tom was in the room. 

“Sweetheart I’m sorry, we just got lunch after filming and I lost track of time.” Tom apologized, pouting slightly. 

“‘S fine, Tom.” You mumbled. It wasn’t really fine, but it wasn’t worth arguing over. You still saw the basilica, you had four more days to spend time with Tom. 

“Hey,” he started, brushing hair out of your face and pressing a soft kiss to your cheek. “I love you.” 

“I love you too.” 

-

“Dinner tonight at 8?” You asked as Tom got ready. 

“Dinner tonight at 8.” He confirmed, crouching down and giving you a kiss. “Love you, have a good day.” 

“I’m gonna be watching you film, you goof.” You giggled. 

“That’s a good day.” 

-

“Hey, Tom, you ready to go to dinner?” You asked, putting your earrings in. 

“Shit sorry, love. The cast is all going to dinner tonight and I kinda gotta be there because I’m...Spiderman, you know? We can do dinner tomorrow.” He explained, giving you a quick kiss before rushing out of the room. 

Sighing disappointedly, once again you figured that you were already dressed for it, you might as well go enjoy the dinner, even if it was by yourself. 

-

The rest of the days went similarly, Tom forgot to grab you when the cast went to walk around St. Mark’s Square, he completely bailed on Gallerie dell’Accademia and dinner. So when he told you he couldn’t make the gondola ride and dinner, you were beyond done. 

“Seriously, Tom? Seriously?” You sighed, the disappointment and frustration in your voice evident. 

“What, Y/N?” He responded, rubbing his temples. “We’re just going out for drinks. I didn’t think that’d be a big deal.” 

“Tom you’ve been ditching me all fucking week! I took time off work to do this and-” 

“And I’ve been working! You know I can’t give you my undivided attention when I’m filming a damn movie!” He snapped. 

“I’m not asking for undivided attention! I understand you’re busy but we went through and made these plans together, around your schedule. I understand when things come up but forgetting me and ditching me and our plans for plans you just made is not the case of things just coming up.” You yelled. 

“Well you got to see everything you wanted, yeah? You still got to see Italy and the famous landmarks so I don’t see what the big deal is. It’s not like it was a waste of money to come here.” He yelled back.

“No, but it sure as hell was a waste of time, Tom. I would never have come if I knew it’d be anything like this. Go for your stupid fucking drinks tonight. I’ll figure out something else to do by myself and if not I’m booking an earlier flight home.” You muttered, storming out of the hotel room and slamming the door, leaving Tom alone with his thoughts. 

Tom groaned, flopping back on the bed. It took a few minutes for his frustration to go away but once it did, Tom realized how badly he fucked up.

“Shit shit shit,” he muttered to himself, grabbing his phone and checking the time. Sighing in relief when he saw it was still early enough to fix this.

He hopped off the bed as quickly as he could before grabbing a room key and running to Zendaya’s room and knocking frantically on her door.

Zendaya opened the door, confusion evident on her face at the frantic knocking. 

“Who is it?” Jacob’s voice rang out. 

“It’s Tom.” She answered, opening the door a little wider as a silent invitation for Tom to enter.

“What’s up man? Where’s Y/N?” Jacob greeted as Zendaya closed the door.

“I-I don’t know we had a fight and I fucked up big time.” He whimpered, eyes wide.

“Woah woah what?” Start over.” Zendaya instructed. 

Zendaya and Jacob listened to Tom as he shakily told them everything and by the end, they both sighed, disappointed. 

“I need your help,” He breathed out. “Please.” 

“What do we need to do?” Jacob asked, Zendaya nodding in agreement. 

“Really? Holy shit okay uh Z take my card,” he began, handing her his credit card. “Go buy a really pretty dress. Something fancy but not a gown.” He instructed. She nodded, mumbling an ‘on it’ in response before heading out. 

“Jacob can you just text her and ask if she wants to come for drinks tonight or something? I wanna make sure she gets back to the room on time.” He told him. 

“On time for what? Dude what’s your plan?” Jacob asked. 

“Zendaya’s on dress duty. I want to get flowers and then put flower petals in the room and around the dress and have her get changed into the dress and then we go to dinner.” Tom explained. 

Jacob nodded. “That sounds like a good plan. I’ll text her right now.”  He told Tom, typing away on his phone while Tom called the restaurant the two of you had reservations for to make sure they were still on. He sighed in relief when they confirmed that they were, that you hadn’t cancelled them out of anger (he wouldn’t have blamed you if you did). 

“Thanks man. I’m gonna get the flowers.” 

-

Tom finally got some roses, making his way back to the hotel room. He spotted Zendaya outside her room, a pale pink dress in her hands. 

“I got this.” She told him. 

“I...wow I love it.” Tom breathed, taking it from Zendaya. “Thank you.” 

“No problem. Also here’s your card.” She responded, handing him his credit card before going back to her room with Jacob. 

Tom smiled, opening the door to his shared room with you and placed the dress down on the bed gently. He checked his phone to see what Jacob had texted him about where you were and when you were coming back before placing rose petals all around it along with a note and changed into a nice suit, heading down to the restaurant, texting Jacob to make sure you were still going back to the hotel room. 

-

You sighed, entering the hotel. You felt relaxed after spending the day at the beach but it didn’t mask the frustration and anger you currently felt towards Tom, nor did it make it go away. 

Stepping into your room, you paused, taking in the sight in front of you. A path of rose petals led to the bed, a pale pink dress laying gently on top of the bed, a note right next to it. 

Be ready for 8pm, a car will be there to take you to the restaurant we booked.

I love you♡

You glanced at it, unsure of what to do. On one hand you wanted to go, see Tom have dinner with him. On the other hand you wanted to ditch him and make him feel what you felt. 

Hand one won. 

You got ready on time, heading down to the entrance to the hotel. Tom kept his promise, there was a car there, the driver telling you that he was in fact taking you to the restaurant. 

The car ride was silent, neither of you making small talk. 

“Well here we are.” The driver announced, pulling up to the restaurant. 

“Thanks.” You muttered in response, climbing out and going into the building. 

It was elegant, like something out of a movie. Tom wasn’t hard to find- his eyes were glued to the door and once he spotted you he could feel his heart hammering in his chest. 

You walked over to him as he stood up, unable to take his eyes off you. 

He opened his arms, bringing you in for a hug.

“I- wow. You look….gorgeous. You look so gorgeous, love. I’m, fuck, I’m so lucky.” He spoke softly as he hugged you tightly. 

“Thanks, Tom.” You mumbled as you pulled away. 

Tom immediately pulled out your chair, gesturing for you to sit down before he sat down across from you. 

“I didn’t really wanna come, if ‘m honest.” You told him after the waiter had taken your drink orders. Both of you just stuck to a glass of wine and some water. 

Tom felt his heart break at your revelation. He knew he fucked up, he knew you were upset but still, he didn’t ever want you to not want to see him. 

“I-I know, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry, baby you don’t deserve to be treated the way I treated you.” He said sadly. 

“I know. I forgive you, Tom.” You said softly.

“You do?” 

You nodded. “Yeah. I love you, you know.” 

“I love you too.” He responded, a smile gracing his face. “Can I kiss you?” 

“Nuh uh uh. I’m still mad at you. You can kiss me when we get back to our hotel room.” You teased. 

“Like a first date?” He asked.

“Like a first date.” You laughed. 

 The rest of the dinner went smoothly. You laughed, you enjoyed the food and wine and all the frustration and anger was washed away. When you finished and left the restaurant, Tom laced your fingers together as you walked around the city. 

“Tommy, look at all the stars!” You gasped, looking up at the sky, seeing all the stars shimmering against the dark night sky. “They’re so pretty.”

“Not as pretty as you, my love.” He replied, his eyes focused on you. 

“Oh shut up, you.” You laughed, though you couldn’t deny the beating of your heart or the fluttering of the butterflies in your stomach. 

“I have something else to tell you.” He told you suddenly, getting a ‘hm?’ from you in response. “I called your boss, asked for a few more days off for you.” 

“Oh god, Tom please do not tell me you got me fired.” You groaned. 

“Hey shush, let me finish.” He said, still holding your hand. “She said it was fine. That they hired some new people and they have to train them so you have the week off. I also took care of your flight arrangement so you can stay with me next week- that is, if you want to.” His voice trailed off at the end when he remembered you probably wouldn’t want to stay with him again. 

“What’re we gonna do?” You asked. 

“Whatever you want, lovey. We can do whatever you want. I just wanna make this up to you.” He spoke quickly. 

“Alright. Alright yeah, I’ll stay.” You gave in, despite the hesitation you were feeling at first. 

Tom’s face lit up as he pulled you into his chest. 

“Thank you, thank you I promise I’ll be better.” He mumbled. You just smiled and cuddled yourself further into his chest. 

“Can I kiss you now?” He asked, making you chuckle and look around at the water besides you and the stars above you. 

“Yeah, you can kiss me now.” And he did, pressing his lips to yours softly, his hands cupping your cheeks while yours went to his jacket, pulling him closer.

“I love you.” He mumbled against your lips as he pulled away. 

“Hmm how much?” You giggled as your nose bumped against each other.

“I love you to the stars and back.” He responded. 

“That’s a lot of love, Tommy.” 

“And it’s all for you, sweetheart. All for you.” 

_______________________________________________________________________

tags + mutuals: @boredombesson @spidermansmj14 @calum-hoodwinked-me @karlitabi-rrito @tomhaz @i-ship-it-okay @holland-osterfieldx @you-makemethisway @xxtomxo @shadowyartcutebiscuit @spideyyypeter @xxxxdelenaxxxx @tomzfrog @sparklyhomeworklovecloud @sunshinehollandd @spiderboytotherescue @hollandroos @loverholland @lavenderholland @spideypeach @mcuspidey @importantfireeaglefish 

[mickmarstookmyheart]

Life's a Sick Joke pt 2

Pairing: Mick Mars x Reader

Would like to start from the beginning? Here is Part 1 !

Sidenote: As this story is under construction, I would like to warn you that those chapters which don’t have a proper title are written in the main caharcter’s POV!! Be aware!!! Be awaaare! I hope you will enjoy this storyas I did writing it, have a nice day and feel free to leave marks!

2. After-Meeting Party

"Hey Liz, you forgot your helmet! Don't dare to ride without it." Dylan threw it in your way and you caught it smoothly. You said goodbye to him and ran down the stairs, hoping not to meet any of your neighbors.

You packed your stuff into the bag of your motorbike. It was a beautiful, shining jet black chopper. You've worked your ass off to afford it, but it was way cheaper than a car. Perks, you can easily avoid traffic jams. It was just still February and all, but since you hate public transport, particularly people, you got your helmet on and pulled the leather jacket down your waist.

On your way to the meeting, plenty of things crossed your mind. Firstly, in a couple of months, you will be on the road and travel a LOT with Ozzy Osbourne as the opener group during 'Bark at the Moon' tour. Secondly, how should you behave with the boys and the other members of the staff? Should you joke with them or stay calm and silent and ignore all the witty sentences they will tell? And finally, Mick. You hoped he forgot that little chat between the two of you.

When you got there and finally found a parking lot. You took off your helmet and headed towards the building. Inside you took a look at the big clock and saw that you were half an hour earlier, but you didn't mind. Never have you ever been late from anywhere. I gave a look to that clerk from last time and confidently stepped in the elevator. When you got in front of the office door you hesitated a bit. When you stepped in you said a shy hello to the others who were already there. You sat down at the end of the table and started to read the papers on the desk.

"Hey, don't touch them! It's confidential." At the same moment, you dropped the papers and looked over the man in complete shock. You felt my face burn in embarrassment.

"Oh...I'm so sorry. I didn't know..." You tried to say a proper sentence.

"Just kidding, kid. Don't worry. Anyway, I'm Doc." He approached you and shook hands.

"(Y/N). Nice to finally meet you." You were smiling since you truly meant it. He already managed some bands you liked so much.

"Are you the new makeup artist?" He asked rubbing the back of his head guessing.

"Nope. I'm a photographer. I don't, more like I can't really do anything with makeup." You chuckled remembering your many attempts with make-up. You either ended like a clown or you never saw any difference.

"Ohh so you are the nerd one." Yaaay now they will call you The Nerd™. Cool. "Anyway, I read your CV. Nice qualifications. To be honest I expected an old, skinny man with a big mustache to be the photographer. But it's a pleasant disappointment."

"Thank you. I guess." You said after he left you there.

After he left the room, you let your hair loose and fix it a bit due to the helmet completely ruined it. The only body part you adored was your hair. Well, your hair, generally in the family. All the three of you and your bitch mother had silver, almost platinum white hair.

10 am. Finally. Everybody was present except for the four musicians. Nothing really happened, just discussed things which relate to the staff.

10:30 am. The door opened and the dark knight himself entered the meeting. You tried to avoid eye contact with him so you entertained yourself by the color of the wall and the long, shining glass table in front of you.

"I am sorry." Mick apologized and shut the door after himself. So he is the only one who attended the meeting. Nice.

"So, your interview went well I see." He whispered in your ear as he sat down next to you. Next to you. There were plenty of other seats available, but he had to sit down right there. Yay. Becoming invisible mission failed.

"Yeah...I was surprised, too." You said blushing.

You tried my best, really. You tried to concentrate on the meeting and jot down important information, but every time Doc joked and Mick chuckled or laughed you completely lost control. You always felt his eyes on you. It was frustrating. You cleared your throat more than once as a sign for him to look away but he didn't get it or just didn't want to. Doc started to write on the board the important concert dates and so did you.

"Shouldn't we wait until the boys come?" You chuckled. A girl asked who was sitting in front of you. She was a rookie, too if you had to guess.

"It's very unlikely to happen, dear. They are rockstars and they do whatever they feel like." Doc sighed continuing on the board.

