#wouldn’t be the first time I’ve technically dressed in drag for some sort of stage production

[dykeredhood]

One day if I can sort enough free time for rehearsals and overcome the fact I refuse to sing in front of people unless I’m sloshed, I WILL play Fagin in a production of Oliver

[julieandthefandoms]

Housefull 2 MDZS/The Untamed AU

HELLO THERE MY LOVELIES! I’M MAKING A WILD TUMBLR REAPPEARANCE AND I BRING WITH ME SHINY NEW SHOWS I’VE WATCHED AND PERHAPS THE GREATEST AU I’VE EVER WRITTEN DOWN! 

Okay, so, I’m going to preface this by saying that I finally watched the Untamed over the past summer and now am slightly obsessed. I am also in the middle of reading the novel and watching the animation, so... that’s something.

Anyway, today, I decided that it would be a good idea to rewatch my favorite childhood film, a little Bollywood comedy titled Housefull 2. Upon rewatching this, I realized that the MDZS characters would fit really well into the convoluted mess of this plot and so I wrote a little bullet pointed AU idea thing. 

(I don’t think I’ll have the time to write this, so if anyone wants to use this concept, pleaseeee tag me/tell me about it. Also, if anything like this is already written, pleaseee tell me too, I need the crack content.) (I’m also desi, by the way, so I don’t know much about Chinese culture, so please tell me if anything is offensive or just plain inaccurate.)

So, without further ado, I’ll be presenting this Housefull 2 MDZS/The Untamed AU! 

-As per canon, JZX is emotionally constipated and couldn’t communicate until after his engagement with JYL got split up. Having made their sister cry, JC, WWX, and NHS (who gets roped into it) plan to crush JZX for hurting JYL. 

-They send WQ to crush JZX by breaking his heart but give her such vague instructions that she accidentally falls for Mianmain. 

NHS: “So... who’re we supposed to use to crush this Peacock. I mean, it can’t be any of us.” 

WWX: “I don’t know about y’all, but I’d be great at this mission.” *wiggles eyebrows*

JC *rolls eyebrows*: “I think you forgot that mom will have your head if you do something like this.”

JC: “Hey, you remember her from university?” 

WWX: “Who?” 

JC: “You know, *her*, the one with the needles who could murder anyone and get away with it” 

WWX: *laughing* “Holy hell, the Peacock doesn’t know what’s coming for him!” 

NHS: “And who might this mystery lady be?” He says, knowing exactly who this mystery lady is. 

JC and WWX: “Wen Qing.”

-All the while, JGS thinks that WQ and JZX are engaged because the Idiot Trio sent an envoy ahead that claimed WQ was a head disciple of Jiang and is a replacement for JYL. JGS has now set the engagement of WQ and JZX in August. 

-They find out about Mianmian/LQY and WQ too late, and now JC, WWX, and NHS send someone else, LWJ, to crush JZX’s heart. 

JC: “You can’t continue to do this, what happened to our deal?!” 

WQ: *death glares* “What our deal said was that I needed to woo someone vaguely in relation to the nickname “Peacock” and happened to be in Lanling as payback for JZX breaking your sister’s heart, I don’t think I’m the one who forgot our deal here.” 

JC: “And your first thought was that Mianmian/LQY was Peacock?!” 

WQ: “She’s pretty and a Jin, so…” 

Before there would be a throw down in this place, WWX interrupted: “Okay, WQ it’s alright that you feel for Mianmian/LQY, but who is supposed to help us teach JZX a lesson now?”

NHS: “I don’t know, but it could maybe be someone who’s already close to JZX.” 

JC: “That sounds like a horrible ide- Wait, that’s lowkey kinda genius. Do you remember him from university?” 

WWX: “Him?” 

JC: “Yeah, you know, him, the one who’s entire vocabulary was the syllable “Mn” and whom you pined after for years.” 

WWX *blushing like there’s no tomorrow*: “We can’t send him, he’ll probably send me off to do 50 handstands” 

JC: “Please, he’s do anything you ask him to” 

NHS: *flutters his fan while knowing to an extreme degree what’s going to happen*

-They send WWX as LWJ’s ‘driver’ for him to make sure the plan is on track, but it just ends in LZ/WY pining. JC is also sent there as a businessman since he needs to make sure JGS doesn’t suspect anything too suspicious. At the same time though, because JGS thinks WQ and JZX are engaged and since LWJ spends most of his free time talking to Mianmian/LQY about his hopeless pining, JGS starts to think that Mianmian/LQY and LWJ are to be engaged and plans another engagement. JGS is quick to inform LQR about this and now LQR thinks that his nephew is married to Mianmian/LQY and that they’re getting married in August. 

-At some point here, LXC is in Lanling to visit his bud Meng Yao and that’s when JC and LXC begin talking and stuff. (This can be platonic or romantic, I don’t have a personal preference). 

-Additionally, this is also when WWX and LWJ begin investigating the happenings of Lanling and discover the extent of an asshole JGS is. They'd probably be reported sporadically and NHS definitely sent this evidence to detectives XXC and Song Lan. 

-So far, no one has gotten to properly executing this plan, and JC & WWX are beginning to question things. Because things couldn’t possibly get worse, this is the moment when Madam Yu decides that it’d be a good idea to visit the Jins in order to remind them of their arranged marriage between JYL and JZX. So now, JC and WWX have to drag both LXC and JYL into this convoluted plot because otherwise everything would go horribly wrong. JC, WWX, NHS, JYL, LXC, WQ, LWJ, and Mianmian/LQY (WQ directly told the boys that if they don’t let Mianmian/LQY in on this, she’ll personally shove a needle where it hurts) are in this room together, attempting to processes the absolute mess that has occurred. (Poor JZX is still living obliviously, his father didn’t even tell him that he’s technically engaged to WQ now. JZX is just vibing in confusion and thinks he’s just being buds with LWJ because LWJ is horrible at flirting with anyone that’s not WWX so his job of breaking JZX is... not going well.) In the end, after being on the receiving end of many of JYL’s disappointed looks, JC and WWX convince her to help them with their plot just this once. (She wouldn’t tell anyone that she was secretly pleased, but hey, JYL kept her vengeance deep, deep down low and deserved to exercise it just this once.) 

-(it is important to note here that in this AU, Madame Yu doesn’t know what JZX looks like) 

-The plan would be that LXC would (reluctantly) pretend to be JZX in front of Madam Yu. Additionally, Madame Yu thinks the actual JZX is NHS (because JC panicked and that’s the first name he could come up with when Madam Yu asked who was that kid if LXC was JZX). This was to drive JGS off their tails as he still believed that WQ is engaged to JZX now. (He did email LQR about this as well who now thinks his nephews are now engaged to JYL and Mianmian/LQY, respectively, and are going to be married that August.) This is the part where WWX and LWJ finally start realizing that their feelings are mutual after a pep talk from Mianmian/LQY, LXC, and WQ (who’s pep talk sounded more like a shovel talk) for LWJ and from JC, NHS, and JYL for WWX. This is also when Mianmian/LQY and WQ grow closer and also decide that the rest of the group is useless and team up with NHS to knock some sense into JZX. Finally, JZX becomes less emotionally constipated and confesses to JYL, and because WWX, JYL, and JC think that an intervention from the scariest trio (WQ, Mianmian/LQY, NHS) is apt punishment, they call an end to their payback. (Also partially due to JZX having character growth as different characters grilled him throughout this AU). While this is great for our mains, it can only cause a bunch of shenanigans because of the way the parental figures interpret this situation. 

-JGS and Madame Jin think the pairings are: WQ/JZX, LQY/LWJ, LXC/JYL, WWX/NHS

-Madame Yu thinks the pairings are: JZX (except it’s LXC’s version of JZX)/JYL, LWJ/WWX, LQY/WQ, and (maybe?) JC/NHS (except it’s JZX who got confused for NHS)

-LQR thinks the pairings are: WQ/JZX, LQY/LWJ, and LXC/JYL

-Meanwhile, the pairings actually are: JZX/JYL, LWJ/WWX, LQY/WQ, and (maybe?) JC/LXC

-In conclusion, they’re all utterly fucked. Therefore, they have to bring everyone into this convoluted plot now, and finally JZX’s experiences over the past months make a little more sense to him. While discussing this mess they’ve created, WWX has an idea. 

WWX: “Okay, so, looking at the actual chart of who everyone thinks is who, the biggest disparity is between Madam Yu and JGS’s viewpoints, right? What if we just removed Madam Yu from the equation, make Madam Jin and Madam Yu have a falling out so that Madam Yu won’t be invited to the wedding so that we can focus on one of the false interpretations of all the relationships happening.” 

JC: “Madam Jin and Madam Yu have been the best of friends, how are we supposed to make them hate each other?” 

JYL: “I mean, we could stage something, a betrayal of some sort.” 

NHS: “I’m liking the way you think.”

-So through this plot and NHS’s concerning amount of connections, our group succeeds in breaking apart Madam Yu and Madam Jin’s friendship. JC and WWX also manage to worm their way into convincing the Jins to let JYL marry LXC to “spite Madam Yu’s wish of combining the Jiang and Jin families.” Because of JGS arranging and emailing parents throughout this fic, JYL, JZX, LXC, Mianmian/LQY, WQ, NHS, WWX, and LWJ are basically set to be married in August, except it’s to the wrong person! Soon enough, the wedding day arrives and the gang has a plan: they’ll dress the exact same and have the most elaborate and disruptive headpieces so that their faces are covered. 

