#juke friends to lovers

[onlygenxhere]

Kiss Me

It was nearing midnight on the tenth anniversary of her mother’s death and Julie was wondering if this would be the year she’d finally get up the courage to ask Luke to kiss her.

Again.

She’d asked him once before, five years ago on this very night.

She tried not to be obvious as she watched him from her side of the sofa, but his presence was more distracting than usual. Maybe because it was just the two of them left watching a movie they’d both seen before, or maybe it was the thought of what had happened last time bouncing around in her head.

She’d been a little tipsy, but not drunk. Luke had gotten them a bottle of her favorite pink wine even though she shouldn’t have had a favorite wine at all yet, being only twenty. But back then the anniversary of her mami’s passing always brought so much pain with it she tried to numb it as best she could. Luke had been the one to make sure she didn’t do anything too stupid ever since he’d rescued her from a party at Carrie’s house two years prior, before she could finish taking her shirt off and jump in the pool.

Flynn had been distracted with Carrie that night and Alex and Reggie seemed more inclined to let her do what she wanted, even if what she wanted was to get so shitfaced she threw up on her keyboard.

That had been another unfortunate anniversary. 

But, five years ago, Luke had been hiding out in her studio garage having run away from home, so they’d been spending a lot of time alone together outside of band practice.

She’d finished her second large glass of wine and then crawled into Luke’s lap and asked him to make out with her. She remembered telling him the wine hadn’t been enough, and she needed him to help her forget, for just a little while.

“Julie, you don’t know what you’re doing.” He’d gripped her hips tight, pushing her back to sit more on his legs than his lap.

“I know exactly what I’m doing.” She remembered leaning forward and how he’d ducked his head.

“You know how I feel about you, but the band needs to come first right now.” He’d looked up at her from under his lashes and she’d felt like such a shit. “I need us to make it, and I can’t risk losing you no matter how much…” He’d sighed and dropped his eyes again, shaking his head.

The rejection had stabbed her in the heart, but she’d understood. He couldn’t go home until the band succeeded. She’d already lost her mother, but Luke still had a chance to get his back.

She’d slid out of his lap to the sofa beside him giving him a tight smile. He was right, she’d been impulsive and was risking messing up this amazing thing they had just to ease the pain in her heart for a little while.

But the wine made her both stupid and reckless and she couldn’t seem to stop herself from suggesting something a little more chase, just to see what it’d be like. She’d leaned into him and said, “Aren’t you curious?” Because as practical as she knew in her head it would be not to kiss, her body still very much wanted to know what he tasted like, what those full lips would feel like pressed against hers.

He’d taken her hand and turned sideways so he could look her in the eyes and if the rest of the night was a little blurry, she never forgot what he said next.

“Julie, I’m not sure I could stop kissing you if I ever did.”

Five years later and she could hear those words in her head like he’d just said them.

She wondered if he remembered.

She’d never really stopped wanting to kiss him.

Through boyfriends and girlfriends, the desire had faded to the background for the most part but was never really gone.

Ten years since Rose Molina had died and in ten more Julie would be the age her mami was when she passed. Was she really going to spend whatever time she got left not going after the one thing she’d wanted as much as she’d ever wanted anything?

The band was doing well. Successful even. They weren’t internationally known yet, but they were on the verge of a major break.

Luke had made up with his parents. They’d all grown up, moved out, and were making a pretty decent living playing music.

Flynn was at her parent’s helping her mom with her dad who had broken his leg last week doing something fifty-five-year-old men shouldn’t be doing so they wouldn’t be interrupted.

She wasn’t dating anyone.

She was pretty sure Luke wasn’t dating anyone.

The question was, was she willing to risk rejection again just to know what it would be like to kiss him. To finally find out if the chemistry she felt every time they were together was more than just the music that ran through both of their hearts and veins.

~*~

Luke could feel Julie’s eyes on him as he pretended to watch the movie. He really should go. It was getting late and the longer he stayed the more he didn’t actually want to leave.

He wished Flynn or one of the guys had been able to stay. Take some of the tension he could feel in the room away. He wasn’t sure what was going on with her tonight. He’d spent the anniversary of her mother’s death with Julie for the last eight years.

Some years had been loud and chaotic with partying and drinking. A few had been quiet and mostly ended in big puppy piles with their friends. He could handle either version of Julie on the anniversary of the loss of Rose Molina, as long as she made it through to the other side without hurting herself or others, he’d always felt like the night was a success.

But tonight felt different. They’d had pizza and chatted about the new album they were working on but didn’t fall into a writing session like they did nine times out of ten. They’d gossiped about Alex and Willie and when they were going to get married or more importantly who would propose first. They talked about her dad and the date he’d been on last week that had him back home by eight. They’d tried not to snicker as he got them to delete the app off his phone as he informed them all he definitely wasn’t ready to move on.

Luke had understood. He let his eyes slide over to Julie for a moment. He’d been trying to move on from her for years with little to no success. He tried dating, but it never lasted. He inevitably ended up pushing them away by talking about the band, Julie, too much. He’d tried casual relationships, but they only fed his physical needs, and he wanted more than that in his life.

Five years ago he did one of the stupidest things he’d ever done in his life. Right up there with eating poisoned hotdogs and spending the night in the ER trying not to die.

He’d turned Julie down when she asked him to kiss her. But even more importantly he didn’t talk to her about it the next day when she was for sure sober and ask if she’d been serious, see if she still wanted to kiss him without the half a bottle of wine coursing through her.

Because he wanted to kiss her. He had then and he did now. The only thing that had changed in the last five years was how successful they were now and how much he loved her. He hadn’t thought he could care about her more than he had then, but he’d been wrong. The way he felt about her then felt like standing in the sun until you started to sweat. Now it felt like he might burn alive from the inside out when he stood in the sunshine of her voice, her eyes, her smile.

That little part of his brain that had told her no that night still whispered what if it wasn’t good. What if she didn’t feel the same. What if changing the dynamic of their relationship broke the band up.

What if it was the best thing that ever happened in his whole life.

“Julie?” “Luke?”

He turned to see her biting back a grin. He should have been surprised at the determined look in her eyes, but he wasn’t.

She threw the blanket on her lap up onto the back of the sofa and slid over into his lap, never looking away from him as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He placed one hand on her back and one on her knee as he took a deep shuddering breath.

“So.” Julie sighed.

“So.” He nodded.

“Five years ago…”

“You asked me to kiss you, and I said no.”

She nodded. “You said no.”

“Are you asking again?”

“Yes.” She licked her lips, her eyes dropping to his before flicking back up to his eyes. “But this will be the last time.”

He nodded. “I’m not sorry I told you no that night five years ago.”

She started to pull away.

“But!” He held her tight. “I should have brought it up again in the morning.” He reached up and tucked a curl behind her ear. “I should have asked to kiss you at least a couple of years before you asked me that first time.”

“Yeah?” A ghost of a smile quirked at the corner of her lips.

“Five years ago, I was too scared of losing everything, including you, to risk our friendship on the chance that we could be… more.”

“And now?”

He felt her threading fingers in the hairs on the back of his neck as he took another deep breath. “I’m not afraid anymore.”

She nodded before she started to lean closer and whispered inches from his lips. “I think we’ve put this off long enough.”

He put his finger between them and grinned when she pulled back with a frown.

“I told you five years ago I didn’t think I could stop kissing you if we ever did. Just wanna make sure we’ve said everything we need to…” He licked his lips. “For now.”

She snickered as she leaned in again. “You talk too much.”

Their lips met and Luke had been right. He didn’t think anything, but maybe the threat of bodily harm, would make him want to stop kissing Julie Molina.

She seemed to feel the same because neither of them spoke again for a very long time.

[burntblueberrywaffles]

"Ew liking unhealthy ships is so toxic-"

"Actually toxic ship are INTERESTING unlike those boring healthy ships that have no flavour-"

Meanwhile me, who can appreciate and enjoy any ship dynamics:

[narcissusbrokenmirror]

i love watching jatp interviews. Especially when the interviewer asks abt juke becoming an actual couple and Madison, Charlie and Kenny always explain how Luke and Julie's feelings for each other get to be explored through friendship instead of jumping right into a relationship.

For Luke and Julie being both aware of their feelings and choosing to be stay right where they are and becoming the best of friends, because they want more of each other, they want to be a place of comfort for each other and grow as people. All of it, without the overwhelming pressure of being a couple and changing the dynamics in their band/family, or having that "but this can't last forever" feeling always hovering over them, all the complications with Luke being a ghost and Julie being a lifer, bc they don't know how to fix this. That would eventually tear them apart from the other.

Instead, Julie can deal with her feelings in a comfortable zone where she can take her time and focus on their plans as a band and bond as friends, the same goes for Luke, clearly he likes Julies and knows there's something between them, even with his emotional intelligence of a peanut, he understands that seeking a relationship is not worth it especially when what they already have as friends is so special and important to each of them. They don't need to be dating to do anything for the other, they don't need to be dating to be able to trust each other and have a deep unique connection.

[mac-lilly]

Sweet Home Alabama Juke AU

After dedicating the last 10 years of her life to her music, Julie has finally achieved everything he ever dreamed of. Not only has she become a successful singer-songwriter, selling out entire stadiums, but she also has a close relationship with her highly supportive and loving family.

And when her long-term boyfriend Nick unexpectedly proposes to her, Julie couldn't be any happier.

Alas, there's a teeny-weeny problem: Unbeknownst to the world (including Nick), she's already married ... to her former childhood sweetheart and ex-bandmate Luke.

Pressured to set things right, Julie returns to her hometown to get her "husband" to sign the divorce papers. There, she's confronted with estranged and hurt friends, the demons of her past, and, naturally, Luke.

(The normal romcom stuff happens here.)

[preoccupied-educator]

once again thinking about reckless driving as a juke song

really just over here living my best life, rotating my blorbos to music in my head 😌

[uzumaki-rebellion]

"Ice Cold Jax" Geechee!Erik Killmonger

Pairing: Geechee!Erik Killmonger x Black Female OC

Warning(s): 18+, Smut, Supernatural Horror, Period Piece, Erik Stevens AU, Black American Folktale.