"You know I'm sitting here, right?" Mick asked in a serious tone. Everybody cracked up, including me.

"If you really want to see them, check them at the after-meeting party." Doc told the girl.

"After-meeting party?"

You whispered to Mick.

"Yep. You coming?" He asked leaning closer. His breath was doing things to you.

"I don't know. Maybe. Although, I can't really drink, and party without alcohol isn't a party."

"And what if I won't drink either? That would be fair, right?" He offered in a very dangerous tone, it gave you goosebumps.

"Ohh I can't expect it from you. It's a party overall!"

"I want to be sober when I'm talking to you. I want to remember everything you say and tell me." Your heart skipped a beat.

At the party

"Hey, Mick!!! We didn't expect you to be hereeeee!!" Nikki yelled as he, Tommy, and Vince entered the party. They were all drunk as hell but trying to act sober. You and Mick were sitting at the bar drinking juice and water. Shame.

"Fuck. I didn't know what I was missing. These morons." He placed his face in his hands. Somehow you felt a sudden urge to touch his shoulder to comfort him, but you didn't have the guts to do so.

"And who is this?" The boys approached you and stopped in front of you. Vince eyed from head-to-toe and was grinning. "Nice to meet you, dear. I'm Vince Neil, the singer, and leader of this band."

"Vince, you are the lead singer, not the leader. It's not the same, man." Nikki corrected Vince.

"(Y/N)." He held your hand and placed a kiss on the top of it.

"My lady." Mick just rolled his eyes. You were afraid he might eye-roll himself into another dimension.

"And (Y/N)....what?" Tommy asked curiously.

"I'm sure she is (Y/N) Sixx cause I will fucking marry her, man!" He and his terror twin high-fived while you and Mick just shared a look.

"Wow. That was so original. You don't have better pickup lines?" You asked pulling one of your eyebrows at him.

"Hey, that was good. As me." He winked and with that, he just walked away pretending to be offended.

"I'm Tommy. Tommy Lee. And I really would like to know your surname!! Is it embarrassing or what?" He snickered.

"Well if you look me with those puppet eyes of yours I'm gonna tell ya. My name is (Y/N) Cooper." You sighed and waited for the reaction. Tommy was wide-eyed and already turned towards his bandmates.

"Hey Sixx, Vinnie! This is Alice Cooper's daughter!" You facepalmed since you already knew this will happen. A bunch of idiots.

"No, man. This is the reason I didn't want to tell it. Because you, fucking teenagers will immediately think that I'm a relative of Alice Cooper!!" You snapped and now completely understand Mick's thoughts about them.

"Chills, dude. I'm leaving." Lee held his hands up in defense and left you there with Mick.

"Fucking teenagers" is my line." Mick spoke up after they all left.

"You need to copyright it sometime."

∆Still at the party∆

"So I already know that you like taking pictures. Tell me your story!" You were now on the balcony which was much quieter and peaceful them downstairs. You finally convinced Mick to drink something even if you couldn't. He had a bottle of beer in his hands and was gesturing with it.

"I don't really know what to tell. What do you want to know?" You asked while taking a sip from your water. Water at a party. You couldn't believe it either.

"Well, do you live near here? Children?" He paused for a second. He looked at you from the coach. "Husband?" You smiled at the last question.

"Woah, Woah, Woah. Hold on! One question at once! I can't even remember them. Well, if you really want to know we live 30 minutes from here. We moved here at least four years ago."

"With whom?" He asked while he slowly stood up and leaned on the railing of the balcony beside you.

"With my brother and sister. Woah, now just with my brother, cause Isabelle went to uni. And for that husband topic...I haven't really had any proper relationship, there were mostly jerks, dumps, and idiots, in that order." You looked down and laughed at how miserable you were with relationships. "Also looking after my sister and sometimes my brother is just like having a baby." He chuckled. "And what about you?"

"I have a sister, called Susie and three..."

"Brothers?" You asked back not letting him finish his sentence. Mick already regretted intending to mention his children so it was a good come out.

"Yeah, sure." He said before taking a sip of his booze. He stood closer to you so his shoulder was touching yours. Mick met many girls during his life who were pretty and kind, but when he saw you in the office acting nervous, he knew you will completely turn upside down his whole life.

You hummed from the slight touch and leaned your head on his shoulder. You were admiring the view of the city night and the peaceful quiet. Then something crossed your mind like thunder during a storm.

"Holy shit." You cursed thinking he will kill you.

"What is it?" Mick asked worryingly.

"I forgot to call him, my brother. He will kill me. Sorry, but I gotta go."

"Okay, I will wait here." Mick sighed and thought he fucked it up this time. Maybe this touch and personal questions just scared you away. You headed towards the phonebooth downstairs. You felt terrible leaving Mick there all alone, but your brother must be worried sick, not knowing a thing about you.

You found a phone in the kitchen which was not that quiet. Cool. It ranged at least a million times until he picked it up.

"What kind of meeting lasts for more than 3 hours? I worried sick. Where are you?" He ranted on the phone. He was pretty angry.

"I'm so sorry, Dylan. Time just flew. Currently, I'm in a house party near to the office. It's a so-called after meeting party. Sounds ridiculous, I know." You smiled on the phone.

"Sure, it does. But you aren't drinking, are you? I hope you remember...that thing."

"Yeah I remember and you don't have to remind me all the time. And I'm sober. Anyway, Mick is asking of you."

"So...becoming invisible mission failed?"

"It fucking did."

"Who are you talking to, my dear?" A strangely familiar voice echoed from your back so you turned around. Vince. Dear Satan give you enough strength to handle him.

"Hey, Dylan I have to go, but I will set off soon, I promise. See ya later." And without waiting for his respond you hung up. After putting back the phone you glared at him, not in a mood for his attempts.

"What do you want, Vince?" You asked while heading back to poor Mick.

"Just a kiss from a rose." He stepped in front of you and put his fingers under your chin.

"No way, man! You are wasted and I'm not enough wasted to kiss you. So, please let me go." You wanted to walk beside him back to Mick, but he grabbed your wrist and pulled closer to him. Mick went back to the room and was about to leave this party since he supposed you weren't coming back. It was too long now for just a telephone conversation.

"It's just a kiss. From me. From the fucking lead singer of Mötley fucking Crüe." He whispered in your ear.

"But asshole, I don't give a damn of who you are. And get your hands off me!" You were about to walk away but he crushed his lips on yours. You immediately moved away and punched him in the face. He fell to the floor and held his hand on his face.

"You BITCH! You hit me!!" You stood there in complete shock, not believing what you just did. Everyone was staring at you. Your hand hurt like hell and you just wanted to be somewhere else.

"I'm so sorry. I should...go." You ran out of the bar and got on your bike.

"Hey, (Y/N)! Please wait!" Mick yelled from the door and was approaching you. "Where are you going?"

"Didn't you see what I did? I punched Vince. Actually, he is my boss. I fucked it up." You sighed and was gripping the hand clutch so strong your hand was already white.

"In that case, I'm your boss, too. And what did he do? I just saw that he is on the floor and you are running out."

"He...he tried to kiss me. I told him to stop and go away but he didn't. And after all, he did it and I got furious and hit him." You took a deep breath and looked into his eyes. Mick didn't know what to think at first, he was just amazed at how badass you were and angry as hell about Vince.

"Don't worry. He is so drunk he won't even remember it in the morning." Mick tried to chill you down.

"Are you sure? But what Doc will think? He is angry I guess..." You murmured.

"I think he didn't even notice it. And he won't care if Vince will go to him and cry like a girl who just broke her nails."

You chuckled. He stepped closer and you hugged him. You didn't know why you just needed someone to comfort you. He didn't move for a second. Later he hugged you back and rubbed your back. Mick wanted that moment to last forever, though it felt like a minute. Your strong grip, your smell and your hair in his face were just perfect. You were just perfect.

"Thank you for always being there when I need the most." You wiped your tears away and felt awkward." Sorry, this might sound strange." You sniffed.

"Hey, it's okay and I understand." A long pause and awkward silence. "So is this your bike? It looks badass." He took a look at your bike.

"Yap, it's mine. And thanks. I worked a lot to get it. But it worthed." You looked in the distance for a while. You thought about Vince and that you may have to look for a new job and had to leave Mick.

You screwed it up. 

Next chapter

Tags: @cmft-jr-winchester  @leatherandheels​

[theladylovingcrow]

New Places, Friendly Faces Part 3 (Sanny)

https://theladylovingcrow.tumblr.com/post/189298208331/new-places-friendly-faces-part-2-sanny

Author (As known on Various sites): Lady Lover- Rockfic, Luluthechoosingcrow - AO3, theladylovingcrow - Deviantart and Wattpad, @sammy_bluebells - Instagram, @imacrowcawcaw - main Tumblr, @theladylovingcrow - writing/art Tumblr, @insannywestan - Sanny shipping Tumblr

Fandom: Greta Van Fleet

Pairing: Sam Kiszka/Danny Wagner (Sanny), lil bit of Danny/Ronnie but he's quickly swept away with Sam

Length: about 2.3k

Warnings/Tags: Alternate Universe, Diner AU, No band AU, fluff, some angst, awkwardness, first dates, you know the ones where person A's date is failing and person B comes and sits with them, sorry i forgot what its called but that, hand holding, flirting, Sanny

Summary: Danny was nervous; he had been building up the courage for *weeks* to arrange a date, and now.... He wasn't quite sure what to think of the situation he found himself in. The night certainly wasn't going as he had expected it to - and his emotions had never ridden a roller coaster this fast. Hell, the beautiful angel holding his hand wasn't even the one he had arranged to meet 2 hours ago.

Author's Notes: Yep! I've officially adopted an every Monday post schedule for this, so that's cool! Just an fyi about the ending of this chapter, I'm so sorry to disappoint of you're hoping for a magical portal but that's not it (that wpuld have been cool but this is a mundane story)

https://theladylovingcrow.tumblr.com/post/189298208331/new-places-friendly-faces-part-2-sanny

----------

"Right... well, I'm officially off duty once I ring you up, so why don't you two get out of here and have some fun."

Danny fished into his pocket one handed, finding his wallet. He tried to open it and get a ten out while still holding on to Sam, but it was pretty difficult so he was forced to let go in order to pay. He thought it was a little overly dramatic of his heart, but it literally stopped beating out of disappointment for a second. God. He was already completely whipped.

Sam stood up and grabbed the keys, going back to his other table to put on his coat while Danny got his change back from Ronnie. She, now sitting at the table with her other brothers, waved them goodbye as they exited the cozy diner, stepping out into the frigid snow.

Sam immediately grabbed Danny's hand back, putting both of them in his pocket as he started to walk around the back of the building to the employee's section of the parking lot.

Sam suddenly stopped, turning to look at Danny. "Shit, wait, how did you come here? Do you have a car?"

"Uhh, my mom dropped me off."

Sam nodded and kept walking. Danny, for some reason, didn't want to leave it at that - Sam didn't seem overly judgemental, but he wanted to show that he wasn't a completely helpless dork.

"Usually I get her car on the weekends," he continued, "but she had some thing to attend over in North Star and she couldn't get a ride. She brought me here and gave me money for the bus to take home."

"Hey, well, now you don't have to take the bus!"

Sam grinned at him, unlocking the door to his sister's car and opening it for Danny. He smiled to himself and ducked his head, getting in. Fuck whatever societal expectations - not like they really applied to gay couples anyways - he loved to be treated sweetly, too.

Starting the ignition and carefully backing out of the parking space, Sam laughed, loud and happy. Danny looked at him curiously.

"Oh my god, I just picked up a total hottie and we're going on a rendezvous in my sister's car! This is crazy!"

Danny laughed, too, amazed at the situation. Like, holy shit, he was in this guy's (sister's) car that he had met less than an hour ago and they were on their way to who knew where. And he didn't even care! Never in his life had Danny been less concerned about the future; his music, his golfing, school, the world at large, none of it mattered when Sam was sitting next to him, singing along to Jimi Hendrix and looking absolutely stunning in the passing lamplight.

They drove for a time, speeding past cozy houses and dense acres of trees that outlined the starlit sky. Sam didn't seem to have a destination in mind any time soon, and Danny didn't really care if the car never stopped driving. The radio started to fuzz out as the got further into the woods, and nothing but an old talk show was coming in, so Sam had Danny put in his Clapton CD he'd left in Ronnie's car.

"I was looking for that! Figured I'd left it in here, but I don't get the car as often now that she's working more."

Danny nodded, enjoying hearing these little bits about Sam's siblings. It always interested him - learning small facts about people and getting glimpses into their lives, even more so when he was very interested in that person themselves, too.

"So, Ronnie is older than you, right?"

"Yeah, yeah she's a year older than me, she just started taking some classes at the adult school in Saginaw. She's been working at Gerald's for awhile, but she gets adult hours, now, which is good because we like to stay out late and go see her," Sam laughed.

"Oh, that's cool. What about your brothers, the twins? Are they your only other siblings?"

"Yes, fortunately. I don't know how Mom and Dad handled us, we're all within three years of each other. What about you, are you an only child?"

Danny had been right, they were all close in age. Four kids, two of them twins! He still couldn't wrap his head around how that could possibly work out for the parents, but they all seemed to be nice people and clearly got along well. It was pretty nice, actually, having a (potential) boyfriend with a good relationship with his family - Danny knew that it might of been a slightly unfair dating requirement, but he wanted someone who loved their family as much as he did.

"I have a younger sister, she's a freshman at Frankenmuth High. I'm a senior, by the way."

"Wait, what? Me too! I wonder why I've never seen you if we go to the same school. How have I never noticed you before?" Sam exclaimed, making a sharp turn and pulling off of the paved road onto a dirt track.

Danny contemplated that, too. How one Earth had he never seen Sam if they went to the same fucking school? Sam was, like, *magnetic* or something, it didn't make any sense.