(Note: Instead of NHS being part of the people getting married as it should be, JC is replaces him for the actual ceremony. Since the our marrige folks have their faces covered, nobody really notices that JC replaced NHS and is marrying LXC. This can be either because of a marriage of convenience to combine companies, or out of actual feelings. I’m cool with either interpretation in my head. Meanwhile, NHS is out in the crowd and People didn’t him because of his surprisingly useful camouflage fan.) 

-And so, the group sets NHS as their distraction while JC pretends to be NHS for the wedding ceremony. NHS basically knocks into the most expensive vase he can find so that most of the parental figures turn around, giving the group getting married the opportunity to switch places with one another until they’re in the right spot. So, a bunch of stuff happens, Madam Yu barges in to yell about how disgraceful it is for the Jins to go on with this marriage even though they broke the engagement in the first place and betrayed the trust of the Jiang corporation. Madam Yu also just, airs out JGS’s dirty laundry in a real badass way. 

-It’s all chaotic. Hell breaks loose. JGS goes batshit crazy and starts bringing our firearms. And so, basically, everyone ends up hiding behind pillars and stuff, though, eventually, after everyone has to run out of their hiding spot’s because Su She cannot shut the fuck up and keeps getting the other’s exposed, they all pile behind JGS in the world’s worst game combined game of Hide & Seek and Slither.io. It all finally ends when JGS gets arrested for a shit ton of crimes, and everything finally ends with a joint wedding between 8 people, except this time it’s with the right partners. 

So, yeah, that’s the AU that I wrote in a dazed craze in the past 2 hours. I hope it was at least partially understandable. I hope y’all have fun with it! Again, if you know of a fanfic that’s got a similar energy or want to write something similar, please tell me, I need more fanfiction. Also, that last scene is basically a direct copy of this scene from the movie Housefull 2. (I’m sorry though, I can’t find an english subbed version of the scene. :(

[ninjakitty15]

Chapter 19: Good Impressions (Loki x OFC Pairing)

I looked in the mirror and couldn't help but grin widely, baring my teeth even as a sense of giddiness filled me. It was very rarely I ever actually dressed up or even really did much to prepare for an upcoming battle beyond gathering power, planning and making sure I had all my war ducks in a row, this was extra but it was the good kind in my opinion.

"You know...I read that the Spartans, the fiercest ancient warriors our world had at one point, would pretty themselves up before battle and spies from enemy lines that caught them doing that would overestimate them. Apparently real men don't wear makeup into a war," I told Loki who walked up behind me, watching me check myself out. "Funny thing is in this country and probably a lot of other countries today have this thing called war paint which might not make them look fabulous like a Spartan but it might as well be makeup as it's primarily worn on their face."

"I remember the Spartans, Odin was impressed by their tactics and way of life, especially their stand against the Persians, the odds weren't in their favor and yet somehow they gave them hell before defeat," Loki recalled.

"Quality over quantity," I added. "Those people were literally born to be warriors, only the strong babies survived the first of many tests they were forced into." I combed a hand through my hair, considered messing it but decided against it. "I used to be more of a silk or velvet kinda girl but I gotta tell ya, I'm really digging the leather. It's fashionable, it's sexy even, and it's pretty decent armor, I mean it's no breastplate or Kevlar vest but those are a bit too obvious and that's the last thing we want right now." I took a few swaggering steps, glancing at my backside curiously to see how it all fit together.

"You're enjoying this entirely too much," he mused.

"I know it hasn't been that long since we met, but are you really surprised at this point?"

"No, not really. How long are you gonna fawn over yourself in the mirror before we actually put this plan into motion?"

"Relax, I got this. I just gotta get a few things down pat before we jump head first into this oncoming shit storm." I grinned again. "What's the hurry?"

He watched me, a glint of amusement in his eyes as he shook his head at my antics. "You got the smile right and I'm not sure how you were able to copy my walk so quickly but the humor needs to change if you insist on chattering before things get started."

"But...humor is why I'm still kicking," I protested. "And it's a far cry from your own, which mind you I'm glad you have any at all, some other gods can't seem to grasp that concept despite being eons old. Still, it's a lot more...eloquent than I'm used to."

"Then perhaps don't say anything at all."

"And leave you to do all the talking, hell to the no, spank you very much."

"What's wrong with me doing the talking for once?" he crossed his arms in challenge and arched an eyebrow, daring me to answer.

I gave the god an unapologetic and unamused look. "I'm not the only one that's been muzzled here, maybe your brother was onto something when he did it to you."

"How dare you? You take that back right now!"

"Or what? Whatcha gonna do, huh? Take your shot, green boy, you got me deadbang."

The sound of someone clearing their throat loudly interrupted our usual bickering match and we both turned to see a half amused half arachnid smirking at us with his unnaturally muscular arms crossed as well. "You know this is technically playing with yourself, right? I mean if that's the case, could you get a room that isn't the only bathroom in the apartment, please?"

"How long since this plan was in motion did you wanna use that joke?" I teased the kid.

Peter shrugged and pretended to look bashful but now that he too was throwing in dirty jokes, the facade of him being an innocent kid was now out the window. "You sure I can't tag along?"

"Kid, you got your own enemies to fight and this might be a bit above your skillset which means if you tag along theres much less chance of you coming back."

"But you could just bring me back yourself, right?"

I scowled at his optimism. "Doesn't work that way, I only bring back the ones that can't pass on on their own and want another chance at tying up loose ends, and you better not be one of those people, you're a kid, which goes against my personal code of bringing back zombie kids, that's just fucking depressing having an army of rotting midgets."

Peter sighed in despair and slumped his shoulders. "I never get to do anything fun."

I rolled my eyes at his whining. "I'd also be held responsible for letting you come with and I kinda don't want to be hunted down by a team of go getters and fancyass technology, no spank you. I already have Hydra for the latter. So do me a favor, sit your five dollar ass down, before I make change."

Peter scoffed at my implied threat but stopped bugging me, it might have been his plan that could get the odds in our favor but it sure as hell wasn't his fight and I had no intention of dragging another cute super powered person into my personal vendetta. "Aunt May says you can come back anytime, just give one of us a heads up next time...and maybe something that gets black bloodstains off any surface just in case."

I would've blanched if I wasn't pale already. "Oh no, did I ruin something, I can pay for that."

"No no, just, I think she thinks you'd only come here if you're in trouble like you were this time and she's worried you might miss a spot next time if that's the case, normal blood you can just use hydrogen peroxide, but I'm not too sure it works on corpse blood."

"Noted and tell her thanks for everything, same goes for you of course since you were the one to let us in before she agreed to it. And also not informing the A team, that's important...you didn't tell them right?"

"Not like they take me all that seriously or even answer my calls if I did," Peter muttered. "You're all good there, promise."

"Excellent! You stay sharp and cute, the second either of that fails, you're fucked."

"Thanks, I think."

"Right then." I turned to Loki with another smirk. "How's this for a first impression?" I asked in smooth sorta British sorta something else accent.

He scowled at me but couldn't complain it seemed. "I'm getting the sense you've been working on that before this came to pass."

"Anyone can do an Avenger impression, hell anyone can wear their costumes, right Peter? But I'm not about the hero life, so why waste time on them when I've been giving it all to you?"

Loki was silent at this and it was Peter that actually responded to me. "That was actually really sweet."

"You say that like it's a surprise, physically dead here, not emotionally dead, thank you. My heart hadn't reached that stage where it becomes calcified like a fetus that won't leave its womb."

"You always have the oddest choice of metaphors," muttered Loki. "So you have the walk, the voice, the smile even though I'm not sure that's even necessary at this point."

"When are you going to prepare for the plan then?" I challenged. "Go on, see how well you know your part."

"Don't you worry about my side of the plan, I've been doing this sort of thing for the sheer fun of it long before you decided to do it out of sheer boredom."

I snorted and rolled my eyes at him. "Yes, we're all very aware of your old age, you don't have to remind us like we have to remind you, old man."

"Ye of little faith," he mocked, earning a bar of soap flying at his face he was lucky enough to duck. "Your aim needs improvement."

"I'm sorry, did you actually want to be hit in the head by something solid and hard and not a pillow, because I missed on purpose, you cotton headed ninny-muggins."

"Seriously, is all you two do bicker at each other?" asked Peter.

"Well I mean you wouldn't let us have any real adult fun while we crashed here so we gotta get that pent up energy out somehow, right?" I reasoned.

"She's not wrong," Loki agreed.

"Besides, no one's getting hurt from it, I'm convinced this is our own special way of showing we love each other without being a bunch of saps. I'm 99 things but a sap ain't one."

"What's wrong with being affectionate?" asked Peter, almost sounding offended.

"That implies I have more emotions than I'm willing to admit to anyone including myself, I'm generally not ok with having that much feels." I grinned, slicked back my hair again before doing a little dance for funsies.

"I'd refrain from doing that little jig when the plan's in full swing," warned Loki though he was still smiling in amusement.

"Oh but I like this," I purred with the accent again.

The smirk on his own face twisted, like I said something that somehow offended him and all his ancestors and pissed him off or deeply upset him. "Don't make me take it away from you till right before the fight starts."

"Oh come on, maybe you just need to hug it out and join the fun, bring it in, big guy." I opened my arms wide for emphasis. "There's no better love than self love."

He rolled his eyes at my stellar pun and green magic rolled over him as he changed into character. "I bet you were just dying to make that joke."

I stared at him and it was my turn to glare. "Was that your attempt at a dead joke? Oh hun, you gotta do better than that to fit the bill."

"Don't patronize me, woman, I wasn't even trying then."

