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juyeonszn · 9 months

Text

NECTAR

PAIRING kim sunwoo x f!reader

WORD COUNT 7.14k

GENRES smut ﹒ fluff

WARNINGS 18+ MINORS DO NOT INTERACT, mature language, umm age gap!! reader is like 10 or so years older than sunwoo (it’s never really specified what her exact age is), reader is also eric’s older sister, there’s a bit of spanish thrown in here lol they’re in mexico for vacation what did u expect, sun eric and hak are professional baseball players, there’s a scene where a waitress is kinda icky to reader bc she’s older, i think mentions of alcohol, sunwoo is down BAD down bad to the point of no return it’s crazy, he’s also a horny impatient little shit, soft dom!sunwoo ig idk, oral (m! & f! receiving), face fucking, handjob ish, a little bit of hair pulling, vaginal fingering, So Much Praise, UNPROTECTED SEX pls be safe!!, edging, delayed orgasm kinda, missionary position, creampie, aftercare :P, the last scene is so cute and disgusting i hate couples

SUMMARY despite being nearly a decade older than him, sunwoo’s always had his eyes on you. so when your younger brother invites you to join them on vacation, you fall right into his trap. you can’t really blame him for finally taking the bait after all these years.

MORE woah hey again 😋 this one isn’t as wild as the hyunjae fic, but it has its moments LOLL if u ever read my warnings about this when it was on my wip list, then u know that this was actually an old fic back from when i wrote for anime 😭 i changed a lot tbh but a good chunk of the original plot is still there 👍 i got inspo for the last scene from a tumblr quote my irl posted on instagram isn’t that crazy anyway….. enjoy!!

PLAYLIST nectar — wayv, tangerine love (favorite) — nct dream, delicious — the boyz, passion fruit — the boyz, horizon — jaehyun, moonlight sunrise — twice

When you agreed to go with your younger brother on a vacation in Mexico for a week with his friends, you weren’t sure what you were expecting.

You knew your brother’s friends well. They'd gone to high school together and after partly going their separate ways following graduation, decided to go on yearly trips to make up for any lost time. This year, the destinations were the gorgeous beaches of Mexico. Cozumel, Cancun, you name it. You were hitting all the spots.

Those were the luxuries of being the older sister of a professional baseball player.

From the start of your getaway, every single one of your movements felt like they were being watched. Your skin burned with the heat of mocha brown eyes staring at you. Half of you wanted to point it out to Eric, but figured you’d save yourself from the drama. Besides, you were a big girl and two could play at that game.

The first instance took place before you even left for the trip.

You lived about an hour away from Eric and since you were all taking the same flight, you thought it would be more convenient to just ride to the airport together. And because he was closer to the airport, he offered for you to stay at his and Sunwoo’s apartment. Haknyeon would be meeting you there due to prior engagements with his own team.

When you arrived at your brother’s place, you immediately regretted it. You hadn’t called before going over and Eric happened to be out, leaving you alone with Sunwoo. There was nothing wrong with him, you just hadn’t seen him in a couple years and you were afraid of it being awkward.

The younger male helped you bring your things inside, huffing when he dropped your suitcases in the guest bedroom. He wipes away imaginary sweat from his forehead, blowing out a raspberry as he turns to face you.

“Did you pack bricks in there? Why the fuck was that so heavy?”

You laugh. Sunwoo had always been quite the clown as long as you’d known him. “I’m a girl, what did you expect? We never pack lightly.”

“You can say that again,” he snorts, twisting his torso to pop his back. “Uh, are you hungry? We have some leftover takeout in the fridge ‘cause you know damn well neither of us know how to cook.”

Before you can respond, you’re distracted by the sight of him raising his arms to stretch, his t-shirt riding up to show a sliver of his abdomen. From the way his slender fingers lock above his head to the taut skin peeking behind the fabric, you’re entranced. Your brain finally comprehends the fact that Kim Sunwoo was no longer a teenage boy, but rather a grown man.

He clears his throat, breaking your trance and forcing you to stop staring. Your cheeks flush slightly as you attempt to hide the embarrassment flooding your features. His lips are pulled into a smug grin, making you aware that he caught you. He doesn’t say anything though, keeping the cocky smirk as he leaves the room. (Presumably to go to the kitchen.)

With hefty feet, you drag yourself to follow. He’s already warming up the leftovers for you as you take a seat at the island barstool, resting your chin on your palm and your elbows on the counter. Your moment from a few minutes ago is long forgotten as you become transfixed by him on the other side of the island.

It’s weird for you to think about how much Eric has matured, coming from an older sister’s point of view. But having that same realization for Sunwoo is a completely different can of worms. You watch as he extracts the container out of the microwave and opens a drawer beside him to grab a pair of chopsticks simultaneously, all without skipping a beat.

He spins on his heels to place the food in front of you, pausing when he notices that you’re staring at him again. The glint in your eyes was more wholesome than before and it made his heart stutter in his chest. He slides the container across the surface of the island, leaning closer to you.

It was almost like your gaze trapped him in a spell, taking over his actions and drawing him towards you like a magnet. He’s never wanted you as much as he did right now, seeing you in his home, sitting on the stool in his kitchen. Your eyes widen when you’ve snapped back to reality.

Before he can do anything, the sound of the front door unlocking stops him and he’s stepping away to tidy up his mess as if nothing happened. Eric comes in to greet you happily and life continues on just as it had prior to Sunwoo leaning into your personal space. He acts like it never occurred, laughing along at a stupid joke your brother made.

And for some reason, you thought he would keep pretending nothing happened. What a rude awakening you were in for.

It’s a couple days into your trip and you were sitting on a lounge chair poolside, while Eric and Haknyeon had gone to get drinks. Sunwoo placed himself in the seat next to you, his sculpted chest and torso gleaming in all their tanned glory.

He knew it was wrong of him to pine after his best friend’s sister, but how could he not? There was something about your maturity that drove him crazy. But even if you ignored that, anyone who could see would find you stunningly gorgeous. The sight of you scantily clad in a bikini was enough to make the strongest men weak.

Perhaps it was also the thrill that you were nearly a decade older than him.

At this point, you weren’t sure if the warmth engulfing your body was from the sun or the brunette’s intense gaze, but you want to push your luck, the incident at the apartment still fresh on your mind.

“Sunwoo? Do you mind putting some sunscreen on my back for me?” You ask innocently, grasping the base of the tube firmly. His tongue darts out and swipes across his lips.

She knows what she’s doing, he thinks to himself.

“Yeah, s’no problem,” he responds cooly, standing from his chair to sit behind you on yours.

You’re borderline on his lap, so close that you can feel his breath on your neck. Just to fuck with him some more, you reach behind yourself to untie your swim suit top.

You’ve been on this playing field long enough to know when a man wants you, but you’ve never been an easy target. It was like a game of cat and mouse for you. Right when they think they’ve got you, you always seem to be three steps ahead.

This little chase that you were leading Sunwoo on wasn’t any different.

His fingers dance dangerously low on your back, working the lotion into your skin wonderfully. As you’ve gotten older, your body has undoubtedly changed. The fat of your thighs was far more than it was when you were in your early twenties/late teens. Your stomach was lined with stretch marks, no two the same. But even so, you remained ever confident. You wouldn’t put up with anyone who wouldn’t agree that your so-called ‘imperfections’ were beautiful.

After a few minutes, once the trap had been set, you tied your bathing suit back. The ghost of his skilled fingers lingered as you stood from the lounge chair, spotting your brother and Haknyeon walking back.

The brunette had never been denied before. He got what he wanted without fail, and he’d be damned if this was the one outlier. He’d just have to prove to you that even though he was younger, he was more of a man than any you’d ever been with. And that was a promise.

Later that evening, the four of you had gone to your respective rooms to shower and get ready for dinner. Luckily, Eric had used his brain for something good and reserved separate hotel rooms for each of you. ‘Just in case,’ he’d said.

You did the finishing touches of your makeup and checked your phone, finding a text from your brother.

[8:07] eric: we’re all in the lobby

[8:07] eric: just waiting on u

[8:07] eric: but take ur time dear sister pls don’t rush on our account

[8:08] eric: it’s not like we have an uber waiting for us or anything

[8:08] eric: note the sarcasm btw

You roll your eyes as you grab your purse, tossing the device inside. Who was he to talk about how long it took you to get ready? You were in your thirties and you were not about to be bossed around by your little brother. Back when he was still in high school, you were the one telling him to speed up his morning process.

Your dad had gotten a job halfway across the country right before his second year and it crushed him. You remember how upset he was when they broke the news, the thought of packing up his entire life and leaving all of his friends stung. So instead, you got a well paying job and bought a two bedroom apartment for the both of you, that way he could stay and finish out the rest of high school. You made some sacrifices, sure, but you were practically done experimenting in your life. You were in your late twenties by this point, what more was there to do? You’d already graduated from university so helping out your brother was doing everyone a favor.

After living together for nearly three years, you and Eric had grown a lot closer. With such an age difference, it’d been difficult to relate to one another and bond over certain things. When he’d discovered a new phase to go through, you had moved past it years prior. You were always just out of reach from each other until then. It was like the universe itself was trying to bring you together.

Even now, both of you much older, he still calls and asks to come over to your place so he can hang out. You meant just as much to him as he did to you.

The elevator dings, opening so you can stroll towards the group of young men waiting for you. Right when they caught sight of you, you started making your way to the Uber parked under the carport outside of the hotel.

The drive to the restaurant was silent, but you could feel an intense gaze on your form. Purposefully, you’d worn your most revealing outfit. A nice tight dress to hug your matured body and some skinny heels to elongate your legs. You were thankful that your brother wasn’t the type to be overly protective, well aware that his older sister could carry her own by now. However, you think even Haknyeon had started to pick up on your actions and the unspoken tension between you and Sunwoo.

You arrived at your location for the evening, stepping out of the car gracefully. You received multiple stares from other patrons and even a few employees. You weren’t sure if it was because you were just that drop dead gorgeous, or if it was another reason entirely. Maybe they were wondering what three men who looked as young as they did, were doing with an older woman such as yourself.

You don’t have to dwell on it for too long, a host showing the four of you to a booth almost immediately. Shout out to Eric and Sunwoo for having connections.

The seating arrangement ends up with you and Sunwoo on one side, Haknyeon and Eric on the other. You had a feeling this was not a good idea. They’d dropped you right where he wanted.

When the waitress comes to take your drink order, you feel the toasty warmth of a hand on your thigh, nearly tripping you up as you point out a margarita on the rocks from the menu. After she jots everything down, she taps her pen against the tablet. She then gestures between your party.

“Are any of you dating?” she asks curiously, eyeing you with a quirk to her brow. To anyone else, it’s a normal question. Eric, Haknyeon, and Sunwoo were indeed good looking guys. (One of them was your brother, of course he was attractive— where do you think he got it from?) But you could see right through her fake act. She had to have recognized the three baseball players.

“Haha, no actually. She’s my sister.” Eric chuckles, pointing at you with his thumb. She narrows her eyes momentarily before covering it up with a sickeningly sweet smile.

“Ah, tú hermana.” She tries to laugh off, but when the boys furrow their eyebrows, she realizes it fell upon deaf ears. You fight the urge to burst into laughter at how stupid they were.

“She said ‘your sister’ in Spanish. Idiots, I swear.” You explain to the still confused table. They let out a chorus of ‘ohhhh’s in response. Learning Spanish was something you’re glad you did, seeing as you sometimes needed to translate during your trip. You would definitely hold it over them when you got back.

The waitress seems to notice how close you and Sunwoo are sitting, but doesn’t call you out on it. While the other two are oblivious to her fixation, the brunette catches on quickly, squeezing the inside of your thigh as she continues her silly little version of twenty questions.

“Cuantos años tienes?” She asks you personally, realizing that you can understand her. What ever happened to girls supporting girls?

“How old are you?”

“En mis treinta.” You answer without hesitation, not exactly telling her for the sake of your own satisfaction. The press of Sunwoo’s fingers trails upward, causing you to shift uncomfortably.

“In my thirties.”

You can sense that she wants to say something snarky to you, her opposition to your age clear as glass, but she chooses not to. Whether that’s because she wants to seem like a good person in front of the boys or otherwise, you couldn’t care less. As long as you hadn’t been disrespected. And you knew if you were, Eric and the guys would jump to defend you with all their beings.

After what feels like a millennium, she finally leaves you alone, even going to the extent of switching tables with another waitress. Was that even allowed? You’re not entirely sure, but at least you didn’t have to deal with someone rude.

The majority of the dinner goes smoothly, the drinks and the food tasting unlike anything you’d ever had. Haknyeon couldn’t stop raving about the different flavors he was experiencing. At some point you think he told the waitress to send his thanks to the chef, in true Haknyeon fashion. That was the majority. The rest of the dinner was spent in absolute agony.

A certain baseball player couldn’t keep his hands to himself, eating with one and teasing you with the other. How no one paid any attention to what was happening right in front of them was beyond you. You’d even accidentally whimpered, covering it up by pretending the food was just that good.

The check couldn’t come fast enough, your body betraying you and anticipating getting back to the hotel. Your brother had different plans, claiming that the night was still young and he wanted to have drinks somewhere else. Your disappointment must’ve been obvious, because Sunwoo comes to your rescue.

“Eric, I think your sister’s ready to hit the hay.” He pats the brunette’s shoulder, one hand on his hip.

“Oh we can head back then—“ You interrupt him.

“No no, it’s fine, Eric, I'll be okay on my own. You guys have fun, don’t let me stop you.” You dismiss him. You could get rid of your problem yourself this way. No one to bother—

“I’ll go with you. Someone’s gotta make sure you get to your room safely, N/N. Besides, I'm beat. The sun’s starting to catch up to me.” Sunwoo grins, ruffling your hair. You glare at him, your irritation coming to light for the first time since you’d landed in the country. You’d done so well at acting like he wasn’t affecting you.

“Alright sick! Thanks, Sunwoo! Hak and I will see you tomorrow I guess,” Eric says. He turns to you, hugging your side. “I'll check to see if you’re still awake later.”

And that was that. You and your brother went your separate ways, ordering two Ubers for the pairs you were in.

It took all of about seconds following the ding of the elevator reaching your floor, for Sunwoo’s lips to meet yours. You jump, wrapping your arms around his neck and your legs around his waist, his large palms supporting you from your ass. It was so attractive that he could hold you like this— showing off the muscles he’s built from all his years of playing baseball, a far cry from that scrawny kid you knew when he was younger

He fumbles with his keycard, waving it frantically in front of the sensor. There’s a flash of green and he pushes the door open wide enough to fit the two of you through its threshold. Never once do your mouths disconnect, kissing each other so feverishly it raises the temperature of the room. He kicks the door closed behind him with his foot, pressing you up against the floor to ceiling mirror-wall beside the bathroom. The heat radiating off of your body fogs up the outline of your figure.

Sunwoo can’t seem to get enough of you, groping and grabbing any part of you that he can. You have to admit, you’ve never felt so needed— so wanted— in your life. In the messiness of teeth clashing and tongues tangling, your desperation begins to run rampant. You whine as he tugs at your bottom lip.

“You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this, N/N,” his voice is husky and breathy, his soft pants filling your ears. He pecks your bare shoulder affectionately, cupping your right breast in his hand. “How long I’ve been waiting for you to take me seriously… to let me treat you like a real man should.”

His knee nudges itself between your legs, creating some much appreciated friction momentarily, his erection prominent against your thigh.

“I know that you know what you're doing when you dress like this. All slutty and revealing, showing yourself off to everyone,” his mouth hovers over the skin of your neck, goosebumps littering the surface. “But really, you do it for me, huh? You do it on purpose ‘cause you know how crazy it makes me. You know exactly what I’ve been wanting since we got here. That’s my smart girl.”

You can’t help the small moan that erupts from the back of your throat, his words and the wet feeling of his tongue circling the area he had just been sucking on going straight to the excitement pooling in your belly. He smiles mischievously, thumb running over your clothed nipple.

You’d been so lost in pleasure that you hadn’t even realized he’d moved you to the bed, your back on the fluffy white comforter and your thighs spread apart for him. He takes a hold of the back of his collar and removes his shirt in one swift motion, pushing your dress upward afterwards to assist you in discarding it.

His eyes rake your now half-naked body, the fullness of your tits nearly spilling out from the lacy nude strapless bra you were wearing. He drags a finger along your lace covered slit, his lips curling when he watches you shudder underneath his touch.

“Sunwoo, please…”

You don’t even know what you’re begging for, just that you need it. And you need it badly.

“Please, what?” He tsks, now massaging your inner thighs, working you up just like he wants. You pout, hoping to convey the message without pleading. Embarrassment floods your body when you realize he’s not gonna make it easy for you. “Use your words, sweetheart.”

You shut your eyes, hoping to will away the sheer mortification flushing your entire being. “P-please touch me.”

This fuels his ego even further. As if it could get any bigger.

“Open your pretty eyes, baby,” he coos, leaning forward to kiss you. When you obey his request, he hooks his long fingers into the waistband of your panties. “There we go. See, good girls get what they ask for.”

He slides them off, parting your legs immediately. The cool air makes you flinch. The one article of clothing that kept you unexposed was gone now, along with the confident woman from earlier in the day.

He repeats his actions from minutes ago, his pointer finger collecting your slick as it slides through your folds with ease. The squelching sound it makes is horrifying, your shame settling back into place. He kisses the plane of your stomach gently, murmuring into the skin.

“Do you hear that, sweetheart? Do you hear how excited you are for me? There’s no point in trying to hide it anymore.”

Your eyes widen at his words, opening your mouth to say something in retaliation but he takes this opportunity to bury two fingers inside of you. A gasp leaves your throat consequently, your back arching on instinct. It had been a while since a man had set aside time for foreplay. He truly was making good on his word, treating you like a real man should.

He lowers himself, positioning his face in front of your pussy and darts his tongue across his lips before flattening it against your clit. The sensation makes you shiver, though that reaction is nothing compared to what happens next. He curls his fingers inside of you, brushing that certain spongy spot that drives you insane, then begins alternating between kitten licking and sucking on the engorged skin of your clit.

You cry out, hands flying down to tug at his hair and dig your nails into his scalp. He doesn’t appear to mind at all, more like he enjoys it, reveling in the way you’re losing yourself to him slowly but surely. It's a dream come true for him. He's finally getting the opportunity to completely ruin you after waiting for-what-felt-like-ever. Horny, teenage Sunwoo would be jumping for joy over this.

He remembers the first time he met you. Eric had invited him, Haknyeon, and other members of the team over to your shared apartment for a team bonding during their second year. The only thought in his mind upon seeing you was ‘damn, I love older women.’ You were just so sure of yourself, he couldn’t help the tightness in his pants and the thumping in his chest.

And those feelings never seemed to fade.

In fact, it appeared that they grew with time. He’d dated other girls since then, especially because he was so popular in high school and in university. Yet for some reason he could never quite pinpoint, things never worked out. They just didn’t feel like the one for him, so he’d end the relationship before anyone got hurt more than they had to. Then the yearly trip would happen and Eric would update him on your life and his crush on you would come rushing back to him.

Even when you’d gotten engaged a few years ago, nothing could stop the way his heart beat only for you and you alone. He didn’t really like the dude all that much, but expressed support for you anyway because he wanted you to be happy. After Eric told him that he broke off the engagement to pursue someone else, Sunwoo just about lost it. He wanted to hunt the guy down himself. He couldn’t fathom how one could just throw away the once in a lifetime opportunity of calling you his. You deserved the world and so much more.

Everything resurfaces and it’s evident in the way his fingers dive even deeper inside of you, his appendage lapping mercilessly at your aching clit. You don’t question him even if you wanted to, your entire body feeling like it’s on cloud 9. He takes a break from licking and sucks at the sweet spot harshly, ripping out a prolonged moan from your lips.

Your release is in your field of vision now, so close that you can nearly taste it. You attempt to buck your hips up into his mouth to chase what you’re yearning for. He senses exactly what’s happening, so he slows his assault, much to your aggravation. You can’t even help the pleas that tumble from the back of your throat.

“No no no no, please,” you sit up, your hands still intertwined with his messy brown locks. “Sun, please… why’d you stop?”

His smile is almost conniving, you swear you can see his canines peeking through. He hovers above you, caging you between his torso and the bed. “You've been having all the fun, so now I think it’s time I have some, too.”

You’re about to ask what he means, when he steps back to undo his belt and zipper, pushing down his pants in record speed. Even through the black material of his (expensive looking) briefs, you can tell he’s well endowed. You rub your legs together, still sensitive from being deprived of your orgasm, and your hunger for all of him increases immensely.

“Eager, are we?” He chuckles, switching places with you. He sits at the edge of the bed, his legs open enough for you to fit between them. You bite your bottom lip, gripping each of his muscular thighs. It wouldn’t be such a bad thing to get crushed by them. It sure would be a hell of a way to die.

He leans back onto his palms, bunching up the sheets in his fists. You move forward to press your mouths in a searing kiss, cupping his clothed erection in your hand. He groans as his teeth nearly gnash with yours. You seize the chance to discard his underwear and massage his cock. The warmth and length of it makes your mouth water, almost whimpering at how flushed it is. You can tell that he’s painfully hard in the way he’s extremely responsive to all of your touches. You swipe your thumb over his slit, collecting the pre cum that’s formed there.

After deciding that enough is enough, he parts from you in favor of ordering you to get on your knees. You maintain eye contact as you wrap your lips around him, the nerves you’d been feeling all night finally washing off. Your tongue swirls around the tip a few times before it licks a broad line from the base back up along the underside. You take him down your throat this time, massaging his balls as you do so. Your cheeks hollow out as you bob your head, your hands jerking what you can’t fit.

An erratic knock at the door startles both of you and you’re about to remove yourself from him, but he keeps you there with a large hand, urging you to continue. You listen reluctantly, assuming the person would just go away if you ignored them.

However, the knock comes again moments later. Sunwoo looks down at you. His eyes tell you all you need to know, so you don’t stop.

“Sunwoo! Hey, have you seen my sister? She’s not in her room.”

You practically choke on him at the sound of your brother’s voice, but he still doesn’t let you pause. His attention doesn’t leave you as he replies.

“Uh yeah, she’s borrowing my shower. Hers wasn’t working.” He lies. His eyes bore into yours intensely, the knowledge that he had Eric’s hot older sister right here in front of him on her knees shrouding his mind.

The brunette outside seems to find that answer sufficient enough and doesn’t interrogate further. “Okay, cool. Just tell her to text me when she gets back to her room.”

“You got it.”

His footsteps can be heard padding against the carpet of the hallway as he walks away.

Your nose brushes against the hair at the base of his cock before he cups your cheeks and lifts your mouth off of him. You take in a deep breath, keeping your hands on his dick firmly. As you regain your breathing, you leave kisses all over, starting at the tip and ending down the shaft. You feel him shudder beneath you, a satisfaction coming from knowing that you’re the one who has him so weak.

You had Kim Sunwoo wrapped around your pretty little finger.

Unbeknownst to you, that’d always been the case. Since day one. But it didn’t matter at the moment. All that either of you cared about right now was wrecking each other.

He slides his cock down your throat again, loving the sight of you getting face fucked by him. You moan around him, the vibrations causing him to grasp at your hair tightly, though you don’t mind the sting either.

“You look so gorgeous like this, sweetheart. Your lips look so pretty wrapped around me. Can’t wait until I’m inside you,” he hisses when your tongue runs over his slit. “You want me to fuck you into the mattress? Until you can’t even remember your own name?”

You release him from your lips once more, nodding frantically. It’s almost pathetic how needy you are for him, your brother’s best friend, someone nearly ten years younger than yourself. “Yes, please, Sunwoo. I want you so bad. I want you to fuck me so hard, I can’t walk properly.”

His smirk from your pleads is ungodly. He swipes his thumb across your bottom lip, pinching it between his fingers before he pulls you up to kiss you roughly. Even though he has this big dominant act up on display, you know he wants you just as much. And he conveys it in the desperate way he moves his mouth against yours with such fervor.

After a few minutes, both of you get sick of wasting time and he flips you around so you’re on your back. He nips at your neck, whispering dirtily as he pumps himself in his hands.

“The only thing I want on your mind is me, you got that?” He lines his dick up with your hole, nibbling on your earlobe while he does so. “The name Kim Sunwoo is gonna be engraved in your fucking brain after tonight.”

Without any semblance of a warning, he pushes himself in, giving you no time for adjustment. His cock fills you up nicely, better than you’ve ever been before, and the feeling alone rips a particularly loud moan out of you. “Oh my god, Sun. Y-you're so big and your cock f-feels so g-good. So s-so good.”

“You’re so tight, your pussy is squeezing me. You gonna cream on my dick?”

He gives you another one of those sly grins, where it’s almost like he’s baring his canines to you, and you swear you’ve never wanted to be ruined as much as you do now.

His pace is unrelenting, nothing but sheer power going into every thrust of his hips. His cock hits places deep inside that you didn’t know existed. It amazes you how much stamina he has and it doesn’t appear like he’s letting up any time soon.

“Sunwoo, just like that— f-fuck yes— right there,”

“Look at you, Y/N, so fucking messy and all because of me.”

He hooks one of your knees on his shoulder, plunging even further into your pussy. The mewl you release is voluminous, enough to wake up anyone in the rooms surrounding his. One of his hands holds your leg in place while the other travels south, gripping your side and using his thumb to vigorously circle your clit.

The added stimulation is just what you need to nudge you closer to your tipping point, what you were deprived of earlier. He, of course, notices that and stops his attack with his finger. You whine in protest, not wanting to deal with his teasing again right now.

You open your mouth to express your distaste at the same moment he rolls his hips experimentally. So instead of complaining about his edging, you let out a choked groan.

“Sunwoo, please, let me cum. Please, I'm begging. I need to.” You hate that you’re in this position, but you can’t hold out much longer. Fatigue is catching up to you and if you don’t cum soon, you might pass out.

“You wanna cum, baby? You want me to let you cum?” He all but growls in your ear. You moan wantonly in response, quickly becoming a babbling mess. “I think you can wait a bit longer. Take it like a big girl, yeah?”

Your other leg wraps around his waist, allowing his already buried cock to kiss at your cervix. The new angle is unhinged, short circuiting your brain. Discarding any thought behind your actions, moving on autopilot, you pull him down to press your mouths together.

The combination of passion and pure lust drives both of you wild, fueling your desires. His lips part from yours and he moans breathily as you clench down on him, the exhale fanning over the lower part of your face. The sound is unlike anything you’ve heard before and you’d do just about anything to hear it again. The brunette was completely unaware of the effects he had on you, something as simple as a noise kicking you into high gear.

But it seems even he’s reaching his limits, not able to hold himself back anymore. In an attempt to finish you both off quickly, he brutalizes each piston of his pelvis. Your nails sink into his shoulders.

“F-fuck— S-Sunwoo I’m gonna— I’m gonna cum— so fucking—“

His thumb finds its way back to your clit and resumes its previous attack, the other circling around a peaked nipple, cutting you off. You arch into him, trying to bring the two of you impossibly closer. His cock rams in and out of you almost inhumanely at the rate he was going. With one particularly harsh thrust, he commands,

“Cum for me, sweetheart.”

The words send you overboard and you release around him, simultaneously gripping him like a vice and moaning so pornographically, you kind of feel bad for everyone else staying on this floor. Your whole body spasms with your orgasm, hushed moans falling from your swollen lips. Seconds later the twitch of his dick alerts you as he follows, filling you up with the warmth of his own cum. Had he not still been inside you, you were certain it’d flow right out, something akin to Niagara Falls. But you’re both too busy trying to catch your breaths to really pay attention to any of that extra stuff.

The ache was settling in your bones instantaneously, and you half-regretted encouraging him to ‘fuck you so hard you couldn’t walk properly’.

After what feels like an eternity, he slowly pulls out his softening cock, your pussy clenching at nothing and feeling empty as he presses a soft peck on the tip of your nose, his dominant personality dissipating along with it.

The moment feels strangely domestic, his coos of praise and the worry that he was too rough with you not flying over your head. Things like ‘you did so well, sweetheart’, ‘I’m so proud of you, baby’, and ‘your pussy was made for my cock’ floated around the air. He caressed your belly with one hand and your hair with the other before pulling himself away from you fully.

“Let me go get you a towel,” he smiles warmly, disappearing into the bathroom he told your brother you were borrowing. When he comes back, he has a fresh pair of briefs on and a damp washcloth on his forearm. “You know, I‘ve had the biggest crush on you since high school. The moment Eric introduced us, I practically fell in love.”

He carefully cleans up your cum covered thighs, weary of how sensitive you are. It dawns on him that you’re fighting back your sleep, but he also realizes that you can’t stay in his room, running the risk of being compromised and Eric finding out. He helps you into a sitting position and leads you to the bath.

He washes your hair and body for you, increasing the overwhelming amount of domesticity that you already started to feel. Even with his admission, you didn’t want to assume that this was something he really wanted. You’d made that mistake before, with your asshole of an ex fiancé, and you couldn’t stomach the thought of that happening with him. He was a young, hot professional baseball player. Why would he want to be tied down to you?

With a towel wrapped tightly around your body and your clothes draped over a shoulder, he aids you in your sneaky trip to your own hotel room. You fumble a bit with the key card, nervous under his gaze for some reason. When you finally get it open, you hurriedly enter, desperate to get away from him to avoid small talk. You were a grown ass woman and here you were, acting like a petulant child.

He reaches for your wrist and stops you prior to getting too far past the door frame. “Hey, hey, what’s the matter? Why won't you look at me? Did— did I do something wrong?”

“N-no! You didn’t. I just— I don't wanna misinterpret the situation...” You betray yourself and look him in the eyes, nearly melting at the soft chocolate color staring right back. He leans forward to kiss you on the lips. It isn’t rushed or forceful like any of the others from earlier in the night. It’s more like the loving one he placed on your nose. It conveys exactly what he wants to say, but can’t put into words, and rids of your doubts all at once. You instinctively shut your eyes, a smile working its way across your face.

“I’ll see you in the morning, sweetheart. Goodnight,” is what he leaves you with, scampering off to his room.

You bring your fingers up to your lips, the stupid grin not disappearing. He wasn’t kidding when he said the name Kim Sunwoo would be engraved in your brain tonight.