Sam interrupted him, not meaning to, as he was about to speak. "Alright, we're here. Sorry, continue," he grinned at Danny, looking sheepish at cutting him off. Danny smiled in return, telling him it was alright.

They got out of the car, shutting the doors gently so as not to disturb the peaceful nighttime forest, and also not to dent Ronnie's car.

Danny resumed what he was saying as Sam led him around to the trunk and started rooting around. "About not seeing me at school, well, you didn't have a reason to until now. I mean, it's not like a lot of people know me, I don't have many friends and I kinda tend to stay to the side."

"I can't imagine how you don't have tons of people hanging off of you," Sam said, looking up at Danny with his foxy eyes glinting in the moonlight. (That was cheesy, Danny knew - but his eyes were beautiful) "Like, the only explanation I can come up with as to why you don't have half of the school constantly begging you to notice *them* is because everyone is crazy."

He blushed and grinned, enjoying the feeling of being the one flirted with for once. It was beyond comprehensible for Danny as to why Sam seemed so taken by *him*, but it wasn't something he wanted to give up anytime soon if he could help it, confusion or not.

"Wow, you are a smooth talker, aren't you?"

Sam snorted. "Hardly. I'm telling you what I honestly think, and it's this: I've known you for maybe two hours, and you are the kindest, sweetest, smartest, most beautiful person I've ever met. Past maybe my mother, but that's different. You deserve all the friends in the world, and you could have any boy or girl you choose, I'm sure."

"Well, I'm choosing you," Danny said, blushing and grabbing Sam's hand. He didn't know what it was, but he was being particularly mushy today. Luckily, Sam seemed to really like it.

Sam led him away from the car after locking it up, one arm carrying a briefcase looking container, and the other's hand holding Danny's. They walked through the light snowfall and under heavy bows of trees, going along a path Danny couldn't see but that, apparently, Sam knew well.

Danny had the quick thought that Sam was going to murder him, and maybe he shouldn't ignore his survival instincts, but he decided that Sam would *never* kill him. He also asked, though, just to be sure.

"Are you planning on killing me out here?"

Sam laughed his donkey bray, swinging their hands and taking another slight turn around a large tree. "No, I don't think I'd be able to physically overpower you, you're probably way stronger than I am."

"Oh, yeah? But what about a gun? What's in the box, Sammy?"

Danny was grinning inside, though externally he blocked it so that his facade wouldn't slip. Sam stopped and stood in front of him.

"I'll show you what's in the box!" Sam said, holding it up in front of his crotch like that SNL sketch.

"Ooh, my favorite!" Danny wiggled his brows, staring at the box where, right behind it, was Sam's dick. They both laughed, faces rosy and eyes crinkled.

Danny was glad that he had chosen Sam over Ronnie, not only for the fact that Sam actually liked him back, but that he got along so well with him. Even if the romance was a bust, he could tell that they would be very good friends, the connection was that immediate. And, he liked the idea of being best friends with a guy and then also getting to fuck his brains out at the end of the day.

'I'm getting ahead of myself, he said he has standards.'

'*No*, he said that he won't fuck you in his sister's car, but he wants to.'

"Sam, dude, where are we going? What are we doing out here, like, really?" He choked out, dying to know and also hoping that the plans included at least a kiss.

Danny hadn't been this desperate to kiss someone in- possibly forever, really. He didn't know why he was so intent on getting Sam's lips on him (though, he supposed he did: like, *look* at Sam's mouth). It wasn't like himself to be this out of control - albeit on his own head - but Sam had this effect on him.

Logically, Danny knew that if Sam wanted to go slower he would totally respect that choice and not even be put out about it, he liked just being with Sam that much. But, a kiss.... He wanted just a taste, in case this was the only date he got to have with Sam.

"We're almost there, and then I'll show you," Sam said quietly.

They continued walking, going up a gentle slope and then around a giant boulder. When they came around the other side, Danny saw that the rock had been obscuring a pristinely white, snow covered clearing. All around them, flakes fell softly from the sky, some decorating the trees, and others landing on their heads.

Sam turned to look at him, grinning. "Isn't it pretty? I feel like, whenever I come here, I've entered another dimension or something."

Danny nodded, his breath nearly taken away by the delicate magic of the moment. Well, it wasn't completely perfect - his nose was running, his gloveless hands were both freezing and clammy in Sam's, and he had no fucking clue where he was - but Sam was so, so beautiful in this place he had brought them to.

They stood and stared at the scene, taking in everything, from the stars peaking out from in between the clouds to the feel of their thumbs rubbing back and forth over each other's knuckles.

After a few minutes of silence, Sam broke it, speaking softly, "This is one of my favorite places on Earth to be. We come here during all seasons, but there's just something more.... *special*, I guess, when everything is pure and damp and quiet."

"It's really nice, I can see why you like to bring people here."

"Actually," Sam paused, looking shyly at Danny, "I've never taken anyone else. As far as I can tell, my family are the only people who know about it."

"Really? I- thank you so much for bringing me to such a special spot for you," he gasped, grinning back at Sam's little smile.

Danny was floored, absolutely amazed with this moment in his life. Sam had, for reasons he couldn't understand but figured he'd better stop worrying about, taken him to a place that no one else had been to. It was an intimate, deeply trusting gesture that he'd made, and Danny received it full-heartedly. The scenery felt sacred, now, in a way that he couldn't quite describe but that filled him with content.

"This really does mean a lot, that you're letting me view your spot. I don't know how to say thank you enough for trusting me with this- can I, maybe, take you somewhere special to me next time?"

He was shooting his shot, and praying to whatever deity felt nearest in this winter forest that it would hit it's mark. Sam had decided to take him here right after meeting him, so it *would* work, right? Danny really fucking hoped that it did, and that he hadn't ruined the relationship they were building. It was newly born and a little confusing, but in a good way; they were already fused together somehow, a connection running through them to make it seem like they'd known each other for years instead if hours.

"I'll go anywhere you wanna take me," Sam answered. He looked aware of how cliche what hed said was, but he also didnt seem to care. Damny was internally screaming with joy. "I wasn't sure where I was driving, at first, but I ended up on the path here, and it felt right. You being here feels nice and right."

Danny was smiling openly, happiness on display. He swung their hands and looked up at the sky, where the snow clouds where starting to clear, the last of the flakes finishing their journey to the ground. Sam leaned into him slightly, a pleasurable warmth permeating into Danny's body through the many layers of their clothing.

"This is perfect! I was hoping the clouds would clear up, cause this wouldnt really be much fun without it. Now, c'mon, let me show you the inside."

Danny was completely confused, again. "The inside?"

-----------

@satans-helper @okietrish @karrotkate @lazingonsunday @lantern-inthenight @ryetheruler @oblvions @bigthighsandstupidguys @mountainofthesunn

[justkeeptrekkin]

The Library is Open: part 2

part two for my favourite listener @ladycakepops! love ya kween

Read part one here :)

***

The dressing room lights make her skin look too pale. The mirror highlights every flaw- the slight smudge of her eyeliner below her right eye, the cakiness of her cheap foundation. Who can afford the expensive stuff when she’s layering this shit on every night? Her fake lashes stayed on tonight, at least, and she didn’t bother covering up her tattoos this time- the dragon crawling up her neck is sickening. The lights cast bright white rings in her green eyes. 

With one last look, Hizashi takes a makeup wipe. With a slow, intentional movement, washes a streak of Present Mic away.

“You’re gonna be late, girl.” Hizashi doesn’t need to turn to look to know who’s talking to her. Miss Hawks has been in the table next to hers for just over a year now. Besides, the moment she sits down, feathers start falling off her dress and they scatter all over Hizashi’s dressing table. “Yo, you’re getting feathers all up in my shit.” “You love it.”

“I absolutely do not, I am literally two seconds away from calling animal control.”

Hawks is too cool to laugh at Mic’s jibes, usually. Now that Hizashi is de-dragging, it’s no different- all he gets is a lazy smirk. He has to admit to himself that out of drag, Hawks is hot. He looks like the kind of dude who’d model for a watch advert in a fine suit. But then, he knows just how cool he is and that is very much not Hizashi- or Mic’s- type.  

Besides, Hizashi doesn’t think he could cope with all the fucking feathers.

“You’re going to be late.”

Hawks repeats this, largely because he likes talking, but more than that, he likes being provocative. Hizashi continues to slowly remove his makeup, ignoring the building nerves and anxiety and guilt and excitement warring inside his chest. Instead, he concentrates on the purple lipstick that comes away onto the makeup wipe that makes his mouth taste like chemically flavoured cucumber.

“You can ignore me all you want, that’s fine, I don’t give a shit.”

Hizashi doesn’t reply. Hawks makes her taunt and gently removes the feathered wig from her head to reveal a messy nest of blonde hair falling out of its bun. The smokey eye is on point, even after her performance. Along the other dressing tables, the other queens tut and complain about the feathers landing in their stuff. Best Jeanist stares in silent judgement at a yellow feather that sticks onto her contouring kit.

“I just think that this guy seemed really cute. And standing him up would be a super shitty thing to do-”

“Oh my god,” Hizashi finally exclaims. He was never good at keeping quiet about his feelings anyway, why bother? “Will you shut the fuck up about it?” “You’re standing him up?” Best Jeanist asks with a cocked brow.

Hizashi twists his lips, sits up straighter in his seat and turns back to his reflection to remove the rest of the makeup. His brows are pulled together comically. He’s always had a bit of a ridiculous face, overly expressive. “I’ll message him in a minute,” he settles with, not wanting to discuss further.

“What did he do? What did he say? Was he a creep after all?” Kamui Woods is still in full woodland nymph makeup, too distracted by her conversation with Tiger to take anything off.

“You know that’s not what it was,” Jeanist says, acting like she knows it all. “Miss Mic’s just got commitment phobia.”

There’s a round of scandalised ooing. Jeanist really has no business sharing that sort of shit in here. But then, Hizashi is easy to tease. Mic’s is all bark no bite, and Hizashi isn’t any difference. He’ll throw hands, for sure, but only in defence of one of his sisters. 

Right now, Hizashi covers the feelings of embarrassment and anger with a cocky smirk and flipping the bird. He finds himself instinctively moving turning towards her and pointing an accusatory bag of makeup wipes in her direction. “Mamma, don’t be acting shady now.”

Jeanist raises her hands in a poor mimicry of apology, looking a lot like she doesn’t think she’s done anything wrong.

“Alright now, alright,” Tensei says, Ingenium outfit half removed and makeup off. Ingenium’s got that futuristic 60s sci-fi robot feel that Hizashi absolutely lives for. So chic. Tensei also happens to be Hizashi’s best friend here, aside from Nemuri. “Let’s not get personal, it’s only eight thirty.”

Hizashi casts Tensei a smile. Tensei rolls his eyes and shakes his head: just ignore them, the gesture says. 

“It’s hard to date, you know?” Kamui comments, finally unpinning flowers from herself. “Drag doesn’t make it easy for us.” Hizashi nods vigorously, dragging a makeup wipe along his neck. A shadow of facial hair already coming through. “I wouldn’t sacrifice my drag for no man,” he replies. A chorus of mmhmms.

“For real, though, queen,” Tensei says. Hizashi catches his eye in the mirror. “He seemed cute. You’re really gonna stand him up?”

For once, the dressing room goes quiet, and Hizashi feels all eyes on him as he pulls off the straps of his dress to reveal his entire torso, tattooed and blushing from the heat of the stage. The silence weighs on his shoulders and he lets out a long, infuriated groan.

“For fuck’s sake- look, it’s just, too good to be true, you feel? A cute guy gives me his number after a show? Expects me to turn up- how? In drag, in the middle of a bar in Mustafu? Out of drag, just to disappoint him because I’m not what he expected? Yo, nobody wants to find out that I’m just as noisy and annoying out of drag-”

“Ey, ey, ey. Nah,” Hawks wags her finger disapprovingly at this speech. “Nobody gets to make you feel like that. Don’t let The Man get you down.”

“Even if he is tall dark and handsome.” “Especially if he’s tall dark and handsome.”

“He was just- like, over text he’s really cute and all,” Hizashi continues, on a roll now, “But holy shit he don’t say much- and like, I’m trying so hard not to be over the top or clingy or weird or annoying or too much of a smartass-”

“He loved that you were a smartass, remember?” Kamui adds. “That’s like half the reason he gave you his number, right?” Tiger nods in silent assent of this.

“-And I try so hard to keep my drag life and real life separate ‘cause you just never know what people will think, but he seemed super chill and he does seem nice but he could be a total weirdo and the fact he’s so quiet and says so little, like, probably means he’d hate me in real life ‘cause I’m the total opposite, you know, and-”

“You won’t know that till you meet him,” Jeanist says, placing her wig on its stand.

“-And we lead such different lives, like, he’s your standard salaryman and I’m here taping my dick between my legs-”

“A salaryman.” It’s the first that Shigaraki has said all this time in the dressing room. Now out of drag, he’s using the moisturiser that Hizashi practically forced on him and is lathering the stuff all over his face. He looks around Hawks at Hizashi with a mocking smile and a wrinkled brow. “A rich wanker-banker and a club worker. Like Pretty Woman. Seriously?” “Hey, no tea, no shade,” Hawks says shaking her head. Another flurry of feathers comes tumbling down from the huge collar of her dress.

Hizashi measures their descent onto the floor. “Bitch you betta have superglue.”

“Nothing wrong with a macho boy with lots of money realising the moment he lays eyes on you he’s been queer this whole time,” Hawks continues, concentrating fiercely on removing the dress.

“Sounds like a nice daydream, too bad that shit only ever happens in your head,” Shigaraki snorts.