I walked over and patted his cheek just to mess with him. "Sure you weren't. Do me a favor and work on that but also turn around for me."

"Why?"

"Just...do it."

He did begrudgingly and I frowned upon studying his form thoroughly before he faced me again. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, you got it right, it's just...I didn't realize it looked like that and now I'm suddenly an insecure teenager. Peter, is this how you feel all the time because, dude, this really sucks and I feel for ya."

"You say that like you were never one yourself," Peter noted.

"I know I was but like, I don't remember what it was like then, I couldn't tell you what I was like as a teen."

"Why not?"

"No memory of it, at all."

"You mean like it was so long ago that you can't remember that far back or lots of stuff happened during it so fast that it's all a blur."

"I mean it's not even accessible, it's gone from my mind completely."

Peter frowned, probably trying to understand what I was getting at. "Amnesia?"

"Mindwipe."

"Like Bucky Barnes?"

"No, that's brainwashed...wait, those do sound synonymous, damn, hadn't even thought about that. Brainwashed is basically having your mind overridden and reprogrammed, there's memories there but they're not real ones. Mindwiped is just nothing there to reprogram at all."

"Did Hydra do that too?"

"No, Hydra can't touch this, something they need to have programmed in their heads for all the times they tried and failed any of their aims when they had me. I can't tell you the who, but I can tell you it was painless and done willingly and without regret."

"You chose to have memories taken from you?"

I nodded simply, unable to elaborate as per the deal.

Loki, knowing there was some things I couldn't talk about for reasons he wouldn't know until hopefully later, chose to cut in then. "I think that's enough curiosity for now, we should get going and finish the plan you concocted for us."

I smiled thankfully at Loki and nodded in agreement. "Yes, of course.  Parker, if I don't make it back by tomorrow...just wait longer."

"Stop teasing the child, Nell, you could be really testing his patience with your antics and we wouldn't be welcomed back."

"You wouldn't, I would because I'm a delight to be around." I strutted after him anyway and he shook his head and beckoned me out of the bathroom and unfortunately out of the apartment.

"The Hydra agents and people that turned on you would say otherwise."

"The Hydra agents don't even know what joy is, the only time they're smiling is when they think they're about to take over the world and people are dying around them...the traitors are just pussies which means it doesn't take much to make em weep."

"Again with the metaphors."

"Maybe you should start taking some notes, eh? Give you a head start seeing as I'm all caught up on my end, unless you got something to add there?"

"Well you still haven't proven you can get the mannerisms right and mannerisms maketh men."

"But we are not men..."

"No, we're immortals."

[ladywritesthings]

Welcome to Burlesque, ch3

AO3

---

It was a week before Jester saw him again.

A whole week spent clinging to the tattered and worn folded leather that contained the life story of Caleb Widogast. That was his full name, of course — it said so on his faded ID. And he was thirty-three years old, and carried exactly eleven Imperial crowns in cash alongside a whopping twenty-seven pictures of his cat. He’d left so suddenly that night, by the time she’d realized what had happened, he’d already left the Chateau.

Molly refused to return it for her, and when she’d asked for a number so she could at least let Caleb know his valuables were safe, he’d given her a disappointed look. “You could call him,” he’d said. “Or you could just let him come to you. The thrill of the chase, and all that.”

“But what if he needs it, like, really badly?” she’d protested. “And he doesn’t know where he left it, like, what if he thinks it fell out on the bus or something, and he doesn’t even remember leaving it here? He was pretty drunk.”

Molly shook his head. “Not when he was with you,” he said, which puzzled her, but he just patted her arm affectionately. “Don’t worry, he’s a smart man. He’ll come crawling back in no time. It’ll be good for him, really.”

But “no time” turned into “several days,” and Jester had begun to worry. So she’d begun to pick through his wallet.

She’d felt kind of bad about it at first. The Traveler, of course, had thought it was a marvelous idea, but it still felt weird to rummage through the pieces of a stranger’s life. She finally had to convince herself that it really was out of concern for him that she was doing it. Maybe there was a phone number in there, she reasoned, or contact information of some kind — if not his, then perhaps of someone more willing to help than Molly was.

You could tell a lot about someone by the contents of their wallet. She knew that from experience. Not just technical information, but stories. Personalities. Little stuff that added up to a larger whole, like whether they collected movie tickets, if they saved their receipts when they went on a drunken run to the corner store at 2 AM on a Saturday night. Clean wallets belonged to boring people.

Caleb Widogast, by this metric, was not a boring person.

That didn’t mean she learned much, though. If anything, he was just odd. He didn’t have a driver’s license, or a bus pass; only the ID on the back of his bank card, which was three months away from expiring. There was the crumpled money, and the absurd amount of cat pictures, but not much else. Unless you counted the dozen or so scraps of crumpled paper shoved in various pockets in between the cats. There were scribbles on them — some of them contained notes written in various languages she couldn’t understand, others showed sigils; some scratched out, some circled or underlined and accompanied by more hastily written notes. She couldn’t make heads or tails of most of them, but they seemed vaguely arcane in nature; a wizard, maybe?

That would certainly make him interesting, she supposed. She’d never met a real wizard before.

She couldn’t understand what kind of person carried around twenty-seven pictures of their cat. The wallet was practically full to bursting with them. To be fair, it was a very nice cat — he’d called him Frumpkin, hadn’t he? That was a good cat name, she thought — but twenty-seven? Carried with him everywhere? That was a little excessive.

Although, to be perfectly honest, she’d probably be the same way if she’d been allowed a pet, constantly surrounding herself with reminders of them if they were ever apart. A dog would be fun, maybe, or perhaps a weasel — something slinky and small she could carry around her shoulders like a scarf, and she’d feed him doughnuts and bugs she found in the garden.

She found the picture he’d shown her in the VIP room, and smoothed out the crease in the corner from when he’d stuffed it carelessly back in place that night. He’d acted so strangely that night, Molly must have been wrong — he must have been drunk, or high, or some combination of the two — musn’t he? He hadn’t directly looked at her again after Caduceus… interrupted them. And then he’d left with his wallet lying forgotten on the couch beside her.

Her face burned when she thought about it.

She’d noticed him, on stage, if only for being unusual. Everyone in the club generally crowded around as close as they could get when she performed, except for Nott, of course — what could she say? She was a very good dancer — all except for him. Even with the lights in her eyes she could see him, leaning against the bar, watching. Not cheering or hooting or whistling at her, just… watching. So she’d winked, just to see what he would do.

Even in the shadows she could tell how his complexion darkened at that, and with his expression being so stony until then, it was nice to know that he didn’t entirely hate her dancing. There were creeps sometimes, people that came in just to glare, or to shout obscenities about sinful dens of iniquity. Which was stupid, because you had to pay at the door to get in and they weren’t really accomplishing anything but annoying the bouncers that dragged them out. But at least he didn’t seem to be one of them.

Molly had come up to her after her performance, backstage, accompanied by a human woman and a handsome, blushing half-orc. “Wonderful, as always,” he said, introducing his friends as Beau and Fjord.

She’d beamed as she fixed her makeup, honey finally cleaned up. “Thank you!” she said. “It’s a new routine I’ve been working on, I’m glad you liked it.”

“Of course I did. But listen, I’ve got a favor to ask. You see, I have this friend…”

She glanced between his companions; at Fjord, still quite red, and Beau, who looked gleeful. “Which one?”

Molly waved a hand. “Oh, he’s not here,” he said airily. “His name’s Caleb. He’s a bit shy, you see. But he enjoyed your dancing so much that we, well—” And here he grinned, a little wickedly, “—we were wondering if you’d be open to a more, ah, private performance. You still do those, yes?”

She hummed thoughtfully, pausing mid-swipe of her lipstick. “Not very much,” she said slowly. “But…”

“But…?”

“But…” She finished reapplying her lipstick, admiring the effect in the mirror and glancing back him with a smirk. “Since you asked so nicely and everything.”

His eyes glinted. “Excellent. The usual rate, I assume?”

Her tail flicked up and booped him on the nose. “Only because I like you.”

“And the usual room?”

“Of course. But give me a few minutes, okay? I need to get ready.”

“You’re divine.” He pressed a quick kiss to her temple, and she could feel the curl of his lips as his grin widened. “Just so you know, he might seem a little nervous at first,” he said. “But just… give him everything you’ve got, alright? Hit him hard. He’ll love it.”

It seemed like an odd specification, but she’d simply shrugged and nodded. Men were strange sometimes. Especially the kinds of men who paid for private encounters — she wondered what sort of man he was if Molly had to make the request on his behalf instead.

The VIP room she waited in was one of the smaller ones, but it was her favorite — all ambient lighting and soft drapery and the plushest couch dominating the room — and she adjusted her stockings a little nervously. It wasn’t her first… solo endeavor, exactly, but it had been a while. She preferred the stage. The crowds, the people, the life. She wasn’t like her mother in that regard, who lately only took on private clients.

She hoped this one would be nice.

There were sudden raised voices in the hallway, a thudding noise, and she glanced up as the man — human, long-limbed, vaguely familiar — practically fell into the room and spun around as the door swung shut behind him, and she heard laughter. ‘Showtime.’ She put on her best smile and straightened. “You must be Caleb! I’ve been expecting you.”