Summary: Erik "Killmonger" Stevens is a Geechee wanderer and lover of big-legged women and good moonshine. On a trip to visit his favorite juke joint in 1940s Mississippi, he entertains a lover of sorts, Lulabelle, the juke joint owner and Madame of the nearby whorehouse. Erik battles two mythical creatures from Black American folklore, the Plat Eye and the Crossroads Man in order to save Lulabelle and her establishment. The tale is told from the perspective of a ghost who was once Lulabelle's best friend.

Word count: 5.5K

"The winter time is coming

And it's going to be slow

You can't make the weather baby

it's dry long so

You betta come on in my kitchen

because it's going to be Raining outdoors..."

Cassandra Wilson – "Come on in my Kitchen" (Written by Robert Johnson)

There were two things Lulabelle Humphreys knew how to sell in Itta Bena Mississippi and that was moonshine and other people's pussy.

She did that very well until one night of the Harvest moon when cotton would soon be harvested by the local sharecroppers and itinerant Mexican men who traveled through the delta region looking for work like every other Negro or poor white trash far and wide. On that night under a sweltering heat full of drunk patrons and her smooth-talking whores inside her juke joint with the "special ladies" house attached by a rickety bridge that crossed over a tiny creek full of frogs and singing crickets, Lulabelle witnessed the showdown of all showdowns between the Plat Eye and the Crossroads Man, shonuff, right inside her little rambling hot music-havin' and ice-cold beer havin' establishment.

And if it hadn't been for that slow walking city-to-city wandering Geechee man with the gold teeth, slick smile, and flashy suit standing by her with the smarts of his low country kin back in South Carolina, why Lulabelle might've lost everything that night like she lost me so many years ago when that Plat Eye stole me away when we was teenaged girls in these backwoods. But thank the Lord up above for Erik Stevens ramblin' through with that shiny switchblade, and his Gullah ways, cuz shonuff, that was a night to remember and I'm gonna tell it exactly how it happened from top to bottom and all the sides in between. I ain't been dead long enough or forgotten long enough to not tell it all...

"Mavis, how much lavender water is left in there?"

Lulabelle shouted into the open door that led to one of the "loving" rooms inside her special house.

"There's one bottle left," Ruth called out.

The young woman was nothing but string bean arms and toothpick legs, however, she was a favorite among the darker-skinned Black sharecroppers who admired her fair skin and limp shiny black hair. Even the high yella gals envied what Ruth could pull in because the men were willing to part with more money to fuck what was as close to a white woman as they would get.

Lulabelle knew clearly what a fetish was, so she used Ruth for the high income, but she also had Mavis, a crystal Black pearl with a dark hue so deep that negro soldiers from the military base lined up for hours waiting to part her dusky thighs to taste the sticky sweets within. There was someone for everybody at the house. Big women. Little scrawny women. Big Bodacious titties and itty-bitty mosquito bites. For the richly endowed there was Starla with a pussy so fat and deep that blues ballads were written for her. For the poorly imbued, there was Tweety Pie, a tiny woman with a small tight snatch that rivaled Starla in particular-sized fans.

For the men who didn't fawn over the womenfolk, there was Honey Boy, a twenty-something pretty little thing with bow lips, high cheekbones, and a fat ass that posed as a houseboy who brought fresh after-sex towels, water for the whore baths, and rubbers for the men who forgot to prepare for penetration. Honey Boy could dress like a pretty woman and serve clients fat wood if that was to a patron's liking. Lulabelle was surprised at how popular he was becoming on the low low, especially from the men in the military. Men with men had always been a reality, but Honey Boy was multidimensional. He could turn into a Butch boy from a chain gang, to a bullying Army sergeant to dominate and spread male ass cheeks that needed fat balls against balls. Or he could be a dainty femme movie star in a bra and heels with his hard dick swinging. Lulabelle kept a ready supply of costumes for him, more than the women. All the ladies needed were pretty underwear, strong garter belts, and lipstick. She kept quiet that she paid Honey Boy more than anyone else.

The second world war was putting money in her pockets. 1942 was a profitable war year for Lulabelle. Her pocketbook was fat with cash, and she could now afford real jewelry instead of the cheap costume fare she sported the last three years. She could even maintain a steady hot comb appointment at Mamie's Wash and Curl uptown. Her latest favorite style was imitating Joan Crawford's immaculate curls that she saw in the talkies at the Bijou theater. When she really wanted to look glamorous, she would have Mamie swoop up her thick hair on top of her head with a pinned curl on the front and an under curl in the back. The rich white women she saw in the new color catalogues wore their hair like that.

She wore her hair like that for that evening. It was a special night. The Harvest Moon was going up, and the men would be arriving in droves to drink, dance, and fuck.

He was coming too.

The Gullah man. That sly Geechie with the gold teeth.

Erik Stevens.

His arrival always coincided with some new moon every few months. She'd dress up extra special when she thought he was coming through. Her pussy was already twitching thinking about him.

"I'll have Honey Boy get you a fresh bottle," Lulabelle said patting the back of her hair.

It was hot already, and she worried that her hair wouldn't maintain until Erik saw it. Ruth stepped out of the room. The yellow silk camisole Lulabelle bought for her came to her thighs and had enough lace in the front to cover the baby bulge that was threatening to peek out. The girl got knocked up and none of the home remedies the cook Eva concocted worked in knocking the unwanted pregnancy out. Ruth could probably hide the truth for another month or so, but eventually she would have to go on convalescence and Lulabelle would have to rely on the other women to please the Ruth fans until the woman returned or left for a new life in the North. Until then, Ruth was about making her money and camouflaging the bump.

"Can you tell?" she asked.

Lulabelle squinted.

"These men will be too drunk to notice. Keep the garment on and don't worry about it."

Lulabelle checked in on the other ladies and all was well. Seven rooms, seven whores, seven sources of revenue on top of the juke joint next door. She peeked in on one of the mirrors inside a room and felt satisfied. Her beige dress hugged the curves of her big wide hips and large backside. Her heels made her short body have a little height. She needed a little more powder for her round nose, and the grease pencil she used for her eyes held the dark wings she gave herself.

"Eat your heart out, Joan," she muttered to herself.

She crossed the little wooden bridge that led to the juke joint making sure her crème bow top summer pumps didn't get dirty. Her name was painted in fading blue letters above the entrance. By Christmas she hoped to get a fancy electric sign that sparkled "Lula's". Honey Boy swept the porch entry and she could smell the grease being heated on the kitchen stove inside by Eva. There'd be fried chicken, black-eyed peas, collards with ham hocks, and plenty of buttermilk cornbread to sell with the ice cold Jax beer and corn liquor.

Her eyes scanned the lowering sun over the canopy of Tupelo trees. A loud shriek startled her and made Honey Boy stop sweeping.

"What was that?" Honey Boy asked.

His pressed hair was slicked back, and his copper brown skin was moist with sweat from the oppressive heat.

Lulabelle clutched at her chest. The sound came from deep in the woods. The darkness there shrouded any mysteries that lived within it.

"Sounded like something caught," she said.

The hairs on the back of her neck rose.

A memory.

Being a young teen girl with...

No. Don't think of her. That was the past.

Lulabelle pushed down on the terror in her throat and hid her shaking fingers in front of her dress.

"Probably some unlucky racoon ran across Old Man Rickers trap," she said.

"Yeah, you prolly right, Lulabelle. The man been hunting out there this week."

She heard the doubt in his tremulous voice. The lie hung in the air like dark sap on a dying tree between them.

"That sounded like death is on his way," Eva said.

The older plump woman opened the screen door of the juke joint while wiping down a plate.

"Don't say that, Eva. It's just an old coon, or a slow wild pig—"

The shriek pierced the air again.

"Lord have mercy," Eva said.

The older woman cradled the cheap gold-plated crucifix around her neck.

Rifle shots sounded in the distance and Lulabelle jumped, then smiled.

"See? Just some hunters putting some fresh meat down. Let's get ready for tonight, y'all."

Not one of them moved from the porch until Archie started tinkling on the piano keys inside the juke.

Pussy poppin' in the whorehouse, music jumping, bodies swaying, lips sucking down moonshine and dark beer, Lula's juke shook on its foundations. Dollar bills came in hand over fist as Lulabelle strolled around the property checking in with customers and hustling Eva to fry up more chicken plates. She rounded the corner of the makeshift stage shaking her hips to the hot sounds when her eyes slid to the entrance and saw Geechie Erik swagger in. Double-breasted gray suit with shiny silver buttons and matching cufflinks. Steel-blue silk tie, and black and gray woven Oxford shoes had the Geechie man draped. Lulabelle already knew he smelled like a million bucks even though she was standing nowhere near him. Erik took off his black fedora hat. He had kicked up the waves on his close-cropped hair, and his lightly bearded cheeks gave him a pronounced sophistication compared to all the clean-shaven military men taking up most of the space in the joint.

His eyes scanned the wide room and when they fell on her, her heart sang a minuet in his honor just to see those dimples in his cheeks. He strode toward her with long confident strides and when he circled his arm around her waist, she shivered at his touch.

"Lulabelle, Lulabelle. You get prettier every time I see you."

He gave her a wet sloppy kiss on her cheek, and she swooned. His scent was expensive leather, imported cologne, and Murray's hair pomade.

"Lemme get you a drink, Daddy," she purred.

"No, let me get you a drink. Stay right here."

He sauntered over to the big counter and within minutes he brought her back a small glass of whiskey to match his own. They toasted, tossed the liquor back, and he led her to an open table in the low-lit corner as bodies pressed together dancing around them. His thick lips were on her neck before she could gaze into his eyes, and his thicker fingers were already under her dress creeping over a seamed stocking, her garter belt, and the bottom of her girdlette. He inched closer to her core.

"Goodness gracious, you already hot down here," he whispered in her ear.

His finger swiped across Lulabelle's panties bringing her clit to life.

"Oh... there it is... my jewel," he crooned before he slid the garment aside and fingered her slit.

Erik had her sopping wet by the time the band switched tunes. Two of his warm fingers pumped in and out of her pussy, making her pant and writhe on her seat next to him.

"You gon' sweat my hair out already!" she yelped reaching for the back of her neck.