“I wouldn’t say no to a handsomer salaryman walking in right now and-”

“Point is,” Jeanist interrupts, throwing a denim minidress onto a hanger in her dressing gown. And yep, you guessed it, it’s denim. “You know this could go badly, of course it could, but it could go well. You could hit it off. You’ll regret it if you don’t go.”

“Don’t break that poor salaryman’s heart,” Shigaraki mutters cynically, massaging moisturiser into his face.

Hizashi stares back at his reflection and considers this. The night that Mic had read Aizawa’s colleague has cemented itself in his mind. The look on Aizawa’s face. The ridiculous chemistry and the almost bashful way he’d handed over his business card.

Brows pinched nervously, he nods, and gives himself a smack in the cheeks for good measure.

***

Tatooin station is busy, people filing out of the ticket barriers with beers in hand ready for Friday night. It’s a summer night, so the sun hasn’t quite set. At 7:30, it’ll be a while until the purple blue sky goes dark.

Hizashi leans from one leg to the other, tapping his foot and fidgeting and muttering Avril Lavigne lyrics to himself like a prayer.

It’s silly to be nervous, really. Hizashi has mad charisma skills, even if the exuberance does become borderline overwhelming. First dates usually go well for him. It’s the follow-up that never lasts; when people realise that he really is always just that hyperactive. And yes, he does wear skirts in public, and no, he doesn’t tone it down for anyone.

“Shit,” he mutters to himself, picking at his nail varnish.

Looking down at his phone, he sees a message from Aizawa. Here

And looking back up, he scans the station through 60s style circular sunglasses. There are too many people for Hizashi to spot him, and Aizawa will be blending in with the rest of the salarymen. He has no idea what to look for.

But then he appears, and he wonders how he could have forgotten how much this man stands out.

Not because he’s particularly tall, or has a loud fashion sense. Not because he does anything to intentionally make himself noticeable- nothing other than just looking like he doesn’t give a fuck. It’s the messiness of the appearance, the half tied up bundle of hair. The unmistakable scar on his cheek and the perpetual hands in pockets. It’s a look that completely contradicts the salaryman lifestyle, and he seems to reveal himself easily in the crowd of tidy, urgently power-walking businessmen in suits. 

Unsurprisingly, he spots Hizashi quickly.

On seeing Hizashi’s outfit- which he planned very carefully, with the added borrowed item from his sisters’ wardrobes- his eyebrows don’t even raise. It’s as if he isn’t at all taken aback to see a man standing in Tatooin station looking like a 60s androgynous witch. Instead, Hizashi watches in anticipation, growing nervousness, and pleasant surprise as Aizawa gives a small, lazy wave and wanders over. Not at all embarrassed to be seen with him.

“Hope I didn’t keep you waiting. Trains were fucked,” he says soberly.

He gestures for the two of them to leave the station, and Hizashi is momentarily speechless by how relaxed this man is.

“Um,” Hizashi starts, fiddling with the ends of his sleeves. He hates how awkward dating makes him. Give him a microphone and he’ll rule the stage, but his love life? His confidence is in the negatives. “How was work today?”

Aizawa tilts his head from side to side in brief contemplation. Then, “I quit.”

Hizashi can tell his expression is ridiculous as he stares at Aizawa open mouthed. “Oh, fuck! That’s-? Yo, that’s pretty-”

“It’s been a long time coming,” Aizawa shrugs.

They walk down the street towards nowhere in particular. He wonders if Aizawa has anything in mind for their date, or whether they’re just aimlessly walking.

“Well, you seem super chill about it, so I guess- congrats!” Hizashi says, his words laced with laughter.

“Who wants to be a businessman, anyway,” Aizawa says, a slight grimace on his typically neutral face. He rubs at the back of his neck, tie loosened.

“Not you, huh. I guess no one dreams of sitting in front of a computer crunching numbers for hours at a time.”

“Mm. It’s not that I’m not willing to work hard at something. Just got to be actually worth the effort.”

Hizashi considers his rather tedious, if not intellectually stimulating job before he became a full time drag queen and entertainer. “Yeah, I get that feeling,” he says sincerely.

“What do you want to do,” Aizawa asks suddenly. His questions rarely sound like questions, more like  statements that expect an answer. “Tonight, that is.”

“Well- we could do whatever! I’m chill with whatever, man,” Hizashi grins. “I’m not really into formal dinners and stuff,” Aizawa says simply.

How refreshingly honest.

“That’s cool! I like them but I also like just doing jack-shit and drinking a couple of beers, too. Whatever floats your boat, my dude!” “Doing jack-shit and drinking beers sounds good,” Aizawa admits with a smile.

And what a nice smile it is. It immediately takes Hizashi back to when their eyes first met back at Club Hero. It makes his stomach squirm, in a way that’s not exactly nice but not bad either.

From there, they make their way to the nearest supermarket, finding beers and a couple of snacks, all the while Hizashi chattering about himself and sharing his entire life story. It’s one thing to be a chatterbox in normal circumstances, but when he’s nervous, it’s an entirely different ballgame. Most people find it a little amusing, always overwhelming, and sometimes annoying. Aizawa, however, mildly picks up ready-to-eat gyoza and listens with the occasional nod or ‘mm’.

It would be easy to feel judged in this sort of situation. Hizashi is used to feeling judged- more often than not, it’s water off a duck’s back. Sometimes it isn’t.

Aizawa doesn’t seem the judgemental type.

There’s a park a couple of minutes down the road, past the bars that are beginning to overflow with customers and past the traffic jams. It’s a large green with a water fountain, the type that children play in in the afternoons- running through jets of water and screeching in delight. Now, it’s fairly quiet, all except for the occasional young couple or jogger. Parks are nice and all, but Hizashi is wearing a nice outfit, elements of which he has to return to his friends after tonight, so he’s not sure how much he wants to sit on the grass and possibly stain his clothes. Especially if there are insects, which there almost certainly are around here.

This is the precise reason why Hizashi hesitates, cocking his hip and crossing his arms in front of his chest, trying to figure out how to break it to this man that he’s an absolute princess when it comes to nature.

Aizawa peers up at him. A lock of hair in front of his face and the look in his dark eyes softening in amusement.

“Do you want to sit on my jacket,” he suggests.

Hizashi whines in complaint, shuffling on the spot and sighing to himself. He wants to say yes, but he also doesn’t want to make him-

Oh, Hizashi thinks, as he sees Aizawa wordlessly shrugging off his jacket and laying it on the bleached dry summer grass.

“There. Better?” he adds drily.

Somehow, Hizashi enjoys the teasing tone.

They sit side by side on the grass (and the jacket) watching the sun set behind the buildings. The taste of beer on Hizashi’s tongue and the fizz mixing with nerves in his stomach. The sweet floral scent of mochi as he licks the sticky sugar off his fingers. And the feeling of a man sitting next to him, a man unlike any other that he’s known. A man quietly confident, quietly calming, quietly kind. A man with a sharp tongue and tired eyes and a straightforward, unashamed honesty that he’s never come across before.

When the stars come out- barely visible through the city lights and pollution, but still there- they don’t question how long they have been there. They don’t consider that this first date is going on for quite a while, a lot longer than the usual, at least. What’s the point in overthinking it?

Hizashi’s mind has never felt quieter.

“It sort of started because Nemuri runs Club Hero, and I kinda- accidentally stumbled into commentating,” Hizashi explains, looking up at the sky on his back, glasses off. He feels Aizawa’s arm stretched beside his, not quite touching, but close. Close enough that his skin tingles. “And then you started doing drag.” “Yeah. I can’t actually remember why I thought I’d give it a go, putting on the wig and the heels and stuff. It was probably given a makeover. Those bitches will jump at the chance to give someone a drag makeover.” For a moment, Aizawa considers this. “Do you like being on stage?” Hizashi laughs. “Ho yeah. I’m a bit of a slut for picking up a microphone and just. Chatting shit. The fact that people actually pay to hear me talk and being a total weirdo is- like- it’s still too good to be true.” “It must be freeing.” “Yeah. I guess it is. It’s a way of sorta… channeling a part of myself that I don’t get to show everyday. Or at least, that people don’t appreciate when I look like this.”

He sees Aizawa turn his head towards him in his peripheral. Hizashi’s too afraid to look back, in case he ruins the moment. It’s nice enough just being looked at like this.

“Not everyone’s brave enough to be themselves like that. On stage.” “Nah. I guess not.” Hizashi snorts, thinking back on the night Aizawa had shamelessly thrown his boss under the bus. “You don’t seem to hold back much, either.” “Life’s too short to care what everyone else thinks.” Hizashi finally turns to measure Aizawa. There’s a gentle look in his eye, but his brows are furrowed, as if in deep thought.

“You’d make an epic drag queen, dude,” Hizashi says seriously.

At first he seems a little taken aback. Then a huge, almost frightening grin. “I wouldn’t have thought that.”

“Yo, are you serious? Rule number one of being a queen is not caring what the haters say. Just doing you!”

“Hm,” Aizawa hums in consideration. He rolls his head back to look up at the sky, and Hizashi lets his eyes linger on the shape of his profile, the dip of his adam’s apple a little longer than he should. They both stare at the stars, in no particular rush to go anywhere else.

Hizashi brushes his pinky finger against Aizawa’s, and slowly, uncertainly, they link hands.

[valentines-in-london]

I Need Fire (Part 5)

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Master List

Authors Note:  Hello all!  This chapter could’ve gone two ways, I asked for feedback to decide which way it would go.  Thank you to those of you who gave feedback, I super appreciate it<3<3  I know the gif I’m using for this chapter is not The Dirt!Tommy but it’s too perfect not to use for the chapter!  I hope you enjoy.  I can’t say enough leave me any feedback you have as a reply or in my asks

Word Count:  5,644

Taglist:  @freddiessmallnipples @triplehaitches (send me an ask or message if you want to be added!)

Warnings: An equal mix of smut and fluff 

Chapter 5

It was the night before Halloween when Rayne found herself in the studio with Motley Crue and a few other friends and record executives listening to the final version of Motley Crue’s debut record.  The band had decided to call it Too Fast For Love after one of the songs on the album.  Rayne was sat on a leather couch with Tommy next to her, arm around her shoulder, taking in every lyric, guitar lick and drum beat.  Most of these songs she had heard live, but it was different on record.  The album was like a mix of the Sex Pistols, The New York Dolls, and something Rayne couldn’t quite put her finger on.  It was incredible, definitely not their full potential but, incredible.

As the final verse of “On With the Show” finished Vince cried out on record, Oh baby,and one final drum crash before the record ended.  Tom Zutaut, the bands A&R guy turned around from the mix console with a big smile on his face.  “That sounded amazing!  You guys nailed it.”

“Jesus christ Tom, it’s practically a demo.”  Mick Mars crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat.

“But it sounds exactly like you guys do live!  And the live experience is what got you here.” Tom replied back, he wasn’t lacking in enthusiasm that was for sure.

“We’ll want more for the next record.”  Nikki spoke simply.  Nikki was a hard man to satisfy when it came to the band. He wanted everything to be perfect, which was kind of surprising since he was always messed up on something. But every time Rayne had been around him in any band related setting he was a perfectionist and if something wasn’t going right, watch out because Nikki would lash out.  Rayne found the brotherhood between Tommy and Nikki so interesting because of the differences in their personalities. Tommy was carefree and up for anything, Nikki was more serious and regimented.  “When’s the record coming out?”

“Let’s just worry about this record for now.  We’ll see if we can get any traction with local radio. If we do I think I can get you guys a tour in Canada.  And the record right now if everything goes right should be out November 10th.”  Tom answered Nikki’s question.

“A tour of Canada?  In winter?  I’m gonna freeze my balls off man, and I need those.”  Vince complained.  Vince had been acting weird around Rayne since Jo had seen him with another girl.  Whenever Rayne would enter the room with Tommy it was almost as if Vince would make it a point to get as far away from her as possible.  It didn’t bother Rayne necessarily but she definitely noticed it.

“There will be plenty of girls there to keep your dick warm Vince.”  Nikki huffed.

“Yeah Vinny, or you could just take one up there with you.” Tommy tightened his grip on Rayne’s shoulders giving her a sloppy kiss on the side of her head.  The statement confused Rayne.  He didn’t think she was going to tour Canada with him did he?  There was no possible way that could happen.

“Oh yeah easy for you to say Tommy.”  Vince seethed before he got up and walked out of the studio. Tommy held out his right hand asking everyone in the room, “What the fuck is his problem?”

“Can we focus here please?”  Nikki raised his voice quieting everyone else in the room.  “If we are gonna do this tour we have to make an impression.  We’re infamous on the strip, we gotta be infamous everywhere.”

“Hell yeah dude.”  Tommy agreed.

“You’d agree to anything drummer.”  Mick replied dismissively.

“What do you mean Nikki?”  Zutaut questioned as Nikki stood up towering over the shorter man in the green striped shirt.  “Let’s talk you and I.”  

And with that Nikki left the room with Tom and the other record company people, leaving herself Tommy and Mick.  Tommy looked towards Rayne, “Well what did you think of the record?”

“I really liked it.”  Rayne responded hearing Mick huff, shaking his head before Rayne could finish, “I do agree with Mick though.  You can tell it’s not perfect.  But I also think that’s what works.  You guys are raw and aggressive, especially live.  And this record definitely showcases that, there’s not much out there like it at the moment.  You guys work your asses off and build an audience outside of LA and I think you could really do something.”

Mick slowly got up out of his seat turning toward Tommy and Rayne. He looked between the two of them, “You know what Red?”

“What Mick?”

“You actually know what you’re talking about.  Sometimes you even remind me of Nikki when you get going about something you believe in.”  Mick spoke directly.  Wow, that wasn’t something she was expecting at all.  Mick was definitely not a sentimental guy, or a guy that was really “nice” so to speak.

“Thanks Mick, I appreciate that.”  Rayne nodded accepting Mick’s praise watching as he left the room.  Rayne turned to Tommy, “Holy shit, I wasn’t expecting that.  I thought he hated me.”