It was the man from the bar, she noticed with surprise; the one who’d been staring. Awkward and fumbling and now too shy to look her in the eye. He was nearly a head taller than her, maybe more — though, to be fair, most people were — and fairly lean, with a mess of auburn hair only a few inches shorter than her own. A thick 5 o'clock shadow darkened his cheeks, beneath which she could make out the slight dimple in his chin. His clothes were simple, with the worn, disheveled appearance of someone either wholly unconcerned or fanatically obsessed with current fashion trends. She didn’t recognize his accent, but his voice when he spoke, despite some nervous stuttering, was kind of deep in a pleasant sort of way. And his eyes, when he finally met her gaze, were like the sky in summertime.

She wasn’t lying later when she called him handsome.

He didn’t appear to believe her entirely, but she found herself not quite so nervous about dancing for him anymore. In fact, the beet red color his face went when she wrapped the ribbon around his neck made the whole experience that much more enjoyable. She liked the feeling of being in control of such encounters. And, despite the initial awkwardness, he really didn’t seem to mind it either.

So when she put his twitching hands on her waist, she didn’t expect him to change the way he did.

When he first stumbled through her door, a part of her had been worried: that he wouldn’t like her, that he’d like her too much; that she’d do something embarrassing, like trip on her dressing gown. She didn’t anticipate the heat radiating off his body, or the strength of his hands, or the way his roving gaze went from worshiping to hungry. Like he wanted to eat her alive.

She didn’t anticipate the thrill in her stomach as she realized she might not entirely have minded him trying.

His fingers dug slightly into her hips, moving with her as she pressed her body to him, constantly, artfully edging that line between a dance and something else. She could feel the heat of his breath on her skin, the heat of his hands on her waist, the heat of his legs between her thighs. Were all humans this hot, literally, or was it just him?

Suddenly his hands weren’t on her anymore, and he was looking for something — frantically, desperately — and suddenly her mouth was going dry and a leaden lump dropped to the pit of her stomach of something that sent ice up her spine, the heat of him forgotten.

What would he need his wallet for? Molly had paid already, and there weren’t very many other things people kept in wallets he could possibly need in a situation like this… Surely he couldn’t be looking for a—?

“Cat!” he barked at her.

Of all the things she’d expected him to say, that had certainly not been one of them. And then Caduceus had come in — he really had the worst timing, honestly — and any hopes she had of possibly obtaining an explanation for this abrupt and frankly bizarre display went right out the door with him. And Molly was no help, of course, only smiling cryptically when she casually tried to interrogate him throughout the week about his friend.

“Why don’t you ask him?” he kept saying.

But she couldn’t ask him, not without his number, unless he showed up randomly one day and she happened to be present at the time. Which seemed less and less likely as time stretched on.

So all she had was that stupid wallet and her thoughts, which were, at best, circular in nature.

What kind of man interrupted a private lapdance with twenty-seven pictures of his cat?

She went through the wallet again and again, agonizing over the fragments of a life she didn’t understand. She knew she shouldn’t, probably, certainly not more than once, and if he ever found out, he’d… Well, she didn’t know him well enough to know what he’d do. That was sort of the problem.

The day she finally saw him again she was sitting at the bar with her head on her hand, absently drinking a glass of milk as Nott inventoried the bar, ruminating on the Wallet Problem. It had been nearly seven whole days now, more than enough time for him to have come back on his own. If he didn’t come by tomorrow, she decided, she’d make Molly bring it to him. Seven days was an awfully long time, after all. And those pictures were really cute. It would be a shame to be without them, even if he did have the real cat at home. Wherever his home was.

There was a shuffling noise behind her, and she glanced over to see Yasha coming over from the coat check area, brow furrowed. “There’s a man at the door,” she said. “He wants to come in.”

“Well, tell him to fuck off,” said Nott, not looking up from her clipboard. “We’re closed.”

“He’s very insistent,” said Yasha. “He says he left something here the other night.”

Jester perked up, hardly believing her luck. “Is he human?” she asked.

Yasha shrugged. “Looks that way. I think so.”

“Red hair? Blue eyes? Really skinny, kinda nervous?”

“Yes.” She cocked her head. “Why, do you know him?”

Jester clapped her hands excitedly. “Let him in! That’s the guy I was telling you about! Oh my gosh, he actually came.”

“Is he the one with the cat?” said Nott as Yasha vanished again.

“Yes, and it’s such a cute cat too — Caleb!” She bounded off the stool, milk forgotten as he followed Yasha through the archway from coat check, looking a little windswept in the long coat he wore despite the warm weather outside. “Took you long enough,” she chided. “I was getting worried, you know.”

He froze in place when he saw her beelining for him, his cheeks going faintly red. “Ah, J-Jester,” he said, and cleared his throat. “Hello.”

“Hi!” She skidded to a stop in front of him, bouncing on the balls of her bare feet. “You’re here for your wallet, yes?”

“I — ja, yes, I am.” He coughed awkwardly.

Nott glanced up from her list. “Oh,” she said. “I remember you. Molly’s friend, right? Dwarven ale.”

“Ah, yes, that was me.”

“You want another one? Since you’re here and all.”

He shoved his hands in ratty coat pockets. “Thank you, but I’m fine. I’m just here for my—”

“Oh, of course, your wallet.” Jester tugged on his sleeve, a little harder than she meant to, his hand slipping back out of the pocket with a little jerk. “Follow me. You don’t mind stairs, do you?”

“Where are we going?” he said uncertainly as she dragged him across the dancefloor to the wide, sweeping staircase.

“To get your wallet, silly.”

“I see.” He cleared his throat again as she let go of him, when it seemed he’d follow her of his own volition. “I didn’t, ah, expect you to be here so early in the day.”

She glanced at him, cocking an eyebrow. “Where else would I be?”

“I don’t know, where does one go when not at work?” He shrugged. “Home, I suppose.”

She giggled. “I am home. I live here.”

“You — what, here?” He looked genuinely surprised.

“Well, yeah. It’s my Mama’s club. We both live here.” It was her turn to shrug as they came to the first landing on the stairs. “Lots of people do. The whole top two floors are apartments, you know. Didn’t Molly tell you?”

“He did not.”

She hummed thoughtfully as they came to the VIP area, passing the many doors with the spidery writing. “I guess he wouldn’t,” she conceded. “He’s really unhelpful sometimes. I tried to get him to take the wallet back to you all week, you know.”

“Oh, really,” he said, in a way that definitely wasn’t a question.

“Really,” said Jester. “I was like, ‘But what if he needs it, and he gets really sad because he lost all those cute pictures of his cat,’ but he wouldn’t even give me your number to let you know it was safe.”

“That bastard,” commented Caleb, and then, “Wait, what do you mean, ‘all those pictures’? I only showed you one.”

She felt her ears heat up a little. “Well,” she said carefully, “I thought if I looked through it, like super-quickly, I might find some way to contact you on my own or something. But I was really careful,” she added hurriedly. “I put everything right back where it was, I promise!”

“I see.”

He didn’t sound angry, at least, just a little… resigned. She peeked at him out of the corner of her eye. “Are you a wizard?” she asked.

He paused in place, and she got a few steps ahead of him before she realized he wasn’t beside her anymore. “What makes you say that?” he asked, a little guardedly.

She turned to look at him. “Those little notes,” she said. “With all the scribbles on them. They looked arcane to me, anyway. Aren’t they?”

“Some of them are,” he said, and squinted at her. “You have magic?”

She shrugged. “A little,” she said. “Not that kind, though. Mostly just healing stuff. I don’t know why, Mama doesn’t have magic. But sometimes people get hurt on the poles, or twist their ankles and stuff. I wanted to help, so I just… did.”

He was looking at her differently now; not quite nervously anymore, more like she was a puzzle he was trying to solve. “You have a god, I presume? And you got your healing after you found them?”

“Yes.” She grinned. “I’ll tell you about him sometime, he’s really cool. Why do you ask?”

He was quiet for a moment. “They used to call people like you clerics,” he said. “A bit of an old-fashioned term now, I suppose.”

“Cleric.” She tested the word on her tongue. ‘I’m a cleric,’ she thought, and grinned. “Cool! How’d you know that?”

He shrugged. “I read things,” he said. “And yes, I have been called a wizard before.”

“Really? That’s so cool! What kinds of spells do you know?”

He shrugged again. “Oh, you know,” he said vaguely. “A bit of this and that.”

“I can’t really show you any of my spells right now,” she continued conversationally, when it became clear he wasn’t going to elaborate, “unless you wanna, like, cut your hand or fall down the stairs or something I guess. Oh! But I can do this!” She snapped her fingers and with a resounding crash all the doors around them slammed open.

He lurched sideways as the door nearest to them — the one belonging to the room they’d met in, incidentally — crashed into the wall and bounced off, narrowly missing him on the way. “Interesting use of Thaumaturgy,” he said when he’d recovered, and she noted with a tiny thrill in the pit of her stomach that he sounded vaguely impressed. He squinted a little at the spidery writing on the door as it drifted past his face. “‘Wild Mount,’” he read aloud, and the shadow of something that could almost be mistaken for a smile flitted briefly across his face. “Funny.”

She beamed. “You like it?” she said.

“Amusing pun,” he said. “Very fitting.”

“I came up with that one,” she said in a confidential tone.

He quirked an eyebrow. “I see.”

“I came up with all of them, actually.” She bounced a little on her heels. “They aren’t all as good, I was really little, but that one’s my favorite.” She snapped her fingers again and the doors slammed shut, making Caleb jump again as she smiled sweetly at him. “Come on, we’re almost halfway there.”

He followed her wordlessly up the next flight of stairs. “How many people live here?” he asked eventually.

“Let’s see…” She counted quietly on her fingers. “There’s me and Mama, of course… Caduceus, you’ve met him, he’s sort of the caretaker — then there’s Blude, he’s my bodyguard, but only sometimes, and—”

“You have a bodyguard?”