The next day, the four of you visit one of the beaches. You chuckle to yourself as you observe Eric and Haknyeon attempting to skimboard, but failing miserably. Your brother flies forward when his board skids to a stop and he stumbles a bit before regaining his bearings. The older laughs at him, hunching over and clutching his stomach as he does so.

Your eyes stay on them for a bit, but your head turns at the sound of footsteps approaching you and the beach towel you were sitting on. You finally glance over when a grunt fills your ears over the crashing waves. Sunwoo leans back onto his palms, sunglasses perched on top of his head. The goods you wanted were set between you, a bag nearly full to the brim with mandarin oranges.

On your way to the beach, you passed a vendor on the street selling different fruits. Among said fruits were the mandarins that caught your attention. You pouted when you realized you left your purse at the hotel, only having your I.D. on you. Being absolutely smitten with you and having no self control, Sunwoo made a promise to himself to come back when you were least expecting to buy you as many as he physically could. (Gift giving was one of his love languages.)

He smiles as your eyes light up like a Christmas tree in August, instinctively reaching for one of the oranges. You bring it up to your nose to smell the faint citrusy scent of the rind, humming contentedly afterwards. With the summer breeze blowing through your hair, the humidity painting your cheeks rosy and the sun behind you giving you a halo-like glow, you look like a scene ripped straight from a movie. Sunwoo feels like the most fortunate guy in the world knowing that he’s the only person who gets to see you like this, committing the visual to memory so he can look back on it whenever he pleases.

He decides that he could die right here right now, and he’d be satisfied with his life. He can already see it, his headstone; Rest in Peace Kim Sunwoo, 2000-2023.

You slowly start to peel the mandarin, each corner of your lips curled upwards. You pop a piece into your mouth, closing your eyes and savoring the taste of its nectar. Without pausing to think about it, you scoot closer to Sunwoo, feeding him some of the orange. A small giggle escapes the back of your throat when he smiles again, this time at how much more comfortable you are with him. (And also how yummy the mandarin is.)

“It almost tastes as sweet as you.”

He meant for it to be an innocent insinuation, but completely forgot about the fact that it could be misconceived as an innuendo. You slap his shoulder with a gasp because that’s exactly how you took it, and he raises his hands in surrender.

“Woah, I was trying to be cute. You’re the one with the dirty mind.”

You roll your eyes, shoving a few more pieces of mandarin into his mouth to shut him up. “Kim Sunwoo, you’re lucky I like you.”

His cheeks are puffed up with the fruit and he tries to smile at you, his pouty lips making him look a little silly. You press a quick kiss to them, forgetting that you were very much in public. He turns to you with eyes like a deer caught in headlights.

“What if Eric sees?” He swallows thickly.

You shake your head. “Let him. I’m happy. That’s all he really cares about.”

It befuddles you that just a week ago, you never would’ve thought this could happen. A week ago, Sunwoo was still that high school boy who stuttered whenever he spoke to you and came over to yours and Eric’s apartment every day after school. A week ago, you were still apprehensive about putting yourself out there, out of fear that you’d just get hurt again. But somehow, Sunwoo managed to change your entire perspective. And sitting here on this beach towel, feeding him mandarins and giggling at his jokes solidifies that for you.

#the boyz #the boyz x reader #the boyz smut #the boyz sunwoo #tbz #tbz x reader #tbz smut #tbz sunwoo #kim sunwoo #kim sunwoo x reader #kim sunwoo smut #sunwoo #sunwoo x reader #sunwoo smut #juyeonszn

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obxone · 11 months

Text

Unlikely Pairing

unedited. ~4.3k words.

(This is a scene from Season 3. It is purely inserting the reader into the scenes at Singh's mansion with some added dialogue and scene descriptions/reader's thoughts. It is giving a reunited ex-lovers/close proximity in the face of danger vibe. I used a good chunk of dialogue from OBX so definitely not just my writing. There will be a part two...I've already started it. Enjoy!)

Warning: long + a tinge of smut

A knock on the door startles you from your relaxed position on the bed. The bed itself is not bad for a kidnapper’s bed. It is comfortable and soft. After days of sleeping on woven mats, it feels nice to be on something soft again. The door swings open to a woman in a maid outfit, a tight smile on her face. “He’s ready.”

“Who?” You ask, righting yourself on your feet and smoothing out the dress you had found in the armoire.

She inclines her head, gesturing to the door, “Come.”

You follow her out into the hallway and down to the first floor. She again gestures to another doorway, asking for you to go inside the room. You frown but do as she asks. The room appeared empty as you step inside, looking around for whoever ‘he’ is. You pause at the sight of a man with a buzzed haircut pouring himself a drink.

“Um, excuse me?”

The man turns and your lips part, all the air leaves your lungs and your chest clenches at the sight of Rafe. Neither of you says a word for a moment, the shock is clear on both of your faces. The silence settles in as you take him in. He looks good, healthy still, but his suit seems a size too big. And gone are those dirty blond locks that were always perfectly in place and instead a freshly shaved buzz cut.

“No,” you whisper, taking a step back, hands reaching back to brace yourself against the wall the more steps you take from him. “What are you doing here? Sarah tried to tell us this would be Ward and you behind this bullshit.”

Your words seem to snap him out of his daze as he moves forward, reaching a hand out toward you. “How are you here? What are you even talking about? Are the pogues trying to weasel in on my deal?” His hand curls into his chest when you lean away from him. “Is that what’s going on?”

“Your deal?” You glare at him. “What deal?”

“I wondered if your little reunion would cause sparks, you know,” a man with a thick accent speaks from the adjoining room. Both of your heads snap around to see him looking out the window, his back to you both. He turns with a soft chuckle to you see both as he scratches his beard. He dripped money and danger.

“Who are you?” Rafe asks and you do not miss the way he shifts to angle his body between you and the strange man.

“Me?” He points to himself as he draws closer. “My name is Carlos Singh.” He smiles before pointing at Rafe. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Cameron.”

You glare at Rafe again, but he ignores you, continuing to watch Singh instead.

“And Ms. yln, I do apologize for the rough tactics in bringing you here. But please, come.” He gestures behind him. “Sit down.”

You stare at him, not moving an inch and neither does Rafe.

“Come now, I don’t bite.” He holds out his hand towards you both as he takes a step or two back into the room before turning and going.

Rafe turns to you, his eyebrows pulled together as his gaze runs the length of you. No doubt that he notices the expensive dress you wear when he frowns at the sight of it. The silk material clings to you in exactly the right places, but it is definitely not something you would pick yourself and he knows it.

You do not say a word, instead stepping around your ex and entering the room. Rafe reaches for you, but you pull your arm out of his reach. You could handle this without him, you had been without him for what felt like months now.

“Rough tactics?” Rafe asks, those blue eyes that haunt your dreams running the length of you again when you sit down. “What did you do to her?”

“Nothing to harm her,” Singh smirks, looking at you before turning to Rafe.

“And what about me?”

“Yes, Mr. Cameron, false pretenses,” Carlos answers, pouring his own drink. “But the ends justify the means, I’m afraid.”

Rafe nods to Singh’s comment before moving towards you and taking the chair beside yours. His knee bumps yours as he sits closer.

“Are you okay?” He asks, his fingers reaching out to brush your arm, but you move your arm away. Crossing your arms over your waist instead.

“I’m fine.”

“We have a lot to talk about.” Carlos moves forward with his glass tumbler. Rafe exhales as he turns his gaze from yours to Carlos.

You refuse to look at Rafe again or even let any part of him touch you. If Ward and Rafe are not behind this, then you know you and your friends are in even greater danger. And you could not count on Rafe to get all seven of you out of it unscathed.

“Why are we here?” You ask, folding your hands in your lap, back straightening, and gaze locking on the newest threat to your safety. You would not show him the panic and fear clawing at you from the inside.

“Well, Ms. yln, Mr. Cameron, we share certain interests, you know.” He looks between you. “Objectives.”

“Is this not about the cross?” Rafe looks at him, with no amount of amusement or even worriedness on his face now.

“It is.” Singh smiles while waving his index finger at Rafe. “Tangentially, it is about the cross, but it’s also about something much, much bigger than the cross.” He moves to look at what is a painting. “By order of magnitude…” He sighs. “The completion of a grand quest. You see, the story goes that 450 years ago, a Spanish soldier came out of the Orinoco Basin with a few gold beads. And when they asked the Spanish soldier “where the beads came from,” the Spanish soldier replied he got them from a peaceful Indigenous tribe who lived in a city of gold. El Dorado.” He waves his hand around, smiling a little and you feel Rafe’s gaze flickers to you once more, but you continue to ignore him. You could not do this right now with him. “And for the next 450 years, people tried to find that gold, you know.” Singh moves closer to where you are both seated before reaching over to pick something up. “They tried. Conquistadors, knights, captains of ships, tribes, entire nations."

You now recognize the object in his hand as a knife. Your fingers tighten on your arms that rest against your waist and Rafe shifts at the sight of the knife.

“All fighting each other in a race for the end of the rainbow. Thousands of lives laid on the pyre of gold fever.”

He smirks, moving closer again and Rafe shifts out of the corner of your eye, leaning closer to Singh. He has his interest, and you are not surprised in the least.

“It falls on me, you know. It falls on me to complete the task. To bring full circle a quest that has gone on for almost 500 years. Perhaps…” He gestures again with the knife, punctuating the air to impose the importance of his mission. “Perhaps the greatest quest in the history of the western hemisphere, you know.” He looks between you two again and you see Rafe’s jaw clench when you look at him. His gaze fixated on Singh still. “And you two…” Singh points the knife at Rafe and then at you. Singh chuckles as he lowers the knife. “You two are going to play a part in that.”

Neither of you say anything and he takes the silence as an opportunity to continue forward.

“What about you, Ms. yln, hmm?” He moves closer and lowers himself into the seat across from you. “Are you interested in history?”

“I’m more of a living in the present and planning for the future kind of girl.”

Rafe groans, squeezing the bridge of his nose between his fingers before lifting his head to look at your captor. “Yeah, I didn’t listen to a word you said, okay? How much are you gonna keep philosophizing?”

Singh chuckles. “You are direct, aren’t you, Mr. Cameron?”

Neither of them says a word as they stare at one another. This isn’t going to end well, and you know it, both men are determined in their own personal missions.

“What do you need from me?” You ask, crossing your leg over the other at the knee and pulling the excess material to cover your exposed thigh.

“I’ve come to believe that you and your friends are in possession of something that can help me get what I want.”

You lift an eyebrow and reframe from crossing your arms back against your waist. Strong and poised, just like you had seen all the kooks do. “Which is?”

“An old manuscript. A diary, actually.” Singh looks down for a second before meeting your unwavering gaze again. Rafe’s head turns and he is looking at you, a questioning look on his face. You do not blink, react, or even allow yourself to balk as you stare back at Singh. Your shoulders stay back, and you focus on maintaining a steady breathing pattern. The diary of Pope’s ancestor was not available to him and never would be if you could help it. You could drag this out until they found you, surely, they would be coming soon.

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Rafe says to Singh when you do not respond or react.

“This is ridiculous. I don’t know anything about a diary,” you supply finally. Your features are schooled to not give away the truth.

Singh looks away, a sad smile on his face before he meets your gaze again. “But how else could you have learned that the cross was on the Royal Merchant?”

You shake your head, the façade starting to crack under both men’s gazes. You inhale sharply. “Look, I want to help you, but I can’t.”

“I was hoping you wouldn’t say that you know.” His face morphs into one of anger. “Because unfortunately, I don’t believe you. You and your friend here couldn’t have found the cross without it.”

“He’s not my friend.” You glance over at Rafe, who does not look the least bit impressed.

Singh smirks, looking over at him as well. “Ex-boyfriend, then.”

Neither of you say anything and Rafe looks away, pinching the bridge of his nose again.

“We can’t all be friends, you know,” Singh supplies. “Or more…”

Rafe sighs, starting to get to his feet after he claps his hands together once. “Look, this is ridiculous. Okay? I’m out.” He starts to step backward as he turns to you. “Come on, I’m not leaving you here.”

“Rafe…” You start, but he cuts you off.

“I don’t know anything about a diary and neither does she, okay? So-” An armed guard steps forward, stopping him in his path and you cannot help, but grip your knee tightly at the thought of the guard using Rafe as target practice.

“Do I look like a fool to you, Mr. Cameron?” Singh asks, his attention solely focused on Rafe now. “Do I look like a fool to you?” He gets to his feet and your fingernails dig into your knee as he approaches Rafe.

Rafe shrugs, lips pressed into a line as he paces away from the guard.

“You have the cross. She and her friends had the cross at one point.” He gestures to you without looking, but you are staring at Rafe willing him to back down. He ignores you, glaring at Singh instead. “So one of you has the dairy. And if you really don’t know then I suggest you get your girlfriend to tell me.”

Rafe looks at you and you swallow with a slight shake of your head, you could not.

“Once I have the diary…” Singh turns to look at you. “You’ll be free to leave.”

“And if you don’t get the diary…?” You ask softly.

Singh smirks before shrugging. “We don’t want it to come to that. Right?” He turns to the open doorway. “Fenton.”

The bodyguard who had shoved you around earlier returns, a neutral expression on his face.

“Let’s give our guests the tour.” The guard steps forward shoving you and then Rafe follows Singh out of the room and towards the stairs.

Once up the stairs, Singh leads the way into the bedroom you had previously been stowed away in. His arms stretch out as he moves towards the window. “Enjoy the grounds during your stay.” You both follow him into the room, the guard not far behind. “I must warn you, though. I’m not a man of infinite patience.”

You glance at Rafe as he gets closer. His fingers nearly brush your waist.

“You have one day,” Singh continues. “Go to the window for a little demonstration.” He moves towards the exit and walks between you while patting Rafe on the upper arm. “I think you’ll enjoy it; you know.”

After he steps out of the room, the guard grabs the doorknob and closes the door without a word.

“Hey. Hey!” Rafe goes after them, but he is not fast enough as the door clicks shut with the sound of the lock sliding firmly in place. “You’re just done talking?” He rattles the doorknob trying to open it, but it does not budge. “Hey!”

“Rafe…” You sigh, moving towards the window. “It’s locked. Trust me, where do you think he had me before our little meeting downstairs.”

“How long have you been here?” He asks, spinning to look at you.

You shrug. “Not more than a day.” You peek out the window and he joins you as a truck pulls up, his hand brushing against your back and you pull away from him. He huffs in annoyance, but you ignore it.

“Fine,” he lifts his hands but continues to look out the window at what you are seeing as guards haul someone out of a truck.

“Get off me, man! I didn’t do nothing, man!” Portis’s voice carries up to you and you inhale, hand pressing to the glass.

“Who the hell is that guy?” Rafe asks, leaning closer to the glass.

You exhale, hand retracting from the glass. “I know him. It’s Jimmy Portis.”

Rafe’s head whips to the side as he looks at you.

“He was trying to help me,” you murmur, meeting his gaze head-on. “They are going to hurt him, aren’t they?” You look back out to the patio just as Singh steps into your line of sight. He looks up at you before pulling out a gun.

“Whoa, whoa,” Rafe starts, his hand brushing yours before his fingers wrap tightly around your wrist, but Singh turns away and heads into the covered porch area where they had taken Jimmy. The sound of the gun firing has you both flinching. You gasp, horror flooding through you, and your fingers tighten around your dress as you stare at where everyone had been moments before, but Rafe pulls you away, tucking your head under his chin as he holds you against his chest before you can see the body or even Singh again.

“This diary,” Rafe starts, his breathing matching your own frantic pace. “Hey, no bullshit. Don’t bullshit me, okay?” He turns your face up to his, his free hand gripping your chin. “Do you have it?” After a moment with your lack of response and not meeting his gaze, he goes for the weak spot. “Baby, do you have it?”

“No.” You respond, meeting his gaze head-on now before you reach up to pull his hand away from your face. “I don’t.”

“Do you promise?”

“Yes, Rafe, God!” You exhale and pull away from him completely before pacing across the room. “Besides, it’s not my diary. It’s Pope’s.”

“I don’t think Singh cares about that!”

“I’m aware!” You gesture to the window before turning away, your hands tightening on your arms as you cross your arms against your waist. You squeeze your eyes shut, trying to think of a way to get yourself to safety. Surely the pogues would be looking for you, but matched against the armed guards outside they would not get anywhere near you. And it is clear Singh does not mind killing someone that gets in his way.

“We need to figure out how to get out of here then.”

“The pogues will be looking for me.”

He scoffs. “Against Singh’s own personal army?”

You glare at him. “I’m all ears then.”

He smirks, dragging his hand over his mouth. “You think your little boyfriend JJ can save you, don’t you?”

“Rafe,” you warn, but he just laughs.

“He’d get shot and die before he gets anywhere near you now, Princess.”

“I’m not your Princess anymore.”

He shrugs, plopping down on the edge of the windowsill. “Whose decision was that?”

“Mine, one I don’t regret.”

“Right,” he mutters before shedding his suit jacket and rolling up his sleeves. “Going from being my girl to that dirty Pogue’s girl was quite the step up,” he mocks, and you have half a nerve to slap him, but you bite it down instead.

“Fighting is not going to help us right now.”

“The only thing that is going to help us is getting that diary,” he mutters, and you groan, throwing yourself down on the mattress. “We have one day to figure this out or we join Jimmy out there.”

“I’m aware,” you sigh, burying your face in the blanket as you try to think of a plan.

“Where is the diary?”

“I don’t know!” You snap and lift your head just as Rafe leans onto the bed. His hands are on either side of your head as he leans over you on the opposite side of the bed.

“You are lying.”

“Am not.”

He smirks. “I know your tells.”

You roll your eyes and start to sit up, but he does not move, instead, he reaches out. His hand encloses your wrist before he lifts your hand to his face. His eyes flutter closed as he presses your palm to his cheek.

“Rafe?”

“Let me,” he says, his voice softer now. “I thought I lost you that day on the ship.”

“You did.”

His eyes snap open and they meet your gaze before he drops your hand and straightens up. “I missed you, every day. I tried to take you with me.”

“You tried to kidnap me,” you amend, sitting up and leaning back against the pillows at the head of the bed. “Or are you too much like your father? Manipulating the truth to fit your agenda.”

He shakes his head, “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Paint me as the bad guy for being in love with you.”

You sigh, closing your eyes briefly, head dropping back against the pillows. “You never loved me, Rafe.”

“Bullshit.”

You stay silent, instead focusing on finding a way out of the compound.

“Where did you get that dress?”

“Singh.”

He scoffs, running a hand over his face, but you ignore him, keeping your eyes closed. “Take it off.”

“No.”

“Take it off,” he repeats, and this time you do open your eyes to glare at him.

“I said no. It’s the only clothing I have right now.”

“You can have my jacket. I don’t like you wearing his dress.”

“Too fucking bad. I don’t want your jacket either.”

He moves closer, crossing the distance between you in a few long strides. His body bearing down over yours as he glares at you. “He thinks he owns you while you are wearing that. Besides, the color isn’t even right for you.”

“Oh?” You ask, arching a brow at him. “And does the same apply if I put on your jacket?”

He does not say a word and it makes you laugh.

“Give it up, Rafe. You lost me a long time ago.”

He smirks. “Liar.”

“You are so annoying,” you groan and try to get off the bed to move away from him, but he hooks his arm around your waist pulling you back to where he wants. His long lean body presses against yours. The attempts to shove his arm away fail and he takes the opportunity to use his free hand to tip your chin back. Your eyes lock and he breathes deeply before he leans down.

“You’ve always been mine, Princess.” He smirks, nudging your nose with the tip of his. “We both know it.”

“Rafe…”

“Admit it, Princess, and I let you go. Admit that you belong to me.”

You exhale sharply, lips parting as his breath fans over your face. “JJ was never in the picture, Rafe. He loves Kiara and she loves him.”

“Not what I asked, Baby.”

You inhale shakily, hands on his forearms, squeezing the toned expanse under your palms. “Rafe…”

“Say it.”

“I can’t.”

“You can and you will,” he says, and it makes your body tingle with anticipation. Your nails bite into the soft skin of his forearm. “Say it for me, Baby.”

You swallow, lips parting again. “I belong to you. I always have.”

His mouth finds yours in a hungry kiss and your hands shift to press to his chest. He expects you to push him back, but the way your heart nearly bursts has your fingers tangling in the thin material of his button-up, pulling him closer instead.

His body covers yours as you both fall into the bed together. His body presses down on yours as you both fight for dominance.

He wins, his hand tangling in your hair and the other finds its way under the skirt of your dress.

“Rafe,” you moan, tipping your head when his mouth moves to lay open-mouthed kisses across your throat and exposed chest. His hips push into yours and you can feel the hardened bulge against your thigh.

“God, I’ve missed you,” he mutters against your skin before the sound of fabric tearing fills the space. You lift your head to see his hand fisting a handful of the fabric of the dress against your waist. It is perfectly torn down the middle. The expanse of your body exposed to him. “Fuck! You are still so beautiful.”

“You ripped my dress.”

“I’ll buy you another.” He smirks, dragging the pad of his thumb across your bottom lip. You nip at it before sucking his thumb into your mouth. “In the color, I prefer you to wear.”

“Rafe!” You scold, but he only laughs before his lips are on yours again.

He tugs the straps of your dress down your arms before removing the ripped material away from you completely. Both pieces hit the ground soundlessly as his body presses against yours. Your knees fall apart allowing him to sink into you and you yearn for more of him. You unbutton his shirt, lips ghosting along the length of his neck, and he closes his eyes, relishing the feel and sounds of you in his arms again.

“We don’t have a condom,” you pant against his chest when he wrestles the white button down off his arms before throwing it to the floor while you work on his pants.

“I’ll pull out,” he mutters, pressing his lips to your ear and jaw. “I’m not stopping, not now.”

You nod, ignoring the alarm bells in your head at not having been on your birth control the entire time you have been on the island. Once his pants are down to his knees, you have your hand inside his underwear and wrapping around his hardened length.

“Fuck!” He pants, hips jerking forward as you stroke him a few times. “Christ Princess!”

You watch him, his eyes squeezing shut, lips parting in pleasure before you are kissing him as you continue to pump your hand up and down. His hips rocking in time with your movements. He pants into your mouth, groaning with each stroke until he is jerking away, pushing your hand out of his underwear.

“No, I want to be inside of you.”

You bite your lip and watch him shove his underwear down along with his pants before his fingers encircle the elastic band of your underwear.

“Don’t you dare rip these,” you say against his lips.

He chuckles before nodding and tugging them off while you shed your bra. Both of you toss them to the floor before he is wrapping his hand around your knee and pulling you down closer to him.

“Try to be quiet.”

You scoff and smack his shoulder. “I wasn’t the one shouting out profanities or Christ a second ago.”

He laughs before slowly easing into you. Your breath hitches at the feel of him sinking into you. He buries his face into the curve of your neck, curses of pleasure muffled by your skin, and his hands grip the comforter on either side of your head.

“Fuck!”

“Shh,” you chide, hands running down the expanse of his back.

“I’m going to come right here and now.”

You bite your lip before reaching up to run your fingers through his too short hair. “You know better than that."

He groans as he begins to move, your hands gripping his biceps, the muscles flexing under you palms with each movement. His knuckles turn white from how hard he grips the comforter.

“Touch me, please,” you whisper, lips pressing to his jaw, and he obliges, loosening his grip on the comforter. One hand grips your thigh, pulling your leg up against his hip allowing him to sink deeper and the other tangles in your hair, angling your face so he can kiss you again. Any sound either of you makes is muffled by the other as you kiss, but you are aware of the sound of his hips meeting yours and the bed creaking with each thrust. They know, there is no way they do not know, but it makes you only want him more.

(Part 2)

#outer banks #obx #rafe cameron #outer banks rafe cameron #rafe cameron x reader #rafe cameron x you #rafe cameron smut

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gatorbites-imagines · 4 months

Note

Request or just saying

One piece is so good but all I was thinking is how Law can be a bit of a brat sometimes especially when he runs off and gets his ass in trouble (I'm sorry I was dying of laughter when his ass got beat by the flamingo guy, I can not spell his name for the life of me). So imagine a bigger sly reader punishing him 🤤

Like reader is happy Law survived and he punishes him, nsfw or not

This could be a good fluff or smut type thing, I don't mind!!

Love your writing

Trafalgar Law x bigger male reader

Headcanons

The thing I love about one piece is that a request can say bigger reader, and I can make reader anywhere from a few inches taller than the other character, or make them 10 feet tall, and it would fit into the one piece universe.

Reader is 8 or 9 feet in this, cuz hehe, I love size difference.

You were the holder of a devilfruit, a zoan fruit more specifically, the tiger fruit. This granted you the power of any zoan fruit, and resulted in you having a striped pattern on your skin most days, as well as tiger ears and a tail flicking behind you, as that was most comfortable for you.

You had been a part of the heart pirates for a long time, and had been dating Law for a good chunk of that. You regularly used your tiger form to get him to sleep, transforming into a huge tiger and flopping down on top of him to keep him down.

He could easily use room to get away, but Law learns you’ll just follow him and keep it up. When you don’t turn into a tiger, youll still pick him up and keep him in your lap, making tiger noises in your chest as you rub your chin on the top of his head after knocking his hat off.

You end up having to pull him out of trouble a lot, at this point you are sure it’s the D in his name, as he attracts danger like a magnet. It leaves the hairs on your tail puffed up and frizzy, as you always feel the need to look out for him.

More than once you’ve had to swoop in, in tiger form, and chase off any enemy that’s too much, just to scoop Law up and carry him back to the Polar Tang as he pouts and grumbles like the brat he is.

People outside the crew can’t seem to believe you when you mutter about Law being a brat. Everyone on your crew knows it’s the truth, and he can get especially bratty with you at times when he wants to rile you up.

Law always gets this lazy but satisfied grin on his lips when he catches your tail wagging from side to side in annoyance, your teeth and claws sharper than normal as you try to suppress the urge to chase him down and punish him in one way or another.

Laws sacrificial ways have always left you feeling stressed, and after the fight with Doflamingo you want to rip all your fur out because you really felt like you were gonna lose your lover.

You thank Luffy and the strawhats for keeping him safe, even if you are also very bruised and bloodied from the fighting, before carrying Law back to the Polar Tang like you are used too, still transformed into the more Anthro looking form similar to the form Lucci takes, but a tiger instead.

The rest of the heart crew knows to give you space as you rumble deep in your chest, scolding Law as you stomp back towards the submarine, Law pouting as he lays in your arms with his arms crossed.

The wild thrashing of your tail and the twitching of your ears also tells your crew to find somewhere else to spend the night, or else they’re gonna be hearing their captains voice throughout the whole submarine.

Some of the strawhat crew seems to pick up whats up, whilst others don’t, so the ones in the know have a little laugh at Laws fate, but they leave you guys to it, since the celebrating will take a while anyways.

Law wont even look at you as you throw him into your bed, a bed big enough to feet all 9 feet of your height, his arms crossed as he stares at the wall like it’s the most important thing in the world.

You transform into your more human form, pacing back and forth at the bottom of the bed, growling and grumbling as you scold him, making sure to get your point across, till Law starts to feel bad for his behavior, at least somewhat.

His shoulders climb up to his ears and Law finally looks at you, his pout melted away into something a little softer and almost guilty. But it immediately melts away when you stop prowling and crawl up the bed towards him.

Instead, a glint appears in his eyes, that bratty satisfied grin like he has gotten just what he wanted from his behavior.

But, Law soon comes to regret that, as you take that expression as a challenge, and he soon finds himself thrown over your large bulky thighs, his pants pulled down to his knees as you spank him, making him count each strike.

In this situation, your much larger size is something Law curses, as your hand covers pretty much his entire ass as you lay into him, growling his wrongdoings at him, fangs flashing as striped fur licks up your arms and sideburns, your eyes flashing between human and those of a tiger.

Its only when he loses the ability to count and hes reduced to a blubbering moaning mess that you slow down, basking in the tears running down his face as he sobs and apologizes.

Its only after you find his cries and tears satisfactory that you pull his pants the rest of the way off and sit him up, pulling him into your lap. You have to lean down somewhat to kiss his forehead, but after such a spanking Law is so sweet and pliable.

He whimpers and shudders, face wet with tears and drool as he clings to your chest, hips lifted to not press his aching behind against your strong thighs. But the punishment has also left him aching somewhere else, his cock twitching and leaking as need burns up his spine.

You make sure to praise him and mumble how much you love him as you rub his back, comforting him through his tears until he’s calmed down enough for you to focus on something else, as the pain of the punishment lessens, and Laws lust grows.

When Law starts to whine and whimper for something else, you roll him onto his back, shucking off the rest of his clothes as you go.

Law gasps and shudders as his aching behind presses against the sheets, but his focus is quickly somewhere else as you start licking at his neck and torso, your tongue rough and sharp against his skin, your feline tongue leaving red strips across his skin from the sandpaper like texture.

Law tries to keep quiet, but with him already being so worked up from earlier, its easy to get him to wail and moan loud enough for it to fill the entire Polar Tang. Especially when your rough tongue brushes against the underside of his cock.

The first time you do that his back arches almost painfully, the noise the leaves him sounding almost tortured as he grips onto your hair, his throat burning from the intensity of his wail.

Law shudders and moans, what little shame that had been before bleeding out of his body as your large hands hold his hips down, your tongue carefully rolling against his sensitive length, never dragging or hurting too much. You rub it against him just enough for him to feel and for it to leave him shaking.

You rumble and purr as his blurry eyes fall shut, a tear running down his cheer as he lets out a soundless wail of pleasure, his entire body tensing and toes curling as white spurts leave his cock, splattering across the flat side of your tongue and across his torso.

As he goes limp you rub his hips and thighs, pulling your tongue away from his sensitive flesh to mutter praise and loving words to him as he pants and continues to moan softly.

Its only when you know he’s returned somewhat to himself that you crawl up the bed again. After laying down on your back, you pull him on top of you, letting him curl up in your arms for a bit. You’ll get up soon to get stuff to treat the bruises in a bit, but first you need to hold him as he shudders and grasps onto you, Law needing you to ground him.

You end up curling your tail around him, letting some fur appear on your torso so he can run his fingers across it in a grounding and comforting manner, a loving rumble leaving your throat and chest and leaving Law feeling tired but comfortable.