Erik flipped his digits over palm-side up and finger fucked her until a puddle of creamy juices flowed out onto her chair. Once her legs shook and she squirmed uncontrollably, he bolted up from his seat and grabbed her hand. His dick jutted out from his pants and he dragged through the side door that led to the wooden bridge and the loving house.

"Get the fuck out," he told a patron having his dick sucked in the first room they came to.

Tweety Pie was on her knees, her bright red lips puckered around a small light brown penis. Her eyes grew wide when she saw Erik and the rigid length straining against his zipper.

Erik whipped out his switchblade and flicked it open.

"Out!" he barked.

Tweety Pie scrambled from her knees and pulled her customer by his hand with his trousers dragging around his ankles to another room. Erik slammed the door shut on the gawking eyes of the other whores and pushed Lulabelle against a mahogany cabinet that held lingerie.

"Turn around."

The snarl in his voice made her spin and toot her big ass out toward him. He dragged the cool blade up against the bottom of her stockings until it dipped just under the hem of her dress. He yanked her dress up around her chest and the sharp blade skimmed across her black satin-covered ass cheek. With just a little more pressure he could break the skin on her fat rump through the material and make her bleed. Erik jerked the blade and sliced her panties off. She gasped and clutched at the smooth wood of the cabinet for balance. She heard his zipper peel down slowly and felt his hands fumble for a rubber.

"You miss Daddy?"

"Yes!"

He parted her folds before she could catch her breath. The fullness stretching her out made her shout his name and grit her teeth. Pumping into her slowly at first, he teased the hell out of her by pushing in deep, then pulling all the way out so that her pussy lips throbbed needing his dick back inside of her.

"I missed this pussy... so much... taking me so deep!"

His switchblade rested on the middle of her naked spine and tickled her skin purposely.

"Take this dress off!"

He helped her wiggle her arms out of it before unfastening her bra with his hands. Cradling her heavy breasts, he made her cheeks clap as his weapon clattered to the floor. His full concentration was on pleasing her body. Rough wide palms spread her ass cheeks wide as he grunted and pushed down on his thighs to hunch over her.

"Lula, shit... Lula..."

Erik gripped her hips and slammed into her before pulling out and lifting her up. He tossed Lula on the soft lumpy bed, undressed, and plunged back into her. The gold in his mouth glinted above her as he thrust harder and faster knocking the breath out of her body.

Her garter belts bunched up then stretched with her girdlette when he pushed her thighs back.

"Big legged girl... mmmm," he groaned.

He shoved his head down to her folds and sucked on her lower lips before spitting on them and sinking his girth back inside her walls.

"Daddy hittin' that bottom yet?"

"You in there... real deep, Daddy."

"Lemme get deeper..."

Her ankles met her earlobes and the heavy pressure from his dick made her cock-eyed a spilling gibberish from her mouth.

"Oh, Jesus!" she yelped when his fists rested on her sides and he bucked into her, slapping his balls against her ass.

Before he could press his mouth into her swollen pussy again to glisten his face, she clenched up around his dick and squeezed it with rhythmic pulses she had no control over.

"That's a good girl... let that pussy talk to Daddy's dick, Lula."

His eyes watched her contractions yank on his length, and when he finished talking her through her release with high praises and slow wet kisses, he pulled off the rubber and stroked himself against her clit. The silky curls of her pubic hairs were wet with her creamy orgasm and became even wetter when Erik splashed hot cum all over her vulva. His shouts of pleasure filled her with quiet confidence.

"That's it Daddy, cum all over your fat pussy."

He hissed when she said that, and his heated glare encouraged more of his release. A thick rope of semen painted her stomach, and he collapsed on top of her with hard ragged gasps.

"God, I wish I could be in this pussy every day, Lula."

"You could," she said stroking the waves on his hair.

He rolled over onto his back and stared at the ceiling with her.

"Not with the work I do. I try my best to get here when I can. But shit, baby. If I didn't get this pussy for free, I would pay a fortune for it."

She rolled on her side to look at him, happy that he thought of her like that. His eyes were still on the ceiling, but there was a frown on his face.

"She's in the room, y'know. Up there hiding in the corner."

"Don't say that, Erik. You know it scares me."

"If you did what I told you to do, she'd go away."

"As long as she don't start no foolishness around here, I can live with a ghost."

"Can you? Then how come you're scared?"

"She was my friend. I know she blames me for getting away and not her."

"A good coating of haint blue all around the doors would keep her out..."

"I can't. I can't do that to her. If she's just lingering as a ghost, it makes me feel like she can live a little."

"If you say so."

"Let's not talk about her."

His eyes were still focused on the ceiling, looking at Elizabeth, her childhood friend from so long ago. She couldn't see the dead teenager at all.

"She mad?" Lulabelle asked.

"She loves you. It's why she stays around... floating from room to room... following you."

Lulabelle pulled his chin toward her.

"Don't look. Please."

Erik slipped his tongue in her mouth. A knock at the door interrupted them.

"Lulabelle, sorry to disturb you and your Mister, but I need this room," Tweety Pie squeaked out.

"Give me a minute."

Lulabelle peeled the rubber from Erik's dick and tossed it inside some tissue and chucked it out of the window into a well-placed bucket outside.

"You ruined my panties," she scolded as she jumped up to rinse her privates and stomach in lavender water at a large basin sitting on a maple console table.

She dried her folds and fixed her bra back around her breasts.

"Don't need 'em, I'll be back inside of you soon enough," he said.

Pulling her dress back on, Lulabelle tried to fix her hair and make-up in a mirror.

"You look fine," he said zipping his pants.

Erik picked up his switchblade and opened the door.

Tweety Pie had a new man with her, a handsome young soldier with lust in his eyes.

"Pardon us," Erik said as he guided Lulabelle back to the juke joint.

Lulabelle sat on Erik's lap as he joked with some patrons and slammed back shots of moonshine. She fed him cornbread and pieces of chicken bites with her fingers, and occasionally she would bounce on his hardness that rested against her backside. He tortured her clit with occasional strokes under her dress, but he wouldn't let her cum. That would happen later when he was ready to plunder her pussy once more. Tradition held that he would fuck her at least four more times before he disappeared until the next new moon in the future. She sat on that hard meat all hot and bothered knowing he was going to be cruel by plucking at her bud and sticking his tongue in her ear all night. She watched him dance with a few women and flirt while she checked on her women out back and collected her money, stuffing it in her bra.

Erik was a little too handsy with a couple of fancy ladies and she had to check him. He'd become contentious then, argued with her until she argued him down threatening to cut his balls off if he cheated on her. If she pushed him, just a little too hard, his neck would move in a hostile way that put her in her place and made her drip down her thighs. He liked her mouthy and jealous, but not too jealous if he caught her rubbing her ass against some other patron to provoke him. He'd spank her hard and tell her about herself until she stopped being bratty and soothed his ego. That was his way every time he came to the juke. Arrogant. Loud. Threatening other men who got too close to her, then all seductive when he needed her loving once more.

When no one was looking, Erik unzipped his pants, pulled out his dick and slid her on top of it raw at their private table. Her dress covered the action, and he lifted her up and down.

"You bet not cum," he ordered with harsh breath.

"I won't, I promise," she insisted with clenched teeth.

She was snug on his dick, and the friction was too much to bear. She clutched onto his knees and leaned forward, dropping her weight on his thighs. The rhythm was perfect until a slender man as tall as a Tupelo crept over to their table and sat down. He didn't seem concerned that he was witnessing a woman getting fucked within an inch of her life in the midst of her own rowdy and lascivious establishment.

The man's face was long, and he had long teeth... and long fingers... and long legs... and a long tongue that lolled around in his mouth. He had skin the color of a soft sunset and one big eye in the center of his face. The music and dancing slowed all around her, and all she could see and hear was the long man with his long deep breaths.

"Lulabelle... Lulabelle..." the slender man said, and the voice that spoke her namesake was not pleasant and inviting like Erik's. It was sinister. Conniving. Filthy to her ears.

Erik thrust up into her walls, and she gasped. The slender man smiled with his long teeth, and his one big black eye blinked and Lulabelle fell forward and down into a vortex of hideous darkness until she landed on soft grass in front of the crossroads that led into the dark woods near her juke joint.

"Lulabelle, hurry up! If we don't go now, we'll chicken out!"

Elizabeth ran ahead of her. Dear sweet Elizabeth, eighteen and glowing with a gorgeous figure and good hair, and the good sense to know that Itta Bena was to be left behind. They were going to New York to become showgirls in Harlem, leaving all that country backwoods shit living behind. No sharecropping or cleaning after white folks for them. They were young. Beautiful. Full of life and ready to see the world. That meant crossing through the woods at the old dusty crossroad just as the sun was setting. The last train outta town was due in an hour. Going through the woods was the fastest route to a new life.

But then the slender man came. The Plat Eye. The Haint that haunted the trees and lingered in the darkness deep inside the woods.

Lulabelle, full of eighteen-year-old spunk, dropped her heavy suitcase and pulled Elizabeth back with a hard tug on her arm.

"Dontcha see him, girl?" Lulabelle shouted.

"Oh, he's just another traveler headed outta here too, pick up your suitcase-"

"It's the Plat Eye. You don't see its face. The one eye? The long teeth?"

"You so silly girl! Look at him... just a man tryna run like us."

"No!"

Elizabeth dropped her suitcase and stood with arms all akimbo.

"If you don't wanna go, then say that, Lulabelle."

"You don't see that monster right there?!" she shrieked, and it startled Elizabeth.

The Plat Eye smirked.

"Fine, stay here then you big baby. Hey, Mister, wait up!"

"Elizabeth!"

An arm grabbed Lulabelle's elbow stopping her from running after her friend.

"Don't move, gal."

The voice didn't have Mississippi in it. It was low country and slower than cold molasses. South Carolina lived in it.

"She done made her choice and if you move one inch, I can't protect you."

Lulabelle didn't turn to look at the stranger. His words were wise, and she did as she was told.

"Elizabeth! Come back!"

"It's too late, Lulabelle."

"How you know my name?"

"I've seen you 'round here before with your friend."

She tried to turn around, but firm hands held her shoulders in place.

"Don't hurt me, Mister."

"Nah, I wouldn't do nothin' like that."

The Plat Eye grew taller almost reaching the height of the nearest tree.