She looked at him quizzically. “Well, yeah,” she said. “I’m the Little Sapphire.” She dipped into a small curtsy, which was kind of hard to do in denim shorts, she realized. “My mom’s the Ruby of the Sea, silly, of course I have a bodyguard. But only sometimes,” she added. That was an important clarification.

“I see.”

“Anyway,” she continued, “Yasha stays here sometimes, but she doesn’t really work here full time so she kinda comes and goes. Molly too, but he stays with Yasha. Nott and her family have an apartment. And there used to be some other guy, the accountant, but he was stealing so Mama had him arrested and he doesn’t live here anymore.” She snorted. “Obviously.”

“Your accountant was stealing?” He sounded surprised.

She shrugged. “At least, I think he was the accountant,” she said. “I’m not really sure what he did, exactly, he was really sleazy and we didn’t talk much. Anyway, Mama tried to pay the caterer for an event a few months ago and the check bounced, and so she looked at the books and they didn’t add up or something.” She shrugged again. “Neither of us are very good with numbers, but he was really bad at hiding it, I guess. We got some of the money back, but Mama’s still trying to figure out how much he took.” She paused. “It was a lot of money,” she reflected.

Caleb was silent for a long time. When she glanced at him, he wore an unreadable expression.

“I’m good with numbers,” he said finally.

“Yeah?” She grinned at him. “You wizards are really smart, huh?”

He coughed a little embarrassedly. “I could take a look,” he said awkwardly, “is what I meant. If you and your mother needed help sometime.”

She brightened. “Really?”

He hunched a little, shoving his hands back in his pockets. “I have a bit of spare time,” he said. “I wouldn’t mind. Molly can vouch for me, if you need.”

“Why, Cay-leb,” she said delightedly, drawing his name out longer than she needed to, “are you asking for a job?”

He reddened instantly, that adorable human blush. “That’s not what I—”

“You are,” she said, stopping dead in her tracks halfway down the hall. Her tail swished madly behind her. “You are, that’s why you’re so red!”

“I am not looking for a job,” he insisted, glaring at the floor. He was starting to look a bit panicked. “I have a job, I just thought—”

“Oh, relax,” she giggled, patting his arm reassuringly, “I’m only teasing. What sort of job do you do, then?”

“I work in a library,” he mumbled.

Somehow this didn’t surprise her. And he looked so miserable now, she felt bad for making him uncomfortable. “That’s really sweet of you, Caleb,” she said, more gently this time. “Really. You know, you should talk to my Mama, I know she’d love to meet you.” She bit her lip when he didn’t respond immediately. “I think — I think she’s having a hard time, you know, with all the money and trying to balance the books again and stuff. If you really meant it, I think she’d love the help.”

“I did.”

She smiled. “Then I’ll talk to her,” she said. “Tonight! She’s busy right now, but I could talk to her and maybe she’d have time to see you later this week or something.” She eyed him slyly. “Of course,” she added, turning coy, “that would mean you’d have to give me your number. You know, so I could call you with the time.” She walked two fingers lightly up his arm. “Or something,” she said, and let the suggestion hang in the air.

He didn’t look quite so miserable now. He was still red-faced, but she couldn’t tell if that was residual or a fresh wave from her transparent flirtation. Either way, he nodded mutely and she counted that as a victory.

“Cool,” she said, and tugged on his arm again. “Come on, it’s just up here.”

She led him down the rest of the long hallway, there on the fourth floor, and bumped the door open with her hip. “Well, here we are,” she said, suddenly feeling a little shy. “Home, sweet home.”

He trailed behind her as she wove her way through the clutter of her apartment, through the spacious living room and through the archway leading to her bedroom. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed him taking in the walls, the vaulted ceilings, nearly every inch of them covered in paintings and sketches and doodles, an explosion of color and life and her own personal brand of magic. “Did you… make these?” he asked, gesturing vaguely to the space around them.

“Yeah,” she said. It was odd, having a stranger come into her most private space like this, seeing the closest approximation of the inside of her mind as a person possibly could. Well, at this point Caleb wasn’t really a stranger, exactly, more of a casual acquaintance, but he was still a man. A strange man, standing among her jewelry and dancing costumes and furniture. She surreptitiously kicked a lacy thong under the bed.

Not surreptitiously enough, apparently, as his eyes flicked over to her, to the soft bed beside her, with its lacy canopy and rumpled sheets and wide, yawning space much too big for just one person. Then his eyes roamed further, coming to rest on a frilly, strapless bra draped over her bedside lamp, and his cheeks went a little pink as he quickly looked away.

She snatched it, feeling her own face heat up as she kicked it under the bed too. “It’s just a bra, Caleb,” she said, hoping her voice sounded lighter and more nonchalant to his ears than it did to her own.

“Right,” he said. “Just a bra.”

“They’re for my boobs,” she said. “You know what boobs are, yes?”

He cleared his throat. “I am… familiar,” he said carefully. He looked almost more uncomfortable than she felt, and something in her twisted a little.

There were… options here. Fun ones.  “Are you now,” she said, which wasn’t really a question.

He swallowed slightly as she moved slowly towards him, hands clasped behind her back in an imitation of that night. “It may be hard to fathom,” he said in a surprisingly level voice, “but I have, in fact, come across a fair number of them in my life.”

“Really?” she said, inching ever closer. “You could have fooled me.”

He must know she was baiting him, and yet he took it anyway. “Could I?”

“You could,” she agreed, “because I was wearing that bra the other night. When you left.”

His eyes, already a bright blue, somehow seemed even brighter the closer she got. He wasn’t very red anymore. “Under that corset?” he said. “I doubt it.”

She hummed, now very close. “Maybe,” she said, “maybe not. Maybe you would have found out if you’d stayed.”

She could feel the heat from his chest through the thin cotton of his shirt as she trailed a light finger up the line of buttons at the V of his collar. “I very much doubt that,” he said.

Jester hummed again. “Shame,” she said. “We could have had a lot of fun.”

“Hmm,” he said.

Her finger was very nearly at his neck now, and she paused there, considering. “You took my ribbon,” she accused.

“So I did,” he murmured. “Would you like it back?”

“Maybe.”

She flicked her eyes up to find him looking at her, and something in her swooped at the intensity of his gaze. “Jester,” he said in a low voice, and somehow the way he said her name sent a shiver up her spine, “do you actually have my wallet up here?”

She smirked. “Of course I do,” she said innocently. “Why else would I have brought you up to my bedroom?”

With a gentle tap of his nose and a swish of her hips she spun on her heel and made her way to her vanity, where the wallet lay innocently among the perfume bottles and discarded makeup brushes. She heard him let out a soft, sudden exhale as she left him, and found herself biting her lip at the sound. She’d done that. He’d done that, because of her, and it wasn’t even because she was being paid to do it. There was something thrilling about flirting so brazenly in her own home, in her own bedroom, with a man she’d… Well.

He wasn’t a weirdo all the time, at least.

She brought it back to him, walking a little more quickly this time — because the moment was over, she’d had her fun — but when his fingers brushed against her hand in the exchange her own fingers tingled at the contact. “Thank you,” he said, still in that low, accented voice that made her heart beat just a little bit faster in spite of herself.

“You’re welcome,” she said, even though her mouth was starting to go dry.

When he finally broke eye contact to put the wallet back in his pocket, she almost sighed, but caught herself just in time. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction — it was more fun that way.

“Well,” he said. “I should go.”

“Wait,” she said, catching his sleeve as he turned to leave. He raised an eyebrow at her and she dug in her back pocket for her phone, which she held out to him. “Your number,” she reminded him. “You know, for later.”

He took it after a moment, and with a few quick taps on the screen handed it back. “There you go,” he said, and the corner of his mouth twitched up properly for the first time since she’d known him. Oh. Oh. “For later,” he said.

Oh, that was not fair. “You know, I’m actually kind of glad Molly didn’t take your wallet back,” she said, trying desperately to regain the upper hand. But, you know. Casually. Because this was fine.

“Oh?”

“Yeah, because that meant you had to come back yourself.” She fluttered her eyelashes just a bit and bit back a small grin of triumph as she saw his pupils dilate, if only for a moment. “It was really nice seeing you again, Caleb,” she said softly.

She was winning — she didn’t know, exactly, when it had become a contest, but that didn’t matter because she was winning —

And then she wasn’t anymore, because he was smirking again, and — oh, that really wasn’t fair — through the sunlight streaming through her bedroom window his hair wasn’t just auburn, it was copper and gold and a hint of something deeper, and his eyes were ice and the sea and a cloudless summer sky, and the light was casting just enough shadow to highlight the sharp line of his jaw and the curve of his high cheekbones as he gave a short, polite, yet impish bow. “The pleasure was all mine, Miss Lavorre,” he said, and his eyes never left her for a second. “I look forward to hearing from you.”

And just like that, he had won. He’d beat her, because she was still standing there when he turned tail and left, that world-weary coat that smelled of campfires and old leather swishing gently in his wake, the door clicking softly as he closed it behind him. She didn’t know how long she stood there, heart hammering, an odd buzzing in her ears. When she finally collapsed backwards into bed, sinking deeply into the mattress, she pulled the nearest pillow over her face and squealed.

He’d flirted with her. He’d really, really flirted with her, when she wasn’t even working, when it was just the two of them in her messy little bedroom; and she was the best at flirting, she got paid to be the best at flirting, and he was still so good at it that he’d won.