He may be bratty at times, but he’s your brat, and you’ll straighten him out when he needs it when you have too. It’s a process you both love more than you two will ever admit, and a process that annoys your crew at times, but that’s just what its like being part of the heart pirates at this point.

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vintage-marina · 1 year

Text

Burned to the unrecognizable

Ñuha = mine/my

sỹz toaba = good boy

riñnykeā = child

Female Targaryen reader!

Ship is not specified, is only a fic with your dragon

iksan vaoreznuni = I'm sorry

Draegan = name of your dragon

summary: You're dragon is wounded by some of the Dragonkeepers

Tw: beast cruality, death

You could feel the fear and pain from your dragon in your bones, your hair blew in the wind and with all your strength you ran towards the Dragon Pit, your guards hot on your heels.

You didn't know what the cause was, but in that moment you dropped everything you were doing and ordered the guards to come along.

You couldn't see a thing, the morning fell with a heavy mist that covered Kings Landing. Your foot slipped away, but just in time you could rebalance yourself.

A deep agony grazed your abdomen, you couldn't help but call his name while tears slipped from your eyes.

Time slowed by each minute down, you almost reached the Pit, just a few steps more. The roaring cry of Draegan could be heard from kilometres away, you and the guards quickened your steps.

You almost flew on the stairs, your brows furrowed with concern and fury. You heard him more clearly now, his broken cries clenched your heart, but the realisation of him being hurted shattered your heart.

Hands balled up, you spotted your dark red dragon shuffling in big metal entrapments.

What the fuck happened in the week that you were gone for duties?

Smoke appeared underneath the belly of your boy and horror snuck on your face when you realised the foul stence. "Draegan!" you screamed so loud as you can. "Line everyone up who dared to hurt my child."

The Dragonkeepers heard your voice and with shock they stopped what they were doing, in the hope you didn't notice. But alas, you saw, felt and heard everything.

Draegan looked up, a soft huff escaped his jaw and he lowered his body and head. With swift steps you walked towards him, your lips were quavering. Out of the side of your eye you saw your guards one by one dragging the Dragonkeepers on the ground.

Good, a small smile graced your lips.

But when you focused on him again, you couldn't help but let slip more tears on your cheeks.

"Ñuha riñnykeã," you began softly. You rested your hand on the snout of his nose. "Iksan vaoreznuni, you didn't deserve to be treated like that." He leaned with his head against your hand, you gave on top of his skin a kiss and nuzzled your head against his scales.

Calm settled between the both of you.

One of your guards scraped his throat and after a few seconds you lifted your head, acknowledging that he may speak. "We already informed the maesters, they are on their way."

"Thank you."

"What will we do with them, Your Royal Highness?"

"Nothing, yet. Make them sweat a bit, I will be there in a minute."

Slowly you pulled away from your dragon, making him huff. "Wait a minute my boy. I need to see your injuries." you walked around him. "And someone please uncage him!" Your voice boomed through the large chamber.

In no time Draegan was freed, but still he wouldn't lower his belly. Smoke still sizzled underneath him and large chunks of skin and scales were burned off, leaving a bloody and burned surface.

You tried to pet the unharmed side of him, but your dragon gave a fair warning that quickly made you retreat. When you tried to see more of his injuries he simply pushed you away.

The Dragonkeepers would suffer.

"I have seen enough," voice laced with calmed rage. You walked calmly to your guards, the maesters were in the distance. At this point they were the only one who you could trust Draegan with. You didn't know if they even knew how to heal a dragon, but under watchfull eyes they should. Your hands were clasped behind your back, you stood next to some of your guards when they announced your name.

"Y/N Targaryen, first of her name. Princess of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men."

" I, Y/N Targayren saw for the first time in my life my child in pain by the hands of the people who swored to protect him." you watched the six Dragonkeepers with fury. "My child who was hurten by his very own people and indirectly they have been hurting me. Not only you have been hurting me and my child, you showed your true colours towardsthe Crown. Therefore I declare the highest from of treason.¨

Some of them gasped in shock, but you continued. "You will be punished in the same way you did to Draegan." Stopping for a moment you whispered to the guards next to you. "Take them in a few minutes to the cellars."

You watched the six Dragonkeepers and you drew your breath, "burned to the unrecognizable."

Therefore your speech was done, their feet were dragging on the floor and your guards slept them away.

You drew your attention to Draegan again, the maesters already treating his wounds. A genuine smile maked his way on your face. You petted his snout again while they were helping him, "Ñuha sỹz toaba." you whispered towards the dragon.

Comments are really appreciated!

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ayyy-pee · 2 years

Text

Strangers in Love

Chapter 3

Discord 18+ - Twitter - Kofi

Pairing: Nanami Kento x Female Reader

Summary: Dinner with Nanami finally happens.

Genre: Divorce AU

Story Warnings: Smut, Vaginal Sex, Jealousy, Jealous Behavior, Divorce, Unprotected Sex, Creampie, Arguments, Ex-Husband Nanami Kento

About a week after your run in with Nanami, you’re sitting in a meeting at work jotting down notes as your supervisor droned on about the next company product release. Your phone vibrated and you flipped it over from its facedown position on the long table to see Nanami’s name light up on the screen.

Nanami Kento: Good afternoon. I hope your day is going well. I never heard back from you about a potential meetup. I don’t want to bother you, so if you’re not comfortable with it, please let me know. I completely understand if you’re not.

You would reply later. Maybe. Probably not. You were about to lay your phone back down when it vibrated with another message from him.

Nanami Kento: Although, I cannot say I wouldn’t love the opportunity to see you again. If you are still open to making plans, I’d be happy to take you to lunch or dinner.

You felt your heart crawl into your throat at his words. During your marriage, Nanami had never been a big texter even when things were good between you two. This Nanami, who was more open and put in the effort to reach out, was… nice, different . You had to admit the nostalgic part of you yearned to see him again.

Okay, I guess it wouldn’t hurt, you thought even though you didn’t believe it. You would meet Nanami for dinner, pretend you weren't together for a good chunk of your younger years, catch-up like old friends. After that, you would move on with your life and forget about Nanami again.

You put your phone back down until the meeting was wrapped up. Once back in your office, you checked your calendar for availability before texting Nanami back.

You: Hi Nanami. My day is going well. I hope it’s the same for you. I’m available at 6pm next Friday if that works for you?

It took him all of two minutes to text you back.

Nanami Kento: Excellent. Would you like me to pick you up? I don’t mind.

You hesitated, the idea of Nanami knowing where you live feeling too intimate for your currently strained relationship - or lack thereof.

You: Thank you for the offer, but I’ll meet you there.

Nanami Kento: Okay. I will text you the details later. Have a good rest of your day. See you next week.

Now, on the night of your dinner, you’re pacing around your apartment, phone wedged between your ear and your shoulder as you attempt to put your earrings on. You’ve gone through about twelve pairs by now and have changed your outfit at least four times. Nothing you put on feels quite right. You settle on a simple strapless form fitting dress and heels.

“Are you sure you wanna meet up with him?” Satoru asks on the other end of the line. His voice is muffled, no doubt scarfing down some too sweet snack.

Gojo’s question rang through your mind as you adjusted your dress. No, you were not sure but you were curious to see why Nanami pushed so hard for this. A part of you would be lying if you didn’t say you were feeling excited. Nervous, fucking terrified , but excited nonetheless. At some point in time, you and Nanami shared a friendship and you hoped that made this dinner easier to get through.

“It’s a little late to change my mind, Satoru. I’m damn near out the door already.”

He hummed. “Do you want me to go? Just for support. You won’t even know I’m there. I’ll like…hide behind a plant or something.”

You snorted. “Yeah, the bright white hair and eyes that practically glow in the dark won’t give you away at all.”

Gojo lets out a loud laugh. “Well, I offered. Let me know how it goes. Call me if you need an excuse to leave. Good luck!”

You ended the call, giving yourself a once over before grabbing your keys and heading to the train station.

———

You entered the restaurant, eyes immediately landing on Nanami who stood to wave you over. You smiled politely to the hostess as you moved past her and made your way to the table. The restaurant was bustling, full of couples and coworkers out to dinner and you couldn’t help but note the dim lighting adding an almost romantic ambience. It only added to your nerves.

The closer you got to Nanami, the more overwhelmed you became seeing him dressed up in a nice navy suit with your chair pulled out waiting for you. He looked so incredibly handsome and you hated that you thought so.

“You look lovely,” he stated matter of fact, motioning for you to sit down. Still a gentleman when he wants to be.

“Thank you. You look good too,” you returned the compliment, taking the seat and letting Nanami push your chair in. You let out a shaky breath, goosebumps spreading up your arms and your cheeks heating up as your body reacted to the familiar smell of Nanami’s cologne surrounding you. After all this time, he still had an effect on you with little to no effort made on his part. He took the seat across from you. The soft light from the candle sitting on the table added to the sharpness of his face and you thought he looked so much younger than you remembered - definitely far less tired.

“I hope you don’t mind,” he spoke softly, “I went ahead and ordered a bottle of merlot for us.”

“Oh,” you replied in surprise, which must have made Nanami’s nerves kick in because he pinched the bridge of his nose and suddenly began rambling.

“I apologize. That was presumptuous of me. I should have asked first beforehand. I don’t even know if you still like merlot. I just thought—“

“Nanami,” you interrupted. “It’s totally fine. Merlot is still my favorite. Thank you.” You offered him a soft smile, hoping to ease his obvious anxiety and your own. He returned the gesture, the tension in his shoulders dissipating.

The waiter arrived shortly with two glasses and the bottle of merlot Nanami had ordered. He poured for you both before agreeing to give you a few minutes to look over the menu.

“Thank you for coming out tonight.”

“Yeah, of course.” You lied. You almost didn’t come. You brought your glass of wine up to your lips trying to busy yourself as the silence between you two grew.

“I will be honest. This is a little awkward.” Nanami spoke up.

You spit your wine back into your glass as a laugh escaped you. That was an understatement.

“Yeah, just a little bit. I’m sorry. This is so weird. I guess I should ask how you’ve been?” You tried to push past how uncomfortable this was quickly becoming.

Nanami nodded, hands coming up from his lap to smooth down the tablecloth in front of him and you recognized this as a nervous tick he still had. You remembered Nanami would fidget when uncomfortable, doing anything to keep his hands moving and soothe his nerves. It was comforting to know that that had not changed.

“I’ve been good. Spent some time in Sendai - a few years actually. Very nice place. You should go and see it if you ever get a chance. I just recently moved back and started my new position a few weeks ago.”

“Oh?” You questioned as you opened your menu to browse your options. Chicken sounded good tonight. “Are you still working as a salaryman?”

He shook his head, his nose scrunching at your question as he looked over his own menu. “Absolutely not. I’m a marketing manager now for a major company in Tokyo.”

You hummed, eyes landing on what you wanted to order. “Sounds busy.”

Nanami shut his menu and placed it on the edge of the table before replying, “Actually, it’s the most free I’ve ever felt working. I come and go as I please. I get my weekends off and plenty of vacation time.”

You glanced up to find him staring intensely at you, almost as though he was gauging your reaction.

“That’s nice, Nanami. You deserve a job where you’re able to relax and have some free time to yourself.”

Nanami opened his mouth to speak, but the waiter approached to take your orders, sticking a metaphorical pin in this conversation. Once your orders had been placed and your waiter left the two of you alone, you found it a bit difficult to start the conversation back up. You figured this would be strange, but damn it was downright painful whenever it was silent. Nanami again, was the first to speak up.

“Thank you again for coming. I know it must have taken a lot of thought before agreeing.”

You nodded. He was right.

“I definitely was not sure I wanted to do this if I’m being completely honest.” It was your turn to fidget now. You smoothed down your already smooth dress in your lap, avoiding Nanami’s gaze.

He hummed in response before pushing forward.

“So, tell me what you’ve been up to”, he offers. He’s trying to move the conversation along and you can appreciate that.

“Hmm, well I’m working now as a Senior Project Manager at the moment. It’s a good job, well paying and not stressful. I’ve been taking cooking classes recently. I make a mean rotisserie chicken.” You fill Nanami in on the basic parts of your life as your food arrives.

Nanami smiles softly as you speak, his eyes sparkling in the candlelight as he sips his wine. His gaze never leaves yours, an indicator that you have his full attention and your heart flutters in your chest because you can’t even deny that you missed this.

You finally let a comfortable silence fall over you both as you eat, the only sounds being the background noise of the restaurant and your cutlery hitting the plate. The food is delicious and it reminds you all the times you and Nanami used to share meals together, simply enjoying each other’s company.

Nanami finishes his meal first, his eyes roving over you as he finishes his glass of wine and pours another. He clears his throat before speaking.

“It sounds like life is quite interesting for you”, he begins. You finish your meal, wiping your mouth with a napkin as he continues. “I’m glad you’re doing well for yourself.”

“Likewise”, you offer. The night has gone so well. You aren’t sure what you were worried about, or Gojo for that matter. You chuckle to yourself as you remember his earlier offer.

“What’s so funny?” Nanami asks, his own smile spreading across his cheeks as he watches your amusement. You shake your head, deciding the night has gone well enough that Nanami may find this funny as well.

“Just that when I was getting ready to come here, I was on the phone with Satoru”, you somehow missed the tick in Nanami’s jaw at the mention of your friend’s name. “And he could tell I was nervous. He’s so funny…he actually offered to come here and hide behind a plant to spy on us.” You giggle, recalling Gojo’s joke to Nanami.

Nanami gives you a dry chuckle. “Hilarious”, he deadpans.

He’s watching you intensely again. Like he wants to say something, but he’s thinking better of it. You hope he keeps his thoughts to himself, but he doesn’t.

“Satoru…” he mumbles, testing the name. “You two must be close for you to be using his first name so casually now.”

You don’t particularly like his tone, but you know there’s history between Nanami and Gojo. They weren’t exactly the best of friends in high school, both of them having polar opposite personalities. They just didn’t quite mesh. But that had no bearing on the present. Yes, you were close with Gojo. Over the years, he had become a good friend and nothing more. You don’t know why you feel the need to stress this to Nanami, but you do.

“I mean, yes. We’re close, but—.”

“Are you together? Dating?” He interrupts, which only irritates you.

“What? No, Satoru and I are just friends, Nanami.”

He scoffs, unable to hide the crease in his brow holding his irritation. “Right. With the way you ogled each other that day at the coffee shop, I’m sure.”

You blink, eyes wide. You’re taken aback from this sudden shift in his mood. Where was this coming from?

“Even if Satoru and I were dating, it’s honestly none of your business. You don’t think it’s a little weird asking me this, Nanami?”

“So it’s Satoru for him, but I’m just Nanami now?” He sighed.

“What else do you expect me to call you? I haven’t seen you in half a decade. A little weird to call you Ken or Kento now, don’t you think?”

“Even so, I’ve known you longer. We were married once—“

“ And now we’re not .” You hiss, cutting him off. His eyes widen slightly at your tone. You never were one to lose your temper with him, but he was starting to push you. You took a deep breath, making sure to lower your voice. “You have to be kidding me with this petty shit right now.”

The conversation came to a brief pause as the waiter approached to clear your table of your plates and drop off the check. Nanami reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his card, handing it to the waiter without glancing at the paper. His eyes never left yours, the tension is his jaw apparent.

As the waiter left, Nanami cleared his throat to speak, but you cut him off again.

“After everything, you have no right to try and pry into my personal life and then get upset with me based on your own assumptions. You lost that right when you chose not to fight for our marriage and took a nap instead.” The words left your mouth before you could stop them. Maybe it was the wine talking, or the tension between you both, or the way Nanami was acting like he still had some sort of claim over you, but you weren’t going to back down from him this time.

He’s shocked, his brows stitching together in anger. “Or you could have been an adult that night. Instead of waiting to talk about it when I wasn’t exhausted from working towards our dream, you ran away.”

“It was never our dream, Nanami! It was always yours.” You spit back at him, trying to ignore the angry tears threatening to spill. “ You wanted to move, you saw a future in Malaysia and you let it consume everything around you until you had nothing left. Explain to me how that’s my fault.” Your voice shook with rage, your chest rising and falling with heavy breaths. This man was so infuriating.

Okay. Clearly, you both had some unresolved feelings. While you felt a weight lifted off your chest, a relief you didn’t know you needed telling him this, you knew one thing - you never wanted to see Kento Nanami again after tonight.

Nanami said nothing and you watched as the muscle in his jaw ticked over and over and over, the growing silence only fueling your irritation.

“Nothing to say now?” You let out a dry laugh. “So on brand for you honestly. I don’t know why I expected you could have an actual conversation about the hard stuff instead of dismissing it.”

You stood from your chair, grabbing your belongings. “Thank you for dinner, Nanami”, you muttered, not meeting his eyes. “Please don’t contact me again.”

You scurried past him and to the elevators, not bothering to wipe the tears now falling. You pressed the button to go down, wishing the elevator doors to open so you could leave as quickly as possible. You chanced a glance back at Nanami only to see his chair empty. Maybe he took the stairs. The elevator doors opened and you stepped inside, pressing the lobby button.

This was not how you wanted the night to end. Nanami had never been a jealous person in all the time you had known him, but you calling Gojo by his first name was what set him off? You couldn’t wrap your head around it. And what he said to you…

You shook the memories from your head as you leaned back against the wall, letting out a deep sigh as the doors started shutting. Finally, you could run away from here and never look back, never see Nanami again and fully move on with your life. A large hand flew between the doors and your stomach sank, watching as the doors reopened and Nanami stepped into the elevator. Unfortunately for you, the doors closed and left you two alone.

Nanami wasted no time, turning to face you, stopping when he sees your tear stained cheeks. He takes a step towards you and reaches a hand forward. You know you should move, step out of his reach, but you don’t. You let Nanami brush his fingers across your cheek before his hand cups the back of your head and pulls you forward into an embrace.

Your face is buried in his chest, your senses completely overwhelmed with only him. Nanami runs his fingers through your hair and the dam breaks. Your hands fly up to grab on to his jacket, balling the material up in your fists and you sob into him. Your tears soak through his shirt, but you don’t care. The weight of tonight - of seeing Nanami, being reminded of why you left, of your argument - it all comes crashing down on you and you can’t help but to cry into him.

His arms wrap around you, pulling you closer, his voice coming out barely above a whisper. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry”, he breathes into your hair. You didn’t expect this. You fully expected Nanami to let you leave and do what he did originally - leave you alone. You lean back slightly to look up at him, finally calming yourself down. He looks genuinely remorseful, his own eyes appearing to be holding back their own tears. You hadn’t seen this side of Nanami in so long. You felt your cheeks heat up, no doubt darkening as you both stared intensely into each other’s eyes.

His hands slide up to hold your face and you find yourself holding your breath, your own hands coming up to gently hold his wrists. Your heart is pounding so hard, you wonder if Nanami can hear it. He leans forward and you think he’s going to kiss you, your head automatically tilting up to meet him. But he doesn’t. He runs the tip of his nose up and down the bridge of yours over and over, letting out a shaky breath before he presses his forehead to yours.

“I’m a jealous man and I know I have no right to be. But I can’t stand before you and lie. I acted out. I’m so sorry. Don’t hate me.”

The hold you have on his wrists tighten as you move your nose against his - a small act of intimacy you both indulged in ages ago that you had honestly forgotten about, though your body seemed to remember on its own.

“I’m so sorry. Please forgive me”, He begs. And for a moment, you wonder if he’s apologizing for more than just tonight. “I don’t know what came over me. Please don’t shut me out again. I can’t lose you again. I’m sorry. ”

You inhale shakily. How could you say no to him when he had been trying so hard all night? And though the night went left, a part of you didn’t want to lose Nanami again either.

“Okay”, you whisper.

You’re both standing in the elevator, noses kissing repeatedly until the sound of someone clearing their throat breaks through the silence. You jump apart, quickly realizing you were in the lobby and had an audience waiting to get in. You both apologized profusely before stepping out together.

Nanami checks his watch before turning to you. “Can I- uh give you a ride home? It’s pretty late.”

You nod, accepting that you don’t want to go your separate ways just yet.

———

The ride to your apartment is quiet, but this time it’s a comfortable silence. You can feel Nanami sneaking peeks at you, maybe wanting to speak up but ultimately deciding against it lest he put his foot in his mouth again. You don’t hold it against him. You’re happy to sit in this pocket of peace with him for the time being.

As you pull up, you feel your heartbeat pick up again knowing the end of the night is upon you. Nanami parks the car and turns it off before he gets out and moves to your side to open the door for you. You climb out and give him a gracious smile, moving past him to walk to your door. He follows you, eyes scanning your surroundings.

You reach your door and unlock it. You turn back to Nanami, whose eyes are glued to you. You take in his features. That blonde hair you once loved running your fingers through, those sharp cheekbones you once loved to kiss, those big hands he used to hold you with and you admit to yourself that you miss him. You’ve missed him for so long you can’t remember a time when you didn’t. You missing him was the entire reason you left. You missing him was the reason you couldn’t seem to tell him goodnight and go into your apartment.

Nanami smiles down at you. “Thank you again for having dinner with me. I know the night ended on a sour note and I can’t apologize enough.” He leans down to press a soft kiss on your cheek, wishing you goodnight after.

He turns to leave and like a reflex, your hand shoots out to grab his arm. He spins around, giving you a quizzical look. You don’t know what you’re doing. You don’t know why you’re doing it. You only know that you miss him . So before you can change your mind, you open the door to your apartment and whisper, “Stay”.

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fictionadventurer · 9 months

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I happened to see a good chunk of the Netflix Persuasion. I can't give a complete review or analysis or whatever, but I have thoughts.

This movie has some very pretty colors. I like cool color palettes, what can I say?

There was one shot of a purple sunset where I was like, "Oh, I could live in this picture."

The aesthetic was so trendy I couldn't take it seriously. The clothes were that 2019 Little Women cottagecore vibe with lots of poorly-fitted textures and layers and colors. I laughed out loud at the Big White Text announcing LYME or BATH, because it's such a specific vibe.

I tried to detach from any notion of it as an Austen adaptation, and just enjoy it as its own movie that just happens to take place in a history-flavored fantasy world where everyone uses modern speech. Because sometimes those stories can be fun. It still didn't work.

Because it mostly just confused me. It was this weird mish-mash of genres and tones that didn't really blend together. Oil and water. It was Pinterest and Hallmark and Austen and College Humor and Instagram and Feminism and it's all felt like it came from completely different movies.

It was trying to be a sincere period drama love story and a goofy parody at the same time and it just didn't work.

Like, there were some sweet moments in it. Anne talking about poetry to Captain Benwick was rather nice.

But then you've got things like the weird octopus-sucking-my-face story Anne tells at Lady Dalrymple's. Even that could have worked okay in context, because Mr. Eliot jumps in and turns it into a metaphor about identity, which helps to cover for Anne's awkwardness and shows that he's willing to help her out. But then they keep bringing up the octopus as a sort of pet name and it's just so weird and doesn't fit with the rest of the story.

I've gotten ahead of myself so I'm going to backtrack to some specifics.

Mary Musgrove was excellent. Spot-on. I love how she's visibly younger than Anne. First adaptation I've seen that emphasizes that.

It was interesting how they emphasized the Mrs. Clay storyline. It actually sparked some interesting thoughts about the differences between the male social climbing of the sailors (shown in a positive light in Austen) and the female social climbing of the marriage-seeking ladies (shown in a more negative light).

I've never had a clearer picture of why Mrs. Clay matters so much to Mr. Elliot. Even in the book, it's a bit muddy, but it's crystal clear here. Mr. Elliot telling us his schemes straight-out did have the benefit of making the story very easy to follow.

I've got to back up again.

They completely altered the Anne/Wentworth storyline by mixing around all the plot points.

After they go to Bath, Wentworth seeks out Anne, says that they haven't had a chance to talk, and tells her how he always admired how good she was in an emergency. And this was before the staircase scene. I was extremely confused, until it hit me--this is a dream sequence! This is how Anne wants it to play out, but then she'll wake up!

But no! This actually happened! Wentworth says all this very sincerely and passionately, leading up to him declaring...that he wants to be friends. (At least there's context for "We're worse than exes--we're friends.")

It completely alters the trajectory of their relationship. Instead of jumping from the passion of hatred to the passion of love, Wentworth has gone to the other end of the pole--friendly indifference. He likes Anne and is totally okay with her marrying someone else.

I think they changed it so Mr. Elliot could be a serious contender in the love triangle. Wentworth has let her go--can she find happiness with someone else? I'll admit it's an interesting change, even if it's not Persuasion.

But it also seems like they're trying to make Wentworth a Suitable Love Interest for the Twitter Generation. Wentworth gets weirdly bristly with Mr. Elliot. Then Wentworth apologizes because Anne is a strong woman who doesn't need his protection. He tells her she should have been able to be an admiral. He's being mature and letting go of his resentment and wishing her well and showing that he doesn't like Regency Gender Roles. It's like they're shaving away his character growth in favor of a bland Nontoxic Relationship (TM).

But then Anne likes Mr. Elliot because he's bad? He openly talks about how he's trying to wreck her father's relationship to get the title. He insults her family. And she likes it.

This version of Anne holds her family in contempt. She doesn't like them or how they treat her and she openly disdains it. So she connects with Mr. Elliot. But the book Anne seems sad for her family--she doesn't like their behavior because she wishes they could be better people. She has compassion while movie Anne is resentful.

Persuasion is all about restraint. This movie is all about lack of restraint. People speak bluntly and say what they think and openly insult people. It's a completely different culture from the usual Austen movie, because it's modern culture. Which emphasizes how little we value good manners and restraint.

It's also weird how in changing the story, they also turn it into a generic rom-com. There's a more blatant love triangle between the good boy and the bad boy. Wentworth is starting to fall in love with Anne, but he's got an opportunity to advance his career, and he has to decide within a few days, oh no! It's textbook romcom plot points.

There was another point that I'll probably think of later.

EDIT: Oh, I just remembered! I think it was that the movie was so interested in the vibes and emotions of each individual scene that it didn't bother to try to stitch them together in a coherent whole.

The ending kiss looked 1000% like the cover of a cheap romance novel.

And the final moral of "don't let anyone tell you how to live your life" feels so simplistic and selfish and weird.

Overall, I'm not angry. I'm just confused. It's not the type of movie to arouse any kind of emotion other than "Huh???" And maybe a bit of regret that they couldn't have done better things with the interesting bits.

#persuasion #netflix persuasion #jane austen #this is really bad and rambly but i can't put it into any better order #probably because of how disjointed the movie (and my watching experience) was #i wouldn't have sought out this movie in a million years but since it happened to be on in the background i took the opportunity #it was the best way to do it because i didn't feel like i was losing any of my life to actively choosing to watch this #i was just casually analyzing

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writerofadream · 3 months

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Fairytale Ending? ⛓

TDI!Duncan x Juvie Bestfriend! Reader ⛓

Chapter Two: Trent's jealous of his girlfriend's crush.

You stared at the food on your plate. Slowly you pushed it in front of you. Dunan gave you a disapproving glare. “Eat.” He ordered pushing the plate right back at you. “I’m not hungry,” You grumbled. “You are eating for two, honey, eat.” Leshawna sat down next to you.

A faint blush appeared on your cheeks causing Duncan to sport a goofy grin.

“Fine.” You whispered and slowly began putting the food into your mouth. “Good girl.” Duncan whispered in your ear causing you to turn about fifty shades of red. “Get a room, ya nasties.” Leshawna rolled her eyes.

Chris walked in. “Welcome to day two of Total, Drama, Action.” He yelled dramatically.

It had been a few months since you had been on Total Drama Island, and looking at the man still made you feel nauseous. Duncan squeezed your thigh, and sighed.

“You gonna do that everytime, asshole?” He questioned. “Yep.” Chris smiled wide, and annoyingly. “Alright then.” Duncan rolled his eyes causing a small giggle to leave your mouth.

“Today’s movie genre… aliens!”

Chris smirked once he saw your eyes light up. “Our unpaid interns-” You felt Duncan tense, next to you and you put your head on his shoulder, trying to convey comfort. Slowly he relaxed. “You got three basic rules-” Chef began his ramble.

“Today’s challenge- find an alien egg.” Chris held up a map.

“Sorry losers, ain’t no one knows alien movies more than I do.” Duncan crossed his arms looking at the people around him. Gwen rolled her eyes and pointed at you, who was now looking at him with a look of utter disbelief.

“Wanna bet, tiger?” You smirked.

“Off with the head, off with them all.” He recited, clearly challenging you. “Deck of Aliens, we watched it three years ago.” You responded. “See to it that we kill all the humans.” You recited raising an eyebrow. “Last two alive, we saw it when we were eight.” Duncan scoffed.

“What if the aliens kill us, what if they try to mate with us- UGH.” Duncan said quickly. “Honey, I brought the kids to the Apocalypse. You made me watch that after the OBGYN said she had never seen it.” You cross your arms.

“We’re gonna crush those aliens, and have them for breakfast.” You smirk as a look of realization dawns on his face, he didn’t remember the name. “Alien Chunks!” Gwen yelled out. “I love that movie.” She laughs.

“I’ve seen it twenty seven times.” she explains. Duncan has to scoff at that. “I saw fifty-seven.” He says, and you laugh. “A hundred and thirty four times.” you smile as you watch Gwen’s face drop.

“You’ll both be tough to beat. But I’ll still beat your asses.”

“You sound like my father.” Duncan laughed as he watched you spit out your drink, and turn to look at him, exasperated.

—-

You watched, sadly as Duncan cartwheeled into your arms. You gave him a hug. “I can’t wait till she comes out so we can teach her gymnastics. Oh, I’m so excited she’ll look like you but be troubled like me-” a soft smile appeared on your face as you watched your husband excitedly rant, albeit quietly.

Movement was something you valued. You adored gliding on the trapeze, walking on your hands, and doing a variety of stunts. But now that you are pregnant, every movement hurts. Walking made your hips sore, laying down made your neck hurt, sitting made your legs hurt.

Luckily for you, you had a husband that liked nothing more than to touch his wife.

Currently, you were walking through a big metal building that you were confident was filled with gasses that were not safe for the child inside you.

Duncan had grabbed you and strung you over his back like a backpack. Not that you were complaining, your feet HURT.

There was this weird slurping sound that was driving you to the brink of madness though. You looked up expecting to see Beth smacking some sort of food in her brace-filled mouth. “Shh.” Gwen grumbled clearly annoyed. Owen promptly farted.