"She can't see what it is?"

"She see what she wanna see."

The thing that was as tall as a Tupelo bent down and opened its tall mouth and Elizabeth stepped into the dark maw...

Lulabelle gasped and her thighs sensed the strong muscles of Erik's legs holding her up once more. He fucked her still, hitting her walls harder. His hands gripped her breasts as he grunted and rolled her nipples with agile fingers. The slender man of her past smiled, his greasy lips splitting wide as he was long. That single eye a tainted monstrosity to behold on its face.

The juke joint partied on, and men filed out through the side door to pay their money for an extra good time with her girls. The Plat Eye reached out for Lulabelle's arm and Erik slammed his switchblade down on the table.

"Nah, haint. This one here belongs to me."

The Plat Eye blinked that Cyclops eye in shock and its mouth fell open.

"Should've known you'd be around here," The Plat Eye grumbled sitting back in his chair.

A clammy wetness dampened Lulabelle's neck. Memory boomeranged back into her chest. The low country voice. The strong hands that held her waist so that he could rut into her pussy.

Lulabelle turned her head and the glint from Erik's gold teeth became a glowing source of ethereal light. The full lips and bright white teeth still looked human but the reverb of hidden power sat under the guttural rasp of his voice.

The man from the Crossroads.

The one who stopped her from entering the throat of the Plat Eye and turning into a floating haint that lived in the ceiling like Elizabeth.

The Geechee Man.

"Ya don't play fair," The Plat Eye grumbled again.

"And?" Erik said.

Erik's firm hands skated up her sides and rested on her shoulders. Lulabelle's pussy squelched on his dick all rude and loud. Plat Eye licked his fleshy lips.

"This here the one I wanted. Not that other one—"

Lulabelle snatched up Erik's switchblade and jumped up from his lap. Her pussy throbbed from being removed from his erection. She held the open switchblade against his throat. Why couldn't anyone else in her juke joint see or hear what was happening?

She knew the stories. All kinds of frightening things could be met at a crossroads. And if the Crossroads Man himself showed up—

"Put that down, Lula. It's not a toy to be played with," Erik said zipping up his pants.

The Plat Eye leaned forward and shot his arm out to grab her, but Erik was quicker. He snatched the switchblade back faster from her grip than she could blink, and he slashed the creature's arm. Black festering ooze seeped from the wound and sizzled as it splashed on the table burning holes through the wood.

"Give her to me," the Plat Eye demanded.

Erik stood up and straightened his tie.

"Nigga you ain't getting shit but an ass kicking if you keep playing with me. I told you already. This one is mine. Get on about yourself before I send you on your way to a very bad place."

"There are rules!"

The Plat Eye leapt to his feet and towered over Erik. Not by much though.

"I make the rules," Erik said.

An arrogant chuckle tumbled out of the Plat Eye's mouth. He gripped the lapels of his suit and blinked that one beastly eye. His open wound continued to drip ruining her good table.

"My man," The Plat Eye said and held up his long fingers to placate Erik.

The creature slid out from the juke joint with no one the wiser. Erik turned to face her and Lulabelle jumped away from him.

"Stay back!"

"Lula... c'mon, baby. I've been coming to you ever since you opened this place. Have I ever harmed you once?"

"No."

"I just give you good lovin' when I can."

"That's why you can't be with me all the time?"

He nodded.

"I guard the way, and I open it up. Everywhere."

Lulabelle ran to the bar and made Eva pour her the biggest glass of moonshine possible. She gulped it down. Erik sauntered over to her.

"Don't be scared of me, Lula."

"What are you... really?"

"Your man."

"You ain't no man."

"I'm no demon if that's what you're worried about."

"God forbid if I'd been fucking the devil."

"I'm no devil, girl. Far from it."

He stroked her face.

"Let's go to the back. I need you... right now."

His voice made her insides tingle. This was their time. But how could she go back and make love to... to a what? Spirit? Guardian angel? Supernatural being?

He never did hurt her. And never once did she suspect that he wasn't anything other than a switchblade carrying Geechie that made her backbone slip.

"Are there others?" she asked, "Others like you around here?"

"Always. But you don't have to worry about nothin'. You got me. No one fucks with me.'

"How come you didn't save Elizabeth?"

"She didn't want to be saved."

"But I loved her. She was my best friend. Why would she leave me?"

"She's still here. She'll never leave until you chase her on."

"Is she happy?"

"Like I told you, she loves you. If you're happy, she's happy."

"God won't punish me for being with you, will he?"

"She won't. I promise."

"What about me selling pussy and a little dick?"

"Not even on her mind."

Lulabelle smiled.

Erik slinked over to her and rubbed his big body against hers and nudged his bearded face against her soft cheek.

"How many women have you seduced over the years?"

"You my favorite."

"That didn't answer my question.," she said putting a hand on her hip.

"You wanna argue or get some more dick, gal?"

Lulabelle checked the room. Her patrons were happy and not having a care in the world. Eva cooked more food, Honey Boy kept the girls refreshed in their loving rooms, and the Harvest moon spilled in through the window behind the juke band.

Moonlight bathed Erik's face and he slid his hand under her dress again.

"Daddy needs to take care of you... oh see now, my sweet jewel is all plump again."

He removed his hand and licked his fingers sticky with her essence. She rubbed on his crotch and he gifted her with a hard bulge. His eyes drifted up to the ceiling.

"Elizabeth wants you to get all this," he said grinding against her.

"Can you tell her that I miss her? That I love her?"

"She already knows."

Erik lifted her up and carried her across the rickety bridge and back to the soft lumpy bed.

That's their story, and I ain't tellin' it twice. Lula and her Geechee Man played nice for a long, long time. I keep watch and makes sure that stays true. Until we meet again on the next new moon...

Part 2 "There's Some Whores in This House" HERE.

A.N:

This was a birthday story I wrote for @soufcakmistress back in 2021.

[lovelydwyn]

I was a miserable musician myself, but I knew how to use music in my own way. Over the years I’d inspired some epic kisses by occupying a barstool alone in a dark, inconspicuous corner and taking over a juke box. I never minded being out all by myself. I loved observing their bodies react to my selection, people jump to their feet to dance, eyes widen and shoot directly to a lover or friend, a full table start to sing along together, or just a solo, grumpy old man start tapping his feet on the rung. In the right crowd I could completely transform a room without anyone even knowing I was there.. except maybe the bartender. Old Fashioned, please. It was magic to me.

[legolasghosty]

writing prompt of Juke as Enemies to Lovers + "you can throw how many darts at it as you want, but you still put her picture on your wall"

Anon, I am so so so sorry for how long this has taken! I swear my brain just hasn't been working for creative stuff and I'm sorry but here it finally is, I hope you find it!

-----

"I hate her," Luke growls as he enters the studio, slamming the door behind him.

"No you don't," Alex sighs from his corner of the couch, hunched over a history book.

Luke just shoots a glare at him. Alex rolls his eyes and grabs a pencil to start filling out the questions on his worksheet. Luke turns to Bobby, who is taking up the rest of the couch with his unfairly long legs.

"Don't look at me, dude," Bobby sighs, giving him a flat stare. "I'm with Alex on this one."

Alex reaches out and offers Bobby a fist bump without looking up. The two bump knuckles and Luke fumes.

"Do you guys even listen to me?" he exclaims. "Julie Molina is literally the bane of my existence."

At that, Reggie just starts laughing from his spot on the coffee table. "Really, Luke?" he teases. "Julie?"

Alex chuckles as well. "Yeah, not like, I don't know, biology or your curfew or the flu or something?"

"She's literally the worst person I have ever worked with!" Luke cries, fed up with the distinct lack of sympathy from his no longer best friends.

"You printed out her picture in the school yearbook to pin up on your wall," Bobby points out.

"For literal target practice!" Luke nearly yells. "And it's working, I've gotten pretty good at nailing that gap between her front teeth. And her eyes. And all the little colored things in her hair." When his bandmates don't say anything, Luke barrels on. "She won't say two words to me that aren't directly connected to this stupid assignment, she won't meet up anywhere other than school to work on it, and she glares at me for 'humming too loud', even though I know she's an amazing musician!"

Luke has hated Julie Molina for the better part of a year now, and it's easy for him to trace it back to its beginning. She'd performed in a spring recital at the school last year. She'd blown Luke's socks off with her incredible voice. It shook him down to his bones and he couldn't wait to find her afterwards and tell her how amazing it had been. He hadn't been able to find her, but hadn't worried much. They went to the same school after all.

But when he'd finally run into her a few weeks later near the bathrooms, she'd practically bitten his head off the second he called her a musician. And from that day on, Luke hated her. Because he can take people being rude to him, but turning on music?! Only a monster would do that. And in their interactions since then, she's only proven his point. She's a jerk.

"You can throw all the darts you want, but you still put her picture on your wall," Alex groans. "Have you tried actually having a civil conversation with her? Without talking about music?"

"What else would there be to talk about?" Luke demanded, kicking at the leg of the coffee table in pure frustration.

"Movies?" Reggie suggests.

"School?" Bobby adds.

"Literally any other interesting thing about life?" Alex finishes.

Luke lets out an angry huff and spins on his heel, heading for the bathroom. As soon as it slams shut behind him, Bobby lets his palm connect with his face.

"This is pointless," Reggie sighs. "Just got a text from Jules too, stating that Luke is a selfish moron."

Alex pulls out his phone. "I'm texting Flynn. If they aren't going to have a conversation themselves, then I swear I'm going to lock them in a closet until they do."

"I mean they're both already out," Bobby jokes, but he nods. "But yeah, I'm very sick of the headaches induced by them not realizing they're in love with each other."

"Ditto," Reggie says.

[thedeathdeelers]

idk i feel like we’ve already talked about this (we did!! it’s here!! by the lovely @mac-lilly) but a sweet home alabama-ish juke au. yknow. childhood friends to lovers to strangers to enemies to lovers again

mostly for this scene:

“nice dress,” he shouts over the rain and the sound of waves crashing against the shore. “where’s your husband?” he barely throws a glance at her, his eyes quickly averting back to his task at hand — burying the rods deeper i to the sand.

julie is drenched from head to toe, her wedding dress ruined, her hair a nightmare — her make up is probably leaking all over her face, and her feet are aching. but as she gets ready to give him her answer, she can’t help but smile — a genuine one.