“Nah.  No one could hate you.”  Tommy replied wrapping both of his arms around Rayne, pulling her tight against him.

“Do you have a short term memory problem?”  Rayne smiled up at him.

“But seriously, you liked the album?”  Tommy asked ignoring Rayne’s criticism.  Rayne reached up, cradling Tommy’s face in her hands. She leaned in to give him a quick kiss on the lips.  

“I do, you should be really proud of yourself Tommy, you worked so hard.”  Tommy’s face lit up like a Christmas tree, his pride unmistakable.

“I love you.”  Tommy said pulling Rayne into his lap.

“Tommy wha-“ Rayne spoke completely taken off guard by the three words she could have sworn she heard Tommy just say.

“You don’t have to say it back to me, right now at least. But you need to know how I feel. I. Love.  You.”  Tommy punctuated his declaration with kisses on both sides of Rayne’s neck, and finally her lips to punctuate the word ‘you.’  Rayne felt like she was drunk, everything went a bit hazy. “Woah, I really freaked you out didn’t I babe?”

“No.”  Rayne said quickly shaking her head.  “It’s just, no one has ever said that to me before.  No one that wasn’t obligated to.”

“Well, now you can add me to the list.”  Tommy smiled up at her, running his hands up and down her sides. Tommy really was a hopeless romantic, Rayne didn’t think that actually existed, especially in Los Angeles. But his actions tapped into something Rayne had always dreamed of having but didn’t dare speak out into existence for fear of disappointment.  And here was Tommy, who had not disappointed her in any way.

“Tommy?”

“Yeah babe?”

“What are we?”  Rayne questioned quietly.  She watched as Tommy’s facial expression was utterly confused. “Are we dating?  Are we friends that fuck around?  I just want to know.  I get it if you don’t want to commit to anything now, you’re about to be a big rock star and all so of course I don’t want you to by tied down and I would never-“

“Babe.  Babe.  Breathe.”  Tommy said comfortingly, “I thought it was obvious?  We’re dating.”

She wasn’t sure if it was relief or something else entirely but Rayne sighed replying quietly, “I didn’t know, we never talked about it.”

Tommy moved his hands to Rayne’s ass giving her a squeeze. “Rayne, everyone in LA knows you are off limits, you’re mine.”

“Tommy.”  Rayne said sternly.  “That makes it sound like you own me.  I don’t belong to anyone.  But I will say that I guess I’m off the market now.”

“Yes, you are.”  Tommy smiled kissing her lips tenderly.  “And so am I.”

The next day was of course, Halloween.  There was going to be a huge Halloween party at Gazzari’s that night, anyone who was anyone on the Strip was going to be there.  Off hand Rayne knew for sure Ratt, Dokken, Quiet Riot and the Motley Crue guys were going to be there.  Rayne loved Halloween, it was her second favorite holiday after Christmas, she always got a kick out of dressing up.  Tommy and Nikki thought it would be hilarious to dress up as cops, they had outfits and everything, Rayne had seen the outfit after Tommy bought it and was impressed, it looked like the real deal.

Rayne and Jo had also planned semi-coordinating costumes. Rayne was going to dress at Morticia Addams, and Jo was going to dress up as her sister Ophelia Frump.  Jo loved it because she got to dress up like one of her fashion idols Stevie Nicks.  Jo wore a white dress with flowing white sleeves, small braids sporadically throughout her hair and a crown of flowers sitting on top of her head.  Rayne had a little bit more difficulty with her costume, which included a black wig, getting all of her hair under the wig cap was certainly a struggle but she successfully did it. Her form fitting black dress had a slit up to her thigh, a revealing neckline and also had flowing sleeves.

Rayne told Tommy the night before what she and Jo would be dressed as so he could keep an eye out for her as they were arriving separately. Rayne put one final pin in her wig to secure it before she walked out into the living room her heels clicking as she walked.  Jo, as usual, was waiting on Rayne.  “Jo, you look amazing!  Your skin is practically glowing.”

“It’s the makeup.”  Jo brushed off the compliment.  Jo was also off since she saw Vince with another girl in the studio. Rayne almost wanted to put the two of them in a room together, lock the door, and let them either fight or fuck it out.

“Well I think you look beautiful.  You ready to go?”  Rayne questioned holding her hand out to Jo.

“As I’ll ever be.”  Jo half heartedly smiled grabbing onto her friends hand.  The two stayed that way until they got to Gazzari’s.

As most things on the strip, it was a sea of bodies when the two entered the seedy club.  Gazzari’s always had a certain vibe to it, The Doors were once the house band and the owner was one of those slightly creepy older dudes.  He surrounded himself with young women, kind of like Hugh Hefner.  There were dancing girls all over the club who were in minimal clothes dancing along to the music.  Jo and Rayne waved at a few of the girls that they had come to know who were up in their go go cages. They made their way through the crowd onto the dance floor when Rayne heard Tommy, “Holy shit you two look amazing.”

Rayne held her hands out to her side.  “Thanks.  Just like our personalities we’re ying and yang.”

“How you doing Jo?”  Tommy asked putting his hand on her shoulder.

“I’m fine.”  Jo shrugged her shoulders.  “I’m gonna be moody til I get some booze in me.”

“What do you want to drink?  I’ll grab it for you.”  Tommy asked.

“You don’t have to do th-” Jo began.

“I know, but I want to.  What do you want?”  Tommy smiled at Jo.

“A long island iced tea sounds great right now.”  Jo gave in before looking at Rayne who was giving her a side eye.  “Fuck off.  It has the most booze in it.”

“Whatever you say.”  Rayne smiled.

“And what about you gorgeous?”  Tommy asked Rayne grabbing her hand and kissing her knuckles much like Gomez would do to Morticia.

“Well officer, I’ll take whatever Scotch whisky you bring back.” Rayne winked and Tommy was on his way to grab drinks for them.

“God I hate that he’s so nice.”  Jo scoffed, but Rayne knew she didn’t mean it in a bad way. “Like I want to hate him because he plays in a band with Vince, but I can’t, he makes it physically impossible.”

That made Rayne laugh, “How do you think I feel?  I never expected be dating him after going to that house party with you but he chipped away at my icy little heart and here we are.  Why don’t you go find Vince and talk to him?  You know he’s here somewhere.”

“No I don’t think that’d be a good idea.”  Jo shook her head.

“You know Jo, you are the most confident woman I know.  I hate to see you like this.”  Rayne said as softly as she could over the music.

“Here you are ladies.”  Tommy came back drinks in hand.  “Long Island Iced Tea for Ophelia, and a whisky neat cara mia.”

“Thanks Tommy.  Now no offense, but I’m gonna go mingle, being around the two of you is giving me cavities.”  Jo winked at Rayne as she walked passed them.

“Find me if you need me!”  Rayne shouted at her before turning to Tommy.

“I wish the two of them would just fuck, Vince has been a miserable little bitch since Jo stopped coming around.”  Tommy watched as Jo walked off through the crowd, she was easy to spot as she was basically the only one in all white in the entire club.

“Wait what?”  Rayne asked.  “Vince is miserable over Jo not being around?  Tommy that’s important information!”

“What?  Why?  Doesn’t she hate him now?”  Tommy asked utterly confused.  Rayne stood on the tips of her toes and kissed Tommy on the lips.

“Sometimes you’re a beautiful idiot.”  She smiled pulling away from him.  “Before the end of the night we’ll get them talking to each other again.  But for now come and dance with me.”

“Yes ma’am.”  Tommy happily obliged even though he couldn’t dance for shit.  The DJ was spinning different dance versions of creepy rock songs.  When Rayne and Tommy hit the dance floor a remix of “Welcome To My Nightmare” by Alice Cooper was playing.  Rayne and Tommy moved together on the dance floor, she actually found it kind of adorable most of Tommy’s dancing consisted of him moving his feet side to side.  Even still Rayne used Tommy’s lack of dance skill to grind on Tommy.  “You’ve got voodoo in your hips Cherry.”

She had certainly become accustomed to Tommy’s pet name for her, but she had found he only really used Cherry when he was turned on. Rayne turned around grinding her ass against his buldge, she twisted her neck to look at him.  “Do I?”

“Tread lightly Cherry or I’ll cuff you.”  Tommy gave her a devilish smile, grabbing her hand and putting it over his pair of handcuffs.

“Mmm, promise?”  Rayne asked before capturing Tommy’s lips in a heated kiss.

“Be careful now.”  Tommy bit Rayne’s bottom lip.

“Or you’ll what?”  Rayne questioned while Tommy groaned grabbing her hand.  Rayne struggled to keep pace with Tommy’s long strides as he made his way through the crowd.  When Tommy pushed open the door to the women’s bathroom, receiving a few stares, Rayne protested, “Tommy you can’t go in there!”

“Oh no?”  Tommy asked pushing open an empty stall, pulling Rayne in with him, a smile on his face.  “Oops.  Too late.  I’m already in.”

Tommy locked the stall behind them pinning Rayne against one of the walls, she looked up at him with doe eyes, not knowing what he was going to do next, but excited all the same.  “Turn around.”

“What?”  Rayne questioned.

“You heard me Cherry, turn around.”  Rayne listened to him and followed his instructions.  Rayne gasped when Tommy gave her ass a loud smack.  She was equally surprised when she heard Tommy pull his handcuffs off from his belt, watching as he clicked one around her wrist.  

“You better have keys to those.”  Rayne warned before watching as Tommy clasped the other handcuff to the metal bar in the stall, now Rayne couldn’t go anywhere even if she tried.  Tommy crooked his finger under her delicate chin, turning Rayne to face him, capturing her lips in a heated kiss.

“Well you wanted to be naughty, what other choice did you leave me?”  Tommy stated inching Rayne’s dress up her thighs until she was bare to him which caught Tommy by surprise.  “And you’re not wearing any panties?  Tsk, tsk, tsk.  What could I ever do to punish you?”

“You better not even think about leaving me in here Tommy.” Rayne warned him feeling as his hand snaked around her stomach inching towards her pussy.

“I don’t think you’re in the position to be making demands baby.” Tommy whispered, holding Rayne still as his fingers grazed over her clit which caused her to jolt back against Tommy.

“Fuck Tommy.”  Rayne whined when Tommy took his fingers away from her.

“You would like that wouldn’t you?  If I fucked you right here?  Remember when you said you weren’t the type that would fuck me in a bathroom?”  Tommy bit Rayne’s ear lobe, gently pulling on it.  Rayne moaned at his statement, it was true she never would have thought she’d want to be fucked so bad in a bathroom yet here she was practically begging for it.  “Tell me, do you remember it?”

“Fuck, Tommy, yes I remember.  Please don’t leave me like this!”  Rayne didn’t give a fuck if she was begging, she was so worked up she could feel liquid from her pussy starting to drip down her thighs.

“You promise to behave then?”  Tommy questioned.

“Only if you want me to.”  Rayne’s head fell against the stall and she arched her back as much as she possibly could, giving Tommy the not so subtle hint.

“Fuck, I like the sound of that.”  Tommy smiled moving his fingers past Rayne’s aching clit and towards her opening.  “How many fingers do you want?”

“Fuck, however many you want to give me, just give them to me Tommy.” How could Tommy say no to that? He started with slipping one finger into her wetness causing Rayne to throw her head back appreciatively. After a few strokes Tommy then entered a second.  She bit her lip before crying out, “Oh fuck yeah.”

“You’ve got such a dirty mouth on you.”  Tommy spoke with a hint of pride in his voice.  He began to pump his fingers in and out of her at a furious pace before whispering in her ear.  “Shh baby, listen.  Listen to how wet you are for me.”

Rayne held her breath and tried not to make a sound as Tommy kept up his movements with his fingers, bringing his free hand up to her throat. She couldn’t help her mouth falling open from the sound of Tommy’s fingers working in and out of her soaking wet core.  “Fuck, that’s so hot.”

Tommy chose that moment to add a third finger inside of Rayne. To say her cry was strained was an understatement, at that point Rayne was concentrated on nothing else but her orgasm.  That’s why when Tommy pulled his fingers out of her suddenly she actually thought she might die. “Tommy no!  You can’t leave me like this!”

She looked over her shoulder to see Tommy licking his fingers before unbuckling his pants and taking his dick out.  Fuck yes!  Rayne thought, let this finally be the moment!  Who gives a fuck if it’s not “special” as Tommy wanted it to be. Instead of finishing off Rayne, Tommy began to stoke his own cock while looking down at Rayne who was still spread for him.  “That pussy is so pretty when it’s dripping wet Cherry, and don’t even think of using your free hand to finish yourself off.”

Rayne tried to rub her thighs together for some friction but it was useless, she was at Tommy’s mercy when it came to pleasure at the moment. “I’m gonna cum baby, where do you want it?”

“If you’re not gonna let me cum at least give me yours.  My mouth.”  Tommy gave his cock a few more pumps before he positioned himself so Rayne could lower her mouth onto him.  He came almost instantly Rayne sucking him off until nothing was left.

Tommy zipped his pants back up before he moved back behind Rayne. “Who said anything about not letting you cum?  I just wanted to make you beg for it.”

“Tommy I’ve done nothing but be-oh!”  Rayne cried out as Tommy slipped his fingers back inside Rayne and continued his work as if he hadn’t previously stopped.  He kept his fingers curled inside Rayne making her feel a super intense pleasure-filled pressure, not knowing what else to do she lifted her one leg to rest on the top of the toilet allowing Tommy all the space he needed to keep doing whatever he was doing.  A few more strokes and Rayne began to cry out, “Fuck Tommy… I- I’m gonna… holy sh…!!!!”  Rayne cried out as she felt a literal uncontrollable gush of liquid come out of her splashing onto the bathroom floor.  Tommy immediately put his arm around Rayne keeping her upright as her body practically turned to goo.  Tommy kissed Rayne as she came down from her high and kept kissing her until she stopped shaking.