He was a wizard, he carried twenty-seven pictures of his cat in his wallet, and he flirted with her so good that he’d won.

It took her at least five minutes to calm herself enough to go back downstairs, and when she did Nott looked up from polishing glasses. “You were up there for ages,” she said. “What happened? Did you fuck him or something? He looked pretty frazzled on the way out.”

‘Aha,’ she thought. Maybe it had been more of a tie after all. “No, Nott, I didn’t fuck him,” she said, feeling her ears heat up as she slid back into her seat at the bar. Her glass of milk, now gently sweating, wasn’t quite as cold anymore, but still tasted good. She downed it and grinned sheepishly. “But… I might have accidentally maybe sort of offered him a job, maybe. I think.”

“Jester, what the fuck?”

[diabolikotaku]

AU: Yui finds out she’s a Sakamaki

Okay so I’m just gonna guess that you mean Yui is only a Sakamaki and the other two families are gonna react to it just like the Sakamakis.

Sakamaki:

- It was a normal night until Karlheinz decides to make a rare drop in and his kids are not happy to see him as always and Yui is just polite to him like always.

- Then he drops the bomb.

- “Ah, daughters are so much more welcoming than sons. I’ve been missing out on the gentleness of a little girl.”

- The brothers stare at him like ‘wtf you old geezer?’.

- casually states “That is why I came here tonight, Yui is your half-sister since she came from a different person than your mothers.”

- “E-Eh? But I’m human...I don’t have fangs or cravings for blood...What...?”

- “Your mother was human, Seiji prevented you from turning into a vampire and so you haven’t gone through the proper stages of developing into one.”

- Now the boys hate their father more.

- Ever since then, they’ve been acting really weird.

- They don’t really attack her blood anymore.

- When they try, they just kinda chicken out which makes Yui even more confused.

- Laito has been more, touchy?

- “Everyone’s been so weird lately, don’t you think so Imouto-chan?” He was hugging her from behind as she was sitting on her bed. “I-Imouto-chan? I’m the same age as you...” “Not really if you don’t count vampire age.” Laito laughed as he suddenly kissed the pale blonde’s ear which jolts her up and she got up and turned towards him with a shocked look. “H-Hey, I’m your sister!” “I know, but it gives us a chance for me to be a little bit nicer to you. Wouldn’t you like that, Imouto-chan?” Laito got up and suddenly pinned her softly to the violet colored wall and gave off a dangerous smile, as if nothing changed about their positions except he was being strangely more gentle. Immediately Ayato came into the room and dragged out his brother.

- “Oi, if this pervert messes with you just tell someone...” “Eh? You’re so mean Ayato-kun~” “Shut up you pervert.”

- Subaru has been distancing himself away from Yui...

- Yui decides to face him in the garden, but it doesn’t work out right and he yells in her face to leave him alone and walks off to leave a confused Yui alone. But when he’s far away enough he sighs and rubs his temples...

- “My first love can’t be my sister...Fuck that old man...”

- Reiji would probably act a bit more decent towards her but he’s still the same, like pointing out mannerisms and such as he would do for his other brothers. He’ll be nice occasionally towards her but like once in blue moon but his sadistic nature towards Yui as lowered a bit...

- “-Don’t sit like that, you’re a lady and one of the only ones who decides to follow table manners.”

- Basically her mom now.

- Shuu really doesn’t care...Like at all. 

- “Oh...Is it weird if I bite you then?”

- So he still acts the same towards Yui.

- Ayato changed a lot, like at one point he’ll be snarky and arrogant like any other day but when Yui comes in he instantly shuts up and it amazes Reiji.

- “Yui, I might need you to come into the living room. Ayato is being disruptive.”

- “Ayato-kun ,did I do something to make you upset?” “No it’s...I...Ah, shut up and leave me alone!”

- As if his highkey salt towards Karlheinz could be any more salty.

- “Y-You don’t have to do those things, I’m your sister now!” “But I don’t like you as a sister and I never will.” Still possessive as he is in denial.

- One day Yui overheard Kanato and Teddy’s ‘conversation’.

- “Since Yui-san is my sister, I don’t think a wedding dress is appropriate for her...Don’t you think so Teddy? Maybe she’ll be more comfortable in a Sunday dress...”

- Still wants to turn her into a doll.

- There are also those times where they bite her and completely forget that they’re half-siblings.

Mukami:

- They’re not happy with the news either.

- Well at least she’s not directly related to them. (Since they’re adopted)

- Ruki wouldn’t change really, probably more homie to Yui since she’s their technical cousin. But he’s still the Ruki she knew, although he had his times he would forget about her relations.

- Yuuma would probably invite Yui to the garden just talk about stuff and it made her really happy that he wasn’t treating her poorly much.

- “Ah shit...I like the neet’s sister...”

- Kou would probably try to get Yui to spill some things about the Sakamakis he can use against them as blackmail. His dislike for the Sakamakis is still there but he really can’t bring himself to hate Yui after all of the things she did, so he labled her the ‘likable Sakamaki’. He’s still a liar towards her though.

- “C’mooon tell me something you know about Laito~!” “But I really don’t know anything!” “You guys are siblings, you should know something!”

- When his bipolar switch is on he’d probably yell at her stuff about ‘Why would I be okay with a Sakamaki’ something like that and he’d hella regret it afterwards. But Yui’s used to it so it was a reminder of sorts.

- Azusa wouldn’t really think much less of Yui.

- “Ah...Kanato-san...Might be angry if I do this...” *bites anyway*

- “Say...Hello for me...Yui-san....”

- 2/4 think: “Ugh, she’s that person sister...I’ll do it just to aggravate him.”

Tsukinami:

- Carla just looks at Yui and blinked. “Oh...That’s nice, I guess.”

- No hesitation to bite, he gots ta cleanse.

- “Your blood probably is impossible to cleanse now I found out you’re somewhat related to them.”

- Like Kou, she’s the ‘tolerable Sakamaki’. Not much change between their relationship.

- Shin on the other hand would use this information for new forms of teasing. 

- “-Perhaps you’re hiding a secret lust in you? If you’re related to that idiot, you must be one like him!” “Hm? You’re not sleeping? If you’re related to that rock, shouldn’t you follow your big brother’s footsteps~?” “Ah, don’t be so full of yourself. No wonder you’re his sister.”

- They literally don’t care about that.

- Occasionally nice but still treat her like shit.

- “Wait...Does this mean we’re technically you’re uncles?”

Summary:

- Karlheinz is hated a little bit more.

- Yui was kinda happy about knowing she had an actually family, but not in these circumstances.

- Some in denial...

- She tried call Shuu and Reiji Onii-san once: “Please don’t do that.” “I know you follow family traditions, but you do not have to force yourself to do that”

- Kou and Yuuma cracked up laughing hearing that.

- And so did Shin.

- Yui’s mom is probably long gone dead knowing how Karlheinz treats his wives, but still wishes to know about her and what she was like.

- If Yui decides to stay human, things will be like normal (whatever normal is in a vampire household. If Yui becomes a vampire, she’ll need a lot of training and education about the urges, powers and things like that of a vampire...Someone’s bound to stuff her mouth with blood because she’s too nice and gentle to actually do that to a person.

- Dear god someone help her.

Idk if you wanted Kino or if I even did this right, but here’s what you got. Also be specific on what you want, thanks for requesting!

[stardust2003]

Madferit: The Novel - Chapter 25

           The day had finally come...well almost finally come anyway. The album was set to be released in one day and everyone was counting down the final hours.

To ring in this highly anticipated event, the boys decided they'd do a free and private gig at the Virgin Megastore in London. Approximately three-hundred lucky fans would be invited inside at midnight to help Oasis unveil their sophomore album to a very suspecting public.

They wouldn't be helping the whole Oasis though – just a few select members. Liam and Noel were a given, of course, but then there was a matter of their accompaniment. It was going to be an acoustic gig with Liam on vocals, Noel on guitar and backup vocals (with at least one chance for a solo vocal performance), and Alan on drums. Guigsy was still out of commission with no word on when he'd return. There was still no need for Scott or Bonehead though. An acoustic set doesn't need two fucking guitars and sure as hell doesn't need a fucking bass.

Bet you can't guess whose philosophy that last statement was.

Regardless, Bonehead and Scott weren't too bothered and decided to spend their last bit of free time with their respective women and families. The bus was scheduled to leave for Blackpool only hours after the launch party to begin a week-long tour in England before jetting off Stateside.

No stop in Cleveland this time around. Pittsburgh though. And David Letterman.

The boys were so excited about the evening they started partying as soon as they woke up on October first. Not that that was unusual or anything.

I stayed away from it all. Somebody had to. And technically I was still part of the management/baby-sitting crew. I didn't mind it though. I liked having a clear head. Liam and Noel got decidedly Freudian when they were on the goodtime, both believing it helped them focus on stage. The paranoia usually didn't come until the after parties when they were just trying to stay awake and keep going.

They were used to hangovers.

"We're Irish for fuck's sake!"

And they were good at just sleeping off whatever chemicals they pumped into their systems. Afterwards came the requests for bacon sandwiches and tea...and on the rare occasion, whining for their mother's cakes.

People crowded in as close as they were allowed up to the stage inside the store. There was still time to wait before three lovely lads graced them with their presence.

I hung with said lads in some back room of the store that was functioning as their dressing room. Each of them had emptied at least two of the provided green bottles and sent at least one little baggy of a certain white powder up their nose.

"Can't remember the words now." Liam said with a slight grin. "I'm off me tits!"

It was hard to tell if he was joking or not. Even when he could remember the words, he'd still fuck them up on purpose sometimes just to piss Noel off.