“If my baby dies of gas inhalation I swear I will beat your ass.” You hissed at Owen who blushed. “If the baby dies because of one of them can I kill them?” Izzy asked with a large smile. “Yes.” Duncan answered for you.

The slurping continued and you mimed putting a gun to your head.

“What is that?” Trent finally grumbled. You all looked at Beth who turned red and apologized. “Ever since I got my braces off I don’t make that sound anymore.” She explained trying to justify herself. “I hear that sound anytime she talks.” Duncan muttered under his breath causing you to softly giggle.

“It must be, Chef.” You whispered as the idea popped into your mind.

“So you want to run, or kick some alien ass?” Duncan asked as he tilted his face, exposing his neck which you promptly lined with kisses. “Kick ass.” You murmured and high-fived with Gwen who was staring at you with heart eyes. “..AHEM-” Trent coughed into his palm causing Gwen to whir around.

“I mean, Trent, do you have any ideas?”

“Let’s kick some alien butt!” Trent quickly recovered. “After you.” Gwen pointed at the wall in front of the group. “I’m pregnant, I have a reason to not want to die, also I’m pretty sure Duncan will kill me if I die, so after you sweetheart.” You pinched Trent’s cheek as you tried to hop off Duncan’s back, but he quickly made you jump back on.

Beth quickly stalked up. “I did not go through eight years of braces-” her rant was cut off as she found out what the noise was. You all waited anticipating her response.

“... it’s just Bridgette and Geoff.” she grumbled and you all looked over the wall to see the two blondes making out. “Do you ever get tired of sucking his face?” You asked Bridgette who promptly flipped you off.

“Cute.” You smiled cheekily walking past her.

Duncan quickly caught up, and threw you over his shoulder with ease. You sighed propping yourself up on your back as Leshawna waved, laughing at you.

“That boy ain’t gonna let you do nothing while you're pregnant.” She pointed out. You rolled your eyes, turning red. Suddenly the GPS that Chris gave you all began beeping, signaling that Chef was close. “Danger.” Yours said. “Danger.”

Danger

You walked into your home, your stomach making a small growl. You felt embarrassed, your kitchen was bare of any food. You checked anyways, you opened up the fridge and were unsurprised at the lack of anything in there.

You made a mental note to steal an apple from Duncan’s house sooner rather than later.

You closed the fridge door and saw your father waiting there with a wild smile on his face. You were surprised for two reasons.

Your father was there, and clearly trying to talk to you

Your father was smiling

He scooped you up in a hug and you felt your stomach clench. “Oh I love my wonderful daughter.” He reeked of alcohol. Suddenly one of his hands clasped the back of your neck, sending an adrenaline filled tingle down your spine.

That was the place they tasered you at military camp.

Never again, Duncan had told you, he’d never let it happen again.

Your instincts went into overdrive, and you grabbed his hand, specifically his pointer-finger and twisted it backwards, making him drop you. Then you pinned him to the wall. Your mind was screaming danger, over and over.

You didn’t see your father, you saw General Eyses, you saw Leo, you saw all of your tormentors.

Duncan felt you tense, and had gently set you down in seconds flat, and wrapped his arm around you to keep you from lashing out. “Onward.” He grunted as he felt you struggle against his strength. Gwen shrugged before following him.

“Stay back here love-birds.” You yelled at Geoff and Bridgette.

It was an exhausting day. Simply because it was extremely boring. You couldn’t find the nest of alien eggs and you felt tiredness coming upon you. Duncan watched you warily as you took a misstep and fell straight-

Into his arms.

Your eyes were flickering open and closed. Duncan sighed, clearly very worried and pulled you into his arms, carrying you bridal style. “Is she doing alright?” Gwen questioned. “She’s always been exhausted. But when you're pregnant and anorexic, that doesn’t help.” He explained quietly.

“Oh.” Trent muttered.

Finally you all had made it to the boiler room, and saw the vomit-colored eggs beneath you. “Woah, they look so real.” Trent said aloud. “Woo hoo! We won.” DJ yelled quickly waking you up. You gave Duncan a look “Why didn’t you wake me up.” you grumbled forcing him to let go of you.

“Because I like holding you.” He muttered causing a light blush to come on your cheeks.

“We still have to get the eggs back to home base.” Duncan explained to your team. As the room emitted some steam causing goosebumps to appear on your biceps and along your forearms.

Suddenly a beep was heard from Gwen’s GPS signaling that Chef was tracking them.

You grumbled staring at the ceiling for a moment. “If I go into early labor because of this I will sew your **** to your head and call you a limp **** for the rest of your ******* life.” You yelled at the camera.

Your fellow teammates looked at you mildly concerned.

Then you promptly flipped down into where the eggs were, landing with ease that no one else could’ve accomplished. You quickly began throwing eggs up to your friends and Duncan helped pull you back up.

Chef appeared from a doorway and shot DJ in mere seconds.

Duncan had to drag a waving you away from him. “Bye Chef!” You yelled as you were dragged outside. But you saw Chris in a helicopter above you.

“The military has come to your rescue m’lady. Sadly I can’t let you leave with the alien eggs. I’d think about changing my mind for a kiss.”

Duncan growled before he laughed as he watched you flip the helicopter off. “Kiss my ass.” You yelled up towards him.

“That can be arranged.” The maniac smiled before dropping a bomb on you. “DUCK.” Duncan yelled as he covered your body with his, just as the bomb exploded with green goo.

—

“Does this mean we’re out?” You heaved, standing back up. “I think so, princess.” Duncan sighed, putting an arm around your shoulder. “I’m disappointed. I wanted a million.” You sighed, putting a head on his shoulder.

“I think we’ll be fine without it. We’re only here because Chris said he’d report that we’d violated our parole, remember?” Duncan pointed out, causing you to grumble. “Trust me. I remember.”

Then you began the trek back to ‘home base’, following Chris. Duncan was holding you close, and every few minutes put kisses on your head as if he was trying to assure himself you were still there. As you reached home base, you sat on the bleachers as Chef walked out holding the gilded Chris’s.

“Don’t we have forty of those at home?” Duncan pointed out. You sighed, and nodded. Leshawna gave you a strange glance. “He sends me one, twice a month.” You explained. “You should get a restraining order.” Leshawna advised.

Duncan gave her a confused look. “What’s a restraining order?” You both said in unison.

Leshawna blinked a few times, clearly very concerned. Chris threw you a gilded Chris, then he threw Duncan one. “Do you know what a restraining order is?” You asked Beth who sat next to you. “It’s when a person you don’t like isn’t allowed to be near you or else they go to jail.”

Duncan slowly made eye contact with you.

“You're telling me… this whole time we could’ve just got a restraining order against our parents?” He whispered. “Apparently.” You whispered in reply, very shocked.

“All that trauma… for nothing.” He shook his head in disbelief, as you nodded in agreement. “Did you really not know that was a thing?” Beth asked, with a raised eyebrow. You nodded. She sighed, shaking her head.

—

|Trending on X right now|

#bethisatiredmom

#’allthatrauma..fornothing’samehere

#duncanisagreatdad

#gwenxy/n

#trentxfuckinggrass

—

tagged:

@lostsomewhereinthegarden

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pliablehead · 7 months

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I guess if I want to write a travelogue/write up post about my 4-stop journey following the first chunk of Everything Everything's 2023 US tour then I have to just... do it!! If this is of interest to anyone other than me then GREAT and if not then it's still special to me to try to write down and remember everything I can uwu

FIRST STOP WASHINGTO-- wait, no, actually, first stop, on my way out of town, the local donut shop in my neighborhood, a place that I absolutely adore and patronize all the time with staff who mostly know me by now/some of whom are my instagram friends/etc. i'd checked with the Pittsburgh venue ahead of time to see if it was okay to send in outside food as a gift to the band even though they have a cafe/bar in their own right, and whoever I corresponded with said it would be totally fine, so I talked to the donut shop manager and set up a delivery of a dozen for the lads for Saturday before their show here. advance paid for that, as well as getting my own breakfast and coffee hehe, and then hit the road. OKAY FOR REAL FIRST STOP WASHINGTON DC!!! This was the second-longest leg of my Car Driving and it was definitely a wee bit exhausting but I had a podcast or two and a ton of E E on shuffle to bolster me through and I made it to my mom's friends' house, where I was staying, with relative ease. The venue was within a not-too-unreasonable walking distance too so after a change of clothes (I had very distinct and deliberate Show Outfits for each night that were fully separate from my travelin' clothes) and a bunch of fussing with the bracelets™ I headed over!! stopped for empanadas and a smoothie on the way and then queued up!!

aaaaahh this was such a nice fun queue. I was maybe about a dozen-ish people back from the front, down about half a block, and once I finished scarfing down my food this was my first real experience with doling out the bracelets. so fun! I'm glad it was basically an instant hit! AND I even got a few trades in this queue--one person gave me a Man Alive / Tin / E E bracelet with teeny tiny beads, super fun, and one person with a SHITTON of kandi stuff gave me one that had the name of a flower genus on it?? i think they said it was?? I love the colors on this one! And one person traded me a Blow Pop. lmao. I should eat that before it sits in my fanny pack for too long. I also really enjoyed chatting with the two guys right in front of me (Nick and Alex?), who were from south-central PA and had a couple other fandom touchstones in common with me (mcelroys/dnd/BDG! I love this Venn diagram!!) as well as a big love for E E. We didn't really see much of each other beyond the point of getting inside but I liked y'all a lot!! Hope you had as great a time as I did!!

Black Cat is where I saw E E the first time I EVER SAW THEM, which was almost exactly six years ago from this gig, which is insaaaane. The space is kind of narrow so there's not a huge amount of stage barrier space right at the front, so Becky and I ended up pretty much at the front but almost aa-all the way stage left/Jeremy-side. coulda been worse hehehe. We kind of loitered and chatted with nearby folks, I think maybe becky checked out merch ahead of the show ? but I kind of just held down the fort, enjoying setup stuff, pete running around etc hehe. getting BLASTED by the AC, which was nice.

the ummmm the opener! our first experience with Pierre! I gotta say his general style is not for me, despite the fact that I do think he's very talented and good at the thing he's doing. this first night especially he was SO sweaty and I felt bad for him lmao, you could like see it dripping off him. i am so curious as to why/how he got paired with the boys for this tour, like, what aligned in such a way that this match was made, because my general vibe on the crowd/his audience/etc was that we the fans of the nerdy white english mathy rocker guys were not exactly his demo LOL. BUT i will say in DC I do think he had one little pocket of strong-contingency fans because I kept hearing big whoops and cheers coming from one specific audience spot and I loved that for him lmao. for some reason i cannot explain I actually almost found his backing/support musician guy (the guy who was basically his version of peter) more compelling. I wanna know THAT dude's story lol.

so when he finished up we had a little interlude aaaannndd the setlist appeared... hehe. I could def have peered up to look at it from where I was, but I was telling myself I wanted to be surprised, and was deliberately looking away........ until suddenly everyone around me was gasping and going HOLY SHIT and I was like, ugghhh okay, I will check JUST enough to figure out what that's all about, and what that was all about was immediately apparent because smack in the middle of the set were a Man Alive track (which we never get in the states bar MY KZ) and something that just said "New Song." AND LIKE, OKAY, THAT'S A JUSTIFIED HOLY SHIT. new song????? so now we had THAT to contend with coming up, and aaaaaaah. ahh. yeah holy shit indeed.

it's also while we're standing there that AG pops into view, (or maybe I first spotted him during Pierre's set? Chronology is irrelevant), back off behind Becky from me in the other direction, and we waved over at him to say hi and he says to us, "All four of them are bleached blond." And my gut instinct was to be like, I DON'T BELIEVE YOU, but also the truth in my heart was that there was absolutely no justification for not believing them, because of course they would, and sure enough these bozos roll out onto the stage and they are all four draco malfoy-ass bleach blond. God it looks a mess on Jeremy LOL and while the color/dye job wasn't bad on Alex, it was clear his finer hair wasn't holding up as well against the chemicals because it was just a fluffy riot mess. BUT GOD IT WAS REALLY SO INCREDIBLY STRIKING OF A VISUAL for them to be all be wearing all pure white/beige clothes and then to have this bleach-white hair and all of it catching and glowing under the stage lights... god... clearly the effect they were going for and it WORKED, IT REALLY DID. I think it looks so damn goofy (mostly on jez) out of context but it's ABSOLUTELY nailing the Everything Everything Gig Costumes energy/uniform thing that I felt like they'd drifted away from a little the past couple tour cycles, I'm so incredibly here for it

The set!!!! The gig!!!!!!! it wasn't a wildly different set from what we'd seen in CA last year, obviously RDF-heavy supplemented with a heaping helping of singles from the other albums too, but I remember thinking Leviathan and Pizza Boy were especially excellent aaaah. And Schoolin'! And the NEW SONG! The two pieces of it I IMMEDIATELY absorbed and retained were 'the image of a little yellow face to tell you that I'm sorry' and 'I love you like an atom bomb,' and I was spouting those two pieces back to anyone who wanted to talk to me about it for the rest of the night. I'm so lyrics-pilled/vocalist-biased. Which was.... Unfortunate, for this DC gig, because I do think the audio mix was pretty rough - at least from where we were standing so close to the front, I wonder if it was at least a tiny bit better further back into the crowd in the area the sound system was probably primarily calibrated for - and we were REALLY losing Jon in the mix, especially underneath how enthusiastically the crowd was singing along a lot of the time. We were on Jeremy's side of the stage and we were really just getting a LOT of Jeremy. (Which, the bass did sound absolutely fantastic, so hard to complain about that, at least, but still.) I was very thankful to be going to a few more gigs beyond this one so that this wasn't my only experience with it, especially New Song!!! Plus there were a bunch of other little tech difficulties too? Near the beginning of the new song, Jon's guitar strap came detached and wouldn't reconnect, and after struggling a bit with that he decided to just drift back and pass it off the stage to their tech guy--but he was still kind of singing/holding the mic, so as he moved on stage, the mic cable yanked the microphone stand straight over, too. Then the rest of the night that stand was pretty precarious and nearly fell two other times, only caught at the last minute by a true homie who was standing directly in front of it in the audience lmao. I think Becky yelled HIRE HIM! at one point. Annnnd also for like a whole verse of NOTLK jez's bass boards just kind of Gave Up. He tried switching to his other instrument but that wasn't working either, and then finally it all sort of came back online, so he played a little stretch with the wrong bass and then was able to switch back to the right bass when there was a lull in his part. SHAMBLES. lmfao. god it was a great gig though. SO FUCKING GOOD TO BE BACK I LOVE BAND UWAAAAAHH I WAS SO SWEATY AND HAPPY

afterrrr da gig, we needed very badly to drink water and so we managed to do that I believe, and we kind of loitered in the Merch Line Situation trying to figure out what was going on. I had kind of resolved not to buy merch until at least NY, part because I really didn't want to be lugging anything around with me for too much of my trip (esp on this night where I walked) and part because I'd read a post that Irving Plaza was among the venues who'd committed to not taking a cut of band merch sales and letting them keep it all, and I was like, well obvi that's where I want to spend my money. Plus it was cash only in DC and since I'd kind of told myself NY I didn't even have cash out, so it was nothing. BUT!!! homie Adrian whomst I had met at the DC Foals show last December had been there, a few people ahead of me in the queue and also rocking out yaayyy, and he was trying to get merch but the ATM inside the venue literally did not have any more cash left inside it to dispense because everyone was taking out so much of it to buy merch AAAH. so he reached out to me like 'you're going to more shows than just this one right?' and asked if I'd pick him up the stuff he wanted later and then mail it to him so he didn't have to contend with international shipping and I was like aaaah absolutely! yay gig comradeship!

so I think becky finally committed to getting in the merch line and I was mostly just waiting With Becky and there weren't a ton of people left because the venue was trying to clear out, but the handful of us who were still there, a wild Alex Robertshaw appeared up near the stage/bar. we vibed out whether he was receptive to Fan Bothering at this time but it seemed legit, so a bunch of us went over and socialized with him and took some pics, got some signatures, etc, woooo. We tried to vibe out from him also if the other guys were gonna be coming out, and when and where, but y'all know Alex is the awkwardest member of this band by a country mile and we didn't really have too coherent of a discourse at this point in time lmao. Not sure who talked to him about what at this point as I was just trying to hold down the fort and be Normal. I was able to give Alex the bracelet I'd made for him at this point (he was so cute studying on it and reading it ahaha - "rave-- kevin-- kevins rave KEVIN'S RAVE" and he smiled and I felt cool), and also meanwhile Pete was still running around stage doing roadietech type stuff and I sort of politely flagged him down like "do what you need to do if you need to do it but also: Hi lol" and I got to give him his bracelet as well! yay ♥. He complimented my shirt--I'd been getting a lot of compliments on it honestly, it's their Yellow Bird Project shirt that Jon designed some time ago, only I replaced the plain white sleeves of the original unisex tee with some sort of vermilion "girly fit" sleeves that are more comfy to me and kind of give the shirt a different look haha--and I sort of joked on that, said as much, oh, I swapped the sleeves out, "It's to cover up how sweaty I get." and Pete gave me a deadpan look and went "You don't even want to go there with me" and I was like "YEP I FEEL MUCH THE SAME" and I think we both enjoyed a moment of feeling very Seen about the sweatiness hehehehehe. I love Pete he is my heckin Friend With no additional merch purchases (merchases) (hm, no) the venue was finally for realsies ejecting us so we drifted back out into the streets and just like... okay... now what........ this was the point at which I think our Band Groupie-ing Crew became me, Becky, Danielle in the fox ears/tail, and a lanky youth named S.P. whom I'd talked to in line earlier while doling out bracelets (he had the good E E baseball cap; he asked for an Arc bracelet and I commended him for being an Arc fan, since I feel like they are a dwindling/rarer breed, and then I offered up my hot take that Violent Sun is just the second coming and second pass at Duet, which he thought was spicy, and then he asked for my most controversial E E take and I told him that I don't really like Tin very much and he told me he doesn't really like Shark Week very much and we agreed to disagree and have a good night LOL) (anyway I digress !). It was a warm enough night and none of us really had places to be so we didn't mind just loitering and trying to suss out some more Guys other than just Alex and Pete, but slowly but surely we became basically the only fans left sticking it out. so we stuck together! We split up to try to find if there was a rear stage door at the back and SP and I went one way (the long way RIP) and Becky and Danielle went the other way and it turns out the way that SP and I went was an alleyway just FULL of rats. Too many rats in DC!! People like to talk about rats in NYC but I saw WAY more in Washington just vibing out on the sidewalks and eating trash. I'm not anti-rat, they live there and deserve to live, but oh man it was just. I did not especially want a rat encounter LOL. The rat alley DID actually lead us to where the bus was though!!, but there was also a venue security guy there who was immediately like "Nope, back up, leave, bye" and we were like. understood have a nice day, and doubled around a different way to meet back up with the other two. wwwwelp.

We loitered a bunch more and eventually saw Alex and his homies like, AT LEAST two more times, but we ultimately never saw anyone else. They p much confirmed for us that because this was the first night of the tour, they had a really intense load-out, and everyone was jetlagged to all fuck, that they probably wouldn't ever make it out, even though at least once Alex had said something ambiguous/optimistic enough to imply that they might yet, but really it just got SO late that we couldn't justify still being there for nothing instead of being like. asleep. lol. SP and Danielle got rideshares, Becky and I walked back as far as her hotel together, and then I hiked the rest of my way back too and went the fuck to SLEEP!!! FIRST GIG IN THE BOOKS!! WHAT A LOVELY NIGHT GOD IT WAS JUST SO BEAUTIFUL TO BE SEEING THEM AGAIN ngl I think the blond is really attractive on Mike with his darker brows/beard and I'm always a sl*t for jonathan so like. beautiful. finally some delicious fucking food

it was super nice of my mom's friend to let me stay with him!!! I was so delighted to see his cats again, I remembered them from the last time I was there like six or so years ago, they're sooooo floofy and beautiful aahh. he also provided me with a white noise fan without me even asking which was SO choice. zzzzz. My plan was to get up in the morning, get coffee someplace nearby at wherever he recommended, and then hit the road forrrr... Philadelphia!!! Night two!!!! I got some breakfast tacos at a hella legit place, messed up my coffee/milk/sugar ratio ever so slightly but not in an undrinkable way, and then frickin. autobot rolled out. This drive was not bad at ALL, I timed it pretty much exactly like I planned it to, which was to: get to my friend's place where I was crashing in philly with, ideally, enough time to take a small nap before I had to do anything else, because, god, despite being pretty exhausted and sleeping okay on the nice guest bed in DC, I had BARELY slept the night before I left just from Travel Antsiness and from both staying up way later and waking up way earlier than I meant to unintentionally, and a second little recharge zzz before I went and did it all over again really hit the spot.

It was soooo nice to see Mads again and to see Mr. Angus and also meet BENNY!! More host cats!! They are suuuch silly good little lads, Mads and I had a ton of Kitty Chat and just vibing out and talking about concerts and fandom and stuff, I was so thankful she let me stay with her and getting to hang out was icing on the cake of this trip! She pointed me toward the trolley I'd need to take to get to the venue, and after my baby snzzz and drinking a ton of water and suiting up in my Arc-inspired look (literally just a sweatshirt dress I bought specifically because it was color-blocked very very much like the jackets/outfits they toured Arc in, I saw it and bought it immediately lmfao) I journeyed into the city, hoping to just find a place to eat in the vicinity of the gig! I was way closer up in the queue this time, the people in front of me were really just like.... the usual suspects, Annika+squad and David+squad (incl. Becky, who'd apparently already been there when I got there but wasn't there when I arrived), and also a super-nice woman immediately in front of me named Robin who I MEGA hit it off with!!! Hanging out with her was such an awesome part of my experience at this gig!!! she's COMPLETELY Offline which is so powerful for her but I hope there's some capacity in which we can continue to be friends because she ruled.

There was a Dominican(? I think) place like one block down from the venue where a couple in front of me had gotten some stuff and so I ran down there to snag food too and holy shit this man gave me so much goddamn food. Just a HUGE pile of rice and beans and some pork ribs, and I got a pineapple fanta, and I just popped a squat on the sidewalk and ate as much of it as I could which was probably not even half of what he gave me but it wasn't even that expensive so god bless. Once I wasn't dealing with my food sitch any more I was freed up to pass out a bunch of bracelets again, and I even got a couple more trades, one that was just a bunch of black beads and a bunch of Xs and one that says 'BUSSY' which I am elated about, thank you so fucking much lmao. Also someone offered to trade me an ibuprofen LOL and I was like no that's fine the bracelet can be free... for now, but I will keep that in mind if I change my mind later LOL aaahhh i was just so excited to give the bracelets out it was such a good vector for socializing and making Friends and Gig Buddies. I did learn p quickly at Philly that I should have made way more Man Alive, GTH, and Raw Data feel bracelets because those were basically the first to go every night and then I got stuck with just sad unloved Re-Animators and AFDs :( I was trying to like! do equal amounts of everything to give everything the love because I love them all! but people got favorites out there damn lmao. I was happy to be able to give Robin the MY KZ one because she said that's the first song she ever heard by them and it's special to her because of that (and then also it's been in the touring set and she got to hear them perform it too yay!!! I don't remember if she said she'd seen them before but it had just been a very very long time, or what, idk, aaaah).

We were R I G H T on the stage at this venue, slightly more to Alex's side this time, and the lip/rise of the stage was not very high at ALL and it felt almost like... intimidating, or like it shouldn't have been ALLOWED, for us to be that close to the stage. :flushed emoji: jeez lmao. I didn't fuck w merch here either but some people around me did I think and I held their spots, and a nice kid from right behind me in the queue brought me a Liquid Death which was so incredibly sweet. Pierre's set passed much as it had in DC, lmao; his other musician guy had a sweet fit on, though, this like two-piece set that was a really really dark/muted camo, a blazer over a black top and then matching like athleisure-fit pants and black boots, it was a fuckin look. They had a song at the very end of Pierre's Philly set that I don't think they'd done in DC (and that I didn't get in PGH either, it turned out), and ironically that was actually probably far and away the song of his I enjoyed the most, so I got kind of into it there at the end! but MAN was I ready to see the boys instead. hnnnn.

LADS SO CLOSE TO ME. JUST RIGHT THERE AND SINGING AND ROCKING. the set was aaaalmost exactly the same as DC, but in Philly they shifted Bad Friday up out of the encore and back into the set proper, and then replaced it in the encore with Violent Sun, which I admit I'd been bummed to not see in DC because I think the Violent Sun/No Reptiles encore double whammy is so incredibly crucial to the vibe. Warmed me to have it back in. Obviously Pittsburgh had so many other contributing factors that put it over the edge, but if it weren't for all of those, I think Philly would've been my favorite/best experience of these four gigs. Jon was spicy (he sang so many of the Original Rejected naughty lyrics, this is where we got 'he's a vegetable now' for the first and only time and also the only gig of the four where he leaned into the 'Arch Jeremy' gag in Arch Enemy, hehehehe, plus also motherfuckin' distant past which is not uncommon), and we got way more of the New Song-- through the whisper network of Becky, AG, David, etc., etc., we'd pieced together enough info to know by now that apparently the title of the song was in the lyrics of the chorus, and so I think it was in Philly that we all pretty much determined/decided that this was Cold Reactor. I love you like an atom bomb and I've become a cold reactor. I wasn't diving as DEEP into SONG DECIPHERING as some other folks were, but I did like kind of working on it at my own pace and absorbing it into my heart and my understanding of the band and what they're about to start doing, and so this was really great, for me, here, beautiful, beautiful. I took almost NO pics and vids at this one because my phone was kind of dying but also mostly just because I was honestly having such an enormously great time and I didn't feel the need to try to do anything other than be present in my body at the gig and experience it live. you KNOW?? LIKE!! MUSIC. man. EDIT TO ADD: I forgot to mention a small tech flub that was actually so charming, where near the very end of Arch Enemy jon seemed to be having trouble with his guitar board in the front, and he spent so long in the outro squinting down at it and trying to resolve the issue that he didn't fully come in on the It's time to show your face! bit at the proper time, and he ended up just saying "It's time to show your face." right into the mic very unaffected and straight-up in his regular speaking voice at the very, very end when the song was basically over. lol. he is cute. everyone is cute.

(I WILL ALSO SAY I got the giggles SO BAD at david and amanda's gudetama they slipped onto the stage, oh my god--I was going to take a joke video just dramatically zooming in on it, as one does, except right when I went to do that it got caught up in jon's mic cable and just TUMBLED AND JOSTLED ALL OVER THE PLACE and that fucking GOT me and I was DYING and it was right at like. the serious, heartstring-tugging, fuck-yeah parts of No Reptiles where I'm supposed to be at CHURCH and instead I'm losing my shit into hysterics over this poor gudetama just rolling everywhere alksdhjglaksd, I had to bury my face in Becky's shoulder for a measure or more and try to recover, oh my godddd. EGGS!) -- (OH ALSO I LMAO I HAVE SEVERAL AUDIENCE MEMBER ~BITS THAT I AM DOING just like, clapping here or there, participating actively in certain parts of things, and one that I kept doing for some asshole clown reason was singing along with/lampshading Alex's quick backing vox on the second verse of Spring Sun Winter Dread-- Philly was probably the place where I was the most prominent/obvious/easy to see doing it, and it made both him and Jeremy REALLY snicker, ahahaha I'm sorryyyyyyy for being obnoxioussssss)

The merch/loitering sitch was sli-iiightly more locked down, in here; there was only so long Marty and I could pretend to be thinking about merch/hanging out with people who were actually in line but not actually being in line before they really truly wanted us to leave, and they were pretty pissed that I even left the venue with an empty/ice-only water cup, never mind any dreams of re-entry. The militant energy of the security at this venue compared to how relatively chill and normal DC had been (for two venues I would say of comparable size/seriousness) was def my least favorite part of the Philly experience. I was outside, finishing my water and chitchatting with some artsy youths who were also unimpressed with security, and Becky's messaging me like "they're in here!" and I'm like "well I'm not and I can't come back so you gotta tell them to come out here!" lmao. But they did!!! All the guys came out before too long and I very delightfully got to talk to everyone. I gave Mike and Jeremy the bracelets I'd made for them - THEY both apologized to ME outright for not coming out to chat the night before?? like hello you’re the band we’re the fans you don’t owe us anything - they kind of came toward my side of the door first, and talked and chatted some, vs Jon sort of peeling the other way to the other half of the loiterers - I honestly have lost track of the sequence of events here and what happened when, but it was largely unimportant hehe. (Gosh, but then I keep randomly remembering other unrelated details. Like, for example, Black Cat gave me their big ol' signature black cat hand stamp, and I'd been thinking, oh this will be fun to watch my four hand stamps stack from these four gigs, the way I got two together from The Altogether/Matt Duncan double feature back in July, and then Underground Arts put theirs on the INSIDE OF MY WRIST and not the back of my hand, and both Irving and T-Bird just did wristbands. BUMMER.) But mostly just Seeing Band, Talking To Band. This was when I overheard Alex definitely confirm to someone that the new song is called Cold Reactor, and he sort of half-seriously half-not said they just didn't call it that on the setlist in case there was another "New Song" they might want to decide to start playing there instead at the last minute, even though the longer this goes on the more confident we are that they're not going to do that and that Cold Reactor is gonna be a new single that probably drops once this tour is over <___< eyes emoji. Also, between Wednesday and Thursday we also knew that the bleach-blond hair is for Lore Reasons, which we assume are to do with Cold Reactor and the album it will be on, because of course it is. stupid. jonathan higgs I want to crawl inside your deranged pisces mind and meld with it vulcan style.

anyway, as far as my short term memory can be relied upon/will tell me is the truth, I think Jon was actually the last person I ended up in contact with on this night; I was drifting over toward him but someone else was still engaged in an active conversation with him, so I was like, well obviously I will wait my turn and let other people have jonathan time even though I'm the biggest jonathan girlie, I can just hang and go in when he frees up, and so I was turned slightly away from him listening in on other convos and talking to Becky and maybe Annika or a couple other people, and then suddenly there's a delicate hand on the back of my shoulder and Jon's right in my fucking ear ominously going "hello." askdjhgka. He was soooo cute and nice, I gave him the bracelet I made him as well (which was "I wanna be there" from Violent Sun and shades of re-animator orange) and he was immediately like Oh, of course you, are the bracelet distributor, and I was like hehehe yes, and he asked if I also had to do with the gudetama and I was like absolutely not I have no idea what is going on there lmfao. and I think amanda and david did take credit for it at that time of course so yes hehe. Ended up in a fun casual chitchat with Jon and Becky for most of the rest of the time here, with her trying to squeeze him for info about the new song and album and lore hehehe and him being his typical cryptic trolly cagey Jon, and it was all in incredibly good fun; he noticed her bracelet too, and she pointed it out like Yes I got the one that says This Is The Prophecy from big climb because it hearkens back to that bit they were doing on twitter from way before that song even came out so I gave her that one on purpose duh lol, and Jon says "Oooh yep I forgot about that. .. Album..." and mimed swiping his hair back like whoopsie lmao and it was such a silly little half-self-neg on Re-Animator lol, and so I said "WELP too bad! because the one I made from you is one of those too haha!" and he took another look at it as if to remind himself about it and then went "Well yeah that one's good" with a wryer wickeder laugh and I was like lmao tell us how you really feel. But like he's right violent sun is perfect and I actually labored so long over what I was going to have jon's say because he was the only person I didn't have a really solid concrete idea of what to make for and ALSO he was the only one I REALLY wanted to get PERFECT because it's important to me and yeah. so it was. reassuring for him to like the violent sun one. idk anyway.