“Holy fuck Tommy.”  Rayne said completely out of breath.  “Did you just make me do what I think you did?”

Tommy grinned like a cat that got the canary, rocking her back and forth in his arms.  “Looks that way.  Fuck you’re so hot.”

“Will you uncuff me please?”  Rayne asked lazily, she felt like she was floating on a cloud.

“Oh yeah sorry.”  Tommy quickly moved into action turning the small key and releasing Rayne from her constraints, kissing her wrist that was restrained when he pulled the cuff off.

“I wish I was in bed right now so I could live in this bliss for the rest of the night.”  Rayne cooed and Tommy stood up a little taller, proud of himself.

“Fuck, you look so good right now baby.”  Tommy smiled before giving her another kiss, gently pulling her dress back down into place.  “You think you can walk?”

Rayne giggled nodding her head and Tommy unlocked the stall. Tommy pulled Rayne towards him and the two made their way out of the stall, smiles plastered on their face. Luckily there was no walk of shame because no one was in the bathroom, except one particularly familiar blond girl.  The same one that had told Rayne months ago that Tommy wouldn’t give her up for “your fat ass” as she put it and had most likely set up the attempted assault on Rayne.  So needless to say Rayne couldn’t have been happier than to be caught in the act with Tommy and walked past her with no shame, only pride.  Fuck you skank!  “Well if that’s not the ultimate revenge, I don’t know what is.”  Tommy chuckled causing Rayne to join him giggling as they walked out of the bathroom, hand in hand.

“You want another drink?”  Tommy asked.  Rayne was still in a haze and just nodded her head smiling.  As she and Tommy made their way over to the bar Rayne noticed Nikki’s hair.  Tommy put his arm around his best friend, “What’s up dude?”

“Hey T-Bone.”  Nikki smiled before locking eyes with Rayne.  “Rayne.”

“Hey Nikki.”  Rayne replied.

“Did you two just fuck?”  Nikki asked looking between the two of them.  Rayne’s eyes went wide, “What?”

“Well Rayne has that just fucked smile on her face, and her lipstick is smudged.  And you,” Nikki turned to Tommy, “Your fly is still down.”

“Oh fuck.”  Tommy laughed before zipping himself up and narrowing his eyes at Nikki. “And no we didn’t fuck.”

Nikki looked back over to Rayne, “You still haven’t put out?” Nikki never mixed words, he was always blunt and to the point, she imagined that’s why he and Mick got along so well.

“Oh I’m not the problem here.  You’re boy is the one making me wait.”  Rayne pointed over to Tommy looking to bring some of the heat on him.  Now it was Nikki’s turn to go wide eyed.

“It’s gotta be perfect dude!”  Tommy replied enthusiastically as the bartender came over and Tommy ordered the drinks.

“You’re an idiot dude.”  Nikki rolled his eyes.  “Pretty soon she’s gonna give up on your ass and just start using toys.”

“Oh I use those already.”  Rayne said nonchalantly causing both the men in front of her to stare at her.  “What?  Guys don’t have the monopoly on masturbation, and most of the men in this city couldn’t please a woman on their best day.  Toys don’t have that problem, they work 100% of the time.”

“You’re fun.”  Nikki grinned raising his glass up saluting Rayne.  Rayne could always be one of the boys, most of the time she got along better with guys than girls.  Hence why Jo and she got along so well, because they both were mostly surrounded by men growing up.  The bartender brought their drinks over and Tommy handed Rayne her whisky. Nikki finished his Jack Daniels before pointing at Tommy, “Tommy, I have to talk to you.  Come with me.”

“Are you okay for a bit?”  Tommy said into Rayne’s ear.  Rayne knew what that was code for, Nikki was gonna get fucked up and wanted Tommy to go use with him.

“Yeah I’m alright.”  Rayne gave him a nod.  “I may still have trouble walking but I’ll manage.”

Tommy grinned before disappearing into the crowd with Nikki.

Rayne took a deep breath before she started circling the room trying to find Jo.  After a handful of greeting people she knew Rayne happened upon someone she wasn’t expecting to, but was happy about it all the same: Vince.  He was alone on a couch sipping on a beer. Rayne didn’t even think he was in costume.  He just looked like Vince.  Rayne approached him, “Hey Vince.”

Vince looked up at Rayne and gave her a quick nod of acknowledgement, “Hey.”

“Look I don’t know what’s going on between you and Jo,” Rayne started before Vince interrupted her.  “Absolutely nothing is going on between me and Jo.”

God Vince looked like someone kicked his dog as he took a big swig from his bottle, motioning to the bartender to bring him another. “If you want something to be going on go to the phone booth upstairs in twenty minutes.”

“What?”  Vince questioned.

“Vince, trust me go to the phone booth upstairs in twenty. You can thank me later.” Rayne put her hand on Vince’s shoulder before she went back to working through the crowd, Rayne looked up and finally found Jo who was sitting in one of the darkened go go cages.  Rayne climbed the steps to the cage before she took a seat.  

“Hey there.  How you doing?”  Rayne asked her friend who simply held up a near empty long island iced tea. “How many have you had?”

“I lost count after four.”  Jo answered.

“I think I know something to cheer you up.”  Rayne teased her best friend.  “Vince has been miserable.”

“Good he should be!”  Jo quickly shot back.

“No he’s miserable because he knows he fucked up with you.  Go to the phone booth in ten minutes. I promise it’ll be worth it, okay?”  Rayne smiled at her friend, who looked at her cockeyed.

“Did you just get fucked?”  Jo asked bluntly.

“What?!”  Rayne nearly choked.  How the fuck was everyone so aware of what she and Tommy had done earlier in the bathroom?

“I recognize the signs.  Your hair, or wig is all fucked.  Your lipstick is smeared.  And your dress is ripped.”  Jo said nonchalantly making Rayne’s eyes shoot down noticing that her dress was indeed ripped, the slit that went up to mid thigh now went all the way up basically to her hip.  “So did you?”

“We didn’t fuck, but we did other things.”  Rayne replied feeling her cheeks get hot.

“Good for you Ray.  It’s about time.  I may have to give the crown over to you, the new queen of the strip.” Jo gave Rayne a sad smile.

“No way, you’re still the queen.  You keep the crown.  And you better hurry up and get to the phone booth.”  Rayne nodded in the direction of the phone booth.  Jo nodded her head and got up on wobbly legs with Rayne’s assistance.  Rayne helped her down the steps before grabbing her pack of cigarettes from her bra.  She made her way towards the side door of Gazzari’s for some fresh air.  Rayne pushed the door open to reveal a decent crowd outside the club, most of them smoking, a few making out, others just talking.  Rayne lit up her cigarette and took a deep inhale, it certainly had been a crazy night.  

“Hey Morticia,” Rayne heard from beside her seeing a girl she didn’t quite recognize dressed up as an angel.

“Yeah?”  Rayne asked.

“Are you dating the drummer in Motley Crue?”  She asked taking a sip from her beer bottle.  Oh Rayne could just imagine what was coming next.

“I am.  Why?”

The angel chuckled, “I just offered him a blow job and he turned me down.  Said he was taken, and I saw the two of you at the bar earlier.  Figured I’d ask.  You’re lucky, I heard he was a great lay.  I would have offered it to the bass player too, but he couldn’t even stand he was so fucked up.”

Rayne felt like she was in the twilight zone.  This girl just admitted to her that she offered to blow Tommy.  He turned her down though which was reassuring  Rayne shook her head smiling, “I don’t know what to say, thanks?”

“You’re fucking gorgeous by the way.  If the two of you ever want to bring in someone else to fuck, let me know.”

The angel turned and walked back into the club leaving Rayne completely flabbergasted.  The shit you deal with on the Sunset Strip. Rayne took a deep inhale off her cigarette turning her head as the back door opened once again, revealing Tommy.  He had a big smile on his face, “There she is!”

“I’m here.”  Rayne smiled exhaling watching as Tommy pulled out his pack of cigarettes, lighting one up.  “I heard you refused a blow job from an angel.”  Rayne couldn’t help but laugh when Tommy almost choked on the smoke in his throat.  “Looks like you’re not the only one with eyes out here huh?”

“Well at least you know you can trust me right?”  Tommy ran his thumb over Rayne’s knuckles.  Rayne chose to leave out the other offer the angel gave her.

“For now.”  Rayne winked up at Tommy.  “Tommy?”  

“Hm?”  Tommy sounded inhaling from his cigarette.

“You know I can’t go to Canada on tour with you right?  I know you said something last night that alluded to me going out with you.”  Rayne had been thinking about it since Tommy brought it up in the studio last night.

“I had to give it a shot.”  Tommy shrugged before moving to stand in front of Rayne. “But Rayne, if this whole thing takes off…”

“Whenthis whole thing takes off.”  Rayne corrected him causing Tommy to smile wide.

“When this whole thing takes off, I’m going to want you to come out on the road with me.  Fuck I don’t wanna be away from you for a day let alone months on end.  Led Zeppelin went out on tours for four months at a time.”  Tommy spoke passionately, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

“Tommy, my job won’t let me…” Rayne started before Tommy cut her off.

“Fuck your job, I can take care of you.  You just have to let me.”  

“Do you know how hard that is for me to do Tommy?”  Rayne shook her head but still smiling up at him.  “It would basically make me a freeloader.  What would people think of me?”

“Fuck what people think trust in me.  When it happens I want you out with me.”  Tommy leaned down to kiss Rayne, she happily returned the kiss.

“I’ll think about it.”  Rayne smiled pulling away.  “Will that suffice for now?”

“I’ll accept that answer for now.  But when the time comes it will be unacceptable.”  Tommy winked at Rayne before looking down at her.  “Is your dress ripped?”

“Yeah it is,” Rayne shoved Tommy’s shoulder, “Thanks to you. Jo also asked me if I just got fucked when she saw me.  So I guess neither of us are good at hiding it.”  Tommy couldn’t help but laugh at Rayne.  “Also I think I got Jo and Vince to talk to each other, that is if either of them made it to the meeting spot.  They were both a bit drunk.”

“Look at you go cupid!”  Tommy raised his arms to mime the motion of shooting an arrow. “That’s what you should have dressed as tonight, you did hit me with an arrow of love.”

“Oh my god you fucking cheeseball.”  Rayne laughed.  “Are you sleeping over tonight?”

“Not tonight baby,” Tommy replied surprising Rayne, “I just got a new bed and I want to test it out.”

“Oh?  You got a new bed?” Rayne questioned.  “If it wasn’t in your cockroach infested apartment I might offer to break it in.”

“Mmmhmm.”  Tommy hummed before kissing Rayne once more.  Rayne felt like something was a little off with that response. How could he not say something in response to her statement?  Tommy was always one for teasing comments.  Even though Tommy had given her plenty of amazing orgasms, including one insane one tonight, she still wanted so badly to go all the way.  It was to the point where she was actually having sex dreams about Tommy that would result in her waking up just before it was about to get good.  Her brain was even cock blocking her.  The number of times Rayne woke up and had to grab one of her toys to finish her off was getting embarrassing.  She wondered how much longer Tommy could possibly make her wait...

---

Well there you have chapter 5.  What did we think??  We’re gonna have a few more chapters of happy smutty glory and then shit’s gonna go down!  Thanks for reading<3

Take me to the next chapter...

[fanforthefics]

Mitchy and Auston #16???

brand new neighbours au

“Um, Mitchy, what are you doing?” 

“What do you mean.” Mitch is, maybe, craning his neck around so he can see out the window to the doorway of the apartment building–specifically, the doorway where someone is currently exiting the building. 

From the other side of the Facetime call, Dylan blinks at him. “You’re sitting really weird.” 

“I am not.” 

“Yeah you are.” Dylan, who knows him too well, raises his eyebrows. “What’s up?” 

Mitch takes one more look out the window–no movement, even though it’s basically dusk–and leans forward. “It’s my new neighbor.” 

“Oh?” Dylan doesn’t sound very interested. “Are they loud?” 

“No, I haven’t heard anything.” 

“Hot?” 

“Yes, but that’s not the point?” 

“Do they like, smoke a lot of weed?” 

“No? Not that I can smell.” 

Dylan shrugs. “Then I’ve got nothing, bro. What’s up with them?” 

“My new neighbor,” Mitch announces, with the drama proper for the moment. “Is a vampire.” 

For a second, Dylan stares at him. Then he starts to laugh. 

“I’m serious!” Mitch whines. “I only see him at night–” 

“Maybe because you work during the day?” 

“And he seems really chill and cool and like, aloof–” 

“Everyone is cool compared to you.” 

“And he’s really hot–” 

“Now we’re getting to it–” 

“And he wears turtlenecks, Stromer. Turtlenecks.” Mitch throws up his hands. “And he looks good in them! He has to be a vampire.” 

“I think you have to update your definition of ‘has to,’” Dylan counters. He’s definitely laughing at Mitch. But he doesn’t get it. A vampire didn’t move in next door to him. A vampire with like, ridiculous thighs and a kind of intense, brooding stare and an American accent that somehow manages not to sound irritating, but, like. Still a vampire. 

“He is,” Mitch insists. “I’ll prove it.” 

Dylan grins. “I can’t wait.” 

This is what Mitch knows about his new neighbor: he is tall and built and wears clothes that Mitch is pretty sure are like, actually fashionable. He only ever appears at night. He’s American. He barely reacts if Mitch ever talks to him when they’re both getting their mail, though he’s never actively impolite. His last name is Matthews and his first name starts with A, going by the mailbox. 

It all, Mitch decides, definitely lines up to vampire. But now he has to prove it, so he goes out and gets some garlic and Amazon Primes some holy water and a cross, because he’s watched Buffy he knows how this goes. 