“i’m looking at him,” she says simply.

luke stops moving, his back to her as his arms hang on either side of the metal rod he was now gripping with a little more force than necessary.

for a moment neither of them say anything, with only the sound of nature roaring around them.

it represented them well — the pouring rain, the crashing waves; the thunderous clouds and blinding lightning: it was a lot, all-encompassing and overwhelming.

their love was a force of nature, and they both knew it.

luke slowly turns around, hands dropping to his sides.

“what are you talking about?” his eyes scan the darkened area behind her, trying to spot the blond head he knows will inevitably pop up. “where’s nick?” he finally asks when he fails to see him.

“he’s not here, luke,” she says, taking a step towards him. luke’s eyes are back on her, as he watches her warily. what was she up to? torturing him until the last minute?

“he left for new york an hour ago.”

just hearing the name of the city that had become julie’s new home reminds luke why he had tried so hard to guard his heart.

he nods brusquely at julie, walking past her as he shouts over his shoulder.

“you should hurry and catch up to him — wouldn’t want to miss your wedding night.” he grimaces as the words leave his mouth, instantly regretting it.

he sounded petty. and he also definitely didn’t want to picture julie on her wedding night with someone…..that wasn’t him.

luke stops to pick up his equipment off the ground, shaking his head as he digs around in the sand to make sure he doesn’t leave anything behind.

“i’m not joining him.”

luke stops moving, his fingers freezing mid-search as her words slowly sink in.

she couldn’t-

she didn’t-

“we didn’t get married, luke.”

her words hit him like a bag of bricks, dropping everything he had picked up as he slowly straightens up, his back still to her.

he takes in a deep breath- and another, eyes closed and fists clenched as he tries to squash down the hope that stubbornly started rising up in his chest.

“why not?”

“apparently,” she starts, her voice slowly getting closer. “…we’re still married.”

luke’s eyes snap open at her statement, swirling around to find her standing only a few feet away.

“still married? but i signed the papers, just like you asked me to.”

“yeah well turns out…i kinda forgot to.” she shrugs, shoulders moving up and down as a small smile makes its way on her face.

“forgot?” he asks incredulously. “forgot?”

luke groans as he rakes his fingers through his hair, letting out a humourless laugh.

“julie,” he says, eyes on hers. “what do you want?”

“you,” she answers simply. “you were my first kiss,” she continues, taking a step closer. “and i want you to be the last.”

that throws him off for a second, recalling a time when they were kids and julie had told him the exact same thing.

they were older now- things were different…right?

luke just shakes his head to clear it, and asks again.

“no i mean- what do you want to be married to me for anyway? wasn’t nick what you were always looking for?”

julie shakes her head as her smile turns blinding, taking a step towards him, and then another, until she was crowding him, standing in his space.

“so i can kiss you whenever i want.”

she grabs his drench collar, and pulls, until he was only inches away.

“and no luke, it was always you.”

[sunjaesol]

I've been dropping so many juke au ideas onto @thedeathdeelers like it's a sport, so i'll be sharing them here as well so that someone can get inspired and write something themselves! i wanna read these!! please!!

sunset curve kpop idol high school au

dead sunset curve kpop idol where julie resurrects them as ghosts and they have to uncover the mystery of their murder au

nick and luke are best friends and luke is helping julie get nick even though he's in love with her au

luke and julie are songwriters at a music label that fake-date because another woman in luke's life doesn't get the hint he's not into her

when soulmates touch they emit a soft glow regency au

when soulmates touch they emit a soft glow canon compliant

enemies to lovers, princess julie and hunter luke au where they go on a quest for a magical artifact that can bring people back from the dead au

bridgerton season two juke au

luke hits julie's head with a soccer ball on the beach and that's their meet-cute au

baseball player luke x normal girl julie where it's angsty because he has to choose between a booming career and the girl he loves au

rosaline 2022 juke au

[juke-fic-recs]

Darkness Would Turn to Light by @pearlcaddy

Teen And Up | One-Shot | 4.1k | Complete

Select Tags: Living!Phantoms AU, Alternate Universe - Famous, Touring, Friends With Benefits To Lovers, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Aged-Up Characters, Long Distance, Family Illness

Nearing the end of an exhausting year on her solo tour, Julie is on the verge of a breakdown. Luke tries something desperate to help.

Anonymous says: One of my favourite fics I've ever read. Emotional, sweet, raw, perfect Juke. Made me cry in the best way.

[pearlcaddy]

WIP Word Finding Game

Thanks for the tag, @fandomscraziness22!

The words: shiver, heart, sorry, help, frame

Shiver (from the Locklyle Buffy AU)

His gentle fingers pluck her fringe out of the forehead cut, the delicate touch sending a shiver over her skin. Not a pained shiver, even though it does sting. A giddy shiver, the kind that makes her want to lean into him and stay for a bit.

Heart (from the Locklyle Buffy AU)

Her heart skips, a fuzzy warmth flooding her chest like— No. Absolutely not. That’s not how she feels about him.

Sorry (from the Locklyle Buffy AU)

In some logical part of her buried deep within, she knows that he’s as infuriated by the Council as she is, and almost as powerless. But right now she wants to scream. How dare he feel sorry for her and do fuck all to help her?

Help (from the Locklyle Buffy AU)

"There are billions of people in this world who want your help. He isn’t one of them. No boy is worth your life, sweetheart. Not ever."

Frame (from a Juke childhood friends to lovers to strangers to lovers AU that I completely forgot I started writing on my phone a year ago)

“You know,” she calls out, stopping Luke in his tracks. The late afternoon sun frames him in a glaring golden glow, making the moment feel weightier somehow. As if dramatic lighting is a sign from the universe. “You didn’t actually break up with me. You just moved.”

No pressure tag to @thedeathdeelers @catty-words @tangledstarlight @ghostmaggie and anyone else who wants to do it!

Your words are: voice, taste, deserve, warm, nudge

[mac-lilly]

Arranged marriage Juke AU

Let’s start the week with a juke au: An arranged marriage/enemies-to-reluctant-allies-to-friends-to-lovers au for juke. (Inspired by this whiny post.)

Won't be around for Juke Jeudi this week. So happy Lulie Lundi! (I blame @thedeathdeelers for that term.😛)

☆.。.:・°☆.。.:・°☆.。.:・°☆.。.:・°☆

Setting: ~18th century

The two kingdoms of Los Feliz and Hollywood have been at war for decades, and recently, Queen Rose's life fell victim to the armed conflict.

To end the war, King Caleb makes a shady proposition: A marriage should tie a bond between the kingdoms.

King Ray strictly opposes the idea, of course. But to his utter horror, his daughter, Princess Julie, accepts. After her mother's death, she's become a ghost of her former self. Since her mother's death, she's barely smiled and has banned music from her life. If this deal spares the lives of the innocent, she's happy to sacrifice herself by marrying the Prince of the enemy kingdom.

But since Caleb does not have an heir, he picks one of his minions to fill the role. For whatever reason, he chooses his most rebellious soldier.

At the age of 15, Luke runs away from home to pursue his dream of becoming a musician. As King Caleb has a reputation for valuing and supporting music, he travels to the capital.

Surprise ... It's a trap to lure in young people.

Upon his arrival, he's immediately drafted into Caleb's army.

Over the next three years, he attempts to desert multiple times. But he gets caught every time. And when he gets summoned to the king after his latest failed attempt, Luke's convinced that this time his punishment will be much more severe.

It is ... kinda. Luke isn't thrilled to become a pawn in Caleb's plan but ultimately has no choice. Either he plays along and marries the Princess, or his friend Bobby will be hanged in his stead.

So, the wedding happens. And it's an awkward and strange wedding with the atmosphere of a funeral. Nobody is very happy to be there – except for Caleb, who is sickeningly cheerful for the entire ceremony.

Afterward, both kings announce a truce, and to celebrate the fragile peace, the newlywed "couple" gets to tour through both kingdoms.

Which is even more awkward than the wedding because Julie and Luke can't stand each other. Even after volunteering, Julie still despises Caleb and his actions and believes Luke must be as bad as his king. Plus, his constant guitar playing and singing irritate her because it stirs up painful memories. (After her mom's death, she's banned music from her life.)

Meanwhile, Luke's too worried about his friend to care much about a moody and (presumably) snobbish princess.

However, despite their mutual dislike for each other, in public, they delinquently play their roles.

Until they get attacked.

Soldiers set an inn they were staying at on fire. However, Julie and Luke manage to escape the death trap and flee.

They argue about whose country is to blame. (Although Luke already has a sinking feeling regarding the identity of the real mastermind. But keeps his mouth shut.)

The duo proposes a temporary truce as they try to figure out what to do next. After all, the assassins are probably still after them.

The usual road trip stuff happens from here on.

As they travel aimlessly around the country, they get to know each other and eventually build trust. Julie confesses that she hates hearing him play because she associates music with her mother's death, and it hurts. To her surprise, he respects her feelings and doesn't play when she's in earshot.

Luke, in return, tells her bits of his story – that he left home to become a musician but then accidentally joined the military. He omits the real reason why he agreed to the deal, though.

As time passes, their alliance slowly morphs into a friendship which then evolves into a much more complicated and deeper bond.

Julie's fascinated by his personality. His charisma and charm, his passion for music, his untamable energy -- it's highly infectious, and suddenly she finds her heart filled with so much life and joy again. His support gives her the strength to enjoy music and eventually sing again.

And Luke's awe-struck by her voice. And her beauty. And her intelligence. And her bravery. And her kindness.

In short, he is totally SMITTEN with her.

Especially after she helps him write down his songs since he never got much education and his reading and writing skills are rudimentary. 

And at least once, they pretend that Julie's pregnant to hitch a ride to the next village.

While they travel, they make plenty of new friends who tag along: A runaway lord, a wannabe trickster, a badass huntress, and an ex-soldier.

They escape death a few more times, btw.

And every time, they celebrate their success.

And it's during one of these celebratory gatherings (and maybe they are a bit tipsy when it happens) that Julie and Luke share their first (real) kiss under a starry night sky.