The woman we'd seen running around doing a lot for them, including merch, who recognized us from DC the night before and was fun and glib about it, and who turns out to be: Tour Manager Sam, finally had enough of our fucking about and started very efficiently organizing us all into "everyone who wants a pic with themself + all four guys come get in Now and I'm gonna play photographer and then we all gotta go the fuck home" and I respected it SO much lmao, so we had sort of a rotating queue of group picture taking and then the guys all went back inside the venue (I kind of fingerguns'd Jon like "New York :D?" and he looked at me just SO Put Out and just deadpanned "Of course you're going to be there." of course!! lmfao) and we started talking amongst ourselves just out of reluctance to let the night end/social energy we still wanted to wallow in and that was cute and nice. I said goodbye to some folks who weren't going any further on the tour. I had such a wonderful night. Then, lo and behold, we turn around and Jeremy's up on the stoop of the venue, and he's like, I think I've locked myself out. I am locked out and I also don't have my phone on me. lmfao jez. he goes "I am going to blame jonathan" and we allowed him that. I was like, do you want me to TWEET AT SOMEONE LOL and he was like good god no they'll come back for me eventually, and then yes they did, and THEN we all left hahahaha. becky insisted on sticking with me part of the way to the trolley but I was like, it is coming in 14 minutes and it says it's gonna take me 12 minutes to get there I gotta GO!, and I freaking missed it anyway!!! and then I had to wait like OVER HALF AN HOUR MORE for the next one and i didn't even get ON the trolley till like 12:50 and it was soooo late before I was back at mads's place aiyaa. But, all in all, TRULY SUCH A GOOD NIGHT I JUST LOVE BEING IN AN ACTIVE BUZZY FANDOM SPACE AND MEETING FANS AND PARASOCIALING AND DANCING AND SINGING AND DOING ARTS N CRAFTS. you KNOW?? you know. you're on tumblr you get it.

The Philly to Jersey (pre-NYC) leg of my road tripping was set to be Thee shortest drive I had to make the whole time, so I let myself have time in the morning to keep snoozing and fucking about, even though I once again woke up way earlier than I'd hoped to and didn't ever make it back to sleep after that. But the tradeoff was still super nice and relaxing vibing with Madeline--I offered to buy her breakfast in exchange for the couch-crashin' and we got hella bagel sandwiches and cold brew from a place real close by her apartment, and scarfed 'em down while watching the most recent ep of Make Some Noise and just shooting the shit (again, largely about either fandom or kitty cats. We are simple folk). My sandwich contained salmon, a fried egg, and the most incredible sloppy caramelized onions, what a banger. The last truly good food I truly enjoyed before my mega super Travel Tummy set in and wrecked my whole shop metabolically speaking, rip. I took a little rinsy-rinse shower at her place too, and then finally made myself get up and Go to do the runaround silly business of driving to and parking in NJ, taking the ferry in to Manhattan, and then taking the subway to Allegra's place for NIGHT THREE IN NEW YORK CITY WOOOOO. I LOVE going to E E with Allegra!!!!! Once again I used her place primarily as a spot to change out of my car clothes and into my gig clothes (it's RDF night; I wore an oversized pale beige button-up shirt, actually left over from my Foals Antidotes costume from last halloween hahaha, gussied up with E E pins and jewelry) and to fuck about with bracelets. I made Allegra a special In Birdsong bracelet, the only one I did from that song :) because allegra is my special E E friend!! and she needs one of her special song!!! Fandom... is good. Allegra also had a kickass outfit. We stopped in at a tex-mex place she really wanted to try that was nearby the venue, and i got pretty nervous that it was gonna be a little late before doors for us to be hitting a sit-down dinner spot, but we rushed it along pretty well on the food and got our slice of dessert cake to go in a box and everything was A-OK. And I had time to hit a bodega for merch cash from the ATM and a pineapple soda for fortitude! let's GOOO irving plaza.

God, Irving was kind of a shitshow when it came to queuing and security though. There were a fair few people in line ahead of us, maybe just as many or slightly more than what I'd had in DC (definitely further back than Philly, although in line near us were the same also-eating-Dominican-food couple from the Philly gig, and I recognized them and was glad to see them again-- I FULLY DO NOT REMEMBER/DID NOT CATCH Y'ALL'S NAMES, AND I FEEL TERRIBLE BECAUSE WE HUNG OUT AND WORKED TOGETHER SO MUCH, i am so sorryyyyy), but then because it's not a sweet local friendly indie venue but is in fact Livenation As Hell, there's some person affiliated with the venue wandering up front offering some sort of VIP/fast pass line experience where you can just cough up some extra cash and get in your own special line and get to go in first regardless of how long other people have been queuing--you know the deal. Wack as hell. I think David and Amanda opted for this in some capacity, so I was happy for them about it, but a lot of the other people who ended up doing it had kind of rancid vibes of just like "concert-going" and not the very lovely communal sardine megafan energy everyone else had had thusfar. Also it put us where we were at in the queue standing in a place that just had a really terrible smell of sewage, which persisted almost the entire time we were there only to suddenly be replaced by a very powerful smell of bleach, as if whatever it was was suddenly being cleaned/sanitized. ICKY!! Annika was enough further ahead of us in line that I thought it might have only been over where we were but she said no she was definitely getting it too. new york city babey

Bracelet distribution got a little silly here, too, since the queue was wrapping SO far back and was being policed a little more stringently, but I had kind of figured I may need some kind of additional plan, especially since I'd decided not to wear my fanny pack (bum bag--fanny pack, says Jonathan Higgs in a derisive American accent, even as he's telling me he likes mine a lot, skdjshgalkj smh) since my shorts under my shirt had really capacious pockets and that just made for one less thing to worry about--I snagged a sheet of paper at Allegra's place, along with a gallon-size ziploc bag, and I put all the bracelets in there with a note that said to just take one if you wanted one and pass it back through the queue while we waited. It was kind of a crapshoot how effective I thought this was going to be, especially since I had to kind of wait to deploy it once there was a substantial queue BUT by the time there was a big queue it meant that I couldn't see exactly HOW big from where I was near-ish enough to the front, so I didn't know how far the bag was going to make it, if someone was going to end up stuck with my whole big bag at the back of the line (esp since I had a fair number of extra Philly bracelets left over that I lumped in with the NYC ones just because I still Had them).... whew...! BUT by the time Marty was there, he was further enough back from me that I asked him to kind of check up on it when it made it to him and keep passing it; and, by the time we were going inside, I could see zero sign of the bag itself but I DID catch a lot of people milling around me wearing bracelets, and one or two of them did stop me to thank me (since I'd indicated on my note in the bag that I was the person with green hair hahaha), and then I never saw 'em again, so I guess it was a relative success!! Yayyyyy!! WAY less conducive to making New Line Friends than the DC/Philly setup had been, but incredibly effective at making sure that all my bracelets found new homes rather than me having to take a huge handful home with me again and them just sitting in my house forever LOL. success! :)

tl;dr about the bracelets. not important compared to concert and band. WE GO INSIDE!! They have such dumb security/bag check. a gender-split process where the men get patted down by a dude guard and the women get patted down by a lady guard? In TYOOL 2023? you hate to see it. She felt the Sharpie in my back pocket and made me take it out and surrender it???? MY METALLIC BRONZE SHARPIE ? ? no sharpies in the venue I guess. Talked to at least one other person who got sharpie-confiscated too, but also at least two people who fully didn't and still had markers just fine. Absolute shenanigans. Allegra and I didn't quite get barrier due in part to fastpass line nonsense but we did end up right exactly behind Annika &co. with perfect sightlines, once again stage-left/Jeremy-ward-of-center. we don't hate it! my Philly pals to my left with David, Becky et al in front of them. Me fully surrounded by redheads. LOL.

this was the laaaatest show of my whole run, a whole lot of standing around just waiting for Band, and also definitely the energy of "trying to politely vibe to pierre kwenders's set because he can clearly see me and look straight at me even though I would much rather just skip to the bit I actually came for and don't necessarily need to see his set" just slowly increasing every night RIP lol. BUT WE MADE IT! ohhhh new york. EXACT same set as Philly but I couldn't even be mad about it because I was still so grateful to get a Man Alive song that wasn't just MY KZ (not that I don't love my kz obviously, but it HAS been in the set literally all eight times that I have seen E E live as of this Irving Plaza gig, and something else from that album is fun fresh delicious) (OH, SWEET THREEP OF FRIDAY EVENING, YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW) and to be getting COLD REACTOR again, especially becaussseee by this point I knew just enough of the lyrics that I felt confident singing/mouthing along conspicuously with the parts that I Did know, aka I See You Sir I'm Doing The Thing Just Watch Me, god I wish I knew how to be not so fucking extra but then again no I don't. we did get saddled with some Rather Annoying audience members in our near vicinity--a couple I'd spotted in the fastpass line earlier wedged themselves hard between me and my tall redhead/mask-wearing homie from Philly, all like "ummm we're short :)" because they. were, but that didn't give them a right to be pushy and rude, and their vibes were kind of shit because the sense I got was they were mostly there because the girl really loved the band and the dude didn't know much about them at all, and also they were already drunk so early on in the set, and they were talking loudly with some other fans they'd just met and getting Lore™ explained to them and it was just a lot of. loud talking and shoving. in my vicinity. when I would have preferred for there to. not be. BUT Also materializing behind me was someone who said "I saw your bracelets on twitter do you still have any!!" and I had to be like UHHHH FUCK, NO, I turned them loose into the queue, did they not make it as far as you..?? and she sadly said no, and I was like, well the only one I have left is this one I just left on for tradesies/advertising purposes, and it says "akon in the butterfly house" so that's kind of a deep cut, if you're familiar-- and she went WAIT REALLY and seemed SUPER jazzed to get a Dave Sardine-ass bracelet and I was like OKAY YOU KNOW WHAT, GOOD, ACTUALLY, because I'd made four of these and I knew they were going to be the deepest cut/hardest sell and I was really really hoping that whoever ended up with them would actually get and appreciate them. so thank you, andrea, for being that person, and for appearing exactly when the bracelet needed it most. so glad to have hung with you this night. sorry that you too found yourself among the ranks of the sharpie-confiscatees.

ANYWAY, OTHER THAN THAT, THIS AUDIENCE WAS FIRE AND THIS GIG SLAPPED. We were finally in a space and an environment that REALLY lent itself to the crowd actually full on bouncing/dancing instead of just kind of wobbling and vibing and everyone in my immediate zone was really going hard. I LOVE this fucking BAND. I love every song by this band. I love when Jon just points the mic at the crowd and the entire crowd sings the whole song word for word and note for note. I love that Jon was still desperately trying to cram the name of the host city into the start of My Kz, despite the fact that "Washington" subs for "Lucifer" perfectly (he has done this both times I've seen them in DC lol) but "Philadelphia" is WAY too stupid long and "New York City," while a syllable shorter, scans metrically in an extremely busted way and you could have just said EN WHY CEE or. y'know. lucifer. but okay man you do you. Jon was just as rowdy as the rest of us lmfao. he was like, climbing up and down off Mike's riser, he was finding people who were taking photos/videos and staring directly into their cameras (me fucking included--I'm sorry, Jon, you can't make eye contact with me while singing the "When I saw you, I fell in love" part of Leviathan, I am pretty sure that is illegal and a crime against my humanity), and basically all the tracks from Get To Heaven (plus like, Cough Cough and NOTLK) blew the fucking roof off the place. I think he donked some My Kz lyrics hehehe he just skipped to the alt lyrics of the chorus too early without completing the standard chorus first at the end, and a little flubbo in NOTLK and a tiny stutter in No Reptiles too, everyone was just TOO ROWDY and he's THROWN LOOPY and man did we not care. I said multiple times to people on this tour that pretty much the closest things I've ever experienced to true Religion are a) being in an E E audience for No Reptiles and b) being in a Hedwig audience for Midnight Radio. they're the same spiritually in my heart and also like do people who love Jesus feel this way and is this why. insane. the cult leader imagery was Not Wrong!!!!!

I wanna MERCH! I got in the line not too long after the show wrapped, but true to reports I'd heard about the pre-show merch line, it was moving verrryy slowly, with just one guy manning it who was not exactly quick and a card reader that seemed pretty chuggy too (but hey, at least NY was taking card). I'd known I wanted the poster--it's got my favorite neon orange on it, it really really slaps, and I wanted something to get signed--but I let myself talk myself into a t-shirt too, mostly because I was REALLY excited to buy E E merch apparel that wasn't black or white. Yellow!! a really freaking good yellow!! I wish the yellow ones had actually had the tour dates on them like the black and white ones did but the yellow branding has been pretty exclusive to this leg of tour (i.e. vs the red branding of the west coast one last year) and it looks soooo good with my hair that I don't especially mind. I also knew that Adrian wanted a copy of Caps Lock On, but that he also wanted a shirt, but I hadn't heard back from him about which shirt or what size so I just got the book and my stuff and then bounced. Communique from outside was that Alex had surfaced but no one else, but that Alex had promised appearances by the rest of them, but that also Alex was already gone and unlikely to return by the time I made it outside. I posted up with all my friends from inside, god this was SUCH a good sardine squad this night, and it took some waiting but eventually the promises came true! All the other boys surfaced and we had some REALLY great fan chats and mingling this tiimmmmee. oh my gosh. A guy came with a Modern Bison CD that Jon and Jeremy were really truly overjoyed to see and to sign and take pictures with; I talked to Jeremy about the bracelets some more because he'd been wearing the one I gave him the WHOLE GIG IN NEW YORK SO LIKE THAT'S GONNA BE IN ANY PHOTOS THAT WERE TAKEN PROFESSIONALLY SPEAKING, oh my gosshhh, he was so nice about it and enjoyed that his Arch Jeremy matched my Arch Emily, the vibes were impeccable; and then I got everyone to sign my poster, but of course Alex was gone already, so Jon offers to forge Alex's signature and goes "look it's like this" and draws some loopy scribble on there and I'm like, lmao, sure.

thing was... I had absolutely heard Jeremy signing something for someone else the night before talking about how he was getting really good at forging Alex's signature for him, since I guess it's normal for him to be the one that disappears the sneakiest (god he really is just the Justin Craig of this band, it's 1:1, huh), and so when I told Jeremy this, he was like "I'll do it" and I was like "no Jon did already do it" and he was going to just leave it then, like, oh, well, okay, but then he saw the mess Jon had made and he was like "--that's quite dreadful actually-- the trick is to not overthink it--" and so now my poster has two forged Alex Robertshaw signatures and zero authentic ones. l m f a o. (To be fair, I do have other things they've all four signed, and Jeremy's fake Alex is at least passable, and Jon's fake Alex is Absolute Dogshit Nothing. I am obsessed.) I even got Peter to sign! He was talking with another fan about a gift she'd given them in the past that had sadly been part of what they lost in their studio fire, it was really heartbreaking to hear. He also thanked me again for his bracelet and told me he planned to give it to his daughter and that she would love it. We took a pic together! Pete the GOAT.

While I was making the rounds with the other boys and other fans, Allegra mostly in tow, swapping sharpies among those of us who still had them, Becky was back with Jon, taking a couple videos for people who weren't there in NY to talk about stuff that they were curious about--I think in the context of Maria, Becky said something like, she thinks the hair is crazy, and Jon said into the camera something like, "If you think it's crazy Now, give it like two or three more weeks, and you're really gonna think it's crazy." SIR WHAT. If the blond is a precursor to something else happening I'm gonna be so the opposite of normal about it, and if the bleach is a stepping stone toward the boys dyeing their hair Other colors I am going to be PROFOUNDLY NOT NORMAL ABOUT IT, AND IF ANY MEMBER OF THE MANCUNIAN ROCK BAND EVERYTHING EVERYTHING HAS THEIR HAIR DYED GREEN ANY TIME IN THE NEAR FUTURE I AM GOING TO BE ABSOLUTELY COMPLETELY INSUFFERABLE. tyler the creator unfollow me right now etc. etc. etc. The more I've thought about it I don't THINK this is what's up--my sense is that any Cold Reactor music video is probably already filmed and ready to drop alongside the single pretty quick after the tour ends, rather than being something they're going to film/put together entirely post-tour, so they probably needed the bleachblond for some energy similar to how I felt about them when they first walked on stage in DC, but Oh man...... OH MAN............ I digress. anyway.

following up from that, Allegra (I think? Or maybe still Becky and allegra was just Present) addressed the notion of the hair being related to the Lore, and like, did that mean lore for the single/the upcoming album ? ? which was what we were assuming, and Jon said some demented and ominous and extremely exciting phrase like, "The lore for this one is.... b o t t o m l e s s" in his always-startling real deep Jon voice, and that was the fucking sound bite of the evening, folks. FOLKS. ALLEGRA AND I WENT ALL THE WAY BACK TO HER APARTMENT JUST CONTINUALLY SAYING "THE LORE IS BOTTOMLESS!" my body is so god damn ready.

We bid farewells to all our friends for whom NYC was their final stop on this tour!! SAD!!!!!! Going to miss all the homies T___T it's not fair that we're not just all going to every single stop on this tour I don't think? it should actually be illegal for us not to be present when the band is performing?? the hugest RIP. Hugs exchanged all around. Me trying to say bye to Jon but he's engaged with someone else so I think I just awkwardly said "See you tomorrow" twice and then we left. becky maaaybe trying to last minute scramble to also come to pgh now despite not really having accounted for it in her plans originally ? ? I was not certain what she intended here but I supported her. yes. me, annika and AG for sure being there at least. we ride. Back to allegra's where I did, unfortunately, sleep ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLY/BASICALLY NOT AT ALL due to being so hot and stuffy in my little nest on the floor that it was making me nauseated, I think I got maybe 2.5 hours tops, but I didn't really have a choice because if I wanted to be back home in time to do ANYTHING other than just rock straight over to the queue for Thunderbird then I knew I was going to have to leave so GOD DAMN early in the morning to haul ass back to where my car was and then drive the seven hours to pgh. But I did exactly that!!!! bitch!!!!! Other than some issues like, managing to make a timely pit stop for gas/potty/coffee, I endured the miserable long roadtrip despite myself, raging my way through the poconos, downing the largest cold brew Wawa would sell me, having a truly tragic car vs quesadilla incident, etc. My BFF Francis even got on the phone with me for the last hour or so and we chatted and I got to give them the whole update on the tour thus far, so fun! They MIGHT try to go to the Chicago stop next week!!! if they feel like they can swing it, and I was like ok no pressure but also it's been an extraordinary experience for me thusfar and I highly recommend. So if you see Francis at E E Chicago please holler at them kindly from me!!! :) But at the very least they said they did want a T-shirt and venmo'd me money to buy them one, since I was already still gonna have to get one for Adrian. woooooo

I got home with, yeah, basically exactly enough time to shower, get my outfit together, and regroup before heading to the venue !!! I JUST BARELY missed the bus that would've gotten me there the most promptly, largely due to not being able to find another fucking Sharpie since irving plaza took my first one lmfao, and it ended up being quicker to walk there than to wait the 36 minutes it would've been for another bus or whatever. I still had MEGA travel tummy so I just snagged an apple and scarfed it down on the walk over. Annika was already there queuing! so we hung out in line together and waited and drank the waters we had definitely brought in from outside the bar and just vibed lol. and she was like, I heard them checking two new songs that haven't been in the setlist yet, and I was like ha ha lol like what, and she said, kevin's car and leave the engine room.

and listen, I was optimistic. that my social media obnoxiousness and well-known, easily observable public desires might yet sway them, because come on it's my hometown and it's the last show i'm gonna see on this tour and I sent them donuts, and those were MEANT as a KINDNESS and an ENTHUSIASM FOR DONUTS and not as a bribe, but if anyone wanted to interpret them as a bribe anyway whomst was I to say no, but like. just because I want the band i like to do a thing absolutely does not mean that they have to fucking do it. I want to be crystal clear that i have never at any point EXPECTED them to do this. i just. hoped. yearned in my heart of hearts. and also had very sound rationale for how possible/likely it was. Here's How Engie Room Can Still Win. yfm. but the soundcheck all but confirmed it in my soul for me. and I was like... glad, that she'd been there and caught it and could tell me about it, because it gave me time to like, come to terms with the reality of it, emotionally. AAH. AAAAAHHH, OKAY. BITCH, PLIABLE HEAD, IT'S ALL HAPPENING.

we lingered and watched the queue form behind us-- I spotted a kid I'd seen at the Philly show, god bless. Everywhere we turn, repeat customers. I was telling my work friend today, I feel like the US fanbase for E E is significantly smaller than the UK audience, but we make up for it in that we go fucking hard. Every US fan is a superfan. there are no half-assed american sardines. and that has been so BEAUTIFUL and means the WORLD to me to be sharing it with the other ones of you. Bracelet sharing rocked at this gig!! I had exactly as many as I'd set aside for Pittsburgh and no more, since all my spares had evaporated up at Irving, A new person ALSO HAD BRACELETS!!! LIKE, for realsies Made For Trading At This Show Specifically bracelets, it was suuuuch a delight, so in addition to my eclectic collection from the previous gigs I now also have one that says RAW DATA FEEL with some truly choice glow in the dark bric-a-brac on there as well, and my heart was so warm aaaaaah. fwiendship :) Also spotted in the pre-doors queue were the Pizza Boy costumed guy and a woman I met at Foals in 2019?? who I guess automatically recognizes me because of the green hair, but just. omg. the community!!!! I'm dying!!!!!!

There was a slight will-call kerfuffle that nevertheless did not stop me from being dead center dead at the front right in front of where jonathan's mic was destined to be, and I was like. god. here we go. the home stretch. This was ABSOLUTELY the WORST place to be to be pretending to be interested in pierre's set, because he kept looking straight at me and dog I gotta admit four shows in I was feeling pretty tired. like, the energy of E E Itself was going to fully reinvigorate me, but nearly everything else on the planet was like totally disinteresting and I wasn't really up for it, especially when it's my semi-sex-repulsed ace-spectrum ass being just really put off by the suggestive gyrations of a performer that is not to my tastes. UM SORRY BYE HAHA. they didn't even play the one song I kind of liked. I managed to miss like two and a half songs of his set being still locked in the merch line at least lmao. literally WHILE I WAS STANDING IN THE MERCH LINE they sold out of the yellow shirt and I couldn't get me and francis matchies so I had to get them the black instead :( but thankfully they still had the one Adrian wanted because idk what I would have done if I had to scramble for a plan B with him on short notice haha. and I had EXACTLY enough cash for the two shirts left from the day before and I was paying Tour Manager Sam with it like oh my gosh I'm so sorry this is like my sweaty pocket cash from last night this is kinda gross and she was just like, No actually that's honestly exactly how I've been rolling as well and it is kind of gross so like agreed hahaha. She's the best. Idk how long she'll be tenured to them but I'd love to see her continue to exist in like their coterie moving forward. impeccable vibes.

also used merch waiting as a way to distribute more bracelets and get a drink of water! WOOHOO NOW I AM READY TO RECEIVE MY COMMUNION THANK YOU. they put the setlists down and there was a very small fraction of me that wanted to avert my eyes but like I. I had to know. and annika said yes there are new songs in the list. and I peered into the list and my song was there.

hey guys. hey guys? look, this was for me. I have to be honest with you. i manifested this. by being annoying on twitter. by being god's specialest costume-making donut-gifting bracelet-slinging weirdo. I'm owning it and it's mine. I was exactly EXACTLY right with "well, if they put Engine Room in they'll probably take Leviathan out, because they'd kind of fill the same role of slow moody song in the set, and then they'll probably swap in a different non-Man Alive song to compensate for Engine Room being there instead," and this is exactly what happened, and so then not only did I get Engine Room but I also got REGRET, WHICH IS ALSO AN EMILY THREEPWILLOW PLIABLE HEAD SONG, BECAUSE HERE THESE NERDLORD KINGSHIT BANDBOYS ARE IN MY GODDAMN BACK YARD, they're in my house and god it took me the whole fucking set up to then to just prepare, like I had to try not to think about it so I could enjoy what was right in front of me. God it was so fucking, fucking good. our position along the stage had Alex's stuff REALLY forward in the mix which was kind of new for me, but jon was just right there and every time I lifted my hands to dance and to yearn it was like, the only thing stopping me from touching you is my own sense of propriety and not any kind of physical barrier or distance, and the person immediately behind me was seeing the band for the first time and felt similarly about NOTLK as I did to Engine Room and those two songs were literally back to back in the set so we kind of screamed and cried and died together, I gave her a huge hug, and LOL SORRY NOT SORRY THAT I GOT MY KZ AND LEVIATHAN TAKEN OUT OF THE SETLIST FOR Y'ALL, PITTSBURGH, I DO FEEL KIND OF BAD BUT THIS WAS UMMM IMPORTANT TO ME, THANK YOU, goodbye. goodbye I left the planet. I thought I was going to cry and I nearly did but I didn't, but I did actually maybe start hyperventilating. like I'm glad I knew it was coming ahead of time because if it had been a full surprise I think whatever was happening to my lungs would have been exponentially worse and I may have even fainted.

(which, btw: jonathan. jon. when he came out on stage, he almost immediately got his mic cable caught on the edge of where his setlist was taped down, and in jerking it around, he whipped the setlist up off the floor and way upstage toward where Pete was; when he finally put it to rights and taped it back down, he just left it where it was at, far enough away from me that I definitely could not read it anymore; and like DID YOU DO THAT ON PURPOSE? TO MOVE IT OUT OF MY LINE OF SIGHT, TO MAYBE KEEP ME FROM READING IT? SURELY YOU HAVE TO KNOW THAT I'D ALREADY SEEN IT LIKE 15 MINUTES AGO. NICE TRY BUT IT'S TOO LATE I SAW EVERYTHING. i love him. i'm in physical pain.)

knowing this was my final one, I went so, so, incredibly hard, I let myself dance and mosh and scream and take way more pics and videos than I had before, I leaned on the lip of the stage, I had an absolute fucking blast. When the set was over a few other people who were more strategically positioned (i.e. people who had not had their most easily accessible setlists unceremoniously yoinked several feet away) snatched up the closest ones way quick; there was a general tension in the crowd at being able to see jon's, but it being further away out of reach, and one ballsy-ass kid (the "Kevin" person who'd accompanied the pizza boy person) actually clambored up onto the stage and ninja'd over and took it for himself, which inspired two copycats to do the same for some discarded guitar picks (and all of which definitely provoked a very loud, unimpressed, authoritative barking of "HEY!!!" from some security somewhere, like, they definitely shouldn't have done that!! yikes!!!!). I, instead, very patiently waited for an opportune moment to get the attention of their short king guitar tech as he was running around doing teardown, and someone else flagged him first and got pete's setlist, and in my final moments I got him to get me mike's. Gang, I'm gonna be real with you, I was not leaving my Pittsburgh hometown show in which they played Leave The fucking Engine Room without a setlist. there would've been blood or at the very least tears. so like. thank god lmao. Satisfied, we got some water and then headed out!!!

It was a long, chilly wait for the boys outside--god, the chilliness was REFRESHING, though, it's October for crying out loud, and DC and Philly and NY had all been muggy sweaty hot with no need for even long pants, much less a jacket, but I was glad I'd had the forethought to wear my flannel around my waist to cover up the YOU'RE GODDAMN RIGHT printed around the ass of my shorts on my walk over to deter questions, lmfao. We easily identified the spot on the side of the venue where we assumed the guys were coming out, it was all just a matter of time. (AG and I getting some confusing-to-parse messages from Becky? Idk my phone was SUPER dying so I was trying to leave it on airplane as much as possible, I didn't even make it to the end of the night, RIP needing to use my map all day in the car and even with it plugged in spending more than I was juicing of the battery. Listen i needed PICS and VIDEOS!!) I saw Jon first, and he almost looked past me before spotting me there because I was pretty close to the corner of the block, and I just stared at him, and said, May I hug you. and he said, of course! and I hugged him so long and so hard just like, thank you, I was extremely emotional then and I'm also getting extremely emotional now just typing about it, and he was like omg haha what for? Coming to your town? and I was like coming to my town and playing my SONG!!! And then he said something with the tone of a snarky teasy joke but that was like flusteringly truthful underneath about them legitimately rearranging the set quite a lot for me, and I have not stopped screaming internally since then, and Jeremy joked that I'd just seen the exact same set three times and they felt they ought to give me at least something new ha ha ha but like it wasn't entirely a joke, and I just don't even know how to process this. i am perishèd in the soil. anyhow.