Then he goes across the hall and knocks. 

It takes a couple minutes, but then the door opens, and the new neighbor is there. Fuck, he’s hot, Mitch realizes again. Oh well. He is a man with a plan. 

“Hey,” he says, grinning before the other man can get a word in edgewise. “I live next door.” 

“I know,” the other man says. It’s again not curt, but it’s not giving Mitch a lot back. 

“Well, I wanted to see if you wanted to come over for dinner,” Mitch goes on, undaunted. “As a welcome to the building thing.” 

“Oh.” The guy pauses, glances up and down at Mitch. “Yeah, um. That’s be cool.” 

“Awesome.” Mitch grins, and waits. It takes a second, but, 

“Oh, now?” 

“I mean, it is dinner time,” Mitch points out. The guy looks at his watch. Mitch knows he usually leaves the building a few hours later than this, so he doesn’t have any excuses. 

“Okay. Just, um. Give me a sec?” he asks, and Mitch nods a second before the door closes. 

Mitch taps his toe against the floor. Maybe this is a bad idea, inviting a vampire over for dinner, but Mitch is armed and shit and the dude never seemed threatening. If he dies, Dylan will at least know that Mitch was right. 

The door opens again only a few moments later, though, and the guy comes out. He’s wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt, but his hair is neater than it was. Mitch has never seen him in clothes like this–casual. Like he could just be one of Mitch’s bros. It’s not a vampire look, for sure. Even if it’s still a good one. 

“Okay, I’m ready, I guess,” he announces. 

“Great. I’m just down here.” Mitch gestures to his door. “I’m Mitch, by the way, I don’t think we’ve ever said.” 

“Auston.” Auston holds out a hand to shake, so Mitch does. It is big and warm and strong. Maybe he just fed, and that’s why it’s warm. 

“So this is me,” Mitch announces, and opens the door. He very carefully doesn’t ask Auston in, and Auston pauses in the doorway, shifting on his feet, as Mitch goes in. 

He waits a beat, two. Then it starts getting really awkward, so, “Come on in,” Mitch invites, and Auston’s shoulders relax and he steps in, looking around curiously. There’s not much to see–it’s probably about the same as Auston’s apartment, and Mitch isn’t exactly a home decorator. He has some pictures of his friends up, some art his mom picked out, but that’s about it. Auston’s apartment is probably really well decorated, with like, real art. That’s what vampires do. 

“So come on in, make yourself at home. Do you want anything to drink?” Mitch asks, heading to the kitchen. He pulls out his phone as he goes, texts Dylan a quick, ddnt come inside until i asked him! 

“Some water, if it’s okay.” 

“I think I can find some.” Mitch tells Auston. Auston’s lips twitch a little, like he’s trying not to smile. It’s the kind of thing Mitch would usually take as a challenge, if he weren’t already in the middle of one. He grabs two glasses, gets some water from the sink. 

While he’s doing that, Dylan texts back. 

maybe he’s just polite. 

Wait are you on a date with a vampire? 

“So,” Mitch says, ignoring his useless best friend. “Where’d you move from? What brings you to the best city in the world?” 

“Phoenix–Arizona,” Auston tells him. “That’s where i moved from. And is Toronto really the best city?” 

“Fuck yes,” Mitch informs him, and then he gets distracted by listing off everything that’s great about the city to defend it, as Auston listens. He doesn’t look, like, annoyed at Mitch’s ramblings, which would make him the only person in the world. 

Because he is a somewhat competent human being, Mitch at least manages to start cooking as he talks. He throws on some pasta, then very obviously brings out a clove of garlic to mince. Auston doesn’t react. Maybe he’s built up an immunity. 

“Why are you here, anyway, if you don’t think it’s the best city?” 

“I’m a fashion designer,” Auston says, his chin jutting out like he’s daring Mitch to say something bad about it. 

“Oh, awesome. That’s why you always look so cool,” Mitch says instead, because he does. 

That gets another one of his slow blinks. “Um, thanks. I mean, it’s still–I got an internship a few days a week, but mostly I’m doing my own sketches and working as a night guard, so not very glamorous.” Even that’s like a dare, like he’s throwing it out there and challenging Mitch to fight him over it. 

Mitch would like to see the person who’s going to fight this guy. But it’s–well, he obviously cares a lot about it, if he’s that prickly. 

“Dude, I feel you. I’m doing the internship circuit too, and like, I really should be living at home, but I just couldn’t any more, you know? Time to spread my wings and fly.” Mitch makes a little flapping motion, which gets him another one of those lip twitches.  

“Yeah. I miss home, but it’s nice to be away,” Auston admits. “I super miss my mom’s cooking, though.” 

“I go home for dinner like, four times a week,” Mitch admits, and that gets something that’s almost a real smile, but is also a little wistful. He’s like an entire country away from home–maybe centuries away from home, who knows. Mitch’s barely ever lived a town away. “I’ll bring you leftovers sometime, it’ll be sort of the same.” 

“No it won’t. But thanks.” Auston looks down at his hands on those last words, but Mitch catches a hint of something soft on his face. 

Anyway, dinner is ready, so Mitch dishes up the pasta with pesto–heavy on the garlic–and takes Auston’s cup to refill it. This time, he takes out the bottle of holy water he bought from the fridge, pours it in. Auston either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care, it’s kind of hard to tell. 

“Eat up!” Mitch tells him, sitting down at the counter next to him. He watches intently. It’s true Auston hadn’t asked for blood or anything, but this is the real test. 

Auston’s eyebrows go up a little as he takes a bite. “Wow, you’re a big fan of garlic, huh?” 

“Oh, yeah,” Mitch says, even though honestly he kind of isn’t. He might have to make himself another dinner to make up for it. “Is that a problem?”  

“No, I love it. Everyone here makes things too bland.” Auston takes another big bite. Then he takes a sip of water, and there are no flames, at all. 

Maybe Buffy is wrong. Mitch might have to go watch Dracula, see if he can get anything else from that. 

Mitch takes a bite of his own pasta. It really is garlicy. 

They eat for silence in a little bit, but Mitch catches Auston glancing at him every once in a while. Mitch tries not to look delicious. 

Auston finishes his whole plate, then he sits back. His face is blank again. “There’s something else,” he says, slowly. “That you should know.” 

Holy fuck, is he just going to tell Mitch he’s a vampire? That’d be sick. 

“Oh?” Mitch sits up and tries to come off as trustworthy. 

“I’m gay.” 

“Oh.” Mitch realizes a beat too late that he probably sounds disappointed, given how Auston’s already blank face somehow goes even blanker. “No, dude, that’s totally cool, I mean, me too, well, sort of–like, bi, but–yeah. No, it’s cool. Why so aggro, though?” 

Auston’s face relaxes a little, and he jerks his head to the cross sitting on the counter. It doesn’t seem to bother him to be so close to it. 

Except for how it obviously made Auston think he was some nutjob, which vampire or not, Mitch isn’t going to stand for. “Oh! Oh, no, that’s not–I mean, if you’re religious, fine, but like, I’m not really. I just got that, it was just a detection tool, to keep vampires away, you know?” 

“Vampires?” Auston blinks again, then again. He looks at the plate, then at Mitch. “Were you trying to figure out if I was a vampire?” he asks, all incredulous drawl. 

“You’re really suspicious!” Mitch protests, and Auston breaks out laughing–like really, honestly cracks up, almost falling off his stool laughing, all that cool, calmness broken. Mitch glares while he does, but he can’t keep that up for long until he starts laughing too, until they’re both just laughing like idiots in Mitch’s kitchen. 

“I’m not,” Auston says at last, when he can speak again. His cheeks are flushed, and there’s a sparkle in his dark eyes. He looks the farthest thing from undead, now that his cool has been broken. “For the record, I am not a vampire.” 

“That’s just what a vampire would say,” Mitch tells him, but he doesn’t stop smiling. 

“Here.” Auston reaches over, picks up the cross. “Happy?” 

“I mean, that I’m not going to get eaten, kind of.” Auston’s lips do that twitching thing again, like there’s a joke Mitch isn’t in on. “It would have been kind of sick to have a vampire friend, though.” 

Auston swallows. “How about a human one?” He’s clearly trying to be cool again, but it’s not quite working. 

“I guess that’ll do,” Mitch allows, and a smile breaks through Auston’s face, a little shy and pleased, and he looks away again like he doesn’t want Mitch to see it. Mitch wants him to let Mitch see that smile, and his laughter, and the shyness, and all the things he’s hiding underneath this veneer of cool he put on so well that it fooled Mitch. 

Shit, Mitch thinks, looking away too. That’s so much scarier than a vampire. 

[yellowsugarwords]

Walking Dead Game FanFiction - “Bringing High Water”

Title: Bringing High Water Characters: Clementine, Louis, AJ Summary: When adventuring to Louis’ favourite quiet spot on a ‘date,’ Louis, Clem and AJ encounter a bear. In the process of getting AJ as far away from it as possible, Clem falls into the water and Louis needs to fish her out and keep her warm. Author's Note: this isn’t a request I literally had a dream about this and just REALLY wanted to write it lol support me with ko-fi ♡ ---------♥️♥️♥️----------

“Come on, you guys are gonna love it.”

Clem rolled her eyes, but played along as Louis tugged at her wrist, pulling her deeper along the riverside at the edge of the woods. Ahead of them trotted AJ, splashing occasionally at the edge of water, watching the little waves that rippled out from beneath him. “How much farther do we need to walk?”

“Not too much farther now, I promise.”

Louis had promised Clem only a few days prior that he had the perfect date planned for them. As per the usual whenever they planned a ‘date,’ Clem asked if it was a ‘W’ or a ‘WO’ date — their code for ‘with’ or ‘without’ AJ. Luckily for all of them, this one was a W.

“Please bring him. I think he’s gonna love what I have planned.”

“Really?” Clem had asked.

“Really.”

Clem would be lying if Louis’ genuine excitement to include AJ didn’t make her heart to soar. He was so accommodating to the both of them and was so phenomenal with AJ. AJ adored him to bits, and she could tell Louis felt the same about him.

“Okay, okay, we’re close.”

AJ jumped, all attention previously stuck on the river shifting to the male at their side as he trotted to be closer to the two.

Louis popped himself into a small brush with a man made path — one of worn down grass and frequently pushed-aside bushes — and wandered down a short, but dark, forest trail. As the path began to get lighter, and as he pushed aside the last of the bushes needed to reach their destination, Clem went breathless.

It was a dock — one amazingly well maintained despite the circumstances. It was clean, and sturdy, and had a shelter over the first half and an open section toward the edge. Back in the day, it was where people would’ve sat to fish.

“I come here to write music sometimes,” Louis said. “You know, when the school gets too loud.”

Clementine completely understood.

AJ immediately trotted down the rocks at the side of the dock, admiring the silky water and slew of moss stuck to the edges of everything in its grasp. He watched the twirling of fish, the distant chirping of birds, and the hum of crickets lurking nearby.

This is what nature felt like. A nature that AJ had been deprived of ever being able to experience, and a nature that Clementine had so dearly missed.

“How often do you come here?” Clem asked, arms crossing.

“Well, I used to come here every couple days. A few times a week.”

Clem’s brows furrowed. “That much?”

“You know Ericson. It’s nuts over there.”

Clem gave a smile of understanding. “So, when did that change?”

Louis’ gaze had drifted to AJ, watching as he played on the rocks to ensure he didn’t slip. His stare travelled to Clementine’s, settled there, and nested. He smiled. “When I got a reason to never want to leave.”

Clementine could feel the heat rising in her neck. Clearly it was apparent too given the way Louis’ eyes travelled there. He dipped forward, his fingers grazing the rosy surface, and Clem playfully swatted him away. “You’re a dork.”

“I try to be.”

“Well, you unfortunately succeed.”

The two paused amidst their playful back of forth, eyes meeting, cheeks rosy and bright, smiles filled with the promises they had made months prior. They got lost there, building homes in one another, before AJ’s voice shattered them from their project.

“Woah,” his breathlessness caught Clem by surprise and, turning away from the owner of her heart, went to see what the child was ogling over. Seeing as so much of the world had been restricted from him, she’d expected it to be something simple, like a bird or fox.

She froze, her breath snagging in her throat, her heels skidding against the wooden deck, when she spotted a bear a few feet away.

“It’s amazing,” AJ cooed, eyes trained on whatever creature it was before him. He’d never seen anything like it.

“Holy shit,” Clementine wheezed, reaching back, hoping to bring Louis’ attention to the dilemma too.

His hand caught hers, bringing her balance in a moment of uncertainty, and squeezed. “Don’t move,” Louis said, an arm extended, halting any movement from the two. “Everyone, just freeze.”

Everyone did as told.

Clementine could feel her hands go clammy, jittery as she stared between the bear and her AJ. If that bear made a move, she didn’t know what she would do. She couldn’t lose AJ, but stood no chance against a bear. All she could pray for was that they were all still enough that the bear would not pay them any mind.

“Okay,” Louis said, voice low and soft. “AJ, Clem and I are gonna help you get off of the rocks and back onto the dock.”

“Why?” AJ asked, eyes fascinated and trained on the being.

Clem gulped. “That’s a bear, AJ.” Clem hushed. “They aren’t normally kind to people.”

She could see AJ’s shoulders sink and tense, all within an instant, as the creature lifted its gaze and spotted the trio. “Will it leave me alone?” He asked, his voice more hushed and wavy than before.

Clementine hated how disappointed and worried he sounded. If she could, she would banish everything that could ever cause him worry. “Yes AJ, just follow our lead and listen to us.”

“We’re gonna keep you safe, little dude.” Louis said. Clem could feel her heart soften at the nickname, a little way Louis was trying to keep AJ calm — by making it seem like an everyday thing they were prepped handle.