And then they never talk about it …

There's also some betrayal happening because Willie and Bobby need a plot too. (Willie is a spy; Bobby is brainwashed, and Carrie leads a group of female bandits.)

Anyway, they eventually come across a small fishing town, which happens to be Luke's hometown.

Julie visits his parents for him and later assures him that they are alright, although they do miss him and are worried. Luke promises to return and talk to them one day.

Then they learn that Caleb is using their disappearance to justify another attack on Julie's kingdom.

Julie's mad at Luke, believing he's been in the cahoots with Caleb all the time. So, Luke tells her the truth. He also tells her about his rising suspicion that this has been Caleb's plan from the beginning: Kill Luke and put the blame on Julie. Then execute her for murder to break her father's will.

At first, Julie's furious that he withheld the information from her. But she understands that his intentions were noble. They decide to return to Julie's castle.

There, they get separated, and a very, very angry Ray is about to sentence Luke to death for kidnapping his daughter until Julie intervenes.

They explain the story, and Ray apologizes.

He also announces that the marriage will be annulled once the war is over, which shocks Julie and Luke because they've never talked about their feelings.

They FINALLY confess their love

JUKE KISS

Ray is super-duper proud of his daughter.

The marriage won't be annulled.

In fact, there'll be another wedding because Caleb's presence totally ruined the first one.

MORE JUKE KISSES.

AND FOREHEAD TOUCHES.

AND NOSE RUBS. AND HUGS.

And then, they develop a plan to get rid of Caleb.

(More plot happens here that's not really Juke-relevant)

They defeat Caleb, the war ends, and they all live happily ever after. 

(And maybe they travel the lands after they exchange vows again, and maybe this time they do not have to pretend that Julie's pregnant to hitch a ride.)

The end.

[preoccupied-educator]

Ooh, Juke podcasters AU?

Alright, I went back and forth on this for literal ages, but it is high time I actually post something so, I hope you like it! Happy Juke Jeudi! Also lol RIP me trying to write a summary, failing spectacularly and instead ending up with over 700 words of a relatively solid outline for a fic I'll probably never find time to write 🙃

A kinda-sorta-enemies-to-lovers with a classic misunderstanding and of course a HEA (that isn't really well thought out, but couldn't sit in my drafts any longer!)

Julie Molina doesn't really play music anymore since her mom died, but she does listen to it and talk about it at great length on her very popular podcast she started back in her junior year of college after a very interesting elective on the topic

Now, she's a bit of a celebrity in her own right, as episodes of her show, "The Studio" (where she reviews listener-submitted songs from up-and-coming bands in college towns all across America) reach thousands of listeners every week

Luke Patterson listens to music, talks about music and, of course, plays music in his band, Sunset Curve, with his two best friends Alex Mercer and Reggie Peters (they did have a fourth band member, Bobby Shaw, but that ended rather abruptly when Bobby decided he'd rather have a solo career with Sunset Curve's most popular songs)

Now, Sunset Curve is on the edge of celebrity - a rather stressful recon mission ensured Bobby no longer had access to their music (and no, they won't be telling that story anytime soon) - and they're calling in all of their favours to get a showcase slot at the famed venue, The Orpheum

(click to continue reading my rambling below the cut)

Luke has been working on the booking manager, Caleb, for weeks and he's finally agreed to book them a slot in two week's time...assuming they can sell half of the tickets for the show themselves by the time the doors open the night of the show [Alex has anxiously done the math on that and it works out to about 1300 tickets if Caleb expects them to sell the place out (he immediately had to do his breathing exercises after having that realization)]

Luckily, the two optimists in the band have a plan - submit their best song (along with a little plug about their show) to "The Studio", get a rave review, profit (read: sell a thousand tickets in less than 14 days)

Unbeknownst to the current members of the band, there is a reason why Sunset Curve has never been featured on "The Studio" before, despite being submitted a handful of times by local listeners

Back in freshman year, Julie went on an ill-fated blind date set up by her well-meaning but ultimately misguided roommate, with her cousin, one Bobby Shaw (it wasn't that Bobby wasn't a nice guy, but he talked mostly about his music with his band and when they passed a street piano on the way to the theatre, she accidentally let slip that she used to play music and he was like a dog with a bone and when she refused to show him what she could do, he got a little too bold - she had stormed away soon after, walking the 12 blocks back to campus blinking back tears) - hence her distaste towards the band

Now, Luke is nothing if not determined, so here we insert a chapter or two of him weaselling his way into "accidental" run-ins with Julie (maybe he figures out a mutual connection? - Willie knows Flynn knows Julie) who doesn't realize immediately who he is, but they obviously vibe

Once Julie figures out the connection there is a smidgen of hurt feelings and explanations and apologies, but eventually she is persuaded to feature them on her next episode (and even goes so far as to have the band in the studio to plead their case)

Lo' and behold! They sell the allotted tickets and the show goes off without a hitch - Julie is in attendance, only slightly begrudgingly having been dragged along by Flynn and Willie

She is obviously immediately smitten (more than she already was) by Luke's stage presence and also the way he winks at her during the bridge to Now or Never (listen, she's only human okay??)

Their set wraps up and there are congratulations all around and an invitation for post-show pizza and there are more vibes and some not-so-subtle suggestions from both Flynn and Reggie about chemistry and oozing that Julie and Luke are both trying very hard to ignore while they enjoy their pizza

Luke volunteers to walk Julie home since she lives a couple blocks over (there is jeering and a few not-so-subtle nudges from Reggie, a very serious stare-down along with a threatening "text me as soon as you're home safe" from Flynn)

The walk home is relatively quiet, when they get to her door Luke confesses he hopes he didn't mess this whole thing up by trying to get the band on her show, he'd really like to see her again, etc.. Julie assures him that he didn't..and he can see her again. There is a cute Juke kiss and ta da! The End.

[uzumaki-rebellion]

Just got back from seeing The Color Purple and...

...I'm so disappointed. The music was not hitting the way it should've. Not one banger except for the classics slipped in from the original movie.

Sigh.

I looked to my friend at the end, as we sat in the theater watching the credits roll, and I told her they need to scrap the original Broadway music and re-do it with better, catchier songs.

The cast did fine, no one really stood out to me, and that's fine because the ensemble did what it could with what was given.

I'm even bummed about the cinematography and shot choices that didn't evoke the emotional impact needed to connect with any of the characters. (I can't even tell you how it hurts my heart to type this, but you know I'm gonna tell ya exactly how I feel about stuff from my perspective as a theater kid/cinephile/music lover.

The only sequence that held my interest was the "Push the Button" juke joint scene, but mainly b/c they switch it up half way and it becomes a sexier and more raw dance number. Fatima did her thing choreographing that.

I wanted more from this and it didn't resonate emotionally for me because the music didn't elevate the story. One good note: they attempted to show Celie & Shug being lovers better than the old non-musical version did.

Don't let my opinion stop you from seeing it though. Your experience may be different.

But I did wear purple though...so there's that. So did most of the crowd in my theater. A lot of older people there, 40 and up. No younger people at all it seemed (teens-20's).

[midnightechoes]

A Bridge Chapter 2 of 2

A Bridge is the third part in my post-RWBY volume 5 STR-Crossed Lovers fic series, Kintsugi. It was originally posted on AO3 back in February 2023.

Kintsugi Part 1, A Visit, taking place immediately after v5 and written by me, can be read on AO3 and Tumblr.

Kintsugi Part 2, A Dream, part flashback, part sequel to A Visit, was written by my friend @shera-dnd and can be read on AO3 and Tumblr.

A thick layer of clouds almost completely covered the sky, with just a few specs of blue peeking out here and there. There was a coolness to the air, the kind that signaled that hot summer days were beginning to give way to cool autumn evenings.

The dirt road crunched under the wheels of Tai’s moped as he sped down it at a brisk pace. The mostly orange machine vibrated as it carried its owner through an unremarkable forest, trees whipping by on either side of him. 

Tai was dressed mostly as he always did, but he was currently wearing a bucket helmet that was strapped tightly around his chin, and an old-fashioned pair of racer goggles fastened over his eyes. The other notable difference in attire was a new bandana that was wrapped tightly around his right bicep. It was red and had a black-and-white patterning that made it look just like the bandana Raven had been wearing in her hair.

It had been almost two hours since he had passed the last semblance of civilization, a quiet little rest stop on the side of the road, which meant that he was getting close to his destination. Sure enough, before long he was upon the clearing he had been looking for. Tai slowed down and turned into the clearing, following the faint trail for a few hundred yards as it led into a thicker part of the forest before giving way to another open area. The moped rumbled to a stop less than a hundred yards from a large wall made out of twenty-foot-high tree trunks whose ends had been cut into spikes. In the center of the wall was a wooden gate, currently closed and being guarded by three people.

One was a man with long, scraggly blonde hair and a long, unkempt face. Another was a woman with a gray, leather eye patch and brown hair that appeared to have been thrown up into a ponytail without consideration. And the third was another man, his curled black hair kept short, allowing the two scars running down from cheek to chin to be his most prominent feature. All three were carrying relatively simple weapons and wearing outfits that looked like they were pieced together over time.

Powering the moped down and popping the kickstand, Tai dismounted, a smile on his face as he pulled the helmet and goggles off. “Hey there,” he cheerily called out to the trio, slowly making his way towards the gate.

Within seconds, a bullet was flying past Tai’s head, not grazing only thanks to his semblance, Juke, which allowed him to slide out of the way in time.

“Not another step,” the scraggly blonde man called out with a grizzled voice, his handgun pointed directly at Tai. “That was a warning. Now I suggest you get back on that tiny bike and turn around while you can.”

“Look, pal,” Tai responded, a look of smug confidence on his face as he set down his helmet on the seat of the moped, then continued taking a few steps towards the trio guarding the gate. “This is a misunderstanding, I don’t think you know who I am,” he said with his hands raised as a show of peace.

“And I don’t much care,” the blonde man barked back. He tried rattling his gun at Tai in an attempt to intimidate him, a move that did not seem to be working. “I’m warning you! Take one more step, and you’ll be sorry,” he yelled.

Tai stopped in his tracks at the threat. His expression had devolved from smug to annoyed, his blue eyes squinting at the man. He thought about the warning for a second, then exhaled a deep breath out through his nose, and took another step forward.