I wanted both my setlist and my Supernormal EP vinyl signed by all the boys, and I managed this with relatively little doing ("A deep cut!" jeremy remarks of the supernormal, haha), but I didn't want to be crowding them and getting in the way of other people getting lad time, so I kind of took a backseat and just talked when the time was right, but Jon did kind of keep wanting to talk to me. We talked about the new song, and we talked about the donuts I sent over--oh my GOD, because I was like, they're from that place over there, you can see the big neon donut sign from here! haha, and he was like dyou know what, I knew that's where they were from, because I went over there earlier in the day and got one for myself, I got a huckleberry one and I came back with it and everyone was like, what's that, they were very jealous, and then not too long after that this box of loads of them just shows up-- And like I am a donut fairy psychic wizard. Also everyone who is ever in Pittsburgh should go to Oliver's donuts and eat their fabulously good products. I will shill for them literally any day of the week. This is the second band I have given Oliver's to this year. I cannot be stopped. ANYWAY. i honestly almost could have written that prediction on an envelope and sealed it, that they'd end up wandering in there on their own only for me to send them some too. i was so tickled that jon got the huckleberry one because it's their signature flavor and it's SO PINK and allegra and I had just decided the night before that jon higgs is hot pink coded. like, in the universe where they are dyeing their hair multicolors for the lore. anyhow. it's good shit.

i had SO much fun after this show, even though it was so chilly and dark and we were scrungling around on a literal street corner outside a wine and spirits store, I was like holding people's things so they could get pics and signatures, I was showing off my supernormal booty shorts, I was talking to Jon about lore----- ohhh, my god, I had exactly two bracelets left when the night was over, literally the end of my stash, and it was one Final Form FIRST BODY LAST BODY that I said, y'know, I'm going to save this for my bestie francis when I send them the shirt, because that's the lyric I wanna get a tattoo of, and it'll match with my PLIABLE HEAD bracelet, and it'll be another sort of besties matching thing; and my one lone AKON IN THE BUTTERFLY HOUSE bracelet that remained, where I'd kind of said, well, if this one doesn't find the right home tonight, then at the end of the night I'm going to give it to Jon too. So I dug in my bag and passed it off, and he was like "what does this one say.... kon... Akon... Akon in the house--what is--OH AND THERE'S A LITTLE BUTTERFLY ON THERE, God--" and he was GRINNING and he was SO TICKLED BY IT and Jez chimed in with just like "The attention to detail--" and Jon was like "this is my favorite one actually," he LOVED IT AND I WAS SO CHARMED AND EMOTIONAL ABOUT IT, and then he offered me up something like "you kno-ow, this, the song, of this, there's actually a reference to it in something, something you've never heard-- and--that you never will," doing his cryptic Jon troll grin, "the one thing that didn't make it," with the implied end of that sentence being "onto the album," and 'album' in this case being implied to be Raw Data Feel, which they have very publicly said that for once was an album where they just put everything on and didn't cull any songs or reserve any bonus tracks to release later or whatever. So I said, "Oh, from the one that we've been told had no cuts...?" also not explicitly saying RDF, and his answer to that was vague/nondescript enough but was probably an affirmative, but then he did follow that up with "that's lore that's SO far down the line, WAY WAY out there," and god, just, how deep does this man's brain and nonsense even fucking go. how far into the future is there LORE. BOTTOMLESS!!! I am obsessed with him. i cannot stress enough how blorbo he is to me.

The shorts came back up in conversation too ("Sorry, let me just look quite closely at your ass for a moment--" "It's okay, the shorts are designed that way--") and him saying, yeah, we do talk about some of the costumes still, and then segueing into asking if I had plans for this year and what I was doing, and I said, maybe, I'm not sure if I want to tell you, and he said, Is it to do with us, and I said, Neither confirm nor deny, and he said, Well if it's not, then, I want to know, with kind of a 'duh' tone ahahaha because like true there would be no reason to be coy if it was nothing to do with E E at all, and I explained that like I kind of have to have two costumes ("of course you do."), WELL because y'know the E E ones don't really play to or land with the general populace (a very cheeky "No!") so I have, just, one that's for going to parties, and one that's for fucking around on the internet. He seemed to find that acceptable hahaha.

Anyway what I REALLY wanted with wearing the Supernormal shorts was a group pic of all five of us normal frontways, and then a group pic of all five of us facing backward/ass to the camera a la the picture of them outside the White House, where you could see the goof of my shorts but also all of their butts, but this was an ABSOLUTE DISASTER TO DO when it was so dark that phone cameras were taking everything long-exposure, and also they'd all had just enough beer to not really be following on what the bit was. Absolute shit results on the backwards pic because I couldn't, y'know, see to coordinate it, because I had my back turned. (Me yelling, "Not just MY butt, EVERYONE'S butts, come on!!" into the streets of Lawrenceville.) Utter failure. Didn't care. I love these fucking guys. The vibe was finally kind of winding down, closing-time energy, the guys still had to get on the bus to Boston right away even with tomorrow being their day off, it was a Boston day off and not a Pittsburgh day off where I could offer them free ice cream sadly, so they all sort of bowed sweetly out. Jon gave me his like, I Am Part Of The Band clearance ID badge from the venue, kind of out of nowhere, he was like "sorry this is all I have to give you, it's the least I could do," and I was like WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU'VE ALREADY GIVEN ME SO M-- YOU COULD DO WAY LESS ??? but I guess now I have that, too. I tried to give him the King Of Oil sign from my fatberg costume, which I'd initially brought because I thought it would be a fun photo taking prop but the photo situation was the aforementioned disaster so that never really came to any fruition at all, so I was just going to gift it to them, and he said "My suitcase is already so full of so much random shit-- that you've given us--" and then right as he was leaving he just said "Thank you for being such a weirdo" with a voice full of all the kindness and affection in the world and I just yelled "ANY TIME!!" and then oh so tragically the night had to be over.

it's been nice, though, because I'm so used to driving the long drive home at the end of an adventure and having that signify the end, of getting to the end of the car ride and having nothing beyond that but the rest of my regular life; and this time, I drove all the way home, but when I got there, the adventure was still happening, right in my neighborhood, right down the street, and all I had to do was walk back home alone in the dark and climb into my own bed at the end of a long and beautiful night. i can already tell that this is going to be one of my most special memories basically forever, and now every time I drive or ride the bus to and from work each day I will be passing by the place where Everything Everything performed Leave The Engine Room for me, and that's so profoundly special that I don't even have words to describe it. I love this band, I love the people in it and I love the people its gravity pulls in to orbit around it, I'm just so goddamn happy. I don't even know what to say or how to end this.

#everything everything #e e #RDF US tour 2023 #this has been a post #jonathan fucking higgs.#god.#they all just like. referred to me plainly by my name a lot more than i was expecting in a way that was overwhelming #like to one another/other people and not just to me directly #i exist???? sounds fake #i will be thinking about this week for a hundred thousand years #my pliable head IS a walking hope thank you so much for NOTICING!!!!!!#pics to follow maybe on here but maybe just on twitter #where I am yes you guessed it @pliablehead if people want to lurk and see #ok fucking goodnight

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squishlordkiwi · 11 months

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Did a 15+ hour road trip with my fam twice a little ago and I drove a good chunk of it. Used AA/DGS music to keep me awake bc music psych is a blessing sometimes. Anyway, just a roundabout way to say, I have discovered some fun things in the music that made me 👀👀👀 Idk if anyone else has noticed any of it (and I will say I have minimal music theory knowledge but I'm an English major with the tendency to read into symbolism way too much), but feel to keep reading if you're interested! Spoilers for DGS2 are in here, fair warning!

I'll try and include links to the songs when I can! It'll probably be a mix of Spotify and YouTube hyperlinks so bear with me. Fair warning, this is super long because I decided to cram everything in one post oops lmao

The Funky Time Signature

The first thing I really ever noticed was that Sholmes' "Dance of Deduction"s were weird in terms of keeping beat. It's not in common time aka 4/4 aka 8-count; I think it's in 7/8 time (so you count 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 etc. etc.) which is a struggle to maintain counting since people are so used to 3, 4, and 8-counts.

Dance of Deduction - Type A

I found sheet music for easier counting! It says it's in 7/4: https://youtu.be/51vTmoQzwI8

Originally, I thought it was just because he's Weird and Silly™, but I ended up listening to "Partners - The game is afoot" which plays when Sholmes and Yuujin are on the S.S. Grouse trying to deduce where Jigoku is.

Partners - The game is afoot!

This one is surprisingly in 4/4 aka common time (you count 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 etc. etc. [though I have seen sheets put it in 12/8, which is close-ish, but it still has an even counting pattern WHICH IS WHAT MATTERS]). So in actuality, Shomles' Dance of Deductions aren't in a weird time signature because he's our favorite eccentric boy (okay, it might be part that too); it's because he's missing his partner after he left and investigating never felt quite right without him. Once he and Yuujin get to investigate together again, he's whole and happy. And it's just so fucking gay I can't.

Harpsichord

The big thing I noticed while I was driving (because there was nothing else interesting on the road) was the use of harpsichords in certain Londoner themes, specifically Stronghart, van Zieks, Iris, and Kazuma's prosecutor theme, as well as some of the final songs during 2-4&5.

If you don't know, this is what a harpsichord sounds like! Yes, I know I'm a nerd for being able to pick it out and name it while driving lmao

You can hear it a lot in Stronghart's theme, specifically around 0:38-0:49 (it's pretty in the background so you kinda have to strain your ears but it's there), but it's also pretty present throughout his theme.

Lord Chief Justice Stronghart - Time-Keeper of the Law

There's also a lot of it in van Zieks' theme as well; it's right off the bat and it's one of the prominent instruments throughout the piece.

Barok van Zieks - The Reaper of the Bailey

You have to really be listening for it, but it pops up occasionally in Iris' theme as well! You kinda have to strain your ears during 0:16-0:30 to hear it, but it's definitely there. It's more hidden compared to van Zieks'.

Iris Wilson - Young Biographer

I know Kazuma is Japanese, however, since he became a prosecutor in Britain, it still counts and it makes more sense once I tell you why it's all related (if you haven't guessed yet). ANYWAY, his theme also has a lot of harpsichord in it, even in the parts that were from his original theme.

A Prosecutor, Reborn

This could all just be a stylistic choice too, but do you see it yet? All the people who correspond with these themes are directly related to the Professor killings. van Zieks and Kazuma have the most prominent because we know by 2-4 the obvious connections they both hold. Iris and Stronghart's are more in the background since both of their involvements are big reveal-type deals by the end of the game.

Bonus points: the actual theme that plays when anything related to the Professor is mentioned also has some background harpsichord to connect it all.

The Professor - A Spectre Revived

I will note that I didn't notice anything in Gregson's theme, even though he played a big part in the false conviction. Courtney Sythe's theme also has some harpsichord, but I can't remember how she's related to it other than the fact that she helped with the autopsy (which probably means I should replay the games again lol).

Other game music that proves the connection:

Enoch Drebber - Rondo of Science and Magic

The Great Gateway to the Truth

The Prison Warders

The Great Closed Trial - Court is Now in Session

Reminiscences - The Fruits of Ambition

Others I probably completely missed

A Prosecutor, Reborn

Speaking of Kazuma's prosecutor theme, one of the really cool things about its composition is the warring back and forth between itself. It starts with the completely new theme, blending his usual string accompaniment with drums/cymbals, singular bell tolls, and harpsichord. When it gets to around 0:47, you hear the bells and then it switches back to his original theme from Adventures, though it's a lot grander now and lacking a lot of the traditional Japanese elements it once had.

A Prosecutor, Reborn

Kazuma Asougi - Samurai on a Mission

And it bounces back and forth like that until the end of the song, the bells signifying the shifting. It goes to show this internal struggle Kazuma is having between finding the truth even if it's something he won't like (his original theme) and following his emotions to falsely convict van Zieks as revenge (the beginning chunk of his prosecutor theme).

I also think it's interesting how dominating the harpsichord is, again especially over the chunks of his original theme from Adventures. In connection to it being related to the Professor, aside from the obvious connection to his father, it also shows how much influence and manipulation Stronghart had over him, with him being the BBEG.

Siblings

One of my favorite things I noticed was Susato and Kazuma's connections through themes, though not the one you're thinking. Kazuma's official theme I'm sure has a few connections to Susato's (but I haven't listened closely enough to hear them), however I really noticed how intertwined the two were when I listened to Kazuma's unused theme they provided in Chronicles.

Susato Mikotoba - A New Bloom in the New World

Kazuma Asougi (Unused)

Many of the same instruments are used, as well as note and chord progressions. They have the same peaceful/serene vibes too, which is understandable in why Kazuma's was scrapped (even if I do like it a lot). But if this ended up being Kazuma's actual theme, I would've noticed the familial relationship they share instead of my initial thoughts of it purely just being professional.

That's all I've really noticed for now, but I'm sure I'll come across more things as I listen to the soundtrack to study. I will, however, shut up now and let you get back with you day/night/whatever time of day it is for you because this is getting l o n g. If you did read this far, thank you for indulging me and listening to me be a complete nerd ^w^ And definitely feel free to share your thoughts too; I love talking about this stuff if you couldn't tell!

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msunitedstatesjames · 7 months

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I felt a little bit bittersweet when this came in the mail the other day.

I came a little late to the Terry Pratchett fandom.

I first read one his books (Nation) probably around 2008 or 2009, when I was still in high school and saw it on the new YA shelf at my local library. I remember seeing his name on the cover and seeing that he was a "bestselling author," which apparently impressed me at the time, so I picked it up. I do remember liking it overall, though when I look back I have a feeling that I thought it was a little odd, and I didn't feel the distinct need to go out and search for his other works. Being a teen is weird, I was still developing my sense of humor and analysis skills and all that, so, like many books, I really should reread it now that I'm an adult. At the very least, it left some kind of an impression on me, because at the time I was in the reading frenzy of a girl who would shortly become an English major and eventually an English teacher. I've forgotten a lot of the titles and authors I read in those years, but for some reason I never forgot that one.

I really didn't think much more about Terry Pratchett for years. I remember seeing the news when he passed away, and I was like, "Oh, yeah, he's the guy that wrote Nation." But I'm an American, and though he clearly has lots of fans here, he didn't seem to have the kind of widespread devotion that he had overseas, so I don't think I realized until then that Terry had a hugely devoted fan base. I kept seeing more and more articles and posts about him, and I read some, and I remember thinking, "Wow, this really sucks. This guy was really loved. Maybe I'll have to look at more of his work some time." But at the time I was in grad school, and I was starting my career, and I didn't have time to read for fun as much as I had a few years before.

Another few years later, in my mid-twenties, I joined a couple of Facebook groups devoted to fantasy and sci-fi. I was still transitioning from reading lots of YA fantasy and sci-fi to more "adult" market fantasy and sci-fi, and I joined the groups to get some different recommendations. Terry Pratchett was one of those names that kept coming up over and over. When people asked about humorous books he was always mentioned, when people asked for all time favorite authors he was a popular choice, when people asked for favorite quotes his words featured prominently, when people asked for long series recommendations he was obviously recommended, when people argued about which of the Big 3 Terrys of fantasy were the best, he always won. You get the picture. And again I thought about reading more of his work, but I still didn't.

Finally, Good Omens season 1 came out. It must have been marketed pretty successfully because I really wasn't seeking it out. I love fantasy, but I've never really cared for the whole 'angels and demons' sub-genre. I didn't really have an opinion on David Tennant or Michael Sheen at this point (don't come at me, Tumblr), and I'd read a few Neil Gaiman books and enjoyed them, but I wouldn't have gone around shouting about him in the streets or anything (still don't come at me, Tumblr). But I'd seen the book recommended in my Facebook groups, and I kept seeing trailers for it and thinking it looked entertaining, so I decided to do what any book-snob English teacher would do and read the book before I watched the show. That didn't last very long, because I loved the book so much from page one that I immediately wanted to watch the show and see if it could possibly live up to the book. But I also didn't want to spoil the ending of the book, so I ended up having a pretty weird but ultimately interesting experience with Good Omens, where I would read a chunk of the book, then watch an episode of the show, hoping it would cover the chunk I'd just finished reading. It was awesome, and I'd go back and do it the same way all over again if I had the chance.

And Good Omens acheived what the rest of the world hadn't been able to do, which was convince me to read more Terry Pratchett. I did what everyone in my fantasy groups told me not to do, and decided to read Discworld in publication order. I loved book one so much that I couldn't believe it when everyone said it was perhaps the weakest book in the series, so I did what I almost never do and read eleven books by the same author over the course of the year. Since then, I've slowed down to only reading about four of his books a year, but I almost never read more than two books in a year from any other given author, so it's still pretty impressive. I've loved every one of them. I love the dry sense of humor, and the subtle and not so subtle social commentary, and every time I read one of his books I just think, "this dude must have been so intelligent." He parodies and satirizes everything, which is hard to do if you don't have a good understanding of the thing you're parodying first. This dude's over here making up parody fantasy versions of physics concepts, and I'm like, "this probably makes sense to a person who actually knows about science."

Anyway, he's now my second most read author (and he will be my most read author by this time next year), and he's become one of my go to authors when people ask me for my favorite writers. And the Good Omens fandom has become my favorite fandom ever since season 1 of the show came out.

I've been so grateful for rediscovering Terry Pratchett, but it all makes me a little sad, too. It makes me wish I'd read more of his work earlier. It would have been so cool to be a part of his fandom when there were still Discworld books coming out, and the fandom was full of nothing but hope and excitement for future books. It's sad to know that eventually I'll have read all of his books, and there won't be any new ones for me to pick up. I know I can always reread, but it'll still be sad. I'm happy at least that there are still so many cool people working on continuing his legacy in a variety of ways.

So, when I heard A Stroke of the Pen was coming out, probably late this past summer, I immediately knew I wanted it. At first, I thought it'd be a good book to put on my Christmas list. (Everyone in my family pretty much knows if they're stuck on what to buy me, books are always a win.) But then I thought about it, and I realized it would almost certainly be the only Terry Pratchett book I'd ever be able to say I bought when it was new. (Except the graphic novel version of Good Omens, which I'm eagerly anticipating.) So, I preordered it instead of waiting.

I probably won't read it anytime soon. I opened it up and read Neil Gaiman's foreword, and it made me tear up a little, so I set it aside, just like I did with Terry's biography when I got that for Christmas last year. But even though it's not the next Terry Pratchett book on my list, it's nice to know there will be another one waiting for me when I'm ready for it.

#terry pratchett #gnu terry pratchett #a stroke of the pen #discworld #books

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gutterspeak · 26 days

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ruminating on iolanthe today...

here's a big chunk of a RP @desnas and I were writing with iolanthe and one of the NPCs from faye's campaign, an aasimar paladin named aurum. we'll be restarting that campaign soon so the canonicity of this event is questionable but the dynamic of grouchy twilight cleric with trauma surrounding the paladin's religion ends up falling a little for him anyway because of his friendly boy swag still holds up 😌

iolanthe's POV was written by me, and aurum's POV was written by faye!

It is, perhaps, a touch of ill-fated impulse that leads Iolanthe plates-in-hand to once more darken Aurum's door. She takes pause before she knocks. A moment and then several go by as Vigil hugs the side of her neck in silent comfort. Why did he ask her, out of all of them? (Pity, maybe. Desperation. Convenience.) Why him, then? Why say yes? (Well, she hadn't. Not really, not yet.) Does it matter? Will it hurt? Is it fair? To those points, she hasn't a good answer. Iolanthe takes a breath. And tucks whatever questions, feelings, thoughts she has away into their neat little boxes on their dusty little shelves. The day weighs heavy on her shoulders, and while the prospect of sharing a night with a paladin – an oathkeeper, of all things, should speak only to her contempt and disgust... It doesn't. Curious. Strange. She uses the tip of her boot to rap on the door. There's some shuffling. Some nervous prancing. And then the door swings open, and there stands Aurum. Trying very hard not to look as relieved as he feels, she thinks. His face is still dusky, silhouette aglow with light all his own. "Hello." She tilts her head, a half-smile flittering across her face. She slips inside once he invites her to and carefully sets down the bottle of cider and then their dinners on the low table in front of the couch. With a twitch of her fingers, she dismisses Vigil from her eternal perch upon her shoulder. The world falls into darkness, and Iolanthe takes a seat. "I thought you might be hungry," she says softly. "Unless you already ate. I suppose that would make the gesture a bit awkward."

The sweet aroma of well-seasoned and cooked meat wafts in through the front door, and Aurum feels the sting of hunger-- a great hunger. He in fact did not know how hungry he was up until this moment. A wide, grateful smile blooms on his face and he settles next to her, feeling slightly more at ease without the owl's gaze locked in on him. Not that he didn't find it endearing, but-- well, a private moment might be nice, just between the two of them. "I... heavens, thank you. I am rather hungry, yes, though I'd truly appreciate the gesture regardless." He looks Iolanthe over, his stare lingering a little longer than it would otherwise, before cupping his hands under the warm plate. "And a steak, no less? Please let me pay you in kind for this. You've a baby to take care of."

At Aurum’s words, her easy smile falls away. Chivalry. Now there’s something both old as fate and newer than a babe’s first breath all at once. Had it always felt like this? So… stilted? Or is that just her? Ill at ease and out of practice from decades spent in matrimonial bliss? Lady save her. She hasn’t done this in… Well. She’d rather not put a number to the years it’s been, lest she feel well and truly old. Delicately, Iolanthe clears her throat. Neat little boxes. Dusty little shelves. She picks up her silverware and begins to eat. “Think nothing of it. But if you must give me money, it would make me feel better if we at least pretend it’s a tithe.”

“A tithe? A commendable cleric you make.” He hums in amusement, taking his own eating utensils in hand before he takes a bite. Delicious, for a reclusive tavern in a small corner of Kethelan. Not quite how he’d ask it to be done, but he still doesn’t carry any complaints. “Very well, then. Five silver as a tithe to… the Mortadias and their willful followers.” And he sets it out in front of her, on the small coffee table in front of them before forking up some of the vegetables. Between bites, a thought occurs to him, and after some contemplation, he decides to speak it aloud. “I know your relationship with my… my faith is not at a good standing. But I thank you for giving me your trust today. With Wyll— and after that, too.” He glances at Iolanthe sideways, brows screwed upwards with a pair of silver puppy dog eyes. Another bite, another swallow. “Your company is most welcome.”

Iolanthe makes quick work of her meal, legs pulled up onto the couch and folded under her as she cuts into her steak. The clink of the silver on the table makes her lips twitch. She ignores it, for now, chewing slowly and swallowing as Aurum speaks. "Commendable," she echoes. The word bleeds across her tongue, ashen in taste. "I fear you've misjudged me. I don't serve a higher calling for the praise. I serve because I must. Because I am nothing and have nothing without it. And besides," she tilts her head in his direction, "the tithe was just a joke." The amusement must show in her eyes. The spark of mischief. The teasing. "I don't often hear that, even so," she continues. "Praise, that is. Or that my company is welcome." A pause. Another bite. "I've found you don't make many friends serving the Lord and Lady of Bones. It can be... lonely, at times, I admit."

“All part of the natural cycle.” Aurum hums in admiration, filling in the gaps of silence between each bite. Before long, his food is gone, that cider is half empty, and his belly is full. “Emaroth’s religious restrictions and distaste for those that aren’t under the Silver Sun have put a great chokehold on the land. It’s ironic, but… I pray in a few years time, things will be more welcoming here. For people like you, and others.” He sighs, standing to place his plate atop the end table by the door, lest he forget to take it out later on. Turning back, he places his hands on his hips, giving Iolanthe a once over. “I’ve read those under the Lady of Bones are often midwives. Is this true?” The paladin sounds curious, intrigued, all the while taking her finished plate and stacking it onto his.

Iolanthe considers his words awhile, taking a mite longer to clear her plate than he. She sips at the cider filling her glass in thought. “The Church’s intolerance of differing faiths plays a heavy hand,” she ventures, “but even if it didn’t, I don’t foresee the gods of death ever becoming… popular.” He doesn’t sit again after he takes her dirty dishes to stack them atop his own. The distance yawns a valley between them. Is this all he wants, then? Just to talk? Iolanthe turns her head to the side, considering. It wouldn’t be so bad. Even if she’s just as unpracticed at this as she is at… everything else. “…It is,” she says at length. She pulls her legs up onto the couch and tucks them underneath her, clasping her hands atop her thigh. “Midwives, morticians, gravediggers, healers… Sometimes soldiers. Inquisitors. Monster hunters. Those on a holy mission to root out necromancers and the undead.” After a pause, she turns to gaze vaguely in Aurum’s direction. “Sit with me, Oathkeeper. The formalities have their charms, but you do me a disservice standing clear across the room. I won’t bite you. I’ve already had my fill.”

#what if you were a paladin of the same religion that was responsible for my spouse's death #and you challenged my hatred and grief #and also we were so sun and moon coded. what then.#auuugghhh I miss playing her!! I miss the milf!!!#🌿.txt #my writing #and my partner's :)

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jacksgreysays · 1 month

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neat curse/power idea: when you look at someone, you can sort of see any children you would have with them as apparitions either in front of, behind, or around them. More detail if you sort of go cross-eyed while looking at them. The reason I'm bringing this to you: the idea that you suddenly start seeing MORE. Around people you'd never seen them around before, around people that you'd previously thought had incompatible meatware, etc. Personally, I blame Shikako.

Incompatible meatware is one of the funniest phrases I have ever seen, loveelemental, congrats! That is also a very interesting twist on “I see the ghosts of all my/your ancestors.” I have to assume it’s not just biological children, though, because why would that ability differentiate in that way. I also suppose… is it an any children you WOULD have or any children you COULD have? Which isn’t too big of a distinction but would vastly affect who/where you see these apparitions…

And is it children or, like, any shared descendants? How many generations deep are we going here?

Because one very quick way I can see how this would be Shikako’s fault is if she at some point either invents via seals or manifests via Uchiha with Mangekyo Sharingan witnessing her goddess status a way for future people to view their ancestors’ lives as a sort of “learn from the past”/Assassin’s Creed Animus type thing maybe as a somewhat safe training simulation, but for some reason the person who has the curse/power in modern day can SEE all of the future people looking back at them?

Like, for example, if this was Sasuke and all of a sudden he’s seeing a bunch of strange ghosts looking at him and his life choices and, well, as kinda gross as it is, I do headcanon that Konoha would attempt an Uchiha repopulation program provided it is a sane/not evil Sasuke. Like, probably not ALL of them are descended from Sasuke (because I do also headcanon that there were a bunch of “half-blood” Uchiha that weren’t accepted into the clan before the massacre and then kind of felt like they had dodged a bullet by not claiming the name, or some Uchiha children that weren’t Sasuke that Danzo had scooped into ROOT—hence the “kill your training partner” thing, he was trying to kickstart a brainwashed army of Mangekyo Sharingan users loyal to him) but a good chunk of them are. And he was, for a while “The Last Uchiha” so if you have to learn how to be an Uchiha from someone, maybe start with him and work your way backwards?

Basically, if you’re an Assassin’s Creed fan, just imagine Ezio being able to see Desmond and Clay as they watch his life via the Animus. Or, if you’re a Avatar The Last Airbender fan, it would be similar to if Roku could perceive Aang’s spirit watching him from the future (if Aang could astral project himself into the past, that is). I’m trying to think of other metaphors, but I’m not sure…

So maybe it is biologically Uchiha future people only who can do this technique (if it is a Mangekyo Sharingan power via witnessing Shikako’s goddess status), so it would be a bunch of future Uchiha descendants via the repopulation program watching Sasuke’s life and their touchstone into the past is their non-Uchiha ancestry. But if it is seals, then I guess anyone could theoretically astral project to the past, though that wouldn’t explain why the present person is able to see the future people… Anyway, that’s my real quick sideways take on it, loveelemental. Hope you enjoyed :D

#jacksgreyson #loveelemental #asks #answers #brainstorm #meta analysis #prompt response #fanfiction #dreaming of sunshine #walking around (like regular people)#sasuke uchiha

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misslavenderlady · 1 year

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Don't Be Afraid of the Dark 🦇

Marko/Paul/Dwayne/David/GN!Reader (They/Them Pronouns)

Summary: You're not happy about going into this scary haunted house on the boardwalk with your friends. When you come face to face with some vampires among the other scare actors, you soon realize there's nothing to be scared of in the dark. In fact, it can be quite pleasurable~

This was inspired by a bunch of videos I saw for haunted house exhibits and people catching feelings for the actors. The reader thinks their vampire faces are just really good makeup.

WARNINGS: Nsfw/Smut/18+ Readers Only, Unspecified Genitals for reader, Nyctophobia, Fear of Haunted Houses, Poly!LostBoys, Strangers to Lovers, Stranger Sex, Teasing, Pet Names, Soft Dom, BDSM, Chain Bondage, Public Sex, Handjob, Oral, Blowjob, Voyeurism, Sex with the lights off, Taking turns, Held in place while fucked, Hypnosis, Vampire Powers, David w/a God Complex, Creampie, Aftercare, Vampire Bite/Feeding, Good/Safe Ending

You had rather mixed feelings about haunted house attractions. Every year around Halloween there would be at least one friend that would suggest going to a haunt at the local fair or amusement park. It was always a hard decision on what answer to give their offer.

On the one hand, you loved Halloween and admired the passion that went into the exhibits. All the elaborate, spooky decorations and cool monster makeup were something you thought to be quite impressive. The workers and scare actors truly put their heart and soul into a good performance for the holiday.

On the other hand, it involved you getting scared.

Now, you realized that was the whole point of these things. The adrenaline rush people got from haunts was fun to them and a good scare added to the Halloween spirit. It was all harmless at the end of the day.

However, that didn't stop you from feeling intimidated by the idea of going into one yourself.

You hated being such a baby, but the mere thought of going inside with no idea what you'd see or what would pop out to scare you was enough to give you the sensation of knots in your stomach. How could you possibly have fun when you were surrounded by terrifying things?

Still, you didn't want to be the only one in your friend group to sit out of the trip into the haunt this year. The Santa Carla boardwalk was all decked out with decorations for Halloween. Rubber bats, felt spiders and more jack-o-lanterns than you could count. It was all so festive and exciting, but there was still that lingering fear of the haunted house that was set up near the end of the boardwalk.

Tall, black tents loomed over you. A sign outside the area had a greeting written in bloody, red patterns: ENTER IF YOU DARE. YOU'RE IN FOR A SCARE.

Your worried frown highly contrasted with the giddy grins your friends had. It looked so big on the outside, you couldn't begin to imagine what it would be like on the inside. You'd soon find out because one friend was pushing you towards the entrance and past the dark curtains. A whimper came from your lips but went on deaf ears.

They were expecting you to join in on the fun, so you'd do your best to be brave.