“Okay,” Clem breathed, slowly making her way down onto the rocks where AJ stood. Her eyes were plastered to the bear, watching it study them, nose twitching, before returning to eating the shrubbery. “AJ, I’m coming to you, and Louis and I will help you off of the rocks, okay?”

“Okay,” AJ said, voice calmer now. Their feigned calmness must have been assisting.

Clem made her way onto the rocks, removing her gaze from the creature to study where she was stepping. She could feel Louis holding his breath behind her, wanting nothing more than for her to be safe and steady.

She gradually made her way down to AJ’s side, hushing him the moment she reached him to assure him she was there, and lifted him into her arms. Then, pivoting as slowly as she could, passed him to Louis. The moment she let go, and AJ was in Louis arms being set down on solid ground, a flurry of peace washed over her. He was safe. AJ was okay.

With her back to the water, Clem turned to the bear, studying its movements to determine when she could start making her way up. She didn’t get as suspected, however, as before she had a chance to brace herself, the bear paused his eating and quickened its motions.

He began moving, turning, ready to make a move, and Clementine jumped.

And lost her balance.

And fell, back first, crashing into the chilled waters below.

“Clem!”

The cry was muffled, but she could still hear it. She knew it was Louis, but she couldn’t respond. She couldn’t react. She couldn’t do anything.

Louis knew he was being louder than he should have been, but the sound escaped him before he had a chance to stop it. The terror of losing Clementine — the one who meant the absolute world to him — caused him to lose control of himself.

She was frozen, lost in the rush of the water, eyes wide open, staring at the distorted images of the ones she loved above the surface.

“Clem! I’m coming, okay?”

She was underwater, and a bear was feet away from her helpless figure.

“Come to me Clem, I got you. I’ll catch you.”

A bear was

feet away

from

her

.

“I’m here Clem, don’t be scared.”

And she was trapped

underwater

.

The snap back to reality sent her calm demeanour into pieces, her body suddenly flailing, jolting to get to the surface. All she could think to do — all she could manage to do — was wave her arms toward the water's surface and flap her legs to raise her higher. She had no idea what was beneath her, or what was happening above her. There could be walkers clamouring for her feet and a bear looming over her head. So, she squeezed her eyes, flailed to the surface the best she could, and did what she always did when she was lost.

She reached for Louis.

She felt a jolt of cold on her palm, and she could tell she had broken through the surface, but she had no idea what good it would do. The edge of the water was filled with rocks, none sturdy enough to stand on, let alone pull her up. She could only reach for her lifeline and hope — pray — that he would be there to catch her.

Then, his hands snagged hers and gripped tight. While she was reaching for her lifeline, Louis clung to her like she was his. He’d managed to balance himself on the rocks — wedging his feet between two heavy-weight stones — and pulled with as much force as he could muster. His eyes darted to his right, searching for any signs of the bear, hesitant to make any noise.

His eyes snapped back to the water seeing nothing, and tugged as fiercely as he could. He could feel AJ’s terrified gaze on his back, praying he would be able to save the girl that meant so much to him — so much to them both.

He watched as her head broke through the water’s surface, letting out a loud, heaving gasp for air, coughing up the water she had sucked in during the horrors of her first terrified moments. Then, blinking away her panicked tears meshing with the river’s water, heaving out the last of what clouded her lungs, she could see him — her lifeline, her Louis, right there.

She could see the fear in his eyes, the desperate clenching of his knuckles, the way his heels dug into the rocks. His hands tugged at her arms, his eyes never leaving hers from the moment she broke through the surface. He continued to tug her up, helping her gain balance on the rocks, as he gingerly guided her away from the waters.

When she was close enough, an arm leapt out and clutched her waist, desperately pulling her closer to him. She gained balance, found her footing, and crashed into his chest.

“Oh my

God

,” he panted, hands clamouring up her back. “Thank God. You’re here, you’re okay.”

His chest heaved under her cheek, but it didn’t disturb her. She was too lost in the fear of it all to think twice. Her fingers clung to him, wrapped around him, ensuring he was so close that he’d keep her safe from another fall.

“You’re okay, I got you.” He said, his hands clinging to her soaked clothing. If Clementine had the capacity to, she’d feel the way his shaky, terrified breathing worked into her hair. She’d feel the way his hands quivered against her back, rubbing against her jacket and squeezing it, amazed that she was still there. If she backed away, she’d be able to see the terrified tears in his eyes retreating to the edges, threatening to fall but wavering in amazement that he had her.

She was there. She was between his palms. He caught her.

“Hey,” he said softly, adjusting his hold on her. He adjusted the way his arms rested against her back, sliding himself to her side to guide her further from the edge. As he moved, he felt her fingers coil around his shirt and jacket, begging him to stay. With a moment of hesitation, wanting nothing more than to scoop the girl into his arms and whisk her away, he gulped and continued, slower this time. “Come here, come with me.”

As gently as he could, allowing her to move at her own pace, he guided her toward a spot to sit on the dock - a small indent under the roofed area, one of the areas carved into a bench for fishers to take breaks on. Her fists clamped down on his jacket even harder, pulling him as close to the side of her body as she could, wavering as she made her way to their seat.

He sat down first, gesturing to the open space beside him for her to sit. As she did, she threw herself back into him. Shaking, breathless, eyes clustered with tears, and her clothing soaked entirely through, she clung to him.

“Is Clem okay?”

“She’ll be okay, buddy.” Louis said, wrapping his arms around her, bringing the girl closer to his chest. He brought her legs over him and curled her into his lap — the closest he could keep her to him to ensure her warmth. He only released his grip to work off the arms of his jacket. “Go check out the dock, okay? I’ll make sure she’s okay.”

AJ pressed the corners of his mouth together, staring at the jittering figure of the girl who had cared for him practically every day of his life. He felt a jab of pain knowing he wouldn’t be able to do the same for her.

“We came here to have fun,” Louis said softly, working his jacket out from behind him. “When we get home, she’ll be so excited to hear all about the cool stuff you saw while we were here. It’ll make her feel a lot better.”

AJ hesitated for another moment, studying the way Clementine jittered against him. AJ trusted him, gave a faint nod, and made his way toward the end of the dock, eyes drinking in everything his eye could see.

Just as AJ turned his back on them, Louis threw his coat over the girl’s shoulders, wrapping her up and around in the heated fabric as much as she could. He could feel her hum, burrowing herself into the dry fabric’s warmth, pushing her cheek deeper into his chest.

“It’s warm,” she hushed.

Louis hated how adorable she was, purely because it wasn’t a situation where he could openly ogle over her. “That’s what I was hoping for.”

He could swear, despite the awkward angle he was admiring her from, that she grew a smile as she curled herself deeper into his jacket, nuzzling her nose and face into its soft warmth. Louis could feel his heart quicken knowing how closely she was clinging to his jacket — something he wore every day. It was so precious, and innocent, and heartwarming. If only he could cling to her for forever. He didn’t slightly care about how the moisture in her hair or the dampness of her clothing soaked onto him. All he wanted was for her to be warm. He could handle the chill. He didn’t want her to need to.

The only time Louis detached his gaze was to study AJ at the end of the dock, jabbing a stick into the muddy, green water or reaching down to run his fingers through it. Occasionally, he spun around, calling “Louis look!” and pointed to wildlife scurrying by — an eagle, a flock of birds flying past, or a ripple in the water.

Each time, Louis smiled and chuckled. “What did ya find?”

When Clem felt Louis’ chest vibrate under her cheek, whenever she heard his sweet callings to AJ, his genuine interest, his sweet appreciation, she knew.

There, on a dock, soaked from head to toe, wrapped in the jacket of her other half, curled so perfectly into his lap, was when Clementine knew she was in love with him.

She knew he was the one. ---------♥️♥️♥️----------

[zoedozy]

alright i’m barely even coherent enough to type down my thoughts after 5 hours of sleep and an episode of hyperventilating and sobbing but let’s fucking do this

let’s start with this: this is the canon ending we have. you can choose to love it, hate it or be neutral. just respect other’s opinions on it and don’t harass anyone. and please know that the team behind voltron worked hours, weeks, months, to years on this show. 

now let’s get down to business to defeat the huns

i’m sure lance, allura and allurance stans can agree they both deserved better. now allurance may not have been my ideal endgame (if you can call it that), but it was still cute. i saw it coming, we all kinda did. lance has grown and matured enough as a person, and allura saw that at least. so i am pleased with what we got with them. the date, the kiss, the cuddling and lance’s genuine care and worry for allura really made me like what they had while it lasted. 

also rip to any other shippers out there, especially to the plance and sheith shippers out there, as a plance and sheith shipper myself i mourn with you. but remember, not everything has to be canon in order for you to love it. 

now i think we should really get to business. 

allura deserved so much better. she was someone who had thing taken from her: her family, her planet, her entire race, her crown and finally her own life. and she accepted that. which is unfair beyond belief, she deserves to be happy with the rest of the paladins. but after bingeing the past seasons, there were many times where allura would attempt to do things for the greater good, even if it cost her life. it felt obvious in the end. does that mean i agree with it? no. does that mean i didn’t bawl at 8am? absolutely not. i may be brain dead at the moment, but i can’t think of another way to restore every reality imaginable, to let other characters live. in the end she was able to bring life back to destroyed planets, at the cost of her own. 

each goodbye she said to the paladins ripped my heart out, what hurts me most that she couldn’t say one to coran, her second father. the man who helped raised her didn’t even get to say goodbye.

now my theory about lance becoming altean(?) is that it was obviously a gift to him, to remember her bye. does that mean he has altean powers now? idk. we don’t get an explanation other than his marking glow when the voltron lions fly off. i’ve seen someone say it could be a soulmate mark and it glows when allura’s presence is near?? i like that idea

also what was with the lions?? why did they fly off? did they pick up some energy and that’s why they were flying towards the shape of allura in space? or were they flying away because they were no longer needed to protect the universe?? or it was used as a dramatic effect to send off the series. i really hope to get some answers

ok but it all honestly, for voltron to have a m/m kiss is pretty big. i’m happy shiro found true happiness, but i’m obviously disappointed it wasn’t keith, aka, his best friend, the man who was literally the closest person to him. i mean curtis is okay, he cute i guess. but he’s literally some random dude that shiro knew only for a year, and we didn’t see that development besides curtis cheering him on at the arm wrestling competition and then boom! wedding. keith knew him for years, and you can’t just forget about their relationship like that. 

i’m pleased to know for sure lotor was severely misguided, and his true intention was to help people. but the years of abuse finally made him snap, and he suffered. he looked happy to see his mother, and his real father on the other side. also let’s mention that lotor’s corpse was still inside the sincline and it was decomposing YIKES. AND MY THEORY ABOUT THE CORRUPTED QUINTESSENCE IN HIS VEINS WAS RIGHT I CAN BE HAPPY ABOUT THAT AT LEAST!

alright now for some stuff that hasn’t really been talked about

let me gush about pidge and the holts in general because it’s mandatory. pidge was willing to give up a super rare video game to dress allura up, and to make lance happy. SHE WAS HEARTBROKEN BY THE DESTRUCTION OF OLKARION, SHE APPRECIATED WHAT RYNER TAUGHT HER SO MUCH!!! SHE COULD SE THROUGH TIME YO!! pidge moved on from her glasses.. giving them to her robot chip to show that her character arc is finally done, how much she’s grown. god THAT SHIT HURTED. colleen and pidge are literally me and my own mother and i love them. matt with a pony tail is amazing, and short hair matt ain’t half bad yo. sam holt still continues to be a legend

HUNK GOT THE BEST OF THIS SEASON LET’S BE REAL. HE WAS AN ICON THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE THING

og paladins?? zarkon realizing what he did?? holy shit

there was like... nothing of keith and shiro. so rip sheith again

kosmo got REALLY FUCKING BIG

and once again, allura deserved all the happiness in the world

(12/15) EDIT

i got some more stuff

again, allura deserved better and didn’t even need to die. yeah, with her gaining access to oriande and saying “i need to learn the secrets of life. i give my own.” was a hint to her death. even if we got the open ambiguous ending with shiro and keith, allura would’ve died anyway. i feel that was inevitable with all the build up with her attempted sacrifices before. but what doesn’t make sense about it and why it wasn’t needed, is that honerva also gained access to oriande, she would’ve learned just as much as allura. so allura dying with honerva is unnecessary. honerva could’ve just died alone to bring back every reality without allura. it could’ve been avoidable, so yeah it’s unfair.

also i fully believe lance ain’t altean, the marks are just a reminder of allura. it’s practically a scar for him to remember her, and they glow when her presence is around. i feel he won’t be able to fully move on from that, and it’s just cruel to have him emotionally suffer like that. tbh i also don’t think it’s wrong for lance to be a farmer, he already knew how to milk a cow so? i guess some of his family were involved with a farm in the first place idk.

the very final image with allura space i think is the reference to the cosmic dust, and how they are all connected in a way. still don’t know why the lions left their paladins on altea just to fly into space but go off i guess

pidge gave up her own happiness for allurance’s, pidge really out there supporting allurance. also i will always believe pidge had a crush on lance and swallowed it down in order to make someone else happy and that’s that. rip plance but it’s still in my heart

also bi veronica and lesbian acxa own my soul thanks

ryan kinkade?? a true director, everyone loves him.

i hope hunay may have gotten together post canon so i have that but rip team punk but i always saw them more as a brotp

like sheith was literally forgotten about... all of what they meant to each other just disappeared and it was bs. i could go on but i don’t wanna get more upset.

in conclusion: sheith and allurance deserved better, allura deserved better in general, so did lance, basically everyone deserved better in this season. many writers left after s6 because they didn’t agree with what dreamworks wanted to do with the show and that’s why it’s so messy. the staff had their hands tied. thanks for coming to my ted talk.

so. wow that’s it huh? that’s the last premiere of voltron i can rant about. well, it’s been one hell of a ride, folks.