He was making me nervous. I have no idea why though. I'd seen him drunk and high so many times I lost count.

Still, some part of me felt this need to worry about him.

"Well ya better fuckin' remember 'em, ya cunt!" Noel barked. "You'll not fuck up this gig, d'ya hear me?"

"Alright!" Liam yelled back. "Just keep your fuckin' shirt on!"

"You-"

"Alright that's enough!" Alan screamed as he jumped between the two of them to prevent either one from lunging at the other. "Jesus Christ! Your mum's here!"

"You what?" Noel looked at him curiously.

"I'm here!" A familiar Irish voice replied.

We all turned to see Peggy standing in the doorway.

"Mam!" Liam exclaimed as he ran over to her. He threw his arms around her, wrapping her as tight as he could. "I've missed you so fuckin' much! I'm so glad you're here! This is all because a you, Mam! If it weren't for you we wouldn't even be here!"

"I know." She agreed with that soft smile of hers.

He sniffed. "I'm so happy, Mam! You've no idea." He sniffed again. And again. I thought it was just his nose acting up from all the blow but then I realized...

He was crying.

Tears of joy, of course. And rightfully warranted. Peggy took the liberty of wiping them away for him.

"How'd ya get here?" Noel asked her after Liam was taken care of. "I know we wanted ya to come but-"

"Your Meg." She cut him off. "Sorted my train ticket."

"She what?!"

"You heard her, Noel." I piped up trying not to let the start of my anger show. "Don't make her repeat herself."

He looked at me, those blue eyes filling with shock. "I had no idea-"

"Course you didn't." I finished his sentence and then went across the room to talk to Maggie.

"He's not lying, you know." Maggie informed me. "Meg took it upon herself to arrange Peggy's ticket. Thought it'd be a nice gesture since she's never been to London. Plus she thought Noel'd like the idea."

I rolled my eyes. "So let me get this straight." I began. "I've fucked up my chances with keeping Noel because I didn't think to send for his mother? I just figured-"

"Come on, Addie! Don't be ridiculous! You know Noel cares about you and so does Peggy. Trust me, she was going to be here regardless of who got her here. This is a big day for them. There's no way she'd miss it."

I knew she was right but I still couldn't help worrying. "Is Meg coming?"

"Not that I'm aware of." She replied. "She knows the boys are leaving tomorrow for Blackpool and there really isn't much time to dick around."

"Yeah." I said softly.

"He's yours, Adds. Trust me."

I breathed a small sigh of relief. Maggie wouldn't lie to me. She wouldn't bull shit, even for the band.

The clock was about a minute away from striking midnight. I followed the guys to the side of the stage.

The crowd went insane when they finally came out, with Liam leading the way.

"I can't remember the words, right?" He informed them. "I'm off me tits!"

'He's joking.' I hopefully thought. 'He's just joking.'

He sauntered around in typical Liam fashion while Noel and Alan took their places on stage.

"Does this guitar sound alright?" Noel asked the audience after he sat down and gave it a strum.

Whether it did or not didn't seem to matter. People went nuts just hearing him speak. And goodness knows I did too.

The set began and Liam actually remembered the lyrics...for the most part anyway. He fucked up the words but it really didn't seem any different than the other times.

I mouthed along with him and Noel when it came time for Noel's solo thing. Their voices were beautiful, the energy was breathtaking...until it all went to shit.

"It needs to go faster!" Liam told Noel when he got a break between lyrics.

"It is goin' fast!" Noel said. "You're the one that's slow!"

"Fuck off!"

"What the fuck is he doing?!" I thought out loud as I watched him walk off the stage. I went to follow him but Maggie stopped me.

"Just let him go, Addie!" She said. "It's better to let him go cool down and be away from Noel for a bit."

"Are you kidding me?! He's off his fucking head on God only knows what. There's no way I'm gonna let him go off on his own!"

She tried to argue with me but I didn't have time to stick around. I had no fucking clue why I cared. Why I gave so much of a shit about him.

"Liam! Wait!" I called as I chased after him.

"Not now, Tix. I need a fag." He replied.

"I'll go with you."

He smiled at that and stopped to let me catch up. He led us out the door where we were greeted by a small group of journalists.

"Liam!" One said. "How d'you think the new album's gonna do?"

"It's gonna do good, yeah." Liam replied.

There were other questions, one of which was about Blur.

"There's no rivalry." He said as we walked on. "It took them five years to get to number one, while it only took us twelve fuckin' months. Our Kid was a daft cunt for what he said, a proper knobhead. And I gave him a good crack for it. Ya can't see it though 'cuz he's got too much make-up on."

The journalists kept walking right with us and seemed pushy without being pushy. Pesky was probably the better word.

And Liam played nice...for about a minute.

"Are ya done askin' me questions now?" He asked as politely as he possibly could without sounding too pissed off.

"Yeah." A couple of them replied.

"Good. C'mon, Tixie!" He grabbed my hand and led us off down the street.

The air was cool and the street was quiet as we continued on our journey. I didn't know where we were going but at that point I really didn't care.

"Can we stop for a minute?" Liam asked.

"Sure." I replied looking at him. I furrowed my eyebrows in concern. "Are you alright?"

He looked like he was about to pass out. His eyelids were half closed and his breathing appeared a bit slow.

"Yeah." He nodded slowly. "I can go all night, me. I just want a chance to...wanna finish me fag and that...pl-please."

"Okay."

He leaned back against the brick of some building and put his cigarette between his lips. He sucked hard on a drag and then blew out a large cloud of smoke.

Things were quiet for a few seconds until he finally spoke.

"Does Our Kid know ya come after me?" He asked.

"He probably does by now." I replied.

He shook his head. "There's a reason you're here and it's nothin' to do with havin' a fuckin' smoke! Why ya doin' this to me, Tixie? Why the fuck won't ya take me back?!"

"Liam-"

"I'm sorry I fucked Patsy! Honest to God! She don't mean nothin'. She's just an easy fuck. Her fanny's so fuckin' loose 'cuz she's already had a kid and that but you..." He stepped closer to me. "You're so fuckin' tight and so fuckin' warm!"

"Stop it!" I snapped as I pushed him away from trying to kiss me.

"I can't bloody stop!" He argued. "I love you, Tixie. I always have."

"Liam, you're drunk. And high. And clearly worn out-"

"No I'm not! I love ya even when I'm sober. Bet our Noel can't even give ya that."

I honestly didn't know. They spent so much of their time off their tits it was hard to tell what they meant and what they didn't.

"We should go back to the house." I said trying to change the subject. "And get you to bed. You've got a big day tomor- well actually today."

Supernova Heights was completely empty when we arrived. Noel and Alan must've still been out and I wasn't arsed to stay up and wait for them.

"Whoa!" I exclaimed as I helped Liam catch himself from falling as we entered the guestroom. "Let's sit down on the bed."

"I don't need your fuckin' help!" He said as I began untying his shoes. "I can do it me fuckin' self."

"Right. And fall over on your head in the process."

He scrunched his eyebrows at me.

I smirked a little as I went for the top button of his shirt.

"Nah!" He slapped my hand away.

"What?" I said curiously. "You don't wanna take your shirt off?"

"No I don't." He replied.

"Thought you said you didn't like sleepin' with clothes on?"

"Fuck off, Tix! Stop rippin' the fuckin' piss outta me, alright? Jesus!"

I sighed as I looked at him.

He scrunched his eyebrows again and winced in pain. He looked up and his blue eyes had that famous dead stare. "Ya need to tell Noel to fix...hire a bloody contractor or summat...and fix the fuckin'..." He leaned over a bit.

"Liam?" I said trying not to panic. "What's-"

"Why's this room spinnin' so fuckin' fast?" He asked. "What's Noel done to make it..." He leaned over to his left towards the head of the bed.

"Come on!" I told him as I grabbed his shoulders and repositioned him. "Let's get you laid down."

I helped him lay down on his back with his head gently cradled by the pillows. "Do you think you're gonna get sick?" I asked.

"No." He replied as he shook his head. "I'll be alright. I just...fuck me!" He grabbed his stomach and winced in pain again.

"Better go grab the trash can." I sighed as I got up and went into the bathroom.

I got Liam situated and then left to go to bed.

"What the fuck is this?" A familiar voice asked as soon as I stepped out into the hallway.

"Liam's sick." I informed him.

"Sick? The fuck he's sick! Not when there's a tour startin' in about twelve fuckin' hours!"

"Noel-"

"The fuck you doin' in there with him?" He asked pointing at the guestroom. "Did you fuck him?"

"Of course not!" I defended. "I told you. He's drunk. Can hardly frickin' stand on his own. I'm his baby-sitter, remember?"

He tutted and shook his head. "C'mon! Let's just go to bed."

"You're my baby-sitter too, y'know." Noel said as he wrapped his arms around me while we lay in the darkness. "How d'ya think I felt when ya fucked off tonight and left me all alone at that party?"

"I'm sure you did alright without me." I replied.

"The fuck I did! I missed you, Adds. So fuckin' much. And tonight was meant to be special for you and me. It was the release of the album...your album."

I turned to face him. Hearing him say something like that was enough to make me.

"Please say you're comin' with us tomorrow." He continued. "Well, today really. I can't-"

"Yes I'm coming." I told him.

He chuckled. "Good. It's not like you would've had a choice anyway."

"Oh!" I playfully slapped him.

We lay there quietly for a second until Noel planted his lips on mine. The bed creaked as he got on top of me.