It was a rough start. You shrieked at a plastic skeleton in the corner and you cowered behind one of your friends when you spotted a scare actor staring at you from across the hall. He was in full zombie makeup with fake blood covering his hands and mouth.

You'd be damned if you were gonna get closer to that guy.

That seemed to be the pattern for a good chunk of your time. Get startled by an inanimate object and try to run away before an actor could get the jump on you. Sometimes you were successful and missed the scare. Other times you were not and it ended with you getting mocked for screaming like a baby.

This sucked. You were not having fun. You were just stressed and frightened. It was impossible to tell what direction you were going and how much longer this attraction went on. You held yourself as you looked around in the dark for your friends.

"Um…g-guys?...how much…longer…is th-this?" you asked meekly.

Nothing.

Not a single voice responded to your question. For a quick moment, you thought they were just ignoring you and it made you angry. When you realized the silence was because nobody was actually there, that anger quickly morphed into panic.

You got separated from the group, and there was absolutely no way to find them. Darkness surrounded you, taunting your senses with the terror of not knowing what was going on. You could be mere inches away from another actor ready to scream bloody murder. You could be right back where you started and be going in a circle of darkness.

It made your heart pound faster and faster. Your ears were buzzing loudly and your palms were getting sweaty from your skyrocketing nerves. You had never been so scared and confused in your life. Maybe this was a mistake. You wanted to go home. You wanted to cry. Fuck this whole place.

It wasn't until you heard the whisper of a new voice that you snapped out of your panic.

"Good evening, little one~"

It was right behind you. Of course, you jumped from the surprise, but not because it was loud and overwhelming like the other monster actors had been. You were just startled to hear something so low and soothing for a change. Goosebumps peppered the skin of your arms as you felt warm breath on your ear.

"Wh-Who's there…?" you managed to stutter out. A low, amused chuckle came from the figure lurking behind you. Were they going to tease you as the other actors had?

"A friendly creature of the night, sweetling. Nothing more~"

The voice sounded masculine and raspy in your ear. It must have been a guy. Probably one who smoked a pack a day if he had a voice like that. Then again, you weren't complaining. It was certainly the most pleasant thing you'd heard all night.

Before you could even think of another question to ask you felt an arm snake around your waist, gently pulling you closer to the stranger in the shadows. It startled you but didn't give you the same terrifying sensations the other parts of the attraction did.

When your back pressed into a rather strong chest, you began to feel the spark of something more exciting. Something quite enjoyable.

"Are you lost, baby?" the voice whispered, warm breath now on your neck. You swore you could feel lips nearly touching your skin. "Did your mean, nasty friends leave a poor little bunny like you to be hunted by all the scary monsters in the dark~?"

Holy shit, where had this guy been the whole time? You got the scare, yes, but there was something else you felt too. Everything felt warm and tingly like you were in a soothing bath. All the anticipation for what would happen was now more intriguing than it was scary.

Still, there was a remaining sliver of cautiousness about what could happen. This guy could pull a trick on you and only frighten you more.

"I…um…I kinda got separated…from my group…"

You swore you could feel him smiling deviously.

"Poor baby~" he cooed. "Why don't you let me take you to one of the rooms for a while? Let you settle that pounding heart of yours~"

His arm squeezed you in tighter. A hand wrapped around your wrist, holding you in his grasp. It felt like he was wearing leather gloves. Maybe part of a costume? It felt rather nice against his skin.

So did his lips when he pressed them into the side of your neck. You were so taken aback by his boldness that you almost missed his additional words.

"I've got a few friends that are dying to meet you, little one~"

Fuck. Was this…turning you on?

That was certainly the last thing you thought you'd experience in a haunted house, but this man had you practically swooning. It felt like a spell was placed on you. It beckoned you to follow this stranger further into the darkness.

Even though you couldn't see a thing, the stranger helped as your guide in the shadows. His leather-bound hand slipped into yours, beckoning you to follow where he went. Fearing what would happen if another actor popped out for a scare, you held on tight and kept close to him, practically clinging to him as you kept your eyes shut.

How quickly you were beginning to trust this stranger.

It wasn't long until he guided you to one of the hidden rooms of the haunt. Even though you could hear the creak of a door opening and then closing when you were inside, there wasn’t any light in there either. Just inky darkness. You silently prayed the stranger would turn a light on.

“Is that fresh meat you brought for us, David~?” a new voice spoke.

You squeaked loudly, clinging tighter to the man who helped you find this place. His body shook as he snickered at your reaction. Apparently, his name was David. Maybe soon you’d have a face to go with that name.

“Down, Marko. Poor thing’s scared of their own shadow. We gotta be a little more welcoming for our special guest,” he said. You felt yourself relax a bit as he caressed your back, stroking you to soothe your nerves.

You had another name, but now you were curious as to how many others were in the room with you. There were a few sounds of jewelry jingling and leather squeaking, but there was no way to tell how many others were present. You just hoped they were friendly.

“Awww don’t be scared, baby. We don’t bite~” a third voice cooed.

“Unless you beg us to. That’d be pretty kinky~” a fourth said.

With all of the directions each voice came from you quickly realized they were surrounding you. It made your body feel a lot warmer than it already was. They sounded so ravenous and sultry, no doubt a persona they put on for their performance. Better to be around someone seductive than scary, even if it was just as intimidating.

“H-Hi…” you managed to stutter out. They all snickered at your timidness, and that only made your cheeks burn more. “I can’t see any of you….is there a light in here?”

You hoped they would believe that you just wanted to be able to see them face-to-face and not be absolutely terrified of being in the dark. Only little kids were scared of the dark. It was so embarrassing and you didn’t want to give them a reason to tease you some more.

“There are some candles we can light!” one of the voices exclaimed. Marko, if you remembered correctly.

“But you should close your eyes, little one,” David explained. He had wrapped his fingers around your chin and tilted your head to look at him. At least, that’s what you assumed he was doing. If he could actually see you in this darkness then he must have had some pretty strong eyes. Or maybe you just needed an appointment with the optometrist.

“I’ll tell you when you can open them. Just gotta give you fair warning before you see the big, bad monsters~”

You shuddered at the sound of his voice. It was no louder than a whisper, yet it felt like it was echoing in your head. At least he was nice enough to give you some warning. You did as he asked, shutting your eyes and waiting for him and the others to let in some light.

More sounds greeted your ears. A flick of a lighter, a slight woosh of a few candle wicks being lit, and the strangers moving around in the dark. The anticipation was making your heart race. It was a better feeling than the fear of other actors jumping out in front of you. Still, you had no idea what to expect when you opened your eyes.

“Don’t be frightened, darling. Just open your pretty eyes~”

With a deep breath, you did as he said. For a brief second your eyes adjusted to the low candlelight in the darkness. When you could properly see, you got a look at your new companions.

Four vampires stared back at you.

Even with David’s warning you still jumped from the initial shock. They all laughed, amused by your reaction. At least they had a sense of humor about it. After the surprise wore off you forced yourself to properly look at them. They were just actors in makeup, that was all. Really impressive makeup at that.

They had prosthetics in their cheekbones and foreheads, giving the illusion of sharp, angular skull shapes. On top of their fingers were sharp, claw-like fake nails. They all had contacts with bloodshot sclera and golden irises. As with any good vampire costume, they all had long, pointed fangs jutting from their teeth. You were surprised by how clearly they spoke with those fangs in their mouths.

It was very professional-looking for a pop-up haunt on the boardwalk. You tilted your head in wonder as you gazed at them. Even with their spooky makeup, you could see that they were all incredibly handsome underneath. And out of everyone in the haunt, you were in a private room with them.

“S-Sorry!” you stuttered out an apology. “I didn’t mean to flinch. I just didn’t know what to expect”

“Do you like what you see, baby~?” one of the ‘vampires’ asked. He had wild, blond hair and a bit of stubble on his smooth skin. Even with the contacts, you could clearly see the mischievousness in his eyes.

You nodded, feeling a bit bashful. Now that you could see how attractive they all were, being called various pet names by them was making you blush.

“Awww Dwayne, didya hear that? They like us!” he said, smiling and nudging his dark-haired friend.

“Yeah, Paul, I did. I’m flattered~” the man named Dwayne nudged him back.

Now you had a name to match each vampiric face. Dwayne, Paul, Marko, and David. Four scare actors who were being more flirty than scary. If this was considered them doing a bad job at the haunt, then you liked the idea of them doing much worse~

David was the one to make a move first. He had his hands in the pockets of his jacket as he stepped closer to you. Golden eyes stayed locked with your own as you moved backward a bit. Despite knowing it wasn’t real, it was still a little scary being watched over like this.

Your back quickly hit the wall behind you, a fake, paper backdrop of a dungeon wall for the aesthetic of the haunted house. Chains decorated the border, clanking from your movement. David looked immensely pleased as he pinned a hand up to the wall, boxing you in as he moved closer to you. Shivers ran down your spine as the space between you two closed more and more. You could smell smoke and peppermint on his breath. It made you feel quite lightheaded.

“Do you know why I brought you here, little one~?” he asked. His voice was much lower now. It was boosting your arousal even more. You wondered how obvious it was to the others.

“Why..~?”

David smirked at you before leaning into the side of your face. His lips were once again on your skin as he whispered in your ear.

“Because we’re so very hungry, and you’re the most delicious-looking human on the whole boardwalk~”

God, the sound that came out of your mouth was the most pathetic thing you’d ever heard. It was a mix of a gasp and a moan; surprise and desire mixed into one. The others snickered, clearly loving how flustered you were.

Part of your brain wondered if this was true flirting or if you were just lost in a very elaborate performance by these scare actors. If the latter was true, then they could let you go at any moment and do the same trick for the next, pretty thing to walk by in the darkness. You hoped with all your heart the former was correct.

You got your answer when David caressed your cheek and leaned in to kiss you.

Yes!!

While you were cheering in your head, you reciprocated the kiss by wrapping your arms around David’s neck and pulling him in even more. He sighed in delight as he moved his lips with yours, so eager for more. Your fingers slipped into his hair, eagerly tugging at his bleached strands. He growled lowly as you did so, enjoying the sensation.

The hand that wasn’t pinned to your side slowly wrapped around the small of your back, pushing your lower half closer to David’s. You could feel the smile on his lips as he started to grind against you. It made you feel so desired.

Said feeling grew stronger when you started to feel his arousal pressing against your hip. You made yet another pathetic noise from the sensation. He felt so big against you, already hard and throbbing from just your kisses alone. Dirty thoughts of fucking a man you just met in a haunted house began to flood your mind. It only made you moan more as you kissed him so passionately.

“Fuck, that’s so hot~” Marko said with a growl.

“Mmmhmm….’s turning me on~” Dwayne agreed.

“C’mon David, we wanna taste of them too!!” Paul whined, clearly overcome with lust.

David released you, growling in annoyance as he did so. It was directed at his friends, not you. To keep you occupied while he scolded them, he slipped his hand down further and squeezed your ass. It was getting more and more difficult to hold back your noises the more he played with you.

“You’ll all get your turn soon. Don’t make me have to punish you for being impatient, Paulie~” he told the other blond. Even in your haze of lust, you wondered what kind of relationship these four had. Were they co-actors, friends, or lovers of one another? Maybe they were all three. If they were very close, then they must share everything.

It seemed like they wanted to share you now.

When he turned his attention back to you David’s devious smile returned. You could see a glint in his eye, even with his contacts. It was amazing how real everything felt. Your heart was racing, and not from fear like it was before.

“You know something, little one?” David started. “Those chains on the wall aren’t some plastic props. They’re real. Strong enough to keep anything in place. Including a squirmy, excited human plaything~”

You audibly gulped as you eyed the chains. Now that you were looking more closely, they looked like something that was recently bought at a hardware store. You knew exactly what David was implying with this. Figures that the guy dressed as a vampire would be a little bit kinky. If this night would be even more in your favor, then all of them would be that way too~

“Bet you’d look so pretty bound and presented for us, baby. Ready and willing to let us take what we want~”

If the other boys didn’t look hungry before, they looked positively starved for you now. You could see how David would be the leader of their group. So confident and assertive with what he wanted from you.

“D-David…~” you stuttered, feeling more breathless than ever. “We just met….we’re in public….this is happening so fast…”

He cocked his head to the side. So curious and intrigued.

“Is that a ‘no’?”

A flirtatious smile stretched across your face.

“I never said that~”

It was all such a rush. David’s lips crashed against yours, now moving much faster as his desire increased. He guided your arms upward so he could slip off your top, exposing you for him and the others to see. You moved your legs apart so it was easier for him to yank down your pants and underwear. You frantically kicked off your shoes so he could get the rest of your clothes off.

"Now aren't you a pretty sight to see, my dear~" David purred. He was practically drinking in your appearance while he pulled down the end of one of the chains.

"Damn, babe! You've got a rockin' body. Makes me wanna fuck all night~" Paul added. He was squeezing his erection through his tight pants.

Dwayne and Marko were no different. They eyed you with a deep hunger, running their tongues over their fangs as they watched David handle you. They glistened and shined in the candlelight. For something fake, they looked rather sharp to you.

David grabbed your chin again, making you turn your attention back to him as held the shackle in his other hand.

"Stay still for me~" he cooed.

You did as he said, standing in place as he clasped the shackle around your wrists, holding them together while he yanked the other end of the chain upward. Your arms lifted and you were presented to them as their naked, eager prisoner. They all moved closer, surrounding you in a semi-circle while they looked you up and down. It made your skin feel warm and your stomach flutter knowing they wanted you so badly.

"Let Dwayne have his turn first, little one. He's the most gentle out of all of us~" David explained, nudging his dark-haired friend.

Marko and Paul's whining were ignored as you were completely focused on the handsome man making his way closer to you. He smiled wickedly while stroking your cheek with his clawed finger. Seeing him up close made you realize he didn't have a shirt on under his jacket and with a body like that, he shouldn't have to cover up~

"Let's get that perfect body nice and warmed up for the others, sweet thing~" he whispered, voice deep and smooth in your ear. If the chain wasn't holding you up you'd surely faint and fall to the ground.

He went in for a kiss of his own, slower and deeper and oh-so delicious. Moans were traded between the two of you while he trailed his fingertips over your naked form. It was rather cool to the touch. It caused you to shiver as he ghosted over your neck, your collarbone, your sensitive nipples, and down your stomach before finding the aching heat in between your legs.

Your knees were shaking with anticipation as he inched closer and closer, teasing you for a moment or two. He chuckled darkly when you let out a whine of impatience.

"Shh shhhh, don't cry, baby. I'm gonna take good care of you~"

When he finally dove in you realized he was an honest man who was good on his promises. Your head fell back and a sigh came from your lips as his strong fingers began to move. His touch was absolutely perfect. Not too fast or too slow. Not too hard or too soft. It was as if he had known your body for years already.

You found yourself moving your hips to match his rhythm, grinding against the skilled hand as he touched you. It made your brain go hazy and your body heat rise. When you felt the heat of his lips on your neck you leaned in more letting him fill the most sensitive spots with kisses and small licks.

"Ooh God, Dwayne~" you moaned out for him. By the sound of his amused chuckling, he enjoyed your voice saying his name quite immensely.

"You're already making such a mess on my fingers~" he teased. "How about I let Marko have a turn to clean it up~?"

You nodded quickly, hating the idea of Dwayne stepping aside but loving the possibility of a mouth on you more. He reluctantly pulled his hand away before giving you another chaste kiss. When he released you completely, the curly-haired vampire came to take his place.

"Goddamn, what a sight you are right now~” he teased, getting a good look at how hot and bothered you were. He leaned in for a soft kiss on your lips before continuing to speak. “You’re in luck, cutie. I give the best head out of all four of us~”

You giggled as the others scoffed and called bullshit on that statement, no doubt believing they were each the best. Still, you’d give Marko the chance to prove himself. He kept his spooky-looking eyes on yours as he slipped down onto his knees. His hands were covered with leather, fingerless gloves, and the material on your skin as he rubbed your thighs was quite a nice sensation. The rubbing turned into a sensual massage as he leaned in to lick a stripe over your sex.

“Sh-Shit, Marko!!” you whimpered, not expecting it to already feel so good. That certainly put a smile on his face. He held your gaze as he glided his tongue over the hot flesh over and over, making patterns and shapes to see what made you shiver and moan the most. The louder you got, the more he did those special motions.

One of his hands moved underneath your thigh in order to hoist the leg over his shoulder. He was so bold and so eager, it was making your heart flutter. That, and the fucking magic he was working with his mouth.

Just like with Dwayne you moved your hips in motion with Marko, getting into the rhythm so you’d feel your best. Every kiss, lick, and suck was pure bliss and it was making you feel dizzy with pleasure. He was supposed to be cleaning up the mess you were making, but the way his tongue was working its magic on you was only making it worse. Not that you were complaining~

It was getting harder and harder to stay put. The chains rattled as you shook and shivered, feeling jolts move your body against your will. It was getting harder for Marko to keep you in place. He pulled his mouth off of you and tutted in mock disappointment.

“Such a squirmy little bunny, aren’t you~?” he teased. “How are we gonna give you what you want if you can’t stay still~?”

“Maybe you need to be punished so you can properly behave for us~” Paul spoke up from the side. “I think being put to work while on your knees would be a good way to discipline you~”

Marko looked over to his friend and watched in amusement as Paul had already begun to unbutton his pants and slip off his belt. You were staring at him too, practically drooling at the impressive cock he whipped out. He returned the gaze as he made his way over to you, letting Marko step back before standing in front of you.

“What gorgeous-looking lips ya have~” he purred, diving in for a kiss of his own. He was so energetic and eager, it made you squeak in surprise. “Wanna see them wrapped around my dick~”

Your cheeks were flushed as he loosened the chain that held you up. Slowly you were lowered onto the floor, your knees pressing into the ground as you looked up at the blond. He slowly jerked his cock, carefully moving so he wouldn’t hurt himself with the nails on his fingers. The closer you looked the sharper they appeared.

“Open your mouth, sugar~”

You were more than happy to do as he asked. With your lips parted nice and wide and your tongue stuck out, Paul moved closer to you, pressing one hand against the wall and the other still wrapped around his dick. He smiled mischievously at you as he tapped the tip against your tongue, giving you a small taste of what was to come.

He pushed his hips forward, allowing the length to slip further into your mouth. It was hard not being able to touch him but you still welcomed every part of him inside of you. Your lashes fluttered while you gazed up at him, slowly beginning to suck his cock. When you felt comfortable and adjusted to his size, you began to bob your head up and down, building a pace that satisfied him immensely.

“Oh fuck yeah~” he said with a breathy laugh. He placed a hand on top of your head, silently encouraging you to keep up with what you were doing. “Suck it, baby. Suck it all you want~”

No need to tell you twice. You hummed softly as you kept his cock hot and wet in your mouth. With the size so easily filling your throat there were moments you had to pause so you wouldn’t gag, but the second you felt better, you were right back to work. Paul was clearly enjoying himself, his hips slowly rolling to match the rhythm you were using.

You could have done this all night and been content with letting the handsome vampire use your mouth as a warmer for his cock, but David had other plans in mind for you. Despite Paul getting closer and closer, he stopped the two of you before any release could happen, tugging him backward. His cock slipped out of your mouth and a thin line of saliva trailed out of your mouth as it pulled out.

“What the hell, man?? I was getting my goddamn soul sucked out!” Paul whined, his fake fangs more prominent now with the scowl on his face. David returned the expression, not appreciating the back-talk.

“If anyone is gonna cum inside them, it’ll be me,” David said sternly. He was practically hissing his words out. Paul got the message loud and clear, backing off and accepting David’s orders.

When he turned his attention back to you, David tugged the chain upwards again, making you get back on your feet so he could meet you face-to-face. He had such a wicked smile on his handsome face as he stared deeply into your eyes. It felt like he was right inside your head, reaching into the deepest parts of your mind with just one look.

“Y’know something, little one?” he started, reaching a hand out to caress your cheek. Out of impulse you nuzzled against him. “As much as I love this attractive face of yours, I think it’ll be a bit more fun to do it with the lights off~”

You softly gasped as Marko, Dwayne and Paul each stepped closer to the candles that had been lit earlier. When you realized they were about to blow them out and leave you in the dark again, you began to whimper, frightened at the idea of being trapped in the darkness with no idea what was happening.

David’s expression softened. He placed the other hand on your other cheek, holding you tenderly while looking closely at you. Once again there was that sensation of him seemingly speaking directly into your brain, making you focus on him and nothing else around him. Maybe it was the fear that made you latch onto him more. Maybe he was just that charismatic of a person. You weren’t certain, but you didn’t dare look away.

“Don’t be scared, my dear,” he whispered to you. “You have nothing to worry about when you’re with us. There isn’t a thing in the dark that’s scarier than me and my boys. I’m going to show you just how pleasurable the shadows can be~”

The sweet nothings he said to you were slowly transforming your fear into desire. His promises were somehow convincing enough to make you feel intrigued by what he’d do to you in the dark. The more time you spent with him and the others, the more attracted to them you felt. No longer did you feel like being in the dark could be a bad thing.

With a nod and a soft smile, you silently gave David permission to do as he wished with you. He looked over to the others and gave them the okay to extinguish all of the candles. With a soft blow from each of them the wicks flickered out, and you were once again shrouded in darkness.

It was still a little intimidating at first. With nothing to greet your vision you had to rely on your other senses to tell what was going on. You were lucky to have David right in front of you, still touching your body so you knew exactly where he was and what he was doing. The chain holding you up lightly clanged as he pulled you in more, kissing you deeply and holding the side of your head in his leather-bound grasp.

His tongue slipped into your mouth slowly, moving along yours as his hand roamed over your naked frame. The sensation of touch was much more sensitive and you felt yourself shiver with anticipation whenever he found a particularly erogenous area. It was like he was playing a game, trying to map out your body in the dark like this.

More sounds greeted your ears. One source was three sets of footsteps from Marko, Dwayne, and Paul as they surrounded you. There was a bit of giggling from each of them, but you had no idea who was where.

Another source was the sound of a zipper and the light jingling of a belt, no doubt coming from David as he freed his cock. Without any light you couldn’t see how big it was, meaning you’d get a bit of a surprise when he was ready for you.

“Don’t worry, sugar,” Paul spoke, surprising you from how you hadn’t expected him to be on your right side. “David always keeps a bottle of lube in his pocket~”

“Speaking from past experience, you’re in for a treat~” Marko added, his voice coming from the left. So they really were lovers. The only thing more arousing than you having sex with David was the idea of all of them in an intimate, lustful embrace. God, it was only turning you on more.

The two blonds took over for David with touching you while said leader spread a little lube on his cock. You found that Paul was much faster and eager to grab and squeeze while Marko was more teasing, hovering his fingers over sensitive spots to leave you antsy for more.

“Behind you, baby~” Dwayne whispered, directly behind you. It served as a warning so he wouldn’t startle you with what he was about to do. In a split second, he wrapped his strong arms around your waist before hoisting you upward against his chest. Your legs dangled in the air for a moment before Paul and Marko each grabbed one, holding you in place.

It was like they were pieces of bondage equipment. Holding you in place for David to enjoy properly. Despite your worries about being too heavy to hold for long, they seemed to have no issue. It was as if you were light as a feather to them. It was incredibly pleasing to you~

“You want the big, bad vampire to fuck you now, human~?” David asked you. His cock was rock-hard and poking your thigh. You were practically aching for him to put it in you.

“Y-Yes, David!” you answered, voice turning into a whimper. Even in the dark, you knew the others had to be smirking at you.

You didn’t have to think about that for long because you were too occupied by the sensation of the tip of David’s cock pressing into your hole. It was wet and pleasantly warm from the lube, making his slow entrance inside of you that more intoxicating. Such pleasure caused some pretty lustful noises to escape your mouth.

“Fuck, what a tight little thing you are~” David grunted, adjusting to your body. Leather gloves gripped your hips as he pulled you down further on him. It had you seeing stars, it felt that good. “I’m gonna get addicted to you if I’m not careful~”

Now that wasn’t something you’d complain about. While he slowly began to pump himself in and out of you, the others put their focus on you, caressing your figure and holding you still. Of course, they were more than happy to use their voices to make you feel good too.

“Isn’t this better, baby~?” Dwayne whispered in your ear, warm breath tickling your skin. “Doesn’t everything feel so much better when you’re hidden in the dark? Everything gets so much stronger~”

“Makes you itch for more of everything, doesn’t it?” Marko added, squeezing your thigh.

“Even if you’re hidden we still know just how fucking hot you are right now. Wish I was the one plowing you though~” Paul said with a giggle.

Their words sent sparks through your body, the pleasure perfectly mixing with what you got from their bleach-blond leader. David sounded so pent up and domineering as he fucked you harder now. In and out he pumped, moving his body with yours without any signs of losing energy. His grunting had turned into something of a growl, deep and intimidating while he took control of you.

You were desperate for more of this. You wished you could wrap your legs around him or scratch down his back, but right now you were positioned like a toy for him to use. It was so dirty and kinky and you loved it so.

Instead, you made use of your voice more. This was no time to be quiet or shy. You threw your head back, feeling dumb with pleasure as every pump of his cock built your ecstasy. He fucked like a God and you’d happily worshipped him with your voice.

“DAVID! Oooh fuck, David, I want you! I want more, please~!!” you cried out. If anyone in the haunt was near the room and heard your screams, then you honestly didn’t give a fuck.

“You’ve got me, sweetling,” he assured you with a breathy laugh. “I’ll quench whatever thirst you have. Just let me fuck you how I want~”

Each of your senses was overloaded by the sexual display. They hadn’t been kidding when they said everything was stronger in the dark. The three boys that held you must have noticed how you responded to such a thing because they all played on it too.

“You can hear so much more now, can’t you? The slaps of David’s hips, the sounds of pleasure…..they’re all music to your ears now, aren’t they~?” Dwayne moaned in your ear. He sounded just as turned on as you were.

“Bet your sense of touch is even stronger, sugar~” Paul added on. “Every goddamn thrust, squeeze, and scratch feels so good to you, doesn’t it? I’ll bet it makes David’s fat dick feel even better too~”

“Don’t forget the taste, cutie~” Marko whispered. “I know you tasted like a fine meal on my tongue and I’ll bet you enjoyed Paul too. Whenever David kisses you, the taste will leave you begging for more~”

You never wanted to leave this haunt now. Between the insane amount of flirting and the sensation of David bottoming out, you knew you’d never have better sex than this very moment. They all left you feeling satisfied, yet still greedy for more. While you took it all from them you silently hoped they’d want more of you too after this.

Your moans mixed beautifully with their own. They all sounded so pent-up and eager for you, especially David. It was all getting to be too much to handle. That final release was building inside you at an alarmingly fast rate.

“Oh fuck! FUCK! I’m so close…~! Ooh God!!” you barely got out. It was getting harder to speak by the second.

“The only God you’ve got now is me, little one~” David growled loudly. He was sounding more like a monstrous creature than a human. If you could see his vampire makeup again, you’d surely be able to enjoy the look with that deep, dark voice. “Cum for me, human. Let me feast on your desire. Feed me, love~”

It wasn’t long before you did just that. After another few thrusts inside you, the intense rush of pleasure took over and you came beautifully for David. Your back arched against Dwayne’s chest and your legs tensed in Marko and Paul’s hands as you let the orgasm flow through your body. It was so perfect that you had to let your voice sing out even more.

“AAahhh! D-David~!!” you whimpered out. Such sounds continued when you felt David give into his own pleasure as well. His groans flowed out as he finished deep inside your body. His body tensed as hit after hit of his climax overwhelmed him. You could feel every bit of hot cum fill you up, and it made everything that much more exciting.

You’d long since stopped worrying about the passage of time since they took you into this room, but now you grew curious as to how long David and his boys held you like this. The two of you were coming down together, letting relaxation take over your bodies. Panting and sighing greeted your ears, displaying the relief so well.

When you were finally ready, the three other vampires carefully released your torso and legs, letting you try to find your footing. They still stayed close in case you felt too wobbly. David tucked his cock back inside his pants before reaching up to unlock the clasp that held your wrists.

As fun as it was being strung up, it was a relief to be able to put your arms down again. In the darkness, you felt the blond take one of your hands and press soft kisses to the wrist, no doubt a silent apology for any pain or chaffing you had experienced.

David held you in his arms while the others stepped back to give you a little space. Paul was the first to offer some much-needed light, pulling out a lighter and flicking the small flame open. It wasn’t a big difference, but at least you could see the vampiric appearance of your lover again now. He was so stunning in the light of the fire.

“Now then, my little human~” he spoke, a devious smile painted on his face. “There’s just one last thing I need to do”

You tilted your head in curiosity. When you did so, he moved to place his lips on the exposed side of your neck. A fit of giggles came from your mouth as he teased the area with a few kisses.

“Close your eyes one last time for me. You treated me to dessert first…but I still need to enjoy my dinner~”

Before you could even begin to comprehend his words the fangs that were in his mouth pierced into your flesh, shocking your body with sharp pain.

The already dark surroundings went back to pitch black as you fainted in his arms.

“Hey! HEY! C’mon, wake up!!”

This was not what you wanted to hear right now. Grogginess was messing with your head, clouding your ability to think or focus. You had no idea how long you had passed out, but now you were finally coming to, and it wasn’t a pleasant experience.

“DUDE!! WAKE THE HELL UP!”

You finally jolted awake at the sound of shouting in your face.

Eyes were wide and your body was tense as you adjusted to the light you had been without for so long. You were still in the room you had lost consciousness in, but now there were flashlights shining in your face and illuminating the area.

Once you were coherent, you frantically looked around to figure out what was going on. For one, you were sitting on the floor with your knees tucked to your chest. After the initial panic, you realized you were fully dressed and cleaned as if nothing had ever happened. Second, your friends were all in front of you, all holding flashlights and displaying looks of worry and panic on their faces.

“Oh thank God!” one of them said, throwing an arm over your shoulder. “We’ve been looking for you for a couple of hours now! We all freaked out when we got to the end and realized you weren’t with us. The boardwalk security has been helping us look for you!”

Another friend leaned down to meet you eye-to-eye. A guilt-ridden expression was on their face as they tried to elaborate.

“We all felt so damn guilty for making you do this. We didn’t mean to scare you this badly. We’re so sorry! It’s just so good to see you’re okay!”

The last of your group held out a hand for you to take. Still a bit disoriented, you took it tightly so you wouldn’t stumble and fall back to the ground.