“Get him!” the scraggly blonde man yelled as he tried to steady his aim at Tai. The other two guards sprung into action as well: the woman charged forward with a basic axe, the kind usually used for chopping wood, while the other man took a few steps back and drew up his simple hunting rifle. All three were scowling, and all three were utterly unprepared for what was about to happen.

In the blink of an eye, Tai activated his Juke semblance, allowing him to move laterally at such a speed that he seemed to leave a trail of afterimages of himself. He zig-zagged forward, crossing the distance to the guards in barely a second. When he came to a stop, he was directly in front of the woman, slamming her with a punch to the gut before she even had time to react, sending her stumbling backward. He juked again, crashing his elbow right into the man with the rifle, getting him off-balance enough for Tai to flip him over his shoulder.

Taking out the man with the rifle had put Tai behind the scraggly blonde man, who had been struggling to keep track of the intruder.

It was about this time that a “kraa-kraa” could be heard echoing softly in the clearing as a blackbird passed overhead.

The blonde man was able to get focus on Tai long enough to fire off a shot at him, one that Tai easily juked out of the way of. Suddenly the huntsman was inches in front of the man. A quick strike to the elbow followed by a chop to the wrist sent the blonde man’s gun flying. Tai elbowed him in the chest, creating just enough room to wind up and slug the blonde man so hard in the face that he pirouetted in place before falling to the ground.

“That’s enough, Tai,” a voice called out. Tai looked up to see Raven standing just in front of the gate, her arms folded and an amused grin on her face. She was still wearing the same orange tank top and black pants with gold seams that she had during karaoke, but now she was missing the red bandana she had often worn in her hair.

“Look, he started it,” Tai chuckled before relaxing his posture and taking a step back from the fallen guards.

Raven strolled up to the scraggly blonde man, towering over him as he lay on his back. “That’s not surprising, this one here loves to start problems he doesn’t know how to get out of.” Raven let out a laugh and shook her head at the man on the ground. “Honestly Shay, is it your mission to get your ass kicked by my entire family?”

“Sorry, ma’am,” Shay weakly groaned.

A hand appeared in Shay’s field of vision. He latched onto it, allowing Tai to hoist him to his feet. “Hey, Shay was it? No hard feelings.”

Shay grunted. “You’re just lucky that the boss lady got here when she did.”

The statement made both Tai and Raven burst out laughing. “Sure I am!” Tai chuckled.

“Alright, enough fun,” Raven commanded as she recomposed herself. She turned to the two other guards that had just regrouped from their beating. “If you would open the gates so my ex-husband can wheel his little bicycle inside.”

“Um, it’s a moped, we already went over this!” Tai huffed.

Raven turned to Tai for just a second before walking into the camp. “Yes, because that sounds so much more impressive.”

Tai grumbled under his breath as he collected his helmet and walked back to his moped. As he wheeled the bike forward by hand, pushing it forward by the handlebars, he caught Shay snickering under his breath.

“Got something to say, pal?” Tai flatly asked. Immediately Shay straightened up and went quiet. “Good man,” Tai added as he strode past.

The Branwen Tribe camp was bustling with people going about the business of breaking it down. Most everything was being packed into the back of six beat-up old pickup trucks that had all seen better days and were in desperate need of paint jobs. There were a couple more trucks and vans designated for passenger transport parked off to the side of the camp. Tai quickly wheeled his moped over to them and parked it.

“Starting to wonder how helpful I’m going to be,” Tai mused as he made his way back to Raven, who had been waiting for him in the center of the camp. They continued on slowly through the mostly barren camp towards her tent, one of the few standing structures left.

“You insisted on coming,” Raven chuckled. “Your help is appreciated, Tai. We’re behind schedule, every extra hand will be helpful,” Raven added, her tone becoming more somber.

“Behind schedule?” Tai gasped. “Looks like everyone’s working their hardest, Rae.”

Raven came to a stop and turned to the man next to her. “It’s been a week, we should already be on the road. But, it took a few days to procure all the vehicles we need, plus I haven’t been here the last few, and… we did lose a day mourning our fallen.”

“Right,” Tai nodded. “That girl that Cinder killed… V… Virginia?”

“Vernal,” Raven flatly corrected. “Her name was Vernal,” She added, never breaking stride as they marched towards her tent.  

Once they reached their destination, they both stood there for a moment, taking it in. It was the same tent that the Branwen Tribe leader before Raven had used, as well as the leader before them. Like many things in the tribe, Raven’s tent was something that had been used and reused and passed down for generations, and at the moment, the old canvas fabric that draped down to make its walls was the only thing separating Tai from the last part of Raven that she had left to share: her history, and all the messy, ugly parts of it that she had hoped she’d never have to tell Summer and Tai about.

Raven took a deep breath.

“Sure is modest and welcoming,” Tai blurted out, making sure that every letter was dripping with sarcasm. Raven let out a chuckle despite herself. She looked over to the man next to her that was smiling brightly.

“Come on, it’s not going to break itself down,” Raven said, leading Tai through the opening of the tent.

Tai took a look around once they were inside, and let out a little hum. “I’m glad we didn’t let you furnish our bedroom.”

“Oh please,” Raven scoffed. She walked over to the large chest in the corner and cracked it open. “Summer would have loved this.”

“That she would have,” Tai agreed as he made his way to Raven.

“Here,” Raven began, pulling out a few sheets of heavy cloth and shoving them into Tai’s hands. “See the tea set over by my bed? Wrap it up before we pack it.” Tai nodded at the command. While he was occupied with that, Raven began taking down and rolling up the various maps and notes that had been pinned up to the back of her tent. In the middle of it, she stopped, taking a moment to look at one of the notes. It was a report of the security measures of one of the villages that weren’t too far from the camp. Raven let out a sigh. There was a familiar tug-of-war in her heart. One that she had felt long ago until fear and panic let one side win, leading her to make a choice that she’d done everything in her power to never question.

That was until Yang showed up at her door. It had taken all of Raven’s fortitude to keep up her guard in front of her daughter. Something made harder by the realization that Yang wasn’t even there for her. Raven was nothing more than a means to an end.

It hadn’t actually hit Raven until that moment that her family had completely, and successfully, excised her from their life. She should have been happy about that, after all, it was what she had claimed she had always wanted: no attachments to that world, the side that had lost the tug-of-war. But there was Yang, staring at her like a stranger with nothing but demands on her tongue and contempt in her eyes.

Raven had gotten what she wanted.

And it had been killing her ever since.

Until finally, after defeating Cinder, after confronting Yang, and returning to the tribe to mourn Vernal’s death for a day, her heart led her back to a dusty cabin in the woods of Patch, to the one member of her family that didn’t currently, and rightfully, hate her…

… To the man that apparently just dropped one of her teacups.

A crash rang out in the tent, pulling Raven out of her stupor. Wet eyes sought out the source of the crash, and quickly found Tai kneeling over a small pile of ceramic pieces.

“I’m so sorry, Raven! I was trying to be careful, I swear, I—” Tai was blurting out, trying to collect the pieces up into one of the cloth towels he had been using, until a gentle hand touched down on his shoulder, stopping his sentence.

When Tai looked up, Raven was kneeling just next to him, her hand on his shoulder, a soft, sad smile on her face. “It’s fine, Tai,” she assured him. Her free hand reached down and picked up one of the bigger pieces. She turned it over and over between her fingers, seemingly studying as her attention was drawn to the jagged dark-blue piece of ceramic that had one flower painted on it. After turning it over a few more times, she shifted her attention back to Tai, her smile brightening as she took in his sad puppy dog expression.

“This can be fixed,” Raven murmured to him.

The assurance seemed to ease something in Taiyang, whose expression softened. He took the piece from Raven and put it with the rest on the cloth before returning his focus to her, a warm grin forming on his face. “Yeah, it can.”

From there, it didn’t take long for the duo to finish breaking down Raven’s tent. Within an hour, it was empty, with everything that had been in the tent packed away in a large chest, and after two hours, what had been Raven’s tent was now nothing more than a large, open wooden platform. While Tai was loading the chest onto one of the trucks, Raven remained on the platform, taking in the progress of the camp breakdown.

Besides the built-up walls enclosing the camp, one would hardly know that an entire tribe of people had called this place home for the last few years. In fact, there was only one tent left. The tent was one of the larger ones and sat less than a hundred feet away from Raven’s. She couldn’t take her eyes off it.

“Hey, everything okay?” Tai’s concerned voice called out from just behind Raven, making the woman jump.

“Gods, Tai! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” Raven huffed, twisting around to slap him in the arm.

“Right, because we all know of my exceptional stealth skills,” Tai chortled. “Your head was somewhere else, Rae. What’s up?”

It was almost disconcerting how quickly the two had become able to understand each other again. In many ways, the eighteen-year gap remained this raw, overwhelming presence hovering over them, but in some ways, they had picked up right from where they left off. Raven still wasn’t sure how she felt about letting someone that could so thoroughly read her back into her life, but she had to accept that some part of her had craved this, had always longed to get this back.

Plus, Tai was already there, his dopey, sincere, concerned half-smile on his face as he stood in the middle of her bandit camp. She had passed the last exit to turn back days ago.

Raven turned back to the tent she had been staring at. “I have to break down the last tent,” she muttered, dread dripping from her voice.

“Huh? I thought you said that it was everyone’s responsibility to break down their own…” Tai’s sentence trailed off as the reality of the situation set in. “Oh.”

A heavy arm found itself slung around Raven’s back, pulling her into a side hug. “Hey,” Tai cooed, “you don’t have to do it yourself. I’m right here.”

They gave each other a nod. Then, after Raven took a deep breath, they slowly made their way over to the last tent. Raven stopped briefly at the entrance, taking a second to compose herself.

Even with all the mental preparation, the flaps to the tent felt heavy, as if the fabric was made of steel rather than thick canvas. Once inside, Raven immediately reached for the lamp that was sitting on the crate just a couple of feet inside the door, near the center of the tent, and lit it using her maiden powers.

Tai entered just after and found Raven standing next to the lamp, slowly surveying the space around them, her shoulders slumping more and more as she did. He made his way towards her, clearing his throat loudly this time before speaking. “Rae?”