His hard on poked my inner thigh through his boxers. He began swinging his hips on mine, causing just a bit of lovely friction.

I cupped my hands around the back of his head as I pulled his face closer to mine. I reached down and pulled his boxers down just enough to free his throbbing cock.

"We need this!" He said breathlessly as he sucked on my neck. "We need this so fuckin' much!"

He moved his hands and grabbed the waistband of my underwear to pull them down as well.

I held my breath as he slid inside me. I gripped the back of his head and tightened my legs around his hips as his began to swing.

We moaned opposite each other until we finally found our rhythm. It was a bit surprising how in sync we really were.

We kept going and going until Noel's body froze up.

'This must be it.' I thought. I was starting to find it easier to read him.

He pulled out as quick as he could.

"Jesus Christ!" He exclaimed as he tried to untangle himself from the blankets.

"Noel?" I said as I sat up. "What's-"

"I need to use the toilet! Now!"

"Okay. Let me help you-"

"Don't touch me!" He yelled as he pushed me away.

"Alright fine!" I said as I moved out of his way.

He freed himself and ran to the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind him.

I sighed as I thought about what just happened. Was I that bad or something?

Things were silent until the toilet flushed about a minute later. The bathroom door opened and Noel reappeared.

"Are you afraid to come at me or something?" I asked after he got comfortable in bed.

"No!" He replied with a defensive huff. "But I'm sure as hell not gonna risk ya gettin' pregnant!"

"Well you don't need to worry about that too much. I'm on the Pill."

"You what?"

"I'm on the Pill." I repeated. "Have been for a while."

"Why the fuck didn't ya tell me?!" He yelled.

"I figured you already knew. Why else wouldn't I bug ya about using condoms?"

He grunted as he pulled the blankets up more and adjusted his head on the pillows. "Make me worry for nothin'!" He muttered.

"Yeah!" I sarcastically agreed.

We fell asleep quickly but it didn't last long...for me anyway.

I gasped when I heard the door creak open.

"Tixie? Tixie!"

I watched him as he crept into the room. He had his coat on from earlier but I could see he wasn't wearing his jeans.

"Scoot over!" He said when he was finally at the side of the bed. "Please?"

"No!" I barked as quietly as I could. "Absolutely-"

"Please Tixie! I can't sleep down the hall. It's too fuckin' scary! Noel keeps his monsters in the cupboard and they'll jump out when I close my eyes!"

"Oh for-"

"Scoot over, Tix. Please!" He said as he pushed me. "Just enough to give us some-"

"What the fuck's goin' on?" Noel said groggily. "Addie, why's your arse in my fuckin' stomach?"

I went to speak but then he looked up and realized...

"What the fuck're ya doin' in here?! And why the fuck...fuckin' hell! Are you naked?!"

"No! I-"

"You fuckin' prick!" Noel bellowed as he jumped out of bed and grabbed him. "Ya think you're gonna come in here and have it off with my bird, eh?"

"No!" Liam cried. "I was just-"

"Fuck off! She's mine, you dickhead! So lay the fuck off!"

"Ow! Fuck!" Liam yelled as Noel twisted his arm. "Jesus!"

"Stop it Noel!" I screamed as I grabbed him and tried pulling him back.

He was shorter than Liam although not by much and when he got enough power going he was really quite strong.

"Fuck off back down the hall or I'll fuckin' put ya there me self!" He barked at his younger brother. "Fuckin' pervert! Ya've got Patsy now, ya dickhead. Fuckin' go have it off with her!"

"Gladly!" Liam barked back. "I wouldn't fuck your missus even if me life depended on it. Cheap slag!"

I tried not to let that last bit bother me. It was just the drugs and alcohol. Just the anger between the two brothers. It would pass. It would-

"C'mon, let's go to bed." Noel said after Liam had exited the room. "For real this time."

"Okay." I replied softly.

We crawled back in bed and fell right back to sleep as if nothing happened.

I was up the next morning before Noel and decided to take a shower. I hoped it would wash away all the guilt, all the sadness I'd been feeling since the previous night.

The bathroom was quiet except for the sound of the water running...until the door swung open.

"Is there room in here for me?" Noel asked after he popped his head inside the shower door.

"Suppose so." I replied. "But I'm nearly finished."

"Not if I'm joinin' ya!"

I giggled as he got in and walked towards me.

"Has this water gone cold yet?" He asked nodding at the temperature control.

"No not yet." I told him.

He smiled. "Good. What'd ya do with my shampoo and that?"

"I haven't done anything with it."

"Yes ya have! You've fuckin' taken over in here and moved all my stuff."

"No I didn't." I said.

"Yes ya did!" He argued.

"No I didn't!"

"Yes ya-" He stopped when he looked past me and saw the bottles sitting on the shelf. "Oh. There they are!"

"Yeah. Right where you left them!" I said.

He nodded. "Pass us that one on the left."

I picked it up and looked at it for a second.

"C'mon, Adds! Give it- OI!" He exclaimed as I shoved his head under the water. "What're you fuckin'-"

"I'm your baby-sitter, remember?" I said as I ran through my hands through his hair to get it all wet. "I'm just doing my job."

"Well ya can be a bit more gentler, can't ya? And ya better not get any soap in my eyes!"

"I won't."

I got his hair wet good enough and then poured a blob of his shampoo into my palm. I lathered up and rinsed his hair as well as I thought I could then set to work on his neck down.

"Ya better be even gentler now." He warned as I scrubbed my way to his waist. "You're enterin' pretty special territory there."

I hummed in agreement and then got to it.

He moaned a little as I began washing that "special" place. The start of his semi was quickly on the rise but I tried not to pay it any attention.

As much as he wanted to, Noel thought it best we didn't dick around. We had to keep moving. The bus was headed to Blackpool in only a few hours.

"He better have his shit packed!" Noel said as he pointed towards the wall that separated the two bedrooms. "We haven't got time to arse about."

"I know." I agreed. "I'll go check on him."

I left Noel to finish packing his suitcase and headed down the hall. "Liam?" I said as I knocked on the door. "Liam?"

No answer so my only option was to let myself in.

I rolled my eyes at the sight of him laying stomach down on the bed, bare ass up for the world to see.

"Liam." I said as I approached him. "Come on! It's time to get up."

He lay there breathing quietly.

I put my hand on his shoulder and shook him. "Liam!"

He gasped and his eyes shot open. "Not now, Tix!" He groaned as he closed his eyes. "I'm too fuckin' knackered. I've only just fallen asleep!"

"Well you can sleep on the bus." I informed him. "Come on! We've gotta get a move on."

"Five minutes more. There's no harm in that, is there?"

I sighed as I looked at him. He looked like such an innocent angel. So childlike. It was no wonder Peggy had such a hard time telling him no.

"Alright." I said.

"Ta." He replied quietly.

I smirked and then went and sat down on the empty side of the bed. I crossed my legs pretzel-style and then began rubbing my fingers up and down his back.

He squeezed his shoulder blades together and sighed contentedly. "I knew ya'd come back." He said softly.

"No." I corrected him. "I came to get your ass up."

"Same difference."

I chuckled at that as I continued to run my fingers along his warm, smooth skin. It was so peaceful...for a few seconds anyway.

"GET THE FUCK UP AND GET A FUCKIN' MOVE ON!" Noel bellowed. "YOU'LL NOT MAKE US LATE!"

"Why the fuck're his knickers in such a twist?" Liam asked. "We've plenty of time to get to Blackpool."

"Well that may be so but you know how he can be." I replied. "Come on! Get your clothes on and let's go."

We loaded up the bus and promptly pulled out of London. Noel and I sat together on the couch while he played his acoustic guitar and I just listened. Bonehead and Alan sat gazing out the window across the aisle while Scott had his face buried in a newspaper.

Liam was fast asleep on the other side of me, stretching out and pushing me into Noel.

"What the fuck?" Noel grumbled as it interrupted his playing. He looked over at Liam. "What the-"

"Just let him be." I said as I held my hand up to keep him back.

I was enjoying the quiet and deep down, I think they were too.

Liam started to stir about an hour later. I watched as he slowly woke up and opened his eyes.

"Jesus!" He exclaimed at the sight of something. He quickly sat up and pushed into me as he tried to get far away from whatever the heck-

"What the fuck're ya doin'?!" Noel yelled as he caught his guitar after Liam caused him to nearly drop it.

"Kill it, Tixie!" Liam said to me panicked. "You've gotta fuckin' kill it!"

"Kill what?" I asked curiously.

"The fuckin' spider! Fuckin' cunt come crawlin' in the window, scared the fuckin' shit outta me!"

"Oh for fuck's sake!" Noel said.

"Ya've gotta fuckin' kill it, Tixie!" Liam continued. "We can't let it stay on the bus. What if it's come in to lay its eggs or summat? Then we'll have a million fuckin' little ones runnin' 'round and-"

"Where is it?" I asked trying to keep him calm.

"Over there!" He pointed. "On the side a the window."

I went over to look and there it was.

"It's on the outside, Liam." I informed him. "So you've nothing to worry about."

"Yes I do! What if it comes inside?"

"Don't open the window and it won't."

"But-"

"Just do what she says Our Kid and get the fuck over it!" Noel cut him off. "And find me a new pick since you've made me lose me other one." He flipped his guitar upside down to try and get the pick out from falling inside the sound hole.

But Liam didn't listen and just sat there watching his brother try to retrieve his old one. I watched as well. It was too entertaining not to.

Noel shook the guitar again and out came the pick.

I relaxed a little while waiting for the music to start up again as the bus rolled on to Blackpool.