“You were sleeping against the side of the wall when we got here. Do you know how long you’ve been in here?”

After a brief second of confusion and mentally retracing your steps, you figured out what had happened. You must have passed out from both exhaustion and fear when David tried to bite your neck. He was probably doing another vampire bit and it scared you to an extreme. It seemed that they were at least kind enough to clean you and redress you so you wouldn’t be a mess when you woke up.

You were only left wondering why they didn’t stay. Maybe they were going to get in trouble with their boss if they were gone too long. It actually really bummed you out because you already missed those boys. You’d never had a night like that before.

Quick to think of an excuse, you told a little white lie about running into a random room and hiding out from the monsters in the haunt, and after crying you fell asleep. They didn’t have to know you got the fucking of your life from the very monsters you claimed to be afraid of. Thankfully, your friends bought the excuse and safely ushered you out of the room and towards an exit you had missed before.

You were grateful for their help and remorse. It wasn’t their fault you got lost, and they had worked hard to find you. When you got back to the boardwalk, the light of the rides and the games felt so much brighter. Figures that would be the case after being in the dark for so long.

As you all walked back down the path to the parking lot you felt comfortable enough to talk about the different decorations and monster actors you had come across. When it was your turn, you were eager to talk about your favorite part.

“I gotta say, the vampires were the most impressive ones. I’ve never seen such professional-looking makeup effects before! It was like something out of a movie!”

You had hoped they would agree with you, possibly catching site of one of the boys as well. To your surprise, you were met with confused looks on their faces.

“What are you talking about? The flyers set up for the event never said anything about vampires”

For a second you thought they were kidding. Surely they couldn’t be serious. After all, there were four in total and they all had gotten to know you very personally. But then you thought back to that flyer you saw as well. The haunt promised zombies, werewolves, demons, and mummies, but no mention of vampires.

You brushed their confusion off, saying they were probably brought in last minute. Something extra special to surprise the people visiting the haunt. Everyone agreed that was most likely the case and you’d been the only one lucky to see them.

Perhaps if you were brave enough to go in a second time you’d see the four, handsome boys again. Maybe without the makeup if they wanted to spend some more quality time with you.

As you chatted more with your friends you were to brush some hair off of your neck. A shot of iciness ran through your spine when your fingertips touched an unfamiliar mark.

Two small holes. Perfectly circular and side by side where David had bitten you. Definitely not something caused by plastic fangs. Flashes of their genuine-looking monster faces came back into your mind.

Now you really had a good reason to find them again~

#the lost boys #my fic #ao3 fic #gender neutral reader #GN!Reader #tlb #marko the lost boys #david the lost boys #dwayne the lost boys #paul the lost boys #tlb 1987 #halloween #Nsft #Smut

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photogirl894 · 1 year

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"Sun and Rain Part 2: Age of the Empire"

Chapter 16

"Circuitry and Assets"

A "Bad Batch" fanfic!

Pairing: Hunter x fem OC, Echo (more best friend pairing)

A/N: Aaahhh, sorry this took forever! I'm to a point where there's going to be a break in the canon (cuz there's a small time jump between episodes 6 and 7) so I'm back to coming up with original stuff and man, that's hard sometimes! This chapter might not be much, but things will pick up in the next one!

Also a big thanks to the lovely @l-lend for a good chunk of Rina's dialogue in this chapter, too 😊

Taglist: @the-sad-batch , @nimata-beroya , @intrepidmare , @cole-kenxbi , @tech-aficionado , @ladykatakuri , @d1n0-dan , @sammi9498 , @darthzero22 , @scarlettrose9901 , @tech-deck , @thebadbatchscyare , @chxpsi , @ilikemymendarkandfictional , @4pplecider @locitapurplepink , @l-lend , @nekotaetae , @eternalwaffle , @merkitty49 , @avathebestx , @idoubleswearimawriter

《 Chapter 15

》 Chapter 17

All chapters (Part 2) (Part 1)

Explanation: The Bad Batch and the Koriena Force adjust to being on Ord Mantell and a new mission comes to them from Cid...involving both teams.

Aboard the Aurora, Lex was sitting on a sofa in the back room, staring down at her gloved hand and flexing her fingers in and out. It was strange not being able to feel the movement in her hand like she used to. Even though the pain wasn’t as serious this morning, there were still some dull, pulsing aches she was experiencing. Unfortunately, she couldn’t use any of Kida’s bacta salts to help with that. It wasn’t exactly smart to submerge her new mechanical arm in water for too long. It had only been over a week since she’d lost her real arm and she was slowly getting used to this new one. It still wasn’t the most comfortable thing, though, and she wondered how long it would take before it just felt normal.

“I know you hate it right now, but you can’t view your arm as a hindrance or a separate piece of equipment you wear. It’s a part of your physical body now; an extension of yourself. The more you reject it, the harder it’s going to be for you to get used to it…I see you, Lex. I do. I’ve been through what you’re experiencing now. The agony will go away, I promise you.”

She could hear the echoing words of a certain Clone by the same name in the back of her mind, his comforting voice putting her thoughts at ease. She knew he was right. Now that things had changed, she had to adjust her thinking in order to adapt to that change. She couldn’t look at her arm as an obstacle to overcome, but rather a new part of her body to put to use. That was the only way she would be able to properly overcome this new difficult predicament she found herself in. Eventually, things would be better and she wouldn’t be in pain anymore.

Despite how terrified she’d been at Echo discovering her secret at first, Lex was glad that, of all people, it had been him to stumble upon her crying. He was probably the only person who fully understood her situation and he was willing to help her adapt to her new cybernetics. That at least spared her having to randomly approach him, explain everything and then ask for help, which she wasn’t always good at doing. That was certainly due to her Zabrak stubbornness, for sure. She had felt nervous before at the thought of asking Echo for help and, in hindsight, she couldn’t fathom why. He was an understanding and compassionate person who cared a lot about other people. She knew this from briefly getting to know him before on Toydaria when the Koriena Force and the Bad Batch had taken some downtime a long time ago. Why had she thought he would be different this time, especially when this was something she knew he would understand? She had been afraid over nothing.

A flash of his handsome, smiling face and his bright brown eyes crossed her mind and she found herself smiling, too. Though, the moment she realized that, she shook her head and pushed that thought away. What was she doing? Why was she thinking about Echo like that? All he was doing was being a guide and a friend for her in her time of need. Not to mention they were all on the run from the Empire. There wasn’t any room for any sort of frivolous imaginings like that. Besides, it wasn't like Echo would remotely think of her like that either. She was a woman who came from a sketchy background while he was a noble soldier. Those two things didn't ever coincide.

Then again…despite that, he still chose to help her anyway.

It didn't matter. She wasn't going to let her thoughts regarding him get carried away. Just because he was the first man who showed her positive attention didn't mean she was going to let herself get attached like that. He was just a comrade giving her friendly advice. Nothing more.

“Hello, Lex.”

Lex was broken out of her thoughts by the lovely lilt of Kimber’s voice and she looked up to see Kimber coming into the room, dressed in her red and black civvie dress again.

“You’re up early,” Kimber remarked.

“I could say the same to you,” said Lex.

As she sat down on the sofa next to Lex, Kimber said back, “I honestly half expect Cid to have a mission for us again, so I want to be ready this time. Is everything okay? You looked lost in thought.”

Initially, Lex wanted to react on instinct and tell her everything was fine so they could just move on, but then she couldn’t help but feel guilty at keeping such a huge secret from her leader and friend. It had felt relieving to share her secret with Echo, even if it had been inadvertent, so maybe it was time that Kimber knew, too.

“Actually…there’s something I need to tell you about,” she told Kimber.

Kimber tilted her head curiously. “What is it?”

Taking a deep, shaky breath, Lex went on to explain to Kimber everything that happened back on Pantora up until the explosion, where her voice began to falter. Kimber patiently waited for her to continue, laying a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“I activated the explosive…and it went off prematurely…resulting in this,” said Lex as she then slowly removed her full arm glove and revealed her robotic arm.

Kimber gasped in shock and her hands flew up over her mouth at seeing what had happened to her friend. “Oh Lex!” she cried, reaching out and tenderly touching the metal arm as if to see if what she was seeing was real. “Oh my…I am so sorry this happened to you. Are you okay?”

With a nod, Lex answered, “I’m getting by for now. I’m still adjusting to it all. It’s a good thing Irys knows people because that’s the only reason this happened.”

“You should talk to Echo when the lads come back,” Kimber suggested right away. “He can help you with this transition.”

A shy, knowing grin crossed Lex’s face upon hearing that. “About that…he already knows,” she admitted.

“What? How?” Kimber asked, rearing back a bit in confusion.

“Your boys actually got back in late last night when you all were asleep,” Lex explained. “I couldn’t sleep because I was in pain and went outside. Echo actually found me and ended up learning my secret. He and I talked for a little bit about it and he gave me a lot of comfort and advice.”

A glad smile tugged at Kimber’s lips and she chuckled. “Yeah, that sure sounds like Echo. Of all the people to find you, right?”

Lex hummed in agreement and once again smiled timidly. “Yeah…of all the people to find me.”

The smile on Lex’s face did not go unnoticed. “What is that smile I see?” Kimber asked, smirking mischievously.

“Nothing. I just thought he was very kind and he helped me feel better about my situation,” Lex replied.

“He’s quite good at that,” said Kimber. “He’s helped me quite a bit, too. More than I can ever thank him for.”

Lex grinned pleasantly as she pulled her glove back over her cybernetic arm. “That explains why you two are so close.”

“I do adore him very much,” Kimber said back. “I think the two of you will get along very well, too. He’ll do whatever he can to make sure you adjust well to having a new arm.”

“Though, I feel bad because mine has a hand and his doesn’t,” Lex commented, her face falling ever so slightly.

Kimber, however, just shrugged. “That doesn’t seem to bother him, though, and he’s learned how to manage with it. He’s told me that having the scomp has proved beneficial on missions several times and that’s why he prefers to keep it as is. That way, if we’ve needed to retrieve information or get systems working or our hyperdrive needs fixing, we don’t have to worry about having an R2 unit or anything like that. He can take care of that easily.”

“He really doesn’t mind?” Lex questioned.

Shaking her head, Kimber told her, “No, not at all. Though, using it did used to mess with his head a bit to where it was getting painful, so that’s why Tech made Echo the cybernetic headpiece he wears. It helps control his modifications and regulate his brainwaves when he’s using the scomp. That way, being connected to a computer of any kind doesn’t hurt him too much. It makes using his arm much easier.”

“I see,” Lex simply said. She appeared indifferent, but in her mind, she was intrigued. She’d wondered before why Echo still had a scomp and why he didn’t get a different arm, but it hadn’t occurred to her how useful the scomp had to be to him and the Bad Batch when on missions. It all made sense now why he chose to keep it.

Then she spoke up, “I’m sure having the scomp can’t be easy on a daily basis all the time, but if Echo sees the value in it for other things, then good on him for finding the positive in a possibly negative situation.”

“As long as I’ve known him, that’s how he’s always been,” Kimber stated with a sure smile.

Lex found her thoughts were drifting to Echo again, so to deter that again, she gave a slight shake of the head and said to Kimber, “What are you doing wasting your time with me, princess? Hunter’s back from the field, you should be with him right now.”

A giddy smile slowly crept up on Kimber’s face at the reminder that Hunter was back. Before leaving, she stood up and once again laid a hand on Lex’s shoulder. “I’m sorry you went through something so awful,” she said, “but I know you’ll get through this and Echo will be an amazing help to you. I promise you that.”

Waving a dismissive hand, Lex just replied, “Forget about me, go be an armor chaser and get your Sergeant.”

“You’re starting to sound like Rina,” Kimber pointed out teasingly.

“I know, I think I need to go wash out my mouth now,” said Lex with a roll of her eyes, but still with an amused grin on her face.

With a hearty chuckle, Kimber jogged out of the back room of the Aurora and made her way to the exit, hitting the button on a console to activate the ramp. The ramp lowered in front of her and as she hastily went down the steps, she was surprised to see Hunter was already outside, sitting on the steps to the Marauder, and was looking in her direction. Neither of them said anything and just smiled brightly at seeing each other. Kimber broke into a run towards him and Hunter stood up, making his way to her, as well. She practically leapt into his open arms and he swept her off her feet to spin her around gladly, his deep, happy chuckle sounding in her ear.

He set her down and, to surprise her even more, simply told her, “Kiss me. Right now.”

Not needing to be told twice, she grasped the back of his head with both hands and crashed her mouth against his. He kissed her fiercely and needfully in return and nearly crushed her in his arms against him as if trying to absorb as much of her as possible. It seemed like he missed her a lot more than she thought.

When they came apart, gasping for breath, Hunter asked her heavily, “Have I told you how much I love you…and how amazing you are?”

“Not today, no. What’s brought all this on?” she replied through a snicker, now curious about what was going on with him. “You were only gone a day yet you kiss me like you haven’t seen me in years and then you say that? What’s going on?”

“I know it was one day, but it felt like forever,” he said back. “I had to deal with the most infuriating woman on Corellia and it just made me miss you even more. You would’ve hated her.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. She was ungrateful, fought me at every turn and tried insulting me a couple times, too. Sometimes, I think I should’ve let the guard Droids shoot her.”

“That wouldn’t have happened…because if I had been there, I would’ve shot her first. Nobody gives my Sergeant trouble like that and gets away with it.”

That brought an amused grin to Hunter’s face. “That’s my girl. I missed you,” he sighed, lightly caressing her cheek and giving her a kiss where his hand had been. “It wasn’t the same without you there.”

“I missed you, too,” she said. “Were you successful?”

He heaved another heavy sigh and shook his head. “Thanks to that woman and her meddling sister, no, we weren’t. As you can imagine, telling that to Cid didn’t go over well.”

Kimber reached up and tenderly ran her hands through Hunter’s hair to soothe him. “I’m sorry to hear that, darling,” she replied.

“You seem to be doing better,” he observed.

She nodded. “I am. Kida is a miracle worker.”

"Remind me to thank her then," he said.

Then they both heard the boisterous voice of Wrecker call out behind them, "There she is!" They looked and saw he was bounding over to them, where he proceeded to scoop Kimber up off the ground, causing her to let out a small yelp, and hug her tightly. "You can't ever sit out on a mission again!" he exclaimed. "Hunter made me the lookout because you weren't there and I had to get up real high. I don't ever wanna do that again! I even hit my head real hard because of it."

"Oh Wrecker, that's terrible," she said apologetically, kissing the top of his head comfortingly. As he set her down, she looked to Hunter. "Why would you give lookout to the one squad member who's afraid of heights?"

"I didn't have much choice," Hunter said indifferently.

"He still managed to perform well, given the circumstances," then came the voice of Tech as he, Omega and Echo were exiting out of the Marauder and coming over to them. Omega went up to Kimber and hugged her tightly around the waist.

"Good to have you back, Omega," said Kimber, ruffling her hair.

"Good to be back," the kid replied.

Then Echo asked, "How are you feeling, Kim?"

“Much better,” she said. “If you guys are all up, why don’t you come into the Aurora? It’s quite nice and there’s plenty of room for all of us. I’m also sure I could smell something cooking inside.”

That, of course, got Wrecker’s attention as he beamed excitedly. “Oh good, because I’m getting hungry!” he exclaimed.

“Getting?” repeated Echo.

They all filed into the Aurora where Kimber led them to the back room where she had previously been with Lex, who was still sitting on one of the sofas, now twirling her vibroblade around. Lex saw them come in and gave them a wave with her knife. Her eyes found Echo in the back and he grinned warmly at her, making her slightly blush.

“Welcome back, guys,” she said, hoping no one saw her reaction just then. Then she sniffed the air, a sweet scent in the atmosphere of the ship. “You made good time, too, because it smells like Rina’s making breakfast.”

Wrecker’s eyes and grin widened. “Rina cooks? Oh yeah!” he cried, pumping his fist.

With a snicker, Kimber leaned in next to Hunter beside her and whispered, “I think Rina just won Wrecker over even more.”

“If her food is good, then there will be no turning back for him,” he quietly replied.

Then they heard Rina’s voice call out, “Good, the boys are here, too! Come get ‘em while they’re hot, everybody!”

Hearing both his favorite girl’s voice and the fact that there was food, Wrecker went bounding further into the ship to find her, Omega right on his heels.

“Are Irys and Kida up?” Lex called back as she stood up.

“They are. Kida’s been up for a while because of the smol. Little guy’s an early bird,” Rina yelled back.

All of a sudden, Irys appeared from another corridor and stated, “Yes and she is trying to get Kori back to sleep. Your yelling is certainly not helping.”

While Kimber, Hunter, Tech and Irys made their way into the ship to eat, Lex lingered towards the back and was approached by Echo, who gently touched her arm and said to her, “Hey…how are you feeling today?”

“I’m…better, thank you,” she told him. Then she moved her arm up and down to test if the aches were still there and she winced a little. “There are still some aches, but it’s not nearly as bad as last night.”

“Mind if I take a look?” he inquired.

She stiffened slightly. While she wanted to accept his help, she was afraid of any of the others walking in and finding out about her secret before she had a chance to tell them. She held up a finger to Echo and then moved over to the doorway that led to the hall everyone had gone into, pressed a button on the wall console and the door slid shut. Then she pressed another button, locking it.

“I don’t want anyone to walk in and find out before I can tell them,” she explained.

“Understandable,” he replied as he went and sat on the nearby sofa.

Lex went and sat next to him, pulling off her arm glove as she did so. She held up her arm to Echo and he pried open with his scomp the panel in her arm where the wires inside were connected while bracing her arm with his real hand. Once the panel was removed, he took out his torch, turned it on and handed it to Lex, asking her to hold it over her arm so he could see. She did as he asked her and held the light up. He peered carefully inside, inspecting the wires in the mechanical arm. He was careful and attentive to how he handled her arm and a tiny smile formed on her face.

“I see the problem,” Echo then declared. “Some of the wires are not connected properly, so it’s sending electric shocks into the remaining nerves in your shoulder, which is what’s giving you pain. Whoever assembled this did a terrible job, but I can fix that for you.”

Before Lex could protest at all, he pulled out a welding pick and started using it to fix the wires, tiny sparks emitting from the tip of the pick’s needle. He was so focused on his work that she swore he didn’t blink once. Here he was, helping her yet again when he didn’t need to.

About a minute later, she felt something click in her cybernetic arm that sent vibrations and a quick jolt of electricity up into her shoulder, eliciting a startled gasp from her, but right after, she could feel immediate relief where there used to be aching in her muscles. She gave it a couple seconds and found the aches were actually starting to fade away.

“Oh…wow!” was all Lex could manage to say. She found herself dumbfounded that what Echo did actually worked.

“I take it that worked,” he stated with a grin as he closed up the panel in her arm and took his torch back from her.

“Yeah…,” she said, still in disbelief, looking down at her arm.

“I’ve had to rework the circuitry in my own arm before, too, so I know exactly how to deal with it,” he explained. “It’s not easy by myself sometimes, so Tech’s had to help, too, a couple times.”

Lex offered him a small yet grateful smile as she pulled her arm glove back on. “Well...thank you, Echo. I already feel way better. I…I really appreciate your help.”

Echo grinned back at her and laid a hand on her shoulder. “I was glad to. If you ever need anything more, you always know where to find me.” Then his eyes narrowed slightly and his head then tilted to the side as he looked at her curiously.

"What?" she inquired, wondering why he was looking at her like that.

Then he gave her a light smile as he told her, "I don't know how I haven't noticed…your eyes are violet. They're unique…and I like that."

Warmth sprung up into her cheeks and the tips of her ears and timidly, she averted her gaze for a moment. That wasn't what she expected him to say and she was caught a bit off guard.

"Thank you. No one's ever commented on my eyes before," she admitted, looking back up at him.

"That's a shame," he said. "They're lovely."

Why was he being so sweet to her? She didn't deserve such attention, especially from him. Feeling the heat rising even more in her face, she quickly changed the subject by gesturing back with her head and saying, “Come on, let’s get some breakfast.”

With that, the two of them stood up from the sofa and left the room. However, unbeknownst to them, in the opposite corridor, Kida had stood on the other side of the wall and had both seen what had transpired between Echo and Lex and overheard their conversation. She’d heard their voices after finally having gotten Kori to go back to sleep for a while and stopped to listen in, even though she knew she probably shouldn’t have.

A pleased smirk crossed her face once she knew they were out of the room. “Well now...that’s a new development I wasn’t expecting,” she said quietly aloud.

She’d seen a kind of smile on Lex’s face that she hadn’t seen from her in a long time and it had been because of Echo. It seemed that his kindness was beginning to make Lex’s walls crack just a little and it intrigued Kida. She figured she’d have to keep an eye on those two, wondering how things between them would start to change.

“And just who are these ladies?”

The Bad Batch and the Koriena Force were now standing before Cid in her parlor and the female Trandoshan was certainly less than pleased to see a new group of people in her establishment. Kimber had mentioned to the girls that maybe they could look into working for Cid, as well--albeit begrudgingly since she still didn't fully like or trust Cid--since they too were in need of some extra money, so she and the Clones had brought the ladies to Cid's place to introduce them. Things were off to an…interesting start.

"This is my squad, the Koriena Force. This is Rina, Lex, Irys, Kida and her son, Kori," answered Kimber, gesturing to each one as she said their names.

Upon seeing Kori, Cid's mouth curled up in disgust. "Ugh…babies. Ugly creatures," she stated distastefully.

Kida glared at her and shot back, "You're not exactly a beauty yourself, Trando."

Cid just glowered at her.

In response, Kida kept a firm focus on Cid and stated with a slight icy undertone, "I know multiple ways to make you disappear and the authorities will never find your body…so if I were you, I'd think twice before badmouthing my son again."

Everyone all exchanged wide-eyed, nervous glances. Omega looked downright intimidated. This was not what they expected from the girls' first meeting with Cid and now, they were apprehensive as to how the rest of this was going to go.

However, Cid surprised them by grinning deviously and saying back, "I like you, Bluey."

"Oh trust me, those are pleasantries for Kida," Rina put in. "I sometimes miss how she used to threaten me....Kida, how'd it go?"

Kida rolled her eyes with a grin and replied almost fondly, "I believe it was 'I'd blend your corpse into paste, fly out to the nearest Hutt-controlled planet and offer your slurried remains as a delicacy for their prized rancors'...respectfully."

Rina just nodded as she turned back to Cid and stated, "See? Very creative."

Cid just gave Rina a stoic look and then diverted her attention back to Kimber. "All right, cut to the chase, Dollface. What's the deal with these ladies and why are they here?"

As Kimber opened her mouth to answer, Rina stepped up and said, holding up a hand, "I got this, boss lady." She placed one foot on the bottom of a barstool and leaned her elbow on her propped up knee. "It's simple, Cid: you want money and so do we. The girls and I are here to work."

"I already have strays," replied Cid, casting a side eye at the Clones, which earned her displeased looks from them and Kimber.

"Well, we come with experience in this line of work....and we're cheap. Here's the deal: first five missions, we split eighty-twenty, house's favor," Rina said back, gesturing to Cid. "If after that you don't like our results, we'll call it even and walk away, but if you like how we operate, then we renegotiate the cut: sixty-forty, house's favor. Just need enough to feed mouths here, especially the smol's."

With her arms folded, Cid eyed her curiously, contemplating the offer before her. "And if I got no work for you?" she asked.

Pursing her lips in thought, Rina glanced around until she caught sight of the slot machines on the other side of the parlor. Then she turned back to the others and said, "Hey, Irys, think you can reconfigure the odds on those slot machines for the boss?"

"I can do that in my sleep," Irys answered confidently.

Rina glanced back at Cid and just raised her eyebrows while motioning to Irys, needing no other words to convey her point.

"She's good," Wrecker commented proudly to Hunter next to him, who also looked impressed.

Cid drummed her clawed fingers on her arm, carefully assessing Rina and the rest of the Koriena Force. "Actually, I have a job that could work for all of you," she said, motioning to everyone in the room. "It'll work out better with some ladies on the job."

"We're listening," said Hunter, folding his arms across his chest.

"It's a simple intel extraction, but from a high-security home of an Imperial higher-up. I think he's a scientist or an engineer or something," said Cid.

"Nothing about that sounds simple," stated Echo.

Ignoring him, she withdrew a data card from her pocket. "All the info is on here, but I will say this: I hope you ladies know how to work your assets, if you know what I mean."

All the girls and even the Clones exchanged confused glances as Cid tossed the data card over to Hunter, who caught it with ease. Once that was done, Cid just turned and walked towards the back in the direction of her office.

"Well, let's take a look at the details," said Kimber, motioning with her head to a nearby holotable.

Everyone gathered around the table as Hunter put in the card. A holographic blueprint of a large domicile appeared.

"This is the residence we will be infiltrating. However, the name of the scientist or engineer who owns the property is not listed," stated Tech, looking over the information.

"Convenient," said Lex, rolling her eyes.

"It says the residence is on Balmorra," then said Echo.

"Looks like we're going back, girls," said Kida. "Irys, you still have access to the house?"

With a nod, Irys answered, "It's my house, so yes."

"Good, we can use that as a base of operations for the mission," stated Kimber.

Then Tech pressed a button and two areas of the house, one near the top and one near the bottom, were highlighted red and a projection of a case appeared. "The intel we're retrieving will be in a special locked case, stored in either his private office on the topmost floor or in an underground facility below the residence. Most likely a laboratory or work station of some kind," he informed everyone.

"So what's our play here?" asked Hunter.

Tech then went on to say, continuing to read the information, "In three rotations, our target is hosting a sort of social gathering. However…the guest list is comprised of mostly female attendants."

"Oh, so that's why Cid said it would work better with us girls being on the job," Lex commented.

"And why she made the comment about 'using our assets', too. Clearly, we're not needed for standard mission procedures here," added Rina. Then she pointed at Kimber and declared, "The Koriena Force is claiming Boss Lady for this one."

"Excuse me?" Hunter asked, an eyebrow raised in confusion.

"No offense, Sarge, but you, Echo and Tech don't exactly have the legs to pull off a mini skirt," said Rina.

All of them looked down at their legs and then back up at Rina, even more puzzled than before.

"Wait, what about me?" inquired Wrecker.

Rina looked him over with her eyes and grinned a bit mischievously. "Hey, your thighs don't lie, big guy," she responded with a wink.

Wrecker just beamed with pride at the compliment, making all the ladies giggle.

Seeing the rest of the Clones still didn't understand what they were getting at, Kimber snickered at them and Kida stepped in, stating, "The play is obvious, gentlemen: the Koriena Force will get in undercover as guests or entertainment and distract the target while you boys sneak in and recover the data we need." Then she snickered deviously. "Ooh, I've got some good outfits we can use that'll really make things fun."

"You just want an excuse to wear a scanty outfit again since being pregnant," said Rina, smirking.

Kida simply grinned smugly.

"What about me?" asked Omega.

Irys spoke up, "You can help me keep an eye on surveillance. I could use a second set of eyes."

With a determined grin, Omega stated, "Got it!"

"Well…what if we need Kimber?" Hunter asked, looking conflicted as he went back to the previous subject.

Kimber turned and laid a hand on his shoulder. "No, they're right, love. It would be better for me to go with them and ensure the target is occupied while you guys make the extraction. You'll be fine without me."

At first, Hunter looked like he was going to disagree, but acted against it. Instead, he sighed and responded, "All right. Let's head out, we'll get to Irys' place on Balmorra and work out the finer details there over the next couple rotations until the gathering."

"Now you're talking," said Rina.

"We can take the Aurora, it'll fit all of us," suggested Kida. "We can take time to…better know each other since it's been a while." She cast a sly grin at Lex as she said that.

Lex's eyes widened ever so slightly. Why was Kida giving her that look? Was it just her being her flirty self again? Most likely. Though, her mind betrayed her and her eyes wandered over to Echo…just as his eyes found her.

"Karabast! What am I doing?" she thought, immediately turning away as her body stiffened.

On the other side, Echo saw Lex quickly turn her face and a small grin crossed his lips. He found her shyness amusing…and a bit attractive, too.

"Sounds like a plan," said Kimber in response to Kida's suggestion. "Let's get going."

Tech withdrew the data card from the holotable and they all made their way out the door of Cid's parlor.

"You all right?" Kimber asked Hunter as they walked out.

Knowing she was referring to the Koriena Force's plan, he replied, taking her hand, "I trust you, sweetheart, and I know you'll be taken care of."

She squeezed his hand back. "Thank you."

Behind them, Echo came up beside Lex and said to her, "I wanted to say I'm sorry."

"Sorry? For what?" she questioned.

"I didn't mean to stare at you," he answered.

"Oh...it's okay," she said back.

Then he inched up just a little closer and said, "I'm glad you ladies are coming with us. It'll be nice seeing you in action again and helping us fight against the Empire this time."

She scoffed in amusement. "It's just gathering intel. That's not really much."

"It may not feel like it now, but it's the small steps we take first that can lead to something greater," he told her. "In the fight against the Empire, the little things we do can make all the difference and that intel could very well help us."

"Well, I guess we'll see if you're right," she said back.

He gave her a nod, a pleasant grin and continued further ahead, moving alongside Kimber. Lex watched him walk away, not even realizing the smile that was appearing on her own face.

"I haven't seen you smile like that in a while," she suddenly heard Irys speak beside her.

"What?" asked Lex.

"I've known you for a long time, Lex, and I know your smiles," said Irys. Then she said in a more hushed tone, "You have your eyes on Echo…and rightfully so."

Lex repeated, "Rightfully so? What does that mean?"

Irys shrugged. "It's obvious, isn't it? You both have shared trauma that you relate to and he's the only person who can fully understand you, even more than I do. You see the promise of something better in him...and possible redemption for yourself after what happened with Dune."

"I highly doubt it," said Lex dejectedly.

"Don't be so sure. Echo is ten times the man Dune was. He won't hurt you," Irys tried telling her.

However, Lex just shook her head and said dismissively, "I don't want to talk about that now, Irys. We've got a mission to focus on."

"Very well," Irys simply replied.

With that, they continued all the way to the Aurora and soon, the Koriena Force and Clone Force 99 were on their way back to the planet of Balmorra.

#star wars the bad batch #the bad batch #bad batch hunter #bad batch fanfic #hunter x oc fic #sun and rain fanfic

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