There wasn’t an immediate answer. Instead, Raven simply continued staring down at the items scattered around the room, a sneer growing on her face as she did.

“She should be here. She should be doing this. She…” Raven’s words trailed, leaving them there, standing in silence.

“Vernal was special to you,” Tai whispered, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze.

Raven set her gaze on a neatly stacked pile of clothes that was sitting on the bed. “Vernal trusted me, and she was a fool to do so,” she spat out, her body shaking slightly.

“Rae…”

The soft call of her name made Raven snap her focus to Tai, but there was no anger on her face. Instead, there was a look of anguish, her lips quivering, her eyes half-lidded as tears were forming in the corner of her eyes. “She trusted me, and it got her killed. I was supposed to protect her, but I couldn’t, I let her die because I was a coward. If I… If I was braver she would still be alive. And I… I can’t help thinking that leaving was the best thing that I ever could have done for Yang.”

By the time the first sob escaped Raven, Tai was already pulling her into a hug. He held her tight, his hand gently stroking her back while she broke down in his arms.

It was a few minutes before Raven settled down. Eventually, she got control of herself, and simply leaned into the embrace, resting her entire weight against him.

“I think you’re blaming the wrong person, by the way,” Tai mused. The statement made Raven shift around in his arms so that she could glare up at him with a perplexed look on her face. “You didn’t kill Vernal, Rae, that Cinder chick did. Same person that terrorized our girls when they were at Beacon. She’s the reason Vernal’s dead. And Salem’s the reason Cinder did any of those things, not you. They took Vernal from you, they took our wife from us.” Tai released Raven from the hug and took a step back, his hands still firmly grasping her shoulders so that he could look her dead in the eyes when he said “And someday, they’re going to be the ones who pay for what happened to the people we care about, not you.”

A slight, sly smile came over Raven. “So, focus on revenge instead of guilt.”

“Err,” Tai stammered as one arm fell to his side while the other reached up to scratch the side of his neck. “That’s not exactly the point I was trying to get at.”

“I know,” Raven said, letting out a bellowing laugh before patting Tai on the cheek. “I just love watching you squirm, Xiao Long.” Tai joined in the laughter as it cut through the mood of the tent. After it died down, Raven turned back to the bed where Vernal’s clothes were still laid out. “Come on, we have to get this done… I’m not going to leave her behind.” Tai walked up to her and nodded as the two of them began breaking down Vernal’s tent.

---

At daybreak the following morning, the Branwen tribe’s motor caravan pulled out of the little patch of land, and began their journey south, away from the capital of Mistral, and into the vast wilderness of the continent of Anima. Tai’s moped rumbled along at the front, along with a handful of other motorcycles that were leading away. Raven scouted ahead, her bird form allowing her to get a clear view of potential perils and dangers.

The first two days went smoothly, making good time through the rugged terrain, and avoiding any conflict. The third day presented a bit more of a challenge, being forced to confront an unavoidable pack of Grimm. Raven, Tai, and a handful of the tribe’s strongest fighters were able to deal with them, allowing the caravan to pass through with only a few scratches.

That’s how it was for the rest of the week, a good day here, a challenge to avoid trouble there. Luckily there was only one dust-up with local law enforcement. Tai didn’t feel great about it, but he knew what he had gotten himself into, and agreed to it when he insisted on accompanying Raven on this journey. Even still, he did all he could to get the tribe out of the situation with no one getting hurt. But when push came to shove, Tai stuck with the tribe, something Raven appreciated, even if she hadn’t found a way to voice such sentiment. For her part, Raven made sure that the tribe focused on evasion and avoiding conflict instead of violence.

Overall, they were making good time, all things considered. During that week, Tai managed to bond with the tribe. At first, it was slow, mostly finding common ground in everyone’s mutual love to complain about Qrow, but over the days he worked at forming friendships with his fellow travelers. As he did, he began to gain a new perspective on Raven, because to these people she wasn’t a teammate, or friend, or spouse, she was their rock. A guiding light that they all looked to with reverence and respect. For so long Tai had only known what Raven had run from, and how much it hurt to lose her, but his time with the tribe gave him a chance to get to know what she had run towards, and why. In many ways, they were as much her family as he, or Yang, or Summer had ever been.

Finally, Tai saw Raven for what she really was: a woman torn in two, pulled in opposite directions for most of her life. For so long Tai had barely dared to dream what Raven coming back into his life might look like, but in those times that he did, he had always envisioned pulling her away from her life as a bandit. And truth be told, a part of him still wanted to help her get away from a life of crime, but his time with the tribe made him realize that he’d have to give a little too, that if he really wanted this to work this time, if he wanted them to work this time, it couldn’t be an either-or choice. Accepting Raven Branwen meant accepting everything about her, from being a fiercely loyal teammate to being a bandit leader.

This was the thought that Tai found himself dwelling on as they sat around a campfire in the middle of the woods on the evening of the ninth day. It had been a quiet day, and everyone was finishing up the stew that had been made for the night. Raven had been busy while everyone else ate, securing the perimeter, and making sure that everyone was aware of their guard duty rotations for the night. Finally, after just about everyone was finished and most people were turning in to get some rest, Raven sat to have a bowl of stew just next to Tai.

She got a few spoonfuls in before stopping and turning to face him, a look of mild annoyance on her face.

“Is there something you wanted to say to me, Tai?” she huffed.

For his part, Tai’s expression immediately softened, a warm smile growing on his face. “Um, no, why?”

Raven let out a sigh. “It’s just, you’ve been watching me since you sat down.”

The statement made Tai blush slightly, which, luckily for him, was mostly washed out by the orange glow of the fire. “Have I? Sorry! It wasn’t anything bad! It’s just… I don’t know, I guess I’m a little in awe of how you can command the tribe so effortlessly.”

Now it was Raven’s turn to blush. She quickly looked back down at her stew, the warmth of it seeping into her lap. “Oh.” She had another scoop of stew to buy her a few extra seconds to think of how to follow up on that. By the time she had gulped it down, a warm thought had settled in. Raven let her eyes become lidded as they drifted to the fire, a half-smile forming on her face. “Let’s be honest, everything I know about being a leader Summer taught me.”

Tai scooted closer to her so that he could rest his hand on her knee. “She’d be proud of you,” he murmured. In response, Raven leaned over, resting her head on his shoulder.

“Think so?”

“Yeah,” Tai responded. The two of them sat there, wordlessly enjoying their time together until it was time to turn in for the night.

---

The following morning was like every other one since hitting the road, everyone quickly breaking down the makeshift camp, disposing of any evidence that there had been a camp, and lining the convoy up to depart. Tai had done his part just as he had every other day, and was currently buckling his helmet on as he waited for the caravan to rumble to a start. Suddenly, Raven swooped in, standing in front of Tai’s moped, but not looking at him.

“Tribe!” she barked at the top of her lungs. “Get a move on, I’ll catch up!”

With her command, trucks and vans and motorcycles roared to life and began lurching forward in unison. Tai watched in confusion as everyone drove away from the campsite except him, who sat there on his moped, Raven’s hands planted firmly on the handlebars.

“Um, Rae, what’s going on?” he asked, taking his helmet back off.

Raven finally turned to face him, and her face immediately betrayed her, a look of deep sadness painted all over it.

“This is as far as you go, Tai.”

“Hold up!” Tai yelled as he jumped off his moped. “You’re ditching me now?!”

“No, Tai, it’s not like that,” Raven sighed, doing her best to retain her composure.

Tai did his best to let his initial anger pass over him. He took a deep breath before taking a step toward Raven. “Then what is it? I don’t understand, things have been going well.”

“Yeah,” Raven answered. She let go of his moped and closed the distance between them, leaving maybe a foot between them. “Things have been great,” she agreed. “But I can’t let you go any farther with us. We’re going to be hitting the arid lands of Anima soon and it’s going to be extremely dangerous out there.”

“Which makes you leaving behind a huntsman make no sense,” Tai huffed. His arms were crossed as a very annoyed look came over his face.

“Yes Tai, but you’re not just a huntsman.” Raven reached forward and placed her hands on his crossed arms. “You’re also the father of my daughters, and I need you to be safe for them. We’re running from Salem, and if you came with us… if she found out that you know where I am…” Raven gulped down a sob and used all her willpower to keep herself together. “I will not lose any more of my family to that woman.”

There was a beat of silence that felt deafening in the small clearing they were standing in. Finally, Tai let out a quiet hum. “Daughters, huh?”

Raven let out a chuckle, taking comfort in it. That was something she always admired about Tai, his ability to lighten any mood, to be able to focus on the upside of things.

“Well, someone recently pointed out that despite not giving birth to her, Ruby is just as much my daughter as Yang is… Not that either of them would think much of me as their mother.”

Tai unfurled his arms and wrapped them around Raven, pulling her into a tight hug. “They will, you just have to make the effort,” he whispered into her ear.

“I’ll get the tribe to its new home. Then I’ll come back. I’ll put in the effort,” Raven leaned back so that she could stare into Tai’s eyes while cupping one side of his face. “I’m not going to abandon our family this time.”

“Promise?” Tai blurted out almost before he could even think about it. As soon as he did he regretted it, but before he could focus on the regret, he found himself pulled down into a deep, searing kiss. Their arms unconsciously wrapped tight around each other, their bodies craving the warmth and contact of each other, a connection so familiar, yet it had remained dormant for years. Tai found himself lost in that connection just as he always had been, as if every kiss erased another year of separation.

They were both panting when they finally pulled apart, doing so more out of the need for air than want.

“I promise,” Raven replied through red, plump lips. She reluctantly pulled herself from his grasp and took a few steps back. “I promise,” Raven repeated before spinning around and darting off, transforming into her bird form after just a few steps.

Tai stood there, watching as Raven slowly drifted out of view beyond the treeline, all the while with a smile on his face. Raven had made a lot of promises to him over the course of their relationship, and he had to admit that she didn’t have the best track record in keeping them.

But in that clearing, at that moment, watching her soar through the sky, his heart had no room for doubt.

After she was gone, Tai hopped back onto his moped. It rumbled under him as he spun around and began driving back the way they had come. He only got a few yards before he stopped, and took a moment to look back over his shoulders in the direction that caravan had gone.

“I’ll see you soon, Rae.”